By Marc Hardin
FOX Sports Ohio/Bengals Insider
Thursday, October 28th, 2010
This Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium against the Miami Dolphins, the Bengals will need a Marshall plan.
In the 6-foot-4, 230-pound Brandon Marshall, the Bengals face yet another big, physical receiver with speed and leaping ability, ala Roddy White, who carved up the Bengals for 201 receiving yards in last Sunday's debacle in Atlanta.
Marshall ranks six in the NFL with 42 catches, eighth with 524 receiving yards. The Dolphins don't really use him to hit the home run. Marshall averages 12.5 yards per catch and has just four grabs going for 20 yards or longer. He does have one catch going for at least 40 yards, but just one touchdown. While the Bengals still need to guard against the deep ball with Marshall, he is more likely to hurt them on the edges and underneath as the Dolphins move the chains. That could make for a challenging day for the Bengals' linebackers, whose one collective weakness may be when they drop back into pass coverage.
ON A SECONDARY NOTE...: The Bengals will be attempting to hold Miami quarterback Chad Henne and the aerial attack in check with a banged-up secondary that has taken some severe hits. Henne ranks 18th in the league with an 84.9 passer rating. He's thrown for 1,452 yards with a 63.1 percent completion rate, eight TDs and six interceptions. He's completed just two passes of 40 yards or longer. He was 23-of-46 passing for 257 yards (63.9 percent with a TD and a pick in the Dolphins' 1-point loss to Pittsburgh last Sunday. Leon Hall had been the Bengals' only 100-percent healthy cornerback of late, but he's been hobbled this week with a balky hamstring and did not practice Wednesday. Adam Jones is out for the season with a neck injury. Jones received his first start in two years for injured Johnathan Joseph in Atlanta.
Joseph (ankle) returned to practice today. Morgan Trent, who would be expected to inherit playing time, possibly as a starting cornerback, in the wake of the injuries, has been dealing with a temperamental knee. His status for Sunday is in question. The Bengals were so thin in practice this week at cornerback, they pressed into service practice squad wide receiver Shay Hodge, who lined up in the secondary. Rookie cornerback Brandon Ghee told the team's official site that he might have lost four pounds as one of two healthy cornerbacks suiting up for Wednesday
