Seattle Seahawks vs Cincinnati Bengals: Hitting a brick wall

Free at last

That's probably what the Bengals fans were singing after the owners finally decided that it is a time for some changes. After 15 years, Marvin Lewis is no longer a head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals. Zac Taylor, who worked as a QB coach for the Los Angeles Rams, under head coach Sean McVay was hired for the job. Bengals decided to go with the current trend of hiring young offensive minds. Taylor is only 36 years old.

He was thrown directly into the fire because this roster seems damaged beyond repair. I believe they will use this season to evaluate and then try to rebuild it starting next offseason. It seems like they already found a gem in this year's Draft when they selected quarterback Ryan Finley from NC State in the 4th round. He showed a lot of potential in the preseason, but they made a wise decision not to start him because he can't succeed in this situation. Bengals OL might be the worst in the league. I remember a couple of years ago when it was pretty solid with guys like Whitworth, Zeitler, Boling... There were some hiccups on the right side with Andre Smith being unable to keep up with the other players on the line, but overall, they were ok.

Since then, that insecurity from the right side spread like a plague. They lost all the guys that I mentioned above and failed to replace them. The prime example being their first-round pick from last year, Billy Price, who is no longer a starting center. Cordy Glenn at the left tackle is by far their best lineman, but he is out for this game. How are they going to move the ball against a front which acquired Ziggy Ansah and Jadeveon Clowney, I have no idea. Speaking of passing game, things are not that much better. Struggling to protect Andy Dalton in the noise of CenturyLink Field and having very few options to throw at (AJ Green out) are bad signs for Bengals offense going into this game.

Tables have turned

Interestingly enough, Seattle Seahawks were the team that not so long ago had similar problems with their O-line. They couldn't run block, and Russell Wilson was running for his life more often than not, because of the bad pass protection. Trading for Duane Brown helped them solidify that left side of the line. Replacing Tom Cable with Mike Solari as an offensive line coach did the trick as well. Brian Schottenheimer did a great job with this offense, helping it to become one of the most efficient rushing offenses in the league, after being one of the worst just a year ago.

Chris Carson was the main beneficiary of the change, logging his first 1000-yard season last year, accompanied by 9 scores and 4.7 yards per carry. Seahawks were running the ball 33.4 times per game, second to only Baltimore Ravens. But, they were at the very top when it came to rushing yards per game, averaging 160.

Seahawks vs Bengals best bet

Considering how successful they are at it, it is no surprise that their offense became run-oriented. And when a team runs the ball that often, the scores tend to stay low, because the clock is not stopping and the gains are not as big as they are when passes get completed. Combining that with the mismatch that Bengals are going to face vs Seahawks defense, I'd be surprised to see this one going over the total. 44.5 point total is not that easy to beat, especially with Bengals struggling to score and Seahawks potentially milking the clock out in the second half, keeping a double-digit lead.