At least one player for the Cincinnati Bengals backs the current coaching staff, while the Miami Dolphins appear to be headed in a new direction at the quarterback position. And here are bold predictions for these teams’ Week 16 clash.
Neither team has much to write home about this season. The Bengals stand at 4-10, while the Dolphins (6-8) were recently eliminated from playoff consideration.
One big question for the Bengals is what they will get out of quarterback Joe Burrow.
Bengals QB Joe Burrow will throw for 280-plus yards
Burrow has been under scrutiny after his recent comments about playing football. But he’s a professional with a high motor. Look for him to come out and play like vintage Joe Burrow.
Teammate Ja’Marr Chase said he’s trying to support Burrow, according to Fox Sports.
“If I’m being honest, I’ve never been in a situation with him where I’ve had to uplift him,” Chase said. “But going forward, I might need to because he does it for me. You never know what he might be going through.”
Burrow is coming off a game where he did next to nothing. He threw for 225 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions. But the Bengals’ struggles haven’t been a total coaching thing, according to atozsports.com.
“I think we have great coaches,” Burrow said. “I think we’re consistently put in good positions to make plays and do our best. Obviously, there’s good games and bad games, just like players have good games and bad games. I have a lot of confidence in everybody that’s putting together the plans for us week in and week out.
“That’s not to say that changes don’t need to be made,” Burrow continued. “Not saying personnel or people, I’m just saying what we’ve been doing hasn’t worked the last couple years. So now we have to think outside the box and get creative about where we go from here.”
Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase will get back into the end zone
After a strong start to the season, Chase has turned into a big disappointment for fantasy football managers. Despite having four big receiving efforts, Chase hasn’t been in the end zone for six straight weeks.
So, yes, it’s a bold prediction to say he will find that place against the Dolphins.
Chase said he still believes in the level of talent the Bengals have on the offensive side of the football, according to cincinnati.com.
“I mean, yeah,” Chase said. “Obviously, man, we got the best (quarterback-receiver) duo and quarterback. Every year I feel like we been getting better in the running game and (exceeding) the expectations we’ve had since last year and just getting better every year. We just got to find that piece.”
Burrow should pepper Chase with targets this week.
Dolphins De-Von Achane will total 150-plus yards
Let’s face it. The Bengals have no shot at stopping Achane. In fairness, few teams have been able to slow him down. Let’s look at his season chart for total yards:
Weeks 1-4 — 75, 122, 91, 101
Weeks 5-8 — 46, 150, 98, 91
Week 9-12 — 106, 225, 165, bye
Weeks 13-15 — 134, 105, 127
Now, let’s pull out the totals against the bottom 10 defenses in the NFL this year in terms of yards allowed.
Commanders — 105
Steelers — 147
Ravens — 106
And now, Achane gets the defense that allowed more yards than anybody. The Bengals have given up 403.8 per game.
Let’s take one more statistical step, given the Bengals’ yardage number. Achane has gained 1,636 total yards this season. That’s 37% of the Dolphins’ offense (4,460).
The Bengals have allowed almost 404 yards per game. If Achane gets his usual 37 percent, that’s 149.5 total yards.
There you have it, in numbers at least.
Now, you add in that the Dolphins will have Quinn Ewers at quarterback. The Bengals can’t shut anybody down, not even a rookie in his first start. So, the Dolphins can run their normal offense and get the ball to Achane everywhere.
Here’s the overall viewpoint, according to ESPN via abc7chicago.com.
“Achane has been a solid under bet in the receiving game this year, as his enormous success as a traditional ball carrier has led to fewer touches as a receiver,” Ben Solak wrote. “The Bengals, however, are a great team for RB receiving production, as they play tons of soft zone coverage and have very shaky tacklers in the second level of the defense — checkdowns can go far with Achane against the Cincinnati linebackers.
“With Tua Tagovailoa benched and Ewers in line to start his first NFL game, all Dolphins receiving props are depressed. To insulate his rookie, expect head coach Mike McDaniel to dial up multiple designed throws to Achane, and expect Ewers to be fast to the checkdown when the Bengals pack their downfield zones. With Achane’s speed, we can get to this number [over 26.5 receiving yards] in a few catches, but I expect the playcalling will get us there over volume.”
So, which team comes away with the win? We’ll go with Burrow getting the Bengals back on track offensively. And we will discount the Dolphins’ ability to match scores with a rookie quarterback. Prediction: Bengals 27, Dolphins 23.
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