Staring down a must-win game, the Cincinnati Bengals came up big on “Thursday Night Football” against the Miami Dolphins.
The 27-15 outcome was a little closer than the score suggests despite the Dolphins losing starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa as the offense started strong but hit a mid-game drought.
But in the grand scheme? It’s hard to complain about an AFC win against a possible contender that moves the season mark to 2-2. Not only that, it came on a short week after another win in the conference.
Exiting the win, there are some notable winners and losers who stick out, so we’ll list those below.
Star: WR Tee Higgins
It was Higgins who made the big play in the first half, catching a 59-yard touchdown late in the second quarter. By the end of the game, he finished with seven catches for 124 yards and that score, fully capitalizing on all the attention thrown at Ja’Marr Chase by winning his one-on-ones.
He even did it all with a sprained ankle.
Bonus Star: S Vonn Bell
Bell might have put the safety conversation to rest on Thursday. He picked off two passes, the first a rangy play on an underthrow that otherwise would have caused problems. The second, a case of right place, right time — but once again a key turnover for him late in a key game. We’re still a long ways off, but it’s looking more and more like he might get the extension at safety and be the guy for the mid-term next to first-rounder Dax Hill next season.
Dud: RB Joe Mixon
Is the ankle a problem? Is it combining with a struggling offensive line? Because Mixon was again rough-looking, carrying it 24 times for 61 yards and one score, averaging a paltry 2.5 yards per attempt. It’s way too early to suggest he’s hit that dreaded running back falloff point, but he’s not breaking any tackles or consistently picking the right spots, which is very out of character.
Stud: DE Sam Hubbard
Hubbard was all over the place on Thursday, just bowling over Dolphins linemen and wreaking havoc. He had two tackles for loss and three quarterback hits, never mind that usual endless motor that just gasses an opposing offensive line over four quarters. Most impressively, he didn’t seem negatively impacted by the loss of DJ Reader in the middle of the defensive line, which is a huge, huge positive while the star nose tackle misses a big chunk of time.
Dud: Play-calling
At times, Zac Taylor’s calls looked superb and sent the Dolphins reeling. But most of the time it again felt like he was a little out of his depth. The unwillingness to test the Dolphins defense deep more despite them daring it was strange. So were situational calls, like another sideways pitch play on a and-short scenario before turning the ball over, which he publicly criticized his struggles at earlier in the week. We can also tack on the lack of challenge that probably would have swung the game a bit again, too.
Stud: CB Eli Apple
All that pre-game chatter surrounding Apple and what did he do? Stay quiet, go out and put up a nice game. While rival Tyreek Hill tallied 160 yards and was the only reason the game was close, it wasn’t really Apple coughing it up:
Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill, when Bengals CB Eli Apple was the nearest defender: One catch on two targets for 7 yards.
(via NFL Next Gen Stats)
— Ben Baby (@Ben_Baby) September 30, 2022
Not only this, Apple had what was pretty clearly an interception the referees called incorrectly and the Bengals chose not to challenge.
