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If it feels like a continuous rerun episode of a bad sitcom, you aren’t alone. Cincinnati traveled all the way to London, but the change in venue (and continent) didn’t provide a different result.
Here are the best and worst individual performers in the Bengals’ 24-10 loss to the Rams.
Winners
Joe Mixon: The veteran running back was looking to find room and had some early success. Mixon had his second-most productive game of 2019 with 66 rushing yards and four receptions—one of which was a touchdown.
Tyler Eifert: The Bengals finally decided to use their best available receiving weapon this week and the tight end responded. Eifert had six catches for 74 yards and five of them went for first downs.
Kevin Huber: It’s not great when your punter is one of the high points of a team performance, but he’s having one of his best seasons as a pro. Three of Huber’s five punts landed inside the Rams’ 20-yard line, including two inside Los Angeles’ 10-yard line.
Losers
B.W. Webb: The veteran corner didn’t have as bad of a day as another we’ll get to, but one play encapsulated the Bengals’ 2019 season. Two Rams receiving options were streaking open, leaving Webb in a lose-lose situation. Webb slipped, leaving Cooper Kupp wide open for an eventual 65-yard touchdown reception.
Tony McRae: On the rare occasion that McRae actually knocked a pass away from Cooper Kupp, he was initially beaten. With Dre Kirkpatrick and Darius Phillips sidelined, McRae was pressed into action and Kupp made him look silly.
Lou Anarumo: After his unit let the Bengals hang around the past couple of weeks, Anarumo’s defense was completely obliterated against Los Angeles. Whether it was giving up an inexplicable 21-yard run to Todd Gurley on a third-and-10 at the Rams’ own one-yard line, the Kupp fireworks show, or in his odd schematic choices, it was a major step backward for a unit that is already ranked as one of the worst in the league.
Shawn Williams: In the third quarter, Jared Goff made a nice throw to Josh Reynolds to gain 30 yards, in which Williams was a step behind. One play later, Williams had a golden opportunity to grab a game-changing interception and dropped it. These were microcosms of the aspects of the defense in which he was partially responsible for the career days by Goff and Kupp.
The offensive tackles: John Jerry and Bobby Hart had evenings to forget. Both committed trademark false start penalties and were culprits in the unit’s giving up of five sacks on the day.
The star veterans whose names are in trade rumors: Geno Atkins, A.J. Green, Carlos Dunlap and Dre Kirkpatrick all had their names being kicked around on Sunday as the trade deadline loomed, but it seems that they won’t be released from the purgatory that is the Cincinnati Bengals. Furthermore, two of them traveled with the team while injured and all made a lengthy trip just to see their team fall to 0-8.