FanPost

Bengals defense (2012 version)...horrible or just bad?

It's hard to deny that so far the Bengals have done nothing defensively to warrant much confidence in a season that sees a slew of good QB's on the upcoming slate.

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After 2 weeks the Bengals are allowing a 117.8 QB rating against them thanks to 308.5 yards given up per game, 4 TD's to 0 INT's, and a whopping 71% completion percentage against them.

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Oh, and these #'s weren't put up against them by Drew Brees or Tom Brady or anybody like that...but rather Joe Flacco and rookie Brandon Weedon. Yes, the same rookie who threw 4 picks at home against Philly.
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The Bengals passing defense is:

29th in QB rating allowed

28th in completion percentage allowed

28th in yards allowed

11th in sacks generated (although that drops to 14th when you look at sacks per pass play)

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Apparently the answer to the age old question of “how many former 1st round picks a team needs in their secondary” is “more”.

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Clearly there is a problem with the pass defense. But the rushing defense is ok, right?

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The Bengals rushing defense is:

19th in rushing yards allowed with 126.0 per game

23rd in rushing TD’s allowed with 3 so far

31st in yards per rush allowing 5.5 yards per rush

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Clearly there is a problem.

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The Bengals don’t get to face as many horrible offenses as they did in 2011 when they finished as a top-10 defense. So any problem is going to be magnified in 2012.

The addition of Still & Thompson at DT, starting Mays & Miles over Crocker at Safety, a healthy Hall at CB & Maualuga at MLB, the additions in the secondary, etc... apparently aren’t working so far.

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So I’m left wondering...is this a horrible 2 week aberration that is fixable, or is there a deeper fundamental problem that is undermining the defense?

This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Cincy Jungle's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan, which is as important as the views of Cincy Jungle's writers or editors.