Defense better against the run...

[derekshank]

I was thinking about our defense, and the new coordinator. With the scheme being more simple, so the players aren't confused and out of position so often, I really believe this will help our run D, and we will not get run over so badly this year. Not so many big runs... especially on 3rd down for a first.

However... the more simple the scheme, the easier it is for a passing offense to create mismatches, and take advantages of the defense's weakest links. So while I doubt our run defense will be as bad, I think the new scheme can hurt us in the passing game, until we get a SS who can cover.

I think we are going to be seeing KK and Ohalete give up multiple big passing plays. While this is a better problem to have, given our division (very run heavy offenses), it is a serious problem considering our out of conference schedule, and our own offense, which will look to score early and often, causing teams to abandon the run.

Just wondering if anyone agrees with me here? I'm concerned about the SS position right now. I don't want to see Madieu have to switch to SS, but if that would help for just this year... and put a coverage guy, like Ratliff at FS... it might slow the leak a bit. That is just something off the top of my head... and I know it I'm dreaming, and it won't happen... but I see our DB's as a big weakness this year.

[Stripes]

The same idea has worried me marginally. I agree the defense will be more proned to mistakes in a simpler scheme.

That said, our secondary, aside from the strong safeties, is filled with smart and mostly veteran players. Tory James and Deltha O'Neal know how to conduct themselves out there without the extra direction, and Madieu should do fine now that he won't be stepping up in the box as often as last year.

Other teams can throw on Olahete and Kaeshviharn, but if that's the only thing on defense I have to worry about, I'm happy. If it becomes a problem, I'm sure adjustments can be made in the scheme to keep them in position on a consistent basis.

[walshfan]

One of the keys to a good secondary is having the front seven apply constant pressure of the opposing quarterback.. DB's can only cover effeciently for so long.

The purpose of switching Geathers and Smith and adding Pollack is to get a better pash rush.. Flipping the DT's allows Thornton to get inside as well.. Hopefully all of these maneuvers work to our advantage...

Our secondary isnt bad.. our corners our gamblers.. we'll live and die with that.

Madieu Williams is a blessing at safety.. Hopefully KK and Ohalete give our pass and run support help too....

[volcom69]

I look at this the same way we need pressure as much as possible with our front 7. Im hoping though we dont have to blitz all the time, that our front 4 can put the pressure on cause if we blitz all the time and cant get to the qb that might be a problem.

[buck3y3d]

This new scheme worries me greatly. Especially to hear Bresnehan say that the scheme is less cerebral and he tries to keep it simple stupid. I think the run game will improve because it really can't get any worse, but if it doesn't i wonder what Bresnehan will do to change the scheme. he also plays a lot of zone, which if the preseason has any telling causes many corners to be beat.

(ex. Philadelphia - Owens runs a vertical route, Deltha stops after his zone, but Kim Herring fails to pick up the man and Owens walks in for the score).

[schweinhart]

This first game should prove more a test of the run D than pass D.

The Clowns have picked up 2 monster guards in Andruzzi and Coleman, both vets of Super Bowl winning teams and royally tough MFers. They flank Jeff Faine who is tough and effective in his own right.

The Clowns would seem to have their greatest chance for success on the ground running Droughns right up the middle between these 3 w/ Terrelle Smith leading the way. They may find some holes between tackle and guard for Green also. I would not be surprised to see the Clowns gain 125-150 yards on the ground. ODell and the SS, be it hopefully Ohalete, will have to chore hard to make the stops as close to the LOS as possible. A healthy Lee Suggs would make those stops more difficult, and he is a wildcard for this game.

The Clowns are weakest at the tackles spots on offense. Both Justin and Jumpy Jr. should mob Dilfer from the ends. I'd look for mostly 3 step drops w/ a lot of underneath stuff. This is where Antonio Bryant seems poised to do the most damage. But there backs are all threats catching the ball.

The vertical plays should be few and far between. O'Neal can fend for himself w/ most of the help overtop going to James. But Bryant will be a handful over the middle. I'd look for him to go about 6 for 100 yds.

Even with giving up some yards, the Bengals should really manhandle the Clowns because their defense looks like it will suck, especially early.

I'm guessing now a reversal of last year: 31-17 Bengals.

[skyline]

A more simple scheme is one reason Pollack will be key to how well we perform. It's important to have that x-factor that can keep the offense wondering what the defense will be throwing at them.

I also worrya bout the safety situation. I love Madieu, but I think our other guys are going to give up some big plays.

I do want to say, though, that I don't think you should get too worried about a "simple" scheme. It's better to have fewer plays that you do well than a whole array of plays that you are only marginally good at executing. Plus, simple is a relative term. Simple doesn't mean you can't keep the offense guessing.

[schweinhart]

This new scheme worries me greatly. Especially to hear Bresnehan say that the scheme is less cerebral and he tries to keep it simple stupid. I think the run game will improve because it really can't get any worse, but if it doesn't i wonder what Bresnehan will do to change the scheme. he also plays a lot of zone, which if the preseason has any telling causes many corners to be beat.

(ex. Philadelphia - Owens runs a vertical route, Deltha stops after his zone, but Kim Herring fails to pick up the man and Owens walks in for the score).

The less zone they play the better IMO. They can still cover 2 with the safeties and keep the MLB active up the seam but when they put the 2 CBs in quarters coverage or even one in and one out, they cause themselves problems.

The problems turned up a lot last year and they surfaced in the pre-season.

The TO catch is a perfect example. Would that play been different if O'Neal was on an island w/ TO? I think so. O'Neal got written up for not doing more to disrupt TO in the route, but he did redirect TO to the sideline enough that a lot of other WRs might've stepped out of bounds instead of making a cut up as sharp up as TO did. But it wouldn't have matter at all what O'Neal did because Herring took one of the sh*ittiest angles I've ever seen.

A different version of the same thing happened on the next big TO catch, only the Bengals dropped James back to cover one WR and left Herring zoned in front of James to cover the flats and the middle half. Herring never had an effing prayer.

Schemes are all good and well, but w/o the personnel, it won't make much difference. Hoperfully, what they run on defense maxes the strengths of their personnel and tries to take advantage of the other teams weaknesses.

[derekshank]

Schemes are all good and well, but w/o the personnel, it won't make much difference. Hoperfully, what they run on defense maxes the strengths of their personnel and tries to take advantage of the other teams weaknesses.

Agreed. I do think our defense will be a bit better off this year than last though.

Last year the scheme worked fairly well for our DB's, but our front 7 really suffered. This is because it relied heavily on the raw talent of the front 7 guys, rather than scheming to their strengths.

This year we will be relying more on the raw talent of our DB's. their raw talent this year is better than the raw talent of our front 7 last year I think (with the exception of SS), so all in all we should be better. But I still see us giving up a lot of points, and being in the bottom half of the league in defense.

You can make it to the playoffs that way... but not to the superbowl. Maybe next year we will get more of the personnel we need... but this year still seems like our defense will be our achilles heel.

[TippCityRick]

Good, quality breakdown Schweiny. Always love to read your analysis. Thorough.

My main concern on D has also been SS. I like your idea, Derek of moving Williams to SS and puting Ratliff at FS. I don't think this hurts our run defense because both of these men have shown an ability to hit.

As far as the Owens plays go, my main problem with the scheme was that we ended up with a safety covering their ONLY receiver. Thankfully against the Clowns we don't have to worry about a star receiver being able to take full advantage of the mismatches the Bengals D will allow. At least not to that extent.

However all of this is for naught if we can't get pressure on Dilfer. I look for them to test Landon and Pollack with swing plays to their backs. Keep the passes short and keep our strong sider thinking about the flat and not pinning their ears back.

But as you said Schweinhart, their D has nothin' and we should be able to move the ball and control the game that way.

[The_Next_Big_Thing]

My main concern on D has also been SS. I like your idea, Derek of moving Williams to SS and puting Ratliff at FS. I don't think this hurts our run defense because both of these men have shown an ability to hit.

BAD idea. Williams is a free safety. He is a rangy guy who can move and make plays on the ball. Moving him to strong safety takes this away.

Ohalete is fine. Let the man play.

[schweinhart]

My main concern on D has also been SS. I like your idea, Derek of moving Williams to SS and puting Ratliff at FS. I don't think this hurts our run defense because both of these men have shown an ability to hit.

Keiwan at FS would work fine...if the Bengals don't rely so much on making their safeties interchangeable where both can switch on and off vs. run in the box.

Keiwan is a solid tackler but Reuben Droughns runs over him. So does Jamal (though he runs over most DBs). Keiwan left in centerfield would give him great opps to use his instincts to play the ball in the air and deliver his hits on receivers instead of RBs.

This is one gripe about insistence on scheme over personel. If the scheme don't fit the players abilities, stop it. W/ K2 in the box, there's gonna be trouble vs. the run. It was everything Madieu could do last year to keep 7 yd runs by Droughns from becoming 30 yarders or more.

DT wise, I think the Bengals have significantly upgraded and may not be done. The Tony Williams, John Thornton, and Langston Moore trio really had no strengths vs. run last year. A simple position shift w/ Thornton and 2 acquisitions are responsible for the uprgrade rather than any scheme.

If they still want to stunt the DTs with each other or the DEs, they can, but I would say now they should need to less because they don't need to disguise their weakness up the middle w/ scheme. B-Rob, Thornton, and Shaun Smith can straight up challenge blockers to move them because the personnel is better and Thornton is better for it too, even though I think he's the weakest link on the front line.

[derekshank]

My main concern on D has also been SS.  I like your idea, Derek of moving Williams to SS and puting Ratliff at FS.  I don't think this hurts our run defense because both of these men have shown an ability to hit.

Keiwan at FS would work fine...if the Bengals don't rely so much on making their safeties interchangeable where both can switch on and off vs. run in the box.

Keiwan is a solid tackler but Reuben Droughns runs over him. So does Jamal (though he runs over most DBs). Keiwan left in centerfield would give him great opps to use his instincts to play the ball in the air and deliver his hits on receivers instead of RBs.

This is one gripe about insistence on scheme over personel. If the scheme don't fit the players abilities, stop it. W/ K2 in the box, there's gonna be trouble vs. the run. It was everything Madieu could do last year to keep 7 yd runs by Droughns from becoming 30 yarders or more.

DT wise, I think the Bengals have significantly upgraded and may not be done. The Tony Williams, John Thornton, and Langston Moore trio really had no strengths vs. run last year. A simple position shift w/ Thornton and 2 acquisitions are responsible for the uprgrade rather than any scheme.

If they still want to stunt the DTs with each other or the DEs, they can, but I would say now they should need to less because they don't need to disguise their weakness up the middle w/ scheme. B-Rob, Thornton, and Shaun Smith can straight up challenge blockers to move them because the personnel is better and Thornton is better for it too, even though I think he's the weakest link on the front line.

I was kind of just talking out of my ass with the Ratliff at FS thing. Madieu would be fine as a SS, but Ratliff is a CB, so his ability to be a SAFETY... meaning to be there when the front seven fail to stop a RB... is minimal. He's not got the size. But frankly, I rather have that problem than the one we have now.

I think our front seven will allow a lot fewer runs to get to the safety... especially the weak side... and Ohalete will give up many a big pass. Hopefully Marvin will work with him hard-core to step up the coverage skills... but we'll have to wait and see. If the Browns torch him a couple times, something must be done.

I don't want to give the impression that I don't like Ohalete. I really do enjoy having a SS that can lay a big hit. The problem is that I don't know for sure if he can be in position to make those big hits on WR's with any type of regularity. If he can, then WR's become hesitant, and problem solved. If not... my aforementioned worries apply.

[schweinhart]

I was kind of just talking out of my ass with the Ratliff at FS thing. Madieu would be fine as a SS, but Ratliff is a CB, so his ability to be a SAFETY... meaning to be there when the front seven fail to stop a RB... is minimal. He's not got the size. But frankly, I rather have that problem than the one we have now.

I think our front seven will allow a lot fewer runs to get to the safety... especially the weak side... and Ohalete will give up many a big pass. Hopefully Marvin will work with him hard-core to step up the coverage skills... but we'll have to wait and see. If the Browns torch him a couple times, something must be done.

I don't want to give the impression that I don't like Ohalete. I really do enjoy having a SS that can lay a big hit. The problem is that I don't know for sure if he can be in position to make those big hits on WR's with any type of regularity. If he can, then WR's become hesitant, and problem solved. If not... my aforementioned worries apply.

No question Madieu is best as a coverage DB be it FS or CB but he has shown he's an excellent tackler vs. the run and can deal w/ larger backs if needed. He's the epitome of versatility back there.

I like Ohalete a lot. What I've seen of him has been mainly at FS rather than strong. The coverage issue is no less the key w/ him because if he can hang, he gives the Bengals the interchangeable look they want to make it harder for QBs to guess right as well as harder for RBs to break through the 2nd level.

Between Ohalete and Madieu popping WRs, there's gonna be a lot of thinking twice and hearing steps.

If Ohalete can't come up with the coverage, they're back at square one w/ K2 and then the better S in the box again becomes Madieu.

[Jonboat]

One of the keys to a good secondary is having the front seven apply constant pressure of the opposing quarterback.. DB's can only cover effeciently for so long.

The purpose of switching Geathers and Smith and adding Pollack is to get a better pash rush.. Flipping the DT's allows Thornton to get inside as well.. Hopefully all of these maneuvers work to our advantage...

Our secondary isnt bad.. our corners our gamblers.. we'll live and die with that.

Madieu Williams is a blessing at safety.. Hopefully KK and Ohalete give our pass and run support help too....

I agree, we need more consistant pass rush, if we get to the QB he doesn't have the time to get it downfield & our secondary doesn't have to cover as long. I haven't seen much of Ohalete to judge but he looked good in his first game plus we have MW back & that will really help, he's always around the ball. I think we'll be OK. I'm more worried about stopping the run. GO BENGALS!!! Jonboat

[Kazkal]

Just depends on the team like greenbay,vikings and colts i'm sure will probbley have 250+ passing yards agaist us,but games like titans,bears,steelers and titans I think will do fine then a toss up for the rest

[schweinhart]

Good, quality breakdown Schweiny. Always love to read your analysis. Thorough.

Glad you dig it.

Thankfully against the Clowns we don't have to worry about a star receiver being able to take full advantage of the mismatches the Bengals D will allow. At least not to that extent.

This is true. None of the Clowns WRs are TO but Antonio Bryant is a dangerous and very underrated receiver, who has already proven he's quite difficult for the Bengals to handle, especially in quarters coverage.

Northcutt they should be able to handle whether it's O'Neal split or Keiwan at nickel.

Braylon is another story. I think he's close to the real deal but just not yet.

Their TE Heiden and their backs even w/o Suggs still pose a threat out of the backfield, but the Bengals LB corp should be ready for those challenges whether Pollack plays SSLB or not.

I'm hopeful that Mr. Ohalete introduces himself to as many of these folks as he can come Sunday.