Cincinnati Bengals: Takeaways from Week 12 loss vs. Browns
By Kenn Korb
Who On Defense Is Worth Keeping?
Every week, this Cincinnati Bengals defense somehow falls to a more despicably bad level. For three-straight weeks, they gave up 500+ yards to a string of high-powered offenses (Kansas City, Tampa Bay, New Orleans). Then, they let a rookie quarterback/running back combo dominate with 234 rushing yards in a loss last week to Baltimore. How could it get any worse?
The Browns showed them how.
This group of defenders let the Browns score 30+ for just the second time this season. It was a relentless assault. They scored on five of their first six drives, and were probably a deep incompletion away from making it a perfect 6-for-6. These were strong showings, too, as three of the first half drives lasted 10+ plays and ate up over six minutes of clock time, with Cleveland going 4-of-5 on third downs and 1-of-1 on fourth downs along the way to a 28-point first half.
Don’t let a decent showing in the second half of a blowout fool you — this defense is an abysmal, flaccid mess of overvalued names well past their usefulness and middling talents elevated to roles far beyond their capabilities.
Think hard on this: how many players at any level of this unit would even be a functional role player for a league-average defense, now or over the next couple seasons?
Geno Atkins is still an elite interior defender, Carlos Dunlap can still be a good edge defender and Jessie Bates has shown signs of being a really good, rangy safety for years to come. From the injured list, Carl Lawson can be a great situational pass rusher and Ryan Glasgow showed signs early in 2018 of being the perfect interior partner for Atkins.
Everybody else is a question mark at best, and their place here going forward should not be guaranteed regardless of their respective contracts. With Lawson and Glasgow on IR, the pass rush has been mostly nonexistent for weeks because all the other remaining linemen beyond Atkins and Dunlap have failed to make a positive impact.
The only linebacker to not be a complete disaster this year has been Nick Vigil, and he’s missed much of the year due to injury, so he has about a month’s worth of good play to show from his three year career. No. 2 safety Shawn Williams has been good for stretches, but he’s primarily a box safety that’s been picked up some scary injuries in the past couple years so his long-term viability is a worthwhile question.
The only corner of note, William Jackson III, has been nowhere close to his 2017 level. With one year stolen by injury, his next an excellent year and this one quite up-and-down, any one of those could prove to be what he really is as a player for the better part of his career.
The majority of these questions can’t be answered until the offseason, but for fans now is the time to understand who here is and isn’t worth believing in as a building block for the future.