Cincinnati Bengals Report Card From the Blowout Loss to the Philadelphia Eagles

Jay Morrison | 4 Hours Ago

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9) walks off the field at Paycor Stadium on Sunday October 27, 2024. The Bengals lost to the Philadelphia Eagles 37-17 and remain winless at home. / Cara Owsley/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

CINCINNATI – Last week defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo said he can’t wait to sing the song – the Who Dey chant – in the Cincinnati Bengals’ new locker room.

He’ll have to wait at least another week after the Bengals lost for the fourth time in four home games, falling to the Philadelphia Eagles 37-17.

The Bengals took the opening kickoff and went 70 yards in 17 plays. But the 49 minutes and 46 seconds mostly were dominated by the Eagles.

Let’s take a look at the grades after the Bengals fell to 3-5.

Rush Offense

Woof.

The last time Cincinnati running backs had 43 or fewer rushing yards on 17 or more carries was the second game of Zac Taylor’s tenure in Cincinnati, a 41-17 home loss to the 49ers.

Chase Brown’s 5-yard run on the fifth play of the game was the longest by a Cincinnati running back (he had another 5-yard run with 1:53 left in the game when both teams were just killing the clock.

Eight of the 17 runs by Brown and Zack Moss went for 1 yard or less.

Joe Burrow’s 8-yard scramble in the third quarter was the longest rush of the game.

Grade: F

Pass Offense

If you knew before the game that Burrow would complete more than 70 percent of his passes, be sacked only once and hit explosives to Erick All, Mike Gesicki and Jermaine Burton, you would have thought it was a successful day.

But the absence of Tee Higgins due to a quad injury led to the reliance on the supporting cast.  And there was a span of four passes where Burrow threw a fourth-and-1 pass to Ja’Marr Chase more than 3 yards behind the line of scrimmage, then heaved a go-for-broke deep shot to Chase on the next possession in the fourth quarter, resulting in an interception.

Still, Burrow had some impressive throws, including a third-and-22 conversion, and the offensive put together touchdown drives of 17 and 13 plays on their first possessions of each half.

Aside from the pass that resulted in an interception, Chase hauled in nine of his 10 targets, but they only accounted for 54 yards.

His 6.0 yards per reception were tied for his third lowest in a game where he had multiple receptions.

Gesicki played well in Higgins’ absence, catching seven passes for 73 yards. He also lost a fumble, but the Bengals already were down 17 with 4:31 to go.

Grade: C+

Rush Defense

The first three quarters looked better than the final 15 minutes, but there were still issues with eye discipline and lack of contain on the edge, as was the case with defensive end Myles Murphy on Jalen Hurts’ 7-yard touchdown run to cap the opening drive of the second half.

Saquon Barkley only had 51 yards on 15 attempts through the first three quarters (3.4 average).

But after the Bengals’ failed fourth-and-1, the defense’s will wilted, and Barkley and the Eagles feasted despite being in obvious run situations.

Barkley had 58 yards on seven carries (8.1) in the fourth quarter.

The end result was 161 rushing yards allowed, marking the fifth time in eight games the Bengals have surrendered at least 149, which is tied with the Cardinals and Seahawks for the most in the league.

Grade: D+

Pass Defense

The pass rush was non-existent as the Bengals recorded just one quarterback hit with no sacks.

It was just the fifth game in the Taylor/Lou Anarumo era the Bengals had no sacks and one or fewer quarterback hits (they are 1-4 in those games with the lone win coming against Carolina in 2022 when Cincinnati jumped out to a huge early lead).

Despite the lack of pressure, the Bengals only blitzed Hurts on 20 percent of his dropbacks,  per TruMedia. They came after him three times in the first half and three in the second half.

Hurts was 4 of 5 against the blitz for 50 yards – including a 28-yard explosive to Grant Calcaterra on a first and 10 at midfield – and he escaped the first one with a 7-yard scramble.

Multiple blitzes failed to affect Hurts. He had 4.3 seconds to throw on the Calcaterra. And the Bengals were late bringing the pressure on a second-and-7 conversion to Smith.

On the 24 plays the Bengals didn’t blitz, Hurts was 12 of 15 for 186 yards and a touchdown – the 45-yard bomb to DeVonta Smith against Jordan Battle.

The Eagles hit the Bengals for six explosive pass plays, the second most allowed by Anarumo’s defense this year (eight vs. Baltimore in Week 5).

Grade: D

Special Teams

Evan McPherson missed his third consecutive field goal from 50+ yards, hooking a 54-yarder wide left when the Bengals had a chance to up the lead to 13-3 in the second quarter.

Not only did the miss keep the Eagles within one score, it gave them the ball at their own 44-yard line, and they converted the opportunity into 12-play touchdown drive to go into halftime tied.

The Bengals never punted in the game, so nothing to grade there. And the Eagles only punted once.

Darrin Simmons’ unit entered the game ranked third in the league by allowing just 23.9 yards per kickoff return, but Philadelphia’s Kenneth Gainwell averaged 29.5 yards on a pair of returns.

Grade: D+

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