ArmyBengal

I get that and it's kind of the point to why not get others involved in the running game. Damn near everyone here has said, while watching the games, the offense looks vanilla and it's just not working. Early on in the Cardinals game, they showed a graphic pointing out where Burrow was making his throws from (the pocket) and where the throws are being distributed (mid point throws) which, until that game, rarely went downfield. They pointed out that's why defenses were able to figure out what the Bengals game plan was. I thought that was pretty telling. They could have put more and more time into developing that game plan and results probably weren't going to change much.

They should have drafted a TE knowing what the position means to the offense. That was a team failure in my opinion. Hopefully one that won't occur again in 2024.

We have the 2nd worst rushing yards per game in the league. 3rd worst in total yardage. Only 1 rushing TD in 5 games. I'm good with what Mixon brings, but there doesn't appear to be much of a complement for him or they simply aren't making one a priority. How does Chase Brown have the same amount of rushing attempt as QB Jake Browning? Williams and Evans only have 7 carries combined, while Mixon is sitting on 84. I don't have any issue and expect Mixon to have the bulk of the carries, but if all you are producing is 2nd worst in the league, maybe giving the others more than 8 carries combined might result in something different they bring to the table. I'm sure the o-line plays a part in opening running lanes for them to take advantage of, but they only run nearly half the rushing plays as passing plays. Is the o-line really THAT much worse at run blocking than pass blocking? I'm too lazy to go look up any stat which may or may not support such views. Any one watching the 49er's / Cowboys game the other night could see how the 49er's use the run to set up the pass. Purdy sure does excel in that situation. They have 173 rushing attempts to only 137 passing attempts. Not saying we should do that when we have Burrow, but increasing the running workload would be helpful from my perspective.

We are headed down for the game and hoping we get a repeat of the effort we saw against the Cardinals. The obvious downside is that the Seahawks are a much better team than the Cardinals.

2 sacks a game would equate to 36 on the season. That more than acceptable in my book. Burrow has taken a fuck ton more than that in a season. Currently his sack total is at 11 which is middle of the pack in the league. He took 41 last year. 51 the year before. That being said, I would prefer to not see him get touched, let alone picking himself up off the ground. Make that shit happen o-line.

Thats beyond alarming.

Unfortunately, they won’t be playing the Cardinals every week. That’s not a good team by any measure. That being said, knowing this was a big game for them on the road, they did what a good team should do and handle business when it matters most. It’s certainly a nice building block and sets them up to hit the bye week at 3-3. Go handle the Seahawks at home next week and get ready to start the run coming out of the bye. Nice job today…

Mark

Andrew Billings sighting for the Bears tonight.

People can interpret it however they like. If it was no longer a concern, the coaches would not keep addressing it. Agree to disagree. Nothing else on that right now.

Burrow has already acknowledged that going back on the field could risk further injury regarding his calf, so not sure where that came from in thinking not. Further, if there was nothing wrong with the calf, you wouldn’t have had the coaches and players commenting about how he toughed it out and played through it when his status was unknown until right before the start of the Rams game. Even after the Titans game Zac eluded to a continued issue with the calf in saying that he’s playing through it and there are still limitations. I just feel those noted issues are impacting his play. If those same issues are fucking with him mentally, that’s something else. Again, if you can identify the concern, take action. What they are doing now clearly is not working.

I'm not painting the ownership as anything. Haven't mentioned them in this equation a single time. There is no conspiracy theory being pushed. Something is wrong and it doesn't need to be a single source either. I am just trying to figure out what it is, because there are literally no other reasons why this team and Burrow are underperforming so badly.

Here's something to think about and honestly it blows my mind: Through the first 4 games this season, Joshua freakin' Dobbs has thrown for more yards, has a much better completion rate, throws for almost 2 yards further per attempt, has twice the amount of TD's and not a single interception in comparison to what Burrow has produced to this point. Certainly no one is about to say that Dobbs is a better QB than Burrow, but something is the cause for that and it's not because we have played the toughest part of the schedule.

It's either one of two things: The calf is still a concern, even if mentally, and is impacting various things for Burrow (Throwing downfield, rolling out, etc.) OR Burrow has regressed to a point he can no longer drive one of the most explosive offenses in the league. I'm betting on the former and with that being the case, Burrow should be rested. Do it now when they can sit him for 3 weeks for the price of 2 games, take your chances with your backup QB, and then hope Burrow comes back and can rattle off at least 8 wins after the bye week. Again, I'm not sold on that happening, but I would be more comfortable with that approach instead of utilizing the "Hope and Pray" method in that this ugly ship will simply correct course and sail straight.

I just don’t see this team (at this point) being able to rattle off 8-10 wins in a row. There’s literally nothing going right with the players or the coaches at the moment.

9-8 That was the worst record to get a Wild Card spot last season. Does 9-8 guarantee playoffs? No, and maybe this year 10-7 is the cutoff. Who knows? However, at 1-3 and talking about possibly sitting Joe for 2-3 weeks really isn’t bad. A backup might actually have a better chance at beating the Cardinals than a gimped up Burrow. Then the Seahawks come to town and that one will be a little tougher. Let’s say they go 1-1 there and then hit the bye week 2-4. Burrow gets 3 weeks for the price of two and they hit the tougher sledding part of the schedule with 11 games to go. That would mean they have to at least go 7-4 over that span just to get to that 9-8 spot. In looking at the schedule and they way the team has played to this point, I’m not exactly optimistic. Really hard to say at this point, but if things don’t dramatically improve and the path is harder to get things done, there might be better options in the table. Namely ensuring Burrow is fully healthy entering 2024. Window be damned.

Bengals lose.

Maybe you should hire Terry Tate, Office Linebacker !! Glad you checked in…

I didn’t even see any plays or highlights from the game yet. The score seems to let me know all I need to know. On a cool side note, we got to go down on the Texans field after the game today and met and got pictures with Andre Johnson. Really cool time !!

Apparently… Didn’t see that coming. Not at all.

Out of town for another game and just saw the score. What the fuck ??

And the season comes to an end tonight. All around it’s hard to be disappointed. Most people expected them to be in the basement most of the season. No one made a projection of them still being in the race with 3 games remaining in the season. Get some rest, some pitching, and get after it in 2024 !!

Shit

Maybe this is where the one year TE deals die and the 2024 draft sees a more permanent solution. God knows some stability there for a 4-5 year rookie wage deal won't complicate matters. Too early to ask for Brock Bowers in the first next year ??

Maybe I can hire someone to handle the leaves this year after all then.