CINCINNATI — The Bengals should make a change on defense this Sunday against the Patriots.
With all of the attention focused on Joe Burrow's return, the Bengals' issues at safety have been buried for most of the week.
Regardless, the Bengals should make a change. They should give Tycen Anderson more snaps at safety in place of Geno Stone.
That doesn't mean Stone shouldn't be on the field in certain situations, but the Bengals have to try to tweak something on the back end.
Stone and Jordan Battle are tied for the NFL lead with 16 missed tackles. Stone's missed tackle percentage (19.5%) is higher than Battle's. Couple that with Battle's three interceptions and it's easy to see why benching Stone over Battle would make sense.
"We’ll keep working through it this week," Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said when asked about possible changes to the starting lineup.
It doesn't sound like there will be a change at safety this week, but there should be. Taylor, Al Golden and the rest of the coaching staff should make it clear that the amount of missed tackles is unacceptable.
Demetrius Knight Jr. and Barrett Carter are also among the league leaders in missed tackles. They're both rookies. That means the Bengals have four of the top six players with the most missed tackles in the entire NFL.
Knight and Carter could be going through growing pains in their rookie seasons. Battle has at least flashed his potential at times.
We know what Stone is at this point.
Maybe Anderson won't be better. But how much worse can it get? The Bengals have an historically bad defense. The Bengals should want to see what Anderson can do on defense. He's a special teams ace that is clearly capable of tackling. He's made big plays on defense in preseason games.
If Anderson doesn't work out, then try P.J. Jules and Daijahn Anthony.
The Bengals need to try something different because what they're currently doing isn't working.
“It's effort. Effort, anticipation, vision," Bengals defensive coordinator Al Golden said when asked about the Bengals' tackling issues. "We have to have elite effort all the time. We had so many plays where we had great effort. Joe Ossai, Myles Murphy. Just chase plays. Guys on the perimeter. We need the same to be true on a couple of those plays as well."
For more on Stone, the possibility of starting Anderson and the Bengals defense, watch our breakdown here.
The #Bengals are moving closer to having the top FOUR spots for most missed tackles in the league.
(Devin White's stats from MNF not added yet). pic.twitter.com/8rxlaT4ufj
— Jay Morrison (@ByJayMorrison) November 18, 2025
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