3 winners and 7 losers from Bengals’ whacky loss to Dolphins

It appears the Joker took a vacation from Gotham City to South Beach and decided to impose his will on today’s game between the Bengals and Dolphins. And as expected from that premise, tomfoolery and chaos ensued, and not much of it favored the Bengals.

The refs will come away as the story in this game, but the Bengals didn’t do themselves any favors. This game will undoubtedly go down as one of the chaotic games the Bengals have played in recent memory, and there are obviously more losers than winners for the losing team.

Here are our winners and losers from the Bengals’ 19-7 defeat to the Dolphins.

Winners

Drew Sample: The Bengals’ second-round pick of the 2019 NFL Draft had his best play of his career today. On Tyler Boyd’s 72-yard touchdown, Sample had the key block that sprung Boyd free. Sample also had the most catches for the Bengals with seven and racked up 49 yards.

Jessie Bates III: It really does feel like the Bengals’ defense is a series of wildfires and Bates is the lone firefighter to extinguish them all. Bates was all over the field today and nearly came away with an interception to go with a forced fumble late in the game. He’s earning his inevitable mega-extension after every game this season.

William Jackson III: Credit to his commendable second-half performance when he had three great pass breakups in the second half, but two first-half penalties add some nuance to his day overall. Jackson did his best to keep this game close, though.

Losers

Zac Taylor: For not fighting a referee after that officiating debacle at the end of the first half. Tyler Boyd deserved better. And so does this team. Taylor continuously exhibits zero leadership when the team needs it the most.

Mike Thomas: Stanley Morgan and Brandon Wilson started the game strong as gunners for the Bengals’ punt coverage unit, but Thomas made a fool of himself later in the game. His foolishness when prematurely tackling Jakeem Grant on back-to-back punt returns sparked a rightful outrage from the Dolphins’ sideline and no Bengals fan can be proud of his actions. He didn’t help the team, plain and simple.

Bobby Hart and Hakeem Adeniji: Good grief. By the end of the game, Emmanuel Ogbah was just having his way with the Bengals’ right tackle. Hart allowed a near sack-fumble in the fourth quarter and was just unimpressive in this game. Adeniji came in at left tackle for the injured Jonah Williams and gave up a sack that took Brandon Allen out of the game. Anyone that forces Ryan Finley into the game is a loser by default.

LeShaun Sims: The Dolphins finished their first drive of the second half with a touchdown to Mike Gesicki, who was covered by Sims. Darius Phillips was supposed to start in this game, but he was never activated off of the Reserve/Injured list. Sims, unfortunately, continued to get picked on as a backup.

Josh Bynes: The veteran linebacker’s day was filled with missed tackles and being picked on in coverage. Not good.

Brandon Wilson: Why wasn’t he back returning kickoffs? Maybe this is on Darrin Simmons, I don’t know. This game was stupid.