I do think that when you get behind Burrow's picks and the blocking issues and the other miscues a big culprit sure looks like it is Zac Taylor not playing his offensive starters at all in live preseason action (as in full speed football). In particular an OL with four new starters NEEDED the full speed reps to get into some kind of sync with each other and Burrow needed them to get into some kind of internal rhythm.

Yes the appendectomy caused Burrow to miss a lot of practices but really both he and the entire offense should have played in Preseason Game 3 for at least a half to get the gelling process started and get some kind of rhythm established. Had we done that I suspect we would not have turned the ball over 4 times, the line would have been in a bit better sync and we would have won.

Well, if you take away all of those turnovers, we likely win, so.......

17 of 23 points off turnovers, 7 of which came off a pick six. It's REALLY simple why we lost this game, but no one wants to admit it. It's downright comical watching the mental gymnastics involved to avoid mentioning it.

(09-12-2022, 12:03 AM)Wyche Wrote: Well, if you take away all of those turnovers, we likely win, so.......

And if we played starters in preseason and guys got hurt...

Woulda coulda shoulda 

Im not so sure....

Burrow was rehabbing so he couldnt play in the preseason.

LC, Karras and Cappa gave up no sacks, the ones that were given up by Jonah and Volson were 1 on 1 beats.

Wilcox was injured and couldnt had practiced longsnapping in the preseason and with that competition he wouldnt have anyway. McPhearson, Huber and Harris did play in the preseason....

The defensive starters didnt play in the preseason and played the best D game in history vs the Steelers (might be hyperbole but could be true).

Lesson learned (hopefully) for the young coach.

(09-12-2022, 12:07 AM)THE PISTONS Wrote: And if we played starters in preseason and guys got hurt...

Woulda coulda shoulda 

Yeah.... that's a point too. I personally think they probably should've played a bit of the last game....but I'm not gonna pretend it's the reason we lost to keep from placing the blame where it belongs. 

(09-12-2022, 12:07 AM)THE PISTONS Wrote: And if we played starters in preseason and guys got hurt...

Woulda coulda shoulda 

There's such a thing as being too afraid of injuries. We were and the result was a Game 1 in front of our hometown fans AND a Division Game to boot where they essentially played like it was preseason because of all the rust. 

(09-12-2022, 12:09 AM)casear2727 Wrote: Im not so sure....

Burrow was rehabbing so he couldnt play in the preseason.

LC, Karras and Cappa gave up no sacks, the ones that were given up by Jonah and Volson were 1 on 1 beats.

Wilcox was injured and couldnt had practiced longsnapping in the preseason and with that competition he wouldnt have anyway.  McPhearson, Huber and Harris did play in the preseason....  

The defensive starters didnt play in the preseason and played the best D game in history vs the Steelers (might be hyperbole but could be true).

Right, but no one wants to talk about the defense, or the fact that Burrow has only three preseason snaps in his CAREER. QB9 stunk up the show, it's really just that simple. I don't understand why so many are avoiding that fact, lol.

(09-12-2022, 12:09 AM)casear2727 Wrote: Im not so sure....

Burrow was rehabbing so he couldnt play in the preseason.

LC, Karras and Cappa gave up no sacks, the ones that were given up by Jonah and Volson were 1 on 1 beats.

Wilcox was injured and couldnt had practiced longsnapping in the preseason and with that competition he wouldnt have anyway.  McPhearson, Huber and Harris did play in the preseason....  

The defensive starters didnt play in the preseason and played the best D game in history vs the Steelers (might be hyperbole but could be true).

Burrow could have played in Preseason Game 3. So could everyone else have. The kind of mistakes we were seeing were principally the kind associated with rust - on the OL lack of full speed snaps as a unit and on Burrow basic lack of full speed snaps. 

(09-12-2022, 12:10 AM)Joelist Wrote: There's such a thing as being too afraid of injuries. We were and the result was a Game 1 in front of our hometown fans AND a Division Game to boot where they essentially played like it was preseason because of all the rust. 

You can be too afraid of injuries, but players legit get injured. Remember when AJ Green got hurt in Dayton?

Zac keeps these guys fresh. The Steelers push their players harder.

I'd say the Steelers were more fired up too.

I would have played the line a few drives at minimum.

Volson played a lot in preseason...and was horrible.

If you put Spain in there, our line looks much better.

(09-12-2022, 12:13 AM)THE PISTONS Wrote: You can be too afraid of injuries, but players legit get injured. Remember when AJ Green got hurt in Dayton?

Zac keeps these guys fresh. The Steelers push their players harder.

I'd say the Steelers were more fired up too.

I would have played the line a few drives at minimum.

Agreed - that is what I am saying. Until today this OL had ZERO SNAPS at game speed as a unit. Issues were bound to arise. 

(09-12-2022, 12:16 AM)Joelist Wrote: Agreed - that is what I am saying. Until today this OL had ZERO SNAPS at game speed as a unit. Issues were bound to arise. 

Maybe we're just not that good yet. We didn't start the year hot last year either.

I think there are still question on the gameplanning and prep.

It's early though. If we win next week...this will largely be forgotten.

(09-12-2022, 12:12 AM)Joelist Wrote: Burrow could have played in Preseason Game 3. So could everyone else have. The kind of mistakes we were seeing were principally the kind associated with rust - on the OL lack of full speed snaps as a unit and on Burrow basic lack of full speed snaps. 

No way they risk Burrow after major surgery.... thats crazy Joe.  As just mentioned Volston played a shitload of preseason and wasnt good.

Preseason doesnt matter now, 94 snaps they should be good to go in Dallas. This was a fluke loss, maybe we got all the interceptions, fumbles, sacks, blocked kicks, and missed FGs out of our system in this one game?  

(09-12-2022, 12:20 AM)casear2727 Wrote: No way they risk Burrow after major surgery.... thats crazy Joe.  As just mentioned Volston play a shitload of preseason and wasnt good.

Preseason doesnt matter now, 94 snaps they should be good to go in Dallas. This was a fluke loss, maybe we got all the interceptions, fumbles, sacks, blocked kicks, and missed FGs out of our system in this one game?  

We better have - lose in Dallas and our postseason chances take a dive off a cliff. 

This is also an argument that NFL scheduling should never have any teams playing divisional games in week one. Or even conference games arguably. With the lessened practice under the CBA Week One tends to be too wild and wooly and NOT the week for hugely important games like this one - the Bengals now lose all AFC tiebreakers until they win a conference game and all divisional ones unless they win in division. 

Our team couldn't make an extra point to win the game. Fundamental breakdowns time and again. And very strange situational coaching by the head man. We'll remember this one come late in the season when Buffalo comes to town and we're fighting for a playoff birth. We will play better football as the season ages but I'm not so sure the situational coaching and game management will get much better.

Couldn't execute an extra point to win the game...

(09-12-2022, 12:11 AM)WychesWarrior Wrote: Right, but no one wants to talk about the defense, or the fact that Burrow has only three preseason snaps in his CAREER. QB9 stunk up the show, it's really just that simple. I don't understand why so many are avoiding that fact, lol.

…and I don’t know why you refuse to acknowledge that the only reason they had 2 chances to walk off with a win was only because of Burrow. Seriously stop with the Burrow trashing as the only one behaving unrealistically is you. Everyone saw the picks, everyone knows that it hurt us. Again, At the end of the game he was the only reason we had not one but two opportunities to walk off the field with a win. One of them he had to do twice since Thomas dropped a sure TD. Add in the fact that we had a TD that didn’t get counted.

Honestly, we can't saw with any certainty that the OL or Joe getting reps in ore season would have prevented the performance today. It likely would have helped prevent it, but these types of games have happened to the best of QBs in the middle of the season.

Ultimately, I was the turnovers that cost us the game. If we didn't have those, we win in regulation without any real issues. Just isn't the way it played out.

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The first half was our preseason…