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Bengals Film Breakdown: Why Did the Linebackers Struggle This Season?

Let's find out why Logan Wilson and Germaine Pratt took a step back in 2023.

Mike Santagata

In this story:

The duo of Germaine Pratt and Logan Wilson has been a quality pairing in the middle of the Bengals' defense. The veteran linebackers signed extensions last offseason.

Pratt was coming off of the best season in his career and Wilson put together back to back quality seasons for the team. They both regressed in 2023 season and were more of an average pairing than a quality one. 

What happened to the two players that were seen as a strength on this defense? Why did they underperform compared to the expectations that many fans and analysts had for them coming into the year? 

Let's take a look at the film to answer those questions:

Wilson’s Play In Coverage

Wilson still possessed his ball magnet abilities this season. He finsihed with four interceptions, broke up nine passes, and forced a pair of fumbles. On the surface it looks like a really good season, but when you dive a little bit deeper into the advanced statistics, you will see that he gave up 7.9 yards per target and four touchdowns. 

He only allowed 6.6 yards per target and one touchdown last season. Despite having three more interceptions, Wilson actually had a higher passer rating when targeted this season. That’s not ideal.

The film matches the statistics. This year was a regression from last year in coverage. 

Take this play as an example:

The Bengals are playing Cover 3 and Wilson is the weak hook. He should melt with Pat Mahomes’s eyes and find the tight end sitting in the voided zone. There is no threat coming to him from the opposite side with both players working outside rather than inside. He’s late to cover the tight end and then also misses the tackle when he could have prevented a first down.

Here’s another example of him struggling against the tight end position as Mo Allie-Cox just dunks on him for a touchdown:

He’s a little bit late to recognize what’s happening and doesn't make up for it with ball skills or athleticism to close the gap.

This play may not be charged to him but he should be in the spot where the ball is thrown. For whatever reason, Wilson opens up away from the passing strength and never considers helping the three receiver side of the formation. All of the man defenders are playing outside leverage expecting help but instead they never get it and it’s a free first down.

There were also examples of him taking the bait either from quarterbacks moving him with their eyes and shoulder or with route concepts designed to put him in a high-low bind.

Geno Smith moves Wilson with his eyes so that he can open up the window for the in breaker a little bit wider. Wilson takes the bait and allows Smith to make this throw.

The Ravens put Wilson in a high low conflict on this play and Wilson takes the cheese. Defenders should always stay high on this and drive on a throw to the underneath player. Wilson cheats and takes the bait set out for him and it opens up a throw in the intermediate middle of the field.

Wilson still has issues defending swing passes as well. He seems to take poor angles on these plays and doesn't have the athleticism to make up for it as the back either beats him to the corner or cuts inside of him. This is one way he's been attacked over the last couple of seasons.

He tried to cheat it once against the Chiefs so that he didn't need to work through traffic or play against the back in space and it ended in a touchdown.

Wilson is trying to get outside and get wide on the play thinking that this will be a flat from the back but instead it’s an angle route and a trail concept. He has no shot to make the play from where he started and it’s a free touchdown for the Chiefs.

Despite all of this he still made plenty of positive contributions in coverage as well. Nine pass breakups and four interceptions is impressive. That includes what might be the most impressive coverage rep of his career against the Rams:

Wilson opens up toward the passing strength as the pole runner in Tampa 2. When he sees that there is no threat coming to him from that side he flips his hips and finds the in-breaker from the opposite side. He has the ability to not only get underneath that route, but also the soft hands to catch the ball for an interception.

Wilson made plenty of plays. It’s just that the highs of his season in coverage didn't outweigh the lows. You want more consistency from the position. If he could make all of those plays on the ball, while consistently providing high level coverage, then he would be one of the best linebackers in the NFL. 

Pratt’s Play In Coverage

Pratt's statistics show a regression as well. He had two interceptions, which is the same as last season, but he only broke up three passes after having 10 pass breakups last year. His regression looks even worse when you look at his advanced statistics. 

He went from allowing 4.9 yards per target to 6.7 yards per target and he gave up two touchdowns after only allowing one last season. The completion percentage when targeted also moved from 62.5% to 71.4%. Overall, it was a year to forget for Pratt in coverage as he didn't build upon his career best season.

Let’s look at some examples as to why he struggled:

Pratt is put into horizontal conflict between the tight end and the back. He tries to midpoint the two players but then misses the tackle after the ball is thrown to the tight end. Similar to Wilson, he struggled against tight ends this season.

Pratt is the pole runner in Tampa 2 and he has no feel for where Mark Andrews is during the play. He gets lost in coverage and it results in a first down for the Ravens pass catcher.

The Bills went at Pratt repeatedly and completed 6-of-7 passes for 52 yards. They did so with Dalton Kincaid choice routes. 

Pratt is playing outside leverage, which Kincaid sees and breaks away from. He is giving up too much of a cushion and cannot make up for it after the catch as Kincaid runs for an extra seven yards and a first down.

Pratt was just as if not more susceptible than Wilson to the quarterback fakes as well.

C.J. Stroud extends the game winning drive by moving Pratt with his eyes and shoulder to open up the window for the throw up the seam.

Matthew Stafford got Pratt the same way to open up the window for the in-breaker. The shoulder movement gets Pratt out of position and Stafford throws a fireball to his receiver in the vacated area.

Similar to Wilson, he also made some great individual plays in coverage this season.

Take this play [which didn’t count] as an example:

Making this read on a screen and not being rewarded for it is devastating. It also made his statistics appear worse because it never counted because of an iffy offsides call even though he made the play.

These good plays don’t outweigh the bad and just like Wilson, you would like to see more consistency from Pratt next season. 

Communicating With The New Defensive Backs

Even though both players would like to have better individual seasons, the larger issue at hand may be the communication with the other defenders in coverage. All season there were communication breakdowns between the linebackers and the secondary and it was exploited repeatedly. 

Even late in the season, these players were still struggling to communicate with one another about passing things off and coverage checks. There’s just as much communication in coverage as there is in pass protection and the continuity and ability to communicate is just as important.

There was the infamous miscommunication against the Chiefs where Dax Hill went the wrong way on a Cover 2 play, but there was another in that game that wasn't as noticeable.

Wilson checks back with the safeties twice before the play. Despite him trying to communicate with them, he still ends up in the same hook zone as Jordan Battle. Both safeties are working together as Hill rotates to the deep middle of the field, but they did not communicate with Wilson. Easy throw and an explosive play as no one covers that area of the field.

Here’s another late season miscommunication. The Bengals are playing a 3 deep, 3 underneath fire zone. Watch Wilson’s left hand on the play:

You can see that he points back for someone to take the receiver, either Hill or DJ Turner II, but neither player match him. Instead, they continue to cover no one and spot drop. With no one matching him, it’s another explosive play given up by the Bengals defense. It would make sense that Wilson is not asked to match a wide receiver running 20 yards downfield, so one of the two defensive backs is wrong on this play.

Pratt and Wilson still communicate well with each other, there just seemed to be an issue with them and the young secondary. That is fully on display on this example of mesh:

Pratt and Wilson pass off the underneath routes to each other and communicate to do so. There isn't enough communication however and the sit route is open for another big gain.

Here you get great communication between Wilson and Pratt again as they pass off this deep over to each other and then to Cam Taylor-Britt. The issue is the dig route behind Wilson after he passes off the deep over route. There is an effort to communicate it, but it isn't received and the dig is open. It's still an issue even if it didn't end with a completion.

Once again you can see the effort to communicate, as Pratt points with his left hand that he is passing off this route, but it is not received by Nick Scott and it ends in another explosive play. This failure to communicate often ended in explosive plays and was a huge reason that the Bengals were one of the worst defenses in the league. There needs to be a premium on communication in coverage this season between the linebackers and the defensive backs.

Run Defense

There is a stark difference with the two players when they are kept clean against the run and when they are not kept clean. The job of a defensive tackle in run defense is not just to hold their gap and make plays, but to also keep their linebackers clean so that they can make the stop. Letting offensive linemen get to the second level and take shots at the linebackers is how you struggle as a defensive unit against the run.

On this play, Zach Carter provides no resistance to Laremy Tunsil’s block, so he just gets tagged. Tunsil is free to clamp Pratt at the second level. That key block from Tunsil turns what should've been a 4-yard gain to an explosive play. With the way this is being played, you can’t expect Carter to fully hold up Tunsil and grab him, but you can expect him to drive his hips into him and try to make it more difficult for Tunsil to climb.

Carter does a better job on the double team here, even though the lineman gets to the second level, but he’s so unaware of what’s going on that the back runs right by him through his gap and he doesn’t even get a hand on him.

This is the tape that should be shown on how not to handle a double. Carter is literally driven back into Wilson. They don’t even need to come off of the double and block Wilson. Carter is doing that for them with his inability to hold point in the run game.

The stop is made here by Wilson but it’s still a terrible job from Carter and instead of a perfect fit where Josh Allen is being tackled for no gain, Wilson has to fight over this block and make the tackle in open space further down the field. Carter provides no resistance to the tackle who is attempting to climb and take Wilson out of the play.

Carter wasn't the only defensive lineman to struggle keeping his backers clean though.

Josh Tupou is easily displaced on this play and it allows the lineman to climb up and get Wilson out of the way as well. 

Even though Pratt gets hands on the back, it was made exceedingly difficult because Tupou was caved in by the tackle who then climbed up to get a shot at Pratt as well. Due to that, Pratt has to work around the block and then try to make the tackle and he is unable to get a good shot on the back. It results in a missed tackle and a big gain for the Browns.

Now watch what happens when these linebackers are kept clean in the running game:

Pratt takes false steps backward as he misreads run pass and is still able to come up and make the play because of DJ Reader’s incredible job to keep him clean. You can see Reader’s right arm come in and stop the double from climbing up to Pratt on the play. It’s the key to the entire play and why it did not go for a big gain.

Reader holding up the center and guard and not allowing either to climb to Wilson is why he’s free to roam and make this tackle. He’s a linebacker’s best friend and this is one of the biggest reasons that the Bengals should consider re-signing him.

Once again, Reader is holding up two players while Pratt comes around and makes the play. Some bad awareness from the tight end helps but you can see the difference in the linebacker’s play when they are kept clean instead of fighting with offensive linemen.

Reader’s partner also did a solid job of keeping the backer’s clean as well.

B.J. Hill does a nice job of taking on this double and not allowing the lineman to climb up. These plays go unnoticed more often than not and they definitely don’t have a column in the spreadsheet for this but holding these doubles is critical for playing quality run defense. You can see the difference in play with the linebackers when they’re asked to take on offensive linemen and when they can freely move and make these plays.

Linebackers in today's game are often smaller and coverage players first. Both Wilson and Pratt played safety before playing linebacker. The old refrigerator on wheels that can tank blocks and still make stops is a dying art. More than ever keeping your linebackers clean is paramount to success against the run in the NFL.

It’s also worth noting that both Pratt and Wilson missed more tackles and at a higher percentage this season than last year. Kept clean or not, they regressed in this area and need to improve their individual play as well.

Overall, Wilson and Pratt are still solid players. They should have better seasons next year as individuals and another year with the young secondary should help them communicate better. 

The Bengals front office will determine what happens up front, but if Duke Tobin and company execute a plan to bring in better interior defensive linemen, then the duo should be better in run defense as well. 

They aren't two players that can make up for the pieces around them falling short.

Both Pratt and Wilson seem to be affected more by the rest of the defense, for better or for worse.

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Mike Santagata
MIKE SANTAGATA

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