Bengals Week 18 PFF Recap: 3 stats to know

Every week, win or lose, we have looked into the premium stats from Pro Football Focus and identify three stats to know from the previous Cincinnati Bengals game.

The last game of the season meant everyone on the Bengals' roster eventually got playing time once a sizable lead was established over the reserves of the Cleveland Browns. Plenty of players who might be on the roster bubble next year gave the coaching staff some tape to mull over for the next few months. 

For one last time, let's see what the advanced stats had to say about the Bengals' final game of the season.

S Jordan Battle: 7.3 passer rating allowed on four targets

Battle will certainly not be on the bubble this offseason. He's in line to start at safety next to Dax Hill for 2024, which in hindsight, should have been the plan from the start of this season as well. Battle had his growing pains, but the highs were good enough to land him on PFF's All-Rookie Team.

"Battle ranks second among rookie safeties with 524 snaps played and an 82.5 overall PFF grade. The latter figure is a top-10 mark in the NFL and leads all Bengals defenders regardless of position. Battle is one of five NFL safeties with a 75-plus PFF grade in run defense and coverage (Antoine Winfield Jr., Jabrill Peppers, Jessie Bates III and Jevon Holland)." - PFF's Dalton Wasserman

2023 ended with a bang for Battle as he corralled his first career interception and allowed just one reception on four targets in his coverage. Of all the questions Cincinnati has at the safety position, Battle seems like the least concerning component.

ED Joseph Ossai: 29.4% pass rush win rate on 17 snaps

Arguably the biggest mystery of the Bengals' season is the disappearance of Ossai. Myles Murphy showing promise is the easiest answer to Ossai playing 241 fewer snaps than last season, but Ossai was supposed to take a leap in his third year, not fall to fifth on the depth chart.  

Against a backup left tackle, Ossai had his most productive outing of an underwhelming year. He finished with two hits on quarterback Jeff Driskel. His 29.4% win rate as a pass rusher was a season-high for games in which he had at least 10 pass rushing snaps.

2024 becomes the ultimate prove-it year for Ossai as he looks to fight his way back into the rotation at edge defender. 

RB Joe Mixon: 4.29 yards after contact per attempt

There's just something about Mixon playing against Cleveland that takes him to another level. His highest YAC/attempt of 4.38 came from this season came in Week 1 against—you guessed it—the Browns. This time around, he added 55 more yards to the stat sheet to go over the century mark for the first time all year. 

If this was the last time we saw Mixon run the ball in a Bengals uniform, we know for a fact he left nothing on the field.