Cincinnati Bengals: What to watch, key players for Week 8 vs. Buccaneers
By Kenn Korb
Can The Bengals Cover The Tight End?
The Tampa Bay offense has shown some scary explosive tendencies this season, and it is mainly because of their passing game. Six weeks in, they were No. 4 in Football Outsiders’ Passing Offense DVOA, No. 1 in passing yardage per game and first in percentage of passing plays resulting in first downs, just to name a few of their stats.
They have a ton of skilled players on that offense, but the tight end position may be the most important area to watch. This team puts a ton of emphasis on the position, and gets a large portion of their passing production from two really good players at the spot.
The main guy is second-year man O.J. Howard. The former first-round selection has been breaking out in a big way this year after a decent rookie year. Through six games he has 30 targets, 20 receptions, 351 yards, two touchdowns, 140 yards after catch, and converted 16 first downs.
In most of those spots, he’s set to obliterate the totals he reached in his first year (prorated across 16 games: 80 targets, 53 receptions, 936 yards, five touchdowns, 373 yards after catch, 47 first downs). Going forward, he’s on his way to being one of the top tight ends in the entire league in short order — and the advanced metrics suggest he already is: per Football Outsiders, he is #2 in DYAR and secon in individual DVOA at his position.
He’s not the only useful player here at the position, either. Cameron Brate has been around since 2014 and put up some really good seasons. With Howard taking a larger role now, Brate isn’t being used as often, but he still has a useful role: in much less usage, he has 10 catches for 101 yards and three touchdowns.
Suffice it to say: slowing this Tampa Bay offense hinges greatly on how well a team handles the tight end position with their defense. Luckily for Cincinnati, this seems to be one of their areas of relative strength. The Bengals are eighth in defensive DVOA when covering tight ends, and have done a decent job most weeks. Across Weeks 3-5 this year, they gave up a combined total of 8 receptions, 82 yards and one touchdown to a group of five tight ends.
There is more to this story though, and of course we see more talented groups put up better stats on them. Jack Doyle and Eric Ebron came together for 11 catches, 111 yards and one touchdown in Week 1. Baltimore’s group of young highly-drafted tight ends went for eight receptions, 74 yards and one touchdown.
Things got even more out of hand the past two games, too: Pittsburgh had 14 receptions and 129 yards from their tight ends, while Kansas City got six receptions, 112 yards and one touchdown from Travis Kelce and Demetrius Harris.
As a whole, the group can do well, but more athletic groups of tight ends can be a hassle for them — especially when considering that the linebackers who will be forced to cover the tight ends are perhaps the slowest starting group in the NFL. Howard and Brate at the very least have the speed to make things troublesome, but if they do more the Cincinnati defense is in major trouble.