Here are a few of the key Cincinnati Bengals players for the team’s upcoming Week 10 matchup against the Tennessee Titans.
The Cincinnati Bengals sputtered out to a pathetic 23-7 defeat against Jacksonville last week. Things started okay enough, but as soon as veteran A.J. Green lost his cool and tried to choke out Jaguars’ corner Jalen Ramsey the team lost every bit of positivity. With the loss, Cincinnati fell to 3-5. There’s no rest for the weary, however; this week brings a trip to yet another AFC South power: the Tennessee Titans.
A loss here would essentially be a death knell to the miniscule playoff dreams of this flawed Cincinnati team; to prevent that, guys across the roster must step up to have a sizeable impact.
Here are a few of them to watch. Should they perform poorly, the Bengals have no hope to win.
3. Andrew Billings
It’s been a slow go of things for the young defensive tackle. He was a late-round pick in the 2016 NFL Draft after receiving projections all the way in the first round. He ended up missing his entire rookie season due to a knee injury. This year, he managed to keep a roster spot in a crowded depth chart, but hasn’t managed to break through onto the field much as of yet. His opportunity may have finally arrived, however.
Billings’ main competition for snaps in the middle (veteran defensive tackle Pat Sims) hasn’t been having a good season; more importantly, he’s dealing with a calf injury. Those factors already played heavily into an increased role last week versus Jacksonville (Sims garnered a season-low six snaps, while Billings picked up a career-high 47), and even if Sims is available this week he’ll likely still be limited.
In the first major action of his career, Billings managed to be a bright spot among many blunders for Cincinnati (he had the fifth-highest Pro Football Focus grade on the team, with a 76.5), and there’s reason to believe that could continue. As I said before, he had high draft expectations entering the league. With the requisite workload to prove himself, he can be the anchor in the middle next to Geno Atkins which makes ruins run games and collapses pockets.
The opposition won’t be easy. Tennessee boasts one of the more talented, cohesive offensive lines in the league (according to PFF Edge, nobody rates lower than a 72.3). Behind the efforts of their group, Tennessee has been good at keeping their quarterback upright (16 allowed, 10th-fewest) and their running game has been excellent (No. 6 in Football Outsiders’ Rush Offense DVOA). The two players Billings will likely be interacting with most — right guard Josh Kline and center Ben Jones — are the first- and third-best among that group, respectively.
If Billings gets rendered ineffective, that Tennessee offense will have plenty of time to let Marcus Mariota sit back and calmly make plays with his arm and legs, as well as be susceptible to runs up the gut by Demarco Murray and Derrick Henry. On the other hand, if he is able to make an impact, his team may actually stand a chance at wreaking enough havoc to keep the game close for their underwhelming offense.