Bengals snap counts vs. Steelers show lack of creativity from coaching staff

The Bengals couldn’t even make it look competitive against the undefeated Steelers following a bye week. We are here to talk about the snap counts from the game though, and it really does tell a story as to why this game was seemingly lost from the start, at least for one side of the ball. We’ll talk about some positives up front before we get into the worst of it.

Here are the Week 10 snap count takeaways:

• The Bengals were only out snapped by the Steelers 73 to 65 this week. Considering Cincinnati went 0-13 on third downs on the day, it is surprising this wasn’t more one-sided. This is another lesson in the context of how you use your offensive plays and their context. Starting field position was a huge one. The Steelers were gifted a few short field due to Bengals’ mistake while Cincinnati was constantly starting deep in their own territory. Also Pittsburgh was just able to hit on big plays more often.
• The best news from this week had to be Hakeem Adeniji’s performance at left tackle. It seems as though Jonah Williams wasn’t healthy enough to go, but the rookie did a great job during the meaningful parts of the game against Bud Dupree. He has absolutely shown himself to be a bright spot and deserves to be in the conversation for starting at right tackle going forward. Quinton Spain also deserves some recognition for starting at right tackle against T.J. Watt and playing well given the situation.
• Just looking at the snaps and box score you can see how the Steelers won this game. William Jackson III played all 73 snaps, but after him Tony Brown (71) and Jalen Davis (51) played starter level snaps after Mackensie Alexander (15) left with a concussion. You think it was any coincidence that Ben Roethlisberger threw it 46 times despite leading most of the game in a wind storm that made every pass a huge risk?
• Some people may look at that and may wonder what the coaching staff could’ve done down so many players at that position. Maybe get creative? Shawn Williams only played six snaps and Brandon Wilson kicked in seven snaps as well. You’re telling me at no point did they think going three safeties would be a better option than watching Brown and Davis get routinely beat.
• There are going to be things to look at as this season plays out. The Bengals are entering evaluation mode pretty quickly as the season that was already lost is entering its final act. Things that will be interesting to see is how some of the new players the Bengals have brought in these past few weeks can shake things up. Can Takkarist McKinnley help create a pass rush that Cincinnati just hasn’t had consistently this season? What will the offensive line look like when previous starters start to return? Will the young linebackers start to overtake Josh Bynes in snaps as he continues to lead the group? There are things Cincinnati can do to be better prepared to face this offseason without it looking like they aren’t trying to compete anymore. Lets really find out if there are any hidden gems, and what positions need depth addressed this offseason.
• Also there was zero reason to have Joe Burrow play every offensive snap. I get he wanted to stay in and all of that, but at some point as a coaching staff you need to recognize the risk far out ways the reward. They are lucky he did suffer a serious injury.