Redzone offense
The Bengals week 1 redzone offense had a horrible showing week 1 averaging a whopping 25.0% redzone rating. The redzone is usually a strong spot for the Bengals but when it comes to their division/league wide rivals in the Ravens who they played for the fifth time in their second season in PML they could not draw up a play that would come up with any success with one of their plays even leading in Joe Burrows first and only pick of the season. To add onto the redzone offense all of their fourth down attempts came in the redzone and they failed all of them.. If coach Cammy stuck to his regular gameplan and kicked the field goal each time he would be in a much better position to win this game earlier.
Offensive gameplanning
The offense was able to put 14 points up onto the board early in the 1st quarter but after that they went about 35 minutes without putting points on the board with the elite Ravens defense stopping them every time they tried to march down. It’s a division Rival who knows this offense well but thats no excuse for the poor display of offense shown within that timeframe from coach Cammy he really needs to step his playcalling up especially when you can see on the field that the defense is prepared for what is called.
Running back room elite?
We already knew that Joe Mixon was a monster but he has always had troubles against the Ravens until NOW!! Dirty Joe was able to rush for 174 yards and 2 touchdowns on 25 attempts now that big ol’ fat Callais is gone clogging the middle. He got hot early then was slowed down in the middle of the game by the Ravens d when they keyed in on him but was able to get hot again near the 4th quarter which help seal the game for the Ravens. Speaking about running backs rookie RB Zach Evans had quite a showing himself getting himself his first touchdown which was also the first touchdown of the game on a 59 yard receiving touchdown. The Bengals coaching staff expect big things from Evans and think he can be a perfect 1 2 punch behind Mixon.
Is Ja’Marr Locked Up?
Is Ja’Marr locked up? Short answer yes.. Long answer yes… Sure he was able to put up 74 yards for 4 catches but by Ja’Marr standards that is nothing to be proud of.. especially when he wasn’t able to put those yards up on his kryptonite Marlon Humphrey. All of his catches came from the rookie guarding him Storm duck or a random matchup on the field. Anytime that Ja’Marr has stepped up to Marlo this game he wasn’t able to make a huge impact play and thats very demoralizing for this offense when their X factor player can’t break free from a guy whose covering him like he’s in love with him.
Young Defense steps up!
The Bengals traded two veteran leaders of this defense in the offseason to load up on picks to bring in new young defenders to this team to help mold this defense into something they wanted and it paid off this game. Their young cornerback who got his first start in his second year Cam Taylor Britt had an interception and two forced fumbles this game which is extremely impressive at the cornerback position. Their late round rookie cornerback Emmanuel Forbes also had a pick and their other late round pick at strong safety Christopher Smith had the biggest pick of the game which came at a game winning drive for the ravens to help seal the game for his team.
