tcumaniac
Full Member
DETROIT — The Bengals' new era got off to a gritty start Friday night here at Ford Field during their preseason opener when the Lions bolted to 21-3 lead in the game's first 18 minutes on their way to a 34-3 victory.
By the time Andy Dalton dropped back to throw his first NFL pass, the Bengals trailed, 14-0. And it got picked off by cornerback Chris Houston when Dalton tried to hit his fellow rookie racing one-on-on down the right sideline. But Dalton got hit as he threw it with penetration over right guard and the ball hung inside for Houston's easy pick running next to A.J. Green.
It got a little better but Dalton couldn’t get his first team into the end zone against Detroit's first and second defense and left with two minutes left in the first half andMike Nugent lining up for a 42-yard field goal.
This is the kind of night it was: Nugent made it, but it was ruled no play because the clock had ticked down to the two-minute warning. Nugent, who hasn't missed a field goal during team drills at camp, then went wide right.
Dalton completed 11 of 15 passes for 69 yards and looked like he knew where he was going with the ball. But the Bengals let him get hit too much, particularly for a defense that wasn't blitzing. He got sacked once when left guardNate Livings got beat by Corey Williams and he got manhandled by the other tackle, Ndamukong Suh, after he hurried an incompletion. Suh was called for roughing the passer when Dalton's helmet came flying off, but the Bengals couldn't convert in the red zone.
http://www.bengals.com/news/article-1/Lions-take-bite-out-of-Dalton-debut/906ec9e2-bf54-40a2-b3c6-bf9bcc2fa007
By the time Andy Dalton dropped back to throw his first NFL pass, the Bengals trailed, 14-0. And it got picked off by cornerback Chris Houston when Dalton tried to hit his fellow rookie racing one-on-on down the right sideline. But Dalton got hit as he threw it with penetration over right guard and the ball hung inside for Houston's easy pick running next to A.J. Green.
It got a little better but Dalton couldn’t get his first team into the end zone against Detroit's first and second defense and left with two minutes left in the first half andMike Nugent lining up for a 42-yard field goal.
This is the kind of night it was: Nugent made it, but it was ruled no play because the clock had ticked down to the two-minute warning. Nugent, who hasn't missed a field goal during team drills at camp, then went wide right.
Dalton completed 11 of 15 passes for 69 yards and looked like he knew where he was going with the ball. But the Bengals let him get hit too much, particularly for a defense that wasn't blitzing. He got sacked once when left guardNate Livings got beat by Corey Williams and he got manhandled by the other tackle, Ndamukong Suh, after he hurried an incompletion. Suh was called for roughing the passer when Dalton's helmet came flying off, but the Bengals couldn't convert in the red zone.
http://www.bengals.com/news/article-1/Lions-take-bite-out-of-Dalton-debut/906ec9e2-bf54-40a2-b3c6-bf9bcc2fa007