Bengals Week 9 PFF Recap: 3 stats to know
Every week, win or lose, we'll dive into the premium stats from Pro Football Focus and identify three stats to know from the previous Cincinnati Bengals game. Cincinnati made a statement last week simply by standing put at the trade deadline. From the outside looking in, the Bengals had a major need at the tight […]
Every week, win or lose, we'll dive into the premium stats from Pro Football Focus and identify three stats to know from the previous Cincinnati Bengals game.
Cincinnati made a statement last week simply by standing put at the trade deadline. From the outside looking in, the Bengals had a major need at the tight end position and appeared content with who they had. Their commitment to the current group paid big dividends on Sunday Night Football against the Buffalo Bills.
Let's see what the advanced stats had to say about the Bengals' Week 9 performance.
WR Tee Higgins: 3.31 yards per route run vs. man coverage
Higgins crossed the century mark for the first time this season with 110 yards on eight catches against the Bills' secondary that was "aggressive" in taking away Ja'Marr Chase, according to offensive coordinator Brian Callahan. Against man coverage, he caught four passes for 53 yards on 16 routes, netting an average of 3.31 yards per route run. Only three other receivers with at least four targets had a higher average against man coverage this week.
Cincinnati's offense is able function properly when Higgins is winning one-on-one situations, which wasn't the case for most of this season. He looks fully healthy after suffering a rib fracture a month ago, and fully confident as well.
TEs Tanner Hudson & Irv Smith: 5 combined first downs
A simple, yet telling figure. Hudson and Smith caught a combined seven passes, and the majority of them moved the chains. Smith's first two receptions were a first down and a touchdown, his first as a Bengal, while Hudson averaged 3.46 yards per route run on his way to starting three new series’s. The two combined to average 0.64 EPA/play for the night, which is pretty damn good.
It was truly an eye-opening performance for the much-maligned tight end group, lest we forget about Drew Sample's 22-yard slip screen touchdown. Sample is almost more of a halfback than he is a tight end at this point, though he's still relied on for inline blocking.
ED Myles Murphy: 37.5% pass rush win rate
Cincinnati's first-round pick had a quiet breakout game on just 10 snaps. Murphy recorded two pressures and one more pass rush win while rushing almost exclusively off the right edge. Only three more edge defenders in the entire NFL had a higher win rate, though the sample size of total reps wasn't enough to qualify for most starters.
Murphy's pass rushing abilities were .
Bengals: Joe Burrow kept his word to Tee Higgins and the NFL should be terrified
Burrow and Higgins were locked in during the Bengals’ 24-18 win over the Bills.
