Bengals vs. Broncos: What's the Game Plan for Cincinnati?

It might be a battle of backup quarterbacks, but Sunday's encounter between the Cincinnati Bengals and Denver Broncos offers an interesting chess match regardless. 

With thoughts of a first-round bye on the mind, the Bengals will need a pristine game plan to thwart one of the league's top defenses while trotting out backup AJ McCarron under center.

A game defense that helped carry McCarron to a win last week in San Francisco now has to deal with Denver backup Brock Osweiler and a pair of explosive receivers. 

Below, let's take a look at how Cincinnati figures to approach the game. 

Offensive Game Plan

Tony Avelar/Associated Press

Cincinnati doesn't have a choice but to open things up Monday night in Denver. 

The Bengals went conservative last week in San Francisco, throwing it 21 times with McCarron, who spun some pretty deep balls but otherwise played it safe, completing 15 passes for 192 yards and a score.

McCarron's going to need to take more risks this time out against a defense that leads the league with 279.9 yards allowed per game.

The Bengals will also have to play fast against a Von Miller-led unit already boasting 47 sacks. Cincinnati's line has struggled in recent weeks, the latest a four-sack day of McCarron against the 49ers, meaning quick outs to receivers and backs to neutralize the rush.

At the least, the team figures to have A.J. Green as a full go this time, according to Jim Owczarski of the Cincinnati Enquirer:

"

Wide receiver A.J. Green looks to be on track to play on Monday. The Pro Bowl receiver injured his back on Saturday and was hampered on Sunday in San Francisco. He caught one pass on just three targets and Bengals coach Marvin Lewis said the plan was to get the receiver out of the game as soon as they could.

"

This should make life easier for a stagnant run game, which needs as much help as it can get against a Broncos defense allowing just 79.9 rushing yards per game.

Jeremy Hill and Giovani Bernard didn't have much of an impact last week while the line struggled, but it's imperative the duo gets going on the road to keep the Denver rush honest.

Look for Cincinnati to open up the playbook a bit with quick strikes to Green and others. It's going to be another run-first approach, but expect offensive coordinator Hue Jackson to ask more of McCarron down the field.

Defensive Game Plan

Now is a great time for the Bengals to meet the Broncos. 

Cincinnati forced four turnovers last week and continues to look like one of the league's best units. The Broncos, on the other hand, haven't scored a point in the second half of a game over their past three outings with Osweiler at the command and notables such as Vernon Davis and Demaryius Thomas suffering from drop issues.

In other words, Cincinnati needs to hold strong in the first half against an offense that opposing teams have found easy to make adjustments against.

This means pin the ears back and go for names such as Geno Atkins and Carlos Dunlap. Denver doesn't have a rushing threat to strike fear into Vontaze Burfict and others so long as they don't leave themselves so open to the cutback. The rush, in theory, should help the Bengals limit Osweiler's throws to his outside weapons:

NAME	REC	TAR	YDS	AVG	TD
Demaryius Thomas	93	155	1128	12.1	5
Emmanuel Sanders	67	124	969	14.5	5

Last week, Pittsburgh survived three touchdowns from Osweiler by blanking Denver in the second half and posting 34 points on 55 passing attempts.

As good as McCarron might be, given the circumstances, the Bengals will lose if they fall into a similar trap. This means Adam Jones will have to survive on his own, Dre Kirkpatrick will need to do much of the same with George Iloka possibly missing another game and the rush as a whole will need to hit home often to ruin timing.

It was about a year ago Kirkpatrick picked off two passes and Jones and Reggie Nelson each had one while stunning the Broncos. The team needs a similar performance this week while applying constant pressure to take the odds of a win out of the offense's hands.

Key Players and Matchups

AJ McCarron 

The training wheels come off for McCarron this week in one of the worst situations imaginable.

For his part, though, the Alabama product doesn't sound too concerned.

ESPN.com's Coley Harvey captured his thoughts on the matter: "Also says he's not flustered by his next game at Denver being in prime time. 'It's just another game.'"

It's a nice dose of leadership, but McCarron will have to back up the talk on the field by taking care of the football as he did in San Francisco but taking more risks down the field to Green and others.

Jeremy Hill

Eric Risberg/Associated Press

It's now or never for Hill.

The sophomore slump has been quite real for the former LSU star, who finds paydirt every now and then but isn't anywhere close to being the rookie who turned on the jets last year over the season's second half and carried the offense.

Look at it this way—Hill torched the Broncos for 147 yards and a score on 22 carries last year. The offense sure wouldn't mind a similar performance as it attempts to protect McCarron this time out.

Offensive Line

Of course, Hill can't work toward improving and carrying the offense without the help of the offensive line.

It's been a downward spiral for the unit over the last few weeks, culminating in a game against a four-win 49ers team that should have never been close in the first place.

If Miller and the Broncos rush starts to hit home, it will create a snowball effect of large proportions for the Bengals. McCarron's jersey has to stay mostly clean and the running lanes wide or more stress than necessary falls on the defense.

Dre Kirkpatrick

Expect the Denver offense to target Kirkpatrick often.

It's what happened last year, and Kirkpatrick rose to the occasion. The memory won't stop the Broncos, though, who would rather throw his way than at Jones, or at least defer to quick screens and slants to hope the blocking can set up well.

Either way, Denver will test Kirkpatrick often. Like last year, how he responds might decide the game.

Prediction

Eric Risberg/Associated Press

On one hand, some might fall into believing that the Bengals played down to the competition last week and can easily turn around and play a much better game in Denver this week. 

Maybe there's something to that with the team down Eifert, Iloka and mostly Green last week. 

But then again, the players who did suit up looked uninspired, and the play-calling was as conservative as it gets. Instead of seeing if McCarron and Co. could execute a risky attack, the Bengals were content to tread water.

It's going to cost them this week. McCarron takes care of the football, but the globe hasn't seen what he can do when he has to gun from behind against an elite defense. The woes of the offensive line and running backs will come up big, and mistakes will put the defense in tough short-yardage situations against some of the best wideouts in football.

Look for Denver to pull away late.

Prediction: Broncos 24, Bengals 21 

Stats courtesy of NFL.com and are accurate as of December 24. All advanced metrics courtesy of Pro Football Focus.