The Bengals are hoping to demonstrate that they have a better defense than in 2024 or even what was shown on film this preseason, and Golden will be looking at four key “B.E.S.T.” factors to determine what success looks like: “Ball disruption, Energy, Situational masters and Tackling.”
Cincinnati especially struggled on defense through a 4-8 start last season, ranking second to last in points allowed (28.3 points per game) and 27th in net defense (369.2 yards per game) going into the 13th game. The Bengals simplified things over the last month of the season and finished on a five-game winning streak, but the turnaround was too late to push them into the playoffs and not enough to save five-year defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo’s job.
Golden was hired away from Notre Dame and pieced together a staff with new assistants everywhere but in the secondary. Now, heading into the opener Sunday at Cleveland, they seek to make their mark by focusing on fundamentals and little details by which they want the defense’s DNA to be defined.
“We have to take the ball away, especially in September,” Golden said Monday, as the team began its first game week practices. “It’s gonna be huge to start fast in terms of that. Play with great effort, be great in the situations, whether it’s third down, getting some fourth-down stops, redzone, and tackling. Tackling’s gonna be paramount in the opener. Other than that, it’s to conduct the game in a way we can win, and that’s the most important thing. It’s not about stats on defense, it’s about who and what can cause you to lose. The who, obviously, (tight end David) Njoku, Jerry Jeudy, the run game is the what and the play-action passes they’ve done very effectively over the years. Those are the things we’re working on.”
Cleveland will be led by 40-year-old quarterback Joe Flacco, who is back with the Browns for a second stint after leading them to a 4-1 record in his five starts in 2023. He last played the Bengals in 2022 with the N.Y. Jets when he threw for 285 yards and two touchdowns in a 27-12 loss.
Flacco will have Njoku and Jeudy as weapons, and Jerome Ford is back to lead the ground attack.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
“We’re going to be an obnoxious, like a little bad 2-year-old that doesn’t listen and is just fired up the whole game,” Bengals cornerback Cam Taylor-Britt said. “As soon as we land, I want Cleveland to feel we are there, and we’ve got to play like that all four quarters.”
The Bengals are coming in with a bit of a chip on their collective shoulders after such a disappointing season in 2024.
Tackling was poor most of the year, players looked lost in coverage and teams took advantage for a lot of explosive plays. Not much looked different this preseason, but Cincinnati was without defensive tackle BJ Hill and defensive end Trey Hendrickson, among others who were in and out with injuries.
The Bengals are in a better spot in terms of available personnel going into Week 1, and Hill said confidence remains high internally.
“I think a lot of people are sleeping on how good we can be, and I really don’t care what the outsiders say or think about us,” Hill said. “I know what we’ve got, the coaches know what we’ve got, the players all know what we’ve got. I’m excited to prove a lot of people wrong. And we’re going to prove ourselves right that we’ve got the great guys in here in that can play good football.”
Setting the tone in Week 1 will be important. The Bengals won an opener just once in Zac Taylor’s first six years – in 2021 en route to a Super Bowl run – and doing so at Cleveland on Sunday would be a great way to start.
All eyes will be on the defense to see if it looks any different.
“You never want to get yourself in an 0-1 hole, especially in a division game,” linebacker Logan Wilson said. “It can’t get much bigger for a Week 1 game for us with how we want to start. Going up to Cleveland, getting a divisional win, be 1-0 in the division, be 1-0 on the season, so that’s kind of our mindset going forward. We’ve done things to make ourselves start fast, but it’s on us to go execute come Sunday and I know we’ll be ready for it.”
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