Where does Bob Bratkowski rank among the league's Offensive Coordinators?

by Kirkendall on Jun 3, 2009 11:12 AM EDT Comment 16 comments

One of the things we expected this offseason after the team recorded their third straight win to close 2008 was a change at offensive coordinator. The point was simple. The worst-placed offense was clearly a system that revolved around a single player, rather than a philosophy. Losing your superstar quarterback became an excuse, evident that a badly flawed system didn't allow replacement players to perform into a system that should be implemented for eight years now (more on that later). Talent? Yes. That too was the issue. Players that aren't worthy of starting in the NFL aren't going to benefit you.

We also acknowledge a couple of things. The Bengals offense ranked in the top-ten from 2005-2007. They were inside the top-13 in points scored from 2003-2007. They have produced. And when all of our players are healthy, the offense scores. That's never the question. We wrote in December:

Our feeling is that if a system is based on one player, then it's a badly flawed system. A good system would take someone like, oh, I don't know, Matt Cassel and still be a top-five offense; the Patriots' backup quarterback's success came from a good system that allowed the team to succeed. You see the difference between greatly organized franchises and not-so greatly organized franchises with that small comparison.

It would have been far more impressive if Bratkowski wouldn't have orchestrated the league's worst offense, in his eighth season, with a bunch of players that didn't even start the season. By now, the system should be so integrated and ingrained with each incoming player, that it should succeed no matter who we plug in. Not used as an excuse.

On Wednesday, the Sporting News' Real Scouts ranked their top-20 offensive coordinators. Bob Bratkowski is....

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Took a look

at the rankings and am quite coinfident that the author really isn’t credible.

by Tommyboy45 on Jun 3, 2009 11:29 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

- bob bratwurst

by UpStateMike on Jun 3, 2009 11:36 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

hes #8 dude

by UpStateMike on Jun 3, 2009 11:36 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah...Kirk...go back and look again; he's ranked #8

Which further goes to show that the author is not credible, but still…

by TheWalrus1971 on Jun 3, 2009 11:38 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Unless what you meant to say was...

…that Bratkowski’s offense is a first-class ticket to NOWHERE!

Kirk…you sounded like Dirty Harry just then…

by TheWalrus1971 on Jun 3, 2009 11:41 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

-- Grace

“Well he makes you look like an ass, is what he does, Ed.”

by JohnCockToastin on Jun 4, 2009 10:13 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Ummm.... I did. That was all a ploy. Planned.

(innocently whistling)

Blogger at CincyJungle.com -- SB Nation Cincinnati Bengals blog.

by Kirkendall on Jun 3, 2009 11:49 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Guys, if you think the Patriots plugged in Matt Cassel and it was immediate sunshine and roses you are QUITE mistaken. They had a learning curve before they could use him effectively. Just look at what happened. They barely beat KC. They barely beat the Jets. They get embarrassed by Miami. Then they barely beat San Fran — SAN FRAN of all teams. They are absolutely destroyed by San Diego. After that they do OK most of the year, but it took a few games before they even realized they needed to change their offense to fit Cassel and it took a few more games before they started doing so successfully.

The problem wasn’t Brat. Oh he’s not the #8 OC in the league unless there are 24 others out there who shouldn’t be coaching high school ball. (Which might, on second thought, actually be true… but probably not.)

But remember we sucked in the first five games of the season too (when Carson was still in the game). The problem wasn’t Carson or even his injury. The problem was the LINE. And the problem was also ochostinko being hurt and the TE’s being hurt and the RBs sucking it up and…

All about one player? Get real. Our whole offense SUCKED last year. And it went from top to bottom. The problems all started with the line however. And that’s not Brat’s job personally to fix.

Now I’ve got plenty of other complaints about Brat. The fact that he was ridiculously predictable in 06-07. The fact that he couldn’t figure out how to adjust things in 08 until way too late to do any real good. And more. But thinking that he’s focused only on Carson and when Carson went down that was why things sucked so bad is missing 99.999% of the rest of the picture.

by FriarBob on Jun 3, 2009 12:38 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Wow...five nines...

That’s beyond industry standard and everything!

No, really…I must concur with the Friar…there’s an interesting conundrum at play here. Whereas we can’t really blame Brat for every single wheel that came off the train last season, we certainly recognize (and painfully remember) the ridiculous predictability of the offense in ‘06 and ’07…and unless he’s had an epiphany over the offseason, we shouldn’t expect much difference in the play-calling, even with a re-tooled O-Line, a solidified backfield, Carson’s Return and the healthy competition at the WR spots. Brat’s Playbook is still…Brat’s Playbook.

Except for during halftime of the 2005 Wild Card Game where Brat blew the dust off of the playbook entitled, “Old ’n Busted West Coast: A Series of 15-Yard Pass Plays” written by Kevin Walter’s Mom.

by TheWalrus1971 on Jun 3, 2009 2:16 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

"Get real. Our whole offense SUCKED last year."

But wouldn’t it be fair to say that the guy calling the play, moving personnel around, has a heavy baring and weight on all that?

Blogger at CincyJungle.com -- SB Nation Cincinnati Bengals blog.

by Kirkendall on Jun 3, 2009 4:16 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

very fair

by Tommyboy45 on Jun 3, 2009 7:33 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Um… no. He has absolutely no effect whatsoever. [/sarc]

Duh. Of course he does. But that wasn’t the point being addressed. The point being addressed was your idea that the whole system revolves around Carson. Well it doesn’t. It did at one point, maybe, but they already realized that was a problem and were trying to fix it. The problem was that they had nothing to fix it with. Hopefully now they do.

by FriarBob on Jun 4, 2009 10:32 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

"Old ’n Busted West Coast: A Series of 15-Yard Pass Plays" written by Kevin Walter’s Mom.

Hilarious! You should use that as your FF team name.

by smoormandiddy on Jun 3, 2009 3:15 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Sean Payton?

Did I miss something, or did this “writer” forget about the NO Saints? Drew Brees – almost breaking Dan Marino’s yards in a single season record? Bueller…Bueller???

by WHODEYINPHX on Jun 3, 2009 5:08 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

06 & 07 were not bad

The 06 and 07 seasons were not bad because of Brat. If I remember correctly Carson had big years. It was the D. We scored plenty of points and If we had the 08 D in 06 and 07 we probably would have been in the playoff both years. Brat just stuck with what worked. Can’t blame him. If we had the 06 and 07 O last year we would have also been in the hunt. Yea, I think we need to change the O a bit because we have a different team with different strengths and Brat’s predictability does need to change if we are to maximize our efficiency. We could do better than Brat but we could do worse too. We shouldn’t need to score 30 to win this year and with a decent running game we should be able to eat up more clock and keep the D rested. Frankly it looks very good for us this year but we still need to put it together on the field and I think we will. They seem really hungry.

" My enemy said "Love your enemy". I obeyed and loved myself." Gibran

by JUNGLEJOHN on Jun 4, 2009 9:00 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs