FanPost

How to Stop Manziel (An Inside Perspective from Washington)

Growing up in Scranton, PA, it's pretty remarkable that I became a diehard Bengals fan. I still remember the moment though, as I watched a Jeff Blake led Bengals team beat up a tough Steeler team in Pittsburgh. Knowing little about football at the time, I fell in love with the Bengal helmet design and became a lifelong fan. Fast forward 20 odd years or so, I have a life in Washington DC; remaining true to the Bengals despite Burgundy and Gold lining every street. I was lucky enough to win free tickets to the Redskins-Browns preseason game this past August, being very interested to see how it would shake out and what could be learned for the Bengals in their two late season match ups down the road. The Redskins won the bout 24-23 (a win is a win in Washington, even if it's preseason) but the majority of the scoring occured with Cleveland 3rd stringer and former Gamecock Connor Shaw in the game. Manziel went 7 for 16 for 65 yards with a TD, no picks, and a slightly below average 76.3 QB rating. Within this stat line, Manziel only went 2 for 7 for 29 yards and was sacked against the first team defense. Even more suprising, Manziel had only 1 rush for -1 yards for the two and a half quarters he was in the game. How was an often shaky and aging defense able to keep Johnny Manziel so contained and ineffective? Here are my 4 main takeaways from the game that the Bengals can utilize in defeating Manziel:

1. Press WR's at the line of scrimmage My WR's coach in college once told us, "you can never catch a pass if you can't get off the line." Skins D-Coordinator Jim Haslett must've agreed. With Manziel on the field, Redskin CB's continually played press coverage against wideouts and slot receivers with little safety help and it worked wonders. Stud WR Josh Gordon was limited to only 1 catch for 8 yards despite being targeted 5 times by Manziel. Former Bengal Andrew Hawkins was also limited to only 1 reception. And this was mostly against a 2nd team unproven secondary! Guenther should consider younger agile corners such as Kirkpatrick and Dennard to lock down Cleveland WRs by not letting them get off the line.

2. Bring the house early and often With Manziel on the field, Haslett brought the kitchen sink a number of times. This led to a Ryan Kerrigan sack and Manziel being hit and hurried often, leading to errant pass attempts. Even though the Skins operate a 3-4 defensive scheme, this strategy could be easily incorporated into Guenther's defense as it doesn't include a lot of defensive line stunts or side-gap blitzes. It's just about stacking the box and getting to the QB with everyone in the building knowing about it. This strategy requires a lot of nerve as you will leave a lot of one-on-one matchups down the field but it was proven effective against an inexperienced QB.

3. Fluster Manziel This seems obvious, but it's critical to throw Manziel off his rhythm from the get go. Something you won't find in the box score is the life the defense was given when Manziel was in the game. Despite it being preseason, you felt the crowd getting louder, the defenders aggressively rushing with a purpose, and a general atmosphere of excitement. Maybe the defense wanted to knock the hype out of Johnny Manziel or maybe they were fed up with the Johnny Football-Snickers ad constantly being shown on TV, but they came after him angry and often which clearly shook Manziel. This lead to his infamous flipping off of the Redskins bench. The Bengals need to utilize this as well by flustering and getting under Manziel's skin. Cincy needs to remember this is a rookie QB, starting his first NFL game in a key matchup for both teams. A disrupted rookie QB often throws interceptions and fumbles rush attempts, a facet the Bengals need to capitalize on.

4. Rush tall D-Lineman So Manziel can't see over them

In all seriousness, there is a lot Paul Guenther can learn from this August matchup. Like this week, the Redskins-Browns game had a lot on the line for Manziel. A dominating performance, and he was likely to win the starting job over Hoyer. A subpar performance, and he would be relegated to the bench. The pressure will be that much greater for Manziel this week. Pressing WR's, regular blitzes, and flustering Manziel should pay dividends for the Bengals this week. With high risk, comes the possibility of high reward. What scheme will Guenther incorporate this week?

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.