Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Crushing What Ifs: Cincinnati Bengals Defense SURPRISES, Offense FALLS Short in Critical Loss

Episode Date: November 23, 2025

Cincinnati Bengals suffered another heartbreaking home loss to the New England Patriots, with "what ifs" like Zac Taylor's fourth-down decisions in the way of nearly stealing a win. Jake Liscow and James Rapien spotlight a strong defensive effort, Chase Brown’s effectiveness, Evan McPherson’s record-setting field goal, and Geno Stone’s bounceback game as bright spots as Joe Flacco and the passing offense let the Bengals down. 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!PelotonLet yourself run, lift, flex, and push forward. Explore the new Peloton Cross Training Tread+ today at https://www.onepeloton.com.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.

It was another brutal loss for the Cincinnati Bengals to the New England Patriots at home and a season of what ifs continues. You are locked on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. What up Bengals fans and welcome to another episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. Now the number one sports podcast network in the land. he's James of Pete and I'm Jake Liskow and we've been

Locked on Bengals on this podcast since 2016. Your best stop on the internet, one stop shop for all things Bengals. And we're brought to you today by prize picks where you can download the app and use code to lock down NFL to get $50 in lineups after you play. Your first $5 lineup in James, it was another gut punch for the Cincinnati Bengals, another rough loss in a season of rough losses.

But the story to get there is a little. bit different this week as we played the well Joe Burrow play game all week and Jemar Chase had a suspension and then there are a bunch of decisions in this game that I want to talk about from Zach Taylor's point of view that I didn't love and we're going to play the what-if game with some of those decisions as well and that's why the what-if point is salient to me James is because there's so many things that could have just gone different in this game ever so slightly and we could be talking about the Bengals stealing one because the Bengals defense in this game was the average looking defense that we've been asking for all year.

Compared to the baseline that we've seen from them all year, they were good. This was their best performance by EPA per play all year, and they did it against the best offense they faced in quite a while. Yep. They held their own. They did everything that you needed them to do. They had the pick six. They forced the turnover.

They had the splash plays in the really points off the board type of plays where you hold the Patriots to three late in the game. You have a goal line stand with Gino Stone stepping up big, and I'm going to have to give Gino Stone plenty of love after the criticism, and I think I've been as loud as anybody when it comes to Gino. But they gave the Bengals a chance, and you're right, there's a lot of what-ifs. What ifs? What if Joe Flacco doesn't take a sack on their second possession,

third and five from the 35, where you're obviously, let's say he throws it away, holds the ball way too long. I mean, he held it. We're two and a half minutes into the show. he might have held it through your entire open. Like that dude held the ball, held the ball, held the ball. Well, of course you're going to get sacked. And so what if that didn't happen?

And they get another field goal there. And then Geno Stone has his pick six and you're up 13, nothing. It just would feel different. What if the pick six that Joe Flacco through just didn't happen, right? And naturally people are going to say, well, what if Joe Burrow played? What if Jamar Chase wasn't suspended? Like the things that came into this game we were talking about, I'll take it another step further.

What if this defense had just showed up against the Jets? This defense. If this defense shows up against the Jets, it's a two and a half score game, maybe three score game, and we're not having any kind of conversation. Against the Bears, it might be the same exact situation. It's unfortunate because it really has been a, oh, well, the defense hasn't really cost them games in the offense is, and then the offense is playing really well, and the defense is just awful, historically bad.

And now today, it kind of not completely flips, but flipped enough to where we're talking about it. And it's like, man, the defense wasn't great, but they were passable. And this offense just couldn't do enough to beat a team in the Patriots of nine straight games. You give up one touchdown. And you, for the most part, bottle up Drake Bay in this passing game. Their issues are the tight ends. That's the big flaw for the defense on this game. Their flaws in covering the tight ends.

Okay, they're not perfect. We get it. We know they're never going to be perfect. But Al Golden dials up pressures that get unblocked rushers. You get free runners and Barrett Carter on a play that leads to a third downstop. You get Gino Stone, who maybe calls his own number and flip sides of the formation to be a free runner after the protection is declared. So speculated the broadcast, free runner, third downstop. Jalen Davis comes on a corner blitz sack, the only sack of the game for the Cincinnati Bengals in a game where they really couldn't get. significant disruptive pressure to Drake May, where there was some pressure. To be fair, it wasn't as disruptive as it could have been. They took advantage of the rocky start that Drake May had to the game by getting off the field and scoring their own touchdown. When you do that and you combine it with two goal line stands, it could be phrased instead as three goal line stands because they had to do one of them twice after penalties. And Dax Hill did not have a great game in his extended time at outside corner

with a number of penalties being chief among those issues. despite all of the issues on this defense, you got a great game from Gino Stone, both from a tackling point of view, didn't miss any tackles according to initial PFF charting and had seven solo tackles, 10 total tackles according to their charting, had numerous run stops, was in on multiple goal line run stops on the very first play of the game, I think. He was in the box and in on a runstop to hold Travion Henderson to a three-yard carry. The pick six was a gift of an interception, but he did a great job on the return. to guarantee the Bengals points there to get through traffic and to get downhill quickly, become a runner quickly.

So you have to credit Gino Stone. I thought J.L. Davis also stepped in and played well and DJ Turner continues to play well. So, yeah, I mean, there's still issues in Barrett Carter and the linebackers and dealing with the tight ends. And Demetri's sight appearing to bust the coverage on the Hunter Henry touchdown. Miles Murphy not quite turning that corner fast enough on what should have been a really clean pass rush win against the Patriots back up right tackle. But they did enough, man. they did enough that this Bengals offense had so many chances and that's where the last what if of the day,

maybe we'll come up with more. The last what if on my mind for now, James, is what if Zach Taylor had just gone for it on any number of fourth down opportunities? Bengals had four or five punts in the midfield part of the field. They had two straight punts. It was on their own 37, to be fair, which is a great field position,

but it was fourth and four in the 37 twice. They punted on fourth and six from their own 40 after taking a delay of game on a fourth and one from the 45. They punted from the 50 on a fourth and go for it down in distance. And these are a lot of opportunities where they really struggled on third down in this game. And maybe they wouldn't have converted any of those if they had tried them. And this thing would have gotten even more out of hand because they had a chance to win the game. Joe Flacco had the ball at the end of the game. So you could say that Taylor's decisions put them in a spot where they had a chance to go win it.

but I would bet. It's not even a bet, actually. I can guarantee if you go look at the fourth down decision bot who keeps track of the winning percentage lost on kicks or decisions to kick in go situations, it's probably a pretty high number for the Bengals this week, and that could have been the margin in a game that was very tight. Yeah, it could have.

And that's the other thing here when it comes to a team that's clearly flawed, that's playing against the team that's going to the postseason and you're short-handed and all of those things you need to one be good on the money downs joe flacco three of 12 three of 12 on third down and uh that's painful it's painful when you're you're that way when your offense is is completing three of their 12 attempts on third down like that's that's it like just completions it's not conversions and so that that's a tough spot to be in and and so they needed more out of their offense. If I would have told you they scored 20 points today,

you'd say, well, that's not enough. Like, they didn't score 20 points today. They scored 13 points today. And so you couple that with last week. And I've heard this a lot over the past weeks. It's not the offense. It's not the quarterback. It's not 12 points last week.

13 this week. It's not going to get it done against many teams unless you're playing like not many teams. I'm not going to out anybody because the Bengals have lost four straight. So who am I to top trash? You know, it's not going to win many games. And sometimes it is that simple. And there are reasons behind it. But I agree with you.

Like if you're Zach Taylor going into this game and your defense is playing well for them, it's okay to be a bit more aggressive. And he talked about it after the game. He kind of beat us to the punch a little bit, mentioned the fourth and one. He's like, our defense is playing well, punt it back to them and they get the stop. And that's like, that's how he's thinking they gave up a field goal there, just to be clear, I believe. But, you know, that precious time runs off the clock as well. There's one thing.

Two, keeping your defense on the sideline is probably how you're going to score points on offense. So, yeah, it's, I get it. I understand it. And I think that there are a lot of fans frustrated by all of those decisions. One or two of them, it's one thing. But if you're just doing that throughout the game, that's a tough way to win when you're not the more talented team. That's the other part of this is they are not more talented than the Patriots, given who was not on the field for them.

And so that's a factor as well. 40% of their salary cap wasn't playing by the end of this game, including T. Higgins, who left with a concussion. His mom said that he's doing all right, but it is what appeared to be a bad concussion. Wouldn't expect T. Next week, based on how it looks. We'll see how he does this week.

A very slim chance on a short week. But without Joe Burrow, T. Higgins, Jamar Chase, and T. Hendricks, and you're missing 40% of your salary cap in those four players. And hard to say you're a more time. talented team at that point. And that's why there's all these what-ifs, right? What if Jamar is not suspended?

What if Joe Burrow had played? What if they go for it on one of those fourth downs? The list goes on and on. And one of the very frustrating things to me about this, James, is where the offense did let them down. There were a lot of really cool things that the offense did in this game that I would like to be praising them for. But instead, they come up short,

and we have to talk about how they came up short and how much of that is on Joe Flacco. unfortunately coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by Price Picks. Price Picks is daily fantasy the way it should be. The holiday season is one of the best times for sports. You have bowl games, you have basketball matchups, playoff pushes, maybe not a playoff pushing since tonight.

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After you play your first $5 lineup, price picks, it's good to be right. Very frustrating game to me, James, as I watch this offense, as I want to shout out all of those out there that make Lockdown Bengals their first listen and all the everydayers forgot that shout out at the top of the show and wanted to make sure I still shout out that group of loyal listeners. and also just a reminder that we've got that new squad show. It's supplementary content. You might have seen a squad show on the post game on the Lockdown Bengals YouTube channel.

And just in case you've seen that and you're seeing this and you're wondering what's going on, there's that new twice a week squad show that you can check out in addition to the main podcast. James and I still with you on our regular schedule. James, why this offensive performance was frustrating to me was that one, the run game was doing new things and looked great. Chase Brown over five and a half yards per carry, the two running back package in this game, featuring Taj Brooks before he left with concussion and Chase Brown. They had a lot built off of that.

That's a lot of wrinkles. They showed New England an unscouted look. We have not seen that package from the Bengals. And Mike Vrable, who knows this team well, obviously coached against Zach Taylor a number of times when he was coaching the Tennessee Titans, giving him something that he couldn't prepare for because he hadn't seen them do it before. And specifically in the running game, I thought that was honestly inspired by this. offense early on. And unfortunately, despite the success they found in the run game and how well Chase Brown was playing and the offensive line was playing, I thought the offensive line was really good

in this game. Joe Flacco just wasn't good enough early, whether it was the injury, whether it was a lack of Jamar Chase, whether it was the passing concepts that they had. It looks like he missed some open guys, so I'm reluctant to blame the design and the game plan from a passing offense perspective. You underscored a couple of those big plays early that took points off the board. or gave points to the Patriots. The sack that he took on the third down to take them out of field goal range. Can't happen. You cannot make that mistake, especially as a veteran like that,

but no one can make that mistake in that spot. Cost your team points and just not seeing the corner in the flat for that easy pick six. I mean, the Patriots gave you a little bit early, and then you gave it right back. And your whole advantage that you had of your defense giving you a hot start just evaporates. Now you're playing from behind. And at that point, I said that might be it. And it was a close.

game from there, but that was it. They never got back into the game and really until the very end had a shot to take the lead again. Well, those two mistakes, it's 13 nothing at one point after the pick six. And then who knows? Maybe the defense is flying high and they don't just forget about Hunter Henry and he's not literally, Jake is in Canada right now. Hunter Henry was so open. Jake is closer to me than any Bengals defender was to Hunter Henry. It was ridiculous on that first touchdown. It was crazy, dude. That was more open than Gino Stone was on his interception when Drake May threw it right to him. It was an awful throw. And then Hunter Henry was just so open.

It was crazy. And unfortunately, that play revealed to Josh McDaniels just how bad the Bengals linebackers were because he went after them for the rest of the game. He said, oh, okay, Hunter. Hunter Henry, Hunter Henry Day. Yeah. So that was the one downside of this defense. Really, I mean, you're right.

Daxhill, the penalties, they overcame them on that drive crazily, but they did. And then the linebackers, they just picked them apart. And the Bengals, the other thing. the Bengals did. They were good against the run. They held up against the rut. You know, there were jokes coming in at Paycourt Stadium. Security guards like, hey, Trevion Henderson. And I mentioned Ramandre Stevenson may have a good. They didn't even let Stevenson in the end zone. They said, no, you're not. Trayvion Henderson struggled too. So they did their job there, but you're right, the linebackers, they were picked on. And the Bengals offense just really struggled to get

the space. There weren't guys open like that. Everything felt different. And so when things feel difficult, difficult like that, you can't leave points on the field against an opponent that's supposed to beat you. And so that sack was huge. And really, do you ever feel comfortable when Joe Flacco pulls it down? Like second reaction kind of plays, like trying to. Oh, yes. Like, I'm moving to my right. I'm like, no, you're not.

Get your pull out. Get your pull out. Like I. And he had a chance. Like he steps up to evade the initial. pressure and there's a chance I think to either throw it over Chase Brown's head out of bounce on the left side or even throw it to Chase Brown because I think he draws a defensive lineman on on that point who peels off so I think you have a chance but I don't I don't know

where his eyes were yeah throw it through the upper hand to your point yeah I do not have a lot of confidence for Joe Flacco trying to make second reaction place when he goes off script I say oh no oh no Joe Joe no Joe no Joe no no and uh because it just very rare like at best it's a thrown to the dirt. It's when the concept he wants isn't there. It's bad for Flacco. That's what leads to the pick six. That's what leads to the sack.

It's what leads to the near pick on that throw to Mitch Tinsley on the slant. It's slant flat on the right side. And T. Higgins is open on the double slant on the left side of the play. Probably should be reading out the left side of the play, but he gets fooled. And so he's reading out the right side of the play. Those three plays, all examples of plays where Flacco doesn't get what he's expecting. And when he has to react to that. it's just not at least something to be desired, let's say.

Yeah, he even mentioned it. He said it's the most basic play in the world after the game on the pick sex. And he was waiting on tea, waiting on tea. And then he's like, all right, I'm going to check it down. You check it down right to Jones. Yeah, just didn't see him. And that's in a lot of games, when you have a flawed team, which the Bengals are, obviously, that's it.

You're right. Like, that's it. It didn't have to be it. but they needed one more extravagant play and not like a small. And they got those goal line stops and that was almost enough and it wasn't. Like a splashy play, right? Like they needed a splashy play. And not just defensively,

offensively it would have worked multiple times. That last drive, Mitch Chintley makes a play on the sideline and gets a huge conversion. And it's like, all right, like I have, I have a lead written to the Bengals pulling it off. And it starts with,

do you believe in Miracles? the Bengals put off a miracle and it goes into because like at that point it was like I don't think this is going to happen but I need to be ready for it to happen and they got within like 30 yards and that's like when I kind of remove myself from this game and kind of look at it it just the bad teams I've covered there are a lot of games like this where it's like oh just this one this or just this one that or in and it's always something different. The defense one week, the offense one week, the quarterbacks one week, the run game one week, turnovers one week, and you just throw it all up.

And it's been the defense a lot of weeks, I get it. You know, it's been some of the same issues, but that's what bad teams do. Very similar to last year in so many ways, too, except when you don't have Joe Burrow and the offense doing crazy things, your margin for error is diminished even further. Talking about picking on the linebackers here, according to PFF's initial charting 174 of the 294 passing yards for the New England Patriots coming on targets of Barrett Carter and Demetrius night, 17 targets out of 32 targets on the Bengals linebackers, 13 out of the 22 catches for the New England Patriots on the Bengals linebackers. Most of that, to be fair, Barrett Carter, who,

according to PFS initial charting, gives up 10 catches on 12 targets for 134 yards, which is not where you want to be, but he didn't miss any tackles this week. So, Barrett Carter with the green dot. I don't know, man. I don't know what else we can say about these linebackers at this point. It's just more of the same for these guys for the most part. A lot of investment in putting them in position to struggle. You know, it's tough.

And it's tough because every team knows it. And every team's going to attack it. And I think you're right. I think Josh McDaniels was like, oh, they're this bad. Like they're this bad that we're going to be fine. Yeah, like one of those things where you see it on tape and you're like, I will be this bad in person. Yeah.

Still some things that we can shout out on the defense. We got to do some, a positive, a positive for my guy. He got his nickname on this podcast. I don't know if people remember that. Yeah, we got a couple of positives we can finish the show with. On the defensive side of the ball, your guy. My guy, he's back. I'll let you talk about that in a minute here coming up next.

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The record holder put the, at one point, Wagner, Ryan Wagner, not Ryan Wagner, William Wagner. I was like, he's not Ryan Wagner. Former Reds prospect, by the way. William Wagner, the Bengals Longsnapper, put the crown on Evan's head when they honored him on the Jumbotron. But the 63-yarder, that's part of why they stayed in this game. Like Evan McPherson just casually kicks a 54-yarder, which was his season high.

And then late, the final play of the second quarter, kicks a 63-yarder. And I was here. So it was this, if you're watching on YouTube, it was, can I get there? Can I get there? I'm not going to. There we go. All right. It was that end zone, that crossbar right there if you're watching on YouTube, right?

The reason why I bring that up is because I had a great angle on it. And I'm like, ooh, I didn't see the broadcast of it yet. they did have more. It looked like it had more. It was good from like 67 to 68. I was like it had a little bit more, but it was a low kick the whole way. So it was kind of hard to judge.

I mean, it was caught before it hit the net. But it got close to hitting the net at the bottom. So I don't know, maybe a couple more years. 65, maybe 65. Yeah, I mean. I think for sure 60 is for sure have at least one more yard.

It didn't like scrape the crossbar. Yeah. Yeah. He just deserves his, he's still going to be this is one of the things the Bengals got right this offseason. There we go. We talk about a lot of things they've gotten wrong and they got a hell of a lot wrong this off season.

But Darren Simmons, the Bengals Special Teams coordinator, looked at their kicking game. I was like, all right, is it Evan? Is it the operation? What is it? And he tweaked what Evan was doing a little bit. Obviously, Evan got healthy. And they looked at Long Snapper and they said, we have to get better here. And they got better there.

They went and got William Wagner. Sorry, Willie. I got your name wrong. I don't know why I called you Ryan Wagon. It's wild. It's been a while since Ryan Wagner through his last pitch, James. Yeah, dude.

Like, I was a kid. Like, I was paying attention to the Reds when that happened. That was a long time. Like I said it and I was like, wait, it's not Ryan Wagner. So that's you. Or maybe I'm just getting, regardless, it doesn't matter.

Sorry, Willie, but I'm calling him Willie from now on. But Money Mac is back, man. I mean, he's one of the best kickers in the league. If you're doing that, he's been consistent this year. he's been steady. When there's been stuff going on around him, obviously it hasn't gone great,

but would have had the record at Lambo on that first attempt and then doing that today, he's dialed in for sure. Just a handful of Nick's missed kicks this year, one of which came when he wasn't using the right ball because the Bengals screwed up operationally, one of which was that 67-yard attempt, which he made on the first try before the freezing the kicker timeout, have one other miss from 50 plus this year. He's having a good year.

Hopefully the consistency remains for him for the rest of the year and into the future. It's a somewhat volatile position in terms of performance year every year, but getting a good year from Evan McPherson, and we're seeing the powerful leg contributing with a little bit more consistency for the Bengals this year. The other shoutouts that I have, I mentioned the offensive line. I think on film review, it's going to be a lot of Chase Brown. Chase Brown was awesome in this game

in terms of finding the running lanes. There's maybe one run he probably wants back. I think it was the second and two, second in three. He gains a yard or two. It stopped a yard short of the first down. The Bengals ended up getting stopped on that drive near midfield. That might have been the one where they end up taking the delay of game than punting.

And you shouldn't be too hard on him for that because outside of that really good, the driver of the offense largely on a game where the passing offense couldn't get it going. And again, like I wish Zach Taylor made more decisions in this game that I agreed with in the kicking decision department because I really liked what they came out with, especially early in terms of the offensive game plan, the featuring of Mike Keseki on the first drive, the Taj Brooks and Chase Brown package with Chase Brown in motion. They had a number of plays off of that that gained them solid, efficient yardage. And like I said, I think it's really hard to get unscotted looks together in the middle of the season. And he managed to do that for a defensive coach of Mike Vable, who's very familiar with what he does on offense.

So that in the offensive line, I think on the offensive side of the ball, pretty good. Mitch Tinsley, obviously, for the couple of plays he made, deserves a shout out there. On the defensive side of the ball, we've talked about Gino Stone quite a bit, a number of plays in the box, physical run defense in this game in the pick six to go along with it, didn't miss a tackle. Jalen Davis, also in his fill-in job in the slot, really good game. The Patriots receivers really didn't get anything going in this game. Daxill had a tough time with a few penalties, but Jalen Davis, I thought, had a nice game.

And DJ Turner, I thought he gave up the one catch, but continued his run of good play. And I like the game that Miles Murphy had to. Wasn't quite as effective as a pass rusher this week against the veteran Morgan Moses. When he had the opportunities against the seventh rounder, he did capitalize on those reasonably well. Like, yeah, you would have preferred to have seen a sack there on the Hunter Henry touchdown,

but Drake face been really good at evading sacks this year, too. So those are my shoutouts, James. Are there any that you had that I am missing that you wanted to make sure we're getting credit to here? No, you hit on a bunch of them. I mean, you hit on all the positives. And that's what sucks here, you know, is, by the way, shout out to Jake Browding for coming in

and throwing a pass when he didn't even know where it's healthy. He was like scrambling, throws a pass, 14 yards, boom. Goes off script. I wasn't right. Look, so much like Jake Browning, man. Like the different, like if you give Joe Flacco, Jake Browning's legs, you have a, you have a quarterback that entirely put together might work. Would work great.

And be consistent. Because the verdict's out, right? It's take away the first couple options. Pass rush will get there and that's that. And, you know, it's why I would fully expect to see Joe Burrow on Thursday, whether you like it or not. We'll see if that actually happens. I think that there's going to be some discussion there this week here on this podcast. And, uh, man, three and eight, Jake, if you would have told me they dropped four straight the night they beat the Steelers, I would have said, hell, you're crazy.

I would have said, you're insane. There's no way they do that. Like, even if they lose to the Jets, they'll win this game or that game. And they, well, they've lost them all. After, after the Jets loss, it would have been more believable, though. sure after you give up that kind of that kind of defensive performance of that offense like okay yeah no I can see it now before that game though tone center I'm just saying the night of the Steelers win oh yeah yes you're like yeah like yeah like they're they're gonna be four and four next week and then they got the bears and then they got the buy and then the Steelers and the Patriots and hey Joe Burroughs coming back at some point you know and even if they had that single win we'd be talking about a team there's two game backs that two games

back in the division instead of three, Baltimore winning Pittsburgh, losing this week, both teams six and five, but the Bengals have two games with Baltimore, and Pittsburgh still has a couple of tough teams to play when I was going through the New York Times, New York Times playoff simulator and putting things in and saying, okay, let's say the Bengals went out, which is a Herculian task. And I'm saving this to the end because nobody wants to hear it. People are like, the season's over, and you're not wrong. But if the Bengals went out, and the bills managed to take one off the Steelers, and the Patriots managed to take one off the Steelers, and the Patriots managed to take one off the Ravens, or maybe I have that backwards.

No, yeah, I think it's in that direction. Anyway, there's like one game for both of these teams where they play another contender in the AFC East. And if all those things happen, then the Bengals would be 95% to make the playoffs. And that's what Joe Burroughs got to be thinking, right? Like that's his mentality, him coming back this week. I'll go win out, get to 9 and 8, and then we'll see if we get a little bit of help. We only need a little bit of help. But getting to 9 and 8 is a big hurdle.

Well, it is. And why I was so hell bad on playing him because I was critical of them. And a lot of people called me an idiot. Other people didn't be they're going to see him Thursday. So it doesn't matter. If they had won today and then they went out, right? They make the playoffs regardless of what happens. They would have made the playoffs. 10 and 7 they would be in. And that's it. And so that chance dropped significantly. And now you're banking on the bills or the Patriots or whoever to win against some of your division rivals that are good. Like it's going to be hard to win. Baltimore on Thursday. There's no doubt. But I do wonder, Burrough's going to give them the juice this week. And maybe it's just Burrow coming back and they'll have enough juice for the final six weeks. But like, if Flacco started again, I just wonder how much they would have, just juice-wise. You know, they performed like they cared today. But at some point, it does break you as a team. And maybe they'll just get the jolt at the right time with Joe coming in at, Joe Burrow.

We'll find out. And we'll have you covered. Another short. week bengals play Thursday night football on the road Thanksgiving game another year of Thursday night football in Baltimore and another year for Joe Burrow making a dramatic return to Baltimore where last year it was a return after he injured himself in Baltimore the prior year and this year it's his first game back we think very likely that's at least the impression that we have today here after the Bengals loose of the Patriots but we'll have that story of course covered this week here on lockdown bangles until then thanks for listening to this episode of the lockdown bangles podcast hootay and have a good one