November 12, 2025 • 9 mins
Shawn Syed's Stats and Scheme Newsletter is terrific. He joined us to discuss the Bengals. And the Steelers. And the Ravens too.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
It's Tuesday. By the way, we're at Oakley Greens. It's Tuesday,
which means we talk with our guys. Sean Sayad. Sean
is one of the authors, along with Ted Smith, of
the Stats and Scheme newsletter. He's with sumer sports dot com.
He's here to make us smarter. He's at least here
to answer my same questions about the Bengals, who did
not lose this weekend. Sean, what's going on, Well.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
It was a great week to not have a loss
on the schedule.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
I didn't have to go through any Bengals film today,
you know, push you overview some things to looking ahead
to the next week, but next to be able to
watch another.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Pole this week, it was. It was very relaxing. It
was very stress free before we do schematic stuff. Waiy
in on the big topic of conversation here, which is
Joe Burrow is back practicing and he's ramping up. I
think they want to have him out there on Thanksgiving
Night against Baltimore, which makes a lot of sense, and
maybe the Bengals win the next two games and at
(00:55):
that point it's game on. There are many folks who
feel like that is not likely. If the Bengals are
playing for nothing, would you have Joe Burrow out there?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
This is a tough one, right because playing for nothing
is also I think a little subjective of core. It's
like playing for nothing in terms of the playoffs. Like
that I think does become kind of clear at the
end of the season. I think when you have the
most competitive players across the world playing this sport, like
I think a guy like Jamar Chase and you hear
it from Justin Jefferson last year, playing through injuries like
these guys when they retire, these numbers do matter to them,
(01:28):
like they the cumulative effect of all these seasons, all
this consistency does matter. At the same time, it is
a coaches and a like a higher level of a
team's job to protect a player from themselves. I think
there can be some positive I feel like on this stuff.
I lean pretty conservative because Burrow is your franchise guy.
I do think there is value though still in you know,
(01:48):
just you're getting game reps, like you're you're moving things
in the right direction overall.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
So would I like to be having him play late
in the fourth quarter of games that you know you're
up by two scores?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Probably not, but I'm wanted to be super mad at
him coming back even if the team is sort of
just out of everything, because i mean, we've talked earlier
this season about you know, Jamar Chase, he gets a
little bit anxious kind of in the offense.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
So you want to just.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Feel, Okay, we are still moving in the right direction,
like we still need to be an attractive play for
people to come play next year's.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
There's something to me. And look, I'm I'm all for
protecting the investment, but we've talked a lot. You and
I have talked a lot about meshing how Joe Burrow
wants to play with what they've done with Joe Flacco
running the football and him playing under center. At the
very least, is there is there a school of thought
that says, even if he doesn't play every snap of
every quote meaningless game, that it makes sense for him
(02:39):
to get used to running the offense differently in games
that are actual games and not preseason games, if that
ultimately is what they decide to do.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
So I'm not sure how much you want to just
like get Joe, like take the Joe Burrow out of
Joe Burrow right, Like there's good their situations for Flaccos
so far this year, where that ball is coming out
real quick. It makes the offensive line a lot of
their life a lot easier, would you know, maybe like
to see a little bit of those kind of quick
throws from Burrow overall as well. And yes, as you mentioned,
you you mentioned some of that run game success with
(03:10):
him as well, So yes, I absolutely think there's value
in I mean, every offensive play caller and quarterbacks are
constantly learning from each other with every single play call,
with every single game. So I do or I think
of it left wel as like, Okay, well you need
to put Joe Burrow inside of the Joe Blackow offense
because there are times when it's just, hey, you don't
throw the ball to that really good receiver outside, and
(03:30):
it's working for Flaco and.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
It does also for Burrow.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
So I do like the idea of hey, we're gonna
like get into d snaps where we still need to
like build a more consistent offense where you're able to
have things where the past game can be married to
the run game in different ways and affect defenses that way.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Let's talk about the Steelers, who the Bengals play on Sunday.
They haven't been good and they were very good offensively
against the Bengals. They did win that game against Indianapolis,
they were the opposite of good, I think in nearly
every phase against the Chargers the other night. Let's start
with their defense, So that's that's what you think of
first when you think of the Steelers. They've remade the secondary,
(04:06):
they had Jalen Ramsey playing safety the other night, and
yet it doesn't feel like a Steelers defense. Why is that?
Speaker 3 (04:13):
I mean, I think there is still just too much
of an elements overall where I.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Guess sometimes that is a Steelers defense.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Although I will say yes, with the adjustments on the
back and they have changed things up just a little
bit more. But I think offenses understand, hey, we can
run away from TJ.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Watts.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
He's going to be in a static alignment sort of
over and over again.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
And you know when the offensive side of the ball
is at flat, it really.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Puts the defense in sort of tough situations over and over.
So I just feel like over the years, like when
I watch, Okay, this is a different team still.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
This is what looks different or this is what the
what the.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Team is trying you have seen it a little bit
from the Steelers over the last two weeks, but eventually injuries,
just attrition overall, some struggles on the outside, like those
things just catch up to you in a league that
it's just shifting too fast. And it feels like, even
with the Steelers still finding ways to win games, it feels.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Like it's kind of shifting past this team a little bit.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Sean Side is with us, by the way, you follow
him on x AD Science Schemes, one of the authors
of these stats and scheme newsletter available now at sumer
sports dot com. I think the the immediate takeaway that
a lot of folks had from watching Pittsburgh on Sunday is, well,
Aaron Rodgers just looks really, really old. Is that the
explanation for some of their offensive lowes or does it
(05:23):
go into scheme addicts?
Speaker 3 (05:25):
You know, yeah, I think it's I guess could be
tied a little bit together.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
I'm not sure.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
It's just because he's old. But this offense at this
point in time is a quick time to throw offense.
It's a low average depth of target offense. So the
quarterback does not want to hang out there very very long.
He wants to get the ball out quick. He wants
to throw it short. That is something that defenses no
going into this like this game over and over again,
and yeah, I guess it's the Bengals. Of course, on
(05:51):
that and that Thursday night game, you get a bunch
of those downfill passes. But on the even this is
not an explosive offense. And then when you get Rogers
Stone tun Or after the interceptions against the Chargers, just
at through times like that, that is a really real struggle.
So this offense is kind of stuck in neutral, if
not reverse. Had a lot of times it feels like
even when hey, you've got a bunch of high ends
(06:13):
and you try and get heavy on the field, but
it feels like as long as you're you know, forcing
in to keep on throwing to a short quick passes
or you're able to sit on one, maybe you can
kind of steal one and take it the other way.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
It's time.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
I said the last time they played, it's just not
an offense that strikes fear in my heart. Now. Of course, yes,
he score a bunch of points against the anuals defense,
but I mean I'm hoping that this is a good
chance for them to be able to come back from
that game.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
We started the conversation by talking about Joe Burrow. He
is targeting the thanks Giving Day game, the first one
against Baltimore. They played them twice within a couple of weeks.
The Ravens have gone from one in five to four
and five and their defensive transformation has been starked. Better
health is obviously a reason. But why are the Ravens
suddenly good on defense?
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Biggest reason is you're seeing Kyle Almilton. Not in that
scene see role playing all the way back. He is
playing in that nickel spot pretty much like a linebacker.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Right at the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
You will literally see him walk up as if he
is a defensive end. And that is really really helping
them in terms of the run game because.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
He is He's beating guys that is supposed to be
blocking him.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
And I think that bringing in a Loie Gilman, who
was the safety of played with the Chargers before in
a similar system that the Ravens use, you're just able
to really take advantage of a weapon. So I really
enjoy seeing that from Baltimore. They have to, I think
be the favorite to win that division. I think they
probably should have been for like two three weeks, just seeing.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Kind of how things were going.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
And then of course you know on offense you get
you still have Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
There, let's talk about the stats and scheme. Newsletter shows
up in my inbox multiple times per week. I get
smarter when I read it. For folks who haven't signed
up yet, first of all, what are you waiting for
a second? What will they get?
Speaker 3 (07:49):
The advanced game boxes where it's broken down by every
single thing that I think like a head coach could
really use, whether it's how would this offense do against
this defense? And going coverage, how do they do it
against them? In man coverage? All these specific sort of
actionable items where maybe you see a mismatch sort of
here and there for every game before the weekend starts,
and then on Monday morning you get a review kind
(08:11):
of similarly like if you did not watch any of
the other games, I think you could look at this
and feel like you learned something about all the massets
of the weekend.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
All right, let's talk about sumer brain as well. I
wanted to punch in there on Sunday. How does a
team at home get eight fall starts? Penalties. Beyond that,
what can you ask sumer Brain at summer sports dot com.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Well, well, I'm not sure you can ask about all
those operational issues, but you can track over the last
two years, for example, what's the team that had the
most fall starts in an individual game.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
So we have all of our data pumped in there.
We just want you to be able to type in.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
How you would speak in English and your question and
kind of be able to pull it.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
So do we have data for every single data point
on Earth?
Speaker 3 (08:45):
No, But if it helped me save a lot of time,
you type in a right, well, how do the Bengals
do in the first game against the Steelers on third downs?
You're able to just type it in, pull it up
real quick, save yourself some time. Don't subscribe to a
bunch of services, get some better in So going forward, it.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Is a perfect resource, so is Sean sayed, We'll talk
to you next week.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Man, thanks so much, thanks so much, So I appreciate it.
It's Tuesday. By the way, we're at Oakley Greens. It's Tuesday,
which means we talk with our guys. Sean Sayad. Sean
is one of the authors, along with Ted Smith, of
the Stats and Scheme newsletter. He's with sumer sports dot com.
He's here to make us smarter. He's at least here
to answer my same questions about the Bengals, who did
not lose this weekend. Sean, what's going on, Well.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
It was a great week to not have a loss
on the schedule.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
I didn't have to go through any Bengals film today,
you know, push you overview some things to looking ahead
to the next week, but next to be able to
watch another.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
Pole this week, it was. It was very relaxing. It
was very stress free before we do schematic stuff. Waiy
in on the big topic of conversation here, which is
Joe Burrow is back practicing and he's ramping up. I
think they want to have him out there on Thanksgiving
Night against Baltimore, which makes a lot of sense, and
maybe the Bengals win the next two games and at
(00:55):
that point it's game on. There are many folks who
feel like that is not likely. If the Bengals are
playing for nothing, would you have Joe Burrow out there?
Speaker 3 (01:04):
This is a tough one, right because playing for nothing
is also I think a little subjective of core. It's
like playing for nothing in terms of the playoffs. Like
that I think does become kind of clear at the
end of the season. I think when you have the
most competitive players across the world playing this sport, like
I think a guy like Jamar Chase and you hear
it from Justin Jefferson last year, playing through injuries like
these guys when they retire, these numbers do matter to them,
(01:28):
like they the cumulative effect of all these seasons, all
this consistency does matter. At the same time, it is
a coaches and a like a higher level of a
team's job to protect a player from themselves. I think
there can be some positive I feel like on this stuff.
I lean pretty conservative because Burrow is your franchise guy.
I do think there is value though still in you know,
(01:48):
just you're getting game reps, like you're you're moving things
in the right direction overall.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
So would I like to be having him play late
in the fourth quarter of games that you know you're
up by two scores?
Speaker 3 (01:58):
Probably not, but I'm wanted to be super mad at
him coming back even if the team is sort of
just out of everything, because i mean, we've talked earlier
this season about you know, Jamar Chase, he gets a
little bit anxious kind of in the offense.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
So you want to just.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
Feel, Okay, we are still moving in the right direction,
like we still need to be an attractive play for
people to come play next year's.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
There's something to me. And look, I'm I'm all for
protecting the investment, but we've talked a lot. You and
I have talked a lot about meshing how Joe Burrow
wants to play with what they've done with Joe Flacco
running the football and him playing under center. At the
very least, is there is there a school of thought
that says, even if he doesn't play every snap of
every quote meaningless game, that it makes sense for him
(02:39):
to get used to running the offense differently in games
that are actual games and not preseason games, if that
ultimately is what they decide to do.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
So I'm not sure how much you want to just
like get Joe, like take the Joe Burrow out of
Joe Burrow right, Like there's good their situations for Flaccos
so far this year, where that ball is coming out
real quick. It makes the offensive line a lot of
their life a lot easier, would you know, maybe like
to see a little bit of those kind of quick
throws from Burrow overall as well. And yes, as you mentioned,
you you mentioned some of that run game success with
(03:10):
him as well, So yes, I absolutely think there's value
in I mean, every offensive play caller and quarterbacks are
constantly learning from each other with every single play call,
with every single game. So I do or I think
of it left wel as like, Okay, well you need
to put Joe Burrow inside of the Joe Blackow offense
because there are times when it's just, hey, you don't
throw the ball to that really good receiver outside, and
(03:30):
it's working for Flaco and.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
It does also for Burrow.
Speaker 3 (03:33):
So I do like the idea of hey, we're gonna
like get into d snaps where we still need to
like build a more consistent offense where you're able to
have things where the past game can be married to
the run game in different ways and affect defenses that way.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Let's talk about the Steelers, who the Bengals play on Sunday.
They haven't been good and they were very good offensively
against the Bengals. They did win that game against Indianapolis,
they were the opposite of good, I think in nearly
every phase against the Chargers the other night. Let's start
with their defense, So that's that's what you think of
first when you think of the Steelers. They've remade the secondary,
(04:06):
they had Jalen Ramsey playing safety the other night, and
yet it doesn't feel like a Steelers defense. Why is that?
Speaker 3 (04:13):
I mean, I think there is still just too much
of an elements overall where I.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Guess sometimes that is a Steelers defense.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Although I will say yes, with the adjustments on the
back and they have changed things up just a little
bit more. But I think offenses understand, hey, we can
run away from TJ.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Watts.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
He's going to be in a static alignment sort of
over and over again.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
And you know when the offensive side of the ball
is at flat, it really.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Puts the defense in sort of tough situations over and over.
So I just feel like over the years, like when
I watch, Okay, this is a different team still.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
This is what looks different or this is what the
what the.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
Team is trying you have seen it a little bit
from the Steelers over the last two weeks, but eventually injuries,
just attrition overall, some struggles on the outside, like those
things just catch up to you in a league that
it's just shifting too fast. And it feels like, even
with the Steelers still finding ways to win games, it feels.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Like it's kind of shifting past this team a little bit.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
Sean Side is with us, by the way, you follow
him on x AD Science Schemes, one of the authors
of these stats and scheme newsletter available now at sumer
sports dot com. I think the the immediate takeaway that
a lot of folks had from watching Pittsburgh on Sunday is, well,
Aaron Rodgers just looks really, really old. Is that the
explanation for some of their offensive lowes or does it
(05:23):
go into scheme addicts?
Speaker 3 (05:25):
You know, yeah, I think it's I guess could be
tied a little bit together.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
I'm not sure.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
It's just because he's old. But this offense at this
point in time is a quick time to throw offense.
It's a low average depth of target offense. So the
quarterback does not want to hang out there very very long.
He wants to get the ball out quick. He wants
to throw it short. That is something that defenses no
going into this like this game over and over again,
and yeah, I guess it's the Bengals. Of course, on
(05:51):
that and that Thursday night game, you get a bunch
of those downfill passes. But on the even this is
not an explosive offense. And then when you get Rogers
Stone tun Or after the interceptions against the Chargers, just
at through times like that, that is a really real struggle.
So this offense is kind of stuck in neutral, if
not reverse. Had a lot of times it feels like
even when hey, you've got a bunch of high ends
(06:13):
and you try and get heavy on the field, but
it feels like as long as you're you know, forcing
in to keep on throwing to a short quick passes
or you're able to sit on one, maybe you can
kind of steal one and take it the other way.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
It's time.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
I said the last time they played, it's just not
an offense that strikes fear in my heart. Now. Of course, yes,
he score a bunch of points against the anuals defense,
but I mean I'm hoping that this is a good
chance for them to be able to come back from
that game.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
We started the conversation by talking about Joe Burrow. He
is targeting the thanks Giving Day game, the first one
against Baltimore. They played them twice within a couple of weeks.
The Ravens have gone from one in five to four
and five and their defensive transformation has been starked. Better
health is obviously a reason. But why are the Ravens
suddenly good on defense?
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Biggest reason is you're seeing Kyle Almilton. Not in that
scene see role playing all the way back. He is
playing in that nickel spot pretty much like a linebacker.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Right at the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
You will literally see him walk up as if he
is a defensive end. And that is really really helping
them in terms of the run game because.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
He is He's beating guys that is supposed to be
blocking him.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
And I think that bringing in a Loie Gilman, who
was the safety of played with the Chargers before in
a similar system that the Ravens use, you're just able
to really take advantage of a weapon. So I really
enjoy seeing that from Baltimore. They have to, I think
be the favorite to win that division. I think they
probably should have been for like two three weeks, just seeing.
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Kind of how things were going.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
And then of course you know on offense you get
you still have Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 1 (07:36):
There, let's talk about the stats and scheme. Newsletter shows
up in my inbox multiple times per week. I get
smarter when I read it. For folks who haven't signed
up yet, first of all, what are you waiting for
a second? What will they get?
Speaker 3 (07:49):
The advanced game boxes where it's broken down by every
single thing that I think like a head coach could
really use, whether it's how would this offense do against
this defense? And going coverage, how do they do it
against them? In man coverage? All these specific sort of
actionable items where maybe you see a mismatch sort of
here and there for every game before the weekend starts,
and then on Monday morning you get a review kind
(08:11):
of similarly like if you did not watch any of
the other games, I think you could look at this
and feel like you learned something about all the massets
of the weekend.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
All right, let's talk about sumer brain as well. I
wanted to punch in there on Sunday. How does a
team at home get eight fall starts? Penalties. Beyond that,
what can you ask sumer Brain at summer sports dot com.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
Well, well, I'm not sure you can ask about all
those operational issues, but you can track over the last
two years, for example, what's the team that had the
most fall starts in an individual game.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
So we have all of our data pumped in there.
We just want you to be able to type in.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
How you would speak in English and your question and
kind of be able to pull it.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
So do we have data for every single data point
on Earth?
Speaker 3 (08:45):
No, But if it helped me save a lot of time,
you type in a right, well, how do the Bengals
do in the first game against the Steelers on third downs?
You're able to just type it in, pull it up
real quick, save yourself some time. Don't subscribe to a
bunch of services, get some better in So going forward, it.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Is a perfect resource, so is Sean sayed, We'll talk
to you next week.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Man, thanks so much, thanks so much, So I appreciate it.
Mo Egger News
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