Last year, it was prematurely deemed as the Tua Bowl. And then it was changed to the Burrow Bowl. It’s only natural that almost a full season later that Cincinnati Bengals face the Miami Dolphins again after each team got the quarterback they desired and they won’t even get to square off against one another.
Joe Burrow’s in California getting his ACL and MCL fixed at the moment while Tua Tagovailoa is on the other side of the country rehabbing a thumb injury that might make him miss his second-straight game.
The quarterbacks were the main parallel between these two teams; everything else speaks to how different they diverted from each other over the course of this season. Bengals head coach Zac Taylor is struggling to top his season-low win total from last year while Brian Flores of the Dolphins has a legitimate chance to win Coach of the Year.
Miami has won six of their last seven games thanks to their suffocating defense and stellar quarterback play from both the rookie Tagovailoa and old man Ryan Fitzpatrick. Cincinnati has lost three straight contests and their quarterback for the season. To say these two franchises are going in different directions is an understatement.
But Taylor and the Bengals aren’t throwing in the towel, even though that’s what it looks like when you consciously start Brandon Allen at quarterback. Taylor has five games left to build some momentum for next year, assuming his job security is strong enough to warrant a next year, and the Bengals need another signature win against a quality team. A victory over a surging playoff contender in a city the franchise hasn’t won in since 2007 would definitely qualify as such.
Use this stream as your one-stop guide for everything about the Bengals’ Week 13 matchup against the Dolphins.