Straight up, I hate NFL preseason games. Deplore them. Wish the worst on ‘em. Aside from being a money grab for the NFL and team owners, preseasons are nothing more than Injury Row – places where valuable football player’s seasons get snuffed out in the blink of a poked eye.
Basically, the three remaining preseason games are 90 percent about making money, and 10 percent about regular season prep. Problem is, several ACLs and Achilles Tendons will suffer along the way. Surgeries and rehabs will be scheduled. Injury Reserve paperwork will be processed.
And the worst part is, despite what coaches say about all that fierce competition at the various positions, going in they’re 99.99% sure who’s making the team, and who isn’t. So, to me, the only real question about Bengals Preseason 2010 is … Jerome Simpson.
Yep, that’s it. Jerome Simpson.
Trust me, Bengals coaches already know the final roster … except for Simpson. Yep, this preseason is all about Simpson … and I say he makes it. So there. Done. Fineeeeto. Cool … this dreadful preseason is over. Woohoo!
Damn, if it were only that easy.
After watching Simpson in two preseason games, I am again reminded of his lure. The obvious natural talent. The athleticism. The hands. In fact, I thought he was one of the few bright spots last week in The Can’ton Collapse. Okay, he didn’t put up big stats in that game, but each time O’Sullivan grossly over- or under-through him, Simpson was open. To me, last night’s sweet 21-yard reception in a 33-24 thumping of the Denver Broncos seals the deal.
I say Simpson’s in.
The other encouraging event was the OL play. Not steller, yet … but at least we’re not sickened they got paid for last night. To their credit, the OL provided QB Carson Palmer with some time in the pocket … and when he’s got time, he looks good.
Palmer’s 12-15 night for 105 is just what the doc ordered … it’s obvious he’ll only be as good this season as the OL lets him.
Other encouraging signs last night were: Rookie WR Jordan Shipley, who’s teasing us with some serious Wes Welker-like play. Bernard Scott continues to prove he may be the Bengals best-ever 6th-round Draft pick. And my boy Jermaine Gresham is giving us peaks at life with a real TE threat. Finally.
But the defense, to me anyway, has been a major disappointment … gotta say we’re a little concerned here at Oddbounces. So far, this is no No. 4-ranked D.
So it’s on to preseason game 3. Get the stretchers ready.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
O was better and the D was worse than a week ago. I listened to some of the game on radio, and there was one name I must have heard a dozen times: Geno Atkins. (But Shipley’s still my new favorite Bengal). JTO looked surprisingly like a Bengals’ QB from the Lost Decade of The 90′s. Fugly!
In summary: two down, three to go. Yawn.
Shipley and Gresham…the real Batman and Robin. They’ll give Palmer everything he needs except a consistently good offensive line. If the OL is even half-decent, Palmer’s number should improve a great deal.
Really hard for me to judge the D in preseason. The schemes are usually so vanilla with the exception of the occasional blitz. The one worry for me seems to be the lack of separation by the D-line (might just be the motor in preseason isn’t fully cranked) and the lost step or two of Dhani.
Good points, Mike. When your starting point is so low (like with the offense), it’s easy to see any bit of progress. But with the D, it’s much harder to see improvement as it’s minimal (though not insignificant). The D is much harder to evaluate at this point in the fake season. And with Michael Johnson coming on strong, it’s not an “if,” but a “when” this season Rey Mauluga replaces Dhani Jones in the middle.
Mike,
Fully agree on Dhani … not too impressive this summer, yet. Prob is, I’m not sure Rey is ready to take over the middle. My gut says no. DEs and MLB are the two areas on D that concern me the most.
I’m not too worried about the defense. If the 1′s are still playing like this after preseason week 5, maybe I’ll be concerned. But not yet. Our biggest weak spot is probably still the pass rush.
Dear Snot (man, that sounds cool…you in a punk band?). The pass rush has all the potential to be good (at least we outperformed the Ravens pass rush last year), but there are some question marks. Inconsistency (Geathers, you listening?) and injuries (Odom) being two culprits. But I love what Geno Atkins is bringing to the table. And Michael Johnson as a hybrid is going to produce some surprising pressure I think. Anyway, the potential’s there, but we just haven’t had a season where we’ve been able to put it all together.