Philadelphia (0-2) hosts Cincinnati (0-2) on Sunday. Reagor, the No. 21 overall pick out of TCU, tore a ligament in his thumb last week in a loss to the L.A. Rams.
“Obviously you watch the film and they take a lot of shots with their fast guys -- those two fast guys that they have (but) they’re limited to one now,” Bates said. “… So I’m sure they’re gonna try to run the ball. We showed that we’re vulnerable in the run and we gotta prove to people that we can stop the run just like we did in Week 1. We’re more than capable of doing that. Excited for the challenge.”
The Bengals allowed 155 yards rushing to the Chargers in Week 1, but at least they were sound on third and fourth down, and Los Angeles managed just a 16-13 win that easily could have gone the other way with a better offensive performance for Cincinnati.
Cleveland then racked up 215 yards rushing last Thursday, and it was déjà vu of the 2019 defense – missed gap assignments and bad tackling. Philadelphia is one of the seven teams in the league with fewer rushing yards than Cincinnati’s offense, so the Eagles could be looking to take advantage of a potential opportunity to get their ground attack going while the Bengals are still figuring things out.
“I think we still are finding our identity, honestly,” Bates said of the defense. “We play well Week 1 and then Week 2, we kind of lay an egg. So we have to have that identity and go back to instilled throughout the little, small training camp that we had. Like I said, it will be interesting. We didn’t play well Week 2 and it’s a challenge to see who is going to back down from that challenge. Nobody is going to feel bad for us. We have another team with the Eagles that’s 0-2 that’s wanting to find their first win as well. Nobody’s going to feel bad for us. We just gotta go in and continue to try to figure this thing out ourselves.”
The Eagles average 89 yards rushing (ranked 29th) on the strength of running backs Miles Sanders and Boston Scott, but the biggest issue seems to be moving pieces on the offensive line.
Pro Bowl right guard Brandon Brooks went down with a torn Achilles tendon in the spring while rehabbing from a 2019 shoulder injury, and left tackle Andre Dillard tore a biceps muscle during training camp to end his 2020 before it even started.
On Tuesday, the Eagles placed left guard Isaac Seumalo on injured reserve. That leaves them with a lot of inexperience up front.
“It’s different just because they have had so many moving pieces,” Bengals defensive end Sam Hubbard said about preparing for an offensive line without a lot of game tape together. “They still have their staples, Lane Johnson, Kelce, there is a lot of film on those guys. The guys that are coming in you just got to break them down, look what they are, their tendencies and really at the end of the day it comes down to lining up against whoever, seeing your keys and playing your game.”
Philadelphia allowed eight sacks in an opening loss to Washington, but the Rams didn’t manage to bring down Wentz for any sacks last week. Wentz threw a pair of interceptions in both games, and that could bode well for the Bengals secondary, which is looking to improve its takeaway production, especially if the defensive line is able to get pressure on Wentz.
Bates didn’t see any major adjustments on the film of the Eagles' game against the Rams, compared to their opener, but clearly Washington had an easier time taking advantage of protection errors. Cincinnati will still be without defensive tackle Geno Atkins (shoulder), and Mike Daniels (groin) is questionable but expected to play.
“I think (Washington) did a really good job of just confusing Wentz a little bit,” Bates said. “When his first read wasn’t there… It could be him not playing in a game in a long time, but I just felt like if his first read wasn’t there, he kinda was panicking and was trying to get out of the pocket. Where he does a lot of his damage is outside the pocket. I just think [Washington} did a really good job of containing him in the pocket and keeping that pocket around him and that’s how they got most of their sacks if you watch the film.”
Where the Eagles bring the most challenge is in their 21 personnel packages. They use two tight ends often and likely will even more Sunday with a depleted wide receiver unit relying on Greg Ward, DeSean Jackson and Alshon Jeffery.
“It’s almost like an 11-personnel look most of the time,” Bates said. “Some teams try to play sub-(defense packages) against them and the run the hell out of the ball on them. And then some people try to go big on them and then they pass the ball with the two tight ends. It brings challenges to that part of our defense but I think we have a really good game plan with the extra time that we had going into this Week 3. I’m excited for it.”
About the Author