'It does affect you': Bill Cowher, JJ Watt say Ja'Marr Chase contract distracts Bengals

The CBS studio crew of James Brown, Bill Cowher, Nate Burleson, JJ Watt and Matt Ryan had a lengthy discussion about the Cincinnati Bengals' surprising Week 1 loss after showing video of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft's congratulatory remarks in the winning locker room.

The analysts examined the Bengals' bad starts to recent seasons, in addition to the distraction receiver Ja'Marr Chase's pursuit of a contract extension may have caused.

"What's going on (with the Bengals), right?" Ryan said. "These slow starts. Joe Burrow now 1-4 in season openers. Historically, they've been slow starters. Today was sloppy. Sloppy all over the place, turning the football over. … Where do they go from here? They've been able to turn it around, but where do they go from here? You can't continue to overcome this."

"You can't afford these slow starts, especially given the fact that you have enough talent on both sides of the ball," Burleson said.

"I mean the distractions you're talking about, that's been there all week," Cowher said. "You know, Tee Higgins is on the last year of his contract. Ja'Marr Chase, is he gonna sign it or not sign it? Was there any talk about New England? I don't think they even talked about New England. I think it was a little bit of an overlook, an oversight right there. … In the National Football League, you can't do that. I think they're gonna be fine. I think they're good on defense. I think Joe Burrow will get them back with his whole entourage back."

"Coach, saying that they're gonna be fine means what?" Burleson said. "They made it to a Super Bowl a couple years ago. This team just being good enough, being fine, that's not enough. If I am a team that fell short in the Super Bowl to the Los Angeles Rams, being fine, just above average, is not good enough for me. It's Super Bowl or bust if I'm a Cincinnati Bengal. Especially before these things blow up."

"Like Coach was saying, we can talk all the time, players in the locker room: Are you distracted by this contract talk?" Watt said. "Are you distracted by that? Everybody can stand up in front of you and say no, no, no. The truth is, you hear it. It doesn't matter if you can say all the right things. You do hear it. And it does affect you. And you haven't been on the practice field together doing all those things. There's no doubt that affects you. Now is that something you can clear up in the next two to three weeks and be fine for the rest of the season? Sure. But this is the NFL. There's only 17 games."

"You have to beat the teams you're supposed to beat. And this was a game that got away from them," Cowher said.

"That's the sign of a good team, right?" Burleson said. "And with all due respect to the Patriots. Congratulations on the win. They were supposed to lose to the Cincinnati Bengals. Because the Cincinnati Bengals on paper going into this game, with the people that they have in place, they were a better team. I can't say that now that the game is over as we go into Week 2. The Patriots are a better team than the Cincinnati Bengals. And now, here we are again. The Cincinnati Bengals are gonna try to dig themselves out of the hole. Not only that, they also have to find their identity again, figure out who they are, get in some type of rhythm. All of that takes time. And it's exhausting just to get to that point."

"If I'm Zac Taylor though, are you starting to look next season at whatever this is at what you're doing those six to eight weeks leading up to the season?" Ryan said.

"I would think so," Cowher said. "You have to look at how you prepare for that first game. … If you have a new system in place, or you have other people that you have to get in place, you better play them in the preseason. You know, you have Joe Burrow throwing to a bunch of backup receivers and that's who you have to play with, I put Joe Burrow in to make sure to make sure they get game-time speed. Because you can't simulate the speed in practice. So, yeah, I think you have to sit back and look how you prepare. I know that I would - it's how we come out in the month of September. Because that's gonna dictate a lot of things. I'm gonna find out about my team. But in the meantime of finding out about my team, I better know what my strengths are and find ways to win games."

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This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Bill Cowher: Distracted Cincinnati Bengals looked past New England