No very good team got embarrassed the way the Bengals did this weekend. Imagine if Deshaun Watson played well instead of playing a C-minus game, bouncing balls in front of receivers the way he often did in his forgettable six-week run late last season. If he was peak Deshaun, this would have been 40-3, not 24-3. There will be time to dissect Watson. This is the week to praise a marauding defense and its new coordinator, Jim Schwartz, for making Joe Burrow and a great offense look so bad.
Per NFL Next Gen Stats, the Browns preferred to emphasize coverage against Joe Burrow in his previous five meetings against Cleveland. In those five games, Cleveland blitzed Burrow 18 percent of his pass-drops. Seeing that the Browns were 4-1 against Burrow, why change? And considering that last season Burrow was the second-best quarterback in the league against the blitz—with a 114.7 passer rating—it seemed logical that the Browns would rush with four, try to get pressure with Myles Garrett winning his battles, and let a fortified back end cover Cincinnati’s strong receiver group.
But Schwartz didn’t do that. Obviously wanting to see whether Burrow—who’d been sidelined six weeks with a strained calf—could move normally in the pocket, the Browns sent more rushers. Per Next Gen Stats, Schwartz sent extra rushers on 13 of Burrow’s 33 pass-drops, or 39 percent. Smart move. Burrow wasn’t immobile, but as he said afterward when asked about his calf: “It was good enough.” Code phrase for “still not great.” And this was Next Gen’s most revealing number about Burrow: His average speed when on the move out of the pocket is between 16 and 18 mph. On Sunday, his average speed was 15.85 mph. Not terrible, but the fourth-lowest in his 50 NFL games … and a possible sign that this calf could nag him for a while.
“Our main focus,” said linebacker and defensive captain Anthony Walker, “was to change up looks on him. We wanted to make it as cloudy as possible for him, and then obviously get some hits on him and get him off his spot. I think that’s what this blitz was able to do. Our plan wasn’t really, you know, pressure, pressure, pressure—but just change up the picture.”
The clinching play of the game saw Cleveland rushing just four, up 16-3 with 10 minutes left, and the Bengals with a last gasp. On fourth-and-four from their 31-yard line, the Bengals slid extra protection to the right in running back Trayveon Williams to help tackle Jonah Williams against Garrett. Good concept. But this play is why Garrett is a prime Defensive Player of the Year candidate. He swam past Jonah Williams, then swatted away Trayveon Williams and went on the hunt to the right of the pocket for Burrow. The QB had zero chance. Down went Burrow. Loss of 13.
“You can’t coach that,” Walker said. “You can’t coach that energy. That took whatever life they had away.” One more series, and Bengals coach Zac Taylor raised the white flag. He took out Burrow.
This slap in the face might be a one-off, or it might be a sign that Burrow’s not near whole; the Bengals may have to make him purely a pocket player. But with a line that’s been leaky at times, that may present its own problems. Not the best time to see a team that knows the Bengals so well, Baltimore, come to Ohio for the home opener Sunday. That game’s going to answer a lot of questions about how effective Burrow’s going to be able to be this year.
Read more in Peter King’s full Football Morning in America column.
