Last week seemed like Simmons strategy was to have Mac try to place the kickoff inside the five to force a return. This didn’t seem to me to be working out well and later in the game Mac kicked deep or through the endzone.  In my opinion, we are better off just kicking deep, less risk of a big return vs less than 10 yards in field position advantage. Plus less wear and tear on special teamers. Is Simmons trying too hard?

Depends on the circumstances...who the returner is, what time of the game, the score, the weather conditions

I kind of agree.

I mean whats the best you could hope for, maybe tackle them on the 15 ? That 10 yards is nice but not sure it's worth the gamble of letting them possibly run it out to midfield at times. Seems it's usually a wash though and they run it back between the 20 and 30 yard line anyway.

Yet the drawback to kicking it deep is it takes the possible fumbles away. So I guess weather conditions would be a big deciding factor for me.

Guess as Pally stated already, there are several variables to consider.

I had not noticed any particular strategy until this last game? The results were not great, so why now? Is Simmons trying to raise his profile?

(12-09-2022, 01:50 AM)SouthernFan Wrote: I had not noticed any particular strategy until this last game?  The results were not great, so why now? Is Simmons trying to raise his profile?

multiple teams started doing it last week. Dont know where it came from. Raiders did it tonight

Kick it through the end zone. The downside is much higher than the upside.

Simmons has always done this a lot. People used to say Bullock couldn't bury it in the end zone, but he could. Simmons has his kickers kick it short enough for a return because our gunners usually get there fast enough to stop them before the 20, so why give them the 25?

What was their average starting position after kickoffs?

Yeah he must think he can pin them inside 25.

(12-09-2022, 08:55 AM)Sled21 Wrote: Simmons has always done this a lot. People used to say Bullock couldn't bury it in the end zone, but he could. Simmons has his kickers kick it short enough for a return because our gunners usually get there fast enough to stop them before the 20, so why give them the 25?

Because recently it’s been more like the 30 or 40, and not the 20

(12-09-2022, 02:25 AM)Frank Booth Wrote: multiple teams started doing it last week. Dont know where it came from. Raiders did it tonight

Raiders had a holder who was holding the ball on top of the tee instead of inside the cup of the tee.  The NFL said it was allowed.  Supposedly holding the ball on top of the tee allows for a higher kick with more hangtime which lets the kicking team more time to get a stop before the 25.  I suspect this is a loophole the competition committee will change in the offseason

I don't know who made the saving tackle on last Sunday's long run back, but I dreaded thinking it was McPherson. Yeah, too many bad things can happen for the sake of gaining 10 yards.

Like pally says there's situations where you kick short but by and large under garden variety KO's it's not worth maybe saving 5 yards. Kick it deep.

Depends on what the analytics say.

If the analytics say there's more value kicking it short of the end zone, then by all means do it.

We can all sit here and say anecdotally that kicking it in the end zone is a better option because "it's not worth the risk", but that's really not a great way to go about it.

I don’t like it and really really hope it stops if we win coin tosses in the playoffs

Unless we play the Chiefs

We play them then i want that ball 1st

(12-09-2022, 10:39 AM)Nepa Wrote: I don't know who made the saving tackle on last Sunday's long run back, but I dreaded thinking it was McPherson. Yeah, too many bad things can happen for the sake of gaining 10 yards.

It was McPherson. He didn't really tackle it was more like a shove out of bounds

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(12-09-2022, 11:34 AM)Housh Wrote: I don’t like it and really really hope it stops if we win coin tosses in the playoffs

Unless we play the Chiefs

We play them then i want that ball 1st

Different topic, but I agree about not taking the ball first. I hate that we do it, especially if we are at home. You can still get off to a "fast start" but its reliant on the defense. 

(12-09-2022, 12:41 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Different topic, but I agree about not taking the ball first. I hate that we do it, especially if we are at home. You can still get off to a "fast start" but its reliant on the defense. 

It all started with their rough early season. The first 2 games they deferred and lost. The next two games they took the ball and scored on the first possession both games. They’ve received first 10 times, won 8, and scored on the very first possession 5 times.

I’m not saying I agree with it, but they’re coming from a place where it’s led to wins more often than not. So I doubt they change it up at this point,

I've always liked getting the ball to start the second half, but I'm starting to see the wisdom in getting off to a fast start.

I was thinking perhaps Simmons was forcing a KO return to see if they can get a turnover. The game swung Bengals way with the Fumble on Kelci... was that type of game.

But typically I personally would rather force a team to go 75 yards no matter what. The benefit of 5-8 extra yards is not that much considering it was Mahomes on the other side.

(12-09-2022, 01:12 PM)Earendil Wrote: I've always liked getting the ball to start the second half, but I'm starting to see the wisdom in getting off to a fast start.

I generally prefer getting the ball to start the second half, a strategy that Belichick and Brady ran to perfection. You can close out the first half (including risking a long FG as time expires) and then get the ball right back to start the second half.

I just think that with KC's explosive offense, it can be demoralizing for opponents to be behind before the offense ever touches the ball. So, I commend the Bengals to ask for the ball first in the game, and then work to close out the first half as well.