Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - MAN-HEAVY: Bengals Could Lean On Corners to CONTAIN Baker Mayfield, Bucs Offense in Week 1

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Cincinnati Bengals need to get off to a fast start against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. We've talked plenty about the offense. We're going to start with why this might be a great opportunity for Al Gouldner to go man-heavy against Baker-Mayfield and the bucks. 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. He's Joe Goodberry. I'm Jake Liscoe.

Starting point is 00:00:35 talk about that week one matchup for the Bengals with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, everything that we see as important in this game, some of the interesting statistical trends that Joe Gooberry dug up in preparation for this game and how the Bengals can take advantage of certain things in this matchup and the threats that Tampa poses with their remade defensive front. But we're going to start with the Buccaneers offense being on the field and that matchup with the Bengals defense. So remade Bengals defense, Al Golden in year two, and what he can do to slow down Baker Mayfield.

Starting point is 00:01:12 And a year that really involves a lot of transition for the Buccaneers. We're going to start there in today's episode brought to you by Fandul where you can get $350 in bonus funds guaranteed when you bet $5 every day for seven days, join all the action at fandul.com. And Joe Baker Mayfield was kind of a tale of two seasons last year. He got hurt and he played through it. and they were pretty bad in Tampa after a hot start. But it was a hot start for the Buccaneers,

Starting point is 00:01:38 which is something the Bengals would obviously love to have on their side of things this year without the second half collapse. But really, that begs the question as to which version of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will show up in week one at Paycor. Yeah, they started off six and two last year. And, you know, everything was feeling good in Tampa. They were coming off four straight NFC South titles. Like, we've been there, right?

Starting point is 00:02:00 That's a good feeling of. There was early Baker-Mayfield MVP talk last year. He was good. He was really good in that first half. And in fact, if you look at the entire season, you look at his numbers, you say he wasn't bad last year. Baker-Ma-Field's a good quarterback.

Starting point is 00:02:13 But if you take those final 11 games after the injury and bunch injuries happen, their offensive line, Bucky Irving, wide receivers got injured, he was terrible, not just bad. He was about the 31st ranked quarterback based on PFF. He was only ahead of Shudor Sanders, his pass rating was an 80.6 in those final 11 games.

Starting point is 00:02:34 I'm talking bad, bad, bad. It's how you go from six and two to not making the playoffs, right? You have to have a pretty bad quarterback to do it. Now, Buck fans will say that, you know, he was injured and he was, and it's fair, and that they've got a new offense coordinator with Zach Robinson, who's had a cup of tea in Cincinnati, or is it a cup of coffee either way. The Bucks need to turn it around and get back on track, and hopefully it's not this week, and the Bengals can get a older,

Starting point is 00:03:00 version of Baker Mayfield that from last, second half of last year, that's trying to figure it out and get things together. And maybe that fire is taken away from him now that he's extended and this L. Golden Defense, man. Everyone's watching it, including Joe Burrow, who's excited to watch this side of the ball for the first time

Starting point is 00:03:16 in a while. Yeah, and the Bengals exploitable weakness, at least on paper, is at the second level. It's at the linebacker spot. And that's where you refer back to, as we discussed with James Yarko of Lockdown Bucks yesterday, the Kenneth game will match up with the linebackers. a Bucky Irving matchup with the linebackers.

Starting point is 00:03:32 But on the outside, that's somewhere where you can have a little bit more confidence, I think, in the Bengals. And Al Golden loves to play man coverage. At least he did at Notre Dame. It was one of our expectations as he arrived in Cincinnati. The Bengals did play a lot of man last year. They have the quarters on the outside to do it with Dax Hill with DJ Turner. And the Tampa Bay Buccaneers no longer have Mike Evans on that side.

Starting point is 00:03:56 That's one of the pieces in transition. and their receivers don't necessarily consist of a ton of man beaters, Joe. And it's somewhere that they seemed to struggle last year, which is why it looks like that could be a direction that Al Golden could take this defense this week and potentially give them a bit of a match of advantage with the Bucks passing game. Yeah, a lot of data points to back this up, Jake. Baker Mayfield was the third lowest DVOA quarterback against man coverage. Ameca Ibuka had the biggest gap in production between zone coverage and man.

Starting point is 00:04:28 being the negative side. He was not good against man at all. He had like the 84th ranked quarterback grade or wide receiver grade, I'm sorry, from PFF. Even Chris Godwin was 56th. I mean, these are not good numbers for the bucks at wide receiver and against man coverage. And this is what the Bengals do. They played man last year at the 11th highest rate in the league. Now that they weren't a good defense, so maybe they shouldn't do it as much as they did.

Starting point is 00:04:55 but DJ Turner specifically is a great man cover corner, second best in terms of yards allowed per coverage snap. So I'm giving a lot of numbers at you. What it says is the Bucks really struggled against man coverage on offense last year. Again, one of the reasons why they got Zach Robinson from the Falcons, a lot of undercenter stuff, a lot of movement, a lot of condensed formations in order to have man beaters built in. But you're right. I don't know that they have the guys to do it. maybe Kenneth Gainwell, but I don't think Bucky Irving is that level of player. I don't think Kate Otton is.

Starting point is 00:05:29 I think Godwin has lost to step. I don't know that Jalen McMillan has beaten a lot of man coverage. And even in Mecca, for as good as a rookie year as he had, again, he struggled versus man. And I think a lot of it is he's not the most explosive and fluid guy. He's just a good athlete in a lot of ways. He's going to have to become a very, very refined route runner.

Starting point is 00:05:49 And he was coming out of college. But he's got to take it to another level in order to be a really good man. beat her. Of course, we still have questions about this Bengals defense and the new safety edition of Brian Cook, which we're expecting should improve things, but that's a new piece for them back there. Jalen Davis, I pointed out on the crossover as well, Joe, is a spot where let's see how he does. If he gets a heavy dose of Chris Godwin or McMillan in this game, how does that stand up over the course of a game? And they don't really have alternatives there. So it's going to be ride or die with Jalen Davis, who we're obviously hoping takes a step in the right direction and

Starting point is 00:06:22 and plays the way he did last year. But the Bengals strength on the outside at corner, not necessarily translating to slot or over the middle, which is where I would expect the Bucks offense will try to attack. It's kind of going to be one of those things this year that until the Bengals proved they can deal with that part of the field, that should be the primary game plan from opposing offenses. And when you have the backfield weapon that has a proven trackback against the Bengals

Starting point is 00:06:48 and Kenneth Gamewell and what he did against them in the second game, when the Bengals played the Steelers last year. That makes a lot of sense for somewhere very intuitive for the Bucks to go early in this one. They also have tackles that are going to hold up against pretty much any group of edge rushers in the league outside of the Miles Garrett level guys and the Texans level defensive lines of the world where Tristan Werfs is all world at left tackle. And the Bengals pass rush probably will have to come from the interior. Luckily, that's where the big investments are.

Starting point is 00:07:16 That's where Dexter Lawrence will play his ball and potentially push. to pocket make Baker Mayfield uncomfortable. And assuming Jonathan Allen is getting a veteran day on Thursday, we're recording this before the injury report comes out on Thursday. And he did not practice Thursday. Could very well be a veteran day. The other big addition for the Bengals on defense there, especially as the pass rusher, those guys have a chance, I think, to take advantage of the weakness, relatively speaking

Starting point is 00:07:41 of this buck's offensive life. Yeah, front and center is Graham Barton. No pun intended actually there. I'm saying front and center. But he is their center drafted out of Yukon first round pick. He was an offensive attack. in college. So his transition to center has been a bit rough. How rough, he's one of the bottom graded pass protectors at center since he's... Did you say you con? I thought it was.

Starting point is 00:08:02 What am I off? Duke, thank you. Blue, yeah, blue ACC, right? Close enough. I'll take it. But Grant Barton's been terrible. He was 28th in true past set grade from PFF, 26th in past block efficiency. And this is just taking center. If you pull it up and you try to match this, it's going to bring up the few games he played left tackle when Tristan Worst was out. And he's way worse than that because he got roasted at left tackle. The show he couldn't play it at all. But that is the matchup. Dexter Lawrence versus Graham Barton.

Starting point is 00:08:31 I even went back. The Bucks played the Giants in 2024. And Graham Barton had his second lowest run blocking game of his life against Dexter Lawrence. It was a 41.2. Dexter Lawrence had a great game in that game. I think it had a 90.9 run defense game. I mean, just dominated.

Starting point is 00:08:48 I put a couple clips on it. I was like, oh, yeah, that's big. advantage for the Bengals. So, you know, while we are, you know, we're Bengals fans here. We're rooting for the friendly team in orange and black. I think also the clear advantages here and opportunities. It's funny, though, because I think teams gear and want to make decisions for week one. And with how bad the bucks were against man and the Bengals play so much man on offense, I think a lot of their decisions, a lot of the reports coming from Camp and Tampa is how they're trying to beat this. They're trying to build the,

Starting point is 00:09:20 offense that can combat this a little bit more. And that makes a ton of sense to me. But at the same time, I think the Bengals also have something to combat the Bucks defense. And we may have overlooked it a little bit, Jake. We'll get into that and more coming up next. Lock on Bengals is brought to today by Odu. And Odu knows that running a business shouldn't feel like you're trying to connect a bunch of systems that don't talk to each other. That's not the point. That's not why you got into the business you're in. One app for accounting, the other for inventory, another yet for saying. and somehow none of them talk to each other.

Starting point is 00:09:52 Well, that's what Odu solves. Odu is an all-in-one business management software that brings every part of your business together in one powerful platform from sales and accounting to inventory and marketing. Everything works in one place. Odu is the one platform to manage, grow, and scale your business. And the Bengals, like the best organizations,

Starting point is 00:10:11 know that success isn't just about talent. We've seen the Bengals have talented teams at Flame Out. It's about having everyone working toward the same goal. And that's true for your business. as well. You need that organizational alignment and Odu can help you accomplish that when your systems talk to each other and they're all in the same place. Great organizations win because operations matter and that's why you should get Odu. Odu is the one platform you need to manage, grow and scale your business. You can try for free today at Odo.com slash locked on this.

Starting point is 00:10:41 ODO dot com slash locked up. Welcome to your most rewarding NFL season ever only on Fandu. How rewarding are we talking more rewarding than a touchdown with time expiring more rewarding than an 18 point comeback maybe even more rewarding than an offensive lineman catching a touchdown maybe more rewarding than beating the team you beat in the Super Bowl last year with an insane interception on the sideline honestly crazy throw from Drake may but that's besides a point this season fan duel is making the excitement go beyond what happens on the field with the all new fan dual rewards Club featuring exclusive offers, surprises, and more.

Starting point is 00:11:20 Every week, Fandul is on the app, is given you chances to win and be rewarded, and making this the most rewarding season ever through Fandul. Visit Fanduil.com to get started today. Jake transitioning to the defense of the Bucks versus the offense of the Bengals for this matchup, and this is, I mean, we spend most of our time, I think, talking about the Bengals offense. It's where the star players are, other than Dexter Lawrence, we spend. consider a amount of time, and he rewarded us with a great preseason and looking good in,

Starting point is 00:11:54 but what about Cassius how? What I mean, tough early matchup there. Maybe you get some against Luke Kadeke on the other side. Tristan Wurst is just kind of an eraser, a left tackle. So talk about the edge rushers is tough in this game. He's the best. Honestly, I think Tristan Wurfs is the best tackle in the league. It just moves at a level that's insane.

Starting point is 00:12:12 It's like watching Tyron Smith, who was just a freak athlete. But getting back to the point, the Bengals off. offense as a beater or an advantage here, a couple actually. But one, I think we overlooked a little bit. When they're putting in the under center stuff and doing the play action and really trying to make this an identifying part of this offense, we spent a ton of time talking about that. Probably if you had to pick one topic, it's probably our top topic, especially with the way it related to Eric All and his play this season or offseason.

Starting point is 00:12:44 And they probably did it or long. We gave all the reasons why they did. But one thing we didn't see was how bad the bucks. And this is a data point I was looking through, you know, writing an article. I want to see all the bad things the Buccaneers were exceptionally bad at last year. And one of them was they were terrible, Jake, against play action. I'm talking the worst explosive rate in the league allowed 27.7% of the play action plays they faced on defense went for explosive plays. Bengals want to get more explosive.

Starting point is 00:13:16 Great defense to do it against. allowed nine yards per attempt off play action. That's the second worst in the league. I mean, they were highly exploitable last year, maybe because the Todd Bowles' defense loves the blitz. Yeah, and they totally overhaul their linebacker room as a result of last year as well. So I think that's probably a part of it as well. They took the opposite approach to the Bengals who were running it back with their linebackers,

Starting point is 00:13:40 but Tampa's linebackers struggled last year. Levanté David, not coming through that door, especially prime Levanti David, but he's departed. So it's Josiah Trotter, a rookie, and Alex Anzaloni, who will be playing linebacker for Tampa in this game. They also had Keonté Scott out of Miami to help. And he's probably going to play in the slot, which is going to put Jacob Parrish on outside. 5-9, Jacob Parrish. And maybe he kicks back inside at some point.

Starting point is 00:14:04 But whoever's inside, I love that matchup for Jamar Chase. This should be a big Jamar Chase slot game. But if it is Parrish inside, Benjamin Morris was terrible last season, horrible. Morrison has been a very significant disappointment in the NFL. I honestly kind of liked him as a prospect. I know. I think you'll bounce back. Yeah, not good in the NFL so far.

Starting point is 00:14:26 But the play action point is interesting. I like to listen to the national previews around the time that we do our previews just to get a feel for what others think on the outside because there's always some valuable perspective there. And I was listening to Mina Kinesworth talking to Dominique Foxworth. I mean I kind of talking to Dominique Foxworth about this game. And they were kind of leaning in the direction of like, maybe this is a game where you do the old Bengal stuff.

Starting point is 00:14:51 Because you got to deal with Vita Vaya, you got to deal with Ruben Bain, you got to deal with Yaya Diabi. Didn't talk about Al-Qaddi Muhammad very much in the crossover yesterday. He's a significant free agent pickup for Tampa who, he was a double-digit sax last year or right around there. So Kalaja Kansi also can disrupt on the inside. and it's not just that, but those are the, those are the headliners for that Bucks defensive front.

Starting point is 00:15:17 But when you're thinking about the approach for the Bengals in this game, I find it fascinating that you point out, Joe, how bad the Bucks were defending play action last year versus, like, in my head, what my game plan would be if I'm the Bengals. Like, I'm trying to run the ball. I'm maybe trying some of the under center stuff early. But when I'm in crunch time in this game, if it's a fourth quarter and this thing is close, I'm putting Joe Burrow in the shotgun. I'm spreading the thing out.

Starting point is 00:15:43 And I'm letting him get rid of the ball quick. And that's to me the advantage of Bengals have in this game. Their advantage in this game, to me, is more outside. It's J. Marcia C. Higgins against Zion McCollum and Jacob Parrish. Those are, in fact, going to be the outside corners for the bucks as we expect. And it's probably quick game, trying to take the safeties out of the game a little bit, trying to neutralize the pass rush a little bit. You can do some of that with play action, too.

Starting point is 00:16:07 If the Bengals run away with this one, it's probably because, the play action implementation goes great and they're running the ball great. And Vita Vaya isn't enough for the bucks to go light in the box. And, you know, Joe Burroughs dicing up the top Bulls blitz. And last time Tampa played Cincinnati, by the way, they blitz Joe Burrow 52% of the time. And they were actually pretty effective with it in that game. Joe Burroughs numbers much worse against the blitz in that game in general, just four yards for 10 versus 6.3 when he wasn't blitz in that game.

Starting point is 00:16:35 Normally he's great against the blitz to be sure. And typically he is. but there's something about some of these heavy blitz offenses. I mean, Brian Flores creates a lot of problems for every quarterback, right? And Burroughs not an exception to that either, at least some of the matchups where they've played against each other. So these are all the things that I'm thinking about, Joe, from a Bengals offensive approach point of view,

Starting point is 00:16:56 like knowing then that they were so bad against play action in Tampa last year, I wonder how that fits in and how that's going to impact the way we see the Bengals either hit the ground running or not with their play action offense. And the, again, approach that could intuitively make sense is not necessarily to go to the play action until you know what those stats looked like last year. And then, you know, you talk about how they're overhauled linebackers. So they're trying to fix their issues just as the Bengals are, right? Every team's trying to fix what they were really weak against last year.

Starting point is 00:17:26 Josiah Trotter was named the other starter next to Alex Anzolone. Anzolone is a solid player. Like I would have taken him in free agency as well. He's a captain for the Bucks as his first year. with them now. But Trotter, if you remember from the draft prospect and, you know, doing our evaluations draft season, very downhill like blinders on behind him. He can come downhill. He can do a lot. He can be very disruptive against the run. And he's not the biggest dude, but he sifts through trash really well and avoids blockers and is pretty short tackler. Going backwards, completely

Starting point is 00:17:59 different player. Not a lot of experience first. They didn't ask him to do it. So maybe there's some of that. Maybe it's better than we expect. But also to me, that looks like an exploitable flaw or trait in his game versus play action. So that would be one that I'd be, I'd be really against it. And then Keante Scott is this fourth round rookie in the slide, if that's who it is. And I think it will be. That should be their, their guy. That's his future. He'd seem like a guy everyone would like to have. He didn't play a ton of man coverage in college. And I would like to see him one-on-one with Jamar Chase. Athletically, Scott, you know, tested really, really well.

Starting point is 00:18:32 But, I mean, experience and man coverage covering a guy like Jamar, I don't know that he has it, other than maybe that young receiver, he went against the practice all the time. The Bengals just have such an advantage of wide receiver in this game. Oh, and that's why I'm so interested to see how they attack Tampa's defense, because they've been doing all this work to put all the under center stuff in and working on the run game. We talked to Orlando Brown about the mid-season. zone stuff. We're seeing this trend in the NFL where people want to go back to gap scheme stuff

Starting point is 00:19:01 and the Bengals offensive line, probably better suited to get under center, run some gap scheme stuff when they are under center. They're running some mid zone as well. And they did all this offseason work on play action and everything, getting Joe under center to the point where Joe's getting asked multiple questions in his Wednesday press, like, what's the comfort level now versus the beginning of training camp under center? And what do you say you're comfortable under center and all these things that Joe's going to get asked, I think, until he shows the receipts because he hasn't shown that he can be good as an undercenter play action quarterback. And here you have a matchup where on paper last year, it looks like it's an exploitable weakness. And at the same time, Vita V is

Starting point is 00:19:38 over there on that other side. So how much do you really want to be under center running the ball versus letting Joe go quick game, stay patient in a way that we just saw Drake May is unable to stay patient for an entire game against the Seahawks who have been compared stylistically to a Bulls defense by some. It just makes a game. It just makes a game. for a very interesting conversation that we will continue as we get into the finer points to wrap up this conversation about the Bengals' first matchup of the season

Starting point is 00:20:01 coming up next. Matt Derry here from the Lockdown Lions podcast. You know, life insurance is one of those things. You don't really think about until you have a reason to. For me, it really hit home when my father passed away over 20 years ago. You started thinking less about yourself and more about the people who depend on you

Starting point is 00:20:18 and making sure they're taking care of no matter what. That's why I like ethos. They make getting life insurance simple. It's 100% online, no doctor visits, no needles, none of that. You can get a quote in seconds, apply in just a few minutes, and even get same-day coverage. And honestly, that's huge because life gets busy. You can get up to $3 million in coverage, and some plans are as low as just $30 a month. It's just one of those things that gives you peace of mind, knowing your family is protected.

Starting point is 00:20:45 Take 10 minutes to get covered today with life insurance through ethos. Get your free quote at ethos.com slash lockdown NFL. is E-T-H-OS.com slash lockdown NFL. Applications may vary. Rates may vary. The NFL is full of games you plan for all year. But sometimes the best memories come from the games you almost missed. Game time makes it easy to find tickets for NFL matchups that you want to see with prices

Starting point is 00:21:11 that include fees so you know the total cost up front. You can browse games, see a panoramic view from your seat before you buy, and get tickets in just a couple of tabs. Plus zone deals let you choose the section and let game time choose the seats for you to help you save even more. Whether it's a rivalry game, a matchup featuring a player you want to see or an underdog ready to make some noise. Game time makes getting to the game simple. Think about the game on the schedule that you absolutely don't want to miss. Maybe it says open in Orange game, week one with all the hype.

Starting point is 00:21:43 The energy is there. The city is buzzing in Cincinnati for this Bengals season to start. I think I'd want to be there for that one. Get your friends together. get your tickets and tell them it's game time. Download the GameTime app, create an account and use code locked on for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.

Starting point is 00:21:59 Again, create an account and use code locked on for $20 off. Joe, one of the things that Zach Taylor often talks about in games is what kind of game script he's expecting it to be. Is this going to be a game where they're going to have to grind it out like they did against Denver a few years ago? They knew they weren't going to score a lot of points, but they knew they didn't have to score a lot of points. I don't think that's going to be this game, but Joe Burroughs talked a lot about how excited he is to watch those guys on the defensive side of the ball get after it this year. It doesn't feel like he has to go throw it 50 times a game as much. He's talked about that.

Starting point is 00:22:31 It doesn't feel like he has to be perfect on every single play, at least not right now. The vibes are high for Joe Burrow and expectations are high for both sides of the ball. But as you're thinking about the way this game is going to play out, how do you think the Bengals do approach this thing where Antoine Winfield is a great player for the bucks in the back seven, but those corners look exploitable to me at every level of the field. The Bengals should be able to win with receivers when they can get those matchups. Maybe that takes you to the third receiver for the Bengals, whether that's Mike Keseki, Andre Yosevosh, Dante Myers, Colby Young,

Starting point is 00:23:01 whichever guys on the field for those plays if Colby Young is even activated. As far as that goes. But potential matchups to exploit all over the place, right? And Joe Burrow, who we know is this elite processor on the offensive side of the ball. Meanwhile, we don't necessarily know what version of the Bucks we're going to get a lot of transition over there, new offensive coordinator over there, providing some unscotted looks, potentially a scheme change for the bucks on offense going on that the Bengals have to get ready for.

Starting point is 00:23:29 So when you're thinking about all these different factors, play action versus getting Joe and shotgun spreading things out, how do you think this game plays out? I think they start with the play action under center game. And they have a lot. Like if you could eliminate the first drive, I think, from Bengals stats and pulled up like their play action rate and under center rate, I bet a lot of it comes from that first. drive, right? It feels like that. Even in 2021, there's the year they spent the most time under center, it felt like the first couple drives and then the first couple drives coming out of half,

Starting point is 00:23:57 right, like where they would reestablish and then end of game stuff. So if you could eliminate like the garbage time or end of game stuff, I bet it's that first drive. And they're going to come out and they're going to try and hit it similar to last year in my opinion. I even said, if there's a bet for an Eric all first touchdown, I'd be on that. Like that to me is they're going to pound it, pound it, hit the play action. And I don't mean it's a far shot. I'm talking like a a three yard touchdown catch for Eric College, calling my shot now so we can clip this later, Jake. But otherwise, I think it's been covered so much this season by everyone

Starting point is 00:24:29 that the bucks have to know that that's what's coming and that the Bengals want to establish this and want to make an effective part of their offense. So if you came out and you were the regular Bengals and you spread it out and wanted to dink and dunk down the field and make things happen, I wouldn't be mad at that. Like, I think you can exploit these guys in coverage. And the corners for the Bucks are, Jamel Dean was their best corner. They lost him.

Starting point is 00:24:54 They've lost Carlton Davis over the last couple of years, too, as well. Like, they are restarting. Zion McCollum was pretty bad the second half of the year last year, as the Bucks were. So I don't want to beat that horse too much. But he was exploitable, heavily exploitable. And I think against Jamar Chaser T. Higgins, while he's six, two, you know, maybe he can match up with T a little bit.

Starting point is 00:25:12 You're going to get some of T on Parrish. You're going to get some of him with Kianti Scott, maybe, or Jamar with Kint. I like it. No matter what matchup it is. There's no one there that I'm really afraid of at the corner position for the bucks. And the way they were exploited last year on defense, you can do it again. So if they did, I've got no problem. Get the lead and then run it and then play action off of that and kill them.

Starting point is 00:25:35 That sounds like the 2021 Bengals also. If they can put the bucks down early, I think we'll be feeling really good about their prospects this year. And it does go that way where they control things from the jump, maybe get an early takeaway, maybe Dexter Lawrence makes Baker Mayfield uncomfortable on a play, throws Graham Barton into his lap and the ball comes out. I mean, you know, there's going nuts. Dino Atkins, Carson Palmer level first. There's some fun things that we can talk about there.

Starting point is 00:26:00 But I think the interesting thing will be then how do the Bucks maintain discipline as a blitzing team? That's one thing that I'm interested to see too. because like I said, the last time these teams played, which is 2022, a very long time ago. But every year, Tom Bowles has been a heavy blitzing teams, was 52% blitz rate. Joe Barr was one of the least blitz quarterbacks in the NFL for a reason. And some coordinators don't care. Brian Flores is the other one that I mentioned earlier. Like they're going to blitz no matter who they're playing.

Starting point is 00:26:32 But the, the bucks did add all these pieces to their defensive front. Yaya Diabhi is already a solid player. Ruben Bain, I think, will be excellent. Vita Vaya, we know is excellent, even if he's not excellent as frequently. as Dexter Lawrence is excellent disruptive as a nose tackle. Two premier nose tackles in this game, as we discussed a little bit on the crossover yesterday. But the question then becomes for a guy that loves the blitz and like Antoine Winfield coming on safety blitzes,

Starting point is 00:26:59 Kianti Scott's going to be coming on slot blitzes. It was something that Joe Burroughs, I'm sure, aware of. And the offensive line continuity could help with some of the blitzes that Todd Bowles ascending because they're so familiar with one another. They have that continuity there. but on the other hand like can the bucks come out and just make joe check it down make joe throw underneath every play timing take his six yards of play get the ball out on time make him really have those 12 13 play drives or can the bengals be explosive and exploit the blitz coming from tampa that's a balancing act i think for the tampa defense when the bengal's offense is on the field

Starting point is 00:27:37 and we're expecting this bengal's offense to be really good so that's why that's where so much of my attention is gone. And I'm just really excited to see how that plays out because of the nature, the unique nature of how much top bowl is like splits. You know what we're overlooking right here, Jake, is the privilege we have to talk about how many options the Bengals have to attack or play their offense.

Starting point is 00:28:01 I mean, we're coming off of, and I assume you stayed up and watched the Patriots and Seahawks game, but if you, and I'm talking to the listener here, you can not dread to, but if you didn't stay up for that, the Patriots were unwilling to change their offense, really in a lot of ways. The cup blocks they were doing on the offensive line all night

Starting point is 00:28:20 and ended up killing them on the final play. But May was having issues. They couldn't get anything going on the ground, to be honest, so it's not like they could really turn to it, but they were out of options. And weapons, I mean, once AJ Brown went down, is there any of those weapons that would play for the Bengals?

Starting point is 00:28:35 Like, you wouldn't, and Romeo Dobbs is on paper better than Andreosubosh. she had a terrible night. Kyle Williams at 12 snaps. Like there are so many options for the Bengals and how they want to attack, exploit, how they want to, and two,

Starting point is 00:28:49 this is my final point on this, to Zach Taylor's credit has pulled that when he, when he has to. If it's not working at halftime, they can be a different offense and they have been. And they've done this in the past and shown that they're willing that if it's not working, we'll figure out a new way to do it.

Starting point is 00:29:04 And if it doesn't work in that game, they'll figure it out over course of the next few weeks to make it a part of their offense. Only thing is the under center has been a longstanding thorn. And that's why we talked about it so much because the Bengals recognize it and they want to make it a strength. If they make that a strength this year, man, what a card you can play at any moment. And that's why we're excited to see them ourselves this season.

Starting point is 00:29:25 And hopefully it starts week one. We'll get our first impression of this new wrinkle added Bengals offense. Just how many wrinkles will there be? Are we talking about that shirt was left in that suitcase for a couple of weeks after vacation are we talking you pressed it yesterday and just a couple of wrinkles have come back into the shirt i don't know how pressing shirts and how wrinkles work that's probably not how it works so somebody can call me out in the comments for that but that's going to do it for this episode of the locked on bengals podcast we'll be back with you after the game and we'll see what happens as we get

Starting point is 00:29:59 our first impression of the 2026 Cincinnati bengals until then thanks for listening to this episode of the locked on bengals podcast thanks for listening who day and have a good one.

Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - MAN-HEAVY: Bengals Could Lean On Corners to CONTAIN Baker Mayfield, Bucs Offense in Week 1

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.