Assessing the Bengals early-season rushing attack
The Bengals are 0-2 for the third time in the past four years. There aren't a lot of things going right for Cincinnati to start the season.
The Bengals are experiencing déjà vu of the worst kind with Joe Mixon. Fresh off a new deal, Mixon is averaging 3.3 yards per carry after posting 3.2 YPC over the first eight games of 2019. That is the least efficient of all 32 running backs with 20+ attempts. Mixon gained 0.6 yards before first contact against the Browns, meaning he had little time to make a move before being hit.
The culprit in all of this is the offensive line. Mixon notched the third highest Pro Football Focus grade on the Bengals offense against Cleveland, but it didn't show because of breakdowns like this.
Arguably the most important play of the game, Cincinnati has a chance to cut the lead to one possession and control momentum going into the fourth quarter. The Bengals use a jumbo set, bringing in Hakeem Adeniji to anchor the strong side in a pulling concept. The rookie loses position from the snap, all while Trey Hopkins gets blasted into a pulling Michael Jordan. The middle rushing lane balloons and Mixon loses four yards when he needed one to turn the tide.
The margin for error between good and bad teams is so small. This is a perfect example of that. The Bengals settled for a field goal four plays later. Mixon only had two more carries the rest of the game.
Fred Johnson got the start at right guard on Thursday with Xavier Su'a-Filo out with an ankle injury. He struggled, as did Jordan on the left side. The duo posted two of the five lowest PFF grades on offense.
Cincinnati lines up in an 11-personnel bunch concept needing to convert a crucial opening drive third down. Johnson is left on an island against Sheldon Richardson with no help from Hopkins. Richardson meets Mixon one step into the carry. Meanwhile, Sione TakiTaki goes unblocked by C.J. Uzomah on the backside to seal the play.
Zac Taylor isn't just tossing the run away either. Mixon is tied for fifth in attempts by all running backs. The efficiency just isn't there. They have continued to use some of the concepts that unleashed Mixon in the second half of 2019, but teams figured them out. One of the big scheme issues so far is the Bengals have avoided runs to the left.
Eighty percent of Mixon's carries (28-of-35) have been up the gut or to the right side. Mixon has run behind Jordan four times for 13 yards. Runs behind Jordan have a 25 percent success rate, by far the lowest of any Bengals lineman according to Sharp Football Stats.
Cincinnati needs to unlock the left side soon or Mixon's next streak of carries without a fumble won't be as impressive. The Chargers Denzel Perryman sniffed out the direction of this run from the snap and knew he had the right angle to blow things up.
The Bengals could run the ball more on first down. That could make life easier on the offensive line and give their rushing attack some consistency. They are passing on first down at a 71 percent clip according to Sharp Football Stats.
The Bengals have actually been very productive on first down runs through two weeks. They rank tied for eighth in the league at 4.7 YPC and second to the Packers with a 74 percent success rate according to Sharp Football Stats. The yards are there for Mixon, but Taylor needs to put him in the right spot to succeed.
The other thing weighing down the running game is a wishy-washy snap count for the backfield. It could be a factor of the abbreviated offseason and its effect on conditioning, but Mixon has played just over 53 percent of the offensive snaps. He's supposed to be a top-tier running back. Instead, he's ceding too much time to Gio Bernard.
A.J. Green hasn't gotten his timing down with Joe Burrow, leaving Mixon as this team's best playmaker. Every time he isn't on the field, it hampers the offensive ceiling and introduces a tell to the defense. Bernard has carried the ball twice on 62 snaps. When the Bengals trot him out there, there's a good chance that it's a passing play.
It's hard to justify a $48 million deal for a running back if they can't crack a 75 percent snap rate. The offense suffers from predictability because of it. Mixon was also a non-factor in the passing game once the Bengals fell behind by two possessions against the Browns. He wasn't thrown to in the second half after catching all four of his targets for forty yards in the first half.
A sound rushing attack can make life much easier on a young quarterback. Cincinnati has to start tossing some of the weight onto their bell-cow running backs shoulders if they're going to turn things around this season.
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