‘Like a Body Punch’ – Bengals Not Panicking Despite Defense Getting Lit Up Against the Run

The Cincinnati Bengals are not hitting the panic button, but concern definitely exists.

And no, we’re not talking about Joe Burrow’s calf here, although if the compression sleeve fits…

If you’re using a pie chart to assign blame for a second-consecutive 0-2 start, the largest slice would be assigned to the defense’s inability to stop the run after the Cleveland Browns racked up 206 yards on the ground and the Baltimore Ravens had 178.

Why Can’t the Well-Paid Cincinnati Bengals Defense Stop the Run?

The Bengals had allowed more than 175 rushing yards just once in their previous 23 games.

“Yeah, there’s always concern when we’ve given up as many yards as we have,” defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo said. “But it’s still the same players in place, and we’ve been top five in the league. I would be really concerned if I saw guys getting knocked off the ball and this, that, and the other. But I’m not seeing that. So we’ve just got to fit these things better.”

But the fact that the run fits aren’t where they need to be should be a concern when, as Anarumo points out, most of the front seven — Trey Hendrickson, Sam Hubbard, D.J. Reader, B.J. Hill, Germaine Pratt, and Logan Wilson — are going on their third year together, and the team has signed, re-signed, or extended all of them to big dollars.

While two games into the 2023 season is admittedly a short sample size, look how far the Bengals have plummeted from their 2022 rankings:

• Rushing yards per game: 31st this year (192.0); seventh last year (106.6)
• Rushing yards per attempt: 29th this year (4.99); ninth last year (4.19)
• Rushes of 10+ yards: 32nd this year (15); seventh last year (42)
• Yards allowed before contact: 32nd this year (2.55); 22nd last year (1.71)

“I know Cleveland got 40 carries against us when they had a three-score lead,” Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said. “That’s where some of those things crack open. I thought, really, at the point of attack, we’re doing a good job.”

“This [Baltimore] game, it’s a new challenge because when the quarterback usually rushes for 50-70 yards, those aren’t even called runs, but they’re going to go down as rushing yards,” Taylor continued. “It’s pass defense when the quarterback has a chance to run his feet. I thought on the quarterback-designed runs we did a good job bottling up. It’s the scrambles where he got the bulk of his yardage.”

That surely accounted for some of it, but that also was a Ravens offense that was without starting running back J.K. Dobbins, starting center Tyler Linderbaum, and starting left tackle Ronnie Stanley, and the Ravens had little trouble running through the middle of the Cincinnati defense with backups Gus Edwards and Justice Hill.

First TD of the year for @GodsGiftGus13 ❗️

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— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) September 17, 2023

The Bengals’ defense has had great success and taken great pride in shutting down some of the best rushing attacks in the league in the last two years.

Among these were Nick Chubb in the Week 14 game last year (14 carries, 34 yards), Derrick Henry in Week 12 last year (17 carries, 38 yards) and the 2021 Divisional Round playoff game (20 carries, 62 yards), Dalvin Cook in the 2021 season opener (20 carries, 61 yards), Rhamonde Stevenson on Christmas Eve last year (13 carries, 30 yards) and Cam Akers in the Super Bowl (13 carries, 21 yards), among others.

“We haven’t played with the lead, and that’s complementary football,” Taylor said. “That’s the offense not doing a good enough job getting points on the board in the first two drives to take pressure off the defense, where teams aren’t playing with a 10-point lead against two great rushing teams that can then lean on the run.

“There’s no overreaction for me in terms of assessing our rush defense when you look because there’s a lot of really good stuff there. And if we can play with a lead, which we plan on doing, then it really limits the other team’s ability to just lean on the run like they have.”

MORE: NFL Defense Rankings 2023

The Browns and Ravens have traditionally had better success against the Bengals, which just adds to the team’s resistance to panic after two games.

Up next are seven consecutive games against teams outside of the AFC North division, starting with a Los Angeles Rams team that took the brunt of one of Cincinnati’s defense’s best run-stopping efforts of the Anarumo era in Super Bowl LVI (43 yards on 23 carries).

“The run defense is like a body punch,” Anarumo said. “You feel it for a long time. You take pride in defending that and making sure it doesn’t keep creeping it up. We’ll do better.”