2024 Week 4: Bengals 34, Panthers 24
Carolina could have won this game. Dave Canales has turned this team into a very efficient and productive offense, and all it took was removing Bryce Young from the equation. Kudos to Canales for making that move… most coaches attach themselves to a young QB and either sink or swim depending on that QB, i.e., Mike McDaniel and Tua, Brian Daboll and Danny Dimes. After the switch, this team went from 6 ppg in Weeks 1 and 2 to 30 ppg in Weeks 3 and 4.
The Bengals pulled out a tough win, and credit to Joe Burrow (22/31 for 232 yards, 2 TD/1 INT) for willing Cincinnatti to victory. Cincy is a shadow of its former self, but with Burrow at the helm, they can compete with any team.
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QB Report:
- This must be the year of the old QB: Geno, Darnold, Flacco, and Dalton might all be playing the best football of their careers, at the same time. The Panthers' receivers dropped a bunch of catchable balls, many for drive-saving first downs. This could have been close to another 300-yard game for Andy Dalton (25/40 for 220 yards, 2 TD/1 INT).
RB Report:
- Chase Brown (15-80-2, 2 catches for 12 yards) and Zack Moss (15-51-0, 4 catches for 27-1/4) had 15 carries each. Brown looks better to me, but this will be a split for the rest of the season. Their numbers are inflated due to defensive injuries and Cincy trying to run the clock out, but these touch counts are too far-fetched.
WR/TE Report:
- Diontae Johnson (7-83-1/13) is getting #1 work again for the first time in a few years, and he looks rejuvenated by it. Dalton has provided a spark for Diontae that I thought was gone for good. Adam Thielen and Dalton have worked together for 2 years, so it’ll be interesting to see how much of this work goes away when he returns, but Diontae earned more interest from Dalton after this game.
- Xavier Legette (6-66-1/10) had a really nice game on the stat sheet, and I’m happy he scored his first TD. Legette is one of the more entertaining young players in the league. Unfortunately, I don’t think this was anything other than him being a non-Diontae option. Whenever Adam Thielen returns, Legette goes back to fighting for targets with Jonathon Mingo (3-24-0/5).
- Erick All (4-28-0/4) is taking over the main tight-end role for the Bengals. Mike Gesicki (1-[-9]-0/1) is being sent back to irrelevancy like he has every other year of his career.
D/ST Report:
- Carolina lost both of their MLB’s, Shaq Thompson is out for the year and Josey Jewell will miss a few weeks. I was looking forward to predicting a Panthers upset next week over Chicago but with these two out I can’t bring myself to do it. Thompson and Jewell were replaced by Trevin Wallace (1 tackle) and Safety Xavier Woods (10 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 PD). Woods looked decent enough in that spot, he is fast enough to the point where he could keep up these tackle numbers.
image source: David Beach/CSM