The Bengals may have brought back the same starting offensive line, but Louis Riddick still isn’t buying the idea that continuity alone will clean things up in front of Joe Burrow.
Riddick, who has been generally upbeat about Cincinnati this summer, said on Get Up that the unit remains the biggest concern hanging over the offense. He pointed to the preseason game against Detroit as a warning sign and said the protection issues have not gone away.
"As much as they are a trendy pick, and as good as Joe Burrow is, and as many investments they made on the defensive side of the ball, you saw the preseason game against Detroit, right? You saw how many times Joe got hit in that game, right?"
Riddick said on Get Up recently. "The offensive line is still a problem that could derail everything.
I love the additions they made on defense, and I'm with you. I'm as optimistic as anyone.
This offensive line still scares me. They have never corrected this issue, and I still don't believe it has been corrected.
I think Joe's going to have to overcome it."
That view runs against the way Cincinnati finished last season. Over the final 11 weeks, the Bengals ranked fourth in Pro Football Focus pass-blocking efficiency, and the group was charged with just seven sacks in that stretch.
The early part of the season told a much different story, though. Cincinnati ranked 27th in weeks 1-7 while adjusting to a new offensive line coach and leaning on two rookies.
There were rough moments in the preseason opener, too. Most of the trouble came on Orlando Brown Jr.’s snaps, when he allowed a pressure and a quarterback hit. But the Bengals later got a much cleaner look in a joint practice against Chicago’s starters, where Brown held up well in pass protection.
The larger issue is still about the whole operation, not just the tackles or the guards. Keeping Burrow upright takes a group effort, and it also asks the quarterback to help himself. Joe Flacco was better last season at getting the ball out quickly and avoiding pressure than Burrow has been for much of his career.
That’s part of the challenge Cincinnati keeps circling back to. Burrow has to strike the right balance between waiting for bigger plays and getting rid of the ball before the hits pile up. Among qualified quarterbacks last season, Flacco ranked sixth in pressure-to-sack ratio at 12.2%, while Burrow was 30th at 19.8%.
The Bengals have also spent the summer working on more under center looks, which could give the offense another way to limit pressure. Burrow said last week that the group is still ironing out the details.
"Yeah, we're still figuring it out. I think number one, we have to be more consistent," Burrow said last week.
"We've shown flashes, but not terribly consistent, and so we have to be better at that for sure. And I definitely play a role in that.
So, we have some things to fix, but we got three weeks until the first game, so we still got some time."
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