Previously:
In 1974, the Bengals — the Paul Brown/Bill Walsh/Ken Anderson Bengals — were running the West Coast Offense to perfection. Anderson completed a whopping 64.9% of his passes that season, setting a post-WWII record. But in the team’s final game of the season, with Anderson injured, the team turned to unheralded Wayne Clark at quarterback. Unfortunately, the schedule makers had the team’s final game in Pittsburgh, against the famed ’74 Steelers defense.
The Bengals were blown out, of course, and lost 27-3. Cincinnati trailed by at least 17 points at halftime, after three quarters, and at the end of the game. Naturally, this is a Game Script that would call for a lot of passes, but here’s the twist: the Bengals ran 41 times and passed just 8 times! Clark completed only 3 of those passes for 23 yards, with 2 of them going to TE Bruce Coslet — yes, that Bruce Coslet — for 24 yards; the third completion was a 1-yard loss to the running back.
Running 40 times in a game where you trail by 17 after the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarters should sound weird to you. In fact, this Bengals game was the only time since the merger that all those factors were met. I say was, because that was the case until Sunday, when the modern Bengals pulled off the same trick.
Cincinnati rushed 40 times, and Joe Mixon had 30 carries, in a game where the Bengals trailed 14-0 after the 1st quarter, 28-10 at halftime, and 49-10 after three quarters. How do you call 40 rushing plays in a game where you are getting blown out? One answer is that Cincinnati was starting Ryan Finley for the first time in his career, although Finley did not play all that poorly. The other answer is that the Bengals just didn’t care.
My favorite drive was with 5 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. Cincinnati took over at its own 25, trailing 42-10. Yes, down by 32 with 20 minutes to go is not a good situation, but most teams would at least try to put some points on the board. Here’s what happened.
Play 1: Mixon run left tackle for 0 yards.
Play 2: Pass to Mixon 1 yard ahead of the line of scrimmage; Mixon gains 13 yards of YAC.
Play 3: Mixon run right tackle for 3 yards.
Play 4: Mixon run left guard for 1 yard.
Play 5: 3rd-and-6, Finley pass, sack, fumble, returned for touchdown.
Maybe the Bengals knew what they were doing calling all those running plays.
The table below shows the week 10 Game Scripts, headlined by the Ravens +21.6 Game Script.
| Wk | Team | H/R | Opp | Boxscore | PF | PA | Margin | Game Script | W/L | Pass | Run | P/R Ratio | Op_P | Op_R | Opp_P/R Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | BAL | @ | CIN | Boxscore | 49 | 13 | 36 | 21.7 | Win | 22 | 24 | 47.8% | 32 | 40 | 44.4% |
| 10 | ATL | @ | NOR | Boxscore | 26 | 9 | 17 | 6.3 | Win | 36 | 34 | 51.4% | 52 | 11 | 82.5% |
| 10 | MIN | @ | DAL | Boxscore | 28 | 24 | 4 | 5.2 | Win | 33 | 36 | 47.8% | 48 | 22 | 68.6% |
| 10 | GNB | CAR | Boxscore | 24 | 16 | 8 | 4.7 | Win | 31 | 27 | 53.4% | 46 | 23 | 66.7% | |
| 10 | NYJ | NYG | Boxscore | 34 | 27 | 7 | 4 | Win | 32 | 29 | 52.5% | 46 | 17 | 73% | |
| 10 | CHI | DET | Boxscore | 20 | 13 | 7 | 4 | Win | 28 | 24 | 53.8% | 47 | 27 | 63.5% | |
| 10 | OAK | LAC | Boxscore | 26 | 24 | 2 | 3.9 | Win | 34 | 21 | 61.8% | 36 | 30 | 54.5% | |
| 10 | MIA | @ | IND | Boxscore | 16 | 12 | 4 | 3.8 | Win | 36 | 26 | 58.1% | 40 | 29 | 58% |
| 10 | CLE | BUF | Boxscore | 19 | 16 | 3 | 2.4 | Win | 40 | 26 | 60.6% | 42 | 20 | 67.7% | |
| 10 | PIT | LAR | Boxscore | 17 | 12 | 5 | 1 | Win | 41 | 27 | 60.3% | 46 | 23 | 66.7% | |
| 10 | TAM | ARI | Boxscore | 30 | 27 | 3 | 0.8 | Win | 52 | 26 | 66.7% | 47 | 18 | 72.3% | |
| 10 | SEA | @ | SFO | Boxscore | 27 | 24 | 3 | -1.6 | Win | 39 | 34 | 53.4% | 51 | 27 | 65.4% |
| 10 | TEN | KAN | Boxscore | 35 | 32 | 3 | -3.5 | Win | 23 | 26 | 46.9% | 53 | 25 | 67.9% |
In addition to Cincinnati, the Tennessee Titans came off as run-happy in week ten. The Titans won, but trailed 10-0 early and were still trailing at the start of the 4th quarter; the Titans trailed by 5 points with just 30 seconds left, and only clinched the victory on the last play of the game. We have seen this year that teams really like to run against Kansas City, and that was the story of this game, too. Derrick Henry rushed for a 68-yard touchdown and a 1-yard touchdown, and rushed for 119 yards on his other 21 carries. Ryan Tannehill had two scrambles for 30 yards, and of course had 4 sacks, but he finished the day with only 19 pass attempts. The Titans were more efficient on the ground than through the air, and that’s even if you count the Tannehill scrambles as pass plays. Do that, and the Titans gained 176 yards on 25 passing plays, and 195 yards on 24 rushing plays.
On the pass-heavy side of things, the Giants, Cardinals, and Chiefs were pretty pass-friendly, but the most pass-happy team of the week was the Saints. New Orleans opened the game with 5 passes and 4 runs, but that changed quickly. The Saints were upset by the Falcons and trailed most of the second half, and Drew Brees and the New Orleans offense wound up passing on the final 23 plays of the game!
What stands out to you?