Bengals snap count takeaways: Offensive line sees a fresh face

The Bengals couldn’t pull out the upset over the Chargers this week, but they did make a couple changes in the lineup. Most of those alterations were due to injuries, but it was refreshing to see them experiment in an attempt to find success, even if the season appears to be lost.

The Bengals should still be a little more aggressive in their changes as the season falls farther and farther out of reach, though.

Snap count takeaways:

• Once again the Bengals out-snapped their opponents. This week the Bengals offense ran 67 plays compared the Chargers 57. Why are they still struggling to win? Well, Cincinnati had some struggles getting in the end zone early in the game despite some successful drives, and they had serious issues hitting on any big plays unless it was Joe Mixon breaking loose. The Bengals defense deserves a tip of the cap as they held the Chargers relatively in check after getting slaughtered the first two drives. It wasn’t a great outing, but they actually got the opposing offense off the field pretty regularly for once.
• Mixon played 47 snaps this week, which put him at around 70 percent of the snaps. Cincinnati clearly wised up and realized they are just a better team when they are utilizing his talents out there. Giovani Bernard ended up with 25 snaps, which seems like a perfect split between the two, but really with all the playmakers they have hurt, they should have the two on the field together more often.
• Christian Westerman (42) finally got an extended look on the field. You could notice at times he did a great job of finishing off blocks, but the best part was he didn’t really catch the attention of the refs, which has become a problem with a lot of the offensive line. Hopefully we see the team start experimenting with who is playing at right guard next week.
• The Bengals need to get more out of their receivers behind Tyler Boyd (64). This issue seems to be more and more on the coaches each week as it is hard to believe that the likes of John Ross (60), Alex Erickson (20), Cody Core (33) and Auden Tate (1) are only combining for five catches for 41 yards and a touchdown. Also Cody Core shouldn’t be second on that list in snaps. That needs to change.
• Malik Jefferson played two snaps this week. The team was more willing to give Hardy Nickerson (49) his third stint at being a starting linebacker than move things around to give Jefferson a role. Is it so hard to think Jefferson should be out there on passing situations to either blitz or help cover running backs out of the backfield? The Bengals were even down Vontaze Burfict on the day.
• The Bengals also rotated Michael Johnson (24) more with Jordan Willis (32) and Sam Hubbard (26). This seems like the perfect distribution of snaps between the three players, as Johnson is more effective with less snaps at this point in his career.
• It should be noted the Darqueze Dennard, Jessie Bates, Nick Vigil and William Jackson all played every defensive snap on Sunday. It just really shows how much this team trusts Bates already, as this is pretty much common practice for him at this point. Most weeks Bates is even the only one to achieve this feat.