Will Levis, Titans’ quarterback, possesses arm strength is notable, decision-making and handling pressure remain significant concerns. Levis’s performances have been inconsistent, showing flashes of brilliance but frequently marred by poor choices and turnovers. Dive into the Vikings vs Titans matchup with The Real Forno Show. Explore key insights on the Titans’ defense, Will Levis’ potential, and the Vikings’ strategy. | Photo by Johnnie Izquierdo/Getty Images Join Tyler Forness and Dave Stefano for an in-depth Minnesota Vikings analysis. Discover how the Vikings can beat the Titans, featuring NFL insights and lively discussions on ‘The Real Forno Show’. Stay updated and engaged with every episode! On this episode of The Real Forno Show, Tyler Forness and Dave Stefano discuss the Minnesota Vikings’ chances against the Tennessee Titans. They explore the Titans’ peculiar defense, Will Levis’s struggles under pressure, and how the Vikings can exploit the Titans’ weaknesses. The show also covers updates on J.J. McCarthy’s knee procedure and analyzes the Vikings’ offensive strategy. With insights into various players and predictions for the game, this episode offers a comprehensive preview of how the Vikings can tackle their upcoming challenges. Here’s a summary of the key points from “The Real Forno Show” episode discussing the Minnesota Vikings’ strategy against the Tennessee Titans: The Vikings are facing the Titans in their third consecutive game against the AFC South, with a current 3-0 record against the division. The Titans’ defense presents a paradox: they’re ranked first in yards allowed per game but 29th in points allowed. Key strategies for the Vikings include: Exploiting the Titans’ inconsistent defense Utilizing play-action shots Blitzing Titans quarterback Will Levis, who struggles under pressure The Vikings may target the Titans’ linebacker position, potentially creating opportunities for tight ends T.J. Hockenson and Josh Oliver. The Vikings’ offensive strategy likely includes diversified plays and leveraging their running game, especially to the outside to avoid key Titans defenders. Both hosts expect a closely fought contest, with Tyler predicting a score of 24-13 in favor of the Vikings. Listen: Watch: The episode emphasizes the importance of methodical execution, rigorous defense, and capitalizing on the Titans’ vulnerabilities for a Vikings victory. FAN WITH US!!! Tyler Forness @TheRealForno of Vikings 1st & SKOL @Vikings1stSKOL and A to Z Sports @AtoZSportsNFL and Dave Stefano @Luft_Krigare producing this Vikings 1st & SKOL production, on the @RealFornoShow. Podcasts partnered with Fans First Sports Network @FansFirstSN and Fans First Sports Network’s NFL feed @FFSN_NFL.
How will the Vikings Beat the Titans?
Dolphins Reacts Survey: How confident are you in the Dolphins?
Kirby Lee-Imagn Images Take our survey, and discuss with your fellow fans in the comments! Welcome to SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NFL. Throughout the year we ask questions of the most plugged-in Miami Dolphins fans and fans across the country. Sign up here to participate in the weekly emailed surveys. Please take our survey
NFL Week 11 staff picks: Moneyline, spread, over/under predictions
Geoff Burke-Imagn Images The POD staff make their predictions for the Week 11 slate of games in the NFL. Wins and losses are piling up as the NFL schedule rolls along. The vague impression of a playoff picture is starting to reveal itself. Things are heating up and there are plenty of important matchups taking place this week. Here at Pride of Detroit, our staff have made their picks for not only Thursday night’s game, but the entire slate of Week 11 games. Last week, the Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens provided another great installment of NFL action on Thursday. For the second week in a row, we’re going to get another all-important divisional matchup when the Philadelphia Eagles square off with the Washington Commanders. Catch this one on Amazon Prime for “Thursday Night Football” at 8:15 p.m. ET. On Sunday, the New York Giants, Arizona Cardinals, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Carolina Panthers get a break while the rest of the NFL is back to work with 12 games scheduled. To kickoff the matchups on Sunday afternoon, the Metro Detroit audience will get just one game in the early window over on CBS, the broadcast of the Detroit Lions and Jacksonville Jaguars in the 1 p.m. ET slot. At 4:25 p.m. ET, CBS is nationally televising a titanic matchup between the top two teams in the AFC when the Kansas City Chiefs take their undefeated record to Orchard Park for a game against the Buffalo Bills. FOX will counter with an NFC West divisional matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers at 4:05 p.m. ET. “Sunday Night Football” will see two AFC teams desperate to improve their position for a playoff berth. Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals head west to play the Los Angeles Chargers for an 8:20 p.m. ET kickoff on NBC/Peacock. “Monday Night Football” on ESPN/ABC is a showdown in Texas: Houston Texans vs. Dallas Cowboys at 8:15 p.m. ET. As we have done in past seasons, our staff will be making weekly predictions for every game on the NFL schedule. Each of the Pride of Detroit staff will pick the moneyline (winner of the game, no spread), but some of the members will also pick against the spread and even the over/under lines—there’s an easy toggle button in the widget below to cycle through the settings. You can also check out all of the odds for this week’s games courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook. Here is who our staff is picking on the moneyline, spread, and over/under for all 14 games on the NFL Week 11 schedule:
Ex-Giant offensive lineman healthy again, looking for work
Tyre Phillips | Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images Should the Giants pursue a reunion with Tyre Phillips? Tyre Phillips is healthy again and looking for a chance to get back into the NFL after suffering a torn quad playing for the New York Giants in Week 17 of the 2023 season. “Several teams” have reportedly checked in on Phillips, who started 14 combined games at right tackle for the Giants in the 2022 and 2023 seasons. Should the Giants be interested in another reunion with the 27-year-old offensive lineman? Former #Giants OT Tyre Phillips has fully recovered from the quad injury he sustained in Week 17 last year. Several teams have been monitoring Phillips, who has 27 career starts. ( @paulderousselle) pic.twitter.com/pOGuiIu5iQ — Jordan Schultz (@Schultz_Report) November 13, 2024 The Giants originally claimed Phillips off waivers from the Baltimore Ravens at the beginning of the 2022 season. Phillips played in 12 games that season, with five starts at right tackle in place of an injured Evan Neal. Why the Giants cut Phillips, who can play every offensive line position except center, before the 2023 season was never fully explained. Phillips landed on the Philadelphia Eagles’ practice squad and the Giants, in dire need on the line last season after injuries struck the position, poaches him from Philly. He ended up playing in 10 games, starting nine at right tackle before suffering the torn quad. That is an injury from which it can take roughly a year to recover, and from which complete recovery does not necessarily mean regaining all of the previous strength in that quadriceps muscle. The Giants’ current backup tackles are Chris Hubbard and Josh Ezeudu, each of whom has been found wanting when given a chance to replace the injured Andrew Thomas. Neither of the Giants’ backup guards, Aaron Stinnie and Jake Kubas, has played a snap yet this season.
Eagles vs. Commanders Game Preview: 5 questions and answers with the Week 11 enemy
The Philadelphia Eagles are back at Lincoln Financial Field this week for a huge Thursday Night Football game against the Washington Commanders. It’s been quite some time since a matchup between these division rivals was so important for both teams. In order to preview this Week 11 NFC East battle, I reached out to our enemies over at Hogs Haven. The astounding Andrew York kindly kindly took the time to answer my questions about this upcoming tilt. Let’s take a look at the answers. [For my answers about the Eagles, stay tuned to HH.] 1 – Jayden Daniels has been great. What are his strengths and weaknesses? As far as strengths, he’s a cerebral QB with pinpoint accuracy on most throws, excellent throwing mechanics, and an advanced ability to recognize the defensive alignment, call protections, and process quickly what is happening around him on the field. In addition to that, he has an excellent sense for pressure and the athleticism to scramble to evade pressure and buy more time to throw or simply make a big gain himself with his legs. I think the biggest thing that makes him stand out from other rookie QBs is his maturity though. In many ways, he acts like an NFL veteran. He’s one of the first players to the facility every day, studies film and practices constantly, stays calm under pressure in games, and quietly commands the locker room. It’s actually a lot tougher to name his weaknesses. He is thin, so in theory he should be a bit more fragile and he is playing through a rib injury now, but he seems to be like Gumbi and didn’t have an injury history in college, so it remains to be seen if he’s any more prone to injury than other QBs. However, this ties into another issue which is that he needs to be better at protecting himself when he scrambles. Although he has a really good sense of where defenders are and how to evade them, he sometimes reaches forward for an extra yard and takes a hit instead of just sliding or going out of bounds. He’s visibly improved at this over the course of the season and is much better about avoiding unnecessary hits than he was week 1, but that nature is still there. Outside of that, I can’t think of any real flaws. It’s shocking how much he plays more like a veteran than a rookie. 2 – To what extent does Kliff Kingsbury deserve for the Commanders’ offensive success? Kliff deserves a ton of credit. He clearly developed a plan for bringing Jayden along over the course of the season, a plan that started with a very simple RPO-based scheme in week 1, but evolved in complexity as Jayden showed he could handle it. I think he actually brought the plan along quicker than expected because of how quickly Jayden was progressing. He’s also listened to feedback from his players and adapted his plan accordingly. For example, people criticized Kliff lining up WRs on the same side of the field all the time, so Kliff listened to the criticism and started moving his WRs around more to exploit matchups. There have been a few plays where Jayden Daniels or Terry McLaurin saw a weakness and told Kliff to call a play to exploit it, and he obliged. Kliff also deserves some credit for the unexpectedly good performance of the offensive line. He’s been helping out our OTs a lot with WR/RB/TE chips on the edge and these chips are executed very well, which speaks to good coaching. I mean, we have a lot of players on the offense (Noah Brown, Olamide Zaccheaus, Jeremy McNichols) who are NFL journeymen and are performing at a higher level than previously in their career, which generally speaks to good coaching. Kliff is also doing a good job as a playcaller of winning the chess match and calling plays that exploit weaknesses in the opposing defense, which has enabled Jayden to get the ball out quickly and have such a high completion rate. 3 – Dan Quinn and Adam Peters have seemingly helped turn the culture around in Washington. What’s been key to doing that and do you believe there’s real lasting power here? It starts with Adam Peters turning over the roster. The Commanders had the highest rate of roster turnover this offseason, with our week 1 roster being composed of 57% new players compared to last year. Peters did two important things when selecting players: choosing guys who provided leadership and good culture (Bobby Wagner, Frankie Luvu, Tyler Biadasz, Zach Ertz), and choosing guys who were an especially good scheme fit for what they would be asked to do in this offense (WRs and TEs who can block, DL with the versatility to move around the line, etc). However, a lot of credit for getting these guys to perform better than they have before goes to the coaches, starting with Dan Quinn. Quite a few of our free agent signings said they were coming here specifically because they wanted to play for Dan Quinn and it’s been clear from interviews that he has a great reputation among players around the NFL. As mentioned before, many of our players are NFL journeymen who are performing at a higher level here than they have in the past, which indicates they are being coached at a high level and in a way that maximizes their abilities. The players are also showing tremendous effort on the field, like this play where Austin Ekeler is breaking a big run and Olamide Zaccheaus runs behind him across half the field just in case he’s needed, and as a result is in position to recover Ekeler’s fumble. Plays like that from Zaccheaus show a lot of effort and we see that effort every game. Yes, I think it’s sustainable, it seems to be a natural consequence of the way Peters and Quinn operate. 4 – How
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73722814/2182774596.0.jpg?w=1200&resize=1200,0&ssl=1 "The Linc – What we’re seeing from Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean is special and rare")
The Linc – What we’re seeing from Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean is special and rare
Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links … Roob’s Obs: Putting Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean into context – NBCSP 1. It’s not easy to put into words just how rare it is for a team – especially a good team, a playoff contender – to start two rookie defensive backs. The Eagles have only had one rookie defensive back who was a full-time starter in the last 25 years – that was Nate Allen in 2010 and he was a functional safety but hardly a special player like Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean. Before that you go back to Wes Hopkins in 1983, Eric Allen in 1988, Bobby Taylor in 1995 and Dawk in 1996. But two? At the same time? Joe Lavender and Randy Logan were both rookie starters in 1973, and they both became very good players but that was a 5-8-1 team that ranked 25th out of 26 teams in defense. Only 12 playoff teams in NFL history have had two full-time starting rookie defensive backs – just four since 1986. Most recently, the Saints went 11-5 in 2017 with Marcus Williams and Marshon Lattimore – who’s now with Washington. The others since 1986 are the 2003 Seahawks (Ken Hamlin, Marcus Trufant), 2010 Chiefs (Eric Berry, Kendrick Lewis) and 2016 Giants (Andrew Adams, Eli Apple). But the 2003 Seahawks ranked 27th of 32 teams in pass defense, the 2010 Chiefs ranked 17th, the 2016 Giants ranked 23rd and the 2017 Saints 15th. The last playoff team with two rookie starters in the secondary with a top-10 defense? That would be the 1964 Chargers with rookie starters Kenny Graham, a safety, and Jimmy Warren, a cornerback. That team, coached by future Eagles quarterbacks coach Sid Gillman, went 8-5-1 and won the AFL West Division (the AFL’s records were all absorbed by the NFL with the merger). That team was ranked 9th out of 22 teams in pass defense. That was 60 years ago. The Eagles currently have the No. 2 pass defense in the NFL with Mitchell and DeJean both playing huge roles. What we’re seeing is special and it’s rare and it’s unique and it’s a hell of a lot of fun. NFL win-total projections, NFC: Lions earn top seed; Eagles hold off Commanders in East – NFL.com 2) In Week 10, the Eagles supplanted the Commanders atop the NFC East for the first time since Week 1. If they want to gain a stronger hold on the division, they can start by beating Washington on Thursday at home. The Week 16 rematch (on the road) looms as another key date on Philly’s schedule, of course — but it’s far from the only one that can impact the playoff picture, in both the NFC and AFC. Games at Baltimore (in Week 13) and vs. Pittsburgh (in Week 15) can reshape the AFC North race, while a road showdown with the Rams in Week 12 stands as a potential turning point in Los Angeles’ effort to upend things in the NFC West and sneak into the postseason. One fun fact to note: In both the median and ceiling scenarios painted by my model, rookie corners Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean end up performing like the best CB duo in the league. So watch them carefully; the better Mitchell and DeJean play, the likelier it is that Philly will reach its best possible outcome. Thursday Night Football: Commanders-Eagles betting preview (odds, lines, best bets) – PFF The Eagles’ defense is strong at all levels, possessing a top-eight-graded player at each. Slot cornerback Cooper DeJean stands atop the position with an 85.9 PFF coverage grade. Along the front-seven, linebacker Zack Baun owns the third-highest overall grade (86.4) at the position. And second-year interior defender Jalen Carter holds the second-highest pass-rushing grade (87.7) among interior players. Interestingly, Philadelphia has yet to cover at home this year (0-3) and holds just a 3-4 record against the spread as the favorite. After a matchup with a tough Pittsburgh defense last week — one they nearly took down — Jayden Daniels and company will have an opportunity to right those wrongs and prove they can compete against playoff-level defenses on their turf. Film review: The Eagles got a lot of positive contributions from their rookies against the Cowboys – PhillyVoice DeJean made a couple of nice plays as a tackler on passes to the perimeter. Here he attacks Jalen Tolbert (1), who is lead blocking on a WR screen, before disengaging and making a tackle. I think this just boils down to DeJean wanting to make a play on the ballcarrier more than the receiver wanting to block. Eagles-Commanders Injury Report: Jordan Mailata is officially back – BGN The Philadelphia Eagles issued their third and final official injury report on Wednesday in advance of their Week 11 home game against the Washington Commanders on Thursday Night Football. The big news is that the Eagles officially activated Jordan Mailata from injured reserve. The Eagles had an open roster spot after waiving Jack Stoll on Tuesday. Mailata will start at left tackle after missing the Eagles’ last four games due to a hamstring injury. Fred Johnson did an admirable job filling in but Mailata is clearly a superior talent. The Eagles won’t have to use additional resources to help Mailata like they did at times with Johnson. The Best NFL Bets for Week 11: Blessed by the Schedule Gods – The Ringer The line for this game opened at 3.5, got bet down to 3, and is now back up to Philadelphia -3.5. From a situational perspective, a prime time road game in a short week is a challenging spot for Washington. The main concern is the Commanders’ injury report, especially along the offensive line. Both starting tackles—Brandon Coleman and Andrew Wylie—were limited in Monday’s practice. Newly acquired cornerback Marshon Lattimore is still recovering from a hamstring injury and didn’t practice Monday. He could be a key player in
After turning over the safety position, have the Giants gained or lost?
Tyler Nubin | Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images Joe Schoen’s belief in positional value on display at this position The New York Giants’ personnel decisions at safety have certainly engendered controversy in the fan base. Has GM Joe Schoen been right or wrong in how he has approached the position? Current roster: Jason Pinnock, Tyler Nubin, Dane Belton, Anthony Johnson Players drafted since 2022: Dane Belton (Round 4, No. 114, 2022) | Gervarrius Owens (Round 7, No. 254, 2023) | Tyler Nubin (Round 2, No. 47, 2024) Biggest free agent signing: Jason Pinnock (2022 waiver claim) Biggest losses: Xavier McKinney, Julian Love What they lost The Giants lost Julian Love to the Seattle Seahawks in free agency before the 2023 season. It wasn’t because they didn’t try to keep him. Love was a full-time starter for the Giants for the first time in four years in 2022, and played extremely well. He signed a two-year, $12 million deal with Seattle. Reporting from The Athletic indicated that the Giants offered love more than that during the 2022 season bye week. Love, thinking he would be able to find an even more lucrative offer in free agency, turned it down. When the Seahawks made their offer to Love, the Giants — walking a tight financial line as they tried to recover from a salary cap mess — couldn’t match. They had already allocated that money to wide receiver Darius Slayton. Schoen and the Giants made a conscious decision not to get into a bidding war for Xavier McKinney. If you watched ‘Hard Knocks’ you know that Schoen, a positional value disciple, was shocked that the Green Bay Packers gave McKinney $67.5 million over four years, with the average annual value at $16.75 million. That made McKinney the game’s fourth-highest paid safety. What they gained Credit the Giants’ pro personnel department with identifying a mistake made by the New York Jets when they tried to pass Jason Pinnock through waivers to their practice squad in 2022. The Giants claimed him, and Pinnock — while not quite as good this season as he was in 2023 — has filled the spot vacated by Love. The Giants drafted 23-year-old Tyler Nubin in Round 2 to replace the 26-year-old McKinney. Called the ‘alpha of alphas” by assistant GM Brandon Brown, it is easy to see why the Giants liked Nubin coming out of Minnesota. He has played 99% of the defensive snaps. Get around him and the leadership traits that will see him grow into a core defensive player, if he isn’t already, are apparent. The ball-hawking skills that saw him intercept 13 passes as a collegian haven’t shown up yet in the NFL, but there is a lot to like. The verdict McKinney, because he already has a career-high six interceptions, is making the Giants look bad for not trying harder to retain him. The view here, though, is that McKinney’s career shows that what he is doing is not sustainable. A 2020 second-round pick by the Giants, McKinney had five interceptions in his second season. In 32 games over his other three seasons in New York he had four. Whether you consider it apples-to-apples or not, the Giants applied the money they did not give to McKinney to making the Brian Burns trade. If you believe pass rush or front seven play is more important to a defense than safety play — if you buy the commonly held positional value theory held by much of the NFL — that’s a proper allocation of resources. Adding a player like Nubin, who should continue to improve over the next few seasons, softens the blow of losing McKinney. Though it would be nice if someone in the Giants’ secondary, which has not had an interception yet this season, would pick off a pass occasionally. What type of resources do the Giants need to put into the position going forward? That depends on whether or not they are able to keep Pinnock, a 25-year-old free-agent-to-be who should have options in free agency. Lose him and the Giants will have a big hole to fill. The Giants could also use additional depth. Dane Belton, a 2022 fourth-round pick, has shown some ability to find the football with two interceptions and four fumble recoveries. What he hasn’t shown is the ability to be trusted down-in and down-out when he has been called upon. The Giants need to keep churning the middle to bottom of the draft, and the later tiers of free agency or the waiver wire, for depth.
Week 11 Advanced Coverage Grade Report: Best defenders in PFF’s advanced coverage grade
Advanced coverage grade uses machine learning to map the separation allowed on a play to the expected PFF coverage grade the player would have earned had they been targeted. This system also factors in the difficulty of the assignment and situation when making that assessment.
Random Ramsdom: Jared Verse is confident team can make a push in NFC
Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images Los Angeles Rams News and Links for 11/14/24 Jared Verse has been winning over fans with his play on the field and his leadership for the Los Angeles Rams in general, and Verse appears to be embracing a leadership role as he says the team has the right parts to make a push in the NFC now. You can read more about it below, and I think his attitude is really telling of the young athlete. I would expect a veteran player to say that, but a rookie to basically say that he knows his team has what it takes to compete? Not all rookies are going to speak up that way. It’s early in Verse’s first season in the NFL, but so far all he’s done is show that LA got a rare talent and person in the draft. .@JaredVerse1 has been putting the league on notice. ➖ 6th in pressures (45)➖ T-3rd in TFLs (11)➖ Leads all rookies in pressures, pressure rate (20.4%), and sacks (4.5) pic.twitter.com/s7QXISPsTB — Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) November 13, 2024 No real question today, but please comment on whatever you want, thanks for checking out Turf Show Times and have a great day! Exclusive: Jared Verse confident in NFC success despite Rams’ lackluster 2024 results (themirror.com) “However, Verse believes the Rams have what it takes to make noise as the season progresses, especially considering how many teams in the NFC have very similar records. Speaking exclusively to Mirror US Sports after the loss, the budding star admits Los Angeles has the same “spark” that Tagovailoa’s return gave the Dolphins – it is all about harnessing it. “Oh, we already have it,” Verse explained, regarding the team needing a much-required boost. “I mean, I think it’s just now, it’s a short week. We don’t have time to dwell over this [loss]. You know, we got one day. You can focus on it, you can kind of dwell on it.” Eyeing a win on the East Coast. pic.twitter.com/FgY140U1AM — Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) November 13, 2024 Rams’ Bitter NFC West Rival Disowning Superstar WR? (si.com) “With D.K. Metcalf being sidelined the last couple of weeks with a knee injury, you would think the Seahawks would focus more on Tyler Lockett offensively. That has not happened, with Lockett amassing just four catches on seven targets over Seattle’s last two games (three of those catches came against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 9, a game the Rams ultimately won). Meanwhile, Jaxon Smith-Njigba has totaled 13 receptions on 20 targets.” Les Snead talks pass rush dominance, Darious Williams’ impact + more on The Coach McVay Show. | @Microsoft — Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) November 13, 2024 Did Analyst Just Highlight A Future Rams Problem? (si.com) “Mike Florio spoke on Pro Football Talk about how he views the Rams situation thus far into their season. “The Rams are in this weird mode, where it feels like they want to move forward from their championship team and move forward with a new era of the Rams,” Florio said. “But there is enough left of the guys who delivered the Super Bowl LVI win, when you augment that with the younger players, maybe we can still be a playoff team.” Climbing the list. pic.twitter.com/MzbAk4HC6r — Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) November 12, 2024
Could the solution for Bengals defense be a familiar face in Boulder, Colorado?
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports The Bengals defense has struggled to finish games this season. There is, though, still time to turn that around. Let me start by making, perhaps, a bold statement. I don’t think the Cincinnati Bengals defense is THAT bad. Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens offense is THAT good. MVPs are going to do what MVPs do, and that’s what Jackson did in the second half on Thursday night. So, what is wrong with the Bengals’ defense? Is it that they can’t tackle? Is it that they give up too many big plays in the passing game? Maybe it’s that Rob Livingston isn’t here this season. Rob Livingston? Yes, that Rob Livingston. The former secondary coach for the Bengals is now the defensive coordinator for the Colorado Buffaloes. Their defense has massively improved this season. The Bengals defense has regressed. So, I’ll ask the question: Could the Bengals bring back Rob Livingston as their defensive coordinator in 2025? A lot of things would have to happen for this scenario to play out. First, Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders would likely have to leave Colorado and go be the head coach elsewhere next season. That could happen, considering Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, Deion’s son, will be a high draft pick next Spring. Second, the Bengals would have to move on from current defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo. The Bengals value continuity, but some things just get stale. I feel like that’s what’s happening with the Bengals defense. As star players have departed, Anarumo’s defense hasn’t been the same as it was in 2021 and 2022. Colorado’s defense has massively improved this season. The Buffaloes are 51st in points allowed per game this season at 22.6. In 2023, Colorado was 124th out of 133 FBS teams, allowing 34.8 points per game. Their yards per game is also down by nearly over 100 yards per game. The Bengals were 21st in scoring (22.6 points per game) in 2023 and were 31st in yards allowed per game. This season, the Bengals rank 26th in scoring (26.2 points per game) and 22nd in yards allowed per game. So in terms of yards allowed per game, they’ve actually improved. Still, giving up 30 points or more in four games this season is not good enough. Interestingly, the Bengals have scored 30 points or more in three of those four games. I watched Colorado’s defense in person when they hosted the Bearcats two weeks ago. They are excellent in man coverage. With Livingston’s background as a secondary coach, he can help the Bengals’ secondary reestablish itself as one of the upper-half-of-the-NFL secondaries in the NFL. The Bengals’ solution on defense may just be in Boulder, Colorado. Maybe we forgot how great of a position coach Rob Livingston was, is, and can be.