The Cincinnati Bengals will head to Jacksonville to take on the Jaguars in their first national prime time match up of 2016, even if it’s preseason.
The Cincinnati Bengals are coming off a great second preseason game against the Detroit Lions. Jacksonville is looking for it’s first taste of winning football in 2016. This game is expected to be the most we see the starters in the preseason.
The Bengals secondary will face it’s toughest test against the likes of Allen Robinson and Artie Hurns in the Jaguars passing game. However, Blake Bortles will need to avoid the pass rush or Geno Atkins, Carlos Dunlap, and Michael Johnson, if he expects to get the ball to his top receivers.
Andy Dalton found out this week that Tyler Eifert might miss more time than first expected. He knows that A.J. Green can get the job done, but he must find Tyler Boyd and, in his first expected game action, Brandon LaFell, to keep the Bengals offense moving.
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The biggest concern this preseason for the Bengals have been health. Injuries to Tyler Kroft, Cedric Ogbuehi, William Jackson III, Jake Fisher, and Andew Billings have many fans on edge on every play. The Bengals need to get out of this game with only minor bumps and bruises.
After this week, we will see the roster start to dwindle down to the final 53-man roster for the September 3rd deadline. They will need to get down to 75 players by August 30th, so this week will be important for those bottom guys, like Mario Alford, Corey Tindal, and Zach Hocker to make their impressions now.
The Bengals will give fans a great look at what to expect week one before heading home to face Indianapolis with most of their starting jobs set and ready to go. Can the Bengals prove once again why they are the deepest team in the NFL?
Game Time: Sunday Night: 8 pm: NBC.