CINCINNATI BENGALS (7-9)
New faces: LT Cordy Glenn
Youth Dion Phaneuf Jersey , RT Bobby Hart, C Billy Price, LB Preston Brown, S Jessie Bates, DE Sam Hubbard.
Key losses: QB AJ McCarron, C Russell Bodine
Milan Lucic Jersey Kids , CB Adam “Pacman” Jones, RB Jeremy Hill, LB Kevin Minter.
Strengths: Playmakers at every spot on offense, especially receiver with A.J. Green, John Ross, Tyler Boyd and Josh Malone. Second-year RB Joe Mixon is dual
threat to run or catch
Michael Grabner Jersey , as is veteran Giovani Bernard. QB Andy Dalton coming off subpar year after getting little time to throw. Coordinator Bill
Lazor overhauled offense, aiming for more big plays. Deep group of pass rushers
led by veteran linemen Carlos Dunlap and Geno Atkins along with second-year LB
Carl Lawson anchors reconfigured defense under new coordinator Teryl Austin.
Dunlap and Atkins got multiyear extensions before the final preseason game.
Weaknesses: Offensive line was unable to open holes for run game or protect Dalton last season, when Bengals finished last in yards on offense for first
time in their history. Overhauled line will be key, and it struggled at times
during preseason, especially right side. Bengals counting on Ross and Boyd to
have breakout years after disappointing seasons. Also need TE Tyler Eifert to
stay healthy coming off back surgery.
Fantasy Player To Watch: Mixon. With Hill gone, second-year back moves into primary role. Bengals plan to use him as receiver more
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Vegas Says: Super Bowl 105-1. Over/under wins 7.
Expectations: Decision to bring back coach Marvin Lewis after second straight losing season and 0-7 playoff record sent message of more-of-same in Cincinnati,
which operates under change-averse owner Mike Brown and hasn’t won playoff game
since 1990 season, sixth-longest stretch of futility in NFL history. Offense
failed to use its big-play threats effectively last two seasons, hampered by
awful performance on line. Their fate rests largely upon how overhauled line
performs.
The Lions are spending another offseason trying to find a backfield mix that will give their offense the kind of balance it’s been missing for much of
Matthew Stafford‘s run as the team’s quarterback.
Part of this year’s plan was signing LeGarrette Blount as a free agent after Blount’s bruising running style helped the Eagles win Super Bowl LII. That title
came a year after Blount was part of a Patriots championship team and the Lions
would certainly like to make a run like that this season.
No one’s going to pin all hopes on that front on Blount, but the chances of anything close to that happening would improve if he does well on the field.
Running backs coach David Walker made it clear how he sees Blount doing
that.
“Hopefully, he’ll give us a little bit more than we had last year
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Detroit Free Press. “It’s one thing with 200-pounds of Ameer [Abdullah] or Theo [Riddick] running through the hole that you have to tackle. And it’s a totally
different animal trying to tackle a 240-pound LeGarrette Blount. So we
understand that hopefully will put a little bit more stress on the defense.”
Adding a competent run game to an often potent passing attack would certainly stress out defenses, but May optimism about better days on the ground has gone
unrealized often enough that Detroit will remain in wait and see mode a while
longer.
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