HoosierCat

Panthers sign Njongmeta off the ps.

Per Taylor, Shemar is doubtful for Sunday.

Text of a tweet from PFF's Timo Riske: Bengals OL combined pass blocking grade yesterday w/ Joe Burrow in the field yesterday: 49.9 w/ Jake Browning on the field: 73.1 In 2023 in was 67.2 with Browning and 54.6 with Burrow It's a weird paradox that Burrow is much better, but his play comes with diminished returns, because the Bengals OL just can't deal with his offense. Will be interesting to see how Zac Taylor can adjust this time over a long time of 3 months.

Believe me, I get it. It's all I've seen today online. Season is over, Bengals FO sucks, oline sucks, Burrow has been wasted, time to tank for a top pick, yada yadda yadda. I don't blame anyone for bailing. That said, my response is, fuk that noise. If they're gonna ride or die with Jake, I'm on board the bus.

Yeah, that was 2005 IIRC. Great line. But to greg's point, yeah it could just be that Joe is snakebit. It's not like he was taking some historic pounding. He was sacked 5 times against Cleveland and Jax. Other QBs with 5 sacks on the year are Lamar and Russell Wilson. Eight QBs have been dropped 6+ times, including Rodgers. Poor Cam Ward has been sacked 11 times, so he might be dead by week 17. Another 8 QBs have 4 sacks, including Mahomes, Stafford and Flacco. Bottom line, 19/32 QBs have 4+ sacks, including Burrow with 5. He was not getting especially beat up.

I haven't had a chance to watch more than the highlights, but from what Joe & Jake were saying on the postgame show, the Jags's D was really focused on Burrow while he was in. After he got hurt, they went to a more conventional defense, probably because they now considered it an actual possibility that the Bengals might, y'know, run the ball or throw passes that weren't back-shoulder bombs to Chase. They both thought that if the Jags had stuck with what they were doing with Joe, Browning would have been toast.

A day early for this thread I know but news: it will be the battle of the backups, Jake Browning vs. Carson Wentz on Sunday. McCarthy out with an ankle injury/ https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/46272477/vikings-qb-jj-mccarthy-likely-week-3-ankle-injury Too bad actually, McCarthy has been awful.

I think Joe is special, but every QB has limitations in their game and no one, not Joe, not the coaches, seems particularly interested in addressing his. But more to the point, this year in about 5.5 quarters Burrow had 189 yards and 2 TDs. That's after having a completely healthy offseason, full camp with all his weapons signed, happy and healthy, and a couple quarters' worth of preseason time with the starters to knock off the rust. Meanwhile, Browning has been dicking around with the 2's and 3's and scrubs, playing sloppy mopup presason ball, comes in cold, and puts up 249 yards, throws two TDs and rushes for a third, game-winning score, in 2.5 quarters. Yes, he also threw 3 picks, but the point is that he's playing with the exact same players on offense. Same oline, same receivers, same backs, same TEs. That's not what you would expect from the hype around Joe.

And that's pretty much the Bengals' dilemma in a nutshell. If you let Joe cook, then Joe will eventually get cooked, because even the best oline (which ours isn't, to be clear) is going to struggle to pull this style of offense off consistently. But if you change the scheme, you take away what makes Burrow so special. The Bengals have never been able to find a happy medium.

PFF oline grades: OBj 85.9 pass / 53.2 run / 72.5 overall Fairchild 84.9 / 53.9 / 66.5 Karras 66.0 / 54.3 / 58.8 Mims 61.3 / 41.8 / 53.6 Risner 45.3 / 57.4 / 48.1 Ford 0.0 / 59.5 / 45.6

Yup, just get it (surgery) over with and start the road back. So, ride or die with Jake Browning, or go get someone else (Ryan Tannehill? Make Tom Grossi's day and trade for Kirk Cousins?)? I'm betting they stick with Browning but they're going to have to bring in another QB. ETA note from Schefty:

Positive news on Shemar (ankle), he’s considered week to week.

Part of it is that defenses play the Bengals differently when Burrow is the QB. With Joe in there, it’s all eyes and hands on him. They don’t actually believe the Bengals are going to run the ball or even add much razzle dazzle to the passing game. It’s just give Joe the ball and let one of his uber-talented wide receivers beat coverage downfield. That puts huge pressure on the oline and breakdowns are bound to occur, no matter the talent level. you saw this yesterday, and we saw it when Browning was the starter a few years ago. With him in, defenses can’t just tee off like the do with Joe. For one thing, they might actually run the ball! And Jake is the better play action qb. That will slow down the pass rush too. They also do more in the pass game, Browning’s first toss was a screen for example. Remember we talked about this years ago, how they needed to incorporate what Browning was doing into Joe’s game. And they did some but he’s still 90% about chucking it downfield. But the bottom line is the oline will look better with Browning just because they don’t have to be perfect every play.

Shin counts as two feet

Pop an edible and relax. We’ll see how it goes but 3/4 of the next games are nfc north games, and if we gotta lose some games those are the ones to lose. If I’m Zac I’m focusing on beating Denver in two weeks and hoping Joe is back for Pitt.