Joe Flacco’s Impact and Bengals’ Narrow Path to Victory vs Packers

Joe Flacco’s Impact and Bengals’ Narrow Path to Victory vs Packers

Starting with the Green Bay Packers isn’t easy or ideal for the Bengals with Joe Flacco. But in a week where hope has maybe been sparked, let’s find out what Flaco can do in his first Bengals start. You are Locked on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast, part of the Locked On. Your team every day. What up Bengals fans and welcome to another episode of the Lockown Bengals podcast. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. I’m Jake LCO. He’s James Renee. We are your hosts of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Giving you a one-stop shop here on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast for everything that you need to know about the Cincinnati Bengals, including analysis, including the latest news, what’s going on with the team. Just makes it easy, especially if you’re an everydayer. You make us your first listen. And you’ll get everything you need to know about your Cincinnati Bengals in one place here on Locked on Bengals. Today we dive into what to expect with Joe Flacco taking over starting quarterback for the Bengals. And a tough starting test with the Green Bay Packers. A tough pass rush, a tough defense, a tough team overall for things to get started for Joe Flacco and Cincinnati. But there will be some changes in the way we see the quarterback position played I think with Flaco taking over for Jake Browning. And as we kind of are every week right now, James, kind of just looking for a path toward NFL viability. Can the Bengals not get blown out this week? Can they maybe beat their 14point underdog expectations as sorry 14 and a half point underdog expectations as set forth by FanDuel and Vegas very unconfident in the Bengals right now. But I thought we could start with with Joe Flacco a little bit, James, how things are going to change around him being the quarterback instead of Jake Browning. Obviously, he’s got the experience in these different systems. I got to watch a little bit of tape since we last talked since the Bengals made the move because, you know, you don’t really study Joe Flacco in the year 2025. It’s the first time I’ve watched Joe Flacco tape intently in couldn’t even tell you how long. Uh you you’ve obviously been down at the practice, saw him in person on Wednesday, have have had a chance to see how he’s fitting in with the team, have heard from Zack Taylor. What are your thoughts on what changes with Flaco at quarterback? Well, I I do think that there one is just belief. Let’s just start there before we get to X’s and O’s and all of those things. Like belief that they have someone that can get more out of their strength. And that’s super high level. But when you’re two and three and you’ve been outscored like the Bengals have 113 to 37. And I know you don’t count 28 of those points because all four of those garbage time touchdowns were garbage time, right? So let’s do the Jake LCO math. I think there’s at least one garbage time touchdown for the Lions. So we’ll take that out. 106 to9 is a hell of a score, right? That that is a that’s a rough score. And uh there’s probably a joke or two in there about a one-on-one game or something that I can make. I’m not going to make it. The point is is the Bengals have sucked on offense and that’s supposed to be their strength. And I know now and and this is part of why early in the week I was really pushing for a move. It was starting to break apart. It hadn’t broken apart. I don’t think you were getting the fingerpointing yet, but I think it was starting. I I could start to tell just how just little comments and little things that uh was said. And so this what this does is either one extends the inevitable if they sink still or the change up the switch up the 66 220 plus pound guy who was kind of hovering over Jake Browning as Jake talked on Wednesday. I don’t know if you saw any video but it like whether it’s that or if it’s photos of of Joe or video of Joe in the field you can tell why 40-year-old Joe Flacco was a a first round pick in 20 2008. like you can tell when he throws the ball why he’s had such a a long career because it is unique. I I pulled up a a clip on Tuesday night as I was just kind of going through things and reflecting on the trade and I put it out on social of Joe Bro just praising Joe Flacco ahead of their week one matchup for his arm talent and his arm strength. And so how does this offense change? They should be able to get the ball to their playmakers. Now, there’s a lot of things that need to happen for that to happen, of course, as as I I think plenty of people listening and watching uh are able to to to put together or have concerns about, and we’ll get to those, but there were times specifically in the Denver game, and Jake Browning pointed this game out, so I want to highlight it. He’s like, “Oh, I didn’t throw any interceptions in the Denver game, and we lost 28 to three.” I actually thought that was his worst game. I thought he was so bad in the Denver game. Left so many plays on the field. the offensive line had a tough matchup and gave him a chance to make some plays and he didn’t make any of them and and so obviously you can’t turn the ball over but uh even if you do make some plays and I think the Bengals think Joe Flacco is going to be able to do that for them. That’s the balance, right? I think it was the second worst game if I was to rank them. I was thinking about it as you said that I think that last week was probably the worst. Denver was the second worst. Minnesota was the third worst. Jacksonville was the fourth worst because you know they made enough plays. They made enough plays in Jacksonville. There were a lot of turnovers and the turnovers were bad. There is a cutup that Justice Moscada, who covers the Packers, I think Acme Packing Company, put up of all of Jake Browning’s interceptions this year. I put up a cutup of all of Joe Flacco’s interceptions this year. So, you can go find those tweets and compare them and and look at the kinds of picks that Jake Browning is throwing versus the kinds of picks that Joe Flacco is throwing. I thought that one of Flaco’s picks was egregious. I thought the rest were, you know, tip balls or there was a fourth and eight hail Mary kind of throw that wasn’t a great throw by any means, but it was a fourth and eight going into the half that was kind of a yolo ball. There’s a miscommunication or two in there. The Browns receivers were really bad. Um, and and when Flack goes off his spot, things kind of break down, but the the difference between those interceptions and Jake Browning’s interceptions are like a lot of Browning’s interceptions are clean pocket. Some of them are pressured a little bit, but a lot of them are clean pocket and just not seeing the field, just not processing, just not understanding where he can put the ball, where the defenders are. And that’s why for for me, the most recent week was the most troubling. Just some of those interceptions in that game are just sure unfathomably bad quarterback play. If you include the fourth quarter, then you can maybe make an argument that he was worse against ever, but I count the fourth quarter. We we know my philosophy on the garbage time play there. Real quick, the Analone interception just the first possession of the third quarter. It’s just so bad. Like you could have picked it. I could have picked it. Uh the Bob, our listener right now, could have picked like anyone in that area could have picked it. And there was no Bengal that realistically could have gotten close to it, which is very scary. Like I’ve said when talking about that play a number of times now, even if there are zero defensive backs on the field, zero back seven players on the field for the Detroit Lions, that is at best an incomplete pass. It’s so far behind Mike Gaseki. Like the the late decisions, the inaccurate balls from Jake Browning that are left inside in harm’s way. You’re going to have inaccuracy with Joe Flacco. You’re going to have turnovers with Joe Flacco. His accuracy is somewhere between Jake Browning and Joe Burrow. what we’ve seen from Jake Browning this year. He will miss passes. There will be missed ball placement opportunities for Flacco. But to me, one of the biggest differences between Jake Browning at quarterback and Joe Flacco at quarterback from what I watched and I watched Joe Flacco’s intermediate attempts, I watched some se several splits. I watched a lot of his snaps against the Green Bay Packers. I watched all those interceptions. I watched all of his deep passes. The the biggest difference to me is Flaco can still process at a reasonable level in a way that I don’t think Jake Browning was processing well at all this year. Like worst quarterback in the NFL processing I thought is what we were getting from Jake Browning. Flaco can still kind of operate in offense. He will be erratic at times. The the the accuracy, like I said, isn’t perfect, but he can still kind of understand what’s happening, what he’s seeing, where the ball should go most of the time. It’s not perfect, but it’s much better than what we saw from Jake Browning. The big downside to Flaco is when he has to move at this point in his career at 40 years old, it turns ugly really quickly. The accuracy diminishes uh significantly. He can’t move well. So, he’s taking hits. He’s trying to get rid of the ball to to not take hits. I think he he leads the league in throwaways. Did Did we already talk about that? Was Was that something that came up earlier this week? But he he’s trying not to get hit. And as we’ve seen with some of the interceptions, you go back to week one against the Bengals when he actually played reasonably, the ball placement, even sometimes in clean pockets, but especially when he’s moving, is like slightly off, which gives you the opportunity for those tip drills to happen. But the receivers should be so much better for him in Cincinnati that you know if you can get a lot of quick game going protect occasionally on some of the somewhat longer developing plays Joe Flacco can give you a chance because he can process and get the ball to where it needs to be on time. It’s just when things break down, and they will break down because the state of the Bengals offensive line right now is where things will get dicey, especially dicey for Flaco. A and the matchup. I mean, the next two matchups, think of these defensive lines they’re facing, the Green Bay Packers and then the Pittsburgh Steelers and in a what 96 hour span or so, a little over that 100 hours. Like, that’s that’s that’s tough. Like 40-year-old Joe Flacco, you’re going to have to get the ice bath ahead of time. and uh and then obviously after and a quick turnaround. So yeah, there’s there’s plenty to discuss on the will they be able to be more effective, will he be able to be more effective uh in the path to that because I do think a lot of it is on this offense to just function and we’ll have to talk about the the defense as well. But let’s uh let’s get to that Packers pass rush versus the Bengals offensive line coming up next. This show is brought to you by Supply House. When the opening whistle blows on a new repair, get your crew moving forward with Supply House. Order today and see parts on your doorstep tomorrow. 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Do you remember when they did that? Yeah, they they traded for Micah Parsons and it uh it gives them a it makes a strength even stronger and it’s certainly going to put pressure literally on this Bengals offensive front because that that dude we’ve seen him multiple times now against the Bengals over the past few years and he’s been a a game changer to have to deal with. Yeah, it’s Micah Parsons and then it’s everything that Micah Parsons creates. First off, you have to deal with Micah Parsons, and you have to deal with the potential of Micah Parsons occasionally getting schemed into one-on-one matchups or crossing over Ted Carris at center or wherever he’s going to align because he’s going to move around on this Packers team. He has had occasional B gap reps. We haven’t seen him go head up on the center yet this year. We’ll see. Uh but but he’s moving around for this Packers team and obviously leads the way for them in the past rushing categories that exist. He has nearly double the amount of pressures as the next guy for the Packers. But the next guy for the Packers is Rashan Garary who isn’t having his best year, especially because I think he’s getting more one-on-one opportunities with Micah Parsons on the field along with him, but is still a guy that can be a game wrecker in his own right. And then Lucas Vaness has taken a bit of a step as a pass rusher. We’ll see if Dvonte Wyatt is going to play this week or not, but a guy that was certainly on the Bengals draft radar, I think, when he came out back in 2022 and is off to his best start in his NFL career as a pass rusher. I don’t think he’s going to play, but that continues with guys like Kobe Woolen and Carl Brooks and Lucas Vaness. Like all of these guys for the Packers for for some teams, you wouldn’t necessarily worry about some of these guys. But with Micah Parsons being the guy that’s going to command double teams the entire game and liabilities really along the rest of the offensive line right now, you have to deal with every single one of these guys as a Packers added Parsons to really beef up the depth with that pass rush. Yeah. And it’s tough because you got Dylan Fairchild at best limping into Sunday. Doesn’t feel like he’s going to play. Like if I had to guess, uh might but doesn’t feel like it. especially Lucas Patrick gets activated. Lucas Patrick could could play uh that left guard spot. Uh wouldn’t shock me if that’s the the scenario that ends up playing out. But regardless, it’s either Lucas Patrick coming off of injury or Dylan Fairchild at less than 100%. I think those are your options. And so you don’t feel great there. I think Amarius Mims you feel pretty solid about, but it’s not like Micah might not get the best of him a couple times one-on-one. Like that’s Marius just talked about how he was the toughest matchup for him from his rookie year. Yeah. So there you go. And uh Orlando on the other side, what what does he really do you not want him to have to deal with? Well, freakish athletes that can just run around and speed and power and do all you know, and that’s all Green Bay has on the edges. Every single guy, they’re freaks. And so like the the Rashan Garry’s of the world, they’re tough enough. And then you have to deal with freaking Micah. Micah is just so yeah, I I think it’s it’s a tough matchup and how they handle that, especially with like I’ve heard a lot about, oh well, Flaco can’t move and that’s fine, but how much does Jake Browning’s pocket movement even matter? Would it would matter this like I don’t think that would matter at all. I’d at least get a guy that can throw it. So, how do they give Joe Flacco two seconds? And then if you’re Joe Flacco, you’re going to have to be able to process and get the ball into these playmakers hands. Uh quick game, screen game, leaning on Chase Brown in the passing, like all those things are going to have to to be in play to to help this offensive front that uh is also just going to have to play better than they’ve played and and figure it out. And maybe the the hope that Flaco brings gives them a little juice because they they need something to to give if they play if they give Flaco a chance the way I thought Jake Browning had a chance for most of that Denver game. I think that they will score points. Doesn’t mean they’ll win the game, but I think they’ll score points. Yeah, it’s the way the game started. I mean, even against Detroit early, there was okay protection for like the first half of that game until they became a straight drop back team. And I think it’s harder this week. I think Micah Parsons is better than Aiden Hutchinson. I think Rashan Garry is is right there with Al Mohamd. And so there there’s an equal threat at the ends. Maybe a little bit better pass rush on the interior from Green Bay. I I really like Detroit’s defensive interior, DJ Reed, Tyler Williams, with those guys more run defenders and pass rushers. A and then I think the secondary similar strengths, but the corners are a little bit better this week. I think one of the reasons that they were able to move the ball in the fourth quarter is you started to see attrition happened for Detroit at corner and you were facing back of roster corners where Green Bay a little bit healthier at corner. There’s potentially some matchups that you might like. I I I think that like Nate Hobbs is fine, but I like the Bengals receivers against Nate Hobs. I really like the Bengals receivers against Javon Bullard in the slot if he’s still playing a lot of slot snaps for the Packers this week. But the the back seven I think solid this defense for the Packers solid front to back. The pass rush biggest issue. And like you said, like it’s not like Jake Browning was playing well under pressure. It’s just I think Flaco’s splits this year in particular when he’s pressured versus when he’s clean are the starkkest in the NFL. And you really see that in the way he plays like everything kind of breaks down for him when he’s pressured. So there is a premium on quick developing plays. is going to be, you know, like you said, quick game screen game this week. A premium on protecting for that two two and a half seconds to give Joe Flacco a chance to to understand what he’s getting, get the ball out, and probably a premium for Green Bay in causing that, you know, split second of of hesitation from Flacco and and and disguising well this week. But solid secondary with Xavier McKini and Evan Williams as safety, Keshan Nixon has been good for the Packers. so far this year. But with the Bengals receivers, you should like the Bengals receivers against these corners. I think it’s mostly the the front six, front seven. Edin Cooper, linebacker, really good player. Keith Walker, solid player at linebacker for the Packers. Like that’s the concern is going to be up front. Does the running game continue to get, you know, the the three and a half to five yards of carry that we’ve seen from them for the last couple weeks to keep the Packers remotely honest early in this game? and and what kind of easy buttons can the Bengals put in for Joe Flacco trying to go start a game on three days of prep? Th those are the questions this week. I think that Flaco will deserve a little bit of grace this week, but I I don’t know where expectations should be given the the matchup in the trenches, given the short notice for Flacco, and given just how dysfunctional this team has looked for three weeks right now. like it’s it’s asking a lot for Flaco to come in and hit the ground running, but that’s the task ahead of him in this coaching staff. And I think that’s part of why they went with Flaco versus pursuing a Jamus or pursuing a Russell Wilson, specifically Russell. And so, you’re right, it’s a tough ask because what you have to do, and I’m not going to downplay this game, but I’ll be honest with you, the Steelers game four days later is so much more important. Like, if they’re going to win one of those games, if they’re going to get back into it, you need to win that Thursday night game. you need to sway Pittsburgh. So, just just pointing that out. Obviously, this game is still important. If you could somehow get to three and three, it would be huge. But, yeah, it’s a really tough ask. And that’s why my expectation slash hope for this offense isn’t to to go win the game. I I don’t think they’re there yet. I think that’s unrealistic. But, can you look functional? Can you score points? Can you be Can you be competitive on offense to give the defense a shot to show what they are? And and I don’t know if we can fully say what they are. Uh Peter Bakowsky really not high on on the Bengals defense. I know a lot of our viewers and listeners weren’t uh weren’t fans of some of his comments, but I think the defense has made some plays. They’ve also been bad at times. It doesn’t look great because they’ve been put in bad situations. Let’s uh discuss that side of the ball. This Bengals defense and what it’ll look like against Jordan Love coming up next. Today’s show is brought to you by FanDuel. Well, right now the Bengals are double digit underdogs for the second straight week. 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The Bengals defense has a good quarterback to deal with this week and some receivers that have been streaky, have been up and down, have a lot of potential, you could say, in this Green Bay offense. And a really good running back in Josh Jacobs, a really good tight end in Tyler Craft. And that’s the task for this Bengals defense this week. It hasn’t really mattered to Peter Picowsky’s point, James. It hasn’t really mattered who’s been across the field from this Bengals defense because they’ve been giving it up. And and part of why they’ve been giving it up is because they’re dealing with short fields at times after bad interceptions, bad turnovers from the offense. They’ve been on the field a ton. And that’s where you would argue that we don’t know exactly who this Bengals defense is at this point. Uh the official debt chart this week, James, and you know, we we say this with a grain of salt, but I don’t know if you saw this, has Cam Taylor Brit listed as a backup, which uh somebody somebody sent along. I’m going to double check that to make sure that’s still the case now as I say that, but that was a screenshot that was sent to me this week. Uh which is a little bit interesting at least as potentially there’s a shift happening at corner. And Josh Newton is on the team’s official death threat listed ahead of Camp Taylor Brit. confirming as we’re recording. What What do you think this matchup comes down to? Because to me, it’s kind of a trench thing. Again, yeah, I do think that Jordan loves a good quarterback, but I also look at that Green Bay offensive line right now, that injury report for Green Bay, and I think there’s a chance probably starts with Trey Hendrickson binding matchups against this Green Bay offensive line. Yeah. Well, certainly, right, it’s Trey Hendricks. I think the Shamar Stewart injury is such a huge one to pay attention to. Can you get Sheamar out there? I I think he’s going to try. My expectation and and we’re recording this early Thursday afternoon is is that that’s going to be the case. But it might be better to give him four more days and get him ready for that Pittsburgh game. And and I think that the Bengals aren’t going to admit this, but that’s certainly something that you should weigh because you need him to play against Pittsburgh per regardless. And and you’re right though, if this Bengals defense, they need to get pressure and we saw it last week when they got some pressure. They were able to get some stops and and that’s a better Detroit offense and that’s an offense that really if you don’t get some kind of pressure, there’s no way you’re going to stop them. So this week it’s going to start with TJ Sllayton. You want to talk about revenge games, stop Josh Jacobs. Do not let let Josh Jacobs get going. and and then if you can get some pressure on Jordan Love and put him in some not so fun down in distances. If he’s facing second and three all game, that’s going to be a tough situation to deal with. If he’s dealing with third and seven or longer, then you might have a shot here. Especially if the offense early gives you a shot, go get seven. Be if it’s 10-7 late in the the second quarter, that’s doable. if it’s 14-3 again or 17-3 that that sucks. That’s just it’s not not a fun place to be. So, I think that’s part of it as well. I think the early scripts will certainly dictate a lot for how this defense is going to play in the second half. But, I think the injury list for the Packers is also staggering right now coming off of a buy. So, Aaron Banks, who I I just talked about as potential starter for the Packers, was limited with a groin injury on Wednesday as they came off their buy. Jordan Morgan, who’s a backup for them, is listed with a knee injury, but he was a full go. Zack Tom, who is one of their better linemen, was limited with an oblique injury. Rasheed Walker, who might have to start, was limited with a quadriceps injury. Christian Watson, who might be back this week for this Packers offense, could be a shot in the arm they need at the receiving spot. Limited as he’s coming off the knee injury. That’s a lot of players on offense that are dealing with stuff. And that doesn’t even mention Tucker Craft who’s a full go but has an elbow injury that he’s going to probably play through. And uh I mentioned some of the players on defense earlier just to to circle back on these. Kingsley was limited with an ankle injury. Devonte Wyatt is a DNP. I think he’s week to week. I I don’t think we should expect to see him. But this injury list, especially for the Packers on offense, especially in the trenches, is very long. And so if if you’re looking for an opportunity, finding ways to not set a drive on fire the way they did against Detroit, in my opinion, that first drive, I I did not like the Bengals game plan. They were trying to get one-on- ones for Trey Hendrickson, but they happen to be against Penn Su. Like, let Trey Hendricks, and they’re going to do things to help, but let Trey Hendrickson get those one-on- ones. find ways to manufacture the one-on- ones for Trey Hendrickson because he can go beat guys one-on-one, especially the caliber of player that we expect to see at Edge for Green Bay, Zack Tom being the best of them, but dealing with an injury. Find ways to to let Trey get after it. I I do think that stopping the run is is going to be a big factor here that we need to talk about as well. But like disrupting Jordan Love with Trey Hendrickson, goal number one that I’m thinking about with with this offensive line state for Green Bay in the passing game. Well, that it’s a good point and and with lost and all of this offensive line or offense in general and Flaco trade and rightfully so storylines like Trey has such a golden opportunity here. if he could lead this defense, be super productive, like defensive player of the year. You want to go be defensive player of the year in a contract year? Like, help the Bengals stay afloat with Joe Flacco at quarterback after they’ve been awful with Jake Brown. Like, can you imagine the storyline if Trey Hendrickson just completely wrecks the game and gets them to three and three and then plays well again? Like, there is that that opportunity is what I would say. I I don’t want to even say path, but there is that opportunity where if you’re Trey, and I’m sure he looks like it like this anyway, right? Like he’ll get as many sacks and gamechanging plays and disrupt disruptions as possible, but man, it it would uh it would go a long way any week. But yeah, I agree with you. This week, third and seven needs to be trade time. Third and two needs to be trade time. All these money downs. Uh we need to to see 91 make a big impact. And who knows, maybe force a fumble, scoop it up, score, and do the Lambo leap. Like that. That’s the type of performance you need from Trey Hendrickson this week. Blackout Trey jumping into the stands at Lambo, man. See it now. The blackout leap. Would love that. He jumps out of the stadium. He just the uh what what do you think of the official depth chart listing Josh Newton ahead of Cam Taylor Brit? I think the Bengals I think what you’re seeing and I’m going to throw Germaine Burton in this too. If you’re not consistent with what you do daytoday, period, not just on the field, off the field, everything. And that’s where Burton comes in. The Bengals are going to show you that you need to be and that that’s an issue. And obviously Cam and and Burton, they’re two different situations, but consistency is so huge. What did every coach that said anything about Cam all off seasonason say? It needs to be consistent. It needs to be consistent. Well, that that’s it. And and so yeah, I I’m not shocked by that because I know Josh Newton’s been consistent. I know Josh Newton. That doesn’t mean you don’t get beat, by the way. I think people say that and they’re like, “Oh, well, you give up a play. Quarterbacks are going to give up plays.” But it’s just consistent in your process, consistent in your technique, consistent in your work habits and everything else. I’m not saying Cam doesn’t work hard. That’s not what I’m saying. But consistency was a theme for Cam all off season. And if he’s fallen down the depth chart, I I would assume that’s why. Last thing here, let’s talk about this Green Bay running game. Josh Jacobs, really good running back, one of the better running backs in the NFL, but the Green Bay running game this year hasn’t been great. 3.8 8 yards per attempt this year overall for the Green Bay offense. I’m sure that includes a couple kneel downs in there, but Josh Jacobs at just 3.3 yards per carry. And uh almost all of those yards coming after contact. Speaking of issues, the Bengals have had three out of the 3.3 yards per carry for Josh according to PFF charting coming after contact. Meaning he’s getting.3 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. One foot beyond the line of scrimmage on average when he’s contacted. But the breakaway runs are still there. The ability to force guys to miss still there for Josh Jacobs, a bruising runner who’s still productive as a receiver as well. And for for all of the discussion I I put into Trey Hendrickson in the matchups that hopefully the Bengals get without dropping Joseph Osai to coverage six times and having him targeted and picked on by Jordan Love. Please, please, can we stop? is they they can’t be the team that’s a get-right team for Josh Jacobs and the Green Bay running game. Yeah, you’re right. You’re right. I I I really think it starts there because much like it does. Yeah. Yeah. Like much like last week, if Josh Jacobs gets going, well then it just it’s going to take the pressure off of the quarterback. The whole goal, the offensive line and pass protection, all of it, right? Yeah. it then Trey doesn’t get to do the Lambo leap. And that’s what you need. You need I I didn’t realize I was going to say that on this show. Like you need Trey to do the Lambo leap. So put the pressure on Trey. Trey, I’m calling you out now. You need to be leaping on Sunday. 14 and a half point dogs. Shock the world. That is a task ahead of the Bengals. Literally do something shocking. Like that’s what the Bengals have to do here. I’m just going to ask this. If they beat the Packers, will they be favored at home against the Steelers? Probably not, just because that’s such a huge swing. Like they’re literally the Vegas season as the third worst team in the NFL right now. They see Pittsburgh as like slightly below average to be fair. Like the best team in the NFL or sorry in the AFC North is seen by Vegas on average on a on a neutral field against an average opponent as a dog. Pittsburgh will be a a a an underdog on a neutral field against an average team according to methodology that some of the analytics guys Ben Ben Baldwin this one in particular. But the same thing Vegas sees them as a bottom three team in the NFL down there with Cleveland down there with Tennessee. And so yeah, I I do think that one game probably not enough, but maybe it makes it close because they’re at home. Maybe it’s like three-point home dogs instead of six point home. I I don’t know. division matchup and and playing at home does some things to the odds I think and it it would move things for sure. Uh I wonder if we have the early line on next week here. Oh no you it doesn’t matter. You don’t have to. Currently currently they’re okay. So currently they’re four and a half point dogs at home next week. So maybe maybe that would be enough to move it towards zero. I don’t know. I don’t know how much of a swing we could expect in one week, but if Joe Flacka looks great, maybe maybe Jake Browning is just that bad. That’s kind of got to be the hope right now, right? Is that Jake Browning was just that bad that Joe Flacco who he was bad hasn’t been good this year. Sure, but Flaco hasn’t been good either, right? Like one of the few QBs in the NFL with a QBR ESPN’s metric that’s worse than Brownings. Uh if if Flaco can go in there and be be functional, that’ll tell you something, I think. But we’ll find out Flaco. That’s all we’re asking for. Not not asking for the world here. But if the Bengals are going to win, it is kind of asking for the world. They’ll need to do some shocking things against Green Bay, I think. And we’ll get our first look at how this team’s going to look with Joe Flacco as they’re trying to find ways to stay afloat until the winter in the hopes that Joe Burrow can get back with a team that has stayed afloat. You haven’t seen it. So far, the Bengals obviously hoping that Flaco takes them in the direction toward getting the water out of the hole and getting the getting the boat back on top of the water instead of underwater. That’s going to do it for this episode of the Lock Onos podcast. Until after the game, thanks for listening. We’ll see you next time. Who day and have a good one.

How big of an impact will Joe Flacco have for the Bengals following their trade for the veteran quarterback? Is there a realistic path to victory for the Bengals at Lambeau Field against the Green Bay Packers?

Jake Liscow and James Rapien discuss the Bengals’ offense, what it could look like for Flacco on Sunday against Micah Parsons and a tough Packers’ pass rush. They also discuss the latest injury news + what Al Golden’s defense needs to do so slow down Jordan Love, Josh Jacobs and Green Bay’s offense!

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