The Cincinnati Bengals saved their season with a huge divisional win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday Night Football.
Here are five things we learned:
Ja’Marr Chase is always open
It might have been a joke before, but now we know: the man cannot be stopped. He just needs the opportunities.
Chase had 23 targets, and it honestly didn’t feel like enough.
Joe Flacco doesn’t need a playbook
At this point, the 18-year vet can just go out there and sling it to the open guy. Seriously.
He admitted to not knowing some of the plays against the Steelers, but it didn’t seem to be much of a problem.
Flacco came out sharp, and the only issue he and the offense faced was receivers dropping easy catches early on.
Chase Brown didn’t become terrible all of a sudden
You can’t ever expect a consistent run game in Cincinnati, but when the o-line has a good night, the Bengals’ running backs start to remind everyone of their talent.
Brown ran for 108 yards on 11 carries and looked every bit as explosive as he did last year when the offense was cooking with Joe Burrow.
It was only the second time this year Chase had more than four yards a carry.
The first time? Last week against the Green Bay Packers.
Clearly, adding Flacco to the mix has gotten Brown back on track as well.
DJ Turner is on a path to stardom
Leading up to the game, we all began appreciating Turner a bit more as the stats and analytics showed just how exceptional he’s been playing the last few weeks.
And then he did this.
Ripping the ball out of the hands of the massive DK Metcalf while in the air in primetime is the stuff legends are made of.
Zac Taylor still has some creativity
Whatever you think about Taylor’s qualifications to be a head coach and playcaller, he does throw some gems in there once in a while.
Like this call for Flacco on second and 10 in the fourth quarter. Bold and brilliant (and hilarious).
Taylor can look pretty good when he has good QB play to go with his elite wide receivers.
Now we just need to see if the Bengals can keep it up and take care of business against the New York Jets and Chicago Bears in the next couple of weeks.
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