However, they quickly turned things around in 2021, drafting Burrow’s former LSU teammate WR Ja’Marr Chase as well as spent big in free agency to add talent at key positions of need to help the team finish atop the AFC North at 10-7 en route to a playoff run which fell just short of capturing a Lombardi Trophy.
Expectations weren’t necessarily high on this Bengals team last year after they finished 4-11-1 and saw their rookie QB Joe Burrow go down with a knee injury. The Pittsburgh Steelers kick off the 2022 season going on the road to square off with the division rival Cincinnati Bengals who are fresh off a Super Bowl appearance last season. RPO last year, two-high look, soft box, Roethlisberger hands the ball off for a decent gain. And the Steelers will look to run against those looks. Still, it’s an interesting disparity.įrom a coverage standpoint, the Bengals don’t quite play as much two-high as they used to, though they still can and generally speaking, the league has trended that way. My guess is some of that is due to teams playing catch-up late and getting some chunk plays but not double-explosive plays as the Bengals were playing more of a prevent defense. What’s interesting is that they gave up a ton of real estate 20-40 yards, allowing a whopping 65 completions of 20+ yards. But their pressure rate was good, 24.5%, 14th best in the league.ĭefensively, they allowed only eight completions of 40+ yards, tied 13th best in the NFL. They aren’t an especially blitz-heavy team, relatively common for a 4-3 front, blitzing just 20.5% of the time, 26th in the league. Sam Hubbard is a solid strong side end who has played Pittsburgh well, timing snaps and batting down passes at the line. But he isn’t the only name to worry about. As a defense, the Bengals had 17 sacks in the entire 2020 season. Those 14 sacks were second most in Bengals’ history and the most since the sack became official, only trailing Coy Bacon’s mark set back in the 70s. He finished the year with 14 sacks, one in each game against Pittsburgh, and seeing a career-high for a single-season. The Bengals hit on most of their free agent adds, none bigger than DE Trey Hendrickson, who was just outstanding last season for them.
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Their pass rush saw a serious upgrade in 2021 compared to 2020. Talk about the difference a year can make. Gunner Olszewski might be someone to benefit from that. They’re not going to take the bait and will play the back but this is a chance for the Steelers to use the jet game effectively and get WRs out in space. There isn’t a lot of shifting against pre-snap motion and jet runs/looks, especially with their linebackers.
The Bengals shift their front to the strength, an over front with the three-tech to the strong side and the one-tech to the weak side. And they were successful stopping Pittsburgh’s rushing attack. While they were ultra vanilla in the preseason, watching last year’s rematch, they regularly ran a 5-2/5-1 front against the Steelers’ heavier sets. Four of their top six tacklers came in the secondary. Last year, they didn’t capture the top spot but combined for 185 total tackles while NCB Mike Hilton posted a career-high 66 tackles in his first year with the team. Most years, their safety tandem of Jessie Bates and Vonn Bell lead the team in tackles. Their secondary is as active as any defense being around the ball. He led the team with 100 tackles last season. They allowed 47 runs of 10+ yards and again, that’s slightly above average, tied for 12th best in football.Īdding Logan Wilson gives them a solid off-ball linebacker they’ve been missing for years. But their run defense was above average, allowing just 4.3 YPC, 13th best in the league. Alex’s Scheme Report Bengals’ Run DefenseĪn underrated defense with a solid front, this unit ranked 17th in points per game allowed last year. Starting the 2022 season with the Cincinnati Bengals’ defense. I will focus on scheme, Jonathan on the players. This year, Jonathan Heitritter and I will cover the opposing team’s defense. As we’ve been doing for several years now, we’ll break down the Pittsburgh Steelers’ opponent each week, telling you what to expect from a scheme and individual standpoint.
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