The Cincinnati Bengals’ defense has looked impressive over the last few weeks, and that is in no small part due to the improved play of their rookie linebacker, Demetrius Knight and Barrett Carter.
Both Knight and Carter have become more consistent with their reads and fills. They have also drastically improved their tackling, and missed tackles have not been an issue in recent weeks. The duo put up identical stat lines this week, with three tackles and two assists.
They are also showing improvement in coverage. Last week, I wrote about how their coverage issues came down to two correctable problems. I’m happy to report that neither assignment errors in man coverage nor depth in zone coverage impacted this game in a major way.
After dabbling in the preseason, defensive coordinator Al Golden has finally fully committed to using Knight for his versatility. When the Bengals selected Knight in Round 2 of last year’s draft, Golden talked about his length and how they could use him on the line of scrimmage. Now, we are seeing a lot of Knight in that position.
Generally, this involves traditional 4-3 personnel, but with a 5-2 alignment. This puts Knight on the edge, while Oren Burks joins Carter off the ball. Knight has done a good job in this role, and it has been very effective when the Bengals are looking to stop the run.
Knight seems to be showing a knack for making big plays. While this week’s interception was only his second of the season, he is always around the ball, and that pays off in the long run. It also occurred in the red zone, where he was a step short of making a pick a few weeks ago. He’s getting better.
As a rookie, Carter has stepped into a leadership role on this defense and contributed to its stellar improvement in recent weeks. He continues to make the calls for this defense and take every snap at Mike linebacker.
He did, unfortunately, have one catastrophic error this week as he took a horrible cover-down angle on Derrick Henry, which allowed the mammoth rusher to rack up some big yards after the catch.
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