EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. _ The Bengals come in here Sunday running the ball better than they ever have in quarterback Joe Burrow’s five seasons, and this is the night it could come in handy.
The Giants lead the NFL with 22 sacks, but they're also next-to-last in giving 5.1 yards per carry after allowing nearly 10 per last week in Seattle.
The Bengals ran the ball more to open the three other seasons under Burrow with 138 attempts in 2022, 132 in 2020 and 126 in 2021. But this year's 112 has yielded their most efficiency with 4.3 yards per game.
The two biggest changes to the eye are the move away from the bell-cow approach that is now a backfield committee manned by Zack Moss and Chase Brown and they're running behind twice as many formations with multiple tight ends than the Bengals have run in the past
"Probably," says center Ted Karras, asked if it's the best run game in his three seasons here. "We're way more multiple. We've got two really dynamic backs. Chase Brown is so talented. Zack Moss is a perfect fit for the style which we run."
Bengals offensive line coach Frank Pollack, the Bengals run game coordinator, along with head coach Zac Taylor and offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher mesh the new with the old starting with Burrow and his wide receivers.
"You've got Joe Burrow, in the heat of the moment, sees an overloaded giant front with just one backer in the box checking to a run," Pollack says. "That's impressive, his grasp of the game.
"Then you've got wide receivers, a premier wide receiver like Ja’Marr Chase, digging out safeties like nobody's business in Carolina, and Tee Higgins digging out safeties."
Pollack also points to new personnel, and he's not just talking about the backs. Prized rookie tight end Erick All Jr.'s presence has opened up the double tight-end formations with veterans Mike Gesicki and Drew Sample. The Bengals are not only running more multiple tight-end looks, but now more than ever they're deploying them in the backfield.
"We've got a young tight end we're able to use and put in different positions and help us be creative and enhance his skills in the run game," Pollack says. "He'll put his hat on somebody, so we can create some two-back, fullback-type runs, and then still be able to go one back with him on either edge, and be creative in that regard.
"We've got backs with really good speed. They know where the ball needs to go, and how to read it. Where the hole is going to develop and hit it."
AGE OF AMARIUS
The first three starts of first-round pick Amarius Mims’ NFL career have been on the adventurous side.
In his first one two weeks ago in the win in Carolina, he shut down Bengals nemesis Jadeveon Clowney. Last week against Baltimore, Mims got carted off early in the third quarter but returned late in the fourth and finished the overtime.
"I thought he broke his ankle," Pollack says. "I thought, 'You've got to be kidding me.' Then I saw him standing next to me. I asked him, 'Are you able to go?' He said, 'Yeah,' and I said, 'Well, get in there.' He showed me some toughness to be able to come back and go in the game and play through that."
Now Sunday night, he's facing one of the league's more disruptive defenders in sixth-year Giants outside linebacker Brian Burns. After coming over from the Panthers in the offseason, Burns has logged two of his career 48 sacks and five of his 18 passes defensed.
Pollack knows that Myles Garrett is looming in Cleveland next week, and that this is business as usual. He says Mims has been as advertised and is wired to take on the greats. Pro Football Focus says Mims has allowed one sack in his first 95 pass blocks.
"He's done really well. Great attitude," Pollack says. "He's coachable. Growing every day and he's not satisfied where he is."
CAN'T WIN CORNER
The ubiquitous Cris Collinsworth calls Sunday night's game for NBC, and that means he's beaten before the kickoff. Here's a guy who went to three Pro Bowls as Bengal, played on their first two Super Bowl teams, was voted one of the First 50 Bengals of all-time and still lives in town.
When he can attend an event, like the 40th anniversary of the first Super Bowl team, he does. When he can't, like a few weeks ago for the Bengals Ring of Honor ceremony for his good friend Tim Krumrie, he records a video
In short, Collinsworth walks a thankless line between franchise great and Emmy-award analyst.
"I go to every game I can. It's hard. It's like calling your own son's game or something," Collinsworth said. "If I'm nice to the Bengals, everyone says I'm a homer. If I'm hard on the Bengals everyone says I'm a (bleep). I enjoy preparing because knowing the teams intimately makes it fun to broadcast. But after that, it's generally not fun"
Here's his take for Sunday that's pretty down the middle:
"There's been too many flukes. They can play New England 20 times and never lose again. They've got Kansas City and Baltimore, arguably the two best in the AFC at the wire. At some point, odds flip back in your favor. But they've got to win a game like this on the road and made up for the home losses they have stacked up."
INACTIVES
The final sign that the Bengals defensive line is healthier than it's been in a month surfaced in Sunday night’s inactives. On the list were defensive tackles Jay Tufele and Lawrence Guy for the first time this year. That coincides with the return of Sheldon Rankins, meaning for the first time this year the projected four top tackles are healthy with Rankins, B.J. Hill, Kris Jenkins Jr. and McKinnley Jackson active.
Rookie edge Cedric Johnson is also inactive for the second straight game with Myles Murphy back.
Rookie wide receiver Jermaine Burton is inactive for the first time this year, making way for Trenton Irwin, and tight end Tanner Hudson is up for the first time since the opener after a knee injury. Tight end Mike Gesicki is also active, but he did have only one full day of practice last week with a hamstring injury.
Also inactive, as he has been all year, was rookie tight end Tanner McLachlan. Rounding out the list was guard Andrew Steuber, just picked up from the Falcons practice squad last week.
