I understand that the Bengals have Jeremy Hill and Giovanni Bernard, but I am looking at this stat from Hobson's most recent article:  14 - Career starts for Raiders starting CBs D.J. Hayden and T.J. Carrie  and I can't help but think the Bengals should first attack their secondary with quick, short passes.  Put AJ, MLJ, Sanu, and Eifert out there.  Maybe rotate in Burkhead as well in place of Sanu.  Spread them out and attack them.  Once their secondary starts creeping in to try and shut them down, burn them with a double move.

Pass first, to open up the run game.  If the Bengals can build an early two score lead (and stay aggressive on offense, Marv) they can turn the front four loose rushing the passer and the secondary might also generate some turnovers.

If their strength is their pass rush, don't give them time to get there.  It should look a lot like what New England was doing to pittsburgh before stretching the field with Gronk. 

I'm hoping Eifert takes away cover 2 like Gronk does for NE. Eifert, I believe, can be a difference maker in how defenses go after us. If that's the case AJ Green should come free more often.

(09-12-2015, 09:41 AM)EatonFan Wrote: I'm hoping Eifert takes away cover 2 like Gronk does for NE.  Eifert, I believe, can be a difference maker in how defenses go after us.  If that's the case AJ Green should come free more often.

Based on what I have seen at the training camps, preseason, and the first quarter of last season's opener, I strongly believe that Eifert will be one of the main targets virtually every game.  If they try to double him....

(09-12-2015, 09:27 AM)SHRacerX Wrote: I understand that the Bengals have Jeremy Hill and Giovanni Bernard, but I am looking at this stat from Hobson's most recent article:  14 - Career starts for Raiders starting CBs D.J. Hayden and T.J. Carrie  and I can't help but think the Bengals should first attack their secondary with quick, short passes.  Put AJ, MLJ, Sanu, and Eifert out there.  Maybe rotate in Burkhead as well in place of Sanu.  Spread them out and attack them.  Once their secondary starts creeping in to try and shut them down, burn them with a double move.

Pass first, to open up the run game.  If the Bengals can build an early two score lead (and stay aggressive on offense, Marv) they can turn the front four loose rushing the passer and the secondary might also generate some turnovers.

If their strength is their pass rush, don't give them time to get there.  It should look a lot like what New England was doing to pittsburgh before stretching the field with Gronk. 

The Bengals need to take the lead and move the ball early.

If not, any weakness in the middle of our OL will be exposed.

On the other side of the ball, I really believe our D can smother the Raiders offense and a defensive score could be the difference if our offense sputters.

That all hinges on shutting down Mack, Tuck, and now possibly Aldon Smith as well.

I'd like to see them (Bengals) do exactly what they did in Baltimore last year before Eifert went down. Hue was really mixing it up and you could see the offense was going to run through Eifert. They really had Baltimore on their heals when he was in the game.

Now you throw in Jeremy Hill and the outside threats of AJ and MLJ and the bag of options is limitless. Plus don't forget Rex Burkhead moving around and using his quickness in patterns.

Should be fun to watch, and that's only talking the offense! Of course everything depends on execution. Can't wait to get the season started.

(09-12-2015, 11:02 AM)jfkbengals Wrote: That all hinges on shutting down Mack, Tuck, and now possibly Aldon Smith as well.

That shouldn't be that difficult.  We have one of the better sets of tackles in the league.  I don't worry about Mack or Aldon Smith doing damage on the edges.  IF we are going to have any issues it will be with pressure up the middle.

(09-12-2015, 11:18 AM)Hammerstripes Wrote: That shouldn't be that difficult.  We have one of the better sets of tackles in the league.  I don't worry about Mack or Aldon Smith doing damage on the edges.  IF we are going to have any issues it will be with pressure up the middle.

Which is what will happen if they run a stunt, or line up Tuck at DT...

In our first pre-season game, Dalton had a planned rollout where he hit AJ in stride. Gimme some more of that. Or rollouts where he throws the deep ball. Or anything that doesn't depend on pocket integrity. Because there's gonna be some plays where we don't have it and the O-Line can make their own lives easier if there is a variety of things going on in the backfield to keep the Raiders D off balance.

Oh, and on 3rd and long let's see if Marvin Jones can return to his old form. That was some great stuff when he'd bail us out deep in our own territory, time and again. And if they do double MoJo on 3rd and long, Eiffert needs to be making himself worthy of being a 1st rounder.

We have a better offense than Oakland so the game plan should stay simple. Take away Carr's 5yrd throws with base cover 1 or 2 man under D and simple zone MLB blitzs. On O stay 50/50 run to pass to keep the D honest and use the clock effectively. If we find ourselves up at the half then use the run to setup the pass. If we are down go pass heavy with RB dumpoffs.

Expect to see a lot of 4-3 and nickle D to stop runs and short passes. On Offense I expect them to keep things even and keep the Defense guessing. We can run block better than pass block so I think designed QB rollouts can be effective. We just have to spread the ball around so that their experienced CB don't lock on to AJ green and effectively shutdown 50% of our offense.

Another guy to watch is Amari Cooper. The raiders know they have something in him and will probably want to see what he can do. If we can match Dre up on him that is a guy who has had experience running against him in college practices when he was a senior and Amari was a freshman all american. So maybe we will try and let Dre follow him around for a few series if he becomes their go to guy.

(09-12-2015, 11:18 AM)Hammerstripes Wrote: That shouldn't be that difficult.  We have one of the better sets of tackles in the league.  I don't worry about Mack or Aldon Smith doing damage on the edges.  IF we are going to have any issues it will be with pressure up the middle.

Stunts were Aldon Smith's bread and butter in SF. I wouldn't be surprised if we see him coming up the middle a few times.

(09-12-2015, 11:18 AM)Hammerstripes Wrote: That shouldn't be that difficult.  We have one of the better sets of tackles in the league.  I don't worry about Mack or Aldon Smith doing damage on the edges.  IF we are going to have any issues it will be with pressure up the middle.

If you think Khalil Mack going to be shut out you're in for a rude awakening he is one of the best defensive ends in the league next to JJ Watt the man is unblockable now add Aldon Smith on the other side I say Andy Dalton gets sacked 5x I don't think you have much success in the run game Mac also maybe the best run defender in the league plus we have two good defensive tackles Justin Ellis and Dan Williams now put Aldon Smith on the other side I see you guys in a lot of third and long situations which will end up in some andy dalton ints. Its going to be a tough game but we take it at home.

I gotta say, there's a lot of factors making me nervous about this game. Oakland is a tough place to play for starters.. If we start out poorly it could be a long day. They can def rush the passer and stop the run.. They've got an up and coming team. They've got players on both sides of the ball, and a good coaching staff. They also have nothing to lose. We are expected to win. It seems like the pressure is and will be on us all game. This game just has all the makings of an upset. Hope we pull it out. Should be a good game regardless.

(09-13-2015, 12:21 AM)houlesteven1990 Wrote: If you think Khalil Mack going to be shut out you're in for a rude awakening he is one of the best defensive ends in the league next to JJ Watt the man is unblockable now add Aldon Smith on the other side I say Andy Dalton gets sacked 5x I don't think you have much success in the run game Mac also maybe the best run defender in the league plus we have two good defensive tackles Justin Ellis and Dan Williams now put Aldon Smith on the other side I see you guys in a lot of third and long situations which will end up in some andy dalton ints. Its going to be a tough game but we take it at home.

Sure dude.  We'll just throw in the towel now.  I mean... you obviously have it all figured out.  No need to play the game now.

(09-13-2015, 12:21 AM)houlesteven1990 Wrote: If you think Khalil Mack going to be shut out you're in for a rude awakening he is one of the best defensive ends in the league next to JJ Watt the man is unblockable now add Aldon Smith on the other side I say Andy Dalton gets sacked 5x I don't think you have much success in the run game Mac also maybe the best run defender in the league plus we have two good defensive tackles Justin Ellis and Dan Williams now put Aldon Smith on the other side I see you guys in a lot of third and long situations which will end up in some andy dalton ints. Its going to be a tough game but we take it at home.

Uh. No. Again, Khalil Mack is a physical beast but technique requires some work. His relentless physical talents have taken him out of the play several times (even noted in his draft profile as being a wreckless player). I don't see him being compared to JJ Watt, Justin Houston and/or a few other names. He might be a Top 10 talent, sure but he is certainly not the best run defender in the league. 

This could be a bigger game for Gio than for Jeremy. Or at least we could alot of little safety valve passes to the RBs, so both of them rack up some receiving yards. Basically, run the same kind of plan Hue did against Denver last year when Del Rio was their DC.

But yeah, everything above sounds good, too. This will be a very interesting chess match to watch when we have the ball. I agree that Eifert could also be the biggest factor in this game. I'm looking forward to it. WHO DEY!!!

The thing for our team will be not to come out flat as happens then and again with Marvin. If they come out sharp and motivated and not listless and sloppy they should win this.

(09-13-2015, 03:08 AM)Joelist Wrote: The thing for our team will be not to come out flat as happens then and again with Marvin. If they come out sharp and motivated and not listless and sloppy they should win this.

It would be hard for that young team to come back from a 7-10 point deficit.

Definitely depends on the amount of pressure they can get on Carr. If the DLine plays anything like they did last year, it won't be pretty. Dre vs Amari is a HUGE match up. Possibly the most important in the game.

No turnovers.  Take away cheap yards/running yards on defense.  Seems like a good game to play (mostly)conservative.