It was a laugher in downtown Cincinnati in Week 9. The Bengals played as dominant a first half as we’ve seen all season, heading to the locker room up 35-0 over the Carolina Panthers. And with backups in down the stretch, Cincinnati coasted to a 42-21 win.
Offensive spotlight: It was the Joe Mixon show all afternoon. The Bengals' run game had been a sore spot on the offense all season, but that changed Sunday. Mixon had his first 100-yard game this season — and he did it by halftime. He finished with 153 yards on 22 carries and four scores on the ground in the win. He added another score through the air with four catches for 58 yards.
Defensive spotlight: The Bengals' secondary came to play, even without its best cornerback, Chidobe Awuzie. Not a single player in the secondary allowed more than 31 yards in their coverage. Franchise-tagged safety Jessie Bates III continues to warrant a big new contract next offseason, as he didn’t allow a catch and had an interception in the win.
Rookie spotlight: If there was one bright spot for the Panthers in a blowout loss, it was the play of rookie first-rounder Ikem Ekwonu. He allowed only two pressures on 32 pass-blocking snaps. Making it all the more impressive was that he did it against Trey Hendrickson almost the entire day. That’s not an easy rusher for a rookie to block, but Ekwonu held his own.
Offensive line spotlight: The Bengals' offensive line had far and away its best showing in the run game all season. You don’t need a PFF grade to tell you that, though. There is still the worry about the tackles in pass protection. Jonah Williams looks like a completely different player from the one we saw in Cincinnati last year. He allowed four pressures in this game and his league-leading ninth sack of the year.
Box Score
Passing
| Carolina Panthers | ||||||
| Player | Fantasy | Comp/Att | Yds | YPA | TD | Int |
| Baker Mayfield | 14.2 | 14 / 20 | 155 | 7.8 | 2 | 0 |
| PJ Walker | -1.04 | 3 / 10 | 9 | 0.9 | 0 | 2 |
| Cincinnati Bengals | ||||||
| Player | Fantasy | Comp/Att | Yds | YPA | TD | Int |
| Joe Burrow | 19.14 | 22 / 28 | 206 | 7.4 | 1 | 0 |
| Brandon Allen | 0.78 | 3 / 3 | 22 | 7.3 | 0 | 0 |
Rushing
| Carolina Panthers | ||||||
| Player | Fantasy | Car | Yds | YPC | TD | Long |
| Raheem Blackshear | 15.3 | 5 | 13 | 2.6 | 1 | 5 |
| Spencer Brown | 4.6 | 3 | 16 | 5.3 | 0 | 7 |
| D'Onta Foreman | 4.1 | 7 | 23 | 3.3 | 0 | 6 |
| Laviska Shenault Jr. | 0.6 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 4 |
| PJ Walker | -1.04 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| Cincinnati Bengals | ||||||
| Player | Fantasy | Car | Yds | YPC | TD | Long |
| Joe Mixon | 58.1 | 22 | 153 | 7 | 4 | 29 |
| Joe Burrow | 19.14 | 4 | 9 | 2.2 | 1 | 4 |
| Samaje Perine | 6.4 | 6 | 51 | 8.5 | 0 | 29 |
| Trent Taylor | 5.2 | 3 | 18 | 6 | 0 | 9 |
| Trenton Irwin | 3.5 | 1 | 11 | 11 | 0 | 11 |
| Brandon Allen | 0.78 | 3 | -1 | -0.3 | 0 | 2 |
Receiving
| Carolina Panthers | ||||||
| Player | Fantasy | Tgt | Rec | Yds | YPT | TD |
| Raheem Blackshear | 15.3 | 4 | 4 | 40 | 10 | 0 |
| Terrace Marshall Jr. | 14.3 | 6 | 3 | 53 | 8.8 | 1 |
| Tommy Tremble | 8.1 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 2.8 | 1 |
| Spencer Brown | 4.6 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 3.3 | 0 |
| DJ Moore | 4.4 | 6 | 2 | 24 | 4 | 0 |
| D'Onta Foreman | 4.1 | 3 | 2 | -2 | -0.7 | 0 |
| Shi Smith | 3 | 2 | 1 | 20 | 10 | 0 |
| Giovanni Ricci | 1.8 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| Laviska Shenault Jr. | 0.6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cincinnati Bengals | ||||||
| Player | Fantasy | Tgt | Rec | Yds | YPT | TD |
| Joe Mixon | 58.1 | 5 | 4 | 58 | 11.6 | 1 |
| Tee Higgins | 13 | 8 | 7 | 60 | 7.5 | 0 |
| Tyler Boyd | 9.4 | 6 | 5 | 44 | 7.3 | 0 |
| Hayden Hurst | 8.5 | 5 | 5 | 35 | 7 | 0 |
| Samaje Perine | 6.4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1.5 | 0 |
| Trent Taylor | 5.2 | 2 | 2 | 14 | 7 | 0 |
| Trenton Irwin | 3.5 | 1 | 1 | 14 | 14 | 0 |
| Devin Asiasi | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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