Cincinnati Bengals Defensive End Antwan Odom Demands Double-Team

September 2009 might just be the best month of Antwan Odom’s life.

Odom, the AFC Defensive Player of the Week after sacking Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rogers five times in week two, has piled up seven sacks in only three September games. The sack total is more than double his tally of three from an injury-plagued 2008 campaign.

Also, the sixth year defensive end—in the second year of a five year $29.5 million contract with the Cincinnati Bengals—recently welcomed a new addition to his family, as his wife gave birth to the couple’s fourth child, a boy, Memphis, on Sept. 25.

Riding this professional and personal high, Odom—who added 30 pounds to his frame in the offseason, drawing rumors of performance-enhancing drug use in recent weeks—has given the Bengals the elite, gameplan-altering pass rusher that they have lacked for years.

Odom’s effectiveness came to full manifestation in a week three contest against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Despite only getting to Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger once in the Bengals 23-20 upset victory—albeit at a critical moment, forcing Roethlisberger to scramble into the arms of Pat Sims and Robert Geathers to thwart a Steeler drive with 5:54 remaining—Odom’s presence on the backside changed the way the Steelers approached their blocking schemes throughout the game.

The Steelers entered the game prepared for Odom, leaving an extra blocker to chip off of him either at the line of scrimmage or in the backfield. This left Steeler left tackle Max Starks with a propensity to push Odom to the outside assistance, causing Odom to dip towards the middle of the field throughout the first half.

The necessity of the soft double team that Odom was given in the first half did not slow the Steeler offense, however, as Odom’s inside rushes repeatedly gave Roethlisberger room to find open throwing lanes.

When Bengal defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer adjusted at halftime, consistently sending a blitzing fifth pass rusher to force Pittsburgh to keep seven blockers in—lest they allow Odom a one-on-one matchup on the outside—the tide of the game began to shift. Odom continued to see two defenders assigned to him as the Steelers ran three-man routes.

As the Bengal defense gained confidence, the requirement of a double-team for Odom became a firm precedent for the rest of the NFL to follow.

It was no coincidence that the increased attention paid to Odom coincided with a stagnation of the Steeler offense, as the Bengal secondary was able to utilize zone coverage to put multiple defenders around the Steeler intermediate routes, limiting their effectiveness.

As the Bengals head to Cleveland in week four they confront a team that has allowed the second most sacks in the league through three weeks, giving Odom—and the strong-side defenders now receiving consistent one-on-one matchups—an opportunity to further cement a newfound image: a team with a dangerous pass rush.

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Armageddon Approaches For Cincinnati Bengals

It is time to panic in Cincinnati.

Go crazy. Start running around like chickens with your heads cut off. The city is going up in flames.

Week 1 of the 2009 NFL season saw the Bengals lose on a miraculous “tip-drill touchdown,” a seemingly fitting way to end a season opener in which the Bengals showed flashes of promise against an ominous background.

The Bengals offensive line gave Carson Palmer ample time to pick up 247 yards on 21 completions…against a vastly undersized and inferior Denver Bronco pass rush.

The Bengals secondary held Brandon Marshall to only 27 yards receiving…in large part because quarterback Kyle Orton struggled to throw the ball further than 20 yards down the field.

Rookie linebacker Rey Maualuga was ubiquitous throughout the second half, flying all over the field to make six tackles…the bulk of which came after five to 10 yard gains by a resurgent Bronco offense.

Cedric Benson picked up 76 yards on 21 carries…against a defense with the personnel for a 4-3 that runs a 3-4.

You get the point.

Even if Brandon Stokley had not snatched the hearts of Who Dey Nation out of thin air with 11 seconds remaining, the deficiencies displayed by the Bengals in the preseason manifested themselves in a wholly uninspiring performance from Marvin Lewis’ squad.

As the Bengals move to Green Bay in week 2, it is already do-or-die time for Mike Brown’s enterprise to retain requisite fan support to sell out another home game.

Resurgence seems fleeting. Panic seems reasonable.

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Bengal Gambles Having Early Payoff

You have to take some risks to reap some rewards.

The Cincinnati Bengals have not seen much of the latter in recent years, leading them to shake things up this offseason.

One area of modification has been on defense, a unit that was ranked 12^th in the NFL in 2008. However, the Bengal defense featured a putrid pass rush—30^th in the NFL with 17 sacks—leading defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer to take more drastic steps before heading into 2009.

Zimmer, along with the Bengals front office, began the overhaul by addressing personnel deficiencies on Draft Day.

Cincinnati brought in middle linebacker Rey Maualuga—an All-American known for his straight-line bone-crushing inertia—who fell to pick No. 38 of the second round due to his limited lateral quickness.

By utilizing Maualuga as a blitzer, as was the case on a third quarter pressure of New England quarterback Brian Hoyer in the Aug. 20 preseason game, Zimmer is maximizing his new weapon’s talents, adding a talented pass rusher to his defensive repertoire.

Thirty-two picks after Maualuga, the Bengals also rolled the dice on defense, drafting defensive end Michael Johnson. Johnson was acknowledged as among the best pass rushers in the 2009 draft class, yet had obvious warts in his run-stopping abilities.

Zimmer has compounded the gamble even further in training camp, moving Johnson to linebacker to maximize the number of pass-rushers on the field at one time. While Johnson has been quiet of late—failing to record a tackle against New England—the experiment at linebacker has not blown up in Zimmer’s face.

The simplification of the pass rush from the standing, linebacker position—utilize your quickness and hand-fighting moves to get to the quarterback—are the traits that Johnson possessed and excelled with in college.

Zimmer’s gambling spirit has extended into his game planning, as well. Sending linebackers like Maulaluga and Johnson into the backfield has long been a staple of the Zimmer zone-blitzing scheme, especially in his stint with Cincinnati’s unit that lacks a dominant rusher at defensive end.

However, the emergence of an up-the-middle surge from defensive tackles Pat Sims and Domata Peko has allowed Zimmer to take gambles by sending members of the secondary into the backfield as well. The decreased time and comfort in the pocket for opposing quarterbacks keeps opponents from dissecting the newfound hole in the Bengal defense.

Questions still remain as to whether the risk of the new permutations of the defensive personnel and scheme will withstand the adjustment cycle of NFL offensive coordinators. But as the preseason drags onward, the chips pushed to the middle of the table by the Bengal defensive alterations have proven to accrue mild returns.

Smith Snoozing For a Bruising

You snooze, you lose.

That would seem to be the way the 2009 season is looking for Cincinnati Bengals rookie right tackle Andre Smith.

Smith’s common sense took a nap in late-December, when he engaged in improper contact with an agent, leading to his suspension from Alabama’s Sugar Bowl loss to Utah on Jan. 5.

He took a mental snooze in February, when he decided to head for the exits of the NFL Draft Combine in Indianapolis early without informing his group leader, raising questions about his NFL preparedness.

Now, in August as his new Bengal teammates are preparing for their first preseason game on Friday night in New Orleans, Smith seems to be suffering his biggest torpidity-induced hurdle yet: physical inactivity due to his now two week old holdout.

By spending Friday night 300 miles away from New Orleans at his home in Birmingham, Smith will be missing out on valuable repetitions against a Saints defense that features a very palatable outlook for a rookie right tackle.

The 4-3 defense that Greg Williams has installed in the Big Easy would not have required as much adroitness—mental or physical—out of Smith, as he would have been familiar with the defense that every SEC team, save Smith’s own Crimson Tide, ran last season.

Also, having a defensive end—likely Charles Grant or Paul Spicer, neither of whom pose an overly imposing threat—head-up on him would make the introduction to right tackle in the NFL a smoother journey.

Furthermore, as the Bengals offense begins to mesh, particularly the offensive line featuring Anthony Collins at right tackle, the prospect of Smith competing for a starting job this season is rapidly dwindling. He may receive a healthy paycheck after his holdout is resolved, but if walks into Georgetown, Ky.—or at this rate, the Bengals downtown practice facility—playing catch-up behind an effective offensive line, it will not matter how many zeros are on his paycheck.

There are a lot of zeros on Carson Palmer’s pay stub as well, and maintaining an effective front on his right side takes precedence over any star-studded, hulking draftee.

It seems that the sooner that Smith and his agent Alvin Keels wake up from their greedy demands, and realize the price that the rookie is paying in lost opportunities outweighs any financial gain to be leveraged through drawn-out hardball, the better Smith—and the Bengals—will be.

Until then the virtual alarm clock will keep ringing. Let’s just hope there is not a snooze button for that, as well.

 

Bengals = Cardinals? Not Quite

Are the Bengals this year’s version of the Arizona Cardinals?

 

In a word: no.

 

The Cardinals and the Bengals have many things in common: a talented trio of receivers, a veteran Pro Bowl quarterback, an underrated defense and a lack of a running game.

 

But the Cardinals also possessed one aspect the Bengals are missing: the big play.

 

The Bengals do not have the ability to stretch the field in the same way the Cardinals did because Cincinnati’s receiving corps of Chad Ocho Cinco, Laveranues Coles and Chris Henry are all at their best while executing short square-outs and over-the-middle patterns—especially with the advancing age of Ocho Cinco and Coles, both 31.

 

As a result, Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer will have to focus on getting the ball out quickly and accurately to the quick-developing routes.

 

This works to the Bengals’ advantage because there are questions about Palmer’s ability to throw the deep ball following a torn tendon in his throwing elbow in 2008.

 

Also, a reconstructed offensive line—which will feature rookie Andre Smith at right tackle and guard Andrew Whitworth shifting to the outside to cover Palmer’s blindside at left tackle—figures to provide less than the requisite five seconds for down-field opportunities to develop.

 

The Cardinals lived on such plays in 2008, utilizing big-play threats Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin to produce 54 plays over 20 yards through the air. The Bengals only had 21 such plays in ‘08.

 

Without the ability to stretch the field in a similar fashion, the Bengals’ offense will not have the same room to operate, thwarting the running game that offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski is determined to establish.

 

Further troubling a Bengals offense that was last in the NFL in total offense in 2008 is their schedule, pitting them against run-stopping stalwarts Baltimore and Pittsburgh twice a year in divisional rivalries.

 

Also, the presence of the Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears and New York Jets — all top-10 run-stopping defenses in 2008 — will force the Bengals to rely more heavily on the pass.

 

Such a reliance will rob the Bengals of the play-action pass that was not only the staple of the 2008 Cardinal attack, but Palmer’s signature play before he missed the final 12 weeks last year with the elbow injury.

 

Despite their weaknesses, the 2009 Bengals may still appear on paper to be the closest to copying the 2008 Cardinals archetype.

 

However, Bengal fans might want to wait until they see a few big plays on the field this year before making their own bold move: purchasing plane tickets for Miami in February.

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