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OPPOSITION TERRITORY: Eagles vs. Bengals, Week 8 Pregame Preview · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:00
Speaker 1: What's up, everybody, It's Jeff here.
0:02
Speaker 2: I wanted to let you know we've recorded our Opposition
0:04
Speaker 2: Territory podcast this week on Wednesday, October twenty third, twenty
0:08
Speaker 2: twenty four. By the time you hear this, some things
0:10
Speaker 2: may have changed here or there, but we hope you
0:12
Speaker 2: enjoy the show. Welcome to Opposition Territory. Here at the
0:32
Speaker 2: Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly
0:35
Speaker 2: sports podcast show in the world, eleven and a half
0:38
Speaker 2: year strong. Got a great Opposition Territory pod coming your way, folks.
0:42
Speaker 2: It is our Eagles Bengals preview and it's gonna be.
0:46
Speaker 1: An interesting game this week.
0:48
Speaker 2: You know, both teams coming off wins this past week,
0:52
Speaker 2: and you know where are the Eagles going to be
0:55
Speaker 2: going from here? As there four and two on the season.
0:57
Speaker 2: Where the Bengals going to be going within their vision?
1:00
Speaker 2: What is a pretty tough division with the Steelers and
1:04
Speaker 2: the Ravens doing pretty well.
1:06
Speaker 1: You know this, This Bengals team not a bad team
1:08
Speaker 1: at all.
1:09
Speaker 2: We're gonna get into them and with some of these
1:11
Speaker 2: matchups are gonna look like this week, we got a
1:14
Speaker 2: great guest, let's get to it, joining us this week
1:17
Speaker 2: to get into this upcoming matchup the Eagles against the
1:20
Speaker 2: Bengals from A to Za Sports. We loved uh. We've
1:24
Speaker 2: had them on before. We love having them. We've got
1:26
Speaker 2: John Sheer and how you doing, Buddy.
1:28
Speaker 3: I'm doing good, Jeff. Thanks thanks for having me on again. Man.
1:30
Speaker 3: It's very rare when these two teams played, it get
1:33
Speaker 3: play against each other. But you know, whatever they do,
1:35
Speaker 3: I'm always aloud to talk to you.
1:36
Speaker 1: About it, absolutely, dude.
1:37
Speaker 2: I gotta tell you, like, these are two teams here
1:40
Speaker 2: that are interesting, I think in the NFL at this point,
1:44
Speaker 2: they're both coming off wins. I mean, look, the Bengals
1:47
Speaker 2: are three and four. It hasn't been a perfect season
1:50
Speaker 2: for them by any stretch, but they've.
1:51
Speaker 1: Won two in a row.
1:53
Speaker 2: They've got, you know what, I've been following that two
1:55
Speaker 2: headed rushing monster in Chase Brown and Zach Moss. Both
1:58
Speaker 2: those guys their average approximately four point two yards per carry,
2:02
Speaker 2: which the rushing game seems to be working better than
2:05
Speaker 2: it usually has perhaps in the past. Joe Burrow's closing
2:09
Speaker 2: in on eighteen hundred yards after seven weeks of play.
2:12
Speaker 2: Before their game against the Giants, the Bengals offense scored
2:15
Speaker 2: over thirty points in three straight games. So as we
2:19
Speaker 2: kind of get the discussion started here, John from an
2:22
Speaker 2: offensive standpoint here, when you look at the Bengals offense,
2:26
Speaker 2: what is their identity heading into week eight here?
2:29
Speaker 3: It's a good question because in the beginning of the
2:32
Speaker 3: year they had a really good plan for running the
2:34
Speaker 3: football and then going out of these twelve personnel packages
2:38
Speaker 3: more than they've ever done so before in the Joe
2:40
Speaker 3: Burrow Zach Taylor era, because they really liked this rookie
2:43
Speaker 3: tight end Eric gall and he's a great blocker and
2:45
Speaker 3: he works well for his sample. So right out the gate,
2:48
Speaker 3: Chase Brown Zach Moss were really efficient running the football,
2:51
Speaker 3: specifically Zach Moss because he was getting the line share
2:53
Speaker 3: of the carries. And ever since the first handful of
2:56
Speaker 3: weeks when the offense is doing really well, Chase Brown
2:58
Speaker 3: has gotten more and more of the carries in this committee,
3:02
Speaker 3: and Zach Moss's efficiency is, let's be honest, it's kind
3:04
Speaker 3: of tanked in the past couple of weeks. I think
3:06
Speaker 3: he had seven yards on six carries last week against
3:08
Speaker 3: the Browns, and a lot of those same concepts that
3:11
Speaker 3: worked really well in the run game in the first month,
3:14
Speaker 3: it's kind of stalled out. I think defenses are catching
3:17
Speaker 3: up to it, and I think right now the Bengals
3:19
Speaker 3: are looking for a counter. So Chase Brown is doing
3:22
Speaker 3: really well in terms of getting yards over expectation after contact.
3:28
Speaker 3: It's nine and day different compared to watching Zach Moss
3:31
Speaker 3: run the football. And like I think with Moss, it's
3:33
Speaker 3: just like the Bengals run blocking is still not very
3:35
Speaker 3: good with their offensive line. But I think with Moss
3:38
Speaker 3: like he just takes what he can get and he
3:39
Speaker 3: can very rarely create for himself. Whereas Chase Brown obviously,
3:43
Speaker 3: like you said, very explosive runner. He's able to get
3:45
Speaker 3: some explosive plays. So right now it's just Chase Brown
3:48
Speaker 3: like doing what he can and I think he's doing
3:49
Speaker 3: more than what the Bengals are probably giving him. But
3:52
Speaker 3: they need to find some counters with the run game
3:53
Speaker 3: because I think defenses are catching up to it, and
3:56
Speaker 3: right now, like we want to talk about the identity,
3:58
Speaker 3: it's really just to mar Chase d. Higgins because they
4:00
Speaker 3: don't have like this reliable third option that used to
4:02
Speaker 3: in the past when Tyler Boyd was at his effective self.
4:04
Speaker 3: I think Andre Yoshavas has tried to be that, but
4:07
Speaker 3: he hasn't gained a lot of separation and he's not
4:09
Speaker 3: really consistent, you know, between the twenties, like in the
4:12
Speaker 3: red zone. That's when he does his best work on
4:13
Speaker 3: scrambled drills and whatnot. But he's not been that reliable
4:16
Speaker 3: third option in the passing game. Micah Seti isn't really
4:18
Speaker 3: that either. So really, if defenses find a way to
4:22
Speaker 3: put a cap on both Jamar Chase te Higgins. It's
4:24
Speaker 3: been tough for this Bengals offense to move the football
4:26
Speaker 3: in the past couple weeks, and there have been two
4:28
Speaker 3: really good defenses that they face in the regarding the
4:30
Speaker 3: Giants and the Browns. But they needed to find some
4:32
Speaker 3: complimentary answers right now because I think defenses are starting
4:35
Speaker 3: to catch up to what they did in the first month.
4:37
Speaker 2: When folks have been talking about and as of us
4:39
Speaker 2: recording this on Wednesday, folks have been talking about Cooper
4:43
Speaker 2: Cup and I actually thought about the Bengals.
4:44
Speaker 1: I don't know what the.
4:44
Speaker 2: Cap situation necessarily looks like for them, but thought to myself,
4:48
Speaker 2: because you talk about not having that third option necessarily,
4:51
Speaker 2: thought to myself, Wow, Cooper Cup.
4:52
Speaker 1: That could be.
4:53
Speaker 3: An option for the Cincinnati Bengals, but potentially, I guess
4:57
Speaker 3: like this is still the Bengals, who very very very
5:00
Speaker 3: rarely trade. When they do trade, it's typically like a
5:02
Speaker 3: player for player. So I don't know who the Rams
5:04
Speaker 3: would be interested in on the Bengals roster. And again,
5:08
Speaker 3: it's an aggressive move that you just don't expect the
5:10
Speaker 3: Bengals to ever do. In terms of the cab and
5:13
Speaker 3: the finances. They have about nine million dollars in space.
5:16
Speaker 3: Just that that's typically always what they have entering a
5:19
Speaker 3: season and during the season in case emergencies happened. An
5:22
Speaker 3: emergency does not include I would say, trading for an
5:25
Speaker 3: all pro receiver in Cooper Cup. But I think the
5:27
Speaker 3: Rams are willing to eat a lot of that cap,
5:29
Speaker 3: and I think the Bengals could financially make it work,
5:32
Speaker 3: but of course that would require them to give up
5:33
Speaker 3: what like I guess, the receiver marketing now is like
5:36
Speaker 3: a conditional three that turns into it Two's what DeVante
5:38
Speaker 3: Adams got. It's still a price that I don't expect
5:41
Speaker 3: the Bengals to ever ever really pay. I guess the
5:44
Speaker 3: only thing that's interesting is that Obviously, Cooper Cup, you know,
5:47
Speaker 3: played under Zach Taylor when he was the assistant receivers
5:49
Speaker 3: coach and obviously was a part of that staff early
5:51
Speaker 3: part in his career, so there's some familiarity there, and
5:53
Speaker 3: he would make sense. It's like again, like obviously if
5:55
Speaker 3: you won an option to fit between tagast newmar Chase.
5:58
Speaker 3: Obviously Cooper Cup is significantly than anyone of the Bengals
6:00
Speaker 3: have on the roster. But again, this is still the Bengals,
6:02
Speaker 3: and I don't expect them to make that aggressive of
6:04
Speaker 3: a move.
6:05
Speaker 2: I just wanted to throw it out there just to
6:06
Speaker 2: see what their response would be. But really, like when
6:10
Speaker 2: I look at this Bengals team, of the offense in general,
6:12
Speaker 2: and as of us recording this, you know, the offensive
6:14
Speaker 2: line so critical, so key to all NFL teams. Quite frankly,
6:18
Speaker 2: we don't know, again as of us recording this, if
6:20
Speaker 2: Orlando Brown Junior is going to be playing on the
6:22
Speaker 2: offensive line this Sunday against the Eagles. He appeared to
6:26
Speaker 2: have avoided a very serious injury, but not having him
6:29
Speaker 2: on the field on the left side of that offensive
6:32
Speaker 2: line could be a problem for the Bengals offense. Quite frankly,
6:35
Speaker 2: what's the level of concern if Brown cannot play this Sunday,
6:38
Speaker 2: and what does the contingency look like in terms of
6:41
Speaker 2: the depth there.
6:42
Speaker 3: John, It's it's interesting because, like you said, I think
6:46
Speaker 3: the fear was that it was something serious, and then
6:49
Speaker 3: Zach Taylor said that it was a positive that he
6:51
Speaker 3: came out of the locker room and basically watched the
6:52
Speaker 3: rest of the game from the sidelines. He was standing up,
6:54
Speaker 3: he wasn't like, you know, putting any rest on his leg.
6:57
Speaker 3: It was thought to be an injury, ended up being
6:58
Speaker 3: a calf injury. I believe. Ian Rappaport called it like
7:01
Speaker 3: tennis calf, which is pretty common. Yeah, it's pretty common
7:04
Speaker 3: with tennis players. And obviously this is, you know, a
7:07
Speaker 3: year after the Bengals went through a whole calf string
7:09
Speaker 3: with Joe Burrow. So they're you know, I think they
7:11
Speaker 3: have experience of kind of trying to take this easy
7:13
Speaker 3: and not rush it back. But Ralna Brown has only
7:16
Speaker 3: missed one game in his NFL career, and it was
7:18
Speaker 3: against the Bengals a few years ago, and is surprising
7:20
Speaker 3: considering he's six eight, three point fifty and he's played
7:22
Speaker 3: for seven years and he's only been in active for
7:25
Speaker 3: one game, but his durability is next to is next
7:28
Speaker 3: to none, and that's why he suited up for practice
7:30
Speaker 3: on Wednesday. We don't have the official practice reports. We
7:32
Speaker 3: don't know if you went limited or if he just
7:34
Speaker 3: kind of watched, but he was out there in a
7:35
Speaker 3: jersey with the rest of the team. So I think
7:37
Speaker 3: he's of the mindset that he's going to try to
7:40
Speaker 3: do what he can to suit up Sunday, And obviously,
7:42
Speaker 3: if the trainers and the coaches staff say otherwise, then
7:45
Speaker 3: he won't play. But if he doesn't play, the drop
7:47
Speaker 3: off between him and Cody Ford, who right now is
7:49
Speaker 3: their swing tackle, is pretty significant. And Cody Ford did
7:51
Speaker 3: his best against the Browns of Miles Garrett, and I
7:53
Speaker 3: don't think Garrett officially beat him for a sec maybe
7:55
Speaker 3: after that first drive, but it's it's still a very
7:58
Speaker 3: limiting thing for the offense to kind of overcome. Considering
8:01
Speaker 3: otherana Brown has played. Arguably his best football of his
8:03
Speaker 3: career this year is past block win Ray is ninety
8:05
Speaker 3: six percent according ESPN. His past blocking grade is as
8:08
Speaker 3: high as has ever been. I think he's made a
8:09
Speaker 3: lot of changes to his technique over the past year
8:12
Speaker 3: and I think he's just been a lot more consistent
8:14
Speaker 3: in past protection and it's helped the Bengals out significant
8:17
Speaker 3: least by far the best offensive lineman. Yeah, to drop
8:19
Speaker 3: off to the next guy is very very steep.
8:21
Speaker 2: Yeah again, folks talking to John Sharon from A to
8:23
Speaker 2: Z Sports. If you're not following John on the Twitter
8:26
Speaker 2: slash x, give him a follow at John Underscore Sharon.
8:29
Speaker 2: He is a great, great follow And the folks over
8:32
Speaker 2: at eight to Z Sports doing a great, great job.
8:34
Speaker 2: We've had a bunch of gentlemen ladies coming over here
8:38
Speaker 2: and talking on the PSD podcast show from A to
8:40
Speaker 2: Z Sports, I wanted to get into Bengals defense with
8:42
Speaker 2: you as we're moving along here. The defense of the
8:45
Speaker 2: Cincinnati Bengals are relatively healthy and that has them and
8:49
Speaker 2: I think the fan base pretty optimistic about where the
8:52
Speaker 2: team can go. Plus they're they're making some big plays,
8:55
Speaker 2: you know, they're generating turnovers, you know. Like I asked
8:58
Speaker 2: about the identity of the offense, John, what is the
9:01
Speaker 2: identity of the Bengals defense heading into Week eight here?
9:04
Speaker 3: Yeah, Like in the first month of the season, they
9:07
Speaker 3: had a very very weak group at defensive tackle, because
9:10
Speaker 3: of all the injuries they had, like Sheldon Rankins, B. J.
9:12
Speaker 3: Hill missed a handful of weeks with ham strings, Chris
9:14
Speaker 3: Jenkins missed a couple weeks with a thumb, McKinley Jackson
9:17
Speaker 3: missed the first month. And those are your top four
9:19
Speaker 3: defensive tackles right now. Those are the guys are going
9:21
Speaker 3: to be active on Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles. And
9:24
Speaker 3: they've only played together for now two or three weeks,
9:26
Speaker 3: and ever since then, like you've had a consistent rotation
9:29
Speaker 3: of a total defensive lineman who've all played at least
9:31
Speaker 3: twenty snaps, and they've gotten to the quarterback a lot
9:33
Speaker 3: more consistently than they did in the first month, and
9:35
Speaker 3: that has really changed a lot. Granted, again, the Browns
9:38
Speaker 3: of the Giants not exactly consistent examples of offensive efficiency
9:42
Speaker 3: right with good quarterback play, but you know, like it
9:45
Speaker 3: definitely helps when you have some type of a stable
9:47
Speaker 3: pass rush. And obviously Trey Anderson straight Anderson is one
9:49
Speaker 3: of the best of what he does, and he's a
9:51
Speaker 3: matchup problem no matter who he goes up against at
9:53
Speaker 3: left tackles. So when you have that pass rush all
9:55
Speaker 3: throughout the game, it makes the secondary's life a lot easier.
9:58
Speaker 3: So I think if the identity really this defensive line,
10:01
Speaker 3: it's where a ton of investment has gone to. It's
10:03
Speaker 3: by far the most experienced group maybe on the entire roster,
10:06
Speaker 3: aside from maybe the offensive line. So you've got a
10:08
Speaker 3: lot of you know, experiencing games and experience working together,
10:12
Speaker 3: like Sheldon Rankins even before the season he played with
10:14
Speaker 3: with Trey Anderson a long time ago with the Saints. Like,
10:17
Speaker 3: there's a lot of continuity along that group, and when
10:19
Speaker 3: it's healthy, when it's firing and all cylinders, it definitely
10:21
Speaker 3: makes the rest of the defense better. And I think
10:23
Speaker 3: that's what we've seen in the past couple of weeks.
10:24
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's gonna be interesting to see what the Eagles
10:27
Speaker 2: do in terms of the left tackle position. We know
10:29
Speaker 2: Fred Johnson is going to be playing there. What kind
10:31
Speaker 2: of help is he going to be getting? May need some.
10:34
Speaker 2: He was in the lazy boy chair a few times
10:36
Speaker 2: this past week because he is filling in for Jordan Mylatta.
10:40
Speaker 2: But moving along here, john the Bengals defense now has
10:43
Speaker 2: two games in a row where the secondary has eight
10:46
Speaker 2: passes defended, and that's I think that's pretty significant.
10:50
Speaker 1: It's why I wanted to bring it up here.
10:51
Speaker 2: Because I'm wondering, what have you been seeing with the
10:54
Speaker 2: secondary over these past few weeks and how well do
10:58
Speaker 2: you think they're gonna be able to contain talent like
11:01
Speaker 2: aj Brown DeVante Smith this weekend. They're showing some good
11:05
Speaker 2: stuff this Bengals secondary right now, but they're gonna be
11:07
Speaker 2: going up against a wide receiver duo that can do
11:10
Speaker 2: some damage on the field. What are your thoughts here?
11:13
Speaker 3: It's a very unique secondary because I don't think that
11:15
Speaker 3: there is a number one cornerback on this defense I
11:17
Speaker 3: think is as good as can Taylor britt Is. There
11:20
Speaker 3: are certain receivers that I think give him some issues,
11:22
Speaker 3: and he can get really aggressive when he tries to go,
11:24
Speaker 3: you know, bump and run man coverage, and that's what
11:26
Speaker 3: we saw maybe at times in the first month of
11:29
Speaker 3: the season. He had a really good game against the
11:30
Speaker 3: Kansas City Chiefs, but then he looked like a complete
11:33
Speaker 3: shell of himself against the Carolina Panthers, if you could
11:35
Speaker 3: believe it. So it's been a very up and down
11:37
Speaker 3: year for the They're the fact of number one cornerback
11:40
Speaker 3: and on the opposite side is DJ Turner who's now
11:42
Speaker 3: filling in for Dax Hill, who was playing arguably like
11:45
Speaker 3: their best cornerback until he went down with a torny
11:47
Speaker 3: acl and DJ Turner like, he'll also kind of go
11:50
Speaker 3: through these you know, highs and lows where he is
11:52
Speaker 3: not a guy that will get a lot of interceptions,
11:55
Speaker 3: and I think his lack of length prohibits him from
11:57
Speaker 3: making a lot of contested plays at the ball. So
11:59
Speaker 3: his and his recovery speed and his ability to stay
12:01
Speaker 3: with guys like that's what's gonna get him in those
12:04
Speaker 3: spots to make those plays. But obviously, when you're dealing
12:06
Speaker 3: with a J. Brown and DEVONXA Smith, like, you needed
12:09
Speaker 3: a totally different plan than when you go up against
12:11
Speaker 3: most other receiving corps, and it's gonna I think it's
12:13
Speaker 3: gonna be a lot more of a conservative approach to
12:15
Speaker 3: make sure that those guys don't really get behind him.
12:17
Speaker 3: And I think there's still a lot of questions with
12:20
Speaker 3: the safeties as well, because you know, Genostone is dealing
12:22
Speaker 3: with injury now, Like we don't know if he's gonna play.
12:24
Speaker 3: He's gonna be really sore with that shin. But even
12:26
Speaker 3: before he got injured, he was not looking like a
12:28
Speaker 3: great fit in this defense, and like he just signed
12:30
Speaker 3: with the team this past free agency and they brought
12:32
Speaker 3: back Von Bell and he's not exactly the same player
12:35
Speaker 3: that he was when he left here a couple of
12:36
Speaker 3: years ago. So I don't think there's a lot of
12:38
Speaker 3: trust behind these cornerbacks. And I think right right now
12:41
Speaker 3: like there's there's not Like it's still a unit that
12:45
Speaker 3: tries to work well together and they're gonna go through
12:47
Speaker 3: it's ups and downs. But again, when you have a
12:49
Speaker 3: pass rush that helps them out, I think that that
12:50
Speaker 3: makes their play look a lot better where they don't
12:52
Speaker 3: have to cover for multiple seconds. So I think Taylor
12:55
Speaker 3: Bread versus a J. Brown is gonna be the matchup
12:56
Speaker 3: to watch there just because they want Taylor Bread against
12:59
Speaker 3: the more physical, you know X receiver that they got
13:01
Speaker 3: and that's obviously fits what a J. Brown is. So
13:04
Speaker 3: I think Ded Attorney and Devonti Smith great great matchup
13:06
Speaker 3: too too. You know, lanky guys who are really go
13:08
Speaker 3: with speed like this, this is gonna be fun matchups.
13:10
Speaker 3: But I would expect the Eagles to have probably have
13:12
Speaker 3: the advantage of those.
13:13
Speaker 2: All right, well, let's get into some more matchups here,
13:16
Speaker 2: like to go on both the offensive and defensive side
13:20
Speaker 2: here during our opposition territory conversations on a week to
13:23
Speaker 2: week basis in terms of what your concern is, what
13:26
Speaker 2: Bengals nations concern may be. So let's start off with
13:30
Speaker 2: the concern with any of the Bengals offensive matchups against
13:34
Speaker 2: the Eagles defense. And Eagles defense not the greatest defense.
13:37
Speaker 1: In the world.
13:38
Speaker 2: However, things have been gelling in terms of understanding Vic
13:43
Speaker 2: Fangio's defense here, So things are getting little better in
13:47
Speaker 2: terms of this Eagles defense and they're understanding of it.
13:51
Speaker 2: What are your concerns with the Bengals offensive matchups against
13:55
Speaker 2: this Eagles defense heading into week eight here?
13:57
Speaker 3: Well, like I just said, with with the Bengals defense,
13:59
Speaker 3: they didn't really have, in my opinion, like a true
14:01
Speaker 3: number one cornerback, whereas I think the Eagles might have
14:03
Speaker 3: that in Quinnon Mitchell, who I'm sure as you've talked
14:06
Speaker 3: about that Nazia inexplicably fell in the draft to twenty
14:10
Speaker 3: third or whatever the pick was, Like he was so
14:12
Speaker 3: much better than than when he got drafted, and for
14:14
Speaker 3: all the reasons that he showed him like he's so
14:16
Speaker 3: good and man, and he makes so many plays on
14:18
Speaker 3: the ball. So when you have a cornerback like that
14:20
Speaker 3: he can go up against either T against Jamar Chase,
14:22
Speaker 3: I think that's gonna probably level the playing field a
14:24
Speaker 3: little bit. And I would imagine on the opposite side
14:27
Speaker 3: of the ball, it's either Darius Lay or maybe Cooper
14:29
Speaker 3: de Gen. Probably Darius Lay on the outside right, yep, yep, yeah,
14:32
Speaker 3: So Darius Lay against he against another phenomenal matchup. I
14:34
Speaker 3: think T is playing his best football of his career
14:37
Speaker 3: right now, and he's obviously very motivated on the franchise tag,
14:39
Speaker 3: Like he's notoriously been bad against the Browns and Martin Emerson,
14:43
Speaker 3: but he had like, you know, eighty yards and four
14:44
Speaker 3: receptions against the Browns last week, So I think that
14:46
Speaker 3: gave him. That's gonna give him a lot of confidence
14:48
Speaker 3: for the rest of this season, on top of already
14:50
Speaker 3: a lot of the work that he's done. But I
14:52
Speaker 3: still think that when you have a defense, especially with
14:55
Speaker 3: the coordinator like Vic Fangio, who's given the Bengals some
14:57
Speaker 3: fits in the past he was with the Broncos in
14:59
Speaker 3: twenty twenty one, is a very ugly offensive game for
15:01
Speaker 3: the Bengals. When you have a good scheme and good
15:04
Speaker 3: cornerbacks to go up against really the identity of the
15:06
Speaker 3: Bengals offense right now, it's going to force them to
15:08
Speaker 3: try to win in other ways, and it's going to
15:10
Speaker 3: force them to try to recapture some of that run
15:12
Speaker 3: game efficiency that they had in the first month of
15:15
Speaker 3: the season. And then when you have the Eagles defensive line,
15:17
Speaker 3: who are obviously a very athletic group against the not
15:19
Speaker 3: so athletic Bengals offensive line, I think the Bengals are
15:22
Speaker 3: gonna run into some issues here because they're not gonna
15:24
Speaker 3: be able to just spam Jamar Chase and Teagans like
15:26
Speaker 3: they're able to do for the past two weeks. Yeah.
15:29
Speaker 2: On the flip side of things, though, I'm wondering what
15:31
Speaker 2: your biggest concern is going to be with the Bengals
15:33
Speaker 2: defensive matchups against the Eagles offense. I know we just
15:37
Speaker 2: talked about aj Brown DeVante Smith. Outside of that, are
15:41
Speaker 2: you are you keying in and honing in on any
15:45
Speaker 2: of those concerns you have with regards to Bengals defensive
15:48
Speaker 2: matchups against the Eagles offense.
15:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think a lot of Bengals fans are concerned about. Obviously,
15:53
Speaker 3: Sayquon Barkley top three rushing yards, and I think it's
15:56
Speaker 3: interesting that I think forty seven percent of his rushing
15:58
Speaker 3: yards have come on explosive runs and more so, Yeah,
16:01
Speaker 3: like whenever running backs against the Bengals are able to
16:03
Speaker 3: get to the second level, that's where a lot of
16:05
Speaker 3: those issues for the run defense have come kind of
16:08
Speaker 3: come about. A lot of mistackles, a lot of bad angles.
16:10
Speaker 3: And obviously Saquon is an elite athelete who's got a
16:12
Speaker 3: lot of power to his games. So if he's able
16:14
Speaker 3: to get into space against the Bengals defense, I think
16:16
Speaker 3: that can can lead to some issues. But on the
16:19
Speaker 3: on the flip side of things, like they face there
16:20
Speaker 3: Henry already the season, they faced Nick Chubb, and I
16:23
Speaker 3: think both of those offenses have tried to just run
16:25
Speaker 3: those guys up the middle. And I think now that
16:27
Speaker 3: the Bengals defense has like again a really healthy and
16:29
Speaker 3: stable group of defensive tackles, it's not as easy, I
16:32
Speaker 3: think as people think it is to just run up
16:33
Speaker 3: the gut against the Bengals defense. But again, if you're
16:36
Speaker 3: if you're able, if you are able to get to
16:37
Speaker 3: the edge, and able to get out of the space.
16:39
Speaker 3: I think that's where Saquon and maybe even Jalen Hurts
16:41
Speaker 3: as well, can can run into some issues. But I
16:44
Speaker 3: still think that still, like I think the Eagles wide
16:47
Speaker 3: receivers had the advantage over this Bengals secondary right now,
16:49
Speaker 3: it's just about Jalen Hurts can have a consistent game
16:51
Speaker 3: and be accurate.
16:52
Speaker 2: All right, Well, before I let you go, John, two
16:55
Speaker 2: part question dealing with sneaky players for us to be
16:58
Speaker 2: on the lookout for in terms of this team. So
17:00
Speaker 2: let's start off with a sneaky player that we should
17:03
Speaker 2: be on the lookout for. With regard to the Bengals offense,
17:06
Speaker 2: who do you think that's gonna be?
17:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, I really do think that they're going to be
17:11
Speaker 3: focused on, like trying to get more production out of
17:13
Speaker 3: the guys who aren't Jamar Chase t Higgins, and I
17:15
Speaker 3: think Eric gall has kind of earned that chance. In
17:18
Speaker 3: the passing game, It's it's been a lot of short
17:20
Speaker 3: passes for him and try to see if he can
17:22
Speaker 3: get some yard type to contact and ard toft to
17:24
Speaker 3: the catch and whatnot. But you know, like that there
17:26
Speaker 3: seem they seem to be losing trust in Mike a Seki,
17:28
Speaker 3: who was brought in to be like that star, you know,
17:30
Speaker 3: starting receiving tight end. Yeah, and I think they probably
17:33
Speaker 3: have as much confidence in Ergall to kind of take
17:35
Speaker 3: those reps and take those types of routes away from
17:37
Speaker 3: him now. So I think against his Eagles defense, where
17:40
Speaker 3: if you're trying to, you know, get over to the
17:41
Speaker 3: middle of the field, whereas Chase and Higgins are ocupied
17:44
Speaker 3: on the boundary, I think Eric Gall could have more
17:46
Speaker 3: involvement in the passing game as they try to look
17:48
Speaker 3: for counters.
17:48
Speaker 2: All right, and finally, you're sneaky player for us to
17:52
Speaker 2: look out for on this Bengals defense this week.
17:55
Speaker 1: Who would that be?
17:57
Speaker 3: Okay, I'll give you Jordan Battle, who's the second year safety. Yeah,
18:00
Speaker 3: And I really think, like, like right now, again, we
18:03
Speaker 3: don't know if Geno Stone's gonna play, and if he
18:05
Speaker 3: does play, we don't know if he's gonna be on
18:07
Speaker 3: like some sort of a snapcount. Von Bell is already
18:08
Speaker 3: basically on a snapcount with Jordan Battle. Because both those
18:11
Speaker 3: guys are strong safeties. They play, you know, their best
18:13
Speaker 3: in the box and try to come downhill. And that's
18:15
Speaker 3: what Jordan Boll's kind of done in the past two weeks.
18:17
Speaker 3: The snapcount's only kind of increased. I think now that
18:20
Speaker 3: you have another injury to deal with at the safety group,
18:22
Speaker 3: I think Jordan bow is gonna play a little bit
18:23
Speaker 3: more than he's had in the past couple of weeks,
18:25
Speaker 3: and I think it's a good matchup for him to
18:27
Speaker 3: have him come downhill and defend against Sakmon Barkley, maybe
18:30
Speaker 3: trying to get the passing lians as Jalen Hurts is
18:32
Speaker 3: going over the middle again.
18:33
Speaker 1: Folks.
18:34
Speaker 2: John Sharon from A to Z Sports at John Underscore
18:37
Speaker 2: Sharon on the Twitter slash x Buddy, it is always
18:40
Speaker 2: great talking to you, great great preview show. I'd love
18:43
Speaker 2: to talk to you at some other point down the road, my.
18:45
Speaker 3: Friend, Absolutely, Jeff, thanks to thanks so much.
18:48
Speaker 2: That's gonna do it for us here on Opposition Territory
18:52
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