This week on Matt and Willie Know Ball, the duo dips their toes into the waters of what is to come. 

The Bengals need help. We all know that it’s true. The good news is that they have money to spend and draft picks to select. So who should be the targets?

Defense is the obvious need, which is a pretty broad statement and yet quite true. The defense was so bad in 2024, that it got Lou Anarumo fired and it was arguably worse in 2025. That puts Al Golden in a very awkward position and he looks to lead his unit on a massive turnaround next season. 

Whether it was the volume knob or the AM/PM, last year, the Bengals  slept through most of free agency. In de facto general manager Duke Tobin historic post season press conference he proclaimed his affection for pass rushers and his deep desire to address that dire need, But to equate head coach Zac Taylor “I hear better than I see.” Will Duke put his money where his mouth is, or the Brown family’s money where his mouth is to be more accurate?

He had better. 

Matt and Willie each share one of their favorite Bengals targets in both free agency and the draft. Not surprisingly, all four players are on defense.

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Jason and Alex are back to discuss the Bengals' last two losses to the Bills and Ravens. They talk about being eliminated from the playoffs for the third consecutive year, and the fact there will likely be no coaching changes.

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Darkness. 

As I examined the rest of the Bengals schedule after their most recent loss, I realized that they might now win another game. 

There are the Dolphins, who they have a history of blowing it against, the Cardinals, who have tight end Trey McBride who is likely to put up insane numbers against these safeties.and the Browns, who just seem to have the Bengals number inexplicably. 

Honestly, then I listened to some other podcasts and heard what the downers have to say and said to myself “snap out of it! Stop being such a quitter and figure out how they can get better.” So that is where I am at now. 

The next few weeks will be rough, but I see progress.

Zac Taylor will be the coach next year. Al Golden will be the defensive coordinator. Duke Tobin will be the general manager. We are fooling ourselves if we say any different. 

Some of us love to claim that Taylor has lost the locker room every time they lose a game, but it isn’t true. They love him. 

Golden’s development of players has been slower than we would have wanted, but guys are starting to come along. Lou Anarumo’s defense wasn’t any good when he didn’t have the dudes either. 

Duke is Duke. We don’t need to rehash it. He has had some success in the draft, but the big difference from other teams is that when the Bengals flub up the draft, they don’t buy their way out with free agents. They are disciplined to a fault. That’s not Duke. That’s ownership. They are who they are too.

On this week’s episode of Matt and Willie Know Ball, Willie and I reexamine the life choices that led tom us hosting a Bengals podcast, then we say FIDO and get back to work.

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Jason and Alex are back for another episode, brought to you by FanDuel. This time they react to the awesome win over the Ravens on the road on Thanksgiving, and their upcoming game against the Bills, as well as...... a possible path to the playoffs?

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It’s almost Thanksgiving and Mattt and Willie have a cornucopia of thoughts on the state of the Bengals. Join us and follow on Bleav for all the latest Bengals news and takes. 

Matt and Willie are thankful for a defense that is finally showing life. In this episode of Matt and Willie Know Ball, the ball-knowers tackle the defense. 

Are the linebacker deep-fried turkey or a delicious turducken of talent with all the fixins? Just like when the parade is ending and pregame has begun, things seem to be trending in the right direction.

Barrett Carter shook off his missed-tackle woes and had 16 total tackles this week. Carter has been calling the defensive shots and taking every single defensive snap since usurping Logan Wilson. Not unlike cranberry sauce in the shape of a can, he may be criminally underrated for what he has done as a rookie and the career trajectory he is currently projecting.

Like a forgotten side dish, it’s better late than never for Myles Murphy. Over the last two weeks he has really flashed. With both Trey Hendrickson and Shemar Stewart out, Murphy has seen a lot more action. He has taken advantage of this, looking good against both the run and the pass and producing a sack. I’ll take seconds of that.

McKinnley Jackson has finally been promoted from the kiddie table and is making me wonder why he spent so much time on the inactive list. You can pass the masked potatoes, but you aren’t getting anything past Jackson in the run game. He anchors down like Uncle Ricky on the lazy boy and he isn’t going anywhere.

Deep in the back of the refrigerator, the Bengals found some leftovers that still have some flavor. No, not the scalloped potatoes, Jalen Davis. Moving Davis up from the practice squad and rounded out the Bengals secondary menu very nicely. He played a large role and for the defense last week and showed no signs of spoilage.

Tryptophan aside, people are sleeping on this Bengals run game. Chase Brown and more importantly this offensive line have really caught their stride. New offensive line coach Scott Peters is looking like a great hire. 

Now can they keep it up as Joe Burrow looks to make his return on Thursday night?

Burrow will have his work cut out for him if he hopes to get the Bengals season back on track. Black Friday may be coming up, but the Bengals win/loss record is so deep into the red, that it will take them until New Years to get them out. 

Oh well, the Rose Bowl is a better parade anyway.

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Jason and Alex are back to discuss the fact Joe Burrow is practicing in full and all signs point to him making a return in 2025. They discuss whether or not he should.

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The Bengals are like a super-manipulative party who convinces you they are going to change just as you are about to give up on the relationship. They lost the must win game a week ago, and yet a glimmer of hop appears in Cartier glasses.

Joe Burrow was a full participant at practice this week, which as we all know in light of the Lamar Jackson saga means he is not just practice but taking starter reps.

With Joe, anything is possible. It is not likely, but all of the sudden running the table doesn't seem crazy. Infeasible, sure, but not crazy. Of course, the Bengals will be without Ja'Marr Chase, who gave Jalen Ramsey a Romanowski hello last weekend. Still, where there is Joe Burrow, there is hope.

But does it even matter?

This defense isn't getting any better.

Al Golden told us after Week 1 that he didn't want to play Trey Hendrickson that much because it wasn't good for him, but that they had to in order to win. He nailed that take and he hasn't made a good call since (bada tish!). Seriously, Hendrickson was overworked and now he's hurt. The defense without him is... I don't even have a word. Whatever the opposite of "scrumtrulescent*" is.

The rookies who needed to step up defensively, have stepped left and right and do-si-doed, but definitely not stepped up. In fact, as the weeks go on and on, this unit is looking more and more like a complete overhaul.

Yeah, the defense is bad, so let's all just sit in the corner rocking back and former muttering to ourselves "Joe is coming, Joe is coming," like Bart Simpson at Kamp Krusty,

*"Scrumtrulescent" is a made-up word from an old Will Ferrell Saturday Night Live Sketch in which he played James Lipton from Inside the Actors Studio

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