Positives from last night’s game:

#1: First team offense moving the ball. Last preseason everyone and anything was out of sync. At least now they’re moving the ball around. Palmer had 133 yards in the first quarter. Chad had 73 yards on 2 catches. Benson and Scott had some nice yards. Even though the first team didn’t score, if they can get consistent ball movement, they will find the end zone. Hopefully.
#2: Offensive Line: Looks like they opened holes for the running backs and they were able to protect Carson most of the night. Good first step. Even without Andre “I’d rather be at McDonalds than working out” Smith (the guy’s talented but if you saw him without a shirt… gross!)
#3: First Team Defense: Held up nicely in the first quarter. They pressured Drew Brees (QB pressure? And the Bengals defense? No way!) into making some bad throws. They also stopped them after the ‘Aints had the ball at the 6 yard line. Good job defense!

Negatives:
#1: Sigh… Turnovers. Fumble by Benson, interception by Palmer (both Palmers, actually). We won’t be going anywhere if we can’t hold onto the ball (I should receive an award for the “no duh” comment of the week).
#2: Defense: didn’t hold up well when they started putting in second stringers with the first team. Cliché #49: You’re only as good as your worst guy… If someone from the first team goes down, well, we need our backups to step up.
#3: Speaking of first team players going down… Carson sprained his ankle! Everyone is downplaying it and he should play next week, but… Carson sprained his ankle! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh! I can’t go through another season without Carson! I don’t care who the backup is, our team is not the same without Carson!
#4: Shayne “Shank ‘Em if Ya got ‘Em” Graham. Do I need to say anything else?
#5: We still need to score with our first team offense, damn it!

Overall, the world is not going to end after this game, but, gah!, we need to do better if we’re going to contend.