The Cincinnati Bengals are going into Mercedes-Benz Stadium to face the Atlanta Falcons this Sunday. Coming off a loss, the Bengals will look to move forward and get to 3-1. Unfortunately, a win will be pretty tough to obtain going against one of the best offensive teams in the league. Yes, the Falcons are 1-2, but the game against the Saints last week wasn’t on the offense, it was their defense that faltered. The problem with this is that the Bengals offense aren’t as good as the Saints offense, and that worries me. Can the Bengals win a shootout against the Falcons? I honestly don’t know. However, with A.J. Green cleared to play on Sunday, the team’s chances of winning will go up.

More importantly, the Bengals need their linebackers to produce more. Other than Nick Vigil, the LB corp is extremely disappointing. Christian McCaffrey absolutely scorched the second level of the defense (not to mention the defensive line as well). If the defense as a whole continues to play like that, they’re going to lose more games than they win. Luckily Preston Brown will be back and in another week, so will Vontaze Burfict. However, there were some bright spots, like WR Tyler Boyd’s big game (6 rec, 132 yards, 1 TD) as well as Tyler Eifert getting the most looks he’s gotten since the start of the season.

That being said, these are the three key matchups the Bengals need to win in order to come out on top Sunday.

1. Giovani Bernard vs. Falcons’ front seven

The Falcons aren’t exactly what you’d call world beaters when it comes to stopping the run. In fact, they’re ranked 28th against the run, giving up 126 yards per game at 5.2 YPC (to be fair, the Bengals aren’t far off, ranking 26th in run defense). And with Joe Mixon expected to either be limited or out completely, this bodes well for Bernard.

The Falcons defense is without three of their most valuable players in S Keanu Neal, LB Deion Jones and DB Ricardo Allen. This should present Giovani Bernard many opportunities to make some big plays. If the Bengals running game falters on Sunday, the chances of winning will drop considerably. The Bengals don’t have the type of offense where they can successfully throw the ball 40 plus times a game, last week was proof of that. They need to stay balanced, and if Gio can’t burst through that front seven, it’s going to be a long day.

I expect the team to play some smash mouth football (or as smash mouth as it can get out of single back and shotgun formations), driving Gio up the middle early on to test the inexperienced LB corp. I also expect another 5 reception game out of Bernard, along with a rushing touchdown or two.