When the Cincinnati Bengals made the final cuts to their 53-man roster at the end of August, the Bengals coaching staff knew a starting lineup like the one they had one Sunday was a strong possibility.
At the end of the preseason, the Bengals had a rookie sixth round pick as the only backup center on the 53-man roster and an inexperienced offensive tackle who opted out of the 2020 season as the primary backup on the outside.
On Aug. 31, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor said the Bengals backup linemen would have to “grow up fast.” Just over three months later, rookie Trey Hill started at center and Isaiah Prince started at right tackle due to two injuries on the Bengals offensive line.
In a 41-22 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers, the Bengals allowed six sacks and 11 quarterback hits against an injury-riddled Chargers defensive line. Running back Joe Mixon averaged 2.8 yards per carry, which was his second-lowest mark of the season.
“The protection overall wasn’t good enough,” Taylor said. “There was some communication there that’s got to take place. Sometimes the (running) backs were a part of that as well, (and) sometimes it was the offensive line. We’ll just have to watch the whole thing.”
At the start of the season, it was more likely than not Hill and Prince would each start at some point in 2021.
Hill entered the year as the only center on the Bengals bench once they traded backup center Billy Price before the start of the season. Following that trade, Hill became the injury replacement for starting center Trey Hopkins, who has been battling the comeback from ACL surgery all season.
Prince was in the same role at offensive tackle, and he has always been in line to start if something had happened to left tackle Jonah Williams or right tackle Riley Reiff. In a league where most offensive linemen don’t play every game of the season, Prince has been preparing to start all year.
On Sunday against the Chargers, Prince made his first start of the year, and Hill made his first start of the season at center. Reiff and Hopkins were both out with ankle injuries on Sunday, so the Bengals started two offensive linemen who entered the game with three combined NFL starts.
This was the situation the Bengals set themselves up for during the offseason. While the Price trade brought back defensive tackle B.J. Hill, who has exceeded expectations all season, the deal put Trey Hill in an important role for a sixth round pick. Hill, who struggled during the preseason as he rotated between guard and center, is the only player aside from Hopkins on the 53-man roster with any experience at center.
Prince, a sixth round pick by the Miami Dolphins in 2019, earned the backup tackle spot in training camp and beat out Fred Johnson for the first spot off the bench.
During the offseason, the Bengals moved offensive lineman Hakeem Adeniji from tackle to guard. During training camp, the Bengals made the same move with rookie offensive lineman D’Ante Smith. That left Prince, Johnson and undrafted free agent Gunnar Vogel as the only offensive tackles competing for the backup spot in training camp.
Instead of signing veteran backups, the Bengals put their faith in Hill and Prince. Against the Chargers, they were the Bengals’ two worst offensive linemen.
“It’s frustrating, because we (got) some third-and-longs when we had efficient plays,” Taylor said. “We got two penalties early on from our center and right tackle off of good plays that put us in a tough spot, and that’s just going to be part of the group of guys coming in."
For most of the game, Hill and Prince didn’t have tough matchups. None of the Chargers defensive tackles entered the game with three sacks on the season, and the Chargers best defensive tackle was out with an injury. Chargers edge rusher Joey Bosa missed most of the game with a head injury, so Prince blocked a few backup edge rushers.
Hill and Prince made some of the plays that defined the game. In the middle of the first quarter, a first down run was called back due to a holding penalty by Hill. At the end of the quarter, a first down pass was called back due to an illegal hands to the face penalty from Prince.
Later in the game, Hill didn’t lead the way for Mixon on a two-point conversion attempt. In the second half, the Bengals offensive line didn't pick up pressure and allowed free runners to sack Burrow.
As long as Hopkins and Reiff are out, the Bengals don’t have many options for a change on the offensive line. Hill is the only backup center on the roster, and the coaching staff has moved Johnson to the bottom of the depth chart at tackle. Rookie offensive guard Jackson Carman played tackle in college, but he wasn’t consistent as a starter in the middle of the season and got benched in November.
Even if Hopkins and Reiff return for Sunday’s game against the San Francisco 49ers, Sunday’s loss to the Chargers was a sign of the importance of adding experienced depth on the offensive line during the offseason.
“We’ve just got to learn from that,” Taylor said, “And move on.”
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