After a dissapointing start to the pre-season, the Bengals try and get a win or at

least a good performance from the starting offense. A close win against the Packers

was followed by a loss against the Lions.

Here's some things we will be looking for in the game:

    * First Team Offense - I know pre-season is just that, pre-season, but it's

difficult to NOT worry about the offense so far. Palmer has not done that well, key

receivers have been out and the running game with the first-team offense has been

mediocre. The offensive line hasn't exactly had that good of a start either.
    * Improving Defenese - The defense we have seen so far has actually not been

that bad. Rivers has been great as well as a few others, but of course you have the

bad apples like Deltha O'Neal. Overall "okay", but better than I expected.
    * Quick Start - I said it last week, I'll say it again. Not only a problem last

year, but this year as well. At minimum a quick start for the first team offense

could help install some confidence, they can't be feeling that good right now.
    * Run Defense - The saints are a big running team and it will be interesting to

at least see how the Bengals first-team defense does against it.

Overall I close this with saying that Pre-Season sucks. The Bengals offense could

struggle even worse for the whole pre-season and become the #1 offense during the

regular season and it wouldn't be something that hasn't happened before.

There are certain things you can take from the pre-season, but it's difficult to

see which things will be gone when the season starts (like the bad offense?) or

something that will be a concern during the season (o-line issues?).

The game will be played this Saturday (August 13rd) at 7:35 PM.