How the Bengals effectively lost to the Steelers with fateful August move

Raise your hand if you're a Cincinnati Bengals supporter and had, "Gee, I really miss Charlie Jones" as a predicted sentiment on your bingo card this season. Never mind as soon as Week 3.

Because trust me. I did not have that on my bingo card. I was thrilled that Jones didn't make the 53-man roster. As solid as he was as a return man with three TDs in as many seasons, he contributed zero to the Bengals' offense.

But once the injuries piled up in Cincinnati's receiving corps, Ke'Shawn Williams was pressed into action as a return man. Williams muffed a punt in Sunday's 30-27 loss to the Steelers, and that ultimately proved to be the difference in the game.

Keeping a proven commodity in Jones as a return specialist over the less-experienced Williams would've been a savvy call. The Bengals did not do that.

Ke'Shawn Williams was put in an unfair spot in Week 3 after Charlies Jones' exit

I mean look, does the picture of Ke'Shawn Williams smiling as he shakes Aaron Rodgers' hand trigger me a little? Yes. I would still be inconsolable if I literally cost my team an NFL game on special tams, especially in the AFC North opener on the road that was there for the taking!

But hey, whatever. It feels like Williams can do no wrong in the eyes of Zac Taylor and the coaching staff. Why else would he even be on the active roster, given that he has one career catch for five yards and is a solid-not-spectacular returner?

And again, I say this as someone who was thrilled without trying to dunk on someone's livelihood that Charlie Jones didn't make the final roster cut.

Keen insight here from an obscure Steelers-coded X/Twitter account by the way...

It's not as if Jones is flourishing. He's hanging onto his NFL career by a thread on the New York Giants' practice squad.

Nevertheless, with Andrei Iosivas on IR, Colbie Young exiting Week 3's game in the first quarter, Dohnte Meyers taking on a larger role in the offense, and Samaje Perine banged up as part of a very thin backfield rotation, Williams was the default, go-to return man on kickoffs and punts on Sunday.

While Williams was serviceable in the kick return area, the lone punt he fielded clanged off his facemask and set the Steelers up in the red zone. Just dreadful.

I don't get why Meyers wasn't back there as the punt returner. He's more explosive, clearly more sure-handed, and the Bengals deploy Mike Gesicki as a slot receiver very often as is. It's not like Meyers couldn't handle his increased target share on offense and return duties, right?

Football is a game of inches. Al Pacino's monologue from Any Given Sunday tells us this. Quite fitting in the aftermath of Week 3's loss.

On a day where it's easy to blame Joe Burrow for that last-play fumble or the defense for being terrible again, Ke'Shawn Williams' punt muff and Cedric Johnson's 15-yard roughing the kicker penalty gifted the Steelers 10 points. That was the difference.

So yeah. Get Dohnte back to field those punts, eh Darrin Simmons?

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