The Cincinnati Bengals' defense looked to be in the midst of a historic turnaround with Dexter Lawrence at the epicenter. While Sexy Dexy commanded double teams and had two sacks in Week 3, the rest of the defensive unit couldn't match his energy in an embarrassing 30-27 loss at Pittsburgh.
Although it wasn't quite as bad as many fans may make it seem, and special teams was more to blame for the defeat than anything else, Cincinnati's D was a shell of itself from the first two games. Bad tackling, poor run fits,
It just seemed like any time the defense got a stop or gained momentum, a back-breaking third-down conversion on a tight-window throw, or a special teams gaffe would snuff it out.
Lawrence has taken on a strong leadership role ever since landing in Cincy. He was no different in the aftermath of Sunday's unfortunate result.
Lawrence vows that Bengals' championship mentality will persevere through Week 3 debacle
Dexter Lawrence was adamant that one bad game will not define Cincinnati's season, nor will it reverse all the goodwill the defense built up before what happened in the Steel City, via CLNSCincy.com's Mike Petraglia:
"We know who we are. We're still champions, and we're gonna prepare next week like champions, and we're gonna go out there and beat whoever we’ve got to play...I know who we are. I know the men we have in here. I have no doubt that we're gonna come to practice next week and be locked in, and eliminate mistakes and correct the ones we made...A lot of what was going on was self-inflicted....I don't think it was anything special that they had going on. We just didn't do well on our end."
I mean on one hand, what's Lawrence going to say, that the sky is falling and the Bengals' defense is doomed? Of course not. But it's just nice to know that one of the most important voices on the team — perhaps the most important other than Joe Burrow — isn't overreacting to one off afternoon.
Like really, so many things had to go wrong for the Bengals to lose. While it was frustrating to squander yet another exceptional Burrow performance, as has been commonplace over the last few years, the fact that 10 points could be directly pinned on the special teams blunders of a 15-yard roughing the kicker penalty and a lost muffed punt brings some solace.
It'd be a challenge for any team on any given Sunday to win with those two horrendous plays, especially on the road.
As long as Lawrence continues to do his part, and the team doesn't come out totally flatlining like they did in Week 3's epic letdown, this loss should be a mere speed bump in an otherwise successful season for the Bengals.
Yes, you'd rather learn from a win than a loss, but sometimes, losing can be the perfect catalyst to avoid future slip-ups. The Bengals can't exactly look past the Jacksonville Jaguars' high-octane offense in Week 4.
That'll be a real measuring-stick type of game, and we'll find out very quickly if the rest of the defense can back up Lawrence's big talk of the Steelers not doing anything special to beat them. Jags coach Liam Coen is one of the premier offensive minds in the league. The friendly confines of Paycor Stadium will help Sexy Dexy and Co., but the result in Pittsburgh does have the fanbase feeling very uneasy.
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