03-10-2022, 11:45 AM
(03-10-2022, 11:22 AM)casear2727 Wrote: We dont need the WR3 to provide Boyds production with an improved oline as the running game will expand greatly and the ability to run better, longer routes to our primary receivers increase.
There is a lot to unpack here, so I am trying to avoid a giant wall of text. You are greatly overstating how important a run game is. Running the ball provides balance and ambiguity to an offense, but that is about it. It's a very poor predictor of points scored and overall team success, so getting rid of a WR and using the justification of "well our run game will improve" is essentially worthless. Being able to convert short yardage situations is very important and a running game is very valuable there, but it is all passing otherwise. The justification would be to keep Burrow upright and improve short yardage performance. I think there are likely genuine arguments for trading Boyd, but using "run game improvements" as a justification is silly.
And no, they weren't exclusively three-step at the end of the season. From week 13 on through the Super Bowl, Cincinnati was right in the middle of the league of deep passing %. They weren't as aggressive, but they weren't conservative, either.
