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00:00in game live game day here on sports grid as we have been doing and hopefully you've seen it on
00:26social media the sports grid tv sports grid so twitter accounts available to you obviously the
00:33sports grid youtube page we are going team by team across the nfl hitting all of these squads
00:39division by division along the way and trying to give you the best knowledge that you need going
00:45into training camps the regular season and beyond granted some things happen along the way we know that
00:50three weeks from now there could be an injury a significant one that happens in camp or in an
00:55exhibition game off a team that we talk about tonight look we can't predict these things but in
00:59terms of the most current up-to-date information that we can dive in on and we are going to begin
01:05our preview of the afc north another competitive division maybe well not quite across the board
01:12but three of the teams anyway and one of those the cincinnati bangles you can see there on your screen
01:17this is a team that you know has missed the playoffs the last couple of years somewhat surprisingly given
01:22the star talent especially offensively defense has been a major issue for this squad under zach taylor
01:28seventh season there as the head coach of the cincinnati bangles so let's get into all all of it
01:33here pardon me with joe reedy covers the team for the associated press on twitter at joe reedy joe how
01:40you doing doing good how you guys doing great great to have you here with us so uh again this is a team
01:47that you know just to run through some of the odds quickly over under nine and a half wins you know
01:52minus 120 to the over plus 250 as of right now to win this division a 10 to 1 to win the conference
02:0022 to 1 to win the super bowl the odds do favor this team to make the playoffs minus 154 compared to
02:07plus 126 on fanduel to miss i i think that's the category i want to begin we just keep expecting burrow
02:15chase higgins those around them to you know be enough to overcome so many defensive woes to get
02:21them into the postseason do they return to the playoffs this year after so much early career success that joe burrow
02:28had there's no doubt they have the offense i mean this was a team that i think scored 40 or more points
02:35and lost five games last year that just that just doesn't happen um so a lot of it is on the defense
02:45this year certainly got the offensive firepower certainly have one of the top passing games in the
02:50league you had the league's leading quarterback last year league's leading receiver who won the triple crown
02:57it had a nice run at the end of the season with six straight wins but still couldn't make the playoffs
03:03due to uh denver winning that uh final game so i think i think the key is going to be really the uh
03:10the start of the season they've struggled in september since uh zach taylor's been the head coach i think
03:16with the exception of 2021 and lo and behold they advanced the super bowl that year so the start
03:23is is a big thing being stressed and even zach taylor has said typically i don't i don't play
03:32my veterans during the uh preseason but he's going to play his veterans during the preseason now to
03:38make sure they're set it's a very interesting little nugget right there and possibly actionable
03:44on betting on the bangles in the preseason if they're going to be playing their starters
03:48a little more often very good uh joe adam talked about it the defense has been a real issue and now you
03:54get rid of lou anarumo who was really a you know a quite heralded defensive coordinator you replace
04:00him with al golden from notre dame what's the temperature in the room been like with the change
04:05there uh it's it's a more aggressive defense uh stressing stressing the turnovers and getting to the
04:14quarterback being more aggressive but i think you know there's there's a lot besides can the defense
04:21defense can the defense come back they've got they've got two major holdouts this week shamar
04:29stewart the the first round pick hasn't reported yet and that doubt that's been something that's been
04:36going on since the beginning of may and even sooner earlier than that in late january early february trey
04:43hendrickson's holdout so when you're missing two key pieces to your defensive line and they signed two
04:51defensive linemen today i think just as camp bodies because they're going to be low on defensive linemen
04:57that kind of shows that you know this holdout can go on for a while and if you don't have trey
05:04hendrickson in camp and really at the start of the season that's that's going to be a major blow to this defense
05:10well hendrickson guy obviously led the league with 17 and a half sacks last year a terrible defense
05:17but he was a bright spot you know and and you mentioned the first round picture marv stewart
05:21just looking at some of the names that this team has accumulated here in the offseason to sort of
05:27rebuild that defense between linebacker oran burks uh defensive lineman tj slayton you have uh you know
05:35demetrius knight was uh junior was taken as well in the draft the linebacker this is a a group that
05:41you know i i think on paper looks a little bit better by the same token i've seen a lot of people
05:46out there say you know you have burrow you have chase did you need to pay t higgins i'm sure burrow's
05:53thrilled but did you have to pay t higgins or would that money have been better well spent
05:58on the defense and continuing to add to that unit so i guess what i would say is if these holdouts
06:04are figured out and everyone's out there week one do they have enough in addition to of course the
06:08new defensive coordinator as brady mentioned i think i think it still remains to be seen i mean
06:16everybody's going to be keying in on the passing game and the offense so do they have a do they have
06:23enough of a solid running game to to counter that um injuries always play a factor in this team
06:34you know two out of joe's first five years in the league joe has suffered significant injuries
06:41and joe led the league last year in passing despite him saying he still wasn't 100 after a wrist injury
06:48in in 2023 so can we expect even a even a better year from joe burrow i think that i think that remains
06:56to be seen too but i think you've got a very hungry joe burrow you've got a very hungry t higgins you've got a
07:02very hungry jamar chase which you know let's face it you know did the first half of the season last
07:10year with both receivers have an impact too because you know one was under a franchise tag the other
07:19wanted to be paid in 2024 didn't get paid until this year so the fact that there's no drama on that
07:27is a good thing but still with the bengals every year one sort or or another there's always a contract
07:34drama joe what is your gut feeling on the season win total nine and a half under or over i think
07:42there's a lot of reasons for concern and i have my own watching this team for the last couple of years
07:47you mentioned injuries we know how good joe burrow is i'm not really sold on zach taylor i'm not so sure
07:53he's the coach we thought he was maybe earlier in his tenure there with the bangles the defense is an
07:58issue now to go over that a 10 and 7 campaign is not bad and maybe it's maybe it gets you into the
08:04playoffs but you know only nine or less wins for this team i i think is also very positive very
08:10possible with what we've seen in recent years nine and eight i think is could be considered could be
08:18considered maybe the floor or floor and the ceiling for this team everybody talks about that
08:25everybody talks about the first two games of the regular season at cleveland host jacksonville they
08:32should they should be 2-0 after that and if they're one and one that that wouldn't be a surprise either
08:40but those next five games that's a brutal stretch that i think hardly everybody's on the first two to
08:47me it's those next five games that you know you got minnesota you got denver you got green bay you
08:53got a thursday night game against um pittsburgh and then you got detroit i mean that's that's a brutal
09:01stretch for any team where you know if they get out of that three and four or four and three or even five
09:07and two then i think going over to nine and a half looks good yeah i think you need to be at least four
09:14and three i mean i know it's not unique at all to this bangles team but generally teams you know you
09:19get toward the halfway point of the season and you're below 500 it's just it's a hole that's tough
09:24to climb out of especially when you have x number of teams in front of you because we're always we like to
09:30a fault we're always looking at those wild card standings and everything like that scoreboard watching
09:34begins in week one in the nfl we all know joe reedy hanging out with us the associated press
09:40previewing the 2025 cincinnati bangles we're going team by team across the nfl right now the afc north
09:49and previewing the cincinnati bangles season with joe reedy from the associated press get him on twitter
09:54at joe reedy that is r-e-e-d-y so from one joe to another joe burrow who of course was pff you know
10:03the the top quarterback in in the entire nfl last year you know despite all the warts that cincinnati
10:10had burrow ranked very highly graded very highly statistically a great year finished with almost
10:165000 passing yards 4900 and change had 43 touchdown passes i think if you get into the betting market
10:22one thing that's really interesting about joe burrow specifically here joe is that his handful
10:29of years in the nfl we have seen 2700 yards as a rookie of course he only played 10 games then he
10:36jumps up to 4600 yards plus in 16 about 4500 yards in 16 and then 2023 of course he gets hurt only 10
10:45games 2300 yards the big bounce back last year as i noted you know comeback player of the year
10:50conversation and all of that stuff but now we're looking at a prop i'm looking at a prop on fanduel
10:55that has joe burrow minus 114 at 4200 and a half yards so basically the books are daring you to bet
11:03this it's not even close to what he did last year or in any other year that he has stayed healthy but
11:09there it is there's the rub right the x factor will joe burrow actually stay on the field all season
11:15long do you have any reason to believe he won't well it depends on the offensive line i mean joe burrow
11:25is going into his sixth year in the league has not been blessed with a consistent offensive line
11:33i mean they thought by getting orlando brown jr that would that would help help upgrade things
11:39it it has maybe a little bit but still i think when you look at the offensive line it's not you know
11:48it's it's certainly not the bengals offensive line that carson palmer and indy dalton had where you had
11:54andrew whitworth and stability at center and guard i think they're still trying to figure out a couple
12:01spots on that line going into training camp um i think that i think the tight ends both blocking
12:08and receiving have been good but i think a lot depends on the offensive line and also
12:15you know we've seen when quarterbacks throw it 70 or more of the time those sack those sack numbers go
12:21up it's it's natural the number of times you drop back and and the pressure rates too so that's why i
12:28think with the with the running game with the bengals this year it's it's vital that they they have some
12:36semblance of that to at least keep defensive pressure off joe i like to look at the nfl especially
12:43in the preseason uh it's really a seesaw affair what goes up must come down you know teams that
12:50that uh overachieved often come you know regress a little bit in the follow-up year and vice versa
12:56and the bengals really had a lot of bad luck in 2024 and i wonder if you feel that they're set up
13:02you know for the pendulum to swing to the positive side of the ledger one and three in field goal
13:08games four and seven in one score games turnover margin was minuscule they were plus three you
13:14talk about the sacks that's been a problem minus 12 in sack margin uh an average you know rated
13:21difficulty level of schedule fumble luck field goal luck they were some of the worst in the league
13:26things went bad for the bangles you know but yet they still won a fair amount of games would you
13:32again expect it to swing to to the positive in 2025 just because a lot of things did not go their way in
13:402024 i think i think with the improvements on defense without golden and a shift in philosophy i think that
13:47will help even things out a little bit more um i also i also think let's face it last year evan mcpherson
13:57had an awful year as a kid he was pretty he was pretty solid his first two three four years in the league
14:04and and he wasn't last year and if it's one thing that i know about darren simmons is if he struggles
14:11early again they'll they'll get a new kicker darren simmons is not a patient individual and i think
14:19that you know mcpherson's been given some chance to turn some stuff around and if he doesn't they would
14:27they will quickly look for a new kicker soon they will that they will not they will not stand for that
14:33now i think the one area of since since he did work last year on special teams was their return game
14:39they got some excellent field position and also ran a couple it ran a couple back last year
14:45for touchdowns so i think that's one area special teams did strong but i think the net punting numbers
14:52weren't that good last year and you know field field position with this team is a field
14:59with every team is going to be important so i do expect special teams to improve
15:04we'll talk about the baltimore ravens a little bit later on in the program but that's a team that
15:10is not only favored to win this division yet again but favored right now to you know win the super bowl
15:16conference obviously as well what does it take for cincinnati to unseat baltimore atop the afc north
15:23i think if they can at least get a split with baltimore that will help um baltimore will play
15:35let's see they'll play first yeah they'll play a first place schedule next year no yeah it's a hard
15:40schedule yeah they they get the first place schedule next year so i you know they're they're gonna get
15:47kansas city and i know the nfc afc north gets the afc east so since he's gonna get buffalo too and all that
15:57but yeah they don't get the la rams um and uh yeah that's it and houston so that's it that's a couple
16:11areas where i think since he can since he can make up make up some ground on because they'll get
16:16they'll get third place i think they get jack yeah they get jacksonville and then um in the west uh
16:24they get denver so instead of kansas city like what what baltimore gets so when you look to unseat
16:32a team in the division you look at you look at the schedule and those couple chances where they're
16:38facing other teams to uh get the advantage and i think they could get it there joe reedy is on twitter
16:46at joe reedy covers the cincinnati bangles for the associated press joe really appreciate all the
16:51insights into this team looking forward obviously to uh a fun season look i'm i am not a a bangles
16:58you know super fan or anything like that but i am a supporter i want this team to do well i want
17:03to see joe burrow and company back in the playoffs hopefully this is the year thank you joe
17:07joe burrow and company back in the playoffs
17:10you
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