Bengals: Dalton Risner will take over at right guard for injured Lucas Patrick

Fortunately, fellow veteran Dalton Risner was waiting in the wings to step in and likely will be the starter moving forward.

Patrick exited early in the second quarter, after playing just 16 of the team’s 52 snaps on offense, and Risner, whom the Bengals signed on Aug. 28, finished the game. Cincinnati had just five days of practice between his arrival and the opener, but Taylor said he was ready to go.

Risner had been without a team since his contract with the Minnesota Vikings expired in March, and despite not having a training camp, he proved up for the challenge of playing right away Sunday in a 17-16 win over the Browns.

“That was his second time in full pads – Thursday’s practice, Sunday’s game,” Taylor said. “That’s difficult. The above-the-neck stuff, he’s got. The experience, he’s got. He’s done a good job staying in shape, so he’s ready to go. I thought he did a great job getting through the game and was durable and conditioning was fine. You can’t simulate the body blows and hits on your body and I’m sure the soreness he experiences right now, which is probably something our guys feel Day 2 of training camp with the pads on. He’s doing everything he can to get his body back.”

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Pro Football Focus called Risner the “glue that held Cincinnati’s offensive line together in the passing game.”

The Bengals had one drive in the fourth quarter where Cleveland’s pass rush got the best of them for three straight sacks, but otherwise Myles Garrett and company were kept at bay. Risner gave up just one pressure, a hurry on that three-sack series, over 24 pass-blocking snaps.

He finished the game with an initial 80.5 PFF pass-blocking grade. The Bengals had a guard earn an 80.0-plus PFF pass-blocking grade just once all last season, but Risner has never earned a sub-65.0 PFF pass-blocking grade in a season, and he let up only one sack across nearly 900 pass-blocking snaps over the past two years.

“I’m still trying to figure (Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow) out, and he’s trying to, I’m sure, figure me out, but I got a lot of respect for him, and I take a lot of pride protecting him, I can tell you that,” Risner told reporters Monday.

Bengals center Ted Karras, in an interview with 700 WLW’s Lance McAllister, said Risner’s performance was “one of the most stunning displays of football professionalism” he’s ever witnessed.

Told that quote Monday, Risner joked he was blushing but said, “that’s special.”

Risner’s performance was stunning considering how quickly he learned the playbook and got up to speed with the linemen around him. However, there was still room to improve in run blocking. That was the case for the entire line, which left much to be desired after a strong start to the game.

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Chase Brown rushed for the opening touchdown and had 43 yards rushing on 12 carries before halftime. He finished with 21 carries for 43 yards and one touchdown.

PFF graded Risner at just a 36.4 in run blocking, but Taylor said he didn’t think Patrick’s exit impacted the running game, although it coincidentally dropped off around that same time.

“I thought he (Patrick) played well when he was in there; I thought Dalton did well in the run game when he was in there as well, so that’s not a one-for-one correlation there and why second half wasn’t as good,” Taylor said. “That was overall a unit thing, that was a coaching thing, that was everybody involved in the offense.”

The Bengals were just not good enough offensively in the second half, on third down in particular, but Taylor said those are easy corrections to make going into Week 2 against Jacksonville on Sunday at Paycor Stadium.

Cincinnati managed just three points in the second half and netted 7 total yards after taking a 14-10 lead into halftime.

“When you’re just three and out, because you’re not converting third downs, they’re just teeing off, you know, and they’ve got all the momentum, and we just needed to convert on one to give ourselves some rhythm momentum,” Taylor said. “(We) weren’t able to do that. That happens sometimes. We don’t want it to happen, but those are easy, easy things for us to be better at moving forward offensively.”

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