JANUARY 20: Neither Cappa nor Williams will play against the Bills. Taylor ruled out the starting right guard and left tackle for Sunday’s divisional-round game. With Collins done for the season, this will push three Cincinnati second-string blockers into the lineup against Buffalo.
JANUARY 16: When the Bengals reconvene with the Bills, their offensive line could be in much worse shape compared to when the teams began their Week 17 game that ultimately ended up cancelled. Jonah Williams suffered a dislocated kneecap during Sunday night’s win over the Ravens, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.
Zac Taylor called Williams “week to week,” though this injury can sideline players for an extended time period. Neither Williams nor right guard Alex Cappa could walk without assistance Sunday, Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes, providing a grim glimpse of the Bengals’ O-line situation for their divisional-round game. Injured during Cincy’s Week 18 game against Baltimore, Cappa is battling an ankle malady and is also on a week-to-week timetable.
For what it’s worth, Williams has a recent history of playing through this injury. The former first-round pick sustained a dislocated kneecap in the Bengals’ first matchup with the Ravens and did not miss any time. He returned the following week and did not miss a snap for the rest of the regular season. The 2019 first-rounder has rebounded from his lost rookie season — nullified because of a shoulder injury — and has been a vital part of Cincinnati’s O-line over the past three years. The Alabama product will be going into a contract year in 2023.
The Bengals already have La’el Collins out for the season due to a Week 16 ACL tear. Cappa and Williams’ absences in the Ravens rubber match helped lead to four Joe Burrow sacks, with former second-round pick Jackson Carman struggling. Carman replaced Williams at left tackle, playing the blindside post for the first time as a pro. The Bengals benched Carman during his 2021 rookie season, and despite the Clemson product being favored to win the left guard competition this year, he did not do so and only played four regular-season snaps.
A line featuring Carman, Max Scharping and Hakeem Adeniji will be quite different from the one housing Williams and offseason additions Cappa and Collins. Scharping was unable to catch on as a regular Texans starter, bouncing in and out of Houston’s lineup despite a second-round pedigree, and did not make the rebuilding team’s 53-man roster this year. A former sixth-round Bengals draftee, Adeniji has started 15 career regular-season games and five postseason contests — including all four last season. The Bengals attempted to upgrade by adding Collins, but Adeniji will be back in place next week in Buffalo. It remains to be seen whether Williams or Cappa will be able to join him.
Burrow is so good it might not matter. That said they have no choice but to draft a tackle round 1 (and maybe round 2). Johnson and Skoronski will be long gone by the time the Bengals pick. But Broderick Jones or the Harrison kid from Oklahoma should still be around.
Fact is they made it to the Super Bowl last year with a worse O-Line than they’ll have on the field against the Bills. Not saying it’ll happen again..but the ongoing national narratives against this team is exhausting.
Burrow led the league in sacks last season coming off a major injury, then was sacked 19 times in the postseason, including 7 in the super bowl. Now they’re missing both tackles and their big offseason addition at guard. How would this not be a prominent narrative?
Must be a given that no matter which team, its fans think the national media is out to get them. I can understand how some fans would feel the Bills are the sentimental favorite now but beyond that, there are no national narratives. Why would there be, anyway?
The o-line issues for the Bengals are a concern but they will have a game plan in place to have them in the game. I am concerned about he crowd noise and false starts more so than sacks. Jonah Williams led the league in giving up sacks this year. Carmen was up and down last week but showed far.more promise at LT than he did at either LG or RG. LT is position he is most comfortable playing. I think Carmen will surprise and show he is serviceable at tackle position..
In one half of football Carman gave up a sack and had a holding call. That’s not serviceable. The Bengals had 100 yards of offense in the 2nd half against the Ravens
The “holding call” was bogus, the sack given up, Carman was expecting help.
Maybe he shouldn’t have been expecting help. Carman is not good. You know that too. You’re just trying to make excuses for him
Carmen had issues agreed but he graded out better in game than Williams who also gave up a sack. Carmen is still raw and playing with a silent count will be a challenge but he feels more comfortable at LT and he has the athleticism to play there. I think he will be serviceable.
You hope he is. I don’t think he will be. I think Buffalo will expose him now that they know he’s starting. Baltimore didn’t game plan for him. Buffalo will. He’s never worked with Volsom. Having 3 new starters is like having a new line
This is one new starter this week. Agree it’s not ideal but Williams has struggled all year. Carmen is back at position he feels most comfortable. Agree Bills will try some plays to go after him. He could fail or he could be ok, we will find out Sunday.
I think the bigger issue will be the short pass play design. Will Bengals receivers be open? The Bills secondary as shown during the non game looked very vulnerable to Bengals wideouts and if they want to Blitz Bengals o-line and give WRs a lot of one on ones then they will find out what happens when you blitz Burrow.
It’s not looking good for the Bengals
Game will likely come down to Bengals d pass rush. Bills o-line is not playing well, they gave up seven sacks last week and Allen holds onto to ball looking to make the huge splash play.
Bills 30-20
Bengals o-line was better than serviceable, WOW!!! And Bengals D stopped the big play by Bills offense. Now on to KC!!!