Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - SUSTAINABLE?: Bengals' Defense THRIVES Early—Dexter Lawrence, Cashius Howell, and Al Golden IMPRESS

Starting point is 00:00:00 It's been two impressive weeks for the Cincinnati Bengals defense to start the season, and the arrow might just be pointing up for Al Golden. 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, and we're Lockdown Bengals today discussing how things are looking for this team through a couple of weeks.

Starting point is 00:00:34 Joe Burrow and this offense starting to wake up a little bit, and you're going to have to really look out when that side of the ball starts clicking on all cylinders. But the arrow is really pointing up for Al Golden, in my opinion, schematically, Joe. I want to dive into that a little bit today and talk about how sustainable what we've seen from this defense is, where they are really, really good through these first couple of weeks of the season, where there might still be some concerns and how relevant those concerns are to the overall level of play for the defense where it may or may not actually be

Starting point is 00:01:08 something that costs them in the end. And we'll discuss that to start the show today in an episode brought to the people by Fandall. You get $350 in bonus best guaranteed when you bet $5 every day for seven days join all the action at vandul.com. And Joe, when you start with this defense and what's been going well for this defense, it starts with the pass rush for the most part. with creating havoc. And a lot of that might be able to be traced back to some very positive game scripts for the Bengals through a couple of weeks. That's something that I think we have to keep in mind.

Starting point is 00:01:40 The Bengals have been playing with a lead. They've been creating turnovers early in week one. And then the Texans made mistakes in week two that gave the Bengals the opportunity to play with the lead for really the entirety of the season so far. But the havoc rate for this team very high, whether it's tackles for loss, pressures, tipped balls, forced fumbles. This defense is making a lot of place. They are. And that's the big thing.

Starting point is 00:02:05 Even in the off season, we said, how good can this team be? I think Chase Brown said, what, top 10, top five? We didn't necessarily dismiss it. We just thought, how cool would that be, right? But we also said, even if it's not, can this defense be a unit that gets the ball back to Joe Burrow? Can they make the splash play? Can they make the big third down stop? Very Ben, but don't break so far, I think in both games.

Starting point is 00:02:28 And that has worked out in their favor last week, Texans miss a field goal, for it on fourth and one. Bengals capitalize on both of those. Oh, and they also drop a field goal hold, right? So, you know, you get lucky a couple times there. You need some luck. But when you can create chaos, there's a difference in splash play sometimes is, was that a lucky interception? Did it tip off a lineman's head and then your linebacker catch it, right? It doesn't feel like those are happening. It feels like they are punching the ball out. They're hitting the ball out. they're causing chaos in the pocket and adding pressure onto the quarterback, making them throw early, making them make errant throws, inaccurate throws, and then they're ripping at the ball at the

Starting point is 00:03:08 catch point. And these are all positive things that lead to turnovers, that lead to these splash plays and lead to these moments that I think we're banking on. Right now, they're fourth in EPA per play on defense. Is that sustainable? Do we expect them to be top five at the end of the year? I mean, I'm not so sure yet. I truly, you know, I don't want to put cold, water on them yet. I am buying in more than I thought I was going to. But am I there at like a top five? I don't think I am. But boy, am I excited to see how far this can go. I think the reason that you could buy in if you wanted to buy it. If you're looking for reasons to be like, yeah, this defense is going to do this all year is the defensive front looks like those investments have really

Starting point is 00:03:49 paid off, right? Especially in the past rush. But they also lead the league in playing light boxes so far. And that's part of what Seattle did last year. If you compare some of their key, like, big picture defensive stats to what Seattle did last year, what Seattle's doing this year, the Bengals are right there in terms of like pass pass rush win rate as a stat, but also in terms of playing light boxes. The Bengals lead the NFL in playing light boxes so far through two weeks. Part of that, again, is playing with the lead. Part of that is Tampa and Houston are both. playing a ton of 11 personnel into the Bengals defense. So the Bengals are also near or at the league lead in Nickel.

Starting point is 00:04:32 Maybe not quite leading the league, but they're close. And part of that is what opposing offenses are doing, right? The Bengals were matching 11 personnel, three by receivers with nickel. Obviously, that's how the Bengals are going to approach that. But in doing so, they're getting a lot of light box situations where they're still stopping the run at an elite level. So when the defensive front. So much so, Jake, though, that they had a play where there was 10 to

Starting point is 00:04:54 defenders and it was still a failure for the Texans. We watched the film yesterday and reacted to that as it was happening. I couldn't believe it. We're trying to figure out if it's a fire zone, which is where you rush five, you play zone behind it. So you're going to have one hole in that zone, but it's a zone blitz, right?

Starting point is 00:05:09 Where you have five pass rushers. So it's a true blitz, not just like a four, four pass rusher, quote unquote, zone blitz think Dick Leboe replacement pressure kind of thing. We're trying to figure out like, is this a fire zone? Right. Do they have enough?

Starting point is 00:05:22 Because we couldn't figure out the map. Where's the other guy coming? They were 10 men on the field, and they still had a successful defensive play. But, yeah, talking about this defensive front again, they've been so key to this defense's success rate because they're doing it in the run game in light boxes, right? And you can chalk that up to Dexter Lawrence, T.J. Slate in the time that plays, right? But Dexter Lawrence impact so palpable in the way they're defending the run. Boye-Maffae has also been really good against the run so far for them.

Starting point is 00:05:50 Also really good as a pass-ratcher. Boye-Mafé, Dexter Lawrence, is going to be two names we're talking about. a lot, I think, when talking about this front and Cassius Howell has been as impressive, I think, as you could hope he would be through two weeks as a second round player for this team. But I referenced that light box number. The run defense has been obviously among the best in the NFL so far when you look at a lot of the key metrics. They're playing with the lead that makes it, I think, a little bit easier to be a good run defense. You're not getting tested as much. You're not on your heels as much. You're not getting worn down as much. But the overall

Starting point is 00:06:22 all success is really keying on that defensive front because not only are they stopping the run, but they're near the top of the league as a pass rush productivity unit so far too. And that's something that's really exciting, especially when you drill down to the individuals and how they're with it. Especially because of the vision they had for this defense of we're going to add to the defensive tackle room. I would like to say, I'm glad they didn't cut BJ Hill or T.J. Slayton or trade Slateon or trade Chris Jenkins.

Starting point is 00:06:50 Those guys having depth. I think that's an underrated talking point. I've been watching some national shows and they're talking about the defense and everything they've done. And Dexter Lawrence, right? Big topic this week. Normally teams would just cut the starters, bring in new starters if you're going to make sweeping changes.

Starting point is 00:07:04 The Bengals just said, no, we're going to take you guys and make you backups. And now the entire unit is strong. And the vision of Cassius Howell being that winner and Boye-Mafé being a creator and a chaos creator, he's havoc completely, right? There's a place where he's diving inside and busting through for pressures, not cleaning up the sack, but somebody else is, or getting close to it in the case of Dexter Lawrence causing the intentional grounding. But the vision is, it's coming true. What the Bengals kind of said was going to happen and they banking on Boyet Mafe, getting more snaps and being more productive. If he continues

Starting point is 00:07:38 this pace, he'll have the most pressures of Bengals ever had in a season. So like it's a pace that they, why we say the first point, the bullet point up here on YouTube is, is this sustainable for the defense because they're at such a rate right now that it's hard to believe it can continue for production like Boy A Mafay is having. Can I just put that into context real quick? So in Trey Hendrickson's highest pressure season as a Cincinnati Bengal, he had 87 pressures. Boyer Maffei right now is on pace for over 100 pressures. Now, that's what we're talking about.

Starting point is 00:08:08 We're talking about sustainability for some of these things. Yeah, and then guys like Cedric Johnson comes off the bench. I mean, he's your fourth at times. I'm sure ideally fifth defensive end of Shemar Stewart, you know, picks it up. And he gets five pressures and two sacks against the Texans. Some of this feels unsustainable. But I watched that, said Johnson's film. He was very, very good.

Starting point is 00:08:28 His wins were good. He's had a plan and he's executing multiple moves, left side, right side. So he needs more snap, to be honest with you. So this isn't a discredit to Johnson. It's just like you're overachieving. You're getting maximum value on all your investments here right now. And we're not used to that. We're used to flipping the coin.

Starting point is 00:08:45 and some of these have to land on tails, unless you call it tails, and some of these have to land on heads. You're not going to get them all right. And right now, it feels like the choices they've made, especially the newcomers, the guys they've added,

Starting point is 00:08:57 our landing heads up. It's early days. So we'll see how it plays out over the course of the season. That's always the caveat. But the Bengals have been really good when they've actually gone into free agency for the most part and spent real money.

Starting point is 00:09:10 Like not Gino Stone money, but real money on real players. And the swing for Dexter Lawrence Lawrence should really emboldened them to trust some of their ability to put teams together. I think if you're talking about confidence level in Duke Tobin, based on the first two games of this season, the way that they overhauled this defense, yeah, it took too long. And yeah, there are still some holes. Things aren't perfect.

Starting point is 00:09:32 We'll talk about some of those questions and whether or not they're going to be anchors for this defense or not and drag them down. But I think right now those investments that Duke Tobin made in the off season couldn't be going better through a couple of weeks. I also think that schematically, I'm much more impressed with Al Golden's defense in week two than week one. I want to talk about the schematic arrow, I think, pointing up. And maybe that's a little bit results colored because the defense had much better results

Starting point is 00:09:59 in week two. We'll talk about some of the concerns that are still there and how concerning they are or are not as well as we continue the conversation on this defense and sustainability coming up next. We're brought to you today by Odu. And Odie knows that running a business shouldn't feel like you're trying to connect a bunch of systems that were never designed to work together, one app, for accounting, another, for inventory, another for sales. And none of them even talk to each other. That's what

Starting point is 00:10:21 Odu is great for. 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 is in one place. It's a one platform you need to manage, grow, and scale your business. And Odu knows, as great organizations know, that success isn't just about talent. It's about having everyone working toward the same goal. That's true in sports, just like it is in business. And we've seen that come together for the Bengals defensive front. If you need to see that come together for your business, Odu will help unite all of the different tools, all of the different parts of your business in that one powerful platform. Great

Starting point is 00:11:01 organizations win because operations matter. And that's why you should get Odu. Odo is a one platform to manage, grow, and scale your business. You can try it for free today at Odu.com slash Locked on. That's O-D-O-O-O-com slash locked-up. Support for today's episode is brought to you by prize picks. Football is finally back, and that means Sundays are about to get a whole lot more interesting. Every week brings new matchup, breakout players, big performances, plenty of storylines to follow. And if you like getting even more engaged with players and stats that you're watching, there's a new way to make game day more exciting.

Starting point is 00:11:35 Prize picks is bringing out its best offer yet. New users who sign up for $150 in lineups, If they win their first $5 lineup, you get that $150 with price picks now available nationwide. With price picks, you're building daily fantasy lineups, choosing between two to six players and selecting more or less on their projected stats like passing yards, rushing yards, fantasy score. I think I'm going to go more on Chase Brown this week. I feel like on tape he is very, very close to breaking one of these off and getting his longest run of the season, which is only 13 yards right now. But it is close. Download the app today and use code lock down NFL to get one.

Starting point is 00:12:11 $150 instantly in lineups if you win your first $5 lineup. Prize picks run your game. Jake, our biggest question still on the defense, even going into week two after all the splash plays in week one, was Al Golden. And can he call a defense that confuses a quarterback that creates havoc, chaos boards we're using today, right? Can he pull the strings that Lou Anirumo did?

Starting point is 00:12:37 The Lou defenses weren't great week one through 18 always, right? what they would do is against really good quarterbacks is they muddy the picture up a little bit, make it look more confused, maybe hold it, maybe not look so comfortable in the pocket and then make a bad throw or decision. And I think the film against the Texans, shine some light of hope, I think. I think you felt the same way we watched it together so I know this. They had some really timely blitzes and calls and decisions made by El Golden that looked really good. Yeah, their third down pressure packages. They're clear passing down defense in general. I thought created a lot of issues for Houston. They got free runners a number of times in this

Starting point is 00:13:18 game. They got guys into passing windows and confused C.J. Stroud. If you watch C.J. Stroud's footwork in this game, and this isn't necessarily like anything groundbreaking or anything like that. This isn't like getting Peyton Manning to break down in the pocket. So, you know, we're not talking about a great quarterback under pressure here. But C.J. Stroud's footwork when he was pressured and the Bengals got a ton of pressure, 41 pressures according to pro football focus, both next gen stats and pro football focus agree, a 43% pressure rate for the Bengals in this game. That's really good. But when he was pressured, you could see Stroud like shuffling his feet, not really sure

Starting point is 00:13:51 where the ball needed to go. Maybe part of this is that the Texans are missing Nico Collins as well. But where week one, I didn't really feel like I had a great feel for this team's identity on defense. I didn't feel like they were very cohesive in terms of their plan in week two. I felt the opposite. I felt like they were taking advantage of Dexter Lawrence. We talked about the gravity that he creates in yesterday's film episode where they're getting three offensive linemen blocking just Dexter Lawrence.

Starting point is 00:14:20 And on the other side, they're getting three runners because they're running these replacement pressures and some of these fire zones where they're getting extra attention on Dexter Lawrence by dropping that end out. And because you know that defense or that offensive line is going to slide to Lawrence, you're committing two linemen. right away you drop that end out boom there's your third line and they've already slid to dexter now you have three guys rushing on the other side where they only have two offensive linemen available to make things really hard for opposing offenses that way so that was a step in the right direction to me they got more diverse in their coverage they got i think a little bit better with disguise in week two i liked a little bit more of what they did with disguising coverage as well so in those ways i feel better about al golden in week two where the questions don't remain around like

Starting point is 00:15:07 Jordan battle consistency and coverage where he was better in week two, especially in the run game. He is good when he can get downhill and be a thumper. There's still times where he looks out of position to me, maybe a little bit confused about his responsibilities and coverage. That also applies to the linebackers a little bit. And more so Barrett Carter this week took a bit of a stepback compared to week one. Those guys still aren't going to be your strength of the defense. But the strengths of this defense, including DJ Turner.

Starting point is 00:15:32 I think Brian Cook has been good for them as well, despite not making a ton of splash plays. in week two and that defensive front being so good, give you, I think a pretty high ceiling for this defense. It can do a lot of the work you need to be a quality defense. You don't have to be good everywhere if you can be great in a couple of places and be good schematically. I think that's going to lead to our next point here then I'm talking about maybe some of the issues and things we still see on the defensive side.

Starting point is 00:16:00 But before we get there, I want to say like one thing that I really enjoyed about this first two weeks is, it seems like they understand mostly what they're doing. Like these busts are happening, but they're not getting exploited because the pressure is there. And it was only a couple of times on date, maybe three or four times, depending on how many you want to count. But these were happening at a super high rate last year.

Starting point is 00:16:21 It said it almost felt like they had the dumb things down in October into November into that by week to fix this defense. That's not the case now. These guys are flowing at the same pace, same level, and same intelligence. It feels like a much smarter defense this time around. But I will say I did. Go ahead. I just, I compared their explosive play rate on both sides of the ball to last year.

Starting point is 00:16:44 And there were more explosive plays they allowed in week two for sure. They didn't really have any against Tampa, maybe the one, Rebecca, Buka play. But like the explosive play rate allowed for this Bengals defense much better this year too. So they're making more splash plays. And they're also keeping a cap on opposing offenses much better than they did last year. Exactly. And that's usually where you see the bus and things like that, especially if you don't have the pressure to make the quarterback, you know, not see it. But I think there are still, when I'm watching, areas of concern, and that's Jordan

Starting point is 00:17:13 battle. That's Jalen Davis at times. It's still probably Barrett Carter. I think Knight has been fine. And I think what they're doing with Knight really frees them up to use them at his strength, run, tackle, hit, blitz, right? I think those are his strengths. They don't really air them out too many times the way they ask Carter to, you know, call the defense and make these passing play or pass these receivers off to other guys and make these decisions. Knights never really doing that or needing to be in there. But those guys instantly stand out as the three major or potential weaknesses. Now, Jake, the question is, is that enough weaknesses to sink this defense to where

Starting point is 00:17:54 it's not a championship caliber defense? Yeah, I don't think so. I think we have evidence that I do think the linebackers need to play like at least below average and that's kind of where they've been right like barrick hard on week one made a ton of good place and so if you can continue to get that every now and then i think you're fine you don't need to be great at every level although i did see some discourse joe on tuesday that said like and i think this was robert may's talking about this like the way things are going with offenses getting more under center and defense is continuing to try to play light boxes my backer play might get exposed

Starting point is 00:18:27 at a higher level of disparities there so that'll be an interesting trend to watch i just noticed it because I think Robert May sometimes notices smart things early. And so my ears perk up a little bit when he says some things like that. But the Bengals have a great equalizer here. And his name is Dexter Lawrence. So that could, I think, atone for a lot of sins behind him over the course of the season. And I don't think defenses need to be perfect.

Starting point is 00:18:52 We see teams out there get to the Super Bowl with Robert Spillane at linebacker, right? These are things that happen. You don't have to have 11 starters that are good. Plus injuries are going to happen around the league. We're already watching it at quarterbacks throughout the league. But they're happening on the micro level too where teams are losing their starting corner or safety or linebacker. And the Bengals have been healthy so far. We're not going to avoid here while we do that as I'm saying that.

Starting point is 00:19:16 Sorry, that that was extra loud. But having these guys where there are areas where offenses are going to attack them doesn't necessarily scare me away from thinking this defense can be good. everyone's going to have a weakness. Everyone's going to have something that other teams are trying to exploit. And that's okay with me. Last point on this defense and part of why they've been so good and the Ian Hartett stat of the havoc rate, which is the defensive pressure, tackle for lost,

Starting point is 00:19:41 force, fumble, interception, or pass break up where they rank second in the NFL right now, 46%, which is a staggering number, is Brandon Thorne over at Trench Warfare does great, true pressure rate charting. Boy, mafay, third in the NFL in true pressure rate. second in the NFL in high quality pressures. Dexter Lawrence right behind him. Dexter Lawrence sixth in the NFL,

Starting point is 00:20:03 tied for fifth, really, in the NFL in true pressure rate and tied for third in high quality pressures. Boy, Maffe, Dexter Lawrence, creating a lot of the havoc that is leading to good things for this Bengals defense. And that doesn't even mention what you're seeing from Cassius Howell, who is on this list.

Starting point is 00:20:20 And Jonathan Allen, who has been represented as a pass rusher as well. Those new additions to this Bengals defensive front certainly making waves coming up next what about this offense they're starting to turn things on and when they do some teams might be in trouble that are facing the bangles a quiz on your phone and a box at your door isn't a clinic and when it comes to men's health things like energy sleep drive and how you feel day to day deserve more attention than just a questionnaire game day men's health is a real in-person men's health clinic with more than 430 locations across the us

Starting point is 00:20:54 in Canada where men can be face to face with a licensed clinician, get labs drawn in office, and receive initial results in as little as 15 minutes. And Game Day looks at the full picture, your symptoms and your lab results before developing a treatment plan. And because it continued testing and evaluating care can be adjusted over time based on your data, based on your needs. So it's not like you're just getting some labs drawn and then they're gone forever. You have to figure out the results for yourself.

Starting point is 00:21:20 Game Day will look at that blood work alongside how you're actually feeling. that licensed clinician will build a plan around the information that they have for your specific needs and they're not going to have to guess. Book your complimentary test and consult at game day men's health.com. I like this every, Jake, because it applies to the Bengals. Welcome to your most rewarding NFL season ever only on Fan Duel. How rewarding are we talking? More rewarding than leading the league in pressures?

Starting point is 00:21:49 More rewarding than every offseason edition you made making a contribution. through two weeks. More rewarding than March Haste 360, no scoping and getting both feet in on a magical touchdown. This season, Fanduil is making the excitement go beyond what happens on the field with the all new Fandul Rewards Club featuring exclusive offers, surprises, and more. Every week, check the Fandul app to see what's waiting for you to make this your most rewarding season ever with Fandle.

Starting point is 00:22:18 And as Bengals fans, it just might be. Visit Fandual.com to get started today. Joe, somehow we are at the 22 and a half minute mark of a lockdown Bengals podcast. We haven't talked about Joe Burrow. We haven't talked about the offense because the defense has been the start of this season's story. And one thing that occurred to me as we were talking about the defense is we're getting to the office, all this conversation around fast starts. Everyone's always looking for Joe Burrow to have the fast start, right?

Starting point is 00:22:45 And I get it. You want your quarterback. You want your offense to get off fast when that's supposed to be the strength of your team. but maybe the key to fast starts for the Bengals all these years has been to have a defense that can help you win games while your offense is figuring out what exactly it needs to be doing, especially with the start of the year coming against what we thought was going to be a good defense in Tampa. Maybe that won't turn out to be the case and what will be a good defense from the Houston Texans. But on the offensive side of the ball, Joe, we talked about it in the film review. There are signs of Joe Burrow waking up. That second touchdown passage of Mar Chase is an elite play to break the pocket, break a sack, and deliver a.

Starting point is 00:23:21 a pinpoint ball on the scramble drill on the run to Jemar Chase, who has a great connection with this quarterback, obviously. Even the first throw to Jemar Chase is being touted for Chase's catch. But Joe Burrow throws a great ball there too. That shouldn't be understated. Joe Burroughs first third down attempt of the game that Jemar Chase can't quite bring in. It's an incredible throw, especially when you watch it from the end zone angle, the window that he's throwing to with anticipation is elite quarterbacking, in my opinion.

Starting point is 00:23:48 And that's only going to get better as Joe Burroughs. feel for the pocket, escapability improves as we've seen it do time after time as a season goes on. And it's not only Joe Burrow and the passing offense. It's also they're really close to a little bit more in the running game. They're under center running game incredibly diverse, incredibly fun. They're throwing a lot of things at opposing teams.

Starting point is 00:24:10 And they're really close to getting a few more explosive runs. Chase Brown starting to play well too. And they're under center way more than they were before. This is one of things they said they wanted to do. A lot of people said the running game won't wait. up until they're under center much more. 28 carries so far for Chase Brown under center. He only had 96 last year.

Starting point is 00:24:28 He's on pace to triple what he did last season. So they are under center and their splits are pretty heavy right now between under center running and shotgun throwing. And is that is that the 2022 season? Hey, they went to the Hsd Championship game. They figured it out eventually and went full shotgun. I don't think we're going to see that thing happen. I think we're going to see more of a mix and blend,

Starting point is 00:24:50 even though Zach Taylor said they're aware of it and not concerned about it right now. Because I think like us, they expect this offense to come alive very, very soon. Joe Burrow, for all the talk of Zach Taylor as a slow starter, he gets most of the blame, right? Like Burrow has never been good early to start the year. I've always tried. I love Joe Burrow. But that's true that he is not ready to go to start the year for whatever reasons. And we can do a 30-minute episode on what those reasons actually are.

Starting point is 00:25:17 They're not a mystery to me. I just think it takes time to fix something. he's bad at. But right now, a 98-passer rating instead of an 82.7 is what he normally has in the first two weeks here. 82.7 makes these two games much closer than they would have been. And one ended up being a six-point victory, and the other one ended up being a 14. On the other hand, getting that 98, the rest of Joe Burroughs career, week three to week 18, he is at like a 110 to 112 depending on if you want to count that. It doesn't matter. He is so good. That that's MVP level Joe Burrow and typically starts in week three and goes from there.

Starting point is 00:25:56 Very excited about the opportunity for him to carry this offense with this defense, Jake. Go back to 2021. Okay. Week one, week two. Joe Burrow has passer ratings of 128 in week one. That's pretty good. Great game against Minnesota, right? Week 266 against the Bears.

Starting point is 00:26:16 So it's three picks. And then in week three, as part of a two-game road trip, the Bengals go to Pittsburgh. And Joe Burrow completes 14 of his 18 passes for 9.6 yards per 10, three touchdowns, has one interception, 122.3 passer rating, one of his highest PFF-graded games of the year. And he didn't even have to throw the ball that much. Let's go back to 2024 when Joe Burrow played at an MVP level. In week one, his pass rating was 86 and week two, started to get a little bit better, 104. Now was the game against Kansas City Chiefs.

Starting point is 00:26:51 In week three, picking up even more, 127 pass a rating. 29 to 38, 76% completion percentage in that game, 324 yards, three touchdowns. Bengals end up losing to Washington. That's where we start to get signs of this defense. Maybe really is going to sink them. And then from there, Joe Burrow was pretty much great the rest of the way. And the Bengals get another tough test this year against the Pittsburgh Steelers in week three. We're talking about the Texans defense.

Starting point is 00:27:19 The Steelers defense so far this year has the best defensive EPA per play in the NFL. And like the Texans defense, the way the teams have typically been able to have any success against them is to find the explosive. Because Pittsburgh is going to make things hard for you on a down-to-down basis. And we'll start to talk about that when we get to the crossover. We're going to be talking about another Orlando Brown matchup. Now the T.J. Watt is moving around. And Alex Highsmith has really come on for the Steelers as a secondary pass rusher in Keanu Benton. Wait, see there anymore?

Starting point is 00:27:46 Eric, Derek Harmon on the interior with Cam Hayward, Nick Herbig. The Steelers are deep on the defensive line. They will create problems. We're going to be talking about the Bengals protection plan again this week. But Joe Burrow has come alive in week three. And if you can do it again this week against the Steelers defense, it is the only reason this team has any chance with like the worst offense that we've seen in a long time. Things could be fun for this Bengals team.

Starting point is 00:28:16 Jake, was week four, 2021 also the Jaguars? Did they go Steelers than Jags? If I remember correctly, because we were at that game. We were at that game. The Thursday night game was the Jacksonville game when he and the Bengals offense really got going in the second half in that one. That's right. Because we're at halftime, you could feel like the angst of wires this offense. Throw it to Jamar. And then they finally do. And everything came back to life and excitement. But it's funny to have that parallel of Steelers. And then. And that week for Joe completed 78% of his passes. for 11 yards per attempt, just a crazy game.

Starting point is 00:28:51 This is what's going to happen in the next two weeks then. Lay it out. That's what he's going to destroy the Steelers and their defense and the Jags and their defense. And the Jags defense has been good since last year. Again, at rushers, I mean, this is an underrated start of the season type thing. Let's talk about this to end the show. Like we said two hard games to start. And now people are kind of crowning, oh, they got past their hard games.

Starting point is 00:29:13 I think the Steelers can be difficult and present challenges, especially in Pittsburgh, and all instincts. but the defense is legit and those edge rushers can beat you. And then Jags have one of the best duos of edge rushers as well. Like that is not an easy test. This offensive line is going through it, especially Brown. But Mims is getting the all the flowers because if he gets through this or some of games unscathed with so far just one quarterback hit allowed,

Starting point is 00:29:39 let's see what he does the final two weeks of this stretch. But yeah, man, the offense, if those guys do their job up front, I think should be waking up very, very soon. game feels close. The flashes of elite Joe Burrow, pocket presence and timing is there. We got to see Jamar Chase. T. Higgins already do crazy stuff. It feels like it's bubbling. It's right there for us. Yeah. And they're leaving some things on the field too. I think we talked about that. The film review, Chase Brown is playing well. They're going to get better in this run game as the season goes on if last years have been any indication. Past year's been any indication.

Starting point is 00:30:11 And that's with some of the schematics up that they spent all offseason working on still not really getting incorporated. The run past splits under center and his shotgun still very, very stark. And that's something that Zach Taylor said he was very aware of against the Texans, didn't really care about. We'll see how that changes over the course of the year. We'll see if the under center stuff becomes a bigger part of the game plan in different matchups and different things because they have so many things that they can throw at you as an offense. They can get to so many different looks to find the plays they need. They did that against the Texans to find the explosive plays to score enough points on offense in the game. Their defense was dominant.

Starting point is 00:30:46 This team right now looks like they have a lot of ways to win. And that's an exciting place to be after two weeks of the season. Next on Lockdown Bengals is the crossover. We're on to Steelers Week number one. That'll be Joe Goodberry and Chris Carter with you tomorrow here on Lockdown Bengals. Until then, thanks for listening to this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Ho day and have a good one.

Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - SUSTAINABLE?: Bengals' Defense THRIVES Early—Dexter Lawrence, Cashius Howell, and Al Golden IMPRESS

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