Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - 2024 Battle Of Ohio Part 2: Another backup QB opponent for the Cincinnati Bengals' Defense

Episode Date: December 18, 2024

With Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase leading the offense, the Cincinnati Bengals face a Cleveland Browns defense that has historically given them problems, largely thanks to Myles Garrett and Denzel Ward.... This episode dives into the strategic shifts, including the Browns' quarterback change to Dorian Thompson-Robinson, and how these moves could impact the game. Jake Liscow and James Rapien, along with Spencer German from Locked On Browns, explore the Bengals' offensive tactics and the Browns' defensive prowess in a Battle Of Ohio that might keep the Bengals' season alive.Join the Locked On Bengals Insider Community! https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonbengalsFind and follow Locked On Bengals on your favorite podcast platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-bengals-daily-podcast-on-the-cincinnati-bengals/id1159723162Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7AObc0lh0WmQl5fJVgtajsGoogle Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vbG9ja2Vkb25iZW5nYWxz?sa=X&ved=0CAYQrrcFahcKEwio_sXtj8nuAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAgStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-bengals Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BetterHelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Make your brain your friend, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDON today to get 10% off your first month.Hillsdale CollegeAll of Hillsdale’s courses are self-paced so that you can start whenever, and tune in wherever. Plus, you can go deeper with readings, quizzes, discussions - or just enjoy the lectures. Go right now to hillsdale.edu/lockedon to enroll. There’s no cost, and it’s easy to get started.PrizePicksDownload the app and use code lockedonnfl to win $50 instantly when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive your $50 bonus, it's guaranteed! Prizepicks. Run Your Game.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFLGametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms Apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelYou can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - if you win your first FIVE DOLLAR BET ! Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 The last time the Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns faced each other in December with winning records, 1986. That doesn't change this year. Let's break it down. The Locked on NFL crossover. Part of the Locked on podcast network. Your team every day. What's going on football fans and welcome to another crossover on the Locked on podcast network.
Starting point is 00:00:33 I'm Jake Liscoe along with James Rapine from Locked on Bengals with Spencer, German from Locked-on Browns for this week's crossover. Welcome back to the Lockdown Podcast Network covering your team every day. For those of you who are everydayers, for those of you who make your respective lockdown podcast your first listen, appreciate you all very much. And if you're new, you can subscribe to Lockdown Bengals or Lockdown Browns, wherever you get your podcast or on YouTube to make sure you don't miss an episode. And as always, as we dive into this week's Bengals-Brown matchup in our weekly crossover,
Starting point is 00:01:06 the crossover is on Locked-on podcast. Network are brought to you by prize picks where you can get $50 instantly when you play your first $5. And Spencer, as we do, we start with the away team and the Cleveland Browns visiting the Cincinnati Bengals this week for the second edition of the Battle of Ohio. Just a little bit more exciting than the first for reasons mostly on the Bengals side of things. But a quarterback change brewing for the Browns. What's the biggest story? Is that the biggest story with the offense this week? I would say it's definitely the biggest story this week.
Starting point is 00:01:39 You know, seven weeks of James Winston, the offense certainly had a much better pulse than it did through the first seven games of the season when it was Deshaun Watson. But I think what sort of transpired here was the team feels like they've gotten now a good grip on who James Winston's going to be. Not that they didn't kind of know coming in what they signed up for, but the turnovers were just kind of too cumbersome. It was happening too much. They were costing the team on Sundays. It cost them in that Chiefs game. It cost them in the Broncos game on Monday night, despite James putting up almost 500 yards of passing.
Starting point is 00:02:15 And so it was time to make a change. You know, I thought it was interesting because we actually talked to Dori in Thompson on Wednesday. And I asked him about like if he's treating these three games because there's so much mystery with the quarterback position beyond this season. Like these three games, now this is like the big storyline. but even beyond these three games, like what this looks like next season is a big question. And I asked him, like, is he treating this like an audition to maybe earn the starting job next year? And he was pretty quick to answer and say, yeah, like that's my goal here. I want to go out and sort of prove myself.
Starting point is 00:02:48 Kevin Sifansky made it clear like he didn't guarantee anything beyond just this week for Dorian. But I do think like this is about evaluating him and seeing what he brings to the table for these next couple weeks, obviously starting on Sunday in Cincinnati. How long of a leash do you think he has? Because we have the unique perspective. We saw Dorean Thompson Robinson and James Winston earlier this year after Deshaun Watson went down with the injury. And so obviously it was a quicker hook with DTR. He was told he was going to be the backup.
Starting point is 00:03:19 I think that's Saturday before a Sunday game because everyone expected it to be James. I think it threw a lot of people off when he was the emergency third quarterback. And so do you think there's a scenario where Stefansky could pull him? him Sunday or do you think that the leash is going to be long enough to wear a whole get all 60 minutes and a potential overtime if God forbid we have to watch a fifth quarter of these teams? I think the leash would be pretty long. Partially because part of Stafansky's response as to why he was making this switch on Wednesday revolved around the idea that they want to give him a shot, like a legitimate shot at starting for this team and seeing what he can do with the right
Starting point is 00:04:02 preparation time because it's interesting. Like you even go back to last year, his first start came against the Ravens in like week four of last season. And it was sort of like that Bengals game this year, James, where he got sort of thrust into the starting, the starting role on a whim because Deshaun was starting to deal with some shoulder issues. And he had been questionable all week and they were kind of beating around the bush about what it was. And then like the last minute, like late in the week, they decided, okay, it's going to be Dorian. and so he had like very minimal time to really prepare and start. So he's only really prepared like a full week's worth of preparations and practice
Starting point is 00:04:39 for a game once in his career to this point. That was against the Steelers last year. So they are taking sort of this approach of let's get him the right preparation. Let's put him in a situation to be successful and see what this thing looks like. I think it would have to be like really, really bad where, you know, if the game like got out of hand, then it was like 37 or something like that. like the Bengals just run away from them for them to really think about pulling him. Because I do think, even though Kevin Spansky wasn't committing to Dory and Beyond this week,
Starting point is 00:05:07 I do think ultimately for this team, it's about sort of evaluating him over the next couple weeks. The Bengals, of course, if you look at what they've done this season, have feasted against bad and or backup quarterbacks. We'll see if that continues this week or if DTR passes a litmus test and proves that he's actually a starting caliber quarterback. My last question on the offense before we talk about that Brown's defense, Spencer, is what does the ideal DTR-led offense look like schematically? Are there big changes that you think the Bengals should be expecting this week
Starting point is 00:05:37 with the quarterback change in Cleveland? Yeah, it's a great question because I do think it goes back to looking like the offense early in the season. Maybe hopefully for Browns fans' sake, not from a production standpoint because that offense was historically bad. I mean, it was worse than the offenses of the 1 and 31 Hugh Jackson years here Cleveland. It was pretty bad. So from a production standpoint, they want to see more.
Starting point is 00:06:02 But I do think stylistically, it's more RPO style stuff. It's more running design quarterback runs for Dorian Thompson. He talked about that a little bit using his legs as a weapon is something that he certainly takes advantage of when he's out there under center in any capacity. So I expect to see some more of that sort of worked into this. Not that they're going to go completely away from the Kevin Sopansky sort of pro-style West Coast style offense where it's a lot of play action and drop you back. But I do think they'll work more of that stuff in to sort of cater to DTR strengths.
Starting point is 00:06:35 Spencer, let's switch gears. Let's talk about the defense a little bit. Obviously, these two teams very familiar. I just got out of press conferences where both Zach Taylor and Joe Burrow praising Miles Garrett. We know how good Denzel Ward is as well. What's the biggest story defensively going into this game? I think it's Miles just kind of by default.
Starting point is 00:06:55 because he's been, he's the star of this team. And I think this week's kind of brought up some questions about like, should they just shut him down for the season? I don't think that's ever going to fly with Miles in particular. He's been one of the most adamant guys in that locker room who's saying like, we got to really fight the rest of the season, you know, find something to play for, find something to motivate you. I think it's a bad look if they were to be like,
Starting point is 00:07:17 hey, the guy that's trying to tell everybody to keep playing hard, now you're not going to play. He's also just a half sack away from his hundredth sack of, of his career. And so that's, that's kind of a big, a big mark for him and something that he's trying to accomplish in this game. So that's pretty massive. I think from like maybe a, an X's an O standpoint, a defensive story is as you go, as you get ready for, as you guys are well aware, Jamar Chase and Joe Burrow, who have been fantastic this year, like per usual, but I think they've even taken it to another level. Can this defense limit the big place?
Starting point is 00:07:50 Because that's been one of the biggest things hindering them this year. You know, it's, it's, it's calls back to the Joe Woods days of him being the defensive coordinator here, very uncharacteristic of Jim Schwartz defenses. And it's kind of been like weird. Like there's not been like a definitive play or scheme or coverage where it's happened. It's kind of just been all over the place. So making sure that they do that against this Bengals, the offense is going to be huge. I'm thinking about tackling this week for both defenses. But you're talking about big plays. The way the Bengals have produced big plays lately have been run after catch opportunities. Teams actually in the last two weeks have done a good job of keeping a cap on how deep Joe Burrow is throwing the ball down
Starting point is 00:08:29 field, but then Jamar Chase is Jamar Chase. And so I'm thinking about tackling for both teams, unsurprisingly, as we'll get to the Bengal side of the ball here coming up next as well. But interesting to hear that perspective and the secondary matchup is so interesting in this game as well, in addition to Miles Garrett getting a chance against some backup offensive linemen for Cincinnati. And we will flip the table. We will talk a little bit about what's going on with those Cincinnati Bengals before we get to some key matchups to finish up the show coming up next. It's that time of year. The college football playoff is back. And with the newly expanded 12-team format, it's guaranteed to be bigger and better than ever bringing you all the hard hitting and high-flying
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Starting point is 00:09:46 Today's show is also brought to by Hillsdale College. Time is our most precious commodity, and you don't want to waste it, going through the same mind-numbing content for hours and hours, how can you spend it wisely to improve yourself? Well, our sponsor Hillsdale College is offering more than 43. That's right, free online courses, including Constitution 101, the meaning and history of the Constitution, the Great American Story, and the rise and fall of the Roman Republic.
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Starting point is 00:10:41 All right, guys, I know we touched on things from the Brown's perspective and we hinted a little bit at what's in store for on the Bengo side of things. And we also know that these two teams that we're both covering are two of the worst in football right now, record-wise. I guess there still is an outside chance that Bengals make the playoffs, which maybe means something a little bit more for them in this game. But the one thing I'll say that you guys have had over me
Starting point is 00:11:02 is when you get to watch these games on Sunday, you get to watch a pretty exciting offense when you got Jamar Chase and Joe Burrow. What is the biggest storyline from your guy's perspective on the Bengals offense? It's certainly there. And this week, it's been, for me, it's still going to be Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase.
Starting point is 00:11:22 How many records can they, break this year, right? But I think going into really Wednesday and into Thursday, and I think it'll start to fizzle out as people listen to this. But it's Joe Burrow yelling at Zach Taylor on the sideline at the end of that Tennessee game. Everybody's seen it and it's gone viral and it was something that really overtook Joe Burroughs Wednesday press conference. It was about a 20-minute press conference. And I think there were about 20 questions about it. And I was guilty of asking some. shouldn't make fun, but it's like no one's seen an argument on the playground before, right? You know, things happen.
Starting point is 00:12:00 And Joe said, obviously, that he wasn't yelling at Zach. He was just frustrated with how he was playing, how they were ending the game, how they were finishing things. And look, you're going to reach those boiling points when you're six and eight and you're playing the best ball of your career. To your point, Spencer, where they've been fun to watch on offense because of Joe Bro and Jamar Chase and T. Higgins when he's healthy. but it hasn't resulted in the wins that we expected to see coming into this year. They're two and seven and one score games. So that is the biggest story on offense by far, I would say. A lot of little ones, and in the middle are the records that I think will loom large.
Starting point is 00:12:39 But over the past couple of days, I think people can't get enough of the, oh, my God, Joe Burrell yelled at Zach Taylor storyline. I'll just add on to that. Not that this is offense specific, but from a broad strokes perspective, you're talking about two of the worst records in football. But yes, the Bengals are still looking at an outside chance of the playoffs. So the one other thing this week that was not, I guess, related to the incident, the 10 second caught on camera incident on the sideline with Joe Burrow and Zach Taylor that was discussed in that press conference was,
Starting point is 00:13:10 is Joe Burrow paying attention to playoffs scenarios? And he had a pretty short answer, big game tomorrow, referring to Thursday night football, Denver Broncos, Los Angeles Chargers. So another factor, I guess another big story around the Bengals right now is what happens with the rest of the NFL. And all that help the Bengals need to keep their games meaningful down the stretch or potentially make them into meaningful games. So I think that's the other one.
Starting point is 00:13:35 It's not necessarily offense specific, but when you're talking big stories, that's certainly top of mind for me. Do the Broncos have to lose out for them to make it? Is that what it is? Or do they just have to lose a certain amount of them? Lose out. And there's a scenario where the Chargers can lose out as well, but they play really bad teams down the stretch and the Raiders and Patriots. I think it's Patriots and then Raiders.
Starting point is 00:13:56 So they're not going to lose out. So you really need the Chargers to win on Thursday night. So if someone's listening to this on Friday, we already kind of know. But yeah, I asked Joe that because he's kind of dismissed it, Jake, like the playoffs in general. But the fact that he was like, yeah, big game tomorrow. I'm like, oh, okay, you're in. Like, you know a bunch of stuff has to happen, though, spent. So the Broncos have to lose out, and then the Dolphins have to lose a game.
Starting point is 00:14:24 They play the Browns, one of their final three games. And the, what other team is it, Jake? The Colts have to lose a game. So one game is one thing, but the Broncos losing out. That's kind of contingent on Thursday night. Staying with Joe Burrow in the offense for a second here, because, you know, one thing I think that Browns fans and just in general, us, who cover the Browns allude to a lot with this matchup is how there's almost like this,
Starting point is 00:14:52 the Browns are in Joe Burroughs head sort of narrative that's out there because he's two and five against this team for his career. How much play does something like that get in Cincinnati? Like is that something people think is like a legitimate thing? Is it just all, is it Clevelanders more so just, you know, boosting that more than what it really is? And do you think he's maybe shaking that bad omen, if you will, with the win he got against him earlier this season? Well, finally getting the win in Cleveland, I think. think is sort of getting the monkey off their back. They can sweep Cleveland that would go a little bit farther in that quest. I do think that's a bigger storyline in Cleveland than Cincinnati. I think in
Starting point is 00:15:26 Cincinnati, it's more like Zach Taylor can't beat the AFC North. The Zach Taylor, Joe Burrow, Bengals just can't beat the AFC North. And they point to the broader AFC North picture. From the perspective of the Bengals and the Brown specifically, I think it's more like they can't deal with Miles Garrett and those corners have matched up well with the Bengals weapons in the past. The way the Bengals win on offense is Joe Burrow throwing to the Bengals weapons. And if you have corners that can actually stand up a little bit against those weapons, then it makes things harder for the offense. And so I don't think it's, you know, the Brown's in his head or anything like that.
Starting point is 00:15:59 I would say to me it was more, and James has heard me say this many times to the point where it's a bit of a joke at this point. Like Mike McDonald was in Joe Burroughs head, I think, a little bit with the Ravens. And from a schematic perspective, I don't think that it's quite there with the Browns. I think it's just a matchup thing where the Browns. match up pretty well and Miles Garrett can make life hard on you, especially when you got, the Bengals offensive line is not in good shape at this point. Let's go to the defensive side of the ball. What do you guys think is the biggest storyline on
Starting point is 00:16:29 that side of things for the Bengals? I know Jake, you sort of mentioned the tackling being a big thing that you're watching for, but what's the big storyline that you're talking about this week? Yeah, I think really moving forward, even though there's slim playoff hopes, it's will any of these young guys show their worth or for existing veterans show that they can be significant contributors next year, right? So Gino Stone, Cam Taylor Britt fall into that veteran category. You have guys like Chris Jenkins are rookie, second year player in Miles Murphy, McKinley Jackson, so three defensive linemen that you're hoping are part of the solution, but you want to see a bunch down the stretch. And so I think that's kind of where we're at defensively as talking about
Starting point is 00:17:17 these young guys who can help, who can contribute now, and be not only maybe a solution for these final three games, but also next season and beyond. Yeah, and we've talked a little bit this week about whether there's anything Louana Rumo can do on the defensive coaching staff side of things to save his job, where a few weeks ago before the Bengals beat up on a couple of bad quarterbacks, it looks like a sure thing. And I still think it's likelyer than not that Luana Rumo is on the outs in Cincinnati, although he did get a vote of confidence from Joe Burrow in his press conference on Wednesday. I still think that there's some outside chance there that things can change. But, you know, again, we've talked about this on Locked on Bengals this
Starting point is 00:18:01 week. The only good performances, quote unquote, good performances for the Bengals defense this year are against the six worst scoring offenses in the NFL. Of those, the Browns are one. And this week with Dorian Thompson Robinson, a quarterback, I mentioned earlier that the Bengals have done a decent job against backup quarterbacks. And that's why, you know, I mentioned the witness test idea. If Dorian Thompson Robinson goes out there and plays well, that would be some sort of evidence, perhaps, that he's better than just a backup quarterback in the NFL, because that truly has been a defining line where if you're a decent quarterback, you're putting up 35 plus points against the Bengals.
Starting point is 00:18:37 And if you're a backup quarterback, you're getting held to 20 or less, essentially, all year. Crazy how Lou Anirumo has gone from being a hot head coach name last year to now being on the hot seat and potentially out in Cincinnati. That's kind of crazy. Like within a year, that changed so, so quickly for you guys. Absolutely wild. Yeah. So in 22 especially, like after that season, he was like got interviews.
Starting point is 00:19:02 Last year, the defense kind of took a step back, but he was still. still kind of in the mix and being mentioned. I don't think he interviewed for any jobs, though. And now it's, yeah, it is hot. The seat is very, very hot. But, yeah, we'll see what happens there. But we talked a lot about it for those wondering on our Wednesday show. But we have to get to some keys to victory, and we will do that.
Starting point is 00:19:29 In the Battle of Ohio, between two teams that are really, really, really, really fun to, well, I'm just kidding. We'll get into that coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by Fandul, America's number one sports book, and whether you're going to be where I'm at on Sunday, right now, at Paycor Stadium, watching Bengals Browns,
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Starting point is 00:20:04 struggling going into the, this game as well. The over under set at 46 and a half. It screams under unless it's just a complete blowout. But regardless, you can get on the action from the Battle of Ohio perspective, all of the week 16 NFL games at Fandall where right now you'll get $150 in bonus bets if you win your first $5 bet. So throw five bucks on the NBA, the college football playoff, any of the week six week 16 NFL games. And boom, $150 in bonus bets if you win your first $5 bet at Fandul.com. That's fandle. com. Never waste a hunch and make every
Starting point is 00:20:38 moment more with Fandle, an official sports book partner of the NFL. Locked on Bengals, Lockdown, Browns. Let's get into Keys to Victory on this week's crossover presented by prize picks where you can download the app and use code locked on NFL to win $50 instantly when you play $5.
Starting point is 00:20:59 Spencer, from the Lockdown Brown's perspective, let's talk about some keys to victory in this game. do you think the most important things are for the Browns to watch for or to play for in this game this weekend? I think off of our conversation, obviously, earlier about just Dorian Thompson-Robinson taking over and being the starting quarterback, getting him comfortable has to be like a top priority. Like they have to be able to, on the opening drive of the game, put something together, even if it doesn't end in a score, like move the football, get him
Starting point is 00:21:32 sort of feeling like he can make some easy throws, maybe use his, legs a little bit to get him comfortable that way and give yourself something to build off of because this offense is only going to go as he goes and as you're trying to evaluate him, you want to give him the best opportunity to sort of be successful. Obviously, we talked about the Bengals defense and some of the issues that they have. There's an opportunity there to I think make some plays and do some things if you're DTR. But again, you got to make him comfortable sort of out of the gate. So I think that's probably my number one thing. My second thing, relating to the defensive side of the ball
Starting point is 00:22:08 has to just revolve around the big plays. Like I mentioned, Jim R. Chase and Joe Burrow are playing just out of this world right now. I like that you brought up, Jake. Like usually when these two teams get together, the Brown secondary, there's always some chirping going on between the Bengals wide receivers and the Brown secondary.
Starting point is 00:22:26 And they tend to do a pretty good job against these Bengals wide receivers. Now, the biggest thing, though, Denzo Ward's been phenomenal. He's probably having the best year of his career. rear. I'm curious to see how they deploy him because generally he just stays on his side of the field. But every now and then they sort of have him shadow a guy more often. And so I'm curious to see if they do that in this game with Jamar Chase, especially knowing that Martin Emerson,
Starting point is 00:22:50 Jr. has had some struggles this year. He's kind of been the guy that quarterbacks have targeted this year. And he's done with a concussion right now. So he might not even play. And Greg Newsom's obviously on the IR, so he's missing from this matchup. So you're banged up in the secondary, taking away the best you can, Jamar Chase, he's going to get his, but trying to limit those, that connection,
Starting point is 00:23:10 I think is really important. And then the last thing I would just say is probably some form of Miles Garrett having one of those classic Miles Garrett like takeover games. Like we talked about with the Joe Burrow part of this, like that guy always seems to play really well against Joe Burrow. And, you know,
Starting point is 00:23:28 I know Joe Burroughs made some sort of joking comments about how good of a player, Miles is. and yeah, like there's been instances over and over again when we've seen Miles really throw things off for Joe Burrow and what he wants to do and getting comfortable in a game. If he can generate that pressure, make life difficult for him, you know, slowing down this offense is obviously the main goal. And that starts, I think, with Miles having a big game.
Starting point is 00:23:53 Yeah, not going to get a debate for me when it comes to Miles Garrett or Denzel Ward. Those are the two, it's what makes this matchup so unique to me. especially going up against the Bengals is just how tough they can make it. And obviously we'll see on Emerson. We know about Newsom. But yeah, that secondary combined with the defensive front, obviously it's led by Miles Garrett. But there are other guys that have made an impact against this Bengals offensive line.
Starting point is 00:24:21 And we'll see what the Bengals do. Alex Kappa in concussion protocol. He was at practice on Wednesday, was not practicing when I was there. But we went through stretch. We know how protocol is. If he does not start at right guard, I would expect Andrew Stuber to make his first career start. So just one of those things where it's like, all right, well, can that work?
Starting point is 00:24:44 But that's certainly something that we'll be paying attention to. Andrew Stuber going to catch some Miles Garrett in his first career start because they're going to move miles around. And that's not a test that I'm envious of for Stuber. Coming off the practice, squad where he's bounced back and forth to the Bengals this year. Spencer, did you have something you wanted to add in there? I might have cut you off before we get to the Bengalskis. No, no, I was just going to say, you never want to get somebody getting like their first start or like a first time matchup against Moss Gear.
Starting point is 00:25:12 That's never a good thing. I joked with James. I think we weren't recording at the time, but like they might not get that much worse, even if it's not Kappa because of the level Kappa's played at in past protection this year. Like it hasn't been good for him. He's clearly showing the signs of the injuries that he's dealt with over the course of his career. It's been tough to watch Alex Kaffa at times this year in past protection. So, you know, you know, there's always a chance, I guess, there, that it doesn't necessarily get worse.
Starting point is 00:25:40 Yeah, it's something new. We'll see if Maz Garrett has his basketball crossover ready for the Bengals this year. Got it respect it, right? Well, I mean, Mike Tomlin mentioned it on hard knocks. If you guys are keeping up with that at all, he was like doing a film session and he was like, this is the guy that likes to, you do the crossover. They move around across the defensive line. So it's now a famous moment, I guess, in NFL lore. So I'll be catching up on hard knocks immediately after we finish this recording.
Starting point is 00:26:08 James, let's get me to watching Hard Knocks. Let's talk about the Bengalski's the victory. Yeah, first one. First one, last one in really all three can revolve around Miles Garrett. Don't let him wreck the game. He's the best player on the other team. He can do, he can be the kryptonite. And so you got to make sure the kryptonite doesn't get to Superman, which is
Starting point is 00:26:29 Burrow. And it's really that. I mean, the paths for the Bengals to struggle on offense, a lot of them revolve around 95 just completely wrecking the game. So that would be number one. Two, I think this defense, can it continue to do what it did last week, which has forced a bunch of turnovers with a young quarterback like Will Levis? Can you do it again? Can Geno Stone, who was limited on Wednesday with a shoulder? We'll see, but I think he's fine. We'll see, though. Can he continue his late season resurgence? Is Cam Taylor Britt may be going to have another interception, his second in three weeks? We'll see. But that would be number two is taking advantage of a matchup against DTR. And who knows, maybe that dead cat bounce we've been talking about,
Starting point is 00:27:15 Jake continues for this defense. And then number three, it's got to be these receivers. We know the Bengals are going to pass it all over. And that's just what they do. And so it's probably going to be a little quicker than normal, which means Joe needs to get rid of it quicker. These receivers need to get open, get separation quickly, and find ways to make plays with the ball in their hands. So, I mean, those are the three, because you still want big plays, but I just don't think you're going to have the longer developing plays. And Joe's been great off script this year, but I don't love Joe holding it for nine seconds again. As good as that Titans defensive front can be with Jeffrey Simmons, this animal that they're dealing with.
Starting point is 00:27:58 with on Sunday and Miles Gary. He's just a different beast, man. He's on another level. Yeah, we'll see if they go back to more of that Dallas game plan where they had to deal with Micah Parsons in that game who obviously has a Miles Garrett like impact on passers quite frequently. One of the better passers in the NFL as well, not trying to rile Brown's fans up by comparing it to Miles Garrett.
Starting point is 00:28:18 I probably inadvertently did. So anyway, point is Michael Parsons is really good. And the Bengals in that game used a bit of a different game plan to attack the Dallas defense, knowing they had to get rid of the ball quickly, knowing that there were some matchups that they liked in the Dallas secondary. And with T. Higgins and Jemar Chase out there, yeah, you can maybe dedicate Denzel Warden to safety to Jemar Chase, and now you have to deal with T. Higgins.
Starting point is 00:28:41 And they found some ancillary options in Mike Keseki and Chase Brown that Joe Burroughs really found, I think, some comfort and confidence throwing to. And those guys have been useful pieces at times when those first two guys were taken away. but I'm still looking for the Bengals to force those targets to Jamar Chase, getting those little touch passes on jet sweeps, pat up those reception numbers, keeping him ahead for that triple crown.
Starting point is 00:29:05 And I'm only slightly joking when I say that. But that's like a only half joke, mostly serious. Let's get Jamar those touches he needs to do some cool stuff, some historic stuff this season. I think that's it, guys. I think we've covered our keys to victory. We've covered the biggest story. So let's wrap up the crossover there, Spencer,
Starting point is 00:29:23 and Lockdown Browns will have you covered from the Browns perspective going into this game. James and I will have you from the Bengals end on Lockdown Bengals and Lockdown Browns respectively. So that's going to do it for this crossover. Thanks for listening to the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day.

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