Bengals PFF Report: Vontaze Burfict does his best impression of the offensive line

The Cincinnati Bengals were thoroughly dominated on both sides of the ball in their 23-7 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

To no surprise, that domination was reflected by poor Pro Football Focus grades all around for the Bengals. The biggest culprit was — you guessed it — the offensive line. On the season, the Bengals’ offensive line has allowed the fourth-most pressures on a per-passing-snap basis. They have allowed pressure on 27.2 percent of all passing snaps. They have allowed 93 total pressures (15 sacks, 7 hits, 71 hurries) on 270 passing plays.

To be fair, Andy Dalton was holding the ball too long far too often. When sacked by the Jaguars, Dalton had the fastest average time to sack with 2.25 seconds. When he was able to throw the ball, he held on to the ball for 2.79 seconds, the fifth-longest of any passer in Week 9. When holding onto the ball for more than 2.6 seconds, Dalton had a 63.9 passer rating. When throwing the ball under 2.5 seconds, he had an 89.2 passer rating.

With A.J. Green being ejected and missing the second half, the Bengals’ highest-targeted receiver was rookie Josh Malone with 4 targets, one reception, and 13 yards. His passer rating when targeted was only 40.6. Dalton only completed 47 of his 136 passing yards to receivers.

Tight end Tyler Kroft was the only Bengals offensive player to rate above 72 in PFF's overall grading. Kroft graded as the sixth-best tight end this week with an 82.6 overall grade.

Running back Joe Mixon had his first target that he didn't catch this season. Though it wasn't deemed to be catchable, Mixon has yet to drop a pass that he should have caught this season.

Defensive tackle Geno Atkins was once again playing like a superstar. and he ranks second in the NFL in pass-rushing productivity, getting pressure on opposing quarterbacks on 12.3 percent of passing plays. In the run game, he has accounted for a stop (tackle causing an offensive failure) on 11.1 percent of run snaps.

Pass-rushing specialist Carl Lawson has continued his dominance in Week 9, posting the 15th-best pressure rate among all pass rushers. This week, he was graded a 77.8 overall and a 78.7 pass-rushing grade, which ranked third and first on the Bengals’ defense respectively.

Safety Shawn Williams was very good against the run this week. Williams faced 12 run snaps but when he was within eight yards of the line of scrimmage, he saw just five run snaps, where he had two tackles and one stop. He is tied for second among safeties with a 20.0-percent stop rate.

Cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick was on the field for 34 passing snaps, he was targeted 11 times, for six receptions and 93 yards resulting in an 82.8 passer rating against. Kirkpatrick was the second-most targeted cornerback this week, as he was targeted once every 3.1 passing snaps and allowed one reception every 5.7 snaps. He also allowed 2.74 yards per passing snap.

Linebacker Vontaze Burfict had one of his worst games in a Bengals uniform. He ranked 23rd out of 26 linebackers this week in combined tackling efficiency (which is the total numbers of tackles made per missed tackle). For every 3.3 tackles Burfict made, he missed a tackle.

To be fair to Burfict, this was just his second game as the starting middle linebacker this season. He started there in Week 8 after Kevin Minter injured his elbow in Week 7. Burfict normally plays at an all-pro level at weakside linebacker, but he’s still getting adjusted to the middle.