Football is fun because the Bengals are 1-0 You were freaking out during the Bengals’ season opener.Admit it.I saw the tweets saying this
Bengals team was “bad
Rodney Anderson Cincinnati Bengals Jersey ,” “trash,” and worse. I tried to calm some of you down.YOU DO NOT FREAK OUT ONE-HALF INTO THE FIRST GAME OF THE
SEASON, I said.Well, at least for now, the freak outs can stop because the
Bengals are 1-0 after beating the Colts in Week 1, by a score of 34-23.There
were ups and downs. It was not a clean football game. Andy Dalton threw an
interception on his first throw of the year and A.J. Green fumbled. TWICE. Shawn
Williams was ejected. The Bengals had eight penalties, for 94 yards, including
some bad ones. Bobby Hart did not play well and had a penalty. Carlos Dunlap was
called for two roughing the passer penalties, though at least one was
questionable. Clint Boling had a false start. Brandon Wilson had a fair catch
interference penalty. William Jackson got called for unnecessary roughness, on a
Colts touchdown play. Alex Redmond had a holding call.It was sloppy.But it was
Week 1. What did you expect? A perfect game?I’ll tell you what was perfect
though. Clayton Fejedelem in the closing minute of the game.Look at that
awareness
Rodney Anderson Jersey 2019 , the quick thinking, the speed. And on Dunlap’s second roughing the passer penalty, it was also Fejedelem who snatched up Dunlap’s
strip sack on Andrew Luck and returned it to the Colts’ four-yard line. It’s too
bad it didn’t count. Fej was on a mission to win the Bengals the game on Sunday
and he accomplished his task.You know who also accomplished what they set out to
do on Sunday? Joe Mixon. He was on fire all game long. Mixon finished with 149
all-purpose yards and 1 touchdown. He averaged more than 5.5 yards per carry and
more than 10 yards per catch.There was one strange drive at the beginning of the
second quarter where Giovani Bernard was in at running back and Joe Mixon didn’t
make an appearance on the drive, but other than that, Sunday was the Joe Mixon
show. And the Bengals should ride him all season long. I appreciate that Marvin
Lewis didn’t slow down his usage of Mixon when the Bengals were behind. The team
saw Mixon had the hot hand and they kept feeding him the ball. The Bengals are
trusting Mixon and it worked in Week 1.Bernard only had two touches all game,
one rush (for negative yardage) and one catch for 11 yards. Meanwhile, Mixon had
17 rushing attempts and was targeted seven times in the passing game. We
expected to see more of Bernard on Sunday, but the Bengals were able to win
without using much of him. It was interesting to see Tra Carson in on offense
for a few plays, including being used as a fullback. Sam Hubbard was brought in
on Mixon’s touchdown as a fullback, too.Mixon broke the record for most yards by
a Bengals running back in a season opener
Rodney Anderson Jersey Mens , taking over the honor from Essex Johnson who did it in 1973, per ESPN Stats & Info.Is this a different Bengals team? One that
doesn’t back down when trailing? One that makes second-half adjustments? One
that doesn’t get mad, but gets even? It’s Week 1 and so much will happen during
the course of this season, but the Bengals’ first game of the year gave us a lot
to think about and a lot to like.Even if the beginning was tough to watch, and
even if Green needs to work on his ball security and even if the offensive line
remains a work in progress, the Bengals are 1-0 and football is fun because of
it.Bengals at Panthers Behind Enemy Lines: Can Cam Newton continue his
dominance? The Bengals are gearing up for a clash of cats when the Panthers host
Cincinnati this Sunday. Carolina is (1-1) coming of a crushing loss to the
Falcons. They look pretty beat up on paper, but that is no reason to doubt a
team led by Cam Newton at quarterback.We caught up with Walker Clement of Cat
Scratch Reader, SB Nation’s Panthers website, to get his perspective of the
Bengals vs. Panthers game.Patrick Judis: Cam Newton has been carrying the
offense so far this season. He is not only the leader in passing yards, but he
leads Carolina in rushing yards and is tied for the most rushing attempts. Is
that something you think will continue?Walker Clement: I am very confident that
Newton will continue to lead the team in passing yards. Whether or not he leads
the Panthers in rushing will depend on the game. New offensive coordinator Norv
Turner is obviously not afraid to let Cam use his legs
Youth Rodney Anderson Jersey , but he is also enamored with the speed and shiftiness that Christian McCaffrey brings to the table. The running back had
102 yards receiving on 14 catches last week. You can expect one of those two
guys to be the offensive MVP every week. Turner is slowly figuring out how to
use both talents to their best advantage, good luck if he strikes the right
balance against the Bengals.PJ: Defensively the Panthers did a pretty good job
at containing Julio Jones. What were some thing they did to accomplish that, and
do you think they can replicate it with A.J. Green?WC: They can replicate the
process, but I’m not familiar enough with Green’s skillset to guarantee that
they can replicate the success. The majority of the Falcons game saw Jones being
shadowed by the Panthers’ top corner, James Bradberry. Years past saw Bradberry
stick to one side of the field and the Falcons would move Jones around and torch
the Panthers by exploiting mismatches. Of course, years past also saw the
Panthers have an otherwise stifling defense. Their absence was the reason for
the Panthers close loss.PJ: As far as the Panthers’ pass-catchers go, they don’t
have many big names after Greg Olsen’s injury. Who are some of the most
dangerous guys in the passing game that Bengals’ fans should be worried
about?WC: First round pick D.J. Moore had a bit of a coming out party last week,
turning his first catch into a 51 yard touchdown. The Panthers have made a lot
of noise this week about wanting to get him more involved in the game plan, even
though he still looks like a rookie on a lot of plays. Your real threat, as
mentioned above
White Rodney Anderson Jersey , is Christian McCaffrey. He is too fast for linebackers, too physical for your average corner, and the Panthers love to
target him. They are the threats.The Panthers have a roster of semi-reliable
role players after those two. I say semi-reliable because Devin Funchess, Torrey
Smith, and Jarius Wright can be generally relied upon to be in the right place
on a given play. It is a bit of a toss up, so to speak, as to whether or not
they will catch a ball that hits them in their hands. If you’re looking for a
guy to get open right at the sticks on a third down then Wright seems to be the
guy for now.PJ: The Panthers are dealing with some injuries along their
offensive line. What do you think they will do to try and protect Newton on
Sunday?WC: Our best guess is that last week they performed some sort of blood
sacrifice or other dark magic ritual. The Panthers signed their starting left
tackle off the street — he hadn’t been on an NFL practice field since last
November — on the Wednesday prior to the game. Their right tackle spent training
camp as their left guard and was the left tackle for Week 1. Their top right
guard missed the game with a concussion. The Panthers surrendered only two sacks
and forced the Falcons to blitz to pressure Newton.PJ: What is your prediction
for the game?WC: If the Panthers run out of livestock, virgins, or first born
children to ensure the success of their line, then this game could get ugly for
Carolina very quickly. Since they are at home
http://www.cincinnatibengalsteamonline.com/anthony-munoz-jersey , however, I’m assuming they can drag somebody out of the crowd. The Panthers lost
last week because their defense had one of the more off weeks that we have seen
since Ron Rivera took over the team in 2011. Meanwhile, the offense is actually
starting to look more coherent and consistent than it has ever been under
Newton. I have some faith in the offense’s continued improvement and in the
defense’s return to form. I’ll take the Panthers by a touchdown, 20-13.Thanks
again to Walker Clement for taking out the time to answer our questions. You can
check out more of his stuff at Cat Scratch Reader.
