Revisiting Bengals' 3 keys to victory after 16-10 loss to Steelers
Ugly weather lead to an ugly game along the banks of the Ohio River as the Cincinnati Bengals fall back under .500 with a 16-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Less than a week after firing their offensive coordinator, the Steelers put up over 400 yards of offense for the first time since the 2020 […]
Ugly weather lead to an ugly game along the banks of the Ohio River as the Cincinnati Bengals fall back under .500 with a 16-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Less than a week after firing their offensive coordinator, the Steelers put up over 400 yards of offense for the first time since the 2020 season. The Bengals weren't close in matching that production with Jake Browning at quarterback, and remain winless in the AFC North as a result.
We went over three keys to a Bengals victory on Saturday. Let's see how the Bengals fared with their pre-game goals.
Sustain long drives, control the clock
Result: Fail
The first half was mostly abysmal for Browning and Co., sans a nice Drew Sample touchdown in the second quarter. Interestingly enough, there were only two three-and-outs forced by Pittsburgh, but the Bengals still punted six times throughout the day.
Browning had his moments, throwing for 227 yards for 8.7 yards per attempt, but also threw a costly interception near the red zone and should've thrown one or two more. He took unnecessary sacks, but also got out of trouble at times. The big issue aside from his inconsistencies was the non-existent running game. Joe Mixon had 16 yards on eight carries as they simply couldn't rely on their veteran back.
A one-dimensional offense with a backup quarterback is not a winning strategy, but you can hardly fault the Bengals for not running the ball when it was that inept.
Prevent T.J. Watt from changing the game
Result: Fail
This looked bleak at the start. Watt got through not one, but two individual blocks to sack Browning on the first third down of the day for Cincinnati. He was a nuisance to block all day, as he usually is, and topped it off with another sack thanks to miscommunication from Drew Sample and Jonah Williams.
Watt went untouched to effectively snuff out the Bengals' chances in the fourth quarter; that sounds like changing the game to me. He would finish with team highs in tackles (five), sacks (two), and tackles for loss (one).
Limit explosives from Jaylen Warren
Result: Pass
While Pittsburgh had its best offensive output from a yards perspective in nearly 60 games, Warren wasn't a huge part of that. He ended up averaging fewer than four yards per carry and outside of a 15-yard reception, was mostly held in check. His fumble was the only turnover the Bengals forced.
Conversely, Najee Harris had a pleasurable outing with 99 yards and a touchdown on the ground, including a long of 22 yards.
Instead of leaning on the run game entirely, the Steelers entrusted Kenny Pickett to play well, and play well he did. 278 yards on 8.4 yards per attempt with a completion percentage of 72.7% was more than enough compared to what the Bengals got out of Browning.
Limiting Warren was one of the only things Cincinnati did well Sunday, and it didn't really matter in the end.
NFL’s investigation places Bengals and Joe Burrow in good light
Burrow’s surgery date has also been revealed.
