How the Cincinnati Bengals continue to show they're evolving offensively around Jake Browning - podcast episode cover

How the Cincinnati Bengals continue to show they're evolving offensively around Jake Browning

Dec 12, 202334 min
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Episode description

Jake and James break down how the Cincinnati Bengals' offensive coaching staff has made a concerted effort to modify their offense to manufacture yards and lessen the burden on the quarterback, and why it's been so effective in the last few weeks. Plus, we take a look at the playoff picture after the dust has settled on Week 14. Join the Locked On Bengals Subtext Community! https://joinsubtext.com/lockedonbengals Find and follow Locked On Bengals on your favorite podcast platforms: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/locked-on-bengals-daily-podcast-on-the-cincinnati-bengals/id1159723162 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7AObc0lh0WmQl5fJVgtajs Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vbG9ja2Vkb25iZW5nYWxz?sa=X&ved=0CAYQrrcFahcKEwio_sXtj8nuAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAg Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-bengals Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! DoorDash Get 50% off up to $10 value when you spend $15 or more on your FIRST order, when you download the DoorDash app and enter code LOCKED23. Subject to change. Terms apply. BetterHelp This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Make your brain your friend, with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDON today to get 10% off your first month. PrizePicks Go to PrizePicks.com/lockedonnfl and use code lockedonnfl for a first deposit match up to $100! Gametime Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Last minute tickets. Lowest Price. Guaranteed. LinkedIn LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the qualified candidates you want to talk to, faster. Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com/LOCKEDONNFL. Terms and conditions apply. FanDuel Score early this NFL season with FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook! Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR MONEYLINE BET! That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – if your team wins! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, Your team every day. Introducing locked On Sports Today, the first ever twenty four to seven live sports channel on YouTube. Go beyond the headlines with the local insiders and league experts of the Locked On Podcast Network, covering today's biggest stories from the court, to the field, to the rink and to the diamond. Are winning roster of hosts deliver all the big game coverage, in depth analysis, and expert insights that sports fans

prave. It's NonStop sports for the non stop fan watch Locked On Sports Today, live on YouTube, local experts, biggest stories every day. Let's break down the major changes the Cincinnati Bengals have put into their offense with Jake Browning

at quarterback and the great results they've gotten the last two weeks. You are Locked On Bengals, your daily since Nattie 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 lets Go. He's your host, James Rapine. We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network. You can find us on YouTube or anywhere you get your podcasts. Every day.

If you want to stay up to date, is Bengals make this playoff push playoffs. That's right. We're going to talk about the playoffs later in this episode and get into some of the scenarios. We're also going to talk a lot about what's changed with this offense and reset the conversation around the coaching staff a little bit where it was in recent weeks, where it is todays talk about with this team right now. Today's episode brought to you by the

game Time app. You can use promo code lockdown NFL for twenty dollars off your first purchase of tickets and next time you need them last minute tickets, lowest price guaranteed. And James, let's start with the evolution of this offense with Jake running at quarterback, because I think we all can agree at this

point there are significant differences we've seen the last two weeks. There are significant changes, changes that have certainly helped him and made this offense it's fun to watch as it's been or put it like this, because I actually, come on, let's be honest here, it's been really fun. And people are comparing Joe Burrow and Jake Browning and the offenses and all of those things.

They were really, really good before Burrow went down. They had a lead on arguably the top team in the league, and they beat the top They either beat the top team in the league or had a lead against the top team in the league when Burrow was in. So whatever they were doing was working. And I'm referring to San Francisco forty nine Ers and then the Baltimore Ravens. But Jake Browning isn't Joe Burrow. And we said that going into the Steelers game, and it took the coaching staff a week. It took

Jake Browning a week. It took this franchise a week to adjust, to make the changes necessary or to go to the part of the playbook that fit Browning best and fit this offense best. And it's clearly working. Thirty four

points two straight games. The offense won them the game in Jacksonville. The defense was great on Sunday against the Colts, but the offense held up their end of the bargain as well and gave them an early lead, which obviously helps the defense a ton, helps this team a ton, So this offensive staff deserves a lot of credit. We can get into that, but I

know you pulled some stats. So how different is this offense right now compared to what we saw with Joe Burrow From a numbers perspective, you can pick a staff a split and it significantly changed the last three weeks and compared to what they were doing with Joe Burrow. The most obvious thing, and we've talked about this is the dismissal of empty stuff that they love doing with Joe Burrow. The purpose of that, of course, is to flood the coverage

with concepts, and Joe Burrow does what he does. He's very good at identifying this is the concept that I need to read out on this play because this is a coverage I'm getting and this is a guy that's going to be open. That's what Joe Burrow's very good at. That's why he likes empty so much. It lets him distribute the ball quickly, accurately, get the ball to his playmakers on time, sometimes in space, give them yard after

catch opportunities with his elite ball placement. Jake Browning doesn't really do all of that at the level Joe Burrow does, and you wouldn't expect him to write he's a backup quarterback, and he certainly has his strengths, but that type of quick processing of full field reads and concepts where he has to pick aside based on a look. He can go through full progression, but you don't want him to do it the whole game. You don't want him to live

in it. You don't want to live in it out of empty in particular. So that's one big difference that we can just eyeball test. But you look at play action. For example, the last three weeks against the Steelers, eighteen point eight percent of the Bengals dropbacks for play action. In week thirteen against the Jaguars, noticeable uptick right we saw those boots. We noticed

it up to twenty seven and a half percent in week fourteen. Fewer pass attempts overall, but play action comprising forty two point three percent of the Bengals passing attempts this week against the Colts in week fourteen. Similar you look at screens from six point three percent to seventeen and a half percent, big jump right from twelve to thirteen, another jump up to twenty three percent in week

fourteen. Again, fewer overall snaps, but play action and screens two numbers to start, and I have two more that you can look at and see from a stat perspective in addition to those eye test things. Significant shifts in a clear direction the last three weeks. And it's interesting because there's a lot of people that have said, all right, well, this offense is completely like rebuilt itself looks completely different, and it looks different, and those stats

back that up. But these are topics, not necessarily the screen game, but the play action stuff. We talked about it this offseason. We've have multiple shows going back to OTA's watching Burrow work under center. Like I think that it was a goal of theirs to be more diverse and maybe less empty all the time. And part of it, a big part of why they weren't especially early in the season, I think had to do with that calf injury for Burrow. So to do it now and implement it, I think

it makes a ton of sense. Clearly, Browning is comfortable and you just want to make life easier, and you go way back if you want to go to the Mark Sanchez versus the Bengals two thousand and nine playoff game at pay Corps where awful, awful game. I hated it right, broke my heart at the time, but they made life easier Mark Sanchez. That's why he made it to back to back AFC title games. Really good defense, running the ball, play action, easy decisions, make a couple big throws

each game. And this Bengals coaching staff they've shown that they can do that with Browning, and Browning as show that he's capable of making some big throws, throws that are necessary plays in important moments and key spots, and so

thus far it feels pretty sustainable. I don't know if the numbers will stay there right, Like the screen passes, I don't think they're going to average, you know, one screen per game that goes for thirty nine or more yards, which is the case over the past three games going back to the Pittsburgh game. I think that's unrealistic. But they've found ways to get the ball of their playmakers in space and to make Browning's life easier, and he

should only get more and more comfortable, not less comfortable. So it's it's great that they've had that to lean on. Yeah, the screen game in particular is something that I think is very matchup specific. They have these defenses the last couple of weeks that are sending guys up field. They're very aggressive on the defensive line. The defenses will be different going forward. For example,

Gus Bradley blitz maybe like two times the entire game. He doesn't blitz Flores defense coming up Minnesota gonna blitz the heck out of Jake Browning next week, So there will be some differences in that way and blitzaying, hey, you can catch the blitz with the screen at the right time, you're going to have a big gain off it. Just for a reference, the last couple of weeks, the play action rates twenty seven and a half percent forty

two. This week screen rate seventeen and a half percent, twenty three percent. With Joe Burrow. Play action rate this season was twenty point six percent, So we're a little bit higher the last couple of weeks with Jake Brining to a lot higher. This week with Jake Brining's screen rate with Burrow at quarterback was twelve and a half percent. And I think the biggest thing in the screen game is they've been much more effective with the screens. They're not

necessarily running them a ton more, although this week they did. There's a little bit of an uptick in usage of screens and a big uptick and effectiveness of the screen game the last two weeks, and I said, I have two more numbers, and some of this is going to lead to a conversation about where we are on this coaching staff and their ability to adapt, as I think they've proven that yet again they do in fact have that capability,

they have that flexibility in their toolkit. So we will continue the conversation on this offense coming up next Today's episode of On Bengals sponsored by game Time. Who knows that with this playoff stretch getting a sighting for the Bengals their last few games of the season, a few more home games out there. You

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have two more numbers on the offense, James. But we're also gonna have to talk about this coaching stuff, right the flexibility they've shown, the major philosophical changes we've seen from them the last two weeks. What do you think? First things first, the same people that came with the energy of what is Zach Taylor's record without Joe Burrow, and I get it because it was ugly without Joe Burrow. But this team is that as they were in twenty

nineteen. Look at that roster. It would have been ugly with any coach in twenty twenty. I had my doubts, but Zach Taylor's done a lot since then, and some people anytime there's a struggle, morph back into that mindset of twenty twenty. It's time to evolve. It's time to evolve Zach Taylor conversation and admit that, Hey, winning season in twenty one and oh wait, not only did they get to or win the AFC North, but they get to a Super Bowl that builds up equity. Then they get to

the AFC Title Game after winning the AFC North again. Okay, they're not going to win the division this year. No team has won it three straight years. But despite that, they're seven and six and we're talking about playoffs, even though Joe Burrow has been out for three games now and was limited

to start the season. So Zach Taylor deserves credit for evolving, for figuring this out and putting a more than competent effective offense out there and explosive all out there, and Brian Callahan took a lot of heat too, and he deserves credit, and so does Frank Pollack. Because Frank Pollack was it felt like, from a fan base standpoint, Scapegoat was what everyone was pointing at

and looking at. Well, if you want to point out how he's the run game coordinator when the run game stinks and they really struggle to run the ball eight times for sixteen yards against the Steelers, let's point it out now, because the past two weeks, the offenses ran through the running backs and a lot of it and has produced a bunch of explosive plays and is a big reason why the offense has scored thirty plus points in each of the past

two games. So I'm not saying it's perfect. I'm not saying they're going to be great on Saturday against the Vikings. Hell, I'm no fortune teller. What I can tell you is that there are people that just jump off the moment it gets ugly for a second, and then I don't think they give proper credit. And that's fine if you want to jump off and be

critical. I'm not even debating that. That's not really the point. The point is now they're coaching their asses off and they deserve credit, and this offensive staff should mention Dan Pitcher too, because they're doing a great job. It's been effective. Jake seems comfortable, this offense is working, Joe Mixon has been as effective as he's been all season. Like wherever you look,

it makes a ton of sense and it's working. So the coaching staff top to bottom deserves a ton of credit on the offensive side for figuring this out without Joe Burrow. Yeah, you take it where you can get it in the last couple of weeks against some defenses that aren't necessarily world beaters, and it will be a little bit harder down the stretch. They play three very very good defenses in their last few games of the season, finishing with Steelers,

Chiefs, Browns. Those are three of the better defenses in the AFC, if not the best defense in the league of the Browns, which they have been really for the entire year. So they have their work cut out for them, and we might be revisiting this again in a few weeks if they can't figure out some answers against those good defenses as well. But they do deserve credit, I think for being adaptable and This is what I was talking about earlier this year when I said they figured it out, and they

have. They have a track record, a consistent track record at this point of figuring it out. Sometimes it's frustrating because they've had these slow starts and it's like, why is it taking so long? Why can't they figure this out at the start of the season. Why are they getting off to these

slow starts and digging themselves these holes? This year, I think a lot of it was to do with Joe Burrow's calf, and I think that we would have seen way more of this play action game earlier this year, and probably more of the boot game as well as Joe Burrow specifically worked on his athleticism and being on the move and throwing on the run this offseason to prepare for this NFL season. I think we would have seen a lot of this

stuff if not for that calf injury. So the early season grade is around them not adapting properly. Maybe they should have played Jake Browning. I don't know, we'll never know that. That's like hindsight analysis that I don't really

think think is worth the time. But they should get consistent credit for their track record of figuring things out over the course of the season, making changes, being adaptable, and finding the right buttons to push, whether that's taking the stress off the offensive line, going from a team that was about league average and true pass sets to the last three weeks being thirty five and a half twenty six percent and twenty nine percent in true pass sets, meaning those

are the ones that aren't quick game play action boot RPO where they have to sit there and just block a straight drop back. They're not doing that as much anymore with Jake Browning as they did with Joe Burrow. They're taking the stress off the offensive line. They found ways to do that. They've shown that they have that kind of offense in their repertoire, and maybe overall it's

like a twenty five percent different offense. I don't think it's like this night and day entirely different offense or running with Jake Browning, but that change is enough for it to be very effective, and I think to give them something to consider when Joe Burrow returns in the future too. No doubt, I think that there are certainly pieces that will translate that they'll use with Burrow. I do I'm going to go down the hindsight path because I know people will.

I just want to address this and be very very clear of how I stand. There is not a world where anybody would have played Jake Brown and going into that Cleveland game because everyone thought Burrow was close to one hundred percent, everybody including Joe all right. Then in the Baltimore game, still good to go. He played really well in the second half before re injuring it season on the line eight days later, played pretty well against the Rams and

they won. And then you had the awful outing against Tennessee, no doubt about it. But are you benching him after the Rams win? Probably not. You didn't know it was going to look like that against Tennessee, and then that's when the wind streak got rolling, and they got rolling as a team that's starting in Arizona. So there was never really unless you would have said it he wasn't healthy going into the season, which no one thought.

No one thought he was at sixty percent or whatever you want to say going into the year. Then I think that the hindsight is what it is, and people will go back and say, oh, what you should have They shouldn't have because it would have taken. The other part is they it would have taken Browning a few weeks to get comfortable, would have taken this offense a few weeks to adjust and then what So I think they made the right call there, even though people might go back and say otherwise, that said,

yeah, it's clearly working. The credit deserves to be there, and I think people should be able to I certainly did. I just did, and you probably feel the same way, even if you don't want to go down the hindsight path. Is they clearly deserve credit for in the moment after the devastating injury, after an ugly loss to Pittsburgh, where it felt like things were collapsing and it was just going to be over and we were going

to do mock draft Mondays within a week, flipping the script. And now they're seven and six after being five and six, and in a twelve day span, Jake, if they can handle business against Minnesota, which isn't gonna be easy, But if they can handle business against Minnesota, you win three games in twelve days. That's insane. And yet it's what the Bengals have

a chance to do with Jake Browning on Saturday. That's right, we'll finish up the conversation including a look at that playoff picture for today's episode coming up next. Today's show is brought to you by door Dash. Door Dash, Well, it's my go to. The weather is really really cold out right now. It's like mid thirties in the afternoon. That's the high. I hate it. I'm not gonna lie to you. I'm a Cincinnati native,

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apply. Do you argue with your friends on who the best NFL quarterback is? What about a list of biggest draft bus? Does Lockdown Podcast Network have a show for you? It's Renner Ranked NFL expert. Mike Renner brings you a smart, insightful and fun aplats to the biggest NFL stories every day, ranking anything from NFL position units to college draft prospects to the best foods to serve at a tailgate. Mike Renner has all the rankings for the true football

fan who loves everything about the sport. Available on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. Part of the Lockdown Podcast networks your team every day. Last thoughts here on the coaching staff and then we'll talk about those playoff scenarios. Defense also defensive staff at least for one week. Lou An Rumo's guys and lou Anna Rumo deserve credit for the performance against Indianapolis Colts, and they will need more of that down the stretch at least, is my belief. Maybe

not against the Minnesota Vikings, who looked dysfunctional. I actually didn't see how that game ended, but hey, one, three enough and they won three nothing. Are you kidding me? Against the raid I mean, I know the Vaders can rush a passer, but come on, hey, hey, I'm not taking them lightly though. No, I'm just not. But the last few games against the Bears they scored ten. Against the Raiders they scored three. The defense all is a job to do, but Minnesota needs to

find some answers too. We'll talk with Luke about that game coming up in the near future. But Steelers, Chiefs, Browns teams with fierce defenses of their own. The defense for the Bengals will need to answer in kind for the Bengals to necessarily have their best shot at winning those games. Barring the

offense, I think exceeding expectations against good defenses. The last thing I'll say about this on the offensive coaches is I don't think that this change I kind of hinted at it is necessarily super radical what they're doing with Jake Browning. They're incorporating more concepts as Zach Taylor came from in the Sean McVay offensive, Brian Callahan came from with his Gruden influence coaching tree. More of these boots, more play action, this is stuff, and more diverse personnel groupings too.

They're using two tight ends more, I think in the last couple of weeks with Drew Sample, Tanner Hudson and Mitchell Wilcox getting the majority of the playing time. Actually this week Irv Smith getting the least naps for any tight end, So that's an interesting note. But this is just modernizing the offense.

Evolving the offense probably the next step for the offense, and it's something that I think should be easy to incorporate with Joe Burrow in the future as well, taking a little bit off his plate, taking more of those easy buttons. And I don't think it's a wholesale change. This is why, if you've talked to me about this on Twitter, I've resisted the idea that they can just quote unquote run this offense for Joe Burrow, but you do

need to take a lot of elements from it. It's a balance they need to strike of letting Burrow play to his strengths and also using offensive design to their benefit, which is something that we I've clearly seen in the last three weeks. They know how to do and it's just finding the right buttons to push at the right time and getting into that rhythm in the future when it's

Joe Burrow who can do way more for you than Jake Broden Camp. And I think that if there is a blessing in the Burrow injury, it might be that that this offense long term can hit a gear and evolve into something that we haven't seen yet. And there'll be plenty of time to discuss that. But this coaching staff, they've been forced to evolve at least a bit or adjust, and we've seen them adjust over the years, and so I

think you can only grow from that. And by the way, last thing, Jake Browning, he is restricted next year and will be a Bengal. So if anyone says, oh my god, he's gonna get paid elsewhere, I've gotten that a lot. I think a lot of people have. Jake, you probably have to. So Jake Browning will be in Cincinnati next year. That's what he's essentially guaranteed. I think with these past couple of games,

there's no doubt about that. Not only as he restricted, he's an exclusive rights free agent, which means that unless the Bengals go out and decide to reward him with a multi year contract and pay him, which will be a little bit surprising considering their control, that's a less than one million dollar salary for Jake Crowding next year. Just in case you're curious about the cap implications, restricted free agents will get paid a little bit more. Let's shift

gears. Let's take a quick look at this playoff picture yesterday when we were recording the Bengals for the seventh seed, and then the Broncos game finished and the tiebreakers got all weird. There are six teams at seven and six currently and all from the sixth seed in the playoffs, all the way down to the Buffalo Bills, who, after beating the Kansas City Chiefs, are rewarded with the eleventh spot in the playoff rankings, which is actually just one behind

the Bengals. The Bengals dropped for seven to ten after the Broncos win, because what ended up happening was you jumped into a four way tiebreaker for that seven seed, and instead of it being a head to head Colts Bengals tiebreaker, it turned into a four way tiebreaker using conference win percentage, where the Bengals are three and six and pretty far behind in that tiebreaker with those teams. Yeah, it's it's a giant cluster. Let's call it what it is.

If you had to rank the Bengals games from like most important to least important, Saturday is the least important, which on the surface you could say because of the AFC, but just where the Steelers are, where the Browns are winning those two games is just so huge for their playoff chances in having a shot. But you got to get three, They have to get three somewhere. If you get four, well then you better book those playoff tickets

go because they're going to the playoffs. It's like ninety nine percent that they're in if they went out, and I think three or four is realistic. But they are going to have to evolve a bit in how they I don't think they're going to score thirty in Pittsburgh. I think that's tough to do, or thirty against the Browns in Week eighteen, or thirty in Arrowhead with

Jick Brnnan. I think all three of those it's really really tough. So this defense you mentioned the defense, I think the defense and lou probably knew it going into that game, and that's probably why they only gave up eight points And they could have given up twelve if the kicker showed up for the cult. So even so, that's why they played the way they did. I bet, oh, are you counting the two point conversion? I was like, how do we get to eight? And it's the two point conversion?

I got it. Yeah, the defense will need to need to step up down the stretch, and it's it just speaks to the muddle middle of the AFC this year that there's six teams at seven and six. They are three more teams at eight and five, including the Jacksonville Jaguars who have lost to in a row, the Cleveland Browns who just named Joe Flacco their quarterback for the rest of the season. I mean, we were really gonna have Joe Flacco and defense again, I mean, that's the story we've seen before.

But these are the teams ahead of the Bengals, where the AFC just looks fallible. Baltimore Ravens needed a punt return touchdown in overtime to beat the Rams at home yesterday. Not taking anything away from the Rams, but they're currently six and seven, so it's you understand why their mentality in the building is like get to the playoffs. Anything could happen if they catch a heater at the right time, if they can play well in these games any given

Sunday. I think that's very true in the NFL right now, But the rest of the games are all important. Like you said, I think they need at least three. There is a scenario technically where I think nine and eight gets in, but it's not a scenario you want to live in. If you're the Bengals, three give you a pretty good shot. You still need a little bit of help, but it's not like you're you have crazy

asks. The one other thing that's not in their favor is I think their schedule is just harder than some of the other teams in the mix here, not all of them, I think. I think some of them have tough schedules too, But you're looking at a team that already has played the hardest schedule in the AFC this year, has the second highest now strength of victory in the AFC, third highest my apologies, third highest strength of victory in

the AFC. And that schedule doesn't get easier down the stretch for the Bengals, and so it will be tough, but the path is there, and in a sense, they really do still control their own destiny if they can win out. Oh for sure, no, they do. That phrase still works. The two most important games are the division games, yes, and just looking at the way the percentages swing, we don't know what's going to happen. Things change really really quick. But getting that game in Pittsburgh is

such a huge, huge, huge opportunity. And at the same time, it's like you look back, You're like, man, if they had just played a little bit better against Pittsburgh a few weeks ago, it wouldn't feel like this. They would feel they would be in the playoffs as of now, and there wouldn't be really zero from margin for error because they have roughly if they go two and two down the stretch, and those two wins are

against the Steelers and Browns, the two most important games. You only have a thirteen percent chance of getting in, So it's you need a lot to break your way. If you only go two and two down the stretch here, it's gonna be tough. But they're interesting and they're fun, and that's good news for everybody who likes to follow this team. I think that's what you would hope for with Jake Jake Browning at quarterback, and so I'm still

excited to watch the rest of the year. Tomorrow, we'll dive into the tape, then we'll get into the vikings with the first look with Luke come up on Thursday. In a couple episodes from now tomorrow, Mike Santaggon will be with us to take a look at some of the film takeaways from the Bengals Week fourteen game. Until then, thanks for listening to this episode of

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