BENGAL-MANIA

Have we reached the depths of despair?  I hope so.  I can't take much more of this.  Things have got to get better...eventually.    The Bengals lost to the Browns last Sunday even though they again had a second half lead; even though they had a fourth quarter lead; even though they had the lead until nine seconds were left in the game.  It was a heartbreaker.  Cincinnati has had a second half lead in six of their seven games and lost four of them and tied another.  That is sad.  One would usually say that the coaching staff has failed; or the team is too young to know how to win; or both.  I don't look for blame.  I just cry.

This week the Orange and Black run into more of the same.  The Tennessee Titans are the opponent - they are good and stand at 5-1 with their only loss last week by 3 points to the Pittsburgh Steelers.  The Titans win the close games; they have winning margins of 2, 3, 1, 26 and 6.  They can win the close ones.  

Their quarterback is Ryan Tannehill, a journeyman, who is having his best year as a pro.  He throws to A J Brown who has four TD receptions so far.  Derrick Henry is their smash mouth running back who is averaging over 100 yards a game.  Only four of the 32 teams allow more rushing yardage than the Bengals. - that may be a deciding factor.  Cincy has to shut down their running game.  

On the other side of the ball, the Titans tend to play pass defense deeper than most teams, allowing the underneath throws and giving a quick rally to the ball.  Jadeveon Clowney is their marque pass rusher.  Like our Bengals, they are having trouble getting off the field.  They allow long drives hoping for opponents to stop themselves.

Injuries may play a big part in the Bengals game-plan this week.  At one time, we had four of our five starting offensive linemen on the sidelines against the Browns.  Star running back Joe Mixon missed the whole game.  Watch for late changes on Saturday.

In Vegas, Cincinnati opened as a 3 point underdog but the betters drove the spread to six point very quickly.  The consensus has the total points at 54-1/2 which means another high scoring affair. 

Sunday, the Bengals will wear their 'color rush' uniforms for the first time this year.  They are different and a favorite of many fans.  The name is misnomer of sorts; they have little or no color except black and white.  Only seven of the 32 teams are still wearing the Nike 'color rush' uni's developed some five years ago.