Derrick Henry isn’t walking into Sunday’s AFC North showdown blind. He knows exactly what the Bengals have in the middle of their defense, and he made that clear earlier this week while sizing up Cincinnati’s revamped front.
“They’re definitely playing better, getting to the ball, flying around. Disruptive front.
Linebackers that play well together. And they added some secondary players, but they also have some who have been there.
They’ve always been solid. Yeah, so they're playing better defense, so it’s going to be a challenge.”
That’s a strong endorsement from one of the league’s top rushers, but it comes with a warning label for Cincinnati. The Bengals head to Baltimore needing a win to stay with the division-leading Cleveland Browns, and the task gets a whole lot tougher if Henry starts rolling. He enters the week with the fourth-most rushing yards this season, and the Bengals’ run defense has been vulnerable.
Through six weeks, Cincinnati is allowing 5.0 yards per carry, which ranks 31st in the NFL. Al Golden’s unit is also giving up 123.0 rushing yards per game, the ninth-most in the league. The one thing working in the Bengals’ favor is volume: opponents have run the ball only 122 times against them, the third-fewest in the NFL entering Week 7.
That number should climb Sunday. And if Lamar Jackson is out, it could climb even faster. Either way, Baltimore is built to test that weakness.
Henry also had plenty to say about the Bengals’ interior defenders, especially Dexter Lawrence and Jonathan Allen. He called them “stout, disruptive, run stoppers, big, physical.
He’s (Lawrence) doing a great job. He's been a great addition for them.
So has John. My ex, old Bama boy.
So yeah, they’ve been playing very well. It’s a challenge.”
Henry’s smile when Allen came up said plenty. The two were teammates at Alabama and helped deliver the Crimson Tide’s 2015 National Championship, a 45-40 win over Clemson. Henry went in the second round of the draft after that season, while Allen waited another year before the Washington Football Team took him 17th overall.
The respect from Henry isn’t just talk, either. Lawrence and Allen have backed it up on the field and earned recognition along the way.
Pro Football Network has Lawrence with the second-highest run-stopping grade, while Pro Football Focus ranks him fifth among defensive tackles this season. That comes despite him being one of the most double-teamed defensive tackles in the league.
PFN also gives Allen the top pass-rush grade among defensive tackles in its DT impact metric, with Lawrence sitting 10th in that category.
Together, the two have given Cincinnati a real presence in the middle. The challenge now is whether they can hold up against Henry and Baltimore’s ground game, which is likely to keep probing the edges and stressing the Bengals’ front over and over again.
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Bengals Safety Problems Keep Reviving One Painful Reunion Idea
The Bengals have spent plenty of time trying to patch the hole Jessie Bates left behind, and it is easy to understand why the topic keeps circling back. Cincinnati has tried to address safety through free agency and the draft, but the search has not exactly settled the defense, and Bryan Cooks injury only adds to the uncertainty around a position group that has been hard to stabilize since Bates moved on.
Bates remains the kind of player who naturally fuels reunion chatter because of how much he once meant to the Bengals secondary, but the road back is not simple. Even with the defensive issues still hanging over the roster, any move involving him would have to make sense for Cincinnati in terms of cost, and that is why this idea stays more of a lingering what-if than a likely solution. [Read more 🡒]
Bengals Fans Can Still Turn Spain Into A Real Road Trip
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Round-trip flights from Cincinnati to Madrid are available for under $1,000, which is the kind of detail that can move a trip from daydream to actual planning. The matchup will be played at Bernabu Stadium, with a 3:30 p.m. local kickoff, so anyone making the journey will get a true football weekend in one of Europes biggest sports cities. [Read more 🡒]
Joe Burrow Enters Ravens Game With A Rare Chance To Explode
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The wrinkle is that this is not just about efficiency or piling up yards. The case for Burrows ceiling rests on a Ravens defense that may be forced into uncomfortable looks, along with a Bengals receiving situation that has shifted with Tanner Hudson now on injured reserve. If Cincinnati can keep Burrow upright and force Baltimore to defend the full field, the quarterback has a path to one of those rare explosive nights that can swing the whole conversation around the game. [Read more 🡒]