Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Will Cincinnati Bengals Make ANOTHER Trade?

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Bengals make one trade. They win one game and suddenly, should they be buyers to try to fix their defense? Let's break it down. 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. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Jake Liscoe.

Starting point is 00:00:32 He is James Rapine and we've been covering your Cincinnati Bengals here on Lockdown Bengals and sometimes elsewhere since at least 2016, if not longer in the case of both of us. And that makes Lockdown Bengals your best one-stop shop anywhere on the internet for all things, Bengals, whether it's analysis, whether it's game tape, breakdown, whether it's speculating about trade ideas, whether it's draft and draft season. This is your spot. The everydayers know that if you've been with us for multiple years, we appreciate the everydayers have been with us for a long time. and those of you who make locked on Bengals your first listen.

Starting point is 00:01:06 Today we dive into a mailbag that's going to start with the topic of should the Bengals be exploring other trades specifically, for the most part, people interested about the defensive side of the ball for some of those trade ideas. Today's episode is brought to you by Fandle, where new customers get at $5, and if that bet wins, you'll get $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. And many people asked the question that will drive our first topic today, James.

Starting point is 00:01:32 It was also Chaston Scott on Twitter, many of our Lockdown Bengals insider subscribers to join to subtext.com slash lockdown Bengals. Essentially the question is, do we think the Bengals are in it for another trade, the Joe Flacco trade, another in-season trade. This is back-to-back years now, the Bengals we talked last year about how rarely they make in-season trades. But there's a reference to the cornerback swap that the Browns and Jaguires made. And Cam Taylor Britt, obviously in the doghouse and discussed as a change of scenery, potential trade candidate, or Jermaine Burton has been active yet this year. McKinley Jackson's hardly been active. Last year's third round picks, Logan Wilson,

Starting point is 00:02:10 now officially second on the depth chart that the Bengals put out this week. A lot of trade candidates, again, most of those on the defensive side of the ball, and they seem to need a lot of help on defense where they're currently the last ranked team by EPA per play and by DVOA on defense in the league. Yes. Look, I hope the Bengals give us or give themselves a reason, certainly give us a reason, but give themselves a reason to be buyers. And they put themselves in position to realistically get back there, but they still have to get back there.

Starting point is 00:02:42 And the beauty is they have two more games, winnable games at home, between now and that November 4th trade deadline. And so I hope they add. And that's where they have to earn, almost earn the opportunity. Like if you're, I don't know, Trey Hendrickson, right? And everyone's talking about trading tray and all that stuff nationally. That's not happening. But if you want some help, you know how you get that help by ball in the next two weeks, by getting to five and four.

Starting point is 00:03:12 And obviously it starts with the Jets and getting back to 500. That's where it's at. And I think if they're sitting there and that's the case, obviously we're going to tackle the topic of, and this is the first of multiple times between now and the deadline, that we discuss it one way or another, right? And so hopefully they give themselves enough of a boost here where the front office is like, yeah, we should go at. We should go get a corner. We should go kick the tires on this veteran and see if we can bring him here to bolster the pass rush or this player that's going to do whatever.

Starting point is 00:03:48 Like whoever you think, yeah, let's go get that guy. And the other reason why I think it's semi-realistic, Jake, that they would go that route. think about all the additions they've made over the last three months. And I say three months because Noah Fant was late July. All of these guys are helping now. Like they're all helping in a huge way. Obviously, Joe Flack is the most recent. But if you want to look at Mike Pennell right before the season started,

Starting point is 00:04:16 obviously you get Dalton Reisner, even closer to it or right around the same time. But he wasn't in a training camp. And all of them now are either starting, should say, start or carrying some kind of huge responsibility when it comes to this team and they matter. And so that's where I'm at is I'm like, all right, if you've seen it work, maybe you do it again. And the Bengals have been risk adverse. They don't want to give up picks, all of those things.

Starting point is 00:04:47 Maybe it changes a little bit if they can win a few more games here ahead of that deadline. Well, and they found the picks flop trade for Flacco, right? And so it's not giving up a full pick. It's dropping probably around. we'll see how the season shakes out, right? But then there are these ideas of potential player trades that we have seen around the league, that the Bengals have these guys that are high draft pedigree players that I don't think Jermaine Burton has much trade value.

Starting point is 00:05:15 I don't think McKinley Jackson has much trade value. But there's a possibility that Cam Taylor Britt could be part of a trade that maybe also involves a pick swap, that maybe also involves a player in a similar situation. elsewhere where it's like take a couple of guys that need to change a scenery can that help you can you be the right change scenery for a player on another team where maybe that's the argument for trading cam taylor brit and i'm not sure if that's going to be the path the bengals take with cam taylor brit maybe he earns his way back onto the field we've seen that story play out with this team before we saw that story play out with dj turner this year where he wasn't

Starting point is 00:05:52 starting at the beginning of the year and very quickly earned his way and is now the bengals CV-1, and I don't think that's much of a debate, but the Bengals defense needs a lot of help. It seems even, you know, assuming Trey Hendrickson gets back, assuming that we start to see some development from Samar Stewart, who is still very much a bull in a China shop and is still trying to figure out where that, you know, what exactly is happening sometimes it seems like with him and where exactly he should be deploying those elite physical tools that do pop when you see them, but need some help in the pass rush, need some help at all levels. We just spent a lot of time James talking about how there is this three-level problem in the

Starting point is 00:06:34 Bengals defense to the point that people are asking about, like, hey, are they going to try something else in safety? And that's something that we might discuss later in this episode. But Jordan Schultz specifically pointing out a couple of teams that could be sellers, including the Bengals Week 8 opponent, the New York Jets, and some names on that team that can help you include Will McDonald as a pass rusher, one of the Jets better pass rushers this year, as he has developed a little bit there. But then the Dolphins, Bradley Chubb, Jalen Phillips, a couple of other edge rushers.

Starting point is 00:07:05 I don't know what the price would be for any of those guys. But if you're looking at kicking the tires and you're looking at finding players, it can help be Quincy Williams and other player on the Jets that I think could help you on defense if you're the Cincinnati Bengals. We saw how good Quincy Williams can be against the Bengals a couple of years ago. and he's been a player that's really developed at linebacker for the Jets. So there are some guys out there on bad teams that you can potentially think about trading for. And you could potentially think about trading some players in this to make it so you're not just straight up giving up draft picks.

Starting point is 00:07:41 But I think you make a great point that you got to win the next couple of weeks. And the nice thing is it's a Bengals should have a real good idea of where they are by the trade deadline. The trade deadline November 4th, they've got this. week's game against the Jets, next week game against the Bears. And if you're going to win those games, that's a much different place. And if they lose those games, say, then maybe we are visiting the trade trade conversation if they're three and six at that point. If they lose, no wins, New York Jets, and then can't beat the Bears and the following me.

Starting point is 00:08:15 The conversation, the tone shifts entirely, right? But if they can win those games, then you're in a position where you can really consider okay, what can we do to give ourselves more of a shot now that the schedule is getting tougher, which it does after those couple of games. Yeah, it's they've earned their chance, their opportunity to jumpstart their season now. And they have to do that by beating the Jets. Like it's last week was a must win against the Steelers. This is a better win.

Starting point is 00:08:43 And you better win the game. And if you do that, even if you lose to the Bears, so there you go. Like let's just say you're four and five at the deadline. I'm still okay with looking and seeing what's out there to add. They're not going to give up a first round pick, right, for whatever. Like, it's just, it's unrealistic to that it's going to happen. The Max Crosby parade out there, for example. Yeah, like, of course you'd love to have Max Crosby, right?

Starting point is 00:09:09 I'll give you another one, Jeffrey Simmons, who I think will be available. I know there's all this smoke and all the Titans don't want. Why in the hell would you keep Jeffrey Simmons if you're the Titans right now? He's going to be 29. Cash in. I'm not giving up a one for Jeffrey Simmons. As good as he is, I don't think that that's, one, something the Bengals will do, two, something that I would be in the market of doing as of now,

Starting point is 00:09:32 because you don't know where that pick is going to be. And that's the other element of waiting, why you should wait. But I'm hoping, Jake, that the Bengals are buyers. By the way, you mentioned Jermaine Burton. I have a quick, super random Jermaine Burton thought in what the Bengals did to McKinley Jackson and if they could do the same thing to Jermaine Burton, both third round picks last year. We'll get to that and obviously more of your questions as the mailbag continues coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by Game Time. Game Time is the app you need in your

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Starting point is 00:11:18 Download game time today. All right, Jake. let's dive into who what what i i think is going to be a bit controversial but tyler locket at least as of now is set to be released by the tennessee titans and available and i don't know if he has anything left i'm not going to pretend like i watched his 100-ish snaps with the titans i didn't call our old friend brian callahan and ask if tyler locket still got some juice left but he clearly wanted out of tennessee knowing that germane burton has been as unreliable as he has at least in the coach's eyes and has zero equity.

Starting point is 00:11:54 Is that something you would even consider? Consider, sure. I think he's a veteran minimum player. I think that it wouldn't surprise me if he lands on a practice squad with a contender somewhere with the chance to get onto a roster at this stage in his career. I am not particularly excited. But by the idea, I think that there are some bigger problems for the Bengals to tackle. For sure, no doubt.

Starting point is 00:12:20 but knowing and seeing how they've done it like that that's what i was kind of getting at is like they they go and get mike pennel and that essentially makes and ensures that mckinley jackson is going to be inactive every week and so that that's what i wonder now people are saying well germane's already inactive and i get that that's fine but to me is there a scenario where they elevate Kendrick prior over Germain if their hand is forced. And if the answer is yes, well, does Lockett give you more? Could he be that one go route guy that is single coverage? I'm thinking, what's that what's that receiver for the Colts that caught all those deep ball receiver from a few years? I get, T.Y. Hilton. He was playing for Dallas randomly. And they picked them up mid-year.

Starting point is 00:13:15 And it was just because he could, I wonder if that's something that they, he probably has a destination in mind. But if you don't believe in Jermaine Burton at all and you realize that it's over or you think you're going to try to move him for nothing because it would be, it would probably be a pick swap at best if you move Jermaine Burton. I do wonder if that's a conversation they have. I just wanted to mention it here and I'll probably have a destination in the next day or two. Tyler Lockett's your guy.

Starting point is 00:13:42 And I understand why you would want to mention. He's your guy, right? like you've been a big Tyler Lockett guy through well i mean they should have drafted him a decade ago right yeah i i don't think this isn't on the cards for the bengals but i i understand the thought it's just that's one spot where they actually have some death like yeah you're an injury way from jermaine burton being up and yeah they probably at this point probably would prefer if they had someone else besides germain burton to come up but i think that uh one you're right i don't think the probably have another.

Starting point is 00:14:13 I don't think the depth is that great. I think it's good. Like Tyler Lockett might just be washed. He wasn't very good for Tennessee this year. He's obviously long of the tooth for the NFL. So, you know. No, he might be. And I'm not saying that.

Starting point is 00:14:27 I think their depth is fine. I think they trust like four, five-ish. Like maybe they trust five, but in specific roles. And that's what's tough. And maybe they would just say, hey, Mitch Jensley could be a want. and they just and they just view they you know we know they we know they love Mitch

Starting point is 00:14:46 I was just throwing it out there because that those are the conversations that they at least should be having even if lock it is watched yeah anyways let's keep it moving I think of over another position that I could see like yeah that would really help them that I would be more like yeah maybe they would consider that but I think wide receivers so far down on their list of concerns right now I get that But Jermaine Burton is high. Let's go to an area that is concerning for some Bengals fans. And then we'll circle back to the idea that Joe Burrow could potentially return in December.

Starting point is 00:15:19 Where do the Bengals need to be for him to return? This is a question from SW48 on X on Twitter. What are the Bengals doing about safety? Is there any chance we see Tyson Anderson this year? And many, many people were asking generally like, where can the defense realistically get better? Is it even possible? My addendum would be like, is it even possible this year? for this defense to really be significantly better.

Starting point is 00:15:44 As like I said at the beginning of the show, last in DVOA right now on defense, last in EPA, I think. I need to double check that. I believe last or near the bottom in EPA per play on defense. And all the hand-wringing we had over the offense before Joe Flacco, the defense deserves, I think, a little bit of a microscope or maybe a big microscope. Like I said, we just spent an episode on it. But the question started with the safety position, James.

Starting point is 00:16:09 Yeah. One, we should see Tyson Anderson. I'll just say, I mean, I know he can tackle. I wonder, is he really going to take such a play? It's so bad that he gives up a 68-yard touchdown of Pat Friermouth. Like, it was almost so bad by Gino Stone. It was good because it gave the Bengals offense enough time. But it still shouldn't happen, right? And so, yeah, I get the frustration. I think they've been really inconsistent because, there's been times this year where Gino Stone, I think he's been solid. Jordan battles obviously flashed. And then there's been other times where you're like, Jordan, what are you doing in the mistackles? And so I don't know.

Starting point is 00:16:50 I wonder if they could just layer in. It's just like, at some point it's just like, all right, well, how about you make the freaking play because you're making these other plays and you've been in the right spot and they need to be opportunistic defensively? Like, I get all of those things. But no, I wouldn't mind seeing Tyson Anderson out there some.

Starting point is 00:17:08 So that's one. Two, where could they like realistically get better? I mean, they need some juice. Need some pass rush juice. And where do they, you're really hoping that Shamar Stewart can come on because that's the most realistic one. We've seen plenty of Miles Murphy now. It doesn't mean that the verdict is all the way in.

Starting point is 00:17:28 But I just, I think that this idea that he's going to be a game changing pass rusher this year probably have the idea already set out laid out. It's not going to be a steady pass rush because of Miles Murphy. Same thing for Joseph Osai. That doesn't mean they're not going to have good games. It doesn't mean that they're not going to be productive at times. But this anchor on the other side of Trey, I'm not sure anyone, but maybe Shomar Stewart, who's going to kick inside some, and you hope that he can give you some pass rush there.

Starting point is 00:17:58 And so that's it. Like I'm thinking, like, yeah, if Max Crosby comes, that's not happening. If Jeffrey Simmons comes, that's not happening. if you put Tyler Lockett on the edge and treat him like Mike Hilton, no, I just, it's a tough path right now. And that's what concerns me is like they're just banking on these young guys continuing to evolve and develop. And they would probably point to DJ Turner. And I'd be like, yeah, but no one else has done that really. No one else has certainly popped.

Starting point is 00:18:27 I think Dax has been solid. But there's just not a lot of these guys that have popped enough where you feel really good about the final. 11 games of the season, like, hey, they have a real shot, or what, 10 games of the season, they have a real shot here to defensively improve just internally by a significant margin. It's just been so inconsistent. And I think that's the issue here is, Gino Stone had been having a better season in general. He had been tackling better. He hadn't been making these sorts of gaff-looking plays in the back end of the secondary. And I would go so far as to say, I don't even know if it's his fault that those

Starting point is 00:19:04 touchdowns happened because he was so consistently playing so wide over D.K. Metcalfe and I'm speculating here right like maybe this is Gino Stone going off and doing his own thing a little bit because he's worried about D.K. Metcalf getting over the top. But it would also make sense to me if it's a hey D.K. Metcalf is the only guy we're worried about beating us vertically. Gino if you're on that side of the field and you get a two by two or even a two by 30, make sure you're really staying on top of D.K. Metcalf. So D.K. Metcalf isn't the guy that beats us. And so maybe he's just being coached to be that wide and trying to stay over the top of D.K. Metcalfe. I think the challenging thing with Gino Stone is, like I said, he has been,

Starting point is 00:19:51 he had been before the Steelers game, by far his worst game of the season. He had been like a relatively steady presence in the back. And he's not a game breaker by any means, but he was more or less doing his job consistently. And then on the other safety spot, you have the roller coaster that is Jordan Battle where some games are awesome and some games are like mystifying. So I think the safety conversation is hard in terms of like where does Tyson Anderson fit in

Starting point is 00:20:16 when you're looking for consistency and really this is the entire defense. And so we can wrap up the thoughts there. I have some other thoughts on like where can they hope to get better. Is that realistic to hope for this year before we get to the conditions for Joe Burrow to return, the presence of Joe Flacco as that remains a continued topic for Bengals fans that will address to finish up the show coming up next.

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Starting point is 00:21:49 While they're home favorites, and yet if you check, well, they're still third, they have the third best odds to win the AFC North. So whether you think that they're going to win the AFC North, you, well, you're still getting pretty good value there, or maybe you think that they're going to just crush. I think it's going to be Terad Taylor, by the way, Jake. Just my guess that Taylor is the one starting for the Jets on Sunday. Maybe you think they're going to crush Terad Taylor.

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Starting point is 00:22:32 What are you waiting for? Visit fandal.com and download the Fandall app today to get started. The question as to whether or not this defense can realistically improve in 2025, I think it's a depressing answer for me, James. Like you can see some improvement, but significant improvement, I think, is asking a lot. Because we've seen more than a quarter, more than a third of the season at this point, right? We've seen seven games. How much can you realistically expect to be better,

Starting point is 00:23:02 Trey Hendrickson being on the field makes the defense better, for sure. I would not expect them to be the worst defense in the NFL if Trey Hendrickson can play the rest of the year, because he's still having a pretty good year. He's still a really disruptive player. And with the offense being better, it should give him more opportunities to affect the game. Outside of that, you're looking at, like, marginal improvement as the linebackers see more live football. And they see more situations. If it continues to be, and it looks like it's going to be the case,

Starting point is 00:23:29 Barrett Carter and Demetri's night for most of the snaps on defense, then you could expect those guys to slowly improve over the course of the season. You could expect Samar Stewart to maybe show some slow development as the season goes on again as he's exposed to more situations and becomes more familiar with the speed and ways defenses or offenses are trying to attack him in the NFL. Maybe you get some improvements there, right? Maybe you get some continued improvement from Dax. But I would say that we've seen the peak of D.J. Turner, he could continue to play well.

Starting point is 00:24:02 but we've seen him just have two amazing back-to-back games. He's not going to be able to do that every week. If he does, then you're probably talking defensive player of the year candidate, and I would love that. But taking on the whole, I kind of have a glass-half empty take on the realistic probability, the probabilistic approach of how much this defense could improve. You may see them get to the low 20s if they're 32 right now, but I think it's a long way to go.

Starting point is 00:24:31 and some of this goes back to the coordinator too, where I think Al Golden is still finding his footing. And that's the other place where you could see some moderate improvement as the year goes as he finds more things that work for the guys he has and gets more used to calling the NFL game. But that's another thing that needs to be better for really the moderate improvement that I think you would hope for. Sure.

Starting point is 00:24:52 And that's why this team should all, like, whether you think Lockett plays well or not, whatever, it doesn't matter. Like, if they can add to offense ahead of the deadline and it makes them better, they should. It doesn't matter. Because there's going to be a lot of people that say, oh, we'll only do this. And they said it when the Bengals signed Noah Fant. Why do you need no offense? Well, it's why.

Starting point is 00:25:17 Like, you can never have enough. So if they can get better somewhere, it might be the difference. And there's no doubt they're flawed and they're searching on defense. and that's going to be a theme. And maybe they search right up into eight sacks on Tarad Taylor and go that route and it feels really good, right?

Starting point is 00:25:35 But we'll see. And so, yeah, I think Shamar has a chance to be really good. I want to see him consistently with Trey Hendrickson and how they use those guys. But really, outside of that, I don't think that Demetrius Knight Jr.

Starting point is 00:25:55 has this gigantic ceiling anyway. I'm not sure Barrett Carter, fourth round rookie, you're banking on him to just be amazing in the back half of the season. Could your first round pick do that? Yeah, maybe. I think Shamar Stewart's gifted enough to where he could be that disruptive. It doesn't mean he's going to end up with seven sacks or eight sacks. And that's what's tough is it's just it's hard to find the sure thing where you're going to see not just some. You said marginal improvement, significant improvement that you can bank on.

Starting point is 00:26:26 there's no we're about to talk about Joe Burrow guess what this Bengals team is a Super Bowl contender with Joe Burrow if Joe Burrow is healthy. Flaws and all, I think. If you get him back, right? On defense, who is that? Who's the guy that's going to develop into that or stumble into that and be a game changer?

Starting point is 00:26:46 They have one right now and it's Stray Hendrickson. Maybe two of DJ Turner can be consistent. And that's a painful place to be when you just don't have enough playmakers on the field. Yeah. And all of this supposes, like all this talk about the defense, which is a focus right now. The offense has been really bad this year, too. It's just they're coming off a good game. The Steelers' defense has been bad this year.

Starting point is 00:27:05 So we'll see how it continues. The Jets are terrible. So this should be a game where we continue to see things go in the right direction. And if we don't, then alarm bells everywhere, right? But it should be a game where the Bengals can continue to start to continue to write some things. But they've played a relatively tough schedule. that definitely has had an impact on things. Joe Flacco continuing to play well, though.

Starting point is 00:27:30 Like, that's a big question. As we're talking about the Bengals being buyers and the defense getting better, how long does Joe Flacco play at the level that he's played at in the last six quarters for the Bengals? It's the other question because we've seen him in recent years of his career, get to teams, have nice starts, play consistent football, and then not necessarily be able to maintain that. So that is the other question is we have a pretty limited sample size with Flacco so far. But there are questions about the return of Joe Burrow and Ian Rappapur saying that the mid-December timeline is still potentially on the table, maybe last two, three games of the season.

Starting point is 00:28:11 So Matthew Duffy and others have asked questions about like, what record do the Bengals need to have for Burrow to actually get back on the field this year? And say it is, you know, December 21st, Miami at that point in time, last three games of the season. And further, a lot of people have asked this question, if they're doing really well with Flacco, do they let Burrow practice longer or take more time or just roll with Flacco if Flacco's having a crazy season at that point. Great problem to have. Hope they have it. Hope they have it. Hope Flacko is so good that they're like, what do you mean? That's Joe. I think there was a question about like MVP votes for Flacko. I mean, let's just chill out. Just beat the Jets.

Starting point is 00:28:55 Let's just start there. Just get the four and four. To be fair to that person, it was like a big if. Like if flag, you know, but. Yeah. If he doesn't throw another interception and they win every game from here on out, then sure. He's 2 and 0, 5 touchdowns, no picks.

Starting point is 00:29:14 I mean, he's playing great. There's no doubt. But to your point, by the way, regardless of how he plays, on Sunday. They better beat the Jets. Anyways, really what you're asking and you're looking at here when it comes to Joe Burrow is, when is he healthy enough and are they still in it to activate that practice window? It's a 21-day window and it will happen well before, well before he plays. Like they wouldn't activate that and then, I don't think, on a Wednesday and then play him Sunday unless he can get enough work in where he feels good to do it that way. I don't think

Starting point is 00:29:48 they would do that. Not that he's going to get a ton of reps in practice. And so maybe that would be the argument. But I would assume that if the plan for him to come back, let's just use the Miami example, December 21st on Sunday night football. There's no way that stays Sunday night, by the way. I mean, unless it's Joe Burroughs return, I guess. But against the dolphins, you look at it and it's like, all right, well, you're making that decision then after that Thanksgiving game against the Ravens somewhere in there is when you want to get him activated, I would say, and get him doing more. Because that's it. You want to get him on the practice field, even if he's doing individual work and doing it that way. So I do wonder, I wonder if they have a, they're three and four now,

Starting point is 00:30:36 if you're somehow, let's just say you're six and six after the Ravens game. And you have five games left, that first Ravens game. Do you have the discussion then of all right, well, he's ramping up? Should we push a little farther? Not that he would be cleared to play, but there's definitely a difference. And I think Joe would say, hey, I'll, I can throw it now. Let's take some reps here. I wonder. I wonder when when the plan is for him to get ramped up. And it would probably be around probably right after that Thanksgiving day, Thanksgiving night game against the Ravens. Yeah, it's very interesting. You would think they would have to still be, well, you wouldn't think.

Starting point is 00:31:17 They definitely still have to be in the mix, right? Right now, there are two AFC teams at four and three that are the six and seven seed if the season were to end today. The Kansas City Chiefs actually on the outside looking in at the season were to end today in the tiebreaker situation at four and three. The Bengals right behind the chiefs at three and four. So the trajectory of the AFC this year is there is no. of runaway team, the Colts might be legitimate. Who knows, maybe the Patriots and Drake May, Drake May for some people, is an MVP candidate right now. And maybe that's the top of the AFC. Maybe the bills figured out, the Kansas City Chief certainly seem to be figuring it out.

Starting point is 00:31:56 The chargers are going in the wrong direction. The Jaguars are going in the wrong direction. So I think we're going to see that the Ravens deal with a much easier schedule, especially if Lamar Jackson gets healthy. Big question for them this week because they play. a decent team in the Bears this week. And if they don't get Lamar back, that's staring one in six in the face. And then you have decisions to make if you're Baltimore. But if you're the Bengals,

Starting point is 00:32:25 where you haven't really shown that you're a good football team or a consistent football team on both sides of the field this year, if you can get a couple of games here, you probably need to be within, what, two games of 500 by then? Because my thought is if you're six and eight, even if you're 6 and 8 by the time Joe Burrow can return to play. Their last three games on the schedule, which we just talked about, start with Miami, Miami, Arizona, and Cleveland to finish the year.

Starting point is 00:32:54 If you can get Joe Burrow back and win those games and get to 9 and 8, that might be good enough to sneak into the playoffs this year. Tiebreakers, big question, but the Bengals actually have decent tiebreakers this year, three and one in the conference, 2 and 0 in the division, despite being 3 and 4 overall. the AFC losing a bunch of games of the NFC, so that's not terribly surprising that Bengals part of that problem.

Starting point is 00:33:15 But I think that's what it would take, right? Is if Burrow can return and if you win out, you have a good shot at making the playoffs or any shot of making the playoffs realistically, knowing the way they think, I think that's where you would see Burrow return late in the year. But can't rush them back with this injury. If you do, the risk of re-injury is much too high.

Starting point is 00:33:36 And we really don't have significant. on the on the recovery other than Ian Rappaport saying there have been no setback so far but if he's still in a boot not much of an opportunity for setbacks and he was still on the boot on the sideline or was in the boot I guess we should say on the sideline on Thursday night football and the thing I would wonder is is that because he's on the sideline because he's going to be on his feet for that long and you know he's going to be standing sitting you know like I don't think he's wearing that all the time now and And it's such a unique spot because for me, I don't want to, and it's not like you see Joe

Starting point is 00:34:15 a ton in the locker room, but you don't want to pester his teammates about it. So you really got to read between the lines, around the lines, and everywhere in between. And that's why that first week, by, he got, he gets hard on Sunday, by like that Wednesday, it's like, oh, yeah, he's definitely, definitely plans on coming back this year, like, because you could just kind of read around it. And so I would say whatever national. say we're saying the Miami game, I bet he's trying to target that Ravens game, that second Ravens game is when he wants to come back or maybe even sooner. You never know with Joe.

Starting point is 00:34:47 So hopefully he gets the opportunity. Hopefully they get the opportunity to be buyers. And there we go. I would love for the defense to add a guy and then the offense to add, well, the guy in the second half of the season. That'd be pretty fun. Yeah, it'll be fun. Hopefully that's the way things go and that's what we can talk about. There's work to do. Like we talked about yesterday, there's a lot that needs to happen for the, the Bengals to get there. The way this thing could go though, you can you can kind of see the way it could play out and could be very dramatic. Second half of the season here, the Bengals about to play their eighth game already. Seasons flying by. That's how the football season tends to go, I guess,

Starting point is 00:35:24 hey? That's going to do it for this episode of the Locktown Bengals podcast. We've got your crossover coming up tomorrow. We've got a game preview. The Bengals mini buy in the books first of potentially two, well, I guess exactly two mini-bys for the Bengals this year. Until next, time. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Locktime Bengals podcast. Today and have a good one.

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