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CINCINNATI — At the first mention of the statistic, Lou Anarumo’s eyes got wide.

“Can you send me that?” the Cincinnati Bengals’ defensive coordinator says.

That, in this case, was the numerical representation of what’s become a known linchpin of success for two years now.

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The Bengals defense in goal-to-go situations after halftime the last two years is, improbably, 21 percent better than any other team in football at not allowing a touchdown.

You just don’t find ANY statistic in the parity-driven, talent-rich NFL in which a team is 21 percent better than everyone else. Much less one that decides games weekly.

Goal-to-go defense, last two years

RankTeamTD%TO%3&Out%

1

Bengals

39.4

15.2

9.1

2

Broncos

60

0

0

3

Packers

62.5

6.3

0

NFL average

70.8

4.6

1.4

30

Lions

85.3

2.9

0

31

Raiders

85.7

4.8

4.8

32

Browns

88.5

0

0

*33 Bengals defensive drives

Anarumo wanted to specifically show his players, only, not as a fun pat on the back. Because it’s a core philosophy. It’s who they are.

“Our motto this year is we are never out of the fight,” Anarumo said. “No matter what the situation is, we are never out of it. Keep swinging. Good things can happen.”

Need confirmation? Just ask the Baltimore Ravens returning to Paycor Stadium on Sunday after spending an offseason digesting a fumble returned 98 yards for a touchdown that led to their postseason elimination.

The Hubbard-Yard Dash serves as the most famous example in franchise history of this defining trait, though, far from the only one.

January 15, 2023 vs. Ravens

The night of the Hubbard Yard Dash… let's go back to our first playoff game ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/608HA3Nlec

— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) July 13, 2023

There’s Vonn Bell knocking out a fumble to clinch a win in New England last year. Khalid Kareem against Denver’s Drew Lock in 2021. Mike Hilton intercepting Ryan Tannehill in the 2021 playoffs. Germaine Pratt intercepting the Raiders’ Derek Carr to snap the playoff win drought.

They make plays that somehow snatch victory from defeat over and over and over.

“I would be lying if I didn’t say, ‘Wow’ sometimes,” Anarumo said.

Logan Wilson calls it the “tumbleweed effect.” DJ Reader calls it “hunting.” By any term, not only forcing field goals but also creating a turnover 15 percent (!) of the time has been the difference for this defense that ranks in the middle of the pack in most other categories.

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“Points. Not. Yards,” Anarumo said last week, although, the same quote could be pulled from nearly every interview he’s done since becoming coordinator in 2019. “There are going to be situations where — and we have been in a ton of them, it seems like — don’t put your head down, just stop them. It’s happened and it’s got to continue to happen.”

The Bengals ranked in the top five in goal-to-go defense each of the last three seasons. The area tends to lack sustainability over multiple years, but not here. Continuity of coaches and players helps, but they say there’s an attitude that makes the difference.

“People on this team don’t look for somebody to make a play,” Reader said. “Everybody is just kind of in that room of their head that I am going to make that play. The shorter and shorter the field gets, the more opportunity people get to make that play. That’s just how it is. Everyone wants to be the one to make a play.”

WHAT A MOMENT!

Visit https://t.co/KpeqK4RKUm for more highlights. #BudLightCelly pic.twitter.com/G3kbHX8ylR

— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) January 16, 2022

Without question, a certain attitude must play a role in creating success to this degree, but it must go deeper than that. That’s where Anarumo and the red zone scheme come into play.

There’s a science moving from creation to implementation of a game plan and one they’ve tweaked over the years.

He’s been working goal-to-go and red zone defenses with linebackers coach James Bettcher for years. Both when Bettcher was the defensive coordinator for the New York Giants with Anarumo his right-hand man and now vice versa.

“It’s process-based,” Bettcher said. “The plan is only as good as the process you work to install it. You want to have a plan that has answers for things they do but does not have so much complexity players can’t perform.”

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Anarumo honed the process through trial and error. Often painful, embarrassing errors.

“I’ll never forget I was with the Dolphins, and it was against the Chargers,” he said. “We had this coverage in the red zone and we were going to double all their great players. I swear to God, in practice, they scored 15 touchdowns.”

The coverage never made it to the game, but it did leave a mark on his coaching style. He started dropping any new wrinkles to his plan to his players the night before. Just enough for them to review and have familiarity before fully going through the practice reps.

“My point of that story is we waited until Friday and it kind of got on the guys,” Anarumo said. “If it’s something totally new, then it can be a lot.”

Anarumo abides by using his core calls and principles, but the wrinkles he drops in each week designed to attack a specific matchup the opponent wants to exploit keep the quarterback off balance. The half-step of hesitation against a defense thirsting to fire off without any is at the heart of the success.

“They know how to match,” said offensive coordinator Brian Callahan, tasked with cracking the code every training camp. “They know where their help is. They know how to keep leverage. They do all these things so well. When they are in that constricted space, it’s hard as hell to find open players. It’s a really unique mix of scheme, intelligence and just football players.”

Bettcher arrived in 2022 when Al Golden moved on to Notre Dame. He’s in his 11th season with five teams that all had the goal of being great in goal to go.

“Best group I’ve been around for sure,” Bettcher said. “I’ve been around good defenses, but collectively, at all three levels guys are really in tune with the plan and how their piece fits in the puzzle.”

Logan Wilson listens to defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo during training camp. (Kareem Elgazzar / USA Today)

The Bengals have valued intelligence and relentlessness over almost every other trait in defensive player acquisition, and those two mesh perfectly with Anarumo’s scheme. The results have built on themselves.

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“Early in our days of this defense, something would happen and they would score and we weren’t really sure whose fault it was because there weren’t as defined jobs or we didn’t know our jobs well enough,” edge rusher Sam Hubbard said. “Now we know exactly why, whose responsibility, what we are doing wrong and how to fix it. First things first is knowing what to do is the biggest part of it. Then after you know what to do, then you can anticipate, then you can play hard, then you can strain after it. You got to know what you are doing.”

Despite the 24-3 drubbing that took place in Cleveland in the opener, coach Zac Taylor praised the defense for giving a “winning performance.” They created two turnovers, including an uppercut by Germaine Pratt to force a fumble in the red zone. They also forced three field goals that kept the game in reach despite one of the Bengals’ worst offensive performances this century.

go-deeper

GO DEEPER

Bengals’ failures and perspective illustrated by unpacking third-down issues

That fits the motto and one the team must tap into once more against the Baltimore Ravens coming off the demoralizing blowout in Cleveland. The Ravens’ ability to shorten the game and minimize possession makes the red zone in this series one of the most important parcels of land in the AFC North. Against no team has this Bengals strength meant more.

Last year, in three games Cincinnati faced five Baltimore red zone trips after halftime. The Ravens came away with three field goals, a failed fourth-down conversion and the Hubbard-Yard Dash.

“In that point where it comes necessary to strain and make things happen, some guys do and some guys don’t,” Hubbard said. “We got a lot of guys that do on our defense.”

(Top photo: Ian Johnson / Getty Images)

“The Football 100,” the definitive ranking of the NFL’s best 100 players of all time, goes on sale this fall. Preorder it here.

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