Bengals Drop First Preseason Game In Dallas

After looking phenomenal for the past two weeks the Cincinnati Bengals were impressing pundits around the league and their

Aug 24, 2013; Arlington, TX, USA; Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton (14) calls a play in the first quarter of the game against the Dallas Cowboys at AT

own fans. Saturday night in Dallas though the Bengals came back down to earth. A 24-18 loss certainly isn’t an ass kicking like the Dallas media would like you to think but after two impressive wins everyone expected Cincinnati to win again.

Andy Dalton played the first half of the game for the Bengals. Dalton would go 12/16 for 113 yards and 1 interception. Certainly not bad numbers although fans would like to have seen a touchdown. Daltons lone interception was a little baffling though. Dalton threw into a situation a veteran quarterback would have known not to.

AJ Green the star for the Bengals and possibly the front office’s most prized possession made his much anticipated return to the field after missing the first two games of the Preseason with an injury. Green had 3 receptions for 42 yards.  A fairly solid return for the young receiver.

Josh Johnson has essentially won out the back up job over John Skelton. Skelton saw no action in Saturday’s game so one can only assume his release from the team is imminent. Johnson has looked great all training camp and all preseason so this comes as no surprise.

Rookie Giovanni Bernard continues to impress this preseason. The UNC product had 8 carries last night for 32 yards but he has proven himself as a capable second back to BenJarvus Green-Ellis.

Defensively the Bengals are relatively sound, the first string is obviously better than the second string. Dre Kirkpatrick and JK Schaffer impressed on Saturday night each were in on 7 tackles apiece. Kirkpatrick has a spot on this team regardless while the UC product Schaffer is fighting for a roster spot.

Taylor Mays is fighting for a spot on the roster. After a few bone head plays Saturday the young safety did record 2 tackles and 1 sack on the night. Mays has a vast amount of potential, keeping him focused on football seems to be a large issue.

Cincinnati looked fine on Saturday, no reason to worry although twitter was playing the role of head coach. It is the preseason, one more game then its off to Chicago for the Bengals.