Two Plays That Spell "Culture Change"

[Daddy-O]

(12-19-2022, 01:53 AM)Science Friction Wrote: Two recent plays epitomize the change in culture from a losing mindset to a winning one .  These are the type of plays that I almost NEVER saw the Bengals make, or even attempt,  under the Lewis regime.

The first play was the 3rd and 11 pass to Higgins to finish off the Chiefs. Instead of running the ball and chewing up some more clock and then kicking the FG, Burrow and the Bengals went pass to effectively end the game right then and there.

The second play was today against the Bucs. Second down and 9 with 2:21 remaining. Instead of a run play to drain the clock down to two minutes, the Bengals decided to close the door right there, which they did with the 12 yd. TD pass to Mitch Wilcox.

In each case, the easy thing to do was drain some clock and play for an easy FG. But in each casr that would have left the door slightly ajar for the opposition.  In the case of the KC game it would given Mahomes a minute and a half to try and make up a six point deficit. That's a scary scenario for any defense to have to weather .  Granted, we probably still win today with a FG but Tom Brady has pulled off magic before with just a two score deficit late in a game. Stranger things have happened.  We didn't give him the chance to pull off a miracle.

My point is,  the Bengals did not give their opponents the chance to control their own destiny. They chose, instead,  to finish off the opposition with those plays when they had the opportunity. That's a winning mindset. That's a championship mindset.  It is the same mindset  we saw with Brady and Belichick with the Pats, or  Rodgers and Green Bay , as well as other championship teams. We never saw it with Marvin Lewis teams. It was always play it safe and hope the opponent doesn't make a play at the end to win the game. It was a play "not to lose" mentality, which, of course, almost always means you're gonna lose.

To me , these two plays pretty much epitomize a change from the old "we'll find a way to lose" mentality to a refreshing "we expect to win" mindset.

Agree or disagree?

Definitely agree.  It takes guts to do that because if it doesn't work the second guessing is loud and clear.  

Oh, and it doesn't hurt to have JB9 behind center who wants to and thrives in those situations.