Game Within The Game: Ted Karras’ Bonding Bengals O-Line Faces A Giant

Center Ted Karras, whose jobs on the Bengals front range from traffic cop to social coordinator, can only hope Sunday’s hellacious assignment in New York against the Giants’ league-leading sackers (8:20 p.m.-Cincinnati’s Channel 5) goes as well as Thursday night’s O-line dinner with legends of the line.

“That was fun. Great listening to those guys,” says Orlando Brown Jr., the other captain on the offensive line. “A lot of these guys just didn’t retire. Their last years were ’92, ’94. Great perspective.”

Karras had concocted the idea with Pro Football Hall of Famer Anthony Munoz a few months ago.

“Ted’s always on top of that stuff. He’s Ted,” says rookie center Matt Lee, getting a crash course in Tedism.

Munoz wondered if he could round up the Dave Laphams, Max Montoyas, and Bruce Kozerskis of his era and merge them with one of the weekly O-line dinners as an auction item for his foundation. For Karras, who began the dinners when he arrived from New England two years ago, it was a win-win, as they say.

“Great night for bonding,” Karras says, “and, yeah, that’s what it is all about.”

What it’s also all about is jousting with an actual Giant just a few miles from the Ed Sullivan Theatre in Ed’s old Sunday night prime-time slot. The 6-4, 340-pound Dexter Lawrence just wrecked Seattle last week with three sacks to give him those 6.5 he’ll shade over Karras all night.

“He’s as big as (Amarius) Mims and cat-quick,” says Bengals offensive line coach Frank Pollack, with a nod to his monstrous rookie tackle. “You could argue (Lawrence) is the best nose guard in the league. He’s powerful, he’s quick enough. He can go on an edge and close, which is impressive for a big guy like that.”

Bengals defensive tackle B.J. Hill helped break Lawrence into the league in 2019 when Hill was with the Giants, but he doesn’t have to say much of anything to Karras.

“It’s on tape,” says Karras, who puts Lawrence in the top Ted Tier with Cleveland’s Myles Garrett and Kansas City’s Chris Jones.

“Not only is he a big man, he has movement skills that can make him very dangerous. He’s very special. He can beat you with speed and power and you have to know where he is at all times and make sure you can get as many bodies on him as possible.”

What it’s also all about is the Bengals are 1-4, so no one can say or wants to say this is the best the offensive line has played in front of a Joe Burrow team.

But the numbers interject.

Pro Football Focus has the line ranked in the top 12 of pass-blocking efficiency. With a 4.3-yard average running the ball, it’s tied for their best in the first five games of a season with Burrow. Burrow has been sacked 11 times, tied for his fewest in the first five games during a stretch only Kirk Cousins and Lamar Jackson have been sacked fewer times among the top ten in pass attempts. Never has he generated 33, 34, and 38 points in three straight games like he has going into New York.

Brown is ranked in PFF’s top ten pass protection and is among the leaders in allowing the fewest pressures in the league. On the other side, Mims has seamlessly replaced Trent Brown in the last two-and-half games and has never played in a game they didn’t score 30.

In the middle of it all is Karras, ranked by PFF at a Ted-like solid at No. 11.

“I think Orlando is playing the best ball of his career,” says Karras of a four-time Pro Bowler. “Mims is such a great player. Rock solid. There are things, mistakes a rookie makes. He’s 21. But as far as what you ask out of a rookie tackle, he’s as good as it gets. Me, (Alex) Cappa, Cordell (Volson), we’re three years together and we continue to work at doing the right things.”

Forget dinners and outings. Pollack knows all about that. “Outstanding leadership abilities.” He also says Karras is among the best on-field coordinators he’s ever seen.

“I think we’re doing a really good job keeping our runs on schedule, not losing yards. That talks a lot to him being able to adjust and get coordinated so we’re always on the same page,” Pollack says. “We watch a lot of tape and see a lot of O-lines where the guys aren’t going in the same direction … You need to have five guys working together and he’s one of the best I’ve been around getting it coordinated during the game.”

Matt Lee, the rookie center Karras is grooming, says it’s because he goes into a walkthrough and watches tape like he’s in a game. Lee can hear Karras say while they’re watching Lawrence something like, “He’s probably going to cross face in this stance,” or ‘Here’s where you have to play him straight up.”

“He’s high-energy. Treating every rep like it’s in a game in walkthrough,” Lee says. “He points it out. He calls it out vocally and communicates it like he’s in New York on Sunday night.”

At 31, Karras has prided himself throughout his career on making offseason adjustments and this one was no different. He went back and studied the guys he believes are the NFL’s top two centers in Kansas City’s Creed Humphrey and Detroit’s Frank Ragnow.

“I focused on being a little more calm. You want your center to be a little more collected,” Karras says. “What stood out to me was their patience and willingness to let things develop and come to them instead of being over-aggressive. They win a lot. I’m going to try to incorporate some of that into my game.”

Karras has such an ebullient personality that you have to be careful about making assumptions. He’s a beast in the weight room who not only plays with powerful and physical leverage, but a mean streak that is as long as 60 minutes. Remember the training camp scrums? A rock in the toughest trench in sports. As the Bengals’ NFL Players Association rep, he knows all about tough, blunt conversations.

“I’m not ditching it,” Karras says of his fiery play. “Whatever you have to do to play the best. If you’re Mr. Angry and Psycho Guy and not playing very well, then you have to evaluate. I’m not saying I was that. Now it’s just an intense focus.”

For Karras, the off-field bonding symbolizes the togetherness they need when they’re blocking down on the fly in response to a Burrow check, or passing off a delayed stunt. Orlando Brown has hosted most of the dinners this year and he enjoys opening up his home, and he’ll probably be doing it again next week.

But he got a kick out of being with the legends for dinner at Cozy’s in West Chester, and watching them interact with his teammates. Brown found himself immersed in a deep discussion with Munoz’s right tackle, Joe Walter, the man who mentored Bengals Ring of Honor member Willie Anderson. Walter mentioned that, a nice lead in for a conversation about their playing styles.

“Joe played before some of these new techniques came in,” Brown says. “It turns out we both have the same kind of physical style. That was interesting.”

No doubt Karras enjoyed taking it all in.

He knows the Giants won’t be a Sunday social.

“Our biggest test,” Karras says.