NFL Week 4 Primer: Cincinnati Bengals (0-2-1) vs. Jacksonville Jaguars (1-2)

The Bengals are still searching for their first win of the season, and for the third week in a row, they are facing a team coming off a very disappointing loss.

The Jaguars lost to the Dolphins on Thursday Night Football last week, and their performance has had some second guessing their early showing this season. Can the Bengals take advantage with their return home?

The biggest story of the week might be about who’s in the stands instead of who’s on the field. This will be the first game of the season in Cincinnati where a small percentage of fans will actually be in Paul Brown Stadium. It will be the first time rookie quarterback Joe Burrow gets to play in front of his own fan base, and he surely won’t disappoint. The rookie has had two very impressive games in a row.

Hopefully this week the offense is finally able to put the plays together to put away an opponent. The past two weeks, settling for field goals too often has cost this team two close games. It should also get the terrible taste of last week’s tie out of everyone’s mouth.

Meanwhile, the Jaguars went from coming into the season looking like the most likely landing spot for Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence to looking like they may actually have a guy in Gardner Minshew II. That is what made the dud the offense put together against a very poor and banged up Dolphins defense all the more confusing. Can he and the Jaguars turn it around this week?

Everything you need to know for when the Bengals take on the Jaguars:

Game: Cincinnati Bengals (0-2-1) vs. Jacksonville Jaguars (1-2)

Date/Time: Oct. 4th, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. EST

Location: Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio

Series Leader: The Jaguars lead the series 13-9

Streak: The Jaguars have won the past two games

Coaches vs. Opponent: Zac Taylor: (0-1). Doug Marrone (2-1)

Television: The game will air on CBS-TV. In the Bengals’ home region, it will be carried by WKRC-TV (Ch. 12) in Cincinnati, WHIO-TV (Ch. 7) in Dayton and on WKYT-TV (Ch. 27) in Lexington. Broadcasters are Tom McCarthy (play-by-play) and Jay Feely (analyst).

Radio Broadcast: The game will air on the Bengals Radio Network, led by Cincinnati flagship stations WLW-AM (700), WCKY-AM (ESPN 1530; all sports) and WEBN-FM (102.7). Broadcasters are Dan Hoard (play-by-play) and Dave Lapham (analyst).

SB Nation Jaguars’ site: Big Cat Country

Weather: Mid 50’s, possible light rain and overcast [NFL weather]

Odds: Bengals, -3.5 [Odds Shark]

Bengals notes

• Joe Burrow passed for 312 yards and two touchdowns without an interceptions for career-high 105.5 passer rating last week. He aims for his third in a row with at least 300 passing yards, two touchdowns, no interceptions and a passer rating of at least 90. He ranks second in the NFL with 91 completions, most by a rookie quarterback in his first three career games in NFL history.
• Joe Mixon had 65 scrimmage yards (49 rushing and 16 receiving) last week. He aims for his fifth in a row against the AFC South and third in a row against the Jaguars with a touchdown. Mixon has 403 scrimmage yards (134.3 per game) and two rushing touchdowns in his past three at home. Giovani Bernard had season-high 55 receiving yards in Week 3.
• Tyler Boyd led the team with 10 catches for 125 yards last week, his third game with at least 10 catches since 2019, tied second-most among wide receivers. He aims for his third in a row with at least seven catches and 70 receiving yards. Boyd had five catches for 55 yards in last the meeting. Tee Higgins caught his first pair of touchdowns of his career last week.
• Carlos Dunlap led the team with nine tackles and had a tackle for a loss and a pass deflection in Week 3. He has sacks in two of his past three against the Jaguars. He has 7.5 sacks, four passes defended and two forced fumbles in his past five games at home. Carl Lawson had two sacks and a froced fumble last week. He has five sacks in his past four games. He aims for his third game in a row at home with a sack. Sam Hubbard had a sack in Week 3. He had two passes defended in the last meeting.

Jaguars notes

• Gardner Minshew II completed 30 of 42 passes (71.4 percent) for 275 yards and rushed for a season-high 22 yards last week, his third-career game with a completion percentage of at least 70. He passed for 255 yards and a touchdown while rushing for 48 yards in the last meeting with the Bengals. Minshew is one of three quarterbacks in the AFC with a passer rating of at least 100 (101.3) and a completion percentage of 70 (73.8) this season.
• Rookie running back James Robinson had a career-high 129 scrimmage yards (83 receiving and 46 rushing) and two rushing touchdowns last week. He aims for his third game in a row with at least 100 scrimmage yards and a rushing touchdown. Robinson ranks second among rookies with 339 scrimmage yards, most by an undrafted player in his first three career games in the common draft era. Chris Thompson had a season-high five catches in Week 3.
• D.J. Chark had 53 receiving yards in the last meeting. He has nine receiving touchdowns since 2019, third-most among AFC wide receivers. Rookie wide receiver Laviska Shenault had a career-high five catches last week. He ranks tied for fourth among rookies with 11 catches this season. Keenan Cole had a touchdown catch in the last meeting. Chris Conley had 83 receiving yards in the last meeting. Tyler Eifert had 185 catches for 2,152 yards and 24 touchdowns in seven seasons (2013-19) with the Bengals. This is his first season with the Jaguars.
• Myles Jack aims for his fourth game in a row with at least 11 tackles. He had two passes defended and an interception the last time these teams met. Jack has a pass defended in two of his past three games against the AFC North. He is tied for the NFL lead with 33 tackles. Joe Schobert had eight tackles and a tackle for a loss in Week 3. Josh Allen had two tackles for a loss and his first sack of the season last week. He had two tackles for a loss and a sack in the last meeting. Cornerback C.J. Henderson ranks second among rookies with four passes defended this season.