Even before changing training camp times and playing more guys in more preseason games, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor set the table for Sunday's Opening Day win in Cleveland back in January during the days leading up to the hiring of Al Golden.
When talking about what he sought in a defensive coordinator, Taylor emphasized solving the problems of AFC North offenses.
"I think you've got to understand our division that we play in," Tayor said back then. "I think this division is different. I think when people come and they play all four teams in this division, they feel that immediately. You're certainly (going to) need a coordinator who has an understanding of that."
Taylor came into his seventh season Sunday with teams allowing 366 yards and 25.8 points per division game to run-oriented offenses. The Browns came nowhere near those numbers Sunday with 327 yards and 16 points. Only 49 of those yards came on the ground on 2.0 yards per carry. According to Pro Football Reference, it marked just the third time this century the Bengals have held a division foe to two yards or less per carry with the last time coming ten Septembers ago in Baltimore.
"For our style of football, we want to play as a team, when you can eliminate the run game, knock down the explosives, and allow our offense to put pressure on teams, then that's going to be a good recipe for winning," said Taylor Monday after reviewing Golden's first game an NFL play-caller. "There are going to be times where different parts of the team lean on the other unit. That's going happen. That's over a 17-game season … When we put it all together, we feel like we're going to be pretty deadly."
The Bengals stopped the run with two of their biggest offseason additions showing why they went out and got them.
They signed 340-pound nose tackle T.J. Slaton from Green Bay after some analytics named him the NFL's top-run stuffer, and he showed up on 34 snaps. Second-rounder Demetrius Knight Jr., who had the fastest GPS of any linebacker at the NFL combine, flew around for ten tackles in his debut.
"I thought T.J. really played well on every snap he was in there. He was physical in the run game, physical at the point of attack," Taylor said. "I thought he had great energy throughout the game."
Knight is one of three rookies that gave Golden serious snaps with Knight working 76%. When Logan Wilson went down next to Knight, fourth-rounder Barrett Carter was in on 18 plays for three tackles. First-rounder Shemar Stewart had three pressures on his 37 plays.
Golden, who played for Joe Paterno at Penn State, had him in mind as he thought about Stewart not working at all in the spring.
"The big thing as a staff, especially Shemar, because he missed so much time, I kept reminding everyone of something Coach Paterno used to always say. 'You're better off being one game late than two games early.' We tried to not put too much on those guys," Golden said, "and we had some guys that could sub out so we can slow it down for them, and if there were any corrections they could see it a little bit. I was really pleased with all three of those guys and how they impacted the game."
Slaton came over from the NFC North, the old "Black and Blue Division," so he doesn't see much difference in the AFC North.
"It's still football," Slaton said. "Where we go, it's stop the run. It doesn't matter who is in front of you, we're going to shut you down. That's what it's about."
According to Slaton's analytics, "95% of the time the first play of the game is a run … If they can keep doing it, they're going to keep doing it. They're not going to stop at 150 (yards)."
Knight got into one of his grooves early. In that first drive, he racked up six tackles and didn't stop until he tied linebacker Keith Rivers for most tackles by a Bengal in his NFL debut.
"I do usually ask for forgiveness a lot after games," Knight said. "I see a lot red in the middle of everything and I always told my wife, once I make one or two tackles, I kind of go to that place … Usually, when I make one or two tackles, I get into that flow and stay in that rhythm and truly become that warrior out there."
The Bengals love that 10-year vet maturity of Knight. At 25, he's married with two children, and when everybody greeted him at the house when he got home from Cleveland Sunday night, they were all decked out in Bengals gear. His daughter kept singing "the Who-Dey song into (Monday) morning," and they can't wait to go to Sunday's Paycor Stadium opener against the
Jaguars.
The Bengals also like his maturity on the field, where he uses his four-year high-school quarterback savvy. He said that was in use last Sunday against the run, even though Browns quarterback Joe Flacco has 15 years on him.
"Being a former quarterback, when they come to the line, usually one run goes to the right, they don't like it, so they check it to the left," Knight said. "That one usually holds up. It held up yesterday a couple of times with Joe. He checked the play, I'm pointing this way, and that's where it all flows together."
Everything was pointing the right way. Remember that game Rivers got his ten tackles? It came against a rookie Joe Flacco 17 years to the day of an opener in Baltimore that Flacco won. This time, the Bengals rookie linebacker beat him.
SOUNDS OF SILENCE
Rookie long snapper William Wagner had the kind of calm, reassuring debut you would expect from a Michigan man with all those Ohio battles against the Buckeyes under his belt.
He got his first NFL tackle, Evan McPherson hit all three of his kicks (which wasn't a given in this one with a rookie involved), and he had a front-row seat for another guy making his debut.
With 19 seconds left, Bengals punter Ryan Rehkow dropped a punt on the Browns 5 and safety P.J. Jules, playing gunner in his first NFL game, did what he was told to do by special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons when he downed it at the 1. It's just that Jules almost waited too long as it bounced too close for comfort to the end zone.
"We were in a 'bleed,' situation," said Wagner of a play where they wanted to bleed the clock by letting the punt bounce for as long as possible if it wasn't caught.
"He did what he should have done, but don't give Darrin a heart attack like that. But he did a good job and Ryan had a great punt."
Moments before, Wagner found himself snapping to Rehkow in their own end zone. "By the 'Dog Bin,' or whatever it is." Told it's known as the 'Dawg Pound.' Wagner offered props.
"Couldn't hear a thing. Loud," Wagner said.
How loud? The only place he has heard louder, he said, is the Penn State student section.
"Ringing in my ears," he said.
SLANTS AND SCREENS
Taylor indicated right guard Lucas Patrick is headed to injured reserve with a calf injury, but not for the season. He says he'll be out a few weeks …
Remember that regimen engineered by NFL sack champion Trey Hendrickson and Bengals strength czar Joey Boese during Hendrickson's hold-in?
They couldn't have drawn up Sunday any better. Hendrickson gutted through 57 plays, or 75% of them, the same number he took last November against the Chargers. And he was right-on brilliant. Pro Football Focus had him graded at 90.2 with eight pressures that included a sack, two hits, and five hurries.
Plus, an awed defensive coordinator.
"He gave us way more than I thought, and that's an amazing human being, to be able to do that. But his play count, he kept wanting more," Golden said, "and he did a great job when he was in there.
"He impacted the game, impacted the quarterback. I thought he was really rugged in the run game, and he missed a lot of reps." …
Cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt didn't fare hardly as well with PFF, and he impressed Golden Monday morning when stopped by his office.
"He was one of the first guys that came to me right prior to the defensive unit meeting," Golden said. "He said, 'I've got to do a couple things better, and I got you this week,' and that kind of thing. And so his self-awareness is good. Cam, you can coach him hard." …
Add fullback to backup offensive lineman Cody Ford's growing resume. Ford, who last year played four spots that included a tight end in motion, lined up in front of running back Chase Brown on the Browns 1, and Ford wiped out linebacker Mohamoud Diabate on the edge as if it were supposed to be run.
No run. Play-action. And the man Ford replaced, tight end Noah Fant, slipped off his block and was wide open for quarterback Joe Burrow's touchdown flip.
"That's true, old-school Spider Two," Taylor said. "That's Spider Two Y Banana. Right there. That's not exactly how we called it, but that is a play I threw probably 14 of my 16 touchdowns in college on. Simple as that. If you like the Jon Gruden term that's basically what that was.
"That's not a full-speed rep that we get. We walked through that a million times and talked through how we want to cut the edge. That's a big job, but in terms of actually repping that live, we have not done that with him." …
Fant played 26 snaps, had the same five targets as Ja'Marr Chase, and had a team-high four catches for 26 yards. Mike Gesicki, coming off a 65-catch year, played 16 snaps and had a 14-yard catch on three targets. Taylor says not to read into any of that since the playtime percentages will change from game-to-game at that spot.
"Lot of flexibility in our tight end room. You are going to be able to look at every game and the playtime percentages can be different in every single game versus every defense we face," Taylor said. "We are fortunate to have five tight ends who we trust. Four are active on game day, we had a fifth inactive, but we have five we believe can go in and operate our offense and give us what we need to win." …
