One penalty.

[*SHRacerX*]

(09-16-2020, 04:06 PM)Au165 Wrote: This whole response feels like a judgement on the outcome rather than any sort of football discussion around the actual scheme. In reality, most people here don't actually know what a "scheme" is. Your one note about there being "None" in terms of bootlegs and misdirections is actually false so the one real "schematic" complaint isn't even a real complaint. 

Being mad about playcalling is an exercise in "hindsight is 20/20". A little over 2/3rd of teams last year chose to throw the ball on 1st down 60% of the time or more. The idea you need to run on early downs is an archaic view of football that is a preference not necessarily "good scheme". Most teams have replaced those early down rushes with short passing as an extension of the run game. We did that but even those plays were being blown up by rush, however, that said in the 1st half our YPC rushing was 3.0 so it essentially wasn't cutting it either. Before you complain about the "running scheme" it was the same pin and pull blocking with heavy pitch emphasis that saved Mixon's season last year. Box count is the #1 check for most plays. If a run play is called and Joe checks because of box count does that make the scheme bad?

In the end, when fans complain about the scheme they really complain about execution. If he passed on 1st down every time and completed 60% and was lighting it up people would love the "scheme". If he ran on 1st and 2nd down at 2.5 YPC they call the scheme conservative and sophomoric. As the season goes, and the actual scheme doesn't change, you will see better execution and people will complain when we look bad and rave about it when we look good.

Easy way to try and dismiss the complaint:  You don't know what you're talking about.  The lack of handing the ball off on first down repeatedly put them behind the chains.  That put the offensive line in even worse position with certain passing downs facing that pass rush.  And in the first half, I didn't see them move Burrow in the pocket at all.  I don't want to re-watch the first half as it would make me want to vomit, but it goes way beyond execution.  The Bengals executed poorly in the second half.  They missed wide open receivers.  I am not talking about those plays.  I am talking about horrible play selection in the first half that put their QB and their offensive line in terrible positions.  

I don't have a source, but the "Locked on Bengals" podcast quoted an organization that rates the first 15 plays as those are typically scripted plays.  They ranked the Bengals dead last, of course.