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Who Stays and Who Goes for Who Dey – Part V

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We just finished Valentine’s Day, and love is still in the air. When your favorite pro football team has free agents who may be staying or leaving, the question invariably comes up … how much do you love them?

That’s the question the Cincinnati Bengals organization is asking itself. We’ve already discussed names like Andrew Whitworth and Dre Kirkpatrick and how we think Cincinnati will try to hold onto them tightly. Others on the free agent list, though, may get the ‘just-friend’ treatment come contract time.

Here are the next two guys on the Cincinnati Bengals’ free agency block. Is Cincy ever gonna give them up, or ever gonna let them down?

10. Rex Burkhead (running back) – Burkhead was a 2013 6th-round draft choice out of Nebraska. He logged, by far, the most activity of his 3-year Cincinnati career in 2016 with 74 rushes for 344 yards and 2 rushing TDs. Add to that 17 receptions for 145 yards. Burkhead runs hard and plays hard. The question isn’t whether he’s capable (he is), but whether the Cincinnati Bengals have someone better, or can get them in a running-back rich NFL draft. Since the team still has Giovani Bernard and Jeremy Hill under contract (and more money invested there), we doubt they bring Rex back. But he’ll land somewhere, get a nice raise, and make the most of the opportunity. Re-sign (yep or nope): Nope

11. Chykie Brown (cornerback) – Brown spent his first 3.5 seasons in Baltimore and had a cameo appearance for the New York Giants before suiting up for Cincinnati in 2016. This 5th-round pick out of Texas was only active for 5 games for the Bengals and made 2 tackles. Not head-turning numbers, but with the possibility of losing Dre Kirkpatrick to another team and Adam Jones to the prison shower room (don’t drop the soap), the Bengals might want to have some depth on their roster, at least for this year.  Re-sign (yep or nope): Yep


Cincinnati Bengals vs Buffalo Bills – Week 11 Preview

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The cure for the Cincinnati Bengals’ Giant hangover (see what we did there?) should come this Sunday. Why do we say that? Cincinnati hosts the Buffalo Bills – the 3-straight-losses, 3rd in their division, 31st-ranked passing offense in the NFL Buffalo Bills.

It’s a winnable game. We say ‘winnable’ because after the mistakes in last week’s 21-20 loss to New York, games are not slam dunks. If the Cincinnati Bengals can take advantage of these 3 areas, this game should be … more than winnable.

Cincinnati Bengals vs Buffalo Bills – 3 Cincy Keys

1. Use the home-field advantage. The friendly confines of Paul Brown Stadium have been good to the Cincinnati Bengals recently. They haven’t lost at home since September 25 against the Denver Broncos. Buffalo, on the other hand, has lost 3 straight and isn’t feeling the mojo. Make some big plays and get the home crowd into it. It’s a great way to get Buffalo thinking “Here we go again.”

2. Beguile the Bills’ blitz. Buffalo has only given up 10 touchdowns through the air in 2016, but they are blitz-happy, which makes them vulnerable if they can’t get to the QB in time. If, IF, IF! the Bengals’ O-line can hold off the Bills’ rushers for a few seconds, QB Andy Dalton, wide receiver AJ Green, and TE Tyler Eifert should carve up Buffalo and serve them up like wings.


3. Yeah, about that O-line …. Not sure if we emphasized this point enough already. This game rides on the offensive line. Rex Ryan will throw the kitchen sink at the Cincinnati Bengals’ passing attack. Dalton is smart enough to make the right calls, but he’s gotta stay upright. Also, Buffalo is giving up almost 109 rushing yards a game (18th in the league), so a few good runs should affect the Bills’ defensive game plan and open up the play-action pass.

Cincinnati Bengals / New York Giants – Week 10 Recap

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The Cincinnati Bengals missed a golden opportunity on Monday night. What could have been a huge, momentum-building victory to start the second half of the season turned into a deflating 21-20 loss to the New York Giants. What went right, and what went wrong? Bengals blog boys Nathan and Chris give their post game thoughts.

Chris: I was so excited about Tyler Eifert’s potential impact on the game. And when he caught the 71-yard pass on the first drive, I thought New York would have trouble containing the Bengals’ passing game all night. But the offense petered out after that, along with my confidence.

Dalton only went for 204 yards – paltry by his standards. No receiver broke 100 yards, and that was the key to the Giants’ win. They took away the strength of the Bengals’ offense. The rushing attack, while improved, hasn’t emerged as enough of a consistent threat to pick up the slack.

Nate: Watching this game was rather frustrating. The Bengals showed flashes of being a good team but mostly looked like a disinterest and unprepared group as the Giants gave them every opportunity to come out victorious. 

The flashes: 1). Daltons 71 yard hookup with Tyler Eifert on the Bengals opening drive which ended in a 13 yard A.J. Green TD reception. 2). Dre Kirkpatrick made a nice INT that gave the Bengals great field position inside the Giants 10 yard line, they came away with only 3 points. And 3). Alex Erickson started the 2nd half with an 84 yard kickoff return which lead to Jeremy Hill running one in for TD which gave the Bengals a 17-14 lead early in the 3rd quarter.

The rest of the game was filled with things like the team going 2 for 11 on 3rd downs, terrible clock management with over a minute to go and a time out remaining, poor pass protection for Dalton, and allowing the leagues worst rushing attack to go for 122 yards on 27 attempts (4.5 ypa), not what Bengals fans hoped to see coming off a bye week.

Cincinnati Bengals vs New York Giants – Week 10 Preview

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The much-anticipated second half of the Cincinnati Bengals’ season starts Monday night. They head to East Rutherford, New Jersey to take on the New York Giants. The G-men sport a 5–3 record, but that shouldn’t make you worry. The only people who need to apply an extra layer of antiperspirant are the defensive coordinators.

Neither the Cincinnati Bengals’ passing D (18th) nor the Giants (21st) crack the top half in passing defense. What makes this even worse (or better, depending on your view) is that both teams are in the top 11 when throwing the ball (Cincy is 10th, NY 11th). Two pretty good aerial attacks playing two defenses that would have trouble stopping a nervous driver’s ed student with a red light and a police car? Um, yes please!

Here are a few other things to keep an eye on come kickoff time.

4 Things to Watch in the Cincinnati Bengals Week 10 Game

1. The Giants have only rushed for 546 yards – the fewest in the NFL. Stopping the run isn’t Cincinnati’s strength, but if they can force NY into some 3rd-and-longs, then they’ll be one-dimensional. That will make things easier for a passing defense that needs all the ease it can get.


2. The Cincinnati Bengals’ offense has been balanced of late. They’ve averaged 211/yards a game on the ground and 275 through the air the last two weeks. Now tight end Tyler Eifert is back to help QB Andy Dalton and receiver AJ Green. A balanced attack will keep the Giants off balance.

3. New York is 5-3 despite having a -7 turnover ratio. If Cincinnati can get Eli Manning and company to cough it up early, it could get inside the Giants’ heads.

4. Who will have the bigger game – Odell Beckham Jr. or A.J. Green? We’ll have fun finding out.

Week 7: Cincinnati Bengals vs Cleveland Browns – 3 Things to Watch

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The Cincinnati Bengals need a divisional win – heck, ANY kind of win. And there’s a golden opportunity to get both this weekend with a visit from the Cleveland Browns. The matchup between teams that are a combined 2-10 probably won’t draw much interest from anyone outside of Ohio. But if you ask the guys on the Cincinnati Bengals’ roster, the game couldn’t come at a better time.

Cleveland boasts (boasts?) the 27th-ranked passing defense in the NFL, and only has 9 sacks on the year. Even with Cincinnati’s suspect O-line play, this has to be a matchup that Andy Dalton is smiling about. That’s one thing to keep an eye on during the game. Here are 3 other things to remember about the Cincinnati Bengals-Cleveland Browns game this week.

3 Things About the Cincinnati Bengals Game

1. “Hue” is that over there? Longtime Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson, now the Browns’ head coach, faces his former team for the first time. Bengals HC Marvin Lewis recently said he misses and loves Hue – but don’t expect the warm and fuzzies from either side at kickoff. Both teams desperately need a win. Both teams dislike each other. To paraphrase a line from Hollywood western movies, this state ain’t big enough for the both of ’em.

2. Take advantage of the week. Granted, in professional football, there are no ‘easy’ wins. But if the Cincinnati Bengals want to generate any momentum and boost team morale, it won’t get any ‘easier’ than winning against the winless, little-brother Browns. A victor will warm Cincy up for comparatively tougher games against the Washington Redskins and New York Giants.

3. Welcome back, Tyler. Bengals’ tight end Tyler Eifert was full go in practice and is expected to play Sunday. He picked a good team to make his return against, but how much he plays and what impact he makes remains to be seen. Don’t expect him to push too hard unless the game is tied in the 4th quarter.