The Bengals faced the first test of the schedule without star wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase in the lineup. Even had he been healthy, that might not have changed anything about the outcome.
Cincinnati was blown out 32-13 on “Monday Night Football” in a complete dismantling at the hands of the Browns. The loss dropped the Bengals to 4-4 on the year, 0-3 in the division and moved Joe Burrow’s career record against Cleveland to 0-4.
There are certainly a myriad of factors that point as to why the Bengals were blown out against Cleveland on Monday. A shaky run defense allowed Nick Chubb to rush for 101 yards on 23 carries and two touchdowns. The defense also struggled against play-action passes. The Bengals rushing attack of Joe Mixon was once again ineffective. And Cincinnati too often played behind schedule on third downs.
But perhaps what stood out the most is the performance by Burrow. While not altogether a bad outing, he still completed only 25-of-35 passes for 232 yards with a pair of late touchdowns, an interception and a fumble.
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Burrow’s struggles against the Browns are nothing new. There’s a reason he remains winless against the division rivals. Why has he struggled against them, and what stood out in his performance on Sunday? The Sporting News takes a look at the numbers.
Joe Burrow stats vs. Browns
Before getting too far into what has caused the issues, let’s first take a look at Burrow’s career compared with his numbers against Cleveland.
Heading into the game, Burrow averaged 284.7 yards per game, 1.9 touchdowns per game, 0.7 picks per game and 3.2 sacks per game. His numbers coming into Monday’s contest against Cleveland are, overall, not as bad as one would think considering his 0-3 record against the divisional opponent heading into Monday’s showdown. In those three games, he had 1,004 passing yards (334.7 per game), six touchdowns (two per game) and three picks (one per game). Not too bad, right?
Well, there’s one stat that’s a bit glaring. That would be the 12 sacks Burrow has taken from the Browns in those three games.
Throughout the first three years of Burrow’s NFL career, the focal point of criticism for the Bengals has been at their inability to protect their franchise quarterback. That was again on display as he absorbed five sacks against Cleveland and was frequently under pressure by Myles Garrett and the standout Cleveland pass-rush. So now, make it 17 sacks in four games.
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Again, this is nothing new. Since Burrow entered the league in 2020, no player has been sacked more than his 112 times, per Stathead. But while Cleveland has at times had its worts in other areas on defense, it has had one constant: Garrett pressuring the quarterback. Since 2020, only T.J. Watt has more sacks (38.5) than Garrett (34) and he ranks fifth in quarterback hits (58), according to Stathead.
Sounds like a bad matchup for Burrow, right? Right. Burrow wasn’t pressured as much in the team’s 2020 Week 2 matchup with the Browns, but that was amped up in the second game in Week 7. Burrow had just 2.45 seconds to throw the ball on average and the Browns converted 36.4 pressures to sacks, per PFF. Garrett was responsible for two of the four sacks, won 10.9 percent of his pass-rush attempts. Overall in 2020, Burrow averaged 2.6 seconds to throw and had only 21.9 percent of his pressures turned into sacks.
The next game wasn’t much better for Burrow. In 2021’s Week 9 matchup, Burrow had an average of 2.6 seconds to throw and saw 31.3 percent of pressures turn to sacks. He was taken down five times in that 41-16 blowout. Garrett was once again a force. He won 15.6 percent of his pass-rush attempts and sacked Burrow twice. During the season overall, Burrow averaged 2.62 seconds to throw and saw 26.9 percent of pressures end in sacks.
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Monday wasn’t much different. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Garrett was off the line on average in 0.72 seconds, which by itself would be the fastest in the NFL if not for himself. His season average of 0.70 seconds already leads the league. In the game, he recorded six pressures and 1.5 sacks.
Myles Garrett recorded 6 pressures & 1.5 sacks on 31 pass rushes in the Browns’ Week 8 victory.
Garrett’s Avg Pass Rush Get-Off:
🔸 Tonight: 0.72 seconds
🔸 2022: 0.70 sec (quickest, min. 150 pass rushes)
🔸 2021: 0.76 sec (quickest, min. 250 pass rushes)#CINvsCLE | #Browns pic.twitter.com/nnSgGTk1qv— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) November 1, 2022
And Garrett was almost always in on the play. Per Next Gen Stats, the league average rusher is 4.53 yards away from the quarterback on every play. Garrett was only 3.3 yards away from Burrow on Monday. In fact, each of the Browns four primary pass-rushers was at least with that league average 4.53 yardage range.
It also didn’t help the Bengals when they too often set themselves up in obvious passing situations, allowing the Browns to commit to the pass-rush. Cincinnati faced 10 third-down tries during the game. Of those, eight were at least five yards to go. Two resulted in first downs. Two resulted in sacks. One of those was from Garrett. Too easy.
There certainly might have been something to those early down plays being dialed up specifically to avoid Garrett. Of Burrow’s 25 completed passes, 10 of them were for five yards or under as he looked to his running backs and receivers for quick check-down routes. Five of those passes were thrown on first down and four more came on second down, which often led to third and long situations.
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Most teams pass when facing at least five yards to go on third down. So far this year, teams have passed the ball 81.8 percent of the time in those situations. Over the past three years, Garrett has racked up nine of his 34 sacks (26.5 percent) when teams run a play on third and at least five to go, according to Stathead. Two of those nine sacks were Garrett getting to Burrow.
Quarterbacks are going to struggle when they are consistently pressured by the opposing defense, and Burrow has been no exception. The Bengals are now 2-9-1 when Burrow is sacked at least five times in a game. Two of those losses now belong to Cleveland.
While Ja’Marr Chase wasn’t available, Burrow still believes the Bengals offense is better than what they put out there Monday night.
“We’re a better offense than we put out there tonight, even without him.”
Joe Burrow when asked about playing without Ja’Marr Chase. pic.twitter.com/KLt5t193A8
— CBS Sports HQ (@CBSSportsHQ) November 1, 2022
And it’s probably safe to say Burrow is tired of being hit so often by Garrett. That’s why it’s no surprise that if he has any chance to avoid doing so, he’s probably going to try his best to stay out of his way.
Joe Burrow saw Myles Garrett and said NOPEpic.twitter.com/PalE565xvB
— Pro Football Network (@PFN365) November 1, 2022
The two teams square off again on December 11 in Cincinnati.
