An inside take a look at Saturday’s Titans-Bengals AFC divisional matchup in Nashville, Tenn.:
Marquee matchup
Bengals QB Joe Burrow vs. Titans entrance 4
Burrow’s expertise and moxie had been on show in final week’s win over the Raiders, his first playoff sport. Now, he has to take the present on the highway towards a tricky protection.
“We belief in Joe,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor mentioned. “The extra I’ve been round, I’ve realized to only shut my mouth and let the magic happen.”
The Titans have 35 sacks and 153 QB pressures, based on ESPN, utilizing only a four-man go rush. Each of these figures rank second within the NFL. The Titans don’t blitz quite a bit as a result of they don’t must.
Burrow was sacked 53 instances this season, greater than some other quarterback within the NFL.
“That’s an important factor going into this sport,” Titans defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons mentioned. “It’s going to come back all the way down to how our entrance 4 performs this week. We all know it. In fact, stopping the run — but it surely’s additionally how can we have an effect on the quarterback? Get our palms up on the line of scrimmage. How can we attempt to preserve him from going to his favourite targets?”
Costello’s name
The Titans are the higher staff, however Joe Burrow is the higher quarterback and Cincinnati goes to journey him to its first highway playoff win in franchise historical past. I don’t assume Derrick Henry will likely be 100%. The Bengals stun the Titans.
Bengals 24, Titans 20
4 downs
Who Dey? The Bengals snapped an eight-game shedding streak within the playoffs with the win final week over the Raiders. It was the franchise’s first playoff win for the reason that 1990 playoffs, when Boomer Esiason was the quarterback. Now, the Bengals are attempting to get to the AFC Championship sport for the primary time since 1988, when Esiason took them to the Tremendous Bowl. The Bengals should get there with a highway win, however they're 0-7 on the highway within the postseason, courting to 1970.
Whereas the Bengals celebrated their playoff win final week, quarterback Joe Burrow mentioned that's what needs to be anticipated.
“I attempted to downplay it and all that as a result of that is the way it’s gonna be from right here on out,” Burrow mentioned. “It was an incredible win for us. However now that is the usual for the naked minimal yearly going ahead.”
Teaching clinic: Tennessee coach Mike Vrabel is the favourite to win the NFL Coach of the 12 months award in just a few weeks after guiding the Titans to the No. 1 seed within the AFC.
The Titans (12-5) had 5 straight wins towards 2020 playoff groups and so they notched eight wins over groups that completed this season with a successful report. Vrabel did it together with his finest participant, Derrick Henry, sidelined for the second half of the season. The Titans additionally used a league-record 91 gamers this 12 months.
Vrabel could give the Titans an edge on this sport. He's 8-0 with at the very least 9 days between video games in his head-coaching profession.
Trey day: The Bengals made a giant transfer in free company final offseason, once they signed defensive finish Trey Hendrickson to a four-year, $60 million deal. It has paid off. He had a franchise-record 14 sacks this season.
Hendrickson suffered a concussion within the win over the Raiders final week, however has been cleared to play.
“He’s been in these moments earlier than,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor mentioned, referencing Hendrickson’s playoff expertise with the Saints. “He’s considered one of our premier gamers. It’s good to have him.”
A wholesome Julio:The Titans anticipated a big effect once they acquired vast receiver Julio Jones, however the large receiver performed in simply 10 video games this season. He completed with 31 catches for 434 yards and one landing as he handled a wide range of accidents. Jones returned for the Titans’ Week 18 win over the Texans and caught 5 passes for 58 yards and a rating in that sport.
Jones has loads of playoff expertise from his time with the Falcons and might be a key issue on this sport.
“I’m in an incredible place proper now,” Jones mentioned. “We gonna go on the market and placed on a present for [Titans fans]. That’s what per week of preparation [will do] — popping out right here, working each day, and never taking it without any consideration, and understanding what we have now in entrance of us.”
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