Bengals' Jordan Battle Silences Critics With Two-Interception Performance

When Cincinnati Bengals safety Jordan Battle pointed out a tell in Malik Willis’s game, many fans blew up in criticism of the Bengals safety. Battle revealed that Willis pats the ball just before he throws on about every attempt, and many took it as a hitter in baseball telling a pitcher he tips his pitches the day before a game. 

However, it wasn’t that simple. Most people who saw Malik Willis play noticed it on his scouting report coming out of his college days at Liberty, and it isn’t a big secret. Much of the outrage around Battle’s comments stemmed from the very poor game he played the week before against Jacksonville, in which he had a litany of missed tackles, including a really ugly one against Jaguars tight end Brenton Strange, allowing a 3rd & 18 conversion that led to a field goal on that same drive. 

Battle responded this past week with his best performance of the season, recording seven tackles and two interceptions in a win over the Dolphins, seemingly learning from his film study, picking up on Willis’s tendencies, and capitalizing on mistakes. 

He now has three interceptions this season, paired with 34 tackles. It was the first time in his career that Battle has posted multiple interceptions in a game and the 22nd time in his four-year career that he has recorded seven or more tackles. 

Battle earned a 79.2 PFF grade on Sunday, the second-highest grade of his career from a game in which he played at least 25 snaps. Battle earned a 90 grade in Cincinnati’s Week 18 win over the Cleveland Browns in 2023. 

He has been rather consistent in coverage, while offsetting Bryan Cook, who is a much better tackler. In games in which Battle and Cook have played the full game they are 3-0 to start this season. His struggles in tackling are obvious and worthy of criticism, but Battle is far from a liability on the Bengals backend, and his ability to bounce back after a long week of criticism from Bengals fans and the media is admirable. 

Cincinnati has a chance to show what the defense can look like when healthy over the next three weeks, with back-to-back games against Baltimore and Tennessee. Lamar Jackson didn’t play in week five's win over the Atlanta Falcons, and he could play against the Bengals in week seven. Tackling will be at a premium going against Jackson and Derrick Henry, as Cincinnati gave up 217 rushing yards to the Dolphins.