5 keys to beating the Rams

The Cincinnati Bengals are in a hole. Here is how they can dig themselves out on Monday night vs. the Los Angeles Rams.

The First 1st Down

This is a familiar problem. The Bengals are good at making offensive adjustments. The problem is that they have too many three-and-outs in the process. When it takes you three or more drives to run ten plays, the game can get away from you before you figure out what they are doing defensively. They need to be able to move the chains early and get a good look at what the defense is giving them so they can adjust faster.

Run to Win

They need to run the ball. Why? It has nothing to do with setting the tone or setting up the play-action pass. It’s because they are actually pretty good at it. Joe Burrow is struggling right now. It’s time to lean on Joe Mixon. Give Mixon at least 15 carriers, and give Chase Brown a drive or two as well. They will help you move the chains and get a few explosive plays in the process.

Explosive Plays

Whether it's in the run game or in the pass game, they need to generate explosive plays. Some deep shots would be nice, but these can also be intermediate passes over the middle. I also think it would be beneficial to use rookie Andrei Iosivas on some 10 personnel plays, allowing them to flex Ja’Marr Chase into the slot and create matchup problems for the defense.

DJ Turner

I love Chidobe Awuzie as much as any Bengals fan, but he is not all the way back from his injury. The rookie Turner has been impressive and is a tremendous athlete. They need to give him more reps after he logged just 24 defensive snaps in Week 2.

Offensive Line

To paraphrase John Lennon, “So this is Aaron Donald, and what have you done?”

It’s time to show what they have done to improve the offensive line since Donald ended their Super Bowl dreams two years ago.

Can they protect Burrow and run the ball against Donald and this Rams defense?

Be sure to check out our OBI content from this week below.

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