Meanwhile, Bengals rookie quarterback Joe Burrow doesn’t remember ever losing back-to-back games in his sports career, but Cincinnati is trying to avoid its third 0-3 start in four years. Here are five things to know going into the game:
1. Stop the run
The Bengals once again are struggling against the run after allowing 215 yards rushing to the Browns in a 35-30 loss in Week 2. They gave up 155 yards on the ground in the opening 16-13 defeat against the Chargers, and the Eagles are a team that might need to turn to their running game more now anyway.
Wentz has thrown multiple interceptions in back-to-back games for the first time in his career, having four picks on his stat sheet, and two of his wide receivers are now out for Sunday. Jalen Reagor tore a ligament in his thumb, and Alshon Jeffery has a foot injury.
Miles Sanders rushed for 95 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries last week and could be leaned on for more of the workload this week.
“We are in there,” defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo said of tackling issues. “We have as many guys around the ball as you can put. When you do that, everybody has to gap and you have to stay in it. That’s this week. This is a proud football team we are playing. This is a team that was just in the Super Bowl not long ago. They cranked their running game up last week. They didn’t produce many points, but they had (121) yards rushing and Miles Sanders had 4.8 yards per attempt.”
Offensively, the Bengals will be looking to get their running game going as well as Joe Mixon has been limited under 20 carries in both games so far.
2. Missing pieces up front
The matchup in the trenches should be interesting, as the Bengals are missing key pieces on their defensive line and the Eagles have been shuffling players around on the offensive line.
Philadelphia’s Pro Bowl right guard, Brandon Brooks, went down with a torn Achilles tendon in the spring while rehabbing from a 2019 shoulder injury, and left tackle Andre Dillard tore a biceps muscle during training camp to end his 2020 before it even started. On Tuesday, the Eagles placed left guard Isaac Seumalo on injured reserve. That leaves them with a lot of inexperience up front. Philadelphia allowed eight sacks in the first game.
The Bengals will once again be without defensive tackle Geno Atkins, who has been nursing a shoulder injury throughout September, and backup Mike Daniels could be limited by a groin injury that leaves him “questionable” on the injury report. Coach Zac Taylor said he expects Daniels to play.
On the other side of the ball, Fred Johnson is set to get another start at right guard with Xavier Su’a-Filo on injured reserve. The Eagles have defensive tackle Fletcher Cox listed as questionable with an abdomen issue. Cox is a key piece to their defensive line.
3. Family affair
The Taylor family will be split on Sunday, as two brothers will be on opposite sidelines.
Eagles coach Doug Pederson joked that he promoted Press Taylor to passing game coordinator instead of just quarterbacks coach this year so his brother, Bengals coach Zac Taylor, wouldn’t steal him away. Press Taylor has been with the Eagles since 2013 and had a big hand in Wentz’s development into a Super Bowl champion quarterback his second season in 2017.
Zac Taylor now is trying to do the same with Joe Burrow and said he learns a lot from his brother – when their teams are not preparing to face one another.
“Aside from these last couple of weeks, we talk all the time,” Taylor said. “There is nobody I trust more in the game of football than talking with my brother. We’re just trying to help each other get better unless we’ve got a game on the line against each other. I know how smart he is and how diligent of a worker he is and the respect he’s got from players and coaches I now have coached and coached with. I’m proud of him. I think he does a great job, I just hope he doesn’t do a great job this week.”
4. Going deep
Burrow is determined to get the deep balls flying like he was accustomed to throwing at LSU, and that was his main focus this week.
The one pass he completed for more than 20 yards in the first two games was to C.J. Uzomah, who is out for the season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon. His other 11 attempts fell incomplete or were dropped.
“That’s something that’s an emphasis for me this week, is just getting that right,” Burrow said. “We’ve also just played two styles of defenses that don’t give up big plays and keep everything in front of you and make you check it down and make you work down the field. But we’ve also missed some opportunities to put the ball down the field. We are gonna get more opportunities. We just have to connect on them.”
Zac Taylor said the deep ball could help open up the running game and vice versa.
5. Urgency on the road
Burrow said there’s a sense of urgency to get that first win, and “everybody is itching” for it.
Sunday marks the Bengals' first game outside Ohio this season after they opened at home against the Chargers in an empty stadium (by design) and then traveled 250 miles north to Cleveland in Week 2, where they played in front of 6,000 fans.
There won’t be any fans in the stands in Philadelphia either, which could be a blessing as Eagles fans are known to be pretty passionate about their team. Wentz still got booed by the sound pumped into the TV broadcast last week. Crowd noise also is pumped into the stadium.
“It’s certainly not the same as going on the road and having trouble with your communications,” Zac Taylor said. “I think that’s the biggest thing of going on the road, having to work with silent cadence and all the communication stuff that comes with it. Obviously, that’s not really an issue when you’re playing in an empty stadium or with 6,000 people.”
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