Cincinnati Bengals

Cincinnati Bengals: 5 Observations From Win Over Jets

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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William Hauser-USA TODAY Sports

The Jets played an emotional game and nearly beat the Cincinnati Bengals. Here are 5 takeaways from a battle that could have gone either way.

The Cincinnati Bengals were not perfect on Sunday in East Rutherford, New Jersey, but a Mike Nugent 47-yard field goal with 54 seconds remaining propelled them to a 23-22 season-opening victory over the New York Jets. 

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There were good and bad things from both sides of the ball in Cincinnati’s first road win over the Jets since 1981, but it was a test passed by the experienced Bengals in a tough environment against a 10-win team from a season ago.

Games like Sunday’s are ones the Bengals need to finish—if they plan on breaking the NFL’s longest playoff drought in January.

Here are five observations from the win over Gang Green:

5.) Poor play from the offensive line 

Far too often on Sunday, the Bengals’ offensive line had trouble keeping their quarterback on his feet. Andy Dalton was sacked a career-high seven times, five in the first half alone. In 13 games last season, Dalton was only sacked 20 times. While the offensive line in total allowed 32 sacks with A.J. McCarron being dropped 12 times in the final four games.

Going forward, this is obviously something that needs to be fixed for the Bengals, especially with a trip to Pittsburgh coming up next Sunday and the reigning Super Bowl-Champion Denver Broncos (who led the NFL in sacks last season) coming to Paul Brown Stadium in week three. The good news, though; Paul Alexander is in his 21st season as the Bengals’ offensive line coach and adjustments will be made to keep Dalton on his feet.

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4.) Run defense has to improve

In his Jets’ debut, running back Matt Forte ran very well against the Bengals’ defense, pounding out 4.4 yards-per-carry on 22 attempts. With the Bengals leading by four in the third quarter following Jeremy Hill‘s 12-yard touchdown run, the duo of Forte and Bilal Powell combined for 72 yards on the ground before the Jets had to settle for a chip-shot field goal in the red zone.

Overall, Cincinnati was out-rushed 152-57; usually not a winning formula, but they survived. This is not the norm in a typical Bengals’ defense, one that ranked seventh against the run last year, yielding 92.3 yards-per-game. Much like the play of the offensive line, the Bengals’ upcoming slate of opponents makes fixing the issue a necessity.

In the next four weeks, they will face the likes of DeAngelo Williams, CJ Anderson, Arian Foster, and Ezekiel Elliot.

There is some good news about the run defense, though. The last time the Bengals opened the season against the Jets on the road, Curtis Martin ran for 196 yards (100 more than Forte) and a touchdown in a 31-24 Jets’ win in 2004.

William Hauser-USA TODAY Sports

3.) Andy Dalton’s resiliency

As mentioned, Dalton was found on the turf at MetLife Stadium far too often on Sunday afternoon. However, the constant pressure of the daunting Jets’ defensive line did not phase him in the slightest.

After being sacked on the first drive and throwing an interception on the second, Dalton finished the first half by completing 12 of 15 passes for 190 yards and a touchdown, leading the Bengals to 13 points and a three-point deficit at the intermission.

In the fourth quarter, two Nick Folk field goals put the Jets up, 22-20, when Dalton and the offense came back on the field with 3:18 left in the game. The Red Rifle answered by completing all four of his passes for 33 yards to set up Nugent’s winner.

The ability to have a short memory is important for an NFL quarterback. Dalton proved on Sunday that he will not linger on the past during the roller coaster course of a game.

William Hauser-USA TODAY Sports

2.) The offense has weapons

If you sat down before the game and someone told you that the duo of Hill and Giovani Bernard would combine for just 56 rushing yards, you would not believe Cincinnati would put up nearly 400 yards of offense on the road against the number four overall defense from a year ago.

Add in the fact that Sunday was the first game for receivers Brandon LaFell and Tyler Boyd, the offensive would allow seven sacks, and Tyler Eifert was inactive, there’s no reason to believe Cincinnati would tally a high offensive output.

Despite all of those overwhelming odds, the Bengals did just that.

AJ Green lit up seven-time Pro Bowl corner Darrelle Revis for 12 receptions, 180 yards, and a touchdown. LaFell caught four passes for 91 yards and third-string tight end CJ Uzomah snagged a 54-yarder. Yeah, the Bengals’ offense is going to be just fine.

Any doubts that the offense would regress significantly with the offseason losses of Mohamed Sanu and Marvin Jones should be put to bed for the time being.

William Hauser-USA TODAY Sports

1.) In Paul Guenther we trust

Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker combined for 26 touchdowns and 2,529 receiving yards last season. On Sunday, the Bengals held the explosive tandem to a combined five receptions for just 69 yards and a touchdown. Ryan Fitzpatrick was held under 200 yards passing for just the second time in his last eight games.

Even though the Bengals’ defense looked extremely vulnerable, defensive coordinator Paul Guenther implemented the same bend-but-don’t-break formula that had his unit as the No.1 scoring defense in the AFC at season’s end in 2015.

The Bengals held the Jets to 22 points on Sunday. In the last three seasons with Guenther at the helm of the defense, Cincinnati is 18-2 when holding opponents to 22 points or less.

After a third straight 1-0 start, the Bengals head to Heinz Field to take on the Steelers in week two. It’s the first rematch since the controversial playoff game in Cincinnati on January 9th.

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