Where Has the Cincinnati Bengals Running Game Gone, and Can They Get the Explosion Back?

Jay Morrison | Oct 30, 2024

Cincinnati Bengals running back Chase Brown (30) tries to run throw the Philadelphia Eagles defense in the NFL Week 8 matchup at Paycor Stadium during the Sunday October 27, 2024. The Bengals lost 37-17 and remain winless at home. / Cara Owsley/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

CINCINNATI – Technically, the Cincinnati Bengals run game is more explosive than it was a year ago.

Realistically, it’s nowhere near where they want – or need – it to be.

The pivot from being efficient in the run game to becoming more explosive has not gone the way the Bengals hoped for when they traded Joe Mixon, signed Zack Moss and increased Chase Brown’s role.

Heading into Week 9, the Cincinnati offense has 12 rushes of at least 12 yards (not including quarterback scrambles).

That’s the same number Mixon has despite playing only five games.

Through their first eight games last year, the Bengals had nine explosive runs.

Going from nine to 12 is not exactly an explosive increase in explosion.

“It's not good enough,” Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher said. “The responsibility for that is shared across the board. To a man, we evaluate how the last couple of weeks have gone. Still have confidence in that phase, still have confidence in our plan, still have confidence in our personnel.

“We'll find a way to get going again,” Pitcher said. “It's definitely a priority."

Joe Burrow is playing as well as any quarterback, leading the league in QBR while ranking third in passing touchdowns and fifth in EPA per dropback.

That the Bengals offense is averaging 18.3 points per game in the last three after posting 28.0 in the first five. That's a direct indictment on the run game.

“Overall, everyone's got to be more detailed,” head coach Zac Taylor said. “Sometimes it can be half a second getting to your responsibility, can be a little more physical at the point of attack, doing a better job cutting off on the backside, hitting the hole exactly how it needs to be done, motion timing.

“We're being really hard on everything to make sure no detail is left uncovered so that we can be better going forward and have that be a better part of our game,” he added.

Through the first five games, Brown had seven explosive runs and was averaging 5.6 yards per attempt, which was tied for third in the league behind Derrick Henry and Chuba Hubbard.

In the last three games, Brown has two explosive runs while averaging 3.5 yards per attempt.

Moss, meanwhile, has no explosive runs and a 1.8 average.

“For the first month, we were pretty dang good running the ball,” Burrow said. “After that, it's fallen off. So we need to find that rhythm that we had in that first month running the ball. 

“I think we just need to execute the plays that are called better and find ways to find an explosive run here, find a first down there and that will open up some more play-action shots for us and some different things,” he added.

Burrow didn’t say he feels more pressure on his shoulders when the running game isn’t producing, but it does force a change in approach.

“I’m going to adapt to whatever presents itself,” he said. “Every game you’ve got to figure out what kind of quarterback you’ve got to be. Is the run game working? Is it not? Is our defense playing great? Are they not? And find out what you need to do from a quarterback perspective to give your team the best chance to win.”

The good news for the Bengals is that the Las Vegas Raiders have allowed 23 explosive runs this season. Only the Commanders (26), Giants (27) and Colts (27) have surrendered more.

"I think in this league you have to be able to do what you feel like your opponent is most susceptible to,” Pitcher said. “You want to understand what you’re good at, so you always want to focus your attack on what your players do well. With that being said, there are very few teams in this league – and I don't want to say none –  where you can just necessarily say we're going to line up and bully you, and we're going to do one thing and do it over and over and over again and we're going to have success come hell or high water.”

“You have to be flexible, and we've built that flexibility in from Day 1,” he continued. “I've seen nothing that would suggest we need to come off of that. Within that you can refine and tweak and see exactly what it is we do well and then try to do more of it."

Short yardage in particular has been an issue for the Bengals, with last week’s failed third and 1 ahead of the critical fourth and 1 stop in the loss to the Eagles still flashing in neon.

Pitcher said short yardage “lives in its own world”

“You'd be shocked by when there's 1 yard to go, the profile of defense can be vastly different than when there's 2 yards to go, and then deciding in the moment, is this third-and-1, is it third-and-a-short-1, is it third-and-a-long-1, is it third-and-a-short-2?” he said. “Those little, minor differences can have an effect, so we look at it every week. We study it hard. We come up with a plan that we think is going to give us a chance of success.

“Obviously, the third quarter last week, we did not have success in a critical moment on a third- and a fourth-and-short, and it affected the game,” he added. “And so we're disappointed by that, but I'm very satisfied with how we prepare for that.”

The Bengals have plenty of issues beyond the run game, but that is one area that has seen success and then seen it go away.

Getting back to how they were attacking defenses in the first five weeks of the season would go a long way in helping the team dig out of this 3-5 hole.

“Responsibility for fixing it is shared, and we're going to do it,” Pitcher said.

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