The Cincinnati Bengals finally got a solid showing from the defense, only for Joe Burrow’s offense to go cold in Week 6 against the New York Giants.
Despite the struggles, the team moved to 2-4 with the 17-7 win.
It was a slog in the Big Apple for the Bengals on “Sunday Night Football” against an unfamiliar NFC foe and it showed, especially as the offensive line struggled to keep up.
Here’s a look at some quick notes and numbers to know.
Quick Thoughts
- Joe Burrow hit the fastest speed of his career on the 47-yard touchdown scamper in the first quarter. Just a funny note on top of the smooth awareness to take off the way he did.
- Good tackling was a theme early in this one, which we haven’t been able to say all season for the defense. There was a little bend-but-don’t-break going on, too, after Germaine Pratt‘s redzone interception in the first quarter.
- B.J. Hill, almost predictably, had a big day against his former team and seemed to be all over the place.
- The offensive line, stout for most of this season, fell apart Sunday night, with the Giants blowing up pretty much everything with ease.
- Eventually, the defense was going to break. That happened in the third quarter as the Giants went 16 plays and 79 yards for a score to tie the game.
- Too many critical mistakes. The Bengals committed a penalty in the endzone that let the Giants walk a touchdown in on that score mentioned above. Then, they had a touchdown of their own called back.
- Burrow took a brutal hit in the fourth quarter that required a visit to the blue medical tent.
- Back in the game by the next drive, Burrow converted a third-and-12 by extending the play, then hitting Andrei Iosvias on the sideline to keep possession and the three-point lead. It says a lot about Iosivas that he’s the guy getting a critical look like that.
- A rollercoaster — Chase Brown fumbled out of bounds near the two-minute warning, then came back after the break and ripped a 30-yard touchdown run to end it. Fitting, given the season so far and all, right?
Key Stat
4-of-11: The offense’s mark on third downs. It’s almost impossible to move the ball when the line puts up a performance like that, and highly unlikely to get a win with this type of mark.
Game Balls
B.J. Hill: What a revenge game against the team that traded him away. Hill stuffed the stat sheet and made a constant impact.
Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins: The dynamic duo was at it again, making up the bulk of the receiving yardage for the team and dragging the offense to some form of competency.
Top Takeaway
Not encouraging: After so many games with 30-plus points, this was a disaster class for an offense that looked like it had the ability to carry the defense to wins. The lack of balance between the two units six games into the season is concerning. And the onslaught of weird mistakes — they even fumbled out of bounds near the two-minute warning — didn’t help. Right now, the play very much matches the record.
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1]