After a very rough, déjà vu-like start to the season, the Bengals have begun to turn the page.
After a tough loss in Green Bay, but a somewhat promising second half, Joe Flacco came out firing Thursday night against their biggest AFC North rival, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Well, not quite firing immediately, but eventually. The Bengals went down quickly, 10-0, but Flacco flipped the switch, turned the bright white lights on inside Paycor, and activated the 12th man.
Flacco had a good history with the Steelers, having battled them several times in his career, which may have prompted Steelers’ head coach Mike Tomlin’s comments earlier in the week about the Browns trading Flacco to a division rival.
There was a vibe in downtown Cincinnati as “Joe Calm” walked on the field. Once the Bengals started rolling, they weren’t stopping as Flacco must have taken Joe Burrow’s advice to say, “F*^# it, Ja’Marr is down there somewhere.”
It seemed as if Chase caught nearly every ball, with Tee Higgins catching the rest. While Andrei Iosivas and Noah Fant had their handful of catches, Chase and Higgins led the way by a mile.
Chase got paid, and he’s currently proving why that was a smart move by Burrow and the Bengals, as he is now in a good position to receive his second triple crown in two years. But there’s a lot of season left. He is currently leading in one of the categories and within range of the others.
Chase and Flacco weren’t the only shining stars, though. With some good open holes, finally, Chase Brown was able to let loose for the first time with multiple big gains.
On the other side of the ball, the Bengals have one big winner and one big loser.
DJ Turner has been nothing short of great for this struggling defense. Thursday night, he made one of the best interceptions I’ve seen since Cam Taylor Britt’s interception against Kansas City last season.
Unfortunately, CTB was benched, and I don’t see that changing. After a standout rookie season, he’s gone downhill since. After promising better performance in multiple interviews, we haven’t seen any improvement. But to be fair, he’s still being a great teammate and helping coach up guys like DJ Turner and Josh Newton.
Speaking of, Turner is playing at an elite level, giving this defense some hope of becoming a respectable unit as the season wears on. His 81.3 coverage grade at Pro Football Focus is ranked eighth in the entire NFL.
And while the Bengals defense is still a major work in progress, they’re still working out the kinks under new defensive coordinator Al Golden, while Trey Hendrickson missed the second half in Green Bay and the entire game vs. Pittsburgh.
With a couple extra recovery days, let’s see if the Bengals can continue their warm streak as they host the winless Jets for their second of three home games prior to the bye week.
And with a very winnable game vs. the Bears in Week 9, the Bengals have a great chance to hit their bye at 5-4 overall and potentially tied with the Steelers for the AFC North lead, something that seemed impossible just a few weeks ago.
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