Bengals DC Al Golden has no easy answers to outfox Liam Coen's Jaguars

It's nice to know Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator Al Golden actually has somewhat of a chance to succeed this year thanks to upgraded personnel. However, the Bengals are all of a sudden seeing their depth tested heading into Week 4 against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Heading into last Sunday's horrid loss to Pittsburgh, Jonathan Allen was the only new name of import on the injury report. Maybe Allen's knee was a bigger factor than initially feared, because he was all but invisible in the 30-27 loss to the Steelers.

Let's assume Allen bounces back, though. It may not matter how good the Bengals are in the trenches, because their secondary is in relative tatters.

Starting nickelback Jalen Davis is on injured reserve. Safeties Bryan Cook and Kyle Dugger are day-to-day and were hobbling around Acrisure Stadium quite a lot in Week 3. Dax Hill is being forced back inside to take Davis' place.

It's rough out here. Going up against one of the NFL's best offensive-minded coaches and play-callers in Jacksonville's Liam Coen is one of the last counterparts Golden wants to see.

Continuing to run a heavy dose of Cover 1 is asking for trouble

Football Insights on X has the coverage splits for the Bengals through Week 3, and these reveal that Al Golden loves to rely a lot on Cover 1, aka pure man-to-man coverage:

• Cover Zero: 3.7%
• Cover 1: 26.5%
• Cover 2: 13.2%
• Cover 3: 22.1%
• Cover 4: 5.1%
• Cover 6: 18.4%

Cover 1 is all well and good when you have DJ Turner and Dax Hill on the boundary, but now that Dax is in the slot again, Golden must mix it up. Playing pure man versus the Jags' receiving corps of Parker Washington, Jakobi Meyers and Brian Thomas Jr. (and Travis Hunter!?) is a recipe for disaster. D.J. Ivey, Tacario Davis, Josh Newton, or whoever will be spam targeted and it'll be a long day.

The safety position is a major area of concern, too, based on Wednesday's injury report.

Evident bum hammy aside, I don't know what's happened to Jordan Battle this year. In addition to his ongoing poor tackling, he's struggled in coverage as well.

Battle was excellent against the pass last season. I was amped up for Bryan Cook to be the sure-tackling box safety while Battle continued to thrive in center field. Hasn't worked out that way. As Cincinnati's only healthy safety entering Week 4, PFF ranks Battle 86th out of 89 qualifiers at his position.

Unless Cook is ready to roll by Sunday, we might be cooked y'all. Save us, Russ Yeast!! You have at least one believer in me!

Bengals' tackling woes don't bode well for matchup vs. Bhayshul Tuten

Very little needs to be added here other than, "LOOK AT THESE TWO CHARTS!"

The Bengals are dreadful at tackling. Jaguars running back Bhayshul Tuten is a master at shrugging them off and has legit 4.32 40 speed, including a 1.49-second 10-yard split. He might be even faster now than he was coming out of Virginia Tech.

Tuten is still putting it all together. His raw talent and explosive playmaking ability are undeniable, though. If the Bengals can't fit the run better than they did against Jaylen Warren in Week 3, they're about to get absolutely rolled.

The defensive line dilemmas and Golden's low blitz rate

A bit of good news arose from Wednesday's practice when B.J. Hill returned to the field, per ESPN's Ben Baby. But do the Bengals deploy Hill in an already-crowded defensive tackle group? He'll have fresh legs but also quite a bit of rust.

Also, what's the freaking hold-up in putting Landon Robinson in over Kris Jenkins Jr.? If Al Golden want to keep getting pressure with four-man rushes, Jenkins can't be part of the game plan.

The following data points show the benefits of when Lawrence and Jonathan Allen draw so much attention:

Alas, we saw in Pittsburgh how that doesn't matter if you can't cover on the back end and your defensive ends can't get home on the opposing QB.

According to Pro Football Reference, Golden is tied for the lowest blitz rate in the league at 13.2%. If he blitzes more, he alleviates the burden on Lawrence and Allen. It's just that Cincinnati doesn't seem sound enough on the back end — never mind the second level of the defense with Barrett Carter and Demetrius Knight Jr. — to send more rushers at Trevor Lawrence.

Liam Coen has done a phenomenal job of keeping the Jags balanced. They have 86 carries to only 81 passes through three games. The Bengals have 103 pass attempts and 68 rushes.

That's not a knock on Cincinnati's offense. It's just a fact that Joe Burrow carries the majority of the burden still — even though Chase Brown is a highly capable feature back.

Saying that to say, Coen can be more multiple, unpredictable, and therefore more lethal in attacking Golden's outmanned scheme. The only hope is for the Bengals to totally overwhelm the Jags at the line of scrimmage thanks to Lawrence's dominance, and actually teach themselves how to tackle better between now and Sunday.

This is a watershed moment, and although the Bengals should be fine even if they lose, the scrutiny will only intensify on Golden and this defense if they get shredded for the second straight outing.

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