I Would Start Doug Johnson Sunday

[ShulaSteakhouse]

And I would have him suit-up like this:

[BengalByTheBay]

Before we all commit suicide or, worse, become Clown fans, consider that Carolina's defense, while good, isn't really what I would consider dominating. They allow an average of 4 yards per rush and they only have 1 sack more than their opponents right now. I'm not trying to ignore the offensive line problems we have, but I'm not ready to consider this a loss like many seem to be doing. We can play with this team, but we have to play well - regardless of what they do. Perhaps, that is why there is so much pessimism right now -- we just don't seem to be doing what we are good at very well. I get that. If we play like last week then, yeah, we probably get chewed-up again. Again, however, I'm not gonna bail right now. I think getting DJ back is a big factor. If Simmons can play, then maybe he goes outside and Brooks stays in the middle. That's an exciting LB look to me as long as Brooks can play straight-up and not get sucked out of position too much. I guess what I'm trying to say is just that I think we can win this game -- I'm not sold on how Carolina is that great on defense just because they can bring good pressure around the ends. If we can get Rudi on track and convert a few 3rd downs (paging Chris Perry) this all-the-sudden looks like a decent match-up for the Bengals.

[derekshank]

Funny idea... but we'll be okay. The Hodge podge O-Line only gave up 2 sacks against TB. I know it isn't Pittsburgh, or New England, but I think that is kind of the point. Ghiaciuc won't have such a hard time recognizing assignments. The only trick is actually winning the battle you are involved in.

Carolina only has 13 sacks this year... and 8 of those are Peppers... so if Willie plays well, we'll be okay. Also... get this... only 1 of their sacks came from a non-lineman. That means they either don't blitz often, or very effectively.

This will be a great game to watch Ghiaciuc, and see if he's getting beat physically, or if the bad games were him getting confused by the blitzing of the Steelers and Patriots (the latter is my guess). I think we'll be okay as far as the pass rush goes. What we need to worry about is the run blocking... because we just haven't gotten it done... and this is probably the best front 4 we'll face all season.

[ShulaSteakhouse]

Yeah all good points - but I just don't want Palmer to get killed.

Guy-chick scares the hell out of me and Bobbie Williams is a tub of goo.

I don't see how this team in it's current state beats Carolina.

I just don't see it.

Two changes on defense I would make though:

Tory to nickel and put Joseph in his spot

Bench Keiwan and replace with Brooks

That would be a solid start Marv.

P.S. - fire the piece of crap that is Paul Alexander already - been saying that for years now

[Stripes]

Meh, I say we just give Rudi a jet pack.

This game looks like a loss, sadly enough. If the Bengals can get it together on offense, I think the defense will be able to keep pace. Perry's return could mean the difference between a W and an L.

[derekshank]

Meh, I say we just give Rudi a jet pack.

This game looks like a loss, sadly enough. If the Bengals can get it together on offense, I think the defense will be able to keep pace. Perry's return could mean the difference between a W and an L.

I love it, I love it, I love it.

We were all so ridiculously confident a few weeks ago before we went into New England. Since that time, we don't believe we'll be able to win a game at home. This sounds exactly like the kind of game the Bengals win. They defy reason.

[ShulaSteakhouse]

I loved this e-mail from Bryan in Liberty Twnship to Lance McAlister on his blog - it highlights the ridiculous predictability and "college-like" mentality of the Bengals' offense this year:

Bengals play call stat of the day

From emailer Bryan in Liberty Twp

"To me it seems the Bengals run the ball way too much on 2nd down after an incompletion on 1st down.

So I went back and checked the game logs of every game this year to see if I was correct.

This is what I found through the first five games:

On 2nd and 10: 15 running plays (65% of the time)

8 passing plays (35% of the time)

On 2nd and 8 and 9:

9 running plays (69% of the time)

4 passing plays (31% of the time)

Combination of 2nd and 8, 9, or 10:

24 running plays (66.6% of the time)

12 passing plays (33.3% of the time)

This typically leaves them in a third and long situation and an obvious passing down on third down.

On two of the scoring drives the Bengals had on Sunday. They had 2nd and 9 or 10 three times. They threw the ball for completions all three times. This was the only three times they threw the ball in those situations. Five other times they ran the ball on 2nd and 8, 9, or 10. All five of those series of downs' resulted in punts.

They are too predictable in these situations and leave themselves with 3rd and long on too many occasions.

I just found this interesting and thought you would as well."

[derekshank]

I loved this e-mail from Bryan in Liberty Twnship to Lance McAlister on his blog - it highlights the ridiculous predictability and "college-like" mentality of the Bengals' offense this year:

Bengals play call stat of the day

From emailer Bryan in Liberty Twp

"To me it seems the Bengals run the ball way too much on 2nd down after an incompletion on 1st down.

So I went back and checked the game logs of every game this year to see if I was correct.

This is what I found through the first five games:

On 2nd and 10: 15 running plays (65% of the time)

8 passing plays (35% of the time)

On 2nd and 8 and 9:

9 running plays (69% of the time)

4 passing plays (31% of the time)

Combination of 2nd and 8, 9, or 10:

24 running plays (66.6% of the time)

12 passing plays (33.3% of the time)

This typically leaves them in a third and long situation and an obvious passing down on third down.

On two of the scoring drives the Bengals had on Sunday. They had 2nd and 9 or 10 three times. They threw the ball for completions all three times. This was the only three times they threw the ball in those situations. Five other times they ran the ball on 2nd and 8, 9, or 10. All five of those series of downs' resulted in punts.

They are too predictable in these situations and leave themselves with 3rd and long on too many occasions.

I just found this interesting and thought you would as well."

You would have to go and look at how often those plays are called in the "no huddle." Carson is the one calling a lot of the plays, and he's usually just going based on what he thinks will work the best against a given defense. I'll admit that it looks fairly predictable... but until the last 2 games, we were still scoring just as much as we did last season. You can't look at 2 games in the course of the season and assume that something is "broken."

[Bungle in the Jungle]

I loved this e-mail from Bryan in Liberty Twnship to Lance McAlister on his blog - it highlights the ridiculous predictability and "college-like" mentality of the Bengals' offense this year:

Bengals play call stat of the day

From emailer Bryan in Liberty Twp

"To me it seems the Bengals run the ball way too much on 2nd down after an incompletion on 1st down.

So I went back and checked the game logs of every game this year to see if I was correct.

This is what I found through the first five games:

On 2nd and 10: 15 running plays (65% of the time)

8 passing plays (35% of the time)

On 2nd and 8 and 9:

9 running plays (69% of the time)

4 passing plays (31% of the time)

Combination of 2nd and 8, 9, or 10:

24 running plays (66.6% of the time)

12 passing plays (33.3% of the time)

This typically leaves them in a third and long situation and an obvious passing down on third down.

On two of the scoring drives the Bengals had on Sunday. They had 2nd and 9 or 10 three times. They threw the ball for completions all three times. This was the only three times they threw the ball in those situations. Five other times they ran the ball on 2nd and 8, 9, or 10. All five of those series of downs' resulted in punts.

They are too predictable in these situations and leave themselves with 3rd and long on too many occasions.

I just found this interesting and thought you would as well."

So it just wasn't me after all thinkin the same thing. Why don't they just throw Kelly into the mix more often to make it even more predictable or they could draft a REAL tight end.

[Jonboat]

I think it goes to show you how ineffective the O line has been & makes it tough when you don't get any yards on first down. I think the postion you'd want would be like at least 2-5/6 then the D has to be concerned about the run & pass How many plays has Palmer changed @ the line because the D doesn't have that extra guy in the box?

Even though they typically they haven't thrown to the TE as much as many would like in the past so far this year ( esp.since Braham went down) they've been forced to keep the TE in to block due to the poor play of the Oline. It all boils down to the O-line sucking to this point & if they don't get they're heads out of their butts it's going to be a long season!

[HoosierCat]

Meh, I say we just give Rudi a jet pack.

This game looks like a loss, sadly enough. If the Bengals can get it together on offense, I think the defense will be able to keep pace. Perry's return could mean the difference between a W and an L.

I love it, I love it, I love it.

We were all so ridiculously confident a few weeks ago before we went into New England. Since that time, we don't believe we'll be able to win a game at home. This sounds exactly like the kind of game the Bengals win. They defy reason.

I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a W this weekend. In fact, after two weeks in which the Bengals' opponents made me nervous, I feel pretty confident about the Panthers game.

Carolina's running game is nothing special, they are more reliant on the pass -- and with a guy like Steve Smith, who wouldn't be? He'll get some vexing catches, no doubt, but defensively this game plays to our strengths in the secondary. Dexter's likely return is a plus. We ought to be able to get pressure on Jake, too.

On the flip side, Carolina obviously has a great pass rush, but their run D is only average (giving up 115 yards a game) and their pass defense isn't as good as ours. Carson will take some lumps but as long as he holds onto the ball we should have enough opportunties to make plays. Here, Perry's return will be a boost.

Not a gimme but winnable...and I think they take it in a close game, something around 23-20.

[derekshank]

Not a gimme but winnable...and I think they take it in a close game, something around 23-20.

Yeah... I don't think there's anything that can be considered a gimme after last week. However, the Ravens scored 21 on the Panthers last week with Kyle Boller at the helm, and Delhomme and that offense certainly didn't look dominant against the Browns.

The Panther's greatest strength right now is that they have no glaring weaknesses. They do just about everything right around the middle of the league, which makes them a pretty good team. However, you could just as easily say that as a team they are a jack of all trades, a master of none.

I think we match up fairly well with them... and if we can get some health back on our side, it should be a very good game. I'm not going to predict this one, because I predicted us to win our last two games by a wide margin, and we all know how that turned out. I just want a W... and I don't care what it looks like.

[HoosierCat]

Expert picks so far:

sportsline: 2 of 6 for the Bengals (tho Harmon picks the Panthers to cover but the Bengals to win 21-20)

http://www.sportsline.com/nfl/features/writers/expert/picks

pfw: consensus pick carolina

http://www.profootballweekly.com/PFW/Handi...elections07.htm

espn: none yet

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/features/talent

Iyer: carolina

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=ArGj...n&type=lgns

[BengalByTheBay]

Not a gimme but winnable...and I think they take it in a close game, something around 23-20.

Yeah... I don't think there's anything that can be considered a gimme after last week. However, the Ravens scored 21 on the Panthers last week with Kyle Boller at the helm, and Delhomme and that offense certainly didn't look dominant against the Browns.

The Panther's greatest strength right now is that they have no glaring weaknesses. They do just about everything right around the middle of the league, which makes them a pretty good team. However, you could just as easily say that as a team they are a jack of all trades, a master of none.

I think we match up fairly well with them... and if we can get some health back on our side, it should be a very good game. I'm not going to predict this one, because I predicted us to win our last two games by a wide margin, and we all know how that turned out. I just want a W... and I don't care what it looks like.

I would agree except that I don't want a W as ugly as the one against the Clowns from which we are still (??) recovering.

[BengalPimp]

I loved this e-mail from Bryan in Liberty Twnship to Lance McAlister on his blog - it highlights the ridiculous predictability and "college-like" mentality of the Bengals' offense this year:

Bengals play call stat of the day

From emailer Bryan in Liberty Twp

"To me it seems the Bengals run the ball way too much on 2nd down after an incompletion on 1st down.

So I went back and checked the game logs of every game this year to see if I was correct.

This is what I found through the first five games:

On 2nd and 10: 15 running plays (65% of the time)

8 passing plays (35% of the time)

On 2nd and 8 and 9:

9 running plays (69% of the time)

4 passing plays (31% of the time)

Combination of 2nd and 8, 9, or 10:

24 running plays (66.6% of the time)

12 passing plays (33.3% of the time)

This typically leaves them in a third and long situation and an obvious passing down on third down.

On two of the scoring drives the Bengals had on Sunday. They had 2nd and 9 or 10 three times. They threw the ball for completions all three times. This was the only three times they threw the ball in those situations. Five other times they ran the ball on 2nd and 8, 9, or 10. All five of those series of downs' resulted in punts.

They are too predictable in these situations and leave themselves with 3rd and long on too many occasions.

I just found this interesting and thought you would as well."

Here's the Problem with your Thinking....if they did not complete the pass on 1st down and its 2nd and 10, what happens when they dont complete the 2nd and 10 ? ah, yes 3rd and 10 ! If however, they run on 2nd and 10 and happen to pick up 4 or 5 yards, They then have more options, because I GUARANTEE what a team will do on 3rd and 5 is a lot less predictable than what it will do on 3rd and 10 ! 3rd and 5 you can still run, swing pass to RB, quick slant,etc. The defenses pretty much know what they will do on 3rd and 10, and with the offense not quite "clicking" and having troubles on 3rd downs without Henry, or Perry, they feel they cannot afford to put themselves in a 3rd and 10 situation, so to them 3rd and short(or if they happen to run for a 1st down) is a better option at this point. Have patience, Henry will be back next week,Perry might play this week(but he still needs a week or two to shake off the rust) because with those 4 TARGETS on the field(Chad,TJ,Henry,Perry) BENGALS CAN CONVERT 3RD AND ANYTHING

[BengalByTheBay]

Hoosier, my friend, others may credit this game to Chad, or Geathers, or even TJ -- but the record is clear that it was you and I that won this one. Cheers!

[HoosierCat]

Hoosier, my friend, others may credit this game to Chad, or Geathers, or even TJ -- but the record is clear that it was you and I that won this one. Cheers!

Speaking of OBs, Matt Hasselbeck just got rolled up on by a LB about 5 minutes after he threw the ball. Guy was clearly blocked into him.Shades of Carson: out with a sprained knee; Seneca Wallace (!) in at QB, thrown a pick already.