The Cincinnati Bengals were stunned by the New England Patriots, losing 16-10 to start 0-1 and put themselves in danger of their third straight 0-2 start. Media outlets all over will have their fair share of takes about the game.
Here’s a look at what NFL.com’s Kevin Patra had to say about the game, specifically from the Bengals’ side.
Bengals offense struggles out of the gate. Cincinnati’s Week 1 struggles continue. The club fell to 1-5 in season openers under Zac Taylor — with the lone victory coming in overtime in 2021. Three of the five losses have come at home. Joe Burrow and the offense looked like a club that didn’t get much preseason and training camp work together. The offense looked disjointed from snap one, going three-and-out on its first three drives. Cincy didn’t earn its first first down until 10:30 in the second quarter. When things finally got going, errors ensued. Mike Gesicki couldn’t hang onto a TD. Tanner Hudson got the ball punched out going into the end zone, with woeful ball security. Later, Cincy got smoked on a fourth-down try. The Burrow-Chase connection that hadn’t gotten much work this offseason, and took nearly three quarters to coalesce. Chase ended with six catches for 62 yards but just 2 for 7 in the first half. The offense also sorely missed Tee Higgins (hamstring). The good news for the Bengals is that they’ve been here before and haven’t let a poor opener ruin their campaign.
They also shared their “Next Gen stat of the game” and it had to do with quarterback Joe Burrow and his low amount of pressure faced.
Joe Burrow was pressured on just 6 of 35 dropbacks, good for his third-lowest pressure rate faced in a game in his career (17.1%). He averaged 5.6 yards per attempt when not under pressure, his lowest mark in a game since Week 6, 2023, against the Seahawks (5.0). Burrow was sacked three times and completed just 1 of 2 pass attempts for 13 yards when under pressure.
Finally, there was this about the Bengals already matching their number of fumbles from 2023:
The Bengals lost two fumbles in Week 1 (Tanner Hudson and Charlie Jones on punt return). Cincinnati only lost two fumbles throughout the entire 2023 season (best in NFL, tied for lowest by any team in a season since at least 2000).
Needless to say, it was not a very good day for the Bengals on Sunday. The good news is it’s only one game. But they need to turn things around quick with a trip to Kansas City looming this week.
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