The following is an excerpt from Warren Sharp's 2025 Football Preview book. In addition to Warren's deep, detailed write-up on all 32 NFL teams, each chapter features page after page of full-color charts, stats, and heatmaps as well as penalty analysis from Joe Gibbs. Click here for a full FREE chapter from the 2025 Football Preview.
Penalties are an under-discussed aspect of NFL success and failure. Average teams can become playoff contenders with good discipline, and good teams can become great simply by winning the penalty battle.
Let's look at how the Cincinnati Bengals performed from a penalty perspective in 2024 and where they can improve in 2025.
How Did Penalties Impact the Cincinnati Bengals?
The Good
- The Bengals offense ranked second overall as a beneficiary of automatic first downs via penalty.
- The Bengals offense was a top-three beneficiary of defensive pass interference penalties.
- The Bengals ranked 24th in pre-snap penalties per game.
- The Bengals ranked 31st in penalties per game average when playing at home.
- The Bengals were the least penalized home team for offensive holding penalties. Additionally, they ranked 30th in false start and offensive holding combination penalties per game.
The Bad
- The Bengals defense struggled, ranking in the top 10 surrendering automatic first downs via penalty. More problematic, 48% of these infractions were committed on punitive third-down plays, significantly higher than the league average of 31.8% in this category.
- The Bengals defense generated the fewest offensive holding penalties on opposing offenses of any unit in 2024. This represented a major decline from their numbers the past few seasons in this category.
- An above average 28% of Bengals penalties occurred on third-down plays. The NFL average is 21.5% of penalties on third down.
Grade: B+
Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase had career seasons in 2024, and it was really all for nothing. The Bengals shot themselves in the foot with another slow start, which ultimately cost them a Wild Card spot.
The question heading into 2025 is can the defense stop anyone?
The defense simply needs to be serviceable to complement the high-octane offense.
Cincinnati invested heavily on defense in the draft, and those players paying immediate dividends would provide a huge boost to this team's prospects in 2025.
The Bengals have the lowly Browns and Jaguars on deck to start the season.
If they cannot start fast, there needs to be serious questions asked about the leadership of this team, given the disappointments of a wasted 2024 season still fresh in the mind.
The goal for Cincinnati is straightforward heading into the 2025 season.
Advance to the playoffs, with a potential return to the Super Bowl stage, and in the process wipe away some of the disappointment of a wasted 2024 season.
This analysis continues in the 2025 Football Preview
Order Warren Sharp's 2025 Football Preview to get penalty analysis for all 32 NFL teams.
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Warren Sharp's book shares insights into the players, coaches, teams, and philosophies with one goal: to prepare you for the 2025 NFL season with the smartest information delivered in the fastest, most direct way possible for optimal reviewing and retention.
- Team Chapters previews are in-depth, data driven & full of actionable info
- Fantasy Football player profiles, predictions, and ranks
- Vegas Odds forecast team wins, division rankings, lines for all 2025 games
- Coaching strategic advice for teams, play calling analysis & team tendencies
- Front Office Analysis positional spending, roster construction & cap analysis
- Reasons to bet over/under win totals & analysis of futures betting market
- Rookie draft class deep dive into impact for every team
- Rankings for every positional unit on every team with analysis
