People keep bashing the offense

[wolfkaosaun]

(11-22-2017, 10:33 PM)bfine32 Wrote: My question is why does it matter?

If you are in the top dozen in the NFL in yards per game and points per game what motivation would someone have to point how many 3rd down conversation the opponent makes? Last I checked those are worth no points. 

But to answer your question: I think it's the bend, don't break philosophy. We don't want to give up the big play.  

Because the Bengals defense has given up the most 3rd downs and bottom 5 in stopping opponents on 3rd down? Teams run all over them.
They're bottom 5 against the run and 3rd down stops. Bottom 10 with opponents running on 3rd down and gaining a 1st down.

Remember how the Ravens literally ran down the field against the Bengals?

You can't sit here and say "Oh well teams aren't scoring much on us, we bend but don't break".

And that's the point. Opponents know this. Why score when you can keep the ball for almost 34 minutes a game? You KNOW they struggle against 3rd downs and will bend. So why try to take big shots when you can tire them out? There's different strategies for every game. No one is going to attack the Bengals defense the same way the Steelers defense. And we saw that back-to-back weeks. What worked on the Bengals surely didn't work on the Steelers

Our offense and defense are both terrible on 3rd down. That means failure in the NFL.

There are 3 teams in the bottom half (16) on defense on 3rd down. On offense, all 3 are are in the top 12.