by Chris Ball
Loveland, Ohio – The hallmark of great teams is that they identify their problems and do all they can to at least fix them, or perhaps even turn them into strengths. But for the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday’s loss to the New England Patriots made it painfully clear that they have many of the same problems that plagued them in 2023. The Patriots came into Paycor Stadium and exposed Cincinnati’s flaws on their way to a 16-10 victory.
The Bengals had the seventh-worse run defense in 2023. They allowed 2,145 yards at a clip of 4.7 yards per carry. It was a major flaw that only got worse after the departure of DJ Reader to the Lions. Though the team signed Sheldon Rankins, but his primary specialty is rushing the passer. The hope was that drafting Kris Jenkins out of Michigan might help in that department, but he was inactive against the Patriots due to injury. Essentially the Bengals banked on their existing players finding a way to be more effective in stopping the run.
And that bet failed to pay any dividends on Sunday.
Rhamondre Stevenson and the Patriots punished Cincinnati to the tune of 170 yards on 39 carries for a 4.4 yards per carry average. Those yards hurt the worst in the first half and then again to seal the game in the fourth quarter. Time and again Stevenson, and even journeyman quarterback Jacoby Brissett broke tackles and frustrated the Bengals defense on their way to tough yards and big first downs.
The Patriots had the seventh-worst rushing attack last year and only averaged 3.9 yards per carry and a paltry nine touchdowns. And yet, the Bengals looked overmatched in every phase of the running game on defense. They were blown off of the ball bullied on numerous occasions.
It bodes ill for future games against the likes of the Baltimore Ravens. They rushed for 185 yards on 32 carries in their loss against the Chiefs this week. Lamar Jackson accounted for 122 of those yards and is a much more dynamic athlete than Brissett, who had 32 yards of his own (for a 4.6 average) against the Bengals this week.
The first game of the year clearly demonstrated that the Bengals’ weakness against the run hasn’t been addressed. It’s fair to say it’s unclear exactly what the plan might be to improve in that area apart from simply hoping that the defense finds ways to play better or perhaps develop a scheme to limit the damage on that front.
It is a tale as old as time. The Bengals show up the first week of the season utterly unprepared and Zac Taylor makes excuses as to why it continues to happen. The Bengals are 1-10 in weeks one-two since Taylor has become the head coach for Cincinnati. This is yet another concerning aspect of this team that continues into 2024 without any signs of being addressed.
Whether it was Charlie Jones’ fumble on a punt return or Tanner Hudson’s inexplicable fumble holding the ball out for anyone to take, there were plenty of instances on Sunday that made it clear this team was firing on less than all cylinders. While the players have to make plays on the field, the overall composure and tempo of a team is tied directly to the preparation and readiness instilled by the game plan put in place by the head coach going into a game. Those aspects were sorely lacking in Sunday’s game.
Perhaps the most questionable of all of Zac Taylor’s decisions came with just 2:56 to play in the fourth quarter. It was fourth and 5 when Taylor chose not to trust in his franchise quarterback but punt the ball away to the Patriots and trust in his defense to get a stop. That defense promptly allowed the Patriots to run all over them to put the game out of reach, rather than give Joe Burrow or Ja’Marr Chase a chance to make a special play and come back to win the game.
For once in what seemed like a long while, injuries weren’t the major holdup that prevented the Bengals from having a successful offseason. Burrow, Chase, Higgins, and many others were physically healthy and able to have a complete camp and preseason together to focus on 2024. But while the physical health might have been there, there were plenty of other issues that robbed this team of the necessary reps during the summer. Whether it was Higgins’ dissatisfaction with his lack of a big contract or Chase’s desire for his own mega-deal, there was never a feeling that the Bengals’ most explosive and important players were on the same page so that they would be ready to start the season off strong. And that is what we saw on Sunday, a disjointed team that looked out of sync and unprepared to win a game against a team they should have handled comfortably.
Another major flaw in this team was their inability to run the football. One of the few rushing defenses worse than the Patriots was the Bengals’ last year. They managed just 1,527 yards at 4.0 yards per carry, the second worst rush offense in the league. They replaced Joe Mixon with Zach Moss and hoped that Chase Brown could step up to be a dynamic back.
On Sunday the Bengals ran the ball well, at least statistically. While Cincinnati was able to manage 4.4 yards per carry, they only mustered 70 total yards on the ground. The Bengals offense operated in fits and starts overall and turnovers certainly did not help them gain any real momentum. The run game was certainly a victim of that.
Like it or not, the Bengals will go only so far as Joe Burrow will take them. Cincinnati fans were understandably excited to see their franchise quarterback on the field for the first time since November of last year. While it was good to see Burrow’s accuracy on display, he took no chances down the field and kept it vanilla. He averaged just 5.7 yards per completion and had 164 yards passing on 21 completions.
Whether it was the play calling by Taylor and new offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher (who has plenty of questions of his own to face after this game), Burrow’s rustiness, or even his lingering injury, Bengals fans are fair to have some trepidation about their all-pro quarterback, epically given that he had a full and healthy offseason to prepare for this game. What is most perplexing is that Burrow put up such low numbers while facing so little pressure:
There isn’t any way to sugar coat things. The Bengals head to Arrowhead next week to take on the Kansas City Chiefs. The defending Super Bowl champions are fresh off a close but impressive win against a very good Ravens team. That have a good running back in Isiah Pacheco and a dynamic quarterback in Patrick Mahomes. If the Chiefs are allowed to run the ball with impunity, then it makes Mahomes all the more deadly in the passing game. The Bengals have a lot of work to do before next Sunday, and this loss against the Patriots clearly demonstrated that if they don’t fix those issues, things could get very ugly very quickly.
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Christopher Ball is a longtime Loveland resident and an attorney. He graduated from Loveland High School in 2003 and was a member of the football team before going on to become a coach’s assistant at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. He has been following and rooting for the Reds and Bengals since the early 1990s and has been through the many ups and downs that fandom has wrought over the years.
