Bengals Defensive Coordinator Al Golden Breaks Down the Breakdowns in Team's Loss to Buffalo

CINCINNATI – Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator Al Golden spent 25 minutes with reporters Monday, breaking down some of the biggest break downs in Sunday’s 39-34 loss at Buffalo.

Golden acknowledged some of the biggest – and most head-scratching – plays are ones that can’t happen while delving into why they did.

But he also made it clear that he didn’t view the game as a complete reversal from the progress his unit had shown in the previous three weeks.

“I think we fought our ass of yesterday,” Golden began. “We really competed hard. Had two red zone stops, created a turnover, had a turnover on downs right before half. They're sitting there with 11 points at halftime. I think they're at 18 with 8 and change to go in the game. We allowed too many explosive plays, but there's a lot of really good football in there.

“We've got to eliminate the plays that are hurting us,” he continued. “Obviously Josh (Allen) played really well. We didn't affect him as much as we needed to. We certainly didn't keep him in the pocket ... and they converted three of the four fourth downs.”

The fourth down conversions were among the plays that Golden covered in detail during Monday’s sit-down with reporters.

But let’s work our way backward from Allen’s game-clinching, 17-yard run on third and 15 when it looked like the Bengals would have a chance to get the ball back with a little more than a minute to try to drive for a game-winning score.

Geno Stone had just sacked Allen on second down, and Bengals used his final timeout with 1:54 remaining ahead of the third-and-15 play.

“The two previous downs, I went with zero (blitzes) and obviously had success, so I wasn't going to bring zero again,” Golden explained. “I thought he would have a zero beater, which they ended up checking to.

“So I gave him a game up front to distort any draw and help on a screen,” Golden continued. “It was the same game we caused the fumble with Lamar (Jackson) last week. They didn’t block our D end (Myles Murphy). It was unfortunate we didn’t make him stay in the pocket. They slid the protection, didn’t block the end and got out real quick, which was unfortunate for us.”

Golden said the plan was to distort the rushing lanes inside because he felt it was going to be a running play or quarterback draw.

“Any time you're in a game like that as the play caller, you run it back in your mind a million times,” he added. “’Would I have called this? Would I have called that? Certainly in hindsight you could call something else, but I believe in the front, and I was hoping for the same result we got against Lamar in a very similar situation.”

Also on Golden’s mind was the fact that the last time he had blitzed Allen before that series, the quarterback ran past everyone for a 40-yard touchdown.

That was with 7:33 left in the game, capping a quick 68-yard touchdown drive in 71 seconds that got the Bills within 28-25.

This is what Golden said about that play, when he brought linebackers Oren Burks and Barrett Carter on blitzes up the middle and defensive end Cedric Johnson was first to get to Allen but failed to get him on the ground:

“We brought pressure and really felt like it was a good call. We were gapped out, and we just got a little high on the edge and created a crease, which was unfortunate.

“I thought we were going to get 'em in a third and really long there, which would've been critical at that point in the game,” Golden continued. “So he got out, and obviously he scored. When you do that, you can't miss. We can't miss our opportunities. We’ve got to close there.”

While Buffalo had nine other explosive plays (passes of at least 16 yards; runs of at least 12 yards) that Golden lamented, it was a pair of short ones that were true daggers.

There was an 11-yard touchdown pass to Khalil Shakir on fourth-and-4 to cut the Bengals lead to 14-11 with 7:27 left in the first half.

And there was a 3-yard touchdown pass to Jackson Hawes on fourth and goal from 3-yard line that put Buffalo ahead 39-28 with 3:03 remaining in the game.

On the pass to Shakir, the Bengals flushed Allen from the pocket, and he held the ball for more than 7 seconds before making an incredible throw.

Shakir had slipped behind Demetrius Knight Jr. during the scramble, and the rookie linebacker turned his back to Allen to trail the receiver into the end zone, only to have the pass buzz past his helmet while he wasn’t looking.

“If you watch it on the (All-22 coaches film), we’ve got everything matched up,” Golden said. “We’ve got the coverage that we want. He doesn't have a throw. (Murphy) felt like he could win inside, B.J. (Hill) covers him. We get him to pull up.

“Everybody plastered a magnificent throw, and you would hope that we could get a hand up and make a huge play right there,” Golden added. “You’ve got to tip your hat to Josh on the throw. But man, we were draped all over him on that one and it'd be hard looking back to change the coverage.”

The touchdown to Hawes exposed a common problem, where the young Bengals linebackers are either biting too hard on fakes or don’t have eyes where they need to be.

The defense initially had the play covered, but Hawes leaked out after initially blocking. Carter was in a good position to disrupt a throw, but Allen pump faked a throw to his left, moving Carter enough to leave Hawes wide open for the score.

“The person was supposed to pick it up, ended up picking somebody else up,” Golden said. “ We really had a good call. We had everything covered. We had the flat covered, we had the throwback covered. There was an over (route) and a late leak.

“Because it was late, we kind of lost it and went to go help somewhere else instead of just staying focused,” Golden added. “But I liked where we were at in terms of the call and the preceding plays that led up to it. I thought they fought their ass off.

“(Fourth down) was a huge difference in the game. If you weren't going to get a lot of takeaways, then get another turnover on downs. Then it would've been one takeaway and two turnovers on downs. That's a big swing in the game. But we needed to make another stop. There's no excuse there. One of those we needed to step up and make a stop, and we failed to do that and they converted.”