ESPN joins in calling out Zac Taylor's plays

[740Bengal]

The Bengals rank 30th in the league in pass percentage on early downs....

[*PhilHos*]

(09-21-2021, 07:32 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Win and it wouldn't be a problem.

Right, there was absolutely no complaining about Zac or the Bengals OL or any of the myriad other complaints after the win against the Vikings.

[Whatever]

(09-21-2021, 10:14 PM)Murdock2420 Wrote: Completely agree. The empty set is crap, I've hated it since it started. I don't care if that is Burrow's preferred set up. The team can't handle it or play call from it correctly. Get under center or even in the pistol and make sure you have a TE to chip and a back to play action off of and success will be had. 

We've allowed as many sacks this year from play action as we have from empty sets(3 each).

[XenoMorph]

(09-22-2021, 10:17 AM)Whatever Wrote: We've allowed as many sacks this year from play action as we have from empty sets(3 each).

who coaches pass pro?

[*ochocincos*]

(09-22-2021, 10:12 AM)PhilHos Wrote: Right, there was absolutely no complaining about Zac or the Bengals OL or any of the myriad other complaints after the win against the Vikings.

Ok let me elaborate then.
If Taylor won more, people would (probably) be complaining less.
It'd be more like, "Well yea we won, but it'd be better if they had better X or Y."

Right now, the issues are magnified because the Bengals have lost so much under Taylor's tenure.

[TJ528]

(09-22-2021, 10:48 AM)XenoMorph Wrote: who coaches pass pro?

I would think that'd fall on the offensive line coach, Pollack right?

Again, I personally think there's some good pieces on the OL, but Pollacks coming in and implementing a new system. A system a lot of them have never played in.  It's going to take time to acclimate.  

However, you need talent to block efficiently on the OL as well, and as I've said all off season, and have been called negative, the talent level is not near where you need it to be a quality football team on the OL. 

[*PhilHos*]

(09-22-2021, 10:58 AM)ochocincos Wrote: Ok let me elaborate then.
If Taylor won more, people would (probably) be complaining less.
It'd be more like, "Well yea we won, but it'd be better if they had better X or Y."

Right now, the issues are magnified because the Bengals have lost so much under Taylor's tenure.

Fair enough and true enough. 

[NUGDUKWE]

(09-22-2021, 10:58 AM)ochocincos Wrote: Ok let me elaborate then.
If Taylor won more, people would (probably) be complaining less.
It'd be more like, "Well yea we won, but it'd be better if they had better X or Y."

Right now, the issues are magnified because the Bengals have lost so much under Taylor's tenure.

Your not wrong things are even more magnified by the loss. But I don't think people are just looking for things to complain about. After week 1 I did complain or express concern about our pass pro miscommunications. Also the 4th and 1 call and it wasn't just that I thought it was a mistake because everyone makes mistakes it's that Taylor didn't seem to realize it was a mistake. I really think the 2 games issues are related and I think Taylor is out thinking himself and making mistakes and it takes him way too long to realize that or he just simply doesn't look at it as a mistake and that it just didn't work out.

[lone bengal]

This is not about overreacting from a single loss. Taylor’s coached 34 games and has yet to shown he’s a good offensive minded head coach which is the whole reason we brought him in. The line has limitations but i see teams with worst lines look way better on offense. Zero creativity, pre-snap motion, don’t move the pocket , run on 1st, , run on 2nd and long pass on 3rd. They go empty but have everyone run short routes which defeats the purpose. He lets the defense dictated what we do it should be the other way around.

[lone bengal]

(09-22-2021, 10:12 AM)PhilHos Wrote: Right, there was absolutely no complaining about Zac or the Bengals OL or any of the myriad other complaints after the win against the Vikings.

That game was bad too. He goes for it on his own 30 yard line because he states that’s who we are an “ aggressive team” then turtles the rest of the game with the most conservative play calling I’ve ever seen. Run every 1st and 2nd down. 3rd down and 5 with 2 mins left in the 4th and he runs Joe Mixon up the middle ? We have Joe Burrow with all these weapons you put the ball in his hands. Got bailed out by the fumble then got aggressive because they would have had to punt to the Vikings meaning they would have at worst tied or lost.

[WeezyBengal]

It's not just the play calling. It's the play design and schemes as well. You compare our offense to the Chiefs or Ravens and it looks like its stuck in the 1990s.

None of this should be a shock to anyone.

He was a TERRIBLE offensive coordinator at UC...like historically bad. I think there were 14 straight quarters where his offense failed to score. That's pathetic, especially in college football.

Then he went to LA where he brought McVay his coffee every morning.

It was a terrible hire from the get go. The front office fell in love with a young guy who uses buzz words like "culture".

[NUGDUKWE]

We've let both coaches assemble they're players and Lou is actually doing something with his group. I know the line has struggled but we were told that they were confident in this group and that's not an excuse anymore. There's enough talent on offense to be successful. This week is gonna be very telling to me there's a lot of criticism of Taylor and were going up against a Steelers team that we should be right there with talent wise. So we'll see what kind of product we get out of the offense.

[Daddy-O]

ZT needs to get over his ego trip as being the play caller or he will be watching the NFL from his couch next year.

Wait, this is the Bengals front office, they don't give up on outside hires that quickly. I keep forgetting they do things differently than any other front office that expects continuous improvement.

[Fan_in_Kettering]

(09-22-2021, 12:14 PM)NUGDUKWE Wrote: We've let both coaches assemble they're players and Lou is actually doing something with his group. This week is gonna be very telling to me there's a lot of criticism of Taylor and were going up against a Steelers team that we should be right there with talent wise. So we'll see what kind of product we get out of the offense.

Absolutely. With respect to talent I think the Bengals and Steelers match well at least on paper with the exception of running back. Najee Harris is the best Harris the Steelers have had since Franco Harris. The Bengals’ linebackers will have their hands full trying to stop him because I doubt the defensive line can.

Unfortunately Zac will certainly be outcoached by Mike Tomlin unless Lou Anarumo’s defense shows up in a big way like they did in the last game against the Steelers. This game will probably be close.

[Dr.Z]

(09-22-2021, 12:44 PM)Fan_in_Kettering Wrote: Absolutely.  With respect to talent I think the Bengals and Steelers match well at least on paper with the exception of running back.  Najee Harris is the best Harris the Steelers have had since Franco Harris.  The Bengals’ linebackers will have their hands full trying to stop him because I doubt the defensive line can.  

Unfortunately Zac will certainly be outcoached by Mike Tomlin unless Lou Anarumo’s defense shows up in a big way like they did in the last game against the Steelers.  This game will probably be close.

Harris is a nice prospect, but we just faced two very good backs. 

[Fan_in_Kettering]

(09-22-2021, 01:04 PM)Dr.Z Wrote: Harris is a nice prospect, but we just faced two very good backs. 

That’s certainly true but we must remember the Steelers use an old fashioned run blocking technique called holding.

[Dr.Z]

(09-22-2021, 01:07 PM)Fan_in_Kettering Wrote: That’s certainly true but we must remember the Steelers use an old fashioned run blocking technique called holding.

LOL!   good point my friend. 

[thompson19osu]

(09-22-2021, 12:44 PM)Fan_in_Kettering Wrote: Absolutely. With respect to talent I think the Bengals and Steelers match well at least on paper with the exception of running back. Najee Harris is the best Harris the Steelers have had since Franco Harris. The Bengals’ linebackers will have their hands full trying to stop him because I doubt the defensive line can.

Unfortunately Zac will certainly be outcoached by Mike Tomlin unless Lou Anarumo’s defense shows up in a big way like they did in the last game against the Steelers. This game will probably be close.

Not worried about Harris. The D just did very well against 2 of the top 5 RBs in the league statistically.

The only concern I have for the team is ZTs vanilla obvious playcalling. We
Have been in the bottom of the league offensively since he got here and it continues this year, even just a week after the Bears defense was exposed by LA.

[Fan_in_Kettering]

(09-22-2021, 01:13 PM)thompson19osu Wrote: The only concern I have for the team is ZTs vanilla obvious playcalling. We
Have been in the bottom of the league offensively since he got here and it continues this year, even just a week after the Bears defense was exposed by LA.

I share your concern and it’s going to be up to Lou Anarumo and the defense to win games until the offense gets their act together. It’s certainly possible because the defense dominated the game last time the Bengals and Steelers met. Remember that awesome hit Von Bell put on JuJu Smith-Schuster? That has to happen on every play. The only way to successfully play against Pittsburgh is to out-thug them.

[*ochocincos*]

(09-22-2021, 11:59 AM)lone bengal Wrote: This is not about overreacting from a single loss. Taylor’s coached 34 games and has yet to shown he’s a good offensive minded head coach which is the whole reason we brought him in. The line has limitations but i see teams with worst lines look way better on offense. Zero creativity, pre-snap motion, don’t move the pocket , run on 1st, , run on 2nd and long pass on 3rd. They go empty but have everyone run short routes which defeats the purpose. He lets the defense dictated what we do it should be the other way around.

I'd go as far to say Taylor's a worse offensive playcaller than the guy he replaced, Bill Lazor.

Lazor found a way to be 17th in the league in scoring in 2018 with hardly any decent pass catchers for half a season. 
All they really had were Boyd and Uzomah. 
Eifert only played 4 games and AJ only 9. 
Ross was available for most of the season but was really only used as a red zone option. 
Dalton also missed 5 games that year.
And the OL was Glenn, Boling, Price, Redmond, and Hart. Not very good.