Cincinnati Bengals: Positives of their 2-3 start
By Kenn Korb
As they exit their bye week, we look at the positives for the Cincinnati Bengals during their 2-3 start to the 2017 season.
Through five games, the Cincinnati Bengals sit at 2-3. This record isn’t exactly sterling, but it isn’t all that terrible either. It has been formed through circumstances and outcomes both good and bad, and the trends in either direction can be a great indicator of why this team will or won’t be able to recover from their slow start to still make this into a successful season.
Let’s look into the positive pieces of this start now.
3. High Level Defensive Play
While the offense has given plenty of reason to be lambasted during this start, the defense has actually been excellent. They’ve been absolutely menacing harassing quarterbacks, with their 18 sacks ranking fifth in the NFL despite playing one fewer game than most teams. That’s not just one player making an impact, either. Nine different players have at least one sack, and three players (Geno Atkins, Michael Johnson, Carl Lawson) have at least three.
Even without Vontaze Burfict for the first three contests, this was a group to be reckoned with. They kept Cincinnati as close as they could with their quarterback giving up five turnovers to Baltimore, had a single misstep against Houston, and were crucial in gaining a 21-7 lead over Green Bay. A couple breaks change in their favor — or if their quarterback doesn’t give the ball away a half-dozen times in a single game — and that 0-3 start easily could’ve been 1-2 or 2-1.
The defense at that point was playing like a top ten unit, and that was against some high-level offensive weaponry. The return of their defensive leader in Burfict has catapulted them to an entirely higher level, however. In two games with Burfict back, a defense which had averaged allowing 20 points per game over its first three contests has given up 23 total in their past two. A unit sitting on the outskirts of the top 10 in Football Outsiders’ Defensive DVOA has risen to No. 3 in the metric, while sitting at No. 7 in both Pass Offense DVOA and Rush Offense DVOA as well.
A deep group with its soul back in the gameplan should only continue to act as a powerful weapon as the season moves forward. With the state of the offense, it will need to be the success of the defense which buoys Cincinnati back into playoff contention.