A tough pill to swallow, but at least the offense came alive.
The Cincinnati Bengals went into Arrowhead Stadium for a big matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs and left with a heartbreaking 26-25 loss. It was a tough pill to swallow, but the team at least looked dramatically improved from last week.
There was pressure on both sides of the ball to bounce back from the Week 1 debacle, so let’s take a look at some winners and losers from today’s contest.
Winners:
Joe Burrow: Burrow finally looked like himself in this one despite the loss. He did lose a fumble that Kansas City ran back for a touchdown, but he was clean other than that. Burrow finished with 23 completions for 258 yards and two touchdowns, with no interceptions.
Mike Gesicki: Gesicki showed a lot of what brought him to Cincinnati on Sunday. On a 4th down in the first quarter, the Bengals opted to go for it, and Burrow found Gesicki across the middle. Gesicki broke loose for a gain of 37 yards that led to a field goal to give the Bengals a 3-0 lead. Gesicki finished the game with seven for seven yards.
Andrei Iosivas: “Yoshi” delivered Sunday with a pair of touchdown receptions. In Tee Higgins’ absence, Iosivas has been tasked with taking some outside reps at receiver. His red zone presence eased the blow of missing Higgins. Iosivas finished with only two catches, but both were for touchdowns.
Akeem Davis-Gaither: Davis-Gaither made an interception late in the first quarter to give the ball back to the Bengals and keep the Kansas City offense on the sidelines. The Bengals would turn the turnover in to 7 points when Burrow found Andrei Iosivas in the corner of the end zone. Davis-Gaither added three tackles (one solo) as well.
Cam Taylor-Britt: Taylor-Britt didn’t mince words when discussing Chiefs rookie Xavier Worthy leading up to the game. After giving up a 44-yard touchdown to Rashee Rice, Taylor-Britt was matched up against Worthy on a deep ball down the sideline. Taylor-Britt lept into the air and hauled in an interception that is a Catch of the Year candidate already.
Trey Hendrickson: Hendrickson did all he could, even forcing the Chiefs to change tackles. Hendrickson finished with two sacks but was the reason for multiple holding penalties that pushed the Chiefs backward.
Losers:
The Defensive Line: An already thin unit lost BJ Hill to a hamstring injury, and it showed. The run defense struggled again. In the first half, Kansas City averaged 5.4 yards per carry. The Bengals offense was able to keep pressure on Kansas City to help a bit in the second half, but Kansas City still piled up 149 rushing yards. It didn’t help that Sheldon Rankins was lost late to a hamstring injury of his own. This unit is getting brutalized.
Daijahn Anthony: The rookie DB got called for two critical penalties, the second leading to the game-winning kick by Harrison Butker. It’s fair to wonder why he was in the game at such a key moment. That will be a play the rookie won’t soon forget.
Ja’Marr Chase: Most knew Chase would see double teams for most of the day, which is exactly what Kansas City did. Chase was held to four catches for 35 yards, but his worst moment was an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty in the 4th quarter. Chase appeared to be upset that there was no call on what he thought was a hip drop tackle, and he expressed that to the referee. Even after Burrow came to try to restrain him, Chase went at the referee again, resulting in the penalty and very possibly taking points off the board for the Bengals in a game they lost by a point.
