On the Bengals’ first possession, Hightower read a zone run and scraped behind the offensive line to tackle Giovanni Bernard from behind for a loss. On their last, he engaged center T.J. Johnson, then twisted behind Jabaal Sheard who was slipping inside Clint Boling and both came free for the sack. And his second safety in two weeks was perfection. It’s a classic Bill Belichick scheme for linebackers to read the center, and whichever way he blocks, you attack his gap on the other side. Nick Saban calls it “Rain.” So Hightower waited a beat for Johnson to slide to his right to block Elandon Roberts, then full-throttle blitzed the A-gap to his left and Andy Dalton had no shot of escaping. Brilliant.
–And Roberts was a revelation subbing in for Jamie Collins. I lost count of how many big plays he made, but he was everywhere. When the Pats made the stop on that goal-to-go set of downs, he blew right past Domata Peko on second down for tackle in the backfield. Earlier on a second-and-14, he read Jeremy Hill staying back in pass protection, so he blitzed him (another classic Belichick move because it ties up the running back an prevents him from becoming another receiving weapon) and essentially beat Dalton with him like he was a
pugil stick. On a second-and-2 in the red zone, he blitzed the A-gap on an inside run, redirecting Hill into traffic and eventually forcing a field goal. For a rookie I assumed was just a camp body, Roberts couldn’t have impressed me more.
