Congratulations to the Cincinnati Defense

[Interceptor]

Zimmer has done an outstanding job with the front four. They do an excellent job of executing controlled containment of the pocket without outside help.

[Ryan Mc]

Originally Posted by NC Bengal Mike

Beat me to it.

Bengals are tied for 9th with Packers both at 20.9
and .1 behind the Steelers for 8th

Total yardage is a stat that can be argued many ways. How many points given up cannot

I'd have to disagree. Points conceded can be heavily influenced by your offense turning the ball over and poor special teams play making the D look worse than it is. In the case of our D, I showed last week that once you account for the fact that we've given up more return TDs than other teams (4 pick-6's and 1 kickoff return, i.e. points conceded directly when the D was not even on the field) our rankings in yardage and points allowed were the same. More generally, we're middle of the pack this year with 23 turnovers on offense meaning our D is put under more pressure by our offense giving up short field than half the teams in the league.

[WeezyBengal]

Its cool we are ranked 6th in the league, but is that really honorable of a "Congratulations" thread? I mean if they were ranked 1st, then maybe, but 6th? Cmon.

[PApinhead]

Zimmer has done a great job with defense and they have been looking great the last few weeks. Let's hope this continues for at least three more games!!!!!

[XenoMorph]

Originally Posted by Fan_in_Kettering

Guess who just moved into sixth place in defense in the entire NFL?

The Cincinnati Bengals!

Since Mike Zimmer came to Cincinnati, a ranking such as this would seem normal but in 2012, early in the season, the Bengals' defense was ranked near the bottom of the league. However, thanks to lots of hard work and honest film evaluation, the Bengals are now near the top of the league, passing the Houston Texans whose defense is seventh. That's right, Bengaldom: The Bengals' defense is actually ranked higher than the Texans' defense with superstars like JJ Watt, Connor Barwin, and Johnathan Joseph.

This is terrific because Mike is doing this without any big name players on the Bengals' defensive roster. The average NFL fan might not know who Geno Atkins or Vontaze Burfict are but I promise you Eli Manning and Carson Palmer still have nightmares about those guys.

Let's hope the improvement continues on the defensive side of the ball because it's time to make a statement and shut the Steelers and Ravens down. A team with a good defense can go very far into the playoffs -- and maybe all the way!

it took awhile to recover from that beating baltimore gave us..

and dont forget all our DBs missed the whole preseason and probly were not 100% to start the year same with our MLB and Dunlap.

So as our Defense has gotten healthier they have gotten better as well. (no surprise.)

This should improve as we face 2 struggling offenses the next 2 weeks.

[XenoMorph]

Originally Posted by PApinhead

Zimmer has done a great job with defense and they have been looking great the last few weeks. Let's hope this continues for at least three more games!!!!!

Best news is if dallas makes the playoffs they might not steal zimmer away from us.

[Helldog]

Originally Posted by WeezyBengal

Its cool we are ranked 6th in the league, but is that really honorable of a "Congratulations" thread? I mean if they were ranked 1st, then maybe, but 6th? Cmon.

He was just pointing out we've went from 28th to 6th which is in fact something to be proud of

[THE PISTONS]

Originally Posted by Whodey23

He was just pointing out we've went from 28th to 6th which is in fact something to be proud of

Our sack stats are what impresses me.

I like the 6th ranking...but I don't know that yardage is a great measure of a defense. It's more an indicator of playing style to some point.

[PApinhead]

Originally Posted by BengalsFan024

Best news is if dallas makes the playoffs they might not steal zimmer away from us.

Yeah, let's hope we don't lose him!!!

[Paul from Dayton]

The secondary has made a pretty big turn around...Newman has played much better after a so-so start. Hall has finally looked 100%. Pacman has played very well on the outside. Reggie has come on strong after missing some time and Crocker has filled the hole at SS very well after a horrible year last year.

[XenoMorph]

Originally Posted by THE PISTONS

Our sack stats are what impresses me.

I like the 6th ranking...but I don't know that yardage is a great measure of a defense. It's more an indicator of playing style to some point.

Yeah well these past few weeks we have done extremely well in the scoring category... as well...

And when you hold teams to less than 200 yards total thats an amazing day considering some teams double that just thru the air.

[yellowxdiscipline]

Dont everyone be butt hurt when Zim heads for a HC job next season. Its gonna happen.

[Slappy from New Haven]

Originally Posted by Whodey23

Maybe if Pick 6's didn't count.

You mean if Dalton throws one?

They do not count, only points given up by defense and special teams.

[stonyhands]

Originally Posted by spazz70

That is actually excellent defense...you play your corners off and hope that the rush gets there first...if you blitz and they get behind the CB because they tried to bump at the line and missed that is a much worse situation.....that is the way it is played except with the best of the best at CB...we do not have the best of the best....all about the rush getting there fast...

Actually you are wrong. This is the NFL. If you give the cushion and blitz the QB will get rid of the ball right after its snapped to his hot read. The Cowboys drove down the field easily twice and beat us using this concept. If we were to anticipate this sort of thing we could float a LB in the passing lane baiting the QB to throw that quick slant. Cards did it to Carson a few years back and had like 3-4 INTs in that one game. We never do that ever.

[stonyhands]

Originally Posted by Paul from Dayton

The secondary has made a pretty big turn around...Newman has played much better after a so-so start. Hall has finally looked 100%. Pacman has played very well on the outside. Reggie has come on strong after missing some time and Crocker has filled the hole at SS very well after a horrible year last year.

Newman gets my respect after having such a horrible start to the season. He has improved vastly and Adam Jones is playing very well. These will be tested this week and I feel more comfortable about this game then the first. We still need to shut down Miller if we want to win and Andy has to play mistake free. Meaning no turnovers and no leaving points on the board by poor throws and bad reads.

[Bengals Mike]

Originally Posted by BengalRugby

Never been one to buy into ranking a defense by yards allowed, but instead think points allowed is a much better marker for ranking a defense.

That's the Bengals at 10th, allowing 20.9 ppg.

9th in 2011 with 20.2 ppg.

24th in 2010 with 24.7 ppg.

6th in 2009 with 18.2 ppg.

19th in 2008 with 22.8 ppg.

Points per game can be a flawed measurement of a Defense because it includes points off Offensive turnovers and Special Teams and a Defense isnt responsible for those points

[Slappy from New Haven]

Originally Posted by Ryan Mc

I'd have to disagree. Points conceded can be heavily influenced by your offense turning the ball over and poor special teams play making the D look worse than it is. In the case of our D, I showed last week that once you account for the fact that we've given up more return TDs than other teams (4 pick-6's and 1 kickoff return, i.e. points conceded directly when the D was not even on the field) our rankings in yardage and points allowed were the same. More generally, we're middle of the pack this year with 23 turnovers on offense meaning our D is put under more pressure by our offense giving up short field than half the teams in the league.

But the pick six's do not count against defensive scoring. i will "concede" the kick off return for the discussion only but it is a "defensive" position.

Can you repost you math. As a fan I like to know how the league figures things. Before doing that can you show a game and not a total for the year where it was counted against the defense?

[Slappy from New Haven]

Originally Posted by BengalsFan024

it took awhile to recover from that beating baltimore gave us..

and dont forget all our DBs missed the whole preseason and probly were not 100% to start the year same with our MLB and Dunlap.

So as our Defense has gotten healthier they have gotten better as well. (no surprise.)

This should improve as we face 2 struggling offenses the next 2 weeks.

That would be awesome. If we give up less than 21 we are good. But can we score 21

[savagehenry54]

Originally Posted by Ryan Mc

I'd have to disagree. Points conceded can be heavily influenced by your offense turning the ball over and poor special teams play making the D look worse than it is. In the case of our D, I showed last week that once you account for the fact that we've given up more return TDs than other teams (4 pick-6's and 1 kickoff return, i.e. points conceded directly when the D was not even on the field) our rankings in yardage and points allowed were the same. More generally, we're middle of the pack this year with 23 turnovers on offense meaning our D is put under more pressure by our offense giving up short field than half the teams in the league.

If your D is top ten in both categories, that's solid. Both stats matter, points for obvious reason and less yards given up means more time of possession for the offense, it means that the D, besides not giving up points, is getting off the field on third downs. So I like to see them high in both rankings, they're both important.

[bengalfan74]

Yes ! considering how they struggled early this season it's been quite a turn around. Let's hope they can keep it rolling for these remaining games.

[Ryan Mc]

Originally Posted by NC Bengal Mike

But the pick six's do not count against defensive scoring. i will "concede" the kick off return for the discussion only but it is a "defensive" position.

Can you repost you math. As a fan I like to know how the league figures things. Before doing that can you show a game and not a total for the year where it was counted against the defense?

Pick sixes do count against defensive scoring ... a team's scoring ranking is simply based on the total amount of points opponents have scored all season, there's no adjustment. However, the stats here at NFL.com do list the number of pick-sixes etc., so we can see that reversing those out would lift us above Green Bay and Pitt into 8th in scoring D:

http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorysta...ualified=false

[khamla]

If only we had this defense during the Carson/Chad era.