What we need

[JaxonFord87]

I know it may not seem that important right now, but this week the bengals need to have pitt. win against the browns, have the bengals in, and have the ravens lose also. By having the ravens lose and the bengals win, that would put the bengals in first place by themselves. If the steelers beat the browns, that would move them farther away from getting in first. If the bengals, ravens, and the steelers lose then we have a three-way tie for first between the browns, bengals, and ravens. So that kind of makes this game a must win for our bengals.

GO BENGALS!

RUDI! RUDI! RUDI!

[San Antonio Bengal]

What we need is to do is not worry about anyone else and just take care of business each Sunday. If we just play our game like we've been playing the last several weeks (minus the desert debacle), we'll be okay. I really don't think that the Browns will be challenging the Bengals or the Ravens at seasons end. Granted, the Brownies are 1 game behind, but their non-division schedule after Pittsburgh consists of Seattle, St. Louis and Denver. With their inconsistency this year, the best I see them doing in that stretch is 1-2. Of course, they are the Browns who can win ugly on any given Sunday.....

Pittsburgh has a stretch of winnable non-division games (Oakland, NYJ, San Diego) but they'll need to have quite the winning streak (and loses by everyone else) to get back into the division race. If they lose to Cleveland on Sunday, Pittsburgh will need to win 5 straight just to finish with an 8-8 record. Considering their longest winning streak this year has been 1 game, I don't think they'll be any threat. However they could play the role of spoiler if they beat Cincy when we go there next week.

Baltimore is who I'm most concerned about, so I hope their bumbling, fumbling ways manage to keep up. They've have 10 turnovers in the past two weeks alone! It pains me to say it, but the offense the last two weeks has been like Bengals offences of previous years -- make 1 or 2 mistakes (or 5!) and the game is over. Of course, like the Browns they can still win ugly. Who knows? I just hope Seattle shows up to play an ugly game Sunday.

[richmond_mat]

What the team needs to do is beat them chargers.

If I were a betting man then I'd lay my lowly dollar on the bengals. Remember the freezer bowl?! WHO DEY!

[Kirkendall]

I think that we need Pittsburgh to lose every game. They gave us fits earlier in the season. Of all the teams in the AFC North, I still think Pittsburgh will be the one to worry about. Plus we wouldn't have to worry about a tie breaker at the end. They still concern me, but that may be because they've been the team to beat the past 12 years. The old age of Helplessism.

Baltimore’s defense is still good, but if we continue to play a safe brand of football, I think we’ll beat Baltimore again and dominate the tie-breaker. As long as we play as we did last time, with a little more agressive defensive coverage, we'll win this game. Boller's only 300 yard game came against the Bengals. In fact, he hasn't even had a 200 yard game all season. But I don't think the QBs that Baltimore has now even compare on the level Boller plays with.

We can beat Cleveland on any given Sunday. And the turmoil going through their organization is only helping our cause. Their only offensive attack is through the air, we are 7th in the NFL against the pass.

We all remember week three when Pittsburgh ran the clock 37 minutes to our 22+. This should be a concern. On the bright side though, that game didn't have Rudi Johnson as our feature back and for some reason Bratkowski ran the ball 16 times. Personally I don’t care if you only get 2 yards per attempt, you shorten the field regardless for Kitna. We lost the time of possession battle, and the past two weeks proves how important that aspect of the game is.

I think Bratkowski needs to change one thing and that’s his frantic attitude when the team is down. He forgets the run, i.e. Arizona and Pittsburgh – a combined 35 rush attempts. We lost both games by a combined 10 points. I realize Kitna is playing well this season, but through all of the Super Bowl champions and perennial playoff contenders, there has always been a good dose of rushing.

Check out this stat (I figured it out myself)..

For the Bengals to win, we have to continue to play power football and establish a balanced attack. Our wins prove this. In five wins, the Bengals have been incredibly balanced most games – 180 rushing attempts and 149 pass attempts. In comparison the Bengals five losses the play selection changes – 123 rushing attempts and 181 pass attempts.

Rather telling, wouldn’t you agree?