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.

Carolina got off to a good start yesterday with the selection of Luke Keuchly (LB, Boston College). He’s a guy, who regardless of how healthy Thomas Davis is, should come in and see immediate playing time in some capacity. The Panthers only had one pick on this second day of the NFL draft. They traded away their 3rd round pick last year to the Chicago Bears in exchange for Greg Olsen. The Panther’s lone pick came in the second round where they selected Amini Silatolu, who was a left guard out of Midwestern State. Now I know what you’re thinking; yes it’s not a very attractive pick, but Silatolu should be able to come in and compete for a starting job from day one. As of right now he’ll be competing with Bryant Browning and Mike Pollack for the starting left guard position and neither one of those guys is anything special. Cam Newton is the biggest piece of this team, so you have to provide him with the proper protection in order to be successful and that exactly what Marty Hurney and Ron Rivera are doing.

I was initially hoping to grab Janoris Jenkins with our 2nd round pick, but he was taken one pick before us by the St. Louis Rams. I also would have loved to see us draft Trumaine Johnson, the cornerback from Montana who is just an absolute physical specimen and looked great in his game tape as well. However, the Panthers filled a need by drafting Silatolu and although it may not be sexiest option it will definitely prove to be worthy in the long run.

September 10, 2011; State College, PA, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide defensive back Mark Barron (4) makes an interception during the third quarter action at Beaver Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey G. Pittenger-US PRESSWIRE

One team that is having a great draft so far is a division rival of the Panthers. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have made 3 solid selections so far. They drafted Mark Baron (S, Alabama) in the 1st round along with Doug Martin (RB, Boise State), and then they took Lavonte David (LB, Nebraska) who was suppose to be a first round talent at the end of the 2nd round. Martin gives the Bucs a great one-two punch being paired with Legarrette Blount, who is a more physical type of runner. And they also added Vincent Jackson in the off-season who was regarded as the best receiver available in free agency. It looks like the Bucs are going to be solid at both the offensive and defensive sides of the football, and they also still have some late round picks remaining in this weekend’s draft.

Oct 13, 2011; San Francisco CA, USA; Southern California Trojans defensive end Nick Perry (8) after a play against the California Golden Bears during the first quarter at AT

The Green Bay Packers are one team that has disappointed me a little bit in this year’s draft so far. They entered the draft with 10 picks to play with and a lot of those picks were in the first 4 rounds of the draft. They took Nick Perry (DE, USC) in the 1st round, which I thought was a decent pick, but could have been better considering Courtney Upshaw (LB/DE, Alabama) was still on the board. Then they traded up in the 2nd round to get defensive tackle Jerel Worthy (Michigan State), which isn’t even a position of need for them (and Worthy wasn’t even the best DT still available). And then they made another move in order to obtain an additional 2nd round pick (62 overall) in which they selected Casey Hayward (CB, Vanderbilt). I think Hayward is decent, but doesn’t have as much upside as Trumaine Johnson or Josh Robinson (CB, UCF), who were both on the board at the time Green Bay was picking. However, you can never really tell about any of these guys until you see them on the field competing against other NFL players. But I definitely think the Packers are one team that could have gotten a lot more value considering the position they were in.
The third and final day of the 2012 NFL Draft starts tomorrow and the Panthers will be looking to fill some holes along their defensive line as well as in their secondary.