The Bengals have found a hidden gem...

The Bengals have found a hidden gem on their defense, an unexpected menace on their defensive line is starting to emerge as we recap yesterday's game and look onto their divisional debut next week versus the Steelers. Welcome back into Bengals Digest everyone. We appreciate you guys joining us wherever you may be across the globe. We are celebrating Victory Monday today. They are now 2-0. The Bengals are starting off the season great and I said last week that I think it's crucial that you start at least 2-1 in these first three games the way that the rest of their schedule pans out and you're off to a great start in AFC win. A win's a win. I know that they have their divisional game next week but today we are celebrating Victory Monday with a 20-6 win over the Houston Texans yesterday and we're going to dive into all of it. It was a great performance all around for the Bengals. I know a lot of people a lot of the talk all week was worried about Burrow and his recovery for this week with his back and the truth is when you get older recovery just is not what it used to be. I've noticed that as I've gotten a little bit older but it's a decline so gradual that you really don't even notice it until it's too late and that is where Mars Men comes into play here the sponsor of today's video. So you know it uses clinically dosed ingredients like vitamin D, zinc, boron, and a few others and it naturally helps support your testosterone, your energy, and your stamina and I've personally noticed that when I'm using Mars Men I just get better energy. I get better you know recovery after my workouts and I love that it just provides that steady support without feeling like that caffeine boost you get the jitters and everything. Worst case scenario you don't absolutely love it and you get your money back with their 90-day money-back guarantee and so for a limited time our listeners can get 50% off for life plus free shipping and three free gifts at mengotomars.com that's mengotomars.com for 50% off and three free gifts when you check out. After you purchase they'll ask where you heard about them please support our show and tell them that Bengals Digest sent you. It really does help out the channel a ton. So the first thing I wanted to bring up in terms of the Bengals performance yesterday is their defense. They had just another incredible outing on defense and so you look at the raw PFF data from yesterday they racked up 41 pressures against Houston yesterday. Their average over the last six years according to Paul Daynor Jr. 12.6 and the previous high over that span was 33. So if that does not show you alone just off that quote right there that tweet that stat line that the Bengals have improved defensively I mean you can watch it and see that but seeing that written out like that really puts into perspective just the difference in last year and I mean obviously a huge difference maker for the Bengals this year has been Dexter Lawrence up to this point Jonathan Allen's played great as well so I don't want I want to give credit where credit's due but just the absolute menace of Dexter Lawrence is he finished with three run tackles two stuffs against the Texans the huge stop there on fourth and one I mean probably the play of the game defensively late in the second quarter and then it says across 12 snaps against the run with Lawrence on the field the Bengals allowed one yard per carry without Lawrence the Texans averaged eight yards per carry I mean those those stats are insane one yard per carry versus eight yards when he's off the field just absolutely nuts the impact that Dexter Lawrence is having on this defense and the depth that they have on the defensive line we're going to get into that later when we talk about a player that a lot of us probably didn't expect to really have that big of an impact this season with all of the new help that they have and it's shocking me a little bit the impact that he's going to have but we're going to dive into that a little bit later another one I wanted to talk about his return his debut Shamar Stewart had five snaps so not a huge workload but he got a sack in those five snaps so I'm happy with that you know the percentage one out of every five plays you're getting a sack I'll take that I mean I know it's a limited sample size but I will take that every day of the week and when you look at the win win rate for their pass rush I mean just look at this and this is where it starts to highlight a player that none of us expected I guarantee it is not someone we covered in depth in the offseason preseason any of it really we talked about him but not someone I thought would make the impact that he has made and that's Cedric Johnson of that defensive line with a 26.3 pass rush win rate according to PFF followed up shortly by another new addition Boye Mafe another new addition Cassius Howell another new addition Dexter Lawrence Jonathan Allen and then the returning players Myles Murphy and Chris Jenkins but Cedric Johnson being a returning Bengal a player that I really did not expect this from and I know again a limited limited sample size here that we're looking at but altogether this is just very impressive I mean looking at those win rates for the defense it just gets me so fired up and you know him alone Cedric Johnson had an 87.8 PFF grade for this week and he had he had four tackles two tackles for loss and two sacks in this game and you look at that defensive line for the Bengals you could argue this if you aren't already talking about it which some people are this is this might be the best defensive line in the NFL this year guaranteed they all stay healthy this will be the best defensive line I mean the edge rushers alone are just impressive they look improved they look faster Cedric Johnson coming in off the edge he's third in that depth chart I mean look at the depth that the Bengals have there you talk about B.J. Hill T.J. Slayton the starters of last year now being replaced by Dexter Lawrence and Jonathan Allen Chris Jenkins Jr. is still getting involved Landon Robinson hasn't even touched the field he's been a healthy scratch the past two weeks let alone when he comes onto the field the the havoc that they are going to wreck wreak in the backfield I'm just pumped up guys I mean this defense just has me so fired up because this was obviously the pain point for the Bengals last year and of course you can't put points on the board well they did last week but for the most part you can't win games if your offense is not scoring points and that's exactly what they did this week Jamar Chase after only being targeted four times last week comes in and just puts on a performance two touchdowns of course that probably one of the catches of the year up to this point probably the best catch touchdown catch of the year up to this point with that first touchdown just insane Jamar Chase is still doing it I mean one of the best if not the best pass catcher in the entire league so great performance great to see him getting more involved I talked about him being one of the players who needs to step up and get more involved it was clear that that was the game plan for today or for yesterday another thing I wanted to talk about just the offensive line Amarius Mims still putting up heck of a performance he allowed zero pressures on 34 pass block snaps versus Will Anderson and Daniil Hunter per the initial charting and if that holds that will be zero pressures on 70 plus pass block snaps to start the season he's quickly becoming an elite right tackle if he wasn't already I mean these are just great these are all pro performances that he is putting on in the first two weeks of the season and we'll close it out with this one just staying on the offense in the Joe Burrow era the Bengals have basically relied on Joe Burrow of course to beat their opponents and outscore them this game was the opposite in fact Houston out gained Cincinnati by over 100 yards and had 10 more first downs but the Bengals defense kept clamping down forcing four turnovers on downs and only allowing two field goals in the game if Cincinnati's defense can almost single-handedly win games the Bengals are one of the best teams in the league can I get a who day for that in the comments guys I mean that is I'm stoked I'm looking forward to it I don't think that it's going to be an easy outing versus the Steelers but I honestly thought it'd be a tougher closer game this week versus the Texans I think the Texans are a better team than the Steelers of course you got that division rivalry the Bengals have with Pittsburgh but I'm feeling good going into week three and at the very least for now we can celebrate 2-0 before we look too much into next week on Victory Monday hope you guys have a great rest of your Monday and be sure to stay tuned the rest of the week here on Bengals Digest