Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Is the Cincinnati Bengals defense fixable? | Film Takeaways from MNF Disaster

Episode Date: September 24, 2024

Unfortunately the All-22 didn't give many reasons for optimism on the defensive side of the ball, so the guys are joined by Mike Santagata (bengals_sans) to break down what we saw on film. We're at th...e point where a Myles Murphy breakout and getting healthier at DT might just get them to "below average" instead of "disaster". At least the offense is showing some progress!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-bengalsFor your next listen, check out the Locked On Fantasy Football podcast. Get daily insight to the best Fantasy draft strategies so you can win your league this season. Click HERE to listen now. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your Team. Every Day.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BetterHelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Make your brain your friend, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDON today to get 10% off your first month.RobinhoodThe new gold standard is here with Robinhood Gold.  Sign up at robinhood.com/gold Terms apply, for product specific disclosures visit robinhood.com/gold. Investing involves risk. Rate may change. Gold membership is offered by Robinhood Gold, LLC. DoorDashUse promo code LOCKEDFALL24 for 50% off up to $10 value, when you spend $15+ on your first order. Limited time offer. Terms apply. Promo is not valid for orders containing alcohol.PrizePicksGo to https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFL and use code lockedonmlb to win $50 instantly when you play $5. You don't even need to win to receive your $50 bonus, it's guaranteed! Prizepicks. Run Your Game.LinkedInLinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply.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.FanDuelNow through September 22nd, ALL FanDuel customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get a THREE WEEK free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started.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
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Starting point is 00:00:00 Film never lies and it revealed the brutal truths about this defense. While there was some progress on the offensive side of the ball, we'll talk about all the film takeaways in today's episode from that Monday night disaster against the commanders. 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 Locked On Bengals podcast. I'm your host, Jake. Let's go along with your host, James Rupin, and today's guest, Mike Santagana at Bengals underscore Sands on Twitter.
Starting point is 00:00:41 You can find him on It's Always Game Day in Cincinnati. Our regular film breakdown guest here in season on Locked on Bengals, covering your team every day on the Lockdown Podcast Network on YouTube and everywhere you get your podcast. Welcome back to the everydayers and those of you who make us your first listen, looking for answers after a debacle on Monday night football that moves to Bengals to, And if you're looking for tickets, this episode is sponsored by GameTime, who has an offer for you to save $20 off your first purchase of tickets with promo code locked on NFL in the GameTime app. Guys, we're going to start on the defensive side of the ball because how could you start elsewhere as much as we would like to talk about some of the progress we may have seen
Starting point is 00:01:23 from the offense in this game as both of the defenses were about as bad as NFL defenses can be. One was meant to be a playoff team and one was meant to be a rebuilding team. in year one with a rookie quarterback and a new head coach. And unfortunately, the one that's the farthest away from expectations at this point is the Cincinnati Bengals. And Mike, I sat up here on this show after the game last night and was pointing fingers of the defensive line.
Starting point is 00:01:50 After watching the tape, nothing really went right on this defense overall. That's only a slight hyperbole. But where would you say the foundational issue is right now for this defense? Yeah, you probably didn't point enough fingers of the defense. defensive line because the time to throw for Jaden Daniels is insane. The time it takes for them to get pressure, the time it took for them to get pressure in this game, I don't, I mean, I think almost every throw felt like it was either over two and a half seconds to throw, which is about what you look at for, you know, pressure being meaningful. But if it wasn't, it's not like he was pressured on
Starting point is 00:02:29 throws that were under two and a half seconds either. There was, there was a play of quick game It was three slants on the left side, going to the right side. And I only ever really see them hit the second window. You know, you got that first window right in front of the linebacker. It's quick game. You get the ball, set your feet, throw it. Jay Dehens had time to get the ball, set his feet, wait for the guy to go past the middle linebacker to the next side to the other side linebacker and throw it.
Starting point is 00:02:57 And I was like, I only see that in Madden because they don't make you play like a real NFL quarterback, you know? Like you get four seconds to throw the ball in a video. game you don't normally in the NFL so i i don't see that window thrown very often but that's the type of day it was there's a lot of it was doubling trey hendrickson but to be honest he made good on one of his one-on-ones for sure and other than that he had some opportunities and he didn't dominate like he did the past two weeks so you can even point a little bit of a finger there just like you know yeah if if you're talked about as a top four top five pass rusher and you're going against
Starting point is 00:03:34 a rookie who's struggled and a journeyman vet splitting time, probably should win that matchup more often than you did. But the real issue to me is, yeah, I don't know what you do roster construction-wise at this point because it's so late. But, I mean, would Carlos Dunlap be the second best pass rusher on the team at 35 years old after not playing for a season? Maybe. I mean, look at what they've been, maybe.
Starting point is 00:04:02 Yeah, I think that's the scary part here. And obviously, you hope Miles Murphy can come back after week four, we'll be eligible week five and give you a boost. But Sam Hubbard and Joseph Osai, I mean, just both running with weighted shoes on, it felt like. I mean, neither guy is doing what you need them to do. Osai with Daniels in space a couple of times, just looking, I mean, looking rough, looking like he's 35 years old and hasn't played in a year.
Starting point is 00:04:35 And that isn't it, right? He's this young contract year guy that you were hoping would take a step forward to make an impact. Let's talk about those two guys, the other ends. And look, by the way, you're right about Trey Hendrickson. Just because he was awesome last week, it would have been nice if Jaden could have felt him a bit more, especially early in this game when he was getting super comfortable and getting into a rhythm. But specifically with Joseph Osai number 58, Sam Hubbard, number 94, or did you notice them or were they just as unimpactful as it felt like in real time?
Starting point is 00:05:10 Joseph Osat was probably the second best pass rusher in the game, but it's really not saying that much. It was some late wins. There was some around the pocket at 10, 11 yards, but Jane Daniels, I mean, he could step up to five yards if he wanted to because there was no push on the interior. And he was worse as a run defender, though. Like as bad as you think of what the past rush might have been, the run defense was terrible from him in this game. It kind of pointed to like, oh, maybe this is what the coaching staff saw. Sam Hubbard, kind of the opposite end, where the run defense, when you go back and watch, it was better than you might think. Like, he made some stops.
Starting point is 00:05:47 He was a key cog and a couple of plays where they were able to actually stop the run. And the stop of the run, actually, it went better than I remember it at least when I went back and watched. I was like, oh, yeah, they did get some stops. It wasn't just nonstop, seven yards, seven yards, seven yards, kept them out of getting into third longs, but it also wasn't a situation of they had no answer. They had no run stops. They had some run stops in there.
Starting point is 00:06:10 But he was worse as a pass rusher than you might think. I mean, I against Andrew Wiley, Super Bowl champion for the Chiefs. A winnable matchup. A winnable matchup. That's a matchup where if you're a replacement level edge rusher, pass rusher you should probably win i don't know four five of those reps because they threw the ball 20 something times you could win 20 for maybe less than that but you know think of somewhere around there where you would feel him in a game where this was sam hubbard from three years ago it just doesn't
Starting point is 00:06:42 seem like he's there some of it's like they had him in contain a little bit but then like jane daniels can just outrun him to the edge too so the contain only it's just like a spy your contain only works if the guy can actually contain him. Otherwise, you're just wasting a pass rusher and you're playing 10 on 11 with your defense. So I don't think either one was particularly impressive. You want to point to something like, yeah, Joseph Osai got a couple of pass rush wins
Starting point is 00:07:11 and Sam Hubbard had a couple of run stops. But really, neither one looked like a guy that I'd won as my second or, I don't think even my third edge rusher coming on the field. It's an incomplete performance from those two, just like it was an incomplete performance in this game. But not a whole lot went well on this defense. You can point to the defensive line. And we talked about a couple of guys that had high expectations in Sam Hubbard and Joseph Osai, the reasons that they're not meeting those expectations in week three.
Starting point is 00:07:39 The interior defensive line is a mess. Lauren Sky comes off the street and plays a solid game. He was fine. Chris Jenkins makes his debut. He was fine. But the guys that are playing a ton of stuff. snaps, J. Truffelli and Zach Carter are just not making impacts, especially as past rushers. Meanwhile, you got your corners getting beat. You got Gino Stone getting beat deep and Von Bell getting
Starting point is 00:08:07 isolated in man coverage. And for the first time this season really looking like a liability in coverage situations after we talked about why he was on the field in the preview to the game last week. So all that said, you got issues in coverage. the secondary from like all of your starters. Mike Hilton had a good game, but your outside corners, your safety's had issues. Your defensive line looked anemic. What is fixable would you say after this game? I mean like tackling, right? Second and 21 hitch route just you've got a vice on him for no game and a vice just an outside and inside guy. And Dax does force him inside, although he is in no position to actually make a tackle there.
Starting point is 00:08:53 He's just kind of running at him and make him go inside. And then Hilton, who I did think had a pretty good game, lets him get inside of him. No, that's a no-no. But look, there goes Logan Wilson to save the day. No, he wraps around and then takes out Hilton by the legs. Lawrence guy taps him on the hip. And the guy goes for like 10 yards.
Starting point is 00:09:10 When they had him dead to rights for no gain, and then at least for like a two-yard gain, and it's just you have to tackle. And I don't think tackling is coaching, Unless you just want to talk about like coaches are supposed to inspire effort. These guys are professional football players. They've been around a long time. Logan Wilson,
Starting point is 00:09:26 he's made a ton of tackles in his career. It's just effort and physicality to me. Like you just have, it's more of a want to than anything. Or you have to want to go tackle. You have to, you know, be physical. Get in there and go make the play. And I know there's times where they're trying to force fumbles or whatever.
Starting point is 00:09:43 This wasn't one of those situations. You're in second and 21. You're getting the turnover if you can get them into third and 15. They didn't do that. And that's the thing that I think is most fixable, but it's also been an issue in two out of three games where they're not making tackles. I think the defense will look a little better when the defensive tackles get healthier when Miles Murphy comes back.
Starting point is 00:10:01 Maybe they can be at least just a bottom 10 pass rushing unit and not what was last this week, probably the worst in the league. I think it'll look a little better. I think the corner's coverage will look a little better then. I don't think that these are all pro-level players in the secondary. We're seeing that. They're not able to hold up on islands for four. seconds, but they're fine for the most part.
Starting point is 00:10:23 But yeah, just tackling. And maybe when the horses come back, you can at least just be a below average pass rushing unit instead of the league worst without Hendrickson. Those are the two things I look at. Yeah, I think Jane Daniels is still at Paycor just stayed in there in the pocket. And so he's going to have to listen to us, discuss Fandall coming up. But let's probably hit on the defense a little bit more, Jake. I would imagine tackling is fixable.
Starting point is 00:10:49 and then we will get to some good stuff on the offense and what they need to work on coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by Fandul. Maybe you think the Bengals are going to fix their tackling and that they're going to go to Carolina and win their first game of the season. Or maybe you think it's Red Rifle Time and Andy Dalton and Company, well, they're going to win their second straight. Regardless of what you think, you need to get to Fandul right now because you can get a big return on Fandle, America's number one sports book. and you can get started right now with $200 in bonus bets guaranteed when you place your first $5 bet. That's it. That's all you have to do.
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Starting point is 00:11:49 Again, that's fandle.com. James, you have some other thoughts on this defense before we transition and talk about the progress we saw in offense? Yeah, I think from a tackling standpoint, I agree with you, Sands, you got to fix that. And that's the thing. If you're going to be a flawed unit, whether it's defensive tackles or as a defense in general, at least handle the little things and do those correctly and be disciplined, and second and 21, like, that's your opportunity.
Starting point is 00:12:21 And it doesn't happen. You get gifted the false starts. You get them in second and long. And they didn't face many third and longs because they were getting chunk plays on second down. And that was a theme. It's just the commanders playing ahead of the chains and converting literally all but one of their fourth down, third or fourth down opportunities on Monday. And we're back to the same issues that we've seen from this defense in the past.
Starting point is 00:12:47 as well where you have guys trying to do more than they're supposed to do on a play or trying to do someone else's job or ending up in the same place as other guys. And so it leads you to believe that there are trust issues on this defense again where not only are they're tackling issues, but you're talking about doing the little things, just do your job to use Marvin Lewis saying and be in the place you're supposed to be on the defensive side of the ball. And some of that could go back to coaching, I guess, like if guys aren't, hitting their assignments properly and they're not understanding what they're being asked
Starting point is 00:13:21 to do on a play, but more likely to me it's that they're pressing. Mike, what are your thoughts there before we move on to the offense? Yeah, it's a fine line because you, you know, sometimes you want to give a guy help and maybe reach outside. Maybe that's what Camp Taylor puts expecting in like those quarters looks where he's thinking like, Von Bell should just help me here. You know, he's deeper than me. He can get inside on this.
Starting point is 00:13:44 But then you take an advantage of in those situations too. You're talking about you end up with two guys in the same place on that. And then there's nobody in the spot where he's supposed to be. So really just do your job. It's probably correct here. I just think, yeah, if you're not going to be a good unit, if you're a fundamentally sound unit, you'll at least be okay. Or, you know, it won't be a disaster.
Starting point is 00:14:03 But right now they're not a fundamentally sound unit either, other than the Kansas City game because whatever reason they get up for that game. But it just appears in two out of three weeks where they're not fundamentally sound. Yeah, I can see them doing too much sometimes. I think sometimes it's also just they're not the guys that you might think have a really good feel for offices so far. They don't seem to be recognizing route distributions very well. I'm thinking of a Logan Wilson play where he's covering grass in the middle of the field. Nobody's near him.
Starting point is 00:14:36 And the pass gets completed five yards to his left. Like move over. There's nobody near you. You don't need to cover the grass. The grass can't catch the ball. that's hilarious sorry it's just funny he's like i'm going to cover this grass but if anyone else has covered grass before this grass isn't getting open on me sorry i mean you you got to laugh through it sounds that's hilarious anyways let's uh let's get to the offense i'm going to cover this
Starting point is 00:15:05 grass i can't i can't laugh about it james i'm going to be honest i'm glad you can't i can't it's just like, and you met like, no one, this grass isn't getting open against me. Don't come this way. It can't even grow, guys. It's not even real grass. It's inanimate. It isn't moving. I got this grass locked down.
Starting point is 00:15:32 All right. Let's talk about some things that went well for this team on the offensive side of the ball. They found great success in the run game, the past game. They blocked well. the scary thing, I guess, not to, man, you got me in a negative mindset now. The Washington defense is actually worse than the Bengals defense potentially. But regardless, the offense, for the most part, did their job. And they did it in an interesting way, especially early.
Starting point is 00:16:00 This is one of the things that was encouraging to me, Mike. They were very versatile in terms of personnel usage, formations. They used a lot of motion early. They took advantage of their plays where they could get their, star wide receivers, Jamar Chase, isolated on the outside. A lot of encouraging signs on this offense, wouldn't you say? Yeah, I felt like they're pushing all the right buttons. And, I mean, we'll talk about probably everything we can.
Starting point is 00:16:27 But I thought the most fun part for me was the run game, where they went back to that influence trap play that they ran with Collins a couple years ago where the tackle pulls and whams the nose tackle. And then the guard also and the tackle on the other side, flip responsibilities, tackle. goes up, guard kicks that end out. And that was cooking. They also ran a WAM play. They ran crunch. You know, they're running some pretty cool gap concepts. Even after Trent Brown went down, actually, I think it probably got better when Trent Brown went down just because they also asked
Starting point is 00:16:57 Trent Brown to try to run all the way across the formation at one point to kick a guy out. And I was like, okay, maybe that's a heat check because he didn't get there. But yeah, I think the run game is really cool. I think the personnel use is really fun. It's frustrating that the offense became a fireworks factory and that's not the lead of the show because of the defense but i agree there there was a lot of cool stuff especially early in yeah joe burrow obviously put up good numbers played well was in command the whole time they should have scored on every possession outside of the misfield goal they did how do you think he played overall looking back uh were there anything that stood out in a negative way or were you impressed with him i was impressed i think i think
Starting point is 00:17:41 It stopped from being a perfect game because, you know, they end up scoring the touchdown, but the throw of T. Higgins is a little high, and he wasn't able to come down with his feet in bounds. You can think of the checkdown when he was rolling right to the running back that sailed over his head. So it's like a couple of missed opportunities there. But otherwise, it felt like he was in command. It felt like he was making pretty much the best decision possible on every play, checking into things. He was, you know, he is in charge of changing the past protection, but there was a couple examples of him sliding the line when he felt pressure coming one way. Maybe those from a hard count, I remember on one play, it was third and long to T. Higgins.
Starting point is 00:18:20 Hard count, sees the pressure, adjust the line, flips the back, hits T. Higgins for a 15-yard gain on like third and five. That's just great quarterbacking. Although then T. Higgins may or may not have fumbled, they rushed to the line and burn two plays. So that wasn't great. All the three plays after that weren't great. But doing that play was awesome. That's just high-level quarterbacking. And I think Burroughs starting to look like the Joe Burrow we're used to.
Starting point is 00:18:45 Making good decisions, getting into the right plays, getting the ball where it needs to be on time, extending plays when he has to, looking much more comfortable in the pocket. He was only pressured again this week at 29%. He's been pressured 30% or less in pretty much every game this year. But this week, that pressure to sack number 16.7%, which is lower than we've seen from him this year. one of those sacks coming on the play where Trent Brown unfortunately has a Patelah tendon rupture
Starting point is 00:19:15 that is the diagnosis that we learned about on Tuesday morning is he's set to have surgery and well in fact missed a season as feared but overall encouraging stuff from Burrow getting to those shot plays where he has the opportunity
Starting point is 00:19:31 to push the ball downfield he pushes the ball downfield. I think he took the alert on a dagger perhaps to Mike Kaseki on one play which is something we talk about as a potential for Mike Keseki running that clear-out on dagger where they run the clear-out vertical and the dig behind it where you very barely see that go route in the middle of the field thrown. They did take it in this game. That was pretty cool. The dig on dagger was also open on that play. But Burrow did enough. The offense did enough. And that's what's frustrating.
Starting point is 00:20:02 We'll conclude our thoughts on the offense here and other things that were encouraged about there before we play the blame game to finish up the show and try to figure out who's to blame for this predicament that the Bengals find themselves in at 0 and 3 coming up next. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Kids are always learning and growing, but as adults, sometimes we lose that curiosity. What's something you'd like to learn? Maybe gardening, a new language, maybe how to finally beat your best friend in bowling, maybe how to stop the Washington commander's offense from scoring. Therapy can help you reconnect
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Starting point is 00:21:26 Let's conclude our thoughts on the offense here, guys. Any other positives that we should have hit on Jamar Chase, had his coming out party for the season. That was nice to see. T. Higgins looked good out there. Yosevash continues to be a red zone weapon. They continue to use a lot of 12 personnel. Anything else stand out to you, James?
Starting point is 00:21:47 Well, they did everything that you could have asked, really. I get at the red zone stuff is an issue, but it's really not. Offenses aren't going to be perfect. You're going to struggle at times. and by struggle, I mean not get seven, unless, again, you're the commander. So, no, I don't really have much more. I'm curious to see Amarius Mims. I think the Trent Brown loss is bigger than people realize because he would have been the perfect
Starting point is 00:22:12 swing tackle after Amarius ended up becoming the starter anyway. And so to not have that possibility really sucks. Overall, though, I think that this offense has been pretty darn good the past couple of weeks. They're getting better and better. And we'll dive into the Carolina matchup, but they're going to need to continue to play. at a high level, I think if this Bengals team is going to get their first win. Meanwhile, you wanted to play the blame game, Jake.
Starting point is 00:22:37 And I think a lot of people are doing that today, specifically on defense. Is it Lou Anirumo? Is it Duke Tobin in the front office? Is it the players? Specifically on defense, where should we put the, if we're putting together a blame pie, how do we carve up this pie? and put the blame on these guys. Yeah, it's a mix, right?
Starting point is 00:23:03 You've got the roster construction on the one hand. You've got perhaps an ability to be a little bit more aggressive at times or put some pressure on Jaden Daniels from the coaching perspective. You've got a second and 14 and goal running play that you call. If you're Zach Taylor, you got hurrying the play in at the end of the first quarter that we talked about. Or we didn't talk about yesterday, but that one really bothered me. as well. I understand rushing to the line after T. Higgins might have fumbled, but rushing into a play where if you don't absolutely love that look with the first quarter ending, just wait for the first quarter to end and come out of the second quarter and get into something else. So, you know, there's a couple things like that on offense and then on defense, it's tackling, which you can squarely, in my opinion, at this point in week three, say, like you said, Mike, be professionals about it, doing your responsibilities.
Starting point is 00:24:00 But then you get to a roster construction issue where these are clear patterns that we identified in the preseason on the defensive line. And with the departure of DJ Reader, the departure of Jesse Bates a year ago, the talent drain on the defensive side of the ball, despite all of the draft assets they've invested there, there's a talent issue. that is becoming more and more apparent, I think, on this defense. Mike, what are your thoughts as we talk about these different pieces where we can throw blame around? Yeah. To me, it is just what you get what you pay for with this defensive line. I know, there's injuries, but just you let, you know, you let Reader walk.
Starting point is 00:24:51 Then I guess you can point to Rankins and Hill or Out. They're your best two defensive tackles. And then you also got both your, well, you've got one of your guys out. another guy playing with a club that you drafted. But that is where I would look to, and especially edge rusher too, where we talked a lot about DJ Reeder leaving. And sometimes it's not the guy leaving. But, you know, like when Sam Hubbard last year looked a little, you know, not himself,
Starting point is 00:25:19 father times undefeated, you got blamed as an injury, but most of these guys getting old, they lose a step comes usually with an injury or there's an injury related. to why they lost a step. You think of like Drew Breeze's arm is finally cooked when he finally went through another injury. Same with Ben Rothensberger's arm, but Peyton Manning. Everybody had some injury that ended up sending everything really down the crapper after a couple of glimpses of like, it looks like they're kind of hitting the end of their road. So I would say with Sam Hubbard hitting the end of his road, Miles Murphy's on IR, so that's unfortunate.
Starting point is 00:25:53 But this team has never gone out and signed some, you know. Yoniken Gakwe? Yonikungakwe. Judavian Clowny, just any of those guys out there that always sit around right before the season, they could sign them. Same with Lawrence Guy. I mean, really, Lawrence Guy, they could have signed Callais Campbell. They could have signed other guys before that. But, you know, you wait and wait, and then everybody gets who they want, and then you're just left with whatever's out there.
Starting point is 00:26:19 So to me, roster is kind of my biggest issue. Well, yeah. You know, maybe Campbell and guy. Like, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't really understand that 2021. it felt like this defense really made a lot of sense with DJ Reader, B.J. Hill and Larry Ogenjobie.
Starting point is 00:26:34 And since then, they have never tried to recreate that. They let Ogun Joby walk. And maybe Zach Carter was supposed to be the replacement, but that didn't work. And now Reader walks. And then you finally get a guy that's like Ogun Joby and Sheldon Rankin's, but now you don't have a reader. So they've lived in that barefront. And it's been a hallmark of this defense to have those three interior pieces and then they just never really built it back to what it was in 2021. There was still a good playoff defense of 2020. But yeah, you see the ramification of letting all these guys walk and think you can replace them and they haven't been able to.
Starting point is 00:27:10 It's tough. Yeah, it's tough. And that's during all the Jamar conversations, that was part of it too for me. It's like, all right, well, they're obviously not resigning T. Spoiler. They didn't resign Jesse. Like, all right. So pay Jamar early and at least know that you have.
Starting point is 00:27:25 him, right? And that hasn't happened yet. And while I think something could get done, the frustration there is pretty clear. And when you draft and develop these guys and you get it right, just keep them. Because it is hard to keep getting it right and getting it right and getting it right. And we're seeing that now to a degree. Now, can the defense be better? Yeah, tackle better. That alone makes them better. Maybe they do get a stop that was needed. on Monday night to win. But they're clearly flawed. Like all year long, there's going to be a theme
Starting point is 00:28:01 Bengals fans and it's going to be like, yeah, this offense better score. This offense better be efficient. They better take care of the ball. They better produce explosive plays. Like, they're going to need to do that in a lot of these games if they're going to have a shot to rebound and win a lot. I think there's a lot of hosts pinned on Miles Murphy's return. Because this defense looked good, even.
Starting point is 00:28:21 You could say against the Kansas City Chiefs. And the reason that it looked like that against the Kansas City Chiefs is that Trey Henderson was winning consistently. He had a dominant game against a bad group of left tackles, mostly Kingsley, Sue and Mattia, and a little bit of Wanya Morris. This week, he should have had that same success, and he didn't. There was actually attention paid to him, as you pointed out, Mike. There were double teams for him this week that he did not see as much against the
Starting point is 00:28:44 chiefs who, for some reason, almost squandered the game by just refusing to double team Trey Hendrickson against a bad left tackle situation. But when Trey can't win consistently, the warnings that we've issued are there is nothing if Trey isn't winning. We saw that last night. Trey wasn't winning consistently and there was nothing else. So if Miles Murphy can come back and give you something that approximates an NFL defensive edge defender, which they don't really have outside of Trey right now on a consistent basis, which is very concerning,
Starting point is 00:29:21 that could be a huge help and can help to make the rest of this defense. defense look better. It's hard for me to even be too rough on the coverage guys because so often they're being asked to hold up for second, third windows, as we highlighted on the Luke McCaffrey play, for example, or some of the scramble drills where Washington even has guys illegally downfield because they think Jayden Daniels is running. But you can't hold up that long. A lot of that has helped by finding a pass rush and not letting a quarterback hold the ball for three and a half seconds back there on every play. and let all of his guys get into second and third windows. And that's a hard way to live. And yeah, maybe Lou could have done something a little bit differently, found some different buttons of pushing this one. But when they have the talent deficiencies, they do that you're trying to cover up in the first place,
Starting point is 00:30:12 that makes it really hard to call a defense too. And when you can't just rush for it and get literally any pressure throughout a game, again, that's a hard way to try to live as a defensive coordinator. We will need to shift gears here. Go ahead, James. For sure. It's hard. He's still got to do it.
Starting point is 00:30:30 And he's got to figure it out and he knows that. And so better figure it out because if you give Andy three plus seconds, that dude, dude's going to drop some dimes. We saw that. He still got it. Andy's seen it all. He's not one of these young bucks. You're trying to confuse. Although you can probably confuse Andy Dalton.
Starting point is 00:30:48 We know that. We'll see if the Bengals can pull it off as we transition our, attention here on Lockdown Bengals starting tomorrow to the Bengals week for opponent. Andy Dalton, part four. As the Bengals opponent here coming up, we'll have your crossover tomorrow. Then we'll get right into a game preview fast week this week. Again, thanks to Mike for contributing his film observations at Bengals underscore Sands on Twitter. It's always game day in Cincinnati for his podcast.
Starting point is 00:31:18 Until next time, that's going to do it for this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Thanks for listening and have a good one.

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