Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - BENGALS SQUAD SHOW: Zac Taylor has ALL THE PRESSURE on him to DELIVER in 2026; Bengals 2026 SCHEDULE

Episode Date: May 12, 2026

The Bengals front office has gone all in, pushing their chips to the center of the table. Now, it's all up to Zac Taylor to deliver this season, his EIGHTH as the Bengals head coach. He's done it before, so he can do it again, right?  Alex Frank, Jake Liscow, and Coach Art Valero discuss how much pressure exactly is on Zac Taylor entering a crucial 2026 season. What must he and the Bengals do to ensure he sees a ninth season in Cincinnati?  One thing that will help Taylor or should help him, is the Bengals easy strength of schedule. Then again, they had one in 2024. We all know how that season played out.  Speaking of help, that's something Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins could need. How concerned should e be about depth at the wide receiver position? T he Bengals' 2026 NFL Schedule is going to be released Thursday night. Alex, Jake, and Coach discuss what they hope to see and not see on the Bengals' Schedule and how many times they could be featured in prime time and the national spotlight.    Join the Locked On Bengals Insider Community! https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonbengals  Everydayer Club If 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!  Square If you’re starting a business, or running one that deserves better tools, Square helps you sell, manage, and grow without slowing down. Right now, you can get up to $200 off Square hardware at https://square.com/go/LockedOnNFL.  FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now new customers can bet just five dollars and get one-hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started — Play Your Game.  Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast.  Rocket Money Let Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. Join at http://RocketMoney.com/LOCKEDON  Gametime Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.  FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

I'm Alex Frank. The Bengals front office has gone all in pushing their chips the center of the table. All the pressure is now on Zach Taylor. Yeah, and we hope that that schedule is as favorable in reality as it is on paper. And coach has for wide receiver depth. It might be a concern. Hey, I tell you what, you've got two all-stars. Now, something happens? Who are your backups? Good question. 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. It is Tuesday, May 12th. Welcome to the Bengals' live on Lockdown Bengals and the Lockdown Podcast Network, the number one sports podcast network in America and the world, your team every day with Jake Liscoe and Coach Art Valero.

I'm Alex Frank. We have so much to get to today. The Bengals front office has answered the call. They have gone all in. Duke Tobin says they've done it before and they're doing it again. And now the pressure squarely lies on Zach Taylor going into his eighth season as the Bengals head coach. Helps when he have an easy strength of schedule. Right? It should. Last time, though, it didn't. But did the Bengals have enough depth at wide receiver? They have two All-Stars. As coach, you mentioned, what about behind those guys? What if something happened? Do they have enough of insurance policy there? And of course, the NFL schedule gets released on Thursday,

which means the Bengals schedule comes out at 7.30 on Thursday night. We'll have a preview of that. But we want to see what we don't want to see. No Thursday night games of Baltimore, please. And thank you. But first, we begin with Zach Taylor and all the pressure being squarely on his shoulders going into year eight. The Bengals front office has given him so many more resources this year, Jake and coach,

just how much pressure is on him going into his shoulders. year eight to deliver and get the Bengals back to the playoffs. I think regardless of what the front office did this off season, we were going to see a ton of pressure on Zach Taylor. You don't get to change your defensive coordinator and change your entire defensive coaching staff as an offensive head coach and have a whole lot of rope left. That was kind of the front office saying, this is your shot to try to fix this thing. And then they had the Joe Burrow injury last year.

I think that helped. I think that the Bengals front office being patient, Mike Brown being a very patient man. and wanting to give the first year defensive staff with all the first year coaches over there a chance to establish themselves and get a shot in year two. I think that those are reasons that we saw these guys return, but there was a reason that we were discussing

the potential replacement of Zach Taylor along with the rest of the AFC North Head coaches last year toward the end of the season. And so the fact that he's still around means that, yeah, obviously a ton of pressure there. And I think that that translates into the way that we saw the front office attack this offseason, but it's not just Zach Taylor either.

It's also on the players to some degree. And I think that it's really everyone below their front office at this point where, yeah, we would have liked to have seen the front office make one more move at like linebacker and slot corner and those sorts of things that we're still talking about on the daily show on Lockdown Bengals, James and I are. But the moves that they did make are obviously very noteworthy and absolutely. ramp up that pressure. But the thing with Zach Taylor is I don't think it could get any higher. I think that this year was always going to be like either get back to the top of that mountain

and be competitive in the playoffs, be competing to win playoff games and push for a playoff run. Or if you're not close again, that's going to probably be the end of the line. And I think that that was the case before all the moves as well. I agree. I tell you what, the one thing that Zach has on his plate is now there's any never not that he ever used it last year because usually head coaches don't call players out or their inability to play but I think that now that the front office has given him tools to go out there there is no excuse at least from the way that they look at I'm sure the fan base thinks the same thing you made a a push to to revitalize that roster, which they have.

You've got a marquee quarterback and some marquee offensive players. I think that the pressure is on him. And if he doesn't feel it, he really is, should look elsewhere. Because, hey, they've given you what you need. Now go out there and execute and show us what you got. I brought this point up last week. And if the Bengals don't get back to the playoffs this year, that'll be only two times in eight seasons.

And Zach Taylor will have led the Bengals to the playoffs. That's exactly what Marvin Lewis did in his eight seasons, his first eight seasons with the Bengals. And he ultimately never won a playoff game. Zach Taylor's been the back-to-back AFC championships. So there's two sides of this. On one side, it's like, yes, I've seen what Zach Taylor. We've seen what Zach Taylor can do.

We've seen how far he can take the Bengals. Now, a lot of that has to do with Joe Burrow, but you still need at least a competent head coach to get you to that point where you're playing for the Lamar Hunt trophy and then you're playing for the Lombardi trophy. So we know what Zach Taylor can do. We've seen him get into rhythms as an offensive play caller. They have been really good. But on the other hand, we know where Zach Taylor can take the Bengals,

but only two playoff appearances in eight seasons. Is it really that much better than a man that Bengals fans were ready to run out of town for years, seemingly towards the end of his tenure here? That's where we're going. if the Bengals don't make the playoffs this year. And that's why all the pressure, Zach Taylor just simply has to let his star players cook out on the field. The front office has given him such a great team,

at least on paper going into the season, or at the very least a much better team than last year. It's now on him. The Bengals front office put him in the spotlight at the end of the season in that statement that Mike Brown released. He was at the combine. He's held press conferences since. It's now firmly on his shoulders.

His front office is not settling anymore for mediocre, at least this season. And if the Bengals fall short, Zach Taylor is going to take the, it's going to have to fall on the swords. I again, think that that was the case before all the moves. I think we expected some moves to be made this offseason, right? The defense was in such a state that it was pretty easy to take swings that would add starting level talent to the defense. They needed it all over the place. We knew Trey Hendrickson was headed out the door. Joseph O'Side left very early in free agency, very obviously, very quickly, there was a need to

add multiple starters to the defense. So while I think you're right, Alex, that this is very much a make or break season for Taylor because the standard is different here than it was with Marvin Lewis. You weren't coming from the last decade. You were coming into an era with Joe Burrow that very quickly found success. And since then, the standard has been quite high. There was a reason that from what I could tell covering this team at the end of of last season, I think a pretty large majority of fans were ready to see the coaching staff

overhauled at that point. And we were talking about the crop of available coaches and who was going to be out there to hire if the Bengals did want to make a change. And then the rest of the AFC North head coaches did get fired and the available head coaching list changed. Now, where the Bengals have been in for a guy like Harbaugh who became one of the highest paid coaches in the NFL in New York, that's always the question. with the Bengals and coaching change

and that they don't necessarily want to go pay top dollar to a coach. And that was certainly the case with Zach Taylor when they signed him to be their head coach from being the quarterback's coach for the Los Angeles Rams, a big step up for him in title and was at the time one of the lower paid head coaches in the NFL. So those will always be questions that we're asking. Those were questions that we were asking at the end of the Marvin Lewis era.

Like, oh, man, where are they going to go from here? And while this head coach that replaces Marvin Lewis have the same influence on the front office, because for all of his issues winning in the playoffs, Marvin Lewis is credited with so many improvements to Bengals business practices and front office practices that he was able to get Mike Brown to move along with. And now with Mike Brown being less active in his ownership role with his children and grandchildren taking more active roles in the front office. That question again will come up with, whoever the Bengals eventually do replace Zach Taylor with, because if there's something that we know about the NFL, it's that no head coach lasts forever on any team. They're always going to be coaching to the point where Zach's one of the longest tenure coaches in the NFL at this point. And the standard, like I said, for the fans and for ownership with Joe Burrow at the helm for the players,

is very, very high right now. And that's what led to the active offseason and will lead to, I think, repercussions if this season doesn't improve dramatically over where they've been the last couple of years. You know what? I can see it as just like Jake was talking about. There's an awful lot of things that are going on behind the scenes. But I can see this saying, and Zach Taylor's responsibility with the team, it's much like ball. Buffalo was a year ago. So I think his greatest attribute right now is his familiarity with Joe Burrow and not having

Joe Burrow change systems in what would end up being what, year nine? So all of a sudden, I could see that happening where, you know, if things don't go well that you elevate, one in particular guy that can still run the same. offense and probably could get him pretty cheap and fit into their status quo way of doing things. And they've kept Dan pitcher around, presumably in the past, where he's had opportunities to go elsewhere. With that as one of the contingency plans, I think, the Dan pitcher, current offensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals promotion plan could be something that they've had in the back of their mind. I do think that Burroughs' familiarity with the

and rapport with Zach Taylor is part of the reason that Zach is still around. And something that I don't think Zach gets enough credit for is totally transforming his offensive approach to match Joe Burroughs strengths and really put in that quote unquote, Joe Burrow offense that I think sometimes fans don't realize what they don't like about the offense is actually the Joe Burrow parts of the offense. And some of the things that are schematically in there are two. Joe Burroughs benefit the way he likes to play football, the way he excels at playing football, especially when you have those great receivers in T. Higgins and Jamar Chase and the

complimentary weapons, Mike Keseki, Chase Brown, Andre Yosevash, being the five primary, six primary eyes. Zach, let's Joe get to those spots and totally went away from the Sean McVeigh system from which he came and his come up going all the way back to Miami when he was working with Ben Johnson in the Miami room. And Dan Campbell was on the other side of him talking about those meeting rooms that he was in with those guys that are now head coaches in the league. And what's going on in Cincinnati on offense is entirely different. So I do think the Zach deserves credit for molding his offense to the personnel that he has. And that starts, of course, with Joe Burrow. And I think is part of

the reason that he's still around is the connection between quarterback and head coach. that I think is pretty strong when it comes to getting the offense where Joe wants it to be and feels comfortable on the field. Absolutely. You know what? It brings me as a memory. I can remember when Joe Montana left San Francisco. Now, they certainly had more than qualified backup moving into that. But he went to Kansas City and they signed him.

They signed Joe. Then they went out and hired Paul Hackett, who was the coordinator who ran the same thing. And that's what they put in in Kansas City at the time. And there's a lot of system quarterbacks that don't like to change. And you can look around and in the league and just find out who those people are when they excel. And then all of a sudden they switch teams and things don't quite work. the latest one probably being Aaron Rogers. Now he's back home with what he likes.

I don't know what the decision is of why it's taking him so long. That's a great point, Jake, that you brought up about Zach Taylor transforming his offense to fit the strengths of Joe Burrow. And not only that, but he did that during the COVID year where everything was virtual. And the fact that they didn't really have a lot of contact when Joe Barrow was first drafted in April. So they transformed their offense that year. And then the next year, following Joe Burroughs knee injury, they're in the Super Bowl. So I do think Zach Taylor deserves a little more credit than he's gotten. And I'll also say this over the last three seasons, not everything is completely on him.

If you look at 2023 when Joe Burrow got injured, they were in no way prepare for that, especially 10 games into the season in week 11. They had to play their last seven games without him. The Bengals at that point, they had come out of a one and three start. they mounts back nicely. At one point, they were seven and three over a 10-game stretch. And with three games remaining with a backup quarterback, they were in position to make the playoffs. They could just beat the Steelers, which they obviously did not.

And then they were eliminated the next week. So not everything the last three years is on Zach Taylor. Last year alone, the Bengals made an in-season trade for a quarterback, which is something they had never done before. And then four days after his first start and his second start with the Bengals against Steelers, Zach Taylor was in a play-calling rhythm with Joe Flaskin. as their quarterback, the Bengals win that game and you go, wait a second, the Bengals could honestly win this division, especially if Joe Borough comes back. So Zach Taylor has adapted to Joe Borough to a backup quarterback and Jake Browning in 23, to a backup quarterback in Joe Flacco

in 2025. So he has done a lot of good things over the last three years, even though the Bengals have not been to the playoffs, or at least some good things, I should say. But the bottom line is Joe Burroughs back in healthy. Entire offensive line is intact. Jamar Chase and Dee Higgins are both extended for the long term. Bengals have a better defense. The rest of the AFC North, all three teams, the Ravens, the Steelers, and the Browns, they all have new head coaches. The Browns, I don't even know what their quarterback situation is. Aaron Rogers seemingly is coming back to Pittsburgh. We know who the Ravens have on Lamar Jackson. The coach's continuity over change, but the Bengals also didn't stay status quo, even though they didn't change head coaches.

It's also been an interesting theme this offseason. Oh, no doubt. You know, the one thing that that with all of that you just mentioned, it is wide open. And that's the great thing about it. I think that the one thing that comes to mind when you're going into the season this year is, you know what, as coaches, you're always adapting. You're always adapting to whomever you put on the field. if something happens from the O line, as you mentioned before, you know what? They got to the Super Bowl. They had to adapt what they did up front based on their ability and what they were good at.

Last year, when Joe Flacko comes in, all of a sudden, now they were forced. They had to adapt again because they had to do a little bit more running the football because they didn't have Joe Burrow back there and takes some heat off of Joe Flackle while he was still learning the offense. and they were in the ball better. And so all of a sudden, you know, you're in a constant, as coaches, you're in a constant state of adaptation and becoming more familiar with your players and what they can do and what they can't do and what they do really well.

But I think that once you put all those chest pieces into place, you form your identity, probably around game four of what you're going to end up being and having a Joe Burrow and T. Higgins and Jamar Chase and a Chase Brown, hey, you're going to figure that thing out. And it could be very, very excited. I think a lot of the pressure as well will be on the defensive side of the ball because if the Bengals are the team that's going to contend, and they're very hot in national media right now, I don't know if you guys have noticed this, like ESPN, ESPN, podcasters, NFL, NFL podcast, you know, around national media.

Schraeger comes to mind, Mina Kimes and Bill Barnwell comes to mind, the athletic football show comes to mind, all these different national shows that are kind of on the Bengals bandwagon right now. And a big part of that is projecting the offense to kind of be what it was in 2024, the last time they were healthy, but with maybe a slightly improved offensive line or maybe dramatically improved offensive line. Amarius-Men continuing to develop Dylan Fairchild continuing to do. develop and those guys potentially taking stunts forward with veterans around them that you're

expecting to be consistent. But the thing that sunk them in 2024 and largely in 2025 was the defense requiring the offense to be perfect. And so with Al Golden going into a second year and all the new toys he has over there, that side of the ball better be a whole lot better this year. And that's such an X factor is to what degree can Al Golden get this. defense to perform if Zach Taylor can and Joe Burrow can get this offense to the place where it needs to be because even in 2024, it wasn't the best offense in the league. Joe Burrow had an MVP caliber season, but even then they were what, like a top five offense, I think, by DVOA.

And so even then the Bengals have never been the number one offense in the NFL in the Joe Burrow era. We talked about it last week. They haven't been the best offense in the NFL since 1989. And they've had some really good offenses since then, but it haven't been the best. And so you do need the defense, obviously, to take massive strides here as well. And ultimately, that does roll up to Zach Taylor's responsibility, right? He is the head coach of the team, not just the offensive head coach of the team.

But that side of the ball, I think, is going to be critical this year. And that puts a lot of pressure on Al Golden's ability to get the most out of those guys as well, which we haven't really seen him have to coach in those high-stakes situations. And I've talked about it a few times on the show in those bespoke playoff game plans that we got so accustomed to with Mike Zimmer and that he did really well against some of those really good quarterbacks at the Bengals face when they had playoff success in 2021 and 2022. No question about it. And again, Duke Tobin in the front office, they claim they've done it before. Zach Taylor's done it before too. The question is, can he do it again?

And speaking of NJQ alluded to a coach, you also did as well. You mentioned the Bengals had never been the number one offense, even in 2024, when they had that elite offense or at least so it seemed. Part of the reason why is because they stumbled out of the gate. They can't afford to do that again this season. They have an easy strength of schedule, but how much does that really mean? By the way, the point I was going to make, I just remembered it. Dan Orlovsky has the Bengals winning the AFC North.

He recently picked them to win the AFC North. Adam Shine said that he would pick the Bengals to go to the Super Bowl this season. The athletic football show yesterday mentioned Dan Pitcher as a name that could emerge as a head coaching candidate this season. So you're right, Jake. They are being mentioned in positive light nationally. But if the Bengals don't take advantage of that easy strength of schedule, it's all going to be for not. That conversation next right here on the Bengals squad show. Speaking of, the NFL schedule coming out on Thursday, the Bengals schedule coming out at 730,

meaning you can start buying tickets to games, Bengals games, NFL games soon. You know, we can stream anything, we can order food and minutes, we can do everything from our phones. My entire notes to this show are in my phone. But yet somehow buying tickets to live events still feels way harder than it should be. Long lines, confusing checkout prices, jump into the last second. Shouldn't be this complicated, right? Well, that's why game time, there is game time because it gives fans the advantage and makes getting tickets fast and simple. So you can see the full price up front.

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Download the GameTime app today. And don't forget to check out the everyday or clever ad-free episodes and access to a group chat with Jake Liscoe and James Rapine and other listeners of Lockdown Bengals. Tap the link in the show notes or go to LockdownBengels. Dot supercast.com with Jake Liscoe and Coach Art Filaro. I'm Alex Frank, the Bengals Squad Show, Rolling on. on on this Tuesday, May 12th. So the Bengals have the third easiest strength of schedule this season.

It's something we talked about on Friday, Coach you and me and Joe Daniman of Fox 19. So two years ago, the Bengals were coming off a nine and eight season. Last place in the AFC North, this every other team in the AFC North was really good that year. And three teams made the playoffs, the Bengals did not. So the schedule comes out, and we all said when it came out, three in one or four note through the first four games. Three of their first four games that year were against first four. year head coaches. New England, Washington, and Carolina. Well, they flopped against New England.

By the way, they fired their head coach to Rob Mayo after that season. They, that Monday night game where there were no puns on either side, they lost to Washington, Dan Quinn. Now, Washington ended up being very good. They barely beat a Carolina team that wasn't good that year and was coming off just eight and nine season this year. They started one and three that year. Could not take advantage of an easy schedule out of the gate. So how much, Jake and coach, do you, how much stock do you put into the fact that Bengals have an easy strength of schedule this season? I don't put any stock in it. You know, I think that you take them as they come, you know, and they have to play 17 championship games to get where they want to be.

And every game that they play, regardless of their opponent, It's got to be the most important game that they play. The reason why is because it's the next game. And they have to approach the season as, you know what, you've got seven championship games, and let's see where it takes us. And if you are one of those guys that's in the building, and you start to say, well, hey, you know what, you've got the third easiest schedule in the league, you're destined to fail.

And you know what? You've got to look at it as, you know what? Hey, you're in the National Football League. They're all good. And when you're at the post-game press conference, you talk about it and you move on. 30 years from now, they won't know that you have the third easiest schedule. And you just got to play them one at a time and go.

I think what does matter, and I agree with you, coach. like strength of schedule in the preseason, not necessarily the most predictive thing, right? You have the Ravens right now included in the Bengal strength of schedule, and they were eight and nine last year. And going into last season, Denver was in the Bengals list of opponents in their first four weeks, and they were seen as having one of the easier first four weeks on the schedule. And they ended up winning a couple of those games,

and they did not win them in very convincing fashion. But I do think that it matters in so far as, this team needs to win the games that they're expected to win in games where they're going to be favored and games where they're not necessarily playing against opponents that will be playoff teams. And I understand that any given Sunday is a thing. Every team in the NFL most years wins games they shouldn't win, loses games they shouldn't lose. And I say shouldn't in quotes because those expectations are pretty arbitrary based on our perceptions of strength in Vegas's lines that only means so much, but the thing that doesn't usually hold up is preseason strength of schedule

compared to the way teams actually finish in terms of win loss. And so when you look at like the very basic strength of schedule, which just takes teams based on their win percentage last year, I think that that's pretty limited because there always seems to go worse to first or, you know, third worst in their division to wildcard teams or division winners or whatever it is. And those things are highly volatile. The NFL has parity dialed to an absolute T to the point where you have teams like the Bengals in 2021, going from worst to first and going to a Super Bowl pretty quick there in Joe Burroughs second year.

So strength of schedule inherently flawed. I do like some of the work that some of the folks like Warren Sharpe do, where he's taking a look at what are the expected win totals based on Vegas, right? And so obviously still flawed, right? Like I said, arbitrary based on perception, based on where money is flowing in Vegas. But Vegas does a reasonable job for the most part at setting good over under totals for NFL teams. And that ends up being a reasonable prognostication or predictor of how good a team is going to be. And based on that, the Bengals have the third easiest schedule as well in 2026.

So it's interesting that it aligns, right? with the traditional strength of schedule based on last year's win percentage, which I just discussed why I think that's inherently flawed. And this forecast strength of schedule. And obviously things won't go according to plan. There are surprises every year, right? But I do think that that gives you an interesting idea of the Bengals having an opportunity to combine their efforts and bringing in veterans last off season,

the pressure on the coaching staff and Joe Burrow in his prime with these weapons, a continuity on offense with this. hypothetically winnable strength of schedule and an opportunity for them to push all those chips in the middle in a year where they hypothetically have the opportunity to go out there and win a bunch of games against teams that they quote unquote should beat. I think a lot of it too, just like Jake was mentioning, is how the games align come Thursday night. You know, who are you opening up with? Who are you finishing with? Who are in December when you want to get hot? Do they pack all those divisional games then, and you're playing everybody else early?

So I think that that's where it comes into play, the strength of schedule, is how do those teams align in your schedule? How close are you playing in Pittsburgh with a week's break? Are you playing on one early, one late? So I think that's, and the same with Baltimore, for that matter. When are you playing them? How far apart are they will lend to the final results for you? Coach, how easy is it for, I shouldn't say easy, but like how possible is it for a team to go from worst to first in one year in the NFL? Because we see it all the time, I feel like.

Well, you know what, with modern free agency? and it's i mean look at new england yeah uh look at basically look at seattle jacksonville you know jacksonville the guys came out of nowhere and i think that that's the one thing that the excuse me that they didn't account when doing this the strength of schedule thing is these people reloading and getting them back to where they want to be and then free agency going out and restockpiling that group. So you can end up being just like Denver was. All of a sudden, you're going from just an okay team

to all of a sudden not, hey, you're winning the NFC or the AFC West. That's pretty impressive. And where are we seeing this happen is second year quarterbacks, New England Patriots, Denver Broncos, Chicago Bears. First year head coach for the Chicago Bears, obviously, as well, there's a big difference there. But second year quarterbacks were teams, and we saw it with the Bengals, too, have the ability to push the chips in. You got a rookie quarterback contract.

You have all the extra money to build up that roster around him. You have the second year quarterback taking a step. And while I'm not saying Bo Nix is Drake May or Caleb Williams, for that matter. He certainly saw his game step up and was playing average to above average quarterback, certainly adequate starting level quarterback in the NFL when they lost Bo Nix. It was a big step back for the Broncos late last year and in the playoffs. So that's a big thing to look at too, I think, when you're looking for the teams to make those worst or first leaps.

And the only candidate, I was just looking at, I was reminding myself who are the rookie quarterbacks last year, who have high expectations this year? And it's like Jackson Dart and maybe the Harbaugh arrival with the New York Giants. That roster, I think, has some general problems that might make it difficult. but it's pretty typical when you go back through the last few years, find those quarterbacks going into year two on the teams that have built around those quarterbacks, the quarterbacks that you can reasonably project to take a step in year

two, and there will be some of your prime candidates for your worst to first teams. Look at the recent Super Bowls. This past year, you had a second year quarterback in Drake May for the Patriots. In Super Bowl 58, you had Brock Perth. in his second season. You saw the Niners make a trade for Christian McCaffrey, Trent Williams. They built their roster with superior talent because they had a quarterback seventh round pick. He missed your irrelevant, mind you, on a rookie contract. You go back to Super Bowl 57. Jalen Hurts was in his second full season starting Super Bowl 50s, Patrick Wilms in his second full season,

as the chief starting quarterback in Super Bowl 54. You can go to all of these Super Bowl's that had second year quarterbacks. Russell won a Super Bowl in his second season. Ben Rathusberger won a Super Bowl in his second season. So it's very possible for any team in the NFL to A, get to the Super Bowl with a second year quarterback, and B, go from worst to first. There's a reason every year for the last 36 years that four new teams have made the playoffs that didn't make it the previous year. That's why, Coach, I was wondering how possible is it for teams to go from worse to first?

And Jake, you mentioned we saw it with the Bengals in 2021. Joe Burrow on a rookie contract, they were able to go out and get all. all these defensive free agents. Plus they drafted Jamar Chase, and we saw what that turned into. So the point is, strength of schedule, yeah, it's nice, but you better take advantage of it. The Bengals this year, the break that they have is they play the two South divisions. The AFC South is a respectable division. Houston and Jacksonville are both very, very good.

Indianapolis and Indianapolis, I kind of have a question mark. Tennessee, eh, I think they'll be slightly improved this year because I like the pick of Carnell Tate to pair with Cam Ward. The NFC South, who the Bengals also play, no team finished with a winning record in that division. And yeah, Carolina is intriguing. I'm not really sure how good they're going to be, not really sure how good Tampa Bay, Atlanta, New Orleans are going to be. See, you better take advantage of it.

Otherwise, it's just a number, right? Right. It is. You know, and when you talk about the South divisions that you're going to have to play in where they fit, somebody that basically went in, all in, to try to put people around Bryce Young is Carolina. Yes. You know, Carolina spent an awful lot of money on, you know,

to rebuild their football team and build it in a hurry because they got close. They got close. I haven't seen much out of Tampa and you haven't seen, you know, any explosions coming out of New Orleans. But, you know, those are the games that you can serve. certainly go down into if you're a Bengal and say, you know what, we've got to lay it out and let's go. And let's see what we've got out of that. And then win the games, just like Jake talked about,

when the games you're supposed to and play well, if not win the games that you're not supposed to. And or if you're in the division, at least split them. You know, don't get yourself behind the ball. Because somebody that wins too has an advantage and they'll keep going. That's why Joe Burrow has said division games count twice because they're so important. I mean, look, they're in your division. Do the teams you see twice a year? You get six of them. Two things.

Number one, I'm going to make this full prediction. This is a quick aside note. If the Giants beat the Cowboys week one, I believe Jackson Darden and the Giants are going to go to the playoffs. And that's how confident I am. And when we talk about second year quarterbacks, that's how confident I am in that roster and that quarterback who plays with such a moxie that I think New York Giants fans, particularly New York, will appreciate. Number two is this. You want to talk about strength of scouts. You want to talk about divisions to Bengals play this year. Next year, the Bengals play the AFC West and the NFC West.

You better take advantage this year because next year the schedule gets a whole lot tougher. That it does. I didn't know that about next or two years from now. Yeah. Absolutely. You have to win when you're supposed to win. And I think that that's, It does add pressure. It adds pressure on the head coach. It has pressure on each of the coordinators. But ultimately, you know what? The players got to play. And they have to be able to because the NFL is a players league.

And they have to go out and perform when they're supposed to. By the way, next year the Bengals have road trips to Denver, Vegas, L.A. and Seattle. They'll be flying a lot next year. And again, look, coach, I'm sure you would agree with me on this. Pressure is a privilege. You know, the Bengals have pushed their ship. the center of the table. Maybe they looked at their strength of schedule and said, we have an opportunity this year, but we got to take advantage of it. Let's go out and get us

somebody an asset that's going to help us succeed this year in Dexter Lawrence. That's taking advantage. That's pushing your chips in. And you know what? Pressure, in this case, as I just said, is a privilege. Yeah, absolutely. And really, if you look at it, I know from the coaching standpoint, what they're probably thinking is, hey, pressure is only with the, what you apply to yourself. So if they apply it that way, then the players are going to understand, hey, coaches are, they're with us. They got our back and they're going to give us great game plans. Now it's just a matter of us going out and execute. Jake, any final thoughts on strength of schedule? No, sir. I have exhausted my thoughts on the schedule. I, uh, I share, or we're going to talk about

the schedule preview later. Okay, I was going to, I was going to talk about Thursday night football. We'll circle back to that one. That's a preferorial topic around Cincinnati, particularly the Baltimore Ravens, woven in to that topic. Up next, Jamar, Jason T. Higgins, you're a great wide receiver tandem. Depth behind them, not so much.

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I'm going to sound like a broken record when I say what I'm about to say, but it needs to be said now more than ever, I believe. You look at every great wide receiver tandem of the last 30 years. Jamar Chase and T. Higgins, I believe, are one of those. You look at Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne. You look at Isaac Bruce and Torrey Holt. They had wide receiver threes and or wide receiver fours or tight ends that could complement what they did and also create leverage and open up what they could do

and would make it so difficult for opposing defenses to stop them. First off, this is also the two ones that I mentioned in addition to Jamar, Chasing T. Higgins, they played in the pre-HDTV era, so film copies were different than Coach. Am I accurate on that? Yeah, absolutely. The point I'm trying to make here is this. If something, gosh forbid, were to happen to Jamar or T. Higgins, this offense suddenly becomes not hard to defend.

And there are times, there have been times the last two seasons, three seasons, where I've said to myself, it looks so hard for the Bengals to move the ball. And it shouldn't be. You know, I mean, you're right in that. I mean, just look at last year. You know, Jamar goes out for a game. I mean, durable. He could have played, but he had the suspension that kept him out again.

Okay, now you've got to shift gears. T. Higgins went out for a couple of games with his concussions that he had, and now you've got to shift gears again. So having that continuity at those two wide receiver positions is crucial, but it's also you need to have some backup players, whether be in the tight-in room or, as we've mentioned, multiple times, in the slot. you need to have that guy that is a qualified, you know, route runner underneath to help those guys out.

And then you need to, you don't necessarily need youth that you're waiting on, but you need a three in your wide receiver room who can play X or Z and go out there and make some plays if one of those guys go down or need a break. And you know what? that's one thing that they have the kind of address. And hopefully Colby Young is that guy that can come out there. They at least got one that they have a chance with. How fast he can learn either position is going to be crucial.

And they still need to find themselves a slot. I wonder how many teams in the NFL have the kind of depth that wide receiver you're talking about here, Alex. So I was just looking out of curiosity. Some of the teams that had the most productive receivers in the NFL last year, the Rams of Puka Nakua, Devante Adams was the two there, a great two. Do you know who their number three was? Because I don't. I have to look.

And I'm going to pull it up again here. Number three in targets for the Rams last year was Kobe Parkinson. It's 71. Tight end. He was very productive in terms of touchdowns. But 71 targets for 560 yards as their third receiver. had nine touchdowns. But the next guys, Tyler Higby had 40 targets, a lot of tight ends in this offense.

Davis Allen had 33 targets. Terrence Ferguson had 31 targets. So the Rams, obviously, a heavy tight end approach there. The next receiver after Pooka and Akua and Devante Adams was Kanata Munkfield, had 27 targets for the Los Angeles Rams. Jordan Whittington had 25 targets for the Rams. And those were the next guys at the wide receiver position. I was also curious about the Seattle Seahawks, obviously Jackson Smith and Jigba.

had a huge year there, offensive player of the year, had double the second most targets on the Seattle Seahawks last year. Obviously a little bit of a run-heavy team there, and Kenneth Walker and Zach Charbonnet leading the charge there. But Cooper Cup was second on the team with 89 targets, so less than half of 182 of Jackson Smith and Jigmas targets. A.J. Barner, another tight end, 71 targets. But the next wide receiver, Rashid Shaheed, had just 33 targets in 12 games,

albeit for the Seattle Seahawks. and they love Shaheed and they brought Shaheed back. Besides that, Tori Horton had 22 targets. So the targets that are available for these guys, assuming they're healthy, I think the injury liability versus having a wide receiver three when Dee and Jamar are on the field are different conversations and different kinds of skill sets that you might be looking for.

But behind Jamar at 182 targets last year was T. Higgins at 98, Chase Brown at 86, André Yosevash at 56. And that was pretty much it. next highest receiver was Mitchell Tinsley at just 23 targets last year. And so adding a Colby Parkinson certainly is going to challenge Mitchell Tinsley to be that fourth wide receiver in targets might challenge Andre Yosevosh for some playing time. She really hits the ground running and really impresses in training camp and carves out a role for himself as the guy who has more of that outside receiver skill set with his size and contested catchability because Yoshi has a size,

but not really the contested catchability that you have seen from Kobe Parkinson or T. Higgins, for example. And I'm not saying that I expect Kobe Young to go out there and B.T. Higgins is a rookie. But I do think that that injection into the room in addition to potentially getting Eric Allback at tight end and Jack injuries at tight end. And the diversification there of that tight end room with those skill sets, if those two guys can get onto the field, does give the Bengals a pretty solid amount of depth of the wide receiver position. Then again, we just talked yesterday on lockdown Bengals about DiL's. Andre Hopkins and his desire to play with Joe Burrow late in his career and whether or not he would be willing to take a low dollar deal to be a very quality third or fourth option at receiver because where he fits in with Mike Keseki and Chase Brown getting a lot of targets in this offense, I think is an interesting question. But certainly would be interesting depth when you think about DeAndre Hopkins skill set and how that would fit with Joe Burrow, Joe Burrow with that elite ball placement.

and D'Andre Hopkins' ability to be very strong at the catch point. So it's not like we're not talking about it at all, but I would guess the Bengals feel like they have great depth in terms of their receiving targets right now, including the tight end room, including Chase Brown in that conversation. I think they trust Samaj, P. Ryan, as a not very dynamic but reliable checkdown option

in situations where he needs to pass block and pass protect and be part of the game plan to go with what they have in the receiver room, where, again, they did just use a fourth round, pick on a guy that they really like, even though obviously he's a fourth round pick, the end of the fourth round. That's the guy that they, I think, hold in highest team. Smashe Pete Ryan did have three touchdowns in that week 11 game at Pittsburgh in 2022 when Jamar Chase was on insured reserve with that hip injury.

At that point, though, while it was not great, ideal that Chase was out for four games, the Bengals still have plenty of weapons for Joe Byr to throw the ball to T. Higgins, Tyler Boyd, Samagee, P. Ryan, Trent Irwin had a touchdown in week 11. against Pittsburgh. The Bengals also won a game at Tennessee the following week without Jamar Chase and Joe Mixon. So we've seen them before be able to overcome not having Jamar Chase out there. T. Higgins has had his share of minor injuries throughout his career here with the Bengals. And we've seen them, I mean, burrow through for 428 yards of Baltimore on Thursday night football in 2024 without T. Higgins. But, and Jake, I agree with your point a lot, actually.

my only counter would be the fact that it's harder for the Bengals to move the ball. And I think that's an obvious point I'm making when Jamar Chase is out or when T. Higgins is out. But that's where I just wonder if there is enough depth. If wide receivers becoming the second most premier position in the NFL, which I think it is already, then coach like quarterback, you better have an insurance policy behind your best wide receiver. Or in the Bengals case, their best two wide receivers, which are one. one in one a. Are we saying on offense, by the way, for most premium positions? Are you saying overall? Because I think Edge is still a big contender there. Look at the contact. Will Anderson

just signed. Well, yeah, no question about that. For offense, offense for sure, I can make a case for overall. That's an interesting debate we can have actually on a show this summer. Jake, it's a good point you bring up there. But coach, again, regardless of if it's second or third most premier position, you better have insurance policy behind your starts. If somebody were to happen, there goes your whole passing game potentially. Well, you know what? I look at it this way. It's part of the adaptability of the offensive staff.

Again, if that key player or players are no longer available for whether it be a week or whether it be longer. But right now, you look at the Bengals, and they are built around Joe Burrow and those whiteouts. and those two wideouts in particular. And I think that if something were to happen, God forbid, that something were to happen to either one of those two guys, the next guy would show up and he would be in there.

Would the offense stay the same? Probably not based on his capabilities. You know what? There's only because any time you have two-star, like they do outside. That next drop is not, I mean, it's a drop. And so you just, you have to factor that into it as well. If you're a team that spreads it out, you know, like some of the other passing

league teams, you know, I mean, Sean McVeigh knows he's got two very dangerous people. And the next one, if something were to happen, he moves them inside. do the Bengals have the ability to switch gears and start throwing the ball more inside if one of those two guys goes down? And I think that's where the question lies. They everybody at this point in time feels good about it. You know, they approach the white receiver room in the draft. They didn't in free agency. And so they feel comfortable going in.

the key thing is that the offensive staff needs to understand, okay, what are our contingency plans and where do we go from there had if one of those two people or one of those three people, including the tight ends, happens to go down. Sorry, Coach. No, no, I think that's where they're at right now. There are three guys on this team that can be described as crutches for the coaching staff in terms of the way they scheme things up and have been.

described that way i don't necessarily agree but t higgins remark chase and joe burrow all can do things that other guys of their positions can't do and when we're talking about the receivers specifically this is an offense that asks their receivers to go win they're not doing as much and this drives fans crazy i know because i see the complaints about it all season long they're not doing as much of the scheme guys open getting the the the play action under center crossers where you're going to lose guys running across the field the shaw mc face staples or the Well, the Sean McFaetree staples, I guess you could say that you could go down the list. Ben Johnson does a lot of this too.

The Bengals don't do a ton of that. Now, is that going to be more of a part of the offense in 2026? It's something that we have speculated about for the last like three years because we see it in training camp. We see Joe Burrow under Centermore in training camp. And when push comes to show, they go away from it. They do what they're comfortable with, which is Joe Burrow and the shotgun, spreading things out, letting those guys go win because that's what Joe Burrough is really good at. That's what these receivers are really good at.

So to the point of depth at the wide receiver position, this team may, to your point, Alex, be more reliant on wide receiver depth than other teams because so much of the offensive structured around, well, Jamar Chase can go win. T. Higgins can go win. We don't really care who that corner is. And maybe there are a couple that can slow those guys down or do a good job of keeping the lid on things. But we're going to have a matchup somewhere where we can say, hey, T. Higgins, go win on a comeback and be strong at the catch point. and bully that guy, dunk on him for a 10-yard game. And that's part of how the Bengals offense is designed. So when you do lose one of those guys, I think you do feel it.

And so where this team, to coach's point, has been able to adapt where they have been missing guys in the past, or as you said, Alex, games that they've won when they've been missing some of their star skill players, the coaching staff has to be able to continue to put those guys in good positions. Because at this point in the off season, talking about depth, like, yeah, we can talk. about it, but guys out there that are going to make a real difference that are realistic targets for the Bengals who are tight to the cap, we're probably looking only a veteran minimum guys. If that, those are few and far between if they even exist in the first place.

We talked about DeAndre Hopkins, like I said, quite a bit this week on yesterday's episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. So it's not like we're not talking about it, but in terms of it being realistic, that was another thing that I said on that show. Like, I don't see most of these veterans out there as being realistic targets at this point in the offseason. We're in the offseason program at this point. The Bengals had an open practice today. I think Zach Taylor might be talking right now or soon as we're doing this episode of the Bengal squad show. And so adding talent that makes a difference at this time of year

is a tough conversation to have. And so we can have these concerns about the depth. But in terms of realistic targets that could make sense financially and on the field for the Bengals, I think that is a much tougher conversation when you get the to May and June and July and August. Yeah, and maybe it is too late for them to add another wide receiver like a D'Andre Hopkins. Now, maybe they add somebody to, I mean, they did this with Dalton Reisner last year on the offensive line. So you could, you could theoretically do it at the end of training camp.

You could do it. Go ahead. Riser was such a pressing need, right? Like they get to camp. They're like, do not like what we have on the offensive line right now. We want another piece on the interior who can stabilize things, and it really worked out. Now, will they get to that spot with Roger Siever? I don't know.

Will they get to that spot with the slot corner or linebacker positions? You can sell me on that. And so I wouldn't close the door in a Dalton riser type of deal when training camp rolls around at all if those guys become available. And they think that one of those guys can be a floor raiser at one of those spots. But those were positions of critical need. And I think that really differentiates them from wide receiver. Yeah, they're going to find out an awful lot this spring and into the subject of what they have and what they don't have and what their needs are. If DeAndre Hopkins is still around, it's still interested, and I'm sure they're having conversation right now, but the money doesn't match.

You know, hey, I wouldn't be surprised if he was a late dad like Dalton Reisner was a year ago to come in there and be stout and be a guy that Joe, borough can rely on. They've already got a chemistry, just telling them that's the guy that I want to play with. You know, all of a sudden makes you feel real warm and fuzzy. So, yeah, there's somebody out there, and they will figure it out. They want to test the water and put their toe in the water and feel what it, what it feels like. And they'll see during this offseason and how fast people catch on. But I wouldn't put an end to it at this point. I'm not either. And here's the other thing, too. Wide receiver three, it's not a pressing need, but it is a need.

So there wouldn't be so much pressure on DeAndre Hopkins for an older guy to come in right away and produce. That's the advantage that you have with having guys like Jamar, chasing T. Higgins. By the way, and you guys will remember this, one of the best offenses, and I didn't mention them as a wide receiver tandem. One of the best offenses I've ever seen is 2013 with the Denver Broncos, Demarius Thomas, Eric Decker, Julius Thomas, West. Welker. All four guys combined for 90 targets at least, 90 targets. Thomas and Decker in particular, 178 combined targets, 175 receptions, I'm sorry, 200 and 778 targets and 175 receptions, 2718 yards, 25 touchdowns. Yes, I did all that math in my head. You can congratulate me later. So that tells you, thank you, coach. That tells you how important, to a degree, like we've been

talking about having a wide receiver three like west welker for thomas and decker and then a tight end like julius thomas who had 90 target 65 receptions 12 touchdowns that year now that offense was otherworldly the bengals offense is going to be very good this year they're going to be great potentially elite but it does show you that wide receiver three and or wide receiver four or tight in how important they are and we don't have to go outside of Cincinnati for this either when the bengals had their success with tyler boyd we we saw exactly what we're talking about here. And they had the reliable player at wide receiver three.

And they went through some rent to tight end options, but they were getting production out of tight ends those years as well, CJ Usama, obviously, and Hayden Hearst. So it's not like they're a stranger to those things either. It's just when you get to pay in those guys, it gets to be a harder conversation. Absolutely. You know, what, you think about it.

Hey, the combinations in that room, back the greatest show on turf had, you know, Tori Holt and Ozakeem, Ricky Prol, and, you know, and they had Isaac Bruce. I mean, so. But Marshall Falk was an okay receiving running back. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. Oh, man.

That's when you're saying, okay, no matter who, we put it on the field, we're going to be okay. They also had curb water quarterback and Mike Martin offensive coordinator. You know what else sounds nice? You know what else sounds nice? no Thursday night game of Baltimore this year. For the love of all things, Skyline, Chile, can we please not have a Thursday night game of Baltimore? We'll also get into some other ones and don't wants coming up

when it comes to the Bengals NFL schedule next on the Bengals Squad Show. In addition to not having a Thursday night game of Baltimore this year, and I don't think it's going to happen. Then again, I thought that last year, and well, what do I know? Here's something else I want, or kind of don't want. If the Bengals go international this year, and I think it probably be in like week four, five, maybe, I don't want them to have a buy week the next week

because I'd rather have the buy week be later in the season. The schedule and where the Bengals play, and who the Bengals play particularly on the road, it's nice because your longest road trip is Houston. That's not even that long of a road trip. So if you do go international early in the season, maybe have hopefully a home game the next week, or if you have to go to like Indy or Pittsburgh or Cleveland

or maybe, I don't know, Tennessee. No, you're going to Tennessee, excuse me. Basically, if you go somewhere close, I'd be okay with that because then you have your biweek later in the season. I think the Bengals have had really late or like center cut by weeks for most of the Zach Taylor era, the earliest that I can remember, what, 2023? But outside of that, they've been in the middle of the year, pretty much every year. It's good point. So they've been pretty lucky in that regard.

The international game that may or may not happen, I know nothing. I'm not leaking anything here. I have no information about the Bengals schedule. But the potential international game for the Bengals this year obviously dictates by week, right? Most teams take, they have the choice to take their by week after a hypothetical international game. Is that right?

Am I remembering that correctly? You don't, you can, but you also don't have to. The Jaguars have, I think the Jaguars have done it where they didn't. Really? I only remember teams taking the buy after the international game. But that will be fascinating, honestly. like the international game potential in general this year will be fascinating. Obviously the by week, I agree with the Alex, middle of the season, always nicer than the very beginning of the season.

And if there's a game that you were going to predict, wouldn't you predict primetime Ravens in Cincinnati this year? Like wouldn't that be? Because the schedule makers were aware of this last year. They came up in interviews with them. Like, yeah, we did it three years in a row, just how it worked out. but like they were acutely aware of it. So wouldn't you think that like just the human element of it would be like, yeah, we'll throw the Bengals of bone.

We'll let them play the Bengals in prime time at home. The ultimate human element would be a Thanksgiving night game against Baltimore in Cincinnati. And Mike North, I think even admitted after the schedule was released last year, that there was one of the final schedules that they had was literally Ravens at Bengals on Thanksgiving and then they changed it for whatever reason. Those are, I'm telling you, they scheduling is hard. I think Jake mentioned it a couple of weeks ago. we were talking about it. Scheduling is great, but what is the toll it takes on recovery time for those

teams? You know, I'm not real fond of international games. We played in a couple of them, and wow, it's hard to recover when you're coming back, either going back in time or forward in time. that's a tough toe road to hoe when it comes down to your players. And you have to treat them a little bit differently just from the recovery standpoint. I mean, you got guys going through walkthroughs, and that's all they can do to get ready for a week because you only get one day or two days to get on the practice field because you have a three day week. Like, yeah, the short wrestling drives me crazy. The NFL is such a high dollar league at this point.

and the stakes for these guys are so high that the competitive equity implications of short rest weeks are something that I think should be a huge priority for the scheduling team. But they honestly don't seem to care about anything less than rest equity for teams, especially when they're large road trips involved. They're catering to the dollars and the advertising dollars that networks are interested in to try to put interesting games in prime time. And I get it. This is an entertainment business,

but it's also a competitive business. And I think that those two things could be married much better than they are. So adding to the wish list, Alex, fair rest equity for the Bengals as it pertains to their schedule this year. And we'll take an advantage too, but ideally fairness would be the number one option.

Along with that, if they're going to go international, I'd rather it be this year than next year when you're already making road trips to Denver to Vegas to Los Angeles and Seattle. Those are four behemots of road trips next year. If you're going to go international, this is the year to do it because your schedule in the continental United States, your longest road trip of the season is Houston. And that's not even that bad of a road trip in terms of miles. Bengals are one of the least, they're going to have one of the least amount of miles travel.

We talked about this last week. So again, international preferably this year. And if you do, maybe consider not having a buy week right after it if it's in week four or five. The other thing I don't want, and I know it's going to be difficult, but we got this two years ago with the nine road games because the NFC is the bonus home game this year. I don't want the Bengals to play three straight road games at any point this year. Three straight road games are, coached, does you ever play three straight road games when you were coaching in the NFL? Thank goodness, no.

Yeah. At any point you didn't. No, not three in a row. It's become a more common feature. of schedules in recent years where you're seeing longer homestands and road trips. It is a relatively newish increasing phenomena. I think I've noticed more the last handful of years than before that. So the Bengals in 2024 never had three street road games despite playing nine road games.

They did have three straight road games in 2021. They played at Detroit, at Baltimore, and at the Jets. They went two and one. We don't have to remember the one they didn't win. some guy named Mike White showed up in that game. So that's another thing that I have on my wish list, preferably. The other thing is when we talk about primetime games, talk about home games. The Bengals' primetime atmosphere, we can all agree, is one of the best in the NFL.

I mean, from the themes, white out, strike the jungle, they haven't done an orange out in primetime. And quite frankly, they should abolish that completely given what's happened the last two season openers, home openers, I should say. can the Bengals have multiple home primetime games or multiple home games that just aren't at Sunday at 1 o'clock? And last year they did, they had two of them against the Lions, which, I mean, it was practically a Detroit home game, and then against the Steelers on Thursday football. But can they have multiple home games that aren't at 1 o'clock on Sunday? Because those games are fun.

Yeah, the primetime disparity for the Bengals on the home and road side of things has also been pretty disappointing. It's been terrible. especially with like they've had home primetime games flexed out of prime time too because they haven't been good enough to keep them there so yeah it be nice to see some some get rights from the old NFL schedule this year in the bengals favor we'll see what we get though guys and yeah we'll have a we'll have a show for you on thursday on locked on bengals reacting to the things that are going to drive us crazy i'm sure and the things that we like about the bengal schedule this year and i know we've got a bengal squad show coming up on friday as Yes, we do. Time TBA on Friday, but coach you and I will be reacting to the Bengals schedule. Then we'll have Mike Santagina or Joe Daneman join us on that day. Jake and James are going to do their show Thursday night, premiering live once they finish recording Thursday night. So we have plenty to get to once the NFL schedule comes out. This is a great conversation. Genuinely, very good conversation from Zach Taylor and all the pressure being on him to the easy strength of schedule, or maybe if that's just a myth to wide receiver depth concerns and then previewing the NFL schedule.

No Bengals games have been leaked. There have been games that have been announced on national morning shows. So keep an eye on for schedule leaks, maybe more announcements coming your way later today. Jake Lisco, thank you as always. At Jake Lusco on Twitter. Coach Art Valero longtime coaching veteran now, the running backs coach of the Orlando Storm. in 2002 Super Bowl 37 champion with the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. I'm Alex Frank and Frankie underscore 90.

Thank you for listening and watching to the Bengals Squad Show. We are part of Lockdown Bengals and the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. For more on how to become a member of the Everydayer Club at the number one sports podcast network in America and the world, check out Lockdown Podcast.com slash Everydayer for more information. For Jake Gliscoe and Coach Arfallaro, I'm Alex Frank. Have a great rest of your Tuesday.

Enjoy the beautiful weather, wherever you are. We'll talk to you. on Friday right here on the Bengal Squad Show.