| 12 September 2011
“If you don’t expect too much from me, you might not be let down.”
That line from the 90’s pop band Gin Blossoms best describes the 2011 Cincinnati Bengals from my vantage point. Expectations couldn’t have been much lower entering Sunday’s season-opener against the Cleveland Browns. (Well, I suppose they could have been lower – I did pick the team to go 6-10 this season, not 0-16.)
However, the Bengals – underdogs by 6.5 points – went up to Cleveland and topped their in-state rival 27-17. Really, the Browns lost the game more than the Bengals won it, but we’ll take it. Considering how easy the schedule is this season – especially early – Cincinnati might surprise some folks this year.
Then again, it all goes back to the low expectations. The Bengals might be better than a lot of us thought this year, but they’re still a bad football team. Let’s not kid ourselves. It’s just the Browns are also bad, despite what many of their delusional fans wanted to believe. Browns fans were predicting playoffs this year, but they received a cold dose of reality on Sunday.
Anyway, as for the positives for the Bengals, there were several:
- Reggie Nelson is the best safety the team has had in years. It’s still unbelievable that the Bengals traded journeyman cornerback David Jones to the Jacksonville Jaguars for him last year. It’s not often Mike Brown and his staff do something intelligent, but they fleeced the Jags in that deal. Nelson is playing like a first-round pick, which is what he was in 2007 coming out of the University of Florida. He’s good in coverage, but most-especially does an excellent job in run support. I love everything about his game.
- Defensive end Carlos Dunlap is flat-out a game-changer. Despite missing the entire preseason with an injury, he was unblockable at times against the Browns. It’s going to be fun watching him all season as he tries to top the 9.5 sacks he recorded as a rookie last year. The Bengals certainly found a keeper in the second round of the 2010 draft.
- Defensive tackle Geno Atkins – taken in the fourth round of the ’10 draft – is impressive every time I see him. You don’t see many D-tackles that are good pass-rushers in the NFL, but the Bengals have one in Atkins. He’s extremely quick for a 300-pounder.
- Right tackle Andre Smith might be finally rounding into form. Wait, maybe I shouldn’t use “rounding” when describing the portly Smith, but you get the point. The 2009 first-round pick who many wrote off as a bust (myself included) played well against the Browns and it appears as though he will be at least a solid NFL player if he can avoid the injury bug for a change.
- Jermaine Gresham is proving he’s one of the best tight ends in the league. I was outspoken that the Bengals should have taken Dez Bryant last year, but everything worked out well. The Bengals got their tight end of the future and then found their big-time WR of the future this year in A.J. Green. By the way, thanks go out to Joe Haden and the entire Browns defense who fell asleep on the go-ahead 41-yard touchdown pass from Bruce Gradkowski to Green. I’ve never seen anything like that in the NFL. You would think if any team would do something like that, it would be the Bengals. Damn glad it wasn’t.
- Andy Dalton looked sharp before leaving the game at the end of the first half due to a hand/wrist injury. It sounds like he will be back for this Sunday’s game at Denver. And that’s good news. While Gradkowski does have the ability to hit wide-open 6-foot-4 receivers when the entire opposing defense takes an in-game nap, he struggles in most other situations. Dalton is the QB of the future and he’s the best QB on the team right now. It’s good news that his injury does not appear to be serious.
- The Bengals have one hell of a kicking/punting tandem with Mike Nugent and Kevin Huber. The latter has been especially impressive since the start of training camp.
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