Burrow vs. Herbert

[*Wyche'sWarrior*]

(12-07-2021, 10:19 AM)samhain Wrote: I think Joe Mixon's, or probably more specifically the o-line's success in the run game early on is a good indicator as to how the game is going to go for the offense.  I don't feel great about our chances if he's not gaining yardage in the first series or two.  This offense despite all of the weapons runs through him.  It was not reassuring at all to see them struggle against a defense that we were led to believe was garbage vs the run all week.  

I'm not sure what to take away from that but here are two hunches:

1: Despite being the Joe Burrow fanboy that I am, he's still not a guy that's quite capable of winning games by himself when nothing else is working.  When the run game stagnates and defenses figure out that they can pin their ears back and tee off on him, we have major problems.  That can be said about just about any quarterback in the league, but the injuries up front and frequent ineptitude in pass blocking don't do him any favors, either.

2: Although there are plenty of weapons, the offense still hasn't nailed down how to find the guy that the defense isn't prioritizing.  They are definitely getting there, but it's not quite perfected.  Some of that may be lack of protection or Burrow holding the ball too long.  

If they continue to be plagued by pass pro issues, then I hope they continue their offseason trend of building the offense through early picks and the defense in FA.  The final pieces on offense are a long term RT and a really good center.  Jonah will be up to get paid soon anyway, so drafting a tackle early would be smart regardless of whether it's viewed as a Reiff replacement or a future LT candidate if they move on from Jonah.  I wouldn't necessarily hand anything to Hopkins, either.  He's getting a decent contract and it wouldn't hurt to draft a younger, healthier, and cheaper replacement early to both improve in terms of talent and free up cap for the inevitable contracts that will go to the offensive weaponry sooner than we'd like to think.

Absolutely, 100 percent agree with everything you posted. I think he would've gotten off to a faster start if Trey Hill and Isiah Prince aren't starting. As the game wore on, those two began to play a little bit better, and just as the run game is getting warmed up, we fumble away our comeback. When there's no threat of running the ball, this line isn't good enough to consistently protect Burrow against defenses when they can just rush the passer. 


I also think we sometimes forget that Joe still hasn't played two full seasons yet. He does need to clean up those silly INTs though.