Run Blocking and Runners Looked Weak To Me

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(08-15-2021, 05:09 PM)Whatever Wrote: Apparently, a different game than you.  The only time Evans really hit it low and hard was on the goal line.  He tried to bounce outside a bunch between the 20's.  

Yep, he was running horizontal and not vertical. Needs to lower his head go forward not head to the sideline.

NFL defenders are too fast, let alone Tampa's LB's and Secondary who might be the fastest.

This is why Patrick was the best RB last night.

[Whatever]

(08-15-2021, 02:19 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Hard to tell from just the numbers, but I have not ha a chance to watch the game yet.

First half there were zero runs for loss or zero gain.  So our RBs were not getting completely stuffed.  Other than the two goal line runs 9 of our 12 runs went for at least 3 yards.

Don't know how long first teamers played on both sides, but it does not look like our running game was shut down.  And you have to remember that the Bucs have every single starter returning from the NUMBER ONE RUSH DEFENSE.

This touches on another good point.  While I'm not saying people should be hyped over the result on the scoreboard, TB are the defending world champions.  They are a very good, deep team.  Folks need to temper their expectations to the level of competition.  It wasn't realistic for anyone to think the Bengals were going to line up and cram the ball down their throats for 5 ypc.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(08-15-2021, 05:21 PM)Whatever Wrote: This touches on another good point.  While I'm not saying people should be hyped over the result on the scoreboard, TB are the defending world champions.  They are a very good, deep team.  Folks need to temper their expectations to the level of competition.  It wasn't realistic for anyone to think the Bengals were going to line up and cram the ball down their throats for 5 ypc.

Best test you could get out of the gate. Washington is another.

[Fan_in_Kettering]

(08-15-2021, 05:23 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Best test you could get out of the gate. Washington is another.

...and then the Bengals face Miami after Washington and the Dolphins are a team on the rise. I’m excited for the remainder of preseason. These are three very good opponents and each team has different strengths.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(08-15-2021, 05:34 PM)Fan_in_Kettering Wrote: ...and then the Bengals face Miami after Washington and the Dolphins are a team on the rise.  I’m excited for the remainder of preseason.  These are three very good opponents and each team has different strengths.

Yeah, I just want to stay healthy for the Vikes as I think we can gain a lot of confidence against them.

They don't look too good watching them against the Broncos yesterday. Zim has his work cut out for him.

I still think we need to get Burrow out there for a couple series against the Phins before the opener against Zim's Vikes.

One player that looked good was a guy I wanted in the Draft in Patrick Jones even though Ossai was much farther up my list.

I didn't think Ossai would of made it out of the 2nd round. Really liking what is happening this year.

[impactplaya]

Some forget this is a new run blocking concept that Pollack is
Instilling. Yeah the boo.hoo the Bengals running backs didnt gash the Bucs For 217 yds and 3 TDs. Go cry and moan about something else.

Unlearning the scheme that JT installed and learning what Pollack
Is teaching is a process. The vets are learning and especially
The young guys like Smith and Carnen are learning concepts
In the outside zone scheme that they probally didnt have
To learn in.college.

It was encouraging to.see 2nd level blocks and not seeing
Bums like Alex Redmond kill.drives with holdings or false starts
For all crybabies regarding this oline its a much smarter and
Better oline than what we have seen of yesteryear.
A much better oline and you.didnt have to.draft a Oregon Duck
To improve it

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(08-15-2021, 06:21 PM)impactplaya Wrote: Some forget this is a new run blocking concept that Pollack is
Instilling. Yeah the boo.hoo the Bengals  running backs didnt gash the Bucs For 217 yds and 3 TDs. Go cry and moan about something else.

Unlearning the scheme that JT installed and learning what Pollack
Is teaching is a process. The vets are learning and especially
The young guys like Smith and Carnen are learning concepts
In the outside zone scheme that they probally didnt have
To learn in.college.

It was encouraging to.see 2nd level blocks and not seeing
Bums like Alex Redmond kill.drives with holdings or false starts
For all crybabies regarding this oline its a much smarter and
Better oline than what we have seen of yesteryear.
A much better oline and you.didnt have to.draft a Oregon Duck
To improve it

That is what is cool, they are just grasping this Wide Zone scheme and already it was working against the top run D in Tampa.

Want to see what we do against Washington next. Should be fun.

[SunsetBengal]

(08-15-2021, 03:33 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Wow, had to watch that a few times he is so quick. Playing LG and just so damn aggressive getting to the second level. 

Love this pick more and more.

Not sure who #75 is at LG on that play, but he gets some nice initial push, but DT #94 still sheds him, then recovers and makes the play..

[Sled21]

I re-watched the first quarter. On the play where Jonah got a great block on Chase's catch, he then got away with a push in the back of the same player as he got up off the ground. Gonna have to clean that up or it will get called in regular season play.

[*rfaulk34*]

(08-15-2021, 05:38 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Yeah, I just want to stay healthy for the Vikes 

Dammit Nate...

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(08-15-2021, 07:46 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Not sure who #75 is at LG on that play, but he gets some nice initial push, but DT #94 still sheds him, then recovers and makes the play..

#75 is Prince the LT, 70 is D'Ante the LG and yeah both blocked well on that play. Just D'Ante wanted to punish his man lol

Moss was on the left edge and fell down.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(08-15-2021, 08:04 PM)rfaulk34 Wrote: Dammit Nate...

Did I do the jinx?

[SunsetBengal]

(08-15-2021, 08:10 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: #75 is Prince the LT, 70 is D'Ante the LG and yeah both blocked well on that play. Just D'Ante wanted to punish his man lol

Moss was on the left edge and fell down.

Ok, I had to re-watch it another time, now I see it, I hadn't noticed that the TE was on the Left side at first.  Yeah, he destroyed that guy.

[sandwedge]

(08-15-2021, 03:25 PM)Synric Wrote: D'Ante Smith exploding to the second level and blowing up a linebacker.

D’Ante Smith MOVING pic.twitter.com/6RvAwcPwkQ

— Matt Minich (@CoachMinich) August 15, 2021

Love that he continues to harass that linebacker until the whistle lol.

I couldn't stop watching that!! That's how you fire off the ball and find someone!! 

[Mike M (the other one)]

(08-15-2021, 03:40 PM)Dr.Z Wrote: That’s a very common tendency for many young rbs coming into the league.  Darrell Henderson did the same thing his rookie year.  I noticed it a bit too, but also saw him kick outside on a run that kept the play from being a negative loss.   I’m very optimistic about Evans.  Props to the Bengals for seeing something I’m him while many were sleeping on his talent.   Hope he continues to impress and improve.

Very true, in college teams will have 1 or 2 "big men" and so you just run around them, in the NFL they are all "big men" on the line so you have to shake that mentality, take what you can and learn to trust your OL to open that hole for that 1-2 seconds and dart thru it.

People always say it's the speed, but it's not just the speed. 

[jwalker3853]

(08-15-2021, 12:24 PM)kevin Wrote: OK, fine.  I've changed name of thread.  Instead of How Did Bengals Look In Preseason Game One ?, that is gone. Replaced by Run Blocking and Runners looked Weak To Me.   Now on this people can either agree or disagree.  That was my take on the game. I saw no improvement on Run Blocking in the 1st Half from the last few years awful run blocking. 

Overall, I thought the 1st unit - for what little they were on the field looked Ok.    We honestly didn't get a good look at how things will play out for the 1st team based on last nights game.   Having the 1st team OL, Burrow, Mixon in for a good part of the 1st half (not saying we should have done that by any means) would have given us a MUCH better view.   

Otherwise, we saw that the OL is improving and their footwork was MUCH improved over last year.   Their hand placement is coming, but they overall looked better.   Is it good enough?   hard to say as of yet because we were letting the 2nd, 3rd teams and others get reps in and see how they compete.   However, it was good to see the OL starting to show they are being coached correctly and with some technique.    They've had 2 years of Turner's crap.   It's going to take Pollack more then a few weeks to get that corrected.  

Two interesting things that we saw during this preseason game was: 

1. Ration of run vs. pass over the course of the game.   The play calling was more in favor of running the ball vs. passing.   That could have been due to adjustments in play calling due to the players, but is hopefully a trend we will see even when Burrow is in. 
2. They stuck with the running game - even if it was struggling early on and managed to break off some decent runs in the second half/later in the game.  
   

It wasn't a perfect game by any means, but its preseason.    I don't know that it's reasonable to expect everything to be perfect out of the gate.   Honestly, I can't say that TB looked very good against us and they won the Super Bowl last year.  However, that doesn't mean a thing as it's the 1st week of pre-season and there is still time to improve.  

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(08-16-2021, 02:48 AM)Mike M (the other one) Wrote: Very true, in college teams will have 1 or 2 "big men" and so you just run around them, in the NFL they are all "big men" on the line so you have to shake that mentality, take what you can and learn to trust your OL to open that hole for that 1-2 seconds and dart thru it.

People always say it's the speed, but it's not just the speed. 

Yeah, in the NFL everyone is big, fast and smart. Everyone is itching to get a TFL.

Evans will learn and get upfield instead of trying to run horizontal.

[*Nate (formerly eliminate08)*]

(08-16-2021, 01:21 PM)jwalker3853 Wrote: Overall, I thought the 1st unit - for what little they were on the field looked Ok.    We honestly didn't get a good look at how things will play out for the 1st team based on last nights game.   Having the 1st team OL, Burrow, Mixon in for a good part of the 1st half (not saying we should have done that by any means) would have given us a MUCH better view.   

Otherwise, we saw that the OL is improving and their footwork was MUCH improved over last year.   Their hand placement is coming, but they overall looked better.   Is it good enough?   hard to say as of yet because we were letting the 2nd, 3rd teams and others get reps in and see how they compete.   However, it was good to see the OL starting to show they are being coached correctly and with some technique.    They've had 2 years of Turner's crap.   It's going to take Pollack more then a few weeks to get that corrected.  

Two interesting things that we saw during this preseason game was: 

1. Ration of run vs. pass over the course of the game.   The play calling was more in favor of running the ball vs. passing.   That could have been due to adjustments in play calling due to the players, but is hopefully a trend we will see even when Burrow is in. 
2. They stuck with the running game - even if it was struggling early on and managed to break off some decent runs in the second half/later in the game.  
   

It wasn't a perfect game by any means, but its preseason.    I don't know that it's reasonable to expect everything to be perfect out of the gate.   Honestly, I can't say that TB looked very good against us and they won the Super Bowl last year.  However, that doesn't mean a thing as it's the 1st week of pre-season and there is still time to improve.  

I like that we stuck to the run against the best run stopping D in the league.

[jwalker3853]

(08-16-2021, 02:36 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: I like that we stuck to the run against the best run stopping D in the league.

I agree Nate.    I don't think there was much of a chance that we would wear the D out running at them consistently like that in preseason.   Primarily because folks aren't playing the entire game.  

I really hope the balance in play calling sticks around and isn't just due to personnel playing.   Obviously the playbook is going to open up more with the starters in, but I've always been more of a run to set-up the pass kinda guy.   Ball control and solid defense will win a ton of games.   ball control with great defense will win championships.   While I would love to see a super bowl this season, I don't think we are there yet.    I think we are another season or two away from seriously contending.    However, - it does look like things are on the right track.  

[*Synric*]

D’Ante Smith (l) and Michael Jordan ®are the guards for start of 11s

— Jay Morrison (@JayMorrisonATH) August 16, 2021

Guess that means Quinton Spain and XSF are 2nd team.