In the second full week of pre season we are starting to see more starting lines up play. Also ,some of the bigger name players played their first action of the season after missing last week’s game. The New York Jets had their first round rookie Calvin Pryor play in front of the public this week, while the Cincinnati Bengals had new contract quarterback Andy Dalton perform under his new deal.
The preseason is irrelevant for the final score (25-17 in favor of the NYJ) but it is a great indicator for individual performances especially for those fighting for their roster spot. So with that lets look at the good and bad from each team.
NY Jets – Three Performances of Note
Rookie Taking Over
The Jets took Calvin Pryor with the 18th overall pick in last May’s draft. Against the Bengals we got to see an extended look at Pryor playing 49 snaps. In this game the Jets had little to worry about in the passing game when Matt Scott entered the game, but what we saw from Pryor was a player who showed a lot of promise as a player in the box. Pryor excelled in blitz packages getting three hurries on nine pass rushing snaps, also he came up with a fumble recovery and a batted pass. We did see Pryor blast Cobi Hamilton to prevent a downfield catch, but outside of that Pryor was not targeted downfield in coverage. It will be an interesting couple of weeks to see where he is in pass coverage before the season starts.
2013 Undrafted Rookie Free Agent
Last Preseason Troy Davis put together a nice little showing with six pressures on 39 snaps. In only six snaps last week he struggled to show much, however against the Bengals backup offensive line he finished with three hurries and a +3.3 pass rushing grade. The Jets always seem to be in need of an edge rusher, especially since they will be starting Quinton Coples and Calvin Pace, while Davis does struggle in running game. The Jets have a player to keep an eye on if he can first make the team and become a situational rusher this season.
Geno’s Job to Lose
Once Geno Smith left the game the Jets put out Michael Vick and Tajh Boyd at quarterback. Vick's numbers look better than any other quarterback for the Jets, however a wide receiver screen to Clyde Gates skews those numbers when he took it 17 yards for the touchdown. Only one pass Vick completed was passed the line of scrimmage, he went one for five on passes over zero yards downfield. Boyd struggled as much if not more than Vick, as it currently looks it will be a surprise if Boyd is on the 53 man roster once the season starts. Boyd looks out of place missing open receivers on simple reads.
Cincinnati – Three Performances of Note
Matt Scott
Last week Matt Scott showed some potential, however against the Jets it went all sorts of wrong. Scott had a Accuracy percentage of 47.6%, with a -8.6 passing grade. When Scott released the ball in under 2.5 seconds he only completed 30% of passes and produced a QB Rating of 18.8, on 21 dropbacks. When the Jets started to take away the short passing game Scott had difficulty connecting deep down field. There was one pass that had a chance to be completed deep downfield, however Cobi Hamilton failed to locate the ball in the air and the ball dropped harmlessly to the ground. Outside of that one pass, Scott went one for seven on passes over ten yards, another pass Pryor managed to separate Hamilton from the ball down field. The Next two weeks will be a chance to evaluate if Scott is more like week one or week two going forward.
Andy Dalton
Ever since Andy Dalton signed his new contract a couple of weeks ago, there has been a large amount of conversation on if his play warranted the new deal. If this week was anything to go on, and again it is still preseason, he did produce one beautiful pass on a post route to Mohamed Sanu, beating the corner and arriving before the safety had a chance at making a play on the ball. However, with Dalton and his critics he will not be able to answer the questions until he can prove that he can perform highly in the playoffs.
Backup Defensive Line
Outside of Margus Hunt (who has shown a great deal of promise this preseason) the Bengals have struggled to find any help to their starting defensive line. The backup defensive line only managed three total pressures against the Jets (not including Hunt’s). However, the Bengals got pushed around in the run game with both Will Clark -3.9 run defense and Christo Bilukidi -3.0 run defense. Once Geno Atkins comes back, the Bengals defensive line will look stronger, but if the Bengals cannot find another rotation piece, both Domata Peko and Brandon Thompson will have to play a significant amount of snaps. Neither player has shown that they can perform consistently at a high level.
Game Notes
– Margus Hunt had 3 hurries, 3 tackles and 3 stops as he performed at high level for the second week
– Brian Winters produced four fouls for 60 yards, however that did not stop him from nearly grading positively -0.4.
– Darrin Walls was targeted seven times, he only allowed two catches for eight yards and intercepted another.
PFF Game Ball
This was a difficult decision between Margus Hunt who consistently collapsed the pocket and was difficult to handle in the running game and the rookie Calvin Pryor. However, Pryor took home the game ball in his debut with his consistent activity as a run defender, pass rusher and his good but limited work in pass coverage.
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