As we’ve been doing for many years now, we’ll 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.
Alex’s Scheme Report
Bengals’ Run Game
A new backfield face with Chase Brown replacing the veteran Joe Mixon. Overall, the running game hasn’t been successful this season. They’re just 27th in rushing yards per game (91.5), 25th in yards per carry (4.0) and they have eight rushing scores. As a team, they have only 27 rushes of 10-plus yards this season, 25th in the NFL. Brown is responsible for 15 of them, tied for 16th among running backs. His speed is a factor as Josh will outline below.
Brown began the season in a committee with Zack Moss. But Moss suffered a season-ending injury, making Brown the lead guy. Which has worked out anyway because Brown has been the stronger runner.
Brown has carried the ball 140 times this season. He’s recorded 10-plus in every game since Week 4 and has 20-plus in two of the last three weeks. He’s also logged 80 percent of the offensive snaps over the last two games, becoming a bell cow more than part of a committee. Cincinnati did trade for Khalil Herbert at the deadline, but he’s logged just six offensive snaps the past two games and doesn’t have an official carry, only recovering an aborted snap on one play.
Other players haven’t gotten involved in the run game. WR Ja’Marr Chase only has one carry and with Moss shelved, no one else has gotten much burn. QB Joe Burrow can scramble but that’s about it. Worth pointing out that TE Tanner Hudson had a successful “QB” sneak in Week 10 against the Baltimore Ravens.
Schematically, the Bengals don’t have a true fullback, but they use tight ends in that role or as H-backs. No. 89 Drew Sample is their main man. The run scheme is fairly simple. Inside/split zone, duo, with a little wham/crunch mixed in. Here’s the latter from the Ravens and Los Angeles Chargers matchups.
Usually, teams hit those early in the game to slow down an attacking and aggressive defensive line, but the Bengals haven’t shown that approach. It’s come on later drives.
Their zone scheme is frequently run into the boundary. Their toss and the little bit of gap they use are most often to the field.
Some other offensive stats. Despite being 4-7, this unit can score. Entering Week 13, they’re sixth in the league averaging 27 points per game. They’ve scored 30-plus points in five games and 24-plus in seven of them. Situationally, they’re excellent on third down, fifth best in the league at 45.2 percent and even better at the red zone, third best at 69.7 percent. So the Steelers will have to prove they can match it.
On the year, they’ve attempted 14 four downs, converting nine of them. A whopping seven of them have come in the last two games so they’re going for it more often and being aggressive as they lean on their offense to win. The Bengals have converted five of those seven.
They’re plus-one in turnover margin, which ranks about average. They don’t give it away much with just 10 turnovers in 11 games.
Bengals’ Pass Game
Burrow is back at QB after being hurt and missing Cincinnati’s two games against Pittsburgh last season. He’s having a fantastic year. His touchdown-to-interception ratio is a career-best, 6.75:1 with 27 touchdowns and four interceptions. He’s completing over 67 percent of his passes with a 7.4 YPA. Burrow’s sack rate is a career low at 6.0 percent while his 7.5 ANY/A is the second-best mark of his career, only behind his Super Bowl season.
But if you want to talk big numbers, hello Ja’Marr Chase. A monster year for him. He has 73 receptions, 1,056 yards, and 12 touchdowns. Those numbers rank third, first, and first across the NFL. They include 193- and 264-yard performances, and he has at least one touchdown in four of the last five games. Big test for the Steelers’ secondary.
Tee Higgins has been bothered by injuries but when in the lineup, he’s been productive. He has a 38/489/4 line in six games this season and been targeted 10-plus times in half those games. Chase Brown is an asset out of the backfield with 35 receptions and gets involved in their screen game having speed in space.
Don’t sleep on TE Mike Gesicki, who has also seen his role increase, targeted a whopping 25 times the last four games. His involvement ebbs and flows but there are games where the Bengals are aiming to get him the football. WR Andrei Iosivas is a big-body and niche player in the offense and has four touchdowns on just 20 receptions this season. Rookie WR Jermaine Burton has just four receptions but is averaging 26.8-yards per grab. They look for him downfield.
Schematically, there’s a lot going on in the Bengals’ pass game. Lots of layers. First thing worth mentioning is their tendency to trap protect and false key their pass game by pulling a guard. Make it look like run with the guard pulling, the linebackers getting downhill, and then throwing over the top. The guard is part of the protection on the pull-side end, though you have to wonder if they’ll actually do that much against T.J. Watt.
These almost always come on 1st and 10.
Still, be disciplined against those pullers. It’s a pass most of the time.
Bouncing off play-action, it often comes on second-and-short. Times where many teams would just run, the Bengals look for the big play.
Alert any 15-yard dig routes from the Bengals. Primarily with Chase but they come with Higgins, too. A lot of X-dig on the backside of routes.
In general, Chase has to be identified first. He’s lining up all over the place. Out wide, in the slot, in the backfield, even a snap as a fullback the Bengals ran play-action where it seemed like they were trying to leak him out, though he got caught up in the trash and couldn’t release. His talent is tough enough but his alignment stresses defenses even more. If Joey Porter Jr. shadows him, and I expect he will, he’ll be moving all around the field.
Because Brown is active in the passing game, the Bengals use a lot of five-man protections. Where Brown isn’t checking/releasing and just going out in the pattern. That will give Pittsburgh’s rush chances to get home, especially Watt against raw rookie RT Amarius Mims. But the Bengals could change their plan and give help knowing how dominant Watt has been against Burrow and the Bengals.
Josh’s Individual Report
It’s Bengals week, Steelers fans!
Despite having one of the league’s best offenses, the Bengals are just 4-7 on the season and scuffling after dropping two straight to the Baltimore Ravens and Los Angeles Chargers.
The losses have been painful, but the Bengals’ offense has been incredible as QB Joe Burrow is playing some of the best football of his life.
Though he’s still working his way back from the right wrist injury that ended his season last year, Burrow looks better than he ever has. He looks smooth and mobile in the pocket, is able to move around and manipulate the rush, and has shown the ability to extend plays with his legs and make plays down the field.
It’s an added element he’s shown in the past, but this season it seems to have gone to another level, which is all the more terrifying.
Add his ability to throw with touch and anticipation and it makes him incredibly hard to defend. He can make all the throws, period. He’s playing elite-level football right now and is on an absolute heater, which is terrifying.
Burrow has two high-level receivers who also help make the Bengals one of the most explosive offenses in the NFL.
Ja’Marr Chase is the clear-cut No. 1 receiver in Cincinnati and is arguably one of the best receivers in all of football. He can hit the home run with ease and is also a nuanced route runner who generates quite a bit of separation in his routes, allowing him to win time and time again.
He has that mind meld with Burrow from their days at LSU, too, making them a deadly combination in the NFL over the last few seasons.
Tee Higgins gets forgotten about just a bit in Cincinnati, which is unfortunate. He’s a big-bodied receiver who can win down the field in contested-catch situations and can serve as that possession receiver, winning on short routes that allows the Bengals to move the chains.
He’s at his best when working down the field as he’s a long strider who can outrun defenders and make big plays.
Along with Chase and Higgins, the Bengals are quite loaded at receiver with the likes of Andrei Iosivas and rookie Jermaine Burton. Iosivas is a touchdown machine, having scored four touchdowns on the year on just 20 receptions, so 20 percent of his receptions have gone for scores.
Burton has been up and down so far as a rookie. Some of his off-field character issues have popped up again, leading to him missing time. But he seems to be back on track and offers the Bengals another downfield threat.
The Bengals have a nice group of move TEs in Tanner Hudson and Mike Gesicki. Neither are huge pieces of the offense, but they can make plays down the field. Hudson has a strong rapport with Burrow and has been a go-to guy in big spots.
Drew Sample is more of the in-line blocking tight end who does good work in the run game. He’s not much of a receiving option this season but can make plays when called upon.
In the backfield, the Bengals have a new look after trading longtime franchise stalwart Joe Mixon this offseason to Houston. In his place, the Bengals have handed the reins to Chase Brown, who reminds me a great deal of Steelers RB Jaylen Warren.
He’s a bowling ball with the football in his hands. He runs hard, rarely goes down on first contact and finds a way to make plays out of structure in the passing game, too. He has home run speed, too, and is playing with a great deal of confidence.
The Bengals aren’t a great running team, but Brown has given them a jolt lately.
Cincinnati recently traded for Khalil Herbert, and while he hasn’t gotten much work, he’s an intriguing running back who can pound away between the tackles and give the Bengals a physical element.
The Bengals have a strong offensive line on paper, led by their tackles in Orlando Brown Jr. and rookie Amarius Mims. If you remember, Mims was connected quite a bit to the Steelers throughout the pre-draft process, but the Bengals snagged him two picks before the Steelers were on the clock and landed Troy Fautanu.
Here’s how I expect the Bengals to line up, left to right, on Sunday:
LT — Orlando Brown Jr.
LG — Cordell Volson
C — Ted Karras
RG — Alex Cappa
RT — Amarius Mims (rookie)
Volson is a guy I liked quite a bit coming out of North Dakota State in the 2022 NFL Draft. He’s a physical player, but he’s had issues matching up against Steelers DL Cameron Heyward, whom he’ll see a good deal of once again.
Karras and Cappa have solidified the Bengals’ OL after coming over in free agency last year.
On special teams, the Bengals have had their issues. Kicker Evan McPherson missed two kicks in Week 11 on the road against the Los Angeles Chargers, which played a major role in the Bengals’ loss.
He’s missed six field goals on the season, a career worst.
The Bengals have leaned heavily on rookie punter Ryan Rehkow this season. He’s recorded 50.3-yards per punt and has downed 19 of 39 punts inside the 20-yard line.
In the return game, if wide receiver Charlie Jones returns this week, that will give the Bengals a massive boost. Jones has one punt return for a touchdown in his career and is averaging 7.1 yards on the season.
Jones, Chase Brown and Trayveon Williams share kick-return duties, with Jones being the most effective.
