07-04-2023, 02:39 PM
(07-04-2023, 02:24 PM)Joelist Wrote: The line actually was playing pretty well (upper tier in pass protect) after they got into sync. The blame for the early season issues has multiple causes:
- Burrow's surgery erasing his preseason
- Zac not putting the starting OL into preseason games, which meant that Opening Day was literally their first game speed snaps together as a unit
- Defenses in Cover 2 and the coaches clearly had not fully thought out how to attack it
In that period when the line was more in sync the offense was effective. Then of course in successive games we lost our starting RT, RG and LT. As a right side, Adeniji and Scharping held up okay for Buffalo then in the AFCCG they both got abused.
We have the right pieces for the line. We need to make sure this time they they actually work together enough so that on Opening Day we don't have a plague of communication issues. Also lay down the law to Mixon - no dancing. He gets one cut at max. Run North-South and hit the hole.
All that said, I do think we will be better able to use the playbook based on the draft and free agency adds.
Add Joe in that equation. He hates the methodical passing game. You don’t think between Dan Pitcher, Brian Callahan, and Zac don’t know how to attack the deep cover 2 and rush 3 drop 8. They’ve seen everything. Most of them have been around football all their lives. Brian was a QB and Zac and Dan. Joe was the one pushing back. He said so n pressers much later in the season. Not saying they were ready but Joe absolutely without any doubt was a part of it.
“To see him improve an area of his game that really helped the offense reach the next level that we're capable of reaching was really a joy to be around and watch and to coach,” Callahan said. “He just started to understand what it meant to move our offense efficiently, that it didn't have to always be a touchdown. We don't always have to have an explosive play.”
https://theanalyst.com/na/2023/01/how-zac-taylor-and-joe-burrow-transformed-the-cincinnati-bengals-offensive-line/
Romo “ so impressed with Zac ...1 of the best in the NFL… they are just fundamentally sound. Taylor the best winning % in the Playoffs of current coaches. Joe Burrow” Zac is the best head coach in the NFL & that gives me a lot of confidence." Taylor led the Bengals to their first playoff win since 1990, ending the longest active drought in the four major North American sports, en and appeared in Super Bowl LVI, the first since 1988.
