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 Cincinatti Bengals’ offense.
*Important note. For today’s report, we’ll be doing things a little differently. Because the Steelers and Bengals have played this year already, this report will be laid out a bit differently and provide a more focused analysis since overall scheme and individual are similar.
Alex’s Scheme Report
Bengals’ Run Game
In the first matchup, Cincinnati ran the ball just 15 times. Their 93 yards is solid efficiency, though 40 of that came off one explosive run by RB Chase Brown. He was responsible for 12 of the attempts for 70 yards and a goal line score.
Overall, the Bengals leaned on the pass game, which is their MO. On first down across the first three quarters, they threw the ball a whopping 20 times compared to just nine runs. While they’re a pass-first team in general, that 68.9 percent first down pass rate is far higher than where they’ve sat for the entire season, 52.5 percent.
Some quick season stats update before diving into what they did against Pittsburgh. Brown is battling an ankle sprain but has good odds to play in their must-win finale. For the season, he’s carried the ball 229 times for 990 yards and seven touchdowns, an average of 4.3 YPC. Though not a big back, he’s been their workhorse the back half of the season. He’s logged 80 percent or more of the offense’s snaps in the last eight games. Playing without him or in limited fashion isn’t something they’re used to.
That’s reflective in backup RB Khalil Herbert carrying the ball eight times since being added mid-way through the year. He has just 42 offensive snaps with the team, about half coming after Brown got hurt late last week. They have 40 runs of 10-plus yards this season, tied-25th in the NFL. Brown has eight runs of 20-plus yards, tied-seventh in the league despite him ranking 14th in carries.
Against Pittsburgh, there were two trends. Running to the boundary and either running from pistol or aligning there and shifting to side car late to try and hide the direction. Some examples. Their two biggest runs came off these looks and duo/split zone, Brown busting through off the wide receiver’s hip for a 40-yard gain that nearly scored.
They had a gap run get blown up by Cam Heyward off a failed Bengals’ cut block. Don’t think they’re going to try that again. Some of their runs were made clearer by wide splits by the o-line.
Quick other stats. They’re plus-4 on the year in turnover differential. They have turned it over at least once in five-straight games and rank high in fumbles lost with 12 of them, tied third-most this season. Burrow lost two of them against Pittsburgh, giving him three for his career against the Steelers. Expect him to focus in on ball security in the rematch.
They’re great on third down (47.3 percent, fifth) and red zone (66.7 percent, fourth).
Bengals’ Pass Game
The anchor of their offense. QB Joe Burrow is having an MVP-worthy season even if he’s doubtful to win it. But his numbers pop. He leads the league in completions, attempts, yards, and passing touchdowns, the latter with 42. That more than doubles Pittsburgh’s mark. On a personal level, Burrow’s touchdown percentage is the best mark of his career while his interception rate and YPA are second-best of any single-season he’s had.
Given his mobility, I wonder if Pittsburgh will send five rushers more often this time around to contain him. They did so 19.5 percent of the time in Week 13 (8 of 41 dropbacks).
His receivers are excellent. WR Ja’Marr Chase is tracking to become a Triple Crown winner, leading the league in receptions, yards, and touchdowns with a 117/1,612/16 line. He’s averaging just over 100-yards per game. But don’t forget about the dangerous Tee Higgins opposite, coming off a three-touchdown performance in Week 17’s win over the Denver Broncos, including the game-winning touchdown in overtime.
Higgins has double-digit targets in four of his last six games and at least one touchdown in six of the last seven. Key part of their offense, no question.
TE Mike Gesicki has had a nice year, third in receptions and yards. He’s caught 57 passes for 597 yards and two touchdowns including a 10-catch performance against Denver on Saturday night. RB Chase Brown continues to get involved in the pass game with 54 grabs and four touchdowns. WR Andrei Iosivas is a touchdown machine, six scores on 34 total catches.
As a team, they have 49 receptions of 20-plus yards, 11th overall. Honestly feels low for them. But Chase is a big-play threat. He has 19 catches of 20-plus, fourth across the NFL while his eight receptions of 40-plus are No. 1 league-wide. No one else has more than six.
Schematically, they liked using over and crossing routes throughout this game to all areas of the field. Including on Chase’s touchdown in the back of the end zone.
They move Chase around in key moments. Out of the backfield here to the flat on this third down, Burrow’s first read, though the ball went elsewhere here.
They’ll use a sniffer, a tight end pressed up into the A-gap, against MUG/ILB blitz looks.
Burrow will take 1v1 shots against single-high looks. They also tried a trap protection with a pulling guard that resulted in a Watt sack/forced fumble. They probably don’t go back to the well this time.
Finally, alert 3×1 “nub” formations with the tight end backside. In-line or split out, they’ll look his way. Often Gesicki. Like this 20-yard gain on 2nd and 16 against LB Patrick Queen.
Josh’s Individual Report
It’s Bengals week, Steelers fans!
For the last time in the regular season, the Pittsburgh Steelers will square off against the Cincinnati Bengals Saturday night at Acrisure Stadium at 8 p.m.
It will be a huge game for both teams as the Bengals are fighting for their playoff lives, while the Steelers still find themselves in the mix for the AFC North title (for the time being) while also still playing for seeding the AFC playoff picture.
The last time these two teams met was in Week 13 in Cincinnati, where the Steelers picked up a huge 44-38 win over the Bengals in which Russell Wilson threw for 414 yards.
Since then, the Bengals have gone on a roll and taken their game to another level offensively with QB Joe Burrow playing at an MVP-caliber level.
In the last matchup the Bengals had a lot of success attacking over the middle of the field, hitting some chunk plays in the passing game. While Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase are the big guns for the Bengals offensively, the Steelers largely kept a lid on those two in the win in Week 13.
Chase had six receptions for 86 yards and a touchdown, but he had a 49-yard catch and run in garbage time with the game all but decided. Higgins had five receptions for 69 yards and a score, but that touchdown came with it a two-score game late, too.
Where the Bengals really did damage was with the likes of TE Mike Gesicki in the middle of the field, and WR Andrei Iosivas along the sidelines with a ton of attention on Higgins and Chase.
Gesicki had five receptions for 53 yards in the loss to the Steelers, and time and time again in the passing game he found himself open over the middle, beating DeShon Elliott for one reception and beating Patrick Queen for another.
It was a soft spot in the Steelers’ defense, and the Bengals did a great job attacking there.
Gesicki is coming off a game against the Denver Broncos in Week 17, too, in which he hauled in 10 receptions for 86 yards as he was targeted 12 times. So, there’s rapport there between Burrow and Gesicki, and there was success with the two in the last matchup with the Steelers.
Along with Gesicki, Iosivas had a solid day against the Steelers, hauling in three passes for 35 yards and a score in the Week 13 matchup. He made some tough catches in traffic, including one along the sideline in which he took a huge shot from Elliott, holding onto the ball in the process.
He was able to find the soft spot in the zone a few times against the Steelers and was a reliable weapon for the Bengals. All the focus will be on Chase and Higgins, as it should be, but Iosivas has made plays all season long and showed Burrow he can make plays against the Steelers, too.
The key for the Bengals, though, will be establishing the run. That will be tough against the Steelers if Chase Brown can’t go. Brown is dealing with an ankle injury, and his status is in jeopardy for Saturday night.
In the last matchup, Brown had some success on the ground, particularly running behind right tackle and right guard Amarius Mims and Alex Cappa, respectively.
He has good vision, runs with sound patience and his vision and feel for space has helped him become a dependable, play-making running back for the Bengals.
Brown also had a 40-yarder in the game, getting to the 1-yard line before punching one in on the very next play.
He has great burst and speed, too, and has really come on strong for the Bengals.
If he can’t go, trade deadline acquisition Khalil Herbert will be RB1 for the Bengals. He had a 14-yard run in the first matchup with the Steelers, but his workload has been rather limited since coming over from the Bears.
Up front, the Bengals are a bit banged up with left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. playing on a broken leg and Mims playing with a hand and ankle ailment. Tough Brown played all 90 snaps of the overtime win over the Denver Broncos, we’ll see if he’s limited Saturday against the Steelers.
In Week 13, Brown gave up a strip-sack on Burrow to Steelers’ OLB Nick Herbig, leading to a Payton Wilson touchdown.
So, the Bengals have some positive things to build on from the Week 13 game. Pittsburgh will pay quite a bit of attention to Higgins and Chase, so that should open things up for the likes of Gesicki, Iosivas and maybe rookie receiver Jermaine Burton in the final regular season game of the year.
