In a recent AFC North projection by The Athletic's Austin Mock, a key observation regarding the Cincinnati Bengals' offense is made.

Although you need a solid offensive line to keep your quarterback from getting sacked constantly, the signal-caller is also largely responsible for the sack total.

According to Mock, the gap between the Bengals' sack rate and pressure rate suggests some fault is to be put on Burrow. After all, it's he who can get rid of the ball when pressured.

This is what Mock writes on the topic:

"But that comes with some concern as he was sacked at the second-highest rate in the league but only pressured around a league average rate per TruMedia (33.0% of dropbacks). There is likely some fault to be put on Burrow there, and if he again struggles with “QB sacks” then the Bengals could miss the postseason."

Now, although some of the blame surely belongs to the quarterback, it's not like Joe Cool is terrible at getting rid of the football.

In fact, he had the 11th quickest time to throw in the NFL according to PFF (min. 266 dropbacks). He also had the 11th lowest rate of responsibility for his sacks.

But this offense requires Burrow to make plays. At least it did last year. As A to Z Sports Film Room analyst James Foster pointed out how no team relied more on isolated go routes than any other team in the league than the Bengals. He also had the 10th most throws of 20+ yards in the league.

Speaking of scheme, one of the most criticized aspects of the Bengals' offense was its flawed hot route game. Several times throughout the season, Burrow seemed to have no hot route at his disposal to take the easy completion and avoid the sack.

Such flaws would hurt any team in the league. But for the Bengals – who ran the second-most empty back formations – it's notably important as it forces teams to rely on their five offensive linemen to protect the quarterback.

Without a running back in the backfield to pick up blitzes, this means those five big dudes can easily be outnumbered by the opposing defense. As such, the line can only slide one way. This means the only way to combat a defense's aggressiveness is to dominate the hot route game by exploiting the voided zones in coverage.

This was especially evident versus the Tennessee Titans. In a dramatic playoff game, Burrow was sacked nine times. Below is an example of a play in which Cincinnati failed to provide answers for the Titans' simulated pressures.

Almost all Empty concepts will have built in Hot answers, including here. Chase has his Out to the field, but there really isn’t a great one to 2 man side to the boundary where Burrow was looking.

Evans ran a kind of odd route that was covered and Burrow tried to make a play. pic.twitter.com/AfJTZpJKfn

— Nate Tice (@Nate_Tice) January 23, 2022

We must praise the front office for bringing in better offensive linemen this off-season. But now it's the Bengals' coaching staff (and Joe Burrow) that must step up.

Better personnel upfront is only part of the formula that will lead to fewer sacks in 2022.

Featured image via Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK