Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Another must-win for Cincinnati Bengals against Pittsburgh Steelers, and they haven't been great in must-wins so far!
Episode Date: November 28, 2024Can the Cincinnati Bengals overcome the Pittsburgh Steelers in another must-win game with playoff hopes hanging on by a thread? Hosts Jake Liscow and James Rapien emphasize the need for physicality an...d mental toughness, among other factors, that will be key as the Bengals will need to overcome a fierce Steelers pass rush to try to stay alive in 2024. 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-bengalsFor your next listen, check out the Locked On Fantasy Football podcast. Get daily insight to the best Fantasy draft strategies so you can win your league this season. Click HERE to listen now. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your Team. Every Day.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Skylight FrameGet $25 off a Skylight Frame when you go to SkylightFrame.com/NFL. 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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Another week, another must win game for the Cincinnati Bengals.
And unfortunately, their track record in this situation this year, not so good.
Let's break down Steelers week.
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 Locked On Bengals podcast.
I'm your host, Jake Liskow.
He's your host, James Rupin.
We are the last.
Locked-on Bengals podcast, part of the Lockdown podcast that we're covering your team every day
on YouTube and everywhere you get your podcast. Welcome back to the everydayers. Happy Thanksgiving
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Lockdown Bengals. And today's episode brought to you by Game Time where you can save $20
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I should say, with the promo code locked on NFL. And James, we've got another must-win game here
on Thanksgiving weekend for the Bengals. Yeah, it's a must-win. And it was a must-get-in-to-pay-course
stadium. I snuck into Paycor Stadium on Thanksgiving to record this. If you're watching on
YouTube, you can see that I'm in the Bengals news conference room. Do not tell the Bengals security team
that I'm here, Jake, until I get out of here. And if you're watching this premiere,
hopefully I'm out of here by the time you are. Anyways, yeah, it's a must win. It's a must get.
It's a my God, they better find a way. And it's, it's tough because you look at a team like the
Steelers.
And it just feels like they're a good matchup.
Like they have a lot of advantages, especially with Russell Wilson, a quarterback,
and we can break those down.
But it really doesn't matter who they're playing against.
It doesn't matter if it was the 85 Bears.
It doesn't matter if it's the greatest show on turf.
What matters is the Bengals are four and seven.
They have arguably the best quarterback in the NFL.
They have the best receiver in the NFL.
and the other guys, not only do those guys have to continue to play to that level in Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase,
but the guys around them have to step it up.
And that's what I think is going to decide Sunday's game and really the outcome of the next six weeks.
How do all these pieces that have underachieved or haven't proven themselves up to this point,
how do they play around Joe, around Jamar?
We trust those guys.
I think it's fair to say both of us trust those guys.
I don't know who else you can trust outside of, you know,
Trey Hendrickson and a few other veterans going into this game,
which is as big of a game as you can have,
not just a must win.
It's a do or die.
It's an elimination game.
If they don't win this game, they won't mathematically be eliminated,
but they essentially will mathematically be eliminated,
and the Steelers will be really darn close to clinching a playoff spot.
Yeah, the Steelers will move to nine and three with a win.
Of course, the Bengals would be four and eight.
at that point.
We talked about all of the different playoffs scenarios,
and really they aren't all that different for the Cincinnati Bengals.
But we did go through that a couple of days ago on Lockdown Bengals.
If you didn't check out that episode,
we did talk about that going through with the New York Times playoff simulator
and the impact of different games on the Bengals' chances of making it to the playoffs.
This game, one of the most important for the rest of the season.
It's an AFC North game.
It's an AFC game, more importantly, for AFC conference record tiebreakers
that may come into play.
if the Bengals do manage to win five out of six or all of their remaining games,
those tiebreakers could come into play for whatever team they may be matched up against
for that last wild card spot in the AFC.
But really, I mean, we talked about it and Joe Burrow talked about it.
And the team understands where they are.
They're not totally eliminated at this point, but it's already a long shot.
The season is already, as we've said, on life support.
And regardless of what happens against the Steelers,
it's not going to get off life support in a positive way.
It's not going to suddenly be okay.
Everything is fine now because even if they win that game,
they're five and seven, right?
So they're still on life support.
They're battling to stay on life support for the season, essentially,
the way this game has arrived on the schedule in December.
Yeah, they're playing to earn an opportunity to play for their playoff lives again next week.
And then the next week, and then the next week.
And it could get old really fast, but it's just the corner that they're in.
And as big of a win as it would be, you're right.
It's just one.
And so this is a huge game because of what it can do if it ends up negatively,
if you lose.
But if you win, it's just an inch forward.
It's not two feet forward.
It's not three jumps forward, however you want to phrase it.
it's an inch forward but it would be a heck of a lot better than the the final blow to a season
that had so many expectations i mean i keep thinking like if you would have told me in august
that joe burrow would have 27 tuddies and four picks that you'd have a honestly not just
jemar chase all pro but potential jemar chase triple crown i would have thought this team was i mean not even
seven and four if you flip it nine and two i mean i would have thought they were really darn good so yeah
it's uh it's weird i would say that too is just vibes wise i'm a big vibes guy and naturally it was
uh only in on the building on wednesday uh not necessarily breaking in uh on thanksgiving
but when i was around the players i think it's i think they're surprised too and they're kind of
searching for answers a bit and good or bad.
And so how they respond and how they come out on Sunday, I think is going to be quite interesting.
Yeah, I mean, these guys are human, just like fans are, just like we are with the expectations
that were around this team in the preseason.
And they got to this point where the offense is a top five offense that is one of the best,
if not the best passing offenses in the NFL.
The run game has suffered.
Don't get me wrong.
It's not perfect on the offensive side of the ball.
ball. There are a lot of criticisms that you can levy against the run game and against the marriage
of the run game with the past game and with the amount of hits Joe Burrow is taking. But Burrow and Chase
and Higgins and Chase Brown, those guys are doing enough on offense. And Mike Keseki has stepped up at
times, right? There have been different guys in different games where the offense is still performing. And
despite all that, we've said this hundreds of times now, it feels like this season. They're just
not getting enough complimentary football, enough good, full team football.
And again, going back to what you were saying,
when we were talking about expectations for this season,
we knew what we knew now about this offense in August,
and we knew nothing about the defense,
we would have probably thought,
okay, well, they can be a bottom third defense, say,
and they're probably right in the mix at the top of the AFC North
is probably what we would think
if we knew they were averaging 27 points a game.
And that's with Evan McPherson struggles that I think we talked about,
like Evan McPherson's missed kicks this year,
of cost the Bengals a full point per game, I think.
I can't remember the exact number.
We talked about it on a show in the last week,
so somebody can correct me if they were paying close attention.
Well, he cost them six points in the last game.
So that alone, you know?
I mean, they had a point.
And games, right?
Like, you look at the Bengals season this year.
They go, what, one and three in their first four games,
and then they go three and two in their next five,
or two and one in their next three,
and then again, a one and three stretch.
They've had these two one and three stretches
where they have all these close losses mixed in.
And so many of those,
going back to how we started the show,
were these must-win games.
And they've come up just short in all of these must-win games,
not to mention the huge disappointment
against New England in week one.
So, I mean, obviously in many ways,
a curse season for this team
where they're just not getting enough done.
And to keep the little light alive
in terms of that playoff,
tunnel to keep that one crack in the cave in, to leave that little bit of sliver at the end of
the tunnel open, they've got to beat Pittsburgh. And like you said, James, this is a tough
matchup. And we can dive into that matchup a little bit more here after discussing the existential
nature of this game to continue the show coming up next.
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time today what time is it game time james this game honestly how much of this comes down to the trenches
I mean, we're talking about another game where the Bengals are going to be facing a defense that can get after the passer that has been really good all year, similar to the Chargers and an offense on the other side of the ball that with the addition of Russell Westbrook or the Chase Russell Wilson, the change to Russell Wilson and quarterback leads to the Steelers being competent on offense.
It's kind of like a mirror image of what we were hoping for for the Bengals this year.
We were hoping the Bengals would be this offensive team again with a competent defense.
The Steelers were hoping their defense would be leading the team again, and it is,
and hope they could get a competent offense.
And now with Russell Wilson back there, that's kind of where they are.
They're kind of a middle-of-the-road offense that can do enough to stay in games that their defense can do their thing.
Who's a better passer, Russell Wilson or Russell Westbrook?
That's a good one.
Russell Westbrook is a heck of a passer, triple-d.
double, triple, double, triple, like MVP.
I'm just saying it's interesting.
Anyways, yeah, probably Russell Wilson.
The Bengals secondary better have less saying Russell Westbrook by Sunday at 5 p.m.
If the answer is Russell Westbrook, and maybe we can revisit this in the postgame show,
well, Bengals defense, go show it, right?
Which would be quite impressive because I thought he's playing pretty well.
I think, yeah, the trenches in these AFC North games are so important.
And the other thing that I'm really going to judge, and this is not vibes.
This is the opposite of that.
Your backs are completely against the wall.
How fired up are you?
Like I love Josh Newton's quote earlier in the week.
I play DB not ping pong.
Like I love that.
Now I need to see that.
And I think you'll see it from him.
But how does Cam Taylor Brick come out?
How does Cordell Voulson and Alex Kappa come out?
How do, as of now, we don't really know about Sheldon Rankins with the viral issue that he has illness-wise,
but whoever it is in the trenches, because you know Pittsburgh came to Cincinnati and is going to be in Cincinnati in at Paycor Stadium to bully you.
That is it.
That's why you mentioned the trenches, because that's how the Pittsburgh Steelers are thinking.
And so if you're the Bengals, your seasons on the line, you're at home, are you going to get pushed around?
If they're a broken team, they will get pushed around and we'll know pretty quickly.
Even if it's close, you'll know, because it might be close because Joe and Jamar and Trey and, you know, some of these guys are just superhuman.
But early on, you need to see the Bengals playing with that grit, toughness, little nastiness.
Like, I don't mind going the other way where maybe you get a penalty because you're pushing that limit a little bit.
I would much rather see that than the just going through the motions.
Like, I'm not saying you want a penalty, of course, but which one would you rather see?
So that aggressiveness early from a just a body language standpoint, I think is going to matter,
especially in the trenches where clearly the Steelers have an edge.
And there's a skill gap too.
It's not just do they show up with an edge.
I think they have to, but how much can they overcome that skill gap?
I don't think the Steelers will have,
I guess they have their full complement of defensive linemen
because Alex Highsmith is likely back this week.
I thought maybe they were missing Nick Herbig,
but Nick Herbig is playing the last few weeks.
Herbig is DE2 for the Bengals, isn't he?
I mean, you could go down the line on the Pittsburgh defensive line
and look up and down this depth chart
and find guys that would be starters.
Mike Tomlin's like,
Mike Tomlin's like, I am thankful for DT4, it would be DT1 and say, no, I'm just kidding.
Okay.
I mean, Keanu Benton and Larry Ogun Joby are like rotational guys beside Cam Haverd.
And wouldn't the Bengals love to have those guys?
Larry, oh, come back.
Larry come back.
It's kind of crazy.
But like the top of that defensive line room, T.J. Y. Cam Hayward, Alex Highsmith.
And I would put Nick Herbig in that mix.
He's been awesome as a pass rusher this year.
Yep.
Like, those guys are going to cause problems
and how you are prepared to deal with those problems
from a schematic perspective, from a one-on-one perspective,
because the Bengals are going to ask their guys to win one-on-ones at times.
That's just the way this offense works.
Joe Burrow wants to drop back and pass.
That leaves these offensive linemen in challenging positions
where defensive linemen know they're dropping back and pass
can pin their ears back at times.
There's not a whole lot in terms of play action or screen game.
I looked at this over the by week.
The Bengals are using the least sweep.
greens in the NFL by like a pretty large margin.
So where's the help for this offensive line?
And remember, the Pittsburgh Steelers also added Preston Smith of the deadline.
Not that he's a world beater, but that's another piece of depth that they have there in a,
what, seven player, eight player deep rotation of players that would all be upgrades for the
Cincinnati Bengals, not to meant, I mean, of course the starters, but like you can go deep
on the Steelers, right?
And so when I'm thinking trenches, I'm thinking Joe Burroughs done a lot.
lot in the last few games to overcome pressure.
This may be the best pass rush they see all year with Cam Hayward, Alex Highsmith, T.J.
Watt Nick Herbig.
That four-player combo.
Plus, you know, throw Larry Ogonjobie into the mix for fun.
Throw Keanu betting into the mix for fun.
I mean, that's a deep unit that is going to make it hard for Burrow to continue to escape
the pocket the way he has, even if he is still playing at that level where he's been able
to extend plays and create so much outside of structure.
Are you saying the Bengals should kidnap Keanu Benton and Larry O'Ginjobie put stripes on them and put them on their defensive front?
It would help.
Anyways.
No, obviously you're not saying that.
Might have to consult the CVA on that one, James.
Yeah, it's, look at you.
I think it's so tough because Joe's awesome, but you know, you know, like the script here.
Like, you know he's going to get hit.
You know you're going to wince every time it happens.
you know he's going to make plays will he be able to make enough plays it just sucks like this is what
this is the the play because i don't know how else they're not going to get enough push for chase
brown to be this he's not going to average six yards to carry it's going to be tough around the
ball this week yeah yeah you know like in by the way that's not a chase brown thing i i don't think
sequin barclay is running for six yards of carry in bengal stripes right now with this and that's
why I mentioned those interior guys.
Like, okay, fine, they're a little more talented.
You are deeper. Fine. A lot more talented.
Whatever you want to say. Be nasty.
Be a thorn.
Be, do something.
Like, because I can accept talent level and skill, like all of that.
Like, you can.
Like, I don't expect Josh Newton, for example, to just crush George Pickens this week.
Oh, but wouldn't that be sweet?
Oh, for sure.
Like, if he shuts him down, but I don't expect him.
I was thinking specifically about a big hit, specifically on Pickens, but that's a big tangent.
Let's get back to the topic at hand.
But like, I expect him to give a thousand percent effort and play tough and physical and push the limit.
And by the way, try to get in George Pickens's head.
I feel like it would be easy.
I feel like I could walk on the field and get in George Pickens' his head.
I don't think it would be that hard.
And so, yeah, you're talking about a rookie in Josh Newton.
So what?
Go get after him.
And that's that edge I'm talking about that I do.
I think it matters.
And I'm not sure who's going to make sure that these guys have it,
but they better have it on Sunday.
Because if they don't, they're going to get hit in the mouth,
and it's going to be really hard because I'm not sure Joe can just put the Superman cape on
because there's going to be all those Pittsburgh Steelers defenders in the phone booth with him
when he goes to put the cape on.
Yeah, I mean, they have advantages of wide receiver against a Steelers secondary,
Make a Fitzpatrick notwithstanding, but like the corners haven't been great for Pittsburgh this year.
Yeah.
But like, will that matter?
It has mattered this year because Joe's been that good.
But I do think it gets harder this week.
It also gets harder, well, maybe not harder.
It feels like everything is harder for the defense.
Let's talk about that side of the ball here as we wrap up this game preview headed in to week 13 coming up next.
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The defense maybe doesn't have the kind of task at quarterback that they had against the Chargers
or that they've had against Lamar Jackson twice this year.
but Russell Wilson is playing respectable football,
which is not something I necessarily thought I would be saying at this point,
this season, given the way the season especially started for the Steelers,
where it was a big deal to pull Justin Fields from that starting job.
But again, you look at the defense and think about what we've talked about this week, James.
We talked about Cam Taylor Britt needing to prove his worth the rest of the season,
show that he is worthy of competing for future roles on this team.
Gino Stone, still trying to get out of the hole that he's in
as a free agent signing that hasn't really gone the way anyone thought it would.
Shadam Rankin's status in doubt,
but not so much for the edge opposite Trey Hendrickson
where the weakness is on that Pittsburgh defensive line
if you had to pick out a weakness as Broderick Jones at right tackle,
and then obviously the rookie Josh Figg Newton getting in their corner.
There's a lot of individual players that need to step their game up on this defense.
And then Trey Hendrickson got that matchup against Dan Moore again.
And we talk about that matchup every time the Bengals play the Steelers.
And Moore continues to develop to his credit and has done an adequate job against Trey in the past.
But like overall, you think about the task ahead of the Bengals with this very pedestrian kind of average.
Pittsburgh Steelers offense.
And it still feels daunting because I think that's just the way this defense's task feels every week right now.
Yeah.
And there's a little uncertainty, obviously, with Logan Wilson as we record this.
So who knows there?
But yeah, I think this is one of those games again where it's going to show one way or the other.
You know, good teams respond.
And this just might not be a good team.
And what they did in the second half against the Chargers was awesome.
Now it needs to lead into a complete game against a Steelers offense that isn't unstoppable.
Russell Wilson's good.
He's not Justin Herbert.
I'll just compare the two.
George Pickens is really good, but it's not like he's, you know, a Jamar Chase or a T. Higgins.
You're playing those guys in practice every single day.
Like, it's, Najee Harris is fine.
They've done pretty solid against the run.
recently but do you do you have to allocate all the resources that you've been able to have had to
to slow down nodgy harris and jalen warren and i think jalen warren's actually the better running
back he's starting to heat up a little bit too so i i think there are a lot of questions
about this defense but if they're going to get over the hump at all and in and be anything
close to a league average defense consistently for four quarters i like i like the the
match up to a certain degree because of that because I don't think Russell Wilson is the 2014 Russell Wilson.
I don't, I'm not really scared of anyone not named George Pickens.
And so we'll see.
But I do think that it sets up okay there for this defense to play well if they bring that that toughness, that edge, that all of the above when it comes to the mindset and mentality.
And they might not.
It might already be done coming off the by.
We'll see.
is that we haven't really seen it all year.
Like we've seen them string together drives here and there.
We just saw them do that in the second half, as we mentioned, against Carolina.
We've seen them do it for a half here or there, for a drive here or there,
but they haven't been able to do it for an entire game.
They haven't been able to take advantage of soft matchups in the trenches where they have them.
And the Steelers, I mean, why don't, why would they just stay in 12 personnel the entire game?
Go out there heavy with Darnell Washington and Pat Fryer Muthutth at tight end,
alongside, you know, what I say.
No, I'm just thinking about Darnell Washington.
How much we talked about him pre-draft.
No, no name.
I thought you were getting on me for a name again.
But like Zach Frazier has been really good for them in the run game.
Isaac Sayamalu has been awesome for them at left guard.
Dan Moore, like I said, has taken a bit of a step this year.
And Mason McCormick has been pretty good for them in the run game
in terms of just playing physical football.
Like they've got a bunch of guys on that team with Darnaw,
and Pat Firemuth, and heck, even George Pickens in the mix, that will play physical bully football.
And if the Bengals defense isn't up for that, then it could be a very long day.
And not only that, like, that's what we're used to from the Steelers, right?
But more than that, Jaynes, I'm worried about those moonballs.
Like, yeah, Russell Wilson isn't awesome.
He's not 2014, Russell Wilson.
But those moonballs are George Pickens, like, that's a legitimate thing that the Steelers can do on a somewhat repeatable basis
and we'll go to numerous times in this game
and we'll test the Bengals coverage rules
and coverage discipline throughout that game.
And that could be a major difference in the game too.
Calvin Austin is starting to come on a little bit
and be productive.
I liked him coming out of Memphis,
and it's taken him a few years.
But yeah, I, the moonballs.
All right, Gino Stone, right.
It goes back to stuff we said earlier in the week.
All right, Gino Stone, make a play or two.
Make this your two interception game.
All right.
Everyone talks about Jordan Battle.
Fine.
Well, when Jordan Battle's out there make a play.
Like, this defense should make some plays.
And that's it.
Like, I've seen a lot of over the past couple of weeks.
And I don't disagree.
I think Miles Murphy should get more snaps, of course.
But do something big with the snaps you do get.
Like, it's it.
If you're only getting eight pass rush snaps, we'll make an impact with those eight pass rush snaps.
And that goes for anyone.
That goes for Sam Hubbard.
If he plays four pass rush snaps on Sunday, it'll be more than that probably.
But if he only plays four and he just completely gets sat down, all right, Sam, I don't want to hear about it.
You know what I want you to do?
Kick their tail for four snaps.
And if everyone has that mindset, and it's really hard to do when you're a bad team and you're four and seven.
If everyone has that mindset, then I think that they're going to be there.
They're going to be in the mix.
they're going to put themselves in position where Joe Burrow will have a shot to win the game.
And if you give him a real shot and he's not playing superhero ball for three and a half quarters to give you that shot,
and it's because the defense is doing it's holding up its end of the bargain,
I like the Bengals chances.
But that's a huge, huge if.
And there are a lot of factors there.
If Cam Taylor Britt can bounce back, if Josh Newton can be solid, if Gino Stone, if Jordan Battle, if Von Bell,
if Logan Wilson's healthy enough, if the pass rush, if, if, if, it's just a lot.
It's a lot of Vips, Jake.
The Steelers are coming to Cincinnati on a long week.
They get the mini by.
They're coming off of that Thursday night football loss in Cleveland.
So they're coming off a loss in the first place.
They're still fighting for the division.
And they're in the middle of a four straight game, AFC North stretch.
But their schedule is certainly ramping up.
They go their four straight AFC North games.
And they get Philly, Baltimore, Kansas City.
Cincinnati to finish the season.
Like this is a tough stretch of their schedule where things get harder.
They played Denver and the Chargers early in the season before they really found
their footing as playoff contenders in the AFC West.
Lucky for the Steelers there.
But it is a bit of a different challenge, I would say, for the Steelers defense.
And so you can very well find yourself in a close game if you're the Bengals.
And we can very well be talking about another game that looks like all of the close games
that Bengals have played this year.
And to me, that comes down to,
you're talking about all these factors.
To me, that comes down to how well Joe Burrow
and this offensive line are able to hold up
against what should be a pretty strong pass rush
from the Steelers in this game
and a very disruptive pass rush from the Steelers.
But if it doesn't spiral,
the way the Eagles game spiraled away from them
very, very quickly in the second half,
then you're probably dealing with another close game
down the stretch again.
And we're going to be talking potentially,
about whether or not they can finish in that scenario.
Bring the nasty.
Bring the nasty.
Yeah.
That's part of it.
I mean, I'm not saying that's not part of it.
I'm just trying to hammer that home.
Yeah, but because like if they get beat, fine.
But like, I need to see a little something.
Season's on the line, Jake.
Yeah.
It's just, you know, me.
It's one of those things that's so hard to quantify.
Like what attitude they're playing with.
Like sometimes they're getting beat real bad,
but they're still trying hard.
And fans are like, all the energy's out there.
I don't, I don't, but yeah, I mean,
they need to have that mindset for sure.
It's just hard to discern when you're watching.
Like the first play of the game,
I want someone to finish a guy into the ground.
Okay.
Yeah.
Like,
not something to have to happen every play,
but I want to see that.
I want to see Mike Hilton crush,
and I think Mike will bring this,
but crush Najee Harrison the whole
the first time he gets a carry.
That stuff.
Like, it might end up losing the game.
but you can tell when there's an energy and when there's not.
And I just want to see that.
It's not even me saying that we haven't seen it for 11 weeks.
I'm saying I better see it on Sunday.
That's all.
That's all that is.
I'm sure many will agree with you on that note, James.
We will be back on Sunday after the game to discuss what has occurred at Paycourt Stadium
and the state of the Bengals season at that point remains to be seen.
Until then, thanks for listening to this episode of the lockdown Bengals podcast.
Who day and have a good one.
Happy Thanksgiving.
