First, the Cincinnati Bengals beat the Atlanta Falcons in the Georgia Dome last night, 24-19. I watched most of that game and the Bengals look to be for real indeed.

As the starters battled in the first half, it became more and more apparent that the Bengals are picking up where they left off last season. While both teams were tackling extremely well for the early preseason, that’s to be expected of a veteran defense like the Falcons. The fact that the Bengals looked every bit as good should be encouraging for fans starved of a winner up until last year. Oh sure, they’d have a season here, a season there that they would do okay, but they appear to finally be putting some good pieces on the table.

Aug 16, 2012; Atlanta, GA, USA; Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green (18) scores a touchdown while being dragged to the ground by Atlanta Falcons cornerback Asante Samuel (22) during the second quarter at the Georgia Dome. Mandatory Credit: Josh D. Weiss-US PRESSWIRE

Second-year pro A.J. Green looked like the top-ten WR that I believe he is. His ability to separate almost at will was on display, and his incredible hands, strength, and body control were all shown off on a 50-yard TD strike down the right sideline from supposedly candy-armed QB Andy Dalton as Green pushed, twisted and turned his way across the goal line before falling out of bounds on the good side of the pylon.

The play also showed that Andy Dalton has plenty of arm to get things done in the NFL, if he hadn’t proven it last year. Rookie WR Mohamed Sanu added a 12 yard touchdown reception from Bruce Gradkowski in the second half.

Injuries have already bitten the Bengals, which makes their strong showing even more promising. Former Panther and starting Bengals’ left guard Travelle Wharton was lost for the season in last week’s game against the New York Jets, while rookie Kevin Zeitler is starting at the right guard spot. TE Jermaine Gresham had a nice catch and run, but apparently got his foot caught in the turf on the tackle and awkwardly fell to the ground. He did not return, but the injury doesn’t appear to be serious.

Defensive lineman Carlos Dunlap will miss the entire preseason with a sprained knee and his status for the game one opener is questionable. First-round pick Dre Kirkpatrick, a CB from Alabama, is in a similar situation.

The good news is that everyone but Wharton should be ready by either the opener or week two, depending on how things go.

As for the Falcons, Matt Ryan hit on 18 of 21 attempts for 174 yards and a TD. He spread the ball around and Julio Jones reminded us that A.J. Green wasn’t the only promising young WR on the field with several nice catches of his own.

The Browns’ victory over the Packers shouldn’t concern Green Bay fans as the Packers have their offense in order and are protecting AR-12 (QB Aaron Rodgers) as much as possible during the preseason. For the Packers, the 2012 preseason is about settling their starters on defense and generating a pass rush.

Cleveland Browns rookie QB Brandon Weeden has been named the starter for a few weeks now and went 12 of 20 for 118 yards, but had a would-be interception dropped by Packer LB A.J. Hawk and another dropped by Casey Hayward. Weeden was lucky last night and clearly has work to do. Colt McCoy, now the second-string QB, went 4 of 6 for 58 yards on a long touchdown drive and actually looked better than Weeden. Interesting.

This is more a case of Green Bay’s backup QB, Graham Harrell, playing poorly than anything else. He completed only 12 of 24 passes for a measly 100 yards and 2 interceptions. That’s 4 yards per ATTEMPT and throwing short passes shouldn’t generate interceptions like that. He wasn’t so “lucky” as Weeden and also had an intentional grounding penalty.

The Packers appear to be in trouble if Aaron Rodgers were to ever get injured. No Matt Flynn this year; he’s wearing a different shade of green.

Jan 07, 2012; Houston, TX, USA; Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton (14) attempts a pass during the first quarter of the 2011 AFC wild card playoff game against the Houston Texans at Reliant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-US PRESSWIRE

The Cincinnati Bengals went 9-7 with another rookie QB at the helm. Andy Dalton did the one thing Cam Newton couldn’t do despite all the heroics.

Dalton led the team to the playoffs.

He paired up with fellow rookie WR A.J. Green from Georgia who had a 1,000 yard initial season. Those were the headlines for the team for last year. Let’s look at their draft:

1 17 Dre Kirkpatrick CB Alabama
1 27 Kevin Zeitler G Wisconsin
2 53 Devon Still DT Penn State
3 83 Mohamed Sanu WR Rutgers
3 93 Brandon ThompsonDT Clemson
4 116 Orson Charles TE Georgia
5 156 Shaun Prater CB Iowa
5 166 Marvin Jones WR California
5 167 George Iloka FS Boise State
6 191 Dan Herron RB Ohio State

I wasn’t sold on the Bills’ 10th overall in Stephon Gilmore, and I’m not sold on Kirkpatrick. He’s got the height, but that’s not everything.

The team needed help on the inside on the offensive line and got Kevin Zeitler from offensive linemen U. Devon Still was a good value pick where they got him, and should help seal up that middle. The defense got gashed in the playoffs, so they drafted Sill and Brandon Thompson from Clemson.

The big story of the draft for the Bengals was 3rd rounder Mohamed Sanu. Some sicko called him and impersonated someone at the Bengals draft room saying he had been drafted with the 17th pick.

Okay, so he’s prone to getting Punk’d, but wound up with the team in the third round anyway. If he can be anything like the steady TJ Houshmazadeh from a few years back, he’ll give Dalton a very nice pair of receivers to throw to. There’s a little mini-camp buzz around the guy, so watch out.

It appears they’ll take a typical running back by committee approach with workhorse back Cedric Benson gone. They did pick up the Law Firm from New England in the offseason, so a committee approach should suit Ben Jarvis Green-Ellis just fine.

Despite “appearances,” the roster has changed quite a bit from last year’s squad. They think since Ellis is a better receiver from the backfield than Benson ever was, they can use him in the West Coast Offense of theirs.

The AFC North is getting rather crowded with talent. The Bengals will need that DT help with the running backs in the division. Sure it’s a passing league these days but the Bengals are the only team in this conference to get that memo.

They also took a chance on a troubled young man with amazing talent in Vontaze Burflict.

Pittsburgh’s Reshard Mendenhall is coming off injury and won’t start out the season but is a formidable force when he’s on the field. Baltimore’s Ray Rice has made a huge name for himself, and Cleveland rookie Trent Richardson is being touted as the best RB to enter the league since Adrian Peterson. The Bengals need to stop the run. Period.

They ranked 7th overall last season, but towards the end of the year and in the playoffs, they struggled some. Taylor Mays will be asked to come in and work one of the safety spots. That’s their weakness on defense. Otherwise, they’ve got good talent all around. DT Geno Atkins got injured but was named to the Pro Bowl anyway.

Two things are going on here: The Bengals look to be a hot, young, up-and-coming team. The bad thing is the Bengals have a history of making spotty one-year wonder teams. They’ve been doing it going back to the Sam Wyche days. Which direction will the 2012 team go?

This team does have the core talent – at QB and WR – to be a ten-year force in the league. QB Andy Dalton lacks arm strength to wow, but he has the poise, accuracy, and leadership you want in a franchise QB. WR AJ Green was a player I was high on from the start. Everyone raved about Julio Jones and his 4.38-40 at the combine, but I’m an SEC fan and Auburn alum. I saw AJ green as a guy who would take over games in college on a regular basis. Julio Jones really did not do that much. Mohamed Sanu looks to be a nice snag and could start.

With the draft they had, they got good value at positions of need. They play in a bruising division. With that in mind, I say…

Two steps forward. Next, the Cleveland Browns…

January 1, 2012; New Orleans, LA, USA; Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton (1) against the New Orleans Saints during the second half of a game at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. The Saints defeated the Panthers 45-17. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

Unless your name is Rip van Winkle, you know what individual is the key to the success of this team. Cam Newton’s multiple-multiple-record-setting 2012 campaign made NFL history and breathed new life into what was, quite frankly, an ugly team to watch in 2010. It’s rare that any rookie can carry a team and especially a rookie QB, but last season brought us two of them – Cam and Cincy’s Andy Dalton.

Newton puts Dalton and every other NFL QB’s physical abilities to shame when you look at the total package of running and passing skill sets. To any given defender, he’s every single bit as scary on the field as he is impressive-looking off of it. At 6’5″ and 248 pounds with a physique from a Greek statue, Cam combines the skills of a running back and tight end with his howitzer arm to be able to threaten every square inch of the field on any given play.

A QB like that only helps the running game, and Carolina arguably has the best duo in the NFL with DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart. The RB position is their strength after signing Mike Tolbert in the offseason. Newton helped WR Steve Smith re-establish his reputation as one of the league’s most dangerous receivers and solidified TE Greg Olson’s reputation from Chicago as an accomplished pass-catcher as well. Now for their draft:

1 9 Luke Kuechly LB Boston College
2 40 Amini Silatolu G Midwestern State
4 103 Frank Alexander DE Oklahoma
4 104 Joe Adams WR Arkansas
5 143 Josh Norman CB Coastal Carolina
6 207 Brad Nortman P Wisconsin
7 216 D.J. Campbell FS California

Staying with the offensive side for the moment, WR Joe Adams from Arkansas looks to be an impact player in the return game which is something they’ve lacked in recent years. In college, he was a dangerous catch-and-run type of WR that will probably play the slot in the NFL due to his stature. He’s not tiny but he’s not a big strong guy. Speed and elusiveness is his game, and he’s got to work on keeping dropped passes down – something of a negative from his early college days. He ran “only” a 4.55 at the NFL Combine but regularly ran sub-4.4 times at Arkansas, and the Combine track just seemed slow this year for some reason.

Guard Amini Silatolu was a head-scratcher for many until we saw his game tape from tiny Midwestern State. He played left tackle there, but the Panthers are going to use him at guard. He’s got work to do with his pass blocking, but to say this kid is a mauling run-blocker would be paying him a disservice. Watching his college tape, he reminds me of a police dog that was just told to attack. He’s relentless, tough, physical, and plays with a mean nasty streak within the rules. For some of you fans of the movie “The Avengers,” remember when Captain America pointed and said, “Hulk, smash?” That would be about as close a comparison as I can make with Silatolu’s run-blocking mentality. Without being “dirty,” he run-blocks like his assigned defender just wrote a 5,000-word essay insulting his Mother.

That’s exactly the mentality coaches love in a guard and is why he was taken with the 40th overall pick.

Moving over to the defensive side, it’ll be interesting to see if a healthy group of young DTs can help seal that soft underbelly from last season. Sione Fua and Terrel McClain, a pair of third-round picks from 2011, battled injuries during their rookie campaign. Another rookie DT, Miami Dolphin late-round cast-off Frank Kearse, played in only 6 games as well. Since the Panthers drafted no help there, Rivera obviously thinks they’ll be okay if they can stay healthy, and I don’t think he wanted to use another high draft pick on a DT after having picked the two the previous season.

Jon Beason’s return from a game-one injury along with top draft pick and tackling machine Luke Kuechly on the weak side of the 4-3 should really help them at least make it not a “given” that the offense can grind it up in the middle. Opposing teams should find the running game quite a bit more difficult to get going in 2012. When you add in veteran strong-side linebacker James Anderson, the Panthers look to have a great starting trio of them – assuming Kuechly is the “real thing,” and if anyone in this draft should be, he should be. I loved the choice when it was announced at the draft in April. As for veteran Thomas Davis, I’m afraid the 3rd severe knee injury he suffered last season places him as a permanent reserve on this team assuming he’s healed up. Thus, the Kuechly draft pick.

Perhaps the most interesting pick of the Panthers’ draft was their trading up for Oklahoma’s Frank Alexander. Word is that the coaches were looking at someone else on the team and noticed that Alexander just kept on making plays. He apparently impressed them enough to go after him with that trade, and the hope is to pair a good pass rusher with established veteran Charles Johnson on the other side. Kuechly will eventually move to the MLB spot that he dominated playing in college, but having Beason on the field with him should only make the defense better. Both guys can play either spot, which will make substitution and personnel packages a bit easier to manage. Both can cover on third down, which is the most vital function of a MLB on passing downs (aside from calling the signals).

The Panthers are a team that could possibly vault to a playoff spot because of the combination of injuries on defense and young players having a shot to crack the starting lineup. They had injuries all over the defensive side last year, but that pays dividends in increased experience and depth this season with the overall talent level jumping as former starters return and some rookie talent add into the mix. If any of the newcomers on the defensive line or secondary can become a solid contributor, that will mean the pass defense improves as well.

Don’t forget the acquisition of Darius Butler, a 2nd-rounder taken a few years ago by the Patriots. He never did make a splash there, but sometimes a change of venue and different coaches can bring out the best in a young talent like that. Brandon Hogan, a 4th-rounder out of West Virginia in 2011, was injured in the pre-season and played in only the final 3 games last year.

There’s a lot of young talent on this team that hasn’t even had the opportunity to show what they’re capable of due to the massive number of injuries they suffered. Bad for 2011, but what it in effect means is that the Panthers are working with TWO draft classes this year. Certainly out of all of that, they’ll find one or two youngsters that can play but just are not on the radar yet.

Watch the preseason games closely – especially the first two. If someone is going to stand out, those are the games to watch and see who the may be.

So, what we have here is a stew of uncertainty on both sides of the ball but in a good way. The bias seems to be that neither the offense nor the defense will be set back and both should only improve. To what degree it will improve is yet to be seen of course, but Head Coach Ron Rivera has to love the position he’s in. I think the team took….

The maximum three steps forward…Newton will have a year of experience and a full camp under his belt, making him even that much scarier to face; they’ve added good draftees at positions they needed; AND they’ve got a number of injured players back from last year. Look for the Panthers to push for a wild-card spot with 10 wins (plus or minus) in a murderous division in 2012.

They are clearly a young team on the rise.

Next up, DAAAA Bearsssss….