Is anyone else disappointed in the lack of creativity/game planning around this busted ass offensive line that went into the Super Bowl?

Yes, it's hard to run an offense behind a bad offensive line, but here's the deal...EVERYONE KNEW THE OFFENSIVE LINE SUCKED BEFORE THE GAME.

How did we not do more to compensate for it? The Mixon pass was a nice wrinkle, but that's literally the ONLY thing that we ran that compensated for our inability to move the ball down the field.

Where were the creative ways to get Chase the ball? Where was the run pass option? Why were we not running the ball more when Mixon was cooking? Where were the designed screens (not just dump offs to Mixon)?

I mean I'm sorry, but the game plan and the play calling in the SB left A LOT to be desired of. We KNEW the Ram's front was going to eat, and we didn't seem to do much to counter that and protect Joe. There was no misdirection and nothing done to keep their line off balance.

I HATE having this singular doubt about ZT. I think he's a good coach for the most part, but man does his play calling leave some things to be desired of sometimes. It's big play or nothing and our offense was kind of exposed during the entire post season.

I think it's a valid question. And why didn't they run more? Mixon was rolling. We had the lead.

(02-15-2022, 04:52 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Is anyone else disappointed in the lack of creativity/game planning around this busted ass offensive line that went into the Super Bowl?

Yes, it's hard to run an offense behind a bad offensive line, but here's the deal...EVERYONE KNEW THE OFFENSIVE LINE SUCKED BEFORE THE GAME.

How did we not do more to compensate for it? The Mixon pass was a nice wrinkle, but that's literally the ONLY thing that we ran that compensated for our inability to move the ball down the field.

Where were the creative ways to get Chase the ball? Where was the run pass option? Why were we not running the ball more when Mixon was cooking? Where were the designed screens (not just dump offs to Mixon)?

I mean I'm sorry, but the game plan and the play calling in the SB left A LOT to be desired of. We KNEW the Ram's front was going to eat, and we didn't seem to do much to counter that and protect Joe. There was no misdirection and nothing done to keep their line off balance.

I HATE having this singular doubt about ZT. I think he's a good coach for the most part, but man does his play calling leave some things to be desired of sometimes. It's big play or nothing and our offense was kind of exposed during the entire post season.

No roll outs, no screens which was the rams biggest weakness, no play action passing to freeze the line (I’m sorry one play action pass that scored a touchdown) never used play action again.

Just the same vanilla shotgun offense the rams saw on film for 2 weeks.

It was really bizarre. When you see great offensive minds on the sideline they are always talking to their quarterback and other coaches making in game adjustments

Bengals made no in game adjustments offensively

I’m beginning to realize they got here more on Amaruno defense and the purse ability of burrow

Taylor’s history as a coordinator position coach is average at best

Zac Taylor Failed Miserably as an Offensive Coordinator Before Becoming the Bengals’ Head Coach
https://www.sportscasting.com/zac-taylor-failed-miserably-as-an-offensive-coordinator-before-becoming-the-bengals-head-coach/?amp

I've never been a huge fan of Taylor's playcalling, but even I'm willing to admit he's been better the back half of this year than he was before that. I don't think it's fair to call him a terrible playcaller.
Is he great? No.
He's not a McVay, Shanahan, Reid/Bieniemy, or even Daboll.
But the Bengals went against one of the best pass rushing trios in the league and they had to deal with the OL they had. About the best they could do instead of Adeniji and Prince were Carman and Fred Johnson.

I'm fine with Taylor continuing the playcalling. He's improved compared to the first two seasons.
Front Office just needs to get Burrow some protection, first and foremost.

(02-15-2022, 04:52 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Is anyone else disappointed in the lack of creativity/game planning around this busted ass offensive line that went into the Super Bowl?

Yes, it's hard to run an offense behind a bad offensive line, but here's the deal...EVERYONE KNEW THE OFFENSIVE LINE SUCKED BEFORE THE GAME.

How did we not do more to compensate for it? The Mixon pass was a nice wrinkle, but that's literally the ONLY thing that we ran that compensated for our inability to move the ball down the field.

Where were the creative ways to get Chase the ball? Where was the run pass option? Why were we not running the ball more when Mixon was cooking? Where were the designed screens (not just dump offs to Mixon)?

I mean I'm sorry, but the game plan and the play calling in the SB left A LOT to be desired of. We KNEW the Ram's front was going to eat, and we didn't seem to do much to counter that and protect Joe. There was no misdirection and nothing done to keep their line off balance.

I HATE having this singular doubt about ZT. I think he's a good coach for the most part, but man does his play calling leave some things to be desired of sometimes. It's big play or nothing and our offense was kind of exposed during the entire post season.

Out of curiosity, what, then, is the reason that the Rams had no sacks up until midway through the 3rd quarter if all of what you say is true?

(02-15-2022, 05:04 PM)PhilHos Wrote: Out of curiosity, what, then, is the reason that the Rams had no sacks up until midway through the 3rd quarter if all of what you say is true?

The double teaming with Hopkins worked. At the end of the 2nd half, the Rams overloaded a side and put a guy over center so Hopkins couldn't double.

We had no counter for that.

(02-15-2022, 05:04 PM)PhilHos Wrote: Out of curiosity, what, then, is the reason that the Rams had no sacks up until midway through the 3rd quarter if all of what you say is true?

What in the world difference does it matter what quarter it was? We can look at each play in a vacuum if we want but he was the most pressured/sacked QB in Super Bowl history. 

We scored 10 points in the first half - that's not world beating. 

(02-15-2022, 05:09 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: The double teaming with Hopkins worked. At the end of the 2nd half, the Rams overloaded a side and put a guy over center so Hopkins couldn't double.

We had no counter for that.

But, according to the OP we had NO game plan for the Rams defensive line. Sounds to me like we did, we just didn't adjust to their adjustment. 

When we started our 2nd to last drive of the game, we came out with 2 extra OL and ran Mixon for 12 yards then did it again for another 8. At that point I thought we were going to just run every down, maybe hit them with a PA to get into at least FG range and run the clock way down. Instead after that we went back into the shotgun, had an incomplete pass (Boyd drop, FML) and punted. I did not understand why we stopped running the ball there. Burrow was hurt and it was working, why stop?

(02-15-2022, 05:10 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: What in the world difference does it matter what quarter it was? 

Because for 2 and a half quarters, the Rams didn't get a sack. Sounds to me like there WAS a plan to counter the Rams defense.

(02-15-2022, 05:10 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: We scored 10 points in the first half - that's not world beating. 

No, it's not but maybe it's because our offense was more focused on keeping Burrow from being sacked. You know the thing you were worried about in your OP.

(02-15-2022, 05:09 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: The double teaming with Hopkins worked. At the end of the 2nd half, the Rams overloaded a side and put a guy over center so Hopkins couldn't double.

We had no counter for that.

The rams adjusted the bengals didn’t. They overloaded one side. Bengals kept their shot gun offense.
Screens or stretch run cutbacks to the unloaded side could have gotten huge gains. This isn’t rocket science. Very bizarre coaching by Taylor/Callahan. Their youth and inexperience showed badly. It’s like they just expected burrows ability to keep bailing them out

(02-15-2022, 05:04 PM)ochocincos Wrote: I've never been a huge fan of Taylor's playcalling, but even I'm willing to admit he's been better the back half of this year than he was before that. I don't think it's fair to call him a terrible playcaller.
Is he great? No.
He's not a McVay, Shanahan, Reid/Bieniemy, or even Daboll.
But the Bengals went against one of the best pass rushing trios in the league and they had to deal with the OL they had. About the best they could do instead of Adeniji and Prince were Carman and Fred Johnson.

I'm fine with Taylor continuing the playcalling. He's improved compared to the first two seasons.
Front Office just needs to get Burrow some protection, first and foremost.

Kinda makes you wonder if we are good because of Zac Taylor or just in spite of him?  He did call a strange game at the Super Bowl.  I did like Mixon's TD toss though.

I'd be nice if he'd just let Brian call the plays for 1 game, just to see how we do.

I've explained this in a couple threads post game, we were fine first half, second half the Rams went to a 5 man front (a bear front in most cases) second half. If any of you are OSU fans you will remember this as what VA Tech used to beat them years back. They also started adding more stunts which also created more chaos in the second half. Frankly, coming into the game many thought they'd go bear front and we'd be toast, when they didn't in the first half it was kind of shocking. There was no real scheme adjustment to make for that because in that situation you have to have guys who can win their one on one matchups and we were outgunned.

This game was more of a case of the Rams being too cute early then our lack of adjustments late. You can say Mixon run more and so on, but in that front we were in trouble no matter what because you can basically offer no help. Even a Max Protect is almost useless because you can go to their overload look with 5 man front which means your interior is STILL going to be stuck one on one.

(02-15-2022, 04:52 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Is anyone else disappointed in the lack of creativity/game planning around this busted ass offensive line that went into the Super Bowl?

Yes, it's hard to run an offense behind a bad offensive line, but here's the deal...EVERYONE KNEW THE OFFENSIVE LINE SUCKED BEFORE THE GAME.

How did we not do more to compensate for it? The Mixon pass was a nice wrinkle, but that's literally the ONLY thing that we ran that compensated for our inability to move the ball down the field.

Where were the creative ways to get Chase the ball? Where was the run pass option? Why were we not running the ball more when Mixon was cooking? Where were the designed screens (not just dump offs to Mixon)?

I mean I'm sorry, but the game plan and the play calling in the SB left A LOT to be desired of. We KNEW the Ram's front was going to eat, and we didn't seem to do much to counter that and protect Joe. There was no misdirection and nothing done to keep their line off balance.

I HATE having this singular doubt about ZT. I think he's a good coach for the most part, but man does his play calling leave some things to be desired of sometimes. It's big play or nothing and our offense was kind of exposed during the entire post season.

The 3-4 passes to Mixon only netted us maybe a yard total and those were last second dump-offs . If that's the best Taylor has then something is wrong.

I am sorry…but Zac is not a good play caller nor do his schemes and play designs complement his players talent. Unfortunately that cost us the Bowl.

(02-15-2022, 05:17 PM)2MinutesHate Wrote: I'd be nice if he'd just let Brian call the plays for 1 game, just to see how we do.

It'd be nice to know exactly how Brian and Zac work together. Does Brian give Zac playcall ideas? Do they discuss them back and forth? For all we know, Brian IS calling the plays. I mean, I doubt it but I want to know how they're doing it.

(02-15-2022, 05:21 PM)Au165 Wrote: I've explained this in a couple threads post game, we were fine first half, second half the Rams went to a 5 man front (a bear front in most cases) second half. If any of you are OSU fans you will remember this as what VA Tech used to beat them years back. They also started adding more stunts which also created more chaos in the second half. Frankly, coming into the game many thought they'd go bear front and we'd be toast, when they didn't in the first half it was kind of shocking. There was no real scheme adjustment to make for that because in that situation you have to have guys who can win their one on one matchups and we were outgunned.

This game was more of a case of the Rams being too cute early then our lack of adjustments late. You can say Mixon run more and so on, but in that front we were in trouble no matter what because you can basically offer no help. Even a Max Protect is almost useless because you can go to their overload look with 5 man front which means your interior is STILL going to be stuck one on one.

Yep, our weakness vs their strength was not a good recipe. Sure, we can armchair QB it to death, but we did manage to hang in there until our final offensive series with a shot to tie or win. 

(02-15-2022, 05:27 PM)PhilHos Wrote: It'd be nice to know exactly how Brian and Zac work together. Does Brian give Zac playcall ideas? Do they discuss them back and forth? For all we know, Brian IS calling the plays. I mean, I doubt it but I want to know how they're doing it.

In an article I read, Brian gives him ideas based on what he's seeing in the booth. They send in two plays with an audible, and Joe calls it at the line based on what he sees presnap. 

The rollout play worked with Mixon and that gave him the same amount of SB TD passes as Burrow.

(02-15-2022, 05:10 PM)PhilHos Wrote: But, according to the OP we had NO game plan for the Rams defensive line. Sounds to me like we did, we just didn't adjust to their adjustment. 

I would agree with that.