Will you resent Burrow...?

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(02-02-2023, 12:56 AM)Joelist Wrote: Can we stop already with this? It was just bad injury luck that we had backups playing RT, RG and LT along with a rookie LG in this game. With our starters we win this game outright. 

In 2023 in 19 games they surrendered 51 sacks versus 70 sacks in 20 games in 2021. Pressure percentage also was lower by a third this last year. And once the OL started to gel and get used to being together they averaged about 2 sacks a game. In that period after the line started gelling and before they lost everyone they were upper tier in pass protection. 

Would it be nice if they would consistently run well? Of course - but that also requires a more run centric philosophy and a starting RB who does not dance. But the pass protection monster was much improved for a lot of the season - and if you force ANY team to play backups in three slots with an elite pass rusher on the other side it is not going to be pretty. 

In 2021 Burrow's average intended air yards per attempt was 8.1 and his time to throw was 2.69 seconds, in 2022 those numbers dropped to 6.8 and 2.55.

If you throw it shorter and quicker, pass rushers have less time to get to you. That doesn't mean your OL was good, it means you are gimping your offense to cover up their deficiencies.

It doesn't take a more run centric philosophy to not be terrible at running the ball. The Bengals were 29th in rushing yards per attempt. There aren't 28 teams with run centric philosophies. Just at least be mediocre at running the ball so it's not wasting downs and teams have to somewhat respect it.