God loves the Broncos

[Cincyfan78]

I think the big issue is that Taylor let himself get caught in the middle of two strategies. If he wanted to run clock and kick a field goal, he should have taken a knee three times after the first down. Instead, he had a strategy to let Brown run it but then tell him to get down and not score. Too much going on for a young player given those instructions. The guy has had some fumbling issues so that also brings that in play and a hold there can also make things more difficult and keep the clock stopped. If you're going to score, go ahead and score. If you're going for the field goal, then take the knee and go for the field goal. Now he has his top running back out with an injury and he basically forced himself into taking the touchdown because we had to take a timeout for the injury. A lot of Taylor's questionable decisions come when he takes these half-way approaches.

From what I've seen - the issue was Brown got hurt when sliding - that caused them to use their time-out and stop the clock. I *think* the Broncos still had time-outs as well - so they would have run maybe only a few more seconds off the clock and settled for a FG, and would have allowed the Broncos time to at least get into FG range for the tie...so, with that being the case - they went for the TD meaning, at worst a tie if you give up the TD (2pt conversion not withstanding).

 

[cincygrad]

From what I've seen - the issue was Brown got hurt when sliding - that caused them to use their time-out and stop the clock. I *think* the Broncos still had time-outs as well - so they would have run maybe only a few more seconds off the clock and settled for a FG, and would have allowed the Broncos time to at least get into FG range for the tie...so, with that being the case - they went for the TD meaning, at worst a tie if you give up the TD (2pt conversion not withstanding).

The Broncos had one timeout. Brown carried it on first down with no intention of scoring and hurt himself on the slide. Again, asking a young player to make a non-football move for the strategy of killing the clock. Obviously backfired because the Bengals had to use a timeout meaning the Broncos could save their timeout until after the 2nd down play. If they would have held on 2nd and 3rd down, they'd be down 3 with about 40 seconds. If you take a knee on first down, Denver is forced to use its last timeout. Take two more knees and you can get the clock under 15 for the field goal. I'd say almost every team in the league takes the knee in this situation. It's a field goal of less than 30 yards. If you don't trust your kicker to make that, he shouldn't be on your team.

 

[alf8478]

I'm waiting to hear from the "NFL is rigged" crowd. If the league is rigged, you would assume they will do everything in their power to have Burrow, Higgins, and Chase playing in the playoffs. The hype for Burrow/Allen round 1 would be much different than Nix/Allen round 1 or whoever the hell will play QB for the Colts or Dolphins.

Even as a Bengals fan, I find it kind of annoying how much the media is rooting for them to make the playoffs.

 

[CrashDavisSports]

I am on the other side of this. This whole thing works out if not for Chase Brown getting hurt at the goal line and Denver getting their timeout back and us having to take one instead of injury. If not for that play, we would have won easy more than likely. Never know on snaps and all that.

However, if you run the clock, don't get the TD, have to attempt a FG to win it with time running out, and you don't get it....now Denver may have 30 plus seconds to run the field and get in a long range kickers range. Not saying that is easy, but that 4th down play by Nix and Mims was a 1 in a 100 play. Running across the field, throwing across his body deep, Mims double covered with guys slapping at him at the edge of the endzone..that was just crazy. They made one hell of a play to keep that game alive. Burrow QB sneaking into the endzone was not guaranteed. We get stopped a lot when doing that. We had two chances this way, we just happened to get in on play one, which would have been ideal if Chase Brown hadn't got hurt.

 

[Cincyfan78]

The Broncos had one timeout. Brown carried it on first down with no intention of scoring and hurt himself on the slide. Again, asking a young player to make a non-football move for the strategy of killing the clock. Obviously backfired because the Bengals had to use a timeout meaning the Broncos could save their timeout until after the 2nd down play. If they would have held on 2nd and 3rd down, they'd be down 3 with about 40 seconds. If you take a knee on first down, Denver is forced to use its last timeout. Take two more knees and you can get the clock under 15 for the field goal. I'd say almost every team in the league takes the knee in this situation. It's a field goal of less than 30 yards. If you don't trust your kicker to make that, he shouldn't be on your team.

Agreed.

Burrow should have snapped the ball, taken a step to the middle of the field to line up the kick, and kneeled down. No need to run the ball there.

As such - they did - and Brown did the right thing. He just got dinged, unfortunately. From that point forward, I don't begrudge the TD - because with 40 seconds left - this defense was absolutely giving up the FG...at least...

 

[cincygrad]

Agreed.

Burrow should have snapped the ball, taken a step to the middle of the field to line up the kick, and kneeled down. No need to run the ball there.

As such - they did - and Brown did the right thing. He just got dinged, unfortunately. From that point forward, I don't begrudge the TD - because with 40 seconds left - this defense was absolutely giving up the FG...at least...

Totally agree. Once Brown got hurt, they had to get the touchdown. Even then, I knew Denver would score. There is just nothing easy with this team.