Cincinnati Bengals Week 6 Key Matchup: A.J. Green vs. Ronald Darby

By Kiefer Timmann | Oct 15, 2015

Each NFL season brings more and more surprises regarding which players will unexpectedly step up to help their team succeed. Two years ago was Josh Gordon who stepped on the scene and dominated the league in just his second year (although that didn’t turn out as the Browns had hoped). Last year, Le’Veon Bell took the league by storm totaling over 2,000 yards from scrimmage for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Both of these players had all of the talent in the world, but it’s safe to say nobody expected them to completely take over the NFL in just their second year.

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The same can be said for rookies, especially those drafted outside of the first round. Ronald Darby came into the league as a freak athlete, but it was questioned whether or not he could play with his back to the ball and if he was tough enough to defend the run.

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As highlighted in this article here: Ronald Darby is already one of the best, the Bills rookie cornerback has put any doubters to rest. Through the first five weeks, Darby has faced T.Y. Hilton, Julian Edelman, Rishard Matthews, and Odell Beckham Jr. Not only has he faced, but he has been great defending them. With the Bengals coming into town, Darby will be facing a different kind of beast: A.J. Green.

I am not taking anything away from the aforementioned receivers, but none of them have the size that Green does. Green is a solid 6’4″ 207 pounds, while Darby is just 5’11” 193 pounds. In the game this year in which A.J. Green went off for 10 catches, 227 yards, and two touchdowns, Green went up against a smaller corner in Lardarius Webb.

While Green is smaller in terms of weight than most receivers at 6’4″, he does a great job extending up to catch a pass. It will be very interesting to see if Darby’s athleticism, that includes a 41.5 inch vertical leap, will make up for his height in this matchup.

In addition, heading into week five, Ronald Darby was only allowing a 31.4 quarterback rating when thrown at, via Pro Football Focus. This year he has only allowed 19 catches on 42 targets for 185 yards. Numbers like this, that include two interceptions, are the reason why Darby was awarded with the Rookie of the Month honors for September. Videos like the one below show that everyone is starting to take notice of the rookie’s phenomenal play.

On the flip side, Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton is currently third in the NFL at 115.6 in terms of quarterback rating, with his top target, A.J. Green flourishing through the first five weeks. His stud receiver is fourth in the league in receiving yards with 495 and 11th in receptions with 31. As I stated above, regardless of Darby’s excellent play, it would be foolish for Dalton not to target him throughout the game because of the size differential between the two.

The Cincinnati Bengals are coming into this week five matchup unbeaten, while the Bills are coming off of a defensive win against the Titans. There is no doubt that Darby has already pushed himself into the category of top cornerbacks in the league, so it will be interesting to see him go up against another Pro-Bowl talent in A.J. Green.

The Bills rookie has already shut down some of the elite talent in the league, but I think he will have his troubles with Green. While the corner opposite of Darby has been struggling as of late, I fully expect the rookie CB to shadow Green all day. Although the Bengals have a plethora of weapons on offense, none of them exploit a mismatch opportunity like Green. Look for the Bengals to take advantage and for Green to have a big game on Sunday.

Next: Power Ranking the top WRs after Week 5

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