Ugly. That was how Joe Burrow described the Cincinnati Bengals 17 - 7 win over the New York Giants last night. That’s an understatement. It was a colossal mess that only narrowly avoided total disaster. But ugly sums it up adequately. Well done, Laconic Joe.
A win’s a win, of course, but this one didn’t feel great. The offense looked discombobulated and out of focus. The defense was perpetually on the brink. It seemed like the Bengals had the ball for, like, fifteen seconds in the second half. The special teams…well, for once, there are no issues to report on special teams. But everywhere else? Yeesh.
Okay, okay, I’m being a tad harsh – the defense played well. Pretty well. Good, even. But if we’re honest, the Bengals defense may have allowed only seven points on the night, but that was not a “held-em-to-seven” kind of performance. It took a lot of luck to keep the Giants in single-digits.
Here’s a snippet of some of the major close calls that swung the game in the Bengals’ favor, in no particular order: two Giants missed field goals, a Bengals fumble in a critical moment that bounces harmlessly out of bounds, a Daniel Jones Red Zone interception where he was hit while throwing, and a 56-yard catch-and-run by Giants receiver Darius Slayton nullified because of an illegal man downfield penalty. It’s nice to be on luck’s good side for once, but jeez, the Bengals might have used up their supply for the rest of the season.
Sometimes, it’s just plain better to be lucky than good. That, in a nutshell, was the Bengals last night. They might be a more talented team than the Giants, but they weren’t a better team. In fact, the Bengals might have been at their luckiest when the Giants star rookie Malik Nabers was ruled inactive. Given the way Bengals corner Cam Taylor-Britt struggled to contain Slayton all night, Nabers would have had CTB running in circles. But Nabers didn’t play, and the Bengals got a dub – lucky > good.
Despite all the yucky-ness, there were some positive takeaways. The defense, finally with its full complement of linemen, looked significantly more disruptive. Bengals pass rusher Trey Hendrickson was mano a mano against Giants All-Pro left tackle Andrew Thomas as the rest of the Bengals D-line caused problems on the interior. In a battle of elite vs elite, Hendrickson won the day with two sacks.
The strong play by the D-line was the rising tide that lifted all boats. For the first time all year, the opposing QB didn’t have enough time to do his taxes and message three different Instagram models before throwing a pass. It’s a sad day for Amazon and eBay – the Bengals pass rush isn’t giving opposing QBs enough time to do their online shopping.
Offensively, Burrow continued his MVP-ish-caliber season (and I only say “ish” because, you know, the Bengals are 2 - 4) with one of the biggest highlights of his entire career: a 47-yard scamper down the sideline on the opening drive that was not only the longest run of Burrow’s career, it was also the longest touchdown run by any QB in Bengals history.
And that’s about where the good news ends. Yeah, Tee Higgins had a nice game (77 receiving yards) and Chase Brown scored another touchdown (and should have had two if not for a very questionable holding call), and yes, Ja’Marr Chase finished with 72 yards receiving. But Ja’Marr had a bad drop on third down and was held in check most of the night, and the rest of the offense – for pretty much the entire night – looked completely out of whack.
They went three and out on half their drives in the first half. After a string of great performances to start the season, the Bengals offensive line had its collective ass handed to it by the Giants defense. Zack Moss had a terrible fumble in the third quarter, and if it weren’t for some fortunate bounces, Brown’s fumble in the fourth would have been catastrophic. There had been nothing but positivity for the Bengals offense since Week One, and that came crashing to a halt by this morning.
Another concerning development was that, despite the Giants entering the game with a better record, they appeared to be the more desperate team. If there was a fourth down, the Giants were going for it. They played like a team with nothing to lose – or maybe their head coach Brian Daboll was just gunning for a new fourth down conversion record. Either way, when compared to the mostly conservative approach on offense by the Bengals, it stood out.
And yet, the Bengals won. Despite all the inconsistency, despite all the weirdness, despite the barrage of fourth down conversions and offensive malaise, the Bengals came out on top. It’s too late to complain about “ugly” wins. When you only have one win in five weeks, ugly wins don’t exist. Let’s wait till the Bengals get back to .500 before we start worrying about aesthetics.
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