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Critically Assessing the Bengals Offensive Line


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Yeah, yeah...I know...it's behind a paywall.  For those who pay for The Athletic this is sure a surprising story.  They rank the Bengals o-line as 3rd best in the NFL at pass protection.  😵  Not what we would expect. 

 

https://theathletic.com/3708858/2022/10/22/nfl-pass-protection-rankings/

 

       
       
       
       
       
       

The Bengals lead the league in sacks, but don't give up that many pressures is the bottom line.  When there is pressure, bad things happen.  In my mind when I try to match up these statistics with what I see and I think three things.  1.  Far too often the Bengals do not account for a rusher.  2.  Joe Burrow doesn't read defenses as well as we think he does.  3.  Jonah Williams is not good.

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Lacking any stats or ratings, I am disappointed, I thought the OL rebuild would be further along by now.  I do think they're trending up & Karras has been fun to watch.  I expected Collins to be around that same level instead of JAG.   Jonah looks like he's also peaked at about average..  Good or bad, he's here under a 5th year option for 2023 that more than doubles his current salary.  Karras & Collins are here through 2024 - worth noting La'ell has an active bonus of over $100k per game.  https://www.spotrac.com/

 

More to the point, those are the only 3 that look like they should be starting at all.  It's limiting the offense to the extent we're blaming the play calling & even the QB.  If Joe's taking an extra sack he's making two more plays on the run. If Zach maybe has outsmarted himself he also doesn't tend to repeat mistakes.  I've said before, I don't think he has a play where only the center blocks.

 

tl;dr everyone on the OL not wearing #64 needs to toughen up for this team to go anywhere

 

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31 minutes ago, T-Dub said:

Lacking any stats or ratings, I am disappointed, I thought the OL rebuild would be further along by now.  I do think they're trending up & Karras has been fun to watch.  I expected Collins to be around that same level instead of JAG.   Jonah looks like he's also peaked at about average..  Good or bad, he's here under a 5th year option for 2023 that more than doubles his current salary.  Karras & Collins are here through 2024 - worth noting La'ell has an active bonus of over $100k per game.  https://www.spotrac.com/

 

More to the point, those are the only 3 that look like they should be starting at all.  It's limiting the offense to the extent we're blaming the play calling & even the QB.  If Joe's taking an extra sack he's making two more plays on the run. If Zach maybe has outsmarted himself he also doesn't tend to repeat mistakes.  I've said before, I don't think he has a play where only the center blocks.

 

tl;dr everyone on the OL not wearing #64 needs to toughen up for this team to go anywhere

 

Toughen up, straighten up, gell, come together and so on...

 

Allright then

I'll wait........

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5 minutes ago, claptonrocks said:

Toughen up, straighten up, gell, come together and so on...

 

Allright then

I'll wait........

 

 

Not like we have much choice.  Trade deadline is the 1st, if there's anything remotely realistic that looks like a difference maker before then I'd love to see it.  Any decent older guards out there jobbing it who'd want one last shot at a ring? Maybe owed a bit too much money for a team that's rebuilding anyway.. 

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12 hours ago, UncleEarl said:

Yeah, yeah...I know...it's behind a paywall.  For those who pay for The Athletic this is sure a surprising story.  They rank the Bengals o-line as 3rd best in the NFL at pass protection.  😵  Not what we would expect. 

 

https://theathletic.com/3708858/2022/10/22/nfl-pass-protection-rankings/

 

       
       
       
       
       
       

The Bengals lead the league in sacks, but don't give up that many pressures is the bottom line.  When there is pressure, bad things happen.  In my mind when I try to match up these statistics with what I see and I think three things.  1.  Far too often the Bengals do not account for a rusher.  2.  Joe Burrow doesn't read defenses as well as we think he does.  3.  Jonah Williams is not good.

 

 

 

I think Joe is seeing alot of new things he hasn't seen before. He mentioned in a presser that there have been things that teams have done to them that have not been on tape. I think we forget he's still only in his 3rd year because of how good he has been. The more he sees the exotic stuff the more he will recognize it which will help in the long run. That said he's starting to play really good football again so we'll see.

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53 minutes ago, T-Dub said:

 

 

Not like we have much choice.  Trade deadline is the 1st, if there's anything remotely realistic that looks like a difference maker before then I'd love to see it.  Any decent older guards out there jobbing it who'd want one last shot at a ring? Maybe owed a bit too much money for a team that's rebuilding anyway.. 

This is what we're going to roll with.

So........

 

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This season reminds me of the year after Mahomes won the SB and was struggling because teams took away the deep pass on him. People said that was all he wanted to throw but he eventually was forced to figure it out 

 

Same with Joe except I think he's figured it out more quickly than Mahomes did.

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5 hours ago, Jamie_B said:

This season reminds me of the year after Mahomes won the SB and was struggling because teams took away the deep pass on him. People said that was all he wanted to throw but he eventually was forced to figure it out 

 

Same with Joe except I think he's figured it out more quickly than Mahomes did.


I agree to a point.  I also think Taylor and Callahan deserve some credit. They seem to be calling a lot more quick hitters.  Also noticed they are keeping a TE on the line more often that helps the run. 

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  • 1 month later...

Is there a stat for being under pressure, escaping and making something happen?

Either a freakishly impossible mass running out of bounds for a gain or running

for positive yardage himself?

I'm sure not but that is one of the many things I find spectacular about Joe Burrow.

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5 minutes ago, High School Harry said:

Is there a stat for being under pressure, escaping and making something happen?

Either a freakishly impossible mass running out of bounds for a gain or running

for positive yardage himself?

I'm sure not but that is one of the many things I find spectacular about Joe Burrow.

 

 

Agree he's gotten better at escaping pressure more than the OL has improved.  I still see our OTs getting beat off the edge consistently.  I don't think putting a 3rd OT on the field just to pick up their slack means the OL is better.  They're just better at scheming around the suck.

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19 minutes ago, UncleEarl said:


Nice to see the progress.  Something to be said about peaking at the right time. 

I think also a lot of people (this board, NFL observers, etc etc) underestimated that it would take some time for a line as new to each other as this one was to gel. You can definitely see their communication improving as the weeks go by. 

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2 hours ago, T-Dub said:

 

 

Agree he's gotten better at escaping pressure more than the OL has improved.  I still see our OTs getting beat off the edge consistently.  I don't think putting a 3rd OT on the field just to pick up their slack means the OL is better.  They're just better at scheming around the suck.

This says it all about the oline..

The interior has improved..

The tackles playing thru injuries.

 

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2 hours ago, claptonrocks said:

This says it all about the oline..

The interior has improved..

The tackles playing thru injuries.

 

 

 

Collins has been "playing through an injury" since he signed here.   Hopefully we'll see them both healthy next year since replacing them is unlikely.

 

I think Volson is missing fewer blocks but still gets pushed into Joe's lap far too often.  

 

Karras & maybe Cappa are the only ones that look consistently average or better.  

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