Bengals' Roaring Comeback: A Critical Win and Looking Ahead

Music. Tyler Bowles and the often imitated but never duplicated, the one, the only, The Learning Tree, Will Appleton. How are you, fellas?

I'm back, guys. Yeah?

I'm doing well. I figured you'd have a little more to say about that.

No no I'm always doing well you know we got we got you Anthony we got Tyler and we got, yeah yeah yeah well as a matter of fact at that point I'll let you introduce him I'll let you introduce him back again this week coming to us all the way from Florida, Miami Florida at that I know go Canes right thank you yeah right go canes right still undefeated hey my son was born about a half mile half mile from uh girl gables, road trip road trip let's go road trip yeah road trip i'll try not to get in

trouble so with that being said by the title of the, podcast episode today i think we all pretty well know the bangles beat their ass on these las vegas raiders.

Some people still aren't happy about it Because they're saying that hey it was the worst team And it was an expected win But to those that at the end of the day It's football A win is a win I'll take it Where do you guys stand at To start off So a win is a win Absolutely It was much needed right Much needed confidence booster For not only the fans because, obviously, fans' morale has been just about at an all-time low.

I wouldn't say all the way there, but most of the fan base has been at an all-time low. But the win was much needed for the confidence of us, definitely needed for the confidence of the players, right? Both sides of the ball. But also, too, it was needed more for the players, in my view, Because at the end of the day, truth, at the end of the day, as much as we, there's always going to be that sub-sect of fans that will always like us, that will always be dedicated to the fan base.

Then you have the kind of somewhat volatile, maybe fair weather sub-sect that basically we're calling for Zach Taylor's head. Well, as I was getting ready to mention there in my point, like I said, it was much needed for both sides, right? Like for the fans and the players. Definitely the players are fired up after this win, especially one quarterback named Joe Burrow, right? He's definitely – he's glad we got the win.

The team's glad we got the win, but there's not much rest after this one because we got a game in three nights against the divisional leader right now, the Ravens. So it's going to be a tough one, but much needed victory. And we celebrated victory Monday day. And I know we'll get into the all aspects of the game in here in just a minute, but I'll let them get their facts. Will or Brett.

It's very soft. We definitely, it was not only great to get a win yesterday, but it was almost like confirmation that we are this team that we think we are. And we can win games like this.

And it's it's crazy that burrow can play as well as he does in week in and week out, he's just so good that it doesn't really even make the headlines but this guy threw five touchdowns that's freaking incredible and then coming off the field after his fifth touchdown he was not happy it's like the craziest thing in the world but i i think i think it was not only great that we won I think the score for what it was didn't tell the real story.

I thought the real score would have been like 45-17 or something like that. But I thought we played really well. And even though we lost Eric Hall, and I know we'll talk about this, I think there's still a lot of good things to look forward to. Oh, yeah. No, you're definitely right about that. So go ahead, Will. So basically, to kind of sum this up, Okay, we faced the 30th-ranked wrestling defense. We had 130 yards rushing. And we faced the second-ranked defense on, like, third downs allowed.

And, you know, while we wasn't, like, you know, astronomical, we were 8 of 15 over there. So, all right, in the defense, you know, forced double turnovers. Yeah. It definitely did. Seven quarterback hits. So, I mean, and like Coach said, right, I don't know if there's any other quarterback that throw for five touchdowns, right? And just like I said, ho-hum, right? Yeah. We'll not mention this. Well, let me mention this to the viewers and everybody else at home. Listen, everybody listen.

Guess what happened? You know, guess what team we threw five touchdowns against the last time? Same team we play on Thursday. Yes. Baltimore Ravens. Anybody want to talk about that? Anybody want to say anything about this at me? It's a baddie. Look, we were there. That's what I'm getting ready to say. Uh-huh. I'm getting there. There's like, put it this way. Put it this way. This is how I will sum it up. We are going to be playing a very – like, the Raiders were not to be overlooked.

You're never going to overlook an opponent. Doesn't matter who it is. Did I expect the Bengals to completely just dog walk the Raiders? Not an offhand, like, handily dog walk them. I figured it would be a dominant win. I didn't expect him to just get dog walk like that. Yeah. But that wouldn't be considered a dog walking, wouldn't it, Will? Well, at one point, it was, what was the score? 41 to 10. I'd say Dalton.

We took the dog out. We took this dog park and walked it around and let it run off a little bit. Get over it. Get over here. Get over here, right? That's what happened. It was 31 to 10. We didn't get to 41. Yeah. 71, 81. Doesn't matter. Remember, it was like 38. I think 38 to 17. 38-10. And we could have gone up 45-10 But played a conservative 50-10, 70-10 Name your score, right? Could have been What do you guys think?

I like angry Joe Yes And that's why And that's why When you're seeing all this stuff going on online Talking about Joe's unhappy. Joe's Joe's upset with the organization, the Zach Taylor. It's like, I'm going to say this, there comes a point where people are just looking, where you've got to say to the fan base and to the people that are putting up this stuff and trying to overanalyze stuff, just let it go. Yeah.

Because the look I've seen, the same look, that same intense look, I've seen it, and I've seen that same intense look in other games. Joe Burrow got drafted. I like that look. Who would that look? He will forever be a champion. He's intense. He knows what he's doing. So it's like I think people are just looking too much into it. That's where I'm like, you're looking for something to find fault to say that the Bengals are just completely wasting his career.

I don't see that. Do I think the Bengals, and I will forever maintain this, because this guy is completely different. Don't get me wrong. I will never, ever shit on Ken Anderson or Boomer Esiason and what they did for the franchise. I will never do that. I don't know. They brought something to the franchise that we didn't have at that time, but this kid's different.

So I'll say this about Burrow Last week after the Eagles lost in his press conferences The immediate aftermath and then throughout the week He just sounded so depressed, right? And I felt for the guy, right? Like, obviously he's playing his heart out And the results this year haven't been exactly what we needed to be But I will say after this win And his intensity throughout the game in his locker room Post-game little speech, right?

That's the Burrow that I want And that's the scariest thing for the NFL right now is an angry Joe Burrow. That is the scariest thing for the league right now because when Joe Burrow is playing the way he is and he's angry –. It's not good for the rest of the league. The way I look at it is we've got eight more games now to play.

Let's get out here and let's fucking run the table. Let's try and run the table. Anthony, are you cool with starting with the offensive side of the ball first? Yeah, no, I'm cool with it. First off, I want to give props. And I'm going to say this. I want to give props to my guy Amarius Mims.

Going into this game this kid had a hell of a assignment to do and that assignment was to basically keep Max Crosby out of Joe Burrow's face, that kid did a hell of a job I should go next to him, yeah that kid did a hell of a job That's the first thing I'm going to say. Me, especially being a former offensive tackle, as a matter of fact, the whole line did a damn good job. Hell. Correct. Hell, going through the course of the game, the whole damn range is offensive

line. It's going down left and right. So I don't know if it was due to the field or they just got tired of getting dog walked And they just said, fuck it.

But, like I said, I've got to give the big boy. You kind of got out there on that last sentence, Anthony. These for those kind of games where you're just literally just imposing your will. Yeah. Where you're literally just imposing your will left and right and making them basically go, you know what, I don't want no more. Well, they only gave up one sack. and the one sack was a pass protection with the running back trying to pick up a blitz. Yeah, but I think...

I'm not even for certain that that got counted if it's the one I'm thinking of. Wasn't that the one that the flag ended up coming out on Max Crosby because of... I think it was the Russell Blanchard. No, no, no. We got to talk about that, too. We got to talk about that.

So the sacks, they did get one sack. It was a half a sack from John Jenkins And a half a sack from Trayvon Moerig If I pronounced that right Okay, yeah, okay And that's a different point in the game But yeah, that Max Crosby thing I mean, and the thing is And I'll let you finish your point on the offense here in a minute But I know, As soon as that thing happened I know a lot of the people were saying Oh, it's a dirty hit No, it wasn't Max Crosby just got an early jump,

Jumped offside And he played the right play as he was supposed to And Burrow just stabbed him up after the play. Like, it was a really good football. I don't think it should have been called roughing the passer. They called the right call for offsides. But I don't think it should have been roughing the passer. It was late. The play was blown down. Yeah. I agree. I agree. When you jump offsides like that, unabated, the play's dead.

I thought he took a shot. If you sneeze on the quarterback, it's a penalty. It is. It doesn't matter whether you hit him hard. And he did pull up. He did. I'll give him coolers for that. Because he could have laid Joe out. He could have laid him out. Oh, I know. And I know Burrow wasn't upset about him. But the fact that, you know, Matt Tribe is just a really big guy. And it doesn't matter. Yeah, Burrow wasn't upset about it either. No, no.

Because he didn't free him like he could have. Yeah. Well, he got to fuck with him again. He did it twice is what's, like, concerning to me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. See, I'm going to go the opposite of Anthony here. I'm going shout out Cody Ford there we go.

I did worry him stepping in for Orlando Brown and I would not say anything else for the rest of the year, anywhere Cody Ford has to be plugged in obviously it seems like he's excelling in this, sixth offensive lineman role he's a fireman just put him in somewhere wherever he needs to be put in remember he came in for Mims was very credible, solid, didn't get beat like a drum. Played the whole game for Orlando Brown. You didn't hear much.

You didn't hear much over there. I was like, hey, I'm not going to say anything because I don't want nothing bad to happen. I kept looking over and I'm like, okay, he did good there. Okay, he did good on that throw. And the running game, well, that's the whole offensive line. Tight ends, wide receivers. We did very good. Wide receivers are not holding. That was also a key because a couple of these runs would have been called back.

But we say you know what let him go don't grab him it's right in front of everybody let him go we got 4-5 yards 30th ranked rushing defense and it showed. We wore him down wore him down he's got 120 yards wearing him down just keep punching him right in the gut yeah, You know, well, we did a lot of things well on offense. It sucks to see Eric Hall go down. Yes. Especially his skill set.

So he was definitely the guy the Bengals put in at tight end when they were trying to run lead or ISO, like the fullback position, HVAC. And he does something else very well when they run counter. He does this assignment where they wrap for skin for the play side linebacker. Yes. Man, I love that shit. That is my favorite block.

And he did that really well go ahead what were you saying he is out for thursday moment he's out he i'm i'm i thought i i thought i saw he tours acl is that he did he did yeah he's done for the year he's definitely done for the year so i you know i don't know if it really affects the the bangles play calling because you know who's up next we in the game we saw sample we saw tanner hudson still in those spots and it didn't look like they changed any of the play calling, really.

But I know Sample's a good blocker, so hopefully we can still run those lead or ISO concepts and still run counter. We definitely relied on our 12 personnel a lot in this game. So going forward, it's gonna we're gonna miss Eric Hall, but hopefully we can still get those guys to play well. And then another tight end that we have on the team, he had a hat trick, but he stepped out of bounds on one of the touchdown catches.

So he had three freaking touchdowns and that wasn't the first thing we talked about. So it's like, hold on, hold on. So we got to at least address the elephant in the room. I finally got my white guy, granny. That's all. That's all. I finally got. Did you guys see the video of him doing it for the first time as a dolphin?

And then in doing it now, it's like, And that's why Will even I told Will I was excited when they signed him Because I said I'm going to get a white guy I said all I had to do was see one And then I was good But I got two Which was even better, So as for the offense I do got a lot to say But I'll lead into a question at the end of it Because there's some stuff we got to talk about Before we switch over to the defense But I'll go ahead and give my initial thoughts on the offense,

Obviously, the offense played really, really well yesterday. We started the day with four active wide receivers, and one of them was Kendrick Pryor. Two active tight ends. Yes, and with T out and everything, and especially with Eric Hall going out, Everybody on offense, like, it played really, really well. It went as a collective machine. Everybody did their part. It was really well. Mike Gesicki, what a game by him, Mike.

What a game. Five for 100 yards and two touchdowns. We got the white guy, Gritty. What a game, right? Jamar Chase, seven catches. A lot of his were shorter routes. But, you know, that was kind of to be expected because when, you know, you only have four active wide receivers and T. Higgins isn't one of them, you know, You kind of expect Jamar to get a lot of attention. Seven catches, 43 yards. That's still a good amount of points in fantasy if people keep a track of that.

But like I said, when the game plan is around Jamar, they did really well. It's not bad, right? Chase Brown, 27 carries for 120 yards. Also had five catches for 37 yards. And a touchdown. And a touchdown in the air. That is really good. We were out with Zach Moss, which again, I know he was injured in practice.

I don't know what happened with the neck in practice last week, to be 100% honest with you, but I do know that with Travion Williams being RB2 and Milton being RB3, which none of them got carries, by the way, Chase Brown had a lot of the workload and didn't have a second rusher until Burrow decided to scramble in the third quarter, I think it was.

So Chase Brown, hats off to him. He played really well, and I think he just solidified his case as being RB1 going forward through the rest of the year, honestly, if it hasn't already been put that way in the depth chart. I haven't looked at that yet. I will say this about the offense, too. As great as the win was yesterday against the Raiders, and as much people say, oh, the Raiders were a bad team, okay, listen, before yesterday's game, the Raiders were one.

They were ranked, I'm sorry, they were ranked 11th in passing yards on the defense, or sorry, total yards on the defense, they were ranked 11th, tied with the Bears, right? That's pretty good. Passing defense, they were ranked 7th with 189 yards a game allowed before coming into yesterday's game. The rushing defense, they were middle of the pack. They're 18, 129.9, which, okay, whatever.

Chase Brown fed on them as he should have. But, I mean, passing-wise, they've done really well for themselves. So, I mean, you know, yeah, we do have Joe Burrow. So, yeah, we do have a really good offense despite having a lot of people inactive yesterday. But the Raiders actually carried a good defense coming this week. So, for our offense to do what they did, hats off to those guys. The offensive line held up the whole game.

You know, Eric Hall's injury absolutely devastated for the guy because he's been playing really well, even though it's not going to show up on the stats for most of it because he's a really good blocker. Honestly, I think he might have even overtook Drew Sample as the best walking tight end on this team, which is unfortunate because now we're down one, and we've got to rely on Drew Sample for more of that too. But I want to get your guys' take on this thing before we move on to the defense.

With the injury of Eric Hall and the news that we don't know 100% confirmation of why he missed Saturday's walkthrough with Jermaine Burton, the whole situation regarding him, that obviously puts a damper on you know I guess the depth chart wise for you know the weapons positions, especially if T isn't ready to go by Thursday which I don't know the report today I haven't seen it yet but are you guys concerned with Burton and you know in that point if T's not ready to go you know,

what's the situation I can do the injury report if you like if you want to read the early preliminary go ahead That's a good segue. Yeah, what's T? Coach Taylor said, okay, well, let's start with Zach Moss. Coach Taylor said Zach Moss is out indefinitely. So he's not playing Thursday. The thing is with Zach Moss, somebody had told me that. I don't know if this is true or not. I heard a couple of reports that said that he was getting ready to be put on IR because he had a serious neck injury.

He said out indefinitely. He said it today. So, if the reports are correct with what I heard, he's going to be out for the year probably and likely going to require surgery. Yep. So, Zach Taylor saying indefinite, that means, yeah, there's no specific timetable, so it's not great. Yeah. So, it looked good. For a time. Yes. Oh, yeah. He is questionable. T is questionable. Averton is probable. He's probable. He's likely to play.

That's what he did. If I can touch on that a little bit, just because, you know, it's. If I can tell the truth, I feel some type of way about it. Because knowing how excited Zach Taylor got, seeing the video when Burton got drafted, like, Taylor thought he had a first-round pick. So when T's getting injured, and now you catch a fade route from Burrow, and in the week up to the game, he's like, hey, this guy needs to get more playing time.

And then you get a report like the day before the game something happened i don't know about you guys i read that first story i was like there's no fucking way that's real you know it's so unbelievable that he's having issues like this isn't an opportunity so for me that's like it's frustrating yeah because it's like man you were about to get your snaps and yeah you're probably going to get like at least 10 snaps and it was against

the raiders which is like we were hoping to win, but it ended up being a stack game. He took it at two touchdowns, man. And the thing with that is. Too, Brent, not to cut you off there, that the game plan was featuring him, as all reports have been led to believe, seeing it online. He was probably a focal point in the game plan. I don't know if Mike was going to have the day he had if Burton was active in the way they say he was supposed to go.

Burton was probably the number two option behind Chase, if I had to guess. And they had to rearrange the game plan after that and they had to like do it and honestly I don't know what it was like before like how the game plan would have gone obviously like you know like we said he's supposed to be a focal point but. The game plan after that worked really well for us. But yeah, it's just disappointing, man. I know Nick... Oh, sorry, go ahead.

Well, the only last two points, it's like from Cincinnati's perspective, you don't really have a lot of appropriate ways to handle this because you can't let that guy play because you could lose a locker room.

So you have to react in this way. And then on top of that, I read a report that Zach Taylor and Burrow went out of their way to be like, this guy is going to be a great bangle here in the future yeah which they didn't have to do that yeah so it's like yeah they mentioned that in their press conferences yeah you're right you're right he's set up to to it's like it's coming from a point and the frustration is coming from a point of like i can't wait to see this guy win because he's so positioned

in a place where he could like he could really be great and have that two or three touchdown game at any point and then he just misses a walkthrough that's like come on yeah and i know i know nick saban too.

Talked about it on the day he got drafted it was like the emotional maturity i think is what the term he used because like on on the field he's really talented like you know he like nick saban quoted saying he's you know he does everything you want him to do on the field he gives it you know he gives it all whatever but at the same time too he said you know stuff off the field he's got to work on it he's got to mature a little bit and i don't

know if i mean maybe we're seeing it right now maybe we just you know we're warned by nick saban and didn't realize until just now.

But at the same time too though like you had a shot and you know you missed it like you just like blew your like i don't know this obviously he's going to get more chances i'm not saying he's not but like you know this was your golden opportunity to you know introduce yourself basically to the NFL like hey this is me I'm going to have a career day you know whether or not he did I don't know but that you know that's the mindset right and like what like and you just like I don't know what I

don't know if he was like and this is true or speculation like was he out partying the night before was he like did he miss his alarm in the morning like I don't know like none of us will know the answer until it comes out from him but it's like man like you just hate to see that from like especially because his mentor And a guy that worked with him, TJ Houshminsato, he was in the building yesterday.

And I don't know if there was a conversation I had between them, but man, that had to have been tough on all parties involved. Well, you know, another point, and I was talking to you guys a little bit about it, but, you know, I make this point about Burton, but it didn't go unnoticed. And I mentioned this before we got on. If you guys have seen it, this video that Cody Ford has of him and his ex-girlfriend or ex-fiancee of him not getting a phone call, which meant he meant the team.

He made the team last year. and then somebody like that to step up and play left tackle in the nfl when it wasn't most of the time but sometimes there are max prosby coming off the edge it's like it's crazy that that somebody like that can have their day yesterday yeah and there's something special about that the 61 played left tackle for the bangles yesterday and played great so you know there should be a point made about that

too i think from i'm gonna say this and this is speaking as a former as the former.

Football player when i first started playing football and this is the thing that i i because i i'm i'm with you brand i feel a little bit of a way about that because you're really pushing for the kid like you're really you're really pushing for the kid to do well yeah but like for me when i first started like my when i first started playing my freshman and sophomore year of high school i was a backup i wanted i wanted to play so so badly i wanted to start but i was a rotational,

They worked me in at different points of the game and basically like about midway through my sophomore year, but I sucked on offense my first two years. My third year is when it just really, it really took off. But, you know, I was like, I'm not going to do that.

That's how and then yeah that's where it really took off for me but when i started playing but when i had first started playing i wanted to get on the field more i kept saying man i just if i had the opportunity this that and the other i'd make the most of it because there was there was a couple of games where i just i didn't get in at all i was pretty much just and it would devastate The few games that I didn't get in left me completely devastated.

Well, I finally got my opportunity because we had one of our guys that ended up with a concussion. And when I look back on it, was it perfect? Was my game perfect during that time? No, because I was still rather raw. But I made the most of everything of every opportunity, every snap, because I didn't know if that, I didn't know if that next year that, Hey, I, if I'd be, if I'd be starting, I ended up starting on off. I ended up start being the starting right tackle on offense that next year.

Cause that was my junior year. But this kid, I think going into this, we knew what he was going to be. We knew what he could be. Going into camp, you started hearing about things like him falling asleep in meetings and things of that sort.

If you're one of those few guys that gets the opportunity to go play college ball, whether it be division one, two, three, division one, double a, whatever the case may be, you've got to make the best of those opportunities because if you're, you're going in and you're falling asleep in meetings and then you want to declare, you want to go and declare for the draft.

I don't know. I can't tell you how many reports I remember hearing about each year of the draft where you had one or two guys that had like that were like uber talented. But you had like little things, little character issues that came up saying that, hey, they they're not the most not the most mature. Hey, they tend to kind of loaf or kind of do whatever they want in practice. And this, that and the other. And then what ends up happening?

And their draft stock slips. There's a couple of those guys that that's happened to, and then they got it corrected, and they went on to have great careers. There's some guys that did it, and then they get in, they get the shot, but they don't make the most of it. And Anthony, if I'm not mistaken, too, wasn't there a thing that was going around, or maybe it was confirmed, it was about him running the wrong routes?

I don't know if it was practice or in games. There was something about it, but there was something about it. I can't remember off the top of my head where it came from because multiple sources all reported on it. I think as far as the direct source that it came from, when everybody's talking about it all at once, it's a little hard to try to pinpoint the source where it came from.

Correct. So, yeah, I remember hearing about it But I think what's going to need to happen You look at a guy like Like, for instance, legendary wide receiver Chris Cardick, We all know Chris Carter for his time playing for the Vikings. But if those of us that followed the game of football from way back, remember, he was originally drafted as the Philadelphia Eagle. Well, why don't you tell... Let me just speak on it. I'm not going to be speaking on Chris Carter or none of that.

I'm just saying I'm using that as an example. No, you're correct. And a Buckeye, too, by the way. I can speak to this whole situation. Okay. I can 100% speak to this. Go ahead. I am not a meeting guy. I have never been a meetings guy. I hate meetings. I fall asleep all the time. I realized this, though, early. Early. that I have an issue with sitting in one spot and listening to the same person talk. I cannot do it. I don't care what it is. I don't care how engaging you are.

I don't care how engaging I am to the situation. My brain shuts down, especially when I'm not involved in said meeting, right? I am one who needs to be called upon to, you know, right? I need to be involved in it. Like, you need to call me to, well, what do you think? Right? Then I'm engaged. The difference is between me and Jermaine Burton, right? He has to realize how important this is, right? I was in the same position, not playing a lot.

After playing all the time, that's difficult. That's a difficult thing. But you got to stay ready. You got to always be ready. Yeah, because you don't know what your numbers are. You're going to get called on. Guess what? You're going to get called on Thursday. Yeah, because you do not know what you want. you do not know when your number is going to be called. And we're going into a unique situation because we don't know if T is coming back next year.

The way things are currently set up, it's looking like it's not going to happen. But I'm not going to jump that far. That doesn't matter. It's something that I'm using now as a reference point, Will. But don't jump ahead. I'm not jumping ahead. I'm jumping to Thursday. That's all I'm talking about he's going to play Zach Taylor and the team we have not given up on him this is a blip but guess what this is a learning experience well there's some down now if this continues this is a problem,

We might want to help him. We might want to sign somebody with him. Like, look. Get this kid, you know, get him engaged. Figure out what the problem is. Sometimes it's maturity. Sometimes it's just, you know. Sometimes you want to get called. Me, me, me, me, me. Me, me, me. Call me, call me, call me. I'm that guy. I'm that guy in meetings and classrooms. When I'm not called, I'm not engaged. I think it's him. Okay.

Initially, like when I first started playing football and I was thrust with this playbook, with plays. Yeah. I can physically just play football. It took me a while to learn, right? To learn and study and remember plays and playbooks. If you told me, hey, you're playing this receiver here, you cover this, do it, I can do it all day.

Well, the play doesn't even matter. But learning on offense, right, that took a while for me because I went from being probably the best athlete on the team to being the fourth running back, which didn't make any sense to me. I was like, I am better than everyone on this team and virtually everybody in this league. And I prove it every day in practice. And I'm like, well, I still got to wait.

So, Will, to your point, right, on giving him the tools that they're, you know, helping him succeed, right? Yeah, if he falls asleep in meetings, Tyler, it's something to that. I can attest to that. I can talk to that. I can speak to that. I needed help. I needed someone to be like, look, you need to do this and this and this. I would stand up. I'd go to the back. Get myself together when I fell asleep. See, for me and that issue, when I have meetings like that for work, it was just a lack of...

For me, it was a lack of caffeine. So what did I need to do? Yeah, that too. Zach Taylor said this about Jermaine Burton. He said, we're going to get him back into the fold and keep him moving along and becoming a pro. There's a lot of things to love about Jermaine. His best days are in front of him. We're going to make sure he achieves that. Obviously, he and the organization did what they thought was right.

Obviously, it was the right decision to do what they did for him on Sunday and make him a healthy scratch and active.

Yes But Zach Taylor also went on to say this too, He said the expectation is that Jermaine Burton will practice this week and play on Thursday night Yeah, I know I never thought he wasn't going to play Yeah, so we'll see how much of a role he has I was like, oh no, no, no, he's going to play So we'll see how much of a role he has I don't know how big it will be But he is expected to play Thursday His role is probably the same thing it would have been anyway yesterday Yeah,

Probably the same role. I don't think it matters what team we play. His ability is the same. Do you think that this, like, the game Sunday was the only lesson that they're going to, like, try to, you know, quote-unquote teach him? I think maybe they might not play him a lot of snaps. Maybe that might be another lesson come Thursday. I don't know. I think the Bengals have already done what they wanted to do as far as discipline level. Just be like, hey, we're going to give you this olive branch.

You know you're gonna come back and play great for us we threw five touchdowns my last time we played the Ravens but then it's like the next day he's like potentially at a casino it's like dude come on come on man it's like you know it's like okay cause sure wow, I'm 47 right I was his age I never much room I could get in trouble very easily with who I'm surrounding myself with. That's something that needed to be addressed anyway.

You needed to do that anyway. That's something that's going to be done immediately. Someone need to pull him aside, right? Get him on. Keep him working these kind of situations. Especially if you know what kind of kid he is, right? Yeah, that's true. I'll say this before we get into the defense. If anybody else got any final thoughts, I'll say this before we jump over.

The game coming up Thursday, you know, obviously the offense still has to keep, speaking offensively, of course, but the offense still has to keep doing what they're doing and not take their foot off the gas. We did get a little bit conservative in this game late into the third, early in the fourth quarter before Burrow decided he wanted to step on their throat and be aggressive in the game. Obviously, we need to keep that mentality and keep the foot on the gas at all times.

But I'd be lying if I said that me personally, and I know you guys probably have this one too, as well as Burrow. I know Burrow probably has this one circled on his calendar. This game just means a little bit more than probably all the games we've played so far. If you guys remember, last year, almost the exact date that we played Baltimore Thursday, the almost exact same date we played them last year, is the game that Burrow got hurt in and had to miss the rest of the season, right? Right.

What did that crowd chant and how did the Ravens – like the Ravens obviously – I would say a little bit dirty play last year. But what did the crowd chant after Burrow got hurt? You guys remember what happened? We don't need to go over there because we know what was said. All right, okay. So you guys remember. I forgot. We know what was said. I forgot. Yeah.

Will, you just want us to say it, Will, don't you? No, no. I think that's what you want No, I actually forgot And then it doesn't matter to me I'll say this Every division game is important, I'll say this before I end Before we move on to the defense or whatever Bro, We can talk revenge games We can say they don't matter, Whatever about the revenge games Bro's got this encircled And I think he's going to come out And he's going to be playing better or the same,

if not better, than he did yesterday. First off, and this is the only thing I'm going to say on it, I think right now, if we're going to be talking about it, every game is a fucking revenge game. Right now, we're fighting for our lives. We're fighting for our playoffs. So, talking revenge game for one specific game, let's get that out of our heads.

This is fighting for this is fighting for playoff hopes this is fighting for potentially a chance if we can make it to get ahead in the division, I can favor Vance, it's fine, they beat us by three points at the same time, at the same time this is the most important game of the year right now yes, you're both correct because we're left we're 4-5 if we do jump to 4-6 that is really detrimental.

And, you know, that's what I'm saying. Like, this, not only for record and, you know, standings-wise, but from last year, too, like, that's what I'm saying. Like, that took a toll, and I think Burr's got that in the back of his mind. Like, I'm going to play really angry on Thursday. That's all I'm saying. Shoot, if he played like yesterday, we'll beat him. Yeah, 100%. Five touchdowns, should have beat him last time. You don't think five touchdowns will beat him this time? It sure the fuck will.

Oh, it sure will We'll blow them out Just like we did at the Raiders We scored by a touchdown Yeah, and like I said An angry Joe Burrow is scary for the Raiders We need a whole angry team Yes, we do need that Correct. Because if they can get angry as I am, which they still aren't. They still aren't angry as I am. But my confidence, it never wavered. It's never going. You know what the team needs right now? They need to bring Tyler Eifert with them the rest of the way.

They need to bring them. They might need to play on Thursdays. That's true. That's a tough one. Like Tyler Eifert, man. He brought some interviews. Down or two. And I know I fell off that being in the stadium. But, like, man, what a gun. Yeah, I didn't know he was going to be there. I was like, wow, okay, cool. It's always cool to see. It's always good to see our guys come back. Especially because he was befailed by injury, though. Yeah.

That's what stopped it. He looks healthy, too. He looks good, too. That's the thing. I don't – and what you touched on earlier, Anthony, about the Raiders offensive line, I don't think I've ever seen that many linemen get banged up in one game for one team. Oh, no. That goes with that. I've never seen it. Legitimately, they had a guy in line that I didn't even know who it was. I couldn't figure out who it was. They didn't say who it was.

It wasn't listed. A couple times I've seen something like that. I think the one time I can remember something like that happened, it was when I was playing high school ball. We played at the University of Dayton's Stadium, Welcome Stadium. And that was always my favorite field to play on because I didn't go to the schools where you could play at Nippert Stadium or play down at Pacor or shit like that, which would have been just as fun.

Like some of the high school games now, I think if I remember correctly, hadn't there been a couple of high school games that got to play that ended up, the Bengals ended up letting them use their field or was that just the college games? I don't know. I think so. But you know, I think I'm right. I feel like being able to see titles. I'm not sure. I think there's been, I could swear that I could be wrong. Possibly. When that started happening, that was after I had long since graduated.

It wasn't a big school. I'll ask this. High school state football playoffs, especially the state championship games, I know when I was younger, a lot of them would be played at Ohio University, the Bobcat Stadium, because I've went to a couple of them. And then obviously some of them get played now at the Tom Benson Stadium, the NFL Hall of Fame. In Cantonese? Yeah. So have they ever been played in Cincinnati? They would never play the state titles there.

They would have a random game that they would just turn around and go play. I think Elder and Moeller had a game there one year, if I'm not mistaken. Where did you go to high school at, Brent? I went to Turpin. I went to Turpin in Anderson Township my freshman and sophomore year. Yes, and I think if I'm not mistaken, I think Turpin even had a chance to play at Nippert. A couple of teams, yeah, a couple of schools, a couple of the high schools had chances to play at Nippert.

Yeah, see, where I'm from, Iretton, they've obviously they've been battling for state championships a lot here in the last like decade, but they've won two, one in 79, one in 89, but they've played playoff games like the Bobcats stadium and, you know, you know, in Athens. And then they've played it in, in Columbus at Ohio state, you know, OH, they've played there too. They've, they've, they've played obviously at Tom Benson's stadium too, but I don't think they've ever played Cincinnati.

And you know, that's, that's one thing like that would be, I don't know that I don't put it this way. I don't know that the state titles would ever be hosted in Cincinnati, per se, because Tom Benson Stadium has always been like the main spot that they've always wanted to host the state title games for as long as I can remember. But with that being said, let's we could talk forever on high school day on the high school days. Let's go ahead and transfer over to defense, if you don't mind.

First off, and I'm going to just go ahead and address the elephant in the room. Trey is a fucking monster. There. Trey is demon-possessed. I don't know how the hell we ended up getting him, but thank you, New Orleans. That's all I can say. Thank you, New Orleans. Thank you, New Orleans Saints, for just basically completely giving up on him and giving him death. And thank you to his mama for giving birth to him.

Tyler, I thought you were about to take it somewhere else. You drew an image in my head that I just wasn't prepared for. Anyway, moving on. Then again, it also shows that I have a little bit of a morbid sense of humor. But anyway, to make a long story short, I will say this. Going into this Trey Hendrickson.

I think at least up to this point up to this point, he's probably one of the defensive ends that have probably stuck out the most at least up to this point in my life I think the only other defensive end that I can remember that was a true true like dominant, dominant threat I know Will can point at a couple that he because he got to see like the 81 and 88 teams but john copeland was one that like basically was incredibly

dominant but you're looking at this this guy for some with he has that explosive first step and just knows how to use his hands he's got multiple moves he never you He almost never uses the same move more than once. He attacks you extremely differently every time. And I will say this, he has an extremely excellent cross chop that I can... You tell me, Will, if I'm wrong on saying this, because I've watched a lot of tape on Trey Hendrickson in the last 24 hours.

The cross chop that I see him use, that's typically the killing blow that gets him to the quarterback almost every time. Yeah, it's the get-off. Yeah. It's his jump off the line of scrimmage. Because, like, literally. The cross-off is like the dagger and the, you know. That's what I'm saying. That's the killing blow. Because that's his ultimate, like, that's the move.

Put it this way. Every defensive lineman has that one move that you know if you execute that move, it could be a bull rush, it could be a swim, it could be a rip move, especially that club move that Reggie White used to use back in the day. If he used that, you were done. If he executed that on you, especially coming around the edge, whether he was lined up on the left side, the right side, or if they lined him up inside, because early in his career, he was a defensive tackle.

As a matter of fact, correct me if I'm wrong, Will. Early in Reggie White's career, they kind of still moved him all over the map. He was a defensive tackle at Tennessee. He was a defensive tackle the first couple years. And then once they got Derone Brown and Mike Pitts and even, you know, my goal is outside. Him with Clyde Simmons, I'm like, okay, this guy's dangerous because his quickness, for being that big was scary anyway.

Oh, yeah, but he was like one of the only, but he was one of the only 300-plus pound defensive ends that I've ever seen. I've not ever seen another 300. I've not ever seen another 300-plus pound defensive end. Most defensive ends were anywhere between about 265 to 280. You might see one maybe pushing close to 290. But that might even be a reach. There were some 300-pounders, but, I mean, it was so infrequent. And for me to even name any, and we're talking about Richie White,

it's not fair. There's no reason to do that. But I'm just saying you look at a defensive lineman. But I'm just saying you look at defensive line whether you're playing interior defensive tackle that could be a three tackle or a four tackle or a zero or you're playing defensive end.

Every lineman doesn't matter where you're lined up that one everyone's that one move that literally if they if they execute it, like me I was excellent with the bull rush because I knew how to get right up I knew how to get right up under the under that bridge and basically control you where basically if i scum that centers i hit that center hard enough and i got it and knocked him off balance i could easily turn around and be able to maneuver okay i

see you got him straight there's a reason why right now he is leading in this case anybody does not know trey hendrickson now is leading the league in sacks at 11 if i'm If I remember correctly. Yes, and Anthony, I will take that a step further, actually. With yesterday's game, Trey Hendrickson is now sixth all-time Bengals history with sacks. Fifty and a half. He just passed Mike Reed for being sixth all-time.

And if you go down the list... So who else is ahead of him? If I remember, I think Ross Browner's a little bit ahead of him. And then I think maybe Geno Adkins, possibly. That's what I was getting ready to talk about. So, Eddie Edwards is first with 84.5 sacks. Carlos Dunlap is second with 82.5. Geno's third with 75.5. Reggie Williams is fourth with 63.5. And then fifth is Ross Browner with 61.5. Those guys right there, you get on the list of games played here.

170 for Eddie Edwards. 155 for Carlos Dunlap. 161 for Geno. 206 for Reggie Williams. 127 for Ross Browner And potentially Trey, I don't know How, you know, if he will pass Reggie and Ross before The end of the year, but he's only played 57 games And that is outstanding To think that he could possibly very well Be fourth all time Maybe before the end of the year Like all he needs is 14 sacks, Technically to tie Reggie Williams 14 to go ahead of him And there's still eight games to be played.

Well, he's just so dominant. You look at his maps. He just, he did whatever he wanted. And the thing is, it wasn't really just his first or second move, but he was so persistent that after a while, he was at the quarterback every freaking play. It was amazing. And what it boils down to, and I bet you probably have to teach your linemen this, is that, The main thing, and this was what I was always taught playing.

Because whenever you go up against a line, and especially you watch in film, you watch for tendencies, you watch how they move, but you can't necessarily get a feel for them right away because you're looking at film. You look at film, you're looking at how they line up, this, that, and the other. But as soon as you hit that field, you're looking for tendencies. How do they like to move? Are they going to try to fake you inside? And then try to get around you on a pass block?

Or how do they hit you first? Do they try to hit you with that cross chop? And if they try to get you with that cross chop, how are you going to respond back? Because especially with the way Trey lines up and the cross chop is almost the first thing. Trey, a lot of times the cross chop is the first thing he hits you with. And you can almost expect it. It's to the point where you expect it to come, but you don't know when it's going to come.

So what is that? Is it him trying to get the offensive line's hands off of him?

Where he's going down? A lot of it. Yeah, a lot of it. With a cross chop, that's basically trying to maneuver the offensive lineman's hands so that he doesn't try he can't get it get within you to try he can't get inside you to be able to try to turn around and uh get to you so because basically me because i play tackle first thing i'm gonna try to do going inside as soon as i'm coming out of my stance i'm trying to get right in right in your chest plate whether

it's a run play if it's a run play. Pass play, I'm just trying to get you to maneuver you around because I don't want you to get on my inside hip. You get on my inside hip, you got a clear shot. Outside, as long as I stay with you, I'm trying to delay your path to my quarterback. The main thing I just have to make sure I do is keep my hands inside and try not to, what's the word I'm looking at? Try not to come up with a foot.

Try not to get my hands outside along your shoulder pads or try to grab jersey first. Because the main thing, if it's a pass play, you're more or less the main thing, if it's a pass play, you're trying to punch. As you're going back, you're trying to stay with whoever you're over, which in this case, it would be a defensive end. You're keeping those hands moving as you're going.

So whether it's you're trying to right hand, left hand, right, both at the same time, you're just trying to basically just keep him off. You're trying to basically keep him off your quarterback. So as he's going around, you're trying to basically just keep your hips square, make sure he doesn't get you to where you can get off balance. And Trey is excellent at getting tackled off balance.

Because if he can get you just trying to straighten up your hips, he's got he can maneuver around you you keep your hips square he's got no path to them, or if he does he's trying to base or if he does eventually because i've seen plays where he gets close enough and even if the offensive lineman's still on him he does enough to get the hand over and try to swat that ball away or just sometimes he'll just have that right spot where he can just break off

and basically get a hit as the ball's coming out or get that sack. It's all about knowing as a defensive lineman, knowing where to break off because you're basically getting a hole.

You're getting the underlet leverage on an offensive lineman to try to, as a defensive lineman, you're trying to basically, if you're interior, because I played interior line, you're trying to basically plug the hole because your defensive ends are going to be the ones that are going to primarily try to hurry up the quarterback.

You're still trying to put, you're still trying to clog the hole, but you're also trying to get, find a way if you can make the play, if you're close enough to where you can get to him, you get to him. But Trey just has a excellent, excellent explosive first step. His get off is, I think his get, his get off is up there with Myles Garrett. And even Myles Garrett's a freak of nature. Like, even Miles Garrett as a freak of nature, he's...

Go ahead, Brent. First play of the Raiders drive, he comes out, it's a sack fumble, and we get the ball on like the 20-yard line. It's like that, I wouldn't say that sealed it, but it's incredible, man, that he can make sack fumbles with this hard inside move and then go back outside and then, you know, slaps this guy's hand out. It's just the tackle had no chance on that play.

So, pretty impressive. But he also, when your defensive line is pretty much, what's the word I'm looking for, is going up against a second-rate offensive line. It is pretty safe to say that as long as you come out with a confident game plan, there's no reason you can't move that you can't turn around and basically have your way with whoever you throw up against them. If we're talking strategy, I'd love to tell you guys something that I saw on defense.

Sense oh you're you're cutting out a little bit i haven't seen in years we've really focused on having these all right can you hear me now yeah i can hear you now i can hear you start from the top like the the point of yeah okay okay so like the point i was trying to make the the bangles in the past have run a three four front against 12 personnel or tire and there's certain problems schematically with the 3-4 front, I don't really think it's as run-fit sound or gaps sound as other defenses.

But this week, we actually showed a 4-3 or 4-2-5 when the other team or the Raiders would go 11% higher. So that's a really good sign. That's a really good sign. And I don't know why we're doing that. 27 played a lot more football this week, which is really good. And I think that might have been why we were not trying to have those kind of fronts. But we were definitely trying to have those 4-3 fronts. And personally, I like that a lot. I think that's a good change.

I think it's a good sign that Lou is willing to make those adjustments, even though in the past he tried to do that 3-4 experiment. Again, we don't know if that was just a Raiders thing or if that's what the Bengals are going to do going forward. But I would like to see a lot more 4-3 fronts against 12 personnel versus the 3-4 fronts. Well, but he kind of has to go away from this. He really went away from the 3-4. He tried in 2019 and 2020 going with the 3-4 front.

He started going away from it more in 2021 because he figured out that he didn't quite have the personnel. Although he had DJ Reader, DJ Reader would have more than been capable to run out of a 3-4. But when you have the likes of a BJ Hill, and DJ Hill is dominant in the run, And you want as many guys to be able to try to clog up a hole because basically you have to have a certain type of personnel to run a 3-4. Right. I think that was the Miles Murphy pick, but go ahead. Sorry.

Yeah, I think you have to have certain personnel to be able to run a 3-4. Because you put a guy at nose tackle, you run a 3-4, you're running that guy at nose tackle. You're expecting you're expecting him to be a pretty big guy you're expecting him to be able to take on double teams and things of that sort and be able to pause hell.

You gotta be able to rain down hell on earth, it could be a personnel thing it could be much easier to find five or six or seven defensive linemen as opposed to finding three or four really good linebackers because injuries happen and that may have been where the bangles are coming from with the miles murphy pick is like let's run this three four front and have a bunch of these defensive end slash outside linebackers and good defensive material linemen and then we'll just have pratt

and wilson mop up and i don't know if they made a change this week it seemed like it worked, I don't like schematically. I actually do like running against that 3-4 because I think there's a lot of concepts that work against it. But it was good to see the Bengals run that 4-3. And I saw 59 got on the field a lot more. Their third linebacker, Gaither. Keem Dinkles, yes.

Yeah, yeah. And then here's where I think it actually was. I think they might be trying to get Battle on the field more in that 4-2-5 look. Battle played phenomenal yesterday too. They both should have been playing anyway Fado played really really well Guess who also played Will yesterday Who else played good yesterday Buck Kelly Jackson, Your guy He didn't play a lot Yeah and shout out to Chris Jenkins That's right. They played in tandem Tyler Bowles They should.

Will Can I do it like how you used to do, say, Mason Smith with Chris Jenkins? No. Well, yeah, I guess you should. Yeah, when we play them in tandem, yes. It does cause a problem. The Mutant got his first sack. Yes, it does cause problems when you play those two guys together. Those better than against the run. It's a problem. As they say Yeah The defense The mutant and the monster If it's my turn to go I don't know if Will you wanted to go on No no no That's how tall one's though.

But the defensive side of the ball, man, it was a great day as a collective, right? I know Trey Hendrickson is going to get all the love from yesterday, as he should because he balled out yesterday, right? Trey Hendrickson had a really good game. But honestly, my runner-up for defensive player in the game besides him would probably have to be Logan Wilson. Logan Wilson, Mike Hilton all played really well. Obviously, Logan Wilson had that fumble recovery as well.

Two fumble recovers, actually. Yeah, both of them. Yes. And that was phenomenal. Logan Wilson, Mike Kilton, our best cornerback yesterday, and it wasn't close. And he played really, really well. Jordan Battle got on the field and played great. He had six tackles, which was third on the team yesterday. Really, really shot up to him. Can we look up how many snaps? It's on the ESPN app right now, so I don't have that. But if somebody wants to look it up, that's fine.

I don't know where to find it. I do know that Chris Jenkins got his first sack yesterday. He played really well. I know Geno Stone, he did okay. But, I mean, you know. He played a little. He played better. Yeah, he played better. Von Bell did probably, maybe honestly, Von Bell's probably best game of the year so far. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Probably Von Bell's best game of the year. Yeah. I have to say. Hakeem Davis Gaither, McKinley Jackson came in and did great in their spots

as well. Shout out to them. And I think even, yeah, well, no, that was probably on some of those teams. But, yeah, so Mike Hilton, man, that's someone like, you know, he's just about like the defensive version of Mixon from last year. Like, obviously, Mixon was a great team leader. So was Mike Hilton. Mike Hilton's a great, you know, vocalist, great team leader. And he's honestly having a good year this year, in my opinion.

Like, he had a really good game as a quarterback. And I think, honestly, he might be in connect with CTV for our best cornerback this year. I don't know. I think he might even be a little bit better. Like, obviously, he's different parts of the DV position. Like, Mike Hilton's in the slot, the nickel, you know, and obviously CTV's on the outside. But Mike Hilton is making a strong case for that for me this year. But Mike Hilton, Logan Wilson, Trey Hendrickson, those two right there were

the three best on the team yesterday. Pratt had an okay game, too, but those guys right there, hats off to them for playing the way they did. Did you guys think for a split second that Logan Wilson might have returned that for a touchdown, that one fumble recovery that he – No, no, I never thought – No, I didn't think so. It didn't come across my mind because there wasn't enough separation there.

Now, if the ball had maybe rolled a little bit more –. If we ain't kicked the ball around 17 times If he just picked the ball up He would have probably scored If they picked that ball up right away Whoever would have picked it up would have scored, Listen, as our season's been going As our season's been going on this year I'm just glad we actually recovered it I know Did you just do the Chris Berman?

I did, and that's the last time I'm going to do it, That's the last time you hear me do that That's the one thing That made my day That's all I'm saying, I was thinking that as we're kicking the ball And I'm like, As a defense We had seven We had seven tackles for loss Trey had four, Chris Jenkins had one Mike Hilton had one And so did Von Bell He almost had two. Quarterback hits, Trey Hendrickson had seven Seven Jenkins in battle had one apiece.

Sam Hubbard had two, and Joseph Versailles had one. Miles Murphy even had a quarterback hit, too. He almost had a sack. He just kind of angle was wrong. Yeah, he took a bad answer. He was excited. I think he just got excited. He got through there, and I'm like, yeah, well, all the attention is going to be that other side. So, yeah, you're going to always be in a good position, Miles Murphy, to make plays. Yeah. It's just good to see the pressure, though.

Oh, no, it was awesome. That's what I was going to see. They were pressured. Yes, they completed some passes. Yes, they did move the ball a little bit. No, we did not allow them to run the ball effectively. We did not. Yeah, the first drive, like I said, that first drive defensively, no, we actually stopped them. They gave pass interference, right? Yeah. On DJ Ivy, who I forgot was playing. I was like, what? No. That wasn't Ivy, was it?

By the way, by the way, just wanted to point this out here too for the defense. I know Jermaine Pratt, I think he was leading the league or he was tied or something going to play yesterday in tackles, if I'm not mistaken. The total, total assist and total tackles. But as for right now, he's sitting at ninth right now at 81. Logan Wilson stirred in the league right now with 88. So that's good for them. Obviously, we talked about Trey Anderson being the league leader in Saks right

now with 11. He's two ahead of the next person, which is Dexter Lawrence. Do you have Nile? That is really, really good. I'm trying to see here. Let's see. Sacks-wise, so I wanted to see this as a team unit to see where we stood. I don't know if this has been updated yet, but if this is updated, I'm not sure. But right now, this is on the same page as the individual league leader, so it might have already been.

But right now, us as a team, I think, if this number's correct, we have 17 total sacks on the season. Trey Hendrickson has 11. That's, you know. 3, 4. I don't know. What do you guys – if the number's correct, then I'll look at a different side here. That's right. We have 17. He has 11. So that is – I mean, obviously, Trey Hendrickson is him. That's similar to the last hit. Yeah, not Carmelo Hayes, but Trey Hendrickson is him.

But I know, Will, you'll get that reference. Carmelo does miss sometimes, though.

Yes, he does. Yeah, Trey Hendrickson is him. Yeah, he missed on quality as well But yeah, that is almost the exact As the last year too, Will You are correct The sack load And I just have a question For you guys real quick, because I know technically, This is the post-game recap And technically tomorrow when this episode Uploads on Tuesday Will be the day of the trade deadline, And I know It's a touchy subject because We haven't really made a lot of in-season

trades And I know there's a couple guys on the trade block, like a Chase Young and maybe another one or two guys that's on the trade block. Honestly, 100% honesty, you know, with us seeing reports that we have been interested in some players, do you guys see the Bengals maybe making a trade for like a Chase Young or whatever to try to bolster the pass rush, like to give Trace some help? Do you guys see that happening?

Brent, why don't you go ahead and go first? If we – I don't think it's going to happen for a third reason.

I don't think we're that type of franchise, I don't the win yesterday the way we won I don't think it really demands it and then I don't think if they were going to make a move they would leave it for the last minute to leave it for the last day, I don't think there's any move that happens well to counter that Brent what you just said, leaving stuff to the last minute that's like just about almost every single like trade deadline that goes on in basketball, MLB, just about any other major sport.

Honestly, and I think the Bengals are a last-minute team when it comes to – obviously, they don't trade much. They do tend to be a last-minute kind of team. So I don't know. I think you might be right that they might not do it. But honestly, even with the win yesterday, I still think we need some sort of extra help there for pressures because I don't quite think Myles Murphy's there yet. Obviously, he's got to be on the field more, but I don't think he's there yet to be that hope.

Well, but here's the thing, though, and this is the count. I think Will would probably agree with this because me and him have talked off the record about this. I think when you really look at where they got Myles Murphy, where in the first round they got him, They didn't get him with the expectation to start him right away. I think they're still trying to develop him. You're seeing some promise. Think this point we don't know yet what's going to become a tray getting an extra guy a guy that.

Like maybe a chase young wouldn't be a bad thing but you also got to realize chase that chase has had, had a bit of an injury history with having acl repair and he's had some other issues but yeah you're not wrong you're not adding another guy in in there wouldn't be a bad thing i just don't know if you look at the history of the franchise they're not ones that really typically deal in the deal in the trade market because of if you look at even going back to paul brown's years

with the cleveland browns it's kind of a similar thing, but also, with Paul Brown Paul Brown was a pretty good evaluator of talent so I think what it is I think they're trying to rely on the people that they have that are scouting these players whether it be the veterans that eventually become free agents that hey they're considering going after or whatever the case may be, I think going into this do I think a move will get made it's a wait and see we have till 4 we have till 4 p.m. tomorrow.

And that's where it's going to all tell. Yeah, no, I definitely agree. I think a lot of people are demanding something to go on because everybody's in panic mode because of how the season has gone so far. I'm keeping it realistic. I'm keeping it a buck. At the end of the day, if you're going to make a move, make a move.

Yeah, 100%. 100%. I do, you know, and obviously, you know, whether or not, you know, if we do trade for like a Chase Young or if we do trade for someone else, you know, obviously we don't know until they play on the field, you know, if that actually helps. Like on paper, it probably would. But we don't know if it helps on the field yet until they do it. But I do know that, like, I know you guys remember this too.

If we were to somehow land Chase Young, do you guys remember the questions that some of the fan base was asking back in 2019, 2020? They were asking Chase Young or Joe Burrow, and that ended up being the first two picks. And that would be kind of crazy. Like, obviously, it would have been crazy back then, but it's crazy now to think that, like, if Chase Young does become a bingel, we have the first two selections of the 2020 draft on the team. That's kind of wild even.

That's happened before. Oh, I know. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying it's wild to, like, imagine, you know, both of those, you know, does that make sense? It's kind of just like, wow. Yeah, it is. Yeah, it's crazy. Okay, well, I guess I'll answer the question now, I guess. Yes, do. Do I want us to make a move? I would like for us to make a move. Do I think we'll make a move? No. Adding salary is not what we do as a franchise.

Yes, yes, we have traded at the deadline, but that was a trade basically to send this, you know, bingo. What we got back was a lineman that virtually never played for us. That's when we traded Dunlap to Seattle. And you know what I'm going to say right now about Dunlap, right? Fuck him. Yeah, I just brought that up just for the purpose of this. His ass been talking shit since he left and basically I don't remember I don't remember his play because that's kind of the memory I got.

Well, I was going to say, Will, you might not remember his play because he did play beside Geno Atkins. I know, but you know. Well, you know what? No, I take that back. I do remember his play when Geno was hurt. It was kind of like he was hurt too. But he wasn't nothing to sneeze at that. No, no, no. I'm not saying he didn't play. Yeah, I agree.

But here was always the but here was always the issue with carlos deadline he played when he wanted to he took plays off that was always the big issue okay that's his big not i didn't want to make this about carlos blunt because it's not so so yeah i don't give a i just go ahead and, brought it up so i just said you know what yes well i didn't call it all right Like, I can summarize Carlos Dunlap very, very quickly and very easily. What he didn't want to do for us, he ended up doing anyway.

So, because that's what he was. He became a situational pass rusher. Guess what? That's all we really wanted you to do. You do that well. Why not just do it for a winning team? It took you another stop to get ultimately what you wanted. And they made you the same thing that we made you. Situational pass rusher. There's nothing wrong with that. If you take plays off against the run, you should be in a situation of a pass

rusher. That's all I'm saying. So anything he says from now on, it doesn't make no difference to me. It doesn't make no difference to me. If you play well enough, right, will we ever make training in a situation of a pass rusher? Never. No. Never, because it doesn't matter. This guy's banged up, one arm, one leg, one eye, whatever. He's hit every play. Every play, he's out there giving it his all. That's all you can ask. Thank you.

That's all you could ever ask. Will, when you, at the start of your talk here, when you said, I want to make a move, I'd like to say that. The first thing that immediately came to my mind, and I know this is off subject, but the first thing that came to my mind was the primetime players, the big deal, Titus O'Neill, that theme song. Oh, yeah. I just started thinking about that. I just like, yeah, that was a million dollars. Yeah.

Billions of dollars. Yeah, making moves, making moves. Now you got me dancing in the middle of the living room. Thank you. Come on, come on. Shout out Titus O'Neil. The big deal, Titus O'Neil, yeah. I cannot do his Florida Gator thing justice. I'm not going to do it. I can't do it either. Because the Florida, you know, the way they are right now, is unbelievable. Oh, my God. Oh. real quick, fellas. Real quick, fellas. I thought you might want to know this.

The Kansas City Chiefs Tampa Bay game is tied up 24-24. Mayfield, let's beat some Chiefs. Baker, I will take back. I will never call you Stanky Mayfield ever again if you can turn around and shut the Chiefs the fuck up. Well, I'm sorry. You played for the Browns. No love here. Sorry. No love here. No love. You don't get no love. It doesn't make no difference. No love here. Gentlemen, I got to head out. I'm really tired. So I got to... We're going to go ahead and wrap it up.

But before you jump off, Brent, do you want to go ahead and plug your social media? Yeah, yeah, sure. Sure. And it's always great talking to you guys. It's my pleasure. And thank you. My social media is, you want to add me on Instagram, Brent R. Willis, 220. Or on Facebook, Brent Robert. And I have done that too. Yes, yes. Make sure on the Hooday Nation Facebook group that you join that group because Brent does put up a lot of his film breakdown work.

It's definitely something you want to make sure you try to check out. Thank you, man. I appreciate you, man. I'm going to put one out this week. So we'll see what we get. Thank you, man. Oh, it's no problem. Like I said, that's how we got in contact with you. So, yeah. It's a time change. I'm a little tired. What do you think about that? You're right. It's my son. My son's been waking up early. Yeah. I don't know. We understand, man. I keep looking at the time like, what time? No.

All right, guys. I'll see you soon. All right? All right. All right. Will do, man. All right. Peace, guys. Sick. But, yeah, going into this matchup, I mean, but talking about overall, the defense, I think at the end of it all, this defense, it was put up or shut up because they've been getting, they've been getting pretty much getting their ass kicked and basically getting out for all this time. So it is, they, yeah, let's put up or shut up. They had to, they had to do something.

So I'm glad that they were able to put something together because like I said, this defense hasn't changed much. The biggest change was on D line. So I'm confident. I think going into the back half of the season, I think we'll be able to, we'll be able to put something together. Yeah. What do you guys say? It's just injuries. I said it a zillion times. You can't, you can't, see, if you can't break the team down as far as I can, then you can, you can, oh, they're bad.

Well, you know what? You know what? The Raiders' offensive line wasn't bad until they all got hurt. Then it was a feast and frenzy. Do that to everybody else's defensive line. You take the insides out and you gut it. What do you think going to happen? They got two kids, rookies that hadn't played, finally get a chance to play, and you see they progress. You see the difference between McKinley Jackson and Chris Jenkins.

This game, the Pulse, when they both first started, they're both going to get better. So every other team, right, especially the Browns and Ravens, they're actually going to be surprised on Thursday when they see us because it's a little bit different group of guys in that they're all there. We're going to see what happens there. Cross my fingers there. What did you say with Orlando Brown Jr.? What's going on with him when you mentioned the injury reports?

I think he's probably... It's that knee-clench calf issue or whatever the fuck that it was. I think it's like tennis leg or some bullshit. Yeah, it was quest. So is it possible that he's playing Thursday? Is it possible? Or is it not possible? We probably won't know. We probably will not know until Wednesday night. Tomorrow? When we do the pregame. Maybe tomorrow. Might hear some more.

You know, I'll have that all prepared. I'll be listening out tomorrow, especially when I get off of work tomorrow. That's the perfect opportunity. Usually right around my left time, 11, 12, 30. This is when I'm honed in on injury reports and seeing if guys practiced and seeing if, you know, the injury report went from doubtful to probable, probable to, right, questionable, right, questionable to game time this season, game time this season. He's playing.

So, you know, that's always what you want to see, right? You always want to check in at this. And you hope the Nazis, well, guess what, on Thursday than it was on Sunday. I expect to see a couple of those guys not on the injury list, right? And we'll see about, you know, we'll see about the ones that are put, that, you know, just got put on here. So. Yeah, no, you're not wrong. Because I'm expecting to probably see, here's my predictions, I guess, for the predictor to be on the win.

You know, not to be early predicting, but I'm going to say that Burton and Charlie Jones will be activated. For the game, you know, with all the injury, right? I don't think we're going to be – I don't think we'll be shying away yet, Tyler Rose. I don't think we'll get the Glock. Not yet. Yeah, I don't think so either, but I'm interested to see what happens with T in the next seven days. Yeah, I'm especially waiting for tomorrow. Yeah.

Because Tuesday, Wednesday, he's playing. I'll say this because it is a short week because, you know, Obviously, they've got to fly out sometime Wednesday or something like that. Yes. It'll be interesting. Obviously, all these injuries, it doesn't help for a short week. No. But at the same time, too, we're coming off a win, a much-needed win. We're coming off a convincing win, if I had to say, because while the final score was 41-24, we only gave up 17 points.

One was off a bad pick six that, you know, Yoshi might have missed a block or whatever. Somebody, you know, with all that. I will say this about that play. Play. I think teams are catching on to that play because we run that play a lot throughout each game. We got to stop from that play. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Because we showed you what happens when you overplay that play. Give a touchdown to the second. That's what I thought the play was.

Yeah. I didn't think it was going to be another one. Could be around it twice already. We actually ran the play four times, but they're the counter. Same thing we did against Buffalo in the playoffs. That's the same play. But regardless, I do think teams are starting to catch on to that specific play. Well, you know, run that. You slip the guy to have, you know, the receiver in the tight end out behind him.

Is that a block? The one play I do like, before I get into my final thoughts here initially, but the one play where Chase is in motion and Burrow just like barely just tosses it in front of him. I do love the play that we're running there because we're getting good yards out of that. But anyway, regardless, for Thursday's game. Everybody, like Burrow said in his postgame, you know, in the locker room, get your minds right, get your bodies right, you know, you're four and five.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, hold on, hold on, hold on. He didn't say it exactly like that. He said, get your fucking minds right, get your fucking bodies right. Say it right, Tyler. Well, he only used the F-bomb once in that scenario. He only used the one. That's true. Yeah, yeah, but anyway. The fact that he said the word fuck, I'm just saying. Well, I know. He's not so proud of you, Anthony. I respect that out of Burrow. That's not surprising.

That is – and we were all talking about that, right? Burrow needs to be more Burrow. That's about as vocal as you can get right there. That's what we need. Obviously, like I said, an angry Burrow is scary for the rest of the league. But as Burrow said, get your minds right, get your bodies right. It's a tough game. It's an AFC North matchup. They're always tough no matter – despite anybody's

record, they're always tough no matter what. and obviously we lost in a shootout in Cincinnati against them the last time. A couple things go different. We could have won that game, honestly. We could have. A couple things go different. And obviously being in Baltimore, what happened last year, I know that's got to be weighing on the minds. You know, Burrow, the coaching staff, and, you know, players.

And obviously we all remember it too. We all remember it. But going into this game, obviously take it one game at a time. Don't look further ahead. Keep your eye on this Baltimore game and do not let the foot off the gas offensively and scheme something up to where Lamar and Derrick Henry are not running all over you. You did a really good job the first time around letting Derrick Henry not run all over you until an overtime, right? You did a really good job with that last time.

Obviously, Lamar is doing really good in passing this year, too. He's passing the ball really well. But we need to make him – Oh, sorry, Anthony. I was just going to say... What I was going to say is that we don't want to give away too much because that is going to be for Wednesday's show. Just make them one-dimensional. Get your last thoughts out, and then we're going to go ahead and close out the show. No, I was just going to say make Lamar look one-dimensional. That's all I was going to say.

Yeah, so... Will, you got anything you want left that you want to add? Yeah. Lauren still sucks. Sorry. It is what it is. It is what it is.

We still can stop Derrick Henry. That's what I'll say. So, whatever. You take away Derrick Henry. We've done it five out of six times. So, whatever. I don't believe that they even want to do anything similar to what they did the first game. They do not want to go up and down the field with us. That is our game. That is not their game. We will beat them. We will beat them in that kind of game. They're going to put it this way. They're going to do pretty much what they

do in any game. They are going to try to control the clock. They're going to try to hurry up and score first and then try to control the clock because they have extreme confidence in their defense. It's what it is. With that being said, because we will discuss that more in detail. We'll use some references from the first matchup, but we'll also maybe discuss some things that maybe we saw that maybe we didn't see before in the Bronco game.

So with that being said, we're going to go ahead and close out the show. And first off, we sincerely thank you, especially for the people that have been listening since day one and have followed us on whatever podcast platform that you're listening to this on, we sincerely thank you. First off, anybody that is listening for the first time, we sincerely thank you, and we say welcome.

If you are listening, if you've listened, but maybe you haven't thought about following, why not hit that follow button? Because at the end of the day, hey, you hit that follow button, It's a mutual beneficial relationship. You guys get notified when new episodes drop. Plus, on top of that, you never know. Week to week, we could end up having a guest on that, hey, maybe you really wanted to turn around and find out, listen to.

So, like I said, if you like what we're putting out, hit that follow button. You guys get notified when new episodes drop, plus it benefits us, because, hey, with our podcast host, Podbean, that pushes up the algorithm on the with them with apple podcast whatever you're listening to this on so and then also too we will have an announcement coming in the next two weeks we're getting everything finalized with that so you definitely want to follow and stay tuned.

So with that being said i'm going to turn it over to tyler to go ahead and close out everything Yeah, stay tuned with those eye emotes, right? Yeah, definitely. We want you guys to keep listening. So make sure you guys stay tuned and find out what that announcement is, right? Yep. Like Anthony said, thank you guys for listening, whether you're new, it's your first time, or whether you've been around since day one or since day, I don't know, 25, 36, whatever.

Thank you guys. We definitely appreciate it, right? We welcome any and all Bengals fans to this show. This is an open forum. We say what's on our mind, and we say how we feel. And at the end of the day, we support our Bengals, and we know you guys do too. So we just love the support that we're getting. We definitely appreciate it. You can follow us on social media, Facebook and Twitter. Facebook is RuleTheJungle. Twitter is at RuleTheJungle9. And you can follow me on Twitter at TylerHoodA54.

You can follow my Facebook as well. I just have a regular Facebook. You just add me, and Instagram is at tbowls54. And for myself, if you're feeling daring, you can follow me at on X at a Anderson 78, as well as my Instagram at Anthony Anderson 535. Also, make sure you follow the Facebook page for the Rule of the Jungle podcast and the X page at Rule of the Jungle 9. Will, go ahead.

Hold on, hold on. Well before you do that Ladies and gentlemen it is Mr. Ohio Lottery Yes we'll start with the pick three.

And move on to the you know The big numbers later right you can follow me On Instagram at Appleton, 756 And you can also follow me on the Twitter Or X As it's called now right At William 288, 18804 Again that's at William 288-18804 Alright Well unfortunately we found it The Chiefs found a way to fucking pull this Bullshit out against the Bucks And Fuck the Chiefs And on behalf of Tyler Will and myself As well as our Regular recurring

Regular recurring Member Brent We say who day and Have a good night folks Folks, we will see you Wednesday for the pregame podcast. Good day. Good day. On to Baltimore. On to Baltimore. Bye, guys. Bye, guys. So, anyway, fuck the Chiefs. Yeah, the Buccaneers didn't even get an office possession every time. Chiefs went down the score.