The Cincinnati Bengals' red-hot start to the season went cold over the weekend, as they lost 30-27 to the Pittsburgh Steelers, taking their first loss of the year.
Zac Taylor has come under fire after the game, as the Bengals made several play-calling and communication errors, many of which led to penalties, not to mention the unnecessary timeout. Even the Bengals' defense, which looked lights-out in the first two weeks, struggled to stop an Aaron Rodgers-led offense that had been one of the worst in the league.
Perhaps the most frustrating part of Sunday's game came in the third quarter. The Steelers found themselves with a fourth down in their own half and decided to punt, with the Bengals winning 17-20. Cincinnati defensive end Cedric Johnson ended up getting caught for what was a dangerous roughing-the-kicker penalty, giving the Steelers the first down and an extended drive, which ended with a touchdown.
T. J. Houshmandzadeh blames Bengals staff for roughing penalty
After the game, former Bengals wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh spoke furiously on the Speak Easy Talk Show about how the Cincinnati staff shouldn't have decided to try to block the punt aggressively and should not have taken the risk. He blamed Taylor and special teams coach Darrin Simmons for letting it happen.
He said: "We’ve got eight lined up in the box on fourth down. We go to block the punt. What percentage of punts are blocked in the league? This right here, this lost us the game! I think Darrin Simmons is a great coach, Zac Taylor. I think you’re a great coach, but who OK'd this?"
"Why are we trying to block the punt? Our main objective is to get the ball back to the offense and Joe Burrow. Job well done!"T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Speak Easy Talk Sho
To T.J.'s point, the percentage of blocked punts in the NFL is minuscule, so why risk handing the Steelers a first down on a roughing penalty with a tiny chance that we block the punt and have a short field for Burrow to go and score on.
Joe Goodberry on X highlighted the numbers, which make the Bengals' decision to load the box completely incompetent.
0.53% of total punts over the last 10 seasons have been blocked.
— Goodberry (@JoeGoodberry) September 29, 2026
They went for a HALF of a percent CHANCE instead of letting Burrow continue to cook.
You've got about a 0.25% chance to hit the kicker and draw a flag over that same time period.
NOT WORTH THE RISK. https://t.co/xvgzw5MSaJ
Sunday's game was like watching the Bengals of the last two seasons again. They did what they needed to do on offense, Burrow had a fantastic game, aside from the fumble at the end.
The defense went back to being a sieve, and silly penalties handed Pittsburgh the win on a plate. If this is a championship-caliber team, we need to show that we've moved on from our old selves.
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