If the Bengals are healthy, they can beat ANYBODY! - Booger McFarland | NFL Live

The Cincinnati Bengals the Bengals turned over a good portion of the roster the offseason adding Sheldon rankings Gino Stone on defense along with Zach Moss Mike giki and a first round pick am Marius Mims on offense but they traded Away Joe Mixon and let chidobe aier DJ reer Tyler Boyd and Jonah Williams all leave in free agency booger you got some like for likee positional swaps for a team that had a porous o line at times last season the corners at times gave up a disproportionate amount of big plays what must happen for ciny to contend this season in the AFC I think the biggest thing is going to be healthwise and I'll start on the offensive side with Joe burrow and they obviously they got to get Jamar Chase and T Higgins has to stay healthy Joe burrow has proven he's the one quarterback that can line up and go toe-to-toe with the best in the National Football League whether that's Patrick Mahomes Lamar Jackson Josh Allen it doesn't matter and the confidence that Joe burrow gives his team exudes through that entire football team defensively I think we all trust l rumo their ends hover and Hendrickson I think combin are one of the best pairs of ends in the National Football League Luan rumo understands how to get after people on the defensive side of the football so I think the combination of Zack Taylor the head coach and the efficiency that he runs at offense with Joe burrow staying healthy and Lou anarumo on defense I think if they feel like they can get to the postseason with that trium FR healthy and physically and mentally ready to go they can beat anybody you know bug the definition of greatness is can you make those around you better and you go back a couple years ago Patrick Mahomes lost Tyreek Hill and they went on and still won the Super Bowl and you look at the defections that this team had on offense in particular when you think about Joe Mixon and Tyler Boyd they lost 36% of their offense when those two players departed in terms of scrimmage yards look I think they have plenty of weapons to make it up with um I really like Germaine Burton their third round pick I'd like the drafting of Marius Sims in the first round to help the line but Joe burrow is really what's going to have to make up for those defections and he's going to have to play at his highest level for this team to be successful which I think he can be but obviously it's going to be Paramount that he starts all 17 games this season and Joe burrow to return to that 2022 performance mic I'll just read the topic bar that was on screen his qbr ranked in the bottom half amongst qualified Pittsburgh Steelers QBs starters just fractions of a point ahead of Russell Wilson new on NFL Live Browns quarterback Deshawn Watson was cleared for contact last week but had a setback today Browns head coach Kevin stefansky said his QB was limited with quote General arm soreness saying quote I decided just to hold back a little bit with him but not overly concerned still no word if Watson will play in Cleveland's preseason finale we'll stay in the AFC North where it's been a bumpy preseason for Pittsburgh Russell Wilson Justin Fields have played 13 combined series the team has three points to show for it this is the opposite from last last year's preseason when Kenny picket went off though that success was curbed a little bit once the games that count started new Steelers OC Arthur Smith thinks everyone should calm down when talking about offensive struggles Smith said quote to give context to it when you want to play guys we in a unique situation where you need to evaluate preseason can distort reality good or bad we've all seen it and that's not making excuses but things happen in football Russell Wilson also said today he would play in the preseason finale Saturday in Detroit no word yet on if he'll start Jeff what more can you tell us where things stand with the Steelers quarterback competition well it is significant that Russell Wilson is saying he'll play on Saturday now this competition while it doesn't feel like it's necessarily been decided by the play during these preseason games it does still feel like it's trending toward Russell Wilson starting week one and I know that he did deal with the three sacks in the most recent preseason game he actually had kind of of campaign to stay on the field longer than he was initially supposed to Arthur Smith the offensive coordinator was going to have him play three series but he kind of uh Lobby to get out there for a couple more he wants to get this right very clearly I I think that we shouldn't necessarily read into him playing as part of the competition itself but more Russell he missed sum a training camp due to his calf injury he wants to get as many reps as possible uh so I think it is significant that he is going to be on the field on Saturday booger you were shaking your head head through the entirety of that Arthur Smith quote we've got two new QBs in Pittsburgh we've got a new OC who do you think the Steelers should start under Center week one there's an old add is if you have two of something you don't have one and that fits this Ste quarterback situation to a T it's like asking a young Bo hey Bo you want brussels sprouts or you want asparagus I really don't want either one but if you force me to eat one of them I'm going to choose brussels sprouts because I can drown it with some sauce like if you're looking at Russell Wilson and Justin Fields I think they both have their flaws but if I had to choose one to start it would be Russell Wilson and I would just say this I would hope that at some point Russell's experience and his ability to minimize the mistakes and minimize the turnovers would show up because the same flaws that he has leaving the pocket and not reading the football not reading the defense down the field are they're the same flaws that Justin fields and I don't want to hear about Justin Fields athleticism that athleticism is athleticism got him ran out of Chicago at some point that position you have to deliver the football down the field and right now neither one is doing a really good job of it yeah for me Booger I I would go with Justin Fields because he's 10 years younger than Russell Wilson I think there's more upside and I think his game really mirrors Ryan tanah Hill who had two great years in Tennessee with Arthur Smith I understand that it's not the most polished passing game that doesn't happen overnight but I do think there's more ways for them to win games with Justin Fields right now than there is with Russell Wilson and I would say this unfortunately Minnesota's looking for a quarterback in terms of they lost JJ McCarthy for the year if I'm Pittsburgh I'm looking to try to trade Russell Wilson maybe I can pick up a third or a fourth round pick and Ryan tanah Hill ironically is still out there guys so if I'm Pittsburgh I'm starting Justin Fields looking at sign Ryan tanah Hill and if I could trade Russell Wilson that's something I would do keep in mind last year 66 different quarterbacks started a game in the NFL back here on How the Ravens can get over the hump in the playoffs NFL live Lamar Jackson is 5819 in the regular season second best in the league since he debuted in 2018 behind only Patrick Mahomes but that success has yet to translate to the postseason two and four in his career in the playoffs 0 And1 in the conference title game of the 10 QBs to win multiple MVPs Jackson's the only one below 500 in the postseason Lamar addressed the doubters this week on Mad Dog radio I mean I'm I you know I'm motivating myself uh because I know what I want to do at the end of the day you know those guys had their time you know I can't I really don't care what what the criticism is you know what the critics say because at the end of the day you know I just came off a a season in the injury the year before and we made it all the way to the FC in the new system you know so it's nothing to be doubting myself my teammates or anything like that you know because we made it far you know we just got to keep going and you know God's will we'll be there you know cuz that's our goal you know we criticize we criticize ourselves more than anyone else so what what people say on outside that's just that's just their take Mike tanon bomb this team's won a trio of Divisions with Lamar Jackson AFC one seed I believe twice they've only reached one AFC Championship Game how can this Ravens team finally get over the hump in the playoffs be successful running the ball when the opponent knows you're going to be running it last year Phil the Baltimore Ravens blew three fourth quarter leads and I think Derk Henry is the perfect player for this it's the old axum pass to score and run to win the best teams I was on in my career we were able to finish games by securing the line of scrimmage and running the ball when our opponents knew it was coming and that's really the mindset of what John Harbaugh wants to do that physicality and Derrick Henry to me will have the ability for them to finish games in a way they haven't been able to do in the last couple years you know I agree with you on Derrick Henry I think he's going to be that finish a guy that can kind of run the four-minute offense but I think in order for this team to get over the hump their best players have to play their best at crunch time and their best players Lamar Jackson like he's got to be that Dynamic guy with the ball in his hand and that's not just throwing the football that is getting outside of the pocket running the football making plays like the the difference between Pak Lamar Jackson and Pete Patrick Mahomes guys it's not a ton we've seen Patrick play his best though at the most crucial times in the postseason in the biggest games Lamar Jackson can do the same thing and I expect him to do that and so if they can get to the postseason healthy and can run the football derck Henry I think is going to help him but at the end of the day Lamar Jackson has to be that special dude with the ball in his hands if he's that they can beat anybody in football I yeah I think you nailed it Bogan the one thing I'd say too is I I don't view their season last year as a failure by any means I view their final game against the Chiefs as the ultimate failure and to me that's when they got away from what they are and what they do best they didn't allow Lamar or Lamar didn't allow himself to kind of go into that video game mode and do his thing it was almost like if they were like we're going to win this game by passing the football and we're going to show everybody we can do that as opposed to just finding a way to win and to me this team is once again set up to make that type of a run I'm like I'm very bullish on the Baltimore Ravens I do not think last year was a fail I think their final game was the ultimate failure booger I want to I want to follow up on one point this is a team that lost multiple starters on the o line their backup center left town Lamar Jackson's talking about losing weight what do you make of hit that transformation given the pieces that they're replacing well there three guys on this screen and I'm going to speak for the other two I think we could all send to lose a few pounds so I have no problem with Lamar Jackson losing a little weight I think that's going to add add added quickness and some durability him and the offensive line I think is going to be fine there's a saying in there that says play like a raven I don't ever worry about the toughness or the physicality of this team and again losing weight never hurt anybody it's good to be a little healthier you know Jeff D you can those 2 holidays right around the corner just getting ahead of the curve with the extra pounds and kilos to come [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]