What worries me a little is that what I saw in the Bengals game was lack of effort.   Maybe we were still in preseason, don't-get-injured mode, but still, that was the dress rehearsal, and we pretty much failed the test.   It looked like our offensive and defensive linemen were trying to stay on their feet, while the Bengals just got lower and overpowered them as a result.   That bothers me, because we're supposed to play "real football" in preseason game 3, and nobody stated otherwise; no one said we were just going out there and trying to stay healthy.  There was one scrum where the Bengals RB moved the pile about 10 yards, and it looked like none of our defensive players was willing to commit full effort to stopping the guy.  

 

I'm still in wait and see mode about this coaching staff.   I'm not making a judgment until I see a few games where we have a competitive level of talent: that's this year; it's arrived.  We can't have any more games where the team inexplicably goes out and lays an egg.  For the past few years we've had games where we just say, "What the heck was that?"   And the explanation was something like, "It didn't go the way we wanted it to..."  or "It didn't go the way we expected..."   I want someone to give a clear explanation of why the team didn't show up!  

 

We finally have a good level of talent on this squad, and from all reports, the players love playing for Gus, so I am hoping and praying he succeeds, because if he doesn't, then we will be starting over again with yet another head coach, and I am so sick of that I don't know how I would be able to stand it.  

 


 

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