The Bengals have an edge against the Kansas City Chiefs.
No, I’m not talking about the passing game with Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase. We all are aware of the Bengals high-flying passing offense. But their effectiveness in the run game is just as impressive. We saw how they controlled the game on the ground with the Bills last week in the divisional round, but that wasn’t the same offense from the beginning of the season.
Joe Mixon didn’t see his first 100+ yard rushing game until week nine of the regular season. Against the Carolina Panthers in Week 9, Mixon scored a Bengals franchise record of five touchdowns; it was also a Panthers record for most scored by a single player against them.
Before the Panthers game, the Bengals were only rushing for 81 yards per game which was 30st in the NFL.
Something changed.
“We came out firing, we were physical, and you can just tell from the way the backs were playing, the way the linemen and tight ends and also receivers — they were blocking their (butts) off today,” Mixon said after the Panthers game. “And I’m just very excited that we have a balanced attack today. (Head coach) Zac (Taylor) kept calling the runs, and we basically were trying to be as physical as possible. … I’m just basically very happy for my team.”
The Bengals were finally healthy and playing with physicality. That was their mission against the Buffalo Bills as well, to out-physical the team on the other side in every single aspect, from the running to the blocking.
Nothing special about this clip. I just love how Mitchell Wilcox No. 84 almost gets his helmet ripped off and stays on the block. These blockers for the Bengals are tough 😤 pic.twitter.com/LTkr0FaQp8
— Laurie Fitzpatrick (@LaurieFitzptrck) January 27, 2023
The Bengals out played the Bills in the trenches, and they only had two of their starting offensive linemen available, left guard Cordell Volson and center Ted Karras. So, their plan was to direct the run game through them.
They ran duo blocks, counters, and wham blocks, all directed towards the defensive tackles, pushing the ball right up the gut.
On the fourth run play of the game, they had those two offensive linemen take out the defensive tackle and then right tackle Hakeem Adeniji {No. 77), pull across the line and lead block for Mixon.
They used a puller several different ways to get open lanes up front. Even using a tight end to come across the line of scrimmage and pick up the edge defender while the left tackle works his way upfield.
Expect these same type of blocks against the Chiefs this upcoming week in the AFC Championship game.
The Bengals used a wham block with tight end Mitchell Wilcox in their last matchup as well, back in December, allowing Samaje Perine to gain six yards on the play.
The Bengals run crunch here and get an AWESOME wham block from Mitchell Wilcox against Chris Jones. pic.twitter.com/BJPCjsFKSZ
— Mike (@bengals_sans) December 5, 2022
Even the Jacksonville Jaguars found some success using Wham blocking scheme against the Kansas City Chiefs last week. Tight end Evan Engram came across the line and took out the edge defender allowing Travis Etienne to punch it up the gut.
The Chiefs’ weakest part of their defensive line is the middle and the right tackle gaps, according to Football Outsiders. They are 27th when defending runs to the ‘Mid/Guard’ and 22nd ranked when the offense runs toward their ‘Right tackle’:
Of course, it’s great if the Bengals backfield can bounce plays outside getting into open space, but their best bet is to attack the inside.
In the end, the most important thing for the Bengals offensive line is to play in unison and they should be just fine.
“You got three new guys that haven’t played together a whole lot. It’s a loud environment which already makes it difficult with guys who are on the same page,” right tackle Hakeem Adeniji said. “That was number one, obviously there’s other things but that was the biggest thing. I feel like we were able to nail that and we were in unison on a lot of the stuff that we were doing and it pays dividends.”
Even though the passing game for the Bengals is their bread-and-butter, this game will be won through the ground game, and could be the difference maker between these two teams.
