POLL Thurs night football

[DanBengalfan]

Why Dey?

 

[DanBengalfan]

well, I was wrong about Texans.
and my initial instinct was to pick the Ravens, so I figured, hey... I could be wrong about that.

bengals by a little. I have a sneaking feeling that we were looking forward to this game.

 

[CrashDavisSports]

Too many critical injuries for me to pick the Bengals, but I will be rooting like hell for them and hope I am wrong.

 

[cincygrad]

The betting trends would say the Bengals lose (haven't won a road game in primetime in over 10 years), but Burrow almost always covers as a road underdog. My gut says it's Justin Tucker at the gun.

 

[Cincyfan78]

Go to bed early. This is going to be ugly.

 

[cincygrad]

Go to bed early. This is going to be ugly.

Why? Wondering why you are down on them in this spot.

 

[Cincyfan78]

Why? Wondering why you are down on them in this spot.

Sarcasm...didn't translate.

As long as Burrow is able to drag his body onto the field...they will always have a chance. The difference between feeling good about a win here and being not so optimistic really comes down to which Taylor shows up to call plays...

When he falls into his ruts...last week happens. When he gets into his bag a bit more things look more like SF.

 

[alf8478]

No Higgins, No Hubbard, Hendrikson injured, but apparently playing. No running game. Ravens by more than a TD.

 

[CrashDavisSports]

I hope we are all eating a big plate of crow friday as Dan sits alone saying I told you assholes so.

 

[cincygrad]

I hope we are all eating a big plate of crow friday as Dan sits alone saying I told you assholes so.

I think I'm more optimistic than most. I called for the Ravens by a field goal, but I can easily see the Bengals winning this game. It's a big one - If the Bengals were to pull it out, they are easily in the driver's seat for the division. They would be even in the loss column with the Ravens and they would have one less division loss. The Ravens still play on the road against the Niners and the Jags and they have a tricky game in LA against the Chargers.

I don't think a loss hurts us too much for the wildcard. I think that will come down to us beating Pittsburgh twice and winning other games we should win. But a win here changes the entire season.

We'll see.

 

[Cincyfan78]

I think the big thing to watch here is how they contain LJ...the defense has struggled this year with QB's who can extend plays. It breaks down the defense, and with so many young guys in the secondary, that is where we are seeing these big plays given up.

It's going to be up to Lou, and the defense, to figure out how to contain LJ, but also ensure that they are keeping him in the pocket and closing in on him. If they allow him to start moving around and finding guys...it's going to be a tough night.

 

[cincygrad]

I think the big thing to watch here is how they contain LJ...the defense has struggled this year with QB's who can extend plays. It breaks down the defense, and with so many young guys in the secondary, that is where we are seeing these big plays given up.

It's going to be up to Lou, and the defense, to figure out how to contain LJ, but also ensure that they are keeping him in the pocket and closing in on him. If they allow him to start moving around and finding guys...it's going to be a tough night.

I'm interested to see if they use Akeem Davis-Gaither more in this game. They were doing that a few years ago against Baltimore and I think it helped on obvious passing downs. He's a good guy to have a spy or to drop back into coverage against their tight ends. As much as I like Pratt, I'm not sure he's the best option as a passing down linebacker against Jackson.

 

[jbuck]

I'll just throw this out there:

It's a must win for us. if not I await the pitchers and catchers reporting to camp

 

[cincygrad]

I'll just throw this out there:

It's a must win for us. if not I await the pitchers and catchers reporting to camp

I don't think it's a must win. There is still a fairly clear path to the playoffs even if we lose. We'd need to go 5-2 down the stretch, but that wouldn't be unreasonable with our talent. Now, if we play like we did last week, all bets are off..... I will assume we will struggle to post a winning record. But, I think this team still has another gear.

 

[jbuck]

a loss makes us 0-4 in the division, 1-5 in the AFC. Must win.

 

[Cincyfan78]

I'm interested to see if they use Akeem Davis-Gaither more in this game. They were doing that a few years ago against Baltimore and I think it helped on obvious passing downs. He's a good guy to have a spy or to drop back into coverage against their tight ends. As much as I like Pratt, I'm not sure he's the best option as a passing down linebacker against Jackson.

That and they will have to do something they've struggled with all year...and that is gap discipline. Edges have to keep the edge contained. DTs have to keep the pocket closed up. A ton of the big plays this year have come because the DL completely got sucked out of position allowing HUGE lanes to open.

Only issue with DG in on those passing downs...someone still has to cover Andrews....I like the spy angle, but not sure who I'd use....honestly...maybe Murphy in a drop back from the DL kind of scenario...he's certainly athletic enough to chase LJ down...but I'd worry about experience in doing so.

 

[DanBengalfan]

If we win, I will enter the room wearing my mardi gra suit, dressed like a leprechaun with a purple hair do

 

[CrashDavisSports]

a loss makes us 0-4 in the division, 1-5 in the AFC. Must win.

A loss makes us 0-3 in the division. We have lost to Cleveland on opening day and to baltimore week 2. We haven't played Pitt yet. However, Cleveland has our number so I wouldn't put it past Cleveland beating us again.

 

[cincygrad]

a loss makes us 0-4 in the division, 1-5 in the AFC. Must win.

If we lose, we will be 5-5 (0-3 in division and 1-5 in AFC). We'll have 7 games left. 6 of them against the AFC and 1 against the NFC. We definitely won't win the division. But, if we were to go 5-2 (4-2 against the division), we would finish 10-7 (5-7 against AFC teams)..... Those tiebreakers are tough, but the teams we are competing with to get to 10-7 are on our schedule. Every playoff simulation that I have run favors us if we make it to 10-7.

Now, if you want to have a discussion about whether this team is good enough to make it to 10-7, I'm happy to engage. It's a fair question and I think there is good reason to suspect they won't. I think they can. We could also go old-school and take it to the Dayton Mall.

 

[cincygrad]

A loss makes us 0-3 in the division. We have lost to Cleveland on opening day and to baltimore week 2. We haven't played Pitt yet. However, Cleveland has our number so I wouldn't put it past Cleveland beating us again.

We win tonight, we sweep Pittsburgh and beat Watson-less Cleveland..... Best record in the division. Book it!