The Cincinnati Bengals are hosting the Green Bay Packers on Sunday and without getting into what specifically needs to happen for the Bengals to win, every conversation starts and ends with the NFL’s reigning MVP, Aaron Rodgers.
It’s not just going to be on Cincinnati’s defense, though. The Bengals offense must do something they haven’t done particularly well this year: Score in the first quarter.
The Bengals have scored just one touchdown in four first quarters. To keep pace with Rodgers and the Packers’ potent offense, the pressure will be on Joe Burrow and Co. to score early and often.
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“We can't start slow the way we did last week,” Burrow said. “If we start slow like that, we'll be down 21-0 before we can blink. So, we're gonna have to come out fast.”
Burrow is right. It’s hard to beat any team when you go into halftime down two touchdowns like the Bengals did in Week 4.
Specific to the Packers, Rodgers and the offense appears to be hitting their stride after being held to three points in Week 1. Since the 38-3 loss to the Saints, Green Bay scored 35, 30 and 27 points.
The Bengals are averaging 23.0 points per game. Despite being 3-1, there’s plenty of areas Cincinnati can improve in and Burrow said as much on Wednesday.
“We've just got to execute better,” Burrow said. “Execute better on third down, be more efficient on first and second down. We haven't scored many points, if any, in the first quarter that I can remember. We've got to be better in that area. Once we get that, we'll be rolling.”
Tee Higgins could return for Bengals offense
Getting wide receiver Tee Higgins back on the field could certainly help the Bengals get off to a faster start. Higgins has missed two games with a shoulder injury but was back on the practice field on Wednesday.
The Bengals rank 20th in third down efficiency as they’re completing on 37.8 percent of their third downs situations. Extending drives is not only imperative to scoring more points, it’s also important when facing Rodgers from a time management standpoint.
Rodgers has shown repeatedly he can get his team in a scoring position quickly. The Bengals are going to need to control the clock and keep Rodgers off the field to win.
“When you've got that top echelon of quarterback – Aaron Rodgers is certainly in that mix – you do spend a lot of time situationally talking about how do you control the ball and how you play in certain situations,” head coach Zac Taylor said.
This is where running back Joe Mixon’s status will be especially important to monitor. Mixon is dealing with an ankle injury and is considered “day-to-day” by Taylor. Having Mixon on the field carrying the load and running out the clock would certainly be a help to the Bengals as they try and take down the Packers at Paul Brown Stadium.
“We're excited to play this game,” Burrow said. “They're a really good team, have been for a really long time. They're coming in here and we're gonna have to be ready to play. They're not going to roll over and let us beat them. They're gonna make us beat them. They're not gonna lose the game, that's for sure.”
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