Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - BENGALS SQUAD SHOW: DEFENSE forces FOUR TURNOVERS, Joe Burrow and Offense FINISH, Bengals are 1-0

Episode Date: September 14, 2026

It was a swarming day for the Bengals' defense as they forced and recovered four fumbles including three by Buccaneers' quarterback Baker Mayfield. Joe Burrow and the offense finished the game with a three-minute drill, and the Bengals are 1-0.Alex Frank, Coach Art Valero, Mike Santagana, and Evan Stacy break down the Bengals' defense changing the game early and then again in the fourth quarter. They gave up some yards, and some points, but they equalized and flipped the game with four fumble recoveries.Joe Burrow and the Bengals' offense only scored two touchdowns, but they only punted once. In the second half, Evan McPherson made two 50+ yard field goals and the Bengals never gave the ball up in the final 3:19 as they finished the game on offense.The Bengals' offensive line wasn't noticed today, and that's a good thing. They did their job in both the running game and pass protection.Alex. Coach, Mike, and Evan then give their game balls and break down other key elements to Sunday's game.Photo Credit: USA Today via Imagn ImagesJoin the Locked On Bengals Insider Community! Where you'll get updates directly to your phone and be able to text the hosts, check it out at: https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonbengalsEverydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everyday...Find and follow Locked On Bengals on your favorite podcast platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7AObc0l...Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0...Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-...Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Butcher BoxIf you're looking for an easier way to get great meals on the table, give ButcherBox a try.Go to https://ButcherBox.com/LOCKEDONNFL to get $20 off your first box, plus your choice of free ribeye, new york strip, or filet mignon in every box for a year — with free shipping always.Fabletics Shop now at https://Fabletics.com/LOCKEDONNFL to get 70-80% off everything when you sign up as a new VIP. Take a quick style quiz and be sure to select LOCKEDONNFL when prompted to unlock this offer. This is a limited-time offer, so don’t wait.Bask & Lather Explore viral bestsellers and products of healthier hair of ALL types from Bask and Lather. Go to https://baskandlatherco.com and use code LOCKEDON for 20% off.AuraAura helps protect your personal information by actively removing your data from data broker sites and keeping it off. Start your free trial today at http://aura.com/aware.IndeedListeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast.PrizePicksVisit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LO... and use code LOCKEDONNFL and get $150 if you win your first $5 lineup!KALSHIToday's episode is brought to you by Kalshi. For a limited time, Download Kalshi and use code Locked On to get $25 when you trade $25. Kalshi. Trade what’s next.GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelGet three hundred fifty dollars in Bonus Bets — GUARANTEED — when you bet five dollars every day for seven days. Join all the action at https://FANDUEL.COMFANDUEL 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.

Four turnovers. The Bengals defense put their money where their mouths are on Sunday. I'll tell you what, the offensive lines showed up today, and there's a lot of room for growth, but they're getting there. Big reason they could have showed up is that it was a more balanced approach on offense, a lot of under center compared to where they've been the past couple of years. A guy, we've talked about a lot the past few episodes. Evan McPherson was money making two huge 50-plus yard kicks,

and that was huge for the Bengals pulling out. out today. Today, it's the Bengals Squad. Everything Cincinnati Bengals every week. Breaking down all the big hits and game-changing plays from the Queen City. The way only the Lockdown Podcast Network can. From the jungle to the playoffs, the Bengals Squad Show starts now. Bengals 33, Buccaneers 27, the Bengals are one and O. It's a great day to be a Bengals fan. Welcome to the Bengals Squad Show live on lockdown Bengals and the Lockdown Podcast Network celebrating 10 years of your team every day with Coach Arfallaro, Mike Santagina, and Evan Stacey. I am Alex Frank.

We're brought to you today by Cal Shee. Right now for a limited time. Download Cal She and use code locked on to get $25 when you trade $25. Cal Sheet trade what's next? Gentlemen, all off season, prior to today, the last time the Bengals played a game that counted in the standings was 252 days ago, 36 weeks. And we said all off season, defense, defense, defense, defense. for turnovers today and all of them were crucial.

I'll tell you what, you know what, the defense did. They showed up and it was great. The preseason acquisitions that they made on defense really came to play. And I tell you what, not taking anything away from their previous draft choices, but this is the defense that Joe Burroughs wanted the whole time. Yeah, I was impressed. by a lot of factors of this defense. You got Boy Maffa with the sack.

I thought they were able to get quite a bit of pressure today. Dexter Lawrence did a good job of getting some pressure up the middle. I feel like he got a lot of knockback on runs as well, even though stat sheet. He's not a guy that's going to stuff. Your staff sheet has his nose tackle. I was welled, I think, with a lot of the defense too and maybe even underwhelmed a little bit, but we'll get into that later. But for the four turnovers is exactly what you need.

You need to find some way to get the ball. back to Joe Burrow and not give up points. They only gave up 27 points. They really only gave up 21 points in this game, considering the pick six. So I think they played good enough to win. They're a big reason for that win. There is probably a little bit more to look going forward

against maybe a quarterback who can hang on to the football. But they got into the backfield that caused chaos. They forced some turnovers. And the most important one, probably the strip as Baker tried to bully his way into the end zone. I mean, that one was huge, that or the fumble at midfield from Boy Maffa. I think both those were enormous, but just get into the very happy about the turnovers. I think there is a longer discussion about the defense, though. Yeah, it wasn't perfect, but it's definitely a step up. I mean, having four turnovers in any

game is outstanding, and that was really what turned the tide. And when the, on a day where the offense wasn't their usual selves and struggled at times, having the defense being able to be the one making the big play as getting the short field was crucial and something that we haven't seen in the last few years and the guys especially on the defensive line the new guys like boi moph I thought stood out a lot dexter Lawrence even though the stats didn't show it he made a big a big uh impact jonathan allen had a few had a few moments as well four sacks six quarterback hits and when you have four turnovers and those crucial times it's huge and i think that was something that the bangles haven't had in a while and so it was really nice to have the defense being the one

that was really winning the game I'll tell you what, the other thing that you guys, all three of you talked about, was that if you look at it, you know, and you mentioned it, Evan, that the offense really, really wasn't there. When you got Jamar Chase, you know, catching two footballs, that's the best player on your offensive side of the ball. You got a running back who made great gains, two running backs that actually played very, very well. And T. Higgins, man, he showed up. And if you've got that and your defense can get you the ball back and you've got a kicker that's going to score more than your offense, man, that equals wins. And you'll take him anywhere you can get them because there's a lot of work to do. And on both sides of the ball, they can get better. And that's a great thing for Bengals fans. So the first turnover of the game, and Mike, you alluded to the one where Baker Mayfield was running towards the end zone and the ball got punched out. Brian Cook covered it in the end zone.

The Bengals go down and score a touchdown, 14 points swing. But the turnover that really stood out to me, in addition to that, was Demetrius Knight's fumble return for a touchdown. I mean, if anybody, if any of you guys had Demetrius Knight scoring the first touchdown of the season on your bingo cards, congratulations. But that play was so important because the Buccaneers on their first drive to start the game, go down and get three. give the Bengals defense credit for holding in the red zone. But the Bengals offense went three and out first possession. You go, oh boy, you know, the offense may be looking a little clunky, but the defense stepped up.

You know, they had their backs. They got them going. And then the Cook turnover, what I loved about the Bengals offense on their next drive, I remember thinking, okay, the Bengals, excuse my phone ringing there, the Bengals have to take some time off the clocker because in the first quarter guys, the Bengals defense was on the field for a lot. So after Brian Cook's fumble recovering the end zone, the Bengals took several minutes off the clock. Their defense got some rest.

Next time they took the field, they were up 21-3. That's a complimentary football right there. Oh, it is. You know what, did I tell you what? Hot day in Cincinnati? Very. It takes a lot out of you. And that shows the depth that they have on defense because they just kept rolling those defensive linemen in and out of the game.

And it never seemed to affect the pass rush or the run. stop because they've got some quality people on the back end. Yeah, I think where it is, though, is that last year we had a similar week one, to be honest, but a worse offense. They beat the Brown 17-16. Joe Flacco threw two picks. We're talking about these clutch turnovers. They ran the ball.

They ran the ball poorly in that game. Actually, the Browns had two yards, two yards per carry. So in this game, the Bucks actually ran the ball better. This is a much better offense than the Brown's offense. but there's just little hints here and there that I'm like, I want this defense to be more than just opportunistic because if the Buccaneers don't turn the ball over, which, to be fair, the Bangle's forced,

we're looking at a game that is probably higher scoring. The Buccaneers are easily over 30. I've seen this performance before where the Bengal's defense is opportunistic, but a little under the radar you kind of see some shakiness. That's kind of what I saw here because every third and short, every money down, I feel like the Bucks were able to get them by kind of targeting these linebackers. I remember there was a drive, and they run action at Demetrius Knight.

He tries to knife underneath it for the 100th time. Doesn't get there. It's a long play for a first down. Then they run a boot action the other way. They put Barrett Carter into a blender, and it makes me wonder like, okay, but this works against the Bucks because Baker Mayfield's careless with the football. Is this going to work next week at C.J. Strab? Possibly.

He's also pretty careless with the football. But you get further and further down the line where is this going to work against some, like Lamar Jackson to me is not super careless with the football. In fact, maybe too careful at times. Is this going to work against him? It's completely different offense. But I'm just thinking of like there's a little bit shakiness here. I see a lot of like the Bengals defense is back.

And I'm like, it's almost there. I love the turnovers. They didn't force a punt. The Buccaneers were pretty successful. They were running through them at times in this game. So part of it is also just I have a little cold water for myself in terms of how excited I'm getting for this defense. Love the turnovers.

I did think, when the Buccaneers needed it, they were kind of getting those third downs. They were kind of getting the offense rolling from down to down. They were actually had a higher success rate than the Bengals offense at 52%, which is the 89th percentile. So it's just some underlying stuff here that makes me a little bit, a little trepidation going forward with the Bengals defense. I think they did great today. They'll probably get one of my game balls if we're all picking. But I'm excited for the win.

I just, I am scarred from the last couple of years. I've seen this. Or it's like the Patriots didn't put up a lot of points when they beat the Bengals. The Browns, they only scored 16 week one. The Bengals came away one and O. I remember feeling, oh, man, that felt ugly. But this one, I think the best part of this week one, and it's weird, is that Joe Burrow looked, and he threw a pick six.

That was terrible. This is probably the best he's looked in a week one game, though. Yeah. Which is insane. Only one pick. Yeah, I thought there was definitely some tackling issues. especially from some of the linebackers, which, you know, that'll hopefully get better as time goes on. But I think one of the things that I came away from was that, yeah, the Bucks had a handful of drives where, you know, they ran, they had long play drives and went all the way down the field.

But once they got into the red zone, the Bengals were able to hold them just a field goal. And I think, you know, bending and not breaking, it adds up. And especially when you can force these turnovers. And I think offensively being able to score a touchdown, I think on three of the four turnovers, they scored on all four is huge to capitalize on those turnovers because getting the turnover is one thing, but making it hurt is another one. And so I thought that was good that they capitalized on those turnovers. But yeah, obviously not, there's still a lot of underlying things that once we look at the film, we'll probably see more that they can improve on. But it's week one. And, you know,

as long as they got the win and the defense, I think looked a lot better. It's positive. But, yeah, It's still not perfect. No, still not perfect. And I think, Mike, you want to talk about being scarred for the last two years. I was scarred because on that pick six, you're up 14. Your defense just held the Buccaneers to a field goal. You got a field goal to start the second half. You're still up by two scores.

Everything seems okay. But then the pick six, you let Tampa Bay back into the game. And I'm like, okay, can you finish? Can you hold on to a big lead? Today, the offense finished the game. They ran out the final 319 on the clock. And how about this? Dante Myers with a reception on that drive. Samajé P rhyme with reception on that drive.

And then T. Higgins, as Paul Dana Jr., of the athletic tweeted, absolutely levitating over the Buccaneers defensive backfield to make a huge catch. And then Joe Burrow finishing the game with an off-center run. So the Bengals did not give the ball back to Baker Mayfield when they made it a six-point game. They finished. That's something they emphasized during training camp in the preseason, and they did it today. That was really, really good to see. That was. You know, and I think that as you start to look at it, hey, no matter how you do it, and it's only the first week, I mean, we've got 16 more regular season weeks to go. I think they have an opportunity once they get the offense figured out and they get back on skew. I think that they, you know, they're going to have their handful of wins. But I think the defense, and there's a lot, there were a lot of mistakes on defense.

when you have an opportunity to see Brian Cook and make Brian Cook making plays, who we didn't even, we haven't seen yet. I think that was good. You know, there were some guys that were pretty quiet that will show up, but they were quiet because they did their job. And I think that as it goes, you know, there's a lot of improvement on both sides of the ball. And I guarantee you, in Tampa next week, The one thing that they are going to work on, just like the Bengals will work on tackling,

they will work on ball security. Oh, yeah. Because that killed them. It literally killed them, and it killed them early. And they never really recovered. And I think that that in itself showed that the Bengals, they came out for four full quarters, and they kept it. And they did a good job.

Four sacks for the Bengals defense today. Joe Burrow at Mike, you mentioned that this may be his best week one game, certainly since the Minnesota game in 21. Joe Burrow today, 25 of 35 for 254 yards and a touchdown. I felt like there was some clunkiness early, but on that second turnover, the fumble after the Bengals first fumbled that was run back for a touchdown, the Bengals got a short field 33 yards. They went for a touchdown.

They got a touchdown. That got their offense going. And then Joe Burrow, I thought, yeah, the pick six aside. He was willing to take the checkdowns. He was willing to, I mean, I loved on the drive before halftime. They targeted Alex Anzolone and Josiah Trotter, the Buccaneers linebackers with Mike Gisicki.

That was really, really impressive to see. So you saw Joe Burrow, even on a day where Jamar and Chase only had two catches for 12 yards and the bag will still win. That's what's so impressive. You saw him willing to target Mike Gassiki five times or five receptions for 78 yards. Samajapirin 3 for 30. Chase Brown 5 for 22. Drew Sample 3 for 19.

And then Dante Myers with an 18-yard catch on the last drive. So Joe Boyle today, he was picked. As Zach Taylor said, he managed the game well, and that's what you want to see. Again, aside from the big six from your franchise quarterback, he looked like he was in a rhythm once the offense got going. He had a back-to-back play stretch before the half where he threw a seam ball to Mike Gaseki on a hoss, which is a hitch outside seam inside concept. And right after that, they run up to the line, and he changes the play to a quarterback draw. And I was like, he's in.

This is the most dialed in I've seen Joe Burrow. then he took six later. But that was where I felt like everything was kind of, the machine was well oiled by that point. I did think there was a little clunkiness early. The Gaseki touchdown was huge, which Gaseki's going to get a game ball for me. If you guys told him, what do he run?

Seven routes? He got targeted on all seven. Like, he's barely on the field. He's a third down specialist. And when he goes out there, it's like, yeah, balls going his way. Good luck. Yeah.

Evan, what did you think of Joe Barrow today? I thought overall he was pretty good. I mean, obviously outside of that pick, but he, like Mike said, he kind of what the defense gave him, he took advantage of. He didn't force the ball to Jamar Chase or T. Higgins if they weren't open. And I think the most impressive was on that last drive. He was three for three for 49 yards and then had the quarterback sneak to really put it away. And he was throwing to Dante Myers, who had made a guy miss, had 18-yard gain. Somaget P. Ryan, like he was throwing to guys who, you know, in that situation, you would think he would go to T or Jamar.

and then when he needed to go to T, he did, and Tee made that spectacular catch. But overall, I think he just took what the defense gave him and was pretty efficient other than that interception. And, yeah, he looked dialed in. Coach, is that pick six concern? Or you're like, just get out of the way week one, still got the win. Hey, just brush it off and keep going. You know, that's the one thing that with Joe, I thought that he did a great job of controlling

the underneath coverage. If it wasn't, he wasn't trying to force it down the field. And he took his checkdowns. He took his intermediate routes and lived to fight another day. Now, the one thing that was great about him was he got the ball in guys' hands and they made plays after. Like the one to Myers. I mean, the ball was thrown behind him. He adjusted to it and then made a big play after the fact.

Yeah. Throwing the ball over the middle early to T. Higgins on dig routes. I thought was great because usually he's concentrated outside. So I thought, you know, when he checked the ball down to the backs real well, he kept the chains moving, he didn't try to do it all himself. And like Evan talked about, hey, he let it come to him. And then the other thing was he put the ball down on the ground and ran it without regard to his body. And that was great to see. because now I know that that guy,

he, everything he has been talking about, he is willing to do. You know, a lot of guys would have ran out of bounds, but no, he was trying to get the first down, got the first down,

and took a heck of a lick on his throwing shoulder. So, you know, that told me a lot about Joe Burrow in this contest. Five carries. Yeah,

five carries on the catch up there, back five carries for 20 yards for Burrow. I thought an interesting stretch, the pick six, and then the big, passed to T. Higgins that was called back for an incompletion, didn't agree with the call. That's water under the bridge. He comes right back on third down, hits by Cossicki over the middle. That was a really big play in the game. And then the third and 10 on the first drive at the second

half to T. Higgins, you don't want to punt there because you've got momentum. You're up 2410. That passed to T. Higgins over the middle to catch and run to get the drive going in the second half. Just again, aside from the pick six, a really good day for Joe Burrow. And considering his week one performances that we've seen in the past, you got to feel good about this one. You know who else you got to feel good about Money Mac. And he was just that in spades on Sunday. Bangle Squad Show today brought to you by Better Health. Feeling better can mean something different to everyone. Maybe it means handling everyday stress and healthier ways, being more present with the people who matter, or simply getting better at something that's been weighing on you. Better Health focuses

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emotional well-being with thousands of therapists and millions of members in over 100 countries. It's progress. Sign up and get 10% off of betterhelp.com slash lockdown. That's better, h-elp.com slash locked on. Bangal Squad show today also brought to you by Fanduel. Welcome to your most rewarding NFL season ever, only on Fandul. How rewarding are we talking? More rewarding than a touchdown with time expiring, more rewarding than an 18-point comeback in the AFC championship, and maybe even more rewarding than an offensive lineman catching a touchdown. This season, fan duels making the excitement go beyond what happens on the field with the all-new fan dual rewards club,

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Visit Fanduel.com. Evan, I'm going to turn to you first because you share her name with Money Mac, Evan McPherson. Oh, my goodness, was he automatic today? Doing the Evan name proud. Four field goals, three extra points made a kick from 58 and 55. We had talked about this, you know, the last few episodes, how much of a weapon we believe he's going to be and how he's had such a great preseason in training camp and his confidence is as high as we've seen in a long time.

And we saw when he went out to kick those 55 and 58, I was like, he's going to make him. Like he's going to hit it. I never questioned it at all. And I mean, we've talked about it. He just, that's such a nice luxury to have when on a day where the offense, like we've mentioned, wasn't hitting on all cylinders and wasn't scoring touchdown after touchdown. Now I'd like some of those field goals to turn into touchdowns, but being able to trot out Evan McPherson and for him to be that consistent

and really add more of a cushion because those points add up. I mean, I think he had four field goals. That's about 12 points. Like that adds up and that is a huge reason why they won the game. If he doesn't have those points, then we might be having a different conversation. But he was money. He was on the dot. And it's great to see that he's back in 100% in that confidence.

It just oozes from him the second he walks out there. I think Zach Taylor in the press conference after said he's the best kicker in the league. So doubling down on the performance he had today. Once you get into the plus territory, it feels like he can make a field goal. And that's huge. I know you don't have to kick any from 60 plus. So maybe get to the 40, the plus 40. But still, I think he could have.

You see how far he was hitting those and right on the money today. it's a weapon to have a kicker that good, that accurate from 50 plus, because it did feel like it bailed them out. Burrow took that one sack, the only sack he took the entire game, and that did take them from what, like a 40-something-yard kick to a 50-something yard kick,

it didn't matter. Like that didn't push him out of field goal range, anything like that. You've got a kicker that's got your back as a safety net. To me, that's also a little bit of complimentary football, but this is a kicker that is a weapon, and that's good to have on this team rather than going up against it week after week.

Hey, how many points did he have? 15. 15. 15 points. Yeah. I mean, if you're telling me your kicker is going to have 15 points, you know, throughout in a contest, I mean, that's two touchdown. He scored more than the offense. That's incredible. It is incredible.

It is incredible. You're right, coach. And the fact that this is what really good teams do, this is what great teams do. On a day where the offense, yeah, they may be stalled out on some drives. You know you're still going to get points because you have a weapon in Evan McPherson. First drive of the second half, stalled out. Okay, no big deal. Evan McPherson, 55-yard field goal.

Like Evan, you said, I knew he was going to make it. He had such a great training camp in preseason. Bang, 55 yards, Bengals, back up by three scores. Yeah, the sack wasn't great, but you weren't that concern because you had Evan McPherson. The drive after the pick six, Bengals offense, again, stalls out in the 40s. We talked about it on Friday, Coach, with Jake on our preview show. What was going to happen between the 40s?

Well, once you get across midfield, as Mike you mentioned, the Bengals have that weapon in McPherson, boom, 58 yards. So that puts you back up by 10, 30 to 20. Hey, you know what's crazy is you think back to even the preseason that fourth and eight call, throwing him out there. Yes. What the heck? The next week they did, he showed him under pressure that he could.

do that. And now it's just part of the game. You know, you get to the 40-yard line. Evan McPherson is going to get you at least three. And you know what? They add up. And all of a sudden, the kid's got 15 points. Your offense has got 12. I mean, that is as a team playing complete football. And your defense gets four turnovers. Wow. Couldn't be a better day. Yeah, couldn't be a better day. And again, the offense couldn't finish some drives in the second half, but you keep putting points on the board. And after those three fumbles, he scored 21 points off them as 21-3. You kept putting Tampa Bay behind so they couldn't do what they wanted to do offensively,

which we saw glimpses of on that first drive. As you said, Coach, all three phases were working in sync on Sunday. Really good to see. Yeah, you know what? And when you enter a contest, regardless of who you're playing, if one part of your, one segment of your game is, a little bit offbeat. And the other two pick up the slack, you've got a great opportunity to win. And once they get all three, you know, I was really concerned about them. As a matter of fact,

on the show last week, I picked Tampa to win because I wasn't really sure what they had. And today, the defense set the tempo, and all of a sudden, the offense did enough, and the kicking game solidified it. Yeah, I think I was impressed by the kicking game. I'm also going to complain about, sorry, I'm complaining a lot, I guess, for a win. Don't do that Joe Flacco thing again, where that was ridiculous. I got excited. I thought they're going to go for it.

And, like, yeah, we are the dominant team. We are going to make you go the entire way down the field to try to try to try to, you know, get back in this game. We're up 10 anyway. Let's go for it. We score a touchdown. Game over. We could be popping champagne bottles on the side. Instead, they bring Joe Flacko. I was like, oh, this is just some BS here. He goes out. And like there's a lot of the tush push from two and a half yards away. It's like, with a 40-year-old man. Yeah. If you're playing a defensive tackle there, I mean, how ready are you to go? No, it's like, hang on, boys. They're trying to draw us off sides. And they did. I should have,

I'm surprised DTs and bring out pillows. Take a quick nap for those 40 seconds. Wow. Come on, man. That was ridiculous. Fake quarterback sneak. At least leave Burrow in there and make them fear a pass, something that you'd actually believe.

I wanted them to go for it, though. I don't know where you guys stood. I thought that was like, oh, man, they're going to be really aggressive here and go for it. And I was all for it. But I don't know where you guys stood on that. They ended up kicking a field goal. That was one of those things like, don't do it again.

Don't bring Joe Flacco out here to fake a quarterback. sneak again. That was ridiculous. I'm sure Flacco was probably like, why are you bringing me out here? Like, what am I going to do? He was over there having a hot dog on the sideline that they called his number. Because nobody thought he was like, oh, he's going to throw a pass here. Like, it was, he was going to sneak it from two and a half yards or they're not going to snap it. So the logical one was that they're not going to snap it.

But I think at that last drive when they needed to, you know, take a lot of clock and, you know, really keep the game in their hands. Once they got a couple first downs and crossed the 50-yard line, I felt really comfortable that even if they, you know, stalled out and had to give the ball back to the Buccaneers that they were in field goal range, Evan could make it and give them a chance

to really put the game away. And as an Ohio State fan, on Saturday night, having a good kicker and a kicker that you feel confident in, it's very nice to have. So, yeah, McPherson's a huge weapon for sure. Still a source subject for some people with that game last night. but with Evan McPherson, I never felt like today the Bengals had to score a touchdown

every single drive. That's something we all felt they had to do last year. And Joe Burrow even acknowledged that earlier in training camp in the preseason to not have to be perfect on every single drive because your defense is going to force turnovers and you have a weapon and Evan McPherson. So as far as the fourth down, Mike, if they had gone for it, okay, you'd still be up 10. You'd have Tampa Bay pinned back with about five minutes to go. Really good by the Bengals after that.

fourth fumble to take five minutes off the clock there, got the run game going. If they had gone for it and made it great, if they hadn't, again, Tampa's backed up. But also, you take three points. You're up 13. You force Tampa Bay to score two touchdowns. And then you want to talk about Evan McPherson? How about that tackle he made on the ensuing kickoff after his fourth yokel? Can we acknowledge that for a minute?

Hey, he's got a Ness on his chest, man. He's feeling it. He's also got a C on his chest. for a good reason. Four field goals today, 15 points. Money Mac was just that in spades. Coming up, any concerns about the offensive line during training camp in the preseason, guess what? You didn't even notice the offensive line today. What's going on, everybody? My name is Ross Jackson, host of the Lockdown at Saints podcast. And today's lockdown episode is brought to you by our friends at Basque and Lather.

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It's soft but strong. And the confidence is on 10. and it's all thanks to bask and lather. Explore viral bestsellers and products of healthier hair of all types from baskin lather. Go to baskinlather code.com and use the promo code locked on for 20% off. That's 20% off at baskinlather co.com code locked on. Offensive line today. Didn't even notice them.

That's always a good day, coach. Oh, I'm telling you. You know what? They were very efficient in the running game. they were doing a pretty good job and hey i tell you what the guy that we all thought that the bengals could draft was invisible he was totally in reuben bain jr yes i mean he was invisible never heard his name and i tell you what i the the old line they they played as one group today and they did a good job for the most part they kept him they kept joe burrow clean um you know he had to move

around a little bit, but that's every game. You're playing against a good defensive front, and I know that we talked about it last, or our last podcast about, you know, they're going to play a pretty good group of defensive linemen and linebackers, and I think they held their own, which is a great sign to see. Ruben Mayn Jr. today, one tackle. It was a solo tackle. I didn't even remember when it was, but yeah, it's a good day. It was a good day for the offensive line. I actually remember him not making a tackle. That was his biggest play was probably that one play to the right edge where he got into the backfield, kind of forced the run to swing wider and ended up being a tackle for a loss.

That's the only play, though. And unfortunately for Bain, from what I saw, he lined up against Amarius Mims play after play. He was always on the offensive right side. That is the stronger of the two Bengals offensive tackles. You're in for a long day, especially also because I think the Bengals general, I don't think they leave tight ends. In this case, I don't think they brought a tight end around specifically for Bain or whatever, but they generally do put them more to the right side.

I feel like they more so have their formation to the right side of the field there, just because Burroughs right-handed quarterback, so easier to get all your guys on that side. And so he had to work through some trash as well. I thought Amarious Mims played really well. I thought the entire offensive line played really well. There's nobody I really pointed to that I was like, okay, that guy, you know, struggled a little bit here. I thought everybody played well.

Even the sack, from what I remember, it wasn't some sack that was like, oh, man, that guy got smoked right off the line. Bro, had no chance. I remember thinking like, bro, get that ball out while he ends up taking the sack there. Yeah. So to me, offensive line played really well. And I think the best showing they had was that touchdown, the walk-in touchdown untouched for Chase Brown.

Not only was that an offensive line showing, I thought the tight ends were awesome. I thought Eric All was good. in this game as a run blocker. I thought Drew Sample was fantastic as a run blocker in this game. And those two, along with Mims and Risner, were the reason that he walked in untouched. Mins Risner just drove their guy on a double team way back into the linebacker. And then Eric Al and Drew Sample are able to get on their guys with good fit

and be able to get their butts align so that Chase Brown can just walk his way into that end zone. Yeah, that touchdown was perfectly blocked. and it was one that I was going to highlight. And, you know, overall, the offensive line, like you guys have all mentioned, we didn't really notice them, which is a great thing to see. And Amarius Mims, you know, did his thing really taking away the best pass rusher of the other team. And Ruben Bain, now I know it was his rookie debut and everything, but he was a complete non-factor.

And I never felt like that Burrow was really under duress a whole lot. There were a few where he had to kind of roll out and, you know, make a play. And he had that one sack. But it never felt like he was just running. for his life every time the ball was snapped. And I think overall the under center game looked pretty efficient. Running the ball, you know, Chase Brown, I think he averaged three and a half yards per carry.

And so, and with like Vita Veaah, who was a guy that we talked about who could disrupt, I didn't really see him a whole lot. I felt like that they were opening running lanes and Brown and P. Ryan were really hitting him. And overall, I mean, I was super happy with how the, the offensive line played, because Burrow, only that one sack, which was kind of a weird. one because I think they ran a stunt and it was kind of they like ran into each other and I think whoever made the sack like spun off of them and and then yeah burrow just kind of held the ball on for

too long but when you don't notice the offensive line like coach mentioned that's always a great sign yeah I mean Orlando brown junior today didn't even notice him and we were a little concerned about him after the first preseason game but he played fantastic today uh vita vea did not have a tackle a sack or a top of loss it's always a good day when that happens especially for the bangles offensive line. Elijah Canseley didn't record a tackle or sack or tackle for loss today. Yahya Diabi only had one. It was a tackle for loss.

I didn't remember when that play was. The Buccaneers leading tackler today was Josiah Trotter, 11 total tackles. Did have the sack, did have two tackles for loss. He had the big six. So we had a good day for. That was his NFL debut. Ashon Robinson had five tackles, three of them solo. So other than him, though, the Buccaneers defensive line, which we were a little nervous about.

I gave them the edge coming into this game just because they've done it a long time. They were more proven. But the Bengals' offensive line today, at the very least, and probably above all, you did not notice them. And that's because the running lanes were there. They were protecting Joe Borrell. The pocket was clean. There was a play earlier in the game where Joe Barrow had time for a play to develop, take a deep shot to T. Higgins just overthrew him. But the play development was there because Burrow had time to set his feet in the pocket and throw. That is how you know this Bengals' offensive line. is already much better one game into the season than they were one game into last season.

Oh, you know what? And the guy that we haven't even talked about, that we're talking about making great sophomore strides was McClure child. Yeah. I mean, very, I mean, because a lot of the times they played like an over-a-three technique on the strong side, right, no right-handed football team. So he was aligned on Dylan or on Territory. us a lot and between those two they took care of him pretty pretty well took care of vda via yeah i think i think i saw fairchild um doing dylan fairchild like things which is kind of losing the technique but then just having this insane wrestling recovery balance to be able to be like i'm thrown on to one foot and i'm up in the air and within half a second my other foot's back down i'm back underneath clamped up

and pushing upward and anchoring in that type of stuff is just just awesome to see from a guard, just having that in your pocket to when I beat, I'm never beat. You know, like I'm beat. It's not over, basically. Like, you might have got on my edge, and I can still recover. Yeah. Hey, that, you know what? And that's a great thing that I think this offensive line did today is there, you can, for offensive line play, it's either art, which is the technique part or war. And I thought that they went to war. Yeah, they did. And how about this? just under four yards per carry on the ground for the Bengals, 27 carries, 106 yards, and the touchdown for Chase Brown, 16 for 56, and a touchdown for Chase Brown, his longest run was 13 yards.

Yeah, that's impressive. And you know what? You know, when you get to the first part of the season, on both defenses, I thought you saw a lot of cutback runs, which means the defense, the linebackers overplayed the defense, and then all of a sudden now there's cutback lanes, and I thought that both teams had great cutback runs without secondary fill for that back side, so they weren't necessarily, you know, supposed to run over the top. There's usually a fallback player, and usually it's a linebacker.

So I thought that they controlled it pretty well. Yeah, again, the offensive line today against a very good defensive front for Tampa Bay did their job. and that's what you want. They kept Joe Burrow upright aside from that one sack, which I mean, did Burrow hold out of the ball for too long? Maybe he did. But it never felt like Joe Borough was running for his life

or making place because he's Joe Borough and he's Superman. And Evan, that I think is what stands out to me about this offensive line, is you never were concerned about it, really at any point in the game. And Burrow looked comfortable under center and in the pocket. Yeah, I think especially on some of those. play actions. I never felt that the pocket collapsed on him really quickly. And, you know, those are usually longer developing plays. And it seemed like for the most part, he had a clean

pocket. And, you know, like I said, a few of them, he had to kind of scramble and evade some pressure. But, but, but yeah, when you can, I think on your center really helped a lot with, with the offensive line being effective. I think they were able to establish the run early. And and then that opened up a bunch of other stuff. And then when you can, we know what Joe Broe can do outside of the pocket and everything. But I think he didn't have to do that today, which was really nice. He could sit and wait and let the, like we mentioned, the defense open up and find Mikeaseki in the scene.

And I do think Burrow was getting the ball out a lot faster, like just taking those checkdowns and which also really helps to, which is something that I feel like sometimes we don't always talk about that. You know, Burrow sometimes has a tendency to hold on the ball a little bit too long. but I thought today he got the ball out pretty quickly for the most part. But these guys that the borough's checking the ball down to have the ability to make guys miss. P. Ryan did that on the third touchdown drive after Baker's fumbled the ball in the end zone. Dante Myers did it on the final drive at the game.

So you can trust your receivers for catching the ball and then running and getting yards after contact. So the Bengals' offensive line had a really good day. The Buccaneers offensive line did not. I mean, you can look at it. You can look at this performance from the other side of it. The Bengals defensive line, we talked about it, them being able to send waves of pass rush out and opposing quarterback. They did that from the jump today. That was really, really good and encouraging going forward. It certainly was. You know, and especially in the first half,

I thought Miles Murphy came out ready to play. He did. He was all over the place. He made some great plays on the backside of some runs. He was pushing the pot. pocket up the field and ran, made, made, um, quarterback forgot his name. Baker Mayfield, step up in the pocket. And a lot of times he took off running. Next thing you know, ball's on the ground. So I thought that, uh, that the defense of both things, they played very complimentary football.

The ends forced it up the field. They hit where he was forced to step up and scramble. The defensive tackles for, it and now he had to escape. And he did make some plays while he was on the move, but he had to escape. And that was, that's a good thing to see because now it plays plaster drills on defense. And the, the secondary and the linebackers did a good job of covering. I think it was that first drive that the Buccaneers had ended in a field goal. But there were back-to-back plays, I believe it was that drive, where Murphy was the unblocked man on the end.

and he made a tackle to a run stop to bring up third down. And then he actually got dropped out into coverage to play the flat. And Baker Mayfield rolled to his side and he crashed down screaming at Baker-Mayfield forced a throw away, which led to a kick. So I thought that two-play sequence was kind of huge in terms of forcing the Buccaneers to kick a field goal there, Ben, but don't break. Overall, I thought the defensive line played well. I might have been most impressed with the interior.

I really did think that Lawrence and Allen played really well against, against this Buccaneers interior offensive line. I understand the stats weren't there for Lawrence, but to me, might have been the best player on defense, just in terms of down-to-down, block destruction, getting knockback,

providing a force for everybody else. And on the other side, John Allen, he got that sack from that stunt where guys probably got too many eyes on Dexter Lawrence, where that guy never saw Alan coming. He just crashes into him, keeps moving, ends up with a sack.

So I thought the interior of that, defensive line was really impressive. I thought it was great for Miles Murphy to make those plays. I thought boy, Maffa's sack was huge. But I also thought a little bit of like, man, some of this is a little Baker chaos. Some of this is Baker. You can't hold onto the ball like that. You can't do this. You can't try to run and keep extending this play, just trying to play higher than your athleticism allows. But I did think everybody on this defensive line played well. I was really impressive defensive line in general. And I was fairly, impressed with a lot of the secondary as well. I think there are more lapses there than there were

up front. But overall, those two units did, I think, kind of anchor this defense to create those four turnovers and provide a little bit of that bend, but don't break. Yeah, I mean, on that, on the Baker Mayfield run where he fumbled it into the end zone, Dexter Lawrence was right there, and he was kind of getting held, and he put his arm out and almost stopped him like we've seen him do before in practice. And he kind of, so he almost made that play. And yeah, I thought he was definitely big. And I think the biggest thing, like you said, Mike, is that I saw a lot of double teams at him, which gave guys like Jonathan Allen. Even Chris Jenkins had a sack. He came in, him and Cassius Howell came in and got a sack. And so that's like we've talked about the

waves that the Stevenson line now has. And boy, Mafei was pretty active. And I think that that helps definitely a lot. And even Barrett Carter, he came in and got a half a sack at that linebacker spot. So I thought the Bengals, their goal this off season was to beef up. the trenches and win with your front seven. And I thought today that was really prevalent, prevalent with a lot of the, a lot of the defensive tackles and edge rushers doing a lot of, a lot of plays, even if not all of them, you know, were in the statute. But four sacks, five TFL, this is a pretty good day against a buck's

offensive line that I think is pretty good. And we thought about that before. And going ahead and something like nine or ten pressures as well. So that, that's, that's a, that's a. workman's day right there. They did a great job, I thought. Well, you know what pressures create? They create turnovers.

And the Bengals, again, with the Bengals offensive line, going up against Dexter Lawrence and those guys in training camp, we talked about it that they were going to be ready for this season. And it's like, okay, well, you got to show me. They did. You know who else show me something today? Barrett Carter, eight sackles, half sack, tackle for loss. He came to play today.

and he was really good and productive. Demetrius Knight, seven tackles, five of them solo. Brian Cook with six tackles and four of them solo. And then Boy Amafay causing that fourth fumble, which T.J. Sladen recovered, which came after a delay of game. So the pressure that the Bengals defensive line was able to throw at the Buccaneers, that changed the whole game,

and it led to four turnovers, four fumbles by the Buccaneers. I mean, Coach, if you were still on the Buccaneers' coaching staff, and John Cruden was still the head coach, coach, I can only imagine he'd be seething at four fumbles in a game like this, wouldn't he? Oh, without question. The only thing that he would not say because the majority of them came from the quarterback. And you know what? There would be, I mean, in the quarterback room, they would be, he would be ripping it.

But not in front of the team because that guy is your, he is your, your bell cow. So, you know, anytime you put the ball on the ground or you're turning it over in the air, that you are, that is not good. And in order to win football games, you have to win the takeaway battle. And, you know, what? Right now, the Bengals are, shoot, what are they, plus three? Yeah. And that is awesome. That you want to, if you can continue that, because that, you got to remember, that.

That's how Chicago got into the playoffs because they were so dominant and taking the ball away and not giving it up. As evidenced by what they did today because they weren't very good defensively at stopping opponents, but they were darn good at taking the ball away. Coming up next, we'll hand out some game balls. And how about the darling of the preseason coming up big when it matter most? Bangal Squad Show today brought to you by Calci. A new football season brings some big questions. Who makes the playoffs?

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Those 33, Buccaneers 27, a winning day for the Bengals. They moved to, or I shouldn't say moved to, but they start the season 1 and 0 for the second straight season, third time in the last six seasons. Coach Arnallel, Mike Santagana, Evan Stacey, Alex Frank with you on the Bengals Squad show post-game edition. The first of the regular season were guaranteed 17 of these in the regular season. and hopefully three or four more in the post season. Let's hand out some game balls.

We do this on days when the Bengals win. So we're going to hand out some game balls. Coach, we'll start with you. Who are you giving your game ball to today? Well, you know what? There were a number of guys, but I tell you what, Evan McPherson. Okay.

I think you got, I mean, before somebody else grabbed him, I thought I'd throw out. I thought he did, he did his job, man. He did a great job today. The other one that I thought deserved one, especially early was, you know, Miles Murphy. I thought that he did a great job as well, and I'd give him one. I would go Mike Gaseki on offense, five catches, 78 yards, and a touchdown,

leading receiver on the team with Jamar Chase. They're making two catches. Higgins kind of close there with three for 59. But it felt like he's a third down specialist, and to be able to come in and give you that type of performance is huge in terms of he's making the most of his opportunities. I had a second one for the defense. I would, phew, man, I would probably go with Brian Cook. I feel like he forced some turnovers, made some clutch plays.

Nothing got over the top. Baker Mayfield, by the way, it was Checkdown City for him under five yards for his average depth of target. And a lot of that credit goes to this Bangal secondary. There's nothing there for him. So I think Brian Cook is giving you kind of that. umbrella over the top we had no geno stone type of moments from him where there's a deep ball to his side of the field and you're wondering was that on stone was that on this corner none of it mattered

yeah my game ball goes to boy mafei i thought i noticed him a lot early and especially on on the um the jet pass to tess johnson where they blew up mafei sniffed it out immediately and i think godwin was supposed to crack block him and he just beat him there got a hand on on Taz slowed him down and then the rest of them were able to clean it up and then I think on the on the on the Demetrius night fumble recovery I think Maffa was the one that flushed Baker out of the pocket and then obviously capping it off with that big sack fumble at the end where he kind of jumped on Baker's back so he finished with a one tackle one sack and one TFL he was a guy where you looked at his stats from last year and you're like oh only two sacks on that

Seattle defense. Like, is this a guy that we should be given all this money to? But his pressure rate was really high up there. And I thought we saw him making a lot of disruptive players early on. And I'm just glad. Thank you, Seattle for letting him come to our team. Because I thought, I thought he played, I thought he played real well. And coming from that Seattle defensive line that we saw on Wednesday, how good they can be, you know, Bengals are trying to replicate that. And I think he, in his first debut with the Bengals, I thought he popped out a lot. No question about that. I'm going, Evan McPherson, because in a game where points, they weren't at a premium, but they were definitely needed throughout the game to stay in front

and keep Tampa Bay behind by two scores, 55 yards and 58 yards. I mean, those two kicks right there are clinched it for me because we saw him throughout training camp in the preseason, and we all have been saying that he looks like the Evan McPherson of old, and he was just that today. Four for four on field goals, 15 points, three for three on extra points. There was never a time during the game where I felt like he was going to miss the kick. Even on the Bengals' last possession where they were running out the clock,

I said to myself, you know what, three points here is still okay, because then you go up by nine. Tampa Bay is going to have to use their timeouts, even if they get the ball back and do score and make it, what, 3633 or 3634, they still have to recover an onside kick. And, you know, I mean, again, they may not even score. So Evan McPherson gets my game ball. We got some time here to unpack some other elements from today's game. I want to start with Jamar Chase because he did only have two catches for 12 yards. Concerned?

Not really. But what were you guys seeing today? Were the Buccaneers doing some things that made it hard for him to get open? Were they, like, was it just, you know, burial taking checkdowns? Like, why did Jemar Chase only have two catches for 12 yards today, in your opinions? Well, I think that the, the Buccaneers put some eyes on him. and they were going to allow him to disrupt their day or to destroy it. And when you do that, other guys come in like Geseki, they come into play.

And like T. Higgins, they put a lot of attention on that they started rotating when Geseghi was in the game, that side, which now allowed T. Higgins to really come through on. with some very, very big plays. But does it concern me? No, because if you want to take away that, they've got other weapons that can hurt you. Yeah, I think for me, this is where the camera of watching a live NFL game kind of hurts,

where you honestly don't know for sure, right, because the ball gets snapped. And then the only thing you could see is a quarterback offensive line and defensive line. Everybody else just flew off the screen. So it's likely. that they were just giving a lot of attention to Jemar Chase, which is why you could find Mika Seki wide open,

why you could end up hitting Samashi P.ron on checkdowns, and he's three catches, 30 yards on three targets, two first downs. Like they're likely opening up that umbrella pretty quick, getting over the top of Jamar Chase and T. Higgins and saying, beat us underneath. And it felt like Burrow was kind of having to do that a little bit, although he was able to push the ball down the field still at times. It felt like you probably just got a lot of

attention sent Jamar Chase's way, which would make sense. If I was a Buccaneers defensive coordinator, that would probably be step one. Let's not let Jamar Chase kill us. And the other part, he also needs to play just a tiny bit better. There was that 50-50 ball down the left sideline. Come down with that. You are the best receiver in the league. I want you to come down with that. I know it's, hey, good play from the from the Bucks corner, but for me, some of it, most of it is he got a lot of attention. But then there's just a tiny little bit of that. It's also like, you did have a couple of opportunities that you didn't make the absolute most of. However, no concern whatsoever for me. I also think this guy's going to end up with 1,500 yards on the season. No, I'm not concerned

either. Evan, what did you see? Yeah, like Mike said, you can't really see a whole lot of coverage-wise on the broadcast, so we'll have to look at the film tomorrow. But I think, yeah, it was mainly just they were keying in on Jamar Chase, which if I was a defense court, that's what I would do. I'm not concerned the slightest on him. I think he's going to have a great season. But I did was really encouraged with when Jamar was taken away, you still, you had Mike Keseki who was burning them up the middle. You had like you said, P. Ryan made a bunch of catches. Even Drew Sample had three for 19.

Myers and Yosevaash had a few catches as well. So we've talked about the depth of the tied in room and the wide receiver room. And when you take away Jamar Chase, that's when that comes into play. And so I thought it was encouraging that Burrow wasn't trying to just, oh, shoot, I'm just going to throw it to Jamar Chase because he's the best player. He would make him make a play even if he maybe wasn't open. He was just taking what the defense gave him. And that meant some of these other guys stepping it up.

I think he passed to like nine different receivers. So that was really encouraging. But Chase will be fine. I'm not worried about him at all. I'm not worried about him at all either. I mean, and you mentioned, you guys mentioned Mike Azicki today. I mean, he was fantastic. Caught Joe Burroughs, only touchdown pass.

Five catches 78 yards. I mean, this is why when you don't have Jamar and T, taking over games. You have Micahisickey. Mike Asicki had five catch today. Jamar and T had five catches combined. That tells you how valuable he is over the middle. And so many times today, we saw the Bengals go to him.

Samashe P. Ren had three catches for 30 yards, long of 14. Chase Brown, five for 22. And then Dante Myers, the first play of the final drive of the game, 18-yard pass. You want to talk about the darling of the preseason, but you trust him in that big of a spot to get the drive going. drive starters, that is, that tells you how highly they value Dante Myers. Sticking a huge step up. You know, and I tell you what, he has earned, he has earned the right to play just by his effort.

Today, by that catch, like I talked about earlier, the ball wasn't perfectly thrown. It was thrown a little bit behind him, but he knew where he left the defense. He flipped back inside and he had a big. gain and I thought that was very impressive by the young guy. Absolutely. He's the only guy in the Bengals offense that moves like that, where he's got really low center of gravity along with really fast, quick twitch agility, able to just kind of be a little spark plug that's just you toss him the ball, he makes a guy miss, and he is just going.

And he can stop and start quickly. It reminds me a lot of Andrew Hawkins from the Bengals in the 2010s where a guy, I think he was also a UDFA. you find them, he's like, man, that guy moves different than everybody else on this team. Not, not probably not going to become a 1500-yard receiver as well. That would be crazy. But can he, can he be that guy? You just, you get a couple of checkdowns too, and he can make a couple men miss and pick you up 18 yards like he did today.

I think that's certainly possible. Yeah. He had that, I think it was a jet sweep as well for 10 yards. So, yeah, he made the most, made the most of the two plays that really he was given. And I think. And his kickoff's kickoff returns were good as well. Yeah. His speed just jumps off of the, just jumps off the page.

I mean, every time he catches it, I feel like he makes the most of that catch with his, you know, with his speed, his twitchiness, his quickness, like Mike said. And especially on that, that last play that he made where he, you know, caught it, turned inside, immediately made a man miss and then pretty much took it 18 yards himself. So, yeah, I think he just adds more speed to this offense, which is big. as if this offense needs any more speed and any more weapons that they have, especially with your March Ace, Antie Higgins. Bengals 33, Buckingnears 27. Gentlemen, at the end of the day, it just feels good to be in the win column in week one. Bengals are 1 and 0.

Up next, a road game at the Houston Texans, 1 o'clock on CBS next Sunday, Bengals' squad show coming your way after the game. The Texans today, losing at home to the Buffalo Bills 36 to 31. How about if you had the Texan defense giving up 36 points to Buffalo on your bingo cards today, Congratulations to you. That's going to be some fun film to dig into and how the Bengals can exploit potentially the Texans defense next week. For Mike Santagina, Bengals, underscore Sands for Evan Stacey at Lockdown Bengals Head

and Ed and Evan Stacy 3, Coach Ard-Ballero, joining us, as always, on the Bengals Squad show. I'm Alex Frank and Frankie underscore Natty. Vangles 33, Buccaneers 27. Don't forget to check out Jake Lusco and Joe Good, Barry, all through this week on the daily lockdown Bengals podcast. We'll be back Friday afternoon to preview the Bengals in Texas, plus maybe talk about some things that we gleaned throughout the week from this game today.

A winning week one for the Bengals at home in front of 66,000 plus fans today at Pay Corset. It may tremendous crowd to see the Bengals beat the Buccaneers 33 to 27. Have a great rest of your day. Have a great rest of your weekend. Enjoy all the rest of the NFL action today. We'll talk to you on Friday afternoon on the Bengals squad show, part of lockdown Bengals and the lockdown podcast. Network celebrating 10 years of being your team every day.

we are the number one sports podcast. We're in America and the world. Have a great rest of your weekend. We'll talk to you Friday right here on the Bengals Squad Show.