Greetings From Cincy Jungle: Ask A Bengals Fan

It was an incredible draft considering the lockout.
Besides the beast that is AJ Green and Andy Dalton, who else from your draft class has shown up?

Our defense is playing at an EXTREMELY high level and we have been surprising all fans of the teams we play against. We do not know as of now who will be the starter for the game either (Kolb had a concussion recently) and perhaps Whiz will ride the hot hand (Skelton). I am really looking forward to seeing your young emerging team because it reminds me a lot of the Cardinals with youth coming together and performing very well. You guys have some nice draft picks in the future though (Carson deal comes to mind)….

I hope Skelton, Beanie and Fitz put up fantasy football numbers :D

Hopefully it will be a very interesting game to watch in which the Cardinals win!!! Hahaha but seriously, I hope it is a good game. Looking forward to see how PP does on AJ!

Green’s shoulder isn’t too bad. He returned to practice today and should be in the game on Saturday. Other than Green and Dalton, Jermaine Gresham, Andrew Hawkins and sometimes Jerome Simpson all have the capacity to have huge games.

Plus look at the defense. Guys like Thomas Howard, Nate Clements, Reggie Nelson, Carlos Dunlap (when he’s played) and so forth. It’s this defense that really dictates whether the Bengals play well or not.

Geno Atkins, starting DT next to the NT with the hair (Peko), is one of the top 5 DTs in the league. He’s undersized but in the good John Randle way. I believe he still leads the league in sacks by a DT and is a lot faster than most RBs think, had a hell of a game against Steven Jackson.

Carlos Dunlap is a monster at LDE but last week was his first game back from injury and it was a quiet one. However if he’s back to form you should hope whoever plays RT eats his Wheaties Saturday morning.

Thomas Howard was a Free Agent singing from Oakland and he’s been a vital cog for the defense. Excellent in coverage on the weak side, he’s a freak athlete at the LB position.

I see that Josh has added the other names on D as I’m writing this but these three are the real impact guys in my book. Reggie and Nate are the best DBs and both makes plays. Nate is a sure tackler who can come on the Blitz and is great in run support. Reggie leads the team in INTs and has turned into a very solid safety.

i didn’t know espn talked about anyone but tebow tebow tebow.

as for impact players on the active roster: gresham, leonard, simpson, and hawkins.
gresham (te) could be an probowl star on a big market team. in cincy, the coaches don’t use him enough. leonard is the all hands back with a clutch streak. again, the coaches don’t call his number enough. simpson is a talented wr but lacks technique and finish. hawkins is a young undrafted wr with a ton of heart. hawkins has a way of making plays happen when the bengals get him the ball.

as for green, its huge if he can’t play. dalton relies on tossing jump balls to green.

I wouldn’t say Dalton is inconsistent as much as he isn’t able to completely take a game over by himself yet. When the skill players around him elevate their game he has the skill to take advantage of it and win games. When the team let’s him down, his play reflects that. We hope that with time he’ll be able to take over games.

AJ wins that matchup. The only SEC corner that gave him fits was Joe Haden and AJ has gotten the better of Joe so far. Peterson is going to be an outstanding corner but from what I’ve seen of him his technique isn’t quite there and AJ has made corners with far better technique look silly.

even peyton manning had a rough rookie season. dalton is also on a rebuilding team. the bengals in 2011 were picked by most national media rags prior to game 1 of the season to go 0-16.

LT, Andrew Whitworth. He’s had a down year compared to 2010 but he’s a top 5 LT in my book, top 10 in many others’.

TE, Jermaine Gresham. You may know about him because he’s gotten a lot of play as a fantasy TE but if you don’t he’s a freak athletically. Kind of a meaner Jermichal Finley. Unfortunately the Bengals don’t find enough ways to get him the ball.

DT, Geno Atkins & DE, Carlos Dunlap. Mentioned both of them further up in the comments if you’d like to know more about them.

Little brother of Artrell (former Bengals and Patriots DB). When the football gets in his hands, he’s very shifty and slippy. He can turn a bubble screen that defenders immediately recognize into a 20-30 yard gain.

I’m going to say our FB, Chris Pressley. The difference in the running game is night and day without him. If you see one of your LBs hit the ground on a run play, I can almost assure you it was Pressley.

Also, another one of my personal favorite players is our FS Reggie Nelson (who is the guy in my avatar.) He has some lapses that make Bengals fans mad, but he can make some huge plays on defense- he’s a big hitter (though he has problems wrapping up) and when he’s in position he can make a lot of plays on the ball.

he ‘s out for the season though so cards fans won’t have to worry about simms.

geno atkins and carlos dunlap will have their names called sunday.

http://www.bengals.com/media-lounge/videos/Rey-Maualuga-in-the-Locker-Room-122011/e859e1b8-b5aa-4143-9de7-bda952ae20a2

We don’t have a great fanbase here in Cincy.

goes something like:

1) ticket prices
2) local economy
3) 21 years of mike brown
4) fair weather fans
5) winning
6) all of the above

i believe its prices, economy, and brown. others feel differently about it

Now that Mike Brown seems to have given up some control in that area we have steadily been drafting well..

for now, i’m in a holding pattern..

Dalton and Green look to be a great combo for years….

stick with traps, counters, screens, and the flat. make the bengals pay for over pursuing the ball. running into the teeth of the defensive line is not the way to win the game.

ray wasn’t the best, wasn’t the worst, was pretty solid. the bengals secondary in 88 gave themselves a nickname, the swat team. if you feel like living in the 80s for 3 minutes, you can catch a peek or two of ray in the who dey video.

A lot of people feel we were fleeced and those opinions have been exersterbated by the recent play of John Skelton.
I thought that trade was expensive but worth it. After watching DA attempt to play the game of football, I was willing to pay the price for any kind of improvement.
Personally I believe that once Kolb has an offseason under his belt he will be a very competent QB in the league. I think our offense is one that Kolb can excel in. But I have no doubts that Skelton could be something special. He is young and with time could be a very good QB.

Because there are many Skelton fans around Arizona and on this blog… But to me it is very hard to justify losing the 2nd round pick we gave up. Losing DRC was acceptable to me because we play a style of defense that is completely opposite of how DRC plays… If Kolb goes into next season not looking like a quality NFL starter then the trade was kind of a flop to me. We absolutely had to do something to address the QB situation but if he doesn’t even earn the starting job moving forward it will be giving up a lot for not much. The price for QBs nowadays are pretty steep though, I must say.

I (in my own mind) envisioned us ending up around 8-8 or 9-7 this season so we are right on pace for that. I expected Kolb to struggle in his first season regardless if this was supposed to be a win now trade. My decision on the trade will be fully made dependent on what Kolb does next season.

how about we add a conditional pick to be named later?

(yeah, wouldn’t make that deal either)

So it looks like we may have gotten an orange rather then another bad apple.

could be a sealed indictment

Don’t blow this opportunity to make the playoffs now! Oh, and that Simpson flip was RIDICULOUS.