2024 NFL Preview: Will Cincinnati Have a Bounce Back?
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00When it comes to the north, it's trying to separate what is always a tough division.
00:06Every single team last year above 500, which of course includes the Pittsburgh Steelers.
00:11I refuse though to start with that team.
00:15And I do believe we have to start with the Baltimore Ravens individually.
00:19The number one seed who once again, you leave the playoffs being like, man, I don't know
00:26if I can trust this team.
00:27Me though, I shouldn't really be the one to talk about this, Donnie.
00:31Last year, a Ravens future backer, the whole way.
00:35You watched that game play out in the conference championship against Kansas City.
00:40What did you take from that game and how do you apply it to the Ravens moving forward?
00:43A lot of irrationalness for myself, if I can use that as a word, because I was so angry
00:47watching what was taking place, saying, if you just play decent football, you win that
00:52game, you're going to be Super Bowl champions.
00:53At least you're going to take on the San Francisco 49ers and rightfully so.
00:57Because maybe the best team in football, you expect your MVP quarterback to step up
01:02in the biggest moments.
01:03And guys, I'm not even talking about, I need 350, four touchdowns and no interceptions
01:07trying to carry my team.
01:08How about just don't make dumb passes, right?
01:10Now granted, I understand.
01:12There were plays where young rookie wide receivers were diving for the goal line.
01:15If they scored touchdowns, the game's different.
01:17I get it.
01:18But there were throws in the double coverage that had absolutely no business being made.
01:21And I think I can probably find my Twitter profile to this day saying, I can't trust
01:25this guy.
01:26I don't know how you got out of him.
01:27I can't believe I trusted Lamar Jackson.
01:29And it's right.
01:30Look, until he proves he can do it on the biggest stage.
01:33I don't mean being an MVP.
01:34I don't mean dominating Monday Night Football or maybe having the best overall team in the
01:37regular season.
01:38You gotta win in the playoffs.
01:40And he hasn't done that, Joe, yet for me.
01:42Agree 100 percent, Donnie.
01:43I mean, I've been the biggest Lamar Jackson fan coming out of Louisville.
01:47I think he was deserving of being taken in the first round.
01:50I thought he would evolve to be the player that he is.
01:53But again, you get judged in terms of playoff type of situations.
01:56When the game is on the line, two minutes or less, and you need a touchdown or a go-ahead
02:01score, can Lamar Jackson deliver?
02:03And he didn't.
02:04He did not deliver.
02:05In garbage time, he delivered.
02:07After the game was already in doubt.
02:08They brought in OBJ to help out that passing attack.
02:11They never utilized him until the game was signed, sealed, and delivered for the Kansas
02:15City Chiefs.
02:16Zay Flowers is a good wide receiver.
02:19I don't think he's elite in terms of top five.
02:21He's certainly not a Justin Jefferson or Jamar Chase type of wide receiver.
02:25Maybe it changes this year, but until their identity changes, even though Derrick Henry
02:30is there, they can win 13, 14 games in the regular season.
02:33But I'm not betting this team to make an AFC championship or bet them.
02:37There's so much that came out of that final game with Kansas City.
02:42I do think, all in all, it did serve as a reminder that Lamar was an atrocious MVP.
02:48He's a great quarterback.
02:50I, like you, Joe, have been super high on Lamar.
02:53He just wasn't deserving at all of the award and was handed to it.
02:57No, no.
02:58Don, they should have given it to Josh Allen because I know you're thinking about MV Purdy.
03:00No, no.
03:01Because...
03:02No, nothing about him.
03:03No, no.
03:04Well, who did you think?
03:05Stroud.
03:06Like, you were on a little...
03:07No, Stroud 100% was more deserving of it than Lamar Jackson.
03:08I mean, not to go down that rabbit hole again, right?
03:12It's the offseason.
03:13Yeah, I know.
03:14I mean, we got some time to stretch our legs, but Don, if you look back at what CJ did last
03:18year, and you look back at what Lamar did last year, CJ's season was more surprising,
03:24impressive, I think checked more boxes, but ultimately, ah, the Ravens won more football
03:29games.
03:30It's true.
03:31The game that made Lamar Jackson the favorite for the award was the Niners game in which
03:37Purdy fell apart due to that Ravens defense.
03:40And that's why I say there's so much stuff to take out of the Kansas City game where
03:45It serves as a reminder the Chiefs dynasty is not singularly about Mahomes, no matter
03:50how much some people try to make it.
03:52And it's also a lot to do with Andy Reid, because you never would expect Andy Reid to
03:57go into a football game and put forward the most ridiculous game plan of all time.
04:02The problem with what the Ravens did against the Chiefs is not, oh, Lamar had shortcomings.
04:07It's that if I would have started Donnie in the game, we would have been fine, because
04:10all you had to do against the Chiefs was run the rock.
04:13And somehow the Ravens got into that game against a team that couldn't stop the run
04:18and stop running the football.
04:20And then they lost their superstar defensive coordinator.
04:22I know being low on the Ravens is a dangerous thing, but I leave that game and everything
04:27that happened this offseason, and I have no reason relative with the rest of the division
04:31to be high on the Baltimore Ravens.
04:33No, I'm not.
04:34Big picture.
04:35Again, can they be a playoff team?
04:37Absolutely.
04:38But, you know, in terms of the division, I'm still betting Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati
04:41Bengals.
04:42Why?
04:44I think he's the most proven quarterback in the division right now, and he's taken his
04:47team to back-to-back AFC championships, he's taken his team to a Super Bowl, went toe-to-toe
04:52with Matt Stafford, and again, with Jamar Chase now in that lineup and all the playmakers
04:56that he has, as long as Joe Burrow is 95% healthy, I'm betting on the Cincinnati Bengals
05:02to be not just division champions, but potentially at 7-1 to win the AFC.
05:07So that's where I'm looking.
05:08Again, it's a crowded division.
05:10I can't believe the lack of respect, though, Donnie, Cleveland's getting.
05:14I know it hinges on the success of Deshaun Watson, but 20-1 to win the AFC is absolutely
05:19ridiculous.
05:20Yeah, no, you're right about that.
05:21And this, for me, is probably the best overall division in football with a lot of ebbs and
05:25flows where you can make cases for each one of these teams, possibly to win the division.
05:29Maybe you question the Steelers a little bit, but they're still a formidable opponent now
05:31that they have a veteran quarterback.
05:33We'll see what they do.
05:34But let's get back to here, where we're starting to, you know, start to talk about the Cincinnati
05:37Bengals.
05:38Am I the only one that's low on them, I guess?
05:40I really think so, because from a psychology standpoint, I'm just trying to understand
05:45what I'm getting out of the Bengals.
05:46Their defense is okay.
05:47I love the defensive coordinator, don't get me wrong.
05:49You know, in big games, he's going to come up with concepts and schemes.
05:52But now I take a look at a quarterback that seems like he's more injured than not, who
05:55can't get through off-seasons at this point and be healthy.
05:58I don't even know if he's thrown a pass yet in OTAs, and here we are about to head into
06:02training camp.
06:03Then you have a wide receiver in Jamar Chase who says he's not showing up to camp, so I
06:06don't know when that's going to end.
06:07Then you have a wide receiver, which stunned the heck out of me, in Tee Higgins, that signed
06:12his say, oh, I'll play for $20 million when everybody else has $80 million in their account.
06:16I don't know where the headspace of this team is, which is why I can't battle them to win
06:20the division.
06:21Just can't do it.