Cincinnati Bengals: The pressure is on Marvin Jones

Currently in just his third season in the NFL, Cincinnati Bengals No. 2 wide receiver Marvin Jones has broken out in the midst of Andy Dalton‘s career year, and while he didn’t have Dalton under center last week, Jones still managed to toast the San Francisco 49ers with 89 receiving yards on just six targets; he’ll have to put in double the work if he wants similar success this week against the Denver Broncos.

I’ve been singing the praises of Cincinnati Bengals young wide receiver Marvin Jones for a couple of months now, as he’s up to 745 receiving yards on the season as, potentially, one of the league’s premier No. 2 receivers. Tyler Eifert has been the big breakout star in the Bengals offense this season, providing fantasy owners with a copious amount of touchdowns prior to his injury, but Jones’s 8.2 yards per target have definitely been valuable for Dalton and the rest of his teammates.

This week, the Bengals will face their stiffest competition for a playoff bye, as they must travel to face the Denver Broncos for a marquee Monday Night Football matchup against a team that is hungry to bounce back after being upset by a different AFC North powerhouse in the Pittsburgh Steelers.

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For maybe the first time in his career, Chris Harris Jr. was undressed by a receiver, as Antonio Brown whipped him up better than I’ve seen an elite WR roast an elite CB in a long time. With A.J. McCarron at quarterback and A.J. Green not 100% due to a back injury, a stellar performance from a No. 1 receiver is an unlikely outcome on Monday night for the Bengals offense.

Green’s questionable status for this week’s tilt isn’t the only factor that puts more of the focus on the Bengals No. 2 receiver, though, because another big storyline is the injury to Eifert. In fact, as per the National Football Post’s Aaron Wilson, the Bengals have officially ruled their 48-catch tight end out for this week’s game, meaning that they won’t get to use him for a second straight week.

Jones, who is riding a streak of three straight games with more than 50 receiving yards, will be the main beneficiary here, and his 89 yards last week with Eifert out represented his third-highest receiving total of the season. The Broncos, of course, have more than enough talent in the secondary to contend with both him and Green, but the injuries to his teammates make it all the more important that he does a good job against, say, Aqib Talib or solid second-year CB Bradley Roby (or whoever he’s matched up against on any given play).

Eifert was never expected to play this week due to his concussion, but the confirmation that he’s out this week serves as a nice way to transition to discussing Jones’s Week 16 role. Any sort of success through the air is difficult to come by against a Broncos team that is still first in the league in net yards per pass attempt allowed despite Roethlisberger’s big day against them, but it is worth noting that both Martavis Bryant and Markus Wheaton, in addition to Brown, also had strong days vs. Denver.

Dec 13, 2015; Cincinnati, OH, USA; Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Marvin Jones (82) catches a pass as Pittsburgh Steelers defensive back Ross Cockrell (31) defends during the fourth quarter at Paul Brown Stadium. The Steelers won 33-20. Mandatory Credit: David Kohl-USA TODAY Sports

The drop-off between McCarron and Roethlisberger is impossible to overstate, but Bryant’s 10-87 line should give Jones and his fantasy owners some hope for his chances of having a quality Week 16.

Per Football Outsiders, the Broncos are clearly among the top ten teams in terms of DVOA allowed against both No. 1 and No. 2 receivers, but the numbers indicate that there’s slightly more room for a No. 2 wideout to move the chains against them.

Expectations are low for both the Broncos and Bengals offenses this week, so any solid performances from a skill position player would be welcome.

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With Green potentially fighting through an injury, Jones will be asked to step up, and since he had a confidence-boosting outing against San Francisco, there’s a chance he could deliver against a still-scary Broncos pass defense, especially since he looked like a potent vertical threat in Week 15.

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