It’s easy to go from the penthouse to the outhouse quickly in the NFL. Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals are learning this the hard way. The defending AFC champions finished the year strong last season but are now 0-2. That gives the Bengals’ hopes of even getting back to the playoffs — let alone back to a Super Bowl – a major hit. The Bengals Week 2 defeat by the Dallas Cowboys was a team effort in being disappointing. However, there were a few Bengals who stood out in all the wrong ways in the loss. Here are the three Bengals players most responsible for Week 2 loss vs. the Cowboys: Trey Hendrickson, Jonah Williams, and Joe Burrow.

3. DE Trey Hendrickson

The Bengals Week 2 defense wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t good enough to lead the team to a win. The defense held the Cowboys to 20 points, which would normally be a solid outing. However, with Cooper Rush under center and not Dak Prescott, 20 points seems like an avalanche from Dallas.

The Bengals D held up well against the run, limiting Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard to under 100 yards on the ground on 21 carries. It was the passing game that was the problem on Sunday. The defense let Cooper Rush go 19-of-31 for 235 yards with one touchdown, one sack, and no interceptions.

Those last two pieces are the biggest problem. The Bengals didn’t put nearly enough pressure on Rush. The Dallas backup could sit back in the pocket and pick out high-percentage throws all day without fear of the Cincinnati pass rush.

Defensive end Sam Hubbard did get a sack on Rush, but no one else did. That’s a bad look for the Bengals’ star edge-rusher, Trey Hendrickson. The 27-year-old defender is Cincinnati’s highest-paid defensive player, making $15 million per season. For that type of money, he needs to do better than producing one QB hit in a big game like this.

Trey Hendrickson has the skills and the track record (double-digit sacks the last two seasons) that says he’ll get better. But against the Cowboys, not making Cooper Rush run for his life is an unforgivable sin and one of the big reasons why the Bengals lost.

2. OT Jonah Williams

The Cincinnati Bengals offensive line gave up six sacks against the Cowboys in Week 2. Add that to the seven they gave up in Week 1, and you can see there is a massive problem in front of joe Burrow.

The Bengals O-line was supposed to be better this season. After giving up 55 sacks last season — the third-most in the league — the Cincinnati front office added center Ted Karras, guard Alex Cappa, and tackle La’el Collins, and drafted guard Cordell Volson in Round 4. Those four teamed up with 2020 No. 11 overall pick Jonah Williams, but it looks like that still isn’t good enough.

At the pace the Bengals line is giving up sacks now, they are on pace to double last year’s total. Joe Burrow wouldn’t last the season at that pace.

The offensive line is a unit, so there is plenty of blame to go around. That said, this is a list of players, not units, to blame for the Bengals Week 2 loss, so the performance has to go on somebody.

In this case, it goes on Jonah Williams. The high draft pick got smoked one-on-one on several occasions by defensive end Dorrance Armstrong, who finished the game with 2.0 sacks and two QB hits. He also struggled (as everyone does) when Micah Parsons (2.9 sacks, five QB hits) lined up on his side.

The sacks aren’t all Jonah Williams’ fault, but the line has to get better, and the disappointing-to-this-point tackle might be the scapegoat.

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GM Duke Tobin in the middle, Rome Odunze, T'Vondre Sweat, Brandon Coleman around him, and Cincinnati Bengals in the background.

Enzo Flojo ·

1. QB Joe Burrow

At the end of the day, the NFL is a quarterback-driven league. These players get the lion’s share of the credit after big wins, which means they must also take a good chunk of the blame after disappointing losses like in the Bengals Week 2 matchup.

Statistically, Burrow struggled. He went 24-of-36 for just 199 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions. Yes, the six sacks contributed to that, but those sacks weren’t all the offensive line’s fault.

Burrow held on to the ball way too long at times in this game. While waiting for Ja’Marr Chase or Tee Higgins to get open down the field for the home run ball, defenders overpowered his already struggling line and got to the QB.

Of course, Joey B wants to sling it down the field to his incredible weapons. But while his new line is still gelling, maybe that’s not the best course of action. Joe Burrow needs to make quicker decisions with the football and check it down when nothing is there deep more often. This will hopefully keep the sticks moving and keep him upright more often.

Next week, the Bengals face the Jets in an absolute must-win game, and Trey Hendrickson, Jonah Williams, and Joe Burrow must play better to get the W.