The Hoch's Thursday Breakdown
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from: http://afraidofedhochuli.blogspot.com A new thing to the Hoch. I will break down one game from the upcoming weekend of lovely, wonderful football. I will do the breakdown like a lot of other sites, matching up position by position. The difference?
I will NOT compare the same positions. So no Offensive Line VS Offensive Line. It will be Offensive Line VS Defensive Line.
Get it?
Good.
Week 3:
Cincinnati Bengals at the Seattle Seahawks [1] [2]
[3] This is going to be a shootout, not like the Bengals/Browns shootout because the Seahawks Defense, while faltering last week, will be a lot stingier then the Browns. A shootout. And I will tell you what: this game is going to be fun. Both teams have a sub-par run defense right now and both have Running Backs that can exploit that.
Live by the pass and die by the pass. You are supposed to run to open up the pass but Cincinnati uses the pass to open up the run.
Here it is.
Cincinnati Offense
Run:
Rudi Johnson is still top tier. He may have lost a step but if you underestimate he will carve you up. He will be getting the bulk of the carries since the Bengals don’t have a functional backup. They only average 101.8 rush yards per game, but that is after a game with the Ravens and a passing heavy game last week. We all have seen the difficulty that the Seahawks have had when they lose Marcus Tubbs. There is an average of 60 more yards that are given up when he is not in the lineup. But the Seahawks need to let it go and get Brandon Mebane up to speed. He has the size to clog up those lanes. Also the addition of Leroy Hill coming back (after being inactive last weekend) should help to bring the defense closer to what they should be.
Advantage: Cincinnati (1-0)
Pass: This is the scariest part of their offense. You have 2 potential Hall of Famers at skill positions in Carson Palmer and Chad Johnson. They can make things happen by themselves. Then you have Houshmandzadeh on the other side. Plus look at this: 6’1” and 6’1” vs. 5’11” and 5’11”. What is this? Bengals WR vs. Seahawks CB (Trufant and Jennings). May not be too big, but when they WR are such amazing playmakers…you need to be afraid. The Hawks will need to be extremely physical to start and make them fear getting hit. Only then will they be able to take away some of the power that the pass offense will create.
Advantage: Cincinnati (2-0)
Offensive Line:
Bengals have only allowed 2 sacks and the Seahawks have gotten to the QB 5 times. This will be the most intriguing match up of the week. You have a Bengals team that can keep the QB upright for long enough to let him throw and you have a younger faster defensive line that loves to rush. The problem is that the Seahawks did NOT get good pressure against a pathetic Offensive line last week in Arizona. If the Hawks can keep the Bengals off guard and rush with the speed of LB Julian Peterson and the finesse of DE Patrick Kerney, Palmer may be under pressure all day.
Advantage: Seattle (2-1)
Seattle Offense
Run: Did you see the Browns run for 226 yards last week? Did you watch as Jamal Lewis ran ALL over the Cincinnati Defense? All I will say is that the Seahawks Line is much better then the Browns’ and Alexander is much better then Lewis. I believe that this is all I need to say.
Advantage: Seattle (2-2)
Pass:
The good ol’ Bengals Defense is ranked DEAD LAST in Pass Yards Allowed. 32 of 32. The Seahawks are ranked 21st. I would take 21 over 32 any day. Also, if Derrick “Look I Got a Starting Job” Anderson could throw for 5 touchdowns, then Matt Hasselbeck should have a Field Day on this secondary. Watch Branch and Burleson on Sunday. They will carve up this defense to the point that Cincy will forget about the debacle they called last week.
Advantage: Seattle (2-3) Offensive Line: They may be young but they are gelling, and when one of your tackles is Walter Jones, then you don’t need to worry about your QB’s blind side. Sean Locklear on the right side is seen as one of the best Right Tackles in the game as well. What this means: less blocking needed from the Tight End which opens him up to the passing game; the staple of the West Coast Offense. The Bengals Defense looked good on opening weekend, but looked disgusting last week. They have 2 sacks on the season and 3 interceptions. Only 1 of these interceptions, though, were taken by the secondary. The rest? Bad passes by Steve McNair that got picked by the D Line. To me, it really looks like the Seahawks win this one as well.
Advantage: Seattle (2-4)
Special Teams: (Not Scored) Kickers: Shayne Graham is 3-4 this season. The miss being from 50+. Last season he was 25-30, again his misses coming from distance. Josh Brown is 4-4 with a long of 46. last season he was 25-31 with a long of 54, and 4 game winners.
Punters: Kyle Larson is averaging 43.1 yards per kick this season; 44.5 yards last season. Ryan Plackemeier is averaging 41.5 yards per kick this season; 45 yards last season.
Seattle wins 4 positions to 2 The Numbers say that Seattle will win this game, but as we all know, there is nothing that says Paper means anything. This will be a game that the Hawks will try and control through the running game. If they can do this, they will keep the bread-and-butter of Cincy off the field, and will win.
Prediction: Sea 31, Cin 27
![[1]](http://i.cnn.net/si/images/football/nfl/logos/170x60/logo_seahawks_170x60.gif){kind=link}
![[2]](http://i.cnn.net/si/images/football/nfl/logos/170x60/logo_bengals_170x60.gif){kind=link}