Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson BATTLE to Keep AFC North Hopes ALIVE

Starting point is 00:00:00 It's Bengals, it's Ravens, it's Joe Burrow, it's Lamar Jackson. It's a must win for both teams. It's time to break it all down right now on a special locked on crossover here on the Locked On Podcast Network. You are Locked on NFL crossover, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hi again, everyone, and welcome into a special Locked On crossover. I'm James Rappin of Locked On Bengals.

Starting point is 00:00:31 He's Kevin Ostracker of Lockedon Ravens, and it is a huge part two. match up in the AFC North. The Bengals trying to stay alive and keep their slim playoff chances alive and the Ravens trying to keep pace in the AFC North as both teams try to catch the Pittsburgh Steelers. Today's crossover is brought to you by prize picks. Download the price picks app today. Use code locked on NFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. Shout out to all of the everydayers and everyone making us your first listen here on

Starting point is 00:01:02 Locked on Ravens and Locked on Bengals. And Kevin, I think a lot of people listening, Bengals fans-wise, even Joe Burrow after the fact, admitted they were rooting for the Ravens last week. It didn't happen. The Ravens lose to the Steelers. What's been the biggest story in Baltimore this week following the loss to Aaron Rogers and company? Yeah, definitely now that the Ravens are on their back foot when it comes to their playoff chances.

Starting point is 00:01:27 I think everybody understood and knew how important that game was for both the Ravens and the Steelers where you had, you know, playoff odds jump in for the winner to 70, 75 percent, and the loser all the way down around, you know, 20, 25, 30 percent. So it was a big loss for them. You know, the Ravens with the loss to the Steelers and obviously the Cincinnati a couple of weeks ago, it drops their division record to two and two while Pittsburgh is at three and one. And so all of those scenarios, because I think that in the AFC North, mean, we talked about this last time we spoke, James.

Starting point is 00:02:00 I think there's only going to be one AFC North team. that makes the postseason and that is going to be the division winner. And right now, the Ravens, they're going to, they have a climb to get to the postseason. And even if they get there, it's like how far could they even go at this point? Because the other storyline obviously is the way that the offense has looked and the inconsistency there, the slow starts. I mean, the offensive line hasn't been good the entire season. You know, they signed Lake and Tomlinson to their practice squad on Tuesday. but, you know, he was released from the Texans who, I mean, he started some games.

Starting point is 00:02:36 Do they maybe see something there? I'm not sure. But, you know, at the end of the day, it's been hard to keep Lamar Jackson upright. And on the flip side of that, they let Aaron Rogers stay upright for the entire game. Zero sacks on Aaron Rogers. I thought we were in 2015 the way he was running around and movie scored a touchdown on a rollout. Right for the legs. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:02:54 Did the discount double check. That's not what I was saying. We're doing the state like state, like all that stuff. So I just, it's been rough. all the way around for Baltimore this season. You know, falling below 500 this late in the year is really tough. And, you know, I think that honestly, there are things you can take away from both games, a Sinti game on Thanksgiving night as well as this Pittsburgh game last week,

Starting point is 00:03:15 different things that kind of have contributed to how Baltimore has played this season, which is just kind of been what to me feels like a very upsetting, disappointing, and frustrating year. And I'm sure the organization feels that way too. Yeah, it's a bad division. You know, it is. I'm embarrassed. We're not used to it.

Starting point is 00:03:35 We're not used to that, right? We're used to it being close and it's close because all these teams are really good and physical and have their strengths and the other strengths balance out the weaknesses of other teams and they're really tough matchups. And it's just not that. Look, I'm surprised the Ravens didn't win that game, but it's not shocking just because I think everyone's pretty close here. They have their obvious flaws. and that's what's interesting to me about this game is we know what happened. Joe Burrow comes back. He's had that game circled in Baltimore for a while now.

Starting point is 00:04:10 And then to go out and play the way they did for most of that Buffalo game, boy, oh boy, did it feel like, holy smokes, they are back. Joe Burrow is back, this team. And then we got reminded that they can't overcome an interception or two, right? And they were devastating interceptions, but the defense had a chance. And that's been the story is really Joe Burrow better be perfect because if not, the roster isn't good enough otherwise. And for everything that we say about Burrow, and I do believe he makes them so much more dangerous

Starting point is 00:04:46 and so much scarier, for them to not be able to get off the field against Josh Allen and multiple fourth down opportunities late in the fourth quarter on the road, or one fourth down, one third down. And the third and 15, and Josh Allen just walks for 17 yards. And it was just the easiest first down of the world for him to clinch the game. Now I wonder how that plays and what they're going to look like against the Ravens team. That is beatable. The Ravens are favored according to Fandall.

Starting point is 00:05:15 But it's one of those toss-up type of games. So given the Bengals chances now at roughly 3% to make the playoffs, I think that conversation goes by the wayside, wouldn't have had they beat. the bills last week, but that goes by the wayside. And it's more about, all right, can the Bengals play well enough to sweep a team that is certainly firmly in the playoff mix and has a better chance than the Bengals do right now to win the AFC North? That's what I look at. I don't really question Joe Burrow, even this offensive line. I think we know what they are at this point. We also know where the flaws are. And those flaws are pretty darn big.

Starting point is 00:05:53 Yeah, both these teams are down with it. And I know for Cincinnati, you know, something that we had talked about heading into that first game of like, you know, Cincinnati's defense is on pace to be like this all-time poor unit. And again, to their credit, like they had been playing better leading into that game. And of course, did play. I mean, they had five turnovers on Lamar and that Ravens team, which you're like, okay, great. And then it's like those weaknesses that we had been talking about. And obviously Cincinnati fans and the organization had gone through.

Starting point is 00:06:19 Like, all right, are they turning a corner defensively? Like, you have that great performance against Baltimore. And then it all just kind of with Josh Allen. And you're like, all right, while you're in multiple plus situations here, just try to get this stop or try to get this one play. And then it doesn't go your way. And then obviously snowballs. And, you know, it's an unfortunate way to kind of lose a game.

Starting point is 00:06:38 And it seems like the story of the year for Cincinnati, whether it's them putting up 40 plus and the other team scores 50 or them putting up 30 plus and their team scores 40. It's like you have this high powered offense. And that's kind of like what I had talked about after the game on Thanksgiving night is like, you know, the Ravens defense. held on for dear life against that Cincinnati team in the first half, you know, like forcing Evan McPherson to come on the field and kick field goals, stopping the Bengals when they got plus field position. And by plus field position, I mean like the Ravens three yard line was their starting spot. And they still weren't able to get in the end zone.

Starting point is 00:07:12 But, you know, I think we saw Joe early just trying to feel things out in that game. But I said that, you know, when you have Joe Burrow and Jemar Chase, he's going to figure it out. And is it an offense for Baltimore? You had to get back in that football game or at least put yourself in better. position because you know that that run is coming. And once it came, the Ravens offense didn't have a response to it. And so that's the difference is like the bills did. You know, the Bengals are putting up points and the bill said, okay, we're going to match you. And the Ravens in that Thanksgiving game said, no, we're not going to match you. We're going to let you run wild in that second half and,

Starting point is 00:07:45 you know, throw all over the field. And even without T. Higgins, I mean, you saw like Andreoshevosh step up and other guys. I know Mitchell Tinsley had kind of a rough game. Stopped running his right. Did they ever address that, James? Mitchell Tinsley stopped running his route on that play in the end zone. Was there ever a conversation about that? I can't remember it got lost in the shuffle and because they ran away with the game. It doesn't, I'm sure he was asked about it because he would talk to afterwards. And you're right. Like that was a huge play because it should have been a touchdown. And Joe was kind of feeling his way back. No T. Higgins certainly impacted the red zone stuff. But that's going to be the case again this week. And that's, that's one of the storylines for sure is

Starting point is 00:08:21 without tea, you have Jamari just crossed the 1,000 yard mark. Can they do enough? And the theme, as you mentioned that, the bills and the Raven, the theme is, these teams aren't good enough to overcome turnovers and bunches. They're just not. It happened to the Ravens, and it happened to the Bengals. And they gave themselves a chance, even with the back-to-back interceptions. They gave themselves a chance, but they're not talented enough to do that.

Starting point is 00:08:47 And so which team can make a player to enforce a Lamar fumble or a Joe Burrow or an interception or one of these guys to fumble. I think that's a key for both teams that we can spoil ahead of time. But there's certainly some big matchups that we need to discuss in this one as another AFC North Tilt. It's Bengals and Ravens Round 2. We'll discuss the top matchups coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by prize picks.

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Starting point is 00:09:43 all right, well, Joe Burrow is going to throw for more than his number of passing yards. Lamar Jackson is going to throw for more than his number of passing yards as well. Boom, throw those together. And you can start making. making money today. Download the price picks apps and use code locked on NFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. That's code locked on NFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup price picks. It's good to be right. All right, Kevin, let's dive into some of these matchups. And I think the first one, you mentioned it as how it

Starting point is 00:10:18 pertains to Aaron Rogers and what happened Raven Steelers. This Bengals' offensive line has held up well. Joe Bro has been sacked once in each of the past two games, and they were on blitzes. It wasn't, you know, coming off the edge pressure. He didn't see against the bills. Same thing, I believe, against the Ravens was on a blitz. And so can this offensive line continue to hold up against that Ravens defensive front? That's a huge storyline. Yeah, it's huge.

Starting point is 00:10:46 And the Ravens, after finally figuring out their pass rush and doing that with a combination of being much more aggressive with their blitzes, They brought in Draymond Jones, who was able to win one-on-one matchups early. It's been a struggle over, you know, the last handful of weeks to get to the quarterback and get them down. I mean, in that Cincinnati game on Thanksgiving night, Joe Burrow was only sacked one time. And then against Pittsburgh, yes, Aaron Rogers, sacked zero times. So it's huge because, look, you can't let any quarterback. I don't care who you are, how much experience you have. You can't let a quarterback sit back in the pocket feel comfortable and just kind of go about his business.

Starting point is 00:11:24 and you especially cannot do it when they are as good as Joe Burrow. And so we saw that a little bit in the second half of that SINC game on Thanksgiving night where guys just weren't getting there. There were even instances where guys overrushed and Burroughs able to step up in the pocket and deliver. So, you know, now that he's back, he's had a couple games under his belt. I mean, Joe's back. Like, he's there. He's doing his thing.

Starting point is 00:11:46 And even if it's no T. Higgins in this game and you're still, like, Jamar's still there, first of all. And we know that, you know, Marlon Humphrey has struggled against Jabr's. for a little bit over the course of his career. I mean, Jamar still loves to play the Ravens. It's his favorite team to play based off of the stats. I mean,

Starting point is 00:12:01 the stats are great for Bengals fans, not so great for Ravens fans when he plays against them. But even still, like, you know, you see other guys step up. I mean, Tanner Hudson with like a one-handed snag over Kyle Hamilton in the end zone. Like those are the guys who you have to account for.

Starting point is 00:12:19 So it's let anybody else beat you, but that's really hard to do when it's Jamar Chase because he's so good. And in this Baltimore secondary, if the pass rush doesn't get there, because I always marry the two, James. I'm like, look, if the pass rush doesn't get there, guys can't cover for that long. Like you hear about covered sacks and all of a sudden, you're like, okay, well, it's the opposite too, where if the pass rush doesn't get there and you're allowing a guy to sit back

Starting point is 00:12:43 in the pocket, I don't care how good you're covering a guy, receivers can always improvise, especially with guys like Jabbar, who know how to work back to Joe Burrow, get open, find a soft spot in the defense. So if you're asking these guys to cover for four, five, six, seven, eight seconds, every second it becomes and the pass rush cannot get there, it's going to be tough. So hopefully guys can step up. I expect the Ravens to try to be aggressive with their blitzes. The problem is blitzing Joe Burrow also really isn't a great idea. It's not a great idea for any of these quarterbacks because especially the good elite guys like a Burrow, a Lamar, an Allen, a Mahomes, et cetera. They know how to beat the blitz. But at some point, like,

Starting point is 00:13:19 I'd rather send pressure and it not get there and you at least try that than just rush four and have Joe sit back there for six or seven seconds and just dump things off or find guys open. So pass rush is going to be huge, especially because like you mentioned, like that old line is held up well. I mean, you're seeing a lot of guys step up in the moment

Starting point is 00:13:37 and we saw that against Cincinnati on Thursday night from Baltimore where they just couldn't get home as much as they wanted to. And that was a big problem. Yeah, I think one, Pass rush wise. Carl Lawson, is he just done? Is that why they released him on Tuesday?

Starting point is 00:13:56 Ravens have been very interesting over the past, honestly, calendar year in terms of these situations. Because I'm interested in him. I want him to come home. Yeah. I'm a actual home to Cincinnati and beef up this pass rush with Treha. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:14:06 Just to be clear. Played in one game. I mean, didn't really make a huge impact or anything like that. Yeah, I didn't notice him on Thanksgiving. Yeah. The expectation when he was signed was that like he was waiting, like he turned down another opportunity.

Starting point is 00:14:19 to find a situation where he could play. At least that was the understanding that, you know, I think a lot of people got from it. And it just never, never happened. You know, I don't know if the, I mean, I'm sure the acquisition of Draymond Jones probably pushed him further down on the pecking order, but they have with the guys like David Ajaba, who haven't really contributed.

Starting point is 00:14:37 And I'm just saying, why not try Carl Lawson to see what he has? And this was kind of like with CJ Gardner Johnson, they signed him earlier in the season, but then they traded for a loheed gomen two hours later. And I'm sure if CJ Gardner Johnson was like, wait. we had a plan and then you go trade for a guy. And so he's now in Chicago and Chicago's doing good things. So I don't know what the deal is with Carl Lawson.

Starting point is 00:14:58 Maybe John Harbaal clarified as the week continues, but weird situation because I thought he could help the team out. And while Draymond Jones has been good for them for the most part, I mean, would have been nice to kind of have him and Carl Austin because those are two guys that can win one-on-one. Some of the Ravens haven't been able to really do a lot of this season. So very confusing situation. and you know what, if you did, if you did go to Cincinnati, I think you'd help him out.

Starting point is 00:15:21 Yeah, you mentioned four, five, six, seven seconds the past. And I just think of Josh Allen. And it's like one, Mississippi, two, Mississippi, three. And people don't want to hear me count. But like, that's what it was. Yeah. Multiple times where this Bengals secondary was holding up and the corners were, were where they needed to be.

Starting point is 00:15:39 And Josh Allen's just holding it and holding it and holding it. And you have to find a way to disrupt that. And the same thing goes here. like Lamar the last thing you want to fear the Bengals is to be his get right team is to be his team where midway through the game and I said it before the Thanksgiving game but it still feels like it's possible now you don't want to look up and it's this duel where Lamar and Joe are going back and forth or the Bengals have had a couple turnovers and you can't stop Lamar and you're in a hole like that that to me is such a big deal for both of these defenses and then the other

Starting point is 00:16:14 element of this. And the Bengals, they did a pretty good job last week against James Cook, holding him to 4.4 yards per carry. They couldn't stop Josh Allen, who's by far the Bill's best runner. But you can't let Derek Henry get going. And he showed flashes of it a little bit on Thanksgiving. I know people in Baltimore, like how, why did he only get 10 carries? And I sort of get it because I think if they had leaned on him a bit more early, maybe that changes it. That's always going to be a huge factor here for this Bengals defense. Anytime they go up against Baltimore, the last thing you want is, Derek Henry to get downhill and make explosive plays.

Starting point is 00:16:47 Yeah, I was going to mention the Ravens O line. And I know we talked about a little earlier in the show with how disappointing it's been. But, you know, against Pittsburgh, they opened up a couple of really nice rushing lanes for Derek Henry. But again, James Lewis, that problem of, like, Henry was in the second quarter off the field with his helmet gone. And, like, doing, like, drive rotations with Keaton Mitchell. And I love Keaton. But, like, you should be using those guys in tandem on the same drive, not alternating them on different drives. And that was one of the big keys for Baltimore was there was no Derek Carmen for Pittsburgh.

Starting point is 00:17:18 And Baltimore, you know, they weren't great running the ball against Pittsburgh, but they weren't bad either. And I just thought that like, you know, overall, and I'm more so talking like Henry. Henry average 3.8 yards per carry, but the team as a whole average 5.4. And I thought they used Lamar's legs a little better in that game. And so there was a play in the Sincey game on Thursday night where it was a option play with Lamar and Rishina Ali. And everybody went with Rishin Ali while Lamar Jackson went to the outside. I was like, this is what it is right now. Teams aren't respecting Lamar's legs because of his injury situation.

Starting point is 00:17:49 You know, how much can he do? And that's been very different from what we've seen where guys always go with Lamar, regardless of if he has the ball or not. So on those option plays to, let's say, Derek Henry, you know, you're seeing guys just crash in and know that, okay, we're more worried about Derek, like you said. And Lamar, he's more so the secondary guy. And that's what, you know, what we saw last season was like making Lamar and Derek Henry so dangerous was you had to put man.

Starting point is 00:18:14 power on both those guys, which would open up the field for whoever had the ball. And it feels like this year, Lamar's looked better with, like, I thought he's looked better every single week. I thought against the Jets game, it looked kind of slow and sluggish and kind of banged up. On the Thanksgiving game, I thought he looked all right. Like, I thought he had some of his explosiveness back. I think we saw a couple like vintage Lamar plays. And then against Pittsburgh, I thought he looked even better. And he was starting to use his legs again.

Starting point is 00:18:37 So, I mean, the hope is just he's getting healthier every single week. But even still, I mean, for that Bengals defense. If they can stop there, Henry, and eliminate that factor from the offense like we essentially saw them do, whether it was because the Bengals, we're stopping them at points or the Ravens decided we can't do this anymore because we're down.

Starting point is 00:18:56 Even still, that eliminated a part of the offense, the Bengals had to worry about. And they could just kind of pin their ears back, Rush Lamar Jackson, and, you know, forced turnovers like they did. So whenever you have five turnovers in the game,

Starting point is 00:19:07 you're not going to win it. And obviously Cincinnati did a great job of forcing those turnovers and the Ravens played sloppy football. Cincinnati took advantage of it. And you know that is what it. is. But I think in this game, if the Ravens can establish their run game early, work to play action, especially because I know what happened in that game when Buffalo with the tight ends, James. I know what happened. The Ravens with every game, any game. Yeah. And we talked about it on Thanksgiving.

Starting point is 00:19:30 We did. Yeah, we did. The Mark Andrews, I say, fresh off an extension, Mark Andrews. They only had one catch for nine yards in that Steelers game. Isaiah likely, who obviously has been a controversy point for the last two weeks for different reasons. And even Charlie Kohler, I think that if you can work the play action game off of a solid run game that could be what can put this raven's offense over to top because we've seen how the bengals have struggled with those tight ends so that's another matchup raven's tight ends versus bengals everybody on that second and third level of defense oh no you're right i mean it's uh it's wild you you mentioned charlie coler and if if that happens i mean the game winner last week it wasn't dawson knox it wasn't dalton kincade jackson hall fourth and

Starting point is 00:20:10 three has a touchdown they gave up for those one I can remember this. 11 catches, 137 yards, two touchdowns to the bills, tight ends last week. So, yeah, painful. And, yeah, if I was Lamar Jackson, I would be paying attention to the tight ends. Keys to Victory. Stop all tight ends. We're going to get to those keys to victory coming up next.

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Starting point is 00:23:22 The Ravens, they don't have to fall into that trap if they get a win on Sunday. What are your keys to victory? Well, if I had to just pick three of them, which I'm going to, number one is it has to be the red zone. They have been an abysmal. It feels like we're just doing the same episode we did it on Thanksgiving, James. I mean, the Ravens have not gotten any better in the red zone. zone in that Cincinnati game. I mean, that was one of the reasons.

Starting point is 00:23:47 And look, so the Ravens credit defensively in that game. They also held the Bengals out of the Red Zone or at least scoring touchdowns there, but Baltimore still couldn't convert there. The Ravens last season in the Red Zone were the best Red Zone offense in the NFL. They converted at almost 75% of those opportunities. They converted at that rate. This year, they are the third worst red zone offense in the league. And right now, they're just converting at 44.

Starting point is 00:24:13 4.9% of those opportunities. So it's been almost a 30 percentage point drop-off for them from last year to this year. And it has to do with a lot of different things. Weird personnel decisions with not having Derek Henry on the field in certain situations or running the ball and they shouldn't. Bad execution, bad blocking. And sometimes, I think we saw this with the Bengals, it can be harder to score from the, like, when you get to the three-yard line,

Starting point is 00:24:38 that field shrinks up. Like, it can be harder sometimes to score from the three-yard line than the 13-yard line because the field does shrink and you have less opportunities and you kind of know like, okay, it's going to be a goal line run or whatnot. And we've kind of had the Ravens fall into that trap a little bit here in Baltimore. So we know that Joe is back. We know that Jamar is there. We know this is a high power Bengals offense.

Starting point is 00:24:57 You cannot kick field goals and keep up with this Bengals unit, especially with how they've been playing over the last couple of weeks with Joe back. I'd say the second thing that I'm looking for is, you know, Lamar Jackson just has to get back to superstardom, where he was better against the Steelers than he has been over. over the last three weeks leading up to that. But, you know, still based off the expectations, Lamar has as a superstar, he has not lived up to those over the last month.

Starting point is 00:25:20 And that has to do with a lot of different factors. Again, he's clearly banged up. He has had poor offensive line play. And, you know, how much can you do when you have a guy in your face every one and a half seconds? I know Bengals fans feel that pain over the last handful of years with Joe Burrow and how the offensive line has looked prior to this season. But, you know, it's just been really hard for Lamar. And, you know, while he is the master, at least one of the best,

Starting point is 00:25:42 if not the best in the league, get escaping pressure, making something out of nothing, running around the field and finding somebody, there's only so much you can ask of him in that category to do. And when you're asking it,

Starting point is 00:25:52 every single play, that becomes much more of a tough ask, especially when guys like Daniel Faletela are getting blown by on every, I mean, Daniel Faletela is like 300 and, you know, plus three, almost 400 pounds,

Starting point is 00:26:03 got beat by a 150 pound slot corner, not just like ran by, got like out leveraged and ran by there. So it's just been all the way bad there. So that leads me into the third key, which is the offensive line just has to protect Lamar and block. I mean, that two and three go hand in hand for me. But, you know, seeing other guys step up, you know, and with this Cincinnati team that we now know, Trey Hendrickson not going to play, not in this game, but for the rest of the season, you know,

Starting point is 00:26:29 kind of like what we saw in that Thanksgiving game, guys on that defensive line for Cincinnati stepped up. They made plays. They got to the more made them uncomfortable. You can't allow that against this Bengals defense. So, you know, whether since he gets. creative with blitzing or gets aggressive there, either which way the offensive line has to pick up assignments, not get blown by, and make Lamar Jackson's life as easy as possible, which they have not done over the last month and honestly the entire season. Yeah, I agree with you, a lot of the keys.

Starting point is 00:26:59 They're going to go almost hand in hand, but I'm going to steal the one from a few minutes ago that you mentioned. You can't let the tight ends beat you. I'm sick of talking about it. And what does that mean, well, I think the Bengals corners have been pretty good overall, but when we talk about Derek Henry or we talk about Lamar Jackson running it or the tight ends, a lot of that is linebackers. A lot of that is the defensive linemen holding their gaps and where they're supposed to be and being in the right spots and all of those things. So those, whether it's Lamar or Derek Henry, those rushing lanes aren't open or whether it's these tight ends making big plays downfield. And those are all things, those specific things

Starting point is 00:27:43 plague them against the bills. And so you can't be Lamar Jackson's get right game. And that's a huge element of this as well, not just the tight ends, but number two, just you can't be his get right game where it's like, oh, everyone's doubting us now. We're six and seven. We go to Cincinnati and get to seven and Lamar's rolling. Maybe the Steelers lose to the dolphins on Monday night. And then suddenly it feels much, much different for the Ravens. That, you can't. let that happen. And then the third thing is simple. On offense, protect Joe Burrow and take care of the football. If you do that, he's going to put up points. He will find ways to get points on the board one way or another. Obviously, it wasn't perfect on Thanksgiving, but you felt it. You felt

Starting point is 00:28:25 his presence. He made an impact, especially in that second half, that throw to Andre Yosevash, that really changed the game. So those are the type of moments that he lives for. And I know he's going to be ready to play. They need the rest of the team ready to go. And a lot of it is going to be on this defense to, especially early on, not let Lamar do Lamar things, not let these tight ends look like the Bill's tight ends looked last week. I mean, it was just Dawson Knox, Dawson Knox, Dawson Knox, Dawson Knox, Dawson Knox, then Dalton Kincaid, and then, oh, you think we're done, halls is going to score the game winning touchdown, you know? So like tight ends are such a factor here, especially because the Ravens have good tight ends.

Starting point is 00:29:07 And they have a really, really good group, as do the bills, of course. And so that makes it a tough matchup for the Bengals. Yeah, I agree with everything you said there. And, you know, these games have become too high-powered offenses here. But the problem for Baltimore is that Cincinnati's is playing like it while the Ravens are not. And you just see over the course of a game, like we saw frustration boil over on the sideline. And we have seen that recently, you know, and that's the other's game. Lamar threw his helmet down after his interception.

Starting point is 00:29:35 Lamar does not have a touchdown in essentially his last four games if you want to go back. So, I mean, it's been a really tough year for Lamar with the hamstring injury and him missing a month with that coming back, being all banged up with everything. But, you know, when this Ravens' offenses at its peak, there are barely any offenses that can keep up with them. One of the only ones that can is Cincinnati. And so when Cincinnati's offense is humming and Baltimore's offense is humming, it makes for these like great back and forth, back and forth games, kind of like what you saw last week with Buffalo and Cincinnati. But Baltimore can get back to there. You're great. But if they can't, could be a repeat of Thanksgiving, which I know a lot of Ravens fans do not want.

Starting point is 00:30:18 Yeah, the turnovers are a huge factor here. Obviously for both teams. It is cliche, but I think given their flaws on both sides, not just Bengals, not just Ravens, both sides. If you win the turnover battle, you're going to have a heck of a shot because it's two high-end quarterbacks with flawed teams that are trying to keep pace with Aaron Rogers, who old man, Aaron Rogers isn't as old as Philip Rivers. Can you believe that? Crazy times.

Starting point is 00:30:46 That might be the bounce back game. They need to throw the Colts on the Raven schedule to try to get that defense to bounce back there. A lot of people want to face the Colts, given their situation. But we're going to have you covered all week long on Locked on Ben. and Lockdown Ravens. So check us out. Obviously, after the game, we'll have your instant reaction to a huge AFC North matchup with playoff implications as both teams try to keep realistic playoff hopes alive. For Kevin Oestriker, I'm James Rappeen. Thank you so much for watching and listening to the Lockdown Bengals and Lockdown Ravens podcast here on the Lockdown Podcast Network.

Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Joe Burrow and Lamar Jackson BATTLE to Keep AFC North Hopes ALIVE

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