PROMISING: Bengals’ $150M+ Defensive Investments SHOWED Out in Week 1!

So the Bengals went out and heavily invested in the defense this year, bringing in a handful of veteran guys to upgrade what was one of the worst defenses in the league last year.

And we're going to

talk about that.

On Sunday, against the Buccaneers, that all paid dividends immediately.

All of the players that they brought in defensively combined 461 defensive snaps, 10 pressures, and 2 sacks.

The best of them all was Bowen Moffay.

He had an 86.5 PFF grade, which was the highest grade of the defender for the Bengals in Week 1.

He logged 37 defensive snaps, 26 pass rush, 9 run defend.

Had 4 pressures, 1 sack, 3 hurries, and a 70 pass rush grade defensively.

And he recovered one of Bucky Irving's fumbles and later strip-stacked Baker Mayfield.

So he dominated at the edge, really was disruptive, and was a game-wrecker, honestly, for this Bengals defensive line.

And he came in, made a huge difference immediately coming over from Seattle.

He was a guy where the stats didn't jump out at you, but his pressure rate and the advanced analytics really favored him as a pass rusher.

And we saw that on display on Sunday where he got to Baker Mayfield.

He forced the fumble.

He got that sack.

He was very efficient in his reps and it was very good to see him being that way because they brought him in to create pressure.

And in his debut, that's exactly what he did.

Brian Cook was another massive one that they brought in.

Cincinnati native from Cincinnati said he was emotional heading into the game.

He shined early with logging 57 defensive snaps.

He had six tackles, zero missed tackles, which is massive.

And he had a 67 coverage grade.

And he forced Bucky Irving's fumble.

That was his big play.