Cincinnati Bengals Lose Again: Top Takeaways From Joe Flacco’s Debut vs Packers
The Bengals have lost four games in a row without Joe Burrow, and that’s really bad. But Joe Flacco showed that he’s an upgrade at the quarterback position. Let’s break down what that means, even though the Bengals lost to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. You are Locked on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast. Part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. What up, Bengals fans, and welcome to another episode of the Locked On Bengals podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. I’m Jake Liscoco. He’s James Renee, and we’re your hosts of Locked On Bengals. And together, we’ve been doing this show since 2016. It’s a great one-stop shop for all things Bengals as they continue to try to find their path forward without Joe Burrow. and bringing in Joe Flacco seems to be a step in the right direction. And things aren’t good. Don’t get me wrong. It’s not like everything is fine now. But we’ll talk about that step in the right direction on offense in today’s episode brought to you by Mazda when you make every move count. Pulling off the unexpected is only the beginning. Stay tuned later for this week’s Moving the Game Forward by Mazda. Move and be Moved. And James, it was an ugly first half for the most part. End to zero at the half. Not what you want. Unable to crack the scoring column was this offense in the first half, but the defense started out with a takeaway. They forced a punt early. Then the second half, you start to see some signs of life from the offense, which is crucial and necessary. And this madeover defense that now no longer features Logan Wilson at linebacker, kind of wilted in the second half. So complimentary football not really there for this team today. But despite the loss, I think you and I both expected this game to go probably quite a bit worse than it did. The Every Day, shout out to Every Daysers out there, heard us talk about that in this preview. There wasn’t a whole lot of faith that they would be able to get close to covering in this game and instead it’s actually somewhat interesting in the second half. Well, then maybe I was a bit more optimistic than you, but no, I I thought that this offense went through it and you saw the evolution of it and it it’s it’s tough because for a bunch of reasons as to why they would be slow again, but my main takeaway from tonight is they have a real quarterback. They have a real guy. Now, that doesn’t mean they have a superstar guy or Pro Bowl guy or or or whatever you would want to say Joe Burrow is, but he’s not a backup guy. And that matters. That matters a lot when your offense is and really your team is built around your offense. Like, if the Bengals are going to be good, if they’re going to be good at any point this year, it’s going to be because the offense is a big reason why. And yeah, today the path for them winning involved and would have had to involve the defense getting more than one takeaway, getting more than one big stop, having multiple splash plays, finding a way to get a stop in the second half or get off the field when it’s third and eight with 231 left. My goodness, 231 left, let letting Matthew Golden run free. It’s a golden breakout game for the the rookie first round pick of the Packers. But they needed a quarterback. That’s why they made the move for Joe Flacco. I get why people were like, “Oh, well, what about this guy or that guy or this guy or that guy?” I think Joe showed you that he is capable, that he can run this offense, that he is able to make the right reads. I mean, his longest pass was 19 yards. I don’t think that’s going to continue. I think they’re going to be able to push the ball a little bit more. Jamar Chase talked after the game about how he had like 12 reps with Joe Flacco this this week. Like 12. And on that touchdown pass, that was Jamar changing the play. Jamar told me like, “Yeah, I I I change the play. Sometimes I do that. Change the play based on what they were doing. They were running in cloud coverage and uh putting a safety over the top and he was able to make a huge play.” Joe Flacco gives them an opportunity to make those plays whether it’s T. Higgins or Jamar Chase and the list goes on and on. And so that’s that’s a huge plus. Does does that make up for the loss? No. But when you go big picture, which a lot of people have been doing over this four-game losing streak, and rightfully so, big picture 2025 Cincinnati Bengals, the the hope that came with Joe Flacco during that trade on Tuesday, well, we see why it brought hope to that locker room because he’s a clear upgrade like you mentioned and he gives them a chance. It doesn’t take away from the loss. The Bengals are two and four. They’ve lost four straight for the first time since 2020. I mean, that sucks, but uh it’s the reality right now. And that includes the previous Jake Browning experience where we didn’t see that level of futility. And certainly that’s what it was with Jake Browning this time around. And that’s why they started with him, of course, and why they had to make the move is that it didn’t work the same way. But I think what we saw from Flaco in this game, James, is exactly what I kind of thought we would see. He was going to be able to get the ball to the right guy at the right time, especially when he was protected. And the protection was bad in the first half, but really improved in the second half, which is the opposite of the way it’s been for the most part this year. I thought Orlando Brown outside of getting beat clean one play. Besides that, was pretty good in this game. I thought Daltton Riser filled in very admirably at left guard. Jaylen Rivers got picked on a little bit, especially by Micah Parsons. When Michael Parsons started picking his mark a little bit, but the protection really improved in the second half of this game and when that happened and when they got the running game going a little bit, you started to see, okay, Joe Flacco can hit his back foot and get the ball out to the right guy at the right time and they can get the ball moving in the quick game and he’s not just going to totally disintegrate in the pocket. I thought he was relatively good in the pocket. wasn’t frenetic, wasn’t panicked as you would expect with his level of experience in the NFL. And the second half was frankly pretty solid from Flaco where the first half maybe at times he was a little bit sped up or maybe at times he didn’t know where or wasn’t able to get the offense into the right plays at the right times. I think that’s something that will improve when he’s had more than a couple days of practice. And maybe it’ll take a couple more weeks because again, short week going into the Pittsburgh game. But we saw roughly what I thought we’d see from Flacco in so far as the understanding of the offense, what it’s trying to do, where the ball should go, when it should go there, the ability to deliver when he is on platform, the ability to manage the pocket, manage the offense, and approach it with the the kind of veteran poise that this team really needed after the kind of panicked play they were getting largely from Jake Browning, way too much. And I I think that even goes to his presser after the game. I came away from that presser pretty impressed with the way Flaco thinks about the game, the way he reflected on the performance, the way he thinks about his role as a veteran with this team. And if that’s what you get, well, if there is a chance Joe Burrow can get back later this year, then there’s like a glimmer of hope for this team to get things on track. And I think, you know, you point out he he can get the ball to these guys. only 12 reps with Jamar Chase and he gets 12 targets in this game. T Higgins eight targets in this game. And one of the things we’ve really been asking for over the last few weeks is can we get Jamar and T going a little bit and finally with a quarterback that actually is an NFL quarterback, they get enough targets to get something going with their star receivers. Yeah, that’s that’s how they’re going to win games. Like it is. I mean, they need to get those guys the ball. That’s why the offense looked so much better in the second half and in that first drive was a grind coming out of the the half and they were able to make it work. 17 plays, 78 yards. Joe Flacko six of nine for 50 yards and a touchdown. He was eight of 15 for 40 yards in the first half. And then the drive to start the second half goes six of nine and and starts to to get the ball to the playmakers. They start to move the change and it’s it starts to move and I’m like, “Oh, well, this is what it’s supposed to look like.” And they overcame, and I think this is a good a big point. They overcome a false start. They get it down to the one. Nice play by T. Higgins. Overcome a false start and I believe there was a sack on that play as well. Pushed them back to the 10 and then on fourth down from it was really the three yardd line. I don’t know why they marked it at the two. Everything says two, but it was basically a three- yard touchdown pass to Tanner Hudson. Certainly closer to the three than the two. That was a huge play in poise under pressure. And if this defense, man, oh man, if this defense just would have gotten one stop, like the offense gave them a chance and in the first half the defense gave the offense a chance and they just couldn’t take advantage. And like that that has to change now. But that’s different than what we’ve seen in past weeks. like that like a potential chance in the second half for the first time since Jacksonville where like there’s actually a game to talk about and not just a blowout at halftime. No doubt. No doubt. And this could have went that way. It could have. And I I do think that they deserve credit for that. I do think that there’s a lot of negative that we’ll hit on as well. But overall, when you’re talking about going into Lambo with a quarterback that wasn’t on your roster six days prior and just started practicing and you’ve lost three straight games and Trey Hendrickson gets hurt and Mike Cassiki, like there’s a lot going against you and so for them to make it competitive and be in it and really be one stop away from putting a ton of pressure on Green Bay, uh, I think that that’s a really reasonable spot to be in and it is encouraging. And so we we have plenty of more to talk about uh when it comes to this game and and certainly this offense with Joe Flacco. We’ll do that coming up next. Today’s show is brought to you by Mizen and Maine. You know the saying, look good, feel good. The problem is that most dress clothes only check one of those boxes. They look sharp but feel stiff, hot, high maintenance. That’s why there’s Mizin and M. Misin and Maine makes classic men’s wear with performance fabric. So, it’s effortless to look sharp and feel comfortable. They actually invented the performance-based fabric dress shirt over 10 years ago, and they perfected it ever since. And their shirts are stretchy, moisture wicking, wrinkle resistant, and machine washable. No ironing, no dry cleaning. Perfect for anyone. Right now, Misin is offering our listeners 20% off your first purchase at misinandm.com with promo code locked on NFL 20. That’s Mizen Miszn in Maine. M AIN.com. Promo code locked on NFL 20 for 20% off. If you’d rather shop in person, you can find Mizen in Maine in select states. We’re also brought to you today by Mazda. Mazda’s moving the game forward for those who believe it’s not just about playing the game, it’s about redefining it and their moments to do more than put points on the board. They move crowds, they move culture, and they keep moving the game forward. And the Bengals have been desperate for something to move their offense forward and may have found it with Joe Flacco. I think there’s a ways to go for this offense and Joe Flacco, but the way the offense moved the ball in the second half, the way that Joe Flacco was able to deliver the ball on time to the Bengals playmakers deserves some credit and might give the Bengals what they need to move forward as their offense really needs to find their way. If you are also interested in moving the game forward, you just need to follow what moves you. The unexpected is only the beginning. And boy, would it have been unexpected had the Bengals been able to pull this one out. Just like there’s more to every highlight, there’s more to a Mazda vehicle. Mazda move and be moved. It obviously wasn’t all good by any stretch for this offense and it was really frustrating early on Jake and and that’s that’s something that has to change when when I say like oh well this all if they’re going to win it’s going to be because of their offense. How about you score some points in the first half? How about you get a touchdown? They haven’t scored their last touchdown in the first half Jake was when Joe Burrow found Jamar Chase for a four- yard score at Por Stadium in week two. Mhm. They’ve been outsc scored 79-9 in the first half of these four games in the first half. And so you’re giving up 20 points on average per h per half and you’re scoring a whopping two and a half. 20 to two and a half is the average. And I get it. It’s weird with the Minnesota game and all those things, but starting out that way, you’re just very rarely going to have a chance. And they finally had a chance today. But if they had gotten off to a better start after that interception and they go punch it in or they go get points, I I feel like that game script was there for them and this offense wasn’t ready to to deliver. Yeah, it was a little disappointing to see how they answered after the defense steals an interception when the Packers are moving the ball. Like the Packers move the ball essentially the entire game. The Packers maybe got stopped on one drive the entire game. There was one three and out which was the Packers third drive of the game. They also had a punt after five plays, but that was after a 41 yard drive. It was five plays, 41 yards, and then the Bengals got off the field. That was right before the half. And uh the the 67 yard field goal that wasn’t. But then in the second half, it was touchdown, touchdown, field goal, end of game for the Packers. And that’s like game-winning field goal essentially, making it a two-score game. So like when you have that opportunity in the first half going back to the first half offense, you can’t have your first four drives go three plays, one yard, five plays, 17 yards, three plays, five yards, three plays minus two yards. You can’t have your first drive go jet sweeper Jamar Chase can’t turn it up field into a third and 13 run into a third and forever check down because you’re giving up because you know it’s you’re not asking Joe Flacco to go out there and convert a third and 13 on the first drive of the game unless something really good happens for your offense and the Green Bay Packers bust a coverage or something like that. So the excuse could be black has only been in the building for three days. Maybe it took a little bit of time to figure it out to get things going. Reasonable. Totally reasonable. But the trend over the four games of setting first halves on fire, mostly on offense, but like kind of entirely does need to change. They need to find their answers a little bit faster or much faster. They need to come out of the gate on these scripted drives better. And to the defense’s credit, they got their second stop on on an offensive on a first opposing possession this this week. They got that interception, but then you have to capitalize on it. So that’s I think that the next step for the offense. We saw that Joe Flacko can play competent quarterback when he is protected. That was a big difference in the second half. They got the run game going a little bit. They protected him. And when he was able to just be relatively clean and make clean click queen clean quick decisions, the offense looked good. But they got to get to that stuff faster. You can’t have this, you know, I feel like we’ve been talking about this for years now. This entire lack of complimentary football where only one unit is performing reasonably well at any given time. Yeah, it’s that’s it. That’s it. And it’s to me it is a bit weird that the scripted stuff hasn’t been better like because it’s been a theme now. Like you’d think like Jake Browning would have been better with the scripted stuff and then he would have wilted. Joe Flacco, it’s it’s really tough to judge. I mean we we’ve how many times did Joe Bro say how important every training camp rep was and all and preseason reps and all those. Joe Flacco has none of that. like he he barely got any practice reps. So that that is a reason. I don’t think it’s necessarily an excuse. I do think it’s a reason, but it can’t be it can’t be when you make the decision to start Flacco. You have to be able to weather that storm and still find a way to get some points. like some points. Like if they had scored a touchdown or kicked a couple of field goals in the first half, it it feels much different and there’s more pressure on the Packers. And who knows, we might be talking about Joe Flacco being the first quarterback in the Super Bowl era to beat the same team with two different teams in the same season. Like it it’s that has to change like starting fast. We we the the Zack Taylor success really throughout his tenure always comes with starting fast. He loves playing that way. He talks about it all the time. He talks about it behind the scenes. I know that they have to start games faster on offense. And uh and and that’s where like especially if your defense is able to get a turnover where I I’m hoping in the next evolution of of like this flack offense is like oh well the play action deep ball can come in the play. His longest pass was 19 yards. And I get it. The Packers pass rush and all those things you’re doing quick game. Like I get it, but I’m hoping that this is just kind of the start in the evolution can hit the ground running a bit, but they got to they got to start scoring points in the first quarter. I I don’t even want to say first half. Can you get some points in the first quarter? Yeah. I mean, they were on the field for two minutes in the first quarter, so probably need to do better than that, too. Two minutes. It was two to 13 in the first quarter. It was like 20 something to like five at one point. It was bad in the first half and and it were there was time left in the first half. There’s like five minutes left in the first half. It’s like this first half is going to end with a 13-2 time of possession advantage for the Packers, isn’t it? And then it did. What encouraging stat for Joe Flacco before we shift gears, talk about this defense a little bit, the intermediate part of the field. Uh a huge success for Joe Flacco in this game. He had passes inside the numbers, outside the numbers, and overall was six of eight on passes aimed between 10 and 19 yards downfield for 80 yards and both of his touchdowns. One of those tight window second reaction throw to Tanner Hudson where he starts looking right, comes back to the middle of the field, finds Tanner Hudson for the touchdown. And then the absolutely preposterous play for Jamar Chase where if he’s talking about being clouded, I assume the change he said he made to that play is that outside release where he really pushes out toward the sideline, then works back toward the ball. That takes that safety over the top out of the play a little bit because it’s harder to stay over the top when the receivers’s that far outside. And so you kind of get yourself into a bit of a one-on-one if you’re expecting that safety help over the top. And just generally, I think pretty impressive game for Jamar Chase given the the week he had with the illness and and the lack of work with Joe Flacco. But if you can get that from Joe Flacco and you can keep him clean as much as the Bengals did, according to PFF, 72% of his drop backs clean, you can get confident quarterback play from Joe Flacco. But then on the other side of the ball, especially with the Trey Hendrickson injury, the second half, really a disaster for this defense for the most part. And and like I said, only a couple stops in the game early on. would have loved to have seen the offense make good on those chances. This is again two straight weeks where you’re talking about the defense getting a couple stops in the first half before they wilt in the second half. But there are some problems on this defense, James, despite one particular real bright spot in this game. We can talk about a lot of areas for concern as the Bengals are making some changes on that that side of the ball. And we’ll go to that topic here coming up next. This episode of Lockdown Bengals is brought to you by Supply House. When the opening whistle blows on a new repair, you can get your crew moving forward with Supply House. You can order today and see parts on your doorstep tomorrow. Over 280,000 plumbing, HVAC, and electrical items from the most trusted brands in the business. And their real-time inventory, their honest lead times will keep you from punting projects. While their industryleading customer service always has your blind side covered, the part finder tools and SK 3D schematics can save you hours on jobs where every detail matters. And if you need those parts fast, supply house has next day delivery if you need that to help be a gamecher. Join the free tradem program today. 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Anything you can think of, FanDuel is going to give you that opportunity. So, don’t miss it. Get in the game today. And again, put down $5 and get $300 in bonus bets if you win. What are you waiting for? Visit fanal.com to download the FanDuel app today and get started. So, we got big changes on this defense, James. Logan Wilson no longer a starting linebacker. Barrett Carter with the green dot didn’t miss a play. I don’t think he or Barrett Carter or or or sorry, Barrett Carter or Demetrius Knight played particularly good games as they were being put in there for the veteran Logan Wilson who only had 11 snaps in this game. Also, the Trey Hendrickson injury incredibly notable. Maybe the Bengals get that stop they need with Trey Hendrickson on the field on that third and nine in in the fourth quarter. But the the problems on multiple levels of this defense, I think, are compounding where you’re not getting enough outside of Trey in the pass rush. Although, I do give them credit for manufacturing some pressure on Jordan Love in this game. Only one sack, but moved him off his spot a fair amount in this game, made him use his legs, and he did effectively, but they also created an interception that way and did get the sack to give them a chance to get off the field on that third and nine. But between issues at safety, one or two corner spots, depending on how you look at it, the linebacker play and and the the shuffle that we have going on there, the the continuous lack of pressure from too many guys on this defensive line, it’s a lot for Al Golden to contend with. And I’m not convinced that Al Golden is doing like the optimal job. But even if he were, that there are some real issues on this defense that DJ Turner was great, but they need some other guys to start playing better if they’re going to put together some consistency. They need real playmakers. Like they just don’t have they don’t have playmakers. They don’t have those guys in third and eight. You’re right. Game on the line. Trey Hendrickson’s hurt. Who were you who was on your mind, Jake, as like, “All right, well, this guy’s gonna make this play.” Yeah. I mean, I’m You’re hoping they go back to DJ Turner so he can collect his fifth pass break of the game or something, you know? Sure. Yeah. Like, but like But yeah, like you’re hoping. And even then, like, would it shock you if DJ Turner gave up a play? No. Even though he’s great today. I agree with you. Like, that’s what’s tough is they just like I think Daxel is good. I think DJ Turner’s coming on strong. Gino Stone made some plays, but without Trey Hendrickson and you start two rookie linebackers, and I think that’s probably a decent reason why the the Packers had so much success on the ground, but we’ll see. I just it’s tough searching for answers. And that’s why that’s why it’s so frustrating in the first half when you do get what you got out of this defense that they the offense couldn’t take advantage. That’s why I still default to this offense has got to be why they win games because I don’t know where especially let’s say let’s say they don’t have Trey on Thursday night. That’s a real t third and eight against Aaron Rogers, game on the line. Like is someone getting to him? Is he gonna be able against DK Metaf? You know, same and and that’s it, right? And and that that’s frustrating. And uh they might not have the horses, but what what I I will say is you really need that guy 97 back. Shamar Stewart on Thursday. We’ll obviously have you covered throughout the week, but uh getting him back would help some. I’m not saying he’s going to be the difference. you need Trey, but uh it would it would have been nice to have Shamar Stewart on the field today. Hendrickson remains their only guy really. But yeah, like hopefully Shamar Stewart could be better. Miles Murphy had an opportunity in this game. I don’t think Miles played particularly well in this game either. So, when you have Miles Murphy not playing great, missing tackles, Jordan Battle missing a bunch of tackles, you got linebackers missing missing a bunch of tackles, linebackers getting stuck in no man’s land, giving up big catches to Josh Jacobs, it’s just a lot to overcome with the amount of picks they’ve used on that side of the ball. And this goes back to the front office obviously and the coach’s involvement in the draft process and all these things. the way they’ve built that defense, the resources they’ve invested on that defense, not really paying dividends right now. And not to say the offense isn’t a concern, but I think that this game kind of shows you the trajectory of the defense where these mistackle issues come up and some of the same guys we’re talking about every week like, “Hey, can can you play a little bit more consistently?” And then they don’t. And so it it does get a little bit easier with some of the offenses they’ve got coming up, but you know, to your point about lack of playmakers, if you don’t have Trey, how does that make this defense change? And and how can they find the the adjustments they need? You credit them for what they did early in this game. The Bengals offense had chances early in this game to capitalize on the on the stops the Bengals defense did make, and maybe the game looks different, especially in the second half. they’re able to do a little bit more. But a lot of people talking about, you know, the defense is on the field so much and is put in all these bad situations and all this stuff. And in this game, that wasn’t the case. The the time of possession slightly favors Green Bay, but the second half the Bengals really made up a lot of that on offense. Bengals D uh maybe they’re just gassed at that point from being on the field so much in the first half, but sure they uh they were unable to make the plays in the second half just like the offense was un unable to make the plays in the first half. So overall, long way for this team to go, but the the issues on defense are like where’s the answer coming from? Mhm. Which has been the the question on offense. And now the the hypothetical answer is Joe Flacco. We’ll see if Joe Flacco can keep playing reasonable football. Obviously, like he wasn’t great before he got to Cincinnati, was reasonable today. And now the question is where do the answers start to come from on defense? Is it as simple as they they play some worse offenses? Green Bay still pretty good offense. Detroit really good offense. They’ve played some good offenses lately. Is that is that the answer here that that you’re hoping for? Maybe. But it’d be nice to see some some tangible signs of progress over there. After last week, we thought in the first half they did hold up against the Lions and didn’t really carry that momentum through to this game. No, they didn’t. And uh the the run part of it is huge. I mean, that that was such a key. And for Josh Jacobs, 5.2 to a carry, 18 carries, two touchdowns, six, his long was 16. It wasn’t like it was one carry of 60 and then the rest they were good against him and 57 in the receiving game and just breaking tackles and we knew he would break tackles but that athleticism disparity between the Packers skill guys and the Bengals was was apparent today. Yeah, I mean Matthew Golden like I said he had his breakout game and uh Tucker Craft after the catch like he he only had two catches but they were a big two catches. uh Golden 86 yards on three catches. You know, it’s crazy because Jordan Love, he was 19 of 26. Four of those were four of those incompletions. DJ Turner got in the way, right? Otherwise, who knows what he would have been, right? Uh it’s uh just got to find a way. And and honestly, I I’m excited for you and Sans to discuss the film because I do think that it’s going to be more fun to discuss this offense for the first time and see like what what worked and how they can continue to make it work because they have to beat Pittsburgh on Thursday if they’re going to keep their season alive. Yep. That’s the state of the AFC North right now. That’s got to be one of the more frustrating things about this season. You got the one in5 Baltimore Ravens, the one in5 Cleveland Browns, the two-4 now Cincinnati Bengals after losing four straight, and Pittsburgh at 4-1. It’s like that the AFC North is suddenly the AFC South. They’re not this great division in football like we thought they would be this year. A lot of that down to injuries, but that being the case, if you win, then Pittsburgh drops a four-2 and you get to three and four and then maybe you can start stacking some things. But for being real, James, still an uphill battle, right? You have some signs of life and they got to keep pushing that rock up that hill if they’re going to claw their way back into this thing and and hope they get to the top soon and can find those answers. But we’ll have that film breakdown for you tomorrow. What did the Bengals get to that worked with Joe Flacco in the second half? How did they make those adjustments? Is there anything that we can look for as far as answers on the defensive side of the ball outside of DJ Turner catching lightning in a bottle in this game? Hopefully he keeps it up because he’s had a couple nice games now in a row here. But we’ll have that covered for you tomorrow here on Lockdown Bengals. Until then, thanks for listening. Who day and have a good one.
The Cincinnati Bengals lost to the Green Bay Packers 27-18 on Sunday at Lambeau Field.
There are no moral victories in the NFL. The Bengals took too long to figure out how to get their offense going, and the defense wilted in the second half. The good news is Joe Flacco is a clear upgrade over Jake Browning, they seemed to find answers in the second half as Flacco settled in. Jake Liscow and James Rapien break it down after another Bengals lose their 4th straight without Joe Burrow.
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49 comments
Why giving excuses for losing?? C'mon guys lol. I think I'm entirely out on paying attention to this team and Bengal outlets if they lose to Pittsburgh. It's so madning!! This team is awful and burrow ain't saving it. Let's get pissed and mad
No Burrow, rookie start in O Line, and no Hendrickson for half. And they played that last half with heart for sure.
For me, plenty to be optimistic about
Props to Flacco for coming into this situation and doing what he can. Atleast gives us a little hope for a semi enjoyable season.
Fire Zac Taylor hire Dan Pitcher as coach and see what he’s can do. Since he’s the actual offensive coordinator but Zac is selfish and want to make all decisions. He’s garbage!!
Trey wasn’t a factor in this game.
So, what’s Zac and his fans blaming it on this week? Certainly not the scheme of 45 passes to 16 rushes. Lol.
At least I got to watch the whole game. I'm trying to remain positive.
Both lines are bad,for many yearz now 3
Why is Jordan Battle playing in NFL?
why can't any linebacker or D-Back, come up under control and when making contact with ball carrier, wrap and hold on? Why is every Bengal defense look like a ping pong ball instead of tacklers? All of them need to go except DJ Turner and Trey Hendickson
Taylor can't get out of his way. Their best drive was the first drive in the third quarter. Ten plus minutes. Almost equally divided between runs and passes. The first drive was three and out, and, as usual, Taylor effectively abandoned the run for the rest of the half. Great drive drive to begin the first drive of the third quarter, and he abandoned the run. Again. GB was able to take advantage of a winded defense.
Flacco bad fellas. One thing he consistently does these days is lose games. 3-9 in his last 12 starts over 4 teams.
The one offensive player with only a few days of "Zac" coaching, Flacco, and he was a bright spot! Please move Zac to equipment manager and get Jordan Battle in concessions making chili and getting burnt!
Im really sick of scheming these stupid screen plays that dont do anything but kill our momentum. If you want to run the ball, give it to your talented ypung RB, Zac. These screens aren't working, they havent worked since the day you arrived, and news flash, they will continue to fail
Tank for a blue chip player. Let's the jets beat us and the ravens. Get up in the top 5 picks and draft a blue chip player like Burrow and Chase. Bc we do not have enough talent on this team
Dj Turner looking legit
My goodness fire the coach
Running the ball & stopping the run is huge through out the NFL & that's what got both offenses going tonight!!! Building the O-line for pass protection is one thing that never made sense to me. It was nice to see them beable to run the ball a little bit. It just seems like they leaned a little to hard into pass protection. Where it seems like being able to run the ball prolly helps your pass protection more. O-line & D-line played much better. Flacco did well but if he was on the other side we would've sacked him 7-9 times prolly so it still worries me that he can't move really. Love was able to get out of trouble I thought it was the most pressure our D-line has got in a long while.
That loss was far less painful than the Browning human dumpster fire losses.
What actually helped in the 2nd half vs 1st half?
Zac removed his head from his butt!
He decided to run the ball, the offensive line was able to attack! They got to be the aggressors and they moved the packers defensive line.
The Packers had to change their defense for the 1st time all game and them bringing people in the box…….shockingly opened up the pass!
The offensive line wore down the defensive line just enough that they started getting wins in pass blocking.
It's literally just that simple, it's amazing how Paul Brown who literally invented pass blocking and the draw play with Marion Motley back in the 40's to setup up the pass has to be learned by Zac.
Bengals had 1 net yard at the end of the 1st quarter. No team could survive the bleed out this team has suffered under Zac.
Fire Zac!!
fire all of them! gm coaches all of them trade chase trade hendrickson get all the draft capital you can and start over.
Defense needs to learn basic tackling hitting a guy with your shoulder doesn’t bring him down.. Taylor and Tobin on any other team wouldn’t have a job..OBJ should be embarrassed along with the rest of o line… CTB embarrassing Battle embarrassing Murphy embarrassing. Bengals went hard in free agency went to the Super Bowl then went back to doing nothing and this is the result
Yeah I I get it we lose another, But Joe F didn’t look bad. I think what you expect in getting his feet wet with a new offense. We beat Pittsburgh and Pats in the Queen City, and very possible and we are back in it at 4-4! Thank god we are in a weak division the year! Who Dey!!
I was done when we didnt capitalize on the interception
The Bengals should put Flacco on the roster for next year.
I don't want hope. I want W's or a disaster so Zac is gone
Flacco was a way better choice than Russel Wilson 😊
Even with Burrow the Bengals would have had to outscore their opposition in a high scoring game because of Cinci's sucky defense, esp the defensive backfield. They are absolutely horrible
Shout out to DJ Turner who looks like a dude out there
Also Flacco's veteran experience is crucial. Picks up O schemes easier, has seen all sorts of defensive schemes, etc. And his arm is still good.
What is Al's fascination with dropping lineman into coverage
Jordan battle needed to be in position to make that a difficult catch on that deep crosser. That was the game.
Green Bay is good. They have a high potent offense.
They need to not make tackles available to them and stay disciplined (Jordan battle)… that’s probably the difference in the defense being decent in the 2nd half.
I still think they’re playing more sound overall than last year
DJ Turner was coming on last year and got hurt and coming on again… I think he’s a lock, good player. The way he plays, he’s disciplined in man coverage.
He’s solid. Dax solid.
James, my guy, you need to quit with the skill position name drop rifts. Its becoming cringe.
When will they address the offensive line. They try to run more Cordell a champ from a running game program second stringer it's a fail if they want to run Cordell needs to start should have let him start
You are both not football geniuses. Cordell is the answer to the run game
Looks like we get first pick in the draft and a good coach gets fired
Joe flacco I think did dam well for just being here a few days. The second half gives me some hope. I think he would not do anything worse than 😂 the way that offense was going before he arrived.
Hope springs eternal! We've been living in hope alley as Bengals fans since 1968!
Where does our next win come from
To me it’s always gonna come back to the draft this year and the what if. I like SS and am excited to see what he’ll do in the future, but this LB room sucks man. Jihaad Campbell was there in Rd 1. Safety Room could obviously use help- Xavier Watts was there in Rd 3. Knowing now that Trey is back (at least for this year), how much better is this D w Campbell and Watts? Those guys were right there! Coulda got Ratledge in Rd 2 to help O-Line. Draft really set up nicely for Bengals and they totally Effed it up. Knight and Carter will become average at best. Gotta hit on the draft. Cant overdraft players (Knight).
Here’s the skinny, and this is fact. Nothing Joe Flacco did lost this game. Had the defense stopped them that last drive the Bengals win. It’s the same old story with the Bengals defense. Last season the Bengals put up a lot of points in a lot of games that should’ve been wins. Hell, remember long ago when the Bengals hit Cleveland with 52 and still lost? It’s the same old, same old with this defense. Also, Flacco came in what, 3-4 days ago? He did a fantastic job and once he gets some rhythm with these guys he’ll so much better.
Run for loss. Run for negligible yards. Pass for 4 yards on the first offensive drive was absolutely horrendous.
Zac won’t give up play calling and that’s really what is killing us.
If the timeout doesn't get called. That fg was good. Meaning instead of worrying about that fg late they're attempting a game winning TD drive. It was a respectable team effort.
Probably goes without saying but if Flacco had been here, there's not a four game losing streak.
Another season ruined by Burrow. Tank and draft a QB to sit behind Burrow. Jordan Love Sat for 3 years. Next time Burrow goes down you move off of him. Unreliable.
When I watch this defense, it’s like we are playing on a bigger field than every other defense. It’s absurd how much space is consistently between the defenders and the receivers on every play every single week. Reminder this a what happens when you let Jessie Bates and DJ Reader walk, we’ve been turning our wheels ever since…