The NFL is such a week-to-week league, but at least for now, the Cincinnati Bengals and their fans must feel on top of the world after Thursday night's 33-31 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
It's taken a while for all the pieces to come together for this flawed 2025 Bengals team. Joe Burrow's injury was nothing less than devastating. The defense is still in a world of hurt. However, Joe Flacco showed in his 342-yard passing performance versus Pittsburgh that the squad should still have hope.
With a four-game losing streak behind Cincinnati, and a lot of runway ahead to prepare for the winless New York Jets in Week 8, it's worth highlighting a key player who deserves more love.
Bengals guard Dalton Risner has settled in nicely to solidify offensive line
Nobody would rank the Bengals' offensive line better than the bottom 10 of the NFL this year or really any other season since Joe Burrow was drafted first overall in 2020. Thanks to Dalton Risner, though, there's more optimism than ever before in the aftermath of Week 7.
Risner joined the team in late August and was thrust into duty right away when Lucas Patrick went down in Week 1. Unfortunately, a pass protection breakdown the following Sunday that Risner took accountability for led to Burrow's turf toe injury.
Things have started to shift in the trenches for the Bengals. Risner is the main reason why. He switched from right guard to left guard in place of injured rookie Dylan Fairchild during Flacco's Week 6 debut in Green Bay. Those 18 second-half points Cincinnati put up at Lambeau Field carried over to Thursday evening, as the offense absolutely lit up the Steelers for 470 total yards.
According to PFF grades, Risner was the Bengals' second-best blocker at 62.1 overall, including an 73.8 run blocking grade. Pass protection is what Risner is known for and why he was such an exciting free-agent signing. However, he was more pivotal in sparking Cincinnati's dormant rushing attack on Thursday.
I've been pounding the table for weeks for Zac Taylor to diversify the Bengals' run game. Part of it is they haven't had the chemistry up front, or perhaps a blend of that and a lack of athleticism to execute more diverse runs than shotgun draws, inside zones, and occasional powers/duos.
Welp, thanks in large part to Risner getting more comfortable with his new team, he was pivotal in an outside zone run that gave Chase Brown a season-long 37-yard gain.
Brown and Samaje Perine combined for 139 yards on 18 carries — good for 7.7 yards per pop, and even the 17 totes for 102 yards excluding Brown's longest dash is a healthy six-yard carry.
I'm young enough to remember when Brown logged three yards on 10 carries in Week 3's 48-10 debacle at Minnesota. How quickly things have changed in under a month. Much of it is thanks to Risner coming into his own, adjusting to the new system, and getting reps after missing basically all of the offseason program and training camp.
#Bengals RB Chase Brown ran the ball 11 times for 108 yards against the Steelers.
— joshkirkendall.bsky.social (@Josh_Kirkendall) October 17, 2025
Nine of those rushing attempts occurred to the left of center behind Dalton Risner and Orlando Brown Jr. for 100 rushing yards.
He ran to the right twice for eight yards total.
All of a sudden, the Bengals have some flexibility as far as interior o-line depth that was lacking before.
Rookie fifth-rounder Jalen Rivers has struggled, posting a horrendous 29.6 PFF grade to date that's second-worst among 79 qualifying guards. With Lucas Patrick just activated back off of injured reserve, head coach Zac Taylor can plug Risner in at either guard spot, and can count on Patrick to spell Rivers while letting Fairchild fully recover.
You can't discount the Flacco magic rubbing off on the o-line, but in reality, Dalton Risner is emerging as the key pillar to that unit's turnaround the Bengals hoped he would be when he signed on the dotted line.