• Home
  • Picks Competition
    • Pick’em Group
  • Gee’s Thoughts
    • Amateur Adventures in Film
  • Dan’s Thoughts
  • Newsletter
  • Podcast
    • As One Door Closes…
  • About
    • The Tao of The Wrong Football
    • The Team
    • Links

The Wrong Football

~ A UK American Football fan writes about the game he loves

The Wrong Football

Tag Archives: Kevin Zeitler

The Bengals Offseason: Hope Turns to Nerves

02 Sunday Apr 2017

Posted by gee4213 in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Andre Smith, Andrew Whitworth, Bill Belichick, Brandon LaFell, Cedric Ogbuehi, Cincinnati Bengals, Dre Kirkpatrick, Geoff Hobson, Kevin Minter, Kevin Zeitler, LA Rams, Marvin Lewis, New England Patriots, New York Giants, NFL, Offseason, Rey Maualuga

It’s a little earlier than I usually like to delve back into football in the offseason, but with the bulk of free agency over, the hope of the offseason had already turned to worry for this Bengals fan. I thought I’d write a little bit about this rather than trying to cover all the signings and moves that have just taken place, and hopefully reflect some thoughts on the wider situation.

There are many ways to build a roster in the NFL, and the Cincinnati Bengals are very much a team who believe in draft and develop rather than spending wildly in free agency. This is an approach that I very much agree with, but it is worth taking note that the New York Giants spent a lot in free agency last year and significantly improved their defence. I think the trick is to make sure you get the right kind of players at the right kind of price, which sounds pretty trite, but given that there are thirty-two teams competing for the same players (theoretically) then as the saying goes, it only takes one a*#?hole, to drive up the price.

Still, the focus for the Bengals was always going to be resigning their free-agents, and this is where things got interesting for the Bengals and their fans. One of the problems the team had last season was protecting Andy Dalton, particularly as Cedric Ogbuehi seemed to struggle at right tackle. With two offensive line starters up for free agency, this would seem like a resigning priority along with cornerback Dre Kirkpatrick. However, the only player out of these three priority players who did resign with the Bengals was Kirkpatrick. I was not entirely surprised that right guard Kevin Zeitler was signed elsewhere as Bengals.com editor Geoff Hobson had been writing about the philosophy of Bengals being not to invest heavily at the guard position, and with the Cleveland Browns having a huge amount of cap space, they could simply offer much more money than the Bengals were prepared to pay. I was hopeful that stalwart left tackle Andrew Whitworth would play another season, but at thirty-five years old the LA Rams were prepared to give Whitworth a multi-year deal that was too rich for the Bengals to compete with.

And like that, the best two players on the offensive season last season are no longer Bengals and the commentary has not been good about this. I am worried, but there is at least a working plan behind these moves that I am not sure have been explored enough in the media. Although, I could have easily missed the discussion.

No one would want to lose their long term left tackle when there have been few signs of regression in his play, and Kevin Zeitler was one of the best right guards in the league going into a second contract. Nor is the upheaval in the offensive line helpful when this is the position group that most relies on continuity on the team.

However, one of the strengths of the New England Patriots, and something that Bill Belichick is often praised for is the team’s ability to let go players at the right time, and they would rather let a player go too early than a year too late. It is not exactly fair to compare Marivn Lewis to one of the greatest coaches in the game, and nor does Lewis have the control of personnel that Belichick has, but I can at least see the plan the Bengals have in place.

Two years ago the Bengals drafted two tackles in the first two rounds, and this was clearly the start of their succession plan. Last offseason the Bengals did not resign Andre Smith and Ogbuehi was set to start at right tackle after missing most of his rookie season recovering from the knee injury he had when drafted. I don’t think it is controversial to say that this did not go well, and now he will be starting at left tackle in place of one of the best tackles in the league. However, he spent the majority of his time in college playing left tackle, and whilst his struggles with the bull rush will not simply disappear, it seems too often that people think you can just swap linemen between the right and left sides of the line. These days there are more quality pass rushers coming from the left side of the defence, and so your right tackle needs to be able to hold up in pass protection. I’m not sure how different your right and left tackle need to be as this depends greatly on scheme, opponent, and philosophy, but I do worry about the assumption that you can move linemen around and so I’m hoping that Ogbuehi does better in what could be his more natural position.

The problem is that we can’t know until the live games start. The Bengals have resigned Andre Simth, but the talk is that he will be replacing Zeitler at right guard, which is another change in position although at least it will be a right handed stance.

Apart from the resigning of receiver Brandon LaFell and running back Cedric Peerman, the only other big moves the Bengals made was to sign twenty-six year old middle linebacker Kevin Minter from the Arizona Cardinals and released long term starter Rey Maualuga. This looks to be a like a straight replacement, but also signals a shift in philosophy away from the fierce hitting Maualuga who was excellent against the run, but in the modern NFL was nearly limited to a two down player thanks to the spread formations and passing attacks that now dominate the league. I am sorry to see Maualuga to go, but this is a move that makes a lot of sense to me, and whilst not a splashy move, by releasing both the thirty year old Maualuga and the thirty-five year old Kevin Dansby the Bengals have got a lot younger at a position that is increasing having to be able to cover in the open.

It is usually when a team gets outside of their plan that they get into trouble. I’m sure those in the front office would argue that they have execute several important moves, but there has been a lot of talent leave the team in recent years. In fairness, a large percentage were older players, and the Bengals would have liked to keep one of the two receivers they lost last year. The offensive line worries me thought, and will do until they prove themselves on the field no matter how many positive offseason pieces I read on player training. I am not panicking however, and with the draft coming up and the Bengals having elven picks thanks to the formula that grants compensatory picks to a team for lost free agents, I can see how they can build for next season. There is a lot on the line for Marvin Lewis, but if feels like I have been writing that a lot over the last few years, but there can only be so many failures to win a playoff game before something changes. There is no guarantee that would bring success, and Mike Brown is fairly famously loyal and not willing to waste money, either to cut players or fired coaches, but even his patience can only stretch so far.

For now, there’s the nerves and hope of the offseason, so back to other things to keep me distracted. I’ll write again around draft time.

AAF: Bengals Offence and Line

16 Sunday Oct 2016

Posted by gee4213 in Amateur Adventures in Film

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Andy Dalton, Brandon LaFell, Cedric Ogbuehi, Clint Bolling, Giovani Bernard, Hue Jackson, Kevin Zeitler, Marvin Jones, Mohamed Sanu, New England Patriots, NFL, Ryan Davis, Tyler Boyd, Tyler Eifert

Dallas Cowboys 28
Cincinnati Bengals 14

This game was pretty upsetting to watch last week, but going through the coaching tape and trying to understand what happened on offence I am more frustrated than sad. My intention was to look at the offensive line play as that was one of the big talking points, but I have taken in aspect of the rest of the offence as I went through my latest amateur adventure in film.

The Bengals actually gained three hundred and forty-give yards of total offence in this game, with nearly one hundred yards on the ground from only nineteen carries, but they gave up four sacks and nine QB hits whilst only getting into the end zone in the fourth quarter when the game had already escaped them.

There are a lot of new or changed parts to the Bengals offence this year with a new offensive coordinator, new number two and three receivers, tight end Tyler Eifert still not being fit, and a new right tackle in Cedric Ogbuehi. This has led to a lot of nearly but not quite plays rather than flat out bad play, but it is really causing the Bengals’ offence problems in maintaining drives and in particular, being efficient in the red zone.

The timing is not quite there yet with the new receivers, and so whilst Brandon LaFell caught two touchdowns whilst looking pretty good, Tyler Boyd only made a couple of and had a particularly bad drop in the third quarter.

Moving to the offensive line, there is only one new player in effective rookie Cedric Ogbuehi, but this does seem to be causing them some problems at times. I am not an offensive line play expert, but it’s not that they look particularly bad in pass protection, but Andy Dalton has been hit too often and you can see why. The chemistry still appears to be developing between right guard Kevin Zeitler and Ogbuehi so whilst they are doing fine when facing a straight rush, any time that defensive linemen stunt, or someone loops round to the right side of the line  it seems to be causing the Bengals issues. Towards the end of the game Ryan Davis was getting round Ogbuehi repeatedly, but generally up field and so Dalton was stepping up and able to make the underneath passes the Cowboys were leaving them.

The run game of the Bengals features pulling guards fairly regularly, particularly Clint Bolling, and this is included in their play action passing which can lead to some interesting protection assignments. On one play Tyler Croft had to come across the back of the formation to seal the defensive end and was not able to hold up in what is a pretty challenging blocking assignment. You would also see this kind of movement in the running game where in mirrored action on plays early and late in the game, the tackle and guard of the same side would pull whilst a receiver motioned towards the line would have to cut the defensive end seal that side of the line. When the left side of the line performed this play, Brandon LaFell was able to make that cut block and the run worked, but later in the game when the right side performed the action, Tyler Boyd could not stop Ryan Davis from getting into the backfield and disrupting the play.

This is the problem with the Bengals offence at the moment; it’s just not quite clicking. A lot of the time they were in 11 personnel, and were only blocking with six players. Sometimes you would see Giovani Bernard lined up just behind the line between centre and guard, and he would be effective as part of the blocking unit, but they were not using big formations or lots of blockers to help sure up the pass protection. This might seem like a bad plan given what has been going on this season, except for large parts of the game it was fine but the timing was off with the receivers and the pass was incomplete. Then they would give up a pressure or sack.

Overall I still think the Bengals offence could come together, and so could the line, but my worry is that with them going to New England this weekend, making four road games out of their first six and with one of their home games in London in week eight, the Bengals could be too far behind to make it into the playoffs. The loss of coordinator Hue Jackson, on top of Marvin Jones and Mohamed Sanu at receiver, coupled with Tyler Eifert getting injured in the Pro Bowl and not making it back to the field yet has given the Bengals offence a huge amount to deal with at the start of the season, but whilst not a complete disaster, it has been enough to derail them so far. On to New England then…

Subscribe

  • Entries (RSS)
  • Comments (RSS)

Archives

  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • May 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014

Categories

  • Amateur Adventures in Film
  • Dan's Dad's Thoughts
  • Dan's Thoughts
  • Fantasy Football
  • Gee's Thoughts
    • Hard Knocks
    • Off-Season
    • Playoffs
    • Pre-Season
    • Season Goodbyes
    • Thursday Night Football
    • Uncategorized
  • Picks Competition
  • Podcasts

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy