Why did we decide lets just kick a 50+ yard FG to try and win it?

We ran three offensive plays after we recovered the fumble at the Ravens 37 and got all the way down to the 35

We ran all 3 plays from heavy sets. And not a single pass despite JB having an outstanding day!! On the 1st play the Ravens have 9 defenders in the box. Everyone of them crashes to the LOS at the snap. J. Chase has a very soft coverage.

A half second after the snap there's a wiidddddeeeeee open middle of the field. If Chase runs a quick slant and it was a play action fake to Brown it's probably a TD. At a minimum a good gain. Of course JB would have to throw quickly.

I just can't understand why you have Joe Burrow for crying out friggin loud! And the coaches say screw that, put the Lamborghini away, lets get out the Honda civic and just get a couple yards a try a long FG.

And this isn't the first time ZT and Co. have been guilty of this. ML 2.0

(10-07-2024, 12:52 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: Why did we decide lets just kick a 50+ yard FG to try and win it?

We ran three offensive plays after we recovered the fumble at the Ravens 37 and got all the way down to the 35  

We ran all 3 plays from heavy sets. And not a single pass despite JB having an outstanding day!! On the 1st play the Ravens have 9 defenders in the box. Everyone of them crashes to the LOS at the snap. J. Chase has a very soft coverage.

A half second after the snap there's a wiidddddeeeeee open middle of the field. If Chase runs a quick slant and it was a play action fake to Brown it's probably a TD. At a minimum a good gain. Of course JB would have to throw quickly.

I just can't understand why you have Joe Burrow for crying out friggin loud! And the coaches say screw that, put the Lamborghini away, lets get out the Honda civic and just get a couple yards a try a long FG.

And this isn't the first time ZT and Co. have been guilty of this. ML 2.0

Answer is pretty simple, IMO.

Overthinking and worried about the what-if passing the ball.
What if Burrow gets a sack and they get out of FG range?
What if the Bengals turn the ball over either with an INT or FF?

I'm confident Taylor and crew felt good with McPherson being able to hit 53 yards with his leg.
I don't think they accounted the possibility the snap/hold could go bad.

(10-07-2024, 12:52 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: Why did we decide lets just kick a 50+ yard FG to try and win it?

We ran three offensive plays after we recovered the fumble at the Ravens 37 and got all the way down to the 35  

We ran all 3 plays from heavy sets. And not a single pass despite JB having an outstanding day!! On the 1st play the Ravens have 9 defenders in the box. Everyone of them crashes to the LOS at the snap. J. Chase has a very soft coverage.

A half second after the snap there's a wiidddddeeeeee open middle of the field. If Chase runs a quick slant and it was a play action fake to Brown it's probably a TD. At a minimum a good gain. Of course JB would have to throw quickly.

I just can't understand why you have Joe Burrow for crying out friggin loud! And the coaches say screw that, put the Lamborghini away, lets get out the Honda civic and just get a couple yards a try a long FG.

And this isn't the first time ZT and Co. have been guilty of this. ML 2.0

Oline was starting to get abused, thus the threat of a sack or holding call.  Along with the pass rush coverage, pass defenders were jumping routes, see the Humphrey interception.

Zac called one run play to gain yards.  He called one pass play Burrow checked out of.

The 3rd down run was to align Evan for the FG.

I would love to have seen him take a shot with Chase 1 on 1, but that would be very risky.  

The field goal should be an after thought. Go for the TD and if you don't get it then kick the field goal. Anyhow, maybe Taylor will learn from this (I know its not the first time he's done this) and it will help us on our 4 game winning streak that starts Sunday.

(10-07-2024, 12:52 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: Why did we decide lets just kick a 50+ yard FG to try and win it?

We ran three offensive plays after we recovered the fumble at the Ravens 37 and got all the way down to the 35  

We ran all 3 plays from heavy sets. And not a single pass despite JB having an outstanding day!! On the 1st play the Ravens have 9 defenders in the box. Everyone of them crashes to the LOS at the snap. J. Chase has a very soft coverage.

A half second after the snap there's a wiidddddeeeeee open middle of the field. If Chase runs a quick slant and it was a play action fake to Brown it's probably a TD. At a minimum a good gain. Of course JB would have to throw quickly.

I just can't understand why you have Joe Burrow for crying out friggin loud! And the coaches say screw that, put the Lamborghini away, lets get out the Honda civic and just get a couple yards a try a long FG.

And this isn't the first time ZT and Co. have been guilty of this. ML 2.0

It did seem rather strange. If they knew that all they wanted to accomplish was to put the ball in the center of the field, they should have kicked on 2nd down. That way if an emergency happens (like a bad hold) they just need to cover the ball and live on.

(10-07-2024, 01:04 PM)Mer Wrote: The field goal should be an after thought. Go for the TD and if you don't get it then kick the field goal. Anyhow, maybe Taylor will learn from this (I know its not the first time he's done this) and it will help us on our 4 game winning streak that starts Sunday.

We would never have been going for a TD on that drive... short of a big play going all the way. Even if we start the drive more aggressively, the minute we get near the 20 we'd have been running it on every play.

(10-07-2024, 12:56 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Answer is pretty simple, IMO.

Overthinking and worried about the what-if passing the ball.
What if Burrow gets a sack and they get out of FG range?
What if the Bengals turn the ball over either with an INT or FF?

I'm confident Taylor and crew felt good with McPherson being able to hit 53 yards with his leg.
I don't think they accounted the possibility the snap/hold could go bad.

I agree, however

The Ravens are one of the best teams in the league vs. the run. Everybody including my Grandma knew from the Bengals set and history ZT and Co. were going to run the ball 3 gain 6 yards and kick. Except we only gained 2

The Ravens are one of the worst teams in the league vs. the pass. We had put up nearly 400 yards and 5 TD's Why go way from our strength and their weakness with kinda/sorta the season on the line?

I'm generally not a ZT basher but this was a giant fail. You can't go all conservative vs. the good teams and expect to win.

(10-07-2024, 01:06 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: It did seem rather strange. If they knew that all they wanted to accomplish was to put the ball in the center of the field, they should have kicked on 2nd down. That way if an emergency happens (like a bad hold) they just need to cover the ball and live on.

To me they seemed unsure, confused, not really knowing what they wanted to do. As Joe said himself not the mark of a championship kinda team.

(10-07-2024, 12:56 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Answer is pretty simple, IMO.

Overthinking and worried about the what-if passing the ball.
What if Burrow gets a sack and they get out of FG range?
What if the Bengals turn the ball over either with an INT or FF?

I'm confident Taylor and crew felt good with McPherson being able to hit 53 yards with his leg.
I don't think they accounted the possibility the snap/hold could go bad.

I don't get why we don't pass there.

#1 Burrow is really good at football and was playing like a man possessed that day
#2 Chase is really good at football and was playing like a man possessed that day
#3 we have other WR and TE options who can make plays thanks to Burrow
#4 our RBs aren't great yet and were not playing like men possessed that day
#5 in today's NFL if a Raven touched our QB or a WR they may get a game-sealing flag
#6 a 53 yard FG isn't a gimmie and bad holds and bad snaps happen


Taking the ball out of Burrow's hands is like telling the Beatles they should have fired everyone except Pete Best.

(10-07-2024, 01:03 PM)casear2727 Wrote: Oline was starting to get abused, thus the threat of a sack or holding call.  Along with the pass rush coverage, pass defenders were jumping routes, see the Humphrey interception.

Zac called one run play to gain yards.  He called one pass play Burrow checked out of.

The 3rd down run was to align Evan for the FG.

I would love to have seen him take a shot with Chase 1 on 1, but that would be very risky.  

You have to play risky to a certain degree to win these kinda games. Sure if we had the ball at their 20 just go ahead and kick it, don't risk it. But why play to just settle on a "risky 50 yard FG. IMHO you have to try and get the distance down to really have a good shot.

(10-07-2024, 01:38 PM)Nately120 Wrote: I don't get why we don't pass there.

#1 Burrow is really good at football and was playing like a man possessed that day
#2 Chase is really good at football and was playing like a man possessed that day
#3 we have other WR and TE options who can make plays thanks to Burrow
#4 our RBs aren't great yet and were not playing like men possessed that day
#5 in today's NFL if a Raven touched our QB or a WR they may get a game-sealing flag
#6 a 53 yard FG isn't a gimmie and bad holds and bad snaps happen


Taking the ball out of Burrow's hands is like telling the Beatles they should have fired everyone except Pete Best.

Right

And right on all counts

(10-07-2024, 01:40 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: You have to play risky to a certain degree to win these kinda games. Sure if we had the ball at their 20 just go ahead and kick it, don't risk it. But why play to just settle on a "risky 50 yard FG. IMHO you have to try and get the distance down to really have a good shot.

Im not saying I agree with any of the play calls.  Your question was "tell me why?"  I think that is a long FG too.

My whole issue with the run, run, and run again strategy was the wind. I was in Paycor Stadium yesterday for the game and the wind was swirling. In fact, Evan McPherson missed quite a few practice field goals in pregame warm-ups. In my opinion, making a 50 yard field goal in a swirling wind was low probability anyway. If the wind was calm, I would not have been concerned.

(10-07-2024, 01:03 PM)casear2727 Wrote: Oline was starting to get abused, thus the threat of a sack or holding call.  Along with the pass rush coverage, pass defenders were jumping routes, see the Humphrey interception.

Zac called one run play to gain yards.  He called one pass play Burrow checked out of.

The 3rd down run was to align Evan for the FG.

I would love to have seen him take a shot with Chase 1 on 1, but that would be very risky.  

This. Zac felt comfortable in McPherson hitting the game winning FG. I, like most everyone, would've preferred more aggression there, but I understand what Zac was doing and don't think he was "scared" or 'coaching not to lose'. 

(10-07-2024, 01:03 PM)casear2727 Wrote: Oline was starting to get abused, thus the threat of a sack or holding call.  Along with the pass rush coverage, pass defenders were jumping routes, see the Humphrey interception.

Zac called one run play to gain yards.  He called one pass play Burrow checked out of.

The 3rd down run was to align Evan for the FG.

I would love to have seen him take a shot with Chase 1 on 1, but that would be very risky.  

This .....plus, WTF are we paying McPherson that extension for if not to win games? If Simmons had his unit ready and they didn't have to burn a timeout and regroup, they may have made it. Seemed that threw the operation off. Adomitis is usually automatic.

(10-07-2024, 01:35 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: I agree, however

The Ravens are one of the best teams in the league vs. the run. Everybody including my Grandma knew from the Bengals set and history ZT and Co. were going to run the ball 3 gain 6 yards and kick. Except we only gained 2

The Ravens are one of the worst teams in the league vs. the pass. We had put up nearly 400 yards and 5 TD's Why go way from our strength and their weakness with kinda/sorta the season on the line?

I'm generally not a ZT basher but this was a giant fail. You can't go all conservative vs. the good teams and expect to win.

You do realize we only lost on that FG because of a bad snap/hold, right?

(10-07-2024, 01:35 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: I agree, however

The Ravens are one of the best teams in the league vs. the run. Everybody including my Grandma knew from the Bengals set and history ZT and Co. were going to run the ball 3 gain 6 yards and kick. Except we only gained 2

The Ravens are one of the worst teams in the league vs. the pass. We had put up nearly 400 yards and 5 TD's Why go way from our strength and their weakness with kinda/sorta the season on the line?

I'm generally not a ZT basher but this was a giant fail. You can't go all conservative vs. the good teams and expect to win.

The Bengals, I believe, were not overly concerned about getting a first down.
They were mainly focused on positioning for the FG and not turning the ball over.
They were already at McPherson's distance.

(10-07-2024, 01:42 PM)casear2727 Wrote: Im not saying I agree with any of the play calls.  You question was "tell me why?"  I think that is a long FG too.

Playing for a 53 yard FG in overtime isn't the sort of thing you expect when your QB has 5 TDs and a 137 rating and your top WR has nearly 200 yards on the day.  Burrow passing there isn't a guaranteed victory I'll admit, but how anyone could be worried about keeping the ball in his hands in that situation is beyond me. And kickers are making long ass FGs now and McPherson is one of the best BUT still...playing for a 53 yard FG try in OT is the sort of thing you do when your QB is crap or having a shaky day and you are trying to just drag his corpse across the finish line.

Of course, I'm now remembering that the Ravens had the ball first and fumbled so it makes a bit more sense to play for a FG but 53 yards?  Ehh, that's borderline but I will admit it's not as stupid as I thought when I started typing this.

I was at that new Beetlejuice movie with the wife during all this and I was checking my phone and seeing the Bengals that close in OT after the Ravens had the ball I figured it'd be a 95% Bengals victory and about a 5% chance of him missing and it being a tie.  When I checked my phone a bit later and saw the expected score of 41-38 with the Ravens on top I had to wonder what the hell happened. 

(10-07-2024, 01:45 PM)Fan_in_Kettering Wrote: My whole issue with the run, run, and run again strategy was the wind.  I was in Paycor Stadium yesterday for the game and the wind was swirling. In fact, Evan McPherson missed quite a few practice field goals in pregame warm-ups. In my opinion, making a 50 yard field goal in a swirling wind was low probability anyway.  If the wind was calm, I would not have been concerned.

According to the announcers on TV, the wind was at McPherson's back. 

(10-07-2024, 01:38 PM)Nately120 Wrote: Taking the ball out of Burrow's hands is like telling the Beatles they should have fired everyone except Pete Best.

Yup. I just can't imagine not trusting Peyton Manning or Tom Brady to get you closer and just taking the ball out of their hands. Let alone if they were red-hot.