Five Takeaways From Cincinnati Bengals' 34-23 Win Over Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Cincinnati is 10-4 on the season following their win over Tampa Bay.

Mike Santagata | Dec 19, 2022

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Cincinnati Bengals

The Bengals won a roller coaster of a game on Sunday. After going down big in the first half, the Bengals rattled off 34 unanswered points to walk out of Raymond James stadium with a decisive victory. Led by their defense, Cincinnati dominated the second half of this game. At one point, the Buccaneers had five consecutive drives end in a turnover or turnover on downs which opened the door for the Bengals comeback. Let's get into some of the takeaways from this wild game.

Overcoming A Slow Start

Before this game, the Bengals were 0-3 in games where they scored fewer than 10 points in the first half. Those games were the Steelers (Week 1, six points), the Cowboys (Week 2, three points), and the Browns (Week 8, zero points).

The Bengals only scored three points in the first half against the Buccaneers. Everything was set up to be a disappointing loss on the road against a talented Buccaneers team, but the Bengals showed their resilience yesterday. Not only did the Bengals win this game, but they turned it into a blowout in their favor. Forcing five consecutive turnovers and scoring 34 unanswered points is one of the best second-half performances this season. The Bengals continue to show their ability to win in different ways this season.

Historic Game For Brady

The Bengals forced four turnovers from Tom Brady. Brady was charged with two interceptions and two lost fumbles. This is the only game this season with more than two turnovers for Brady. This is the first game as a Buccaneer that Brady has had more than three turnovers. The last time that Brady turned the ball over four times was Sept. 5, 2011 when he threw four interceptions against the Bills. The Bengals forced one of Brady's worst games in over a decade yesterday and they did it all in one half. Just incredible work from their defense which seemed to be pretty fired up from a quote he gave about them earlier this week.

High Standard For Joe Burrow

Considering how great he has been this season, this game was not a good one for Burrow. Even if the interception wasn't his fault, he still did not play up to the standard he set for himself this season. That said, this game was not bad for a quarterback in general. He finished with four touchdowns, over a 100 passer rating, above average EPA per play, and above average completion percentage above expected. That's a good day in the office for most quarterbacks and it goes to show the standard that is set for Burrow. When your quarterback is an MVP candidate, simply playing at an above-average level is below expectations. I would expect Burrow to get back to his incredible level of play again soon.

Hats Off To Carlton Davis

Ja'Marr Chase has faced a multitude of talented quarterbacks this season. Carlton Davis may have given him the most issues. He's a very talented and underrated cornerback who went against Chase for most of this game. He came out of the game with four pass breakups including two of those on back shoulder fades. Most cornerbacks cannot defend that play, but the length and intelligence of Davis allowed him to stick tight to Chase so he could reach across and bat the ball down. Chase eventually won some reps to get to 60 yards and one touchdown, but Davis left an impression on me in this game. The raw stats look pretty good, but Chase ends the day generating -0.32 EPA per target in this game and that's because of Davis.

Taking Control of the AFC North

The Bengals are now greater than a 99% chance to make the playoffs, so the playoff watch is over. Now it's the divisional watch. With the Ravens' loss to the Browns on Saturday, the Bengals are now the leaders of the AFC North.

They still have to beat Baltimore in Week 18, but they have given themselves some leeway in the division. They can drop one of the two upcoming games and still win the division as long as they win in Week 18 and Baltimore is the team that has to keep pace with Cincinnati. If Baltimore drops one of their next two games, then the Bengals can win the division prior to the Week 18 showdown.

FiveThirtyEight gives Cincinnati a 60% chance to win the division, which speaks to their strong positioning. It's also worth mentioning that the Bengals control their own destiny to get the No. 2 seed in the AFC. They need some help to get the No. 1 seed, but if they just win out the rest of the season, then they will host a pair of playoff games. They need to win out and for the Chiefs to lose one game to earn the top seed and a first-round bye.

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