Preseason Game 2 Preview: Bengals at Washington
August 20, 2021
by Steve Thomas
Preseason week 2 is here, and the opponent is the Cincinnati Bengals, who are one of the few franchises who’ve been as consistently bad as the Redskins Washington over the past twenty years. However, things may have taken a turn for the better for both teams – Washington now seemingly has intelligent, adult leadership and, while the Bengals owner is still the same horrible executive and generally miserable human he always was, they’ve seemingly stumbled in a potential franchise quarterback in Joe Burrow. The last time the football world saw Burrow was when he was injured in week 11 last year against Washington. He didn’t play in the Bengals’ first preseason game against Tampa Bay and head coach Zac Taylor announced this week that Burrow will also miss this contest. That’s a shame, because Washington’s starters could use the work against a #1 quarterback. Regardless, sit back and enjoy the game and pray for another injury free contest.
Game time & location: Friday, August 20, 8:00 p.m. ET, Fed Ex Field, Raljon, Maryland; Gates open 4:00 p.m. ET; Red Zone parking lots open 3:00 p.m.; all other parking lots 4:00 p.m.
Television: NBC4/NBC Sports Washington; NFL Network
Television announcers: Bram Weinstein, DeAngelo Hall, Julie Donaldson
DC-area radio: The Team 980 and WMAL 105.9/630 AM
Washington radio network: click here
Bengals radio network: click here
Satellite radio: 88 on all platforms (Wash. broad.); internet: 831 (Wash. broad.)
Redskins roster: click here
Redskins depth chart: click here
Bengals roster: click here
Bengals depth chart: click here
All-time head-to-head record vs Bengals: 5 – 5 – 1 (last 5: 1 – 3 – 1; streak: 1 – 0)
Last regular season meeting: W, November 22, 2020, 20 – 9
Odds: Washington, -4.5
What to Watch For
Running game development
Jaret Patterson was fun to watch last Thursday against New England’s backups and solidified his status as fan preseason favorite, but the truth is that Washington’s running game against the Patriots wasn’t particularly successful. Antonio Gibson only averaged 3 yards per carry, which isn’t close to good enough in the regular season, and for all the hype, Patterson only averaged 4.0 yards per carry. As far as Gibson, the problem appeared to be more of a blocking problem with the offensive line than Gibson himself, who appeared to mostly make the right choices. The offensive line, however, missed blocks and generally looked like they still need some time to learn how to play together. This aspect of Washington’s offense needs to get dramatically better by the time week 1 is here. Watch out for how successful they are this week against the Bengals starters.
Better tackling
Washington’s defense didn’t help itself very much against new England, with multiple missed tackles and bad angles taken. This is one area in which the defense needs to improve this week. Ideally, the starters and backups both clamp down on Cincinnati’s talented roster of ball carriers. Top-quality, elite defenses don’t have these type of problems, so if Washington is going to live up to expectations, they’ll need to do better.
Let’s be honest: Heinicke didn’t look great against the Patriots. He didn’t make any huge mistakes, but he also didn’t do much to help the team, either. Heinicke scrambled out of the pocket for no reason and generally looked mediocre. He was more impressive in the playoff game last season. Nobody should’ve thought before last week that there was a legitimate quarterback competition between him and Ryan Fitzpatrick, but any lingering doubts should be resolved after last week. Heinicke needs to make progress and demonstrate that he can be a competent backup quarterback if the need arises.
Good news! Samuel passed his physical this week and has been activated. Hopefully, this means that he’ll get some significant playing time. It’s going to be pretty important for Samuel and Fitzpatrick to develop some chemistry as soon as possible if Washington’s offense is going to be off to a fast start. Watch for how much playing time Samuel gets in this game and how rusty he looks after an offseason of injuries.
Improvements in the kicking and punting game
Yes, I know, everyone is supposed to hate Dustin Hopkins. Feel however you want and root for whomever you want, but just understand a couple things: (1) there’s a new long snapper who hasn’t exactly received rave reviews just yet and integrating him into the kicking process takes time, and (2) from a statistical perspective, Hopkins isn’t as bad as you think. He’s middle of the road for long-term kickers who’ve been with their respective teams for a significant period of time (click here to see the evidence). That’s not necessarily a terrible thing. Consistency is hard to find – just remember how many kickers the Redskins went through before Hopkins. This list is long and, outside of Kai Forbath, very undistinguished. Also, Hopkins’ struggles last year weren’t everything they were cracked up to be – at the end of the day, he missed just one more kick (the extra miss was in the 40 – 49 yard range) than his career averages (click here to see the evidence). Certainly, two missed field goals in one game can’t happen, but the hatred of this player from the fanbase isn’t supported by the data. There’s a reason why the team keeps bringing him back year after year. Finally, Tress Way uncharacteristically had multiple punts result in touchbacks against New England. He’s one of the best in the business, so I don’t expect that to happen against Cincinnati.