Posted by Under Argo on 22. August 2009 16:42
The New England Patriots never scored a touchdown Thusday night in Foxborough. The Pats even had their savior back behind center who, for the first time in almost a year, was playing in front of his home crowd and still not Randy Moss, Joey Galloway, or a member of the Patriots backfield stepped foot in the enzone at Gillette Stadium.
It is only pre-season but the Bengals defense looks even better than the 12th best defense in the NFL that they were last year. This could be because of key acquisitions in free agency (Roy Williams and Tank Johnson, who both started Thursday night) and in the draft (Rey Maualuga and Michael Johnson). It could also be that defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer wanted to put more emphasis on the pass rush than he did last year. Tom Brady knows about Mike Zimmer's plan for the pass rush, Robert Geathers had a chance to tell Brady all about it when he sacked him in the 1st quarter. (The video is here, the sack is about 1:40 in)
Rookies Rey Maualuga (now dubbed Hawaiian Punch) and Michael Johnson looked good and there is no doubt in my mind that they will be starting or at least rotating in on a regular basis by the time the Broncos come to town on September 13th.
And how could I write an entire article without mentioning Chad Ochocinco extra point kick. He now wants to change his first name to Esteban to show his soccer roots. I think Esteban Ochocinco has a nice ring to it.