Bengals Offense Must WAKE UP, Broncos MNF + RIP Rudi Johnson | Enter the Jungle

Bengals Offense Must WAKE UP, Broncos MNF + RIP Rudi Johnson | Enter the Jungle

The Bengals offense stinks. We have to break that down. We have to discuss confidence level going into Monday Night Football and much, much more right now on Enter the Jungle. [Music] Hi again everyone and welcome in to Enter the Jungle. I’m James RP. He’s Andrew Fox Miller. Make sure you catch us every single Tuesday at 8 Eastern on the YouTube channel Cincinnati Bengals Talk weekly on FanDuel Sports Network. This show is always brought to you by FanDuel. Also support our partners Lakes Spur Marketing and Garage Beer. And Andrew, let’s get into it because this Bengals offense, well, it stinks. Put up a whopping 10 points in Minnesota. They’re hitting the road to go to Denver. We’re going to get into that Monday night matchup coming up in just a bit. But who do you put the blame on right now for this offense? Obviously, Joe Burrow’s hurt. they were going to take a a step back, but five turnovers or the ground game is terrible. Jake Browning throws two interceptions, including a pick six and a sack three times, who deserves to blame for this offense being as bad as it’s been through three weeks. Honestly, I want to just say everyone I do. Like anything else, if you’re choosing nuance where it’s a little bit on a player with a fumble, even if uncharacteristic or Joe Burrow’s injury certainly doesn’t help things, the front office could have drafted differently, targeted better needs and free agency, everyone. However, if we focus in, if we distill all of these little and big things into one target to blame, I think it’s fair to look at the head coach. I mean, there was no there was no fight in this team. Like, there was seemingly poor andor insufficient preparation. Coaches can solve that. Players certainly share responsibility for that. But it begins and ends with the head coach, right? I mean, I I see teams around the NFL, James, with worse teams on paper that have some fight in them, that are interesting, that in some cases are winning football games. Sunday was the worst game I can remember seeing in real time with the Bengals. But let’s not also lose sight of the ugly wins against the Browns in week one. Jacksonville wasn’t pretty either. like I can’t figure out what this team is without or even with Joe Burrow on both sides of the ball on Zack Taylor’s watch. So, I’m going to simplify it as best I can and say the head coach has to fix this, right? He does. He There’s no doubt. I mean, we’re we’re we’re getting towards the end of September and so it is on the head coach, but the the the right answer is everyone. Yeah, it is everyone. It’s the front office. or not or well the front office needs to just start watching Cincinnati Bengals talk or listening or or paying attention to End of the Jungle because I mentioned to them all offseason how they needed not one but two starting guards. Did I not say two starting guards? I feel like I’ve said two starting guards for the past six months. I said that was their biggest need, not defense when the whole world was talking about defense. I was talking about guards and defense, you know, and and and it kept coming up and coming up and coming up and coming up. And shocker, they can’t run the ball. And I do agree with you. Zack Taylor deserves a ton of the blame. And it’s up to him to fix it because now they’re in it. Now now they’re in in this race. And when you’re in the race, you got to find a way. And that’s it is very much that cut and dry, that simple. But I I do think it’s deeper. I do because when you move on from Alex Kappa in February before free agency starts, that should be a signal that you’re going to make a significant addition in free agency at that guard spot. They didn’t do it. They get into the draft and they don’t take a guard in round one. Don’t really crush him for that. I understand that. Don’t take a guard in round two. Even though Tate Ratlage, who shined by the way on Monday Night Football against the Baltimore Ravens as a member of the Detroit Lions, he’s sitting there in round two, starting right guard for Georgia, just plugandplay type player. And guess what? The Bengals pass on him for Demetrius Knight Jr. I like Demetrius and I think he can be a good player, but that’s not the point. The point is you need your offense to function. You need your offense to be have some nastiness to it. you need your offense to have multiple young players in the trenches that you feel like can be difference makers and and I think that’s what you’re seeing over the first few weeks. I think Dylan Fairchild’s played okay. We have a revolving door at right guard. You have a veteran in Ted Carris who hasn’t played up to to his potential and what we’ve seen him play at. And while I expect that to change, it’s been underwhelming to this point. And the free agent addition, you did bring in Daltton Risyner. You waited way too long. He wasn’t necessarily ready even though he got thrown in there 10 days after signing with the team and playing more than a half of football due to the Lucas Patrick injury. It’s just it’s been one thing after another and that snowball effect is real. And so the front office deserves blame. And I I wanted to point that out, but I agree with you. Zack Taylor is the one now that I’m looking at and I’m saying, “All right, you have your new offensive line coach. You believe in Jake Browning. Chase Brown was really productive last year. You need to find a way to make this work, Zach. So, I agree with you in that sense. Yeah. And again, I can’t help but think about the fact that you look at that two in one record and those two wins, it’s not like they were night and day as far as how the game plan played out, how individual performances played out. It just hasn’t been a fun season. And this should have been thrilling. You sign all the big weapons. I I understand the offensive line. We had our criticisms about that. You lose Joe Burrow obviously, but I I understand there’s there’s some element of being a fan and rooting for a team. It’s always going to be difficult on you stress on emotions, so on and so forth. But it always feels like a chore. And now you’ve got Jake Browning who has the opportunity in front of him and somehow everything feels like it’s regressing. And it just I don’t want to say it doesn’t make sense. I feel like we’ve seen moments like this before. This feels bigger. Maybe the redemption, maybe the turnaround can be bigger and they can make a statement. It’s still early in the season. I get it. But you can’t feel very encouraged after week three, of course. But honestly, those first two weeks, I didn’t love it. We talked about it each week. Didn’t feel great about it. Just glad they won. Now I know I don’t know if we’re going to get that. Sure. It’s it’s a fair it’s a fair way to be in in a a fair feeling to have. And why? Well, Jake Browning is the quarterback and with Jake Browning at quarterback, Chase Brown averaged less than a foot per carry the other day. I mean, sometimes you just got to say it out loud. Chase Brown averaged less than a foot per carry, 10 carries for.3 yards a carry. Finished with three total yards against the Minnesota Vikings. Brutal. this run game in general needs to be better. Even without that, let’s say it was 10 carries for 30 yards, I’d still say they needed to be better. And that’s not good enough with Jake Browning at quarterback. And that’s what’s scary here. They haven’t done anything consistently well yet. And if Joe Burrow were healthy, well, then you’d be like, “Oh, well, Joe’s going to figure it out.” Because that’s what Joe does. And that’s what Joe and Zach have done. But now without Joe with clearly a lackluster at best. I mean right now it’s a an awful it’s the worst running rushing attack in the NFL and their passing game isn’t much better. And that’s the other thing that concerns me and and something that cannot happen moving forward really ever. Like Joe Burrow is your star and you can play through him and so if you’re not going to play through Jamar one week or play through T one week, we have Joe Burrow. So, I kind of get it and that might be by happen stance against the Vikings on the Bengals basically when they got the ball back with two minutes to go. Jamar Chase had two catches for three yards. T. Higgins had one catch for 15 yards. That cannot happen. That cannot be the game plan. I don’t care who’s guarding those guys. I don’t care what defense, what pass rush, doesn’t matter. Those are your big- time weapons. And regardless of what the defense is doing, regardless of what’s happening on the other side, you have to find a way to get them involved. And and and so that should be your constant. That should be your steadying presence. Jamar Chase and T. Higgins. It’s not going to be your run game. It’s not going to be your tight ends. It’s not going to be your quarterback with Jake Browning. And so what is it? If I’m Zack Taylor, it’s my star receivers. That’s what it needs to be moving forward. outside of against Jacksonville when they really ran things through Jamar. It it it’s kind of felt like they’ve let the opponent dictate what they do offensively. And that’s no way to live, especially when you have those guys on the outside. Yeah, I’m certainly not a qualified NFL coach, head coach, or otherwise. But you’re not a coach. No, no, I’m not. But and we can make a whole segment out of that one if you want. But I could tell you right now, James, that looking at it, let’s just look at it its most simple terms. Sometimes you just got to look at the simplest option and it’s what you just said right there. I would be doing everything I can to get the ball in Jamar Chase’s hands and T. Higgins hands as quickly and easily as possible. It shouldn’t be impossible. You shouldn’t look like a high school level team against any defense in the NFL when you have those weapons. I don’t care if you’re doing Wildcat. Get the ball in their hands and see what happens because we haven’t seen it. Not enough of it. Hardly any of it. That should be the number one priority, especially if you’re going to lean into the passing game. There’s got to be a way. There has to be. We’ve seen it. It’s never consistent when they actually find a solution. And I don’t know. Again, go back, Zack Taylor. We got to find a solution. Have to be more productive on offense. This offense supposed to be the top in the league. I get it. It’s going to take a step back without Joe Burrow. It still needs to be a higherend offense, a top 10 offense in this league. It really does. If if Zack Taylor is this genius offensive mind and you have Joe out, but you have Jamar and you have T, they should still be really really good. Especially because I do think Chase Brown, I talked to a veteran last week. He’s like, “Yeah, Chase Brown’s one of our best players.” Chase Brown can play, so put him in position to make plays. What’s our confidence level going into a Monday night matchup in Denver as the Bengals try to get to 3-1 for the first time since 2021? We’ll get into that coming up next. Welcome back to En of the Jungle. He’s Andrew Fox Miller. I’m James Earpine. And Andrew, let’s dive into some Monday night potential madness. It might be Monday night madness in Denver because the Bengals, they’re trying to get to 3-1 for the first time since 2021. They’re trying to shake off the worst loss in franchise history. Meanwhile, Denver, Shawn Peyton’s Denver Broncos, they’re one and two and they’re trying to get to to 500 and avoid a one and three start, which when he was talking about all preseason, how this is the best team he’s had in a really long time and comparing it to the Super Bowl team in New Orleans, well, expectations were really, really high in Denver coming into this year. So, pressures on both of these teams to get a win and to to bounce back after losses. What is your confidence level in this Bengals team right now that they can go to Denver and win? I’m honestly not sure that I can say anything that is fully realized when it comes to confidence in this team after 3 weeks. We said it. We witnessed the worst game of the Zack Taylor era, the worst loss in franchise history. Where do you go from there when it asks about confidence? Do I think we’ll see another game like that this season? I guess I’m confident that it can’t get any worse. It it’s it’s all uphill from here. What do you say? I I’m not betting on the Bengals. Let’s just put it that way. That’s where I’m at right now. Would it shock me if they come away with win? No, it wouldn’t shock me. We could see two different teams backtoback weeks. We’ve seen it before. But as of now, I do not blame oddsmakers for making the adjustments based on week three especially. Yeah, and we’re going to get to the odds brought to you by FanDuel coming up in just a second. By the way, this segment is brought to you by Lakespur Marketing. If you’re looking to scale your marketing, the Lakes Marketing team can be your trusted marketing agency. They have a broad range of experience regardless of industry. They pride themselves on building partnerships and building a great relationship with their clients. Lakes Marketing, the proof is in their partners is at lakesmarketing.com today. Andrew, yeah, I I think one they’re going to play much better this week. I’m just going to go out there and you can’t play much worse, right? Especially on offense. I do think they bounce back. I think Jake Browning is resilient. I think a lot of these offensive linemen were embarrassed by how they performed. And I think Zack Taylor is going to find some answers. The crappy part is is you’re going into a hostile environment. You’re going to have to deal with the altitude and it’s a Denver team that’s going to be just as desperate, maybe more desperate. And and that’s just it’s a really tough spot to be in. So, I don’t know if I’m confident that they’re going to win this game. I’m confident that they’re going to play better, that they’re going to look better, that they’re going to be competitive. I would be surprised if the Bengals just get blown out in this game. Maybe it happens. Maybe it’s the same thing and it’s multiple turnovers and Jake Browning just cannot hold on to the football. And if that’s the case, a week from now, we’re going to be having a real conversation. But as of now, I do think that they’ll find some answers, that they’ll play more to their strengths. And honestly, they can’t go into this game. One thing that I thought that Zack Taylor did is went into the Vikings game saying, “All right, we got to play it safe here. We’re we’re we’re going to lean on the run game. We’re going to lean on our tight ends. We’re going to play some 12 personnel. We’re going to go this this grimy, gritty route of how to win.” And I’m just not sure they should try to win that way. and maybe let the game dictate it, but don’t go into a game saying, “Well, we’re going to win that way.” Go into a game saying, “All right, I’m gonna let Jake Browning spread the ball out.” And if it’s Jamar Chase, great. If it’s Chase Brown, great. If it’s T Higgins, great. And then go to your other options, all those other guys from Mike Cassiki to Andre Yosvage and and guys that we haven’t seen much of this year, they have the weapons still. And so, how do you maximize those weapons? You got to spread the ball around and get the ball in their hand. I hands I I think that that does happen this week in Denver. I’m not sure if it’s going to be enough on Monday night, we’ll be covering it, but I I am confident that they bounce back in that way. Yeah, I think to your point, if you come in with a certain game plan, whether it’s right or wrong, well, let’s just go assume if it’s wrong, maybe have some sort of identity in the plan that you have following that. have showed some signs of preparation in terms of we know exactly what we need to be if what we come into this game to do doesn’t work. And I know it was just like a massacre against the Vikings. How do you how do you make adjustments in that scenario? But again, plenty of moments where I feel like you could have shown some fight, some glimpses into the idea that they can try or make or look like they’re meaningfully trying to recover from what was occurring. And I didn’t see it in this game. So, going back to what we’re saying here in that whatever you go into Denver with, show that you’ve got the preparation to make the adjustment and execute on it, whatever that may look like. Even if it ends up being wrong, I would love to see some form of an identity take shape. And if they don’t win, let’s just hope we’re seeing wins in the areas that we’ve been mentioning. What if what if they lose? But we’re seeing real hope for the run game. I feel pretty good about that, right? I mean, so I wouldn’t what I need to They need to win, Andrew. Obviously, it’s about winning. It’s about winning the game. Don’t Don’t Don’t be giving I’m trying to see Joe Burrow play football again this year. How do you see Joe Burrow play football again? You win games and so that’s it. Don’t Don’t give me this even if they win ugly. I know you’re checking a box and getting your way closer to Joe Burrow, but if they win like they won in week one, if they win, I guess kind of like what they want to do. They have 50 interceptions, they turn the ball over 50 times, but win three nothing. That is better than the scenario you laid out. I will take that all day long. Speaking of winning, does FanDuel think the Bengals are going to win? We’ll take a look at the odds coming up next. Welcome back to Enter the Jungle. He’s Andrew Fox Miller. I’m James Orin and it is time to look at our NFL odds for week four brought to you by FanDuel. FanDuel is ready for the NFL season which is in full swing and here’s an offer you’re not going to want to miss. New customers can bet just $5 and get $300 in bonus bets if you win. That’s right. Pick a bet. Bet five bucks and if it wins you unlock 300 bucks and bonus bets to use all across the app and build parlays, player props, ride the lines, whatever your style, FanDuel has you covered. The NFL season is in full swing in the Bengals. Well, they’re seven and a half point underdogs in Denver. Visit FanDuel.com/bigplay. That’s fandle.com/bigplay to download the FanDuel app today and get started. Must be 21 plus and present in Ohio. First online real wager only. $5 first deposit required. Bonus issued is non-withdrawable. Bonus bets to expire 7 days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling problem? Call 1800 gambler. And Andrew, like I mentioned, the Bengals seven and a half point underdogs in Denver. Your instant reaction to this line. So far, you’ve taken the Bengals in each of the first three weeks of the season. Are you leaning Bengals here? Are you leaning Broncos? Well, it’s my money. I got to protect it here, James. So, I’m going to go into this objectively with that in mind. I also should mention this is exciting. Real time. As we are recording this, the numbers change. I saw it adjust as you were essentially doing that read. They’re now seven point favorites the Broncos are. I don’t know why the half point change, but so here we are. Look inside as we sit here and and record Enter the Jungle and how things can quickly change. With that said, doesn’t really change my answer. Like the you you kind of alluded to it earlier, the Broncos, they’d lost two straight games in fourth quarter collapses. Say what you want about revenge games for the Bengals, about the meltdown that was week three, but the Broncos have as much like right to win in terms of being in prove it mode. So, I don’t think this is going to be a 48-10 game, but I’m I’m thinking this should be a two-score game from this Broncos offense. So, I’m I’m betting on Broncos here, man. Wow. Yep. Wow. My money, you know. I get it. I get it. And FanDuel is about to take it. I will use my $5 bet to get those $300 at fanuel.com/bigplay. Uh I lean Bengals here and especially at 7 and a half. Seven seven makes it more interesting for sure. 7 and a half Jamar Chase scores a touchdown when they’re down 14 with a minute to go. Like that that half point is huge. And so clearly uh some of the some of the someone whether it’s fans or whatever money kind of bet that down a little bit by a half point. So we’ll see what happens. But uh yeah, we’re going to have plenty all week long on the YouTube channel Cincinnati Bengals talk ahead of Monday Night Football. From the current Bengals to a Bengals legend that has passed away. We will get to the sad sad news coming up next. Welcome back to Enter the Jungle. I’m James and he’s Andrew Fox Miller. And sad news broke on Tuesday morning when TMZ reported that former Bengals running back Rudy Johnson passed away at the age of 45. Rudy was a star. I mean, the definition of a star in the early 2000s for the Bengals. His stretch from 2004 to 2006 uh was as good as any stretch for any running back in Bengals history. He ran for 36 touchdowns, over 4,000 yards over that span. still holds the single season rushing record for the Bengals, 1458 yards, Andrew. And uh that was during the 2005 season, which is my favorite Bengals team of all time. I was 14 years old. The Bengals made the playoffs for the first time, winning the North, and it was Carson, and it was Chad, and it was Rudy leading the way on offense. Willie Anderson at at right tackle. It was just uh a heck of a team, and Rudy Johnson was a big big part of it. So, rest in peace, Rudy Johnson. Yeah, right there with you. I I could tell you in that era of Bengals, you look around at the time Paul Brown Stadium and it was a lot of Johnson jerseys and it was 85 and 32 just scattered throughout that stadium for years even after Rudy was no longer on the team. So yeah, shocking news to say the least. And man, 45 too young man. Yeah, he was going to be 46 next week. And and the thing I think about Rudy, so last week Jamar Chase talked about this, how T has the T chance. Yeah, it was a couple weeks ago. Well, well, Rudy Mhm. the the Rudy chants were as good as any chant when it comes to to Por Stadium in the history of that stadium. It was Paul Brown Stadium, obviously, when Rudy played there. So, yeah, our our thoughts are with his family during this tough time and uh a Bengals legend through and through. Someone that uh yeah, is part of, like I said, my favorite Bengals team ever and a huge huge part of it. We’re going to have you covered all week long, like I mentioned on the YouTube channel, Cincinnati Bengals talk ahead of Monday Night Football. For Andrew Fox Miller, I’m James. Thank you so much for watching and listening to Enter the Jungle. [Music]

The Cincinnati Bengals are reeling after an ugly loss to the Minnesota Vikings, and Cincinnati now heads into Monday Night Football against the Denver Broncos with major questions. James Rapien and Andrew Fox Miller discuss the state of the Bengals’ offense, who deserves the blame for their struggles, how the run game is holding the team back, the lack of involvement for Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, and their confidence level heading into MNF in Denver. Plus, updated betting odds and FanDuel’s line for Bengals vs. Broncos. The guys also take a moment to remember Bengals legend Rudi Johnson, who tragically passed away at age 45.

00:00 Who is to blame for Bengals offense?
10:36 Can Bengals bounce back in Week 4?
16:38 Broncos vs. Bengals FanDuel odds
19:44 RIP Rudi Johnson

Bengals Offense Must WAKE UP Before Monday Night Football in Denver | Enter the Jungle

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