Super Bowl LVI looks to have one of biggest strength-on-weakness matchups we’ve witnessed in a while: The Los Angeles Rams’ pass rush versus the Cincinnati Bengals’ offensive line.
We are all aware of the nine sacks the Bengals offensive line gave up against the Tennessee Titans in the Divisional matchup. The most impressive part of the playoffs so far, is how the offensive line bounced back the very next week against the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship game.
Out of 16 pressures, Joe Burrow only took one sack the entire game!
One way to keep your quarterback upright, is to hand the ball off. Against the Titans, the Bengals ran the ball only 18 times, but against the Chiefs, they handed it of 27 times.
There could be a similar game plan against the Rams next Sunday. Some may say it’s a conservative approach, and it is! but the Bengals have the offense to do it, and it will be necessary in order to keep Burrow off the turf.
When we take a look at the run game success, the Bengals came out in some heavy packages in order to move the line of scrimmage. They would force the defense to honor the run in the trenches, and then use heavy personnel groupings to disguise their play-action passes.
The Bengals’ jumbo look set the tone on the ground early. Even if there were lost yards, the offense was determined to run the ball, as they did this on first downs throughout the entire first half.
When you have one of the league’s top running backs in Joe Mixon, it’s necessary to feed him the ball; and the more blockers the better.
Throughout the entire game up until overtime, this jumbo package was moving the ball and was used on back-to-back snaps getting them into the red zone; giving kicker Evan McPherson a chip-shot to win the game.
Since the Bengals set the tone in the first half by running on first down, the play-action play call on the very first play out of the tunnel in the second half worked like a charm.
In the clip above, the Bengals are in 12 personnel, which is a run-heavy package with two tight ends on the field to help with blocking. The strong side tight end comes across the line of scrimmage at the snap to sell a counter run. Once Burrow stepped up in the pocket he saw how bad the the Chiefs linebackers bit on the play-action leaving Tee Higgins wide open down field for a 44 yard gain.
The misdirection in the run game is a Bengals specialty, as they have been using disguises all throughout the playoffs. We dove into their offense after the wild-card win over the Las Vegas Raiders.
How the Bengals used motion, deception to create a playoff-ready run game
Throughout the season, the Rams defense has allowed just a few 100-yard games on the ground. One of those games was against the Arizona Cardinals early-on. When we have a look at how they were able to find success on the ground, misdirections from 12 personnel were key.
In the clip below, the Cardinals have two tight ends on the line of scrimmage and a blocker in the backfield opposite defensive tackle Aaron Donald.
At the snap, the blockers come across the line pick up Donald as he penetrates the offense line, as we might see something similar happen to the Bengals offensive line.
The Rams saw similar looks against the San Francisco 49ers, as it seems like a game plan was to run the ball with more blockers up front as it then opens up the middle of the defense with play action.
In this same two-back set as the clip above, the Bengals are able to exploit the Rams defense with a screen pass to Mixon.
With Mixon and Ja’Marr Chase on offense, the Bengals have a pair that leads the league in yards after the catch. In order to utilize their skillset, a 0/1 to 3-step for Burrow will be key if he wants to get the ball out quick to avoid the pass rush. The Bengals have success running from this look and also passing.
If we take a look at the two clips, (above and below) the two plays look pretty similar.
With the 49ers offense in an empty set, it is an ideal formation to get the ball out of the quarterback’s hands even faster.
We’re not looking for the Bengals offensive line to completely stop the Rams up front. But building and progressing the run with extra blockers up front could very well put the Bengals in a good position through the air for the rest of the game.