NFL
By: Jalen Willingham
The Cincinnati Bengals will face the Tennessee Titans on the road in Week 4 of the 2023 NFL Season. This will be the fourth year in a row these teams face-off. The Bengals have won every time up to now.
When: Sunday, October 1, 2023 at 1:00 pm
Where: Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tennessee
Network: Fox
Offense
It wasn’t exactly pretty ,but Joe Burrow and the Bengals offense did just enough to get the win on Monday Night. I think the offense will pick things up even more against the Titans. As long as Burrow deals with his calf injury, protecting him will be priority number one. He’s only been sacked five times so far in three weeks.
The Titans pressured Deshaun Watson on 36.7% of his snaps while sending blitzes on 20% of those as well. The offensive line needs to continue to provide a clean pocket for Burrow to move the ball downfield. I don’t expect nine sacks given up like one of their past matchups, but I’d still not take any chances. Burrow needs to also improve his accuracy a bit as well. There were some throws that got away from him last week.
Cincinnati must also continue to move Ja’Marr Chase all around the field to get him open as much as possible. I expect a bounce back game from Tee Higgins as well. The Titans gave up almost 300 yards to Deshaun Watson, so I believe Burrow and the receiving group will look better all around this week.
Joe Mixon has been the most consistent player on the offense but his work may be cut out for him this week. The Titans rush defense is only giving up 2.6 yards per carry which ranks first in the NFL so far and 69 yards a game which ranks fourth.
Defense
The Bengals pass rush had a field day with the Rams offensive line. Racking up six sacks and 10 qb hits was something you truly love to see. There will be plenty of opportunities to get after Ryan Tannehill this week as well. Tannehill has been sacked 13 times through three weeks. The Titans will also be without rookie offensive lineman Peter Skoronski and wide receiver Treylon Burks. Trey Hendrickson should have another big game.
The Titans have arguably struggled just as much if not more offensively when compared to the Bengals. You do realize that Deandre Hopkins is in this offense? The truth is that he hasn’t been much of a factor actually. There isn’t many viable weapons in the passing game and Cincinnati has more than enough personnel to match.
Tannehill has truly seen better days and so has Derrick Henry to be quite honest. Henry is averaging 3.2 yards a carry. As long as he’s in the league however, neutralizing running back Derrick Henry will be crucial when stopping any offense he’s featured in. The Bengals defense so far is allowing a passer rating of 82.8 which ranks 13th.
If the Bengals defense plays the way they did on Monday night, I feel confident about a win for Cincinnati. Stuffing the run, putting pressure on Tannehill and creating a turnover should give Burrow enough momentum to work with to put points on the board.
Prediction
Bengals win 23-13
Subscribe to Team NBS Media on YouTube here
