Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Cincinnati Bengals must STAY ON TRACK against 0-7 Jets
Episode Date: October 23, 2025For the first time this season, the Cincinnati Bengals have a chance to build some real positive momentum against the winless New York Jets on Sunday. Jake Liscow and James Rapien break down how the B...engals can "stay on track" for potentially meaningful December football in a game where they're heavy favorites. Plus, the Bengals are changing it up on the offensive line, and key player injuries we're watching that could tilt the game.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!Mint MobileReady to say yes to saying no?Make the switch at https://MintMobile.com/LOCKEDONNFLUpfront payment of $45 required (equivalent to $15/mo). Limited-time new customer offer for first 3 months only. Speeds may slow above 35GB on Unlimited plan. Taxes and fees extra. See Mint Mobile for details.BetterhelpThis episode is sponsored by Betterhelp. Our listeners get 10% off their first month at https://BetterHelp.com/lockedon. BILTTurn your rent into rewards and start earning points around your neighborhood by going to https://joinbilt.com/lockedonnfl.Supply HouseJoin the free TradeMaster program today and score serious perks like priority shipping, lower prices, and a dedicated support line. Visit https://SupplyHouse.com to sign up for free and use promo code SHNFL5 for 5% off your first order.PelotonLet yourself run, lift, flex, and push forward. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread+ today at https://www.onepeloton.com.RugietReady to level up your confidence in the bedroom? Head to https://www.rugiet.com and use promo code LOCKEDONNFL for 15% off your first order.PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFLGametimeDownload 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.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Sure, the New York Jets are 0 and 7, but this is a stay on track game for the Cincinnati Bengals
that they want to keep their season alive.
You are Locked on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast.
Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.
Well, I'm Bengals fans, and welcome to another episode of the Locked on Bengals podcast,
part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day.
I'm Jake Liskow, he's Javes Rapine, and together we are a lot.
Locked-on Bengals covering your Cincinnati Bengals here since 2016, the best one-stop shop, anywhere online for all things, Bengals, from the latest news to film analysis, to everything going on with your favorite team.
We've got you covered here on Lockdown Bengals.
Every dayers know that already, and we appreciate you if you make Lockdown Bengals your first listen.
Today we dive into the 0-N-7 New York Jets coming to Pay 4 Stadium to pay the Bengals of business.
Is it why this represents a game that as many of the games in this part of the schedule will be,
is crucial to the Bengals' hopes of keeping their season on track for a hypothetical return for Joe Burrow in December?
And there's one troubling trend, James, that I want to talk about as we get started in this one.
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And James, the trend that is scary was a trend that, much like last week when you looked at the AFC Thursday night trends where the home team in the AFC North has such an advantage on Thursday night football.
Or just the recent primetime trend in the NFL where straight up underdogs were winning.
They had won seven out of the last eight primetime games straight up.
up as underdogs. The Bengals on games coming off of Thursday night football haven't won in a very
long time. Certainly haven't won in the Zach Taylor era, their best result being a tie against the New York
Jets coming off Thursday night football. And well, the Bengals have two opportunities this year to
write that wrong. And the first and biggest opportunity this week against the team that has been
absolutely hapless and is in quarterback limbo in the New York Jets. Got to have it. It's the got to have
a game. You want to say stay on track. It's get to to two and oh in realistic games with Joe Flacko. I get it. They lost to that Packers team. And it was a tough
situation. I don't think anybody was really expecting them to win that game. But last week was keeping your
season alive. And what that did was earn you the chance to beat a winless team and get back to 500.
And so this this is one of those games where it's weird.
The Bengals are, it's weird because the Bengals are favored and yet we've covered this team and it's not like it's been all positive.
It's not going to be all positives in this show even.
And yet with all the injuries or the key injury at least with Joe Burrow and in everything that's gone on through eight weeks, they can get to four and four.
And they can be right there where they kind of fresh slate and an open AFC give themselves an opportunity here over the final couple of months of 20.
2025 to be in the thick of it.
And that didn't seem realistic a couple of weeks ago, pre-Joe Flacco trade, as we recorded this
16 days ago.
I mean, he's been a Bengal for 16 days, and it feels like it's done so much inside the
locker room, which is a big one.
Like, I've seen plenty of discourse about the locker room.
And I don't think Zach had lost it, but I definitely think it was going in that direction
where things were going bad in a hurry.
belief was fading fast and now it's there and now it's back and to get it all the way back
I think you obviously have to handle business at home against the Jets all of the uncertainty
Aaron Glenn a punchline for his comments of we don't want to tell the Bengals who our starter is
and give them a competitive advantage like that got he got roasted on social media for saying that
and I think we all know it's probably going to be Tyrod Taylor so he's healthy he's on the
I think he is. Old guy, knee, he's fine.
He was limited. And injuries are certainly a storyline in this game as the lead-up to the game.
Trey Hendrickson's return is a topic of conversation on the Bengal side of things, on the jet side of things.
I have all eyes on Soss Gardner and the potential homecoming for Soss Gardner playing back in Cincinnati for the first time in a while.
And the concussion protocol for him, he didn't practice on Wednesday.
And you can kind of tell where guys are in the concussion protocol.
you usually don't see them practice the Wednesday after a Sunday concussion.
If you see any sort of participation from Sauce on Friday,
there's a chance that he could get back for this one.
But that's just one that you're going to have to keep an eye on.
And there's a number of those injuries on the jet side of things
that are going to bear watching this week.
But the reason I call it a stay on track game, James,
is because the Bengals haven't had those this season.
Sure.
They haven't been on track at any point this season.
And it's a stretch to say that they are now,
but beating the Pittsburgh Steelers with an offensive showing,
like the one they had,
is the closest they have been in 2025.
Week one, they sneak out a win.
Week two, they sneak out a win.
They lose Joe Burrow.
At no point in either of those wins did we think
that they were on track from a detailed perspective,
from a record perspective, from an outcome perspective,
sure, 2 and 0 is where you want to be.
And it's part of why they're still,
end this conversation at this point after having the 0-and-4 stretch, the four-game losing streak.
But for the first time this season, it's, okay, can they sustain something on offense?
They've had six pretty good quarters on offense.
They didn't score in the first quarter last week, but they were able to get a couple first
downs, which is hilarious to say out loud, but is progress for them in the first half in the
first quarter.
So we've seen them find the success in the quick game.
They found some success in the run game last week.
week. Jamar Chase is doing Jamar Chase things. Joe Flacco is loving throwing to Jamar Chase and
T. Higgins. He's talked about it on the Fits and Witt podcast with you guys when he's been on the
podium. Joe Flacco, a shockingly entertaining guy to listen to on interviews. He's a pretty good
interview, I would say. But can he keep that going? Can Flacco build on the success? Can Zach Taylor
and this offensive staff do as they've done in the past and continue to find answers? And then on the other
side of things. It's really stay on track for the offense and like find a foothold for the
defense against an offense that Garrett Wilson again, one of those key injuries for the Jets on the
offense side of the ball. Who's beating you on this Jets offense? It's like Brees Hall and some tight ends
and like a collection of receivers that would be on the bench for the Bengals, I think. So
get on track for the defense, stay on track for the offense, and an opportunity to build some
momentum for the first time this season, build some of that faith, some of that belief that has
started going in the right direction, James.
September 14th was the last time they scored a first quarter touchdown, Jamar to Jill.
So that's still, that streak still continues.
Joe to Jamar.
Yeah. Joe, who maybe I'm for.
Jamar to Joe on Sunday, baby.
Did you see someone, someone tagged us in an old clip of Joe Flacco catching a deep ball?
back like when he was a baby by NFL standards yes no I did I I agree with you on on
flaco being he's he's so easy to root for and part of why winning this game on Sunday is so
important is if the bengal stay relevant and they stay in it and they win enough games
to do those things we're talking about one of the best stories in the league like because
he's going to just be so relatable.
The clip went viral.
Everybody has seen it by now.
If we want to play it, we can.
I had to have it ready.
But the sitting at a restaurant by himself is super relatable.
And it wouldn't have been relatable for me like 10 years ago.
But now I'm like, oh, yeah.
And we haven't talked to Jamar on Thursday.
I'm curious to ask him if he can, if he understands that yet.
He is a dad.
But I don't know if Jamar does.
And it's just interesting to see how Joe has quickly integrated himself into this locker room
just by being himself and being the 40-year-old dad of four and husband
and all of the things that he's been and obviously a really good quarterback as well.
Yeah.
He has very quickly become a very easy to root for a player, I think, for this team,
especially for people that are in it and watching all the Joe Flacco media appearances out there
from the post game on Thursday night football after the win,
where I think he started earning more hearts of fans
and aren't watching the press conferences, for example,
and like the Fitz and Whit podcast appearance from Flacco also
pretty entertaining talking to the other, you know,
guys that are roughly his age that have retired in Andrew,
Andrew Whitworth and Ryan Fitzpatrick.
But there's another lineup change coming in front of Joe Flacco.
as we talk about the overall, the broad strokes,
stay on track on offense.
Joe Flacco continue to play at a high level
because we saw an excellent game from him against the Steelers.
It's going to be different.
He's going to be challenged in different ways
as teams get taped on how the Bengals are approaching things
on offense with Flacco.
But another change coming as the Bengals are shifting gears at guard.
Talk some more about some of those injuries.
Trey Hendrickson's return some of the matchups that will matter in this game.
Coming up next.
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All right, Jake, before we dive into the offensive line and other storylines going into
this game, a big one's what's going to happen at halftime.
And Zach Taylor spilled the beans on Wednesday when he mentioned that Dave Lapham's name
already up there.
And obviously, they're going to block it out.
But to have two well-deserving, more than well-deserving guys going into the Ring of Honor
on Sunday, it's going to be awesome.
Yeah, Dave Lapham, Lamar Parish.
Huge congrats to those guys.
Leap in Lamar.
Leap in Lamar.
Obviously, both of these guys destined for the Ring of Honor.
Part of that group, and I think is true every time we talk about this,
all of those potential candidates that were on the initial voting list seemed like they
were destined for the Ring of Honor.
We're certainly still in that territory.
Maybe if there are some fringe cases that you could argue on that list, but not for these
guys and a big congrats to them.
And while Dave Lapham won't be suiting up for the Bengals on the field.
Maybe he should.
Maybe Lamar should.
Yeah, maybe it would help.
They could use help with both of those positions a little bit.
But we'll still have Lappen suited up in some capacity as he continues his career in
and around the Bengals.
And well, the Bengals are making a change at the position that Dave Lappen played.
A guard and it sounds like the youth movement is back on, the Bengals relying.
on rookies all over the field this season to play key roles and it sounds like Dylan Fairchild
will return to the lineup this week. That's the expectation for sure is that Dylan Fairchild's
back in and I mixed feelings about it because on one hand Jake Dalton Reisner is certainly
for my money one of their two best guards certainly and so to not have him out there
seems questionable at best.
Now, if you flip it, you could say, well, they've been committed to Dylan Fairchild
since they drafted him in April.
They've been committed to him being the starter, basically from the jump.
He didn't do anything to lose the job.
Dalton Reisner filled in very well.
My question is, if Fairchild struggles a bit, how long is that leash?
Is it a half?
I mean, Quinn and Williams is a dude, a real dude that's going to cause.
some problems. And so how do they handle that one? Two, if they if they don't handle it well and
Dylan Fairchild's losing, does Reisner come out to start the second half? I wonder. I don't know
how long that leash is. And if they were going to return Dylan Fairchild to the lineup,
this is something that I think we even talked about last week. To me, that makes plenty of sense,
but to me also on the other side where Zach Taylor obviously is pleased enough with the progress of
his rookie guards. Jaila Rivers on tape has had some struggles. He's also done some things well,
but Dalton Riser just had a good run blocking game of all things against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
And he got beat a couple times in protection. Cam Habert will still do that to you. But
Rivers on the other side, I mean, it doesn't seem like there's any consideration given to switching
Dalton Riser over to the right side. It doesn't seem like there's been any consideration really
given to returning Lucas Patrick to the starting lineup where I wonder what that,
line is you're talking about the leash for Fairchild if it's just that they wanted to give him an
extra week to get healthy he was active last week but if they wanted to give him an extra week to
get healthier before he returned to the starting lineup what's the leash for for Jayland rivers
who by all accounts has been healthy and maybe eventually develops these are valuable reps for
these guys as far as development goes but right now are you putting your best five on the
field when you keep those rookies out there the Bengals seem to think so they seem to think
that the balance of development and getting their best offensive line on the field is working
with those guys. But the chemistry that seemed to emerge with Dalton Reisner and Ted
Harris and Orlando Brown last week, like I said, especially in the run game, it does make this
change feel questionable. I'm not going to say that it's not understandable at all. A lot of the
initial reaction is like, this is a crazy decision. That's what we got from a lot of our listeners,
James is like, what are they doing? What are they thinking? But like you said, it's not like
Fairchild went out there and lost the job. He could certainly stand to be better. He's a rookie
guard from the third rounds, of course, but I'm more interested in the right guard spot with this
change. Like put Dylan Fairchild in, sure, that kind of makes sense to me, but what's the leash then for
Jaylon Rivers? Yeah. And I think that's the other element here is, it's reasonable to think
Dylan Fairchild might be one of their five best linemen.
Fine with that.
But it's unreasonable to say that Dalton Reisner isn't one of their five best linemen.
Like I think that's really tough to paint that path and be realistic about it.
And I tried to be pretty clear with Zach about the line of questioning before Wednesday's practice.
And since then, obviously, we have, we've seen Fairchild line up with the ones and all of those things.
But it's like, are you trying to win now?
Like, obviously, you're trying to win Sunday.
I don't know how Riser on the bench is the best path to do it.
Like, it's hard for me to see that, put it that way.
Yeah.
And around them, the offense still has to execute.
And like you said, you got to deal with Quinn and Williams on the other side.
You have to deal with Jameen Sherwood, who is really good in the run game and the return of Quincy Williams.
The last time we saw Quincy Williams play against the Cincinnati Bengals, he really made a name for himself in a lot of ways.
is he's designated for return from IR for the Jets
and was a full go on Wednesday.
So kind of expecting to see him back for the Jets this week.
But the big one in terms of the matchups in this game
is going to be, is Soss Gardner available to the Jets?
If he's not available to the Jets,
this thing really tilts in the favor of the Bengals on the outside.
And it should always tilt in the direction of the Bengals on the outside
with Jamar, Jason T. Higgins.
But of all the corners in the NFL to deal with those guys,
Sauce Gardner is one where you can think,
okay, we're going to have to deal with
Sauce Gardner. Much like Patrick Sartan
a few weeks ago with the Denver
Broncos, that's the
case for Sauce. He's
maybe if you look at his PFF
grade, you're not super impressed, but he
was starting to play really well.
He's put together a few really nice weeks
for the Jetson coverage. And
without him,
the Bengals receivers
were able to handle Brandon Stevens
the last time the Bengals
face Brandon and Stevens a corner and he's a fine corner Jarvis Bradley in the slot for the Jets like
those matchups go so strongly in the Bengals favor that you could imagine things going like they did
against the Steelers for the Bengals on offense like yeah they're going to be past protection
issues at times but Joe Flacco should be able to figure out where the ball needs to go quickly
and those wide receivers should be able to wing quickly enough that the offense should be able
to remain on track especially if sauce is missing. Yeah that's it's exactly right
And ultimately, if Sunday they're able to open up running lanes and they're able to get the ball to their playmakers and it's Dylan Fairchild and it's Jalen Rivers, well, then fine.
But the last thing you want is Quinn and Williams to get in there and make a few disruptive plays early and throw things off and put the Bengals in a bad spot where maybe they go another game without scoring a touchdown in the first quarter.
plenty to get to. We've got to talk about this defense and how they're maybe going to turn it around.
Is Trey going to play? Plenty of questions surrounding Al Golden's crew. We'll get to that coming up next.
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There are moments that do more than put points on the board. They move crowds, move culture, and keep moving the game forward.
this week's moment that moved the game forward is T. Higgins with his slide.
And if you look at all these different angles, Zach Taylor told them to slide.
Obviously, you got Jamar after the game saying he would have slid T. Higgins super aware,
makes that move to not score the touchdown, slide, and give Evan McPherson a chance to win the game, put the game away.
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One last thing on the offense, James, before we flip over and talk about the defense,
Trey Hendrickson, who's going to make offense happen for the New York Jets, which is a big question that I have?
and hopefully I'm not answering on Sunday after the game is the run game for the Bengals.
When they've been able to get the run game going this year, it has unlocked their offense,
even if it's just going a little bit.
And Joe Flacco is showing that understanding of when to go to the passing part of the run-pass options
that they're reading before the snapper, the package plays depending on what you want to call it.
But if they can run the ball again this week, Steelers struggled to tackle mightily last.
week. And the Jets have their own tackling issues, one of the teams, at least according to
PFF, that's down in the conversation with the Bengals in the tackling world. But the return of,
like I said, Quincy Williams and linebacker could help in that regard. But a team that is better
defending the run than the Pittsburgh Steelers. And the Bengals were able to chunk some runs off
last week, really helped the offense get going. Very curious to see how the run game continues
to find those incremental improvements as the Bengals continue to tinker with things on offense.
But on the defensive side of the ball, James, another huge injury question for the Jets.
And this one, Soss Gardner on defense is roughly equivalent to the presence of Garrett Wilson
on offense for the Jets.
And he's still dealing with a hyper-extended knee to not practice on Wednesday either.
So obviously watching his status is it doesn't sound necessarily entirely likely that he's going to play.
but if it's not Garrett Williams,
then the receivers for Terrad Taylor are Alan Lizard,
Josh Reynolds, and Ariens Smith.
And they're going to play a lot of two tight-end sets
with Mason Taylor and Jeremy Ruckert,
who's going to play a lot in line for them.
Taylor's going to be aligned a little bit more versatility.
And then obviously there's Breece Hall.
And then apparently to Rod Taylor,
a quarterback, even though he's also dealing with an injury
and was limited on Wednesday.
Without Garrett Wilson, you look at this Jets offense,
and you're kind of like, man, where does it come from?
Offensive line's not great.
Armand Membo has had a really impressive rookie season on the right side
at tackle for the Jets, but there are guys that you can beat across this offensive line.
The skill guys aren't terrifying.
And I say this now, and I'm wondering, man,
which of these guys is going to make me eat my words in a couple of days
because this Bengals defense hasn't been able to stop anyone all year.
And that's it is you have to.
Like if you're ever going to stop anyone ever, this is the type of game.
Like this needs to be the Bengals have been the get right team for a lot of teams.
This needs to be the get right game for the Bengals defense.
And you got Shamar Stewart saying it was a subpar performance last week.
Fine.
Coming off the ankle, well, I expect Trey Hendrickson to be on the field.
Shamar Stewart's going to play.
First time they'll be together since week two.
And for a full game, hopefully, since week one, let's see something there.
Let's see how that works.
Now, the Bengals, they activated Cedric Johnson, opened up that window with Cam Sample,
nicked up here.
Will he be ready to go?
I know there are veterans in the building this offseason that said, man,
Cedric Johnson's got something to him as a pass rusher.
We'll see, you know, coming off of an injury, I don't,
expectations shouldn't be high and they aren't high, but maybe he can give you something
because you haven't gotten a lot.
And so if this defense, if there was ever a game where this defense was going to
get some pressure, contain a team, and hold up its end of the bargain and not just force a few
turnovers and be opportunistic, this would appear to be the game. And it starts, it's been the
theme the past couple of weeks, you can't let Brie's all beat you because that's where it's
going to start. They're going to want to get Brise Hall the ball because he's their best playmaker,
especially with Garrett Wilson out. And so you've got to make sure that Hall doesn't beat you.
And I'm assuming Wilson's out.
Not positive on that, but I think it's turning in that direction.
Yeah, and that makes Terrod Taylor's life so much easier if they aren't able to run the ball.
And the Bengals have been susceptible in the run game this year.
Now, if they can sell out to stop the run, they might be able to stop the run and say,
okay, Tarad Taylor and Alan Lazard and Josh Reynolds, you guys beat us.
Mason Taylor, you guys beat us.
And maybe they do.
But if you can...
Mason can play.
I'm not trying to say there's nobody, right?
But it's like if you're picking one,
it's let's make Terad Taylor prove that he can beat us with these weapons
and with the potential pass protection issues that the jets have had.
Geron Taylor on his dropbacks is in pressure on 47% of his dropbacks,
according to PFF this year on 91 dropbacks.
And the Bengals haven't been able to get after the passer this year.
But if it is Trey and that's the way it's trending,
Trey should be able to beat up on Fashanu on the left side.
Maybe this is a BJ Hill game.
the interior for the Jets suspect.
Maybe this is a Chris Jenkins opportunity to show that he's taken some steps as a pass rusher,
which we haven't really seen this year, and I wouldn't necessarily expect.
But these are the kinds of games against offenses that are lacking on the weapon department
and lacking on the offensive line where you should be able to win in multiple ways on defense
where if this defense isn't going to be the worst defense in the NFL that it has been so far,
and like we've talked about, they've played some good offense.
offenses this year. This is the kind of game where, yeah, you have to get right a little bit.
You can't be the reason that the Bengals are fighting for their lives in the fourth quarter
against a team that literally is 0 and 7 and has looked as bad as any, as bad as the worst
moments for the Bengals this year. They're making quarterback changes in all these things.
But still has a feeling in many ways of a trap game, especially when you consider the Bengals
history coming off Thursday night games recently. This is a trend that
needs to change for this team this week.
And what you do is you jump on them.
You score twice on your first two possessions, you know, a touchdown field goal, two
touchdowns, you get up early, you put doubt in their mind and you do that.
Like that, that's the path.
And Zach always talks about playing with the lead and it's true to a degree.
Some of it is, hey, man, find a way to come back if you don't have a lead.
But in this scenario against this team, you jump.
out to a lead, you get the crowd involved, they're thinking about how they're falling to
0 and 8. You just put all of the doubt, all of the nonsense, you put it in them early. And if you do
that, then I think you're going to be on a good path to getting the 4 and 4. And this is,
however you want to phrase it, a game that if the Bengals are a playoff team, they should win,
or if they're going to compete for the playoffs, they should win. And a loss would be,
it would take any equity that they built last week or that they added in any credibility they
added last week would be gone, I would say, if they lose to the jet.
So you've got to get it.
Got to get it done.
Yeah, I mean, we're talking about the Bengals being buyers earlier this week.
Ooh, baby.
Yep.
The only way you get there.
And I know there are a lot of fans out there.
They're like, ah, the Bengals don't make trades.
They've done it twice in the last two years.
But, you know, I hear you.
The Bengals don't really make a whole lot of trades.
And that's true.
And the NFL in general, it doesn't do a whole lot of trades.
whole lot of in-season trading.
Also true.
And there's generally a lot of hype built up around the trade deadline in the NFL
and then like two trades might happen.
Interestingly, by the way, if you read Jeremy Fowler's piece over at ESPN,
with the top valued and most likely players to get traded,
Logan Wilson actually had the highest trade probability in that entire list that Fowler put
together at 60%.
So maybe the Bengals are more actively listening to offers on Logan Wilson or shopping.
Logan Wilson, who, by the way, has a chance to be on the field a lot this week because I do expect the Jets to be in 12 personnel a lot.
And if the Bengals choose to match that with their base personnel, that's probably going to be a fair amount of playing time for Logan Wilson this week.
So we'll see what the direction is there as the Bengals have embraced that youth movement like they're doing on the offensive line at linebacker as well.
And that's led to some head scratching questions.
It was like, what are we actually doing here with Logan Wilson, not putting them on the field?
And that will be tested this week, I think, because the jets, like the Steelers, heavily relying on putting a lot of tight ends on the field.
So I could see some Logan Wilson this week.
But the reason we went down this tangent is because I talked about the Bengals are going to be buyers.
And we're going to talk about them as being in the mix and they should be making moves to continue to try to improve their team and continue to try to stay afloat for this return for Joe Burrow that everyone seems to be talking about.
this week now that they finally won a game,
all the national insiders talking about,
yeah, Joe Burrow's going to come back in December.
That's the tone.
If that's going to be relevant and those games are going to be relevant for
Joe Burrow, absolutely got to get this one and take care of business,
continue to build some momentum against Jets.
Yep, that's it.
That's it.
If you're one of those teams, you handle business this week,
you get to four and four,
and then you have a fun game next week before the buy,
but you got to get to four and four.
first. It's going to be fun to be there and cover it. You won't be there. You're going to be in Canada, but you'll be watching.
That is where I live. From Cincinnati, for all of you that are learning this for the first time.
Let's wrap up there, James. We'll be back with you after the game, after the Bengals handle. Hopefully,
the New York Jets at home, ring of honor game for the Bengals. Until then, thanks for listening to this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast.
Hootay and have a good one.
