Game Thread: Who Dey? Da Falcons? Shane Falco?

[DanBengalfan]

Who Dey?

 

[DanBengalfan]

Dominate.

 

[Ojb81]

Bengals should win

 

[DanBengalfan]

 

[cincygrad]

I think that was what we had in mind for this season.... Three receivers all around 100 yards, Joey B spitting dimes..... Tough defense that gets better as the game grows later. That was a pretty sight.

 

[Cincyfan78]

I think that was what we had in mind for this season.... Three receivers all around 100 yards, Joey B spitting dimes..... Tough defense that gets better as the game grows later. That was a pretty sight.

A few big changes - staying in shotgun primarily has helped the OL and kept teams from keying on plays.

Burrow has stopped forcing deep passes and is taking what the defense gives them. As he continues to tear defenses apart in the short and medium game, eventually they will come out of the Cover2 shell and cloud coverages, as was evident yesterday. This was evident in the time of possession - and especially that last drive. Despite throwing the ball 42 times, and for nearly 500 yards...Bengals had a 33/26 advantage. The last drive to salt away the game was 17 plays, and took all 8:44 remaining on the clock - driving 94 yards. The defense for the Falcons was just sucking wind by that point. They had almost no resistance to offer.

Defensively - Lou is a wizard. I loved the 5-3 look he gave yesterday, and showed a few 4-3 "over" looks that bring a LB almost to the DE spot creating a "5th" DL. Taylor-Britt out-snapped Apple in plays. Already. Apple is a zone CB and is better suited for when the scheme is going to lean zone heavy or with a short area man coverage with a high safety help over top. As shown in the 75 yard strike - he simply is not good at 1-1 coverage deep. Woof. Tufele and Bailey made some big plays in place of Reader and Wilson. Depth on full display.

I actually saw Jessie Bates yesterday!

 

[cincygrad]

A few big changes - staying in shotgun primarily has helped the OL and kept teams from keying on plays.

Burrow has stopped forcing deep passes and is taking what the defense gives them. As he continues to tear defenses apart in the short and medium game, eventually they will come out of the Cover2 shell and cloud coverages, as was evident yesterday. This was evident in the time of possession - and especially that last drive. Despite throwing the ball 42 times, and for nearly 500 yards...Bengals had a 33/26 advantage. The last drive to salt away the game was 17 plays, and took all 8:44 remaining on the clock - driving 94 yards. The defense for the Falcons was just sucking wind by that point. They had almost no resistance to offer.

Defensively - Lou is a wizard. I loved the 5-3 look he gave yesterday, and showed a few 4-3 "over" looks that bring a LB almost to the DE spot creating a "5th" DL. Taylor-Britt out-snapped Apple in plays. Already. Apple is a zone CB and is better suited for when the scheme is going to lean zone heavy or with a short area man coverage with a high safety help over top. As shown in the 75 yard strike - he simply is not good at 1-1 coverage deep. Woof. Tufele and Bailey made some big plays in place of Reader and Wilson. Depth on full display.

I actually saw Jessie Bates yesterday!

Its just so curious as to why the Bengals offense came out with such weird shit the first few weeks....I think back to those forced bootlegs and roll-out attempts in the Dallas game. The wide-zone pitch plays. The four receivers all run vertical with no check down. Yesterday (and much of the New Orleans game) was the type of offense where Burrow will kill you. He's so damn accurate with the ball - If he sees the field and is getting it out quick, there isn't much you can do. The major caveat is obviously that Atlanta and New Orleans were struggling with pass defense.... But, Burrow can be effective in that system against most teams given his accuracy and his talent at receiver. The coaches need to stop over-thinking everything - Let Joe cook. They can spend their energy figuring out short yardage situations - Something they haven't been able to do in 4 years.

BTW - I also love the back-shoulder to Chase where he's not led out of bounds, but ends up one-on-one against a corner that has no ability to tackle him. They ought to hit that every game until the corners start biting and he runs right by them. He's a man among boys out there.

 

[Cincyfan78]

Oh, one last thought - what are you doing when you are down 2 scores for almost the entire game - and your QB only ends up with 13 attempts?

I get they only ran 45 plays all game, but they were down 21-0 after running just 8 plays. They ran 3 passing plays in those 8 plays - which means, down 21-0 they passed the ball just 10 more times all game long. Now, they may have had a few more passes that ended in sacks/busted runs...but still...that is some egregiously bad offensive play calling.

 

[Cincyfan78]

Its just so curious as to why the Bengals offense came out with such weird shit the first few weeks....I think back to those forced bootlegs and roll-out attempts in the Dallas game. The wide-zone pitch plays. The four receivers all run vertical with no check down. Yesterday (and much of the New Orleans game) was the type of offense where Burrow will kill you. He's so damn accurate with the ball - If he sees the field and is getting it out quick, there isn't much you can do. The major caveat is obviously that Atlanta and New Orleans were struggling with pass defense.... But, Burrow can be effective in that system against most teams given his accuracy and his talent at receiver. The coaches need to stop over-thinking everything - Let Joe cook. They can spend their energy figuring out short yardage situations - Something they haven't been able to do in 4 years.

BTW - I also love the back-shoulder to Chase where he's not led out of bounds, but ends up one-on-one against a corner that has no ability to tackle him. They ought to hit that every game until the corners start biting and he runs right by them. He's a man among boys out there.

Yeah, the big criticism on Taylor going back to last year's offense was how slow it was to adapt. Once they did...boom. Should have been much better prepared this season, and yet....they were not. The killer part in the scheme was how predictable the plays ended up being. That first game against the steelers, Watt was calling the plays out. 90% runs in under center plays. 90% pass in shotgun plays. You can't win games like that - even as bad as the Steelers have been - that kind of edge is what turned the game.

Chase is a beast. I knew he'd be a good one, but I did not think he would be this good. I really wanted Pitts. At 6'0", I really worried about him being a Warrick clone because he didn't have the prototypical size to be the #1 WR, like an AJ Green, and he didn't have elite speed like a Hill. However, what he does have - he has ELITE strength. I had no idea how strong he was. Dude is a MONSTER with his strength. He also has ELITE burst. He may not be the "fastest" WR, but his ability to stop, turn, and be at top speed is ELITE and allows him to pull away from defenders in a split second. By the time faster guys are in rage, he's already built up a 5-6-7 yard cushion and is cruising away from them. He reminds me a TON of Steve Smith. Undersized guy for a #1, but his elite burst, top end speed, and strength just made him so hard to cover. How many times doe we see Chase break that 1st tackle...he's like a damn RB sometimes.

You are right on those back-shoulder throws...they are so worried about letting him get deep, he is going to feast on those throws until teams start sitting on them - and then he'll burn them deep.

 

[cincygrad]

Oh, one last thought - what are you doing when you are down 2 scores for almost the entire game - and your QB only ends up with 13 attempts?

I get they only ran 45 plays all game, but they were down 21-0 after running just 8 plays. They ran 3 passing plays in those 8 plays - which means, down 21-0 they passed the ball just 10 more times all game long. Now, they may have had a few more passes that ended in sacks/busted runs...but still...that is some egregiously bad offensive play calling.

They get the ball in the second half down only 11. They run it once on first down (1 yard) and then pass the next two downs (both incomplete) and go three and out. They do the exact same thing their next possession - Run on first down, sacked on second down, scramble on 3rd down. They had the Bengals cheating up to play the run and they ran right into it repeatedly on first downs. It was a bad plan by them.

 

[cincygrad]

Yeah, the big criticism on Taylor going back to last year's offense was how slow it was to adapt. Once they did...boom. Should have been much better prepared this season, and yet....they were not. The killer part in the scheme was how predictable the plays ended up being. That first game against the steelers, Watt was calling the plays out. 90% runs in under center plays. 90% pass in shotgun plays. You can't win games like that - even as bad as the Steelers have been - that kind of edge is what turned the game.

Chase is a beast. I knew he'd be a good one, but I did not think he would be this good. I really wanted Pitts. At 6'0", I really worried about him being a Warrick clone because he didn't have the prototypical size to be the #1 WR, like an AJ Green, and he didn't have elite speed like a Hill. However, what he does have - he has ELITE strength. I had no idea how strong he was. Dude is a MONSTER with his strength. He also has ELITE burst. He may not be the "fastest" WR, but his ability to stop, turn, and be at top speed is ELITE and allows him to pull away from defenders in a split second. By the time faster guys are in rage, he's already built up a 5-6-7 yard cushion and is cruising away from them. He reminds me a TON of Steve Smith. Undersized guy for a #1, but his elite burst, top end speed, and strength just made him so hard to cover. How many times doe we see Chase break that 1st tackle...he's like a damn RB sometimes.

You are right on those back-shoulder throws...they are so worried about letting him get deep, he is going to feast on those throws until teams start sitting on them - and then he'll burn them deep.

I was wrong about him too. When I watch him on television, it doesn't even look like he is running fast. But nobody is catching him, so you know that he is. The strength is the difference - I think Smith is a good comp, though I think Chase is overall a better athlete and actually has a higher ceiling (which is a huge compliment given how good Smith was).

 

[Cincyfan78]

Burrow is already closing in half-way to his total passing yards from last season through 7 games. He may clip 5,000 yards this year (Currently on pace for 5,092 yards). He is currently #2 in passing yards. #4 in YPG. #3 in passing TD. #5 in Passer Rating. #3 in Comp% - all of this and considering the "slow" start...could we be seeing more of these past 2 weeks going forward? Let's hope!

His last two games, since going shotgun/RPO heavy:

62/79 for nearly 78.5%. 781 Yards. 6TD's. 0 INT. An absurd 9.9 YPA and 12.6 YPC.

For good measure - he's also added 2 rushing TD's on 7 carries and 45 yards - with rushes of 20(TD) and 19.

Yesterday, He used the intermediate level(10-19 yards) on 38.9% of his throws. Previous high was just 24.5%. Clearly changing his mentality to take what the defense is giving them and force them out of those cover2 looks and Bubble coverages.

 

[DanBengalfan]

Who is better than burrow? Not many. Josh Allen and mahomes maybe. Rodgers and Brady based on prior experience, but I hope they continue to have crappy years.

 

[CrashDavisSports]

Who is better than burrow? Not many. Josh Allen and mahomes maybe. Rodgers and Brady based on prior experience, but I hope they continue to have crappy years.

On the QB Index after week 7 through the year, Burrow is ranked 4th behind Mahomes, Allen and Hurts.

 

[DanBengalfan]

On the QB Index after week 7 through the year, Burrow is ranked 4th behind Mahomes, Allen and Hurts.

yea, I wouldn't rate him above Allen and Mahomes right now.

maybe next year, if he isn't bengalized.

 

[jbuck]

I bet he gets good numbers anyway.....another 5 sacks. first things first