Bengals Early Bird Special: Less Than One Day Until Bengals Battle Colts

Good morning everyone! For once sleep in and don't worry about what's going on. It's almost Sunday, which means football. But for those of you that enjoy college football, well enjoy.

There's only one day to go until the Bengals square-off against Indianapolis. And in all honesty this is a game that the Bengals should win.

Here are my keys for the game.

1. Move the ball and convert on third down. In wins the Bengals have converted over 40 percent of their third downs. But in loses they haven't even converted ten percent of their third down situations. That's a major difference. So if the Bengals can convert on third down then their odds of winning increase.
2. Stay healthy. This is going to be key week-in and week-out. The Bengals are already without one of their defensive leaders in Rey Maualuga. If anyone else goes down with an injury, depending on who it is, then it could be detrimental to the team's success.
3. Put pressure on Curtis Painter. If the Bengals don't put pressure on him and give him more time in the pocket then he might be able to complete more passes. However, if the Bengals put a lot of pressure on him then I can envision them winning easily. Painter has been less than stellar this season. But I will admit that he has done an adequate job filling in for Peyton Manning.
4. Discover their running game. Or at least some sort of consistency with the ground attack. Some people don't think the Bengals have an issue with the run game. But I think there is a problem. And it starts with the lack of consistency. It's either a hit or miss with the ground assault
5. Cause some turnovers. The Bengals have one interception this season. And it was defensive end Michael Johnson. Really? Leon Hall and Nate Clements have yet to make an interception. Their lack of turnovers is somewhat of a concern for me. Yeah the defense is ranked number one, but the primary cornerbacks don't have any interceptions through five games. I hope that changes tomorrow.

My prediction for Sunday. The Bengals keep the Colts out of the win column by beating them 27-20.

Alright here is a look at what you may have missed or overlooked from Friday.

• Check out an interview with StampedeBlue.com's Brad Wells.
• The Bengals and Colts injury report as of Friday night.
• While handing out grades the Bengals offensive line got a reality check.
• With the Bengals having a new offense we all know there is going to be a learning curve for everyone. And Jermaine Gresham is integrating very nicely into the new offense. 
• Sunday's game will show us whether the Bengals have finally turned the page to prove to us that they are a new team or if it's going to be more of the same old Bengals.
• Am I the only one who is tired of not being able to view the Bengals' home games? Well a group of Bengal faithful have asked for donations to sell out games so they can watch it on television. 
• On Sunday Colts' defensive end Dwight Freeney will be matching-up against Andrew Whitworth as he seeks sack 100 of his career. And Bengals offensive lineman Andre Smith is going to be battling his biggest challenge of his young career.
• For those of you who were hoping that the NFL and Time Warner Cable, well don't get your hopes up as it would appear that a deal  most likely won't be reached.
• During the Bengals three wins this season they have converted over 40 percent of their third downs.
• The Bengals have been lagging in ticket sales up to this point of the season. There are two reasons that can be used to explain why, and both involve money.
• Anyone interested in taking charge of Cincy Jungle's social media effort?