09-13-2021, 10:48 PM
I'm all for the aggression, it's an emotional physical game where aggression pays off in spades if you're aggressive at the right time, taking into account factors like where you're at on the field, what's the score, how has the defense been playing, how much time left etc. I can't get behind being aggressive there when you're up 14, late in the 3rd and your defense has been playing well. Taking into account the situation and how game was playing out there's no way you'll ever convince me that was a good call. What makes it more baffling is the situations Zac should have been aggressive such as the 1st quarter when Minn was getting called for an offensive penalty every snap, the defense would hold and give the offense great field position multiple times he was conservative. Then later on when Minn made it a 7 point game they should have been aggressive and he seemed to be cautious. Felt like the old Marv playing not to lose bs kicked in. Could have been due to Burrow twisting his ankle a little or maybe he wanted to be aggressive but plays they were trying to be the O-line blew an assignment or something, but the bottom line is it felt like play calling was conservative and they weren't throwing on 1st down etc. When he should have been aggressive to answer their score and take the momentum back. Gonna need better play calling and game management than that. Have to fix the oline blowing assignments and other guys on offense screwing up as well. There was the one play Joe play action faked to a RB that wasn't there, Uzomah leaked out the backside, Mixon leaked out strong side for a screen but someone screwed up, timing was off and Burrow couldn't get rid of it. If he had Mixon would have been running all day because he was all alone no defender within 10 yards of him. Good thing in regards to theO-line is most of the troubles were missed assignments. It could have been from Burrow calling out wrong protection or communication between the olinemen, idk. Those things can be fixed where getting beat physically is much harder to fix, if it can be fixed at all. I can only recall a few times an olineman got whooped physically and that was Trey Hopkins who got embarrassed a few times. One sack I remember he just got tossed to the ground right off the snap like a dad thats too competitive plowing through his toddler in the backyard which led to Joe having a DT in his face immediately. Hopefully that's an issue from his knee and only taking 3 preseason snaps and it will get better every week til he's100%. Back on topic though, I like the aggression and confidence in the offense and team in general really because he probably thought defense could hold em to 3 but given that situation and the circumstances it was an awful decision. Just be aggressive at the right time.
