09-28-2022, 04:00 PM
(09-26-2022, 02:40 PM)PhilHos Wrote: Like last week, I'm not predicting who will win or final scores. Now, part of me is concerned going into this game that even though we looked A LOT better against the Jets, it was still the Jets that we played and so I'm concerned the team may think they're "back" when they're not.
A few things that I'm looking at that work in our favor:
1) home game on Thursday night. I don't know the actual numbers but IIRC, Thursday night NFL games favor the home team to a ridiculous degree. Throw in the first game with our new white helmets and I think the Dolphins are going to see a fired up Bengals squad in front of a fired-up, raucous crowd.
2) Dolphins offense looks pretty good, but our defense looks to be pretty good, too. There's still a game to be played tonight, but as of Monday afternoon, the Bengals rank 9th in total defense (310.7 ypg), 14th in passing defense (224.7 ypg) 8th in rushing defense (86.0 ypg), and 10th in scoring defense (18.3 ppg).
3) Dolphins defense, on the other hand: 31st in total defense, 31st in passing defense, 20th in rushing defense, and 16th in scoring defense. So, assuming our offense has really started to figure things out, we should be easily able to move the ball, but it'll come down to can we finish drives and score TDs instead of FGs.
Same on not predicting who will win or final scores. It worked last week so I am staying that way. #3 was the reason why
the Bills lost to the Fins, the Bills didn't finish and score TD's. This will be key in this game. You can move the ball on them
big time but in the end, it is about putting the ball in the Endzone.
I also like how our Defense matches up with their speed on Offense. These are the types of WR's our Secondary craves to
stop. Speedsters in Tyreek Hill and Jalen Waddle. Just read on bengals.com how much Awuzie, Hilton and Bates are really
loving studying up on this matchup. Trusting each other and playing high low on Defense so these guys can't beat us deep.
