Bye Week Thoughts and Conversation

[HoosierCat]

The problem with an offensive lineman is it only takes one bad play to erase a bunch of good work. Eric Steinbach was a top tier guard,  but he’s remembered for one play here and it was a playoff (and arguably career, for Carson) wrecker. Unfair as hell but it’s an unforgiving job.

On another note, there’s some capital-S speculation going around about the Bengals pursuing Fournette. He was scheduled to visit Buffalo today but the visit got cancelled because the RB they thought they were going to lose from their PS is staying. Reportedly Fournette has interest from multiple teams. As someone who argued they should sign him this past offseason I’m obviously a fan of the idea but as far as I can tell this is all smoke, no fire.

[AMPHAR]

From the Caskey Clicker review on Sacks

1. Volson completely blown up

2. Miscommunication - maybe by Burrow missing the hot read or a WR missing the hot read.  Maybe Williams taking inside and doing poor job.

3. Trap Pass -  He highlighted a couple of these.   They simply did a poor job of executing.    1. was tipped ball to an open chase (faulted Mixon)  2. One, if block better is a huge play to Irv Smith instead an outlet to Chase for a decent gain.  3.  Sack.     These are play action type looks with a pulling guard (Cappa), hard block to execute by Karras.

[HoosierCat]

Just going to leave this here since, in addition to Fournette, there have been a couple online articles calling for the Bengals to work a dead with Denver to bring back Perine.

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/mecole-hardman-trade-grades-jets-send-former-chiefs-wr-back-to-kansas-city-for-swap-of-late-round-draft-picks/

I’m fine with what I’ve heard out of Callahan the last couple days, but unless they’re planning on, say, giving Chase Brown a shit ton more carries post-bye, I’m not sure it amounts to much more than rearranging the deck chairs.

[ArmyBengal]

I wasn't thrilled with Perine leaving and it's obviously hurt.
That being said, I just don't get the unwillingness to get Brown more involved.

They loved his toughness, production, burst, intelligence and great fit for the Bengals locker room.
Limited pass protection noted by Callahan, but didn't seem worried about that.
Thought he would be able to spell Mixon through games.  Better runner than catcher.
Noted there were a handful of RB's still on the board they liked, but Brown was someone they felt good about.
Also mentioned they are high on Williams and Evans, so they thought they would be involved as well.

Now I obviously don't know what's going on during practice or in the RB room, but it seems odd to me when considering the above.
Mixon has gotten 96 carries through the first 6 weeks. While that's not concerning, Williams, Evans and Brown have 9 combined.
That really doesn't jive with the thought of "spelling" Mixon.  Why?

Are they going to all of sudden get Perine involved more?  It doesn't seem that way.
If so, why haven't the others gotten reps to this point?  They really don't know what these guys could do with more opportunities.

[Stripes]

I’m not convinced Chase Brown is good. I thought he looked rough in the preseason, and his limited regular season snaps haven’t been an improvement.

[HoosierCat]

There is a good column today in the WaPo that I think hits on a lot of what we are discussing here. Gift link around the paywall here. But the gist of it is that what we ae seeing with the bengals offense isn't unique, it's happing all over the league, because defenses have finally caught up to offenses.

Quote

It’s impossible to ignore the evidence. Through six weeks, nine teams are allowing fewer than 300 yards per game. The Browns are yielding just 200.4, which is the stingiest any defense has been through its first five games in more than a half-century.

To put the statistics in context, no defense allowed fewer than 300 yards per game last season over the full 17-game schedule. In 2021, just one team did. 

Week 6 proved to be a perfect storm, magnifying all the good of NFL defenses — and the bad of offenses. The 15-game slate saw just five of the 30 teams surpass 21 points. Miami (42) and Jacksonville (37) were the lone teams to score more than 26. Across the league, teams averaged 18.4 points, which represented the lowest average for any NFL week in nine years.

How are the doing this and how can offenses respond? Well, if you have been reading this thread you know the answer already.

Quote

By employing more two-high-safety schemes, teams are limiting the explosive plays of every squad that doesn’t have the Miami Dolphins’ speed and forcing quarterbacks to read shifting coverages in the middle of the field. That extra time increases the impact ultra-athletic defensive linemen can have. When tasked with defending in space, a new generation of players has the agility and skills to thrive in the open field.

While these schemes and personnel adjustments make defenses more susceptible to the run, only a handful of offenses draw up effective running plays and have the patience to stick with them. Those teams are thriving. The rest seem to be pretending that no one has figured them out.

So yeah, the No. 1 thing they should be doing during the bye is looking at ways to run it more. How, I don't care. Put more on Trayveon, give Brown a shot, sign or trade for somebody, I don't care. Hell, give Captain America a few lugs for once.  

[ArmyBengal]

My comments were based of of what Callahan and the RB coach had to say about him, not my personal thoughts.

I can’t see them saying all that about him and coming up with the conclusion that he isn’t that good. Although I could be wrong, I don’t think that can be the final determination after 2 carries. Literally.

Honestly I don’t care if they give Brown more carries or Williams or Evans, just give them more. I can’t help but think it has to do with pass blocking. Maybe that’s the talk of maybe brining Perine back. He’s a plus pass blocker.

All I know is they need more than Mixon getting 90% of the carries.

[HoosierCat]

So anyhow, Bengals are off but the rest of the division is playing.

Lions @ Ravens: easily our best chance for help. Go Detroit!

Browns @ Colts: lol Clowns in a walk.

Steelers @ Rams. I’ll go Pitt here. They’re not that good but LA is awful. 

 

[ArmyBengal]

Curious what the Panthers want for WR Terrace Marshall since they gave him permission to seek a trade? He’s someone I had my eyes on since him, Burrow and Chase played together at LSU.  Obviously not a RB or TE, but WR is going to be a discussion come the end of the season.

[Stripes]

3 hours ago, HoosierCat said:

So anyhow, Bengals are off but the rest of the division is playing.

Lions @ Ravens: easily our best chance for help. Go Detroit!

Browns @ Colts: lol Clowns in a walk.

Steelers @ Rams. I’ll go Pitt here. They’re not that good but LA is awful. 

 

I'm more optimistic about the Rams, and I might even say that game is our best chance for help. The Lions are excellent, but I worry about how their roster build will fare for them in a road AFC North game (especially Jared Goff). Browns at Colts might be a pipe dream, though I do love the "trap" potential coming right out of their squeaker upset over an undefeated opponent.

It's speculation so who knows, but I have high hopes.

[COB]

Can you imagine if they could get Perine back here?  Seems so unlikely but it would be a huge help.  Some of those 3rd downs he had last year were amazing.  Just the effort and physicality of it.
 

 Also, Mixon looks good this year but if they don’t get him some help I don’t think we’ll see the same guy at the end of the season.  We’ll just wear him out.

[ArmyBengal]

Again, it's not that I would have any issue with Perine coming back, but it better result in a different approach to a subpar running attack.

[ArmyBengal]

Just for the record, I walked the Freedom Trail this morning all through Boston. Look it up if not familiar. It was easily one of the coolest things I have taken the time to do. The USS Constitution was so neat to see and walk through as well. 

The local restaurants, especially Italian and fresh seafood are simply amazing. The whole city is like a park and full of history.

Don't usually say this about places, but I could see myself living here. I had a blast !!

[TJJackson]

Yeah, Italian is big there

[COB]

Boston really is one giant historic district.  The buildings are so old.  Salem is a cool place to visit, they have a great waterfront, a lot of serious and not so serious stuff about witchcraft.

[ArmyBengal]

Seriously, moving that up on the list of where to move when I retire.  Great story…

I needed to use the bathroom so I dipped into a McD’s. It was a single bathroom with the door opening to the restaurant as opposed to being toward the back. I grabbed the handle and it was locked. At that point, I and all the restaurant heard the thick Boston accented man yell, “Hey, I’m on the shitah in here, gimme a break”. I fell out laughing, but no one else even raised an eyebrow. Awesome !!

[COB]

3 hours ago, ArmyBengal said:

 I and all the restaurant heard the thick Boston accented man yell, “Hey, I’m on the shitah in here, gimme a break”. I fell out laughing, but no one else even raised an eyebrow. Awesome !!

They are a rather forward people, that is for sure.

[HoosierCat]

No Deebo for the 9ers game.

https://www.threads.net/@bbaby41/post/CyrPZC8uNkl/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

[ArmyBengal]

I just want to see what appears to be a very focused and prepared team coming out of the bye. 

[UK Bengal]

Running out of the shotgun is a bad idea when your O-Line cannot block well enough to make space, how many times have we seen defenders in the backfield on shotgun run plays I have lost count.  I'm guessing there is no under center due to the calf injury, but now it appears mended to a degree then they need to get this sorted and start passing and running from under center not just shotgun, I'm old school I hate not having a FB and running behind him and instead using read option plays.  The playbook is an obvious variation of the Rams but I hate that system last season the run set up the pass a hell of a lot better than this season, so they need to get this shit sorted.  Look at Miami they have WR's on a par with us but better backs and run blocking scheme that allows them to put up serious points that fucking well should be us with the offensive talent we have. 

[volcom69]

Last season they tried running with Burrow  under center and it was terrible. They turned there season around when they started running from the gun. 
 

I think the bigger question is, do they run the ball enough? If you look at Mixon he actually has the most yards in the AFC North, however when Zac only runs the ball 13 times a game you can only do so much. 

[HoosierCat]

On the subject of the offense, this seems like a really good rundown with some solid suggestions for improving things. I don't think those suggestions will surprise any of us but it's nice to see them get called out here.

https://www.si.com/nfl/bengals/news/analyzing-cincinnati-bengals-scheme-identity-how-to-improve-it-moving-forward

[HoosierCat]

Also in the news today: Hue Jackson fired from yet another head coaching job.

Quote

Former Cincinnati Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson is out at Grambling State after two seasons.

Jackson went 8-14 over two seasons as the head coach there, going 5-6 this year.

https://bengalswire.usatoday.com/2023/11/29/bengals-offensive-coordinator-hue-jackson-fired-grambling-state/

I've said it before, I'll say it again, I don't want Hue as a HC but I would welcome him back as OC.

 

[ArmyBengal]

I wish I could get paid that much money and continually suck as much as Hue has as a head coach.
Don't know why I didn't pursue the career path of shitty head coach of a football team.
Who knew so much money could be had in the suckage field of work ??

[COB]

1 hour ago, HoosierCat said:

On the subject of the offense, this seems like a really good rundown with some solid suggestions for improving things. I don't think those suggestions will surprise any of us but it's nice to see them get called out here.

https://www.si.com/nfl/bengals/news/analyzing-cincinnati-bengals-scheme-identity-how-to-improve-it-moving-forward

That was a great read.  At the end he says we shouldn’t dismantle our offense board by board.  I sure hope that is not something being considered, and I doubt it is.  Continue to build around this QB.  “He is the machine.”