The Bengals walked into Miami as the heavier team on paper, and for once they played like it. After two rough losses, Cincinnati needed a clean week before the bye, and it got one with a 31-24 win over the Dolphins.
The best sign for the Bengals may have been who was out there. Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins both went from questionable to active, B.J.
Hill returned for his season debut at defensive tackle, and Bryan Cook was back at safety. That kind of availability mattered, and Chase made sure everybody noticed.
Chase was the headliner. Coming off a concussion in Week 4, he could have been held out until Week 7’s trip to Baltimore, but instead he suited up and delivered one of the best plays of the day - an acrobatic touchdown grab from more than 40 yards out on a deep ball from Joe Burrow.
The Bengals’ social post described it as "BLURRRRRRRRRRR. #CINatMIA at 1:00 PM on Fox pic.twitter.com/vS7aokyaNv"
That wasn’t his only impact. Chase finished with six catches for 77 yards on 10 targets, leading Cincinnati in all three categories, and the Bengals needed every bit of that production.
Burrow did his part too. The numbers weren’t explosive, but they were efficient: 23 completions on 32 attempts for 190 yards and four touchdowns.
It was the kind of clean, productive outing that can keep a quarterback’s season rolling in the right direction. His first touchdown to Samaje Perine came on what looked like a choice or Texas route, and he also hit Chase on the long score.
Burrow nearly connected with Chase again in the third quarter on a deep shot after a Dolphins defender slowed him down more than 20 yards downfield.
Cincinnati’s attack also looked more balanced than it has recently. The Bengals finished with 32 pass attempts and 31 rushes, and if that continues, Perine figures to be a big part of it.
That brings us to the backfield, where the pecking order was hard to ignore. Perine carried 14 times for 68 yards, while Chase Brown had 13 carries for 39 yards.
The older, slower, but savvier Perine looked more effective as a runner, and the comparison wasn’t especially close. Brown, by contrast, kept looking like a back who gets swallowed up quickly in space and doesn’t have the burst to finish the job once he breaks free.
Perine should be starting until Cincinnati finds a better answer.
Defensively, Jordan Battle came through with two interceptions. He had talked earlier about Malik Willis patting the ball as a pre-pass tell, but the picks came more from Willis hesitating and overthinking than any one tell. On the first interception, the ball was tipped before Battle made the play, and the second came when Willis waited until the last second on a rollout to the right and threw it straight to Battle after Miami receivers got crossed up on spacing.
There was also one rough stretch from Dexter Lawrence, who committed back-to-back penalties - first roughing the long snapper, then defensive holding - to hand the Dolphins a touchdown. It was an ugly sequence, especially against a 0-4 team, and the kind of self-inflicted mess Cincinnati did not need. Still, the Bengals absorbed it and moved on, and the bigger story was that their defense helped create three takeaways off Willis to keep the lead manageable.
And then there’s the AFC North picture. Cleveland’s loss to the Jets opened the door a bit, putting Cincinnati into a share of first place pending Baltimore’s Sunday night game against Atlanta.
Lamar Jackson is out against the Falcons, which leaves Atlanta as the favorite. If the Falcons win, the Bengals will have a shot to go to Baltimore in Week 7 and chase the head-to-head tiebreaker on the road.
In Other News...
Bengals Offense Has A Zac Taylor Problem Fans Can't Ignore
The Bengals keep finding themselves in the same offensive conversation under Zac Taylor: plenty of talent, but not enough variety. With Joe Burrow, JaMarr Chase and Tee Higgins all spending too much time unavailable because of injuries, Cincinnati has had to navigate stretches without its full trio, and the lack of a more flexible run game has only sharpened the focus on how the offense is being put together.
Ben Fennells data paints a clear picture of a unit that has become easy to read, and that matters because the Bengals have leaned so heavily on the same basic answers when games tighten up. The concern is not just the run rate, but how little the offense changes around it, leaving Taylors group vulnerable when defenses can sit on familiar looks and force the passing game into the same stressful spots over and over. [Read more 🡒]
Bengals Defense Is Forcing A Trade Deadline Question They Usually Avoid
With the Dolphins up next and a bye week sitting right behind it, the Bengals are in that familiar early-season spot where the record still feels manageable and the roster questions are already getting louder. At 2-2, Cincinnati has time to sort things out, but the defense has done enough to make the conversation around the trade deadline more interesting than usual, especially for a team that has not often gone shopping for help on that side of the ball during the season.
A recent PFF report added fuel to that discussion by connecting the Bengals to potential defensive upgrades, the kind of veteran support that could help at linebacker and in the secondary. It is a reminder that the front office may have to weigh a rare in-season move if the current group leaves enough doubt over the next few weeks, even if this is not the sort of deadline lane Cincinnati usually prefers to drive in. [Read more 🡒]
Bengals Week 5 Passing Order Just Got A Lot Trickier
The Bengals Week 5 passing pecking order is getting crowded again with JaMarr Chase and Tee Higgins back in the mix, and that changes the fantasy picture as much as the on-field one. For anyone trying to sort through the options, Mike Gesicki looks like the steadier play, especially against a Miami defense that has been friendlier to tight ends than to wideouts.
Dohnte Meyers, meanwhile, is the tougher sell now that the Cincinnati passing game is back closer to full strength. Miamis coverage profile makes wide receiver production harder to come by, and Meyers outlook takes a hit with Chase and Higgins both active, leaving his role more vulnerable than it was when the Bengals were shuffling through earlier weeks. [Read more 🡒]