The Cincinnati Bengals moved to 0-2 on Sunday with the 27-24 loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
Joe Burrow’s offense started slow again before shrugging to life after halftime. The Bengals even got a special teams touchdown courtesy of a rookie on the day.
Buy Bengals TicketsHere’s a look at some quick notes and stats to know coming out of the game.
Quick Hits
— Bengals coughed up 75 yards and 7:48 of clock over 13 plays to start the game, missing key tackles on Lamar Jackson and giving up too much ground in the running game.
— Joe Burrow’s first offensive drive looked promising but wound up derailed by a holding penalty. His third-down attempt to Irv Smith Jr. looked much better than most of last week, but the tight end couldn’t get his second foot down.
— Zac Taylor with a three-point swing in the first quarter on a successful challenge to overturn a Ravens catch before Justin Tucker missed a field goal.
— But the offense stumbled despite starting at the 49-yard line, gaining just a handful of yards before a punt. The offense looked scared to try anything beyond the line of scrimmage.
— Just 14 yards, no first downs and a pair of punts for the Bengals in the opening quarter.
— Start of second quarter offered another horrible break, with a sack-fumble recovery by the Bengals negated by a Zach Carter penalty.
— Finally, a stroke of luck for the Bengals in the form of rookie Charlie Jones taking a punt back for a touchdown.
— Bengals hit on a 12-play drive in the second quarter that ended in a field goal, finally implementing the run into the attack well.
— A whiplash drive out of halftime. Burrow looked a lot like his old self on the best drive of the season so far, marching down into the red zone. He then got fooled by the defense and threw a terrible pick.
— Despite the INT, the momentum was hard to deny. After the defense coughed up a score, Burrow got back on the field and looked unbothered and effective — hitting Tee Higgins for a touchdown.
— Bengals defense let up three third-down conversions on the same drive, with Chidobe Awuzie uncharacteristically getting beat for a touchdown to top it off, making it 24-17.
— Burrow led the offense back down the field and hit Higgins for a score with a little over three minutes left…then was limping getting to the sideline.
— Burrow limped off after throwing the score and didn’t get a chance to return to the game.
Key Stat
70-57: Number of plays ran by offenses, favoring Baltimore. The Bengals couldn’t get off the field, allowing 4.8 yards per rush.
Game Balls
WR Charlie Jones — The game isn’t a contest without the rookie announcing his arrival to the pros. Jones isn’t going to enter the base offense anytime soon, but the touchdown was a confirmation of what coaches saw on special teams when drafting him and could be a sign of things to come in terms of field position.
WR Tee Higgins— A huge day for Higgins after his zero-catch showing in the opener. He goes as Burrow goes and looked like the No. 1 out there. He finished with eight catches for 89 yards and two scores.
LB Logan Wilson — Was there a more impactful defender all day? Wilson was everywhere, finishing with double-digit tackles.
Top Takeaway
Don’t panic: Injury and schedule have combined to do zero favors for the Bengals so far. Facing two divisional foes who know the Bengals quite well while Burrow came back from a calf injury that ruined his summer was never going to go smoothly. There are concerns on both sides of the ball, but not anything that sticks out as impossible to fix.
