Five Story lines for Bengals

That’s a lot of story for a game with no plot

“He has a long way to go in terms of dealing with the sophistication of the pass protection,” Polian said. “Dwight Freeney struggled. Robert Mathis struggled. . . . Pass protection is so good at this level, as opposed to being mediocre at best at the collegiate level. The reason I say mediocre — I don’t want to cause a firestorm here — is college players have been doing it far less long. Pro left tackles play a long time. They pass protect for a long time against great athletes. College players are just learning the trade. It’s much more difficult to do at this level. He will struggle. You can see it. He has to learn counter moves. He has to learn when to exert leverage and when to lose speed. All of that is still to come. That said, he’s very smart. He’s very meticulous in his work habits. He goes about things in a highly professional and organized manner. I think that he’s going to be a very, very good football player for a long time. You will see flashes this year, but I’m guessing only flashes.”