Should we just accept..

[SunsetBengal]

The idea that Zac Taylor's teams are going to stumble out of the gate each season? I mean as a fan it is rather annoying to see a so-called championship caliber team's offense playing like they all just met each other for the first time, but they'll improve, right?

[740Bengal]

Imagine if Mike McDaniel had this roster along with Lou as DC.

[TheCincinnatiKid]

I'd certainly rather play our best football at the end than at the beginning of the season. You aren't going to get it all your own way in the NFL of course, but I do think the whole 'we're not a Week 1 Team... we're not a first half team' is a bit concerning.

It's not a good thing to straight up say 'we won't be at our best in every quarter... we know we'll suck in Weeks 1 and 2', because thats what the above does say. But, it does seem like our roster is one that heats up as the games go along and I'd rather be rolling into the playoffs hot. These slow starts will just mean we likely play road playoff games.

Like any season though, let's see where we are after 5-6 games. Week 1 often throws up some silly stuff.

[Sled21]

(09-11-2023, 08:30 AM)SunsetBengal Wrote: The idea that Zac Taylor's teams are going to stumble out of the gate each season?  I mean as a fan it is rather annoying to see a so-called championship caliber team's offense playing like they all just met each other for the first time, but they'll improve, right?

Is it now Zac Taylor's fault that Burrow appears snake bitten when it comes to training camp and pre-season?
Actually, to be honest, I think it is good they lost this first game. While I don't think this applies to Burrow as much as some, I tend to think some of the players read too much of their own press about how good they are. It's good for them to get smacked in the mouth and brought back to Earth once in a while. Happened last year and they pulled it together and went on a 10 game run...

[grampahol]

Relax folks. In the grand scheme of all the tragic events of the past few years around the world this is really small peanuts. Nobody was washed out to sea from a hurricane, nobody killed or wounded in the battle for Ohio and nobody buried under the rubble of an earthquake..or at least I'm fairly certain that this game was completely unrelated to any of these events..
This message brought to you by the official used car dealer of the Baltimore Ravens..
https://youtu.be/-rsEs4HWXeY?si=MexSqF3CvX7r3tU7

[Sled21]

(09-11-2023, 09:14 AM)grampahol Wrote: Relax folks. In the grand scheme of all the tragic events of the past few years around the world this is really small peanuts. Nobody was washed out to sea from a hurricane, nobody killed or wounded in the battle for Ohio and nobody buried under the rubble of an earthquake..or at least I'm fairly certain that this game was completely unrelated to any of these events..
This message brought to you by the official used car dealer of the Baltimore Ravens..
https://youtu.be/-rsEs4HWXeY?si=MexSqF3CvX7r3tU7

Would that be the JK Dobbins-less Ravens? 

[thompson19osu]

Would be great to see Joe Burrow make it through just one training camp. I was at work during the game so I only saw plays here and there and what I saw was abysmal. That said I went back and watched it last night and there were some positives. The defense seemed to play great they just got gassed. They had held the Browns to just 3 points for most of the first half and that is even with the fact the offense had a stretch of 5 straight 3 and outs. I don't think the line played as bad overall as the few plays I had initially seen. There seemed to be communication issues and I still have no faith in Jonah Williams but the the main problem with this game was Joe Burrow. He was absolute dog shit. He was skiddish and inaccurate. I don't know what it was but that was a different man out there. The playcalling is not great if you look at Joe's pass chart 90% of the throws are dump offs or to the sidelines. Not hard to defend when you don't have to worry about the middle of the field.

[*michaelsean*]

We have to accept whatever happens. We have no say. It's sad they are willing to accept it though.

[Sled21]

(09-11-2023, 09:19 AM)michaelsean Wrote: We have to accept whatever happens.  We have no say.  It's sad they are willing to accept it though.

Who says they are accepting it. I'd bet the locker room was full at 5 am this morning with players in there working to get better. 

[Nepa]

(09-11-2023, 09:09 AM)Sled21 Wrote: Is it now Zac Taylor's fault that Burrow appears snake bitten when it comes to training camp and pre-season?
Actually, to be honest, I think it is good they lost this first game. While I don't think this applies to Burrow as much as some, I tend to think some of the players read too much of their own press about how good they are. It's good for them to get smacked in the mouth and brought back to Earth once in a while. Happened last year and they pulled it together and went on a 10 game run...

Good post. 

[RunKijanaRun]

(09-11-2023, 09:20 AM)Sled21 Wrote: Who says they are accepting it. I'd bet the locker room was full at 5 am this morning with players in there working to get better. 

I’ll take that bet

[Soonerpeace]

(09-11-2023, 08:30 AM)SunsetBengal Wrote: The idea that Zac Taylor's teams are going to stumble out of the gate each season? I mean as a fan it is rather annoying to see a so-called championship caliber team's offense playing like they all just met each other for the first time, but they'll improve, right?

Interesting that with 2 new Safeties the defense was ready to play. Certainly the rain factored and Joe and the offense’s lack of continuity but they didn’t look very good.

[grampahol]

Accept it or not? What other options are available other than to accept it? They lost..period. Is someone expecting them to storm the front office of the league and demand a recount or a new slate of referees and replay the game? You can rewind the game and watch a different outcome? Truth is the offense was horrible and the entire city of Cleveland is having a good laugh at our expense, deservedly so I might add.. 

[Frank Booth]

I’ll gladly take an annual 0-1 start and a thrashing to Cleveland if it means the bengals remain a top 5 team with a coaching staff and roster that steps up during the postseason.

Which is what we have. So relax

[jj22]

(09-11-2023, 09:20 AM)Sled21 Wrote: Who says they are accepting it. I'd bet the locker room was full at 5 am this morning with players in there working to get better. 

If they are there at 5 am, it's because they were going to be there anyway. Fans seemed far more outraged about yesterday's game then the players did. Hell Chase joked about only being mad because he lost to some elves, and Burrow wasn't looking bothered at all. 

[BigPapaKain]

(09-11-2023, 09:54 AM)Frank Booth Wrote: I’ll gladly take an annual 0-1 start and a thrashing to Cleveland if it means the bengals remain a top 5 team with a coaching staff and roster that steps up during the postseason.

Which is what we have. So relax

This is how I'm looking at it.

Cleveland won their Super Bowl. It'll be a nice feather in their cap when they inevitably fall apart and finish 6-11 that they can say they beat the 2024 Super Bowl Champion Bengals.

[*Nately120*]

I'll accept a loss, but Burrow throwing for 2.6 YPA is unbelievable, much less unacceptable. If week 1 doesn't matter to this team they should have started a different QB and let Burrow heal up or let someone else call the plays.  Games that don't matter are for evaluation and trying different things.  Did we do that?  I mean, other than seeing what this team would look like if Burrow was Ryan Leaf.

The Cowboys recently played a game that didn't matter where they started Will Grier and Dak Prescott called the plays. If week 1 doesn't count, let Burrow be the OC and see if Grier can go off. May as well have fun with it. What's the worst that could happen? A loss that won't matter when we win 10 in a row later?

[*ochocincos*]

(09-11-2023, 08:30 AM)SunsetBengal Wrote: The idea that Zac Taylor's teams are going to stumble out of the gate each season?  I mean as a fan it is rather annoying to see a so-called championship caliber team's offense playing like they all just met each other for the first time, but they'll improve, right?

I dunno if we really have much of a choice in the matter.

Taylor's success the past two seasons has given ownership no reason to ask him to change his offseason approach.

Is it frustrating to see the team come out of the gate playing so poorly? Absolutely.
Will this poor early start end up meaning the Bengals miss out on the playoffs? Unlikely

[jj22]

What we saw out of Burrow was alarming. For one, we never even thought he could have a game like that. Even when imagining what his worse game would look like.

We've never saw that before.

Recovering from injury or not, we've never saw that. That was something different then the typical slow start.

That kind of stat line and performance will cause an asterisk to his end of year stats, as they likely won't recover.

Yall thought last year trying to dismiss game 1 to show how good of a season Burrow had was necessary. This year will be the same at the end of the year as he won't be leading the league or top 5 in any QB category after a game like that.

[*Nately120*]

(09-11-2023, 09:58 AM)BigPapaKain Wrote: This is how I'm looking at it.

Cleveland won their Super Bowl. It'll be a nice feather in their cap when they inevitably fall apart and finish 6-11 that they can say they beat the 2024 Super Bowl Champion Bengals.

Actually, don't we play as well if not better on the road in the playoffs?  Winning the division may not even be nearly as important as it should be.  There may not be a huge difference between going 14-3 and being the #1 seed or going 9-8 and being the 7th seed.