AMPHAR

I say Expected Points Add (EPA) stats tell a more accurate view of the defense so far. Their EPA taken at face value with no other consideration would have you believe they are the next Monsters of the Midway. Now, we know that isn't true and not even remotely accurate. So EPA is shit? Nope. You then look at the horrendous EPA of the offense. These two numbers basically say through 4 weeks the offense has not only NOT given them a chance to win they have negatively effected any chance to win. Yet they have 2 wins. Its very realistic they could be 0-4 with an even worse point differential than what they have currently. Scary. Its the defense that's plugged those holes so they are 2-2 with only 2 embarrassing losses. EPA is new to me. Might be some voodoo bullshit but it jives from what I've seen. The defense got 2 critical INTs to steal a victory in Cleveland. The defense kept Jacksonville in reach despite 3 bad TOs from the offense while trailing. There were multiple TOs against the Vikings that not only took points off the board for the Bengals but added points for the Vikes. In Denver the defense was left on the field constantly because the offense or ST were penalizing themselves and shanking punts. I'd say the defense is far from good. But its going to be harder to tell IF the Bengal offense continues to perform like it has the first 4 weeks.

Kit Kat is an underrated Candy and I hope to see more of it this trick or treat. I'm going as an Arby's Italian Sub. Bengal fans have lived the opposite of what we are experiencing with Browning multiple times. The 2 most familiar examples are Kitna and Blake. Average at best QBs. On bad teams. On those teams a lot of people for whatever reason like to deflect blame away from a horrible QB situation. Partial truth but inaccurate conclusion. Both Kitna and Blake took over horrible QB situations and flipped to a level of adequate. All of sudden hopeless teams with a million holes became average. This current team is more talented than any of those abominations back in the 90s. You get average QB play they'll challenge for a playoff spot, IMO. I've seen enough All-22 line break downs to know there are struggles there but also positives. I'm not going to believe the skill group have all gone past their prime at the same time. I think the defense is giving us what we hoped before the season but as stated in the MNF broadcast needs up the expectation. In my mind can Zac get his chosen #2 QB to not be horrible? If he can't he needs to be fired, period. Then let the chips fall were they may with a new coach and the remaining staff. I would say Tobin should be fired too, but that really seems too hard for the Brown family all at once.

That's why I have no problem letting Zac sink or swim with Browning. If he sinks which so far he has done, he should be fired. Prior to these last 2 weeks they had opportunity to prove some narratives false. The way it looks right now. Zac can't coach a QB unless they are No. 1 overall "no duh" pick. Personally, I think Browning is trash and has been trash and the big mistake of not trying to have competition at every spot is the fatal flaw. Neither No. 1 or No. 2 QB has had an open competition for their spot in multiple years. Absurd when you look at the play from the QB spot for the entire season so far.

Well if its a 5th for Wilson or a similar QB, I'd be all for that. Even if it meant no playoffs. Why? Because you can't evaluate anything as a fan with a QB that is as bad as Browning. He's been horrible and it creeps into everything on the team. Just like a MVP QB makes everything look better. Also through the magic of technology I've seen a lot of individual All-22 on the line. Unless the creator is removing the horrible snaps the O-line isn't the root cause of the epic failure of the offense thus far. Now the penalties? Yeah, that's crap.

I'm not sure if I'm reading advanced stats correctly. But I don't think Golden has failed at all. His unit currently has negative EPA of -36. Which is very good. This EPA is so good because the offense has a negative EPA of -41. Which is a disaster. Basically this tells a story of an offense that is very bad at helping the team win and the defense doing what it can to stop a sinking ship. This is also confirmed in more traditional stats like yards gained, plays run, and TOP. Bengals offense last or near last in everyone. Bengals and Panthers are also the only two teams with 5 or more Take aways and a negative TO margin. The Bengals offense isn't just under performing from the expected performance. Its actually making it impossible to win. The fact they have 2 wins is on Golden's unit. That's not to say Golden's unit is awesome. There's a ton to bitch about there but with just a normal "bad" offense the traditional defensive stats would be much better. They never got the assumed Burrow MVP led offense in this season. The overall point: Zac kept Browning in the #2 spot for 3 seasons in his system. Its on Zac to get this guy above the complete shit show he's been. That's the first thing that has to happen and if its not Browning it has to be another QB. To put it in terms people can understand. Browning has been worse than Akili Smith and Scott Mitchell days. Those teams needed Corey Dillon to break Walter Peyton's record to look decent. Inexcusable from a Head Coach that is mainly responsible for the offense.

Inept QB play is like a disease on the entire team. Make no mistake Jake Browning as been inept. Don't be surprised IF that somehow just gets to low tier starting QB level that somehow the Bengals pull the upset coming off the road two weeks. The defense while horrible stats wise; each and every week has been left unprotected either by an offense unable to convert 3rd downs or rash of turnovers. They somehow have played a big part in two wins. Get a little bit of competence out of the QB and the Bengals could pull an upset. Bad news, I think Jake Browning is trash and that's unlikely. He's doing the same shit he does in the preseason. Ruins any chance of an entertaining game. I wish the rumors of 5th for Wilson were true IF you are wanting entertaining games for the rest of the season. Not that puts them into the Superbowl but a move like that would tell a lot about Burrow's timeline to return without saying anything.

1st - Franchise QB not wanting to run the football is about as old as the forward pass itself. So yes, fans on message boards etc with their simplistic solutions are not really living in reality. Burrow has enough wealth, leadership, power in the local media and lockeroom to shit can any coach he wants. Far fetched? This happened with Elway and Dan Reeves, it happened with Marino and Jimmy Johnson. Elway didn't believe in running the football until his prime was over and his last chances rode on the shoulders of Davis. Marino never fucking learned. 2nd - The Bengals drafted Jon Ross/Billy Price over generational QB talents like Mahomes, Allen, Jackson if favor of trying to get Marvin/Dalton to their glorious 2015 that was squandered. Best not to repeat that mistake, IMO. 3rd. Bill Walsh acquired Steve Young while Joe Montana was winning and getting injured trying to win. He even held the presence of Steve Young over his head. That was cold. Almost got them a 3 peat in Superbowls, the only thing stopping them from more dominance was a loaded Cowboys team. Very good QB class supposedly coming up in the draft. At this point, I don't see why Joe Burrow is untouchable. Fans forget its ok and sometimes productive to put your franchise QB in their place. Shit Aikman and Jimmy Johnson almost got a divorce because Jimmy did not start him in a playoff game. Local media is so far up Joe's ass they'll scoff at any sort of mention that the state of the team might because of Burrow a little. Despite what the national narrative was concerning the Carson Palmer demanding a trade, that actually helped the Bengals.

There's more issues to address with Joe Burrow. The truth is he's injury prone. Another truth is he takes hits he could easily avoid and stubbornly/pridefully doesn't. The ultimate truth is his last injury was mostly his fault. Other truths are he isn't some helpless player a victim of Zac's scheme. Those are game plans and play calls he likes and is very much apart of. More truth is he has great relationship with Chase and Higgins who's contracts are significant for the next couple seasons at a min. So if Burrow isn't sold then those two won't be either. So, Joe Burrow will be involved in the next coach search IF there is one. Good luck trying to sell him the run game because he so far hasn't shown he's listening no matter how many hits he takes.

I don't really care about the details of the game. Drop Trey Hendrickson into coverage 100% of the time. Whatever. The overall point is this: In 2015 AJ Green caught a playoff game winning TD! Then some shit happened and it wasn't a game winning TD. The Marvin era was over right then and there. Everyone knew it or everyone not employed by the Bengals. So? Don't take 3 years to realize it. Too many good coaches out there deserving a chance, So don't try to tinker/band aid this team to try to get Zac back to his high point. He had his shot. He's got 14 games left. As of right now he blew it. Sorry. In a weird way, Zac kinda proves the mistake it was to keep rolling Marvin back out there post 2015. Zac had them in the Superbowl the 3rd season after Marvin. Unless this season turns drastically around don't waste time after the season with Zac. Assume this shit season remains shit. They got a realistic 2/3 season window remaining. Sucks for Zac. Had your shot, you flew as high as you could. Time to move on.

I like Zac. Thinks he's a good coach. Nothing that's happened this season invalidates what he accomplished as the HC when times were good. Same with Lou. However, the next chapter isn't working out. FIX it or be gone. Jake Browning has been here 3 seasons and unchallenged as #2. Big mistake. Too bad. Too many young offensive coaches across the league would jump at chance to start their HC career with Chase, Higgins, Burrow and whoever else is under contract next year. Either fix it or be gone. Then Zac can go attempt a revenge tour in some other city. NFL is a cold deal.

1. Jake Browning horrible. Not an excuse because this organization has left him unchallenged at #2 QB despite him sucking every preseason he's been here. 2. Aikman nailed it last year and again last night. Its just a fucked up mentality to want to play Throw and Catch on offense completely. Then when that doesn't work out there's nothing. Which leads to a soft defense being on the field way too much. 3. Prior to these two game they had the chance to disprove the narrative all they've done is draft Joe Burrow. Instead they have quickly cemented that narrative into a FACT. 4. Once again, defense soft as can be. Leave them out there and they'll bleed yards/points to any capable offense.

I think its appropriate to throw this in here consider all the Toe Burrow hot takes. The TOP FA guard this past offseason. Vikings won the sweepstakes! So far he is among the very bottom of pass block win rate playing RG for the Vikes. So hopefully the Bengals can get more pressure this game. But since there are a ton of "don't invest/fix OL" narratives going around. IF the Bengals would have signed him and let Higgins go that's what you would have had early this year so far. I think the Whitworth article floating around touches on all of the difficult segments. 1. Burrow doesn't proctect himself. 2. Scheme/Game Plan is one of the toughest to play as OL 3. They have not drafted a linemen they deem worthy of a 2nd contract in a long time.

Film break downs: From what I've seen and its weird having 2 linemen on this when the franchise QB goes down: 1. Fairchild - damn good. 2. Mims - damn good 3. Risner - struggle bus 4. Dax - Damn good 5. CTB - Damn good.

Backs ups? When a "franchise" QB proves that with his play, if people are being honest that individual typically receives more credit for team success. So when a "franchise" QB goes down and a lesser known QB has team success that QB will absorb some of the credit but it really just highlights the parts of the team observers did not credit before. Bengals D didn't have a great stat game vs. Jags. However, most damage was done first half. The Bengals D rallied in 2nd half and even suffered -2 TO margin without ever playing with a lead. Point being. Browning probably good enough to produce wins that keeps them in the hunt. But they are going to have to win TO battle and defense will need to continue to improve. There's a shit ton of narratives surrounding this team even before the season began. With Browning now getting a good chunk of games once again this team has an opportunity to show that's its more than Joe Burrow.

I know Ossasi ran past a sack 1 time. Kinda 2nd week in a row he's done that. Still not enough pressure when only rushing down lineman. Haven't noticed a lot of blitzing which I know Dax is good at.