Bengals Report Card: Receivers, special teams make the difference

The Bengals must solve problems on defense, but progress on special teams and the secondary offensive pieces provided the passing grade in Cincinnati's 34-27 win against Cleveland.

By Paul Dehner Jr.

Sep 17, 2012 at 12:48 pm ET • 1 min read

The Bengals walked away with a 34-27 win against Cleveland and the victory means a passing grade on the whole, but the defense continues to disappoint on the field and the report card.

Offense: A-minus. This was no slouch Browns defense despite missing Joe Haden in the secondary. The Bengals moved the ball both on the ground and in the air with relative ease. Any questions surrounding the second receiver option opposite A.J. Green have officially been answered two games into the season. Andrew Hawkins played like a weapon that teams must start game-planning for and Armon Binns made difficult catches in traffic previous Bengals receivers rarely pulled in. Andy Dalton is still searching for consistency down the field, but posted the highest passer rating of his career (128.2).

Defense: D. Brandon Weeden posted a 5.1 passer rating in Week 1 against Philadelphia. He left Paul Brown Stadium with a 114.9 number against the Bengals. Weeden may have learned from his mistakes, but clearly he took advantage of a Cincinnati defense struggling to find its way. The Bengals allowed 439 yards Sunday and 430 in the opener at Baltimore. That's only the second time a Bengals defense allowed 400-plus yards each of the first two games in the last 30 years. The other was 1991.

Special Teams: A. If only Adam Jones could keep himself healthy. The Bengals DB reminded everyone the dangerous weapon he can be in the return game when healthy. He made seven Browns miss during his 81-yard punt return for a touchdown. The score ended up being the difference in the game. Toss in not allowing Josh Cribbs to break one of his seven kickoff and punt returns into Cincinnati territory and there's the difference in the game.

Coaching: B-plus. Marvin Lewis admitted following the game that “this was a tense week.” Coming off an embarrassing Monday Night Football loss, then losing starting LB Thomas Howard during Thursday's practice made for a significant amount of pressure on Sunday's game against Cleveland. Keeping the team focused, finding a way to win and overcoming the disastrous first few days of the season warrants a tip of the hat for Lewis and the Bengals staff.