Cincinnati Bengals travel to Atlanta to take on the Falcons
The Cincinnati Bengals return from their bye week looking desperate for a win if they hope to keep up with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens in the AFC North. It's not going to be easy to get their record back to .500 as they head to Atlanta to
take on the 4-2 Falcons on Sunday.
Previous meetings and recent games
The last time these two teams met in the regular season was way back in 2006 with the Falcons winning 29-27.
The Falcons blew an opportunity to put themselves alone atop the NFC standings when they lost to 31-17 to the Philadelphia Eagles last week.
The Bengals did not play last week, but before the bye they had lost two in a row including most recently losing 24-21 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bengals have admitted that falling to 2-4 could be disastrous.
"The panic button is going to get hit," wide receiver Chad Ochocinco said. "You go into a hole at 2-4 and that's tough. Especially with the schedule we have, that's tough."
How they matchup
The Falcons have been a solid team in all areas so far this season with the exception of defending the pass where they are ranked 25th, and were exploited for 474 yards including giving up three touchdowns of over 30 yards in their loss to the Eagles. The
Falcons' poor performance defending the pass led head coach Mike Smith to comment, "Defensively, you can't let people throw the ball over your head, you give up three explosive touchdowns, you're going to have a tough day."
With Carson Palmer at quarterback, and having two high-profile receivers in Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens, Atlanta's soft secondary will likely be an area that the Bengals will look to exploit.
However, despite conceding more yards than most teams while defending the pass, oddly enough the Atlanta Falcons lead the league in interceptions with 11. Safety William Moore leads the way with three.
Offensively, the Atlanta Falcons have one of the best rushing tandems in Michael Turner and rushing fullback Jason Snelling. Matt Ryan has put up decent numbers and has two very reliable targets in receiver Roddy White and tight end Tony Gonzalez.
What to expect
The Bengals relied heavily on running back Cedric Benson in their last game as Benson ran for 144 yards on 23 carries in the Bengals' loss to the Buccaneers, but the Bengals had hoped to put together more of a passing game this season which plays more into
their strengths.
"Right now, we don't have an identity because we're not doing either one well or we're not doing either one well enough," Ochocinco said about the way the offence has been functioning. "Expectations are super high. Everyone is focusing in on Terrell and
I being so explosive, but it's not that easy."
The Falcons should have an easy enough time moving the ball against the Bengals and the real question will be, if the Bengals do decide to take to the air, can the Falcons stop them?
The Falcons won't be able to stop the Bengals' aerial threat entirely, but they'll only have to do just enough, as the Falcons' offence should be able to put up enough points to get the win.
Falcons take a high-scoring affair 38-31.
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