Run defense - a bigger problem than last year

[HairOnFire]

Just watched the talking heads on Playbook break down the Bengals defensive adjustments after Bennett rushed for 9 yards on his first attempt. On the sideline Bres could be heard coaching up Thurman about turning outside rushes inside to other players. Butch Davis then raved about the way Bres gave a rookie exactly the type of information that the player could immediately put to use on the field. I'll have to take his word for it because I couldn't make sense of the terminology used..."are you reading trips or bones"....but they followed up by showing Thurman playing trips on a passing down. Unless my eyes deceived me it was shallow zone coverage, with Thurman switching coverage from one crossing receiver to another. It resulted in a coverage sack.

I wouldn't make too much of the example given, but the point they were attempting to make is how quickly the Bengals were able to adjust their coverages in run and pass defense.

BTW, I'm starting to love Bres after seeing the Game of the Week footgage showing him yelling..."Don't ease up, don't ease up, you haven't done nothing yet. You haven't scored on defense."

[DC_Bengals_Fan]

There's more than the fact that teams have only run on us for a limited amount of time. They've also only been running the ball off of scripted plays - the first couple of drives (usually 15 plays) - where one would figure the offense generally has some sort of advantage.

Another issue is that comparing YPC numbers from the limited sample size of the 2005 season is ridiculous.

And I've said it before - I'd rather have a defense that allows the occasional big run, than one that always gives up 3-5 yards. Those are the drive builders and clock chewers. It's better to give up 10 yards half the time and 0 yards half the time, than give up 5 yards all the time. The Bengals have an opportunistic run defense that stops teams at or behind the line a lot, and even though it gives up some big plays, I'm OK with that because long runs don't sustain drives. A strong Jamal Lewis and Jerome Bettis sustain drives and win games. Since neither have done anything yet this year, I'm enthused.

So averages aren't everything, for one. You have to consider the sigma as well.

[walshfan]

the defensive lline in getting it done... opponents are averaging 3.2 off tackle 3.3 off guard...

the weakness is around tackle....11.3 on five carries.. means simmons is getting burnt over there..

[Tarkus]

It sounds like some of you guys are trying too hard to make the honest concern about run defense seem like it's baseless. The Vikes abandoned the run, plain & simple. A lot had to do the Bengal offensive success but it had nothing to do with defensive adjustments.

Why would the Vikes abandon the run?? Normally putting the ball in the air with Culpepper has brought good results especially if you recall last year. Good decision, no but definitely a coaching decision, not a reaction to the defense.

The Browns game was success based on TOs & forcing the Browns to the air cuz of a lead. Once again not cuz of run defense. A good win but keep things in perspective. The run D is something that has to get better. It's still too early in the year to say how good or bad the run D is but as it's shown so far, it definitely should be a concern especially in a tight game Sunday.

[bengalfreek]

The fact of the matter is that so far the Bengals run D has been bad in both the preseason and in the games that count. Cleveland and Minny both abandoned the run because they got 2 TD's behind. As the original poster pointed out, we aren't going to play with the lead all the time. At some point, we are going to have to defend the run for four quarters, and when that happens, we better be much more stout than we have been thus far. Looking at 2003, half the teams that made the playoffs were in the lower half of the league in avg. yds. given up per rush. Unfortunately, only one of them (Indy.) was in the AFC.

On the other hand, its waaay too early and waay too small a sample size to say this team's run D is worse than last years.

[bengalsrz]

the run defense scares me a lot, our pass defense is a little scary too, if trent dilfer can put up those numbers, just wait till we play the steelers, we do get a lot of ints, but we dont have any really good cover corners, one that can lockdown a receiver, but i do think our defense is doing a much better job than last year at least, last year we allowed the browns to have 48 points

[schweinhart]

My hope is that the D starts to get a chip on their shoulder about all the attention the O is getting and comes out to prove themselves. No better place to start than with the dig that they can't stop the run. I am especially amped about B. Rob coming back to Chicago with a little something to prove. On the Game of the Week last night, he was clearly the vocal leader of that D-line. The guy's been here two months and he's leading the pregame huddle. Nice stuff.

B-Rob is the man up front. Games of the Week are great about getting those inside glimpses of stuff like the pre-game huddle and the coordinators and coaches in action (tell me that Loony OC for the Vikes ain't a total loser).

But I agree about B-Rob having a little something extra to prove.....to Lovie....personally. I remember reading after B-Rob was cut in pre-season last year how he said he was told by Lovie he needed to drop 20 pounds to get quicker. B-Rob did what he was told but still got cut.

The Bengals coulda got him for about a million a year less last year than this year IIRC, but I'm glad B-Rob is here now as the DT drawing the doubles for the most part and a huge upgrade over Tony Williams and Langston Moore. Thomas Jones and Cedric Benson are a challenge for the Bengals D and B-Rob is the man who must keep the middle from parting wide open.

[bengalboomer7]

Exactly what I was going to say jamesbrooks. BOTH the Cleveland Browns and the Vikings got the bulk of their running yards in the beginning of the games when it was still close. No, I don't think you're overblowing this TJ, and Yes, i am concerned. We seem to be a signifigantly better team up the middle but we are getting run over to the outside. The line is a little slow to slide over and I can't seem to find our outside LB's right now. That's the kind of back Thomas Jones is, so watch more for this on Sunday.

[derekshank]

It seems as though you are ignoring me, so I'll say it only one more time... and we'll then just see how it plays out tomorrow. You do NOT give up on the running game when down by merely two scores early in the 1st quarter.

The Vikings even had an excuse to be down by two scores. One big play by Chad, and a turnover. It was not time to panic... but they gave up on the run, because it was not sustaining their drive. They couldn't get a first down with the run on their second drive.

It is assinine to assume that teams abandoned the run due to the score if you simply had paid attention to the games, instead of reading too much into one stat, and opening drives.

Cleveland gave up on the run when down by only 3 points, because they couldn't get a 1st down running the ball anymore. Continue to say I'm ignoring these stats if you want, but simply watching the games tells a different story. The teams we have played abandoned the run before a huge point differential had anything to do with it.

Don't hear me say I think we have a great run defense. I think at this early stage in the season, we are middle of the pack, maybe a bit worse. But I also think it is too early to tell, and the defense will be fine in time. I just don't see anything to be worried about yet. Only good things from the run defense so far. stop worrying.

[skyline]

I guess our question was partially answered today. They held the Bears to under 4 YPC. Jones had those 2 runs in a row towards the end of the 1st half that really hurt, but otherwise, they did pretty well.

[HoosierCat]

Defense, shefense...can't biotch about today...

[membengal]

And, really, I cannot believe people have been bitching about the D before this game.

Three games, only allowed 28 points. I...have...no...frame...of...reference.

[TJJackson]

I did not get to watch the game because I was at King's Island with my family all day Sunday, but did immediately review the run defense stats this morning, and was smiling.

Oddly, it's a reversal....we gave up more total yards and allowed a hundred yard rusher, but the AVERAGE was better. Much better. I guessing that the larger number of runs is what kept Palmer's stats down.....

In any case, holding a good running team (like Chicago) to just a hair under 4 yards per carry is getting it done.

Nice.