Agree with them or not, the Cincinnati Bengals appear determined to usher in a youth movement to the front seven of their defense. The embattled unit exited Week 7 victorious, but still ranks 31st in yards and points allowed per game.
Cincinnati's defensive struggles stem in part from an ineffective offense that looked brutal whilst quarterbacked by Jake Browning. Now that Joe Flacco has arrived and given the Bengals hope, perhaps there's a chance the defense can turn things around.
But a series of puzzling coaching decisions are making the linebacker corps far worse in the short term, with the presumed payoff of reps for rookies Demetrius Knight Jr.