How Bengals DC Al Golden looks to improve struggling defense

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CINCINNATI – On the surface, Bengals defensive coordinator Al Golden said he didn’t want the result of what went down Thursday night to mask how his unit should feel about its performance.

When a coach makes those types of statements, it’s typically about finding positives in a loss. In this case, Golden was referring to the message directed at his defensive players to be prideful of the good plays they made to help secure the victory.

There wasn’t much to love on the tape for the Bengals’ defense despite the breakout 33-31 victory against the Steelers on Thursday.

“I don’t want the things we need to correct to mask the things that we did well,” Golden began.

One list is undeniably longer than the other right now.

The Bengals have allowed fewer than 27 points in a game only once this year, the opener against Joe Flacco and the Browns.

They’ve had to bench starting linebacker Logan Wilson. They made their opening day CB1, Cam Taylor-Britt, a healthy scratch in Week 7. Starting linebacker Demetrius Knight Jr. has missed 44 percent of his tackle attempts the last two weeks. Safety Geno Stone continues to find himself out of position in critical moments. They allowed 70 percent conversions on third down, 75 percent in the red zone and one ugly 68-yard touchdown to Pat Freiermuth.

The problems continue to compound upon one another.

These are the worst first seven games of a season defensively for the Bengals this century in the following categories: defensive EPA/play, points allowed per drive, defensive success rate, percentage of drives allowing a touchdown and points per game.

Yes, you read that right.

Those are essentially all the categories that matter. And this is the worst defensive start to a Bengals season since 2000.

They’re on pace to allow more points per game (30.6) than any other team in franchise history.

Overwhelming problems and statistics typically require a reversion to the very basics. Given 47 missed tackles over the last four games, Golden’s taking that approach.

“We got to get back to work on it,” Golden said of the tackling. “I am frustrated by that. Look, the guys are good on the other side, but the last two weeks we just have not tackled as well in space as we did prior to that. And again, like I said the other day, not that there wasn’t missed tackles earlier, there’s just too many right now and it’s causing too many explosive plays, so we have to get it under control and we got to get back to work on it. It’s as simple as that. There’s no excuses. It starts with me and what’s a priority for us on defense and we got to make that a priority.”

The season and recent game included a share of encouraging developments. The play of DJ Turner II, a slew of turnovers created, continued disruption of Trey Hendrickson and solid development from Dax Hill.

They got two turnovers that created 10 points and helped flip the game to secure the win. Those received necessary recognition in Golden’s meetings Friday. But he wasn’t looking forward to a mini-bye where they kick back and expect to ride the wave of the win into next week.

“There’ll be a little bit more family time, but there’s going to have to be kind of off hours of getting some of these things righted,” Golden said. “The thing about our league is that it’s brutal if you don’t fix things, if you just move on, because somebody will bring it back up. Whether it’s next week or the week after, somebody’s always searching what you did not do well. So I think our staff is really keyed in on the things we need to fix.”

The most egregious from Thursday was the 68-yard touchdown pass to Freiermuth that could have cost the Bengals the game. On second-and-20, Cincinnati not only failed to pressure and contain Aaron Rodgers, the linebacker didn’t drop deep enough and Stone allowed Freiermuth to run free in the middle of the field.

“We failed at all three levels,” Golden said.

On Rodgers’ first touchdown, he held the ball for 8.6 seconds before delivering a touchdown pass. Golden put that call on him, but the bigger picture of the lack of pass rush – even more notable with Hendrickson (hip) sidelined – was exposed.

Zac Taylor was “reasonably optimistic” Hendrickson will return in the Week 8 game against the Jets after Hendrickson pushed to play Thursday. He’ll provide a lift, but three rookies are now in major roles with Shemar Stewart, Knight and Barrett Carter all starting. All while trying to develop a host of second- and third-year players with uneven backgrounds. So far, it continues to be a work in progress with the young players, which is trending in the wrong direction.

Don’t expect them to go anywhere, though.

“I have to do a better job of just keeping it quiet for everybody on defense and just getting ’em to play fast,” Golden said. “So I would say you’re right in terms of that, that’s my job, and if it doesn’t look like that or we’re not getting lined up fast enough or we’re not playing fast, then I have to look at myself and what I need to do better. I understand the rookies are out there together, but the rookies are drafted for a reason and that’s to help us.”

The offense finding life with Flacco helps. Arrival of the winless New York Jets probably won’t hurt. But all Thursday did was offer improved vibes and a collection of moments to praise, and bought time to dig out of this spiral.

“And so it’s time to take that next step,” Golden said. “The standard’s not lowering and obviously this win gave us new life and put us back into the picture here in this division and for us to, what we want to do in this division. All those guys are going to have to step up here.”

This news was originally published on this post .

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