Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Bengals' D Impresses, Offense Stumbles | Week 1 Film Takeaways

Episode Date: September 8, 2025

It's time to dive into the Week 1 film as the Cincinnati Bengals' defense impressed in the run game and the offense struggled in the second half. Mike Santagata joins Jake Liscow to dissect the film, including TJ Slaton's impact and Logan Wilson's standout performance. We also get into the lingering concerns on defense, highlighted by Cam Taylor-Britt's struggles. On offense, it was another unsteady Week 1 for Joe Burrow, who faced familiar challenges against the Browns. 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 ENERGYTee up that trip! Enter for a chance to win a dream golf trip for two to any golf tournament* in the USA. Visit https://5HEWIN.com for full rules and entry. No purchase necessary. Excludes the Master’s tournament. Ends October 31, 2025.DoorDashWith DoorDash Streaks, you save every Saturday you order — stack it up all season and you could save up to $250. Order this Saturday. Keep the streak alive. Fuel your gameday — only with DoorDash. Terms apply. Promo period through 11/18. Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnfl for 50% off your first year. UpsideDon’t let this offer drive on by, download the free Upside app now using my limited time promo code TOUCHDOWN for a limited time 25 cent per gallon bonus! Offers vary by user and location, Go to upside.com for terms and conditions.Click Here to download the app: https://getupside.onelink.me/zlLr?af_xp=custom&pid=barrington&c=barrington_lockedon25&deep_link_value=promo&deep_link_sub1=lockedon25&af_dp=upsideapp%3A%2F%2F Yahoo FantasyPresented by YahooFantasy #YahooPartner. Draft now at https://yahoofantasy.com/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.

From a surprisingly great effort in run defense to concerns on the offensive side of the ball, let's dive into everything we can take away from the Bengals victory over the Browns and 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. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. day. I'm Jake Luscoe, your host of the Lockdown Bengals podcast, bringing you a

one-stop shop for all things Bengals all season round here on Locked on Bengals. And if you're new to the show, where everywhere you get your podcast, we're on YouTube. We appreciate all you every dayers out there. Would appreciate you even more if you became an everydayer, one of those

that makes Locked on Bengals there first list. And today I'm joined by Mike Sandtag at Bengals underscore Sands on Twitter. You can find his work at Bengals Talk, S.I. where he does his film breakdowns. We'll be talking to Mike a lot this year for his film study. He's, as I said, the last time we chatted,

using his free time to watch coaches clinics. And so we've had a chance to watch the tape from the Bengals' victory against the Browns. And while things feel a certain way in the moment when you get back, you watch the tape, things always feel different the next day. When you get clinical about it, you get analytical about it, and you really see what happened on a play-to-play basis. but some things are going to feel the same. The offense wheels came off in the second half.

We're going to get to later in the show why that happened. We're going to start with a whole lot of defensive topics, Mike, which we don't normally do, but there's so much to get to here because that's where many of our questions are about this team. So many new components on that side of the ball from the defensive coordinator to many significant players and rookies. So we're going to start on the defensive side of the ball

with the good, the interesting, and the concerning, probably will take us a little bit of time to get through those topics. And today's episode brought to you by Fandul where you can bet $5. And if your bet wins, you'll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Mike, let's start with the good. Starting out on the positive note. And we've been talking all day about the tape, as we do often on Mondays after we get a chance to see things.

And obviously the run defense, one of the things that was really good in this game. holding the Browns to just about two yards per carry on the game. From your perspective, watching this game on defense, what went right in Rundee for this team? Starts up front. I think T.J. Slayton, a couple of reps, I was like, Big 98, doing them proud, doing DJ Reader proud. It was like he was out there sometimes.

Not fully. It wasn't a full DJ reader type of impacts. Plus, they don't play the same way anymore. They don't really play the head-up nose as much with, Al Golden, but a couple of plays I was watching, I was like, Slayton, he's a beast on that interior a little bit. He's a good brand interior offensive line, Teller, Posick, and Petonio, even though they're all getting older. That's still a good unit. It's not like they're beating up on, I don't know, the Giants, John Michael Smiths and Craig Van Routen type of offensive one.

So I was really impressed by T.J. Slayton, first and foremost. I think when asked, I think everybody was more physical. That was something that I took away, especially because when we talked in the preseason, they were like, they just kind of get their butts kicked. Like, it's not about disguise this, disguise that. They were not in this game. I thought that the front of the Bengals was really strong in this game.

Logan Wilson, Demetrius Knight at the second level, both and Oren Berks, all three of them. I thought were really good against the run, especially Wilson just doing his job. And there was some interesting, that's the next part of this, with his blitzes. But Knight, I thought for all the mistakes he made in the preseason, it was like they were corrected. There was the same types of plays where he has to spill and overlap.

Or there's one play specifically, and it was the Harold Fan in Direct Snap. I was really impressed that he got tight around this down block and then also gets inside of the lead rap pool type of block, which came from the running back, and then goes and makes the tackle. And it's like, well, that's why it's not just always called spill. You know, you think spill, sometimes you think like, just make that running back go outside. Balch here would go outside in this scenario. Get inside of him, but if you could win, win, go make that tackle.

Like, you don't need to just go take on that block. So I thought that was a great play from Knight. Night was pretty impressive, especially tackling as well. I like this tackling too. So the second level flowed really well. The interior of the defensive line did not get bullied. I felt like the ends also, they did a good job. They had to get reduced down some because it's a four down front a lot of the times now.

There were a couple of instances where they played like a four, three and put Berks or Knight on the end and kind of shift the guy. The guy had to be reduced down in that scenario too. Hendricks is not the guy getting reduced down. He never did from what I remember. So it was always Murphy and Stewart and Osai. And I thought they did a good job in that scenario. And what is reduced down for those that are not familiar with that term? I'm going to say just inside the tight end, get into a spot where.

you are very at risk of getting double-teamed. Yeah. Trey Hendrickson, interestingly, and we'll get to the interesting, switching sides quite a bit in this game, too, compared at least to what he did when Luanna Ruma was running this defense. But what about the return of B.J. Hill? I thought he was very impactful in this game. I thought he was noticeably good in this game.

You mentioned Logan Wilson, who I thought was all-round, really good game. Trey Hendrickson obviously making his impact as a pass rusher. We're going to talk about the past rush as a whole and the balance of Trey Hendrickson versus kind of everyone else in the past rush. And part of this bleeds into the interesting as well, where you mentioned Logan Wilson is a blitzer in this game. An effective blitzer, but the Bengals only blitzed a handful of times throughout this game, one of the lowest, if not the lowest blitz rate in week one.

But what about Shemar Stewart as well? Samar Stewart, B.J. Hill, a couple of players that, I think more of them flashed, and I think you can also throw Jordan Battle into this mix of guys who were pretty good and stood out in positive ways in week one. Yeah, all three. BJ Hill was just strictly a brain fart. I mentioned tier of your guys, and I forgot to mention, I mentioned Slaten so much because I was surprised at how well a big 98 nose tackle was playing. But BJ Hill kind of went by the radar because I was like, yeah, great BJ Hill game. but not that surprising, you know, but he played really well.

He played really well, especially considering the matchup. I thought it was an impressive performance from Hill. Just thought everybody, battle two fits this. Everybody was more physical. And that was a concern of mine heading into it after watching the preseason. It's just like, well, they just got trounced in the run game by Washington the last time we saw them. And it felt like Washington could do whatever they wanted. And here, they were all physical taking on their blocks.

They were all making physical tackle. I think about that Jordan battle play that people really got on them about with Jane Daniels jumping into the end zone. Didn't see any of that this time. He's making he's making tackles. He's getting out there. He's being physical. So I thought all those guys did well.

Even when the corners had to make plays in the run game, I thought they could, but for the most part, those runs didn't really get to them. So it was mostly just a nice job from the front there, the D-line and linebackers, but good mentions on all those guys. Dax Hill a little bit involved in the run game, more than the other corners, I would say,

just because there were times where he was more tightly aligned, he was playing all over the place for this defense, inside, outside, box, deep at the end of the game. But there was a lot of good to go around, and I'll shout out Chris Jenkins for at least one impressive runstop in this game, too, rotating pretty cleanly with BJ Hill, 45 snaps for BJ Hill, 37 snaps for Chris Jenkins, 34 snaps for T.J. Slate and Chris Jenkins, interestingly,

was in the third down passing down package. And maybe this is a good time for us to pivot to the interesting. Because I wonder how much that will remain Chris Jenkins throughout the season. I still think BJ Hill is a better pass rusher between those two guys. And so one more note for me on the good, because there's one particular play that we talked about a lot before we started recording that I want to make sure we mentioned here. Jordan Battle picks up, it was Jerry Judy on the crosser, right?

Correct. And Jordan Battle is coming from a deep half alignment. They're showing two deep pre-snap and rotate essentially into what looks like a cover one robber look maybe, we think. It's really actually hard to figure out what DJ Turner is doing. We talked about this for like 10 minutes before we started recording and couldn't really figure out what DJ Turner was doing. But third downplay where from a deep. safety alignment, Jerry Judy's running like a drag, three-yard drag, two-yard drag. And from all the way in his deep half alignment, Jordan Battle just breaks on this drag all the way across the field, opposite side of the field and everything.

Makes a great open field tackle and the Bengals get off the field. So shout out to Jordan Battle for that play in particular, not his only good play in the game by any means necessarily, but that one did stand out. He also got beat by Harold Vannon on the scramble drill once, maybe twice on scramble drill plays. But overall, I think it was an encouraging first game for Jordan battle as well. And you would expect there to be some good. I said before this game, I was holding the defense to a bit of a higher standard in this game than I would for the rest of the year because of my expectations for the Browns on offense. So let's get into the interesting because there's plenty of interesting. There's a little bit of concerning to get to on this defense before we get to what went wrong for the Bengals on offense.

We'll continue on the defense coming up next. This episode of Lockdown Bengals is sponsored by Supply House. When the opening whistle blows on a new repair, you can get your crew moving forward with Supply House. Order today and see parts on your doorstep tomorrow. Over 280,000 plumbing, HVAC, and electrical items from the most trusted brands in the business, their real-time inventory, and honest lead times,

keep you from punting projects, while their industry-leading customer service always has your blind side covered. If you need parts fast for a project, their next day delivery is available to help be a game changer. Or you can use the part finder tools in 3D schematics to save you hours on jobs where every detail matters. You can join the free Trademaster Program today and score serious perks like priority shipping, lower prices, and a dedicated support line. Visit Supplyhouse.com to sign up for free and use code. S-H-N-F-L-5 for 5% off your first order. That's Supplyhouse.com, S-H-N-FL-5 for 5% off,

real service, real people. That's supply house. This episode of Locked-Ombles is also brought to you by game time. The NFL season is back. The Bengals are about to have their home opener. There's nothing better than being in the stadium surrounded by your fellow Bengals fans cheering on those Bengals. But let's be honest, getting tickets can be.

a hassle between cues, login screens, prices jumping at checkout. It can be frustrating. That's why you should use game time like we do here on Lockdown Bengals. The app that gives the advantage back to fans. Game time is fast, easy, and backed by the game time guarantee. You'll always get 100% authentic tickets delivered on time and at the best price. And all fees are included. So the price you see is the price you pay.

I pulled up game time in just a couple of times. taps. I saw amazing deals. Your favorite games, your favorite events, as low as $100. Makes it simple. You can see the view from your seat. You see all those fees included up front. And right now you can save $20 on your purchase. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code locked on NFL. You'll get $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, that's promo code L-O-C-E-D-O-N-N-FL for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket. Go. Download game time today. Mike, let's get to the interesting bits for this defense.

And there were a lot of questions that we had in general about how they were going to approach this game. Schematically, we didn't see, obviously, a lot of their playbook in the preseason. What stood out to you the most as far as interesting things? We've alluded to Trey Hendrickson switching sides. We've alluded to some of the packages they've used a little bit in terms of linebackers being on the field in certain spots. The rotation at corner, I think, qualified. qualifies as interesting as well. What's it out the most to you when we get to the interesting category on defense?

I think actually the coverage split, just in terms of I went into this thinking, Al Gold and they ran plenty of cover one. I think more cover one than they would with Lou Anirumo. But what was the change up off of that? And we have talked a lot about it. It's like, well, you're going to have to play zone in the NFL. Everybody plays zone more than 50% of the time in the NFL. And it was a lot of like quarters, quarter quarter, quarter half and some cover three.

So kind of mix it up. But the quarter stuff was interesting to me just because he didn't really do that at Notre Dame. It was mostly cover three as his change up and sometimes sprinkling in, I think to me, more Tampa than anything else. And he didn't really do that in this game. So I was kind of interested in the quarters variants that they were throwing in there. And then also the blitzing stuff. Everything that Al Golden was doing was what was most interesting to me just because it was his first actual NFL game and the regular season. And we talked a lot about how like the coverage stuff is what's probably being, you know, very simplified.

And it was. This was much different. Yeah. And a big surprise maybe is the coverage splits, like you said, the lack of cover two in this game. What did you make of the Bengals decision? I think it was like two snaps in cover two, roughly, in this game. What were your takeaways when you saw how little they went to that particular coverage.

One is this like an Al Golden doesn't really care to run. If he's going to play split field coverage, he'd rather be quarter, quarter, quarter, or half quarter quarter to whatever to the passing strength or cover three so he can be gapped out. Or is this, we don't really care about this Brown's offense, like throwing the ball deep down the field. Like if Flacco is going to crush us on deep balls because we're not going to play cover two and cloud sides of the field, like cloud.

Judy and he goes for 200 yards. We'll make that adjustment when he gets to 100 type of thing. It wasn't how the Browns were attacking the Bengals at all. Here's another interesting one for you. The third down go-to. If you had to guess, and you've watched the film, but you didn't chart the coverages, I don't think, all the way through the game. What percentage of man do you think the Bengals ran on third down in this game? The Browns had. 16 16 plays on third down. Okay.

Oh, man. Nine? Nine plays of man? What would that be in a percent? Nine out of 16, let's do some math. 56 percent. A little bit more. According to PFF, starting anyway,

via true media, 62 and a half percent. Cover one. Six percent, which is one play in two men, according to their charting. So that puts you at 68. 69% man coverage on third down. And that was a question.

When it was a money down, would Al Golden do what he kind of did in Notre Dame, which would say, my guys are going to play man against your guys? And then the question is, and this is getting into the concerning, do they have the guys to do this, to take this approach on third down? Cam Taylor Britt was a problem. He, according to Al Golden, got in early before meetings, told Al, Al, I, know things weren't great. I know what I need to fix.

They had a conversation about it. To me, one of the biggest problems with this defense. We're going to talk pass rush here a little bit, which wasn't a problem. They figured it out, but was up and down, was sporadic. And Camp Taylor Britt. When they needed to play, the Browns targeted Cam Taylor Britt throughout this game. And more often than not, the receivers and Flacco won that matchup. Yeah.

When you asked, do I have the corners to run this? I was like, well, I think they have two. That's right. They have to. I think Turner and Dax look good when running man coverage. And I thought Cam Taylor Britt, it's not just like, oh, it's his agility. It's whatever. He just stays flat-footed a lot of the time.

And then the guy beats him and then he tries to play catch up. That happened multiple times. It happened against Harold Fannin. I'm like, man, you draw the tight end matchup, the tight end wide receiver matchup. And Fanon, I know some people, very hype on them as a prospect. Rookie tight end, though. Like, if I'm the corner and I get Fanon instead of Judy, I should be a little happy. I should be like, okay.

And this guy's not going to box me out. He's not that big. It's not like I'm covering, you know, Tyler Warren for a different rookie, like a big guy. Or in this game, David and Joku. David and Joku also. Yeah, that would be an easy one. And he doesn't lose at the catch point. He loses at the break point.

Like immediately release and break. And he is trying to catch up to this guy. And, you know, Kenton was pretty fast for straight line speed, but you can't put yourself in that position in the first place. Like, you can't just, he's not so fast that he could just let himself get beat every play and then go catch up to the guy. Like that is something he can't do. And that happened a lot.

And he got picked on a lot. He was in the Stefansky Flacco microscope, I feel like, more than anybody else. I know I think we talked about PFF charting, Dax Hill as many targets, but those Dax Hill targets were like underneath. These were like, when we got to go pick up 10 yards, who are we targeting? And 29 was in the crosshairs, just about every time. Third downs, red zone. There's one third, I think it was a third down where there's about as clean as a win you can have.

I think I said this on yesterday's show, and I believe it still today. Tray Hendrickson is going to sack Joe Flacco, if Joe Flacco has to think for even a quarter of a second about ripping an out route to convert. to, I think Jerry Judy on the outbreak against Camp Taylor Britt, but Camp Taylor Britt loses so badly and is in such poor position that despite beating DeWan Jones, about as quickly as you can beat DeWan Jones,

about as quickly as you can beat a tackle when you are blocked on a play, Trey Hendrickson does not get to Joe Flacco in time. That ball is out quick, and it's an easy first down. So obviously need more from Camp Taylor Britt, kind of coming out of training camp, he was expected to be the unquestioned

CB1. I think that at this point it's unquestioned in my head that Dax Hill is their best corner and is playing in multiple spots for them right now. So need better from Cam Taylor Britt, there's not a guy to do what they need Cam Taylor Britt to do. You can put Dax

and DJ Turner out there and you can run Cam Taylor Britt on the field only for nickel situations, kickbacks inside Leon Hall roll kind of thing if you wanted. But that is something that we'll need to get figured out very quickly, I think, for this defense. And one of my bigger concerns coming out of this game on that side of the ball.

Let's wrap up with a little bit on the pressure stuff that the past rush question, Shamar Stewart, will come up a little bit here as well. I'm sure I think that it was better largely on the defensive front than I feared it could have been, but we'd like it to be a little bit more consistent. We'll get into our thoughts there before we get to what went wrong on offense to finish the show coming up next. We're obviously in the middle of the NFL season at this point. And by middle, I mean, we've had week one happen.

and, well, with the NFL season here, Fanduel is making sure you're ready and you're in tune. And we've got a can't-miss offer for you with Fandul. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you'll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. So maybe you're looking at a dip. Maybe there's better odds for Joe Burrow after that week one performance and MVP. Everyone's talking about Lamar and Josh Allen,

but maybe you think that Joe Burrow and this offense are going to figure it out, I think they're going to figure it out. He should find himself in this MVP conversation. I still think this offense has the pieces. Maybe that's a bet you'd like to make eventually. But your first $5 bet, maybe you just really like the Bengals against the Jaguars in week two. You get that bet right. You win that bet.

You'll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Fandle makes every game more exciting, whether you're watching the Bengals or just keeping an eye on your fantasy lineup. So if you're ready to play, go to fandul.com or the Fandul app right now and get started. That's Fandul.com to place your first $5 bet. Mike, let's wrap up on the pass rush. Trey Hendrickson was Trey Hendrickson. I think immediately should make the Bengals second guess why they weren't willing to guarantee year two.

He looks every bit the player that he was in the past, absolutely taking it to a guy that's not a starting level tackle in the NFL and DeWan Jones. What were your thoughts on Trey? What were your thoughts on the pass rush overall, including a promising start for Shamar Stewart, especially if you buy the PFF grades at Thoughts of Mar Stewart

was one of the best defenders for the Bengals on Sunday. So Hendrickson was just Hendricksson. I don't think we'd spend too much time out. He beat the crap out of DeWan Jones. The interesting part was he moved. And it seemed like he did move some of the movement was,

like I talked about, they don't want to reduce him down. So when they see double tight ends come to that side, they go, hey, Murphy, Stewart, Osai, go to that side. We're going to go put him on the weak side of this formation.

The interesting parts is everybody else. And BJ Hill had a good pass rushing game, I feel like, worth mentioning. Shamar Stewart, very interesting. And it kind of gets into what is he right now? Because he's not, he's winning, but he's not winning immediately. It's very weird that he kind of loses the very beginning, like the first battle of a rep. And then he converts that into wins by just getting into great position to crush the pocket. like he's going for a bull rush and then he ends up like the tackle gets his hands on him

and then he just kind of like sinks down further converts all his force into his hands and drives that tackle straight backwards and sometimes can open up the inside shoulder and it was really collapsing that side of the pocket and sometimes I think every time he went inside there was a designed like defensive tackle it's a watch me like when he goes inside you've got contained I don't think he was really going rogue on those. Some people I think might look at that. So like, you can't go inside. But when the defensive tackle is called,

you've got the two-way go, I'll go around you if you go inside. But yeah, I thought it's interesting. I would really love to see those be early wins because I think, one, he's not the best disengager. So the more time he has to get to that point to turn a win into a sack, into a quarterback hit, the better. But two, get that pressure real early. Make Flacco.

or this week coming up, Trevor Lawrence or whoever, make him see a flash of his offensive lineman getting thrown backwards early into the rep so he might drop his eyes. And I think he did that once. There's one play, and it's early enough. It's not immediate or anything, but there's one play in particular that forces Flacco off his spot. He steps up, throws it away out of the end zone,

so it was on the Bengal side of the field. So that was there. But the flashes for Sharster, both in the run game and the past game, I think very promising. You can obviously see those tools in a way that you haven't really seen them for Miles Murphy. Like the power that he plays with is just at a level that Murphy's isn't and hasn't been. Not to take anything away from Murphy, like Murphy was fine in this game, but they're both first round picks. And I think there's just more promise right now after one game, to be fair, long way to go for First of Mar Stewart.

The other guy I want to shout out on the defensive line is CJ Slateon, who I had. I know you mentioned earlier, but a couple of pocket-crushing early driving guards back into Joe Flacco's lap kind of moments for T.J. Slayton. Saw a lot of that from him throughout the preseason process, and so excited to see that power translate on Sunday. I'm sure there's stuff we're not getting to here on the defensive side of the ball, Mike, as it's just pretty fascinating in general to see how this is evolving. Barrett Carter not playing great in his limited opportunity, especially compared to Logan Wilson, who did play a fantastic game. Tyson Anderson, when he got in, was a pivotal part of impressive stop in the passing game. So shout out Tyson Anderson, but let's get to this offense here to wrap things up.

And the reason that maybe we're not going to spend as much time on it, and I'm sure we're going to go long here because it's commonplace for us to do so. But the reason that it's coming up so late is because it's, It's Cleveland. It's week one. And this is just a team and a time of year where the Bengals off has doesn't perform. But what's weird about it is that they started well. Two out of their first three drives looked honestly quite good. Joe Burrow was playing on time.

I don't think there was a single pressure in the game for either team until late in the second quarter, which was a completed pass for Joe Burrow. A lot of pressure in the second half for both teams, which is probably a whole conversation unto itself as these teams figured each other out a little bit. week one stuff part of why week one is weird but what went wrong for the offense i mean jim schwartz played a bunch of man and joe burrow and these receivers should be able to beat man but maybe not as easily when miles garrett pass rush going on so what what went wrong in your mind second half offense this felt a lot like 2023 like what what would happen in the brown spangles

games in those and why they were low scoring when the bangles first started it felt like the Jim Schwartz man, they were okay for some reason leaving their third corner on T. Higgins, at least for one play, and he smokes him. And that's like, I think the longest pass of the day of like 15 yards. And a matchup that felt like the Bengals could just go to the slot matchup throughout the game. And they didn't really get back to it that often. Right. And that was, I think that was an 11 personnel rep. And then they played a lot of 12 after that. And they were not getting that matchup anymore because the corner, the weakest corner was one. I think Schwartz also told him, like, we got to have Newsom and Ward on those two, the entire

game. And credit to Newsom and Ward, this is part of like the 2023 Bengals versus Brown's matchups. Those guys step up for this game. Like, in my head, I don't put, I don't put Newsom on the same level as Jamar Chase. And yet, it was a pretty 50-50 battle when you think of defensive pass interference for Chase, but then two PbUs for Nussov. You could easily make the case Newsom actually won that matchup

just because two Pbues, or at least a PbU and a shove out of bounds before he was able to get his feet down versus the one DPI. And I don't think Chase had, I think those were three targets. I think it's just those three targets. Like Newsom played really well.

He also had one Higgins where he forced him out of bounds or broke the bow up, whatever. It was a target to him. So it's just tough. Like Ward and Newsom step up for this game. It is like, I think Ward is one of the best corners in the lead, and that makes sense for him to do this.

And Jamar Chase mentioned, that is the corner that gives him the most trouble in the league. But I think also credit to Greg Newsom, who I think some people were like, oh, but he can't, he's not going to play in the slot this game. Like Emerson's out. And Emerson sometimes steps up for this matchup too. Didn't matter. And in my head, like, there is a non-zero chance. Like, the Browns could be two and 14 going into week 17.

The Bengals are like trying to win the division. And Greg Newsom and Denzel Ward are hyping themselves up like this is a Super Bowl. We've got to go take down this matchup. So credit to them. But the Schwartz part of this is just they play a lot of man. And then from that man, they would be in man looks. And they always change it up to some type of Tampa. And those are just two entirely different defenses.

One has different beaters than the other. And the Bengals in this game felt like they weren't really running split-field concepts of like, we're going to run one concept over here if it's man and one concept over here if it's zone, because we know we're probably going to get Tampa two if it's zone. it didn't feel like they went with those answers. It felt like also their answer to man was just like, ha ha, Chase Higgins one-on-one, let's go.

And it just didn't work. And really, you would be thinking much better about this offense if they connected on some of those balls. If they connected on that one, Greg Newsom breaks up down the sideline for like 30 yards of Jamar Chase. And that one down the right sideline on the honeyhole shot to T. Higgins in Tampa, too. You think, like, oh, like explosive plays were happening. But the offense feels bottled because those didn't connect.

Or Jamar Chase on the side. line and the offense would have been moving the ball in the second half but when those don't connect you're wasting a down one of those was a third and short so then i think they kicked the field goal after that or punted like they didn't even go for it on fourth down that felt like a play that you go for it on fourth down too like to take the deep shot and go like okay now let's run something to get this first out they didn't um it just feels like this brown's defense in some ways is built to give the bengal's offense troubles it should not be this bad and the other part of why this felt like the 2023 offense versus the Browns defense after the first couple of drives is the Browns

defensive lines just started destroying them up front. It was Miles Garrett. Isaiah McGuire looked like a dude in this game. You know, Mason Graham made a couple of plays. Malik Collins, I think, was actually more impressive than Mason Graham. He made some real good plays on Fairchild, gave him a welcome to the NFL moment on a club. It was tough up front. I think that's where it all comes down to as well where I sang the praises of Newsom and Ward, but if Burrow had more time, I might not be singing those praises because they'd have more time for things to develop. So at the end of it, the last part of this is the Burrow Week 1 stuff. He got a little sped up.

He started missing some reads. I'm thinking of a Jamar Chase touchdown that Jamar was pretty upset about, or he threw the slant to Gassiki with Ward on him. And in my head, I went, dude, that's dead on arrival. When I see Slant and I see Ward and Man coverage, like, I'm skipping that part of this read. Like, no, not bothering there. But, yeah, Burrow ended up sped up. He ends up getting a lot of pressure and understand why he gets sped up.

And then that results in the three straight sacks. I think at the end was the full wheels came off of the offense moment. There's also some, and I'm hesitant, always hesitant to go to play calling. I do think that some of the design, some of the game plan for this game, especially late. Like some of the play action, we were looking at the play action plays before we started recording. I sort of understand what they're trying to accomplish with some of these play action designs, but it wasn't effective for them outside of like the first play of the game. But the offensive line, let's wrap up there.

Obviously not as good as we had seen from Dylan Fairchild in the preseason. Had to share of wins, obviously, but had some ugly. losses as well. Orlando Brown dealing with Miles Garrett. The chips, and Miles Garrett is one of the only guys that does this regularly, but the chips seem to help Miles Garrett way more often than they cause him any sort of issue. There's a great rep for Amari's men early in the game. One-on-one with Miles Garrett where Marius puts a clants on him doesn't finish the game as well, where the pockets are just getting compressed all over the place. What were your thoughts from an offensive line protection perspective, it really felt a lot like a tail of two halves.

Yeah. The first, what was really surprising was the first drive, I thought the Bengals offensive line won the matchup. And I thought, oh, my goodness, this is a completely different Bengals versus Brown's matchup. And then when you got to the second half, it looked like it used to, where Miles Garrett is just winning, win on command over there. If you don't get a full tight end, it's a chip.

but like he's basically blocking for the first second and a half two seconds you're just you're just blocking him with two guys you have two levels of it's not a true double team yeah when he gets those late chips he just takes that force and just redirects himself to turn into a win with his alien bend and movement ability and power it's nuts he is the one guy I think of that like a late chip is so detrimental like sometimes it is for other guys but with him he routinely there's a it's not a chip it was Dylan Fairchild trying to help out and he hits him and he just turns that into winning around the corner and then also at his size bends the corner and turns that into a sack somehow from like eight yards deep. It was nuts. And I do think the play calling part of it, it was an issue

to what I never understand to get timed off topic is why don't they ever go stacks and bunches against the Browns when they know they're going to get a bunch of man. Like they just don't really do that. And those are like typical man beers. Like I said, that was kind of what I alluded to where I said, Yeah, their answer to man is just, oh, Chi Siggins, one-on-one, let's go. Like, get off of that. Like, get off of that at some point. Like, it's fine to take a couple of shots, but it wasn't working. And then they never moved to try to like, let's rub these guys, make them communicate,

maybe get their third corner on one of our studs. Well, and then they do that with the Giseki Chase Brown combo on a failed third down conversion when Chase Brown drops the ball. And they're running it to the ward side and credit Carson-Swessinger for reading that out, making a good film study play, understanding how they're trying to beat him on that side of the field. But on the other side of the field, you have Jamar Chasin T. Higgins against not Denzel Ward. And I know Greg Newsom had a nice game, but you got an advantage over there. One of those matchups. And I think one of those guys probably comes open on that play. But to your

point, at that point, Joe Burrow, a little bit sped up. I think a little bit, maybe a little bit is wrong word. Just not on his game at that point in the game, for sure. But again, hard for me to be too worried about this offense. We've seen this before. They will figure it out. And the nice thing about this is that the week one game was at Browns, which is always a headache game for this team. They escape it with a win. The one thing that we didn't talk about today that I'm just going to mention again here because it drives me crazy is the operational issues on offense, three timeouts used to avoid delays of game. Burrow, Taylor, whole operation needs to be better there. But expectations for this offense for me still quite high, like you alluded to as well.

Could have seen more 11 personnel in this game, in my opinion, to try to take advantage of that slot matchup instead of going to the preponderance of 12 that they did. But we'll see the adjustments and how they move forward. Jacksonville, a much different beast in week two to deal with. And I think we're going to get a lot more answers, especially on the defensive side of the ball, continue to see how that takes shape against an offense that should be better than the Browns, which I still think will be one of the worst in the NFL this year. You can find Mike's work at Bengals Talk, SIFI, find them on Twitter at Bengals underscore

Sands. And that's going to do it for this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Until next time, thanks for listening. Ho-Day. Have a good one.