Whatever fleeting signs of life the Jacksonville Jaguars showed early on in this game were conclusively and comprehensively snuffed out by a stifling defensive performance from the Cincinnati Bengals. In spite of the best efforts of their new tailback, the Bengals didn’t fumble the game away but instead put in a workman like performance on offense, aided by another star turn from A.J. Green, to ensure a comfortable victory.
The Jaguars will doubtless be disappointed after the start that they made — a 7-3 lead held until the 20-minute mark in the game — to have been beaten so conclusively. Their quarterback showed the sort of control over his short passing game that will give fans some optimism, but his receivers didn’t make enough plays for him. They dropped three passes as drive after drive stalled for the Jaguars, and the Bengals’ pass rush pinned its ears back and came after Blaine Gabbert. Without a defensive performance to match Cincinnati’s the Jags were always going to end up on the losing side.
After a devastating opening loss in Baltimore, the Bengals now boast one of only three winning records in the entire AFC. A dark horse pick by many observers entering the season, they have successfully regained their momentum. Let’s take a look at some of the performances that got them that third straight victory.
Cincinnati – Three Performances of Note
The Atkins Diet – Plenty of Pressure
Last season’s breakout performer at defensive tackle has steadily grown into the 2012 season, but this week Geno Atkins announced his presence with a simply stunning display (+9.7) in Jacksonville. Atkins was afforded favorable matchups and he didn’t just take advantage of them, he exploited them to the absolute maximum. He was so dominant, in fact, that he forced the Jaguars to bench their returning start at left guard, Eben Britton after only 33 snaps. Accounting for five (1Ht, 4 Hu) of the eight pressures (2 Sk, 1 Ht, 5 Hu) that Britton yielded in only 22 pass blocks, Atkins was able to get to the inside of Britton far too easily. He didn’t go easy on Britton’s replacement either, and highlighted a weakness against the bullrush that Mike Brewster must work on if he isn’t to be a liability in the Jacksonville offensive line. All three of the pressures (2 Sk, 1 Hu) that Atkins recorded against Brewster came courtesy of the bullrush, as the undrafted rookie from Ohio State simply couldn’t cope with Atkins’ raw physicality. This is the highest individual game grade of Atkins’ career and should guarantee him a spot in our Team of the Week.
Fumble Proof to Fumble Prone?
In the first 590 carries of his NFL career BenJarvus Green-Ellis never fumbled. In his last 32 carries he has fumbled three times. For the season Green-Ellis is now averaging a meager 3.5 yards per carry, doesn’t have a single rush of 20 yards or a more, and has broken only six tackles. It’s fair to say that the Bengals may not be getting what they had hoped from their investment. On both occasions this week Jeremy Mincey got a hand in to knock the ball from Green-Ellis’ grasp. One of the fumbles prevented a touchdown on 3rd-and-goal, while Green-Ellis recovered the second himself to prevent a turnover that could have brought the game back to life. One of Green-Ellis’ biggest selling points is his ball security and knack of doing nothing to hurt his offense. However, if he doesn’t sort out his short-term ball security issues then questions may start to be asked as to whether he has enough ‘upside' to justify the Bengals keeping a second back from rotating with him to add a spark to the running game.
A Star Continuing to Rise
While their latest signing starts to struggle, the steady constant in the Bengals’ offense is their phenomenal, star wideout A.J. Green. All that Green has done so far this season is collect nearly seven catches per game, at an average of nearly 16 yards per catch, to go along with a touchdown in each of his past three games. This week Green had a fairly simplistic route tree, the go route, and it was all he really needed to get behind Rashean Mathis. His first target into Mathis’ coverage was a short in-breaking route that he stopped on to allow Mathis a pass defense, but from then on he was going deep and made the Jags’ pay for their inability to stay on top of his routes. His three catches on go routes, and a further one on a post route, earned Green three first downs and a touchdown and he put Mathis’ coverage to the sword.
Jacksonville – Three Performances of Note
Mixed Bag from Mincey
After a disappointing two-week stretch in the Jaguars’ first two divisional matches of the season, Jeremy Mincey (+4.8) had somewhat of a bounce- back performance this week. His game was led by some terrific run defense, but he is still struggling to generate the sort of pressure that made him one of 2011’s breakout players. After adding only one hurry against Cincinnati, the Jaguars’ top defensive end now has only eight pressures (1 Ht, 7 Hu) after four games (-3.1 pass rush). Despite rushing the passer from both sides he simply could not make an impression against either Andrew Whitworth or Andre Smith, both of whom continued their impressive starts to the season and allowed only two pressures combined. The saving grace for the Jaguars was Mincey’s tremendous impact in run defense where he recorded four stops and also forced the two aforementioned fumbles from Green-Ellis. However, the Jaguars will need more from Mincey as a pass rusher if their four-man rush is to make more of an impact in the coming weeks.
Britton Benched
This game got off to a shocking start for Eben Britton (-8.5). He gave up a sack on the first snap of the game to Domata Peko and things didn’t get better for him, as he was benched at half-time. In only 22 pass blocks, Britton conspired to allow eight pressures (2 Sk, 1 Ht, 5 Hu). A bit of quick mathematics tells you that he allowed pressure more frequently than one in every three pass plays. Things weren’t a lot better for him in run defense either as he allowed a tackle for loss, to Cincinnati’s chief bully Atkins, and another for a short gain on a pull block. There was nothing positive to come out of this display for the former Arizona Wildcat and, after failing to stick in the Jacksonville lineup as a right tackle, this performance will now raise questions as to whether he can ever contribute at guard. He wasn’t simply beaten by Atkins, he was demolished and with Mike Brewster (-2.0) looking far from impressive in the second half, the left guard spot looks like a glaring weakness for Gabbert and the rest of the Jacksonville offense.
Cox Continues Where He Left Off
After finally getting back into the Jacksonville starting lineup, Derek Cox showed signs of being back to his best form in this game, and once again put up the sort of coverage numbers that caught the eye last season before he went down injured. Two starts into his return from injury Cox has now allowed only four completions on nine targets, and yielded only 6.0 yards per completion–and he added a pass defense this week on a hitch route targeted to Armon Binns. Cox also contributed in run defense. He provided a stop for no gain on Green-Ellis in the fourth quarter to stop the Bengals’ making a big play off the back of a Jacksonville turnover. Cox was targeted twice while covering Green and allowed one completion for a first down on a scramble pass, and should have collected an interception from a miscommunication between Green and Andy Dalton. However, he saw most of his targets against Binns, and didn't allow a single completion to the Bengals’ second-year receiver. As Mathis has allowed 16.2 yards per completion on his return from injury, the pressure will be on Cox to keep shutting down his side of the field until his partner, hopefully for the Jaguars and their fans, re-finds his feet this season.
Game Notes
— Rediscovering some of his best form, Terence Newman was targeted six times yielding only two catches and knocking down two passes aimed for Cecil Shorts.
— The seven pressures (1 Ht, 6 Hu) that the Jaguars recorded in this game was their lowest team total since their Week 15 defeat in Atlanta last season (1 SK, 3 Ht, 1 Hu). To press the point home, Geno Atkins recorded more pressure by himself than the entire Jacksonville defense.
— In this game alone Dalton completed three deep balls (for 90 yards and a touchdown). Entering this week he had only completed four deep balls in the first three games of the season.
PFF Game Ball
A.J. Green led the Bengals offense, but we’ll go with a defender who almost single-handedly shut down the Jaguars’ offense. Geno Atkins got one man benched and gave his replacement a torrid time as well. An utterly dominant display.
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