Bengals' biggest overarching problem still hovers over their head after much-needed win over Giants
As paradoxical as it sounds, the Cincinnati Bengals' consistency is found in its inconsistency. When the offense rolls for three-straight weeks, the defense couldn't even harm a fly. And when the defense takes a stand on "Sunday Night Football" against the New York Giants, the offense can hardly get out of its own way.Self-inflicted wounds won't […]
As paradoxical as it sounds, the Cincinnati Bengals' consistency is found in its inconsistency.
When the offense rolls for three-straight weeks, the defense couldn't even harm a fly. And when the defense takes a stand on "Sunday Night Football" against the New York Giants, the offense can hardly get out of its own way.
Self-inflicted wounds won't always haunt you; that's why the Bengals now have two wins instead of just one. They also won't make the road ahead any easier to figure out.
Bengals continue to get in their own way of completeness
The NFL is a week-to-week gauntlet at the mercy of inevitable parity. Bad teams are capable of playing good on any given Sunday.
But the great teams are the best at avoiding volatility. Their strengths are consistent and reliable, no matter the opposition.
This is why the Bengals are still far from a great team at the moment.
Everyone within the I-275 loop knew that this week was about the defense. Can Lou Anarumo's unit finally come anywhere near expectations against a Giants' offense sans rookie sensation Malik Nabers and fellow starter Devin Singletary? If they do so, the offense will surely take care of business and put the game away with ease.
Incorrect. Anarumo's defense stepped up right as the offense fell on its face. A couple clutch plays made by quarterback Joe Burrow prevented the night from being a complete catastrophe on offense.
"Great to see our defense step up like that," Burrow said after the game. "They've taken some heat the last couple weeks, but they played awesome today."
It's the first time all year Burrow or any Bengal can say that about the defense, and critical errors on the other side of the ball nearly nullified it.
There were numerous blunders made by the offensive line, particularly on the edge with tackles Orlando Brown Jr. and Amarius Mims having their large hands full with Brian Burns and Azeez Ojulari. Burrow was sacked four times and hit plenty more including one that had him tested for a concussion.
Burrow rarely pushed the ball down the field, and one of the few times he did, Ja'Marr Chase dropped a would-be third down conversion late in the first half. The ball found the ground a couple more times thanks to fumbles by running backs Zack Moss and Chase Brown. Only Moss' led to a turnover as Chase's mistake was saved by the ball rolling out of bounds.
Inexcusable mistakes being the bread of a sandwich that, according to both Burrow and head coach Zac Taylor, lacked rhythm.
"I felt like I let the pressure get to me a little bit," Burrow admitted. "You know, I was able to settle down there in the second half and kind of find a rhythm, but the first half, you know, I didn't feel like I was in rhythm at all. I feel like I was getting happy feet in the pocket. Just didn't feel like anything was going our way."
"It's on me to do a good job of keeping them off balanced," Taylor said. "And so I don't feel like, as a play caller, I was having a great rhythm to keep them off balanced. And our guys did a good job there in the second half, I thought, taking control again."
The rhythm-less offense ended up producing -0.01 EPA/play after averaging 0.276 EPA/play the previous three weeks. It kept an even worse Giants offense in the game until the middle of the fourth quarter.
That drop-off is scarier than the defense's revival is promising because what evidence is there to support both sides of the ball showing up on the same day?
The Bengals were able to win one out of four games in which they scored 25 points or more because their defense failed them. They allowed just seven points and won a game that felt much closer than the eventual 10-point margin of victory.
On both sides of the spectrum, the results should've been different, or at least more clear. If you were to lay out the parameters of the offense showing up or the defense finally arriving before kickoff of the last five games, logic would tell you that the results would've been overwhelming positive. Instead, a jumbled 2-4 record is attached to them.
Notching another victory doesn't erase the reality the Bengals are still facing. A team that consistently makes a variety of mistakes that gets in the way of complementary football is not a good one. It's far from a great one.
The Bengals can claw their way to victories like this and get out of their sub-.500 hole. It's how teams manage to avoid slow starts in the beginning of the season. At a certain point, the contenders find their identity and round into the teams they'll be for the playoffs, reaching well past the stage of winning in spite of their mistakes.
It's the next step for this Bengals team. They have a blueprint for the offense and newfound hope for the defense. Putting it all together is necessary, and Sunday night proved they are still ways away from accomplishing that.
Joe Burrow’s franchise-record play became an afterthought for him after Bengals’ ugly win over Giants
Burrow’s got more important things on the mind.
