Cincinnati Bengals Snap Counts, Personnel Groupings, Ja’Marr Chase Route Tree From Week 1 Loss

CINCINNATI – The Cincinnati Bengals ran just 48 offensive plays Sunday, their fifth-lowest total of the Zac Taylor era.

That’s what happens when half of the possessions (four of eight) result in three-and-outs, you give away one possession with a fumbled punt return, and you whiff on a bunch of tackles to give the opponent a time of possession edge of more than eight minutes.

Breaking Down the Cincinnati Bengals’ Snap Counts in Week 1 Loss

Let’s take a look at the personnel and groupings for those 48 snaps, as well as the 64 plays for the defense.

All stats are provided by TruMedia.

Offense

Wide Receiver

Ja’Marr Chase said he was good for 40 or 50 snaps, but that was Friday, the day before he said he came down with food poisoning that put his availability in jeopardy.

Chase ended up playing 40 in total (83%).

After playing five of a possible six snaps in the first quarter, when he wasn’t targeted once, half of the snaps Chase missed came in the second quarter.

He was on the field for only 12 of 16 snaps, coming off after each of his two receptions.

Here is a look at where each of his receptions came in relation to the line of scrimmage:

Chase played 23 of 26 snaps in the second half, including all eight in the fourth quarter.

“We managed him,” head coach Zac Taylor said. “We took him out on some stuff just because of the expectation of not practicing. So there were some things we took him out on, but as the game went, he wanted to keep going, so we kept him in there.”

Chase ran 31 routes on his 40 snaps.

The breakdown:

• Out: 7
• Go: 6
• Hitch: 5
• Post: 4
• In: 2
• Screen: 2
• Cross: 1
• Slant: 1
• Corner: 1
• Comeback: 1
• N/A: 1

With Tee Higgins out due to a hamstring injury and Chase slightly limited, Andrei Iosivas played 100% of the snaps in his second career start (and first meaningful one, discounting last year’s Week 18 finale against the Cleveland Browns).

The others:

• Trenton Irwin, 30
• Charlie Jones, 8
• Jermaine Burton, 4

Running Back

The Bengals went with experience over explosion as Zack Moss (31) nearly doubled Chase Brown (16).

Moss tripled Brown in rushing attempts, nine to three, and outpaced him in receiving targets four to three.

Tight End

Drew Sample got the start and led the way with 25 snaps, followed by Mike Gesicki (17), rookie Erick All Jr. (12) and Tanner Hudson (nine).

Gesicki had four targets, catching three of them for 18 yards. The lone missed connection was the 15-yard touchdown that got overturned on replay after officials deemed Gesicki didn’t maintain control of the ball while going to the ground.

Hudson converted two of his three targets into receptions, with the most notable being the play after Gesicki’s wiped-out touchdown when Hudson fumbled just before he got to the goal line.

Personnel Groupings

11 (three WR, one TE, one RB): 33 snaps

12 (two WR, two TE, one RB): 14 snaps

02 (three WR, two TE, no RB): 1 snap

The lone snap in the 02 personnel came in the first quarter on 3rd-and-9 when Burrow threw a seven-yard pass to Gesicki.

The 14 snaps in 12 personnel were evenly split with seven passes and seven runs. Moss gained 33 yards on four carries on the team’s lone touchdown drive, and all four of those carries came in 12 personnel.

Defense

Safeties Geno Stone and Vonn Bell, cornerbacks Dax Hill and Cam Taylor-Britt, and linebacker Logan Wilson played all 64 snaps.

Edge Rushers

Sam Hubbard (50) barely outpaced fellow starter Trey Hendrickson (48), while Joseph Ossai logged only 12 snaps, five of which were pass-rush snaps.

Newly signed K.J. Henry had two snaps.

Defensive Tackles

B.J. Hill led the way with 52 snaps despite going down on one play while his teammates took a knee around him.

“Just a little nick,” Hill said after the game. “I’m good. I’m a tough old guy.”

Fellow starter Sheldon Rankins 40 snaps, while nose tackle Jay Tufele played 29 in an attempt to deal with New England’s running attack. It’s his second-highest total behind the 37 snaps he played in the Monday night loss at Cleveland in 2022.

Zach Carter played 27 snaps (42%), which was in line with his season average last year (45%).

Linebackers

Germaine Pratt only missed two snaps, while Akeem Davis-Gaither had 14.

Defensive Backs

Slot corner Mike Hilton saw the most action behind the four guys who played all 64 snaps. Hilton was on the field for 43 snaps.

That was basically the extent of it. Cornerback DJ Turner II played three snaps, and rookie seventh-round safety Daijahn Anthony logged two.

Both of Anthony’s snaps came on third downs in big nickel situations in the first quarter, but he didn’t see the field after that except for special teams.

It was a mild surprise that second-year safety Jordan Battle didn’t see the field, as he subbed in at times on dime packages in training camp.

Personnel Groupings

• Nickel (five DB): 44
• 43 (four DL, three LB): 13
• Short yardage (five-plus DL): 5
• Dime (six DB): 2

Three of the 13 snaps in 43 were kneel-downs at the end of the game. On the other 10 snaps with that grouping, the Bengals allowed 5.3 yards per play.

Cincinnati allowed 4.8 yards per play when in nickel.

Special Teams

Undrafted rookie linebacker Maema Njongmeta and Davis-Gaither led the way with 20 snaps, participating on all three kickoffs, all four kick returns, all five punt returns, all four punts, and all four FG/PAT block snaps.

Here is the rest of the breakdown:

• Joe Bachie, 16
• Trayveon Williams 16
• Tycen Anderson, 16
• Jordan Battle, 16
• Daijahn Anthony, 16
• Tanner Hudson, 13
• DJ Turner II, 12
• Drew Sample, 10
• Chase Brown, 9
• Josh Newton, 8
• Cal Adomitis, 6
• Ryan Rehkow, 6
• Evan McPherson, 5
• Charlie Jones, 5
• Sheldon Rankins, 4
• Geno Stone, 4
• B.J. Hill, 4
• Vonn Bell, 4
• Logan Wilson, 4
• Joseph Ossai, 4
• Dax Hill, 4
• Zach Carter, 4
• Erick All Jr., 4
• Cody Ford, 2
• Orlando Brown Jr., 2
• Trent Brown, 2
• Ted Karras, 2
• Cordell Volson, 2
• Matt Lee, 2