Top Takeaways From Cincinnati Bengals' 17-13 Win Over Seattle Seahawks

Cincinnati enters the bye week with a 3-3 record following the win.

CINCINNATI — The Bengals beat the Seahawks 17-13 on Sunday at Paycor Stadium. It wasn't always pretty, especially on offense, but they found a way to win. 

Here are our takeaways from the game:

Dominant Defense

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The Bengals' defense hadn't lived up to expectations going into Sunday's game against the Seahawks, but they were dominant when it mattered most. 

Cincinnati held Seattle to just three points in four red zone appearances. Mike Hilton intercepted Geno Smith in the third quarter and the defense made fourth down stops on back-to-back drives in the final 2:02 to secure the win. 

Sam Hubbard led the way with seven tackles, five quarterback hits and one sack. It wasn't just Hubbard. Everyone seemed to get involved. 

The Bengals finished with four sacks. They also had 13 quarterback hits as a team, with seven different players laying a hit on Smith. 

The Seahawks are a good team. They have plenty of talent on offense. The defense stepped up and reached a level that we hadn't seen them reach this season. 

Sunday was a big step in the right direction for Lou Anarumo's crew. 

Future Star?

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Cam Taylor-Britt was all over the place on Sunday. He went at it with D.K. Metcalf all game long. 

Taylor-Britt made things tough on the Pro Bowl wide receiver. He drew and unnecessary roughness penalty on Metcalf. He separated the ball away from Metcalf on a deep ball that looked like it was going to be caught on Seattle's second possession. He also had an interception that set the Bengals up for their only points of the second half. 

Taylor-Britt had a pick-six last week against the Cardinals. That was a game changing play. His interception against the Seahawks proved to be just as big. 

"It feels good," he said. "We’ve got to keep it going."

With Chidobe Awuzie only playing 14 defensive snaps (19%) due to a back injury, Taylor-Britt stepped up and made plays all game long. 

Money Mac

The Bengals didn't give Evan McPherson many opportunities to make an impact on Sunday, but his 52-yard field goal in the fourth quarter was the difference in the game. 

It forced Seattle to go for a touchdown on their final two possessions, despite being in the red zone. 

McPherson is 17-for-21 on field goal attempts from 50 or more yards since entering the NFL in 2021. Having a kicker that makes 81% of his long range attempts is a luxury and it paid off on Sunday. 

Take of Two Halves

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Joe Burrow was about as good as he's been all season to start the game on Sunday. He completed 17 of his first 19 passes, including 15-straight at one point.

He led Cincinnati on back-to-back touchdown drives to start the game. The offense stalled after their hot start. They couldn't move the ball. 

Burrow was out of rhythm for the remainder of the game. Ja'Marr Chase only caught one pass in the second half. 

They need to figure out why the offense stalled out during their bye week. Burrow's accuracy was an issue in the second half. He knows he needs to be better. 

The entire offense needs to be better if they're going to make another playoff push this season.  

Deep Breath

The past 11 weeks have been as taxing on Burrow as any during his NFL career. He sat out five weeks and missed the entire preseason after suffering a calf strain on July 27. 

He's played in all six games, despite aggravating the injury in a 27-24 loss to the Ravens on Sept. 17. 

Since then, Burrow has showed signs of being healthy, but this bye comes at the perfect time. 

The 26-year-old can take a deep breath. He needs to use this time to get physically and mentally healthy. 

The Bengals need him to be great moving forward. He knows it and they know it.

Burrow has shown signs of improvement over the past two games, but the bye week can give him time reset and recharge. He'll also evaluate his mechanics. He had to tweak things while he was playing through the calf injury. Now that he's close to full health, he may revisit and tweak things again ahead of their Week 8 matchup against the 49ers. 

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