Bengals vs. Texans: T.J. Yates, Houston Must Be Ready for Cincinnati Pass Rush

With the loss of top wide receiver Chad Ochocinco and franchise quarterback Carson Palmer, nobody expected the Cincinnati Bengals to have a winning record of 9-7, let alone get into the playoffs. One of the keys to the resurgence has been defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer's defense, which is top five in sacks through the use of pressure packages as well as illusions of pressure. 

Zimmer, who is known for being aggressive in his play-calling, utilizes several different pressure packages that show pressure in one direction, only for it to come on the other side. This was seen in the previous matchup between the Bengals and Texans that took place in Week 14 of the regular season, a game which the Texans' pass-blockers gave up five sacks. 

Pre-Snap Read

On this play late in the second quarter, the Bengals came out in 30 Nickel package, which is three down linemen and five (Nickel) defensive backs to counter the Texans 11 (one back, one tight end) personnel package.

Once the alignments were set, Houston quarterback T.J. Yates and center Chris Myers saw pressure to their left where two Bengals linebackers stood on the line of scrimmage while a defensive end was aligned in a 9 technique (outside shoulder of tight end). These three defenders, along with the nose tackle, that lined head-up on Myers became a problem for the Texans' blockers.

With the tight end going out for a route, how would they account for four potential pass-rushers with only three blockers?

One way to do this was to make a protection call pre-snap known as "half-slide," which would slide the left tackle, guard, center as well as the right guard, if he was uncovered (which he was), in the direction of the two down linemen and blitzers. This would make four blockers on four defenders to the blitz side, thus an equal matchup.

On the back side of the play, the plan was to have the left tackle account for the defensive end in a single matchup while the running back, Arian Foster, stepped up in pass protection and picked up the linebacker who showed blitz. 

Post-Snap Read

When the ball snapped, the Texans thought they had it all figured out. With a half-slide call to the left and the back side protected with the tackle and running back, it would be "hat on hat" blocking.

However, it didn't go as planned, because Zimmer had shown one thing and done another. At the snap, the two linebackers who showed blitz dropped in coverage while the blitzer across the right tackle blitzed along with the cornerback, who was aligned across the receiver at the top of the screen before the snap.

Once this happened, the Texans' pass-blockers were at a disadvantage once again. The aforementioned 9 technique alignment by the defensive end at the bottom of the screen forced the left tackle to over-set, leaving him on an island, while the nose tackle stunted with the far defensive end, who went in the direction of the interior pass-blockers with a technique known as "long sticking."

By doing this, the right tackle would also slide in the direction of the end, leaving the running back as the only pass-blocker against two Bengals blitzers, consequently resulting in a sack on rookie T.J. Yates.

Sugaring the Gaps

One other way the Bengals have consistently gotten pressure this season is by "sugaring" the gaps, as NFL Films Greg Cosell says. What it means to sugar the gaps is to align defenders right on the line of scrimmage and show blitz, similar to the previous example. However, the difference here is that these blitzers end up creating problems with the blocking of the interior offensive line by dropping back into coverage instead of blitzing, as seen earlier this season against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Pre-Snap Read

Against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 10, the Bengals got to quarterback Ben Roethlisberger five times through the illusion of pressure. On this play, the Bengals came out in their base four-man front and showed an additional two coming downhill by aligning them on the line of scrimmage, giving them a numbers advantage (six) on the Steelers' pass-blockers (five) and putting them in conflict.

An example of this conflict can be seen by isolating a single player, such as the left tackle. He is seen to the right of the image, where he has a defensive tackle aligned in a shaded four (4i) technique inside of his shoulder while the defensive end set up in a loose five technique off his outside shoulder. 

The offensive tackle, who has been taught to block inside-out, is struggling to identify his assignment. Does he pick up the defensive tackle, who is assigned to him based off of the alignment and teachings, or does he pick up the defensive end, leaving the defensive tackle to rush upfield?

But what about the rest of the blockers? How do they account for the additional two Bengals defenders? 

Luckily for them, the Bengals' two linebackers end up dropping in coverage and double covering the tight end, but their influence on the offensive line is noticeable.

The left guard (on the right) ends up picking up the shaded defensive tackle, leaving the left tackle on an island against the defensive end. This is a problem for the left tackle because he ends up giving the end a three way go of inside, outside or through him. 

To the left of the guard, the center and right guard look to pick up the blitzer and the opposite defensive tackle (2i), but the blitzer drops, leaving the right guard to combination block with the center, consequently playing into the hands of the Bengals' scheme because of a blocker being left without any defender to block as well as creating one-on-one matchups on the outsides. 

On the left of the image, the right tackle has the same fate as the left tackle, sliding out to pick up the defensive end, thus allowing the end to choose where he wants to go.

Sorting the Rushers

The Bengals will likely be coming into Saturday's playoff game with nearly a dozen different packages that bring pressure or show pressure, and the Texans better be prepared. The last time these two teams met, the Texans had issues protecting rookie quarterback T.J. Yates because of defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer's packages.

I expect the Texans to handle them better this time because they have a very good offensive line, but they will also run into issues at times in identifying blitzers.