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Bengals defense and three and out possessions

We take a snap shot on how many times the Bengals defense forces a three and out, and compare that to other samples.

By Josh Kirkendall

With the offensive numbers in the books, we take a look at how many three and out possessions that the Cincinnati Bengals defense has forced on the opposing offense. Since Mike Zimmer has taken over as the team's defensive coordinator, Cincinnati's defense has forced a three and out on the opposing offense nearly a quarter of the time (24.9 percent) -- nearly a ten percent improvement compared to the three-year era under former defensive coordinator Chuck Breshnahan.

2012 2011
Total Drives 192 200
Three and out possessions 46 61
Pct. of three and outs 23.9% 30.5%
Yards/Drive 1.74 2.31
Time/Drive 1:25 1:33

Since we have nothing to compare that against, we take a look at how division opponents did in 2012 (with the Bengals).

Bengals Steelers Ravens Browns
Total Drives 192 184 193 199
Three and out possessions 46 46 56 47
Pct. of three and outs 23.9% 25.0% 29.0% 23.6%
Yards/Drive 1.74 2.72 3.13 2.68
Time/Drive 1:25 1:22 1:26 1:35

And the rest of the Mike Zimmer era.

2010 2009 2008
Total Drives 185 185 186
Three and out possessions 44 44 41
Pct. of three and outs 23.8% 23.8% 22.0%
Yards/Drive 2.30 3.14 2.59
Time/Drive 1:40 1:36 1:34

The Chuck Bresnahan era (the defensive coordinator prior to Mike Zimmer):

2007 2006 2005
Total Drives 182 187 182
Three and out possessions 31 37 20
Pct. of three and outs 17.0% 19.8% 11%
Yards/Drive 2.81 2.43 1.45
Time/Drive 1:28 1:28 1:27

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