Bengals, Browns lose season openers
Four interceptions, five turnovers, five sacks surrendered, nine penalties equal one sad start to 50th anniversary season for the Bengals.
Andy Dalton threw 4 interceptions in the Bengals’ loss to the Ravens; DeShone Kizer was sacked 7 times in the Browns’ loss to the Steelers.
The Bengals’ 50th anniverCINCINNATI — sary season may be their longest yet if Sunday’s performance in the season opener is indicative of what’s to come.
Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton threw three interceptions in the first half and lost a fumble on a sack during the team’s first drive of the second half as Baltimore cruised to a 20-0 victory at Paul Brown Stadium. Dalton finished with four interceptions.
“It’s as disappointing as it could be,” Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis said. “I don’t know if I’ve ever been ... it’s a dis- appointing football game.”
In addition to the five turnovers, the Bengals gave up five sacks and committed nine penalties.
After falling behind 17-0, the Bengals appeared to get a jolt from linebacker Nick Vigil when he intercepted Baltimore quar- terback Joe Flacco on the second play of the third quarter to give the Bengals the ball at the Ravens 26.
But six plays later with Cincinnati at the Baltimore 6, Baltimore linebacker Terrell Suggs blew past left tackle Cedric Ogbuehi and hit Dalton as he prepared to throw. Defensive tackle Michael Pierce fell on the ball, and the Ravens offense began a back-breaking, 18-play drive that took 9:38 off the clock and ended with Justin Tucker’s second field goal of the game for a 20-point edge.
Dalton finished 16 of 31 for 170 yards and a 28.4 passer rating, the second-lowest of
Cincinnati Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis stopped just short of calling Sunday’s 20-0 loss to Baltimore in the season opener the most disappointing of his career.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever been...,” he said before stopping himself. “It was a disappointing football game.”
Here are five things to know about what went wrong in the team’s first home opener since 2009.
Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton tied his career high with four interceptions. The only other time it happened also was against the Ravens, in a 34-17 loss in the 2013 season finale.
Dalton, who got sacked five times, completed 16 of 31 passes for 170 yards. His 28.4 passer rating is the second-lowest of his career next to the 2.0 he posted in a 24-3 home loss to Cleveland in 2014.
In addition to the interceptions, Dalton also lost a fumble. It was the first time in Dalton’s career the Bengals have had five turnovers. The last time it happened was 2010 in a 23-17 loss at Indianapolis.
Dalton’s disaster: Dominant drive:
The Bengals defense responded to Dalton’s first two interceptions with back-to-back three and outs. But the Ravens cashed in his third one — a ball tipped high in the air and picked off at the Bengals 3 with 90 seconds left before halftime — for a touchdown that upped their lead to 17-0.
What Baltimore did after the Dalton fumble might have been even more damaging. The Ravens went 81 yards in 18 plays to up their lead to 20-0 with 1:06 left in the third quarter. The drive took 9:38 off the clock and didn’t include a single completion by Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco (0 for 2).
Flacco threw two other incompletions on third downs that were wiped out by Bengals penalties, with both resulting first downs — pass interference on William Jackson and defensive holding on Nick Vigil.
Plethora of penalties:
While some of the woes that plagued the Bengals last year arose again in the opener — a leaky offensive line and red-zone woes — one of the strengths in 2016 was a contributing factor in Sunday’s loss.
The Bengals, who tied for the second fewest penalties (88) in the league in 2016, committed nine for 66 yards against the Ravens.
While an increase might be expected in 2017 given that the Bengals have gone from the 10th oldest team in the league to the third youngest, it was primarily veterans drawing the flags. It started with Brandon LaFell, the oldest player on offense, getting whistled for a false start on the first offensive snap of the game.
Then Pat Sims, the oldest player on defense, jumped offsides on the second defensive snap of the game.
Sunday marked the second time in the 50-season history of the Bengals they have been shutout in a season opener. The first came in a 10-0 loss at Denver in 1979.
It also marked the first time the team has been shut out at home in the Marvin Lewis era. The last time the Bengals got blanked at Paul Brown Stadium was 2001 in a 24-0 loss to the Chicago Bears. The only other home shutouts in franchise history came in 1998 (35-0 to Tampa Bay), 1987 (34-0 to Cleveland), 1980 (14-0 to Buffalo) and 1968 (34-0 to Oakland).
The 20-point margin of defeat is tied for the fourth most in a season opener, behind 31-point drubbings by Baltimore in 2012 and Denver in 1991 and a 28-point home loss to San Diego in 2002.
One of the lone bright spots, and certainly the only one on offense, was running back Giovani Bernard, who averaged 5.7 yards per carry in his first game back from ACL surgery.
Bernard, who tore his ACL Nov. 20 against Buffalo and had just four carries in the preseason, carried seven times for 40 yards and caught one pass for 39 yards.
The 39-yard catch was the longest pass play of the game for Bengals, and his 23-yard rush in the second quarter was the team’s longest run.
Shutout stats: Gio goes:
Matthew Stafford threw two of his four touchdown passes to rookie Kenny Golladay in the fourth quarter Sunday, helping the Detroit Lions rally to beat the Arizona Cardinals 35-23.
The Lions picked off three of Carson Palmer’s passes, returning one for a score. They also knocked David Johnson out of the game after forcing him to fumble in the third quarter Sunday.
Detroit set an NFL record last year by rallying to win eight games after trailing in the final quarter and opened this season with another comeback. The Cardinals scored the first 10 points of the game and led 17-9 late in the third quarter before giving up 26 straight points.
Stafford’s first pass was returned 82 yards for a touchdown by Justin Bethel , but the player with the richest contract in the NFL bounced back. He was 29 for 41 for 292 yards and threw 45- and 10-yard TD passes to Golladay , along with short passes to Theo Riddick and Marvin Jones for scores.
Eagles 30, Redskins 17:
Carson Wentz threw for 307 yards and two touchdowns as the second-year quarterback guided Philadelphia to a road victory in a sloppy, mistake-filled season opener between the NFC East rivals.
Wentz was 26 of 39 and threw an interception that Ryan Kerrigan returned for a touchdown. But Wentz made fewer errors than Washington’s Kirk Cousins, who was picked off at the goal line and fumbled twice. Cousins’ second fumble was forced by Brandon Graham and returned 20 yards for a touchdown by Fletcher Cox in the final minutes, putting the game away.
Cousins finished 23 of 40 for 240 yards with a TD pass to third-down back Chris Thompson. He was under duress all day because of the relentless Eagles pass rush and was sacked four times.
Wentz wasn’t perfect, though his evading a sack and throw to Nelson Agholor for a 58-yard touchdown set the stage for his big day. Wentz and the Eagles went 8 of 13 on third down and they kept getting into field goal range for Caleb Sturgis, who connected from 50, 42 and 37 yards.
Falcons 23, Bears 17:
Matt Ryan threw an 88-yard touchdown to Austin Hooper and led two fourth-quarter scoring drives, and the NFC champions held on to win a season opener on the road.
The butt of jokes following their epic Super Bowl collapse against New England, the Falcons survived as the Bears missed several chances to score in the final seconds. The Bears had a first down at the Atlanta 5 in the closing minute. Glennon’s pass to a lunging Josh Bellamy on first down hit off the receiver’s hands, and Jordan Howard then dropped a simple catch at the 1.
After another incompletion on third down, Glennon got sacked by Brooks Reed to end the drive.
Atlanta was clinging to a 13-10 lead early in the fourth when a scrambling Ryan fired to a wide-open Hooper near midfield. The second-year tight end from Stanford raced up the right side and stiffarmed Quintin Demps on the way to the end zone to make it a 10-point game.
The Bears then went 75 yards, with Glennon hitting rookie Tarik Cohen for a 19-yard TD midway through the fourth to cut it to 20-17. Atlanta’s Matt Bryant answered with a 37-yard field goal, making it 23-17 with 3:24 left.
Coming off an MVP season, Ryan was 21 of 30 for 321 yards and a touchdown.
Hooper had two catches for 128 yards. Jones added 66 yards receiving and Bryant kicked three field goals.
Jaguars 29, Texans 7:
Leonard Fournette ran for 100 yards and a touchdown in his NFL debut, and Jacksonville had 10 sacks and forced four turnovers to register a win over the Texans.
Blake Bortles threw for 125 yards and a touchdown, Calais Campbell had four sacks and Dante Fowler returned a fumble 53 yards for a score as the Jaguars snapped a sixgame skid against Houston.
TheTexanshopedtoprovide a boost to the area ravaged by Hurricane Harvey with a win. Instead, Tom Savage struggled behind a porous line and was benched in favor of rookie Deshaun Watson at halftime with Houston down 19-0. J.J. Watt returned after missing 13 games last season after back surgery, but injured his finger in the first half and finished with just one tackle.
Raiders 26, Titans 13:
Derek Carr threw for 262 yards and two touchdowns, and Oakland won a season opener pitting two of the NFL’s rising, young quarterbacks. And Carr won his third straight against Marcus Mariota and Tennessee in as many years.
Amari Cooper caught a TD pass as the Raiders made the Titans pay for opening the season with an onside kick they couldn’t recover. Marshawn Lynch also looked very refreshed after his year away from football. He finished with 18 carries for 76 yards.
Giorgio Tavecchio kicked field goals of 20, 52, 52 and 43 yards in his NFL debut.
Tyrod Taylor threw two touchdown passes and the new-look Bills beat the visiting Jets in Sean McDermott’s debut as Buffalo’s coach.
Mike Tolbert also scored on a 1-yard run , while Buffalo’s defense had three interceptions, including linebacker Ramon Humber picking off Josh McCown’s pass to thwart a 2-point conversion in the third quarter.
Safety Micah Hyde, a free agent offseason addition, sealed the victory by intercepting McCown at Buffalo’s 41 to end the Jets’ final series.
Bills 21, Jets 12: