MaineBengal Posted April 10, 2008 Report Share Posted April 10, 2008 OK, pie in the sky. Let's assume Chad shows up, Willie and Levi are healthy, Ghiaciuc is healthy, stronger, and wiser, Chris Perry is fully healthy, Rudi is fully healthy, and Jeremi shows up in shape. This means we have a top-5 O-line, a top-3 quarterback, 2 Pro Bowl wide receivers, the best blocking TE in the game, a genuine receiving threat at TE, a bellcow running back and a slash running back who can catch out of the backfield. Think of the versatility here. If all these puzzle pieces fall into place, who do you defend? Think of 3rd down sets with Perry, Utecht, Chad, TJ, and our 3rd WR (Gabriel? Chatman? Holt?). Who will you cover? Carson will have a FIELD DAY with all these guys on the field. Or on first and second down. Our healthy O-Line, Reggie, Utecht, Rudi, Chad, TJ. 2 Tight end set so we should get better at pounding the ball. Plus Carson can throw to Chad, TJ, Utecht (or dump to Rudi) at any time. Chris Perry provides a lift/change of pace for Rudi. This offense will have the capability of pounding, as well well as being explosive. Now, that's a big if, assuming that all these players are healthy. But even if 2 or 3 of them aren't, we can still be a good offense. If everything falls into place, and we get the pounding running game, #9 could tear up the league again this year, and the Bengals score a ton of points AND play winning, smashmouth, ball-control football. This will take pressure off the defense, and put the offense in better position to capitalize on turnovers generated by the D. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie_B Posted April 10, 2008 Report Share Posted April 10, 2008 The reality is that were missing a good RB, we have perry who hasnt played in almost 2 years and is comming back from a dislocated ankle which is not a great injury for a "slasher", Rudi who isnt what he used to be, and Watson who is mediorce as a starter, we are now missing our #3WR who was a good one, and we have a question mark at center. It will still be a good O, but we need a running game for it to be great, and Bluto needs to step up his game and we need to find a replacement for Henry for it to be eliete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BengalInPa Posted April 10, 2008 Report Share Posted April 10, 2008 So what about the D, we all just watched the higest scoring offense in NFL history get shut down to 14 points in the Super Bowl by a good D. Our schedule is tuff this year and if we bypass the D, it's gonna be a long year. PERIOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian55662 Posted April 10, 2008 Report Share Posted April 10, 2008 The O struggled this past season. Using Utecht right and getting the running game fixed would be huge for this team. The big if to me is on D if they can stay healthy and get Odell back close to 05 Odell this team will be much better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoePong Posted April 10, 2008 Report Share Posted April 10, 2008 I think the offense could be the weakness of this team just like it was last year. Let's hope they help the defense out a little more this season, because the defense will be fine. With all the defensive injuries last season, they were still better than our putrid offense. Let's just hope we draft some help for the offense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PakMan Posted April 10, 2008 Report Share Posted April 10, 2008 Here's the most important IF... If Bob Bratkowski would put the bottle down and learn how to call a game. More screens, draws, delays, and counters. More slants and or short crossing routes. Mix up the RBs. Dont ALWAYS put in Rudi on first down and its not necessary to give each RB a full drive. I think it should be more flexible. We have tended to stick with a guy for an entire drive. No more Rudi pitches outside, less 15 -20 yard timing patterns to the outside receivers - Carson seems to get most of his picks that way. An occasional deep ball to TJ - He usually comes down with it, gets a flag, or misses it. Get Utecht 40 - 50 catches, RB #1 more carries, and Carson's pass attempts DOWN! That would make our offense efficient, and our defense rested, and therefore, effective. If we could execute this philosophy, we would have a top 12 defense and a real shot at the conference champions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBZ Posted April 10, 2008 Report Share Posted April 10, 2008 I think it all starts and ends with the Offensive line, and adding Utecht will help as well. They will probably not be as explosive (barring an explosive draft pick), but I would rather this re-commitment to running the ball and taking the fight to opposing D-Lines. I really think they will add another RB...But who can say how that would work out? BZ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scharm Posted April 10, 2008 Report Share Posted April 10, 2008 I've heard this bullshit for nearly 5 years. Yeah, they are nice good offense. Congratulations! They are not anything close to great, dominant or whatever. The simple fact is they are a collection of great individual players that can't get it together to become great as a unit. It's all on paper, this collection of offensive players doesn't do the little things that make them great. This group has 5 times the talent as the Kitna led and Blake led years but just a little more production. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Le Tigre Posted April 10, 2008 Report Share Posted April 10, 2008 The Scharmian Principle in action. But well put. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparky151 Posted April 10, 2008 Report Share Posted April 10, 2008 [quote name='scharm' post='650798' date='Apr 10 2008, 06:11 AM']I've heard this bullshit for nearly 5 years. Yeah, they are nice good offense. Congratulations! They are not anything close to great, dominant or whatever. The simple fact is they are a collection of great individual players that can't get it together to become great as a unit. It's all on paper, this collection of offensive players doesn't do the little things that make them great. This group has 5 times the talent as the Kitna led and Blake led years but just a little more production.[/quote] Yeah, Bratkowski doesn't seem to get maximum performance from the players we have. Last year the Bengals playcalling was quite predictable. If we add an RB with the speed to run outside, Ghiaciuc plays better, we put Utecht to use in the passing game, and Carson improves his rather poor ball handling skills, we might be a great offense. Or maybe Bratkowski still calls a limited selection of plays. Imagine what this offense could be with a fast runningback and Mike Martz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie_B Posted April 10, 2008 Report Share Posted April 10, 2008 [quote name='sparky151' post='650965' date='Apr 10 2008, 12:06 PM']Yeah, Bratkowski doesn't seem to get maximum performance from the players we have. Last year the Bengals playcalling was quite predictable. If we add an RB with the speed to run outside, Ghiaciuc plays better, we put Utecht to use in the passing game, and Carson improves his rather poor ball handling skills, we might be a great offense. Or maybe Bratkowski still calls a limited selection of plays. Imagine what this offense could be with a fast runningback and Mike Martz.[/quote] Run the ball even less? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparky151 Posted April 10, 2008 Report Share Posted April 10, 2008 Martz ran the ball quite a bit when he had Faulk. Not so much in Detroit where their O-line sucked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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