Are the Bengals the favorites in the AFC?
ESPN's Get Up panel didn't go that far, but they do believe Cincinnati is one of the top contenders in the conference.
Chris Canty and Tim Hasselbeck agreed that Cincinnati is the top challenger to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC.
Canty praised Cincinnati's defensive makeup as a huge factor why the Chiefs should be worried.
"Absolutely," Canty said about the Bengals being the top challenger. "A big reason why is Joe Burrow, but we also have to consider what that defense did in the AFC Championship game. They played a lot of top-down coverage, 61% of the time coming out in shell coverages, which is two-high safeties, and they eliminated the big plays.
"This Kansas City Chiefs offense is a big play outfit. Nobody has more big plays in the NFL than they do this year. They took that away in the AFC Championship game. If you do that if you starve this offense, then eventually they'll fumble the bag and in the second half of that AFC Championship game, the Chiefs offense averaged 2.7 yards per play."
On the flip side, Hasselbeck loved the mentality Cincinnati had on offense in their 20-16 win over Tennessee.
"Yeah, I think it has to scare you based on what happened last year," Hasselbeck said. "Everything Chris said is exactly right. Talk about top-down coverage, like make them be patient. The other thing is this, I don't think you can watch last week what Cincinnati did against Tennessee and not come away really impressed.
"Yes, they are a big-play offense. I think in some ways people maybe would have looked at them as a finesse offense because they get into empty a lot. They've got these receivers that create matchup problems but what they did against Tennessee was they're like 'Nah we're gonna line up, and we're gonna call 17 runs' for Samaje Perine, right? Like we're gonna go ahead and pound the football, some."
Check out the full segment here.
The Bengals host the Chiefs on Sunday at 4:25 p.m. ET.
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