Bengals have a run game. Joe Mixon had over 1200 yards and 13 TDs in the regular season, and that was sharing carries with Perine and missing parts of multiple games with an injury. The Rams on the other hand have the best run defense in the NFL which was on full display last night. Also, Brian Callahan’s play calling (OC for Bengals) did not seem up to task for taking on the Rams. Calling straight runs up the middle often in the first half, when the Rams #1 run defense was fresh and hungry, is not a path to establishing your run game. The Bengals have a bunch of run plays where Mixon or Perine run off tackle, receive a pitch and burst to the edge, or even when they use Chase as an RB when he cuts across the backfield. None of that was on display last night.
But you and @JonRowe are 100% correct that if the Bengals do not spend money and draft picks on building the O-Line they’re not going to see a return to the playoffs, much less the Super Bowl.
rshetts
2788
Between the playoffs and the regular season, Burrows was sacked 70 times. If they do not fix that, Burrows will not survive his rookie contract. That has to be their priority or sooner or later Burrows will sustain an injury that has the potential to derail his career, even if it isnt career ending.
Skipper
2790
Good info, my watch time with the Bengals has been all of the last playoff game and the Super Bowl. The Rams must have really hindered them.
Agree 100%. Everything in the media here in Cincy says the same thing, and I would have to think the Bengals coaching staff are making it their #1 priority in free agency and the draft.
Honestly, I hope reaching the Super Bowl this season got through to Mike Brown. The Bengals had two of the best back-to-back first round picks in NFL draft history in Burrow and Chase, and they spent money (itself a minor miracle) in free agency to obtain key components of a strong defense, and while they got made fun of a little for drafting a kicker in the 5th round last year, nobody is laughing now given that Evan McPherson just tied the record for field goals made in the playoffs (14 of 14, he never missed) including a pair of walk off game winners. The guy he’s tied with, Adam Vinatieri. Not bad for a rookie.
All of that has led to an insane amount of support from this town, including merchandise sales far beyond what anyone could have predicted. The pro shop at the Stadium was literally sold out of damn near everything, and stores in the area carrying licensed merchandise sold out as well, they even put in a huge backorder for Evan McPherson jerseys that won’t arrive until after the Super Bowl, but people didn’t care, they just wanted to show some love for the team and the rookie phenom. Season ticket sales for next season have skyrocketed, and I would have to assume this is the most profitable year for the Bengals in three decades. Hopefully Mike Brown and his family now understand just how impactful fielding a winning team can be to the organizations bottom line. Hopefully they use some of that $60mil in cap space to shore up the offensive line and protect their franchise quarterback, and hopefully they sign or draft at least one more dominant player for the secondary. Do those things, and the chances of a return trip to the Super Bowl (and all the money it brings in) increase dramatically.
Most important post-Super Bowl development: since David Chase directed the Chevy Silverado ad last night, I think we can take it as canon. So we now know that whatever happened in the diner in the final episode of the Sopranos, AJ and Meadow survived it.
Am I the only one who loved the Irish Spring commercial? It seems to have made the lists for one of the worst commercials. I was dying laughing.
I appreciate the message of that commercial is that Denver football fans stink.
I thought it was terrible, and our Swarm ad panel hated it too. The whole Wicker Man/Midsomar vibe was kind of an odd choice, and the whole “Being clean means you’re in a dangerous cult” thing was a bit off-putting to our panel.
(Their favorite commercials of the 8 thirty second spots we had them rate was the Lohan commercial for Planet Fitness, with the Pringles “Stuck” spot coming in second.)
Also, I’m not sure what Amazon was thinking with their Alexa commercial. “Hey, you know that microphone we have in your home? We’re going to make it sound like its eavesdropping and then interrupt your private conversations.”
I kind of felt I would be in the minority on that one. :)
Thrag
2798
I loved it. Terrible commercial if the goal is to sell soap, but it appealed to my absurdist streak.
This is what I get for not checking my message during the game: My friend texted me a selfie of her at the Super Bowl yesterday. I don’t want to know how much that must have cost.
Skipper
2800
I was watching this with my wife and thinking, “who the fuck filmed a truck ad in New Jersey,” then I saw the actress was Meadow and totally interrupted my wife talking to yell, “SOPRANOS!!!”
And I was giddy about it while she was all, “what the fuck are you talking about?!?”
For those not seeing it:
I thought “Woke Up This Morning” gave it away.
I don’t know how you didn’t get the Sopranos connection from the getgo. It’s a shot-by-shot remake, right down to famous theme song by the Alabama 3.
CraigM
2803
If you’ve never seen the Sopranos then…
That was me. I watched the whole thing wondering why they had invested so much money for SB airtime for an ad that was just some lady going to meet up with a guy. It seemed lame.
Skipper
2805
For my wife, she wasn’t a Sopranos fan, for me, I was trying to halfway pay attention to whatever she was telling me until it clicked. I just thought it was funny I got so excited and she was miffed that she didn’t understand AND I wasn’t listening to her.
Scuzz
2806
Mixon had 79 yards, not bad against the Rams. The Bengals ran the ball much better than the Rams. They just couldn’t protect Burrow in the second half. The Bengals OL was a patchwork and just couldn’t do the job.
