Bengals vs. Seahawks: 3 Halftime Adjustments Cincinnati Must Make

Going into the half, the Cincinnati Bengals are leading the Seattle Seahawks 17-3.  Despite decent play in the first half, here are three adjustments they need to make to put the game on ice.

Beat the Seattle Noise

This is very obviously much easier for me to say, but the Bengals need to figure out how to get the Seattle fans out of their heads.  The Bengals are winning, but they could be blowing the Seahawks out if they could get through the noise.

Despite stellar play by Cincinnati in the first half, there have been gaffs here and there that likely resulted from miscommunication due to the noise in Seattle.  If they can get by the noise, the Bengals could wind up running away with this one.

Attention Offensive Line—STOP HOLDING!

Everyone is under the impression that the Bengals' offensive line is way underrated, but that is nowhere near true.  They aren't that good, and this team holds...a lot.

They've done it several times in just the first half.  Like the Seahawks, they're hurting themselves by taking penalties.  In a sense, this could wind up being a battle for who can commit less penalties.  Not many teams will win by holding on every play.

Lose the Bob Bratkowski Playbook

For those of you who are unaware who that is, Bob Bratkowski is the former offensive coordinator of the Bengals.  He was fired after the 2010 season.  Suddenly, it appears as if he's come back to the sidelines.

The Bengals had a 3rd-and-20 and promptly threw a screen pass to Bernard Scott, which wasn't caught.  Even if it had been caught, what would that have accomplished?  He was in double coverage and had no shot of reaching the first-down markers.

Don't quit on 3rd-and-long, have some guts and get the first down!