What’s Wrong With Bengals’ OL? Anthony Munoz Has An Idea

(EDITOR’S NOTE: To listen to Anthony Munoz, click on the following link: Ep 123: Bengals HOF Tackle Anthony Munoz Joins The Show (spreaker.com))

After Joe Burrow was sacked 70 times in 20 games last season, the Cincinnati Bengals decided enough was enough. It wouldn’t happen again.

So they overhauled their offensive line, first signing three free-agent starters ( center Ted Karras, right guard Alex Cappa and right tackle La’el Collins) before plugging in rookie draft pick Cordell Volson at left guard. It was almost a complete makeover, with left tackle Jonah Williams the only holdover, and the impact was supposed to be immediate.

It has been … only for all the wrong reasons. Cincinnati’s offensive line continues to leak like the S.S. Minnow.

In the season opener, Burrow was sacked seven times, hit eight, threw four interceptions and fumbled twice, losing one. The following weekend wasn’t much better.  He was sacked six times, hit nine and fumbled once.  Bad? No, worse. Burrow’s 13 sacks are the most in the first two games of an NFL season since 2005 when Houston’s David Carr, then a rookie, was also dropped 13 times.

Over the following six years, he made only 20 starts. Then he retired.

So what’s going on with the Bengals? For an answer, we consulted Cincinnati’s resident expert, Hall-of-Famer Anthony Munoz – one of the premier left tackles in NFL history. His idea: Preseason experience. The Bengals’ starting offensive line didn’t have it this summer, failing to play a single snap together.

“As a former offensive lineman, ” Munoz said on the latest “Eye Test for Two” podcast, “I can’t see how you can bring four new guys in put them together with Jonah Williams and expect not one-preseason snap together …I’m sorry, but maybe these guys are so much better than when we played that they can do that. But I can’t see them going out and not (playing).

“Practice, as we know, is one thing. Game is another thing. I’m hoping that after three or four weeks that the money we spent with Karras and Cappa and Collins pays off so they can start working — not only better individually, but as a group. That’s the only thing I’m looking at.”

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The Bengals better hope, too. Burrow is their franchise player, and he won’t …. no, he can’t …withstand the punishment that last year had him treated like a piñata. Nevertheless, at this rate, he’s on pace to suffer 110-1/2 snaps and 144-1/2 hits through a 17-game season.

Now let’s be real: That’s not going to happen. But too much already has. At some point, Cincinnati must figure out how to protect their most valuable asset or risk losing him … and the season.

“You hear people say, ‘Well, these guys are tough, and they’re big and strong,’ “ Munoz said of quarterbacks. “And I say it doesn’t matter with quarterbacks how big and strong (they are). Have you seen a guy on other side of the line of scrimmage and how fast he is? You can’t take the hits … You see guys who are talented like David Carr who get hit, and all of a sudden, you don’t last that long. I feel for him.”

Bengals’ fans do, too. They know he’s the lynchpin to a second consecutive AFC North championship. They also know that won’t happen if Burrow’s pass protection doesn’t perk up … and soon.

“I understand it’s a different time,” said Munoz, “(and) the money’s big and you don’t want to get guys hurt. But, to me, when you thinking about getting hurt, and you went out playing thinking about getting hurt, you got hurt. If you went out accomplishing your job going full speed all the time, I believe, in my humble opinion, the injury factor would lessen.

“That’s the one thing I’m looking at, (but) I’m going to wait. Hopefully, after two weeks … and what they’ve gone through … it will start coming together. But that, to me, is the glaring thing I look at: Four new guys working together and not one snap in the preseason.

“I’m not saying you go out in camp and pound the guys … and wear them down … and play them a half in the preseason games. I’m not saying that. I think you need a few snaps. It’s just the whole mentality of thinking injury, injury, injury. To me, when you think about injuries, it’s going to happen.”

Surprisingly, Burrow hasn’t shown up on an injury report the past two weeks. Yes, it’s a long season, but the Bengals’ pass protection shows no sign of improvement. Burrow has been dropped 32 times and suffered 50 quarterback hits in his last six appearances, including four playoff games in 2021.

That’s more than a concern. It’s a dilemma.

“People just look at sacks,” said Munoz, “but when I was playing, we had charts up on the wall. And we had a ratio of how many times can we throw the ball … not before the quarterback gets sacked but before he gets hit?

“Sure, the sacks were there, but pressures and hits … he might not get sacked, but he’s still getting hit as soon as he releases the ball … To me, that’s as effective as a sack. As a lineman you’re not saying, ‘Oh, good, he got the ball off. He didn’t get sacked.’You turn around and go, ‘Oh, rats! He got hit again.’ That affects me as an offensive lineman just as much as if he gets sacked. He’s still taking the punishment.”