Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - PLAYOFFS?! When SHOULD We Take Bengals' Playoff Hopes Seriously?

Episode Date: December 1, 2025

The Cincinnati Bengals have a clear, but difficult road to the 2025 playoffs and a division title. James Rapien and Jake Liscow dissect the AFC North race as Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers stumble, as winning out is the Bengals’ most viable path. We dive into critical games, tiebreakers, and what needs to change for Cincinnati to seize the division crown.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!Aura FramesFor a limited time, save on the perfect gift by visiting https://AuraFrames.com to get $35 off Aura’s best-selling Carver Mat frames - named #1 by Wirecutter - by using promo code LOCKEDON at checkout.FanDuelIf you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit FanDuel.com and place your NFL livebets all season long. PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFLGametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.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.

The Bengals path to the playoffs is increasingly clear and still very difficult, but when should we be taking their playoff chances seriously? We break it down today. You are Locked on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. What on Bengals fans? And welcome to another episode of the Locked on Bengals podcast, part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day.

now the number one sports podcast network in the land. He's James Rapine. I'm Jake Liskill, we're your host of lockdown Bengals covering the Cincinnati Bengals as a great one-stop shop for all the news analysis and everything you need to know about your favorite team in one place since 2016.

And today we dive into the Bengals' chances to make the playoffs, the exact things that they need to happen, which more or less start with winning out, although they're technically scenarios where they can, could lose one game or even two in very far-fetched scenarios and still make the playoffs. But we're going to focus on the winning out scenarios today because that's the most likely path for the Bengals. And then, when should we take their playoff chances seriously?

They're still anywhere between 6 and 9% to make the playoffs, depending on which model you're looking at, whether it's the athletic or pro football network or pro football focus. and we'll take a look at the threshold at which we should probably start saying, yeah, you know, it's better than, it's better than a coin flip now. It's not just the single digit chance, which it was around this time last year, maybe even lower at this time last year. I think the path is a little bit easier this year, James, and that's what we'll discuss in this episode of Lockdown Bengals,

sponsored by Fandor right now. If you are a new customer in your first $5 bet wins, who get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. But James, people are taking notice across the league that, oh, the AFC North is actually really bad, and the Bengals have a shot at this thing because of the state of the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers right now. Yeah, it's wild to say, but the AFC North is open.

It still is. And when you have the two teams that are leading it and tied for the lead at 6 and 6,6, in a team in the Bengals that at 4 and 8 should be out of it. It should be done. It should be over. We shouldn't be having this conversation. And there are going to be a lot of people that dismiss it that way.

They're going to say, hey, listen, locked on Bengals guys. Guess what? They've been awful. They were 1 and 8 without Joe. They have the worst defense in NFL history, all of these things. And that's fine. You can feel that way. The reality is if the Bengals, and it is a big if.

but if they go undefeated with Joe Burrow at quarterback this year, and that's what they need to do. They need Joe Burrow to go 8 and 0 as a starter. Right now he's 3 and 0, and he's won a franchise record, eight straight starts. So there you go. It's tied with Andy Dalton from 2015 when they started 8-no. But they need that number to get much bigger by five more,

get to 13, 8 straight this year. And if they do that, they're probably going to the playoffs. Like, that's probably going to happen. And why? Here's why. Because the Ravens are flawed. They're beatable. They're going to lose more games.

The Steelers, I don't know what the heck is going on in Pittsburgh. That Pittsburgh loss is looking worse and worse by the day. They've lost three or four. It seems like everything's crumbling. They got Fire Mike Tomlin chance. Aaron Rogers is looking like a home alone character that's trying to get after McCulley Calkin. Like, there's a lot going on in Pittsburgh. And so the door is still open for the Bengals.

And it's not wide open. We're not saying book your playoff tickets. I'm not even really thinking about mid-January yet from a professional standpoint. But when you look at it, the Bengals, they don't control their own destiny, but given all the flaws around them, given who they have at quarterback, I get why they feel and I get why fans are starting to play with the playoff machine. You should. Because if the Bengals win the next five, I feel pretty. confident in saying that they will make the playoffs. And it's a big if,

but if you do that, you're going to feel really good about your chances. The Bengals win the next five, according to the New York Times, playoff simulator, the Bengals are at an 81% chance to make the playoffs. 80% of that is to win the division. 1% of that is to win the wild card. Technically, there's a wild card scenario out there. We're not really going to talk about it until it becomes, or unless it becomes more of a realistic possibility.

right now their path of the playoffs is winning the division. And that's what we're going to focus on today. And how do the Bengals win the division? We're going to talk about, you know, the games that matter most and all these things. But starting with the assumption that they would win out, which is probably where we're losing some of the more pessimistic fans out there, right, the people that don't want to talk about the playoffs. Because that is the foundational assumption here, even though I talked about, yeah, there are

ways for them to make the playoffs without winning every single game. Specifically, I think if they lose to the Cardinals, there's still a chance because that's their their lone remaining NFC game. You know, if they lose to the Browns or to the Ravens, much more than AFC North games, especially the Ravens with the direct competition there. But the way that they win is essentially with anything up to a three-way tie for first place in the AFC North at 9 and 8, which if you look at the current New York, time simulator, at least before the Steelers lost to the bills, it was every team in the AFC North could finish at 9 and 8. Baltimore and Pittsburgh projected to finish at 9 and 8. If that happens, what games do those teams need to lose for the Bengals to win the tiebreakers? Baltimore, the Bengals just have to beat Baltimore again.

So if the Bengals win that game, then they win the head-to-head tiebreaker with Baltimore. The Pittsburgh tiebreaker, a little bit more complicated because, you know, it's a little bit more complicated, against Pittsburgh, the remaining schedule for the Steelers is three AFC North games. They play Baltimore twice and they play Cleveland. One NFC game against Detroit and a game against Miami. If the Steelers managed to go three and O in the division, they beat Baltimore twice, they beat Cleveland, and lose to Miami and Detroit, I believe the Bengals then lose that tiebreaker to the Steelers. So for the Steelers, a little bit more complicated.

You need the Steelers if you're the Bengals to lose one. one of their remaining AFC North games, either of the Baltimore games or the Cleveland game, and one other game. If the Bengals beat the Ravens, they just need the Ravens to lose one other game. And the Ravens schedule to finish the season is Pittsburgh twice. And in addition to the Cincinnati game in Cincinnati, they play New England and Green Bay. Really tough inclusion to the schedule for the Ravens who are not what everyone expected them to be on offense this year. So the scenario is Ravens lose to the Bengals plus one other game. Steelers lose two games.

One of those is an AFC North game and the Bengals went out. That is the one that is most prominently in my mind, James. Obviously, the Baltimore Ravens, the Pittsburgh Steelers could lose more games, which would give the Bengals potentially a one game margin for error. But if you're four and eight, I don't think anyone's goal is to get to eight and nine and sneak in with a losing record. No, it's one, you're right. two. That's why I feel so good about it if the Bengals handle their business. And that's what they

need to do because if they do, you're giving the Ravens one of their two losses. You're sweeping Baltimore. You win that tiebreaker. In Pittsburgh, they're limping. They're beat up. They're battered. Their star defensive tackles complaining that he's getting punched by or need by Josh Allen. Like what defensive tackle complains about a quarterback, right? Like what are we talking about here, especially a guy that has that does some of the stuff Cam Hayward does. And so the reason why Pittsburgh is playing so edgy and grimy, part of why you do that is when you don't have the talent.

And so you have to mix it up a bit. Let's just say Pittsburgh wins the division. And they might. They might. Zero chance they win the Super Bowl. Like less than zero, like whatever you want to say. And I get it. It wouldn't be zero if they make.

the plan but like no chance they're just flawed they're old they're not nearly as good defensive as they should be obviously Aaron rogers hasn't really worked out uh the way they would have hoped in an ideal world he's complaining about receivers the receivers are doing whatever the hell they're doing like there's a lot going wrong in pittsburg and so they're going to lose games is my point and this isn't locked on sealer so i'll leave it there but they're going to lose some games down the stretch if the bengals handle their business there's a real scenario where the steelers finish third in this division and probably should finish third in this division and uh and so again will the bengals do what they need to do it's a whole other discussion where do they need to go or

what do they need to do unit by unit to make it happen a whole another discussion so there's layers to this but on the surface if you tell me the bengals are nine and eight i'm going to feel pretty darn good about their chances of of being a fc north champions for the first time in a couple of years yeah one of these other teams would have to really figure it out in the AFC North between the Ravens and the Steelers for that to not be the case. Is my read on it? Like I said, 81, 82% if the Bengals went out to make the playoffs. And most of that chance comes from winning the division.

Hey, I would love it if the Bengals made me right. After the way this season is gone, in the AFC North preview, we did way back in the preseason. I had Bengals Steelers, Ravens, Browns for my AFC North standings prediction. And the fact that there's a chance of that after the Bengals started the year, three and eight, they all take it. Let's talk about when we should start to take the Bengals playoff hope seriously, because right now we're still talking about a single digit proposition. At what point do we say, yeah, this team should make the playoffs at this point. Or at what point do we start to believe more in their chances? Because right now it's always been caveat with the big if, if the Bengals win all their games.

And that if still looms large. but when does it get a little bit quieter? When do we start to believe? Let's discuss coming up next. Today's show is brought to by ORA frames. ORA frames, well, Joe Burrow has Aura, and so does ORA frames. The holidays are officially here.

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AuraFrames.com. Use promo code locked on it. Check out terms and conditions apply. At what point, James, do you start to say, yeah, they got a real chance at this thing. Because there's a path. We know there's a path. It's very clear. It's very difficult.

But we know there's a path that involves them winning out. Is it if they win the next two? Is it if they win the next three? Is it something to do with like, oh, yeah, the offensive line has turned a corner. And they're now one of the most productive running games. the NFL and Joe Burroughs not getting touched? Is it suddenly a light bulb comes on for one of these linebackers? What is the thing that most does it for you to take their chances seriously?

You mentioned it. It's when the dust settles on December 14th at Paycor Stadium. Excuse me. So at December 14th, Paycorr Stadium, thus settles, you look up and the Bengals are six and eight. And they've swept the Ravens. they beat the bills Joe Burrow moves to 5 and 0 as a starter

this season 10 and 0 dating back to last season in his last 10 starts if they do that and they're 6 and 8 and they swept the Ravens and they went to Buffalo and they beat Josh Allen and the bills there we go like that's it now it's buckle up time

because yeah you hit the road you're going to play Miami and you're going to have Arizona and Cleveland and I'm not saying those games are going to be easy but you're six and eight and you're going to have a really good idea. Who knows what happens with the Steelers by then? You may know, hey, if we went out, we're in. Like it might be that simple by then.

So if you get these next two, let that'll be when I'm like, all right, here we go. Let's start thinking about the playoffs, playoff planning, all of the things that are involved with that, which it's been a while since we had to do. I didn't do that last year. They were still hanging around and in it. I didn't do that last year.

Part of it was because of all the different scenarios that needed to happen. This isn't that. It really isn't that. It's much simpler of a process. And so if you win the next two, I'm really going to consider it. And I would imagine a lot of people are the same way, given the opponent, given the stakes, given the fact that they're in Buffalo this week, handle business in Buffalo, come home, sweep the Ravens. And we're having a mighty, mighty different conversation than we were a few weeks ago. That's exactly it. They win the next two games. These are the most difficult games left on their schedule.

Yeah, they could stumble with the dolphins who are suddenly upstart or, you know, they have to go deal with the Cardinals and the Browns down the stretch here. But if they just win the next two, you're talking about going from 8%, according to the athletic simulator here, to 31%. That number jumping all the way up to 48% after they beat the dolphins. But 31% when we're talking about 1% going into the Ravens game, that's a much bigger number. And then we look at the week 16 matchups are just huge for this team. So even if they win those two games, right? Well, first off, the week 14 game between the Steelers and the Ravens is huge. And I'm 99% sure that the Bengals want the.

Ravens to win this game, even though the signal that here shows this is very close. You want the Ravens to take that one AFC North game off of the Steelers as early as possible. So I'm 99% sure that Bengals fans are rooting for the Ravens this week. There's obviously some scenarios for this, not the case. But that happens for the Bengals, it jumps to 34% after those two games. And then, you know, like I said, suddenly this Dolphin Steelers game is quite interesting. but then it really to me comes down to week 16 and you know if the Bengals continue to win

their chances jump way up here as we're looking at the simulator putting things together but the Bengals beat the Dolphins then in week 16 the Steelers and the Ravens that we play some of their most difficult games remaining if the Patriots managed to win against the Ravens which wouldn't be a shock right

you could talk yourself into that you can see the Ravens winning that game too, obviously. Sure. We're deep into speculation here. But the reason this week is so big is that if the Lions and the Patriots both win those games in which they can very well be favored the way things are going right now. And the Bengals win those three games. Then you're all the way up to 71%.

Just like that. So it definitely starts with those first two games. And that third game, it goes way up. And then you can see right away they win one more, 87. because the assumption is that all that needs to happen now is one loss somewhere, or they just need to win those two games. The Bengals could very well be controlling their own destiny, like you said, after week 16, but they need to win the next two games in order for that to happen.

And that's largely my takeaway when I look at the simulator and the way that the odds break down. But beyond just the math, of it all. I referenced some of these factors that we need to see better too. And against the Ravens, Ravens really haven't had much of a pass rush this year. They'll challenge you from a blitz perspective and try to get free runners on you. And that's the way that they have been trying to manufacture a pass rush, but they're not winning with four. Different challenge with Buffalo this week.

If the Bengals offensive line goes out there and keeps Joe as clean against Buffalo as they did against, Baltimore, then I'm going to really, really be believing in this offensive line and the progress they're showing down the stretch. They're able to continue to run the ball against the bills, against the Ravens, when they play the Ravens for the second time in Paycor. That run game is a potent aspect of this offense. It's another thing to believe in. But beyond the offense, where you can make me a bigger believer in the sustainability of the

offense, for sure, as Joe settles in, and if he continues to show the feel for the game that he showed in the second half. The real questions are on the defensive side of the ball, right? Just Ray Hendrickson get back. Do Miles Murphy and Joseph Osai continue to show progress? Can they generate enough of a pass rush, especially on Josh Allen thinking about the most challenging quarterback, they're likely to face the rest of the way.

Yeah. With the way Lamar Jackson's looking right now, can the linebackers play better? Like those are the big questions to me, right? is what happens on the defensive side of the ball because there's a chance that the offense and defense just kind of are where they were last year, but it's a harder schedule down the stretch this time

because you've got the bills and the Ravens instead of beating up on some of the teams that are just losing at that point in the season last year where they needed a lot more to go right for them, but the Bengals winning games was a more feasible prospect last year than this year. Yeah. Yeah, I think we've seen it. Part of it is we've seen it.

We've seen them back against the wall. I mean, their backs were against the wall in 22. It felt like they were going to dig out of the hole in 23 before Joe Burrow suffers that risk injury. I think they would have beat Baltimore. Do you? I mean, it was early, but they had just taken the lead in Baltimore. And you know how Joe feels there. And so it's for me, it's, you doubt Joe at your own risk.

They have a shot here. And yet my mind goes. those in one spot looks ahead and then the other looks back. And we can get to that a little bit because I do think that there's part of that, at least for me, always. And there was a reason why I was so held back probably for the first time in my career when it came to bringing a player back from injury. So we'll dive into that coming up next.

Today's show is brought to you by Fandle. I hope you got in on all the Fandall odds, maybe a couple of weeks ago. If you had looked, Jake, at the Fandul AFC North Odds for the Bengals, they were plus 4,000 before their game against the Ravens. And my, oh, my, have things changed a bit? Now they're just plus 850. So just like that, they are right back in the mix to a large degree.

The Ravens still the favorites at minus 195, plus 230 for the Steelers. Bengals plus 850. I'll tell you what, if the Ravens win this week, the Bengals win this week, and then beat the Ravens that these odds are going to shake even more. And whether it's that and you're looking at division odds or whether you're looking at this week where the Bengals Road underdogs, Joe Brod never feels like an underdog, but five and a half. It opened at six.

Now it's at five and a half. FanDual is the place to go for all of the odds, props, live game parlays and so much more. And right now, if you want to be in the middle of the action, this NFL season, visit fandwell.com, place all of your live bets, get in on all of the fun. right now. Again, that's Fandall.com. Fandul. The game moves fast, and so can you with Fandle. All right, Jake.

Yeah, yeah, my bad. Let's, I was days then confused there after the read. But look, there's a reason why I was so frustrated with them not bringing Joe back for that New England game. And it was because it was kind of there. And if you're

bringing Joe Burrow back, you're bringing him back to go on a run. And I keep going back to that, partially because it was only eight days ago as we record this on Monday. Like, had he played in that game, would they have won? Because if so, if they're five and seven, like it feels even more different than it would with the door cracked for the Bengals to make a run at the playoffs. And there are plenty of other ifs this season, but that one's the closest.

That one involves the guy that's been eight and no in his last eight starts and his tied to franchise record. And that one also involves the guy that said, yeah, my body was sore, but I was ready to go. Like, ugh, I know it was a tough ask and I get it. I also really can't remember a time in my career where I've been like, bring this guy back from injury. Like, that's a very rare thing in position to be in. But I do wonder if they'd be five and seven had they done that a few days earlier.

The what if game is really gross to play. It's hard. Bengals this year. I mean, just for most recent going back, first is like, what if Jamar or Joe play against New England? How much of a difference? Jamar, too, yep. What if the Bengals don't give up the miracle comeback

after their own miracle comeback against the Chicago Bears? Yeah. What if they don't give up 39 to Justin Fields? And Joe Flacko's 38 points against the Jets at home is enough against one of the worst teams in the league. At that point, the worst team in the league. They've won a couple games since. What if the Bengals make the Joe Flacco trade earlier?

And Jake Browning doesn't lay eggs for three straight games against the Vikings, the Broncos, and the Lions. What if in week two? Because there's reporting on this now. What if Joe Burroughs' shoes are sturdier? There's a report that he's wearing the Chevy Malibu's of shoes, not a shoe that is providing a whole. whole lot in the way of support or protection.

What if he's wearing shoes that, and I'm interested in learning more about this. The implication from that report is that he put fashion over function in the shoes that he was wearing. And I've heard people speculating about this since the injury. And I don't know exactly what was going on with the shoes, but what if his toe doesn't get caught or his shoes are a little bit stiffer and he doesn't quite injure his toe in the first place? They all wear flashy shoes, though, every NFL player, besides the linemen that tape them up.

I mean, I get it. He was wearing Jordans. We can call it out. It's fine. WLWT had the report. Jaron May, shout out to him. Yeah. The reason that I use the language that I do around it is that I have always assumed, and apparently

incorrectly, I've always assumed that a player like Joe Burrow could have custom-made Jordans that would have all of the structural support you would need while maintaining the look. But apparently that wasn't the case. Well, I'm sure I'm sure he can. I also think that the thing that he's wearing now is such a unit. No, I get it. If it doesn't give as much, maybe it doesn't get caught. There's not enough.

There's not as much bend in the shoe. There's a lot of factors. And it is a good one. And it's, uh, that part sucks. Because what if it would have just been grade one then? Yeah. Instead of grade three where he's out and has to go surgery and is out for 69 days. a lot of sixes and nines in this episode a lot of what ifs

not nice is the bottom line for this season what if they manage to figure out the right draft picks you know you can go all the way back to the draft to free agency what if they're not preoccupied with their own free agency can make moves for external free agents because they can multitask or pick different players in the draft all those things did you feel because they made that announcement on Saturday morning you were still so you're on the west coast I'm I'm in Cincinnati. Everyone knows. You're from Cincinnati. You're not from Canada, but you live in Canada. So West Coast time. Yeah. I did the instant reaction right away. And I was very, and again, that's unique. Like, it's not like I'm saying this about other players. I don't think I've ever done that. But like, this is a mistake. This is what I would have done. This is what they should have done. They didn't do it. How did you feel? Because you didn't really get to talk about it. And then they had lost the Patriots game the next time you're on. Like in that moment, when you wake up, you're like, oh, well, Joe's not playing. Did you just assume like, all right, well,

the toe must be sore. I thought that it was, from a lack of information point of view, because that's where we are, right? We don't know exactly what's going on. I thought that it might have been a moment where, and it was a moment where the team is trying to protect Joe from himself in a way that they haven't done in the past.

And my initial thought was like, this is a pendulum swinging the other way. This is a team finally saying, Joe, we need to protect you from. yourself for a few more days. And now, in hindsight, it appears that he would have been fine. Like, he looked totally fine. But you also just never know, right?

Like with this sort of thing in particular, look at Brock Purdy's early return from this similar injury, obviously a little bit different, not surgical for him, and the aggravation for Purdy earlier this year for the 49ers, like it could have gone any number of ways. but in hindsight you definitely appear to have been onto something there because he got out of that Baltimore game apparently just fine as far as we know like no issues whatsoever maybe he knows his foot was a little bit soars he's changing shoes on the sideline into a into a street shoe

to try to keep his foot a little bit more comfortable but yeah I think that hindsight suggests that your thoughts at the time were onto something Yeah, I wish. And part of it was the Flacco Magic had run out to a degree. And maybe that's health. Maybe that's decision-making. Maybe it's a mixture of everything, right? It's film getting out on what the Bengals are trying to do.

And that's part of it, too, for sure. Like, we didn't expect Joe Flackett have come out and throw 12 touchdowns and one pick. Like, we thought he'd turn the ball over and he started to. And looking back at Thursday, I think, again, that's one of my favorite things about Joe Burroughs game. is they were really searching. He wasn't playing his best ball. He wasn't putting it where he wanted to at times. But he didn't force it, didn't panic.

The defense gave them the ability to move forward and not have to force it and push the ball more than you need to. Sometimes these AFC North games are going to be that way. They are. And if you can win that way, that's a heck of a luxury. And so I think Joe not turning the ball over, not really putting it in harm's way much. I'm trying to think of a. Not at all that I remember.

Yeah, I don't think so either. And so to come back and do that, like had he done that against New England, just that, they may win the game that alone. And so that's what's tough. Again, looking back, you can't look back. They have a chance. And I also think on December 1st, that's pretty much all you can ask for, given how this season, is gone. Yeah. And like we're talking about, they still have all these questions that they need to answer. And something that we might dive into, as the week progresses here, we've got a Tuesday

show for you where we might talk about what's sustainable on this defense right now. Like, what do we think about the signs of progress they've shown in the last two weeks? I have some theories there, or at least one theory that we can talk about. And we'll see, you know, If T. Higgins gets back this week, that's going to certainly be something that we're watching. If they can be full complement of weapons, healthy offense, that's a huge deal for them down the stretch. But the defense remains the biggest question to me because they will need more performances like what we've seen from them in the last two weeks. You can't turn back into a pumpkin and start giving up 35 points a game again. No?

Joe Burrow cannot overcome that. We've seen that. Nobody can overcome 35 points a game consistently. You're going to lose games that you should otherwise win if you're giving them 35 points again. And we saw it at all the Bengals fans that were watching, they saw James Cook cooking. Yeah. Bills that they're going to lean like as scary as Josh Allen is. Duo, duo, duo, duo, duo, duo, duo, duo.

Like, it's scary as Josh Allen is, they, if you don't stop James Cook, they don't even need to rely on Josh Allen. which really we'll dive more into, but you want the ball in Josh Allen's hands trying to deal with whatever pass rush suddenly you have because your secondary should be able to hold up pretty decently this week, depending on what happens with Dalton Kincaid, especially health-wise.

And we'll see what happens with Baltimore's tackles as well, obviously. Those are things we're watching. Everybody watch that game, I think. A lot of our listeners did. Not looking forward to the James Cook matchup, especially in space. Buffalo's tackles.

Buffalo's tackles. Did I say Bengals tackles? You said Baltimore's. Baltimore's. I was like, you just want to talk about Joseph Osisimor, huh? A little Miles Murphy. You want to...

The James Cook matchup in space, though. Or like... Patient and then burst. Like, he's got some patience to him, man. Name a Buffalo running back, and I don't like the matchup with the Bengals in space. Like any of them. Ty Johnson, Ray Day,

James Cook, especially James Cook, but like I don't like any of it. But we'll get to those later in the week here. We'll keep an eye on what's going on with the Bengals, T. Higgins status as it sounds like there's potentially a promising update for him getting through a walkthrough on Monday right around the time that we're finishing up recording this episode. So we'll have you covered with that and talking about what's sustainable on this defense and any of the other major stories that come up between now and the crossover here on our next episode of Lockdown Bengals.

Until then, thanks for listening to this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Ho day and have a good one.