Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Mike Hilton said it best.
“We’re a talented defense,” Hilton said toward the end of last season. “We take the ball away. But we give up so many explosive plays, our taking the ball away don’t mean a damn thing.”
It took all of 14 minutes before the Bengals’ defense gave up its first big play of the 2023 season, and it didn’t get much better after that.
By the time Cincinnati went into its Week 17 game in Kansas City with a playoff spot on the line, the Bengals had given up the second most explosive plays (rushes of 12 or more yards or passes of 16 or more yards) of any time in the NFL with 129.