Week 10 Bengals’ snap count distribution vs Titans: Big discrepancy in offensive and defensive snaps

The Cincinnati Bengals suffered a painful loss to the Tennessee Titans as the final score came in the final minute of play for the Titans.

The Bengals have now fallen to 3-6 on the season with little hope of the playoffs remaining. Despite the game being close it never felt like the Bengals really had control.

The second half was mostly watching the Bengals go three-and-out while the Titans ran a four minute drill for two quarters.

It was interrupted by Corey Davis almost scoring a touchdown for the Titans, but Dre Kirkpatrick forced him to fumble out of the endzone for a touchback.

The Bengals went on to score a touchdown late in the fourth via a 70-yard reception by A.J. Green, but the defense that had been on the field most of the day was too tired to stop the Titans from scoring the game-winning touchdown.

Snap count takeaways:

• This was the first time since Week 2 that the there were no changes along the offensive line for the Bengals. Jake Fisher was put on injured reserve due to his medical issue. That put an end to the tackle rotation. This led to quite the performance from the offensive line, especially Andre Smith (51).
• According to Pro Football Focus, the offensive line only allowed pressure on four of 36 passing plays. They also graded Smith as the highest performing offensive tackle of Week 10. Hopefully, this can continue moving forward.
• Vontaze Burfict’s (29) ejection led to Vincent Rey (73) being on the field way too long. It did also lead to Jordan Evans (18) getting the most snaps he has seen in a game all season. Evans was the Bengals’ sixth-round pick this season, and he really flashed during the preseason. Nick Vigil (90) again played all of the defensive snaps.
• The defense having to play 90 snaps allowed the Bengals to rotate more guys in. Chris Smith (29) did plenty with his snaps. He had a picture-perfect defense of a read-option where he stopped Mariota at the line of scrimmage, and he also sacked the quarterback later in the game.

• Andrew Billings (36) started in place of Pat Sims, and he really flashed some potential. Carl Lawson (43) continues his rampage through NFL offensive lines as he recorded another sack this week.
• Carlos Dunlap (75) played the most snaps by any defensive lineman for the Bengals, and Geno Atkins (69) followed him with the second most.
• Josh Shaw (55) and Clayton Fejedelem (56) both saw extensive playing time due to injuries. Fejedelem looked solid out there in place of the injured Shawn Williams. Shaw, however, struggled.
• After Adam Jones (27) and William Jackson (31) went down, Shaw was forced into action, and the Titans picked on him. He drew several flags for defensive holding and illegal contact, which kept a tired defense out on the field longer than it should’ve been.
• The difference between offensive and defensive snaps is getting hard to ignore. It is no wonder a defense that had to spend so much time on the field couldn’t stand up at the end of the game. The offense only managed 51 plays, but they never really sustained a drive. Especially in the second half, the Bengals’ offense could only muster a few first downs. Even the scoring drive was just a quick two-play drive, so the defense had to run right back out there. It is hard to blame the defense at that point
• George Iloka (90) played every snap. It’s hard to tell if that is because Fejedelem started, so the safeties couldn’t rotate, or if Iloka is back to 100 percent after an injury during the preseason. In recent weeks, Iloka has played a good majority of snaps, but he hasn’t played an entire game like this. It may be something to monitor.
• Joe Mixon (31) and Giovani Bernard (20) seem to have an established rotation of a 60 40 split, which makes sense given they are both talented running backs. This may be the norm going forward with Jeremy Hill now on injured reserve.
• Josh Malone (30) played a majority of the offensive snaps, and he caught his lone target of the game. John Ross (6) was also active for the third time this season. He and Andy Dalton had a miscommunication on the route though as Dalton threw it down the field, and Ross stopped.