This game started out as a microcosm of what seems to be the Bengals M.O.: Andy Dalton starts out 0-5, with several over-/mis-throws, an interception, including an awful fumble peppered in there.

It was paaaaaaainful.

I mean, paaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaainful.

Even on some of the good throws that Dalton had, people were dropping them. A. J. Green, of all people, had two drops. I thought this guy could catch greased pigs catapulted from the sky. Sure, you could say that the rain may have factored in the drops/fumbles (this sounds very familiar to that 2009 regular season debacle…), but, really, I don’t want to make that excuse for them.

Suddenly, after the first three or four drives induced more pain than watching locally produced commercials (having a granny dance to hip-hop music… Man, NO ONE has thought of THAT before), something seemed to click.  Dalton’s throws were crisper.  Receivers starting catching the ball.  No, I didn’t start looking for Super Bowl tickets, but at least they were doing… something.  Positive, that is.

The best play of the night by Dalton? 3rd and 9.  Blitz coming.  Dalton showed great poise and threw a tight spiral directly to Andre Caldwell for 11 yards.  The drive eventually sputtered (as it seemed like too many did), but it was a heck of a throw in the face of pressure.  I think Dalton actually played better than the receivers did for most of the game.  He did over throw them a few times, and one of those led to an INT, but he was victimized by more drops, which I hope (and expect) won’t be the case throughout the year.

But really, I was very encouraged because the Bengals weren’t discouraged.  Especially Dalton.  It may not be pretty this year, but the kid has a lot of fight in him.

Other Notes:

-  Bengals Preseason T.V.: Stop.  Using. That. Stupid. Tiger. Roar. For. Every. Stupid. Transition.  God. Damn. It.

- Defense!  Looked good! Made some great stops on the run.  Pass D may be a little spotty, but the pass rush looked pretty good.  Michael Johnson had some Dwight Freeney-esque moves to the QB.

-  Kevin “Mr. Cincinnati” Huber:  He can sure boot the hell out of the ball.  77 yard kick.  Boo.  Yow.

-  Run Game:  Not as effective this game, but Brian Leonard had some nice catch and runs.

-  Offensive Line:  Better protection this time around than last game, but it’s still a work in progress.

If you have an questions, comments, suggestions, complaints, you can email David Jacob at djacob@gearupforsports.com. You can also join his facebook group, and/or follow him at http://twitter.com/HoldenCarraway.