Data shows Bengals offense far too dependent on passing game

Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins have been carrying the skills positions.

The Cincinnati Bengals’ offense has struggled for two straight games now. And the ground game needs to get going to fix it.

After struggling against the New York Giants’ pass rush two weeks ago, Cincinnati’s o-line did a lot better of a job against Myles Garrett and the Cleveland Browns pass rushers, but the running game was essentially nonexistent, totaling just 59 yards on 25 carries.

Chase Brown knows it’s time for the others to do their part to support the superstar trio of Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, and Tee Higgins. “With an efficient run game, we can only assist what we’re doing on offense,” the running back said.

To get an idea just how great the disparity has been between the run game and pass game, check out this chart from rbsdm.com for the last two weeks of play.

It shows that, despite two consecutive wins, the Bengals still had the worst rush EPA per play at -0.421. Meanwhile, they were about average at dropback EPA with 0.110 per play.

On the season, the Bengals have the fourth best dropback EPA per play in the NFL (0.207) but only the 22nd best rush EPA per play (-0.108).

As John Sheeran said on our show, “Zack Moss is doing next to nothing with the ball in his hands, and their outside runs, their sweeps, they’re getting negative yards.”

The problem? “They’re trying to do very similar things to what they did in the beginning of the season when they were very efficient running the ball, but now defenses are being a lot more aggressive towards it, and they don’t have a counter yet.”

The A to Z Sports analyst added that this is exacerbated by the fact that Chase and Higgins are “basically the entire offense” because the Bengals don’t have a strong third option in the passing game.” Needless to say, something needs to change fast.

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