OK, lets get this rolling! The season is here, the ecitement is palpable, and the Packers defense really surprised me (pleasantly, this year- for a change). So, lets take a look at what the Packers are going to face Sunday.

At RB, the Bengals have Cedric Benson, the Bears first round bust. At QB, they have the very talented Carson Palmer, and at WR, they have the "look at me!" Chad Ochocinco. The Bengals did a credible job against the Broncos ("team meltdown"), losing on a fluke play. Chris Henry also has to be accounted for at WR, now that he finally has learned how to stay on the right side of the law.

The OL seems decent, but I believe the Packers defense will bottle up Benson, harass Palmer, and, if the last game between the Packers and Bengals is any indication, Harris will simply beat up Ochocinco.

Offensively, the Packers need to get the running game charged up; the WR's need to not have so many drops, and the OL needs to be a lot more consistent about (a) protecting Rodgers, and ( opening holes for the RB's. A tall order in only one week. Still and all, I don't really see the Packers losing this game, unless something drastic happens.

Final score: Packers 38, Bengals 17.

Bengals suffered a deflating loss, now they face a Pack team that offensively will get untracked in a big way. 45-10. Pack.

The only thing about the Bengals that concerns me is their passing game. Palmer, Ochocinco, and Henry are all good players.

With all the talent on the O side of the ball, for some reason, they just have not come together and had a complete game in a long time. I'm not sure where the breakdown is happening but from where they were(the year Carson hurt his knee) and where they are now is like night and day. I'll try temper my enthusiasm as I thought the Pack would throttle the Bears but the D will haveanother field day and the O will get the kinks worked out. Pack 31-10.

They actually have a pretty good stable of backs too. I am not sure if heir OL is any good but they are fairly young and hungry.

Palmer is fairly immobile which could be a problem for the Bengals against our blitzing.

Well, they are young at least. Three of the five are second-year starters, with no more than a dozen starts between them entering 2009. The left tackle, Andrew Whitworth, a last-minute replacement for Andre Smith, was shifted over from guard, where he has played for the last couple of seasons. The fifth starter, Bobbie Williams, is a veteran who was cut from the Eagles back in the early 2000s, but managed to kick around in Cincinnati.

There isn't enough film on the unit yet to make a firm conclusion, but it's certainly one of the least experienced and least remunerated lines in the league.

When we think Bengals we tend to think offense, but the defense might now be the better unit. Keith Rivers and Rey Maualuga are its stars, although there is still a glaring weakness in the middle. Dancin Dhani Jones is the MLB, and he makes AJ Hawk look like Usain Bolt. Jones is the guy who gave up chasing Brandon Stokley on Denver's flukey touchdown, allowing Stokley to perform a Philippe Petit along the one-yard line. The safeties are Roy Williams the First, who is still a liability in coverage, and journeyman Chris Crocker. Expect to see Jermichael Finley heading downfield more often than in week one. The defensive tackles are the well-known-to-the-authorities Tank Johnson and the beloved-by-short-sighted-announcers Domata Peko. The latter is speedy but undersized and will pose a test for Josh Sitton.

Cincinnati isn't as bad as Cleveland or St Louis but it's potentially the weakest opponent that comes to Lambeau this season. (I think the Lions have gotten better.) Another game where the Packer offense struggles before coming through late. 23-10 Pack.

Cin is by almost all appearances not a good football team. One thing that has concerned me since the schedule was released is that they are already a team with almost nothing to lose. Further they are well versed in going against the 3-4, having to face Pit, Bal, and Cle twice a year. I think GB will do well on the D, but that Cin will get a few scores. I am really looking to see how the Pack does offensively. They have to potential to be great still, they looked just plain bad against CHI. I don't think CIN has good talent on D, however Marvin Lewis is a pretty good coach and may have something to throw at the Pack.

To summarize, CIN should not be overlooked and GB needs this weekend to get it's offense going.

I really think our d-line against their o-line will be a large mismatch. That said, I felt that our WRs against the Bears CBs were going to be a large mismatch.

McCarthy doesn't really overlook opponents and the team has to be fuming about their offensive performance in week 1. Look for Rodgers to have 3 TDs.

Agree with this 100%. If they're worth a damn this offense comes out swinging. When you think of all that went wrong against Chicago - the disaster at RT, 4 key drops by normally sure-handed WRs, holding penalties at the worst times to negate good plays, Rogers missing the normally accurate deep ball - there's no doubt they do better this game. I think they expect big things out of themselves and this is the game to show it.

Don't forget, they play Pittsburgh and the Ravens twice each. Our defense will be nothing new to them. Expect far more poise than the Bear showed against our pass rush.

I'm expecting some big pass plays from the Bengals. Probably from Henry and/or Coles.

Pack comes out flat after emotional win and the Bungles are the Bungles

Pack 21 Bunlges 10

playing against and knowing the 3-4 didn't help them much last year:

@ Baltimore 10-17 L
Cleveland 12-20 L
@ Dallas 22-31 L
@ NY Jets 14-26 L
Pittsburgh 10-38 L
@ Pittsburgh 10-27 L
Baltimore 3-34 L
@ Cleveland 14-0 W
Kansas City 16-6 W

record of 2-7
combined score of 111-199 (average score 12-22)
highwater mark for scoring is 22 point against Dallas. Only 2 games they've scored over 14 points in their 9 games against 3-4 teams. I'm not worried that our defense won't be effective against them. If you look at the Bengals from last year, all 5 games they either won or tied were reletively low scoring games (average score was 17-10 in those 5 games). If the packers offense can put over 20 points on the board they are probably winning the game.

I don't see the Bengals winning this game. I just don't. 34-13 Packers.

They have just enough weapons on offense to be a dangerous underdog. We should be able to handle them, but it's a losable game if we come out flat.

Quintessential trap game coming up.

These are the types of games we need to win if the Pack are going to be a playoff team. Like Jeremy said, if they come out flat (which is on McCarthy) then the Bengals will be very competitive.

The Chicago game may have been win, but it almost feels like a loss based on all the struggles of the offense. I am sincerely hoping that the offense comes out with a chip on their shoulder.

Barbre needs to hold his position and not give way. MM needs to get creative with the play-calling and give the team some different looks. I want to see him utilize Finley more and stop calling the same plays over and over. It's really sad when I can predict when they are going to run the ball.

I'm am not too concerned about their offense although like others have said Palmer has had his moments and when he and Ochocinco get in rythm they can score.

I don't know too much about their defense, but this will be an important game from a win/loss standpoint as well as a team attitude standpoing.

All I see are comments about Cincy's offense. Their defense looked very stout against Denver. Only gave up 10 first downs if memory serves, and basically shut them out until the fluke TD at the end of the game. This game is a trap, and if the Packers don't bring it 100% they will lose. No automatics in the NFL any more if you don't really show up to play.

Packers need to pass block better than they did V Chicago in order for this high powered offense to fire on all cylinders... Our wr's, have to hold onto the ball as well.. Didn't we have like 4 drops vs the Bears? Why does McCarthy feel we have to go vertical most of the time? Where are the slants? Where are the te's, the back coming out of the backfield? I feel we should win this game, but just showing up won't cut it...

Packers 34 Bengals 13

Denver's offense is going to shut itself down all season.

Quintessential? You are hanging out too long with Terry.

I could see this as a trap if we would have played a flawless game last week, but I think we are going to hit the practice field hard and be ready on Sunday.

There weren't any slants because the Bears were defending against them... which exposes them to the long ball. I think the same thing happened in 2007. They started out killing teams with the quick slants, then once teams started defending against the slant routes, they broke out the 5WR formations and started killing them with the deeper routes. On sunday night, the TE's and RB's were being held back to protect rodgers.

Might be a little tougher than people think

GB 23 - Cincy 16

GB 31 - Cincy 13

Glad to see some high scores predicted for the offense. I was listening to Rodgers on the Dan Patrick radio show, and he praised the Defense for the effort against the Bears, but kind of made it clear he expects the O to click this weekend. I think thy will too

I listen to the games on the net and I get incredibly ecited. But games like Sunday's are also ecruciating at times!

The Packers offense gets on track this weekend...

27 - 13
The Pack!

Coles looked awful in his first game. If anything I'm worried about Ocho and Henry.

I would just force the Bengals to run this game, prove that Benson is capable of running up the middle. We know they can pass and we should defend this all game.

It's ok, Terry. I understand you. Unlike Bob Costas (who I love btw) who may have been the first person in the history of NFL broadcasting to include the word, "inauspicious" when talking about a football game.

After watching CIN- DEN again last night I do see a few problems. This is one of those games "we should win", like HOU, etc. were last year. Good teams win the games they are supposed to and pull out some they aren't. Another monkey from last season to get off our back.

GO PACK!

Heat and Terry. I always appreciate a vocabulary lesson. The way I see it, if I have learned something new then I can leave work early because the day has been a success! So keep them coming.

I think this could be one of those trap games as stated..and the one we should win.. And unlike last year we need to TCB...Pressure and keeping pressure and confusing Palmer is the focus..But Palmer see's this type of D 4 times a year ..Balt and Pitts.. So the O must be in Tune this week and step up to the plate..

DB's should take that 85 comnments and make sure there is no LL this week from 85 of the Bungals...

LOL, ha ha... love it! What a wonderful word for a football announcer to use.

As I said, GB is lucky it has a soft schedule the first two months.

The Bengals are not a good team at all. In fact, Marvin Lewis should be fired.

Carson Palmer is a good QB when healthy. But I am not sure he is healthy. Plus, outside of the WR corps, Cincy has not really built a good offense around him.

Their defense has some good young players on it, but no one who is as yet really excellent.

We should win this game by at least ten points. If we don't something is really wrong.

Packer's Offense returns...A-Rod throws for 2 TD and Grant adds one as the Defense continue to dominate...Pack 33-Cinn 17

I think what we saw in Denver vs Cincy was too really bad teams playing each other. Neither could get anything going offensively in the Preseasson. I think both Cincy and Denver are 4-6 win teams. Even Denver journalists are picking the Broncos to go 5-11 or 4-12. Cincy looked flat out terrible. I don't think Denver's defense can possibly be that improved over last year. I think Cincy just couldn't get anything going on offense and as usual botched key plays at critical moments in the game. These guys are known for giving up big plays at the end of games and botched snaps, FGs , etc. They aren't called the Bungles for nothing. I see Rodgers bouncing back and having a huge day. Last year he was unstoppable at Lambeau for the most part. I don't see two consecutive slow games for the offense. I think some people really underrate the Bengals defense. They were #12 overall last year despite having one of the worst offenses in the NFL last year. I think they were dead last in points scored last year. Obviously Palmer makes them a better team offensively but they still didn't look good in the few games he played last year and they have been really slow in the Preseason and Week one as well. I think Palmer went something like 3 games last year before even throwing a TD pass. Something is up with that offense. They did start to click at the end of last week's game though. We'll see. I see us having a huge game offensively and forcing them to step up, which will lead to mistakes. I see Palmer getting 200+ yards 2 TDs and 2 INTs. I see Rodgers getting close to 300 with 2-3 TDs and maybe one INT. I'm sensing 31-17.

I've always thought that was a pretty common word in the sporting world, especially since so many "new starts" are of the inauspicious variety (e.g., Cutler's performance against the Pack).

**

I picked Rodgers as the key player in the other thread, but the other key component is how much pressure the Packers can generate on defense. I'm hoping for a repeat of Sunday's performance. Cincinnati has an inexperienced offensive line, and Palmer doesn't seem 100%. Furthermore, as someone else said, he's not a pillar of mobility; rather, he's a just a pillar--the inert kind. Seems like the Packers' defense can take advantage in that regard.

This was posted over in a Bengals forum:

Originally Posted by 'packer fan'
Are you saying the Packers don't have talented players. Okay, I don't really know if you even know who is playing for the Packers but I assure you that this team is full of talent. We have one of the rising stars in Aaron Rodgers. He could be one of the best in the league in the next 3-4 years. We have Jennings and Driver at WR, not to mention Jordy Nelsen who may surprise the Bengals this week. Ryan Grant has showed he can be great. The Pack have the best corners in the league in Al Harris and Charles Woodson. Their linebackers consist of A.J. Hawk, Nick Barnett, Clay Mathews, and Aaron Kampman has moved there in the new 3-4 scheme. Then we have Cullen Jenkins, B.J. Raji, and Johnny Jolly plugging the holes and sacking the QB. Did you see that interception by Jolly against the Bears? And why are you telling me that the Packers aren't talented. Come on now. Wake up.

Originally Posted by 'bengals fan'
Dude, I am well aware of the Packers' lineup and it is no more awe-inspiring than the Bengals current line up. Harris, Woodson and Driver are at positions which are not kind to slowing old men. Your OTs are ancient and need crutches. Matthews is a rookie who only started one year at USC. Kampman has been good in the past, but is moving to OLB and from what I've heard is having some difficulties in the transition. Hawk and Barnett are okay, but their production has been limited by having to change defensive schemes every year. Jenkins is solid, Jolly is adequate, and Raji is a talented rookie, but still just a rookie. Rodgers and Jennings are good. Grant has been solid, but not spectacular. Nelson has to prove himself. And I notice you fail to mention any of the offense lineman. We both know why that is. Because it is a concern.

Yes, there is some talent there. But no more than we have. Nothing that's gonna make any Bengals fans bend over and kiss your tail, cheesehead.

END OF POSTS

...........I just don't get how they could believe their team is as good as the Packers. I'm not saying the Pack is great...but the Bengals aren't even close.

Their OL sucks, Cendric Benson sucks, the TE's suck, #85 is a baby if things aren't going good. They're just not the same Bengals team that they were a few years ago when they were looking pretty good. How could someone even compare the Bengals to the Packers?

Aaron Rodgers is at least equal to Carson Palmer A-Rod's confidence certainly is higher right now. The future for Rodgers seems brighter for sure. A lot of predictions of a Rodgers MVP this season. At RB, it's no comparison. Benson has been pedestrian at best since he entered the league. Ryan Grant has actually almost rushed for as many yards (2159) in 2 seasons as Benson has in 5 (2340). Benson is a career 3.7 yards per carry guy. Horrible. Ryan Grant boasts a healthy 4.5 avg. I couldn't believe it that the Bengal's only option was Benson. Donald Lee and Jermichael Finley would both start for the Bengals even if they had 2 broken thumbs. I'm not too sure I would rate the Packers OL that far ahead of Cinnci's, but the Pack's running game is better and they give up far less sacks than the Bengals do. That should say something about the OL's. No one has a 'better' bunch of WR's than GB. Some teams wideouts might be equal or just a smidge better on any given Sunday.....but no group is clearly superior to the Pack's WRs. James Jones and Jordy Nelson would start for quite a few teams.

On my way to the game with my 3 kids. GO PACK!!!Packers 28- Bengals 13

Game days here!

Things I would like to see.

More fluidity from the offense. Id like to get a rhythm going early. Hopefully Driver can hang on to the ball today. Grants stats werent great last week but he had to work hard to get them. Hopefully we can get some better holes opened up this week. Id also like to see Finley get some balls thrown his way today.

As far as D goes. Keep getting that ball! Cutler should of thrown double the amount of picks he did. Keep it up guys! Also Palmer needs to be counting lights most of the game. Keep him on his back.

Packers 34
Bengals 17

While I expect the Packers to beat the Bengals especially at home - they are a superior team - I think it is a mistake to dismiss the Bengals as some weak team.

Offensively they have:

A talented QB in Carson Palmer, who has the ability to light it up if hot - a QB that has the ability throw for 4,000 yards and 25-plus touchdown passes if healthy

A TALTENTED WR corps. Chad Ochocinco, a premier talent seems to have rededicated himself and is the best shape of his life; Laveranues Coles is coming off of a 70 catches for 850 yards and seven TD season, and 6-4 speedster Chris Henry is a talent that should never be underestimated.

At RB Cedric Benson, was once a top 5 pick and seems to have tamed some of his demons and found a home in this offense. I also remember quite a few guys being quite high on his backup Brian Leonard. When mixed with the above receiving corps this can be a productive duo if they get it going.

They have been ravaged with injuries at TE - losing Reggie Kelly for the season and Ben Utecht to concussions during training camp, but still have talent at the position in Ben Coats and third-round pick Chase Coffman.

The Bengals offensive line is a vulnerablity (esp given their injuries) and are the biggest weakness that the Dom Capers led defense should be able to exploit

Defensively:

The front 4 of Robert Geathers, Domata Peko, Tank Johnson and Antwan Odom is not without talent and Third-round pick Michael Johnson (Georgia Tech) and Frostee Rucker, who made four starts at right end last year rotate in to provide depth. Pat Sims helps keep it fresh with the rotation of defensive tackles.

They have a talented Linebacking corp with 2nd-round pick Rey Maualuga out of USC reuniting with college teammate Keith Rivers, the club's 2008 1st- round pick, who made 50 tackles and grabbed one interception in seven games before missing the rest of the year due to a fractured jaw. Dhani Jones is a veteran MLB who led the club with 165 tackles to go along with nine passes defensed. Rashad Jeanty (97 tackles) has talent as a backup, as does Brandon Johnson, who returns to a backup role after replacing Rivers in the starting lineup last year and racking up 112 tackles last season. On an interesting note - the backup MLB is Abdul Hodge.

The corners are manned by former first round picks Johnathan Joseph and Leon Hall. Geoffrey Pope and David Jones are the top back ups. The safeties hit like ogres, fortunately for the Packers strong safety Roy Williams runs like one too. However, the Packers were not exactly super successful exploiting his lack of speed when he was with Dallas and veteran Chris Crocker mans the FS spot.

Again, I am expecting the Packers to defend the house and beat down the Bengals, but I think players and fans would be making a mistake to disrespect this team that is not without talent.

The Bengals will be playing with a huge chip on their shoulder after losing the way they did last weekend. I hope the Packers don't look past them and come out swinging. Speaking of swinging, I really hope Barbre stops showing us all how good a turnstile impression he can do.

Packers 31
Bengals 17

I think the Bengals are a decent team, better than most credit. That said, the Pack still wins.

I honestly believe the Bengals are a playoff team, they've just struggled with injuries, off the field issues, and just plain bad luck. I mean when you have as talented an offense as they do, it's hard to overlook them. I still think the Pack are going to roll, and Rodgers is gonna make fantasy owners a little happier. Pack 28 Bengals 10

we will have our hands full, no doubt about it. Our D is really going to have to keep us in this game until we can figure out their D . We win by 10

Raji inactive

PACKERS INACTIVES:
20 S Atari Bigby
32 RB Brandon Jackson
33 CB Brandon Underwood
45 FB Quinn Johnson
59 LB Brad Jones
62 G/C Evan Dietrich-Smith
68 T Breno Giacomini
90 NT B.J. Raji

BENGALS INACTIVES:
5 QB Jordan Palmer (Third QB)
20 CB David Jones
43 S Tom Nelson
62 G Nate Livings
71 T Andre Smith
80 TE Chase Coffman
89 WR Jerome Simpson
92 DE Frostee Rucker

BENGALS STARTING LINEUP CHANGES:
On offense, Evan Mathis (#66) starts at LG for Nate Livings (#62).

Doh! What the?? And Breno is inactive again.

Good to put Raji out. Why risk him in a game like this when you should win going away. Get him 100 percent.