12-07-2022, 01:00 AM
On Bengals.com and the Chris Evans play:
On Saturday night we order the third downs and red zones and talk to Joe about what he likes. He gives us his favorites and we try to call those," Callahan says. "We have a lot of plays we like in those areas and he sort of orders them the way he likes them best. So we try to give them those in the order he prefers them and that was one of his favorite plays at that spot in the red zone. It was the next play to come up and we felt really good about it."
This is how specific it gets. The play is designed for between the eight and 14-yard lines. The Bengals were sitting at first down from the eight (thanks to wide receiver Tyler Boyd's third-down conversion) and the top two plays on the list had already worked for touchdowns. But the Chiefs were playing a different style of defense and the Bengals were banking on the percentages of their study that showed KC played a handful of man in that spot. Those two plays weren't the counter now.
"If it's not man and it's something else," Callahan says, "you try to design plays you hope answers to beat their top one or two coverages and make sure your progressions take you to a completion if it's not what you think it's going to be. If it's not man, other routes would have come up on the pattern."
But no problem. It was man. Since it had been hashed out the night before, Taylor went right to the next call for that part of the red zone, one with a funky formation and a quick, hurry-up tempo, two ingredients Callahan thinks helped spring the play so wide open.
Evans, who had been in the huddle only once Sunday before this play, and just six times in the three-game winning streak, was lined up as a receiver on the outside of an unconventional bunch formation while wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase lined up where the running back would usually be, next to Burrow in the shotgun.
The Chiefs hesitated in the back while they blitzed up front. Left tackle Johan Williams picked it up and Burrow had plenty of time to see his last option, Evans running underneath from right to left with not a soul thinking of covering him.
Usually running back Joe Mixon would have been lined up like that, but he was out with a concussion. Sunday's bellcow, Samaje Perine, isn't used in pass formations like that. But that's Evans' M.O.
Callahan figures Evan repped it twice last week. Both on Friday. Once in walk-through. Once in practice. Evans heard his name and personnel group called and running backs coach Justin Hill already had him ready for anything, anyway.
"Whether you're playing two plays or 60, you always have to be thinking you're going to be going into the game," Callahan says. "We try to use players the way that emphasize their strengths. We try to find things they can do and that was a play and a formation that really fits the way Chris can run routes and catch the ball." It
On Saturday night we order the third downs and red zones and talk to Joe about what he likes. He gives us his favorites and we try to call those," Callahan says. "We have a lot of plays we like in those areas and he sort of orders them the way he likes them best. So we try to give them those in the order he prefers them and that was one of his favorite plays at that spot in the red zone. It was the next play to come up and we felt really good about it."
This is how specific it gets. The play is designed for between the eight and 14-yard lines. The Bengals were sitting at first down from the eight (thanks to wide receiver Tyler Boyd's third-down conversion) and the top two plays on the list had already worked for touchdowns. But the Chiefs were playing a different style of defense and the Bengals were banking on the percentages of their study that showed KC played a handful of man in that spot. Those two plays weren't the counter now.
"If it's not man and it's something else," Callahan says, "you try to design plays you hope answers to beat their top one or two coverages and make sure your progressions take you to a completion if it's not what you think it's going to be. If it's not man, other routes would have come up on the pattern."
But no problem. It was man. Since it had been hashed out the night before, Taylor went right to the next call for that part of the red zone, one with a funky formation and a quick, hurry-up tempo, two ingredients Callahan thinks helped spring the play so wide open.
Evans, who had been in the huddle only once Sunday before this play, and just six times in the three-game winning streak, was lined up as a receiver on the outside of an unconventional bunch formation while wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase lined up where the running back would usually be, next to Burrow in the shotgun.
The Chiefs hesitated in the back while they blitzed up front. Left tackle Johan Williams picked it up and Burrow had plenty of time to see his last option, Evans running underneath from right to left with not a soul thinking of covering him.
Usually running back Joe Mixon would have been lined up like that, but he was out with a concussion. Sunday's bellcow, Samaje Perine, isn't used in pass formations like that. But that's Evans' M.O.
Callahan figures Evan repped it twice last week. Both on Friday. Once in walk-through. Once in practice. Evans heard his name and personnel group called and running backs coach Justin Hill already had him ready for anything, anyway.
"Whether you're playing two plays or 60, you always have to be thinking you're going to be going into the game," Callahan says. "We try to use players the way that emphasize their strengths. We try to find things they can do and that was a play and a formation that really fits the way Chris can run routes and catch the ball." It
Romo “ so impressed with Zac ...1 of the best in the NFL… they are just fundamentally sound. Taylor the best winning % in the Playoffs of current coaches. Joe Burrow” Zac is the best head coach in the NFL & that gives me a lot of confidence." Taylor led the Bengals to their first playoff win since 1990, ending the longest active drought in the four major North American sports, en and appeared in Super Bowl LVI, the first since 1988.
