Geno Stone States Bengals' Defense 'Played Better' Despite Massive Missed Tackle Total Against Pittsburgh

CINCINNATI — The Bengals' defense had some better moments compared to recent weeks in Sunday's 34-12 loss to the Steelers. Geno Stone acknowledged that slight improvement, but the missed tackles are still a massive problem.

Cincinnati had another 16 yesterday and is up to 109 missed tackles this season (28 more than any other team). Stone missed three on the day, with only Barrett Carter missing more (four). Mountainous Steelers tight end Darnell Washington rumbled through Cincinnati at will.

"It comes down to certain situations where people aren't in the right spot, and that's what it came down to," Stone said at his locker after the game. "But I think overall, we played better. I'll say that we played better. I mean, definitely still got to tackle better, myself included, but we definitely played better."

Stone wasn't part of that "we" that played better, posting a 49.3 Pro Football Focus grade in the game, third-worst on the defense.

He's been nearly the same player as last season (53.1 2024 PFF grade, 53.5 in 2025). Cincinnati's entire defense could be upgraded outside of Trey Hendrickson and DJ Turner II.

Obviously, that's not happening at this point of the season, and there's no reason to think the tackling will improve either after posting 16 misses against Pittsburgh following the bye week.

A reporter asked Bengals head coach Zac Taylor on Sunday, "Seems like every week, we ask you about tackling. Do you get to a point where you practice so much, you talk about it much after games, that you might need to just make some personnel changes to see if that can help with tackling?"

And his one-word response was, "No."

Cincinnati's next opponent is 9-2 in no small part thanks to their tackling discipline. New England has missed just 43 tackles this season, good for fourth-best in the NFL.

For more on the Bengals, subscribe to our YouTube Channel and watch the video below as part of our in-depth coverage of the team. Prefer to listen? Check out Cincinnati Bengals Talk on Apple, Spotify, and Amazon Podcasts.

Make sure you bookmark BengalsTalk.com for the latest Bengals news, exclusive interviews, insight, film breakdowns and so much more!

Also, check out the podcast, Locked On Bengals, wherever you get your podcasts.

Apple: bit.ly/BengalsApple

Spotify: bit.ly/BengalsSpotify

YouTube: bit.ly/LOBengalsYouTube

-----

Follow us on X: @BengalsTalkSI

Like Our Facebook Page

Follow on TikTok