Wow what a difference a year makes. The Cincinnati Bengals are once again 2-0, and this time there is actual optimism to go along with that. It also hasn’t been Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins carrying the team on their back to the wins. In fact, quite the contrary. The defense has been holding up the offense, and that has not gone without notice from the quarterback.
“It feels like early on in 2021,” Burrow told Geoff Hobson from Bengals.com. “We’ve got a really good defense, and try to stay in front of the sticks, not turn the ball over, kick field goals, put points on the board, we’re going to win with our defense.”
Back in 2021 you had players like linebackers Germaine Pratt and Logan Wilson as well as several secondary guys like Jessie Bates, Chidobe Awuzie and Mike Hilton who could make the defensive plays at the end of the games to seal things out. That is something this team hasn’t really had these past few seasons. It takes so much pressure off an offense when you don’t have to assume the other team is going to score nearly every time.
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Bengals News
Postgame Quick Hits | Bengals Deliver Statement In Bruising Complete Game Win Over Texans
It certainly shows how far this defense has come the this team can win only scoring 20 points. It used to be iffy if they scored 30. It shows this team doesn’t have to treat every offensive possession as a do-or-die situation needing to score points. Especially when they are playing such a great defense like that of the Houston Texans.
Dexter Lawrence is changing the game plan for the Bengals and their opponents
Box score watchers will always be disappointed in Lawrence. But you simply have to understand that this guy absolutely is having a massive impact when he is out there. The Texans had to abandon the run because they simply couldn’t get away from Lawrence or anyone freed up by trying to block him. Not to mention the amount of pressure the defensive line is getting with just four rushers is no mistake.
Joe Burrow played ‘incredibly average.’ That could be scary for AFC
Some fans may get riled up by this, but truly this offense has not bloomed yet. It mostly looked to not make the big mistake against Houston. That means there should be another level to this team where Burrow and this offense is able to get going and score those big points while also having this defense behind them.
NFL News
Todd Monken fires back after win over Buccaneers: ‘Browns are the Browns, (expletive) that’
The Cleveland Browns certainly got their first win pretty early this season. They also looked generally good on the day, but we will have to see how long that continues. To have this kind of rant after their recent history with Deshaun Watson at quarterback is kind of comical.
Jim Harbaugh ‘not deterred’ by Chargers’ 0-2 start following double-digit loss to Raiders
Things are not great for the Los Angeles Chargers. A vast majority of people would have expected them to start 2-0, but instead they sit at 0-2 with a huge hole to dig out of. So much for that Justin Herbert finally having that year their fans have dreamed about.
2026 NFL season, Week 2: What We Learned from Sunday’s games
The Bengals did not allow a single touchdown in Week 2 at the Texans, their first game allowing no touchdowns since Week 3, 2022, at the Jets. Cincinnati broke a franchise-long and NFL-long streak of 65 consecutive games allowing at least one touchdown. The Bills now own the longest active streak in the NFL, having allowed at least one touchdown in 47 consecutive games.
Just a crazy, crazy stat. It isn’t exactly surprising given the fall off this team had defensively over that time. However, it feels good to have that monkey off their back I’m sure.
