This should be an exciting football game.   The Bengals gave up 49 points in a devastating loss to the Chargers and the Saints gave up 38 points on the road in Pittsburgh last week.  Both teams need this game badly!  The Saints need the win to stay in first place (6-3), while the Bengals need the win to stay alive in the playoff race as they are only 4-5 on the season.

Look for the Bengals to run a wide-open offense, but to run the ball early and get Rudi Johnson involved in the gameplan.  Willie Parker rushed for over 200 yards last week against the Saints and Rudi Johnson is a better back than he is.  Look for Carson Palmer to keep playing catch with his two top receivers, Chad Johnson (51 rec, 742 yards) and T.J. Houshmandzadeh (46 rec, 576 yards) as the Saints secondary has been getting torched as of late.  Opposing QBs have 17 TDs and only 4 INTs against the Saints.  The Saints must blitz Palmer or he will carve their defense up.

Look for the Saints to also run a wide-open attack.  They might try to run the ball a little more than usual to attempt to keep the Bengals offense off of the field.  The Bengals are soft against the run, allowing 126.8 yards rushing and 4.3 yards per carry.  But the Saints will certainly attack the Bengals down the field, with Brees taking shots to the soon-to-be offensive rookie of the year Marques Colston.  All Colston has done this year is catch 54 passes for 869 yards and 7 TDs.  Colston is a mis-match for any Bengal DB because of his rare blend of size and speed.

Buckle the seat belts kiddies.  This will be an exciting football game, just like each of them played in last week.   The only difference is that one of them will win this week, and I think it will be whoever has the ball last.

What an incredible football game this was.  The Bengals built a 28-7 lead in the first half.  In the second half the Bengals got out-scored 42-13 to lose the football game at home!  Carson Palmer had a great game completing 31 of 42 passes for 440 yards with 3 TDs.  Rudi Johnson carried the ball 18 times for 85 yards (4.7 ypc) and a TD.  Chris Perry carried the ball 4 times for 31 yards (7.8 ypc).  Jeremi Johnson very rarely gets the ball, but he carried it 3 times for 9 yards and a TD.  Chad Johnson had the best game of his NFL career with 11 receptions for 260 yards and 2 TDs!!!!  T.J. Houshmandzadeh caught 7 passes for 88 yards.  Chris Henry caught 2 passes for 18 yards and a TD.

The defense played poorly in this football game.  The Bengals held the Chargers to 107 yards rushing on 26 carries (4.1 ypc).  The Bengals couldn’t stop the Chargers passing attack, as the Chargers completed 24 of 36 passes for 323 net yards passing.

This game really hurt the Bengals.  What a choke job!

This game pits two teams that are moving in different directions.  The Chargers have won four of their last five games, while the Bengals have lost 4 of their last 5 games.

Look for the Chargers to run the football against the Bengals who allow 129.3 yards rushing per game and 4.3 yards per carry.  LaDainian Tomlinson (828 yards rushing) and Michael Turner (344 yards rushing) will both have huge games on Sunday against the soft Bengals defense.  Look for Philip Rivers to dice up the Bengals secondary when they creep up to stop the Chargers running game.  Antonio Gates should have a big game and so could Keenan McCardell or Eric Parker.

The  Bengals should come out throwing the football to set up the run.  With alot of the Chargers defense out for the game, the Bengals offensive line must step up and protect Carson Palmer.  Palmer has been a little skittish in the pocket due to his injured knee, but if he has time he will have success throwing the ball to Chad Johnson (40 rec, 483 yards) and T.J. Houshmandzadeh (39 rec, 488 yards).

Look for the Chargers to bully the Bengals with their running game thus controlling the clock.  I do think that Chad Johnson will have his best game of the season this Sunday.  This should be a great football game to watch with alot of scoring.

I think Palmer isn’t 100% healthy because he seems a little jittery in the pocket, and some of his deep passes are lacking a little bit of zip as he might be having problems with his rebuilt knee.  To Palmer’s credit, he hasn’t used it for an excuse and is still putting up decent numbers for the Bengals.  Palmer has completed 61.2% of his passes for 1,879 yards with 12 TDs and 6 INTs.  Palmer’s Qb rating in 89.3 which is pretty darn good.  The Bengals do need to protect Palmer a little better as they have given up 23 sacks.

Bengals reserve cornerback Greg Brooks underwent arthoscopic knee surgery on Monday.  His playing status is uncertain, but he definately is out for the game coming up with the Chargers.