The Saratogian (Saratoga, NY)

Arizona (2-6) at

-

Here comes Who Dey vs. Who Dat. Say what? The Who Dat folks from New Orleans go head-on with the Who Dey fans in Cincinnati on Sunday. And don’t ask which group first came up with its catchy phrase and odd rendering of the English language.

“Who Dey? I don’t understand. I’m baffled,” says Saints running back Mark Ingram. “It’s like, did they copy us? Or not? I don’t know. Who Dat! Who Dat! Who Dat! ...”

What anyone might ask is whether the Saints (7-1), coming off three huge victories, including handing the Rams their first loss, are ripe for a letdown. Drew Brees and company face Philadelph­ia next week.

“They’re going to be hungry coming off the bye week,” Ingram says of the Bengals. “They have playoff aspiration­s. They have aspiration­s of winning their division. So every game is important to them just like it is to us. So we’re going up there in foreign territory, hostile territory, and we’ve got to go make it happen. We’re a good team. We respect them but we’re always worried about this building, this team, what we need to do to put ourselves in position to have success.”

It might be difficult for New Orleans to find a way to lose this one, though. In the past three games, the Bengals (5-3) have given up 481 yards to Pittsburgh, then 551 to Kansas City and 576 to Tampa Bay.

Granted, those are three of the NFL’s top attacks. The Saints are up there, too, so if Cincinnati gives up 500 yards Sunday, it will become the first team to allow 500 in three consecutiv­e games.

“We’re underachie­ving right now,” defensive end Carlos Dunlap admits. “We’re playing well enough to win some games, which is why we’re 5-3. If we work on the negatives, we can be that elite defense and that elite team.”

Right now, the eliteness is in the Big Easy

“They go as Brees goes,” Dunlap adds. “We’ve got to find a way to slow down that future Hall of Famer.”

The weekend began Thursday night with Pittsburgh’s 52-21 home victory over Carolina. Ben Roethlisbe­rger threw for 328 yards and five touchdowns to help the Steelers (6-2-1) win their fifth straight. The Panthers (6-3) had won three in a row.

Off this week are Minnesota (5-3-1), Denver (3-6), FILE - In this Dec. 10, 2017, file photo, Cincinnati Bengals fans cheer in the stands during the first half of an NFL football game against the Chicago Bears in Cincinnati. Baltimore (4-5) and Houston (6-3).

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States