Analysis: What to make of the 3-3 Cincinnati Bengals at the bye week?

[Arkansas Bengal]

Kelsey Conway, Cincinnati Enquirer

Sun, Oct 15, 2023, 6:31 PM CDT·6 min read

 

 

The Cincinnati Bengals improve to 3-3 on the season thanks to a heckuva performance by the Bengals’ defense in the 17-13 win over the Seattle Seahawks Sunday.

 

After a dreadful beginning to the season, the Bengals found a way to crawl out from their 1-3 start. There’s a lot the Bengals need to fix during the bye week but as quarterback Joe Burrow said, it’s easier to fix things when you’re fresh off a win.

 

Cincinnati has yet to put it all together in a game. Against the Cardinals, it was the Bengals’ offense that stole the show. On Sunday against the Seahawks, Cincinnati’s defense was the reason they won.

 

If the Bengals finally put it all together on both sides of the ball, this is a playoff caliber team. But they must figure out how to be more consistent.

Here’s what we learned from the Bengals’ Week 6 win over the Seahawks:

 

Bengals defense takes big step in the right direction

 

Aside from the Bengals’ Week 3 win over the Los Angeles Rams, Cincinnati’s defense wasn’t playing to the level expected from a unit that returned all but two starters and had the same coordinator for the fifth straight season.

 

That changed against the Seahawks when Lou Anarumo’s group showed up repeatedly in the biggest moments of the game. The unit went from being a liability to one that could carry a team that sputtered on offense.

 

“I do think there will be a time when we’re not playing our best and the offense lifts us up and today it was us doing our part to lift them up,” defensive end Sam Hubbard said.

 

Hubbard led the charge for the Bengals’ defense. His fourth down sack with 2:08 to play should have ended the game but the offense turned around and went three-and-out to give the ball back to Seattle one more time.

 

Hubbard finished the game with five quarterback hits and one sack. The Bengals recorded 13 quarterback hits and four sacks in the win.

 

Cornerbacks Mike Hilton and Cam Taylor-Britt both recorded an interception that played a pivotal role in the final outcome. The Bengals held Seattle to three points on four red zone trips in the second half. It was the best red zone defense we’ve seen from Cincinnati’s defense this year.

 

“We put them out there in some tough spots and had to have those four low red stops that they had, you know, they held them to a field goal," head coach Zac Taylor said. "Two turnovers on downs, turnover. Exceptional job by our defense.”

 

Taylor-Britt has now logged an interception in back-to-back games. In just his second season in the NFL, he’s quickly becoming one of the best players on the Bengals’ roster. Following the contest, Hilton said Taylor-Britt’s main responsibility was to follow Seahawks’ wide receiver DK Metcalf around and “frustrate” him.

 

He was more than successful in doing so. Metcalf was flagged for an unnecessary roughness penalty with Taylor-Britt in coverage. He is now the Bengals’ shutdown cornerback, and he could end up being one of the best draft picks the franchise has made recently.

 

“I’m really proud of Cam,” Taylor said. “He's got great ball skills and so when the ball is in his area, he's usually got a great chance to go get that thing.”

It’s also worth noting that the Bengals two starting cornerbacks right now are first and second year players. Rookie second-round pick DJ Turner started opposite of Taylor-Britt with Chidobe Awuzie still dealing with a back injury.

 

And while that can sometimes be an issue for teams, one of the Bengals’ biggest strengths on defense right now is the play of their young cornerbacks.

 

Cincinnati’s offense in search of ‘complete’ game after ‘horrible’ second half

 

If the Bengals want to be playing in the AFC title game once again, they need to find out how to be more consistent as a group.

 

Last week, Cincinnati’s passing attack was virtually unstoppable. Against the Seahawks, the Bengals got off to a hot start but then fizzled out. Their offensive performance in the second half almost cost the team the game.

 

“Offense was really good in the first half,” Burrow said. “We were horrible in the second half, so we just gotta be able to put together a complete game.”

 

Burrow is calculated in everything he says. And this is why him using the term “horrible” is noteworthy.

 

The second half of the Bengals’ schedule is brutal. They face several teams with winning records and to keep pace, they’ll need to play much better on offense. After coming out firing on all cylinders, the Bengals struggled in every facet of the offense.

 

Cincinnati mustered just 53 yards of offense on six possessions in the second half. They scored zero touchdowns and two of their drives lasted less than thirty seconds. That’s not the complementary football the team expects to play.

 

This is what the Bengals’ second-half offensive series looked like: Interception, Punt, Punt, Field Goal, Punt, Punt

 

That type of performance won’t cut it moving forward against their next two opponents. Both the San Francisco 49ers and Buffalo Bills are averaging over 30 points per game.

 

As for how Burrow evaluates the offense through six games, Cincinnati’s franchise quarterback says the Bengals are “not where we want to be.” They need to use the bye week to find answers to some of their biggest issues – including their short-yardage game.

 

Burrow said short yardage is among the “many” things this team needs to get fixed.

 

The good news is that Burrow is healthy and didn’t suffer another setback before he gets a full week of rest before a postseason push.

 

Bengals need to reevaluate their run game approach

 

Through six games, the Bengals haven’t had one game in which they’ve tallied 100 rushing yards or more. They are averaging 69.8 rushing yards per game which ranks No. 32 in the NFL.

 

The Bengals are never going to be a run-first team but they certainly need to be more productive than last in the league in rushing yards per game. They are too one-dimensional right now and as they move into November and December; they need to be able to run the ball more efficiently.

 

Kansas City and the Los Angeles Chargers are similar to the Bengals in that they want to throw the ball more and win with their quarterback and receivers. Both the Chargers and Chiefs rank in the top-15 in rushing offense.

 

At some point, the Bengals will have to prove they can win games because they have a balanced attack.

 

 

 

https://sports.yahoo.com/analysis-3-3-cincinnati-bengals-233133102.html

[Jamie_B]

I dont know if the run game is fixable at this point. 

 

They dont have a line that is even competent at run blocking, that's a problem.

[PatternMaster]

48 minutes ago, Jamie_B said:

I dont know if the run game is fixable at this point. 

 

They dont have a line that is even competent at run blocking, that's a problem.

 

I think it's a scheme problem because the majority of their plays are run out of the shotgun, which is great for the passing game but it puts the running game at a disadvantage because if you have to get 3 yards just to get back to the LOS then it's tough to do in short yardage situations when opposing defense are expecting the run. Then you combine that with Cordell Volson getting blown up nearly every play then it understandable why they are dead last in running the ball.

[Jamie_B]

Just now, PatternMaster said:

 

I think it's a scheme problem because the majority of their plays are run out of the shotgun, which is great for the passing game but it puts the running game at a disadvantage because if you have to get 3 yards just to get back to the LOS then it's tough to do in short yardage situations when opposing defense are expecting the run. Then you combine that with Cordell Volson getting blown up nearly every play then it understandable why they are dead last in running the ball.

 

I think that is part of it for sure, Burrow needs to start getting comfortable under center. I know before he got hurt they were working on the play action pass from under center. Hope we can start incorporating that alot more  after the bye.

 

At the same time the Line doesn't get push really at all. I mentioned to Harry in a different thread, that goal line against the Cards last week with more than one chance to punch it in and the line could not get it done for Joe? That is a problem.

[PatternMaster]

1 minute ago, Jamie_B said:

 

I think that is part of it for sure, Burrow needs to start getting comfortable under center. I know before he got hurt they were working on the play action pass from under center. Hope we can start incorporating that alot more  after the bye.

 

At the same time the Line doesn't get push really at all. I mentioned to Harry in a different thread, that goal line against the Cards last week with more than one chance to punch it in and the line could not get it done for Joe? That is a problem.

 

They don't use the QB sneak in short-to-go situations either which is odd to me, but Volson needs to go see Barry Bonds and Mark McGuire to get stronger during the bye. That sack he gave up when he got tossed was embarrassing, no NFL lineman should get moved like that...there must be a better option. Speaking of better options, local guy  Andrew Norwell is a FA... maybe they kick the tires to see if he's healthy enough to play...that would be a huge upgrade at LG. 

[Jamie_B]

2 minutes ago, PatternMaster said:

 

They don't use the QB sneak in short-to-go situations either which is odd to me, but Volson needs to go see Barry Bonds and Mark McGuire to get stronger during the bye. That sack he gave up when he got tossed was embarrassing, no NFL lineman should get moved like that...there must be a better option. Speaking of better options, local guy  Andrew Norwell is a FA... maybe they kick the tires to see if he's healthy enough to play...that would be a huge upgrade at LG. 

 

They've used the sneak last year, got to guess it's a comfort thing with Joe right now.

 

Can't hurt to kick the tires, as far as a guy on the team right now would you start Cody Ford in his spot at this point?

[PatternMaster]

4 minutes ago, Jamie_B said:

 

They've used the sneak last year, got to guess it's a comfort thing with Joe right now.

 

Can't hurt to kick the tires, as far as a guy on the team right now would you start Cody Ford in his spot at this point?

 

He's the backup LT, he might be needed if OBJ is hurt. I would look at Smith and Carman as viable options as well. The Bengals can't ignore this problem, it's going to cost us more games in a season with a very small margin for error. 

[|BlackJesus|]

Volson is huge and looked like a beast in the off-season. He seems to be a hard worker and grew up bending railroad iron on a farm in North Dakota.

 

So how in the fuck did he get weaker with a full NFL off-season of weight lifting? If they can fix Volson's issues that is maybe 50% of the OL problems right now. 

[|BlackJesus|]

Continued: How does someone built like a combination of Michael Myers and Ivan Drago just get driven backwards with ease ??? Is it leverage and he's too tall? (6'7) He was one of my favorite players last season, so I would like to see them fix him. 

 

[Jamie_B]

1 hour ago, BlackJesus said:

Volson is huge and looked like a beast in the off-season. He seems to be a hard worker and grew up bending railroad iron on a farm in North Dakota.

 

So how in the fuck did he get weaker with a full NFL off-season of weight lifting? If they can fix Volson's issues that is maybe 50% of the OL problems right now. 

 

 

Looks like Tarzan plays like Jane

[I_C_Deadpeople]

2 hours ago, PatternMaster said:

 

I think it's a scheme problem because the majority of their plays are run out of the shotgun, which is great for the passing game but it puts the running game at a disadvantage because if you have to get 3 yards just to get back to the LOS then it's tough to do in short yardage situations when opposing defense are expecting the run. Then you combine that with Cordell Volson getting blown up nearly every play then it understandable why they are dead last in running the ball.

Don't the Chiefs run their runs plays primarily from the shotgun?

[PatternMaster]

2 hours ago, I_C_Deadpeople said:

Don't the Chiefs run their runs plays primarily from the shotgun?

 

fuck the Chiefs...lol....who cares what the Chiefs do, that doesn't translate to what we are doing. 

 

 

[Le Tigre]

5 hours ago, PatternMaster said:

He's the backup LT, he might be needed if OBJ is hurt. I would look at Smith and Carman as viable options as well.

We already know that Carman's only real position of value is that of LT. He showed that limitation last year. My memory may be fading, but I recall nothing but problems with him at either guard slots. 

 

Not certain what to make of Ford, in all honesty. 

[texbengal]

15 minutes ago, Le Tigre said:

We already know that Carman's only real position of value is that of LT. He showed that limitation last year. My memory may be fading, but I recall nothing but problems with him at either guard slots. 

 

Not certain what to make of Ford, in all honesty. 

 

Carman was terrible at G. That's really Ford's position as well... he played some T in Buffalo (he was drafted as a T, IIRC) - but he was pretty terrible. I think it may be a situation where Carman is the better athlete, but Ford is more focused/reliable. 

But after the playoffs last year, where I thought Carman played well, not sure why he hasn't been able to sustain that, or improve upon it... and at least be the first backup tackle. Ugh - second round pick... I'd seriously consider jettisoning him after this year, unless something changes. 

[PatternMaster]

16 hours ago, texbengal said:

 

Carman was terrible at G. That's really Ford's position as well... he played some T in Buffalo (he was drafted as a T, IIRC) - but he was pretty terrible. I think it may be a situation where Carman is the better athlete, but Ford is more focused/reliable. 

But after the playoffs last year, where I thought Carman played well, not sure why he hasn't been able to sustain that, or improve upon it... and at least be the first backup tackle. Ugh - second round pick... I'd seriously consider jettisoning him after this year, unless something changes. 

 

Was he worse than Volson? In 2021 when Carman got the most snaps of his career he had a PFF grade of 56.3, currently Volson has a PFF grade of 48.2 and last season he had a PFF grade of 51.6. I know you have to give some players an opportunity to develop into the position but Volson is holding this offense back and it seems like he's regressing. His pass blocking hasn't improved, the sack he gave up last week when he got tossed like a balled-up piece of paper is evidence of that, and the run blocking is awful as the Bengals are ranked dead last in rushing. In short-yardage situations he gets blown up and gets no movement on the ball...there is a huge lack of consistency from Volson that includes some good plays and some awful plays...his floor is too low and the ceiling isn't very high.