If you want to know how the Bengals beat the Texans Sunday in Houston, just look inside that last drive.
Right tackle Bobby Hart would call it perseverance.
"We had games where it hasn't been the best, but nobody sits there and points fingers," Hart said of his offensive line. "It's just always 'I could've done something better or we could've worked better together to get the job done.' I feel like just staying the course and persevering is the main thing. I'm going to keep saying it's perseverance. Not worrying about last week, just focusing on the now and just trying to get better as an individual and as a unit."
Hart could have been talking about his entire team.
Down, 31-27 with 6:15 left, the Bengals turned to two things they haven't had much of this season. The running game and an intact offensive line. Ten plays, 75 yards and 4:18 later the Bengals were up, 34-31, with 1:57 left and on their way to a 37-31 victory.
"That last touchdown, we knew it was crunch time. We knew what we had to do, said running back Samaje Perine after his 95-yard rushing day. "Those guys told in the huddle if you see the whole, hit it. We're going to do what we can, and the rest is up to you. That's been like that for the last two or three weeks. Those guys just going in constantly every day and working, working on technique just to get better and just to open up holes for us. They've done that."
The Bengals ran it seven times for 40 yards in the winning drive with Giovani Bernard starting the drive with four carries for 25 yards and Perine finishing it off with three carries for 15 more than included the winning three yarder knifing behind right guard Quinton Spain. Interspersed were huge throws from quarterback Brandon Allen to wide receivers Tee Higgins (11 yards) and Alex Erickson (20 yards).
And, don't forget that other throw, a four-yard flip to Perine on one of those screens that tortured the Texans all day. That gave the Bengals a first down at the Houston 8 and kept the clock running to the two-minute warning.
That is one of those plays that Allen says makes head coach Zac Taylor's offense so effective because it can do so many things out of one look. On this play they lined up with double tight ends to the right, a formation they had used some in running it 31 times to that point, or to help the tackles chip J.J. Watt.
But instead of barreling off right tackle or chipping, the tight ends let the rush come in as Allen went the other side on the screen to Perine.
"That was the plan, to show them a lot of different things," Taylor said of the screen game. "They had some younger defensive ends over there on the left side that we wanted to see how they were going to play and what their style was. I thought our guys did a real good job executing that stage of the offense."
The screens were also a great tool to keep the Hall-of-rusher Watt at bay as he tried to probe Hart and left tackle Fred Johnson for vulnerabilities. Watt couldn't find it on the second play of the drive, Allen's 11-yard dart to a leaping Higgins. Hart had help from guard Quinton Spain on Watt.
"time" - Google News
December 28, 2020 at 12:33PM
https://ift.tt/3o114ni
Bengals Offensive Line Crunches Just In Time - Bengals.com
"time" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3f5iuuC
No comments:
Post a Comment