State of the Bengals: Running Back

[Joelist]

I tend to think the issue with running the ball goes to poor offensive line technique. When you watch them in games, our linemen play too high, actually give ground and use pulling too much to the point where defenses know it is coming and adjust for it.

Then look at teams that run it well - they get their pads low and drive right into the defense aggressively. That makes the holes the backs can burst into. If you want to know why Ezekiel Elliot had the rookie year he did look no further than the Dallas OL play - they gave him a clean backfield and nice holes to hit.

So if it is technique then it is the line coaching that comes into question...