Bengals Beat: Al Golden ‘Is Working Like Crazy’ To Get The Defense Where It Needs To Be For The Final Four Games

CINCINNATI — Winning games in the NFL is more about winning key moments than anything else.

The Bengals learned that the hard way Sunday in Buffalo. But they are hoping to put that experience to good use in the final four games. Certainly, the young players on defense stand to gain more than anything else from five specific plays that changed the course of the game.

The young players like Barrett Carter and Demetrius Knight Jr. have made strides and the work ethic is there. Shemar Stewart may yet be able to get back on the field from his knee injury for the final three or four games. But to win in the NFL, there needs to be more than effort. There needs to be execution of a game plan and the skill required to make big plays in big moments. The effort is there for this group. The playmaking and execution has not consistently been there, and it cost the Bengals dearly Sunday.

“I think we fought our ass off,” defensive coordinator Al Golden said of Sunday’s effort in the 39-34 loss to the Bills. “We really competed hard, had two red zone stops, created a turnover, had a turnover on downs right before the half. They’re sitting there at 11 points at halftime. I think they’re at 18 with eight (minutes) and change to go in the game. So there’s a lot of positives.”

Of course, the pick-6 by Christian Benford of Joe Burrow turned the game on a dime and gave the Bills the lead with 5:25 left in the fourth quarter. Another interception led to a fourth-and-goal that the Bills converted for a touchdown, and a 39-28 lead. If Joe Burrow doesn’t throw either one of those picks, we’re talking more about the DJ Turner punch out forced fumble or the job they did on James Cook or the pressure the defensive line applied to Josh Allen at the end of the first half and to open the second half.

As Zac Taylor indicated Monday, the Bengals have had precious few games in which they could run a four-minute offense and run out the clock or grind a game to a finish. Sunday appeared to be headed that way for the Bengals when they led, 28-18, with just under nine minutes left.

But it never got there.

“Haven’t had an opportunity, and really weren’t there (in Buffalo),” Taylor told me. “With Josh Allen on the other side, there’s 5:55 left on the clock, we needed to go score. And trying to run clock at the same time, but we were not in a four-minute mode where there was gonna be one possession left in the game. Obviously we didn’t finish that game the way we wanted to, and it was disappointing because we were in a good spot. We played the game the right way for a long time, and we just didn’t finish those last six minutes.”

But again, the Bengals could’ve been there had the defense come up with some stops in key situations. That’s not to say the defense hasn’t made significant strides under the tutelage of Golden. It has. But the Bengals went 0-for-5 in these five critical situations that cost them the game.

4th and 4 at Bengals 45 in the second quarter. Result: Josh Allen pass to Gabe Davis for 17 yards.

4th and 4 at Bengals 11 in the second quarter. Result: Josh Allen pass to Khalil Shakir for 11 yards TD.

2nd and 10 at Bengals 40 in the fourth quarter. Result: Josh Allen evades Cedric Johnson and runs 40 yards untouched for TD.

4th and goal at Bengals 4 in the fourth quarter. Result: Josh Allen to Jackson Hawes for 4 yards and touchdown.

3rd and 15 at Bills 25 in the fourth quarter. Result: Josh Allen scramble for 17 yards to seal the end of the game.

Any one of those stops changes the course of the game and dramatically increases, if not assures, the chances the Bengals win the game. The first two came on Buffalo’s first touchdown drive. The third one came 71 seconds after the Bengals had taken a 28-18 lead.

The fourth one would’ve given the Bengals the ball back, trailing just 32-28. The Bengals marched down the field for a touchdown that made it 39-34. And the final one would’ve given Burrow the ball back with just under two minutes left and plenty of time for Burrow to drive the team down the field for a game-winning touchdown.

Then there’s the explosive plays, which is always a danger playing a quarterback like Josh Allen. The Bengals allowed 10 plays of 16 yards or more, including three completions to tight end Dawson Knox of 32 and 31 and 20 yards to tight end Dalton Kincaid. The defense against tight ends has not been good enough to give the defense a chance to get off the field. The linebackers bit too often on play-action that left the middle of the field open.

“We bit on the play-action fake. That’s two weeks in a row. We’re working it,” Golden said. “We just got to settle down in there and be able to, we call it radar. If you do take a ball fake, be able to radar and get underneath the over there. I want to be clear on that because there’s a lot of things that we got to clean up, but there’s a lot of plays in there in the game where they’re looking for what we call a scissors or a sail. They’re looking for a 27-yarder on the sideline and we make ’em throw it low. And so there’s a lot of that obviously on the drag that they caught that was well executed by then. We have to do a better job on our side. That one we need to match better. That was not that instance.”

But there was a lot of good to be seen on tape, like the two red zone stops, including the forced fumble on James Cook by DJ Turner and near interceptions by Turner and Jordan Battle that could’ve also changed the course of the game. Golden sees his unit playing much faster than it was even midway through the season. And the fast play is a great sign to Golden that players aren’t confused and the communication is where it needs to be.

“I want to be clear, a lot of times it’s not a (missed assignment),” Golden said. “It’s a technique or bad eyes or whatever the case may be. But right now, we’re playing fast. There’s not a lot of confusion with our guys. That’s what they’re designed to do. And when you get in those ‘gotta have it’ situations in the low red, it’s magnified. That’s why we spend so much time there. Everything happens so fast and you have to make a innate decisions and do it inordinately quick.

“Again, these guys rarely disappoint me with their work ethic, with their approach, with their unity, with their fight. So I don’t have many days where I’m discouraged or frustrated. Like anybody else, I get disappointed. We’re working like crazy at it and we have to eliminate a couple of the plays that make a difference.”