Cincinnati Bengals: 3 Reasons for win vs. Colts in Week 8
By Kenn Korb
1. Dunlap Pick-Six
Something that doesn’t need much help with recognition is this play by Dunlap. In case you haven’t seen it, just take a look:
Dunlap does here what has been the calling card of Cincinnati defensive ends during his tenure with the team: he bats the ball at the line.
To start, Dunlap acts as if he’s normally rushing the passer, but once he notices the quarterback about to throw, he switches his approach up. Now, rather than just fruitlessly pushing into the blocker in front of him, he is completely unencumbered as he jumps straight up to try getting his hands on the ball. Not only does he get his paws on it, but Dunlap bats it up in the air. From there, he’s able to quickly locate the ball and come down with it. From that point it is a footrace to the endzone, which Dunlap wins easily.
Boom. That quickly, Cincinnati takes a 24-23 lead it would never relinquish. By itself, this one play flipped the ESPN win probability calculators on their head. Prior to it, Indianapolis was given a 77.3 percent chance at winning. Directly after, all of a sudden, it was Cincinnati leading the way with a 63.0 percent chance of victory from that point in the game — a 40.3 percent win expectancy flip!
that’s the result of just one of the many impactful plays Dunlap has managed with the Bengals, and it should continue being a weapon going forward. He’s used his expansive frame (6-6, with a nearly 35-inch wingspan and 10-inch hands) and impeccable timing to knock down at least 3 passes in all but one season on his way to 36 in 109 career games. In his career he’s also blocked four kicks, returned another interception for a score, and was even able to keep up with defensive backs in pass knockdowns last season (his 15 tie him for 13th in total knockdowns in 2016).
Next: 2017 NFL Picks, score predictions for Week 9
The best part of all this? Dunlap is still just 28, and they have him under contract for at least another season after this (he’ll be an unrestricted free agent in 2019). Assuming Cincinnati isn’t dumb enough to let him leave, he should continue making impactful, winning plays like this one for years to come for the Bengals.