- Some have expressed concern about the lack fo the deep ball in his early repertoire, but at least for now I can explain that away by noting his receivers haven’t helped him much, and the protection is not good enough to frequently drop back and wait for those patterns to develop (more on that later).
- Burrow’s success throwing intermediate passes is much more encouraging than his lack of success hitting the bomb is concerning because we know he can throw the deep ball from his time at LSU, and the intermediate stuff is more difficult to master in the NFL. That is where the wheat is separated from the chaff (remember Jeff Blake?), and Burrow appears to have the goods. He can find the open man, get him the ball and move the chains. That’s the name of the game.
- So, in regards to the protection: Prior to the shellacking by the Ravens, I was probably a lot more bullish on the Cincinnati offensive line than most. Of course, that isn’t saying much because that unit’s stock could not be much lower publicly. The coaching staff has spoken out in defense of them, but of course that is to be expected. Here’s the way I see it: The guys on the left side, Jonah Williams and Michael Jordan, are young but have some upside. They need time to mature mentally and physically and might turn out to be good. Trey Hopkins is solid in the middle, but of course the right side has been a big problem. Well, why is that? Right tackle Bobby Hart has been around long enough for us to know he is far from elite, but he can hold his own against average competition. Unfortunately for the Bengals, the competition was far from average the first two weeks when they went against San Diego and Cleveland, so Hart was exposed multiple times. Right guard is a black hole right now because the three guys who have tried their hand there aren’t even their first choice. That is Xavier Su’a-Filo, who was signed away from the Cowboys. He wasn’t elite, either, in Dallas, but if he comes back from injury in a couple of weeks and provides a stabilizing force and the guys on the left side continue to grow, they just might have a decent line in the second half of the season. Of course they will still need to upgrade the right side in the offseason.
- Now admittedly it is harder to hold that view after Sunday when the Ravens made the line look worse than it has all season (no small feat), but to me the problems were more mental than physical in Baltimore. The Bengals couldn’t block the Ravens because they had no idea where they were coming from most of the time. Some of that has to be on the rookie quarterback, who everyone knows is going to have some growing pains as he sees things for the first time. Baltimore defensive coordinator Don “Wink” Martindale is a Trotwood-Madison alum who has been around a while and knows what he’s doing as far as going after quarterbacks, so it’s no surprise he won this matchup handily.
5 takeaways from Bengals' blowout loss to Ravens https://t.co/uLobzY6gr6
— Dayton Daily News (@daytondailynews) October 12, 2020
- Prior to this game, I thought Bengals head coach Zac Taylor and offensive coordinator Brian Callahan had done a solid job scheming around the deficiency up front, but there is only so much one can do — especially when you’re going up against a top-notch staff like Baltimore that now has a month of film on you.
- To me the far greater concern is the defense, and I don’t have much hope of it getting fixed — especially after the D.J. Reader injury yesterday. (Like the offense, they aren’t playing at full strength either, but that’s life in the NFL.)
- I’m seeing people give the defense a pass because the Ravens had a pedestrian day, but reigning NFL MVP Lamar Jackson missed two days of practice because of a knee injury and it showed. While he’s rapidly developing into a good passer, he wasn’t sharp Sunday. Beyond that, his legs are what make that unit dynamic at this point because they add another layer for the defense to account for in the running game and open up the play action pass, so the Ravens were going to be easier to defend anyway. They put it on cruise control after getting up 17-0 early and still went over 300 yards and averaged 5.4 yards per play despite playing left-handed.
- Through the first month of the season, teams ran at will on the Bengals (the Eagles stopped trying for some reason or I doubt that ends up a tie, and after a huge first half on the ground the Jaguars stopped trying because they were behind), and there is no hope for them if that is going to continue to be the case. Despite Jackson running only twice, Baltimore had 161 yards on the ground and averaged 6.7 yards per carry. Big pops by J.K. Dobbins and Devin Duvernay inflated that number, but Mark Ingram still averaged over five yards a carry himself.
- Getting some experience for the young linebackers is likely to help, but I’m not sure any of those guys are high-ceiling players. They have some of them up front, but they haven’t had much production so far. Why is that? Well this is not a great tackling team, but they also don’t play with a lot of juice. They look like a team that either isn’t comfortable with what they’re being asked to do or are thinking too much. Maybe both?
- That’s the last thing about the Bengals at this point: how good is this coaching staff? In year two, we’ve learned the Taylor and Callahan do have some aptitude for offense. Their attack isn’t innovative or fun like what they’re doing in Kansas City, Baltimore or San Francisco (when healthy), but it can be effective and that’s the bottom line in pro sports. Among the downsides of going with an unproven coach like Taylor is he had to settle for an unproven defensive coordinator in Lou Anarumo, so I’m going to continue to be a skeptic until I see some production there.
- Bottomline: The Bengals have played five games under Burrow and been soundly beaten twice. They lost one game they should have won, tied another, and they beat a Jacksonville team that is apparently terrible. There are several terrible teams left on the schedule, so the Bengals still have a good shot to put together a respectable record if they can keep their young quarterback’s head up (and the rest of him intact).
“Marcus Musings” is a semi-regular feature here at the blog. While most of our other coverage is concentrated on news and analysis, this is a place to share opinions on various stories permeating the sports world and (hopefully) have some fun. Have your own thoughts? Send them along to marcus.hartman@coxin.com or find us on Twitter or Facebook.
In Other News
1
Newsletter: NFL Draft day is finally here
2
Newsletter: Lots of intrigue in Ohio State spring game; college hoops...
3
Super Bowl takeaways: The importance of pressure and other lessons from...
4
Marcus Musings: Is Joe Burrow the next Aaron Rodgers?
5
Postgame musings: What to do about the Ohio State defense
About the Author
