Playbook 101: How the Commanders cooked Cincinnati’s defense with their red-hot run game

The Washington Commanders came out firing on all cylinders in Monday night’s pre-season game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Washington scored on its first two drives, rushing for 106 yards on just six carries in the process. Most teams keep the scheme pretty vanilla in the pre-season, but offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury wasn’t afraid to dig a bit deeper into his bag. Kingsbury drew up some pretty plays against a bad Bengals defense, and the results followed suit.

Here’s a look at three of Kingsbury’s best designs, and how they torched Cincinnati.

JET SWEEP INTO AN UNBALANCED BLOCKING SURFACE

On the first play of the night for Washington, Kingsbury came out in an unbalanced formation with four blockers to the short side of the field and a slot to the wide side. Cincinnati walked their Will linebacker down to the four-man surface, but he was still outflanked by a tight end. That left a cornerback as the edge-setter. The philosophy of the alignment was simple: cover up Cincinnati’s best run defenders, and make a defensive back set the edge instead.

At the snap, the Commanders ran a zone scheme to the right of the Will, and a reach scheme to the left. This essentially left the Will unblocked. But the split flow of the line, couple with the jet motion, froze him, allowing Deebo Samuel (the jet back) to get to the edge. There, he had a tight end blocking the corner and a tackle leading onto the near linebacker. Both were mismatches. Samuel went untouched for fifteen yards before being contacted by the safety:

The Commanders run game was cooking last night, as they gained 106 yards on six carries in their first two drives vs CIN.

Here are a few of my favorite designs from Kliff Kingsbury and Co:

(1/3) Jet Sweep to an unbalanced four-man blocking surface with zone action away: pic.twitter.com/71dSj8lZ0l

— Kevin Smith (@KTSmithFFSN) August 19, 2025

WHAM CRUNCH

On my “Call Sheet Daily” podcast on Tuesday, I profiled some of the hot trends I think we’ll see throughout football in 2025. One is the “Wham Crunch” concept, whereby an H-back or off-set tight end comes from just outside the tackle box to trap (or “wham”) an interior defensive lineman, while the guards run influence traps designed to freeze the linebackers.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4oeAjaMK9mBf8H9S7hCjlT?si=2v3cNXB9Q02rJClvGPZ3rg

Washington executed this concept perfectly on their second play against Cincinnati, resulting in a pickup of 40 yards:

(2/3) Wham Crunch, with trap action from the guard and a “wham” block from the H-back: pic.twitter.com/A87XvIkWX0

— Kevin Smith (@KTSmithFFSN) August 19, 2025

The trap action from the guards muddied the reads of the backers, and the “wham” block, while not devastating, neutralized the three-tech defensive tackle. From there, it was a footrace between the running back and the safety to the end zone, with the back coming up just short.

Two plays in, Washington had given Cincinnati’s defenders plenty to process. By making them adjust to an unconventional formation, and then react to a quick-hitting scheme, the Bengals couldn’t play defense from a position of comfort. In the NFL, where talent disparities are narrow, that type of scheming is essential to success.

COUNTER GAP TO THE “NUB” TIGHT END

A “nub” alignment is one where a tight end is by himself on the end of the line of scrimmage, with three receivers set away from him. It’s a great set to run towards because it forces a defensive back into the run fit, where he will have to take on a tight end or a pulling lineman.

On Washington’s second series, they ran GT Counter, pulling both the guard and tackle from the opposite side, at the nub. They initially lined the back up towards the nub, suggesting a sweep or power run to the field, before flipping him prior to the snap. Cincinnati’s edge defender to the nub side ran up the field, making the kickout block easy for the guard. That left a safety to plug the hole against the pulling tackle, which was no contest. Rookie running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt went 27 yards untouched into the end zone, on about as clean a run play as you’ll ever see:

(3/3) GT counter to the nub TE side, which allows the pulling OT to wrap up to a safety: pic.twitter.com/VxwgnLB6Yp

— Kevin Smith (@KTSmithFFSN) August 19, 2025

Cincinnati’s ineptitude on defense certainly helped Washington’s cause. But the Commanders looked sharp on offense, especially in the run game, in both their design and their execution. One of the league’s best offenses in 2024 seems poised to be even better this season.

For more of my work, follow me on X @KTSmithFFSN, and tune into my “Call Sheet Daily” podcast every Monday-Friday on most major platforms.