Both Sides Of The Statistical Coin

This is a new weekly article that covers five interesting good and bad stats that occurred in the Bengals game. We will begin with five good stats followed by the five bad stats.

Statistics that make you smile

1. 382 yards of total offense. Considering the Bengals are starting rookies at the quarterback, wide receiver and right guard positions, being able to rack up close to 400 yards of offense is pretty impressive. The fact that they also have a first time NFL offensive coordinator calling the plays makes it that much more impressive.
2. +2 in the turnover margin. The Bengals won the turnover battle for the second week in a row by recovering two fumbles. A +2 turnover margin results in a win 83% of the time in the NFL so if the Bengals can continue to protect the ball while taking it away from their opponents they will be placing themselves in a position to win their fare share of games this year.    
3. 332 passing yards by Andy Dalton. In only his second career start, rookie quarterback Andy Dalton threw for 332 yards. He spread the ball around completing passes to seven different receivers.
   
4. 65.8% completion rate by Andy Dalton. Dalton was pretty accurate all day in achieving his impressive completion rate. The fact that Dalton achieved this while putting the ball up 41 times is pretty impressive.
5. 260 receiving yards combined by A.J. Green and Jerome Simpson. Bengals starting receivers combined for 14 receptions, 260 yards and a touchdown. A.J. Green had one of the most impressive touchdown catches in Bengals history while Simpson recorded an 84 yard reception.

Stats that make you frown

1. 1/11 3rd down efficiency. The Bengals only converted one third down in 11 tries against the Broncos. Four of those attempts were for conversion attempts under 2 yards with the Bengals failing to convert any of them.
2. 0/2 4th down efficiency. The first fourth down conversion attempt was a fourth and one which failed due to an incomplete pass. It occurred with the Bengals down by 2 points and looking at a 56 yard field goal.
   
3. 59 yards rushing for Cedric Benson. Benson struggled to get going against a Broncos defense that gave up 190 yards rushing last week to the Oakland Raiders. It did not help that the Bengals fell behind early and had to pass to catch up.
4. 3.68 yards per carry average by Cedric Benson. As covered earlier, Benson struggled to get going early, but when he was given the chance he failed to impress with his pedestrian 3.68 average.
5. 5.8 yard average punt return. Brandon Tate struggled in punt returns this week as he averaged less than 6 yards per return. He was also bailed out of a terrible decision to not field a Broncos punt in the 4th quarter by a penalty on the Broncos special teams.