The Bengals took on AFC North rival Pittsburgh Steelers in their first game since Joe Burrow’s season ending injury. There were some bright spots, especially from some of the rookies, but mistakes on both sides of the ball, poor coaching, and bad QB play let a close game slip out of their hands.
The Good:
DE, Myles Murphy
Though still playing in a rotational role, the rookie’s play over the last few weeks has improved. His pressure rate has gotten higher, and on Sunday, his efforts were rewarded with a sack. Perhaps we see more of him going forward.
S, Jordan Battle
Battle was arguably the team’s best player on Sunday, regardless of which side of the ball you look at. It was his first game since being officially named a starter. Battle had a few mice tackles, and was pretty solid in coverage, despite much of the defence springing some leaks.
CB, DJ Turner
Turner, another rookie, continues that trend here, with his good performance. He wasn’t quite as polished, but his ability to make plays is impressive. Though Turner had been best for what looked like a TD, he did not give up on the play, and was somehow able to knock it loose before he had control long enough for the TD to count. Just one play later, he was able to recover a turnover.
WR, Ja’Marr Chase
With the Bengals inefficient passing attack, he wasn’t able to pile on the receptions. However, Chase still took advantage of some tipped passes that fell to him, and picked up significant yardage after the catch. On just 4 receptions, Chase totaled 81 yards.
The Bad:
QB, Jake Browning
The stat line — 19/26 for 227 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT — looks pretty good. However, the stats and the tape tell two different stories. Browning had two passes that should have been picked off, which instead ended up getting tipped right to Ja’Marr Chase, who picked up significant yardage. As well, Joe Mixon took a screen pass almost 40 yards during garbage time, which further padded the stats. The reality is that Browning had several turnover worthy throws, and the one that actually did get picked off came deeper in Pittsburgh territory, and swung the momentum in a huge way. Instead of putting up points, the Bengals would go on to allow a TD. From that, they were unable to recover.
HC, Zac Taylor
Taylor didn’t get a lot of help from some of his players, but his game plan could have helped Browning a lot more than it did. His legs are one of Browning’s best assets, but Taylor made no effort to take advantage through designed QB runs or planned roll outs. As well, his complete abandonment of the run game, with a backup QB making his first career start, has been heavily criticized.
The Offensive Line & Frank Pollack
This game was a story of two tales for the o-line. The pass blocking was quite good, but the run blocking was poor. Their execution needs to be called out, but by now, we can see that this has been a consistent problem. Frank Pollack, the o-line coach and run game coordinator, perhaps deserves some heat too. It hasn’t been working, and Zac Taylor felt it necessary to go with a pass heavy attack.
LB’s, Germaine Pratt & Logan Wilson
Pratt and Wilson were not at their best on Sunday. There were some missed tackles, as well as some gaps in coverage that resulted in big plays for the Steelers offence. TE Pat Freiermuth was able to gash through the Bengals defence to the tune of 9 receptions for 120 yards. The LB’s were responsible for a lot of that.
DE, Sam Hubbard
It was his first game back after missing a few with an injury, so perhaps he deserves some slack. But it was a rough one for Hubbard. He uncharacteristically was getting pushed around at the line of scrimmage while playing the run, which opened up some opportunities for bigger plays to be given up.
S, Daxton Hill
Hill did not have his best day in coverage, and his positioning just seemed to be off a lot of the time. The shoes to fill were pretty big when Jessie Bates left, and Hill still has a ways to go when it comes to his instincts on the field.
DC, Lou Anarumo
It hasn’t been pretty the last few weeks. Though the defence only allowed 16 points, the chunk plays given up were plentiful, which has been the case for several weeks now. Anarumo needs to make some adjustments to help a defence that is performing well below its talent level.
P, Brad Robbins
Robbins has been very inconsistent this season, and week 12 was one of the dips in effectiveness. He was tasked with flipping the field, but poor distance on his punts prevented the Bengals from really gaining any kind of field position advantage. As well, his hang time and directional punting, both of which are considered to be strengths of his, have also not been as good lately.