Cincinnati was scoring 33 points or more during a three-game stretch that put the team at 1-4 while the defense was playing poorly. The Bengals buckled down on defense the past two games, holding the New York Giants and Cleveland Browns to 21 points combined, and the offense did just enough to get the wins. Burrow knows the offense needs to do more.
“We have to play great this week,” Burrow said. “We know what they have. They have really good players. They’re going to make plays on offense and defense, so we’ve got play great on both sides of the ball.”
Bengals coach Zac Taylor said both the previous two games were different in terms of why the rhythm wasn’t there for the offense, but each had plays that set them back.
Both opponents had good defenses with the Giants featuring the best pass rush in the league and the Browns looking more like themselves with a dominant front being mirrored on the back end. The Eagles recorded eight sacks last week against the Giants, and they are multiple on defense with a lot of disguises to make everything look the same.
Taylor is hoping the Bengals can find that rhythm again early and get back to playing like they can offensively.
“Every opponent can be a little different, depending on the plan, and so again, everybody presents their challenges,” Taylor said. “Sometimes we come out and attack it better than others, more effectively than others. And obviously, we’re trying to put together a plan to where we can be efficient right out the gate and create some energy for our team.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
The running game can be a big part of that, as the Bengals continue to lean on the dynamic duo of Zack Moss and Chase Brown, which has provided more explosive runs to help open things up. Cincinnati has three games with 120 yards or more rushing, and both Burrow and Taylor felt the backs were “one block away” from being able to get the offense going Sunday against Cleveland when they managed just 59 yards on the ground.
This week is a big one for Brown, who will have a chance for the first time in his career to play against twin brother Sydney Brown, who is a safety for the Eagles. Sydney Brown just returned from a 10-month recovery from ACL surgery that ended his rookie season, but his 2024 debut came just in time to make it possible for the two brothers to match up in Cincinnati on Sunday.
“He’s worked really hard to get where he is now, 10 months from surgery to making it back on the field is huge for him, so super proud of him, but it just makes it even more exciting that I’ll get to compete against him,” Chase Brown said.
Sydney Brown played 26 snaps on special teams (81 percent) last week in the Eagles’ win over the Giants and got in the game at safety late in the game for nine snaps. He had a special teams tackle and an impressive pass breakup on defense.
As proud of his brother as Chase Brown was, he is hoping for bragging rights because “this one’s going to last four years,” he joked. The two brothers are close and talk almost every day but decided not to do so this week. There certainly will be some trash talking if one out does the other on the field, though.
Chase Brown said there’s some extra motivation for the running backs this week trying to be the better of the rushing attacks on the field Sunday. Philadelphia’s Saquon Barkley is second in the league in rushing yards per game with 109.7, trailing only Baltimore’s Derrick Henry, whom the Bengals held to 41 yards in regulation before he popped a 51-yard run in overtime to set up the game-winning field goal for the Ravens in Week 5.
“We want to outdo the opponent in every area, as a running back look over at their group and said, ‘OK, we did better than you guys today,’” Brown said. “The receiver room’s saying the same thing, quarterback room, same thing. Every room is just trying to outdo our opponent, so that’s our mindset.”
Burrow just wants to do whatever will keep the Bengals in the win column. A victory Sunday would be the first at home this season, but it also would extend the win streak to three games and put Cincinnati back to .500. Burrow understands that will be a talking point from here on out because of the 0-3 start, but Sunday is the first step to being back on track.
“We’ve got two in a row, we’ve won three of four, so we put ourselves back into it,” Burrow said. “That’s all you can say right now. Still a lot of football to be played. Only seven games. We’ve got 10 games left. Not even halfway through it. Story’s still being written.”
SUNDAY’S GAME
Eagles at Bengals, 1 p.m., CBS, 700, 1530, 102.7, 104.7
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