Cincinnati Bengals: What to watch, key players for Week 8 vs. Buccaneers

Previewing the Week 8 contest between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, looking at the players to watch, keys to the game and more.

It has been a tough couple weeks for the Cincinnati Bengals. First, we saw them get beaten up and injured against the Steelers before Pittsburgh stole a close game in the final minute. Then, they were embarrassed in a blowout loss to the AFC-leading Kansas City Chiefs that they gave up as soon as they hit halftime.

That exciting 4-1 start has given way to a mundane 4-3.

This week brings a new challenge. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are not on the level of the two teams these Bengals just lost to, but they have dangerous talent on offense that could win on any given Sunday. Beat them, and Cincinnati will halt their two-week tailspin to sit at 5-3 as they enter their bye week. Lose, and they will be 4-4 and their season will be spiraling out of control.

Here’s what to watch for during this game.

Will Dalton Throw To Someone Other Than Green?

Andy Dalton has been having one of the better seasons of his career — in fact, the only year he may have been better was 2015, when the Bengals were on pace for the top seed in the AFC before he went down with a thumb injury for the remainder of the campaign.

A big part of that has been his ability to grow as a passer, and not fall into the bad habits which undermined his play when he was younger. A huge hallmark of those days was his over-reliance on his favorite receiver: A.J. Green. When Dalton has been in a rough spot in previous years, he’s often honed in on Green to be the safety valve far too often, throwing the offensive rhythm out of whack by becoming one-dimensional in his focus on his draftmate from 2011.

For much of this year we saw him stay away from those negative tendencies, but it came screaming back in a big way against Kansas City. Nearly half of Dalton’s 29 passes on the evening (14) targeted Green (at one point, it was even 10 of 20) as Dalton’s favorite guy had himself a good statistical outing (seven receptions, 117 yards).

It worked early, but as the game progressed — and the defense adjusted — Dalton kept on tossing the ball to his man rather than elsewhere. Completions turned into incompletions and drives quickly failed. A 14-7 deficit extended quickly in Kansas City’s favor before the half in part due to trying to force the ball to Green and failing to connect against a coverage ready for that choice.

The game was already sealed by the time Dalton threw an ill-advised interception, which was returned for a touchdown. On the play, Green was tightly covered already and multiple players were over the middle in the area he’d need to get to for a reception.

This sort of game will hopefully be an outlier and not Dalton falling back into old habits, and the offensive talent available to him now would hopefully help him in a way it couldn’t in previous years.

Tyler Eifert may be gone to another ugly injury, but Tyler Boyd has spent most of this year stepping up as a really good No. 2 option. It’s actually been Boyd rather than Green whom Dalton has turned to when the team needed third- and fourth-down conversions this year, and his overall stats put him on pace for a 91-reception, 1,101-yard, nine-touchdown season. In seven games this year, he’s had four games with 60+ yards (including two 100+ yard games) and four with six-or-more receptions.

Boyd isn’t the only talent here though; in fact, after setting aside injury losses, this is one of Cincinnati’s more useful collections of skill position talent Dalton’s ever had. Giovani Bernard is still hurt, but Mark Walton was drafted as a Bernard clone (and possible future replacement). When healthy (big if), John Ross is one of the fastest receiving talents in the entire league.

Alex Erickson is one of those players who has a penchant for making timely plays. Josh Malone could be useful in a pseudo-tight end role with all the injuries at that spot; he’s got the size to work well in short-yardage and red zone situations. Even Cody Core has intriguing athletic gifts (if not, he would’ve been cut a long time ago, don’t you think?).

Between all those guys, Dalton has plenty of other options to utilize. He just has to use them.