After a disappointing stretch of week 1 losses to mediocre teams, the Cincinnati Bengals can finally start the season with an undefeated record with a win over Cleveland.
Cincinnati started with a long, methodical drive that ended in a Chase Brown touchdown to take the lead. Cleveland responded with their own drawn-out touchdown, with QB Joe Flacco looking very impressive at forty years old. Cincy responded with another touchdown, and the Browns added a field goal before half to cut the lead to four.
In the second half, the Bengals’ offense completely disappeared. Cleveland added a touchdown, but a crucial extra point was missed by Andre Szmyt, a rookie from Syracuse. With a 2-point deficit, the defense from the Bengals continued to step up. Key sacks and interceptions kept them in the game. With the offense having -18 yards in the fourth quarter and just 25 yards in the third, Cincinnati was just barely able to squeak out a field goal to take the lead. The defense held its ground for most of the fourth quarter, but Flacco and the Browns were still able to push into field goal range. Unfortunately for the Browns, another vital kick was missed by Szmyt, which would have taken the lead. However, with the Bengals’ offense continuing to falter, Cleveland was given one more opportunity, but Flacco threw another pick to DJ Turner, the first of his young career.
The Negatives
From an outside perspective, this win looks incredibly ugly and disappointing to a poor Browns team. Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins (much to the dismay of MANY fantasy team owners) combined for less than sixty yards and zero touchdowns. Outside of that first drive, Chase Brown struggled to get any penetration outside of that first drive, with less than forty-five rushing yards and just two yards per carry. Despite zero turnovers, Burrow also struggled, with just 113 passing yards.
The defense allowed just sixteen points, but looked lost several times throughout the game. A forty-year-old Joe Flacco was able to tear up the defense for 290 yards. The secondary struggled to stay disciplined while running their zone defense.
The Positives
Joe Burrow had a 1-9 record in Weeks 1 & 2. Despite his excellence, this type of game is an annual tradition for the Bengals. While it’s certainly not an ideal way to start a season, they have shown the ability to rebound the rest of the season, and just about everyone on the team improves by the end of the season. The issue last season was not in the skill and talent of the team, but in the win category. Because the team had such a slow start, their talent at the end of the season became irrelevant for playoff talks. But by taking Week 1, even in an ugly game, the team has one more to add to their win column.
Burrow has never won a Week 2 matchup, so let’s hope all that changes versus the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.
