Bengals Fall To Saints 17-7: The Good, The Bad and The Ulgy

The Bengals first pre-season game is officially in the books and while it was a sloppy affair, the team showed promise. Here is the Good, The Bad and the Ugly from the first pre-season game: The Good: - The starting offensive line played solid (not stellar but solid). Kyle Cook reminded Carson Palmer what a pocket looked like without a DT in his face. It was a vast improvement over last season when the O-line was manhandled from the first snap of the pre-season. - Bernard Scott flashed burst and the potential to be a breakaway sidekick for Cedric Benson. Benson held his own in limited action aside from his fumble. - The starting defense held Drew Brees in check and was esp. strong after the Saints first drive started inside the 10 thanks to Benson's turnover. (Brees TD came after several Bengal starters had left the game). - Good run defense throughout the game (2.9 ypc). - Chris Crocker showed leadership and is proving his strong play in 2008 was not a fluke. - Carson looked healthy completing 7/11 passes for 133 yards. - JT O'Sullivan was a pleasant surprise completing 9/11 including 2 on the money passes to Chris Henry. - Speaking of Henry he had a nice game with 7 catches for 100 yards. - There were not any sacks but there signs of a pass rush. - The offense took a shot down field to start the game. (a rare sight the past 2 years). - Michael Johnson showed his potential deflecting a pass and was esp. impressive collapsing the Saints O-line on 3rd and short. - Jerome Simpson showed playmaking potential prior to the final intereception. (failing to catch the ill-fated screen on his own goal line was a smart or lucky play). - Excellent hustle to track down Jonathan Vilma on the two first half turnovers. (kudos to Coles and Caldwell) - I like Maurice Purify, here's to hoping he is featured more in the remaining pre-season games. The Bad: - The offense dominated the 1st half from a yardage standpoint yet had just 7 points to show for it. Overall 379 yards of offense and just 7 points for the game. - If there was a starting offensive lineman who struggled it was Andrew Whitworth. He does not look like a left tackle (He is a good left guard but an average at best LT). Why do the Bengals keep trying to make good guards into tackles. (Hint: Philadelphia is looking to play Stacy Andrews at RG). - The 2nd string offensive line struggled esp. Gus Parrish.....gghhhh - Zero sacks. - For as good as Michael Johnson looked at times, he also showed his famous inconsistency as he took a few plays off in the 2nd quarter. - Extremely sloppy play at times highlighted by 7 penalties. - Two bad turnovers by the starting offense. Palmer's pass to Caldwell was an extremely poor throw or bad decision whatever you want to call it. - The secondary depth esp. at corner did little to inspire confidence. - Bratkowski called a screen pass on 3rd down from his own 5 yard line. If Jerome Simpson had caught the pass it might have been a safety. - Speaking of Simpson, after a strong second half, he gave his detractors ammunition with the dropped pass which led to a Saints interception short circuiting yet another Bengal drive. The Ugly: - The Saints and Bengals each missed chip shot field goals in the first half. - The interception by Palmer was a terrible play which turned out surprisingly well considering the circumstances.