Tag: Sam Hubbard

Bengals make a notable snap count shift in the trenches

The Bengals are finally making a change.

The Cincinnati Bengals are mixing up the defensive rotation.

During the Week 14 win over the Dallas Cowboys, the Bengals trotted out a major shift in the trenches, according to the snap counts from the game.

There, Myles Murphy played 34 snaps, while Joseph Ossai played 30 and Sam Hubbard was all the way down to 21 snaps.

It’s a notable shift toward a youth movement and fans might argue it should have happened sooner, especially after Hubbard has struggled and admitted he is playing through a pretty serious injury.

The Bengals need Murphy, a former first-round pick, to be a key piece of the future. And Ossai seems to be turning a corner, so he could earn himself a bigger look for 2025, too.

While the Bengals aren’t out of the playoff race just yet, they need to start thinking about 2025, too, and this is one key way to do it.

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Bengals DE Sam Hubbard makes shocking injury revelation

Bengals DE Sam Hubbard tells all about his injury saga.

Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Sam Hubbard has finally spoken more about his mysterious injury saga, which started back during the summer.

Speaking with WLWT’s Charlie Clifford before Week 11 against the Los Angeles Chargers, Hubbard revealed that he nearly missed the entire 2024 season before fighting through an issue that required surgery.

“It was a Grade 3 hamstring tear that I could have operated on and missed the season, or rested about six weeks and played through,” Hubbard said. “I knew it was going to be something that lingered through the year, but they told me I would be able to work through it. Ten games later, I’m finally feeling pretty good.”

Hubbard left training camp on a cart near the end of July and was generally a vague injury talking point by the team right up until Week 1. In late September, Hubbard hinted in an interview that his hamstring injury could hurt him the rest of the season.

The impact of the injury has been obvious, with Hubbard playing a career-low 63 percent of the defense’s snaps so far (not counting his rookie year). He’s been one of many defenders struggling this season, with Joseph Ossai only just starting to get more playing time on the edge and former first-rounder Myles Murphy struggling to break onto the field at all.

Turning 30 next summer and with an $11.6 million cap hit on the final year of his deal next season, Hubbard will be one of the key points to watch this offseason for the Bengals.

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Replay shows Sam Hubbard’s devastated reaction to Lamar Jackson’s impossible TD pass

Lamar Jackson will really take away your will to live as a defender.

When it comes to cream-of-the-crop NFL superstars, they often defy all reasonable logic. We saw this when Lamar Jackson completed an impossible touchdown pass during the Baltimore Ravens’ wild overtime win over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.

With almost any other quarterback, the play ends in a certain disaster. However, the two-time MVP in Jackson is obviously no ordinary quarterback. Bengals’ defensive end Sam Hubbard got a stark reminder of this. After all, he was the defender Jackson most humiliated during the wild sequence.

A replay of the touchdown pass shows Hubbard devastatingly falling to his knees after Jackson broke his tackle and created the Ravens’ crazy touchdown.

You know, this is just what it’s like defending a future Hall of Famer sometimes:

I can’t lie. If I were in Hubbard’s shoes, I probably would’ve reacted the same way. What else can you possibly do when a generational player turns the switch on? You’re powerless. All you can hope for is that they’ll make an unforced mistake.

That’s not what happened with Jackson, who was marvelous here and all around in the Ravens’ big divisional win.

Ravens vs. Bengals: Top photos from Baltimore’s 41-38 win in overtime at Paycor Stadium

We’re looking at the top photos from the Baltimore Ravens 41-38 win over the Cincinnati Bengals in overtime at Paycor Stadium in Week 5

Lamar Jackson and company rallied from a late fourth-quarter deficit to force overtime with a 56-yard field goal from Justin Tucker. In overtime, the Bengals recovered a Jackson fumble but could not win it after Evan McPherson missed a 56-yard field goal of his win.

At one point in the fourth quarter, Joe Burrow was 27-for-34 for 353 yards and five touchdown passes, while former college teammate Ja’Marr Chase had nine catches for 174 yards and two scores.

Burrow finished 30-39 passing for 392 yards, five touchdowns, and one costly interception. His MVP counterpart, Lamar Jackson, was 26-42 passing for 348 yards and four touchdowns. Jackson also had 12 carries for 56 yards on the day.

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Joe Burrow dominates early, but Ravens rally for a 41-38 win over Bengals in overtime

Joe Burrow dominates early, but Ravens rally for a 41-38 win over Bengals in overtime

After a week of pundits and experts questioning Joe Burrow’s demise, the former LSU star put the NFL back on notice with a dominant, five-touchdown performance against the Baltimore Ravens at Paycor Stadium.

Still, it wasn’t enough, as Lamar Jackson and company rallied from a late fourth-quarter deficit to force overtime with a 56-yard field goal from Justin Tucker. In overtime, the Bengals recovered a Lamar Jackosn fumble but were unable to win it after Evan McPherson missed a 56-yard field goal of his win.

Baltimore used a big Derrick Henry run to get into field goal position, and Justin Tucker’s 24 field goals gave the Ravens their third straight win.

At one point in the fourth quarter, Burrow was 27-for-34 for 353 yards and five touchdown passes, while former college teammate Ja’Marr Chase had nine catches for 174 yards and two scores against a Ravens secondary full of first-round picks and high-paid defenders.

Burrow finished 30-39 passing for 392 yards, five touchdowns, and one costly interception. His MVP counterpart, Lamar Jackson, was 26-42 passing for 348 yards and four touchdowns. Jackson also had 12 carries for 56 yards on the day.

After a slow start, Derrick Henry finished things with a bang, rushing for 91 yards on 15 carries, with one rushing touchdown.

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Bengals’ Sam Hubbard tackles Derrick Henry for safety

Sam Hubbard and the Bengals notch a safety against the Ravens

Bringing down Derrick Henry anywhere on the field is difficult. You earn points when you tackle the Baltimore Ravens’ great running back behind the line of scrimmage … in the end zone.

The Cincinnati Bengals’ Sam Hubbard broke through the Ravens’ line on Sunday and tackled Henry for a safety as AFC North teams clashed.

Despite the two points, Cincy still trailed Balimotr, 14=9.

Sam Hubbard injury situation gets worse for Bengals

This reveal from Sam Hubbard could be bad news for the Bengals.

Recently, we wrote about how the Cincinnati Bengals were starting to develop a Sam Hubbard problem.

At face value, it looked like Hubbard getting his legs back under him after injuries and offseason ankle surgery were slowing him down over three games this season.

But as it turns out, Hubbard recently went on the radio with Dan Hoard (h/t BengalsTalk.com’s Jay Morrison) and revealed that his current hamstring injury could “linger” for the remainder of the season.

Perhaps the hamstring injury is more severe than the team initially realized, but this development comes as a surprise. Hubbard hasn’t been a staple of the injury report and isn’t on this week’s final report.

To this point in the season, Hubbard has been playing 75 percent of the snaps for the unit.

It’s a tough spot for all involved to be in right now. Former first-rounder Myles Muprhy was a big part of the plan but is on injured reserve. Joseph Ossai, as backed up by recent comments from a Bengals coach, can’t take a bigger workload. The other options are playing someone like K.J. Henry off the practice squad or rookie Cedric Johnson more.

No matter what the Bengals end up doing, the pass-rush being so lacking beyond Trey Hendrickson is crippling the defense and now there is apparently an issue hanging over a key starter that might impact things for the remainder of the season, too.

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Bengals are starting to have a Sam Hubbard problem

Sam Hubbard hasn’t played up to par for the Bengals so far this year.

The Cincinnati Bengals arent getting much from their pass rush to start the season, with Sam Hubbard being a problematic outlier.

Hubbard, as pointed out by ESPN’s Seth Walder, is at a pass-rush win rate of just five percent. Trey Hendrickson is at 33 percent, for context.

The Bengals simply need more from the spot, though Hubbard’s struggles aren’t overly surprising after he spent last year hobbled by injury before offseason surgery. He’s now 29 years old, yet still playing 75 percent of the snaps.

To the Bengals’ credit, they probably tried to avoid some of these issues by looping recent first-round pick Myles Murphy into the rotation more, but he landed on injured reserve to start the season. Other viable rotational names, such as Joseph Ossai, who was beaten notably badly in the running game in Week 3, might present bigger issues.

During a press conference this week, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said that Hubbard “is heading in the right direction.”

The Bengals have to hope so, because Hendrickson can’t do it all on his own for all 17 games and there are only so many schematic changes they can make to improve the pressure rates.

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Cincinnati Bengals name former Ohio State stars as team captains

A well deserved honor #GoBucks

The NFL season is set to kick off this week. As teams have made their final roster selections to open the season, team captains are being named as well. The Cincinnati Bengals have named two former Ohio State stars as captains for the 2024 campaign. Possibly three depending on how you look at it.

Vonn Bell and Sam Hubbard will serve as two of the team’s eight captains on the field this year. Joe Burrow will also be a captain again this season, so technically that makes three former Buckeyes that will wear the capital C on their chest.

According to the Bengals, Hubbard has played more games for Cincinnati than any other current player. This is the fourth year in a row that Hubbard has served as a defensive captain.

Bell is in his second stint with the Bengals. This will also be his fourth time being a captain after serving in the role for three years before leaving for the Carolina Panthers for one year. Cincinnati brought Bell back specifically for his leadership in the secondary so it’s no surprise that he was named captain once again.

Burrow has been a captain all five years he’s been in the Queen City.

https://twitter.com/Bengals/status/1830667175297982516

The Bengals kick off their season this Sunday, September 8 at 1 p.m. ET in Cincinnati against the New England Patriots.

Contact/Follow us @BuckeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Ohio State news, notes, and opinion. 

Bengals injury updates on Trey Hendrickson and Sam Hubbard are interesting

An interesting update on two injured Bengals stars.

Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor will clearly take a precautionary approach with defensive ends Sam Hubbard and Trey Hendrickson during training camp.

Speaking with reporters on Thursday, Taylor revealed that both pass-rushers have a new “week-to-week” designation.

That’s a little different from when Taylor described both guys as “day-to-day” earlier in the week.

Taylor went on to explain that both guys are known veterans at this point, so no need to push them back in a hurry.

Still, the team hasn’t really said what has held Hendrickson back other than a nagging issue. With Hubbard, at least, we know that he appeared to avoid a very serious injury earlier in the week when he was carted off the field.

Given the injury woes for both over the years, their importance to the defense and the time of year, it’s no great shock the Bengals will take every precaution with Hendrickson and Hubbard. Still, the change is notable, so fans will want to adjust expectations accordingly.

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