The Bengals were counting on Thurman and Pollack to be their cornerstones on defense, but with both linebackers out, they have been forced to call upon players such as Caleb Miller and Landon Johnson to elevate their game, and that they have. Miller and Johnson are ranked second and third respectively on the team in tackles. Coming into the season, the team had high hopes that veteran LB Brian Simmons would be a major contributor, but inconsistent play and a lingering neck injury has caused that hope to fade. Simmons was inactive last week against Baltimore and likely will be inactive for today's game.

Picking up the slack on this makeshift unit are a pair of young, talented linebackers in rookie Ahmad Brooks, who is quickly earning the label of STUD for his play on defense, and Rashad Jeanty, who has virtually come out of nowhere to open some eyes with his playmaking ability. Brooks has 26 tackles and a sack in the five games in which he started. Jeanty has 19 tackles in the four games he's played. Both have been outstanding and have performed in such a way on defense that would make their mothers proud. Hi mom!

Jeanty has been a pleasant surprise for the club and doesn't deny the fact.

"Yeah, I think I have been a surprise," Jeanty said. "I don't think the coaching staff knew exactly what they were going to get out of me as far as on the football field, but so far things are going pretty well."

Jeanty also talked about the young linebacking corps being up for the challenge.

"Losing Odell [Thurman] and David [Pollack] was a big loss for this football team, but we have some young guys willing to step up and get the job done. Ahmad [Brooks], Caleb [Miller] and myself, we look forward to the challenge. We know that we're young and kind of inexperienced in a way, but we feed off each other as well as the veterans and just play football," he said.

Of the 591 total tackles made by the Bengals, the linebackers have accounted for 197.

As a whole, I think the Bengals linebackers are holding up fairly well considering the circumstances, and more than anything else you can see this unit starting to evolve. Fans shouldn't be at all surprised by the play of this group because just like Bo knows, Marvin [Lewis] knows linebackers.

That being said, the linebacker corps and their supporting cast will need to continue to play strong because they will be faced with their biggest challenge yet when the San Diego Chargers and their No. 3 ranked offense invade Paul Brown Stadium today.

San Diego sports the league's highest scoring offense while the Bengals possess a No. 24 ranked defense. It is no secret that the Bengals are having trouble with stopping the run, but keep in mind they did hold the Atlanta Falcons, who own the No. 1 ranked rushing offense, in check. Although it will be tough to stop RB LaDainian Tomlinson running and catching the ball out of the backfield, this is a feat the defense could accomplish given their performance against Atlanta.

I think Jeanty said it best when he talked about what it would take in order for the Bengals to emerge victorious against the Chargers.

"We know we can't just shut the whole offense down," he said. "They have a lot of key players that pump their offense up and make them move. So I think the biggest thing is just us doing our job and taking care of our individual responsibilities. If we do that for the most part then we'll be fine."

Will the team put an emphasis on stopping the run? You betcha!

"We have to stop the run. There are no ifs, ands or buts about it," Jeanty said. "We have to stop the run. That's been the ammo of what we are incapable of doing, so to speak, that we can't stop the run. We had a great week of practice and are looking forward to that. So we'll see tomorrow at one o'clock what happens."

That we will.

Side note from the NFL: The unprecedented NFL sellout streak continues. It's now 10 straight weeks of advance sellouts. All games of the NFL schedule for this Sunday and Monday — Week 10 — have sold out in advance of the local TV blackout deadline. That means every NFL game this weekend will be televised in the home-team market for an unprecedented 10th straight week. Every game this season has been sold out at least 72 hours in advance and televised locally. Previously, the most sellout weekends in one season was four in 2004 and 2005.