With the 1st week of 2015-16 NFL Regular season a past tense, we move on to Week 2 and preview the game between the Chargers of San Diego playing at the Bengals of Cincinnati on Sunday the 20th of September 2015 with the game being played at the Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio with the kick-off scheduled for 1:05 PM ET and seen on CBS TV.
For those that Bet on NFL at a sportsbook the opening lines at SBG Global have the Bengals favorites at -3 -125 with the Over/Under at 45 ½ with the underdog Chargers at +3 +105 and no early ML available. Amazingly in week 1 the Chargers almost lost at home, but turned the game around and beat the Lions of Detroit 33-28, now they travel to Ohio to play the favored Bengals who had a big win in their opening road game against the Raiders of Oakland.
For the Chargers of San Diego fans, your QB with his new 4 year $84 million contract displayed his talent completing some 35 or 42 pass attempts accumulating some 405 yards and scoring 2 TD’s, which turned out to be the 7th career 400 yard game for QB Rivers.
The Chargers had plenty of players in the action with receiver K. Allen who had 15 receptions for 166 yards, while receivers S. Johnson and L. Green each had a reception for a TD in the game. The Charger defense performed well against the passing game in the 1st week, allowing the Raiders to only 184 yards passing. The running game for the Chargers was okay with RB Gordon with 14 carries for 52 yards; RB Woodhead had 12 carries for 45 yards and 2 TD’s. The running game could give QB Rivers the balance he needs presently, since TE Gates who had 12 TD’s in 2014 suspension is for 3 more games.
On defense San Diego have some players that can make a difference and challenge Bengals QB Dalton in P. Robinson and K. Emmanuel as each had a week 1 intercept. In 2014 QB Dalton passed for 19 TD’s while being intercepted some 16 times. In their last 6 road games the Chargers have won 3 and lost 3!
Then for the Bengals of Cincinnati fans, your team had a great start for this 2015 season beating the Raiders of Oakland 33-13 on a road game. Their QB Dalton also had a great game completing some 25 of 34 pass attempts for 270 yards and 2 TD’s while he had not interceptions in the game and no sacks.
Offensively the Bengals TD Eifert caught 9 passes for 105 yards and 2 TD’s, after returning to the lineup from an injury back in week 1 of 2014. Also A. Green receiving had a decent game with 5 receptions for 64 yards, thus having 2 such players on offense gives QB Dalton weapons to attack the Chargers defense that in their 1st game gave up some 235 yards to passing.
In the rushing game RB Hill scored 2 time in the 1st half on a 3 yard and a 2 yard run, but only averaged some 3.5 yards per carry, and will need to perform better against the Chargers. Their back-up RB Bernard had 8 carries for 65 yards, and the 2 RB’s will need better performances against the Chargers. Why, because San Diego only allowed a total of 69 yards rushing in their 1st game win over the Lions of Detroit.
Defensively the Bengals rushing the passer may force Chargers QB River to make errors, and DL Atkins and Dunlap both completed sacks in week 1, and Dunlap in 2014 had 8 sacks. That rush on Rivers may cause him to throw an interception, at least that’s what the Bengals want to see.
The prediction in this game is that Chargers led by QB Rivers will overtake the Bengals for their 2nd win of this 2015 Regular season.