NFL Week 4: Bengals’ snap count distribution vs Browns shows changes are coming

The Cincinnati Bengals notched their first win of the season by defeating the Cleveland Browns. It was really a team effort to pull off the domination we saw on Sunday.

The passing game was firing on all cylinders, as Andy Dalton tossed four touchdowns and completed 25 of his 30 passes. A.J. Green built off his great performance last week with five catches for 63 yards and a touchdown.

However, it was Tyler Kroft who really gave the Browns’ defense trouble. Kroft caught two touchdowns filling in for the injured Tyler Eifert. He also caught six passes for 68 yards, which led the team.

The Bengals’ first-team defense shut down the Browns young offense, and the Browns didn’t score until late in the fourth when most of the Bengals’ starters were out of the game. It was clear Vontaze Burfict’s return had quite the impact on a defense that was already playing well.

Snap count takeaways:

• Giovani Bernard earned a share of the backfield. Joe Mixon received the most snaps (31), but Bernard (21) was far more involved than last week. He even took a screen pass for a 61-yard touchdown right before halftime.
• The game’s score allowed the Bengals to get a look at their bench. Several players who normally wouldn’t play received a few snaps this week. T.J. Johnson (48) was briefly benched for Alex Redmond (16), who saw limited snaps before Johnson returned. However, Johnson later suffered a neck injury, which led to Redmond finishing the game. KeiVarae Russell (13) got to play the last few drives at Dre Kirkpatrick’s (49) usual spot.
• Burfict (52) received plenty of playing time to knock off the rust. He played 80 percent of the snaps, but Nick Vigil (64) still played almost every snap. Vigil looked incredible with Burfict as his linebacker partner. He had seven tackles and a sack against the Browns.

• Tyler Boyd (39) got plenty of playing time. He was a healthy scratch in Week 2 and barely saw any action last week. This week he ended up with over half of the Bengals snaps, but he still only ended up with two catches for 15 yards. Some of the bump in snaps was probably due to taking out Green and Brandon LaFell.
• William Jackson (47) and Darqueze Dennard (56) played most of the game. Meanwhile, Adam Jones(15) sat most of the game. Jones did contribute a huge 40-yard punt return. It seems the Bengals may be starting to turn towards the youth in their secondary.
• Andre Smith (45) continued to rotate with Jake Fisher (52) and Cedric Ogbuehi (31). Obviously, Smith spent most of his time at left tackle, but overall, it worked for most of Sunday’s game as Dalton was only sacked three times and hurried twice.
• Jordan Willis (21) and Chris Smith (27) returned to being more involved to the rotation after Carl Lawson’s big week last week. Lawson (40) earned a bigger part of the rotation after constantly being in Aaron Rodger’s face last week, and the Bengals’ were right to ride the hot hand. It was nice to see Willis and Smith return to action as well though as they are both productive players in their own right.
• A couple of big-name offseason players aren’t playing much. Andrew Billings (4) who missed all of last season has hardly seen the field this year. Players like Ryan Glasgow (24) and Michael Johnson (39) seem to have earned the spot next to Geno Atkins (49). Kevin Minter (9) who wasn’t playing much even when Burfict was suspended clearly is behind Vigil, Burfict and Vincent Rey (15).