Cincinnati Bengals: 3 Reasons for loss vs. Jaguars in Week 9

2. Big Plays Galore

The offense for the Bengals was absolutely pathetic on Sunday, but they aren’t the only ones with fault in the demoralizing defeat. One of the more damaging parts of a poor display by the team was actually by the defense and special teams. Though they each had their bright moments, the inability to prevent Jacksonville from converting big plays across the entire afternoon helped undo every positive step forward.

Just about every drive that Jacksonville went on that afternoon ended up having a couple big plays intertwined. By my count, there were 14 different plays or penalties which awarded Jacksonville with at least 10 yards in their favor:

1. [Drive 1] – Keelan Cole 12-yard reception on second-and-7
2. [Drive 1] – Marquis Lee 19-yard reception on third-and-6
3. [Drive 2] – Marcedes Lewis 37-yard reception on second-and-5
4. [Drive 2] – Cole 28-yard reception on third-and-12
5. [Drive 3] – Lee 11-yard reception on third-and-4
6. [Drive 3] – Chris Ivory 29-yard reception on first-and-10
7. [Drive 3] – Ivory 14-yard rush on second-and-10
8. [Drive 5] – CIN 12-yard defensive pass interference on first-and-10
9. [Drive 5] – Corey Grant 11-yard rush on second-and-8
10. [Drive 5] – Lee 19-yard reception + CIN 15-yard facemask on first-and-10
11. [Drive 6] – CIN 10-yard penalty on punt
12. [Between Drives 6-7] Jaydon Mickens 63-yard punt return touchdown
13. [Drive 8] – Allen Hurns 13-yard reception on third-and-7
14. [Drive 8] – T.J. Yeldon 15-yard rush on second-and-4

That’s a ton of major plays allowed by a supposedly stout Cincinnati defensive unit. This many big plays were huge in allowing Jacksonville to rack up over 400 yards of offense on the afternoon, utilizing a balanced attack even without Leonard Fournette in the backfield (absent due to apparently missing a team photo) and with Blake Bortles still as their quarterback.

It isn’t like any of these came from giant defensive breakdowns, either; for most, Jacksonville executed simple, smart plays that got the ball away from Bortles fast and let their skill players make plays with the ball in their hands.

For some of these, there’s little Cincinnati could do to prevent them completely. The sheer number of plays like this shows something was wrong on Cincinnati’s end, however. And when it comes to the punt return touchdown or the penalties there definitely was room for the team to not allow what eventually happened.

Big plays have been what’s taken them down in previous weeks this year (see: the loss to Houston), so even if there was good play design from Jacksonville’s end this has been a consistent piece of Cincinnati’s struggles to find victories. Whether through effort, more flexible gameplans, or whatever the heart of the problem is, Cincinnati must figure it out for now and future seasons.