09-28-2020, 09:52 AM
It's time for an honest assessment of the Bengals' offensive line. It's the subject du jour of sports media and everyone seems to understand the line is horrible but to assess why, well, no one has done that yet.
It's not the players. These men were earth movers in college, even Billy Price. Of the five starters, only Jonah Williams is playing at minimal NFL-grade quality but I expect this to regress as the season goes on. Trey Hopkins is next best but the other three linemen stink so bad not even an airtight respirator cuts the smell. I don't care about PFF grades, either. This is not an NFL-quality offensive line and it hasn't been since 2015.
Let's shoo the elephant out of the room next and before I do this I want to say a few things. I do not want Andy Dalton back. I'm glad the Bengals parted ways with him and I'm happy he's back home in Dallas. From 2011-2015 Andy was the right man for the job and he has supplanted Jon Kitna as my favorite former Bengal...
...but let's not pretend changing quarterbacks made a dime's worth of difference at this point. With a better supporting cast Joe Burrow will turn out to be the best quarterback the Bengals ever had and maybe even become the GOAT. His upside is greater than Andy Dalton but right now even Lamar Jackson would be unsuccessful in Cincinnati.
The pass blocking is abysmal but the run blocking is worse. Joe Mixon managed just 48 rushing yards against the Eagles; possibly the worst defense in the NFC. Joe is talented. So is Giovani Bernard. There is no reason such great players should be hamstrung behind an offensive line which can't open a can of tuna much less a crease. Joe and Gio can't see a crease that's not there.
What I don't see is a specific scheme when either pass blocking or run blocking. Usually a trap blocking scheme is easy to spot, for example, but I see the Cincinnati offensive linemen reacting to the defense instead of locking up, sustaining the block, and turning the defensive player away from the play. That's the basic principle of offensive line play: Turn the defensive guy away from the play. This is true for both the run and the pass. If you watch Billy Price, for example, you'll see his head is on a swivel in pass protection and this bothers me. It means he is waiting for someone to block instead of being assigned someone specific to block. Paul Brown used to teach specific blocking assignments and his big secret was footwork; he believed lateral movement was critical for an offensive lineman because it allowed the lineman to keep his pads square before turning a defensive player a certain way. I see a lot of forward and backwards -- mostly backwards -- movement currently and this allows the defense open the gaps and grab Joe Mixon at the line of scrimmage or to pressure Joe Burrow.
Any scheme is better than no scheme -- and right now it looks like the Bengals' offensive line is playing pat-a-cake.
It's not the players. These men were earth movers in college, even Billy Price. Of the five starters, only Jonah Williams is playing at minimal NFL-grade quality but I expect this to regress as the season goes on. Trey Hopkins is next best but the other three linemen stink so bad not even an airtight respirator cuts the smell. I don't care about PFF grades, either. This is not an NFL-quality offensive line and it hasn't been since 2015.
Let's shoo the elephant out of the room next and before I do this I want to say a few things. I do not want Andy Dalton back. I'm glad the Bengals parted ways with him and I'm happy he's back home in Dallas. From 2011-2015 Andy was the right man for the job and he has supplanted Jon Kitna as my favorite former Bengal...
...but let's not pretend changing quarterbacks made a dime's worth of difference at this point. With a better supporting cast Joe Burrow will turn out to be the best quarterback the Bengals ever had and maybe even become the GOAT. His upside is greater than Andy Dalton but right now even Lamar Jackson would be unsuccessful in Cincinnati.
The pass blocking is abysmal but the run blocking is worse. Joe Mixon managed just 48 rushing yards against the Eagles; possibly the worst defense in the NFC. Joe is talented. So is Giovani Bernard. There is no reason such great players should be hamstrung behind an offensive line which can't open a can of tuna much less a crease. Joe and Gio can't see a crease that's not there.
What I don't see is a specific scheme when either pass blocking or run blocking. Usually a trap blocking scheme is easy to spot, for example, but I see the Cincinnati offensive linemen reacting to the defense instead of locking up, sustaining the block, and turning the defensive player away from the play. That's the basic principle of offensive line play: Turn the defensive guy away from the play. This is true for both the run and the pass. If you watch Billy Price, for example, you'll see his head is on a swivel in pass protection and this bothers me. It means he is waiting for someone to block instead of being assigned someone specific to block. Paul Brown used to teach specific blocking assignments and his big secret was footwork; he believed lateral movement was critical for an offensive lineman because it allowed the lineman to keep his pads square before turning a defensive player a certain way. I see a lot of forward and backwards -- mostly backwards -- movement currently and this allows the defense open the gaps and grab Joe Mixon at the line of scrimmage or to pressure Joe Burrow.
Any scheme is better than no scheme -- and right now it looks like the Bengals' offensive line is playing pat-a-cake.
![[Image: 4CV0TeR.png]](https://i.imgur.com/4CV0TeR.png)
