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Stop me if you've heard this one before: The Bengals have a pretty good offensive line.
For much of Marvin Lewis' tenure in Cincinnati, he's made sure his teams were strong in the trenches, something that helped him win a Super Bowl as defensive coordinator of the Ravens in 2000. With the Bengals, Lewis has routinely had a solid unit in the trenches on offense, and this year's line is no different.
That's why ESPN's Field Yates tabbed the Bengals as having the NFL's best offensive line in his ranking of the best position units.
The Bengals' offensive line was among our top five offensive position groups, and it has more than met expectations. The Bengals are the only team in the NFL in the top six in rushing and passing, with most of the credit for that success going to the line. Quarterback Andy Dalton has been sacked just six times all season. This group -- with a mix of young and seasoned players -- has dominated.
A big reason why the line has been so good is the most important player has been not only their best player, but one of the best at his position. That's left tackle Andrew Whitworth, who is ranked as Pro Football Focus' fourth-best tackle. They're also keeping track of the impressive streak he's on of pass-blocking snaps without allowing a sack.
The other big reason Cincinnati's line is so good is they have one of the best guard tandems of any team. Left guard Clint Boling is ranked as PFF's ninth-best guard while right guard Kevin Zeitler is ranked as their 18th-best guard out of 67 eligible players.
Anytime you have two top-18 guards, you're going to be doing pretty well. In fact, the combined PFF grade of Boling and Zeitler (166.9) is the second-best score of any guard tandem, trailing only the Panthers' duo of Trai Turner and Andrew Norwell (175.0).
As long as this offensive line keeps playing they way they are, the Bengals should continue to win 10-plus games every season, which is exactly the number of wins they've averaged since 2011. At 6-0 already this season, expect them to hit that number again, with the offensive line playing a big part in it.