Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Joe Burrow leads efficient TD drive in Cincinnati Bengals' preseason debut | Cincinnati Bengals-Tampa Bay Buccaneers Preseason Recap

Episode Date: August 11, 2024

The guys break down the Cincinnati Bengals' first preseason game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, starting Joe Burrow and the first team offense's touchdown drive, and the starting defense's 3-and-out. Then, we get into how concerned we should be about run defense and interior DL depth, the punter battle, and Jermaine Burton's explosive 4th quarter. For 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!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!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.eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotors.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.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.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms Apply.FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. As playoffs wind down, the sports stop sporting like we want them to. But this summer, FanDuel is hooking up ALL CUSTOMERS with a boost or a bonus, DAILY! That’s right, there’s something for everyone, every day, all summer long! Visit FANDUEL.COM/LOCKEDON and add a big win to your summer bucket list!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 a successful preseason debut for the Cincinnati Bengals headlined by Joe Burrow throwing his first preseason touchdown pass. Let's get into it. 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 Liskow. He's your host, James Rapine. The Cincinnati Bengals have completed a pre-upend.

season game. We are about to break it all down in this episode of Locked-on Bengals. Part of the Lockdown podcast. Now we're covering your team every day on YouTube, everywhere you get your podcast. Shout out to the everyday or shout out to all of you who make us your first list and appreciate the regulars out there so very much. And if you're new to the show, getting excited for another season of Cincinnati Bengals football, while you're in the right place, hit the subscribe button and we will keep you up to date with all the latest news and analysis of the biggest stories covering the Cincinnati Bengals on lockdown Bengals. Today's episode is sponsored by LinkedIn jobs. You can find the qualified

candidates you want to talk to faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com slash lockdown NFL terms and conditions apply. And James, I said that it was a successful preseason debut for the Cincinnati Bengals. Joe Burrough threw touchdown pass. De Higgins caught a touchdown pass. Remain Burton caught a touchdown pass. We'll get to that later. And nobody got hurt that we know of. We also got good news on Charlie Jones. So a lot of good things happening today. If you just ignore the final score, the Bengals didn't win the game, but that's hardly the most important thing in the preseason. It's like 5,000 trillion billion 550,000, 325th on the importance list. There you go. There's a stat. I couldn't say the number again, but that's where it's at,

because it really doesn't matter. What matters is Joe Burrow came out here and on the field behind me, went five for seven for 51 yards, was in command of the office. offense like you would expect him to be, racked up five first downs, completed fastest to four different targets, the deep ball to T. Higgins looked pretty darn good, even though it didn't get completed. And it ended with a touchdown to T. Higgins. I mean, that's, it's really all you could ask for. And I asked Joe after the game if he accomplished everything on his list. He made it clear he didn't have a list, even in his head. But you have goals. And really, anything other than a touchdown on that opening drive would have felt like, ah. And I thought

that was going to be the case. And I kind of had the opening drive story written. And it was like, but it stalled out in the red zone and they had to settle for a field goal. That doesn't feel as good. They get the touchdown. They get the nice pass interference call that extends the drive. And they took advantage of it. And they deserve credit for taking advantage of it, even though that was probably a borderline at best call, questionable call. But this. is exactly what you wanted to see from Joe Burrow tonight, and he doesn't really get hit at all. I think he got almost pushed on the screenplay where he just clocked it. Other than that, I'm not sure anyone got near him, and we can discuss that in a second.

But yeah, Joe Burrow, I thought, looked good, and the offense moved the ball well with him in, and then they couldn't. So Joe Burroughs still good at football. Who knew? Who knew? Yeah, he looked a lot like himself. I think that the only thing if you wanted to nitpick it would be the throw to Trenton stood out as a glaring misfire, slight misfire.

Irwin's still able to catch a ball, still a catchable pass, but certainly higher, I think, than Joe Burrow intended to throw that ball. It sailed on him just a little bit. But the decision-making for Burrow was really good in this game. The operation looked smooth outside of Chase Brown, had a false start mixed in there, and hard to say where the miscommunication was there. I'm not inclined to blame Joe Burrow for that, but as far as the first team offense goes,

that was the hiccup. And that came on a series where, like you said, the Bengals called a screen into a safety blitz. Joe Burrow had no chance, had to throw it into the ground and just take the loss of down, essentially. Then they come back with a second and ten running call, which Mo Eger tweeted that, you know,

this is certainly a play call they wouldn't make in the regular season. A second and ten run, well, I hope Mo is right. That run went for minus two yards. That was followed by Chase Brown's fall start. So you're in a third and 17. And they get bailed out by a DPI. It takes them from a field goal drive to a touchdown drive

against the Tampa Bay backups. And so, you know, if you're really nitpicking, you could say it could go a little bit better to not get into that situation, to be a little bit more accurate on that ball to Trent Nervin to have Chase Brown's running attempts go a little bit better. but there's so many positives here too. Like I said, I thought the decision making was really good.

T. Higgins looked great. You had a third down conversion to Andre Yosevash on a slant, and he took that after the catch for 23 yards. They had that explosive play, run after catch play on that first drive. T. Higgins on the touchdown planting, making a guy miss on his way to the end zone. A lot of big positives there. And like you said, Burrow has kept clean. So while run blocking could have been better, pass blocking was great,

the skill guys looked good, Joe Burrow looked good. And in a small sample of one drive, that's all you could really ask for a preseason game where we saw Joe Burrow with extended playing time for the first time. The return. The return. It was the most important drive in quite some time. Put it that way. Honestly, far more important than any drive that happened in December,

including the wins, including with the playoffs on the line and all those things. it didn't matter you wanted to see joe get out there and and still look like joe and was everything perfect no and he admitted that that's fine but it's it's one step closer than he was three days ago and i think he has progressed and gotten better and better like the deep ball to t that's just a great play by the defender really but it's a heck of a ball i thought and and t has it that's a that's a ball, by the way, a couple years ago. I'm not sure T hangs on that long with two guys on him like that. And they referenced a play in 21, Zacted in his news conference, like,

oh, well, that's kind of like the play that he ran against Baltimore. But that's a heavy contested catch situation with two guys on you. And T. Higgins just has that grown man strength now. And he almost hauled it in. So you're right. He looks great. I agree. To me, I actually didn't have a huge issue with the run block.

I thought some of the runs called were almost protect Joe runs and protect Joe plays, like just by design, Zach clearly. He said that. Yeah. After it like, hey, we're trying to protect him. Because, yeah, a couple of them, I'm like, ugh, like, you guys are a passing team. And so I had to remind myself, hey, it's preseason, right? But overall, I thought Chase looked strong running the ball.

And in his six-yard run especially, he had a six-yard run. I think he had a six-yard run and a five-yard run, and then a bunch of like negatives or ones or zeros. He had also the two, two-yard run on third and one. So that was a successful run in addition to the six and the five. Yeah, okay, so I did get it right, six and five. I haven't gone back. That's just pure memory here.

You're supposed to be the stats guy. Look at that. Steel trap of a mind, James Rapine. That's right. That's right. So overall, I still can't remember the number I said at the beginning of the show. But other than that, we are good to go. I do think, though, that Chase looked good.

By the way, real quick on Zach Moss, for those wondering, he was sick. So that's why he wasn't on the sideline. And I do think that there's a little illness going around. So you want to make sure that it doesn't spread. So he wasn't on the sideline. And that makes a ton of sense. I don't, honestly, I didn't really need to see Zach Moss tonight. If he wasn't going to get it on that first drive anyways.

Because people notice probably midway through the first quarter in the second quarter, I was getting some tweets. and in my head, I'm like, I don't want Zach Moss out there right now anyway. So it doesn't matter. That's what I thought. I would say he's considered one of these starters, even though we're expecting a timeshare at that position. Like, he doesn't need to be out there with the second team.

Hopefully, if they choose to play the starters again, which sounds like it is a conversation that will happen sometime in the next few days between Joe Burrow and Zach Taylor, we would see Zach Moss then. Because I think that if you're going to get the starters out there, you might as well see Zach Moss. outside of that we didn't see trump brown either as expected amarius mims taking all the rest with the first team on the offensive line he stayed him for another drive or two at right tackle and i thought he played two drives two total drives 15 snaps uh was in for that second

second drive first one with browning it was just a three and out and then he was out that's right it was just a three and out second team offense didn't look so good we'll get to the depth stuff here in just a second. Let's go next to some thoughts on the defense. The defensive starters didn't play for very long, and they had a nice quick three and out against the Tampa Bay backups. But then there are some questions that came up. And very notably on Tampa's second drive, we got some thoughts on some cornerbacks to talk about on some interior defensive lined up. So we'll go to those topics coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by LinkedIn.

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slash locked on NFL to post your job for free terms and conditions apply. Let's get to some thoughts on the defense. Like the offense, the defensive starters went just about as well as you could hope for. a quick three and out there was a first down run for tampa bucky irving for four yards followed by a dump off to bucky irving for no game followed to an incomplete pass to bucky irving bucky irving a heavy recipient for targets on that i'm a big bucky irving guy see you you didn't like him during the draft process because he was like ran like a a jake liscoe 40 yard dash but looked all right tonight sure did he look all right because of his skill or because

Graham Barton was the best player on the field in terms of when the Bengals' defense was on the field. That's a great segue, James, into our conversation about the Bengals' defensive interior. And tonight we didn't see BJ Hill. We didn't see Sheldon Rankin's. Neither of those two players got any snaps. I don't believe Sheldon Rankin's dress.

I don't know if B.J. Hill had a uniform on. But the starters on the defensive line were from left to right, Miles Murphy. I believe Chris Jenkins was next to him, Zach Carter on the other side of Chris Jenkins and Joseph Osai at right end. And while I thought the edge players then I actually played pretty well, I thought Miles Murphy and Joseph Osai both flashed in their snaps.

I thought the edge depth flashed as well at times. Zach Carter and Chris Jenkins have some work to do, and this has been the case for Zach Carter for a few years now, and Chris Jenkins, obviously, a rookie in his first NFL action. And there was one starter going on that Tampa Bay offensive line, potentially Graham Barton, their early round interior offensive linemen from Duke. But the way that second drive finished, and we could talk about the secondary here as well,

because they gave up several explosive plays. That touchdown run for Bucky Irving was a demolition on the interior. And it was a read option. So Joseph Osai had to kind of play between. it and respect the QB keeper because if he crashes inside, the QB keeps it and runs easily for a touchdown. He's not able to make the play. Zach Carter gets washed out in a one-on-one from aforementioned Grant Barton.

And Chris Jenkins double-teamed doesn't really stand up to it very well. So they don't have the nose tackle body active today. They don't have their veterans going today. So we know that. But these are guys that are going to be on the field in a rotational capacity. saw what happened last year when the Bengals had substitutions in on the defensive interior. It was ugly. And tonight was a bit of a reminder of that.

It felt a little bit like last year. It did. I also think people are reacting to One Drive. Is that crazy? The One Drive was particularly bad. And it's even really just one play when you look at like the rushing overall stats. Is that touchdown drive that looked pretty bad? But I do think that Chris Jenkins had a bit of a.

Rocky debut. And I do think that Zach Carter is still Zach Carter. So while it might be a bit of a preseason overreaction and there's a lot of time left and we're going to get a bigger sample size over the course of the preseason and they could get better between now and the regular season and regular season football is different from preseason football, I do think that there's still a cause for concern there until we see that it is not a cause for concern. Sure.

No doubt. I'm not sure they could have done it. I mean, even if they go out there and they look good, I mean, it would be encouraging, but it's not like you're like, oh, well, it's solved, I guess. You would prefer that, though, compared to the alternative. No doubt, right? But, like, we still have questions about Jermaine Burton, right?

That's all I'm saying. And that's all I'm saying. But the way we're going to talk about Jermaine Burton is going to be very different from the way we're talking about things. I also know Chris Jenkins isn't the nose tackle. that they're looking for, you know. And so, yeah, I think it's a mixture of like, okay, let's not overreact. At the same time, it is a reminder to your point that they're in the AFC North.

Tampa isn't the best running team they're going to play. Bucky Irving, certainly, despite all of the pre-draft talk about him, good or bad, is not necessarily the best running back they're going to face. And so is it just a little reminder like, Derek Henry or honestly, let's just go week one, Ramandre Stevenson, who I think is a darn good player in New England. Like, yeah, that's something that you don't want to give up. So absolutely, the run defense part of it is a concern or should be on our radar. And I'm not sure they could have done anything, like I said, to change that tonight.

But it certainly isn't fixed. The other thing I would say, just to go back to positive, and maybe I'm just going to be the positive guy today. I thought your boy Joseph Osai, who you've been pumping up throughout camp, I thought he looked good. I thought Miles Murphy looked good as well. So a couple positives there on the defensive front. The interior, though, I agree with you. I mean, there's not a lot of depth right now. And I really don't know where the answer comes from outside of the two starters. Like maybe it's just going to be Sheldon Rankins and BJ Hill for 1,800 snaps. Maybe that's what you're going to see, Jake. It's a joke, obviously. You should

see Jake's face right now. That's scary. I mean, it would be a problem. I think it is a problem. We'll see. I mean, J2Fellet could get back for next week's preseason game to give them a little bit more depth there. We'll see what's going on with Dominique Davis. Mostly on the defensive interior, they're playing Travis Bell and some guys they signed like in the last week. So they're not very deep there. That's also true of edge. But I think that, and I said that too, Joseph Oswald, Miles Murphy, I thought both flashed, both made some really positive plays. And I thought that the edge theft was actually pretty good. Sedric Johnson and Jeff Gunter both popping a couple of times as well.

The other thing with the second drive to talk about, though, is the corner. So the second drive, there were a few subs. Safeties rotated out. Mike Hilton left the game. Dax Hill entered the game. Dax Hill was in on the first draft. Oh, was he? Okay, he played both grad.

So he was in on the third down play. Got it. Which is really interesting. So it was. Dax and DJ for the second drive with Jalen Davis in the slot. They changed out the safeties. The defensive line remained the same.

The linebackers changed. This is where they went to Akeem Davis Gather and to Joe Batchie at linebacker. And they had a short stent. But on this drive, we saw a first down pass to Miller. I don't know who this is. I don't know the Tampa Bay Death Tribe.

Jalen Davis gives up a 24-yard catch, followed by DJ Turner giving up a 19-yard catch, followed by Josh Newton giving up a 21-yard catch and getting his bell run a little bit on the play. So on this particular drive, and Zach Taylor said going into the half when he talked to Marissa Contepelli in his sideline interview,

that he thought things tightened up after this drive in terms of coverage. This drive was not good for the secondary with the changeover at safety and with Jalen Davis in the slot. Everyone got beat except Dax Hill on this drive. Dax Hill had a great pass breakup that was a near interception on a ball he tipped to himself,

and then had another near-pass break up, the very next play on a pass intended for Jalen McMillan, breaking on a ball caught in front of him, and really coming out of nowhere to get his hand in there, and it was a credit to McMillan for holding onto it, but you don't fault your corner for giving up a four-yard catch on a second and 10. That's something that you live with.

So while Daxhill did later give up a catch where he probably should have gotten his head around or been able to play through the hands and break it up, I have a hard time thinking that Dax had a bad day. He had a couple of pass breakups. He had another near-pass break-up. And despite playing a lot longer, which kind of tells you where he is in the race for that cornerback two job with D.J. Turner. I thought Dax was pretty good tonight.

And D.J. Turner, you know, he didn't do a whole lot that was noteworthy. He did give up that big catch. But hard to be mad at Dax for me tonight outside of that one play. Sure. And honestly, I thought he should have picked. that. I thought he should have gotten his head around. Yeah, he should have gotten his head around.

Because if he has his head around, he puts his hands out, and it's a 50-50 ball. And so even that one, he's in good position for it. Just get your head around. I agree with you. I think Dax will have plenty of time to talk about it, but he's going to hopefully get some more reps with the ones this week in Chicago. Put him up against DJ more. Put him up against Roma Dunes there, whoever.

Like, get him more work just to see, just to make sure that DJs the number two guy and in not decks because I thought tonight he was around the ball a ton like Zach said and sometime those interceptions are going to fall his way. But we have a lot to get to a lot more takeaways to get to including holding on 79 offense. We will do that coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by eBay Motors. Passion, drive, and patience. The formula for winning championships is also what keeps your rider die alive. eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to peak performance from superchargers, roof racks, exhaust kits, LED headlights, and more. Whether you're into speed, power, or style eBay Motors has you covered.

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eBay guaranteed fit, only available to U.S. customers. We've got some depth pieces here to talk about James, John Meta, a household name all of a sudden after he put together a pretty strong performance. and we will get there. Germain Burton also finally got into the game in the fourth quarter and caught all three of his targets, including two explosive downfield plays, one contested, one a stutter go where he just absolutely left his guy in the dust and it was a perfect throw from Logan Woodside.

And Jackson Carman did not have such a good night. Matt Lee, I thought was fine. So to summarize, I would like to see Matt Lee play earlier next week. I would like to see Jermaine Burton play earlier next week. I've seen enough of Jackson Carmen, and we'll talk about punters as well. Those are my first thoughts when we talk about the down roster takeaways for some of these backups. Yeah, let's start with Jackson Carmen. He's not the best Jackson in the room.

In the room is the offensive line room. He's not. Jackson Kirkman was better than Jackson Carmen. They play different positions. I get that. Who do you put in at tackle? Someone who doesn't hold three times against guys that aren't going to be in the NFL. At least two of those penalties, at least two.

And a false start at home should never happen, right? Like the attendance was 63,000. There wasn't 63,000 people here. That's tickets sold. We know that. But the crowd wasn't going crazy then. It's not like they were going insane and Jackson couldn't hear. So I don't know what the heck was going on, but he is as on the roster bubble as he's ever been.

It's official put him there. We'll see how he responds. But to me, like, there's someone. And if there isn't someone on this roster, there's someone on another roster that can come in and play tackle and not hold three times against backups for the Buccaneers. So there's number one. The Bengals had eight penalties tonight, James. Yeah. Half of those.

Carmen had four. Yeah. Not good. It's just. And like taking away how he played as a block around plays he wasn't penalized, like the fourth down at the end of the game is a pressure he gives up that leads to them coming up short. Like taking away everything else, just the penalty. That's going to drive coaches crazy. For sure.

And how about you don't give up a pressure? That's the other thing. You shouldn't be given up pressure that it's year four. This is year four. This isn't your what this isn't Germain. Like think about what you said, like as you were talking about the down roster guys, year four for a second round pick, Jermaine Burton, who's trying to figure out life in the NFL is a third round rookie.

And Matt Lee, a seventh rounder. And right now, I know Matt Lee is going. going to be more consistent than Jackson and I haven't even spoken to Matt Lee wants. But that's that's where 79 is now, is I can confidently say to that. So whatever they need to do, however they need to figure it out. But yeah, to your point, though, let's go to the positives, because I think everyone feels that way about 79. I'm not sure what else there is to say. Roster bubble is firmly on it as you could possibly be. And I'm not sure. I don't really know how you recover, but maybe they feel differently upstairs.

in the Bengals front office. That being said, Jermaine Burton, doesn't get in, but we've kind of hinted at it that he's behind these other guys and is learning and is trying to get the playbook down and just trying to earn trust and all of those things. But hell, man, Logan Woodside trusts him. I mean, the play that's going to go unnoticed is backed up on his own two after a false start. I believe it was Jackson Carman's false start. I believe it was. Crazy. But Woodside throws the Burton out of his own end zone and gives them a little breathing room on that drive.

And I thought that was a pretty noteworthy play. I was like, oh, one, Zach threw it, two, straight to Burton. And then you have the two deep balls as well. I like what I see. I know he's still learning, but he gives them a dynamic that they don't have on this roster outside of Jamar Chase and T. Yiddins. He won downfield. And that is what he was good at.

at Alabama. The hope is that this elevates him in practice to work more with the twos, gets him into the game sooner in preseason game number two, and that the Bengals coaching staff sees this as him capitalizing on a few reps, a few targets, and it gets that bigger opportunity. If he can take that step and have more of an opportunity, get a little bit more work in against Chicago and the joint practice, all this stuff, against Chicago in the game next week, then things are going in the right direction. And I do think things are going in the right direction for Jermaine Burton.

Really encouraging to see him answer the call the way he did. And we'll see if that continues. The other guy that really stood out, and we should talk about Josh Newton as well for bouncing back from that catch he gave up and getting an interception. But I believe it's Muma John Mehta. The undrafted free agent rookie. from Wisconsin,

led the Bengals and tackles according to ESPN's box score with 10, seven of those solo tackles. And the guy popped. He was all over the place. There's one play that stands out to me as a negative out of all of his plays and a bunch where it's like, oh, wow, there he is again.

And he was the fifth linebacker in the game for the Bengals. He was playing with Batchie before Batchie left the game. There's a clear top three, right? There's a clear Logan Wilson, Jermaine Pratt. There's a clear first. linebacker off the bench and Akeem Davis Gather.

And then there's a clear four that Joe Bouch is going to make the team. We're not sure if they're going to keep a fifth linebacker, but John Metta made a very strong opening statement for himself from the eyeball test watching live. We'll see how it looks, you know, when we had a chance for review it and all those things. But the fact that he was the first linebacker off the bench after those four guys we know are making the team ahead of some veterans, ahead of the other undrafted free agent rookie James C. Aaron Casey.

I think that says something. And it was pretty fun to watch him tonight. Who are you talking about again? What's his name? John Mehta. Muma John Mehta, I believe. Yeah, no. I'm not even making fun of you. But the reason why you know he had a good game is the fact that Jake figured out how to say his name before. Like before the show, you were like, man, I got to figure out.

Read his name. I looked at it too in the pronunciation guide. I was like, all right, I got to figure it out. I actually looked this up back when they signed him because, and I didn't publicly say anything about this. I don't think. I don't know how much we talked about these guys. But I was DMing some people back when they signed those couple of linebacks. Like, they had a shot to make the team after they didn't get Marcus Bailey back.

And so I learned his name back in May or whenever that was. Yeah, yeah, yeah, late April or early May. But yeah, I think you're right. He did pop. And again, he made me look at his name in the pronunciation guide. Way to kill my joke, Jake. but it's good to see because I think linebacker, we knew the four. And you wondered if a fifth would emerge or push and through one preseason game,

that's happened. And that's what you want. You need this competition. Like at corner, I just don't want the job to default the DJ Turner. I want Dax to push him and I want it to be tough when it's time to pick a starting corner. I want it to be tough when it's time to figure out if the Bengals should keep a fifth linebacker or not.

And I don't think anyone was sure of that a day ago. And now that decision could be a bit tougher. We'll see if John Mehta, right? Said that right? I think so. All right. Stay's consistent because if so, it is going to be a tough decision. And one guy consistently, you mentioned him, I don't want to forget him,

Josh Newton, who's been consistent. And I want to share the quote that he had. So obviously he had the interception. He bounced back his huge play. It was a legal blindside block that kind of got to play with, by the way, when he got nicked up. Like he got hit hard. He wasn't looking. And just from our aerial view, I'm not sure if they showed it on the broadcast, but it was rough.

Anyways, at first I thought it was Turner because of the two, but it was new. But I was like, all right, so what went through your mind after you have your first NFL interception? He said, get another one. And so, bright answer. I love the answer. I love the mindset, and I think the Bengals coaches do too. And that's why we've seen him with the first team. That's why we've seen him get a ton of reps.

A lot to make the roster. And I think now it's about getting him as much experience to get him NFL ready as they can over the next few weeks. The interception was about as perfect as you can play. That it was just a great play. I mean, you watch a replay. He runs a route for the receiver. He's in the slot defending a corner route. Undercuts it perfectly.

There's a little bit of pressure that maybe helps. the ball be not as good as it could have been from Kyle Trask. Really, really impressive play, though, from Newton there. The other notes quickly on the defensive side of the ball, Cedric Johnson, sack, the rookie, six-rounder. He's a guy that may have a roll carved out for him with Camp Samples injury. Travis Bell have a sack. Jeff Gunter split a sack with Shaka Hayward,

even though I think Gunter had the harder job. He beat a one-on-one with the right tackle on that play Hayward came through on a blitz, and they split that sack. Sondrick Johnson also credited with the tackle for lost, Travis Bell as well. And Bell, he did have that off-sides on the fourth and one, which is going to drive the coaches a little bit crazy too. But he also had his fair share of positive plays leading to some run stuff, not directly and directly in addition to the sack.

So, and up and up. down game there. The only other thing that we haven't talked about here, James, is the punter battle, which might have to wait for our next episode. What do you think? No, I think, I mean, I can give you 30 seconds on it. I think Brad Robbins is in the lead. We'll talk more about it. I think Ryan Rico, the touchback hurt some. Obviously has a huge leg. And it's worth noting he was the holder on the 58-yarder from McPherson. Doesn't mean he was at fault. worth noting them. Brad Robbins have both extra points. And Trent Norwin seems to be the next guy up for punt returner in case anyone was wondering about that.

Did you mention Charlie Jones? I said we got good news, but we didn't cover it in depth. Zach Taylor confirmed that he banged knees with the defensive back that it wasn't some non-contact knee thing. Charlie Jones was on the field in a sleeve. May or may not have had a brace on under the sleeve. It was a little bit hard to tell. Did you talk to him at all? I saw him.

It just looked like a sleeve to me. It feels like we're talking like a bone bruise type thing here. Maybe I'm wrong. But if he bang knees, usually that would be my guess. But the good news is he escaped serious injury, which is huge because it felt really serious when it happened. It did. Zach described it as week to week. We'll take that.

That's better than... Got four weeks, baby. Four weeks till week one. Much better than the alternative there. So we'll have more, of course. The Bengals are back to practice on what day? Tuesday? Monday.

Today's Saturday. That's right. And we're back Monday. We will be back after that Monday practice as well. And then we're getting ready for joint practices and another preseason game right around the corner. So next game on Friday? Nope. Saturday afternoon.

It's another Saturday. Jake Lisco does not know names or schedules. Holding. You know what, man. Jake Liscoe of Lockdown Bengals. This is a year. Doesn't know the time. This is a year that I've stopped paying attention to preseason schedules in great detail.

But we will be back on Monday. The game starts at 10 a.m. your time. Perfect. Love it. Love it. Won't disrupt my, anyway. Don't need to talk about ourselves anymore. That's going to do it for this episode of the Locked-on Bengals podcast.

Until next time, thanks for listening. Ho-Day. And have a good one.