Crunching Numbers
By Jason Marcum
September 30, 2012; Jacksonville, FL, USA; The Bengals and the Jaguars line up during the game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Cincinnati Bengals at EverBank Field. Mandatory Credit: Rob Foldy-US PRESSWIRE
The Bengals had their best overall performance of 2012 on Sunday as they handled the Jaguars en route to a 27-10 victory. There were a lot of positives from Sunday’s game, and here is some of the ones that stuck out:
300: If Andy Dalton hits the 300-yard passing mark again Sunday, it would be the first time a Bengals QB did it in three straight games since Ken Anderson did in 1984
8: Rookie weakside linebacker Vontaze Burfict, who played the middle during his entire college career, has made the transition very well to the weakside Sunday while accounting for a team-high 8 tackles and also recorded his first career sack
5: After a 2-sack performance on Sunday, DT Geno Atkins now has 5 sacks on the year, 2.5 shy of his career high of 7.5. He is also on pace to become the first tackle to ever get 20 in a season. At worst, he should shatter Dan Wilkenson’s team-record of 8 sacks. Atkins also has has 13.5 sacks in his last 25 NFL games.
6: For the first time since 2001, the Bengals defense came up with back-to-back 6-sack games. The Bengals now have 17 for the season.
6…again: The Bengals blitzed 6 different players vs the Jaguars including both starting safeties and all 3 starting LBs. Its impossible to predict where Mike Zimmer where try to pressure from, and its clear the Bengals defense is one of, if not the hardest in the NFL to pass-protect against.
2.9: The Bengals held All-Pro RB Maurice Jones-Drew to a meager 38 yards on 13 carries (2.9 yards per attempt)
24: After the Jaguars took a 7-3 lead early in the second quarter, the Bengals would score 24 of the next 27 points to cruise to a 27-10 victory
Home Sweet Home: The Bengals play host to the Dolphins on Sunday, who have lost four of their past five road games including the last three.
Where Improvements Must Be Made:
28%: The conversion rate on third downs for the Bengals. Only the Buccaneers and Redskins are worse on third downs.
3: The number of fumbles for starting RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis. I believe this is the case of Ellis being the feature back for the first time in his career and being in for 70-80% of his teams’ offensive snaps now.
3.17: Green-Ellis did get 82 yards, but it took 26 carries to get, a 3.17 ypc average against an at-best average Jaguars run-defense.
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