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Ben Baby, ESPN Staff WriterSep 19, 2024, 06:04 PM ET
- Ben Baby covers the Cincinnati Bengals for ESPN. He joined the company in July 2019. Prior to ESPN, he worked for various newspapers in Texas, most recently at The Dallas Morning News where he covered college sports. He provides daily coverage of the Bengals for ESPN.com, while making appearances on SportsCenter, ESPN’s NFL shows and ESPN Radio programs. A native of Grapevine, Texas, he graduated from the University of North Texas with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He is an adjunct journalism professor at Southern Methodist University and a member of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA).
CINCINNATI — There are two ways to view the Cincinnati Bengals‘ first two weeks of the season.
On one side, players and coaches have expressed the disappointment that comes with starting 0-2 for the third straight season and the fifth time in the past six years.
On the other — as quarterback Joe Burrow pointed out Thursday — is that the familiarity that comes with the slow start means Cincinnati knows what it will take to snap the skid and beat the Washington Commanders on Monday night.
“We’re in a fine spot,” Burrow said in his weekly news conference. “We’ve been here before. We’re not panicking. We’re focused on getting a win and getting better every day.”
Burrow said he’s not sharing the same feeling of frustration that he had following Sunday’s loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. The Bengals led in the fourth quarter and were a defensive stop away from beating their AFC rivals. However, a defensive pass interference penalty on fourth-and-16 set up a winning field goal in Kansas City’s 26-25 victory.
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In four of Burrow’s five NFL seasons, Cincinnati has lost its first two games of the season. The exception was in 2021, when the Bengals beat the Minnesota Vikings in overtime of Week 1. Since then, the star quarterback has battled various injuries at the start of the year — a ruptured appendix (2022), a calf injury (2023) and recovering from wrist surgery (2024).
And while there is calm in how the team is approaching Monday’s game, Burrow said there is a sense of urgency for Cincinnati to find its first win quickly.
“We’ve treated every practice like it’s the same,” he said. “We pride ourselves on us not being able to tell if we win or lose. At practice, we’re going to go out and have fun and get our work in and get better.”
Bengals coach Zac Taylor said despite the rough start to the year, which included a Week 1 loss to the New England Patriots despite being more than a touchdown favorite, it doesn’t feel as if the team is pressing unnecessarily as it prepares to face Washington (1-1) or is carrying any undue tension. Taylor said he’s never felt that from the players, which is why the team has handled these situations well before.
“I feel this is a very comfortable team that understands how to work,” Taylor said. “How to have that preparedness about them that can lead to confidence and can lead to being at ease.”
Cincinnati did get a boost Thursday, as wide receiver Tee Higgins practiced for the first time since he suffered a hamstring injury Sept. 5. Higgins, who sat out the first two games, was a limited participant.
Taylor said the team will see how Higgins continues to progress throughout the week. If he can play, Burrow and the rest of the team are well aware of the impact the fifth-year receiver can make on Cincinnati’s offense.
“Hopefully we have him on Sunday,” Burrow said. “If we don’t, we still feel confident in the guys that we have. We’re obviously more dynamic and a much better team with Tee out there.”
