Brian Callahan Explains Communication Error That Led to Micah Parsons Running Free at Joe Burrow

Cincinnati has given up 13 sacks in two games.

CINCINNATI — The Bengals' offense has struggled during the first two games of the season. 

They've scored 37 points, turned the ball over five times and Joe Burrow has been sacked 13 times. 

Micah Parsons had two of those sacks in the Cowboys' 20-17 win over the Bengals on Sunday. He was also a free runner on a play and forced Burrow to throw the ball away. 

This got a lot of attention on social media. Parsons was rewarded with a hard, clean hit on Burrow and no one even attempted to block him. The Bengals were forced to punt because the breakdown came on third down. 

Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan explained the communication error. 

"We were in a protection designed to help on the edges. We have no back in the backfield, so we were presented with a look where we had to have a back in the backfield so Drew (Sample) came in. Drew communicated to LC (La'el Collins) he was leaving," Callahan said. "We never leave a tackle who is anticipating help. We always tell him we are leaving so he knows. We essentially changed the protection from a five-man protection to a six-man protection. Something we have done 100 times. It’s not new for us. It looked like everything got communicated. Somehow, someway LC ended up staying down and 11 came free which was, you’d ask him he’d say the same thing, that’s an error we can’t have on an early third down in the game, in particular. Disappointed that happened. Thought it got communicated well enough and something got crossed up."

These are the types of errors and hits that take their toll. Not only did it completely derail the Bengals' third-down play, but Burrow took a hard hit from one of the NFL's best pass rushers. 

It can't happen and yet it's happened far too often during the first two weeks of the season. 

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