00:00Joe Goodberry.
00:01So in the end, do you feel better about their chances this year
00:05than you did before week one,
00:07whether that's just in terms of the AFC North or the Super Bowl
00:11or whatever context you like?
00:14I had them 3-1 at this point.
00:16I thought they would beat that Steelers team, and they didn't.
00:19And then, you know, that's okay.
00:20So 2-2, I had them getting to 12 wins,
00:22so maybe that means I should adjust and say 11 wins.
00:25Still, that should get you into the playoffs in the AFC.
00:27I think the bigger questions of my hopes for looking at this team
00:32as a Super Bowl contender
00:34or potentially climbing into that elite echelon of the AFC
00:39is that they sold the under center portion of the offense so much
00:43that I started to believe it stupidly.
00:46Honestly, I should have leaned on what I knew
00:49and what I saw for the previous six years
00:51and said, you're not going to do it, and it's not going to look good.
00:53And their under center rate is the lowest in the league,
00:56and it's really bad, and of course it is,
00:59because it always has been under Joe Burrow and Zach Taylor.
01:02Although under Flacco and Jake Browning, it was respectable.
01:05It's been terrible when Burrow's in there for whatever reason,
01:08and that's a whole conversation.
01:09But that is probably the last piece of the offense
01:12that they're really failing to master,
01:15and that affects the run game.
01:17That affects your play-action game.
01:18You're creating explosives out of it.
01:20There's supposed to be some easy-button stuff
01:22where you can just boot the quarterback out
01:24and the tight ends wide open,
01:25stuff that other teams are getting the Bengals don't get.
01:28We like to say they play offense on hard mode.
01:31They do, but they're also still pretty good and efficient,
01:34and Burrow normally doesn't look really good in September.
01:37This is his best start to his season.
01:39So while I'm kind of negative that I don't think
01:41they can run the ball well enough
01:42and get these easy-button plays and the play-action stuff working,
01:45I'll still look at it and say,
01:46Burrow looks as good as ever so far.
01:49And if that's the case, I'll take them in a lot.
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