Eagles vs. Bengals: The good, the bad, and the ugly

Zac Taylor folded his arms and looked up at the clock in disbelief with 41 second left in the third quarter. The Cincinnati Bengals’ coach who had reached the AFC Championship twice in the last four years was facing misery.

Grief is what arrived after the Eagles stopped the Bengals on a big fourth-and-one tackle by rookie safety Cooper DeJean on Cincinnati’s dangerous Ja’Marr Chase.

The Eagles answered by turning a close game into a 37-17 route winning for the first time in Cincinnati, taking care of Joe Burrow and the Bengals on Sunday at Paycor Stadium for their third-straight win.

Jalen Hurts rushed for three touchdowns, becoming the first quarterback in NFL history to rush for two or more touchdowns in 14 games, Saquon Barkley rushed for 108 yards and the defense caused two turnovers, equaling the number of turnovers they created over their first six games and their first turnover since Week 3 against the New Orleans Saints.

After Hurts scored his third touchdown, he immediately emerged out from under the pile and handed Barkley the ball to make sure he put an exclamation spike on it after carrying much of the load in the fourth quarter.

Although the game was well decided by then, on the DeJean stop. Trailing 24-17, with 1:08 left in the third quarter, Taylor went into panic mode and DeJean was there to make him pay for it.

On Cincinnati’s last play of the third quarter, sitting at its 39 staring at a fourth-and-one, Taylor decided to risk the game right there. Burrow slung a short pass in the flat to Chase and DeJean was there to upend him for a two-yard loss. The Eagles replied with a Jake Elliott 49-yard field, followed by an exhaustive 12-play, 7-minute, 37-second drive and another Elliott field goal.

Cincinnati had long been a house or horrors for the Eagles, who were 0-4-1 at Cincinnati prior to Sunday.

Maybe this victory will exorcise some demons of the past six games. The Eagles are now 5-2 and showing some flashes of who they could be—an NFC Championship contender.

There was a mountain of good, some bad, and some continued ugliness in the Eagles’ dominant 37-17 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Good

Hurts looking like the vintage 2022 MVP-candidate version for all the dubious that labeled him a “game-manager” last week. He was tremendous. He completed 16 of 20 for 236 yards and a touchdown, while rushing for 37 yards and three touchdowns. He played with poise. He threw crisp passes. He saw wide-open receivers and trusted covered receivers that they would get the ball.

Barkley plowing through Cincinnati for a game-high 108 yards on 22 carries, his longest 19 yards.

Linebacker Zack Baun putting the game on ice, punching the ball out of tight end Mike Gesicki’s hands with 4:31 to play and Nakobe Dean there to recover it. Cincinnati’s second turnover led to Elliott’s third field goal and the 37-17 final.

Barkley and Ben VanSumeren grinding their way through the Bengals’ defense in the fourth quarter for the clinching touchdown that resulted in Hurts’ third TD. Led by VanSumeren, Barkley carried six times for 46 yards, setting the Eagles up at the Bengals’ 1 with 4:44 left to play. The Brotherly Shove gave the Eagles a commanding 34-17 lead with 4:39 to play.

Cornerback Isaiah Rodgers’ deflection that led to free safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson’s interception with 12:16 to play. Burrow thought he had Chase open down the sideline, but apparently, he did not. Rodgers was running with Chase, and deftly swatted the ball into the hands of the converging Gardner-Johnson. It was the best play Gardner-Johnson made this season.

Elliott’s 49-yard field goal with 13:34 to play gave the Eagles a two-score 27-17 lead. It came courtesy of DeJean’s big stop on Chase on the Bengals’ prior possession.

Receiver DeVonta Smith’s great concentration on a 45-yard touchdown rainbow from Hurts over Bengals’ safety Jordan Battle with 2:43 left in the third quarter. Hurts put the ball up trusting Smith would get it—and he did—for a 24-17 Eagles’ lead. It was the third-straight time the Eagles had scored. They pounded the Bengals for 196 yards over 23 plays, taking up 10 minutes and 44 seconds on those drives.

Tight end Jack Stoll doing a great job against Bengals’ defensive Sam Hubbard allowing Hurts to throw the 45-yard TD bomb to Smith.

The Eagles’ opening drive of the second half. They rammed 70 yards over eight plays, taking 4:25 off the clock for their first lead, 17-10. They converted two third downs. The big play was a 28-yard reception to tight end Grant Calcaterra on a first-and-10 from midfield. Hurts scored his second TD of the game on a seven-yard sweep to the right.

Calcaterra’s sealing block on Cincinnati cornerback TJ Turner II on the Eagles’ first drive of the second half, sweeping Turner right to create a lane for Hurts. Calcaterra made the big play of the drive hauling in a 28-yard pass on a first-and-10 from midfield. His 19-yard sideline reception with 3:09Calcaterra finished with three catches on three targets for 58 yards, the longest his third-quarter 28-yarder.

Barkley’s eight-yard pick up right behind Tyler Steen and Lane Johnson on third-and-three at the Bengals’ seven on the Eagles’ first drive of the second half. It preserved the series and allowed Hurts to score his second TD.

Left tackle Fred Johnson did a good job holding off Bengals’ defensive end Trey Hendrickson for the majority of the game.

Hurts’ first half. The defense suddenly morphed into what it actually is, average at best, allowing Cincinnati to score on its first two drives and giving up 174 yards of total offense, 10 first downs and an average of 5.1 yards a play. Hurts kept the Eagles afloat in the half, completing seven of 11 passes for 86 yards and passing for three first downs—one a17-yard dart to A.J. Brown after a critical penalty. Hurts rushed for 29 yards on seven carries, including a 12-yard run and a touchdown.

A.J. Brown’s 17-yard reception on third-and-16 at the Cincinnati 16 on the Eagles’ last drive of the first half. The reception followed Steen’s unnecessary roughness call that placed the Eagles in that predicament in the first place. The successive plays could be a microcosm of the Eagles’ season so far: A terrible self-inflicted mistake, followed by a brilliant play to bail themselves out. The Brown reception kept the drive alive and allowed the Eagles to go into halftime knotted at 10-10, after the Hurts’ one-yard score with 22 seconds left in the half.

Edge rusher Nolan Smith’s 12-yard sack on the Bengals’ second drive at the Cincinnati 46. It was Smith’s third sack in three-straight games.

The Eagles scoring for the first time this season on their opening drive. The Eagles drove 53 yards for an Elliott 39-yard field goal with 14:10 left in the half. They only faced one third down on the 10-play drive. The Eagles broke a trend, though it is still ugly. The 10 plays they ran were half of what they did total in their previous six games (20 plays) They previous had two first downs and crossed midfield once in their first six opening possessions. Over their first seven games, this is what the Eagles opening drives have amounted to:

Packers: 3 plays, minus-5 yards INT

Falcons: 4 plays, 24 yards Punt (crossed midfield)

Saints: 3 plays, minus-9 yards Punt

Bucs: 3 plays, 7 yards Punt

Browns: 3 plays, 5 yards Punt

Giants: 4 plays, 17 yards Punt

Bengals: 10 plays, 55 yards, Elliott 39-yard FG

Total: 30 plays, 94 yards, 5 Punts, 6 first downs, 1 FG, 1 INT

Linebacker Nakobe Dean’s nice open field tackle on Chase Brown

The Bad

Defensive end Milton Williams, normally very reliable, getting rolled out right by left tackle Cody Ford on Chase Brown’s game-tying 17-17 four-yard touchdown run up the middle with 4:16 left in the third quarter.

Rookie cornerback Quinyon Mitchell received an education against one of the best—Chase. Mitchell found himself running after Chase all afternoon, including a Chase 13-yard reception on a first-and-10 at the Eagles’ 36 in which Mitchell even tried holding Chase and was flagged for it.

Smith’s false start at the Bengals’ 24 on the Eagles’ last drive of the half. Not smart football when there was no intention to run a play just before the two-minute warning.

With 5:08 left in the first half, the Bengals had run off 34 plays to the Eagles’ 17. At the time, that was no way to keep someone like Joe Burrow off the field.

Cornerback Darius Slay getting beat by rookie Jermaine Burton for a 41-yard reception on the Bengals’ third possession. The Eagles were fortunate to have Evan McPherson 54-yard field goal attempt slide wide left with 5:08 left in the half.

Dean failing to pick up Chase right next to him on a third-and-eight at the Bengals’ 48 on Cincinnati’s open drive, just two plays after Dean made a fine open-field tackle for a three-yard loss.

The Ugly

Nick Sirianni still acting like “Sideshow Nick,” after the Eagles picked up their second turnover of the game when Dean fell on Gesicki’s late-fourth quarter fumble. Sirianni could not refrain from acting like a normal NFL coach. Instead, he had to leap onto the field, ripping his headset off and prance around like a fan in the stands who happens to be an NFL coach. Somewhere Vince Lombardi was rolling over in his grave.

After coming in and playing well against the Giants, right guard Tyler Steen had himself a half. He was called for a holding penalty on the last play of the first quarter, wiping out a Hurts’ nine-yard run to the Bengals’ nine. But this was egregious: After Hurts hit Smith for an 11-yard reception at the Bengals’ 18 with 1:44 left in the half, Steen had to pile into Cincinnati safety Geno Stone for an unnecessary roughness call, moving the ball back to the Bengals’ 33 and forcing the Eagles into a third-and-16 on their last drive of the half.

The Eagles’ giving up a third-and-22 on Cincinnati’s second drive. It looked like they had Burrow pinned down for a loss. He somehow squeezed free to find Gesicki down field for 24 yards and a first down. Josh Sweat came up through the middle on a stunt and missed Burrow. Bryce Huff was where he has been most of the season, behind someone being blocked, and Gesicki was left wide open. The play put the ball at the Eagles’ 30 and set up an Evan McPherson 27-yard field goal and a 10-3 Cincinnati lead with 9:32 left in the half.

Steen’s holding call that wiped out Hurts’ nine-yard run on the Eagles’ first drive. The flag came on a second-and-12 at the Bengals’ 18 and it marked the last play of the first quarter—without the Eagles still shutout in the opening quarter.

Again, the 2024 Eagles failure to score in the first quarter. They remain the only team in the NFL to not score a point in the first quarter. It marks the first time in Eagles’ history that they have not scored a point in the opening quarter in their first seven games. They have now been outscored 30-0 in the first quarter this season, and outgained, 488 yards to 381.

The Eagles’ defense on Cincinnati’s first drive. The Eagles allowed Burrow to complete 11 of 12 for 60 yards and a touchdown. The Bengals were five-for-five on third down, including converting a third-and-eight, and two third-and-sixes. Burrow was five-for-five on third down. He got the ball out fast and proved quickly he was not Daniel Jones or Deshaun Watson. He completed passes to four different receivers. The drive was impressive. It covered 70 yards over 17 plays and chewed up an incredible 10 minutes, 4 seconds off the clock. The 10-minute, 4-second drive was the longest opening drive in the NFL this season. The Eagles did not receive the ball until there was 4:56 left in the first quarter. The drive was capped when Burrow directed Chase through traffic in between Nolan Smith and Reed Blankenship. Chase was only the most dangerous threat on the field—and somehow Blankenship and Smith lost him. On their opening drive, the Bengals almost accomplished what the Browns and Giants did for an entire game. Entering the game, the Eagles had held the Browns and Giants, two teams that had a combined record of 3-11, to an average of 9.5 points, 181.5 yards and 3.4 yards per play. The Bengals had 7 points, and 70 yards on their first series.

Joseph Santoliquito is a hall of fame, award-winning sportswriter based in the Philadelphia area who has written feature stories for SI.com, ESPN.com, NFL.com, MLB.com, Deadspin and The Philadelphia Inquirer/Daily News. In 2006, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for a special project piece for ESPN.com called “Love at First Beep.” He is most noted for his award-winning ESPN.com feature on high school wrestler A.J. Detwiler in February 2006, which appeared on SportsCenter. In 2015, he was elected president of the Boxing Writers Association of America.