McVay cost us this game. He is far and away the biggest reason we lost.
Outright refusing to run the fooball against a defence that had been giving up lots of yards on the ground in weeks 1 and 2. Williams looked just fine with his very limited carries early, and Stafford didn't look sharp. Why so pass happy?
Even crazier is that the only times McVay DID run the football were when 2 offensive linemen were injured, with time rapidly becoming scare. Crazy.
Not to mention refusing to help out Thomas at LT. What is Sean thinking? Why not give him help? If you insist on leaving your LT 1 on 1, then shift Noteboom over.
Stafford is likely the next reason we lost. Way too many red zone trips ended with FGs. We could have stepped on their throats early. Does anyone think this Bengals team could come back, if we scored TDs, with how gimpy Burrow looked? No chance. We were brutal on 3rd down too.
The refs played a huge part in the loss. No idea how Tutu's TD was reversed on further review. He clearly looked in bounds, let alone it being "clear and obvious" he wasn't to reverse the call. In a game with points being at a premium, that likely cost us along. Especially in light of the above point. No way the Bengals come back from a big hole with this version of Burrow.
Not much luck went out way tonight. Tipped balls when the Rams were on offense? INT. Tipped balls when Cincy was on offense? Right into Chase's hands for a nice gain. Bengals converting FGs from a long distance, bouncing in off the uprights.
Hopefully, Alaric Jackson is okay. We can't sustain any offensive line injuries and hope to succeed. No depth there.
I thought the defence was average. They had ups and downs. Some good and some bad. But with Burrow extremely limited today, we still couldn't fully shut them down. And situationally, the defence was awful. How many 3rd and longs were conceded? Back breaking for a team both on the scoreboard and in terms of momentum.
Williams is a nice piece but is not a bell cow. Too slight, and his hands are very unreliable. Worse, he does not just drop the pass, he puts the ball up in the air for grabs.