As we’ve been doing for many years now, we break down the Pittsburgh Steelers’ opponent each week, telling you what to expect from a scheme and individual player standpoint. Like last year, Josh Carney and I will cover the opposing team’s offense. I will focus on the scheme, Josh on the players.
Today, our scouting report on the Cincinnati Bengals’ offense in Week 11’s game against the Steelers.
Alex’s Scheme Report
Bengals Run Game
Our last report painted a bleak picture of the Bengals’ running game. Many of the season stats still look dismal. But the unit has improved in its last three games, including going off in Week 7 against the Steelers.
On the year, Cincinnati remains last, averaging 78.8 yards per game. Still, that’s 22 yards better than prior to its Week 7 game against Pittsburgh. The Bengals rushed for 142 yards against the Steelers and 181 yards the following week against the Chicago Bears before falling back to Earth in Week 9 (the team had a Week 10 bye) with 46 yards versus the New York Jets.
The team’s 4.2 YPC ranks 20th while the five touchdowns are tied for 26th. The same number as Pittsburgh. Cincinnati remains last in rush attempts with 169.
Chase Brown remains the lead back. He’s managing just 3.9 YPC on the season but a scorching 6.4 over his last three games after posting a 3.2 per-carry average across his first six. Backup runner Samaje Perine mostly operates on third down and has just 32 carries this year.
As a unit, the Bengals have 21 runs of 10 or more yards. That’s tied for 28th in the NFL. But from Weeks 7-10, which includes their bye week, the Bengals have 14 of them. That’s tied for seventh.
The scheme doesn’t seem radically changed even though the results are much different. A lot of duo and downhill runs. One fix is the Bengals are less obvious and predictable running through wide splits.
Split zone is a common concept dressed up with fullback alignment from No. 89 Drew Sample, a versatile backfield player who moves around the core of the formation.
One really interesting wrinkle though it’s very niche and may not be seen in this game. The Bengals busted out a fake flea flicker in Week 8. It worked. Fake the pitch back and then take off forward. Seen it some at the college game but very rarely at the NFL level.
The reason for the Bengals’ recent success is better blocking up front, giving Brown runways to show off his speed.
Other offensive stats. The Bengals are a high-powered offense again under Joe Flacco. The team is scoring 24.0 PPG for the season, 13th in the NFL, but 32.5 points per game in four starts under Flacco. That would be No. 1 in the NFL over the course of an entire season. It makes some of the other season totals less meaningful. In the last three games, the Bengals have tallied 398 yards of total offense or more.
On the year, the Bengals are minus-five in turnover differential. That’s tied-26th. Cincinnati has 14 giveaways though things have been cleaned up under Flacco. The Bengals went Weeks 6-8 without a giveaway before recording three in their Week 9 loss to the Chicago Bears.
Situationally, the Bengals are 12th on third down (40.4 percent) and eighth in the red zone (65.4 percent).
Bengals Pass Game
Even with Joe Burrow returning to practice, Flacco will remain in the starting lineup through this week. He’s thrown for 11 touchdowns and over 1,250 yards in four starts, a scorching 313.5 per game. Most importantly, he’s reduced his mistakes. He has just three turnovers in four starts (two interceptions, one fumble) compared to the eight turnovers he had in four starts with the Browns. Night-and-day difference.
Ja’Marr Chase remains the top dude. Not just for the team but the league. He has a 76/831/5 line with an incredible 107 total targets this season, including double digits in four of his last five games (and 23 against the Steelers). He’s on pace to finish the year with 202 targets, which would make him the sixth player in NFL history with 200 in a season. The record is 209.
Tee Higgins doesn’t have monster numbers this season, but his play has picked up since Flacco’s acquisition. He has 14 receptions, 261 yards, and four touchdowns in the last three games. That basically equates to half of his seasonal production. TE Noah Fant has two touchdowns in his last three games while five of Andrei Iosivas’ 16 receptions have gone for 20-plus yards. Big play waiting to happen.
As a unit, the Bengals have 25 completions of 20-plus yards. Again, those numbers have shot up under Flacco. From Weeks 6-9, Cincinnati had 15 of them, tied for fifth across the NFL.
It’s also worth noting RB Chase Brown had 14 targets and 8 receptions in Week 9 against the Chicago Bears. Tons of action for him out of the backfield.
Schematically, it still starts with identifying Chase. And then trying to minimize him. He aligns everywhere. Not just on the outside. If anything, Higgins is more static than Chase. Examples of Chase making plays from all alignments.
Cincinnati likes running this Escort Swing/Snag Concept on 1st and 10 early in the game.
And whenever Higgins is isolated, Flacco will target him.
Plenty of RPOs and “smoke” routes for Chase with free access (i.e. the corner playing off).
On third and medium/long, the Bengals dial up man beaters. The Steelers may want to use more zone in these situations.
Josh’s Individual Report
It’s Bengals week, Steelers fans!
With it comes an AFC North rematch as the Steelers look to exact some revenge against the Bengals just a few short weeks after dropping a sloppy Thursday Night Football matchup in Cincinnati.
The 40-year-old Joe Flacco remains under center for the Bengals, and he’s playing some of the best football of his career right now. In Week 9 against the Chicago Bears, Flacco threw for 470 yards, carving up Chicago’s defense.
The Steelers are all too familiar with that, having allowed 342 yards and three touchdowns to Flacco in that Thursday night matchup. He still has a good arm and can make all the throws, but the work he’s doing right now in the quick passing game with the Bengals, attacking the middle of the field and identifying matchups to exploit pre-snap, is remarkable to watch.
It helps that he has two elite-level wide receivers on the outside in Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. The last time the Steelers saw Chase, he went off for 16 receptions. Pittsburgh had no answer for him.
This time around, the Steelers have adjusted some things defensively, shifting Jalen Ramsey to safety. They could even elevate new CB signing Asante Samuel Jr. to help in coverage. But the Steelers feel like they have a better answer defensively now.
If Pittsburgh sits in a two-high split-safety look, the Bengals could go to the in-breaking routes with Chase. He’s had a great deal of success on them in recent weeks.
Chase can run the full route tree. He’s a deep threat, one who can win in contested catches. He can win over the middle as a route runner, and he can take short, quick throws and create something out of nothing.
Tee Higgins opposite him helps take plenty of attention away from Chase. Higgins is an outstanding receiver in his own right, and has long touchdowns in back-to-back weeks, winning downfield.
He’s another guy who can run a number of routes, but he’s at this best playing above the rim. With Flacco under center, he’s had more opportunities to do that in recent weeks.
The 44-yard touchdown catch against the Chicago Bears in Week 9 was downright absurd.
Talk about playing above the rim and having a massive catch radius. That might be one of the best catches you’ll see all year.
He’s not an overly explosive player, but he knows how to create separation, and does so late in routes, much like he does here to pull away for the score against the New York Jets.
Expect the Bengals to let Higgins test the Steelers downfield on Sunday, much like he did throughout the Week 7 matchup.
Andrei Iosivas is the Bengals’ No. 3 receiver and had a key reception against the Steelers in the last matchup. Joe Flacco hasn’t targeted him much, but he’s a weapon to be worried about in the passing game behind Higgins and Chase.
With so much attention on those two, Iosivas has a knack for making plays in big spots in 1-on-1 looks.
At tight end, Noah Fant is on a heater with Flacco under center. He’s added a middle-of-the-field threat to the Bengals’ passing attack and had a huge touchdown in Week 9 against the Bears in the Bengals’ comeback.
He’s a guy who can play in-line, but he’s better much more effective split out, lining up in the slot and getting those clean releases off the line to get into his routes. Behind Fant, Drew Sample is the blocking tight end and can quietly make plays as a receiver. Tanner Hudson adds a pass-catching element, too, and is a sneaky red-zone weapon with Flacco.
In the backfield, Chase Brown is the Bengals’ top back. Since the 100-yard game against the Steelers he’s been limited in the run game. But Flacco has started to utilize him a bit more as a receiver.
Nice little Texas route there on the linebacker and some good run after catch with power at the goal line to finish the touchdown from Brown. He’s an explosive player and showed in the last matchup with the Steelers that he can take a sliver of space and create explosive plays.
He hasn’t had much running room since that first matchup, but he’s played with more confidence as a runner compared to the start of the season and is seeing things a bit better.
Samaje Perine backs up Brown and provides more of a power element with better hands as a receiving back. He was slowed early in the week with an ankle injury though, which is worth monitoring moving forward.
Up front, the Bengals’ offensive line is doing a nice job of protecting Flacco in recent weeks and seems to be solidifying itself.
Here’s how I expect them to line up left to right on Sunday:
LT — Orlando Brown Jr.
LG — Dalton Risner
C — Ted Karras
RG — Jalen Rivers
RT — Amarius Mims
Brown and Mims are coming on strong in recent weeks and have held up relatively well in pass protection. Together, the pair have allowed just two sacks and nine pressures in the last two games, which saw the Bengals throw the ball 90 times.
On the interior, Jalen Rivers is playing some sound football and looks like a building block for the Bengals up front. Meanwhile, while the insertion of Risner into the starting lineup has given the Bengals a real boost in the trenches.
Special teams remain very good for the Bengals, too. Kicker Evan McPherson, who hit the game-winner against the Steelers in Week 7, is 13-for-16 on the season. That said, he did miss a kick against the Bears in Week 9.
He has a long of 50 yards on the season and is one of the better kickers in football. He’s 15-for-16 in his career against the Steelers so the game could come down to his right leg once again.
At punter, Ryan Rehkow is leading the NFL in yards per punt at 52.8. He has a long of 70 yards and seven of his 38 punts have been downed inside the 20-yard line this season.
In the return game, Charlie Jones has been explosive. He has one kick return for a touchdown this season, taking one back 98 yards for a score. He also has eight punt returns for 90 yards. In his career, Jones has one punt return for touchdown and two kickoff returns for touchdowns, showing just how explosive he is on special teams.
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