What If Bengals O Line is Great in 2024

[Joelist]

(06-25-2024, 12:40 PM)KillerGoose Wrote: No, it hasn't. The last two years it has been. In 2020 and 2021, the Bengals were just barely above league average in their usage of shotgun. This trend continued into the first four weeks of 2022 when they made a change in week five. I suspect it was due to how awful the running game was, and the run game production improved after the change so they stuck with it. Analyzing 2023 is tough, but the Bengals were much more modest in their usage of shotgun with Browning in the game. Who knows what they wanted to do headed into the season. 

However, the point is that Joe and Zac offenses have not been "extremely gun heavy" every year that they have been here. Just the last two years, due to fairly explainable reasons. 

Exactly. Also in 23 when Burrow's calf healed and before the wrist they had already gone to a more balanced mix of Gun and Under Center. They were also starting to change up play selection occasionally to break tendencies. And it was working. Then Burrow hurt his wrist and with Browning they did have to change the playbook somewhat to fit what he was comfortable with. 

For this season I would expect they will come out looking more in terms of formations and playcalling like they did against SF.