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FIRST LOOK at Bengals-Bucs: Joe Burrow & Bengals OL vs. Vita Vea & Rueben Bain HEADLINES Week 1

About this episode

The Cincinnati Bengals’ expanded offense faces a fierce Week 1 test as Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, and Tee Higgins prepare for a high-stakes battle against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ new-look defense. Will Reuben Bain and Vita Vea disrupt the Bengals’ improved offensive line, or can Amarius Mims and under center wrinkles propel Cincinnati to a fast start?

Jake Liscow and James Yarcho break down critical matchups, including the Bengals’ defensive upgrades with Dexter Lawrence and the Bucs’ evolving pass rush strategy. Key storylines include Tampa’s cornerback challenges, Burrow’s history of slow season starts, and whether Cincinnati’s run game can thrive or if Kenny Gainwell and Bucky Irving will exploit Bengals’ linebackers.

Photo Credit: Sam Greene, Nathan Ray Seebeck, John Jones

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FIRST LOOK at Bengals-Bucs: Joe Burrow & Bengals OL vs. Vita Vea & Rueben Bain HEADLINES Week 1

Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals

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Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati BengalsFIRST LOOK at Bengals-Bucs: Joe Burrow & Bengals OL vs. Vita Vea & Rueben Bain HEADLINES Week 1. 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. 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. Opening 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. We're on NFL crossover part of the Lockdown Podcast Network.

We're team every day. What happened? Welcome to a crossover episode of the Lockdown Bengals and Locked on Buckeneers podcast, Lockdown Bucks host James Yarcho with me, Jake Lisco, host of Lockdown Bengals here to get you ready for a week one of NFL action. We'll be talking big stories, big matchups. Not each team needs to do to be victorious. You'll get a feel for what's going on behind enemy lines in this one and James. As always, we start with these crossover episodes with the biggest stories for each team. To me, from the outside looking at the bucks, I'm just excited to see Ruben Bain. That matchup with the Marius Mims should be a heck of a lot of fun. Before the Bengals traded that 10th overall pick for Dexter Lawrence, Ruben Bain was draft target number one for me for the Bengals. Now we get to see him on the other side in week one, but I'm not sure that's the biggest story going on for Tampa. Tell me what you're thinking about as it pertains to this big week one matchup.

Well, of course, I mean, the biggest story in Bucks land is Baker Mayfield getting some Joe Burrow money. But as it pertains to being on the field in week one, the biggest story is this new look defense that they will be trotting out there. You have your staples, guys that that Bengals fans already know, Vita Vega, Antoine Field Junior. Yeah, yeah, Diabie and Kaleisha can't see to an extent, but the Bucks put tremendous focus on adding size, speed, strength and violence to this defensive front. Ruben Bain, as you mentioned, then Aishan Robinson, Josiah Trotter, Alex Anceloni, this defense upgraded at all three levels. This past offseason with the headliner being Bain who fell to the Bucks at 15. And while I was down at training camp, I came away telling Lockdown Bucks listeners, this was the best defense that I have seen in Tampa since 2021 back when the Bucks had sue and JPP, Jack Barrett, Levante David, Devon White before his epic fall off. This is not the same defense that was getting beat repeatedly last season or was among the

worst in the Todd Bulls era at stopping the run. So we do have proof of concept that Bulls defense works and can win championships, but now they have to actual, they have the actual pieces that they need in order for the defense to operate the way that it's intended to. So the improved coverage at the linebacker position over last year, the improved natural pass rush is going to allow Bulls to really let us play make or sit back and make plays instead of having to send multiple blitzes on a regular basis just to generate some pressure. Now they'll be able to generate pressure and sacks with just that natural pass rush. So coverage in the secondary will improve by default. You know, it's a heck of a lot easier to defend against Jamar and T when you only have to do it for two and a half seconds rather than four and a half and then Antoine can kind of go back to that guy. He was in 2023 when he was in the running for defense of player the year. When you think about the most significant change this year from last year, from a personal and scheme perspective, maybe the personnel is affecting this game. What is the single thing that you think is going to transform this Tampa defense the most

and how do you think that will play out in terms of how Bulls wants to use those guys? Oh, it's 100% the pass rush. You know, their their pass rush rotation looks completely different than it did last year. You have Yaya Diabi. Yeah, sure. You have Anthony Nelson. It's kind of a rotational guy, but you get David Walker who was a a draft pick last year that tore his ACL on the first day of padded practices missed the entire season. You've added Rubin Bain. You've added Al Qudin, Mohammed, who was a double digit sack. I last year in Detroit as a situational pass rusher. And then you have a healthy collage of can see. You have a happy Vita Vaya thanks to his extension and then A. Sean Robinson. So the entire front has been upgraded and it's the edge rushers that are really going to be able to drive this thing. Like I said, when you look back at 2020 and 2021, when the Bucks had one of the best defenses in the NFL, because they had Shaq Barry and they had Jason Pierre Paul and then they had Vita and endemic in suit again. Everybody right now wants to copy the Seahawks and throw waves of defenders that opposing

offenses of Bengals very much in the same boat. James, before I tell you what I think the biggest story is for the Bengals, as I talked about Rubin Bain being one of the most interesting things in this game. For my point of view, as someone who covers the Bengals every day, what do you think from the Bengals side interests you the most going into this game? I'm interested to see the Bengals defensive front because I do think Dexter Lawrence being the addition there is certainly going to make their their defensive front a lot better. But one player can't change the entire landscape of the defense that struggled last year. So how big of an impact will he really make? You know, is kind of what I'm most interested to see. And that's going to be a season long thing. That's not going to be something that gets answered immediately and week one in my face. Yeah, the Bengals added guys outside of Dexter Lawrence as well. So if you're not aware, as a Tampa Bay Buckingeers fan listening to this episode, Brian Cook brought into a place to you know, Stone, perhaps the biggest individual upgrade at one skill at one position in the NFL going from Geno Stone's tackling to Brian Cook's

tackling and Geno Stone now, I think on the bill's practice squad. And Dexter Lawrence obviously a big addition. Jonathan Allen also joins the defensive tackle rotation where BJ Hill will be quality depth as well. They add Land of Robinson in the seventh round. He makes a team may not be active on game day, but Bengals fans are excited for his past rushing upside in particular. But in addition to that, boy, they mafe coming from Seattle where he was a situational player and getting a bigger role in Cincinnati. They're hoping to repeat the tri Hendrix inexperience where he was more of a situational designated past pressure type for the Saints where he had that breakout for sacks. The pressures weren't necessarily there to back it up and then he became the player that he's known as today and got that reputation as a big past pressure. But to me, James, the other big story for Cincinnati is around the topic of how quickly this offense will start. It's been something that we've talked about in Cincinnati for seemingly the entire Zack Taylor, Joe Barrow era, especially after those first couple of years where even when they got to the Super Bowl, even when they got to the AFC Championship in the next year, there

were some slow start issues. You've been able to write that up as Joe Barrow had a calf injury. Joe Barrow had an open up index to me in training camp and he needed to get back from those injuries. He's coming off the ACLers, coming off the wrist or it's coming off the COVID season. There have been all these different reasons that we've been able to talk about. Now, not as much of any of that going on this training camp, a healthy training camp for Joe, no weird issues going on in the off season for him or the Bengals where the vibes are high. The big question will be how well is this play action game integrated into the offense, which has been a big focus for this Bengals offense during training camp getting under center. To the point where Joe Barrow and his press conference today as we're recording this on Wednesday was asked numerous times, hey, how comfortable are you under center? Has that comfort level reached a higher level from the beginning of training camp to the end of training camp? Joe says yes. We'll see. Joe is one of the few quarterbacks in the NFL with negative splits when he gets to that play action under center game. That's something that we'll need to reverse course with the point of emphasis.

It seems to be for the Bengals this year. Yeah, and that is something that I've talked about a lot on my show is the slow starts during the Taylor Barrow era. One of the things that I've kind of stressed to box listeners is just because they've started off slow in the wind column. That doesn't necessarily mean they have started slow on the scoreboard. So when you take a look at all the things that have transpired over the course of training camp and with Barrow and what is expected to be one of the biggest and most high octane offenses in the NFL, what is it about this team that can be different now that can get them off to a faster start, especially against a team that does have the weapons to kind of go toe to toe if this gets into a shootout. Yeah, it will be really quite a fun matchup looking at it. And it's one of those matchups that Joe and I've been talking about on lockdown Bengals is one of the more difficult ones on the schedule. The Bengals have a tough start to a relatively easy schedule after that. It opens up after their early buy.

But to me, the big question, it remains how effective is a play action early? Something that we're theorizing about on lockdown Bengals is maybe they can throw a bunch of on-scattered looks out there early with the work they're getting under center. Well, the additional under center play action stuff that hasn't been a part of this offense for years past. And if they can get defenses guessing with more dis from more misdirection, more play action game early that they haven't shown a whole lot of in their past, we're wondering if they can steal some points, steal some drives, steal some wins early in the season before they get comfortable because Joe borrows a self-proclaimed reps guy. We know how good he can be. Often it takes him a couple of weeks to get to that point where he is operating at peak borough efficiency. And I think that'll tie right into some of the biggest matchups in this game when I look at it from the Bengal side. I'm always looking at the corners on the other side of the field and how they're going to match up with your Marche S&T Higgins because that's a tough ask for anyone. I think that's a tough ask for the bucks. We'll talk about that matchup and more coming up next.

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I'm fascinated by the trench matchups as I always am. But like I said, covering the Bengals, it would be irresponsible of me to not ask what the plan is for the bucks to deal with the March A's T Higgins and a diverse set of Bengals receiving weapons that tends to strike fear into the hearts of most defensive coordinators around the NFL. Yeah, I mean, the the bucks corners are the biggest question mark on the team, I think, for most box near fans. This is one of the toughest matchups that they are going to face this season. There's no doubt about it. Is Zion McCullum going to be the guy he was in 2024 or the guy he was in 2025? This Jacob Parrish going to be able to transition to the outside after having a phenomenal year as the nickel corner last year. If Benjamin Morrison gets on the field, is he going to be on the outside and they're going to move Jacob Parrish back to the slot? So there's a lot of different combinations here. And I think what's going to help the secondary out, I kind of mentioned it at the top of

the show. If the pass rush is going the way that we believe it can go now all of a sudden, those corners are not left on an island for extended periods of time. We're going to have help over the top with Taiki Smith, who was absolutely outstanding and very easily overlooked on a bad buck in your defense last year. And then of course you have an all pro in Antoine Woodfield, Jr. So it's not an easy match. I don't know if there's a team in the NFL that can really match up with both of those receivers in terms of of being able to cover both of them. One of them is going to be open at some point. So you have to mitigate the risk, right? You have to make the bangles one dimensional, which sounds kind of crazy. But if Burrows having to drop back repeatedly, it gives your pass rush more opportunity. You just have to, you know, you have to bracket them. I think is really the only way that the box corners are going to be able to get through this game. Is that something that you think is the go to answer for bulls?

Is it like the cloud corner trying to keep those safety or the cloud safety is trying to keep the safeties over top on either side, have the corners underneath the safeties over the top on the outside? Probably. I mean, it worked pretty well. The last time bulls faced this bangles offense, but you know, that was also a time when Jamar Chase said that Carlton Davis was in the toughest corner he ever went against. Carlton Davis had no other team anymore. This is a completely different secondary. So you have to give them as much help as you can, which means that your natural pass rush is going to have to be able to take advantage of that bangles offense. So not looking like a big blitzing game. If you were to try to predict like the approach from a blitz percentage standpoint. No, it'll be pretty low because I think you're going to have to have faith that Bane and Diabie and Cancie and Vida are going to be able to do their jobs the way that they need to be. Really fun game for nose tackles. We've mentioned Vida Bayas name a few times. We've mentioned Dexter Lawrence's name a few times. I don't think he gets better for defensive for no tackle matchup anywhere in the NFL

with those guys out there. And one of the things that on the Bengal side of the ball, we're going to be looking at this offensive line. And one of our listeners kindly informed me that James, you told your audience that the bangles offensive line is the worst unit on either side of the field in this game. And look, I know that there are narratives out there about this bangles offensive line, but they got significantly better in the back half of last season, returned all five starters in the upgrade that happened at Wright Gar from Jalen Rivers to Dalton Ryzer was like a 14% pass block win rate change from 80% up into the low 90s for Dalton Ryzer. That's a huge difference. Marius Minnes, Bengals fans are expecting to see take a huge step toward Pro Bowl or maybe even a little lofty all pro status. If he can get there, he has all of those tools in the bag as a young and developing player. There's some questions about Orlando Brown at left tackle. So the matchup that I'm circling here is obviously got to deal with Vita Vaya. There's going to be a lot of attention given there, but I talked about it at the very start

of the show. Ruben Bain, a Marius Minnes. To me, this is a strength on strength matchup that a Marius Minnes is a giant and everyone didn't want to trap Ruben Bain because he has T-Rex arms. I was not part of that group. I think Ruben Bain is an awesome player. He's going to be excellent in the NFL. He looks that part so far, but that matchup is one that I'm immediately circling because to your point, James, when the Bengals do need to drop back, something that they've been able to do at a level that the rest of the NFL typically can't outside of just a handful of teams is when they need to drop back. You can't do the fancy play action stuff. You just need to straight drop back and beat the team on the other side of the field in a drop back passing offense. Joe Burrow, T-Higgins, Remar chase, can't do that. But you can't do that if you're getting hit a second and a half after you take the snap. So one of the best past rushers in this game, I think, is going to be Ruben Bain. So the best past protectors for the Bengals is going to be in Mario's Fins. That matchup should be a lot of fun. Yeah, and I do have to say that I stand corrected. I had a guy on my show earlier this week. He said the Bengals linebackers are the worst unit on either side of the field.

I'll have to agree. And the offensive line to your point did show improvement late in the season. However, what you have to remember is that it is not going to be Bain versus BIMS all the time. Ruben Bain will be lining up against Brown Junior. Yeah, they are going to move those guys around. So there will be times that it's Bain going up against the left tackle and Ya Ya Diabi going up against the right. And I think that's where the box defense is really going to be able to gain an advantage. Because at that point, I think we can agree the left side of the Bengals line is the weaker of the two sides. And when you're overloading that with Ruben Bain and Kalaija Cansey, plus you have Vita in the middle taking up a double team and you can send a linebacker like Josiah Trotter, that past rush is going to get back there in a hurry. So it's, I'm really interested to see how Bolz approaches this chess match in moving these pieces all over the place in order to take advantage of what he can against this Bengals offensive line and put the pressure on Joe Burrow and try to keep him on the ground

as often as possible. I was curious about how much Ruben Bain was going to move. That's a good answer to a question that I was going to ask because he played, well, I can't actually remember, he played mostly on over right tackles at Miami, but I know he did move around some. So I was curious to know how they were going to integrate him into the NFL level defense. Yeah, I think that trench matchup will be very important for the Bengals obviously. But another thing that's going to matter a lot in this game, I think is how well the Bengals run the ball early. Vita Vaz obviously a beast in that regard. We got to deal with that, but the Bengals seem to be committed to staying under center. And I want to know how much leash that has in this game. Something we've talked about a lot on lockdown Bengals is they found a way to get efficient last year in the run game. The counting stats weren't there, but when you look at EPA per play, when you look at success rate, the Bengals were actually top three, I think, if not top five in the NFL in those metrics as a running team last year. And if they're committed to that, if they can get those results under center, then you can start to pressure that defense and force them to play a little bit more honestly.

And then this whole chest match takes on another dimension. Yeah, and I know your viewers can't see it, but over my shoulder, I have a block eye that was given to my granddad when he went to the University of Illinois. Chase Brown is my dude. I love that guy. I love watching him play. I need him to average like a yard per carry in this game because the bucks have to make the Bengals one dimensional. I'll get a little bit deeper into that when we talk about how each team is going to win this game. But you cannot allow the Bengals to operate on all cylinders offensively. If you want this defense to stand strong and be able to pull off a road upset, you cannot be in a situation where you're kind of back on your heels a little bit because now you have to worry about Chase Brown or Chase Brown clipping off five, six, seven yards per care. We'll do that next. We'll wrap up this crossover with what each team needs to do to come out victorious in week one. Welcome to your most rewarding NFL season ever only on Fandall.

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There's been a little bit of discussion around Dexter Lawrence, but when you're thinking about this game, that's one of the ways it starts. But when you think about it for the Bucks, how do they win this game? Well, I think they have to do two things and I'll go back to the defense real quick. They have to keep pressure on Joe Burrow offensively. They have to take advantage of the middle of that Cincinnati defense. So I know it sounds like playing with fire, but I think the Bucks packed a victory is to remove chase Brown as a threat and make the Bengals one dimensional. Yes, burrow dropping back 40 or 50 times is a scary proposition, but I think bulls is good enough to take advantage of that weak left side of Cincinnati's offensive line by moving guys around and overloading. Then you got Vita in the middle collapsing the pocket, which he's known to do. It's going to make it tough for burrow to step into his throws and that could lead to mistakes. That's where you have to take advantage on the row team. As an underdog, you have to be able to take advantage of mistakes. Then offensively, it's all about the middle of the defense.

This is not a game where Zach Robinson has to get cute or has to go for the highlight real play. And as we've talked about the linebackers in Cincinnati, not exactly great. So with the Bucks being loaded with pass catchers that take advantage of the middle of the field, Chris Godwin out of the slot, you have guys like Abouka who's going to be the Z receiver, but a speedy test Johnson can catch and run in open space, but it's the running bags. I think that's really where the Bucks can win this game and Kenneth Gainwell is a perfect example. Last year in the second meeting between these two teams, between the Steelers and the Bengals, Aimel had seven receptions for 81 yards and two touchdowns. He and Bucky Irving are extreme threats out of the backfield as pass catchers and they are dangerous with the ball in their hands. So they don't have to have Baker take seven step drops and air out a 60 yard bomb to Aimekabouka or Ted Hurst. Think and dunk all the way down the field and just keep chipping away with these 12, 13, 14 play drives that wear down since the 90s.

On the defense side of the ball for the Bengals, I think that the challenge is going to be how well they can tackle this year, especially if the Bucky years idea of a game plan is going to be to try to involve those running backs, try to involve the middle of the field. These linebackers need to show that the Bengals trust in them to remain the starters in year two. After relatively disastrous rookie seasons is a step in the right direction. There is a big schematic change coming for the Bengals defense. They will be a three, four base defense this year and how much they're in the base versus how much they're in nickel will remain to be seen. I think the Bengals do have a bit of a question mark in the slot where Jayland Davis who's been a career practice squad player for the Bengals will be their starting slot corner this year. There's not a whole lot of depth there where I'm really confident in the Bengals on the outside corner in DJ Turner and Dex Hill. I think those guys are awesome. I think they're underrated. I do have questions about the slot corner and the linebackers. But Brian Cook stabilizing the Bengals in safety and the addition of Dexer Lawrence, Jonathan Allen, Boyet Maffet, adding waves to the Bengals defensive front is something

that I need to see the Bengals tackle so much better in this game. I need to see Dexer Lawrence be the game record that he's been in training camp and that includes the joint practice against Chicago Bears where he made it really hard for the Bears to operate at times. That being said, it's really hard to go from being one of the worst defenses ever for the first 10 or 11 weeks of last season to being a solid defense the next year. The Bengals were better over the back half of the year. Don't get me wrong. We've talked about that a lot. We've talked about reasons for optimism for this defense. Now they just have to go show it. And it's a tough test to start. I think the Buccaneers offense is underrated because of what happened last year. But when they're healthy and I think both of these scenes look to be very healthy entering week one, that could be a big difference compared to last year as well. Mimal on the offense side of the ball for the Bengals. As I talked about earlier, James, I'm just dying with curiosity to see how this undersendr game is going to play out because it's something that we haven't seen the Bengals commit to. And in the past, it's been Zach Taylor will run it out there for like the scripted drive,

right? And then maybe the score touched that. It'll look great. We'll be like, oh, yeah, loved all that motion they were doing. Love the play action. They incorporated on that drive. And then the second drive there just in the shotgun, their static, their straight drop and back. There's no deception. So to what degree they're able to maintain that level of misdirection in their offense and to what degree they're successful with the undersendr part of the playbook will be a huge factor in this game because of some of the things you've talked about with this Tampa defense and trying to neutralize that past rush. The other thing that we're going to get an answer to, I think pretty quick here. And obviously it takes a long time to get an idea over the course of a season. How an offensive line is going to perform. It's a tough test and week one tougher in week two where the Bengals go play the Houston Texans and they're disgusting defensive front. But Ruben Bain, Vita Vaya, Yaya Diabi, Kalajia, can't see nothing to laugh at. So seeing how the Bengals answer that test, seeing if Orlando Bern is actually on that downside of his career, that's going to be a significant factor in this game for the

Bengals. But I mean, if you're talking about individual players, I'm thinking about Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase, Dexter Lawrence, three most important players in this game for the Bengals. Who are the three most important players to you, James, from the Bucks side of things? I guess it's Baker Mayfield, it's Vita Vaya, and then it's Josiah Trotter, the rookie second round pick at linebacker there next to Alex Anzaloni. I think he's kind of that wild card. He's going to be the guy that you have to entrust to help shut down that run game and be kind of that spark, that guy that can get into the backfield in a hurry, get tackles for loss, can get sent all blitzes and really spark this defense. Yeah, it's interesting. Obviously, the quarterbacks are always going to be super important, but both of us looking at those nose tackles as being vital to the success of either team because of their role in trying to collapse the pocket, take advantage of offensive lines and get pressure on these. And allow you to play light in the box, I think, for both teams.

And this is something that I've talked about with the Bengals. One of the things that they were so good at last year is getting light box opportunities to run against. But when you have a Vita Vaya or Dexter Lawrence or a prime DJ reader to go back a few years for the Bengals, when he was just an incredible run defender for this team, it allows you to play light in the box and get that advantage elsewhere. And I think that's something that the box probably will try to lean on and it will be on the Bengals to prove that no, you actually need to put another guy in the box. You can't devote that safety to staying over the top because if you do, we're going to run for six yards of carry. Now, whether or not that's something they can execute on Sunday, that's something we'll find out whether or not Josiah Trotter has the same experience that the Bengals have with their rookie linebackers last year. I know Tampa fans will be hoping that is not the case. And we'll begin to get those answers on Sunday. We'll also have you covered on lockdown bucks and lockdown Bengals going into these games after the games, everything you need to know about week one right here on the lockdown podcast network. Your team every day will wrap this cross over there and we'll see you next time.

Hey, NFL fans. I'm Brian Peacock and 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 team's 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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