Bengals Offense Looks to Rebound in Indy

Bengals Offense Looks to Rebound against Colts

The Bengals fell to 1-3-1 after their worst offensive outing of the season against Baltimore last week.

Joe Burrow completed 19-of-30 passes for 183 yards with one interception and one fumble. He finished the day with a 5.6 QBR (out of 100). The Ravens’ defense hit Burrow 15 times and brought him down for seven sacks. 

Joe Mixon couldn’t get going either finishing with 59 yards on 24 attempts.

The offense was held to just 205 total yards, averaging 3.2 yards per play. Fifty-five of those yards came on their final drive of the game, which ended with a 38-yard Randy Bullock field goal.

“I didn’t play very well, we didn’t play very well as an offense.” Burrow said. “We’re not panicking around here. This is a long season and we had been playing pretty well on offense the last three weeks. We’re not going to let one week of poor play determine the rest of the season.”

The team isn’t ready to throw in the towel. Burrow and his teammates were positive after their blowout loss. They believe they can fix their mistakes moving forward. As they shift their focus to Week 6 another tough task poses in the Indianapolis defense.

The Colts are third in total team defense, first in passing defense and fourth in run defense.

Indianapolis has forced nine turnovers on the season—all of which have been interceptions. They also have 26 passes defended. The Colts have applied pressure on opposing quarterbacks. They have 11 sacks, 26 quarterback hits and 19 tackles for loss.

Their run defense has been just as stout by only allowing one touchdown run and 432 yards on the ground this season for an average of 3.6 yards per carry and 86.4 yards per game.

“They present a much different challenge [than Baltimore].” Burrow said when asked about the Colts’ defense. “They play three or four coverages and they do it very well. They’re very well coached. All of their guys play really hard—that’s what jumps out on film. We’re going to have to match their intensity.”

Burrow and the Bengals' offense will try to pick up where they left off against Jacksonville. He was the first rookie quarterback ever to pass for 300 yards in three consecutive games. That streak came to a screeching halt in Week 5. 

Tyler Boyd has quickly become Burrow’s favorite target. Boyd has caught 32 of his 40 targets from Burrow for 362 yards. Twenty-five of Boyd’s catches have been for first downs, which is 32% of the Bengals’ passing first downs.

A.J. Green is second on Burrow’s target list with 34, but has only caught 14 of the passes for 119 yards. Green left the game against Baltimore with a hamstring injury, but is feeling good and is expected to practice on Thursday. There has been a lack of chemistry between the wide receiver and rookie quarterback this season.

“I’m going to throw the ball to where the defense dictates me to throw it. A.J. is a great player and I’m going to continue to try to get him the ball and we need to get him going," Burrow said Wednesday. "He’s a big part of this offense and we just have to get it going. We’re going to need some better chemistry.

“We’re putting in a lot of work together. We’re here you know 14, 15 hours a day so we’re putting the work in to get things right.”

Tee Higgins is seeing more targets each week. He has 16 catches for 214 yards and two scores this season.

It will be imperative for the Bengals to be balanced on offense like they were against the Jaguars. It'll be easier said than done, especially when facing a much more difficult front seven in Indianapolis.

Mixon is fifth in the NFL with 374 yards on the ground. The game plans have clearly shown the desire to get Mixon involved with his 101 carries, but the offensive line will need to open holes for him to gain the big chunks of yards like they did against the Jaguars. The fourth-year running back has averaged less than four yards-per-carry in four games. 

Mixon’s yards per attempt average each game this season:

• Week 1 vs. Los Angeles Chargers: 3.63
• Week 2 vs. Cleveland Browns: 2.88
• Week 3 vs. Philadelphia Eagles: 2.88
• Week 4 vs. Jacksonville Jaguars: 6.04
• Week 5 vs. Baltimore Ravens: 2.46

The Bengals offense not only needs to learn from their mistakes last week against Baltimore, but they also need to set the tone early if they want to leave Indianapolis with their second win of the season.

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