This was a game of a lot of ups and downs for the Bengals. Sure they only lead one time, after the first drive, but the Bengals were never out of the game. 0-2 is the opposite of how you want to start the season but let’s keep our eye on the prize and that is the commitment to getting better and building towards a title team. Here are the good and bad things I saw in this game.
The Good
- 316 yards and 3 TDs from Joe Burrow. Ladies and gentlemen we have a franchise QB and I do not even feel like I am going out on a limb. Burrow kept this team in the game and he had to throw 61 times. No one should ever win a game that has to throw that many times.
- Tee Higgins gets involved in this offense. He finished with only three catches but this 1-2 duo is good to see get some early chemistry.
- Drew Sample looks like he is ready to expand his game from being just a run blocker. Uzomah looks down and out for a while and Sample will need to step up. He did just that in this game and even made a one-handed catch that was just straight nasty. He lead the team in catches with Tyler Boyd for a total of 7.
- Brandon Wilson will not be highlighted anywhere else but here. He had a strong game and averaged 43.5 yards per return. That is a huge game to give the offense better field position.
- Fat Randy rebounded this game and went 3/3. I know my last article about Bullock brought the haters out but the dude is consistent, get over it. He is here to stay.
- Mike Thomas continues to be a part of this offense. Auden Tate was not even active and I think it is because Mike Thomas continues to make plays. Next week I foresee Tate in the starting lineup…..has to be over Ross!
- The game was never over. Joe Burrow believed until that onside kick that he could win that game. I love that. He never relented and showed veteran poise. He is only two games in and it is clear he is special and has something that Palmer and Dalton did not.
The Bad
- I will state the obvious….the offensive line. Fred Johnson was terrible! Why in the world did Billy Price not start at RG after filling in nicely for Su’a-Filo? Why was Price not thrown in there once Johnson got battered to death by that Browns defensive line? Bobby Hart was also not good again. I will be interested to see how he grades out after this matchup. It looked like Myles Garrett was in Burrow’s face on every play. I am even going to knock Jonah Williams who did not have a good game at all. He was beaten and thrown to the ground. He looked slow and out of position. This entire group needs to improve and quickly. Burrow took a lot of hits and he will not last 16 games at this pace.
- Joe Mixon struggled today and a lot of that had to do with the aforementioned. On his goal line run he had nowhere to go and last 5 yards. He carried as many guys on his back as he could but only averaged 2.9 yards per carry on 16 touches. He made up for it a little as a safety valve pass catcher but we need to get Mixon and the running game going to keep balance.
- The defense might have been worse than the offensive line. Last week they were great and this week they OBJ’d the proverbial bed. The Browns ran all over us. The linebackers were beat in zone pass coverage. Our safeties didn’t have their best tackling game. Hubbard? Lawson? Dunlap? Who are they? Zero sacks is just not acceptable to win a game. Mayfield excels on the rolllout which is ripe for DE’s to get some sacks. Nothing. Zero. Zilch. It is a system. The defensive line helps the linebackers who help the backfield. No pressure, no run stopping. This was just terrible and they need to figure this out. Two weeks now the run defense was not great. Last week it did not effect the total defense that much, this week it broke the team’s back.
- John Ross is showing that he is done in Cincinnati. He can’t catch the ball and he isn’t getting open with all of that speed. Auden Tate is just better, the Ross experiment needs to wind down. I had high hopes for this guy this season and his off-season chemistry with Burrow sounded really hopeful.
- Lastly it is AJ Green. He had a bad game. He should have had 3-4 more catches and looks to not be the Pro Bowl AJ Green of old. Call it rust…call it age….call it just a tough outing. He needs to be the old AJ to help Burrow and if he cannot then this will be his last year in tiger stripes. I believe he has gas left in the tank but today was not AJ’s day.