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Let me know if you've heard this one before: Are the Cincinnati Bengals for real?

Last season, the surprising Bengals went 9-0 against non-playoff teams and 0-7 against playoffs teams. This year, Cincinnati has followed the same path. After getting routed by the Baltimore Ravens in the season opener, the Bengals bounced back to beat the the Cleveland Browns, the Washington Redskins and the Jacksonville Jaguars. Those three teams have a combined 3-9 record (.250).

I still consider the Bengals a playoff team and Cincinnati certainly made it look easy in a 27-10 win at Jacksonville on Sunday. The Bengals have the same record as the Ravens, San Francisco 49ers and San Diego Chargers, but there's no evidence to prove they're the same caliber as those teams. Whether the Bengals are among the top teams in the league will remain a question mark over the next two weeks because Cincinnati plays the Miami Dolphins (1-3) and Browns (0-4). Most will agree that the Bengals' toughest test doesn't come until Oct. 21, when they play the Pittsburgh Steelers.

What can you say about the Bengals one-quarter of the way into the regular season? They're fun to watch. The Bengals are scoring more points than the Packers. They're among the league leaders in sacks (defensive tackle Domata Peko scored big points in celebrating the first of six Bengals sacks with a "Gangnam Style" dance, a nod to Korean rap sensation PSY. And the Bengals have the most exciting wide receiver in the AFC in A.J. Green.

When it comes to creativity, it's like Sam Wyche is the head coach again. The Bengals were jumpstarted in Jacksonville on Sunday by a fake punt in the second quarter. On fourth down-and-one, Cedric Peerman took a direct snap and ran 48 yards to the Jaguars' red zone.

That set up the Bengals' first touchdown, a short touchdown that caught the Jaguars defense off guard. After a fake to BenJarvus Green-Ellis, who is among the best goal-line runners in the NFL, quarterback Andy Dalton threw a one-yard pass to open fullback Chris Pressley, who scored his first career touchdown. That put the Bengals ahead 10-7, a lead they would never relinquish.

Teams don't know what the Bengals are going to do next. This is the same team that scored twice in the wildcat offense last Sunday, including a 73-yard pass from wide receiver Mohamed Sanu to Green to open the game, and tried a fake field goal.

This strong start hasn't glossed over the issues facing the Bengals. Green-Ellis has gone from the NFL's best running back in terms of ball security to a fumbling machine. He coughed up the ball twice in a span of 22 touches after not fumbling on his first 590 touches in the league. The Bengals have lost their leading tackler (Thomas Howard) and starting left guard (Travelle Wharton) to injuries. They had as many healthy cornerbacks as quarterbacks for this game before they signed someone off the practice squad.

None of these difficulties have stopped the Bengals from outlasting the Browns and Redskins or cruising past the Jaguars. Like last year, they've beaten the teams that they're supposed to beat. The difference this year is they're doing it in a more entertaining fashion.

"It's good to get this win on the road," coach Marvin Lewis told the team's official website. "I told these guys after, that except for the game in Cleveland [on Oct. 14], we've got five straight at home. It was a good September. It's got to be a better October."

Something tells me that Lewis isn't done reaching into his bag of tricks this season.

Thoughts on the Cincinnati Bengals' 27-10 victory at the Jacksonville Jaguars:

What it means: The Bengals won their third straight game to improve to 3-1 and remain tied atop the AFC North (they lose the tiebreaker to the Ravens based on their season-opening loss). This is quite an accomplishment because the Bengals had to play three of their first four games on the road. Of course, all of the Bengals' wins have been against teams that don't have winning records. Cincinnati's run defense, the third worst in the NFL, held Maurice Jones-Drew (who was averaging 104.7 rushing yards per game) to 38 yards on 13 carries. The Bengals' defense also held the Jaguars to 24 points below its season average.

Green dominates again: Wide receiver A.J. Green put on an impressive show for a second straight week, catching six passes for 117 yards and one touchdown. What's remarkable is he didn't make his first catch until the 1:53 mark in the second quarter. Green had 75 yards receiving in the second half.

Should have been worse: The margin should have been bigger for the Bengals. Running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis, who hadn't fumbled in his first 590 touches in the NFL, coughed up the ball for the second time in two games. He fumbled at the goal line, a turnover that the Jaguars converted into a field goal to close the gap to 17-10 in the third quarter.

More trickery by Bengals: Cincinnati, which used the Wildcat to produce its first touchdown last week, used some trickery to jump-start the team again. In the second quarter, the Bengals converted a fourth-and-1 with a fake punt as Cedric Peerman took a direct snap and ran 48 yards into the Jaguars' red zone to set up their first touchdown.

No corners, no problem: The Bengals had only three healthy cornerbacks (Terence Newman, Adam Jones and Chris Lewis-Harris), but they didn't have any problems handling Jaguars quarterback Blaine Gabbert, who was 23-of-34 for 186 yards. Cincinnati's secondary was helped by its pass rush, which recorded six sacks for a second straight game. Chris Crocker, who was re-signed a few days before the game, came up with the Bengals' first interception of the season. Cincinnati went the first 15 quarters without one.

Lucky break for Dalton: Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton should have had his third interception returned for a touchdown. But Jaguars linebacker Kyle Bosworth, who caught the deflected pass, fumbled the ball without being touched at the Bengals' 13-yard line. The Bengals recovered and went on to score a field goal to take a 3-0 first-quarter lead. Dalton was 20-of-31 for 244 yards with two touchdowns.

What's next: The Bengals play the Dolphins at home after playing three road games in September.

Injuries will force the Bengals to go with three cornerbacks Sunday at Jacksonville.

Four cornerbacks -- Leon Hall (hamstring), Nate Clements (calf), Jason Allen (thigh) and Dre Kirkpatrick (knee) -- are among the seven inactives. That means the Bengals will go with Terence Newman and Adam Jones as the starting cornerbacks. Chris Lewis-Harris, who was signed from the practice squad, is the third corner. Cincinnati could go with recently re-signed safety Chris Crocker as the nickel corner.

The banged-up Cincinnati secondary faces Jaguars quarterback Blaine Gabbert, who ranks 30th in the league with 468 yards passing. His 5.9 yards per attempt is 31st.

Here are the Bengals' inactives: CB Leon Hall, CB Nate Clements, CB Jason Allen, CB Dre Kirkpatrick, RB Bernard Scott, LB Roddrick Muckelroy and WR Ryan Whalen.

In the video, Herm Edwards and Darren Woodson make their predictions for the Bengals at the Jaguars.

As far as the other experts go, ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter is the only one to predict the Bengals to get upset at Jacksonville:

Eric Allen: Bengals
Mike Golic: Bengals
Merril Hoge: Bengals
Ron Jaworski: Bengals
Chris Mortensen: Bengals
Adam Schefter: Jaguars
Mark Schlereth: Bengals
Seth Wickersham: Bengals
Tom Jackson: Bengals
Keyshawn Johnson: Bengals
Mike Ditka: Bengals
Cris Carter: Bengals

By correctly picking the Ravens over the Browns, I improved my season record to a pedestrian 5-3. There's only one division game for Sunday, so it's all or nothing for me. Here's my forecast for Sunday's game:

Cincinnati Bengals 27, Jacksonville Jaguars 17: This is the Bengals' third road game in four weeks, which could take its toll on Cincinnati. Luckily for the Bengals, they're playing a Jaguars team that they should handle easily. Cincinnati has been fast starters recently. The past two weeks, the Bengals have scored 41 points in the first half. Cincinnati needs to take an early lead and force the Jaguars to get away from the run. The only way Jacksonville upsets the Bengals is if Maurice Jones-Drew has a huge day.

Ross Tucker and Matt Williamson break down the Ravens' victory and preview the rest of the games in Week 4, including the Bengals at the Jaguars.

Injury report for Bengals-Jaguars game on Sunday:

BENGALS

OUT: CB Dre Kirkpatrick (knee). DOUBTFUL: CB Nate Clements (calf), CB Jason Allen (thigh). QUESTIONABLE: C Jeff Faine (hamstring), CB Leon Hall (hamstring), LB Roddrick Muckelroy (illness) and RB Bernard Scott (ankle). PROBABLE: DE Carlos Dunlap (knee), DE Michael Johnson (foot), FS Reggie Nelson (shoulder), OT Andrew Whitworth (knee).

JAGUARS

OUT: LB Daryl Smith (groin), DE George Selvie (knee). PROBABLE: DT Tyson Alualu (not injury related), OL Eben Britton (ankle), RB Rashad Jennings (knee), DE Austen Lane (foot), C Brad Meester (not injury related), RB Montell Owens (concussion), WR Laurent Robinson (concusion), CB Kevin Rutland (concussion).

» NFC Final Word: East | West | North | South » AFC: East | West | North | South

Five nuggets of knowledge about Week 4:

No sophomore slump: Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton is on quite a tear in his second season in the NFL. In going against Jacksonville and the league's 21st-ranked pass defense this Sunday, Dalton is shooting for his third straight game with 300 yards passing. In his previous two games, he has completed 74 percent of his passes (43 of 58) with six touchdowns and two interceptions. Dalton leads the league with a 158.3 passer rating in the fourth quarter, which happens to be the perfect passer rating. He is having a much better start than Carolina's Cam Newton, last year's NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.

Getting the defense on track: There will be reason to start worrying about the Bengals' defense if it continues its decline at Jacksonville. Cincinnati, a top-10 defense in points and yards allowed a year ago, is giving up 34 points and 416.7 yards per game. The Bengals get a chance to right themselves against the Jaguars, who are averaging 17.3 points per game. Only two teams (Dallas and Philadelphia) have scored fewer through three games this year.

Green's encore: Wide receiver A.J. Green has been a model of consistency in terms of catches. He has at least five receptions in his first three games of the season. His challenge Sunday is following up his 183-yard performance from a week ago. Last season, Green averaged 57.7 yards receiving in the games after a 100-yard performance. He ranks second in the NFL in receiving yards per game (103.7) and is tied for eighth in the league in receptions (21).

Interception drought: The Bengals are one of three teams that have not intercepted a pass this season, according to ESPN Stats & Information. This has been an ongoing problem for Cincinnati. The Bengals picked off only 10 passes last season, which was tied for sixth-fewest in the NFL. It could be difficult to get one Sunday. Jaguars quarterback Blaine Gabbert hasn't been intercepted this season (79 pass attempts). Plus, cornerbacks Leon Hall (hamstring) and Nate Clements (calf) are battling injuries and won't be at full strength even if they play.

Bounce back for the running back: BenJarvus Green-Ellis is disappointed that he fumbled Sunday, the first time that has happened in his five-year career. He had gone 589 touches without coughing up the ball. One of the reasons Cincinnati chose not to re-sign Cedric Benson was his fumbling problem late last season. Green-Ellis can redeem himself against the Jaguars, who are giving up 154.3 yards on the ground per game. Green-Ellis does most of his damage in the red zone. He has scored 13 rushing touchdowns in his past 19 games.

BALTIMORE -- Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco has been showing more command of the offense this preseason. In the 48-17 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, Flacco looked to be in total control.

Orchestrating the team's new no-huddle attack, Flacco completed 27 of 36 passes for 266 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. These numbers are even more impressive considering he didn't play three full quarters.

Flacco continually looked downfield, completing five passes of more than 15 yards. He also connected with nine different receivers.

This isn't to say Flacco was perfect. He could have been picked off on the team's first trip in the red zone, where he forced a pass in between two defenders to get to Anquan Boldin. Flacco also misfired on two deep passes, putting too much air to an open Torrey Smith and not putting any air to Jacoby Jones.

But Flacco came up big in the critical situations. He hit Boldin on third-and-goal for a 5-yard touchdown and sidestepped a pass-rusher to find Vonta Leach for an 8-yard touchdown.

Here are other observations from the Ravens' third preseason game:

• In a move that will cause many to jump to conclusions, the Ravens allowed undrafted rookie Justin Tucker to handle all the kicking duties and gave Billy Cundiff the night off. Tucker took advantage by hitting a 53-yard field goal in the second quarter.

• Ravens cornerbacks Lardarius Webb (team-leading six tackles) and Jimmy Smith played much more physical than the first two preseason games. That's not a surprise since this game was against quarterback Blaine Gabbert and not Matt Ryan or Matthew Stafford. Smith was too aggressive at times and got flagged for pass interference in the third quarter. It was not a particularly good night for cornerback Cary Williams, who got beat on a 27-yard pass to rookie Justin Blackmon.

• A big focus for Baltimore this offseason has been improving special teams after allowing three touchdowns off returns last season. The Ravens, though, have a lot of work to do in that area. Former Ravens running back Jalen Parmele returned the first two kickoffs of the second half for 42 and 47 yards.

• Wide receiver Torrey Smith is showing no lingering effects from an ankle injury that sidelined him last game. He caught eight passes for 103 yards, continuing what has been an impressive summer for the 2011 second-round pick.

• Bryant McKinnie made his first start at left tackle, but Baltimore didn't really have a choice. With Marshal Yanda being held out with an leg injury (not considered serious), the Ravens moved Bobbie Williams from left to right guard and put Kelechi Osemele from right tackle to left guard. That shifted Michael Oher from left to right tackle. Hope you got all of that because there will be a quiz later.

• Undrafted rookie running back Bobby Rainey (Western Kentucky) should have secured a spot as the team's third running back. He caught three passes for 73 yards and showed great burst on a 48-yard touchdown. Backup running back Bernard Pierce had a productive night with 10 carries for 35 yards, which included a 20-yard run. He wowed the home crowd by hurdling a defender.

• Albert McClellan started at outside linebacker for the third straight preseason game, but rookie second-round pick Courtney Upshaw saw a lot of time with the starters. The Ravens obviously wanted to get an extended look at Upshaw, who recorded his first sack in the second half.

• The Ravens put together five touchdown drives of at least 80 yards against Jacksonville. The 48 points are the most the Ravens have ever scored in a preseason.

In a move that bodes well for the future of the Cincinnati Bengals and young quarterback Andy Dalton, offensive coordinator Jay Gruden has to decided to stay with the team and not pursue any head coaching jobs this year.

This is a major offseason victory for the Bengals, who watched Dalton make significant strides with Gruden. And this is the second year in a row that Cincinnati should be thanking Gruden. It was last April when Gruden sold Dalton on owner Mike Brown, who originally wanted to take Ryan Mallett.

“I’m happy here. I like working for Marvin [Lewis] and with the team,” Gruden told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “I feel like we’re just scratching the surface on offense, but we have a lot of good, young players and have the potential to do even better next season.”

The Rams had requested permission to speak to Gruden, but he had a better shot at getting the job with the Jaguars, who were reportedly very interested in him. It was the right move for Gruden to stay because the Rams likely will hire Jeff Fisher and the Jaguars have a potential first-round bust in quarterback Blaine Gabbert.

If he drew this much interest after one year as the Bengals' coordinator, there should be plenty more over the next few years. Gruden became a intriguing head coaching prospect because of his work with Dalton.

Under Gruden, Dalton became the only rookie in NFL history to throw for 20 or more touchdown passes while starting eight or more victories. He became the NFL’s only rookie quarterback not drafted in the first round to start 16 games for his team, much less start 16 and lead the team into the playoffs.

The NFL Network is reporting that Bengals offensive coordinator Jay Gruden is "the favorite" to become the Jaguars' new head coach, but the Florida Times-Union says the Jaguars aren't known to have requested an interview with him.

Gruden is one of the hottest coordinators in the NFL these days after his success with rookie quarterback Andy Dalton. Perhaps the Jaguars think he could do the same with quarterback Blaine Gabbert, who struggled mightily in his first season.

Gruden's ties to the Florida area are strong. He spent seven seasons on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers coaching staff under his brother Jon, who was the head coach. Jay Gruden also served as head coach of the Arena League's Orlando team and UFL's Florida franchise before joining Cincinnati this season.

The Jaguars reportedly have requested permission to speak to five offensive coordinators: the Jets’ Brian Schottenheimer, the Patriots’ Bill O’Brien, the Broncos’ Mike McCoy, the Panthers’ Rob Chudzinski and the Falcons’ Mike Mularkey.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Thoughts of the Ravens-Jaguars game at halftime:

• The difference has been two 54-yard field goals by Josh Scobee. The second one was made possible when Paul Kruger ran into the punter, moving the Jaguars into field-goal range.
• Ravens running back Ray Rice is having one of the worst games of his career. He fumbled for the first time in the regular season since 2009 and he had another bad drop in the first half.
• The Ravens defense came up big in the first quarter when Ed Reed forced Jaguars running back Maurice Jones-Drew to fumble two yards from the end zone. Baltimore leads the NFL with nine fumble recoveries this season.
• Reed then nearly made the mistake of the game when he nearly ran into the ball on a punt return after calling for a fair catch. It would have given the Jaguars the ball in Ravens territory with fewer than three minutes left in the first half.
• Joe Flacco once again can't extend plays when pressured. He finished 6-for-16 for eight yards in the first half. Flacco caught a batted pass, which means he had more receptions (one) than the Ravens had first downs (zero) in the first half.
• The Ravens had 16 yards of total offense in first half. Team record for fewest yards in the first half is 104 (at Pittsburgh on November 2007).

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. --- Here are the inactive players for Monday night's game between the Baltimore Ravens and Jacksonville Jaguars:

RAVENS: CB Chris Carr, S Tom Zbikowski, RB Anthony Allen, LB Dannell Ellerbe, G Ben Grubbs, WR Lee Evans, LB Sergio Kindle.

JAGUARS: WR Chastin West, S Courtney Greene, G-C Jason Spitz, OL Eben Britton, TE Martin Rucker, WR Jarett Dillard, DT Nate Collins

Join our ESPN.com NFL experts as they break down the "Monday Night Football" brawl between the Baltimore Ravens and the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Contribute your thoughts and questions beginning at 8 p.m. ET. See you there.

The Baltimore Ravens have already beaten Ben Roethlisberger, Mark Sanchez, Sam Bradford and Matt Schaub. In fact, they've dominated them.

So, it's assumed that Baltimore, which has allowed the fewest points this season, will do the same tonight against Jacksonville's Blaine Gabbert. And there's a track record to support that.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the NFL's top-ranked scoring defense has only lost to a rookie starting quarterback once in the past 10 meetings. That occurred in the 2007 regular-season finale, when Carolina's Matt Moore beat Tampa Bay, which was resting its starters.