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Breakout PLAN: Can Joe Burrow and Bengals DEFY Slow Starts With Unscouted Play Action Offense?

About this episode

Fast starts are always a topic at this time of year for the Cincinnati Bengals, but this year play-action tweaks could give them an edge they've lacked in the past. Joe Burrow and Zac Taylor’s retooled offense faces tough tests out of the gate, including the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Houston Texans, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Jacksonville Jaguars. Run-game success could be pivotal as under-center offense folds into the Bengals' identity.

Jake Liscow and Joe Goodberry dissect the Bengals’ history of slow starts, weigh the risks of new offensive wrinkles, and break down looming AFC North threats from the Ravens and Steelers. Will Cincinnati’s approach finally break the September curse?

Photo Credits: Sam Greene

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Breakout PLAN: Can Joe Burrow and Bengals DEFY Slow Starts With Unscouted Play Action Offense?

Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals

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Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati BengalsBreakout PLAN: Can Joe Burrow and Bengals DEFY Slow Starts With Unscouted Play Action Offense?. Machine-transcribed; use the interactive transcript above to jump the player to any line.

This is the Lockdown Podcast Network celebrating 10 years of your team every day. Today's episode is brought to you by the Dell XPS. I'm Wes Goldberg from Lockdown NBA Daily and Lockdown Heat. So what does it feel like to have a better laptop like the Dell XPS powered by Intel Core? With a premium design that's thin and light, it feels smooth. With a responsive touch screen, it feels fast and precise. And with long lasting battery life, it feels like non-stop energy with a laptop that can keep up. Built for those who want better, the Dell XPS. Built for you. The NFL season is finally here and Lockdown NFL is covering every second of it. You can find us breaking down all the action on Amazon music every single day with bold takes and real analysis that matters. Breaking day storylines, roster moves. If it's happening with your team, we're on it. No waiting, no fluff.

Subscribe on Amazon music and never miss a snap. You are locked on Bengals. You're daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast. Part of the Lockdown podcast network. Your team every day. What up, Bengals fans and welcome to another episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. He's Joe Goodberg. I'm Jake Lisco. We are locked on Bengals and with the Tampa Bay Buckingeers right around the corner. It's our last chance to take a look at some of the big picture topics, the stark fast topic, the final thoughts around the play action and corporation into the playbook. We haven't really looked around the AFC North at all this off season.

We know the Baltimore is out there, Pittsburgh is out there. We'll finish the show there a little bit later. We're going to start with this idea that we've talked about for a couple of months now. Maybe this play action thing can just help get them through the first couple of weeks of the season and we'll do that. And so brought to the people by CalSheep for a limited time on the CalSheep app. Use code Lockdown. You'll get $10 when you trade $10. Joe, this is an idea that I think I floated to you over a month ago now. That is maybe it's just an antidote to slow starts where sometimes it takes Joe Burl and Zach Taylor a few minutes to figure out what's going on in the NFL, what teams are doing against them this year, what's going to be the most efficient way for them to go about doing their offense. And when you look at the history and the trends, you know that the Bengals offense in the first couple of weeks is not as good as the Bengals offense, the rest of the season. There's proof statistically of that. And so the thought is, well, maybe they can be like all these other play action offenses around the NFL and maybe it's not a permanent, deep thing for the offense.

Maybe it's just a way for them to start fast. Yeah. And the hypothesis there is that one of the truths we believe to be true or one of the things about the NFL that we believe to be true is that the defenses start faster than off fences, right? It happens in camp every year. You often see it in preseason as D lines are beating up on these old lines trying to gel. And then that carries in the first month, typically around the league. You'll numbers are typically down, fantasy numbers are down, EPA per play is down. And then that all starts to really build up into October, November and then December, a lot of times the bad weather can neutralize that a little bit. And then we, you know, all systems go into the playoffs. So if that is true, the defenses are ahead. That makes sense why the Bengals struggle the way they do early in September with their straight dropback passing and just asking their players to win one on one, right? That's the idea with this Bengals offense is they're very static. In past years, not a lot of motion, very spread out. They've done more motion. They've gotten more condensed.

They've gone to more 12 personnel, two tight ends lately. They were 10th most last year. If you count Micasek is a tight end. They got under center a little bit more last year than they did the previous couple years since it started being straight shot gun in 2022. So the idea that if the way to combat the defenses that are ready for you in September is that you get under center, you run the ball a little bit more. You don't put it directly on Joe Burrow shoulders. You try to trick the defense a little bit more with misdirection, with play action, a little bit more motion, maybe some jet motion, maybe some crossing stuff and over the middle stuff that you don't typically do later in the season. You try to be a little bit different of an offense. I think that idea is correct here. That's how I'd want this team to attack. I think there's two things about it. Jake number one, getting the fast start to be not a thing this year. But number two, if it's Burrow, because a lot of this gets confused, I think Burrow kind of sometimes gets away with the fast start thing where it's always been injured or they're

playing the Browns, which they have a couple times, or Zach Taylor doesn't have him ready, whatever. I think Zach Taylor takes the brunt of it. But Burrow hasn't been good in the first two weeks of his career. So maybe we take a little bit less off of him and not make him be that elite quarterback every single play every down. And maybe we accept it this time and say, okay, Chase Brown running game weapons, you guys take over. And something that we're going to talk about in a couple of minutes is how difficult the early part of the schedule is and some of the toughest defenses are going to face are in the first four weeks of the season. And that's based on what they did statistically last season and based on what the expectations are around those teams this year. And we'll get to that in a couple of minutes. But if there is a way for you to put something more challenging on tape for those teams, especially the Texans I'm thinking about, like, you want to be static against the Texans defense, which also pretty static to be fair. But they do that because they think they can beat your guys because they can go toe to toe with you the way that the Browns think that they can go toe to toe with you in the

last few years of the Jim Schwartz era. The Texans are doing that with everybody in the NFL. Somebody posted a stat about Josh Allen and his worst games have come as worse, like two out of his three worst games as a quarterback came against the Houston Texans. I think that's probably true for a lot of quarterbacks in the last couple of years with that defense. But if you can accomplish a couple of things by changing your approach to the first couple of weeks, there is an opportunity for you to put a bunch of unscattered looks out there for opposing teams that they haven't seen you do for the last six, seven years with Joe Burrow's actor, Larry Cincinnati. There's an opportunity for you. As you said, Joe, take a little bit off of Joe Burrow's plate. Not as much get everybody into the best look on every single play. Let's do something to dial something up. Let's sequence some stuff together. Let's have some nice plays. We think are going to generate chunks because we're going to set them up in a certain way. And it can just steal some points, steal some wins, steal some explosive plays. If you can execute them, obviously there's a risk to all of this, which is what if they're

just not good at it? What question is something that will probably get answered pretty quick? And if they're not good at it for long enough and we'll see how long the leash is, this is a question, Joe, that we've asked them, they'll just go back to doing the things they did before. But if you can put the unscattered looks out there, steal some explosive plays, maybe steal some wins. Put those reps under your belt for later in the season when maybe it won't need to be something that you lean on as much. But now you've got the confidence in it and you've got the reps in it, then you can incorporate it more seamlessly in your offense in the future. There are a lot of potential advantages that can come out of this. But the risk is there too that it just kind of falls flat on its face in some of these games that come against the tough opponents early in the season. I think the unscattered looks is the other point I was going to get to when I said, you know, it takes them off of Burrow. The other part is because of how long this offense has been together and not just the players, the coaching staff, they're one of the longest 10-year coaching staffs in the league now, it's easier to prepare for them. These are teams that start preparing, what was it Jacob Parrish, the slot corner for the

Bucks, that he started doing this after OTAs. So late spring, early summer, he started preparing to look at what the Bengals do on offense and watch tape. They're preparing all off season for you. And when you've been the same staff and same team, they have changed a lot over the years, but still I think you can clean a lot of expectation for what you think they're going to do. And that's really what it is. You're trying to call plays based on what you think. The other team is going to do. I think the Bengals are pretty easy to build a game plan against because they have obvious strengths and weaknesses. I think that's part of it as well. So if you're doing all of these things, or at least letting it out there in the reports of Ben and like national media has picked up on it too, that the Bengals are under center and spending a lot of time under center. This just isn't a phase. They want this to be an identity. They want this to be one of the pieces of the offense. They can really lean into. Well, then the bucks have to prepare for it. The Texans have to prepare for it. And I think that adds a no other layer that you couldn't manufacture any other way with

a coaching staff and a lot of its players that have been in the system for so long. And the reality of things as well to me is that you need to run the ball well for the Bengals to stick with this stuff. If you have run game under center, we'll probably need to work. I think it's probably more true for the Bengals. And I'll be curious to see how this plays out this year than other teams in the NFL that you need to actually establish a run for the play action game to work. We have a bunch of statistical evidence that that's not true for the entire NFL on the whole that you can go play action under center and generate explosive plays. Even if you're not running the ball well, there's enough evidence that supports that statement that I believe is true. I don't believe it's true for the Bengals where teams are going to sell out against the past for the Bengals. And when you give them those play action looks, you need to give them enough eye candy, enough reason to actually believe it. I think more than other teams where it's harder for the Bengals to affect unblocked offensive ends on the backside of a bootleg or even linebackers who I remember looking at film and

seeing them essentially laughing at the Bengals play action and getting right back to their spot drops in zone and not even hesitating for a second and doing so. So I do think it's a bit of a tougher task for the Bengals. And I think the run game will be pretty important for these early games and the opponents are going to be pretty important for these early games too. Some of the, as we said earlier in the show, Joe, tougher opponents on the Bengal schedule coming in that early part of the season will discuss how that looks and what it looks like after that tough stretch coming up next. Over the days episode comes from a quote that spelled Q U O the business phone system built so you never miss a call because for businesses every call can be an opportunity missing one can mean missing a customer. Quote brings calls, texts and voicemails together in one place. So teams can see the full conversation, respond quickly and say organized and it can be set up in minutes on any device so you can keep an existing number and add teammates as your business grows. Quote helps businesses stay reachable and professional without being complex and it has an optional AI agent for after hours call so businesses can answer questions and book appointments

even when the team is off line offline. I know you out there like me have tried to call a business for help with an issue whether it's a window that's broken or you need some power cleaning done or some landscaping help and if they miss your call, you're probably moving on to the next one on the list and quote will keep calls, texts and voicemails organized. So your team has a better chance to respond quickly and keep that customer. Please on the line so you can always say hello with quote, tri quote for free plus get 20% off your first six months. We go to quote.com slash locked on NFL. It's q o dot com slash locked on NFL. Welcome to your most rewarding NFL season ever only on Fandall how rewarding are we talking more rewarding than a touchdown with time expiring just as long as they don't miss the extra point right after more rewarding than an 18 point comeback as long as it's not to come back and lose out on picking Joe burrow. We don't want that maybe even more rewarding than an old lineman catching a touchdown. Almost had that with Cody Ford last year.

This season, Fandall is making the excitement go beyond what happens on the field with the all new Fandall rewards club featuring exclusive offers, surprises and more every week. Check out the Fandall app to see what's waiting for you as they've got a ton of things planned a lot of rewards and they're really selling this thing as like they're going to be giving back to the people this season on Fandall make this your most rewarding season ever with Fandall visit fandall.com to get started today. Jake, you brought up the run game and how it has to be effective. I completely agree as you were saying that I started to bring up our old notes and some of our data that we had we did a show mid summer. I had to be in June, I think, about the under center and really why the Bengals want to do this and get good at it because the numbers for burrow under center are not very good using play action. They're not very good. I mean, he's one of the few quarterbacks where everything comes back down to earth a little bit for him when he's using this. But for the Bengals under center last year, the run game was very effective. The average 4.3 yards per carry, which was up from a 3.4 in 2024 under center.

So they went a full yard up. Their EPA was the best they've had of if we break down under center versus shotgun and pistol of the last two years. So you've got four data sets under center in 2025 was their best EPA per play and they were one of the most explosive teams running from under center last year. So yes, if they can start that way, maybe defenses don't respect it, right? That's a big thing. The box maybe the box will like, hey, we're worried about Joe Burrow, which is our chase, let chase brown run. And then he has a big game like I would be in on chase brown early in fantasy this year because it feels like the Bengals are actually going to do it. I agree. Will it be effective? It was last year. So will it be effective from the start? We'll find out. What's the leash look like and when do they pull the rug on this thing? If it's not good, I think that's one of the things I'm very interested in because I like last year. Think of the first scripted plays against the browns, right? That was a very under center play action focus at no offense. The run game up the middle. I got everything look good. They run down. They score and we're like, oh, yeah, let's go. This is going to be good.

And then they hit a what was it? A play action jumbo set to no offense at the goal line. I think was that first touchdown and that could be Eric all this year. People are going to go bananas like this offense. Here it is. Let's go. And then they were shocked on the rest of the way because nothing else worked for them. So how quickly against this box team against this Texans team? I don't want to look too far ahead. But we are talking more about fast starts here in September. That first part of the schedule here is really tough. It's also something that the Bengals have done in recent years where they will go to some of this more designer stuff on their scripted plays. And then as soon as it's live bullets out there, you don't get to do exactly what you have planned for your first 10, 12 plays of the game. Then they're just doing what they do. We're going to get back in the shotgun. Maybe one out of every 10 plays will get out of, we'll get under center. And that's probably pretty generous. Probably more like one out of 15, one out of 20. We'll see if that's any different this year with the point of emphasis that they put on it in the regular season. The other thing that I'm thinking about is you're talking about Chase Brown and potentially a fast fantasy start is, yeah, we talked a lot about how good Dexter Lawrence is.

Vita Bay is right there. Yeah. And of all the teams for you to face in week one, who can sell out against the pass and still deal with the run effectively with the light box, think DJ Vita and his prime. That's what Vita Bay does for the Tampa Bay Buck and years. And so this is a team that when they're healthy, I think, is underrated. They are healthy right now. Last year, they were really, I think, affected by injuries. They fell off down the stretch. They couldn't keep things up. They also were dealing with the transition away from Liam Cohen, who's shown to be a really good coordinator. The Bengals will see in week four instead of week one, after he left Tampa to go coach the Jaguars and really seem to figure things out there last year. But when we look at those first four weeks of opponents, bucks, Texans, Steelers, Jaguars, then they get the dolphins. Yeah. So can you get to those first four weeks? Can you start fast enough in those first four weeks against two of the best past defenses based on 20, 25 passivating that they're going to face this entire season.

That's the Texas and the Jaguars. Can they get out of those games? Okay. And get to the dolphins game in that by week in good shape. This is their toughest stretch. I think of the entire season is these four games. You can make the argument later when they have the chiefs, you know, they've got the Ravens in on New Year's Eve. That may be the toughest. But the Ravens are going to have to. Depending on what the Ravens look like this year. I expect the Chiefs to be. Depending on the shape. Oh, yeah. If I had to bet, this is going off a little bit, but I bet the Ravens would be better than the Chiefs this year. Take clip at Chiefs fans, go ahead. But I just expect that I, Lamar has been too good where moms is a kind of Peter off a little bit. But you have these four games that are tough to start out of the blocks. The box, the Texans, the Steelers, we'll see how good they actually are, but it's a division matchup and they've got enough quality players. Their defense is really good. Plus they've added to it in free agency. And then you have the Jags. That's a four tough stretch. And the Jags were a lot better than you think last year. When I use quarterback rating and passer rating for the offense versus defense, the Jags

defense allowed a 78.5 pass rating on defense last year. I think that was number two only behind the Texans. And just ahead of the Broncos, they affect the quarterback big time. Now we'll see if that continues. We'll see if that's more of a blip or a trend for them, if we're going to be under Liam Cohen. But that is a, that was a tough team last year. We'll see if the Jags are again. We have the dolphins by week and then Ravens. So you could say five of the first six are games that they're going to have to scrap out. And maybe when they saw this schedule, they were talking about getting under center creating explosives before that, right? But when the schedule came out, I wonder if they saw this and they were like, yes, let's really nail it home and get good at this stuff and make it a page in the playbook we can absolutely go to whenever we need to, lighten the game early in the game, middle of the game with, let's say burrow struggling to start. You start with a drop back. We're going to throw the ball 40 times a game against the Patriots and three degree weather. Remember that game? And maybe burrow struggles and they say, all right, instead, let's switch to the run game. Let's get under center. Let's use this play action. They want it to be a piece they can actually use and it's different than years past where

it felt like, let's try this. You let's see what happens here. And I will go back to throw on the ball after the first opening script drive. It feels like this is going to be something that if they come out of this and I expect these to be dog fights and coin flip type games because the Bengals do start slow. I'm trying to put, you know, some of that in baked into my bias here. But if it's not, if we come back and look at September, I'm trying to look at the positive and they win these games and they're under center and they're doing this, I think the hype is going to be absolutely through the roof. Jake, people are going to be on board. If they're three and one, let's say people are going to say, yeah, the Bengals and the Texans start against the bills and then the Bengals. Like if they go one, two and you win that game in week two as well, uh, yeah, that's going to knock them down defensive team and the Bengals are going to be everyone's buying. And the defense, obviously, for the Bengals is going to be part of this as well. We're very focused on the offense here because we're looking at the defensive matchups. On the other side, the defense has a favorable matchup against the Texans in week two on paper. This is an offense that since CJ Strauss rookie year hasn't really been able to figure

anything out consistently. So the defense maybe helps you win in week two and week three against the Steelers and Aaron Rodgers. I know they've added pieces on offense to a Mike McCarthy is trying to go rejuvenate Aaron Rodgers and all those things. But say let's talk about the first, what six games because that Ravens game is sitting there in week seven. That's going to be a tough one too. But if they get to four and two and then you get the Titans Falcon Steelers commander, Saints, Browns for the next few weeks. Oh, yeah. And if it's anything like Bengal scenes of years pass, they're hitting their stride right around that week seven week eight mark in ascending at that point because that's what just looks like every year under sacto. And I don't know if that's noise or if that's actually something that will be consistent. It's really hard for me in November, December. No doubt. It's just hard for me to say like whether that's like just the way it's been or if that's something that you can actually say, yeah, that's going to be the way that it will be in the future because past performances and always predict future performance.

But if it's anything like previous years have been for this team, getting through those first six games three and three, four and two, four and two is obviously very different from three and three. But even at three and three, you should feel pretty good about the Bengal chances of getting to 11 plus wins that we've been talking about for the last few weeks. And they have seen North will be a thorn in their side as well. We have to give the Browns some credit, even though they've had well, a very Browns like off season. But we'll discuss some of those threats in the ASE North as we're continuing to look around for how the Bengals can get through this stretch well to start the season and carry that into the playoffs coming up next. Before the season kicks off and as we're doing today on this podcast, everyone's making predictions. Who's going to win the division? Who's going to be the breakout player like we did a couple of days ago? Who's going to make the playoffs? Can the Bengals get to 11 wins on CalShi America's number one prediction market? You can trade those predictions in a live market. The Bengals do get to 11 wins and you make that investment at $100 trade is going to pay

out $109, $198. That's if they get to that 11 win mark on CalShi. Your trading against peers in a live market. There's no house and there's a probability changes you can buy in and out of your position trading the draft pick the game in more on CalShi. Download the CalShi app and use code locked on you get $10 when you trade $10 K L S H I CalShi trade on anything. 18 and over only restrictions and eligibility requirements supply event contract trading involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors. CalShi products are not available in all jurisdictions prices, values and available markets made differ from those mentioned for more information see CalShi.com slash regulatory. Joe a lot of people have asked over the last few months I would say about the Ravens, about the Steelers, about the Browns, about the Bengals opponents in the AFC North because this has been a huge talking point in years past. Can the Bengals win in the AFC North? That's been a problem in some years for the Bengals. They've done a lot of splitting of games in the AFC North and the surest way to get

into the playoffs is to sweep year division. I don't know if I remember I know the Bengals have done it. I don't remember what year it was. I remember it was a big deal when they did it. It was it was a Marvin Lewis year for sure. That may not be in the cards this year. I think the AFC North remains pretty good. When you look around this division, Joe, what do you think of the threats to the Bengals and the Steelers, the Ravens, the Browns this year? I using my process, I look at, again, quarterback play versus defensive play and the Ravens have typically gotten hyper efficient production out of Lamar Jackson. If that continues, now they have a first time play call it. We'll have to see. But if you look at trends of the league, elite quarterbacks tend to still be elite. Like it doesn't matter the coordinator really is and we'll have this conversation. I think we have when we talk about different coaches, you know, coming in and replacing Zach Taylor, but we're looking at this in the rest of the division now as the Browns

have a new coach, the Steelers have new coach, Ravens have a new coach. And I still expect the elite quarterbacks to be elite and I expect Lamar to still be elite. Now can the defense be better? Jesse Mentor from the Chargers. He was coordinating a fantastic defense and I didn't love all their pieces. I felt like he put everyone, he's in their places. He put the best players in position to succeed and that defense and really called good game plans. If that's the case and he carries that to Baltimore, they're going to be fine. But they do have weaknesses and exploitable holes that I think will make these games still back and forth slugfest between the Bengals and the Ravens. And the winner of those could probably decide the division. I think the Steelers equality is Mike McCarthy even good, but I'm not so sure. I will say one of the conversations that we're having today is starting fast and being different in that first month. Mike McCarthy did this with the Cowboys a few years ago. And it's when they won, I think they're number two seed. So they're a top seed in the FC.

But they started off with a lot of motion, a lot of misdirection, a lot of play action because he's known for having a stagnant offense, right? And a lot of slant flat, right combos and that's all he and air riders devolved into and the latter part of their marriage together in Green Bay. But he went to Dallas and said, Oh, yeah, I've been doing all these things. I've learned all these things about offense. That lasted four weeks, but they're very good. And those first four weeks in the offense was just okay afterwards because Mike McCarthy settled in to be in Mike McCarthy. Maybe we have the opposite this time. I wonder if he starts fast doing that or if we can see that with the Bengal starting fast and then leaning into the Burrow offense after that first month, he's just an example of it. The thing about McCarthy is that he wins games and he always has just like the Bengals under Zach Taylor and Joe Burrow have always gotten better as the season goes on. I'm not sure if that's just a product of where McCarthy's been and the team cities had, but I think that's probably also going to be true to some degree of the Steelers this year. The big difference is that he doesn't have a top tier quarter back assuming

Aaron Rogers doesn't throw it back five years or so here. But he does have a track record of considerable success on talented teams in the NFL. And I think the Steelers still have a lot of talent on the defensive side of the ball. They've added on the offense side of the ball. So there's no reason for me to think going from Mike Tomlin to Mike McCarthy that the Steelers suddenly become a team that's not going to be an in the blank thorn in the side of the Bengals. Not that I think the Steelers really have much of a shot to make a bunch of points post season noise unless one of their young quarterbacks replaces Aaron Rogers and his next coming of Tom Brady kind of thing. I just don't see it there. It will be very annoying. I just don't see it with Aaron Rogers in this offense. But I do see the Steelers once again being a team that can push the Bengals in ways that are uncomfortable and annoying. And when you look at the Ravens, the primary competition in the division, I just look at that defense because in years, what last year, last couple of years, they've had these crazy shootouts with the Ravens that have come down to

one, one turnover here, one turnover there. I think that offense is probably going to figure things out with Lamar Jackson and Derek Henry. It's just not hard to drop an offense around those guys. Maybe the offensive line is an issue. There were Ronnie Sandley's maybe aging out of the NFL. They have the turnover on the interior offensive line. And Roger Rosengarten has been a fine player right tackle. But he's not a world beater. So maybe the offensive line is of being there undue. Maybe not. I'm more focused on the defense there. And the return of Matt Abike, the addition of trade Hendrix into that defense, the health in the secondary where of all the teams in the NFL, at this point in this season to go toe to toe with the Bengals in the secondary, Nate Wiggins, Marlon Humphrey, Chidoba, Awhuzie, A Chandler River. She's been really good for them in the preseason. Should be a bangle with Kyle Hamilton and Malachi. So I'll hand it like that secondary is one that can feel reasonably confident. This probably been purpose built to deal with the Bengals, right?

And Jermar Chase torching the Ravens year after year and getting that a BK back and getting trade Hendrix and mix into the pass rush there could be a little bit problematic for the Bengals to me. When I think about the threat that the Ravens have and trade going against Orlando Brown for a bunch of pivotal past rushing staffs in a game, we'll see what trade is exactly for them. But I think he's still going to be a good past pressure for them. And the Ravens will continue to be annoying. And I think our scene is that the other potential contender in this division. And I think probably rightly so. And then that leaves us with the Browns who I think stink and absolutely are not going to be good at all this year. And in fact, this could be, I really respect the Jim Schwartz, right? And had all the respect in the world from Miles Garrett. Like we're talking, that's one of the best defense coordinators in the league. And one of the best football humans on planet Earth. Like if the aliens are coming down and they want to have like a monster's football game, Miles Garrett's the first guy we're sending out there with his shirt off, right? And we're like, this is our representation. Maybe we could scare them a little bit.

And that's the most respectful thing I could say about him. He is that good. You don't have those guys anymore. And to me, they really rode Jim Schwartz and Miles Garrett on defense. And that's why they were so good. They have other players that are quality. Don't get me wrong. I think Carson Swaychanier is great and Ken B. And I think Mason Graham can be as well. And there's others. They have other guys. But this this offense could be terrible, horrible. Their line is in a reshuffling and a rebuild. They've got rookie weapons. Let's see Harold Fanon Jr. too, where big fans of him. But is that your leading guy? Your leading target guy? You better be really good. Judd Kins looks like a good running back. Look, and it all comes back to the quarterback. And I don't think they're good at all. I think the Browns are going to be, I'm talking like two wins this year. I'm not scared anymore. I'm not scared of you anymore. I'm like, you know, home alone coming out of the house. A little baby Joe Burrow coming out. We're not scared anymore. We're not. The Bengals also don't get the Browns until very late in the season.

Week 13, week 18, no early season shenanigans up in Cleveland. No Halloween games this year. Very normal games against the Cleveland Browns this year. Or something that stood out to me when I looked at the schedule. Their rookie receivers might be pretty good. Dunso Boston and Casey Kinsepsi on. That's a no. It's probably going to be pretty good at left tackle for them. But you mentioned the rest of that offensive line in disarray quarterback in something well beyond disarray. Just absolutely food bar up there in the quarterback room. And that secondary, I feel like in years past, the secondary looked like it could really stand up. And then the Bengals in ways that right now has done so warden some guys. Tyson Campbell's back there. They got Miles Hardin. This is seven to round pick in 2024 listed as their starter in the slot. Grant Delpins of fine player, Ronnie Hickman's of fine player. Those guys don't scare you. It's really. All right. Let's have a game plan for Jared versus have a game plan for Mason Graham and off we go. And the defense without.

Miles Garrett without James horse feels as you said, much less threatening and. We'll see about this coaching staff, man. Tom Munkin. Maybe it's just going to be another one of these Browns coaches. This one one and done or maybe maybe short term. I think. Stofansky. Brought a lot of stability to that organization. The reason he got a job right away elsewhere. The way that a lot of Browns coaches don't always get jobs right away elsewhere. This could be back to some disaster Browns as they're trying to figure out how to get a quarterback and get a new coaching staff in the near future in Cleveland. Hey, man, we'll see what it looks like in a few weeks, 10 weeks, 11 weeks. See what the Browns look like. See if we'll actually think this game is going to be a new way or not. Right now it's just the Steelers and the Ravens in this division. And. The Bengals need to get out to a quick start here and take care of business with some of these early. Difficult games to put themselves in the position they want to be in the rest of the way. Coming up next on lockdown, Bengals, we've got our first crossover of the season.

We'll be diving into that week one match up with the Tampa Bay Buckneyers. Find out what's going on from the bucks side of things go behind enemy lines a little bit. That'll be your next episode on lockdown. Bengals until then, thanks for listening to this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast today and have a good. On cow she you're trading against peers in a live market, meaning there's no house and as the probability changes, you can buy in and out of your position for a limited time. Download the cow she app and use code locked on to get $10 when you trade 10 KAL S H I cow she trade on anything 18 plus only restrictions and eligibility requirements apply event contract trading involves risk and may not be suitable for all investors prices, values and available markets may differ from those mentioned for more information. See kowshi.com slash regulatory. Hey NFL fans. I'm Brian Peacock in that is Matt Williamson hosts of the NFL six pack part of the Lockdown podcast network. Your team every day NFL six pack brings you the latest NFL news and analysis and breaks

down all of the weekly action. A six pack of takes daily on the playoff pushed in the 2025 season or if your teams in draft mode, yeah, we'll hit that too. All right here every day on the Lockdown podcast network. The NFL six pack subscribe on YouTube or everywhere you get your podcasts.

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