Week 14 GDT, We're on to Cincinatti

[N4L]

Last week sucked, but its time to start focusing on next week. We're onto Cincinatti 

This is the 17th game and its rather unfortunate that we have to play this bengals team from the AFCN rather than any of the other three teams, as the bengals appear to be the strongest of those four for the time being. This is a completely different bengals team than we beat down in 2019 in week 2. 

 

I just have a hard time thinking about how we are going to stop their offense unless burrow is not able to throw accurately. Hopefully for our sake his pinkie is screwed up. 

Chase is going to punk norman with his route running and Tee Higgins is gonna "moss" Dante Johnson repeatedly. Thats how I would attack us if I was them, Chase to the left and Tee to the right. I know its not that simple, but man, just hard for me to see either corner have success against either WR. It's also why I am not a huge fan of having corners play one side of the field exclusively. I understand that it does change techniques and leverages, but it also lets the offense dictate matchups. Chase is a horrible matchup for Norman and tee is a horrible matchup for Dante Johnson. 

Maybe its the week to man up chase with ward? Just have ward follow him everywhere and then bracket tee with S help over the top? 

I dont expect that trend to continue, but it makes sense Tee would be utilized deeper as his ball skills is what makes him elite. His height and length is going to be a problem for us. So lets give Johnson help over the top and then use our best coverage chess piece (ward) against Chase. Ward is absolutely our best boundary corner right now with eman out. With Hufanga playing well enough, that is what we need to do. 

Oh and uhhh, this mixon guy is pretty damn good. with our LBs being what they are, its going to be a problem. I know Fred wanted to play last week, but hamstrings are fickle, and we need to be absolutely sure he is good to go

 

So if we are going to win, it will mean we need to score 40 points. Are we going to be able to do that against a team that gets after the QB? They sacked herbert a bunch of times this past weekend. I would say the chargers OL is better than ours right now unfortunately considering TOM COMPTON is our RT. 

Seems unlikely Mitchell (concussion) or Jeff Wilson Jr (knee) play. With sermon on IR, and Cannon definitely not playing, we are down to Jamychal Hasty and Juice at RB solely. We definitely need bodies there. Perhaps we will bring back that RB we signed from the bengals PS earlier in the year. Maybe we had the foresight to get some info from him a few weeks ago when he was on our roster. 

 

Pretty crazy how things have changed week to week this year. One week, our season is dead, the next, feels like we are back, just for it to flip on its head again. 

Its not "must win" but a loss doesn't help us control our own destiny later in the year

Edited December 7, 2021 by N4L

[straighthate]

I feel like I’m still angry and need a cooling off period before discussing the next game. Let me see some breakdowns, believe that we’ll lose out the rest of the year because we’re that bad, maybe respond to Shanny’s ex girlfriend’s thread about firing Shanny right away….. you know, the healing process. Then I’ll be back to discuss our secondary, Hasty’s pending start, and Burrow’s grapefruit sized pinky. 

[N4L]

1 hour ago, straighthate said:

I feel like I’m still angry and need a cooling off period before discussing the next game. Let me see some breakdowns, believe that we’ll lose out the rest of the year because we’re that bad, maybe respond to Shanny’s ex girlfriend’s thread about firing Shanny right away….. you know, the healing process. Then I’ll be back to discuss our secondary, Hasty’s pending start, and Burrow’s grapefruit sized pinky. 

Yeah, I didn't mean to steal @J-ALL-DAY's thunder by starting the thread so early, but... We're on to Cincinnati

 

Edited December 7, 2021 by N4L

[TecmoSuperJoe]

Secondary is a corpse right now. Defensive line needs to have their game of the season against the Bengals, and make life hell for Cincinnati Jeaux. 

BTW Mitchell experienced symptoms Monday morning, but he's questionable to play, not necessarily doubtful. 

Lennoir and Thomas as rooks have to ball. Sucks that they're in this position so soon, but tough. 

Edited December 7, 2021 by TecmoSuperJoe

[NcFinest9erFan]

Yesterday, I thought we would be ok as our defensive line should be able to give Burrow fits but does that really matter when you can't cover?

I think we still pull off a W but this is gonna look like that MN game. 28-27, Us. 

[J-ALL-DAY]

We already know how big of a mismatch it is going to be for our secondary matching up with the Bengals WRs. Chase has slowed down significantly in the past 4 or 5 weeks, but guess what? He gets back in track in a big way this week! To me, our only chance is if Deebo plays. If he does? Then we will have enough firepower to match the Bengals offense and more importantly, we will be able to get back to running the ball like we did during our three game win streak. He's a true game changer and has clearly been the best player on the team, at least on the offensive side of the ball this season. 

Warner is probably going to play since he actually gave himself a chance to play against Seattle. But Deebo? Man that groin injury is tricky and I don't want him to further risk injuring himself even more but we kind of need him to win this game lol.

A win here and we will be 7-6 with the Falcons coming up. That will put us in a great position to make the playoffs. A loss here though makes it much harder and we will need to beat either Tenn or LAR to get in....The Rams may not have a shot at winning the division and could have the 5th seed locked up at that point though so we could see their back ups. 

If we beat Cincy, there is actually a decent chance we can run the table the rest of the season. 

[J-ALL-DAY]

Oh yeah, if Dee Ford can return this week, that would be HUGE. Our DL is legitimately just missing him from being dominant again. Key on the inside has been a terror and Armstead looked good on Sunday and we know what Bosa does on a weekly basis. But we're missing that edge rusher opposite of Bosa. The Bengals OL did allow a bunch of sacks even after Joey got hurt but they were basically in pass mode for the last three quarters after getting down big early. 

[49ersfan]

Still control our own destiny, and even though the record is the main thing that matters, we are a better team than our record for sure. Just consider at 6-6 we have a point differential of +25, while WFT at the same record has a point differential of -51. Turnovers & special teams are killing us overall and we have to clean it up. 

Gritty win vs the Bengals, blow out the Falcons, close loss to the Titans, blow out the Texans, close win vs the Rams. I think we go 10-7 & get the 6th seed, likely facing the Packers as the 3rd seed. Cards, Bucs, Packers, Cowboys, Rams, 49ers, Eagles is my guess for the top 7 seeds in order. 

[J-ALL-DAY]

10 hours ago, 49ersfan said:

Still control our own destiny, and even though the record is the main thing that matters, we are a better team than our record for sure. Just consider at 6-6 we have a point differential of +25, while WFT at the same record has a point differential of -51. Turnovers & special teams are killing us overall and we have to clean it up. 

Gritty win vs the Bengals, blow out the Falcons, close loss to the Titans, blow out the Texans, close win vs the Rams. I think we go 10-7 & get the 6th seed, likely facing the Packers as the 3rd seed. Cards, Bucs, Packers, Cowboys, Rams, 49ers, Eagles is my guess for the top 7 seeds in order. 

The Saints will likely beat the Jets on Sunday and if we lose to the Bengals, it becomes an absolute DOG FIGHT to get one of the last two seeds. We have the tiebreaker over the Vikings/Eagles which helps, but we will need the WFT to start losing some games and the Saints not to win 4 of the the 5 games. Still in decent position but a win against the Bengals and Falcons almost guarantees us a playoff spot. The loss to the Seahawks was downright terrible, no other way around it....But we're still in okay shape. 

[Johnny Nix]

I’m very nervous for this game

[Forge]

42 minutes ago, Johnny Nix said:

I’m very nervous for this game

If Joey B is okay, I think you'll be fine. 

Our corners are really, really bad. No way they are hanging with Higgins, Chase and Boyd 

[Forge]

1 hour ago, J-ALL-DAY said:

The Saints will likely beat the Jets on Sunday and if we lose to the Bengals, it becomes an absolute DOG FIGHT to get one of the last two seeds. We have the tiebreaker over the Vikings/Eagles which helps, but we will need the WFT to start losing some games and the Saints not to win 4 of the the 5 games. Still in decent position but a win against the Bengals and Falcons almost guarantees us a playoff spot. The loss to the Seahawks was downright terrible, no other way around it....But we're still in okay shape. 

Assuming we win against Atlanta, we will also have the tie breaker over them, which is nice. Just have to hope that there's not a multiway tie for a single spot as I don't believe h2h matters in that instance. 

[J-ALL-DAY]

This narrative of Kittle not being the same player as he once was....L-O-L. No, the team just doesn't pass it as much and now Deebo has emerged so there are limited touches for others. Put him on a team like the Bucs or Rams that pass it around 40+ times? Kittle is one of the leading receivers in the league. 

[GW21]

1 minute ago, J-ALL-DAY said:

This narrative of Kittle not being the same player as he once was....L-O-L. No, the team just doesn't pass it as much and now Deebo has emerged so there are limited touches for others. Put him on a team like the Bucs or Rams that pass it around 40+ times? Kittle is one of the leading receivers in the league. 

Who is saying this? I will fight them! I can’t wait to see George with Lance, I think his numbers will explode again.

[J-ALL-DAY]

7 minutes ago, GW21 said:

Who is saying this? I will fight them! I can’t wait to see George with Lance, I think his numbers will explode again.

Plenty of people are saying that he was not the same player and some even had Waller as being the better player.

Nope, still the same player and now becoming a RZ threat! Only thing I will agree with folks slighting him for is his injuries. He is injury prone so if that is the reason for his downgrade? No problem at all!