Sewell vs. ????

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(10-16-2021, 01:05 AM)impactplaya Wrote: My gripe is that you need 2 starting DEs who strengths are rushing the passer.but Hubbard 
His strength is run stoppage.
But ironically Hubbard in his rookie year showed
He could bring the QB down.
Since then his sack % is way down. 
Last year I.was told with better talents around Hubbard his sack numbers would increase.
5 games in I havent seen Hubbard improve 
On his ability to finish the QB. 
Who is going to pick.up the slack when Trey
Has a stretch of games when he cant finish the QB?
Cant depend on.Sam Hubbard. 

I love you, man, but you couldn't be more off base with this one.  

Sam plays a ton of snaps and is an ELITE run defender.  Think that doesn't matter?  What division do the Bengals compete in?  The AFC North.  Two of the best rushing offenses are in their division.  If you want to go to the playoffs, it starts with winning your division.  

Pass rushing is an opportunity afforded by your OFFENSE.  If a team falls behind and has to start airing it out, they become one dimensional and your pass rush can tee off on their QB.  That has happened zero times this year.  Defenses also need to put teams in 3rd and long to be able to truly tee off with their pass rush.  The thing I don't get is why we don't see more zone blitzes on FIRST DOWN.  Teams actually throw on first down more than they run now.  If you are able to force an incompletion on a hurry or even a sack, it puts the offense off schedule and makes it difficult for them to convert a first down.  The Bengals get caught a lot with dump passes on play-action on first down a lot.  

Back to Sam:  He is also a relentless player.  He never gives up on a play.  He is very intelligent.  He was forced to get Lawrence on a one-on-one situation where he stayed home on a read-option and Lawrence lost his footing and was tackled.  He should have been credited with a sack on that play and no one has been able to explain to me why he wasn't.  That was a third down that forced a punt at a critical point in that game.  

It doesn't show up in the stat sheet, but Hubbard is ALWAYS around the ball and has the pass rush opposite Hendrickson that we need, but the Bengals need to be more aggressive and rush the passer on first downs and not be so overly concerned with defending the run.  Maybe more so against Cleveland and Baltimore, but not a Green Bay.