(12-18-2023, 08:33 PM)Destro Wrote: Not worried about anything but injuries. Not even worried about making the playoffs. Sometimes good teams need an adjustment to get back on track. I believe this team can miss the playoffs this year and play in the Super Bowl next season. I don't think it is all that crazy.

Remember the Rams were very good and got to the Super Bowl, then lost. ( How Taylor was got hired here ). They came back and beat us years later in the Super Bowl. Get these young guys evaluated and experienced. Have Taylor learn different ways to call plays with Burrow, screw Browning by having him stay the back-up here, make a run next year with a good draft and free agency.

It’s not crazy at all to think the Bengals can miss the playoffs this year and go to the SB next year. WE Didn’t have a healthy QB for something like 2/3s of the season.

(12-18-2023, 06:33 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: I was reading a post by I believe Wyche’s Warriors. Someone was bemoaning Taylor and what would happen to him if he got fired. The poster acted like nobody would hire him as an OC. Wyche said he’d be hired the second he was fired as a head coach to bring the culture he’s established here. The locker room is as dynamic as you’ll find. Duke sure had a hand but Zac was architect how they drafted. He said I want video of them interacting with teammates. He was driver in drafting team captains and people of high character like Ted Karras and CTB, and many others.

Karras was a free agent signing not a draftee but we get your point.  Taylor has got this team to into two consecutive AFC championship games and a superbowl game. Barring a complete meltdown ala New England or Panthers, his job is secure as long as he wishes to be here.

(12-18-2023, 08:22 PM)NUGDUKWE Wrote: While I can't argue with the culture we have now and credit goes from the top down. It may be a bit unfair to compare it to Marvin Lewis he never had the FA we have given to Zac which I think caused them to take some risks talent>character in the draft and obviously Burfict as a UDFA. 
But as long as we are talking character and it may be unfairly given but I love Mike Hilton and I feel his impact may never be fully realized by us on the outside. I always thought the teams from winning culture was a bit overblown but I have loved his attitude and character from that 1st training camp when the DBs started they're own little competitions. Solid play on the field and I love always seeing him on the sideline hyping up our offensive players. 

They’ve all been involved but they were all here prior to Zac. It was Zac who pushed for captains, team leaders, players from winning programs, and for the scouts to look at video and in person how they act on the sidelines. Absolutely make no mistake about that

(12-18-2023, 09:13 PM)SouthernFan Wrote: Karras was a free agent signing not a draftee but we get your point.  Taylor has got this team to into two consecutive AFC championship games and a superbowl game. Barring a complete meltdown ala New England or Panthers, his job is secure as long as he wishes to be here.

I knew that thanks he played at NE I didn’t make that clear. He wanted free agents that were from winning teams and captains.

https://www.cincyjungle.com/platform/amp/2020/5/5/21236798/zac-taylor-continues-to-reshape-bengals-culture-cincinnati-burrow-captain-leadership-culture

https://bengalswire.usatoday.com/2019/02/17/zac-taylor-joey-boese-change-bengals-culture/

He knew exactly the vision that he expected to have for the team and the organization,” Burrow said of first meeting Taylor at the NFL Combine in 2020. “He had it really nailed down, understood what he wanted out of me as a quarterback and out of everybody else on the team and knew it was going to be a hard road. Just the way he talked, I understood that it just felt like it was fact, what he was saying.”

Jeremy Rauch
@FOX19Jeremy
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Three things #Bengals staff keeps mentioning as big intangibles with almost every pick/new addition.

SMART
LEADER
CAPTAIN

The obvious blueprint of Zac Taylor’s approach.

“That goes back to our culture,” Germaine Pratt told All Bengals. “Zac (Taylor) started a culture here that is unbreakable. Everybody looks each other in the eyes and next man steps up, there’s no drop off, you’ve got to step up and make plays.”

My concern is the CB position with CTB on IR and now Ivy is out for the year. Are we elevating our practice squad CBs or finding a few out on the market?

(12-18-2023, 10:46 PM)BIGDADDYFROMCINCINNATI Wrote: My concern is the CB position with CTB on IR and now Ivy is out for the year.  Are we elevating our practice squad CBs or finding a few out on the market?

Yeah I suppose I hadn't even put too much thought into that. I guess they're is Jalen Davis and I wonder if Nick Scott could play an corner if called upon. But CTB is eligible to return after the Steelers game and from the sound of it should be ready to roll so I'm curious if they make any moves.

(12-18-2023, 09:10 PM)michaelsean Wrote: The Hudson play was horrible. It was obviously going to be a pass. Nobody was buying it was designed to be Hudson running. Stop with the stupid plays when the offense is clicking.

I know. I would say there are times to call trick plays but then I guess the idea of a trick play is to be unpredictable. But 3rd and 1 when the offense is moving right along seems like you are making your life alot harder than it has to be to get 1 yard.

(12-18-2023, 10:57 PM)NUGDUKWE Wrote: Yeah I suppose I hadn't even put too much thought into that. I guess they're is Jalen Davis and I wonder if Nick Scott could play an corner if called upon. But CTB is eligible to return after the Steelers game and from the sound of it should be ready to roll so I'm curious if they make any moves.

So right now we have Cbs Awuzie, TJ Hall, and Hilton at the slot CB.  That's just one play away from moving Hilton to CB and Davis to the Slot where he can excel.  I can see us elevating Sidney Jones IV and Allan George for Saturday's game.

(12-18-2023, 03:10 PM)NUGDUKWE Wrote: I don't intend this to be a negative thread. I just wanted to bring up a couple of things and I thought we could put positive or negative things we've noticed.

But a common criticism I have had of Zac is his situational football. I think trick plays and short yardage gimmick plays fall under that umbrella. Taylor deserves a ton of credit for the team rallying around Browning and has silenced many of the doubters myself included. But these last few games while great we still have bad situational football. I keep hoping we will improve in this regard but it doesn't seem to be happening. The trick plays against Jax were bad and they've been talked about. But again in this game we come up with another bad trick play that could've cost us the game. Maybe like all plays you can say if it works your a genius if it doesn't your dumb. But the trick play came at the end of a solid 1st drive in a time when most teams have scripted plays on a 3rd and 1 when the offense had been moving effectively. I mean the list goes on and on why that was not a good time to run a play like that. Another play I didn't like was the tush push. I felt not only were we running well but it was not a play we should be trying in a time when we absolutely need it. Luckily Mixon bailed us out. But I think that tends to happen with failed situational football if you win it doesn't matter and if you lose there were more reasons for the loss. It's just something I think we need to address in the future as so many games come down to a field goal.

I missed the 1st 3 qtrs live and have since rewatched the game and I do want to say that it was probably one of the most exciting 4th qtrs I've seen in what feels like a while. But I also feel like we didn't scheme this game as much for Browning as we did in the 2 other games. Again the coaches deserve a ton of credit but in this game I think it was the players that really bailed us out.

Well with your thinking maybe the players also did not play well under the scheme, for example hudson had plenty of time to throw it away, and we go for it on 4th and 1 also Jones slowed down in his route could have been a td,  or brown running  lateral too much where if he turns up field positive yards over loss of 3. Players have to execute also.

No thoughts or concerns, Zac and his brain trust know what they are doing, way more than we all do.

(12-18-2023, 11:31 PM)Essex Johnson Wrote: Well with your thinking maybe the players also did not play well under the scheme, for example hudson had plenty of time to throw it away, and we go for it on 4th and 1 also Jones slowed down in his route could have been a td,  or brown running  lateral too much where if he turns up field positive yards over loss of 3. Players have to execute also.

That is an interesting thought. But again it's probably why I don't like trick plays in certain situations and in particularly this situation. We are putting players in positions that they are not accustomed to and expected to get a positive result. Which is the risk reward of a trick play but when it's only for 1 yard the higher percentage play is to run a normal play. Perhaps that's my real complaint with the situational football is when you lay out all the facts we are lowering our percentage of a positive play. But you are right I did say that I thought it was the players that really bailed us out in this game over playing calling atleast in the biggest moments of the game so they definitely deserve some blame for failing in that situation as well.

(12-18-2023, 11:44 PM)sandwedge Wrote: No thoughts or concerns, Zac and his brain trust know what they are doing, way more than we all do.

Well coaches are not infallible. But it doesn't have to be concerns or negative thoughts maybe positives that you noticed. 

(12-19-2023, 12:02 AM)NUGDUKWE Wrote: Well coaches are not infallible. But it doesn't have to be concerns or negative thoughts maybe positives that you noticed. 

No you're right. Right now the positives far outweigh the negatives. I've been a diehard of this team since I was 9 yrs old (1975).
I learned its no good to fret over stuff this team does, because it's out of your control. Just enjoy this ride my friend.

(12-18-2023, 08:04 PM)NUGDUKWE Wrote: You might be right about overthinking the run. I thought Minnesota was gonna be our toughest test in this stretch. I was surprised we ran as well as we did even though our attempts were limited. The other thing that stood out to me after watching the game over was how well Browning played. There was the bad pick and even the TD to time in the end sure looked like it was gonna get picked until Higgins pulled some magic. But he constantly extended plays to give our guys chances and just barely missed Charlie Jones for a TD.

Yep, and that one was really on Jones. He let up for a second, then kicked it back in gear. Had he ran all the way on the route, it would have been a pretty easy catch. Browning evaded pressure nicely.

(12-19-2023, 12:00 AM)NUGDUKWE Wrote: That is an interesting thought. But again it's probably why I don't like trick plays in certain situations and in particularly this situation. We are putting players in positions that they are not accustomed to and expected to get a positive result. Which is the risk reward of a trick play but when it's only for 1 yard the higher percentage play is to run a normal play. Perhaps that's my real complaint with the situational football is when you lay out all the facts we are lowering our percentage of a positive play. But you are right I did say that I thought it was the players that really bailed us out in this game over playing calling atleast in the biggest moments of the game so they definitely deserve some blame for failing in that situation as well.

We did execute one pretty nicely....on the biggest stage in the same area as the Hudson play. Mixon to Higgins.

(12-19-2023, 12:00 AM)NUGDUKWE Wrote: That is an interesting thought. But again it's probably why I don't like trick plays in certain situations and in particularly this situation. We are putting players in positions that they are not accustomed to and expected to get a positive result. Which is the risk reward of a trick play but when it's only for 1 yard the higher percentage play is to run a normal play. Perhaps that's my real complaint with the situational football is when you lay out all the facts we are lowering our percentage of a positive play. But you are right I did say that I thought it was the players that really bailed us out in this game over playing calling atleast in the biggest moments of the game so they definitely deserve some blame for failing in that situation as well.

Well normally gadget plays are schemed with scouting tape they have seen, im glad we are being aggressive in looking to use them now, i thought ZT has too limited in not trying them before, but the execution has been terrible, so maybe a pause might be good...

One of my worries is with Chase set to miss
X amount of games who is going to
Step up in that other boundary WR role.
I presume Boyd will stay in the slot.
Jones has been a non factor when he
Is targeted. Iosivias has made some meaningful
Catches in his limited targets.
Does Shedrick Jackson get called up?

(12-19-2023, 10:56 AM)impactplaya Wrote: One of my worries is with Chase set to miss
X amount of games who is going to
Step up in that other boundary WR role.
I presume Boyd will stay in the slot.
Jones has been a non factor when he
Is targeted. Iosivias has made some meaningful
Catches in his limited targets.
Does Shedrick Jackson get called up?

Chase is Chase. Nobody replacing him but I think Yoshi and Charlie ready and will surprise

(12-19-2023, 10:56 AM)impactplaya Wrote: One of my worries is with Chase set to miss
X amount of games who is going to
Step up in that other boundary WR role.
I presume Boyd will stay in the slot.
Jones has been a non factor when he
Is targeted. Iosivias has made some meaningful
Catches in his limited targets.
Does Shedrick Jackson get called up?

Boyd has risen to the occasion in big games, i think he will be targeted 8 to 10 times

(12-18-2023, 03:24 PM)NUGDUKWE Wrote: It was an empty backfield though so it was already alerting the defense. I thought about the Hudson being a former QB but to me it's not so much the play itself. It's a taking is out of our bread and butter normal offense to pick up a crucial yard. But it's just something to keep an eye on. 

I don't think the play itself was bad.  I do think the execution was.  Clearly it was a roll out to the right, yet whomever was out there was double covered (can't remember who it was).  Either someone ran the wrong route, or Hudson didn't execute it correctly.

I like Zac throwing those types of plays out there.  It makes opposing defenses "think" too much.  Better when they're successful, though.