Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's a Thursday, which means our friend Robert Weintrauma is
with us does a weekly Bengals column for Cincinnati Magazine.
Get it at Cincinnati Magazine dot com. And it's good
to have you. What's going on.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Well, I'm very glad we can finally talk after a
long awaited victory. Yes, it took a little bit longer
than we expected, but you know, this is what I
lived forward looked for talking to you on Thursdays after
a Bengals w So.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
But here's the thing. Right, So they won, and we're
all feeling at least okay, and then we all watched
the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday night, and a lot of
us stop feeling okay.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yeah, that was not there. That was just quieting. To
put it mildly, I will say this. You know, it's
very rare for any team to play four quarters of
essentially perfect football in all three phases like the Ravens
did against Buffalo on Sunday. It's even more rare to
play eight straight great quarters. Right, So you know, you'd
much rather play a team sort of coming off a
(00:58):
blowout wind than you would have Let's say the Ravens
got embarrassed by Buffalo on Sunday night and they were
coming in all angry. That would be a difficult situation too.
In some ways, I'd rather have it this way. Bengals
know the Ravens pretty well, obviously, they know their tendencies.
These are different teams. Every game is different, but you know,
it's not like they're all of a sudden, Oh my god,
(01:19):
this juggernaut in Baltimore, how we can stop them. They
played Lamar before, they've played Derrick Henry before in a
different uniform, and they've had success at times against both
those players. So you know, I don't think the Bengals
are looking at it and shaken in their boots. It'll
be a challenge, no question, but you know it's not
an insurmountable mountain to climb to beat them either.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
No, it's not. But we've had concerns about the Bengals
defense all season long, and the way the year has
played out, those concerns I think have only been amplified.
And I think as we've talked about them, we've been
looking at that Baltimore game, going, boy, how they're gonna
get off the field. How are they going to slow
down Derrick Henry. What's Lamar Jackson gonna do? And I
(01:58):
will say this watching them on say night, I'm watching
them against Dallas. Like we know how good Derek Henry
is and we know Lamar Jackson is. It's sort of
a different looking and maybe you could articulate this better
than me. It's sort of a different looking Baltimore offense.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Yeah, they are very diverse in the fact that by
our efficiency numbers DPOA as you love not only the
Ravens number one running offense, but also the number one
passing offense. Now, it doesn't look that way necessarily, And
what it really means is that Lamar Jackson in the
passing game has been efficient. He hasn't been dazzling. He's
(02:33):
not throwing eighty yard bombs. He's not even really at
times look great even this season. But he does move
the chains when he needs to, and as we all know,
he's extremely dangerous either with his feet or with his arm.
And sort of those money down situations third and short.
I mean, and I think about the game that they
played last year Week two, Cincinnati hosting Baltimore, similar situation,
(02:55):
and the Ravens outgained him. They put up over four
hundred yards. But that game was tight, and what it
came down to was a last possession where the Bengals
had to stop the Ravens to get the ball back
and maybe win the game, and they were unable to.
And you know, I think that's sort of gonna be
a situation that we see play out on Sunday as well.
It'll be tight, the Ravens might outgain Cincinnati and look
better than them, but I do think it'll come down
(03:17):
to at the end of the day, you know, a
single possession near the end of the game where Cincinnati's
either protecting a lead, a small lead, or need to
stop the Ravens get the ball back and maybe try
and win the game. And can they this time make
that one happen. You know, that's that's really a lot
of times with all the bells and whistles and stats
we throw out there, that's what it comes down to.
And right now, the Ravens have been very effective in
(03:39):
preventing the other team from getting the ball back and
you know, making a rally against him. Dallas scored a
lot of garbage time points on them, but you know,
the Ravens were in control for most of that game.
And obviously the Raiders came back against them in the
fourth quarter and made it work. So which one can
Cincinnati do. Can they get the Raiders off the Ravens
off the field when they absolutely have to, or will
(04:00):
they succumb and lose light the way Buffalo did? Good question.
You know, I'm optimistic, but not hugely so well.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
And what's interesting is there's apprehension about this game on Sunday,
and the Bengals are coming off to terrific offensive performances.
They've scored sixty seven points, eight touchdowns. You know, Burrow
had the one pick, but beyond that, they've played pretty
much mistake free. They're healthy on that side of the ball.
The offensive line is playing well. Marius Mims is living
up to the hype. They've got diversity in the running game.
(04:29):
They've got a thousand different tight ends. And yet and
yet it's like that's merely a footnote. And I know
they lost the Washington game, so maybe that has something
to do with it. But boy, if you would have
told me coming into the season, we'd be feeling apprehensive
about the Bengals going into a game where offensively they're
going into it with a full head of Steam. I
(04:49):
would have said, there's no way, and yet that's where
we are.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Yeah, it is a little strange, isn't it. How about this?
The Bengals, by our numbers, their offensive line running the
football is the number one offensive line in the league. Wow.
I mean that's who would have ever thought that? Right?
And the Ravens, while they have an excellent defense against
the run, in terms of their back seven, they per
event what we call second level or open field yards
better than any team in the league. They're vulnerable upfront.
(05:16):
They've not stopped a single short yardage situation all year.
The Bengals have been very good in that scenario. And
you know, when you throw out the passing game, you know,
the Ravens played a lot of press man coverage against
Buffalo because they didn't really respect their wide receivers in
that game, and it worked out for him. And you know,
you really saw that Josh Allen really had to, you know,
kind of play hero ball and run around and wait
(05:37):
for his guys to shake coverage because they weren't really
winning off the liaison scrimmage. That's not something that the
Ravens do against Cincinnati. And that goes back to the
Carson Palmer against Ray Lewis days. I mean, Cincinnatia has
forever had success throwing the ball against the Ravens. The
Ravens have given up third from the bottom in terms
of number one wide receivers against them, and yards and
(05:59):
very bad as well. In other words, Jamar Chase should
have a decent day against them, if you know, they
look that way. And they've given up a lot of
big plays to their big to big receivers so far
this year. They're not in an invulnerable defense by any stretch.
And as you say, the Bengals offense has been outstanding
thus far and have done the things that we've been
calling for really for a couple of years now with
(06:19):
the multiple tight ends. They've got the tandem of the
running backs working extremely well together, and they're they're not
coming out with such obvious scheme and formations every time.
And that's kind of what the Ravens live off of
the last couple of years. They had success against Cincinnati's
offense because they sort of knew what was coming and
were able to disguise coverages in a way that confused
(06:40):
Burrow long enough for their pass rush to get home. Now,
if the pass rush doesn't get home that quickly. Burrow
was able to look through this third and fourth outlets,
which you know this season have been much more viable
than they have in previous seasons. And they're not just
playing those three wide receivers go and get open guys
kind of style. They should move the ball with much
more efficiency. So I think you're right in the sense
(07:01):
that you know there's no reason to be apprehensive. Certainly,
you know, Joe Burrow saying he has to play the
perfect game doesn't necessarily lend you to run out with
all kinds of optimism and put your life savings on
the Bengals in the game necessarily, but you know the
advance that certainly give the Bengals, at least offense against
the Ravens defense a lot of edges in this game,
and there's no reason they can't put up points.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Robert win Trobs Bengals column at Cincinnati Magazine dot com.
Go read it. Jason went and holds the record for
most Pro Bowl appearances by a tight end with eleven.
My question is will Eric All break that record in
his twelfth NFL season.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
I was just wondering if you were going to ask,
can he match Bob truck playing slash broadcasting something.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
He's a Rosale Award winner, So let's not get too.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Crazy, but you know exactly, let's start there. Yeah, I
love the guy. I mean, it's been four games, so
let's not get over the moon just yet. We've had
twenty guys come through and look great in the first
month of the season and then we forget their names
basically by the end of the year. But this is
the kind of guy they've really needed for some time,
a dual threat tight end who's a you know, can
(08:06):
block like crazy, punished defenders with I think some of
the guys in the team called it, you know, willing
violence this week. You know, that's what you like to
see in the Bengals team that has often to be
Frank kind of played a little bit, you know, less
than physical in certain standpoints and across the last few years.
And you know, he gives them a much needed in
(08:27):
combination with the aforementioned to Marius Men's real physical dominance
when they line up together, and that's something obviously you
need against the Ravens in particular. And he's obviously also
proven to be a threat in the passing game and
you know, he got to remember he's missed a lot
of time in college in that aspect in terms of
like a pro style, you know, just knowing where to
(08:47):
get and having the feel for getting open. And the
fact that he's been effective in the passing game this
early is such a great sign. So he can stay healthy,
which is obviously the big if with him coming out
of college. Sky's limit, whether it's a dozen throw bowls.
You know, I'm not gonna start going that far just yet,
but I'll take one this year and we'll work from
(09:07):
there for sure.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
I mean, if you assume he plays twelve years, you
can calculate when he gets to Canton. So I mean
we we can, we can go there if you want.
Let me fling back over to defense, Cam Taylor Britt
had a really bad game against Carolina. Do I chalk
that up to it's a bad game, everybody's entitled to one,
and lou Romo did with him what he needed to
do or maybe a sign of a bigger problem with him.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
Yeah, The problem is he wasn't great against Washington either,
and even against Kansas City he had that incredible, memorable interception.
I feel like he's sort of taken the rest of
the action off since that, he's been living off that
a little bit since he made that play. For better
or for worse. Yes, he's a young player. You know.
The last thing you want to do is bury the
guy the way they kind of have with Jordan Battle
(09:55):
mysteriously and you know, put him on in the doghouse
like Marvin Leuis. He's one of your key guys. You know,
he had maybe a bad six quarters. He hasn't been
that effective, certainly to the fact that we thought he
was the kind of a lone given coming in this
year in terms of corners. But he's a young player,
and you know, we talked about that a lot going
(10:16):
into the season. The kind of area the Bengals were lacking.
I always thought was just to have that veteran presence
at corner where they you know, throwing Mike Hilton out
as the slot, not really counting him on the boundary.
There are young guys and they're going to make mistakes,
and all cornerbacks get beat. Even Lamar Parrish got beat
once upon a time occasionally. But he did like to
throw those old names out there. I know you love
(10:37):
those and you know, yeah, I don't think long term,
you're looking at a situation where he all of a
sudden he's going to turn into a guy who can't
cover anybody. He's got too much talent for that, and
he's not going to forget how to play in the
system all of a sudden. He had some bad you know,
some couple of bad games, and you know, his confidence
is sort of one of his you know, best assets,
(11:00):
and if you break that, that really gets a player
in a downward spiral spiral. So I hate to see that,
and I think they are working behind the scenes to
get him back to where he was. Remember, he came
in and had to play early because of injury to
begin with, and he was so much better than we
thought he was going to be. That maybe it's set
a little bit of unrealistic expectations for the level of
play he's going to have going forward. I mean, you know,
(11:21):
like I say, he's a second round guy who expect
occasionally to get beat. I mean, you know, I don't
think overall they're not worried about his play going forward,
but it is nice to know that you also have
a DJ turner who can come in and you know,
give you the same level, if not better level of
play with as many snaps if you need to, And
I expect CTB to shake it up and get back
(11:42):
to where he was, especially against Baltimore where you don't have,
you know, sort of those elite wide receivers. They have
good wide receivers, but not great ones who are going
to necessarily bury him at the worst possible time. So
hopefully this will be a game where he gets his
confidence back and we get back to the CPB we
love to know and see out there on the field.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
You mentioned or Battle quickly? Do is it time to
get him out of the doghouse?
Speaker 2 (12:06):
I mean I think so. Yeah. I don't know why
he's in there. That's behind the scenes stuff that we
don't know about it, guess, But Von Bell, you know
he's lou Anon Rumo's Binky. That bunch was obvious coming
into the season. But you know, he's not the player
that he was from twenty twenty to twenty twenty two.
There's a reason maybe that Carolina was like, Okay, see
you later go back to Cincinnati. Not that he's not
valuable in his way, but I thought Battle showed a
(12:28):
lot of promise last year. He's won the few bright
spots really in that back end. A heavy player, not
a guy really beats you with elite talent, but knows
where to go and doesn't miss a lot of tackles
and isn't the guy who's gonna, you know, wind up
blowing a coverage for him and give him up a
huge play. And that's what they expect that of Von
Bell too, and the difference being he got a guy
(12:49):
who's ten years younger. It can still be a physical
presence out there, which Bell doesn't seem to have in
his bag, at least for the first month of the season.
Right now, I'm not saying battle should start, and I'm
not saying you throw him out there for sixty snaps
when he hasn't played all year against Baltimore. That's a
little bit of a deep end of the pool situation.
But you definitely, I think, got to work him back
into the rotation and get him out there. You're gonna
(13:11):
need him for the rest of the season. I have
no doubt about that.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
What they could do is play Eric all both ways.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Little Chuck, Ben and Arek. Yeah, he's got that throwback present.
His fingers are bent out of shape like Chuck story, probably.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
Probably not all right man awesome as always, Well, we'll
do it again next week.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Thank you. Looking forward to it is always mo Thanks