I really feel our secondary can hold up against Rams. Nobody the Rams have faced in the post season has a secondary as good as ours. Their G are a liability running as well. Yeah their front 4 is scary Their D isn't as good as the Titans but better than the Chiefs. We have a decent chance at a 2 possession win especially if we win or tie the Turnover battle.

(02-07-2022, 04:58 PM)Bengalfan4life27c Wrote: I really feel our secondary can hold up against Rams. Nobody the Rams have faced in the post season has a secondary  as good as ours. Their G are a liability running as well. Yeah their front 4 is scary Their D isn't as good as the Titans but better than the Chiefs. We have a decent chance at a 2 possession win especially if we win or tie the Turnover battle.

There is a definite lack of discussion around how poorly Stafford plays when pressured and the fact we should be able to pressure Stafford. While we all know Burrow will play under pressure most the game he is actually pretty good relative to most QB's at it. 

I agree. I think Stafford is going to throw at least one pick that leads to a TD for us. Just have a gut feeling.

(02-07-2022, 05:17 PM)Au165 Wrote: There is a definite lack of discussion around how poorly Stafford plays when pressured and the fact we should be able to pressure Stafford. While we all know Burrow will play under pressure most the game he is actually pretty good relative to most QB's at it. 

Yep, and the Rams interior o-line has had some issues of their own in the playoffs. 

Another issue I've noticed, while the Bengals wins haven't exactly been pretty...man, the Rams have made a lot of mistakes in the playoffs. The Bengals have been much more fundamentally sound and far less error prone.

(02-07-2022, 04:58 PM)Bengalfan4life27c Wrote: I really feel our secondary can hold up against Rams. Nobody the Rams have faced in the post season has a secondary  as good as ours. Their G are a liability running as well. Yeah their front 4 is scary Their D isn't as good as the Titans but better than the Chiefs. We have a decent chance at a 2 possession win especially if we win or tie the Turnover battle.

This will be the best defense the Bengals have played in the post-season - they are better than the Chiefs and Titans. The only real mismatch in the game is the Rams pass rushers vs. the Bengals OL. That's a pretty big gap, but the rest of the game is fairly evenly matched. Stafford can and does make mistakes to keep the offense back and the Bengals defense is playing well enough to take advantage of those opportunities. 

(02-07-2022, 06:42 PM)KillerGoose Wrote: This will be the best defense the Bengals have played in the post-season - they are better than the Chiefs and Titans. The only real mismatch in the game is the Rams pass rushers vs. the Bengals OL. That's a pretty big gap, but the rest of the game is fairly evenly matched. Stafford can and does make mistakes to keep the offense back and the Bengals defense is playing well enough to take advantage of those opportunities. 

That’s just not true. The titans and raiders gave up less yards and the titans and chiefs gave up less points.

What are you referencing when saying this is the best defense? After Ramsey, Donald and Miller, this is a beatable team.

Rams have more elite talent on D.. sure. Bengals have deeper talent overall.

I mean, Eric Weddel as played great this post season. But 3 weeks ago he was on his couch.

This is from PFF

Biggest defensive strength: PFF’s single-best defense in team grade against the run, Aaron Donald and company generally made life a living hell for rushing attacks throughout 2021. They ranked seventh in average depth of tackle at 3.84 yards and held their opponent under 100 rushing yards on nine separate occasions throughout the year.

Biggest defensive weakness: Obviously, Jalen Ramsey holds up his end of the bargain during any given week, but at the end of the day, the Rams fielded just the league’s 15th-best defense in PFF coverage grade and 20th-ranked group in yards per attempt allowed. Don’t expect Ramsey to follow Christian Kirk around the formation come Sunday; only Davante Adams, Mike Evans, D.K. Metcalf and Justin Jefferson have earned shadow treatment from the Rams’ No. 1 corner over the past two seasons.

A part of me feels bad for Whitworth that he is going to get sent off to retirement standing on the opposite sideline of his old team as they ride off onto the sunset trophy in hand while he tries to catch his breath after getting worked over by the perpetual machine that is Trey Hendrickson for the whole game.

(02-07-2022, 06:53 PM)Bengalbug Wrote: That’s just not true.  The titans and raiders gave up less yards and the titans and chiefs gave up less points.

What are you referencing when saying this is the best defense? After Ramsey, Donald and Miller, this is a beatable team.

Rams have more elite talent on D.. sure.  Bengals have deeper talent overall.

I mean, Eric Weddel as played great this post season. But 3 weeks ago he was on his couch.

The Rams allowed fewer yards per play, had a lower scoring percentage against and had significantly better EPA per play numbers than all of those teams. The Raiders defense absolutely stunk, they don't have a case here. They had one of the highest scoring percentages against them in the entire league. The Chiefs allowed eight less points than the Rams did, which is a bit silly to point out as a reason that they were better. Going straight off of points allowed can be misleading when judging a defense because of situations they are put in by turnovers or special teams play. They could have had a bad draw by having some untimely turnovers, pick sixes, fumble sixes etc. Points allowed factors in all of those and Stafford just so happened to have an issue with pick sixes this season. I've posted this chart in a couple of threads now, but here is a visualization of teams for the season using EPA per play.



I never said the Rams weren't beatable, I said that they were. I just said that the Rams defense is the best defense Cincinnati will have played this post-season, and that's the case. It's a very even game otherwise. 

(02-07-2022, 07:05 PM)KillerGoose Wrote: The Rams allowed fewer yards per play, had a lower scoring percentage against and had significantly better EPA per play numbers than all of those teams. The Raiders defense absolutely stunk, they don't have a case here. They had one of the highest scoring percentages against them in the entire league. The Chiefs allowed eight less points than the Rams did, which is a bit silly to point out as a reason that they were better. Going straight off of points allowed can be misleading when judging a defense because of situations they are put in by turnovers or special teams play. They could have had a bad draw by having some untimely turnovers, pick sixes, fumble sixes etc. Points allowed factors in all of those and Stafford just so happened to have an issue with pick sixes this season. I've posted this chart in a couple of threads now, but here is a visualization of teams for the season using EPA per play.



I never said the Rams weren't beatable, I said that they were. I just said that the Rams defense is the best defense Cincinnati will have played this post-season, and that's the case. It's a very even game otherwise. 

Eh, we can pull whatever stats we want from various sources.

“There are three types of lies -- lies, damn lies, and statistics.” ...

(02-07-2022, 04:58 PM)Bengalfan4life27c Wrote: I really feel our secondary can hold up against Rams. Nobody the Rams have faced in the post season has a secondary  as good as ours. Their G are a liability running as well. Yeah their front 4 is scary Their D isn't as good as the Titans but better than the Chiefs. We have a decent chance at a 2 possession win especially if we win or tie the Turnover battle.

Our DT's in Reader and BJ Hill going against Allen and that interior is an advantage for us big time.

Allen isn't a great pass protector. Collapse the middle of their OL and Stafford will be in trouble with Trey and Hubbard coming 
around the edge. Also Stafford isn't very good when under pressure as Au165 here says.

(02-07-2022, 05:17 PM)Au165 Wrote: There is a definite lack of discussion around how poorly Stafford plays when pressured and the fact we should be able to pressure Stafford. While we all know Burrow will play under pressure most the game he is actually pretty good relative to most QB's at it. 

I think this is our biggest advantage, Burrow can play very well under pressure, Stafford not so much.

(02-07-2022, 05:44 PM)Bengalholic Wrote: Yep, and the Rams interior o-line has had some issues of their own in the playoffs. 

Another issue I've noticed, while the Bengals wins haven't exactly been pretty...man, the Rams have made a lot of mistakes in the playoffs. The Bengals have been much more fundamentally sound and far less error prone.

They have shown to lack fundamentals and seem poorly coached however they have won the games.... somehow...  If BJ and Reader can get pressure up the middle often I can't see the Rams winning.  There are a turn over machine and it is well oiled.

(02-07-2022, 07:38 PM)M.W. Wrote: They have shown to lack fundamentals and seem poorly coached however they have won the games.... somehow...  If BJ and Reader can get pressure up the middle often I can't see the Rams winning.  There are a turn over machine and it is well oiled.

Yeah, everyone is talking about the Bengals o-line, but the Rams interior has had issues of their own in the playoffs. The Bucs got 10 pressures on that interior (including 4 on each of their G's...and had 12 overall. 

(02-07-2022, 06:53 PM)Bengalbug Wrote: That’s just not true.  The titans and raiders gave up less yards and the titans and chiefs gave up less points.

What are you referencing when saying this is the best defense? After Ramsey, Donald and Miller, this is a beatable team.

Rams have more elite talent on D.. sure.  Bengals have deeper talent overall.

I mean, Eric Weddel as played great this post season. But 3 weeks ago he was on his couch.

This is from PFF

Biggest defensive strength: PFF’s single-best defense in team grade against the run, Aaron Donald and company generally made life a living hell for rushing attacks throughout 2021. They ranked seventh in average depth of tackle at 3.84 yards and held their opponent under 100 rushing yards on nine separate occasions throughout the year.

Biggest defensive weakness: Obviously, Jalen Ramsey holds up his end of the bargain during any given week, but at the end of the day, the Rams fielded just the league’s 15th-best defense in PFF coverage grade and 20th-ranked group in yards per attempt allowed. Don’t expect Ramsey to follow Christian Kirk around the formation come Sunday; only Davante Adams, Mike Evans, D.K. Metcalf and Justin Jefferson have earned shadow treatment from the Rams’ No. 1 corner over the past two seasons.

Nice post, you can pass the ball on the Rams no doubt. If you can run the ball on them which is a tall task you can beat 
them. The Titans were legit man and they were finally healthy when we played them. Of course the Chiefs D isn't near as
good as the Rams but we can score on these guys easier than on the Titans pretty damn sure.

Hope that this is the game where Burrow breaks out. The Defense is the main reason we are where we are. Our Defense 
has been playing lights out. Would be awesome to finally see our Offense score some TD's.

(02-07-2022, 07:37 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Our DT's in Reader and BJ Hill going against Allen and that interior is an advantage for us big time.

Allen isn't a great pass protector. Collapse the middle of their OL and Stafford will be in trouble with Trey and Hubbard coming 
around the edge. Also Stafford isn't very good when under pressure as Au165 here says.


I think this is our biggest advantage, Burrow can play very well under pressure, Stafford not so much.

Have said it before and will say it again, Reader, Hill, Hendrickson, and Hubbard are going to take all this Rams have the greatest D-line ever talk to heart and will make their presence known in a big way. 

Bengals D-line is not chopped liver and we did not sell our soul to get it like Rams did. Thinking they don't even have a 1st round draft picks until 2025.

Stafford has 1 elite game against the dreadfully bad Buccs pass defense. weakest parts of 49ers and Cards was secondary Cards were decimated on D and got run on at will opening game. The Rams D has shut down a Buccs team with only reliable guys being Gronk and Evans. I seen Evans torch Ramsey no reason Tee or Chase cant do that. Jimmy G and a Dhop less Cards team hardly impressive.

(02-07-2022, 05:17 PM)Au165 Wrote: There is a definite lack of discussion around how poorly Stafford plays when pressured and the fact we should be able to pressure Stafford. While we all know Burrow will play under pressure most the game he is actually pretty good relative to most QB's at it. 

Stafford has been the best QB in the league vs the Blitz. I’m hoping the secondary will step up and make plays because I think they will have the opportunity to do so.

I don't know guys, according to Rams fans there is NO WAY they win by less than 14+, according to them the games already over and the Rams won the whole damn thing EASILY.

So I guess we don't even need to watch the game.

(02-07-2022, 09:17 PM)PocketAces32 Wrote: Stafford has been the best QB in the league vs the Blitz. I’m hoping the secondary will step up and make plays because I think they will have the opportunity to do so.

Under pressure and against the blitz are different things so not sure why I was quoted. He has thrown the 2nd most INTS and the 6th most turnover worthy passes when under pressure, essentially he does really well against the blitz because it gets picked up or he gets it out before pressure gets gone. If he is simply under pressure he makes poor decisions and is a detriment to the team. Essentially the best way to get the team out of rhythm is to get home without extra rushers.

After what our Defense accomplished against the Chiefs in the second half of the AFC championship,I have no doubt they can matchup against the Rams.That second half was most impressive.It wasn’t just what they accomplished,but who they accomplished it against.The Chiefs Offense was smoking hot coming into that game.

They had just demolished the Buffalo Bills #1 defense in their win prior to facing the Bengals,to the tune of 42 points.

Remember the Bengals got pressure on Mahomes rushing THREE, with Hubbard in a coverage spy role. They also used a bunch of different secondary alignments which essentially removed presnap reads from the Chief offense.