In honor of our Midwestern opponent this week, I'm including a photo of my very own bengal cat:




Yes, I own a cat. Everyone always says, "you don't seem like the type." Well, this particular cat is pretty bad ass, so yes, that is my type. Anyway, her name is sophia and she's an F-4 Bengal. She's also poses roughly the same threat to the Packers as OchoMoron-O and the Cincinnati Bengals do. But hey, like they say, that's why they play the games.

So here it is, the Packers are 1-0 and off to a solid start. But this is certainly one of, "those" games that Packers teams of the past have lost.

Will they step up? That depends. But we do know that in order for them to win, someone has to. So here it is, this week's KEY player. Your one (please, no, "the entire offensive line") player that sparks the key to victory. That takes someone's head off, causes a fumble/INT, throws/catches a TD or just simply, "goes off" against the Bengals.

For me, it's all about:






Nick Collins.

I've come around on Nick a lot over the last year and a half. Once extremely critical of him, I've loved the growth and football I.Q. he's displayed recently. And this week, he's going to play a key cog. The Bengals aren't necessarily great at anything, but they're solid across the board. And with an inexperienced Aaron Rouse playing alongside him at Safety, Collins' importance goes up even more. He's going to have to help contain the run, limit Carson Palmer and the passing game and most importantly, play the point guard position of the Packers D. If him and Rouse can limit the Bengals' big plays, I think there's no way they can keep up. Packers roll 28-10.

BJ Raji

He needs to get in the game and begin his journey to dominance.

Packer O line. It's all on those guys. McCarthy and the other coaches basically threw down this week and challenged them to up their game 10 fold. Let's see how they do.

My original choice was going to be Barbre for obvious reasons. But I changed my mind.

I am picking Aaron Rodgers.

If Barbre still struggles to a certain extent, can Rodgers keep his focus and not get happy feet or over throw his receivers? I'm saying he will do better. He has the first game of the season under his belt and one he played a significant part in helping to win. I believe that will carry over to this game.

Aaron Rodgers

I expect Barbre to improve, but it'll be a while until Rodgers can truly rely on him. Until then, Rodgers is going to have to be mindful of that and compensate. After the slow Week 1 start, the offense needs to get going - and that starts with Rodgers. The Bengals' offense has the ability to be dangerous, and if you give them too many opportunities, they're bound to make some plays. Rodgers needs to keep the ball moving and put up points. We need long, clock-killing drives. We can't live off of this feast or famine offense.

Jermichael Finley
Needed him for blocking last week, well he will be unleashed and play a key roll in this game. Look for two tds!!

Great point.

I think that's on McCarthy though. Too many swing-for-the-fences type plays. I hope the offense gets back to doing what it does best -- YAC and the running game that sets up the long ball.

This weeks key player is Al Harris. The front seven will do their thing. Harris (assuming he draws #85 Stink-o) will determine the success/failure of the Bengal offense and thus the success/failure for the Packers.

Allen Barbre, need I say more

IMHO, the D will be better than OK, and will have no problem keeping the rusty Palmer in-check (and therefore, Mr. Dental Bling).

The offense needs to start clicking, and while AR plays a huge role, I think the key will be the running game. Getting 5+ yds. per carry will put MM at ease calling a systematic, pound-it-out game, and NOT calling 40 yd. passes every fourth play.

Ryan Grant rolls for 150 on 30 carries, and the offense rings-up 375 total yards in a 38-10 victory.

Charles Woodson. He had a little bit of an off week against the Bears. This week he won't have 2 good TE's to have to cover all game long, so I see more blitz opportunities for him. He's a turnover machine.

my thoughts exactly. If he can sustain his blocks, rodgers should have time to easily pick apart that bungle D.

Cullen Jenkins. This dude looks unblockable at times.

I heard today that the Bengals face 3-4 defenses in 11 of their 16 games. We're not likely to throw much at them they haven't seen from the likes of Pittsburgh and Baltimore.

So if you throw any scheme advantages out the window, then it comes to individual matchups. I'll go with the guy that looks unblockable.

Allen Barbre. He needs to improve and improve quickly. If he can do a credible job at RT the Packers should pick the Bengals defense apart. If the Bengals pull what they did against Denver and wait until late in the game to score any points at all it could get ugly for them real quick. What I remember about Aaron Rodgers last year is that he usually responded to slow games by breaking out for 300 yards and multiple TDs. I dont' see Rodgers having another slow day. Barbre needs to improve though. He was anticipating the rush, which caused his deep throws to be off. The Packers were a cumulative 10-12" from having 300+ yards on offense and more TDs last week. Slightly better protection and Rodgers makes those throws. Our WR group is a very hard group to match up with. They do no good though if Barbre gets manhandled and lets his guy hit Rodgers over and over. If the Packers get up quickly on the Bengals it could be another turnover fest for our defense and a great way to start 2-0 on the season. If Barbre sucks it up again though it will be another close game.

Rodgers.

Allow me to explain by starting on the other side of the ball with the defense. As eire199 says, Cincinnati is accustomed to playing against 3-4 defenses, and not just any 3-4 defenses; rather, they consistently face ones better (at least recently) than the Packers', such as the Steelers' and Ravens'. Consequently, there is reason to believe that the Cincinnati offense can exploit the familiar monster known as the 3-4 and put up some points. After all, they have a good receiving corp in Johnson, Coles, and Henry, and Benson has played well for them since joining the team mid-season last year. I know that Palmer looks rusty, but he's also talented. Thus, if Cincinnati can score TDs in the redzone, the Packers' offense will need to answer.

I like sinatra's idea of long, time-consuming drives, but whether the Packer offense is able to produce those depends on what Cincinnati's defense gives them. On Sunday, the Bears were taking away the underneath routes and forcing Rodgers to go deep. Rodgers and Co. weren't able to connect on any of those deep passes (aside from the game winning TD) because the Bears were able to create some solid pressure, thus disrupting Rodgers and his receivers' rhythm. If the Bengals employ a similar gameplan, Rodgers needs to do a better job of (1) reading the blitz at the line of scrimmage, and (2) making more accurate throws down the field. The offense left some deep balls on the field Sunday, though they did hit one when it mattered most. That said, Cincinnati's defense is an underrated unit that is predicated on stopping the run and then blitzing on second and third and long situations. Rodgers better be prepared, but the same goes for the offensive line.

I'm going with Tramon Williams.

If Colledge is out, both teams will be fielding three first-year starters on their offensive line. The likely consequence is prudence. Neither side wants its franchise QB killed in week two. I expect a game of field position and more rushing than usual. A defensive or special-teams touchdown could be critical in what may be a low-scoring contest.

The Packers will play plenty of max-protect, putting the onus on their receivers to get free or at least produce some YAC. The fullbacks and tight ends will see plenty of action, and it would be really nice to succeed with a screen pass or two. Key to that is coordination on the offensive line, which is the responsibility of Jason Spitz. Poor Spitz could be flanked by two guards with a total of three NFL starts between them. He needs to be flawless.

If the Bengals' D has an obvious hole, it's in the middle, where the tackles are so-so, the safeties inconsistent, and MLB Dhani Jones painfully slow. In recent seasons the Packers haven't run up the gut often, and haven't been very successful when they've tried. But the new-look line was supposed to be bigger and tougher, in order to open up those tough yards between the tackles. Sunday is a chance to show what progress has been made. Obviously Ryan Grant needs to exploit the lack of pace in the Bengals' defense, but to do so he needs more consistent line play, and the man who can make that happen is the Packers' most promising run blocker, Josh Sitton.

Sitton has an favorable matchup in the running game on Domata Peko, Cincy's athletic but undersized tackle. It could be the key to the game.

Double D.

Teams know about Jennings. They're going to forget the Old Man at #2. Driver is going to tear them to pieces, then free up Jennings for The Dagger.

DD: 8 catches 162 yards, 2 TD. NFL Player of the Week.

I hope you're right, I'm starting him one of my fantasy leagues.

Ryan Grant

You say Collins heat so I'll take Rouse. He needs to step up and take this opportunity with Bigby out for the next few weeks.

I'll go with our offensive line. If they play anything like they did in August this game shouldn't be a contest. But if they continue to play like they did on Sunday night this game could be a problem.

our LB"s we need to cover that short middle as well as the run