Bengals: Return of rotation breathes life into defensive line

The Bengals employed a deep rotation of defensive linemen similar to one used to catapult the defense to a top-ten ranking last year. It brought four sacks Sunday and an optimistic outlook for the second half of 2012.

By Paul Dehner Jr.

Nov 14, 2012 at 6:17 pm ET • 2 min read

Bengals DT Geno Atkins chases down Giants QB Eli Manning. The Bengals defensive linemen sacked Manning four times in Sunday's 31-13 win. (AP Images)

The Bengals defense disrupts the most when the defensive line applies constant pressure on the quarterback, as was the case in Sunday's 31-6 rout of the New York Giants.

In that game, the defensive front dropped Eli Manning four times – the most he'd been sacked in any game this season.

Make no mistake, the pressure applied by Cincinnati's front makes this team go and changes the shape of the defense. Last year, that came by virtue of an eight-man rotation that crashed upon opposing defenses in waves and nearly broke the franchise record for sacks in a season with 45. Of those, 34.5 came from the eight defensive linemen.

Due to injuries and philosophies this year's group didn't utilize as much of the same substitution pattern that designated Team 1A and 1B all switching out at the same time.
That changed Sunday and the returns were obvious, both in the stat sheet and players legs.

“Yeah, that was huge,” DT Domata Peko said. “We got back to what we did last year, trying to get that roll going, a good rotation, keep guys fresh. That’s what really helped us last year in the fourth quarter, having a good roll and playing like it was the first quarter.”

For now, the rotation only uses seven players with starters DE Robert Geathers, DT Geno Atkins , Peko and DE Michael Johnson swapping with DT Pat Sims, DE Carlos Dunlap and DE Wallace Gilberry.

Sims was activated off the PUP for the Giants game and allowed for a truer rotation to take place. Geathers, Dunlap, Gilberry and Peko all notched sacks against the Giants.

Dunlap credits the rotation.

“We did it a lot more,” he said. “One-A/One-B worked out very good. (Biggest difference) is being fresh. Versus the Giants we played, what, 65-70 plays. One man to take on that load would have been bad toward the end. You make mental errors and stuff when you get up toward that 60 mark of plays. Having that guy to come in and relieve you and there be no drop off makes a big difference.”

Outside of Johnson, no defensive lineman played more than 70 percent of the defensive snaps in the game. The other six landed somewhere between 33 and 70 percent.

Play percentage vs. Giants
Johnson: 82
Dunlap: 70
Atkins: 68
Geathers: 67
Gilberry: 41
Peko: 38
Sims: 33

Leading much of the game also contributed to the increased sack totals, but with 13 sacks in four wins compared just 10 sacks in five losses, a clear correlation exists between winning and chasing the QB.

With the rotation back in play, the Bengals believe the dominant defensive unit that finished seventh in the NFL last year could return.

“That was a good game for us to show that were were able to do that against a good team because we hadn't done that previously,” Dunlap said. “Now we have to go out there and do it again. Can't just be one-time thing.”

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