Packers @ Bengals Pregame Chatter

[HoosierCat]

Dunno sky. Against Pitt Andy tried to get it to Sanu on 3rd down without a lot of success. Maybe Gruden saw something there he thought he could exploit. IMHO the simplest explanation is that the Bengals have a lot of talented pass-catchers and there are only so many balls to go around.

By my count Eifert is 2/4 on 3rd down over the first two games. Jermaine is 2/3. That's a quarter of their third down snaps so far so TE is getting some looks.

Betting odds note: Packers have scooted out to a 2.5-point favorite.

[skyline]

Dunno sky. Against Pitt Andy tried to get it to Sanu on 3rd down without a lot of success. Maybe Gruden saw something there he thought he could exploit. IMHO the simplest explanation is that the Bengals have a lot of talented pass-catchers and there are only so many balls to go around.

Oh, I don't care that the ball is actually thrown his way. But, his presence alone creates havoc for the D.

I suspect your answer is correct...there are just a lot of talented pass-catchers out there. Even so, if I have to choose between Marvin Jones or Tyler Eifert on the field for a 3rd down play, I'm going with Eifert.

[footballfanatic]

Green Bay does not have a matchup nightmare like Brandon Marshall. Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb, and James Jones are nice players but Marshall is a BEAST. I see the Bengals doing very well against the Packers I am more confident about this game than I was agains tthe Bears or the Steelers. The Packers have a very bad O-Line and as long as they get too aggressive I think they can have Rodgers on his back all game long.

But Marshall is really all the Bears have. With us, you focus on Nelson, Rodgers can just go to Cobb, Jones or Finley. Focus on Cobb, go to the other guys. The offense put nearly 400 yards and 28 points on the board, on the road at San Fran. As for our D, yeah, the secondary is extremely iffy right now without our two best guys in Burnett (hoping he plays this week but with a bye coming after this game, he might be held out for extra rest) and Hayward. But our run D is pretty darn good. Morris ended up with over 100 yards rushing but a lot of that combined with RG3's numbers were skewed because of how much we were up by and the defense laying back a good portion of the second half.

One other thing is, no clue what to expect from our running game. Starks ran for 132 yards this past week and looked the best he has since coming out of nowhere during that playoff run to the Super Bowl. Redskins D was horrible though, so no idea what to expect in that department.

[skyline]

Green Bay does not have a matchup nightmare like Brandon Marshall. Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb, and James Jones are nice players but Marshall is a BEAST. I see the Bengals doing very well against the Packers I am more confident about this game than I was agains tthe Bears or the Steelers. The Packers have a very bad O-Line and as long as they get too aggressive I think they can have Rodgers on his back all game long.

But Marshall is really all the Bears have. With us, you focus on Nelson, Rodgers can just go to Cobb, Jones or Finley. Focus on Cobb, go to the other guys. The offense put nearly 400 yards and 28 points on the board, on the road at San Fran. As for our D, yeah, the secondary is extremely iffy right now without our two best guys in Burnett (hoping he plays this week but with a bye coming after this game, he might be held out for extra rest) and Hayward. But our run D is pretty darn good. Morris ended up with over 100 yards rushing but a lot of that combined with RG3's numbers were skewed because of how much we were up by and the defense laying back a good portion of the second half.

One other thing is, no clue what to expect from our running game. Starks ran for 132 yards this past week and looked the best he has since coming out of nowhere during that playoff run to the Super Bowl. Redskins D was horrible though, so no idea what to expect in that department.

Yep, no doubt that your offense is a bit scary. Like I said...our best bet is to keep them off the field.

[ArmyBengal]

Green Bay does not have a matchup nightmare like Brandon Marshall. Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb, and James Jones are nice players but Marshall is a BEAST. I see the Bengals doing very well against the Packers I am more confident about this game than I was agains tthe Bears or the Steelers. The Packers have a very bad O-Line and as long as they get too aggressive I think they can have Rodgers on his back all game long.

But Marshall is really all the Bears have. With us, you focus on Nelson, Rodgers can just go to Cobb, Jones or Finley. Focus on Cobb, go to the other guys. The offense put nearly 400 yards and 28 points on the board, on the road at San Fran. As for our D, yeah, the secondary is extremely iffy right now without our two best guys in Burnett (hoping he plays this week but with a bye coming after this game, he might be held out for extra rest) and Hayward. But our run D is pretty darn good. Morris ended up with over 100 yards rushing but a lot of that combined with RG3's numbers were skewed because of how much we were up by and the defense laying back a good portion of the second half.

One other thing is, no clue what to expect from our running game. Starks ran for 132 yards this past week and looked the best he has since coming out of nowhere during that playoff run to the Super Bowl. Redskins D was horrible though, so no idea what to expect in that department.

Welcome to the board. Always nice to hear some thoughts from the opposition.

I made the same point about the weapons Rodgers has at his disposal. They might not be elite, but the total is pretty high.

Our goal needs to be making every effort to control the clock offensively and collapse the pocket on Rodgers.

If we don't get pressure on him or we don't contain, he will carve us up.

That being said, I like our odds in stopping the Packers run game and I like all the weapons Dalton has at his disposal as well.

If Dalton has a game where he's accurate and the defense doesn't yield so much, this team is capable of running things up.

It just depends, but if Dalton has another half like he did in the first against the Steelers, it won't be close.

It should be fun to watch !!!

[HoosierCat]

One other thing is, no clue what to expect from our running game. Starks ran for 132 yards this past week and looked the best he has since coming out of nowhere during that playoff run to the Super Bowl. Redskins D was horrible though, so no idea what to expect in that department.

Any word on whether Franklin will be active? IIRC he was the guy that EmDiggy was torqued we didn't take instead of Gio Bernard...

[Kazkal]

A fun note from JG on Andy Dalton, our hip 'n' cool read option QB.

Speaking of Andy, I made the mistake of visiting the official boards last night. Did you know Dalton sucks because on Monday night he threw six pass which could possibly have been intercepted, if they were playing a better defense and those defensive personnel were in different positions and if the made successful plays on the ball and if Great Cthulhu had risen from his sunken city of R'lyeh to swallow the souls of mankind?

Yeah, me neither. But apparently that's the newest criteria. Andy must not only not throw picks, but now must not throw any balls that could be picked in any possible universe. Sigh...

I Knew there was a reason I stopped posting over there,It's one thing to have 1-2 people like that it's another to have hundreds.

[ArmyBengal]

A fun note from JG on Andy Dalton, our hip 'n' cool read option QB.

Speaking of Andy, I made the mistake of visiting the official boards last night. Did you know Dalton sucks because on Monday night he threw six pass which could possibly have been intercepted, if they were playing a better defense and those defensive personnel were in different positions and if the made successful plays on the ball and if Great Cthulhu had risen from his sunken city of R'lyeh to swallow the souls of mankind?

Yeah, me neither. But apparently that's the newest criteria. Andy must not only not throw picks, but now must not throw any balls that could be picked in any possible universe. Sigh...

I Knew there was a reason I stopped posting over there,It's one thing to have 1-2 people like that it's another to have hundreds.

I only check that board periodically, because anything more than that just hurts my head.

[TJJackson]

You wouldn't happen to also be AmeliaPackerBacker?

[Kazkal]

I only check that board periodically, because anything more than that just hurts my head.

I think the Highlight of posting over there was when I got to talk to Bigdre's uncle.

[HoosierCat]

Injury report from Reedy:

Joe Reedy ‏@joereedy 11m

Kirkpatrick, Adam Jones, Ghee, Pollak not practicing #bengals

Looks like the DB position picked the perfect game for a breakdown...

[HoosierCat]

Packers injury report:

James Starks will start at running back in Sunday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals, but cornerback Casey Hayward has been ruled out, Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy said after practice Wednesday.

Practice and injury report

S Morgan Burnett (hamstring) limited in practice.

CB Jarrett Bush (hamstring) did not practice.

TE Jermichael Finley (toe) did not practice.

CB Casey Hayward (hamstring) out.

FB John Kuhn (hamstring) did not practice.

RB Eddie Lacy (concussion) did not practice.

DT Johnny Jolly (neck) full practice.

McCarthy said Lacy is improving but still has to pass some tests before he can practice. Also said he was looking at giving Franklin more snaps.

[volcom69]

I remember when the Packers played the Seahawks, and how physical the Hawks were. I think that's how they need to win this weekend, play a physical game, something I don't think the Packers are used to. The d-line needs to pressure all game long, and hit Rodgers as much as they can. Green bay will get there yards, but the more physical the bengals can play I think the better off they will be to get the win. All starts up front this week.

[HoosierCat]

Today's update from Hobs. Here's the rundown of the wounded:

One of the three corners who were out when Marsh arrived Wednesday, third corner Adam Jones (abdomen) returned to practice Thursday. But Dre Kirkpatrick (hamstring) and Brandon Ghee (concussion) didn't. Also out again were safety Jeromy Miles (hamstring) and backup guard-center Mike Pollak (knee). Wide receiver Marvin Jones (foot) and tackle Anthony Collins (knee) sat out after being limited Wednesday.

Geoff adds that the options to take Geathers' snaps appear to be Harrison, Still and Hunt. My guess is that it ends up being the former two and Hunt is inactive again. But that may depend on how many DBs they can get healthy for the game.

[HoosierCat]

And here's the Green Bay report.

Tight end Jermichael Finley returned to practice today after sitting out Wednesday because of a toe injury.

Also, safety Morgan Burnett (hamstring), who was a limited participant Wednesday, appeared to be only an observer at practice, which suggests his chances of playing this week are diminishing.

Four other players didn't practice: cornerback Casey Hayward (hamstring), who's already been declared out this week; cornerback Jarrett Bush (ankle); running back Eddie Lacy (concussion); and fullback John Kuhn (hamstring).

Kuhn was the only one of the group who didn't attend practice.

[combatbengal]

Maybe it's Marvin pulling him out of the game on 3rd down? Who knows. I will say this, so far the Bengals have had some really long drives that turned into scores. I don't remember seeing that happen in a very long time. Before Gruden, I was able to predict just about every play ran from my couch. Now he's mixing it up a bit!

I didn't like them cutting Connor but I get really pumped up when I see Peko in as our FB!

I really love when GB is in the game too! Maybe we should put some packages in when he and the law firm are in the game at the same time!!

Another thing that I'd like to see sooner than later is one of the WR's stepping up and taking some pressure off of Green.

And this relates to what I was saying in another thread. Why does Gruden keep taking him off the field on 3rd down? It's not every time, of course, but if there's one time I want Eifert on the field to cause matchup problems for the defense...it's on 3rd down. Seems like you'd want him out there every single time.

I'm sure Gruden has his reasons, but my simple uneducated football mind is failing to comprehend it.

[HoosierCat]

Our inside OL get some love in this week's Word of Muth column on FO:

/>http://www.footballoutsiders.com/word-muth/2013/word-muth-inside-zone-and-emerson

[HoosierCat]

Just saw a note that Gio left practice with a hammy injury.

If you'll excuse me I think I will go find a quiet closet and scream for a while.

[TJJackson]

There there, keep in mind that Ghee is almost ready to get back on the field and promptly re-injure himself

thats gotta make you feel a lot better, right?

[Kazkal]

Just saw a note that Gio left practice with a hammy injury.

If you'll excuse me I think I will go find a quiet closet and scream for a while.

At work,Good thing its slow..... FUKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

[volcom69]

It's not just Gio it's like half the team was limited in practice today. I think this was the longest injury report I've seen in awhile. Hopefully the guys listed as limited can play or they will have to go out and find a new team to play.

[Kazkal]

True that hopefully it's minor but still :| gio does not need miss a game

[volcom69]

It is going to be so tough, its a short week, cornerbacks are hurting, rookie running back is hurt, its just crazy. This is one of those games where if the bengals can find a way to win, it will be huge for them and there confidence. Only good thing is the bengals are playing at home, and its an NFC opponent. One of the toughest teams they play this year, I would like to see them take some of these tough games, where in other years they would lose.

[redsbengalsbucks]

Maybe it's Marvin pulling him out of the game on 3rd down? Who knows. I will say this, so far the Bengals have had some really long drives that turned into scores. I don't remember seeing that happen in a very long time. Before Gruden, I was able to predict just about every play ran from my couch. Now he's mixing it up a bit!

I didn't like them cutting Connor but I get really pumped up when I see Peko in as our FB!

I really love when GB is in the game too! Maybe we should put some packages in when he and the law firm are in the game at the same time!!

Another thing that I'd like to see sooner than later is one of the WR's stepping up and taking some pressure off of Green.

And this relates to what I was saying in another thread. Why does Gruden keep taking him off the field on 3rd down? It's not every time, of course, but if there's one time I want Eifert on the field to cause matchup problems for the defense...it's on 3rd down. Seems like you'd want him out there every single time.

I'm sure Gruden has his reasons, but my simple uneducated football mind is failing to comprehend it.

It isn't possible for another WRs to step up, when Gruden and Dalton throw it it Green on almost every play designed to go to a WO. Lucky the TEs have stepped it up some so far.

[TJJackson]

I am guessing Marvin Jones will be inactive and Sanzenbacher (or Whalen) will see the field