Left guard Clint Boling also had a great afternoon, earning a 3.8 grade in run blocking, which is the highest among all NFL guards after Week 1.
Right tackle Andre Smith didn’t allow a sack but struggled to -1.2 pass-blocking grade by allowing one hit and two hurries. Smith had a -3.2 grade in run blocking.
Other offensive notes included wide receiver A.J. Green averaging only 1.85 yards per route run (he led the league at 2.96 in 2014). … Running back Giovani Bernard caught all six of his targets but only averaged 4.2 yards per catch. … Quarterback Andy Dalton did most of his damage on short to intermediate routes, going 0 for 4 on passes longer than 20 yards. … Wide receiver Marvin Jones was targeted only once and held without a catch beyond the line of scrimmage, but he had 23 YAC (yards after catch) on two receptions behind the line of scrimmage.
On defense, cornerback Adam Jones was the standout. He had the team’s highest-graded player in coverage (1.9) and was even better in run support (3.1). Jones finished with a team-high 10 tackles and drew the praise of defensive coordinator Paul Guenther, aside from the personal foul penalty Jones drew against Oakland wide receiver Amari Cooper.
“You never want your corner leading the game (in tackles), but he played his butt off,” Guenther said. “A lot of them were perimeter throws and quick throws and perimeter runs where he came up and force the run really good. That’s always a good sign. Obviously you don’t want the stuff down the field occurring, but aside from that play, I thought he played his butt off. I really did. It was probably one of his best games as a Bengal.”
Defensive tackle Geno Atkins also showed well in PFF’s analytics, drawing an overall grade of 6.6 with a sack, forced fumble and four hurries.
Linebacker Vinny Rey had a good news/bad news performance that led to an even 0.0 grade. Rey had a team-high three missed tackles, but he evened that out with five tackles and played all 66 snaps.
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