Jets (0-7) at Bengals (3-4) Sunday, Oct. 26 at Paycor Stadium (Field Turf CORE), 1 p.m. ET, TV: CBS: Locally WKRC-TV Ch. 12 (Cincinnati) Spero Dedes (PBP), Adam Archuleta (analyst), Aditi Kinkhabwala (sideline). Radio: Dan Hoard, Dave Lapham. 700 WLW AM, WEBN-FM (102.7 FM), ESPN1530.
CINCINNATI — Beware the trap.
The Bengals enter this weekend knowing they are the better team with the better roster. But on a path back to .500 and what they hope will be a very favorable second-half schedule, the last thing they can afford is to give the Jets their first win of 2025.
Better Bengals teams have fallen in this spot before. In 2015, the 8-0 Bengals came into Monday night football against the 3-5 Houston Texans and laid an egg in a 10-6 home loss that sent the Bengals into a bit of a spiral, losing three of their next five. In 1975, the 8-1 Bengals entered Cleveland against the winless 0-9 Browns and Cleveland stunned the Bengals with a massive second half comeback in a 35-23 Cleveland victory.
These Bengals (3-4) are well-rested and coming off their best win of the season, a 33-31 last-second win over division rival and AFC North-leading Pittsburgh on Oct. 16. The win has rekindled visions of Cincinnati competing for the division title, with home games against the Jets and the Chicago Bears to finish a three-game homestand.
“It’s a huge win. We needed this,” said head coach Zac Taylor, whose team ended a four-game losing skid in Week 7. “It had been too long since we won. When you’re fighting for all these things that we fight for and these guys just keep coming — as a coach, you’re (telling them), ‘Keep sticking with it.’ I see it coming. You need the results, and so we got the results. There were no non-believers in that locker room.”
The Bengals could have the services of star pass rusher Trey Hendrickson back Sunday after Hendrickson missed the game against the Steelers with a hip injury. Hendrickson returned to practice on Wednesday in limited activity.
At halftime, Dave Lapham and Lemar Parrish will be formally inducted into the Bengals Ring of Honor. Lapham, who is in his 50th season with Cincinnati in 2025, played in 140 games as a player and has been the team’s radio analyst since 1986. Parrish is the highest scoring defensive player in team history, with TD returns on four INTs, four punts, three fumble recoveries and one kickoff.
The Jets (0-7) face much more uncertainty as head coach Aaron Glenn was not prepared to announce a starting quarterback when he first met with the media on Wednesday. He reiterated Friday that he was not going to announce a starting quarterback until game day Sunday. Justin Fields was benched in the first half of the 13-6 home loss to the Carolina Panthers, completing just 6-of-12 passes for 46 yards.
It got so bad that Jets owner Woody Johnson criticized the team’s offense publicly this week at NFL owners’ meetings in New York.
“If we can just complete a pass, it would look good,” Johnson told reporters. “The offense is just not clicking, and you can’t run the ball if you can’t pass the ball. That’s football 101.”
As for Fields, Johnson said the quarterback’s ability isn’t matching his output.
“It’s hard when you have a quarterback with a rating that he’s got. I mean, he has ability, but something just is not jiving. … You have to play consistently at that position, and that’s what we’re going to try to do for the remainder of the season.”
His replacement couldn’t find the end zone either as Tyrod Taylor was only 10-for-22 passing with 126 yards and two interceptions. Adding to New York’s misery, Taylor sustained a knee injury and his availability for Sunday is up in the air.
“We’ll have a quarterback on Sunday,” Glenn said. “I wouldn’t want to give (the Bengals) a competitive advantage.”
The Jets could also be without star cornerback Sauce Gardner, who entered concussion protocol after an injury in the second half Sunday against Carolina. Receiver Garrett Wilson missed last week’s game with a knee injury, and his availability is also in doubt for Sunday.
If Gardner could get on the field, it would mark his return to Cincinnati for the first time since playing for the 2021 Cincinnati Bearcats that lost in the CFP National semifinal.
After making his first Bengals start in Week 6 at Green Bay and then preparing for Pittsburgh on a shortened week, Flacco threw for 342 yards and three TDs, good for a passer rating of 108.6. He and Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers led the two offenses to a combined 866 net yards in what was the third regular-season game in NFL history between two starting QBs over 40 years old.
Flacco’s production featured a heavy dose of Cincinnati’s top two receivers, Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. Chase set a Bengals single-game record with 16 receptions, surpassing his own team mark set in 2023, for 161 yards and a TD. For his work, he was awarded AFC offensive player of the week for the fifth time in his career.
Higgins also caught a TD pass and finished with 96 yards on six catches, including a 28-yarder late in the fourth quarter that put the Bengals in range for the game-winning kick.
Chase, who last year earned the NFL’s receiving “Triple Crown,” is compiling yet another Pro Bowl-worthy campaign in his fifth pro season. Through seven weeks of play, he leads the league in receptions (58), while ranking second in receiving yards (629) and tied for fifth in receiving TDs (five). But while Taylor acknowledged that getting his star receiver involved remains a priority each week, he also pointed to the efforts of other offensive contributors who present matchup issues for opposing defenses.
“Our whole game plan is trying to get him the ball every which way,” said Taylor on Chase. “That’s where Tee isn’t getting the targets, but having Tee over there opposite of him or on the same side of him — you can’t just play one-on-one all game, or the ball is going to go there. Sometimes, Ja’Marr’s production is (because of) Ja’Marr, but it’s also the other guys that we have that put pressure on the defense.”
The complementary pieces last Thursday included HB Chase Brown, who averaged 9.8 yards per carry and finished with 108 rushing yards overall, as well as WR Andrei Iosivas (49 receiving yards) and TE Noah Fant (44 yards and a TD). Defensively, the Bengals have flipped the momentum of several games this season with nine total takeaways, which are tied for eighth-most in the NFL.
Cincinnati picked off Rodgers twice in Week 7, as S Jordan Battle notched his third INT of the year and CB DJ Turner II continued his breakout season with his second pick late in the first half.
The Bengals this week look to capitalize on takeaways again when they face a Jets team that ranks last in the NFL in turnover margin (minus-nine). New York enters at 0-7 on the season, with its most recent result being a 13-6 setback against Carolina in Week 7.
The series: The Jets lead, 18-11, including 2-0 in playoff games, which were both played in Cincinnati, after the 1982 and 2009 seasons. The Bengals won the most recent contest between the two teams 27-12 in 2022 at MetLife Stadium, and they have won four of the last five.
The Bengals lead 7-5 in games played between the two teams in Cincinnati overall, though they have won six of the past regular-season meetings in the Queen City. The Jets last won in Cincinnati in the 2009 Wild Card Playoff. The Jets’ last regular-season win in Cincinnati occurred in 1997.
Here’s what to look for:
- When the Bengals have the ball:
Can Joe Flacco repeat his performance against the Steelers? It’s the biggest question to be answered. Also, can the Bengals run block against the Jets stout front, led by Quinnen Williams and Harrison Phillips? Edge Jermaine Johnson is also a first-round pick from 2022. It’s the teeth of defense and what makes the defense one of the more formidable fronts in the NFL. Zac Taylor this week noted that five of their seven losses have been by one score, and the one thing the Bengals don’t want to do – especially at Paycor – is give the Jets any semblance of hope of ending their winless streak in Cincinnati. Sauce Gardner is a question mark with a concussion. The Bengals catch a major break with top corner Sauce Gardner out in concussion protocol while former Bengal defensive lineman Jay Tufele is also out. If Flacco gets the time, he should be able to make good use of Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Andrei Iosivas in the pass game. But the Jets have been respectable against the pass this season, allowing just 197 yards per game, good for ninth in the NFL. They are giving up 129.3 yards a contest on the ground. Time for Chase Brown to rack up more big runs like he did against the Steelers in his first 100-yard game of the year.
- When the Jets have the ball:
The big question all week, which Jets head coach Aaron Glenn has refused to answer, is whether Justin Fields or Tyrod Taylor will start at quarterback. Taylor has been nursing a knee injury all week, limiting his practice reps and ending the week as officially questionable. Fields was benched in the first half last Sunday after completing just 6-of-12 passes for 46 yards. Fields does provide a threat with his legs and beat the Bengals in 2021 as a rookie when he led the Bears past the Bengals, 20-17. He relieved Andy Dalton and ran 10 times for 31 yards while completing just 6-of-13 passes for 60 yards, no touchdowns and an interception. With no Garrett Wilson (knee) available, the Jets will rely on former Bengal Isaiah Williams, Allen Lazard, Josh Reynolds and fourth rounder Arian Smith out of Georgia. Trey Hendrickson is on track to return this week with Shemar Stewart, with both on the field for the first time since Sept. 14 against Jacksonville.
- Bottom Line:
The Bengals did what they needed to do against the Steelers. Now, they can’t waste the momentum they’ve started. A good, clean start against an inferior team in complete disarray is needed so as to not provide any hope to the NFL’s only winless team. The Bengals offense was rough to start the game against Pittsburgh but finally found its rhythm. Start fast and put this team away early and finally show that you’re capable of playing with a big lead and can put away a game you should win going away. The Jets have the defense to keep this close but at home, the Bengals need to find that extra something that puts the dagger into their opponent. Charlie Jones returns a punt the distance in honor of Lemar Parrish, who along with Dave Lapham, is entering the Bengals Ring of Honor at halftime.
Bengals 30, Jets 17
