well that wasn't the start anyone expected or thought was going to happen and yet here we are in the Bengals our 0 And1 once again how again everyone and welcome into Cincinnati Bengals talk she's Elise Jesse I'm James rine we write for Bengals talk.com and today the Bengals well they dropped the season opener and we're used to them dropping season openers they fought a one and five in the Zack Taylor era for season openers uh 16 to10 lost to the New England Patriots Joe burrow 1 and4 in season opener so not much better for Joe and this game was ugly I mean I I don't really think there's any other way to describe it three straight three and outs for this offense followed by a turnover after a dropped touchdown even though it was close gaseki drops the ball and then Tanner Hudson literally drops the ball uh near the goal line I I don't know exactly where to begin but I think it needs to be on offense so let's start there the offense was awful it really was it was at one point during this game I was sitting there and I'm like this is the Murphy's Law game because anything that could go wrong for the Cincinnati Bengals absolutely did the fumbles were brutal I saw a stat that all of last year in 2023 which were they in the playoffs absolutely not were they competing for a title absolutely not but in 2023 they only lost two fumbles all year in this game alone they lose two fumbles it is an ugly start for this team right now and I know they're all disappointed because you heard it just like I did all off season long at the end of last season 2 all they kept talking about was starting fast starting fast starting fast this is what we want to do this is what we want to do but guess what that goal was not realized for them at all and they cannot keep stacking their wins and stacking their goals if they cannot close out the New England Patriots close out I mean they can't even start out couldn't start out yeah you're right that's what's they couldn't even start out and and then when they did it's this close to a touchdown and then not and then this close to a touchdown again he's at the 2 yard line he's starting to stretch the ball out which is really something you should never do which I'm sure he knows and fumble and that was the blueprint like if you were telling me the blueprint for how the Patriots win this game it's pretty simple they're going to run the ball they're going to force some turnovers uh the bals offense is going to be stagnant like they are every week one and all of those things happened and and you look up and oh the camera shifted here as we do this I don't know how it did yeah we we'll shift a little bit oh it's cuz I'm moving it's cuz I'm moving that anyways yeah uh anyways weak one for us too clearly holding uh and bad delay of game joke all right but to me all of those things happen and it's 16 to1 you have the ball fourth quarter a chance to go take the lead a chance to go win the game and they go three and out and they punt punt you have an issue with it I have an issue with it I think everybody does I get it it was like right here they were on like the 20 M but the game's over anyways if you if you Punt and uh you don't get the ball back and that's obviously what what happened your your thoughts Zack Taylor was asked about this after the game and rightfully so um and he said that he was relying on the defense and he has confidence in the defense okay like that's that's a formidable answer but you have a $200 million quarterback and you're down six and you punt that doesn't make any sense so I understand I saw a ton of frustration from fans already online within the first 2 minutes of the loss you guys are all in the right to be pissed off about that cuz that was crazy it was and and for a few reasons one you're asking your defense that's at that point giv up 4.7 yards per carry ra Andre Stevenson chunk gain after chunk gain jacobe brassette ran for multiple first downs and so he went off script so you couldn't Bank on that it's not like you were good at that all day and it was a defensive slugfest and then two the offense the one thing it did do well and Joe was 21 of 29 in in a few of those were on that last possession there a few of the incompletions but he was dumping the ball down he was Finding ways to get three four five yards and that's the time where you got to go for it and if you don't get it you lose but the odds of the defense playing the Run stopping the run small and we saw it because they didn't get a stop and the game was over I think the punt was so infuriating because you wanted to see the Bengals show some form of real aggression on offense you really wanted to see that time was winding down you're about to lose the game like show some aggression on that front and I just didn't think we saw that today none of them were you know really at their best ra Andre Stevenson that you touched on 120 rushing yards on 25 carries I mean they got gashed on the ground all offseason long what have they talked about stopping the Run getting better at stopping the run I didn't see an inkling of them stopping any run today the Patriots did whatever they wanted to do on the ground they did they did I mean jacobe brassette just didn't turn the ball over that's the other thing the defense didn't do they didn't force any turnovers that does matter that needs to to happen and and then offensively let's talk about it because it felt like every I I kind of said it as a positive a second ago but Joe Burl wasn't pushing the ball downfield uh there was a deep ball to Chase which really wasn't a deep ball it was uh kind of intermediate but it was an explosive play 28 yards to Jamar set up the field goal to cut it to 16 to1 he went deep uh on the sideline on the Bengal sideline over there to Andre yage that Drew a pass interference penalty those are the two times that stand out to me that's not enough you need someone something and I get it no T Higgins Jamar Chase doesn't have a training camp I get it fine is it Germaine Burton I don't know send him on a go route I don't care but you need to be able to stretch the field and that's the other element here especially against a defense like the Patriots they're okay with you checking it down and dumping it off because they're going to be disciplined and the Bengals weren't at this by the way this is part of their bad run defense they make tackles the Bengals Miss tackles and that was another theme today for sure I can't believe for is it a second or third straight year in a row that we were talking about tackling being a problem do you remember last year and we were all like why are we talking about fundamentals what like no that stuff should be in check you should be ready to go with with tackling at the least it's ridiculous I can't believe what we just watched here today and honestly I was shocked about Jamar Chase touching on him for a second um he had a total of two Targets in the first half the one drive I felt where the Bengals actually looked like they had some life to them was when Jamar Chase had what three targets maybe four targets and that was the drive where Zach Moss eventually scored the touchdown but it's like why was he not more involved at the start of the game I understand he miss practice he's still your best receiver on the field I don't care if he didn't show up in at all in the building until today get him more involved six targets six receptions 62 yards their longest play from scrimmage you're right Zach moss in the second half got going the Bengals running game out of the shotgun got going a little bit Moss had a 16 yard run had the 5-yard touchdown run so there was some signs at times but the turnovers the inability to get off the field the decision to punt when you have Joe burrow and this offense clearly just looks stagnant looks out of rhythm the run defense we could have anticipated that for sure anticipated that they were going to uh struggle at the same time this offense can't struggle not with a defense that is going to be up and down against the Run probably all year long and so the offense has to figure it out we have a ton for you here on Cincinnati Bengals talk make sure you check out what Joe burough said what Zack Taylor said uh we'll have more on Monday you talked with Dax Hill you talked with Ted Carris uh so there is a ton oh Jamar chase by the way also uploaded and uh he was not uh in a great mood no one was really in a great mood and they shouldn't be 0 and one for a third straight season backtack years they're shut out in the opener in the first half shut out completely yeah like just rough rough rough rough uh there's no uh other way to describe it the Bengals fall to 0 and one we will be back with more please hit that subscribe button ring the bell and for Alise Jesse and Andrew Fox Miller I'm James rine thank you so much for watching Cincinnati Bengals talk