2025 Week 12 New England Patriots at Cincinnati | Bengals Weekly

2025 Week 12 New England Patriots at Cincinnati | Bengals Weekly

An eager stir rises with the afternoon sun. This is just the start. Bengals posting the New England Patriots. The tempo quickens. Rhythms fall into place. All we got. That’s it. By kickoff, the jungle wakes in full color. Roars roll into a rising tide. This week, we’re welcoming our visitors from Foxboro. The jungle has withstood the raid. Time and time again, the city sings alive. Every second shapes the story. And right now, it’s all in our hands. All in our house. [Music] [Music] [Music] The Bengals are back in the jungle and looking to get back in the wind column against a red-hot Patriot squad. Welcome in to Bengals Weekly. I’m Marissa Kipelli. Cincinnati gets set to host a New England team on Sunday who bring in an eight-game win streak as the Bengals look to hand the Patriots their first road loss of 2025. So, as we get you set for this Sunday afternoon matchup in the Queen City, I sit down with Ryan Rico as we relive his record-breaking NFL debut last year against New England. We’ll also head down to field level as we bring you the best of miked up moments from the first 11 games. And it’s my cause, my cleat week for the Bengals. And we’ll hear from Chase Brown and Evan McFerson as they share the causes that they’ll be supporting on the field. And on Countdown, I’ll tell you about a streak that T. Higgins looks to continue on Sunday. But first, prior to the team taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers in week 11, the organization honored veterans and active military during Salute to Service Month. Now, the Bengals partnered with Operation Ramp It Up to help bring accessibility to a local veteran. Here is this week’s From the Jungle. I mean, the Ramp project is so amazing. We’re out here at Chris’s house in Springfield. This man has served our country for a long time and and needs some help now. So, it’s our our duty to help him out. We’re building a ramp today. What is it about you, Ted, and your upbringing and who you are that you just have to be involved in things like this? A will to win, I guess, and try to do good. What do we got here? Give me Give me a task here, man. I ain’t touching any saws in season. EB. All right. Forward. Chris is a well decorated veteran. Thanks to him for serving, give us our freedom. What a way to pay it back with some of the Bengal players here today. [Music] All right, there you go. For lack of a better word, access. And not only access, but a little bit more freedom to come and go as I please. It’s going to make a difference. Not only do we install ramps, we pick up ramps. When one family doesn’t need a ramp anymore, we’ll pick it up, refurbish it, and we’ll pay it forward. And that veteran’s name or memory, we’ll give it to some other veteran or some other family. [Music] In a normal year, the first place team in the AFC North would reach midn November with one of the best records in the NFL. But this is not a normal year. The first place Steelers are just 5-4 and the Bengals are still in the hunt at 3 and six. The stakes always feel high in divisional games. We’re embracing it. always feels like a big game when you’re playing these types of games. This game always comes down to physicality. After a crew discussion, the ruling on the field is an interception by Cincinnati face down and being able to put your guys in positions to to to play physical and play fast. Let’s throw inside the 10. Higgins in the end zone. T Higgins sprinting up the middle of the field. So even though we only played them a couple weeks ago, you know that they’re going to have a plan and and be able to come out and and execute it at a high level. There’s a lot of football in front of us, but the only thing we can focus on is this week, and that’s Pittsburgh, man. That’s what we need to be striving for. We already know what type of game is going to be. Whenever we play the Pittsburgh Steelers is always pretty much the same game. Close back and forth. We’re already kind of just preaching that. Just making sure that we’re starting fast and doing what we need to do to get the win. The Steelers take a knee. The final few seconds run off the clock and it is a split in this rivalry this year. Each home team winning. The Bengals winning 331 at home and the Steelers winning 34-12 here at Acrasure Stadium. You got to give them credit. They did the things you got to do to win these games. AFC North, November, December football. I think ultimately the score score is not indicative of of how the game played through through the first three quarters. Bengals about to get the ball for the first time. Flaco turns right, hands it off Chase Brown. Nice cut back lane up the middle of the field inside the 30 and down to the 29. Great job by the offensive line that time. Good vision by Brown. Flaco changing the play as he backs up into the shotgun. The 40-year-old QB Flaco throws it deep. Caught by Hibs. It’s a 28 yd touchdown pass to Hidden. All of us play fast. That’s it. I mean that. Do not get out here and play scared me. Everything we practice, they are giving us. So So when you see it, believe it. We all we got. Believe in what we practice. All right, D93. 1 2 3. At second and four, they run it behind those extra offensive linemen and the Bengals make the tackle. Warren, he’s run down and tackled beautifully by Dax Hill. Nice play coming through like a torpedo. Gats Hill Rogers. Now he’s pressured. Goes backward. Pump fakes and chased by town. Hit on the play by Murphy and DJ Hill. I thought they did a lot of good things today. Looked like they were pinning their ears back a little bit more and playing with some confidence and playing with some speed. But the Bengals have it first and 10. Down by four to begin the second half. Blackco hands it off. Big hole up the middle. sprinting between the hash marks now angling toward the near sideline at the 50. Steelers 40. Chase Brown stepped out of bounds around the 40. How about 35 yds on a run for Chase Brown? 43 yds away on a windy day from the right hash. The kick is up and it is good for Evan McFerson. You felt it today. It was a hard physical game. You knew they were going to make it tough for us. It’s one of those typical games that you come playing here and all of a sudden it breaks loose and it goes the other way. [Music] Yeah, you feel them. You feel all the losses. They they you feel them all. They they eat at you all. Our option is come back tomorrow and keep fighting and find a way to get a win. I mean, it’s simple. Find a way to scratch and claw and get a win and get the feeling we had back three weeks ago when we beat Pittsburgh. We’re back to just find a way to get a win against New England and try to capitalize from there. That is our only option right now. Coming up next, I get inside the mind of one of our specialists to talk all about his mentality and approach during game days. My sitdown with Ryan Rico is just after the break. Bengals Weekly is brought to you by Kataring Health, the official healthc care provider of the Cincinnati Bengals. Altaf Fiber, the official Wi-Fi and internet provider of the Cincinnati Bengals, and Payor, proud to be the official HR software provider of the Cincinnati Bengals. [Music] Welcome back to Bengals Weekly. Ryan Rico has quickly become a staple in the Bengals specialist room. He’s been consistent, reliable, and his punts have soared. Special teams coordinator Darren Simmons has told me that Ryan has one of the strongest legs he has ever worked with. And you get the feeling that Rico is just barely scratching the surface. Earlier this week, I caught up with a secondyear punter. Here’s our conversation. Well, Ryan, you are leading the league, averaging over 53 yards per punt on the season. just how do you explain, you know, that success and consistency that you’ve had over the course of the year? Yeah, it’s been it’s been a really fun year so far. You kind of just get into a rhythm and luckily we were able to to find that early on, but I feel like the team has put me in a lot of really good spots making the most of it, making the most of each opportunity and uh luckily been able to do that so far. Okay. So, you came in week one of last season and immediately really put a stamp on your name with this team. I mean, week one setting the NFL single game gross yard punt record and you also set the record for the longest punt in Bengals history when you hit that 80 yard punt and happened to be against the Patriots who we have up on deck this week. I mean, take me back to that game just kind of what do you remember most about, you know, that moment especially when you hit the 80 yarder. It was funny. We were actually watching film and it was literally like that seems like so long ago and everything was just a blur. Um cuz obviously it’s like yeah first real NFL game, first real opportunity. I mean it was definitely cool to kind of start a career off like that. Definitely look back on that game with a lot of fond memories. Now when you’re out there are there any kind of particular situations that you maybe feel like you thrive in the most, whether it’s pinning opponents deep, you know, trying to, you know, position the ball in a certain way on the field. Yeah, just being able to flip the field. I I feel like that’s always been one of my strengths is okay, maybe our team gets backed up or or we weren’t able to move the ball on that drive and then just trying to set the defense up with as long of a field as possible. I think there’s still a long way that I can go in terms of maybe developing that touch and I feel like already from last year compared to this year, I feel a lot more confident in those game situations. But I think that’s the fun of it is like, okay, this is only my second year and I I feel like I’ve made a lot of improvements from last year and so now it’s just okay, let’s let’s just be sure that we’re crisp in all aspects of the game in all areas. So, I know there’s still a lot of room for improvement, but I I feel like just being able to flip the field and and give the defense a long field is probably my my best right now. Now, just in the two seasons we’ve gotten to watch, you’ve already hit a lot of big kicks. Um, how do you mentally reset after a big kick or even the flip of that when maybe a kick didn’t go your way? Yeah, that was one of the things I kind of focused on this off seasonason. Been working with kind of a mental performance coach and a lot of it is is mental, especially as specialists, kickers, punters, you don’t have a lot of opportunities. You might have a couple kicks a game. And so, I mean, I played basketball growing up and it’s like, you make a bad play, you’ll get it on the next possession. Um whereas here, shoot, you might have two or three opportunities the whole game and it might be a while in between each one. And so I feel like for me it’s just go back to to doing what you do. Don’t dwell on it too long cuz like it’s in the past. You can’t really change it. Um just kind of just shake it off. Okay, I know what I did there. Just trust it. Trust the next one and allow me to play a lot more free. Every time I’ve talked with Darren Simmons, he has just spoken so highly of you and your leg and your ability. How has it been like working with him over the last, you know, year and change now? And maybe how have you seen him kind of help your kicking game? Yeah, I am always forever grateful to Darren for giving me the opportunity. It was cool. Got to know him a lot throughout the the draft process, the combine process. And so then to end up here really I I feel like it was him taking a chance on me. And I feel like every day has been it’s just been a learning opportunity. He’s been doing this for so long. He’s seen so many different punters. A lot of it I I credit to him just challenging me. He’s going to be very direct. He’s going to tell you exactly what he wants from you, but he’s also going to show you that trust. He’s going to show you that belief. And so Darren definitely he holds me to a high standard, but he’s also helping me to execute that day in and day out. I also want to ask because it seems like you Evan and Will are pretty close among in your specialist room just the fact that you’re smiling laughing about it. What is that relationship like amongst the three of you and you know how do you kind of help each other you know take that next step and get better? Yeah, I I think it’s been really awesome. Will Will has come right in. I feel like we’re just a really close group. We all do the same stuff. we like the same things and it it really is you kind of have to rely on that trust cuz every one of us, yes, we’re doing our thing individually, but we have to trust each other to deliver on their end. And so I feel like it’s just been one of those things that as the season has gone on, we we’ve been able to be in different situations where it’s like, okay, this is maybe the first time that all of us are doing this together. But I think executing in those moments brings a lot of happiness. And then honestly just outside of football, we’re playing games, we’re being competitive, and and I feel like that’s really brought that that kind of brotherhood a lot closer, too. Well, Ryan, it was great catching up. Always appreciate spending some time with you, and best of luck on Sunday. Thank you. When we return, we take you down to field level and get as close to the action as possible for the best of miked Up. Stay with us here on Bengals Weekly. Welcome back to Bengals Weekly. Our undercover feds have been hard at work this season, and there have been no shortage of endzone celebrations, jungle jumps, and we even had a slight wardrobe controversy that were all caught on our cameras. So, let’s relive some of our favorite moments from field level. Here is the best of miked up from the first 11 games. Y’all boys look good. Y’all boys look good. I’m hot miked today. Just letting y’all know. Forgot my hot. I keep for getting miked up. I just forgot that Show time. Let’s do it. Let’s go. Let’s go. [Music] Yo, boy. Have a day, my dog. All right. Take it out and back today. Good hands. Good feet. Good hands. Good feet. Good hands. Good feet. 180. [Music] 180. [Applause] Yeah. Let’s go. Let’s go. Let’s go. Yeah, let’s go. Appreciate it. Hey, that was a ball. That was a ball. Yeah, you got to bring that boy. Shotgun snap to Flaco. Drops back five steps. fires a deep ball left side. T Higgins comes away with the football. Too small. He too small. You’re that boy. You’re that boy. You’re that boy, man. Yo, that’s bro. That’s one of them for sure. That’s one of them for sure. He is the out his ass. It look like he didn’t even try to catch it, bro. That’s just stuck to your hands. All I see was swim move them and Hey, no one relaxes for a second. Brown up the middle of the field to the 30. Racing to the 35. Spins to the 40. Far sideline. 45. Right between center and left guard. Off to the races he goes. [Applause] Uh-huh. Hi, Shrimp. Hi, Trip. [Applause] [Music] Come on, man. Back to throw. Passes over the middle. Caught on the run. Chase Brown to the five. Fighting for the goal line. He’s in. Woo. Yeah. Oh, you go white. Just like practice, baby. Let’s go. Here we go. Right here. This right here. Let’s go. Let’s go. Pump fakes. Throws into the end zone. caught by Tanner Hudson. Does now the kick is up. It is good. [Applause] Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. [Applause] Why my socks look lighter than the other? It is. They are. Hey, where the camera at? Zoom in on the sauce. I just grabbed some. I ain’t going to lie. When we return, we check in with a trio who take a look at some of the Bengals notable upset wins in franchise history. Stay with us here on Bengals Weekly. [Music] Welcome back to Bengals Weekly. New England enters week 12 as the current two seed in the AFC playoff race and are favored for this week’s matchup. So, it got our guys thinking, what have been some of the more memorable upsets in Bengals history? Let’s send it over to Dan, Dave, and Jeff for this week’s HUD conversations. The Patriots are coming to town this week with firstear head coach Mike Vrabel, a coach the Bengals have faced four times before, beating his teams in three of those games, including one of the most memorable playoff upsets in Bengals history when the Titans were the number one playoff seed in the AFC in 2021 and the Bengals went on the road and beat them on a last second field goal by Evan McFerson. And that is the inspiration for this who day conversation. We are going to talk about three of our favorite upset wins in Bengals history. Lap, you’re up first. All right. Mine it was November 8th, 1981. The place, San Diego, California. The final score 40 to7 Bengals. They were underdogs by a touchdown. In the football game that we’re talking about, the upset victory for the Bengals. Lewis Breeden 102 yardd interception return touchdown. I remember when the sudden like go Lewis go baby. The legendary eyes of Curtis the sweet over the shoulder spike when he scored 147 receiving yards and a touchdown in the first half. Kenny Anderson 288 yards passing two touchdowns. The Bengals end up the season at 12 and four. The Chargers at 10 and six. Always remember the games you won that you weren’t supposed to. I’ll never forget Paul Brown was dancing in the locker room. It was a big day in Cincinnati for sure. Great times, great memories. A road win over the Chargers. Our first upset of choice. Butch, you’re up next. Hy, I’ve got a prop. Here it is. It’s the Sports Illustrated cover. November 17th, 2003. As you can see, it says Chiefs are perfect 9-0 with Chiefs quarterback Trent Green on the cover. They came in to face the four and five Marvin Lewis Spangles in Marvin’s first year as head coach. And if you look closely, it’s signed by Chad Johnson with the word guaranteed because that’s exactly what Chad Johnson did earlier in the week. He said the Bengals would win and they did. Not because of Chad Johnson, but because of fellow wide receiver Peter Warick. He began the fourth quarter with a 68 pleturn touchdown and then 6 minutes later caught a 77 yd touchdown bomb from John Kitner and the rest was one big long Rudy Rudy as running back Rudy Johnson finished it off with 165 yards to close it. Chad the guarantor, he did okay. Seven catches, 74 yards, and then went across the field to apologize to Chief’s head coach Dick File. But in the stands, no apologies necessary at Paycore Stadium as they saluted the Bengals first trip into first place in a dozen years with Marvin Lewis’s calling card win. The upset of upsets. Just ask Sports Illustrated. Yeah, an all-time great game at what is now Payor Stadium. All right, I am turning the clock back to January of 2022. The Bengals were a six-point playoff underdog on a snowy day in Buffalo. And for good reason. The Bengals were missing three starting offensive linemen in that game. Furthermore, the Bills were 13-1 in home playoff games going in. Well, as it turned out, the game was no contest. Joe Burrow completed his first nine passes, including first quarter touchdowns through Jamar Chase and Hayden Hurst, giving the Bengals a 14- nothing lead. And that makeshift offensive line gave up one sack all day for just two yards and paved the way for 172 rushing yards in that game. And as for the defense, Cincinnati held Josh Allen without a touchdown pass. And Cam Taylor Britt helped put the game away with a fourth quarter interception. The six-point underdogs won the game by 17 points, one of several great upset wins, and we’ve covered three of them this week in our HUD conversation. Sunday is our My Cause My Cleats game and coming up next, we take a look at the causes and designs that our guys will bring with them onto the field. [Music] Welcome back to Bengals Weekly. Each year, the NFL and its players collaborate to represent hundreds of charitable organizations as part of its My Cause, My Cleat initiative. This season, over 1,800 members of the NFL family will use their platform and their cleats to bring awareness and impact to causes that matter the most to them. I’m Evan McFersonson and I’m supporting shoes for the shoers. I’m Chase Brown and for this year, my cause, my cleats, I partner up with Care Source and Community and Schools to help boost their program. Being present matters. Whenever shoes for the shoelers reached out and they were obviously like use your feet and your shoes a lot and so this kind of makes a little bit of sense just to kind of work together. I read their mission and kind of what they’re all about and it kind of aligns to what my foundation is all about and is providing kids with the right equipment that they need for any instance during the day and what my mission is for my foundation. Like I want to provide those kids that can’t necessarily afford the right fitting shoes the opportunity to have what they need to perform in their sports or even everyday lives. And as we know like 65% of children live in poverty in the southwest Ohio. And something I learned since 2010 that they have helped over 200,000 children get the correct form fitting shoes that they need. And you know sometimes these kids have shoes that are too small that are affecting their feet. um sometimes are too big and and I think it’s just a a great thing that they stand for and every kid that they help they’re not just throwing some random pair of shoes at them. For a lot of these kids, like shoes and socks are the most visible stigma for a child in poverty. Um whenever you’re walking around a school, you can kind of tell like this person may not be able to afford a new pair of shoes. Kids in school, you notice when shoes have holes in them, the treads worn out. seems like they’re making a really big difference in the community. Communities and Schools is a Care Source program and their main goal is community outreach. The specific program that I’m working with them with is being present matters. And this program focuses on attendance and really motivating kids to show up every single day, be consistent, build a routine, just all the things that demand success in the overall picture. I’m showing up every day to school, helping you with your football or your goals. Every single day you show up for school, you’re investing into your future. You’re investing into yourself. And everybody here that is around you wants you to be successful. So the days that you don’t show up or the days that it feels hard and you decide not to show up, you’re holding yourself back. Being present is extremely important. One thing that I talked about how important a routine is, whether it’s doing your homework at a specific time, waking up at a specific time, and you know, sticking to it every single day, and how it will change your life in so many positive ways. What you learn just from looking at the statistics around Ohio and attendance rate, what you realize is kids are missing a lot of school over a course of a year. Kids that are missing almost a month worth of school. I mean, they’re falling way behind and they’re really digging themselves a hole when it comes to getting good grades and being successful. And the most important thing about this program being present matters is, you know, they’re trying to fix that and they’re they’re trying to motivate kids to show up and invest in their future and build relationships with teachers and their friends and just realizing how important being present every single day is. Communities and schools, they’re present and actively working with over 3,500 schools around the country. In schools where community and schools were active and showed their presence, 99% of the kids were present from the 23 to 24 year, 97% were promoted to the next grade. 96% graduated and got their GED. It’s great that the NFL allows us this opportunity to bring such an organization onto the field and bring awareness to this. We may be the first time that somebody hears about it. And so I think that’s what’s the most important thing is like we’re able to kind of put out awareness by wearing these cleats. Through social media, we can have people kind of give more towards our organizations and help kids in the process. And you know, I’m just real honored that I get to help support an organization. It brings a whole new meaning to like this week and a lot more fun to it. Now, Evan and Chase aren’t the only Bengals who will be dawning unique designs on their cleats this Sunday. Trey Hendrickson will be wearing for the Brave Like Me Foundation. Ted Carris will be representing the Cincy Hat Foundation. Joseph Osai will be supporting the New Path Child and Family Solutions. Cam Taylor Britt and DJ Turner will be wearing to support the Juice Family Foundation. Demetrius Knight is honoring the thirst project. and Miles Murphy’s cleats are designed for his foundation, the Miles Murphy Foundation. Dax Hill, Orlando Brown Jr., Mitch Tinsley, Lucas Patrick, Orin Burks, William Wagner, Cody Ford, and Shaka Hayward are among other Bengals that will be wearing designs on their cleats to support and bring awareness for My Cause, My Cleats. When we return here on Bengals Weekly, we’ll check in with one of the guys in the booth as we welcome in CBS analyst Trent Green to preview Patriots versus Bengals. [Music] The CBS crew of Kevin Harland, Trent Green, and Melanie Collins will be back on the call this week as the Bengals square off with the Patriots at Por Stadium. We now have the pleasure of welcoming in Green to the show as he joins Dan Horde to give us his preview of Sunday’s tilt. Let’s talk football. You played in the NFL until you were 38, so I’m sure you can identify with Joe Flacco, who’s doing this at age 40. What impresses you most about what Flaco has done in his first five games with the Bengals? Well, I think the biggest thing is is how quickly he’s picked up the offense. Um, you know, I know he’s been at it for a long time and the terminology is different and anytime you start with a new system, new team, it’s uh it’s being able to pick up the terminology and even calling the plays in a huddle. So, that that’s the first thing that jumps out is how how quickly he was able to adapt to that. Uh, the second thing is, you know, just getting connected with your receivers, getting connected on the timing of your cadence, uh, the rhythm, uh, of of play calling and getting the the snap count before you know the play clock runs out. The other part is at that age, uh, I know what I felt like at 38, uh, and I didn’t play nearly as much as what Joe’s doing at age 40. So, uh, being able to recover, that’s, uh, that’s a hard part. We all learn that as we get older, and the bumps and bruises take a little longer to heal up. So, uh, the fact that he’s been able to stay healthy and and play, uh, play the way he has is is impressive at any age, let alone at, uh, you know, 40 and over. The Patriots come to town with an eightgame winning streak. They won a total of eight games in the last two years combined. Are you mildly surprised or stunned? Uh, I’m going to say surprised. I I I don’t know if I would say stunned because I have a I have a lot of faith in Mike Greybel and what he was able to do in Tennessee. Uh, I believe in in Josh McDaniel and what he’s done in terms of developing quarterbacks. You know, I go back to M. Jones, his rookie year. um his best year was his rookie year and that was with Josh McDaniels prior to him leaving to go to the Raiders. So, uh he does a great job of developing quarterbacks. I think he’s done a good job of of developing Drake May, putting him in positive positions. What I think people forget is the amount of money, you know, it wasn’t a very New England Patriot kind of offseason. This was they put a lot of money into both sides of the football, bringing in personnel, spending money over the last couple of seasons, uh but especially this year. Uh so bringing in the coaching staff, bringing in the personnel they have uh and then the direction that Mike Vrabel as a leader and as a head coach surprised a little bit but not like completely stunned. No. And then you also I know a lot of people have brought up the fact that um who their opponents have been like the strength of schedule and and some of the teams that they’ve played. Uh I had a head coach that that used to say listen you play who you play. Uh never make an excuse from a schedule standpoint. Play the guys on your on your schedule and uh and attack it. And and that’s what the Patriots have done. Drake May is one of the leading candidates for NFL MVP. What’s jumped out about his play in year two? Wow, there’s a bunch. Uh, his completion percentages jumped. I I gave once again I give a lot of this to Josh McDaniels. I I think putting him in good position, his completion percentage is over 70%, maybe even 71 a.5%. Uh, his yards per game is up nearly 70 75 yards. He’s already got more touchdown passes and half half the interceptions that he had a year ago where he only started 12 games as a rookie. So, and here he is going into his 12th game this year. Uh, I think probably the biggest thing that’s jumped out, uh, he’s been smart with the football. Hasn’t turned it over. For a young player, that’s always difficult to do. Protecting the football. His accuracy has jumped out. Uh, he has the ability to make big plays, but uh, but doesn’t force it when uh, when those opportunities comes in. He makes he makes sure that he’s uh, he’s mindful of the football. Trent, this has been fun. I really appreciate your time. I appreciate it, Dan. Good talking with you. Now, let’s check in with the locker room as the team prepares for a Patriots team that has been on a roll. Zack Taylor has his guys ready as they are eager for the opportunity to challenge the Pats in every phase. These opportunities are fun ones. You know, it’s it’s all these games are meaningful. They’re in a really good rhythm and they’ve earned that and so it’s a great opportunity for us to find our rhythm, you know, to go out there and challenge them and put our best foot forward and get some momentum after this game. Well, I think they got a lot of talent and they’re really well coached. I think when you have that combination, then you got to, you know, make sure you’re on all of the little details of everything that you do. You know, their head coach played there, you know, throughout his career and he probably learned a lot of things from the type of culture that he grew up playing in. Just that culture and that mindset, being physical and being confident, I think it obviously shows in their team right now. They’re really hard-nosed playing defense. They do the simple things really well. There’s a physicality to them for sure that shows up. We respect their defense a lot. They’re very sound, physical. So, um, it’ll be a fun match up for us. They’ve definitely been on a run these last couple games. Uh, Drake May’s been doing a great job of getting the ball out to his playmakers. And the run game is a big piece of what they do as well. And they have play action off of that. I think he’s done a great job. I mean, four to one touchdown interception is really impressive considering he’s in his second year. new coaching staff, you know, all that stuff you you factor in. I think he’s done an excellent job. He does a great job attacking defenses in a lot of different ways. Staying patient, leading the team to eight straight wins, I think just really impressive. For us, it’s about what we do. So, getting out there and executing our assignments, uh playing fast and physical, and uh we’re going to like what we see out there. I feel like just putting pressure on him early and uh just making it hard for him, I feel like, uh will fluster his game a little bit. So just putting pressure on him and uh really just playing our game. Focus on ourselves and just once we do that I feel like everything else will come together. Every week you get a chance to prove what type of ball you’re capable of playing and we know we want to continue to grow every week. The home crowd is definitely going to bring a lot of energy for us and we love playing for the city of Cincinnati. Uh so excited to get back out there. Up next, it’s Concipelly’s Countdown, where I’ll tell you what NFL leading streak Chase Brown brings in on Sunday. [Music] Welcome back to Bengals Weekly. The Bengals will be without Jamar Chase on Sunday as Chase will serve a one-ame suspension from the league. But this is a prime opportunity for the depth of this receiving core to fully shine. And as you may expect, we could be in store for a tea time of 1 p.m. on Sunday. The Bengals have only ever played one game without either Jamar Chase or Joe Burrow since Chase was drafted in 2021. And in five career games without Chase in the lineup, T. Higgins is averaging almost nine targets, six receptions, and over 100 receiving yards per game. T has now found the end zone six times over his last six games and brings in the league’s longest active streak, having scored a touchdown in nine straight home games. And if he scores on Sunday, it would tie the NFL all-time record at 10 consecutive home games. Now, Chase Brown brings in a streak of his own, having logged 100 or more scrimmage yards in four straight games. That’s the longest active streak in the league. The Bengals have recorded at least 100 rushing yards on the ground in three of their last four and are facing a Patriots team that’s coming off a game where they allowed a season high 140 rushing yards to the Jets. And a third streak we will look out for on Sunday is won by the fans. Payor Stadium has packed 65,000 or more in 29 consecutive regular season home games, dating all the way back to week one of 2022. That’s the longest streak in team history, surpassing a previous mark set back in the early 2000s. Shotgun snap to Flaco looking throwing. Caught middle of the end zone. Noah Fan, the Bengals tight end with the touchdown catch. And there are a few Bengals who will look to continue their solid play at home. Noah Fant has scored a touchdown in two of his last three home games. Joseph Osai had a sack the last time out at Por Stadium and has a tackle for loss in three of his last four at home. And Joe Flacco aims at his fourth in a row at home with at least 220 passing yards. Now, as for the Patriots, they have scored 23 or more in each of their last eight games. as they are led by quarterback Drake May, who leads the NFL in passing yards and completion percentage. The Bengals will also look to slow down Patriots running back Tvon Henderson, who has scored five touchdowns since week 10. And receiver Stfane Diggs, who leads New England in receiving yards and receiving touchdowns, as he and May have the second highest QB to wide receiver duo completion percentage across the league this season. May leads the NFL with a 135 passer rating on deep passes of 20 or more air yards. But the Bengals, well, they have allowed only eight deep completions this season. That’s fifth fewest in the league. Now, we are going to go way back into the vault to a time when the Patriots went by the Boston Patriots all the way back to the 1970 season as the Bengals were looking to capture their seventh consecutive win. And the city of Cincinnati was treated to a red-hot offense that recorded season highs in points and yardage that afternoon. On December 20th, 1970, the Bengals closed out the regular season with one of the biggest wins in franchise history, dominating the Boston Patriots 45-7. The win capped off a massive seven-game winning streak and secured the Bengals first AFC Central title in front of a record Cincinnati crowd at Riverfront Stadium. In a game where both Cincinnati quarterbacks had to play because of injuries, Sam W and Virgil Carter led the Bengals into the end zone six times. With the offense accounting for more than 400 total yards, running back Paul Robinson scored three touchdowns, including a 23-yd pass from Wea, the Bengals future Super Bowl head coach. Virgil Carter found Chip Meyers for a 56-yd score. In a game where the defense was just as strong, they held the Patriots to less than 200 yds of offense and just seven points. They were able to come away with two sacks along with two turnovers by future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Ken Riley who intercepted Joe Cap twice. The Bengals carried head coach Paul Brown into the franchise’s first postseason as the youngest expansion team in sports history to make the playoffs. 18 years later, the quarterback from this day, Sam W, would be carried into the Super Bowl off the same field. When we return, it’s time for Social Spotlight, where we put our guys to the test in some mini carnival games. Stay with us here on Bengals Weekly. [Music] It’s now time for our weekly social spotlight segment. And there have been a handful of Bengals who have returned to practice over the last week, including Joe Burrow and Micah Siki. But we also saw the return of Dejon Anthony. And Dejon was hyped up about being back with his guys. Anthony was placed on the injured reserve list August 26th and has been working to come back from that hamstring injury. Hopefully we will see him on the game field sometime soon. You can’t do I ain’t do nothing. See he over here. And may the best pour win. We challenge the guys to see who could fill a glass of water to be top the closest blindfolded. Now you have to love seeing them having a little bit of fun. And William Wagner with a near perfect pour. No surprise that a specialist was near perfect and having that level of precision. And this Friday, Por Stadium hosted a massive regional finals game between Elder and St. Xavier high schools in the Ohio High School football playoffs. Now, hosting this game at Por Stadium allowed for an additional 20,000 fans to attend. And this was the first high school game at Por Stadium since 2018. It was just a tremendous opportunity for all of the athletes, families, and schools to be a part of such a memorable event. Now, make sure you are following along with the Bengals social media channels. All you have to do is search Bengals and give us a follow. The Patriots and Bengals kick off Sunday at 1 p.m. Eastern. And you can catch all the action on your local CBS station. You can also check out one of the streaming options including Paramount Plus in Market, NFL Sunday Ticket out of Market, and NFL Game Pass internationally. And as always, you can listen in to Dan Horde and Dave Lapam on the Bengals Radio Network. Thanks for tuning in to Bengals Weekly. Kickoff between the Patriots and the Bengals is coming up. For Dan Hord, Dave Lapam, Jeff Hopson, and our entire crew, I’m Marissa Knipelli. We’ll see you next week. [Music] Bengals Weekly was brought to you by Payor, proud to be the official HR software provider of the Cincinnati Bengals. Altafiber, the official Wi-Fi and internet provider of the Cincinnati Bengals, your local Kia dealers. Visit kia.com to discover movement that inspires, and Kataring Health, the official healthcare provider of the Cincinnati Bengals. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music]

Bengals Weekly gets you set for a Week 12 matchup against the New England Patriots on Sunday! We have the best of Mic’d Up moments from the first half of 2025, plus we sit down with league-leading punter Ryan Rehkow. It’s also My Cause, My Cleats week for the Bengals, and we’ll take a deeper dive into RB Chase Brown and K Evan McPherson’s causes they’ll be supporting on the field. Catch all this and more!

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