Bengals Have a HUGE Opportunity in Madrid but CAN'T Start Slow Again...

James Rapien (0:00)

The Bengals are in Madrid to take on the Falcons. Can they get to six and two? Of course, will they? That's another discussion. It's time to dive into that and much, much more right now on Cincinnati Bengals Talk.

A lot to dive into when it comes to this matchup. And let's just start here. Before we dive into it specifically, if you need real estate advice, guess what you do. You go to sipseacline.com/chusky because Christian Husky, our guy Christian Husky, is going to take care of you and make sure that you have all the advice you need, all the info you need, whether you're looking for your forever home or you're looking to downsize, or you just need some real estate advice, sipseacline.com/chusky.

The Bengals certainly don't need second half advice. The past couple of games, they've been dominant in the second half. Fourth quarter and overtime, they really turned it on against the Titans and the second half against the Ravens. And that's the first thing I'm looking for on Sunday in Madrid. You have the time change, you have the fact that they left on Tuesday, everything that goes into it and went into it.

Can you get off to a faster start? This Bengals team has been down 13 nothing in each of the past two games. You cannot continue to do that and expect to win. That's it. You can't. And I get it. Defense has flaws, and we've talked a lot about the flaws in the offense. Well, it's been humming, except it hasn't. I mean, the first quarter of these games, it has not. And the entire first half of the Baltimore game come out, establish who you are early. And they should be able to do that. Joe Burrow has been on a heater. Three straight games or four touchdown passes. I get it. I understand. I mean, he's been awesome. 38 to 48 last week, 462 And I get it. People are going to talk about the interceptions. The interceptions pissed me off too. But he has been putting on a clinic, put on that clinic earlier in, earlier in the game. I mean, it's that simple. In first quarter, do it. Find a way. And that is the first thing I'm looking just to see. How this team opens up the game. Obviously you want to finish. Obviously they finished. But how do they open up the game? That is a huge, huge element for me. And it's big because the Falcons, unlike the Ravens without Lamar and unlike the Tennessee Titans, they'll blow you out. And I mean that they have the offense with Drake London, with Bijan Robinson, with Kyle Pitts. They have an offense that will blow you out. Jahan Dawson is a nice player. Like they have weapons.

And so if they get up 13 nothing, well, then they can lean on Bijan Robinson and Bryan Robinson, both Robinson's at running back. They can extend drives and they can still produce explosive plays. So that is it. You got to start faster if you're going to beat Atlanta on Sunday. We'll see if they do. I think these weapons have been discussed a lot, Bijan a lot. I want to dive into that. But the thing to me that is really interesting about this matchup, Jessie Bates versus Joe Burrow.

There's so much talk about, hey man, it'd be nice if Jessie Bates were in stripes. Yeah, I get that. I'm with you. I would love it. But he's not going to be on Sunday. And Joe Burrow has to deal with him. And Joe Burrow had three turnovers this past week. And Jessie Bates is one of the smartest players in the league. And he's really mastered the peanut punch as well. Does he force a fumble? Does he have an interception? Does he do both? Jessie Bates is going to want to put on a show against the Bengals, against the team that wouldn't pay him what he was worth. I would feel that way for sure. And he has been awesome in Atlanta. Obviously, the trade deadline Tuesday is looming.

But when it comes to Sunday morning, Burrow versus Bates is must-see TV. Will Burrow be fooled? Will Jessie Bates find a way to put a hit on Burrow? Will he outsmart him and make a play on the back end where he baits Burrow into throwing it? Because guess what, Jessie Bates knows, he knows that Joe is going to throw it all over the field. The Bengals are going to drop back, they're going to throw it, they're going to sling that thing, that's what they do. And so I think that's really interesting. The thing that you really have to be aware of with Jessie Bates is his punch out. That punch out is certainly new, new as relative, but new since he left. It's something that he's mastered and has had a success with recently as last week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This is one of the bright spots, I would say, against Tampa Bay with Bucky Irving going into the end zone and he knocked it out and it was a touchback. So huge, huge match up there. Obviously, there are plenty of other ones. I think the Bijan Robinson one, much like the Ravens a few weeks ago, you got to make sure Bijan Robinson doesn't just crush you because if he crushes you, then it's going to lean in on the play action game and you're going to have Drake London go off. And obviously Kyle Pitts is a big, big factor here as well. And that's where it's tough for me, is I think about it and I'm like Kyle Pitts, Drake London, between one of the two of them, even though I think DJ Turner is not only going to play, I expect him to play well. I think he's going to get up for this game because it's Drake London. It's a really big opportunity for this defense to rebound against a good offense. I get it, Atlanta stunk in the rainstorm against Tampa Bay last week. That's an outlier. This is a good offense, but it's an offense that will make mistakes. Michael Pinnix will make mistakes, but you don't want him to have a run game to lean on. Because if you have a run game to lean on, it's going to make life much, much easier for him. That's the first thing. Take away the run. And then two, make sure that Drake London and Kyle Pitts don't go off. And it's probably in that order, even though tight ends have really had a lot of success against the Bengals this year. The Bengals oddly enough have not given up a touchdown to tight ends this season. Odd, weird stat considering how much they've been toasted and roasted and beat up by opposing tight ends, but it is the reality. That being said, I am very, very interested in seeing what this defensive front can do. You're not going to have Cassius Howe. Is Shamar Stewart going to be on the field? How much will he be on the field? Cedric Johnson looks like he's turning toward playing. Will he get his full allotment of snaps? Will he play even more snaps? Because there is no Cassius Howe. Do you just leave Mafay in there for a few more snaps? Does that tire him out by the end of the game?