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Bengals @ Patriots Game Thread


HoosierCat

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I hope the Bengals watch the game tonight and really have the team ready to go into Foxboro next Sunday night.

Seeing them go into that stadium in prime time and come home with a win will be huge on many levels.

I won't be surprised with either a win or a loss, but I don't want to see them come out flat and unprepared.

That will straight piss me the f*ck off !!!

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we've got a bye and Pats have a Monday?

man, if ever there was a golden opportunity to reverse the Bright Lights Bogeyman, this be it.

(don't lay an egg, Andy)

They have a Monday on the road, no less. So yeah, if you have to go to Foxboro to play the Pats, this is about as a good a scenario as you could hope for.

A loss wouldn't kill the Bengals but boy I hope they win. I don't think I can take another week of "Bengals/Dalton melt in prime time" stories.

Per Boston.com, Pats corner Alfonzo Dennard will miss tonight's game. He's missed three straight. Pats will have CB Brandon Browner back from suspension next week against Cincy.

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Some interesting stuff in this Mike Sando espn in$ider piece (swiped from the patriots planet board):

ESPN NFL Insider Mike Sando spent Sunday with ESPN NFL analyst Jon Gruden and the "Monday Night Football" crew in Kansas City, site of the New England Patriots-Kansas City Chiefs matchup in Week 4 (ESPN, 8:15 p.m. ET). Sando files a few key takeaways from Gruden regarding key storylines for these teams, in Gruden's voice.

1. New England is going to improve on offense, but it might not show up in this game.

People are expecting 4,000 yards and 40 touchdown passes from New England. That isn't going to happen, but the strength of the team is no longer in the skill group of the Patriots. When they were really hard to defend, I remember watching Aaron Hernandez create mismatches opposite Rob Gronkowski, and Danny Woodhead was a force to deal with out of the backfield. They do not have any juice right now other than Julian Edelman.

Gronkowski is not himself yet, but I have a feeling he is going to get back into form. They are being very careful with him. He has had seven surgeries. They are not going to put him out there and expect him to go wire-to-wire in the opening games. They are taking care of him. It'll be huge for them whenever he does get back into form.

I do not know where Aaron Dobson, Kenbrell Thompkins and Brandon LaFell fit. They are still relatively new to the offense. They have to keep Tom Brady healthy for now, so they might have to win some ugly games with their defense in the lead role.

Remember, when they went 16-0 and threw 50 touchdown passes, they did not win the Super Bowl. When they won the Super Bowl, defense was the strength of that team, and Brady was young and not yet at the dominant level of play he'd reach in his prime. They had David Givens, Troy Brown, Christian Fauria and a tight end named Jermaine Wiggins, who beat us. Now, they also had Matt Light at left tackle and some good linemen. They had a good, solid offense with Corey Dillon as the featured back.

The Patriots have to buy some time to get Gronkowski going. Something is going to happen with Danny Amendola or Dobson -- one of those guys will come back to life. The offensive line will play better. In time, it will all get better. That is just what happens in New England.

2. I do not see a dramatic decline in Tom Brady.

Tom Brady continues to do a very good job prior to the snap.

They have a lot of new parts, they have a new offensive line coach, they have a rookie right guard, they have a left guard I have not seen play the position much, and then they opened the season down in the Miami heat, which is really tough.

We are still seeing Brady do a lot of stuff before the ball is snapped. He does not waste plays. He uses the snap count extremely well. It buys him time to see what the coverage is, what the optimal angle to run the ball into is. If it is a strong safety blitz, he sees it. If it is a corner blitz, he will see that. He is not afraid to change patterns or change blocking schemes. And he has made some great plays under duress. I know he is completing only 58 percent, but some of those completions have been phenomenal -- sometimes even for just 6 or 8 yards.

How many times has Brady turned it over, even with all this bad stuff going on around him? He has not turned it over yet. No interceptions. That is your winning edge right now.

3. Kansas City isn't exactly the Greatest Show on Turf, either.

The Chiefs are not blessed with a lot of weapons right now. Jamaal Charles is their loaded gun, but how healthy is he going to be for this game? I do not know. They will get him on the perimeter and try to create some one-on-one opportunities for him. Andy Reid does a great job of that, whether it's in the screen game, with no-back sets.

Other than that, Travis Kelce is someone for whom they need to manufacture plays, whether that means crossing routes or isolating him on one side of the formation opposite Dwayne Bowe. Whatever they do, it is critical to get Kelce involved in the passing game. But the Chiefs have their own problems on the offensive line. I think this is going to be a slugfest, with special teams factoring and turnovers heightened.

4. For all the Patriots' problems on offense, their defense is tremendous.

You always have to be ready for the Bill Belichick factor, no matter what. The Patriots could play a 3-4, they could play the 4-3, they could provide a lot of different looks in their nickel third-down package. That is a lot in itself. Then it's all the versatile players they have. Chandler Jones is rushing over the guard now. He is turning into a pass-rushing force. Dont'a Hightower is also an excellent pass-rusher who can do a lot of things in coverage. Jerod Mayo is healthy. Jamie Collins is not a rookie anymore. They have a lot of athletic run-and-hit linebackers who can do multiple things, and they are deep at corner.

The Patriots also have the Darrelle Revis factor now. Brandon Browner is in the bullpen, and all these other corners have a history of creating turnovers and being able to play different types of coverages. They are really good. They have a lot of tools in their box that they can use.

5. The Chiefs' Dontari Poe is like a younger version of the Patriots' Vince Wilfork.

Poe is a big problem for the Patriots in this game. He is like a younger version of Wilfork in that he does not come off the field much. You do not always know where he is going to line up. Look, if New England cannot run the ball in this game, it will be a real problem for them. Poe will make it tough.

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Some more nuggets in this Grantland column previewing Pats/KC and the rest of the weekend's game. Barnwell also has some nice words for Marvin Lewis for those who care to click through.

The problem with the Patriots offense isn’t that Tom Brady is force-feeding Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman. It’s that Brady doesn’t trust his offensive line to give him enough time to get past his first read. Tom Curran found that Brady never made it past his first read on 30 of his 39 drop-backs against Oakland, and on those nine drop-backs where he did run through his progressions, he was hurried or hit seven times. As Brady’s best receivers, Edelman and Gronkowski have often been his first reads, which is why they’ve gotten the majority of his passes.

New England showed the first signs it’s going to change things last week, when it benched dismal right guard Jordan Devey during the second half, moving Dan Connolly to guard and playing rookie center Bryan Stork. Devey, who entered the starting lineup after Logan Mankins was traded to Tampa Bay, has received more local criticism than I’ve ever heard in reference to a guard.

Former Patriots quarterback and local pundit Scott Zolak had scathing words about Devey. “Right now it’s a talent issue. This isn’t coaching,” Zolak said. “If you can’t bend at the hips, or it looks like you’ve never been laid, you’ve got no hope.” That’s the meanest thing I’ve ever heard anybody say about an offensive lineman before. “I’ve seen enough of Jordan Devey. He can’t play,” Zolak added. Wait, maybe that’s the meanest thing.

Wherever the Patriots land with their interior alignment needs to stick. If they turn the center job over to Stork, his first four assignments will come against Dontari Poe, Geno Atkins, Kyle Williams, and Sheldon Richardson. It seems odd to think that the entire Patriots offense could come down to whether a rookie fourth-rounder plays better than a backup guard who most people hadn’t heard of before the season, but New England’s efficiency has been hinging on the woes of the offensive line.

So why pick New England here? Because the defense has been impeccable. Some of their success will eventually come out in the wash of opponent adjustments, but the Patriots have the best defensive DVOA, paced by the league’s best pass defense. The Raiders actually threw at Darrelle Revis with some limited success last week, but they did little to move the ball consistently.

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No Burfict, Zeitler or Thompson at practice today. Otherwise everyone was there.

Burfict is always important, especially in a game like Sunday, HOWEVER, I don't want to see him back before he's 100%.

Doesn't the NFL have some kind of limit on how many concussions a player can have before he's suspended?

Hate to see this guy mess up his career.

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Ok, does anyone know how long it's been since the Pats lost 2 in a row? They mentioned it after they loss to Miami but I can't remember. Why?

I want a Bengal victory, Sunday night, to bust up 3 things:

1. Break the streak that the Pats have of being undefeated against AFC teams, at home, since 2008.

2. IF the Pats lose tonight, which I am rooting for, the Bengals will be the team that beats them for their second loss in a row, which the Pats haven't done in awhile.

3. Win an 'away' primetime game which is rare for the Bengals.

Let's face it fellas, we can't expect them to win primetime playoff games if they can't start winning primetime games during the season.

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Well they look very beatable, however I don't like facing the Pats if they lose, they never lose 2 in a row.

I'm sure Pats will be harder at home, wish it was a bengals home game.

Bengals never show up after a bye or on a national televised game.

Time to change that though, I'm so ready for this to be a different bengals team

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Well they look very beatable, however I don't like facing the Pats if they lose, they never lose 2 in a row.

I'm sure Pats will be harder at home, wish it was a bengals home game.

Bengals never show up after a bye or on a national televised game.

Time to change that though, I'm so ready for this to be a different bengals team

According to Cat they last time they lost 2 in a row was 2012.

I say it's time to break THAT record AND be the first AFC team to beat them at home since 2008.

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