September 24, 2025 • 9 mins
Shawn Syed's Stats and Scheme Newsletter is terrific. He joined us to discuss the obvious.
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Instagram too: @MoEgger
Podcasts of The Mo Egger Radio Show are a service of Longnecks Sports Grill.
Listen to the show live weekday afternoons 3:00 - 6:00 on ESPN1530.
Listen Live: ESPN1530.com/listen
Get more: https://linktr.ee/MoEgger
Follow on X: @MoEgger
Instagram too: @MoEgger
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Football in the Nattie, brought to you in
part by Postman Law and Vice Skyline Chilly on ESPN
fifteen point thirty to the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Casting from Oakley Greens Today. By the way, UZ plays
on the road on Saturday. My producer on site here
and Drew wester Heidi has been devouring these Kansas Jayhawks
game notes. Nobody aside from Lance Leopold himself knows more
about KU football right now than our guy Drew. Maybe
we'll quiz him later on Saturday's game. Let's quiz our guy.
(00:33):
Sean sayed, one of the authors of the Stats and
Scheme newsletter This Man Like Crunch the all twenty two
of that Bengals game on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
It's awesome to have you. Do you get hazard pay
for that?
Speaker 4 (00:47):
No, you know that's gonna be a conversation between me
and the producer here is what is gonna have to
go on. But I will say it's always a great
day to talk about the division leading Sincaddy Bengals.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Ooh, I love how you frame that. The division leading Bengals.
That's right in first place. BOYD doesn't exactly feel like that.
They had a lot of fluky stuff happened in that
game that sort of defies, you know, whatever schemes Zach
Taylor wants to come up with. But the continued inability
to run the football is amplified when you don't have
(01:18):
Joe Burrow. So you've watched this team critically for a while,
why are they so inept? For lack of a better
way of putting it, when it comes to the run.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Game, it's tough, you know, the run game overall, for
things to work, you have to have every single person
really on the exact same page, where if you just
miss one block, it's going to be a defender right
in the running backs lap. So we all know how
much of a big Chase Brown fan I am, but
you look at his like yards before contact or all
these situations that are a little bit out of his hands.
(01:50):
It just feels like there's always something going on on
the interier of the offensive line, on the exterior of
the offensive line, where guys you just able to run
through or are just able to win one on ones.
And look across the league, it is hard to run block.
I'm not going to pretend like this is some easy thing.
But like that being such a clear issue, is you're
able to kind of cover that well, like you said,
(02:10):
when you have Joe Burrow, when you're throwing all over
defenses back and forth. But it does feel like, all right,
there is just such an issue from a I mean,
it's even hard to look at it at a structural
level sometimes just because like all these guys are getting
beat or someone's always getting beat straight up one on
one and you just can't do anything about it when
there's a defender hitting and running back two yards in
(02:32):
the backfield.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
This might be a really stupid question.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
So the Bengals have offensive linemen who are known as
being better pass blockers and not great run blockers. Are
the majority of NFL offensive linemen. Starting offensive linemen good
at one and not the other.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
I think have a good question. You know, obviously you'd
like to have someone that is just good at both.
And I spent a lot of time watching the Eagles
where they have a bunch of guys that they're happy
kind of in boat spot. I think a lot of
it actually goes down to the college game, where a
lot of these teams are fully spread out and you
know you're passing more like you're running eighty plays a game.
So a lot of these are kind of these quick
RPO type throws. And it's hard in the NFL when
(03:13):
it is really really a big man sport on the inside,
when going up against some of these defensive tackles who
are not just you know, first year players, right, these
guys are are veterans. Although I mean some of the
Vikings guys like they felt like that it didn't matter
who they put in there. So you know, from an
offensive lineman perspective, obviously it's going to change player to player,
and I think if you were to choose one, you
(03:34):
would probably choose the preference of being a better passlocker overall.
But you know, at a small level, it no at
a small sorry, at a small level, it feels like
you got to be able to do one of the other.
And then if you can do the only pass blocking side,
and you have a quarterback who is not there anymore,
in Joe Burrow like, well now I'm just talking to
myself in the circles, trying to find ways to be
(03:56):
optimistic about the.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Welcome to my World, Shawn Sean Saya The Stats and
Scheme newsletter from a sumer Sports arrives in your inbox
multiple times per week.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
So I think, here, what a lot of folks.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Have said, certainly in the aftermath of Sunday, but this
has been a lament for a while. Okay, fine, the
personnel is what it is that they don't have great
run blocking offensive linemen, but the offensive coaching staff has
to come up with a more creative way to use
the running game. If that's the case, and I think
you would probably agree that it is, what do you do?
(04:32):
What can they do creatively that can get more out
of a part of the team that is right now
not very good.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
Yeah, I mean, I see that's a little bit of
a tough one because I'm thinking about it, and I'm
thinking about right, they did run multiple different run plays
where you're getting motion here and there, you're pulling offensive
linemen in different situations. I think back action to the
Vikings their first year with Kevin O'Connell, like they're just
running one type of run over and over and over.
They're not able to be successful in it. It causes
them problem. So I feel like maybe I'm being two
(05:02):
forgiving here. I feel like there's enough of like a
variation in the run game, it does, unfortunately feel like
it kind of falls to the players, and that can't
be the excuse, right, I can say that after watching
the film, But then what do you get to So
do you now only run into super advantageous looks where
maybe you can try and spread the defense out and
you're getting into those kind of RPOs where it's like, hey,
I'm only handing this ball off if there are six
(05:24):
guys in the box, and I feel really really comfortable
about everything in that way. So it may be that
you have to really lean into heavy, heavy personnel where
let's get all of the big bodies on this field,
and look, if you're gonna beat us on the inside,
you're not gonna be able to beat us with your
cornerbacks on our tight ends over and over. So I
do think there's some things you can go to. And
then on the other kind of a stream of it
(05:46):
is you can use the play action pass to set
up the run game too. So if you're successful in
the play action pass game, obviously, in a game like
against the Vikings, when you're down by like thirty points
before everyone even like wakes up to watch the game,
really that is a tough situation to be in. But
if you're in that more neutral game script where it's
you know, hey, we're only down by seven. You sought
to respect the play action pass the pass game, can
(06:07):
you know, hopefully open some things up for the run
game as well.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I would stop well short of saying that Al Golden's
defense has been good, but they passed the test in
the Browns game. You and I discussed it. They were
opportunistic against Jacksonville. I gotta be honest with you. I've
barely talked about the defense in the aftermath of Sunday
because that was about turnovers and the run game and
all the things that went wrong offensively. Give me a
(06:34):
thirty thousand foot assessment of what you've seen on tape
from the Bengals defensively over three games.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Yeah, but it feels like a little bit of an
incomplete just thinking about who they've played so far and
kind of how things have gone. Obviously, the Browns the
Jaguars game was I think a little tough just overall,
just seeing how the Jaguars were really able to kind
of carve them up in different situations. And I kind
of hesitate to say this, but like Carson Wentz look decent.
So does that just mean like, oh the best, we're
(07:00):
kind of the culprit there. I'm not one hundred percent
sure because you can look at some players up front
and I think get a little bit encouraged on the film.
So I unfortunately am not. I'm not ready to wave
my mind and give a give a grade on this
one yet. But next to against the Broncos, that's going
to be an interesting one because that is you're going
up against a quarterback I think in a situation where
I mean, Bonext to me is not fully playing on time.
(07:22):
He's not, you know, anticipating things super super well. So
I think you can actually get into a situation where,
in like mandatory past type situations, maybe we start to
highlight some of these Bengals defensive backs where you know,
we get a nice play up here, or we get
a nice play there. But it might not just be
every single time down the field.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
I think there's a lot of us who thought that
the Denver Broncos might have the best defense in the NFL,
and maybe by the end of the season they do.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
That has not so much been the case through three games.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
What challenges do they present that are unique for the
Bengals on Monday Night.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
I mean that front is awesome on defense. Now, Unfortunately
for people that wanted that said, oh, you know, Vikings
don we don't have to worry about crazy past rush.
The Broncos front four can just like totally ruin a game,
and I mean they did. Broncos just played the Chargers
justin Herbert was under pressure like the entire entire game.
So I would expect a heck of a lot of
pressure again, unfortunately for everyone involved. Hopefully we get some
(08:17):
nice battles on the outside of if I remember correctly right,
they played the Yeah, they did play last year where
the Bengals were able to kind of take advantage of
the cornerback away from Patrick's certain kind of over and
over again. So Jake Browning, catch the ball, throw it
up there, let's see what happens. Van Joseph isn't having
a blitz as much for the Broncos defense, but uh yeah,
that defensive line versus offensive line mismatch is something that
(08:39):
I think we're unfortunately going to be seeing in this one.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Can't wait.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Sean sayat the Stats and Scheme newsletter for folks who
haven't subscribed, yet they have no idea what they're missing.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Tell folks what they'll get when they do.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
Every single game previewed, reviewed with the best advanced data,
it's gonna point you to exactly what mismatches happened. It's
not as simple as oh, Bengals offensive line is struggling.
It's more of the data underneath that, going at the
player level, getting some schematic notes. So if you just
want to follow the Bengals, that's totally okay. You know, subscribe,
open it up, scroll over a little bit, see who
next week's the puttern is. I think you can learn
(09:14):
a lot about the game each week.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Awesome stuff as always, Man, love having you on. We'll talk.
We'll talk next week.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
Thanks so much, Mom, appreciate you.
This is Football in the Nattie, brought to you in
part by Postman Law and Vice Skyline Chilly on ESPN
fifteen point thirty to the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Casting from Oakley Greens Today. By the way, UZ plays
on the road on Saturday. My producer on site here
and Drew wester Heidi has been devouring these Kansas Jayhawks
game notes. Nobody aside from Lance Leopold himself knows more
about KU football right now than our guy Drew. Maybe
we'll quiz him later on Saturday's game. Let's quiz our guy.
(00:33):
Sean sayed, one of the authors of the Stats and
Scheme newsletter This Man Like Crunch the all twenty two
of that Bengals game on Sunday.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
It's awesome to have you. Do you get hazard pay
for that?
Speaker 4 (00:47):
No, you know that's gonna be a conversation between me
and the producer here is what is gonna have to
go on. But I will say it's always a great
day to talk about the division leading Sincaddy Bengals.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
Ooh, I love how you frame that. The division leading Bengals.
That's right in first place. BOYD doesn't exactly feel like that.
They had a lot of fluky stuff happened in that
game that sort of defies, you know, whatever schemes Zach
Taylor wants to come up with. But the continued inability
to run the football is amplified when you don't have
(01:18):
Joe Burrow. So you've watched this team critically for a while,
why are they so inept? For lack of a better
way of putting it, when it comes to the run.
Speaker 4 (01:27):
Game, it's tough, you know, the run game overall, for
things to work, you have to have every single person
really on the exact same page, where if you just
miss one block, it's going to be a defender right
in the running backs lap. So we all know how
much of a big Chase Brown fan I am, but
you look at his like yards before contact or all
these situations that are a little bit out of his hands.
(01:50):
It just feels like there's always something going on on
the interier of the offensive line, on the exterior of
the offensive line, where guys you just able to run
through or are just able to win one on ones.
And look across the league, it is hard to run block.
I'm not going to pretend like this is some easy thing.
But like that being such a clear issue, is you're
able to kind of cover that well, like you said,
(02:10):
when you have Joe Burrow, when you're throwing all over
defenses back and forth. But it does feel like, all right,
there is just such an issue from a I mean,
it's even hard to look at it at a structural
level sometimes just because like all these guys are getting
beat or someone's always getting beat straight up one on
one and you just can't do anything about it when
there's a defender hitting and running back two yards in
(02:32):
the backfield.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
This might be a really stupid question.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
So the Bengals have offensive linemen who are known as
being better pass blockers and not great run blockers. Are
the majority of NFL offensive linemen. Starting offensive linemen good
at one and not the other.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
I think have a good question. You know, obviously you'd
like to have someone that is just good at both.
And I spent a lot of time watching the Eagles
where they have a bunch of guys that they're happy
kind of in boat spot. I think a lot of
it actually goes down to the college game, where a
lot of these teams are fully spread out and you
know you're passing more like you're running eighty plays a game.
So a lot of these are kind of these quick
RPO type throws. And it's hard in the NFL when
(03:13):
it is really really a big man sport on the inside,
when going up against some of these defensive tackles who
are not just you know, first year players, right, these
guys are are veterans. Although I mean some of the
Vikings guys like they felt like that it didn't matter
who they put in there. So you know, from an
offensive lineman perspective, obviously it's going to change player to player,
and I think if you were to choose one, you
(03:34):
would probably choose the preference of being a better passlocker overall.
But you know, at a small level, it no at
a small sorry, at a small level, it feels like
you got to be able to do one of the other.
And then if you can do the only pass blocking side,
and you have a quarterback who is not there anymore,
in Joe Burrow like, well now I'm just talking to
myself in the circles, trying to find ways to be
(03:56):
optimistic about the.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Welcome to my World, Shawn Sean Saya The Stats and
Scheme newsletter from a sumer Sports arrives in your inbox
multiple times per week.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
So I think, here, what a lot of folks.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Have said, certainly in the aftermath of Sunday, but this
has been a lament for a while. Okay, fine, the
personnel is what it is that they don't have great
run blocking offensive linemen, but the offensive coaching staff has
to come up with a more creative way to use
the running game. If that's the case, and I think
you would probably agree that it is, what do you do?
(04:32):
What can they do creatively that can get more out
of a part of the team that is right now
not very good.
Speaker 4 (04:39):
Yeah, I mean, I see that's a little bit of
a tough one because I'm thinking about it, and I'm
thinking about right, they did run multiple different run plays
where you're getting motion here and there, you're pulling offensive
linemen in different situations. I think back action to the
Vikings their first year with Kevin O'Connell, like they're just
running one type of run over and over and over.
They're not able to be successful in it. It causes
them problem. So I feel like maybe I'm being two
(05:02):
forgiving here. I feel like there's enough of like a
variation in the run game, it does, unfortunately feel like
it kind of falls to the players, and that can't
be the excuse, right, I can say that after watching
the film, But then what do you get to So
do you now only run into super advantageous looks where
maybe you can try and spread the defense out and
you're getting into those kind of RPOs where it's like, hey,
I'm only handing this ball off if there are six
(05:24):
guys in the box, and I feel really really comfortable
about everything in that way. So it may be that
you have to really lean into heavy, heavy personnel where
let's get all of the big bodies on this field,
and look, if you're gonna beat us on the inside,
you're not gonna be able to beat us with your
cornerbacks on our tight ends over and over. So I
do think there's some things you can go to. And
then on the other kind of a stream of it
(05:46):
is you can use the play action pass to set
up the run game too. So if you're successful in
the play action pass game, obviously, in a game like
against the Vikings, when you're down by like thirty points
before everyone even like wakes up to watch the game,
really that is a tough situation to be in. But
if you're in that more neutral game script where it's
you know, hey, we're only down by seven. You sought
to respect the play action pass the pass game, can
(06:07):
you know, hopefully open some things up for the run
game as well.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
I would stop well short of saying that Al Golden's
defense has been good, but they passed the test in
the Browns game. You and I discussed it. They were
opportunistic against Jacksonville. I gotta be honest with you. I've
barely talked about the defense in the aftermath of Sunday
because that was about turnovers and the run game and
all the things that went wrong offensively. Give me a
(06:34):
thirty thousand foot assessment of what you've seen on tape
from the Bengals defensively over three games.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Yeah, but it feels like a little bit of an
incomplete just thinking about who they've played so far and
kind of how things have gone. Obviously, the Browns the
Jaguars game was I think a little tough just overall,
just seeing how the Jaguars were really able to kind
of carve them up in different situations. And I kind
of hesitate to say this, but like Carson Wentz look decent.
So does that just mean like, oh the best, we're
(07:00):
kind of the culprit there. I'm not one hundred percent
sure because you can look at some players up front
and I think get a little bit encouraged on the film.
So I unfortunately am not. I'm not ready to wave
my mind and give a give a grade on this
one yet. But next to against the Broncos, that's going
to be an interesting one because that is you're going
up against a quarterback I think in a situation where
I mean, Bonext to me is not fully playing on time.
(07:22):
He's not, you know, anticipating things super super well. So
I think you can actually get into a situation where,
in like mandatory past type situations, maybe we start to
highlight some of these Bengals defensive backs where you know,
we get a nice play up here, or we get
a nice play there. But it might not just be
every single time down the field.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
I think there's a lot of us who thought that
the Denver Broncos might have the best defense in the NFL,
and maybe by the end of the season they do.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
That has not so much been the case through three games.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
What challenges do they present that are unique for the
Bengals on Monday Night.
Speaker 4 (07:54):
I mean that front is awesome on defense. Now, Unfortunately
for people that wanted that said, oh, you know, Vikings
don we don't have to worry about crazy past rush.
The Broncos front four can just like totally ruin a game,
and I mean they did. Broncos just played the Chargers
justin Herbert was under pressure like the entire entire game.
So I would expect a heck of a lot of
pressure again, unfortunately for everyone involved. Hopefully we get some
(08:17):
nice battles on the outside of if I remember correctly right,
they played the Yeah, they did play last year where
the Bengals were able to kind of take advantage of
the cornerback away from Patrick's certain kind of over and
over again. So Jake Browning, catch the ball, throw it
up there, let's see what happens. Van Joseph isn't having
a blitz as much for the Broncos defense, but uh yeah,
that defensive line versus offensive line mismatch is something that
(08:39):
I think we're unfortunately going to be seeing in this one.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Can't wait.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Sean sayat the Stats and Scheme newsletter for folks who
haven't subscribed, yet they have no idea what they're missing.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Tell folks what they'll get when they do.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
Every single game previewed, reviewed with the best advanced data,
it's gonna point you to exactly what mismatches happened. It's
not as simple as oh, Bengals offensive line is struggling.
It's more of the data underneath that, going at the
player level, getting some schematic notes. So if you just
want to follow the Bengals, that's totally okay. You know, subscribe,
open it up, scroll over a little bit, see who
next week's the puttern is. I think you can learn
(09:14):
a lot about the game each week.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Awesome stuff as always, Man, love having you on. We'll talk.
We'll talk next week.
Speaker 4 (09:21):
Thanks so much, Mom, appreciate you.
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