The Bengals and Raiders both came into Sunday’s game with two-game losing streaks and the Raiders will be taking a three-game streak into Dallas for their Thanksgiving game against the Cowboys.
Joe Mixon ran for two touchdowns and Joe Burrow threw another as the Bengals broke open a close game late. The 32-13 win pushes their record to 6-4 ahead of next Sunday’s home game against the Steelers.
The Raiders cut the Bengals lead to 16-13 early in the fourth quarter on a Derek Carr touchdown pass, but the Bengals answered with a 12-play drive that ate up nearly seven minutes and ended with wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase scoring a touchdown. Carr’s attempt to rally his team again went up in smoke when cornerback Eli Apple picked him off and Mixon sprinted 27 yards for a score.
Carr would lose a fumble on a Trey Hendrickson sack just after the two minute warning and, after the Raiders called three timeouts to extend the game, Evan McPhearson’s fourth field goal of the day eliminated what little doubt may have remained about the final outcome.
Mixon had 27 carries for 121 yards overall and Burrow was 20-of-29 for 148 yards while being sacked three times. He lost a fumble on the first of those, but the Raiders were only able to turn it into a field goal after returning the ball inside the 10-yard-line. The Raiders also hurt themselves with seven penalties for 77 yards on a day when they only generated 143 yards of offense in the first three quarters of the game.
If the Raiders can’t stop the bleeding in Dallas, they’ll fall below .500 on the season and it will be harder to feel confident in their ability to avoid the kind of late season nosedive that they experienced in each of the last two seasons.