The Cincinnati Bengals are moving onto the NFL Divisional game after taking care of the Las Vegas Raiders, 26-19, in the wild-card round. When we watch the Bengals offense this year, it seems like moving the ball through the air is the quickest way to get points on the board; especially with guys like Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd.
But there is a guy in the backfield to help you get there, Joe Mixon, who is top five in the league in several categories: rushing touchdowns, rushing yards, rushing yards per game, total touchdowns and rushing first downs. Even though the Bengals didn’t amass a ton of yards on the ground (83 yards total on 25 carries), the different ways they handed the ball off were impressive in a schematic sense.
Since week 15, the Raiders had allowed only one 100-yard rusher, and that was the Colts’ Jonathan Taylor. So, the game plan for the Bengals was to use a ton of misdirection, sweeps, and tosses to spread the Raiders’ aggressive defense thin.
The first key to a successful ground game against this defense was containing the edge rushers, Maxx Crosby and Yannick Ngakoue. To do that, the Bengals put in a few crack blocks early to set the edge for the outside toss plays.
The Bengals come out in a two-back set with a stacked receivers on the open side of the field. One of the receivers’ responsibilities was to crack the end allowing the left tackle to get out and lead block along with the tight end who was lined up in the backfield.
Once the edge was sealed, they focused on attacking middle linebacker Denzel Perryman at the second level. Getting in-front of this Pro Bowl run-stopper was going to be key right out of the gate.
On the very next run play, the Bengals used both elements again to get the most out of Mixon in the backfield. Boyd cracked down on the end, and Chase did a great job to navigate through traffic to find Perryman in order to slow him down.
Once the Bengals got the Raiders to over-pursue to the outside, anticipating the toss, the offense began shifting the linebackers with pre-snap motions and jet sweeps to cut some runs up the middle.
On the next drive, instead of using lead motion for blocking, the Bengals used it as a misdirection element, which opened a hole for Mixon when he got to the second level.
The play calls progressed from pre-snap motions for toss sweeps, crack blocks, and pulls, and now adding in fake lead motions, jet sweeps. At this point, they were on the fifth run play of the game.
Motion showed to be a big help in the run game as the clock continued to tick. In the play below, the motion created an even number of defenders for blockers.
The formula for the Bengals was to get the most out of its lead blockers. Even though the plays weren’t breaking for touchdowns, the offense got what they needed, multiple 2nd and 3rd & shorts.
Each element of the ground game attacked a different level of the defense. The jet sweep moved the linebackers, the crack block sealed the edge, the pullers pick up any extra pursuits and the tosses attack the open side of the field. With the amount progressions they were adding with each play, I was expecting them to come out in Wing-T next. Each progression was getting more and more impressive.
The Bengals really took the ground game to another level, and by the end of the game they handed it off to a total of five different players on offense. They used lead motions, jet motions, jet sweeps, rocket sweeps, toss sweeps switching them up from pro-set and shotgun.
This upcoming game, the Bengals see a better run defense in the Tennessee Titans. We should expect the same level of play calls and progression to keep the ball from the Titans’ dominating offense.