Cincinnati’s Secret Weapons

“Joe Burrow”: I’d assume that anyone who watches football will know his name, his team, and what he looks like. Even those who don't watch football have heard the Bengals’ showstopping quarterback’s name and give him credit for the Bengals’ wins. On the other hand, some Bengals players that may not get credit but should, are the backup offensive line players who stepped in.

Throughout the ‘22-’23 season, the Bengals had a strong o-line core composed of Jonah Williams, Cordell Volson, Ted Karras, Alex Cappa, and La’el Collins. This offensive line has a combined salary of about $26.5 million per year and has shown up in the first part of the season.

On December 30, 2022, the Bengals’ offensive line core began to break down. La’el Collins was officially placed on IR after tearing his ACL and MCL creating an open spot in the lineup. During the Bengals’ last regular season game, another man went down for the o-line as Alex Cappa left the game with an ankle injury and has yet to play another game during the playoffs. Unfortunately for the Bengals, during the first playoff game against the Ravens, Jonah Williams left the field with a dislocated kneecap.

Going into the AFC Divisional game, everyone speculated that losing three starting o-linemen would doom the Bengals, yet the opposite happened. With Jackson Carman, Hakeem Adeniji, and Max Scharping starting the game for the Bengals, many fans expected an easy win for the Bills and even bought tickets to a neutral site, Bills vs. Cheifs game.

Contrary to what many fans believed, the second-string offensive linemen truly won the game for the Bengals. The o-line only allowed one sack on Joe Burrow and made crucial blocks to allow Joe Mixon to run the ball for a total of 105 yards, his second most all season.

In the end, the Bengals players, who everyone seemed to doubt, showed up and played their best football to ensure the Bengals would maintain a chance to get back to the Super Bowl.