Cincinnati Bengals: 3 Reasons for loss vs. Titans in Week 10

1. A Cincinnati Punt-Fest

Despite the perceived talents of their skill position players on offense — or more likely, mainly due to the clearly apparent lack of offensive line talent — Cincinnati has been constantly undone this year because of how often they’ve been forced to punt the football.

Through ten weeks, they are tied for ninth in the NFL in terms of total punts (49). Though those punts are handled relatively well (15th in net yardage), the fact that so many are taken by the team greatly undermines Cincinnati’s hopes for success each week.

One thing it is directly connected to is their unsightly third down conversion rate. As of this week, the team is second-worst in the entire NFL, converting third downs only 31.13 percent of the time. Only the endless pit of despair that is the Cleveland Browns is worse!

This becomes especially poignant when you realize that Cincinnati also faces third down fewer times per game (11.8) than just one team (Atlanta; 11.4). There’s another major difference there, by the way: while Atlanta faces few first downs, they are a much better offense overall (No. 8 in Offensive DVOA; Cincinnati is No. 26) and — most importantly here — they are much better at converting those third downs (No. 7 in third down conversion rate on the season).

This connects to yet another notable area: time of possession. Cincinnati can’t convert third downs; this in turn means they find their drives end in short order pretty often. Though they are actually much better than expected in terms of three-and-outs (.230 three-and-outs per drive, 14th in NFL), they do finish drives with punts more often than only three teams (New York Giants, Chicago Bears, Miami Dolphins), are better than only two teams in terms of plays per drive (5.21 — only the Jets and Titans are worse), and are the absolute worst in terms of punts per play (one of every 10 Cincinnati plays is a punt).

What happens with all those drives ending with punts? Two things: It means that the other team is getting another possession, and it also means that Cincinnati is losing out on one of their own chances to put points on the board. When you have drives that end quickly, and also have opponents whose drives do not (Cincinnati’s defense is No. 19 in opponent third down conversion rate; No. 26 in opponent plays per drive), you see a team that is consistently limited in their opportunities to go out and score.

This game saw all of these issues at their most exacerbated of the season for Cincinnati.

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The offense managed to go just 1-of-10 on third downs. Tennessee held the ball for over 40 minutes. Cincinnati punter Kevin Huber put his foot on the ball seven times; the final five of those opened Cincinnati’s the second half, leaving the team stuck down 17-13 until A.J. Green finally broke off a 70 yard catch-and-run to put the Bengals up for a short time before Tennessee’s game-winning drive commenced and ultimately ended their hopes.

This team just isn’t good enough on offense to win games with regularity. Stretches like those five punts waste strong showings from a decent defense, and it’s practically a weekly occurrence for the Bengals these days. Even with a fumble, an interception, a missed field goal, and a generally inconsistent showing from the Tennessee offense, Cincinnati’s own group could barely make anything happen with their opportunities.