Bengals at Redskins
Game Info
Kickoff: August 15th, 2019, at 7:30 PM
Location: FedEx Field, Landover, Maryland
Betting Odds: WAS -2.5 via BetOnline, -3 via Oddsshark
Cincinnati Bengals
Opportunity to be Seized
With the Bengals officially saying that A.J. Green will miss regular-season games now, there is a starting receiver spot up for grabs. The starting offense only saw one series in the first preseason game, an efficient drive led by Andy Dalton in which Josh Malone had a 10-yard catch on two targets and Cody Core had a 6-yard reception, each catch converting crucial third downs. However, Auden Tate had the most impressive catch, a near touchdown on a contested catch. To make things even more convoluted, undrafted free agent Stanley Morgan had a nice showing with the back-ups, although he is still a longshot for significant playing time. The battle between Malone, Core, and Tate will be interesting to watch for fantasy purposes because the winner could present early-season fantasy viability as Cincinnati first four games present three teams that ranked in the bottom half of the league in terms of PPR points allowed to receivers.
The ‘Backs Are Back
Joe Mixon and Giovanni Bernard will each be suited up for the contest after sitting out the opener. Whether or not they will definitely play is still up in the air, but if the Bengals employ their starters, it could be the first look at how Mixon and Bernard are used under new head coach Zac Taylor and how they look behind an offensive line that the front office attempted to upgrade in the off-season with Jonah Williams, but lost before the season even got underway. Additionally, Clint Boling retired and 2018 1st rounder Billy Price has been with the second team. It is likely to be another year of tough sledding for Mixon, but this could be the first glimpse of what that might look like.
Calling the Defense
The Bengals defense was putrid last year, ranking third-to-last in points allowed at 28.4 per game. They “showed improvement” at the end of last season, allowing only 19.3 points per game over that stretch, but one of those games was against the Raiders, another they allowed 493 yards to the Browns, and the finale was against a Steelers team without Antonio Brown and with a hobbled James Conner. The Chiefs – albeit nobody stops them – drove down the field at will in the preseason opener. This defense will still be without Carl Lawson for one more preseason game, but it needs to start showing some signs of life.
Washington Redskins
Quarterback Carousel
Nobody knows for sure how the starting quarterback will be in D.C. come week one. Reports as recent as today suggest Case Keenum is the lead man, specifically after 1st rounder Dwayne Haskins had a rough first preseason game. Colt McCoy had a chance but has missed practices due to injury. All-in-all, the entire Redskins offense should be approached with extreme caution for fantasy purposes, but the likes of Keenum starting is likely a better result for say Jordan Reed as opposed to Haskins since we have not seen him – in his limited starts in college – throw to the tight end much, whereas camp darling Terry McLaurin receives the obvious benefit of having his collegiate quarterback line up behind center week one.
Offensive Line Issues
Each of these teams come into the contest with glaring offensive line concerns. The main problem for the Redskins though is that Trent Williams is holding out, not lost for the year due to injury. The ‘Skins have had issues reportedly throughout camp upfront and it didn’t look great in the exhibition opener. This already risky fantasy offense adds an extra red flag if they cannot start to show some continuity without their All-Pro left tackle (easier said than done).
Thompson’s Health
Chris Thompson said, “everybody in here was ready to play last week,” yet we didn’t see the formerly dynamic third-down back. Thompson emerged as a PPR favorite in 2016 before an incredible start to the 2017 season that saw it ended to an ugly leg injury that seemed to carry over to last season that saw him only rank 54th in PPR formats among running backs. Derrius Guice still isn’t cleared for game action and Adrian Peterson likely hasn’t changed his play since last year. The Redskins are likely to be a team in catch-up mode a lot this season, so Thompson could return to fantasy relevance if he can retain his pass-catching role. This will be the first glimpse at rather or not CT’s explosiveness has returned or not.
-Josh Gleason