NFL Preseason 2018

[nrc]

It's that time of year again! Hope springs eternal and we're all in first place.

I have no idea what to expect from the Bengals this season. They've addressed most of the position needs but with so many new coordinators it's a question of how well things will gel.

The Browns have kicked off their annual battle to achieve relevance and I must admit that I'm a little concerned. We'll see.

I loved seeing Belichek dealing with a reporter trying to re-hash the Super Bowl. We're on to this season.

[WickerBill]

The Broncos have all sorts of talent, but a bad head coach and a bad defensive coordinator.

7-9, even with that potentially fearsome defense.

[TravelGal]

The Chargers are doing nothing, which is par for the course. What a waste Spanos is. Wish they could wrest the team from him. They don't even have the wit to sign Gates, who is better than the players they've already *lost* to injury. :shakehead: I guess I'll have to become a Rams fan. At least they will have hats and shirts that match this year. :laugh:

[Insomniac]

Patriots still have the SB/Malcolm Butler cloud over them. Edelman is suspended 4 games. Amendola is in Miami. Cooks is in LA. There's a lot of names to throw the ball too, but will any work out? Also, the QB is going to be 41, the team traded the QB who lit a fire, and imagine that, as soon as Brady doesn't have to worry about his backup, he isn't around for the offseason again. And the defense isn't even better on paper. So 12-4, AFC East champs, AFC title game? ;)

[stroker]

I'm looking forward to Green Bay possibly having a running game this year...

[nrc]

Patriots still have the SB/Malcolm Butler cloud over them. Edelman is suspended 4 games. Amendola is in Miami. Cooks is in LA. There's a lot of names to throw the ball too, but will any work out? Also, the QB is going to be 41, the team traded the QB who lit a fire, and imagine that, as soon as Brady doesn't have to worry about his backup, he isn't around for the offseason again. And the defense isn't even better on paper. So 12-4, AFC East champs, AFC title game? ;)

Belichick is molding a new team from his navel lint. Expect another AFC title.

[nrc]

Beautiful night for some football last night.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DkN0TI1W4AALWDI.jpg

[nrc]

I was pretty encouraged by what I saw from the Bengals last night. You would expect the Bears to be a bit ahead of the Bengals, having started their preseason a week earlier. But the Bengals starters pretty much dominated the first quarter on both sides. The offense looked crisp and the revamped offensive line looked much improved.

The fact that last year's offensive line essentially came in later and still did poorly against the Bear's backups tells you how bad things were up front last year.

The rookies pretty much lived up to expectations. Billy Price appears to be an immediate upgrade at Center and Hubbard looked disruptive at defensive end but he plaid a lot and ran out of steam pretty early.

This gives me hope that this team might be pretty good this year.

[nrc]

The Bengals pulled out a win against Dallas last night but it certainly didn't lend encouragement to development of the rehashed offensive line. When they substituted in the "bookend" tackles they drafted a few years back (who are now backups/projects) things got really ugly. Here's hoping some decent tackles become available before the season.

Things look better on the defensive side. Although the Cowboys sat Ezekiel Elliott the Bengals starting rotation didn't leave many running lanes and some of the young guys were impressively disruptive.

Today the Bengals cut starting safety George Iloka. Ian Rapoport characterized it as a purely money move (read "cheap Bengals") but the Bengals have already drafted Iloka's replacement in rookie 2nd rounder Jessie Bates. Bates has played well so far but only time will tell if he's ready to replace Iloka. The truth is that the Bengals are eating "dead money" (which they hate) on this deal in order to free cap space for two Pro-Bowl players who are up for renewal - Dunlap and Atkins. If they get at least one of those done it's a win. If they get both done then they've crushed it.

[TravelGal]

I watched Raiders/Rams for a while but what a mess. I got to the end of the first half and couldn't take it any more.

Then I switched to my recording of the Giants/Saints. Much better. At least it looked like they came ready to play. Even better that the GMen won. GManFan would be happy. It's an NFL channel on Spectrum cable that shows quite a few of the games. The only problem is, since it's a recording of the game, during what would have been half time, they do a current update ALL the games that were played. That means you get to see the highlights of the game you're actually watching. So much for suspense of how it turns out. LOL.

I also caught some of a Chargers game for old time's sake. They still looked like old time. I know it's just pre-season but I hope Rivers has made his peace with never winning a Super Bowl.

[nrc]

Well that's a wrap on the Bengals preseason. The did manage to extend both Geno Atkins and Carlos Dunlap which few Bengals skeptics would have bet on. The defensive line has the potential wreck havoc this season.

The offense could be good if the offensive line can perform as well has they have in their good moments during preseason and the new bits they've added stay healthy. Their "bookend" tackle draft picks from a few years ago (now in backup duty) were hard pressed to hold up against third stringers toward the end of the Indy game. :irked:

[TravelGal]

I watched six games. Rams + X, 2 games. Chargers + X, 2 games. Giants + X, 2 games. Of those 3, Rams might have a chance. Chargers, good grief. Giants, probably better than 3 and 13. The only thing that stood out was that loosey goosey laughter and camaraderie on the sideline of the Chargers. Either they are delusional or they are building something. Time will tell. Jets might be fun to watch this year but the only team of the six I saw that impressed me was New Orleans. Even their subs seemed ready to play.

Where's our commish? Are we back at PoolHost for another go? It's more fun if more people play. You are guaranteed not to be last as long as I'm in. :D