“Hopefully I’ve got the right answer, and it will just come out of us when we play next Sunday,” Taylor said this week when asked about past success coming off the bye. “I can’t put my finger on one thing, one reason why we’ve done a good job of that.”
Here are five areas that need to improve after the bye:
1. Consistency on defense
The Bengals secondary and pass rush, outside of Trey Hendrickson, have not been good, but the biggest issue on defense has been the lack of consistency. Cincinnati has given up the third-most points in the league this season, but the defense has proven at times capable of making big stops. For some reason, the defense just doesn’t seem to show up at the ends of games.
Cincinnati ranked second-to-last in fourth-quarter points allowed through the first 10 games, and even though the Bengals held the L.A. Chargers to three points for most of the second half in Week 11, they fell apart on the final drive to surrender the game-winning touchdown. Cincinnati had rallied from a 21-point deficit only to lose, 34-27.
“I’m not going to try to be boring here, but it’s just being consistent over four quarters, do what we did in the second half (vs. Chargers) in the first half,” defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo said. “It’s the same team we’re playing against, right? They were three-of-11 on third down. Continue getting off the field on third down, and just the consistency of whatever it may be. I know that’s a general and broad statement, but it’s the truth. We can’t have all this up and down stuff.”
2. Balance out the pass rush
Hendrickson leads the league with 11.5 sacks this season, but within his own team, no one else is even close to complimenting that production. Sam Hubbard has the next most sacks for the Bengals with just 2.0 sacks this season.
Sheldon Rankins, Dax Hill (injured reserve), Kris Jenkins and Joseph Ossai each have 1.0. Myles Murphy, the team’s 2023 first-round draft pick, hasn’t recorded even a half-sack yet.
As good as Hendrickson has been, he can only do so much on his own. He also has 24 quarterback hits on 55 pressures, and Hubbard follows with eight and Ossai has seven on 15 pressures each. Murphy has one quarterback hit on 12 pressures.
“We’re going to need all of them these next six weeks to show up with the same energy that we had (in practice) going into (the Chargers) game and to on Sundays, when given the opportunity, to go make plays,” Anarumo said.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
3. Getting Evan McPherson back on track
Evan McPherson earned the nickname “Money Mac” his rookie season in 2021 when he made four game-winning field goals and proved he could pull through in clutch situations. In Year 4, after signing a three-year extension, he’s not been so reliable. McPherson needs to figure out why that has been.
The former fifth-round draft pick has already missed five kicks from 40 yards or more through 11 games and he’s missed a PAT. Two of his misses came in the fourth quarter last week in L.A. when he twice had chances to give the Bengals a lead, and he also missed a 53-yarder in a Week 5 loss to Baltimore that would have won the game in overtime. Last year, McPherson was perfect on all field goal attempts from inside 50 yards and on PATs, but he went 7-of-12 from 50 yards or more.
This is the same kicker that went 19-for-19 on field goals in the postseason, in seven games during his first two seasons to put himself at second in league history for most made field goals without a miss to begin a postseason career. He also entered the year with 21 career made field goals from 50 yards or more, which tied him for the most by any kicker since McPherson entered the league in 2021.
“I have confidence in Evan,” Taylor said. “Evan, I’m sure at this point in his career, has been through moments like this in his lifetime and understands everything that’s at stake and things he’s gotta improve on. Have a ton of confidence in Evan and that’s not changing on my end.”
4. More from the running game
The Bengals’ running game took a hit when Zack Moss went down with a neck injury, but even when he was healthy, they could have gotten more out of him and Chase Brown.
Brown has shown to be capable of adding more explosives, and Moss was doing well in pass protection, but the offense could use more consistency in the ground attack.
When Brown started to get going in the second half in the Week 11 loss to the Chargers, Cincinnati was finally able to more consistently move the ball. He had a 27-yard run in the third quarter drive that began the comeback from a 27-6 deficit and was starting to get chunk yardage the Bengals needed.
The concern now is how to take some of the load of Brown. Cincinnati acquired running back Khalil Herbert from the Bears right at the trade deadline and signed former Browns and Giants running back Gary Brightwell to the practice squad last week. Herbert dropped his first exchange in Week 10 against Baltimore and played just four snaps with no carries in Week 11.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
5. Maximize Burrow and Chase
Higgins had a big game in his return from a quad injury that sidelined him three games, but Burrow and Chase have consistently been putting up the best numbers of their career and the Bengals are squandering those performances.
Both still need to figure out how to make plays at the end of games, because the Bengals have lost four games in which they had chances to win at the end.
Chase and Higgins will be getting the full attention of defenses over the final six games, and while others need to step up, offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher said the key is just figuring out how to get more Burrow-to-Chase connections. Cincinnati will continue to lean on that combination, and they all think it could be even better.
“Everything we do is going to be about our players and accentuating strengths, minimizing their weaknesses,” Pitcher said. “They are our two best players. So, we are always trying to create opportunities for them to impact the game in a positive way. We are going to keep doing that.”
NEXT GAME
Sunday, Dec. 1
Steelers at Bengals, 1 p.m., CBS, 700, 1530, 102.7, 104.7
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