Yes, Joe Burrow may indeed become elite someday and yes, we all love to see him throw accurate passes; he was 20/27 yesterday for 261 yards and two touchdowns. That’s a job well done especially considering he took five sacks.

This success was set up by the “other” Joe: Joe Mixon. Joe ran 29 times for 127 yards and a touchdown. A good run game forces the defense to “cheat up” which means moving toward the line which leaves the field behind them more open thereby increasing the secondary’s susceptibility.

This run-pass balance will fluctuate depending on the defense but I personally like it when the Bengals pass and run in near equal amounts to keep the defense guessing.

(09-13-2021, 08:12 PM)Fan_in_Kettering Wrote: Yes, Joe Burrow may indeed become elite someday and yes, we all love to see him throw accurate passes; he was 20/27 yesterday for 261 yards and two touchdowns.  That’s a job well done especially considering he took five sacks.  

This success was set up by the “other” Joe: Joe Mixon.  Joe ran 29 times for 127 yards and a touchdown.  A good run game forces the defense to “cheat up” which means moving toward the line which leaves the field behind them more open thereby increasing the secondary’s susceptibility.  

This run-pass balance will fluctuate depending on the defense but I personally like it when the Bengals pass and run in near equal amounts to keep the defense guessing.

A balance is always good if you can be effective with both.

That said, I felt like they got too conservative in the second half and it nearly cost them the game.  They ran 9 times in the first half, 19 in the 2nd half , and 8 in OT.  Props for sticking with it after only 27 yards on 9 carries in the 1st(and 13 of that was when they caught the Vikes napping with Perrine on a draw on 2nd and 20), but you just aren't going to beat many teams in the NFL by trying to grind clock with the run for a quarter and a half with a one or two possession lead.  

Burrow still showing good accuracy and he added in a big throw which was his biggest weakness last season

Balance is typically good no doubt. I feel especially early in this season JB needs a lot of balance so he doesn't get to feeling he has to do it all.

I don’t think it’s a good thing that they ran so much. The play calling became way too conservative at the end. If Burrow looks that good, they need to letting him rip it more often.

(09-13-2021, 09:13 PM)Whatever Wrote: A balance is always good if you can be effective with both.

...but you just aren't going to beat many teams in the NFL by trying to grind clock with the run for a quarter and a half with a one or two possession lead.  

That’s incontrovertibly true! At this point I’ll give Zac Taylor a bit of a break because he has very little head coaching experience in the NFL playing with a lead.

You are right when you say the offense was too conservative late in the game but what made it worse was the defense. They started playing with loose coverage and using prevent defense far too early. I thought they had all been possessed by the spirit of Teryl Austin.

The Vikings came back and tied the game due to this extremely misguided strategy of an overly conservative offense combined with extremely loose defense. This game should never have been that close.

So they ran it too much, and Burrow still got sacked 5 times?

Well... Looks like we’re gonna have to deal with it

The defense and Mcpherson look good. Continue to use Mixon as a workhorse.

Can’t let Burrow tweak that knee

(09-13-2021, 09:27 PM)Frank Booth Wrote: So they ran it too much, and Burrow still got sacked 5 times?

Well... Looks like we’re gonna have to deal with it

Zac Taylor and Joe Burrow took what the Vikings gave them. The sacks were very interesting because the guards and the tackles were better in pass protection. Trey Hopkins, the center, will improve as he recovers from injury; he was definitely the weakest link on the offensive line. Except for Hopkins the sacks came from blown assignments, not from bad blocking technique.

This is fixable. Frank Pollack is obviously coaching better technique but assignments are being missed and there were more than a few free paths to Joe Burrow. Jim Turner had the players mostly in the correct position but their technique was so bad they couldn’t sustain a block.

Don't get use to this.. The Bears have the worst DBs in Football.. Gotta think an areial assault is coming...

(09-13-2021, 09:22 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: Balance is typically good no doubt. I feel especially early in this season JB needs a lot of balance so he doesn't get to feeling he has to do it all.

Spot on as usual! Against the Bears it might be a good idea to pass more because their secondary looked awful against the Rams but, even then, the Bengals’ “pass count” shouldn’t exceed 35 or so. Joe Burrow had his best games at LSU when throwing between 25-35 passes.

(09-13-2021, 09:38 PM)Tony Wrote: Don't get use to this.. The Bears have the worst DBs in Football.. Gotta think an areial assault is coming...

...which is only effective if the Bears have to pay attention to the run. As we saw yesterday it’s far easier to complete passes if the run game is solid. Being a one-dimensional passing team leads to predictability and that leads to interceptions.

(09-13-2021, 09:44 PM)Fan_in_Kettering Wrote: ...which is only effective if the Bears have to pay attention to the run. As we saw yesterday it’s far easier to complete passes if the run game is solid. Being a one-dimensional passing team leads to predictability and that leads to interceptions.

Have to run it against chicago even if you’re averaging 3 yards a pop.

That pass rush is lethal

(09-13-2021, 09:16 PM)CarolinaBengalFanGuy Wrote: Burrow still showing good accuracy and he added in a big throw which was his biggest weakness last season

Burrow had one BAD miss that I remember and that was to Thomas on a deep ball that would have been a TD. Thomas was wide open.

When you have a Quarterback lie Joe Burrow,you need to turn him loose,and just let him rip the ball.It’s ok to run the ball.But that’s not the true identity of this offense.This is a pass first offense.Just look at your Quarterback and wide receivers.Don’t try to be something you’re not.Do what you do best.

I think the limping dictated that pass/run mix a whole lot.

After that Burrow threw 4 passes and they ran it 13 times. So before he came up limping it was 23 passes and 23 runs.

(09-13-2021, 10:31 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: I think the limping dictated that pass/run mix a whole lot.

After that Burrow threw 4 passes and they ran it 13 times. So before he came up limping it was 23 passes and 23 runs.

Bengals ran the ball more than they passed it and he still got sacked 5 times. Idek how many times he got hit in total

So I’m all in favor of an offense that runs the ball

They didn't have 27 dropbacks, they had 33.

(09-13-2021, 10:31 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: I think the limping dictated that pass/run mix a whole lot.

After that Burrow threw 4 passes and they ran it 13 times. So before he came up limping it was 23 passes and 23 runs.

It was also hot as shit and a good time to try to take their will, we needed to give our D a break and protect a lead as well.



I’m all about having more runs than passes. That usually means you are winning and controlling the game

They should have done this late last season to protect Burrow before the injury, but here we are. How much more confident and optimistic would we all be if they protected him better (with the run game) when the season was already over (and he didn't get hurt)?

I'm honestly not all that optimistic after the win. I'm very encouraged by the defense and we look more explosive on offense, with a better run game.

Why am I concerned? I think we were exposed a bit.

I question the decision making of the coaches after the 4th down call that let the Vikings back in the game. If we punt there, the Vikings would have punted on 4th and 4 from their own 30 (as opposed to our 30). I like being aggressive, but lets cross the 50 first. Don't give the other team an opportunity to grab momentum like that. If not for a lucky call on the fumble in OT, we likely lose because of this decision making.

We looked ultra conservative for at least 1/2 or 2/3 of the game (on offense) in an attempt to protect Burrow (which may be a good strategy to prevent further injury). I get that this is the situation we are now in because of the mistakes we made coaching-wise last year.. The fault I have in this is that it will be easy for other teams to bottle up our offense if we don't attack them more. When we attacked the defense this game, we saw some great plays and TDs. We need to be able to do that to win.

We gave up a lot of sacks/pressure on Burrow, which makes me question the pass protection--and our ability to attack the defense on a consistent basis. That said, I thought we ran the ball decently well.

I thought Burrow looked a little shaky as well. I'm a bit concerned about this, and the pass protection. I hope to see Burrow look more and more stable and confident as the season goes on (and he stays healthy). I hope to see the pass protection improve as well. Fingers crossed.

Glad we won. But I wouldn't say I'm confident.

The Bears defense looked good last night. If we can replicate the Rams success and bottle up Montgomery like we did Cook, I'll feel better. But our offensive line has a big test and I hope they look less shaky in pass protection.

Cook did have over 100 all purpose yards, but not by much. It was definitely a victory keeping him under his rushing average from last year (I believe 142). Keep Montgomery to a similar total and get good pressure on Dalton and we should be able to win. We all know what happens when Dalton gets pressured. We need these early season wins because the schedule gets tough later in the season.

(09-13-2021, 10:00 PM)thompson19osu Wrote: Burrow had one BAD miss that I remember and that was to Thomas on a deep ball that would have been a TD. Thomas was wide open.

The only other bad miss was the one he put into Alexander’s chest, and Boyd saved his ass on that one lol.