"After an offseason of stressing the pass rush and getting sacks, the Bengals find themselves staring up at the other 31 teams. At the quarter mark of the season, the Bengals have just three sacks. Meanwhile, 14 different NFL players have 3 1/2 sacks or more. It's no wonder that defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer said, "We might set a record this year." In that respect Zimmer is partially right. At the current pace the Bengals would finish with 12 sacks, which would avoid the NFL futility mark of 10 set by Kansas City two years ago but not the team mark of 16, which has stood since the franchise's second season of 1969. "It's been disappointing, but last week we had a lot of free runners and the ball came out fast," Zimmer said. "We could've gotten some sacks. We just didn't get them." Of the three sacks, none have come from a starting member of the defensive line. Frostee Rucker and Keith Rivers each have one and Geno Atkins and Michael Johnson split a sack. In order for the total to increase, Zimmer points to two factors. "We're not winning enough one-on-one's, I can tell you that. Your sack totals go up if you sack them on play-action passes, first and second downs because you'll get you're share of third downs sacks. To get over the top you have to get a couple on first and second down and we're not even close." MORE CONCERNS: Zimmer is also unhappy about the number of defensive penalties. The Bengals have 11, which is tied for sixth most in the league. All but two of those have come in the last two weeks. Against Cleveland, two calls wound up resulting in 10 points for the Browns, and a late holding call allowed Cleveland to run out the clock. "It's a concern. We keep giving them points because of it," Zimmer said. "They're all big. Stats say if you have penalties on defense they're going to end up scoring."" Read more: http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20101007/SPT02/10080363/
