CINCINNATI -- For three weeks, Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Jay Gruden has opined about how much further his unit has to go before he will confidently say it has arrived.

The Bengals have pulled back from primarily targeting receiver A.J. Green in recent weeks. AP Photo/Gary Wiepert

It was just after last month's 17-6 loss at Cleveland when he even offered his rather controversial but honest assessment on his offense: It was lacking identity. In the weeks since, as the Bengals have become more dedicated to the run and have gone away from primarily targeting receiver A.J. Green, they have started drawing significantly closer toward revealing a true identity.

We'll get to a little more on that specifically in a later post.

Back to the strides on offense. Gruden isn't the only one reserving judgement. Receiver Marvin Jones wants us all to exercise a little patience when discussing it, too.

"You saw a glimpse of it [at Buffalo], but there's a lot more," Jones said. "We're still scratching the surface and we still have yet to put a whole game together. We have to attack and we still have to just put our foot on the pedal more."

When the Bengals learn how to do that, Jones said, "it's going to be scary."

If their offensive numbers at this point in the season are any indication, the Bengals may live up to the wideout's nightmarish prophecy. Nightmarish for whom, you ask? Opposing defenses.

Consider these facts about the potentially "scary" scheme. Cincinnati's offense ranks:

4th in time of possession

6th in rushing attempts

7th in yards after the catch

8th in third-down conversion percentage

8th in completion percentage

T-8th in red zone efficiency

The Bengals also are on pace to have six 500-yard receivers this season. Only one other team has had that many 500-yard receivers in NFL history: the 2011 New Orleans Saints

Against the Bills on Sunday, Cincinnati picked up 243 yards after completed passes from quarterback Andy Dalton. He also completed passes to eight players, bringing his ability to get the offense going in a versatile and diverse fashion into focus.

"We feel like we've got a lot of weapons," Dalton said. "So for me, it's just getting the ball to the guys. You saw what they can do once they have the ball in their hand. You don't know how it's going to happen each week. Some weeks, it's going to be one guy. Some weeks, shoot, it's eight guys. A lot like it was last week. It just kind of depends on the week. But the more versatile we can be and the more we can spread the ball around and get guys the ball, the better we can be."

Here are a few extra tidbits from Dalton's news conference Wednesday, and locker room availability: