WEBVTT

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It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, your
team every Day. Hi, I'm Jake

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from Locked On. What do the
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State Farm is there. Prices vary
by state. Options selected by customer,

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availability and eligibility may vary. Let's
break down the major changes the Cincinnati

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Bengals have put into their offense with
Jake Browning at quarterback and the great results

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they've gotten the last two weeks.
You are Locked On Bengals, your daily

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Cincinnati Bengals podcast, part of the
Locked On podcast Network, Your team every

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day Bengals fans, and welcome to
another episode of the Lockdown Bengals Podcast.

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I'm your host, Jake Lisco.
He's your host James Rapine. We're part

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of the Lockdown Podcast Network. You
can find us on YouTube or anyway you

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get your podcasts every day if you
want to stay up to date. Is

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Bengals make this playoff? Push playoffs? That's right. We're gonna talk about

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the playoffs later in this episode and
get into some of the scenarios. We're

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also going to talk a lot about
what's changed with this offense and reset the

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conversation around the coaching staff a little
bit where it was in recent weeks where

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it is today. Lots to talk
about with this team right now. Today's

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episode brought to you by the game
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on NFL for twenty dollars off your
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need them, last minute tickets,
lowest price guaranteed. And Jan's let's start

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with the evolution of this offense with
Jake running at quarterback, because I think

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we all can agree at this point
there are significant differences we've seen the last

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two weeks. There are significant changes, changes that have certainly helped him and

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made this offense it's fun to watch
as it's been or put it like this,

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because I actually, come on,
let's be honest here, it's been

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really fun. And people are comparing
Joe Burrow and Jake Browning and the offenses

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and all of those things. They
were really really good before Burrow went down.

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They had a lead on arguably the
top team in the league, and

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they beat the top They either beat
the top team in the league or had

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a lead against the top team in
the league when Burrow was in. So

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whatever they were doing was working.
And I'm referring to San Francisco forty nine

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Ers and then the Baltimore Ravens.
But Jake Browning isn't Joe Burrow. And

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we said that going into the Steelers
game, and it took the coaching staff

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a week. It took Jake Browning
a week. It took this franchise a

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week to adjust, to make the
changes necessary or to go to the part

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of the playbook that fit Browning best
and fit this offense best. And it's

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clearly working. Thirty four points two
straight games. The offense won them the

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game in Jacksonville. The defense was
great on Sunday against the Colts, but

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the offense held up their end of
the bargain as well and gave them an

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early lead, which obviously helps the
defense a ton, helps this team a

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ton, So this offensive staff deserves
a lot of credit We can get into

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that, but I know you pulled
some stats. So how different is this

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offense right now compared to what we
saw with Joe Burrow From a numbers perspective,

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you can pick stat a split and
it significantly changed the last three weeks

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and compared to what they're doing with
Joe Burrow. The most obvious thing,

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and we've talked about this is the
dismissal of empty stuff that they love doing

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with Joe Burrow. The purpose of
that, of course, is to flood

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the coverage with concepts, and Joe
Burrow does what he does. He's very

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good at identifying this is a concept
that I need to read out on this

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play because this is a coverage I'm
getting and this is a guy that's going

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to be open. That's what Joe
Burrows very good at. That's why he

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likes empty so much. It lets
him distribute the ball quickly, accurately,

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get the boll to his playmakers on
time, sometimes in space, give them

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yard after catch opportunities with his elite
ball placement. Jake Browning doesn't really do

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all of that at the level Joe
Burrow does, and you wouldn't expect him

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to write he's a backup quarterback,
and he certainly has his strengths, but

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that type of quick processing of full
field reads and concepts where he has to

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pick aside based on a look.
He can't go through full progression. But

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you don't want him to do it
the whole game. You don't want him

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to live in it. You don't
want to live in it out of empty

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in particular. So that's one big
difference that we can just eyeball test.

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But you look at play action.
For example, the last three weeks against

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the Steelers, eighteen point eight percent
of the Bengals dropbacks for play action.

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In week thirteen against the Jaguars,
noticeable uptick right we saw those boots.

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We noticed it up to twenty seven
and a half percent in week fourteen.

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Fewer pass attempts overall, but play
action comprising forty two point three percent of

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the Bengals passing attempts this week against
the Colts in week fourteen. Similar you

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look at screens from six point three
percent to seventeen and a half percent,

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big jump right from twelve to thirteen, another jump up to twenty three percent

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in week fourteen. Again, fewer
overall snaps, but play action and screens

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two numbers to start, and I
have two more that you can look at

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and see from a stat perspective in
addition to those eye test things. Significant

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did shifts in a clear direction the
last three weeks. And it's interesting because

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there's a lot of people that have
said, all right, well, this

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offense is completely like rebuilt itself.
Looks completely different and it looks different,

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and those stats back that up.
But these are topics, not necessarily the

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screen game, but the play action
stuff. We talked about it this offseason.

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We've have multiple shows going back to
OTA's watching Burrow work under center.

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Like I think that it was a
goal of Theirs to be more diverse and

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maybe less empty all the time,
and part of it, a big part

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of why they weren't, especially early
in the season, I think had to

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do with that calf injury for Burrow. So to do it now and implement

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it, I think it makes a
ton of sense. Clearly, Browning is

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comfortable and you just want to make
life easier, and you could go way

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back if you want to go to
the Mark Sanchez versus the Bengals too,

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was a nine playoff game at pay
Corps where awful, awful game. I

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hated it right, broke my heart
at the time, but they made life

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easier Mark Sanchez. That's why he
made it to back to back AFC title

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games. Really good defense, running
the ball, play action, easy decisions,

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make a couple of big throws each
game. And this Bengals coaching staff

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they've shown that they can do that
with Browning, and Browning as show that

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he's capable of making some big throws, throws that are necessary plays in important

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moments and key spots, and so
thus far it feels pretty sustainable. I

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don't know if the numbers will stay
there right, Like the screen passes,

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I don't think they're going to average, you know, one screen per game

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that goes for thirty nine or more
yards, which is the case over the

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past three games going back to the
Pittsburgh game. I think that's unrealistic.

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But they've found ways to get the
ball to their playmakers in space and make

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Browning's life easier, and he should
only get more and more comfortable, not

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less comfortable. So it's it's great
that they've had that to lean on.

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Yeah, the screen game in particular
is something that I think is very matchup

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specific. They have these defenses.
The last couple of weeks that are sending

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guys up field, they're very aggressive
on the defensive line. The defenses will

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be different going forward. For example, Gus Bradley blitz maybe like two times

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the entire game. He doesn't blitz
Flores defense coming up Minnesota Gonna blitz the

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heck out of Jake Browning next week, So there will be some differences in

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that way and blitzaying Hey, you
can catch the blitz with the screen at

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the right time, you're gonna have
a big gain off it. Just for

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a reference, the last couple of
weeks, the play action rates twenty seven

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and a half percent forty two percent. This week screen rate seventeen and a

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half percent twenty three percent with Joe
Burrow. The play action rate this season

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was twenty point six percent, So
we're a little bit hire the last couple

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of weeks with Jake Bridning to a
lot higher. This week with Jake Browning's

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screen rate with Burrow at quarterback was
twelve and a half percent. And I

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think the biggest thing in the screen
game is they've been much more effective with

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the screens. They're not necessarily running
them a ton more. Although this week

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they did there's a little bit of
an uptick in usage of screens and a

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big uptick and effectiveness of the screen
game the last two weeks, and I

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said, I have two more numbers, and some of this is going to

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lead to a conversation about where we
are on this coaching staff and their ability

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to adapt, as I think they've
proven that yet again they do in fact

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have that capability, they have that
flexibility in their toolkit. So we will

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continue the conversation on this offense coming
up next Today's episode of Lockdown Bengals sponsored

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more numbers on the offense, James.

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But we're also gonna have to talk
about this coaching stuff, right the flexibility

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they've shown, the major philosophical changes
we've seen from them the last two weeks.

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What do you think First things first, the same people that came with

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the energy of what is Zach Taylor's
record without Joe Burrow. And I get

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it because it was ugly without Joe
Burrow. But this team, as bad

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as they were in twenty nineteen,
look at that roster. It would have

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been ugly with any coach in twenty
twenty. I had my doubts, But

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Zach Taylor's done a lot since then, and some people anytime there's a struggle

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morph back into that mindset of twenty
twenty. It's time to evolve. It's

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time to evolve Zach Taylor conversation and
admit that, Hey, winning season in

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twenty one and oh wait, not
only did they get to or win the

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AFC North, but they get to
a Super Bowl that builds up equity.

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Then they get to the AFC Title
Game after winning the AFC North again.

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Okay, they're not going to win
the division this year. No team has

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won it three straight years. But
despite that, they're seven and six and

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we're talking about playoffs, even though
Joe Burrow has been out for three games

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now and was limited to start the
season. So Zach Taylor deserves credit for

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evolving, for figuring this out and
putting a more than competent effective offense out

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there and explosive offense out there,
and Brian Callahan took a lot of heat

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too, and he deserves credit,
and so does Frank Pollack. Because Frank

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Pollock was it felt like, from
a fan base standpoint, scapegoat was what

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everyone was pointing at and looking at. Well, if you want to point

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out how he's the run game coordinator
when the run game stinks and they really

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struggle to run the ball eight times
for sixteen yards against the Steelers, let's

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point it out now, because the
past two weeks the offense is ran through

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the running backs and a lot of
it and has produced a bunch of explosive

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plays and is a big reason why
the offense has scored thirty plus points in

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each of the past two games.
So I'm not saying it's perfect. I'm

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not saying they're going to be great
on Saturday against the Vikings. Hell,

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I'm no fortune teller. What I
can tell you is that there are people

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that just jump off the moment it
gets ugly for a second, and then

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I don't think they give proper credit. And that's fine if you want to

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jump off and be critical. I'm
not even debating that that's not really the

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point. The point is now they're
coaching their asses off and they deserve cra

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and this offensive staff I should mention
Dan Pitcher too, because they're doing a

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great job. It's been effective.
Jake seems comfortable, this offense is working,

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Joe Mixon has been as effective as
he's been all season. Like wherever

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you look, it makes a ton
of sense and it's working. So coaching

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staff top to bottom deserves a ton
of credit on the offensive side for figuring

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this out without Joe Burrow. Yeah, you take it where you can get

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it. In the last couple of
weeks against some defenses that aren't necessarily world

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beaters, and it will be a
little bit harder down the stretch. They

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play three very very good defenses in
their last few games of the season,

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finishing with Steelers, Chiefs, Browns. Those are three of the better defenses

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in the AFC, if not the
best defense in the league of the Browns,

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which they have been really for the
entire year. So they have their

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work cut out for them, and
we might be revisiting this again in a

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few weeks if they can't figure out
some answers against those good defenses as well.

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But they do deserve credit, I
think for being adaptable. And this

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is what I was talking about early
this year when I said they figured it

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out, and they have. They
have a track record, a consistent track

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record that at this point of figuring
it out. Sometimes it's frustrating because they've

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had these slow starts and it's like, why is it taking so long?

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Why can't they figure this out at
the start of the season. Why are

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they getting off to these slow starts
and digging themselves these holes? This year,

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I think a lot of it was
to do with Joe Burrow's calf,

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and I think that we would have
seen way more of this play action game

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earlier this year, and probably more
of the boot game as well as Joe

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Burrow specifically worked on his athleticism and
being on the move and throwing on the

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run this offseason to prepare for this
NFL season. I think we would have

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seen a lot of this stuff if
not for that calf injury. So the

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early season grade is around them not
adapting properly. Maybe they should have played

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Jake Browning. I don't know,
we'll never know that. That's like hindsight

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analysis that I don't really think is
worth the time. But they should get

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consistent for their track record of figuring
things out over the course of the season,

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making changes, being adaptable, and
finding the right buttons to push,

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whether that's taking the stress off the
offensive line, going from a team that

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was about league average and true pass
sets to the last three weeks being thirty

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five and a half twenty six percent
and twenty nine percent in true pass sets,

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meaning those are the ones that aren't
quick game play action boot RPO where

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they have to sit there and just
block a straight drop back. They're not

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doing that as much anymore with Jake
Browning as they did with Joe Burrow.

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They're taking the stress off the offensive
line. They found ways to do that.

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They've shown that they have that kind
of offense in their repertoire, and

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maybe overall it's like a twenty five
percent different offense. I don't think it's

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like this night and day entirely different
offense or running with Jake Browning, but

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that change is enough for it to
be very effective, and I think to

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give them something to consider when Joe
Burrow returns in the future too. No

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doubt, I think that there are
certainly that will translate that they'll use with

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00:18:02.599 --> 00:18:07.720
Burrow I do. I'm going to
go down the hindsight path because I know

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people will. I just want to
address this and be very very clear of

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how I stand. There is not
a world where anybody would have played Jake

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Brown and going into that Cleveland game
because everyone thought Burrow was close to one

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hundred percent, everybody including Joe all
Right. Then in the Baltimore game,

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still good to go. He played
really well in the second half before re

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injuring it season on the line eight
days later, played pretty well against the

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Rams and they won, and then
you had the awful outing against Tennessee,

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no doubt about it. But are
you benching him after the Rams win?

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Probably not. You didn't know it
was going to look like that against Tennessee,

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and then that's when the wind streak
got rolling, and they got rolling

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as a team that's starting in Arizona. So there was never really unless you

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would have said it he wasn't healthy
going into the season, which no one

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thought. No one thought he was
at sixty percent or whatever you want to

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say going into the year. Then
I think that the hindsight is what it

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is, and people will go back
and say, oh, what you should

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have They shouldn't have because it would
have taken The other part is they it

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would have taken Browning a few weeks
to get comfortable. It would have taken

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00:19:15.759 --> 00:19:21.440
this offense a few weeks to adjust
and then what So I think they made

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the right call there, even though
people might go back and say otherwise,

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that said, yeah, it's clearly
working. The credit deserves to be there,

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and I think people should be able
to I certainly did. I just

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did, and you probably feel the
same way, even if you don't want

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to go down the hindsight path.
Is they clearly deserve credit for in the

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00:19:44.200 --> 00:19:48.359
moment after the devastating injury, after
an ugly loss to Pittsburgh, where it

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felt like things were collapsing and it
was just going to be over and we

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00:19:51.920 --> 00:19:56.519
were going to do mock draft Mondays
within a week, flipping the script.

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And now they're seven and six after
being five and six, and in a

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twelve day span, Jake, if
they can handle business against Minnesota, which

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isn't going to be easy. But
if they can handle business against Minnesota,

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you win three games in twelve days. That's insane. And yet it's what

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the Bengals have a chance to do
with Jake Browning on Saturday. That's right.

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We'll finish up the conversation including a
look at that playoff picture for today's

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00:20:21.519 --> 00:20:26.000
episode coming up next. Today's show
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discounts and savings, and eligibility vary
by state. Last thoughts here on the

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00:22:37.880 --> 00:22:42.880
coaching staff, and then we'll talk
about those playoff scenarios. Defense also defensive

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00:22:42.920 --> 00:22:47.519
staff. At least for one week. Lou Ana Rimo's guys and lou Ada

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00:22:47.559 --> 00:22:51.079
Remo deserve credit for the performance against
the Indianapolis Colts, and they well need

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00:22:51.119 --> 00:22:55.480
more of that down the stretch at
least is my belief. Maybe not against

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00:22:55.480 --> 00:23:00.640
the Minnesota Vikings, who looks dysfunctional. I didn't see how that game ended,

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00:23:02.319 --> 00:23:07.359
but they won three nothing Are you
kidding me? Against the Raid I

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00:23:07.400 --> 00:23:08.839
mean, I know the Raiders can
rush a passer, but come on,

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00:23:10.880 --> 00:23:15.119
hey, hey, I'm not taking
them lightly though, No, I'm just

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00:23:15.200 --> 00:23:18.799
not. But the last few games
against the Bears, they scored ten.

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00:23:18.839 --> 00:23:22.079
Against the Raiders they scored three.
The defensive is a job to do,

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00:23:22.880 --> 00:23:26.680
but Minnesota needs to find some answers
too. We'll talk with Luke about that

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00:23:26.759 --> 00:23:30.720
game coming up in the near future. But Steelers Chiefs Browns teams with fierce

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00:23:30.799 --> 00:23:33.319
defenses of their own, the defense
for the Bengals will need to answer in

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00:23:33.440 --> 00:23:37.880
kind for the Bengals to necessarily have
their best shot at winning those games.

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00:23:38.720 --> 00:23:47.119
Barring the offense, I think exceeding
expectations against good defenses. The last thing

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00:23:47.200 --> 00:23:51.319
I'll say about this on the offensive
coaches is, I don't think that this

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00:23:51.640 --> 00:23:56.519
change I kind of hinted at it
is necessarily super radical what they're doing with

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00:23:56.599 --> 00:24:02.359
Jake Browning. They're they're incorporating more
concepts as Zach Taylor came from in the

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00:24:02.400 --> 00:24:07.599
Sean McVay offense of Brian Callahan came
from with his Gruden influence coaching tree.

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00:24:07.960 --> 00:24:14.000
More of these boots, more play
action this is stuff, and more diverse

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00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:18.720
personnel groupings too. They're using two
tight ends more, I think in the

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00:24:18.799 --> 00:24:22.119
last couple of weeks with Drew sample, Tanner Hudson and Mitchell Wilcox getting the

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00:24:22.160 --> 00:24:27.039
majority of the playing time. Actually
this week, Irv Smith getting the least

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00:24:27.119 --> 00:24:30.640
naps for any tight end. So
that's an interesting note. But this is

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00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:36.359
just modernizing the offense. Evolving the
offense probably the next step for the offense,

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00:24:36.440 --> 00:24:41.119
and it's something that I think should
be easy to incorporate with Joe Burrow

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00:24:41.160 --> 00:24:45.440
in the future as well, taking
a little bit off his plate, taking

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00:24:45.480 --> 00:24:48.759
more of those easy buttons. And
I don't think it's a wholesale change.

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00:24:49.559 --> 00:24:52.880
This is why, if you've talked
to me about this on Twitter, I've

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00:24:52.880 --> 00:24:56.720
resisted the idea that they can just
quote unquote run this offense for Joe Burrow,

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00:24:57.400 --> 00:25:00.640
but you do need to take a
lot of element it's from it.

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00:25:00.640 --> 00:25:06.119
It's a balance they need to strike
of letting Burrow play to his strengths and

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00:25:06.279 --> 00:25:11.599
also using offensive design to their benefit, which is something that we've clearly seen

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00:25:11.640 --> 00:25:15.920
in the last few weeks. They
know how to do, and it's just

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00:25:15.960 --> 00:25:18.400
finding the right buttons to push at
the right time and getting into that rhythm

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00:25:19.440 --> 00:25:22.359
in the future when it's Joe Burrow, who can do way more for you

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00:25:22.400 --> 00:25:30.160
than Jake Brown Camp and I think
that if there is a blessing in the

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00:25:30.160 --> 00:25:33.119
Burrow injury, it might be that
that this offense long term can hit a

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00:25:33.160 --> 00:25:37.400
gear and evolve into something that we
haven't seen yet. And there'll be plenty

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00:25:37.440 --> 00:25:44.119
of time to discuss that. But
this coaching staff, they've been forced to

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00:25:44.119 --> 00:25:48.240
evolve at least a bit or adjust, and we've seen them adjust over the

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00:25:48.319 --> 00:25:52.119
years, and so I think you
can only grow from that. And by

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00:25:52.160 --> 00:25:56.480
the way, last thing, Jake
Browning, he is restricted next year and

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00:25:56.519 --> 00:25:59.160
will be a Bengal. So if
anyone says, oh my god, he's

353
00:25:59.200 --> 00:26:00.519
gonna get paid else, I've gotten
that a lot. I think a lot

354
00:26:00.559 --> 00:26:04.799
of people have, Jake. You
probably have too. So Jake Browning will

355
00:26:04.839 --> 00:26:08.799
be in Cincinnati next year. That's
what he's essentially guaranteed. I think with

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00:26:08.880 --> 00:26:14.000
these past couple of games, there's
no doubt about that. Not only as

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00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:18.519
he restricted, he's an exclusive rights
free agent, which means that unless the

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00:26:18.559 --> 00:26:22.519
Bengals go out and decide to reward
him with a multi year contract and pay

359
00:26:22.599 --> 00:26:27.000
him, which will be a little
bit surprising considering their control, that's a

360
00:26:27.119 --> 00:26:32.519
less than one million dollar salary for
Jake Browning next year. Just in case

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00:26:32.519 --> 00:26:36.839
you're curious about the cap implications,
restricted free agents will get paid a little

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00:26:36.839 --> 00:26:38.880
bit more. Let's shift gears.
Let's take a quick look at this playoff

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00:26:40.079 --> 00:26:45.240
picture yesterday when we were recording the
Bengals for the seventh seed, and then

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00:26:45.480 --> 00:26:49.599
the Broncos game finished and the tiebreakers
got all weird. There are six teams

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at seven and six currently and from
the sixth seed in the playoffs all the

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00:26:57.279 --> 00:27:02.599
way down to the Buffalo Bills,
who after beating the Kansas City Chiefs,

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are rewarded with the eleventh spot in
the playoff rankings, which is actually just

368
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one behind the Bengals. The Bengals
dropped from seven to ten after the Broncos

369
00:27:15.160 --> 00:27:19.079
win because what ended up happening was
you jumped into a four way tiebreaker for

370
00:27:19.240 --> 00:27:23.680
that seventh seed, and instead of
it being a head to head Colts Bengals

371
00:27:23.720 --> 00:27:29.559
tiebreaker, it turned into a four
way tiebreaker using conference win percentage, where

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the Bengals are three and six and
pretty far behind in that tiebreaker with those

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teams. Yeah, it's a giant
cluster. Let's call it what it is.

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If you had to rank the Bengals
games from like most important to least

375
00:27:47.720 --> 00:27:52.319
important, Saturday is the least important, which on the surface you could say

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because of the AFC, but just
where the Steelers are, where the Browns

377
00:27:56.559 --> 00:28:02.599
are winning those two games is just
so huge for their playoff chances in having

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00:28:02.599 --> 00:28:06.720
a shot. But you got to
get three. They have to get three

379
00:28:06.799 --> 00:28:11.240
somewhere. If you get four,
well then you better book those playoff tickets,

380
00:28:11.559 --> 00:28:14.440
Jake Lisco, because they're going to
the playoffs. It's like ninety nine

381
00:28:14.480 --> 00:28:19.680
percent that they're in if they went
out, and I think three or four

382
00:28:19.759 --> 00:28:26.000
is realistic. But they are going
to have to evolve a bit in how

383
00:28:26.039 --> 00:28:27.680
they I don't think they're going to
score thirty in Pittsburgh. I think that's

384
00:28:27.759 --> 00:28:33.319
tough to do. Or thirty against
the Browns in Week eighteen, or thirty

385
00:28:33.359 --> 00:28:36.000
in Arrowhead with Jake Bryan. I
think all three of those it's really really

386
00:28:36.039 --> 00:28:41.359
tough. So this defense you mentioned
the defense, I think the defense and

387
00:28:41.480 --> 00:28:45.079
lou probably knew it going into that
game, and that's probably why they only

388
00:28:45.119 --> 00:28:48.559
gave up eight points and they could
have given up twelve if the kicker showed

389
00:28:48.640 --> 00:28:52.599
up for the cult. So even
so, that's why they played the way

390
00:28:52.599 --> 00:28:55.079
they did. I bet, oh, are you counting the two point conversion?

391
00:28:55.079 --> 00:28:56.319
I was like, how do we
get to eight? And it's the

392
00:28:56.359 --> 00:29:00.079
two point conversion? I got it. Yeah, the defense will need to

393
00:29:00.079 --> 00:29:03.200
to step up down the stretch,
and it's just it just speaks to the

394
00:29:03.319 --> 00:29:06.880
muddle middle of the AFC this year
that there's six teams at seven and six,

395
00:29:06.920 --> 00:29:10.480
there are three more teams at eight
and five, including the Jacksonville Jaguars,

396
00:29:10.519 --> 00:29:11.680
who have lost to in a row, the Cleveland Browns, who just

397
00:29:11.720 --> 00:29:15.240
named Joe Flacco their quarterback for the
rest of the season. I mean,

398
00:29:15.279 --> 00:29:21.400
we were really gonna have Joe Flacco
and defense again. I mean that that's

399
00:29:21.400 --> 00:29:25.960
the story we've seen before. But
these are the teams ahead of the Bengals

400
00:29:25.960 --> 00:29:32.000
where the AFC just looks fallible.
Baltimore Ravens needed a punt return touchdown in

401
00:29:32.039 --> 00:29:36.039
overtime to beat the Rams at home
yesterday. Not taking anything away from the

402
00:29:36.119 --> 00:29:42.680
Rams, but they're currently six and
seven, so it's you understand why their

403
00:29:42.680 --> 00:29:47.799
mentality in the building is like get
to the playoffs. Anything could happen if

404
00:29:47.839 --> 00:29:51.160
they if they catch a heater at
the right time, if they can play

405
00:29:51.240 --> 00:29:53.319
well in these games any given Sunday. I think that's very true in the

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NFL right now, But the rest
of the games are all important. Like

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you said, I think they need
at least three There is a scenario technically

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00:30:03.240 --> 00:30:07.559
where I think nine and eight gets
in, but it's not a scenario you

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want to live in. If you're
the Bengals, three should give you a

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00:30:11.599 --> 00:30:15.680
pretty good shot. You still need
a little bit of help, but it's

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not like you're you have crazy asks. The one other thing that's not in

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their favor is I think their schedule
is just harder than some of the other

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teams in the mix here. Not
all of them, I think. I

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think some of them have tough schedules
too. But you're looking at a team

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that already has played the hardest schedule
in the AFC this year, has the

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second highest now strength of victory in
the AFC, third highest my apologies,

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00:30:42.640 --> 00:30:47.839
third highest strength of victory in the
AFC, And that schedule doesn't get easier

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00:30:47.839 --> 00:30:51.240
down the stretch for the Bengals,
and so it will be tough. But

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the path is there, and in
a sense, they really do still control

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00:30:53.920 --> 00:30:57.279
their own destiny if they can win
out. Oh for sure, no,

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00:30:57.440 --> 00:31:02.880
they do. That phrase still works. The two most important games are the

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00:31:02.880 --> 00:31:07.799
division games, and just looking at
the way the percentages swing, we don't

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00:31:07.799 --> 00:31:11.599
know what's going to happen. Things
change really, really quick. But getting

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00:31:11.640 --> 00:31:17.000
that game in Pittsburgh is such a
huge, huge, huge opportunity, And

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00:31:17.880 --> 00:31:19.039
at the same time, it's like
you look back, you're like, man,

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00:31:19.880 --> 00:31:22.720
if they had just played a little
bit better against Pittsburgh a few weeks

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00:31:22.759 --> 00:31:26.359
ago, it wouldn't feel like this. They would feel they would be in

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00:31:26.400 --> 00:31:32.839
the playoffs as of now, and
there wouldn't be really zero margin for error

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00:31:32.960 --> 00:31:37.759
because they have roughly if they go
two and two down the stretch, and

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00:31:37.839 --> 00:31:41.720
those two wins are against the Steelers
and Browns, the two most important games,

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00:31:42.599 --> 00:31:47.039
you only have a thirteen percent chance
of getting in. So it's you

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00:31:47.160 --> 00:31:48.200
need a lot to break your way. If you only go two and two

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00:31:48.240 --> 00:31:52.599
down the stretch here, it's gonna
be tough. But they're interesting and they're

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00:31:52.599 --> 00:31:57.480
fun, and that's good news for
everybody who likes to follow this team.

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00:31:57.519 --> 00:32:02.279
I think that's what you would hopeful
with Jake Browning at quarterback, and so

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00:32:04.240 --> 00:32:07.000
I'm still excited to watch the rest
of the year. Tomorrow, we'll dive

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00:32:07.039 --> 00:32:10.319
into the tape, then we'll get
into the vikings with the first look with

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00:32:10.519 --> 00:32:15.920
Luke coming up on Thursday. In
a couple episodes from now tomorrow, Mike

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00:32:15.000 --> 00:32:19.160
Santagon will be with us to take
a look at some of the film takeaways

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00:32:19.160 --> 00:32:22.839
from the Bengals Week fourteen game.
Until then, thanks for listening to this

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00:32:22.920 --> 00:32:28.640
episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast WHO
Day and having a