Cincinnati Bengals (4-3) – Atlanta Falcons (3-4): 35-17
If the start of the season proved to be complicated for the Bengals and Joe Burrow, the automatisms seem to be gradually returning. In the space of a half, we reviewed what made Cincinnati successful. An explosive attack, big games and a quarterback on fire (34/42, 481 yards, 3 TDs and 0 INT + 3 races, 20 yards and 1 TD). So many ingredients that give a recipe that will have given the Falcons a headache on this Sunday. Atlanta never managed to compete against a team that seemed superior.
A quarter of an hour of madness
The start of the game is perfect for the Bengals. From the first 15 minutes, Joe Burrow will water the defense. His accomplices? They are now well known. Ja’Marr Chase (8 receptions, 130 yards and 2 TDs), Tee Higgings (5 receptions and 93 yards) or even Tyler Boyd (8 receptions, 155 yards and 1 TD) will feast in the middle of a back field decimated by the wounds.
The latter will also light the first fuse with a touchdown from 60 yards (7-0). From there, the points will follow. Joe Mixon, who will not be outdone either (17 races, 58 yards and 1 TD + 3 receptions and 33 yards), worsens the score on a one-yard race (14-0). Before Ja’Marr Chase scored his first touchdown of the evening (21-0). Cincinnati took off and will never see Atlanta again.
Because at the same time, the defense does the job. The Bengals make life nearly impossible for Marcus Mariota and his offense. Zac Taylor knows it well, to slow down these Falcons you have to be impervious to the ground. His men are with only 3.7 yards allowed per run. The visitors will certainly succeed in scoring but at the cost of an enormous effort. A drive of 10 minutes and 16 plays to cover 75 yards (21-7). And the most frustrating for them is that in stride, the Bengals will cover 84 yards in just 7 games. Chase is again at the conclusion of a 41-yard pass from his quarterback (28-7) and everything has to be redone for the Falcons.
Cincinnati in the lead, Atlanta still in the race
Atlanta will register 10 points just before the break (28-7), but it’s a flash in the pan. We note all the same one of the rare passes from Marcus Mariota (8/13, 124 yards and 1 TD + 6 races and 31 yards) which crosses 75 yards to fall into the hands of Damiere Byrd. Joe Burrow returns to the locker room with more than 350 yards in the bag and the feeling of a job well done. The former LSU will even bend the game early in the second period with a touchdown on the ground (35-17).
This will be the last points of the meeting. In the second period, the match will decrease in intensity. Atlanta no longer believes in it and Cincinnati is in control. Arthur Smith’s players therefore return with a heavy defeat in Georgia and will have to raise their heads. However, despite this setback, they remain fully in the running for first place in the NFC South in view of Tampa Bay’s loss to the Panthers. On the Cincinnati side, the Bengals finally go back above the 50% mark and are slowly starting to regain the chemistry of last year.
