After their second win in a row, the Cincinnati Bengals are getting right.
The Cincinnati Bengals defeated the Browns in Cleveland on Sunday. It was another typical ugly AFC North game we’ve grown accustomed to, and now Joe Burrow and company are a single win away from evening up their record at .500.
The offense struggled against a tough Browns defense throughout the day, and had it not been for second-year wide receiver Charlie Jones’ kick return for a touchdown on the first play of the game, things could have ended differently.
But a win is a win.
There isn’t some sort of invisible hand that stops the Bengals from having a complete game. It has as much to do with playing against two very talented defenses on the road as it has to do with play-calling. It’s as simple as that, in my humble opinion.
Zac Taylor, Burrow, and the Bengals’ offense haven’t forgotten how to play football or how to score; they’ve simply played two of the best defenses in the NFL on the road in back-to-back weeks.
They won both of those games.
I remember the Bengals’ 2009 season. They won the AFC North by sweeping the division. All of those wins were ugly, but I don’t remember anything about them other than the Bengals won. If, and that’s an IF with capital letters, the Bengals get to the playoffs this year, you won’t remember the ugly win over the Giants or Browns.
Calling for the head coach’s job because the win wasn’t one-sided enough is a bit much.
The offense scored when they needed to and they got several large-chunk plays, all against what was arguably the best defense in a division that prides itself on tough defense.
Instead of complaining about the offense, take a look at the defense.
Did they play against Tom Brady or Patrick Mahomes?
No, they played against Daniel Jones and the ghost of Deshaun Watson, but they still played against NFL offensive talent. It’s not like the Browns and Giants are JV teams. Their rosters are full of the most talented and violent football players in the world.
If there were better ones, they’d be on the team. The issue with both the Giants and the Browns is their quarterback situation and how much money they have allocated to an asset that is more of a liability than anything else.
That has nothing to do with Joe Burrow and the Bengals’ ability to score points.
The Bengals won ugly in both weeks because their defense played well enough that a subpar offensive day was still enough to win the game.
If that’s not the goal of any team, whether they have a powerful offense or not, I don’t know what is.
Defenses win championships (as well as elite quarterbacks). The Bengals’ defense has begun to awaken. They’ve sharpened their swords on the lesser steel of teams with subpar offenses. Now they get to show the edge of their blades against the Eagles, another underachieving offense full of talent.
What are we going to see?
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Now, thoughts about the game.
- The win could have cost the Bengals’ their starting safety and left tackle. Luckily, it appears as though both have avoided serious injury.
- The Bengals’ defensive front, without DJ Reader, held the Browns to less than four yards per carry and held Nick Chubb to two yards per carry on Sunday. That’s just as much of a reason why they won as either of Burrow’s touchdown passes.
- Germaine Pratt and Logan Wilson are among the best duos of linebackers in the NFL.
- We saw the first interception for Geno Stone and the first sack for Sheldon Rankins while they were in Bengals uniforms. Hopefully, those two free agent signings are just as fruitful as some of the others they’ve had over the last several years, like Trey Hendrickson, Reader, Mike Hilton, and others.
- Tee Higgins is going to make Bengals fans very sad next year. He will make the fans of another team very happy. It will be a sad day, but it is coming. This is Higgins’ last year in stripes.
- When Orlando Brown Jr. left and Cody Ford came in to replace him at left tackle, there were a handful of plays where rookie center Matt Lee came in to act as the team’s sixth offensive lineman, which is Ford’s usual spot. PFF gave Lee a grade of 40.9 as a run blocker in his three plays.
- I’m happy the Bengals are happy with Andrei Iosivas as the team’s third wide receiver. However, I think I want to see a little more Jones or Jermaine Burton on the field. It’s not that I don’t like Iosivas; I do. I just think the Bengals could get more out of their offense if they went by a committee approach at WR3.
- Every time Chase Brown has the ball in his hands, it seems as if he’s a bomb ready to explode. You can tell he just needs a little bit of room to get up to full speed. He’s already wrestled a lot of carries away from Zack Moss, which is as it should be. Get the ball in the hands of your playmakers as often as possible.
- The Bengals defense held Derrick Henry to just under three yards per carry (until his 51-yard overtime run), and they held Chubb to two yards per carry. Those are two of the NFL’s best. This Sunday, they’ll be up against another of the best — Saquon Barkley.
- 3-4 is LIGHT YEARS away from 2-5 when it comes to a team’s chances at the playoffs as Week 8 opens.
- We spent the first couple of games complaining about Sam Hubbard’s lack of production and the fact he was playing while injured. Now he’s picking off passes? As a defensive end? I love it!
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I see the last two “ugly” wins as dress rehearsals for what is to come on Sunday. The winner between the Bengals and Eagles could use the win as a springboard to the playoffs. The other could be left on the outside looking in.
Hopefully, we will see a complete game then because that’s what it’s going to take.
No, you can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
You can’t always get what you want
But if you try sometimes
You’ll find
You get what you need
