(08-04-2022, 01:43 PM)QueenCity Wrote: Bengals being able to convert short yardage situations and keeping the ball on offense will balance any short comings on defense IMO.

(08-04-2022, 12:39 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: and in my opinion, it's going to be the pass rush/secondary.

Both go hand in hand.

In 2020 the Bengals had arguably the worst pass rush in the NFL. They averaged a little over 1 sack a game. The Bengals knew how bad their pass rush was, so they brought in Larry Ogunjobi (7 sacks last year), Trey Hendrickson (14 sacks), and BJ Hill (5.5 sacks). In 2021, they more than doubled that sack per game average to 2.5 per game (11th in the NFL). Their pass rush was exponentially better in 2021 than it was in 2020. You can directly attribute this to the players they added.

Larry Ogunjobi averaged about 70% of the snaps last year, he won't be back on the team this year. BJ Hill averaged 49% of the snaps last year in the same position, effectively backing Larry up.

Here is Larry O's production from last year compared to BJ Hills:






We can argue back and fourth about which one is actually the better player, but one thing is for sure - the Bengals are basically counting on a combination of BJ Hill and Josh Tupuo to replace the production of Larry Ogunjobi and BJ Hill. Do you feel comfortable with Josh Tupuo getting 50% of the snaps next year and providing the kind of production that BJ Hill provided?

That is no bueno, especially for a team looking to make a Super Bowl run. My questions is this: if they felt the need to bring in BOTH BJ Hill and Larry Ogunjobi last year to help with the pass rush, why do they feel comfortable not supplementing BJ Hill with another quality option?

Only time will tell, but I REALLY think this comes back to bite them during the season. I think the pass rush will suffer this year and in turn I think the pass defense will suffer. It all starts with the defensive lines push - which has taken a pretty sizeable step back IMO.

(08-04-2022, 12:39 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: We can argue back and fourth about which one is actually the better player, but one thing is for sure - the Bengals are basically counting on a combination of BJ Hill and Josh Tupuo to replace the production of Larry Ogunjobi and BJ Hill. Do you feel comfortable with Josh Tupuo getting 50% of the snaps next year and providing the kind of production that BJ Hill provided?

(08-04-2022, 12:44 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: Ideally they’ll get some added production from Ossai and Carter.

(08-04-2022, 02:03 PM)bfine32 Wrote: IMO you point has one significant hole in it........Zac Carter

Dude had 102 tackles over 1/4 of them (26) were behind the LOS. He also managed 17 sacks in his 3 years as a starter. 

(08-04-2022, 02:29 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: You are counting on rookie production for a team that's goal is to win a Super Bowl. Chances are more likely than not that he doesn't come close to filling the production hole left by Ogunjobi. The point remains. 

(08-04-2022, 02:29 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: You are counting on rookie production for a team that's goal is to win a Super Bowl. Chances are more likely than not that he doesn't come close to filling the production hole left by Ogunjobi. The point remains. 

(08-04-2022, 01:55 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: That doesn't seem like a great strategy to me. 

(08-04-2022, 03:15 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Let's actually compare Hill's total snaps including playoffs to Ogunjobi's snaps.

Ogunjobi - 493 pass rush (PR) snaps
7.0 sacks
16 QB Hits

Hill - 326 regular season PR snaps + 155 PR snaps = 481 PR snaps
7.0 sacks (5.5 regular season + 1.5 postseason)
15 QB Hits

Hill is about the same level as a pass rusher as Ogunjobi.

So really you should be seeing Hill as the Ogunjobi replacement and then a combo of Carter+Sample (+Hubbard?) as the Hill rotational replacement.

(08-04-2022, 04:12 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Yep - that was the point of this thread. I'm not so much worried about Hill replacing Obunjobi's production more than I am about whoever replacing Hill's.