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Tennessee Titans vs. Cincinnati Bengals

by Kris Lazaro

11/23/07

The Tennessee Titans will hope that Vince Young can break out of his recent slump and carry them to a postseason berth, much like he carried his college team to the national championship game. The Cincinnati Bengals will be having other thoughts this Sunday as they host the Titans as a 1.5 point home underdog.

Tennessee 46.5
Cincinnati 1.5

Vince Young has recently shown he has kinks in his armor as his quarterback rating continues to plummet (currently at 64.3) and his touchdown to interception ratio becomes a bit daunting (currently 5 touchdowns to 12 interceptions). Young hasn’t been the same since a quadriceps injury sidelined him for a game and a half, an injury he sustained during the third quarter of the Titans’ game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He has certainly been bothered since that injury. The Titans need him to bounce back and produce like he had been doing prior to the injury. With the season starting to wind down, and the playoff picture become a little clearer, the playoff-bound Titans need to secure a few more victories to be in the hunt.

The Cincinnati Bengals are a mess of a team. Since their 2005-2006 campaign when they went 11-5 for the season, the Bengals posted a mediocre 8-8 season last year, and is currently 3-7 for the year, 2-3 at home, and 4-6 against the number. The betting public has continued to support this team, even though current statistics would suggest otherwise. Although their offense is still decent, their defense has been atrocious, giving up on average 28.6 points per game.

Defense wins championships and covers spreads, so in terms of this game, the author would clearly side with the Titans. Though this team is 6-4, its defense is pretty tough, giving up only 18.6 points per game. Playing in the AFC South also has battle-tested this team.

Game prediction: 23-17 Titans.