After falling to 0-3 on Monday night, the Bengals will also have to deal with a significant loss along their offensive line.
Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Media, Trent Brown has suffered a torn patellar tendon and is out for the rest of the 2024 season.
Brown, 31, joined the Bengals in March and had started each of the first three games. He went down with the knee injury during the second quarter of Monday’s eventual loss to the Commanders.
Amarius Mims, Cincinnati’s first-round pick in 2024, came in to replace Brown last night and is poised to keep the position going forward.
Brown has appeared in 103 games with 96 starts for the 49ers, Patriots, Raiders, and Bengals since he was selected in the seventh round of the 2015 draft.
The most memorable play of Monday night’s Commanders win was Jayden Daniels’s 27-yard touchdown strike to wide receiver Terry McLaurin late in the fourth quarter.
Daniels was under pressure on a third down when he delivered a perfect ball to McLaurin in the end zone to push the Commanders’ lead to two scores and put them on the brink of a road win. It wasn’t a play that every NFL quarterback makes, which called to mind comments that Bengals cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt made about Daniels before the game.
Taylor-Britt said the Commanders don’t ask Daniels to do too much and that they run a “nice college offense.” That offense didn’t punt once in Monday’s win and Taylor-Britt was asked after the game if he had any regrets about what he said before the game.
“I don’t regret it,” Taylor-Britt said, via Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer. “I didn’t mean anything malicious out of the comment. It was made bigger than it was. Yes, I can eat my words most definitely. We did take an L today.”
Taylor-Britt might not have had malice on his mind, but the comments were certainly dismissive of the threat that Daniels and the Commanders posed to the Bengals. That was also the case heading into the Bengals’ loss to the Chiefs, so Taylor-Britt should probably be more focused on his play than his words over the rest of the season.
When the Bengals were 0-2, there were plenty of chances to point out that the team has consistently started slowly with Joe Burrow at quarterback and wound up having good seasons.
Monday night’s loss to the Commanders pushed the Bengals into new territory. The 2018 Texans are the only team to start 0-3 and make the playoffs in this century and only five teams did it between 1980 and 1999.
Those are long odds, but Burrow doesn’t see them as being insurmountable.
“It’s an exciting opportunity, just like every season is,” Burrow said, via the team’s website. “There’s going to be some big games down the stretch that we’re going to have to step up for. We haven’t played any division opponents yet. The Steelers are 3-0, other teams are 1-2, we’re 0-3. We play all six of those games coming up. We’re by no means out of it. Playoffs and winning the division is the furthest thing from my mind. We have got to get better this week.”
Burrow’s correct that the Bengals can dig themselves out of the hole they put themselves in to start the season, but there’s not much margin for error for one of the league’s most disappointing teams through the first three weeks of the year.
Monday night’s Commanders-Bengals game featured two quarterbacks who won the Heisman Trophy at LSU, Washington’s Jayden Daniels and Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow. After Daniels came out on top, all Burrow could do was admire his work.
Burrow congratulated Daniels on the field and then told reporters after the game that he’s impressed with how well the rookie quarterback is playing.
“They played great on offense today. Jayden played unbelievable,” Burrow said. “He played great. I told him that after the game. Congrats to him. Big-time performance.”
Daniels completed 21 of his 23 passes for a rookie-record completion percentage of 91.3 percent. He also had 254 passing yards, two touchdowns, no interception, and 39 yards and a touchdown rushing. The expectations on Daniels were high as the No. 2 pick in this year’s draft, but through three weeks of his rookie season, Daniels is exceeding those high expectations.
Jayden Daniels had his coming out party on Monday Night Football, showing why the Commanders used the No. 2 overall pick on him.
Daniels outplayed the quarterback he was compared to last season at LSU, with Daniels following Joe Burrow as a Heisman Trophy winner in Baton Rouge.
Daniels threw for 254 yards and two touchdowns and ran for another to lead the Commanders to a convincing 38-33 win over the Bengals.
The Commanders are 2-1, while the Bengals dropped to 0-3. The 2018 Texans are the only 0-3 team to make the postseason since 2000.
The Commanders scored on all six possessions, not counting on a one-play kneel down to end the half and a one-play kneel down to end the game. They put it away with a 12-play, 70-yard drive that ate up 7:32 in the fourth quarter, overcoming two penalties, a sack and a fourth down.
Terry McLaurin caught a 27-yard touchdown pass from Daniels with 2:10 left, giving the Commanders a 38-26 lead. McLaurin finished with four catches for 100 yards.
The Bengals scored a touchdown on a Zack Moss run with 40 seconds left, but the Commanders recovered the onside kick.
Daniels had an almost perfect night, completing 21 of 23 passes and running for 40 yards on 11 carries. His first career touchdown went to offensive lineman Trent Scott for a 1-yard score.
The Bengals outgained the Commanders 436 to 356, with neither team punting, but Cincinnati saw drives end at the Washington 30, 9 and 13. Evan McPherson missed a 48-yard field goal and made kicks of 28 and 31.
Burrow went 29-of-38 for 324 yards and three touchdowns, with Ja’Marr Chase catching six for 118 yards and two touchdowns. Chase Brown rushed for 62 yards on seven carries, and Moss had 12 for 58 and a touchdown.
It was the first game since 1940 with no turnovers and no punts, according to the ESPN broadcast.
