**CINCINNATI** – For the second week in a row, [Cincinnati Bengals](https://www.si.com/nfl/bengals/onsi/bengalstalk.com) defensive coordinator Al Golden let his emotions – and probably some frustrations – erupt from his body after a big stop.
And unlike last week at Pittsburgh, Sunday’s celebration was warranted after the officials got the spot right.
Golden’s rare departure from stoicism to explosion
was the result of a super-sized goal-line stand in the third quarter of the team’s 26-20 loss to the New England Patriots.
The Bengals trailed 17-13, and the Patriots ran eight plays from the 5-yard line or closer, including six from the 1-yard line.
A pass interference penalty against Dax Hill on the first fourth-and-goal play gave New England a fresh set of downs.
A fourth-and-goal run stuff of Rhamondre Stevenson by Joseph Ossai and Myles Murphy gave Golden reason to run onto the field and wildly congratulate his defensive players as they ran toward the sideline.
“It's just exciting to see them compete and fight the way they did,” Golden said Monday. “When you're building it, when you're developing it, when you're trying to grow as a defense, those are big building blocks. Because that becomes part of their DNA.
“So when they're in that situation again, not that it will be easy, but at least it's demonstrated performance,” Golden added.
The Bengals found themselves in the situation again a few minutes later.
The nine-play stand took place from 11:16 remaining in the third quarter to 7:54.
Two New England possessions later, the Patriots had first and goal at the 4.
The Bengals defense forced an incomplete pass, a TreyVeon Henderson run for 3 yards and a Drake Maye sneak for no gain, forcing New England to settle for a 19-yard field goal that upped their lead to 23-13.
“Everybody was just hype like 'We're gonna make a statement right now,’ from young guys to old guys,” defensive tackle Kris Jenkins said. “And you saw that happen. It was awesome.”
It’s an area where the Bengals defense has not only been good this year, but among the best in the league.
Golden’s group is allowing teams to convert goal-to-go chances into touchdowns just 65 percent of the time, which is the fifth best mark in the league.
In the last two weeks, it’s been 25 percent, with the Steelers going 1 for 2 and the Patriots 0 for 2.
Last year the Bengals ranked 26th in that category, allowing touchdowns on 82.9 percent of goal-to-go chances.
“I was telling Kris when we came to the sideline, 'That's the new standard we need to create. That's our floor, not our ceiling,’” defensive end Myles Murphy said.
All Pro defensive end Trey Hendrickson hasn’t played in the least three games and hasn’t started and finished the last five, which obviously is a huge hit to an already struggling unit.
But not having Hendrickson has helped the rest of the defensive linemen build some chemistry and cohesion,
“I don't think there's any doubt we're playing as a unit right now,” Golden said. “We're getting great leadership from all three levels. The leaders have stepped up and there's no bigger indication of the culture and what's inside them than to sit there for nine straight plays and battle the way they did.
"It's not perfect,” he continued. “There's a lot of things that we need to fix. But that's two weeks in a row where we' re starting to come together, play together. And we've just got to continue to be active on the ball.”
The Bengals ended their drought of three consecutive games without forcing a turnover when Geno Stone returned a Drake Maye interception for a touchdown.
Golden pointed out that a couple of snaps after that play, Maye scrambled up the middle and Jenkins punched the ball out, only to have it bounce right back into the arms of Maye as he went to the ground.
“It was unfortunate,” he said.
The biggest issue facing the Bengals this season has been poor tackling, but Golden called it their best game of the season in that regard.
The stat sites agreed.
Pro Football Focus had the Bengals with a season-low six missed tackles.
Sport Radar had the Bengals with just three missed tackles, also a season low in their grading.
Rookie Barrett Carter, who is among the league leaders in missed tackles despite not starting until Week 6, recorded a career-high 16 tackles with no misses.
It’s the second most tackles by a Bengals rookie since at least 1994, when the league started keeping the stat official. Vontaze Burfict had a game with 18 tackles as a rookie in 2012.
Stone, who entered the week tied with Jordan Battle for the most missed tackles in the league, had a career-high 13 tackles with no misses.
“He really spent last week working on the one thing that was holding him back,” Golden said of Stone, who had a sit-down meeting the defensive coordinator and spent extra time before practice working on space tackling.
“That's a craft now that either you continue to cultivate it and improve it or it bites you,” Golden added. “There's a lot of guys that have to continue to keep their nose down on that.”
Battle had four tackles with no misses.
And as a result, Patriots back Henderson, who has been explosive as a rookie, had a long run of 9 yards against the Bengals and an average of 3.7.
“Geno's improvement, Jordan Battle's improvement and then the collective group -- because we had multiple hats to the ball -- that's how you eliminate those explosive plays,” Golden said.
Golden praised Barrett not just for his 16 tackles, but for his continued improvement in running the defense as the green dot with the headset communication.
And he said the tackle Battle made on the first play of New England’s final drive was one of the best tackles he’s seen this year.
It was Henderson’s long run of the game, and the 9-yarder easily could have been a game-ending touchdown with the back one-on-one with Battle as the post safety.
“When that ball gets to the post safety, it’s not a good feeling,” Golden said. “That’s one of the best tackles I’ve seen from Jordan, from my time scouting him, last year, and then me watching him practice and play this year.
“So that’s a big step forward. And he’s worked really hard.”
And the assessment was similar across the board.
Yes, winning and losing is ultimately the only thing that matters.
But for a team that has not only been the worst in the league in 2025 but one of the worst of all time, Sunday was an encouraging step, and it came against the hottest team in the league.
“I think we showed a lot of improvement, in a lot of different areas,” Golden said.