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Week 2 Texans @ Bengals

MrCincinnati

By MrCincinnati
in Cincinnati Bengals

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MrCincinnati

MrCincinnati

Posted
Posted

Well that really sucked. I’m ready to move on.

Now they have to prepare on a short week to play Thursday night in another primetime game against the Texans for the 3rd year in a row. The Texans didn’t fare much better in week 1 either, so expect a sloppy game here.

HISTORY LESSON

The Bengals are 2-3 against the Texans when playing in Cincinnati
The Bengals have lost their last 2 games against the Texans, and have also lost the last 3 matchups in Cincinnati.
Last matchup – Last season Texans won 12-10 in Houston
Last matchup in Cincinnati – 2015 season Texans won 10-6
Last Bengals win – 2014 season Bengals won 22-13 in Houston
Last Bengals win in Cincinnati – 2005 season Bengals won 16-10

GAMEDAY INFO

Game time will be this Thursday 8:25 PM ET on NFL Network only, no CBS. Unless you live in Bengals or Texans territory (where you can still get the game on local tv), your pretty much screwed.

5 KEYS TO VICTORY

5. Redemption for Randy – Randy Bullock chocked against his former team last year in which was not only his only missed field goal last year, but the game winner against the Texans. He surprisingly beat out Jake Elliott for the starting job, but didn’t get a chance to prove himself last game since he never even got to make a FGA. Now more than likely, he will get his first chance against his former team again. I think this team will struggle to score points just like last game, but I doubt they get shutout again. At the same time, what will happen if Bullocks misses at FG in this game, especially considering the Bengals cannot fall back on Elliott now since he signed with the Eagles. He needs to be the answer at kicker, otherwise this will be another move that the Bengals will kick themselves (no pun intended) for a while.

4. Shift Players Around – Looking at the snap count of some of the players on cincyjungle, the thing that stuck out to me was the lack of certain depth players getting snaps. Some of the players that suited up but didn’t play against the Ravens were AJ McCarron, Andre Smith, Cethan Carter, Keivarae Russell, and Derron Smith. I was surprised they had two of their DB’s not even play, but they did hold their own so I’ll overlook that. I was more shocked that Andre Smith didn’t play at all, especially when Trey Hopkins got injured. Same of AJ McCarron when the game was clearly over, should of thrown him out in the 4th qrt. On the flip side, I was dumbfounded they stuck Ogbuehi and Fisher both out there when both sucked so badly. The only thing I can defend on this was they had only 7 OL players suited up for this game. That needs to change this next game.

3. Sense of Urgency – You have to believe that the Bengals season is on the line in this next game. That may sound dumb this early in the year, but the last time this team stared out 0-2, they ended up going 0-8 during the first half of the season, which could be a really possibility, I’m not even joking. How will the fans that show up to this game react, after this team had such a huge letdown in their home opener? I’m not calling out the fan base on anything, but how the home field crowd reacts this game will impact this game greatly, especially if the fans show frustrations early. Having back to back losses this early in the season is bad enough, but if they get dominated twice in one week at home no less again, then someone needs to lose their job because by then the season is over.

2. Banged up Defense – This defense had a very good game against the Ravens, despite what the scoreboard read. My biggest fear is them staying on the field too long, but I’m also worried about some of the Injuries. Burfict will still be out for 2 more games, Michael Johnson and Josh Shaw got injured against the Ravens, and Dre Kirkpatrick may not suit up for Thursday night. The small bright spot is Adam Jones being back on the team, although there secondary did a solid job for the most part, as well as their rookie pass rushers. The biggest weak spot on the Defense remains with the LB’s though, especially in coverage.

1. Same Old Story – The OL was as bad as people said they were going to be after all. It wasn’t a shock that Ogbuehi and Bodine were terrible as we all expected, but to see a guy like Jake Fisher who struggled after having a nice preseason is disappointing. It sucks to see Hopkins who worked so hard to get the starting job and now it’s all over so soon for him. Even Clint Boling who’s suppose to be the new leader of this group wasn’t very good against the Ravens either. The only guy who didn’t play nearly as bad was TJ Johnson once he stepped in at RG, because profootballfocus rated him with the highest grade on the OL that game, but he was still below average. It seems like a longshot, but at this point all we can do is hope that these guys somehow turn the corner very soon.

PREDICTION

If you like low scoring games, this is the game for you. The Bengals have a terrible history against the Texans which we all know. At the same time, I remember last year in this same situation they had a bad history against the Dolphins, and then they somehow dominated them. Maybe it happens again here or maybe not. I had some hope going into this game after watching the Texans have a letdown against the Jags, but then once I found out Watson will start now, I don’t feel as good. Again just like last game, I’m not worried about the defense as they held their own against the Ravens. This offense so far hasn’t lived up to the hype and needs to do so if they want any chance of salvaging this season. Because they can’t afford an 0-2 start, I’m going to give them one more chance.

Texans 16 Bengals 20

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