Zac Taylor's Play Calling In OT Was Unforgivable

[TecmoBengals]

OT started off with nice passes to Higgins and Uzomah. Why not keep that momentum going and take a shot for the game winning TD? Zac played it safe, secured the FG, and lost.

[samhain]

(12-12-2021, 10:36 PM)Synric Wrote: It's hard to get this point across to people that don't see the defense. What was the the look? Cover 2 is a light man box vs 11 personnel that screams run.

But as you said, the o-line wasn't good enough at any point to exploit the alignment.  Why keep going back to the well when you know and have been recently reminded that you don't have the horses up front to win the matchup, even if it seems favorable on paper?  

You drafted that quarterback number 1 overall to win games like this one.  He was plenty effective even when the pressure was breathing down his neck.  I'd put the ball in his hands every time.  

[samhain]

(12-12-2021, 10:41 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Taylor just isn't a good enough offensive playcaller.
If he stays, give the playcalling to someone else who has proven success doing it.
Let him focus on building the culture and regular HC duties.
I'm also perfectly fine showing him the door.

They are 2-4 over the last 6 games.  I think they have 2 left in them, but that might be overly optimistic.  If they win any less than 9 this year, Taylor's head should be on the chopping block.

[*Synric*]

(12-12-2021, 10:47 PM)samhain Wrote: But as you said, the o-line wasn't good enough at any point to exploit the alignment.  Why keep going back to the well when you know and have been recently reminded that you don't have the horses up front to in the matchup, even if it seems favorable on paper?  

You drafted that quarterback number 1 overall to win games like this one.  He was plenty effective even when the pressure was breathing down his neck.  I'd put the ball in his hands every time.  

So the worst running team in the NFL should just stop running? No. It's trusting your players when you have the correct looks. In reality 2 muffed punts cost the Bengals 10 points and 2 drives. 

[Goalpost]

We'd had them on their heels. And in fairness their weakness was their secondary.

[samhain]

(12-12-2021, 10:52 PM)Synric Wrote: So the worst running team in the NFL should just stop running? No. It's trusting your players when you have the correct looks. In reality 2 muffed punts cost the Bengals 10 points and 2 drives. 

If something else is working, then they absolutely should.  The passing game was working, even on that very drive.  The running game was not.  You can try to run again next week after you win this one with what is actually effective in realtime.

[*Synric*]

(12-12-2021, 10:55 PM)samhain Wrote: If something else is working, then they absolutely should.  The passing game was working, even on that very drive.  The running game was not.  You can try to run again next week after you win this one with what is actually effective in realtime.

What was the defense on the run calls? Light box screams run.

[Woodstock]

(12-12-2021, 10:28 PM)Synric Wrote: You can say stuff liike stud this bla that. Facts remain if you have a light box you hand the ball to your running back. Problem was run blocking not play calling... and has been a solid chunk of the year.


The Bengals are a wide zone under center team with only 3ish 100  rushing yard games. This is a problem and it starts in the trenches.

O-line has been the problem now for years.

[NUGDUKWE]

(12-12-2021, 10:21 PM)bfine32 Wrote: The 2 run netted us 7 yards. The one pass lost us 4. We should have ran it a 3rd time. 

Yeah I even thought about this after as well. If your gonna run 1st and 2nd might as well run it on 3rd. I think I would've even been fine with going for it on 4th down if we were a yard short. I would've preferred just keeping the ball in Burrows hands though.

[*bfine32*]

Do we think Joe had the freedom to audible out of the runs; if he saw something?

[NUGDUKWE]

(12-12-2021, 10:52 PM)Synric Wrote: So the worst running team in the NFL should just stop running? No. It's trusting your players when you have the correct looks. In reality 2 muffed punts cost the Bengals 10 points and 2 drives. 

The only problem I have with this is the coaches get all the credit when the players make good plays and none when they make bad ones? Phillips probably should've been done after the 1st muff. Also in the end we had the ball in position to win and weren't aggressive and used what was working.

[Essex Johnson]

(12-12-2021, 10:16 PM)GodFather Wrote: Joe Burrow and company were moving the ball down the field at will in OT and Zac decides to call 2 run plays? Nevermind the botched fumbles from kick off and punt returns, which is its own issue believe me but any other team would show him the door after this season and what he produced in 3 years.

0-24 when behind in 4th quarter that is Zac's record.

Anywhere else he would be gone...but here he will be extended.

And speaking of shown the door Phillips should clear his locker out tonight...

So when we are scoring in 4th, does that not go to Taylor also for credit??  so if Zac is 0-24 behind in 4th, what does that make Burrow then?  0-?? .. it is a team game not a one coach or one person game. 

[*rfaulk34*]

(12-12-2021, 10:22 PM)thompson19osu Wrote: 0-24? Wow. Just wow. You would think you could luck your way into a single win at least.

Mike Brown: "Hold my beer."

[Shake n Blake]

Some people will attack Zac at all times. Others will defend him at all times.

I don't see any reason to defend the guy for going all Marvin Lewis after passes of 26 and 23 yards that got us in that spot to begin with.

[Destro]

On the TD to Chase, he got loose from the other rookie defender and Burrow was scrambling. Play call
Didn’t even work but the players made something out of it. People do anything to defend Taylor even when the evidence is overwhelming he has an underachieving team. With this team and roster, against who they played, just being better than the dumpster fire of last year isn’t good enough, in my opinion. Think we started 5-2 and now look where we are at. Win a game, drop two. Win a game drop at least two. That is not a quality team. People are all over his jock when the Bengals win, but when they lose, it is never the coach. By these measures, Lewis should still be here.

[GodFather]

(12-12-2021, 11:17 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Some people will attack Zac at all times. Others will defend him at all times.

I don't see any reason to defend the guy for going all Marvin Lewis after passes of 26 and 23 yards that got us in that spot to begin with.

Exactly. The run game has been stuffed the whole game. We were moving the ball in the air at the end of the game and all of a sudden when we have a chance to put the ball away play it safe and run the ball and rely on the FG kick and then the defense stopping them?

This is good play calling and strategy?

[t3r3e3]

My biggest problem with the runs is they’re part of a pattern with Taylor. Once he gets into field goal range in OT he goes soft with his play calling. He did it in the botched Packers game. He did it in this game. The Bengals should have won both games, and they choked both away. Shanahan called a better game than Zac today, and the hated 9er’s won.

[reuben.ahmed]

It is, how to say, Unpredicatable!

[*bengalfan74*]

(12-12-2021, 11:17 PM)Shake n Blake Wrote: Some people will attack Zac at all times. Others will defend him at all times.

I don't see any reason to defend the guy for going all Marvin Lewis after passes of 26 and 23 yards that got us in that spot to begin with.

Me either

In the words of Tony Dungy "you play to win the game" 

[GodFather]

(12-12-2021, 11:28 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: In the words of Tony Dungy "you play to win the game" 

How can anyone argues this point of yours?