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Thursday, November 12, 2009
Bengals O-Line rising to the occasion
Coming into the 2009 season, not many people had anything good to say about the Cincinnati Bengals’ makeshift offensive line. Now that the team leads the AFC North Division with a 6-2 record, some of the team’s skeptics are singing the line’s praises.
The Bengals offensive line has performed well midway through the season and is improving each week. Although the unit is being recognized around the league for its performance, Bengals center Kyle Cook says the O-line will only get better as the season progress.
“I don’t think we’ve peaked,” Cook said in a recent interview. “In fact, I don’t think we’ll ever peak. I think we’re going to get better each and every game. We’ll find out more about each other and what we can do as a group. You want to prove people wrong, especially when they doubt you, and keep proving them wrong.
“We want to top our performance each week and make sure that Carson (Palmer) doesn’t get touched at all, and so Cedric (Benson) can rip off 5-yard runs every time he touches the ball. These are goals that we want and can achieve each week as we get better.”
Cincinnati has surrendered only 12 sacks this season, keeping Palmer virtually upright. The offensive line gave up nine sacks in its first four games and has allowed only three sacks in the last four.
The team’s ground game has prospered with Benson running for 837 yards and six touchdowns. Benson is currently ranked second in the league in rushing behind Tennessee’s Chris Johnson.
I believe it’s a complement to the Bengals coaching staff for the way it has restructured and brought the offensive line together. They plug guys in and out of the lineup without missing a beat. When left guard Evan Mathis when down with an injury in Sunday’s game against Baltimore, Nate Livings stepped in and performed brilliantly. When right tackle Anthony Collins began to struggle, they inserted Dennis Roland. This is a true testament to the quality of depth the team has built along the line. I didn’t even mention rookie first-round pick Andre Smith.
So what’s the secret to the line’s success? Cook has the answer.
“Everyone is comfortable with each other,” he said. “I think we mesh pretty well and are real comfortable with the way that we’re playing together out there. Bottom line is we trust one another to do our job.”
This week the Bengals travel to Pittsburgh and the O-line will be faced with the daunting task of warding off a ferocious Steelers pass-rush. The Steelers defense has eaten well against Cincinnati’s offense by feasting on the quarterback. Bengal quarterbacks have been sacked 10 times in the last three meetings.
“We’re going to be under the gun against Pittsburgh,” Cook said. “We’ll be in a hostile environment and it’s going to be extremely loud. Our mission is to protect the quarterback. The whole line has to lean on each other whether it’s making a call, helping out on blocking assignments or anything that you can do in order to get the job done. I think that’s what we do so well. We can lean on each other and we don’t break.”
The Bengals’ game plan this week is rather simple. Stick to the basics. Cook believes that might be the key ingredient to victory.
“This game is huge,” he said. “Obviously, we want to win every game on our schedule. We want to go in there and start off on a roll like we did against Baltimore. We want to drive down the field, score and have our defense sitting on the bench. We want to come out of there with a win. Pittsburgh is a very tough team and we have a lot of respect for them. However, we’re prepared and ready to go to work against these guys.”
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