04-13-2021, 02:08 PM
(04-13-2021, 01:05 PM)Whatever Wrote: I'm not as down on Sample as most. He's not bad, just mediocre and overdrafted. If you look at his Next Gen Stats, pretty much everything is average. You also have to look at usage when discussing separation. Sample has a big separation because he's often a safety valve out in the flat, running TE screens, etc. Sample is basically the guy who will make the catches he's supposed to make and get the yards he's supposed to get out of them, but won't give you anything extra. On the other side, you'll have WR1's that don't have high separation numbers because they're doubled consistently and/or drawing the other team's #1 CB.
The bigger issue is Burrow threw the 3rd highest % of passed to targets with a defender within 1 yard of them and the 5th worst expected completion % last year. When you compare that to the numbers of playoff QB's, it quickly becomes apparent that having your QB try to repeatedly force throws in to covered targets isn't a recipe for winning football. Beyond any individual player, the Bengals need to get dramatically better as a team in this area.
The biggest issue is Burrow was under pressure so fast all the time. Having to get rid of the ball early because your QB is under pressure very quickly on almost every pass play would make that stat and other stats look worse. Stats like that just dont tell the whole story when you have an OL as bad as ours. We couldn't even try to go deep often because there was simply no time for Burrow to wait for the play to develop and WR's to get open without scrambling for his life first. Not to say we dont need more speed at WR because we do, but that speed WR isnt going to keep Burrow protected, which was the #1 issue on the team hands down, obviously considering we are all now hoping Burrow is really 100% for camp after knee surgery. A WR could get 5 yards of separation downfield every single pass play and it wouldn't matter if Burrow doesnt have time. He didnt have time. Dalton didnt have time the last couple years before that either. The OL is swiss cheese.
