May 11, 2023 • 34 mins
The Cincinnati Bengals' 2023 schedule is out! We react to the most noteworthy features of the schedule, including four primetime games, including a home primetime rematch with the Bills, and New Year's Eve in Kansas City. 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 Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/show/locked-on-bengals Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vbG9ja2Vkb25iZW5nYWxz?sa=X&ved=0CAYQrrcFahcKEwio_sXtj8nuAhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQAg James Rapien and Jake Liscow take you inside the Bengals with the latest news, unique analysis, and insight on your favorite team, every day on Locked On Bengals. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team. Every Day. And follow Jake and James on Twitter, where they'll be sharing the latest news about the Cincinnati Bengals and talking with fans. Jake Liscow: https://twitter.com/JakeLiscow James Rapien: https://twitter.com/JamesRapien Podcast: https://twitter.com/lockedonbengals Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! BetterHelp This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. BetterHelp connects you with a licensed therapist who can take you on that journey of self-discovery from wherever you are. Visit BetterHelp.com/lockedon today to get 10% off your first month. Built Bar Built Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order. FanDuel Make Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON. 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
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(00:02):
It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, yourteam every day. We've got the Cincinnati
Bengals twenty twenty three schedule. Let'sreact and break down the ins and outs
of this year schedule. You areLocked on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals
(00:22):
podcast, part of the Lockdown PodcastNetwork, your team every day, Bengals
fans, and welcome to another episodeof the Lockdown Bengals podcast. I'm your
host, Jake. Let's go.He's your host, James Rapine. We're
(00:45):
wearing matching shirts today for those ofyou not watching on YouTube, and we're
going to dive into the Bengal schedule. We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network,
covering your team every day. Youcan subscribe to this podcast on YouTube,
ard anywhere you get your podcasts.Become part of that first listen club,
making us your first listen every daywhen you dive into your podcasts and
(01:07):
you can become an every day andif you're not an every day or you
might have missed the two part interviewwith Bengals Director of College Scouting Mike Potts
the last couple of days, gettinginto the draft, how technology is changing
the draft, and other cool behindthe scenes topics in addition to discussion about
the Bengals draft picks. You cango check that out in the last two
episodes of this podcast. But today, James, we dive into the twenty
(01:30):
twenty three schedule. So much hypearound schedule release days, such a big
day for social media leaks happening throughoutthe day, which has always perplexed me,
the whole leak thing, like,just just let them have this.
Let the social teams have spent allthis time on the schedule have this.
(01:51):
But nonetheless we have the full schedulenow. One of the first things that
stood out to you when you tooka look. Yeah, first thing first,
Joe Burrow opens on the road forthe first time in his career,
and he started at Paycres Stadium againstthe Chargers in front of zero fans,
which was just a really weird environmentin his NFL debut. Obviously, we
(02:14):
remember the Vikings game to start ofthe twenty twenty one season, he hit
Stumar Chase for the touchdown, Paycorpsgoes crazy, and then last year it
was a series of unfortunate events againstthe Steelers, so one and two at
home in season openers. Now hehits the road to play a team that
he hadn't beat the first three timesout there, and you get to potentially
(02:35):
jump on the Cleveland Browns and jumpon the division because it goes quickly from
the Browns. So the Ravens athome in weeks one and two two one
o'clock games. There aren't many,Jake, but a couple one o'clock games
to start off the season, justso we can get used to a normal
schedule right before things take off,and they play a bunch of four o'clock
games and eight o'clock games in primetimegames throughout. And speaking of start times,
(02:59):
let's primetime. It's one of thefirst things that I know fans look
at, I know the players lookat when they're looking at the schedule,
and you know, Mike Hilton waseven asked like, what are the games
you think will be in primetime?I think he got at least a couple
of these, right, Yeah,there are four primetime games on the Bengals
initial schedule. There are two TVDgames, so those could end up in
(03:21):
primetime. They could not. TheChiefs game in Week seventeen, the New
Year's Eve game not in primetime yet, and we'll see about that changing,
But for on the initial schedule,including two Monday night games, they are
one of the teams playing on ThursdayNight football. This year they got Baltimore
on Thursday night and one Sunday nightgame. Unlike last year when it felt
(03:46):
like an imbalance of their primetime gamesaround the road, this year fifty fifty
split for the initial list of primetimegames, half of them at home,
half of them on the road.Monday night football at home, Sunday Night
football at home, and Thursday nightand another Monday night game on the road.
Yeah, and just looking at theopponents for the primetime games, you
(04:08):
know, Buffalo, Jacksonville, obviouslyPittsburgh. You're looking at a division and
that's not primetime. But four thirtythat's the other part of this, like
the Chiefs game, and I knowpeople talk about it potentially getting flexed.
That's a primetime spot. If you'reit's the CBS four twenty five window that
is going to get huge, hugeviews, ratings, So I can sort
(04:30):
that primetime. It's just might bea little easier on those covering the game
and getting out of the stadium beforesay midnight on New Year's Eve. So
overall, the Bengals. They're goingto be seen by a lot a lot
of people this year, not manyone o'clock games. But overall, I
think that the primetime matchups make aton of sense. I know some were
baffled by the Rams in that leakedearlier on Thursday that they were going to
(04:55):
play the Rams on Monday Night Football. I think there's a lot of storylines
there. I think that the Mscould be better than people expect. I
think some just assume the Rams arejust going to stink again. And there's
some questions about Matt Stafford's health.But if he's healthy, I don't think
they stink again. They might notbe Super Bowl contenders, but I think
that's a really interesting game at payCourse Stadium. And I was surprised.
(05:17):
The one that makes sense primetime forme that isn't in again. It's in
that four twenty five slot is atSan Francisco. That one screams prime time
to me. And maybe it getsflex. Maybe that changes. It might
be too early in the season itflex that one. Anyways, I think
I think that one's a shocker tome. If there was one surprise,
(05:38):
it would be that one. Becauseyou're looking at two of the most complete
teams in the NFL obviously have KyleShanahan. They played a great game at
pay Court Stadium a few years ago, and so that one could be one
where the NFL primetime networks at leastare upset that they don't land it because
I think that's going to be agreat matchup. Well, and only one
(05:58):
divisional matchup out of the six inprimetime, maybe that's normal. And one
of those TVD games is Cleveland inWeek eighteen, which could season Yeah,
that could be if that matters,that could be a big one for sure,
if it matters right, and they'retypically gonna be divisional games in Week
eighteen. That's the way the NFLhas done things lately. Another thing that
(06:21):
stood out to me just you know, eyeball on the schedule when I first
saw it. Week seven bye istheir earliest bye week in six years since
twenty seventeen when they had a Weeksix by, And they last had a
Week seven by in twenty fifteen,which was a pretty good year for them.
Oh, so you're saying they're goingto start eight No, that's what
(06:43):
you're saying. That'd be pretty impressivegiven their first eight games they're not all
like, it's not like they comeout in a grinder to start the year.
And we'll talk about that a littlebit, but San Francisco and Buffalo
are our game seven and eight forthem this year. Yeah, but they've
kind of maybe gotten used to thatWeek nine, Week ten buy. They've
had that Week nine Week ten byin the last five years, six out
(07:05):
of the last six out of thelast seven years. Outside of that Week
six by, every year is ZachTaylor, I believe, yeah, every
year is Zach Taylor has been thecoach of the Bengals. They've had that
mid season by. Not that thisis a big deal at all, Like
I think you adapt to it andyou're fine, but it was kind of
nice. It was a bit ofa luxury to have those mid season buys
(07:27):
this year, just a little bitearlier. It's not like the when did
they start Week five, not likethe Week five by. Yeah, that
one would be it's kind of tough. Yeah, that would be tough.
That The other part of it,though, their Thursday night game is later
in the season, week eleven,so you get that mini bye after that
sandwich gym between Houston, which,by the way, that lines up with
twenty fifteen where they started eight nowand then played Houston in their ninth game
(07:51):
of the season. That's what happened. The good news days is that I
would feel pretty good about their chancesagainst Houston if they did somehow get to
eight. No, but having thatThursday night game it does help them between
weeks eleven and twelve, So atleast you're not talking about a Thursday night
game week four and then you havethe week seven by that would be kind
of tough. This way, youat least get a mini break in there
(08:13):
before the final stretch, final monthplus of the season. And you mentioned
the one o'clock starts. I meankind of frontloaded on the one o'clock starts.
Like like you said, four outof their first six games schedule for
that one o'clock start, and allbut one of them at home if I'm
(08:35):
seeing that right, because when theygo west, they go to Arizona,
and they go and they go toSan Francisco. Both of those have the
later start just because they're Pacific twoat home. The Tennessee Titans and the
Cleveland round that's on the road.Tennessee is on the road. Road,
Yeah road, sorry, yeah,yeah, sorry, I don't know what
I was thinking. So, yeah, it's just Pittsburgh, isn't it.
Seattle? Seattle at home in weeksix at one o'clock? So Pittsburgh and
(08:58):
Seattle, and who knows, Minnesotacould be that Cleveland could be that they
could fall into the one o'clock Butclearly there's there's a chance that they're not
in that realm. And maybe you'retalking about a Saturday night tight matchup or
Saturday game as well, and theyalready have a Saturday game, and maybe
it is you know, two Saturdaygames in a row with the Vikings Week
(09:20):
fifteen the Pittsburgh Steelers Week sixteen.I will say this my final takeaway before
we dive into specific games. Thefact that the Bengals are not playing on
Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Thatis such a win for any writer,
any player, anybody with families andso at it really any well, everyone
(09:41):
has family right that want to celebrandon the holidays. The twenty third,
that's great because I can drive backfrom Pittsburgh and be good to go for
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Sothat is a huge, huge, big
W Jake, Let's go big Wfor the writers in the podcasts of the
world Change. Let's get into someof the specifics of this schedule and take
(10:01):
a look at where those home standsare, where the road trips line up,
and some of the other intricacies willdo that coming up next. If
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favorite NFL team. Available now onYouTube and wherever you listen to podcasts.
(11:26):
Part of the Lockdown podcast network.Your team every day. Gent Let's dive
into some specifics on the schedule.We talked about the opener at Cleveland,
gonna be a different defense for theBengals up there in Cleveland. That's probably
the most noteworthy thing about that game. A few historical trends there. People
are talking about quite a bit onThursday, since that one came out a
(11:50):
little bit earlier in the day orleaked earlier in the day. People pointing
out Cleveland's atrocious record in week one, John Watson's record against Joe Burrows,
a Cleveland Brown, Joe Burrow's overallrecord against the Cleveland Browns. Coming from
the Cleveland side of things, historydoesn't matter. History matters depending on who
you ask and what smack talk argumentis being made to me, the biggest
(12:13):
thing that stands out about this gameis that there's a new defensive coordinator in
Cleveland, and the Bengals will havehistorical tape on the defensive coordinator, but
they'll have a bit of a schematicdifference to prepare for in Cleveland, and
trial by fire or immediately thrown intothe fire for Orlando Brown starting against Miles
(12:37):
Garrett in week one, not thathe's never seen Miles Scarrett before. He's
seen plenty of Miles Scarrett before.But for the Bengals new left tackle,
that is probably the hardest matchup onthe schedule, and he gets one of
the two of them out of theway, right of buy good? Right,
I don't think that that means he'shopefully good, healthy, ready to
go and ready to go up againstarguably the league's pass rusher. Right.
(13:01):
Look, you're gonna have to dealwith them, and so getting away with
it early is better than last yearwhen they had some injuries and we're kind
of limping to the finish line inthat offensive line room, So I get
that. You know, Jim Schwartzis there. They kind of retold their
defense and that okay, good,Well, now it's going to be a
fun challenge, right, And thatdoesn't mean if the Bengals can't have some
(13:22):
curve balls too, and this offenseshould be better this year. It's going
to be a chaotic environment though.You better believe it because every year going
into Week one, Browns fans havehope. So first energy is it's not
even first energy. Cleveland Brown Stadiumis going to be loud, extremely loud.
And the good news is Joe Burrowhas performed well there. I know
(13:45):
people say, oh, well,he's been bad on all of those things.
In the Monday night game, hisfirst road game ever, he went
there and balled out. So Ithink he's going to be just fine.
I don't think that there's anything weirdabout the Browns. It's simple, can
you block Myles Garrett? Because ifyou can do that, even to a
small degree, then it's going tobe a big difference between that matchup and
(14:05):
a past matchup. So I likethe Bengals chances. It's a tough division,
divisional matchup on the road, butI would like the Bengals chances there.
And it's back to back AFC Northgames against a team that's hoping to
make a push for the division titleand another team in the Ravens that is
the second best team in the division. I would say, top to bottom,
(14:26):
and you get them week two athome, another one o'clock start.
Yeah, I think that's a heckof a one two punch to start the
season. Two division games, twoteams that expect to make the playoffs,
whether or not we expect them too. As a completely different situation, but
in conversation, but the Ravens,we saw it last year how tough they
can be defensively, and so it'sgoing to be a test for this Bengals
(14:50):
offense. I think is as faras getting off to a quick start and
understanding the challenges that come with facingthe Browns and a new defense coordinator and
then the following week a coordinator thatkind of gave you some fits last year,
and you've added some pieces and sohopefully this offensive line can hold up
better and hopefully this offense in generalcan match up better against the Ravens in
(15:13):
Week two. Yeah, there's afew new pieces on the Browns defense in
addition to the defensive coordinator, DalvinThomason, Okaraquo want Thornhill namely, but
then Baltimore it's mostly the same unit. There's some small differences, but they're
likely to be pretty healthy at thispart of the year. Will Zay Flowers
(15:35):
be the short receiver that finally worksin Baltimore where they haven't had that success.
But outside of that, the Ravenslargely the same team. Odell Beckham
junior there as well. I mean, we'll see i early on in the
year to see what kind of playerhe is this year at all, because
(15:56):
we have no idea. I thinkit'll be good. He was good last
time we saw him. That wastwo years ago, and it is a
year ago. It will be upto you know, think an eighteen month
year and a half ago. Okay, I mean it was the same excuse
people made for Deshaun Watson when hewas terrible to start in Cleveland. He
has a play football for I mean, I guess that was actually two years.
But Lamar Jackson with a healthy offenseon one side as a challenge,
(16:23):
and then on the other side iscan the Bengals crack the Ravens defense?
Like you said, that defensive coordinatorhas given them trouble And that's the big
storyline to me. Early in seasontwo division games can't start owing two right,
Ideally you're starting two and oh.But we saw what happened last year
when they gave away games early,so hopefully they don't have a weird offseason
this year. For Joe Burrow,they can hit the ground running because all
(16:45):
these games end up mattering when you'recompeting for the one seed, which that's
got to be the goal, right, that's the regular season goal this year.
Yep. And you get an extraday to prepare for the Rams Week
three, this Monday night football matchup. I think it's certainly going to
be an interesting one, and you'reright. I would love for the idea
(17:06):
of all right, the Bengals aretwo and oh and looking for a little
bit of revenge. You can't getfull revenge in the regular season against the
Rams from Super Bowl fifty six,but you can get a little bit by
handing Sean McVeagh a loss on Mondaynight football. And then you hit the
road and it just seems at Tennessee, it's Nashville. Here's the good news.
(17:26):
Weather's going to be pretty good onOctober one. I would say in
Nashville, easy drive for Bengals fans. So I think there's gonna be a
lot of fans that make that trip, especially that time of year, But
it's just kind of a rite ofpassage. It seems like the past three
years now it's been the case.Obviously one was in the playoffs, but
yeah, Bengals Titans in Nashville likeit. I like how it matches up,
(17:49):
followed by at Arizona and I'll getyour thoughts on allies, but that's
another win. It should be right. I know it's on the road.
Arizona's rebuilding. Don't know about KylerMurray. Maybe he's back, maybe he's
working his way back and not necessarilythe same guy. We saw that with
Burrow. You know, it tookhim a little bit to get going,
and right around week five, weekssix, he was getting going and playing
(18:11):
better in twenty twenty one. Sowe'll see there if Murray's on the field.
But it's an interesting stretch. Rams, Titans, Cardinals. I think
a lot of fans will say,all right, you've got to win all
three of those, and I understandit because those are winnable games, even
though two of the three are onthe road. Yeah, I think I
agree with anyone who says you've gotto win all three of those, But
that's coming from the mindset of theseare games that they need to win to
(18:33):
accomplish their goal of getting the oneseed, which is maybe only a goal
for me. Maybe they're never goingto say that goal. They're going to
talk about winning the division and winningas many games as they can. Let's
see if we can get an AFCchampionship game outside of Kansas City. I
agree. You know, they've They'vegotten to play their every game at home.
(18:55):
I think that matters a lot.I think that's a big advantage for
line play in particular. It's whyFrank Clark is a playoff hero, or
was a playoff hero in Kansas Cityfor those years. Um, these are
three games that have, you know, some pretty flawed opponents, at least
as it seems now in in May. This could come back to bite me
(19:15):
later. But the Rams don't havea good roster. The Cardinals don't have
a good roster. They have somepieces, but overall those are rosters that
needs some work. The Titans don'tlook like a very good football team to
me, Like they don't have weaponson offense outside of Chigaconquo and Derrick Henry
and you know, like that's wherethe offense is going. Ty Jay Spears
(19:37):
part of that offense as well.They don't even there is even there.
You know, that's a fair pointdefense. So is still good and still
Bill coached team. So you know, that's the challenge with Tennessee always is.
But I mean, those are gamesthat and I think this is true
for their Week six opponent as well, the Seattle Seahawks. These are Bengals
(20:00):
should win. Even if these areteams that have some pieces, have some
good players, or our solid teamsor you know, whatever it is.
If the Bengals are the team wethink they are, these are games they
should win. And the crazy partabout it is Seattle should be better than
those other three. Like when it'sall said and done, they might not
be, but they should be betterthan the Titans this year. They should
(20:22):
be better than the Rams, andthey should certainly be better than the Cardinals.
So we'll see there. But Iagree with you, there aren't many
games on here that I'm going tosay all the Bengals shouldn't win. It
doesn't mean they're going to win allof those games, but it's hard for
me to find many games where Ifeel that way. So you mentioned Seattle.
That's an interesting one. And thenit goes into the bye, the
week seven bye, let's do it'smore than the back half of the schedule.
(20:48):
But let's look at the rest ofthe schedule coming up next. Let's
get into those posts buy games.James and us thought a cake walk out
of the Buy not San Francisco intoSunday Night Football against the Bills, and
out of all of the difficult gameson the Bengal schedule, well there's two
(21:08):
of them. There aren't a tonof like games where you have them circled
or highlighted like these are the SuperBowl contenders that the Bengals are playing against
this year. Here's two of themright out of the bye. Yeah,
it's here we go, right,It's it's It's that simple to me is
hopefully you can get to the byefour and two, five and one.
(21:30):
Obviously six and oz would be ideal. I just it's hard to ask any
team to do that, and comingout you're really going to see what you're
made of. And the good newsis is the Bengals they've been good out
of the bye and they found waysthe past couple of years to get hot
at the right time, And soif you do that, I mean,
(21:51):
look at this, really, fourout of the first five are so tough
because it's at San fran Sunday nightagainst Buffalo Houston is it's at home,
but then it's a short week atBaltimore and then Pittsburgh at home, and
say what you want about Pittsburgh,but it's still a divisional game, And
so how many of those can youget? Maybe you split with the Bills
(22:14):
and forty nine Ers beat the Texans? Can you get both of those division
games against the Ravens and Steelers.But that's going to be a key stretch
for the Bengals, no doubt,because even if you get off to a
good start, if you have aletdown against the forty nine Ers or the
Bills beat you out a little bit, it's going to make that margin for
air or much slimmer, especially becauseyou keep hammering at home. And I
(22:34):
think you're right to do so.The number one seed is the mindset.
So if that's the case, howcrucial is a game against the Bills vary?
Those games matter so much and soyou want to get them, not
not that the forty nine Ers gamedoesn't matter. Right, but that isn't
in the same It doesn't have thesame value by any stretch, even though
(22:56):
both both teams that you're playing areSuper Bowl contenders. In the hierarchy of
games mattering, the San Francisco gameis among the games that matter the least.
It's like Tampa last year, whereit's going to get a lot of
attention, but it doesn't necessarily onpaper, matter a ton for your chances
outside of overall record. Yeah,like they all matter, don't get me
wrong, They all matter a lot. And I said that at the beginning
(23:18):
of like when we started talking aboutthe first couple of weeks of the season
last year, we said, well, we're going to look back on this
Pittsburgh game and this might have costthem something. And it did cost them
something at the end of the year, which was an opportunity to be in
a different coin flip discussion than theywere. But you know, NFC opponent,
(23:40):
it's just never as important for tiebreakers, for taking a game away from
a conference rival, for seeding implications, for all those things. I mean,
the last what we looked at itbefore we started recording last four to
six years or something like that.It was twelve to fourteen wins for the
one seed. I'm shooting for fourteenif I'm the Bengals, maybe fifteen if
on the Bengals. Just looking atthose two, just do seventeen. I
(24:06):
leave no doubt. Jake, obviouslyleave no doubt the goal, because if
it is seventeen, that means they'vebeaten the Bills in the Chiefs and there's
no other seventeen win team in theAFC. Oh correct, Well, yeah,
of course that would be man.Can you imagine the pressure of that.
Anyways, I don't want to getaggregated here and someone, so let's
uh, let's keep the schedule rollinghere. Like I said Thursday night at
(24:29):
Baltimore that that's an interesting one.But then you get the mini buy to
regroup and and prepare for the finalstretch of the season, which to me
is really interesting because both Pittsburgh gamesare at the back end of the game
the schedule. Your last game inNovember is Pittsburgh at home. Then,
and this totally on board with this. Jacksonville in December. I know Jacksonville
(24:52):
is in his warm as say Miami, but anytime I can get to Florida,
oh yeah, I'll take it.In December, So Jackson Vall on
Monday Night football. I love thismatchup. Trevor Lawrence, Joe Burrow.
I think the Jags certainly headed inthe right direction Monday night football. That's
that's going to be a really,really fun game. And then you come
back Colts Vikings at home. Wedon't know when the Vikings when they're going
(25:17):
to play the Vikings, but thoseare two games in the quest for the
one seed. You're gonna have tonail those two games and get them because
the final three could be pretty tough. Two road games and two divisional opponents.
Obviously the Chiefs Sandwich in between theSteelers and the Browns. Yeah,
I think the Vikings are gonna probablybe a good football team again, at
least a good regular season football team, a good offense. Good offense for
(25:41):
sure, i'd say, and reallygood addressers headlined by Daniel Hunter. So
I think that there's no gimmes inthe back half. I mean, not
that there's any such thing as agimme in the NFL in the first place,
but I mean, even you talkabout the Houston Times in Indianapolis,
Colts two teams with first year headcoaches and first year quarterbacks, you're getting
(26:03):
them late in the year relatively speaking, week ten and week fourteen, when
if those guys are going to besuccessful head coaches in the NFL, successful
quarterbacks in the NFL C J.Strout and Anthony Richardson, then that's where
they've probably settled in a little bit, or have a chance to have settled
(26:26):
in a little bit. And obviouslyyou can hit the ground running as well,
you can be good right away,but more often than not, these
guys take a little bit of timeto come along and get comfortable with NFL
speed and kind of figure out howam I going to win at this level?
And a lot of the times yousee it by them. So even
those games, and I think theColts have a really talented roster in a
lot of ways and a lot ofspots anyway, So even those games or
(26:51):
the Pittsburgh games, these are allgames I think the Bengal should win.
But it's still tough like that.There's nothing that's screaming very easy game.
Although I do think, you know, the Houston roster is pretty pretty rough,
so maybe maybe I'm overstating the difficultythere a little bit, but everything
down the stretch has a storyline likethe Jaguars certainly, and as sending team
(27:15):
with Trevor Lawrence at the Helm,that should be a really good matchup.
Yeah, you might be scratched yourhead a little bit about Jacksonville Cincinnati Monday
night football game, but those couldbe two teams leading their division with really
good quarterback play at that part ofthe season, So that could be a
fun one. Yeah. I think, looking at the Jags division one of
the worst, they should be leadingtheir division and we'll see. Obviously,
(27:37):
the Titans are still going to befeisty and I think well coached and all
those things like you said, Butthat's one of those where I think the
NFL got it right putting it inprime time. Although some might have looked
at San Francisco, looked at someof these other matchups and thought, oh,
well, that would make sense.But looking at this schedule, and
I'm not going to pretend like I'veI've stared at the Chief schedule much because
(28:00):
you know, we haven't had alot of time with these schedules out since
they came out at eight eastern.It's it might come down to that that
New Year's Eve New Year's Eve gameand It would not shock me one bit
just looking at it. Could Isee the Bengals entering that with twelve wins
in that thirteen win range eleven ortwelve wins tied with the Chiefs and meeting
(28:21):
that game and then meeting Cleveland tosecure the one seed. Absolutely, I
could see that. So I thinkthe key here tried to get off to
a quick start this year, whichis something they did do in twenty twenty
one, and then kind of fellapart right before the bye, went from
five and two to five and four. And so if you can avoid that
little slide and then handle business againstthese these juggernauts that you're going to play
(28:45):
in the AFC, you feel prettygood about their chances of getting the one
seed, which could make all thedifference. Certainly, you know there's a
lot of factors, but playing athome AFC championship game here in Cincinnati,
or at least make home field gothrough Cincinnati throughout the playoffs, I feel
pretty good about that. I knowBengals fans, what all of our listeners
(29:06):
would as well, just sick ofwatching AFC Championship games in Kansas City.
Well, I'll be honest with you, if we have to go in December,
get it done then, so theyhave to come here so I don't
have to find a way to getto Kansas City. Again, there's no
good flight from Cincinnati to Kansas City. There is not one. You have
to connect through Dallas or connect here, connect there. It's just there's no
(29:30):
real good route. And that's firstworld problems. But I've driven the past
couple of years and that's not afun drive either. So there's really not
a good way to go. Goodway to get to Kansas City. So
make them come here. They flyprivate, make Kansas City come here.
And you know that was self adourstraight four straight one two three, three
(29:55):
straight, three straight road games inArrowhead if you're if you're the Bengals,
like the last two years, thelast two years, I guess some regular
season in Cincinnati, playoff in KansasCity. Just flip it easy. Although
the home team has won all butone of those games, which is one
of the Bengals won in Arrowhead?Is that right correct? Yeah, because
(30:18):
the Bengals won the playoff game inArrowhead and they won two, so they're
one and one in the playoffs againstthe Chiefs at Arrowhead. And then They've
won two games at at Pacourt againstthem. I honestly think it's a big
deal, which is why I mentionedit a few times, like crowd noise,
offensive line stuff, that's a bigdeal. Silent account makes it easier
(30:40):
for defensive lines to anticipate and jump. Again. I think it's a big
reason Frank Clark is how the successhe's had, and it makes it harder
to get a jump on the KansasCity offensive line, especially on the edges
where there's maybe a bit of avulnerability given how good they're interior offensive line
is. But I'm really focused onthat Kansas City Championship of Game rematch right
now. I was talking to I'mnot going to say the specific player just
(31:04):
because I don't know if he'd wantme to share. I'll say an offensive
lineman that starts. I was talkingto an offensive lineman today and it was
before the schedule was out, andI was just kind of asking, Hey,
what do you want to play?And I had an idea of not
going to be many one o'clock games. She was like, man, I'll
play at ten o'clock in the morning. I don't care. I just want
to play. It doesn't matter wherehe hadn't seen the schedule, and I'm
(31:26):
sure he could have your starting linemanin the NFL. You have all these
leaks. I'm sure he could couldhave gotten the schedule. He just didn't
care. So I think that part'sfun too, is this Bengals team.
They they just want to play.And that's something Burrows said, right he'll
play anytime, anywhere, wearing whateverwhen you ask him about uniforms, And
I think this team has that identity. They've had plenty of success on the
(31:47):
road, but more at home.It's always easier and it's a lot more
fun for fans to get those homegames because I mean, the Bengals home
atmosphere credits to the fans is amongthe best in football right now, which
is a big, big development inmy opinion, Like it kind of is
(32:07):
something that is getting more recognition lately. But it's palpable and it's pretty impressive
how strong that home atmosphere is,especially in those playoff games and those big
games late in the season. Andthat'd be pretty cool thing to see in
a championship game. And that's thegoal. Get to that ASC home championship
game in Cincinnati, to get tothe Super Bowl, and that starts with
(32:30):
all these regular season games. AndI'm sure all of this analysis is going
to be out the window in fourmonths when we start looking at these games
in the weeks leading up to them. But it was fun to go through
the schedule. Nonetheless, we're backnext week, James. We've got rookie
Camp notes to get into to startnext week, so we'll watch some rookies.
(32:53):
We'll have some undrafted free agents totalk about finally, because those guys
should be getting signed officially before rookiecamp so that they can participate in rookie
Camp. They might they might beannounced depending on when you hear this,
so stay tuned. It'll be it'llhappen. Friday morning is when that'll happen.
So we we can't say anything yetbecause we don't know who's going to
(33:13):
pass their physicals. That's right.So we got some rookie camp to talk
about early next week. Until then, thanks for listening to this week's episodes
of the Lockdown Bengals podcast, anduntil next time. Who Day, and
have a good one. Eight Primemembers, you can listen to this Lockdown
podcast add free on Amazon Music.Download the Amazon Music app today, reds
(33:38):
fans. I'm Jeff Carr and I'mStephen Offenbaker. We are the hosts of
your daily Reds podcast, Locked OnRed's, part of the Lockdown podcast network,
your team every day. Lockdown Redsbrings you the latest Reds news and
analysis, and breaks down all ofthe action. Locked On Reds is everything
a Reds fan could want, allin a thirty minute daily podcast. Subscribe
(33:58):
now to Locked On Reds. Whereveryou get your podcasts, search Lockdown Reds
and get your daily dose of Redsanalysis and optimism. We are part of
the Lockdown podcast Network, Your teamevery day
It's the Lockdown Podcast Network, yourteam every day. We've got the Cincinnati
Bengals twenty twenty three schedule. Let'sreact and break down the ins and outs
of this year schedule. You areLocked on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals
(00:22):
podcast, part of the Lockdown PodcastNetwork, your team every day, Bengals
fans, and welcome to another episodeof the Lockdown Bengals podcast. I'm your
host, Jake. Let's go.He's your host, James Rapine. We're
(00:45):
wearing matching shirts today for those ofyou not watching on YouTube, and we're
going to dive into the Bengal schedule. We're part of the Lockdown Podcast Network,
covering your team every day. Youcan subscribe to this podcast on YouTube,
ard anywhere you get your podcasts.Become part of that first listen club,
making us your first listen every daywhen you dive into your podcasts and
(01:07):
you can become an every day andif you're not an every day or you
might have missed the two part interviewwith Bengals Director of College Scouting Mike Potts
the last couple of days, gettinginto the draft, how technology is changing
the draft, and other cool behindthe scenes topics in addition to discussion about
the Bengals draft picks. You cango check that out in the last two
episodes of this podcast. But today, James, we dive into the twenty
(01:30):
twenty three schedule. So much hypearound schedule release days, such a big
day for social media leaks happening throughoutthe day, which has always perplexed me,
the whole leak thing, like,just just let them have this.
Let the social teams have spent allthis time on the schedule have this.
(01:51):
But nonetheless we have the full schedulenow. One of the first things that
stood out to you when you tooka look. Yeah, first thing first,
Joe Burrow opens on the road forthe first time in his career,
and he started at Paycres Stadium againstthe Chargers in front of zero fans,
which was just a really weird environmentin his NFL debut. Obviously, we
(02:14):
remember the Vikings game to start ofthe twenty twenty one season, he hit
Stumar Chase for the touchdown, Paycorpsgoes crazy, and then last year it
was a series of unfortunate events againstthe Steelers, so one and two at
home in season openers. Now hehits the road to play a team that
he hadn't beat the first three timesout there, and you get to potentially
(02:35):
jump on the Cleveland Browns and jumpon the division because it goes quickly from
the Browns. So the Ravens athome in weeks one and two two one
o'clock games. There aren't many,Jake, but a couple one o'clock games
to start off the season, justso we can get used to a normal
schedule right before things take off,and they play a bunch of four o'clock
games and eight o'clock games in primetimegames throughout. And speaking of start times,
(02:59):
let's primetime. It's one of thefirst things that I know fans look
at, I know the players lookat when they're looking at the schedule,
and you know, Mike Hilton waseven asked like, what are the games
you think will be in primetime?I think he got at least a couple
of these, right, Yeah,there are four primetime games on the Bengals
initial schedule. There are two TVDgames, so those could end up in
(03:21):
primetime. They could not. TheChiefs game in Week seventeen, the New
Year's Eve game not in primetime yet, and we'll see about that changing,
But for on the initial schedule,including two Monday night games, they are
one of the teams playing on ThursdayNight football. This year they got Baltimore
on Thursday night and one Sunday nightgame. Unlike last year when it felt
(03:46):
like an imbalance of their primetime gamesaround the road, this year fifty fifty
split for the initial list of primetimegames, half of them at home,
half of them on the road.Monday night football at home, Sunday Night
football at home, and Thursday nightand another Monday night game on the road.
Yeah, and just looking at theopponents for the primetime games, you
(04:08):
know, Buffalo, Jacksonville, obviouslyPittsburgh. You're looking at a division and
that's not primetime. But four thirtythat's the other part of this, like
the Chiefs game, and I knowpeople talk about it potentially getting flexed.
That's a primetime spot. If you'reit's the CBS four twenty five window that
is going to get huge, hugeviews, ratings, So I can sort
(04:30):
that primetime. It's just might bea little easier on those covering the game
and getting out of the stadium beforesay midnight on New Year's Eve. So
overall, the Bengals. They're goingto be seen by a lot a lot
of people this year, not manyone o'clock games. But overall, I
think that the primetime matchups make aton of sense. I know some were
baffled by the Rams in that leakedearlier on Thursday that they were going to
(04:55):
play the Rams on Monday Night Football. I think there's a lot of storylines
there. I think that the Mscould be better than people expect. I
think some just assume the Rams arejust going to stink again. And there's
some questions about Matt Stafford's health.But if he's healthy, I don't think
they stink again. They might notbe Super Bowl contenders, but I think
that's a really interesting game at payCourse Stadium. And I was surprised.
(05:17):
The one that makes sense primetime forme that isn't in again. It's in
that four twenty five slot is atSan Francisco. That one screams prime time
to me. And maybe it getsflex. Maybe that changes. It might
be too early in the season itflex that one. Anyways, I think
I think that one's a shocker tome. If there was one surprise,
(05:38):
it would be that one. Becauseyou're looking at two of the most complete
teams in the NFL obviously have KyleShanahan. They played a great game at
pay Court Stadium a few years ago, and so that one could be one
where the NFL primetime networks at leastare upset that they don't land it because
I think that's going to be agreat matchup. Well, and only one
(05:58):
divisional matchup out of the six inprimetime, maybe that's normal. And one
of those TVD games is Cleveland inWeek eighteen, which could season Yeah,
that could be if that matters,that could be a big one for sure,
if it matters right, and they'retypically gonna be divisional games in Week
eighteen. That's the way the NFLhas done things lately. Another thing that
(06:21):
stood out to me just you know, eyeball on the schedule when I first
saw it. Week seven bye istheir earliest bye week in six years since
twenty seventeen when they had a Weeksix by, And they last had a
Week seven by in twenty fifteen,which was a pretty good year for them.
Oh, so you're saying they're goingto start eight No, that's what
(06:43):
you're saying. That'd be pretty impressivegiven their first eight games they're not all
like, it's not like they comeout in a grinder to start the year.
And we'll talk about that a littlebit, but San Francisco and Buffalo
are our game seven and eight forthem this year. Yeah, but they've
kind of maybe gotten used to thatWeek nine, Week ten buy. They've
had that Week nine Week ten byin the last five years, six out
(07:05):
of the last six out of thelast seven years. Outside of that Week
six by, every year is ZachTaylor, I believe, yeah, every
year is Zach Taylor has been thecoach of the Bengals. They've had that
mid season by. Not that thisis a big deal at all, Like
I think you adapt to it andyou're fine, but it was kind of
nice. It was a bit ofa luxury to have those mid season buys
(07:27):
this year, just a little bitearlier. It's not like the when did
they start Week five, not likethe Week five by. Yeah, that
one would be it's kind of tough. Yeah, that would be tough.
That The other part of it,though, their Thursday night game is later
in the season, week eleven,so you get that mini bye after that
sandwich gym between Houston, which,by the way, that lines up with
twenty fifteen where they started eight nowand then played Houston in their ninth game
(07:51):
of the season. That's what happened. The good news days is that I
would feel pretty good about their chancesagainst Houston if they did somehow get to
eight. No, but having thatThursday night game it does help them between
weeks eleven and twelve, So atleast you're not talking about a Thursday night
game week four and then you havethe week seven by that would be kind
of tough. This way, youat least get a mini break in there
(08:13):
before the final stretch, final monthplus of the season. And you mentioned
the one o'clock starts. I meankind of frontloaded on the one o'clock starts.
Like like you said, four outof their first six games schedule for
that one o'clock start, and allbut one of them at home if I'm
(08:35):
seeing that right, because when theygo west, they go to Arizona,
and they go and they go toSan Francisco. Both of those have the
later start just because they're Pacific twoat home. The Tennessee Titans and the
Cleveland round that's on the road.Tennessee is on the road. Road,
Yeah road, sorry, yeah,yeah, sorry, I don't know what
I was thinking. So, yeah, it's just Pittsburgh, isn't it.
Seattle? Seattle at home in weeksix at one o'clock? So Pittsburgh and
(08:58):
Seattle, and who knows, Minnesotacould be that Cleveland could be that they
could fall into the one o'clock Butclearly there's there's a chance that they're not
in that realm. And maybe you'retalking about a Saturday night tight matchup or
Saturday game as well, and theyalready have a Saturday game, and maybe
it is you know, two Saturdaygames in a row with the Vikings Week
(09:20):
fifteen the Pittsburgh Steelers Week sixteen.I will say this my final takeaway before
we dive into specific games. Thefact that the Bengals are not playing on
Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Thatis such a win for any writer,
any player, anybody with families andso at it really any well, everyone
(09:41):
has family right that want to celebrandon the holidays. The twenty third,
that's great because I can drive backfrom Pittsburgh and be good to go for
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Sothat is a huge, huge, big
W Jake, Let's go big Wfor the writers in the podcasts of the
world Change. Let's get into someof the specifics of this schedule and take
(10:01):
a look at where those home standsare, where the road trips line up,
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(11:26):
Part of the Lockdown podcast network.Your team every day. Gent Let's dive
into some specifics on the schedule.We talked about the opener at Cleveland,
gonna be a different defense for theBengals up there in Cleveland. That's probably
the most noteworthy thing about that game. A few historical trends there. People
are talking about quite a bit onThursday, since that one came out a
(11:50):
little bit earlier in the day orleaked earlier in the day. People pointing
out Cleveland's atrocious record in week one, John Watson's record against Joe Burrows,
a Cleveland Brown, Joe Burrow's overallrecord against the Cleveland Browns. Coming from
the Cleveland side of things, historydoesn't matter. History matters depending on who
you ask and what smack talk argumentis being made to me, the biggest
(12:13):
thing that stands out about this gameis that there's a new defensive coordinator in
Cleveland, and the Bengals will havehistorical tape on the defensive coordinator, but
they'll have a bit of a schematicdifference to prepare for in Cleveland, and
trial by fire or immediately thrown intothe fire for Orlando Brown starting against Miles
(12:37):
Garrett in week one, not thathe's never seen Miles Scarrett before. He's
seen plenty of Miles Scarrett before.But for the Bengals new left tackle,
that is probably the hardest matchup onthe schedule, and he gets one of
the two of them out of theway, right of buy good? Right,
I don't think that that means he'shopefully good, healthy, ready to
go and ready to go up againstarguably the league's pass rusher. Right.
(13:01):
Look, you're gonna have to dealwith them, and so getting away with
it early is better than last yearwhen they had some injuries and we're kind
of limping to the finish line inthat offensive line room, So I get
that. You know, Jim Schwartzis there. They kind of retold their
defense and that okay, good,Well, now it's going to be a
fun challenge, right, And thatdoesn't mean if the Bengals can't have some
(13:22):
curve balls too, and this offenseshould be better this year. It's going
to be a chaotic environment though.You better believe it because every year going
into Week one, Browns fans havehope. So first energy is it's not
even first energy. Cleveland Brown Stadiumis going to be loud, extremely loud.
And the good news is Joe Burrowhas performed well there. I know
(13:45):
people say, oh, well,he's been bad on all of those things.
In the Monday night game, hisfirst road game ever, he went
there and balled out. So Ithink he's going to be just fine.
I don't think that there's anything weirdabout the Browns. It's simple, can
you block Myles Garrett? Because ifyou can do that, even to a
small degree, then it's going tobe a big difference between that matchup and
(14:05):
a past matchup. So I likethe Bengals chances. It's a tough division,
divisional matchup on the road, butI would like the Bengals chances there.
And it's back to back AFC Northgames against a team that's hoping to
make a push for the division titleand another team in the Ravens that is
the second best team in the division. I would say, top to bottom,
(14:26):
and you get them week two athome, another one o'clock start.
Yeah, I think that's a heckof a one two punch to start the
season. Two division games, twoteams that expect to make the playoffs,
whether or not we expect them too. As a completely different situation, but
in conversation, but the Ravens,we saw it last year how tough they
can be defensively, and so it'sgoing to be a test for this Bengals
(14:50):
offense. I think is as faras getting off to a quick start and
understanding the challenges that come with facingthe Browns and a new defense coordinator and
then the following week a coordinator thatkind of gave you some fits last year,
and you've added some pieces and sohopefully this offensive line can hold up
better and hopefully this offense in generalcan match up better against the Ravens in
(15:13):
Week two. Yeah, there's afew new pieces on the Browns defense in
addition to the defensive coordinator, DalvinThomason, Okaraquo want Thornhill namely, but
then Baltimore it's mostly the same unit. There's some small differences, but they're
likely to be pretty healthy at thispart of the year. Will Zay Flowers
(15:35):
be the short receiver that finally worksin Baltimore where they haven't had that success.
But outside of that, the Ravenslargely the same team. Odell Beckham
junior there as well. I mean, we'll see i early on in the
year to see what kind of playerhe is this year at all, because
(15:56):
we have no idea. I thinkit'll be good. He was good last
time we saw him. That wastwo years ago, and it is a
year ago. It will be upto you know, think an eighteen month
year and a half ago. Okay, I mean it was the same excuse
people made for Deshaun Watson when hewas terrible to start in Cleveland. He
has a play football for I mean, I guess that was actually two years.
But Lamar Jackson with a healthy offenseon one side as a challenge,
(16:23):
and then on the other side iscan the Bengals crack the Ravens defense?
Like you said, that defensive coordinatorhas given them trouble And that's the big
storyline to me. Early in seasontwo division games can't start owing two right,
Ideally you're starting two and oh.But we saw what happened last year
when they gave away games early,so hopefully they don't have a weird offseason
this year. For Joe Burrow,they can hit the ground running because all
(16:45):
these games end up mattering when you'recompeting for the one seed, which that's
got to be the goal, right, that's the regular season goal this year.
Yep. And you get an extraday to prepare for the Rams Week
three, this Monday night football matchup. I think it's certainly going to
be an interesting one, and you'reright. I would love for the idea
(17:06):
of all right, the Bengals aretwo and oh and looking for a little
bit of revenge. You can't getfull revenge in the regular season against the
Rams from Super Bowl fifty six,but you can get a little bit by
handing Sean McVeagh a loss on Mondaynight football. And then you hit the
road and it just seems at Tennessee, it's Nashville. Here's the good news.
(17:26):
Weather's going to be pretty good onOctober one. I would say in
Nashville, easy drive for Bengals fans. So I think there's gonna be a
lot of fans that make that trip, especially that time of year, But
it's just kind of a rite ofpassage. It seems like the past three
years now it's been the case.Obviously one was in the playoffs, but
yeah, Bengals Titans in Nashville likeit. I like how it matches up,
(17:49):
followed by at Arizona and I'll getyour thoughts on allies, but that's
another win. It should be right. I know it's on the road.
Arizona's rebuilding. Don't know about KylerMurray. Maybe he's back, maybe he's
working his way back and not necessarilythe same guy. We saw that with
Burrow. You know, it tookhim a little bit to get going,
and right around week five, weekssix, he was getting going and playing
(18:11):
better in twenty twenty one. Sowe'll see there if Murray's on the field.
But it's an interesting stretch. Rams, Titans, Cardinals. I think
a lot of fans will say,all right, you've got to win all
three of those, and I understandit because those are winnable games, even
though two of the three are onthe road. Yeah, I think I
agree with anyone who says you've gotto win all three of those, But
that's coming from the mindset of theseare games that they need to win to
(18:33):
accomplish their goal of getting the oneseed, which is maybe only a goal
for me. Maybe they're never goingto say that goal. They're going to
talk about winning the division and winningas many games as they can. Let's
see if we can get an AFCchampionship game outside of Kansas City. I
agree. You know, they've They'vegotten to play their every game at home.
(18:55):
I think that matters a lot.I think that's a big advantage for
line play in particular. It's whyFrank Clark is a playoff hero, or
was a playoff hero in Kansas Cityfor those years. Um, these are
three games that have, you know, some pretty flawed opponents, at least
as it seems now in in May. This could come back to bite me
(19:15):
later. But the Rams don't havea good roster. The Cardinals don't have
a good roster. They have somepieces, but overall those are rosters that
needs some work. The Titans don'tlook like a very good football team to
me, Like they don't have weaponson offense outside of Chigaconquo and Derrick Henry
and you know, like that's wherethe offense is going. Ty Jay Spears
(19:37):
part of that offense as well.They don't even there is even there.
You know, that's a fair pointdefense. So is still good and still
Bill coached team. So you know, that's the challenge with Tennessee always is.
But I mean, those are gamesthat and I think this is true
for their Week six opponent as well, the Seattle Seahawks. These are Bengals
(20:00):
should win. Even if these areteams that have some pieces, have some
good players, or our solid teamsor you know, whatever it is.
If the Bengals are the team wethink they are, these are games they
should win. And the crazy partabout it is Seattle should be better than
those other three. Like when it'sall said and done, they might not
be, but they should be betterthan the Titans this year. They should
(20:22):
be better than the Rams, andthey should certainly be better than the Cardinals.
So we'll see there. But Iagree with you, there aren't many
games on here that I'm going tosay all the Bengals shouldn't win. It
doesn't mean they're going to win allof those games, but it's hard for
me to find many games where Ifeel that way. So you mentioned Seattle.
That's an interesting one. And thenit goes into the bye, the
week seven bye, let's do it'smore than the back half of the schedule.
(20:48):
But let's look at the rest ofthe schedule coming up next. Let's
get into those posts buy games.James and us thought a cake walk out
of the Buy not San Francisco intoSunday Night Football against the Bills, and
out of all of the difficult gameson the Bengal schedule, well there's two
(21:08):
of them. There aren't a tonof like games where you have them circled
or highlighted like these are the SuperBowl contenders that the Bengals are playing against
this year. Here's two of themright out of the bye. Yeah,
it's here we go, right,It's it's It's that simple to me is
hopefully you can get to the byefour and two, five and one.
(21:30):
Obviously six and oz would be ideal. I just it's hard to ask any
team to do that, and comingout you're really going to see what you're
made of. And the good newsis is the Bengals they've been good out
of the bye and they found waysthe past couple of years to get hot
at the right time, And soif you do that, I mean,
(21:51):
look at this, really, fourout of the first five are so tough
because it's at San fran Sunday nightagainst Buffalo Houston is it's at home,
but then it's a short week atBaltimore and then Pittsburgh at home, and
say what you want about Pittsburgh,but it's still a divisional game, And
so how many of those can youget? Maybe you split with the Bills
(22:14):
and forty nine Ers beat the Texans? Can you get both of those division
games against the Ravens and Steelers.But that's going to be a key stretch
for the Bengals, no doubt,because even if you get off to a
good start, if you have aletdown against the forty nine Ers or the
Bills beat you out a little bit, it's going to make that margin for
air or much slimmer, especially becauseyou keep hammering at home. And I
(22:34):
think you're right to do so.The number one seed is the mindset.
So if that's the case, howcrucial is a game against the Bills vary?
Those games matter so much and soyou want to get them, not
not that the forty nine Ers gamedoesn't matter. Right, but that isn't
in the same It doesn't have thesame value by any stretch, even though
(22:56):
both both teams that you're playing areSuper Bowl contenders. In the hierarchy of
games mattering, the San Francisco gameis among the games that matter the least.
It's like Tampa last year, whereit's going to get a lot of
attention, but it doesn't necessarily onpaper, matter a ton for your chances
outside of overall record. Yeah,like they all matter, don't get me
wrong, They all matter a lot. And I said that at the beginning
(23:18):
of like when we started talking aboutthe first couple of weeks of the season
last year, we said, well, we're going to look back on this
Pittsburgh game and this might have costthem something. And it did cost them
something at the end of the year, which was an opportunity to be in
a different coin flip discussion than theywere. But you know, NFC opponent,
(23:40):
it's just never as important for tiebreakers, for taking a game away from
a conference rival, for seeding implications, for all those things. I mean,
the last what we looked at itbefore we started recording last four to
six years or something like that.It was twelve to fourteen wins for the
one seed. I'm shooting for fourteenif I'm the Bengals, maybe fifteen if
on the Bengals. Just looking atthose two, just do seventeen. I
(24:06):
leave no doubt. Jake, obviouslyleave no doubt the goal, because if
it is seventeen, that means they'vebeaten the Bills in the Chiefs and there's
no other seventeen win team in theAFC. Oh correct, Well, yeah,
of course that would be man.Can you imagine the pressure of that.
Anyways, I don't want to getaggregated here and someone, so let's
uh, let's keep the schedule rollinghere. Like I said Thursday night at
(24:29):
Baltimore that that's an interesting one.But then you get the mini buy to
regroup and and prepare for the finalstretch of the season, which to me
is really interesting because both Pittsburgh gamesare at the back end of the game
the schedule. Your last game inNovember is Pittsburgh at home. Then,
and this totally on board with this. Jacksonville in December. I know Jacksonville
(24:52):
is in his warm as say Miami, but anytime I can get to Florida,
oh yeah, I'll take it.In December, So Jackson Vall on
Monday Night football. I love thismatchup. Trevor Lawrence, Joe Burrow.
I think the Jags certainly headed inthe right direction Monday night football. That's
that's going to be a really,really fun game. And then you come
back Colts Vikings at home. Wedon't know when the Vikings when they're going
(25:17):
to play the Vikings, but thoseare two games in the quest for the
one seed. You're gonna have tonail those two games and get them because
the final three could be pretty tough. Two road games and two divisional opponents.
Obviously the Chiefs Sandwich in between theSteelers and the Browns. Yeah,
I think the Vikings are gonna probablybe a good football team again, at
least a good regular season football team, a good offense. Good offense for
(25:41):
sure, i'd say, and reallygood addressers headlined by Daniel Hunter. So
I think that there's no gimmes inthe back half. I mean, not
that there's any such thing as agimme in the NFL in the first place,
but I mean, even you talkabout the Houston Times in Indianapolis,
Colts two teams with first year headcoaches and first year quarterbacks, you're getting
(26:03):
them late in the year relatively speaking, week ten and week fourteen, when
if those guys are going to besuccessful head coaches in the NFL, successful
quarterbacks in the NFL C J.Strout and Anthony Richardson, then that's where
they've probably settled in a little bit, or have a chance to have settled
(26:26):
in a little bit. And obviouslyyou can hit the ground running as well,
you can be good right away,but more often than not, these
guys take a little bit of timeto come along and get comfortable with NFL
speed and kind of figure out howam I going to win at this level?
And a lot of the times yousee it by them. So even
those games, and I think theColts have a really talented roster in a
lot of ways and a lot ofspots anyway, So even those games or
(26:51):
the Pittsburgh games, these are allgames I think the Bengal should win.
But it's still tough like that.There's nothing that's screaming very easy game.
Although I do think, you know, the Houston roster is pretty pretty rough,
so maybe maybe I'm overstating the difficultythere a little bit, but everything
down the stretch has a storyline likethe Jaguars certainly, and as sending team
(27:15):
with Trevor Lawrence at the Helm,that should be a really good matchup.
Yeah, you might be scratched yourhead a little bit about Jacksonville Cincinnati Monday
night football game, but those couldbe two teams leading their division with really
good quarterback play at that part ofthe season, So that could be a
fun one. Yeah. I think, looking at the Jags division one of
the worst, they should be leadingtheir division and we'll see. Obviously,
(27:37):
the Titans are still going to befeisty and I think well coached and all
those things like you said, Butthat's one of those where I think the
NFL got it right putting it inprime time. Although some might have looked
at San Francisco, looked at someof these other matchups and thought, oh,
well, that would make sense.But looking at this schedule, and
I'm not going to pretend like I'veI've stared at the Chief schedule much because
(28:00):
you know, we haven't had alot of time with these schedules out since
they came out at eight eastern.It's it might come down to that that
New Year's Eve New Year's Eve gameand It would not shock me one bit
just looking at it. Could Isee the Bengals entering that with twelve wins
in that thirteen win range eleven ortwelve wins tied with the Chiefs and meeting
(28:21):
that game and then meeting Cleveland tosecure the one seed. Absolutely, I
could see that. So I thinkthe key here tried to get off to
a quick start this year, whichis something they did do in twenty twenty
one, and then kind of fellapart right before the bye, went from
five and two to five and four. And so if you can avoid that
little slide and then handle business againstthese these juggernauts that you're going to play
(28:45):
in the AFC, you feel prettygood about their chances of getting the one
seed, which could make all thedifference. Certainly, you know there's a
lot of factors, but playing athome AFC championship game here in Cincinnati,
or at least make home field gothrough Cincinnati throughout the playoffs, I feel
pretty good about that. I knowBengals fans, what all of our listeners
(29:06):
would as well, just sick ofwatching AFC Championship games in Kansas City.
Well, I'll be honest with you, if we have to go in December,
get it done then, so theyhave to come here so I don't
have to find a way to getto Kansas City. Again, there's no
good flight from Cincinnati to Kansas City. There is not one. You have
to connect through Dallas or connect here, connect there. It's just there's no
(29:30):
real good route. And that's firstworld problems. But I've driven the past
couple of years and that's not afun drive either. So there's really not
a good way to go. Goodway to get to Kansas City. So
make them come here. They flyprivate, make Kansas City come here.
And you know that was self adourstraight four straight one two three, three
(29:55):
straight, three straight road games inArrowhead if you're if you're the Bengals,
like the last two years, thelast two years, I guess some regular
season in Cincinnati, playoff in KansasCity. Just flip it easy. Although
the home team has won all butone of those games, which is one
of the Bengals won in Arrowhead?Is that right correct? Yeah, because
(30:18):
the Bengals won the playoff game inArrowhead and they won two, so they're
one and one in the playoffs againstthe Chiefs at Arrowhead. And then They've
won two games at at Pacourt againstthem. I honestly think it's a big
deal, which is why I mentionedit a few times, like crowd noise,
offensive line stuff, that's a bigdeal. Silent account makes it easier
(30:40):
for defensive lines to anticipate and jump. Again. I think it's a big
reason Frank Clark is how the successhe's had, and it makes it harder
to get a jump on the KansasCity offensive line, especially on the edges
where there's maybe a bit of avulnerability given how good they're interior offensive line
is. But I'm really focused onthat Kansas City Championship of Game rematch right
now. I was talking to I'mnot going to say the specific player just
(31:04):
because I don't know if he'd wantme to share. I'll say an offensive
lineman that starts. I was talkingto an offensive lineman today and it was
before the schedule was out, andI was just kind of asking, Hey,
what do you want to play?And I had an idea of not
going to be many one o'clock games. She was like, man, I'll
play at ten o'clock in the morning. I don't care. I just want
to play. It doesn't matter wherehe hadn't seen the schedule, and I'm
(31:26):
sure he could have your starting linemanin the NFL. You have all these
leaks. I'm sure he could couldhave gotten the schedule. He just didn't
care. So I think that part'sfun too, is this Bengals team.
They they just want to play.And that's something Burrows said, right he'll
play anytime, anywhere, wearing whateverwhen you ask him about uniforms, And
I think this team has that identity. They've had plenty of success on the
(31:47):
road, but more at home.It's always easier and it's a lot more
fun for fans to get those homegames because I mean, the Bengals home
atmosphere credits to the fans is amongthe best in football right now, which
is a big, big development inmy opinion, Like it kind of is
(32:07):
something that is getting more recognition lately. But it's palpable and it's pretty impressive
how strong that home atmosphere is,especially in those playoff games and those big
games late in the season. Andthat'd be pretty cool thing to see in
a championship game. And that's thegoal. Get to that ASC home championship
game in Cincinnati, to get tothe Super Bowl, and that starts with
(32:30):
all these regular season games. AndI'm sure all of this analysis is going
to be out the window in fourmonths when we start looking at these games
in the weeks leading up to them. But it was fun to go through
the schedule. Nonetheless, we're backnext week, James. We've got rookie
Camp notes to get into to startnext week, so we'll watch some rookies.
(32:53):
We'll have some undrafted free agents totalk about finally, because those guys
should be getting signed officially before rookiecamp so that they can participate in rookie
Camp. They might they might beannounced depending on when you hear this,
so stay tuned. It'll be it'llhappen. Friday morning is when that'll happen.
So we we can't say anything yetbecause we don't know who's going to
(33:13):
pass their physicals. That's right.So we got some rookie camp to talk
about early next week. Until then, thanks for listening to this week's episodes
of the Lockdown Bengals podcast, anduntil next time. Who Day, and
have a good one. Eight Primemembers, you can listen to this Lockdown
podcast add free on Amazon Music.Download the Amazon Music app today, reds
(33:38):
fans. I'm Jeff Carr and I'mStephen Offenbaker. We are the hosts of
your daily Reds podcast, Locked OnRed's, part of the Lockdown podcast network,
your team every day. Lockdown Redsbrings you the latest Reds news and
analysis, and breaks down all ofthe action. Locked On Reds is everything
a Reds fan could want, allin a thirty minute daily podcast. Subscribe
(33:58):
now to Locked On Reds. Whereveryou get your podcasts, search Lockdown Reds
and get your daily dose of Redsanalysis and optimism. We are part of
the Lockdown podcast Network, Your teamevery day
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