As we’ve been doing for several years now, we’ll break down the Pittsburgh Steelers’ opponent each week, telling you what to expect from a scheme and individual standpoint. This year, Jonathan Heitritter and I will cover the opposing team’s defense. I will focus on the scheme, Jonathan on the players.
Today, we are scouting the Cincinnati Bengals’ defense ahead of Week 11’s game against the Steelers.
Alex’s Scheme Report
Bengals’ Run Defense
The Bengals still run a 4-3 front. Their run defense ranks last in the NFL, allowing 166.4 rushing yards per game entering Week 11. Already, they’ve given up 1,498 yards on the ground and 12 touchdowns. Big plays have been a big issue, the Bengals giving up 36 runs of 10 or more yards. That’s a lowly 27th in the NFL.
It’s no surprise their leading tackler is a safety. Granted, the front seven has seen shuffling at linebacker but S Jordan Battle leads the way with 70 tackles. The dual rookie linebackers aren’t far behind. Demetrius Knight has 68 while Barrett Carter has 58. It’s Carter who has become the “guy,” logging 100 percent of the snaps in each of the last four games since the team traded veteran Logan Wilson to Dallas at the deadline.
The goal for this game is a downhill power running game. The Bengals have held their own defending the perimeter run/toss game and their secondary is active in run support. Even some of the short toss/inside zone style plays the Steelers like to use might not be the ticket.
Instead, a downhill run game that challenges these linebackers are key. Mess with their eyes with pullers and window dressing. Knight and Carter have struggled 1-on-1 and Jaylen Warren can make them “wrong” by pressing the hole and setting up cuts.
If there is a wrinkle to try, the receiver end around/jet game could be something to test. Cincinnati has given up those plays on the edges against speedy receivers. It hasn’t been part of Pittsburgh’s playbook but a handoff to Roman Wilson or Calvin Austin III wouldn’t be a bad change-up.
The Bengals run a mix of one- and two-gapping. Like to slant the d-tackles into gaps with the linebackers firing downhill. The Bengals have beef in the middle but struggle to shed blocks and make tackles.
Speaking of which, Cincinnati’s tackling is terrible. Historically bad. The Bengals have missed 109 tackles this season. No other team has more than 81 (which is the Steelers, so glass houses and stones here). To put the Bengals’ tally in perspective, their 109 misses would rank 11th across the entire 2024 season. They’re pacing to finish with over 200, which is so off the charts it’s hard to believe. Battle and Knight rank above 17 percent while Geno Stone is over 18 percent. Since the NFL moved to a 17-game season, the current high is 157.
Pittsburgh must keep that trend going.
The other defensive stats aren’t any better. Situationally, the Bengals are 31st on third down (49.1 percent) and 30th in the red zone (69.8 percent). They’re allowing 426.6 yards per game. The next-closest team sits at 397.4. Cincinnati has allowed 500-plus yards in back-to-back games. If the Steelers make it three-straight, the Bengals will be the first team to do so since…the 2018 Bengals. A string that saw then-DC Teryl Austin get fired.
Points allowed is also historically bad. The Bengals have given up 300 in nine games, 33.3 per game. They’re on pace to allow 566 for the season, which would shatter the record set by the 2024 Carolina Panthers of 534. The Bengals have allowed 25 or more points in eight of nine games, 30-plus in five of them, and 35-plus in four. Over the last three weeks, they’re allowing 37.7 points per game and have blown games to the Jets and Bears in the final moments.
That average 33.3 seasonal figure is shaping up to be the worst since the 1966 New York Giants. A Giants team that won just a single game that year and still holds the record for most points allowed in a regular-season contest (72). Not even the 1934 Cincinnati Reds, whom I regard as having the worst season in NFL history (they scored 10 points the entire year) allowed only 30.4 points per game.
The defense has a negative-EPA in all nine games.
So yeah, it’s pretty bad.
Bengals’ Pass Defense
There’s not much hope here, either. The Bengals are 30th in passing yards per game, allowing 260.1. Pittsburgh is last. They’re 22nd in completion percentage allowed (67.1), 29th in YPA (7.8), and have allowed a league-high 23 touchdowns. The unit has eight interceptions, a respectable number, but just 13 sacks. That’s 29th entering the week.
As a team, Cincinnati has allowed 34 plays of 20-plus yards. Also 29th.
Star pass rusher Trey Hendrickson looks doubtful to see the Steelers this year. He missed Week 7 and is set to miss Sunday’s game with an injury. He accounts for four of the team’s 13 sacks and eight of its 36 QB hits. In two full games without him, the Bengals have only two sacks. Hendrickson aside, DE Joseph Ossai leads the way with three of them. DT B.J. Hill has two. First-round rookie Shemar Stewart has zero and has struggled with injuries, though he’s played 40-plus snaps the last two weeks. Ossai also leads the way of non-Hendrickson players with six QB hits.
In coverage, CB DJ Turner II leads the team and NFL with 14 pass deflections. Battle has three interceptions and Turner two.
The Bengals aren’t generating pressure. The defense is just 28th with a 17.5 percent pressure rate. A lack of blitzing isn’t helping with the Bengals last in the NFL at 15.5 percent.
Cincinnati runs plenty of zone. The team is tied second in Cover 6 rate (20 percent) and on the higher end in Cover 3 (35 percent). The Bengals like using Cover 2 early in the game. The past two games, the first opposing third down, the Bengals played Cover 2. One traditional look and one inverted with the cornerbacks responsible for the deep half.
The Bengals do not often follow or respond to receiver motion across the formation, choosing to bump it out then travel. Which speaks to their zone-heaviness. Pittsburgh can work the screen/quick game off that with the extra numbers. Like here, gaining the extra blocker on this designed swing screen.
One thing the Bengals do well? Defending max protection play-action. Two-man routes aren’t going to cut it if the Steelers want to use play fakes. Cincinnati takes those away. Boots with more receivers in the pattern give the Bengals more fits.
In end-of-half/game situations, the Bengals utilize a lot of soft zone. They will begin to blitz once the offense picks up a first down. Alert No. 23 Dax Hill from the boundary side rushing.
The Bengals have been suckered into giving up all kinds of trick plays. Over the last two weeks alone, they’ve allowed a:
– HB pass touchdown
– 4th down Y leak (not really a “trick” play but deception that worked well)
– Double pass with a TE hitting a WR (it was wide open but dropped)
– Reverse WR pass to QB for a touchdown
Pittsburgh is not a trick-play team at all, and you have to think Cincinnati used its bye week to stop this comedy of errors. Still, if there’s a time to try something funky, this is it.
Jonathan’s Individual Report
For the second time in a month, the Steelers are set to face the Bengals, this time at home in Pittsburgh.
The last time these two teams met, it turned into a shootout that Pittsburgh lost in the final minutes as Cincinnati won 33-31 on Thursday Night Football.
Aaron Rodgers threw for four touchdown and 249 yards, but he also threw two picks. S No. 27 Jordan Battle made one of them as he covered ground on a deep ball intended for DK Metcalf before leaping up into the air to pick off an overthrown Rodgers pass. Battle finished the game with five total tackles (three solo), a pass deflection, and that interception.
The Bengals’ other interception came on a great play by CB No. 20 DJ Turner II. Turner, who deflected two other passes in the contest, ripped the ball out of DK Metcalf’s hands on a back-shoulder pass toward the sideline and stayed inbounds to secure the takeaway. Turner saw plenty of Metcalf in their last meeting, and one would expect the same in the rematch.
Pittsburgh gashed the Bengals on the ground in Week 7, rushing for 147 yards with RB Jaylen Warren doing the bulk of the work. He carried the ball 16 times for 127 yards (7.9 YPC) while also chipping in four receptions for 31 yards. If Pittsburgh wants a different result the second time around, having Warren dominate on the ground and bludgeoning a bad Bengals rush defense while keeping their offense on the sideline would be a good place to start.
Cincinnati’s leading tackler in Week 7 was rookie LB No. 49 Barrett Carter, who had 12 total stops (eight solo). He showed great pursuit and speed chasing down ball carriers in the open field. Following the trade of LB Logan Wilson to the Cowboys, expect Carter to become an even more prominent player and one to account for when Pittsburgh runs the ball.
Expect LB #44 Demetrius Knight to see an expanded role as well following the trade of Wilson. The rookie second-round pick out of South Carolina has already started eight-of-nine games this season and had four total tackles (two solo) and a pass deflection in the red zone in the first meeting against Pittsburgh.
S No. 22 Geno Stone was second on the team with five total tackles (three solo) along with a pass deflection in the contest. Still, Cincinnati surrendered four touchdowns to Steelers tight ends (mostly on busted plays against zone coverage), so getting their top three tight ends involved early and often in this rematch would be wise.
Cincinnati played without DE No. 91 Trey Hendrickson in their first meeting, and he is doubtful to play Sunday due to a hip injury. Pittsburgh didn’t surrender a sack in the first meeting against the Bengals, doing a good job of keeping Rodgers clean against their defensive front. DL No. 92 B.J. Hill was the only defender outside of Demetrius Knight to register a quarterback hit in the contest, and the Bengals are relying on that unit to cause more disruption this time around to throw Pittsburgh’s passing game out of rhythm.
Pittsburgh’s offense has struggled mightily in recent weeks, but the squeaky wheel might be getting the grease with this matchup. The Bengals rank dead last in the NFL in total yards and points allowed, surrendering 260 yards per game through the air and a whopping 166.4 yards per game on the ground.
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