– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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CHARLOTTE — Why sugarcoat the situation the Cincinnati Bengals found themselves in going into Sunday’s game? They had to win, or else. No spin on the fact that there are 13 more games to play afterward could assuage the dire straits sort of situation that the now perennial Super Bowl contender would be staring down without anything other leaving today’s game with a W.
Ja’Marr Chase decided to add his spin on things, literally, on Cincinnati’s way toward temporary salvation.
Chase caught one of Joe Burrow’s two touchdowns, a 63-yard catch-and-run where he appeared to be all but tackled before spinning away and breaking free, as the Bengals defeated the Carolina Panthers 34-24 at Bank of America Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The running back tandem Zack Moss and Chase Brown each recorded touchdowns, with Brown scoring twice on the ground, as the Bengals ran for 130 yards in the second half to put the game away and avoid an 0-4 start.
“We know what this feeling is, to win games, and that was the expectation,” Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said. “Every time I’ve walked off the field, I expected to come away victorious, and it’s just good to check that box. I think it’s as simple as that. You check the box, and now you move on.”
Akin to the first two weeks of the season, where a frustrated Chase saw constant double teams and was unable to get untracked, a second-quarter reception saw the star receiver surrounded and swarmed at midfield. But in what many Cincinnati players and fans alike hope is a harbinger of a possible great escape from a disastrous start, Chase spun off of the shoulder tackle attempt of safety Xavier Woods, then broke the tackle of linebacker Charles Harris before racing down the sideline for his third touchdown in his last two games.
“That was an unbelievable play. He continues to make incredible plays like that,” Burrow said of Chase. “That’s just a reminder for me, you’ve just got to find ways to get him the ball.”
From the time the Bengals stopped the Panthers on a fourth-and-goal from the 1 on Carolina’s first drive, they turned their desperation into execution, scoring three consecutive touchdowns after their first drive, starting at the 1, ended in a punt. Brown ended Cincinnati’s second drive with a 3-yard scoring run and, right before halftime, Moss scored on a dump off in the flat from six yards out with one second left on the clock and with Cincinnati not possessing a time out.
Carolina carried over its execution offensively from last week’s win in Las Vegas and sandwiched Cincinnati’s three first-half touchdowns with two of their own (with their third drive of the half being the one that was stopped one yard shy of the end zone). Running back Chuba Hubbard scored from three yards out before Andy Dalton, once again starting for Bryce Young at quarterback, threw a touchdown pass to rookie Xavier Legette — his first career touchdown — from eight yards out at the 1:09 mark of the second quarter to tie the score.
For me, it’s about that one-week progression. It’s about every day getting better and better at our systems,” Panthers head coach Dave Canales said. “Again, we’re still learning all these things and coming together with the communication and all that, and it’s been better week after week … It comes down to execution. I thought we took a step in some areas, but it wasn’t enough to win, and that’s the ultimate goal is to win the football games, and we didn’t get that done.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Sunday afternoon’s game, with photos taken by South Carolina-based photographer Anthony Dickens. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page. Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are eight pictures in total.
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