The Bewildering Bengals to be shocked ?

Danger_dave1

Welcome sport fans to another installment of BTA

This week we look at the Bengals and Chargers chances of success in the post season

The Bengals have been AFC North Champions 3 years running. But with a play off success of just 33% . There won win coming against the Bills 3 season's ago in a 34-17 victory . Many point to the absence of Danny Woodhead in that game. When they met in the wild card last season the bill's had Woodhead fit and a fresh Arian Foster who tore up the Bengals D-line for fun.

The Bengals want to show they belong in the AFC Championship game after two years of facing an artificially low ranked 5th seed Bills. After finishing as the third seed. However there reward is a team with the same standing as them 11-5 . The San Diego Super Chargers ! Can the Bengals bewilder the league show they are genuine Superbowl contenders or will they drop out to super charged 6th seed in San Diego ?

The Bengals captured the third seed , It came at a massive cost. Future Hall of famer Antiono Gates and Jeremey Maclin both received injuries that rule them out for the rest of the season . This is not good for the Bengals offensive coordinator these two players accounted for 52% of the Newton's touchdowns. Pierre Garcon and Travis Beckum at tight end will have to step up and shoulder the responsibility of redzone receptions.

Cam Newton is a game changer but for which team ? Newton has a QB rating of 66.2 plus an interception % of 8%. To win games in the post season Newton with an injured receiving core will have to try and improve his completion percentage while also trying to cut out passes into the defensive backs hands

One way to take the burden of Cam is to give Big Boy Michael Turner the pigskin. Who has 1120 yard off 198 attempts at an average of 5.6 yards. Turner has only fumbled the ball once all season. Cut out the interceptions and where will the turnovers come from ?

Where will the shock come from ? From Out west ! San Diego join the play off club for the first time under coach Luke !

At the start of the season San Diego traded in Ryan Fitzpatrick to help there stuttering passing game. He's brought stability to this team. 2245 yards 18 touchdowns and 16 Interceptions may not sound amazing but its a positive touchdown rate and many coaches would kill for that. With a QB rating of 84.8 a slight improvement in his game could see the chargers become a superbowl sleeper!

Fitzpatrick's secruity blanket is Aaron Hernandez who was traded to the Chargers from the Bengals for Antonio Gates ! Hernandez is the linchpin of San Diego's passing game with 1127 yards and 13 touchdowns. That's 50.2 % of Fitzpatrick's yards. Stop Hernandez and you stop the chargers passing game.

The Chargers made it to the wild card round because of there run game. Legarrette Blount had a break out season ! 1761 yards 21 touchdowns from 288 attempts with an average carrier of 6.1 . Good thing were moving to madden 13 soon otherwise Blount would be broken next season. Stop the Chargers two skill players in Blount and Hernandez and Fitzpatrick will have to move away from his comfortable play book into the unknown !

( The chargers major injury concern for this week is Matt Roth at LE , he may not have impressive numbers but will still be missed in run defense )

Prediction
For me this is a classic Bengals by 3 ! The Bengals have played in 10 minute quarters before the Chargers have not. The Bengals have more interceptions in there stifling 3-4 defense while the Chargers have more sacks.

Would i bet against the spread in this one ? Maybe ....... Wait no Yes i would. January is a time for ground and pound. If the Chargers rush for over 180 yards in this game then they win this game.

If the Cam Newton can throw more touchdowns to interceptions on a 2-1 win ratio they win the game.

Betting
Turner and Blount to combine for over 350 yards 9/2 Great bet both teams now depend on there running back's

5 interceptions in the game 14/3 I can see this. One team falls behind early or if the Chargers top target is kept out of the game.

The Commentators to mention that Ryan Fitzpatrick went to Harvard ; No bets being taken.

Until next time sports fans :cool:

ibmax

10 minute quarters??? FFS no one ever mentioned that!!!

etloveslsd

ibmax wrote: »

10 minute quarters??? FFS no one ever mentioned that!!!

Its in the rules.....noob

BigBadRob83

Excellent preview Dave, very entertaining reading from my hospital bed (unlike Gates & Maclin I will play through the pain for the playoffs).
Very flattered by the favourites tag, unfortunately has all been downhill since that no.2 seed and playoff victory in Season 1. No mention of Chargers 42-14 win in regular season, though that did include 4 Cam Newton specials (the INT) and a fumble.
Am looking forward to the game, if I can squeeze in some much needed practice before hand.

etloveslsd

BigBadRob83 wrote: »

Excellent preview Dave, very entertaining reading from my hospital bed (unlike Gates & Maclin I will play through the pain for the playoffs).

hope everything is ok!

BigBadRob83

etloveslsd wrote: »

hope everything is ok!

Cheers dude, all good. Just small procedure to sort out deviated septum.
Affected breathing for running and swimming, but the big reason was my wife not enjoying the snoring

matthew8

Here's some tips to both the Chargers and the Bengals.

Chargers - Pinch that d-line against Turner. Don't take too long to get passes away because Peppers is a monster(though with Fitz tbh you're asking too much to make him throw more than 10 yards downfield).

Bengals - Don't blitz LeGarrette Blount. I tried it once in week 1, and it was the Chargers only good offensive play in the game. Long TD run. On offense, it's best to avoid Tyson Alualu in the middle. He's pretty brutal to running backs. And for god's sake run with Newton.

BigBadRob83

matthew8 wrote: »

Here's some tips to both the Chargers and the Bengals.

Chargers - Pinch that d-line against Turner. Don't take too long to get passes away because Peppers is a monster(though with Fitz tbh you're asking too much to make him throw more than 10 yards downfield).

Bengals - Don't blitz LeGarrette Blount. I tried it once in week 1, and it was the Chargers only good offensive play in the game. Long TD run. On offense, it's best to avoid Tyson Alualu in the middle. He's pretty brutal to running backs. And for god's sake run with Newton.

Thanks Ron Jaworski

Very good tips on both sides I must say
Is there any way you can see what defenders are on the field for opponent?
Know you can do it for their offense alright, but haven't seem it on D