Burrow and his grasp on this offense...

[WeezyBengal]

I know its only one game and this will be a SLIGHT over reaction...but I think it's becoming a bit more clear how this offense operates.

It's basically a system in which Burrow wants it to all run through him. Line up in spread, diagnose, make the play. He wants it ALL to fall on him and his big brain. He wants to throw it 50 times a game and HE wants to beat you.

It's worked and it's been fine to an extent, but man...it might be time for Joe to look himself in the mirror and maybe say "yeah, this doesn't have to be THAT hard and ALL fall on me".

Running the ball is the absolute key to opening this offense up and relieving some pressure off Burrow (or whoever is at QB)...he needs to be open to that, and other ways to make it easier on himself.

I think a lot of us have gotten it twisted that ZT want the offense to be a certain way, but in the end, I think it's Joe.

Again, this isn't a criticism of Joe (because he's amazing), but just pointing out how it could be better.

[reuben.ahmed]

I do think Burrow is super smart and won't take zero away from these situations. I also think when Burrow says Zac is a great coach he really means/meant "he lets me play the game I want" lol. Yeah it's your teammate and you want them to succeed but he's probably also fuming a bit, if even just 1% of him.

I hope Burrow picks out the rollout plays and increase in YPA when he comes back!

[THE PISTONS]

I've been saying for some time that they needed more balance on offense.

If you pass 80% of the time, you're going to get blitzed more and sacked more.

I don't want to overreact to this game though.

[Millhouse]

I can agree with this. But I do believe that to have a good run game within Burrow's offense they need a better back than Mixon than can be more of a playmaker so to speak. Imo Mixon is a good running back for sure, but he just doesn't fit the offense that has evolved with Burrow.

[Daddy-O]

(12-05-2023, 10:27 AM)WeezyBengal Wrote: I know its only one game and this will be a SLIGHT over reaction...but I think it's becoming a bit more clear how this offense operates.

It's basically a system in which Burrow wants it to all run through him. Line up in spread, diagnose, make the play. He wants it ALL to fall on him and his big brain. He wants to throw it 50 times a game and HE wants to beat you.

It's worked and it's been fine to an extent, but man...it might be time for Joe to look himself in the mirror and maybe say "yeah, this doesn't have to be THAT hard and ALL fall on me".

Running the ball is the absolute key to opening this offense up and relieving some pressure off Burrow (or whoever is at QB)...he needs to be open to that, and other ways to make it easier on himself.

I think a lot of us have gotten it twisted that ZT want the offense to be a certain way, but in the end, I think it's Joe.

Again, this isn't a criticism of Joe (because he's amazing), but just pointing out how it could be better.

Totally agree and have said all along that Zac needs to coach the team and not just Burrow.  And that means telling JB that it's better for the team if they spread things around.

Love JB but sometimes the coach needs to be the coach and tell even the best player what's is more efficient for the TEAM.  There is no "I" in TEAM.  We've all heard that and it's true.

Plus, it will prolong JB's career.

[Whacked]

(12-05-2023, 10:34 AM)THE PISTONS Wrote: I've been saying for some time that they needed more balance on offense.

If you pass 80% of the time, you're going to get blitzed more and sacked more.

I don't want to overreact to this game though.

Agree

That said — I was extremely impressed w how Jake handled most of those blitzes and pressures.

Some of those super quick passes were actually a thing of beauty.

[reuben.ahmed]

Mixon is a great pass catching RB, and I think he plays better when his reps are split (either because he's not as tired or there's some competitive jealousy happening lol). He needs that space and time to get up to speed, he doesn't get that running most of the time.

[Rubekahn29]

It’s not just the Burrow passes a lot, it’s always so static. Very little motion, hardly any under center (I know he was hurt so that didn’t help) but I’m hoping he sees what this offense can be if it’s more fluid and less just drop back and play chess.

[WeezyBengal]

(12-05-2023, 10:30 AM)reuben.ahmed Wrote: I do think Burrow is super smart and won't take zero away from these situations. I also think when Burrow says Zac is a great coach he really means/meant "he lets me play the game I want" lol. Yeah it's your teammate and you want them to succeed but he's probably also fuming a bit, if even just 1% of him.

I hope Burrow picks out the rollout plays and increase in YPA when he comes back!

I think this organization has a REALLY hard time telling Joe "No". From him wanting to play in the first few games this season when he was clearly injured, to how certain aspects of this offense operate. 

I get he's the franchise and you want to make him happy...but man, at some point the coach player heiarchy has to be a thing. 

[WeezyBengal]

(12-05-2023, 10:34 AM)THE PISTONS Wrote: I've been saying for some time that they needed more balance on offense.

If you pass 80% of the time, you're going to get blitzed more and sacked more.

I don't want to overreact to this game though.

I agree. 

No overreaction...but it will be SUPER interesting to see how this offense operates the rest of the season. I think they stuck Browning in the "Burrow" offense last week against the Steelers and it just didn't work...so they changed it this week against the Jaguars. 

[Millhouse]

(12-05-2023, 10:40 AM)Daddy-O Wrote: Totally agree and have said all along that Zac needs to coach the team and not just Burrow.  And that means telling JB that it's better for the team if they spread things around.

Love JB but sometimes the coach needs to be the coach and tell even the best player what's is more efficient for the TEAM.  There is no "I" in TEAM.  We've all heard that and it's true.

Plus, it will prolong JB's career.

Agreed. All those years there when the Patriots were at the height of winning, even Brady had to play within the system that Belichick wanted. And that is where Belichick was masterful as a head coach, he wanted a more balanced offense even when he had a goat at QB. They had good versatile running backs, Gronk, and Welker running all kinds of routes keeping defenses on their toes.

[motoarch]

This is a bad take on every level.

[Soonerpeace]

I think trying to suit what Joe likes has got them away from what works and that’s not a criticism of anybody. It’s natural. Good grief you’ve got a tremendous QB. But as good as he is he doesn’t have the experience. Browning completing that high of level we can’t not give the staff high marks yesterday for their great job

[WeezyBengal]

(12-05-2023, 10:56 AM)motoarch Wrote: This is a bad take on every level.

Care to elaborate on that? 

[TecmoBengals]

(12-05-2023, 10:27 AM)WeezyBengal Wrote: I think a lot of us have gotten it twisted that ZT want the offense to be a certain way, but in the end, I think it's Joe.

This is actually an interesting take and, admittedly, I hadn't thought about it from this perspective. If there is any validity to the claim, then Coach Taylor needs to talk things through with Burrow so he embraces a balanced offense that can run the ball. Both seem like reasonable dudes who could work it out.

[WeezyBengal]

(12-05-2023, 11:02 AM)Soonerpeace Wrote: I think trying to suit what Joe likes has got them away from what works and that’s not a criticism of anybody. It’s natural. Good grief you’ve got a tremendous QB. But as good as he is he doesn’t have the experience. Browning completing that high of level we can’t not give the staff high marks yesterday for their great job

Yep - you can still do mostly of what Joe wants, but you can also apply more of a winning/balanced style of offense. 

[Soonerpeace]

Joe has no confidence in the run game duh!!!!’ It’s warped them all. Thst was the key to all of this

[Nicomo Cosca]

Coming into this season I think they wanted to have an emphasis on getting Burrow under center more, but the calf injury obviously threw a wrench into things. We have seen him be very successful at it though (just look at the 9ers game), so I hope it’s something they lean more on going forward.

[*ochocincos*]

As much as I have bashed the playcalling in the past, I will give credit to Taylor and crew for the change in last night's game to make it effective.

[CJD]

Bengals twitter users like Bengals_Sans were talking about "easy button" plays that Taylor was calling to help Browning (things like PA rollouts after establishing the run), and I couldn't help but wonder why there are easy buttons that the Bengals simply choose not to use with Burrow very often.

It definitely warrants some thought and investigation during the off season as to what aspects of the Burrow offense are making it harder than it needs to be, and possibly creating more opportunities for easy throws that guarantee you that 3rd and 1 (or 2nd and 1, or 4th and 1) play that you really need.