Bengals Beat Jags in Tale of Two Halves
CINCINNATI — The Bengals picked up their first win of the season on Sunday against Jacksonville. It was a tale of two halves.
Cincinnati’s defense forced a turnover on their first possession of the game. Jessie Bates deflected Gardner Minshew's pass and Jordan Evans snatched it out of the air for his second career interception.
Frustrations loomed after the interception.
Joe Burrow and the offense started on the Jacksonville 43 yard-line as a result of Evans’ pick, but would quickly go three-and-out and punt after only picking up three yards on their opening drive.
The Jags’ offense got the ball back and wouldn’t look back. They marched down field on each of their offense’s next four drives resulting in a score in three of the four drives. Aldrick Rosas was wide left on a 48-yard attempt.
On the Jaguars’ first half touchdown drive, the defense dug their own hole, giving up 43 yards of penalties, including a 17-yard pass interference Darius Phillips, a facemask on Josh Bynes and an unnecessary roughness penalty on Carl Lawson.
The defense didn’t have an answer for the Jaguars offense in the first half. Minshew completed 14-of-20 passes for 182 yards and a touchdown. James Robinson added 48 rushing yards.
The offense moved the ball, but they couldn’t finish.
The Rosas field goal miss gave the Bengals offense the ball at their own 38-yard line. Burrow led the team right down the field and appeared to give Cincinnati a 6-0 lead when he found Tyler Boyd in the end zone. The 16-yard touchdown was negated due to a holding call on center Trey Hopkins. The Bengals were forced to settle for a 35-yard field goal by Randy Bullock.
Minshew found DJ Chark on a toe-tapper in the end zone to give Jacksonville the lead. Burrow responded by leading the offense on a drive into the red zone. On 3rd-and-goal, Burrow looked for Drew Sample on a jump ball, but the Jaguars’ Myles Jack snatched it out of Sample’s hands for the interception.
The Bengals made up for it on their next possession. Burrow found Mixon for a 9-yard touchdown to tie the game 10-10. With under a minute left, Jacksonville drove 73 yards for a field goal. They took a 13-10 halftime lead.
Second half adjustments were made and the Bengals looked like a different team after halftime.
Cincinnati received to start the half and went 75 yards in 2:31, capped by a Mixon 34-yard rushing touchdown to make it 17-13 Bengals.
The momentum shifted in the Bengals’ favor after Mixon’s touchdown run as the defense would hold the Jacksonville offense to a four-play, five-yard opening drive of the second half resulting in a punt.
The Bengals started their next drive in good field position from their own 40-yard line and went 56 yards on a drive ending in Mixon’s third touchdown of the day. The Bengals took a commanding 24-13 lead.
A pivotal defensive stand and three-and-out following Mixon’s third score of the game would be followed by three straight field goals by Randy Bullock. Bullock finished the afternoon 7-of-7 (3-3 extra points, 4-4 field goals).
The defense came up with stops when needed. Defending the run has been a problem for them. They held Robinson to 75 yards rushing. His longest run was 14 yards. Minshew finished 27-of-40 for 351 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception.
The play of the offensive line was significantly better than it was last week. They only allowed one sack on the day. Alex Redmond was called up from the practice squad on Saturday. He played well at right guard.
The line opened holes for Mixon to run through. He finished with 151 yards and two rushing touchdowns. He also had 30 yards receiving and one touchdown reception. Burrow finished 25-of-36 for 300 yards, one touchdown, and one interception.
Cincinnati improves to 1-2-1, while the Jaguars fall to 1-3. Sunday’s game was definitely a step in the right direction and much needed, as the team heads to Baltimore next week in an AFC North matchup against the Ravens.
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