Cincinnati Bengals to be Featured on Hard Knocks | Is This Good or Bad?

Cincinnati Bengals to be Featured on Hard Knocks | Is This Good or Bad?

hard KN is doing something new with their inseason show this year it’ll have the whole AFC North on it that obviously includes the Bengals let’s break it down you are locked on Bengals your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team everyday what up Bengals fans and welcome to another episode of the lock on Bengals podcast I’m Jake lisco he’s James rine we’re the lockdown Bengals podcast on the lockdown podcast that we’re covering your team every day here on YouTube and everywhere you get your podcast today we’re going to be breaking down the most recent news concerning the team which is that they will be featured as one of four teams on Hard Knocks today’s episode is brought to you by game time you can use promo code locked on NFL for $20 off your first purchase of tickets terms apply for all the new people out there you can subscribe to the show if you want to stay up to date on the Bengals this offseason we’re a pretty good One-Stop shop for that in fact I would argue the best One-Stop shop for staying up to date on all things Bengals news and Analysis throughout the offseason and like I said the biggest news this week James is is likely to be following T Higgins signing his franchise tag which we talked about in our most recent show the Bengals being part of this AFC North edition of inseason Hard Knocks 2024 wo big big news uh I gotta be honest I’ve never watched The inseason Hard Knocks never done it never done it never felt compelled to now part of it is and it goes hand inand with what you just said when you’re a One-Stop shop for the Bengals here well in December when the inseason show rolls out and this show will start December 3rd not really focused about the with the Dolphins or the Cardinals and guess what America wasn’t either and I think that’s why they’re doing what they’re doing now because the the whole AFC North element of it is really really interesting uh I had a feeling we’ll say and our insiders had a a they didn’t know but there was a a nugget there that that something was coming down and I I forgot I got to be honest that they decided to switch it to divisions and so for a little bit of time I was thinking it was just the Bengals and like man I think I would prefer it that way by the way but because I do I really need to watch Rashad baitman running routes and catching passes and training camp from Lamar Jackson like do we need to do that well we’re going to because you got to follow the the show now it’s part of the the job it comes with the territory but it is exciting uh I think there are some downfalls which we’ll get to or some questions but overall more more coverage of Joe burrow more coverage of Jamar Chase more opportunity to discuss uh the internal workings of the Cincinnati Bengals and see the interior workings of the Cincinnati Bengals sign me up there’s so many things that are fascinating about this inseason hard knocks Bengals fans of course at least long-term Bengals fans fans that have been around since before Joe burrow became the quarterback of the team not to call you out for being bandwagoners just because maybe that’s when you came of age as a Bengals fan are familiar with hard knock the Bengals previously appearing on the show winning the division in fact in the two years they appeared on the show The the training camp version of the show the traditional version of Hard Knox back in the Marvin Lewis era so this will be their third appearance they like I said a few things that are very interesting about this one You better kiss the baby yeah I mean they had some iconic moments on that show Chad and Marvin Lewis speeches and yeah and9 and 13 I mean Bernard’s minivan he’s driving his yeah I I think future mother-in-law at the time is minivan his mother-in-law and like hilarious just tell yeah I a couple things that are interesting about this to me one is they must have changed a rule or made some exception because there are several playoff teams that will be part of this now and I don’t know what the rules were for appearing on in season Hard Knocks there rules around what teams are exempt from having to appear on the training camp Hard Knocks but they have an entire division involved and that obviously includes previous year playoff teams that’s really interesting how are they going to split the time between the teams and like you said this doesn’t start until late in the season that’s when a lot of the AFC North and I wonder if this went into scheduling actually now that I think about it a lot of these AFC North teams don’t start playing their AFC North games until very l in the season this year not just the Bengals I I I know that I’ve seen fans and writers for other teams in the division discussing this point as well yep that’s got to be intentional so you’re gonna have a lot of interdivisional games and drama late in the season for the show to cover that’s very interesting to me article on bengals.com points out that the episodes the teams get to screen the episodes to make sure they’re not inadvertently leaking proprietary information team Secrets I thought that was really interesting so before you even get to the excitement about it I do think it’s really cool I I think that there are these very intriguing aspects of it that maybe only are interesting to me James no I I think that the AFC North element is a good point remember when we we were like man they don’t play an AFC North game till week five and it’s it’s Unique that’s all and it’s not it’s not something that usually happens that way they play Pittsburgh for the first time in December two days before the first episode of Hard Knock SS of in season with the AFC North so it is that is a I want to say it’s by Design to it to an extent it’s got to be I mean Pittsburgh’s first AFC North game period is November 17th week 11 that’s insane and then they go Baltimore Cleveland Cincinnati Cleveland Philly Baltimore Kansas City Cincinnati so out of their last what ever games all but two AFC North games and the the other element here you want this division to be relevant right of course you do if you’re the NFL well the AFC North beats the hell out of each other we know that I mean that that is no there’s no secret there that what happens in these AFC North games even when the Bengals were winning the division they were slugfest games and and so that that’s a a huge element of it so yeah push as many as you can into the back end of the season when the show on tie them together to where you watch Hard Knocks and then you watch an AFC North match up that following Sunday or you watch a match match up that Sunday and guess what I bet you they will advertise when the Bengals and Steelers are playing on December 1st I believe it is that December 3rd is the debut of Hard Knocks and you get to see Joe burrow as he gets ready for the season because it’s gonna start in training camp and then it’ll go all the way through so yeah I think that that element we we could talk about the other stuff the screen reading stuff and everything I’m not overshadowing anything you said but the schedule impact I don’t think that’s coincidental the NFL takes too long spends too much time and they’re trying to save a show here I think with this inseason hard knock so they’re trying to make it work they’re they know that there’s a market for it and I agree with that so you got to find the right cocktail of of teams of reality TV mixed with NFL the Cardinals weren’t it the Colts weren’t it and I’m missing one of the teams uh that was on there but uh maybe the this division format is going to be much better yeah the um the interesting thing about the the schedules the last interesting thing about the schedules there that I’ll point out is that the Bengals have three AFC North games from December 1st on you mentioned the Pittsburgh game on December 1st Ravens only have two the Steelers have six and and the Browns have three somehow the Steelers got all of the AFC North games in in the well I guess it’s from November 7th on but uh the Steelers have a ton of AFC North games in the back part of the schedule which is a pretty wild bit of scheduling from the NFL to get all those games packed into the back of the schedule so they should start off pretty strong right potentially for them I mean it’s not their MO typically but you know every year is a little bit different they take different paths to nine and eight every year it’s your shot you’re taking a shot at him I’m not doing that I mean is that not that not true it’s a different path to nine and eight every year or eight and eight before they added an extra game and Justin Fields completes it and the Steelers are nine and eight again would you be shocked bro I the headlines this week did you see TJ watt saying how he he really needs a playoff with yeah crazy one of the longer playoff win droughts in the NFL the Pittsburgh don’t make me call Tim TBO Jake I think there’s a little bit more on this hard hard knock topic we will stay there for a little bit coming up in just a minute Today’s Show is brought to you by game time and right now baseball season is in full swing you’re probably going to be hanging out at the banks and you’re thinking ah should I go watch the Cincinnati Reds well yeah day at the Ballpark is awesome and so is the game time app because it’s goingon to help you get into Great American Ballpark for less and watch the reds or get into Great American Ballpark when Thomas Rhett is here later this summer or maybe you want to go to the Luke Colmes concert in August I’ll see you there also you could get your tickets to any live event you’re looking for with game time they have last minute deals all in prices viewed from your seat and a lowest price guarantee I’ve used game time you’ll love it it is quick it is easy and the the best part they have Allin prices you know exactly what you’re going to pay there’s no hidden fees and they also have views from your seat a panoramic view so maybe you are going to a concert at a baseball venue and you need to figure out what the best seat is game time will help you do that download the game time app create an account and use code locked on NFL for $20 off your first purchase terms apply again create an account and redeem code locked on NFL l c k d o n NFL for $20 off your first purchase download game time today last minute tickets lowest price guaranteed James before we finish up on the Hard Knocks topic just a reminder for all of the every dayers out there we’re currently on a thre day a week schedule on lock on Bengals this will continue until probably that week before training camp unless there are pressing news items that we need to get out extra podcast for you and the the iCal schedule for those will be releasing Sunday night Tuesday night Thursday night to get you through Monday Wednesday Friday commutes if you listen the next day in the morning after we release these episodes typically around 7M eastern time and if you need a little bit more you can check out the locked on sports today 247 streaming channel it’s on YouTube it’s on the Amazon Fire TV channels app there is more coverage on the lock on network for you there if you’re looking for it and back to the a uh the AFC North inseason hard KNX topic you mentioned only three teams have been on the inseason version of the show before the Indianapolis Colts the Arizona Cardinal Miami Dolphins are the three this year there are two premieres so I forgot the Colts or did I just keep forgetting to name all three in a row either way I don’t remember the Colts were the first team in 21 then the Cardinals then Miami in 2023 uh the AFC North the first all division team of course we talked about that they also premiered an offseason show for the New York Giants that was new for Hard Knox as they continue to expand their repertoire and one thing that stands out to me from a from a football perspective and I’m not saying this is causal at all no team that has appeared on any version of Hard Knocks in the history of the show has won the Super Bowl that is a pessimistic statistic that is uh something that speaks to a potential distraction or just the coincidence and difficulty of winning a Super Bowl one team out of 32 win or one team out of 30 30 32 32 wins the Super Bowl every year and it’s just hard to to pick that team for Hard Knocks the Bengals however did win the division both times in the past where they appeared on the show you mentioned 2009 2013 the seasons uh five and eight of Hard Knocks the Bengals did go on to win the division so there’s this negative idea that well none of these teams has ever won a Super Bowl and then there’s the the Bengals specific history back for Marvin Lewis where they won the AFC North those years obviously there will be four teams on the inseason version so one of them will win the AFC North but there is a possibility that there could be some distraction associated with hard KN being present and the additional time that somebody on the team will take to screen the episodes maybe they somehow keep this out of the the main decision makers on the team and and get this to a lower level staffer but the potential for distraction James where’s your uh concern level I guess from one to 10 for me it’s pretty low like two three like I’m not very concerned about it but it is something that exists it will take a while before it gets to Zack Taylor and do you want this in or do you not want this in someone El is going to be watching it yeah and then no no no hey Zach you sure all right no no no you know I wouldn’t shock me if he doesn’t see the the actual episodes until after they air that doesn’t mean they don’t review them but I from a distract a distraction standpoint in the world of Instagram reels and social media and like I all these players are used to it like I I just I I don’t really think it’s going to matter I I think part of why why a Super Bowl champ hasn’t been crowned with aru usually they’re crappy teams right usually they are now the Bengals uh some exceptions Carson was coming off of that injury in 08 Chad was hurt in 08 they were really bad in 08 and they come back and they’re pretty darn good team at 09 2012 Bengals going into 2013 they were one of the young and up upand cominging teams and so they were good but some of these teams you look at and of course you know I think there’s there’s obvious reasons why they struggled you could easily get the Super Bowl champion this year with the inseason Hard Knocks because I think there’s at least two two realistic Super Bowl contenders in the AFC North it’s easily the best division in football I don’t know how you look at this division or look at the AFC and not think Baltimore and Cincinnati have a real shot at winning the Super Bowl yeah bottom line is best division in football heated rivalries if you’re going to do a division that’s a great division to do it in the first division to ever first division right ever to have all four teams finished with their winning record last year I believe I believe you’re right obviously they did and uh it’s wild to think about that the Bengals finished in fourth and they somehow got the nine and eight it is uh an interesting note about the quality of the teams when hardock started that was after with with the Ravens back in 2001 that was the year after they won a Super Bowl the Rams were on the show a couple of times in the Years preceding 2016 2020 in the Years preceding the Bengals Rams Super Bowl in 2021 but then they also had the 2018 Browns and 2019 Raiders and they they obviously last year had the Jets with Aaron Rodgers and then Aaron Rogers got hurt in 22 they were a little bit early on the Detroit Lions although that was good TV uh they were a little bit early on the Detroit Lions making a playoff run so a bit of interesting history there yeah speaking of History you know who’s a hard- knocked veteran go ahead not just Marvin Lewis Zack Taylor Zack Taylor was in hard KNX in 2012 and if you go back as a member of the Miami Dolphins coaching staff if you go back Chad Johnson was was on that team very briefly he got caught all of those things and Joe filbin made me mad for that but the the thing that and I I remember seeing this clip semi- recent the past couple of years Chad goes in and he’s trying to be old Chad where he’s bothering coaches and trying to get his old Swagger back after that down year in New England you can you can sense it and he interrupts a coaching meeting and you see Zack Taylor and it’s young Zack Taylor he’s probably like 30 31 whatever what I do the math he’s probably late 20s actually but yeah Z Zack Taylor in the uh in the frame with Chad during hard knock so he’s used to it won’t be a distraction to him but uh yeah it that’s a perfect example that was like a three-way quarter back competition in Miami they had no chance that Ryan tanah hill was a rookie they had no chance of winning the Super Bowl David Gard was there I forget the other quarterback but sometimes they’re just you’re looking at the the NFL infrastructure without necessarily covering a contender and and this year with this inseason hard knocks I think for the first time in a while you have some contending teams that we’ll be seeing on a weekly basis I think they’ve had yeah they’ve had some contenders they haven’t had four teams which I think is a safe way to make sure you have at least one if not two like you mentioned two one or two contenders featured on the show I do think it’s really cool I think for all of the hand ringing over potential distraction and and whatever it is the extra scrutiny on the team and how the team will deal with extra scrutiny you’re right I think they’re mostly used to it I I don’t think and hard KNX has been doing this for a long time I don’t think that it should be a major factor but then we also just get an additional look behind the curtain at all four of these AFC North teams and my personal approach to watching this when when we get there in December is probably going to be to fast forward a lot of the non- Bengals parts of the show personally I I don’t know that I’ll be that interested enough in these other teams to I am wearing purple it doesn’t mean anything about the Ravens um I’m gonna watch the Bengals bits and unless the other teams are like struggl strling and I want to feel some shod and Freud and enjoy that struggle I will probably be fast forwarding some of the rest that’s just my personal personal approach I get it I do coming up next James let’s discuss why Jamar Chase was limited in mini camp a question that’s been out there a question that Zack Taylor answered before mini camp raft and we haven’t gotten a chance to talk about we’ll do that today Bengals wide receiver Jamar Chase who happens to be in Paris as of the time of recording this uh showed up to mandatory mini camp last week and he did about as much as well you would have Jake if you showed up to mandatory mini camp he did a little bit more I would say than the Bengals beat but not much he went through install went through the the walkthrough period and just to give people an idea usually in season the walkthroughs are in the morning like for training camp the walkthrough will be in the morning and then you’ll have the actual practice where you go out and execute all of those things in the afternoon well during these mini camp days you have one session so it’s walk through stretching practice Jamar went through walk through obviously stretched some didn’t take place in any of the individual drills which we’ve talked about we talked about a little bit last week and uh let’s start with Zack Taylor here was Zack Taylor on jamar’s participation lack thereof all of the above when it comes to number one yeah it was good to get him back in here he’s in great shape he he had his process he went through with Joey Bose um again when when someone’s not been here you don’t want to rush him into things and but he clearly has has done a great job this offseason uh really happy to get him back in the building he was in all the meetings did all the all the walkthroughs and all that stuff and then did a great job mentoring some of the other players as he was out there during practice so I thought we got what we needed out of him and and was appreciative of him of even though it is mandatory I mean you see it’s not you know there there’s still guys that aren’t always always there and he showed up and and uh did did everything that we talked about him doing that sounds a whole lot like what I speculated about when we did discuss this on the show last week there was always a chance and Zack Taylor could also be saying this to cover for Jamar this would be exactly what you would say if you were trying to cover and there was some other reason that he wasn’t participating fully in these mini camp practices but there was always a chance that it was just the Bengals hadn’t seen him all offseason and didn’t want him to immediately hit the ground and and be sprinting and doing all these things before they had their conditioning their version of not to say that he wasn’t in good shape like Zack Taylor said he’s in great shape but they they do have their own plans to get guys acclimated to football activity specifically and their own approach approaches to Trying to minimize lower body soft tissue injury which is a big point of emphasis throughout the NFL you don’t want to get hamstring issues you don’t want to get calf issues in the offseason program early in training camp as we’ve seen impact this team and many others in the NFL so it could have always been as simple as that and it could be as simple as that and and that’s what Zack Taylor is selling at least there in that clip I don’t buy it because individual drills are the easiest like that’s something that every one does and like he’ll do that on day one of training camp like everybody does and so there’s never really a Time unless you’re coming off of injury where you don’t go through those because it’s basic routes you’re not really running full and I get the team stuff the seven on seven fine makes sense you know uh get these young guys reps but I I think they clearly and at the end there Zack talked about it there was a plan and while Zack is focusing on the the the conditioning part of it and it is a factor I don’t think he’s lying of course you you’re not going to bring him in and then have Jamar run a bunch of go balls in 707 I get it but I think he’s using that in saying well we’re not going to do that and making it bigger than it is I I think in a real realistic world like T Higgins will do individual drills the moment he reports for training like that’s that’s the most basic thing ever like I I don’t even know what to equate it to it’s it’s as basic a stretching for these receivers so I think it’s a little more than that I don’t think it’s anything jamar’s dor way more than that on his own so it’s not a big deal but I just I don’t buy that it is it’s as simple as Zach and Joey Bose and all these guys are like no let’s let’s hold off Jamar and hold him out of individual drills so what would it be you’re saying it’s nothing but it’s not nothing and it’s something but it’s not something so what what are we ating because I’m not really sure where when has Jamar not taken play he did individuals last year I’m just saying I don’t know where the discontent would be if this is a discontent issue I don’t think it’s a discontent thing I think it’s a yeah I’m here but I’m not going to fully participate for whatever reason but it isn’t I I mean I can speculate about the reasons or the contract all those things I don’t know but it it isn’t conditioning it isn’t they will do it on day one of mini or training camp so what so well Jamar so what’s the point of not doing it in in mini camp and and like what’s the distinction and all these things I don’t I don’t really get it that’s what I’m asking I don’t have an answer but and and so that’s what I’m that that’s all I’m saying because individuals are getting loose and working on your footwork and like it’s it’s really especially at mini camp it’s not like you have Troy out there intensely telling you all right stop on a dime right here turn really hard like they’ll ramp up to that but that wasn’t this past week that’s all I’m saying again is it anything you’re right it’s it’s not I just don’t think it’s as simple as saying the Bengals wanted to get their hands on him and that’s it like I I just don’t now maybe it is maybe I’m dead wrong that just Jamar could run every individual drill backwards and catch every pass with his left hand and it not impact him at all that’s all that’s all I’m saying I’m just not sure what else it would be personally obviously you could speculate and we don’t want to speculate too much but truth probably somewhere in the middle there between that there’s something small and why did Trent Brown go through everything well I talked about that actually when I speculated on this last week is that you’re not necessarily exerting as hard but then you made the point about individuals after that not requiring a ton of exertion um not to say that offensive linemen don’t exert but in mini camp with the limitations on contact there there’s typically not as much uh I would I would imagine there’s not quite as much physical demand in in the short area movements of the offensive line versus the longer uh running that that wide receivers are subject to I think they probably had a conversation I had of time and Jamar said he was going to show up and they agreed that he just wasn’t going to do much period and that’s that’s it because again like I I I I wish I had video to show right now it’s just it’s so like most of our listeners probably would be able to go through individual it’s not you know you’re just running 10 yards and stopping and turning like it’s it’s normal stuff now you wouldn’t look like Jamar but there’s really not much risk if any risk or injury injured players that don’t play go through it like I mentioned last week so that’s all and who cares it doesn’t matter it’s June I don’t need to see Jamar Chase Run routes he’s ran a thousand plus routes this offseason I’m sure he’s fine if we see this linger into training camp maybe we discuss it as an issue and start speculating about why the participation is limited if it is limited for for a significant run in training camp training camp does have a ramp up period as well that full schedule available by the way it’s out there and uh James and I were trying to figure out when the padded practices start so I can try to figure out when uh I can hopefully make it down to Cincinnati for training camp this year but uh if it is still a topic then we’ll talk about it then until then I don’t really see anything to to ring hands over here other than just revisiting the topic because it was something that we were asking about last week Zack Taylor talked about it after we Rec recorded and and we wanted to get back to it with the Zach Taylor quote and he may deep down not want to get potentially risk any type of injury at a team function when contract talks should be starting now right I mean they should be picking up at some point AG not now yeah yeah so so it might be that simple which is is fine like that’s you don’t want to be negotiating a hundred plus million dollar deal with a ton of money guaranteed if you tweak your hamstring on company time right I mean that so I I don’t know but I I would understand that logic if that’s what it is yeah it could be as simple as contract talks are beginning which would be good news yeah because we we’ve been talking throughout the offseason about the fact that Jamar Chase wanted to wait to see what the top of this wide receiver Market did we talked about what the top of the wide receiver Market did in an episode specifically focused on what Jamar Chase is contract could look like following the Justin Jefferson deal that was I think a couple weeks ago now you can find that anywhere you get your podcast and on YouTube as well but that’s going to do it for this episode of the locked on Bengals podcast until next time thanks for listening H day and have a good one

The Cincinnati Bengals will be part of the in-season edition of Hard Knocks during the 2024 season.

The show will highlight all four teams in the AFC North. The guys react to the news, if it’s good or bad for the 2024 Bengals, plus thoughts on Ja’Marr Chase’s lack of participation during minicamp, what Zac Taylor said and much more!

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