Game Thread: Bengals vs Bucs preseason game 1

[cincygrad]

Jeff Driskel out shining AJ!?!?!? Haha

Why does AJ cause so much butthurt?

The dude is a good qb. He'll never make anything of himself here and we should have moved him when we could, but he's a solid qb.

 

[cincygrad]

Who the hell is Will Monday, and why is he punting from the endzone?

That was awful. No hang-time, and barely went 45 yards

Camp leg.

Huber is old enough now to get a camp caddy so he doesn't have to waste his leg every time we want to practice punting.

 

[Be Weary of Query]

Nice coffin corner by Monday.

 

[cincygrad]

Mixon is talented.

I can't think of a single reason why we shouldn't ride him from day 1. The franchise already sold its soul when drafting the kid - Might as well go all in and chew his ass up over the 4 years he's stuck with us. I know it's preseason, but you can already tell that he's heads and shoulders better than anyone we have carrying the rock.... And probably the best raw talent we've had in the backfield since Dillon.

 

[Cincyfan78]

Chris Smith has looked good, albeit against the 3rd stringers.

 

[Cincyfan78]

Camp leg.

Huber is old enough now to get a camp caddy so he doesn't have to waste his leg every time we want to practice punting.

Yeah, I know.

I just would figure of the things you'd like to see your starting punter do is kick from the endzone in pressure situations, and maybe nail a corner punt opportunity. Doesn't need to punt 5-6-7 times in a pre-season obviously.

 

[Yo Tee]

Why does AJ cause so much butthurt?

The dude is a good qb. He'll never make anything of himself here and we should have moved him when we could, but he's a solid qb.

He's started 3 games. Not enough field time to judge how good he's gonna be. People talk about him like he's the next Brady. It's kinda ridiculous.

 

[DanBengalfan]

well, it's like this. If you're trying to drive up the price of a stock, you talk about it's amazing potential.

He's been in a lot of big college games, you'll hear a lot about it. He had an opportunity, and even though he wasn't great, he didn't suck too bad either. Personally I think Cincinnati should just be satisfied with him as the backup QB.

 

[DanBengalfan]

Also, the Joe Mixon pick is looking brilliant so far.

good analysis above guys.

 

[Ickey Shuffle]

Mixon has great vision. That's the thing that stood out to me. And his resentment to going down because Hill always go down immediately off of those arm tackles.

 

[cincygrad]

He's started 3 games. Not enough field time to judge how good he's gonna be. People talk about him like he's the next Brady. It's kinda ridiculous.

Who talks about him like he's Brady? I'd say most fans are lukewarm on him at best. Tons of people hate him. He doesn't get nearly the hype of Jimmy G in New England.

 

[DanBengalfan]

Driskel is our Tebow.

sorry, I just haven't made any posts mentioning Tebow in some time and I thought I was going to explode.

 

[CrashDavisSports]

Too much padding in the middle of the field, poor tackling, poor pass rush on first team. Same old.

Offensive Line: Much better than I thought they would be after listening to training camp fodder.

Joe Mixon looked like Barry Sanders out there. Okay, I know that is not a fair comparison, just talking about his agility, strength and speed. He could make cuts and people miss without having to stop his feet from moving forward. He was always moving forward. Hill recently stops, trys to push a guy away or make him move, looks for another opening, and then begins moving again. By that time, a whole swarm of tacklers are around him.

I am excited as shit for Mixon. He looks like he has the potential to be better than Dillon.

Very impressed with the WR core, all of them that should make the team. Erikson didn't get much of a chance, but being the 7th WR on the roster and special teams ace, I am not real concerned.

Driskel looks like he could be a decent backup once McCarron is gone.

Pretty happy with the team overall. I expect the defense to get better, I expect the offensive line to be wind up being closer to training camp reports, but all in all, I can't imagine a team deeper than us from the skill positions:

QB, RB, WR, TE, CB

I like our DT's and our LB core as well, at least the starters. We will see how things play out. Decent first game.

Prediction: We wind up keeping Elliott, but when we cut Bullock he gets a new gig within a day of him being cut. Bullock has been very impressive. But Elliott has been just as impressive and he was a draft pick. I think this kicking competition in Elliott's rookie year could really help him develop into a great decade long kicker for us.

 

[Cincyfan78]

Too much padding in the middle of the field, poor tackling, poor pass rush on first team. Same old.

Offensive Line: Much better than I thought they would be after listening to training camp fodder.

Joe Mixon looked like Barry Sanders out there. Okay, I know that is not a fair comparison, just talking about his agility, strength and speed. He could make cuts and people miss without having to stop his feet from moving forward. He was always moving forward. Hill recently stops, trys to push a guy away or make him move, looks for another opening, and then begins moving again. By that time, a whole swarm of tacklers are around him.

I am excited as shit for Mixon. He looks like he has the potential to be better than Dillon.

Very impressed with the WR core, all of them that should make the team. Erikson didn't get much of a chance, but being the 7th WR on the roster and special teams ace, I am not real concerned.

Driskel looks like he could be a decent backup once McCarron is gone.

Pretty happy with the team overall. I expect the defense to get better, I expect the offensive line to be wind up being closer to training camp reports, but all in all, I can't imagine a team deeper than us from the skill positions:

QB, RB, WR, TE, CB

I like our DT's and our LB core as well, at least the starters. We will see how things play out. Decent first game.

Prediction: We wind up keeping Elliott, but when we cut Bullock he gets a new gig within a day of him being cut. Bullock has been very impressive. But Elliott has been just as impressive and he was a draft pick. I think this kicking competition in Elliott's rookie year could really help him develop into a great decade long kicker for us.

I'll say I thought the pass rush was decent enough, at least from the edges. I thought that the DT's didn't maintain their lanes well enough and allowed the QB's to step up in the pocket to avoid the edge rush too easily.

OL - Was what I think maybe we thought. Some really good plays (one play where Cedric blocked 2 guys to spring Hill on 3rd and 2) and some really bad plays (Ced whiffed on -2 yard run by Hill). But, decent enough across the line. Hopkins looked good at RG.

Mixon has the rare ability to not just make people miss, but then to run away from them in short order. As quick as he can hit the hole, he's going to help make the OL look better in the run game, and with that threat, will help the OL in the passing game as well.

 

[DanBengalfan]

could we transition Driskel to WR in order to keep him from waivers? he'll go on the practice squad most likely, which means some team could sign him if they have issues with their backup QB.

 

[CrashDavisSports]

They may go light somewhere else, keep 3 QB's and you will see guys exiting our roster that could be starters on some other teams. We are loaded at depth in a few positions this year, and some guys are going to get cut that suprises everyone.

Guys like Cox, Nickerson and Russell who could bump 2 or 3 year players off the roster. Then you have a slew of drafted players this year that is going to wind up kicking other guys to the curb like PJ Dawson, Flowers, Michael Johnson maybe? Perhaps Will Clarke? Maybe a Brandon Thompson or Gilberry?

I can see a potential lot of turnover on this roster this year with drafted players and undrafted players alike. I think we have enough v eteran leadership around, and we will start going after tons of raw potential on guys who are young/rookies to fill those backup slots more in an attempt to get younger and faster while keeping core starters in place.

Maybe before preseason is over, Jeremy Hill gets traded and we keep Peerman and Tra Carson instead as Mixon becomes the starter and Gio as the backup and passing threat that can line up at RB or WR.

I honestly do not know what is going to happen to this roster. I mean, hell what do we do with the kcker situation? Bullock has damn near made everything, made a 55 yarder that would have cleared from 60 easy. Elliott is the draft pick and the young guy who has done very well also, just not as good as Bullock. I guarantee so many fans are going to latch on to guys they like as preseason wears on, and the coaching staff is going to have to make tough cuts and someone is going to be butt hurt and start spouting off at the mouth.

Tough to be a coach on this team this year during preseason, unless you are Alexander and you are just trying to find 5 guys that can actually work together to protect the franchise.

 

[cincygrad]

I'd like to see them clean house of a few guys that haven't taken off..... Dawson needs to go. Clarke needs to go. I value Gilberry for depth, but if one of the younger guys can do his job he'll need to go. Maybe it is time to cut Michael Johnson, but I do worry about too much inexperience along the line (especially if a young guy does replace Gilberry). Flowers is also disposable.

I hear you on Bullock. He's been terrific in preseason. But he also has a history in this league and it's not perfect - He's missed in big places. I'm inclined to keep Elliott with the idea that Bullock or someone similar will probably be available should Elliot fail.

 

[Cincyfan78]

I have to agree with some of the cleaning house.

I think M.Johnson is probably a guy that I would cut at this point in his career. He's just not where he used to be, and I think the early experience can only benefit Willis and Lawson. Plus they have the kid they traded from Jacksonville who has flashed a lot.

I think Dawson ends up back on the PS where he was last year. And if they are really high on Nickerson, then they probably have to keep him or risk losing him off the PS. Especially considering that Mintor is only on a 1 year deal at MLB.

In order to keep some of these players, they will have to have a few "surprise" cuts somewhere. Johnson and Clarke, to me, are two guys they can probably get similar contributions from with other guys.

Unless Elliot tanks in the last 2 pre-season games, I think he's the guy who will stick. Younger, and his leg is still better than Bullock's, especially on kickoffs even though Bullock's kickoffs have gotten better.