The Cincinnati Bengals survived a must-win game against the Los Angeles Rams and now have to prep for the Tennesee Titans on a short week.
Tough, but the Bengals moved the needle to 1-2 and Joe Burrow says he didn’t suffer any setbacks during the win, so it’s hard to complain about anything, really.
Buy Bengals TicketsGiven the circumstances, there are a ton of news and notes to keep up with now that the Bengals aren’t an 0-3 team considering shutting down a star quarterback.
Instead, it’s all about that star quarterback’s injury recovery and some of the biggest highlights from that victory over a familiar foe.
Joe Burrow injury update
Burrow says he suffered no setbacks despite attempting 49 passes. But he also admits it’s still a day-to-day thing and that last week was a good learning experience about how cautious he needs to be.
Aaron Rodgers reaches out
Rodgers, recovering from his own injury, says he was in contact with Burrow and really admires how tough he was to play through the injury.
Offensive line breakout
Jonah Williams put up a perfect game against the Rams in grading and that offensive line breakout is one of the top snap count takeaways from the game.
Bengals shoot up power rankings
Those in charge of power rankings aren’t playing the waiting game on the Bengals. If Joe Burrow’s on track, they will only continue to climb.
Morale played a factor in Burrow's decision -- Bengals
Burrow admits that the shape of the locker room at 0-3 played a big part in his decision:
“Yes, it was very, very important. It was part of the reason I wanted to play, I think. You go 0-3 — obviously, a lot of football left to be played — but 0-3 sounds a lot worse than 1-2. Morale is probably a lot lower when you’re 0-3, so it’s a big win for us. It was good to get on the board. I think we’ll be able to put something together now.”
Zac Taylor says Burrow took control of options -- Bengals
That 49-attempt game on a bad calf was partially Burrow’s doing on run-pass option looks:
“There were a lot of run-pass options involved in that. We’ll watch and see how many we called. There’s a lot of times we’re calling a run and he’s taking a completion. He is usually efficient at that. We’ll look at how many calls we called. There was a three or four-series stretch where we couldn’t get that first efficient play on a run or pass. They did a good job of setting us back there. We were able to adjust to that in the second half.”
Taylor blames himself for first half -- Bengals
It feels like every major person on the offense would take the blame first if they could, but Taylor got to the podium first:
“No. I thought the first half was really poor. It starts with me not getting us in a good rhythm with the play calls, then the penalties. There’s too much negative going on. In the second half, we played really well. Ahkello Witherspoon’s pick was unbelievable. But we scored a touchdown, a field goal, and then we got into the four-minute mode with the 13 runs. We thought running two minutes off the clock was more valuable given how our defense was playing. The first half was really bad but the second half was really good.”
Chad Johnson and Boomer Esiason enter the Ring -- ESPN
A historic night for Bengals legends as they entered the Ring of Honor.
More wins could mean more stadium upgrades -- WCPO
An interesting look at what an expert has to say about possible upcoming changes to Paycor Stadium.
Post-game celebration -- Bengals
Worth a look:
Game balls are so back… and so is Ted educating the team 😂
Locker Room Celly | @KetteringHealth pic.twitter.com/uExJpI1h9B
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) September 26, 2023
