Dexter Lawrence and the Bengals defense sport a double dose of tough running matchups to handle this weekend.
Lawrence and that unit are preparing for how Lamar Jackson (ankle) is going to play, and they know they'll have to deal with Derrick Henry. The beast of a running back has ripped Cincinnati apart in his career.
Across eight matchups, Henry's posted 5.4 yards per carry and five touchdowns, including four touchdowns in the past five battles and 11 carries for 100 yards in the final meeting last year.
Consistency Required
The whole group has to tackle as one. Cincinnati ranks 24th in rushing yards per game allowed this season largely due to big plays (28th in rushing EPA allowed, 14th in success rate).
“It's going to be a good challenge. My emphasis today at practice was just that we gotta tackle this week," Lawrence told Bengals radio voice Dan Hoard and CLNS Media's Mike Petraglia on Wednesday. "We got to wrap him up, and we got to bring him down. So just watching how he runs the ball, he's a big dude running the ball. If I can say so, like when I was running the ball back in the day, but I think with a guy like him, just the big guys up front just can't let him climb to the second level. We got to build a wall and keep him behind it.”
Lawrence has transformed this run defense in a very positive way.
The veteran has an 82.5 Pro Football Focus grade on 226 snaps and has helped Cincinnati lead the league in run-stuff rate so far (23.93%). Something's gotta give between these two monsters on opposite sides of the ball.
He's searching for the first "complete game" of the Bengals season defensively.
"Just play a complete game, as complete as we can play," Lawrence said about the goal on Sunday. "We know it's not gonna be perfect, but some of the mistakes that we've had that can be there. They can be eliminated."
A rested, healthy Lawrence gets to unleash his skill set in Baltimore on Sunday. Check out the full comments below via Petraglia.
Great stuff here (with huge assist from the great @Dan_Hoard) from Dexter Lawrence II on the “Flying Squirrel” against Malik Willis and the emphasis this week on tackling Derrick Henry this Sunday. “It's going to be a good challenge. My emphasis today at practice was just we got… pic.twitter.com/7KEWgJNgw1
— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) October 21, 2026
— SFdata9ers🏈📊 (@sfdata9ers) October 21, 2026
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