The phrase "any given Sunday" is a cliché precisely applicable to Sunday's matchup between the Cincinnati Bengals and Tennessee Titans at Paycor Stadium.
Do the Titans have any business winning this game? No. When has that mattered in the NFL? Another common phrase: "They get paid too." And that's to underscore the fact that, despite Tennessee posting a 1-6 record to date, everyone on that team is scrapping for their lives, be it to prove they belong in the team's long-term plans or to prove they're viable elsewhere.
With such an exciting stretch of three marquee/standalone games coming up, the Bengals are set up to have an epic letdown. How can they avoid it? Let's look closer.
Bengals' lack of discipline at home is a red flag to watch
We know this officiating crew doesn't historically cater to the Bengals. Exacerbating that potential problem is the fact that Cincinnati commits an average of nine penalties in home games this season.
Granted, it's a small sample size, as the Bengals played four of their first six contests on the road. It's still nevertheless a concern. It'll be especially important for Cincinnati to not get too greedy and just keep it simple, stupid.
That means no unnecessary big play hunting or pressing. It'll be tempting for Joe Burrow to launch it deep to Ja'Marr Chase or Tee Higgins given how inferior the Titans secondary is. When in doubt, or even when not, Burrow just needs to play within himself and not let his team beat themselves.
Self-inflicted errors have kept the Bengals from perfection
Mitchell Tinsley's bad route. Cedric Johnson roughing the punter. Ke'Shawn Williams coughing up a punt. The Bengals are literally three plays away from a 6-0 record.
Really the Bengals have beaten themselves all season. That's precisely how the Titans can hang around on Sunday. If Cincinnati continues to be super one-dimensional on offense and fails to get the ground game going, Tennessee head coach Robert Saleh is savvy enough to make some adjustments to make life more difficult for Burrow and Co.
Yes, the Titans traded Jeffery Simmons and could be without his d-tackle running mate John Franklin-Myers, who's questionable to play. It doesn't matter. This is the NFL. The Bengals cannot afford to take their foot off the gas for a second.
So between the penalties, the boneheaded special teams nonsense and Cincinnati counting on unproven players in big spots, these avoidable errors need to be cleaned up. Otherwise, the run of Madrid versus the Falcons, Sunday Night Football against the Steelers and Monday Night Football at Washington could be a lot less fruitful than it currently promises to be.
And like...if the Bengals could run the ball better ,they wouldn't have had to depend on Tinsley in that spot in Week 4's loss to the Jaguars.
I'm eager to see what happens either way in Week 8.
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