NFL Preview: Cincinnati Bengals

Carson Palmer’s retired, Ochocinco has high-tailed it to New England, and whatever remaining hope the Bengals have surely isn’t far behind. Al Dannity previews the prospects for Cincinnati in 2011.

The players
Finally the fresh blood Cincinnati’s passing game needed has arrived in the form of A.J. Green. The former Georgia standout is a tremendous talent with the ability to dominate in the NFL. All he needs is a proven quarterback with a cannon arm to feed him the ball and the Bengals will be set on offense. Oh well, there’s always next year.

Andy Dalton could make it as a starter in the NFL but he really needed to land in a better situation than this. The TCU alum doesn’t possess the power of most of the signal callers that entered the draft last season and he has a tendency to telegraph some of his passes. In Cincinnati that could spell disaster. The defense may not be able to save the Bengals this year either, especially with Johnathan Joseph moving on to Houston. Nate Clements isn’t a bad replacement but he is on the downside of his career at this stage.

Mark your calendar
For all the pain of their transition in the post-Palmer era, the Bengals have an ideal start to the season. All of their first five games are against franchises currently in a transitional phase so wins shouldn’t be too hard to come by early in 2011.

After that it gets a lot tougher with games against the Colts and Texans likely to prove particularly difficult. There’s also the small matter of their four divisional games with Pittsburgh and Baltimore. Unlike the Browns, the Bengals fortunately have those match-ups spread out more evenly across their slate. When timing is the biggest upside in a schedule it’s a worrying sign.

The verdict
The good news is the Bengals may be in with a fighting chance of drafting Andrew Luck first overall next April. That’s probably a tad harsh, I don’t think Cincinnati will be quite that bad but they won’t be too far off. Andy Dalton isn’t a bad quarterback but he isn’t the man to come in and save Cincinnati now. Last season the Bengals looked like they might be capable of contending but they fell a long way short. This year I can’t even see them matching their 2010 output and that’s worrying. Look for Cincinnati to pick up a few wins in the early part of the season and not too many towards the end.