The Cincinnati Bengals wrapped up their three-game road swing with a 34-31 loss to the New York Jets (2-6) at MetLife Stadium on Sunday.
In a game where the Bengals came in as strong favorites given the Jets hav one win and were starting their backup quarterback in Mike White, Cincinnati's defense played its worst game of the season. The Bengals gave up 511 yards of total offense to New York.
White completed 11 straight passes before throwing his first interception of the day. Although defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo's unit forced three turnovers, the Bengals didn't have answers for a lot of what New York was trying to do.
Doc:This loss was bad for the Bengals, but not unusual in the NFL
All three of Cincinnati's starting wide receivers Tee Higgins, Tyler Boyd and Ja'Marr Chase were featured in the offense. Boyd and Chase both recorded touchdowns and Higgins' explosive play in the third quarter to set up Joe Mixon's touchdown was arguably the most impressive play of the day.
Joe Burrow completed 21 of 34 passes for 259 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.
The Bengals were expecting the Jets to play hard despite only having one win prior to Sunday and that's one of the main reasons why head coach Zac Taylor was uneasy with the way his team played. Taylor said he saw a lack of attention to detail in a way he hasn't all season long. Several players said the Bengals came out "flat" despite a solid week of preparation.
"Got out coached, got out played today," Taylor said following the game. "They were a hungry team. We knew they were capable of this, we've seen it on tape. It was not good enough in any phase, coaching, playing, any of all three phases."
Here's what we learned from Cincinnati's Week 8 loss:
Disappointing and shocking performance by Bengals' defense
The Bengals defense allowed the worst offense in the NFL to score 34 points and record more than 500 yards of total offense. Prior to Sunday's game, the Jets' offense ranked No. 32 in total yards per game. Cincinnati's defense was a top-10 unit before Sunday and the way Mike White carved the Bengals up raised many questions. When asked what happened to allow the Jets to have so much success, defensive end Sam Hubbard said the missed tackles were the biggest problem.
"It's really just about us," Hubbard said. "We have to make the plays to get off the field. There's no excuse for our mental errors. It's a wake up call for sure. It still doesn't seem real but it happened. That's the reality of the situation."
Cincinnati made things way too easy for quarterback Michael White and running back Michael Carter II. New York attacked the Bengals at the second level and Cincinnati's pass rush wasn't able to impact the game in the way we've seen them do all year.
The Jets finished with 97 rushing yards, 414 passing yards and were 6-of-11 on third down.
"They were more hungry than we were today," Hubbard said.
Tee Higgins, Joe Burrow find deep ball connection
With all of the attention Ja'Marr Chase has gotten through the games, second-year wideout Tee Higgins has had a quiet season thus far. That changed against the Jets when Higgins led the way for the Bengals with four catches for 97 yards.
With the game tied 17-17, Joe Burrow found Higgins down the field for 54 yards. The ensuing play, running back Joe Mixon scored a touchdown to give the Bengals a 24-17 lead. Burrow and Higgins also connected on a 26-yard play in the second quarter.
"Tee played well today. Just didn't do enough, none of us did," Burrow said of Higgins' performance.
Bengals still learning how to win
The Bengals were hoping to put a bow on their three-game road trip with a winand all signs pointed to it happening given the level of talent the Bengals have. Cincinnati was undoubtedly the better team heading into Sunday's matchup but as Zac Taylor said, they were out played by the Jets.
This brings up the question: Do they Bengals know how to handle winning? The Bengals already have more wins eight games into this season than they did all of 2020. For the most part, Cincinnati's roster is made up of young players who have yet to play on a team that has had a winning season. Sunday's loss to the Jets showed the Bengals still have room to grow in terms of learning how to consistently play at a high level every week.
Captains Jessie Bates, Tyler Boyd and Joe Mixon felt so strongly about the loss they decided to address the media all together. Mixon said they wanted to take responsibility for the performance.
"We have to be better," Mixon said. "We have to respond better. We just have to better flat out. To me the message with the team, we have to have better messaging. As leaders of the team we have to our team ready to go. Today we weren't ready. We came out flat."
There's a lot riding on the Bengals' next game against the Cleveland Browns. If Cincinnati wants to stay in control of the division, they'll have to play a lot better than they did in New Jersey. Plain and simple.
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