Playoffs, 2021-22 Season

[Velo]

LOL, I'm looking more like a genius than ever.

Last year, I told everyone here there was a blueprint to beating the Chiefs.

Shut down Hill and Kelsey, shut down the Chiefs.

What you're seeing out of Mahomes, is what happens when you get rid of the only receivers he has any confidence throwing to. Not a knock on Mahomes, it's just that the rest of KC's offense is utter trash. It's one dimensional, and now the rest of the league seeing it and adapting.

This is now on Andy Reid. He saw what happened in the Super Bowl last year, he's failed to fix it, and now KC is starting to come back to earth. A little slower than I predicted, but it's happening.

Go look it up. I did say this.

The Chiefs have a bunch of smerfs in their WR corps. Their best WRs - Hill and Hardman - are like 5-9 185 lbs. Kelce, 6-5, is their second leading receiver, but every good team has a big TE who can dominate DBs. It's OK to have a smerfy WR like Hill who can burn defenses with speed. But you also need WRs who have the size and skills to dominate at the point of the catch - like Mike Williams - or who are exceptional route runners - not just pure speed - who can consistently turn DBs around every which way, like Keenan Allen or Copper Kupp. So you are right, outside of Hill and Kelce, Mahomes doesn't have depth in his targets. He also doesn't have an RB like Ekeler who is a big part of the passing game. The Chiefs need another WR like Dwayne Bowe. Remember him? He was big and he was a beast. I expect the Chiefs to draft someone like that this year.

[Xenos]

Zac Taylor has his team in the Super Bowl, and you think Staley can't learn nothing from him? Seriously? Think about what you are saying.

I give Taylor credit for being more aggressive after his losses to us and the Niners. He definitely has an edge over Sean McVay in that regards.

[Xenos]

I suddenly realize that the Rams are a bad matchup for the Bengals given what happened against the Titans. They need to find a way to protect him better because that Rams DL is going to eat him alive. And I don’t think Stafford is going to pull a Tannehill.

[ghost]

The Bengals made a defensive adjustment in the 2nd half that shut down Mahomes and the Chiefs' passing attack. Basically, the dropped 8 men into coverage on a majority of passing plays in the 2nd half. It worked. Mahomes was running around in circles trying to find an opening to throw into and that led to a few of the Bengals' sacks. But it still seemed like Mahomes was shy about trying to make a play in the 2nd half, less willing to throw downfield and take a gamble.

https://www.si.com/nfl/bengals/allbe...chiefs-offense

Thank you for this article, I knew the Bengals made an adjustment: Mahomes didn't drop from a near-perfect rating in the first half to zero in the second half, but I didn't know if it would become known until the game-film is released.

The Saints beat the Colts, because the Saints changed their coverage, EVERY QUARTER against Peyton Manning in the Super Bowl.

[Guest]

Herbert’s getting better because of Lombardi and the offensive scheme, and he may eventually be at Burrow’s level next season. But he’s not quite there. Additionally, at the end of the day I think I trust someone like Warner than someone who knows as little about football as you.

Burrow has admitted that he has struggled at times with holding the ball too long. The CIN/TEN game certainly confirms that he still struggles with that at times (unless you think it is good mental processing to hold the ball too long and take sacks that put the team out of FG range in one instance and make a FG attempt much more difficult in another). There is no need to take my word for any of that.

I see no processing advantage for Burrow over Herbert (who Warner does not mention by the way) and do not care for the insult to Herbert, who was the better student and had the better Wonderlic score, which involves rapid mental processing. That is not to say that I think Burrow is weak at processing. I think he generally does a good job of that, but so does Herbert, so we do not need to knock our guy as you have.

Burrow and Herbert both improved this year primarily because they gained additional experience. That is the normal growth process for young QBs in general. It is not about the OC as much as it is about the experience being gained.

I do not accept the notion that analyses of former players are necessarily superior to those of anyone else. My belief is that we should consider what the former player is saying, especially since the opinions of former players are all over the map and often contradict one another.

To the extent that Warner believes that Burrow processes better than Herbert, something he does not expressly state in the quoted materials, I disagree with him.

[jamrock]

I suddenly realize that the Rams are a bad matchup for the Bengals given what happened against the Titans. They need to find a way to protect him better because that Rams DL is going to eat him alive. And I don’t think Stafford is going to pull a Tannehill.

Stafford is much better than Tannehill. Not sure the Rams pass rush is better than TN but it’s gotta be close.

[richpjr]

If you ask any halfway knowledgeable football person who is not a Chargers or Bengals fan, who has a completely objective point of view, I am 100 percent confident they will say the Chargers have the more talented roster. And the reason the Bengals got into the playoffs and have gotten this far, while the Chargers missed the playoffs altogether, is because the Bengals are better-coached. I guarantee it. And I offer as proof the fact the Chargers sent six players to the Pro Bowl (including two players from the supposedly talentless defense) while the Bengals sent half that many. The Chargers' defense was atrocious this season. But the personnel package is not as bad as the defense performed, the defense under-performed because of bad coaching.

Don't buy it at all. Were the Bengals better coached when they won 2 games under Taylor 2 years ago? How about when they won 4 games last year? Suddenly in year 3, after building the roster for 3. years with the players Taylor wants, they are in the SB. I know plenty of non-Charger fans who would disagree with the roster talent level question. Again, look at their starting D and look at ours. Look at the ST vs ours. Look at their skill players vs ours. We are not more talented.

[ghost]

https://www.nfl.com/news/bengals-safety-jessie-bates-contract-status-has-affected-play

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/cincinnati-bengals/jessie-bates-iii-25153

At the beginning of the 2021 campaign, Jessie Bates said he was "pissed off" he didn't get a new contract during the offseason.

[21&500]

Burrow has admitted that he has struggled at times with holding the ball too long. The CIN/TEN game certainly confirms that he still struggles with that at times (unless you think it is good mental processing to hold the ball too long and take sacks that put the team out of FG range in one instance and make a FG attempt much more difficult in another). There is no need to take my word for any of that.

I see no processing advantage for Burrow over Herbert (who Warner does not mention by the way) and do not care for the insult to Herbert, who was the better student and had the better Wonderlic score, which involves rapid mental processing. That is not to say that I think Burrow is weak at processing. I think he generally does a good job of that, but so does Herbert, so we do not need to knock our guy as you have.

Burrow and Herbert both improved this year primarily because they gained additional experience. That is the normal growth process for young QBs in general. It is not about the OC as much as it is about the experience being gained.

I do not accept the notion that analyses of former players are necessarily superior to those of anyone else. My belief is that we should consider what the former player is saying, especially since the opinions of former players are all over the map and often contradict one another.

To the extent that Warner believes that Burrow processes better than Herbert, something he does not expressly state in the quoted materials, I disagree with him.

I also think there's a psychological phenomenon when comparing QBs, we automatically assume 1 has to have something over the other and if we can't find something obvious, we simply assign something that is too close to determine as the thing.
So since Herbert has superior physical abilities, we want to automatically give Burrow the mental processing.
Herbert could simply be better to significantly better than Burrow in every trait
minus experience (college and NFL playoffs/bigger games)and that's really not on him.

[powderblueboy]

Eric Weddle gets to go to a SB.

He was solid yesterday.....i'm glad for him.

[Xenos]

Stafford is much better than Tannehill. Not sure the Rams pass rush is better than TN but it’s gotta be close.

Aaron Donald makes it better.

[Guest]

Chiefs Choke: Man...I don't like them but they looked so good yesterday till that Brandon Staley moment at the end of the 1st half. They were getting the ball to start the 2nd. Could have gone in feeling good with the 3 points and momentum..BUT....that was the turning point of the game. Gave the Bengals hope. Deflated themselves. They gave it away.