I agree with this. Cinci seems to typically start slow with this regime. I think they will have something for the Chiefs and play much better but the Chiefs will be ready and win a close game.

It’s frankly next week when I suspect a letdown is possible although Atlanta is probably (?) not good enough to take advantage of it.

Boyd, Reader, Mixon, Bates and Perine are gone...looks like Higgins has a hamstring.

No Higgins (or Boyd) last week...they put up 10 points at home against a team that picked #3 last season. Wrist or not....it's what people have been saying for a while. Burrow having two #1 WRs were crucial to his success...

Their run defense looked terrible...

How do you not get up for your home opener? They looked uninspired and lifeless...

They still have talent, just not like in previous years. No clue why they didn’t get up more for their home opener. I do know they start slow typically and may have overlooked NE because of KC this week. Even KC is known to lay an egg once a year.

I think we will know a whole lot more about them after this game, especially if KC dominates and wins easily.

We should have still won that game if the defense didn't shit themselves three times in overtime on like 3rd and 10.

Looked like my Madden 25 defense on 3rd down.

Or had Dee Ford just lined up onsides. Then there would have never been an overtime.

I expect them to play us tough, but the Bengals OL will struggle with our passrush, just like the Ravens did. And Burrow is a good athlete, but he's not Lamar Jackson.

His weapons are better; the Higgins/Chase combo has beaten our secondary for years. But with only Chase in this game, he'll be easier to manage. And the Bengals simply do not have the Ravens run game.

I like the Bengals defense in some spots, but that loss of Reader is a killer against the Chiefs. The only way I think you can contain this offense is by having a Reader-type on the DL that allows you to play light boxes and still stop the run, while dropping everyone and their mother into coverage.

I think we have more answers for the Bengals on both sides of the ball than they do for us.

If Burrow stays healthy, I think the Bengals are going to be our hardest opponent in January.

But not right now. Right now, the Chiefs are two touchdowns better.

Weapons must be really bad if he had all day and can’t move the ball

Per Next Gen Stats, Joe Burrow was pressured on just 6 of his 35 dropbacks, the 3rd lowest pressure rate he has faced in his career (17.1%).

His pressure rate was down because he was only throwing 5 yard passes. The play calling skewed that

Pathetic.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Bengals?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Bengals</a> are trying something new and holding a watch party at Paycor on Sunday for the game in Kansas City.<br><br>Tickets are $99 and include a $25 toward discounted concessions. <br><br>Tickets available at: <a href="https://t.co/5hE5AcGpCs">https://t.co/5hE5AcGpCs</a>.</p>&mdash; Jay Morrison (@ByJayMorrison) <a href="https://twitter.com/ByJayMorrison/status/1833877394546979232?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 11, 2024</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

'They' didn't have a bad game.

Joe Burrow did. He had plenty of protection and he had open guys. He just didn't play worth a damn.

If that's who he is, the Bengals are picking top 10 in this year's draft. If it was just him trying to find his 'new normal' with the wrist and maybe a little adrenaline and genuinely having their season on the line gets him back into fighting form, they'll be a tough out.

But man, Joe Burrow was a damn trainwreck last weekend. He'd better thank his stars for Williams, Nix, Watson, Levis and Jones setting the QB position back 30 years last weekend or more people would be talking about how shitty he was. His average target depth was actually WORSE than Nix last week. That's how bad that passer diagram was.

For all the pre-season hype about Jermaine Burton, dude barely saw the field.

They were running a couple dudes named Andrei Iosiva and Trenton Irwin out there over Burton.

That's...not ideal.

Why do people on CP give the Bengals the same benefit of the doubt they do the Chiefs?

The Bengals haven't earned that. They start slow every year, we just haven't played them this early yet. So no, I'm not buying that they can just turn it on this week and be in their late season mode.

They really hate us and play well against us pretty much no matter what, that's the main reason. They've been waiting for this game since the schedules were announced.

But yes them totally sucking ass and not turning it on this week is certainly on the table given that they always start badly

That clip of Burrow on 3rd down at the end of the game that's been making the rounds; the most alarming part about it was Burrow dodging ghosts in the backfield.

To me, that's more worrisome than his passing charts or his wrist.

He's afraid to get hit. Likely protecting that wrist. That Oline + his injury are totally in his head.

People keep talking about him being unwilling to throw against single coverage. I think it was much more about his staring at the rush and never seeing the play develop downfield to begin with.

This could all be true, hard to disagree with it. He looked bad no doubt.

Could be the wrist, the rust. Or, could be just his M.O. with these ridiculously slow starts to the seasons.

Burrow/Taylor are now 1-8 (during Burrow's career) in the first 2 weeks of the season and staring 1-9 in the face.
The only win was nearly a miracle victory in 2021 when they beat Vikings in OT due to Dalvin Cook fumble in Bengals territory.

Extremely frustrating with these slow starts. If Bengals run defense doesn't extremely improve in a hurry, Pacheco is going to have a monster day.