I thought Rhodes was particularly “active” and played well. There was one play in particular when I believed both Rhodes and Leonhard blitzed and converged at the QB.
Rhodes did have one of his most productive games for some time, but while it seemed he was employed more in the box than usual, I was surprised to note that he still did his usual solid job in deep coverage, where he was used more or less as much as usual, especially in passing situations. It’s just that when he did come up to play in the box, he nearly always made a play. Is that due to the fact that he is finally “getting it”, an increased effort or some weakness in the Bengals to recognize him? I don’t know, but whatever the reason, it was good to see.
Some examples:
- On the first play of the game, Rhodes came up to the line as an extra pass rusher. Palmer tried to make a quick pass into the flat but Rhodes was right on top of him and deflected the pass with his forearm.
- He made a similar play in the second quarter, initially blitzing but then reading the play and dropping to deflect a pass into the flat incomplete.
- On the very next day, he was in deep coverage and came up to lay a big hit on Chad Johnson, who dropped a difficult catch.
- He was unblocked off the edge and got to the quarterback quickly, forcing a rushed throw that fell incomplete.
- In the second half, he had a good angle on Larry Johnson after he broke a long run down the sideline and took him out with a low hit.
- In a shallow zone he made an immediate tackle on a short dump off pass to Coles.
- On the next play, he flushed the QB out of the pocket, forcing an intentional grounding penalty.
- He also had a fumble recovery and return, which we’ll come back to later.
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