Let's talk about the Cincinnati Bengals (AFC Championship Edition)

[TLO]

Discussion

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by The Franchise

I’m not so sure I want them playing a bunch of zone anyways. That’s where all of the miscommunication on the backend came from against the Bills.

Yep. The answer is probably to play 2 deep man and jam the WR's at the line hoping to disrupt their timing.

The safeties will have to be sound otherwise they're going to get past us a few times and hit on big plays.

Use some disguised blitzes and fake pressure a lot. Try to confuse him without taking a bunch of guys out of coverage. Let the DL do most of the work most of the time.

[wachashi]

Spags uses zone quite a bit, actually. Of the zone calls, he prefers Cover 2 Zone and Cover 3 Zone, but the key is that he mixes things up based on who we're playing.

This graphic is just through week 12 but you can see we're not strictly a man team by any means. Miami and Denver stick out as calling more man defenses.

I love the Baltimore chart where you can exactly which game they played KC on how much they changed their tendency.

[MahomesMagic]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Yep. The answer is probably to play 2 deep man and jam the WR's at the line hoping to disrupt their timing.

The safeties will have to be sound otherwise they're going to get past us a few times and hit on big plays.

Use some disguised blitzes and fake pressure a lot. Try to confuse him without taking a bunch of guys out of coverage. Let the DL do most of the work most of the time.

This.

Make them do what everyone wants us to do. Take away big plays and make them finish 10-12 play drives without getting Burrow killed.

[dirk digler]

Originally Posted by wachashi

Spags uses zone quite a bit, actually. Of the zone calls, he prefers Cover 2 Zone and Cover 3 Zone, but the key is that he mixes things up based on who we're playing.

This graphic is just through week 12 but you can see we're not strictly a man team by any means. Miami and Denver stick out as calling more man defenses.

I love the Baltimore chart where you can exactly which game they played KC on how much they changed their tendency.

That is cool. So Week 11, we played the Cowgirls and ran mostly Cover 2 Zone

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Yep. The answer is probably to play 2 deep man and jam the WR's at the line hoping to disrupt their timing.

The safeties will have to be sound otherwise they're going to get past us a few times and hit on big plays.

Use some disguised blitzes and fake pressure a lot. Try to confuse him without taking a bunch of guys out of coverage. Let the DL do most of the work most of the time.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by wachashi

Spags uses zone quite a bit, actually. Of the zone calls, he prefers Cover 2 Zone and Cover 3 Zone, but the key is that he mixes things up based on who we're playing.

This graphic is just through week 12 but you can see we're not strictly a man team by any means. Miami and Denver stick out as calling more man defenses.

I love the Baltimore chart where you can exactly which game they played KC on how much they changed their tendency.

Even when we're in cover 2 / cover 3, Spags will play a lot of man under/over.

I wonder how these charts take into account the propensity to play mixed coverages.

[FringeNC]

If the Chiefs offense executes like they did against Buffalo, we will win going away. On the road, crowd noise, bad offensive line -- they're not going to match us score for score. Our D only matters if we make some silly mistakes on offense, which of course is possible.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by FringeNC

If the Chiefs offense executes like they did against Buffalo, we will win going away. On the road, crowd noise, bad offensive line -- they're not going to match us score for score. Our D only matters if we make some silly mistakes on offense, which of course is possible.

What we need is for the defense to force 4-5 stops throughout the game. Give up 28 or less and the Chiefs win.

[duncan_idaho]

For me, the answer is cover 2 man or cover 3 man with press coverage on the outside. Play into Burrow’s tendency to hold the ball. Give the DL time to get home.

Hopefully have Gay out there to scream to the flat/Mixon.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

For me, the answer is cover 2 man or cover 3 man with press coverage on the outside. Play into Burrow’s tendency to hold the ball. Give the DL time to get home.

Hopefully have Gay out there to scream to the flat/Mixon.

Yep.

I'm not sure I trust the safeties in pure zone coverage. We've seen them come up and get caught flat footed way too much lately.

[493rd]

Be nice if Chris Jones shows up in a big way for this one. Last game we had some early success pressuring Burrow but it fizzled out quickly as the game progressed. Burrow proceeded to throw for more yards (446) against the KC defense than I ever remember from any other game in years previously. Also, Spagnuolo better be careful blitzing because Burrow has been lethal against the blitz this year.

[BWillie]

Joe Burrow QBR by season
2020 48.5
2021 54.3

Patrick Mahomes QBR by season
2018 80.3
2019 77.7
2020 78.1
2021 62.1

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by 493rd

Be nice if Chris Jones shows up in a big way for this one. Last game we had some early success pressuring Burrow but it fizzled out quickly as the game progressed. Burrow proceeded to throw for more yards (446) against the KC defense than I ever remember from any other game in years previously. Also, Spagnuolo better be careful blitzing because Burrow has been lethal against the blitz this year.

Burrow is good at maneuvering in the pocket.

[BWillie]

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by The Franchise

Burrow is good at maneuvering in the pocket.

The big thing is getting him down when they get their hands on him. There were several plays where if the QB was Burrow instead of Allen, they would have had a sack because yes, he has good footwork but he's not going to break as many arm tackles.