Bengals O-Line Takeaways: What They Did Well and What They Can Improve Following Loss to Browns

Cincinnati is 0-1 following Sunday's loss in Cleveland.

Author:
Parker Blake
Publish date:
Sep 12, 2023 10:27 AM EDT

In this story:

The season opener didn't go as planned for the Bengals, but that seems to be the standard of late.

Facing an intense matchup in the trenches to start the year, there was a spotlight on the Bengals' offensive line. The short version, that we've all seen at this point, is that they need to lean into the run if Joe Burrow is struggling. They also need to find a way to make some of his throws and reads easier.

Burrow completed 14-of-31 passes for 82 yards and was sacked twice. Joe Mixon had 56 yards on 13 carries (4.3 yards per carry). Chris Evans and Trayveon Williams each had two carries each for 12 and seven yards, respectively. Williams was the ball carrier on what should have been the most explosive play of the day when he slipped on his way out of the backfield.

There has been a lot of talk about the first play of the game where the Bengals ran an RPO using split zone for the run portion. Burrow saw the cushion on top of Tee Higgins and decided to take the throw based on the pre-snap look. Za'Darius Smith came through unblocked because Irv Smith Jr. was late getting off the ball and was able to disrupt the pass by running through Burrow's shoulder.

While I would like to see Orlando Brown Jr. make better contact at the second level, this was a fun concept that I hope to see a decent amount of this season. Alex Cappa can't lose leverage into the lane, but does a good enough job of holding up the defensive tackle and Ted Karras is able to get through the line to screen of the linebacker that triggered quickly. Overall, this was a nice run by Chris Evans early in the game (see below tweet).

The Browns new defense is properly utilizing Myles Garrett by working him around the line of scrimmage to create favorable matchups. Garrett lines up head up over Karras in the video below.

An edge player vs an interior lineman is not the 1-on-1 you're looking for from an offensive perspective. Karras, however, does a fine job of staying in between the pressure and Burrow after losing off the first step. Flipping up to the right side, Jonah Williams is able to win to his spot vs the rush and is in good position to shut down the rush before Trayveon Williams [unfortunately] chips the rusher into a great position to get the sack. Without the chip, Burrow appears to be looking at scrambling forward to turn this into a fourth and short or even convert on third down.

This is the Bengals pass game I expected to see. If the Browns want to run man and bring pressure, the Bengals need to attack those looks. The quick recognition from Burrow leads to a quick trigger and nice play in the middle of the field. I wish we would have seen more of this throughout the game, paired with the run game, opposed to the deeper targets.

Mixon had a solid showing and I think most Bengals fans wish he would've had more opportunities early on in the game. This is another great rep in the run game. This time, both guards are able to get to the second level and get the linebackers out of the way. Karras does a fine job of keeping the defensive tackle engaged, allowing Mixon to make the read and get on his horse.

Overall, from what I saw, the line played well against a top level defensive front. There are some wrinkles to iron out as far as communication goes for the interior three, but the tackles didn't look nearly as rusty as I expected. I am excited to get into the All-22 and end zone angle film in order to get my grading done and get a full view of the game. Only allowing two sacks and averaging 4.3 yards on the ground with your starting running back feels like a good start for a unit that has been under construction for a long time.

Once this offense starts clicking and is able to get in sync, we should be back to watching the Bengals team we remember from the back half of every season. Week 1 is usually full of weird situations and results. The slow starts can be frustrating, but remember what this team is able to do when the weather cools off.

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