Week 4 Jaguars
Week 4: Jaguars
The Cincinnati Bengals enter Week 4 atop of the division. Zac Taylor and the Bengals offense are slowly gaining confidence and are starting to be dominate. Coupled with the much improved defense, the Cincinnati Bengals should be looking to win on Thursday. A win would make this season Taylor’s best season to date. Even with injuries to the defense, I fully expect the Bengals to win against a lesser team in the Jaguars. I expect the score to be 24-7 and the Bengals will move to 4-1.
Offense
Does history repeat itself? Joe Mixon's most dominant game in his career came last year against Jacksonville. Mixon finished with 151 yards rushing, 2 TD, along with 6 receptions for 30 yards and a TD. The Bengals should be looking to accelerate his performance from last year and give Mixon 25+ touches. Mixon should finish over 120 yard this game and lead the Bengals to victory.
Rely on the Rookies. Last week Bengals second round draft pick made his NFL debut. From rewatching the tape he seemed like a noticeable upgrade over veteran Xavier Su’a-filo. Carman looked hungry to block and was constantly initiating contact. I believe the Bengals will be running behind the right side of the Bengals line and will heavily rely on the young rookie. Speaking of Rookies the Bengals should continue to use their star receiver Ja’Marr Chase who is on pace to set the rookie receiving TD record. With 4 TD in 3 games Chase has been dominant. I expect Chase to catch at least 1 TD against the Jaguars.
When will the offense open up? After 3 weeks it seems the Bengals have taken a timid approach on Joe Burrow due to his reconstructed knee. The offense is slowly opening up, but everyone is holding their breath when the defense gets near Burrow. I believe the offense will continue to open up, but the real question is when will it fully be here. I don’t think it will be Week 4 but probably closer to Week 11 after the bye week. Something to watch each week is the complexity of the play calling. I still believe week 4 will feature a heavy dose of running the ball.
Defense
Pressure up the middle. I believe the Bengals defense will play off the pulse of the Bengals Defensive line. The more pressure they can get on Trevor Lawrence the more mistakes he will make. Through three weeks the Bengals line has been completely dominant. That coupled with a very weak middle front on the Jaguars line I fully expect the Bengals DT to wreak havoc all game long. I believe the Bengals will end up having 4 sacks on Thursday.
Is Trae Waynes worth the $42 Million Contract. The Cincinnati Bengals signed Trae Waynes in the 2019-2020 offseason. Before the season started Waynes suffered a pectoral injury that kept him out all of 2020. Then in the 2021 preseason Waynes suffered a hamstring injury. Bengals fans have to start worrying if their team can get anything out of Wayne's large contract. Wayne has his first chance to show Bengals fans that he's worth the money. He would be replacing the often targeted Eli Apple. Apple has been the worst Bengals defender by a long shot. If Waynes is even adequate, it would be a big upgrade to the Bengals defense. In summary I expect Waynes to play and be a solid upgrade over Apple.
Teams that win the turnover battle win 78% of the games. Trevor Lawrence currently has the most interceptions and has the worst competition percentage in the NFL. The Bengals Defense needs to feed off of this. Urban Meyer's offense likes long and developing routes, which coupled with Lawrence being late on throws could be disastrous for the Jaguars. Logan Wilson and the Bengals safeties will be the one with the interceptions if they happen. I expect the Bengals defense to have 2 interceptions on Thursday.
