Bengals, Giants defenses at opposite ends of critical metric entering Week 6 matchup

The respective defenses of the Cincinnati Bengals and New York Giants are on opposite ends of a critical statistic. 

Giants have been much better than Bengals at causing 'havoc'

Football analyst Warren Sharp has a stat that he calls “Havoc Rate.” He defines this measurement as the rate of plays resulting in sacks, forced fumbles, interceptions, tackles for loss, or pass breakups.

We will watch the best team in this category take on the worst on Sunday night. Unfortunately, given the criteria and how Cincinnati’s defense has played this season, you already know where this is going. According to Sharp, the New York Giants have the best havoc rate in the NFL. The Bengals rank last in this metric. 

We dove into the raw numbers to see why the Giants are the best, and the Bengals are the worst. 

Sacks

The Giants lead the league in sacks with 22. Defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence’s six sacks lead their team. The worst thing for offenses is a pass rush from the middle of the offensive line. Lawrence is only one of several players that Cincinnati must contend with. However, he is the one the Bengals must be most concerned with. 

Edge rusher Brian Burns and blitzing safety Jason Pinnock are other players the Bengals’ offense must locate and prevent from getting to quarterback Joe Burrow. The Bengals are on the other end of the sack spectrum. They only have six sacks this season. They rank 31st in this category. Trey Hendrickson leads Cincinnati with three. 

Sack percentage

The Giants have more sacks than everyone else. They are also recording sacks with the most frequency. New York leads the NFL in sack percentage. When the opposing quarterback drops back to pass, the Giants record a sack 12.3% of the time. There are only three teams that are above 10%. The next closest are the New York Jets at 11.4%, followed by the Broncos at 10.8%.

Near the very bottom of this ranking are the Bengals, who rank 31st with a sack percentage of 3.7. Cincinnati faces a formidable offensive line, so do not expect that percentage to make huge strides this weekend. However, it would be nice if it did. 

Tackles for loss

Tackles for loss is another area that explains the wide gulf between Cincinnati and New York in “Havoc Rate.” The Giants rank fourth in the league with 30 tackles for loss. Lawrence leads the way in this category with four. Pinnock and Burns have three each. On the other hand, there are the Bengals, who rank 32nd with 11 tackles for loss. Hendrickson leads the Bengals with three. 

Hendrickson can’t do everything on his own. Lou Anarumo’s unit must get more production from Sam Hubbard, B.J. Hill, Joseph Ossai, et al. so the secondary can concentrate on the threats of Darius Slayton, and Wan’Dale Robinson. Luckily, they won't have to worry about Malik Nabers.

Forced Fumbles

We are now entering areas where the gap between the two teams based on Sharpe's criteria is not as wide. New York’s defense has a slight edge over Cincinnati in the forced fumbles department. The Giants have forced four fumbles this season. They recovered all four. The Bengals have three forced fumbles in their ledger. But they only recovered two. Germaine Pratt has two forced fumbles and both recoveries.

Pass Breakups

The Giants have recorded 20 passes defended thus far. Cornerback Deonte Banks and pass rusher Brian Burns lead their team with five. Cincinnati has 16 pass breakups this season. Cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt paces the Bengals with five. The Bengals secondary will have ample opportunities to increase their pass breakup totals this Sunday.

Interceptions

Finally, we arrive at a category where Cincinnati’s defense is better than New York’s, albeit not by much.

The Bengals have three interceptions this season. They rank 13th in the league. Taylor-Britt, Akeem Davis-Gaither, and Vonn Bell have one each. The Giants only have one interception this season. That came in Week 1 from rookie linebacker Darius Muasau. They rank 29th in this statistic.