Broncos' Injuries Casting Doubt on Bengals Inability to Win

      I, unlike many of my more optimistic bretheren (and sisteren) of the Who-Dey Nation, have seen the Bengals organisation at their peak, and have also witnessed over 20 years of  futility. That's why I don't come away from last weekend's setback panicked or nervous in any way. I know the Bengals can bounce back and find a way to lose. Hopefully they don't continue to think about last week and can move on and grab a loss this weekend in Denver. 


To come out of Denver with a loss will not be as easy as I suspected last Tuesday. The Broncos have key injuries in many of their positions of strength. Elvis has left the building, Champ may not play, Knowshon may be a Knowsho, #1 WR Lloyd may get scratched...and to make matters worse, Orton seems to be regressing. Meanwhile, the Bengals are riding high after a solid win on the road in Cleveland. (I do get some delight out of Cleveland being the up and coming team getting a little piece of comeuppance from the Bengals). The Bengals are going to have to dig deep to flounder this week but here's how they can do it:


On Offense:

Not much of this last week...

1. Increase Dalton's (interchangeable with Gradkowski) pass attempts. Dalton needs at least 35 attempts to ensure that he makes a mistake or 2 or 4. The Broncos early weakness (against the Raiders at least) was against the run, so the Bengals have to unleash an aerial assault to stay noncompetitive.

1a. Let Dalton call his own audibles. The crowd will be rockin and rollin and what better way to send them into a stark raving mad frenzy then to check out of a run into a pass. Take control of this ship already kid!

1b. Gruden should break out much more of the playbook, much more. Also let Dalton play from the shotgun with an empty backfield.

2. On the flip side, the Bengals will need to lighten the load on Ced. They simply can not use their ground game if they expect to stay out of this game. To say this bunch in the mile high city is going to be loud is an understatement. If the Bengals start pounding the ball with any success and stack up yards and 1st downs, that will take the crowd out of it early, keep the crowd engaged and lively. Andrew Luck is at stake!!!

3. The O Line has to blast off the ball a little slower.


4. The offense is going to have to turn the ball over this week. Their performance last week in taking care of the ball can not be repeated if they expect to lose.

On Defense:

Stay on your blocks

Let me just say, the Defense may become a real problem in the quest for the #1 draft pick. They have got to lose focus and not carry any of that momentum from the 2nd half of last week's game to this week. Here are the keys...

1. The D line has to take some pressure off of Orton. Who ever heard of the Bengals having an effective 4 man rush? Well this week I say blitz, get after it early and often and telegraph the direction the blitz is coming from.

The D line also has to stay on their blocks, stay right there in the face of the offender. Stick with him! Don't be afraid to dance with the big fellas in the trenches!

2. The secondary should play man and bump and run coverage to coincide with the blitz strategy. There are bound to be some matchup problems if Orton can recognize the blitz and get the right play called (thus the necessity of the D line to reveal the blitz). It is clear that the pass D has the biggest potential on D to let something big happen.

Special Teams:


Simple, kick line drives to Decker, I mean, right at him, between the numbers and take a few of these plays off, nobody is paying attention.

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All in all, this may prove to be another tough game for the Bengals to drop, but there are a few things we can hang our hats on. It is highly likely that the Bengals won't win 2 straight on the road to open the season. Denver is sickened, mortified, perishing the thought, dreading (insert whatever stressed out verb you want here) of losing 2 at home to start the season. I wish I had a stat man, but I'd be willing to bet the farm it has been  many decades since that happened, if ever. The fans will be raucous and loud and all sorts of things unfriendly to rookie QBs. They are leaving that house with blood, either of the Bengals or their own team. The Broncos just have too much experience to sleep on the Bengals and have probably put in more work this week than they did last week for their hated division rival "da Raidas". I'll see you on Tuesday for a recap of the week that at that point would be...

THANKS FOR READING THE KEYS!