The Bengals used up 15 minutes, 48 seconds in the second half on their last two drives. The first ended in a turnover on downs at the 2-yard line and the second resulted in a fourth-quarter touchdown that gave them a brief lead.
After Cincinnati took a 17-16 lead on Burrow’s 1-yard sneak, Baltimore drove into position and got a walk-off 43-yard field goal from Justin Tucker.
“It makes for shortened game, obviously when you don’t have the explosives because you’re not going to get as many plays because it’s more possession-type stuff and running, so the clock is going to run,” Taylor said. “... It doesn’t give you a lot of time to score 40 points unless you score on every possession, so it feels like an inefficient day, when in reality we really felt like those five possessions in a row (between the second and third quarters) were pretty good, they just weren’t good enough to score the points when you need them.”
Ja’Marr Chase finished with just 50 yards on seven catches after topping 120 yards in both matchups with the Ravens last year, including a 201-yard performance on the road. Mike Thomas, playing most of the snaps with Tee Higgins exiting the game in the first half because of an ankle injury, had the most explosive play with a 33-yard catch on a first-and-15 in the second quarter.
Cincinnati’s four longest plays were all in the second quarter when the Bengals scored 10 points to tie the game going into halftime. They had just three plays of 10 yards or more in the second half.
Meanwhile, the running game had its most productive effort this season, topping 100 yards with help from Joe Mixon’s 78 yards rushing.
“When teams are going to play two-high like that, that’s what they’re hell bent on taking away and banking on you not being patient enough to stick with the run game and throw the stuff underneath,” Taylor said. “That’s what we did, and we had two really effective drives in the second half operating that way, two really effective drives the second quarter operating that way.”
The low red-zone production wasn’t as good, though. Cincinnati had four plays to move two yards on the second to last drive, and the Bengals turned the ball over on downs.
Taylor didn’t fault Tyler Boyd for not being able to make a play on a “Philly Special” when he was supposed to throw to Burrow and ended up with a 12-yard loss instead. He also stood by the initial decision to go with a shovel pass on the fourth-down play that fell incomplete, though after watching film it was regrettable.
Cincinnati had used a shovel pass twice in previous games, one that would have been a touchdown for Boyd against the Jets had a penalty not negated the play.
“We continue every week to present a low red-zone plan that we think is going to work best, whether that’s running, passing, RPOs, shovels with pass options,” Taylor said. “There’s a lot of things that go into it. It’s a lot of work that we spend time studying our team, other teams, and what the defense is going to present to try to come up with this plan. When it doesn’t work, it’s a significant portion of the game. It should require a lot of second-guessing because they’re critical moments in the game when you’re on the goal-line and you lose a four-point play or you get no points. It’s a huge turning point in the game. So it’s something that we take a lot of pride in trying to give ourselves the best opportunity. When it doesn’t work out, it’s a kick in the gut, because they’re critical moments in the game.”
The Bengals offense also was impacted by not having Higgins, a player Taylor believes is a Pro Bowl wide receiver. Higgins stayed suited up on the sidelines after exiting for good in the second quarter, just in case there was an opportunity to get back into the game. The ankle had bothered him last week in practice and Taylor said the staff will be monitoring him throughout this week ahead of Sunday’s game at New Orleans. The same goes for left tackle Jonah Williams, who is nursing an MCL injury.
With Higgins out, Chase was moved around a little more, which isn’t unusual, and Thomas stepped in to play 45 snaps (71 percent) on offense. Stanley Morgan and Trent Taylor also saw snaps on offense.
“Mike made the great play you know that would have gone to Tee on the first-and-15 conversion ... so we still have guys that we believe in that can step up and they’ll continue to do that,” Taylor said. “Stanley, Mike, Trent, those guys’ number will be called when Tee can’t practice or if something comes from again the game but I thought our guys adjusted really well.”
SUNDAY’S GAME
Bengals at Saints, 1 p.m., Ch. 7, 12, 700, 1530, 102.7, 104.7
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