Winners and Losers From the Bengals' 20-17 Loss to the Cowboys

Cincinnati is 0-2 after Sunday's loss in Dallas.

Blake Jewell | Sep 18, 2022

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Cincinnati Bengals

The Bengals fell to 0-2 on the season after Sunday's 20-17 loss to Cooper Rush and the Cowboys. Here are our winners and losers from the matchup:

Winners

DJ Reader

In a game where it seems like there were no positives for the Bengals, DJ Reader performed well once again. He’s proved to be one of, if not the best nose tackle in the NFL and is an absolute nightmare for opposing running backs. He had yet another good game against the Cowboys, stopping multiple runs and recovering a fumble.

Losers

Zac Taylor

The Bengals' offense was nonexistent in the first half, especially with Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd not getting a single target. The play calling was incredibly predictable and Joe Burrow was put at risk at times due to the play calls.

The AFC Championship was nice last season, but Taylor is struggling again. He led the Bengals to an 0-2 start, with puzzling decisions in each loss. Cincinnati had a chance to drive down the field for the win against Dallas and Taylor drew up a safe play call on 3rd and short and they had to punt. With all the weapons the Bengals have, it’s hard to ignore the coaches making the game plan and calling the plays when the offense isn’t performing.

Taylor has to get much better as soon as possible. If not, this Bengals season could be a disaster.

Frank Pollack

Joe Burrow was sacked six times by the Cowboys after being on the run all game last week against the Steelers. Frank Pollack has somehow dodged blame after last season, but with the offensive line having yet another horrific performance, there should be conversations around Pollack's ability to coach an offensive line.

Yes, some of the sacks are on Burrow, but after bringing in four new additions to the offensive line, there is no excuse for performances like this.

Eli Apple

The Bengals defense ended up playing pretty well after a poor start, but Eli Apple had one of his worst games as a Bengal. He got beat by Noah Brown multiple times and allowed Rush to get going early for the Cowboys. Apple has been good for the Bengals to this point, but he’ll need to bounce back after his game against Dallas.

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