05-01-2019, 10:31 AM
(04-30-2019, 06:49 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: I agree with that, and I'll add that having a QB that can sell it well makes a ton of difference. Boomer was masterful at selling the PA fake.
The best Bengal I ever saw on play action fake was Virgil Carter and also Sam Wyche. Then came Ken Anderson who was great at it for many years and unlike Carter and Wyche had the Pro Bowl arm to go with it. Boomer was also good at it. Bengals got away from it, however Dalton at times shows he can do it. For arm and play action Bengals best was Ken Anderson because he was like the Harlem Globetrotters on the hidden ball trick. So were Carter and Wyche, but they didn't have Andersons arm. Ken Anderson could really fake out defenses. Somebody getting tackled by 3 or 4 players and he didn't have the ball. Ken Anderson on those roll outs in 81 Super Bowl year was perfect. The different options on that gangster roll out and Anderson hitting the open man tearing defenses apart to be MVP. Yes you need the run, but you also need the bomb, or the D cheats up and steals dink passes for a pick 6.
As said on here, you need the run to play action. Super Bowl 1 of Packers vs Chiefs. Once Chiefs fell behind plus Packers started stuffing the run, Packers D ignored play action and went after Chiefs QB Dawson. Bengals had good runners to set up play action with Paul Robinson, Elliott, Boobie Clark, Pete Johnson, James Brooks, Ickey Shuffle Woods. They had good Blocking in front of them, in 80's Great Blocking. They had go to tight ends in Trumpy, Ross.
Now 1975 the running was not that good, but Paul Brown and Bill Walsh used play action passes to running backs to make up for it and get into play-offs.
Taylor is Play Action. Now to build the blocking and have a stable of other runners beside Mixon. Get the fresh legs on the field, give Mixon a rest now and then. Block, Run, pass to the RB, hit the TE if open. Drop Back, Shotgun but also Roll Out Options. The more the QB can do the Harlem Globetrotter hidden ball trick the better. Making it look like a hand off, and QB still has the ball to throw. I also liked Ken Anderson standing behind a RB blocking, dropping back to pass but he didn't have the ball, he had sneaked it behind the back to the blocking RB now going for a TD. You need many things, Blocking, Running, Go to TE, Deep Pass Game, RB's that can catch, and a QB that doesn't just go through half heart motions of fake, but actually sells it like a Magician putting a lot of work into the magic tricks. We saw that when Blake started season and in mid season they brought back Boomer and he was faking teams out again and rookie Dillon came on big with Boomer. The QBs that can really run play action are like Magicians. Now you see it, now you don't.
Of course if you fall too far behind and are playing catch up, the D doesn't bite on play action. Teams that use it down a bunch of points late in game are just wasting clock time. Everybody knows you are passing. However if you keep the score close or have the lead, Play Action is great because defenses are guessing what the play will be. Excuse me for repeating Hank Stram in Super Bowl 4 on his play actions saying the Vikings D looks like a Chinese Fire Drill out there. His way of saying they had the D faked out of their shoes. The key there was the play action blocking of a very good Chiefs line against a hard charging Vikings great D line. They were actually suckering the Vikings D in to where the ball wasn't on their pass rush. We've seen teams do this to Atkins and Dunlap, they blow in there but that isn't where the play or ball is.
All this is again because best thing Taylor does is Play Action, so it is coming.
1968 Bengal Fan
