I expected last year to be a fluke, but I am more legitimately nervous about this coaching staff after yesterday.

They ran 4 and 5 wide sets with no help for Burrow while knowing clearly ahead of time that the only way the Chargers could win was with their pass rush. Why not go heavy and run the ball. It just seemed blasphemous to leave him open like that when they did.

Get Uzo and Sample out there and let Burrow find the open guy from Green Boyd and whoever you put as the 3rd WR.

(09-14-2020, 07:35 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: It was the Burrow hype. I fell for it too. Didn't think he would get 300yds, but I thought he would do better. But I'm really not disappointed in him as a rookie in his first game. He's going to get it.


Good points. Again, I think it was the Burrow hype. AD led us to the playoffs his rookie year and, well, Burrow is better than Andy. I'm still hoping he puts it together quickly and eliminates the mistakes.


I really like Zac. Yet, he has to put himself up there with what he expects from others. He has no problem taking responsibility, but will he relieve himself of the play calling duties if that doesn't improve soon? He really didn't make too many bad play calls yesterday, but he wasn't perfect. Is his play calling a distraction and why he burned through the timeouts yesterday?


I would love to beat the steelers twice a year. However, if that's all we did and we let the rest of the league crap on us like a hooker on OBJ's chest? That would stink!


Don't pull the trigger so fast. I don't think anyone is giving Zac a free pass. As someone else stated in another thread (sorry, can't remember who), He came to the team late last year because of SB. This year, he made some spectacular changes in FA and we have a rookie QB. Add that to no preseason games to work with, etc. I'll give him leniency, but I won't turn my head. 

I'm not throwing him under the bus, but he needs to produce "this" year. Mike Brown gave him the free agents.

There are a lot of excuses. Too many. That's always a bad sign in my book.

Everyone is in the same boat this year, no pre-season, no OTAs, no or few fans, on and on. Bengals are no different. Taylor was here all off-season this year and he should be ahead of any 1st year coach out there and on par with any 2nd year coach.

 

(09-14-2020, 09:01 PM)BengalChris Wrote: I'm not throwing him under the bus, but he needs to produce "this" year. Mike Brown gave him the free agents.

There are a lot of excuses. Too many. That's always a bad sign in my book.

Everyone is in the same boat this year, no pre-season, no OTAs, no or few fans, on and on. Bengals are no different. Taylor was here all off-season this year and he should be ahead of any 1st year coach out there and on par with any 2nd year coach.

 

Fair enough. 

(09-14-2020, 09:01 PM)BengalChris Wrote: I'm not throwing him under the bus, but he needs to produce "this" year. Mike Brown gave him the free agents.

There are a lot of excuses. Too many. That's always a bad sign in my book.

Everyone is in the same boat this year, no pre-season, no OTAs, no or few fans, on and on. Bengals are no different. Taylor was here all off-season this year and he should be ahead of any 1st year coach out there and on par with any 2nd year coach.

 

I agree.....need to win 6-8 games for it to be a success. This is a total rebuild.... we're in year 1 basically, because they didn't do shit to the roster last season. We need to see improvement, and frankly, the defense looked better. Which is where all of the FA money was spent. The oline is still a dumpster fire, and against good defenses, it'll be what loses ballgames. 

(09-14-2020, 07:51 PM)GreenCornBengal Wrote: I expected last year to be a fluke, but I am more legitimately nervous about this coaching staff after yesterday.

They ran 4 and 5 wide sets with no help for Burrow while knowing clearly ahead of time that the only way the Chargers could win was with their pass rush. Why not go heavy and run the ball. It just seemed blasphemous to leave him open like that when they did.

Get Uzo and Sample out there and let Burrow find the open guy from Green Boyd and whoever you put as the 3rd WR.

Because they wanted to negate the pass rush. Last thing they wanted was Burrow to have to sit back there and let plays have to develop especially with an absolutely terrible route runner in Ross and AJ just being worked back in the lineup.

Only issue I had all day long was the 3rd and 1 in the 3rd quarter where they took the deep shot to AJ where he was OOB. I would have pounded Mixon twice there if need be for the 1st down to establish the OL more and give them confidence.

Ross flails miserably on a TD, Burrow misses AJ on a simple TD pass, they get screwed on a very iffy PI call on AJ and Bullock misses a chippy. Any one of 3-4 plays snatched defeat from the hands of victory.

I think we can all admit the offensive line is the one of our current problems. Mixon can't run, he looks like an average RB (statistically he may be worse than that), and Burrow doesn't have time to throw. I referenced in another thread the time to throw which is subject to the style of offense, because Mahomes gets the ball out quicker but his average catch reception is only 3.2 yards (lowest in league) and average intended catch is one of the lowest (4.7).

It would just be nice to have a line, but I guess we can't have it all? lol.

I still think Gio is lost on this team. Where are his slot plays for herky jerky yards? Once they considered Mixon better than GIo, Gio is just a breather person or comes in for blocking plays - but he is better than that, he's shown it.

(09-15-2020, 08:53 AM)higgy100 Wrote: Because they wanted to negate the pass rush. Last thing they wanted was Burrow to have to sit back there and let plays have to develop especially with an absolutely terrible route runner in Ross and AJ just being worked back in the lineup.

Only issue I had all day long was the 3rd and 1 in the 3rd quarter where they took the deep shot to AJ where he was OOB. I would have pounded Mixon twice there if need be for the 1st down to establish the OL more and give them confidence.

Ross flails miserably on a TD, Burrow misses AJ on a simple TD pass, they get screwed on a very iffy PI call on AJ and Bullock misses a chippy. Any one of 3-4 plays snatched defeat from the hands of victory.

On that particular play, I remember seeing a RB creeping off into the flat as an outlet. I didn't get a chance to see if a DB was coming up to cover, but if not, he was WIDE OPEN. Even if a back was coming up, it looked like he would have probably been able to at least pick up the yard. There wasn't a defender in view of the camera. Things the rookie will learn to look for.

(09-15-2020, 08:53 AM)higgy100 Wrote: Because they wanted to negate the pass rush. Last thing they wanted was Burrow to have to sit back there and let plays have to develop especially with an absolutely terrible route runner in Ross and AJ just being worked back in the lineup.

Only issue I had all day long was the 3rd and 1 in the 3rd quarter where they took the deep shot to AJ where he was OOB. I would have pounded Mixon twice there if need be for the 1st down to establish the OL more and give them confidence.

Ross flails miserably on a TD, Burrow misses AJ on a simple TD pass, they get screwed on a very iffy PI call on AJ and Bullock misses a chippy. Any one of 3-4 plays snatched defeat from the hands of victory.

It would negate the pass rush if the Chargers were getting there with LBs on blitzes but they weren’t. They were getting there with their DL. Moving guys out wide doesn’t negate that type of pass rush it just leaves your QB on an island.

(09-15-2020, 10:14 AM)GreenCornBengal Wrote: It would negate the pass rush if the Chargers were getting there with LBs on blitzes but they weren’t. They were getting there with their DL. Moving guys out wide doesn’t negate that type of pass rush it just leaves your QB on an island.

Yes it does. Quick hitters, digs, quick outs, screens, slants (which they threw a few of) negate a hefty pass rush. Burrow doesn't need to sit back there for 3-4 seconds. It's exactly why you go 3-4 wide or more.

(09-14-2020, 07:51 PM)GreenCornBengal Wrote: I expected last year to be a fluke, but I am more legitimately nervous about this coaching staff after yesterday.

They ran 4 and 5 wide sets with no help for Burrow while knowing clearly ahead of time that the only way the Chargers could win was with their pass rush. Why not go heavy and run the ball. It just seemed blasphemous to leave him open like that when they did.

Get Uzo and Sample out there and let Burrow find the open guy from Green Boyd and whoever you put as the 3rd WR.

Funny, that was seemingly the entirety of his final drive; 4/5 wide with minimal protection.

(09-15-2020, 10:55 AM)Truck_1_0_1_ Wrote: Funny, that was seemingly the entirety of his final drive; 4/5 wide with minimal protection.

Yup and guys were open underneath.

(09-15-2020, 10:55 AM)Truck_1_0_1_ Wrote: Funny, that was seemingly the entirety of his final drive; 4/5 wide with minimal protection.

Wasn’t working before that. Not sure if that’s Joe not making a read or guys not finding a way open. Perhaps the Chargers played more prevent style and did man earlier in the game. I’d have to go back and watch closer but I don’t have a way of doing that.