(11-17-2023, 10:09 AM)SunsetBengal Wrote: It's so much more than simply play calling.  All plays are designed to be successful, it's the overall offensive scheme that is worn out and teams have diagnosed it and know how to defend against it.  They need to completely rethink and redesign the offensive game plan.

Yep. Bills have same issues. And our team is slow. That's a bad combo.

(11-17-2023, 10:09 AM)SunsetBengal Wrote: It's so much more than simply play calling.  All plays are designed to be successful, it's the overall offensive scheme that is worn out and teams have diagnosed it and know how to defend against it.  They need to completely rethink and redesign the offensive game plan.

The offense really feels overly complicated.  Burrow makes multiple checks at the line and we constantly struggle to get plays off.  We had more instances last night of reserves not knowing the checks.  In road games in a loud environment, you really need to just call a play and go sometimes.  We don't do anything to try and get our best players going.  There's not a DC in the league that won't be perfectly fine with teams trying to beat them with Trenton Irwin and Tanner Hudson.  

Pollack and Callahan need to go.  Zac is a good HC, but he simply isn't OC material.  We really need to bring in an offensive guru to run the offense.

I never liked Zac as a coach, nothing personal, I just think he's over-hyped. I think Anarumo is 10x better. Lou is who gets the job done and reciprocates the success to Zac, that's why Zac sticks to him like bubble gum through out his career. The only thing I do like better about Zac is he had more cojones than Marvin in taking more calculated risks than punting or kneeing the ball.

(11-17-2023, 10:44 AM)jj22 Wrote: Zac's was exposed with Burrow. SF was the best offensive game they've played in 2 years, and he has done nothing he did in that game. Burrow is back in shotgun 99% of the time, and the reason the offense was so successful against SF was the mix in play-calling with him under center a ton and the play-action that came with that. Yet he went away from it after 1 game and they've lost every game since...

Who is this on? Zac or Burrow? Is Burrow just that against being under center that Zac would go away from what had worked so well that it opened eyes of the offense potential if SF playbook would have been it's identity?

The first play of the second half of the Super Bowl burrow was under center play actioned and hit Higgins on that “push off touchdown” bengals never ran another play action after that.

I said after the game taylor was to blame for no screens or continued use of play action everything is this shotgun 4-5 wide receiver sets that is easy to diagnose does not hold the dl or linebackers and simply allows them to tee off..requires perfect execution and is gonna get the quarterback hit a lot. The fact that they continue 3 years later to still do this even after much greater efficiency under center shows what morons they truly are

(11-17-2023, 10:57 AM)Bengalbug Wrote: The eagles won a superbowl after losing front runner MVP.

The Eagles had a very deep, complete roster, similar to this year’s team. Howie Roseman builds a damn good roster.

(11-17-2023, 10:05 AM)Fan_in_Kettering Wrote: Let's make the sore point even more painful.  Forget last year's Ravens.  We aren't even this year's Browns.  Cleveland is 6-3 with Deshaun Watson out for the season.  Their backup quarterbacks are two guys I've never heard of who haven't started on a regular basis since middle school.  However, the Turds can run the ball and play great defense; this is how a team wins without a franchise quarterback.

It worked for the Steelers.

(11-17-2023, 09:46 AM)740Bengal Wrote: Zac is a mid tier play caller at best, Burrow makes him, everyone in the league or affiliated with football knows this...if you don't you're kidding yourself. Zac will go back to Dalton Zac and we will be lucky to win 1-2 more games if Burrow is in fact out.

You say if Burrow is out, Zac will be exposed. You mean like a flasher.  On the sideline with nothing on but a trench coat and boots.  With the Winter weather coming, Zac may not want to expose himself too much.  It get's pretty cold in Ohio and the AFC North.  To the panic over the Burrow injury, I say keep your shirts on, and the rest of your clothes.

I may get killed for this and I understand it, but Browning made some good throws last night in a very tough situation. I am absolutely not kidding myself to think that he's going to lead us to some sort of promised land if he has to fill in for any lengthy period of time. Just that he might not be as bad as we all feared with some more time to practice and get reps.

Now, my personal hope is that Joe comes back of course and we don't need to think about Browning playing meaningful snaps anymore this year, but I'm just looking for some sort of silver lining on this dark day.

(11-17-2023, 01:45 PM)chrisball96 Wrote: I may get killed for this and I understand it, but Browning made some good throws last night in a very tough situation. I am absolutely not kidding myself to think that he's going to lead us to some sort of promised land if he has to fill in for any lengthy period of time. Just that he might not be as bad as we all feared with some more time to practice and get reps.

Now, my personal hope is that Joe comes back of course and we don't need to think about Browning playing meaningful snaps anymore this year, but I'm just looking for some sort of silver lining on this dark day.

Right. Browning starts taking 1st team practice reps, and may not be any worse than Steelers QB's next game.  Bengals need to elevate the #3 QB, and give him back up practice reps as the #2 QB.   Burrow needs to have physical therapy on the throwing wrist, and nobody yet knows how bad the injury is. Is it a sprain or a fracture ?   Good thing there are extra days off before next game to sort things out. 

Jesus would you guys get off this whole Zac crap. He is a better coach/play caller than anyone on this board. It’s easy to sit back and cry about it. Fact of the matter is they design plays around guys and their abilities. Certain plays can’t be called without Tee, or this guy or that guy. Zac took this team to the SB which is more than any other coach in the bengals history, except for 1. And most HC never get there.

(11-17-2023, 01:55 PM)kevin Wrote: Right. Browning starts taking 1st team practice reps, and may not be any worse than Steelers QB's next game.  Bengals need to elevate the #3 QB, and give him back up practice reps as the #2 QB.   Burrow needs to have physical therapy on the throwing wrist, and nobody yet knows how bad the injury is. Is it a sprain or a fracture ?   Good thing there are extra days off before next game to sort things out. 

The bengals have never, ever, historically or otherwise, had a backup QB to lead them in a 3+ game winning streak or better coming off the bench. We are pretty much done, at least offensively. 

Nah, some of us already knew. Burrow and Chase were still doing their LSU thing, just in new uniforms. Without that, this is a bottom third team. Our cheat code is now invalid.

(11-17-2023, 01:56 PM)Cosmokramer Wrote: Jesus would you guys get off this whole Zac crap.  He is a better coach/play caller than anyone on this board.

And Yoko Ono has sold more albums than anyone on this board, so let's all show her some respect, amirite?

If we win some games without Burrow; does it mean Burrow has been exposed?

(11-17-2023, 02:46 PM)bfine32 Wrote: If we win some games  without Burrow; does it mean Burrow has been exposed?

Burrow could never make ZT look worse than than scallywag Andy Dalton did.  And sadly, despite beating the Steelers in that one game, Ryan Finley is apparently gone from pro football. Damn, Diet Dalton dun did it that day.

(11-17-2023, 11:11 AM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Am I the only one that doesn't think this offense is a complete disaster?

They were a top 5 passing unit last year and have looked pretty good in the games Joe has been healthy. They actually moved the ball pretty well last night but stalled when they got past the 40 yard line for one reason or another (Boyd drop, Burrow sacked). The Ravens punted just as much as the Bengals.

To me, the offensive lapses come down to guys not executing. Whether it's penalties, offensive line issues, or drops. I know that's not as sexy of an answer as "the play calling sucks!", but you need to look at each drive in the context of WHY it failed.

To fix the offense I think its imperitive to FINALLY sure up this offensive line in the off-season and to REALLY take a hard look at the running game - they need more out of it. If you can significantly improve upon those things I think this offense goes to the level that everyone wants it to go to.

I am with you Weezy. It isn't that far off, we can move the ball as long as we execute. Everyone wants to blame Zac for the playcalling
when Burrow is the dude with the final call and loves playing out of the Shotgun all of the time even when we are running well and have 
success when he is playing under Center. We will see if Zac is exposed if Burrow is out, this isn't a sure thing.

In the Offseason lose Frank Pollack and add a better OL coach and some scouts who know OL. Reiterate to Burrow that playing under
Center more will lead to more success. We do all this while adding a couple FA's to the OL and we should be right back contending.

The sky isn't falling, it is just raining a little bit at the moment.

(11-17-2023, 09:46 AM)740Bengal Wrote: Zac is a mid tier play caller at best, Burrow makes him, everyone in the league or affiliated with football knows this...if you don't you're kidding yourself. Zac will go back to Dalton Zac and we will be lucky to win 1-2 more games if Burrow is in fact out.

Bengals were hanging in last nite but we were still losing 14-10 and Ravens had been better on both sides of the ball before Browning stepped on the field so i felt we were not winning last nite in 2nd half with Burrow and our end of year schedule is tough so i think 4-3 rest of season seemed about right with Burrow, so 2-5 with backup is probably the most we could ask for.

Most head coaches with great qb’s get “exposed” when their starting qb isn’t playing

(11-17-2023, 11:11 AM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Am I the only one that doesn't think this offense is a complete disaster?

They were a top 5 passing unit last year and have looked pretty good in the games Joe has been healthy. They actually moved the ball pretty well last night but stalled when they got past the 40 yard line for one reason or another (Boyd drop, Burrow sacked). The Ravens punted just as much as the Bengals.

To me, the offensive lapses come down to guys not executing. Whether it's penalties, offensive line issues, or drops. I know that's not as sexy of an answer as "the play calling sucks!", but you need to look at each drive in the context of WHY it failed.

To fix the offense I think its imperitive to FINALLY sure up this offensive line in the off-season and to REALLY take a hard look at the running game - they need more out of it. If you can significantly improve upon those things I think this offense goes to the level that everyone wants it to go to.

No, I'm right there with you. I think some of this stuff is brought over from the social media echo chamber parrots. There are some viable critiques, to be sure, but a lot of it is over the top nonsense. 

Your point about the offensive line is the biggest key. They've been working on that for seven damn years. High time they shit or get off the pot.

(11-17-2023, 11:35 AM)THE PISTONS Wrote: Yep. Bills have same issues. And our team is slow. That's a bad combo.

The Bills have a turnover problem they don't want to talk about.