I thought the Cincinnati Bengals defense played well enough to win the game on Sunday against the Jacksonville Jaguars. A couple of untimely turnovers by the offense did not help their cause. Ultimately, the Bengals were unable to pull out the victory. They lost 22-17 to the Jaguars and fell to 2-2 on the season.
There are still things to be fixed on the defense. Most notably, they are battling a tackling issue with one of their starting safeties. Overall though, this was a much better performance
from the defense than we saw the week before in Pittsburgh. Specifically, I thought Barrett Carter and Demetrius Knight Jr. had the best game combined of the season for the linebackers against Jacksonville.
Demetrius Knight Jr. finished the game with 6 tackles and played much more aggressively at times than we have seen in some previous weeks. When he is aggressively attacking downhill, it is typically when he is playing at his best. We saw him shoot a gap early in the game, ending up with a tackle for loss against Bhayshul Tuten as a result.
Things were not perfect for Knight on the day, as there were still a couple of questionable angles taken during the game. In particular, the touchdown run in the second half was a play that Knight looked out of position coming up near the line of scrimmage. He wasn’t the only one to question on that play, but it was probably his most notable negative play.
As solid as Knight was during the game overall, I think Barrett Carter might have been even more impressive. Carter finished the game with a team-high 11 tackles, a tackle for loss, and a pass defensed against Parker Washington. Carter was in a really good position on the talented slot receiver for the Jaguars. He did a good job of not turning him at all on the play, which would have certainly drawn a flag from Sunday’s flag-happy crew.
Carter looked very instinctive during the game on Sunday. He was decisive, quick to react against the run, and wasn’t credited with a single missed tackle during the game.
Any game where your linebackers do not record a single missed tackle combined seems like a win to me. The biggest question will be consistency going forward. We need these guys to start doing this week-in and week-out for this defense. If there is a glaring weakness on this defense, it isn’t the linebacker play right now. It is the play of Jordan Battle. The Bengals will have to get healthy to consider replacing Battle in the starting lineup. I don’t think that should be in question for these linebackers. We just need more performances from them like we saw on Sunday against Jacksonville.
