Tough break for the NFL to have its most enticing primetime game of either last week or this week fall on Halloween, when single people are busy getting hammered and flirty while married people with young kids are stuck squiring their kids through the neighborhood for at least the early part of the evening.
Of course, the result may end up being a disaster since these teams are trending in opposite directions. The Bengals have won four straight with the Dolphins having lost that many in a row. At least you can say for Miami that they’ve been in the last three games – in fact, they held a 17-3 halftime lead over the Patriots in Gillette Stadium on Sunday. Unfortunately, they didn’t bother to score again the rest of the game and fell 27-17.
Andy Dalton earned AFC Offensive Player of the Month in October with an pretty impressive stretch the last three weeks (11 TDs and 2 INTs) whereas Ryan Tannehill has six turnovers in the two games following Miami’s Week 6 bye.
To compound the Dolphins’ problems, right tackle Jonathan Martin has departed the team following an incident of “Mean Girls”-like cafeteria bullying from teammates:
According to sources, Martin was the subject of some ribbing on Monday and was angry about it. One source said Martin’s fellow offensive linemen were behind the incident, and it happened in the Dolphins’ lunch room.
“O-line made fun of him and he snapped,” a source said.
Time for the league to launch a half-hearted anti-bullying campaign, a la the WWE.
Meanwhile, Chad Johnson is supposed to be on the Bengals’ sideline tonight. So if Cincinnati loses, expect someone to call him a distraction.