Thursday Night Football Preview Dolphins-Bengals

By Djack

This is a huge game for both these teams in terms of playoff chances. Both these teams are 1-2 and neither one of them wants to or can afford to fall to 1-3 if they plan on making the playoffs. The Dolphins have proven that their passing game is decent, but their run game has some question marks around it with Arian Foster out with an injury. The Dolphins defense on the other hand is finally looking like the defense that they paid for, they're only letting up 21 points per game and they're pass rush is 7th in the league in sacks. They have a real front seven and Tannenhill shows burst of being a really good quarterback, so the Dolphins could potentially make a run at the wildcard, but the division is New England's and no one is coming close to taking that from them. The Bengals on the other hand have looked very disappointing this season, coming off one of their best seasons if not their best season with Andy Dalton, the Bengals look like they've taken a step back. They've been missing a few pieces on defense including Vontaze Burfict who is a huge difference maker so getting him back tonight will be a huge boost for that recently sluggish defense. The offense lost a couple weapons in free agency, Tyler Eifert has been out with an injury, and the lack of weapons surrounding Dalton has hurt him as a QB. He is not nearly doing as well as he did last year up to this point, the offense still has weapons with Jeremy Hill and AJ Green, so I cut Dalton no slack, if he wants to be a franchise quarterback that can win playoff games, he needs to lead his team to victory tonight. Not just tonight though, Dalton needs to become a consistent force to be reckon with if he wants to be a highly respected quarterback in this league, I'm telling you right now the Ravens and Steelers aren't losing much sleep over preparing for Andy Dalton. I believe in Marvin Lewis and this Bengals team, I think they'll make a statement tonight on Thursday night football and handle the Dolphins soundly. The Bengals really can't afford a loss tonight, if they're 1-3, while the Ravens are 3-0, and the Steelers are 2-1 about to be 3-1, they have such a slim mathematical chance on winning that division, and we all know the wildcard is always a tough road for any team. The Bengals keep their heads above water tonight and beat the Miami Dolphins 34-21. If the Dolphins can get a run game established and they're getting a lot of pressure on Andy Dalton, look for this score to flip flop the other way. Should be a good display of football either way, love the defenses on both sides in this game, and we got two young quarterbacks looking to take that next step, so I'm certain we're in for a treat tonight. One teams playoff hopes will still be alive after tonight and the others will be crushed barring a major turnaround in their season.