AMPHAR

I think some of the tackling can be blamed on Zac. I think Aikman said last year Bengals don't give reps to the run offense which in turns hurts your run defense. I think Golden's soft coverage puts guys in tough pursuit spots as well and his pursuit is bad. Its a very soft unimpressive scheme at many times. I mean if you are going to give cushion, then you have to have guys rally and swarm because the completion is going to happen 99% of the time with a 5 yard cushion. Too many guys taking bad angles arriving in bad position to begin with. Not physical. Several other problems too but those are the main ones. Get the pads on them and get them running pursuit drills.

Just nice to beat a beatable Steelers team at home for once. From 2022- til now all those Steeler teams were mid and the Bengals just laying an egg in various ways at home to lose. Now if they can get them on the road that'd be something.

Tackling was bad. However, 3rd down and long defense and maybe one 2nd and 20 were just flat out mental/pitiful efforts that made the game close. Make those plays the tackling that was bad probably good enough to give them an average effort. Just a bad performance.

Bengals weren't prepared to start the game. A lot of mental errors. Pitiful defensive effort. Going under center a little bit, QB throwing the ball away, AND running game can make the O-line look a whole lot better. Flacco didn't get benched in Cleveland. Its the constant cycle they've been in since the return. I think I said that opening week. Fans think Cleveland is an easy win. Not with a competent QB. The dumpster fire doesn't happen until they undermine the team with QB drama. Thank God those idiots got rid of Baker.

Based on the talk of Hassan Reddick last year Trey isn't getting them anything in October 2025 that won't be there March 2026. Its going to be conditional/pick swap that value would be somewhere in the 100-150 draft pick range for an in-season trade. A comp pick for Trey will be that range at a min. Jets got a 4th round comp pick when he left in FA this past off season. Bengals didn't conduct a fire sale with Bates or Higgins because during their time playing on 1 year/last year contracts they were squarely in the playoff race. AFC Champ, AFC Runner Up, 9-8;9-8. The non playoff seasons they weren't eliminated until last weeks.

Coaching change talk is worthless jibberish unless its addressing two factors: 1. Burrow. 2. Bengals view 2015 as bad circumstance ruining 2015. It can be argued that "bad circumstances" ruined back to back AFC Champ opportunity. So you know the Bengals are going to fear the downside of blowing it all up against the upside which 2022. They made some all-time bad decisions trying to get Marvin/Dalton back to 2015. But to the point; anybody speculating on "coaching change" at this point to be credible in my mind as to address these 2 points. If you change the coach? Do you dump Burrow? Do you let Burrow in on the coaching search? If you are top 5 drafting in a loaded QB class, should you dump Burrow and the coach?

So tried of the Bengals playing like crap against the Steelers at home. For me its a must win or get fired kinda game. I know that won't happen, but come on this season sucks right now. Do something.

O-line conversation starts with Joe Flacco. If the 3 sack per game metric exists in his starts. Look at the OL coach/talent. If the pressure metrics improve look more at Burrow and Zac Taylor. Flacco isn't going to run much. He's not a statue either. Throws it way vs. trying to endlessly extend the play. Its almost a perfect guinea pig.

We know 2 of those were off open WR hands that landed in Bengal defender hands. Another INT was off a hail mary attempt before half. Jake can't see the field. The INTs are bad enough, but there's plenty of tape of him not throwing to open WRs because he isn't sure of what he's seeing. Which should shock absolutely no one because its the exact same thing he does in preseason only against back ups that aren't schemed up. Its amazing they locked into him as #2 for so long.

Sticking up for the Bengals O-line is dangerously close to turd polishing. Are they worse in the league? No. Are they to blame for Burrow's latest injury? No. Would Jake Browning have played better behind the league's best O-line? I'm guessing NO. He sucked the same as he did in multiple preseasons. However, the Bengals o-line is as it always has been recently. The 3 sack a game average exists. Not good. They give up a high amount of pressure despite a lower blitz rate which means teams can pressure well enough without giving the Bengals an advantage in coverage. Bengal fan rode Alexander in the ground at a time he actually had lines that would only give up 17 sacks in season, lol. Many fans wanted to be victim of a poor o-line, welp here you go. There's numerous excuses but until this unit gets off 3 sacks a game its hard to make any case for them at all. I do think Mims outside of Denver is playing very well. I think age is showing on Karras and OBJ. Hopefully they have some young OL to invest in.

Flacco should be an instant upgrade. Now all other units of the team needed to be held accountable to get back on track. Only thing I'll take issue with is Flacco supposedly being benched. He was the best option for winning with Colts and Browns. Those organizations needed to find out about other QBs.

True. Flacco has already had 1 game week prep for Packers defense. Didn't really play very good stat wise. They did beat the Packers.

ANY...... veteran qb would be a massive upgrade in competence over Browning. Is Flacco enough to get them back in the race for playoffs or just make a 20 point beat down into a 11 point beat down? Flacco was QB stability enough for the Browns to make a playoff run. Bengals defense isn't a good as that one. Flacco has played more under center and more a play action QB. So? He can push the ball down the field. So we'll see, I guess.

Bengals trading for Joe Flacco. I think that is an awesome move without knowing compensation and just valuing an upgrade over Browning.

Rivers looks better than Risner. Unless someone is removing clips from the All-22s that are finding their way out. I don't really think the line is primary problem for lack of scoring. I see a QB that's in shotgun the majority of the time in a mostly clean pocket.

Two huge issues that need to be addressed prior to submitting any "fixes". 1. Jake Browning sat on this roster for 3 Preseasons. Never looked good. Looked competent in SOME starts during that 7 game stretch. I think he caught some defenses playing bad during that stretch and looked incompetent in 2 games vs. Steelers. 2. We saw Washington come out of no where last year. Seeing Patriots pulling an upset last night. Talent gaps are not deep in the NFL. No competition for a #2 QB. Overall I don't think this group of players/coaches have really held a competitive off season program or camp. Sure they look great going against themselves, but its clear they aren't competing and other teams have passed. Then 3rd issue: Once you accept point 1. Jake Browning should have never been unquestioned number 2. He's not a QB you park in shotgun and try to throw the ball around all the time. Although even IF you put the governor on him it probably doesn't change the outcome, maybe the margin looks better.

Myles Murphy has the unfortunate designation of a 1st round draft pick at 28. Its being proven to be an average to below average class outside of Will Anderson. The next two DE taken after him have been busts also; one of which has already been cut and resides on our PS. So I have my doubts he'll ever produce a double digit sack year. Could he produce a Sam Hubbard stat line? Have no idea and that's the issue right now. He's on pace for 2 sacks. If he's turning that corner lets hope he runs into a QB more often while he's doing it. I don't fully buy it.

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.