21 October 2006

Bengals and Tigers

The World Series begins this evening. The Cards are owned by Bill DeWitt, a Bush family friend who has connections with other Bush friends here in Cincinnati. The Tigers, on the other hand, play in the city of my birth and were once coached by Sparky Anderson.

Tigers in four.

Now the Bengals, that is a bit more of a problem. They need to win this week and it's gonna be tough. Tackle Levi Jones is out. Brian Simmons and Dexter Jackson are questionable. I really hope Jackson is healthy because I have less confidence in Kaesviharn, to be honest. But on the other hand, it doesn't really seem to matter who is covering Steve Smith because he beats everybody. And if they do blanket Smith, Keyshawn Johnson is going to do the damage himself.

But I think the critical issue is the Bengals running and their running defense. Rudi gets enough carries, he just can't get any yardage. And on defense, the Bengals are allowing way too much. It's killing us.

So basically I think the Bengals fortune rests on the offensive and defensive lines. If the offensive line can protect Palmer and block effectively for Rudi, we can put up some good numbers. But we also have to stop the Panthers from getting anything going on the ground.

I hope the Bengals can pull it off, but there is no reason to expect it based on the last two games.

Panthers, 35-34.

1 comment:

Mark said...

I didn't let myself feel confident about the Bengals last week and I'm already trying to numb myself for tomorrow.

But I do hope Detroit wins.