Bengal already see the fruits of the addition of Dalton Risner

• Exactly what the Bengal needed: The security groups of only two teams left more pressure than the Bengal last season. Dalton Risner proved that he wants to change that to Cincinnati in his first year.

• Cincinnati’s attacking line has something to build: It was not a perfect show – especially when blocking Run – but the Bengal should feel much better about the state of his guard tandem compared to a season ago.

• The Cincinnati Bengals opened the season with a 17-16 victory over the Cleveland Browns: Diving in the Pff -Game Summary For advanced statistics, snap counts, early players figures and more!

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Towards the end of last year’s regular season, two problems seemed to be the death bell for the play-off hope of the Cincinnati Bengals: an awkward defense and a more than lacking guard tandem.

The first is a positive -looking work that is being implemented under the new defensive coordinator Al Golden, and the latter can be a sudden force. The guards of no team earned a lower pff-pass blocking rate than last season of the Bengal (42.6), and now few guards will probably earn a higher figure than Dalton Risner from Cincinnati in week 1 of the 2025 season, awaiting the final reviews of PFF.

In the 17-16 victory of the Bengal on the Cleveland Browns, Risner-Slechts was signed 10 days ago-the glue that held Cincinnati’s attacking line together in the passing game. Of course, the Bengal were pushed around by Myles Garrett and the company on a fourth quarter, but otherwise the unit kept his end of the bargain in pass protection up.

Risner gave only one edition to that series with three bags-over 24 pass-blocking snaps. Only once did a Bengals guard earned an 80.0 PFF-Pass blocker figure in a match last season. In one match this season, Risner has matched that (80.5), awaiting reviews. Cincinnati’s Run Blokkering left a lot to be desired, which will probably refuel the general figure of Risner, but his ability to protect Elite Quarterback Joe Burrow was clear in week 1.

Risner has never earned a Sub-65.0 PFF pass blocking in a season and in the past two years he has only left one bag over nearly 900 pass-blocking snaps.

Burrow was put under pressure on 10 of his 29 dropbacks in the win. He had more time to throw than normal, on average 2.92 seconds. He surpassed a time of 2.9 seconds to throw in only three games in 2024. Although it did not lead to deep connections with Tee Higgins or Ja’marr Chase against Cleveland, those chances will be there as the season.

If Burrow is going to repeat as one of the highest -dug signal callers of the NFL, it needs clean bags. It has been an emphasis in Cincinnati in recent years. If Risner has something to say about it, Burrow will have enough time to put the defense in dice this season.