Time running out for Bengals to turn it around
Bengals hope to sing happy tune after trip to Music City today.
At 3-5, the Bengals cannot afford another loss, especially against an AFC team they could find themselves locked in a tiebreaker with.
For the second consecutive week the Cincinnati Bengals will be on the road facing a first-place team in the AFC South Division, this time in Nashville against the Tennessee Titans.
The question is what song is playing as the Bengals head home from Music City. Will it be happy or sad?
At 3-5 the Bengals cannot afford another loss, especially against an AFC team they could find themselves locked in a tie- breaker with if they are able to turn things around and make a run at the playoffs the way they did in 2012.
Some things to watch for today against the 5-3 Titans:
Getting Green going
Pro Bowl wide receiver A.J. Green finds himself in the worst stretch of his career, the frustration from which may or may
not have fueled his first-half fight and ejection last week.
Green has seven catches for 74 yards in the past three games. Prior to this stretch, he had never had fewer than 10 catches in any three-game period, or fewer than 128 yards.
“This is a bad three games but things happen,” Green said. “Every year is not going to be a perfect year, like last year when I was off to a record start. It’s not going to be like that every year. I can’t get frustrated.”
Quarterback Andy Dalfor 10 weeks. And even when ton insisted he hasn’t for- he is in football shape, the gotten about Green. The Bengals could elect to have looks just haven’t been there Cedric Ogbuehi handle all with defenses throwing even the snaps at left tackle and more attention Green’s way Andre Smith handle the load than usual. on the right side.
Last Sunday’s loss in Jacksonville marked the first time since Week 2 Ogbuehi played 100 percent of the snaps.
“Any time you get to play more, every snap you get better,” Ogbuehi said. “We’ll see this game.”
Smith played a season-high 74 percent of the snaps against the Jaguars. For the season, he has played 43.5 percent (201 of 462).
Re-establish the run
One of the biggest things the Bengals can do to free up
Green is establish some semblance of a running game.
Last week’s performance in Jacksonville — 29 rushing yards on 17 carries — sunk the Bengals to the bottom of the league in total offense and rush offense.
“I thought we had a physical week of practice, as physical of a week of practice as you can have in season in the NFL,” offensive coordinator Bill Lazor said of the sessions leading up to the
Jacksonville loss. “I thought they played really hard. And as far as playing physical and running the ball hard, we were there. But it’s not just effort. You also have to do it right. For me and the coaches, I’m just trying to think of solutions.”
In addition to averaging a league-worst 72.3 yards per game, the Bengals are averaging 3.07 yards per carry, which also ranks last.
With 528 rushing yards It appears Hill has played through eight games, the his last game with the Benteam is on pace for 1,056, gals after the team placed which would not only be the him on season-ending IR. lowest in franchise history in Hill, in the final year of a nonstrike-shortened seahis contract, sustained an son, it would be 464 yards ankle injury during the walkfewer than the previous low through last Saturday and of 1,520 in 2008. was inactive for the 23-7 loss
Since rushing for 110 yards at Jacksonville. in the overtime loss at Green He did not practice this Bay, the Bengals have averweek, and with Giovani Beraged 61.8 yards in the past nard signed through 2019 five games and 2.76 ypc. and Mixon through 2020,
With Jeremy Hill out with it’s hard to envision a scean ankle injury and placed nario where the Bengals on injured reserve Saturwould re-sign Hill. day, rookie Joe Mixon will Also Saturday, the team have a chance to get into waived kicker Marshall the flow of the game begin- Koehn, who filled in for ning with the first series, as the injured Randy Bullock he did last week when he last week. Bullock practiced played a season-high 71.8 this week, and the release percent of the snaps. of Koehn signals there are no longer issues with the injury.
To fill their spots on the 53-man roster, the Bengals promoted rookie safety Brandon Wilson and rookie defensive tackle Josh Tupou.
Rotation resolution
The end of Jake Fisher’s season also could mean the let- end of the tackle rotation for the Bengals.
The team signed veteran Eric Winston for depth, but it’s unclear how much he can play this weekend after being away from the game
Turning the turnover tide
Last week’s game at Jacksonville marked the first time the Bengals didn’t have a turnover. It also was the first time since the 2016 season finale they finished with a positive turnover margin at plus-1 thanks to the Chris Smith-forced fumble that Shawn Williams recovered on the opening drive of the game to snap the longest fumble recovery drought in NFL history at 18 games.
Hill finished as Bengal?