Some good news - Pollack and Simmons expected to stay on

[BengalChris]

(01-12-2019, 11:30 AM)SHRacerX Wrote: We had the #1 RB in the AFC and I believe his YPC were around 4.8 for the season.  That's a significant upgrade over a year ago.  As far as pass-blocking goes, I think a lot of the issues there became the dearth of weapons that could get open quickly which forced Dalton to hold on to the ball too long.

Of all these changes to personnel, the two guys I am most excited to see in our new offense are John Ross and Gio Bernard.  

Ross should be used all over the field like he is in the red zone:  crossing routes, fades, quick hitches, etc.  It seems like his job was to run vertical routes to open things underneath for Boyd, AJ, and Eifert.  He got more chances in the red zone and had something stupid like 7 TDs in 21 receptions for the year.  I'm still so puzzled why you wouldn't get Dalton, one of the quickest releases in the game, to throw Ross a quick pass when a DB is playing off of him (which seemed to be every time).  He makes that one guy miss and he's gone.  If he doesn't, it is still a high%, easy 5-7 yard completion.

Ditto Gio.  When are we going to see him on misdirection routes, where we can get him in space.  See how the Chiefs used Kareem Hunt in their passing game.  

Use these resources more and watch the passing game take off, which will drop safeties and only help the running game as well.  

I can't wait to see it.  

Very interesting how we expect to see different things from this new coaching staff. And some of the same things.

I'm expecting to see Mixon used more, not less. He's the clear #1 back and can do everything Bernard does, plus more. Instead of seeing a stat line at the end of a game with Mixon getting 13 carries, I expect to see it say 20 plus 5 or 6 catches.

As far as Ross goes he needs to work on catching the ball a LOT better. His catch to target percentage was worst in the NFL, not bottom 10% or bottom 25%, but absolutely dead last. It's hard to make use of a guy who only brings 36% of the passes thrown his way. Part of this is his route running.