(01-16-2022, 01:36 AM)motoarch Wrote: Zac was not good tonight.

I've warmed up to h but tonight was the epitome of winning inspite of bad coaching.

The game plan was actually really good. They kept a very dangerous pass rush mostly at bay with the quick strike passing. And they got Chase involved in creative ways.

(01-16-2022, 09:22 AM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: The game plan was actually really good. They kept a very dangerous pass rush mostly at bay with the quick strike passing. And they got Chase involved in creative ways.

I agree which help continue are no turnover run the last 4 games with our starters playing plus not allowing big plays from the Raiders which forced FG on many drives.

(01-16-2022, 01:47 AM)sandwedge Wrote: How so?

No Turnovers, came out the gates hot and then managed the game to win. For the most part, we don't kill ourselves with dumb penalties. That pass interference could have really hurt us and I'm sure he will get chewed all week for it. I understand everyone wants every redzone trip to be a TD and some people wanted us to be more aggressive on last offensive possession. But if you have incomplete pass on either first or second down and save them 40 seconds that could have been a killer. If you think about it you would habe given them another down on the last drive were they wouldn't have had to clock it on that first and goal. The second play was a sweep with Chase which was creative but just didn't work. I understand people wanted to be aggressive and just put the ball in Joes hands but in general we do that.

(01-15-2022, 10:10 PM)Sled21 Wrote: Who was it that predicted that Zac Taylor would be one of the greatest Bengals coaches? Oh yeah, me.....

Haha. Yes, very few of us that weren’t calling for he and Lou’s head coming into the season. I’m not serving up any crow myself, because I totally understood the frustration.

(01-16-2022, 09:22 AM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: The game plan was actually really good. They kept a very dangerous pass rush mostly at bay with the quick strike passing. And they got Chase involved in creative ways.

I might be on an island here.  I'm okay with that.

I don't hate Zac and I've made a previous post about what a great job he's done fielding a deciplined team that doesn't commit many penalties and plays smart.

There is a lot of value in that and it's an underated quality.

I did not like the play calling at all last night.

Some of those plays worked simply because of elite talent making something out of nothing.  He calls a better game and it's not required for him to ask chase to pull something out of his ass.

I'm as happy as anyone else the curse is over.  My throat hurts from screaming and cheering last night.

I hope Zac continues to grow and learn as a coach.  He's done some awesome stuff in Cincinnati.

I think he made some bad decisions last night and was bailed out by his players.

ZT took a horrible team and in 3 years not only won the AFCN but won a playoff game! That is pretty darn impressive!

Also the Raiders defense is a match up nightmare for the Bengals offense. You can nit pick and believe you are a better play caller than a man making millions coaching a NFL team or just accept that the Bengals won last night ..

Restaurants in town need to start selling a new dish in honor of Zac.  And if they beat Buffalo especially..Buffalo Steel Crow Wings.. a dig at Buffalo of course, squeelers and ratbirds.. And everyone will have to eat crow.. I'll certainly admit I thought he was in way over his head and may have been at first, but he's learned and continues to learn. 

If ever there was a last second nail biter this was it..Germain Pratt put an end to our nasty habit of chewing off our nails, but we'll still keep chewing anyway.. lol 

(01-16-2022, 10:24 AM)motoarch Wrote: I might be on an island here.  I'm okay with that.

I don't hate Zac and I've made a previous post about what a great job he's done fielding a deciplined team that doesn't commit many penalties and plays smart.

There is a lot of value in that and it's an underated quality.

I did not like the play calling at all last night.

Some of those plays worked simply because of elite talent making something out of nothing.  He calls a better game and it's not required for him to ask chase to pull something out of his ass.

I'm as happy as anyone else the curse is over.  My throat hurts from screaming and cheering last night.

I hope Zac continues to grow and learn as a coach.  He's done some awesome stuff in Cincinnati.

I think he made some bad decisions last night and was bailed out by his players.

I think Zac and his schemes getting a lot of notice
https://twitter.com/clintstoerner/status/1482483804451360772?s=10

Mike Zimmer : I didn’t really know much about the coach there. But I have been really impressed with the concepts and things they are doing offensively. The way they are attacking people with the different concepts in the running game and passing game. I got a lot of respect for Zac Taylor and the things he’s doing there.

(01-16-2022, 01:40 AM)BengalsRocker Wrote: A successful short pass can burn clock as much as a run.

Everyone knew they were gonna run.

Don't take the ball outta Burrow's hands.

All I'm saying is you have to run the ball or they will just sit back and cover the receivers while the ends pin their ears back going after the QB.  It's like some people want a pass on every play. I remember about 15 short weeks ago when everyone complained Zac didn't run the ball enough. Yesterday's run/pass percentage was pretty good.

Not so fast.. not so fast...

(01-16-2022, 09:22 AM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: The game plan was actually really good. They kept a very dangerous pass rush mostly at bay with the quick strike passing. And they got Chase involved in creative ways.

I agree. Zac has coached a bunch of great games this year, with little credit. The final 6 minutes of the KC game was perfection. As most things in life, it takes a little luck.

I wish they had a pass play on first and second down, and a run on third, but I don’t think the run calls was a bad choice. We need Raiders to burn their TO and run the clock down more. If Mixon gets a first no one is complaining.

ZT gets credit but I’m not quite ready to erect a statue of him yet. lol.

Let’s not forgot he has a ton of talent as Marvin Lewis did - AND - also has Burrow and Chase!
TWOA X-factors most coaches would salivate having the opportunity to coach.

ZT is doing ok but he is not there yet. I give him a 7.5/10.

I do think he is a classy professional and a player’s coach - but as a fan looking for wins, he is still “just ok” to me.

Ps. That last offensive series was absolutely awful.

(01-16-2022, 12:09 PM)Ell Prez Wrote: I agree. Zac has coached a bunch of great games this year, with little credit. The final 6 minutes of the KC game was perfection. As most things in life, it takes a little luck.

I wish they had a pass play on first and second down, and a run on third, but I don’t think the run calls was a bad choice. We need Raiders to burn their TO and run the clock down more. If Mixon gets a first no one is complaining.

Yes and I'm not disagreeing so much with Sled.

If the O-line had the push and success with run blocking I would have no problem running the ball...  even when the D pretty much knew that was the normal scenario.

It's gauging what your O-line has been able to accomplish with the personnel at hand to decide how to attack the defense.

This doesn't even just apply to the current team.

AJ Green wasn't necessarily a deep threat only guy.  He was excellent at getting those quick sort yardage catches.

We have 3 guys(or 4 if you wanna count Uz)that can get you those as well.

4 to 5 yard quick hits can get them yardage and burn clock when your run blocking & RBs aren't getting it done.

It would have been nice to see an early throw like you said.

(01-16-2022, 12:17 PM)Whacked Wrote: ZT gets credit but I’m not quite ready to erect a statue of him yet. lol.

Let’s not forgot he has a ton of talent as Marvin Lewis did - but - Burrow and Chase are 2 X-factors most coaches would salivate at having the opportunity to coach in a life time.

ZT is doing ok but he is not there yet.

Ps. That last offensive series was absolutely awful.

I'm seemingly in the minority on this one, I really didn't think the last series was so awful. You have to run the clock down. Giving the Raiders the extra 40 seconds with an incomplete pass would've been dumb as hell.

That said, I'm not saying it was great either. One first down wins the game and we have the most accurate passer in the league. They're going to play the run, so we should've had some looks at safe pass completions in that drive.

Guess when all's said and done it didn't really matter anyway. The Raiders didn't run out of time on their last drive, they ran out of plays (would've only had the one extra down to work with without the spike). I doubt their last drive would have been too different with 40 extra seconds.

^ yeah. I’m w ya.

Happy for the win (of course), but that last series - with a playoff win in the balance?

Just didn’t like it.

(01-16-2022, 10:24 AM)motoarch Wrote: I might be on an island here.  I'm okay with that.

I don't hate Zac and I've made a previous post about what a great job he's done fielding a deciplined team that doesn't commit many penalties and plays smart.

There is a lot of value in that and it's an underated quality.

I did not like the play calling at all last night.

Some of those plays worked simply because of elite talent making something out of nothing.  He calls a better game and it's not required for him to ask chase to pull something out of his ass.

I'm as happy as anyone else the curse is over.  My throat hurts from screaming and cheering last night.

I hope Zac continues to grow and learn as a coach.  He's done some awesome stuff in Cincinnati.

I think he made some bad decisions last night and was bailed out by his players.

He is learning, he said it in the press conference, he's learning to let Joe go (i.e. do things he would otherwise think are bad ideas but not with Burrow). I think he specifically said the word "learning" too, so seems like he's listening to his players instead of always telling them what to do. I think he blamed himself for the redzone problems too, he said he's still trying to figure out a rhythm.

Coaches are allowed to make mistakes too, I do think Zac makes some mistakes that can cost us games and actually is abrasive towards how well burrow plays, but it looks like they're working on it. Speaking of mistakes, it looks like burrow is playing nearly perfect ball the last few games. No clear mistakes and several game breaking plays.

Our run game can't be depended on, I cringe every time we have to do something special on 3rd and 1. Seems like we are a pass first run 2nd team, if we address that in the off season it's going to get tough for others.

(01-16-2022, 10:24 AM)motoarch Wrote: I might be on an island here.  I'm okay with that.

I don't hate Zac and I've made a previous post about what a great job he's done fielding a deciplined team that doesn't commit many penalties and plays smart.

There is a lot of value in that and it's an underated quality.

I did not like the play calling at all last night.

Some of those plays worked simply because of elite talent making something out of nothing.  He calls a better game and it's not required for him to ask chase to pull something out of his ass.

I'm as happy as anyone else the curse is over.  My throat hurts from screaming and cheering last night.

I hope Zac continues to grow and learn as a coach.  He's done some awesome stuff in Cincinnati.

I think he made some bad decisions last night and was bailed out by his players.

I disagree. The game plan was run exactly as it should have been. Take the underneath stuff and when you get a chance, go over the top--which is exactly what they did. Burrow underthrew Chase once and overthrew Higgins once on plays that could have been TDs had there been better throws. 

Mixon was the guy that didn't play well last night. I saw several times where he went right down on first contact. He did a couple things well, screen and a couple good runs but didn't do much other than that and the run game was largely unproductive. Part of that was certainly bad blocking across the board on a lot of instances. Zac didn't have anything to do with how Mixon was running the ball. 

The good thing was, unlike in the past, the team was able to make plays when it counted and won the game. That's no small feat considering the last 3 decades around here. 

I said to give him 4 years because of Bill Walsh etc but he honestly reminds me more of McKay from that horrible expansion Bucs.
It had to have driven him crazy, the constant losing, but he kept giving the CEO answers

(01-16-2022, 09:14 AM)BengalYankee Wrote:
Marvin did not have Burrow, Chase, Mixon, etc on his team and when ZT also did not have this squad where did he go 2-14. 

This talking point is already old and tired. Marvin had the players Marvin picked. Taylor has the players Taylor picked. And it's not like Marvin's cupboard was bare the whole time he was here:
Carson Palmer
Chad Johnson 
AJ Green 
TJ Housh
Marvin Jones
Mohammad Sanu
Geno Atkins
Michael Johnson
Carlos Dunlap
Peko
and the list goes on...

(01-16-2022, 01:12 AM)jfkbengals Wrote: That's the one thing that amazed me throughout this game.

Maybe it was because of how good the Raiders defensive ends are, but I seriously don't recall a single play action attempt.  Was the final series the right time to do it?  No, in my opinion, because of the risk of stopping the clock.  But there were a number of times when that were obvious running situations where we passed the ball and never tried to use PA.

Just watching the highlights, there were a bunch of PA plays.