02-02-2024, 07:18 PM
(02-02-2024, 06:45 PM)Whatever Wrote: FWIW, ESPN had the Bengals 9th in team Run Block Win Rate this past season. The issues with the run game are with the backs. We have Mixon, who is completely used up, and a bunch of Day 3 picks. Everyone likes to point to Pacheco in KC and say you can run with a Day 3 RB if you have a stud OL, but that's not the case, at all. The Chiefs are only 20th in run block win rate(1st in Pass Block Win Rate, though) and Pacheko averages 4.6 while their other RB's average 3.2, 3.5, and 2.9 ypc. If their OL are such great run blockers, then why are their other RB's so poor? People mistake getting lucky with a late RB pick with a great run blocking OL.
Unfortunately, there is a tendency to just blame "trenches" for any offensive or defensive deficiency. We see it on D regarding stopping the run as the club being bad in the trenches when the same front 6 was 5th and 7th against the run the past two years. The only thing that changed was communication issues due to a massive youth movement in the secondary.
Yeah, another stat to back up the idea is the fact that Cincinnati was just under league average in yards before contact but nearly dead last in elusiveness. The offensive line isn't doing a bad job, they aren't being helped by the RB room. There are some other, smaller issues like most of the runs coming out of shotgun which limits the looks you can give but yeah. These guys had opportunities on the edge and with second level defenders but more often than not couldn't make them miss to generate extra yardage. Mixon specifically was 19th in yards before contact but almost last in elusiveness and yards after contact.
