12-08-2023, 10:19 AM
(12-07-2023, 07:48 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote:Can the Bengals be a legitimate threat without Burrow?!? #bengals #RuleTheJungle @MillerLite pic.twitter.com/QZIJvUYMeg
— Green Light with Chris Long (@greenlight) December 7, 2023
Yep, that's the one I saw.
(12-07-2023, 08:45 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: Did you see this?
Dehner Jr.:
Attacks on Zac Taylor's Joe Burrow-less record excessive, overblown
Paul Dehner Jr.
Fri, Dec 1
CINCINNATI —
People love to trot out the record without Burrow to hold against Taylor. Would you prefer it was better? Sure. Anybody would. There’s room for improvement everywhere.
There are few numbers I think matter less.
The Bengals are built around Burrow. For Taylor and offensive coordinator Brian Callahan, their relationship with Burrow, their scheme, personnel and basically every decision made comes with augmenting his strengths in mind. Because that’s how this franchise can win the most games and its first championship.
All due respect to Jake Browning, or whomever you see as the best backup quarterback in football, but that’s true for every head coach.
Since the start of 2021 in games with a fully healthy Burrow starting and finishing, Taylor has gone 13-7, 14-5 and 4-1 for a total of 31-13. Oh yeah, that includes 5-2 in the postseason for a franchise that had not won a single playoff game in three decades. Those are the records that matter.
The offense ranked fifth in EPA/drive last season and ranked fourth during Burrow’s five fully healthy weeks this year.
Do you know Kyle Shanahan’s record without Jimmy Garoppolo and Brock Purdy (who clearly is not a backup-level QB for anyone paying an ounce of attention)? He’s 9-29.
Sean McVay, the legendary offensive guru whose coaching tree has changed the face of offense in the NFL, went 2-7 without Matthew Stafford the last two years.
Everyone’s favorite, Mike McDaniel, went 1-3 when Tua Tagovailoa didn’t start for Miami last year.
The Ravens are 49-21 with Lamar Jackson since the start of 2019 and 4-8 without him. Fire John Harbaugh, I suppose.
Mike Tomlin’s never had a losing record, of course, but in Pittsburgh, fans have called for his ouster for zero playoff wins in the last six years once the magic of Ben Roethlisberger aged out.
Remember when Bill Belichick was a genius, winner of six titles and the greatest coach of all time? Without Tom Brady, apparently he is a dunce and has no clue how to coach.
Here’s a look at the record of every team in a game started by a player who was not projected to be the starting quarterback at the beginning of this season.
Backup QBs in starts this year
STARTERS W L EPA/PLAY
Josh Dobbs 2 9 -0.1
Zach Wilson 3 6 -0.35
Gardner Minshew 4 3 -0.12
Will Levis 2 3 -0.04
Aidan O'Connell 2 3 -0.19
Tyson Bagent 2 2 -0.08
Tommy DeVito 2 1 -0.3
Tyrod Taylor 1 2 -0.3
D. Thompson-Robinson 1 2 -0.31
PJ Walker 1 1 -0.23
Taylor Heinicke 0 2 -0.21
Tim Boyle 0 1 -0.37
Jake Browning 0 1 -0.26
Andy Dalton 0 1 0.07
Brian Hoyer 0 1 -0.35
Brett Rypien 0 1 -0.79
Clayton Tune 0 1 -1.21
Wins-Losses-Average 20 40 -0.30
That’s 20-40 for a .333 winning percentage.
It's what some of us have been trying to say all along....
