12-11-2023, 03:38 PM
(12-11-2023, 02:09 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: All I know is there have been many times in many games and I'm not talking about the games early this season with JB's calf issue, leave them out. Anyways our offense looks lost. The running game has been mostly ineffective out of the mostly shotgun O. It's either feast of famine !! We're either lighting the scoreboard up 350 yards passing. Or we look like it's the first day of training camp.
We abandon the run game way to early because it's getting nowhere. We're facing a Dline that could care less about the run. They're pinning their ears back, kill Burrow on two, ready break. They've got nothing to worry about because nothing but the bomb works.
I just strongly feel that if ZT and JB would incorporate something other than all shotgun all the time our offense would benefit. Less three and outs, less wear and tear on JB. And so on.
The running game issues are partially due to overuse of shotgun, yes, but also partially due to personnel. Mixon is the lead back and while he has some things he is good at, he isn't a good enough runner to be the guy. He's not dynamic enough. He doesn't have the speed, quickness or "bag" to make people miss consistently. It's not a coincidence that the running game is coming to life with contributions from Chase Brown. When we try to talk about a guy who is dynamic, Brown fits that bill. You combine that with Cincinnati involving more under center looks and boom, you have a more productive run game. Still not great, but more productive.
Also, to your last point, ZT and JB do incorporate something other than all shotgun all the time. That was strictly this year, and largely due to Joe's injury. I already provided the splits for the previous two years. Joe has been in shotgun between 62% and 78% of the time in 2021 and 2022. It wasn't until this year that it was shotgun only.
