WEEK 15 PREVIEW

BY SIN BLITZERS

BENGALS AT TITANS : The Bengals kept their playoff hopes alive with a dramatic win over the Cowboys on Monday night. Joe Burrow had another 369 yards with three touchdowns in this performance. His co-star Ja’marr Chase had 14 catches for 177 yards and two touchdowns. Burrow and company will see a familiar face on the opposite sideline this week as former offensive coordinator Brian Callahan and the Titans will look to end the Bengals’ season. The key to this game is the Bengal defense. It has been awful all season long, but this is a game where they have to step up. Will Levis has had issues turning the ball over and taking sacks, if the Bengals defense does their part, they should come away with a win. 

DOLPHINS AT TEXANS :  Like the Bengals, the Dolphins kept their playoff hopes alive with a win over the division rival Jets. Tua Tagovailoa was 33-47 for 331 yards and two touchdowns. The duo of Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle had their best games of the season as well, with both essentially going over 100 yards. The Dolphins will take on the AFC South leading Texans, who are coming off their bye week and prior to that a win over the Jags. The Jags gave them a scare late in that game, the Texans despite their record haven’t played all that well this season. One thing is that this could be a trap game for Houston as they could be looking forward to playing the Chiefs next week, so Miami can keep their playoff hopes alive with a win. 

COLTS AT BRONCOS : This game has AFC Wild Card implications on the line with two young starting quarterbacks at the helm. Anthony Richardson has been great since coming back from his benching and Bo Nix is in the running for Offensive rookie of the year. The key to this game for me is Anthony Richardson. The Broncos defense has been sensational this season, if Richardson can make plays with both his arm and his legs, maybe that propels the Colts to the upset. Bo Nix will manage the game well, I also think Sean Payton will utilize his legs to move the pocket, so the Colts pass rush doesn’t get to him. 

BILLS AT LIONS : Game of the week, this might be game of the year, the way these two are going. Josh Allen was sensational last week against the Rams despite the loss. This game against the Lions he will have to have another MVP performance. On the other side Jared Goff and the Lions have been red hot. These are arguably the two best teams in football at the moment. The key to this game for me is simple : who wins the line of scrimmage on both sides on the ball. The Lions’ pass rush has been good, even without Aidan Hutchinson and their offensive line at times can be dominant. The Bills defensive line has had some big performances and they’ll need another one. 

STEELERS AT EAGLES – Battle of Pennsylvania, state bragging rights are on the line. This will be an interesting test for Russell Wilson, who for the second straight game will be without George Pickens. Philly has been rolling for a while now, and we know how dynamic their offense is, but this defense has been sensational especially the young players. Quinyon Mitchell, Cooper DeJean, Nakobe Dean, and Jalen Carter all have had massive impacts. Again this will be a battle of wills on the lines, whoever wins that probably wins the game. 
PACKERS AT SEAHAWKS : The Packers travel to a place that has been a house of horrors for them. Both defenses have been good most of the season. But this game will come down to which quarterback makes fewer mistakes between Geno Smith and Jordan Love.

BLITZERS WEEK 14 RECAP

Bengals vs Cowboys: By Bill Murphy 

After a three game losing streak , the Bengals have won a game .  The Bengals beat the Dallas Cowboys 27-20 . The key play that set up the winning touchdown, was a block punt by the Cowboys and then the ball touched a Cowboys player and the Bengals recovered. This gave the Bengals the ball back and eventually led to a touchdown by Ja’marr Chase . The Cowboys suffer a big loss with rising star Demarvion Overshown tearing his ACL and MCL having him out for the rest of the year and probably a chunk of next year .

Stars of the Game

Bengals 

Ja’Marr Chase- Ja’marr chase had 14 receptions , 177 yards and two touchdowns.  The first touchdown  was a five yard touchdown pass in the first quarter . The second touchdown was set up after the recovery from the failed punt block which was a 40 yard touchdown pass. 

Joe Burrow-  Joe Burrow was 33-44 for 369 yards and three touchdowns,  He threw two touchdowns to Ja’marr chase and one to Chase Brown . This was Burrows fifth straight game where three or more touchdown passes and his fourth straight game with 300 pass yards and three pass touchdowns. Let’s be honest if the Bengals were better Burrow would be in the MVP conversation. 

Chase Brown- I said in my preview that Brown was going to be a key part in the game to the Bengals offense and let alone I was right. Brown ran for 58 yards on 14 carries. He also had six catches for 65 yards including a 19 yard touchdown catch. 

Cowboys 

Cooper Rush –  Rush is not known for having powerful performances  even though he was sacked three times (by Trey Hendrickson , Myles Murphy and Joseph ossai ) he put in a serviceable performance. Rush threw for 183 yards and  threw two touchdown passes, the two touchdown  passes were a 11 yd pass to Cedee Lamb, and a three yard pass to Bradin Cooks.

Rico Dowdle – Dowdle had a good game with 18 carries and 131 rushing yards that helped the rush game take advantage of the Bengals weak rush defense . 

Ceedee Lamb-  Aside from his 11 yard touchdown pass from Cooper Rush , Lamb also had six receptions and 93 receiving yards. 

Next Week 

  • Bengals will be playing the Titans at 1pm 
  • Cowboys will be playing the Panthers at 1pm 

JETS AT DOLPHINS : For the fourteenth straight season the Jets will miss the playoffs after a 32-26 overtime loss to the Dolphins. This was Aaron Rodgers best game of the season throwing for 339 yards and a touchdown. Both Garrett Wilson and Davante Adams went over 100 yards receiving.  For the Dolphins, Tua Tagovailoa continued his great play by going 33-47 for 331 yards and two touchdowns including the game winner to Jonnu Smith in Overtime. Tyreek Hill (115 yards, 1 td) and Jaylen Waddle (99 yards) had their best games of the season. Both teams hit the road next week as the Jets play the Jags and the Dolphins travel to Houston. 

FALCONS AT VIKINGS : Kirk Cousins may have had the revenge game, but Sam Darnold got the last laugh as he threw for five touchdowns in the 42-21 romp.  Darnold was sensational going 22-28 for 347 yards and the five touchdowns ( Addison 3x, Jefferson 2x). As for the former Viking QB Cousins struggled again throwing two interceptions and once again zero td passes. Both teams play Monday night as the Falcons go to Vegas and play the Raiders and the Vikings host the Bears.

Somethings Don’t Change

BY Mike Rifkin

The first ever 12 team College Football Playoff field has been announced. The field of 12 consists of Oregon, Georgia, Boise St., Arizona St., Texas, Penn St., Notre Dame, Ohio St., Tennessee, Indiana, SMU, and Clemson. Absent from the list are the Alabama Crimson Tide, who in their first season without Nick Saban since 2006. 

Alabama finished the season 9-3 and 5-3 in conference play. Every team in front of Alabama lost two games or fewer. Alabama AD Greg Byrne said this on on non conference scheduling “ We have said that we would need to see how strength of schedule would be evaluated by CFP. With this outcome, we will need to assess how many P4 non conference games make sense in the future to put us in the best position to put us in the CFP. That is not good for college football.” So let’s look at Alabama’s non conference schedule : Western Kentucky, South Florida, Wisconsin, and Mercer were the four out of conference games the Crimson Tide played. Next season Alabama’s out of conference schedule will have Florida St, Louisiana Monroe, Eastern Illinois and Wisconsin. If you listen to Saban or any Alabama defender, the team they want out is SMU. Now SMU had one loss on the season prior to losing to Clemson in the ACC title game. The best out of conference matchup for SMU was BYU, who was a top 25 team most of the season. 

Here is my hope not just for Alabama but the rest of college football even though realignment has taken place, hopefully what happened with Alabama is a warning sign to stop scheduling what I like to call stat padder games and forces them to play higher levels of competition all season long. While Alabama and their supporters can cry all they want, the truth is they shouldn’t lose to Vanderbilt or Oklahoma and the committee got this right. But even though it’s the first year of the CFP 12 team addition, people are still complaining.

BLITZERS WEEK 14 PREVIEW

Bengals vs Cowboys : Preview 

By Bill Murphy 

     The Bengals are coming off of a  44-38 loss against division rival Pittsburgh Steelers.  The Bengals have lost four out of  five games. The offense is not the problem. Joe Burrow and the Offense , as Burrow was  28/38  for 309 yds and three touchdowns, making this his fourth straight game where he has three or more touchdowns. Burrow did have a couple of turnovers against the Steelers as well, but that’s been rare this season. The problem is the Bengals defense that gave up 44 points, 414 receiving yds and 110 rushing yds.  The Bengals go down to Jerry’s World for a Monday Night showdown against the struggling Dallas Cowboys who are coming off a Thanksgiving day  27-20 victory against their division rival New York Giants . 

Keys to the Game 

Bengals  

Offense :

Chase Brown :

Brown so far this year   has wracked up , 152 carries , 677 yards and six touchdowns . Last week against the Steelers , Brown ran for 12 carries , 70 yards and scored one touchdown .  Brown can be used to take advantage of Dallas’s weak rush defense ,Last week they gave up 116 yards , 5.5 yards per carry and two touchdowns against the Giants . So far this year the Cowboys have given up 4.5 yards per carry vs running backs. Brown can also be an effective receiver for Burrow.

Defense: Pass Rush 

Last week the Bengals sacked Russel Wilson twice and hit him nine times.   Can they do the same to Cooper Rush , but are they going to be able to get through the very strong Dallas O-Line . They do of course have Trey Hendrickson who leads the league with 11.5 sacks.

Cowboys 

Offense : Cooper Rush / Offensive Line 

Cooper Rush filled in for Dak Prescott after his season ending injury . Though Not a powerhouse by any means , Rush wracked up 195 yds and two touchdowns against  the Giants . Rush and the offense can take e advantage of this weak Bengals secondary which last week gave up 414 yards  and three touchdowns to the Steelers.  The Cowboys O line is very strong and has not given up sacks in the last two games will they be able to fend Off Trey Hendrickson . 

Defense : Pass Rush 

It is important that the Dallas pass rush comes out to play against  Joe Burrow. Last week they sacked Drew Lock six times and 32 pass attempts , Micah Parsons had 1.5 sacks last week. Burrow was sacked three times last week against the Steelers can The Cowboys pressure Burrow this week ?

Prediction 

Bengals 27     Cowboys 21 

JETS AT DOLPHINS : Miami’s playoff chances took a shot last week when they lost to the Packers. Now they go home and play their division rival for the first time this season. The Jets might be the biggest disappointment in the league this season. Aaron Rodgers looks like a 40 year old coming off a torn Achilles. The Dolphin defense might be getting reinforcements back in the form of Bradley Chubb and Kendall Fuller. A Miami loss ends any hope they had to make the playoffs. 

FALCONS AT VIKINGS : Two teams in the playoff hunt in the NFC meet in Minnesota, but there’s another big story here. Kirk Cousins returns to Minnesota, where he had some spectacular seasons, and coming off a tough loss to the Chargers, the Falcons need this win and Kirk needs a better performance.  The Vikings decided not to pay Cousins and it has worked out extremely well, Sam Darnold is playing the best football of his career. Two things to watch are how Cousins handles Brian Flores’s defense and Justin Jefferson vs AJ Terrell. 

SEAHAWKS AT CARDINALS : First place is on the line in the NFC West when these two teams play again. The Seahawks have won six straight over the Cards including a 16-6 win on November 24th. The difference in that game was a 69 yard interception return for a touchdown by Cobe Bryant, all other stats were pretty even. For the Cards this might be a game where they want to get Marvin Harrison going, he had three catches for 47 yards in the first meeting. 

SIN BLITZERS PREVIEW : WEEK 13

Bengals vs Steelers : Preview

Following a bye after a close  34-27 loss to the  Los Angles Chargers , The Bengals now take on AFC North Rival Pittsburgh Steelers.  The Steelers coming off of a 24-19  loss against the Cleveland Browns. In their game against Los Angles , Joe Burrow  threw 28-50 for 356 yds and three touchdowns. Two touchdowns were caught by Ja’Marr Chase and one by Tee Higgins .

Keys To The Game 

Bengals 

Offense –  Joe Burrow +  Ja’Marr Chase 

Joe Burrow currently has 27 touchdown passes , tied for most in the league  with Lamar Jackson and he also has 275 yds per game. Another danger to  this strong Pittsburgh defense is Burrow’s number one weapon  Ja’marr Chase. Chase leads the league with 1,056 yds and 12 touchdowns.  This lethal combination of Burrow and Chase is gonna be a threat to the Steelers secondary , even though last week they gave up 85 yards to Jerry Jeudy .

Defense – Trey Hendrickson

The Bengals are going to have a challenge on their  hands as they face a unexpectedly  rejuvenated Russel Wilson . The Bengals are going to have to use  their top Defensive edge Trey Hendrickson who currently 24 solo tackles, leads the league in sacks with 11.5 and has one forced fumble on the season .  Hendrickson can also take advantage of  the Pittsburgh O-line which has allowed  three or more sacks in the last four straight  games. 

Steelers 

Offense-  Passing game

Last Week , Russell Wilson threw for 270 yds and a touchdown and on the season he has seven touchdowns and two interceptions.  He is going to have to take advantage of the Bengals mediocre pass game that is 95.1 pass rate ranked 19th , and 225 ypg which is ranked 23rd in the league .  Wilson is going to have hit target such as Calvin Austin ( three targets , three receptions  and 78 yds one touchdown last week), George Pickens (seven targets ,four receptions and 48 yards)  and Pat Freimuth (four targets four receptions and 59 yds). The Bengals secondary is banged up as well, so Russ might be able to take advantage. 

Defense – Rush Defense 

This season , the Steelers rush defense  has held running backs to 3.9 Yards per carry which is seventh in the league. Last week they held Nick Chubb 3.0 yards per carry , but he scored two touchdowns.  This week , the defense has to contain Chase Brown  who has 55.2 yards per game and two touchdowns this season so far. 

Prediction 

Steelers 24  Bengals 21 

CARDINALS AT VIKINGS : Two teams with their eyes on the NFC Playoffs meet up in Minnesota on Sunday. Kyler Murray and the Cardinals have been a pleasant surprise this season, and even though they lost to the Seahawks last week, but this explosive offense takes on a Viking team that has responded all season. I’m interested to see how Brian Flores gameplans against Kyler and how the Cardinals defend the Vikings high powered offense. This one has a chance to be a shootout. 

EAGLES AT RAVENS :  The showdown of the season, two elite dual threat quarterbacks, two elite running backs (who Jerry Jones should’ve signed) and two really good defenses will get together when the Eagles and Ravens play Sunday. The Eagles have won six straight and the Saquon/Hurts duo has been sensational this season. But this might be an AJ Brown game against the 32nd ranked pass defense. As for Baltimore they’re coming off a win in the Harbaugh Bowl. The Lamar Jackson/ Derrick Henry duo is just as solid as Saquon/Hurts. So this game might come down to which defense can make a stop. 
49ERS AT BILLS : The banged up Niners go to Buffalo to play the Bills. The Niners will be without Nick Bosa, Aaron Banks, Dre Greenlaw, Deommodore Lenoir and potentially Brock Purdy. With their season on the line, the Niners are going to need the guys they do have and their coach to have their best week of the season. The Bills have been a force this season. Josh Allen is playing the best football of his career in my opinion, and the team has been on a mission. How will the Niners defense defend Allen? Whoever is playing quarterback for the Niners, the Bills defense will be aggressive against their banged up O line.

Searching For Answers

By Mike Rifkin

Monday was a very interesting day for the New York Rangers. The Rangers had a game Monday night against the St.Louis Blues where they lost 5-2 after giving up three third period goals. The Rangers have lost three in a row and have not scored more than two goals in any of the three games. Head Coach Peter Laviolette sounded off in his post game press conference saying “ We need to be better. Everyone needs to be better inside the room. It’s not good enough what we’re doing. We’re playing to a level and a standard that’s not us”. Even though the Rangers are 12-7-1 at the moment, a lot of that has to do with the outstanding play of their goaltending. Laviolette continued and said “We’re not going to win giving up 40-50 shots”. 

The day started with a tweet from NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman who said “In the aftermath of their 6-2 loss in Edmonton on Saturday, the Rangers have made it very clear they are interested in making moves and shaking up their roster. Among the names indicated are Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba, although other options will be considered.” Kreider didn’t play on Monday due to an upper body injury Trouba was a -2 in 17:59 minutes of ice time. 

The Trouba news shouldn’t come as a surprise as throughout the summer it was heavily discussed that the Rangers trade their captain. Trouba, who makes eight million dollars per year through 2026-27 season has six assists on the season. Kreider, the Rangers first round pick in 2009, has had a lot of massive moments throughout his career. Ranking in the top 10 in goals, points, power play goals, plus/minus and game winning goals. Kreider is signed through 2026-27 as well and also has a no trade clause. 

Now trading Trouba, Kreider or any other veteran can send a few different messages. One is that this group needs to realize a change can come at any point. Another could be an ushering of the next era of Rangers hockey. And if that’s the case we’re starting to see that begin. The leap taken by 2020 first overall pick Alexis Lafreniere last season has continued, Will Cuylle has taken a step to start this season, as has Kaappo Kakko. On the backend Braden Schneider and Zac Jones are also progressing nicely. While ushering in a new era is an interesting thought, let’s not forget that this current core has been to the Eastern Conference Final two of the last three seasons, and have earned a bit of the benefit to turn things around. But if they don’t do it soon something will change and the cherry on top of this major question is what happens with Igor Shesterking and his upcoming free agency? Only time will tell.

SIN BLITZERS : WEEK 12 PREVIEW

BY SIN BLITZERS

PATRIOTS AT DOLPHINS : These two AFC East rivals will collide for the second time this season. The Dolphins beat the Patriots 15-10 in week five. The only touchdown the Dolphins scored was a three yard run by Alec Ingold late in the fourth quarter. This game will not feature the same starting quarterbacks. Tua Tagovailoa will start and put his perfect record against the Patriots on the line. Tua is 6-0 lifetime against New England with seven touchdowns and four interceptions. Drake Maye will start against the Dolphins for the first time. The Dolphins will look to keep their playoff hopes alive. 

COWBOYS AT COMMANDERS : The Cowboys travel to Washington to play the Commanders for the first time this season. There’s good news and bad news for Dallas this week, the good they get to reunite with Dan Quinn, the bad is he’s not coaching their defense. Expect Washington’s three headed monster of Robinson/Ekeler/Daniels to run the ball well against this Dallas defense and propel Washington to end their mini skid. 

49ers AT PACKERS : The 49ers and Packers played last year in the Divisional Round in what was a great game. This one will look different the Niners are so banged up, Brock Purdy and Nick Bosa will miss this game with injury, if the Niners want to win this game Kyle Shannahan will have to go deep into his bag of tricks. For the Packers, they’ll look to keep pace in the NFC North and will have to utilize Josh Jacobs and their young receivers, and defensively shutdown McCaffrey. 

CARDS AT SEAHAWKS : First place in the NFC West is on the line in this one. The Cardinals have been a surprise this season, and we have seen maturity in Kyler Murray that we haven’t seen before. This game might come down to which QB makes the bigger mistake, but this has the potential to be a shootout. 

RAVENS AT CHARGERS : THE HARBAUGH BOWL in primetime man. Lamar Jackson vs Justin Herbert, JK Dobbins revenge game. This has the potential to be a lot of fun and has a lot of playoff implications. Both teams vying in the wild card situation. After what he did last week, can Herbert light up this Ravens’ secondary? Lamar and the Ravens will look to bounce back after that tough game against the Steelers.

BLITZER RECAP WEEK 11

Bengals vs Chargers: 

By Bill Murphy 

One  of the best Sunday night games of the year , the Bengals lose to the Chargers 34-27. The Bengals put in a valiant effort , being down 24-6 at the half and Joe Burrow looking very shaky in the first half. The team turned a big 180 in the second half. What cost the Bengals the game,  was Evan McPherson  missing two field goals . The Bengals lost on a last minute touchdown by JK Dobbins. The Bengals had a Hail Mary chance, but the Chargers were able to knock it down. 

Stars of the Game 

Bengals 

  • Joe Burrow-  While Burrow had a rocky first half, he came out  in the second half and attempted to mount the biggest comeback in franchise history.  Burrow was 28-50 for 356 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 28 yards.  The  three touchdown passes were two to Ja’marr Chase and one to Tee Higgins .
  • Tee Higgins – After being out for three games due to a quad injury , Higgins had a very solid return to the field. Higgins had nine receptions for 148 yards and scored a 42 yard touchdown. 
  • Ja’marr Chase –  Ja’marr  Chase reiterating why he is Joe Burrows number one receiver and maybe the best in the game.  Chase had seven receptions for 75 yards and two touchdowns, one was a four yard pass and the other one was a  eight yd pass . This was Chase’s fourth multi  touchdown game of the year .

Chargers

  • Justin Herbert –   Herbert threw 17-36 for 297 yards and two touchdowns and ran five times and 65 yds . The two touchdown passes were a  29 yard pass to Will Dissly and a 26 yard pass to Quentin Johnson .  Herbert also came through in clutch situations hitting two crucial passes to Ladd McConkey which helped move the ball.
  • JK Dobbins – JK Dobbins had 11 carries for 56 yards and two touchdowns. Dobbins two touchdown were a one yard touchdown run in the second  quarter and a  29 yard touchdown run in the second half that won the game with 18 seconds left. 
  • The Chargers Defense- The Chargers defense  had a solid outing in the first half holding the Bengals to only six points. While giving up 21 points in the second  half , the defense really came through at the end such as sacking Burrow three times . The Bengals only converted on third down ,five times  and at the end of the game they forced three consecutive incomplete passes.  

Next week 

  • Bengals have a bye week next week and then take on the Steelers 
  • Chargers have a Monday night game against the Ravens 

RAIDERS AT DOLPHINS: Don’t look now but the Dolphins are one game out of a playoff spot after beating the Raiders 34-19. Tua Tagovailoa had another fantastic day throwing for 288 yards and three touchdowns ( Jonnu Smith 2x, Tyreek Hill). For Hill he now has touchdowns in back to back games. For the Raiders Gardner Minshew threw for 282 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Rookie Brock Bowers had another great day having 13 catches for 126 yards and a touchdown. 

TEXANS AT COWBOYS : Another 20 point deficit for the Cowboys at home, this time to their in state rival. Joe Mixon had 109 yards and three touchdowns on 20 carries. The bright spot for the Cowboys was a 64 yard touchdown catch by KaVontae Turpin, outside of that this was another tough loss.

Dumpster Fire

By Mike Rifkin

Even on the bye week, the New York Jets are making headlines. On Tuesday, the Jets announced the firing of General Manager Joe Douglas after five plus seasons. Douglas was 30-64 during his tenure with the Jets, but it begs the question : Why now? There’s six weeks left in the season, which has completely blown up in the Jets face, so why not let it play out? Also Douglas’s contract expires after the season, so you can just not renew his deal. 

The biggest reason Douglas was fired was because he couldn’t solve the quarterback position. The woes at the most important position on the field, led them to acquiring Aaron Rodgers and that has blown up in their face. But here’s the thing while Robert Saleh and Douglas were deservedly let go, the problem wasn’t them. If you watch the games, this team has played worse since Saleh was dismissed. So what’s the problem?

This team has an ego it doesn’t deserve, they have the longest playoff drought in the sport. They blow games that they have no business blowing, but now the two biggest scapegoats are gone. So for the rest of this season, no matter how it turns out the sole focus has to be on two people : Woody Johnson and Aaron Rodgers. If Rodgers wants to keep playing after this season it shouldn’t be for the Jets and the owner who begged and pleaded for him to come has to recognize that, if he doesn’t can this situation get worse?

SIN WEEK 11 PREVIEWS

BY SIN BLITZERS

Bengals VS Chargers : By Bill Murphy 

The Bengals are looking to get back on track after their last minute 35-34 loss against division rival Baltimore Ravens, last week.  Last week Joe Burrow was 34/56 for  428 yards and four touchdowns . Three out of those four touchdown passes were to Ja’marr Chase and the other was to Tanner Hudson. Chase Brown added a rushing touchdown. This week the Bengals will be facing of against the Los Angeles Chargers who are coming off a 27-17 win against the Titans and are currently on a three game win streak. The Bengals need to win this game to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Keys To the Game 

Bengals : 

Offense : Chase Brown and the run game 

This season so far Chase Brown has been a good replacement Joe Mixon. With Zach Moss out, Brown has a massive opportunity.  Last week , Brown ran for 13 carries , 42 yards and one touchdown and added nine catches for 52 yards. Relying on the run game and less on the passing game would not give any strength to the powerful Chargers secondary  and pass rush. That would benefit Joe Burrow, who looks like he may have Tee Higgins back. 

Defense : Defensive Tackle 

I believe the Bengals two defensive tackles  BJ Hill and Sheldon Rankings are going to be a key in this game. BJ Hill has 13 tackles on the season so far, while Sheldon Rankins has 10 solo tackles and one sack .  The Bengals defense has held three of their last four opponents to less than 100 yards , now they are having to handle this tough Chargers offense, where JK Dobbins has been fantastic.

Chargers :

Offense 

Justin Herbert:  

The Chargers  offense has been super strong lately in which they have three straight games where they have scored 26 points or more.  A big part of that strong  offense has been QB Justin Herbert who last week  had passed for 164 yards  and one touchdown and ran for 9 carries , 32 yards and one touchdown. With a 123.1 rate , he has three straight game with 110 rate or higher. He also has the target of Quentin Johnson who has touchdown catches in consecutive games. Rookie Ladd McConkey has been fantastic this season as well. This could take advantage of a weak Bengals Secondary and pass defense which  gave up four touchdowns to Lamar Jackson last week.

Defense 

The Chargers defense has been absolutely stellar this league. It has gone from worst to first in scoring defense.  One thing to definitely look out for  is the pass defense which is ranked ninth in the league. The pass rush  last week had seven sacks last week against the Titans and they have 31 sacks which is tied for fourth in the league. This defense is second in turnover differential at +9. A player in the pass rush to really look out for is outside linebacker Tuli Tuipulotu who recorded two of the seven sacks last week and had a second consecutive game with the sack . 

Prediction 

Chargers 24 Bengals 20 

RAIDERS AT DOLPHINS :  The Dolphins look to keep their playoff hopes alive against the Raiders. The Dolphins are coming off a 23-15 win over the Rams on Monday night. The key was the Dolphins defense came to play. They held the Rams without a touchdown, they sacked Matt Stafford four times and held the Rams to 3-12 on third downs, now they play a Raiders offense that has struggled immensely. Brock Bowers has had a great rookie season, but after moving Davante Adams, the Raiders have struggled offensively. Last week against the Rams, Tyreek Hill found the endzone for the first time since week one, well now he gets a chance to do it against a team he has done plenty of damage to. Hill has 10 touchdowns in 12 games against the Raiders.

TEXANS AT COWBOYS : Two teams desperate for a win collide on Monday and state bragging rights are on the line. The Texans are coming off a heartbreaking loss to the Lions. But they are getting Nico Collins back for this one and that is someone CJ Stroud is looking forward to having back. The Texans are looking to right the ship, while the Cowboys need to find a ship. The Cowboys have lost four in a row and they have trailed by 20 or more points in five straight home games, which is an NFL record. Dallas is turning back to to Cooper Rush, and after five turnovers against the Eagles last week, what happens if the Cowboys are embarrassed again on National television.