Williams: Win is a win, but do you feel any better about Cincinnati Bengals?

The NFL has its share of low-scoring snoozers each week.

You just hope your team can find a way to win those types of games, and that’s what the Cincinnati Bengals did in a 17-7 victory against the New York Giants in a Sunday night puntfest at the Meadowlands.

“Ugly. Really ugly, but we got it done” is how Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow summed it up in his postgame interview on NBC.

Hey, you take ’em any way you can get ’em at this point if you’re the Bengals – and especially in primetime on the road. The Bengals improved to 2-15 in such games since 2013.

The Bengals’ defense, seemingly motivated after a players-only meeting last week, showed up for once. So congrats to the Bengals on that. Not sure it’s something to get too excited about. After all, the Giants (2-4) entered having not scored a touchdown at home this season.

Honestly, does anyone really feel much better about this 2-4 Bengals team?

Anyone think the Bengals are going to consistently beat the top teams – or even the so-so teams – playing like they did Sunday night?

Can they even use this sleepy performance as a momentum-builder going into Cleveland on Sunday? Yes, Cleveland is horrible. But the Bengals haven’t won in Cleveland since 2017. I know you didn’t need to be reminded of that.

The Bengals went from bad to not-quite-as-bad and boring. Last few weeks, the offense showed out and the defense didn’t show up. When the defense came to play in primetime, Joe Burrow’s side of the ball sleepwalked most of the evening.

It’s not a good sign that the Bengals haven’t put it all together in a game six weeks into the season.

Burrow scrambled for a 47-yard touchdown on the opening drive of the game. It wasn’t by design. The offense lacked execution most of the rest of the game until running back Chase Brown surged up the middle for a 30-yard touchdown with 1:52 left in the game.

More concerning, the 2022 offensive line showed back up. Burrow got sacked a season-high four times and was regularly under pressure. He was slammed to the turf in the fourth quarter, the back of his head hitting the ground hard. Every Bengals fan watching winced and undoubtedly started thinking the worst. Burrow ended up in the blue injury tent, but he came back and said he was fine after the game.

The offensive line can’t have too many more games like that and expect Burrow to make it through the season. The Bengals have no margin for error, and a healthy Burrow is Cincinnati’s only hope – slim as it is – of making the playoffs.

Maybe I’m focusing too much on the negative. The Bengals’ much-maligned defensive line was fantastic. The key members of the defensive line were all finally healthy, and B.J. Hill was the quarterback menace the Bengals interior defensive line hadn’t previously seen this season.

Hill was in Giants quarterback Daniel Jones’ face, forcing him to throw a looping pass that Bengals linebacker Germaine Pratt practically could’ve fair caught. That came in the first quarter with the Giants in the red zone. If New York scores a touchdown there, the game could’ve gone differently.

“Our defense played great,” Burrow said. “They’ve taken some heat the past couple weeks, but they played awesome today.”

Contact columnist Jason Williams at jwilliams@enquirer.com

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Williams: Win is a win, but do you feel any better about Cincinnati Bengals?