Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Bengals win UGLY, but a win is a win! | Defense Makes Winning Plays as Offense STRUGGLES

Episode Date: September 7, 2025

17-16 is a win! Despite Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase, and the Bengals offense sputtering in the second half, the defense made enough plays and luck was on Cincinnati's side as they escape Cleveland with ...a win. Jake Liscow and James Rapien break down what we can actually take away from another weird Bengals Week 1, including expectations that the offense will figure it out, and encouraging signs from the run defense and pass rush against a poor Browns' offense. There's always room to improve, but it's nice to have to do it at 1-0 instead of 0-1!Join the Locked On Bengals Insider Community! https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonbengalsFind and follow Locked On Bengals on your favorite podcast platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-bengals-daily-podcast-on-the-cincinnati-bengals/id1159723162Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7AObc0lh0WmQl5fJVgtajsGoogle Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vbG9ja2Vkb25iZW5nYWxz?sa=X&ved=0CAYQrrcFahcKEwio_sXtj8nuAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAgStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-bengalsSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!5-Hour ENERGYTee up that trip! Enter for a chance to win a dream golf trip for two to any golf tournament* in the USA. Visit https://5HEWIN.com for full rules and entry. No purchase necessary. Excludes the Master’s tournament. Ends October 31, 2025.DoorDashWith DoorDash Streaks, you save every Saturday you order — stack it up all season and you could save up to $250. Order this Saturday. Keep the streak alive. Fuel your gameday — only with DoorDash. Terms apply. Promo period through 11/18. Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnfl for 50% off your first year. UpsideDon’t let this offer drive on by, download the free Upside app now using my limited time promo code TOUCHDOWN for a limited time 25 cent per gallon bonus! Offers vary by user and location, Go to upside.com for terms and conditions.Click Here to download the app: https://getupside.onelink.me/zlLr?af_xp=custom&pid=barrington&c=barrington_lockedon25&deep_link_value=promo&deep_link_sub1=lockedon25&af_dp=upsideapp%3A%2F%2F Yahoo FantasyPresented by YahooFantasy #YahooPartner. Draft now at https://yahoofantasy.com/lockedonnfl.PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelRight now, new customers can bet just FIVE dollars and if your bet wins—you’ll get THREE HUNDRED dollars in bonus bets to use across the app.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 The Cincinnati Bengals have survived week one with a win. It took some luck to get there, but it's better to be lucky than good. You are Locked on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. What up, Bengals fans, and welcome to another episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Jake Liskow, he's James Rapine, and we're your host of the Locktime Bengals podcast collectively covering your Cincinnati Bengals here on Lockdown Bengals since 2016.
Starting point is 00:00:41 That's a long time, James, and haven't seen a whole lot of games quite like this one. That's the beauty of football. We always get something a little bit different as the Bengals squeak out of winning Cleveland. We'll break down what we can actually take away from a game that eventually got to a place, James, where I would say it got into week one weirdness territory. Thanks to all of you who make Lockdown Bengals your first lesson. and thanks to all of you who are every dayers out there. We appreciate all of you that have those great listening habits here on lockdown bengals.
Starting point is 00:01:08 Today's episode is brought to you by game time where you can create an account in the app and use code lockdown NFL. You'll save $20 on your first purchase of tickets. Better to be lucky than good, James? What do you think? Is that a thing that we're going to be saying a lot while we're talking about this week one game? Probably. Or ugly wins are better than pretty losses is one that I would certainly throw out there. look it's it's going to be brought up it's been brought up for months and months and
Starting point is 00:01:37 months oh well the defense what about the defense and everyone's looked back to last year so we might as well look back to last year how many times last year did the bengals play these close games and they were ugly and the defense didn't finish or the offense didn't finish or neither one finished and they lost week one last year there's no way in hell they should have lost to the new england patrons and if one thing out of a bunch of things goes their way. They don't, but they did. And this almost feels the other way,
Starting point is 00:02:09 because I think you could have made the argument really easily that they should have lost this game, that they weren't the better team for the majority of this game. And I think that's insane when I look at, oh, well, that's Burrow and Higgins and Chase and Hendricks, and you look at the teams, but I thought the Browns played, outplayed the Bengals significantly,
Starting point is 00:02:31 in the second half. But yes, big picture. One and O, however you get there, is better than 0 and 1. And I know that sounds so like, oh, well, yeah, duh, but it was ugly. That's fine, but it's still a win. And you can take that in September and feel good about it. You don't have to be like, oh, beat yourself up because the Bengals looked really flawed on Sunday because they did. but they're also 1-0, and only 16 teams get to 1-0. Here's my big picture takeaway. You're assuming one, there's no ties, which probably not this week, but, you know, just to be pedantic. My big takeaway, and we'll dive into this as we get into the specifics,
Starting point is 00:03:16 and then we'll dive into this as we watch the tape and have a better idea of, like, what happened on each side of the ball. The offense is not going to continue to look this bad. We saw a lot of flashes from them early. Joe looked much more like himself early in the game. The offensive line was playing really well in the first half. And I think in past protection, even in the second half, despite the three straight sacks, and the offensive line wasn't perfect, they're pretty good in this game.
Starting point is 00:03:40 Miles Garrett is really, really good. The Browns have a good front. They cause some issues. But to me, there's no way Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase T. Higgins, produce like this going forward. They're going to get back on track with those guys. There's no reason to think they're going to play poorly like this in the future. So that's part of it.
Starting point is 00:04:02 We'll dig into the offense for sure. But one of my big takeaways is there's no way the offense is going to be this bad going forward. And then the other one is there was, despite some issues on defense, again, it's a nuanced take. But there are reasons to feel good about the defense too in this game, especially the way they defended the run. There's some issues in coverage, but Dax Hill, I thought, played well. I thought the safety's played well. I thought the linebackers played well. I thought they got after Joe Flacco,
Starting point is 00:04:31 especially when Trey Hendrickson was on the field. We saw those flashes from Schmar Stewart. So we'll obviously dive into all this stuff in a little bit more detail. But despite the way this game went and the outcome, which obviously leaves them with looking their wounds a little bit, not feeling great about how it went, having a lot of things to work on, I think just escaping with a win and knowing that the offense is going to recover,
Starting point is 00:04:56 I still believe that, gives you reason to think that they can kind of get past this as a season goes on, just given the way they've struggled early in seasons throughout the Joe Borough era. Well, put it like this, if this defense ends up being good this year, they're young, they haven't played together, they have the new coordinator, all these things. This is kind of how you'd hope it would look in week one. like they're going up against a veteran quarterback who clearly has something left against a really good offensive coach that obviously had a good scheme good a good game plan and they rebound after giving up touchdown on the opening possession of the game where
Starting point is 00:05:41 I thought they played pretty well but penalties got them and really you look at it and it's three two touchdowns in a field goal three scoring drives on their first four possessions and it's 16 to 14. And then they completely flip the script. You have the Jordan Battle interception. Then you have the turnover on downs. Then you have the missed field goal where I think they deserve a ton of credit for that because the Browns advanced the ball, 24 yards on 10 plays.
Starting point is 00:06:13 That was the crazy scenario where the Browns get the ball at the Bengals 42 yard line down too. And so, yeah, they gave up a little bit. but they didn't give up a ton. They didn't give up a touchdown. And so even there, where they would have given up points, it really wasn't their fault. They were put in a bad spot, and they responded well.
Starting point is 00:06:31 I think you look at how they handled themselves. They win the turnover battle to zero, including the DJ Turner interception. And think about that DJ Turner and Jordan Battle, two guys that have a lot of question marks coming into the year. They're the ones making those big plays for you. Logan Wilson misses some time. and you're relying on these linebackers. And you're right, I thought for the most part,
Starting point is 00:06:55 they played pretty well. Orrin Berks had a big three-yard tackle for a loss. And so, yeah, I would have taken this all day long. Like I predicted the Browns would score 13, and there were a lot of people that were like, oh, there's no way. And obviously my prediction was way off on the Bengals offense, but there's no way.
Starting point is 00:07:15 They only score 13 on this defense. It was pretty darn close. 16 points. You take that every day of the week, especially with the uncertainty around this Bengals defense. I thought they played pretty darn well, considering everything and considering the situations that they were in down the stretch with the game on the line.
Starting point is 00:07:34 Yeah, I think that there's still some areas for concern, obviously, and we'll have plenty of time for this. But just to start out, they won the game. They did enough. They made the plays late in the game. Trey Hendrickson was back there creating havoc. BJ Hill had six pressures in the game and really showed up. Samar Stewart was creating havoc, creating pressure of his own.
Starting point is 00:07:54 Joseph Osai made a play lined up over the guard playing defensive tackle beside Trey Hendrickson nearly gets a takeaway of his own before he forces Flacco to step up and throw an inaccurate ball that Jordan Battle collects for his first interception. So they are getting plays from their defensive front. They were getting pressure. T.J. Slayton showing off a little bit of that power as a pass rusher as well, which we told you. That is part of his game a little bit more than you would expect. and I don't know if it'll be much of a consistent thing week to week,
Starting point is 00:08:20 but the point I'm trying to make here, Logan Wilson had a number of plays as creating pressures of blitzer, had plays in coverage, Jordan Battle had the interception, obviously. Daxil, I mentioned him earlier. I think when you turn on the tape on Dax Hill, it's going to look pretty good,
Starting point is 00:08:35 hardly called his name throughout this game. And so, like, while there are certainly concerns and chief among them, Cam Taylor Britt in this game, what was picked on, didn't look good, more often, than you would like and was the weak link of this defense. We said it was going to be a higher standard this week.
Starting point is 00:08:57 And I would have loved to have seen them play a little bit of a cleaner game. They benefited from drops. They benefited from the missed kicks. But despite all of that, those breaks that they did catch and the luck that they did have, they did make a bunch of plays as well. And they especially defended the run really well. And one of my major concerns coming out of the preseason, and the way they defended the run in the preseason was,
Starting point is 00:09:20 how are they going to hold up against a run against the team that's going to want to run the ball? And Dylan Sanson looks like a dude. And they did a great job holding the Browns to, about like two point something yards per carry. And the second time in the last three years, the team's out 24 plus rushing attempts and the longest has gone for five yards. That's a Hayden Wink stat for you there. Two yards.
Starting point is 00:09:40 Two yards per carry. Yeah, they held up really well. And that was the key. Can you imagine, you know, how open some of these guys? would be if you had to worry about the run too. And so doing the basic things sometimes leads to, oh, well, now you're going to be in the second and third and longs. And then you get some pressure on Joe, and then it leads to the Jordan Battle Interception, and it leads to some of those turnovers. There's more here when it comes to the defense. So let's do it. Let's talk defense,
Starting point is 00:10:05 baby. We'll continue that coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by Prize Picks. Prize Picks is the Daily Fantasy app that, well, is one, awesome. Two, it's Daily Fantasy the way it should be, and I've saying that for years, but making the right call can actually pay off. We make decisions every day and on prize picks. Being right means cashing in with football back price picks is the simplest and fastest way to get in on all the action. Just pick more or less on two to six player projections, and you could turn your takes into real prizes all in less than 60 seconds. So this week, by the way, there's a new max discount with Lamar Jackson. And that is if he has one passing yard and boom, that can be one of your correct picks.
Starting point is 00:10:54 So take advantage of that because we know that's going to happen. And who knows, maybe Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase and this Bengals offense bounce back as well. Prize picks is daily fantasy the way it should be. Download the prize picks app today. Use code locked on NFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That's go locked on NFL for $50 in lineups. After you play your first $5 lineup, prize picks, it's good to be right. This episode of Lockdown Bengals is sponsored by Upside, and sometimes you just kind of take what you get in life.
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Starting point is 00:12:14 Check out the Upside app. Use code touchdown for a limited time, 25 cent per gallon bonus. That's promo code touchdown offers vary by user and location. Go to upside.com for terms and conditions. All right, Jake. Let's talk a little bit more about the defense. I know I'm an offensive guy. I just think the defense really deserves its flowers here.
Starting point is 00:12:37 And, man, you look at a lot of these young guys, you know, young guys with question marks or how are they going to play? And I'm just looking at the general. overall defensive stats and you got Jordan battle with 12 tackles, a past defense, an interception. Demetrius Knight, 10 tackles, a past defense. He obviously was in there in the third quarter when Logan Wilson had gone down. And this is, so this is when they started to put together and string together all these stops in its night and it's Barrett Carter and it's everyone not named Logan Wilson, who played pretty well, by the way. I know there's been some that were like,
Starting point is 00:13:11 ah, how is he? Two past defense and seven tackles. I thought there was a stark difference when Logan left the game too. They got worse when Logan Wilson was not on the field. It was it was noticeable. The Browns were moving the ball better. Barrett Carter had one play where took kind of a bad angle and I'm still excited for Barrett Carter. Don't get me wrong. He did. Logan Wilson was noticeably good in this game. I believe it was Dylan Samson. It was just like it should have been like a three or four yard play on a second and 15. And then he gets like 13. Yeah. It's brutal. It might have been like 10 but it was still a lot. Dylan Samson tore it up in the passing game. He looks like a pretty nice weapon, like you said.
Starting point is 00:13:50 But it's all these guys, honestly, just because I think we might forget him, Mike Pennell matter. Like, he made an impact. And he wasn't even a Bengal a week ago. And now he's making an impact playing 20 plus snaps. He finished with four tackles. So, yeah, there's a lot of praise to go. go around. And you're right, it wasn't all perfect, but I want to make sure we hit on some of those guys. I thought that while the tackling wasn't perfect in this game either, they had a couple of issues.
Starting point is 00:14:23 And I just mentioned the Barrett Carter issue. They had a couple of issues in open space. It wasn't like we saw from them at times last year. They had a couple of opportunities in the run game to get guys down sooner on runs they had bottled up. But then there was plenty of help to come clean those up. So some of those mistackles weren't necessarily punished. The other thing on defense, just to wrap up here, while the Bengals finished, the game ugly on offense. I think it was seven yards of second half offense. And they had a pretty bad EPA per play by the end of the game of a negative 0.0.07 EPA per play, expected points added per play.
Starting point is 00:15:00 That's a very bad number to have over the course of the season. That means that when you run plays on offense, you're actually reducing the likelihood that you're going to score points and the three sacks they took and the runs that they just kind of gave up to try to run clock at the end of the game. impact this with the Browns over the course of the game minus 0.03 EPA per play. Their success rate just 40%. Those numbers are also pretty bad. So this offense that you're expecting to be pretty terrible for the Cleveland Browns was pretty
Starting point is 00:15:28 terrible. Again, the Bengals benefited from some drops, and that made it worse for the Browns than it otherwise could have been. And they capitalize on those by taking the ball out of the hands of the Browns receivers when they were given the opportunity to do so. And how many times, James, do we sit here last year and say, man, they're really close to that intercession. They just made that one catch, you know, that one tip throw had just gone their way, how different the game could have been. And today, not only that they have the kicks, which are mostly luck, right? A guy missing kicks, you've got to force them to make the kick or take the kick,
Starting point is 00:16:02 but the guy missing kicks is pretty lucky. They capitalized on a couple of dropped balls, one of which was forced to be off target by, like I said earlier, a great rush from Joseph O'Sai. So it's nice to see them coming down with those plays. year that so often last year we were talking about as if instead of B cuts. Yep. I agree. I agree.
Starting point is 00:16:23 And I think, like, big picture wise, you hit on it with the offense. Like you're not worried about the offense because of who it is. If they win this game 4139, you'd be so worried about the defense. And there'd be no equity. There'd be no hope. There'd be no belief because it would be 40-year-old Joe Flacko. and offensive weaponry that are solid. They have some solid weapons.
Starting point is 00:16:47 I think they're kind of underrated with Cleveland, but they're not going to be the best offense in the league, hot take. And so that would have stunk. So the worry was on the defense. The worry was on the offensive line. Well, if those two concerns, like I think the big concerns coming into today, those two areas play pretty well overall
Starting point is 00:17:11 and handled themselves pretty well overall. all. And the thing that you're wondering is like, oh, well, the offense, what? So I guess my point is, is if there was a way that one of these units struggled, which unit would you prefer struggle? It would be the one that had all the skins on the wall that you know is going to come out of it, that you know it's going to be good. And I know the Spangles offense is going to be good. You know that. Everyone watching and listening knows that. And they do too. And so that's why you should feel really good because I think a lot of people and now we're about two hours after the game has ended but during the game and then right after like I don't know how to feel
Starting point is 00:17:51 that's probably how you should feel I'm not telling you how to feel but the more you think about it like the areas that you really wondered about the Bengals and how they would do and I'm not saying the offensive line was perfect either but I think they gave them a real shot today I think the defense gave them a real shot today and obviously ended up winning them the game that's a huge positive Yeah, they'll be tested more next week. Jacksonville starts 1 and 0. The Bengals have never won in week two under Zach Taylor.
Starting point is 00:18:18 So that's going to be something that we're talking about next week. Oh, my God. What is up with this? Yeah, he's crazy. But Trevor, sorry, Travis Etienne and that Jacksonville Jaguar's offense today went for 6.3 yards per carry. Etienne ripped off a 71-yard run against the Carolina Panthers. So a little bit more of a test between Etienne and Tank Biggsby and Bayshalt-Tooten with the Jacksonville Jaguars next week,
Starting point is 00:18:46 a little bit more firepower on that offense. But I think you can be encouraged with what we saw from the defensive front, from the way the linebackers played. And honestly, even a lot of the secondary, I thought that the safeties were fine. I thought that, you know, DJ Turner was totally passable,
Starting point is 00:19:03 the way they were using him, had the pass interference call. And I thought Dax Hill was good. And we'll see what tape says about those guys. we'll watch all the tape on this on defense. I think the other thing that stood out is they kind of found their answers as the game went on. They made the adjustments as a game went on. Some of the early third down pressure packages that they use are something that I'm going to be really curious to see on tape.
Starting point is 00:19:25 And also the third down coverage tendencies, something I'm going to be very interested to see on tape. How much did they go to the Algodon Notre Dame? We're just going to go play a bunch of man and ask our dudes to be dudes. But do they have the dudes to be the dudes? I'm going to stop saying dude now. at cornerback against some of the better skill player groups that they will see that are not just David and Joku and Jerry Judy, who didn't have a great game in Harold Fannan, who looks like he's going to be another one of those weapons for the Cleveland Brown's offense as well.
Starting point is 00:19:52 So some reasons to think that this defense can find its footing. I'm not sure it'll be perfect every week, but some encouraging signs on that side of the ball. And like you said, we expect the offense to bounce back. But we do need to talk about what happened when Joe Burr on this office. offense, we're on the field. What's going on with the Cleveland Browns matchup? It continues to be a thorn in their side. We'll finish there coming up next.
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Starting point is 00:20:47 of that away. You'll always get a 100% authentic tickets delivered on time and at the best price. Plus, all fees are included. So the price you see is the price you pay. They have panoramic views directly from your seat. So you know exactly what it's going to look like when you get there. Take advantage of this opportunity with GameTime today. Download the GameTime app. Create an account. Use code locked on NFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account and used promo code L-O-C-E-D-O-N-N-FL-O-N-FL-O-N-FL-N-FL-N-FL-F R2T-T-E-L-L-T-E-L-T-E-L-T-E-L-E-T-E-L-T-E-L-E-T-R-E-E-T-E-R-E-L-E-R-E-W-T-E-R-E-L-E-R-E-L-E-R-E-R-E-E-R-E-R-E-E-R-E-R-E-E-R-E-L-E-R-E-R-E-L-E-R-E-R-L-E-R-L-L-E-R-L- great. I mean, great. There's a play in the first quarter or first half that I remember that was a Miles Garrett, a Marius Mims one-on-one that was just awesome for Marius Mims. Leaves to a completed pass
Starting point is 00:21:58 for Joe Burrow. Things went off the rails a little bit in the second half, but we did see Noah Fant get a touchdown in his first game as a Cincinnati Bengal. We saw Dalton Reisner step in for an injured Lucas Patrick and pass protect well. They had issues in the second half, James, But I still think that these weapons are going to bounce back. And I don't think the offensive line was as bad as you might have felt about it when you were watching that second half. For sure. I think the offensive line held up pretty darn well in that three sack series, which Joe, by the way, you mentioned the first half. No sacks in the first half.
Starting point is 00:22:38 Neither team had a sack. And it felt like he had plenty of time. They scored touchdowns on two of their first three possessions. And I really, honestly, Jake, I was like, this game is pretty much going like I thought it would. And I thought they would score a couple of touchdowns in the second half. And that would be that. And that didn't happen. The offense was trash in the second half.
Starting point is 00:22:58 If you don't count their final drive, they had 17 yards of total offense. But if you count it, and this is when they were trying to waste clock and they were fine taking losses, that they had seven total yards of offense in the second half. And that's because they were minus 18 on the one drive with the three sacks. And it was just, it was ugly, ugly, ugly. But no, let's stick with the positives initially. Like, I thought it was really cool how multiple they were and how they were able to. One, that was a great five-yard touchdown run by Chase Brown because he could have gotten dropped right there at the line of scrimmage.
Starting point is 00:23:33 And he turns that into a touchdown. But the fan touchdown was awesome. How they were, I think they knew, hey, we're not going to. be able to just go there, go five wide, do our normal thing. And it was cool to see because it was working. And it had some play action. I mean, the first play, they throw to flint for a first down, first play from scrimmage. And Joe's under center, I believe he was. Or was he pissed off? Either way, it doesn't matter. It was, it was cool to see. And then in the second half, it looked like a lot of these Bengals Browns games have looked. You might as well,
Starting point is 00:24:12 time back two years, put rain on the field, and that's how it felt. It felt like they just could not get anything going on offense. And part of that was like the Joe to T and T just a hair out of bounds. Joe to Jammar, hair out of bounds. Like if that play hits, then maybe they start going. And they just could not get that one play to go. And it is honestly, I think it's a miracle that they won this game. look at Joe's numbers and you look at this offense because the offense is that's what's going
Starting point is 00:24:47 to drive this team and get this team where they want to go it is and so for them to put up those kind of numbers and still win that's that's wild the run game totally fell apart in the second half like they kind of went away from it for a while but then when they did try to go to it went back to the same well maybe a little bit too many times or some of the draw plays they were running where they're inviting the penetration they're inviting those defenders upfield anyway but the play is just a little bit even for a draw play too long to develop and by the time Chase Brown has the ballies getting tackled. Obviously the running plays they tried to run after the DJ Turner interception were atrocious.
Starting point is 00:25:22 Like, that's a little bit scary if they're in a situation where there's more time left and they need to get a first down to ice the game. They're not going to be able to do it if that was any indication in the ground game this year. That's something that will need to be better going forward. But like you said, there are a couple plays. the Greg Newsom blind pass breakup on the back shoulder to Jamar Chase down the sideline. Heck of a play from Newsom to time that up and play through the hands like that, but they're an inch off there from a big play.
Starting point is 00:25:55 They're an inch off from Key Higgins getting the second foot in bounds. They're an inch off from Jamar Chase getting in bounds. Really close on a lot of those plays that if they hit those plays really changes the way we're thinking about this football game. So I'm not going to sit here in panic about the offense. I think that we saw plenty of encouraging signs. Dalton Reisner is the past protector that we thought he would be. Really good. And Amarius Mims and Orlando Brown, despite Orlando having some late issues with Miles Garrett,
Starting point is 00:26:29 I thought they were okay. I know people are going to be on Orlando for those sacks late in the game. wasn't all Orlando's fault. Some of that's Joe getting pushed in the pocket to where Miles Garrett is. And so there's other guys that are giving up pressure. And for the most part, there was a lot of clean pocket time for Joe. And it just, I don't think Joe was that his best in this game. I think that it was some early season Joe Burrough stuff.
Starting point is 00:26:59 It was some Jim Schwartz has his number. It was some, those corners have the Bengals wide receivers. number still a little bit. Didn't think it would play out that way this week, but it did. And so that is something that needs to be better. Joe Jamar and T need to be better. You need to get more out of wide receiver three. You need to get more out of Mike Kisicki.
Starting point is 00:27:19 Like all these guys, plenty of room for improvement. We've seen him do it before. Andreosvon, I didn't have a single target in this game. And I thought their best matchup was either Jamar or Andre or whoever in the slot. And they just didn't go to it. Only seven guys got targeted. which is crazy because so Joe started the game four or five and all four completions went to different guys. So after that, he only completed a pass to three other players after that opening drive that he hadn't
Starting point is 00:27:48 completed a pass to. I mean, when T. Higgins is your leading receiver, you're like, oh, well, that's not abnormal. But when T. Higgins is your leading receiver with three catches for 33 yards, that's insane. When Noah fan is your leader in receptions with four, I mean, it just, it doesn't make any sense. I mean, it's very surprising to see these kind of numbers. And by the way, Chase Brennan and Samaj Parine, four catches for 14 yards. So four of those 14 completions were to running backs and then went for a whopping 14 yards, which is obviously not great. So I'm stunned.
Starting point is 00:28:27 I look at those numbers. And if you would have told me those numbers, I mean, the only thing that I would have asked about is the turnovers. And obviously, those were huge. the fact that they didn't turn the ball over. But if you had to show me those numbers, I would have said, yeah, they lose 2710 or something like that. I really would have.
Starting point is 00:28:44 I wouldn't have thought that there was a scenario where they win with these guys playing the way they did or just having the success early and then just being completely over. I mean, if you would, if I call you, Jake, and I say, hey, when it's 1614 and the Browns are lining up for their extra point, you know, after their first drive of the same, second half and they score that touchdown. I say the Bengals are going to score three more points. You would have bet your house that the Browns won that game.
Starting point is 00:29:14 Yeah, they should have probably won the game. I mean, they left four points on the field straight up by miss kicks. The two turnovers were drops. It could have been, at least one of them could have been a conversion. I think maybe both of them. I now can't remember where on the field they were relative to the sticks for the DJ Turner interception. But sometimes you get those breaks. and the Bengals didn't get those breaks last year and they had a couple opportunities for those kinds of breaks. They didn't capitalize on them. But yeah, I mean, pretty shocking result, I think,
Starting point is 00:29:44 for me was how Joe Burrow played in the second half and how this offense played in the second half. The way they started, the second drive looked out of sorts, had operational issues throughout the game, three timeouts used due to the play clock. That's unacceptable. No matter how way you cut it, there's no way to sugarcoat that.
Starting point is 00:30:00 And that's been going on for way too long. that's been a recurrent issue for Zach Taylor and Joe Burrow getting the plays in in a timely fashion, not having to use timeouts to avoid delays of game. So that's quite frustrating. Yeah. But besides that, which will probably remain frustrating, they've been doing this for years, and I don't see any reason to think they're going to fix it until they fix it. A lot of the rest of these things, I think, can and will get fixed.
Starting point is 00:30:27 I mean, Joe's going to play way better than this, no doubt. I think they're going to get way more out of T and Jamar, no doubt. And I think that there's reason to be encouraged with a lot of the pass walking at times in this game as well. In clear passing situations, then we've got to go see what happened in the second half. Like how much of that is Joe, how much of that is the offensive line? How much of that is Jim Schwartz having their number, you know, throwing rock when the Bengals are throwing scissors kind of thing? Because that certainly happened a couple times too. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:30:58 No, it did. and I don't know what it was. I hope they can learn from this and then be able to figure it out because I think they were close to it just being what I thought. I thought they could get near that 30 point mark today. I really did and they didn't. And so next time, I'm sure they're hoping that they're 16 and O and don't have to play starters next time they play the Browns.
Starting point is 00:31:25 But next time, if there's anything on the line, you certainly want to have this solved. And I do think they have the weapons and the talent. And it's only one week, but maybe the offensive line as well to do that. Hopefully Lucas Patrick, by the way, I don't want to like gloss up. Hopefully it's not too bad. I haven't seen anything, but it would be really valuable just to have him as a worst case as a backup at three spots. And that's what he was serving.
Starting point is 00:31:50 I was, Jake, I was nervous today because when that happened and then Ted Karras, he was fine. I talked to him after the game. but he was limping after one play. And I was like, who's the backup center? Because Matt Lee's inactive. They might have flown you in from Canada, man. I don't know. I don't know what they would have done.
Starting point is 00:32:10 I was glad we didn't have to find out. Yeah, glad we didn't have to find out because they wouldn't have overcame that. Certainly better to not find out. Shines the light on the upside of signing veterans with experience who have put good football on tape. Ah. And all of their late offseason moves showing up in this game in some way, shape, or form, paying dividends. Hopefully that is a good lesson learned for this Bengals front office. I think that's a pretty easy one to take away.
Starting point is 00:32:39 And then it's just let's go to the tape and see what we can fix, see what we can figure out on offense where this Cleveland Brown's team and these early season games seem to continue to be a problem. All they can do is keep going forward and try to conquer now the week two beast coming up next. week, but we'll have time to dive into the tape of this one before we transition to the week two game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, a home opener. Bengals win. One and O, a little bit of luck to get there. And that's going to do it for this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Until next time, thanks for listening.
Starting point is 00:33:11 Ho day and have a good one.

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