The Cincinnati Bengals started off their season in disappointing fashion by losing 16-10 to the New England Patriots. Cincinnati entered the game as heavy favorites, and probably end the week as the biggest “upset”.
Only scoring 10 points in your home opener isn’t going to cut it, especially against The defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs. There are a few things that the Bengals can key in on, against Kansas City in week two so they come out victorious and don’t fall to 0-2… again.
ESTABLISH THE RUN!!!
Of all the negative things from week one, the most frustrating one had to be the lack of runs from the running backs. Outside of Burrows’ four broken play scrambles, they called only 12, yes 12 designed runs! After trading away Joe Mixon (30 carries for 159 yards and a touchdown in week 1) it was obvious they were looking to go in a different direction with their offense.
No one thought they were ever going to run the ball 30 times a game. That isn’t who the Bengals are, but maybe get closer to 20 designed runs so the defense has to guess a little at what you are doing. If the Cincinnati Bengals can get the running game going early they will be able to keep the Kansas City Chiefs defense on their toes throughout the night. This will allow Burrow a chance to find the open man.
Tackle, tackle, tackle
Going into practice this week tackling has to be the most important part of practice. Cincinnati missed entirely too many tackles. If they want to be competitive in the AFC they have to tackle in the open field.
Too many times on Sunday saw defenders for the Bengals go for a tackle with no fundamentals involved. Arm tackles around the shoulder pads aren’t going to cut at the highest level.
Get Uno involved early and often
The main thing Cincinnati needs to do is get Ja’Marr Chase going. Not only for the offensive gameplan to be successful but for Chases’ moral. He may not openly say he doesn’t want to be in Cincinnati at the current moment, but his body language is saying other things.
In week one Chase caught 6/6 for 62 yards. Yes, Ja’Marr was targeted six times in week one, but it never really felt like he was going to get free to break a long run after the catch.
Ja’Marr Chase has to be the focal point of the offensive game plan, especially if the Bengals are going to continue not running the football. Chase has proven time and time again that he is in that upper echelon of wide receivers. So for him to only have six targets when he’s your main play maker doesn’t make since when you aren’t running the ball effectively or at all for that matter.
Final thoughts
Joe Burrow and the Bengals have shown they can stand toe-to-toe with Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in the past. Will they be able to keep the Chiefs from taking off with the AFC this early into the season, or will Patrick and company prove to be to much for these Bengals to handle in week two?
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