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NFL Power Rankings, Week 8: Cowboys find spark, Raiders look like pretenders

By Randy Gurzi

ARLINGTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 20: Dak Prescott #4 of the Dallas Cowboys celebrates a first quarter touchdown against the Philadelphia Eagles in the game at AT&T Stadium on October 20, 2019 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
ARLINGTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 20: Dak Prescott #4 of the Dallas Cowboys celebrates a first quarter touchdown against the Philadelphia Eagles in the game at AT&T Stadium on October 20, 2019 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /
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CINCINNATI, OHIO – OCTOBER 20: Tyler Boyd #83 of the Cincinnati Bengals catches a pass during the NFL football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Paul Brown Stadium on October 20, 2019 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Bryan Woolston/Getty Images)
CINCINNATI, OHIO – OCTOBER 20: Tyler Boyd #83 of the Cincinnati Bengals catches a pass during the NFL football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Paul Brown Stadium on October 20, 2019 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Bryan Woolston/Getty Images) /

31. Cincinnati Bengals (31)

It really feels as thou o team in the NFL can start as slowly as the Cincinnati Bengals do. Every week, they kick things off with some lackluster drives and a lot of punts. They do end up getting things rolling, but it’s not uncommon to check in on their box score during the game and see Andy Dalton with twice as many incompletions as completions.

In their latest game, he went into the half without a completion to any player other than wide receiver Alex Erickson, who had a career game. The fourth-year pro brought in eight receptions for 137 yards, but it’s not ideal to have him as your leading offensive option.

Despite a 10-9 lead heading into the final quarter, the Bengals were unable to win against the Jacksonville Jaguars and that slow start, as well as a lack of effectiveness from players such as Joe Mixon and Tyler Boyd, had a lot to do with that. Jacksonville wound up scoring 18 points in the fourth quarter as they finally saw the dam break.

Now at 0-7, the Bengals will use the rest of this season to evaluate their roster. They need to figure out who they can win with and who needs to start looking elsewhere for a job. Clearly, this thing isn’t working as it’s currently constructed.

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