Between the Lines: Bengals Best Packers

As we have done since the FanHouse began, I'll be taking a look every week at some aspect of line play. You can read more features in the series here. Check back every Thursday for a new Between The Lines.

When Marvin Lewis came to Cincinnati he arrived with a reputation as a defensive genius. But Lewis' brilliance quickly seemed to fade once he became a Bengal, much like his former boss Brian Billick's offensive genius in Baltimore. In six seasons in Cincinnati Lewis' Bengals have never finished in the top half of the league in scoring defense.

But thanks to Antwan Odom, Domata Peko, Tank Johnson and Keith Rivers, Lewis is suddenly smart again. They're 1-1 with a win over the Packers and would be 2-0 if not for a flukish tipped pass to Brandon Stokely. Odom not only leads the league in sacks; he's coming off of one of the best days a pass rusher has ever had with five sacks against the Packers.

Defensive ends Robert Geathers (missed five games) and Odom (missed four games) and linebacker Keith Rivers (missed nine games) all missed significant time last year. The Bengals also added linebacker Rey Maualuga and defensive end Michael Johnson in the draft and brought in Tank Johnson through free agency. The result is the deepest and most talented front seven that Cincinnati has had in years.

They were matched up last Sunday against a Green Bay offensive line that has some issues. Against the Bears in week one, right tackle Allen Babre was beaten for a pair of sacks, left tackle Chad Clifton was beaten for one sack and the Packers gave up a fourth sack when Rodgers tried to dodge safety Daneal Manning instead of getting rid of the ball.

Green Bay's line difficulties got much worse in the second half of Sunday's game. On the Packers first play from scrimmage in the second half, Clifton sprained an ankle on a running play. No team is well equipped to lose their left tackle, and the Packers are no different. In a situation like that, the two choices are either to plug a new left tackle in or shuffle around the line to get your best five remaining linemen on the field. Green Bay chose to shuffle the line. Left guard Daryn Colledge moved to left tackle, center Jake Spitz moved to left guard and backup center Scott Wells entered the game.

This wasn't a new experience for Colledge--he had moved over from guard to start a game at left tackle and one at right tackle last year as an injury fill-in. But on Sunday, Odom seemed to get into his head.


The Packers problems actually began while Clifton was still in the game. In the second quarter, Cincinnati brought a five-man pass rush on first and 10 at the Packers 30. As far as play calling, Green Bay would seem to be extremely well set up for the extra rusher, as the Packers went max protect, keeping in two running backs and a tight end to help out the pass blocking.

With eight to block five, the Packers would seem to have the advantage. But the Bengals rush showed some of the disadvantages of going max protect--you often end up with blockers standing around doing nothing.

The Bengals sent an overload blitz from the Packers' left side. Left defensive end Robert Geathers dropped into a short zone which left tight end Donald Lee and right tackle Allen Babre looking for someone to block. Defensive tackle Pat Sims was picked up by right guard Josh Sitton, center Jason Spitz locked up defensive tackle Tank Johnson and left guard Colledge tried to slow down defensive end Jonathan Fanene, who had looped inside to help set up the outside blitz.

Fanene got around Colledge's inside shoulder to get some pressure up the middle. Safety Roy Williams tried to blitz through the left tackle/left guard gap left vacated by Fanene's twist, but he was picked up by both Clifton and running back Ryan Grant.

All of that got the Bengals what they wanted -- Maualuga coming off the edge with only a fullback to beat. Despite having three more blockers than the Bengals had rushers, Cincinnati had managed to get one of its best athletes lined up against fullback Corey Hall. That happened because the max protect left two Packers blockers blocking no one, while the only double team was a waste--two Packers blocking a safety.

Maualuga stutter stepped as he neared Hall, caught Hall lunging forward trying to make the block, did a quick side step and was by him to nail Rodgers from the backside for a sack and a forced fumble.

That sack showed how the Bengals can now create some mismatches with blitzes. The rest of the five sacks were much more straightforward. On four of Odom's five sacks, Cincinnati sent only four rushers. Odom lined up inside at defensive tackle on his first sack and sorted his way through traffic to make a sack that had to be blamed on Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers -- he held the ball for 3.6 seconds before Odom got to him.

Heading into the half, Green Bay had given up two sacks, but they were tied 21-21 and seemed to be in good shape. Clifton's injury is where it all started to fall apart, and the blame can be shared between the offensive line and Rodgers.

Rodgers has excellent mobility for a quarterback and unlike many QBs he's comfortable throwing on the run. On multiple plays against the Bengals, Rodgers showed that he could throw accurately without ever setting his feet. But that also leads Rodgers to hold the ball longer than most quarterbacks in hopes that he can make a big play. On the first two sacks of the second half, Rodgers held the ball for 3.92 and 4.18 seconds. When you're playing with a resorted offensive line, that's asking too much.

On Odom's second sack, Colledge got a good initial punch on Odom, but he wasn't able to lock him up. Eventually Odom slipped off the block, but Rodgers had time to get rid of the ball. The next sack was a combination of poor play design and Rodgers tendency to hold onto the ball. Odom was initially blocked by tight end Lee, but Lee then released him to run a pass route. That left tailback Ryan Grant to try to block Odom -- a mismatch the Bengals will take every time. Odom slipped off of Grant's block quickly, but once again Rodgers had time to get rid of the ball.

Even though at this point Colledge had not really had any awful blown assignments at left tackle, it looks like Odom beat him mentally. Odom's final two sacks were completely Colledge's fault. In both cases, Colledge worried so much about Odom beating him to the outside that he was left vulnerable to a combination move. Odom would fire to the outside at the snap, and let Colledge hurry to try to keep up. As soon as Colledge had gotten a little off balance, Odom gave a little crossover step and beat Colledge to the inside. Both of these sacks were completely on Colledge -- Rodgers had less than 2.5 sacks from snap to sack in both cases.

Odom needs only one more sack to equal his career high in sacks. Obviously he won't keep up his current pace, but the Bengals now have enough pass rushers on the defensive line to keep teams from focusing on Odom. And Odom's success isn't a fluke -- he also had a pair of quarterback hurries against Green Bay as well. Fellow defensive end Robert Geathers also had a hurry and rookie defensive end Michael Johnson showed better football instincts than he showed at Georgia Tech.

The depth at defensive end has helped give Odom additional opportunities. Two of his seven sacks have come when Cincinnati has slid him inside to defensive tackle in pass rushing situations while Johnson and Geathers played defensive end.

Cincinnati may not end up leading the league in sacks like they do now, but they aren't the pushover they have been in past years. Green Bay won't have Clifton back for at least a week, which is a cause for concern. While Babre played better this past week, Green Bay goes into next week's game having to worry about how well Babre will play at right tackle and how well Colledge will play at left tackle.