Bengals quarterback Jake Browning has always said, in Joe Burrowese, that if he sees his guys covered man-to-man, he's going to them no matter who, what, when, where.
And he's going to keep doing exactly that. Maybe a few tweaks on his contested balls, but he's still going to be gunning for wide receivers Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, and his other weapons Sunday (4:25 p.m.-Cincinnati's FOX 19) against the Lions at Paycor Stadium.
Such was his biggest takeaway after analyzing Monday night's game against the Broncos.
On the game's first drive, the Bengals' best of the night, Browning stared at a third-and-two from the Denver 8.
Split out right, he had wide receiver Tee Higgins towering over cornerback Riley Moss one-on-one in the matchup that yielded 133 yards and three touchdowns in Cincinnati last season. But Higgins never got a shot to leave his feet on the fade.
"I didn't give Tee a chance," Browning said after the Wednesday walkthrough. "No deep ball has ever been completed that a receiver couldn't get to. Especially with a guy like Tee. I felt like I had two that stood out as not giving him a chance. I can see what I was trying to do, but I need to adjust how I'm throwing some of my 50-50 balls to him just to give him a shot at it. And so I would say that was the main takeaway."
On the next drive and the Bengals up 3-0, they had another third-and-two from their 38. This time Higgins was split left, but on Moss again. Browning went right for Higgins down the left sideline, but they couldn't connect as it went over his head.
Not a hard throw on third-and-two, Browning says. Not a hard call.
"They're easy decisions," he said. "I mean, if you want to come and play man, I'll take Tee Higgins and Ja'Marr all day long. I think I've got to give them a better chance on some of them, and the ones that I did, I think the outcome was positive. That kind of goes back to my main takeaway from the game is just giving our really good receivers opportunities on the 50-50 balls."
And if they're one-on-one Sunday, he's still going for them.
Stay Aggressive
And Browning believes he stayed aggressive in Denver despite the five interceptions during the previous two weeks.
"In this offense, you do have to make some aggressive throws in the pocket. That's just the reality of being a drop-back team and relying on drop-back game," Browning said. "I think for me, it's just some of the decision-making outside of the pocket I really felt like was better this last game. I think that was one positive.
"I definitely felt like I took better care of the ball and didn't put us back with turnovers, and was able to find the balance of still being aggressive and pushing the ball down the field when it needed to be and not making careless throws or reckless throws outside the pocket."
And that was offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher's take.
"You could make the opposite argument. That he was being aggressive and pushing the ball outside the numbers, and we just didn't execute," Pitcher said. "I don't sense a tentative player. I sense a guy that knew he was going to have to take some of those matchups. We took them, and we just didn't throw the best balls."
Back to the Future
Monday night's first drive had Browning thinking about his 4-3 run two years ago when he completed 70% of his passes. On that opening 12-play march, he had three third downs. One was third-and-one and one was the third-and-two. The longest was six yards. They had four second downs. One was six yards, one was one yard.
"I think the screen game and run game kind of helped me get into a rhythm. Especially early on when I had no experience," Browning said of his first seven starts. "I just felt like we did a better job when I was in '23 and what we need to improve in this year is just staying ahead of the sticks. More like the amount of snaps that I had in '23.
"Where it was second and five, second and two, not second and 11, second and 12, and then you're basically playing third down twice."
Catch It If You Can
Bengals backup safety P.J. Jules (pronounced Jewels') almost had a Monday Night gem. Even MNF analyst Troy Aikman couldn't blame him for grabbing the ball away from Denver All-Pro punt returner Marvin Mims Jr. on what could have been a huge game-changer of a play.
The Broncos led, 21-3, when Bengals punter Ryan Rehkow hit another missile that forced Mims and his 17.2-yard average to call a fair catch at the Denver 15 early in the third quarter.
Jules did what he was supposed to do and let Mims catch it. But Mims bobbled it once, then twice. Still, Jules let him go. Until the third bobble, when the ball hit Jules in the chest. He grabbed it and knifed his way to the Denver 8.
The officials, as well as the MNF rules analyst, made the wrong call initially. It was not fair catch interference. Bengals special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons, the longest-tenured kicking coach in the game, knew it wasn't because Mims touched it first.
But Simmons also knew it wasn't a fumble.
"It has to hit the ground first," Simmons said Wednesday. "Not a penalty. A foul. They just gave them the ball (at the 15). It's hard to be critical of P.J. I mean, he was true to his instincts."
As Jules said, "I was backing up, trying to give him room. He's bobbling the ball. I let him catch it. He lunged forward at me, bobbled it again, and it hit me in the chest. What do you want me to do? You don't want it? I'll take it."
It was a solid effort by Simmons' crew. Rehkow averaged 50.4 yards per punt to his pad his NFL gross punting lead to 52.7, and three of them had hang times of at least 5.5 seconds. Mims had three shots to return, but had fewer than half his average with eight yards per.
Simmons also likes what he's getting from Jules. He's got three teams tackles during a year he's playing gunner for the first time, replacing Tycen Anderson, now the personal protector.
