Bengals vs. Saints: First Look at Week 6’s Matchup
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The Saints and Bengals clash in a battle of ‘Who Dat’ vs. ‘Who Dey’ inside the Superdome on Sunday.
The Bengals (2-3) come to New Orleans on Sunday to take on the Saints (2-3), as both teams are looking to get back to .500 after less than ideal starts. The Saints are coming off a big win against the Seahawks that featured a heavy dose of Taysom Hill, who ended up taking down two weekly awards from the NFL as a result. As for the Bengals, they lost a close one to the Ravens in Baltimore. Here’s some things we’re watching leading up to kickoff.
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What to Watch For
HOMECOMING RETURNS: LSU fans will undoubtedly be excited to see Ja’Marr Chase and Joe Burrow come back home to play in New Orleans, and Dennis Allen acknowledged that on Monday, but hopes that there will be more black and gold support in the Superdome.
Allen said, “They have a special place in Louisiana sports history because they brought a national championship to LSU.”
“It is on to the NFL, and they are part of the enemy. Our team’s focus is how do we beat those guys, and hopefully our crowd will be in to cheer on the Saints.”
It’s not just Chase and Burrow, as former Saints Vonn Bell, Trey Hendrickson, and Eli Apple will be in the Bengals lineup. Apple won’t get a friendly welcome, but Bell and Hendrickson might. Of course, when talking about LSU, you can’t overlook guys like Jarvis Landry and Tyrann Mathieu on the squad.
WHO STARTS: Jameis Winston (back/ankle) returned to practice this week for the Saints on Wednesday, but it’s unclear as to whether or not he’s in a capacity to start against the Bengals. Dennis Allen said that it was a step in the right direction for Winston and part of the process. Andy Dalton has done a nice job managing things in his two starts, so it’ll be really interesting to see how things go into the weekend with who plays. A lot will hinge on where Winston is at from a health perspective.
TAYSOM TIME: Taysom Hill may not have as much success as he did against the Seahawks, mainly because teams are going to watch the film and try to counter when he does get onto the field. It creates interesting wrinkles when Hill comes into the game. This could open up a few things in the offense, and if Pete Carmichael sees some opportunities in play calling to get him the ball, then it could really be another game where he helps move the chains at worst case. The ground game was a big success last week with Alvin Kamara, so leaning on the offensive line again would be wise.
INJURY FRONT: The next few days will be big for the Saints, as several key players have a questionable outlooking going into Sunday. The thing to keep in mind is that New Orleans has a short week to work with after the game, as they’ll play the Cardinals on the road for Thursday Night Football. There’s reason to be optimistic for Chris Olave (concussion), but there’s uncertainty for Marshon Lattimore (abdomen), Michael Thomas (toe), and Jarvis Landry (ankle). Allen said on Wednesday that Landry toughed things out against the Vikings after getting hurt against the Panthers, and hasn’t been able to get back onto the field.
CHESS MATCHUP: Not having Lattimore would be a huge issue for the Saints, as the Bengals have a very talented receiving group. If he were unable to go, then the question becomes who guards Ja’Marr Chase. Paulson Adebo has struggled some since returning to the lineup from his ankle injury, and he’d presumably be first in line to shadow him. However, the Saints may take a different approach and just play sides. Last week, we saw Chris Harris Jr. in the lineup on the outside with Bradley Roby in the slot after the Lattimore injury. The safety help was missing some throughout the game, so hopefully Marcus Maye finally makes it back onto the field. New Orleans got beat by several big plays last week, and they can’t afford to have that happen again.
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