NFL Week 7 Primer: Cincinnati Bengals (0-6) vs, Jacksonville Jaguars (2-4)

The Bengals get to head back home this week to host the Jaguars. If we are going solely based on the opposing team’s record, this is the Bengals’ best shot at a win until after their bye week in Week 9,

Cincinnati’s defense has gotten a pretty bad reputation this year, but aside from the 49ers game, they haven’t allowed a team to score more than 27 points. In fact, they have held teams to 23 points or lower three times this season.

Meanwhile, the Bengals offense has only scored more than 20 points once this season. You can’t win many games in the NFL if your offense can consistently put up more than that. You can blame the scheme, Andy Dalton, the offensive line or whatever else, but the fact is everyone deserves the blame when an offense has been as bad as Cincinnati’s.

The Jaguars are coming into this game at an interesting time. They started the season expecting Nick Foles to try and carry this team to the playoffs, but an injury knocked him out for a considerable amount of time. However, this wasn’t as bad as people expected as rookie sixth-round pick Gardner Minshew II came in and lit things up. He threw for nine touchdowns and only a single interception over his first five weeks.

Last week it appeared the magic wore off a little bit against the Saints as the Jaguars only scored six points, and Minshew failed to throw a touchdown or complete 50 percent of his passes. Whether he can get that show back on the road this week could be a major indicator of who will win this game.

Here is everything you need to know for when the Bengals host the Jaguars:

Game: Cincinnati Bengals (0-6) vs Jacksonville Jaguars (2-4)

Date/Time: Oct. 20th, 2019 at 1:00 p.m. EST

Location: Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati Ohio

Series Leader: The Jaguars lead the series at 12-9

Streak: The Bengals have won four of the past five meetings

Coaches vs. Opponent: Zac Taylor: 0-0. Doug Marrone (1-1)

TV Broadcast: The game will air on CBS-TV. In the Bengals’ home region, it will be carried by WKRC-TV (Ch. 12) in Cincinnati, WHIO-TV (Ch. 7) in Dayton and on WKYT-TV (Ch. 27) in Lexington. Broadcasters are Kevin Harlan (play-byplay), Rich Gannon (analyst) and Jay Feely (sideline reporter).

Radio Broadcast: The game will air on the Bengals Radio Network, led by Cincinnati flagship stations WLW-AM (700), WCKY-AM (ESPN 1530; all sports) and WEBN-FM (102.7). Broadcasters are Dan Hoard (play-by-play) and Dave Lapham (analyst).

SB Nation Jaguars’ site: Big Cat Country

Weather: Mid 70’s, mostly cloudy [NFL weather]

Odds: Bengals, +3 [Odds Shark]

Bengals notes

• Quarterback Andy Dalton passed for 235 yards and rushed for a touchdown last week. He aims for his third in a row at home with at least 250 pass yards, two passing touchdowns and a 90 passer rating. He passed for 233 yards and two touchdowns in his last home meeting with the Jaguars.
• Running back Joe Mixon has 1,025 scrimmage yards (102.5 per game) and six touchdowns (five rushing and one receiving) in his past 10 at home. He had a rushing touchdown in the last meeting.
• Wide receiver Tyler Boyd aims for his third in a row at home with at least 10 catches and 120 receiving yards. He is one of three wide receivers with multiple 10-catch, 100-yard games this season. Wide receiver Auden Tate led the team with five catches for a career-high 91 yards last week. He aims for his fifth in a row with at least three catches.
• Defensive tackle Geno Atkins has a sack in five of his past six vs. the AFC South. He has three sacks in his past three at home. Defensive end Carlos Dunlap has a sack in two of his past three against the Jaguars. Defensive end Carl Lawson had his first sack of the season last week. Linebacker Nick Vigil had a team-high 13 tackles and had a pass deflection and his first-career forced fumble last week.

Jaguars Notes

• Quarterback Gardner Minshew II (rookie) threw for 163 yards last week. He leads all rookies in touchdown passes (nine) and passer rating (97.5)
• Running back Leonard Fournette had 118 scrimmage yards (72 rushing and 46 receiving) last week. He has 500 scrimmage yards (166.7 per game) in his past three games. He aims for his third in a row on the road with at least 100 scrimmage yards and fourth in a row vs. the AFC North with at least 115 scrimmage yards.
• Wide receiver Dede Westbrook had a team-high 53 receiving yards last week. He aims for his third in a row with at least 50 receiving yards. Wide receiver D.J. Chark had three catches for 43 yards last week. He has a touchdown catch in two of his past three on the road. Wide receiver Marqise Lee had eight catches for 75 yards and a touchdown in his last meeting against the Bengals.
• Defensive end Calais Campbell had five tackles and a forced fumble last week. He had a sack in the last meeting against the Bengals. He had seven tackles, two passes defended a sack and a forced fumble in his only career game at Cincinnati (12/24/11 with Arizona). Rookie defensive end Josh Allen aims for his third game in a row with a sack. He is tied for second among rookies with four sacks. Defensive end Dawuane Smoot aims for his third game in a row with a sack. Linebacker Myles Jack had eight tackles last week and aims for his third in a row with at least six sacks. Linebacker Najee Goode had six tackles and his second career sack in Week 6.