Cincinnati Bengals: 3 Players to watch in Preseason Week 3

Here are a few Cincinnati Bengals players to watch in the team’s third preseason game of 2018 versus the Buffalo Bills.

We’ve been blessed to have the NFL back in our lives, even if it’s only the 2018 preseason. After such a long hiatus, we’ll take anything that we can get. This time of year, however, it’s all about looking at players from the Cincinnati Bengals and the other 31 teams and seeing how they are shaping up, carving out roles and so on.

Through the first two preseason games, we’ve looked at three players that deserve to be highlighted from the Bengals in that matchup. And we’re not stopping midway through the exhibition contests.

This week, we enter the most impactful of the four preseason games, where we have Cincinnati playing against the Buffalo Bills. Let’s see who you should keep an eye on in this matchup.

* = On The Bubble; ** = Returning From Injury; *** = Bigger Role

*QB Jeff Driskel

The battle for the backup quarterback spot behind Andy Dalton continues to rage on. So far, we aren’t much closer to an answer than we we began. Driskel entered the competition with multiple years of forging relationships here and working with the team already, but his competitor (Matt Barkley) came in with starting experience in his previous stops.

Since Barkley’s signing, the competition has been pretty even. Each have had their moments (good and bad) throughout OTAs, training camp, with neither pushing themselves too far ahead of the other. Unfortunately for Driskel though, the preseason has probably put him behind in this competition.

Driskel has had much more opportunity in the two preseason games so far, but his output hasn’t been all that exciting. In 12 drives, he’s led three scoring drives (two touchdowns, one field goal), but also seen seven drives end in punts and two others end on turnovers.

The timing of his positive drives helps (the four-play, 91 yard game-winning drive against Chicago; back-to-back scoring drives out of halftime against Dallas to give Cincinnati an 11-10 lead). But too many ended quickly (six ended within three plays). Meanwhile, Barkley has had less opportunities (only five drives) but the team has scored on each of them (one touchdown, four field goals).

Despite the way things have played out so far, of the two quarterbacks Driskel would probably be the correct answer as the backup to Dalton. Along with his work this offseason, his work in previous preseasons forced the team to hold onto him on the roster even with A.J. McCarron firmly as the No. 2 at the time. Barkley, while he has starter experience, never actually was impressive in those chances (and far too often, he was actively harmful to his team’s chances at winning). It wouldn’t be a good bet to expect he changes that if he ever was forced into action.

Still, if Driskel is going to win the job he needs to give himself a longer list of positive accomplishments. Showing up well against Buffalo would be a great way to secure the spot. On the flip-side, should he falter, Barkley may only need a couple more successful drives to cement his case for the job.