Bengals Preseason Week 3 Recap

by AndrewVanosdol | 4 years ago | 0 Comments

Preseason Week 3 Recap

Wow! What a game in week 3! Couldn't ask for a more fun game to be a part of win or lose and luckily we edged it out against a very talented coach and team. Yes, I was getting handled when the starters were in but here's some key points from the game. 
1) Resiliency-  Joe Burrow came out and threw an interception on the first drive and with that was a very quick momentum gain for the Falcons and boy did they take advantage. While I fail to remember the lead they jumped out too but it definitely was not looking pretty for us. The Falcons offense was moving with ease and getting everything they wanted to when they wanted to. While the offense was moving, with Mixon getting 2 scores before the starters were pulled it just felt like we were hanging around. What I like to call the sticky booger. Hangs around but just annoying. In no way did it look like we were going to win. Then comes in the second team. They didn't accept the fact we were down and just roll over. They played football. Josh McCown, who was signed in free agency for us since we had a dire need at backup quarterback, came in and threw for 164 yards and 2 touchdowns on a 69% completion percentage. The defense strung together some stops, which led to a touchdown and a successful two point conversion with 30 seconds to go, ultimately forcing overtime. A few change of possessions in overtime led to a Giovani Bernard run up the middle to set up a Randy Bullock field goal for the win! That's the definition of resiliency from this group of guys. 
2) Not to worry about Burrow- Yes he threw an interception but yes it was me being greedy throwing a 50/50 ball. Other than that he made one bad throw that should have been an easy completion. His flashes that I've seen from him more than outweigh the inaccurate throws. All of his interceptions fall on me as the decision maker. Me working on my patience and not predetermining where I'm throwing before the snap will correlate to him throwing a lot less interceptions. 
3) The running back tandem- Mixon and Gio look to already be in season form. They're not having 100 yards games but they are having huge runs of 7-10 yards when the team needs it most. I can confidently hand the ball to them on a 3rd and 3 and trust them to make the effort to get the first down. Having two backs that I can really trust helps my play calling tremendously. A combined 20 carries for 102 yards with Mixon carrying in 2 "and goal" touchdowns and Gio averaging 7.8 a carry. 
 

One more week and these boys show what we can do when it counts! 

Nothing to lose, something to prove.