Leaning toward picking Bengals ...
... but two points would make me worry if I were a Bengals fan:
-- The matchup between the Bengals run defense and the Patriots run offense; and
-- The fact the Patriots have not lost consecutive games since December 2002. The Patriots have gone 52 games without two losses in a row, tied with the 1971-75 Dolphins and 1984-88 Broncos. The 1976-79 Broncos went 53 games without losing two in a row. The record is 60 games without losing consecutive games, held by the 49ers from 1995-99.
posted by Mark at 1:45 PM
7 Comments:
at 9/28/2006 1:58 PM 
Anonymous said...
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at 9/28/2006 4:33 PM 
Anonymous said...
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at 9/28/2006 7:01 PM 
Robcsk said...
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at 9/28/2006 7:12 PM 
Anonymous said...
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at 9/28/2006 9:19 PM 
Anonymous said...
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at 9/29/2006 2:15 PM 
Rob said...
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at 9/30/2006 12:33 AM 
OrangeD00d said...
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Post a Comment*Be careful....you wouldn't want to pick the other team again, would you?
Seriously, the running game bothers me a lot more than the onsecutive losses thing. The thing we have going for us is that, if they can "control" the running game, Brady (good as he is), has a seriouwly depleted corps of receivers.
Bengals 27-21
you are seeing the decline of a great team - no passing game, so do what the broncos did. 8 in the box, and take your chances with our secondary. I'd do it in a hearbeat.
Bengals 24, pats 9.
I'm not much worried about your second concern. Streaks are always broken at some point, and the 2006 Patriots are not the 2004 Patriots. Besides, the game is at PBS, and I'll be there (very sober!) with my son, Kellen.
Your first concern is legitimate. The Willie Parker like, Laurence Maroney, is a scary prospect. I'm less concerned about Corey. There has certainly been a marked difference in the Bengals run defense against the Chiefs and Browns and the one that showed up last week against the Steelers. I tend to think the effectiveness of the run D is somewhere between those two extremes.
Go with the Bengals, Mark. Do you really believe the Patriots can shut down the Bengals offense?
Mark,
I think the key to understanding the` New England Patriots and how they manufacture wins is to focus on the best clock management skills in the history of the National Football League. New England's win over the Jets in Week 2 is instructive.
The Pats controlled the game for the better part of three quarters but allowed the Jets to get back into it late. Leading 24-17 in the fourth with 9:14 left, Brady took the Pats on a time-consuming drive for the ages. Although he had not been sharp, Brady completed three lengthy passes on third down to keep the drive alive. All told, the drive resulted in no points (blocked field goal) scored but consumed 8:09 of the fourth and left the Jets 1:05 and no timeouts to try to score a touchdown. The Jets failed to do so and lost 24-17.
The Patriots do not win games by a million points. They just win games. Branch and Givens play elsewhere now but Belichick will make do with what he has.Our loss in Foxboro in December 2004 by seven points was similar to the Jets game in Week Two. Brady found a way that day to squander the clock late and our defense seemed helpless to do anything about it. I appreciate artistry in human affairs and Coach Belichick is an artist. I hope we've grown as a team since that day in Foxboro two years ago, and I think Sunday will be an excellent gauge of that progress or the lack of it.
Chip Lapp
Kenwood OH
Pats "won't get any points"? Is that a prediction of shutout? The Patriots get six points in the latest line.
I think this is almost the same matchup as the Pittsburgh game--except New England has a slightly more versatile running attack. The key for the Patriots is going to be puting pressure on Carson Palmer. The key for the Bengals is going to be controlling the clock and keeping Palmer upright. They have got to Protect the quarterback better this week.
I think what Mark meant was, whatever points the Patriots do score Sunday, it won't be because of who they were two years ago. What happened in that game has very little to do with what will happen Sunday.
The Bengals have improved significantly since then, and by any reasonable standard, one must agree the Patriots are not as good a team as they were then.
On defense, New England still has a stout front seven, but their backfield is not good at all, aside from Asante Samuel. They're gonna have to play some kind of a two-deep and hope their line can get pressure on Palmer by themselves. If Palmer gets time in the pocket, he will carve that secondary up like a Christmas roast. Think Packers.
The Bengals' defense will cheat Williams and Kaesviharn up to help stop the run. New England doesn't have any real game-breakers at wideout.
They do have a good tight end. I expect them to have success using play-action and throwing to the TE and the RB, and running draws. But it's tough to generate explosive plays from this game plan. It's not vertical. It gets first downs, it's good if you're protecting a lead, but if the Bengals get up early, this game could get reeeeal ugly.
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