Cruel Irony - Rookie RB tears ACL (and game observations)

Observations from Week 1 Pre-Season

Damn, it happened again. A rookie running back gets carted off the field with a feared season ending knee injury. A curse looms above the Cincinnati skyline prepared to doom the careers of Bengal draft picks. Kenny Irons, the latest victim, lasted four carries before being smote (or is it smitten?). He and Chris Perry can drink away their miseries together. Then again, I wouldn’t want to encourage any Bengal to go out drinking these days. With those two out, and Kenny Watson not a real every down kind of back, look for the Bengals to pursue a free agent running back, like, I don’t know…Corey Dillon? Fat chance. Even though it would be fun to speculate, Ol’ Sour Puss didn’t want to share carries with the best team in football so I doubt he’d want to do the same here.

Carson looked fine, Doug Johnson not so much, and Jeff Rowe had a great two-minute drill at the end.

Rudi is Rudi, Quincy Wilson is the exact same kind of runner as Rudi, and Kenny Watson is an older third-down back. Irons out.

Chad still can't, and never will be able to take a hit, but the guy is a cheetah. Chris Henry could be a top 5 receiver if he made better decisions, yet he too doesn’t bounce right up from tackles. Housh is on of the best guys across the middle. Brazelle is fast and jukie but dropped a couple. Skyler Green looks okay as a return guy but also dropped a couple. No Tab Perry or Antonio Chatman.

Tight Ends are really random and insignificant. Reggie Kelly could block till he’s 60.

Line was young last night. First team seemed okay. No Willie or Levi.

I was impressed with our defensive tackle rotation. New guys Michael Myers and Kendrick Allen made plays. Pekoe is a giant. Toeing ran an interception back, that’s always fun for a big guy.

Ahmad Brooks seriously has the tools to be a force. Last night he was running with Tatum Bell stride-for-stride. The guy is like 265! Hartwell looks like he takes good angles to the ball carrier. If he stays healthy, he’ll help that young line backing corps immensely.

Leon Hall couldn’t cover Calvin Johnson but he kept Johnson in front of him like he’s coached too. We saw the same instruction given to Joseph last preseason. Don’t give up the big plays is Marvin Motto #31. Hall did show some tackling ability. Something Bengal corners have been poor at the last few years. Speaking of tackling new safety draft picks Marvin White and Nuke look like some hitters. They too gave up a lot of passes over 15 yards in that classic soft zone coverage Marvin insists on, but they did pop people to limit YAC. Brandon Williams also made some big hits.

Special teams were fine with a couple of late rookie mistakes. Sugar Shayne Golden Graham had better get the bad juju out now in the preseason because we fans will not have our hopes dashed by a Ron Howard look alike kicker. He was 3 for 4 but missed the big one. Brad St. Louis is also not exempt from any lynch mobs. He was one job to do, do it.

Mojokong – Cursed!!!