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Bengals hope to get healthy against hapless Jags

Oct 30, 2014 - 4:59 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The Cincinnati Bengals have become experts at offensive storm-weathering.

Their run game has collectively managed only 3.1 yards per carry over the last two games, with leading rusher Giovani Bernard gaining just 62 yards on 23 attempts. Meanwhile, No. 1 wide receiver A.J. Green has missed three consecutive games - and is questionable this week - with a toe injury.

His prospects for Sunday against Jacksonville will depend on how much practice work he can handle.

But amid the adversity, some jewels have been uncovered.

The Bengals have seen No. 2 man Mohamed Sanu pick up the aerial slack in Green's absence, catching 18 balls for 299 yards while serving as quarterback Andy Dalton's main target. He caught five passes for 125 yards last week against Baltimore, in a 27-24 win that ended 0-2-1 streak since a Week 4 bye.

"Mo's been playing great," Dalton said. "I have a lot of confidence in him, and he has a lot of confidence in himself that he's going to make plays."

Dalton hasn't had a touchdown pass since the 37-37 tie with Carolina in Week 6, but he's got a chance to have both Sanu and Green in the lineup together against the Jaguars for the first time since Oct. 5.

It's a prospect that's got Sanu sounding confident.

"Now it's going to be that they're going to have to play us straight-up," he said. "They can't double-cover any one of us. They're going to have to play man-to-man. That's what we want."

It doesn't help Jacksonville's cause that starting cornerback Alan Ball won't be available after he was placed on season-ending injured reserve. The Jaguars signed Tommie Campbell, who played 37 games with Tennessee from 2011 to 2013, as a roster-filler.

Linebacker Paul Posluszny was lost for the season with a torn chest muscle a week earlier, and defensive end Andre Branch is out for several weeks with a groin injury.

Jacksonville is winless in its last five road games with an average deficit of more than 17 points, while Cincinnati is 12-0-1 in its last 13 regular-season games at Paul Brown Stadium.

"We have to come back and truly attack these things," Jaguars coach Gus Bradley said, "because we can't continue in this fashion."

The Jaguars have scored 14.8 points per game through seven games - worst in the NFL - while their weekly average of 306.6 yards per week is better than just two teams, winless Oakland and one-win Tampa Bay. They've turned the ball over 18 times to tie the one-win New York Jets for the league's worst mark and the resulting minus-10 turnover differential is 31st among 32 teams.

Cincinnati is plus-5 in that statistic, tied for sixth in the league.

The quarterbacking era heralded by first-round rookie Blake Bortles has been more miss than hit, with the youngster tossing 12 interceptions in five-plus games since he took over for veteran Chad Henne.

Two of the interceptions - and a lost fumble - came in a 27-13 defeat last week against Miami.

Four of the interceptions have been brought back for touchdowns.

"I'm not going to say I'm mad at myself, because that's not really going to help anything," Bortles said. "Nobody cares, and it's not going to help me do anything. You've just got to learn from it. You've got to go figure it out, start watching film and find out what you can do to try to be better."

On the plus side, Bortles may have a new gem in his arsenal, too.

Former University of Michigan quarterback Denard Robinson has run for 127 and 108 yards in his last two games, catapulting him to the top spot among Jacksonville's rushers in 2014 and becoming the first Jaguar to run for 100- plus in two straight games since Maurice Jones-Drew three years ago.

"It's nice to see the running game getting better," guard Brandon Linder said. "He's a talented athlete and a great team player. He brings it on every play and is very confident in the way he runs. That's Denard. He makes things happen."

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

Two if by Air

Presuming Green finds his way to the field on Sunday, it'll create a matchup for he and red-hot teammate Sanu against the Jaguars' cornerback tandem - minus the injured Ball - of Demetrius McCray and Dwayne Gratz. Their most recent test came last week against Miami, whose top threat, Mike Wallace, was limited to two catches and no other target had more than three.

A Developing Situation

The Jaguars drafted Robinson as a wide receiver after he was a quarterback with the Wolverines, but he's clearly found a niche as a runner. Cincinnati hasn't exactly been a collective run-stopping machine either, allowing at least 107 yards on the ground for five straight games after its first two foes in 2014 - Baltimore and Atlanta - accounted for 94 and 97, respectively.

OVERALL ANALYSIS

Robinson's a nice little story and the Bengals haven't reached the level they'd presumably attained after going 3-0 in the season's early stages, but it's simply hard to imagine the Jaguars winning here. They don't travel well, they don't score much and their defense is inconveniently beaten up on the way to a visit to face a team that's got a number of potential difference-makers on offense.

Sports Network predicted outcome: Bengals 27, Jaguars 10