Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Cincinnati Bengals-Denver Broncos First Look: Big Playoff Implications!

Starting point is 00:00:00 If you had told me in the preseason that this Bengals, Broncos matchup would have massive playoff implications. I'm not sure what I would have thought. But here we are, and it does. Let's break it down. Locked on NFL crossover. Part of the Locked on podcast network. Your team every day. What's going on, Broncos fans?

Starting point is 00:00:29 What's going on, Bengals fans? This is another crossover on the Locked on Podcast Network. I'm Jake Liskow from Locked on Bengals. He's Sarah Benninger. from Locked-on Broncos here with you to break down this week's big clash in Cincinnati between these Broncos and Bengals on the Locked-on podcast network covering your team every day. Shout out to all of you who make your respective Lockdown show your first listening, all the everydayers out there. And welcome into the new folks interested in the playoff run for these teams, starting with the letter B. You're in the right place and you don't have to miss an episode of Lock-on Bengals or Lock-on Broncos when you hit that subscribe button.

Starting point is 00:01:08 And as always, our crossovers are presented by prize fix, where right now when you download the app and use code locked on NFL, you'll get $50 instantly when you play your first $5 lineup. Let's get started with the Broncos there. And a team that is exceeding expectations to me on the outside, I'm not sure what you think, having covered the team all year, but here we are in a spot where if the records were reversed, maybe I'd be a little bit less surprised about the state of things for these teams

Starting point is 00:01:36 going into this game, but it's the game where the Bengals need the game and need help. And the Broncos are obviously still trying to hang on to that wildcar spot as well. What's a big story with the Broncos right now? Well, offensively for the Denver Broncos this week, it's going to be will Sean Payton actually stick with the running game, which was working very well in the first half against the Los Angeles Chargers? We saw the Broncos build an 11-point lead against Justin Herbert on the road.

Starting point is 00:02:02 That's kind of right where you want to have them, right? With a defense that's been number one in the league and in scoring, all year long and you forced eight turnovers or so the last couple of games before that. So you want to get out to those early leads. And when you do, I mean, Sean Peyton even had it. Everybody saw it on his play sheet, right? He had run the ball on the back of his play sheet and things like that. And it's like, all right, so why are we not doing that?

Starting point is 00:02:25 Because Audric Estime finally gave this team some life in the running game. So that's the number one storyline offensively this week for the Denver Broncos is, first of all, can they get the running game going again against Cincinnati? Natty, and second of all, will they stick with it? Is it a discipline thing with Sean Payton? Is it an impatience thing? Is it just like he has a couple plays that don't go well? And so he starts throwing the ball because I'm going to be honest with you,

Starting point is 00:02:50 this Bengals run-D has been susceptible a lot of the year where they either have to sell out to deal with the run or they're just getting beat because they've had tackling issues or fit issues. So what is it do you think? What's your speculation that leaves Sean Payton to get away from it? It's a great question. I think it might be just the fact of like, okay, one play doesn't work. So now we've got to go, you know, put the ball in Bo,

Starting point is 00:03:13 Knicks his hands and we'll try our quick passing game. Because the quick passing game has been a bit of an extension of the running game for the Broncos this year because they haven't run the ball well at all, really. And there's at least not consistently. They've had a couple of games here and there. But yeah, I think it's just getting into that short passing game. Or, for example, against the Chargers last week, what we saw is, you know, you start throwing Marvin Mims in the backfield, the wide receiver.

Starting point is 00:03:37 who's been very good since the NFL trade deadline, really utilized all over the offensive formation. So you get away from what was working in the first half with Audrick Estime, and you start throwing Mims into the backfield in the second half. And we saw a flea flicker. We saw Mims just straight up get the ball on a toss play. We saw other situations where he's in the backfield, and you're trying to kind of throw the defense off that way.

Starting point is 00:04:00 So instead of sticking with the bread and butter stuff, you were kind of trying to do the window dressing stuff and catch the defense off guard. So can't help but wonder if with the weather situation for this weekend, are the Broncos just going to try to maybe take it old school and just run the ball down the Bengals' throats, if at all possible? Because that may be the formula for victory in this one. Yeah, it's one of those games where it feels like if you're Denver,

Starting point is 00:04:23 you probably should just run it until they can stop it consistently. And it's just so funny that you had it written on his play sheet. It was discussed, you know, when he was going into the half, and then they didn't do it. He talked about it. And they didn't do it. What a twist of irony there. Let's talk a little bit about Bo Nix as well here.

Starting point is 00:04:42 A quarterback that Joe Burrow has actually gone out of his way to praise. And of course, with the matchup now this week, it came up again in his press conference on Tuesday. But earlier in the season, he was asked about young quarterbacks that were impressing him. And Bo Nix was top of mind for Joe Burrow. And obviously, Jane Daniels is having a great year as well. But Bo Nix exceeding your expectations?

Starting point is 00:05:04 I think he is. Yeah. And I really liked Bo Nix. I liked the fit with Sean Payton. I think that, you know, a lot of times when you're sitting at 12th overall in the NFL draft, you need a quarterback. It can be easy to talk yourself into guys at that spot. But I think that it always felt like Bo Nix would be a good fit for Sean Payton.

Starting point is 00:05:22 Now, did we think that going into week 17 that he would be 27 total touchdown good as a rookie? I mean, I don't know that anyone really thought that about Bo Nix. And we've gotten the good with the bat. He's shown rookie moments like we saw against the Colts with three interceptions. But there's also been long stretches where he doesn't turn the ball over. He doesn't take sacks. He makes really good decisions with the football. He's making plays at all levels of the field.

Starting point is 00:05:47 I think he gets a lot of dings for, well, he's a checkdown merchant or he's one of these types of guys. That's not really what I see from Bo Nix. I see a guy who's got all the armed talent to do whatever is ass of him. And, you know, for instance, against the chargers are playing off coverage, playing the two deep safety look, you're going to take those short passing routes and obviously try to get yardage after the catch, which the Broncos had their season high in yardage after the catch. So go figure it actually worked. But I think he's kind of shown just consistent growth all year and the ability to bounce back when he has bad games.

Starting point is 00:06:20 That's interesting stuff. And it'll be fun to see the Sean Payton approach and juxtaposed with the Bengals offensive approach, something that just stands out to me immediately when I look at some of the splits between Joe Burrow and and Bo Nicks are. the willingness to just get involved in the screen game, the Bengals with Joe Burrow have thrown 40 screens this year. That's 6.5% of their dropbacks and just quickly eyeballing it for Bo Nix. You're at 85 screens for Bo Nix, 14.8% of his dropbacks. So a little bit of a difference there when you're talking about where the ball is going,

Starting point is 00:06:51 but just a different offensive styles that we're going to see this weekend will be interesting as well. That being said, we'll get into some of the matchups later in the show. Let's talk about this Denver defense. It seems to have talent all over the place, obviously headlined by Patrick Sturtain. But Nick Benito was a favorite of my going back to that draft, what, 21 was it, a few years ago now? 22. And he's been just an incredible pass rusher using all of those speed rushing tools in the toolkit.

Starting point is 00:07:20 Those are the things that stand out to me from the outside. But as someone who's talking about the Broncos every day, what are the big stories with the Broncos defense this week? Well, you need those two guys that you just mentioned to show up. Those guys are number two and three in Fandul's defensive player of the year odds right now behind T.J. Watt of the Pittsburgh Steelers. So those guys have played exceptional all season. And they need to step up in a big way because didn't see much impact from them against the Chargers, quite frankly. So we want to hear Benito's name called. We want to hear Sir Tan's name called this week against the Bengals.

Starting point is 00:07:52 But also you want to hear about this guy behind me, Riley Moss, for those that aren't watching the podcast. I'm manifesting a return of Riley Moss this week, because that's probably the number one storyline here for the Denver Broncos. My Iowa Hawkeyes, the pride of the Hawkeyes, Jake. He's coming back this week potentially here. We'll get the injury reports as the week go along, but Sean Peyton rarely ever gives away any injury information early in the week. And on Sunday, he said, we're hopeful that Riley can play this weekend.

Starting point is 00:08:19 If he's saying that Riley's probably going to be playing this weekend, and he's been such a game changer in terms of the strategy for defensive coordinator, or Vance Joseph, the zone coverage calls go way up without Riley Moss in the lineup. And when Riley's in the lineup, they play man coverage, they blitz a lot. And obviously, against a guy like Joe Burrow, you're going to have to mix and match whatever you're doing in terms of the pressure packages because it doesn't necessarily even matter if you got a guy draped on him in the pocket. It doesn't necessarily even matter if he's parallel with the ground, apparently.

Starting point is 00:08:51 He can still make plays. So the Broncos are going to do their best to kind of frustrate him with their coverage you know, and the blitz packages that they send, Riley Moss, believe it or not, this year has become a critical, critical piece of that. The pride of Iowa, is that what you called him? He's one of them. It's Cooper DeGine out there, right?

Starting point is 00:09:12 I mean, how do you pick which one of those guys? I know. I know. Those guys are both amazing. And you know what? Riley Moss, he crawled so that Cooper DeGine could run. And I think that they've both done a great job. Coming up next, let's turn our attention.

Starting point is 00:09:27 to those Cincinnati Bengals as we continue this week's crossover. This crossover is brought to you by Rocket Money, which is a great tool to help you find subscriptions that you've forgotten about and you're still paying for. Maybe you paid for them twice. This happened to me. I have a few subscriptions. I didn't even realize I was still paying for.

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Starting point is 00:10:22 cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Go to RocketMoney.com slash locked on today. That's rocketmoney.com slash locked on. Rocketmoney.com slash locked on. The Cincinnati Bengals is going to be trying to keep that offense hot against the Denver Broncos defense that has been ice cold the last handful of weeks. But we're breaking down a number of different key storylines here on today's crossover Thursday edition. Locked on Broncos, locked on Bengals as we shift our attention over to the Bengals side of things. Jake's going to bring some big storylines.

Starting point is 00:11:00 but before he does, want to say thank you to every single one of you that makes locked on Broncos or locked on Bengals your first listen of the day every single day. And if you haven't already done so, we appreciate it. If you hit subscribe and Merry Christmas this season to all of you who celebrate. Jake, let's talk about some Bengals storylines for this game because like you talk about the Broncos from the outside looking in, every Broncos fan that I've talked to, everybody that's in the group chats right now, everybody is absolutely shaking in their boots at the thought of going to Cincinnati and playing against this offense because of the way that Denver's defense has been really uninspiring since the Cleveland game a handful of weeks ago.

Starting point is 00:11:41 And folks are wondering, like, did Cleveland expose some stuff at the Broncos' defense? Like, teams are now taking advantage. Sean Payton made it sound like the stuff against the chargers and the Browns and stuff was just busted coverage. But you have busted coverage enough weeks in a row. You start to wonder, is this kind of just? who we are, what are the Bengals side of this? You know, as we look at it to this game offensively for the Bengals,

Starting point is 00:12:04 what's the biggest storyline going up against Denver? Well, it continues to be whether the offense can do what they need to do to try to drag this team and keep their playoff hopes alive. And those playoff hopes are slim, but like you've heard about the Denver Broncos probably quite a bit since that Chargers game, at least I've had it mentioned to me quite a bit on social media is that these teams struggle when playing against good teams. Well, is Denver has one win against the team with the winning record. Well, the Bengals have zero.

Starting point is 00:12:30 In fact, they have the lowest strength of victory in the NFL this year, and it would have also been by far the lowest last year. And there's some quirks there. The Bengals have either played playoff teams or teams picking in the top six for the most part this year. The only team in the middle that they've played really all year are the Dallas Cowboys. But the way they've won games, and they've won games against these bad teams is one. The defense has been a litmus test for bad quarterbacks. We'll talk about the defense in a minute, but primarily it's been Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, T. Higgins, and Chase Brown doing Superman stuff.

Starting point is 00:13:03 Sometimes literally, if you look at last week's touchdown pass to T. Higgins and T. Higgins postgame comments and willing this team to either be in games or just doing what they need to do against bad teams to open up a big enough gap that there's pressure off on the defense. And that's gone a little bit differently in the last few weeks, but the offense is still certainly the driver for this team. And going into that Chargers game, for example, heard a lot that week about how the Chargers had this incredible scoring defense all year. Then the Bengals put 27 up on the Chargers and probably should have won that game. And there are other teams that have had good defenses this year that haven't mattered when they've played against the Bengals. So the very next week, they score 38 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. And the only team that has really significantly slowed them down in a game that the Bengals weren't controlling were the Philadelphia Eagles much earlier. this season outside of a weird week one game where Joe Burrow wasn't himself against the New England

Starting point is 00:13:59 Patriots. So Joe Burrow, in the opinion of those that have watched him closely, playing at an MVP level this year, you have a player playing at an offensive player at the year level in Jamar Chase, who looks to be tracking toward that triple crown for wide receivers. And a running back that's kind of come out of nowhere to provide an element for the team, not out of nowhere if you're really paying attention to the Bengals, but maybe for Broncos fans and Chase Brown, who adds an explosive element in the run game and has really come a long way in the passing game. It's been one of the most proficient pass rushers in the AFC or in the NFL, in fact, this year, which was a big question in his game, especially since they lost Zach Moss to injury and has

Starting point is 00:14:36 added an ability to catch the ball, which apparently Joe Burrow has joked was a result of him getting LASIC and being able to see the ball. I love it. Joe Burroughs got such a great personality. You get to see it on the hard knocks AFC North and everything. And, man, I love that. just the multiplicity of the weapons that the Bengals have at their disposal and how Joe Burrow, just like he did back in 2019 at LSU, he spreads the ball around with the best of them and he knows how to find open guys.

Starting point is 00:15:05 As you look defensively for this Bengals team, obviously this has been, you talk about this, both of these teams against winning record teams this season. It's kind of tough because more than half the league stinks and is terrible. There's like, you know, everybody's got eight or more losses. it feels like. But at the same time, these two teams might be the two best teams in the NFL if it came down to one score games. Like if you flip the result of one score games, these teams are, would be awesome.

Starting point is 00:15:33 We wouldn't even be worried right now, Jake. We'd be sitting here talking about what seat are we going to be, you know, one or two. But at the same time, defensively, the breakdowns for the Bengals this year, it's been a real issue. What's the storyline now going into this matchup against Denver and a rookie quarterback in Bo Nix? I would say the bigger stories for the Bengals, are on the defensive side of the ball because the offense has been so steady all year. They've only had a couple of down games like I talked about. Joe Burrow playing at such a high level and those weapons doing what they need to do,

Starting point is 00:16:02 even though there is questions on the offensive line. Didn't even talk about a couple of injured offensive linemen that I should have mentioned. Amarius Mims who had an ankle injury last week, the rookie right tackle really coming into his own. And Orlando Brown, who's trying to come back this week. Those guys going through walkthrough on Tuesday, according to head coach Zach Taylor. And big questions there. That actually might be the biggest story on offense, and I'm just now mentioning.

Starting point is 00:16:24 But you asked about the defense, and the question is really, has anything they've done in the last three weeks been enough to build the confidence that they can translate it to a game against a real NFL quarterback? Because they've done it against Cooper Rush, against Will Levis and Mason Rudolph, and against Dorian Thompson and the Cleveland Browns.

Starting point is 00:16:45 And if you're a Broncos fan and aren't paying attention to some of those teams very much, maybe you don't know who those guys are. I wouldn't blame you, you know? Some of these backup level quarterbacks of Bengals have played, maybe they've been around long enough that everybody knows who they are at this point.

Starting point is 00:16:59 But jokes aside, it seems like you got a real quarterback in Bowenix and a real offense that Sean Payton is running with the Denver Broncos. And the test for this defense much more significant this week. And so still looking for some of these young guys on this Bengals defense

Starting point is 00:17:17 where they've spent all these premium draft picks on guys that we're still waiting to see, are they going to hit? Are they going to show that they should be part of this team's future? Can they continue that against the team that is a little bit better that can run the ball if they stick to it? That has a quarterback that won't necessarily make the kind of mistakes they've seen from Will Levis, Mason Rudolph, and Dorian Thompson, the last couple of weeks and even Cooper Rush with the Dallas Cowboys a few weeks before where they just couldn't hit open receivers. They're also a couple of pretty good, on that Denver offense and a better offensive line, I would say, than they faced for several

Starting point is 00:17:55 weeks as well, where the pass rush has been a big question mark for the Bengals all year, whereas Trey Hendrickson being awesome and desperation to try to find someone to supplement him on a more consistent basis where the gap between number one and number two in total pressures on the year for the Bengals defense is like 50 because Ray Hendrickson has 70 plus and the next guys in the 20s. You know what I mean? So they're these young guys in the secondary where they've had injuries, the need to get a pass rush going, injuries of the linebacker position really seeming to cause them to take a step back there. And a defense has just been maligned this year, putting it together the last few weeks. Big test for them this week to show that they can continue

Starting point is 00:18:37 that against a more competent offense. Well, it's going to be interesting, too, to see how much the weather forecast plays a role in this because obviously you look at, you know, it's going to be chilly, obviously, but the rain. I mean, and that's, that's a huge factor because we saw early this season. I know it's not necessarily the effects of a hurricane, but when the Broncos went to the metal lands to play the jets and it was raining pretty much the entire game, I mean, Bo Nicks really struggled in that game to get a grip on the ball, literally. And it was a rough going offensively until the second half when things, you know, kind of started to fizzle out. So we'll pay close attention to obviously the weather situation for this game and how much that plays into offensive strategy and whether or not the Broncos are able to kind of,

Starting point is 00:19:22 Sean Peyton has put the ball in Bo Nix's hands. There's no question about it. He's one of the top 10 guys this year in terms of overall pass attempts. Head coach has confidence in the quarterback, whether or not the results are always there. So he's going to put the ball in Bo Nix's hands. We'll see how much though. And whether or not the weather affects this game on Sunday. or Saturday afternoon.

Starting point is 00:19:43 Yeah, for those of you wondering, just checking out the Google forecast as we record this. It's a 35% chance of rain at 4 p.m. on Saturday in Cincinnati. So we'll see what that rain looks like or does it. It's affected the Bengals in the past too. So a great point to bring that up, and we'll have to keep an eye on that forecast.

Starting point is 00:20:03 But coming up next, let's wrap up this crossover by talking keys to victory and keys for this game. That'll be to finish the show next. Today's crossover Thursday is brought to you by our friends over there at Fanduil. The NFL playoffs, they're almost here, but it's not too late to get in on the regular season action with Fandul, America's number one sportsbook. Because right now, new customers, you can finish the season strong with $250 in bonus

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Starting point is 00:21:07 like we mentioned earlier, Pat Sertan and Nick Benito being second and third, respectively, in defensive player of the year voting. And I'm sure over there on the Bengals side, Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase up for some end of season awards that you can maybe lay a little cash on. Just visit fenduel.com to join today. That's fanduel.com for your chance at $250 in bonus bets. Make every moment more with Fandul an official sportsbook partner of the NFL.

Starting point is 00:21:36 Crossover time here on the Lockdown Podcast Network. As always, our crossovers presented by prize picks where you can get $50, instantly with your first $5 play, just use code locked on NFL. Sayre, let's talk some keys to victory between these Denver Broncos and

Starting point is 00:21:55 Cincinnati Bengals. And as you look at this game, we've probably hinted at them throughout the show. The careful listener probably can anticipate some of what we're going to talk about here. But as you think about what Denver needs to do to win this game, what comes to top of mind? Well, the number one thing that the Broncos

Starting point is 00:22:11 need to do is limit the extra possessions that Joe Burrow gets in this game. And don't give him short fields. I think those kind of go hand in hand here in this game. You don't want to give away the ball and you obviously don't want to give Burrow in this Bengals offense a short field. That's number one. Number two, feed Audric Estimate, man. Let's finally see it. I don't care. If you're going to go down, go down on that ship, Sean Payton. Let's see what Audric Estimate can do with that minimum 15 carries and how much that changes the dynamic of this game in terms of time of possession, extending drives, maybe even cashing in in the red zone.

Starting point is 00:22:44 So number one, limit the short fields and giveaways for Joe Burrow in that Bengals offense. Don't give them any unnecessary extra opportunities. Number two, feed Audric Estime. And then number three, obviously, Bo Nix, got to go out and have yourself a game. This is a situation where the Denver Broncos, you can go seize a playoff spot.

Starting point is 00:23:03 This is a win and in situation. Bo Nix, you're the guy. You're the franchise QB. Go out there and take that playoff spot. out there and make the plays. We saw Jaden Daniels this past weekend against the Philadelphia Eagles. Now, granted, you know, he was going up against a Kenny Pickett-led offense, maybe got a few extra opportunities there, despite his team turning it over five times.

Starting point is 00:23:23 Not going to be able to turn it over five times in all likelihood and beat the Bengals. But, man, Bo Nix, the number three key to victory, go out there and take this win for your team against the Chargers. It felt like the offense kind of stepped off the gas in the second half. They did put the ball in Bo Nix's hands. but you know what happened? Obviously, Justin Herbert was the one who took advantage and won the game. Bo Nix, you got an opportunity this week. Go out and win your team this game if it calls for it.

Starting point is 00:23:50 I find it so fascinating that you're focused on the Denver offense in this game when to me, like I'm drawn to the stars on the defensive side of the ball. Maybe that just speaks to the mentality on both sides. Where I'm thinking about Joe Borough T. Higgins and Jamar Chase and the things that can slow them down, which is Nick Benito like we've talked about and Pat Sertan. Where are those guys in your keys to victory? because I'm looking at that Jamar Chase matchup and Pat Sartan matchup,

Starting point is 00:24:13 and I'm curious about whether the Broncos are going to shadow or let them play sides or let them play a strong week or how does that rank? Is that like your honorable mention? Is that up there or do you think that's a step behind? Absolutely. It's up there. I mean, when you talk, we could go keys to victory on both sides of the ball. Honestly, defense, those guys need to do what they do, right?

Starting point is 00:24:34 I mean, Pat Sartan, go be Pat Sartan. Nick Benito, go be Nick Benito. go, you guys go make plays and get, obviously, if you can, like, dictate this game. That's defensively. That's where the Broncos have been at their best this season. They're turning the ball over. They're obviously getting off the field on third downs and creating short fields for their offense. That has been this team's bread and butter all year, but it's those guys going out and doing what they do because they've been the most consistent players on this team.

Starting point is 00:25:03 And so, of course, you go into a week. Pat Sartan, can you go do your thing against Jamar Chase? All the discussion is going to be, man, he's going to win that triple crown on that side of the ball. Can Pat Sertan figure out a way to stop a guy that's about to win the NFL triple crown at receiver? I think that's going to be huge. And then like Riley Moss making plays on the other side, J-Quann-McMillan in the slot, those guys need to make plays. And this defense cannot lay an egg like it has the last three weeks.

Starting point is 00:25:30 A couple of opportunistic defenses as well, Denver ranking, if I can count sixth in the NFL with takeaways at 24. but the Broncos just plus six overall. They must be giving it away a fair amount as well, 18 giveaways. And similarly, the Bengals with 23 takeaways and 19 giveaways. So that turnover battle, both teams have been pretty good at creating takeaways, but are right in the middle of the pack right beside each other in giving the ball away on the other side of the ball. I think that's a very pivotal point, as it is in every football game,

Starting point is 00:26:03 but you have a couple teams where the Bengals have gotten by the last few weeks, by being opportunistic on defense. And whether that continues is certainly one of the keys from the Bengals side of things. It wouldn't be my first choice if it wasn't just what I was thinking about, but it's certainly on the list. I think prominent in my mind is certainly

Starting point is 00:26:21 whether the Bengals get those tackles back or not this week. And Marius-vin's dealing with the ankle and Orlando Brown dealing with a weeks-long issue with his lower leg as well that is less clear what that injury is, I think, listed as a 50. at this point, but it's been listed as several different things since the injury began for him back in week eight, I believe it was. But regardless of whose at tackle, the Bengals have had protection issues against some good pass rushes. And this week, while there's no necessarily Miles Garrett level

Starting point is 00:26:54 player. And I know that you've talked about Nick Benito's defensive player of the year, Oz, no disrespect intended. But there's no Miles Garrett or T.J. Watt necessarily on the other side for Denver, there is Nick Benito, nonetheless, and a depth of pass rushers and talent across that defensive front for Denver that you have to be concerned from left to right all the way across if you're the Bengals in terms of getting the protection you need for Joe Burrow to be able to do his job. It's something that we talk about every week in these crossovers. It feels like every week on lockdown Bengals because where protection started the year pretty well for the last six, seven weeks, certainly since Orlando Brown's injury, it's been Joe Burrow,

Starting point is 00:27:33 creating a ton. Joe Burrow minimizing the impact of pressure. The pressure to sack numbers for him way down this year, down around 10% most of the time. Last week against the Browns though, that ticked up a little bit. And a big reason for that is the Browns did a good job of cutting off his escape planes,

Starting point is 00:27:50 clogging up those B gaps and preventing him from getting outside of the pocket. And so not only is it a pass rush question, but it's a how well does Denver contain Joe Burrow within the pocket when they can get pressure and actually get him to the ground as he's dealing with still some some knee issues that he's going to be managing for the rest of the year after a blatant face mask.

Starting point is 00:28:09 It wasn't called a few weeks ago that led to that knee injury for Joe Burrough. So that's definitely always on the list of past protection questions. And as a corollary to that with the passing offense, I think Jamar Chase, Pat Sertan, T. Higgins, that matchup of the secondary, which also is getting great play from Brandon Jones's safety is going to be certainly a key for the Bengals in this one. And then on the defensive side, it comes down to whether they can make Bownex uncomfortable at any point in this game, one of the better past protecting offensive lines, like I said, that they've seen in several weeks at this point. So if they can make the rookie uncomfortable and force some mistakes there, be opportunistic. That will go a long way in helping the Bengals continue their defensive stretch lately where they're not giving up as many points.

Starting point is 00:28:54 But part of that is that they force two red zone turnovers on the goal line or in the end zone against the Browns last week. and that goes a long way, obviously, and reducing the amount of points scored. So looking for opportunism to continue from the Spangles defense there. Yeah, and in the red zone is where Sean Peyton has really been just in his bag this season. I don't know exactly where the Broncos rank in red zone offense, but the play calling as of late has been outstanding. He's getting guys open relatively easily when the Broncos get down there. And it's nothing, it doesn't matter who they're playing defensively.

Starting point is 00:29:29 They're just finding ways to scheme guys open. They've got different looks that they're giving. They're giving a lot of heavy packages down in the red zone that they're throwing off of and getting guys open that way. It's very, very interesting how they've been able to do that with a rookie quarterback. But that's going to be huge in this game. It's like if you get in the red zone, you got to cash in. You got to get those six points instead of settling for field goals because at any given point,

Starting point is 00:29:52 I mean, we've seen Jerry Judy go off against this Broncos defense. Jonathan Taylor, if he didn't drop the ball right before the goal line, I mean, he would have had just a huge game against the Broncos defense. And then obviously this past week against the Chargers, way too many free runners coming off of miscommunication between the safeties and linebackers in zone coverage. So we look at that defense for the Broncos, it's going to be fascinating to see how they do handle a guy you mentioned earlier,

Starting point is 00:30:17 Chase Brown, who's having a tremendous season for the Bengals. And he might be a key to this game as you got Pat Sartan, you know, and Jamar Chase doing their thing. If Riley Moss is back over with T. Higgins and they go man coverage with Jekwon, Macmillan, Yoshivash, matched up against each other. It's going to be fascinating to see how big of a difference those guys can be. Chase Brown in particular against those linebackers of Denver. Should be a great matchup with playoff implications that, again, I don't know if I would have believed that the stakes would be what they were at the beginning of the season. But as I said, here we are a big game for both of these teams of Bengals trying to keep their playoff hopes alive and Denver trying to stay.

Starting point is 00:30:56 off the Bengals among other teams and hold on to one of those wild card spots. But that's going to do it for this week's crossover on the Lockdown Podcast Network. Make sure you check out Lockdown Bengals and Lockdown Broncos as we will continue to have you cover with all of the latest and greatest news and analysis leading into this big Saturday matchup. Until then, thanks for listening to this crossover on the Lockdown Podcast Network covering your team every day.

Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Cincinnati Bengals-Denver Broncos First Look: Big Playoff Implications!

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