NFL preview: Atlanta Falcons play Cincinnati Bengals live on Sky Sports Sunday
Sunday 14 September 2014 21:54, UK
Two teams coming off important divisional wins clash in the first game of our double header on Sky Sports as the Atlanta Falcons travel to Ohio to face the Cincinnati Bengals.
Both teams are 1-0 after the Falcons won a shootout at home against the Saints last week while the Bengals managed to stifle the Ravens in Baltimore to kick-off their season with a win.
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Atlanta are looking for a bounce-back season after last year’s nightmare, while the Bengals had a nightmare of their own in the playoffs when QB Andy Dalton threw two picks and lost a fumble during their defeat to San Diego.
The Falcons look to have their flashy offence back in place after their overtime success last week, while the Bengals need to get back to their defensive best in front of their homes fans.
Here’s what else to look for in this one…
Falcons fancy a shootout
Atlanta can’t match Cincy in defensive terms, so their best chance of a road victory will be to score big and early to force the Bengals to go toe-to-toe. The Falcons look back to their offensive best and beating Drew Brees in a throwing battle is no mean feat so if they can do that they’ll fancy getting the better of Andy Dalton. Dalton is a different QB in the regular season though, especially at home, and he at least can depend on his defence to at least conjure up something this week, although they did concede 420 yards to the Ravens.
QB comparison
Both of these two triggermen have a point to prove this year. There is less doubt over Matt Ryan’s ability than Dalton’s, but he’ll still be keen to lead a return to challenging after last year’s debacle. He did that in style with a franchise record 448 yards last week, and three TDs, as the team piled up a record 568 yards of total offence. Doing that away in Cincy will be a much tougher prospect. Dalton moved the chains well last week but they had to settle for five first-half field goals while on top, so he’ll need to improve on that this week. He crucially avoided an interception, which may have been on his mind after throwing six in his last two games last season.
Receiving talent
We’re lucky enough to get a glimpse of two of the best receivers in the league on Sunday, with Atlanta’s Julio Jones and Cincinnati’s AJ Green both on the field after starting the season with 100-yard games. Jones missed 11 games last season and having such a dominant presence back again will do wonders for Atlanta’s passing game, which was also boosted last week by Devin Hester, with the return specialist adding five rare receptions for 99 yards. The Falcons have more options and if they can make full use of Hester’s ability then they’ll have another weapon to use. Green is his team’s main weapon, but has been dealing with a foot injury during the week.
Form
Going 2-0 will be a nice for either of these teams – the Bengals haven’t gone 2-0 since 2006, while the Falcons haven’t won consecutive games for almost two years. The Falcons have won the last three meetings, but only one of those was in Cincinnati. The Bengals have been formidable at home of late with nine straight regular season wins at Paul Brown Stadium, where they’ve conceded over 20 points just twice during that spell – although they did give up 27 in their playoff loss to San Diego in January.
No rush
Even with an ageing Steven Jackson, Atlanta managed more rushing yards than the Bengals last week, but the hosts will fancy their chances of getting more out of Giovani Bernard on the ground this week against the Falcons’ flakey run D. They gave up 139 yards to the Saints and have coughed up 110-yards in their last 14 games, with only Chicago’s motley bunch of run-stoppers worse over that stretch. Expect the Bengals to run the ball more to improve on last week’s possession stats.
Quotes
"It's a good start. We've got a long way to go. That's one thing that I have learned in six years previous to this, is it's a long season. You can't get too high and too low after Week 1,” Falcons QB Matt Ryan.
"He's going to be a top five quarterback. That's how I feel. He's poised,” AJ Green on QB Andy Dalton.
"That's really what it's all about when you have playmakers. The more you have, the better opportunity you have to move the football and score points,” Falcons coach Mike Smith.
