People are feeling good in Cincinnati! What a game and what an atmosphere the Bengals had this past Sunday in the jungle. Anyone who was watching that game, fans or members of the team, went through a rollercoaster of emotions. Towards the end of the 3rd quarter it seemed like the Bengals had a sure win on their hands and then towards the end of overtime it seemed like an inevitable loss was on the way. All of a sudden magic came into Paul Brown Stadium as the Bengals forced a fumble on their own 38 yard line as the Vikings were driving to kick a game winning field goal. That turnover eventually set up the 33 yard game winning field goal at the end of overtime by the rookie, Evan McPherson.
There are so many different things I want to talk about and get excited about from this first game, but I am going to try and narrow it down to a few. The key word to the last sentence is TRY because it is going to be hard to only narrow it down to a few when I am this fired up about the game. I will talk about a few negative things I took from the game too, because I always want to try and keep an honest perspective, but of course those will be last since this is a Bengals friendly website!
Positives
First and foremost we have to talk about the long awaited return from Joe Burrow. Joe is back everyone! First game back in action (not counting the one drive in the preseason) and Burrow looked like he his back to last years form, and possibly better. He was making good decision and had good placement on his throws, except one ball to Boyd that still ended up as a reception off a tipped ball. The connection between Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase that they had in college is still there. Chase was the leading receiver for the Bengals in both receptions and receiving yards as he finished with 5 catches for 102 yards and a touchdown. The touchdown pass to Chase right before halftime to give the Bengals the lead and all the momentum heading into the locker room which was crucial for them to help pullout this win. Luckily, the rumors Chase started when he said that he was having a hard time catching the ball due to the NFL ball not having the white stripes on it like the college ball were put to bed after the first game. Burrow even made a funny joke as he passed by Chase in the post game press conference room in front of the media when he said “I thought he was dropping everything.” I would say things are better than ever with Chase and Burrow in Cincinnati.
Another huge bright spot from this game was the other Joe, Joe Mixon. I have said it before and I will say it again, Joe Mixon is a top 10 running back in the NFL! Mixon had 29 carries for 127 yards and 1 touchdown. He was running the ball hard every single play. The longest run he had for the game was 19 yards which means he did not just have one big run and then fell off. Mixon was getting 4 or 5 yards a pop consistently which is all you can ask for out of your running back. On the 19 yard run Mixon had and one of his other longer ones he showed fantastic vision as he bounced it outside of his blockers and hit the sideline where he broke a few tackles in the process. Mixon led the entire NFL in week 1 with 8 missed tackles created by a rusher. It was exciting to see such a promising start to the season for a running back who has always been a phenomenal player for this team.
The Bengals defensive line looked significantly better than they did last season. Between one of the new starters, Larry Ogunjobi at defensive tackle and one of the new guys in the rotation, B.J. Hill at defensive tackle, the defensive line had a tremendous impact. Ogunjobi was all over the place last Sunday, he was making plays in the backfield and stunning the man trying to block him allowing linebackers to swoop in and make the play. The best play of the day for Ogunjobi was in the first quarter when he bull rushed the center, in true Geno Atkins form, and completely collapsed the center back into the pocket leading to the sack. That play by Ogunjobi is a play we had not seen in over a year ago when the Bengals had a healthy Geno Atkins. With the new presence of Ogunjobi and Hill upfront added in with the return of D.J. Reader the Bengals run stopping ability looks like it can be top tier this season. Those three interior guys did a fantastic job of slowing down one of the league’s most dangerous backs, Dalvin Cook. Cook was limited to only 3.1 yards per carry and coughed up the fumble that cost the Vikings the game in overtime. The big guys up front gave a lot of penetration and made Dalvin have to bounce the ball laterally to the linebackers and safeties on the outside. With all the good things the Bengals defensive line did this past game, the most important in my mind is that they had 3 sacks as a team and 7 TFL’s as a team. Ogunjobi had 1 sack and Hill had 2 sacks on Kirk Cousins. Last year in 16 games the Bengals averaged 1.06 sacks a game and averaged 2.8 TFL’s a game. Those two stats may have been the two most encouraging stats to come from this first game!
Negatives
After a home opening win there are going to be a lot less negatives than positives, but we must talk about the things we saw. The offensive line, did not look as great as I hoped they would look to start this season. There were once again multiple plays where Burrow was on the run for his life. You could tell there were a few times where Burrow did not have a lot of confidence in his offensive line either, he would quickly decide to leave the pocket and roll to the outside. The scary stat after week one is that Burrow was sacked 5 times with several hurries to go along with that. In the 2020 season, Burrow was sacked 3.2 times in his 10 games played, so that is a discouraging sign looking at week 1. Now some people could argue, well the offensive line was good in the run game since Mixon ran for 127 yards, which is a fair point. The offensive line was functional in the run game, but Mixon also had the most missed tackles created by a rusher in week 1 and many of his big runs were bounced to the outside. So, while I agree the offensive line was much better in the run game than they were in the pass game, we need to see another week of them in action to have a better feel of what they truly are in both the run and pass game. The weakest link in week 1 looked like it may have been Trey Hopkins the center, he got beat in the pass game a few times that led to some sacks. The Bengals do have a lot of talent up front between Jonah Williams, Quinton Spain, and Xavier Su’a-Filo, so the hope is we can see this offensive line turn a corner in week 2 and perform in both aspects of the game like we all think they can.
The loss of Trae Waynes was felt amongst the cornerbacks this week against the Vikings. While Trae Waynes was out, Chidobe Awuzie was the clear number 1 cornerback, while Eli Apple filled in for Waynes and Mike Hilton played the Nickel/Slot spot. Both Apple and Hilton did not have great showings last Sunday as they both gave up a reception on every attempt they were targeted. The Bengals were confident heading into week 1 with Awuzie and Waynes as the two corners, but with Waynes missing time (he is doubtful week 2 vs the Bears) the Bengals have some question marks at that second corner spot. Adam Thielen got Apple and Hilton for touchdowns in this game. On Apple, Thielen ran a nice out route to the front pylon from 5 yards out that left Apple on the ground as he lost his footing on the break. It was a poor play from Apple and an easy touchdown from Thielen. On Hilton, the Vikings had a 4th and 4 on the Bengals 24 down 21-7 and they decided to go Thielen. Thielen ran a quick slant against Hilton while the Bengals were in cover 0, Hilton jumped outside on the break from Thielen and it was to the house from there. Now, cover 0 is no easy task for any DB whether it is Mike Hilton or Jalen Ramsey, but that is a play you hope the DB can make the tackle after the catch and live to play another down. Once the Bengals start to play some of the top tier teams in the league they are going to need to be able to count on whoever is playing that number 2 corner spot.
Last Thought
This last thought I saved for the end because it has both positive and negative thoughts to it and there have been a lot of varying opinions on the topic. The aggressiveness of Zac Taylor is what Bengals fans have been asking to see for years through the Marvin Lewis era and the first two seasons with Taylor, but everything has a time and a place. Do I and every other Bengals fan want to see the Bengals be more aggressive? Yes we do, but there is a huge difference between 4th and 1 at your own 30 up 14 points and 3 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter compared to 4th and 1 at your own 48 with the game tied and 39 seconds to go in overtime. There was no reason to go for the 4th and 1 in the 3rd quarter. At the time, the Bengals defense had been phenomenal and forced punts on the Vikings last three drives. Why even take the risk of giving them life when you can punt the ball back to a struggling offense and make them go the distance against your defense while they are down 14 points getting close to the 4th quarter. I know people will say it is a move Bill Belichick would do, but just because Bill did it does not make it right. The Patriots did go on to lose the game after that decision everyone is referring to, just an FYI. The positive thing that transpired from the missed decision to go for it was Zac Taylor pulling the team together immediately after being stuffed and telling them this is who they are this year and they are going to take chances. The Bengals have needed to be more aggressive in their decision making for years and this is overall a positive, Zac just needs to have some limitations when making those gutsy decisions. As for the overtime 4th and 1, I love the call to go for it because you are playing to win the game! There is 39 seconds left and no one wants to play for a tie, you have to go for it there. I will admit, I did not see that ballsy of a play call coming, but it really paid off. All in all, most Bengals fans are glad to see Zac Taylor being aggressive with the play calling, there are just certain times when you need to pull back the reins.
It was a great week 1 win for the Bengals and you cannot beat 1-0! Looking forward to watching this team on Sunday in the Windy City taking on a familiar face with Andy Dalton and the Chicago Bears.
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