Bengals News (10/1): Embarrassing loss

What They Are Saying: Taylor, Dalton Thoughts After Week 4
Not the day that we anticipated having. Came out, we were ready. We felt like we were ready. As the game got started, I felt like we were moving the ball well on offense. Defense was coming up making stops. I really felt like this was a game that we were going to really take advantage of, score points, get a lot of stops, win this ballgame. We didn't get it done. You know, the opportunities we had in the first half, we just didn't get it done.

Quick Hits: Missed Chances For Offense; Misdirection For Defense
Asked how his body felt after the most punishing game of his career, Dalton sounded more hurt by the 0-4 start and a 57.4 passer rating, his lowest in two seasons on 21 of 37 for 171 yards.

Steelers Sack Bengals, 27-3
They reeled off 17 points with a field goal in the last 58 seconds of the first half and two touchdowns in the first 5:36 of the second half to take a 24-3 lead. In the middle of all that the Bengals offense could do nothing to help with a killing three-and-out to begin the second half.

Photo Gallery: Bengals at Steelers Week 4
Check out some of the best snapshots from the Bengals' Week 4 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Steelers Get Jump On Bengals
Down 7-3 with 5:54 left in the half the Bengals had a shot to take the lead when they nosed into the red zone on quarterback Andy Dalton’s 11-yard out route to wide receiver John Ross at the Steelers 18. Ross got the Bengals’ best drive of the half going with a magnificent one-handed grab on a ball thrown behind him and wide receiver Tyler Boyd also had a 13-yarder to the sideline in the drive.

WR Tyler Boyd sums up Bengals' blowout loss -- 'We got embarrassed'
What Boyd can tolerate, he said, is close losses like the Bengals' one-possession defeats in Week 1 and Week 3. But there's too much pride to have performances such as the one at Heinz Field, where Pittsburgh scored 27 unanswered points and won its ninth straight game over Cincinnati, marking its longest winning streak in the series' 100-game history.

NFL Week 4 grades: Titans get an 'A' for crushing Falcons, Bengals get an 'F' for ugly prime time performance
One week after being thrashed by the Jaguars 20-7 in a Thursday night blowout, the unpredictable Titans did some thrashing of their own Sunday in a dominating 24-10 win over the Falcons.

What we learned from Steelers' victory over Bengals
After a conservative debut last week in which Mason Rudolph threw just two passes past one yard past the line of scrimmage, the thought was Pittsburgh would open up the playbook for the second-year backup and let him air it out. That was only partly right. The Steelers opened up the playbook on Monday night, but Rudolph rarely attempted a deep shot. With James Conner and Jaylen Samuels in the backfield, he didn't need to. Pittsburgh offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner helped out his young signal-caller by having the offense run through the running backs. Utilizing jet sweeps, the Wildcat and sometimes both on the same play, the Steelers spread out a confuddled Cincinnati front and let the tailbacks work.

5 takeaways from Bengals’ loss to Steelers on Monday
There, Andy Dalton suffered eight sacks as the needle moved to 0-4 on the team’s “new dey.” The Bengals had no answer offensively and the defense eventually succumbed to the pressure.

MNF Cincinnati Bengals: Blowout loss to Pittsburgh Steelers on ESPN
“Embarrassed. We just got to put it together, man. I don’t know what’s going on. We work hard, we practice hard every day and we felt like we played hard," Bengals cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick said in the locker room. "We just got to continue to keep getting better and keep doing all the little things right because we have to find a way."

Bengals-Steelers: Zac Taylor's team flailing into complete mess
The coach whose specialty is offense saw his offense go without a touchdown. His offensive line allowed eight sacks and this year will never allow the coach to do much of what he intends to do. Zac Taylor can design everything except linemen who can block. Without at least a decent offensive line, everything falls apart. Or never comes together in the first place.

Around the league

Sorting out NFC after September chaos: Bears up, Falcons down
There's very little separating most NFL teams. That's how the Saints can beat the Seahawks and the Cowboys without Drew Brees. That's how Panthers second-year quarterback Kyle Allen can pilot a road win over Deshaun Watson's Texans. It's one reason why the Buccaneers are 0-2 at home, yet 2-0 on the road after winning a defensive struggle in Carolina and a wild shootout in Los Angeles.

2020 NFL Draft order: Redskins No. 1; Eagles, Jets in top 10
Most assume the Dolphins, winless and seemingly hopeless, will pick first when the Las Vegas strip becomes DraftTown on April 23. And many, via Twitter hashtaggery and other means, profess to know whom the team will select with that selection. Right now, though, Miami's not alone at the bottom. Five other squads have yet to learn what it feels like to win in 2019, which means the week-to-week maneuvering at the top of the draft order might be the most interesting part of the season in several cities across the league.

Bills preparing Matt Barkley to start versus Titans
Barkley completed just 9 of 16 passes for 127 yards. The seventh-year QB initially drove Buffalo down the field upon taking over for Allen, completing a 28-yard pass to John Brown on his first snap. The Bills would reach the New England 2 before turning the ball over on downs. After a pair of three-and-outs, Barkley again moved the chains through the air with four straight completions. But on third-and-9 from the Patriots 39, Barkley was picked off by Jamie Collins to seal the loss.

Cardinals cut safety D.J. Swearinger after four games
The Cardinals released the veteran safety Monday after just four games, NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported, per a source. The team later confirmed the release. This marks the fourth time Swearinger has been released in his seven-year career and second time in nine months.