October 16, 2025 • 15 mins
Austin talks Bengals/Steelers with John Sheeran of A to Z Sports on ESPN 1530!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Cincy Shirts. Cincy three sixty About Cincinnati from Cincinnati, sponsored
in part by Cincy Shirts. Cincy Shirts All Cincy, all Day.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports station.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
No better place to get geared up for a white
Bengal night than at Cincy Shirts. Check them out each
of their retail locations. You can get a shirt custom
made on the spot at Cincy Shirts. Go check them
out ahead of tonight's game. If you need to get
something white, like our guy Moegger most still looking for
something white. He does this every single year. Figure it out.
(00:36):
You're a grown man. Another grown man is joining the show.
Now our guy John Sheeran, who talks Bengals with me
every single Thursday, and he joins us. Now I had
a Thursday night football, Johnny, got you got any white on?
You got any white Bengal gear for you? Just watch
the game? Or what are you going to the game?
What's going on?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
John?
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Don't know?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
What's good?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Said? I appreciate you asking, Austin, because I am going
to the game. Let's go to the game with another
I'm going to the game with another girl. Man whose
name is my dad. And he also forgot to wear
white today. And I'm like, come on, Dad, like everyone
knows what this game is. So I'm actually in the
parking lot of Dick's Morning Goods about to get him
like a cheap white shirt so you can wear it tonight.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
That's awesome and it sounds like something my dad would
do as well. So let's start with the matchups tonight
this game. When you think Bengals Steelers, when you think
about this game, what's the first matchup that comes to
mind in what will determine the outcome?
Speaker 3 (01:28):
It's always the Pittsburgh defensive line, is it not. It's
been the staple of them for how many years? Fifty? Yeah,
something like that. But they've always had good pass rushers, right,
They've always had good guys up front, and the Bengals
offensive line has always struggled against them no matter what
the personnel is. I remember, you know, in the last
year's to the Jonah Williams this year, like he got,
you know, beating like a ren and mule against Alex
Higsmith and company. Alex hig Smith is still there, and
(01:49):
I think that's a really good matchup for Pittsburgh against
Ernanda Brown Junior, who's not having a really good season,
and I think he's the type of pass rusher that
can get under your pads, you can win around the edge,
and that's always been the player archetype that is, you know,
caused Lean Brown, You're going to struggle. So when you're
talking about Steelers defense line that has not just Alex
heismanth obviously t J. Watt and Cameron Hayward are the
main guys there. And Cameron Hayward, you know, baptized as
(02:10):
a rookie guard for the Bengals basically every single year,
and now you have two of them, and Dylan Fairchild
and Jaalen Rivers going up against them for the first time.
That's just the grown man in Cam Hayward, who's thirty
six years old and still is one of the very
best players in this position. So it's always been a
mismatch for the Bengals up front trying to block these guys.
And now that you have a quarterback and Joe Flacco
who should be more a little bit more comfortable in
this offense after being here for a week instead it
(02:30):
just a handful of days. But still I'm interested just
like I was last week, and how Flacco handles the
pressure and how the Bengals offense line, make sure that
they mitigate, you know, the obvious mismatches there to make
sure the ball gets out. Make sure that the defensive
lineman don't ruin the game like they typically normally do
in this matchup.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Now, I did think that Flacco looked a little bit
slow when he was trying to avoid the rush against
Green Bay, But I also thought that was okay, Like
that was good enough of a performance. There's something there.
What did you like about what you saw from Flacco
against the Packers?
Speaker 3 (03:03):
I mean, you needed to see what he did in
the second half, right, because the first half obviously wasn't
good enough. This team still hasn't scored the first half
touchdowns since Week two. Right, Joe Burrow was in there,
and you'd like to see him get into rhythm and
just just trust the playmakers on the outside. I think
the majority of his targets went went to Jamar Chase
and Tiggins, and with Mikaseeki out for the foreseeable future,
that should remain the case, especially with andre yosabauch not
(03:25):
necessarily having a good season on his own, but taking
advantage of one on one matchups when you get it
with Chase and Higgins on the boundary. If Flaco still
trusts his arm, he's still accurate enough to get the
ball where it needs to go, and he's been a
lot more efficient with getting the ball out under two
a half seconds. I believe Paul and her Junior had
pulled up some great stats in this Leaves article with
the Athletic about how much more efficient the offense is
with Flakka getting the ball out within the first tree
(03:46):
half seconds compared to Jake Browning. And that is going
to be the base of this offense because again, you
can't trust pass protection against matchups like this, so Flacco
needs to be sustained rhythm to identify, you know, where
the matchups are at his disposal, and just take advantage
of Jamar Chase and Chigins because they're going to be
advantages against most quarterbacks that they play, especially tonight, like
Darius Slay Junior and Joey Porter Junior and Jalen Ramsy.
(04:07):
They're all really good quarterbacks, but you still don't want
to take advantage of Jamar Chase when you have him,
and I think seeing that connection grow last week against
the Packers, that was a really promising sign.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Yeah, I agree with you one hundred percent. The other thing, too,
is being able to run the football. They weren't great
against the Packers. They haven't been great all season. The
Steelers sixteenth ranked run defense, allowing over one hundred yards
per game on the ground. Do you feel like tonight
is a chance for them to get it going at all?
Even though that Steeler defensive line is good, Like you mentioned, it's.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Really tough to imagine at this point, they are on
track to maybe one of the worst rushing offenses in
the history of the league. And it's troubling to see
how Chase Brown can't get anything going in front of him,
and the fact that they can't utilize his athleticism and
his burst and everything like that. It still remains a
really porous scheme. And I think the stuff in the
(05:00):
games that the Steelers defensive line typically run it makes
things a little bit more complicated, like that, there are
high risk, high reward opportunities when defensive linemen kind of
slant in the rushes a little bit and screes up
some gaps. But if you don't have the confident bodies
up front to give them out of the way and
displace them then it ends up disrupting you more more
times than not. So it's always been tough to run
against the Steelers again, they cause a lot of chaos
(05:21):
up front, and I just there's not a lot of
confidence right now for me in the personnel upfront for
blocking to these guys. You like how hard somehowoip around
runs and you like the fact that Chase Brown he
can't get a full head of scene when you have
a little bit of space, but there's just not a
lot of space to be found and it's hard for
me to see any space being found at night.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
How do you expect the offense to change, if at all,
with Mike Giseki being out.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Yeah, I think we saw how Tanner Hudson could fill
that role a little bit. He caught the touchdown last week,
but now he's in the concusion protocol. Right, So you
go from an offense that had five fight ins at
the disposed of down to three, and with Kaseki out,
that does mean that yose Vash is going to play more.
You could see more snaps for a guy like Mitchell Tinsley,
who's now wide receiver for Charlie Jones, is still dealing
with an injury, and Jermaine Burton he's in limbo obviously,
(06:07):
so you would expect to see, you know, more usage
deeper into the wide receiver group for the guys who
are active. I would like to see Noah Fan get
some more opportunity as well. It seems like in the
game three he's involved. He's always at at least four targets,
which I think is a little bit more than even
I expected for a guy who was signed so late
in the offseason. But you know, this is an interesting
night to see who Flocko trusts in those opportunities. Because
(06:28):
obviously Drew Sample and Cam Grandy, we know who they are.
They're just in there the block and catch and catch,
you know, short passes and try to run up to
the catch. But Noah Fan, I think needs to take
another step up, and I'm interested to see if Flacko
trust him enough to do that.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Talking to John Sheeran covering the Bengals A is the
Sports Johnny wrote your Bengals report card, and you mentioned
DJ Turner as being a pleasant surprise, and especially the
way he's played over the last month and the way
he played against Green Bay. What have you seen from him?
That makes him or has led to a little bit
more consistent and an uptick in his level of play.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
I think when you have an elite athlete like DJ Turner, right,
the number one thing for him at cornerback is to
control that athleticism and matching mirror the speed of the
guys that he's going up against, because that allows him
to stay in position to make plays in the ball. Right.
It's one thing to be fast enough to you know,
be able to stay with a guy on a vertical round, right,
but your change the direction, your balance, your ability to
stay in the hip hocket these guys and be physical.
(07:22):
I think Dj has shown pretty much all of those
qualifications and all those attributes, and now he's finding the
ball out better. Like you don't get five passes defense
in one game out of pure luck, right, Like quarterbacks
are obviously testing you. But I think DJ really showed
a lot last week and not only staying with guys
but then finding the ball making a play on the ball.
That's Those are the impact plays that you don't always
see from this secondary, and you haven't really seen from
(07:44):
a cornerback in the secondary in a while. You saw
a little bit flashes with that of Cam Tailberg when
he was on his game, but obviously he hasn't been
on his game for quite some time. So it looks
like Turner is the guy that they would trust the
most going up against you know, whoever the opposing number
one receiver is this week. Is really interesting because DK
Metcalf is a you know, physical freak who definitely outsizes
(08:04):
DJ turn in that reguard. But they may have the
most trust in Turner to stay with him and try
to make plays in the ball because he's doing that
better than anyone in the secondary right now.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Yeah, I was gonna ask, like, would you imagine he
would he would follow DK Metcalf around. I know the
Bengals don't do that often, but if Calvin Austin is
out and that's their best weapon and maybe their best
performing corner, do you think they would do something like that.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
I'm really interested to find out. I think this is
this would be such an opportunity for Cam Tobert to
earn back trust. I think back to two years ago
when he played DK Metcalf for the Seahawks. That was
one of his best games ever. He really got into
his head. He got the interception and everything like that.
Of course, you're gonna give up a big plays to
Metcalf because he's playing like one of the best receivers
in the NFL, and he's basically like the entirety of
that Pittsburgh passing game is running through him right now,
(08:47):
So you know they're going to feature him and involve him.
So I think it comes down to just more than
just one guy for the Bengals. I don't think you
want to have Dj Turner following in around for six
he plays a game. I think this could be a
situation where quarterbacks stay on their sides and you just
maybe try to brack it Metchalf a little bit, gets
some help from the safeties. But yeah, if it's gonna
be Dj Turner against Metcalf all night, like, there's gonna
be some goball opportunities and Metcalf is going to try
(09:07):
to use the size to win that matchup for sure.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Logan Wilson was benched against the Packers in favor of
Barrett Carter. He handed it really well. I don't know
that it entirely makes sense. What do you make of
Logan Wilson's benching.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
It's very interesting. I think it would make more sense
like he said, if the rookies were playing significantly better
than him, and I just don't think there's anyone really
in that position group that is standing out above the rest.
I think identifying and drafting two linebackers in the first
four rounds it definitely means more now than maybe what
it did, you know, back when the draft was happening,
and you think that Breck Carter is just going to
(09:42):
be this long term replacement for Logan Wilson. It's not
like Logan Wilson is playing significantly great. Obviously, he's playing
less for a reason. But I just don't I don't
see why this makes sense other than the fact that
just giving the young guys a lot more reps to
prove themselves unless there's things in practice that we're not seeing.
And there's a lot of flashes and a lot of
promise from Bark Carter, you know, between Monday and Saturday, right,
(10:04):
and they want to give him chance to prove that
on Sunday. But at the same time, you're paying a
lot for Logan Wilson. I don't think he's that much
different of a player than what you would have expected
him to be. So it just seems like a really
aggressive move by this coaching staff to really see what
their return on investment for these rookies are. And if
it works out, it works out great, then they have
bear Carter for the next handful of years and then
they can slide with what to do with Wilson. But
if you're not seeing it from Carter yet in terms
(10:25):
of just a consistent player, I'm not sure it makes
entirely a lot of sense.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Ian Rappaport reported this morning it's a long shot for
Trey Hendrickson to be able to play short week with
the hip injury. If he doesn't, how can the Bengals
dial up some pressures against Aaron Rodgers. What would be
the plan for Al Golden?
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Do you think? Well, he said that schmar Siwver is
going to play a ton, and I think the more
that you move him around and the more that you
get him maybe almost in the two point stands to
just use as much speed and explosion that you can.
I think that's the best way to compensate for not
having your true difference maker out there. I think Golden
saying that about Stewart was kind of foreshadowing how he
(11:04):
felt about Trey in this game. And whether or not
he plays or not, he may not be able to
play the whole game even if he is active. Right,
So Miles Murphy's probably going to start. Schmart Stewart's probably
gonna be that third edge. He's gonna be not only
lying up on the edge, but he's also gonna be inside.
They're gonna use him on all three downs because he's
really good and really chaotic against the run. So it's
gonna be tough. You definitely need to do things differently
because you just can't expect the pass ruses that you
(11:25):
have to win every single one on one matchup when
really only Trey Hendrickson could do that consistently.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
How good are the Steelers really? Like? Are they legit
contender in the AFC? Are they a product of their schedule?
How do you view the Steelers?
Speaker 3 (11:41):
I think the Steelers have some different faces every single year,
but they always are pretty much the same team. And
sometimes they start the season really slow and then they
entered the playoff race in November December and they make
it into nine and eight. Sometimes they started in this
in this case four and one and then they fall
back down to nine eight, But they always end up
around nine to eight, ten and seven are always in
the conversation, always physical, They don't make a lot of
(12:02):
critical mistakes, and they typically have an offense that's just
barely good enough to complement their defense, and I think
that's pretty much been the case this year. I think
Aaron Rodgers is about the quarterback that the Jets should
have expected at you know, thirty nine to forty years
old at this point, and obviously he was a tremendous
disaster for the Jets, but he clearly still has just
enough to be a competent quarterback and run a competent offense.
(12:24):
But you know that passing offense again is entirely run
through DK Metcalf. They're really desperate for maybe a guy
like George Pickens if they had him. They don't have
a ton of great success with running the football right now,
and that's a little bit different compared to years past.
But I think they're just a solid team. They're obviously
not I think, going to be finished with more than
like ten or eleven wins necessarily, but definitely serious enough
to make the playoffs and definitely win this game for sure.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Let's say that the Steelers do win the game, do
you anticipate any dominoes falling for the Bengals afterwards, like
a coach losing his job or a Trey Hendrickson potentially
getting traded. What domino's do you anticipate to fall if
the Bengals can't win tonight?
Speaker 3 (13:06):
You know, the Bengals are never the sellers, right, They're
never the ones that want to just liquidate assets for
the sake of liquidation, for the sake of a last season.
I think the fact that they traded for a quarterback
not even two weeks ago it means that they still
feel like they can do something with the season. I'm
not sure if two and five in this AFC climate
is going to make them immediately feel that. I think
(13:28):
the only reason we're talking about is because A this
is a divisional game against the divisional leader, and b
because it's going to be a long week of rest
after the Thursday night game, so that's naturally a time
could make changes. But I don't think you're going to
see a coach firing after this game. I think it's
still a little bit too early in the season for that.
And the one thing I am curious though, is that
if Logan Wilson is truly just ten snaps a game. Guy,
(13:50):
how much injuriest could you get for him on the
trade deadline, because at the end of the day, you're
paying a lot of money for guy who's not playing
a lot. So that could be an interesting domino based
on how the next two weeks ago. But I don't
think anything significant is going to happen from this game, specifically.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
On the flip side of that. If they do win
and obviously perform the way they are expected to, at
least against the Jets and maybe the Bears, could you
see them dipping their toe into the trade waters again.
Could you see them be a little bit more aggressive
if they feel like there's a chance to get you know,
back in it in this conference with Burrow coming back
later on.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
It has to be the right deal, right, It has
to be potentially like a player for player trade or
another pick swap, like they've already sacrificed a little bit
of draft capital. A little bit draft capital for them
is a lot of draft capital for them, So that's
always relative, and it may depend on any other injuries
that they may suffer. I think they expect to get
healthier as the weeks go on. Obviously, the Aseki injury
kind of ruins that a little bit, but I think
(14:43):
they have what they feel like is quality death at
that position room, and once Tanner Hudson comes back, that's
someone that they trust. So I'm not really foreseeing them
being buyers. Again. I think Flato is probably the biggest
splash that you're gonna get because they did feel the
pressure in the urgency to do something other than Jake Browning.
But yeah, the next handful of weeks are going to
be very interesting.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
His name's John Scheron covering the Bengals for eight to
Z Sports and also the Orange and Black Insider podcast. John,
thank you so much, man, really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Thanks guys.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
That is John Shearon from eight to z Sports. Good stuff,
Good stuff there. He about to go get some white
Bengal gear going to the game tonight. You can do
that too at Cincy Shirts, Cinti Shirts app and obviously
their stores as well. Get your custom shirt made. You're
a oh gonna get Flacco shirt ahead of tonight's game.
(15:31):
Get that in white for the white Bengal night. All right,
we'll take a break, we'll come back. Talkbacks, Yes, talkbacks,
I asked for your predictions about what's going to happen
tonight at pay Course Stadium. I can't wait to see
what all of you are predicting on talkbacks. That's next.
This is Sincy three to sixty hour two, brought to
you by Cincy Shirts on the home of the Bengals, Cincinnatis, ESPN,
(15:53):
fifteen thirty Now
Cincy Shirts. Cincy three sixty About Cincinnati from Cincinnati, sponsored
in part by Cincy Shirts. Cincy Shirts All Cincy, all Day.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports station.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
No better place to get geared up for a white
Bengal night than at Cincy Shirts. Check them out each
of their retail locations. You can get a shirt custom
made on the spot at Cincy Shirts. Go check them
out ahead of tonight's game. If you need to get
something white, like our guy Moegger most still looking for
something white. He does this every single year. Figure it out.
(00:36):
You're a grown man. Another grown man is joining the show.
Now our guy John Sheeran, who talks Bengals with me
every single Thursday, and he joins us. Now I had
a Thursday night football, Johnny, got you got any white on?
You got any white Bengal gear for you? Just watch
the game? Or what are you going to the game?
What's going on?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
John?
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Don't know?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
What's good?
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Said? I appreciate you asking, Austin, because I am going
to the game. Let's go to the game with another
I'm going to the game with another girl. Man whose
name is my dad. And he also forgot to wear
white today. And I'm like, come on, Dad, like everyone
knows what this game is. So I'm actually in the
parking lot of Dick's Morning Goods about to get him
like a cheap white shirt so you can wear it tonight.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
That's awesome and it sounds like something my dad would
do as well. So let's start with the matchups tonight
this game. When you think Bengals Steelers, when you think
about this game, what's the first matchup that comes to
mind in what will determine the outcome?
Speaker 3 (01:28):
It's always the Pittsburgh defensive line, is it not. It's
been the staple of them for how many years? Fifty? Yeah,
something like that. But they've always had good pass rushers, right,
They've always had good guys up front, and the Bengals
offensive line has always struggled against them no matter what
the personnel is. I remember, you know, in the last
year's to the Jonah Williams this year, like he got,
you know, beating like a ren and mule against Alex
Higsmith and company. Alex hig Smith is still there, and
(01:49):
I think that's a really good matchup for Pittsburgh against
Ernanda Brown Junior, who's not having a really good season,
and I think he's the type of pass rusher that
can get under your pads, you can win around the edge,
and that's always been the player archetype that is, you know,
caused Lean Brown, You're going to struggle. So when you're
talking about Steelers defense line that has not just Alex
heismanth obviously t J. Watt and Cameron Hayward are the
main guys there. And Cameron Hayward, you know, baptized as
(02:10):
a rookie guard for the Bengals basically every single year,
and now you have two of them, and Dylan Fairchild
and Jaalen Rivers going up against them for the first time.
That's just the grown man in Cam Hayward, who's thirty
six years old and still is one of the very
best players in this position. So it's always been a
mismatch for the Bengals up front trying to block these guys.
And now that you have a quarterback and Joe Flacco
who should be more a little bit more comfortable in
this offense after being here for a week instead it
(02:30):
just a handful of days. But still I'm interested just
like I was last week, and how Flacco handles the
pressure and how the Bengals offense line, make sure that
they mitigate, you know, the obvious mismatches there to make
sure the ball gets out. Make sure that the defensive
lineman don't ruin the game like they typically normally do
in this matchup.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
Now, I did think that Flacco looked a little bit
slow when he was trying to avoid the rush against
Green Bay, But I also thought that was okay, Like
that was good enough of a performance. There's something there.
What did you like about what you saw from Flacco
against the Packers?
Speaker 3 (03:03):
I mean, you needed to see what he did in
the second half, right, because the first half obviously wasn't
good enough. This team still hasn't scored the first half
touchdowns since Week two. Right, Joe Burrow was in there,
and you'd like to see him get into rhythm and
just just trust the playmakers on the outside. I think
the majority of his targets went went to Jamar Chase
and Tiggins, and with Mikaseeki out for the foreseeable future,
that should remain the case, especially with andre yosabauch not
(03:25):
necessarily having a good season on his own, but taking
advantage of one on one matchups when you get it
with Chase and Higgins on the boundary. If Flaco still
trusts his arm, he's still accurate enough to get the
ball where it needs to go, and he's been a
lot more efficient with getting the ball out under two
a half seconds. I believe Paul and her Junior had
pulled up some great stats in this Leaves article with
the Athletic about how much more efficient the offense is
with Flakka getting the ball out within the first tree
(03:46):
half seconds compared to Jake Browning. And that is going
to be the base of this offense because again, you
can't trust pass protection against matchups like this, so Flacco
needs to be sustained rhythm to identify, you know, where
the matchups are at his disposal, and just take advantage
of Jamar Chase and Chigins because they're going to be
advantages against most quarterbacks that they play, especially tonight, like
Darius Slay Junior and Joey Porter Junior and Jalen Ramsy.
(04:07):
They're all really good quarterbacks, but you still don't want
to take advantage of Jamar Chase when you have him,
and I think seeing that connection grow last week against
the Packers, that was a really promising sign.
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Yeah, I agree with you one hundred percent. The other thing, too,
is being able to run the football. They weren't great
against the Packers. They haven't been great all season. The
Steelers sixteenth ranked run defense, allowing over one hundred yards
per game on the ground. Do you feel like tonight
is a chance for them to get it going at all?
Even though that Steeler defensive line is good, Like you mentioned, it's.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
Really tough to imagine at this point, they are on
track to maybe one of the worst rushing offenses in
the history of the league. And it's troubling to see
how Chase Brown can't get anything going in front of him,
and the fact that they can't utilize his athleticism and
his burst and everything like that. It still remains a
really porous scheme. And I think the stuff in the
(05:00):
games that the Steelers defensive line typically run it makes
things a little bit more complicated, like that, there are
high risk, high reward opportunities when defensive linemen kind of
slant in the rushes a little bit and screes up
some gaps. But if you don't have the confident bodies
up front to give them out of the way and
displace them then it ends up disrupting you more more
times than not. So it's always been tough to run
against the Steelers again, they cause a lot of chaos
(05:21):
up front, and I just there's not a lot of
confidence right now for me in the personnel upfront for
blocking to these guys. You like how hard somehowoip around
runs and you like the fact that Chase Brown he
can't get a full head of scene when you have
a little bit of space, but there's just not a
lot of space to be found and it's hard for
me to see any space being found at night.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
How do you expect the offense to change, if at all,
with Mike Giseki being out.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Yeah, I think we saw how Tanner Hudson could fill
that role a little bit. He caught the touchdown last week,
but now he's in the concusion protocol. Right, So you
go from an offense that had five fight ins at
the disposed of down to three, and with Kaseki out,
that does mean that yose Vash is going to play more.
You could see more snaps for a guy like Mitchell Tinsley,
who's now wide receiver for Charlie Jones, is still dealing
with an injury, and Jermaine Burton he's in limbo obviously,
(06:07):
so you would expect to see, you know, more usage
deeper into the wide receiver group for the guys who
are active. I would like to see Noah Fan get
some more opportunity as well. It seems like in the
game three he's involved. He's always at at least four targets,
which I think is a little bit more than even
I expected for a guy who was signed so late
in the offseason. But you know, this is an interesting
night to see who Flocko trusts in those opportunities. Because
(06:28):
obviously Drew Sample and Cam Grandy, we know who they are.
They're just in there the block and catch and catch,
you know, short passes and try to run up to
the catch. But Noah Fan, I think needs to take
another step up, and I'm interested to see if Flacko
trust him enough to do that.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Talking to John Sheeran covering the Bengals A is the
Sports Johnny wrote your Bengals report card, and you mentioned
DJ Turner as being a pleasant surprise, and especially the
way he's played over the last month and the way
he played against Green Bay. What have you seen from him?
That makes him or has led to a little bit
more consistent and an uptick in his level of play.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
I think when you have an elite athlete like DJ Turner, right,
the number one thing for him at cornerback is to
control that athleticism and matching mirror the speed of the
guys that he's going up against, because that allows him
to stay in position to make plays in the ball. Right.
It's one thing to be fast enough to you know,
be able to stay with a guy on a vertical round, right,
but your change the direction, your balance, your ability to
stay in the hip hocket these guys and be physical.
(07:22):
I think Dj has shown pretty much all of those
qualifications and all those attributes, and now he's finding the
ball out better. Like you don't get five passes defense
in one game out of pure luck, right, Like quarterbacks
are obviously testing you. But I think DJ really showed
a lot last week and not only staying with guys
but then finding the ball making a play on the ball.
That's Those are the impact plays that you don't always
see from this secondary, and you haven't really seen from
(07:44):
a cornerback in the secondary in a while. You saw
a little bit flashes with that of Cam Tailberg when
he was on his game, but obviously he hasn't been
on his game for quite some time. So it looks
like Turner is the guy that they would trust the
most going up against you know, whoever the opposing number
one receiver is this week. Is really interesting because DK
Metcalf is a you know, physical freak who definitely outsizes
(08:04):
DJ turn in that reguard. But they may have the
most trust in Turner to stay with him and try
to make plays in the ball because he's doing that
better than anyone in the secondary right now.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Yeah, I was gonna ask, like, would you imagine he
would he would follow DK Metcalf around. I know the
Bengals don't do that often, but if Calvin Austin is
out and that's their best weapon and maybe their best
performing corner, do you think they would do something like that.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
I'm really interested to find out. I think this is
this would be such an opportunity for Cam Tobert to
earn back trust. I think back to two years ago
when he played DK Metcalf for the Seahawks. That was
one of his best games ever. He really got into
his head. He got the interception and everything like that.
Of course, you're gonna give up a big plays to
Metcalf because he's playing like one of the best receivers
in the NFL, and he's basically like the entirety of
that Pittsburgh passing game is running through him right now,
(08:47):
So you know they're going to feature him and involve him.
So I think it comes down to just more than
just one guy for the Bengals. I don't think you
want to have Dj Turner following in around for six
he plays a game. I think this could be a
situation where quarterbacks stay on their sides and you just
maybe try to brack it Metchalf a little bit, gets
some help from the safeties. But yeah, if it's gonna
be Dj Turner against Metcalf all night, like, there's gonna
be some goball opportunities and Metcalf is going to try
(09:07):
to use the size to win that matchup for sure.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Logan Wilson was benched against the Packers in favor of
Barrett Carter. He handed it really well. I don't know
that it entirely makes sense. What do you make of
Logan Wilson's benching.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
It's very interesting. I think it would make more sense
like he said, if the rookies were playing significantly better
than him, and I just don't think there's anyone really
in that position group that is standing out above the rest.
I think identifying and drafting two linebackers in the first
four rounds it definitely means more now than maybe what
it did, you know, back when the draft was happening,
and you think that Breck Carter is just going to
(09:42):
be this long term replacement for Logan Wilson. It's not
like Logan Wilson is playing significantly great. Obviously, he's playing
less for a reason. But I just don't I don't
see why this makes sense other than the fact that
just giving the young guys a lot more reps to
prove themselves unless there's things in practice that we're not seeing.
And there's a lot of flashes and a lot of
promise from Bark Carter, you know, between Monday and Saturday, right,
(10:04):
and they want to give him chance to prove that
on Sunday. But at the same time, you're paying a
lot for Logan Wilson. I don't think he's that much
different of a player than what you would have expected
him to be. So it just seems like a really
aggressive move by this coaching staff to really see what
their return on investment for these rookies are. And if
it works out, it works out great, then they have
bear Carter for the next handful of years and then
they can slide with what to do with Wilson. But
if you're not seeing it from Carter yet in terms
(10:25):
of just a consistent player, I'm not sure it makes
entirely a lot of sense.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
Ian Rappaport reported this morning it's a long shot for
Trey Hendrickson to be able to play short week with
the hip injury. If he doesn't, how can the Bengals
dial up some pressures against Aaron Rodgers. What would be
the plan for Al Golden?
Speaker 3 (10:42):
Do you think? Well, he said that schmar Siwver is
going to play a ton, and I think the more
that you move him around and the more that you
get him maybe almost in the two point stands to
just use as much speed and explosion that you can.
I think that's the best way to compensate for not
having your true difference maker out there. I think Golden
saying that about Stewart was kind of foreshadowing how he
(11:04):
felt about Trey in this game. And whether or not
he plays or not, he may not be able to
play the whole game even if he is active. Right,
So Miles Murphy's probably going to start. Schmart Stewart's probably
gonna be that third edge. He's gonna be not only
lying up on the edge, but he's also gonna be inside.
They're gonna use him on all three downs because he's
really good and really chaotic against the run. So it's
gonna be tough. You definitely need to do things differently
because you just can't expect the pass ruses that you
(11:25):
have to win every single one on one matchup when
really only Trey Hendrickson could do that consistently.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
How good are the Steelers really? Like? Are they legit
contender in the AFC? Are they a product of their schedule?
How do you view the Steelers?
Speaker 3 (11:41):
I think the Steelers have some different faces every single year,
but they always are pretty much the same team. And
sometimes they start the season really slow and then they
entered the playoff race in November December and they make
it into nine and eight. Sometimes they started in this
in this case four and one and then they fall
back down to nine eight, But they always end up
around nine to eight, ten and seven are always in
the conversation, always physical, They don't make a lot of
(12:02):
critical mistakes, and they typically have an offense that's just
barely good enough to complement their defense, and I think
that's pretty much been the case this year. I think
Aaron Rodgers is about the quarterback that the Jets should
have expected at you know, thirty nine to forty years
old at this point, and obviously he was a tremendous
disaster for the Jets, but he clearly still has just
enough to be a competent quarterback and run a competent offense.
(12:24):
But you know that passing offense again is entirely run
through DK Metcalf. They're really desperate for maybe a guy
like George Pickens if they had him. They don't have
a ton of great success with running the football right now,
and that's a little bit different compared to years past.
But I think they're just a solid team. They're obviously
not I think, going to be finished with more than
like ten or eleven wins necessarily, but definitely serious enough
to make the playoffs and definitely win this game for sure.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Let's say that the Steelers do win the game, do
you anticipate any dominoes falling for the Bengals afterwards, like
a coach losing his job or a Trey Hendrickson potentially
getting traded. What domino's do you anticipate to fall if
the Bengals can't win tonight?
Speaker 3 (13:06):
You know, the Bengals are never the sellers, right, They're
never the ones that want to just liquidate assets for
the sake of liquidation, for the sake of a last season.
I think the fact that they traded for a quarterback
not even two weeks ago it means that they still
feel like they can do something with the season. I'm
not sure if two and five in this AFC climate
is going to make them immediately feel that. I think
(13:28):
the only reason we're talking about is because A this
is a divisional game against the divisional leader, and b
because it's going to be a long week of rest
after the Thursday night game, so that's naturally a time
could make changes. But I don't think you're going to
see a coach firing after this game. I think it's
still a little bit too early in the season for that.
And the one thing I am curious though, is that
if Logan Wilson is truly just ten snaps a game. Guy,
(13:50):
how much injuriest could you get for him on the
trade deadline, because at the end of the day, you're
paying a lot of money for guy who's not playing
a lot. So that could be an interesting domino based
on how the next two weeks ago. But I don't
think anything significant is going to happen from this game, specifically.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
On the flip side of that. If they do win
and obviously perform the way they are expected to, at
least against the Jets and maybe the Bears, could you
see them dipping their toe into the trade waters again.
Could you see them be a little bit more aggressive
if they feel like there's a chance to get you know,
back in it in this conference with Burrow coming back
later on.
Speaker 3 (14:22):
It has to be the right deal, right, It has
to be potentially like a player for player trade or
another pick swap, like they've already sacrificed a little bit
of draft capital. A little bit draft capital for them
is a lot of draft capital for them, So that's
always relative, and it may depend on any other injuries
that they may suffer. I think they expect to get
healthier as the weeks go on. Obviously, the Aseki injury
kind of ruins that a little bit, but I think
(14:43):
they have what they feel like is quality death at
that position room, and once Tanner Hudson comes back, that's
someone that they trust. So I'm not really foreseeing them
being buyers. Again. I think Flato is probably the biggest
splash that you're gonna get because they did feel the
pressure in the urgency to do something other than Jake Browning.
But yeah, the next handful of weeks are going to
be very interesting.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
His name's John Scheron covering the Bengals for eight to
Z Sports and also the Orange and Black Insider podcast. John,
thank you so much, man, really appreciate it.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Thanks guys.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
That is John Shearon from eight to z Sports. Good stuff,
Good stuff there. He about to go get some white
Bengal gear going to the game tonight. You can do
that too at Cincy Shirts, Cinti Shirts app and obviously
their stores as well. Get your custom shirt made. You're
a oh gonna get Flacco shirt ahead of tonight's game.
(15:31):
Get that in white for the white Bengal night. All right,
we'll take a break, we'll come back. Talkbacks, Yes, talkbacks,
I asked for your predictions about what's going to happen
tonight at pay Course Stadium. I can't wait to see
what all of you are predicting on talkbacks. That's next.
This is Sincy three to sixty hour two, brought to
you by Cincy Shirts on the home of the Bengals, Cincinnatis, ESPN,
(15:53):
fifteen thirty Now
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