Burrow makes the difference

[Jik]

I've been a Bengals fans although I live in Texas but since Burrow has been there they've been a better team but I was really surprised that Cincinnati without Burrow was so crappyj. Even the defense what I thought should have been done better this season is showing up tonight. The whole team is playing better  tonight with Burrow and making them look like they should be a playoff team.  Very disappointed with the team they have assembled that they cannot do better than this than the games before without Burrow. I thought their defense was good enough they could survive without Burrow and carry the team but obviously I was wrong on that!

But so glad to see he's back tonight and they are putting it on Baltimore. The whole team is playing better which they should have been doing beforehand but they look good tonight More points Bengals!!!

[volcom69]

So I think in someways Burrow coming back was a huge spark for the whole team. Now does that mean they win out who knows anymore, does that mean Hendrickson comes back soon to play i sure hope so. I mean if anything it made watching the game fun, for the first time in awhile I had fun watching this game they actually played like a team on all sides of the ball!

The defense is young, still not great but they look like they are making strides. Tackling and the angles they take to make a tackle need to be better, but overall I can see some differences. I wish Golden would have blitzed more earlier in the season when they needed it in those one score games. This point forward though all I can hope for is to see them get better. 
 

Oh and for once this o-line is playing great, good pass blocking, good run blocking, Risner starting to look like a great pick up, Fairchild looking great for a rookie, Mims looking awesome, great to see these looking good. 

[HoosierCat]

The o line has been playing well for several games now. The only question was how much was due to the preferred play style of the QB and how much was due to all the personnel chaos, especially at guard, finally abating so the line could gel. Last night’s answer was that it was the latter, with Joe Burrow getting Joe Flacco levels of protection. Still, I’d like to see more. Baltimore doesn’t have a particularly good pass rush this year. Just have to see how it goes but yesterday was what we wanted to see.

As for the defense, their biggest asset was Lamar. He was not good last night. The difference was that this time, Bengals defenders actually *made plays* when the opportunity arose. There have been so many “almost” moments all year, when they get hands on the ball or the QB or the runner with the ball but just can’t quite make the sack or the pick or the tackle. Last night, they did.

Also props to Golden for going full YOLO after they got a half-decent lead and just sending house again and again. They had Lamar hearing footsteps the whole second half. The d wasn’t perfect but I’d argue this was easily their best game of the year.

As for Burrow, after a half to bang off the rust, he was Same Old Joe. A little more locked in to Ja’marr than I would have liked, but that wasn’t a surprised with Tee out and he did spread the ball around as the night went on. No reason this group can’t grill up a 40 burger every week.

[COB]

Last night Jason Garrett was so much better than Collinsworth it wasn’t even funny.  
In the first quarter he mentioned that our defense was  improving over the last couple games, I laughed though when he prefaced those nice comments with the following:  
“We can’t overstate how badly this Cincinatti defense has played throughout most of this year, uh, they’ve been the worst in virtually every category.”

[HoosierCat]

Re the oline, from gridiron grading:

The Bengals entire OL allowed only 2 pressures on 250 total pass blocking opportunities last night.

That is a combined pressure rate of 0.8% for Amarius Mims, Dylan Fairchild, Dalton Risner, Orlando Brown Jr., and Ted Karras.

You can’t be any better than that as an OL group

[TJJackson]

Burrow doesnt play D

[Coltsguy451]

Super show on Thursday, fellas. I agree it was like Burrow revitalized the whole team. Caught the fun post-game turkey-eating scene and it looked like this team enjoyed a major boost in morale.

[ArmyBengal]

I think people are giving more credit to Burrow than deserved. Not knocking him in the least but last night belonged to the defense for putting together a very nice game plan and executing it well.

Hope to see more !!

[Stripes]

To be honest, I think the primary reason the Bengals dominated yesterday's game was the Ravens giving it to them. But nobody should apologize.

[COB]

The Ravens looked horrible.  The other guy always has something to do with that, but it was more than that.  Lamar was way off with his throws.

[Allentown21]

6 hours ago, ArmyBengal said:

I think people are giving more credit to Burrow than deserved. Not knocking him in the least but last night belonged to the defense for putting together a very nice game plan and executing it well.

Hope to see more !!

 

The defense played well but there's a feel & command burrow has , especially within structure that is exponential in the Bengals ceiling as a team. Especially offensively obviously 

[Allentown21]

If the Bengals make the playoffs last year, he is 100% MVP. 

 

 

[ArmyBengal]

Dude has literally played 3 games out of 12. 

[HoosierCat]

As Bruschi, so Burrow.

 

[gregcook69]

As fans it’s easy to play MMQB (Monday Morning Quarterback) and some of us are never satisfied and almost expect ‘perfection’!

The problem is twofold!

1.  It’s the NFL where it’s the best of the best playing against each other!  Turnovers are going to happen, REGARDLESS of who the coaches are, and it’s the ole NFL cliche, ‘Any Given Sunday’.

(Examples:  The Rams won the SB in the 2021-2022 season and the very next season went 5-12, worst record of ANY team the year AFTER a SB victory, and here we are 3 years later where they are looking at potentially holding the number 1 seed!

The Bills will ALWAYS be remembered for losing 4 SBs in a row but no one rarely mentions they MADE 4 SBs in a row!  A record that may never be matched, UNLESS the Chiefs make it back this year.

The defending Super Bowl champion Eagles, blew a 21 point lead against Dallas, and their defense looked a little like the Bengals missing tackles all night, against the Bears.  Plus Hurts and Company could never find a rhythm!

Lastly, John Harbaugh, one of the top HC in the NFL, couldn’t prevent or ‘fix’ the turnovers that occurred Thursday night with his team because ‘that’s football’!)

2.  Beside that, it’s the Bengals.  As Army Bengal recently pointed out, this is a franchise that you ‘expect the worst, but hope for the best’!

However, after listening to some locker room interviews after the Ravens game, it DOES seem that, psychologically, Burrow’s presence DOES have a positive impact on the team even though he wasn’t at his best Thursday night!

 

[HoosierCat]

There is nothing I hate  more than agreeing with Stephen A. Smith.

 

[ArmyBengal]

2 hours ago, HoosierCat said:

There is nothing I hate  more than agreeing with Stephen A. Smith.

 

Yes yes and more yes.

Zac Taylor is an assclown at best.

[COB]

Stephen A.Smith sounds like he posts in here.

[AMPHAR]

I think there were too many Red Zone Field Goals to give Joe Burrow all the credit.    Game could have been over in the first half.   Defense gifted the offense the ball at the 2 yard line and got 0 points.     They still needed that last fumble to ice it because the offense turned it over in game killing mode.

Which is fine.   Because its likely Burrow will have to carry them in order to win in Buffalo.    Al Golden for one game deserves huge amounts of credit because that's as bad as I've seen Lamar Jackson vs. a Bengals D in a long time. 

You have to remember Lamar tapped out in multiple games vs. Lou's best units.  

Stephen A. Smith just proves he don't watch games.  Anyone watching in real time was worried that the story line would have been Bengals fail to capitalize on Ravens mistakes after the first half.   I think even the TV guys said something to that extent gong into half time break.