Cincinnati Bengals: Bye comes at a good time for recovery, self-reflection

Cincinnati Bengals coach Zac Taylor initially didn't like the idea of a bye so early in the season, but as it turns out, the Week 6 timing isn't so bad.

The Bengals had several injuries to key players pop up the last few weeks, and now is a good time to recover after the hottest game they'll play all season.

Coming off a 31-24 win at Miami on Sunday, Oct. 11, in 90-degree temperatures, they are 3-2 going into a bye before a big AFC North matchup at first-place Baltimore (4-1) on Oct. 25. Cincinnati is in a three-way tie with the rest of the division.

"Here we are through five weeks, and we got a tremendous opportunity coming out of the bye with the divisional game to put ourselves to the top there, and so it's right in front of us," Taylor said Monday. "So, opportunity to get healthy, get your legs back under us. I do think the bye hits really well playing after Miami. I mean, I coached there for four years, never really thought about that, but the heat really does drain you to where I'm sure it affects you the next week. So, I'm happy that it hit for our guys to be able to recover and get that, and then get your legs back under us and start getting ready for some colder weather, which we're very familiar with as the season gets going here."

Both Ja'Marr Chase (concussion) and Tee Higgins (groin/neck) were back from Week 4 injuries, and Bryan Cook returned after missing one game due to an ankle injury that occurred in Week 3 at Pittsburgh, but the time off now will allow them to heal further.

Right guard Dalton Risner also has been playing through discomfort in his knee, and safety Kyle Dugger, who has missed the last two games, remains week-to-week with a quadriceps injury.

Cincinnati also is taking a look at a pec injury for tight end Tanner Hudson, but Taylor did not have any further information on how serious that is. Linebacker Swayze Bozeman is going on injured reserve with a broken forearm, which he suffered on a special teams play late in the game Sunday.

"I think that was your gut reaction when you first saw when the bye was, 'Man,'" Taylor said. "You kind of like it more towards Thanksgiving, but I do think just where our team is right now and the way that these last three games have gone down to the wire and guys playing through some stuff right now, it is a good time to get the bye and get our legs back underneath us, get some guys healthy, and go full force when we come back from Baltimore."

The Bengals were pleased to get the win and be back above .500 before the bye, but they left Sunday's game not feeling satisfied. After reviewing the film, Taylor still had some of the same feelings as he did right after the game. Cincinnati pulled ahead 28-10 on Ja'Marr Chase's 45-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter and let Miami back into it.

Although the win never felt in doubt, the Bengals had a chance to end the game there and instead made some unforced errors — like penalties or stepping out of bounds on a punt return — that allowed the Dolphins to rally.

"I just think there's that moment there where it's 28-10 in the fourth quarter, and that's where we got to end the game, you know, and get the ball back, go down and score, get to 35-10 and kind of finish it up that way and call it a day," Taylor said. "And then instead, you know, in all phases, we weren't enough to be able to finish it like that, made it interesting."

"But I do think if you really just look at the tape … there's a lot of moments where all the units played really well and did some really good things to build on, and so coming out of Week 5, I think we recognize some things that we're doing really well, and then there's a couple things that are really easy to clean up, really easy. So the good news is it's not a concern that 'oh man, this is unfixable.' It's just a couple things that we gotta get cleaned up going into the next divisional game."

Through five games, Taylor still sees a team that could be pretty special. However, the Bengals have to clean up penalties and turnovers, especially in the red zone, prevent explosives in the run defense, and be more explosive in their own running game to achieve their goals of reaching the playoffs and being a Super Bowl contender.

Cincinnati is ranked 10th in points scored and 11th in points allowed through Week 5, before Monday Night Football. All phases can be better, but there's especially belief the offense hasn't yet hit its stride.

"We talked with the guys about two things can be true at the same time," offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher said. "You can make enough plays in any given week to win, which we did (Sunday), and you could still be self-critical and understand that I think the best version of this offense is ahead of us and we have work to do to get there. So happy with some of the improvements we made from the week prior, and we just got to keep moving in the right direction."