Now that that's taken care of, first things first. I'm going to go ahead and set the over/unders for Monday night's game at Lambeau.
- Mentions of Brett Favre: 50
- Choruses of boos for Aaron Rodgers: 10
- Mentions of the Bengals' now-nonexistent legal woes: 3
That should be good for now.
Now that the important stuff is out of the way, let's get down to the nitty gritty, shall we? Your 2008 Cincinnati Bengals are going to be on the field in real, actual unis, and we are going to have the opportunity to watch them play an actual preseason football game. Yes, I know that is somewhat of an oxymoron, but for now it's all we've got, am I right?
There will be several areas that are key for the Bengals' hopes this year that we should be able to form some ideas about Monday night, some of which I'll list for you now.
~
Rudi Johnson's and T.J. Houshmandzadeh's hamstrings...are they more of an issue than is being communicated?
Rudi was hampered greatly by hammy problems last year, and T.J. had chronic problems with his hamstrings early in his career. Both have been missing work most or all of this past week of camp due to hammy pulls. In the event that either of these two players' injuries either a.) leak into the season or b.) show up as problems later on in the season, this week will give us our first look at other options the club has to replace their production.
At running back, I'm certain we'll get a good long look at Chris Perry. Finally healthy, the only question in the back of my mind is when he will tire out as he isn't back to the level of endurance we saw in 2005 yet. After Perry is done for the night, it will be the DeDe Dorsey and James Johnson show, which means we'll get to see Dorsey try not to put the ball on the carpet and many of us will get our first long look at Johnson, who has had a tremendous spring/summer. If James Johnson wants to make the club, Monday night is his biggest chance at doing so.
Corner and Safety depth.
We all know how solid Leon Hall and Jonathan Joseph are, and Joseph has been lights out so far this spring and summer. How long will they be in the game, though? I wonder if Mike Zimmer will leave his starters in longer than we've been accustomed to in an effort to gauge how far the defense has progressed under his tutelage and how far the unit has progressed as a whole from the 27th-ranked mess we saw under Bresnahan last year.
Once he does pull the starters, it will be the younger players' chance to shine and make the squad. Kyries Hebert, Corey Lynch, Simeon Castille and David Jones will all be in my spotlight.
Ethan Kilmer has Monday night and three more preseason games to show that he's still worthy of the 53 man roster, and Jerrid Gaines should have a chance Monday night to show the Bengals made the right move by dumping Jonathan Zenon and bringing him back.
The only (and I mean ONLY) plus with Ndukwe currently being out is that someone else will take over his snaps with the second team. We know what we have with Duke, we have someone who had every bit of the chance to take Dexter Jackson's starting job come the regular season opener. We will now get the chance to see some of the players we've been hearing so much about in Corey Lynch and Kyries Hebert.
My money is on Corey Lynch pulling in a pick and cementing his spot on the club, perhaps making Herana-Daze Jones expendable. David Jones is already set at third corner, but Simeon Castille has made a big push of his own this offseason and training camp, and if he can make some noise on special teams they may have to find a spot for him. Maybe it'll be Deltha O'Neal's spot as the fouth corner. Deltha has assumed the role as #1 punt returner, but I have a hard time believing his salary is worth a return specialist when there is this kind of surplus of young talent on the squad. Remember, James Johnson is a skilled kickoff returner as well that has been asked if he'd be willing to return punts.
Keith Rivers, large and in charge running with the 2nd team.
Rivers' bid to unseat Brandon Johnson who has taken Rivers' job at starting WILL backer starts Monday night in earnest. I really have high hopes for this kid being coached by Pro Bowl backer manufacturer Jeff FitzGerald. I can't wait to see him on the field.
We all know how we're looking on the offensive line currently.
When you have an All-Pro right tackle stuck behind a young stud like Stacey Andrews, you're looking pretty good. I hope we'll see the Jurassic Line of Levi, Whitworth, Bobbie, Andrews and Anderson at some point, but other than that we pretty much know what we're going to be looking like on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball if you've been paying attention this spring. Kirkendall of CincyJungle.com put it this way a week or so ago: If the Bengals' offensive line stays healthy this year, they could have the best line in football. High praise, but valid in my opinion. Now whether or not my opinion holds up on the court of the gridiron? Monday night will be our first opportunity to see.
Ben Freaking Utecht.
I cannot wait to see this guy in action. Some have said that there is a reason he never supplanted Dallas Clark in Indy, some have said that he's a blocking tight end (I've only read that once because it's a complete fallacy), some have said he won't make that much of a difference in the passing game.
I suppose I'll just put it this way. When Carson Palmer has a 6'6" reliable receiving tight end on the field who can also block and converted 71% of his receptions last year into first downs, my first inclination will be to say "It's on." Palmer and Utecht have been putting in a lot of time after hours, and I expect it to pay off. A quarterback of Palmer's caliber could make me look good catching the ball, and now he has a 6'6" target to go to when the play calls for it or when the called play goes in the crapper and he needs to check down.
We'll call it a plus.
The "Puppies."
I can't wait until the second-string defense hits the field Monday night, so I can finaly get a look at Pat Sims and Big Jason Shirley hitting linemen and not tackling dummies. Zimmer likes them, I'm fairly certain I will also.
Ben Coats.
With Jeremi Johnson still rocking the Jenny Craig, we'll get to see Ben Coats as the first-string fullback. He blew up Rashad Jeanty in the Oklahoma drill a couple of weeks ago, which is saying something because Jeanty was one of the few solid tacklers we had around last year. Go get 'em, Ben.
~
All in all, even though is is the preseason and the first preseason game to boot, I am very, very excited to see the 2008 version of my favorite sports team in action. We should get some very valuable information and a pretty good indication of what has or has not improved from last year Monday night, and that is a very good thing.
Oh, I almost forgot. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE TACKLE. That is all.
Sincerely,
A Pragmatic Bengals Fan
P.S. I almost forgot what I'm looking forward to perhaps most of all, namely the decline of special teams 15-yard fouls on coverage by 300%.
2 comments:
Nice site.
Who Dey
http://www.whodeyfans.com
Thanks, man! Who dey! On my way to whodeyfans.com to check it out!
Post a Comment