Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - AMATEUR HOUR! Bengals look lost, drop pathetic MNF showing in Denver
Episode Date: September 30, 2025If you said the Cincinnati Bengals are the worst team in the NFL, it would be hard to argue otherwise after the last two weeks. Zac Taylor's team has looked incompetent on both sides of the ball for e...ight straight quarters. Jake Liscow and James Rapien break down the outrageous spell of non-competitive football we've watched the Bengals put on the field, punctuated by a pathetic Monday Night Football showing.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-bengalsSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!5-Hour ENERGYEnough with boring, flavorless caffeine, it’s time to give your caffeine a flavor upgrade with 5-hour ENERGY®️ shots. Get the favorites you love or be bold and try something new in-store and online at https://www.5hourENERGY.com or Amazon today.PelotonLet yourself run, lift, flex, and push forward. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread+ today at https://www.onepeloton.com.RugietReady to level up your confidence in the bedroom? Head to https://www.rugiet.com and use promo code LOCKEDONNFL for 15% off your first order. Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at https://monarchmoney.com/lockedonnfl for 50% off your first year.SquareTo learn more, go support your favorite neighborhood spot and see what Square has been up to in your neck of the woods. And then if you have extra time, check out https://square.com/go/lockedonnfl.PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.GametimeDownload 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.FanDuelRight now, new customers can bet just FIVE dollars and if your bet wins—you’ll get THREE HUNDRED dollars in bonus bets to use across the app.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.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
After laying an egg on Monday night football in Denver,
this Cincinnati Bengals team through the last eight quarters anyway
might be the worst team in the NFL.
You are locked on Bengals,
your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast.
Part of the Locked on Podcast Network,
your team every day.
What up Bengals fans and welcome to another episode of the Lockdown Bengals
podcast, part of the Lockdown Podcast Network,
your team every day.
I'm Jake Liscoe, he's James Rapine,
and we've got you covered here on Lockdown Bengals.
to every dayers out there already know what we appreciate all of you who don't miss an episode
and all of you who make Lockdown Bengals your first listen.
The Bengals had a debacle in Denver, and that's eight straight quarters of unwatchable football,
really on both sides of the ball from this team, to the point that we talked about death spirals,
we've talked about dead cap bounces, and I'm running out of words to describe what could be
happening to this team, a long way to go, of course.
But tonight we have to talk about another disaster performance from a team that didn't look
like it belonged in the NFL and the Cincinnati Bengals.
Today's episode is brought to you by Fandul where if you're a new customer,
you can bet $5.
And if your bet wins, you'll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app.
And James, you are still at the stadium there in Denver, late at night at this point.
There's very little to say about this game that would resemble something redeeming.
This was a disaster in just about every phase, just about every part of the game.
And we talked about this looking more normal, and it did.
but despite it looking more normal and the Bengals taking care of the ball on offense,
it felt like every bit the beat down that Minnesota gave the Bengals last week.
Every bit. It was worse. This loss is far worse,
because at least you had turnovers last week that you could talk about.
This loss, you just got your butt kicked. And then you got your butt kicked,
and then you got your butt kicked some more.
And your head coach makes stupid decisions early in the game when you should be coming out,
try to set a tone, which I disliked that decision very, very much before I saw the bot
to not go forward on fourth and two.
And so yeah, there's a lot to dive into, and most of it is bad.
98% of it is bad.
And they have been, I don't even need to look across the league.
They've been the worst team in the league with Jake Browning and quarterback.
Not saying it's all his fault, but in these eight quarters, you score 13 points.
That's insane.
It's insane that an offense, that, an offense,
that has Jamar Chase and T. Higgins, that an offense, that has, I would say, other weapons as well
that can make plays, not just those two guys, that they can't find ways to create chunk plays
or move the ball consistently. And it isn't just, it isn't just all the offensive line sucks
and so they can't operate. Like, I don't think that's it. Not that the offensive line is good,
or one or anything like that.
That's not what I'm saying.
But what I am saying is,
is they have way too much talent
to be scoring 13 points in eight quarters.
It's insane.
And 13 is generous.
I only give them credit for six.
I don't count the Drew sample garbage time touchdown last week.
I understand that technically,
yes, they've scored that amount of points.
But to me, James,
six points they have scored while games were competitive,
which included a drive this week where they looked like an NFL team
for the only part of this game that they looked like an NFL team,
the first drive for the defense,
the first drive for the offense.
And then they choose to kick a field goal.
And not only does a robot think they should have gone for it,
but like common sense kind of says,
hey, you got all the way down here.
You think this is probably going to be a struggle tonight.
And you had a good script.
You have a chance to get seven points on the board here,
start this game off the right way,
and then they settle for three.
Yeah, they get a stop.
Sure, they forced a number of punts in this game.
And some of that goes down to Denver drop.
Some of that goes down to the defense's credit early in the same.
game, but it's not like they capitalize on any of that, that that decision, along with the
surrender punt on fourth and three or whatever it was in the fourth quarter, like, what are we
even, what are we doing? Why are we even here? I, and I asked Zach about both of those,
and he was like, just get, just get some points and, and go, and I'm like, no, like in my head,
you're at the eight yard line. You're at the eight. And it's fourth and two. I didn't love the
third and two decision, but fine, if that's the play because T. Higgins is mossing Riley Moss like he
was, then fine. I get rolling with it. Jake, make it a little catchable, semi-catchable. That would
be important. But you definitely should be going forward on fourth down. And that's when I was
instantly like, I don't like it. Because all week long, it was, that wasn't us last week. We're
going to show who we are.
We're going to be different.
We're going to be physical.
We're going to be.
Imagine the message it sends to your offensive line that you don't want to go
for it on fourth and two all week long after saying how physical you need to be and how
you need to get the ground game going and all of those things.
Not that they would have to run the ball there, but it would be a tone setter.
And instead the tone was, let's get some points on the board because we're there.
Like I don't want Evan McPherson ever kicking a 26-yard field goal, like ever.
There are very few times, unless the game's on the line, that that should be an option.
Like you take a game winner because of that Kansas City scenario a few years ago where they were able to run the clock down.
Yeah, we'll take that.
That's fine.
Win the game.
Sure.
In this scenario, I don't know, man.
There's so many problems with this team right now.
Jake Browning, part of the problem.
If Joe Burroughs out there, there's still a ton of problems.
I think the offense looks significantly more functional of Joe Burroughs out there.
I think the offensive line looks better when Joe Burroughs out there because Joe Burroughs is a kind of quarterback who can get the ball out on time or Jake Browning maybe isn't the problem.
Well, not maybe.
Jake Browning is not the processor that Joe Burrow is.
It's going to take longer for him to figure out where the ball needs to go, even if he's trying to get the ball out as quickly as possible,
which when he did get the ball out as quickly as possible is taking Yolo go balls down the sideline on passes eight more than 10 yards down field, James.
only one was between the numbers.
That's six passes aimed 10 plus yards downfield outside the numbers,
one between the numbers.
That's it.
They're not attacking the middle of the field in the intermediate or deep part of the field at all.
There are a number of replays on the broadcast where Troy Aikman is bemoaning missed targets
for guys potentially open in that part of the field,
deeper downfield than the ball was thrown.
But it's, as you said, not just an offensive line problem or a Jake Browning problem.
I think this goes to coaching.
This goes to the front office and the draft decisions that have been made.
The way this team was put together, the allocation of money for certain players and the way
those guys are getting used.
This thing goes all the way to the top right now.
And that's what's hard about it is you have it looked like an NFL team for literally
eight straight quarters.
And that goes to the players, that goes to the coaches, that goes to Duke Tobin and his staff,
that goes to ownership.
And it's really hard right now to see how they get out of this,
especially when you look at the upcoming schedule,
which we don't have to do tonight.
But how do you recover from two games
where you look like you just don't belong in the league?
Well, they need to have some real conversations about what they're supposed to be.
Like, what was the goal on offense tonight?
Because I don't think it was force-feed it to Jamar.
I don't think it was, all right, well, we're just.
just going to throw it up to T. Higgins a bunch, which by the way, I wouldn't hate it.
Given what we've seen, I don't hate that idea.
I don't know where it started.
All those go balls.
And it worked.
And it worked a little bit.
And he drew a pass interference.
Yeah, but that's it.
It's like you can't look up and see, all right, well, T. Higgins has six targets, three catches.
And Jamar has eight targets, five catches.
and Chase Brown is second on the team in receiving and really was first team in receiving for most of the game yards wise.
Like they're too good.
You need to find ways to get those guys the ball.
And I get it.
It's a really good defense with Denver.
I'm not, I'm not, I didn't say my patented 30 plus points this week, did I?
Right?
Like, it's not like expectations were super high, but did I expect you to score more than the 10 you scored last week?
Yes.
did I think that you'd be able to move the ball some and produce a few big plays because
Jamar Chaz and T. Higgins and all these other guys are on your team? Yes. And so the
look, the front office can't write its wrongs right now. I think there are some moves that they
should be discussing and we can get into those at some point this week if we have time. But
regardless, Zach has to start figuring some of this out and has to be able to get this offense
moving because if he can't i'll put it very why is he here like if he's not going to be able to
solve this offense without joe then why is zach taylor here why is dan pitcher here why are they
here and and so it's up to them to figure it out not just on the offensive side of the ball either
where the problems lie with the bengals but there is a little bit more on the offensive side of the
ball that i do want to talk about when you start talking about the the target numbers and how many
touches chase brown have when you put it into context of this game
game. I mean, to me, it gets even more frustrating. We'll continue the conversation there before
we talk about the defense, which was almost as problematic, if not more problematic in some ways
than the offense. The entire team, just problematic. We continue next. Today's show is brought to
you by Mizzen and Maine. You know the saying, look good, feel good. The problem is that most dress
clothes only check one of those boxes. They look sharp, but feel stiff, hot, high maintenance.
that's why there's Mizzen and Maine.
Misen and Maine makes classic men's wear with performance fabric so effortless to look sharp,
feel comfortable.
They actually invented the performance fabric dress shirt over 10 years ago,
and they perfected it ever since.
So Mizzin and Maine,
well,
you got to be able to do a few things when you're talking about comfort here.
Go to dinner,
maybe go to the office,
maybe you're going to the golf course after work,
and you can be comfortable all day long.
That's what Mizzin and Maine.
is going to do for you. It's the athletic wear, feel, but the look of professional men's wear.
Right now, Mizan and Maine is offering our listeners 20% off your first purchase at Mizanandam.
com with promo code locked on NFL 20. That's Mizan spelled M-I-Z-Z-E-N and Maine.M-A-I-N-D-com.
promo code locked on NFL 20 for 20% off. If you'd rather shop in person, you can find
Mizan in Maine stores in select states. We're also brought to you today by a Fandul
NFL season, obviously well underway at this point.
And if the Bengals are disappointing you, you want to have some fun, you like sports betting.
Fandul has an awesome offer for you to get started.
All you have to do is you go to fandul.com, you place your first $5 bet.
And if you win that bet, if that bet hits, you get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app.
I'm already looking ahead to next week, James, and the Bengals open as nine and a half point dogs hosting the Detroit Lions.
And I can't imagine that that is enough points to give the Detroit Lions.
in this matchup right now.
Maybe it is.
Maybe the Bengals surprise us next week and come out with a stronger effort.
But I think Detroit's better than Denver.
And we saw what the Bengals did tonight.
So if you want to get in on your first $5 bet in that game, you can do so.
If you have another hunch that you like better, feel free to take that avenue.
$5 if the bet hits $300 using bonus bets across the app.
What are you waiting for?
Visit fandle.com.
Download the Fandul app today to get started.
All right, Jake.
let's let's continue on this offense and it sucks i mean they suck right now let's be on it they
just i can i still i'm in shock that they're they've been this bad like this is jammar and t
and i keep going back to those guys but it's not just those guys this is amarius mims and orlando
brown junior and guys that have skins on the wall or were high draft pick
or have a lot to prove, but have the talent, like, they're not talentless,
and yet it looks like they're talentless.
In the past few weeks, they've been the worst offense in the NFL.
Without looking, I don't really know how it would be even close.
But yeah, worst offense in the league.
You're right.
They not by point scored.
Cleveland has scored fewer points, and there might be some others,
but that's kind of hard to believe, considering you've scored 13 in the last 16 in the
last two,
13.
13 and 8 quarters.
Yeah.
Yeah,
pretty bad.
But by yards coming into this game,
by yards per game,
they were already the worst team in the NFL.
220 was worse than the Titans in yards per game.
And the Titans were the second worst.
It's worse now.
And it's worse now.
They had 159 yards tonight.
They average 3.7 yards per play.
What are we doing?
512 for Denver.
$512.
Endeavor left like 70 yards on the field on drop passes.
Troy.
My guy, Troy, drop him passes.
He's like, James, I don't want to hurt you too much right now.
I'm going to drop this one.
And yeah, unbelievable.
6.4 yards for played at Denver to 3.7 for the Bengals.
Bengals had nine first downs.
They had 11 penalties.
They were out possessed by almost 16 minutes.
And coming into this game, they were out possessed on an average of six and a half minutes per game.
That got worse than it.
just nine first downs to Denver's 29.
And when you talk about the target numbers for Jamar and T
and the touch numbers for Chase Brown, 15, 6 and 8,
that's 14 to 15 is 39 plus whatever passes Chase Brown caught,
how many targets Chase Brown had in the receiving game.
The Beggles only ran 43 plays.
Most of the plays did go to those guys.
You only ran 43 plays in the entire game.
Pathetic.
Pathetic to have 4.3 plays.
run per drive. Denver ran 80
plays. You got doubled
in plays
run. Just inexcusable
stuff. And it comes down at
2 of 11 on third downs, get behind the chains
the entire game, pre-snap penalties.
Just the most undisciplined game.
One of the most undisciplined games we've seen in the
Zach Taylor era. And that's
just on offense. We haven't even gotten to
ranting about the defense yet.
Guess how many first downs they had on their opening
possession? Was it two?
Four.
So four of the nine came.
I thought we were talking about the third down conversions.
Yeah, just first downs.
Yeah.
Four of their nine first downs came in the first six minutes.
Terrible.
And then for the final, what would it?
It's a 60 minute game.
First, 54 minutes, they get those other five first downs.
That's crazy.
Like, that's crazy.
They also did convert their only two third downs of the game on the first drive of the game,
which is what I was thinking about when you asked me that question.
They converted the only two first downs of the game on that first drive,
0 for nine after that.
What did they do on fourth?
Oh, wait, he didn't go for it.
Dumb.
Also dumb.
And when you're down 21 to 3 and it's fourth and two,
I really don't care with the yard line, really.
But it's at the 38.
Like, you go for it.
You go for it.
You try to get a spark.
Yeah.
And honestly, in that type of situation,
maybe you do get Jamar in single coverage and just take a shot downfield and say,
hey, maybe that's the spark we need.
But like, that's a play you go for it on.
And when you don't, it puts your defense in a crappy position.
It doesn't show your offense that you're confident.
And that was a big theme.
But yeah, the defense, we need to get to the defense because there's a lot there.
But when your offense is.
Okay, sorry.
Were you going to?
Yeah, well, it's fine.
I just, when the offense performs as bad as they did, it puts more strain on the defense.
Like, it's harder.
They're on the field a lot.
And so that's really tough.
But go ahead with the offensive line.
Well, I think everybody's pressing to your point about complementary football.
Like the offense doesn't trust the defense.
They're trying to make plays.
The defense obviously is put in bad situations.
They're on the field twice as long as the offense in Denver, where everyone has the oxygen
disadvantage when you're on the road there.
You're not adapted to it.
And so, yeah, I mean, you have a point there for sure.
But the offensive line tonight, I mean, just dreadful stuff.
I don't know what quarterback you think you're going to put behind the
offensive line that the Bengals ran out there tonight and you're going to have more success
in Jake running.
I mean, maybe marginally better, but meaningfully better, better enough for it to matter.
I mean, you're not going to sell me on that.
Better enough for it to matter.
The offensive line was terrible.
Both tackles were in health tonight.
They were dealing with good edge rushers, loud road, silent count issues, good snap timers
and Nick Benito and Jonathan Cooper.
embarrassing stuff from those guys.
I don't think anybody played on this offensive line
in a night between the penalties and the sacks
and pressures and run blocking,
which somehow was better tonight.
Like Chase Brown wasn't getting hit in the backfield
on every play, but like who cares?
Because it's such an afterthought
to the way the entire game went.
They just can't move the ball.
It's inside.
How can you not move the ball?
Can't block, can't throw, can't scheme.
It's pretty bad.
Can't throw.
Oh, also real quick, one more thing.
You know the Mitch Tinsley throw that Jake had, not the one he completed, the one that he threw in Mitch, there's multiple guys in Mitch's area.
Jamar Chase probably doesn't score, but like Jamar could have scored on that play because if he breaks a tackle or two, like Jamar could.
But it was going to be like a minimum of 15-yard gain by just throwing it to Jamar Chase, the best player in the field.
I don't know what Jake is seeing with some of that.
And I didn't get to watch the broadcast and listen.
I was watching replays.
But you mentioned Troy.
I wonder if he said something on that play because that's an easy pitch and catch.
Get the ball in Jamar's hands in space.
A few times tonight, Troy Aikman lamented the quick decision.
I mean, and it's hard to kind of talk out of both sides of your mouth there.
Ball has to come out quick.
But Browning isn't processing, right?
There's one play where he gets past his, there's probably more than one.
There's one notable play where he gets past his first three,
which is a backside dig to Andre Yose.
of Osha Bengals' best offensive play of the night, 22-yard pass.
But that's it.
Like Jake's seeing throwing, for the most part in this game, when he had to process,
when he had to come off his first read, for the most part, it broke down.
And that led to some conservatism, as I think there was a concerted effort not to turn
the ball over in this game, left some plays on the field as a result.
Yeah.
It, uh, I, we were supposed to talk about the defense and we spent a lot of time on the
offense.
But guess what?
Now let's talk about the defense.
They had so many communication issues that I don't know if you could tell on the broadcast and if that was pointed out.
But I'm going to point it out.
We'll get to that coming up next.
The Bengals need some confidence in their lives.
When you cross a bald eagle standing on top of a silver baccarilla, riding a Tyrannosaurus Rex, that's where you find confidence, right?
Pure confidence.
If you're looking for something beyond the usual pill, well, it's time to meet Ruggiet, go long.
We're sponsored today by Ruggiet.
Ruggiat go long isn't just another ED pill.
It's a total game changer for confidence.
And James, you made a joke about this with the offensive line.
Before this game, maybe shouldn't have been such a joke.
Go long combines two doctor-trusted medications and one dual-action formula so you can go the distance.
The effects can last up to 36 hours.
That's confidence all day, all night, and even into the next day.
And the process is simple.
They'll connect you with a board-certified doctor 100% online.
and if it's prescribed, your treatment will ship discreetly right to your door.
If you're ready to level up your confidence, head to rougeiet.com,
RUG-I-E-T-com, and use promo code locked-on NFL for 15% off your order.
That's RUG-I-E-T-Rugiette.com promo code locked on NFL.
Make sure to use our code so they know we sent you.
All right.
Let's get to this defense.
And so we'll start with the positive.
They didn't give up an opening drive touchdown for the first.
first time this year. They get the stop. And boom, it's like, oh, nice, nice play there on third
and short. You get off the field. And then it was touchdown, touchdown,
touchdown, great interception by Demetrius Knight, touchdown. And it's 21, 3 at half.
And this defense, I mean, I don't even think Denver's offense is that good right now.
I don't. And in the communication issues I saw on
multiple plays where these guys are yelling at each other, wondering where to go.
On the last touchdown of the game, there was communication issues.
On the Marvin Mims, a quick pitch to Marvin Mims before he scored, it was their first scoring
drive, the Broncos first scoring drive.
And it was a little quick throw to him, and he gets like 12 yards.
Communication issues there.
I don't know what it was tonight, but they were definitely having a hard time
being on the same page, being in the spot that they thought they were going to need to be in,
and it showed because they looked lost on defense for most of the night.
And a big problem is there's just still no pass rush from this team.
And so from a design perspective and an execution perspective,
a Trey Hendrickson and I dropped into coverage, I think, five times.
PFF has it at four.
I thought it was five.
I think, well, we'll see what it ends up being.
On average for the last four years
in Cincinnati, Trace dropped into coverage
one and a half times per game before he arrived in Cincinnati.
It was almost never.
A bit of a different role for him in New Orleans
where he was just pass rushing.
But he's the only guy on this team.
That's really a threat.
And that's a problem in and of itself.
He didn't have a great night as a pass rusher.
Garrett Bull is still a good pass protector.
But nobody was getting after the passer in this game.
You have stunts that just don't work.
You look like a JV team trying to execute stunts.
So you got communication issues in the back end that you're talking about.
You got stunts that are too slow to work from a scheme perspective in the first place.
And then you finally get one that looks like it should work.
Logan Wilson has a free run at the quarterback.
And it's a stunt call.
So he tries to pick Garrett Bulls so Trey Hendrickson can work over the top.
But the left guard has gone the wrong way.
And there's nobody there to block them.
So you're coloring inside the lines.
You're doing your job.
But just go play football.
Just go get the quarterback.
And it's those issues in Cam Taylor Britt getting benched.
almost immediately in this game.
Maybe the hamstring is just too much of an issue for him
as he was active in this game
and looked worse for wear for it.
He only played five snaps,
so maybe it was just a hamstring issue there.
But, I mean, nobody on this defense looked good.
Nobody was getting after the passer.
The Broncos had a more consistent running game
than they've had all year.
So you got communication issues.
You got guys unable to get off blocks in the run game.
Got nobody getting after the passer.
You have questionable third down play.
calls where yeah, you're bringing these replacement pressures that you've brought all year,
maybe with a 10% success rate.
And schematically, you look like a mess.
You go, man on Bo Nix's first rushing touchdown.
And nobody keeps track of Bo Nix.
Your past rushers aren't keeping them in the pocket.
So either he's throwing four touchdown on that one if somebody gets open or he's going to
have clear rushing lanes and nobody's keeping track of them so he can run into the end zone freely.
I think there's a litany of issues on this defense right now, James.
I don't know what they do well.
now. I don't know who's playing well right now. It is a short list. It is. I think Dax
played pretty well overall. I noticed him a decent amount. And I know he gave up the touchdown.
Bonnick's had some really good throws. He had some dumb throws too. There are a couple throws that
I do think on that touchdown that Daxo was charged with. He has outside levers there.
The safety isn't anywhere close to making a play. I don't know what Dax is really supposed to do.
I thought it was a pretty impressive play that he was even in position to try to make a play on the
Yeah, I just noticed him a ton tonight and just being around the ball.
But like, that's kind of it.
Like, who else is there?
By the way, Logan Wilson took a really horrible angle on a J.K. Dobbins run in the second half that it was just like really bad and he got caught up in all of the nonsense.
Like, you're right.
Like what's their identity?
Give up a bunch of yards.
Maybe you force a turnover.
You get off the field once in a while.
No pass rush.
You're right.
None.
and they need that.
They need splash plays.
They needed some kind of momentum changer.
And even when Demetrius Knight did make that play,
and it was a heck of a play, he deserves credit for it, for sure.
Heck of a play.
But that's it.
Like the team is just not,
they're not functioning well at a high level.
And I, the Broncos left a lot out there.
And there's Bengals defense.
I just don't know.
You're right.
Like, who are the playmakers?
Obviously, we know Trey's awesome, right?
He's a great pass rusher.
But who are the real playmakers?
And I think they have like, you'd say Trey and then there's no Shamar because I think he could be in that mix.
I would say Dax, Demetrius has made a few plays.
Jordan Battle, it's been a little bit now that can make a play here or there.
But that's not many guys, you know.
I mean, is there anyone else that I'm really missing that you'd say, hey, that's a playmaker?
No, and it's not just playmakers.
There's this like scheme soundness, it's doing the little things, it's getting off blocks,
it's calling a defense that puts your guys in position to not give up that touchdown that
Dax Hill gave up because he is outside leverage and it's an in-breaking little skinny post.
Like what do you want him to do?
And I feel like we've seen so much of that from this defense and so much reluctance to
actually blitz.
And like I said, all these replacement pressures where you're dropping defensive ends into
coverage to the point where, you know,
Joseph Osai has multiple coverage
reps in this game. Trey Hendrickson
has multiple coverage reps in this game.
Camp Sample has a coverage rep in this game.
Like all of the, all the pressures
they send, you end up dropping a guy.
And at some point, I think you have to realize that that's
not working.
It does look like they maybe blitzed a little bit more
tonight. The normal Demetrius Knight had nine past
rushing reps, according to PFF charting.
But I don't know, man.
Like the scheme on defense doesn't look like
is helping these guys.
And that was the whole idea of bringing out Golden Inn,
the confidence level in the coaching staff at an all-time low right now.
And it's not too dissimilar, James,
how I felt last year around this time.
When we started talking about watch out for those dead cat bounces
and watch out for the team winning games that don't really matter
against bad teams down the stretch.
It doesn't feel too dissimilar to how we felt after last year's slow start
when Joe Burrow was healthy.
And here we are again.
And yeah, they're two and two, but they're staring down the barrel of some tough games and tough conversations.
For sure. And we're not there yet either because it's so early from a dead cat bounce.
But where are the winds coming from? And really how? How are you going to win games if you're playing like this?
If there are this many issues and your issue solver is out until December minimum.
and out for the season if you keep playing like this.
That's the real problem.
And there's a short week.
It's one of the best teams in football.
And you just had one of the worst performances.
I really do think this is worse than last week.
Because you had those turnovers last week and it really swung momentum.
And you could say, all right, well, we can clean it up and we're going to clean it up and we're going to be better.
and then you came here and you delivered a little push at the beginning and then you got hit with eight haymakers
and you never returned the favor. There was never another haymaker on the other side.
And that's tough. Like Demetrius Knight's interception. That's not a haymaker. You just you just kind of duct.
You dodge that right hook. You know, you didn't deliver one on your own.
And it could have matter, but the Bengals gained one yard in 49 seconds and then the Broncos scored a touchdown on nine plays in a minute.
and went 80 yards.
The Bengals did get stops on defense in the second half that Jamar Chase referenced after the game.
The Bengals defense managed to force three straight punts.
A couple of those punts coming after Denver gained at least 30 yards.
A seven-play 30-yard punt drive for Denver, a nine-play 37-yard punt drive for Denver that maybe they don't punt.
Maybe those drives go differently if the Bengals were putting up more of a fight at that point in the game.
But the offense didn't do anything with those.
corresponding possessions, three plays eight yards punt, six plays 29 yards punt, four plays six yards,
and a punt after those three Denver second half punts. So I was wrong. Those punts came in
the second half half. They only forced the one first half punt from Denver and the end zone
interception as their other first half stop. Yep, that's it. Don't know where, don't know where it's
coming from. This coaching staff in the past has found ways to make corrections and get things,
on track there was no sign of that this week no and it doesn't get easier no no it gets it gets
harder and this this should have been the them rebounding even if they didn't win they should have
rebounded we should have been talking about a 28 23 game or something in that realm and instead
it's 28 to 3 13 points in eight quarters and looking pathetic all the way doing it like looking worse
somehow than the score has been.
They need to find answers.
They need to find answers quickly.
I am ready to talk dead cat bounces.
James is going to preach a little patience for four weeks
into the season.
And that's fair.
We've got to get to the film.
What continues to go wrong?
And then we move on.
Short week.
Bengals back in action on Sunday after a Monday night disaster in Denver.
Until then, thanks for listening to this episode of the Lockdown Bengals
podcast.
We'll see you next time.
Have a good one.
