Is Wallace Gilberry the Biggest X-Factor of Wild Card Weekend?

It was the defining image of Week 15 in the NFL: Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Wallace Gilberry emphatically doing the "Money Manziel" sign over Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel.

Gilberry and company dropped Manziel three times in the poor rookie quarterback's first start. Gilberry led the Bengals pass rush, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required), generating four out of their 11 hurries. The Bengals, whose maddening inconsistency had at that point held them to just one more win than the supposedly lowly Browns, came to Cleveland and stomped out the upstarts, 30-0.

Where had this Bengals defense been all season?

The nasty, swarming unit that ranked fifth in points allowed in 2013 dropped to an uninspiring 12th in 2014. The culprit: a toothless pass rush. The Bengals finished 10th in sacks (43) and 13th in sack rate (6.5 percent) in 2013—but dead last in sacks (20) and sack rate (3.2 percent) this year.

	TD Rate	INT Rate	Sack Rate	Avg. Y/A	NFL QB Rating
Value	3.0%	3.3%	3.2%	5.3	75.8
Rank	2nd	5th	32nd	6th	3rd

Defensive end Carlos Dunlap was the Bengals' sack leader with a respectable eight. Tackle Geno Atkins notched only three. Nobody else on the Bengals managed more than 1.5. What happened?

One easy explanation is the loss of defensive end Michael Johnson to Tampa Bay—but he had only 3.5 sacks for the Bengals last year, and he's only registered four for the Buccaneers. In fact, Gilberry's six fewer sacks from last season to this one account for a much bigger chunk of the Bengals' missing production.

After Dunlap and Atkins, the Bengals just haven't had enough power along the defensive front to stop the run or hassle passers. When the 6'3", 267-pound Gilberry gets going, though, the defense becomes truly special.

It's no coincidence that Gilberry's best game, per Pro Football Focus—Week 16 against Denver, when his two quarterback hits, three hurries, two solo tackles and two defensive stops—was also the Bengals' most impressive victory.

Just what does Gilberry add to the defense when he's on? There were a few big plays against the Broncos that, to use the old cliche, didn't show up on the stat sheet. One was the very first throw of the night:

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

Here, the Bengals are blitzing middle linebacker Rey Maualuga up the A-gap. Meanwhile, Gilberry's (No. 95) working on left guard Orlando Franklin.

After quarterback Peyton Manning completes the play fake, he turns around to find Maualuga coming unblocked up the middle:

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

Manning's processing speed and quick release make him one of the hardest quarterbacks to take down; he tucks the ball and slides away from Maualuga's pressure. Manning, his eyes always downfield, sees receiver Emmanuel Sanders coming wide open across the middle of the field:

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

There's a problem, though. Because Gilberry's gotten past Franklin, Gilberry's now right in Manning's face. In a panic, he pulls up and floats one to Sanders; it's a minor miracle it wasn't picked off. Gilberry would go on to crush Manning on that play, his first quarterback hit of the evening. Manning would go on to throw four picks.

Here's another play that felt Gilberry's impact, but it went unrecorded:

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

This is a 1st-and-10 from the second quarter. The Broncos are trying to get vertical against the Bengals' talented secondary. After the snap, Manning again executes play action, hoping to have a receiver open once he sets his feet. Instead, Gilberry bursts cleanly past left tackle Ryan Clady with a nasty shoulder dip:

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

Clady hangs on for dear life as Gilberry flushes Manning to his right:

Credit: NFL Game Rewind

Manning sees Sanders has finally broken open and hits him for a 48-yard gain...but the officials saw Clady's hold. The penalty wiped the play off the board, and the Broncos marched back 10 yards. This play turned a 1st-and-goal from the 10-yard line into an eventual punt.

Gilberry made his presence known on other plays, too. Not only did he switch sides and flex inside, he even dropped back into coverage—an interception of his own bouncing off his hands in the third quarter.

Gilberry's big game turned the Bengals pass rush from a one-trick pony the Broncos could easily scheme around into a fearsome turnover machine.

If he can show up this big against the Indianapolis Colts on Saturday, against another quarterback suffering from a bout of interceptionitis, the Bengals' sticky-fingered secondary could steal them a berth in the divisional round.