–Third-year wide receiver Tyler Boyd is off to a strong start and could be considered Cincinnati’s player of the game in an otherwise disappointing loss at Carolina. For the second straight game, he matched a career-high with six receptions and set a career-best with 132 yards.
Tyler caught a 27-yard touchdown pass with 2:53 left to get the Bengals to within 28-21, doing so while wide open in the end zone. He also hauled in a 49-yard pass from quarterback Andy Dalton with about eight minutes left. “At that point, it was back-yard football,” Dalton said of the big play by Boyd. “He’s got instincts. He knows the game.”
Boyd leads the Bengals with 249 receiving yards and his 15 catches are second on the team. In his rookie season, he made 54 receptions for 603 yards and last year he finished with 22 catches for 225 yards in 10 games. “I’ve seen him grow from a boy to a man,” wide receiver A.J. Green said. “He’s playing unbelievable.”
–Quarterback Andy Dalton was charged with four interceptions, but if one reviews the film from Week 3, it will show a few of those might not have been his fault. One was on the last desperate heave of the game, two were on 50-50 balls that wide receiver John Ross may have been able to haul in with more effort. Still, regardless of who may be at fault, interceptions are interceptions and Sunday marked the third four-interception game for Dalton.
“I think everybody is going to look at the tape and see what we all could do different,” Dalton said. “That’s the thing with the tape we have to go look at it, see what we could do better and see the plays that we left out there and fix them.”
Dalton was chased around most of the game and sacked once for a short loss. Despite the constant pressure, he still finished 29 of 46 for 352 yards and a 64.8 passer rating. He also tied Boomer Esiason’s team record with his 23rd career 300-yard game.
–Running back Giovani Bernard held down the fort in the first game of Joe Mixon’s absence due to a knee injury. Bernard finished with 61 yards on 12 carries and scored a touchdown. He also caught five passes for 25 yards. Bernard will start for the duration of Mixon’s absence which might end in Week 4. The injury was considered minor enough to create a brief absence and CBS reported that Mixon was pushing the Bengals to play in Carolina and it’s possible he could be active in Atlanta if there is not an advanced risk of infection.
–Wide receiver John Ross enjoyed praise for scoring his first touchdown in Week 1 in Indianapolis after a disappointing and injury-filled rookie season. When head coach Marvin Lewis reviewed the film from Week 3, what Ross didn’t do was a talking point for Lewis. Lewis was reluctant to discuss what Ross didn’t do to avoid an interception for QB Andy Dalton on a pass intended for him but did concede his ineffectiveness led to two interceptions.
“He’s got to do a better job on the ball,” Lewis said. “He’s just got to do the best job, he’s got to finish the play.” Ross was targeted seven times but totaled 16 receiving yards. He was beaten for a 50-50 ball by Carolina cornerback Donte Jackson on Cincinnati’s second drive.
In the second quarter, he zoomed past the secondary but saw a pass bounce off his hands. And finally, in the fourth quarter, Jackson got his second pick when Ross stopped running and didn’t turn his head on Dalton’s pass down the middle. “I threw it trying to give him a chance,” Dalton said. “I don’t know exactly what happened. I feel like, for me, I’ve got to be smart with the ball. You never want to turn the ball over.”
So far, the former ninth overall pick of the 2017 draft has totaled just five catches on one touchdown and seemed to do enough in preseason to potentially become an effective third option.
BY THE NUMBERS: 1,182 — Through three games, that is the number of yards allowed by the Cincinnati defense. It is the third-most in the Marvin Lewis era, eclipsed by the 1,250 allowed in 2012 and the 1,208 surrendered in 2007.
29 — The Bengals enter the game with points in their last 29 drives inside the red zone. It is the longest active streak in the league, four ahead of New England and eight ahead of Baltimore. The Bengals have scored touchdowns on 21 of those drives.
