When the 2023 regular season schedule was announced, the Cincinnati Bengals considered several of the games listed to be "easier" games. Of course, the notion of any given Sunday is very, very real but with these Bengals, it feels like they'll win the games they're supposed to win more often than not.
Three teams on the schedule looked to be pretty "easy" wins coming into the season but after three weeks, that might not be the case. Let's take a look at these three teams.
3. Houston Texans
I didn't think the Houston Texans were going to be very good this year but they stunned a lot of people by going into Jacksonville and beating the Jaguars by double-digit points. Now, it's worth noting that the Jaguars made my list of teams that no longer seem as intimidating but still... What the Texans did in that game was impressive.
Rookie first-round pick C.J. Stroud has looked the part of a high first-round pick so far, throwing for 906 yards (fifth-most in the league), four touchdowns, and zero interceptions through three games. PFF has graded him out at 68.6 overall.
The Texans defense is in the middle of the pack as far as passing and rushing yards allowed go so they've been doing okay in that department as well. We'll know more about the Texans by the time their Week 10 tilt arrives in November but right now, they don't look like the easy W that Bengals fans thought they might be.