Quote of the Day

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor: “The fight, it is what it is. We don’t appreciate losing. It’s not fulfilling. It’s sick. Our guys, they keep showing up. They keep doing a great job during the course of the week, keep practicing their tails off. They’re doing everything they can on the field, we just came up short. You saw guys that have played all year, you saw guys that came in there and got their first opportunities, you saw guys that came in there on a one-play notice, and guys just kept fighting.”

Turning Point

The Bengals had a 10-7 lead when Flacco suffered his own 33-yard pick-six to cornerback Marcus Jones with 7:42 left in the first half. Flacco was trying to find Higgins downfield, but he was plastered and sent a flat check-down in the flat to rookie running back Tahj Brooks on the right sideline.

“It’s a shame. I feel bad about the pick-six, but at the same time I didn’t see the guy,” Flacco said of a second pick-six in as many weeks. “It’s one of those plays you want back. It’s a simple play. A play-action and look for Tee, and check it down. I gave Tee all the opportunities and they just had the right coverage on him. You don’t draw it up like that when that happens. It’s one of the simplest plays in football. Those are going to hurt you.”

It was a microcosm of how the Pats handled Higgins without the suspended Ja’Marr Chase to contend with against Flacco. A lot of zone.

“I kind of just saw it from the sense of matching the back … I saw him go through the progressions, and then I went from there,” Marcus Jones said. “I was just watching the quarterback’s eyes. I saw him flash toward the running back, so I didn’t want to go down there too soon. Just tried to time it up, and I timed it up just in time.”

Iosivas led the Bengals with four catches for 61 yards on a day they just clicked on 21% of their third downs, their lowest third-down rate in six Flacco starts.

“I feel they do a good job of playing (from the) top down, and taking away some of the quick stuff by coming up and pressing, and you’re not able to get the ball out of your hands to hit them really quick, Flacco said.

“They do a good job playing top down with their eyes on the quarterback and having some help. There’s time they played man(-to-man), but they were able to drop some other guys underneath. I think with Tee specifically, you’re always shading his way, and then just trying to throw off his rhythm, whether that’s at the line of scrimmage or holding your ground 10 yards down the field with your eyes back on the quarterback and making it tough to break leverage.”