CINCINNATI — As Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco stood in his own end zone beneath the shadows of his own goal posts, only one presence loomed larger.
Even with the game all but over, Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson was still on the hunt for one more sack. That’s why Flacco spent the last sequence of last week’s game under pressure from one of the NFL’s premiere edge rushers. Hendrickson hit Flacco on the last play of Cincinnati’s 17-16 win, a little extra thump for good measure.
Hendrickson did not have the typical ramp-up to the season because of a contract standoff that wasn’t settled until two weeks before Week 1. Turns out, it didn’t matter all that much. Hendrickson still tallied a sack, played 75% of the defensive snaps and was a steady source of pressure.
As promised, he picked up right where he left off. And as the Bengals prepare for Sunday’s home opener against the Jacksonville Jaguars (1 p.m. ET, CBS), Hendrickson spearheads a group of already off to a disruptive start to the season.
“He gave us way more than I thought,” Bengals defensive coordinator Al Golden said this week. “That’s an amazing human being to be able to do that. His play count, he kept wanting more. And he did a great job when he was in there.”
Golden, who notched a win in his debut as Cincinnati’s coordinator, continued to marvel at Hendrickson’s performance. Not only was his conditioning somewhat stupefying, but Hendrickson was also solid against the run and helped the defense work itself into long third downs that provide great conditions for sacking quarterbacks.
According to Next Gen Stats, the Bengals pressured Flacco 17 times. Hendrickson accounted for seven of those. The performance even earned a comment from Browns defensive end Myles Garrett after the game.
“We didn’t appreciate how they were getting after our quarterback in our house,” Garrett said.
It’s no accident that Hendrickson was primed for the opener despite a hold-in during training camp that wasn’t settled until he received a $13 million raise for the final year of his current contract.
Once Hendrickson reported for training camp, he went full boar into prepping for the season. Bengals defensive end Myles Murphy said that every day the team practiced, he was doing solo work at the team facility, mimicking full drives by himself at full intensity.
“It was almost as if he was out there with us,” Murphy said. “He was being a pro about it.”
Entering the year, there were many questions about how effective Hendrickson will be as he continues to get older. He is set to turn 31 this season, which is one of the factors that played into the lack of a long-term extension he wanted.
But Cincinnati’s draft plan to boost the defensive line is finally coming to fruition. Cincinnati has invested several draft picks into the position, including two first-rounders in Murphy and rookie Shemar Stewart. Both earned high marks in the opener.
And this season, Hendrickson isn’t the only one who can bring pressure off the edge.
“I feel you like you can grab four names in a bucket, throw it out on the field and just watch us work,” Murphy said. “That’s how I feel about our d-line group.”
Last season, Hendrickson led the NFL with 17.5 sacks. The rest of the team had 18.5 sacks.
Cincinnati’s Week 1 victory showed that others are capable of producing outside of Hendrickson. For Murphy, the game tape was validation for how the unit has looked at practice throughout the summer. And the depth at defensive end should be a strength for the Bengals.
“We have five bodies we can roll fresh throughout the entire game,” Murphy said. “I think late in games, that’s where we should be thriving this entire season.”
But Hendrickson remains the anchor of that unit. And if the opener is any indicator, Hendrickson will be churning, looking to apply pressure for as many snaps as possible.
