(10-10-2021, 09:10 PM)Big Boss Wrote: We don't have the right head coach.

I watched the second half of the Chargers/Browns game and there is no chance in hell our team can compete with that level of explosiveness. Those offenses were scoring at will.

Look to improve from last year (shouldn't be hard), but we're nowhere near where we need to compete with the AFC's best.

The Chargers dropped 26 points in the fourth quarter. That’s incredible. My hat is off to them.

I would say the IOL and lack of vertical threat outside of Chase.

(10-10-2021, 09:30 PM)Fan_in_Kettering Wrote: The Chargers dropped 26 points in the fourth quarter.  That’s incredible.  My hat is off to them.

Yeah that's crazy. 41 total points in the 4th.

I'm worried about the browns RBs.

Hue Jackson was an atrocious head coach but he was an outstanding offensive coordinator. Jay Gruden was an excellent offensive coordinator too. Imagine all they could do with this offense. I don’t want them back but I’m just using them as examples.

Zac Taylor and Brian Callahan run the offense in second gear.

(10-10-2021, 09:34 PM)Fan_in_Kettering Wrote: Hue Jackson was an atrocious head coach but he was an outstanding offensive coordinator.  Jay Gruden was an excellent offensive coordinator too.  Imagine all they could do with this offense.  I don’t want them back but I’m just using them as examples.

Zac Taylor and Brian Callahan run the offense in second gear.

Hue was good

Jay would abandon the run far too often, and have Dalton sling it when he didnt have to

(10-10-2021, 09:18 PM)lone bengal Wrote: Haven’t scored over 24 points this season. Green Bay had its best CB Alexander out and we have Chase, Higgins and Boyd plus they were missing there best pass rusher Za’Darius Smith. I’m still not sold on Taylor. Big picture if we ever want Burrow to take us to the promise land we’re gonna have to put up points. The  Chargers , Chiefs and Bills all have high scoring  offenses and young QB’s that will be in AFC throughout Burrows career.

Actually it is a combo of offense and defense that takes you to promise land.. we don;t need to score 30 plus a game.. actually look at our two losses , we score 26 points a game we are 5-0.. we just need to finish better.. Burrow is just as much to blame as ZT.. they go hand and hand.. 

(10-10-2021, 09:39 PM)Essex Johnson Wrote: Actually it is a combo of offense and defense that takes you to promise land.. we don;t need to score 30 plus a game.. actually look at our two losses , we score 26 points a game we are 5-0.. we just need to finish better.. Burrow is just as much to blame as ZT.. they go hand and hand.. 

Agree absolutely need both sides to win but we should be better on offense with all the weapons we have and an “ offensive minded “ head coach. Yeah that pick Burrow had was brutal he also holds onto the ball to long at times needs to just throw it out of bounds some plays versus taking the sack. Sometimes it’s the protection too Perine can’t pass block to save his life. Higgins might still be banged up but I would have liked to see more from him in this game.

Bad play calling for the most part,is why this team is 3-2 instead of 5-0.Play calling against the Bears was even worse in my opinion.Should have won both the Bears and Packers games.

I dont know about other games specifically, but there were some balls that were dropped that needed caught today. Higgins is the throw I remember; coverage read perfectly, ball placed well, right in his hands, and he dropped a first down. That’s a catch that has to be caught.

I don’t know how you could watch the game today and not conclude that our poor oline was the difference.

Rodgers had so much more time to throw and the packers o line was blowing our d line away on running plays.

Packers were way better than Bengals today. We were totally lucky to get to overtime.

Look at the numbers. Yes our DL played poorly but our OL was not the disaster you imagine it to be. Rodgers had RIDICULOUS time to throw and that is squarely on our highly paid DL not getting pressure. Our OL overall did its job. Three sacks in 5 quarters of which at least one was 100% on Burrow. He also had pockets most of the time - like he has had all season.

The real culprit is the incredibly dumb scheme. Ever notice how we telegraph the play by our formation? Or how we rarely attack the middle of the field and almost never hit the seams? Where are the rollouts? Or how we do nothing whatsoever to burn pass rushes (like traps, draws, screens)? Opposing defenses come out, instantly know by our formation what is coming and tee off on the line. Being in shotgun WAY too much and also the empty backfields don't help either.

(10-10-2021, 10:46 PM)bengals67 Wrote: I don’t know how you could watch the game today and not conclude that our poor oline was the difference.

Rodgers had so much more time to throw and the packers o line was blowing our d line away on running plays.

Packers were way better than Bengals today. We were totally lucky to get to overtime.

The packers had like 1 drive where they ran well. Outside of that we pretty much completely stuffed it outside of the 57 yard run which should have been a -2 or 7 yard run if not for the miss by Bell and then another miss by Bates. 

Other then that they ran for 76 yards on 21 carries which is a 3.6 average. 

Again, play calling takes a lot of pressure off the oline, not clearly showing pass vs run (such as going empty and the line getting crushed), never attacking the middle, and Burrow not moving around the pocket. 

Watch Mahomes and Allen, both of them are constantly moving around the pocket even when there's no pressure.

(10-10-2021, 09:00 PM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: Cuz Zac is not a great playcaller.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

/thread

ZT has struggled at every stop as a play caller.

In my opinion, blaming the scheme is just some way to try to blame some nebulous concept that the vast majority of NFL fans don’t have the first clue about. It’s kind of like saying ‘the other team just had more grit’. It’s an easy of saying something that sounds decent enough but doesn’t explain anything.

Today, I thought the Bengals passed a little much. They passed about 61% of the time and I want to see them closer to 55%, though 60% is okay if we get more screens as an extension of the run game. Basically, I think the playcalling from a ratio standpoint was a little off.

Another reason, and people won’t like this one, but it’s turnovers. Burrow has one of the highest INT % in the league. In five games this season, he has already thrown more interceptions than he did last season. He is currently on pace to throw 20 interceptions. His efficiency otherwise has been incredible but the turnovers are killer.

(10-10-2021, 09:22 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote:

The offense had at least 5 third-and-twos or less but couldn't get the first down today.
I'm pretty sure this isn't the first game this season that we've struggled on 3rd and short.
It's hard to ignore the questionable play calling. 

The problem is that Zac Taylor is trying to be
A HC and OC.at the same time and instead of being
Good at one, he is below average at both.
And in effect the offense has no identity other than
It lacks one thus the lack of scoring.

Zac has no resume of being changing a culture around
Or being a innovative offensive mind when hired
Zac now is on the level of a Division 2 college OC.

The Bengals lack that offensive mind in the coaches room
Who has been there done that accomplished that
If Zac puts puts out a gameplan for Sunday who is
There to dissect it, and maybe " eh Zac , from my experience
In.the past,its best.........."
Pollack and Walters were around HoF QBs and you wonder if
ZT ever draws ideas from their experience around Montana and Manning.probally not

Zac has no.clue how to attack the weakness in a defense
Or how.to create deception.
Today on 3rd and 1 he called QB keeper with Chase as the TB.
What the heck is that...? He didnt even bother running Chase
In.a presnap motion to get the attention of the LBers

C J Uzomah has a monster game last week and vs the Packers he is a ghost. Huh what???
No seam routes, no.stick routes, no.backside drags
What does ZT do....uses that pile of fluff Sample more than
Uzomah.

The Bengals need a established OC to get more out this offense.

(10-10-2021, 10:39 PM)ezekiel23 Wrote: Bad play calling for the most part,is why this team is 3-2 instead of 5-0.Play calling against the Bears was even worse in my opinion.Should have won both the Bears and Packers games.

Yeah it's more than just play calling with Zac sometimes you have to be able to read the room. The Packers gave us the game or tried. No expert would've been picking us to win so if we find ourselves in that situation be aggressive if it costs us the win then we had to try ( I'm talking about throwing to get a closer field goal or if you run then run again on 4th and inches.)

I'm torn because I really like this group that has been assembled and I think Zac and the rest of the staff get some credit. But I agree with you that we could be 5-0 and we need a coach that will help us in getting those close wins and I'm just not seeing it from Zac. 

Scheme is not a nebulous concept. It is very real and practical and you see it on the field in the design of the offense. The really good offenses are that way partly because they have plays whose design fits the players and that set the players up to succeed. What I listed are actual NFL play design concepts and this has been called out by others outside this forum (like James Rapien for one) - when we actually USED CJ to attack the seams against Jax they pointed out our lack of exploiting the seams and middle of the field. And we have even heard booth announcers asking why the Bengals don't do anything to burn pass rushes.

I have to say lack of creativity in playcall


Me and my wife predict passes/runs ALOT. When we had Lazor and Gruden i couldn’t do that.


Taylor and Bratkowski are both really bad with creativity

(10-10-2021, 11:00 PM)KillerGoose Wrote: In my opinion, blaming the scheme is just some way to try to blame some nebulous concept that the vast majority of NFL fans don’t have the first clue about. It’s kind of like saying ‘the other team just had more grit’. It’s an easy of saying something that sounds decent enough but doesn’t explain anything.

Today, I thought the Bengals passed a little much. They passed about 61% of the time and I want to see them closer to 55%, though 60% is okay if we get more screens as an extension of the run game. Basically, I think the playcalling from a ratio standpoint was a little off.

Another reason, and people won’t like this one, but it’s turnovers. Burrow has one of the highest INT % in the league. In five games this season, he has already thrown more interceptions than he did last season. He is currently on pace to throw 20 interceptions. His efficiency otherwise has been incredible but the turnovers are killer.

Ofc they were going to throw more; Mixon wasn’t 100%. And Perine is JAG. You also don’t need to be a master of X’s and O’s to question Taylor’s situational decisions. Like running right up the middle with Perine on 3 & 5 in OT instead of trying pick up the first down. You have Tyler Boyd who’s as good as it gets on those types of plays. Taylor is weird to me, sometimes he’s super aggressive (mostly on 4th downs), but a lot of the time he seems too conservative. Especially with Burrow and those WR’s out there.