Tee Higgins' value, run defense woes among overreactions to Bengals' Week 1 loss to Patriots
Doom and gloom surrounds the Cincinnati Bengals after a discouraging 16-10 defeat to the New England Patriots. This is the third consecutive season the Bengals have started with a loss. Starting another year with a bad loss has frustration reaching critical levels. Is this just the theme with this club, or are their problems even […]
Doom and gloom surrounds the Cincinnati Bengals after a discouraging 16-10 defeat to the New England Patriots. This is the third consecutive season the Bengals have started with a loss.
Starting another year with a bad loss has frustration reaching critical levels. Is this just the theme with this club, or are their problems even worse than in past years? It's too early to say with any conviction, but that's not gonna stop us from calling our shot.
Here are three overreactions to the Bengals falling on their face, yet again, in Week 1.
Tee Higgins will be the most valuable player on the Bengals' offense
That showing on offense won't win you any games, no matter the opponent. Joe Burrow looked uncomfortable at best despite being kept clean for most of the game, and it took a full quarter to get Ja'Marr Chase going against a quality secondary.
But at least Burrow and Chase both played. Higgins sat out with a hamstring and his absence felt notable.
Higgins was the star of training camp for the Bengals. There was a great chance he was going to be the focal point of the offense this week. Instead, Trenton Irwin got the start and posted one reception for six yards.
If this is how the offense looks without Higgins, then they'll need his hamstring to heal up immediately.
Bengals won't be able to stop the run all season
This may not be an overreaction. It took the Bengals months last season to improve their tackling woes. 13 missed tackles later, defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo finds himself scrambling to fix the same problem now.
Better angles and play recognition can improve the most simplistic aspect of playing defense. That this was a known weakness to improve on all offseason makes it all the more concerning it was a glaring liability in Week 1.
It comes down to every player on that side of the ball. A lack of depth at defensive tackle isn't ideal, but if teams can attack the edge of Cincinnati's front line just as easy, it's a problem all over the board.
Sam Hubbard will be benched before the season ends
Speaking of the edge, it might be time to talk about Cincinnati's own star player. Hubbard was dreadful Sunday. Plain and simple. He won on just 4.5% of his pass-rushing snaps and was one of three players with multiple missed tackles defending the run. He also played the third-most snaps of the non-defensive backfield starters who played the entire game.
That's not looking like a sustainable strategy.
Rotating Hubbard out of the game more often was already a goal the Bengals should’ve had entering this season. The plan has been delayed with Myles Murphy nursing a knee injury. When Murphy is fully healthy again, the team may need to have a serious conversation about starting him and transitioning Hubbard to a rotational role.
By the time November comes, there's a reality where Murphy takes over full-time if this keeps up.
Bengals Roster Breakdown: Tee Higgins is ready to have the best contract year you’ll ever see
Higgins is locked in for the season.
