Anmelden » line. Those two missed chances

CINCINNATI (AP)John Ross got up to top speed Trayveon Williams Jersey Womens , ran past a defender and caught Andy Dalton’s long pass in stride, drawing an ovation from the approximately 950 fans watching the first practice of Bengals camp.A day later, he made another impressive catch on a deep throw and heard more applause.Fans haven’t seen any of this since the Bengals made him their first overall pick last year.The speedy receiver from Washington expected to show his big-play ability during his first season in Cincinnati. Instead, he missed most of camp while recovering from shoulder surgery and wound up playing in only three games.He didn’t catch a pass and fumbled on a reverse – the only time he got the ball – before another shoulder injury ended his season.As debuts go, it was about as bad as it gets. He was playing catch-up from the start because of his injury, and every mistake got magnified.”It was everything,” Ross said. ”When one thing went wrong, six things went wrong. Not to make excuses, but it was so much more than me making one mistake on the field. I think it kind of beat me up mentally and took me away from my game.”The Bengals are trying to dig out of one of the worst seasons offensively in franchise history. They finished last in the league in yards in 2017, a franchise first. Offensive coordinator Bill Lazor was given wide latitude to overhaul the playbook.The offensive line has been revamped. Coach Marvin Lewis has said repeatedly that the offense needs to have more big plays this season, the kind they thought Ross would provide when they took him with the ninth overall pick in the draft.Ross ran a record time of 4.22 seconds in the 40-yard dash at the NFL combine, and the Bengals envisioned him providing another deep threat to A.J. Green. Instead, Ross barely got on the field. He’s been healthy and making a good impression.”I’ve kind of showed that I can relax and play the game I’m used to playing,” Ross said. ”Mentally Trayveon Williams Cincinnati Bengals Jersey , that was the toughest challenge for me last year. Being hurt kind of messed with me throughout the whole year. When you’re beat mentally, I don’t think you can really be yourself.”Ross was still recovering from shoulder surgery when camp opened in 2017 and wasn’t cleared to practice at the outset. He wound up playing in only two preseason games and making one catch for 6 yards, his total contribution to the passing game last year.He’s already way ahead of last year.”John Ross has done things this offseason we saw at the University of Washington,” said Duke Tobin, director of player personnel. ”We’re looking for him to take the next step.”EIFERT BACK: Tight end Tyler Eifert was cleared to practice on Monday after working out on a side field the first four days of camp. Eifert was limited to two games last season before more back problems required another surgical procedure. He signed a one-year contract loaded with incentives.Eifert mostly worked out with the backups on Monday. He made a couple of diving plays late in practice, drawing applause from fans.”I could understand how it would be frustrating as fans, hearing, `Oh, he’s on (injury) list again or whatever,”’ Eifert said. ”But trust me, it’s 100 times more frustrating for me because all I want to do is be out there, and I’m doing literally everything I can, spending all my time trying to get back out there and stay out there with the guys.”H-back Ryan Hewitt also was cleared to join practice, leaving only linebacker Vontaze Burfict yet to get approval to practice. Burfict is suspended for the first four games of the season for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancers.— Andy Dalton had a career day. The defense played far better than at any time last season. An opener that could have turned ugly became a point of optimism.The Bengals couldn't pull off the upset in Seattle Trayveon Williams Jersey 2019 , but the way they played suggested that this could be a much different team under first-year coach Zac Taylor.A 21-20 loss to the Seahawks left Cincinnati disappointed but not discouraged. In fact, the Bengals came away feeling pretty good, all things considered."The first full game as a team, really, with these systems in place, these players in the building — there's some unknowns that come with that," Taylor said Monday. "We expected to win that game and feel we should have won that game, but I think our guys now know we're as good as we think we can be."We can't make the same mistakes we just did, but we're a football team that's poised to do some really good things if we continue to make the improvements we need to make."WHAT'S WORKINGOne of the biggest questions in Seattle was how Dalton would look his first time running Taylor's full offense. The Bengals threw a lot of screen passes to negate the Seahawks' pass rush, and Dalton took advantage of a defense that sometimes conceded short throws — a "rope-a-dope" approach, as Seahawks coach Pete Carroll put it.Dalton had a career-high 35 completions in 51 attempts, three shy of his career high. He finished with a career-best 418 yards with two touchdowns , no interceptions and five sacks. He also fumbled twice.In his first time in the new offense, Dalton was a very good fit."We were encouraged by everything we did Trayveon Williams Jersey Mens ," Dalton said .WHAT NEEDS HELPThe run game. Cincinnati was able to throw for so many yards in part because Seattle stacked the line of scrimmage to stop Joe Mixon and Giovani Bernard, and it worked. They combined for only 13 carries and 31 yards. Mixon left with a sprained ankle. It's unclear whether he'll be available next Sunday against San Francisco.STOCK UPSam Hubbard had a career-high 10 tackles and two sacks , matching his career high. The second-year end anchored a line that limited Seattle to 233 yards and 72 yards rushing. The Seahawks managed only 12 first downs and had the ball for 11 minutes less than the Bengals. It all started with the line."Those guys really gave us a great chance to make plays on the back end," cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick said. "If they keep that up, there's going to be a lot of chances for turnovers."STOCK DOWNRandy Bullock made a pair of field goals, but was wide left on a 45-yard attempt in the third quarter that could have made it 20-14. It was one of several missed opportunities that could have swung the game. Dalton fumbled on Cincinnati's opening possession of the second half, the wet ball slipping out of his hand as he got ready to throw a screen pass on a play from the Seattle 12-yard line. Those two missed chances prevented Cincinnati from taking control.INJUREDMixon got his left ankle twisted on a run early in the third quarter and didn't return. Taylor said Monday that the injury is only a sprain and Mixon is day to day, which was encouraging news. Mixon led the AFC in rushing last season with 1,168 yards.KEY NUMBERThe Bengals averaged 50,753 fans for their home games last season, the second-lowest mark in the NFL. It'll be interesting to see whether the solid overall showing in Seattle helps sell more tickets for their home opener Sunday against the 49ers.NEXT STEPSWin a game. The Bengals had several chances to pull off the big upset on the road, but missed their chances to take control in the second half and let it slip away.