AMPHAR

Ain't nothing but a Dalton party....

The confusing part is Burrow himself declared "pick your poison", but his play doesn't reflect that. When they checked it down against Baltimore his targets got him scoring opportunities more times than punts, when he didn't it resulted in negative plays giving the Ravens better field position and better scoring opportunities. When you declare "pick your poison" then that means when a defense plays you dishonestly you are simply going to grind them up with what they are giving you. Yet time and time again he elects not to go this route.

Once again this week is an opportunity for the Offensive Line to establish improvement and hopefully dominance. Saints seem to be about the same level of giving up yards as Ravens/Dolphins.

Disagree (checking down part). Burrow took a sack. Next two drives checked it down to Hurst and resulted in punts. Then after the INT. Checking it down was quite effective as they didn't punt the rest of the game. Post Int: 1st drive - running game carried it. With a big play to Thomas. TD 2nd drive - Check downs to Perine. He caught 3 passes. This got them a shot at the endzone but ultimately a FG. 3rd drive - Burrow passed on checking it down, INT 4th drive - Check downs to Boyd, Hurst, and Perine creating first downs. They got Chase 1 v. 1 down and got the PI. They got stopped on the goal line 5th and final drive - TD. Some good runs, but a lot of short passes. That's it once they started to take what the D gave them they had to punt twice. The lone exception was throwing into coverage vs. two targets open underneath. IMO, the Bengals need to have mindset to damage defenses like this until they change. Throwing into coverage or taking sacks will only encourage them to play more coverage because the Bengals are proving to be their own worse enemy on offense.

To be honest until Joe Burrow can sit there and start taking the yards given. D-coordinators are not going to change and the griping about scheme or whatever will be futile. As the clips are coming out: Burrow isn't playing bad. He just isn't playing elite. His Int once again on first down should have been checked down take your easy 5 yard gain and move on to 2nd and 5. Clean pocket. Then the line that is playing better but I wouldn't say great absolutely has to punish teams for playing coverage. Otherwise the ticket to the playoffs is relying on Defense.

I think its a common deal because you always see a cluster of guys in the booth. There have been several teams struggle early in this year with the play clock.

Absolutely agree.

Given the amount of deep zone. Mixon and that line should never be close to the number 1 yard or less carries they have at this point in the season. IMO, that is issue No. 1. The players have to have that mentality they'll grind out 3 yard carries at worse but never going to have that amount 1 yard or less carries. No. 2 QB can't take sacks. QB can't pass on free yards and take sacks. Why as a D-Coordinator would you ever call anything else? It is unlikely they'll gash in run game and the QB is highly likely to take a sack or force it into coverage. There are scheme concerns but I don't know enough about it to say what; other than to look at the results and clearly see something ain't right.

Hurst was wide open on that play. It was 3rd and 12. Hurst would not have gotten the first but you can't pass a 6-10 yard gain and turn it into a 8 yard sack. Sure maybe something could be drawn up but really the point of the matter is they did a shitty job run blocking on first and 2nd downs. Then your QB takes a sack. No D-Coord with any sense would ever stop deep zone with results like that. That series ultimately sets up the Ravens to go up 10-0. After this series Burrow started to take the check downs. Run game improved and the Bengals ultimately took the lead. Part of the issue the Bengals need a toughness attitude to not lose yards running the football and to not to take sacks when teams are sitting in deep zone. After watching that video, I'm wondering what Joe Burrow is thinking. Check it down. Let your athletic TE try to make a play. If not punt and see if your reliable defense can hold. Probably swung field position 20 yards. Sometimes it seems Joe Burrow thinks he is Qbing the 2020 team that couldn't stop anybody. There is no reason to take these sacks and pass on check downs. The defense is good and punting isn't a bad thing.

IMO, the Bengals hit a lot of big plays last year and it probably covered some warts. Players as much as coaches have to show the ability and willingness to grind out drives by checking down constantly. Until they do that I'm not sure why any team would give them looks that would put them at risk of big plays.

Past the 2nd quarter, I thought the line played its best ball. Burrow got to the check down quite a few times without being touched and the running game showed signs of life. I do think the offensive brain trust need to figure out a way to get more points given the level of talent they have.

Crap.

Simms bringing the heat. The offense has under performed. The last 2 weeks should have been yardage and point buffets. The Ravens haven't been able to stop anyone, so hopefully they get on the right path.

Sample and Ossai did not play much the first two games. They have 1 sack between them through 4 games. Through 4 games they've played under 30% of snaps. The Bengals pass rush has not produced many sacks. I think the overall numbers through 4 games are stunted a little because the first two offenses had no desire to challenge the defense instead they decided to protect leads because the Bengals offense was stuck in the mud. But overall there has not been much rotation.

Bateman supposedly in a walking boot. That is a big blow, if he can't go for the Ravens.

Would love a Hurst extension.

Highest run blocking grade via PFF was 51.5. All other starters failed to crack 50. That's the problem. Watching network feed you saw La'el fail miserably to get his head across on a backside block. Karras driven back on goal line stepping on Burrow's foot. Then Cappa getting set on his ass. Glass Eaters! If you can see that shit plain as day on Network feed it won't look pretty when breaking down an All-22. No creditable analyst would stick up for the push in the run game. Pass blocking wasn't great either but they got the ball out. This has to be a major point of improvement.

I think run blocking has some more heavy lifting to go, without checking the individual runs it seemed the 1 yard or less carries had diminished. Not a whole lot of pressure from the Phins. I would think run blocking grades from PFF won't be great. Another top defense performance. Won the TO battle again. Really great job keeping Cheetah and Waddle in check (out of the endzone) and under 400 yards total offense. I didn't like the 4 and 1 play call (first half) and I think they should have had more than 3 points out of their first 2nd half drives that could have sealed the game instead of losing the lead. They really need to work to get that offense potential into offense production. But they won by 15 on the road and then an undefeated AFC team by 12. Not ugly wins by any means but probably 1 to 2 finishing drives from being dominating.

I think the run blocking is shit. I had Mixon down for 1 carry that he should popped for more. Mixon had couple nice receptions.

Left points on the field and Who Dey!

Whit's HOF case probably would have been damaged IF he stayed in Cincy. He got 2 Conference Championships and a Superbowl to add to his legacy which, IMO, should put him over the top. Honestly, I don't think he would have lasted that long in the NFL extending with the Bengals under Marvin. The organization was stale and stuck trying to capture the lost glory of the 2015 season. They might have won a few more regular season games, maybe even qualified for the playoffs but as long as they were married to Marvin and Dalton playoff failures would have happened. Whit probably would have called it quits around 2018 or 19 when the bottom was falling out of the 2012-2015 group. Heck the Bengals even rolled Zac Taylor out there in his first 2 seasons with a ton of cap room dedicated to Marvin's old productive players trying to recapture that 2015 season.

Yeah it should look like a giant Bengal helmet.

Trey Hendrickson named AFC Defensive Player of the week off his thrashing of the Jets.

Dirty play. NFL should take this off the ref's plate. 1. Install a targeting review. 2. Install a post game video review by a safety committee - assign suspensions/fines by Monday.

The line has been garbage to start the season. It would be a guess they regressed from the same point in last season.