Five Things to Watch For in Bengals' Preseason Opener Against Cardinals

After a relatively short offseason due to the Super Bowl run, the Cincinnati Bengals are playing football tonight.

It’s only a preseason game, but there are still a multitude of things to watch in this game. From positional battles to schematic changes and everything in-between, let’s dive into what to watch for in this game.

Left Guard Battle

The main positional battle to watch is at left guard. Jackson Carman has the inside track to win the starting job because of his draft status and how the team has treated him so far in camp.

Rookie Cordell Volson is his main competition and has a chance to push for this job if he showcases himself well. I would also just watch to see if Carman looks better than last season and whether he mainly jump sets the defender or if he is taking kick slides and angle sets them.

Base Defense

Something that hasn't been talked about almost at all is the Bengals' base defense. While nickel is their most common personnel grouping, they have been a 3-4/5-2 defense ever since Lou Anarumo took charge.

Most of these spots are filled up, but there is one defensive tackle spot open next to DJ Reader. Will it be rookie Zachary Carter from Florida, Josh Tupou the veteran, or Cam Sample? It’s also possible that they look to play more 4-3 looks with their personnel. That way they can get Akeem Davis-Gaither onto the field more often. This one is both a position battle and a schematic preview for what the Bengals could do this season on defense.

Special Teams

Other than kicker, all of the special teams positions are up for grabs. They have a very talented UDFA long snapper, a local punter, and a plethora of return guys all looking to unseat the incumbent.

It will be one thing to look and see if there are any errant snaps, but also many of the misses from kickers are influenced by the holder and long snapper. If there are any missed kicks it could be worth looking into who snapped and who held for it. The more exciting battle is at the return spots. This is the best way for one of these UDFA receivers to make the active roster. It’s also possible there is a new kick returner with Brandon Wilson still recovering from injury. Every aspect of special teams is definitely something to watch in the game against the Cardinals. Make sure to wait until a commercial to grab more nachos or beer.

Changes in the Run Game

Lastly, the run game could be slightly different this season. With C.J. Uzomah’s departure, the Bengals are now utilizing Hayden Hurst in that role. Uzomah was a better blocker than him, but Hurst still does a good job when asked to sift block. A sift block is when the tight end works across the formation to block the backside end.

Hurst won't play on Friday, but it’s possible that the Bengals will look to use more split zone that features this block rather than running wide zone to the tight end and asking him to block the end. The Bengals could also look to incorporate more gap schemes with the signings that they made in free agency. Maybe they are going to run more shotgun duo rather than zone this season.

The Rookies

As always, the most exciting part of the first preseason game is getting to see the young draft picks in action. Keep an eye on Dax Hill, Cameron Taylor-Britt, Carter, Volson, Tycen Anderson, and Jeff Gunter in this game. One of them could emerge and have a larger impact than anticipated this season. It’s also just flat-out fun to watch these rookies at the professional level.

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