CINCINNATI -- Fresh from their win over Dexter Lawrence, Brian Burns and the New York Giants on national television, the Bengals are back on the road this Sunday for a matchup with Myles Garrett and the Cleveland Browns. The Bengals haven't won in Cleveland since 2017, losing their last six trips to Lake Erie. How can the Bengals snap this string and get a step closer to .500? Trags welcomes Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic to discuss what the win over the Giants could mean for the Bengals going forward and their talented rookie class.
Welcome to CLNS Media's Cincinnati Sports Studio, your ultimate hub for everything sports in the Queen City! We bring you in-depth analysis, exclusive interviews, and breaking news covering your beloved Cincinnati Bengals and Cincinnati Reds. As passionate fans ourselves, we understand the heartbeat of the Cincy sports community and aim to keep you ahead of the game with accurate and timely information!
Welcome to CLNS Media's Cincinnati Sports Studio, your ultimate hub for everything sports in the Queen City! We bring you in-depth analysis, exclusive interviews, and breaking news covering your beloved Cincinnati Bengals and Cincinnati Reds. As passionate fans ourselves, we understand the heartbeat of the Cincy sports community and aim to keep you ahead of the game with accurate and timely information!
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SportsTranscript
00:00Hey everybody.
00:00It is trags, Mike Petralia.
00:02Welcome to the latest episode of the jungle war podcast, powered by our
00:06friends at prize picks and the game time app, and of course, our great people at
00:11CLNS media rejoining me this week has been a little bit, uh, probably a little
00:17more than, uh, I guess, I don't know, two, three months, Paul, since Paul
00:22Dana jr.
00:23Has been on the jungle war podcast.
00:25How long has it been, Paul?
00:27I don't know.
00:28It's however long it takes for me to secretly Harbor animosity and anger.
00:33As I stew wondering where my invitation is and having to see all these other
00:37people pop up and think, well, did I say something wrong?
00:41Do you think that I suck now?
00:42Like, I don't know what's happened here, but I'm happy to be here.
00:46But yeah, I'm, uh, I'm mostly mad that it's been so long, but I'm still
00:51here and I'm ready to do it.
00:53I will try not to be disgusted.
00:56Uh, like I was in the elevator going down to the post game Sunday night.
01:01Okay.
01:01Let's get this out of the way.
01:03First, as you told me just before I hit record on this podcast, one of your
01:08goals in your professional career has never become a meme and James Ruppin
01:14took a picture of us waiting to get down on a very hot crowded elevator.
01:20As the game was ending Sunday night, Bengals just went up 17 seven
01:23on the chase Brown touchdown.
01:26And we're all crammed into this elevator.
01:28And the lady operating the elevator tells us this is not for the media, sir.
01:33This is not for we get on regardless and disregard her and say, look, we need
01:39to get downstairs because the other two elevators weren't ready.
01:42You were ready.
01:43Just get us downstairs.
01:44Of course we get the local, it stops on every floor of MetLife stadium.
01:49And then you get some fans on in there and James decides to take a picture, a
01:54selfie, James Ruppin, and you look joyous.
01:59You look like you couldn't be happier to be going down to do your job.
02:03Me on the other hand, I look like I normally am around people in a crowded
02:09space, people in general, but especially people in a crowded space.
02:13I look disgusted.
02:14So, uh, for anybody who's wondering, head to the James Ruppin, uh, X feed, and you
02:21can certainly find it there, head to my feed for that matter.
02:23I retweeted it with some type of, uh, witty commentary, but anyway, uh, that's
02:29what it was like, but we could all be goofy.
02:31We could all be happy on Sunday night.
02:34Be well happy is, I don't know if that's the right word, but certainly
02:39for the Bengals, they were relieved after that 17, seven, uh, victory over
02:44the New York giants, certainly not a thing of beauty, but something
02:47they needed to get done.
02:48It was never going to be a pretty game.
02:50I didn't think it was going to be a pretty game going in.
02:52Uh, and they got the win and I think the most important, and I talked to skinny
02:56about this on our post game pod Sunday night, the most important part of that
03:01game was the Bengals won a game in which Joe Burrow wasn't very good,
03:05especially in the first half.
03:07Yeah.
03:08I mean, that game looked like a lot of giants games have looked this year.
03:13I mean, the giants haven't given up more than 21 points to another
03:16opposing offense all season.
03:18Um, and so that's the game, the giants play you, you, when you have Dexter
03:23Lawrence and Brian burns right now at peak Dexter Lawrence and Brian burns,
03:27like they do things like that to people.
03:30And they certainly had the Bengals looking disjointed and clunky and
03:34offensively, not the group that you'd seen in previous weeks, but that's part
03:38of how you beat the giants is by taking advantage in other ways.
03:41And they did.
03:42And that to me was the biggest thing was the fact that they went out and won a
03:48game with their defense built confidence in that area and specifically built
03:55confidence in a lot of young players.
03:58Um, so many young players I thought had important steps made plays that they
04:05really needed them to make in this game.
04:07And that stood out to me because I think this season tracks when
04:11we're sitting in January, whether we're talking about a playoff game
04:14or we're talking about a rebuild, whatever it is, we're going to be
04:19talking about the development of these young players, these last few draft
04:24classes, the season has hinged on it.
04:26We know burrow and, and T and Jamar are going to give this team a chance every
04:31night, whether they can be the type of team they want to be is going to be
04:36whether these young players that they are so much counting on and giving big
04:40even bigger roles to continue to develop.
04:43And I thought that was a big night for them on Sunday when you saw, you
04:48know, Jordan battle got extra reps.
04:50Uh, you saw DJ Turner with the, the, the game changing, altering, deciding PBU.
04:57Uh, you saw even McKinley Jackson getting extra run and looking like a little bit.
05:02He could give you a little bit of juice.
05:04Chase Brown on offense, Andre Yosivash with the big play, like all of these guys
05:11continuing to grow and progress is how you have a team that has kind of looked
05:16the way it looked through the first five, six weeks that can look like the one that
05:20they want it to look like one that can go win a super bowl in January.
05:24That's what we're going to talking about.
05:26And it was a big takeaway for me from this game of man, look, look at so many
05:30young players taking a little bit of a step, building a little bit bigger
05:33role in here, they go to try to keep that going and, and, uh, you know, have
05:38that confidence grow even more for them.
05:41Now, obviously, uh, cave on Thibodeau wasn't available, but I thought the
05:44Bengals tackles on Sunday night played pretty, pretty well.
05:48Uh, Orlando Brown jr.
05:49Is quietly having, uh, his best year with the Bengals so far.
05:53And, uh, I don't know if you agree with this, but I think he's arguably
05:57having, um, a pro bowl caliber season.
06:00A Marius memes.
06:02Uh, he came back from the injury that he sustained late in the Baltimore
06:05game, uh, and he started, I thought he looked very solid, the tackles on the
06:11Bengals, especially to your point, a Marius memes and, and, uh, being in his
06:15first year, I think they look pretty, pretty good, Paul.
06:19Yeah.
06:19Add memes into the young player list.
06:21Right.
06:21I mean, it's another guy who has felt like a solid part of it.
06:27I mean, he's had his issues.
06:28Are you the cadence issue?
06:29And in a few schemes, the stunt pickup, whatever, like stuff, right.
06:33Typical rookie stuff for the most part, though, asked to go out there and be a
06:38wall has been a wall and he's moved some people and, and it's certainly, he
06:43certainly doesn't stick out right on that.
06:45And that's all you want.
06:46You have a one rookie up there and a bunch of veterans for guys that played
06:50next to each other last year and are all veterans and skins on the wall in this
06:52league now, uh, and one rookie, he hasn't looked like one in four, it's looked like
06:58together and he's, he's felt like a solid part of their protection.
07:02And I thought the rewatch for me, trags, uh, was something that Zach Taylor sort
07:08of confirmed too, was that the offensive line issues didn't look like a bunch
07:14of one-on-one losses, it looked like a bunch of procedural structural clunkiness,
07:21whether it was like the cadence stuff or some sort of communication or a bad call
07:26or play something that just felt clunky.
07:29It didn't, you didn't see a bunch of, oh man, he got manhandled from Ted
07:34Karas or even Dexter Lawrence doing that to them necessarily.
07:38I mean, they blew up the pocket and they found ways, but, and, and there's
07:42issues for them to work out there, but I don't feel like you came away from that
07:46being like, Ooh, this great giants D line just kind of kept winning one-on-ones
07:51with them all night long.
07:52And that's, that's encouraging because the giants are going to, are going to
07:56make people look bad all year long.
07:58Hey everybody.
07:58It's trags, Mike Petralia, host of the code reds and jungle
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09:15I know we, when we get the inactives 90 minutes before the game, we
09:20take notes on who's active, who's inactive, who's coming back from injury
09:23specifically, but on Sunday night, when you saw Jermaine Burton inactive for
09:28the first time in his rookie season, speculation catches on like wildfire.
09:33You know that Paul and all of us are wondering, Hmm, did something
09:38happen during the week?
09:39You know, we did spot him eventually pregame, uh, during the stretch
09:43and during warmups, he was there in his hoodie.
09:46And then after the game, Zach Taylor said, don't read too much into it.
09:50This is a one-off.
09:51Uh, it's a situation where the game plan didn't call for him to be in, in the
09:56game, we needed his spot for others.
09:58Uh, point blank.
10:00Do you buy that from Zach?
10:02No, I mean, not really.
10:05It's possible that it's true.
10:06Uh, but I think for the most part, you're, he's not going to say, Oh yeah, we saw
10:12whatever, some rookie, this, that, or the other, I don't think it's, it's certainly
10:18possible, but I also think that there's, they're still going through it probably
10:24with him, you know?
10:25And, and so I, I would say that there's as much of a chance as the other.
10:29I don't know that that solves the riddle for me.
10:31Uh, I still have questions and they've tried to keep him involved.
10:35And another thing that he talked about yesterday was trying to keep guys.
10:40Feeling a part of thing when they're younger players, by, by having a couple
10:43of snaps and, and a sub package or whatever.
10:46And we've seen that with most of their young guys.
10:48And we've seen that with Burton, where they had, you know, give them three, four
10:52snaps, throw the deep ball to him in Kansas city, have a few things that he
10:55does to keep him engaged.
10:58And, you know, when you, when you have somebody like that inactive, I don't
11:02know what the contingency plan would be for Trenton Irwin instead of him.
11:06Unless we're talking about benching Charlie Jones as a partner or something
11:10like, I don't, that's, there's no real role that he necessarily fills where you
11:15couldn't have something that Burton could give you.
11:17Uh, so yeah, I think it's fair to question it.
11:19I certainly don't think it's solved anything hearing that.
11:21Oh, he says this about why he was inactive.
11:24Well, and, and it could be as simple as the coaching staff and Zach didn't feel
11:31necessarily against this pass rush and this defensive front they were getting
11:35that burrow was going to have plenty of time to pick out his receivers, two or
11:39three receivers deep down the field, 20, 25 yards.
11:42And knowing that going into the game, they're like, well, why do we have Burton
11:46active?
11:47If Joe is not going to have time to get the ball as far down field as he needs
11:53to get it to, you know, involve Burton in a game plan.
11:56Yeah.
11:56Burton needs to have good weeks every week.
11:59He needs to be doing all the things they want him to do, whether it be in meetings
12:03or the playbook or in practice or in, in whatever, uh, every week.
12:07And, and if he doesn't, then they're going to probably have to respond accordingly.
12:12I'm not saying that's the case, but you have to know that that's part of the
12:15growth pattern that they're planning for Burton this year.
12:19And it has been the case since, you know, all the stuff that's kind
12:21of went on in pre-season.
12:23Are Zach Moss and Chase Brown sleeping with the football this week?
12:27Oh, it was always that that's like, you know, you've covered college and high
12:32school and stuff back in.
12:34And it's like, that was always the thing, right?
12:35You get the high school kid that's walking through the hallways with
12:38the ball under his hand, right?
12:40Like it's the first thing I think of when I see what happens to not, not
12:44one, but both of your running backs in key situations on a Sunday night,
12:49those were, could have been game changing and costing plays.
12:55The Zach Moss one was, uh, you know, I mean, you get, they're going down
12:59to kind of go up two scores.
13:01They're in position and you just give it to the other team and it gives them
13:04the juice to go down and get their only touchdown of the game.
13:06I mean, it changed the entire dynamic of the game.
13:09And I mean, boy, they, they go through some games where some of
13:13the luck didn't go their way.
13:15Baltimore, Kansas city, specifically, um, new England with Tanner Hudson
13:20at the two going to put his arm up, fumble luck there, whatever, where
13:23some bounces and it was kind of weird and unprecedented to only have one
13:27win considering how they had played.
13:30They get a little luck on that one because man, that when you, that
13:34screenshot of giants guy right there to pick it up in a fumble in that
13:39spot, and you know, what could have happened next at 10 to seven, man,
13:44that's, that's one that you have to be thinking how differently it could
13:47have gone and chase Brown rides the roller coaster.
13:50They, you know, they only, there was, it was actually insane what they did
13:54last year, only having two fumbles lost.
13:56The next lowest was five, um, by any team and they're already
14:00doubled that this year.
14:03Some of that stuff is just that it's fumble luck, right?
14:07If that's, there's very little correlative nature to fumbles year to year.
14:11Um, they happen that said that was a Joe Mixon specialty.
14:16That was one of the things that you were losing when you shifted away from
14:20Joe Mixon to this, to this type style, to new guys is Mixon's not a fumbler, man.
14:25He holds onto the ball, uh, and that's, that's proven over his entire career
14:29that this can't be a thing that's consistent with them.
14:32They've had too many fumbles this year, lost and picked up.
14:36So I don't know if you go full high school style, walking through
14:39the hallways with the football.
14:41But, uh, I do think once is fine.
14:44If you start to see a trend happen, you start to think about
14:48how playing time needs to change.
14:50Okay.
14:51It was a fabulous play.
14:53One of the most athletic plays of Joe Burrows career.
14:57But at the end of the play, at the very end of that 47 yard touchdown run, he
15:03does something that would not always be advisable, and that is dive for the
15:10pylon, exposing the ball, and there is the potential there.
15:13He could have fumbled that ball technically out of the back of
15:16the end zone, and that's a touchback.
15:19Um, Zach was asked about that on Monday.
15:22I know.
15:23And I just want to get your thoughts on it.
15:26It's a great play.
15:27The Bengals needed that kick in the ass to get there, you know, night started,
15:32I think in New York, just so that they weren't just going through the motions
15:35and feeling like, here we go again.
15:37That really rejuvenated.
15:38The team was terrific play, but your thoughts on, uh, Burrow
15:43diving for the pylon there.
15:45So it's an interesting conversation.
15:47I've, I've talked to people about this topic before, not, not about this
15:52instance, there are a lot of analytics that suggest reaching out for the goal
15:57line is far more advantageous for, in terms of your, your point potential than
16:03not in that that's actually something you should be doing more often because
16:07the amount of times you actually get the touchback aren't as impactful as the
16:12times that you get the touchdown, that it, that reaching for it rather than
16:16having to have, you know, we know how much Zach Taylor in this offense loves
16:20being like first in inches and first in one, we've seen those they're, they're
16:24tough yards to get and they tend to be troubling or asked Baltimore Ravens
16:28from fumble in the jungle about that.
16:30Like you, there's a, there's value in reaching for it.
16:34And obviously nobody wants to see it go into the end zone, but there's,
16:37there's been studies done on that, that, that do show like you're, you're
16:40better off reaching for it.
16:42And that the few times that it goes into the touchback, well, it's debilitating.
16:46And I think everybody, I don't know, I find very few people that like that rule,
16:50but you know, it's still a rule.
16:53So I do think that that's part of it too.
16:56So I don't have a huge problem with it.
16:57I do think that going for it, would you rather, I like, what would have happened
17:01if they would have had first and goal from the one would they have gotten it in?
17:04We don't know that for sure.
17:06If he wouldn't have reached, cause he was worried that it would have come out of
17:08there, there's lots of situations like that every game.
17:11I mean, uh, so I, that, so that's my feelings on it.
17:13I do think there's value in, in just going for it.
17:16Hey everybody.
17:17It's drags, Mike Petralia, host of the jungle war podcast on CLNS media.
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18:54All right, let's move ahead and take a look at the opponent this week.
18:59An opponent that the Bengals over the last five years have had a miserable time with
19:05in Cleveland.
19:06The Cleveland Browns come in at one in five.
19:09Uh, they're a mess.
19:11Uh, Deshaun Watson is a mess.
19:13Um, he had decent numbers last week, but not really great.
19:17Uh, he's got, uh, three touchdowns, I believe, or five, five touchdowns and
19:22three interceptions so far this year.
19:25He's not really a threat to throw the ball down the field.
19:28The one guy you worry about when you play the Cleveland Browns, if you're the
19:31Bengals is Miles Garrett going into this game, Paul, do you think the Bengals
19:36have a different type of game plan or do you think that the Bengals roster is
19:42different this year and can account for Miles Garrett and what the Browns do to
19:46the Bengals better than in the last four years?
19:50Yeah, I, they need a different plan.
19:52I mean, what is the one that they've been trying to execute for a
19:55while has not really worked.
19:57I mean, nobody really, no team has, has more been just in the head of the Bengals.
20:04I mean, to the point that there was credit given to the Patriots because
20:10Alex van Pelt was in Cleveland before in week one, like that's how much they've
20:15sort of been in the Bengals head.
20:17So yeah, I think that there's probably new elements now they
20:19are built differently this year.
20:21I think the 12 personnel stuff can really be advantageous where they can
20:26have lots of stuff with where you assure a tight end is lined up in front of
20:30Miles Garrett and you're getting a chip on him every single play and then
20:34getting out into the route and somebody like Eric, all hopefully not like what
20:38they had, Mike is sick.
20:39He trying to do against Brian Burns.
20:41And so I think that they are built a little bit better for it.
20:46Um, and that's good for them and Orlando Brown's playing better.
20:51Nobody's prepared to face Miles Garrett, like good luck to anybody.
20:54I don't care who you are, how good you're playing.
20:57So his plate's full this week, but that said they have to do some things
21:01differently against this Brown's defense that has kind of had a lot of ways to
21:04mess with them over the years.
21:06Of course they didn't, you know, they didn't really get a chance to see them
21:09with the full compliment of burrow last year as he was very hampered by his, his
21:14calf.
21:14And, uh, so maybe he gets his first win in Cleveland.
21:17We shall see there.
21:18Certainly you can't be better set up.
21:19I mean, there, there's just no term to properly, you know, talk about with
21:26dumpster fire, uh, just, you know, whatever you want to use.
21:31It's it's a, as Cleveland D as it gets up there right now, because the Browns have
21:36just somehow found a way to make their quarterback situation, which used to just
21:41be defined by the Jersey with all the names on it.
21:44Laughable with the one name that remains on it at this point.
21:49Yeah.
21:49I think it was Chris candy of ESPN said the door, the window has been slammed
21:55shut on the Cleveland Browns.
21:57And it's really hard to disagree with that.
21:59The way, uh, their roster is put together.
22:02It was built around a player that Deshaun Watson, who simply, uh, can't lead his
22:08team to victory and has, is a shell of what he was in Houston.
22:13When you look at Deshaun Paul, what is so different about his days in Houston?
22:20Uh, versus his days here in Cleveland, uh, confidence, decision-making, um,
22:27he doesn't feel like he, when you watch him, it just doesn't feel like he ever.
22:33Is really confident in what he's looking at out there.
22:36It is just not making the throws on time.
22:40Not to interrupt you.
22:41It's just such a remarkable drop-off.
22:45And I don't know if anybody from the time he was at Clemson to the time, his first
22:51couple of years in Houston, uh, and versus what he is, the way he's playing now.
22:56I don't know if anybody could have foreseen the, the
23:00dramatic fall off in his play.
23:03Yeah.
23:03And I don't know if it was about system fit or whatever was going on with the type
23:08of offense he was asked to run in Houston versus what he's asked to do here now.
23:12Maybe he doesn't feel like it fits him.
23:15Maybe everything that happened to him and the time away changed him.
23:21And, and maybe who I don't know.
23:24All I know is the guy that's out there now is truly awful in every way.
23:31And historically bad, uh, uh, with stuff we haven't seen.
23:35I mean, they can't convert a first down on third.
23:38They can't get a third down conversion.
23:40I mean, they can't do it.
23:41We like what one in the last 26 or something like that, whatever they can't,
23:46there's just nothing that they can do to drop back the pass.
23:49They can't score more than 20 points in a game.
23:51Haven't done that yet.
23:52And it's, and it all comes back to him.
23:55Look, we watched Joe Flacco in this offense last year, tear it up and
23:59lead them to a playoff berth.
24:01I mean, it's, it's just unbelievable when you look at essentially so
24:04many of the same pieces.
24:05And I think he's hurt by, you know, the loss of bill Callahan able to keep that
24:10line intact, no matter how many injuries or things they sustained, they miss that.
24:15As he's with his son now in, in Tennessee and they miss a more solid line in front
24:20of them, but I mean, it's, it's on him.
24:24And so I don't know.
24:26And I'm sure they're sitting there saying, all right, get right game for
24:29Deshaun against his bad Bengals defense.
24:31And maybe that will be the case, but boy, it's bad.
24:35Um, let's go back to miles Garrett real quick.
24:37And I feel like when I read off these splits lifetime against the Cincinnati
24:42Bengals, I feel like it is reading offensive splits for Lamar Jackson, who
24:46is now nine and one in 10 career starts against the Bengals.
24:50Miles Garrett in 10 career games against the Bengals is eight and two, meaning
24:56his teams have gone eight and two against the Bengals, he has 12 sacks, 21 solos,
25:04total of 27 combined tackles, 10 tackles for losses, 25 quarterback hits.
25:13Now to put that in perspective, the 25 quarterback hits is six
25:19more than the closest.
25:21And that would be against Pittsburgh, which is obviously
25:23understandable, another division team.
25:25And then, uh, 15 against Baltimore.
25:28The numbers are astronomical, Paul.
25:30And I'm just wondering, do the Bengals try to make it through this
25:35game and say, look, miles Garrett is going to get his, we just got
25:38to do other things to counter it.
25:43I don't think you say miles Garrett's going to get his, I mean, I guess the
25:49here's the reason I say that.
25:50Okay.
25:51That sounds ridiculous.
25:52What I, I, I understand that, but at some point you've got to put your, your best
25:58Orlando Brown against him when maybe they switch them, you know, they, they swap
26:03them over to the left defensive end against, um, Amarius Mims, who knows?
26:08But wherever you put miles Garrett, you have to understand he's
26:14going to do what he's going to do.
26:16And yeah, maybe you double team them, but you can't let others along that
26:20defensive line, eat you, eat you alive is I guess my point.
26:25Yeah.
26:25I think that, you know, we, we just kind of talked about this a little bit
26:29earlier and it connects is, you know, you didn't feel like even as good as
26:32that giants defensive line was, you didn't feel like they were really
26:35getting overwhelmed in one-on-ones.
26:38Miles Garrett will overwhelm everybody in one-on-one.
26:40So to me, I, I am constantly finding that's the hard part about him.
26:45They move them around so much is that you can't just, okay.
26:48Going to keep the chip on this side, the title on that side.
26:51You've got to be, Joe needs to be tracking where miles Garrett is.
26:55I'm sure he is on every snap and, and trying to align the, the double or
27:01whether it's, you know, moving the running back into the hole where he is
27:04or, or the tight end of that side and keeping an eye on that, that protection
27:08scheme all day long, and then trusting the rest of the guys can win their
27:12one-on-ones and not get dominated.
27:14So to me, I would just try to not let miles Garrett wreck shop.
27:19He's going to probably.
27:21Um, and I, I, but I don't, I don't know that I can live in a world where I just
27:26let Orlando Brown try to beat, stop him solo.
27:29I just, I just, I don't feel like that's going to win an often enough.
27:34That's fair enough.
27:35Uh, I just look miles Garrett.
27:37I just think he is going to get his on.
27:41I keep going back to that because I honestly believe that.
27:44Like, I don't think you stop miles.
27:47Garrett is my point.
27:48That, that, that, that's just, I don't think even no matter what they do,
27:51they're going to stop miles Garrett.
27:52He's going to make plays.
27:54They just have to find other ways to still get their points and not have
27:57it wreck their entire game plan.
27:58Yeah.
27:59And we talked about this earlier, Paul, I think they are better situated to
28:04attack the Browns with their 12 personnel with a running game.
28:09I just think it'll be interesting to me in a game like this.
28:13How much do they stick to the run game?
28:15Even when the runs are, let's say two, three, four yards a clip for,
28:19let's say most of the first half.
28:20Do you stick with that?
28:22Uh, obviously the, the score is going to dictate some of that as well, obviously,
28:27but do you stick with that and just say, look, we've got a ground and ground and
28:32grounded out against them just to give our, our offensive line a chance, um, to.
28:40You know, wear down, uh, the Browns defensive front.
28:44I think you've got to be willing to try that.
28:46I don't know that I'm sticking with it though.
28:48I'm going to sticking with whatever works, you know, part of the, another
28:50part of why the Browns, I think have given them trouble is not just my, is
28:53there they're built to stop good passing games.
28:56I mean, they have sticky corners that play good man against good receivers.
29:01I mean, they've been able to give Jamar and T fits in one-on-one and you're, so
29:06those guys are just not winning matchups out there all day because they have
29:08really good cover corners, they have the rushers and maybe they give up a
29:14little bit on the run sometimes.
29:15And, and, you know, J okay.
29:16As a big time playmaker for them, who does, does a lot in the passing
29:20game too, in pass rush game.
29:22So I just, to me, yeah, I think you got to be willing to do that, but anything
29:29you, you can find, uh, to, to move the ball, if it's thrown into the tight
29:34ends, like the Kansas city game plan, then you lean into that.
29:37Maybe that's where you feel like there's an advantage.
29:39I don't think you suddenly become some power run game.
29:43I think they're going to continue to be who they are.
29:44I mean, they, they lead the league in neutral press pass rate as they usually
29:48are up in the top couple, every single year, you expect that to continue.
29:51Um, maybe there's a slight tweak of that plan.
29:56Like I say, with tight ends or checkdowns to running backs that you
29:59can, that you can use to offset it.
30:02Um, I'd be surprised if they suddenly try to just pound it on them, but if you
30:06have success early and you get some of these explosives that they've been
30:09getting that, yeah, I think, I think you got to be willing to keep doing that.
30:13But I, you know, I, you still are going to let Joe Burrow try to win you games.
30:19I think, you know, we'll wrap up on this, Paul.
30:21Uh, I think the Bengals are in a part of their schedule where they
30:25could actually revive their season.
30:27They were one in four.
30:29They won, they beat the giants.
30:31Now you have the Browns, the Eagles at home, the Raiders at home.
30:34There is a world where they are five and four going into
30:37a rematch against Baltimore.
30:39The players are never, and the coaches obviously aren't going to publicly say
30:43that, but you know, we, in the media fans, I think can look at the schedule,
30:49look at the optics and see a scenario where if they take care of business
30:53over the next three weeks against teams that I can, at least two of
30:58which there'll be fight favorite against, I would think they'd be
31:02depending on the Eagles being at pay core and how the game turns out this way.
31:05They might be favorite in all three of those games.
31:08If they take care of business, um, the Bengal season will be revived.
31:14Yeah.
31:15And I think that's been kind of, you know, I wrote last week about how I
31:19know nobody wanted to hear this, but like the defense will get better just by the
31:24nature of the teams that they're playing.
31:26Like they don't play any more Baltimore's and Washington's and Patrick Mahomes.
31:30They played Daniel Jones and Deshaun Watson and whatever the hell Vegas is
31:34thrown out there in a couple of weeks.
31:35And the struggling Eagles offense, you know, isn't, hasn't been what
31:39they've wanted it to be.
31:40And in Will Levis and Bo Nix and like, that's their schedule like that, their
31:46teams that look like the giants did.
31:49Okay.
31:50And even that that was the giants without Malik neighbors, but I mean, that's why
31:56their defense can get better.
31:58And if the defense plays better, this offense is good enough that it's going
32:01to carry them to a bunch of wins.
32:03And that's, you know, that's what they have right now.
32:05They have opportunity in front of them.
32:07They've got to be able to prove that they can win in the North.
32:09Um, something that they didn't do last year in games that mattered.
32:12And so they, they've got a long way to go to do it.
32:15And there's no assurances that they can beat all those teams.
32:17They should be able to, when you consider the talent that they
32:20have specifically on offense.
32:23So yeah, absolutely.
32:24I mean, you can see it, but you could have seen a lot of things
32:28they've got to prove that they can be consistent week to week and be the type
32:32of team that can put something that resembles complimentary football on and
32:36not have, you know, a few high leverage plays that happened to bounce their way.
32:40Last week, they could barely easily go the other way.
32:43I mean, it's not like it's been totally convincing.
32:46Every game has been close.
32:48Every game has been like that to the end.
32:50I think they could really use, you know, a couple of games where it feels like
32:55they're gaining steam and can, can really knock an opponent out early.
32:59Uh, which is something that we've seen when they've gone on these
33:03runs the last couple of years, they've had a few games, mid season, not all
33:07of them, but a few of them where it was like, boom, and they just, they
33:11showed up and dominated a word, an opponent that was not as good as
33:15them that deserved to be dominated.
33:16And that's when you knew they could be the team that could grow into what
33:19they ended up being, making runs deep in the playoffs.
33:22They need those.
33:23They need those in these next couple of weeks.
33:24One or two of these needs to feel like a game where they come out and
33:27put it all together and dominate.
33:28And then you really can stack and grow confidence for a
33:32young team that, that needs that.
33:34What do you got up on the athletic Paul?
33:37Uh, so I'm diving into, um, it'll be up soon here.
33:41I'm diving into four plays, uh, from Sunday's game that I think showed
33:46some trends that can happen going forward.
33:48A lot of stuff about these young players and some of the growing and
33:52developing roles that we're seeing for them.
33:53I I'm here.
33:55Uh, Tyson Anderson told me yesterday that him and Ryan Rico are the LeBron
33:59James and Dwayne Wade of punting, uh, where the combination of the two
34:04of them together has been amazing.
34:07Uh, and so that I, I have a little, that's worth a read just by itself,
34:12just in your description of that.
34:14I'm like, what?
34:15And I have a stat to back that up too.
34:18So that'll be in there.
34:19And, uh, plenty more, of course, growler podcast is, uh, is, is up and
34:24in now a new one from today, myself and Jay and Mo and we talk more about
34:29that elevator photo and people can pick who in that elevator they are.
34:34Yeah, I know.
34:35Well, I literally know who you are and, um, here's to more elevator
34:41rides in the near future.
34:42Paul, you are the best on Sundays ahead of us.
34:46You are the best elevator riding teammate that I could possibly want.
34:51How's that?
34:51Somebody has to offset your attitude with my attitude.
34:55So I'm here for it.
34:57Your joyous attitude.
34:58All right.
34:59He's Paul Danner jr.
35:00Does an amazing job as always covering the Bengals and the NFL for the athletic.
35:05Be sure to catch his growler podcast.
35:08Um, a very unique look at football and all things Cincinnati Bengals, wherever
35:14you download your favorite podcast.
35:17He, and my name by the way, is Mike Petralia tracks.
35:20I want to thank you for downloading this episode of the jungle war podcast.
35:23It is brought to you by prize picks and the game time app and our
35:28great colleagues at CLNS media until next week, keep that jungle roaring.