Jake Browning Leads Bengals Past Colts in Week 14
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00:00 The Bengals handled business on Sunday at Paycore Stadium, knocking out the Colts 34-14 to improve to 7-6 on the season.
00:07 Hi again everyone, I'm James Rapinoe alongside Elyse Jesse.
00:10 Welcome into Cincinnati Bengals talk where the Bengals are in the thick of the playoff race.
00:15 Depending on what happens in that Chargers game, if the Chargers beat the Broncos, they will be the 7th seed.
00:20 So, shocker for a lot of people. I think a lot of people watching didn't necessarily expect Jake Browning to go 2-1 in his first three starts.
00:29 I didn't expect it, I don't think you did.
00:32 And yet here we are, the Bengals are 7-6, trying to make another December playoff run.
00:37 I think it speaks so much about who they are as a group.
00:40 Like, they're gritty, they're scrappy, they're fighting because they still have playoff hopes.
00:44 They still want to play in the postseason.
00:46 And when Joe Burrow went down with the injury and then had to get season-ending surgery,
00:51 a lot of people were counting the Bengals out.
00:53 Like, saying there's no way the Bengals can do anything else this season.
00:56 And look at what this group is now doing.
00:58 They're now, they beat the Colts handily today, 34-14.
01:02 And now they're in a position where they kind of control their own destiny to a certain extent.
01:07 Yeah, you're right. And I think the magic number, playoff-wise, is probably 10.
01:11 We'll see after the dust settles this week to look at it and the playoff picture as a whole.
01:17 But let's start with Jake Browning. 18-24, 275, two touchdowns.
01:22 Man, I mean, completing 70+% of his pass as he ran for another touchdown.
01:26 Jake Browning has been really, really good.
01:29 He had the pick-six today, which I do think was on him.
01:31 He said it probably was.
01:33 But even with that, he's played much better than I anticipated in this offense.
01:38 Back-to-back weeks with 30+ points.
01:40 I was impressed with the fact that he was able to keep his composure and remain calm for a second straight game.
01:45 Because after his last game against the Jaguars, everyone was talking about, can he do it consistently?
01:50 Can he do this multiple games in a row?
01:52 And I think he was even wondering that at one point, based on what he was saying to reporters.
01:56 But he was able to pull that off.
01:58 He was able to be calm, execute properly.
02:01 I know the guys around him are happy that he's executing at the level that he is.
02:04 That's what they're expecting from him.
02:06 And I was honestly really impressed.
02:08 I know this is not about Jake Browning, but just the team as a whole.
02:11 When the Colts, in a matter of, what, 25 seconds, managed to tie up the game down 14 points.
02:17 14-14 is the score with a minute 30 to go.
02:20 I mean, they were trying to take the sail out of the wind out of the sails for the Bengals.
02:25 And the Bengals didn't let them do it.
02:27 Shut them out in the second half.
02:29 It's interesting, because the past two weeks now, you had the Tyler Boyd interception that completely flipped the Monday night game.
02:35 But they didn't. It could have.
02:37 It felt like it was going to be it.
02:39 And it didn't.
02:41 It was the same thing today.
02:43 You get out to a 14-0 lead.
02:45 Chase Brown, we'll get to the running game, but Chase Brown, Joe Mixon just carrying you on your first three possessions.
02:50 They had 127 yards from scrimmage combined on the Bengals' first three possessions.
02:54 Obviously ended in touchdowns.
02:55 So you're up 14-0.
02:57 And then you have a Trey Hendrickson.
02:59 Just awful penalty by him, and he'll admit it.
03:01 The Colts eat up a ton of clock.
03:03 They score.
03:05 And they miss the extra point.
03:06 It's like, oh, well, go score, and you still feel good.
03:08 You might be up 17-6 going into the half.
03:10 In the pick six, it's 14-14 at halftime.
03:13 But they responded.
03:14 And they respond by going downfield, scoring a touchdown.
03:17 They never trailed in this game.
03:19 Outside of that 25-second blip at the end where the last two minutes of the second quarter felt like an hour, it really did.
03:26 Outside of that, this team dominated.
03:31 A really good Colts team.
03:32 And the other element of this before we get to the defense is the run game.
03:36 And you deserve credit because you've been on the run game a ton.
03:39 Elyse always talks about the run game.
03:41 She misses run game.
03:43 And to your credit and to the Bengals' credit, they've gotten the run game going over the past couple of weeks.
03:49 It's made Jake Browning's life easier.
03:51 It's allowed them to limit possessions for the Colts.
03:54 The Colts only had three possessions after tying the game at 14.
03:58 And three possessions later, they're down 31-14.
04:01 Obviously, the final score is close to that at 34-14.
04:03 But Joe Mixon, Chase Brown, Thunder, Lightning, whatever analogy you want to use, it works.
04:10 The duo is so much fun to watch.
04:12 I asked Joe Mixon right after the game, "What do you think about Chase Brown?"
04:16 He's like, "Clearly, Chase is taking notes on me."
04:19 He's taking notes for me.
04:20 And then I asked Chase, "Are you taking notes on Joe Mixon?"
04:23 He's like, "Yeah, of course I am. He's a pro bowler."
04:25 So, I mean, they're playing complementary football together.
04:29 Obviously, Joe is helping Chase along.
04:32 And I've got to give credit to the--you gave me credit for too much credit, honestly.
04:37 The coaching staff calling the run plays that they are and calling the screens for Chase and it working out.
04:43 I mean, I honestly--I am impressed with how much this has turned around.
04:47 And it almost makes me wonder what this could have been if Joe Burrow was healthy watching this duo right now.
04:55 Yeah, I do wonder because we haven't seen Joe Burrow with a run game like this or an explosive back like Chase.
05:01 And I think that's the element.
05:03 It's not number of carries, and I've said that a ton.
05:05 If you watch CBT regularly, I say volume-wise, I kind of downplay that.
05:10 It's efficiency.
05:11 Can you be efficient and explosive?
05:14 And they've been both the past couple of weeks.
05:16 Joe Mixon, screen game, 40-plus yard reception in each of the past two games.
05:20 Obviously, Chase Brown got things started.
05:22 54 yards, and he topped the 22-mile-per-hour mark.
05:27 22.05 miles per hour, second to only DK Metcalf, according to NFL Next Gen Stats,
05:32 as fastest ball carriers in the league this year.
05:34 Faster than Tyreek Hill, for those wondering.
05:37 The man can fly.
05:38 And thank goodness they got him the ball at the right time because he's certainly lit a fire under this offense.
05:44 And I think he's helping Mixon, too.
05:46 Even if Joe might not see it, you just keep him fresher.
05:50 And Mixon's fresher, and he can be more explosive and more effective.
05:53 Yeah, more productive.
05:54 I mean, that's exactly what you want from your run game.
05:57 And Chase Brown being in the top 1% of speed in the NFL is crazy that he's in Cincinnati and on this roster.
06:04 It makes me wonder what was going through his mind when he was fully healthy three games ago and he didn't get a touch.
06:09 And now he's like, "Okay, now you guys trust me.
06:12 Now you guys are finally seeing what I bring to the table.
06:14 Give me all you got."
06:16 That's the vibe that I'm getting from him.
06:18 Yes, he's super humble, down to earth, and he's not going to talk himself up.
06:22 But I think he's finally like, "Now you guys are seeing what my peewee coaches have seen my entire life."
06:28 He had 328 carries at Illinois last year.
06:31 He is not afraid of carrying the Rock.
06:33 He is not, not at all.
06:35 Real quick before we get to the defense, Jake Browning, drink water, hydrate.
06:39 I already made one joke to him at the end of the news conference, like, "Go chug some water."
06:44 After he talked for like 12 minutes or so, his teammates are going to do the same.
06:48 I've never seen that.
06:49 Hand cramp, had to leave the game.
06:51 A.J. McCarron played for a second.
06:53 It should have been a touchdown to T.E.
06:54 That's annoying.
06:55 But yeah, one of the weird injuries.
07:00 This is what proves that Jake Browning has exceeded expectations.
07:04 My phone blew up when he left the game with an injury.
07:07 I had multiple friends text me like, "Oh no, what's going on with Jake?"
07:11 And I didn't think it was anything serious, and obviously it was just a hand cramp.
07:14 But yeah, one of the weirder injuries I've seen.
07:16 Yeah, definitely one of the weirdest ones I've seen.
07:18 Especially for him to run back on the field and they were like, "Oh, it's just cramping."
07:21 I'm like, "What? Cramping in your thumb? I've never heard of that."
07:23 In all the years that we've worked in sports, for neither one of us to ever hear of something like that is hilarious.
07:29 Also, by the way, that touchdown to T.E., both A.J. McCarron and T.E. Higgins,
07:33 I talked to them after the game, they both thought that that was a call that was a little soft.
07:38 And neither one of them thought that T.E. pushed off like that.
07:41 I agree, and I know T.E. had some drops today and he's taking some heat.
07:45 I tweeted, "He can't get a break right now."
07:48 Because that, I thought it was a touchdown.
07:50 It was a great ball by A.J. McCarron coming in cold, by the way.
07:53 So, hopefully T.E. gets a touchdown next week.
07:56 The Bengals, they've had two wins in six days, and they play again six days from now.
08:01 Saturday, right here, against the Minnesota Vikings.
08:03 But the thing that I didn't see coming is this defense pitching a shutout.
08:10 And they basically did.
08:11 I mean, they're a Trey Hendrickson play where he doesn't hit Gardner Minshew way late
08:17 and it was just a dumb hit because I don't know what he was thinking.
08:20 But if he doesn't do that, and he did play well today, I'm not trying to be too critical of Trey,
08:23 but on that play, it was a boneheaded play.
08:26 They're that away from pitching a complete shutout today.
08:29 They were great against the Colts, limited them all game long,
08:32 and pitched a shutout in the second half, even with the pick six, all the momentum.
08:36 They didn't give up another point.
08:37 I mean, you could tell that Trey Hendrickson was beating himself up after that
08:41 because it was third and long.
08:43 They had the chance to have the ball at a really great positioning on the field.
08:47 And Trey, on the sidelines, comes off and he's just beside himself.
08:51 DJ Reeder has both of his hands on his shoulder pads,
08:54 and he's trying to talk Trey off a ledge, like, "Calm down. It's okay.
08:58 Next play, get it out of your head," like trying to get him to get back to normal, which he did.
09:03 And I was impressed by the shutout, too.
09:04 I was asking Chidebe Owuzie about the shutout in the second half,
09:08 and he was just kind of like, "This is who we are."
09:10 And then he mentioned that Lou Anarumo has been on them, like white on rice.
09:14 Like, he is not letting up.
09:15 He is coaching them super hard, and he's letting them know that, you know,
09:19 when they were giving up multiple touchdowns and not playing within themselves,
09:23 not executing or trusting the guy next to them to make the plays,
09:26 they were putting bad tape out there.
09:28 No player wants to do that in the position that they're in.
09:31 No player does, and this Bengals defense, they've responded.
09:34 They showed me something today.
09:36 I wasn't sure if they would be able to do what they did today again
09:39 because this was this turnover-based defense, and they did force a turnover.
09:43 Trey Hendrickson deserves credit there.
09:44 BJ Hill with the interception.
09:46 He also had the fumble on special teams that they were able to recover.
09:48 DJ Ivy getting some interesting snaps on defense and some valuable snaps.
09:53 So, look, this team, they're building.
09:55 They're trending in the right direction.
09:57 We'll see if it continues.
09:58 I would talk with Elyse for another 20 minutes, but she would freeze to death.
10:02 So, instead of doing that, we're going to sign off here
10:06 with the Bengals handle business 34-14.
10:09 For Elyse Jesse, I'm James Ruppeen.
10:11 Shout-out to Andrew Fox-Miller, our channel coordinator, editor,
10:14 and whatever else you want to call him.
10:16 Until next time, thank you so much for watching Cincinnati Bengals Talk.
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