Cincinnati Bengals MELT DOWN, Lose Heartbreaker to Buffalo Bills

Cincinnati Bengals MELT DOWN, Lose Heartbreaker to Buffalo Bills

We’ve seen a lot of stupid stuff happen for these Cincinnati Bengals in the last two years. I don’t know if I’ve seen anything as dumb as this game. Bengals lose to Buffalo in an unreal meltdown. Let’s break it down. 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 Locked On Bengals podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, your team every day. The number one sports podcast network in the land. He’s James Rupine. I’m Jake LCO. We’ve been locked on Bengals here since 2016. That’s a long time watching the Cincinnati Bengals football team. James Rupine. That’s a long time watching some pretty bad Bengals football teams as well. And I don’t know if I’ve seen anything that feels quite like today felt to me. And maybe that’s recency bias talking a little bit. We’ll see how that feels in a couple days. Today’s episode brought to you by FanDuel. If you want to get right into the action this season, visit fanuel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. Welcome back to all the everydayers out there. Welcome back to those of you who make lockdown Bengals your first. Listen, brutal loss, a game that the Bengals had control of for a vast majority of the game. They’re driving to take a two-score lead in the fourth quarter and Joe Burrow makes one of the worst plays of his career. I think it’s a it’s a 60% win probability swing according to nextgen stats James Rene and well it only got worse from there. Well yeah you have two plays back toback that Zack Taylor is going to talk about a ton by the way. Also not the reason they lost. There’s like a thousand reasons and the main reason is is they can’t afford mistakes like this from their best player, right? You can’t have two fourth quarter turnovers because the Bills, well, they’re good enough to overcome one of those fourth quarter turnovers. You can’t give it right back. And uh yeah, even after that happened, I thought they had a chance, but when that happened, it was like, oh no. Oh no. Like this this was the last thing that you expected. You expect the the defense to look like the defense did against Josh Allen. You expect them to not be able to guard tight ends. expect uh a lot of things to to not necessarily go the Bengals way, but when you have a chance and you’re at the Bills 33 yardd line to go up two scores and you’re moving the ball with ease and you scored touchdowns on four or six possessions and really the the two that you didn’t score on were self-inflicted, you’re thinking the self-inflicted stuff might be an incompletion, not a crazy pick six where he’s trying to throw it over Christian Benford. It doesn’t work. And instead of Jamar catching his his fifth pass in the fourth quarter, that’s what it would have been. Christian Benford’s trotting in for an easy pick six. I mean, we got self-inflicted stuff throughout this game. It’s all self-inflicted. Almost all their problems are self-inflicted. Joe Burrow can’t handle the ball on a first down pass to T. Higgins. Comes out a little bit slow. Higgins can’t corral it on the other side. On the third down play that drive, he throws a good ball to Higgins on the scramble drill. Higgins can’t bring it in. I mean, T had a a wild roller coaster of a game. Hit his head numerous times in this game. Something that we’re going to have to monitor, I think, going forward here, but also had a couple of touchdowns, a crazy one-handed catch that should have been called DPI. But you have you have some of that stuff. You have Joe B’s first interception, which is self which is self-inflicted. It comes on a called run play. That’s the worst part about it to me, James. That’s the salt in the wound to me is they’re driving. They just got a first and 10. They’re on the Buffalo 33. They’re trying to bleed clock. They’re trying to add some points to make it a two-score game, right? And say, “Okay, Buffalo, we’re gonna make it a two-score game here, and we’re gonna take another three minutes off the clock, and you’re not going to have enough time.” And instead, you get Joe making a decision that based on the look, based, oh, I’m going to get a corner blitz here. It’s not even a terrible decision. It’s just Benford makes a play to get in the passing lane. Joe doesn’t get the laces and and can’t get it high enough to get it over Benford and doesn’t have time to pump it and pull it down because the offensive line’s already downfield. very next play you get a fluky tip pass interception and after that they they still had a chance. That’s the crazy thing. They still have a chance. They get a third and 15 man. They get a third and 15 after a sack to get off the field to get the ball back if they get that stop with about a minute left. Yeah. And what do we get? We get Al going and calling man. What are we doing? We’ve seen Josh Allen beat you when you’ve done this in a clutch moment already. And you do it again. You call man after Allen ripped off a 40 yard touchdown run on you and you call man with the game on the line on third and 15. What is in your brain, man? I don’t understand it. That’s why the the self-inflicted stuff. That’s why I call it stupid. This is a number of mistakes that could have been avoided. Sure. Yeah. First one, Jamar might score. All right. Like he had a ton of space on the interception and so it’s just a bad ball. I I like the decision. I instead of Chase Brown was in the back field, I believe. I’m looking at it now. Yeah, instead of running it with Chase Brown for two yards, I like it. Just execute it, right? And they didn’t. And cuz Jamar, he had space, put it that way. And you never know if he’s going to break a tackle or two. So, got to got to get it got to get it out and and throw it correctly. He didn’t. But to your point, after all of this, after back-to-back interceptions, after 21 points in like just over four minutes given up to the Bills and it’s 3928, Joe Bro says, “Okay.” And they score fast and T. Higgins makes an outstanding one-handed catch and kind of redeems himself after a couple of drops that we’ll get to. And really, it was a weird end of the the half for T and then the beginning of the the second half weird where it kind of derails two drives where they could have gotten points. regardless makes an outstanding play, keeps them in it. They don’t get the two-point conversion, which was a weird scenario. Anyway, so 3934, third and 15 after, and here’s the other one, Jake, it’s four fourth and goal from the three and like if you stop them there, it’s 32-28 and Joe’s getting the ball back with a with a chance to go take the lead anyway. and and you stop them completely and so you give up that one and that one’s a bit more forgivable. It’s fourth and goal. It’s from the three yardd line. Fine. But then on third and 15 on a in a scenario where the Bills certainly I would say probably punt it unless you get like 13 yards or 12 yards. But if you give up like six yards, the Bills are probably punting on that play or on on fourth down seven yards and that’s the result. Josh Allen just wide open. No one on him, no one close, no one spying clearly. And he had already had a 40- yard touchdown run to your point. Like he had the longest run today before that. And so on third and 15, he’s not going to throw it away. A sack for the Bills is better than throwing it away. So yeah, you need to be good in coverage. And I thought they were pretty good in coverage outside of the the tight end position, but their corners were were good in coverage. They’re good in coverage. Well, guess what you need to do? you need to have someone on Josh Allen that can slow him down so Mor hats can get to him and either get him out of bounds or get him on the ground. And they didn’t. There was no one there. Like no one. No one even close to him. And when you do that with probably at this point the best running quarterback in the NFL, I think that’s probably the case. Certainly the scariest given that their rushing attack right now. I think uh I I I just I I think that that’s that’s the play that irks me the most because you could have after everything had a shot. And if Joe gets the ball back, did you have any doubts that this Bengals offense would have had a shot? I didn’t. I didn’t have a doubt that they’d have a shot because they’ve been playing well all game outside of a couple of plays, four or five plays where they were catastrophic plays, but it was a few plays. And so that’s uh that’s painful is for for it to come down to that and it wasn’t third and four, it’s third and 15 and to give up a 17 yard run is unacceptable. So many moments in this game where the Bengals were unable to capitalize and moments that the Bills, you know, fell on their face, too. Literally at one point saving a touchdown, Ty Johnson falls on his face. Uh James Cook fumbles it probably into the end zone twice in a like three play span to give the Bengals life there. So it’s not like the Bills played mistake free football either. It’s not like the Bills played a clean game or anything like that. But man, the stuff that the Bengals did to shoot themselves in the foot in this one. It’s really going to stay with me because and maybe we go here next, James, like the defense honestly for a lot of this game exceeded my expectations and it it wasn’t good, don’t get me wrong, but in many ways exceeded my expectations for a lot of this game. They got two stops all game. That is uh more than I thought they would get. I’ll I’ll explain this a little bit more here in just a minute because they did a couple things for to to get the Bengals into the half with a chance to go up 2811. Some of that is the defense doing some things that I’ve wanted to see the defense do in this game. Obviously didn’t finish the game. They gave up three or four on on fourth downs in this game. The Bills very effective on fourth down in this game. Obviously got the key plays when they needed them. The defense didn’t make enough plays, but I I’ll defend this a little bit more here. Uh, coming up next, today’s show is brought to you by Auraf Frames. Look, the holidays are officially here. You need to find that perfect gift. And gift hunting season can be tough, but it’s not going to be because if you’re looking for that meaningful, personal, and guaranteed to get a reaction gift, Aura Frames is the gift that delivers every time. Aura isn’t just your average picture frame. You can preload the frame with photos before gifting it. So when they plug it in, the memories are already there. There’s no apps to figure out. No setup headaches, just instant smiles. And now you could load a few pictures of the good moments from today’s game in Buffalo. Maybe not the interception. The point is is whether it’s grandparents, parents, newlyweds, anyone in the family, friends, doesn’t matter. Aura Frames is perfect for you. Packaging comes gift ready. No price tag, no wrapping needed. It’s a huge win. It’s a timesaver and it’s meaningful. You got to save right now. You’re going to get $35 off by visiting oruraframes.com and you’re going to get $35 off their bestselling Carver mat frames. All you have to do is use promo code locked on at checkout. By the way, those Carver mat frames voted number one by Wire Cutter. All you have to do again is go to aframes.com. Auraframes.com. Use promo code locked on. This deal is exclusive to lockdown Bengals listeners. frames sell out fast. Go there today. Let them know we sent you. Again, that’s promo code locked on oraframes.com. Terms and conditions apply. Let me just explain it real quick, James. What I’m thinking here because you didn’t like that thought. Here’s what I’m thinking. No. Is the Bills on their first drive, Yeah. Ty Johnson. Ty Johnson, right? Falls and they don’t score a touchdown as a result. But the Bengals get the red zone stop. They force a field goal. Then they give up a touchdown, but then they get a turnover on downs. And then in the third quarter of 2118, they force a fumble. At this point, the Bengals defense has done more than I thought they would do in this game. Did I think they were good overall? No. But they got two takeaways if you count the turnover on downs, which I do. The Bengals offense couldn’t capitalize on that. They should have been able to capitalize on that. It should have been at least 24-11 going into the half. could have very well been 28 to11 going into the half and getting one red zone stop, getting a couple of takeaways, that’s more than I would have expected from this Bengals defense in this game. Did the Bengals need more? Yes, absolutely. But my expectations for this defense were not very high. And what did I talk about going into the game? I talked about Ben don’t break. Have a couple moments where you force a field goal or get some takeaways. And they did that a couple of times, which is all I thought they needed to do for the Bengals to win this game. and I think is enough for the Bengals to win this game, but the offense had their own mistakes. Sure. Well, yeah, the offense wasn’t perfect, and I get that and that’s why there’s enough blame to go around. The defense did enough. Like, if you get perfect offense, the defense did enough, but they still gave up 32 points. They gave up three out of four touchdowns in the second. Like, the the game was really like flipped on its head. The Bengals weren’t in control in the third quarter. It felt like they were on their heels their entire third quarter. And they they get a break cuz James Cook, I don’t know what the hell he’s doing, but stopped fumbling the football or we talked about that going into the game, too. He puts the ball on the ground and he did again. He did and he gave them a chance. But like I already had it written like if the Bills had, let’s say they scored on the final play, that fumble doesn’t happen and they score on the final play of the third quarter. The Bengals had it for 111 of the third quarter because of the fumble. It ended up being like 146 time of possession, but the Bills just completely put Joe Bro on the sideline, moved the ball up and down the field. It was 21 to 18 when the fumble happened. And then this should have been it. This should have been the turning point. And there were so many times, you’re right, there were so many times where I thought, okay, this can be it. The first one being the fourth quarter or or the fourth down stop by the defense. So, they deserve credit there because the Bengals were up 10. They had a chance to go up by more and they should have. I think if Joe to me I thought T. Higgins reacted poorly to to the Joe Burrow deep ball there and in on on what was it third and 19 and Joe get gets sacked and they’re seven for seven on third down and T was just like you said it’s a roller coaster game. Others will say Joe overthrew him. I’m not sure. I think T normally makes that catch and just kind of reacted to it or or didn’t judge it the way he should have. kind of slipped too by the way in the snow. So that was the first opportunity to to really take control and dominate the game. The second one was when they go up 10 2818. You just forced the fumble. Joe Burrow says that’s great. Let’s go down and score a touchdown. Five plays or 12 plays 75 yards. Boom. And and took seven minutes off the clock in doing so. Shortening the game. Get a 10-point lead. 7 minutes clock in the fourth quarter. Like great spot to be. 8:44 left, right? And what what happens? Well, Josh Allen and the the Bills go right down and score right away. Four plays, 68 yards, three first downs. The last line of scrimmage was the 40 yard line cuz Josh Allen sprints in for the touchdown. And I’m like, “Oh my goodness, buckle up.” Like this. When that happened, I was like, “This is this is going to be wild. coverage again. Like this is where you need to learn that lesson the first time. Second and 10, you call man, you have nobody to help. Josh Allen takes off on you. You have no shot. I I wonder what like what’s the logic of running playing man on third and 15 like after that? Like what’s the logic behind it? Because it’s third and 15. Like I I can’t actually wrap my head around it. And I’m trying I’m trying to like I you people that listen to this podcast all the time know like I’m trying to see it from the coach’s perspective sometimes like I understand why Joe Burrow threw that interception for example. I understand why that’s the decision. We talked about that earlier. You talked about it too. I I can’t figure out how third and 15 man makes sense to you with Josh Allen at quarterback. Just can’t figure it out. You’re only rushing for It’s not like you’re like sending a blitz or something trying to get him to throw the ball quick or whatever. It’s just man. It’s just cover one. It’s straight up cover. I don’t know. Can’t get it. Yeah. I Cuz if it were me, obviously you want to get pressure, but I would want as many guys around to help gang tackle as I can. And you suck at tackling. Like, so that alone, like, name one Bengals defender that you like one-on-one with Josh Allen because that’s what m There isn’t one. No, sorry, there isn’t one. And that wouldn’t matter if Trey Hendricks is on the field or not. I wouldn’t want anyone guarding Josh Allen one-on-one and that kind of situation where he’s obviously potentially scrambling. And that’s what’s tough is if you get that, I would have taken that all day. And I think the Bengals would have too. And they would have been like, “Let’s roll.” Like, “We have a shot here. We’re going to shock everyone.” And that’s what’s tough. Like a few weeks ago, I forget what game, but we were like, “Yeah, they’re just bad.” And it was one of the Joe Flacco games. And Joe Burrow can overcome a lot, but he’s not going to be perfect. He’s not going to be perfect. And the Bengals just aren’t good enough as a team to overcome a a wacky sequence like the Bills did. And part of it is because the Bill the Bengals had their own wacky sequence, but the Bills overcame it. And and they they were still in position. They kept the pressure on the Bengals after their fumble on the goal line. They answered. And so when the Bengals are in the midst of answering, they needed to and it it just it didn’t happen. And that’s usually what happens with with teams that are just they don’t have it because there’s going to be people that say, “Oh, well, they’re still not eliminated and all of those things.” And that’s fine. But man, did this feel like a game they should have won. And at halftime, I think J Yeah. Jay Morrison had the stats like Zack Taylor. Oh, yeah. With double digit lead. And I don’t have it in front of me. Do you have it? I can find it. find it as I’m talking. It’s both. It’s both Zack with a double double digit halftime lead and also the Bills when trailing. I’ll go find it. Yeah. So, it’s both. And I read that and I was like, “All right, well, pressure’s on here.” Like, the pressure’s on you. You’ve played so well. You’ve put yourself in this position. Like, the pressure is on you now to deliver and to go finish it. And that’s how I felt going into the third quarter. And it felt like they were going to hang on. Like I hated the third quarter. I thought it was super painful. You don’t get any stops. You don’t show really any any chance there. And you you go three and out on offense when you shouldn’t have. T. Higgins has the drop on second down. Joe Bro misses Jamar Chase on the third down. Like that should have been another conversion and it doesn’t happen. And it just felt like it was not getting away from them, but they left the door open and they didn’t need to. And and another couple of haymakers there. Maybe it just feels different in the fourth quarter and it didn’t. And uh anyway, you have the stat. Yeah, Jay Morrison had these. The Bills were 1-28 in their last 29 games when they trailed by at least 10 at halftime. Their only win in their last 29 games when trailing by at least 10 at halftime was in week four in 2022 of Baltimore. The Bengals on the other side are 16-1 with the 10-point lead in the Zack Taylor era and 19-1 in their last 20 overall. But we can just focus on the Zack Taylor era. Their lone loss was in week eight this year against the Jets. The lone Zack Taylor loss when he had a 10point or greater halftime lead. And there’s another trend that unfortunately appears to be stronger than these in-game trends for the Bengals right now. And we’ll all talk about that particular idiosyncratic stat and trend here coming up next as we wrap up a heartbreaking, brutal, self-inflicted, devastating loss for the Cincinnati Bengals in Buffalo. Today’s show is brought to you by Game Time. Game Time is the app you need for games like today and for well any matchup, including the World Cup. By the way, did you know that the World Cup coming back to North America for the first time since 1994, 48 teams and for the first time ever, uh it it’s got 48 teams in the World Cup, but let’s be honest, getting tickets is hard. That’s where game time comes up clutch. Whether it’s the World Cup, uh whether it’s Bengals and Ravens, which boy oh boy is that game. Both teams reeling right now. The Ravens lost to the Steelers today. You can track price drops in real time with Game Time. Get alerts when seats open and buy tickets the moment they hit the app. It puts the power back in your hands. It makes going to huge events like the World Cup or smaller events like Bengals Ravens easy to do. All you have to do is pull up the app and in seconds you can go through matchups, compare seat views, find the best tickets for you. Prices include fees up front, which I love. No last second hidden fees at checkout. Take the guesswork out of buying World Cup tickets and tickets to any live event, match, concert with Game Time. Download the Game Time app, create an account, and use code locked on NFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Again, download the app, make an account, use code locked on NFL for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, go. Game time. We’re also brought to you today by FanDuel. NFL Sundays move fast. One big play and everything feels different. The Bengals felt that today. We saw that happen to the Bengals today. We saw that happen to the Bengals nonstop in 2024 in a bunch of games that felt a whole lot like today. And that’s what makes live betting with FanDuel exciting. It gives you something besides agony when there’s a sudden change moment featuring the Cincinnati Bengals. It gives you something to root for. You’re not just watching the games, you’re reacting to it in real time. And with FanDuel, you can place bets as the action unfolds, every drive, every momentum swing, and every highlight moment. So, if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, check out FanDuel.com where they’ve got live spreads and money lines that adjust instantly and place your NFL live bets all season long. Fandal. The game moves fast. So can you. Self-inflicted. Painful. I I think Jake, this was the type of game had they found a way to pull it out. Flaws and all. Let’s say they get the stop on third and 15. Let’s say one of the interceptions doesn’t happen in uh the second one. Let’s just say the second one doesn’t happen. They find a way to score on that possession. Josh Allen naturally goes and scores and then Burough scores the game winner. We would have I would have allowed myself to be like, “All right, like flaws and all, they have a real shot here.” But when you keep losing these onepossession games, like how many times now I mean it feels like it’s at least three times this year, less than three minutes left, we’re seeing the Bengals go for two because they’re down for by two scores. They score a touchdown to get it to one possession, they’re going for two. Like, you never want to be in that that situation. And it feels like more so than ever this season. Maybe that was the case last year. here and I’m just forgetting, but it’s just they found themselves in these situations time and time and time again for a bunch of reasons and it’s uh it’s unfortunate because I think it’s the sign that that you are what your record says you are and I I Bur has made them better. There’s no doubt they controlled a lot of this game because of how Joe Burrow was playing. I mean, he started 12 of 15. They were seven of seven on third down. Uh he threw a frozen rope to Chase Brown, the T. Higgins touchdown. Like it felt like they were going to win the game. I gotta be honest, I really thought they were going to win this game, but in the second half they just they let the Bills hang around and then some of those mistakes that they made cost them. Yeah, the 1 minute and 11 second touchdown drive that you talked about earlier when the Bengals were up 2818. Like that’s probably not a good moment. But the Bengals, to their credit on offense, had an answer and they were 34 yards down the field on four plays. They taken two minutes off the clock. They’re in a called run play like I said. So say say it does go two yards to Chase Brown on that play like you talked about. Then you’re up to 250 3 minutes. Five plays 36 yards. Even if you don’t move the ball again after that you have you’re under five minutes. You’re under five minutes. Yeah. You’re under five minutes at that point. And you have a shot at a long field goal. I mean that’s I mean not a not a great place to be. You’re only up six. But you have a shot at a field goal at least. And and that’s assuming you gain no yards after that, which I I don’t think is the case. The Bengals are figuring some things out again at that point. And you know, you credit Joe Burrow for keeping them in it down the stretch here, but the the trend that I mentioned before the break there, James, was that Zack Taylor just can’t win after Thursday night. And and for all these things we’ve talked about, Zack Taylor still has never won a game in the week following Thursday Night Football. He has one tie. Back in 2020 or 2021 or whatever it was, they tied the Eagles, I think. That’s it. He cannot win the games following Thursday Night Football. Forgot to mention that leading into this game. And it it feels a lot to me like the last time the Bengals were coming off Thursday Night Football in a game they lost where they had a two-digit halftime lead against the Jets. They had a chance to to do more and and they find a way to choke it away in the fourth quarter. something about coming off Thursday night, man. That is bad voodoo. Bad juju. Whatever it is for these Cincinnati Bengals. Voodoo juju poo poo, you know? I mean, that’s that’s what it is. That’s how they play after Thursday night. I guess that’s a good point. It’s weird. It felt like a really long break. Like like super long. I got to be hon it it uh I think for us and for fans like like people were ready to talk about something. Yeah. Ready to get the game going. um and because it had just been a lot of the same coming off the holiday and all of those things. But yeah, I uh that’s an interesting one and for them to basically I mean these are two games more so the Jets game than this game like choke away but they I still think they should have won this game. I’m comfortable saying that in and that they blew it for a bunch of reasons. They blew that Jets game. And so for them to do that, one at home, one on the road, one with with Joe Burrow in a gotta have it type game and and that’s how it felt. Like le let’s be honest, no one’s like, “Oh yeah, let’s make the playoffs at 8 and nine and feel like if they had beat the Bills today, that’s a legitimate playoff team that we know had is not only fighting for the playoffs, fighting for their division with the the Patriots. They have a huge showdown next week with New England. I think New England is a little overrated right now even though they’re the one seed entering this week. And so it’s like the Bills are playing for a lot. And so if you went to Buffalo and won, I would be like, man, that’s a really quality win after winning on Thanksgiving in Baltimore. Like it’s a real easy way to buy into maybe this can work. Maybe everything we’ve seen they are figuring it out on defense and on offense getting Joe back just changes it. And some of that is true. I I don’t think there’s a another quarterback, probably not many quarterbacks that go there and go 12 of 15 and three three straight touchdowns and seven for seven on third down with our average goal to go uh for that first down. The average distance was like seven yards on each third down. Like that’s crazy. It wasn’t like it was a bunch of third and ones. And so, man, it sucks because it it felt like this could have been one of those convincing wins. Yep. and instead it’s like same old crap where this play, that play, this turnover, that that decision by Al Golden. Like it’s a lot of the same themes now that uh that we’ve discussed. And it’s not just defense. It’s not just turnovers. It’s everything. It’s a whole team. It’s incredibly frustrating. It’s why like I I I don’t know if I’ve been this frustrated after a loss in quite a while because it felt like Burrow was playing great. Bad interception, obviously, unlucky interception. He was playing a good football game, man. Mike Cassiki, best game he’s had all year. That is going to be a footnote. Like you said, weird game for T. Higgins. Weird game for Chase Brown. He had a great touchdown catch. He dropped another one that could have been a touchdown. Ran the ball really poorly. Didn’t look like he knew how to play in the snow, which is weird. Like, he played at Illinois. It’s not like he’s never seen snow before in his life. He’s from Canada. I mean like he couldn’t move in the snow. So Maj Pieran was so much more effective as a runner. Chase Brown maybe he had the wrong cleat on or something but looked like he was trying to cut and just did not have confidence in his footing. Nothing. And no one else really had that. Like you had Ty Johnson tripping like slipping and falling but like James Cook looked the the defensive ends did a couple times like BJ Hill on the Josh Allen touchdown to Khalil Shakir like didn’t look like he could stick his foot in the ground and redirect. the ends a couple times. Didn’t look like they could redirect, but yeah, Chase Brown very noticeable. Yeah, it’s Man, I’m just looking at at some of these stats. You would have taken 4.4 yards uh on average for James Cook. The the problem is is Tai Johnson had that explosive 23 yard run and then you have Josh Allen averaging nearly nine yards a carry, right? I mean, yeah. I mean, the problem is the two big Josh Allen plays, the 40 yard touchdown and the 15 20 yard whatever it was to the tight ends. the tight ends. Oh my god. Tight ends. I mean, 11 catches for 137 and two touchdowns between We were screaming this all week, man. How many times did I say over routes to to these tight ends? Play action to these tight ends. How many times did I say it this week? How many catches do you think wide receivers had for the Bengals or for the the Bills? Catches. Don’t look. I I was looking at the box. I averted my eyes as you started asking the question. I would guess like let’s see Shakir have one and uh Gabe Davis have I would guess like four. Yeah, it’s it’s seven but it’s like Shavers had the one catch for 16 yards. Shakir had two catches for 16. I forgot about the others too. Two for 16. Gabe Davis two for 21. Like James Cook had more, two tight ends had more. Like it’s just uh it’s w like Ty Johnson had as many receptions as any of their receivers, you know? And then Jackson Halls obviously had the gamewinner. It’s um the tight ends thing is just so weird. Like figure it out a little. And they tried like DJ Turner like they tried to go that that route some. It’s just that’s tough. That’s a tough matchup if you’re going to put DJ Turner on Daltton Concade for example. And honestly it was good coverage from DJ Turner. That’s a ball that I think like I don’t know like 20 20 quarterbacks in the NFL try to throw that pass. DJ Turner gets his hand on it. Josh Allen throws with enough velocity that DJ Turner I think he does get his hand on it actually but can’t deflect it enough. I’m pretty sure he got his hand on it. Looks like it to me. It looked like there was an adjustment from concade a slight deflection but I think a lot of other quarterbacks don’t get that much zip on it and and DJ Turner knocks it away. Uh you credit Josh Allen in this game to some degree as well. The Bills did make plays. Josh Allen was awesome. Awesome against pressure. Awesome when they had to have it. Um it’s awesome. the the Bengals let down by by multiple players in this game between drops and play calls and and Joe Burrow honestly unfortunately and and like you said like yeah there there’s a lot on his plate he has to play perfect but we’ve seen him play a lot better than this in terms of mistake free football he’s played he’s played in ways that that don’t lead to that mistake and unfortunately for for all the good things that I have to say about Joe’s game and he was great that one play 60% win probability ility swing in one play because the Bengals are driving and his first down. Yeah, sure. That’s a tough one. Should have been a big play. It missed him, you know. It’s It’s just a sucks. And I guess Benford, too. Well, no doubt. It’s a heck of a play. Like, that’s a really hard play to make. No doubt. Yeah. Don’t give him the opportunity to make it. Yeah. And uh but like think about Did Josh Allen give the Bengals an opportunity to make it? Not not a play like that. They had a couple almost interception plays. DJ Turner, Jordan Battle. Turner. Turner probably should have had the one. Battle would have been a great play. Yep. But I’m just And by the way, those are the two guys in on the fumble. So there there are some things I just linebackers, man. Let’s be honest here. Linebackers. Yeah, it’s rough. Benles down to a 3% chance to make the playoffs according to the athletics playoff simulator. In case anyone was wondering, it it the the Steelers winning today. I mean, not good and a devastating loss for many reasons. The RA the Ravens will get the Steelers back. I’m not as worried about that as my the the loss. They had to win. Got to win. Got to win games. Jake shocker, man. First game the Bengals have lost with T. Higgins, Jamar Chase, and Joe Burrow as coin flip captains as well, I believe. Uh the Thursday night Magic coming off a Thursday night really, really bad for the Bengals. that that trend overcomes all the other trends that we’ve talked about today. Yeah. Let’s wrap up there. We’ll be back this week. We’ve got film to talk about. Got to take a look at the rest of the season now. Here, that’s going to do it for this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Until next time, who have a good one. You said who? Wow. Yeah.

The Cincinnati Bengals built a big lead on Sunday, but two fourth quarter interceptions from Joe Burrow propelled the Buffalo Bills to victory 39-34.

From Burrow’s awful interceptions, to missed opportunities on defense, Jake Liscow and James Rapien react to Cincinnati’s loss in Buffalo.

They discuss Burrow’s play, a crucial pick-six in the fourth quarter, why this defense had a chance to salvage the day, but failed and what this loss says about the 2025 Bengals.

Join the Locked on Bengals Subtext Community: joinsubtext.com/lockedonbengals

Follow & Subscribe on all Podcast platforms…
🎧 https://link.chtbl.com/LOBengals?sid=YouTube

Locked On NFL League-Wide: Every Team, Fantasy, Draft & More
🎧 https://linktr.ee/LockedOnNFL

For your next listen, check out the Locked On Fantasy Football podcast. Get daily insight to the best Fantasy draft strategies so you can win your league this season. Click HERE to listen now. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your Team. Every Day.

Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!
Aura Frames
For a limited time, save on the perfect gift by visiting https://AuraFrames.com to get $35 off Aura’s best-selling Carver Mat frames – named #1 by Wirecutter – by using promo code LOCKEDON at checkout.

FanDuel
If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit FanDuel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long.

PrizePicks
Download the PrizePicks app today and use code LOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.
Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNFL

Gametime
Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNFL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.

FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN)