7 winners and 3 losers from Bengals’ 31-24 win over Dolphins: Ja’Marr Chase does it again while visible flaws remain

The Cincinnati Bengals are back over .500. Cincinnati ended its two game losing streak with a 31-24 victory on the road against the Miami Dolphins. Here are the winners and losers from the Bengals’ third win of the year.

The Cincinnati Bengals are back over .500.Cincinnati ended its two game losing streak with a 31-24 victory on the road against the Miami Dolphins. The home team showed some signs of life against a Bengals defense that still has visible issues, but this game showed a clear difference between the struggles between a 3-2 team, and an 0-5 team. There are most certainly levels to this.Here are the winners and losers from the Bengals’ third win of the year.

It wasn’t a perfect game, but Jordan Battle heard a lot of criticism entering Sunday and came away with his first multi-interception game. He once again found a tipped ball for INT No. 1, and impressively jumped in the way of an errant Malik Willis throw for INT No. 2. For all of his shortcomings, Battle’s hands can’t be questioned.

Cincinnati got good news Sunday morning when Ja’Marr Chase was cleared to play out of concussion protocol, and he made his return count. His day was highlighted by yet another incredible touchdown reception for his sixth season. He ended up with six receptions for 77 yards against the Dolphins secondary. That did a relatively good job of putting an umbrella over the Bengals’ passing game.

The best pasture of the day looked like Boye Mafe, who knitted his third sack of the young season and a handful of pressures to boot. It wasn’t relatively mundane performance for Cincinnati’s pass rush as a whole, but my face is continuing a quality first year on the team.

The Bengals are getting good play out of one of their starting linebackers. Demetrius Knight Jr. was a wrecking ball defending some of the Dolphins’ inside runs, recording four defensive stops throughout the game. He was rotated in and out with backup Oren Burks, and the dynamic worked in this game.

It was a much better day for the Bengals run game thanks in part two Samaje Perine’s involvement. The veteran had 68 yards on 14 carries and caught Joe Burrow’s second touchdown of the day. He continues to be reliable running out of the shotgun, but even had some positive moments running from under center.

It was a very uneventful day for Cincy’s offensive line as the unit kept Burrow clean for the entire day outside of a sack that was negated due to an offsides penalty. Kudos to all five starters.

It’s hard not to call the quarterback a winner when he throws four touchdowns and achieve a passer rating of 126.3. Joe Burrow typically dices up bad teams, and Sunday was no different.

In comparison to Perine, Chase Brown just didn’t have that good of a day running the football. He amassed just 39 yards on 13 carries, and fumbled one of his catches for Cincinnati’s first turnover of the day. I don’t think Perine is taking Brown’s job, but the rotation between then probably needs to be what it was in this game going forward.

To the surprise of many, Erick All Jr. was actually the Bengals’ second-leading receiver with three receptions for 25 yards, but an inexcusable special teams penalty to negate great field position and a fumble that ended up being overturned by inches tells a concerning story. You can afford to make these mistakes against bad teams, but they will be costly against the good ones.

Cincinnati is relying on DJ Ivy as a starter, and it shows how rough the depth at cornerback is right now. Ivy is not a great athlete at the position, and it showed on the handful of times he was targeted, including allowing Willis’ lone, passing touchdown of the game.

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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