[Stardust]

This, like the Texans game, scares me.

First off, the Bengals have never played well on the West coast. They have only won 25% when traveling to Denver or further.

Raiders defense is GOOD. Bengals come in without Benson, which may mean the Bengals have no choice but to pass. This team was not able to put points on the board against the Texans when all they could do was pass. The Bengals have to have the run, to set-up the pass.

Everyone has picked the Bengals in a blowout, just like they picked the Bengals over the Texans. What do the Raiders have to lose? They played a good Eagles team very tough. This is the NFL, where anybody can win on "Any Given Sunday".

This is a game the Bengals should win, but WILL THEY?

[5timechamp]

Trap game after two big wins against division rivals.

[Jimmy Dugan]

I think the Bengals win...Remember they have Larry Johnson to run the ball now as well.

[Stardust]

I think the Bengals win...Remember they have Larry Johnson to run the ball now as well.

After ONE practice?

[Jimmy Dugan]

After ONE practice?

Yes...You will probably see him get a few touches.

[Stardust]

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20091...++Asomugha

In two previous meetings against the Raiders, Chad Ochocinco has posted 100-yard games. In order to make it a three-peat though, he will have to go against one of the best corners in the league in Oakland's Nnamdi Asomugha.

While Asomugha doesn't have any interceptions this year, and only has two over the past three seasons, he has a reputation as possibly the best shutdown corners in the game.

"I know my corners and there is no one a defensive coordinator feels as comfortable enough to leave on an island on his own and bump and run and let everybody else just play," said Ochocinco of Asomugha. "There's not another corner who has enough confidence to do that right now. He does it, he's consistent."

Ochocinco is looking to bounce back after a season-low two catches for 29 yards in last week's win over Pittsburgh. Before that game, the ninth-year receiver had 27 receptions for 381 yards and two touchdowns.

With Cedric Benson out for this game due to a hip flexor, it's possible that the Bengals will try to open things up more with the pass. At Pittsburgh last week, they did pass on the first five plays.

While Oakland enters the game with a 2-7 record, their pass defense is a respectable 14th. Besides Asomugha, who is in his seventh season, cornerback Chris Johnson has five interceptions since the start of last season and is aiming for this third straight game with a pick. Safeties Hiram Eugene and Tyvon Branch are also physical.

• Bengals vs. Raiders, at a glance

"Their run game has helped them in their pass; their pass game has helped them in the run," Asomugha said. "Carson Palmer's been doing a great job of spreading the ball around. It's always a threat when they drop back to pass."

If the Bengals are going to attempt to be a little more balanced, the Raiders are looking to key in on stopping one area early in order to force them to be one dimensional. "If you're going to stop the pass, stop the pass early, so you can concentrate on the run," Asomugha said. "If you let both of those aspects eat you up, you'll be in trouble the whole day because they'll have their whole playbook to work with."

For Ochocinco and the offense, he sees today's game as more of a statement than last Sunday's as Pittsburgh. If the AFC North-leading Bengals are going to be considered a good team, they must take care of business against the lesser ones.

"For us to be the team that we are, this is a game that we should win," Ochocinco said. "The good teams win the games they should and steal a couple on the road. No way are we overlooking the Raiders. You can ask Philadelphia what happened. This is the week where as an offense we have a chance to flourish."

[Stardust]

Last Sunday in Pittsburgh, he had almost forgotten how good he was with a wide-open field in front of him and a running head start.

He knows where the guys in the other color jerseys are going before they do – because he can make them go where he wants.

Before he ran back five kicks against the Steelers last Sunday -- one of them 96 yards for a touchdown -- he had run back only two kicks as a pro during this, his rookie NFL season.

Previous to that, the last time he had run back a kick was as a freshman at Abilene Christian University.

As a Bengal, Scott had always been No. 2 on the kickoff return depth chart behind Andre Caldwell, but when Scott saw his two former ACU tammates – Johnny Knox and Danieal Manning -- run back kicks for the Chicago Bears, it definitely made him start believing he should really be doing it, too.

“That was motivation,” Scott admitted. “I felt like the plays those guys made, I could make. Darrin (Simmons, the Bengals special teams coach) said to me, ‘Who’s the better ACU guy?’ – you know, just messin’ with me – and I said, ‘I gotta get out there and show you that I can play.’ ”

Not too long after that is when Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry got hurt, which made Caldwell less expendable and got the coaches thinking, “Yeah, why not Scott?”

What did Scott see when he fielded the ball on the TD return last Sunday?

“When I first got the ball, I tried to return it to the left side, and I had to make a real quick cut, and I think that kind of screwed up the kickoff team,” Scott said. “When I saw the kicker, I was like, ‘If I get past him, I might be able to go all the way.’ I saw (teammate) Quan (Cosby) coming up out of the corner of my eye, and I thought, ‘Here we go.’ He cleaned it up so I could take it to the house.”

Right from the get-go, coach Simmons had been Scott’s biggest backer.

“He’d been working his tail off the past couple of weeks, and I’d really seen a difference in the way he was handling the ball,” Simmons said. “Everybody saw the way he ran in the preseason – and we know what kind of running skill he has – and the only thing I was unsure of was his ball protection. But in those past two weeks, I felt a lot better with where he was with that.”

As scintillating as Scott’s TD was, equally eye-popping were the blocks thrown by Cosby, who himself runs back punts. He looked like a man possessed. He made the first, second and final blocks on the play, covering almost as much ground as Scott, all while knocking off Steelers like slalom gates.

“If it wasn’t for those blocks,” said Scott, “I’d have been caught. I was running out of gas at the end.”

Said Cosby: “I knew Bernard had a shot to get there, and I was just trying to help my teammate out. I know he’d do the same for me.”

What makes Scott so good at kickoff returns, aside from the extraordinary blocking he got?

“Very elusive, very good balance, and the guy has a knack to make people miss in the open field,” Simmons said. “He had to make one guy miss and he broke a couple of tackles – he’s a lot stronger than people give him credit for – and he just has a real natural feel for open-field running.”


http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20091...rger+role?