Williams: Ugly wins happen in NFL. Suddenly, Cincinnati Bengals could be getting going

[Arkansas Bengal]

Jason Williams, Cincinnati Enquirer

Sun, Oct 15, 2023, 6:36 PM CDT·3 min read

 

 

You’re thinking it. Nah, you’re more than thinking it.

 

You’re feeling it.

 

You’re believing it.

 

The Bengals are going to do this again, aren’t they? They’re going go on another midseason run. Go ahead and feel it and believe it after Sunday’s, ugly and gritty 17-13 win against the Seattle Seahawks at Paycor Stadium.

 

Cincinnati is 3-3 going into the bye week, something that seemed darn near impossible just days ago. Some of us left them for dead after that dreadful afternoon in Nashville two Sundays ago. Joe Burrow’s calf muscle was mush. The defense couldn’t tackle. The season was about to go over the cliff.

 

Remember when Bengals coach Zac Taylor asked everyone to be patient and said everything was going to be OK? That was right after the Bengals had dropped to 0-2. No one wanted to hear it. None of us believed him. Maybe we should've at least listened and kept an open mind.

 

It’s like you need a weekly reminder of the emotional roller-coaster ride of the NFL. One week, you think your team is in serious trouble. The next week, you think the season is lost. And a week later, never mind. You think those Super Bowl hopes aren't dead yet. No matter how hard you try, you always get on that coaster and ride those highs and lows and loops and corkscrew twists and sudden drops.

 

The Bengals’ first six games are a good reminder not to get too far ahead of yourself. Their track record of slow starts points toward not getting too high or too low on them. The Bengals are in last place in the toughest division in football. But only one game separates them in the AFC North from first-place Baltimore.

 

The Bengals aren't great. And they're not bad. They were a middling team at the bye last year, too. And so it seems OK to believe the Bengals are going to be OK.

 

Because now we know the Bengals can beat a good team. Forget how ugly it was for the offense, particularly in the second half. Ugly wins happen every week in the NFL. Get the win and move onto next week.

 

Now we know the Bengals' defense can actually stop an opponent, good or bad. Now we’ve seen Burrow’s leg be just fine for two consecutive games, and he has two weeks to rest it before the Bengals go to San Francisco.

 

Cincinnati has shown the last couple weeks some of the things they did during the eight-game winning streak to close out the 2022 regular season, of which seven victories came after the bye week.

 

It was Burrow-to-Ja’Marr Chase in last week’s win at Arizona. This week, it was the defense hunkering down and stonewalling the Seahawks twice on fourth down inside the Bengals’ 10 yard-line with a few minutes left in the game.

 

During last season’s winning streak, if the offense wasn’t clicking, no problem. The defense picked them up, like they did Sunday, when the Bengals had two interceptions and finally found a way to slow down the other team's running game. Often times last year, the passing game and defense were clicking in the same game.

 

That’ll be the challenge for the Bengals going into a tough stretch out of the bye − putting it all together. They have some time to work on it. Suddenly, there’s optimism they can get rolling.

 

“It’s a lot easier to fix things when you’re 3-3 than if you lost this one,” Burrow said. “I’m never going to apologize for winning.”

 

 

https://sports.yahoo.com/williams-suddenly-cincinnati-bengals-bringing-233622050.html

[Jamie_B]

This year the run is going to be harder imo.

 

49ners can't have lost Debo, CmC. for the next two weeks can they? Williams rolled his ankle so I can't imagine that he will not play against us.

 

Purdy looked human when he got pressure against him.

 

Can we do that with our front four? That Browns defense is championship caliber imho, their O is not that good though.

.

Gonna need Joe and company to put up more than 17, and the D to put up a performance like they did yesterday.

 

We can win this game, but we have to have a whole team performance, and we haven't done that yet this year.

 

No time like the present. Two weeks to heal up and gameplan.

[IKOTA]

Bengals won’t score more than 17 pts against SF the way Zac Taylor produces offensive results. If Taylor didn’t have Lou A, Burrow and JaMarr he would be a below .500 head coach. He’s a basic bitch when it comes to offense minds. 
 

He needs to let it go at this point. If he’s truly the leader I think he is, he should just admit he can’t hold Sean McVays jock when it comes to offensive strategy, and hire a real OC. 
Could you imagine what Mike McDaniels type would do with this offense? 

No excuse to not be THE #1 offense in the NFL with these skill players. Burrow > Tua. JaMarr > Tyreek. Tee > Waddle. They do have way better RBs but that’s because the Bengals have absolutely zero dynamic player at RB. Mixon is washed.  Trayveon and Brown are average at best probably not even there. Evans has some dynamic abilities but he doesn’t get to play. But overall, absolutely zero excuse for this level of lack of production.    

[|High School Harry|]

49 minutes ago, IKOTA said:

Bengals won’t score more than 17 pts against SF the way Zac Taylor produces offensive results. If Taylor didn’t have Lou A, Burrow and JaMarr he would be a below .500 head coach. He’s a basic bitch when it comes to offense minds. 
 

He needs to let it go at this point. If he’s truly the leader I think he is, he should just admit he can’t hold Sean McVays jock when it comes to offensive strategy, and hire a real OC. 
Could you imagine what Mike McDaniels type would do with this offense? 

No excuse to not be THE #1 offense in the NFL with these skill players. Burrow > Tua. JaMarr > Tyreek. Tee > Waddle. They do have way better RBs but that’s because the Bengals have absolutely zero dynamic player at RB. Mixon is washed.  Trayveon and Brown are average at best probably not even there. Evans has some dynamic abilities but he doesn’t get to play. But overall, absolutely zero excuse for this level of lack of production.    

So agree and can't blame it all on the O line.

He'll break a play here and there but more often than not he can't get the job done in short yardage.

On third or even fourth in one I would prefer to see Joe throw a quick hitch to Ja'mar or someone on the

outside, the proverbial "long handoff" rather than see Mixon run into someone's butt and get stuffed.

Was musing on What Sam Wyche Would Do... some sort of creativity with someone in the backfield other

than Mixon.

[|BlackJesus|]

^ for 3rd and 1 -- I would love to see them put Sample under center and have him do the traditional QB sneak. He's bigger and that you don't risk Burrow. On those plays Burrow can line up behind him at RB (no need to come off the field). * 

 

* Then one time you have him pitch back to Burrow for a pass. 

[Dautcom08]

1 hour ago, BlackJesus said:

^ for 3rd and 1 -- I would love to see them put Sample under center and have him do the traditional QB sneak. He's bigger and that you don't risk Burrow. On those plays Burrow can line up behind him at RB (no need to come off the field). * 

 

* Then one time you have him pitch back to Burrow for a pass. 

 

My vote would be for Hubbard.

[Cricket]

17 hours ago, Dautcom08 said:

 

My vote would be for Hubbard.

Do we have any “big guys” that played QB in high school?  
 

[Used to think we should have used Jonathan Fanene that way.]

[|BlackJesus|]

1 hour ago, Cricket said:

Do we have any “big guys” that played QB in high school? 

 

Not a big guy, but CTB was an All-State QB in Alabama. It would be interesting to give him a wildcat play every now and then. 

[claptonrocks]

3 hours ago, BlackJesus said:

 

Not a big guy, but CTB was an All-State QB in Alabama. It would be interesting to give him a wildcat play every now and then. 

Ot just bring Perine back