Week 11 William Jackson Nonparticipation Trophy

[MaximumSam]

Well, that was a forgettable game. Week in and week out, the only notable part of the team is whether Joe Burrow can will the team to competitiveness. This week, not so much. Not a ton of bright spots - Tee Higgins continues to be a sound replacement for A.J. Green (who continues to play like a corpse). The defensive line at least looked the part yesterday even if they didn't accomplish much. Other than that...blech.

On the trash side, the offensive line, while not a complete abomination, didn't do much. The real problems were special teams and the secondary. While Alex Erickson mystifies for being on the team and doing nothing, this week we will go with the secondary. As a group they were completely unable to stay near any Pittsburgh receiver. While we do have various bits of trash back there, there is a corner we drafted in the first round who should at least be somewhat competent. William Jackson is not competent, not good, and got victimized repeatedly, at least until the Steelers discovered the lifeless body of Tony Brown. Unlike Jackson, Brown was never drafted and never pretended to be any good. So this week we will go with William Jackson III for the NPT.

 

[alf8478]

My vote will be Joe Mixon returning to the lineup and returning the running game to its early season ineptness.

 

[cincygrad]

My vote will be Joe Mixon returning to the lineup and returning the running game to its early season ineptness.

Yeah.... I can't decide what to make of Mixon and his absence. Yesterday was clearly one of those days where you need a running game. There were some brutal wind conditions - Even Big Ben, a guy that has played in tough weather his entire career, had a few passes get away from him. Much will be made of the Bengals failure to convert on third downs, but almost all of them were brutal (3rd and 6 or more). I get that we rushed for over 100 yards - But at some point later in the game the Steelers were happy to give us some yards in exchange for time. They stopped it when they needed to.

But here's the thing... Would it have been any different with Mixon? I doubt it. The team just isn't any good at running the ball.... And I'm not sure the coaches have any idea on how to fix it.

 

[Cincyfan78]

Didn't they average like 5 yards a rush yesterday? In a game where you are trying to keep the defense from teeing off on your QB - a few more runs would have been great. Maybe not for the score, but just to keep Burrow healthy. ZT continues to put him in harms way, and as a coach (despite his recent run on offensive scoring) really is leaving a lot to be desired.

 

[Cincyfan78]

Jackson just isn't a #1. This defense is really hard to gauge considering all the injuries. I mean, no Reader and Atkins already, but then to be down, basically, 4 DB's - there just no way for this defense to do anything.

OL looked better - Redman showing his penalty penchant again (which, I believe was an issue as to why he didn't get more time before). But, the G should be returning (can't remember his name) and I think the tackle positions are at least in good hands with depth. I think they could still look for at least 1 solid T/G in F/A, but there is some film showing that the OL T spots are better without Hart (shocker, right).

 

[cincygrad]

Didn't they average like 5 yards a rush yesterday? In a game where you are trying to keep the defense from teeing off on your QB - a few more runs would have been great. Maybe not for the score, but just to keep Burrow healthy. ZT continues to put him in harms way, and as a coach (despite his recent run on offensive scoring) really is leaving a lot to be desired.

I think the rush statistics from yesterday's game are going to be very misleading. They had a huge run from Sean Williams on a fake punt.... BTW, lets hand it to Zac Taylor for finding new and interesting ways to score meaningless points against division rivals when getting his ass kicked. But, there were also a lot of rushing yards from Perine and the kids from A&M after the game was no longer in doubt. I'm fairly sure the Steelers were happy to let a team down by 3 or 4 scores to run the ball.

The fact we were in 3rd and long all day yesterday shows how bad we were at running the ball.

 

[cincygrad]

Jackson just isn't a #1. This defense is really hard to gauge considering all the injuries. I mean, no Reader and Atkins already, but then to be down, basically, 4 DB's - there just no way for this defense to do anything.

OL looked better - Redman showing his penalty penchant again (which, I believe was an issue as to why he didn't get more time before). But, the G should be returning (can't remember his name) and I think the tackle positions are at least in good hands with depth. I think they could still look for at least 1 solid T/G in F/A, but there is some film showing that the OL T spots are better without Hart (shocker, right).

Is this rookie LT better than Jonah Williams? To me the line did a pretty good job yesterday. Burrow got hit and lit up a few times, but nothing like the Baltimore game.

 

[Cincyfan78]

I think the rush statistics from yesterday's game are going to be very misleading. They had a huge run from Sean Williams on a fake punt.... BTW, lets hand it to Zac Taylor for finding new and interesting ways to score meaningless points against division rivals when getting his ass kicked. But, there were also a lot of rushing yards from Perine and the kids from A&M after the game was no longer in doubt. I'm fairly sure the Steelers were happy to let a team down by 3 or 4 scores to run the ball.

The fact we were in 3rd and long all day yesterday shows how bad we were at running the ball.

The two main backs only rushed 15 times, and averaged 5.2 YPC....As a team, they averaged 6.6 thanks to the fake punt. Overall, Pitt was keying on the pass and ZT simply played right into their hands. He tends to get into these ruts, just like Jay Gruden did, with just pass-pass-pass. At least, I guess, ZT has Burrow throwing it 40+ times a game compared to Dalton.

I understand that the game got crazy and trying to pass their way back into was their best chance, but ZT can't continue to go with 15 rushes from their main backs and 40-some pass attempts. Especially when running the ball at 5.2 yards a clip not only off-sets the pass-rush from sitting on Burrow and teeing off on him, it helps to keep that woeful defense off the field. Especially on a day where, not only were they getting 5 YPC from their 2 main backs but Burrow was sitting at 50% completion - meaning a lot of very short/ 3-out drives putting that horrendous defense back on the field.

PS - that average YPC goes up if you add in Williams 5 rushes, as I was only counting Perine and Bernard's carries (8 and 7 respectively). Even if you do add in his 5 rushes - that's a 2-1 pass to rush ratio on a day averaging above 5 YPC and below 50% passing. At what point do you try and mitigate/off-set the off day by Burrow by taking advantage of the defense that is sitting on him passing the ball, not very good at stopping the run, AND giving you the run. If ZT really wanted to build momentum going into the next game, it would have been way more beneficial to get the entire offense in on the movement and not just worry about Burrow and chucking it every single time.

 

[Cincyfan78]

Is this rookie LT better than Jonah Williams? To me the line did a pretty good job yesterday. Burrow got hit and lit up a few times, but nothing like the Baltimore game.

I don't think they brought pressure like Bmore did. Sure seemed like Pitt was willing to sit back a bit more and get pressure from their usual rush and clog up the throwing lanes in the intermediate routes, which is where Burrow usually thrives. Without the fear or really running the ball, the defense didn't have to play close to the LOS, and allowed them to easily clog up the spaces.

I think Williams overall has done an OK job. Much like I think with Bates - when the rest of the group around you is so bad - it's hard to see who is really any good.

 

[CrashDavisSports]

Is this rookie LT better than Jonah Williams? To me the line did a pretty good job yesterday. Burrow got hit and lit up a few times, but nothing like the Baltimore game.

I don't know. I think Adeniji and Fred Johnson have looked good at LT. Hell, even a massive Spain did a pretty good job at RT considering he is a guard and had to try and stop TJ Watt and his speed. I think our offensive line should look like this personally:

LT Adeniji / Johnson
LG Spain
C Hopkins
RG Su'a-Filo
RT Williams

I think that would probably be our strongest offensive line at this point based on what I have seen.

 

[alf8478]

The main problem with the running game is that the scheme, the line, and the backs are not built to just line up and run the ball.

 

[cincygrad]

The two main backs only rushed 15 times, and averaged 5.2 YPC....As a team, they averaged 6.6 thanks to the fake punt. Overall, Pitt was keying on the pass and ZT simply played right into their hands. He tends to get into these ruts, just like Jay Gruden did, with just pass-pass-pass. At least, I guess, ZT has Burrow throwing it 40+ times a game compared to Dalton.

I understand that the game got crazy and trying to pass their way back into was their best chance, but ZT can't continue to go with 15 rushes from their main backs and 40-some pass attempts. Especially when running the ball at 5.2 yards a clip not only off-sets the pass-rush from sitting on Burrow and teeing off on him, it helps to keep that woeful defense off the field. Especially on a day where, not only were they getting 5 YPC from their 2 main backs but Burrow was sitting at 50% completion - meaning a lot of very short/ 3-out drives putting that horrendous defense back on the field.

PS - that average YPC goes up if you add in Williams 5 rushes, as I was only counting Perine and Bernard's carries (8 and 7 respectively). Even if you do add in his 5 rushes - that's a 2-1 pass to rush ratio on a day averaging above 5 YPC and below 50% passing. At what point do you try and mitigate/off-set the off day by Burrow by taking advantage of the defense that is sitting on him passing the ball, not very good at stopping the run, AND giving you the run. If ZT really wanted to build momentum going into the next game, it would have been way more beneficial to get the entire offense in on the movement and not just worry about Burrow and chucking it every single time.

Yeah, it's intersting... I was looking back over the play-by-play. In the first few series, Taylor favored running on first down. The first three times he did it, they gained three or less yards. Then they started having some success..... But what's interesting is that when the run "works," he never goes right back to a run. It's crazy - Like he has them back on their heals a little, line feeling good, and he immediately passes. I remember when Hue Jackson would call a game - If he had a run game going, he'd milk that thing until they stopped it. I think it's unfair to Jay Gruden to compare Taylor to him as a playcaller.... yeah, Gruden was frustrating at times, but he got much more out of much less talent.

 

[cincygrad]

The main problem with the running game is that the scheme, the line, and the backs are not built to just line up and run the ball.

I'm not sure if the are or not.... But they certainly aren't committed to it. It would be interesting to know how an experienced NFL offensive coordinator would scheme out this offense.

 

[DanBengalfan]

Running backs very in NFL career lifespan. it's a physically demanding position and you are always getting hit by athletes that would kill a regular person if they hit them.

 

[DanBengalfan]

he could just be done?

 

[MaximumSam]

Watching Chase Young throw Jonah Williams around like a small child

 

[DanBengalfan]

Randy Bullock is determined to lose this game.

 

[MaximumSam]

Well I think Michael Jordan wrapped this up by throwing a guy into Burrows knee.

 

[alf8478]

Serious question. Will the bengals score again this season?

 

[MaximumSam]