Packers v. Bengals: Behind the Numbers

Here is a look at the stats and figures that help define the Green Bay Packers' performance against the Cincinnati Bengals. 

Well, that was interesting, wasn't it? But in the end, all wins count the same on the stat sheet and the Green Bay Packers are now 4-1 on the season after beating the Cincinnati Bengals in overtime.
 
In addition to the Packers win, it's also Monday, which means it is time to go Behind the Numbers to take a look at the stats and figures that help define Green Bay's performance.

2/4

Last season, the Green Bay Packers were incredibly efficient in the red zone, leaving with a touchdown on a whopping 80 percent of their red zone possessions, which was the best rate in the NFL. This year, however, has been more of a challenge inside the 20-yard line.
 
Against the Bengals, specifically, Green Bay only left with two touchdowns on their four red zone trips. In the end, their inability to score a touchdown let the Bengals hang around. Currently, the Packers are scoring a touchdown on 55 percent of their red zone trips--this ranks 27th.

4

Mason Crosby missed four kicks on Sunday's game--three field goal attempts and an extra point. As the second half unfolded, this game gave off very similar vibes to the Detroit game from 2018 when Crosby was 0/1 on extra points and 1/5 on field goals.
 
Fortunately, this time around, there was a happy conclusion. As rough as this game was for Crosby, credit to him for bouncing back and eventually hitting the game-winner. That certainly wasn't an easy task after missing three straight field goal attempts. 

466

The Green Bay Packers offense put up 466 total yards against Cincinnati, a defense that ranked very well in several key categories coming into Sunday's game. However, despite what the stat sheet shows, it certainly didn't always feel like the offense was clicking.
 
Early on, Aaron Rodgers and Co. struggled to get into a good rhythm, and outside of a huge run from Aaron Jones, the run game couldn't get going. There were also some very head-scratching play calls from Matt LaFleur--especially in the fourth quarter and overtime when he went conservative and vanilla with the opportunity to put the game away.
 
Jones aforementioned 57- yard run and Davante Adams 59-yard reception accounted for 116 yards of the total offensive production.

206

Davante Adams set a career-high on Sunday with 206 receiving yards--his first 200-yard receiving game of his career. He reached this milestone on only 11 receptions and also found the end zone.
 
“Yeah, I told at least three people outside the building, talking to family, one of my cousins, talking to my wife, I told her this was going to be my career-high this game, so, either I’m clairvoyant or I know what I’m talking about,” Adams said post-game via Packers Wire.

4 in 4

As Zach Kruse of Packers Wire pointed out on Twitter, four is the number of big -- potentially game-changing -- plays that De'Vondre Campbell has made in the last four games. 
 
Against the Lions, he came away with a fourth-quarter interception. The following week in San Francisco, Campbell had a fourth-quarter fumble recovery. Then against the Steelers, he had a fourth-down stop on JuJu Smith-Schuster in the fourth quarter. And this week, he had an overtime interception.
 
"How the hell is this guy on the street?" Said Rodgers on Sunday via Packer Report. "It was a great pickup by our personnel folks."

3.6

If we take away Jones' 57-yard run, this is how many yards per rush the Green Bay Packers run game averaged. Cincinnati entered the game as a top-10 defense against the run led by DJ Reader and BJ Hill in the middle.  
 
As a result, we saw Jones and Dillon total 22 carries after averaging nearly 30 attempts per game the past three weeks. We all know how important the run game is to the success of this offense, and I believe that some of the struggles they had on the ground contributed to the lack of rhythm that I described above. 

6

Between the second half and overtime, the Bengals' offense had six possessions, yet they were only able to score eight points. The Green Bay defense didn't put up gaudy numbers by any means, but overall, they played well. 
 
The Packers were able to get off the field on third downs, holding the Bengals to 5 conversions on 14 attempts. They forced two turnovers, were able to get pressure on Joe Burrow, and the Cincy offense averaged only 5.6 yards per play, even with a 70-yard reception from Ja'Marr Chase.
 
Each week this unit continues to head in the right direction.

Too Many

Just too many special teams mistakes once again. Of course, there were Crosby's missed kicks, but on top of that, Corey Bojorquez averaged only 33.5 yards per punt, including one that allowed the Bengal offense to start with the ball at midfield.
 
Green Bay's kick return unit allowed a 44-yard return while Amari Rodgers continues to go nowhere on punt returns. We again saw the Bengals get close to blocking a few of Crosby's field goal attempts--an issue that has really reared its ugly head the past three games.

3rd and 16

There was the Jones' run, Adams' big reception and 206-yard performance, the interception by Campbell in overtime, and eventually, a game-winning kick from Mason Crosby.
 
However, the play of the game very well could be Randall Cobb's reception on 3rd and 16. While he didn't convert the first down, he made a difficult catch in traffic that put Green Bay in field goal range and resulted in the game-winner.
 
Had Cobb dropped that pass, the Packers either have to go for it on fourth and long or punt from midfield with just minutes to go in overtime. 

2.90

Another injury to the offensive line, this time to Josh Myers, meant more changes to this Green Bay Packers' offensive front. Yet once again, and against another good defensive front, the offensive line unit gave Rodgers time. According to PFF, Rodgers held the ball on average for 2.90 seconds -- that's quite a bit -- and
he was pressured only nine times and sacked just twice. This allowed Rodgers to go through his reads and extend plays, which led to some big gains. 

28

Understandably so, there were some concerns surrounding the cornerback group, who was without Jaire Alexander and who was up against some talented receivers. But for the most part, this unit played well. Kevin King and Chandon Sullivan combined to allow just five completions for only 28 yards. Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd of the Bengals combined for just 56 total receiving yards. 

Eric Stokes had the toughest assignment, lining up across from Ja'Marr Chase, who finished with 82 yards on four completions with Stokes on him per PFF. However, when it comes to guarding Chase, you're likely not going to stop him, the hope is just to slow him down. 

 

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__________________________

Born and raised in Green Bay, WI and I still call it home. After my family, watching the Packers, sharing my opinions on the team through my writing and interacting with other fans is my greatest passion. You can find me on Twitter at @Paul_Bretl. 
 

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Comments (10)

Fan-Friendly This filter will hide comments which have ratio of 5 to 1 down-vote to up-vote.
Leland's picture

October 11, 2021 at 11:32 am

I would like to know what the YAC was against our defense. It seemed like there was a terrible lack of wrapping up on tackles. I have never seen a game with more yardage gained per individual contact on running plays. One and two yard gains consistently went to five and six.

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SanLobo's picture

October 11, 2021 at 01:02 pm

Hill has shown more promise on kick returns than Amari Rodgers. Returning kicks seems to be a special skill that just is not that easy to coach and/or learn. It may be time for the team to look more toward Hill on Special Teams.

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greengold's picture

October 11, 2021 at 02:02 pm

San Lobo, I'd like to see Kylin Hill become a bigger part of the mix on offense. Especially facing Ds who typically shut down run plays on the interior. Hill has a remarkable ability to cut out wide, find the hole, and get North-South! He's a premiere RB, and not enough people understand that. He blew Clyde Edwards-Helaire's numbers away the year CEH was drafted R1.

Sadly, having TWO premiere RBs seems to be too much for Aaron Rodgers to manage properly. He's got to get this great RBs more attempts. More, legit attempts. The Packers are blessed with a massively powerful rushing attack, and can't get the QB to feed them properly.

22 carries total v. CIN is a kind of malpractice when the GB OL is owning one of the best Run Ds in the NFL up front to the tune of 6 ypc.

We won the game. I get it. But, it could have been put away. The Packers 2nd half rushing average of 8.8 ypc should have been trusted more, no matter Aaron Jones' huge 14.4 ypc average with his big 57 yard carry. Dillon alone was averaging 4.2 ypc.

RUN THE ROCK! Wear out the opposition. We had done that, and did not finish the job. We didn't capitalize on those 2nd half successes. Just 11 carries between Jones and Dillon Q3 & Q4.

The Packers have EVERYTHING it takes to be a power running team in the NFL, and we're not doing it. Think of how much that would save our defense, and other key players.

There are other stars on this Packers team who deserve to shine.

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greengold's picture

October 11, 2021 at 01:47 pm

Great stuff, Paul!

The Packers have played the TOP 2 teams in Red Zone TD Scoring Allowed in their 5 games played... NO, SF. CIN is ranked # 11. DET is ranked #12. Four of our 5 games played were against teams with great Red Zone Ds. PIT is almost in the top half of the NFL at #17.

Considering the OL losses to injury in the span of those 5 games, not to mention the loss of MVS, I can understand the dip from 2020 there. This Sunday's opponent, CHI, is also one of the best, ranked #3 overall in the NFL. They've allowed TD on just 35% of opponent's RZ opps. However, they've played a lot of weaker teams.

The Packers continue to face significant challenges under adversity, yet, remain standing with a 4-1 record through all of that. Remarkable play, considering...

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Lphill's picture

October 11, 2021 at 01:57 pm

The red zone inefficiency has to be because of the changes to the O line hopefully it will improve when starters return .

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THESZOTMAN1's picture

October 11, 2021 at 06:52 pm

Hate to be Downer Man, but there is 1 glaring stat missing in the article above: % of touchdowns surrendered in the Red Zone.............
100%! Ouch! If you're gonna have a "bend but don't break" defense, you have to remember NOT to break! Just sayin.
The Szotman

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jont's picture

October 11, 2021 at 06:55 pm

16
The Packers' D has allowed a TD in 16 straight red zone possessions.
THIS is what really has to stop. Tampa is 60% for comparison with the Bears leading the league at 38% TDs allowed.

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Thegravedigger's picture

October 11, 2021 at 08:07 pm

did anybody notice at the OT coin toss, the ref vinovich looked at crosby and said " great game so far gentlemen." and crosby was like "THANKS".... like thanks alot, asshole. funny stuff. vinovich even cracked a smile when he said it, he knew what he was doing.

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croatpackfan's picture

October 13, 2021 at 12:31 am

I believe Vinovich was refering to clean game from both sides. There was total 2 yellow flag if I remember correctly, or maybe one more...

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PatrickGB's picture

October 11, 2021 at 10:15 pm

I have a hunch that with the preferred starters on the offensive line that our run stats go up. Also with Daffny and MVS back then I expect to see Matt pull off some more innovative plays. I think that with the return of Z and Alexander the defense will improve. But in the meantime and with a big road stretch ahead we will have to try and win, ugly or not.

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