CINCINNATI — Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow could’ve thrown his teammates under the bus on Monday. He could’ve blamed the defense for struggling over the past five games and quickly becoming the worse defensive unit in the NFL. He could’ve called out the front office, teammates, coaches or all of the above.
Instead, he took the high road with hopes that they can make a run in the final two months of the season.
“I think there’s a lot of football left to be played, so there’s a lot of blame to go around here, but there’s ample opportunity to turn that around,” Burrow said. “For half of this season, I thought the defense was playing pretty good, and then, the last couple weeks we’ve struggled, but there’s good stuff on tape still, and they put that on tape, you saw it early in the year, so you’ve just got to get back to playing complimentary defense and getting pressure and covering and putting guys in good spots. I think there’s plenty of opportunity, and we have all the talent in our locker room to make those changes.”
The Bengals are giving up 426.6 yards-per-game, which is the most in the NFL. They’re giving up 166.6 rushing yards-per-game, which is also the most allowed in the league. They’re the only team that has given up 300 points so far this season, allowing 33.3 points-per-game, which is the most in the NFL.
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Despite the struggles, Burrow says he’s seen some good things from Al Golden’s defense.
“Early in the year the offense wasn’t rolling and I thought the defense was playing pretty well. And then lately, it seems like that’s flip-flopped,” Burrow said. “But there’s still guys doing good things, putting good stuff on tape. It just feels like we haven’t really put it all together. When you struggle that way, there’s always guys doing good things, but the good things don’t coincide with other people doing good things. So on offense, maybe you’re receivers are winning but your o-line didn’t hold up. Maybe your o-line held up this time and your receivers didn’t win. On defense, guys covered well but you didn’t get any pressure or you got pressure but guys got open quickly. So when you’re struggling on offense or defense, the NFL has a lot of good players, guys putting good stuff on tape. It just feels like we haven’t really put it all together.”
There isn’t much room for error for the Bengals moving forward. They’re 3-6 on the season. A win over Pittsburgh on Sunday would get them to 3-0 in the division and keep their slim chances of winning the AFC North alive.
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