The Rookie QB Trend Continues To Haunt Cincinnati
Credit: Cara Owsley/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
It’s too bad that this isn’t Bryce Young’s rookie season. If it were, he would have an incredible opportunity to find his feet in the NFL in the Carolina Panthers’ Week 4 matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals. Because as Jayden Daniels illustrated in grand fashion on Monday night, if there’s one thing the not-ready-for-primetime-football-players in Black and Orange aren’t ready for, it’s a rookie quarterback.
With 3:03 to go in the third quarter, the score was 28-13, with the Washington Commanders in the lead. Cincinnati was at the Commanders’ two-yard line on a fourth-and-goal. A Bengals team that had already been demoralized by the first 42 minutes of the game just saw Tee Higgins’ would-be miraculous touchdown get called incomplete, with his elbow landing out of bounds.
But on the next play, Who Dey Nation got an injection of hope. Andre Iosivas battled and fought his way into the end zone on the very next play. An extra point later, and it was a 28-20 game. One touchdown (and a two-point conversion) away from a humiliating loss.
Burrow to Andrei Iosivas makes it a one-possession game!
📺: #WASvsCIN on ABC
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus and ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/6swvaDe7jt— NFL (@NFL) September 24, 2024
That was before, of course, Daniels drove the Commanders down the field with ease once again. Daniels converted both a 3rd-and-1 and a 4th-and-1 with quick QB runs. That drive would end with a field goal, giving Washington a 31-20 lead. The offense roared back with another touchdown on an impressive TD pass from Joe Burrow to Ja’Marr Chase – his second of the night – to cut the lead to 31-26 after a failed two-point conversion (thanks to a blown pass interference call).
Detailing the rest of the game is a moot point. For coming into a matchup on Monday Night Football, the Bengals were primed to show the world they were ready, quite literally, for primetime. Instead, they let a rookie quarterback beat them like they have so many times before, and they struggle to stop Daniels, both in the running and passing game.
Instead of looking confused, Daniels showed the poise of a 10-year-veteran. He may as well have been planning his next [insert-insurance-company-of-choice-commercial] shoot in between snaps because Cincinnati was giving him zero challenges. 4th-and-4 with less than 5 minutes to go in the game? No sweat, Daniels connected with Zach Ertz for nine yards and the first down. A few plays later, Bengals cornerback Dax Hill attempted to detonate Daniels, but it was the quarterback who threw the knockout blow: A perfectly thrown bomb to Terry McLaurin in the corner of the end zone to clinch the game.
JAYDEN DANIELS. TERRY MCLAURIN. THE COMMANDERS.
📺: #WASvsCIN on ABC
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus and ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/bP5qrpGN8q— NFL (@NFL) September 24, 2024
And that’s how the Bengals got here, sitting 0-3 after entering the season with Super Bowl aspirations. As frustrating as Week 1’s loss to the New England Patriots was, this one is absolutely the worst of Cincinnati’s young season. For whatever reason, the Bengals, despite playing with energy and purpose, faced a rookie quarterback who made them looked like the more inexperienced squad by comparison.
A lot of football teams will talk of staying the course. We believe in the guys we have inside this locker room will be a common refrain. Players will be visibly frustrated, but say the right things or – to avoid the appearance of any unrest – simply decline comment. But seeing as how this is not the business of declining comment, it must be said: Something must give – or the Bengals face the prospect of a lost season before Week 5.
Up next for the Bengals in Week 4? It’s a ghost from their recent past in newly-appointed Panthers starting quarterback – the “Red Rifle” himself – Andy Dalton. Fresh off a 300-yard, three-touchdown game that showed the 36-year-old can still sling it. In most instances, Dalton would seemingly be a perfect, almost comic book-like foil for the Bengals. A grizzled veteran facing the team that brought him into the league before casting him aside for the younger, sexier prospect.
However, Dalton is not a revenge-bent villain. He’s never disparaged his old team (not publicly, anyway) nor the fan base that, quite honestly, was ready for his exit long before it happened. He’s a simple veteran happy for the opportunity to still be playing. But despite his good nature, he’s still capable of delivering one final superkick Shawn Michaels-style to his former team. Zac Taylor and his squad, in turn, must channel their inner Mark Henry on Dalton to avoid a lost season.
Since 1990, only 2.5 percent of teams that have started 0-3 have made the playoffs and not a single one has won the Super Bowl. In Week 1, the Bengals offense couldn’t get going. In Week 2, mental errors proved to be their downfall. In Week 3, they got outran, outmaneuvered, and simply outmatched by a veteran NFL coach in Dan Quinn and rookie quarterback in Daniels. In a season where the Bengals have already badly damaged their playoff hopes, their backs are against the wall. If they want to prove this isn’t just another disappointing edition of the Bengals, they’re almost out of time.
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