Instant Observations From the Bengals’ Win Against the Seahawks

The continuation of quarterback Joe Burrow’s recovery was on full display Sunday as the Cincinnati Bengals got off to one of their fastest starts of the season with back-to-back touchdown drives on the way to a 17-13 victory.

From the current NFL standings to team depth charts to coverage of every game in the 18-week NFL schedule, we have all the news from around the league to keep you up to speed!

3 Observations From Bengals/Seahawks

Fast Start, Frustrating Finish

After the Seahawks went 75 yards in 11 plays to take a quick 7-0 lead, Burrow led the Bengals on back-to-back touchdown drives while putting together a string of 15 consecutive completions.

Burrow got the ball out quick on the first drive — 13 plays, 65 yards — with a series of short passes. He was 9-of-11 on the possession, and eight of the first nine passes all traveled less than five air yards. His longest pass was the 8-yard touchdown pass that Tyler Boyd caught near the goal line.

On the second drive, Burrow got the Seahawks to jump offsides and took advantage of the free play to hit Ja’Marr Chase for 31 yards to kickstart the opening of the offense. A 23-yarder to Chase followed on the next play, and the drive ended in memorable fashion with Burrow buying time on what looked like a disjointed play while waiting for rookie Andrei Iosivas to come free for his first career touchdown catch.

Earlier this week, Iosivas lamented not hanging on to the ball after making his first career reception last Sunday at Arizona. Iosivas forgot to hold on to his touchdown ball as well. But head coach Zac Taylor appeared to tell Burrow to go get it as he came to the sideline, and the quarterback raced down and secured the keepsake.

After halftime, Burrow couldn’t buy a completion, throwing an interception on a ball intended for Chase and later hitting a Seattle defender in the back while going for his favorite target.

Burrow was 18-of-22 for 143 yards at halftime, but the Bengals had just 53 yards of offense on their six possessions of the second half, only to be bailed out by the defense.

Great Goal-To-Go Defense

While the Cincinnati defense has been disappointing overall this season, the one area where it continues to look like its old self is in sudden-change situations. And it happened again in a huge spot Sunday.

After Burrow’s consecutive completion streak ended with two incompletions near the end of the first half, his first attempt of the second half was a deep shot for Chase, who had single coverage against Tre Brown. But Brown picked off the ball, and the Seahawks quickly drove for a 1st-and-goal opportunity.

A personal foul on Seattle running back Kenneth Walker III pushed the Seahawks back to 2nd-and-goal from the 18, and Cincinnati cornerback Mike Hilton intercepted a Geno Smith pass thrown into double coverage at the 3-yard line.

MORE: Cincinnati Bengals Depth Chart

It was the fourth consecutive time the Bengals’ defense held the opponent without points after the offense turned the ball over.

Last week at Arizona, the defense stopped the Cardinals on fourth down after a Burrow interception.

At Tennessee, after Burrow was strip-sacked, the Bengals’ defense came up with a three-and-out.

Against the Rams, Burrow threw a pick, and the defense delivered a three-and-out.

The only Bengals turnover that has led to points this season came in Week 2 when Burrow threw an interception and the Ravens drove for a touchdown.

Sunday on the sudden-change stop, Seattle got right back into a first-and-goal situation at the 6-yard line after a 20-yard completion to Jake Bobo and a personal foul penalty on Cincinnati safety Dax Hill.

And the defense held the Seahawks to a field goal to hang on to their lead at 14-13.

Then, with the Bengals up 17-13 in the closing minutes, Seattle was back in a goal-to-go situation, and Trey Hendrickson had a sack on first down, followed by one from Sam Hubbard on fourth down.

And on the final drive of the game, Seattle had first-and-goal at the 11. And on 4th-and-7 from the 8-yard line with 41 seconds to go, B.J. Hill hit Smith as he threw to seal the win.

Surprise Substitution

Early in the fourth quarter, Cody Ford took over for Orlando Brown Jr. at left tackle. The Bengals announced Brown re-aggravated the groin injury that landed him on the injury report two weeks ago leading up to the Arizona game.

Brown was limited in the Wednesday practice that week but a full participant Thursday and Friday. He was not on the injury report at all this week.

The surprise wasn’t that Brown re-injured his groin but rather that Ford was the player the Bengals sent in to replace him. Throughout training camp, it was 2021 second-round pick Jackson Carman and 2021 fourth-round pick D’Ante Smith battling for the swing tackle job.

Carman was inactive for the first four games of the year, but the last two games, he has been active and Smith was inactive. Ford has been active every game, but the expectation is that either he or Max Scharping will be the first guard off the bench.

The bye week comes at a good time for Brown.