Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - What The Bengals MUST DO to Beat Steelers on Thursday Night Football

Starting point is 00:00:00 It's Bengals, it's Steelers, it's Thursday night football. A must win for the Bengals and the Steelers. Well, they could deliver a knockout blow in the AFC North. Let's get into it on a special crossover ahead of Thursday night football. You are locked on NFL crossover. Part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Hi again, everyone.

Starting point is 00:00:31 And welcome in to the Locked On Bengals and Locked on Steelers crossover, a primetime crossover. Carter, James Rupin with you, plenty to dive into. And this crossover is brought to you by Price Picks. And download the Price Picks app today. Use code locked on NFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup. Chris, this, to me, it doesn't get much bigger on both ends of the spectrum here. Because the Bengals are clinging to some hopes that Joe Flacco is going to keep them afloat.

Starting point is 00:01:06 and the Steelers, well, their 41-year-olds got them more than a float, has them in first place. What's the biggest story right now in your neck of the woods here with Pittsburgh at 4 and 1? Well, the reason update would be that particularly just for this game, Deshaun Elliott's safety for the starting strong safety for the Steelers did not travel with the team Wednesday and is questionable with a personal designation telling you it's some personal issue going on. We know that he did not practice as well. So there's a questionable tag there.

Starting point is 00:01:37 That's a little bit of a concern because Deshaun Elliott's a big part of the secondary. He missed their second and third games due to injury. And then when he returned against the Vikings was a huge part of the defense. So you certainly hope everything's okay there and it's nothing serious. But right now, you know, you mentioned it's being a big game for the Bengals. This is also a big game for the Steelers. Because even though if they lose this game, they're four and two and they're still a top of division, really the whole idea is that Steelers last year, they were 10, 3.

Starting point is 00:02:06 They were right in the cusp of like they were in the mix for winning the division and then they fell off a cliff. And right now, I think there's just a sense that, hey, we want to put our foot on the necks of the Ravens and the rest of the division as much as possible while we have the chance to. Because the Steelers, the Ravens had played a lot of their tough games. They played the Chiefs. They played the Lions. They played the Bills. The Steelers got both the Lions and the Bills coming up still. They still have to play the Packers. They still have to play the Ravens both times.

Starting point is 00:02:34 They have to play the Browns in Cleveland where they haven't. one since 2021. So there's a lot of games on their schedule still that aren't like, oh, yeah, chalk those up as wins, types of games, even if the Steelers keep moving on an upward trajectory the way they have the last few weeks. So I think the thing is, while the Bengals are trying to stay in it, the Steelers are trying to maintain their momentum because if they win on Thursday tonight, they advance to 5 and 1. The Ravens will be 1 in 5. The Ravens are their most foreseeable competition.

Starting point is 00:03:00 Well, the only team with really a quarterback right now when you look at the rest of the AFC North, and that would give them a fair cushion to put, basically push the Ravens to say like, hey, you either need to sweep us and you lose a couple of games or you need to, you know, or if we beat you one time, you're basically going to need to win out outside of your games to have a real shot at winning the division. Yeah, that's what's so interesting to me is like from a Bengals perspective, and I said this before the Green Bay game. They acquired Joe Flacco.

Starting point is 00:03:31 You kind of look at things, especially with the, the, the, the, short week. It's like, all right, two games, four days, five days, really, if you count, trap, all those things. It's, which game's more important? And even before the Packers game, I'm like, you got to get Thursday night. Yeah, probably losing in Green Bay at Lambo, five days after Joe Flacco gets traded for all those things. We have to win this game. And so the Bengals, they better come out with urgency. They better come out kitchen sink style, throwing everything they can at the Steelers. And yet on the other side of it, yeah, if you can go up four games on the Ravens, If you're the Steelers and you can go to five and one, and the Ravens are on there by at one and five, beat up, battered.

Starting point is 00:04:11 I mean, you couldn't have drawn up from a standings perspective, a better scenario through five or through six weeks for the Steelers. And they're right there. So, yeah, I totally get their mindset and that being the mindset and that being the theme this week. The Bengals have to counteract that from the jump. And they have to. Like if there's any hope of them staying afloat without Joe Burrow, any hope of them picking up the pieces and making this work with Joe Flacco and being not just a team that can now move the ball a little bit on offense,

Starting point is 00:04:48 but a competitive team that's going to win games, this is a game you have to win. Division opponent, a Steelers team that's playing well thus far. But if you do win and you get to three and four and you move to two and O in the AFC North, have another matchup with Pittsburgh a month from Thursday. Like there's all these reasons why you could convince yourself you're still very much in it. Yep. If you lose, you fall at two and five.

Starting point is 00:05:14 And there's just really unrealistic to feel that way. So it's wild how opposite sides of the spectrum are still leading to the same thing, which should be desperation and desire to get a win because it would be huge for both teams. It would be. It still, it means AFC North football is still vague. even when there's as many injuries in this division as there are. Lamar Jackson, you know, still isn't back. Joe Burrow basically done for the year.

Starting point is 00:05:41 You know, and all the other injuries that have gotten, that have hit up on these teams. But still, like you said, these are big games because the AFC, I think it's not just the AFC North that's open. It looks really looks like the entire AFC is open right now. The bills are not the unstoppable bills that they were, that they looked like they could be this year. They're four and two coming off of two straight losses.

Starting point is 00:06:00 The Patriots actually are technically in first place in the AFC East, right now. The Colts are the team atop the AFC with a five and one record. The chiefs are three and three. Like there is a door that is open right now where if you can be the team that gets hot and this is just your year, maybe you can make so. Maybe it's

Starting point is 00:06:17 finally, like Joe Burrow and Tom Brady are the only AFC quarterbacks that can say that they've beaten Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs, which is insane to say because he's been in the playoffs for like nine or however many years he's been in the league. It's ridiculous. So I'm right with you.

Starting point is 00:06:32 like there is there is a sense of urgency on both sides of these teams whereas the bengals are trying to to stay in it the Steelers are trying to get ahead because they know hey this is our chance to get up and try to get into the mix with all these top teams when there's no clear superstar juggernaut team in the AFC in the AFC total right now yeah I totally agree like if if the Steelers if they continue to win games at some point you just have to put them there right and so that's what they're trying to do regardless of how it is or how it looks or oh well Aaron Rogers or there's that. The record is your record. And so it to me from my my view from here in Cincinnati, it's been pretty drama free. It's been about football and it's working out.

Starting point is 00:07:14 They're playing at a really high level and we could get into the matchups coming up in a bit. But for this Bengals team, I know their mindset. And there's a lot of people locked on Bengals watchers and listeners right now that are like, just tank, just tank. They didn't like the Flack O deal, even though clearly Mike Tomlin didn't like it either. Why? Because it makes the Bengals better. He was right. Like Mike Tomlin was right. I don't blame him for feeling that way. It clearly makes the Bengals better and gives them a chance. Now, the Bengals have to take advantage of that chance.

Starting point is 00:07:46 In this offense needs to find a way. They've been outscored, Chris, 79 to 9 in the first half of their last four games. Jeez. It's unbelievable. Think about that. So you're basically 20 to 3, less than that, 20 to 2 and a half. That's not on average at halftime. I mean, that is, it's a recipe for disaster. So can Joe Flacco in this offense get going early against the Steelers?

Starting point is 00:08:13 That's a huge, huge factor when it comes to who's going to win the game on Thursday night. I think so too. And that's something we'll talk about the next segment is starting to go early. Even though it's Joe Flacco, Joe Flacco is not a bum. Like, yeah, you can say he's chopped. You can say he's washed. You can use all the terminology for older players in the NFL,

Starting point is 00:08:35 but he still knows how to read a defense, sling a football, and get it to playmakers. And the Bengals got the best one, two punch and wide receiver in football. So that's a heck of a, that's a heck of a person to have in a pinch is a guy who can just get the ball out,

Starting point is 00:08:50 read a defense, and especially throw a deep ball to give one of those two superstars a chance to make a play. And to me, that's going to be a big story in this game. No doubt about it. It's one of the many, many matchups we'll get to coming up next. Today's show is brought to by Mint Mobile.

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Starting point is 00:10:59 so they know we sent you. All right, Chris. Let's dive into what is a game of many matchups. Every single one of these AFC North games is exactly that. First things first, let's talk about the Bengals offense versus this Steelers defense. Because I mentioned it.

Starting point is 00:11:21 They've had their struggles. Now they have Joe Flacco in the mix. He's throwing it around a little bit. You asked Mike Tomlin earlier. earlier this week about the flacco trade and he's like, I can't believe the Browns were that stupid and I agree. And he didn't say it exactly like that, but he probably wanted to.

Starting point is 00:11:36 Might as well. It made no sense. It made no sense. It made no sense. But it has given, I will tell you this, no one would think in town that the Bengals would beat the Steelers with Jake Browning at quarterback.

Starting point is 00:11:46 Like no one. He stunk against them in the past. He was awful this year. Even when he was good a couple of years ago and I say good in quotes, it was really bad against Pittsburgh twice. Like, no one would expect him to be competitive in this. game. And so now Joe Flacco went up against them last year, came in in relief. It was a Colts.

Starting point is 00:12:05 It's 27, 24. Like he's familiar with Mike Tomlin. He's familiar with this defense and going up against them. I think there's some hope. And to me, this is the matchup of the game. Can this Steelers defense front get after Joe Flacco and make him uncomfortable? Or is he going to be able to get the ball to the Bengals playmakers? I think that's definitely part of the thing here. And I actually did a film study on this for the Pittsburgh Post Gazette as far as the Steelers defense, despite having the same defensive coordinator in Terrell Austin as they have had the past three years, they are very different. They are blitzing at the second highest rate in the NFL. They're back to being one of the top sack producers in the NFL. They hadn't really been in the last three years with Terrell Austin,

Starting point is 00:12:41 who specialized more and saying, hey, we're going to send these four-man blitzers or four-man front rushes and they were going to disguise a lot of things in the back end and try to fool you and let Micka-Pitch be the playmaker. But as people know in the offseason, they traded away, Mickham Fitzpatrick. They brought in Jalen Ramsey, and they've been playing a lot more press, a lot more bump and run, and they've been a lot more aggressive with the Blitz. Lots of more Patrick Queen Blitzes in this defense. A lot more Peyton Wilson Blitz is a lot more stunts and twists where guys are coming off. And Jalen Ramsey getting involved in the Blitz game, he had two sacks last week on Dylan Gabriel.

Starting point is 00:13:13 This is an aggressive Steelers defense that is going to attempt to test Joe Flacco's ability to keep to recognize where they're coming from, as well as test the Bengals' offensive line to see if they can pick it up because, you know, Right now, when I look at protecting the quarterback, the Steelers right now, they have that second highest sack percentage, second highest sacks per game rate. The Bengals ranked 21st in both of those in the NFL right now. So that's one way to make it so that it's not about Joe Flacco hit and Jamar Chase and T. Higgins. Even though the Steelers feel confident, I think you're going to see a lot of Joey Porter probably match up with T. Higgins. You're probably going to see Darius Slay team up with the deep safeties to try to take away and limit.

Starting point is 00:13:54 Jamar Chase. But I think a big part of that is they want to make it so it's not even about those guys. They want to get after the quarterback, cause some problems there and make that the place where the game is more about because that plays more to the Steelers advantage. No doubt about it. It does. It does. If they lose there, well, then that's a huge.

Starting point is 00:14:12 It would be like the Bengals wide receivers losing. They can't lose. Jamar Chase can't lose against Slay. And T. Higgins can't lose against Joey Porter Jr. That's just something the Bengals need. Right. And so, yeah, one thing that's interesting. on the short week, it's really, it's been more difficult on the fly to get this info.

Starting point is 00:14:30 But last week, Dalton Reisner for the Bengals at Left Guard was pretty solid and past protection. And now it feels like Dylan Fairchild is going to be active and be healthy, the rookie. And he started every game, got hurt, didn't play last week. So does he start at Left Guard and have to deal with those guys? I assume they're going to go back to the rookie. Certainly something worth paying attention to. Also, Lucas Patrick, as we record this. He's still on injured reserve.

Starting point is 00:14:57 I do think they activate him. And so he's another veteran interior lineman that was playing right guard. And then it went to Reisner and then it went to rookie Jalen Rivers. So they've been starting Rivers or Rivers and Fairchild, two rookies, third and fifth round rookies. Do you do that with your season on the line on Thursday night football? Like I think that's such a huge, huge matchup, regardless of who's out there. Right.

Starting point is 00:15:20 Because the Bengals need to hold up. They need to be competent running the football. and then more importantly, they need to give Joe Flacco just enough time to get the ball to his playmakers. I agree. It's a big part of it. I wanted to ask you this, James, because I took my percursory watch of the game to try to get a sense of how Joe Flacco played in his first game with the Bengals. But I noticed that off that first half, they were figuring some things out. But at second half, they had four possessions, two touchdowns, a field goal and a missed field goal. So they got in scoring range each time, Joe Flacco's passing numbers in the first half, eight of 15 for 40 yards. Meh. But in the second half, 21 of 30 for 179, two touchdowns, and still didn't throw an interception. Should I be reading into that that he really started to click or the things started to happen?

Starting point is 00:16:08 Or was that more circumstantial, oh, hey, the Packers were backing off in this situation or something? No, I think the first one, because coming out of the half, the Packers are only up 10-0. And Flaco leads them on a 17-play, 78-yard drive that ends in a 8. a fourth down touchdown past to Tanner Hudson, who's in concussion protocol. I don't think he's going to play. So that's something to pay attention to. But they did find something. And I think that's what's interesting is the Bengals offensive line found a way to pass

Starting point is 00:16:36 protected in that second half and gave Flacco just enough time to get the ball out. And he was seeing it very well and throwing with anticipation. And it was a lot of intermediate throws, not a lot of deep balls. We know he's got the arm to do that. His longest completion was 19 yards, one to Jamar Chase for 19, one to T. Higgins. for 19. But yeah, there was something there. And I think that's what gives me some confidence that this offense can operate against the Steelers. Because if they had had that second half and played the second half like they did the first half against Green Bay, I wouldn't have confidence.

Starting point is 00:17:12 And to me, it is similar matchups where the Green Bay wins with their front and the Steelers certainly want to win with their front. And so can that translate? I'm not sure, but I do think that Joe Flacco found something there. And that's where a lot of the belief comes in at the same time, when Flacco got it going, this Bengals defense let them down. They could not get a stop. They cannot get a stop in the second half, Chris. And that's where I look at this Steelers offense.

Starting point is 00:17:46 And I look at this Bengals defense. And it's like, all right, well, let's just say the Bengals do get the better of the Steelers defense enough on Thursday night. will the defense be able to get the better of Aaron Rogers and D.K. Metcalf and Jalen Warren in these guys that have really, to me, been pretty steady. I'm not saying world beaters, but they've been steady throughout the season. They have been steady. And I think that's been the thing the Steelers have really been missing in offense for the past several years,

Starting point is 00:18:11 has just been steady presence on offense. Aaron Rogers isn't doing anything spectacular. But he is doing, he's taking what's there. He's reading, he's reading pre-snap. He's saying, hey, they're going to be there. We're going to go here. And more often times, more often times than not, he is getting it right. He's understanding where to attack, and it's really helping the Steelers right now.

Starting point is 00:18:27 I mean, again, like, you look at the Steelers' offense, they rank 14th in point scored. You know, if you had told me that at the beginning of the season, I'd be like, hey, something's going right because they have normally ranked in the low 20s or the high 20s, you know, if you look at that. But, you know, and then you look at the way that they've been able to convert. I also say the offensive line is taking steps forward. We've covered that unlocked on Steelers each week, I'd say for the last three weeks, there's been a considerable steps taken. forward. And now you have an offense that largely the efficiency numbers don't look great. Like, you know, they're total yards per game. They rank 29th. Passing yards per game, 24th, rushing yards per game, 29th, rushing yards per carry, 30th. So like all in the bottom of the

Starting point is 00:19:04 league. But then when you look at the other numbers, when you look at how they have the third, best, third and short percentage as far as conversion right there, if they can get you to third and three or shorter, they're moving the sticks at a pretty high rate. Red zone possessions. They're sixth in the NFL right now. They're able to, when they get it in there, they're doing what. They also protect the football. They average just 0.6 turnovers per games. That's fifth best in the NFL right now.

Starting point is 00:19:28 They have done a good job overall as far as limiting the area while they're figuring all these other things out, whether they're trying to figure out how the run game will consistently work. They're doing these other things to make things happen. I think what you're starting to see, though, is you saw even more with the Browns against their defense, which was the number one rushing defense. You saw them start to really find their rhythm. And I think a big part of it are these jumbo packages.

Starting point is 00:19:48 that they're using James. And that's going to be something that the Bengals have to be ready for. The Steelers are going to use a lot of personnel packages where they bring in that extra tackle, Spencer Anderson. He'll come out on the field. They'll say, uh, the numbers,

Starting point is 00:19:58 let me do it. It's an eligible receiver. And then they'll say, they'll throw out, Darnell Washington. Darno, Washington has been getting more snaps in games that Pat Baramuth, which is nuts when you think about it going in here. But it makes sense when you watch and play because against the Vikings,

Starting point is 00:20:13 he crushed Dallas turn. He was just taking guys off the ball. He was running the, the Steelers loved running with. him. And what do they do the first play against the Browns? Play action, Darno Washington leaks up the field and he gets 32 yards easily because the Browns were so committed to, oh, Darno Washington is there, it's a run. We got to stuff them and they completely forgot about him. The Bengals, if the defense of the Bengals is going to hold things in check, they have to

Starting point is 00:20:35 not let the size and the strength of the Steelers bully them off the ball and force them into the tough spots because that is what the Steelers want to get you to do. And then all of a sudden, you're either heavy committing to the run and leaving the pass wide open or you don't know what you want to commit to and the Steelers do what they want to do. Darnel Washington, a previous draft crush, I would say. It is available in the third round and he ends up with the Pittsburgh Steelers. We will get to what each team needs to do to get a victory. It's a huge game and we will dive into that coming up next.

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Starting point is 00:21:44 And look, most of us are probably in the Midwest. It's Pittsburgh at Cincinnati. So dealing with snow, no problem with Mazda. Like our players, we sweat every detail because when you move and you make every move count, impossible becomes irrelevant. Mazda, move and be moved. All right, Chris, let's get to what the Steelers have to do to get a win, to get to five and one, to get Aaron Rogers on set afterward at Paycor Stadium on that prime broadcast Thursday night football. they're interviewing somebody, I would imagine it would be Aaron Rogers if the Steelers are able to get their fifth win of the season.

Starting point is 00:22:26 What do they need to do to make that happen? They need to come out and play their style of football when it comes to the trenches. And I know that's very much what the Steelers normally try to do against the team like the Bengals that has the talent they have a wide receiver. But that's what they have to do here. They have to be able to stuff the run. Don't let Chase Brown get things going. And I think one thing that's going to be different this year. And the Steelers have made it clear since they made these moves in the offseason.

Starting point is 00:22:50 They are much more confident in letting their corners hang in man coverage, at least for the first four seconds of a play. And you're seeing that work. And again, I did a film set if you want to see my breakdown of how it's helping in their all 22. But they are trusting their corners to say, hey, you're going to stick this guy at the line of scrimmage. You're going to ride them for a few seconds. But trust that the pass rush is going to get home because that's what this team is built upon. And it's really helping things right now.

Starting point is 00:23:17 You're seeing like, T.J. Watt isn't even the leading sack man for the Steelers right now. It's Nick Herbick, their third year out guy to Wisconsin. He's been playing very well. Derek Harmon has two sacks. They're rookie out of Oregon. Don't tell me that. Don't tell me that they're putting it together up front early. In the first few games, Derek Harmon was missing.

Starting point is 00:23:36 Alex Hidesmith was hurt. But now they're getting healthier. They're figuring things out. And even Patrick Queen, who was struggling, I think, a little bit at the start of the year to be in the right place or the right time. He's flying all over the place. the confidence is there. If they can make it about that,

Starting point is 00:23:50 that's where the Steelers can find a way to get a win in this game. And I think that's where the Steelers have to look at the chances here with the Bengals, is they have to look at say, hey, if we control, make them play in our style of football, we can win this game. But if this game becomes about Joe Flacco being able to either hit Chase or Chase or Higgins on the deep ball several times or get them going in the game or, you know, or even just get lots of defensive pass interference penalties. We know, I think it was last year,

Starting point is 00:24:19 Joey Porter had five defensive penalties called on them in a single game. That's what can kill you if the Steelers, if you keep giving them chances to make plays. Yeah, I think a couple of interesting things there. One, the Steelers defensive front is so layered, and they have so many guys. Like, I know Keanu Benton is someone that Bengals person out there, they're like, man, that dude is just so good.

Starting point is 00:24:42 Like when they, like, and then it's, Herbig. And then it's Harmon who we talked a lot about on Locked on Bengals pre-draft. And it was someone that we thought if he was there at 17 would have been considered. And, you know, there's, there's so many guys like that that they have just in the trenches. I mean, I just named all these guys and you did. T.J. Watt is still T.J. Y'I. Right. So that's the key is this Bengals team, you cannot at the end of the game, if you're the Bengals, say, oh, man, the Steelers were so much more physical than us. Like, if that happens, the game is over. Right. Because that's playing right into the Steelers hand.

Starting point is 00:25:16 If it's close, let's say it's 55-45 Pittsburgh. Well, then you can get by with that from a physicality standpoint. So you need to match. Coaches always said, we need to match their physicality. Well, sure. But one team is going to have the edge a little bit over the other. If it's close there, I think it gives the Bengals a chance. I mentioned it earlier.

Starting point is 00:25:36 They have to start fast. And that's super cliche. But like they've been so bad in the first half. like it's almost not a cliche now it's like a must do thing because they're they're just constantly trailing and playing behind the eight ball they had one lead i think in the first half of the jake browning slash now joe flacco era and it was three nothing in denver when they probably should have went for it for the touchdown on monday night football in their first possession they settled for a 22-yard field goal and it felt like a win for denver so that's a huge key i think

Starting point is 00:26:10 we've talked a lot about Jamar Chase and T. Higgins. Mike Gassicki's out. He was put on injured reserve. He's dealing with a pectoral injury. He suffered the other day. The other weapons, Andre Yosovash had some drops the other day. That can't happen.

Starting point is 00:26:24 Noah Fant has to be a big part of what they do on offense. Chase Brown, same thing. Whether it's catching passes, whether it's running between the tackles, whether it's a pitch to the outside, whatever it is, they need to get some of these other guys involved because the Steelers are going to do everything they can

Starting point is 00:26:39 to try to stop Jamar Chase and everything they can to try to contain T. Higgins and make someone else beat them. And so that's a huge factor. And then quickly on defense, one, you can't let the Steelers run the ball. And they let the Packers run the ball last week. If you do that, it's going to be really tough. So make sure the run doesn't beat you. And then when you're in third and long, cause some chaos, get some tackles for loss, get some plays like that. So they're not in the third in short scenarios where Aaron Rogers just can kind of be a 41 year old quarterback where he's seen everything there is to see and diagnose it and make the right read. It's a tall task. I think the Steelers, they haven't, I'm not sure they've wowed anyone and no one's picking

Starting point is 00:27:24 them to win the AFC right now or anything, but I just think they're pretty complete and they're well coached and it's going to be a tough game. And they're finding their rhythm. Like the Steelers came into this game. One or anything. of the season wanting to be a more physical team. They wanted to see the offensive line take steps forward. They wanted to see the defense take step forward. They wanted the defense to be more aggressive. And in the first couple weeks, there was a lot of questions because

Starting point is 00:27:47 they barely squeaked by the Jets, which still it's insane when you look back at it and see how many touchdowns they actually threw in that game. And then you lose to the Seahawks in, you know, some improbable fashion of the things that you do there. But then you start to clean things up week by week. And you see the O line slowly getting better. And you see the D line

Starting point is 00:28:03 getting better. The run defense is picking up. And then in the pass rush is starting to get active. Like that's where I think that the, the Steelers are building to, to get back to being pretty consistent in doing that in all phases. And if the Steelers, like you said, starting fast is huge because the Steelers, that's when they started racking up their sacks on Dylan Gabriel, was when they were, when they got the Browns down big and they had to commit to passing, to passing downfield and force them to look, that's where bad things started to happen.

Starting point is 00:28:30 And if the Steelers defensive front is able to beat up on the, on the, on the Bengals offensive line, Joe, Joe Flaggill is going to need to get the, a ball out quickly and nowhere to get the ball out quickly because the Steelers, even though they're blitzing more, they still have a lot of aggressive coverage packages as well trying to get you to make mistakes. I think that's going to be a big thing to watch this week is can the Bengals get going early to neutralize that factor and force the Steelers to kind of have to play guessing games for most of the contest.

Starting point is 00:28:59 Another thing here, injury-wise, we're recording this right before the injury report, game status report comes out. Hendrickson, his status, I would say he's in doubt. Wouldn't completely roll it out, but by the time you listen or listen to this or watch this, he may be ruled out for Thursday night football. Don't count it out. He may also play. I think it's tough to predict with Trey because he's really tough, and I think he's going to do everything he can to play, but he just might not be able to own a short week. Shamar Stewart will play, and they need him, regardless of Trey's status, to create some chaos. and they don't have many

Starting point is 00:29:35 havoc creators, chaos creators on defense right now. That's one guy that needs to be that, whether it's against the run or in pass rush situation. So it's a tough ass, Chris, but I think this is going to be I do think it's going to be a close game. Both teams have a ton, a ton

Starting point is 00:29:51 on the line, and I'm excited to watch it. I'm excited too. This is going to be really interesting. I've been saying all week and really all year since the schedule released that like, oh, the divisional road AFC North game on Thursday night. That's the curse that Mike Tomlin has never broken, but could the unstoppable force meet the immovable object? The Steelers typically are pretty good in prime time against the Bengals.

Starting point is 00:30:11 Aaron Rogers also pretty good on Thursday night football. Can those factors offset something the Steelers have not been able to do greater? They've also never played. It's crazy. I look this up, James. The Steelers have never played the Bengals on Thursday night football in Cincinnati. This is the first time. They've only even played, I think, once in Pittsburgh on Thursday night football, which is kind of weird when you look back in all the long history that these teams have together.

Starting point is 00:30:32 since that became a thing in 2006. But to me, that's a big thing here is they got to slay that drag. Yeah, it's, will the Bengals keep their season alive, or will the Steelers say, hey, we're going to take the North. Regardless, we're going to have you covered on Locked on Steelers, Locked on Bengals. So make sure you check us out, and we'll talk to you after the game. For Chris Carter, I'm James Irpene. Thank you so much for watching and listening to a special locked-on crossover,

Starting point is 00:31:01 locked on Bengals, Locked on Steelers. Thank you.

Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - What The Bengals MUST DO to Beat Steelers on Thursday Night Football

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