Joe Flacco’s Magic Breathes Life Into the Bengals’ Season

Joe Flacco’s Magic Breathes Life Into the Bengals’ Season

Chase Me

Flacco and head coach Zac Taylor once again understood the assignment in frequently getting the ball in the hands of their playmakers, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. Chase was next level against Pittsburgh, and the Bengals weren’t afraid of Jalen Ramsey, Joey Porter Jr., or whoever was lined up across from him. WR1 would end up breaking his own team record with 16 receptions to go along with 161 yards receiving and one sweet touchdown catch as he joins Hall of Famers Jerry Rice and Randy Moss as the only 3 players in NFL history with 6,000+ rec yards & 50+ rec TD in their first 5 career seasons.

His running mate, Higgins, also put on a show with six receptions for 96 yards, including the play of the game that showed his football IQ and unselfishness in going down before scoring late in the fourth quarter.

Lane Open

Not only was the offensive line solid in pass blocking last night, but they were even better in creating lanes for Chase Brown to finally hit several big runs, which kept the Steelers defense honest. Brown had his best game of the season with 108 yards rushing on 11 carries. His backup, Samaje Perine, did the dirty work, often getting the tough yards on third down, and was stout in pass protection for Flacco. If the Bengals can get this running game going, they can stress a defense in many ways, especially as the weather starts to turn.

Flacco Is Fun

The NFL is a brutal business physically, mentally, and professionally. Winning is the ultimate cure-all in making the game enjoyable in the locker room and beyond. Flacco truly knows this, and stated after the game when asked about how fun TNF was. “Man, it’s a lot of fun. And obviously, it’s a lot of fun toward the end of the game when you’re getting ready to go, but yeah, this is what we do it for, is games like that. It came down to the wire. We know it’s going to, and really, really happy about how the guys just stayed with it for the full 60 minutes. And, man, our offensive line was going today, you know? We’re running the football, protecting — doing a lot of things that we wanted to do.”

Now, with a long weekend ahead for the team and all of Bengaldom, one can only hope the party is just getting started.