Some O line love

[Beaker]

Burrow and Chase got the lion's share of the love for the win against the ravens. But I would like to give some love to the O line. Our most maligned unit did a very nice job vs BAL and seems to be getting better weekly.

The ravens throw a lot of different and elaborate blitz packages at teams. And our line only gave up 1 sack, and that didnt come until the 4th quarter. When Justin Houston was having his way early against Jonah Williams, the coaches changed the scheme very quickly and got him some help. And in the 4th quarter, when we needed to run the ball...and the ravens KNEW we were going to run the ball...our line still opened nice running lanes for Mixon and Perine.

I think it was a great job and needed some acknowledgement.

[LSUfaninTN]

I said in another thread that the OL has gotten better but Burrow has also gotten back to his old self of avoiding the rush and scrambling. Our OL was sub par at best in 2019 (LSU) and he made us look GOOD.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(10-26-2021, 06:02 PM)Beaker Wrote: Burrow and Chase got the lion's share of the love for the win against the ravens. But I would like to give some love to the O line. Our most maligned unit did a very nice job vs BAL and seems to be getting better weekly.

The ravens throw a lot of different and elaborate blitz packages at teams. And our line only gave up 1 sack, and that didnt come until the 4th quarter. When Justin Houston was having his way early against Jonah Williams, the coaches changed the scheme very quickly and got him some help. And in the 4th quarter, when we needed to run the ball...and the ravens KNEW we were going to run the ball...our line still opened nice running lanes for Mixon and Perine.

I think it was a great job and needed some acknowledgement.

Was a rough first quarter but it was nice seeing them adapt as the game went on. The OL was very good in the 2nd half besides
the sack and a Prince penalty. But yeah as LSUfaninTN says, Burrow helped with his pocket awareness and might of made them 
look better than they actually were in pass protection at times. Burrow wasn't doing this early in the year often.

(10-26-2021, 06:07 PM)LSUfaninTN Wrote: I said in another thread that the OL has gotten better but Burrow has also gotten back to his old self of avoiding the rush and scrambling. Our OL was sub par at best in 2019 (LSU) and he made us look GOOD.

True, also said the same thing about the LSU OL and kept getting Fred calling me out for it. Burrow can make an OL look better
than it actually is with his pocket awareness and ability to make players miss. Even though we ARE getting better week to week
and this is clear, it is also clear Burrow is getting better and much more comfortable out there.

[Nicomo Cosca]

I think Pollack has done a hell of a job righting the ship. There’s obviously still work to be done, but that unit is no longer a total liability. Sure, there’s a couple new faces in Reiff and Carman, but when I see a 30 year old player like Spain having a career year, I have to give at least some of the credit to the coaching.

[Essex Johnson]

(10-26-2021, 06:02 PM)Beaker Wrote: Burrow and Chase got the lion's share of the love for the win against the ravens. But I would like to give some love to the O line. Our most maligned unit did a very nice job vs BAL and seems to be getting better weekly.

The ravens throw a lot of different and elaborate blitz packages at teams. And our line only gave up 1 sack, and that didnt come until the 4th quarter. When Justin Houston was having his way early against Jonah Williams, the coaches changed the scheme very quickly and got him some help. And in the 4th quarter, when we needed to run the ball...and the ravens KNEW we were going to run the ball...our line still opened nice running lanes for Mixon and Perine.

I think it was a great job and needed some acknowledgement.

1st half was not so great for line.. we could not run and Burrow was under pressure a lot.. 2nd half went much better

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(10-26-2021, 07:37 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: I think Pollack has done a hell of a job righting the ship. There’s obviously still work to be done, but that unit is no longer a total liability. Sure, there’s a couple new faces in Reiff and Carman, but when I see a 30 year old player like Spain having a career year, I have to give at least some of the credit to the coaching.

Yeah, Spain is backing up his Offseason talk big time about being a come back player of the year type.

All Pro play from him so far, he has been great.

[ezekiel23]

If Burrow and the OL were playing like this against the Chicago Bears,they would have smoked them.As opposed to the Chicago game,Burrow is much better,Mentally,and Physically.And so is the OL.

[Nicomo Cosca]

(10-26-2021, 08:53 PM)ezekiel23 Wrote: If Burrow and the OL were playing like this against the Chicago Bears,they would have smoked them.As opposed to the Chicago game,Burrow is much better,Mentally,and Physically.And so is the OL.

Burrow just wasn’t comfortable in the pocket the first couple weeks. And his mobility wasn’t quite back yet. We were pretty fortunate to beat Minnesota tbh. He finally looks like his old self though.

[Essex Johnson]

(10-26-2021, 07:37 PM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote: I think Pollack has done a hell of a job righting the ship. There’s obviously still work to be done, but that unit is no longer a total liability. Sure, there’s a couple new faces in Reiff and Carman, but when I see a 30 year old player like Spain having a career year, I have to give at least some of the credit to the coaching.

Not sure i would say a hell of a job, unless you think 8th in sacks is a hell of a job  and Burrow still seems to be under more pressure than the norm, we are actually rushing at 4.0 avg with a healthy Mixon which slightly below last seasons 4.1 and we have not run well on short yardage overall.   I agree Spain is playing better so give him some credit there but Hopkins seems to be on a decline, do we blame Pollack for that ?? 

I actually would say Pollack has yet to move us as much as many thought on the Offensive line especially with the moves we made to improve the line with Reiff and we did use a 2nd round on Carman to replace Hart and Jordan and with Williams and Spain seeming back to health (fingers crossed on Williams since he has yet to finish a season) and we have been very healthy on the line since the season started.

I am not saying Pollack is not a upgrade, I am happy with lack of penalties and do feel we are not imploding as much as last year but stating "A Hell of a Job" just does not measure up with the stats....

[Nicomo Cosca]

(10-26-2021, 09:36 PM)Essex Johnson Wrote: Not sure i would say a hell of a job, unless you think 8th in sacks is a hell of a job  and Burrow still seems to be under more pressure than the norm, we are actually rushing at 4.0 avg with a healthy Mixon which slightly below last seasons 4.1 and we have not run well on short yardage overall.   I agree Spain is playing better so give him some credit there but Hopkins seems to be on a decline, do we blame Pollack for that ?? 

I actually would say Pollack has yet to move us as much as many thought on the Offensive line especially with the moves we made to improve the line with Reiff and we did use a 2nd round on Carman to replace Hart and Jordan and with Williams and Spain seeming back to health (fingers crossed on Williams since he has yet to finish a season) and we have been very healthy on the line since the season started.

I am not saying Pollack is not a upgrade, I am happy with lack of penalties and do feel we are not imploding as much as last year but stating "A Hell of a Job" just does not measure up with the stats....

A bunch of those sacks from the first couple weeks were not attributed to the OL. Burrow was a statue early on, the RB’s and TE’s were not picking up blitzes, etc. As per usual you’re just throwing out numbers without any context.

And trying to pin Hopkins’ struggles on Pollack is absolutely laughable. He’s coming off a major injury, that most thought would keep him from even being ready to start the season.

[Fan_in_Kettering]

Frank Pollack has the Cincinnati offensive line playing far better than any time since 2015 but you know what’s scary? They can play better. MUCH better. There are still missed assignments in pass protection and some missed blocks in run blocking.

Once these errors get cleaned up the Bengals are going to be nearly impossible to stop on offense.

[Joelist]

We have given up 17 sacks in 7 games. 10 were in the first two and a feature of both was Burrow not moving in the pocket, and also we have had multiple sacks from backs not picking up blitzes (2 on Perine, 1 on Sample and at least 1 on Mixon). So the OL has been responsible for 13 sacks in 7 games and in the last 5 it has been about a sack a game - and a lot of them have been Burrow holding the ball too long (like the Rat sack).

What is happening is the line is getting better as it plays together longer and gets more comfortable in the new system and Burrow is getting back his pocket awareness and pocket mobility from before. At current pace of about a sack a game we would wind up at about 26 sacks - which is a jump forward.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(10-26-2021, 10:08 PM)Joelist Wrote: We have given up 17 sacks in 7 games. 10 were in the first two and a feature of both was Burrow not moving in the pocket, and also we have had multiple sacks from backs not picking up blitzes (2 on Perine, 1 on Sample and at least 1 on Mixon). So the OL has been responsible for 13 sacks in 7 games and in the last 5 it has been about a sack a game - and a lot of them have been Burrow holding the ball too long (like the Rat sack).

What is happening is the line is getting better as it plays together longer and gets more comfortable in the new system and Burrow is getting back his pocket awareness and pocket mobility from before. At current pace of about a sack a game we would wind up at about 26 sacks - which is a jump forward.

Yes, the sacks definitely weren't all on the OL for much of the year honestly. It has been a mixture of the OL, Burrow, Backs and TE's.

To put it all on the OL is ignorant to say the least. They are improving which is what most all of us wanted to see.

If people were expecting us to be perfect right out of the bat this season they were kidding themselves.

Especially with an immobile Joe Burrow coming off injury.

[Nicomo Cosca]

#NFL Offensive Line Stats: Quinton Spain allowed no pressures in this past week’s big victory over the #Ravens and leads all guards in pressure allowed percentage at 1.71% (min of 300 snaps). #Bengals pic.twitter.com/hVXde8iPzr

— olinestats (@olinestats) October 26, 2021

[Sled21]

(10-26-2021, 09:36 PM)Essex Johnson Wrote: Not sure i would say a hell of a job, unless you think 8th in sacks is a hell of a job  and Burrow still seems to be under more pressure than the norm, we are actually rushing at 4.0 avg with a healthy Mixon which slightly below last seasons 4.1 and we have not run well on short yardage overall.   I agree Spain is playing better so give him some credit there but Hopkins seems to be on a decline, do we blame Pollack for that ?? 

I actually would say Pollack has yet to move us as much as many thought on the Offensive line especially with the moves we made to improve the line with Reiff and we did use a 2nd round on Carman to replace Hart and Jordan and with Williams and Spain seeming back to health (fingers crossed on Williams since he has yet to finish a season) and we have been very healthy on the line since the season started.

I am not saying Pollack is not a upgrade, I am happy with lack of penalties and do feel we are not imploding as much as last year but stating "A Hell of a Job" just does not measure up with the stats....

[Joelist]

(10-27-2021, 01:18 AM)Nicomo Cosca Wrote:

#NFL Offensive Line Stats: Quinton Spain allowed no pressures in this past week’s big victory over the #Ravens and leads all guards in pressure allowed percentage at 1.71% (min of 300 snaps). #Bengals pic.twitter.com/hVXde8iPzr

— olinestats (@olinestats) October 26, 2021

So Spain is the best pass protecting interior lineman in the NFL. Not shocking - people tend to forget that in 2019 with the Bills he was excellent. It is one of the reasons that when he pretty much dropped out of the sky to us last season it was a shock. 

[Dr.Z]

(10-26-2021, 06:07 PM)LSUfaninTN Wrote: I said in another thread that the OL has gotten better but Burrow has also gotten back to his old self of avoiding the rush and scrambling. Our OL was sub par at best in 2019 (LSU) and he made us look GOOD.

He certainly has.  He loves that pocket eject move (aka backdoor escape, jab eject etc.).   I keep worrying that defenses are going to notice the frequent use of it, but he's sharp enough to adapt if needed I suppose. 

[kronadon]

I still think Hopkins and Carman have a ways to go. The QB sneak that got stuffed was because Trey got no push and Carman allowed Bynes to immediately cross his face into the gap. I understand Trey is still coming back from injury and Jackson is young but man when they wiff i cringe and only by burrow's ability to slide are we avoiding some terrifying hits.

[*bengalfan74*]

(10-26-2021, 10:05 PM)Fan_in_Kettering Wrote: Frank Pollack has the Cincinnati offensive line playing far better than any time since 2015 but you know what’s scary?  They can play better.  MUCH better.  There are still missed assignments in pass protection and some missed blocks in run blocking.

Once these errors get cleaned up the Bengals are going to be nearly impossible to stop on offense.

Oh yes there's still room for improvement. But compared to what we've has past couple seasons, and to be honest what I expected this season, we've been decent. And it seems getting better every week.

The Ravens had them under fire early but they adjusted fairly quickly.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(10-27-2021, 02:46 PM)Joelist Wrote: So Spain is the best pass protecting interior lineman in the NFL. Not shocking - people tend to forget that in 2019 with the Bills he was excellent. It is one of the reasons that when he pretty much dropped out of the sky to us last season it was a shock. 

Had a good year with the Titans I believe too. It was his steady drop off on pff where everyone was acting like he was falling 
off a cliff but all I wanted was someone who was better than what we had last year and thought he would be. He was much 
better and this year as you say is the best IOL in pass protection in the NFL so far this year.

What has surprised me is his run blocking, never thought he was a good run blocker but he has made some nice run blocks 
this season. Spain has great feet and technique with his hands in pass protection and is actually using his size and strength 
in run blocking too. Seeing something awesome happening with #67.