Through the first two games of the 2022 season, the defending AFC champion Cincinnati Bengals rank dead last in Offensive DVOA. Joe Burrow is the worst quarterback by DYAR, Football Outsiders’ cumulative opponent-adjusted efficiency metric, and only pre-injury Dak Prescott, and Chicago’s Justin Fields, are worse among quarterbacks in DVOA, which is FO’s per-play metric.
This is not what we expected. But it appears to be what defensive coaches playing the Bengals have expected, and are eager to exploit. Against the Steelers and the Cowboys, the now 0-2 Bengals have been a disaster on offense, and while it’s common to blame the offensive line for Burrow’s troubles — and that’s legitimate to a point as it was last season — there’s one particular defense that’s got head coach Zac Taylor’s offense on a spit.
