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Travis Kelce is at an age where many NFL players have retired. Photograph: Denny Medley/USA Today Sports
Cincinnati Bengals
A slow start is familiar territory for Cincinnati. In six seasons under Zac Taylor, the Bengals have started 0-2 five times. But dropping their opening three games is new ground, and the odds are now stacked against them. Only four out of 162 teams that have started a season 0-3 have made the playoffs since 1990. The expanded format helps tilt the odds slightly in Cincy’s favor, but not by much.
If you take the positive view, the Bengals have looked flawed in all three games this season but were still only a handful of plays away from going 3-0. The negative view is that once again they have struggled to evolve their offense, and for the first time since Joe Burrow came to town the defense has bottomed out.
Through three weeks, the Bengals have the 30th-ranked defense in the NFL by EPA per play, a measure of down-to-down effectiveness. And while that alone is enough to make a team twitchy, even more disconcerting are the under-the-hood figures. Cincy’s had a pass-rush win rate of just 9.8% against Washington on Monday night. That’s not how often pass-rushers came close to touching Jayden Daniels, it’s how often defenders beat individual blockers. In 10 years of recorded data, it’s the worst pass-rush performance on record.
Related: NFL trend watch: Steelers and Packers up; superstar quarterbacks down
Burrow and the offense provide hope. After a dud against the Patriots in week one, the offense has been fine – Burrow has thrown five touchdowns and zero interceptions. If that can sustain, then the Bengals should be able to sneak back into the wildcard race. They have a favorable schedule over the next four weeks with games against the Panthers, Giants, Browns and Ravens, which could see them nudge closer to .500. But unless they’re able to find some juice along the defensive line they’ll be out of the playoff picture before…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-panic-index-travis-kelce-080030602.html
Author : The Guardian
Publish date : 2024-09-26 08:00:30
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