The return to earth of the Bengals

It’s harder to stay at the top than to get there. It’s one of the most overused clichés in the sports world, but the Bengals find that it’s not wrong.

Miguel Bujold
The Press

The finalists of the last Super Bowl have already lost two games in which they were favorites to win by a touchdown. They will have to face Miami, Kansas City, Tampa Bay, New England and Buffalo in particular, in addition to their five remaining intradivision games, which are never easy. In this sense, their 0-2 record is cause for concern.

And the first concern on the ground remains protection in front of Joe Burrow. The victim of seven sacks against the Steelers, he collected six more in the Bengals’ 20-17 loss to the Cowboys on Sunday. Even though there are four new starters, the quintet aren’t playing any better than those in 2020 and 2021.

That said, Burrow could help their cause by getting off the ball quicker. He’s in the NFL, after three seconds it’s almost always too late to do it.

Have we overestimated the Bengals? Burrow and company are capable of scoring heaps of points, we all agree on that. But will they be able to win the close matches like they did last year?

Let’s not forget that they would have been eliminated in the first round last January if Ryan Tannehill had not given them the game with his 3 interceptions.

Valid Cooper Rush

Although he had been very good in his only start at Minnesota last year, Cooper Rush was far from inspiring much confidence outside of Dallas heading into Sunday’s game. Rush, however, validated that he was a very good reserve in the victory of the Cowboys at the expense of the Bengals.

Rush completed 19 of 31 passes for 235 yards and threw a touchdown pass to Noah Brown, who led the Cowboys with 91 passing yards. If Rush performs like that over the next few weeks, the Boys won’t have to rush Prescott, who is nursing a broken right thumb, back to the game.

As for Brown, he’s given some hope to the Cowboys, who are currently struggling with a particularly thin set of wide ends due to injuries to Michael Gallup and James Washington.

For its part, the Cowboys defense quickly recovered after its disturbing performance against the Buccaneers. She limited Joe Burrow to 199 yards in addition to collecting 6 sacks.

The property of Rodgers…

Aaron Rodgers had offended the good people of Chicago by shouting that the Bears belonged to him following a touchdown last season. ” I own you ! “, he had launched when he was a few meters from Beras supporters at Soldier Field. Well, it’s true.

After an uncertain start, the Green Bay Packers served a 27-10 correction to the young Bears on Sunday night. Rodgers’ record is now 23-5 against Chicago.

Rodgers played well, but it was the ground game that hurt the Bears defense with 203 yards. Aaron Jones did most of the damage averaging 8.8 yards per carry (132 for 15) and scoring 2 touchdowns.

The Packers’ defense also performed significantly better than in the Minnesota loss, limiting Justin Fields to 70 passing yards, though he only attempted 11 passes.

The Ravens’ defense struggles

Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins deserve all the accolades they’ve received since their spectacular 42-38 win in Baltimore, but the Ravens’ defense deserves the thumbs up.

After finishing last in the NFL against the pass in 2021, she still ranks 32^e square. The unit allowed an average of 379 yards in its first two games, which is 77 more than the Cardinals, who were at 31^are at the time of this writing…

Lamar Jackson allows the Ravens to be able to win every game and started the season in fifth gear: 38 for 59 (64.4%) for 531 yards, 6 touchdowns, one interception and efficiency ratio of 120.1. He also led the team with 119 rushing yards against Miami, scoring the longest touchdown of his career, a 75-yard run that made it 35-14 and would normally have knocked the Dolphins out for good. But the defense faltered.

For those who still believe that the Ravens’ defense is tight and suffocating, think again. It’s not bad, but it’s no longer the dominant defense of the 2000s and 2010s.