Cincinnati Bengals - Our old pal...

[Fili]

Do you think this team is better than last year?

[Trap_Star]

their d-line alone will win the game for them.

[Mr. Texan]

yes.

dalton is not a rookie anymore.

aj green is better and has turned into an elite reciver

and their defense is better.

plus our o-line and defense is worse than the last time we played them.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by Mr. Texan

and their defense is better.

I don't know if their defense is better. Last year the heart of their defense got hurt right there at the end. I believe it was Malaluga who got hurt just before we played them in the regular season, then their big DT just before our play off game.

They all look healthy now.

[Goatcheese]

They're fielding a better team in 2012, but not by much. They're a little better on offense, about the same on defense.

[Double Barrel]

The 2012 Bengals are better than the 2011 version.

Unfortunately for us, the 2011 Texans were better than the 2012 version.

[Thorn]

meh....whatever......

Hopefully by this weekend I'll get some excitement conjured up from someplace about this game.

[Hervoyel]

They're going to beat us like a drum.

[Ranger Tom]

Originally Posted by Trap_Star

their d-line alone will win the game for them.

Agreed. Good defensive line against our increasingly terrible offensive line; all they need is an average offense and they're golden.

[Vinny]

Originally Posted by Double Barrel

The 2012 Bengals are better than the 2011 version.

Unfortunately for us, the 2011 Texans were better than the 2012 version.

were better or "are" better?

[Norg]

They still got Pacman jones Covering AJ tho like always they will double cover AJ

[HJam72]

If we can get it together, we are better in some ways. AJ is 100% and KJax is better than last year, for instance. I would like to believe that having Schaub on the field is an improvement for us over last year's playoffs, but...

[Mr. Texan]

last year we held the bengals to 10 points, got 3 INT's on dalton, and 1 was a pick 6.

from what i seen from the defense lately, they probably won't repeat that performance.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by Mr. Texan

last year we held the bengals to 10 points, got 3 INT's on dalton, and 1 was a pick 6.

from what i seen from the defense lately, they probably won't repeat that performance.

We held the Colts to 265 yards of total offense. We held Adrian Peterson to less than 90 yards rushing.

We're not playing Brady here. The Bengals look better because of their defense. If we have to make 80 yard drives, it's going to be ugly.

But our defense doesn't need to be as good as theirs to frustrate their offense. A couple of short fields, a couple of TDs (wishful thinking) & this game is ours.

[Mr. Texan]

Originally Posted by Fiddler

We held the Colts to 265 yards of total offense. (we also got no turnovers, couldn't get off the field on 3rd down, and had a lot of penalties that extended drives. not to mention the special teams.) We held Adrian Peterson to less than 90 yards rushing (and didn't make it tough for ponder in the passing game).

We're not playing Brady here. The Bengals look better because of their defense. If we have to make 80 yard drives, it's going to be ugly.

But our defense doesn't need to be as good as theirs to frustrate their offense. A couple of short fields, a couple of TDs (wishful thinking) & this game is ours.

i agree, but i'm just pointing out the difference between this year and last year.

offense has to pick it up but i would also like to see our defense play at the elite level they played in the 2nd half of last year, but that may be a tall order with no cushing and barwin back to invisible status.

[thunderkyss]

Originally Posted by Mr. Texan

i agree, but i'm just pointing out the difference between this year and last year.

offense has to pick it up but i would also like to see our defense play at the elite level they played in the 2nd half of last year, but that may be a tall order with no cushing and barwin back to invisible status.

Not only is that different from last year, but different from the beginning of the year.

We've had to deal with injuries & so far it's been a struggle. Defense I can understand, we've yet to start the same two ILBs for two weeks in a row since Cushing went down, in addition to other issues like Brooks. So there's going to be some loss of production there.

However, the facts I cherry picked were just to show that we are getting better. Still far off from where we want to be, but hopefully heading in that direction with the guys we've got left.

Dobbins & James will not match Cushing's production, inspiration, or plain old fear-factor. But we should be able to do enough to give our offense a chance (& technically we've done that much since the second half of the New England game, despite the injuries.

Again, not the top 5 defense we want, but it is what it is.