4 winners and 7 losers from Bengals’ overtime tie with Eagles

Of course it ends in a tie.

You know what? We’re not in the mood to feed anybody clerical fluff. Let’s just get to the winners and losers.

Winners

Tyler Boyd: While A.J. Green was a relative afterthought, Boyd had one of his better games in his career. 55 of his 125 yards came on just the second touchdown drive of the game (a monstrous 1.9 Expected Points Added per play). Boyd was Joe Burrow’s best target outside of the red zone as he took advantage of a bad Eagles secondary.

Tee Higgins: Joe Burrow’s first two red zone scores ended up in the hands of Higgins, who hauled in the first two touchdowns of his career. Higgins could’ve had more than just 40 yards on five receptions had he and Burrow connected on a couple of deep balls, but Higgins’ second career start was an overall success.

Logan Wilson: After playing a mesh concept perfectly, Wilson was in the right spot to coral first career interception off a tipped pass thanks to D.J. Reader. Wilson had a much better overall game than his Week 2 showing against the Browns.

Carl Lawson: Jason Peters looked completely washed at left tackle, and Lawson took advantage. He had a sack, a couple of pressures on Carson Wentz in first half. This was a game he needed after looking pedestrian during the first two weeks.

Losers

Mackensie Alexander: Right before halftime, the Eagles got into the end zone thanks to a blown coverage by Alexander. For the Bengals to try and play Tampa 2 after showing a single-high coverage in pre-snap created an opportunity for miscommunication, and Alexander was the culprit on the play, which gave the Eagles the lead at the half. Alexander then left the game with an injury in the beginning of the third quarter but came back and had an improved second half, but that blunder kills when looking back on it.

Fred Johnson and Billy Price: Johnson got the nod to start for the second week in a row and had a rough first half, which included a false start penalty. The Bengals saw enough to the point where he was benched after first half for Billy Price. Was it the right decision? Considering Price’s second half featured a crucial holding penalty and getting beat by Fletcher Cox multiple times, it’s tough to say.

Darius Phillips and William Jackson: On the last drive of regulation, Phillips was called for inexcusable pass interference penalties and each of them got the Eagles closer to scoring position on the final drive of the game. On the Eagles’ second drive in overtime, Phillips was beaten by Zach Ertz and was the victim of Carson Wentz’s best throw from the game.

The offensive line: Pass blocking, run blocking, it was bad. All of it. This feels like unnecessary shaming because we know this unit is bad and we know the Eagle’s defensive line is good. But when they continue to derail the offense like this, it’s more than deserved.

Lou Anarumo: All the defense needed was to keep the Eagles’ terrible offense out of the end zone and the game doesn’t go to overtime. Instead, two crucial penalties and a couple Carson Wentz runs got the Eagles to force overtime. Anarumo’s unit had no business allowing two touchdowns at the end of each half.