The Cincinnati Bengals entered the 2026 season with what I and many fans believed a 100% avoidable, glaring weakness. They put their trust in linebackers Barrett Carter and Demetrius Knight Jr. to anchor the second level of their overhauled defense despite how bad they were as rookies.
And while the second-year pros showed plenty of encouraging signs in the season opener, yes, their penchant for missing tackles was still a thing. Even still, not all missed tackles are created equal, and other than Carter whiffing on Baker Mayfield in the open field en route to a rushing TD for the latter, none of the misses were back-breaking, unlike what transpired in 2025.
Entering Week 2 against a renowned Houston Texans defense that were just gashed by Josh Allen in the season opener, I'm starting to think the Bengals may have an edge at their biggest perceived position of weakness.
Are the Bengals in a better spot at linebacker than the Texans? (!?!?)
Necessary parenthetical exclamatory punctuation on this subsection. Yeah. The fact that this is even a conversation or debate is utterly mind-blowing to me.
And I'll give you that some of that has to do with the fact that Texans linebacker Henry To'oTo'o is on injured reserve. What helps Houston is that head coach DeMeco Ryans is a franchise legend at the position. His individual acumen on how to get players in that room dialed in is second to none.
Nevertheless, if I had to choose between Demetrius Knight Jr. and Barrett Carter versus Azeez Al-Shaair and some guy named Jake Hansen, um...I'm taking Knight and Carter!
Shoot if Swayze Bozeman was pressed into duty for Cincinnati, I'd still feel pretty darn good. Bozeman was a waiver-wire pickup in May who capitalized on a wide-open position group and made the 53-man roster with relative ease. He's by far the most athletically gifted of the bunch, too.
The Bengals' theory that their new-look defensive line would elevate the likes of Knight and Carter as NFL sophomores seems to be proving true already. Week 1 was no small-potatoes battle against the Bucs. They're talented in the offensive trenches, and the Bengals basically shut down any ball-carrier not named Baker Mayfield, and hounded the Tampa Bay QB all afternoon.
It stands to reason Cincy's d-line can get after the vulnerable Texans blockers even more. They couldn't pave running lanes well for David Montgomery (20 carries, 60 yards) in their first game out, and C.J. Stroud lost two fumbles, including a game-sealing giveaway on Houston's final possession.
Carter caused Mayfield to cough up a touchback fumble last Sunday, and Knight scooped and scored a TD on another Baker fumble that Carter had a hand in causing.
BRYAN COOKED.#TBvsCIN at 1:00 PM on Fox pic.twitter.com/J0ZyIeZs05
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) September 13, 2026
Those massive plays more than made up for the few missed tackles apiece the Bengals 'backers had. And I have a feeling this big leap forward they showed signs of in Week 1 will only continue in Houston.
Look out, Texans. Cincinnati's front seven is about to bring the absolute thunder at y'all, and the guys who may well finish with the most tackles on the day may be better than the position the head coach of your elite defense most prides himself on!
Again, I feel like I'm going full Paul Rudd-Sean Evans here in a Hot Ones fever dream here, only of the very positive variety. The Bengals' linebackers being better than Houston's? Who would've thought? Not me!
Add us as a preferred source on Google