So much for all the usual moaning and groaning and whoa is me that permeates this board after every loss. There ARE things that are looking up.
Defense had a bad game, but the offense looked vastly improved from the 1st game.
Mixon is running hard and not falling down at first contact.
Seems we once again have a punt returner who can take it to the house. He said he spent the week watching film of PacMan returning punts. Yea Ivy League!!
The line, for the most part, seems to be giving more time.
We are out of Division play for a couple of weeks and can even out the schedule. And, we can still split with Baltimore and Cleveland, and possibly sweep Pissburgh.

Mixon has been running very well through the first two weeks, albeit with a small sample size. He is currently one of the most elusive backs in the league, according to PFF. I would love to see it continue.

Dax Hill has looked pretty good through 2 weeks.

I think it's obvious Burrow and the offense was pretty limited in trying to protect Joe's calf the first couple weeks. When they were finally forced to open it up it started clicking again (downside is Joe tweaked his calf again).

(09-18-2023, 10:30 AM)KillerGoose Wrote: Mixon has been running very well through the first two weeks, albeit with a small sample size. He is currently one of the most elusive backs in the league, according to PFF. I would love to see it continue.

You gotta wonder what the hell changed. 

Like you said, small sample...but, is he finally 100% healthy this year? Was he dealing with something last year injurywise that was hampering him? That's the only thing I can really think of. I feel like Joe has always brought the effort. 

Charlie Jones & the punt return
Tee balled yesterday with some nice catches
The team started 0-2 last year and rebounded quite nicely

Cleveland and Baltimore are always tough. Might have been different if the league didn't have the Bengals start with those two games. We escaped Baltimore in the playoffs last year due to a fortuitous fumble on the goal line.

What was mentioned on TV was that Zac Taylor believes it takes a few games to figure out the identity of a team each year. Not sure what that means, but there are new moving parts (again, a new TE and now 2 new safeties) and I feel they starting gelling in the 2nd half. If Burrow is healthy (I know, a big if), then they should be fine from here on out.

Also Orlando Brown is the real deal.

(09-18-2023, 10:34 AM)WeezyBengal Wrote: You gotta wonder what the hell changed. 

Like you said, small sample...but, is he finally 100% healthy this year? Was he dealing with something last year injurywise that was hampering him? That's the only thing I can really think of. I feel like Joe has always brought the effort. 

It's hard to say, really. We have a lot of data on Mixon at this point and he has never ran like this in his career. My initial reaction is that we are seeing an early outlier performance and he will regress to his mean. However, he has definitely earned the right to be fed more carries and see how he works. Here are his career elusiveness stats. You can see how far ahead of everything 2023 is so far.

(09-18-2023, 10:29 AM)Sled21 Wrote: So much for all the usual moaning and groaning and whoa is me that permeates this board after every loss. There ARE things that are looking up.
Defense had a bad game, but the offense looked vastly improved from the 1st game.
Mixon is running hard and not falling down at first contact.
Seems we once again have a punt returner who can take it to the house. He said he spent the week watching film of PacMan returning punts. Yea Ivy League!!
The line, for the most part, seems to be giving more time.
We are out of Division play for a couple of weeks and can even out the schedule. And, we can still split with Baltimore and Cleveland, and possibly sweep Pissburgh.

Wait. We're allowed to be optimistic in here?

Seriously, though, yeah, even though it took 6 1/2 quarters for the offense to finally do something, we could've won yesterday had the defense just gotten 1 more stop late in the game. I'm optimistic that, as long as Joe plays, even with a gameplan that protects his calf, I think we can start winning some games, but we absolutely NEED the defense to play at a high level if we're restricting our offense to protect Joe's calf.

(09-18-2023, 10:42 AM)KillerGoose Wrote: It's hard to say, really. We have a lot of data on Mixon at this point and he has never ran like this in his career. My initial reaction is that we are seeing an early outlier performance and he will regress to his mean. However, he has definitely earned the right to be fed more carries and see how he works. Here are his career elusiveness stats. You can see how far ahead of everything 2023 is so far.

This is a passing team, but for the time being while Joe is getting to 100%, Mixon's success so far this season is something we should really rely on. Put in the big uglies and run the ball. 

(09-18-2023, 10:44 AM)Sled21 Wrote: This is a passing team, but for the time being while Joe is getting to 100%, Mixon's success so far this season is something we should really rely on. Put in the big uglies and run the ball. 

I agree. That's a big reason why I am hoping that Mixon can actually sustain this type of production. It could be a huge help to a hampered offense. 

(09-18-2023, 10:45 AM)KillerGoose Wrote: I agree. That's a big reason why I am hoping that Mixon can actually sustain this type of production. It could be a huge help to a hampered offense. 

Put Carman in there as a 6th lineman and let him grade the road. That's one thing he's good at. 

(09-18-2023, 10:42 AM)KillerGoose Wrote: It's hard to say, really. We have a lot of data on Mixon at this point and he has never ran like this in his career. My initial reaction is that we are seeing an early outlier performance and he will regress to his mean. However, he has definitely earned the right to be fed more carries and see how he works. Here are his career elusiveness stats. You can see how far ahead of everything 2023 is so far.

That's probably it, but it is worth noting that 2019 was his 3rd year and afterwards he was eligible for extension and peaked just in time to get paid. Then after he got paid he dipped for another 3 years. 

Now he knows with all the off-the-field stuff and pay cut he's hanging in the NFL by a thread and needs to reassert why he should be kept around. He's also playing for a couple million dollars in incentives.

(09-18-2023, 10:52 AM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: That's probably it, but it is worth noting that 2019 was his 3rd year and afterwards he was eligible for extension and peaked just in time to get paid. Then after he got paid he dipped for another 3 years. 

Right, but look what O-line he was running behind in those 3 years.

If Burrow did not throw that INT, Bengals probably win the game against Ravens. As bad as they looked, it is probably not as bad as it seems. Burrow just doesn't look right.

I think the most frustrating part of the season thus far, usually with the slow starts, the defense has stepped up. Defense is not quite there yet.

(09-18-2023, 10:57 AM)Sled21 Wrote: Right, but look what O-line he was running behind in those 3 years.

Yep. This is a better run blocking line definately.

And defenses have seemed indifferent to our running game.

Already mentioned but...Charlie Jones speed looked better than thought.

(09-18-2023, 10:57 AM)Sled21 Wrote: Right, but look what O-line he was running behind in those 3 years.

No worse than his 2019 OL when he did well on elusiveness to get paid...

LT: Andre Smith/Cordy Glenn
LG: Michael Jordan/John Jerry
C: Trey Hopkins
RG: John Miller
RT: Bobby Hart

...heck, Glenn and Andre were out of the NFL in 2020. Jordan, Hopkins, and Hart were all there in 2020 again, so that's status quo on sucking there.

(09-18-2023, 10:29 AM)Sled21 Wrote: So much for all the usual moaning and groaning and whoa is me that permeates this board after every loss. There ARE things that are looking up.
Defense had a bad game, but the offense looked vastly improved from the 1st game.
Mixon is running hard and not falling down at first contact.
Seems we once again have a punt returner who can take it to the house. He said he spent the week watching film of PacMan returning punts. Yea Ivy League!!
The line, for the most part, seems to be giving more time.
We are out of Division play for a couple of weeks and can even out the schedule. And, we can still split with Baltimore and Cleveland, and possibly sweep Pissburgh.

Mixon has been their most consistent offensive threat. Running hard, determined, good balance. He looks focused on the field and should have been used more than he has the last 2 games.

Mixon is a pleasant surprise for sure.