(10-06-2020, 09:39 PM)JagNGeorgia Wrote:

(10-06-2020, 04:44 PM)TheO-LineMatters Wrote: As someone who lives in the Cincinnati area and has seen all of Burrow's games so far and 3 of 4 of Minshew's games, (I missed the Tennessee game,) I can tell you that I see a world of difference. In those first three games Cincinnati played, Burrow was under a ton of pressure on nearly every play. I didn't see any panic in him though. He stepped up in the pocket, remained cool and if the pressure got too close, he threw the ball out of bounds and didn't try to force things that weren't there. He has gotten consistently better with each passing week. A.J. Greene was given the franchise tag and that came with a lot of money. Despite this, Greene doesn't look anything close to being the player he once was. He's not getting separation at all. He was supposed to be Burrow's "go-to" receiver, but Burrow is seeing his decline and doesn't feel obligated to force the ball to him. He's utilizing all of his other receivers and going through his progressions quickly and making the right reads. It's been a long time since I've seen a rookie QB look so polished. 

With Minshew, he gets "happy feet" when he feels the pocket collapsing. It's like he goes into panic mode and he either cuts off his reads and starts scrambling until he is sacked or forces ill-advised passes. He tries to make something happen when it isn't there and often times, we are penalized, because he is holding the ball too long or he is dropped for a sack. For some reason, he forgets to chuck it out of bounds to avoid a loss. To be honest, I don't know what the deal is, but the consistency isn't there. He's been regressing, while Burrow has been ascending. If you watch their games throughout the season and take into account the talent level around them, that is apparent. I'd say the Bengals O-Line is vastly worse than ours, despite the outcome of Sunday's game. The receivers are pretty equal and I'd also say Robinson is every bit as good as Mixon at the RB position. That means the talent level of the people around them is almost even. Stats aside, you only need to see that one is getting better as the season goes on, while one is not.

I think we’re forgetting how good his first few games were. He showed many of the exact things you’re crediting Burrow with having showed. His OL was horrible, too. I’m not making a case for him being better. I’m just saying that he showed a lot early on (and recently), so him showing those flaws don’t somehow negate everything he’s shown. 

You're missing the point. He may have been good in the first two games, but it's obvious he has regressed and Burrow got better. That is the major difference. A good QB will continue to grow and improve. I'm not seeing that from Minshew. A mediocre QB will have good games where you think you have a franchise QB and then turn around and make mistakes that you thought they had started to get past. That is what I see with Minshew. I'm not saying he's bad at all. I'm just saying that I'm not seeing the improvement and consistency that a franchise QB is supposed to show. Maybe our O-Line was complete garbage last year, but this season they've worked their way up to average, so you can't lay blame on the O-Line. It doesn't matter if Minshew has flashed brilliance at times. It only matters if he can be good consistently and I certainly haven't seen that. Consistency is key. We've NEVER had that in a QB. Not even Brunell.

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