Tag: Bengals defense

Bengals’ run defense could be a problem vs. Ravens on Thursday Night Football

The Bengals-Ravens Thursday night matchup is a good one, but Cincinnati’s faltering run defense could lose the game for them.

When the Cincinnati Bengals face off against the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday Night Football, it’s not an exaggeration to say that Cincinnati is already playing for any control of the AFC North. Were the season to end today, the 5-4 Bengals would be the AFC’s eightth seed, while the 7-3 Ravens are the AFC’s second seed. Baltimore already beat Cincinnati 27-24 in Week 2, and the Bengals currently have an 0-2 record in the division, so it’s fairly important for Zac Taylor’s team to get on the good foot here.

The primary matchups are fascinating. Joe Burrow versus Mike Macdonald’s shape-shifting Ravens defense, and Lamar Jackson against Lou Anarumo’s multiple coverages and looks? It’s all heaven for football dorks.

But if there’s one thing the Bengals had beat address, it’s their run defense. Through the first 10 weeks of the 2023 NFL season, Cincinnati has allowed five yards per carry this season; only the Denver Broncos are worse. Furthermore, against the Bengals’ defense, a league-high 29.8% of opponent runs have gone for first downs. Only the Broncos and the New York Jets have allowed more rushing yards per game than the Bengals’ 136.9, and their 31 missed tackles against the run also leads the league. 

That’s a very bad matchup for a Ravens offense that can kill you with the run in multiple ways. It’s odd, because the Bengals have good defenders at all three levels, and everything else is working. Cincinnati currently ranks 16th overall in Defensive DVOA, and 11th against the pass, but their rank of 29th against the run tells the story.

The Bengals have allowed 33 runs of 10 or more yards this season, and three of them came in Week 2 against the Ravens. Justice Hill, Gus Edwards, and Lamar Jackson have all been effective rushers in Todd Monken’s offense this season, and each of them had a big run against the Bengals.

Here’s Hill defining the edge on an 11-yard carry with a few missed tackles for good measure.

Edward’s 20-yard run was pure power out of heavy personnel, and once again, the Bengals weren’t ready for it.

And Jackson got 10 yards on this QB Draw before he gave himself up.

These days, the guy to watch out for in this matchup is undrafted rookie Keaton Mitchell from East Carolina, who is officially a big play waiting to happen.

Keaton Mitchell of the Ravens is the NFL’s new big-play running back

Mitchell has just 12 carries this season, but he’s gained 172 yards and scored two touchdowns, giving him a ridiculous 14.3 yards per carry average. And this isn’t just a straight-line speed guy — Mitchell has averaged 11.67 yards after contact per carry, and he’s forced nine missed tackles on those 12 attempts.

The Cleveland Browns’ defense is quite a bit better than Cincinnati’s, but that didn’t stop Mitchell for breaking off this 39-yard run last Sunday…

…and breaking free for 32 yards on this screen pass.

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get into why Cincinnati’s run defense has fallen off, and what they can do about it.

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You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” featuring all of Week 11’s biggest matchups, right here:

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You can also subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

Bengals defense chosen to repeat success in 2023 by The Athletic

Some hype for the underrated Bengals defense.

The Cincinnati Bengals offense is known to be the strong point of the team, but Larry Holder of The Athletic thinks the Bengals defense can carry the momentum they got going in 2022 into the upcoming season.

The Bengals might have lost a few key pieces from their secondary, but there are good, young players ready to step in and keep the defense at the level it was with defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo at the helm.

Here’s what Holder had to say about the Bengals defense:

The Bengals maintained continuity along the defensive line and at linebacker. The secondary will present a different look with Dax Hill and Nick Scott sliding into the safety spots following the departures of Jessie Bates and Vonn Bell. But Cincinnati made Hill a 2022 first-round pick knowing it would lose a safety and signed Scott after his first season as a starter with the Rams last season.

Cincinnati also used its first three 2023 draft picks on defenders: edge rusher Myles Murphy, cornerback D.J. Turner and safety Jordan Battle. The Bengals aren’t just building an offense in Cincinnati.

Not only have the Bengals added pieces, but they have retained some important players like Germaine Pratt, Sam Hubbard and even signed Logan Wilson to a four-year extension.

Whether Cincinnati’s defense will be able to keep up the pace will be something to watch this season.

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Lou Anarumo talks about his defensive success with Bengals

Fun comments from Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo.

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The Cincinnati Bengals defense has lost some big defensive players in Jessie Bates and Vonn Bell this offseason after being dominant in the postseason the past few years.

Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com talked to defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo about how he has had so much success with the Bengals so far.

Louie Cioffi, the Bengals defensive quality control coach, said that Anarumo has taken the best of all of the places he’s been and the coaches he’s worked with and put that into his playbook.

“It’s been on display the last two years and helped put us in situations to win championships,” Cioffi said.

Fresno State defensive coordinator Kevin Coyle was at the Bengals’ practices when they were at the Kettering Health Practice Fields and he said they have the type of camaraderie that he feels in a college locker room, and the players are very good at adapting when they need to in game.

“You can’t change your (core) so how do you tweak it with a different guy playing the dime position or a nickel that can play safety or a safety that can get in the box and play the run and corners that can make it look like they’re in man, but they’re playing a zone.” Coyle said.

Here’s what Anarumo said about his defense, per Hobson:

“The league is nickel. Pass defense is now 70 percent of the time. To say you’re 4-3 or 3-4, everybody is doing the same four-down stuff. And then you sprinkle it in. Five down, six down, whatever you do. And we acquired the kind of players we felt like we needed to do it.”

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Patrick Mahomes can win from the pocket. But can he do it against the Bengals?

Can an injured Patrick Mahomes win from the pocket against a Bengals defense that’s had his number when he’s been healthy?

Perhaps the most compelling storyline of the upcoming conference championship games is the status of Patrick Mahomes’ right ankle. The Kansas City Chiefs’ superstar quarterback suffered a high ankle sprain in Saturday’s 27-20 divisional round win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, but he has already vowed that he’ll play this Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals on a no-matter-what basis.

The question then becomes, what kind of Mahomes will we see? Probably not the one who’s able to make ungodly plays outside the pocket, but it’s not as if Mahomes is overly reliant on second-reaction plays. This season, per Sports Info Solutions, no quarterback has thrown more touchdown passes from the pocket than Mahomes’ 34. Interestingly enough, Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow ranks second with 32 touchdown passes from the pocket.

Mahomes has completed 391 of 552 passes (70.8%) from the pocket for 4,598 yards (8.3 yards per attempt), 1,953 air yards, those 34 touchdowns, nine interceptions, and a passer rating of 109.6. Only San Francisco’s Brock Purdy (114.6) and Philadelphia’s Jalen Hurts (111.7) have better passer ratings from the pocket this season, so maybe there’s still something to being able to make big plays from the pocket.

So, that’s not a problem. Of course, as Mahomes said after the Jaguars game, there is the matter of planting on, and throwing from, an unstable base and an injured ankle. He’ll have a week to get actual treatment to prepare for that, but that’s where things could get interesting against a Bengals defense that has messed with his head consistently as few other defenses have through his NFL career.

“There were a couple throws here and there where I tried to plant off that foot and it didn’t let me plant like I usually do, and so, [there were] a couple throws I didn’t make. I told [head] Coach [Andy Reid] I want to still throw it downfield, and so we were able to make some throws there after the first few drives. I think he got a little confidence that I can protect myself. So credit to our defense holding us in that game, especially after the start of that second half when I wasn’t able to get stuff going. They held us in the game, made some big plays at the end, and we were able to score enough points to win.”

True, but Mahomes will now face that Bengals defense — the same one he’s struggled to beat time after time. How can he turn that frown upside down if he is indeed landlocked in the pocket?

Former Notre Dame star Khalid Kareem signs his rookie deal

Khalid Kareem fell in the draft because of a shoulder injury but was able to sign his rookie deal on Thursday. How much did he get?

Khalid Kareem was a big reason for Notre Dame’s strong ability to get after opposing quarterbacks the last two seasons and looks to help the Cincinnati Bengals improve their defense this season.

The fifth round pick of the Bengals from the 2020 NFL Draft agreed to terms with the team Thursday and is set for training camp to open.  The four year deal is estimated to be worth roughly $2.6 million.

Kareem suffered a shoulder injury last season that kept him out of Senior Bowl activities and didn’t allow him to workout at the combine which is seemingly the main reason he fell to the fifth round.

Kareem recorded 88 tackles, 20.5 tackles for loss and ten sacks over the last two seasons at Notre Dame while forcing four fumbles and returning a fumble recovery for a touchdown last season.

Can the Bengals turn their run defense around?

There is excitement in Cincinnati due to the selection of Joe Burrow. But on the other side of the ball, stopping the run might be critical.

(In this series, Touchdown Wire’s Mark Schofield takes a look at one important metric per NFL team to uncover a crucial problem to solve for the 2020 season. In this installment, it’s time to look at the Cincinnati Bengals. A new face steps in as the potential franchise quarterback, but there are concerns on the other side of the football).

The excitement in the air regarding the upcoming football season in Cincinnati is almost palpable, and for the first time in a while, it has almost as much to do with the professional game than it does with the Buckeyes.

Drafting a quarterback with the first overall selection tends to generate some buzz.

After seeing Joe Burrow lead the LSU Tigers to a National Championship this past college season, and pick up a Heisman Trophy along the way, you can excuse Bengals fan for believing that he can bring some of that magic to the AFC North. When you start to look at the pieces the Bengals will have in place around him on the offensive side of the ball, you can understand their excitement even more. Cincinnati returns running back Joe Mixon, a talented and well-rounded RB. After missing all of last season wide receiver A.J. Green is expected to be back on the field, joining Tyler Boyd, John Ross and second-round draft pick Tee Higgins. If the organization can get some consistency from the offensive line, this could be a very good offense.

On the other side of the football, however, there are questions, and those will be our focus today.

We can start with scoring defense, and build the case from there with no shortage of evidence. The Bengals allowed 26.3 points per game in 2019, eighth-most in the league. Opposition offenses converted 89 of 209 third down attempts against the Bengals, a conversion rate of 42.6%, also eighth-most in the league. Cincinnati allowed an Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt of 7.4, sixth-most in the league.

Diving deeper, the Bengals posted a Defensive DVOA (Defense-adjusted Value over Average) of 13.4%, ranking them 30th in the league.

Finally, the number that will be the one to watch in 2020 is this one: Rushing yards allowed per game. The Bengals gave up 148.9 yards per game on the ground a season ago, most in the league.

Now, game situation and script obviously plays a huge role in that statistic. When you lose 14 games, you are going to be trailing an awful lot, and your opponents are going to be working the clock late in many fourth quarters. The Bengals faced 504 opposition rushing attempts, the most in the league and they were the only defense to face more than 500. But if the Bengals are going to take a step forward in 2020 as a defense, and get off the field on those third-down opportunities, improving their run defense is a noble goal. After all, they ranked 28th in the league in Defensive DVOA against the run.

Issues stopping the run showed up on film as well, particularly with respect to their run fits, and preventing cutback opportunities. This is one of those moments in covering football where the film and the numbers match up well. Watching this defense on film you see plays where teams had success against them on the ground using both zone and gap/power schemes.

For example, in Week 14 the Bengals lost to the Cleveland Browns by a final of 27-19, in a contest that featured one of Andy Dalton’s seven intentional spike plays from a year ago. In fact, it was the second-highest graded spike by our prestigious spike grading system here at Touchdown Wire.

In that game the Bengals allowed 146 yards rushing and two touchdowns on the ground, and this play is a perfect example of some of Cincinnati’s struggles stopping the run this past season:

Now, I am not the world’s foremost expert on run fits from a defensive perspective, but I know enough to understand that one of the linebackers here misses their assignment. Either rookie linebacker Germaine Pratt (#57) tries to cheat and backdoor this play, or veteran Nick Vigil (#59) overruns this play, but either way the backside A-Gap is completely open for the running back to exploit on a “bend” or cutback read. Nick Chubb (#24) does exactly that, bursting through the crease for a gain of 11 yards.

In their Week 13 victory over the New York Jets, the Bengals still struggled against the run, and against both zone and gap/power designs. On this play the offense runs an inside zone play using a split zone design. Le’Veon Bell (#26) aims his run to the right side of the formation and the offensive line flows in that direction as well. However, once more we see overpursuit from the second level, as Pratt flows to his left. This enables the Jets’ offensive line to seal off a backside crease, which the running back exploits:

Now here is Bell ripping off a solid gain on a power design often referred to as GT Counter:

The Jets probably put this design into their gameplan for Week 13 after seeing the Pittsburgh Steelers use it the previous week, on this play:

Running back Kerrith Whyte Jr. (#40) uses delayed footwork before settling behind David DeCastro (#66) who is pulling in front of him, and the young RB rips off a huge run of 16 yards.

So, what have the Bengals done to shore up their run defense this offseason, given these issues? One of their first free agent acquisitions was nose tackle D.J. Reader, who they signed to a four-year deal worth $53 million. They added veteran inside linebacker Josh Bynes, along with strong safety Vonn Bell, who was at his best during his time with the New Orleans Saints when playing in the box and working downhill against the run. Finally, they drafted linebacker Logan Wilson out of Wyoming in the third round, who was a four-year starter for the Cowboys. Wilson cracked Touchdown Wire’s Top 11 prospects at the LB position, and here is how we described his strengths:

Wilson is another throwback type of linebacker, who does his best work down near the line of scrimmage against the run. But what also shows up both on film and in testing is his athleticism. He has the explosiveness and the straight-line speed to handle some of what the pro game will ask of him. Wyoming let him function in underneath zone coverage as well as relying on him as a blitzer, and he is good enough at applying pressure to be a pass rushing specialist linebacker early in his career. His experience allows him to be very patient and comfortable in underneath zone coverage, and he will pass off receivers at just the right time before moving to the next player. He will come downhill and lay a stick on a ball-carrier, and is a sure tackler.

Tying these pieces together, the Bengals should be better against the run in 2020. Furthermore, if their offense is as improved as Bengals’ fans hope, the Cincinnati defense will face a more balanced game script in the season ahead, which might also improve their numbers against the run.