The Cincinnati Bengals answered quite a few questions while climbing to 4-3 and becoming winners of two in a row coming out of Sunday’s 35-17 win over the Atlanta Falcons.
And rest assured plenty of questions chased the Bengals into the game after the .500 start that included a close call against the struggling New Orleans Saints the week prior.
But tasked with another NFC South opponent during their return home, the Bengals took care of business in about the best way they or fans could possibly imagine.
Here’s a look at some key takeaways and everything to know in the immediate aftermath.
Week 6 wasn't a fluke
There were some questions as to whether Joe Burrow’s pocket presence and overall output for himself and guys like Ja’Marr Chase were the product of playing the Saints.
Those questions can stop.
While the Falcons don’t have an elite defense by any means, Burrow looking good in the pocket, making the right reads and eventually throwing for 481 yards with three touchdowns (and another rushing) while looking as good as he does proves the offense is back to last year’s form.
It's all about timing
It’s hard to nail down a better time for the Bengals offense to suddenly erupt. The defense, after all, entered this one missing Logan Wilson and DJ Reader, a pair of elite players. The offensive outburst has the potential to carry over next week against the Browns, too, where Wilson will still be out, Reader will be out and Trey Hendrickson now has a neck injury to manage.
CB change
Veteran corner Eli Apple got torched for a touchdown in the first half and was notably on the sideline…quite a bit for the rest of the game. No word from the team on if it was injury related or good old football-doghouse stuff, but rookie Cam Taylor-Britt was active for the first time and got plenty of reps.
Even if Apple remains the starter from here, it’s abundantly clear this was a great chance to get CTB critical game reps.
Injury woes
La’el Collins eventually returned to the game after taking a trip to the blue medical tent and missing a big chunk of time while Hakeem Adeniji took his spot. But when he did return things were…not great. He missed or didn’t know the snap count and caused a sack on least one occasion. Presumably, the nagging back issue isn’t helping things but it’s hard to say if it gets better.
Elite edge rusher Trey Hendrickson suffered a neck injury and was questionable to return. That’s now something to watch in the coming weeks, too.
Where to go from here
Burrow called this the most important three-game stretch of the season and it tracks. Sitting at 4-3 is nice but it could be 6-3 by the Week 10 bye. If the offense keeps rolling like this and helps the defense endure injuries in winnable games against the Browns and Panthers before the break, the Bengals are in contention for the division and quite a bit more all winter.
In-game notes
— A week removed from admitting they need to get Tyler Boyd more work and doing so, an all-Boyd opening drive led to an easy touchdown within two minutes of the kickoff.
— That was fast. Bengals jumped to a 21-0 lead very, very quickly. Implementing RPOs and the Falcons going with some…interesting coverages didn’t help. Joe Mixon scored a short rushing touchdown and Ja’Marr Chase caught a wicked 32-yard score down the right sideline.
— Like last week, Burrow again looked very comfortable in the pocket and pretty much any scenario.
— Bengals were up 21-0 and 28-7 but defense and special teams botched a comfortable lead. The former gave up a huge touchdown on bad coverage by Eli Apple and Kevin Huber shanked a punt, only for his coverage team to give up a return of 50-plus yards, completing a 10-point swing before halftime.
— Ja’Marr Chase and La’el Collins suffered injuries. They would both return, but star defensive end Trey Hendrickson would not after suffering a neck injury.
— Bengals defensive line had a huge day even without Hendrickson. Sam Hubbard and Joseph Ossai wreaked havoc, while names like rookie Zach Carter and Jay Tufele had better-than-expected showings.
— The cornerback change, with Eli Apple seemingly benched for rookie Cam Taylor-Britt, is going to be a major talking point all week.
— Coordinator Lou Anarumo again deserves a ton of credit for the second-half adjustments that has the defense looking elite in crunch time.
