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Greg Cosell's Film Review: Looking at the 4-0 Bengals and Andy Dalton

Greg Cosell's Film Review: Looking at the 4-0 Bengals and Andy Dalton

I don't know what will happen in a few months when the playoffs come around, but I can tell you this from watching the film through four games: The Cincinnati Bengals are playing well, and quarterback Andy Dalton is playing at a really high level.

There's a lot to like about the Bengals so far. Offensive coordinator Hue Jackson is doing a great job expanding his formations and concepts this season, especially to get A.J. Green open. The Bengals have a very good set of receivers (you can include Giovani Bernard in this group, because they mostly use him as a weapon in the passing game). And Dalton is throwing with better anticipation and timing than he ever has before.

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Let's start with a couple plays from Dalton in last week's game against the Kansas City Chiefs, because Dalton looks very comfortable. The ball is coming out to the right receiver at the right time with good ball location.

In the second quarter, the Chiefs played a combination coverage with quarters zone coverage to the boundary and halves zone coverage to the field side. Dalton had great timing and anticipation to hit slot receiver Mohamed Sanu to the halves side of the coverage. The play went for 52 yards.

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Later, Dalton made another great timing and anticipation throw on third down and 11. The Chiefs played a quarters zone coverage out of their dime package and you can see Dalton deliver a strike right on time to Sanu for a 20-yard gain.

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You can see from the end-zone angle that Dalton starts to pull the trigger on the throw well before Sanu was open. That's great anticipation.

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Dalton’s mental sharpness and his timing and rhythm throwing the ball is also helping his offensive line, especially offensive tackles Andrew Whitworth and Andre Smith. The Bengals have allowed just two sacks all season.

The Bengals have been expanding their formations and the concepts out of them, and something they have done is put Green as the No. 2 receiver in three-by-one sets, with three receivers to one side. By lining up Green as the middle receiver they're trying to get a matchup against a slot cornerback or a safety. They could do that on Sunday and perhaps try to get Seattle Seahawks strong safety Kam Chancellor against Green, and as much as I like Chancellor as a player, that would be a really tough assignment.

On their first possession against the Chiefs, the Bengals lined up in that three-by-one look with Green as the No. 2 receiver to the three-receiver side. The Chiefs put slot cornerback Ron Parker in press man on Green, in a man-free coverage concept behind a five-man rush. That's the matchup Cincinnati wanted. Green gained 36 yards.

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The Bengals have a good running game as well, and there are creative concepts in the running game too. On a 13-yard touchdown in the first quarter by Bernard, Dalton was in the shotgun and presented the read option. Dalton has been effective with read option in the red zone. The Chiefs had six men in the box against the Bengals' five offensive linemen. Outside linebacker Tamba Hali was the unblocked defender who had to play disciplined to defend Dalton running the option. The result was five blockers on five defenders, and stacked linebacker Derrick Johnson immediately jumped out of his gap, perhaps guessing that Dalton would keep the ball on the read option. That opened the hole for Bernard.

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It's only four weeks into the season, and nobody knows what will happen when the postseason comes around, but to this point there's a lot to like about Dalton and this Bengals offense.

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NFL analyst and NFL Films senior producer Greg Cosell watches as much NFL game film as anyone. Throughout the season, Cosell will join Shutdown Corner to share his observations on the teams, schemes and personnel from around the league.