New England Patriots Vs. Cincinnati Bengals

NFL Pre Season Football

Thursday August 20, 2009  7:30 PM EST

The Line: Patriots -7  Over/Under: 36 1/2

Both teams move into their second preseason game and both have different objectives. For the Patriots, they are going to be looking to improve on their running game after a 3.3 yard per carry average last week against Philadelphia. The Bengals are going to be looking at their depth at QB as once again Carson Palmer appears to be on the mend.

The Patriots should get and injection of life into the run game as Fred Taylor makes his New England debut but last week's leader, Sammy Morris is out for this one. I look for the Patriots to continue to spread the ball around both on the ground and in the air looking primarily for who is going to make this roster of a team many have picked to go all the way once again this season.

While the starters were in last week, the Patriots absolutely dominated a very good Philadelphia team and were pounding the Eagles by halftime. The defense surrendered points later in the second half but this was be the same players we'll likely be seeing tonight against a not as deep Cincinnati team.

I have been saying for months that I really like what Cincinnati did this off season acquiring talent. I thought they drafted well and picking up Roy Williams and Laverneous Coles are just two moves that should pay huge dividends. With that being said, I don't think the Bengals did enough to solidify their backfield either at running back nor quarterback.

Many believe that Carson Palmer has all the tools but he hasn't shown them for quite some time yet. I hardly think J.T. O'Sullivan is the answer should Palmer not be ready to go again.

Running the ball it's Cedric Benson, whom the Bears gave up on, and Brian Leonard who the Rams never really found a place for. I don't think either of these guys are what we would call premier running backs in the NFL and even as a tandem they just don't seem to have what it takes to make the Bengals a contender.

Thankfully for the Bengals, they have one of the best receiving corps in the league, even with the departure of TJ Houshmanzadah. Chris Henry had a big game last week in New Orleans and Chad Ocho Cinco looks to be more like his old self than ever. We were yet to see the impact of the Coles addition last week.

On defense is where the Bengals should be greatly improved. They held the high powered New Orleans offense in check though QB Drew Brees did play a little longer than most starting QB's in week one. Although they ended up giving up 17 points in the end, it was a solid outing for the Cincinnati D.

In tonight's game I think the Bengals are in some serious trouble. They are just simply over matched and I don't think a trip to Gillette Stadium is what the doctor ordered for an anemic offense. I don't think the running game gets any better and I don't think the passing game duplicates last week's performance against a stout Patriot defense and secondary.

Last week we saw a lot of tight games to get pre season started but this one doesn't set up to be that way. Bill Bellichick is always working on things and trying to improve his ball club to operate in a machine like manner and in this case I think his machine is just way too much for the up and coming Bengals who may be a few players away

Six and a half is a lot of points and picking pre season is far from an exact science or even something that you can put into a system because of all of the variables but if I had to make a choice, I would go with the Pats.

Mitch's Pick: New England -6 1/2

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