The electrical younger quarterback by no means stood an opportunity to win the Tremendous Bowl, as a result of his overmatched offensive line collapsed below fireplace.
How shortly it appears to be forgotten that the largest storyline popping out of Tremendous Bowl LV — the Chiefs’ lack of ability to guard Patrick Mahomes — could possibly be repeated Sunday if the shaky Bengals offensive line renders meaningless the potential magic in Joe Burrow.
“I don’t get caught up in all that stuff,” Bengals offensive line coach Frank Pollack stated. “That’s a pleasant story for [media] and the followers to fret about. Not for us. I all the time inform them don’t take note of the surface noise — good, dangerous or detached.”
Burrow is the primary quarterback in historical past to succeed in the Tremendous Bowl after he was sacked not less than 50 occasions within the common season. The Bengals allowed 55 sacks in complete over 17 video games — third-most within the NFL — and one other 12 in three playoff video games, together with 9 to the Titans.
“Once they’ve wanted to be their finest, they rose to the event,” Pollack stated. “We had a tough sport at Tennessee, however that final drive, once we wanted to, we hit on all cylinders.”
One yr in the past, Mahomes ran for 500 yards behind the road of scrimmage on his 52 dropbacks (49 passes plus three sacks) within the Tremendous Bowl blowout loss to the Buccaneers, in response to NextGenStats. The Chiefs couldn’t overcome the absence of their prime two tackles and prime two guards.
The Bengals nonetheless have three of their 5 season-opening starters, however the best facet of the road is a significant query mark. Isaiah Prince is beginning at deal with instead of injured veteran Riley Reiff, whereas Jackson Carman and second-year professional Hakeem Adenjii are rotating at guard. Such is the opposite facet of a hard-to-argue choice to draft rookie receiver Ja’Marr Chase as a substitute of deal with Penei Sewell within the first spherical.
“I’ve received a ton of confidence in our guys up entrance,” offensive coordinator Brian Callahan stated. “They’re battle-tested. They’ve performed in powerful video games. They’ve made errors. They’ve given up sacks. They only maintain coming again and preventing. That’s all you possibly can ask for at this level within the yr.”
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The Bengals ranked No. 30 in pass-block win price throughout the common season. The Rams — that includes Aaron Donald, Von Miller and Leonard Floyd — led the league in pass-rush win price. It’s the makings of a mismatch, particularly if the Bengals fall behind early, as they did within the AFC Championship sport or because the Chiefs did within the final Tremendous Bowl.
“Once you [face] gifted guys, generally you wish to step exterior your self and perform a little an excessive amount of since you assume it is going to assist you to,” heart Trey Hopkins stated. “It finally ends up hurting you as a result of guys like Donald and Miller, they benefit from offensive linemen who play poor method.”
One pass-rush counterpunch the Bengals may use that wasn’t accessible to the one-dimensional Chiefs is a robust dashing sport: The NFL’s No. 3 main rusher (Joe Mixon) in opposition to the No. 3 dashing protection (Rams).
“We would not have a line stuffed with Professional Bowlers,” Callahan stated, “However we’ve received guys that play actually laborious and play effectively collectively. We’re anticipating an enormous sport from them.”
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