There are probably a myriad of emotions swirling around the Cincinnati Bengals right now. Frustration has to be one, as they had a mistake-filled game in hand, only to have it slip away.
Angry determination has to be another. Knowing the personalities on the team and heavy emphasis on leadership, channeling efforts into a Week 2 win has to also be a part of it.
However, in a conversation we had with Bengals.com head honcho, Geoff Hobson, “urgency” is the operative word this week.
“I’d probably say ‘urgency’,” Hobson decided upon when being asked between other adjectives. “I think they were encouraged by the fact that they were minus-five in turnovers and still almost won the game. I think—certainly no panic, you really can’t tell what week it is in there.”
The last part of that statement definitely jives with what we know about the personalities in the locker room. And, even in their Cinderella run last year, the Bengals had ebbs and flows from game to game, causing them to regroup, refocus and get necessary wins.
“I would say, just taking the temperature—and it’s kinda hard to do when you’re only in there (locker room) a half-hour and then see them on the field for 20 minutes, kinda hard to gauge—but my sense is in talking to some of the guys, there’s urgency,” Hobson continued. “And I think that they feel whatever kinks they had in that first half, they got worked out. I think the offense feels encouraged by what happened in the second half of the game, and I think they realize that they were just almost a fluke away from winning the thing.”
Of course, that aforementioned “fluke” is in reference to the loss of Clark Harris and the special teams issues that came from it. Despite turning the ball over five times and allowing seven sacks, Cincinnati lined up for the game-winning extra point at the very end of regulation.
“Nobody plans on having their long snapper go down,” Hobson quipped. “I think you guys would probably not be surprised because they act like a team, in the words of the great Paul Brown ‘(act like you’ve) that’s been there before’.”
This week will tell us a lot about the Bengals, their approach and, yes, if preseason snaps should be thought about in the future. Knowing the fire of the team’s leaders and top players, as well as the Cowboys reeling a bit this week for a myriad of reasons, the general assumption is that this is a “get right game” for Cincinnati.
We’ll see.
Other topics we discussed with Hobson included the performance of the Bengals’ defense, potential balance on offense and updates on both Tee Higgins and Devin Asiasi. Our thanks to the great Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com for his time, graciousness and all of his great work over the years!
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