Bengals, Browns and David Price? Kevin A breaks it all down with a bonus question.
Apologies for my two week ill-ridden absence. Here's a quick recap of what you may have missed.
- The Bengals dropped a heartbreaker in Arizona, got back to their winning ways against the Rams, Geno Atkins is the best player on the field, and Tyler Eifert is injured (more on that in a minute).
What went right in both games was Andy Dalton. Dalton is proving his critics wrong on a weekly basis, with one mediocre game (Houston) out of 11. He's been really good. The most noteworthy player, however. has been Geno Atkins. Atkins is fully recovered from his knee injury and looks every bit the dominant force we have become accustomed to watching. He's changing games, and that's a special trait owned by very few defensive lineman in the NFL. He's leading The Men, even if he never says a word to the press.
Up next is volume two of the battle of Ohio. On to the questions...
Tyler Eifert has a neck stinger and may not play against the Browns. How worried are you this injury could linger?
Stingers suck, and from what I hear are very painful. Eifert should sit this one out, plain and simple. If I'm Marvin Lewis I don't even consider making him active this Sunday. If they need Eifert to beat the Browns, something else went terribly wrong. Could the injury linger? Yes, and they sometimes do. The positive track is that Eifert says he's fine, so I'm cautiously optimistic he will be ready to go against Pittsburgh.
The Browns are starting their 15th QB against the Bengals in the Marvin Lewis era. I'll stop there.
It's amazing isn't it? I think it's 15 QB's in 26 match-ups, which is insane. Only Cleveland could manage something lame like that. Austin Davis will be the man, but it shouldn't change a thing on the game prep. Davis really isn't a bad QB though, so the Bengals need to take him seriously. They have a history of losing to new quarterbacks.
The Bengals play the Steelers after the Browns. Is this a trap game?
No. The Bengals have been focused all year, and frankly have beaten up on the bad teams in the league for the most part. Normally the Browns pose problems, but they are so bad I just don't see it. They don't do anything very well in the aspect of football, nothing to hang their hat on. They don't tackle well, and they can't defend the run OR the pass for that matter.
Assuming Eifert doesn't play, how will the Bengals attack the Browns?
Jeremy Hill. Hue Jackson slowly is starting to get Hill going for the playoff run, and he should see the ball quite a bit on Sunday. Hill looked very good against a talented Rams front, and he should have no problem navigating through Cleveland's line. I also think Marvin Jones is due for a nice game, so watch him as well.
The line currently sits with Cincy a 10 point favorite. Too much?
Too little. I guessed the line would be closer to 12 to be honest. That being said The Men should have little problem covering the 10. I'm not entirely positive Cleveland is trying that hard to win games in the first place. Browns hang around early, Geno and Hill eventually wear their lines out, Bengals 31-10 is the call.
Here's a bonus. You love baseball and the Red Sox. David Price has to make you pretty happy, no?
Funny enough, Brian Phillips said it was a great birthday present to me and it really was. Boston doesn't belong in last place and I think they have had enough. Price is one of the games top pitchers, and they also traded for one of the top closers in Kimbrell. Too early to predict anything, but yes....... Very happy. Stay tuned this summer for some baseball stuff from me. Already looking forward to it.