(09-13-2020, 09:04 PM)BrownAssClown Wrote: Losses suck, but I liked a lot of what I saw today. I saw a defense that played good today without Geno, or Trae Waynes . I saw a gritty Rookie QB today that made some mistakes but still nearly pulled out a win. I also saw a right tackle that has no business being an NFL starter. This team has promise and I don't think Taylor is going anywhere soon. I've been watching this team for 40+ seasons and I seen potential on that field today. Please have a little more patience. Who Dey!!!

Patience? Are you kidding? They haven't won a playoff game in 30 years..

I don’t see Taylor going anywhere unless he wins less than 4 games this year. Maybe not even then considering the offseason we had. To be fair he had a short offseason last year due to the late hiring, and didn’t have much of one this year either.

I saw promise in this game (not Bobby hart though) and I expected the loss going in so I’m not feeling in a bad place yet.

I will say I felt good after the Seattle game last year too though and we completely plummeted after that. I also don’t like seeing Burrow get killed like he did yesterday though it got a lot better in the second half so I’m hoping that was just a part of not having a preseason.

How do you criticize play calling when we really don't know what plays were called, since basically no play other than a quick slant or a handoff had time to develop?

(09-14-2020, 07:52 AM)Sled21 Wrote: How do you criticize play calling when we really don't know what plays were called, since basically no play other than a quick slant or a handoff had time to develop?

Probably shouldn’t be using 2nd round picks on TE’s and WR’s when you have a OL that bad...

I think the Chargers are trash. Unfortunately, this will be a very long year for the Bengals. The Saints would have hung 100 on them yesterday.

I think coach Taylor is still learning, but not having a time out or two at the end of the game was horrific to see develop. The time outs were all used up by 6 mins remaining. Yikes!

The false starts at home with no crowd is inexplicable. Like, someone needs to rip Taylor's a$$ for the time out thing and the lack of discipline.

(09-13-2020, 08:37 PM)Nately120 Wrote: Meh, it's just one game but yea the guy did set multiple losing records in his first year here and his resume before getting here is thin to say the least. This guy is the first to go under the wheels of the bus if Burrow doesn't save him.

As play-caller. He buys himself another year by handing over play calling duties to an OC.

(09-13-2020, 08:59 PM)RASCAL Wrote: Burrows had 2 wide open receivers for tds and he missed both. Theres no timing at all with him and the receivers. What I would really like to know is, what the hell have they been doing since the draft! Obviously nothing! If the timing gets there lookout! Next Year and probably with different receivers! This ain't college Burrows.

Mainly holding virtual zoom meetings because the pandemic prevented any more.

Then when they got to camp the two receivers he overthrew (and I reckon the first one was on Ross anyway) both missed significant time in camp - Ross because of his family and AJ because of injury.

(09-13-2020, 11:07 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: That’s why you don’t promote a position coach to HC. He is in over his head.

There are different aspects to the HC position. I have actually been impressed with several parts of the HC job he has done (the team buys in and didn't fold last year, I think he did a decent job preparing a rookie QB in unprecedented circumstances etc) but he needs an OC to design and call the plays because that aspect of it he's distinctly below par. The trouble is he got the job on the premise that he was some sort of offensive mastermind. He's not. It will be interesting to see if his ego or pride will get in the way of him recognizing that at the end of the year and delegating that to someone who is. With Burrow the Bengals will be a highly sought after destination for an OC - a 360 degree turn around from when Zac was appointed.

(09-14-2020, 07:52 AM)Sled21 Wrote: How do you criticize play calling when we really don't know what plays were called, since basically no play other than a quick slant or a handoff had time to develop?

Yep. EVERYTHING on offense starts with the OL. It's been trash for years now. Made nice adjustments , though, in the 2nd half and they're a bad and very iffy call away from a great W. Fine fine line between the clowns on here calling this team trash right now and those same posters getting a hard on had the TD stood.

(09-14-2020, 03:04 AM)McC Wrote: Is it entirely possible that a defense getting a lot of pressure is going to be taking away the short, quick throws? 

The play calling did get two wide open receivers behind the defense.  Burrow won't be missing many more of those.  Add those fourteen points to the Bengals score and no one's saying saying any of this.

Mixon fumbled for the first time since he was a rookie.  That was a huge play.

For the large number of people who were saying very recently that they weren't expecting great right off the bat, turns out they were expecting it after all.

People arent expecting much. The Chargers are worse than they were last year with Tyrod Taylor. If we had one of our wasted time outs then we would have won that game for sure. People are frustrated because the people we should have a expectations for shit the bed. I don't hear too many people bitching about Burrow, which if a vet QB like Dalton had his performance people would be making 20 different threads on how we need a new QB.

(09-14-2020, 12:37 AM)OUatown Wrote: Who was the coach that lead them to the worst record in franchise history? Who hired the offensive/defensive  coaches? Who for a season +1 game continues to blow time-outs? Who drafted Sample in the 2nd round? Who drafted Ryan Finley in the 4TH round and thought it was a good idea to start him over dalton? Who thought the oline was good enough? Why does he continue to believe in Bobby Hart? Who continues to play John Ross when the world knows he’s a bust? Why wasn’t he given a chance as a OC? Who called the plays last year? Why does he think he is qualified to even call plays let alone lead the team? I’ll answer. He is 2-15 and looking like he’s gonna start. 2-19 3-18. Every thing he has done makes it look like firing Marvin was a bad decision....

Why pose questions when you obviously feel you all ready have the answers? That's not discussion, that is just ranting.  

(09-13-2020, 11:56 PM)Geno_Can_Dunk Wrote: Thanks for offering some sense around here. 

Even in normal times season openers are often not indications of what a team will look like over the course of the season. But with a rookie QB who had no preseason, and a #1 WR who hasn't played since 2018, this game was always going to be a weird one. Burrow will get used to the speed of the game, AJ will get the reps he needs, and things will tilt forward for us. 

The right side of the OL predictably sucked, but that was really the only thing that has me concerned long term. 

Agreed. A lot of it is just rookie qb making rookie mistakes and the kind of errors you'd expect with no preseason and an abbreviated off season. Bobby Hart looked lost against Bosa to say the least. It concerns me that his struggles could get our shiny new qb hurt during his developmental year.   

(09-14-2020, 09:41 AM)TJHoushmandzadeh Wrote: There are different aspects to the HC position. I have actually been impressed with several parts of the HC job he has done (the team buys in and didn't fold last year, I think he did a decent job preparing a rookie QB in unprecedented circumstances etc) but he needs an OC to design and call the plays because that aspect of it he's distinctly below par. The trouble is he got the job on the premise that he was some sort of offensive mastermind. He's not. It will be interesting to see if his ego or pride will get in the way of him recognizing that at the end of the year and delegating that to someone who is. With Burrow the Bengals will be a highly sought after destination for an OC - a 360 degree turn around from when Zac was appointed.

I hear ya, but can you imagine a franchise like the Saints/Patriots/Chiefs/Steelers/Ravens saying "Our HC is the kind of guy who doesn't lose the locker room when the team goes 2-14!"  Having a HC who can keep morale high during an 11 game losing streak is the sort of quality you never really want to find out if a HC has, right?  It's like having a kicker who can miss 10 field goals in a row but kick with confidence on that 11th one.


That's just some bizarrely weak praise, there, plus if ZT isn't an offensive mastermind and can't orchestrate an offense what is the point of keeping him here?  If Burrow is Joe Montana then why don't we try to pair him with a Bill Walsh and not a Rod Rust?


EDIT - I put Joe Walsh instead of Bill Walsh, but hell I'd put Joe Walsh in charge of this team.

(09-13-2020, 08:47 PM)Frank Booth Wrote: We dont have too much talent on offense. Offensive line is part of the offense, and we are sorely lacking talent in that area. Look at the rams last year. All that talent on offense and they couldnt make the playoffs.

WHY?

Offensive line

Exactly. Folks don't seem to understand it's hard to gauge anything offensively when your line is overwhelmed. You can't get an accurate feel of your QB, the play calling, much of anything when d linemen are teeing off on your QB in 2 seconds.

(09-14-2020, 10:06 AM)Nately120 Wrote: EDIT - I put Joe Walsh instead of Bill Walsh, but hell I'd put Joe Walsh in charge of this team.

One of the funniest things I've ever seen on tv was from Joe Walsh.

Years ago they used to have Rock N' Roll Jeopardy on VH1.  And every once in awhile they do a celebrity edition.  Anyways, Joe Walsh was on it one time.

So, the host gives the clue and Joe Walsh was actually the answer.  The host even said something like "Hey, Joe you might want to buzz in on this one."

Joe still got it wrong.  He couldn't even get the question right when he himself was the answer.

(09-14-2020, 01:03 AM)bengaloo Wrote: It would be nice to know what Taylor's plays really look like, but so many of them are disrupted by DLmen being in the backfield within 1.5 seconds, that its hard to see plays truly unfold down the field. So hes going to be adjusting his plays to compensate for the lack of blocking, especially from Hart.

I know one thing, give Burrow some time and hook up on some downfield passes, and nobody would be talking much about Taylor, imo. We need the blockers to allow Taylor's plays to manifest. Only then will we know how to judge his playcalling proper.

Yep, it all starts up front, and we're just not very good there at the moment.

(09-14-2020, 11:07 AM)Wyche Wrote: Yep, it all starts up front, and we're just not very good there at the moment.

At the moment?  Our o-line has been crap since 2016, hasn't it?

(09-13-2020, 11:21 PM)Cicero Wrote: Wow. This was a 2-14 team coming in with no preseason and abbreviated off season with a rookie quarterback in his first start. They almost won. Bobby Hart needs to get on with his life's work for sure but this doom and gloom stuff is a bit over the top. Joe looked like a rookie for parts of the game but that last drive showed what he is capable of. This team is moving in exactly the right direction. Thankfully we won't be playing Joey Bosa every week.

Excellent post. People are funny on here.....

(09-14-2020, 11:08 AM)Nately120 Wrote: At the moment?  Our o-line has been crap since 2016, hasn't it?

2016 at least had Whit and Zeitler. Our current best OL is probably Trey Hopkins. I like Hopkins well enough, but if he’s your best OL that’s a problem.

(09-14-2020, 11:10 AM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: 2016 at least had Whit and Zeitler. Our current best OL is probably Trey Hopkins. I like Hopkins well enough, but if he’s your best OL that’s a problem.

Well since 2017...either way, not exactly a woe we've had for a moment.

(09-14-2020, 11:08 AM)Nately120 Wrote: At the moment?  Our o-line has been crap since 2016, hasn't it?

Bad wording on my part, but yeah....

(09-14-2020, 11:10 AM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: 2016 at least had Whit and Zeitler. Our current best OL is probably Trey Hopkins. I like Hopkins well enough, but if he’s your best OL that’s a problem.

Trey made a nice block on that keeper though didn't he? Agree with the premise though.

(09-14-2020, 11:13 AM)Nately120 Wrote: Well since 2017...either way, not exactly a woe we've had for a moment.

Yeah, I remember the Jets game in 2016 where Dalton got sacked like 7x. It’s been a problem for years, and it’s getting really old.