This Week VS Last Week

Last Week the Bengals dropped the ball in a very winnable game at home against the Miami Dolphins. After an opening drive that made Bengals fans reminiscent of 2005, the Bengals failed to move the ball except on one freak play that should have been an interception.

This Week there's good news and bad news. The good news: the Bengals play at home and on Monday night and statistics say that the NFL home underdog on Monday Night Football wins the majority of the time. The bad news: there is no question that the Bengals will be considered the underdog. They host the Pittsburgh Steelers who, despite losing to the New Orleans Saints this past weekend, have been tearing up the competition with their trademark defense and Ben Roethlisberger back at the helm.

How do the Bengals stack up against the Steelers compared to how they did against the Dolphins. Let's find out.

Ben Roethlisberger VS Chad Henne:

Do I really even have to finish this part? The obvious answer is the guy who has won two Super Bowls so....

Winner: Ben Roethlisberger by a lot

What the Bengals need to do:

Roethlisberger is famous for a few things: sitting in the pocket for so long trying to find an open receiver that he gets sacked a lot, rape, being really good at breaking tackles in the backfield, hanging out in college bars and giving his receivers enough time to get open. The Bengals need to do what they haven't been able to do all season. Get some pressure on the quarterback. Send some extra guys after him every once in a while because the four-man-rush obviously isn't working right now. If there's a guy that I love to see get sacked, it's Roethlisberger.

Steelers Running Game VS Dolphins Running Game:

A couple of years ago, when the Wildcat was still fairly effective, I would say the Dolphins running game was harder to stop but NFL defenses have figured it out. It was just a gimmick after all. Miami doesn't even use it very often anymore. Pittsburgh, on the other hand, does the same thing that they've done for years - run the ball up the middle and dare anybody to stop it.

Winner: Pittsburgh running game

What the Bengals need to do:

Sigh..... Once again, the Bengals just need to do what they should be able to do and what they were able to do last year... with the same guys. Get penetration, make good reads, wrap a guy up when you tackle him instead of just running into him, basically do all of the things that they learned when they were in high school. There is no need to stack the box against the Steelers. If they do that, they'll get burnt in the passing game. Just play good defense. That's all.

Steelers Receivers VS Dolphins Receivers:

The addition of Brandon Marshal and the coming out of nowhere of Davone Bess gives the Dolphins offense the ability to move the ball down the field without running it every play. But, I'm of the belief that a good quarterback can make a great wide receiver. Last year when the Steelers had Santonio Holmes and Miami didn't have Marshal it would have been an easy call. This isn't last year though.

Winner: Miami Receivers

What the Bengals need to do:

The first thing the Bengals secondary needs to do is get healthy. Morgan Trent played well enough for a backup against the Dolphins but I'd rather have a healthy Jonathan Joseph any day and it's clear now that depth at safety was a problem that needed to be addressed instead of ignored in the off season. Mostly, the Bengals front seven need to get something that resembles a pass rush. That will help the secondary more than anything else. Once again, just play fundamental, good football.

Steelers Defense VS Dolphins Defense:

........

Winner: Steelers Defense

What the Bengals need to do:

Play well and play consistent and play with common sense. Carson Palmer needs to not thrown into double coverage and his receivers need to run the right routes, especially the ones who have been on the team long enough to memorize the playbook forward and backwards. Maybe if they weren't thinking about Twitter and TV shows they would know what was going on at least half the time. But I'm not going to name names. On third and short, don't be afraid to let Benson smash some heads to get a first down every once in a while. I feel like these are things that I shouldn't have to say. For the third time... they play good football and do the things they've been taught to do for years.

So, to recap everything I just said, the Steelers are better than the Dolphins in almost any way that a team can get better. The Dolphins have a slight edge when it comes to their wide receivers but the Steelers quarterback helps make up for that gap in talent. Oh, and the Bengals players need to play good fundamental football and use common sense to beat them...... I'm sorry I just wasted your time.