The Cincinnati Bengals were incapable of getting their running game going in Week 1 against the Seattle Seahawks. Rookie head coach Zac Taylor explained his imbalanced run-pass ratio versus the Seahawks.
“They (Seahawks) pretty much have you covered in every gap you have,” Taylor said. “It was a good game plan for them with (Jadeveon) Clowney in there. He creates some issues, believe it or not. So your best chance is to throw the football. That’s not how you want to win every single football game. When a team has chosen to take your run game out of the picture, then that is the reality.”
In Sunday's contest, the Bengals were only able to gain 34 yards on the ground on 14 rushing attempts. At the same time, Cincinnati also had Andy Dalton attempt 51 passes with 418 yards and two touchdowns.
As Taylor mentioned, Jadeveon Clowney and company made it tough for the Bengals to successfully run the ball. To combat Seattle's run-heavy approach on defense, the Bengals elected to put the ball into their franchise quarterback's hands.
The Bengals ended up losing the game but they were just one score away from upsetting the Seahawks in Week 1. Therefore, it's tough to pinpoint this loss on the playcalling from the Bengals side of things.
Of course, Zac Taylor would love to be able to rush for more than 34 yards, but sometimes you have to take what the defense gives you. It also didn't help that Joe Mixon left the game early due to an injury.
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