What We Saw: Preseason Week 1 2018

Bears vs. Bengals

A year ago we all would have been looking forward to seeing John Fox facing off against Marvin Lewis, aka the greatest coaching match-up of all time.  Sadly though, the offensively inept John Fox was replaced with coach Matt Nagy.  Some will remember that Matt helped pioneer the high powered Kansas City Chiefs offense last year.  An offense that excelled in setting up screen passes for running backs out of the back field, wide receivers in the flat, and helping Travis Kelce become a household name.  This is why I was very displeased with the first quarter showing of the Chicago Bears offense, but it is only preseason.  Nagy brought along with him Mark Helfrich (Oregon HC) as offensive coordinator and kept Vic Fangio as DC

As for tonight Mitchell Trubisky, who many covet in 2 QB leagues as a sleeper, only completed two passes on the night for 4 yards.  I have Mitchell rated No. 18 on my board, so it was bit discouraging, but I’m not going to give up on him just yet.  Mitchell has a much softer passing schedule compared to what he went through last year. My favorite part of the first series was learning that Carlos Dunlap didn’t go soft this offseason and committed a personal foul within the first minute of the game.

Former first-round pick Kevin White, hailing from WVU, was targeted on the first two pass plays. Anthony Miller whom many expect to win the starting slot receiver managed 1 catch for -2 yards.  This may be something to keep an eye on, but I’m going to need to see White survive the preseason first.

As for tight ends Trey Burton formerly of the Philadelphia Eagles, caught the only other opening drive pass for 5 yards.  Again, I know this wasn’t a great showing from the Chicago offense, but I fully expect to see Burton in the top 10 of tight end fantasy points by year’s end. Back up tight ends Adam Shaheen and Daniel Brown hauled in a combined 8 passes totaling 143 yards.   

We didn’t see any of Jordan Howard or Tarik Cohen, but rookie Ryan Nall was averaging 10 yards a clip tonight.  I have Jordan in my top 10 for yardage only leagues and Tarik in my top 20 for PPR.  Start thinking a healthy Spencer Ware (before the surgeries) and Kareem Hunt respectively.  Chicago had it very tough against the run last year, but this year between weeks 7 and 14 they will only face 1 top 10 rushing defense (Minnesota).

I don’t have nearly as much to say about Cincinnati with Marvin Lewis controlling this team on offense, but I don’t hate 2nd year offensive coordinator Bill Lazor who will be calling plays.  Surprisingly, the Bengals were the 11th most efficient offense last year and I was very happy to see more throws out of the backfield than usual.

Andy Dalton completed only 6 passes, but boy was the Red Rocket efficient totaling 103 yards and 2 touchdowns.  His blemish on the night was a pick 6, but if you are in a league that doesn’t take away for interceptions, Andy could be worth a late-round flier and possibly more IF they continue to set up passes for the backfield.

Speaking for the backfield Joe Mixon caught a 24-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter.   There are some who think Mixon could blow up this year, but for this to happen, they need to continue to get him the ball through the air.  He averaged 3 yards per carry tonight on 3 touches. Gio Bernard who I would like to see get a lot more touches this year carried the ball 4 times for 23 yards.  He is a late round flier that I would love to scoop. Tra Corson, a 2nd year back from Texas A&M carried the ball for 24 yards and will be interesting to see how he progresses this preseason.

As for AJ Green, the timeless wideout who will be drafted later than he should be in almost every league, caught two passes for 48 yards.  Consider drafting AJ as a top 5 receiver, he does this just about every year. We finally had a John Ross siting tonight, the 2nd year speedster had one 20 yard catch out of the 5 times he was targeted.  I picked him up last year and we never heard from him til today, and I mean yeah Cincinnati has receiver holes to fill, I just don’t think there is anyone worth taking right now besides Green.  Let the rest play out and make a pick up during the year.

At the tight end position Tyler Kroft had his usual 0 catches, C.J. Uzomah had 32 yards, and Tyler Eifert did not participate.  Uzomah might have some serious value if Eifert cannot return to form, but If he does, Eifert is the guy we want.

And lastly, the Bengals started off as 2.5 point favorites that were bet down to a pick em by game time, they ended up winning 30-27 covering the 2.5 Point spread and surpassing the total of 36 almost by themselves.  Go figure.

-Tommy Reilly