Coming off a bye week, the Cincinnati Bengals find themselves fourth in the AFC North. It’s not where they had hoped to be at this point in the season, but with 12 games left, there’s plenty of time to figure things out.
One thing the bye week did do was give the Bengals a chance to look in the mirror and figure out what has gone wrong so far this season. On the defensive side of the ball, that includes containing outside runs and keeping quarterbacks from scrambling. Incidentally, those are strengths that the Baltimore Ravens, their next opponent, pride themselves on offensively.
As it stands now, the Ravens are 4-2. That puts them in a three-way tie for first in the AFC North. That makes every game against a conference rival that much more important. So, the Bengals have been focusing on those outside runs.
Cincinnati Bengals Defensive Coordinator Al Golden on Outside Runs
One thing is clear, the Bengals are aware of the issues that they have on outside runs. Defensive coordinator Al Golden recently shared that it’s become a point of emphasis for the Bengals.
“We must improve on the perimeter run game,” Golden said. “That’s one of the things we are working through right now and just trying to make sure conceptually and tactically we’re doing it the way we need to do it to improve there.”
Through six weeks, the Bengals are giving up 5.0 yards per carry. That’s 30th in the NFL. They’re also just 31st in terms of explosive plays allowed. The edge has become the key piece of the defense giving up those mistakes. 11 of 16 explosive runs the Bengals have allowed have come on either an outside run or a quarterback scramble. An explosive run is defined as being 12 or more yards.
Golden went on to put the blame for those issues on his own shoulders. Still, it’s not just him who needs to be better coming out of the bye week.
“It’s on me,” Golden said. “Everything starts with what we’re doing tactically and how we’re teaching it and what we need to improve and what needs to change and where can we be in a different call. But certainly, everybody has a part in it. We all need to improve on it, whether that’s beating blocks, playing better force, coaches putting the guys in better position to make plays and then tackling.”
There is a Saving Grace for the Bengals This Week
The Ravens, in many respects, seem designed to take advantage of this weakness on the Bengals defense. Derrick Henry remains one of the game’s best running backs, even if he did lose a step. Then, Lamar Jackson is the prototypical dual-threat quarterback, good enough at passing the ball that you can’t sell out stopping his scrambling, putting the defense in a lose-lose situation.
There is a silver lining for the Bengals, though. Jackson is injured. He hasn’t played since October 4th, and he’s still day-to-day. There’s no guarantee he plays at all, and if he doesn’t, then the Ravens become much more manageable to deal with.
Injury reports will be coming out throughout the week. However, it’s clear that even if Jackson does play, he’s likely to not be completely healthy.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
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