1 winner, 6 losers from Bengals Week 1 loss vs. Browns
- Defense played well for the most part
- What happened to Joey B?
- Where was Tee Higgins?
- Why did the Bengals punt on the Browns' 38-yard line?
Losers
Joe Burrow
The biggest loser of the game had to be Joe Burrow. The Bengals just made Burrow the highest-paid player in the league on Thursday. Three days later, he completed just 14 passes for 82 yards and was benched with roughly four minutes to go in the game. That's not the kind of performance you want to see from your franchise quarterback.
Joe Burrow completed 45.2% of his passes today. That was also a career low. He had never even completed fewer than half of his passes in a game.
— Charlie Goldsmith (@CharlieG__) September 10, 2023
Tee Higgins
It was a bad day at the office for Burrow but it was an abysmal day for Higgins, who failed to catch a single pass on Sunday afternoon. The former second-round pick out of Clemson was targeted a whopping eight times and he came up with zero receptions. It was unbelievable how out of sync Burrow and Higgins were on Sunday.
Burrow and Higgins just have not been on the same page in this game and it's shown up in big spots.
— Jake Liscow (@JakeLiscow) September 10, 2023
Brad Robbins
There was a lot of hype surrounding Robbins after the team spent a sixth-round draft pick on the rookie from Michigan and he did not deliver. It was a brutal debut for Robbins, as the Bengals continued to loss the field position battle due to his poor punts. He'll hopefully get better but this was not a good showing for the Wolverine punter.
Bengals miss a deep shot on third and 3 and then opt to punt from the CLE38.
— Paul Dehner Jr. (@pauldehnerjr) September 10, 2023
I get the strategy with the wet ball and trying to rattle Watson into points.
Don't like it, but get it.
What CANT happen is Robbins kicking it into the EZ. Rough debut for the rookie.