Bengals Early Special: Now That the Bye Week is Over

Good morning Bengals Nation! Grab the usual and get prepared to catch up on the latest. It's a new week and there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic! 

Heading into the bye week the Bengals are sporting a 4-2 record. I for one can say, that I wasn't expecting them to have that good of a record. But so far this team has been surprisingly good and have exceeded expectations of a lot of critics.

Now going into this weeks match-up the Bengals are going to battle (and hopefully pummel) the Seahawks. Last week Seattle played a hard-fought, er....I mean a despicable game against the Cleveland Browns where they only managed to score three points. However, the defense only allowed six points. But it's Cleveland, we know they aren't good this season. And neither is Seattle.

As a whole, Seattle has looked like a division-III college team. And that might be giving them more credit then they deserve. Seattle has only managed to score 20 or more points two times this season. That has been the complete opposite for the Bengals who have scored fewer than 20 points only one time. And that was against one of the better teams in the league, the San Francisco 49ers.

The odds are in the Bengals favor heading into Sunday. And as long as the Bengals remain healthy and focused they should be able to come out with a victory. This is the kind of game that the Bengals should win by a comfortable margin. But at the same time, if the Bengals lose focus to all of the details and fall off the tracks then could just as easily lose. And I know we all hope that doesn't happen.

Alright here is what you may have missed or overlooked from Monday.

• Going into Sunday's match-up the Bengals are 2.5-point favorites against the Seattle Seahawks.
• Get caught up with the latest Monday Touchdown.
• Two weeks ago Rey Maualuga suffered an ankle injury that kept him out against the Indianapolis Colts. Now his ankle injury is progressing well.
• The Bengals have climbed back into first place in the latest defensive rankings. 
• The Bengals have had one significant trend going on this season and that is breaking streaks. On Sunday the Bengals will attempt to break two losing streaks against the Seahawks.
• If voting for the executive of the year took place today then Peter King would vote for Bengals owner Mike Brown. Yes, you read that correctly. You don't have to worry about getting your eyes examined.
• The Bengals are expected to appeal Cedric Peerman's "illegal blindside block" against the Colts that cost him $20,000.
• Thomas Howard worked out on the side on Monday while he nurses a hamstring injury.
• In case you missed what else went on around the league, well here are some notes from an otherwise boring weekend that was minus the Bengals.
• Bengals cornerback Adam Jones is back at practice and the team received a three week roster exemption.
• On Sunday Dallas Cowboys' rookie running back DeMarco Murray absolutely obliterated the St. Louis Rams, while Dallas was without their regular starting running back. And the Bengals need something of that nature to happen on Sunday against Seattle.