Matt’s Take – Bengals are 3-2 Entering Bye Week
By Matthew McAdow
HCP columnist
While 3-2 isn’t ideal, the Cincinnati Bengals still hold their own destiny and with a relatively easy schedule ahead, it’ll be up to winning within the division for this team to find the postseason.
Straight after the bye week, Cincinnati will take on Baltimore at Baltimore in what I think will be the most important game of the season. You simply can’t go to 3-3 and 0-2 in a division that every team has a winning record. It’s a must-win game, followed by what should be a very easy game against the Titans.
If you win both of those and improve to 5-2 to begin the season, the path to the playoffs will look a whole lot brighter than they do currently. From what we are witnessing so far, it has been very mediocre football, but in the same sentence, I can argue that they should be 5-0. In a season that is Super Bowl or Bust, they’ll have to figure many things out for me to start thinking that is a possibility – and I think Burrow feels the same way.
How can the Bengals get to 11 Wins?
11 wins will typically get a team into the playoffs and with the schedule Cincinnati has left, it is very much a possibility with health on their side. Remaining on the schedule includes:
@ Ravens
Titans
Falcons
Steelers
@ Commanders
Saints
@ Browns
Chiefs
@ Panthers
@ Colts
Ravens
Browns.
My prediction as of today:
Loss to the Ravens, Win vs the Titans, Loss to the Falcons, Win vs the Steelers, Win vs the Commanders, Win vs Saints, Win vs Browns, Loss to Chiefs, Loss to Panthers, Win vs Colts, Win vs Ravens, Win vs Browns. This would be enough to get them in most likely, but this is exactly why I think the Ravens game after the bye week is the most important game of the season. Let’s get a divisional victory now and not rely on a string of victories to close the season.
Positives from Bengals vs Dolphins
Joe Burrow might not be putting up insane yardage, but he is the most efficient quarterback in the NFL – and well in the history of the NFL actually.
Samaje Perine deserved a game ball. Stat line be gone, he is the reason this team stayed in the game. He deserves to be RB1 at this point, as the Chase Brown experience is becoming a bust.
Weekly Praise for Amarius Mims – Enough said.
Barrett Carter had himself a game – 1 sack, 11 total tackles, and a few key moments in the game.
Jordan Battle made many tackles, had 2 interceptions, and backed up his comments on Malik Willis earlier in the week.
While Dohnte Myers had a special teams mistake, his return to begin the game got Cincinnati off to a hot start. This kid is special.
Negatives from Bengals vs Dolphins
217 rush yards given up to the Dolphins – THE DOLPHINS (Insert Stephen A. Smith Voice).
While Cincinnati never felt in danger, they played like the game was over well before the clock struck 00:00. You simply cannot do that against another team.
Red Zone mistakes – fumbles, penalties, poor play calls. This should’ve been a blowout.
Chase Brown averaged just 3 yards per carry and honestly, he lost himself a ton of money that he would’ve made this offseason. I don’t see him in the orange and black next season.