Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - BENGALS SQUAD SHOW: FRUSTRATION BOILING OVER in 34-12 loss to Steelers

Episode Date: November 17, 2025

Ja'Marr Chase let his frustration show LOUDLY in the Bengals 34-12 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday. Alex Frank, Mike Santagana, and Art Valero react to frustration boiling over in the Bengals' meltdown in Pittsburgh Sunday afternoon. The defense still has the same issues, Joe Flacco looked like he didn't have any magic that he had the previous three games, and Zac Taylor looks like he is losing the locker room. Joe Burrow is expected to return, but when, and is it worth it at this point? It's all unravelling for the Bengals, losing seven of their last eight games and showing how deeply flawed they are on both sides of the ball. Where do the repairs start? Is this something that can be fixed in one year? Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Peloton Let yourself run, lift, flex, and push forward. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread+ today at https://www.onepeloton.com. PrizePicks Download the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFL Gametime Download 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. FanDuel Right 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 https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I've said it all season that when Jamar Chase gets frustrated, that's when you have to really realize that this locker room has been lost. Mike, what do you got? As soon as Jamar Chase went, that's okay. As soon as Jamar Chase went off, that's when you know the locker room is lost. Yeah, I feel like my biggest issue with that was obviously he's getting frustrated, he's not getting the ball enough. It really undersold, like, how bad Taylor was doing on that drive, because, because everybody's thinking and talking about Jamar Chase and the Ramsey ejection, where Taylor lines up down two scores on fourth and inches and runs the fake play,

draw them off sides, and then is about to punt when Ramsey punches Jamar Chase. What are we doing? Coach, what are we doing? The locker room has been lost. Well, I'll tell you what. The, you know what, it shows the frustration that that that, football team is going through right now. And when that they'll let any chirping by an opponent, one that you are better than in terms of Jemar Chase versus, you know, the secondary guy.

And it gets to you. And they're just tired. You know what, though? I heard Jemar the other day made a statement as to, I mean, he's got a sea on his chest. Yep. So you have to act accordingly. And by having that C on your chest, you cannot show those kinds of frustrations. And the comment that he made last week that it is his job not to approach the team, but to stay in his lane. Oh, yeah. That's where you see where they're really lacking, for a lack of a better term,

senior veteran leadership. Hold that thought. This is Bengals Squad on the Locked-on Podcast Network. 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 Locked-on Podcast Network can. From the jungle to the playoffs, the Bengals Squad Show starts now.

You know, this is our first post-game show. I've got a feeling this is going to be one of our most listened to shows on the season. This is Bengals Squad. It's part of the lockdown Bengals YouTube channel and feed. It's part of the lockdown podcast network. Now the number one sports podcast network in America and the world. We are joined by Mike Santag and at Bengals underscore Sands. Coach Art Valera, who is with us for our debut show on Thursday. Today's episode of the Bengals Squad is brought to you by Fanduel right now. Today, our new customers can bet just $5. And if your bet wins, you'll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app.

Gentlemen, we mentioned it in our teas, our open. Jamar Chase in the fourth quarter was visibly frustrated. He was letting out his actions against Jalen Ramsey. Jailen Ramsey ultimately was the one that was ejected. Coach, I'm going to turn to you first because you mentioned senior veteran leadership. I got to be honest, when I see Jamer, Chase let out his frustrations, I think two things. One, what you said, but number two, it's if you're talking about staying in your lane and now you're the one that's getting

into these scuffles on the field, when a senior leader, a captain has that on his chest. And specifically, or when he's having a not so good game, what does that say about where he is at and where the team is at overall? I think from a mental standpoint, I mean, I mean, I mean, you have to look at the entirety of the whole entire season. I can guarantee you Joe Burroughs a captain and Hendrickson's a captain. And now you got Jamar Chase as a captain. And when two of your captains are not playing, you can lead by being vocal. But I think they're beyond that.

I think they want to see somebody go out there and show them. And I'm talking about the team in general. want to see the team and somebody in a captain's role to take over a game and to show me by example and not necessarily with just words. And I think that they're there and we talked about it on the debut show the other day. The leadership, when most of your guys are in the training room, and they're leaders, or you trade one away, that leader. That leader. That leader. That leader. You, leaves a big, big void where from a management standpoint, and especially from a coaching standpoint, you're trying to find who's that next guy. And as a coaching staff, have you cultivated leaders

amongst your group, whether it be on offense, whether it be on defense, whether it be the guys up front offensively or not just the playmakers? You know, it's got to be those guys that are out there grinding and out. You know, what's wrong with Brown Jr. being a leader? I mean, he's there every day. Nobody hears about it. Nobody says it until, you know, he gets beat on the sack. But that was once.

That wasn't the entire day. And I think they're seriously looking deep into that right now. Mike, what are you seeing from the locker room perspective? because we've heard Chase Brown frustrated after the Bears game. We heard even Ted Karras, another captain art, as you mentioned earlier, captain leadership. And now Jamar Chase stay in your lane. And this week he's all giddy because Joe Burrow may come back. But now it's like if Jamar Chase is going off in a game against Jalen Ramsey when he's having,

let's just call it not a very good game. What does it say about where this team is at as far as, being able to stay together through what has been now seven of eight losses. Yeah, I have to wonder how much that C on the chest even matters on this team because they traded one away for a seventh round pick. And you look at the rest. You know what? I don't think that we've got him on. Oh, do we not have Mike Santagina on?

Oh, that is. I'm here. Okay, Mike, can you hear us? Sorry, we, yeah, I can hear you guys fine. Okay, perfect. Okay, perfect. Yeah, go ahead, Mike, with what you were saying. And we'll make sure that Arc can hear him.

Go ahead, Mike. Yeah, I just don't know how much for this team, the sea on the chest even matters because they traded one of them for a seventh round pick. And then, yeah, you look at this game and Jamar Chase is getting into a fight with Joan Ramsey and they don't have anybody that is there to cool them down. And maybe that's normally Joe Burrow

with the gold seat on his chest. But he's not there and they need somebody else to be able to do that. It's tough. You can see fractures in the locker room because the defense and the offense certainly don't seem to be happy with each other with case Brown making comments about the defense. Probably rightfully so at that point. But at the same token, the defense today, I don't know if they've said anything, but they could also say you spotted them 14 points today. And they did their job in the first half.

So it's hard to say, but it's when you're not there. but I do think there's a lack of veteran leadership on the team at this moment. Or whenever you had something like this happen on any teams that you were a coach on, like, is this, let me ask this question. Is this fixable? Like we talked about the defense last week. And if that's fixable, well, clearly it still is. And we'll get to that in segment number two.

But is this fixable? Like, is this internal team issue fixable? I believe it is. And it, you know, what it's, what it is, it's got to be, it has to be coaching staff. It has to be players, understanding where the problems are, and attacking each of the problems. And instead of, you know, looking at the by week as, oh, shoot, we're halfway through the season and let's take some time off and let's get away, us from you and you from us, This the veterans need to come together and they need to get themselves healthy and get themselves back in a position where they can lead. And I think that you can do that.

But I think that that evolves between those four walls of where the team meets. Go ahead. Sorry. No, I think that that it is fixable because they do have some leaders in college. They've all been leaders. But some of them at this point in time probably don't feel comfortable stepping out because, A, they don't want to hurt anybody's feelings. And B, they're not playing as well as they should be playing to say, hey, follow me. But it can be.

And that has to be a collective effort amongst them all. But Mike, let me ask you this question because you cover this team closely on Cincinnati Bengals Talk Sports Illustrated. is this like a one-year rebuild? And I think now the question that I have for you is we talked about the defense just needing a one-year rebuild. Now I'm thinking, like, is this entire team going to have to be rebuilt? Is it going to be a one-year thing, a multi-year thing? Like, I'm seeing comments on Twitter today that this is going to take this team is three years away from contention. Are you getting that sense?

Or is it just if you make some major changes while still keeping your core, you can get back to contention just next season? I think they could get back to contention next season. To me, the offense is still fine. You have playmakers. You have an offensive line that I still think is they were improved. And I still think this game was not terrible. I understand they give up a couple of sacks and hits. But you also look and this is a really good pass rush.

And they got the better of them the first time. This time, Flacco is playing a little worse. So I think the offense is all right. The defense, it needs a huge. overhaul. To me, you've got Trey Hendrickson and you have DJ Turner and those are the only guys that I would lock in for starting spots next season if they're on the team, which a big if for Trey Hendrickson. So everybody else, I think, is either up for replacement or up for a camp battle or something, some type of competition to keep their job. They're just so far off from being something worthwhile. And that's frustrating because you've just spent your first round. round pick on Shamar Stewart, who you haven't seen enough from to give him a starting spot next season. Your second round pick was seemingly benched a bit today for Oren Berks. Your fourth round pick looks like one of the worst linebackers in the league today. So these guys need to

play better to secure spots, but they just don't have anything on defense at this moment. They don't get much of a pass rush. They don't get much in coverage. And they're really bad at doing some of the little things, like taking proper angles and tackling. Yeah, like how many times are you watching this Bengals defense play and they look out of position? They give up way too much space. I mean, the touchdowns, the first touchdown to Kenneth Gainwell in the first quarter was, I mean, or like, from a defensive perspective, like, how can you let a running back on a wheel route where the coverage is more condensed because you only have a certain number of yards to go?

how do you let him just practically waltz right into the end zone? But for me, I go back to something you said, Art, because this defense, yes, they had its flaws coming into the season. But there was a vision where they were going to build around Logan Wilson. They had Trey Hendrickson at edge rusher. They were going to hope we get production from Shamar Stewart, Mike, as you mentioned. They were hoping to get something from Miles Murphy, maybe Joseph Osai. Now here this team is, they traded Logan Wilson during the by week. They got nothing before except a seventh round pick, and we'll see how that turns out.

Art, when you have been on teams that came in with high expectations that then really just didn't pan out, what is it like going to work every day? What's it like getting ready for a game? Well, you know that everything that we had hoped to accomplish this season is now essentially thrown out the window. Well, you know what? And it's very, very difficult because you know the defensive staff and Zach in particular has challenged each of those young men that are out there. He's challenged them. He's given them everything that they need to be able to perform at their highest level.

And now becomes a self-competitiveness. And some of them are, and it comes down to character. And it's what are you made of? What are you made of? I mean, that first touchdown, I went, oh, man, this is here we go again. because it looked like we were slow. It looks like we took poor angles. And all of a sudden, the kid runs by us.

And I'm going, oh, boy, this could be a long day. Then it started to build up where all of a sudden, hey, we were getting pressure on Rogers. Now, we created some stupid mistakes by hitting him late. But, hey, we're getting pressure. That eases the burden on the secondary. because you're making him and you're forcing throws. And then all of a sudden, it just looks like they ran out of gas. Not in terms of conditioning, but that black cloud came back.

And their competitiveness didn't follow through. And it was very, very difficult to watch because of the penalties, because of, you know, the situations that we put ourselves, in from a defensive standpoint. There was something else that stood out to me about this defense today. And we're going to get to that here coming up because it has been a recurring pattern, not just this year, but last year, 23, 22 and 2021. And if you remember two days before Christmas, you may know exactly what we're talking about.

I know Mike does. We'll get to that when we return right here on Bengal Squad. Today's episode of Bengal Squad is brought to you by Mint Mobile. If you're still paying for wireless, it's time to say yes to say no. At Mitt Mobile, their favorite word is no, no contracts, no monthly bills, no overages, no hidden fees, no BS. I said yes to making the switch. And I'm now getting premium wireless for just $15 a month. Mint makes it simple.

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Speeds may slow above 35 gigabytes on a limited plan. Taxes and fees extra. mobile for details. Back here on Bengals squad and don't forget to check out James Rapine and Jake Lisko on lockdown Bengals tomorrow morning for their recap of today's game. The Bengals losing to Pittsburgh 34 to 12 in a game that I don't know if it was as close as the final score suggested or maybe closer than it did or maybe it wasn't even that close.

But one thing I do, Mike Santagga, stop if you've heard me this, if you've heard this before, Mason Rudolph torches the Bengals and the Bengals lose to a backup quarterback. Yeah, I think the second half was really telling on the defense in terms of how they're playing because Mesa Roodles average depth of target, how far he threw the ball on average was 2.7 yards. And despite that, he absolutely torched them because they can't tackle. There's two separate third and 10 plus that they give up on checkdowns where they just aren't in a position to make the play. And then there's a first and 25 that they give up. It doesn't even get the second down on a checkdown again that they're just not in a position to make a play.

So the tackling, the angles, just not having guys in position. I understand giving up underneath in those scenarios. But you give up the underneath and rally and tackle. You don't give up the underneath and go, oh, okay, crap. There he goes. And it's a first down. It's unbelievable that an NFL defense is giving up third. multiple third and 10 plus and a first and 25 on a check on checkdowns.

That's something you see once a year, maybe a couple times a year. And this is, it's routine and it's an easy way for the opposing offense to move down the field. And the Steelers realize that. Mason really often pushed the ball down the field. Every single pass was within about five yards or behind the line of scrimmage and just dared the Bengals defense to tackle and they couldn't. You remember this game, I'm sure, Mike, Monday night football week for 2019. This was Zach Taylor's rookie season.

And this defense, that season reminds me very much of the defense this season, where Mason Rudolph started that game for an injured Ben Rufflesberger. And he was doing checkdown, check down, check down to James Connor and whoever else. And it amounts into a 27 to three win. And the Bengals defense stood no chance. Art, I'm going to turn to you because you have experienced caution on the defensive side of the ball. When a backup quarterback comes into the game, let's, let's, I'll get to when preparing for a backup quarterback if you know the starter isn't going to play.

But in game, when a backup quarterback comes in, what are you as a defensive line coach, linebackers coach, any position on the defense or a defensive coordinator? What are you saying to your defense when the backup quarterback enters the game? Oh, without a doubt, you say, we need to apply some pressure to this guy and force him to make mistakes. whether, but we're not changing our game plan. You know, because one thing is, is that he's not a runner. Now, if they brought a runner into the game, now you've got to change some things. But he's a dropback passer who's going to rely on running the ball by handing the ball off. But remember, the scheme is the same.

They might have five to ten plays in there that are specially designed that he really likes and Aaron doesn't. but the system should take care of itself because like I said, he's not a runner. The one thing that you do is, hey, you just keep playing. And you play as if the starter was actually in the game. You don't ease up. I mean, you're in the National Football League, for goodness sakes. You don't ease up. Now you got them against the ropes.

Let's see what they've got. So that's when the intensity should have packed up. Let's, hey, let's make Mason throw the ball into coverage. Let's be where we're supposed to be. Let's continue to put pressure on him. You know, don't drop so deep because he's a checkdown artist. You know, those are the things that you did. And that was the thing that you saw a lot of.

And especially, you look even at the beginning of the game, Aaron was four for four at one point in time. But he never threw the ball over, you know, five yards down the field. It was players making plays because they were so deep. And the linebackers were playing deep and they were getting great depth for that particular thing. But they got to be able to rally to the ball and have great angles and bring people on the ground. And, you know, you could see it on one of the interceptions. There wasn't a lot of guys hustling to the ball.

You know, you got to go and you got to rally. on some of those bigger plays, you've got to see everybody run into the football. And that's the important thing. You mentioned some things in our debut show on Thursday that have really resonated with me over these last few days. And that is that this defense does not show the courage that it is required to make tackles. And then you mentioned things just now with the system being okay. When a backup quarterback comes in, we're going to pressure the heck out of him. but checkdowns, as you're alluding to, are easy completions.

Why would you give a, okay, here's my question. Why would you give a quarterback and Mason Rudolph easy completions when those can turn into, when checkdowns can turn into yards after the catch because you have space, but you're a poor tackling team in space. Mike, explain that to me how that makes sense because to me it does not whatsoever. I mean, third and ten, the ball going behind the line of scrimmage is what you want. You want that ball going there. It's just the guys don't make the plays.

And there's what can you really do in that scenario? Mason Rudolph today was 11 of 12 on passes five yards and under. He was two of five beyond five yards. And I was actually surprised there were five attempts beyond five yards because there's no need. And it's tough. It's you're getting killed either way. they are a little bit worried about, you know, D.K. Metcalf going down the field. But leaving air in the coverage third and long, first and 25, to me, it's so hard to blame a coach for that because it would be, it would break my brain to have some type of coverage where you have guys, five, you have most of your defenders and whatever defense, about five yards from the line of scrimmage on third and 10, the ball goes over their head.

And it's like, yeah, that seems like what would happen in this scenario. Or first and 25. It's like, we don't need these guys so close to last girls. We have so much room. I think they need to just look at guys and see, look, you were a draft pick, but you might need replaced if you can't make tackles, if you can't take a good angle, if you're not going to wrap guys up, if you're just going to come in head first, head down,

try to hit somebody with a shoulder and fall off. Or kind of ole up the sideline, like with a darnel Washington play, where Gino Stone comes, he's in position to make a tackle. He's on the sideline. All you need is to be able to hit him and push him out of bounds. And instead, he goes over the top of him, makes no attempt to wrap him up and no attempt to him out of bounds. And to me, this is more of the players, not the plays.

When you are giving up third and ten on a checkdown, that is players, not plays to me. You have guys, they need to be able to process, understand, get to the ball and make the play. How many times have we seen this season where the Bengals give up, a third in 18 or even a third in 10 and a wide receiver comes wide open across the middle. How many times that happened against the 0 and 7 jets? I lost count. That tells you how bad this defense is. And then today when you see Darnell Washington, who's 6 foot 7, 300 pounds, hurdle a guy.

So you're going to see that of your prime time highlights tonight and your defense already sinks and you're going to be seeing that. You're going to have your buddy sending this to you. Are you that afraid to tackle a 6-7, 300-pound tight end who can't run? Are you that afraid to tackle? Because that's what it looks like to me. And then, or you mentioned on the interception. It looked like the defense is running in slow motion.

I truly do not understand how, whatever this defense tries, it does not work. 27 plus points in the last nine games. And Mike, will you agree with me on this? If the Browns have been able to capitalize in week one, I think it might be 10 games out of 10 in this season. Am I wrong? No, you're right. If the Browns' receivers weren't tossing the ball up to the Bengals defenders for interceptions, it would have looked a lot worse. Yeah. Now, Art, let me turn back to you, because watching this game, we saw in the first half minus the first and last drives, okay, the defense is playing hard. They're getting stops. They're forcing punts. The offense wasn't doing anything outside of a touchdown at T. Higgins.

And then a failed two-point conversion. Still not sure why I didn't try that. We'll get to that in segment three. but when the defense then sees the offense not doing anything and then they give up some points at the end of the half and then they come out the third quarter they give up points and then the pick six like how much does not being able to play complimentary football applied to this team especially in today's game and really overall this season well you know what i mean everybody wants to be able to play complimentary football you know with the defense with the offense with special teams and it's all three phases. But, you know, it's as if, you know, the defense really in the first half was playing well. Shoot, they were two, they gave up two of seven third down conversions. They got them out the field. They made them punt the ball to them. I mean, everything was going well.

Now, I don't understand what happened between that 12 minutes you've got in the locker room. And the second half, when all of a sudden, you get a different quarterback, the backup quarterback coming in and all of a sudden now he's converting third downs because they're checking the ball down. They're moving the chains. They're moving it forwards. And they have manageable, manageable third down conversions. And that lends itself a lot. You can either play, you know, play to slow death. You know, shoot, Pittsburgh was running the football on them.

But everybody says you have to run the football. You have to stop the run. But yet most coordinators in this NFL will run it to set things up. And not necessarily to control the game. And neither team was going to do that because they were going to allow their skill players to make a difference. And you know what? The number one skill guy on the Bengals team, he didn't show up. But that tells me something else that from an offensive standpoint,

you have a list on your call sheet. Get number one the ball. And you try each of those. If none of them are there, then your diagnosis going into the game wasn't necessarily on. And if you can't be creative enough to move him around and getting the football and allow him, even on short, quick screens, things like that, let him get involved. Because guys like that need the football. And there's only one of them. And you've got to put yourself in a position to get him the ball. I saw all game, Joey Porter Jr., Jalen Ramsey,

James Pierre, whoever it was, they were extremely physical with Jamar Chase. Because Mike, you've talked about this. James and Jacob talked about this. Many people in Cincinnati have talked about this, and rightfully so. This Bengals offense and the scheme, forget what this offense is predicated on, getting Jamar Chase the ball. But I would for once just love to see Chase or Higgins wide open over the middle. Because if artists mention, if you can diagnose,

knows what the defense is doing, then it makes it getting the ball easier. But we'll get to the offense in segment three. It is so baffling to me. Now, Mason Rudolph, Mike, I alluded to this, and you may remember this game in the, leading into this segment. Mason Rudolph played the Bengals. He started against the Bengals on Christmas Eve Eve. That translates to December 23rd, 2023, not sure why I just worded it that way.

The Bengals had won three straight. Pittsburgh had lost three straight. Mr. Rudolph was either a third or fourth string quarterback. I can't remember. I don't need to because all I know is he torched the Bengals. Like his first player, second play from scrimmage, he hit George Pickens on like a maybe five-yard crossing route for a 90-yard touchdown. Now, to his credit, he hit a lot of deep balls in that game. But how do you let a fourth-string quarterback beat you? albeit Jake Browning started the Bengals, and he threw three picks in that game.

So it's just so baffling to me how this defense literally, Mike, they can't tackle, they can't force turn. They can't make adjustments when a back of court comes into the game. At one point, do we have to say this coaching staff does not have this team prepared to exploit other offenses weaknesses. And at some point, a change and accountability, not just saying it, but doing it has to be made. Yeah, I mean, you look at this team, they just don't. it's the worst defense by points per game since the 60s. You don't get these type of results without issues across the board. And you've got the front office for not providing more players,

different players from last year when it wasn't a good defense. You run into the players they did pick were an issue. Then the coaching, they're never blitzing. They're not getting pressure anyway. They're not going to try to bring anything at Mason Rudolph that I understand not blitzing Rogers. He's seen it all. not blitzing. Rudolph is crazy. It's something you should have at least attempted to do.

And I know they're the lowest blitzing team in the entire league. So they try to die slow deaths, but they do die every time. They don't bend, but don't break. They just break slowly. And it goes down to the players too, like we've been talking about. So yeah, every single level of this has been a disaster. And I would be shocked if Al Golden is still the coach next season. I don't know when that change happens. I'm not sure. at this point they look at this they go three and three and eight whatever whatever this team is and they're probably not going to beat the Patriots next week so the defense certainly won't be the reason they do so I wonder about that as well where is there's some is there something that can

change for them in terms of scheme can they does maybe change the defensive play caller matter there's just so many issues that it's hard to pinpoint and everything to me needs changed you took the words right out of my mouth because I was going to say sarcastically that there's a silver lighting to this and that is you get to play the new england patriots next week oh and guess what they have an extra three days to prepare because they played on thursday night and their offensive coordinator is named josh macdniels and they have a really good running back in trevi on henderson we'll get to that though later in the week unfortunately mike you mentioned if the bengals do beat the patriots which i don't know by anybody would think they would

that it would be because of the offense, not the defense. Unfortunately, the offense struggle today, what led to those struggles? And if this is the latest and most valid indictment on Zach Taylor needing to be let go after the season, or maybe even before that, we will get to that next right here on Bengals Squad. Today's episode of Bengals Squad is brought to you by Fan Duel. The NBA is back, and there's no better place to get in on the action than Fan Duel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA, even if you miss the start of the game or want to ride the hot hand. Fan duel has live bets on everything from who will score next to

fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team's making that late push. Right now, FanDuel is giving new customers $300 in bonus bets when your first $5 bet wins. So head to FanDuel.com to sign up and play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Bengals squad rolling on here on a Sunday following the Bengals losing to the Steelers 34 to 12 in Pittsburgh following a 3 and 7-7 losses in their last 8 games. Don't forget check out lockdown Bengals tomorrow morning and make that your first listen with James Rupin and Jake Liskow breaking down this game.

Lockdown Bengals part of the lockdown podcast network. Now the number one sports podcast network, your team every day. Mike Santagana, Art Valero, joining me, Alex Frank, here on Bengals Squad live on the Lockdown Bengals YouTube channel. It is so interesting to me, Mike. I want to know from you because you'll do your film review with Jake and James later in the week. Off the top of your head, I know you haven't rewatched the game yet, obviously, but from the offense perspective, what do you think is the biggest thing you're going to hit on

on your show this week with James and Jake? I mean, I think the quarterback play got worse. I think that the play calls, you kind of suffer a little bit when you're going to so many second and long runs and they're not working, whether that's getting less than four. four yards and now you're getting yourself into third and long, which is where you never want to be against this defense. So I think there's a few issues there. I think the quarterback plays the main thing. And it really felt like Joe Flacco got worse after that hit from T.J. Watt and he's kind of rubbing his shoulder. He got, he started spraying the ball a little bit.

Didn't seem like he could put it where he wanted to, especially down the field. A lot of stuff just was overthrown or not in the right place. Can think of a few plays where the ball is out of the guys reach too and flacco was generally accurate in the weeks leading up to this game so this game felt like he kind of aggravated that shoulder felt like that is what really stifled this bengal's offense a bit was because they couldn't get the quarterback play that they were getting before felt like there were other issues too but those were the main ones to me i did think the offensive line got worse this week compared to the last few i don't think it was so bad that they couldn't work in offense i felt like the quarterback

was really missing things and not being on the same page as the wide receivers. He said in the postgame interview that the win wasn't really in effect. So it's more on him on these misthrows or he's just not letting something like the win take the blame for how he played. I want to give him the benefit of the doubt for the win, even though it was winning today and that was talked about on the broadcast. It was talked about on Sunday NFL countdown. Kimberly Martin was in Acresher Stadium in Pittsburgh.

reporting and they showed the wind. You could tell it was very windy there. It was 47 degrees. They said it felt like 32. That's a major difference in terms of actual temperature in windshield. But again, Mike, to your point, I did notice that because when he when he's tugging at his right shoulder like this, which is interesting because it was his left shoulder that he, that hit the turf when T.J. Watt rough the passer. To me, he was sailing balls the entire game. It didn't have the same crispness. It didn't have. the same zing that we saw the previous two games. Now, Art, I'm going to turn to you because when you have a quarterback like Joe Flacko,

who's 40 years old is past, I think we can all agree is behind him. And that's no fault of his own. It just happens with age, unless you're Tom Brady. But when you have a quarterback who's 40 years old or a backup quarterback, you coached two, you were on two teams, two coaching staffs in Tampa Bay that had backup of quarterbacks or older quarterbacks play a good portion of the season. In 2005, Brian Greasy started six games through seven touchdowns, seven interceptions. Then you go to 2007 where you guys won the NFC South. Jeff Garcia, 37 years old, comes in, throws for 13 touchdowns, completing 63.9

percent of his passes, nearly 2,500 yards. When you have a quarterback like that, is it more difficult for them to keep up what, well, Joe Flacko from week seven through nine was arguably the best quarterback in the NFL statistically. But is it hard for a quarterback like that to keep that going throughout the course of a now 17 game season? Well, you know, age is going to take a lot away from you. And I think that a lot of people can can value what was said earlier in the broadcast about Aaron Rogers, you know, although he's over 40. And it wasn't until a dislocated shoulder. Did he feel like he had to change some things because the same zip when he was younger wasn't there? So even though mentally you are sharp and you are on it, sometimes your body just won't let you.

And so that's what as a staff and as an individual, because they're going to tell you everything works. They're not going to tell you they're not going to tell you they're hurt. You have to have a good enough relationship with them and be honest with them and say, hey, this week, you know what we're going to do? We're going to do this. We're going to check the ball down. We know they're going to sink in deep coverage. We're going to check the ball down. We're going to keep the chains moving.

Help our defense out by keeping them off the field. And let's not make this a 31, 33 ball. game. Let's make this a 17-13, but a win. And I think that's the important thing that you have to do with an older quarterback is no his limitations, because they're always going to tell you they're fine. Every player. And every player, I mean, it's just like the concussion thing. You know, before, before there was this concussion protocol in CTE, guys played. They just kept playing because that's what they knew like a boxer that got knocked out hey scam me up padded's gloves send me back in i'll go because that's second nature to him and that's what they want to do so you

have to i mean you look at today's game with um with pittsburg you know you have jimar chase who only catches two balls right i don't hear of the tight ends catching any balls t higgins is the only one that made some catches and Brooks, the running back coming out of the backfield. So you've got to, you've got many weapons, find what fits, find what he likes, and continue to ball down the field. Yeah, Fitzborough and Chase and Higgins working miracles like they did so many times last year, and those were being wasted. At some point, you have to question whether or not it's a scheme thing, which I think

it may be treading towards that. You literally must have been talking about your 2007 Buccaneers defense, is they allowed less than 300 yards in 11 of 17 games you guys played that year, and only one time allowed 30 plus points. Third in the NFL and points allowed at 16.9 per game. That defense was really good. I mean, great players all over. But again, you had Jeff Garcia,

so you allowed him to, despite his limitations, not feel like he had to go out and play a perfect game because you knew the defense was going to play complimentary. football. But I'll ask you both this. Why, why can't these receivers get open? And then the tight ends did not make much of an impact. I mean, sure, Noah fan had five catches for 36 yards. He also fumbled and it was returned for a touchdown. Stop me if you've heard that before, going back to Minnesota week three. And then Tanner Hudson, three for 22, long of nine. So it's like you have all these guys, but if they can't do anything easily and utilize their

skill sets, it's always so difficult. Why is that for this team to scheme these receivers open regardless of who they're playing? Mind you, Pittsburgh ranked 30 second and past defense coming into this game. Don't let the Colts game fool you two weeks ago. So why can't these guys, Mike and R, get open? I think, well, you know what I think a lot of times, I think a lot of times what ends up happening is it's, you know, how many guys are in for protection. Were they so concerned from a protection standpoint to help out with chips and other things on those two defensive ends with Watt and the other guy that actually got the sack? Did they, were they not, did they not stretch the coverage? Because Pittsburgh is now, they have gone

away from being a man team to his own team and they're much, much better at it. And if they're doubling one guy in Jamar Chase, somebody else has to be open. And it's about you either block them all up or get them all out and force them to play coverage. And then you should be able to run the ball after that. Yeah, I would agree with art in terms of leaving a guy in. It felt like they did leave somebody into Chip, T.J. Watt and Nick Herbig, a lot of this game. So instead of being able to get five out in the pattern. You've now got three that are immediately out in the pattern, even if it's a chip and release. That guy's also not going to stretch the field. As he said, what I was interested in was Andre Yosevas on the first drive had a few big catches. And they just

never threw him the ball after that. Now, I don't would have to go back and see why that is. But that feels like where you would go because I'm sure Pittsburgh spent the entire week game planning. we cannot let Jemar Chase beat us. We are going to have two sets of eyes, four eyes on him, every single play. And I think they probably were still giving plenty of respect to T. Higgins as well, as Tomlin has said before about T in terms of calling him Shacks and we're going to use our fouls on him. It felt like they're going to send a lot of their coverage, the resources they have in coverage,

to those two guys. And with the Bengals keeping two guys in a lot of these plays to protect, that leaves one guy with the solo matchup. And that was Andre Yosevash for a lot of the game early, and he won on the first drive. And I just wonder, did he not win those opportunities later on? And could you have run the ball a little bit more and better early on to force them to spend more resources defending the run? Instead of putting those eyes on your two-star receivers, it's tough. I feel like with how the run game went, it went all right.

but did they ever get them out of those looks? Or was it going okay to pretty good because the defense spent so much of what they had on the two-star receivers for the Bengals? Bottom line is this. This team had two weeks to prepare for the Steelers and they delivered that offense performance. When you had another week to prepare for an opponent,

how would you use that to your advantage? Oh, all the time. Now, here is, and a lot of it has to do with, and I've been on four NFL teams, and it was how you approach the buy. And did you come in on Monday? Did you blow the game out the last week's game? Did you work at it on Tuesday, give them their comeback on Tuesday because they got a buy week, right? And then cut them loose over the weekend? Did you actually work?

And you have to remember, did they work at having putting in third downs, doing things like that, down on the goal line, what your two point plays are going to be all of those things? Or did they just kind of blow it off and let's say, hey, let's get healthy and we'll get them out there. We'll run them around and try to try to do some other things. There's a lot of work you can do. I think Andy Reid does the best of it. You know, his thought process going into a buy and coming out of it, they are a better football team coming out of it than they were going into it. And I think it's how that by week is structured for the players and for the staff. And it's not about taking a break.

It's about, okay, let's solve some problems that we have now or we could. have because you already know. Once you put stuff on film, you're indicted. And people are going to take advantage of it. And it was obvious to me today that the one thing that Mike and Mike Tomlin and the defensive staff at Pittsburgh said was, we're not going to let number one beat us. And we're going to make somebody else beat us. And if we can double to both sides, we're not going to let Higgins or Chase beat us. You're going to have to beat us with the other players. And yeah, you get eight catches out of the tight ends.

How many did the runoffbacks catch? Okay. Those guys got to step up and create moving the chains until you can get that one opportunity you can. Guys, here's something interesting that I saw on Twitter X, as we are recording this. So this is a tweet from Willie Lutz, who's actually a really good Bengals fan and podcaster

at Willie underscore Lutz. He says, Zach Taylor departs his press conference after just about three minutes. Very short with the media following the Bengals 34 to 12 loss in Pittsburgh at Cincinnati falls to three and seven. Clearly frustration boiling over.

So I'll ask the question before we go to a short break here. Is the locker room lost at this point of the season losing seven of eight games. We'll discuss that next on bangles squad. Bengals squad rolling on here on the lockdown podcast network. Lockdown Bengals, YouTube channel and feed now the number one sports podcast network in America. Mike Santagina, at Bangal underscore Sands, Bengals underscore Sands, excuse me, Art Valero, 45 year coaching veteran. I'm Alex Frank and Frankie underscore Natty on Twitter. The Bengals falling to the Steelers 34 to 12. At this point, Mike, I'm going to ask you straight up. Can Zach Taylor recover from this? Even if the

retain him for next season, which I really don't know why they would. Can you imagine that message they would send to the fan base? Unfortunately, it's a very realistic possibility. Can Doc Taylor fix the internal issues that have been really coming up over the last two seasons? Yeah, I think so because winning Cures All. If they can somehow beat the Patriots and then go and win two games against Baltimore, one against Buffalo, I think this locker room would look a lot nicer. When you're winning, it's fun.

What's hard to do is keeping the locker room and everybody together. you're losing like this and suffering terrible, really frustrating losses too. So, yeah, if they could somehow beat the Patriots in this week coming up, if they could then extend that into like a three, four game winning streak, yeah, you're looking at this team and you're going like, the ping pong tables will probably be the talk of the media and how this locker room is really playing well together. It's easy when you're winning.

I think that's what it really comes down to. If they are winning, then he will probably, the locker room will probably look fine. You're muted there. Yeah, thank you. Well, it's one thing to talk about, well, hey, if they beat the Patriots and Joe Burrow comes back and, you know, if they pull an upset against the Ravens in Baltimore on Thanksgiving, I mean, arts sitting at three and seven, you've had some lean years in Tampa Bay, unfortunately. Like, when you're sitting at three and seven, what's the message daily to the team knowing, hey, we may not be able to achieve what we wanted to, but we still got to come and be professionals.

How hard is that message to deliver and what exactly is that message? Well, the one thing is that they are professionals. And even though the season has not, I mean, we've got seven games to go, right? We've got seven games to go, which is ultimately, hey, that's a third of the season. And then if you consider playoffs possibilities,

there's still a chance. They do have a chance, but a lot of things have got to change, and it's got to change in the locker room. It's got to change on game plans of how we're going in it, what our kids can do, what they can do well, and then put them out there in the best position to succeed. I mean, the road only gets tougher. New England is playing balls out. Here comes Baltimore. You knew they were not going to roll over and play dead. You know, their next three games are big.

Is the one that needs to turn it around Joe, bro? Is he the only one that can turn it around? Or Trey Henderson on defense? No, gentlemen, there are 10 others of you that have to step it up. You're getting paid. Every week, you are signing that check. with your name on the back of your jersey, show up and play. And you know what?

I may sound like, okay, like a lot of coaches of the National Football League where, hey, the players are always right and you're not, you're just along for the ride. No, gentlemen, it's frustrating. It's very, very simple. It's a game of leverage. It's a game of pitch and catch. And it's a game of finishing plays. And that's what I see in the last three years.

games that I've seen against that the Bengals have played is I don't see guys finishing plays. And take it for what it's worth. I think you have to look at everything. And it starts at the top. It starts at the very top. It starts with management. It starts with the head coach. It starts with the coordinators and, hey, there's got to be better ideas. Somebody come up with something because we have to salvage this season, not only for this franchise and for this football thing, but for ourselves. And you put it in that direction and you hammer it home. And that is the message is compete everything, compete in practice, competing games,

compete all the way through. Well, here's something interesting, or that, Mike, that stands out to me. So I'm going to tell you what the Oxford Dictionary definition of the word evolve means. And this goes, this is off of your idea of, hey, we got to come up with new ideas. So the definition of evolve, according to Oxford dictionary, is to develop gradually, especially from a simple to a more complex form. This offense is easy to defend if you think about it.

Okay, and if I'm thinking about this from the perspective of other teams, it's guys, as already you've mentioned this throughout the entire show, don't let number one beat you, don't let Jamar Chase beat you, make somebody else beat you, and then, by the way, here's something else. If you rush four, you can get home. If you pressure the quarterback and you take away Jamar Chase, how can this offense operate left-handed? Some coaches can't when it comes to scheming.

Kyle Shanahan, Matt Lefleur, Sean McVeigh, for instance. Zach Taylor cannot. Zach Taylor had two great seasons as a head coach. There's no denying that. But when it comes to, when it comes to the last three seasons, when teams have realized how great Jamar Chase is

and how great T. Higgins is and what Joe Borough is. And when they realize this offensive line, they know how to beat this team. It's a matter of whether or not Joe Burrow works as magic. It should not come down to that. And that's our goes back to what you're saying. It's on all of these players. It really is.

That's where I get frustrated with this team. It's because they have so much talent, but the evolvement has not been there. By the way, quickly, as we record this, it is 13 to 9 Brown's second quarter against the Baltimore Ravens. I mean, Mike, this has to be so frustrating for you. You cover this team every day. How frustrating is it for you to see the Raven struggle?

The Steelers, I don't even know if they're that good, to be honest with you, and to think, man, if the Bengals had just not tried, treated last season as bad luck and realized that a lot of changes needed to be made. Now you realize it. Oh, that's good. Could you have realized it last year? How frustrating is that for you to see? It's extremely frustrating, especially when you think back to last off season where they

didn't make a lot of moves to really change what they had personnel-wise. It seemed like what they wanted to do was keep a lot of the same players. They let Mike Hilton go on defense. they let they let Jermaine Pratt go on defense make a couple minor changes still 10 out of the 11 guys that have played the most snaps on defense this year were on the team last year so that defense last year wasn't good it felt like they took that idea as we need to change who's calling the plays and that's it obviously you add t j slayton you had a couple of draft picks

but i felt like they could have really attacked this defense instead of replacing Gino Stone, they asked him to take a pay cut. Instead of going out there and looking for a linebacker that could start right away, when Jermaine Pratt leaves, they draft two guys above their consensus, but they don't want to take one in the first round. They don't want to take Jihad Campbell or Carson Swethinger. That's for taking Shamar Stewart, a big gamble, which right now doesn't look good for them. If you really thought you need a linebacker, you would take one of those guys early on.

Instead, they reach on a guy that most people had well below where he was drafted. and now you end up starting Orrin Berks, who's basically there on a veteran interim contract. They could have gone inside Nate Landman, who's playing great for the Rams. On defense, they bring back Osai at $7 million a year. They bring back BJ Hill at $11 million a year. And instead of that, they could have gone,

and for the same amount of money, gotten Puna Ford and they could have gotten another defensive end in, let's say, Michael Hoyt, who's playing pretty well as well. It felt like they got complacent. It felt like some people have said they had to use all of their resources to extend Jamar Chase and T. Higgins. And that seems ridiculous to me. You should have also, you should have been working that. That should have been done already, first of all.

But even if it wasn't, you should have been working that while you're able to work free agency and bring guys in to help improve this defense. Because that's the most insane part to me. The offense, I get it. But the defense, running that back after last year was a. big issue. It was the main issue. Joe Burrow and this offense was scoring 30 points a game and they'd still lose. That's happening again because they didn't make the personnel changes. And that goes down to the front office. The coach seems to be worse this year than last year on defense. So a lot of issues, a lot of issues. And it really comes back to what did they do this off season to try to change? Like you said,

they kind of took it as a bad luck year. It felt like they also just took it as if we changed the play caller, this defense will be better. Instead, it got significantly worse. I can't believe when you word it that way that they thought that. That is a slap in the face. When you waste an MVP caliber season from Joe Borough, a triple crown year from Jamar Chase, and you don't go to the playoffs. And yes, they did lose a lot of heartbreaking games. But it's easy to say, oh, if we just tweak this, tweak that, we'll be fine. No. And then by the way, you mentioned 10 of the 11 players on this defense were here last year. Well, if you're going to maybe not make a lot of changes, maybe keep Jermaine Pratt.

Maybe, well, Sam Hubbard retired. I'm not really sure how much he would help this defense. Now, could he help it from a coaching role or for an office role? Sure, I've always wondered that. But then you trade away Logan Wilson. What is the plan here? I genuinely wonder that. What is the plan here?

We'll talk a lot about that later this week on our angle. squad maybe we go with all james jake and yours truly so the bengals are home to the new england patriots next week uh the patriots are nine and two they've won eight straight i'll ask both of you what's the one thing that impresses you the most about the new england patriots i think what's going to be frustrating is that what's really impressive about the patriots drake may and like travion henderson looks really good in space and the bengals defense looks really bad in space so that is really worrying. Ard, what impresses you on film?

Well, the biggest thing when you watch them on film is Mike Vrabble. He has brought a mindset that is lacking on a lot of teams. His mindset, he's tough, he's physical. He is a former player

who knows and knows how to maximize the ability out of everybody on his roster. You know, there's a reason why the quarterback is playing so well. They're giving him some things. They give him a system that is proven and a play caller that is proven to put this thing together and now it's a matter of bringing this kid up to speed. They're running the football.

They're throwing it. And on defense, they're playing Mike Vrable football. They're playing tough, hard nose. physical football, and it's coming to fruition. Josh McDaniels, it's so interesting how the New England Patriots last year wasn't a very good year, although the Bengals did lose to them. So they go out and say, okay, our coaching staff is not right. What do they do?

Or do you mention it. Mike Vrable, he played for them. He won three Super Bowls with them. Not one, not two, three Super Bowls with them. Josh McDaniels is a counted six-time Super Bowl champion with the Patriots. By the way, did you guys know that he won one, his first? Super Bowl win with the Patriots, Super Bowl 38. He won that as a, actually, let me confirm that real quick.

Oh, I'm sorry, in 2001, he was a personnel assistant. And then in 2003, he was a, wait for it, defensive assistant. You know what they're going to be about coaching both sides of the ball. So, yeah, Mike, it's going to be really funny when Josh McDaniels coaches, circles around this Bengals defense. Oh my gosh, is it going to be if what I think it is going to be. Jim, we are just about a. time here on Bank Squad postgame edition after a 34-12 loss of the Steelers.

Mike San Tagna at Bengals underscore Sands. He'll be on Locked-Ongles later this week. Art Valero, 45-year coaching veteran. He'll be back with me, James and Jake later this week for our midweek show. Don't forget to check out Lockdown Bengals with James and Jake tomorrow morning for their recap of the game. Make that your first listen. And then for your second listen, a two-a-day dose of locked-on NFL, Tyler, the

bad man rolling in the morning, the barbershop with Tony Wiggins in the afternoon. Also, if you're in Cincinnati, Jeff Carr's got locked down bearcats. Recapping a tough loss for the bear cast this weekend against Arizona, 30 to 24 big game on this Saturday against BYU.YU also meant basketball. Recapping the Mount St. Mary's game on Sunday, and then the Louisville game on Friday night. Louisville is dang good, by the way. Went to the Kentucky Louisville game this week. A lot of fun. Mike R. Thank you, as always, for joining me on these post game shows. Thank you for all of you who tuned in. We got about 250 viewers, 250 plus a day, tons of comments, about 250 of those.

So you guys still care of the fans about Bengals coverage. We appreciate that. This has been Bengals Squad on the lockdown Bengals feed and YouTube channel right here on the lockdown podcast network. Now the number one podcast network in sports podcast network in America, your team every day. For Mike Stan Tagna, Bengals underscore Sands, Art Valera, 45-year coaching veteran. I'm Alex Frank at Frankie underscore 90 on Twitter. Thank you so much for tuning in. Have a great rest of your Sunday.

Have a great week. We'll be back later this week with our midweek edition of Bengals Squad. Thank you.