Cincinnati Bengals Preseason: 3 Takeaways vs Colts
By Kenn Korb
Some quick takeaways following the Cincinnati Bengals 7-6 loss to the Indianapolis Colts in Week 4 of the 2017 NFL Preseason.
Well, that was…uninspiring. Even for the preseason. Good thing these preseason games mean absolutely nothing for the regular season standings. If they did, this Cincinnati Bengals finale was the sort of terrible performance worth two losses.
Still, though the result of this final preseason game before the regular season gets started mean zilch, what happened within the game does have at least some semblance of importance and meaning. The biggest way it does? Obviously, that would be in the effect it will have on the roster cutdowns this weekend.
This year’s roster cutdowns have been notably different from past seasons, with the previous plan of two cutdown days (one from 90 to 70, another from 70 to 53) switching to just a single instance. This has actually led to something cool: more trading.
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The NFL has been loathe and seemingly inherently averse to trades for a long time — especially in comparison to other sports like the NBA — but with this change we’ve seen more of these back-end players getting moved for late-round draft picks to try fixing problems with rosters league-wide. Cincinnati themselves participated in this, sending linebacker Marquis Flowers to the New England Patriots for a seventh-round selection.
This cutdown change gives teams more time to evaluate players, as well as the chance to shuttle out ones they’ve already decided on while bringing in new ones before making final determinations on players.
This noteworthy change also affects these final preseason games specifically. The timing of the two cutdown days before always led to an unnecessarily awkward array of roster moves and gameday decisions for franchises. Complications were inevitable, and you could see at least a couple teams every year have to scramble to pick up players they had already said goodbye to because something went wrong (i.e.: injuries) in that preseason game after they let them go.
With a singular cutdown coming after all preseason contests are decided, the league has made a smart decision that should make a major difference to not only these players fighting for jobs but the coaches and general managers trying to assemble the rosters.
With all that in mind, what happened in this final preseason game for Cincinnati? Did anyone who may have not been in this position just a season ago use their newfound opportunity to up their odds of making the 53-man roster? Conversely, did anyone play their way out of a contract?
Here’s a few final takeaways I have following Cincinnati’s preseason contest with the Colts.