Week 1 is in the books for the Cincinnati Bengals, and it left more questions than answers.
A disappointing day saw the Bengals fall at home 16-10 to the New England Patriots. Without wide receiver Tee Higgins (hamstring) and with Ja’Marr Chase battling food poisoning on a limited snap count, it was tough sledding for the Bengals offense.
Here are five takeaways from an abysmal outing for Cincinnati.
Takeaways from Bengals’ shocking Week 1 loss
Slow starts continue
A key talking point during the Bengals’ offseason was finding a way to start faster. In the Zac Taylor era, the Bengals are 1-10 in the opening two weeks of the season, with their only victory coming in 2021 thanks to a late Dalvin Cook fumble in the red zone.
But after all that talk, Cincinnati came out flat and dejected. The offense struggled to get in any rhythm, opening with a three-and-out, and failing to score any points in the first half. Scoring 10 points in an opening game, against a Patriots defense that lost two of their best defenders in the offseason, is an unacceptable outing.
Joe Burrow sees ghosts
Burrow had a day that not many saw coming. He completed 21-of-29 attempts, but only for 164 yards, averaging 7.8 yards per completion. In his post-game press conference, Burrow complimented New England’s secondary for taking away the deep ball, stating that he “took what the defense gave him.”
But upon rewatch, there were many opportunities to look down the field. Instead of buying time to uncork one, Burrow opted for the check-down and underneath routes more often than not. While Burrow said his wrist felt great heading into the game, it was worrisome to see him so shaky and uncomfortable in the pocket.
Tight race for worst EPA day by a quarterback, per Next Gen Stats.
Bryce Young -12.6
Daniel Jones -12.4
Joe Burrow -12.4— Seth Walder (@SethWalder) September 8, 2024
Defensive line depth leaves much to be desired
Cincinnati took several hits to their defensive line prior to Week 1 as edge rushers Cam Sample (Achilles) and Myles Murphy (knee) landed on IR while defensive tackle Kris Jenkins underwent surgery on his thumb. The lack of depth on the defensive line reared its ugly head as the Bengals allowed 170 rushing yards and only sacked Jacoby Brissett once.
Even the starters struggled as Trey Hendrickson won several of his pass rushes but was unable to finish the job in the backfield, and Sam Hubbard struggled to generate any pressure and lost at the point of attack in the run game.
It was clear that Hubbard has lost a step and Cincinnati desperately needs Myles Murphy and Joseph Ossai to develop in order to lighten the load on Hubbard while adding some much-needed athleticism to the defensive line.
Bengals need Tee Higgins
Everyone has talked about how talented the Bengals offense is, but it’s only talented when both of their star receivers are on the field. While Ja’Marr Chase played, Burrow often looked away and only targeted Chase six times throughout the game. But when Burrow looked at other receivers, they were often blanketed or failed to make a play for their quarterback.
Mike Gesicki had a touchdown in his hands but was unable to hold onto it as he hit the ground. On the following play, Tanner Hudson found open space in the middle of the field but fumbled on the two-yard line.
Andrei Iosivas only caught three of his six targets while Trenton Irwin and Charlie Jones both saw limited action. With Higgins on the field, it likely changes how the defense plays the Bengals and could have opened up even more room for the run game to take pressure off Burrow. Cincinnati will be hoping that Higgins is healthy enough to take on the Kansas City Chiefs next week.
Gesicki TD called back. Then Tanner Hudson fumbles as he’s going into the end zone. pic.twitter.com/2M98zAW2sj
— Cincinnati 💔 (@CincyProblems) September 8, 2024
Ryan Rekhow the lone bright spot
One of the more interesting battles early in training camp was the punter battle between Brad Robbins and Ryan Rehkow.
Robbins injured his hip flexor midway through the preseason and was placed on the short-term IR, opening the door for Rehkow to run away with the starting job. Rehkow struggled mightily in the preseason but was named the starting punter due to Robbins’s injury.
But Rehkow looked like a completely different punter on Sunday. Due to the Bengals offensive struggles, Rehkow had four opportunities to show what he could do, and he delivered.
He averaged 64.5 yards per punt, including an 80-yard bomb (net 60) that was inches away from being one of the greatest punts of all-time. If he can show consistency with Robbins on the sideline, he’ll hold onto the starting position for quite some time.
Rookie punter Ryan Rehkow set @Bengals team record w/ this 80-yd bomb vs @Patriots but I believe he also set #NFL record for highest gross punting avg in a game (min 4 punts) by averaging 64.5 yds!
Previous record was 63.6 yds per by @Raiders A.J. Cole @NFLPlus ? @BYUfootball pic.twitter.com/FeQKVvPGyH— Scott Pioli (@scottpioli51) September 8, 2024
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