Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Should the Cincinnati Bengals just play their starters more in the preseason? Diagnosing another slow start and what narratives we should buy after Week 1

Starting point is 00:00:00 There's no real arguing at this point that the Cincinnati Bengals have a slow start problem. Is the answer as simple as just play more starters in the preseason? Let's dive in. You are Locked-on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. What up, Bengals fans, and welcome to another episode of the Locked-on Bengals podcast. I'm your host, Jake Liskow. He's your host, James Rapine.

Starting point is 00:00:36 We are part of the Lockedongers. on podcast network covering your team every day. If you're new to the show, if you're listening, there's a video component available on YouTube. If you want to look at us while we talk at you for some reason, if you're watching on YouTube and you need something, this is an audio platform on the go where everywhere you get your podcasts as well. Welcome back to the everydayers.

Starting point is 00:00:56 Shout out to all of you who make us your first listen. Appreciate the regular so very much. And welcome in if you're new. Today's episode is sponsored by FanDuel. Now through September 22nd, that clock is ticking. All FanDuel customers can bet $5 and you'll get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Visit fandul.com to get started. For some reason, real quick, for some reason on YouTube, well, it's for my dance moves, Jake. That's why you want to subscribe on YouTube. Join the 22,000 plus that subscribe on YouTube. It's for the dance. I didn't dance today because I'm still recovering from that whatever the hell that was on Sunday. If you just don't want to see the dancing for some reason,

Starting point is 00:01:40 can't imagine why. There are audio options for you. Can't imagine why anyone would want that, though. Yeah, listen in the car and then watch when you get to work. That's what I would say. Can't miss the dance. When they're at work. Do people do that anymore?

Starting point is 00:01:57 Work? No, zero chance. Let's get started with some work the Bengals have to do. Because the Bengals do still work, despite what you might think after that week one performance. There are a lot of folks. Kirk Herbstreet just talked about this with Kevin Clark, for example, and spent a good chunk of time talking about how September football

Starting point is 00:02:18 is what August football used to be. It's a feeling out process. It's the quarterbacks figuring out their timing because the Bengals, like many teams, don't play their starters very much in the preseason. They instead rely on joint practices and what they can do in training camp, which is certainly paired back from the early years of Marvin Lewis in Cincinnati as the CBAs continue to cut back and put in safety measures to get players to the season healthy. And so a lot of Bengals fans have asked, I'm sure they've asked you, they've asked me in the last few days since this Patriots game or boldly claimed if they're not asking, the Bengals need to play their starters more in the preseason.

Starting point is 00:03:00 It's simple. Joe Burrow needs reps. There's probably some truth to that, but I think that's. That's a big conversation that we can talk about and can reflect even back on that Colts joint practice as we were discussing before the show. Yeah, I think it's interesting because people say that. And I get it. The Bengals look like crap on Sunday for a bunch of reasons. I mean, there's literally like a thousand things that they should have done better that we expected them to do better.

Starting point is 00:03:26 And if one or two of them go their way, we're talking about a one and O team instead of an O and one team. And yet I look at what they did in training camp, what they did this preseason. And I'm fine with it. I'm fine with two joint practices where you're getting way more reps for your starters against another first team defense than you would in the preseason. I'm fine with starting the starters in that first preseason matchup and getting them an entire drive where you go down and end up scoring a touchdown and getting a, their feet wet there before having back-to-back weeks with joint practices.

Starting point is 00:04:08 They've had a ton of reps. And that's why I don't really know what I would ask the Bengals to change other than one thing. And it really doesn't have to do with the offense. Maybe you go alive a little bit more. Maybe you actually tackle in camp for a session or two. Say you're better at tackling. But from a trenches standpoint, right? I think it was really only Trent Brown, who clearly is working his way into foot

Starting point is 00:04:34 ball shape right now and didn't practice enough and they were monitoring him throughout training camp but as far as like joe burrow's reps i'm not sure what you could have done because after those joint practices i know he mentioned playing in the preseason he got so many reps during those those practices and that does matter and those are valuable and so how many reps do you need like if that's the issue how many more reps do you need because you're getting far more in a joint practice against a first team defense than you ever would in a preseason game. It could just be a blip too. So be careful to extrapolate too much from week one.

Starting point is 00:05:12 But the offense and Max Tuscano, who we've had on the show before, has a pretty cool thread kind of highlighting how the offense and Burrow have evolved from week one, week two to the rest of the season. The last few years, he went back and watched the last couple of years of week one. And there were extenuating circumstances in those years, right? Joe Burrow not practicing for most of the training camp with various ailments and injuries this year he got those reps though which is what you're talking about james and the question is what will be enough the answer that we might get this year depending on how week two and week

Starting point is 00:05:45 three go are well might need to be three games it might need to be two games it might need to be some amount of actual full football games and you can't get that in the preseason but could you get more of that in the preseason i think is a question you can ask because when joe burrow answers a question or when you talk to people who have been covering Burrow back to his time at LSU, there is a clear benefit for Joe Burrow playing actual football, whether it's taking hits, whether it's developing a feel for the pocket, whether it's developing a feel for what throws he can and can't make, what kind of looks defenses are going to give him,

Starting point is 00:06:21 where the tells will be. You can get a lot of that in practices. And we talked about how the Colts coaching staff was pretty impressed with Joe Burroughs' ability to mentally diagnose what the defense was presenting him in that Coles joint practice, but you're not getting it at game speed. You're not getting it with live hitting, and you're never going to get that as a quarterback. I get that. But I do think that I am becoming somewhat more sympathetic to the argument that Joe Burrow might

Starting point is 00:06:53 need to play more in the preseason, and certainly to your point, that the Bengals need to get a little bit more live tackling into their preseason or like dachshill needs to get into those preseason games if he's expected to be your starter at corner he's learning a new position he's got to figure out those angles he's got to because he wasn't a bad tackler necessarily at safety last year it was just like an angle issue and that was largely his problem in terms of being slow to the fit we're taking bad angles in the run game so those are the two things that I keep coming back to. And Joe Burrow

Starting point is 00:07:26 just getting closer to game speed reps. And I don't know how you do that without playing more in the preseason. Yeah, I think how do I put this? And I'm not trying to shoot that down, but I will. Preseason defenses are track.

Starting point is 00:07:42 Joe Burrow, a month ago, went down the field against Tampa Bay before all of those reps and scored a touchdown. You're not getting the same looks, the same disguises, all of the supercomputer things that Joe Burrough is good at diagnosing. And that's what I think is the issue. Is early on in these seasons, he hasn't seen it as well as he is in week four, week five, week six, week seven. And so I think that combined with his first game back from the

Starting point is 00:08:14 wrist, that's why you see or you saw the result that you did Sunday from Joe. But I will say there is a parallel from the Colts joint practice to what we sell Sunday. This idea, and he completed, I think it was 21 of 26, something like that. But after that practice, and again, it's all about who is evaluating, right? So I could feel one thing at a practice. Someone else covering the team could feel another. But I didn't feel like, oh, man, that's Joe Burroughs best practice that I've seen. I thought he was fine.

Starting point is 00:08:49 I thought it was a lot of dump-offs. There were two nice throws to T. Higgins. One really good throw to T. Higgins. Another one where T. Higgins just dunked on the guy that was guarding him. I forget who it was. But it was a lot of underneath stuff. And what do we see on Sunday against the Patriots? A lot of underneath stuff.

Starting point is 00:09:06 His completion percentage was pretty darn high for most of the game. And it was still finished over 70%. But that last drive, a couple of incompletions, made it look a little worse. but incompletions don't necessarily mean yards, touchdowns, moving the ball, effectiveness. They're just completions. And that's how it felt in that joint practice. And that's how it was on Sunday. So I do think that there is a parallel layer.

Starting point is 00:09:32 And the question then is why? And maybe we can discuss it a bit more coming up. Yeah, I think that when you think about what Zach Taylor had to say about that Colts practice, and then you follow that line. to that first regular season game, there could be something there. I also have one more thought on Burrow getting preseason reps. So we'll wrap up that conversation.

Starting point is 00:09:54 And then we'll get into some of the prevailing narratives out there, whether we're buying or selling them after one week of overreaction football and overreactions to what happened in week one. We'll go there coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by Fandall. Fandall is America's number one sports book. And you've got to get the Fandall right now. The Bengals, their underdogs this week.

Starting point is 00:10:16 they're going to arrowhead. They're staring down the possibility of being 0 and 2 for a third straight season. Maybe you think they're going to go 0 and 2. Or maybe you think that they're going to surprise people, pull off the upset, beat the Chiefs, improve to one-on-one. And regardless, you need to get the Fandall. And Fandall right now has something special for you. And there's less than two weeks left.

Starting point is 00:10:37 Now through September 22nd, all Fandall customers can bet $5. All Fandall customers, by the way, all of them. So you could have been around for years and you can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV. Then with a YouTube TV-based plan, you'll be able to watch every single, every regular season game, Sunday afternoon, out-of-market game. All you need is a Google account and a current form of payment. And you can cancel out any time. Again, go to fandle.com, wager five bucks, and boom, you're going to get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday ticket from me. YouTube and YouTube TV.

Starting point is 00:11:15 That's every regular season Sunday afternoon out-of-market game with Fandul.com, America's number one sportsbook. James, let's say on this topic of the Indianapolis Colts joint practice with the Cincinnati Bengals in the preseason. And Zach Taylor after that practice, later discussing why Joe Burrow didn't need to play in the preseason, it's like we saw everything we needed to see from Joe in that practice. He wanted to play. We felt like we got everything we needed from that practice. you're talking about a lot of underneath stuff.

Starting point is 00:11:46 Maybe we didn't do, maybe I didn't do a good enough job of allowing space to represent that when we were discussing what you saw in that joint practice. Because, you know, I saw the clips on Twitter and I saw the good throws to T. Higgins and the Mike Keseki one-handed catch and all these things. And it seems like it was good practice for the offense, especially early. But if part of that is just taking what the defense is giving you, which sometimes you have to do, to be fair, sometimes the NFL necessitates a, you know, it's, that you take what's there and that can be okay.

Starting point is 00:12:16 But sometimes you need to stress Tampa to linebackers. You need to stress the middle of the field against middle of the field open looks with high, low reads. And instead of just asking your guys to win one-on-ones or taking the underneath stuff when it's there and trying to be efficient and trying to get the six, seven yards every play, you need to stress things and get some of those explosive plays. If Taylor was really happy with the way that practice went and the way that practice went and the way that practice went was a lot of underneath stuff. And then we got that approach in week one against a lot of Tampa 2 and a lot of cover two from the Patriots early, especially, until they got them out of it with some 12

Starting point is 00:12:53 personnel and running the ball a little bit later in the game in the third quarter. What do you make of that, I guess? Do you think that there's something connecting that Colts practice to the approach in this game? Maybe. And that's the question I have about the why they didn't attack. intermediate or deep part of the field more because the offensive line held up pretty well like it wasn't like they were getting crushed and that's why they had to do it i assume that some of this

Starting point is 00:13:25 is game plan dependent some of this is joe making the wrong reason i mean heck and check out our film breakdown with bengal sands i mean that final drive he had chase a couple of times if you wanted and didn't take it and or didn't see it and and so i think it's a mixture where it's just bad, bad, bad. And whatever that is, that needs to change for them to have a shot this week. Not to win, just for them to have a shot this week and go to Kansas City and be productive because they're going to, they have to score. They have to score. And realistically, they probably should have finished with 17 points. And that's not enough. You go to Arrowhead, you score 17. They're probably losing by double digits. I would be surprised if they didn't,

Starting point is 00:14:10 because that means that Mahomes probably has the ball a lot. So, yeah, I think it's a mixture of things, and hopefully they can adjust quick. And the good news is, and you've referenced this, they've been in this position. Like Joe's not going to panic. Zach isn't going to panic. And it's really annoying that it's a third straight year where they're 0 and 1, especially against a beatable team like the Patriots, and more than beatable, a crap team like the Patriots. Sorry, New England, but it's reality. You guys aren't going to win many games this year.

Starting point is 00:14:38 I think you know that if you're a Patriots fan. And so that's the frustrating part, but we also know they have a track record of turning it around. And so I do think they're going to play better this week on offense. I don't know if it's going to be enough, but I do think they're going to be better. Yeah, we'll get to some of those thoughts in just a second. I have one more thing I want to hit on with playing in the preseason,

Starting point is 00:14:58 but I think that that idea that they've been there before and they can recover is a narrative that we can talk about whether or not we're buying or selling. It's a narrative that I'm pitching, so you can tell me whether or not you're buying or selling a tweet that I had. yesterday when I summarize my thoughts on where we're at. But the last point I have on the preseason stuff for Joe is, even if the defenses are vanilla, a lot of what the Patriots did, one, was very vanilla. They showed cover two, they played cover two. They weren't necessarily disguising a ton.

Starting point is 00:15:24 The Bengals still had issues with it at times early in that game. Two, even if it's not a disguise issue, one of the other problems for Joe on Sunday that we've seen from him in the past at times, not consistently. we usually see this and then we see him recover from it. This becomes the strength of his game was his feel for the pocket wasn't there. He would get a flash of pressure and his passing posture would break down. He would become a runner. He would drop his eyes.

Starting point is 00:15:52 And he was reacting at times to pressure that wasn't there. This is something that's happened to him before early in seasons. And we've had different reasons for speculating why that is. And it's hard to speculate really as to why that is this year. There were a few bad beats for the right tackle for Trump Brown. who didn't have his best game as a pass protector, to put it lightly. But a lot of times Joe's overreacting to those flashes of pressure where offensive linemen can recover or he has an opportunity to pull the trigger

Starting point is 00:16:22 and it's either a feel for the pocket thing or maybe there's a confidence thing in terms of timing with some guys that he hasn't, Jamar Chase, he hasn't practiced with a ton. That would be the one other thing that you could get from playing a little bit more in the preseason, I would argue. Yeah, for sure. And the flip side of it, and it comes back to this, and this is why I'm always like, eh, I'm good.

Starting point is 00:16:47 Is it worth it? What if he gets hurt? Yeah. He's coming off of a serious wrist injury. You're playing him against Chicago? What if he gets crushed on play two? Trent Brown's working back into it, right? Like this idea, there's going to be growing pain somewhere, and I get it.

Starting point is 00:17:03 You're like, you'd rather do it in the preseason where it doesn't count. I also don't want him getting, hit as he's recovering as he's still going through rehab on that wrist, which he is, strengthening it and keeping it strong on all of those things. Like, it's just tough. And I don't, I'm not changing my mindset because of a game. And I know people have been beating that narrative and beating that narrative. And I get it. And I understand what you're saying. But again, that that's the role of the dice that you, that you make. Like, maybe Joe just needs to be able to see defenses better after 100 plus reps against the first team defense in training camp.

Starting point is 00:17:41 Like, that's enough. That's got to be enough. I mean, how many more reps do you need? Does a drive against Chicago change that or a drive against the Colts change that? Like, I don't think it should change that. And so that's what's tough is how much are we actually talking about him playing? It's not like he's going to play full games or full halves. You're just not doing that. Some of these young guys have.

Starting point is 00:18:03 But, yeah, and maybe that's it. Maybe everyone wants him to play three halves in the preseason each half. But that's, again, I wonder about how beneficial it is compared to the risk that comes with it. I also still wonder that and don't have the answer to that question. I don't think we would have the answer to that question unless they did it. But there have been reasons each year, appendix, calf, wrist, COVID, preseason canceled. There have been reasons that they haven't played Joe a ton of the, the preseason.

Starting point is 00:18:38 And until we get those answers, I think it's fair to ask the question. We'll probably continue having speculative discussions about it. I think for me, I've moved more toward the middle on it this year. Because this year, I thought with a full preseason of reps, we wouldn't see the same early season behavior in the pocket and the same sort of timing stuff from Burrow. But with him continuing to insist that he wants to play in the preseason, which of course, you would. And these issues persisting year over year, I'm becoming more open to the idea, let's say. That would be how I would characterize it for me. And on that topic, I think we should

Starting point is 00:19:19 get into some of the narratives going around and whether or not we're buying or selling them. I'm going to pitch mine first. I'm going to be selfish about it. I'll pitch you my narrative about what we should be taking away from week one. And we can talk about some of the others floating around there to finish up the show coming up next. Passion drive and patience. The formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive, eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up the peak performance from superchargers, roof racks, exhaust kits, LED headlights, and more whether you're into speed, power, or style. eBay Motors has you covered. With over 122 million parts for your number one rider die, you'll always find exactly what you're looking

Starting point is 00:19:57 for. With eBay guaranteed fit, your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or your money back. Because with eBay motors, you're burning rubber, not cash. With all of the parts you need at the prices you want, it's easy to make your car the MVP and bring home huge wins. Keep your rider dial out at eBay motors.com. That's eBaymotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay guaranteed fit, only available to U.S. customers. James, I'm going to read what I wrote yesterday, and you can tell me what you think about this idea. Sure. So I said, as bad as losing to the Patriots is, as long as Joe Burroughs wrist isn't the reason the offense struggled, I don't think there's a reason to think they won't figure it out and be way better.

Starting point is 00:20:41 That doesn't make the loss better. You can't get the game back, and that's a bad game to lose because it's one of your last place games. But week one, Bengals' performances have not been very predictive. Besides the wrist, they do need to tackle better on defense. They need to figure out those adjustments more quickly on offense, and all those things go hand in hand because the game script is really unfavorable because of all security issues and those first three drives going poorly.

Starting point is 00:21:08 So when we talk about what we learned versus what we expect going forward, those are the things that I'm thinking about. How much can we take away from week one? I don't know. Does it suck that they keep setting week one on fire? Yeah. But we still think they shouldn't be able to recover as long as it's not the wrist. That's the only thing.

Starting point is 00:21:29 The caveat is as long as it's not the wrist. And there's plenty of other explanations we're going to get into whether we think it's the wrist, I think, as well. But what are your thoughts there on those taking? takeaways from week one. No doubt because they they've been in this position before. If they lose in their own two a week from now, they've been in that position before. And they've responded every time. Every time they responded. Last year they responded. And you start 0 and two. And then you go five and one to get to five and two on this, what, five and three on the season, excuse me. And then you lose to Houston in a game that you thought you should have won. And

Starting point is 00:22:07 probably should have won. But the point is, is like, they've responded. We know what they did in 2022 where they end up winning 10 straight, including two playoff games. Like,

Starting point is 00:22:16 this team isn't shy about, all right, backs against the wall. The frustrating thing is that their back is probably going to be against the wall. And when it is, honestly, because even if you go to Kansas City and win,

Starting point is 00:22:31 then your back is against the wall going into that game. And it certainly would be if you end up losing to the defending champ. So there's that. The narrative, and it does tie in with the wrist. Let's do it. Joe Burrow's not right.

Starting point is 00:22:44 Do you buy that narrative? Do you not buy that narrative? I've watched him throughout camp. I think he's still working through it. And that's what I've tried to convey here. That doesn't mean he's not structurally healthy. There's a big difference between the two. His wrist might be perfect.

Starting point is 00:23:00 And by the way, Lockdown Bengals listeners and viewers, and this is the beauty of YouTube, when you see Joe Burrow moving his wrist around like they did on the broadcast, he's just keeping it loose. It's something that he's doing and has done throughout camp. It doesn't mean that he's tweaked it. It doesn't mean anything. That's something that he's doing. He grabs it and he's moving it and he's twisting. He's still recovering from this.

Starting point is 00:23:23 It doesn't mean he's not 100% structurally, but the rehab, I believe, is still ongoing, the treatment, all of those things. That's probably why he was listed on the injury report, by the way. It doesn't mean he's injured, but you have to list him if you're getting treatment for something. So do you buy it, Jake, that the wrist isn't all the way back? I just kind of shared my thoughts. I just think he's still working through it. And that's part of what happens when you're coming back from an ACL and Achilles or something like this, a really weird wrist injury. Yeah, I do buy that he's still working through it.

Starting point is 00:23:59 Every time he's been asked or even Zach Taylor has been asked, is Joe all the way back? Joe 100% or Joe, are you feeling like the wrist is 100%. The answer hasn't just been yes. It's been, I feel great, or he looks great, or I feel healthy enough, or whatever it is. It's not been simply, yeah. And I think that you could easily speculate that that is impacting his confidence in terms of the ability to pull the trigger on some throws that we think he should be making. he should be ripping with anticipation and putting a little bit of extra arm strength into

Starting point is 00:24:38 or some of the deep balls we thought he should have thrown or some of the tight windows. He didn't test tight windows hardly at all, if at all, on Sunday. But the thing about that is that makes it hard to point to the wrist, it's really easy to point to the wrist. The thing that's hard about that is some of those things could be just as easily explained by his history as a slow starter who needs time and needs reps to get a feel for the game every year and who hasn't had practice time

Starting point is 00:25:10 with Jamar Chase who was missing T. Higgins. Timing was bad a few times which is also bad like those things are also problems not don't get me wrong but because we have this history and we've seen him do this before

Starting point is 00:25:25 this isn't unprecedented for Joe Burrow unfortunately we don't know that it's the wrist. And it's probably a combination of confidence, of perhaps the way he's feeling that day, of these other strictly football factors, it's just really easy to say,

Starting point is 00:25:45 well, the wrist is different this year. Let's point at the wrist and say, yeah, it was probably the wrist is the problem. Because last year we were pretty sure it was a calf. He couldn't move. It was obvious. This year, there's nothing quite as obvious to me that would say, yeah, that's a ball

Starting point is 00:25:59 that the wrist clearly impacts. I didn't get that feeling coming away from this game. Yeah, I agree. And so is it, honestly, it's probably a mixture. He clearly wasn't seeing it perfect. I think that's fair to say, right? And at the same time, maybe the confidence isn't 100%. Right?

Starting point is 00:26:20 Maybe it's, maybe it's 91. And by the way, when it's live, like live, live, not preseason, not joint practice and you're out there. Sometimes it's like, all right, well, here we go. And he did get into a little bit of a rhythm and middle of the game. And then at the end, it clearly didn't work. We've seen this before with Joe. And so to your point, I'm not willing to just say it's the wrist yet.

Starting point is 00:26:47 I do think he's working through it. It was a really serious wrist injury. But this idea that it's definitely the wrist, can't do that yet. Not going to say that because I think that that's, that's, something I'm not even sure he would say, even if it is, because he's still getting, I think he's getting better and better. I think it's going to get stronger and stronger, not worse and worse, as long as he didn't tweak it at all.

Starting point is 00:27:09 We have no reason to believe he did. And there's another narrative out there, and I think it's a fair one, but the, and you mentioned Jamar Chase's practice reps, like two months ago on the show when we were talking about a possible extension, I said, don't let it go into Thursday before week one, because it's a distraction. Jamar Chase's contract talks were absolutely a distraction. The fact that Joe Burrow found out that Jamar was playing on game day, he's not dealing with an injury, and I know Zach has compared it to that. It is not that.

Starting point is 00:27:40 This guy didn't practice at all in camp. Finally practices the Wednesday before. There's all these contract questions. Negotiations go into the Sunday morning, according to reports, going to Sunday morning, game day. It sucks. That sucks. I hate it.

Starting point is 00:27:55 And it is absolutely a distraction. Yeah. Between that and T. Higgins' late week injury, the cloud, the late week cloud that emerged over Paycor Stadium was very noticeable. And a lot of that had to do with Marr. And then you get this late week injury to T. Higgins. And now there's speculation that T is, you know, playing it extra safe and making business decisions. And that's what you're going to get louder. I don't think that's true. I don't know that I buy that one either. I don't think that T. Higgins is going out there and playing in the preseason, only to make business decisions when the games count. And his production is on the line that's going to impact his potential future payday.

Starting point is 00:28:40 But between that and those late week injuries and Chris Jenkins injury, it didn't feel good. The vibes were bad. People were peppering us with questions. Like, how worried should we be? and then it was kind of worst-case scenario on Sunday. We enumerated the numerous missed opportunities that Cincinnati Bengals had. They still should have won that game despite the start

Starting point is 00:29:04 and despite some of the issues. If one of, like you said, if one of those things or two of those things that normally don't happen, don't happen on Sunday, they probably still take care of business against a bad team, but they didn't. And so now we're having these conversations and they're going to continue.

Starting point is 00:29:19 And so how long does the distraction linger now is the concern, I would say. Because with Jesse Bates, it went deep. And so for Jamar, who is going to revisit these negotiations next year in the offseason, that can't happen. They need to be over this this week right now. And that's what sucks is like there is no deadline. Like they could sign them to an extension right now. It's not like T where contracts are off, discussions are off.

Starting point is 00:29:52 And I think that's what's kind of weird too, is the Bengals don't do it in season, probably because it can be a distraction and take away from the football. What already did? It already took away. It was already a distraction. It was already this thing that lingered over all of week one, which includes Joe Burrow returning from a serious injury, right? And that's not what we were talking about last week.

Starting point is 00:30:15 We were talking about Jamar Chase and Jamar Chase and Jamar Chase and Jamar watch you think a deal is going to get done oh man i'm going to bring my laptop to this event and we're going to be around just in case let's make a plan make sure we're free so we can do locked on bengals if something happens it's like we're on call and that's the beauty of our job and i love it but imagine being in that and you're the one in negotiations your teammate is the one that is either going to get paid or not and then may play may not play these guys are really good at blocking stuff out but you can't block that out And it's tough.

Starting point is 00:30:49 It's going to be a tough one. And you're right. We're going to monitor it this year for sure. Need to get over it now. We're going to shift our attention here on lockdown Bengals tomorrow to the Kansas City Chiefs. We've got our crossover Thursday. It's already time. Crossover with the Kansas City Chiefs, Lockdown Chiefs will be joining us for our next episode here on Lockdown Bengals.

Starting point is 00:31:09 We'll get our first look ahead at the Bengals seemingly annual trip to Arrowhead. I know that's not quite what it is. but that is coming your way next time here on Lockdown Bengals. Until then, thanks for listening to this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast, Hoodeh. And have a good one.

Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Should the Cincinnati Bengals just play their starters more in the preseason? Diagnosing another slow start and what narratives we should buy after Week 1

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