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the Locked On Podcast Network, Your team every day. At the bye week,
let's take a look at every position group on the Cincinnati Bengals and give
out some grades. How are they doing so far? Let's get into it.
You are Locked On Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast, part of
the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day, Bengals fans, and
welcome to another episode of the Lockdown Bengals Podcast. I'm your host Jake Lisco.
He's your host James Rapine. We are the Lockdown Bengals podcast Today,
we're going to look at a team that had very high expectations going into this
season still does to be honest, and they fallen short of those expectations before
the bye week and now, as we knew before the season, things appear
to get harder with their schedule. But we're gonna go position by position and
look at where those grades come in, and for me, that's going to
be based on expectation. We'll get into that. This episode of Lockdown Bengals
brought to you by Fandel Sportsbook, the official sportsbook of locked On. Right
now, new customers can bet five dollars and get two hundred dollars in bonus
bets guaranteed at Fandel dot com slash locked On. We appreciate everybody who's new
to the show. If you're new to the show and this is the first
episode you've ever listened to on Lockdown Bengals because it's after the bye week and
you're ready to go for the rest of the season, make sure you look
back into the recent history. When we talked with Luanna Roumo and Brian Callahan
during the bye week, got their perspective on what's going on with the offense,
what's going on with the defense, talked about some individual players, talked
about some scheme with both of them. Some really cool insight from both of
the Bengals lieutenants to Zach Taylor on the defense and offensive side of the football,
and Louanna Roumo and Brian Callahan. So you don't want to miss those.
If you did miss him, take the time go back and listen to
him. I thought they were both really great and insightful. But today,
James, it's time to give out some grades. Kind of that cheesy mid
season evaluation even though it's not really mid season, but it's a good way
to think about what our expectations were for this Bengals team versus where they are
so far. And it starts with the quarterback who there were high MVP level
expectations for Joe Burrow. Fair to say he's not at that level right now,
and there are reasons for that. Right he missed all of training camp
again and he's been dealing with this calf injury. Yeah, I think it
stinks. It stinks that we entered this season and pre July twenty seventh and
we were talking about MVP and I thought he was dialed in in the best
shape of his career and eye test wise, that passed the test. I
saw a practice in a half where he was just balling, and we've seen
flashes of that, especially in Arizona at the beginning of Seattle, but it
hasn't been to that level. So no one deserves, needs, desires,
whatever you want to say. Probably craved the buy more than Joe Burrow mentally
and physically, and so I think he benefits from it as much as anyone.
And so that said, if we're giving him a grade, I think
the fair grade is incomplete. But the fact that he was able to battle
through and play when no one thought he was playing against the Rams, like
the Wednesday before that Monday night game, no one thought he was suiting up.
Thursday, it was the same, and it slowly trended in the right
direction. You had the Mike Mike Brown cart ride at practice where people are
saying he is shut down, and like it's been a wild six weeks.
It has and in really three months when you go back to the original calf
injury. But the fact that he hasn't played or hasn't not played, and
has been on the field, he deserves some credit for that a lot of
credit for that, and so his play hasn't been that MV level, and
that's where expectations are when he's healthy, that's where this coaching staff puts him
and then puts on him the responsibilities he has on this offense. So it's
weird because he's a big reason why the offense has struggled and not been what
we expected. And at the same time, I think he deserves credit for
being out there, even though he's one of those reasons why. So this
is a tricky grade. I think he's certainly not only passing, but maybe
slightly above average despite you know, everything, and so I would say C
plus, but that doesn't take into account a ton of the injury stuff.
Like if you just looked at the numbers, I would say, like,
it's probably C minus, and then with the injury, I'm bumping it up
to a C plus and it's probably even higher than that considering what he had
to play through. In the fact that we didn't see any of Jake Browning
in the first six games of the season, or at least any significant snaps
for Jake Browning early on, I think he certainly deserves some credit for the
injury. Like you said, I'm gonna be a little bit less generous.
I know that he's been dealing with a lot, and so I don't think
that's generous. I don't think there's a player in the league that has gone
through more than than Joe Burrow has gone through. And that's not just because
it's locked on Bengals. I think it's that's a fact. Yeah, that's
fine. I think that Just for me, it just is more of how
he's played, and he hasn't played well. He's had flashes of playing well,
and he does, like like you said, like you've made abundantly clear,
he's gone through a significant amount of pain to just stay on the field
and be there with his guys. But the level of play for Joe Burrow
compared to what we expect for Joe Burrow is like D plus C minus like
you said, the C minus for the numbers or whatever. But just like
the way he's playing, just missing throws, not on the same page with
his guys, which isn't always his fault. The way the offense has struggled
as a pass Firsus offense that relies on Joe Burrow's ability, some of that
is on coaching, as we've discussed and we talked with Bran Callahan about.
But for like an average quarterback, if you're just saying, like, where's
Joe Burrow compared to other NFL quarterbacks, it's near the bottom statistically and a
lot of meaningful numbers right now. He can't figure out the deep ball right
now. It needs to be a lot better. So C minus D plus
like that's still where I am. I think that outside of you know,
the grade itself, which is harsh if you say D plus, he does
deserve a lot of, you know, moral victory credit for what he's been
through, and I think that he'll bounce back. It's just for what he's
done so far, from you know, interceptions that haven't come at good times,
to erratic accuracy, to processing that that hasn't been great. They've been
limited on offense. A lot of that is the quarterback. I think that
he'll be much better the rest of the way. I think that he will
bounce back. I think you will see more of the Cincinnati Bengals offense that
we're used to see. But it's not just Burrow. It is part of
the thing, right It's it's Burrow's not playing well and and maybe that's a
reason that it should be a little bit higher. And maybe that's the reason
that your grade might be more accurate than mine is Tee Higgins is not having
the year that he's He's having maybe his worst year in the NFL so far.
Earth Smith Jr. In the tight end position has not been productive.
So it's not just Burrow. But I do think that C plus feels to
me. It feels generous to you. You know, if you're accounting for
all the injury stuff, I think that's fine. I'm just not accounting for
it. I guess when I give the grade up that's a pff. Jake,
Well, it's just there where it's it's like like report cards used to
have comments on him, like you should. I'm giving him the comment of
like I understand, but let's be better kind of thing. Sure, it's
to me, they would be like one in five with Jake Browning and so
as bad as he's been at times, Burrow, yea, he deserves like
there's there's letter grades built in like instantly it's like, all right, well
it's still average because he lifts everybody up. But he lifts everybody up like
I promise you the defense would have been worse with Browning at quarterback. I
promise you t would have been worse. Jamar would have been worse. It's
just and that's not even Jake's fault. It's just, you know, it's
not me going after the Jakes of the world. It's just what it is
when you see nine out there versus not. It's just part of it.
And that's why him playing on that Monday night game is still wild to me,
and I think kind of gets overshadowed. So I do get it.
He does have to be better. I'll tell you that. He may say
that I'm being generous with his play. I think that's part of why it's
been so frustrating, is because he can't and hasn't been able to physically do
what he normally does. But we can both agree that they need him to
play a level in the final eleven games of the season, as many of
those as possible. Like if we revisit this in eleven weeks, we need
to be saying, oh, well, since the buye Burrow is at a
B plus minimum, hopefully a minus are better and so's That's going to be
the interesting part as well as we move forward, because if it is in
that a range, we're talking about a team that's going to be a contender.
Again, yeah it's not then who knows. That's exactly what happened last
year. Once they hit their stride, he was playing at a top level
as well as we've seen him play. The other thing is, if you're
comparing Burrow this year to previous year Burrow, it's really really hard to get
an a right because average Burrough the last two years has been a level quarterbacking
for the rest of the league following short of expectations, though, I'd say
compared to where we were preseason at three and three with the offense one of
the bottom units in the league, that's part of it. Let's continue on
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about Joe Burrow, I mentioned that it's not just Burrow, and there are
some extenuating circumstances as to why the Bengals offensive numbers are what they are.
We've talked about this a lot. There are a lot of things that need
to be correct and we talked about this, so Brian Callahan, I think
the next unit we can talk about is wide receiver. And this one's hard
because you know, you take the averages right, like Chase gets an A
for me, Tyler Boy's probably like a C minus. He's not been quite
as productive as you would expect from Tyler Boyd, but the flashes are there.
He had a touchdown that would have bumped it up. That was a
race. Nan Te Higgins is probably like D right. He's had one game.
He's been hurt, which which doesn't help things, but not clearly what
you would expect you Higgins to be. You take the average of that,
where are you on wide receiver? Like B minus with Jamar Chase carrying a
heavy part of that load. Jamar has been the best player on offense by
far, so if you're doing a unit, he deserves a lot of credit
for this offense overall. Yeah, it's it's rough, and obviously Jamar has
been dominant at times, but the offense is just so inconsistent that you look
at it. I think a C might be generous for these pass catchers because
where we are wide receivers. If we're just looking at wide receivers for comparative
to what we expected, best trio in the league, right, Charlie Jones
flashes some gets hurt. Andre Yosavasha's flashed love that. So you got something
out of your rookie receivers. I think you would have taken that to start
the year outside of the injury, which you can't help the fact that the
guy had a broken thumb and needed surgery. But Jamar has been dominant.
He is off to the worst start of his career. Now, the reason
it's not an f is because of the rib injury. I think that's certainly
impacted him the other day. I hope he gets healthy. I hope he
dominates over the final eleven and finishes with twelve hundred plus yards. But who
would have thought that t Higgins would have fourteen catches over the first six games
for one hundred and forty nine yards. And I know he missed a game,
so in five games, Okay, that's less than three receptions a game,
with just eight of them in one game. Yeah, yeah, in
the two touchdowns against the Ravens too. I mean, it's it's been Outside
of that game, it's been really really rough for Tea Boyd. It's everything
looks good except the yards, and that's the part. Thirty receptions on forty
one targets you would take. I think that that's about right. You know
you have five receptions a game. The problem is two hundred and four yards
six point eight a reception. We're not talking about rushing yards six point I
mean that's closer to rushing yards. And that's not just him. That's a
product of what the offense has been. Jamar is averaging eleven yards a catch.
That's where Boyd should be. Jamar needs to be at fourteen yards a
catch, and that goes in line with the deep ball stuff, the downfield
stuff, and so it's an offensive thing overall. But right now, the
guy that leads them in yards per catch, it's Tanner Hudson with twelve.
That's unbelievable. And I know he's not a receiver, but we can segue
into a tight end in a second. It's just it's crazy. So I
would actually put it C minus D plus because it's just it's really ugly right
now and I think it could change, and a lot of it is tied
to burrow in Jamar is what's really helping. I would say C minus.
Let's go see minus it's like a seventy eight percent something like that. If
you're talking about like a math test, or seventy eight percent or so.
Seventy plus in the grading scale. I think it's ten percent per grade,
right, So nine when I was coming up, man b ended at I
think eighty forty five. Yeah, yeah, eighty four eighty five. So
that's I'm using the old grading scale. I don't know about this new school
new school grade scale. Seventy eight was not good. I was very mad
if I ever got a seventy eight. And so that's that's where I'm at
with these receivers. They changed on me going into high school. When I
was in junior high, it was still the seven percent or whatever it was
per grade. It was ninety three to one hundred was an A, and
then they changed it in high school. And now I hear that it's like
even bigger some places, like the grade rangers for an A can be like
fifteen percent. Anyway, we're not grade eighty and eighty five is in a
Oh my mind, God, it might even be a bigger range than that
I've heard about. You better be right, otherwise the teachers that listen to
this are going to crush you. I'm not saying in Cincinnati, I'm saying
up here, I don't know what I don't know what's going on since So
if I had to go back to school, we go, we go to
Canada, maybe that Bank Island. Yeah, right, taking the ferry,
going to college. Let's talk. Let's talk about the tight ends. This
has been probably the least productive unit on the offense compared to the rest of
the NFL. Yep, they're not at the level they were last year,
which wasn't wildly productive to be fair in the first place. But er Smith
Junior hasn't gotten going, did miss some time with the hamstring injury. Thought
he would at least be as productive as hayden Hurst. It's not like that
was asking a ton. Hayden Hurst, like we talked about, has had
some clutch plays to this point in twenty twenty three, twenty twenty two.
But earth Smith in this tight end group, you know, the best of
them has probably been Drew Sample's contributions as a blocker. And when that's what
you're talking about is the highlight of the unit, which you mentioned Tanner Hudson
seems to need Tanner Hudson yep. Oh man, you're scraping. You're looking
for something. Yeah, it's been this isn't it, and it's not to
me it is and it's not a player thing because I actually earth Smith Junior
has taking a ton of heat. I think there's a spot for him.
I think it fits. I don't think he's had a ton of opportunities now
why it could be partially on him, but I think Mitch will Cox and
Drew Sample have done their job, Tanner Hudson has done his, and I
still haven't totally waved the white flag on Earthsmith Junior being productive this year.
Like I still see the vision. You just need the production to start now.
You need something because we just went over the receivers, it's Jamar Chase
and nothing. And while t Higgins should figure it out and Tyler Boyd should
average more than six yards of catch, you can't just bank on that.
I want to see something from the tight ends as well, and so it's
it needs to happen, and it needs to happen soon. And so maybe
it's a D minus if you don't want to go failing. But it's just
it's been a struggle from a production standpoint, And that doesn't mean there aren't
good players in that room that have done what they've been asked, but you
need more out of that position group as a whole. I think the reason
that for me wouldn't be an f is that they have like for example,
actually has been quite good as a blocker. There is some value there,
but it's not the value that we're looking for. You need more than one
guy who's blocking well well with Tea hurt In Borrow struggle. Like it would
be nice if a tight end was like, hey, I can be a
target for you, a reliable guy over the middle, and we just we
have not seen that. For whatever reason we have not seen. It's a
position that they haven't invested in. They've wanted to in the draft, it
didn't work out, and it's a position that we talked about quite a lot
this offseason. And what it is, Yeah, let's do some some a
little more rapid fire. We'll have to speed it up a bit, but
we are going to get to the rest of the grades. Spending a lot
of time on the offense, why because they've struggled. We'll get to the
rest of the team and finish up the offense. Coming up next. This
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the best side is street Side. Got a couple more position groups here on
offense to finish up. We haven't talked about the defense at all, as
this tradition on Lockdown Bengals an offense driven podcast for an offense driven team,
although maybe this year is defense driven. We'll talk about that in just a
second, but let's wrap up on offense. Let's finish up the skill positions
here with running back, where it's another position we talked about a lot and
mixing. I thought started the year really well. I think in weeks five,
let's see five and six, right, those are, Yeah, they've
played six games. Some weeks five and six. The finishing power that we
saw from Joe Mixon in the first four games we didn't see as much.
I don't think you played poorly at any point. I think he's been pretty
good this year. But the nunning game has really lacked explosion, which is
something we talked about. The running games. Efficiency in the passing game,
sorry, the running backs. Efficiency in the passing game is significantly worse this
year than last year in terms of it being a good answer for the Bengals
last year. That's not all on the players, of course, but what
are we thinking here? Like see again, like there's nothing that's blowing your
socks off at the running back position for the Bengals. Yeah, I think
mixing certainly helps this grade. I think Trayveon's been solid and what they've asked
him to do, and it's an incomplete after that, we haven't seen Chase
Brown enough to give him a grade. I don't feel comfortable doing that.
Chris Evans is waiting on his first carry since Cleveland, I believe, unless
I'm not looking at this properly, it's crazy. So one thing, Joe
Mixon averaging six and a half yards per pass reception that close to Tyler Boyd
six point eight, which puts Boyd's number in perspective to me more than anything.
But you're right, not as efficient in the passing game. I agree
with you. I think Mixon hasn't been able to run as hard as powerful
the past couple of weeks, and I just think he's going to wear down
if they don't find someone else in this backfield, hopefully it's Chase Brown,
or maybe they look outside the organization. Maybe it's Trevion Williams or Chris Evans.
I don't care who it is. You just need someone to touch the
ball, not name Joe Mixon in this backfield and be productive. I don't
expect them to be explosive over the final eleven games. I would say C
minus or so. It's just it's a flawed running back room and so like
their best case would have been mixing just being amazing, and I thought he
was really good to start the year, tapering off a little bit that can
get fixed with the offensive line. Let's transition to the offensive line. I
think that's part of it too, is run blocking wise, they've left something
to be desired. Pass blocking wise, I think they've been pretty good overall.
They were tested early with a lot of tough matchups. They'll get tested
again with the FOTY Niners. Of course, I think this offensive line has
been all right. I would probably say, especially considering Burrow hasn't been able
to move in some of these games. B minus is probably where I'm at
B where the pass blocking is going to continue to get better. Kappa has
certainly been much better. The past couple of weeks been awesome, and I
think Orlando Brown Junior and company they're going to continue to play better and better.
So I would give them a BB minus. I think of its C
for the offensive line, which again maybe is harsh, but I just think
that you look at some of the great offensive lines, some of the good
offensive lines, and then the Bengals offensive line, and they're not quite there.
They're missing some juice, they're missing some athleticism, they're missing a little
bit of consistency. There are some flaws really across the board. Besides Alice
Kappa in his last two games, he has been much better, like you
said, playing the best couple of games of the season. If they continue
to trend in the right direction, I could see bumping this up, but
I haven't I mean much that would suggest to me that they're above average maybe
compared to recent Bengals offensive lines. They're certainly a little bit better, but
some room to improve for that offensive line, for sure, and I think
they're capable of doing it. We'll see if they can. Let's go from
one trench position to the other and switch to the defense. What do you
think of this defensive front and what they've done. Obviously, they've been better
the past couple of weeks, been able to heat up opposing quarterbacks. Trey
hendrickson ballin. We know about the core four. We talked with Lou about
that. Make sure you check out that interview. I think they're pretty good.
They're not perfect, but I think they are solid B. The tackling
I think goes hand in hand with the defensive front as much as anything.
In the tackling issues, they've been better in recent weeks, so I'd give
them a solid B so far. For me, I'm actually a little bit
higher on the defensive line, but that's because I'm weighing the starter so heavily
because they've played so much. I'm like maybe B plus a minor. Tay
Henderson has been great. DJ Reader hasn't been like DJ Reader in every single
game this year, but we've seen it in the last couple of weeks.
I have a lot of optimism that he's rounded into form. Sam Hubbard is
again playing at a high level. BJ Hill has been splashy here and there.
You know, it's another year where you want BJ to be a little
bit more consistent early, but he seems to be finding his stride a little
bit as well. So the starters have been great and where it will come
down a little bit for me as a backup interior, they've not gotten good
play out of that position. When DJ and BJ come off the field.
Cam's Hample, though talked about him coming into the season. He has been
pretty good and recently had a great game playing at you know, three tech
the interior pass rusher. But also he's just a solid player, so he
helps. But the backups and the depth there is something that we're going to
continue to scrutinize where you're not talking about backups and depth so much, at
least so far, and hopefully continues that way. Knock On Wood is linebacker
where Jermaine Pratt, Logan Wilson. There have been some tackling issues for this
entire defense, you could say, but I personally feel pretty good about the
way those guys are playing, regardless of what you might see if you look
at the PFF grades, which are relatively low on those guys, I'm at
a solid B plus. Again for the linebackers, I think they've been pretty
good. Yeah, I agree. I think they've been good, and the
tackling part probably is the thing that stands out. I just think they're part
of that, and so i'd probably say be but still really really good.
Let's go to the cornerbacks, where they may have a couple of young studs,
young stars, Cam Taylor Britt DJ Turner the second, both playing really
really well. I think Cam Taylor Britt has two interceptions the past couple of
games. Jan Drego just doesn't give up receptions at all, so no one's
going to catch it when he's in coverage, and Mike Hilton his normal solid
self. I think he's been better over the past couple of weeks. Obviously,
Chittobay Wuzia in and out with coming back from that ACL snap count and
now dealing with a back issue. I think the corners have been really good
and so I would give them a minus probably, Like I'm pretty confident in
them, especially if Cheeto gets healthier. So yeah, I'm pretty bullish on
what they've done. Yeah, I like what they've done too. I'm probably
not there. I think I'm going to be that. They've had some issues
where they've gotten beat and the ball hasn't been accurate. They've been bailed out
by some bad quarterback play at times. But I would say this is trending
in the right direction. I really think that Cam Taylor Britt's confidence has grown
and the team's confidence in him has grown. This year. He's seen some
of the most matchups against opposing team's number ones this year, and of course
that matchup with DK Metcalf in week six was under the microscope in a big
way. Love what we've seen from DJ Turner so far. I think Cheetoh
when he's been on the field, when he's been healthy, has been fine
for the most part. Needs to get healthy again to be so you feel
good about the depth because they have been rotating him with DJ Turner and then
the other one being Mike Hilton, had honestly a rocky start to the year,
was very good. In week six, I was very impressed with that
interception. The tackling started to come into form a little bit. But there
were tackling issues for Mike Hilton where some of that wasn't his fault. There
there's like a block in the back that wasn't called that led to a big
play where he's crashed down on a screen, So that's part of it too.
But again bullish all these guys going forward, just don't think they've been
quite at that level so far. Happy to disagree there. Let's finish up
with safety where it's tough because there's two guys and I'm at an a minus
for Dax I've been very impressed with Dax or having some flaws. They bring
it off with a solid A and then Nick Scott is probably or like other
safety position, which also includes some Jordan battles, probably like a C minus
where it just could be a little bit better. There's flashes and it's just
really inconsistent. Yeah, Dak's spider Man just came out, so I mean
he's the spider Man in the defense. I feel like they move him all
over and he makes hits and plays. He's been a good tackler and I'm
excited to watch him grow because I think he could be really Like I was
high on him just in general, like when they picked him, and now
I wonder if I was low, like I should have been higher, like
on his ceiling and not where it could be because I've been impressed with him.
Nick Scott is working through it. I think he's adjusted into his role
in Luanna Rumo's defense Jordan battle as well. I think they'll figure it out.
Overall, it's probably a B minus C plus C range something like that,
probably C to B minus and Dax helps elevate that. Overall, though,
I think you're pretty excited to see what you've seen from Dax, even
if Nick Scott hasn't been what people had hoped. And uh, last but
not least, special teams Evan mc Evan McPherson, A Coladamitas, A,
Brad Robbins, D D Yeah, I think D. I'm maybe maybe D
plus because he's been a really good holder. I just know. I think
I think I think you've wanted more from him. What you know you wanted
more from him, And hopefully he figures it out because I really like him
and I think he's talented, and it's just about consistency. I think for
Brad right now, he's shown flashes, but it's been inconsistent. I think
I'm going to b for for one, having McPherson he missed, he missed
two of those fifty plus yard field goals three for five. I want to
see that be five, four for five at least. I want him to
be perfect. I want his fifty yard field Yeah. His like his career
average for fifty plus yard field goals is he was five for five last year,
he was twelve or fourteen his rookie year, and this year's three for
five. Small sas would like it to be four for five together name.
All right, you're really mad about that missing Cleveland. No, it's the
La miss you know, it gets real dramatic. He won them the game
against the Rams. He was the best player on the fieldside. He also
missed one, just saying, unbelievable. Your grades suck. You want an
a. The FF has blinders on certain grades. You are awful with kicker
grades. It's okay, all right, he has been much better. Hasn't
missed a kick from forty to forty nine, which was where he Uh,
we're worried about tonight, for his entire career. So he's getting better credit
credit there. Like that. They're taking more fifty plus yard field goals this
year though they should well, especially if the offense is struggled. They're not
going for it kind of too. Yeah, we didn't get coaching grades in.
We talked to the coaches recently. The biggest thing for me is some
of the fourth down decisions. We'll see if that improves or not. I
think that they're very like gained the game with that, and like how things
are going in the game, in addition to the analytics. But and just
their struggles. Yeah, just their struggle. I mean if Burrow's feeling it's
really tough. With the six games. We probably should add a disclaimer.
I expect this team to feel much much different moving forward. Doesn't mean they
will beat San fran but I expect it to feel different in Santa Clara when
we're there. Yeah, I feel like I'm bullish on pretty much all these
guys. So we just talked about we just talked through all these units,
like, well, so far this but I feel like this and it's been
mostly bullish, and there's some spots we'll maybe talk about where they could be
better. Maybe they bring in some guys at the trade deadline, maybe they
don't, but certainly something that we can talk about here this week. That's
going to do it for this episode of the Locked On Bengals podcast. Bengals
back in the building on Monday. Until then, Thanks for listening, Who
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