Game Recap: Bengals Defeat Jaguars 24-21

Through four games, the Cincinnati Bengals find themselves at 3-1 after reeling in a home win against a Jaguars team that looked far more competitive than their (now 0-4) record and recent game film would’ve led one to expect. It wasn’t the biggest margin of victory – and a curious 4th-down decision by Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer in the 3rd quarter might’ve made all the difference – but such is the nature of wins in the National Football League. They’re wins all the same. This one keeps the Bengals, at least jointly, atop the AFC North for another week.

Notes

The Jaguars’ Offense was Hyper-Conservative but Effective

• On the first play of the game, Trevor Lawrence threw a smoke screen to Laviska Shenault that immediately gave the Jaguars a first down. At the time, this was credited to Lawrence as a pass completion and was his only one of the drive. Officially, he didn’t complete a pass until the start of the Jaguars’ second drive – the team’s eighth play on offense. Take off a 52-yard bomb to Shenault near the end of the half, and the Jaguars’ leading first-half receiver – with 2 receptions, 29 yards, and about 3 full days on the team – would’ve been tight end Dan Arnold. Despite never catching a third pass, Arnold still finished the game with the second-highest receiving yardage total for Jacksonville.
• Lawrence and James Robinson were both incredibly effective for the Jaguars on the ground, finishing with a combined 114 yards and 3 touchdowns on 26 carries. The three touchdown drives lasted for a total of 8, 12, and 11 plays respectively. Over these plays, Lawrence was credited with about half as many rushing attempts (6) as he was completions for positive yards (11). Some of these rushes were merely busted pass attempts that Lawrence neutralized, but on multiple occasions the quarterback kept the ball on an option and proceeded to juke out or outrun a defensive player that was in position to make a tackle. Trey Hendrickson, Germaine Pratt, and Akeem Davis-Gaither were all victimized by Lawrence this way at some point during the game. For Robinson’s part, he finished the first half with 64 yards on 12 carries – about 5.3 yards per carry.

The Bengals Controlled the Ball in the Second Half

• The most telling numbers you’ll find in the box score of this game are the Bengals’ plays per drive. The offense opened the game with a play action bootleg left on which Joe Burrow hit Tyler Boyd crossing the field for what turned into a 33 yard gain. Burrow proceeded to hit Boyd, Ja’Marr Chase, and Auden Tate on passes that gained 10-plus yards later in the same drive before Evan McPherson ultimately spun the ball wide left on a 43-yard field goal attempt.
• While the Jaguars struggled to match that drive in big plays over the majority of the first half, they also went to the locker room at halftime with 14 points. The Bengals went to halftime with none – in no small part because they only converted one first down over their next four possessions. Aside from another play-action strike to Boyd on said first down, Burrow completed a zero-yard pass to Mike Thomas and nothing else. Joe Mixon struggled to find anywhere to run – his 7-yard gain in the second quarter came despite contract from what appeared to be the entire Jaguars’ defense.
• This rut made it all the more striking when the Bengals came out in the second half and dominated both in time of possession and on the scoreboard. After opening the second half on offense, it only took two plays for Burrow to find Chase for a 44-yard gain; two plays later, he found tight end C.J. Uzomah for a 22-yard touchdown pass that cut the Jaguars’ lead in half. It’s the kind of drive we’ve seen Burrow execute multiple times already this season – albeit typically before halftime. The offense followed this explosion with a 12-play drive that covered 86 yards and a 10-play drive that covered 75 yards – both ended in touchdowns.

Other Notes

• The Bengals’ game-winning drive – which lasted for 10 plays, covered 83 yards, and ended in a 35-yard field goal – was only the seventh drive of the second half. The game lasted a total of 17 drives, none of which – failed 4th-down conversions notwithstanding – ended in turnovers. Neither quarterback threw an interception. Despite questions about both teams’ offensive lines, each quarterback was only sacked once. Both teams went through inefficient stretches, but the game overall was as clean of an effort as you’re likely to find.
• It bears noting in regard to the Jaguars’ offensive inefficiency that receiver D.J. Chark left the game midway through the Jaguars’ opening drive with what was later diagnosed as a fractured ankle. While Shenault’s breakout performance certainly mitigated the loss, Chark entered the week as the Jaguars’ second-leading receiver behind Marvin Jones. His departure lowered the ceiling of the Jaguars’ offense, and it’ll remain lowered as long as he’s on the sideline.
• Mixon heated up in the second half behind better blocking, Chase got his weekly bomb from Burrow and then some, and Boyd turned 11 targets into 9 receptions for 118 yards. Still, the line from the Bengals’ offense that’ll make headlines is Uzomah’s 5 receptions for 95 yards and 2 touchdowns. Every figure in that sentence exceeds his totals from the Bengals’ first three games combined. Beyond that, the 7th-year veteran blew out his previous single-game high of 66 receiving yards (Week 1 at Seattle, 2019) and logged 2+ touchdown catches for the first time in his career. It’s too early to call the game a breakout, but Uzomah didn’t back into these numbers – he played well and looked the part.

– Andy Hammel is the Managing Editor for the Bengals at Full Press Coverage. Follow @Andy_Hammel