Bengals Beat: The Loss Of Dax Hill Sets A Strained Secondary Back Even More

CINCINNATI — The last thing this Bengals secondary needed was for its most consistent and versatile cornerback to be lost to a torn ACL.

But that’s the reality of what happened Sunday to the Bengals as Dax Hill suffered a torn ACL and will be lost for the season.

The play occurred on Baltimore second drive of the game as the Bengals were in a zero-blitz and Zay Flowers came out in his pattern at Hill. The third-year corner broke back and then when he broke on his right leg his knee buckled.

The loss of Hill will have a domino impact on the Bengals secondary. It means that DJ Turner and Cam Taylor-Britt are the corners, Mike Hilton is the nickel (assuming he can return this Sunday against the Giants), Jalen Davis is the back-up nickel and rookie Josh Newton is the third corner.

“Heartbroken for him,” head coach Zac Taylor said. “We’ve moved him around, played him in a lot of different spots. All he’s ever done is put his head down and worked and taken whatever coaching and tried to make the most of every opportunity and was showing a tremendous amount of growth at that corner spot, played nickel for us (Sunday).

“You hate it for him. I know he’ll bounce back from it. I think his brother’s been through similar injuries before, and so, I know he’s got a good support system. But just hate it for him because of what he’s showing on the field and just the way he carries himself and the way he’d gone about his business. Awful for him.”

Hill came into the season battling for the second corner spot with DJ Turner and was thought to be a replacement for Mike Hilton down the road if Hilton doesn’t return in 2025. But Hill progressed to the point where the Bengals were very much liking his performance, including breaking up a potential touchdown in Carolina when the Panthers had the ball first-and-goal to open the game.

“Absolutely. Really optimistic with him, and just saw a really high ceiling there with Dax, and he was willing to reach it with the work he could put in and all the things he can do, and so again, just terrible for him, but I know he’s made of the right stuff and he’ll rebound the right way,” Taylor said.

Now it’s up to Turner and Newton to step up.

“I think DJ has come along as well,” Taylor added. “He’s earned opportunity, and like all of our guys, there are going to be plays where we can be better, but DJ, again, has attacked it the right way and continues to improve. I think, (Newton) Fig’s the same way. We’ve got a lot of belief in him. He’s a rookie, he’s eager to do it. So again, there’s going to be opportunities there that continue to present themselves to guys, and we expect them to answer the bell.”

Tasked with putting all of the pieces back together will be defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo.

“He was doing a good job outside (and) inside,” Anarumo said of Hill’s versatility and immense value as the most flexible defensive back in the secondary. “You saw him on that one tackle in that two by two-wide set. (Derrick) Henry came off the edge and Dax was there to make a really sure tackle. It’s just a shame. He’s really feeling good about his position. It’s unfortunate. He’ll come back good as new next year.”

As for the safeties, they continue to have their moments when they allow big plays on third down. It’s a big problem for this defense, and arguably their most pressing issue to address.

Vonn Bell was beaten twice over the top Sunday, including a tight end wheel route down the right sideline for 55 yards to Charlie Kolar.

“We were in what we call a particular pressure,” Anarumo said. “We were in such a pressure mentality. When Dax went down, I also had to think about who was covering who and the matchups and things like that. We have some zone blitzes that we’ll run that are shy in coverage. That was one where we could have handled it slightly better. It’ll look like guys are open. It’s the same one that we ran earlier and they spit the screens out and we were tackling them on the same thing three times. That one, we need to play it better with Cam and Vonn.”

Anarumo was actually pleased with what he saw from Jordan Battle, who did get beat over the top by veteran tight end Mark Andrews.

“He had a tough matchup (with) Mark Andrews, but kind of got beat off the line a little bit,” Anarumo said. “I think Jordan just needs to keep staying with it, keep practicing good and for where we’re at, I think that we just have to make sure that everybody’s got an opportunity to try to help us win.”