Film Breakdown: Bengals' O-Line Faces BIG Test in Dexter Lawrence and Brian Burns

The Bengals' offensive line faces quite the challenge on Sunday night.

Mike Santagata | Oct 11, 2024

Oct 6, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; New York Giants defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence II (97) celebrates following a sack against the Seattle Seahawks during the second quarter at Lumen Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images / Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

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Cincinnati Bengals

The New York Giants lead the NFL in sacks (22) going into Sunday night's matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals. Dexter Lawrence and Brian Burns are a big reason why. The fearsome duo is going to be quite the challenge for the Bengals' offensive front.

Lawrence is a 340 pound monster in the middle of this defensive line and should be one of the front runners for Defensive Player of the Year. He has six sacks and 10 quarterback hits, despite playing a majority of his snaps lined up in the A gap. Burns is his main partner in crime. Burns only has two sacks to his name, but he’s a two-time Pro Bowler and still looks to be as talented as ever.

Let’s dig into these two as pass rushers to see what makes them so tough to go against:

Dexter Lawrence

What Lawrence is doing from the nose tackle position is unbelievable. His six sacks in 5 games this season is more than Haloti Ngata ever put together in an entire season. He’s still an elite run defender and brings plenty of the pass rush juice. Typically with nose tackles, you don’t see high end pass rushing for two reasons. The first reason is it’s not really their job. The second reason is that they are very easy to double team because of how they align between the center and the guard. The issue for offenses is that Lawrence is just blowing through these double teams.

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— Walter (@Pff_Walter) October 11, 2024

He’s just too powerful to be contained if there is a crack in the double team. Here the double team is pretty tight, but you can see him work the center to pry open some space. He swims inside of the guard which destroys the double team. By attacking one of the players in the double team he’s able to turn it into a one-man rush. The right guard doesn’t matter because of Lawrence’s hulk strength to just keep pushing to the quarterback despite the force coming from the guard. Double teaming him is really the only answer you have for Lawrence because he’s not a guy you can tire out from running at him, unless you want to average 1.5 yards per carry.

The Giants also know that the only hope of stopping Lawrence is through a double team. That’s why they will line up in fronts that pull the center away and send extra rushers to occupy those blockers.

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— Walter (@Pff_Walter) October 11, 2024

This is what it looks like when Lawrence gets the center one on one. The blitz is perfectly picked up by the Seahawks on this play, but Lawrence is just too good to be blocked by a center. What’s fascinating about Lawrence is he is one of the best pass rushers in the entire NFL and it really just comes from power. Once in a while he will work to the outside or inside of the offensive lineman, but generally he’s just going to run through them.

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— Walter (@Pff_Walter) October 11, 2024

He’s just too powerful for a majority of offensive linemen to block. This is an example of using a front to free him up as well. The offense has to honor that linebacker in the opposite A gap which frees up Lawrence to work one on one against the guard.

He’s great at disengaging from his block after he gets penetration and pressure. That’s how he’s finishing so many of these plays as a sack but it almost all starts with his bull rush. It’s a quintessential example of the Bruce Lee quote “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” Lawrence doesn’t have a rolodex of moves to beat you but he’s so good at his one move that it’s unstoppable. He’s got different ways to finish, but it all starts with perfect hand placement and leverage to make the most out of every bull rush.

Brian Burns

Burns is almost the exact opposite of Lawrence. Everything for him begins with his speed to threaten the outside of the tackle. While 11 players have at least one sack for the Giants, it’s clear that Burns is the second best pass rusher on the team. His speed is hard to find. It’s why he was selected in the first round by the Panthers and given a huge contract by the Giants.

Here’s an example of Burns attacking the outside of the tackle:

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— Walter (@Pff_Walter) October 11, 2024

Burns starts this rep as a race to the outside edge. He wins that corner and throws out a ghost move to beat the tackle’s hands. A ghost move is flashing a long arm bull rush before taking it away and dipping underneath the hands of the tackle. It’s something that Von Miller perfected in his career. Burns not only shows the speed on the outside but also his bend around the corner on this play. It doesn’t end in a sack but he’s always working toward the quarterback.

The speed off of the edge sets up inside counters for him as well. Here you can see him work back to the inside with a spin move.

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— Walter (@Pff_Walter) October 11, 2024

You can see just how much the tackle is worried about the outside corner with Burns. He races him to the spot but Burns recognizes that the tackle is setting out too far. He slows himself down and spins back to the inside to work against the tackle’s momentum. A pass rusher who can only win to the outside doesn’t have the same juice as a guy who can work inside as well and Burns can definitely work back to the inside.

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— Walter (@Pff_Walter) October 11, 2024

Here Burns isn’t even threatening the tackle’s outside. He recognizes that the outside is pointless with the tight end and just goes after the inside of the tackle. He gets him with a cross chop and it’s a pressure.

When you combine how effective he is working both inside and outside you can get plays like this.

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— Walter (@Pff_Walter) October 11, 2024

Burns fakes inside before cross chopping outside to beat the tackle’s hands. Then he’s able to use his bend, length, and athleticism to turn this win into a strip sack. He’s a guy who would historically match up pretty well with Orlando Brown Jr., but Brown’s new stance and great start to his season are reasons for optimism. Since he works both the right and left side, he’s someone that Amarius Mims has to be prepared for as well. Mims has had a couple of oversets in his first few games and he needs to make sure he’s sound in this game because Burns will punish those sets more than anyone else he has faced so far.

Overall, the Bengals' ability to block these two long enough to throw the ball is one of the major keys to the game. Some answers for these two are not just double teams. Once Lawrence leaves the field, the Bengals should go to a no huddle offense and not change personnel. They don’t need to hurry up and play fast but by not huddling or subbing, Lawrence cannot come back on the field. Peyton Manning used to go to a slower no huddle offense in key situations.

With Burns, it would make sense to have a tight end always line up to his side so that his get off is mitigated. The tight end doesn’t need to get hands on him but just by being in the way, Burns is limited. Burns can still win in this scenario but at least it’s not as threatening. Either way, the Bengals need to have a quality plan to keep this dynamic duo in check on Sunday night.

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