2024 Cincinnati Bengals Part 3: Stay the Course?

[WVRed]

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[Oxilon]

Now that we're at the halfway point of this season, I'm seeing some similar parallels between this team and the 2006 team. Both teams entered the season with high expectations and a star QB coming back from a serious injury but managed to shoot themselves in the foot all season long and never eclipsed the .500 mark. If you recall, the 2006 team had a chance to go to the playoffs going into their Week 16 match against the Broncos. After a frustrating game of missed chances, Palmer led the Bengals down the field for a game tying touchdown with no time left, only for the long snapper to botch the extra point (when extra points were at the two-yard line) to lose the game.

The Brown family likes to think of themselves as a "stable" organization that don't make any rash decisions when in reality, they're just complicit with status quo. There needs to be serious personnel changes made this offseason or else the Carson Palmer comps will only continue to grow until it's too late and Burrow is demanding a trade in a couple of seasons.

[KoryMac5]

I thought the PFF would be worse on Defense

Top 5 Defense
BJ Hill 85.2
Hendrickson 80.8
Hilton 79.4
Hubbard 79.0
Wilson 78.9

Top 5 Offense
Burrow 86.6
Mike G 81.9
Brown Jr 68.8
Chase 67.5
Burton 67.1

Bottom Feeders
Cappa 38.6
Yoshi 41.7
Volson 48.3
Vonn Bell 41.8
Rankins 52.6

yikes^^^you should see the tackling grades for Turner, Bell, Rankins, Jenkins its ugly.

[Redsfaithful]

I like Yoshi, but he's a #4 or #5 WR right now. The #3 should be Burton but it seems like he doesn't know the playbook.

The guards are horrible. How much worse could it really be to put the rookie center in (supposedly wowed in camp and preseason) and move Karras to LG? Might end up upgrading two positions at once.

I think they need to move on from Lou, but at the same time they really have very little talent on the defensive side of the ball so I don't know, it's a mess.

[KoryMac5]

They have been very slow to embrace RAS (relative athletic scores) and how it impacts the ability of the line to run block...

Agreed you have Hendrickson, Hilton, Wilson and not much else on D...

[Redsfaithful]

This kind of thing is why the Bengals are feeling more like the Reds than ever this year. You just know going into the season they have to have everything line up perfectly because they're not going to go out and try to improve the roster, but a 7-0 Chiefs team coming off back to back Super Bowl wins is always looking to add.

Have to save all the draft picks for Tobin to blow I guess.

The #Patriots are trading pass-rusher Josh Uche to the #Chiefs, sources tell me and @MikeGarafolo
. Coming off a win, KC lands a a new player on the edge.

[Sea Ray]

I like Yoshi, but he's a #4 or #5 WR right now. The #3 should be Burton but it seems like he doesn't know the playbook.

The guards are horrible. How much worse could it really be to put the rookie center in (supposedly wowed in camp and preseason) and move Karras to LG? Might end up upgrading two positions at once.

I think they need to move on from Lou, but at the same time they really have very little talent on the defensive side of the ball so I don't know, it's a mess.

A quick and easy change they can make is for Zac to quit calling the plays. Leave that up to Pitcher and Joe

[Kingspoint]

A quick and easy change they can make is for Zac to quit calling the plays. Leave that up to Pitcher and Joe

Can't think of one analyst across the nation that wouldn't agree to this. Zac has to know what all of these analysts have been repeatedly saying, yet he's showing his declining abilities as a Head Coach by ignoring the obvious (again).

[Redsfaithful]

A quick and easy change they can make is for Zac to quit calling the plays. Leave that up to Pitcher and Joe

I agree, and if he's against the change they should fire him.

They asked Burrow if it was frustrating having short yardage issues for years now and his answer (yes) was notable to me because he looked frustrated. Granted, he came across frustrated the entire post game presser but I hope he's tired of Taylor here. I don't get the sense he'd ever air dirty laundry but he's the only variable in this situation that might actually convince the Brown family to change things up.

Complete matter of opinion but I believe he has much more sway than Carson Palmer ever had.

[Tony Cloninger]

This kind of thing is why the Bengals are feeling more like the Reds than ever this year. You just know going into the season they have to have everything line up perfectly because they're not going to go out and try to improve the roster, but a 7-0 Chiefs team coming off back to back Super Bowl wins is always looking to add.

Have to save all the draft picks for Tobin to blow I guess.

I still think the grip of Mike Brown is the one holding them to just stay the course. He was big on saying that in the mid 90s on through the early Marvin years.

We have the same information as the other teams. Also a favorite of his too in regards to drafting. I just don’t think his daughter. The other. Younger family have the same obtuseness. Stubborn mentality. The same issues that he has carried since his father got fired in Cleveland. He loathes to make changes and has used this excuse to just stay the course.

[Ky Fried Redleg]

Is Cappa playing with issues? My goodness he has dropped off. Also, Vonn Bell is clearly not the same guy he was in the SB year.

[Redsfaithful]

Murphy is a bust and Hubbard is washed (brings me no pleasure to say, he's an all-time Bengal to me):

https://x.com/willie_lutz/status/1850956721155686425

This isn't something I'd normally like to post, but out of 255 defensive linemen with at least 50 snaps, Sam Hubbard ranks 252nd and Myles Murphy ranks 253rd in PFF Pass Rush Grading.

https://x.com/Ben_Baby/status/1851004636930474218

Bengals coach Zac Taylor on any potential moves at the trade deadline: "The team that we’ve got is the team that we’re going to continue to coach and believe in these guys. Always let Duke (Tobin) and the front office deal with that stuff."

This is a careful answer that ends up reading weird to me because it can't be typical for there to be THAT much separation on roster construction between a front office and a coach who has taken the franchise to a Super Bowl. Coaches aren't making those decisions for teams but he's claiming little-to-zero input in either direction?

[Tony Cloninger]

I know they fired a DC during Marvin’s last year in the middle of it. That D was worse than this one. However unless you’re calling Robert Salah in to try and see what he could do. Or Mike Vrabel. And not like they would say yes anyways. But I know they will not fire Lou anyways. That would mean admitting that the FO failed in roster building the defense.

[Hillsdale87]

In 2021 and 2022, the national talking points were that it was amazing that Burrow, Chase, Tee, a horrible OL, and a bunch of mid-tier FAs could coalesce into the only team that could challenge the Chiefs. But somehow ZT got no credit for that. The offense was all credited to Burrow, and the defense to Lou. Then in 2023, they lose Bates and Burrow, they completely reworked the offense in the middle of the season and still went 9-8. Then this year they lose even more talent that they don't replace, and everybody is angry at ZT. The team that went to the Super Bowl was extremely flawed, and then that flawed team has been stripped of talent with no influx. I know we all hoped Burrow and Chase could paper over everything, but that seems to have been unrealistic.

Not saying he's perfect, but the 2021 and 2022 teams overachieved. The offense has been very good to elite each of the last 4 seasons. For all the complaints about the scheme, Burrow leads the NFL in almost every statistical category, even with Higgins missing half the games and no viable #3 WR. I don't love every play call. I would not have a problem with him turning over play calling, but giving it to a first time play caller is a big risk too. And I don't think it's going to make a difference. There are a few plays a game where I think he makes a dumb decision, but overall he calls an effective offense.


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[Redsfaithful]

I've been a Taylor defender, I'm ok with him being head coach, and yeah it's only a few plays a game for sure but since it's short yardage and late-game that he's so bad at it ends up hurting them very disproportionately.

Ultimately the issue this year is clearly the defense, the rest is just conversation that I think is going to happen after the series where they went from it on 4th down from their end of the field and then called a throw behind the line of scrimmage.