Bengals: Five things you should know
1. Chad Johnson is the go-to receiver, but Cincinnati needs another set of consistent, dependable hands before it goes anywhere. There were too many drops in the preseason opener, and the club wants someone other than Johnson to emerge. Kelly Washington may be that guy but he has to improve. The good news is that Peter Warrick is scheduled to return to work this week after missing both preseason games with a knee injury dating back to last year.
2. The Bengals' secondary is one of its strengths, with Deltha O'Neal and Tory James their best pair of cornerbacks in, oh, say, eight years. The Bengals had trouble defending the pass a year ago, with the club making only 14 interceptions and ranked 24th in pass defense.
3. Barring an injury, Carson Palmer will become the 25th quarterback to start a regular-season or playoff game for the Bengals. The previous 24 starters compiled a 7-17 record in their debuts.
4. The Bengals' offensive line is underrated, and ask anyone who watched them slice and dice the Patriots. The strength of this line is the right side, where you find tackle Willie Anderson and underrated guard Bobbie Williams. In Anderson and Levi Jones the Bengals believe they have one of the top tackle tandems in the game.
5. Rookie running back Chris Perry should play plenty this season. He won't start, but he will give Rudi Johnson breathers and act as a third-down back. Perry has great hands and is an elusive runner, but the Bengals don't plan to play he and Johnson at the same time ... not yet anyway.
