Cincinnati traveled to the New Meadowlands to take on the New York Jets. They left the venue on the back of a 27-7 defeat in one of the few preseason games to finish with a scoreline exactly in line with how you would expect a regular season meeting to go.
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The Jets will be contenders again in a strong AFC East, if just because Rex Ryan guaranteed it … again. The Bengals are just trying to steady the ship after the departures of two players considered the faces of their franchise for the past several years – Chad OchoCinco and Carson Palmer.
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Andy Dalton struggled in his first outing in Week 1, let’s check in with how he fared here, and anything else we learned. It’s worth remembering, or noting if you didn’t already know, that this game was played in a steady downpour, so we’re going to give some slack to guys with drops and fumbles and the like over the course of this, and instead focus elsewhere.
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Cincinnati – Three Things of Note
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● We’ll get to Andy Dalton in a moment, but the first thing of note is that the Bengals are still not finished with their odd alignments up front. They had one of the more bizarre collections of unbalanced lines and six-linemen packages in the league in the past few seasons and they showed a couple of them early in the game.
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● Andre Smith appears to be finally entrenched as the right tackle for the Bengals after they have had Dennis Roland and Anthony Collins there as well as Smith since he was drafted. Smith had a good battle in particular with Jets D-lineman Mike DeVito in this game, and he looked much better than I can remember him looking as a pro. He was solid at the point of attack in the run game but as also fine in pass protection, keeping his QB clean except for one occasion where he found himself unable to contain a bull rush from DeVito. The Bengals invested a lot of money in Smith and were widely ridiculed for it given the images from his pro-day workout, but don’t forget Smith has a lot of talent. Cincinnati would be in good shape if he maintains this kind of play in 2011.
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● Andy Dalton didn’t have a great day… again. He threw a pair of interceptions. One of them was on a slant route tipped by his WR into the hands of Eric Smith. The ball was a touch high, but that one was on the receiver, not Dalton. The reason I mention it was high is because that became a trend for Dalton in the heavy rain in this game. At least four passes sailed on him and one of those resulted in another ugly interception that was high and wide of his intended target. He did make a couple of nice throws, though, and perhaps more importantly his reads looked to be correct most of the time. The Bengals just need to hope it doesn’t rain during the season.
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New York Jets – Three Things of Note
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● Wayne Hunter has a lot of pressure on him as he replaces Damien Woody in 2011 at right tackle. Woody went out as one of the league’s better right tackles despite his advanced years, and he leaves some pretty big shoes to fill. Hunter will face much stiffer tests than this game where he was largely facing Robert Geathers, but still, he performed well here. The run game isn’t his issue, but he was almost perfect in pass protection, surrendering just a single pressure from his spot.
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● If you were wondering what Plaxico Burress has left, this game would indicate it’s quite a bit. Burress looked in shape and ready for action, making a few nice plays on the day including laying out for his touchdown catch at the end of the half. Plaxico is a physical specimen and poses a major match up problem for a defense. With back shoulder throws and fade routes, he can give the Jets something they don’t have with the rest of their receivers.
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● Kyle Wilson to me still doesn’t look like a first round cornerback. I think he’s not helped by playing inside and not on the edge – it’s a different world in there and it’s not for everybody – but he always seems a half a step slow to the play. Contrast that with someone like Darelle Revis who always seems a half a step ahead of the play and it looks even worse. Obviously I’m not expecting him to be like Revis, but when you compare him to Joe Haden or Devin McCourty (selected two spots ahead of him), you still see a major difference. If the Jets allow Revis to track receivers into the slot this season, maybe WIlson will get more time out on the edge.
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So, as it turns out I haven’t talked much about either team’s defense, but there was a lot to like from both on that side of the ball. Nonetheless, each team here is likely to go as far as their quarterback can take them. The Jets need Sanchez to iron out the mistakes he is still prone to making, and the Bengals need to find a way to get anything out of Dalton, or find a Plan B, quickly.
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