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On two occasions in 2014, the Colts proved their starters were better than the Bengals' starters. Well, on Thursday night, there were no starters playing, but the guys wearing Bengals jerseys were better than the guys wearing Colts jerseys. Hopefully it helps you sleep better at night knowing the Bengals backups are better than Colts backups. Here is What We Learned from the fakest of the fake football games:
The Bengals' backups are better at football than the Colts' backups.
That is about all a fourth preseason game shows you.
Brandon Tate and Greg Little earned a spot on this team.
Tate and Little have received plenty of flak from me over the past few years, but I will be the first to say both have had impressive preseasons and both are worthy of a roster spot. If Little can find the form that made him a second round pick, the Bengals have a steal.
Margus Hunt is simply not physical enough and not worth a roster spot.
Anthony Munoz and Brad Johansen seemed to think Hunt played well. Safe to see we disagreed on that. To me, Hunt looks slow, hesitant and appears to shy away from contact - three traits you don't want in a NFL defensive end. At this point, I think it is time to pull the plug on this experiment, there are other guys who deserve his spot (hello Chris Carter).
The Bengals must find a roster spot for Chris Carter
The Bengals 20 sacks in 2014 ranked dead last among the league...the entire team had just 20 sacks over the entire season! Chris Carter had 3.5 sacks in four preseason games, including a game winning sack/strip on Thursday night; and he had at least one sack negated by penalty. The Bengals have to find a spot on the roster for Carter, if for nothing other than a pass rushing specialist.
Devon Still played very well and likely deserves a roster spot.
After game one, I was sure Still was cut. However, during the last three games, Still has played well and has made a good argument for the last tackle spot. If the Bengals cut Hunt, it is possible Marcus Hardison is kept as a DE/DT player and Still gets the final DT spot.
AJ McCarron had another solid outing.
There is no quarterback controversy here, but I did like the way McCarron hung in the pocket with the pocket collapsing and he looked very accurate the last two weeks.
Cedric Peerman is on this team.
Peerman played well and based off comments by Duke Tobin and others, I am very confident that if James Wilder, Jr. or Terrell Watson make the 53-man roster, it will not be at the expense of Peerman.
The fourth preseason game is tough to watch.
I like seeing how the final roster spots play out - and that means watching the fourth preseason game - but holy crap is it tough to watch.
If Anthony Munoz was coaching this team, the 53-man roster would have 70 players.
I love Anthony Munoz as an announcer and apparently he loves every player wearing a Bengals jersey. Listening to him broadcast the game, he would have a very tough time getting rid of anyone.
The official 2015 Nike NFL polo's are absolutely brutal.
Nothing ground breaking here, just an observation. But, these are the type of shirts that when people see highlights from the 2015 season, they will say "WTF were those polo's the teams were wearing!" And Nike is charging $70 for them - criminal.
The gold "50's" at midfield are ugly.
I know it is for Super Bowl 50, but it looks terrible on every field.
The Bengals won the 2015 AFC North preseason crown.
Yippee!