Bengals Keys Against The Ravens: Greater Pass Rush To Protect Bengals Cornerbacks

As we gear up for Cincinnati's game against the Baltimore Ravens, we'll be posting five keys for Cincinnati to win this Sunday. The fourth of five begins now...

Bengals pass rush will need to protect Cincinnati's cornerbacks. At one point the Cincinnati Bengals were known for having one of the league's best cornerback duos, especially during the 2009 season in which the defense ranked fourth overall and the Bengals swept the AFC North. Dating back to July, the Bengals lost both; Johnathan Joseph to free agency and Leon Hall to a season-ending Achilles injury.

This Sunday Cincinnati will feature Nate Clements and (most likely) Kelly Jennings as your starting cornerbacks while the team takes a more cautious approach reintegrating Adam Jones into the defense. It's possible that the team splits Jones' snaps as the team's third cornerback with Chris Crocker while safety is replenished on the field with Gibril Wilson. It's been the trendy defensive formation for much of the year in three-plus wide receiver formations.

A greater dependency on defense will be the pass rush. Carlos Dunlap, who missed last week with a hamstring injury, is questionable. That didn't adversely affect Cincinnati's overall pass rush last week against the Steelers, securing five quarterback sacks and 13 overall hits on the quarterback. However Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco will have a better offensive line protecting him than Ben Roethlisberger had last weekend. According to Football Outsiders, Baltimore sports the league's 12th best pass protection (Pittsburgh ranked 27th).

Helping relieving pressure against the Bengals cornerbacks, the pass rush has to become the defense's greatest factor while the secondary covers guys like Anquan Boldin and Torrey Smith, or tight ends Ed Dickson or Dennis Pitta. Relying less on the team's cornerbacks, save for Clements is questionable at best, will go a long way projecting a greater probability towards the team's overall success. Granted that's a general rule of thumb on defense -- but greater this week than before.