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00:00:00
Speaker 1: Sunday is going to be so much fun. Don't forget pregame coverage at the Holy Grail starts at 3 o'clock. Countdown to kickoff at 7. And the game live on ESPN 1530 from Paycor Stadium at 820. Brett Coleman is a name you should know. Follow him on X and Instagram at Brett Coleman. Two Ts, two Ls. His last name starts with a K. He hosts NFL Pro along with Trevor Sykema, guy we've had on the show. And you can find this every Monday, Thursday, and Friday at 5 o'clock on the NFL channel. across fast platforms, YouTube, NFL Plus, and the NFL app. By the way, voting is currently open for the 2026 NFL Channel Mid-Season Awards. Joe Burrow nominee for MVP. Voting is underway now. NFL.com slash NFL Channel. Voting closes Sunday at 7 o'clock. Brett, I'm going to go back to July. You previewed every team season. You went game by game for every single team back in July. You had the Bengals losing this one, so you have to stay with that, okay?
00:01:02
Speaker 2: Oh, man. You know, this is a tough one because I think both teams have a really good argument for why they're going to win this game. And weirdly, for the first time in a long time, I think it's because of offensive line play for both of them. And I know a lot of Bengals fans are like, well, you know, we have an MVP caliber quarterback. We've got great receivers. You're correct. But the only reason this play style to me is working, you know, them throwing over 60% of the time on early downs and you know burrows on pace for like 55 touchdowns the only reason that's working not because they haven't tried it before but because they now have a mary's mims at right tackle who might be the best right tackle in football this year and even going back to when they played against the steelers the first time like he destroyed tj watt you know 22 reps against him didn't allow a single pressure you know we're breaking that down on the show this week in terms of his ability to win with quickness power and technique all the same time like he is a rare rare right tackle And going back to past seasons when they tried to do this pass-happy approach, they never really had the offensive line to make it work that could lower the pressure rate enough to justify throwing this often. Now they have that offensive line, and you're seeing the results. It looks like the mid-2010s Peyton Manning-led Broncos. As long as that offensive line stays healthy, and in particular Marius Mims, as long as he's erasing edge rushers like Watt and Will Anderson every single week, they're going to be fine. And then the others, and then on the other side, you have a very young, talented Steelers offensive line that, you know, going back again to that first matchup, like they were running at Dexter Lawrence and having success. And I know again, some Bengals fans like, well, yeah, they picked them up off the ground. Yeah, that's true. But there were a bunch of other reps where they legitimately just double team Dexter Lawrence and, and, you know, Jalen Warren got 40 yards out of it. So it wasn't just a couple of reps where they kind of sort of committed a penalty. It's other stuff too. So, great offensive line for a great offensive line As a neutral third-party observer, I cannot wait to watch.
00:03:03
Speaker 1: Break this down for me because it felt like at halftime of the Baltimore game, the Bengals looked in the mirror and said, okay, this whole Burrow under center thing, it's not who we are. It's like looking in the mirror when you have a bad outfit on and you go, you know what? This isn't me. I'm changing. And so they've kind of gone back, as you talked about, Burrow in the gun, throw in the chase, throw in the Higgins with a better offensive line. At the same time, they did spend the entire offseason working on putting Burrow under center so they can run it more effectively and so they can run play action. Why didn't it work?
00:03:38
Speaker 2: You know, honestly, not to blame one guy. I think it was Chase Brown. If you're looking at yards before contact per attempt, the offensive line was doing just fine. They were like 1.7, 1.8 yards before contact per attempt, which means Brown wasn't really being touched until he was almost two yards past the line of scrimmage. The problem is Brown's yards after contact per attempt was among the worst among all running backs with a decent sample size. So he just wasn't really maximizing the degrees that they were giving him. Ironically, the same where they did have some success, but That, to me, was, I think, one of the biggest things that was dragging them down is they couldn't get explosives or consistency out of him for most of the first half of the season. That's why a lot of people were looking at a Jonathan Taylor trade or a Derrick Henry trade in the first place. It's like, let's just get some more consistency here out of the room that we're giving them. Ultimately, I think the reason why they didn't do that trade, beyond just the fact that the Colts wanted unreasonable compensation for Taylor, is if they are going to be throwing... 65% of the time, 60% of the time on early downs, if they are going to be throwing that much, do we really want to spend a high pick on a running back who might only get the ball on say 20 to 25% of our total snaps? Like, is that really worth the investment or do we just try to make chase Brown better, which you know, maybe doesn't sound like the best plan, but if we're trying to maximize the window that we have now while preserving the window that we're trying to build in the future, We can't just keep giving picks away. We do need to have a talent pipeline in place. So I think it was understandable from both perspectives. And ultimately, I agree with what they did, which was nothing.
00:05:23
Speaker 1: So let's talk about that from a defensive perspective, because even when the Jonathan Taylor thing came up, there were a lot of us who were like, cool, but he doesn't play linebacker. He
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doesn't play edge. He doesn't play safety. He doesn't play slot corner. And so, OK, don't trade for Jonathan Taylor. But but isn't there an argument they should have done? And I know they tried, which is a different story in itself. Should they have done something to address one of those defensive deficiencies?
00:05:50
Speaker 2: I have to assume they poked around at least and just didn't like some of the prices that were being thrown at them. You know, we're seeing around the NFL, these prices for in-season trades. I mean, Imani Hooker went for a second round pick, right? Like these, these prices are kind of egregious for some of these deals and they just didn't want to compromise their future talent pipeline. And I get it. Like if you're looking at the, the, the cap rate, not to get into future seasons in a year that's, you know, all about the right now, but if you're looking at the cap, like they're going to have two receivers that are making 19% of their salary cap next year. Like they need picks to keep this window going. And they don't want to just keep operating in these one year windows. Like they want to build something sustainable. And like, I understand not wanting to give up a second rounder for an okay player, which is the prices that a lot of these teams were paying. And I think their trust in their coaching staff to get the most out of what they have. And, I know Bengals fans are frustrated, but I promise if you get to April and you're on the clock, you're going to want that second rounder in this class. So I just think you have to be patient. You have to trust the staff, which I know asking Bengals fans to do that with this particular staff is really, really hard to do. But I ultimately agree with them not getting bent over a barrel here. The prices were too high.
00:07:13
Speaker 1: When you watch this team's defense critically, especially in the back seven, because up front, you mentioned Dexter Lawrence has been worth everything they gave up. He's been better than I think even the most optimistic folks expected. Boy, a mafia move I know you really liked. That's paid off. Up front, Jonathan Allen has proven to have gas in the tank. The back seven, maybe aside from DJ Turner, has often, not all the time, but often left behind. a lot to be desired. So the fixes are going to have to come from within. If you're Al Golden, what do you do?
00:07:45
Speaker 2: Man, this is the tough one, right? Because I think the style that they want to play, they want to be aggressive on the back end and leave these guys one-on-one, but they just can't trust them outside of DJ. And so now if you're being forced to play more of like an umbrella style of like a don't get beat deep, you know, nothing cheap, nothing deep. If you're, if you're being forced to play that style and, you're relying on your front four to then win so quickly that you are forcing those quick throws where we can rally and tackle and just kind of grind you down. And so it does put a lot of pressure on this defensive line to win. I think early on in the season they were. I think recently it's tailed off a little bit. But if they can just get this front four back to rushing like they were in September, where they were a top, not even top ten, they were like a top six or seven team, four-man rush in the league if they can get them back to that they'll be okay but if they have to send five if they have to send six to get consistent pressure due to injuries or just guys falling off like whatever the reason is if they have to blitz more to get pressure that's leaving more space on the back end and they only have one guy on the back end that can really do it so it's yeah i don't want to alarm bengals man gotta trust the coaches on this one and just hope for.
00:09:03
Speaker 1: The best Okay, we're trying. We're trying. And they are.
00:09:07
Speaker 2: I know. You guys have been traumatized so much. It's a hard lift. It's a really hard lift. I get it. And you're on a knife's edge. The division is winnable. Like, I understand. the reason why Bengals fans are so frustrated because like, Hey, we have an opportunity here. The Raven season is effectively over. The Browns realistically aren't really a threat. We just have to deal with a 40 plus year old Aaron Rodgers. Let's go win the division. Let's go win the AFC, like foot on the gas pedal. I get it, but you're gonna, you're eventually going to have to reckon with the fact that the 2026 window still can be opened into a 2027 window and a 2028 window. And, You know, sometimes spending a bunch of picks just gets you to the wrong place faster, and you just have to trust the process as long as Burrow is there, as long as this offensive line is there. good, as long as you have these receivers, Dexter Lawrence, you're going to have a window. Just please, please trust the process.
00:10:09
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the chessboard on Sunday night. It's a different Bengals offense than we saw week three in Pittsburgh. They're playing better, and they're playing differently. This is a very good Pittsburgh defense. Inside that matchup, when Cincinnati has the football, where are you most intrigued? Boy.
00:10:31
Speaker 2: I guess I could just go with the cliche, Jamar, right?
00:10:36
Speaker 1: Sure.
00:10:36
Speaker 2: Just because, like, he's box office.
00:10:40
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:10:40
Speaker 2: Right? He is box office. Anytime they're on the field, other than a Marius Mims, that's who I'm watching. Because he is, and I do not say this lightly, he's the best Bengals receiver I've ever seen. And that is a high bar to clear. It is. And, you know, obviously you're a Bengals fan. Like, peak Jamar– was AJ ever that good? Was Ocho ever that good? Like anybody in Bengals history, would you ever take them over Pete Jamar? I'm not sure I would.
00:11:09
Speaker 1: No. And it's, it's a franchise that for, for all of their inconsistencies, we'll go with that. They've always been really good at that position. You mentioned two iconic players, Chad Johnson's beloved in this city. Jamar Chase has authored some of the best games I've ever seen any wide receiver play. much less a Cincinnati wide receiver. He has been, he has been awesome. I can't thank you enough for doing this Sunday night is going to be a lot of fun. I know you're breaking this down along with all the other NFL action this week, NFL pro with Trevor Sycamore on Mondays, Thursdays today, obviously tomorrow, five o'clock NFL channel across fast platforms, YouTube, NFL plus, and the YouTube app. Brett, I can't thank you enough, man. Thanks so much.
00:11:51
Speaker 2: Of course. Thank you. And please Bengals fans have faith.
00:11:54
Speaker 1: We'll do our best. Again, follow Brett on X and Instagram. B-R-E-T-T-K-O-L-L-M-A-N-N. And find him on NFL Channel, NFL Pro, Fast Platforms, YouTube, NFL Plus, and the NFL app. And vote for Joe Burrow. Nine categories. Joe is up for nominee of MVP, Mid-Season Awards. Winners announced at 8 o'clock on Sunday. Voting closes at 7 p.m. on Sunday. Bengals and Steelers coming up on ESPN 1530. We're going to go to Pittsburgh next. ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station.