Preseason Week 2 Chiefs @ Bengals

[MrCincinnati]

The first preseason game is in the books, and it was a successful one for the Bengals overall. Now comes in the second game in which the starters are going to play much longer. Usually the second preseason game the starters play till halftime, so now we will see a bigger sample size of this starting lineup.

Next up is the Chiefs, a team that has now went back to back years playing in the Divisional Round, now they are aiming for even higher expectations to win the Super bowl. Another good test for the Bengals to play a team that on paper has more talent than them.

GAMEDAY INFO

Game time will be on Saturday at 7 PM ET.  Here is a list of channels you can watch it on, if you live in one of these areas.

Carter Blackburn, Trent Green KCTV (CBS/5 - Kansas City) KMOV (CBS/4 - St. Louis) WIBW (CBS/13 - Topeka KS) KWCH (CBS/12 - Wichita KS) KOZL (My/27 - Springfield MO) KQTV (ABC/2 - St. Joseph MO) KODE (ABC/12 - Joplin MO) KMIZ (ABC/17 - Columbia MO) KTVO (CBS/3 - Kirksville MO) KPTM (FOX/42 - Omaha) KTUL (ABC/8 - Tulsa OK) KDSM (FOX/17 - Des Moines IA) KNWA (NBC/51 - Fayetteville AR) [tape delay]		Brad Johansen, Anthony Munoz WKRC (CBS/12 - Cincinnati) WKEF (ABC/22 - Dayton) WSYX (ABC/6 - Columbus) WDRB (FOX/41 - Louisville) WDKY (FOX/56 - Lexington) WLIO (FOX/8.2 - Lima OH)

The game will be replayed on NFL Network 2 times. Here are the following days and times.

Monday 8-21 / 10 AM ET
Thursday 8-24 / 4 AM ET

5 THINGS TO WATCH FOR

5. William Jackson’s Growth – Finally we got to see the Bengals 1st round pick from a year ago play in his first NFL Game, and his debut was a solid one. Jackson only gave up 1 catch against the Bucs, and he even was given one of the starting CB spots for that game. It seems he may of even moved ahead of Josh Shaw on the depth chart, as Shaw only played in the nickel for that game, while Jackson played pretty much all his snaps as a starting CB. If he keeps playing this well in the preseason, he may find himself in the nickel spot for week 1 when it’s all said and done.

 

4. The DL Talent Pool – I was looking for which guys would make an impact in the first game, and it was the rookies who passed the eyeball test. Willis, Lawson, and Glasgow all had good games, but especially Willis who could be on the rise to possibly take a starting role from the underachieving Michael Johnson. Billings and Sims appear to still be battling for the starting NT job, as Billings did struggle in his first game. As for the final DL spots, at the moment Chris Smith and DeShawn Williams appear to have the leg up after making a good first impression in the last game. Hardison, Gilberry, Thompson and Tupoh appear to still be in the mix at the moment, but especially Hardison a guy who is on most projected 53 man rosters needs to step it up. Clarke may of already sealed his fate so I’m counting him out at the moment, but despite that the competition is still very hot.

 

3. Key Players on the OL – Usually I’m looking at the entire OL as a whole with how weak this group is, but there are only 2 players that I really want to see at the moment. First is Trey Hopkins, a guy who started out as someone fighting for one of the final OL spots appears to now be a safe lock at this point. He started at RG and managed to hold his own against the Bucs, and there appears to be more behind this reason than we though. At first it appeared that Hopkins only got the start because of Andre Smith’s injury, but it turns out Smith was a healthy scratch and the coaches simply picked who they though the better man was. This makes the OL picture even more interesting, because now guys like Westerman and Winston who were thought to be roster locks are no longer guaranteed to make the team. Now some of these players must fend off guys like Dielham and Redmond for potentially the final spot, which may or may not even be there if the Bengals only choose to go with 8 guys. The second guy I’m watching though is Ogbuehi for reason’s we all know. My expectations for him at this point are so low, that maybe there’s a possibility now with Hopkins at RG, we could see Smith move at RT, and Fisher at LT some point in the season.

 

2. The Jeff Driskel Show – There’s only that one guy that comes out of nowhere in the preseason, and this year it appears to be Jeff Driskel. A guy the Bengals picked up off of waivers from the 49ers last year and kept stashed on their 53 man all year now is paying dividends early. Driskel looked like the Bengals MVP in their first game and played pretty much the entire second half. That may not be the case in the 2nd game, due to the fact that Dalton should play the entire 1st half, and McCarron getting time in the 3rd quarter most likely, but this is an interesting problem to have right now. If Driskel continues to play this well, McCarron becomes a lot more expendable and then this way they don’t have to risk another team picking Driskel off waivers, as he would most likely be stashed on the practice squad anyway. McCarron likely won’t be traded though, and I would prefer to see how Driskel holds up in a regular season game (if it happens) before I make my judgement on if he’s a longterm backup or not.

 

1. Mixon and Hill – It seems everyday there’s always some new report on Hill and Mixon for who’s going to get more playing time. At the moment it seems like Hill will be staying as the starter regardless of his performance, and Mixon finishing each game when it’s all said and done. In their first game, both players were very impressive against the Bucs. While Mixon had better stats than Hill, Hill had the benefit of playing against starters, which Mixon did not in his case. Mixon should see much more playing time against a starting defense the second time around, and if he performs well the coaches will have another tough decision to make. Deciding on which guy should start the season will be a game changer on if this team is a playoff contender or not. At the end of the day Mixon is the obvious choice, but do the Bengals really want to put the pressure on a rookie RB right off the bat?

[theJ]

5 minutes ago, MrCincinnati said:

1. Mixon and Hill – It seems everyday there’s always some new report on Hill and Mixon for who’s going to get more playing time. At the moment it seems like Hill will be staying as the starter regardless of his performance, and Mixon finishing each game when it’s all said and done. In their first game, both players were very impressive against the Bucs. While Mixon had better stats than Hill, Hill had the benefit of playing against starters, which Mixon did not in his case. Mixon should see much more playing time against a starting defense the second time around, and if he performs well the coaches will have another tough decision to make. Deciding on which guy should start the season will be a game changer on if this team is a playoff contender or not. At the end of the day Mixon is the obvious choice, but do the Bengals really want to put the pressure on a rookie RB right off the bat?

Along with this, i'm kind of assuming Gio is going to get a little PT as well.  How are they going to split up PT among 3 backs?  That may be the most interesting thing here.

[INbengalfan]

1 hour ago, MrCincinnati said:

3. Key Players on the OL – Usually I’m looking at the entire OL as a whole with how weak this group is, but there are only 2 players that I really want to see at the moment. First is Trey Hopkins, a guy who started out as someone fighting for one of the final OL spots appears to now be a safe lock at this point. He started at RG and managed to hold his own against the Bucs, and there appears to be more behind this reason than we though. At first it appeared that Hopkins only got the start because of Andre Smith’s injury, but it turns out Smith was a healthy scratch and the coaches simply picked who they though the better man was. This makes the OL picture even more interesting, because now guys like Westerman and Winston who were thought to be roster locks are no longer guaranteed to make the team. Now some of these players must fend off guys like Dielham and Redmond for potentially the final spot, which may or may not even be there if the Bengals only choose to go with 8 guys. The second guy I’m watching though is Ogbuehi for reason’s we all know. My expectations for him at this point are so low, that maybe there’s a possibility now with Hopkins at RG, we could see Smith move at RT, and Fisher at LT some point in the season.

I think Andre is now destined to be the backup.  Great news.  I haven't trusted him since 2013, or whenever he was pouting about having to re-sign here because he had no outside interest.  The guy whose spot Hopkins is stealing from right in front of his face is Winston.   He looked done the other day.  Westerman looked extremely aggressive.  If I post this in enough threads, maybe it will happen......Move Westerman to LG and Boling to C.

[Beck Bristow]

I like our backup interior lineman more than the starters.

[INbengalfan]

10 hours ago, Beck Bristow said:

I like our backup interior lineman more than the starters.

With the exception of Boling, I totally agree.

[ochocinco4pres]

Great job again with the post. 

[TheVillain112]

2 hours ago, INbengalfan said:

With the exception of Boling, I totally agree.

I thought Westerman played well, but so did Hopkins.  If anything I'd like to see a starting Interior with Boling-Westerman-Hopkins.  Or Boling-TJ Johnson-Hopkins.  Heck, any combination without Bodine in there as the starting center...

[ochocinco4pres]

I didn't notice much from Westerman which could be a good thing. 

[Johnny Nix]

Couple things i will be watching for:

- Continued development of the offensive line. I thought Hopkins, Westerman, and Perkins all looked decent out there. Want to see them against stronger competition.

- Want to see the first team offense actually get into the endzone, which some forget was a huge problem last year.

- Want to see the defense dominate like they are reportedly doing to our offense in practice. Is our offense just not good? Cover the middle of the field, don't let opposing offenses just march down the field. 

- Will be watching the defensive line closely. Want to see how Billings, Glasgow, Hardison, Smith, Willis, and Lawson look especially (hopefully Lawson can go)

- Kicking competition hopefully keeps going strong.

[TheVillain112]

1 hour ago, ochocinco4pres said:

I didn't notice much from Westerman which could be a good thing. 

On one of Mixons runs he created a nice hole.  Strength is what he's known for.  If anything we should think about using him in our heavy set packages...

[INbengalfan]

3 hours ago, TheVillain112 said:

I thought Westerman played well, but so did Hopkins.  If anything I'd like to see a starting Interior with Boling-Westerman-Hopkins.  Or Boling-TJ Johnson-Hopkins.  Heck, any combination without Bodine in there as the starting center...

Check my post four above yours that I quoted.  I really want to see LT - Westerman- Boling -Hopkins-Fisher

[TheVillain112]

33 minutes ago, INbengalfan said:

Check my post four above yours that I quoted.  I really want to see LT - Westerman- Boling -Hopkins-Fisher

Definitely missed it.  So my problem with Boling at Center (Would rather have TJ Johnson or Westerman) is that Boling is 6'5.  Dalton is on the shorter end for QBs, and having a 6'5 center in front of him isn't going to help IMO.  But certainly worth trying...

[MrCincinnati]

On 8/14/2017 at 6:36 PM, theJ said:

Along with this, i'm kind of assuming Gio is going to get a little PT as well.  How are they going to split up PT among 3 backs?  That may be the most interesting thing here.

Not sure if they should let Gio play at all in the preseason, even if he's practicing just fine. Its not worth the risk IMO.

[MrCincinnati]

22 hours ago, INbengalfan said:

I think Andre is now destined to be the backup.  Great news.  I haven't trusted him since 2013, or whenever he was pouting about having to re-sign here because he had no outside interest.  The guy whose spot Hopkins is stealing from right in front of his face is Winston.   He looked done the other day.  Westerman looked extremely aggressive.  If I post this in enough threads, maybe it will happen......Move Westerman to LG and Boling to C.

This might sound out of the box, but I think if Boling should move anywhere it should be LT. Bodine has been bad, but I certainly like him more than Ogbuehi. I know its not fair to give up on Ogbuehi yet, but I literally have 0 confidence in him and if he stays where he's at its going to be a massive trainwreck.

Lets also remember Whitworth was the starting LG at one point and when he moved to LT the rest was history. Boling had playing time as an LT at Georgia if I recall.

So maybe the OL should be: Boling, Westerman, Bodine (or TJ Johnson), Hopkins, Fisher.

But if they want Andre Smith in the fold, then Fisher is the next best option at LT.

[Beck Bristow]

I think I suggested this after Whit left.  I would trust Boling at LT more at the moment than anyone on our roster.