The Cincinnati Bengals looked like a team lost at the controls during the Week 3 loss to the Washington Commanders on primetime.
At home, the Bengals defense got rolled up and down the field with ease, allowing a rookie quarterback and a strong ground game to put up 38 points, mostly uncontested, while the team’s punter had the night off.
Here are some quick takeaways.
The defense…
…is a problem. There were signs of life against Patrick Mahomes last week. But Lou Anarumo, oddly enough, just does well against Mahomes. Every other opponent so far has brought out horrible tackling angles and overall effort in bringing ball-carriers down. Edges were getting filled in the running game and even Cam Taylor-Britt got beat deep. All this, by the way, against a rookie quarterback.
The RT situation
With the speed at which the team ruled out Trent Brown after his injury, it’s reasonable to presume they need help there now. Amarius Mims is a high-upside first-rounder who looks good in flashes, but also got beat badly to give up a sack of Joe Burrow. At the very least, they need to bring on a capable veteran to play behind him now. One more injury there and the offense is in trouble.
Don’t overlook the offense
Is it living up to its potential? Hardly. While the Commanders were getting scores, the Bengals kept settling for field goals in the red zone and overall going 2-of-4 there. That’s a losing recipe for any team. They all need to get on the same page still, but it might be worth wondering if somebody like Jermaine Burton can’t provide a little more juice.
But it’s also all on the offense
The major successes of the last few years usually featured a turnover-happy defense doing some heavy lifting. Those days are long gone. There are far too many injuries along the offensive line and the front office clearly flopped while losing talent like Jessie Bates and DJ Reader over the years. Now, there’s not much coming back from letting a rookie passer drop 38 points on the road with zero punts. Burrow and Co. need to light up the league or this will get worse.
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