The Bengals held a 17-16 lead over the Broncos early in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s home game, but things would not go their way for the rest of the afternoon.
Trevor Siemian threw two touchdown passes sandwiched around a Bengals three and out and Andy Dalton was intercepted one play after the second touchdown to seal the Bengals’ fate as losers for the second straight week. That’s certainly not the way that the Bengals want things to play out, but it’s not enough to have cornerback Adam Jones questioning the team’s chances.
“Why would we hit the panic button? Vontaze [Burfict] is coming back. Our team is a good team,” Jones said, via ESPN.com. “We let two of them slip away. [Tyler] Eifert is on the way back. ... First quarter of the season. Let’s get out of the first quarter .500. That’s the goal.”
Burfict will be back this week after serving a three-game suspension and Eifert was back at practice last week as he continues on the road back from ankle surgery. Both should help, but the Bengals need more than Burfict to juice a quiet pass rush and Eifert alone may not be enough to put an end to the offense’s inconsistency.
Neither of those things is a reason to panic for a team that’s made the playoffs five years in a row and the question of worries may disappear completely with a win over the Dolphins on Thursday.