Lost in the A.J. Green drama and the focus on Joe Burrow is the fact the Cincinnati Bengals pitched a pretty good defensive game against the Baltimore Ravens.
A sometimes-lost defense with poor tackling issues and contain suddenly constricted, with coordinator Lou Anarumo calling a strong game plan that helped slow Lamar Jackson and Co.
Just ask Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, per The Athletic’s Ted Nguyen:
“(The Bengals) did do something completely different. They were in a true college 4-3 type of look. They were playing quarters with the safeties low. They played it in the past but they hadn’t played it yet this year.”
Nguyen has an immense breakdown at the above link totally worth reading. But the gist of it is simple — three linebackers stayed on the field for most of the game and used basic rules to contain the read-option.
Granted, the defense still gave up 20 of Baltimore’s 27 points. The Ravens still rushed for 6.7 yards per carry because of some massive gains. But by and large, it was a successful outing compared to what the Bengals had shown in previous games.
The performance came with a cost. Carlos Dunlap wasn’t happy about technically not starting in favor of better run defenders. D.J. Reader suffered a season-ending injury, so we’ll have to see how the coaches can compensate from here.
But the performance was a sign of the process working — the Bengals wanted to build a defense that could stop the Ravens and the proof of concept is starting to emerge. Perhaps it’s most surprising merely because few would have predicted the Bengals would author a gameplan the rest of Baltimore’s future opponents will use as a blueprint.
