The Bengals will need a complete game to win this one.
The Cincinnati Bengals return home on Sunday after they won two games in a row on the road to face off against the Philadelphia Eagles in their “white tiger” game. The 3-4 Bengals have a chance to even up their record with what would be their first home win of the season, allowing them to overcome yet another slow start.
Here are a few matchups that could decide the game.
Trey Hendrickson vs. Fred Johnson
I’m not even playing, and I’m ready to run through a wall when I think about this one. Hendrickson is an elite pass rusher, with seven sacks so far this season, which is tied for fourth most in the NFL. He picked up right where he left off last season, and with a healthy defensive line, the left tackle facing him has less help.
Jordan Mailata is on IR, so that left tackle is Fred Johnson.
Johnson is graded as the Eagles’ worst pass blocker, earning a PFF score of 36.2. He has given up 22 pressures so far this season, yielding three sacks. I’m positive the Eagles are going to have to do something to help Johnson, but I also expect Hendrickson to change his permanent address to Jalen Hurts’ personal space.
Bengals defensive front vs. Saquon Barkley
As stated before, the Bengals’ defensive line is now fully healthy. BJ Hill, Sheldon Rankins, Myles Murphy, and McKinnley Jackson all came back to the team, and in recent weeks, the defense held Derrick Henry and Nick Chubb to relatively low yards (except for Henry’s 51-yard overtime run).
Barkley is third in the league in rushing, with 658 yards on the ground so far, but he’s also shown he can be deadly as a receiver out of the backfield. This will be another test of the Bengals’ run defense. If they can hold up the way they did over the last couple of weeks, it would go a long way to ensuring a win on Sunday.
Cam Taylor-Britt/DJ Turner vs A.J. Brown/DeVonta Smith
Smith and Brown make up one of the toughest duos of outside wide receivers the Bengals will face this season. Brown, the vet, is one of the best deep-ball receivers in the league, and Smith can do everything. CTB and Turner will absolutely have their hands full.
For the Bengals to win on Sunday, Jalen Hurts can’t have a field day throwing to his two top targets all day long. CTB has struggled at times this season, and that can’t happen this week. Lou Anarumo is going to be very reliant on his outside corners to stay on the hip of their opposition.
Ja’Marr Chase/Tee Higgins vs Rookie cornerbacks
The Eagles secondary is full of talented players, but two of their starters are rookies — Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean. The Eagles spent a first- and second-round pick on their talented corners, but they’re likely facing the best wide receiver duo in the NFL. DeJean is the team’s slot corner, and the more Zac Taylor and Dan Pitcher can move Chase around, the more deadly he can be when the ball gets in his hands.
Both secondaries are going to be tested on Sunday as both teams have a talented group of receivers. The Bengals offense, after a couple frustrating games, is due to have an explosive afternoon.
Bengals offensive line vs Emerging Eagles pass rush
The Eagles defense only had a handful of sacks over the first few weeks of the season, but they’ve exploded after their Week 5 bye with 13 sacks over the last two games. The Bengals love to put the ball in Joe Burrow’s hands and let him rip it downfield to his elite receivers. In order to do that, the offensive line needs to give the quarterback a clean pocket.
The Bengals can’t allow this Eagles pass rushing trend to continue. The interior of the offensive line will need to deal with Jalen Carter up the middle and Josh Sweat coming off the edge. If the Bengals offense is going to have a bounceback game they can’t allow the Eagles pass rush to force Burrow to throw before he wants to.
