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Bengals Film Breakdown: Analyzing Cordell Volson's Performance on Monday Night Against Rams

Volson received low marks from Pro Football Focus this week. Let's check the film to see if aligns with their grading system.

Mike Santagata

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Cordell Volson received a 0.0 grade in pass protection this week from Pro Football Focus, which is the lowest score that they give to any player. 

For reference, Rams backup left tackle Zach Thomas also earned a 0.0 grade in pass protection. He struggled with Trey Hendrickson all night long. That’s the type of game that earns such a poor score. There’s more nuance to the discussion because Volson went up against all world defensive tackle Aaron Donald for most of the game. 

So what’s the truth here? Did Volson play so poorly that it ruined the Bengals offense or was it just a poor performance exasperated by one of the all time greats? Let’s dive into some film to find out.

The Bengals Plan

This whole discussion has to start with the Bengals game plan for Aaron Donald. No one is going into a game against the Rams without a plan for No. 99. The Bengals plan seemed to be to slide to him on every pass play that they could. It's reminiscent of how they typically try to deal with Chris Jones in Kansas City.

The quick way to describe this plan is that if the center does not have a defensive lineman directly over him, he will slide over to help whoever is trying to block Donald. There are some circumstances where this did not work for whatever reason but for the most part, Donald was dealing with a slide.

When Ted Karras would slide to help Alex Cappa against Donald, it worked pretty well.

More than just the center slide, the Bengals offensive line was clearly aware of where Donald was on every play and they gave help whenever they could. This play from Jonah Williams is a great example:

This means that it’s a rare instance for anyone to truly go one on one against Donald in this game. Despite all of the attention, Donald still had one sack, seven pressures, and a 91.9 pass rush grade from Pro Football Focus. What happened to the Bengals solid plan for Donald?

Volson vs Donald

The issue on the plan was that even with the slide and other help, Volson lost so quickly to Donald that it didn't matter.

You can blame Karras some on this play because he didn't get over to Donald quick enough, but Volson loses as Joe Burrow takes the first step of his drop. While Karras is mostly sliding that way to help against Donald, he also has to make sure that the linebacker to that side is dropping so that he can open his hips and get out to help without repercussions of a free running linebacker. Burrow takes a big shot here and it causes a badly placed throw. Compare that play to the one that Cappa had where he loses, but it’s late enough that Karras is able to come over and help him.

The sack that he gives up to Donald is a similar play.

Just unacceptable against anyone to lose this quickly with slide help. Yes, it’s Donald but Volson needs to hold up for more than one second on the play. Generally offensive linemen are asked to hold up for 2.5 seconds, but really with slide help it just has to be about 1.5 seconds. All that means is that Volson has to stay attached to Donald and to not completely whiff. Instead, this is a whiff and a sack on Burrow despite the help. 

Volson oversets on this rep and is unable to get in a position to recover. The overset is fine in theory because you want to force Donald back to your help, which is the center, but Volson needs to drop his post foot quicker and work back inside to mirror Donald.

This is one of the few plays that Volson had one-on-one against Donald and he fails for the same reason he did in the previous clip. There’s no mirror going on from Volson here after the overset. He stops his feet and Donald is able to simply run past him. This is quick game so the ball gets out, but giving up pressure in quick game is rough because the ball is getting out in about two seconds.

Volson had a rough game against Donald on Monday. It’s a second year player against a monster of a defensive tackle. The Bengals did everything they could to help him. Donald just won so quickly that it did not matter. However, you may be wondering how Volson did against non Donald opponents as well.

Volson Against Others

Volson truly struggled against Donald, but he went against other players as well in this game.

This was one of his better reps where he sticks with a spin move and then mirrors the defender back out as they try to counter to the outside as well.

This is a promising example of Volson’s ability to mirror and match defensive linemen when he’s not facing off against a future first ballot Hall of Famer. It’s a little too much penetration by the end of the rep but overall a quality performance from Volson here.

He also was able to pass a few stunts cleanly with Orlando Brown Jr.

Great communication from the duo as Volson passes his guy and takes Brown’s. These plays are crucial as the Bengals offensive line has struggled with stunts in the past. This stunt is handled about as cleanly as possible from them though and they keep the quarterback upright.

The Bengals want to really sell run action from the gun to get linebackers to bite and to do so they will ask a guard to pull on occasion. This was one of those occasions.

This block is difficult from an offensive lineman, but Volson makes it look easy. Pulling and running to the opposite side of the formation and then settling down and protecting asks a lot out of a guard. Here Volson is able to do just that and finishes the defender as well. A high quality rep from the young left guard on this play.

However, Volson wasn't entirely clean when he faced non Donald defenders.

This sack is mostly on Volson. Karras is sliding away to help against Donald and Volson gives up too much ground to No. 91. He also gets shaken out of his shoes by a quick jab that should not have had that level of effect on him. 

Not only is this a poor job of staying with the penetrator on the stunt, but also it appears that Karras learned a stunt was coming by a hand to his throat rather than from his adjacent offensive lineman. Poor communication, poor technique, and a poor result as well. Volson was mostly clean against players that weren't Donald, but it was clearly not perfect as he gave up a sack in this situation.

Moving Forward

Was this game truly worth a 0.0 grade from PFF? Probably not. Volson struggled mightily with Donald despite the help, but he also was able to put together a few higher quality reps when he went against other players. 

Pro Football Focus does not account for the level of competition faced with their grading system. On the other hand, this is probably the worst game that Volson has played in awhile. It may not be worth a zero grade, but it was rough from him in pass protection. Sadly, it doesn't seem like he's taken a step forward this season. 

Things do not really get easier for Volson either. He has to face off against Jeffery Simmons this week, Chris Jones on New Year's Eve and Cam Heyward two times later in the season. There are also guys like Arik Armstead who may not be household names, but are still talented and tough to contain. It’s fair to ask Volson to be able to execute a game plan like the one that the Bengals had on Monday. He has help and is not being asked to go against a stud by himself. If the reps that he lost were simply the few one-on-one opportunities that Donald had then this would be a more promising review.

On the optimistic side however, Volson performed well against the Titans last year. The season is still young and he can turn around from this performance and put together another impressive outing against the likes of Simmons and Denico Autry. 

It’s going to be important to watch his growth throughout the season to see if the Bengals truly have found a starting left guard for the next couple years or if they need to consider upgrading the position after the season.

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Mike Santagata
MIKE SANTAGATA

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