(11-26-2017, 08:04 PM)George Cantstandya Wrote: In the first game against Cleveland this season the Bengals only rushed 86 yards total and 29 of those yards were from Andy. I'd say the o-line did decent job this game against a decent run defense with Mixon doing what he should have given the run blocking and leave it at that. Let's hope the run blocking continues to improve.

Alright man, I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt.  Let's see how well Mixon, and the OL do versus Pittsburgh.

(11-26-2017, 07:54 PM)Nately120 Wrote: I was going to say, bully for Mixon, but Jeremy Hill ran for 285 yards in two games vs the Browns last year and we can't wait to get rid of him.

Cleveland was also about the bottom of the barrel in rushing D last year.  They are much improved this year.  I'm not willing to crown the Bengals o-line with an award for much improved but they did play well this game against a normally good rush defense.

(11-26-2017, 08:06 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Alright man, I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt.  Let's see how well Mixon, and the OL do versus Pittsburgh.

Again, I'm not saying the running game has gone to the next level.  They had a good game and deserve some credit for it and that's about it.  They could completely implode again next week. It wouldn't surprise me a bit.

(11-26-2017, 08:04 PM)George Cantstandya Wrote: In the first game against Cleveland this season the Bengals only rushed 86 yards total and 29 of those yards were from Andy.  So 57 yards rushing from actual RBs. I'd say the o-line did decent job this game against a decent run defense with Mixon doing what he should have given the run blocking and leave it at that. Let's hope the run blocking continues to improve.

This isn't meant to take anything away from Mixon or the o-line today, but just to show how dominant the Bengals have been been on the ground overall during this 7 game win streak against the Browns:

45 - 244
37 - 152
33 - 144
30 - 271
38 - 213
30 -  86
30 - 152

Can I just take a moment to say some of Mixon's runs resulted from Hewitt's blocks, and those were things of beauty. When Mixon was taking a breather, another RB was amazing. Gio did it all, especially blocking. But yeah, Browns.

Joe seemed to trust where the hole was supposed to be. I've been hard on him because he seems to spend to much time behind the LOS, but today he seemed to "sense" the hole instead of seeing it. Dude is big, strong, and fast; he needs to understand that he doesn't need a huge hole to get positive yards.

(11-26-2017, 08:17 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Joe seemed to trust where the hole was supposed to be. I've been hard on him because he seems to spend to much time behind the LOS, but today he seemed to "sense" the hole instead of seeing it. Dude is big, strong, and fast; he needs to understand that he doesn't need a huge hole to get positive yards.

He also ran behind his pads better than he has all season I thought.

(11-26-2017, 08:14 PM)Bengalholic Wrote: This isn't meant to take anything away from Mixon or the o-line today, but just to show how dominant the Bengals have been been on the ground overall during this 7 game win streak against the Browns:

45 - 244
37 - 152
33 - 144
30 - 271
38 - 213
30 -  86
30 - 152

The stats are nice and all but check this out.  Scroll down to Cleveland rush defense.  2014 32nd, 2015 30th, 2016 31st, 2017 until today 6th.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2017/opp.htm
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2016/opp.htm
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2015/opp.htm
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2014/opp.htm

Again I'm not crowing the o-line and Bengals rushing game most improved but you have to give credit.  Sure they rushed a ton over the last few years against Cleveland but they sucked a lot more back then in rushing D. But I don't think it is fair to say, "Well it is Cleveland" in this case.

(11-26-2017, 08:21 PM)Synric Wrote: He also ran behind his pads better than he has all season I thought.

Let's hope the switch has flipped. They one thing I never liked about Hill is that he didn't run to his size enough; he tried to be a scat back. 

(11-26-2017, 07:05 PM)Sweetness Wrote: This is what happens when a RB actually has holes to run through and can pick up steam. He's able to get his legs moving, gain momentum, and fall forward or run people over. That gives him an extra 2-3 yards on his runs instead of getting hit right at the line and going down.
Unless you are a Peterson, Lynch, Sanders, or Dillon type back, you're going to struggle without an Oline. Hunt, Elliot, and these other guys are no better then Mixon; they just have good lines.  

(11-26-2017, 07:26 PM)Awful Llama Wrote: Going into the game, Cleveland had the #6 rush defense in the NFL by yards (97.1 per game), and the #1 defense in terms of average yards per carry (3.1).  So, yeah, the Browns run D was no slouch.  

When he does not have to make a guy miss in the backfield he can run the ball well. Not sure if this will be the case next week.

Browns have a great Run Defense give the oline and Mixion some credit for today they won the game.

(11-26-2017, 08:27 PM)Jakeypoo Wrote: Browns have a great Run Defense give the oline and Mixion some credit for today they won the game.

It's fun watching folks trying to find things to bytch about. I had a great time in the game day thread today. 

(11-26-2017, 08:30 PM)bfine32 Wrote: It's fun watching folks trying to find things to bytch about. I had a great time in the game day thread today. 

There are enough legitimate things over which to criticize this team, and it's been done at length.  Let's at least give them credit when they do something right, for cripes sake.  Good on the O-line and good on Joe.  

(11-26-2017, 06:51 PM)Shady Wrote: Could the Online actually be getting better? The Browns DLine is not shabby, but their LBs are less than great. Don't want to get too excited, but maybe there's hope?

We have to give the O line props. They have been bad this season, but they were opening holes in the run game today. The browns D line is not bad either. And its amazing how having a running game opened up the offense. Both Boyd's TD and Kroft's TD were the result of the LBs biting hard on the play action due to Mixon's success.

(11-26-2017, 08:23 PM)George Cantstandya Wrote: The stats are nice and all but check this out.  Scroll down to Cleveland rush defense.  2014 32nd, 2015 30th, 2016 31st, 2017 until today 6th.

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2017/opp.htm
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2016/opp.htm
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2015/opp.htm
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2014/opp.htm

Again I'm not crowing the o-line and Bengals rushing game most improved but you have to give credit.  Sure they rushed a ton over the last few years against Cleveland but they sucked a lot more back then in rushing D.  But I don't think it is fair to say, "Well it is Cleveland" in this case.

Yeah, the point of the post was to show the Bengals run dominance during the last 7 games against then, which regardless of records or rankings, is pretty crazy.

(11-26-2017, 08:41 PM)Bengalholic Wrote: Yeah, the point of the post was to show the Bengals run dominance during the last 7 games against then, which regardless of records or rankings, is pretty crazy.

I don't think that is much of a point when they had run dominance over one of the worst rush defenses in the league over the last few years.  Given the stats, many teams had a dominate rushing game against Cleveland during that time period. 

Heck maybe Cleveland had an off day on rush defense, maybe Marv actually had a good game plan, or maybe Cleveland is flat out given up and is tanking. Who knows.  But I don't think tossing it up to the Bengals always dominate the run against a crappy Cleveland is fair in this case given the stats.

We'll see how the o-line and Mixon do next week. Pit is ranked 8th in rush defense. So let's see if Marv completely abandons the running game as soon as they fall behind by a field goal. :)

(11-26-2017, 08:48 PM)George Cantstandya Wrote: I don't think that is much of a point when they had run dominance over one of the worst rush defenses in the league over the last few years.  Given the stats, many teams had a dominate rushing game against Cleveland during that time period. 

Heck maybe Cleveland had an off day on rush defense, maybe Marv actually had a good game plan, or maybe Cleveland is flat out given up and is tanking. Who knows.  But I don't think tossing it up to the Bengals always dominate the run against a crappy Cleveland isn't fair in this case given the stats.

We'll see how the o-line and Mixon do next week.

Mixon ran very well today. The o-line played better and was opening some holes. The Bengals have put up crazy rushing numbers in the last 7 games against the Browns.

These things are all true.  

(11-26-2017, 09:04 PM)Bengalholic Wrote: Mixon ran very well today. The o-line played better and was opening some holes. The Bengals have put up crazy rushing numbers in the last 7 games against the Browns.

These things are all true.  

I agree those things are true given the stats aside from the first game against Cleveland this year.  I'll leave it at that.  :)

(11-26-2017, 06:42 PM)BFritz21 Wrote: First off, I know it was only one game and one game doesn't make a career, especially in a franchise where we've worshipped players as the next HOF player and they turned out to be dog shit, but I can't help but to be excited about Joe Mixon.

I've said all-along that we just need to give him the bulk of the carries and let him get into a rhythm, and that's exactly what looked like happened today.

Mixon was running hard but picking his spots, making moves to make guys miss, using power when needed, one-cutting to find open holes while still running downhill, catching the ball out of the backfield, and doing multiple other impressive things.

Our offense is going to be dangerous with teams having to leave a safety back for AJ while still having to load the box because of Mixon being such a versatile runner, and then not to mention Kroft looks like he's finally starting to be used properly and more (I realize he only caught three balls today, but hopefully Lazor sees how effective he was).  Not to mention other guys, like LaFell and Boyd, can produce when called upon if we spread it around.

This was about Mixon, so is he as good as he looked and as good as I think?

(11-26-2017, 09:04 PM)Bengalholic Wrote: Mixon ran very well today. The o-line played better and was opening some holes. The Bengals have put up crazy rushing numbers in the last 7 games against the Browns.

These things are all true.  

Today the offensive line used directional blocking; first time all season they didn’t zone block on every run play.