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Midseason Musings - Synric - 11-09-2017
The Cincinnati Bengals are eight games into the 2017 season and the only word to describe this team is...Frustrating.
In my off season musings thread I mentioned three key pieces going into the season.
1. The development of the offensive line.
2. The development of second year coordinator Ken Zampese.
3. Improving the run defense.
Of the three the Ken Zampese firing seems to be the only step forward we have seen this season.
Lets take a look at the offense.
As always with the 2018 Bengals the first thing we have to get out of the way is the offensive line. Its not much of a stretch to say Cincy has the worst Offensive Line in the NFL. The two young tackles have have been depressing...Have you heard the term "Looks like Tarzan plays like Jane?" It gets thrown around alot as an insult but there isn't a more fitting metaphor to describe Cedric Ogbeuhi. In an athletic league like the NFL Russell Bodine continues to show every Sunday he is not. Hopkins had an early injury and has been up and down since returning. Fisher is supposedly battling a mysterious illness while I wish him the best it puts the Bengals in an awkward position going into the offseason at RT. The return of Andre Smith has been bitter sweet. He has been flipped back and forth between LT and RT to try to generate some run game with no success.
As for the rest of the offense its hard to judge the because the offensive line is completely killing any chance at success. We can be hard on the Wide Receivers the Run backs the Tight Ends but it boils down to there are no holes for the running backs, the team is consistently in 3rd and long, and Dalton has been on the run the entire season.
The Youth Movement on defense has been a lonely brightspot in the 2018 season. After years of second to fourth round picks and a coaching change on the defensive line it finally looks like they have some decent talent. Chris Smith and Jordan Willis have had flashes as three down defensive ends and deserve a shot over Michael Johnson. This past week Billings and Glasglow received alot of snaps and did some good things, but the Bengals still have very little inside rush outside of Atkins. William Jackson III has handled some big assigments against some good receivers and has come away looking like a young premire man coverage corner. Dennard has manned the nickle corner spot and has looked good in coverage but can clean up his tackling in run defense (which is huge for the inside corner).
I think my favorite part of the defense Ive seen so far this year was how PG used his linebackers when they were healthy. Nick Vigil and Vontaze Burfict has rotated between SAM and WILL linebacker depending on the offensive aligenment. Burfict lines up as SAM over the inline TE in running situations when Minter was healthy. It has allowed Burfict to get into the opponets backfield alot and was a major reason they beat the Bills. Nick Vigil has played both outside linebacker spots and has been up and down. He's been a solid in coverage and as a tackler, but has had issues bitting on play action and shedding blockers.
Drum Roll PLEASE. Aaaaannnnd NOW The Defensive Name everyone has been waiting for CAAARL LAAAWSON! LoL. Ok seriously he has been a tremendous pass rusher...and thats it...situational only. I really want to see Lawson develop into a three down linebacker for the Bengals. It would be huge to have Lawson out there against play action. But in Cincy's defensive scheme which spot does he play SAM or MIKE? He lined up at both in training camp and the preseason.
Im not going to get into the whole this player needs replaced or this guy isnt cutting it game, but I will give three coaches names to look at this coming offseason.
I know Bill Lazor has filled in admirably since the Zampese firing but Id like to see the Bengals get back to basics and hire either Russ Grimm or Mike Munchak as the offensive coordinator. As for the head coach I'd consider a third Steelers coach Todd Haley. Haley revived a dying Big Ben career who was getting beat to death under Bruce Arians. All three of the coaches have AFCN experience and knows what it takes to win in the defensive happy AFCN.
All in All while its been frustrating to watch the Bengals in 2017 they still have alot of talent and with a good offseason they could very easily be one of those teams to go from worst to first in 2018.