The Bengals are back in familiar territory heading into Week 3: favored, on the road, and staring down a division opponent.
DraftKings Sportsbook opened Cincinnati as a 3.5-point favorite for its first AFC North matchup of the season against Pittsburgh. The Bengals sit alone atop the division after a 2-0 start, while the Steelers are the team they can push below .500 on Sunday.
What’s driving Cincinnati’s early edge is a formula that has already shown up in the first two weeks. The Bengals have been able to lean on their pass rush, pressure Aaron Rodgers again, and control the pace of games while opening the year 2-0 straight up and against the spread.
That ability to steer the game is something Zac Taylor pointed to after Sunday’s 20-6 win.
"Absolutely. I think we're really good at all three phases," Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said about the team's tempo dictation in Sunday's 20-6 win.
"We're going to have to call on a different phase maybe in certain games, but when you go on the road, you've got to play great defense. It was hard for our offense today; it was challenging.
That's about as challenging as it gets calling plays and having guys execute. They're talented across the board.
"It's not just the defensive ends, which are elite; it is every single position and how they're coached. They make it really challenging.
I thought our guys rose to the challenge and got a bunch of gritty yards. The stat sheet is not going to show that it was a great overall performance, but it felt like we were able to run the ball in some tough situations and move the field like we needed to get points on the board, or punt and pin 'em down there, so I was proud of that."
For Cincinnati, the next step is another road test inside the division, and that’s where the early-season momentum starts to matter even more. Win those games, and the path gets a whole lot cleaner from there.
Joe Burrow called the win a significant one, but he also kept the perspective narrow.
"Yeah, it's a big one win for us," Joe Burrow said about the win. "On the road, against a team like that, a team that was in position to be in the Super Bowl last year with how they were playing on defense.
To get a win on the road like that is big for us. But it's just Week Two.
We've been 0-2 before and rattled off 10 in a row. We can do the same the other way.
So, we just got to keep going."
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