Looking back at the Players To Watch from Week 3 of the 2018 preseason for the Cincinnati Bengals and how they performed against the Buffalo Bills.
Every week of the 2018 preseason (and likely the regular season as well), we’ll be spotlighting some of the players to keep an eye on in the Cincinnati Bengals’ upcoming matchup that week.
To go along with that, we’ll also be revisiting those players spotlighted and seeing how much of an impact they actually had (if any).
This week we are checking back on the players spotlighted for Cincinnati in their preseason Week 3 contest against the Buffalo Bills.
Jeff Driskel
A decent effort from Driskel, and a mixed bag for his hopes regarding grabbing the No. 2 role behind Andy Dalton. Let’s start with what he actually did.
In the game, he was given only two drives to work with. Those drives were decently successful in their outcomes: the first lasted 12 plays and eventually resulted in a field goal, and while the second became a punt, it ran off 1:57 of the 2:00 clock time. Driskel’s stats weren’t jumping off the page (4-of-7, 75 yards, no touchdowns or interceptions), but they were nonetheless impactful. Each of his passes went for at least 14 yards, and two of them were 20+ yard plays.
The other part of the equation is what happened around him at the position. It isn’t clear if this was due to Driskel being ahead or behind in the quarterback competition, but Matt Barkley was given much more time in this game. While Driskel had only two drives, Barkley had as many as Dalton and the first-team offense (five). In them, he was moderately successful: two field goals, two punts, and an interception.
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Coming out of this game, Driskel would seem to be ahead, but it may well be closer than it appears. Despite having more drives this preseason, Driskel actually has fewer drives ending in scores (4) than Barkley (7). Still, it seems Driskel has done enough in key moments (like his game-winning pass against Chicago) to leave himself ahead of Barkley in this competition — something which matters greatly since the Bengals may only keep two quarterbacks entering the season.
RB Mark Walton
Yet another disappointing effort from Walton. For the second consecutive game, the 2018 fourth-round draft pick ended up with negative yardage on the ground (two rushes, -2 yards). With that, his preseason totals are pitiful: 12 rushes, two yards.
These failures are not all on him — the line has been abysmal at run blocking as a whole for much of the preseason — but he’s done just about nothing to help himself here. At the same time, the players competing with him for the backup running back spot(s) did better in this game and the preseason writ large.
Tra Carson has picked up 24 yards on the ground in all three preseason games so far, and did so against Buffalo in only four carries while adding in a 15-yard catch for good measure. Brian Hill also had a four-carry, 24-yard effort against Buffalo, and has made multiple big plays (including a 44-yard catch-and-run) during the preseason.
Even the recently-injured Jarveon Williams or the QB-turned-RB Quinton Flowers — each of whom were probably never going to be more than semi-interesting roster cut fodder — had a better game here and better preseasons overall (Williams had no counting stats versus Buffalo, but zero yards is still better than Walton’s -2).
By virtue of being a fourth-round selection this offseason, Walton came into this team with a minuscule chance of missing the final roster entering the 2018 season. His appalling lack of production in numerous chances this preseason should be enough to at least make his status questionable, and unless this is all due to a very slow recovery from injuries suffered in his final college season (in which case he may still miss the final roster anyway, but possibly by going on IR rather than getting cut) there is a legitimate chance of him being left off the final 53.
DT Andrew Billings
While some players are possibly falling off the roster, Billings just continues to solidify his status as the possible new starter next to Geno Atkins in the starting lineup on the defensive line.
After having a strong game against the Cowboys, he took it to another level as part of a dominating display by practically the entire defensive line rotation. The space-eating boulder of a man not only was a help against the run as expected, but he showed off some unexpected pass rushing prowess from the middle of the line.
Despite that area being a specific weakness highlighted in his NFL.com draft profile, he had himself a great time getting through the middle to blow up plays. By the end, he found himself with 1.5 sacks, one tackle for loss, and two QB hits.
This pass rush prowess may be an exciting one-game blip, but even if it is Billings should still be an exciting and impactful nose tackle for the defensive line. Putting his ability to eat up blockers and take up space next to the dominance of Geno Atkins will cause chaos in the center of the line and give the litany of edge rushing talents plenty of opportunity to attack the offense with reckless abandon.