Quote:On Monday, Zimmer took the blame for poor play calls more than I’ve heard him do before. He said he had studied tendencies for the Bengals and noticed they almost always passed the ball on second down after a run play. So in those situations, he called for defenses that would be better against the pass, which helps explain why the Vikings’ run defense struggled at times.

“They did change a lot,” Zimmer said. “Those are the things you try to study and go on tendencies and figure out what’s going on. Then, in the course of games, you try to adjust.”

(09-14-2021, 11:16 AM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: I was reading the post game Athletic articles for the Bengals this morning and decided to give the Vikings' articles a read as well. Get a little perspective from the other side etc etc.

This quote from Mike Zimmer struck me as very interesting.


https://theathletic.com/2824369/2021/09/14/vikings-week-1-observations-the-positives-negatives-and-remaining-questions/

So, during the game and during the gameday chat, I saw a lot of people (myself included) asking why we ran so much on 2nd down. The ol' run run pass punt strategy felt real at times and I wondered if that was due to protecting Burrow or just being overly conservative.

Given this quote, maybe Zac called the game that way explicitly to dispel this tendency and/or use his past tendencies as an advantage rather than a weakness.

I know when I play Madden and I'm coming up against one of my friends I've played a lot, it's hard not to notice a person's favorite plays in different scenarios.

I wonder how consciously Zac went about calling his plays for the same reason, expecting Zim to know what tendencies he had in his first two years calling plays.

That's all, just an interesting quote and observation from our former DC and, potentially, evidence that Zac is growing as a playcaller :).

(09-14-2021, 11:35 AM)PhilHos Wrote: I'm as hopeful as anyone that Zac can become a good-to-great HC and/or playcaller, but honestly, his strategy was probably more about protecting Burrow than anything else.

(09-14-2021, 12:20 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: I don't think Zac is that smart.

They changed once Burrow got knocked around and was limping. They went more conservative and ran the ball more to protect him. It's as simple as that.

(09-14-2021, 12:36 PM)leonardfan40 Wrote: Zac knew and admitting during the offseason he needed to stick with the run more. Many fans on here complained all last season about that and then when he sticks with the run game which was actually effective last week people complain.

His play calling was a conscious effort to run the ball more and be more balanced. He probably wanted to protect Burrow too, but not just because of the hit and limp, I’m sure he planned all along to try to ease Burrow back in slowly early this season AND run the ball more anyway because he knows the team needs balance. There were many times last year where we had to throw it all over the place whether fans want to admit it or not.

The blind Zac hatred on this board gets incredibly ridiculous sometimes. People can’t even admit that he wanted to run the ball more and actually did it. Have to call him an idiot for doing what they’ve been complaining about him not doing for years.

(09-14-2021, 12:45 PM)PCB Bengal Fan Wrote: I'll stick to calling him an idiot for the 4th down decision on our own 30. It was nice to see the run game work kinda decent. 

(09-14-2021, 12:52 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: The 'ol "intentionally suck for 2 years so you can catch a team off guard for a Week 1 W in year 3" rope-a-dope. A classic. Works every time.

(09-14-2021, 12:20 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: I don't think Zac is that smart.

They changed once Burrow got knocked around and was limping. They went more conservative and ran the ball more to protect him. It's as simple as that.

(09-14-2021, 12:36 PM)leonardfan40 Wrote: Zac knew and admitting during the offseason he needed to stick with the run more. Many fans on here complained all last season about that and then when he sticks with the run game which was actually effective last week people complain.

His play calling was a conscious effort to run the ball more and be more balanced. He probably wanted to protect Burrow too, but not just because of the hit and limp, I’m sure he planned all along to try to ease Burrow back in slowly early this season AND run the ball more anyway because he knows the team needs balance. There were many times last year where we had to throw it all over the place whether fans want to admit it or not.

The blind Zac hatred on this board gets incredibly ridiculous sometimes. People can’t even admit that he wanted to run the ball more and actually did it. Have to call him an idiot for doing what they’ve been complaining about him not doing for years.

(09-14-2021, 12:36 PM)leonardfan40 Wrote: Zac knew and admitting during the offseason he needed to stick with the run more. Many fans on here complained all last season about that and then when he sticks with the run game which was actually effective last week people complain.

His play calling was a conscious effort to run the ball more and be more balanced. He probably wanted to protect Burrow too, but not just because of the hit and limp, I’m sure he planned all along to try to ease Burrow back in slowly early this season AND run the ball more anyway because he knows the team needs balance. There were many times last year where we had to throw it all over the place whether fans want to admit it or not.

The blind Zac hatred on this board gets incredibly ridiculous sometimes. People can’t even admit that he wanted to run the ball more and actually did it. Have to call him an idiot for doing what they’ve been complaining about him not doing for years.

(09-14-2021, 02:44 PM)XenoMorph Wrote: who called zach an idiot for calling more run plays this game?