WEEK 17 RECAP

BY SIN BLITZERS

Bengals VS Broncos : ByBill Murphy

The Bengals have won four in a row , after beating the Broncos in an overtime thriller by a score of 30-24, keeping their slim hopes alive for the postseason. 

Stars of the Game

Bengals 

  • Joe Burrow-Burrow with his eighth consecutive game where he threw for at least 250 yards and three touchdowns. Burrow was 39-49 for 412 yards and three touchdowns.  All three of his touchdown passes were to Tee Higgins.  On the rushing front he had four carries and scored and one yard touchdown run. 
  • Tee Higgins-  Higgins had  11 receptions 131 yards  and scored three touchdowns.   Higgins had three touchdown passes from Joe Burrow including the game winning touchdown from Joe Burrow in Overtime. Higgins’ performance shows why the front office should pay him and Chase. 
  • Ja’Marr Chase –  Chase is still on the path to Wide Receiver triple crown . He had nine receptions and 102 yards . 

Broncos 

  • Bo Nix- The Broncos rookie had a solid outing with 24/31, 219 yards and three touchdowns.  Rushing wise he had 7 carries and 31 yards.
  • Marvin Mims Jr.–  Marvin  Mims had eight receptions ,103 yards and scored two receiving touchdowns.  One touchdown pass was a 51 yard pass and the other was a 25 yard pass both from Bo Nix.
  • Courtland Sutton- Sutton had five receptions and 55 yards and scored one touchdown , which was a six yard pass from Nix.  This really shows the power of this wide receiver duo. 

Next week 

  • Bengals will play the Steelers on Saturday ( Bengals win and the Broncos and Dolphins lose Cincy makes the playoffs)
  • Broncos will play the Chiefs on Sunday (win and in)

Dolphins at Browns :   The Dolphins kept their playoff hopes alive with a 20-3 win over the Browns. Tyler Huntley had 277 total yards (225 pass, 52 rush) and two touchdowns (1 rush, 1 pass).  Tyreek Hill had nine catches for 105 yards and Jonnu Smith caught another touchdown pass.  The Dolphin defense forced two turnovers in the win. If the Dolphins beat the Jets and the Broncos lose to the Chiefs next week Miami will make the playoffs for a third straight season. 

Vikings at Packers : The Sam Darnold renaissance continued in week 17 as he threw for 377 yards and three touchdowns in the Vikings 27-25 win over their division rivals. Justin Jefferson had eight catches for 92 yards in the win.  For the Packers Jordan Love was 19-30 for 185 yards and a touchdown. Josh Jacobs had 69 yards and a touchdown rushing and a fumble early in the game that was costly. The Vikings will play the Lions on Sunday night to determine the NFC’S number one seed, while the Packers host the Bears.

SIN BLITZERS WEEK 17 PREVIEW

Bengals vs Broncos : preview By Bill Murphy 

The Bengals have  won three games in a row after their 24-6 victory against Cleveland. Joe Burrow aside from providing awesome Christmas gifts for his linemen , was 23-30 for 252 yards  and three touchdowns. This was Burrow’s seventh straight game in which threw at least three touchdowns and 250 yards. The Bengals still have a chance to make it to the playoffs, as their season is on the line.  This week they play the Broncos, who are coming off a 34-27 loss to the Chargers. It’s simple for the Bengals win and week 18 matters, lose however and your season is over. 

Keys to the Game 

Bengals 

Offense

Ja’Marr Chase-  Chase currently leads the league  with 108 receptions, 1,510 receiving yards and 16 touchdowns becoming the first Bengal to wrack up 1,500 yards. Burrow is going to have to find a way to get Chase the ball especially if Pat Surtain is covering him. 

Defense:  Trey Hendrcikson 

Hendrickson  currently leads the NFL with 13.5 sacks, he is going to have to get to Bo Nix who has been sacked 22 times this season.  Hendrickson. Nix is going to have to  face Hendrickson and the offensive line is going to have to  stop him .  Hendrickson 28 solo tackles, 26 defensive stops, 72 total pressures, 30 QB hits, three batted passes, and two forced fumbles.

Broncos : 

Offense : Bo Nix 

The rookie Bo Nix has been having a strong season  in Denver so far , wracking up 3,235 yards and  22 touchdowns . He is  shattering rookie expectations . Nix has many weapons that he can get hit such as Crotland Sutton and Marvin Mims jr. Have to wonder if the Bengals use Germaine Pratt as a spy on Nix’s ability to run the ball. 

Defense : Secondary 

The Broncos secondary is going to have to go up against the Bengals hot wide receivers Ja’ Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.  The big weapon of this secondary is Patrick Surtain who has allowed 234 yards making it the fewest yards allowed by  a cornerback and four interceptions . Riley Moss will be returning to the secondary  from  injury which will be putting it at full strength. 

Prediction :

Broncos 31 Bengals 27 

Dolphins at Browns : Like the Bengals, the Dolphins are hanging by a thread in the playoff race. They’ll take their slim chances to Cleveland and play a Browns team that was boat raced by the Bengals last week. The two players that should scare the Dolphins are Myles Garrett on defense, he is one of the elite pass rushers in the NFL and can wreck a game on his own. Offensively the Dolphins should pay a lot of attention to David Njoku, who has a superb season, with less than stellar Quarterback play. If the Dolphins use Jalen Ramsey on Jerry Jeudy, they’ll have to double Njoku. 

Packers at Vikings : Two teams that will be playing in the playoffs meet in Minnesota on Sunday. These two rivals played in week 4 a game the Vikings won 31-29. The Vikings need a win to have an opportunity for home field throughout the playoffs. As high scoring as the first meeting was, don’t be surprised if this second meeting is a defensive slugfest both teams have been awesome on that side of the ball. This should come down to turnovers. 

Lions at 49ers – A rematch of the NFC Championship game and two teams going in different directions. A Lions win along with a Vikings loss would give the Lions the one seed and home field advantage throughout the playoffs. As for San Francisco they don’t want the Lions clinching on their turf. This game has big potential for a shootout.

SIN BLITZERS WEEK 16 RECAP

Bengals VS Browns 

By Bill Murphy 

The Bengals have won three in a row and kept their playoff hopes alive. The Bengals defeated the Browns 24-6 securing the season series sweep. 

Stars of the Game 

Bengals 

Joe Burrow :  Burrow was 23-30 for  252 yards and three touchdowns. The three touchdown passes were a two yard touchdown pass to Tee Higgins ,six yards to Andrei Iosivas and 32 yards to Ja’Marr Chase. This is Burrow’s seventh straight game this season  in which he has thrown at least 250 yards and  three touchdowns passes in a game, making him the first NFL QB to do so. With this  Burrow broke the record set by Tom Brady. Burrow also jumped ahead of Lamar Jackson leading the league in touchdown passes.

Ja’Marr Chase : Burrow’s favorite target does it again ,  Ja’Marr Chase wracked up 97 yards on six receptions and a 32 yard touchdown pass from Joe Burrow. Ja’marr Chase  became the first  Bengals player to eclipse 1,500 receiving yards in a season breaking his own record of 1,455 that was set in 2021.  Chase leads the league in receiving yards with 1,510 yards. 

Geno Stone / Jordan Battle: The two intercepted Browns Quarterback  Dorian Thompson Robinson on two consecutive drives .  This was stones third consecutive game with an interception .

Browns 

Jerome Ford:  Ford had 11 carries , 92 yards and one touchdown which was a four yard touchdown run, giving them their only score of the game .  Receiving  wise , Ford had five receptions for 39 yards . 

Myles Garret :  As I said in the preview , Garret was a player to  look out for . Garrett had three solo tackles, two tackles for loss and one sack . The one sack gave Garett his 100th career sack . 

Next Week : 

Bengals will play the Broncos on Saturday at 4:30pm (HUGE GAME)

Browns will play the  Dolphins on Sunday @ 4:05pm 

49ers AT DOLPHINS – The Dolphins kept their playoff hopes alive with a 29-17 win over the 49ers. Tua Tagovailoa was 22-34 for 215 yards and a touchdown. De’von Achane had 190 total yards and a touchdown on 23 touches. Jason Sanders was 5-5 on field goals. The Niners were eliminated from playoff contention prior to the game. George Kittle went over 100 yards receiving in the loss. The Niners will host the Lions in an NFC Title game rematch, while the Dolphins will play the Browns looking to keep their playoff hopes alive. 

EAGLES AT COMMANDERS – Jayden Daniels hit Jamison Crowder in the endzone with six seconds left to give the Commanders the lead. With the win the Commanders kept their playoff hopes alive. Daniels threw five touchdowns ( Crowder 2x, Zaccheaus 2x, McLaurin). The big story for Philly will be the status of Jalen Hurts, who left the game with a concussion. Daniels helped the Commanders overcome their five turnovers in the win.

SIN BLITZERS : WEEK 16 PREVIEW

 Bengals vs Browns : Preview 

By Bill Murphy 

The Bengals have won two in a row after  their 37-27  victory against The Tennessee Titans .Joe Burrow was 26/37  or 271 yards and three touchdowns. This  gave him the franchise record of six consecutive games with three or more touchdowns.The Bengals now have a difficult , but not impossible path to the playoffs with Denver losing Thursday night . The Bengals have a  AFC North rematch against the Cleveland Browns, in which they beat the Browns 21-14.  Cleveland has lost three in a row and five of their last six, after losing against the defending Super Bowl Champion Kansas City Chiefs 21-7. The Browns are also making another Quarterback change as Jameis Winston is out and Dorian Thompson-Robinson will start.  Thompson- Robinson saw some action in the week seven meeting and was 11-24 for 82 yards and two interceptions. 

Keys to the game  

Bengals 

Offense : Ja’marr Chase-  When both Higgins and Chase play defenses have to pick their poison. This week I’m going with  Ja’marr Chase might be Joe Burrows big target .  Through the 14 games this season , Chase currently leads the league with 102 receptions for 1,413 yards and 15 touchdowns. Last week , he set a new career high record in catches .  He is 10 grabs away from matching single season record set by T.J. Houshmandzadeh. 

Defense : Geno Stone – Over the last two games Geno Stone  has been big  for the Bengals defense.  Stone has had two interceptions in the past two games  such as one in week 14 , when the Cowboys were positioned at the Bengals 12 yard line and the other one was last against the titans which was ran back for a 39 yard touchdown  .This could be a big help against Dorian Thompson Robinson who   has a 1 to 7 interception to touchdown ratio . 

Browns

Offense : Dorian Thompson Robinson 

It gets to the point that the Browns are now starting  the third string quarterback .  The Browns  benched quarterback Jameis Winston after his fourth of seven games throwing multiple interceptions.  While I just mentioned the previous stat regarding his touchdown to interception ratio , this would be his first game that he  has a week of preparation .  They also have to face off against a Bengals defense , that is in the bottom five for points against , yards allowed  , touchdowns allowed and yards allowed. 

Defense : Myles Garret

Garret has 31 solo tackles  and 11 sacks on the season thus far.  Garett should take  advantage of the hole In the Bengals offensive line with Orlando Brown JR being injured.  Joe Burrow is the  quarterback that Garret has sacked the most , sacking him  eight times  in their last seven meetings. 

Prediction : 

Bengals 31  Browns 10 

49ers at Dolphins : Both teams have their playoff hopes hanging by a thread. Both teams are looking to get back on track, as the Niners are coming off a 12-6 loss to the Rams and the Dolphins off a 20-12 loss to the Texans. This game should come down to which defense can cause more havoc on the opposing Quarterback. For the Niners this is a game they need Deebo Samuel to be himself, if he’s not it might be difficult for them to move the ball. For Miami, they’re going to need Jonnu Smith to be what he has been, especially if Jaylen Waddle is out. 

Eagles at Commanders : If Philly wins this game they win the NFC East, and if Washington wins (with help) they can reach the playoffs. In week 11 the Eagles beat the Commanders 26-18. Saquon Barkley had 198 total yards and two rushing touchdowns (both in the fourth quarter). The Eagles have been rolling, so it will be interesting to see what adjustments Dan Quinn and company have made. 

Vikings at Seahawks : Two teams that expect to be in the postseason meet in Seattle. The Vikings and Seahawks both possess great receiving corps. But the x factor is which Offensive line can protect their quarterback better. Because both teams have a lot of playmakers on offense, but both defenses have been more than solid.

SIN BLITZERS WEEK 15 RECAP

Bengals vs Titans : Recap 

By Bill Murphy 

 The Bengals  kept their playoff hopes alive as they defeated the Tennessee Titans, coached by former Bengals Offensive Coordinator Brian Callahan by a score of 37-27.  This is the first time the Bengals have won two game in a row since weeks six and seven. Though it wasn’t pretty the Bengals are at the time of the year where all that matters is winning. 

Stars of the Game 

Bengals 

Joe Burrow –  Joe Burrow threw for   26/37  271 yards  and three touchdowns.  The three touchdowns were a six yard pass to Chase Brown , two yard pass to Sam Hubbard and and 38 yard pass to Tee Higgins .  This game was sort of a mixed bag for Burrow with 271 yards  breaking his streak of throwing 300 pass yards or more, but with his three touchdowns , this was his sixth straight game in which he threw three or more touchdown passes . On top of all that , he has set a franchise record with 36 touchdown passes in one season. 

Chase Brown –  Well ,we are not talking about the other Chase right now . When it came to rushing  Chase Brown  had 25 carries 97 yards and  four yard touchdown rush. On the receiving end ,  he had three receptions ,16 yards and six yard touchdown pass from Burrow.  Brown looks like he will be the starting running back next season.

Tee Higgins –  Higgins had five receptions, 88 yards  and a 38 yd touchdown pass  from Burrow , his fifth touchdown of the year. Burrow said earlier in the week the team needed Higgins and this performance shows why. 

The Secondary The secondary came through with  four interceptions  by Geno Stone( Which was ran back for a 39 yard touchdown), Cam Taylor Britt , Josh Newton and Mike Hilton . 

Titans 

Mason Rudolph – It was getting bad for the Titans , when quarterback Will Levis had committed four turnovers( three interceptions and one fumble). After the pick six to Stone , the Titans put in former Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph who had a solid outing by going 21/26  , for 209 yards  and two touchdown passes , a 17 yard pass to Tyjae Spears  and a 13 yards pass to Josh Whyle . 

Tyjae Spears –  Spears  had 6 receptions and 87 yards and a 17 yard touchdown pass from Mason Rudolph .

Tony Pollard- Pollard had 17 carries  , 45 rushing yards and a three yard touchdown rush . 

Next Week 

The Bengals will take on the Cleveland Browns in a week 7 rematch 

The Titans will take on the Indianapolis Colts  in a week 6 rematch 

DOLPHINS AT TEXANS : The Dolphins playoff chances took a hit with a 20-12 loss to the Texans. Tua Tagovailoa turned the ball over four times, and CJ Stroud had two touchdown passes to Nico Collins in the win. With the win and the Colts loss, the Texans have won the AFC South for the second straight season. 
BILLS AT LIONS : If Josh Allen didn’t cement MVP against the Rams, then he did this week with another four touchdown performance. James Cook added 105 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Jared Goff threw for almost 500 yards and five touchdowns in the loss. But the bigger loss for Detroit were the injuries that were suffered. David Montogomery, Carlton Davis and Alim McNeil all left the game due to injury and Montgomery and McNeil will miss the postseason as well.

The “W”right Call

BY Mike Rifkin

There’s something special about homegrown players. They create and form a bond with the fanbase and it creates something really special.  Since their inception in 1962, the Mets have had a lot of homegrown talent leave for greener pastures including trading legends such as Tom Seaver.  But there was one Mets player in the history of the franchise who saw it all : Doom, Gloom and Glory. And that player was David Wright and it was announced over the weekend that the Mets will retire Wright’s number five in a ceremony in July. 

Wright, the 38th overall pick in 2001 is the Mets franchise leader in multiple offensive categories including hits, RBI’S, Doubles, and walks. Wright is also top 10 in games played, batting average, On Base Percentage, Slugging Percentage, Triples, and homers. Wright won two Gold Gloves, two Silver Sluggers and was a seven time All Star. 

Like I said in the intro, Wright saw it all in his career. In 2006 the Mets had their best regular season in a long time and Wright was at the forefront of that finishing fourth in MVP Voting with 30 homers, 107 RBI, 34 stolen bases along with a slash line of .325/.416/.546. The Mets got to game seven of the NLCS and fell short of the ultimate goal. As a fan you had good thoughts going into 2007 and well we know how 07 and 2008 ended. 

In 2012 the Mets brass had a decision to make retain either David Wright or Jose Reyes. Wright wound up signing a seven year 122 million dollar contract to remain a Met. Wright’s decision paid off in a big way in 2015. Wright had a few iconic moments in 2015. His return in Philadelphia where he homers, his first at bat, the fist pump after scoring a run on Labor day during the sweep of the Nats to give the Mets the division, and of course homering in game three of the World Series. Unfortunately Wright’s back issues never really got better and he was forced to retire. 

David Wright was on a Hall Of Fame trajectory before the injuries piled up. But while David won’t get the recognition in Cooperstown, he’ll get it in Queens and that’s what he deserves more. Because David Wright was the light in a dark time in Mets history (from 07-12). Every fan base has their guy, and David Wright was the Mets guy.

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.