CINCINNATI -- Jimmy Graham, Andre Johnson and Vincent Jackson have made their NFL careers catching the long ball and providing deep threats for their quarterbacks. All three were virtually invisible against the Bengals in the last three games.
The forward pass and the big plays that passing attacks can produce is everything in the NFL these days. It hasn't been much for the Bengals' last three opponents, which coincides with the team's current three-game winning streak. They've been able to shut down some of the league's top receivers through a combination of coverages and pressures that have rekindled confidence in a unit that struggled through the first half of the season.
"It takes 11 guys combined in those situations all the time, no matter what," said head coach Marvin Lewis. "It's whatever the coverage is, and making sure we're playing the coverage to the best of our abilities, and everybody in the right spots. The rush has to work with the coverage, and the coverage has to work with the rush."
The Bengals have held quarterbacks Drew Brees of New Orleans, Ryan Mallett of Houston and Josh McCown of Tampa Bay to a combined passer rating of 70.5, allowing an average of 209 yards passing in those three games and just one touchdown. Compare that to the horrid three-game stretch in October when Tom Brady of New England, Cam Newton of Carolina and Andrew Luck of Indianapolis dissected the Bengals with 904 yards total passing, six touchdowns and 7.3 yards per attempt.
While the only quarterback out of this latest group to fit into the quarterback level of Brady and Luck is Brees, there is no doubt that the Bengals have raised their level of play the last three games. After allowing 32 plays of 20 or more yards in their first nine games, including 28 on passes, they've given up just four such plays in the last three games. The longest play they gave up to Brees and the Saints was good for just 17 yards.
The Bengals have allowed just two offensive touchdowns in the last three games after giving up 22 touchdowns through the first nine games. Even despite three interceptions thrown by Andy Dalton on Sunday against Tampa Bay and a failed onside kick attempt in the third quarter that left the Buccaneers with the ball at the Cincinnati 31-yard line, the defense yielded just two field goals out of those situations.
"I wouldn't necessarily call it frustration, it's just the fact that we know we're better than that. We know what we have in this locker room," said defensive tackle Brandon Thompson. "Whenever we get a turnover we never want to give up points. That's always the goal, keep them out of the end zone, no points and get the offense the ball back. That's what we wanted to do when we went out there."
Tampa Bay is hardly an offensive juggernaut but Jackson and rookie Mike Evans have each caught over 50 passes this season, combining for nearly 1,600 yards and 10 touchdowns. The Bengals held them to just six receptions on 13 targets for 73 yards Sunday. It was the same story last week at Houston against Johnson and rookie DeAndre Hopkins, a duo that has combined for 125 receptions, more than 1,750 yards and eight touchdowns this season. The Bengals held them to eight catches on 21 targets and 75 yards.
Brees' overall numbers against the Bengals didn't look too bad (33 of 41, 255 yards, one touchdown) but as he and the Saints showed against Pittsburgh Sunday in a 35-32 win at Heinz Field, they are capable of so much more. Brees threw for five touchdowns against the Steelers. The Bengals never let the Saints beat them with the big play.
"(It's about) Film study, listening to our coaches and then remembering what we talked about during the week," said safety George Iloka. "You're trying to take away the quarterback's main option, his first read and trying to make him hit the check down and then rally and tackle."
Two of Tampa Bay's three plus-20 gains came when the Bengals missed tackles on short passes.
"By flipping off the tackle, small gains became bigger gains, which played a part in the football game," said Lewis. "We've got to be better at that."
One area that is improving, said Lewis, is the pass rush the defensive line is producing without the aid of blitzes. It would be tough to figure that from sack stats but there is more to an organized pass rush than dropping a quarterback for a loss.
The Bengals have just 15 sacks this season as a defense, which is 30th in the league ahead of only Atlanta (14) and Oakland (13). The NFL average is 27.4 sacks per team through the first 13 weeks of play with the New York Jets and Miami still left to play Monday night. The Bengals ranked last in the league in sacks per pass attempt at 3.21 percent.
A consistent pass rush, however, can help dictate where a pass is thrown or how on time it's thrown.
"The last three games we've been getting a lot pressure and the sacks haven't shown that," said Iloka. "When you see the opposing quarterback, he's always throwing off his back foot or scrambling or things like that. We're getting him off rhythm. Those things are just as important. Obviously sacks are explosive plays, just like interceptions for DBs. But just because you didn't get an interception doesn't mean you weren't doing your job in coverage. Our D line's doing a good job in terms of getting pressure, and those sacks will start falling pretty soon."
This improved pass defense will get another test this week when Pittsburgh comes to Paul Brown Stadium. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is among the top 10 in every passing category, including a 26-to-8 touchdown-to-interception ratio, and he owns the top fourth quarter passer rating (110.0) in the AFC. Wide receiver Antonio Brown leads the NFL with 96 receptions, 1,258 yards and 11 touchdown catches.
The following week the Bengals will be tested by Cleveland wide receiver Josh Gordon, who missed the first game between the teams because of a suspension although he was hardly missed in the Browns' 24-3 win. Then Peyton Manning and his multitude of receivers come to town before a trip to Pittsburgh to close out the regular season.
There is no rest stop in sight.
"We keep talking and being repetitive about this, but all the work put in by the players since April, it now comes down to these four weeks, but most importantly this week," said Lewis. "It provides one opportunity, provides the next opportunity, so December is very, very important that you play well. Obviously you want to play and continue through January, but we've got to take care of December first. We had a good September, not a very good October, a better November, and we need to have an even better December."
