Cincinnati Bengals coaches don’t need fans to tell them they field the NFL’s worst running game by quite a large margin.
Advanced metrics, any metrics, really, highlight the run game as the league’s worst. Through three games, the Bengals have rushed for 147 yards at 2.4 yards per carry. Chase Brown has 93 yards on 47 tries (2.0 average).
Exiting the franchise-worst beatdown at the hands of Minnesota, Bengals coaches know it has to change.
Here’s offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher about the running game, per CLNS Media’s Mike Petraglia: “Obviously, it’s heavy on our minds.”
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Bengals head coach Zac Taylor doesn’t want to blame any one player, per Petraglia: “It’s unfair to put it on a (single) player… (A lack of physicality) is hard to explain… We all have a hand in that.”
Taylor’s expanded thoughts about scheme are certainly interesting, as captured by Fox 19’s Charlie Goldsmith:
“We have to do a great job identifying scheme that we’ve got a lot of confidence in to be able to give the running backs opportunities. Our guys need to step up and go a great job with that scheme.”
The Bengals would normally get some benefit of the doubt for needing to throw street free agent Dalton Risner into the mix at the last second. But when the line simply looked unprepared to play and veterans like Ted Karras admit the film was even worse than he thought…it’s tough to give that benefit.
The reality? The scheme comments seem telling. Something is broken with the running game right now, whether it’s the coaching change, personnel shuffling, or something else. The Bengals have time to fix it, but almost a month into the season, lackluster running metrics that dogged all of Taylor’s offenses so far have somehow managed to get worse.
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This article originally appeared on Bengals Wire: Bengals coaches bemoan horrific running game after Week 3 loss
