Well, that was fun! The Cincinnati Bengals bounced back in a big way after their Monday night stinker, slashing the Panthers in every aspect of the game. It was 35-0 at the half, to put how lopsided the game was into perspective.
Let's discuss what we learned about this blowout win by the stripes.
Mixon is NOT washed
Most Bengals fans would agree that Joe Mixon had not played well this season. He only had two rushing touchdowns on the year entering this game and he really didn't look like the same guy we had grown accustomed to watching over the years.
Well, Mixon proved in this game that he still has a lot of swagger. He scored four touchdowns in the first half alone and tacked on a fifth touchdown in the second half while finishing with over 200 yards from scrimmage.
5️⃣ TOUCHDOWNS FOR JOE MIXON#CARvsCIN | 📺 FOX pic.twitter.com/Qa1Qr5QnGx
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) November 6, 2022
OL bounced back
The offensive line looked awful during the Monday night debacle and started to make people wonder if the team had wasted their money on trying to improve the unit in the offseason. Fortunately, the unit played out of their mind in Sunday's blowout.
Joe Burrow was sacked just one time and the o-line managed to open up running lane after running lane for Mixon, helping him put together a game for the ages.
5-4 at the BYE
Fans weren't happy after the Week 8 loss and it was understandable considering how bad the team played on Halloween night. They're back over .500 though and now sit with a 5-4 record entering the BYE week. They have a brutal stretch of games when they return from the BYE so this a much-needed victory for them and their BYE comes at the perfect time.
Bengals did exactly what they should have against a bad team
I don't want to hear any of this "Yeah but it was the Panthers" crap this week. The Bengals needed to put the beatdown on Carolina and they did exactly that, completely walloping them in nearly every aspect. The Panthers are a two-win team and the Bengals were big-time favorites for a reason. They did everything they were expected to do against a bad team and no one should hold that against them, especially when we've seen this team perform poorly against bad teams in the past.
Onto the BYE week!