For this week, I’ll obviously be watching the injury report… maybe that means this game is more a matter of who I won’t be watching (listed as Doubtful: Daniels, Bakhtiari, Perry, Cobb, House, Brice, Ryan).
I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on Jahri Evans (who, to be honest, has looked a little long in the tooth the first couple of weeks) and Lane Taylor (who seems to be mostly keeping up with the bar he set last year) to see how they hold up against that beast of a man, Geno Atkins.
However, I think the real story, what I’ll be watching most, is Kevin King.
The kid came out with all the size, speed, and athleticism in the world, but was viewed as maybe a bit raw. Maybe he’s raw, but he sure looked good lining up across from Julio Jones. This week brings AJ Green to town. Green is no Jones (since Megatron packed it in, Julio gets the nod as undisputed grand master of freakishly gifted wideouts), but he’s certainly no slouch, either.
Green has size, speed, and athleticism of his own, and I want to see how Kevin King matches up. King showed no hesitation last week in any of his moves, he did a great job in coverage in man, zone, and run support, and was not intimidated in the least by going up against the best receiver in the game, against the best team in the league, in prime time, while they were opening their new stadium.
The Bengals haven’t scored a touchdown all year and now have a new offensive coordinator. That means there’s no film, which means scheme won’t win the day (not that it ever really does), talent will. So let’s find out what kind of talent Kevin King has.
After all, he didn’t come here to sit!