In the last two seasons, the Bengals collected their first win in Week 3 and will hope that can be the case again this time as they host the Washington Commanders (1-1) on Monday Night Football for their Ring of Honor game.
“Certainly, all the work we put in in the offseason and training camp and you feel really good, and so you don’t anticipate this start,” Taylor said. “That’s not what we anticipated, but at the same time, there’s a lot of things we continue to build off of and we’re going to be in the right direction now. We’ve got to treat this week just like last week, and everyone’s got to be on top of all the details, and we can’t give these guys an inch ... I’m confident the guys are going to respond the right way this week.”
The Bengals opened the week as 7.5-point favorites, but they were 8.0-point favorites going into the opener.
Cincinnati’s defense held Patrick Mahomes to 151 yards passing, got three takeaways and allowed just 19 points to the Chiefs’ offense in a 26-25 loss. The Commanders racked up 425 yards of offense Sunday in a 21-18 win over the New York Giants, but struggled in an opening 37-20 loss to Tampa Bay.
“There’s a lot to build off,” Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo said. “Hopefully we had the last of the injury bug early in the season and start to get healthy, start to get reinforcements back. I don’t know if everybody will be back this week, but they should be disappointed we lost. We’re not in this to feel good about, ‘Well, we played well.’ We’re in this to win. They know that, but they should feel good about their performance, clean some things up and move on to Monday.”
Washington is led by rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels, this year’s No. 2 overall draft pick out of LSU. He threw for just 184 yards in his debut and had three fumbles in that game, but completed 23 of 29 passes for 226 yards against the Giants and hasn’t thrown an interception. He’s also waiting for his first touchdown pass.
Terry McLaurin has been his most targeted receiver so far, but he has just 39 yards on a team-high eight catches. Running back Austin Ekeler leads the team with 99 yards receiving on seven catches, tight end Zach Ertz adds 90 yards on seven catches, and Noah Brown has three catches for 56 yards.
Daniels has been able to lean into the running game more than most. Washington has the sixth-most rushing yards in the league through two weeks, and the rookie quarterback accounts for 132 of the team’s 353 yards rushing. Brian Robinson Jr. rushed for 133 yards Sunday after going for just 40 yards in the opener.
Daniels has a rookie left tackle trying to protect him in Brandon Coleman, a third-round pick out of TCU, which could be another big opportunity for Trey Hendrickson. Hendrickson had two sacks on six pressures and drew two holding penalties in the loss to Kansas City and already has gotten two left tackles benched.
Coleman ranks 69th of 71 tackles in pass blocking, according to Pro Football Focus.
Defensively, the Commanders have given up the third-most points through two games. They’ve produced two turnovers on fumbles but have no interceptions yet. Linebacker Bobby Wagner leads the team with 19 tackles and four tackles for loss, and defensive end Clelin Ferrell accounts for the lone two sacks so far. Cornerback Benjamin St.-Juste has four passes defended, 11 tackles and one forced fumble.
Washington made a kicker change after the opener, benching Cade York in favor of former Bengals kicker Austin Seibert, who played four games for Cincinnati in 2020. Seibert was the Special Teams Player of the Week after accounting for all of his team’s points in Week 2 against the Giants. Seibert hit all seven field goals he attempted, and that was enough for the win despite the defense allowing three touchdowns.
MONDAY’S GAME
Commanders at Bengals, 8:15 p.m., ABC, 700, 1530, 102.7, 104.7
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