Instant analysis after Bengals beat Texans in Week 2, start 2-0 - Bengals Wire

It wasn’t always pretty, but the Cincinnati Bengals scraped together a 20-6 win over the Houston Texans in Week 2. 

Joe Burrow and the Bengals moved to 2-0 on a day that saw Dexter Lawrence’s defense do the majority of the heavy lifting. 

What could've been a preview of possible AFC playoff ball was won in the trenches, with Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase connecting on the game’s few rare big highlights. 

Here are some quick notes, stats to know and takeaways from the game. 

0-3: Lots of bad Texans stats that make the Bengals look good in this one. But the Bengals holding the Texans to an 0-of-3 mark in the redzone really speaks to the trench dominance on the day. 

Playoff football: This is what defensive AFC playoff football tends to look like. The better quarterback makes the few clutch plays, but the defensive trenches win the day. And for the second week in a row, the Bengals were more than proven right by the decision to make that huge trade for Dexter Lawrence. 

The Bengals stay on the road in Week 3, going to Pittsburgh for an AFC North fight with the Steelers. They have three games until the Week 6 bye, all of them AFC contests.