The Cincinnati Bengals got off to a promising start in their week one matchup with the Seattle Seahawks. Despite the loss, they answered a lot of questions we had about them going into the season. The offense looked creative and the defense executed a strong gameplan and held the Seahawks to only 244 yards overall. Now the question is whether they can build off that positive momentum from week one.
Andy Dalton is your NFL passing leader after a mostly impressive Week 1 performance. Are we going to see a similar season from Dalton as the one we saw in 2015 or was week one just one-off performance? That’s a big thing to look out for this Sunday. If Dalton and the Bengals offense come out aggressive and confident like they did in Seattle then they should come away with a win against the 49ers. However, they do need to find a way to get the running game going to see long term success.
The offensive line was okay in pass protection against the Seahawks, but the run blocking was abysmal. I’m looking to see how the offensive line unit adjusts this week in the run game. The Bengals have a strong stable of running backs, but if they can’t create space for them it won’t do them much good.
Speaking of having a strong stable of running backs, I’m interested to see how the Bengals handle the usage with Joe Mixon being questionable. Gio Bernard is a solid guy to have waiting in the wings if Mixon can’t go. Do they make him the bell cow or do they split carries between Bernard, Trayveon Williams, and Samaje Perine? You have to think even if Mixon is able to play, his usage will be somewhat limited. We could see a different strategy as far as running back usage goes than we did in week one.
In my week one storyline article, I mentioned that the Bengals have the potential to be a sneaky good defense. Lou Anarumo and that unit provided me with even more confidence in that take. The defensive line was dominant against the Seahawks and Anarumo had a near-flawless game plan. I’m interested to see if they can build off that now that there is some tape out there.
The main thing to watch out for this Sunday is how the Bengals build on the positive momentum from week one. Although it was an encouraging performance, they still lost. Now they need to have another encouraging performance, but actually finish the game this time.
