Bengals Defense Came Alive Against Rams, Gave Necessary Boost En Route to Primetime Win

Cincinnati sacked Matthew Stafford six times on Monday night.

Author:
Elise Jesse
Publish date:
Sep 26, 2023 4:50 PM EDT

In this story:

Matthew Stafford has only been sacked one time going into Monday night's game against the Bengals.

That statistic rose significantly at Paycor Stadium when Marion Hobby’s group generated a pass rush that brought Stafford down six times. Cincinnati’s pass rush was ignited on the first drive of the game after Tutu Atwell’s touchdown was called back, giving the Bengals another shot to make a stop.

DJ Reader got the sack party started by taking down Stafford on first-and-goal from the two-yard line. The Bengals held the Rams to a field goal.

“To not be deflated when they think they got scored on, then have to go back out there with the ball on the three,” Zac Taylor said following the team’s first win. “Then DJ sets the tone right there. Our guys played tremendous on defense.”

“They were relentless,” Joe Mixon said of Cincinnati’s pass rush. “I thought they did a great job coming with that energy, that excitement, that hype, and they delivered.”

Under the current circumstances Cincinnati’s defense needed to have a successful night in order for this team to finally get into the win column. The defensive line knew the task at hand and essentially tee’d off on LA’s offensive line the rest of the game Trey Hendrickson, Sam Hubbard, BJ Hill, and Dax Hill joined Reader in bringing Stafford down.

“I feel like I was in the perfect position to make the play, so really whenever I saw it I just shot it and made the play,” Dax Hill told All Bengals.

Hill showed everybody why he was a first round draft pick leading the team with seven solo tackles, one sack, and two tackles for loss. He still wasn’t satisfied with the way he performed.

“I feel like I’m at a good start but I’m young into being an NFL safety so I always want to continue to learn as I progress in the season so I’m not really satisfied because I know I can do a lot more so I’m just taking it game by game,” Hill said.

A lot more? Insert the exploding head emoji. seeing even more from Hill as the season progresses would make this defense even more dangerous than they showed on Monday night.

The Rams struggled mightily against Cincinnati’s defense earning just one third down conversion (1-11) which came with just over a minute left in the game.

“Holding them to 1-of-11 on third downs, two interceptions, (six) sacks, and the run defense was all outstanding,” Taylor said. “That’s understated because it forces them into situations where they have to throw it and then we can get the pressure. Lou (Anarumo) did a great job dialing up pressures at the right time.”

If you dive into the numbers from the first two weeks, you’ll notice just how much of a difference Cincinnati’s defense made on Monday. The Bengals defense allowed the Browns 350 total yards of offense in Week 1, including 206 rushing yards.

Cleveland had control of the ball for nearly 36 game minutes. The next week Cincinnati’s defense allowed the Ravens 415 total yards of offense with 178 coming from the rushing attack. Baltimore had possession for 33 game minutes.

Monday night was different as the Rams offense possessed the ball for 24 minutes, finishing the game under 300 total yards (292) and just 71 rushing yards. Cutting their opportunities short, and giving the ball back to Joe Burrow more often elevated the pressure to be perfect on every drive.

“As a quarterback, that kind of changes your mindset of the game, " Burrow said. “You don’t have to take as many chances; you’re not going to try to fit as many into tight windows. When you have a defense like that, they take care of the rest.”

Much of that success was credited to linebacker Logan Wilson who had a two interceptions for the second time in his career. The other one was against the Steelers on Sept. 26, 2021 in Pittsburgh.

“Being in the right place at the right time and taking advantage of those opportunities when they come to you because they’re rare in this league,” Wilson told All Bengals. “We are big on, as many times as we can get that ball back to our offense the better we are going to be as a team.”

If the Bengals can play at this level next week in Tennessee, they will put their offense in great position on the road. The Titans are in an interesting position with their offensive line. The team signed left tackle Andre Dillard, guard Daniel Brunskill and right tackle Chris Hubbard in free agency. Three veterans that have a whopping 20 years of NFL experience among them.

Ryan Tannehill has been sacked 13 times through three games, and if that unit cannot fix their problems, the veteran will be running for life against Cincinnati on Sunday in Nashville.

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