The Cincinnati Bengals fell to 1-13 on Sunday in the wake of a 34-13 loss to the New England Patriots.

Zac Taylor’s offense, captained by Andy Dalton again, surged out of the gates thanks to a renewed emphasis on the run but later fell flat. Turnovers helped an otherwise struggling Patriots team pull away.

Here’s a look at notable notes and numbers coming out of the loss.

 

It was over when …

…N’Keal Harry caught a touchdown from Tom Brady with about 11 minutes left in the third quarter to make it 20-10. Cincinnati’s offense looked good until the script ended, dashing hopes of keeping pace if the lead got too big.

 

Quick Hits

— Eight plays, 75 yards and a score for the Patriots on their first drive. Casual move down the field for Tom Brady as the Bengals whiffed on simple tackles on the drive-ending score. That was mostly a sign of things to come, as the Patriots had the same number of drives as the Bengals (12), but were far more efficient.

— Bengals surprisingly answered on their first drive with 70-plus yards of their own and a score, primarily on the ground with Joe Mixon. The run-based approach was great all day, culminating in 164 yards and a 5.1 average.

— Little in the way of John Ross early as Bengals focused on the run. Keep in mind he had also popped up on the injury report early in the week. He finished with just two catches for 24 yards.

— Andy Dalton got by with doing little early on as the script focused on the running game. But he ended up throwing two game-altering interceptions in the second half, one of those a bad staredown that went back for another pick-six. He finished the day with a 17 of 31 line for 151 yards and one touchdown against four interceptions.

 

 

Key Stat

4 of 13: Tired of seeing third-down hit-rates yet? The Bengals just haven’t been able to figure it out and it was never going to work here against a Patriots team led by Tom Brady.

 

Game Ball: Joe Mixon

As always, Mixon is the lifeblood of the offense. He was the gameplan for the early script and showed more elusiveness than he has all season, drumming up 136 yards on 25 carries in the process, good for a 5.4 average.

 

Up next: The Bengals play their final road game of the season against the Miami Dolphins. This had previously looked like a game with big draft implications but Cincinnati’s continued struggles and Miami’s winning lessens the impact.

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