It was a scary moment on Thursday night in Cincinnati, watching Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa being removed from the field on a stretcher after being sacked by Josh Tupou in the second quarter. Later, we learned that Tua was moving his arms and legs and flew back with the team to Cincinnati which is a huge sigh of relief for all of us. Once Tua left the game, Dolphins head coach and playcaller Mike McDaniel had to become conservative and work off a small play sheet. It’s one of the pitfalls of playing a Thursday night road game, after a Sunday win — there is no practice time for the starters and none for the backups. Yes, Teddy Bridgewater is a veteran and knows the offense, but without much rhythm and timing working with the starters, simple problems can occur as they did when the Fins were driving late in the game. With the score 20-15 and Miami driving, Bridgewater threw a seam pass a little off the mark, resulting in an interception and the game. Had this been a Sunday and Bridgewater had taken the practice reps because of the Tua injury, the Dolphins would have been more aggressive.
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The game featured two of the best wide receivers in the game: Miami’s Tyreek Hill and Cincinnati’s Ja’Marr Chase. The Dolphins used an old Bill Belichick strategy of using their second and third corners to double Chase most of the game and single their best corner, Xavien Howard, on the Bengals’ second-best receiver, Tee Higgins. Higgins won the matchup, catching seven passes for 124 yards and a 59-yard touchdown reception. Howard not being able to shut down Higgins proved to be the difference in the game, allowing the Bengals to sneak out a win. When Chase wasn’t doubled late in the game when Miami was in desperation mode to get the ball back, he responded with a 36-yard catch, sealing the win.
The doubles on Chase forced Cincinnati QB Joe Burrow to quickly move away from Chase in his pre-snap progressions, thus looking for other options like tight end Hayden Hurst or slot receiver Tyler Boyd. This strategy of taking Chase out of the game is one of the reasons the Bengals offense hasn’t been as effective as last year. Besides the lack of adequate pass protection afforded to Burrow, Cincinnati’s failure to make explosive pass plays has slowed down its offense. With no run game and no big plays, the Bengals offense until last night has looked average at best. And even last night, it wasn’t firing on all cylinders.
As for Hill, after last night is there any doubt he is the best wide receiver in football? Every time I watch him, I keep asking myself why Kansas City let him go. I am sure is a tough to handle off the field, but he is also impossible to handle on the field. He is impossible to double, impossible to jam at the line because of his quickness, impossible to overthrow because of his rare speed and impossible to tackle. He plays bigger than his size when the ball is in the air and will out-jump most taller defensive backs for the ball. His hands are strong, and if Tua had a stronger arm there is no telling how many more yards Hill would accumulate. The Bengals had no answer and were lucky the Dolphins decided to become balanced in their run-pass ratio in the second half. When Tua was healthy in the first half, the Dolphins threw 21 passes; Bridgewater attempted seven and they ran the ball only nine times. In the second half, in a one-score game, Miami ran the ball 13 times and threw 16 passes. This lack of aggressiveness due to the short week allowed the Bengals to win and cover.
Even though Cincinnati won, I am still not impressed with their overall team and their in-game decision making. On the first drive of the game, running back Joe Mixon appeared to have a first down at the Miami 5, but the spot was awful, forcing a third down. As the clock was winding down, Bengals head coach Zak Taylor called timeout, making me believe he is going to challenge the spot — which clearly was wrong. Nope, Taylor only called a timeout to avoid the delay of the game penalty.
Then at the early stages of the second quarter facing a fourth-and-1 at the Miami 24, Taylor calls a toss crack play (you can hate the call because it didn’t work, but the decision should be hated more), instead of kicking the field goal and regaining a seven- point lead. Why not take the points? From the early flow of the game, it appeared as both teams would move the ball and every point was going to matter. Why dismiss the 3? Had he taken the 3 there, then on the last drive, the Bengals would have been ahead 23-15 instead of 20-15, proving once again the value of collecting points early in the game.
Taylor needs to remind himself that his kicker Evan McPherson, his protection of the ball on offense and his defense were the reasons they became the AFC Champions last season. Defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo’s ability to adjust in the second half and create negative plays was the strength of the team, not the offense — each time Taylor ignores the real reason for his winning, he hurts the team. In four games, the Bengals have only allowed 15 points total in the second half — so why not build the lead when you can in the first half?
Understanding why you win and why you lose is hard for some teams — and as long as Anarumo is there to cover up for Taylor’s sins, the Bengals will teeter on being a competitive playoff team. Placing any money on Taylor’s decision to manage the game for me is a huge risk.
QB RATINGS
After three completed weeks of watching the quarterback play in the NFL, we can ignore last year and start to build our best list as of the current moment. Now, this does not mean we don’t include proven elite players like Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers, it means we adjust some of the ratings for the players who were great last year and maybe not as great this year.
TOP FIVE
