Tampa Toughening Up

[schweinhart]

I'd like to see Chad get untracked deep for this one. He can get behind either Phillips or Allen at S with ease and smoke either corner. But Palmer has to have the time for that to develop. Of all the Bucs who are likely to come out the most intense, I'd say it will be Simeon Rice, who Levi should still be able to handle in protection. This is a trench matchup where Bluto should fare well if he plays and won't have the surprise of a 3-4 team coming out in 4-3 to deal with or inside LBs blitzing off twists all game. So the time should be there for Palmer. Give Palmer time and he'll drive a stake into the Bucs season. But the Bengals need to pay heed to the balance of their attack and let Rudi gash the Bucs the way Deuce did last week. With the Bucs D on their heels dealing with Chad and Housh, Rudi should rack up a buck fifty....if the Bengals commit to running him.

I'd expect a brutal game. It won't be easdy but the Bengals should prevail with the better personnel.

Bengals 24

Bucs 20

[duus]

It's good to hear another fan out there that hasn't jumped ship because of one loss. You'd think we were 0-4 with the way some of these guys are talking.

Our injuries have killed us. If we get healthy, we will be ranked in the top 3 again. Not only do we have a snowball chance against SD and Atlanta... I'm betting we win them both.

No way we lose both of those. One win for sure, and maybe even both as you say. We surely have some tough out-of-division games coming up ... Carolina, Atlanta, SD ... but all are in Cincy, and I am confident we will get the majority. All 3? Possible. But 2-1 at least. If we find a way to win at Baltimore (pretty sure that will happen), and get the win this weekend at Tampa, then that will put us at 7-2 on the weekend before Thanksgiving. I'll take it.

Follow that with games at NO (looking harder these days), at Cleveland (win), home against Baltimore (win), home against Oakland (duh ... win), then the final 3 weeks of the year ....

... at Indy (is this looking as hard anymore? ... tough ... but a win), at Denver (either way), and then Pissburgh (win ... nice).

That's a confident 12 wins. Not sure about those two games at NO and at Denver. I'm sticking with an overall 12-4 year. Put me in the still as confident as ever column.

Final AFC North Standings:

Cincinnati 12-4

Baltimore 11-5 (1 loss right now ... will lose both to Cincy and split with Pittsburgh ... will lose to Carolina or Atlanta)

Pittsburgh 10-6 (3 losses already ... will lose at least one of the games at Atlanta/Carolina ... will lose one game against Baltimore ... and the game in Cincy)

Cleveland 3-13

[HoosierCat]

I'd like to see Chad get untracked deep for this one.

Yeah, he's certainly overdue for a big game. And it ought to help Palmer that the WR corps stays the same two weeks in a row, with an extra week in the middle to work on timing and comfort. And as da site suggests today, we could use a few squirrel sightings, too.

But really I hope we can get Jackson back, and if at all possible Jeanty too. (Or that Brooks can step in at SSLB effectively.) We absolutely have to hold Williams in check. Baltimore and Atlanta, two of the league's top rushing D's, did and won by solid margins. But Carolina and NO let him put up close to 200 combined yards in two games and both only won in squeakers that could easily have gone the other way.

[derekshank]

I'd like to see Chad get untracked deep for this one.

Sorry, but I expect another unexciting game from Chad.

Teams are doing the to us what they've been doing to Indy. They are giving up the short gains, but taking away the big play. You can see frustration on Manning's face when he has to go down the field on a 12 play drive. He wants those quick 4 and 5 play drives that end with a 40-yard TD. Statistics tell you that the more plays they have to run, the higher the probability of a turnover, or a stall-out. So that is the philosophy teams are taking against us and Indy.

Tampa will be no different. Their problem has been run defense. They are still a top 10 team in passing defense... and are also top 10 in 3rd down precentage, while allowing 163.2 rushing yards/game. Lucky for us, Rudi is a stud... so it shouldn't be a problem.

I think they still play the Tampa-2 defense... so I wouldn't expect a bunch of big plays. However, there should be a good number of short and intermediate routes that are pretty wide open. If we can be patient, and get Rudi going, we shouldn't have trouble moving the ball on them. We'll just have to accept the fact that the first 70-yard TD pass to Chad will have to wait another week. As long as we keep getting W's... I'm fine with that.

[HoosierCat]

Some Bucs notes...

Covers.com guy likes Gradkowski's debut better than Leinart's...

http://www.covers.com/articles/articles.as...;tid=27&t=1

Gruden calls out the defense by name...

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/spo...rlotte_football

[Tasher]

It's good to hear another fan out there that hasn't jumped ship because of one loss. You'd think we were 0-4 with the way some of these guys are talking.

Our injuries have killed us. If we get healthy, we will be ranked in the top 3 again. Not only do we have a snowball chance against SD and Atlanta... I'm betting we win them both.

No way we lose both of those. One win for sure, and maybe even both as you say. We surely have some tough out-of-division games coming up ... Carolina, Atlanta, SD ... but all are in Cincy, and I am confident we will get the majority. All 3? Possible. But 2-1 at least. If we find a way to win at Baltimore (pretty sure that will happen), and get the win this weekend at Tampa, then that will put us at 7-2 on the weekend before Thanksgiving. I'll take it.

Follow that with games at NO (looking harder these days), at Cleveland (win), home against Baltimore (win), home against Oakland (duh ... win), then the final 3 weeks of the year ....

... at Indy (is this looking as hard anymore? ... tough ... but a win), at Denver (either way), and then Pissburgh (win ... nice).

That's a confident 12 wins. Not sure about those two games at NO and at Denver. I'm sticking with an overall 12-4 year. Put me in the still as confident as ever column.

Final AFC North Standings:

Cincinnati 12-4

Baltimore 11-5 (1 loss right now ... will lose both to Cincy and split with Pittsburgh ... will lose to Carolina or Atlanta)

Pittsburgh 10-6 (3 losses already ... will lose at least one of the games at Atlanta/Carolina ... will lose one game against Baltimore ... and the game in Cincy)

Cleveland 3-13

I 2nd this!

[schweinhart]

Gruden calls out the defense by name...

Jeez sounds like the desperation point has been reached in Tampa. Can't see them folding because they got too many vets. Expect a brutal contest Sunday. Good test for the Bengals as they turn the corner into midseason. They probably got a little shook up after getting drubbed by the Pats and they'll likely have to match energy even more intense vs. the Bucs. Let's see who shows up.

[HoosierCat]

Jeez sounds like the desperation point has been reached in Tampa.

Well, you called it earlier in the thread when you noted that their backs are up against the wall. Every other team in their division has 3 or more wins; 0-5 means players can start planing a long vacation in January right now, and management can start gaming the top 10 draft picks. Brutal? Yeah. I expect that too.

Let's see who shows up.

On that front, Hobson, in his latest column, seems pretty down on the chances of Jeanty and Jackson getting back in time. Brooks has the tools but Hobs, quoting Bresh, says he's just way too raw mentally (meaning his grasp of the system) to count on at SSLB, esp. since what practice time he did have was at MLB until 3 weeks ago. Negatory on Tab Perry and Richie, too.

I expect Tampa to run the hell out of the ball and the gawd's honest truth is I dunno how we'll stop them. Crazily enough our best hope may be to turn this into a shootout...if the o-line can give Palmer time this week.

[ArmyBengal]

With the injuries not getting better, this game concerns me more and more !!!

WHODEY !!!

[derekshank]

We'll see. I expect Jackson to play, but I don't expect to see Jeanty, since they said his foot in still in a boot.

I don't like the idea of Miller at SSLB again... but if we get Jackson back at SS, I'll be happy enough. We had a real bad game against NE in rush defense.

Think about this for a second. After we gave up a season high 221 rushing yards against the Steelers, we came back the next week and allowed only 76, and proceeded to hold Jamal Lewis to less than 50 the week after that.

You can cite the competition I suppose... but that is pretty impressive. Don't let one bad game fool you. If anything... it's going to be motivation to do better.

By the way... New England is in the top 5 in rushing offense... Tampa, the bottom 5. Lets not act like Cadillac Williams is the second coming of Jimmy Brown.

[Stripes]

Even if Tampa does run the ball well on us, their rookie quarterback will probably make some mistakes against this opportunistic defense. They won't stop Rudi either. We won't lose this game. The Bengals are much better than the Bucanneers, it isn't even close. Add motivation to that, and this is a lock.

[HoosierCat]

You can cite the competition I suppose... but that is pretty impressive. Don't let one bad game fool you. If anything... it's going to be motivation to do better.

By the way... New England is in the top 5 in rushing offense... Tampa, the bottom 5. Lets not act like Cadillac Williams is the second coming of Jimmy Brown.

I don't doubt their motivation, their heart, their desire. I simply doubt the ability of K2, Miller (neither NFL caliber starters) and Landon (possible starter out of position) to get the job done. Dex returning would be a boost. But someone is still going to have to step up at LB. As for how good Caddy is...well, how may times have the bengals made marginal backs look great...and I don't think Caddy's a marginal back.

IMHO It would help if Bresh would key on the run and let the secondary go with man coverage. No more rush 4/soft zone crap!

[HoosierCat]

Some predictions...

http://walterfootball.com/pred2006_06.php

Bucs 34-20

http://www.profootballweekly.com/PFW/Handi...elections06.htm

Consensus pick Cincy

[derekshank]

As for how good Caddy is...well, how may times have the bengals made marginal backs look great...and I don't think Caddy's a marginal back.

I don't know. How many... recently? Sounds to me like you’re still bitter about the first half of the ’04 season when we allowed William Green and Chris Brown to go off on us. That was a long time ago in football terms.

Since that time, here’s the list of 100 yard backs against the Bengals.

2004

Bettis (Pit)

Taylor (Bal)

Barber (NYG)

2005

Jones (Chi)

Taylor (Jac)

Parker (Pit)

Lewis (Bal)

Johnson, L. (KC)

2006

Parker (Pit)

Maroney (NE)

With the possible exception of Jamal Lewis last year, point out to me the “marginal” back that we made look so great.

In that same time period... we also held Larry Johnson, McGahee , Parker, and Jamal Lewis to less than 70 yards as well as holding Edgerrin James, Portis, and Dillon to under 90.

Our rushing defense problems do exist. I don't deny it... but they are overstated. We don't allow "marginal" backs to go off on us. The elite ones do... but they tend to do that to everyone.

Caddy is good... so who knows. He might do well, but when we play well, we can stop the good ones too. So I'm not willing to wring my hands in worry.

[derekshank]

Here's a brief scout's inc. take on the game.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nfl/scouting?we...ting%3fweek%3d6

Bengals at Buccaneers

Before the season started, this looked like an excellent matchup between up-and-coming teams. Then the season started. Times have changed -- for the Buccaneers. Tampa Bay might have the worst overall offense in the league and its defense is starting to show its age, as it spends far too much time on the field. At 0-4, Tampa Bay's playoff hopes are now a real longshot after losing a close game to the Saints. The Bucs did show some progress on offense with Bruce Gradkowski, a rookie quarterback who started his first professional game last week.

Cincinnati, on the other hand, should be fresh and rested after its bye week, and that extra week allowed the Bengals to get some injured starters back on the field. The Bengals need this game to keep pace in the AFC North, while the Bucs try to get their first win.

[schweinhart]

The closest style of back on that 100 yard rusher list are Tiki and Parker. Cadillac is no BS into a crease between the tackles and therein is where the danger lies for the Bengals. They have got to tighten up their D-line. If they give up gaps like they did to Maroney, Williams will be popping off even worse. He can still bounce out well but his stop and start speed is nothing like his speed between tackles. Above all else, that has got to be job 1 for the Bengals D- Crash the Cadillac.

[HairOnFire]

Regardless of how he rates amongst his fellow RB's Cadillac Williams is exactly the type of slashing cutback runner that has given the overpursuing Bengal defense fits since Marvin has been here. That said, and I realize how crazy the following might sound at first blush....the Bengals don't have to stuff the Buc running game to win the game.

Let's face it, the Bengals aren't a perfect football team, just a very good one, and being able to withstand the occasional pounding by an opponents run game might be something we all have to live with all season long.

However, the Bengals can prosper and reach the playoffs if they can somehow find a way to restore order in several key areas that have been past strengths. Run and pass blocking must be improved, the deep strike passing game needs to come around, better return coverage on special teams, etc. Do all of these things and you don't have to stop an opponents running game...as they'll be forced to abandon it in an attempt to keep pace.

[schweinhart]

I would disagree about the importance of Cadillac in this game. The Bengals have to stop Cadillac from knockout runs up the gut because he does have the ability to get through the hole before LBs can react much less overpursue. I doubt it will happen, but Landon Johnson is a much better option at MLB than B-Simms for this game because Landon's greatest strength vs. the run is his ability to avoid blocks to get into a gap. If he gets blocked, he's out of the play but he rather impressively displayed his knifing and angling skills in the middle at the LOS when he started at MLB.