Week 3 Preview: Los Angeles Rams at Cincinnati Bengals
Photo Credit: Steph Chambers, Getty Images
Coming into this 2023 NFL season most everyone would have expected the home team in this matchup to have the better record, but that isn’t the case. In this rematch of Super Bowl LVI, the 1-1 Los Angeles Rams travel to Cincinnati to take on the winless Bengals. This game is a borderline must-win for them even though we are only two weeks into the season. While on the other side, the Rams have played better than most expected. The Rams were able to upset the Seattle Seahawks on the road quite handily winning 30-13 Week 1. Then in Week 2, they played a very competitive first half against the San Francisco 49ers going into half tied 17-17. The 49ers did pull away in the second half winning 30-23.
The Bengals’ main struggle to start the year has been on the offensive side of the ball where they haven’t looked in sync. In Week 1 they were dominated by the Cleveland Browns losing 24-3. They did look better in Week 2 but still fell short losing 27-24 to the Baltimore Ravens. Quarterback Joe Burrow hasn’t looked great the first two weeks throwing for 283 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. It’s important to note Burrow did not have a training camp due to an injury which could lead to some early rust. On top of that it doesn’t appear he’s one hundred percent healthy as he’s listed on the injury report this week.
Even though the offense has struggled the defense hasn’t looked great to start the year either. The secondary specifically took a big hit this offseason losing both Safeties Jessie Bates III and Vonn Bell. This could be an area the Rams may target as their passing attack has looked quite good this year. Quarterback Matthew Stafford has looked much better than he did last year even though he did make a couple of mistakes last week against a top 49ers defense. Two reasons for the early success of the passing game have been Wide Receivers Puka Nacua and Tutu Atwell. Both receivers had over 100 yards in Week 1, and both had at least 75 yards Week 2 with Nacua having nearly 150 himself.
With both teams in this matchup having two productive wide receivers, it’s likely both will target the defenses through the air Monday night. Now with another week of practice and an extra day to rest during the week Joe Burrow will be in a prime spot to bounce back from his early season struggles. In addition, if the Rams allow it expect Ja’Marr Chase to have a breakout game after struggling the first two weeks of the season. On the Rams side look for Nacua and Atwell to continue their early season success against a defense that is still adjusting to losing their two starting safeties from last year’s team.
The weather is projected to be perfect, between 60-70 degrees and partly cloudy Monday night. With these conditions and the mismatches on both sides when it comes to wide receiver against the opposing team’s secondary, expect a high-scoring game with a heavy passing attack from both sides hopefully resulting in a highly entertaining game.
The Bengals are the better team on paper and have more at stake as losing would move them to 0-3. A hole they might not be able to dig themselves out at least when it comes to the division as the Baltimore Ravens have started the season 2-0. The game being in Cincinnati should be a huge boost to the hometown team as they look to pick up their first win of the season.
