An Alternative Look at 2019

[Fan_in_Kettering]

With no coaching changes in the works, I have a new theory on what the 2019 Cincinnati Bengals were all about:

Evaluation.

In hindsight it looks to me like Zac Taylor and his coaching staff treated the entirety of the regular season as a sixteen game extended training camp. During the season Bengals went through several iterations of offensive line personnel, tried out two quarterbacks, and ran several defensive schemes. This isn’t quite the same as “tanking” but it falls short of the “You play to win the game!” quote made famous by Herman Edwards. In this case it appears to be “You play to evaluate your current roster.”

If indeed that was the case then I’m fine bringing back Zac Taylor and Lou Anarumo although it might be better served to hire some better position coaches. Also, the evaluation has to be run with significant statistics and appropriate metrics. I’m talking detailed! I want to know Joe Mixon’s success running through the left side A-gap against both 3-4 and 4-3 defenses, etc.

What I don’t know is how good Zac is at evaluating talent. That’s going to take another season to find out but we may get some indication when we see how Zac handles his second draft and free agency. Does he have the cojones to tell Mikey Boy who to draft, who to trade, and who to seek via free agency?

[*bengalfan74*]

I'm not so sure it started out like that but I agree it rather quickly turned that way. Sometimes I hate to keep beating this drum but I feel a big part of the 2019 FUBAR of a season was our GM/Owner. I think he had his hands deep in the roster decisions as well as other stuff.

None of this is in defense of Taylor, I think he's very culpable as well. There's a big part of me that thinks we should just cut the cord and move on from ZT and Co. But the little part thinks he deserves another chance all things considered.

I just wish he would stand up to MB and say I'm running this show moving forward and Mike would get his spoon out of the soup.

[*Nately120*]

(01-01-2020, 05:12 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: I'm not so sure it started out like that but I agree it rather quickly turned that way. Sometimes I hate to keep beating this drum but I feel a big part of the 2019 FUBAR of a season was our GM/Owner. I think he had his hands deep in the roster decisions as well as other stuff.

None of this is in defense of Taylor, I think he's very culpable as well. There's a big part of me that thinks we should just cut the cord and move on from ZT and Co. But the little part thinks he deserves another chance all things considered.

I just wish he would stand up to MB and say I'm running this show moving forward and Mike would get his spoon out of the soup.

This is pretty much how I feel.  Even if we got lots of good evaluation done in 2019, we still have a GM who thought we were in win-now mode when we went 2-14 and a HC who looks to be in way over his head.  Right now the main thing I'm getting from this (minus the Mike Brown stuff which is never going to change) is that there is a decent chance we go into 2021 saying that we couldn't get a real read on the skills of Burrow because he was saddled with ZT for all/some of the season and 2020 just didn't really count based on that.

[corpjet]

Zac doesn't need to be calling plays, nothing impressed me this season with his play calling

Relieve him of those duties and let him be a Head Coach, I think we are asking way too much of him

[JSR18]

(01-01-2020, 05:12 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: I'm not so sure it started out like that but I agree it rather quickly turned that way. Sometimes I hate to keep beating this drum but I feel a big part of the 2019 FUBAR of a season was our GM/Owner. I think he had his hands deep in the roster decisions as well as other stuff.

None of this is in defense of Taylor, I think he's very culpable as well. There's a big part of me that thinks we should just cut the cord and move on from ZT and Co. But the little part thinks he deserves another chance all things considered.

I just wish he would stand up to MB and say I'm running this show moving forward and Mike would get his spoon out of the soup.

  If this were most any other team, it would probably happen. With this team it can't because Mikey and the Blind River 5 don't have any other business avenues from which to make money. Most other owners have different business interests took look after, so they hire a GM.

We're stuck with the Mom and Pop variation.  

[*ochocincos*]

(01-01-2020, 04:56 PM)Fan_in_Kettering Wrote: With no coaching changes in the works, I have a new theory on what the 2019 Cincinnati Bengals were all about:

Evaluation.

In hindsight it looks to me like Zac Taylor and his coaching staff treated the entirety of the regular season as a sixteen game extended training camp.  During the season Bengals went through several iterations of offensive line personnel, tried out two quarterbacks, and ran several defensive schemes.  This isn’t quite the same as “tanking” but it falls short of the “You play to win the game!” quote made famous by Herman Edwards.  In this case it appears to be “You play to evaluate your current roster.”

If indeed that was the case then I’m fine bringing back Zac Taylor and Lou Anarumo although it might be better served to hire some better position coaches.  Also, the evaluation has to be run with significant statistics and appropriate metrics.  I’m talking detailed!  I want to know Joe Mixon’s success running through the left side A-gap against both 3-4 and 4-3 defenses, etc.

What I don’t know is how good Zac is at evaluating talent.  That’s going to take another season to find out but we may get some indication when we see how Zac handles his second draft and free agency.  Does he have the cojones to tell Mikey Boy who to draft, who to trade, and who to seek via free agency?

The Bengals would never come out and say it was a season of evaluation but it sure seems that way.
It felt like a wasted season honestly. I had never been so uninterested in football since before Marvin Lewis took over.
Hopefully the FO learned that the problem was not solely on the coaching staff now and will attempt to make bigger/moves player-wise than they did last year.
We'll see.

[grampahol]

This is when the dual brain comes into play...The pessimist brain says, "They're way in over their heads and doomed to failure." The optimist brain says, "They were evaluating talent and will build the championships of the 20-teens.." My pessimist brain seems to be over riding my optimist brain for now, but hey! It's the off season for us so why not get all giddy and pretend for awhile? 

[TheUberHuber]

(01-01-2020, 04:56 PM)Fan_in_Kettering Wrote: With no coaching changes in the works, I have a new theory on what the 2019 Cincinnati Bengals were all about:

Evaluation.

In hindsight it looks to me like Zac Taylor and his coaching staff treated the entirety of the regular season as a sixteen game extended training camp.  During the season Bengals went through several iterations of offensive line personnel, tried out two quarterbacks, and ran several defensive schemes.  This isn’t quite the same as “tanking” but it falls short of the “You play to win the game!” quote made famous by Herman Edwards.  In this case it appears to be “You play to evaluate your current roster.”

If indeed that was the case then I’m fine bringing back Zac Taylor and Lou Anarumo although it might be better served to hire some better position coaches.  Also, the evaluation has to be run with significant statistics and appropriate metrics.  I’m talking detailed!  I want to know Joe Mixon’s success running through the left side A-gap against both 3-4 and 4-3 defenses, etc.

What I don’t know is how good Zac is at evaluating talent.  That’s going to take another season to find out but we may get some indication when we see how Zac handles his second draft and free agency.  Does he have the cojones to tell Mikey Boy who to draft, who to trade, and who to seek via free agency?

I bet season ticket holders love the idea of going to pre season games all year..

[TheUberHuber]

(01-03-2020, 12:00 PM)grampahol Wrote: This is when the dual brain comes into play...The pessimist brain says, "They're way in over their heads and doomed to failure." The optimist brain says, "They were evaluating talent and will build the championships of the 20-teens.." My pessimist brain seems to be over riding my optimist brain for now, but hey! It's the off season for us so why not get all giddy and pretend for awhile? 

I mean give me a break. Anyone who thinks they have any idea what they are doing and there is some master grand plan in the works are lying to themselves and are insane. 

[bengaloo]

I kind of felt this way before we even played our first preseason game. These dudes started very late in the game for an NFL offseason. This team was hot mess before they were even hired, to put it nicely. A new system, who knows how the players on the roster would fit in it. Could they get more out of some of these guys than the previous staff, or do we just lack talent? I think they figured that out real fast once the games began, especially with AJ and Jonah on IR. Losing those two really hurt bad. Then they bench Dalton, and it was pretty much a no-brainer that they were just trying to see what they have and hope to find who stays or goes next season.

If they werent aware of Dalton's 4-20 record without AJ at the beginning of the year, they are now. As bad as it was, there are a few positive things to take away from the season.

A top 10 Red Zone defense. Seriously thats actually a pretty good thing.
Finding a way to get the run game going and Mixon ending up with 1100 yards or so. The only thing that allowed that is the adjustments they made
Fred Johnson. Dude looked more stable than expected and Im glad they found him. He looks like an NFL caliber OLmen.
Darius Phillips. Dude showed up and emerged as a ST and CB player. He seems to be trending up.
Pratt. This staff, good or bad, in their first draft picked a LB better than Marvin had in a loooooong time.
The players stayed on board. I see no bickering. They were having fun at the end of the year.
Mixon believes and wants to be here
AJ believes and wants to be here

It may not be much, but we have some things to build on. Im not sold on these guys yet and wanted Rivera, but they can get me back pretty fast with a good draft and FA period.