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Cincinnati Bengals Film Breakdown: Orlando Brown Jr. THRIVING at Left Tackle This Season

The four-time Pro Bowler has been great so far this year.

Mike Santagata

Sep 8, 2024; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Bengals offensive tackle Orlando Brown Jr. (75) and Cincinnati Bengals running back Zack Moss (31) celebrate a touchdown run in the third quarter at Paycor Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Greene/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images
Sep 8, 2024; Cincinnati, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Bengals offensive tackle Orlando Brown Jr. (75) and Cincinnati Bengals running back Zack Moss (31) celebrate a touchdown run in the third quarter at Paycor Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Greene/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images / Sam Greene/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images
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The Bengals offense has reached new heights in 2024. Left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. has been one of the catalysts that has helped them level up so far this season.

Brown signed with the Bengals in 2023 as the blind side protector of Joe Burrow. His inaugural season was solid, but he allowed the most sacks in his career according to Pro Football Focus and it seemed like the groin injury he suffered in Week 6 against the Seahawks affected him the rest of the season.

He wasn't a Pro Bowler last year, which snapped a four-year streak of him being named a Pro Bowler. This offseason it appears as if Brown has been in the lab working on becoming a better version of himself. He's sporting a new stance and has sharpened the technical side of things in pass protection. It’s led to fantastic results with him currently sitting as the second best pass protector in the league according to Pro Football Focus.

Let’s check out the changes and dive into how he’s playing:

A Change In Stance

Brandon Thorn was the first person to acknowledge the change in Brown’s stance this season.

Brown now keeps his kick leg with the knee pointed further inside and he is also a little bit more on his toe with that foot as well. These might seem like subtle changes but they’ve had an effect on his pass sets. However, it’s not as if Brown really needed to change anything either. He’s a 4-time pro bowler and if he just stays more healthy he may have been able to be one again but there must have been a desire to keep getting better and changing his stance was a way to do that.

Here is an example of what happened at times last season with the old stance:

The first two kicks are alright but by the third kick his base gets a bit narrow and he ends up putting a lot of his weight on his post foot rather than keeping it down the midline. This makes it harder than it has to be when he needs to recover to the inside. He drops the post foot and it still takes two more steps to shift his weight and get in position to change direction and recover against the inside move. 

This is another example of how his stance last year could hurt him.

Again, you can see that his base gets narrow around the third kick. A narrow base leads to a player playing taller and when you combine the lack of leverage with the tight base, you get a difficult recovery. Even though Brown is definitely strong enough to recover on this play he can’t get his footing and drop his anchor down to redirect the force of the bullrush. It ends up in a sack and a play that he would want to do over if he could.

Compare those plays to how he looks on this play from Week 1:

It’s really night and day. He keeps a consistent base throughout this set, his get off is quicker, and he’s moving smoother with his weight down the midline of his body. He’s not putting too much weight on either foot as he sets and it gets him to his spot ready to keep an inside half relationship with the rusher. His outside hand here works well to punch around the cross chop and then when the rusher turns it into a bull rush, Brown is able to quickly get into his anchor.

In Week 2 he went against a guy with a very nice bull rush in George Karlaftis and you can see the improvement.

The first part of this play to notice is that Brown is getting an elite jump on the snap whether it’s a silent count or not. The second part is that even though Karlaftis gets in his chest, Brown is able to quickly drop the anchor on one hop to kill the bull rush. The wider, more balanced base on contact helps him to remain in control and keeps him playing with better leverage so the ability to drop his anchor comes quicker.

In Week 5, Brown faced a guy who can threaten him with speed in Odafe Oweh. Oweh is having a very nice start to his season. Brown completely dominated the matchup.

This change in stance certainly helped him against Oweh because Brown is more explosive and smoother with this new stance. You can see how the explosion out of his stance helped him on this rep:

Oweh is never able to make Brown uncomfortable trying to win with speed to the outside here. Brown gets in good position and maintains that position throughout the rep.

This rep shows how easily Brown is able to change direction now that he has a good base underneath him. When Oweh attempts to win inside, Brown drops his post foot and works laterally in one step. Brown is moving very well for a guy listed at 340 pounds.

Even though there have been quite a few examples about what’s changed with Brown, there’s a lot that hasn’t changed. He’s still one of the strongest guys in the entire league, his length is incredible, and he plays with a nasty demeanor to put guys into the ground to show that pass pro is not passive. 

Brown utilizes a trap technique here to take away Oweh’s hands and finish him into the ground face first. Oweh’s hands are his anchor points on this play and with the amount of forward lean he’s utilizing, it makes it so that he’s off balance when those are taken away.

This time he’s just redirecting the force of a bull rush and finishing the defender. The bull rush gets into his chest but the herculean strength of Brown is too much as he’s able to stop the rush and toss the defender aside.

Brown is having another Pro Bowl season. His work to improve himself has paid dividends in pass protection. His pass protection and ability to play on an island has been a reason this offense has flourished this season. The change in stance has enhanced his ability to protect and he should be commended for working so hard on improving himself. His skills will be needed against the Giants in Week 6 as they sport two high end speed rushers in Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux.

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Mike Santagata
MIKE SANTAGATA

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