The Cincinnati Bengals secured a 17-16 win over the Cleveland Browns in Week 1. Despite coming away with the victory, one ESPN analyst is calling out the Bengals for their performance.
On Sunday, the Bengals had luck go their way with Andre Szmyt missing a crucial field goal and a dropped pass turning into an interception to seal the win. Winning in the NFL is challenging; a team might often need luck to leave with a victory.
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Nonetheless, ESPN NFL analyst Peter Schrager came away unimpressed with the Bengals' performance.
"I know Dan [Orlovsky] was on 'Get Up' earlier [on Monday] and being like, 'I'd be ecstatic if I'm the Bengals because you escape,'" Schrager said on "NFL Live." "You know your offense is going to show up. They had seven yards. They were outgained 327 yards to 141 by the Browns [and] 22 to 11 in the first down game.
"The Bengals are going to have to score 30 and 35 points to win a lot of these games in the AFC. This is unacceptable, especially off the entire [offseason] hearing that they were going to be ready for Week 1 and they were going to be healthy, I was very disappointed."
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While many were having questions about the Bengals' defense, it was them that showed up in the contest against the Browns that kept Cleveland's offense quiet over four quarters.
Meanwhile, Joe Burrow and the Bengals struggled to get anything going, and the offense never gave the defense a chance to take over and cruise to a win. As a result, the Cincinnati defense bent but didn't break against the Browns, and moments of luck went their way.
The Bengals offense will look for a bounce-back performance when they face the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 2.