Answer to our offense??

[combatbengal]

Going from 1-15-1 to 9 wins is a phenomenal feat. Not sure how we’ve accomplished this when our offense can’t put up more than 17 points a game though! In my opinion, we’re still way to predictable. I’m a novice fan, and I sit there watching the games telling my wife what play we’re about to run and 90% of the time I’m right. Benson up the right side, and there he goes, to the right side. If I’m able to do this, what are the professional defensive coordinators doing! That’s right, they’re keeping us from scoring! Personally, I think we should have kept TJ. He always came to play, caught the ball, made positive yardage after the catch, and took some double teams off of Chad! This year we haven’t gone down field that much like we used to. I don’t think we went down field once against the Vikings. Palmer holds on to the ball way too long and can’t scramble. Maybe it’s time to draft a new QB. Can we bring back our no huddle offense? We were very successful with it. We don’t even use it with our two minute offense. Oh which reminds me, our time/clock management sucks. Less than two min in the half, we have a chance to score at least a field goal and what do we do, we run the ball up the middle. Instead of using one of our two remaining time outs, we throw a short pass which doesn’t get any yardage and takes a ton of time off of the clock. How many penalties are we going to accept from #77? That guys is huge but holds every game! I have no idea what the answer is to improve this offense! New OC? New WR? New QB?

[gregstephens]

1-15-1? Dude, this post isn't like you. That reminds me of the time MomsLikeMe added up a 17 game record for last season. It was 4-11-1. Anyhoo, it's two things to me. Lack of discipline early on causing really stupid penalties out of the gate. Throws the whole team rythym off. Also, Palmer is scrambling too much on pass plays. How many throws did he make yesterday comfortably out of the pocket versus throwing on the run? Didn't count it myself, but it is definitely an issue.

The play calling? Another issue for another day. Won't change until Brat is gone.

[bwillycuse]

The play calling? Another issue for another day. Won't change until Brat is gone.

Im at the end of my rope with Brat. I will cheer the day he is gone from the Bengals. Im just tired of him and his fatal errors he makes.

No matter the success the offense had or will ahve under him, I will always feel this way with some of the playcalls he has made.

That pass yesterday was unforgiveable. Take the frickin knee or throw down field. Stupid pass play that could get 1 yard or a turnover.

As I said yesterday - The coaches are just as much to blame as the players. The game plan was non existent. Our so called plan is to run and slow the game down? Well you got stuffed on half your runs - and without Bensons long run, then day would have been an utter failure all around.

Oh and how many time can we get first and goal then run-run -pass- fg.

I am so irritated with this offense. PAlmer looks scared to throw. Wr ae not open, and we are throwing to Coats for some reason..a player that has proven he cant hang onto the ball even if he catches it.

Ugh - I dont see good things next week.

Id like to be proven wrong.

[Ickey44]

The play calling? Another issue for another day. Won't change until Brat is gone.

Im at the end of my rope with Brat. I will cheer the day he is gone from the Bengals. Im just tired of him and his fatal errors he makes.

No matter the success the offense had or will ahve under him, I will always feel this way with some of the playcalls he has made.

That pass yesterday was unforgiveable. Take the frickin knee or throw down field. Stupid pass play that could get 1 yard or a turnover.

As I said yesterday - The coaches are just as much to blame as the players. The game plan was non existent. Our so called plan is to run and slow the game down? Well you got stuffed on half your runs - and without Bensons long run, then day would have been an utter failure all around.

Oh and how many time can we get first and goal then run-run -pass- fg.

I am so irritated with this offense. PAlmer looks scared to throw. Wr ae not open, and we are throwing to Coats for some reason..a player that has proven he cant hang onto the ball even if he catches it.

Ugh - I dont see good things next week.

Id like to be proven wrong.

I agree. The red zone offense has become stale. You have to be creative when you get down there because there's so much less field to work with. Earlier this year they did well. Lately, they get stuffed on runs on 1st and 2nd down then they're forced to throw it on third. Then they kick the field goal.

I hate to think that Henry being out is the reason the passing game has suffered, but it seems like since he broke his arm Palmer has been lost.

I know they want to pound the run, but there needs to be a back up plan for when that doesn't work. They've repeatedly said over the last few weeks that the passing game would be there when needed, but guess what? It wasn't.

[walzav29]

I just don't know if it's the scheme or players. It's still better we're a running team now. We just need to pass efficiently.

[belmontbengal]

Going from 1-15-1 to 9 wins is a phenomenal feat. Not sure how we’ve accomplished this when our offense can’t put up more than 17 points a game though! In my opinion, we’re still way to predictable. I’m a novice fan, and I sit there watching the games telling my wife what play we’re about to run and 90% of the time I’m right. Benson up the right side, and there he goes, to the right side. If I’m able to do this, what are the professional defensive coordinators doing! That’s right, they’re keeping us from scoring! Personally, I think we should have kept TJ. He always came to play, caught the ball, made positive yardage after the catch, and took some double teams off of Chad! This year we haven’t gone down field that much like we used to. I don’t think we went down field once against the Vikings. Palmer holds on to the ball way too long and can’t scramble. Maybe it’s time to draft a new QB. Can we bring back our no huddle offense? We were very successful with it. We don’t even use it with our two minute offense. Oh which reminds me, our time/clock management sucks. Less than two min in the half, we have a chance to score at least a field goal and what do we do, we run the ball up the middle. Instead of using one of our two remaining time outs, we throw a short pass which doesn’t get any yardage and takes a ton of time off of the clock. How many penalties are we going to accept from #77? That guys is huge but holds every game! I have no idea what the answer is to improve this offense! New OC? New WR? New QB?

/Offtopic Blame this on the season, but did anyone else think of the movie Elf while reading this? Specifically, when Buddy is in the doc's office and he's rattling off a million questions...hehe...such a great flic.

Ok, now on topic, The three things that struck me most from yesterday are

1. 
   
2. The Bengals have talent but little poise...too many penalties...SEVEN before the first quarter ended
3. The O-line seems to be having a very hard time keeping a clean pocket over the last few games...if Carson doesn't have a pocket we don't have a passing game...which leads to
4. After Chad, we have little to NO depth at the wide receiver position which only highlights the horrid luck with injuries at the TE position.
   

In my opinion, yesterday did help the team in one area. It made several needs very clear for the draft/free agency. O-line or WR or Safety in the first please.

Have a great Monday all.

[blueridge]

The passing game is suffering because of ineffective WR play. Simple as that. Bratkowski's offense is all abouit the WRs and ours, except for Chad, stink. There is no effective #2 option. Coles was supposed to be it. He is not. Caldwell plays the slot. It is not difficult for a good NFL defense to shut down a #1 receiver like Chad if there is no other viable receiver to worry about. The Bengals don't have one of those right now. Jesus, 3 of the 6 WRs on this roster have not caught a pass this season. Unbelievable. Don't blame the pass blocking of the O-line. Palmer is getting heat because he has to hold on to the ball waiting for someone to get open. A good pass-blocking O-line should give the QB 4 seconds to get a pass off. To do that,the f**king WRs need to get open. If Chad is doubled or tripled, Coles or Caldwell need to step up. Caldwell has done OK for a 2nd year guy getting his first significant playing time. Coles has no excuse. He just plain sucks.

[DC_Bengals_Fan]

That pass yesterday was unforgiveable. Take the frickin knee or throw down field. Stupid pass play that could get 1 yard or a turnover.

Isn't that a head-coach sort of decision? I agree on the stupidity of it - I mean, I'd make fun of a 10 year old kid for doing that in Madden - but shouldn't Marvin be deciding whether to push the ball or take a knee?

That decision has gotten caught up in the wash of the game in general, but I still can't get over how mind blowingly stupid it was. Potentially the dumbest thing I've seen this whole year. I almost think Marvin needs to appoint an Assistant Coach of Clock Management, whose sole duty will be slapping Marvin before a total brain cramp like that.

[JoePong]

I haven't watched a whole lot of other NFL teams play this season other than the bengals. But I was watching some of the NY-Philly game yesterday, and I was shocked at the very noticeable difference between the passes of both Eli Manning and Donovan McNabb compared to Carson. Those guys just had so much zip and velocity on their passes, especially on 20 yard out patterns to the sideline. It was like I was watching an entirely different level of football. I don't know if there is something wrong with Palmer's arm, but he just doesn't seem to have it.

[Sea Ray]

This offense has a huge problem with its passing game.

Problem #1 can't be fixed right away and that's the coaching. I want to see both Bratkowski and the receivers coach Mike Sheppard gone. All of our WRs have underachieved this year except for Chad. Out of Caldwell, Coles, Purify, Simpson and Cosby this team can't find a decent #2 to Chad. They can't all suck. Maybe there's a coaching component.

Problem #2 is the O-line. This is not a pass blocking O-line. Lines rarely can do both and this one is a run blocking line and that's the way it'll stay until we get a more athletic LT.

However Palmer's sacks are not only due to the line. They're due to his WRs not getting open and the defenses he's facing stacking the line.

So for the immediate future I propose de-activating Lavernes Coles. What can it hurt? Then activate Jerome Simpson and let's see him on the field. We need help at WR and it's time he contribute.

Then I want to see some plays designed with Purify and Simpson as the primary receivers. It's there for the taking. Defenses are keying on Chad.

Bratkowski is to blame for the predictable playcalling and the lack of discipline (penalties) of this offense. You saw what happened when he threw a new play out there yesterday on our only TD. Why can't we see more of that? A couple years ago we beat the Ravens on a flea flicker. Why haven't we seen the play again?

[BlainThePain]

First of all, the O-line is not the problem. I don't know what the hell you guys have been watching, but our O-line has been pass blocking well. Our O-line currently ranks 9th in sacks allowed and 10th in QB hits given up, and all of this with WRs that can't get open and a QB that holds onto the ball forever.

Our main problems are as follows:

1. Chad is the only WR getting open. The Henry injury hurt us more than I thought it would, and Coles just isn't stepping up. I hope Simpson can refine his game by next season.

2. Carson has not been accurate. Carson has just not looked right all season, and he has consistently been throwing behind receivers.

3. The tightend position. We've lost countless first down conversions and a handful of passing touchdowns on the season just because the TE couldn't hold onto the ball.

Three things that could fix this offense:

1. Finding an all-around TE that teams have to gameplan around. Somebody like Todd Heap or Jason Witten that can stay on the field on all three downs. This would keeps teams from dropping both safeties back deep all of the time.

2. Jerome Simpson. From what I've read, I am fully convinced he can become one of those freakishly athletic deep threats. If he can just adapt to the pro game.

3. Bernard Scott learning to pick up the blitz. A huge reason the 2005 offense was so potent was because we had an explosive back in Perry to dump it off to on 3rd downs. Don't get me wrong, I love me some Brian Leonard, but if we can get Scott in on some third down packages, and he can provide that explosive dump-off option, the offense could soar. I think the only thing holding him back is his blitz pick-up.

By the way, Whitworth has give up the same ammount of sacks as Joe Thomas this season. Also running to left side has been tremendously more succesful than the right.

[gregstephens]

First of all, the O-line is not the problem. I don't know what the hell you guys have been watching, but our O-line has been pass blocking well. Our O-line currently ranks 9th in sacks allowed and 10th in QB hits given up, and all of this with WRs that can't get open and a QB that holds onto the ball forever.

Our main problems are as follows:

1. Chad is the only WR getting open. The Henry injury hurt us more than I thought it would, and Coles just isn't stepping up. I hope Simpson can refine his game by next season.

2. Carson has not been accurate. Carson has just not looked right all season, and he has consistently been throwing behind receivers.

3. The tightend position. We've lost countless first down conversions and a handful of passing touchdowns on the season just because the TE couldn't hold onto the ball.

Three things that could fix this offense:

1. Finding an all-around TE that teams have to gameplan around. Somebody like Todd Heap or Jason Witten that can stay on the field on all three downs. This would keeps teams from dropping both safeties back deep all of the time.

2. Jerome Simpson. From what I've read, I am fully convinced he can become one of those freakishly athletic deep threats. If he can just adapt to the pro game.

3. Bernard Scott learning to pick up the blitz. A huge reason the 2005 offense was so potent was because we had an explosive back in Perry to dump it off to on 3rd downs. Don't get me wrong, I love me some Brian Leonard, but if we can get Scott in on some third down packages, and he can provide that explosive dump-off option, the offense could soar. I think the only thing holding him back is his blitz pick-up.

By the way, Whitworth has give up the same ammount of sacks as Joe Thomas this season. Also running to left side has been tremendously more succesful than the right.

I'll agree with you to one extent: the o-line isn't getting Palmer killed like last season. However, Palmer is throwing too many passes on the run, and I think that is an o-line function as well as a factor on the accuracy issue.

[icehole3]

Merril Hoge said after watching film (he says he watches 50 hours of film a week) that the Bengals line isnt giving Palmer time to throw, didnt mention who is breaking down, but I could imagine guys who are false starting and holding are the culprits, I know the announcers mentioned Bobbie Williams let someone come scot free up the middle and you also have Kevin Williams saying after the Vikings watched film they thought they saw the same old Bengals

[Pidge]

Merril Hoge said after watching film (he says he watches 50 hours of film a week) that the Bengals line isnt giving Palmer time to throw, didnt mention who is breaking down, but I could imagine guys who are false starting and holding are the culprits, I know the announcers mentioned Bobbie Williams let someone come scot free up the middle and you also have Kevin Williams saying after the Vikings watched film they thought they saw the same old Bengals

What, the saw an offense capable of ripping any defense in the league wide open and leave them bleeding from every orifice, fitting on the floor but that the D is as brittle as a wanker's dried tissue?

I think they were looking at the wrong tapes.