Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Breakout PLAN: Can Joe Burrow and Bengals DEFY Slow Starts With Unscouted Play Action Offense?

Starting point is 00:00:00 We've talked a lot about the Bengals incorporating play action into their playbook in a bigger way this season. But what if it's just a way for them to steal some wins early in the season and help them start fast in 2026. 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. He's Joe Goodberry. I'm Jake Lesko. We are locked on Bengals. with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers right around the corner.

Starting point is 00:00:39 It's our last chance to take a look at some of the big picture topics, the start fast topic, the final thoughts around the play action incorporation into the playbook. And we haven't really looked around the AFC North at all this offseason, Joe. We know that Baltimore's out there, Pittsburgh's out there. We'll finish the show there a little bit later.

Starting point is 00:00:58 We're going to start with this idea that we've talked about for a couple months now. Maybe this play action thing can just help get them through the first couple of weeks of the season and we'll do that in an episode brought to the people by CalShe for a limited time on the CalShe app. Use code lock down. You'll get $10 when you trade $10. and Joe, this is an idea that I think I floated to you

Starting point is 00:01:16 over a month ago now. That is maybe it's just an antidote to slow starts where sometimes it takes Joe Burrow and Zach Taylor a few minutes to figure out what's going on in the NFL, what teams are doing against them this year, what's going to be the most efficient way for them to go about doing their offense. And when you look at

Starting point is 00:01:33 the history and the trends, you know that the Bengals offense in the first couple of weeks is not as good as a Bengals offense the rest of the season. There's proof statistically of that. And so the thought is, well, maybe they can be like all these other play action offenses around the NFL. And maybe it's not a permanent deep thing for the offense. Maybe it's just a way for them to start fast. Yeah. And the hypothesis there is that one of the truths we believe to be true or one of the things about the NFL that we believe to be true is that the defense.

Starting point is 00:02:05 Defenses start faster than offenses, right? It happens in camp every year. You often see it in preseason as D-lines are beating up on these old lines trying to gel. And then that carries in the first month, typically around the league. Numbers are typically down, fantasy numbers are down, EPA per play is down. And then that all starts to really build up into October, November, and then in December, a lot of times the bad weather can neutralize that a little bit.

Starting point is 00:02:29 And then we, you know, all systems go into the playoffs. So if that is true, the defenses are ahead, that makes sense why the Bengals struggle the way they do early in September with their straight dropback passing and just asking their players to win one on one, right? That's the idea with this Bengals offense is they're very static. In past years, not a lot of motion, very spread out. They've done more motion. They've gotten more condensed. They've gone to more 12 personnel, two tight ends lately. They were 10th most last year, if you count Mikeasecki is a tight end.

Starting point is 00:03:00 And they got under center a little bit more last year than they did the previous couple of years since it started being straight shotgun in 2022. So the idea that the way to combat the defenses that are ready for you in September is that you get under center, you run the ball a little bit more. You don't put it directly on Joe Burrough's shoulders. You try to trick the defense a little bit more with misdirection, with play action, a little bit more motion, maybe some jet motion, maybe some crossing stuff and over the middle stuff that you don't typically do. later in the season. You try to be a little bit different of an offense. And I think that idea is correct here. That's how I'd want this team to attack.

Starting point is 00:03:41 And I think there's two things about it. Jake, number one, getting the fast start to be not a thing this year. But number two, if it's Burrow, because a lot of this gets confused, I think Burrow, it kind of sometimes gets away with the fast start thing where it's always been injured or they're playing the Browns, which they have a couple times. or Zach Taylor doesn't have him ready, whatever. I think Zach Taylor takes the brunt of it. But Burrow hasn't been good in the first two weeks of his career.

Starting point is 00:04:07 So maybe we take a little bit less off of him and not make him be that elite quarterback every single play, every down, and maybe we accept it this time and say, okay, Chase Brown, running game, weapons, you guys take over. And something that we're going to talk about in a couple of minutes is how difficult the early part of the schedule is. And some of the toughest defenses they're going to face are in the first four weeks of the season.

Starting point is 00:04:29 and that's based on what they did statistically last season and based on what the expectations are around those teams this year. And we'll get to that in a couple of minutes. But if there is a way for you to put something more challenging on tape for those teams, especially the Texans I'm thinking about, like you want to be static against the Texans defense, which also pretty static, to be fair, but they do that because they think they can beat your guys,

Starting point is 00:04:56 because they can go toe to toe with you, the way that the Browns think that they can go toe to toe with you in the last few years of the Jim Schwartz era. The Texas are doing that with everybody in the NFL. Somebody posted a stat about Josh Allen and his worst games have come. Two out of his three worst games as a quarterback came against the Houston, Texas. I think that's probably true for a lot of quarterbacks in the last couple of years with that defense. But if you can accomplish a couple of things by changing your approach to the first couple of weeks, there is an opportunity for you to put a bunch of unscouted looks out there for opposing teams

Starting point is 00:05:32 that they haven't seen you do for the last six, seven years with Joe Burrow, Zach Taylor and Cincinnati. There's an opportunity for you to, as you said, Joe, take a little bit off of Joe Burroughs plate. It's not as much get everybody into the best look on every single play. Let's do something to dial something up. Let's sequence some stuff together. Let's have some nice plays that we think are going to generate chunks because we're going to set them up in a certain way. and it can just steal some points, steal some wins,

Starting point is 00:05:57 steal some explosive plays if you can execute them. Obviously, there's a risk to all of this, which is what if they're just not good at it? That question is something that will probably get answered pretty quick, and if they're not good at it for long enough, and we'll see how long the leash is. This is a question, Joe, that we've asked, then they'll just go back to doing the things they did before.

Starting point is 00:06:15 But if you can put the unscotted looks out there, steal some explosive plays, maybe steal some wins, put those reps under your belt for, later in the season when maybe it won't need to be something that you lean on as much. But now you've got the confidence in it and you've got the reps in it. Then you can incorporate it more seamlessly in your offense in the future. There are a lot of potential advantages that can come out of this. But the risk is there too that it just kind of falls flat on its face in some of these games that come against the tough opponents early in the season.

Starting point is 00:06:44 I think the unscouted looks is the other point I was going to get to when I said, you know, it takes some off a burrow. The other part is because of how long this offense has been together and not. just the players, right? The coaching staff, they're one of the longest tenured coaching staffs in the league now. It's easier to prepare for them. These are teams that start preparing, what was it, Jacob Parrish, the slot corner for the buck said he started doing this after OTAs. So late spring, early summer, he started preparing to look at what the Bengals do on offense and watch tape. They're preparing all offseason for you. And when you've been the same staff and same team, they have changed a lot over the years. But still, I think you can glean a lot

Starting point is 00:07:21 of expectation for what you think they're going to do. And that's really what it is. You're trying to call plays based on what you think the other team is going to do. I think the Bengals are pretty easy to build a game plan against because they have obvious strengths and weaknesses. I think that's part of it as well. So if you're doing all these things or at least letting it out there and the reports have been and like national media is picked up on it too, that the Bengals are under center and

Starting point is 00:07:45 spending a lot of time under center. And this just isn't a phase. They want this to be an identity. They want this to be one of the pieces of the offense. They can really lean into. Well, then the bucks have to prepare for it. The Texans have to prepare for it. And I think that adds another layer that you couldn't manufacture any other way with a coaching staff

Starting point is 00:08:05 and a lot of its players that have been in the system for so long. And the reality of things as well to me is that you need to run the ball well for the Bengals to stick with this stuff. The run game under center will probably need to work. I think it's probably more true for the Bengals. and I'll be curious to see how this plays out this year, then other teams in the NFL that you need to actually establish a run for the play action game to work.

Starting point is 00:08:26 We have a bunch of statistical evidence that that's not true for the entire NFL on the whole, that you can go play action under center and generate explosive plays, even if you're not running the ball well. There's enough evidence that supports that statement that I believe it's true. I don't believe it's true for the Bengals,

Starting point is 00:08:43 where teams are going to sell out against the pass for the basketball, Bengals and when you give them those play action looks, you need to give them enough eye candy, enough reason to actually believe it. I think more than other teams where it's harder for the Bengals to affect unblocked defensive ends on the backside of a bootleg or even linebackers who I remember looking at film and seeing them essentially laughing at the Bengals play action and getting right back to their spot drops in zone and not even hesitating for a second in doing so.

Starting point is 00:09:14 So I do think it's a bit of a tougher task for the Bengals and I think the run game will be pretty important for these early games and the opponents are going to be pretty important for these early games too some of the as we said earlier in the show jo tougher opponents on the bengal schedule coming in that early part of the season we'll discuss how that looks and what it looks like after that tough stretch coming up next support for today's episode comes from quo that spelled q uo the business phone system built so you never miss a call because for businesses every call can be an opportunity and missing one can mean missing a customer quo brings calls text and voicemails together in one place.

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Starting point is 00:10:53 More rewarding than a touchdown with time expiring, just as long as they don't miss the extra point right after. More rewarding than an 18-point comeback, as long as it's not to come back and lose out on picking Joe Burrow. We don't want that. Maybe even more rewarding than an old lineman catching a touchdown. Almost had that with Cody Ford last year. This season, Fandul is making the excitement go beyond what happens on the field with the all-new

Starting point is 00:11:15 Fandual Rewards Club featuring exclusive offers, surprises, and more. Every week, check out the Fandul app to see what's waiting for you as they've got a ton of things planned, a lot of rewards, and they're really selling this thing as like they're going to be giving back to the people this season on Fandual. Make this your most rewarding season ever with Fandual. Visit Fandul.com to get started today. Jake, you brought up the run game and how it has to be effective. I completely agree.

Starting point is 00:11:45 As you were saying that, I started to bring up our old notes and some of our data that we had. We did a show midsummer. It had to be in June, I think, about the under center and really why the Bengals want to do this and get good at it because the numbers for Burrow under center are not very good. Using play action are not very good. I mean, he's one of the few quarterbacks where everything comes back down to earth a little bit for him when he's using this. But for the Bengals under center last year, their run game was very effective. They average 4.3 yards per carry, which was up from a 3.4 in 2024 under center. So they went a full yard up.

Starting point is 00:12:19 Their EPA was the best they've had of if we break down under center versus shotgun and pistol of the last two years. So we've got four data sets. Under center in 2025 was their best EPA per play. And they were one of the most explosive teams running from under center last year. So yes, if they can start that way, maybe defenses don't respect it, right? That's a big thing. The bucks.

Starting point is 00:12:38 Maybe the bucks are like, hey, we're worried about Joe Burrow. George Mark Chase, let Chase Brown run. And then he has a big game. Like, I would be in on Chase Brown early in fantasy this year because it feels like the Bengals are actually going to do it. I agree. Will it be effective? It was last year.

Starting point is 00:12:51 So will it be effective from the start? We'll find out. Number two, what's the leash look like? And when do they pull the rug on this thing? If it's not good, I think that's one of the things I'm going to be very interested in. Because I, like last year, think of the first scripted plays against the Browns, right? That was a very under center play action focus. Noah Fant, the run game up the middle.

Starting point is 00:13:12 Like everything look good. They run down, they score. And we're like, oh, yeah, let's go. This is going to be good. And then they hit a, what was it, a play action jumbo set to Noah Fant at the goal line. I think what was that first touchdown? And that could be Eric all this year. People are going to go bananas like this offense.

Starting point is 00:13:26 Here it is. Let's go. And then they were shotgun the rest of the way because nothing else worked for them. So how quickly against this Bucks team against this Texans team, when I want to look too far ahead. But we are talking more about fast starts here in September. That first part of the schedule. here is really tough. It's also something that the Bengals have done in recent years where they will go to some of this more designer stuff on their scripted plays. And then as soon as it's live

Starting point is 00:13:51 bullets out there, you don't get to do exactly what you've planned for your first 10, 12 plays of the game. Then they're just doing what they do. We're going to get back in the shotgun. Maybe one out of every 10 plays we'll get under center. And that's probably pretty generous, probably more like one out of 15, one out of 20. We'll see if that's any different this year with the point of emphasis. that they put on it in the regular season. The other thing that I'm thinking about is you're talking about Chase Brown and potentially a fast fantasy start

Starting point is 00:14:16 is, yeah, we've talked a lot about how good Dexter Lawrence says, Vita Vaya is right there for Tampa. And of all the teams for you to face in week one, who can sell out against a pass and still deal with a run effectively with a light box, think DJ Reader in his prime.

Starting point is 00:14:34 That's what Vita Vaya does for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And so this is a team that when they're healthy, I think is underrated. They are healthy right now. Last year they were really, I think, affected by injuries. They fell off down the stretch. They couldn't keep things up. They also were dealing with the transition away from Liam Cohen,

Starting point is 00:14:51 who's shown to be a really good coordinator of the Bengals will see in week four instead of week one after he left Tampa to go coach the Jaguars and really seemed to figure things out there last year. But when we look at those first four weeks of opponents, bucks, Texans, Steelers, Jaguars, then they get the dolphins. So can you get through those first four weeks? Can you start fast enough in those first four weeks

Starting point is 00:15:15 against two of the best past defenses based on 2025 passer rating that they're going to face this entire season? That's the Texas and the Jaguars. Can they get out of those games okay and get to the Dolphins game in that bi-week in good shape? This is their toughest stretch, I think, of the entire season is these four games.

Starting point is 00:15:35 You can make the argument later when they have the Chiefs and, you know, they've got the Ravens on New Year's Eve. That may be the toughest, but the Ravens are after. Depending on what the Ravens look like this year. I expect. I'm sorry, the Chiefs, depending on the Chiefs. Oh, okay, yeah, yeah. If I had to bet this is going off a little bit, but I bet the Ravens will be better than the Chiefs this year.

Starting point is 00:15:54 Take clip it. Chiefs fans, go ahead. But I just expect that. Lamar's been too good where Mahomes has kind of petered off a little bit. But you have these four games that are tough to start out of the blocks. the bucks, the Texans, the Steelers. We'll see how good they actually are, but it's a division matchup and they've got enough quality players.

Starting point is 00:16:12 Their defense is really good. Plus they've added to it in free agency. And then you have the Jags. That's a four tough stretch. And the Jags were a lot better than you think last year. When I use quarterback rating and passer rating for the offense versus defense, the Jags defense allowed a 78.5 passer rating on defense last year. I think that was number two only behind the Texans and just ahead of the Broncos.

Starting point is 00:16:34 They affect the quarterback. Big time. Now we'll see if that continues. And we'll see if that's more of a blip or a trend for them of who they're going to be under Liam Cohen. But that is a, that was a tough team last year. We'll see if the Jags are again. You have the Dolphins by week and then Ravens. So you could say five of the first six are games that they're going to have to scrap out. And maybe when they saw this schedule, they were talking about getting under center, creating explosives before that, right? But when the schedule came out, I wonder if they saw this and they were like, yes, let's really nail it home and get good at this stuff. And make it a

Starting point is 00:17:04 a page in the playbook we can absolutely go to whenever we need to late in the game early in the game, middle of the game with, let's say Burrell struggling to start. You start with a drop back, we're going to throw the ball 40 times a game against the Patriots in three degree weather. Remember that game? And maybe Burrell struggles and they say, all right, instead, let's switch to the run game. Let's get on her center. Let's use this play action. They want it to be a piece they can actually use. And that's different than years past where it felt like, yeah, let's try this. Let's see what happens here. And we'll go back to throw on the ball after the opening script drive. It feels like this is going to be something that if they come out of this,

Starting point is 00:17:39 and I expect these to be dog fights and coin flip type games because the Bengals do start slow. I'm trying to put some of that baked into my bias here. But if it's not, if we come back and look at September, I'm trying to look at the positive and they win these games and they're under center and they're doing this, I think the hype is going to be absolutely through the roof, Jake. People are going to be on board. If they're three and one, let's say, people are going to say, Yeah, the Bengals and the Texans start against the bills and then the Bengals. Like if they go 0 and 2 and you win that game in week two as well, oh, yeah, that's going to knock them down defensive team and the Bengals are going to be everyone's buying.

Starting point is 00:18:16 And the defense, obviously, for the Bengals is going to be part of this as well. We're very focused on the offense here because we're looking at the defensive matchups. On the other side, the defense has a favorable matchup against the Texans in week two on paper. This is an offense that's since CJ Stroud's rookie year hasn't really been able to figure anything out consistently. So the defense maybe helps you win in week two and week three against the Steelers and Aaron Rogers. And I know they've added pieces on offense to him. Mike McCarthy is trying to go rejuvenate Aaron Rogers and all those things.

Starting point is 00:18:44 But say let's talk about the first, what, six games. Because that Ravens game is sitting there in week seven. That's going to be a tough one too. But if they get to four and two and then you get the Titans, Falcons, Steelers, commanders, Saints, Browns for the next few weeks. Oh, yeah. And if it's anything like Bengals teams of years past, they're hitting their stride right around that week seven,

Starting point is 00:19:08 week eight mark and ascending at that point, because that's what it looks like every year under Zachtoe. And I don't know if that's noise or if that's actually something that will be consistent. It's really hard for me. In November, December. No doubt. It's just hard for me to say, like, whether that's like just the way it's been or if that's something that you can

Starting point is 00:19:25 actually say, yeah, that's going to be the way that it will be in the future because past performance doesn't always predict future performance. But if it's anything like previous years have been for this team, getting through those first six games, three and three, four and two, four and two is obviously very different from three and three. But even at three and three, you should feel pretty good about the Bengals chances of getting to 11 plus wins

Starting point is 00:19:48 that we've been talking about for the last few weeks. And the AFC North will be a thorn in their side as well. We have to give the Brown some credit, even though they've had, well, a very Browns-like offseason. but we'll discuss some of those struts in the ASC North as we're continuing to look around for how the Bengals can get through this stretch well to start the season and carry that into the playoffs coming up next. Before the season kicks off and as we're doing today on this podcast, everyone's making predictions. Who's going to win the division? Who's going to be the breakout player like we did a couple of days ago?

Starting point is 00:20:21 Who's going to make the playoffs? Can the Bengals get to 11 wins on Calci, America's number one prediction market? You can trade those predictions in a live market. If the Bengals do get to 11 wins and you make that investment, a $100 trade is going to pay out $198. That's if they get to that 11 win mark. On Calci, you're trading against peers in a live market. There's no house. And as a probability changes, you can buy in and out of your position.

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Starting point is 00:21:08 differ from those mentioned for more information see calcci dot com slash regulatory joe a lot of people have asked over the last few months i would say about the ravens about the steelers about the browns about the bengals opponents in the a fc north because this has been a huge talking point in years past Can the Bengals win in the AFC North? That's been a problem in some years for the Bengals. They've done a lot of splitting of games in the AFC North. And the surest way to get into the playoffs is to sweep your division. I don't know if I remember.

Starting point is 00:21:42 I know the Bengals have done it. I don't remember what year it was. I remember it was a big deal when they did it. It was a Marvin Lewis year for sure. That may not be in the cards this year. I think the AFC North remains pretty good. But when you look around this division, Joe, what do you think? of the threats to the Bengals and the Steelers, the Ravens, the Browns this year?

Starting point is 00:22:04 Using my process, I look at, again, quarterback play versus defensive play. And the Ravens have typically gotten hyper-efficient production out of Lamar Jackson. If that continues, now they have a first-time play caller. We'll have to see. But if you look at trends of the league, elite quarterbacks tend to still be elite. Like, it doesn't matter where the coordinator really is. And we'll have this conversation. I think we have when we talk about different coaches, you know,

Starting point is 00:22:33 coming in and replacing Zach Taylor. But we're looking at this in the rest of the division now as the Browns have a new coach, the Steelers have a new coach, Ravens have a new coach. And I still expect the elite quarterbacks to be elite. And I expect Lamar to still be elite. Now, can the defense be better? Can Jesse Minter from the Chargers? He was coordinating a fantastic defense.

Starting point is 00:22:54 And I didn't love all their pieces. I felt like he put everyone cases in their places. He put the best players in position to succeed in that defense and really called good game plans. If that's the case and he carries that to Baltimore, they're going to be fine. But they do have weaknesses and exploitable holes that I think will make these games still back and forth slugfest between the Bengals and the Ravens. And the winner of those could probably decide the division. I think the Steelers are quality. Well, is Mike McCarthy even good?

Starting point is 00:23:23 But I'm not so sure. I will say one of the conversations that we're having today is starting fast and being different in that first month. Mike McCarthy did this with the Cowboys a few years ago. And it's when they won, I think they were the number two seed. They were a top seat in the NFC. But they started off with a lot of motion, a lot of misdirection, a lot of play action, because he's known for having a stagnant offense, right?

Starting point is 00:23:47 And a lot of slant flat, right, combos. And that's all he and Aaron Rogers devolved into. to in the latter part of their marriage together in Green Bay. But he went to Dallas and said, oh, yeah, I've been doing all these things. I've learned all these things about offense. That lasted four weeks, but they're very good in those first four weeks. And the offense was just okay afterwards because Mike McCarthy settled into being Mike McCarthy. Maybe we have the opposite this time.

Starting point is 00:24:11 I wonder if he starts fast doing that or if we can see that with the Bengals starting fast and then leaning into the borough offense after that first month. He's just an example of it. The thing about McCarthy is that he wins games. and he always has, just like the Bengals under Zach Taylor and Joe Burrow have always gotten better as the season goes on. I'm not sure if that's just a product of where McCarthy's been and the teams that he's had, but I think that's probably also going to be true to some degree of the Steelers this year. The big difference is that he doesn't have a top tier quarterback, assuming Aaron Rogers doesn't throw it back five years or so here,

Starting point is 00:24:45 but he does have a track record of considerable success on talented teams in the NFL. And I think the Steelers still have a lot of talent on the defensive side of the ball. They've added on the offensive side of the ball. So there's no reason for me to think going from Mike Tomlin to Mike McCarthy, that the Steelers suddenly become a team that's not going to be an annoying thorn in the side of the Bengals. Not that I think the Steelers really have much of a shot to make a bunch of postseason noise, unless one of their young quarterbacks for places Aaron Rogers and is the next coming of Tom Brady kind of thing. I just don't see it with Aaron Myers.

Starting point is 00:25:20 It would be very annoying. don't see it with Aaron Rogers in this offense, but I do see the Steelers once again being a team that can push the Bengals in ways that are uncomfortable and annoying. And when you look at the Ravens, the primary competition in the division, I just look at that defense because in years, what, last year, last couple of years, they've had these crazy shootouts with the Ravens that have come down to one one turnover here, one turnover there. I think that offense is probably going to figure things out with Lamar Jackson and Derek Henry. It's just not hard to draw up an offense around those guys. Maybe the offensive line is an issue there where Ronnie Stanley's maybe aging out of the NFL. They have the turnover on the interior offensive line. And Roger Rosengarten has been a fine player right tackle, but he's not a world beater.

Starting point is 00:26:09 So maybe the offensive line is up being their undoing. Maybe not. I'm more focused on the defense there. and the return of Matabeeke, the addition of Trey Hendricks into that defense, the health in the secondary where of all the teams in the NFL, at this point in this season to go toe to toe to with the Bengals in the secondary, Nate Wiggins, Marlon Humphrey, Chinobe, Ouzia, Chandler, Rivers,

Starting point is 00:26:33 who's been really good for them in the preseason. Should be a Bengal. With Kyle Hamilton and Malachi starts behind it. Like that secondary is one that can feel reasonably confident and this probably been purpose built to deal with the Bengals, right? And Jamar Chase torching the Ravens year after year and getting them out of BK back and getting Trey Hendrickson mixed into the pass rush there could be a little bit problematic for the Bengals to me when I think about the threat that the Ravens have.

Starting point is 00:26:58 And Trey going against Orlando Brown for a bunch of pivotal pass rushing snaps in a game. We'll see what Trey is exactly for them. But I think he's still going to be a good pass rusher for them. And the Ravens will continue to be annoying. and I think are seen as the other potential contender in this division, and I think probably rightly so. And then that leaves us with the Browns, who I think stink and absolutely are not going to be good at all this year.

Starting point is 00:27:23 And in fact, this could be, I really respected Jim Schwartz, right, and had all the respect in the world for Miles Garrett. Like we're talking, that's one of the best defense coordinators in the league and one of the best football humans on planet Earth. Like if the aliens are coming down and they want to have like a Monstars football game, Miles Garrett's the first guy we're sending out there with his shirt off, right? And we're like, this is our representation. Maybe we could scare them a little bit.

Starting point is 00:27:46 And that's the most respectful thing I can say about him. He is that good. You don't have those guys anymore. And to me, they really rode Jim Schwartz and Miles Garrett on defense. And that's why they were so good. They have other players that are quality. Don't get me wrong. I think Carson Swettinger is great and can be.

Starting point is 00:28:04 And I think Mason Graham can be as well. And there's others. They have other guys. But this offense could be. terrible, horrible. Their line is in a reshuffling and a rebuild. They've got rookie weapons. Let's see Harold Fanon Jr. and you're big fans of him, but is that your leading guy? Your leading target guy? You better be really good. Judkins looks like a good running back. But again, it all comes back to the quarterback. And I don't think they're good at all.

Starting point is 00:28:31 I think the Browns are going to be, I'm talking like two wins this year. I'm not scared of them anymore. I'm not scared of you anymore. I'm like, you know, Home Alone. coming out of the house, a little baby Joe Burrow coming out. We're not scared anymore. We're not. The Bengals also don't get the Browns until very late in the season, week 13, week 18, no early season shenanigans up in Cleveland, no Halloween games this year,

Starting point is 00:28:54 very normal games against the Cleveland Browns this year was something that stood out to me when I looked at the schedule. Their rookie receivers might be pretty good, Denzo Boston and Casey Concepcion. Spencer Fenno is probably going to be pretty good at left tackle for them. But you mentioned the rest of that offensive line in discercerver. right quarterback in something well beyond disarray, just absolutely Fubar up there in the quarterback room.

Starting point is 00:29:18 And that secondary, I feel like in years past, the secondary looked like it could really stand up to the Bengals in ways that right now is Denzo Warden some guys. Tyson Campbell's back there. They got Miles Hardin. There's a seventh round pick in 2024 listed as their starter in the slot. Grant Delpit's a fine player. Ronnie Hickman's a fine player. Those guys don't scare you.

Starting point is 00:29:39 It's really, all right, let's have a game plan for Jared versus have a game plan for Mason Graham and off we go. And the defense without Miles Garrett, without Jim Schwartz feels, as you said, much less threatening. And we'll see about this coaching staff, man. Tom Munkin maybe is just going to be another one of these Browns coaches. It's a one and done or maybe short term. I think Sopansky brought a lot of stability to that organization. the reason he got a job right away elsewhere, the way that a lot of Browns coaches

Starting point is 00:30:11 don't always get jobs right away elsewhere, this could be back to some disaster Browns as they're trying to figure out how to get a quarterback and get a new coaching staff in in the near future in Cleveland. But hey, man, we'll see what it looks like in a few weeks, 10 weeks, 11 weeks, see what the Browns look like, see if we'll actually think this game is going to be annoying or not. Right now it's just the Steelers and the Ravens in this division.

Starting point is 00:30:34 and the Bengals need to get out to a quick start here and take care of business with some of these early difficult games to put themselves in the position they want to be in the rest of the way. Coming up next on Lockdown Bengals, we've got our first crossover of the season. We'll be diving into that week one matchup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Find out what's going on from the Bucks side of things. Go behind enemy lines a little bit.

Starting point is 00:30:57 That'll be your next episode on Lockdown Bengals. Until then, thanks for listening to this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. good day and have a good one

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