By Chris Asbrock

The Cincinnati Bengals made history Sunday, as they won in Oakland for the first time in franchise history. The Bengals didn’t just win, they dominated the Raiders. The Bengals came into their game against the Raiders with a plan and they executed that plan with little flaws.
As with every game, there are some takeaways from this Bengals victory. As the Bengals now prepare for the San Diego Chargers, let us take a look back at some impressions this game left in mind.

1. Offense fires on all cylinders

The weapons are there. If they stay healthy, you will see one of the top offensive units in the NFL. The offense showed what they can do against a solid Oakland defense. There is no bigger key for this offense than a healthy Tyler Eifert as he had himself a day with nine receptions for 104 yards and two touchdowns. The numerous formations Hue Jackson sent out there seemed to confuse the Raider defense and added some much needed wrinkles into this Bengals offense.

With Eifert in the lineup, Andy Dalton has another weapon that can be used in many situations, especially the red zone. Dalton took advantage of the size mismatch that Eifert presents to toss up a few balls to where only he could get. That is exactly what he did and it paid off twice. Yesterday’s game showed exactly what the Bengals were missing when Eifert missed the entire season due to injury. If this offense can stay healthy, there are no excuses for regular season and playoff failure.

2. Defensive play reminiscent of years past

Along with the offense, the defense came ready to play. The defense pitched a shutout for three and a half quarters and were truly dominant. They held the Raiders to only 96 net yards in the first half. They were able to get pressure on Derek Carr and Matt McGloin which caused them to get very little accomplished offensively. The Raiders longest play from scrimmage was a pass for 21 yards. They won the turnover battle as they forced two turnovers from McGloin.

The biggest key was the play of Geno Atkins. Atkins looks to be back at 100% and that is a scary thought for any offense. He had a great training camp and preseason and that carried over to yesterdays game. He forced a fumble and also had a sack. If Geno can play like he is capable and disrupt the quarterback, this defense should feast.

3. Cut out the stupid penalties

Adam Jones is lucky to have not been ejected and suspended for his actions in yesterday’s game. The Bengals had three personal foul penalties in the game that were inexcusable. The taunting penalty on George Iloka was a little goofy in my opinion, but the other two on Jones and Dre Kirkpatrick were uncalled for. The Bengals always seem to stoop to the level of their opponents in these cases and yesterday was an example.

The Raiders have always been known as one of those teams that will play you rough and chippy. As mentioned in the game preview, the game would feel more like an AFC North game. That is exactly what it was like. It was a hard hitting, chippy game and the Bengals chose to take some stupid penalties in situations where they were not needed. These are the types of things that cannot happen moving forward as they could cost the Bengals against better teams in closer games.

Next up for the Bengals is the home opener against the 1-0 San Diego Chargers. Stay tuned as I will look ahead to that matchup later this week.

Chris Asbrock is a staff writer and analyst for FTI Sports and can be followed on Twitter @iamchrisasbrock