Six Takeaways From the Cincinnati Bengals' 35-17 Win Over the Atlanta Falcons

Cincinnati has won four of their last five games and are 4-3 on the season.

Mike Santagata | Oct 24, 2022

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Cincinnati Bengals

It looks like the Bengals are finally back. The Bengals absolutely dominated the Atlanta Falcons in a 35-17 game that was 21-0 by the start of the second quarter. This is the Bengals offense that everyone has been waiting for. When this explosive and dynamic offense matches up with their stifling second-half defense, it creates fireworks.

Let’s get into some of our takeaways from the game:

Joe Burrow’s Best Game of the Season

This game was absolutely Joe Burrow’s best game of the season. It’s probably one of the three best games of his career. Even considering that the Falcons were down some defensive backs, the throws that he was making were incredible. He avoided bad sacks, for the most part, he was incredibly accurate. He made intelligent decisions, and he even ran the ball effectively. Burrow’s stat line includes an 81% completion percentage, 501 total yards, and four total touchdowns. That’s good for a 138.2 passer rating which is the third-best mark of his young career.

As for some of the advanced stats, Burrow reached 0.6 EPA per play yesterday. That’s in the 97th percentile of all games that have been tracked. To go with that elite efficiency, the total EPA yesterday was 29.6 which is in the 99th percentile of all games in the system. Not only was he incredibly efficient, but he also did it at extremely high volume. Of course, Burrow was also incredibly accurate. He had a 14.7 Completion Percentage Over Expected which is in the 94th percentile of all tracked games.

For context, against the Ravens, last year Burrow achieved a blistering 0.65 EPA per play and 14.2 for his Completion Percentage Over Expected. Against the Chiefs, last season Burrow managed 0.55 EPA per play and a 13 Completion Percentage Over Expected. This was an elite game for the Bengals' signal caller. If Burrow keeps it up, then he’s going to be a strong MVP candidate in just a few more weeks.

The Pass Catchers Make It Happen

Burrow is only half of the reason that this offense exploded yesterday. The other half is this room of pass catchers.

Starting with a guy who has been forgotten when we talk about this wide receiver room, Tyler Boyd. Boyd caught eight of nine targets for 155 yards and one touchdown. The 155 yards shatters his previous personal best of 138 yards from four years ago. He was absolutely incredible the entire day from his one-handed catch over the middle of the field to the deep ball he caught for the 60-yard touchdown. He showed the league that he still is one of the better receivers in the NFL yesterday.

Not to be outdone, Ja’Marr Chase caught 8 of his 11 targets for 130 yards and two touchdowns. Chase now has back to back weeks of 130+ yards and two scores. He’s on fire right now after a few weeks of fans wondering just when he was going to get more involved.

Chase is now on pace for 114 catches, 1,469 yards, and 15 touchdowns. All of those numbers would improve upon the All-Pro rookie season that Chase put together last year.

There were other notable performances, such as Tee Higgins catching five passes for 93 yards. Because the other two wide receivers were white-hot, this great performance from Higgins almost feels a little disappointing because he was seven yards from all three of them going over 100 yards. Hayden Hurst caught six passes for 48 yards. He's now on pace for 70 catches, 549 yards, and five touchdowns, which is pretty comparable to what he did in Atlanta two years ago. The difference is that he’s now doing this on one of the premier offenses as the fourth option in the passing game, rather than putting up empty stats on a team preparing to draft his replacement. That stat line would also be better than the one C.J. Uzomah put up last season.

Cam Taylor-Britt Sees Action

The coaching staff is making sure to cover themselves and say this was not a benching, but Cam Taylor-Britt played more snaps than Eli Apple this week. The coaching staff has stated that this was a predetermined rotation and that could be true for why he got in there early, but the snap count ended up 28 snaps for Taylor-Britt and only 16 defensive snaps for Apple. Personally, I think they are telling the truth that there was a planned rotation, but after Apple gave up a 75-yard touchdown to Damiere Byrd, the rotation felt much more Taylor-Britt heavy.

The rookie played well from what was visible on TV. He fits the Bengals mold at cornerback. He’s strong and physical for the position and looks to punish wide receivers who block him. This game played into his strengths, but that should not discredit his performance. It may only be a matter of time before this rotation becomes a permanent substitution.

Joseph Ossai’s First Career Sack

This first career sack for Joseph Ossai was one for the ages. He went up against left tackle Jake Matthews.

Ossai starts by selling his pass rush to the inside, which gets Matthews to step down, then he unleashes a nasty spin back to the outside and comes clean to the quarterback. Ossai knocked Matthews to the ground in the process which just further shows his dominant play on the rep. This was not a cleanup sack or a coverage sack. This was a high quality sack from the young pass rusher.

Everyone has been waiting for him to finally get home after some close moments the past couple of weeks and he finally did it against Atlanta. It's worth noting that he was rushing from the outside on this rep because of the unfortunate injury to Hendrickson. He spent the last couple of weeks rushing from the interior where he kept coming close to his first sack, but couldn’t quite get there in time. This is the guy that sacked Tom Brady in the opening preseason game last year and had everyone excited. If Trey Hendrickson misses any time, Ossai will need to keep performing at a high level and stepping up for the defense.

The Stifling Second-Half Defense

The Bengals still haven't allowed a touchdown in the second half of a game this season. We are nearing the halfway point of the year and they are still dominating the second half of games. This run is nothing short of incredible and really shows that halftime adjustments do exist. Specifically in the third quarter, the Bengals have only allowed 22 points in their past 15 games. If you’re wondering why the Bengals seem like a second half team at times, look no further than the dominant defensive displays that they have put up this season.

A Quick Peek At The Playoffs

As it stands right now, the Bengals would earn a Wild Card berth in the playoffs. They are tied with the Ravens atop the AFC North, but Baltimore won the head-to-head match so they win the tiebreaker. According to FiveThirtyEight’s model, the Bengals have about a 42% chance to win the division this year.

The Ravens have the highest odds at 53%. That’s why the Bengals needed to win that game a few weeks ago, but those odds can change drastically over the next few weeks. If the Bengals can take the upper hand in terms of record on the Ravens, then they should be favored. It’s early to glance this far, but It looks like the regular season finale against the Ravens could be the game that decides which team plays at home in the postseason and which team has to travel on the road.

The Bengals stand at a 70% chance to make the playoffs, which is a far cry from where they were after the first two games of the season. Cincinnati looks like one of the NFL’s best teams as of late. If they can take care of business the next couple of weeks before the bye, this team could be in a great position for a playoff run.

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