BENGALS OFFENSE
One reason the Bengals got shut out by Baltimore was their inability to run the ball effectively. They ran 22 times for 77 yards, a 3.5 yard average per carry. They have three backs – Giovani Bernard, Jeremy Hill and rookie Joe Mixon – who are more than capable, but the Bengals got poor blocking against the Ravens. They know the Texans allowed 155 yards, including 100 by rookie Leonard Fournette, in their loss to Jacksonville. Coach Marvin Lewis would like to get Mixon, a talented rookie, more involved in the running game. He was limited to 9 yards on eight carries by the Ravens. Mixon has a nice combination of speed and power. They’d like to see if he can wear down the Texans’ defense the way Fournette did, but that’ll require improvement up front. Andy Dalton played the worst game of his career against Baltimore. He completed 16-of-31 (51.6 percent) for 170 yards. He threw four interceptions and lost a fumble. His rating was 28.4. He was sacked five times. The Texans didn’t get much pressure on Blake Bortles and failed to sack him. If Dalton can be protected in similar fashion from pass rushers like J.J. Watt, Jadeveon Clowney and Whitney Mercilus, he can find his favorite target, A.J. Green, who had five catches for 74 yards against Baltimore. Dalton threw five of his 16 completions to his backs, but they couldn’t get any yardage after the catch. The Texans’ secondary is coming off an impressive performance against Bortles, who completed only 11 passes for 125 yards.