Whose offense is this? Is it Zac Taylor’s? Dan Pitcher’s? Joe Burrow’s?
When the team started a possession with 1st and goal from the 2-yard line and proceeded to line up in shotgun and throw the ball three out of four plays, it seemed like it was a little too much of Burrow’s offense. Would the return of Joe Cool have a totally uncool effect on the Bengals’ offensive development over the past few weeks, particularly the run game?
No. Burrow actually did get under center more often. Chase Brown ran for 78 yards on 15 carries. Samaje Perine ran the ball nearly as many times as Brown, adding 39 yards on 14 carries.
Brown has carried the load with Perine dinged up in recent weeks, but this week, they seemingly tried to take the team off his back. Brown and Perine split the running back snaps 60/40. While they got roughly the same number of carries, Brown had also had seven receptions on seven targets for 35 yards. Brown had over 100 yards from scrimmage for a franchise record 6th straight game.
It’s also of note that the Bengals continued to emphasize 12 personnel, having two tight ends on a third of their snaps. Drew Sample continues to be TE1, taking 49 snaps. Noah Fant added 35 snaps. Mike Gesicki took another 23 snaps. Tanner Hudson got in on the action for six snaps and was targeted twice, pulling in one touchdown.
The defensive snap counts have actually been pretty consistent since the bye week, particularly over the last two weeks. One position that was a little different this week was defensive tackle. Defensive coordinator Al Golden seemed to be looking for athleticism, as Kris Jenkins took the most reps (43) and B.J. Hill took the second most with 38. While this was the same amount of snaps Jenkins took a week ago, it was 18 fewer snaps for Hill. TJ Slaton also had a drop-off of 18 snaps from 38 to 20 snaps, and McKinnley Jackson’s snaps were cut by more than half from 19 to 9.
The edge snaps have been pretty consistent, but they are really overworking Myles Murphy (164 snaps in the last 3 weeks) and Joseph Ossai (150 snaps in the last 3 weeks). Cedric Johnson is the only one giving them any relief. He has taken 78 snaps over the last few weeks. They really need to get Trey Hendrickson back to have a fourth guy and divide these snaps up a little better. This will help them stay fresh and productive.
Bengals vs. Ravens Snap Counts
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