Excuses are pouring out from the Bengals after Patriots Week 1 upset win

Throughout the entire offseason, the Patriots were made a mockery of and projected to be the worst team in the entire NFL, with many believing they had the potential to lose every single game on their 2024 schedule.

When it was announced they would face the Bengals in Week 1, the assumption was they would start the year 0-1 because how could they beat a team led by a top quarterback and receiving corps in their championship window?

To make matters worse, it was a game on the road, and the rebuilding New England roster would have to take on the Bengals in a hostile environment to start the season. Every analyst chose the home team to win by a large margin on Sunday, giving the Patriots some excellent bulletin board material for the season ahead.

There wasn't a lot of faith the Patriots would do much of anything successful, mostly offensively, hence nearly every score prediction being a score or two. Ironically, that was the fate of the Bengals this past weekend instead.

As we now know, the Patriots went into Week 1 with a chip on their shoulder and the intense desire to show why they should not have been 7.5-point underdogs nor the laughing stock of the NFL. They did that and more against the Bengals by completely disrupting their game plan and wreaking havoc in all three phases of the game.

It led to the Patriots walking out with a 16-10 win, much to the shock and awe of almost everyone, which hasn't sat right with the Bengals players and staff over the last 24 hours.

The excuses continue to roll out of Cincinnati about their shocking loss to the Patriots in the season opener

Once it was made clear that receiver Tee Higgins would be inactive for the Week 1 matchup, all focus shifted to Ja'Marr Chase, who was a last-second clearance to play after allegedly dealing with food-poisoning leading up to the game.

He was possibly going to miss the Bengals first game after beginning a holdout due to contract negotiations, but he was on the field for Sunday's action and was essentially a non-factor for Joe Burrow, courtesy of the impressive performance of Christian Gonzalez.

Because he wasn't able to make much of an impact on the game, Chase complained about his limited usage when speaking to reporters in the locker room after the loss, even somewhat implying that head coach Zac Taylor might have purposely done that due to the circumstances.

"I don't know," he said. "You got to ask (Bengals head coach) Zac (Taylor) on that -- I don't know."

Taylor followed that up by denying that was the case while choosing not to credit the Patriots for their impressive showing and instead focusing on the Bengals' struggles for why they couldn't win.

"Just didn't get any great rhythm. I can't put my finger on exactly what that was. I felt like we had a good plan, guys knew what to do."

It wouldn't be surprising if the Bengals didn't prepare for the Patriots as they should have, given the universal belief that they're not going to be a competitive team this year. It would explain their demeanor after the game and the excuse-filled responses regarding the loss.

This will undoubtedly continue with other teams the Patriots face throughout the season that they will (hopefully) beat, making people question their doubts about them ahead of time.

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