Hooray for four straight days of football! And yes, it’s just the preseason that we’re talking about here, but who are we to complain? The good thing about these otherwise meaningless preseason games is that we get to see just how deep a team’s talent pool is early on before the regular season’s opening week.
Amongst those teams set to take the field this Friday are the New York Giants and the Cincinnati Bengals. Let’s take a closer look as for how these two clubs have done during the offseason in their respective bids of breaking away from the middle of the NFL pack.
Line: New York Giants (+3) vs. Cincinnati Bengals (-3); Total: 37.0 – view all NFL lines
Betting on the New York Giants
[sc:NFL240banner ]Another NFL season means another hot seat has been warmed up for head coach Tom Coughlin. The New York Giants haven’t regained their Super Bowl winning form from 2011 yet, but a promising performance in last season’s campaign has the G-Men in good spirits.
Quarterback Eli Manning had a fantastic 2014, mostly due to his stellar receiving corps. Entering the preseason, the Giants have a very crowded pool of wideouts. Luckily for the non-starters, Victor Cruz will not partake in the first game of the preseason as he continues to rehabilitate from last year’s knee injury. Players like Reuben Randle, Dwayne Harris, James Jones and Preston Parker will all be lining up to take snaps this Friday.
Out of all these receivers, Preston Parker should be the one who will push for the WR3 spot behind Cruz and Odell Beckham Jr. the hardest. Even though Rueben Randle seems like the man who will earn this spot, Parker was rather reliable as one of Cruz’s replacements with 418 receiving yards and a pair of touchdowns in just 36 catches last season. The fourth-year receiver will have a good chance to show what he’s truly made of against an iffy Bengals secondary.
As for the defense, the freakish injury suffered by defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul has the Giants searching for quick answers. Rumors even have it that New York is looking to sign Aldon Smith, the embattled 49ers linebacker who was cut from the team due to his fifth arrest in less than five seasons in the NFL. But that’s neither here nor there just yet, so expect to see Robert Ayers, Kerry Wynn and Damontre Moore fight for the right to start in place of JPP for the time being.
In more positive news, middle linebacker Jon Beason’s return to the field will be a welcome sight for the Giants after he missed 12 games last season. Over in the secondary, New York will get its first glance at second-round pick Landon Collins from Alabama and Notre Dame’s Bennett Jackson as the team’s pair of young, starting safeties. Expect both Collins and Jackson to be fired up and ready for their first crack at the big leagues.
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Betting on the Cincinnati Bengals
Can Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton end his one-and-done curse in the playoffs?
The team’s management seems to be on the fringe with its ginger-haired playmaker, so the development of AJ McCarron must be taken care of. McCarron didn’t see any real action after he was drafted last season, so his performance in this preseason will determine whether or not the three-time national title winner out of ‘Bama could indeed be a suitable replacement should Dalton experience the postseason yips once again.
On the receiving end of Dalton and McCarron’s passes this Friday will be tight end Tyler Eifert, who played just one game last year before dislocating his elbow. Now healthy and after having an impressive showing at the Bengals’ minicamp, Eifert will look to prove that he deserves the starting job over Cincinnati’s two rookie tight ends as he goes up against New York’s formidable front seven.
Also keep an eye out for third-year player Rex Burkhead. A natural running back, Burkhead turned some heads when he showed some chops in the passing game. With multi-faceted skills, it will be interesting to see if the Bengals add him as the third back behind Jeremy Hill and Giovanni Bernard in the backfield, or as a possible fourth or fifth option at receiver.
Another “AJ” on the Bengals squad will also look to leave a good first impression in linebacker AJ Hawk. Hawk will look to take his talents from Green Bay in hopes of improving Cincy’s D, one that surrendered 359.3 yards per game last season and had a league-worst 20 sacks.
Part of the reason why the Bengals defense regressed in 2014 was due to the absence of weak side linebacker Vontaze Burfict. Burfict might miss even more time as his injured knee continues to recuperate, leaving the door open for rookie Paul Dawson to step up to the challenge. The TCU product recorded 30 sacks and 227 total tackles in his last two seasons with the Horned Frogs.
The shaky Cincinnati secondary must also be put to the test this preseason to determine who exactly among the young (Dre Kirkpatrick and Darqueze Dennard) and the experienced (Leon Hall and Adam “Pacman” Jones) cornerbacks on the roster will lock down the two starting slots in Cincy’s defensive depth chart.
Writer’s Prediction
New York’s receivers torch Cincinnati’s secondary en route to a 28-17 victory.
