Can Bengals Offense Stay Hot? DJ Turner’s Rise, Winless Jets on Deck | Enter the Jungle

Can Bengals Offense Stay Hot? DJ Turner’s Rise, Winless Jets on Deck | Enter the Jungle

The Bengals offense has thrived with Joe Flacco at quarterback. So, what’s more likely? The Bengals offense continues to trend upward or this defense finds a way to turn it around? We’re going to get into that 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. Catch us every single Tuesday at 8 Eastern on the YouTube channel Cincinnati Bengals Talk weekly on FanDuel Sports Network. And let’s dive into Andrew, a Bengals team that’s three and four. There’s suddenly some hope after that SE season saving win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. And well, this offense suddenly knows how to score. It’s wild what happens when you get the ball to your playmakers. The offense in full gear. They scored 33 points against the Steelers. scored on seven of eight of their uh seven of their last eight possessions. Meanwhile, the defense left a lot to be desired. And so, which one do you think is more sustainable, Andrew? Joe Flackco and this offense continuing to put up points or this defense just struggling and and not being able to figure it out and and get off the field when they need to. I expect this offense to continue to thrive. I don’t know that we’re going to see what we saw against Pittsburgh week in and week out, but we needed it then, we got it then, and I think this offense can deliver on the moments, on the games when we need it. I expect mistakes to happen. I expect ups and downs throughout the game, throughout the season, but I also expect this defense to make improvements and be better as the weeks go by, but ultimately, I’m I’m buying stock in the offense. Let’s just put it that way. It’s going to be the long game when it comes to the defense. I think we see some individual players that are starting to step up. DJ Turner, we’ll talk about him a bit later, but there are signs that the development is starting maybe to come into play. I just don’t know how quickly it’s going to happen overall for the season. Yeah, I think the defense was always my concern. It was a lot of people’s concern all offseason. If you had a a a garage beer for every time that someone said, “Well, as long as the defense is average,” well, you’d have a lot of garage beers. Let’s be real. And and so that’s how I view this like every every step of the way this off seasonason and into the season and even after the Joe Burrow injury I was like well the offense is still going to have to carry this team because the identity is on offense. It’s built around Jamar Chase and T. Higgins and obviously Joe Burrow when he’s out there but Joe Flacco has given them a a true QB1 and and the ability to read defenses and get the ball out and all of those things. So well which one is more likely? Uh, I I do I think this offense can be solid or better throughout the year. It doesn’t mean they’re not going to stub their toe at times. Doesn’t mean that they’re going to put up 30 every single week, but if the Bengals are going to be a playoff team, it’s going to be because of this offense. And defensively, I do think that there’s some simple things they can do to recover. It’s one of those things where yeah, I think they can figure it out and maybe get to 16th or 17th in the NFL in points allowed versus where they’re at right now, giving up over 30 points per game. But that’s going to start with having Trey Hendrickson because and this is probably the most disappointing thing is I don’t know who is going to emerge as a pass rusher that you can reliably count on on those money downs on third and eight with the game on the line. And when you don’t have that, it’s really really hard to get off the field no matter who you’re going up against. We’re going to talk about Trod Taylor and and Justin Fields later in the show, but doesn’t matter what quarterback going up against Aaron Rogers or those guys, if you give them time, they’re going to be able to find ways to make plays. Yeah. And if you’re listening to this or watching this and you’re asking yourself this question, what would I pick? Offense or defense? Many of you are probably picking offense just because it’s like you even kind of mentioned it, the narrative has sort of been that leading up to this into the season. Even as the season progressed, once Burrow went down, you saw what this team was like without an offense. They need this offense to be good. It’s how they’re built. But if you’re asking yourself the question, which do I choose from here on out? Never mind the numbers. We kind of know them. Never mind the statistical likelihood or what history says this and that. How does it feel? How did that second half of the Packers game feel when you think about the offense? How did the entire game of course against the Steelers feel when you saw that offense? Did it feel like a fluke? Because I don’t think it did. Now again, I don’t think they’re going to do it week in and week out, but you have Jamar Chase. You have T. Higgins. You have Chase Brown. Even though the run game struggled, you know, the talent is there. We’ve always known that. What were we missing? We needed an answer at quarterback. They got it. I can’t help but believe that this is the path moving forward. You have to feel that way, I feel. What are you more confident in then? because we both believe in the offense that the offense continues to play this way or that the defense continues to stink. I’m going to I still going to lean offense. I I I still believe the defense is going to be better than what we’ve seen. I think it’s a slow trend upwards in terms of their overall output and some players stepping up that need to step up. But I just think it’s going to be inconsistent enough where I can’t I can’t count on it. I think this one’s really close and I think I lean defense. And it sucks for me to say that. It sucks for me to say that because like what’s more likely? Miles Murphy and Joseph Osai figure it out and are super productive and Demetrius Knight and and Barrett Carter learn how to tackle and Gino Stone learns how to take better angles and not let Pat Frymouth score a touchdown where he’s just in completely awful coverage when you’re up six points with the game on the line. You give up a 68 yard touchdown. Like are all those things going to change or is Joe Flacco going to throw a few interceptions? like are all of these things going to and that’s what’s so frustrating about this Bengals defense and why I’m really quite frankly annoyed by them because yeah they force turnovers at times and oddly enough or however you want to say it Jordan Battle has three picks this year an interception in every single one of the Bengals wins. I talked to him a few weeks ago about that’s like hey man you guys had two wins at the time you had interceptions in both wins. Now he’s three for three. So they need him to keep forcing turnovers, but just do the simple things. And I’m not talking about just Jordan. This entire defense tackle, be able to be in the the right position. So if Pat Frymouth does catch that ball, you’re in position to make the tackle. That’s the most frustrating thing really about this defense for the past six quarters is they needed stops. They couldn’t get stops. And yeah, they forced a couple of turnovers. We’re going to hear from DJ Turner in a few minutes. and he it was a heck of a play, but there aren’t enough DJ Turners. There aren’t enough bright spots on this defense right now. And it’s really just him, which is why we’re going to have the the Turner spotlight segment because he deserves his shine. And as much as he deserves his shine, I think all these other guys uh that have come up short, and there are a lot of them, they have to find a way to turn it around because it’s uh you you can be competent even if you’re not super talented. you can be competent in the right spot and make tackles and they’re not even doing those things regularly. Yeah. These guys outside of DJ Turner for the sake of us being spending a segment on him in a bit like you said, a lot of these younger guys, we’ve said it time and time again, you know, when’s the development going to come into play? Is it early round draft bust defense and can they figure out the line and so on and so forth. A lot of these guys out there, Jordan Battle being one of them, they’ve made plays. They’ve proven that they can create moments, but can they be the guy? Can they be the answer for what this defense needs? Remains to be seen. Going back to the fundamentals for a minute, no joke, we could probably have spent one segment dedicated to when will this team learn how to properly tackle consistently for how long now? And it’d be pretty much evergreen. Like Lakes Marketing would be annoyed because we would just make them the sponsor every single time or something. You know what I mean? It would just be a rotating when’s this gonna happen, when’s this gonna happen? It would go on and on and on. It would. And that was the thing I thought was going to be cleaned up. Yep. And it just hasn’t been. Jaylen Warren broke tackle after tackle after tackle, and it just can’t happen. It can’t happen against the Jets. It can’t happen against the Bears. It can’t happen when you’re playing the Steelers. It just cannot happen. It’s unacceptable. And we’ll see if they can turn it around. But let’s uh let’s get to the positive. The the shining star. And boy oh boy, has he shined bright over the past couple of weeks. DJ Turner. We’ll uh hear from him and we’ll talk about the Bengals corner because he’s one of the best in the NFL, no doubt about it, over the past month. We’ll get to him coming up next. Welcome back to En of the Jungle. He’s Andrew Fox Miller and I’m James Rene. And DJ Turner has been shining oh so brightly. Andrew, he leads the NFL with 12 passes defensed. Had five pass breakups against the Packers and an amazing interception. And we all saw it against DK Metaf. And I I got to be honest with you, Andrew, DJ Turner is not a big dude. I think I probably weigh more than DJ Turner. And when you see DK Metaf, and I asked him about this before the game last week, and I I want to point this out because it’s it’s important before we hear from DJ. I asked him like, “What do you do when you deal with a guy like DK Metaf with that kind of size?” And he’s like, “It does. The opponent doesn’t matter. It matters what we do and what I do.” And he’s like stone cold, stonefaced, just just matters what we do and what I do. The opponent and I just I love that mindset. I love that mentality and I think that’s why we’re seeing DJ take a huge leap. Not just a mini leap, a huge leap. He’s been the stickiest corner in the secondary this season. And over the past month, he’s been arguably the best corner in the NFL. And that’s really hard to debate at this point. But uh yeah, let’s hear from DJ Turner. This was Friday after the game, the day after the game, reflecting on that interception that he just took away from DK Metaf and allowed the Bengals to get three more points before halftime. Are you thinking like, “Okay, I I’m going to grab I’m going to try to pick this.” Once I saw the ball, Yeah. once I saw the ball, I was like, “Yeah, I’m going to try to get it.” Yeah. Were you traveling with DK? Were you following him all over the field? Was that the game plan last night? Yeah. Uh when you get that kind of assignment as a football player, is that something that you want? That’s what you live for. That that’s what you live for. Uh you know, that’s Thursday night. I mean, you you can’t ask for better than that. You have to know what I do good and you have to know what he does good. And that’s really the biggest thing. I have to be able to adjust mid game, have a game plan, you know, just figure out who does what best and then come up with a plan. I know it’s a team game. It’s all about wins over stats, but you are leading the league and and pass breakups. That does that hit you a certain way? Is that a a validation in any way? Uh I mean it’s cool but you know we only week seven. You know I just keep stacking. That’s you know that’s it’s the biggest thing. Don’t get comfortable. Keep stacking. Don’t even you know what I mean? You just keep you know going forward each week. DJ Turner. Andrew one of the bright spots a major bright spot on uh this Bengals team but certainly the brightest of stars when it comes to this young defense that needed guys to break out. Yeah. And we could talk about how he’s been graded so highly by outlets like PFF, especially over these last couple of weeks. We could talk about that insane play against DK Metaf that everyone was talking about because it was in prime time Thursday Night Football. I love it. But if nothing else, just going to float this out there. Maybe this provides some hope that there is development happening. Is there a chance that this is a sign that these players that we’ve been waiting for development coaching? Is it happening with some of these young players? Turner was a second round draft pick. Are we seeing the return on that? Could he be a cornerstone of this defense that we definitely need in the secondary? All of these things. There’s a lot of questions, but it’s promising to say the least. Well, I think this is proof that one, mentality matters, of course, and I’m a big you you know that about me for sure. like I freaking you better have a certain mindset or I’m just completely out on you. And and th those people that don’t have that mindset, they might not know that I’m out on them, but I’m completely out on you. And and uh DJ’s never been that way. Like he’s always been super confident, but not not where he’s like braggadocious about it where it’s like ah well like for example, week one, it wasn’t that long ago, Zack Taylor tells DJ, “Hey, you’re not starting.” DJ didn’t pout. DJ went and got his job. He went and took the job. And that’s that’s a not everyone does it that way. And and so for him to do that, yes. One, yes, he is one of these cornerstone pieces. There’s no doubt in my mind. I I was bullish on DJ Turner when they drafted him. It was an up and down rookie season, especially late in the year. He had a great camp. If you remember, as a rookie, an early start, it was good. And then late in the year, these these bigger receivers would pick on him some and he was losing at the catch point. Seems like he’s figured that out clearly wrestling the ball away from DK Metaf. The problem is with these other guys, these other question marks. That’s right. They should have shown us by now. Like we should have seen more than like, oh, did you see that play or remember that one time? Like it needs to be more than that. Like with Joseph Osai now, it’s not year two. Talking about his fifth season in a prove it year. Like we need to notice you big dog. Especially third down. Aaron Rogers has 8.6 seconds to throw. That can’t happen. Now for someone like Shamar Stewart, I think it’s different. That was his second full game in the NFL and he was coming off of an ankle injury. Do I think he’s an elite technician pass rush wise? No, I know he’s not. Does that mean that he won’t get there and be more technique sound a as he progresses? No. I think he needs playing time, but he’s certainly not a number one pass rusher in the NFL right now. And that’s not what we were expecting anyway. Miles Murphy, same thing. Like he had that sack in a couple of weeks back and it’s like, all right, was he going to build on it? And just need to see more consistency. And it’s it’s really tough because it’s not just these guys. These are veterans on this defense. you’re already you’re also relying on some rookies in the middle of your defense and that’s that’s hurt you at times. Yeah. Going back to our first segment talking about faith and this this defense figuring it out and this offense continuing the trajectory they’re on with Joe Flacco as quarterback. I don’t know that I need to see the defense take huge leaps if this offense maintains what we’ve seen in the last game and a half. But I do need to see it from where I’m sitting for hope that all those guys that you just mentioned and everyone else that is a young player on this team is going to be trending in the right direction in terms of developing and coming into their own and actually delivering on what they were drafted to do, what they were acquired to do, what they were retained to do. I need that hope for this defense for what I, you know, want from Al Golden and so on and so forth. Like that is to me a sign of I need to see Shamar Stewart do well and I’m not going to have faith that that’s going to happen if a Miles Murphy or even a Joseph Osai isn’t figuring it out by midseason. Yeah, it’s it’s tough. It’s it’s a tough conversation to have because I think they’re they want to believe in these guys and you wanted to get more out of them, but now you’re in win now mode and you’re looking around and you’re like, “All right, do you have enough horses to get stops?” They better have enough horses to get stops this week against the Jets. The Bengals, well, they’re favored against the winless Jets. We’ll get to those odds coming up next. Welcome back to Ender of the Jungle. He’s Andrew Fox Miller. I’m James Earin. And the Bengals are favored this week. We’re going to get to the odds brought to you by FanDuel. And right now, FanDuel’s got an offer you don’t want to miss this NFL season. New customers can bet just $5 and get $300 in bonus bets if you win. That’s right. Pick a bet, bet five bucks. If it wins, you unlock 300 bucks to use all across the app. You can build parlays, player props, ride the live lines, whatever you’re feeling like. And right now, all you have to do is go to fandle.com/bigplay. That’s fandle.com/bigplay to download the FanDuel app today and get started. You must be 21 plus and present in select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino or 18 plus and present in DC, Kentucky or Wyoming. First online real money wager only. $5 first dep $5 first deposit required. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable bonus bets which expire 7 days after receipt. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling problem. Call 1800gambler. Visit fanduel.com/rg. Call 1888789-77777 or visit ccpg.org/hat in Connecticut or visit mdgamblinghelp.org in Maryland. Hope is here. And Andrew, the Bengals certainly hope to get to 4 and4 on Sunday. They are 6 and a half point favorites as we record this. And uh well, they should be. I know people are uneasy about it and people don’t like the Bengals being favored. Well, guess what? They should be against the windless Jets. They should be favored. They should win the game. And I’m going to go out on a limb and say it right now because whether it’s Trod Taylor, and it is Tro Rod, not Tyrod. If it’s Terrod Taylor at quarterback or Justin Fields, it should not matter. The Bengals need this win and they better get it on Sunday. Honestly, I don’t think it should matter in terms of what the spread is. I I don’t know. I I feel like this is kind of low and I expect it to maybe shift a bit as time goes on and people make their bets, but I thought the same thing with Green Bay. What was it at 14 and a half? I don’t think that thing budged all week. So, if it were me, I’m betting a touchdown or more against this Jets team. I just I don’t see any other way around it. I wouldn’t be shocked if I’m proven wrong in the other shoe drops with this offense. But ultimately, I have no reason but to have faith that what we’ve seen so far, it’s going to continue the tra trajectory and this Jets team cannot find an answer for that. I don’t care which of those two is quarterback. Yeah. I uh I just I look at this game and this is one where Aaron Glenn is searching. If you’re the Bengals, you jump up on them early. You put doubt in their mind early. You have Jamar Chase gritting. You have T. Higgins doing his thing. Maybe this is a Chase Brown game. It doesn’t matter. Put up points early. Get ahead, roll, and get to four and four. Get back to 500. The Bengals desperately need to get back to 500. And if Thursday was a must-win against the Steelers, which the Bengals were able to win, this one is a you better win. Must win to you better win and you better get back to 500 and stay uh in the AFC North playoff mix. Are you buying that the Bengals well are for real? We will uh get to that coming up next. Welcome back to End of the Jungle. He’s Andrew Fox Miller. I’m James and this segment is brought to you by Lakespur Marketing. If you’re looking to scale your marketing, look no further than Lakespur. The Lakespur team is your trusted marketing agency. They have amazing partners. They’re looking to build the relationships and they have a broad range of experience regardless of your industry. So maybe you need some marketing help, some marketing advice. Lakesing has you covered. Check them out today at lakesmarketing.com. And Andrew, let’s dive into a very, very simple question because we just got done saying they better beat the Jets on Sunday. Yeah. If they beat the Jets, if the Bengals beat the Jets and are four and four after that game on Sunday at Por Stadium, are you all the way back in? Are you buying Bengals stock? Are you all the way back in on the Joe Flack when the Bengals are going to the playoffs? I look, losing this game says more about this team than winning this game at this point. like they don’t need to beat the Jets to earn my trust that they can be a competitive team, particularly on offense. So, losing to the Jets would simply shatter any trust or goodwill they’ve earned from my perspective. They have everything to lose. And in terms of my faith in this team, like they they don’t need to gain anything by beating the Jets. The only thing I’m worried about, it can be difficult to play quarterbacks that you don’t have recent film on if they do make a decision and play Taylor since they haven’t played him since 2020 when Burrow first started. But it seems much harder for the Bengals for whatever reason than other teams when it comes to facing backup quarterbacks. Yeah, backups backups. I know everyone gets nervous about that. Here’s the bottom line. The Bengals are a good team. They’ll beat the Jets, right? It’s that simple. It doesn’t I if they’re a good team, they’ll beat the Jets with Jake Browning, Joe Flacco with with maybe not Andrew Miller, but maybe me with a little wildat, you know? It’s it’s pretty much that simple. They they better win on Sunday. And uh last week was a must-win. is a better win. We’ll see if they get it done. Of course, we’re going to have you covered every step of the way on our YouTube channel, Cincinnati Bengals Talk. And for Andrew Fox Miller, I’m James. Thank you so much for watching and listening to Enter the Jungle. [Music]

The Cincinnati Bengals are finding their rhythm with quarterback Joe Flacco, but can the offense stay hot? Will the defense continue to struggle? Can DJ Turner II’s breakout season contribute to a much-needed revival on defense? James Rapien and Andrew Fox Miller discuss what’s more likely for the Bengals moving forward.

Plus, a look at the latest FanDuel betting odds and predictions for Week 8, when the Bengals face the winless New York Jets. Will a win over the Jets be enough to fully restore confidence in the Bengals and keep playoff hopes alive?

00:00 Will offense stay hot? Will defense keep struggling?
09:04 DJ Turner having breakout year
16:26 Bengals betting favorites vs. Jets
19:50 “BETTER-WIN Game” for Bengals

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