Cincinnati Bengals’ Preseason Struggles vs. Tampa Bay Are Cause for Concern

August 25, 2015   ·   Chris Roling   ·   Jump to comments

It's easy to paint the NFL preseason as "meaningless" in broad strokes, but the Cincinnati Bengals' Week 2 25-11 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers displayed some distributing trends the team is running out of time to fix. 
In many ways, the preseason is meaningless. Wins and losses don't matter, coaches more often than not employ vanilla schemes and players, especially starters, might not give it 100 percent.
But the Bengals hit Monday Night Football in Tampa Bay—where last year they squeaked by with a 14-13 victory against an eventual two-win team—and laid an egg in certain concerning areas. As a result, they played the starters on both sides of the football for almost a full half.
Let's start with the defense. After making a mockery of Eli Manning and the New York Giants last week, the Bengals allowed Tampa Bay rookie quarterback Jameis Winston to lead his team 80 yards down the field for a touchdown on the team's first drive.
As Paul Dehner Jr. of...

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