Bengals Week 4 Snap Counts: Official change is made along offensive line, cornerback shakeup reminiscent of last year
Cincinnati made changes leading up to Week 4’s loss in Denver.
The Cincinnati Bengals carried over their mess from Week 3 into Week 4 and had another embarrassing loss. Cincinnati now drops to 2-2 on the season after losing 28-3 to the Denver Broncos in its first primetime game of the season.
Not only was it a 25-point loss, the Bengals failed to score after their first drive of the game and allowed 28 unanswered points. Any adjustments to the starting lineup and rotations as the game went on proved fruitless, and more decisions need to be made in the coming days.
Here are the complete snap counts from the Cincinnati’s Week 4 loss to the Broncos:
Jalen Rivers gets official chance at right guard
This was hinted at early last week, but rookie guard Jalen Rivers (48), the team’s fifth-round pick from the 2025 NFL Draft, did indeed get the start at RG over veteran Dalton Risner. Rivers’ debut start was not particularly good as he was charged with three pressures and a sack allowed on 33 pass blocking snaps.
Risner suffered a calf injury in Week 3 but was a full participant in practice leading up to Monday’s game and was active. For him not to play was a coaches decision based on performance, and after Rivers’ underwhelming night, the coaching staff has to decide if switching things up yet again is the right move. Week 1 starter Lucas Patrick has to spend one more week on the Reserve/Injured list.
Cam Taylor-Britt finds himself in an unfortunately similar spot
Cornerback Josh Newton (64) started for Cam Taylor-Britt (5) last week when Taylor-Britt was out with a hamstring. Taylor-Britt was active this week, but hardly played while Newton took virtually all the snaps in his place. Even in his five snaps, Taylor-Britt missed two tackles in coverage. Newton didn’t play much better with a much larger sample size, but the drastic split between their usage is notable.
Taylor-Britt could’ve been limited due to his injury that limited him for most of practice last week, but if he was healthy enough to play, the expectation is for him to start and play most of the game. Newton may’ve just gotten the nod over him from the jump and didn’t let go.
Expert analysis on Bengals’ Week 4 snap counts against Broncos
- Wide receiver Andrei Iosivas (43) out-snapped fellow wideout Tee Higgins (40) for the first time this season. All three starting receivers, including Ja’Marr Chase (48), played at least 90% of the game.
- Tight ends Mike Gesicki (27) and Drew Sample (22) each played about half the game, while backups Cam Grandy (4) and Tanner Hudson (1) hardly saw the field.
- Defensive end Myles Murphy (52) led all defensive linemen in snaps, even getting more run than Trey Hendrickson (49).
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