Orlando Brown Jr. came under some criticism following the Cincinnati Bengals' 20-6 win against the Houston Texans because quarterback Joe Burrow was roughed up a bit. Burrow was sacked five times, and some of the pass rushers appeared to leak through Brown, who took the brunt of criticism and accepted it during post-game interviews in Houston.
The Bengals don't appear to be close to losing faith in Brown, though, and Brown still has Burrow's support. For now, Cincinnati players and coaches say they expect Brown can and will be more effective.
Case-in-point: Offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher on Sept. 24 was asked about flipping positions for Brown, a left tackle, and Amarius Mims, a rising star at right tackle whose biggest challenge during the
Sept. 20 Houston victory might have been a blown-out cleat.
Brown has an overall Pro Football Focus pass-blocking grade of 51.7 through two games, and Mims has a pass-blocking grade of 80.9.
Part of the calculus around the suggestion of having the two players flip sides revolves around the fact that Brown is to the left of Burrow, a right-handed thrower who sometimes has his back to the left side of the field.
In other words, Brown is protecting Burrow's blindside, but Pitcher said he doesn't think there are many true blindside plays remaining in the modern game. Also, elite pass-rushing teams like the Texans come from all sides.
“Houston's a great example. There are great right defensive ends and great left defensive ends, and most guys play both sides," Pitcher said. "There are a select few plays in a game where I think that the notion of a blindside is still a real thing, but most of the time, I don't. ... A lot of the time your blind side is determined by where your eyes go based on the read. So, I don't necessarily think that you need your best guy at left, if that makes sense.
"You need two really good tackles, and Amarius is playing at a really high level. We've seen Orlando Brown play at a high level, and I know Orlando expects himself to play at a high level, and I think he'll get there. So, that's where we're at.”
Perhaps most important for Brown is that he has the backing of Burrow, whose feedback informs coaching decisions and perspectives.
"I think Orlando was pretty good on (Sunday). There were a couple of sacks that weren't in his control at the end of the day," Burrow said. "There's a lot of different things that go into pass protection that's not just on the offensive line. That's what you don't see in the media. There's very intricate details of pass protection. A guy expecting help here, a guy expecting help from a different spot. A lot of different things go into it that we would never explain to you guys. Then it's left up to interpretation. That's how football works. That's the o-line position at the end of the day.
"That is a thankless job from the exterior, so you try to pump those guys up as much as you can in the building. But I really think they were pretty good on Sunday. I could've been better in a couple of spots. They certainly could have been better in a couple of spots. And the guys helping them could have been better in a couple of spots."
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Joe Burrow, Bengals aren't panicking over Orlando Brown Jr.'s play
