Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - TALKIN' ABOUT PRACTICE: Dexter Lawrence and Bengals Defense SECURE WIN Against Bears

Starting point is 00:00:00 We're talking about practice, but it was the biggest practice for the Cincinnati Bengals of this training camp and the defense finish in a way that's got to give you a big jolt of confidence. 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 a little bonus episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. He's Joe Goodberry. I'm Jake Liscoe. we're hitting you with a quick takeaways and recap episode after the Bengals and Bears had their joint practice. This will be our first of two episodes after that joint practice.

Starting point is 00:00:44 We're planning to be joined by Mike Petralia to talk about the full breakdowns as he was there in person. And we didn't get any video from this practice today. But we do have a lot to talk about nonetheless. We did get to see Dexter Lawrence's highlight interception of Caleb Williams that occurred toward the end of practice as the Bengals' official. social media account posted it, but a lot to talk about Joe in a practice that went, I think back and forth for a good portion of it. No significant injuries that we saw reported, which is the first and best news to come out of this joint practice. But the next bit of best news is probably that this defense absolutely shut the bears down on two straight drives and

Starting point is 00:01:28 situational two minute, four minute drill kind of football at the end of this practice to essentially win the quote unquote game that was going back and forth in that scenario in the joint practice. Heading into that final portion of 11 on 11 offense versus defense from both sides. But I tweeted that this felt like, because we got a lot of shout out to the Bengals media, Cincinnati media. They absolutely chronicled every single play. We pretty much got great views in our minds of what they were writing for every single

Starting point is 00:02:00 snap. So you could feel how the practice was going and really. understand. And I tweeted at this moment, going into this last one, it felt like a 4240 kind of game. Last year, if you remember, it was 42, 41 before the big crazy play happened at the end and the Bengals lost it. But it felt like that again, because the offenses each side were having explosive plays. It wasn't as good for the Bengals offense. Felt like Bears' offense a little bit ahead of the Bengals offense in full move the ball 11 on 11. But when they went to Red Zone, both Caleb Williams and Joe Burrow were lighting it up. Big, big day from T. Higgins.

Starting point is 00:02:33 Quiet day from Jamar. A couple big plays from Colby Young, Andre Yosevaj, Mike Asseki had a touchdown. It was nice to see the offense having a good moment. And when they got in a shotgun, like Joe Danaman did a good job of like really saying if they were under center or if it was shotgun. It seemed like they really had their moments when they dropped back

Starting point is 00:02:50 and started throwing the ball again. So great. But we're going into this final portion and the Bengals need to, one, close it out on offense, which they kind of failed to do on both of their possessions, getting field goals out of, I think it was one field goal. out of that first drive, but the defense came through. And this is what separates that last year's game from this practice.

Starting point is 00:03:11 And we're talking about this practice because it was a two and a half hour practice where the starters played pretty much the entire thing. And it was big for both teams. They're not even going to play the starters in that preseason game, right? So we'll talk about that later. But Dexter Lawrence, tips a pass to himself, collects the interception. Maybe he could have ran it back because it was just Caleb Williams right there to close that first drive.

Starting point is 00:03:31 Bengals get the ball with less than two minutes can't capitalize, and then the defense makes their final step, Jake. And another set of plays to do so. The overall theme for me when I was thinking about what this defense did today was that they were getting pressure consistently to Caleb Williams. Dexter Lawrence got to put another team through the Dexter Lawrence Rex practice experience. And that was like relatively consistent throughout practice. There was a Bears reporter who was there who said the most obvious thing that stands out to

Starting point is 00:04:01 immediately when watching this practice is that Dexter Lawrence is going to transform the Cincinnati run defense, but he's also making plays as a pass rusher. Caleb Williams, after practice talked about, you know, we're not scheming for Dexter Lawrence in this practice to a significant degree. So I don't know, I guess there's a great assault if you really want to go there. I think that's a positive, though. That's a positive if you want to look at it. Like you have to scheme for Dexter Lawrence.

Starting point is 00:04:25 That's great. We want. And he dominated regardless of whatever the Bears were trying to do. numerous pressures throughout practice, but then the interception, a sack later. And then Miles Murphy, getting the matchup with Theo Bennett, who is not probably a starter in the NFL, but the Bears are trying to figure out their left tackle situation. Two straight sacks. This is a guy that's competing for a starting job, Miles Murphy, with two straight sacks of Caleb Williams,

Starting point is 00:04:50 unable to get rid of the bowl. One of them likely a safety. Sounds like there was some debate over whether or not it was, in fact, a safety. The Bears on the next play were on the nine-yard line, though, which suggests they just kind of did a redo. and said, we're going to try to get some more work in here. And then Jalen Davis comes up with an interception off an overthrow, more pressure. Cassius Howell also with his share of pressures.

Starting point is 00:05:10 Jonathan Allen had a sack. It was everybody getting in on the party. And the Bears do have some questions along their offensive line for sure. They're trying to figure out left tackle in particular. But Bengals' investments in their interior on the defense also making a lot of plays in this practice. And while the Bears did have some success and, you know, even Dexter Lawrence said Caleb, Caleb Williams caught fire in the middle part of practice there a little bit, especially in the red zone. There was a lot of good stuff, especially from the Bengals front.

Starting point is 00:05:41 I think even Demetrius Knight got in there for a would have been sack at one point on a blitz. And there were some run stops for these linebackers. I think Barrick Carter even had an interception. So the things that we talked about for this defense, like, can you just make some plays? You're going to get beat sometimes. That's fine. That's kind of how the NFL works for 99% of defenses anyway. Can you make some plays?

Starting point is 00:06:00 And like you said, Joe, they made some plays in this one to help the Bengals win, quote, unquote, in those situational periods. Got to say, this is really ramping up my excitement this season. I'm always excited. I love football, right? And I love the Bengals. And I can't wait for September 13th to get here. But when you get into this moment and you're competing against one of the better teams in the NFC, right, and a high-powered offense. And we were questioning a lot of things.

Starting point is 00:06:27 He's like, is Dexter Lawrence really that great? Or is Ted Carras falling off a cliff? Because that's going to happen at some point. He's going to get old. And then Ted Caras afterwards, a little vindication as he's like, yeah, it's nice to see Dexter blowing up their plays and ruining their offense and beating their center. I mean, the full quote is, I mean, it was effing great, said Ted Caris, it validated a lot of my insecurities.

Starting point is 00:06:51 He was asked if watching Dexter Lawrence wreck another team made him feel better. I'm one-on-one with the best player in the league every single day, 15 to 20 times. Tells you what Dexter is doing to take this training camp, man. And we've said that it looks like Ted is going home, not getting much sleep. He looks stressed out about it. And what he says this, it's like, oh, man, it may have been affecting him a little bit that he's getting beat the way he has. So it's nice to see.

Starting point is 00:07:15 But it's also nice to see he, that Cassius Owl is getting pressures, that Miles Murphy back-to-back sacks. Jordan Battle set the tone and sparked a little bit of a scuffle with a big hit at the line of scrimmage. Kyle Dugger had a big hit at the line of scrimmage. All of these things. And honestly, the Brian Cook, they said he's on the rehab field. They said he looked great and close to returning. It may be a little blessing in disguise that Dugger got a chance to play as much as he has and showed that he can be part of this defense.

Starting point is 00:07:44 And they need to figure it out because after the red zone, one of the takeaways was that the Bears offense was attacking Jalen Davis and DJ Ivy. And I'm like, yeah, that makes sense. That's what you would attack. So we've talked about maybe Dugger being able to slide into that slot and play a little bit of a nickel hybrid linebacker as the tight ends kind of chewed up this Bengals defense also in the red zone. So maybe another chance for Dugger to, you know, get on the field.

Starting point is 00:08:08 But yeah, the young guys making plays at linebacker, the defense in general, stepping up when they needed to. And that's been such a theme over the last few years. I am still concerned that the offense couldn't finish the game. and that's going to be a continued thing that we look at and monitor. But if they can't, you can't also have the defense giving up big Colston Loveland touchdowns because they miss tackles. The defense has to make a play and they did today.

Starting point is 00:08:33 Love to see the defense finishing. One last quote from a Bengals offensive lineman getting to enjoy watching another offensive line deal with the Bengals remade defensive lie, Dalton Riser talking about enjoying watching another team deal with the Bengals defense. Good luck. Welcome to our world, said Dalton Riser. When I saw Jonathan Allen throwing hump moves, I said, have fun. Hump move right there from Jonathan Allen.

Starting point is 00:08:55 That's what he did. He wins with that thing still. Yeah, one of the best to do it in the NFL. Coming up next, Joe, let's dive into a little bit more about the offense, what Joe Burrow had to say in expectations for starters here for the rest of the preseason. There are certain flavors that instantly feel like summer. And for a lot of people, those classic red, white, and blue freezer pops are right at the top of the list. I'm talking sweet cherry, lime, blue raspberry.

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Starting point is 00:11:07 Prices, values, and available markets may differ from those mentioned. For more information, see calshy.com slash regulatory. Jake, the defense won the day at the end, But the offense had their moment that the Bengals won that first 11 on 11 drive with their offense, getting explosive plays. T. Higgins, T. Higgins having a monster day. I just want to be clear on that.

Starting point is 00:11:29 And then Joe Burrow was talking to the media afterwards. And I don't think people are going to take this very normally around the national media. We don't even pick up on some of these things. But, you know, I'm starting to get in tune to what the national media is going to see and be like, oh, that's Burrow wanting to get out of Cincinnati, putting an ultimatum that, you know, he it's this year it's now or never when i'm with burrow i think you've got to manifest it and this is what he said i'm trying to manifest the championship mentality i don't want to talk about next year and this year and this this next year next year next year it's right now let's do it right now and to be

Starting point is 00:12:03 honest i find that extremely refreshing i think you have to speak it into his existence i've been a big proponent of that so i like to hear that from joe burrow joe burrow picking up on some manifestation magic and speaking into existence he was also asked about urgency and you're You got the now or never quote. And that is what I think you'll be hearing on first take tomorrow. But that's not what we're here to talk about because that's what those shows are for. Not what this show is for. It's just notable when it happens.

Starting point is 00:12:30 It's predictable. It's to prepare people. Yeah. I mean, I saw it immediately tweeted like I'm sure people will react very normally to Joe Burroughs remarks to this trust. I mean, we're seeing think pieces about Joe Burrow wearing a freaking hat that says I work here. And then that's getting talked about anyway, let's not go too far down that rabbit hole. Joe Burrow, what I thought was interesting when he was talking about things. He was asked about how the under center games coming along.

Starting point is 00:12:54 And if he feels like he's ready, this is the last significant work he's going to get against another team. They're not going to play any starters in the preseason according to Zach Taylor. So it will be very interesting to see who well play and how much they play as we extrapolate from playing time and where guys are playing and with whom they're playing, who is in a roster battle who might still be trying to make their way under the 50, three-man roster and who might be safer than we think. But Joe was talking about he's a rough guy. And he was asked, you know, do you feel like you're ready for the season? And he's like, I'll feel, I can go play a game if I had to.

Starting point is 00:13:31 But I won't be as good as I'll be. But if I don't have another three weeks of reps, I'll be three weeks of reps better. It's always been who Joe Burroughs been, right? He's talking about the offense needs to be more consistent. And I think there's still some stuff in the under center game that's a work in progress. and I think we saw that in this practice. You might see that early in the season, and we'll see if they stick with it or not,

Starting point is 00:13:52 because a lot of times you see the Bengals make big schematic shifts on offense over the course of the year when they figure out what's actually working for them and what isn't. We've seen that a lot throughout the Joe Burrow era, but Burrow once again affirming that he's a Rout sky. He needs time on task to knock the rust off every year, and sounds like that's going to be the case again this year. So while we talked about the potential,

Starting point is 00:14:16 for the Bengals offense to go out there in quiet doubts in this practice. They did some things that were good, but I think some of the questions are still there about how quickly they're going to start this season. Well, the reps thing is important in the time on task, and he needs these. They had 38 reps, according to Charlie Clifford, the day before, or two days before, the last practice. And then it feels like this was even heavier than that, or maybe we just got more reports on it because we got play-by-play from the media. But if it was, let's say it was 40, snaps per day. That's a lot. That is a good chunk. That's a pretty much a game and a half right there. You typically get 60 to 70 snaps in a game. So if you're simulating that and getting them ready,

Starting point is 00:14:56 it makes sense why you don't need this preseason game coming up against the bears for the starters. You do it in a controlled atmosphere here where they can't hit the quarterback, even though it looks like there, there was a little pushing and shoving because someone kept their hand. Was it Adi Ingbo that put his hand on Burrow and kept it on there a little bit too long? Yeah. So like, but that's fine. I mean, he's not getting hit he's not taking sex like we saw in the lion's game so we will take this and this is a ramping up it feels like before we've got our final week of camp next week and then pretty much it's all systems go get ready for week one september 13th versus the tampa bay buccaneers i rip my shirt off jake jo's ready to go we'll have more for you for you from this joint practice when we're

Starting point is 00:15:37 joined by mike petralia later on today until then we're going to wrap out this little bonus episode of locked on bengals there Thanks for listening. Hoota. And have a good.

Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - TALKIN' ABOUT PRACTICE: Dexter Lawrence and Bengals Defense SECURE WIN Against Bears

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