Chargers underdogs on the road at Cincinnati

[Arkansas Bengal]

Chargers underdogs on the road at Cincinnati

 

Melvin Gordon and the Chargers face Cincinnati in their Week 2 matchup. AP Photo/Denis Poroy

• Eric D. Williams

Good morning.

In this ESPN Insider piece, NFL handicapper Dave Tuley notes the San Diego Chargers open this week as 3.5-point underdogs on the road against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 2.

The Bengals easily handled the Raiders 33-13 in Oakland on Sunday.

The Chargers are 5-4 against Cincinnati since 2001, and defeated the Bengals in Cincinnati in the 2013 postseason, 27-10, in the last matchup between the two teams.

My take: San Diego has a chance here if the team's patched-up offensive line can keep Philip Rivers clean against a pretty good Cincinnati front seven.

• Jay Paris of The Mighty 1090 writes that San Diego's comeback win was a good way to start the season if it's the team's last in San Diego.

Paris: "San Diego spit out a 21-3 deficit like a shot of cheap tequila. With Rivers at the controls and Keenan Allen channeling Kellen Winslow, this game was a hoot. But it came with some players with eyes as wide as owls. This isn't your grandfather's Chargers -- heck, it's not even your dad's."

My take: Rivers leading a come-from-behind win with such a young roster should help build confidence for the rest of the season.

• Nick Canepa of The San Diego Union-Tribune says the Chargers got the ship turned around after a rough start.

Canepa: "It was hot on the Qualcomm Stadium field -- over 100 degrees -- and you could see it happening, you could see the Lions' defenders back on their heels. They couldn't cover and they couldn't get to Rivers. They made the mistake of allowing him to get into a rhythm, and he just kept finding open receivers. It became a turkey shoot."

My take: Once Rivers got into a rhythm with the quick passing game, Detroit appeared to have no answer defensively, particularly for Keenan Allen.

• John Breech of CBS Sports gives the Chargers a B-plus grade for the team's effort against the Lions.

Breech: "The Chargers' offense was struggling against Detroit until Philip Rivers figured out that the Lions couldn't cover Keenan Allen. Allen tied a franchise record with 15 catches for 166 yards. The 18-point comeback was the largest in Chargers home history."

My take: Stevie Johnson also played well, finishing six catches for 82 yards and a touchdown.

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/san-diego-chargers/post/_/id/12639/chargers-underdogs-on-the-road-at-cincinnati

[EnglishBengal]

This game scares me.  Rivers and Allen are no mugs.  They're a better team than the Raiders.

[Jason]

3.5???

 

That's disrespectful.

 

 

To the Chargers.  

[HairOnFire]

The Bengals secondary is the strength of their defense now.

Should be a great match up.

Might take another 30 points to win it.

The Chargers offense looks positively Bengalish.

Oakland was a great start but the Bengals have plenty of things to clean up and should have no trouble retaining focus.

Home opener...a chance for more payback for the playoff loss...and a chance to put real pressure on the Ravens and Stealers to keep pace.

The Bengals played like they were mad at the world against Oakland.

 If they can repeat that trick for the locals against a much better opponent the bandwagon will start to fill.

 

 

[Enon Bengal]

The Bengals secondary is the strength of their defense now.

Should be a great match up.

Might take another 30 points to win it.

The Chargers offense looks positively Bengalish.

Oakland was a great start but the Bengals have plenty of things to clean up and should have no trouble retaining focus.

Home opener...a chance for more payback for the playoff loss...and a chance to put real pressure on the Ravens and Stealers to keep pace.

The Bengals played like they were mad at the world against Oakland.

 If they can repeat that trick for the locals against a much better opponent the bandwagon will start to fill.

 

 

Adam Jones certainly did...

[Gary]

This game does not scare me at all. Home opener, and San Diego's defense isn't good enough to keep up with our offense. We either win by something like 28-13 or it's a shootout with us being able to stay ahead 42-31 or something like that.. 

 

Take the Bengals to flat out win by more than 3.5.. Easy bet. Easy $$. 

[|SF2|]

This game does not scare me at all. Home opener, and San Diego's defense isn't good enough to keep up with our offense. We either win by something like 28-13 or it's a shootout with us being able to stay ahead 42-31 or something like that.. 

 

Take the Bengals to flat out win by more than 3.5.. Easy bet. Easy $$. 

I gotta agree.  Yes, San Diego is better than Oakland but we put up 33 on Oakland before they even made it across midfield.  We could have won that game 56-0 ON THE ROAD but Marvin isn't stupid in that regard.  Things were very  chippy as it was.

San Diego does not scare me at all.   The first two games for us are warm up games as far as I am concerned.  The next 4 will tell us a lot about the 2015 Bengals before the bye.

 

 

[stan]

How soon people forget.Didn't this same Chargers team, beat the Bengals twice last year? This wont be easy.

[B.A.B.]

How soon people forget.Didn't this same Chargers team, beat the Bengals twice last year? This wont be easy.

are you stoned? We didn't play them last year. The year before that w beat them at SD in the regular season then lost in the playoffs. This isn't even close to the same team that lost in the playoffs either. Remember we lost Geno for the year then. Our lecondary wasn't even close to being as good as it is now. And we didn't have Hill.

 

We will run al over these losers. 

[Jason]

How soon people forget.Didn't this same Chargers team, beat the Bengals twice last year? This wont be easy.

That was the Colts.

[T-Dub]

If you get to Rivers at all he will throw a bunch of INTs then scream at a WR that wasn't even in the play

[|SF2|]

If you get to Rivers at all he will throw a bunch of INTs then scream at a WR that wasn't even in the play

Well, based on what I saw, Rivers will be doing a lot of screaming then because they are not that good. 

[|High School Harry|]

Bengals have a maddening tendency to have major let downs and not play up to their potential after big wins.  They come out flat and seem like they are waiting for someone else to make the play.  Not motivated, etc.  They can't afford any of that happy horse shit this Sunday.  And I don't think the Chargers are Oktoberfest cream puffs (this Sunday... take note for traffic and parking).

So one of the things I am looking for this Sunday is to see if they have gotten over that.

[|westside bengal|]

I remember after the 2013 playoff loss several SD players saying the Bengals changed zero/nothing/nada in their schemes from the regular season game. Absolutely same looks.

I hope Team Marvin learned something.

[-GoBengals-]

Bengals have a maddening tendency to have major let downs and not play up to their potential after big wins.  They come out flat and seem like they are waiting for someone else to make the play.  Not motivated, etc.  They can't afford any of that happy horse shit this Sunday.  And I don't think the Chargers are Oktoberfest cream puffs (this Sunday... take note for traffic and parking).

So one of the things I am looking for this Sunday is to see if they have gotten over that.

that has more to do with playing a decent team after playing a loser ass shit team than it does the team playing poorly after a big win.

i truly dislike these type of statements, as if its baseball and you play the same team a few days in a row and fluff off a loss after beating them big..consecutive games are unrelated and rarely have any sort of pattern or affect on each other.

the raiders are bad at football, how bad the raiders are and how good or bad the chargers are is unrelated. so if we get waxed by the chargers, its not because the team had a letdown or a meltdown or played down to an opponent, its because the chargers were better than us and better than the raiders are.

both the bengals and the chargers put up 33 points last week, i doubt either one puts up 33 points again. but the chargers offense dominated drives, and had long ones, the Lions had about 45 offensive plays, the chargers threw the ball 42 times alone, and ran another 30, nearly 30 offensive play differential. Rivers threw for 400+ yards.

either the lions defense is pathetic and terrible, or we should consider 280 passing yards given up a solid outing. Chargers have many weapons, and while we match up solid at the DB level, our linebackers fucking suck. so the woodhead and gordon could pose issues in the short passing game, which they will try often to avoid QB pressure early, and lastly, keenan allen is a fast, good WR with good hands, plays bigger than his 6'2" listed height, i assume pacman will be on him, could be a long day for pacman. thats a mismatch from hell potentially, if Dre were more seasoned i would like that match up better, he is 4 inches taller than pacman, and the same height as allen, but we shall see, allen and rivers have good chemistry.

shutting down the run/short screen pass game and putting pressure on rivers in the pass game will win the game easy.. chargers scored 33, the raiders didnt score on us until i saw chris carter in the game, so i count it as a shutout.

 

[|SF2|]

I remember after the 2013 playoff loss several SD players saying the Bengals changed zero/nothing/nada in their schemes from the regular season game. Absolutely same looks.

I hope Team Marvin learned something.

Your would think after 11 years as the head coach, this would not be an issue.....but it is.  2 years later and it's the same thing.

[scharm]

This will be challenge for our defense.     Especially Linebackers.    

The Chargers moved up and down the field against the Lions.   They also moved the ball very good against Seattle in the 3rd preseason game.

The Chargers absolutely destroyed the Lions with yards after the catch.   They would run off the CBs, Safeties and then throw a ton of shallow routes in front of the LBs.   Time and time again the Charger WR would break free.

The Chargers are not a good down hill team.  I doubt they try to attack the Bengals front by lining up in traditional downhill running sets.   The Center for the Chargers is not good at that often is pushed back on a GQ level.  Noted multiple holding calls when they try to run downhill.   Just not very effective.

They are very effective in delayed handoff runs.   Very similar to Carolina (except Qb doesn't run).   They will run the ball out of shotgun offset back.   The TE will stand up on the end of the LOS or slot and get a free release to block the LB.   The hand off will be delayed and the DEs will rush past the RB thinking pass.   Then they often trap the DT and let the RB pick the open spot to run.   

Very dangerous with play action out of these looks.  The TE with a free release will approach the LB as a blocker with a fake to the RB.   The LB will begin to prepare to shed the block, Rivers pulls the ball and the TE goes right bye the LB and in between the Safety.

Woodhead and Gordon are effective pass catchers and SD is good at getting  them the ball.

Kennan Allen had a monster game against Detroit

Defensively.   Chargers like to fake A gap blitz against the lines sucking up any help for the tackles and shoot #51 (Emanuel) past the tackle.   Got a couple pressures.   They shut down Calvin Johnson.   Detroit didn't do much offensively.   Abullah had some big gash plays.    Ebron got free a couple times.    Chargers don't seem good at covering RBs in the passing game.

All in all the Bengal DEs are going to have to be disciplined (sucked at that last year against Carolina).   Maybe "mush rush" and try to get batted passes vs. sacks.    LBs are gonna have to chase and tackle a lot.

Not sure Chargers can handle Geno with one on one traps.   Could be big problems for them.

 

 

[scharm]

Well, based on what I saw, Rivers will be doing a lot of screaming then because they are not that good. 

What have you seen?    They move the ball very good last week and in the 3rd preseason game.    

 

[scharm]

that has more to do with playing a decent team after playing a loser ass shit team than it does the team playing poorly after a big win.

i truly dislike these type of statements, as if its baseball and you play the same team a few days in a row and fluff off a loss after beating them big..consecutive games are unrelated and rarely have any sort of pattern or affect on each other.

the raiders are bad at football, how bad the raiders are and how good or bad the chargers are is unrelated. so if we get waxed by the chargers, its not because the team had a letdown or a meltdown or played down to an opponent, its because the chargers were better than us and better than the raiders are.

both the bengals and the chargers put up 33 points last week, i doubt either one puts up 33 points again. but the chargers offense dominated drives, and had long ones, the Lions had about 45 offensive plays, the chargers threw the ball 42 times alone, and ran another 30, nearly 30 offensive play differential. Rivers threw for 400+ yards.

either the lions defense is pathetic and terrible, or we should consider 280 passing yards given up a solid outing. Chargers have many weapons, and while we match up solid at the DB level, our linebackers fucking suck. so the woodhead and gordon could pose issues in the short passing game, which they will try often to avoid QB pressure early, and lastly, keenan allen is a fast, good WR with good hands, plays bigger than his 6'2" listed height, i assume pacman will be on him, could be a long day for pacman. thats a mismatch from hell potentially, if Dre were more seasoned i would like that match up better, he is 4 inches taller than pacman, and the same height as allen, but we shall see, allen and rivers have good chemistry.

shutting down the run/short screen pass game and putting pressure on rivers in the pass game will win the game easy.. chargers scored 33, the raiders didnt score on us until i saw chris carter in the game, so i count it as a shutout.

 

I have a feeling Hawk and Rey aren't going to get positives from the Chargers game.   Playing in space isn't their game.   Stuffing holes (ha ha) and shedding blocks is.    I wouldn't think Chargers are going to try very often to run downhill against the Bengals.  I hope they do. 

It'd be a nice game to see if Dawson can bring some speed and hunt down and tackle on the underneath stuff.  There will be a bunch of it, I'm guessing.

I think they definitely need to press/jam Allen at the line.   He's too good (if not jammed) at running short slants and then getting YAC.

The way they ran against Detroit was delayed handoffs.   Let the DEs rush up the field and then trap the DT and let the RB pick an choose while the LB was being blocked by the TE that got a free release.   It will be interesting to see how our D-line handles it.    I don't think we can pin the ears back and try to kill Rivers.   Ball comes out too quick.  

Rivers was careless with the football going downfield.    Used a good hard count as well.

 

 

 

[stan]

are you stoned? We didn't play them last year. The year before that w beat them at SD in the regular season then lost in the playoffs. This isn't even close to the same team that lost in the playoffs either. Remember we lost Geno for the year then. Our lecondary wasn't even close to being as good as it is now. And we didn't have Hill.

 

We will run al over these losers. 

OK,I guess I picked the wrong year.It was 2013.I'm old,sometimes I get my years mixed up.Been following Bengals since they came into league.

[RhodeIslandFan]

Bengals have a maddening tendency to have major let downs and not play up to their potential after big wins.  They come out flat and seem like they are waiting for someone else to make the play.  Not motivated, etc.  They can't afford any of that happy horse shit this Sunday.  And I don't think the Chargers are Oktoberfest cream puffs (this Sunday... take note for traffic and parking).

So one of the things I am looking for this Sunday is to see if they have gotten over that.

After 4 failed playoff attempts. This team will be ready. Beating & humiliating Rivers and his chargers will be the first of many demons. We need to put rest. Best case scenerio would be knocking off Denver. Ravens & common opponents.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[LargeJungleCat]

27-20 good guys

[scharm]

Apparently Fluker has suffered some kind of injury and an 0-line shuffle could be coming up for the Chargers.

[scharm]

Fantasy info starting to roll in and Eifert is a start vs. Chargers.    Rivers is a sit vs. Bengals D.

 

FYI.

[Jeb]

that has more to do with playing a decent team after playing a loser ass shit team than it does the team playing poorly after a big win.

i truly dislike these type of statements, as if its baseball and you play the same team a few days in a row and fluff off a loss after beating them big..consecutive games are unrelated and rarely have any sort of pattern or affect on each other.

the raiders are bad at football, how bad the raiders are and how good or bad the chargers are is unrelated. so if we get waxed by the chargers, its not because the team had a letdown or a meltdown or played down to an opponent, its because the chargers were better than us and better than the raiders are.

both the bengals and the chargers put up 33 points last week, i doubt either one puts up 33 points again. but the chargers offense dominated drives, and had long ones, the Lions had about 45 offensive plays, the chargers threw the ball 42 times alone, and ran another 30, nearly 30 offensive play differential. Rivers threw for 400+ yards.

either the lions defense is pathetic and terrible, or we should consider 280 passing yards given up a solid outing. Chargers have many weapons, and while we match up solid at the DB level, our linebackers fucking suck. so the woodhead and gordon could pose issues in the short passing game, which they will try often to avoid QB pressure early, and lastly, keenan allen is a fast, good WR with good hands, plays bigger than his 6'2" listed height, i assume pacman will be on him, could be a long day for pacman. thats a mismatch from hell potentially, if Dre were more seasoned i would like that match up better, he is 4 inches taller than pacman, and the same height as allen, but we shall see, allen and rivers have good chemistry.

shutting down the run/short screen pass game and putting pressure on rivers in the pass game will win the game easy.. chargers scored 33, the raiders didnt score on us until i saw chris carter in the game, so i count it as a shutout.

 

I don't think the Lions D is as good as it used to be, ...there, ...I said it.