Tennessee Titans vs. Cincinnati Bengals: Complete Week 3 Preview for Cincinnati
The Cincinnati Bengals remain at home, after beginning the season 2-0 for the first time since 2006, for one final stand against the Tennessee Titans before a much-needed bye week.
Normally such an early bye week is a negative, making the subsequent stretch of games without a break a brutal endeavor. Not for a hobbled Bengals roster, though, which continues to see the status of a number of its top offensive weapons and arguably its best overall defensive player questionable at best.
Not that it matters.
The Bengals, for what it is worth, are a regular near the top of most power rankings so far for good reason. Paul Guenther's defense continues to churn out quality performances, while Andy Dalton and the offense slice through defenses regardless of personnel.
"We feel confident in whoever we are," left tackle Andrew Whitworth said, per ESPN.com. "It's the effort, it's the attitude, it's the intangibles and we feel like there's not a phase of the game we can't do if we play that way."
Sunday certainly makes for a trap game, though. Tennessee struggled to move the ball against a miserable Dallas defense last week, but the explosiveness from the offense and stubbornness of the defense can certainly give a limping Cincinnati roster issues.
Within, let's take a look at the critical info surrounding the AFC battle.
Bengals Week 2 Recap
1 of 5
Little went wrong for the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 2 when the Atlanta Falcons paid Paul Brown Stadium a visit.
The Bengals controlled the pace of the game via the ground attack, rushing for 170 total yards. Andy Dalton was efficient enough through the air, throwing for 252 yards and a score with some notable drive-extending plays despite a collapsing pocket.
The defense held Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan, who had thrown for 448 yards and three scores the week prior, to all of 231 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions (a few came in garbage time when he was forcing it, admittedly).
Best of all is the continued next-man-up approach the team continues to exhibit. A.J. Green was lost early on, so Mohamed Sanu stepped up and led the team in receiving. Vontaze Burfict was on and off the field before leaving for good, so Emmanuel Lamur once again had himself a huge game with nine total tackles and one pass defensed.
Cincinnati is going to need a similar effort Sunday on the defensive side of the ball. Offensively, the only concern as of now is the workload placed on back Giovani Bernard. For a smaller back, 32 touches per game will wear him down sooner rather than later.
Other than that, the team needs to employ another matchup-based game plan and reap the benefits.
News and Notes
2 of 5
The New Andy Dalton Continues to Impress
Fans can be forgiven for scoffing at the proclamations of those from the Cincinnati Bengals staff this past offseason as they swore to the general public that Andy Dalton had taken a step forward in his development.
It turns out the staff knows best, as always.
Through two games, Dalton has thrown for 553 yards and two touchdowns with a 105.4 rating and no interceptions or sacks, the latter of which should see a huge amount of credit go to a strong offensive line.
To the naked eye, Dalton looks as calm and confident as ever, especially when the pocket breaks down—a strange departure for those who had watched his every game to this point.
“His decision making is improved. His willingness to take a check down,” quarterbacks coach Ken Zampese said, per Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “He’s comfortable with what he’s asked to do on each play and how to salvage them when it doesn’t go the right way early. Not all (of the passes) have to go up the field. But they have to end up in our hands without minus-yardage plays.
Per Hobson, Dalton's "teammates were impressed with how well Dalton and the system adapted" in the wake of injuries to A.J. Green, Marvin Jones and Tyler Eifert.
As they should be. It is hard to imagine Dalton will keep his flawless streak alive much longer, but fans sure would not mind if he does.
Waiting on the Bye
As hinted, the Bengals are all about a Week 4 bye now.
Just ask head coach Marvin Lewis, per ESPN.com's Coley Harvey:
"Marvin Lewis jokes, "I'm a huge fan of early bye weeks now." Banged-up #Bengals off next week.
— Coley Harvey (@ColeyHarvey) September 17, 2014"
The good news is that most of the recent injuries suffered by notable stars such as Green and Vontaze Burfict seem to be of the short-term variety. Joe Danneman of Fox19 provides the scoop on Green:
"Marvin on AJ Green injury: He'll be out there when he's out there, but I don't think it's long term. @FOX19
— Joe Danneman (@FOX19Joe) September 15, 2014"
In hindsight, those in charge of the schedule have really helped the Bengals. Look at it this way—the team is going to need to be at full-strength before a stretch that includes at New England, against Carolina, at Indianapolis and against Baltimore before getting somewhat of a bye with Jacksonville coming to town.
No Blackout
Blackouts are a pretty consistent conversation around the team, so this deserves a note.
The organization opted into a new threshold this offseason that lifts a blackout upon only 85 percent of the tickets getting sold. According to Paul Dehner Jr. of Cincinnati.com, the clash with Tennessee has reached that mark:
"#Bengals have reached 85% threshold. Sunday's game will be on local TV.
— Paul Dehner Jr. (@pauldehnerjr) September 18, 2014"
A major interest in the team should not come as a surprise. At this point, the Bengals are clear AFC North favorites and look good as far as the playoff hunt goes. Tennessee is not the most attractive opponent, sure, but these are strange times in Cincinnati—which translates to anyone and everyone seeing the game via their preferred viewing avenue.
Injury Report
3 of 5
| Player | Position | Injury Status |
| Vontaze Burfict | LB | Doubtful |
| A.J. Green | WR | Probable |
| Kevin Zeitler | G | Doubtful |
*All injury reports are from ESPN.com. Will be updated when official report is released.
There are really no surprises here.
It would seem in the best interests of all if Vontaze Burfict is held out another week, giving him two when taking into account the bye, as his suffering concussion-like symptoms two weeks in a row is concerning, to say the least.
A.J. Green would be a rather significant loss against Tennessee, but as the team showed last week, there is talent in place that can overcome it. It would be difficult to blame the staff in Cincinnati if its best overall player were given two weeks of rest before getting into the meat of the schedule.
It hurts to not have Kevin Zeitler on the field, but Mike Pollak is a strong backup who can perform well enough when asked.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
X-Factors and Matchups to Watch
4 of 5
Bengals Offensive Line vs. Titans Rush
So far the Cincinnati Bengals defensive line has done a great job of keeping Andy Dalton's jersey clean, which has led to few turnovers.
Arguably the best test of the year from a pass-protection standpoint happens Sunday against Tennessee, though.
The Titans do not get enough credit in this regard but have quietly tallied four sacks apiece in their first two contests. According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), linebacker Derrick Morgan ranks as the No. 2 overall player in the 3-4 scheme at the spot, with Kamerion Wimbley not far behind at No. 23.
In the trenches, Jurrell Casey and Karl Klug (two of the NFL's most underrated players) both rank in the top six at No. 2 and No. 6, respectively.
That stout rush now takes on a Cincinnati offensive line that has lost right guard Kevin Zeitler at times already and saw left tackle Andrew Whitworth limp off the field last week. Should the elite rush get to Dalton, this game might get too close to comfort.
Cincinnati Defense vs. Delanie Walker
The past few years have seen the Cincinnati defense struggle with opposing tight ends.
Week 1 was no exception to the rule, as Baltimore's Dennis Pitta was permitted 10 receptions for 83 yards. Luckily for the Bengals, Levine Toilolo is certainly no Tony Gonzalez and was held in check last week.
Now the Cincinnati defense must find an answer for Delanie Walker, another player who, were he not on the up-and-down Titans, would get loads more credit for his superb skill set and body of work.
Walker caught three passes on five targets in Week 1, which does not sound like much, but one of them went for a score on the road in Kansas City. Week 2 saw him targeted 14 times—he caught 10 of those for 142 yards and a score to lead the team in receiving.
On average, Walker is usually somewhere in a happy medium between those two outputs. But it's clear that despite a great cast of receivers on the outside, quarterback Jake Locker loves to use his tight end at a high rate depending on the matchup.
Knowing full and well that Cincinnati has had its issues in the past, expect Walker to see plenty of looks Sunday. How the Bengals defense reacts may make the difference in a Tennessee drive that ends in a field goal, or in the end zone.
Bengals X-Factor of the Week: Mohamed Sanu
With A.J. Green, Marvin Jones and Tyler Eifert out of the picture last week, Mohamed Sanu finally seized his moment and has subsequently made the job of the coaches even more difficult if all get healthy at the same time.
Sanu led the team in receiving last week with three receptions on four targets for 84 yards and a touchdown. Fans will recall that he also attempted one pass, which wound up being the best deep ball of the day, going for 50 yards.
Against Tennessee—a team that gave up 10 receptions to Dallas' Dez Bryant last week, but a high of just four to all other targets—Sanu will need to produce like a No. 1 again to keep the offense moving along.
While a large chunk of the plan will surely be to pound the rock with a strong stable of backs, that method loses its effectiveness against a strong Tennessee defense if there is not a receiver such as Sanu consistently moving the chains.
Tennessee has also been relatively strong against tight ends over the years, so with Eifert out of the picture and Jermaine Gresham potentially bottled up, the staff will need Sanu's versatility at all wideout slots and perhaps out of the backfield to keep the Tennessee defense on its toes all afternoon.
Even if Green does take the field, his limited status most of the week suggests he will be more of a high-profile decoy than anything. If that proves to be the case, consistency from Sanu against lesser coverage will be even more important.
Prediction
5 of 5
A depleted Cincinnati Bengals roster at home still has the talent to take down the Tennessee Titans.
That is, if Andy Dalton remains composed and perhaps corrects on a few misfires and the coaching staff continues to bring strong matchup-based strategies to the table that the talent executes efficiently.
Cincinnati is obviously going to lean on the ground game for most of its production once again. It should find success in that venture—the Titans were fortunate that Kansas City's Andy Reid made the mind-numbing decision to only give Jamaal Charles seven carries in Week 1, but Dallas' DeMarco Murray torched the unit for 167 yards and a score a week later.
In that avenue, Giovani Bernard and Jeremy Hill will find success so long as the available pass-catchers prove to be a threat.
On the flip side, Tennessee's Shonn Greene has looked sound so far but is no more of a threat than Steven Jackson was a week ago. Should Cincinnati jump out to a lead, it will force the Titans into a one-dimensional approach through the air, and considering Jake Locker is erratic at best and struggled last week against a mediocre Dallas defense, it seems the Bengals have the formula for another win.
It certainly won't be easy. This has the feel of a trap game, as the Titans are a gritty team that employs similar approaches to the game and has some criminally underrated talent at key spots that—when used properly and not held back by weaknesses around them—can change games on their own.
Still, the Bengals have done nothing through two games to suggest they would experience a letdown in a winnable contest. Going into the bye, it seems a safe bet the Bengals will be undefeated.
Prediction: Bengals 24, Titans 17
Note: Stats courtesy of NFL.com. All advanced metrics via Pro Football Focus (subscription required).
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
.png?w=480)
