Final from Cincy. A tough loss. Played pretty well after the first quarter. But 0-2 like last year and 0-2 in the division as well.

Nothing about the Bengals looks good right now.  

3 minutes ago, sportsfan41 said:

Nothing about the Bengals looks good right now.  

I would agree, I know we bounced back last year but this feels a LOT different, hope I’m wrong but I think we’re really in deep trouble.

So the highest paid QB in the land has looked pedestrian. Half the Ravens inactive. Zero sacks for the D. So who will the Bengals fans blame?

I did not like seeing Burrow limp off after that last throw.

If this wasn't bad enough the Reds are losing 8-2 in the 7th.

6 minutes ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

I would agree, I know we bounced back last year but this feels a LOT different, hope I’m wrong but I think we’re really in deep trouble.

Agreed, offensive line still sucks and the defense isn't a strength any more.  6 win season.  

7 minutes ago, spindoc said:

So the highest paid QB in the land has looked pedestrian. Half the Ravens inactive. Zero sacks for the D. So who will the Bengals fans blame?

I think it's lame that people keep talking down on Burrow.  He's got a crap o-line and he's clearly not healthy.  We've seen what he can do, so any talk about him being over paid is just hate.

8 minutes ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

I did not like seeing Burrow limp off after that last throw.

I didn’t either, he didn’t look ready to me against Cleveland last week. The end of today’s game causes me concern.

11 minutes ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

I would agree, I know we bounced back last year but this feels a LOT different, hope I’m wrong but I think we’re really in deep trouble.

I agree with this too, it has a different feel than last season did. Just seems like the overall team cohesion and even motivation in some senses with some of the players just isn’t there like it had been.

Game Stats:

First Downs: 26 Ravens 19 Bengals

Rushing Yards: 178 Ravens 66 Bengals

Passing Yards: 237 Ravens 216 Bengals

Total Yards: 415 Ravens 282 Bengals

Yards Per Play: 5.9 Ravens 4.9 Bengals

Penalty Yards: 6-56 yards Ravens 5-30 Bengals

Time of Possession: 33:04 Ravens 26:56 Bengals

A couple of takeaways after 2 games: The Bengals are giving up an average of 192 rushing yards a game, and 383 total yards per game. The offense is just not clicking yet. I will say that it started looking a lot better towards the end of the 3rd quarter.

Next up the Rams. It is on Monday night so it will give Burrow an extra day for the calf. Go Bengals!

178 yds rushing to a team missing its 2 best O lineman, that’s pretty much inexcusable!!

There was some improvement in the second half.  I thought they said that in the first half the Ravens had 17 first downs and the Bengals had run 17 plays. 
 

Still a lot to be concerned about, especially run defense. Maybe that will improve playing against QBs who aren’t a threat to run. 

I was afraid of this. What comes of this will be big for the Bengals season. From Pro Football Talk and NBC Sports the link is below. 
 

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/joe-burrow-says-he-tweaked-his-calf-again

2 hours ago, 16thBBall Fan said:

I would agree, I know we bounced back last year but this feels a LOT different, hope I’m wrong but I think we’re really in deep trouble.

 

2 hours ago, sportsfan41 said:

Agreed, offensive line still sucks and the defense isn't a strength any more.  6 win season.  

The only thing that really feels different to me is having to be worried about Burrow’s health. Last year the bengals offense looked horrible the first two weeks, and Burrow even threw like 5 interceptions in first two games. So I'm still not to worried overall besides Burrow’s health. I still hate digging a hole again to start the year though. 
 

I said this last week and it remains true today. The Bengals coaches have shown to be great reactionary coaches. Meaning they are great at being about to scout and pick up tendencies, when they have plenty of film on teams. What the Bengals coaches seem to struggle as IMO is knowing how to attack a team they don’t know much about. They have always been more of a reactionary team than a team that enforces their will on a team. Last week they faced the Browns with a new DC, and so they had little film to go off of. So they don’t know how to attack things when they don’t know. Just like today for the defense, only one game of film on the Ravens new offense with their new OC. So they struggled knowing how to stop the new things the Ravens do. 
 

I think that is why the Bengals always play so well after the halfway point in a season. Once they have plenty of tape on teams, these coaches do excel at picking up tendencies and knowing how to attack after they have enough film.