Bengals vs Chargers Expert's Take: Cincinnati needs to tame unheralded sack artist in Los Angeles
This is a big one for the Cincinnati Bengals. A win over the Los Angeles Chargers would give the Bengals a needed boost towards making the playoffs. Losing means falling to 4-7 and essentially waving the white flag entering the bye week.Margin of error? Something really, really, really close to zero. These two teams don't often play […]
This is a big one for the Cincinnati Bengals. A win over the Los Angeles Chargers would give the Bengals a needed boost towards making the playoffs. Losing means falling to 4-7 and essentially waving the white flag entering the bye week.
Margin of error? Something really, really, really close to zero.
These two teams don't often play each other despite sharing a conference, but there are some similarities. Quarterbacks Joe Burrow and Justin Herbert are playing elite football and representing the top of the 2020 NFL Draft class spectacularly. The Bengals have the lowest Strength of Victory in the AFC. The second-lowest belongs to the Chargers.
So where do they differ? For those answers, I turned to A to Z Sports' resident AFC West expert Justin Churchill to discover what kind of team Cincinnati will be facing on Sunday.
JS: Every week it sounds like Jim Harbaugh has new ways to praise Justin Herbert, who’s played flawlessly over the past month. What switch has been flipped for that passing game in recent weeks?
JC: I think the run game is really opening up everything in the pass game. Dobbins has been great and they have really fed off the play action and the field opening up because of that. Herbert can throw it with the best of them, and while his stats haven’t been otherworldly, the best answer I can give you is he’s just being Justin Herbert. He makes the right reads, and he and Harbaugh have a great connection together. It starts there.
JS: The Bengals are intimately familiar with OC Greg Roman and his running backs JK Dobbins and Gus Edwards from their stints with the Ravens. Now that Edwards is healthy again, what can Cincinnati expect out of this rushing attack?
JC: Harbaugh and Roman are going to run the ball. Even if it’s not working, they’re going to run the ball. But you already know that. What’s making this attack different is the ways they will attack you within their scheme. Heck, even Herbert got out and ran a few options last game where he pulled on goal line to go situations. And it certainly helps that Dobbins is basically averaging half of a first down per carry.
JS: L.A. has what looks like the best defense that no one seems to be talking about and Joey Bosa has only played six games. What’s been the real strength of this unit and who’ve been the real standouts?
JC: Sophomore standout Tuli Tuipulotu has 5.5 sacks over the last three weeks alone. So, he has kind of picked up some of the slack that Bosa and even Khalil Mack have left him at times. I think some of it too is that they have played some bad offenses at times. Nine different players had a pressure against the Tennessee Titans last week but that offensive line is one of the worst in the league. They are just doing what they’re supposed to do. And, it’s working tremendously.
JS: The Joe Burrow-led Bengals have yet to beat the Chargers, but the NFL wanted this game in primetime for a reason. How do you see this one playing out?
JC: I think with some of the pieces the Chargers have coming back with the defense playing as well as they have been, the Chargers should take this one. But, I have been a huge proponent of the Bengals being a better team than their record is. Ladd McConkey is playing great, the offensive line is blocking well, and Herbert is just on another level right now.
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