Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Cincinnati Bengals' Offensive Line Struggling AGAIN: Who Deserves MOST Blame?

Episode Date: September 23, 2025

Talking about the Cincinnati Bengals and blocking issues has been a broken record for way too long. Can they fix it? All eyes should be on head coach Zac Taylor to make this right! Jake Liscow and James Rapien explain why, dive into personnel struggles at center and right guard, lack of aggressiveness and physicality in the trenches, and Chase Brown's role. There are reasons to think it can look better than it did against Minnesota.Finally, we reflect on the tragic surprise passing of former Bengals star running back Rudi Johnson. Join the Locked On Bengals Insider Community! https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonbengalsFind and follow Locked On Bengals on your favorite podcast platforms:Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-bengals-daily-podcast-on-the-cincinnati-bengals/id1159723162Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7AObc0lh0WmQl5fJVgtajsGoogle Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vbG9ja2Vkb25iZW5nYWxz?sa=X&ved=0CAYQrrcFahcKEwio_sXtj8nuAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAgStitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-bengalsSupport Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!5-Hour ENERGYTee up that trip! Enter for a chance to win a dream golf trip for two to any golf tournament* in the USA. Visit https://5HEWIN.com for full rules and entry. No purchase necessary. Excludes the Master’s tournament. Ends October 31, 2025.DoorDashWith DoorDash Streaks, you save every Saturday you order — stack it up all season and you could save up to $250. Order this Saturday. Keep the streak alive. Fuel your gameday — only with DoorDash. Terms apply. Promo period through 11/18.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNFL at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnfl for 50% off your first year.UpsideDon’t let this offer drive on by, download the free Upside app now using my limited time promo code TOUCHDOWN for a limited time 25 cent per gallon bonus! Offers vary by user and location, Go to upside.com for terms and conditions.Click Here to download the app: https://getupside.onelink.me/zlLr?af_xp=custom&pid=barrington&c=barrington_lockedon25&deep_link_value=promo&deep_link_sub1=lockedon25&af_dp=upsideapp%3A%2F%2FYahoo FantasyPresented by YahooFantasy #YahooPartner. Draft now at https://yahoofantasy.com/lockedonnfl.PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelRight now, new customers can bet just FIVE dollars and if your bet wins—you’ll get THREE HUNDRED dollars in bonus bets to use across the app.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We've been doing this show a long time now. We are really, really sick of talking about bad Bengals offensive lines. Here we go again. You are Locked-on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. What on, Bengals fans, welcome to another episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Jake Liskow.

He's James Rapine, and we are your host. of Locked-on Bengals covering your Cincinnati Bengals as a one-stop shop for everything going on with your favorite team since 2016. And if you're an everyday or shout-out to those of you who don't miss an episode, shout out to everyone who makes Locked-on Bengals their first listen. Today we dive into the topics, de jour, the topics of the day in a mailbag episode where most of you are curious about the offensive line and looking for reasons to hang on to hope for this season after one of the worst losses in Bengals history and the widest margin

of defeat in Bengals history. That's where we will start today's episode. And James, we're going to start with more talk about a bad offensive line. And if there was anything that was going to torpedo our expectations for this season. And boy, have they been torpedoed through a couple of weeks here. it was going to center on the offensive line. Today's episode brought to the people by Fandul where new customers can bet $5 and get $300 in bonus bets

if that first bet wins. And we, every year in the preseason, James it feels like for the last few years have talked about the moves they've made at offensive line being sick about talking about offensive line. And then inevitably, it comes up in the season.

And this might be the worst version of an offensive line we've seen in the Zach Taylor era. It's bad. I don't know if it's the worst because some of those were really, really bad back in the day. But considering the expectations, it is by far the most disappointing. Even if you didn't think that this was going to be the best offensive line that Joe Burroughs slash Zach Taylor had had, you thought it would be solid. There was real belief, especially after they added Reisner, that, all right, well, they should be

solid and they can't run the ball. They can't pass the ball. They're the worst offense in the league right now. And a lot of that has to do with the offensive line. You can't tell me Chase Brown just totally forgot how to run the football. I don't buy it. I don't believe it. And I'm going to push back on those who are like, oh, well, so my JP Ryan should be the lead back. And yes, if you look at certain social media circles, that's what some are saying. I'm not there. I don't think Chase Brown is playing great, but I don't think he's had the opportunity to play great or well at a high level. And it's not just a little bad or below average. It's so bad.

Like, coming into this year, you just kind of wanted the run game, at least for me, and this is with Joe Burrow. You want the run game to be functional, to be kind of a complimentary piece that's going to help take a little pressure off of Joe. But you know the engine. Well, they need the run game to be a bit more than that now. And so far, this offensive line, which was really put together to pass block, hasn't passed blocked at a high level. And when you go into a game thinking you're going to run the ball and your lead back averages less than a foot per carry in Chase Brown's case, less than a foot per carry, well, something's really, really, really, really, really. really, really, really wrong. And that's where I'm at now. And I'm, we were texting about this last

night after you did your film review with Sands. It is all on. For me, I'm eyeing Zach Taylor. He needs to fix this. That's where the pressure is. That's where the pressure lies. I'm not absolving the front office, but it's September. It isn't March. It is in April. We spent all offseason talking about this offensive line more so than probably anyone on the planet outside of maybe the front office and maybe even that. And so you got to get it fixed somehow because they got to be much, much better than they've been through the first three weeks. Cincinnati Bengals by PFF grading and use all the grains of salt for PFF grading that you want,

have by far the worst run blocking grade in the NFL, 37.8 collectively out of 100 as a team run blocking grade. Out of 100, like 50 is really bad. And there are some teams around 50. There are seven teams right around 50 or worse. And the New Orleans Saints are second worse at 47.7. That's pretty close to 50. Getting down to a 37.8.

Even if you don't believe anything about PFF, it's hard to deny that matches the eye test. So, James, a lot of questions, like I said, in the mailbag today about the offensive line. And the first one goes to the heart of how you concluded your opening statement on today's show. this comes from Jay Gundler. The Beggles' offensive line has been poor during the Taylor era. When do we start questioning his scheme and stop blaming the players and the offensive line coach? Coach is.

There have been three. Right now. Right now. Because you're right. Three offensive line coaches. Frank Pollack was the run game coordinator last year and you could certainly feel by the end of the year. It's like, ah, well, this just, it's not fitting right.

And so, yeah, it's on Zach Taylor. you better fix it. Got to fix it. And it's the same running back. It's a lot of the same offensive linemen. And it's not like their guards were great last year. Our everydayers are laughing at that idea that the Bengals had great guards last year. So it's not like there should be such a drop-off that you can't function in the run game.

And that's the case right now. So it's all on Zach. It's all on Dan pitcher. And Scott Peters, who was picked by Zach Taylor. You have to figure it out. You have to find a way to get this run game going. And get one of your best players. Chase Brown's their third best player on offense, like skill-wise.

Like without a doubt, there's no other player I would say that is even really contending for that spot. You need Chase Brown to be productive through the air on the ground. I thought he would lead them in yards from scrimmage this year. He's going to lead them in yards behind them. the scrimmage. I mean, it's, it's been rough. But no, I think it's, for me, the huge part of this is on Zach Taylor. And obviously, there's time to turn it around. There's 14 more games. But it better start now. It's got to start now because you don't have the margin of error that you had with Joe bro at quarterback. And you have to hit the ground running here, especially with the schedule over the

next month. Yeah, we talked about the offense, the offensive line quite a bit in the film review yesterday too. So if you're looking for specifics about the Minnesota game, go check that out with Mike's antagonative, Bengal Sands. And you know, I made the quip about it being the worst offensive line they have because those are, they've had, because that's kind of the results they're getting,

especially in the run game. You can't go back to the Super Bowl, of course, and see the Jonah Williams, Quentin Spain, Trey Hopkins, Hakeemad Energy, Isaiah Prince offensive line that they rolled out there. And the remaining NFL careers for those guys, which

wasn't very long for most of them. But I don't know how this doesn't end up at the head coach's feet at this point. We're what, six years in to this thing? Is it six? 19. Seven. Some amount of years in. Six or seven years in.

Seven. Yeah, 2019. And every year, it seems to have gotten worse. Like they had a couple years where they were running the ball efficiently. even in their past heavy offenses. They were running the ball with good success rates, good EPA numbers, even if it wasn't good for counting stats, they weren't producing fantasy running backs or whatever it was

because it wasn't a huge part of their offense. They were able to run the ball officially for a couple of years there, and then it kind of all fell apart. And when it's a cultural thing, it's the way you're designing your program, the way you're designing your team, the way you're emphasizing things and practices, and you understand why they do it, right?

You have Joe Burrow, you have Jamar Chasing. you have T. Higgins. So, of course, you want to emphasize passing the ball. But the way the NFL is gone and the way these seasons have gone, the inability to run the ball, even against advantageous looks, has to at some point be part of your organizational philosophy. And that is to the detriment of those awesome passing players that you have in Joe Burrow T. Higgins and Jammar Chase.

And it is to the detriment of your offensive line in pass protection and your play action game and other things you can do schematically on offense. when you're that bad at running the ball. And it's that little, apparently, of an organizational priority. I hope that isn't the case, because it can't be the case when you don't have Joe Burrow. Like, I do think there are very real scenarios where you could go into every week and just let Joe do what Joe does and it work enough to get wins. Can't do that with Jake Browning.

Can't do that with Jake Browning on the road in the Ladder Stadium in the NFL in Minnesota. You're certainly not going to be able to do that this week against Denver and a must win for the Broncos, so they avoid one and three. Like there's there's so many levels to it and I think there's more here on the run game and the philosophy and all of those things because it does need to shift with Jake Browning, but it can't be why I just have more thoughts on it. We'll get to those coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by Mazda. Mazda crafts cars for those who do more than simply move. Mazda delivers confidence with every ride with more I-IHS top safety picks and awards than anyone else.

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Let's get to this a little bit more because I do think, like, looking back in the, at the Minnesota game just for a second, you can't go into a game saying, all right, well, we're going to win with run game or we're going to do a lot of 12 heavy personnel and not get Jamar and T involved. And hopefully Zach learned that because I don't really care who's on the other side or what the game plan is or where the game's being played or who's that quarterback.

Those are your best players for a reason. And so, yeah, the run game, they stunk and they've continued to stink and that needs to be better. You've got to find ways to get your top players to ball. It's so interrelated though, right? because Brian Flores is making life hard for many quarterbacks in the NFL, especially quarterbacks that are coming off the bench, who aren't the best quarterbacks in the NFL.

Brian Flores is going to make life hard. So there is that confounding piece of things where Jake Browning's first start is against Brian Flores. Brian Flores knows what the Bengals are. He dared them to run the ball. They could not run the ball. They were generally keeping two safeties high the entire game. They're generally trying to keep a safety over Jamar Chase for the entire game.

But those aren't excuses. teams try to do that to Jamar Chase every week. Teams try to do that to Justin Jefferson every week. Those guys still get theirs. Teams try to do that to T. Higgins in some degree every week. But having both of those guys on the field is supposed to be a force multiplier for your passing offense where you have both. And so you put defensive coordinators in a position where they can't be right because you have both of those guys outside. So while I understand the idea in that game, like try to make things easy for Jake Browning,

try to establish a run, try to get the screen game going, try to incorporate Jamar on these little touch passes and jet sweeps and these ideas. I get the idea there, but when you can't execute it, you become so easy to defend. And this is what we were talking about yesterday, too. If you can't run the ball against those two high looks, teams can just sit in those two high looks, try to confuse a heck out of your quarterback,

confuse a heck out of your offensive line and say, we're just going to win when we're outmatched in the trenches. we have a number of disadvantage in the trenches, we're still going to hold you to 0.3 yards per carry and good luck trying to throw the ball. That's how these things are related, right? When teams don't have to dedicate those resources at all to the run game and in fact can go, we're going to sell out to stop the pass

and you still can't run it on us, that's when you have a real problem. And that's where the Bengals were on Sunday. And that's really where they've been throughout this season because it's not like it's just Sunday. that was bad. And again, some of this is the opponents they've played. The Brown's defense looks legit this year. Look at what they just did to Green Bay. Minnesota's defense, it had its issues, but Brian Flores' defenses are hard to deal with. Jacksonville's defense, one of the more prolific

in creating turnovers all year, and some of that is a quality of competition. They've played Carolina and Houston, I think, outside of the Bengals, so it's not like they faced great great opponents to get the rankings they have defensively. But while we talk about these stars, James, and people raise these questions all the time, like you have Jamar, you have T, how can you be this bad on offense? This is why the run game is still important, at least to a baseline level in the NFL, because when you can't do it, it just gets so easy for defensive coordinators to deal with. Especially because defensive coordinators are trying to stop Jamar and T.

They're not sweating, especially now. I mean, you think the Denver Broncos right now are sitting there in their offices, sweating face Brown in this offensive line and having to deal with whatever the heck, the Bengals rushing attack, and I'll say that in quotes for those listening, attack, possess, I mean, they're not. They're not. And it's, it's concerning. What do you make of, and this kind of gets into some of the other questions?

questions here, but Hank Nizzle brought up Ted Karras and Matt Lee. And so I'm going to, do you think the Bengals will actually give Matt Lee a chance to play? Center if Ted Karras continues to play poorly. So you can answer that. But what do you make of like the aggressiveness conversation coming from the offensive line a little bit? Ted discussed that on Monday a little and just like, I feel like it's rare you hear veterans, especially offensive line and talk about needing to be aggressive. And yet, here we are. I mean, aggressive in what sense? I think Ted knows he's been not himself or not up to the level that we're used to seeing from him this year. And Sunday was another example of that. Ted's had a rocky start to the season to the

point that I've brought it up before last week. And the right guard spot has been obviously disappointing that they lost of course Lucas Patrick very early in the season to the point that we had another question in the mailbag here like why did the run game only look good with Lucas Patrick for a handful of snaps this year how badly do the Bengals need Lucas Patrick back after all of the fire Lucas Patrick took in the preseason but like I don't see how you can't consider personnel changes the way those guys have performed like Orlando Brown amarius men so they're they're going to be out there right those guys are going to play. Orlando

not built to run block. And I think schematically they have some issues with the way they're asking Orlando to set in the run blocking game. And Dylan Fairchild is probably going to stay out there, right? Like those are the guys that are probably locked into their jobs. Ted probably is too. But the way he's played, if it doesn't get better, the way he's moving right now, I personally would consider it.

And I hate saying that because I really like Ted Karras. I think he brings an important mental aspect to the offensive line too, but I don't see how you don't consider every option in terms of personnel the way that the offensive line is performing. And I don't really know, like, what do they mean by aggressiveness, James? Like, what does that mean to you when you hear that from Ted? Well, getting knocked off the ball and not, not knocking, you know, like literally, you could say playing physical, like, yeah, not getting the line reset three yards.

in the back. Like, that's inexcusable stuff for professional. No doubt. I mean, that's why Chase Brown stunk is because he's cutting back. You know, he's jump cutting after getting the ball. Like one of two running backs in the NFL with negative yards before contact with Ashton Genty is a fun stat for Chase Brown. And you can, like if Joe Burroughs the quarterback, you can survive a lot of weeks without being able to run the ball. You really can. He's just that good. He's not the quarterback anymore.

You went from Superman to like a normal human. Jake Browning can win you games. I believe that. We've seen that. He's four and four as a starter. But he's more normal. He's not a cyborg. He's not a robot.

He's not whatever you want to say. And man, it feels like years ago now at this point, but remember when Joe Burrow was to blame for the Bengals run game issues? And I know there's more there to it, but you get my point. Like this has to be better. The offensive line just has to play better.

They need to be more aggressive. and by aggressive, knock some dudes off the ball. Create a hole somewhere for Chase Brown to find it. And if you do that, then your job protecting Jake Browning is going to be easier. It's going to make things much easier overall. My biggest concern,

it's not that they couldn't run the ball against Minnesota. It's that they went in there thinking they were going to be able to run the ball against Minnesota. And that was like their main game plan. And then they started, the game started and they could not run the ball. And there are multiple plays that look like they, we talked about this on the film review episode yesterday. There are multiple plays that looked like they haven't wrapped wide zone in a couple of years. And maybe they haven't.

Like they're leaving nose tackles unblocked in concepts that are not meant to leave the nose tackle unblocked. Not that there are a whole lot of those. But like maybe they do need to go back to the basics and do the things that they've done lately, which is like inside zone duo like not a very diverse run game. At some point you need to add more stuff. But like they tried to add stuff. and it really went poorly. So you either need to figure those things out quickly or just stick to what works.

We did have a question about looking for reasons for optimism, James, we've been ragging on this run game, this offensive line, which clearly needs to be better. But let's go there and shout out to Rudy Johnson, RIP to Rudy Johnson, that we will have to finish a show with. That one got me this morning, James. We'll finish with those couple topics here coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by Fandall, America's number one sportsbook.

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That's fandal.com to place your first $5 bet. James, the last question we're going to take in this mailback today from Drew, Drew Crabtree 12 on Twitter. Last week was such a mess. What about this team? Do you have any optimism about heading into Monday night football in Denver? Other than that was so bad, it can't be worse. It can only be better.

Well, that's where it starts, right? Like, I do think that they'll be better just because it really is hard to be worse. But look, run game-wise, even thinking back to Zach Taylor's first year, and it took them too long, but they did figure out the run game. Remember Joe Mixon, I think that those final eight games of the 2019 season, and that got awful offense. Like, they got going a little bit. So I do think he could figure it out, and they could figure it out.

And part of it is because, again, it's a lot of the same faces as last year. That's what's wild to me. It's a lot of the same faces, so I would expect them to do it. And so that's part of it. I think the defense overall has been okay. Like Chris Jenkins flashed or Marius Mims has flashed on offense. Now I'm just highlighting odd reasons for optimism overall. Chris Jenkins flashed, Amaris Mims flashed, hopefully Shamar Stewart.

Maybe, maybe with that extra day has a shot this week. I don't know that. That's me speculating. I think they can figure it out. But this is a big one. This is a big one because if you could get the three and one somehow, some way for the first time since 2021, it just gives you a little room to breathe here because the next few weeks are going to be tough. Detroit and Week 5, we saw them on Monday night what they're capable of.

They're a very, very, very good and complete team. And so, yeah, finding a way would be, would be huge. So I don't know if that was enough optimism, too little, too much, but there's little doses of it there. Here's what I would say is that it's a good defense that Denver has, but it's not, they have game records up front for sure, but there's O. Miles Garrett over there, and there's O'Brien Flores over there. It's a sound defense that will make life hard on you, but kind of do it in more normal ways. And so, you know, you take care of the ball a little bit better or a lot better.

Turn the ball over five times. It's always going to look like that unless your defense also collects five takeaways of their own. But you take care of the ball, it's going to look way better than it did against Minnesota. What was it that they gave up 31 points? 31 points off turnovers, yes. Off turnovers and that's almost all in the first half or was it all in the first half? 24, 24 were in the first half.

So the score was 34 to 3 at halftime. Is that right? And how many of those came from turnovers, 24? 24. Including 17 in the final two minutes. So it was 10 to 3 without the turnovers. Yes. And that doesn't account for the Bengals being in scoring range when they committed some of those

turnovers, right? So like the game's going to look a lot different if you don't fumble the ball five times and throw two picks. You're going to have some turnovers, especially with Jake Browning, a quarterback. Yeah, you are. But it's not going to be as insane as it was against Minnesota. You're not going to have the kinds of looks that have film grinders salivating over Brian Flores, getting into exotic looks and showing three different things pre-snap. That's not what Denver does. They're going to take things from the Minnesota tape, obviously, and try to implement some of those this week because they saw what worked. But it's not a Minnesota, Brian Flores defense.

It's not a miles care of defense. In those ways, the offense should look better. Still a really difficult task. Really good defensive line for Denver this week. Again, there's obviously some good players on that defense. The Denver offense has been a mess for the better part of this year. I know Boe Nix had one of his best games as a rookie against the Bengals last year, but he's struggled this year too.

So those are reasons to think that it should look better. I don't know if they're going to win. They're seven point dogs. That's what we're talking about here at this point with this team. But it should look better, certainly, than it did against the Vikings. Yeah, you're right. It has to. I think if they get their playmakers of the ball, I doubt Jamar Chase all you want.

T. Higgins had a monster game against Denver last year. And they have to get Chase Brown involved. If they figure it out on offense, which they should be able to figure it out on offense, like regardless of the defense and they lose, well, I could see that. If they don't figure it out on offense and they lose, well, that's going to be really darn frustrating

because the offense should still be solid. It just should. Too many of the same faces, even without Joe, too many of the same phases. By the way, I don't know if you mentioned this yesterday on the film, but Joe was back with the team. So just a heads out. up he was in the locker room on a scooter had his foot wrapped in the locker room on Monday.

And so that's good. He's not going to travel to Denver, but good that Joe's back in the building. And hopefully they give him a reason to come back this season. Yeah. Going to finish a show on a somber note, James, reporting from TMZ, I think had it first, as they often do with these things, that Rudy Johnson, the Bengals' former star running back, formative years for me as someone watching this team as a kid was uh or has deceased this week uh TMZ's report said that he'd been struggling with mental health issues possible effects of

CTE he couldn't overcome the New York post reporting uh that it was a suicide and just tragic stuff RIP to Rudy Johnson this one got me like I said this one really got me this morning. Rudy was one of my favorite players when I was a kid watching this team. And one nice note, I guess, out of the TMZ report here, he was, according to the family member who informed TMZ about this, he was doing everything he could to help people on and off the field prior to his death. So I love to hear that he's doing the things he loved, hate to hear that he's struggling with mental health issues. That's a hard one today, James. Yeah, it sucks. I mean, there's no way around it.

You're right. Rudy, from 2003 is when he broke onto the scene. Corey Dillon was dealing with some injuries. He runs for 9.57. It's Marvin's first year. They go 8 and 8. And then from 04 to 06, Rudy Johnson is one of the best running backs in the NFL. It was a pro bowler in 04, scored 12 touchdowns.

And in 05, set the single season rushing record for the Bengals, 14158 yards, four more than the year prior. And so wasn't a pro bowler that year, but since the Bengal single season rushing record has another 12 touchdowns, 06 has another 12 touchdowns and runs for a thousand plus. Like those years, I mean, he tallies over 4,000 yards in three seasons and was just awesome. And it just, it sucks. It's awful. He's only 45. It was going to be 46 years old next week.

Too young, too soon. Really, really brutal news. So thinking of Rudy's family and loved ones and friends. and former Bengals that are, you know, going through it right now. And the Bengals did as we were recording this issue, a statement on Rudy Johnson from Bengals owner Mike Brown. He said, quote, Rudy was a fine person and an excellent running back for us. He was dependable and productive as a player and very popular among his teammates.

Everyone liked him and saw him as a dear friend. We were deeply saddened by his passing. That's Bengals owner, Mike Brown. I think sharing the sentiments of many that have been following this. team for at least a couple decades. Hate the CTEs involved here. The NFL does, of course, provide some mental health resources for their players, but if you're out there and you're hearing this stuff, there's always resources out there.

I hope that you take those resources if you need them. There's always a 988 lifeline, crisis and suicide lifeline out there that you can call and really really. really sad stuff. Take care of yourselves. Yep. I, it's just shocking.

It's shocking to think of, you know, I saw Chad Johnson. He just put RIP and in a picture of Rudy. And it's like, man, he's 45.

Like he's, he is in terms of life, he's a baby. Like he should be halfway there. Like he's at midfield. And instead of, you know, this happened.

So really, really unfortunate. I never heard a bad thing about Rudy. And you, usually hear about former players. If there's bad stuff behind it, like you hear it, I haven't heard anything bad about Rudy. So rest in peace.

Rest and peace to Rudy Johnson. We're going to wrap up there for this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Back to the normal programming for Monday Night Football, the crossover will be on the next episode here on Locktown Bengals. Until then, thanks for listening to this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Do a day. Have a good one.