Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Lamar Jackson RAMPING UP for Bengals game—Can Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase EXPLODE Again?

Episode Date: October 22, 2026

As the Cincinnati Bengals brace for a high-stakes AFC North showdown, Lamar Jackson is ramping up for the Baltimore Ravens. Can Joe Burrow, Ja'Marr Chase, and Tee Higgins exploit Baltimore’s defensi...ve vulnerabilities and reignite Cincinnati’s vertical passing attack? Huge playoff stakes are on the line for the first Bengals-Ravens matchup of the year.Jake Liscow and Joe Goodberry break down key matchups, from Trey Hendrickson’s revenge narrative to the Boye Mafe comparison and the chess match between Zac Taylor’s offense and the Ravens’ evolving coverages.Photo Credits: Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images, Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Gameday Men's HealthBook your complimentary test and consult at https://join.gamedaymenshealth.com/reasons_to_choose_gameday-1201?utm_source=lockedon&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=NFL&utm_network=lockedon&utm_adgroup=corp&ghl_tag=national,corpGustoTry Gusto today at http://gusto.com/LOCKEDONNFL, and get three months free when you run your first payroll. OdooGreat organizations win because operations matter. And that’s why you should get Odoo. Try for free today at https://Odoo.com/lockedon.Butcher BoxIf you're looking for an easier way to get great meals on the table, give ButcherBox a try. Go to https://ButcherBox.com/LOCKEDONNFL to get $20 off your first box, plus your choice of free ribeye, new york strip, or filet mignon in every box for a year — with free shipping always.AppleYou can earn up to 3% unlimited Daily Cash back on every purchase you make with Apple Card using Apple Pay. Apply in the Wallet app on your iPhone today. Subject to credit approval. Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank, USA. Salt Lake City Branch. Terms and more at apple-card-dot-com.https://learn.applecard.apple/unlimited-daily-cash?cid=apy-318-2000008800000-400000000000039&itscg=2030032&itsct=srvs-crd-P3004756-C3004897&mttnagencyid=c1a&mttnsiteid=133087&mttnpid=LockedOn%20%28Audio%29&mttnsubad=srvs-crd-P3004756-C3004897&mttnsubplmnt=&mttncc=USPrizePicksVisit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFL and use code LOCKEDONNFL and get $150 if you win your first $5 lineup!KALSHIToday's episode is brought to you by Kalshi. For a limited time, Download Kalshi and use code Locked On to get $25 when you trade $25. Kalshi. Trade what’s next. GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelGet three hundred fifty dollars in Bonus Bets — GUARANTEED — when you bet five dollars every day for seven days. Join all the action at https://FANDUEL.COMFANDUEL 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.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Sure does look like the Bengals are going to catch Lamar Jackson for the Baltimore Ravens this week as he's ramping things up for the Ravens. Let's dive into a preview that includes Lamar Jackson on the other side of the field. You are locked on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast. Part of the Locked on podcast network, your team every day. What up Bengals fans and welcome to another episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. It's Ravens Week. It's time for a game preview. We've got Troy Hendrickson revenge game narratives going on as he says that he forgives the Bengals for whatever went on between them. We're going to compare Hendrickson and Boye-Mafé later on in the show. We've got a potential vertical passing matchup for Joe Burroughs, Mar Chase, and T. Higgins against this Baltimore Ravens defense that has let them get vertical in the past and is doing that a little bit again this year against other teams. But we're
Starting point is 00:01:02 going to start, of course, with Lamar Jackson as he's making strides and participated in Thursday's practice to a bigger degree than the Ravens have seen him in practice for several weeks. He's Joe Goodberry. I'm Jake. Let's go. We're your host of the lockdown Bengals podcast. And Joe, it's got to start with Lamar Jackson. If you're looking at Fandul, the odds for this game are all over the place. And I mentioned that because this episode is brought to the people by Fandul where it's your most rewarding season ever with the Fandul rewards club every week. Check the app to see what's waiting for you on Fandle. R Jackson returning this week, it appears as he's ramping things up in a big way on Thursday. Now, we'll still see.
Starting point is 00:01:39 There's still some time left here. We'll have to see how this goes, but it looks like he was doing a whole lot on Thursday. Yeah, indications are that this is what a path to playing on Sunday would look like, right? You would go limited or whatever it was on Wednesday. And then you would be out there. It didn't look like he had pads on when he ran out there. But still, you know, you do a little bit more, do a little bit more each day and see how you respond and see how you can handle it and then you gear up or Sunday. And I got to say, Jake,
Starting point is 00:02:06 this excites me. I love this. I want the Ravens to have Lamar Jackson. I don't want any excuses that Tyler Huntley was playing. And I'm tired of each team missing their quarterback in this rivalry. And when I did projections before the season, and I like to use passer rating and quarterback rating to base a lot of what I think is going to happen because it's been true most of the time, about 80% of the time. It's correct, right? Can I caveat this for you? Sure. Because it's a measure of what happened in the passing game is why it tells us that it tells us who passed the ball the best in a game much like EPA per play often tells us who did something the best in a game it's a measure of an offense we know that passer rating is a flawed stat is why you
Starting point is 00:02:46 bring this up because there's people out there that there's pass rating stupid why are we talking about passer rating there's so much it's because it tells you how well a team pass the ball overall and generally the team that passes a ball better is is winning and that's what you found over the years. Exactly, because if one team throws two interceptions, well, guess what? That team is more likely to lose a game than the team who is very efficient with the ball, took care of the ball. You know, everything goes in the count for yards per attempt and touchdowns versus interceptions. So it works. But what I was going to say is the Ravens always pop up as this extreme challenge because they take care of the football with Lamar Jackson. They do not turn it
Starting point is 00:03:25 over a ton and their defense can create a lot of chaos. They've been mixed overall throughout the years in Lamar's era, sometimes not having a great pass rush, but they do get their hands on the ball and they do make it tough. Now, Joe Burrow has had success against the Ravens defense largely, averaging over 300 yards per game, a 99 passer rating. You'll take that. It's just when Lamar has a 110, it puts you in this, we need to make a play scenario. You put you in this, let's go for two at the end of the game in 2024, or we need to score and go back and forth and it's like a ping pong match of a shootout. And that's got to be fun.
Starting point is 00:04:02 I want to see that. I want to see these teams go at it. I want to see the quarterbacks go head to head and try to out duel each other because number one, it's not just the quarterback. It's Jamar Chase owning the Ravens after we had a decade of A.J. Green doing that. So this is fun for me. I enjoy watching these games. I'm pretty geeked up for it.
Starting point is 00:04:20 Yeah, I think that aspect that we're going to talk about, the Burrow Jamar Chase matchup with the Ravens defense is potentially pivotal in this one. And T. Higgins being healthy for a game in Baltimore. I don't remember what it was. We were looking at this. He's barely played games in Baltimore in his career. Full games. He, I think, started one game and or dressed for one game and didn't have a target, didn't really play a whole lot or at all. So it'll be nice for the Bengals to be at relatively full strength this week where the Ravens injury list is very long.
Starting point is 00:04:52 But I think that's very fake. We were talking about that before we started recording today, Joe, too. Like, they've got guys that have bumps and bruises. the Bengals are coming off a buy. So yeah, they're healthier right now, but all these injuries for the Ravens largely look like things that they're managing. And they got a bunch of guys limited or taking dates off for rest. And they have to put all that on the injury list this year.
Starting point is 00:05:10 Their injury lists are looking longer than ever this year, Joe. You notice that? They have dealt with this for years now. And they thought it was Harbaugh going a little bit too hard in camp on these guys, making them tackle a little bit too much, just doing a little bit too much in camp. And that was one of the things I heard a lot of Ravens analysts talking about when they made the switch ahead coach was they got to get healthier. So they've got to be healthy once they get to the playoffs.
Starting point is 00:05:32 This is why they're losing in the playoffs, right? Great regular season team. But they've got to have bodies when they get there in January. And here they are again. We're a quarter of the way into the season, maybe even a third, I guess. And the Ravens are dealing with injuries. And the injury list is as long as possible.
Starting point is 00:05:48 I think like all teams in the NFL, injury lists are just longer this year. I don't know if it's because. And just Baltimore. Well, I'm thinking about like sports beddings. impact on the sport. We're not going to go too far down that road today. That's something that I would theorize anyway, uh, that there's pressure from the corporate, uh, betting sponsor of the NFL to get more injury information out there. Remember the Joe Burrough stuff from a couple
Starting point is 00:06:13 years ago, right? That was that was the Ravens game. That was before the, the wrist happened, that there was maybe something wrong wearing that compression sleeve on the flight, right? Yeah, that was funny. That's a, that's a parallel there. Yeah. But Lamar returning this week, Which it appears and we'll continue to monitor. It will let the everydayer club know, of course. Then we'll send those texts out to the people that are signed up there. But keep an eye on it because I don't know that he's entirely out of the woods. So there's still a chance there.
Starting point is 00:06:42 But if he does play, that obviously makes a huge difference for this Ravens offense. It takes them from being probably like an average to below average offense with the backup quarterback, right? Where they can still lean on Derek Henry a little bit. They can still throw the ball to Zay Flowers. Who's going to make guys miss and create a whole lot? a lot of offense on his own. But when Lamar's up there, entirely different team. And then the question goes to what version of Lamar.
Starting point is 00:07:04 Some stats on Lamar versus Huntley real quick? Well, it depends on what version of Lamar Jackson we're getting, right? Because if he's just a pocket passing Lamar, that's still very effective. But pressure, as Steve Palazzo and Stan Monson were talking about, pressure impacts more differently when he's not moving well versus when he can escape the pocket. And that will affect the way that you have to game plan for him, too, in the pass rush. But yeah, there's obviously a huge difference in the offense with Tyler. Huntley versus Lamar Jackson that you've got numbers for.
Starting point is 00:07:30 Yeah, I do my deep dive this, you know, on this day every week. So I'm looking at data and I just highlighted this and put it off to the side. 10.2 air yards per attempt with Lamar Jackson drops to 5.9 with Huntley. Yeah. 6.9 yards per play. So not just passing yards per play when Lamar's out there. That's first in the league. 4.8 when it's Huntley.
Starting point is 00:07:50 And a 53.6% success rate with Lamar, which is also first, 39.7% success rate with Huntley. It's a huge difference. That's like really, really good offense versus below average offense. Yeah, no doubt about it. That is why we've made, I think we let off each of the last three shows talking about Lamar, his health. And is he playing and is he practicing? Because of the importance and the swing of this game. We've even seen it on betting lines, right? Going from all the Bengals are underdogs to Lamar's not practicing reports for that lasted an hour and a half. and that swings goes to Bengals are favored by a point and a half, I think it was. Yeah. The progress yesterday was like Ravens opened at minus three.
Starting point is 00:08:34 Then there's some smoke around Lamar and then it goes to Ravens minus one and a half. And then Lamar does a practice. And then after the practice, it's Bengals one and a half. So it's a five point swing. Crazy. It may be more. It was three and a half in some places, I think. So big swing in just that one little bit of practice reporter.
Starting point is 00:08:51 So everyone, if you were putting bets on that, everyone's going to have a different line. when we get to Sunday, depending on what time you put your bed in. And it's a huge game for playoff odds too. And so Lamar playing in this one, maybe he's more incentivized to try to get back because it is a big game. The Ravens are 0 in the AFC North right now. No, they're not. The Browns are 2 and O in the AFC north.
Starting point is 00:09:11 That's what I just confused. So Ravens lost to the Browns last week, though. So trying to get to the point where they're not 0 in the division, the Bengals trying to avoid the same thing. And for Baltimore, like, their division odds are chances to win the division take a huge hit. if they lose this game, the Bengals chance to win the playoffs. It's a 30% swing according to various models where if they make the playoffs, if they win the game, there's 78% to make the playoffs.
Starting point is 00:09:36 If they lose the game, they're 49% to win the playoffs. So like looking at the New York Times playoff machine this far out, it's a little bit early for all that, for sure. But big game in terms of swinging the AFC North race. And one of the ways the Bengals can attack an advantage here, I think, think that they have is getting vertical again and finding a way to get Jamar Chase to be a raven's killer once again. Let's talk about that big matchup here, Joe, as Lamar aside, that's one of the biggest things I'm looking at in this game on the Bengals' offensive side of the ball. We'll get
Starting point is 00:10:12 to that conversation coming up next. We're brought to you today by Game Day Men's Health. And Game Day Men's Health knows that a quiz on your phone and a box at your door, that's not a clinic. When it comes to men's health, things like energy sleep, drive, and how you feel day-to-day, deserves more than just a questionnaire. And that is why they have real in-person men's health clinics with more than 430 locations across the U.S. and Canada does game day men's health, where men can meet face-to-face with a licensed clinician, get labs drawn in the office and get initial results in as little as 15 minutes.
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Starting point is 00:11:47 more or less on their projected stats like passing yards, rushing yards, fantasy score. averages 120 yards per game against the Ravens. I don't think you could put a projection high enough for me to go and take less on Jamar Chase this week. Price Fix also has injury protection. So when they have your back, when other apps don't, Price Fix invented the injury reboot. So when a player gets injured in the first half and doesn't return, your lineup can still cash. And this season, Price Picks has already had $31 million handed out to in winnings or you could say losses if you were thinking of losing that.
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Starting point is 00:12:53 And there is a little bit of a flaw in the Ravens defense. And it coincides with the strength of the Bengals offense. And that comes in the form of quick passes that go deeper downfield. And you may say, wait, how do you get the ball downfield if they're quick passes? Well, a lot of vertical balls, a lot of throws are under two and a half seconds. Billboro leads the league with 57% of his passes being quick passes. So under 2.5 seconds. You can do a lot in 2.5 seconds.
Starting point is 00:13:23 Burrough is 15 of 20 this year for 265 yards and five touchdowns on these throws. And Baltimore is allowing 81.8% completion on quick passes that are downfield. I think you can take advantage of this. Yeah, I think that this is a game where think about Kyle Hamilton's role in this defense, right? They're moving him in the slot. They're playing him in the box. This is the best defender on the Ravens defense.
Starting point is 00:13:48 Roquan Smith, probably the second best defender on this defense this year. maybe there's some conversations about Trey if he can get healthy and start playing better. He certainly has a talent to do so. We're going to talk about Trey Hendrickson a little bit later in this episode. And Trenton Simpson's had a big year for them. They really like Nate Wiggins over there. Marlon Humphrey's the name that everyone knows.
Starting point is 00:14:09 Nambi, not a BK, back from injury. Hasn't necessarily been the guy that he was before the injury yet. And that could obviously change long season. Travis Jones on the interior, another really good player, Mike Green, a guy they like coming on. but plays the same side is straight, so they're trying to figure out where to put him. But you start with Kyle Hamilton and Roquant Smith,
Starting point is 00:14:28 and you think about the Bengals defense. Where's the Bengals' defense week? Those two spots. So think about the strength of the Ravens defense, it's that spine of the defense where the Bengals have had vulnerabilities this year. And where there are matchups that you like, Nate Wiggins has had some success. I mean, he's talked anyway,
Starting point is 00:14:44 as if he's had success. And fans have talked anyway, as if he's had success against Mark Jason T. Higgins. But with T out there this week, that makes the Bengals harder to defend. and it just takes me to thinking about maybe this is a week where you actually want to be an 11 personnel. If you're the Bengals, we've seen a ton of 12 personnel from them in the last couple of weeks with all their injuries at receiver. Colby Young continuing to get healthier this week.
Starting point is 00:15:04 Maybe he has a bigger role in this game. But it's a game where I think, like you're talking about, you want to attack vertically and quick. And that's what Joe Burroughs really good at. We wouldn't actually watch these plays before he started recording. And there's a lot of vertical balls here, I think 15 out of the 20. or maybe 14 out of the 20, we're vertical back shoulder or go balls. You got some out routes in there,
Starting point is 00:15:28 some 10-yard out routes that are coming out right around the two and a half second mark, some hitches that are settling down around the 10-yard marker, just around that two-and-a-half second mark. But if you can push the ball vertically and take advantage of the places where Kyle Hamilton and Rokon-Smith are not on this defense, that's a place where Joe Burge, Jermarche C. Higgins could hypothetically have an advantage in this game and it's something that the Ravens will need to think about.
Starting point is 00:15:54 Jesse Mentor is going to have to think about, do they need to adjust the way they're playing coverage in this game and have their Bengals-specific game plan? I think that's something you're going to see. Like the tendencies from the Ravens in other games this year, they're playing more quarters than I think the Bengals are going to get in this game. And we'll see if that's true or not. But it'll be interesting to see that matchup
Starting point is 00:16:12 and how Mentor in this Ravens' defense tries to keep a cap on Jamar and T, knowing that those guys have the ability to take the cap off of your defense some really bird yeah. That's been the hard part of doing the data dives and giving you guys these stats every day and every week when we get to the preview episode is that the Bengals specific game plan is often very different because every other team doesn't have Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase T. Higgins, right? Ravens have only really played one good quarterback and Dak Prescott and you could maybe say Tyler Shuck in there. And every dayers know that I've compared that Saints offense to the Bengals a bunch this year. You go back to that game and you look and see
Starting point is 00:16:51 how the Ravens performed and what happened. The Saints peppered their safeties. They targeted Malachi-Starks and Jalen Hawkins nine times completing all nine passes for over 140 yards and a touchdown. They said, okay, we're not going to go against you. I mean, you have good players in Wiggins and Kyle Hamilton
Starting point is 00:17:08 in Marlon Humphrey. Why go against those guys? Let's try and isolate these safeties and try to attack them as best as we can. And they did in a big way in the Saints. Again, the most similar, because there's not many teams are similar to the Bengals and even then personnel is vastly different with the Saints, why they're not having the same success that the Bengals do running a similar scheme. But to me, I think you can look at that game and say, okay, that might be the one where
Starting point is 00:17:33 you see the Bengals try to do the same thing. Again, though, what the Bengals and why sometimes I feel like they don't start fast is because everything they see on tape and prepare for for the week isn't what they get when they get out there on Sunday and they go, oh, okay, they're playing us like this. Now we have to adjust because teams are really, they play the angles very differently. Yeah, it's it's something that they've talked about to get unscotted looks every week. And so that is something they will have to deal with. And the other thing that I want to talk about on the offense side of the ball, Joe, is this could be another tough week for the run game.
Starting point is 00:18:06 Baltimore has been reasonably good in run defense. And I think they're healthy enough to have their key run stoppers out there. What do you think about the run game this week? It's going to come in the form of short passes. The Ravens have been susceptible to the shorter passes this year. They're missing tackles at about the same rate the Bengals are. So if they want to play coverage deep, you are able to check it down and get a few yards after the catch here. And then with Trey also, I think this might be the time to get a screen off that side of the right, of the left side here. Maybe you get Trey to rush up field. Maybe he's, he's blackout Trey and he wants to get a hit on Joe Burrow. I was thinking about that. We're going to talk about Trey in that
Starting point is 00:18:44 storyline here. But I was definitely thinking about like how on control was Trey going to play this week. I did think about that because he there was other fans. Remember over the years of of Trey and I guess we're touching on it right now, but just real quickly, remember the years of other fan base is kind of saying like he's a little dirty and we're like, hey, kind of blacks out and goes crazy sometimes. Like we understand it. When it's your guy, it's a little bit different. When he's on the other side, I'm like, you better not go near Joe Burrow. Yeah, that's going to be a big task for this offense this week as well. Like talk about pushing the ball down field, getting the ball out quick as part of that. Like you can get the ball out quick on these vertical
Starting point is 00:19:18 passes, these vertical route tree kind of plays. And the challenge is going to be on the left side of the offensive line for the Bengals. Like Marius Mims in this game, a lot of confidence there, right? And the interior has our hands full a little bit with these guys. The Ravens have a lot of talent there, but it's the left side we're talking about. We're thinking about Trey Hendrickson. Mike Green, like I said, has improved for them this year. They're trying to find ways to get him on the field a little bit more, but got to have enough help and a good plan on that left side of the. the offensive line because that's where the Ravens appear to be strongest in the past rush. But we got to talk about Boy A Mafay, the impact he could have in this game.
Starting point is 00:19:57 Obviously, Dexter Lawrence, you guys talked about a lot on the crossover yesterday, but big impact expected there as well. But the game plan does have to shift a little bit when Lamar Jackson is out there instead of Tyler Huntley. We also want to do the Mofe versus Hendrickson comparison. We'll get to those topics to finish the show next. This episode of lockdown Bengals is sponsored by where it is your most rewarding season ever.
Starting point is 00:20:22 And that's only on Fandall where the Fandall Awards Club is asking the question, how rewarding is it? More rewarding than Joe Burrow returning on Thanksgiving night to put a hurt on Baltimore to win Thursday night football on the road last year. And now the Bengals get to play a daytime matchup in Baltimore instead more rewarding than the New Year's Eve matchup later this year, Thursday night football at home for the Bengals. Well, this season, Fandals making the excitement go beyond what's happening on the field with that all new Fandall Rewards Club where you've got exclusive offers, surprises, and more. And every week, you can check the Fandle app to see what's waiting for you. The odds have been all over the place for the Bengals and Ravens this week. We talked about the shifting lines for this game. Fandals keeping you up to date with all the news as things change that could change the way you want to wager. And you get all those offers to go along with it. So you can make. this your most rewarding season ever at Fandall. Visit fandle.com to get started.
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Starting point is 00:22:43 and the comment that he made about forgiving the Bengals is something that I think is hilarious. He's trying to downplay it. And the Ravens media is largely reporting like, oh, yeah, Trey didn't want to make it about himself. And this is one quote about, like, ah, no, I forgive. I extend grace. And that obviously implies that there's something to forgive and indicates that there's something that Trey feels there is to forgive.
Starting point is 00:23:07 But before we talk about the Boyer and Trey, direct comparison, because you have those numbers. Just wanted to point out that the highest yards per carry, the Ravens are allowing this year, are runs at the left tackle. Five and a half yards per carry for runs at left tackle, 4.1 yards per carry for runs at the left guard. And that's not a fair number of tents.
Starting point is 00:23:31 33 attempts, the Ravens have faced on carries at left tackle. On the right edge, right tackle, 2.9 versus 1.1 yards for carry. Ravens very stingy on the right side of their defense, apparently. just interesting, just pointed out because we know where Trey plays. He's playing over there, but tackle. We should have checked, and maybe you can, how many of those involved Trey on the field? Because Trey's only been out there for 37 run defense snaps, which I was shocked. He doesn't have a single tackle and run defense yet this year based on PFF, no run stops
Starting point is 00:24:01 or anything like that. So if you were, you're one of those people that, hey, we can't defend a run because of Trey at that spot, a little vindication. Yeah, the Ravens are dealing with that as well. but yeah, I went and looked here and to compare. Bengals have played five games. Trey has played four because you missed some time. So it's not a complete one-for-one comparison.
Starting point is 00:24:20 Boy, Mafia with 240 snaps versus Trey Hendrickson's 160. But you ready for the Trey on the field? That's even worse now. Yeah, nine carries a left tackle, 8.2 yards per carry. Run it left. Maybe that's for the run. Run it at Trey. Run it at Trey.
Starting point is 00:24:36 Yeah. Run it at Trey. I like it. But 146. rushes for Mafay versus 115 past rushes for Tray. So about a game's worth difference here. But still, 25 pressures, five more
Starting point is 00:24:48 for Mafay over Trey. Mafay has three sacks. Trey has two. Maffa has 10 tackles. Trey has five. Maffa has five tackles for a loss. Trey has two. Trey and Mafia are missing tackles at the same rate, but Maffa has one force fumble. He also has a fumble recovery. Now here's the
Starting point is 00:25:03 interesting ones for me. Pass rush win rate because that was what Trey did. He was your number one guy to win when you needed a win. Right now, it's just at 15.5% while Mafay is at 19.3. And that gap maintains for true pass sets as well, where Mafay is 4% more likely to win on a true pass set situation. And PFF grades absolutely love Mafa this year.
Starting point is 00:25:27 He's one of the top edge players in the league where Trey is kind of middling at about a 66 grade from PFF. So if you want to give the Bengals a little bit of a good job on the siding, Hey, one thing, though, I would like to say, they were kind of forced into this into this decision, right? They decided not to pay Trey for whatever reasons were going on. They didn't trust them. They didn't like them. Things were weird for the last year and a half there, right?
Starting point is 00:25:50 But once that decision was made, I think the harder part is identifying who that guy is to replace him. And I think that's where they deserve the credit. To me, it doesn't have to be so much about Trey. It could be any player that leaves your team in free agency. Finding the right fit to replace him and maybe even. outplay that guy is a huge call and the Bengals have nailed it through the first third of the season. It's obviously very different with the departures of Andrew Whitworth, for example, or Jesse Bates where the Bengals were not able to replace those guys comparably.
Starting point is 00:26:21 And the reason I bring up both of those guys is because Whitworth is more similar to Trey, where it's a little bit older. And there's a question as whether or not he maintained that level of play. Jesse Bates was a no-brainer. The Bengals just messed that one up. That's pretty unambiguous to me. And it was at the time as well. But if you thought the Bengals should have just gotten it done with Trey, well, now the Bengals are sitting here and saying, look, we replaced him with Boye and we got Cassius Hale developing.
Starting point is 00:26:43 And we like the direction we're going there. And we're building this around the interior instead. We went and got Jonathan Allen and Dexter Lawrence. Look how much of an impact that has made is the Bengals are still one of the least blitzing, if not the least blitzing team in the NFL. And yet they have one of the higher sack rates in the NFL. And they're converting pressures of sacks. But that's a big difference this week, right, as we transition to the overall defensive matchup is if Lamar Jackson is out there. This is the most mobile quarterback you've played and you've had injury had issues with those mobile quarterbacks Malik Willis last week, busting off a run that or a couple of weeks ago now that should have been a Dexter Lawrence holding penalty. It shouldn't account of whatever it is what it is. They've given up these plays to every quarterback they've faced. And if it's Lamar Jackson out there and he can move, which I feel like you have to assume that he can. You have to game plan as if it's Lamar Jackson, it means that you need to be way more disciplined in your rush lanes than the Bengals have been this year. We talked about this.
Starting point is 00:27:34 earlier this week. One of the hallmarks of the Luanna remote defenses when they were going well was containing passers in the pocket, making them play in that world. And Lamar can play in that world. Don't get me wrong. I'm not taking that away from him. He's a great pocket passer in any indication or thought that you have that he's not a great pocket passer.
Starting point is 00:27:51 It's probably just not true anymore. But he can also kill you when he escapes the pocket. And you would rather live with the good pocket passer than the guy who can do what he did to Sam Hubbard, right? And absolutely kill you when he can break the pocket. And that doesn't even mention like his ability to run the ball obviously and chunk off plays in the running game. Yeah, because think of the big Malik Willis run last week or two weeks ago and how much that made that game feeling from a two score. Bengals maybe get the ball back and probably put it away and win by potentially three scores to, oh, this is going to be tighter for the rest of the
Starting point is 00:28:27 fourth quarter here because you give up that third down, a huge run. So yeah, you can't do it. You can't have it happen. They are backbreaking play. the data people will tell you there's nothing like a quarterback scrambling in terms of EPA added to the stat sheet because you're just not you're not prepared for it and it usually happens when your back has turned you're playing man coverage which teams do less against the Ravens because of it's why you know if a Ravens fan is under here talking about Zay Flowers and Rashad Bateman being one and three and separation charts and things like that yeah because nobody's playing man against you guys because they're worried about your quarterback running so
Starting point is 00:29:01 that's how that works. And you, you got to kind of live and die by it because I think the Bengals probably feel pretty good about matching up against these receivers, especially DJ Turner, followed Zay a lot. We had a lot of comments this week on YouTube, people asking, is DJ going to follow Zay Flowers? So we really haven't seen DJ do that this year. And he did last year in both games. I wouldn't be shocked if that's the plan. And I wouldn't be shocked if the Ravens have a plan as well to get Zay against these linebackers because he has been tearing that up this year. And then we'll see how that chess match goes and see how often you can actually get DJ on to Zay. Yeah, I mean, something you have to credit Declan Doyle for in terms of his creativity
Starting point is 00:29:40 there is finding those matchups for Zay Flowers, who's by far the best playmaker for the Ravens as a receiver where Isaiah likely has departed. Mark Andrews hasn't been playing great this year. I think you guys talked about that on the crossover yesterday as well. And so the other thing that you obviously have to consider when you're playing the Ravens is Derek Henry. And if the Ravens can get him on those crack tosses that have been killing the Bengals this year. That's where your slot receiver or tight end is cracking the defensive end that lets your tackle pool, get out into space and lead. That play specifically, and Zach Taylor talked about it in one of his pressers in the last two weeks, that play specifically has killed the Bengals in the run game this year.
Starting point is 00:30:16 Derek Henry with the full head of steam is obviously very difficult to stop, difficult to catch up with because he's got that speed. So we've gotten all the way to the 30 minute mark and we're finally mentioning Derek Henry here, Joe, and the Bengals perimeter of run defense, but that's another big factor this week that we could be talking about after the game on Sunday. And that's the next time you'll hear from us. We'll be after the game on Sunday, unless there's something that we absolutely need to cover them. We might have you covered with the bonus content because we're here for you, Bengals fans. We will have you covered with all the analysis that you need going into this big matchup for the Bengals with the Baltimore Ravens.
Starting point is 00:30:51 But until next time, that's going to do it for this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Thanks for listening, Hootay. And have a good. I'm

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