Evolution finally hit the Bengals' offense, and that matters more than another 0-2 start
The 2021 offense for the Cincinnati Bengals isn't walking through that door. Long gone are the days of catching defenses by surprise by chucking it deep to Ja'Marr Chase. Evolution has desperately been needed for the Bengals' offensive scheme over the past two years. 2022 saw a midseason shift in shotgun running. 2023 was caught in […]
The 2021 offense for the Cincinnati Bengals isn't walking through that door. Long gone are the days of catching defenses by surprise by chucking it deep to Ja'Marr Chase.
Evolution has desperately been needed for the Bengals' offensive scheme over the past two years. 2022 saw a midseason shift in shotgun running. 2023 was caught in a roller coaster of quarterback injuries. There couldn't be anymore excuses this time around.
This made Week 1's loss to the New England Patriots all the more concerning. QB Joe Burrow looked rusty, and the offense unchanged from its comfort zone of stagnation in shotgun. If they were to run the same plan a week later against the Kansas City Chiefs, the doors would've been blown off.
Instead, evolution finally took its course and the only thing everyone is talking about is a defensive pass interference call.
Despite losing to the back-to-back defending Super Bowl champions by a point on the road, the Bengals appeared to have identified what was missing in their offense with 15 games remaining. That matters more than what their 0-2 record says, and they have more reasons for optimism than they have losses.
Under center uptick
The very first play from scrimmage featured the Bengals going under center with 13 personnel (one running back, three tight ends) on the field. A week after Joe Burrow was only under center a handful of times, he took the snap right behind center Ted Karras 17 times. Five of them were passes, like that first play action bootleg for Drew Sample, and the other 12 were runs, sneaks or a kneel down.
Why it matters: Go back to 2022 and remember the shotgun obsession. The Bengals only passed out of the gun and began the year running only from under center, making it very easy for defenses to identify pre-snap what the play would be. Eventually they shifted everything to the gun and limited their run game's potential for explosive plays.
Executing a healthy mix of run and play action with condensed formations under center is how explosive plays can be found in an NFL where every defense wants both safeties deep. How do you bring one of those safeties down? Look at the first play of the fourth quarter.
Upon motioning tight end Mike Gesicki across the formation, the Bengals ran play action from under center and got the strong safety, Justin Reid, to crash down on the action. Gesicki was able to get outside leverage against Reid at the first-down marker. He just couldn't bring in the pass from Burrow.
Even the threat of the run can give you just one step on a play action pass, and that's all that's needed for plays to go from a first down into something more.
The Chiefs deserve credit for keeping most of these plays in front of them. Effectiveness will come eventually from these concepts if the Bengals keep at it. Fortunately, other wrinkles were working.
Pre-snap motion
In Week 1, the Bengals had the fourth-lowest pre-snap motion rate in the entire league at 28%. Only the Carolina Panthers, Cleveland Browns, and Denver Broncos were lower, and all three joined the Bengals in the 0-1 club.
This week, Cincinnati's pre-snap motion rate jumped to 71%, which is going to be near the high-end of Week 2's rankings
Why it matters: On plays with pre-snap motion, the Bengals averaged 6.2 yards. On plays without it, they averaged 2.9 yards.
I could stop there, but let's go further.
The first big play of the day? Yep. By motioning Chase to the play side of the formation, the Chiefs counter with cornerback Trent McDuffie trailing him. This leaves two defenders against Trenton Irwin and Gesicki in a stacked release for the latter.
Meanwhile over by Chase, his gravity attracts safety Chamarri Conner and is subsequently doubled. Gesicki is left open over the middle with his man beaten behind him.
The Bengals will still be majoring in shotgun as it's where Burrow is at his best. In doing so, they have to get creative in generating mismatches and putting defenses in a bind. Motioning before the snap is the best answer for doing so as it not only tells Burrow if it's man or zone, it creates windows that didn't exist for plays that are greatly needed.
Tight end involvement
We've shown Gesicki's best and worst play of the afternoon, and there's a reason why. He was the team's leading receiver with seven receptions for 91 yards.
In fact, Sunday was the best day for Bengals tight ends since the beginning of Burrow's career four years ago. Gesicki was the main contributor of 151 total receiving yards from the position group. Rookie Erick All Jr. chipped in with 32, and Sample with 28.
The Bengals couldn't have gotten this production just by staying in their traditional 11 personnel (one running back, one tight end) with only one tight end on the field.
According to ESPN's Ben Baby, just over 31% of their offensive plays featured two tight ends on the field in 12 personnel (one running back, two tight ends).
With Tee Higgins sidelined with a hamstring injury and the rest of the wideouts unable to provide much outside of Andrei Iosivas' two touchdowns, the only logical step was for the Bengals to unleash their tight ends in the pass game. In the run game, nine of Moss' 12 carries were in 12 personnel as well, sometimes even with All as a lead-blocker in the I-formation.
Why it matters: This wasn't an optimal strategy before this year. With Gesicki and All in the fold, it'd be foolish for the Bengals to stray far from it. Even when Higgins comes back, a grouping of him, Chase, Gesicki, and All would be viable for both the run and pass. Defenses would have a tougher time preparing for the snap without any clear and obvious tells.
Evolution would show its benefits.
The NFL is a week-to-week beast in many ways, but the Bengals' offense shouldn't deviate too far from the tendencies they put on film in Kansas City. Higgins' eventual return will only give defenses another playmaker to worry about. The structure shouldn't change with him coming back, and considering he was healthy for all of training camp, he was already used to all of these wrinkles in the first place.
Why the Bengals didn't roll out this style of offense in Week 1 is a mystery to me. Could they have been conserving themselves to catch the Chiefs off guard? Potentially, but these are still changes that haven't been utilized in-game very much. More reps will make operations smoother.
Yes, the Bengals are 0-2 for a third consecutive year. They've been down here before, but never with answers to their offensive woes this early in the season. Sustainable answers that bode well against any defense they face.
There's no going backwards now. The Bengals are evolving as an offense, and not a moment too soon.
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