Cincinnati has been outscored 76-13 over the past two games and now seeks to bounce back Sunday against the Detroit Lions (3-1) on Sunday at Paycor Stadium. It’s a short week to answer a lot of questions, but here are three takeaways from the loss at Denver.
1. Penalties a concern
The Bengals finished with more penalties (11 for 65 yards) than first downs (nine), and pre-snap issues in the first half especially contributed to their inability to move the chains.
One drive in the second quarter featured two false starts, an illegal formation and two delay of game penalties, and Cincinnati didn’t get a first down on the next three drives after that. The Bengals were flagged 11 times in the first half, and three of those were declined.
The previous two games, turnovers were the concern. Cincinnati didn’t turn the ball over at all Monday, after Browning recorded five picks over seven quarters in his first two games and the offense lost three fumbles in a two-minute span last week.
More discipline could have made a big difference in the first half against Denver before the game got out of hand.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
2. Offense stalling anyway
Cincinnati jumped off to a decent start, getting a 26-yard field goal from Evan McPherson on the opening drive and forcing the Broncos into a three-and-out, but the Bengals never moved across midfield after that.
They had four three-and-outs themselves and finished with just 159 yards of offense – to Denver’s 512. The minus-353 yard differential ranks fourth worst in franchise history. Browning was sacked three times and completed just 14 of 25 passes for 125 yards.
Ja’Marr Chase especially was frustrated after he caught just five passes for 23 yards, while Broncos cornerback Patrick Surtain II allowed just one of those receptions for 8 yards across 13 coverage matchups, according to NextGenStats, and no receptions on 10 matchups in man coverage.
Late in the second quarter, Browning seemed to be just tossing up jump balls down the sideline instead of “chasing completions” like he talked about earlier in the week when discussing the balance between staying aggressive but not making bad decisions that lead to picks.
Denver brings one of the fastest pressuring defensive lines in the league, and it seemed the first couple of drives the Bengals had a plan to try to protect Browning and allow him to get the ball out quickly. However, as the Broncos built their lead, it was difficult to see the identity of the offense and what Cincinnati is striving to do.
Browning said in his postgame press conference he didn’t think it was a play call issue but “everyone plays a role.” The Bengals, despite explosive weapons throughout its offense, have the third fewest passing yards with 695 through four games.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
3. Missed tackles and allowing explosive plays
Cincinnati adjusted defensively coming out of halftime down 21-3, allowing just one touchdown the rest of the way after forcing three straight punts to begin the half. However, Denver took advantage of missed tackles or assignments to produce several big plays that helped build the cushion.
Cam Taylor-Britt saw limited playing time in the first half, possibly because of the hamstring injury he was coming back from after missing last week’s game. However, he missed two key tackles that led to 19- and 22-yard receptions for Courtland Sutton on the second touchdown drive of the game, which Marvin Mims Jr. capped off from 16-yards out on an end-around.
While the Bengals had just five plays of 10 yards or more and just two more than 15 yards, Denver’s 10 longest plays were all at least 14 yards. Mims caught a long of 28 yards at the end of the second quarter to help set up the Broncos’ third touchdown on a nine-play drive of 80 yards in just over a minute.
Sutton caught a 20-yard pass from Bo Nix for the 21-3 lead. Nix finished with 326 yards passing and two touchdowns with one interception – which Demetrius Knight picked off in the end zone to prevent a score earlier in the second quarter. Nix had more yards in the first half than he had in any full game the first three weeks.
Denver also was able to move the ball on the ground, especially leaning into that in the second half with the lead, and racked up 186 yards rushing, while J.K. Dobbins finished with 101 yards on 16 carries.
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