Cincinnati Bengals: Keys to victory vs. Dolphins in Week 5

Players To Watch

Miami: WR Albert Wilson

After getting Jarvis Landry out of town, the receiving corps is much different now. There’s tons of talent here, and the ball is getting spread around much more judiciously than we’ve seen in the past couple years from the Dolphins’ offense. With the more spread-around responsibilities, it can be hard to know who really keeps things going — and therefore, who a defense should key in on to stop first.

My first bet in the passing game would be Wilson. Landry may not be here anymore, but because of Wilson this team still has someone magically conjuring tough yardage plays from minuscule spacing. He is far and away the team leader in yards after catch; in fact, without them he’d barely have any (143 of his 161 total are YAC). Wilson also comes in with a surprising 81.1 PFF grade (subscription required) — the best on his entire team.

If Tannehill is able to keep Wilson involved, it’ll take pressure off him while simultaneously keeping the ball in his best receiver’s hands. If Cincinnati’s corners can keep Wilson in check though, their main plan of attack could be entirely undone, leaving Tannehill more likely to fall prey to mistakes.

Cincinnati: DT Geno Atkins

Let’s keep this simple: while everyone on the defensive line should be salivating over this matchup, there’s nobody who’ll be more excited than Atkins,  and nobody who’ll likely leave a bigger imprint on the contest.

Atkins is the sort of player who can take on double-teams or even triple-teams and still make a positive play; he makes even the absolute best interior blockers appear to be lacking in ability. We could easily see him come away with one of the best games of his career here. The last time I said that was Week 2 of last season; he would go on to run roughshod over a putrid Houston interior line.

Missing two starters, this Miami interior might be just as bad. It’s also somewhat tougher to send useful help to slow a strong interior presence than one might think. Whether he has the sort of game which stuffs a stat sheet or he takes away all the blocking attention so others can eat, Atkins is going to be a force of nature against the Dolphins.

Prediction

Miami isn’t as bad as they showed against New England, but Cincinnati is a truly good team which stands on a level above the Dolphins right now. The offense has out-dueled an elite Atlanta unit and blew a really good Baltimore defense off the field.

This week, the defense will be the headline act, with that defensive line dominating in the exact way its talent level suggests it should versus a weakened Miami blocking unit. Garbage time scoring will save this from being a blowout, but by the end Cincinnati will clearly prove to be among the upper echelon of AFC teams as we enter the second quarter of the season.

Final Score: Cincinnati 34, Miami 26

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