Paul Brown Stadium Archives

3 Keys to the Game: Cincinnati Bengals vs Baltimore Ravens

September 9, 2017 Chris Russell Leave a Comment

Here we are, Cincinnati Bengals fans – Christmas Eve!

Our old friends the Baltimore Ravens come to town for a high-noon kickoff tomorrow. We must say, it looks like a match-up that’s in Cincinnati’s favor. A win would be big because it gives us huge momentum, as well as the upper hand over a division rival right off the bat. Also, we don’t necessarily love the fact that Baltimore isn’t at full strength, but ……. well, actually, yes we do.

Let’s break down what we believe are the three keys to a Bengals’ win.

3 Keys to a Cincinnati Bengals Win

Go after Joe. Joe Flacco will start, but he has been hurt and missed all of training camp and the preseason. Add to that the fact that he’s about as successful in Paul Brown Stadium (2-6 in the last 8 games, 5 TDs, 12 picks) as Dr. Evil is in taking over the world. It’s a situation that should make the Cincinnati pass rushers (remember, we’ve got Chris Smith and Jordan Willis now) giddy. Put some pressure on him, maybe a hit or two or 15, and their passing attack will crumble.
Get our downfield passing game going. This one is almost a given when you have someone named AJ Green on your team. But we also drafted someone named John Ross. And there’s this guy we’ve been seeing named Tyler Eifert, who can go over the middle. And the Ravens D ranked 28th in the NFL last year in passing TDs. Score a few touchdowns and John Harbaugh’s squad will be forced to play catch-up with a rusty and gimpy quarterback. Getting to that point depends on how much time QB Andy Dalton gets from the offensive line. Speaking of which …
Solid line play. Anyone who has read our blog more than once knows the O-line has been the team’s most concerning area. Baltimore is a good opponent to start with for us, since they only tallied 31 sacks last season. It’ll be a great confidence boost to our big uglies if they can keep Dalton upright. Plus, if we can establish a big-enough lead, they can practice some run blocking to use up clock late in the game.

So get ready, Cincinnati Bengals fans. We’ve waited a long time. And it’s about time we get back to the postseason. The first step is tomorrow.

Cincinnati Bengals’ Biggest 2017 NFL Draft Needs, Part I: Defensive End

April 22, 2017 Chris Russell 2 Comments

The Cincinnati Bengals are heading into the 2017 NFL Draft with quite a few needs. Near the top of the list is finding some young guys who can put pressure on the quarterback. Cincy’s 2016 pass rush wasn’t the worst in the league (33 sacks, tied for 19th in the NFL), but averaging just over two sacks a game won’t cut it when you’re in the same division as Ben Roethlisberger and Joe Flacco.
You need to apply lots of pressure. Think the head-in-a-vice scene from Casino. The Bengals have some people who can get the job done in DE Carlos Dunlap and DT Geno Atkins. The issue, though, is consistency. Dunlap doesn’t have it. He was kept away from the QB in half of the games last year and only registered half a sack in two other contests. Atkins spends much of the time double-teamed. Defensive coordinator Paul Guenther’s squad needs to be able to bring the heat from all angles on all downs.

The Cincinnati Bengals can take a big step in improving their pass rush by landing one of these college studs on April 27.

Top Defensive Ends for the Cincinnati Bengals

1. Myles Garrett – Garrett graded out the highest of these three at the NFL Combine (7.63). That isn’t surprising when you consider his production at Texas A&M. He racked up 47 tackles for loss in three years and made All-America teams each time. He had eight multi-sack games in college. Garrett also brings toughness to the table. During his freshman year, he tore ligaments in his hand in the sixth game and still amassed 11.5 sacks. Garrett may not be available when the Bengals pick at 9 but if they trade up or he slides he’s a “no brainer”.

2. Solomon Thomas – Solomon Thomas only played at Stanford for two years but made a considerable impact for the Cardinals. He took the Pac-12 by storm in 2016, piling up 62 stops, 8 sacks, and 15 tackles for loss on his way to winning conference player of the year. He managed two TFLs and a sack in the Rose Bowl against Iowa, so he doesn’t get jittery when playing on a big stage. The NFL Combine site lists him as a top-10 pick. Cincinnati has number 9. Just sayin …

3. Derek Barnett – Bengals fans wouldn’t mind seeing Barnett trade one shade of orange for another. The former University of Tennessee consensus All-American set the school record for career sacks with 33, to go along with 52 tackles for loss. At 6-3, 259 with 4.88 speed, he’s got the beef and burst to challenge NFL-sized offensive tackles. He is known for having a nonstop motor, strong hands, and an on-field temper that could warm up Paul Brown Stadium in January. And with his help, the Bengals could be playing then.

Cincinnati Bengals vs Buffalo Bills – Week 11 Preview

November 19, 2016 Chris Russell Leave a Comment

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.

My Preseason Game 1, Vikings vs Bengals Experience

August 16, 2016 Nate Mallon Leave a Comment

I made the 4 hour drive north from Nashville to Cincinnati this past Friday to see the Bengals host the Minnesota Vikings as they played preseason game number one. I arrived downtown about an hour before kickoff, found parking rather quickly downtown, scampered a few blocks over to the nearest Chipotle and scarfed down some tacos. I then walked a few blocks to Paul Brown Stadium to wait for my dad and two nephews to arrive as I was holding their tickets. I sat outside near the Pro Shop where I found some much needed shade. I could hear the “Star Spangled Banner” being sung in the background while I sat sweating bullets…in the shade.

I missed kickoff and the first offensive and defensive series by the Bengals which basically meant I missed watching all of the starters play in this game. I was able to hear A.J. Green make 3 receptions over the loud speaker and Mike Nugent miss a 48 yard field goal.

A few minutes later my guys arrived and we made our way to the third deck about halfway into the first quarter. We witnessed a nice long methodical drive by the Bengals offense lead by A.J. McCarron which ended with zero points after moving the football 89 yards on 22 plays. The Vikings took over at their own 4 yard line which lead to the Bengals backups missing a golden opportunity to get a Safety and take a 2 point lead, instead the Vikings drove down the field and Teddy Bridgewater threw a 49 yard touchdown to WR Charles Johnson who smoked Bengals CB Chykie Brown on the play.

#WhoDey #MINvsCIN

A photo posted by Bengals Talk (@bengalstalk) on Aug 12, 2016 at 4:58pm PDT

We witnessed a lot of sub par football but there were some bright spots such as the play of rookie LB Nick Vigil who seemed to be all over the place and made some nice plays, also the young WR group did fairly well as Cody Core had 3 receptions, Tyler Boyd had a stellar 40 yard diving reception just before Alex Erickson scored the 1st TD of the preseason with a 3 yard grab from McCarron. The best and most electric play of the night for the Bengals came late in the 4th quarter when Alex Erickson returned a punt over 80 yards for a touchdown to cut the Vikings lead to one point with less than 3 minutes left in the game. Coach Lewis elected to go for the 2 point conversion which failed and the Bengals came up a hair short on the scoreboard losing by a final score of 17-16. The good thing is the team finished the game without any major injuries occurring as a result of the game and we are now less than 1 month away from regular season football!

Bengals Battle Titans in Preseason Home Opener

August 17, 2013 Nate Mallon Leave a Comment

The Bengals kick off their home opener at Paul Brown Stadium this evening against the Tennessee Titans. Since I am a Nashville resident and the biggest Bengals fan in the state of Tennessee I am especially hoping for a good showing from the orange & black. Some things I would like to see from the Bengals tonight:

1) Improved showing from the first team offense.

The starters on offense got off to a fairly slow start in last weeks preseason game again the Falcons, they were only on the field for a few series and were able to move the ball a bit, but drives stalled mostly due to penalties by the offensive line. They need to clean up some of those mistakes and get into more of a rhythm tonight.

2) Safety emergence:

There is still a 3 way competition going on for the starting safety spot opposite Reggie Nelson between George Iloka, Taylor Mays and rookie Shawn Williams, it will be interesting to see who steps up to create separation in this race to win the job. George Iloka appears to be ahead at this point by appearing first on the depth chart so far but all 3 have had solid play at times and there is still plenty of time for anyone to win the job.

3) Backup running back and quarterback emergence:

Behind Benjarvus Green-Ellis and Giovani Bernard there is a close battle for 1-2 backup spots between Cedric Peerman, Rex Burkhead, Bernard Scott and Dan Herron. All of the backup backs played well last week in Atlanta for the most part apart from Bernard Scott who is currently on the PUP list. Josh Johnson appears to the front runner at the moment for the backup QB position but John Skelton also played well in his Bengals debut last week. Johnson seems to have a better grasp of the system at this point but needs to work on his accuracy.