Merril Hodge says Bengals can compete with the Patriots

[BFritz21]

I think that we could beat them in the cold up there (or down here) if we are healthy and Hill gets the majority of the carries again with Dalton playing from under center because we can't win a shootout with them or hope to outplay Brady. We'd need to pound the ball between the tackles and use Eifert to beat them at their own game (I loved the corner route he ran down by the goal line because a backer can't cover that and a safety has troubles getting over there and stopping it even if he does, not to mention it takes him away from the rest of the play).

Lining up in the shotgun wouldn't work against them, so we'd need to have Dalton under center, pound the ball with Hill, and abuse their weak secondary with AJ, Eifert, and Jones (who I never was big on but now I'm all aboard that train).

On defense, let our corners try and cover Edelman, put a slot corner on Gronk and a safety over the top, bring the pressure on Brady with extra blitzers, and roll the dice.