The Athletic's Ted Nguyen says that the Bengals have the NFL's best skill player group with Burrow, Chase, Mixon, Boyd, and Higgins!

He says that last year it was just "an idea" that needed proof, which it got in going to the Super Bowl behind a lousy offensive line!

He pointed out that Higgins and Boyd provided the proof to compliment Burrow, Chase, and Mixon:

Quote:“Tee Higgins would be the best receiver on the roster for several teams. In this offense, he punishes single coverage or matchups against the opponent’s second-best corner when teams devote their resources to stopping Chase. Tyler Boyd is a big-play threat inside and his production speaks for itself — he was tied for fourth in receptions of 20 yards or more in the slot last season.”

He goes on to mention how things took off when Taylor took the handcuffs off Burrow and how much more lethal this offense will be behind a better offensive line!

It's going to be a hell of a year!

WHO-DEY!

Anyone subscribed to "The Athletic"?

I'd like to see what this guy meant by "when Zac took the handcuffs off Burrow".

Seemed to me our offense took off when Burrow was reigned in a little and stopped forcing so many throws that ended up getting picked. Not syaing Zac gets the credit for that. It could have been a decision Burrow made. But I would just like to see what this guy was talking about.

(06-20-2022, 04:15 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Anyone subscribed to "The Athletic"?

I'd like to see what this guy meant by "when Zac took the handcuffs off Burrow".

Seemed to me our offense took off when Burrow was reigned in a little and stopped forcing so many throws that ended up getting picked.  Not syaing Zac gets the credit for that.  It could have been a decision Burrow made.  But I would just like to see what this guy was talking about.

I didn't need a subscription to read the article for some reason. Maybe my ad blocker blocked the the subscribe popup maybe? Who knows?.  Anyway here is all he said on that:

https://theathletic.com/3362095/2022/06/16/top-10-skill-player-teams-bengals-dolphins/

Quote:This offense took off last season when head coach Zach Taylor removed Joe Burrow’s handcuffs and let him throw at a high rate. The Bengals should pick up where they left off and be a top-three offense in 2022.

(06-20-2022, 04:15 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Anyone subscribed to "The Athletic"?

I'd like to see what this guy meant by "when Zac took the handcuffs off Burrow".

Seemed to me our offense took off when Burrow was reigned in a little and stopped forcing so many throws that ended up getting picked.  Not syaing Zac gets the credit for that.  It could have been a decision Burrow made.  But I would just like to see what this guy was talking about.

He didn't explain much

Quote:This offense took off last season when head coach Zach Taylor removed Joe Burrow’s handcuffs and let him throw at a high rate. The Bengals should pick up where they left off and be a top-three offense in 2022.

Joe threw the ball at a much higher rate in 2020 (40.4 per game) than in 2021 (32.5).

But I am not trashing anyone who says we have the best skill players in the league.

(06-20-2022, 05:09 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Joe threw the ball at a much higher rate in 2020 (40.4 per game) than in 2021 (32.5).

But I am not trashing anyone who says we have the best skill players in the league.

Sometimes there are what's called no kill plays, i.e. the QB is not allowed to check out only potentially flip sides to the right box count. A lot of teams, even with vet QB's, will install these no kills to force a running game into the flow of action because QB's will get check happy. I wonder if we saw them allow him to essentially check out of any play, going so far as removing no kills from the play calling sheet. He has had full authority to choose his checks since being a rookie but I do wonder if there were still some no kill restrictions until late last year.

I know early in the year it seemed like they were forcing the run into the game more than the end of the season. 

(06-20-2022, 05:16 PM)Au165 Wrote: I know early in the year it seemed like they were forcing the run into the game more than the end of the season. 

Other than the first stealer game it seemed like we had about the same run/throw ratio in most games.

(06-20-2022, 04:08 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: The Athletic's Ted Nguyen says that the Bengals have the NFL's best skill player group with Burrow, Chase, Mixon, Boyd, and Higgins!

He says that last year it was just "an idea" that needed proof, which it got in going to the Super Bowl behind a lousy offensive line!

He pointed out that Higgins and Boyd provided the proof to compliment Burrow, Chase, and Mixon:


He goes on to mention how things took off when Taylor took the handcuffs off Burrow and how much more lethal this offense will be behind a better offensive line!

It's going to be a hell of a year!

WHO-DEY!

Someone needs to lock up your ! key.

Damn right we do!

(06-20-2022, 05:31 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Other than the first stealer game it seemed like we had about the same run/throw ratio in most games.

At the end of the 49ers game, Taylor got "conservative" and ran the ball to protect a FG attempt. Then the niners went down and scored a TD to win. 

Taylor alluded to it and a lot of people used that as a time where he "took the handcuffs off", allowing him to throw more in those types of situations. 

(06-20-2022, 05:09 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Joe threw the ball at a much higher rate in 2020 (40.4 per game) than in 2021 (32.5).

But I am not trashing anyone who says we have the best skill players in the league.

I can remember the first two games they weren't really throwing the ball downfield.  I said to my Dad "they are kidding gloving Burrow behind this line." Then at the end of the Bears game when they were down two or three scores they let a couple fly and got two TDs.  The Bears game he was getting sacked/hit because all the short stuff was covered up and I think they realized we're gonna get killed and Joe killed unless we just spread this thing out and let him read and rip.  My .02 off a fuzzy memory

Agree with The Athletic. There isn't a better set of skill players on any team right now, they are also young and in
their prime. This O-line if it stays healthy should be able to prove this to be accurate and Burrow and the boyz should
break a lot of records. Our only questions are depth honestly at WR behind our top 3 dudes, our OL and if Carman can
stay healthy and grow into the player he could be and depth behind Mixon.

I like Chris Evans a lot though, he could be a weapon for us in certain packages.

(06-20-2022, 08:20 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Agree with The Athletic. There isn't a better set of skill players on any team right now, they are also young and in
their prime. This O-line if it stays healthy should be able to prove this to be accurate and Burrow and the boyz should
break a lot of records. Our only questions are depth honestly at WR behind our top 3 dudes, our OL and if Carman can
stay healthy and grow into the player he could be and depth behind Mixon.

I like Chris Evans a lot though, he could be a weapon for us in certain packages.

I believe so as well. Before somebody gets triggered I'm not saying Evans is Walter Payton and we're holding him back. I'd just like to see him used a touch more and give him a chance. If he can learn how to pass protect ?

(06-20-2022, 08:51 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: I believe so as well. Before somebody gets triggered I'm saying Evans is Walter Payton and we're holding him back. I'd just like to see him used a touch more and give him a chance. If he can learn how to pass protect ?

Whoa! There's a hot take. 

(06-20-2022, 10:08 PM)rfaulk34 Wrote: Whoa! There's a hot take. 

It's what I do 

(06-20-2022, 05:46 PM)rfaulk34 Wrote: At the end of the 49ers game, Taylor got "conservative" and ran the ball to protect a FG attempt. Then the niners went down and scored a TD to win. 

Taylor alluded to it and a lot of people used that as a time where he "took the handcuffs off", allowing him to throw more in those types of situations. 

I was thinking of the same instance.  I actually applaud the coaches for trying to ease Joe in during the beginning of the season, but once it became clear they couldn't rely on a run game and it was always putting them in a hole, they started attacking more downfield and letting Joe have more freedom in the offense.  

I'm still not convinced it was Taylor handcuffing Burrow as much as it was the offensive line.

(06-21-2022, 09:38 AM)Sled21 Wrote: I'm still not convinced it was Taylor handcuffing Burrow as much as it was the offensive line.

I think early on, they were being careful with Joe because of the line and the uncertainty of the knee. 

The Bengals have an embarrassment of riches at the skill positions. If they aren't #1, then they aren't far off.

(06-21-2022, 10:09 AM)Wyche Wrote: I think early on, they were being careful with Joe because of the line and the uncertainty of the knee. 

At the start of the season there were rumors that Borrow was on a pitch count.  

Can you imagine if Burrow reinjured his knee early on?  Just think of all the talking heads that would’ve been trashing the “Bungles for ruining his career”.

The same talking heads that now say he was lucky, the defense carried him, they got a lot of lucky breaks, etc.

I think when Zac realized he was at no more of a risk of injury, then a uninjured player, he did open it up a lot.

Opponents defense was also a big factor.  Early on he was very conservative against top 10 defenses, but really opened it up against inferior defenses like Pittsburg and Baltimore.

On another subject, how the duck does a defender on the 23rd rated pass defense, and 30th rated rush defense win defensive player of the year?