On criticizing NFL coaches

[WeezyBengal]

(10-12-2021, 11:16 PM)fredtoast Wrote: I get a kick out of a lot of people here who are constantly criticizing NFL coaches play calling and schemes.  95% of these fans could not tell you what type of scheme the opponent was running or how many different ways the Bengals have to block a running play or how many different route combinations the Bengals have in their playbook.

However, at the same time I may not be an engineer, but when I see a bridge falling apart I know something is wrong.

And that is kind of the way I feel about our offense right now.  I am not going to list the things I think the Bengals should change because I don't feel I am qualified.  But we have too much talent and things just never seem to run smoothly.  Our O-line is not great, but it is good enough to get better production than we are.

In another thread I started a while back I discussed how difficult it is to decide how much blame goes to the players and how much to the coaches.  One of the things I mentioned was third-down and red-zone possessions.  So far the Bengals have great in the red zone. Scoring a TD 80% of the time is third best in the league, but a very small sample size (8 of 10).  They are 23rd in third down conversion percentage (37.3), and 31st in third and short (1-2 yds)

Our offense is 28th in "drive success rate" (drive with at least one first down or td).  Way too many "three-and-outs".

Our O-line has not been real good, but pass protection has been decent. If we can't get push on third-and-short then we should just start passing on all those situations.  You don't need pass blocking to complete a 3-4 yard pass.  So far the Bengals have thrown on 43% of their third-and-short plays which is about exactly the same as the league average (41%).  The Steelers currently lead the league by throwing on 75% of their third-and-short plays and they have the league's third highest conversion percentage (83.3).  The Falcons throw on 64% of their third-and-short plays and have the 9th best conversion percentage (71.4).

I may not be able to see the fine details that need fixing, but our offense is underperforming for the talent we have.

Football isn't that complicated - it really isn't. I think there's a TON of guys out there on social media and on the internet (PFF, Joe Goodberry, Kurt Warner's QB videos each week, Tony Pike, etc) that have credibility and do an EXCELLENT job of breaking down film from the games and critique it. 

I lean on those guys, watch their content, and learn to form my own opinion about how our team is playing. Many if not all of them share our same sentiments about how this offense is playing and how the play calling is going.