Bengals vs. Cardinals snap count takeaways: The time to play younger players is now

No one wants to hear after Week 5 that their favorite team’s season is over. However, with the Bengals sitting at 0-5, it would take a few miracles to save this season for Cincinnati.

It is unfortunate, but there are still things that can be done this season to keep it from being truly a waste. There are some young players who could benefit greatly from being on the field more, and the Bengals can hopefully evaluate who are building blocks and who needs replaced in the foundation of this team.

Here are this week’s snap count takeaways:

• First and foremost, we have to look at who out snapped who during the game. The Cardinals ran 77 plays to the Bengals 67. Similar to last week, the Bengals’ offense wasn’t completely stopped in its tracks all day, they moved the ball into the red zone on several occasions. However, it took until the fourth quarter before they were able to come away with a touchdown. The defense also limited big plays, and they forced the Cardinals into similar situations of having to settle for field goals. It just came down to Arizona being able to sustain just a few more drives than Cincinnati.
• If the Bengals aren’t going to unleash Tyler Eifert against the Cardinals when they are down three starting wide receivers, then when will they? Eifert only had 18 snaps on the day, and it is maddening to watch at this point. Honestly, if this is how they plan on using him over this season they may as well trade him and free up more snaps for rookie tight end Drew Sample (15). At this point they are wasting Eifert and Sample’s season with this three-tight end committee that fails to make an impact on an offense starving for any sort of playmaker.
• Now an area they need to start more of a rotation at (still) is linebacker. Preston Brown (63) and Nick Vigil (70) both played a vast majority of the game. I’m not saying if they inject Germaine Pratt into the lineup their defense changes overnight, but the rookie has the talent to be more involved than just nine snaps. It is time to start working him more into the rotation. He needs a chance to learn on the job, and the coaches need to figure out if he should be viewed as a prominent part of the future going forward, or if they need to bring in competition next offseason.
• Defensive linemen Ryan Glasgow (22) and Carl Lawson (47) coming back healthy helped create a better rotation along the line. Carlos Dunlap (57) and Sam Hubbard (59) weren’t forced to play 90 percent of the snaps, which helped late in the game, and Glasgow helped create some positive plays when he made his way onto the field. Lawson failed to make a few plays on the field, but hopefully that was more due to shaking off the rust than anything.
• As far as the offensive line goes, rookie guard Michael Jordan played every snap. The only offensive lineman to miss time was Andre Smith (31) who suffered an injury during the game, which gave John Jerry (36) more time at left tackle.
• Joe Mixon (42) and Giovani Bernard (39) shared the field for what was probably the first time all season. With all the injuries the Bengals have suffered this season, they should explore doing this more often. At the very least it led to a crucial first down in the red zone.
• It looks like we will see plenty of Cincinnati’s young receivers. Alex Erickson (15) started the game in John Ross III’s place, but then he left with a concussion. Auden Tate (67) played every snap, and we also saw Damion Willis (40) return to a prominent role. Even fellow undrafted rookie Stanley Morgan (3) saw time on the field. He even recorded his first career reception.

What was your biggest snap count takeaway from Week 5?