The Cincinnati Bengals made a statement with a 13-6 win over the New England Patriots in Week 5.
Patriots vs. Bengals 2013: Cincy fans rejoice after defensive win over New England
For the first time this season, the Patriots came out on the wrong end of an ugly game.
The Patriots have spent the early part of the season winning ugly games, but on Sunday the Bengals won the tough game. New England has been dealing with a long list of injuries early in 2013, so it’s impressive that Week 5 was the team’s first loss.
But the folks over at Pats Pulpit are trying not to overreact after the ugly loss:
You never want to overreact from a single game, but there’s no doubt that this was a disturbing loss. The Patriots were just completely outplayed by the Bengals. The defense played solid overall, but was bullied on the long touchdown drive. And the offense, was just, well, awful.
Meanwhile, the Bengals come out of the game with a positive outlook. Even though the offense was terrible for most of the game, Cincinnati’s defense was dominant throughout, just like it has been for most of the season.
That was the biggest reason for excitement at Cincy Jungle:
If you need a big play to win the game, just call Mike Zimmer and the fearsome Bengals defense. There has to be a T-shirt idea somewhere in there. Maybe we'll include Marvin Lewis' postgame comment that "we're not going to out-cute anybody" when defining the team's evolving identity. While the Broncos and Cowboys challenged the 100-point milestone during Denver's 51-48 win over Dallas (the fourth-highest scoring game in the NFL), the 2013 Bengals are bucking the league's offensive trend.
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