The Cincinnati Bengals appeared much more comfortable in the second week of Jake Browning under center, putting up a fight on “Monday Night Football” against the Jacksonville Jaguars en route to a 34-31 win.
While things were far from perfect, the offense looked different in quite a few ways through the air and Browning was steadily moving the offense in spurts that had this one a surprise shootout.
Even so, the Bengals never appeared overmatched and had the ball late in a tie game. Here’s a look at the important numbers, thoughts and takeaways from right after the game went final.
Quick Hits
- One week after saying they didn’t get to the plays, the Bengals gave rookie running back Chase Brown a chance on the first drive. It was a promising one, but Jake Browning stunningly took a sack on fourth down.
- Explosive plays just keep crushing the defense. Jacksonville’s first offensive play was one thanks to a busted coverage.
- The offense opened up dramatically from there, with Browning suddenly willing to push the ball down the field. This led to a good rhythm, with him even making off-script throws.
- Browning was 17-of-19 with 178 yards by halftime, leading two scoring drives in a 14-14 game.
- The shocking showing for Browning continued on the first drive of the second half when he found Ja’Marr Chase for a 76-yard touchdown while besting the blitz.
- Multiple stunningly bad trick plays on the night, the second one featuring Tyler Boyd lofting an interception into the hands of a defender for some reason. The idea of calling trick plays with a backup quarterback is a good one — the execution by the players was horrific.
- Rookie Chase Brown had a run of 30-plus yards in the second half, ending any debate that he shouldn’t receive more chances down the stretch.
- Defense nearly coughed this game up in overtime, only to get bailed out by a holding call.
Key Stat
354: Passing yards for Browning with five incompletions. After he decided (or the scheme allowed it) to push the ball down the field, good things happened. That’s the risky tradeoff the team will have to take with a backup if it wants to win games.
Game Balls
RB Chase Brown: The rookie finally got his chance and turned nine rushes into 61 yards. Rest assured he’ll be seeing more playing time moving forward.
WR Ja’Marr Chase: The star wideout stuck with it, catching 11 of his 12 targets for 149 yards.
QB Jake Browning: How about the backup? Two of his incompletions were drops and just like that, it looks like he’ll be competitive and comfortable the rest of the way.
Top Takeaway
Ready to fight: The Bengals aren’t giving in and can play the spoiler down the stretch, clearly. More interesting is just how good the offense looked on Monday night. There’s much to be learned for all involved going into next year about what can work with Joe Burrow under center.
