Pats Pulpit
The New England Patriots will be back in Cincinnati this week, trying to repeat last year’s upset win over the Bengals. The biggest difference this time around is that the club is anything but an underdog: at 9-2, they have enjoyed a significantly better season than their 3-7 opponent.
So, what has been going on with the Bengals? To find out more about the Patriots’ Week 12 opponent, we spoke with Anthony Cosenza of Pats Pulpit’s sister site Cincy Jungle, the SB Nation community for all things Bengals.
Here is what he told us about the upcoming game and opponent.
1.) How did the Bengals’ offense evolve without Joe Burrow? What are your expectations if he returns?
If we’re talking about the few games with Jake Browning, not much, and Browning didn’t step up to the challenge the same way he did at the end of 2024. When it comes to the handful of games wherein Joe Flacco was the starter, balance has been the key. With Flacco’s arm strength and more traditional pocket passer presence, Cincinnati has run more plays directly under center and the run game has improved, overall.
Are we talking about a return this week? If so, it’s possible, but I’d assume rust (even for a guy as great as Burrow) has to be prevalent–especially with Ja’Marr Chase out of the lineup. Burrow likes to run a bit of a different offense than that of Flacco, with spread and shotgun formations being much more prevalent. Scheme changes aside, we’re also talking about a guy who will have an apparatus in his shoe to protect that toe and game speed with that is not something that can be immediately emulated in practice.
Even if Burrow is playing catch-up, it’s all about the Bengals’ defense going forward. They’re on a historically-bad pace, but they need to simply prove competence going forward. They took baby steps last week, but nothing that was truly notable.
2.) How do the Bengals adjust to losing Ja’Marr Chase? How would you handle Tee Higgins?
They’ll adjust by looking at Tee Higgins, Andrei Iosivas and others, but it’s a major challenge. We don’t truly know who’s starting at quarterback this week, but if it is Flacco, he has heavily-relied on Chase in his starts thus far. Burrow, on the other hand, is a master at spreading the ball around and exploiting defensive mismatches, but then we’re going back to missed time on his end.
For Higgins, big, physical corners, particularly when he’s on the boundary give him trouble. He’s exploited mismatches across the middle and still wins many jump balls anywhere on the field, but his facing of bracketed coverage with physical play could give him fits.
3.) What’s behind the Bengals’ defensive struggles? Is there an area where they’ve been underrated?
I could write a whole story on this. In short though, they relied on defensive coaching changes, as well as rookies starting for a refresh and it hasn’t worked. Cincinnati used three...
