There were a lot of eyes on the Cincinnati Bengals heading into this week’s matchup with the Houston Texans. With Houston at 0-1, nearly nobody in the national media saw the Bengals leaving Houston with a win, but they got to board the plane as 20-6 winners to take a 2-0 record back home to Cincinnati.
Texans fans certainly showed up, making it a true road environment, and after an uneventful start, the Bengals’ big-play ability finally showed up.
After the game, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor praised
his team’s performance in “hostile territory.”
“We talked last night about what type of team we’re gonna be,” said Taylor. “We’re gonna pack up, take on the road, get off the bus, send a message in hostile territory. Our defense set the tone for that, doing a great job early in the first half, getting them off the field, helping the offense with the field position.
The Bengals are now 2-0 for the second-straight season and sitting atop the AFC North ahead of next week’s matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
“We couldn’t capitalize on it early,” Taylor said. “Then they had the field goal that we may have influenced the snap. Who knows? And then Dexter (Lawrence) getting that fourth-and-1stop. So he may have impacted two plays right there just from where he’s at.
So, really proud of the way that our defense played, all the sack production, all the plays on the ball. Really proud of our team overall.”
The offense hasn’t found its rhythm yet, which is something we have seen early in the season many times, but until they do, they finally have a defense that can have their backs.
