National Analyst Bullish in Big Bengals' Bounce Back in Key Area This Season

CINCINNATI --- Steve Palazzolo broke down X-factors for the Cincinnati Bengals defense on he and Sam Monson's Check the Mic Show recently and noted the key changes to the Bengals defensive coaching staff and raw talent that the team has in the trenches and secondary.

Palazzolo emphasized how dynamic Trey Hendrickson was last season for the Bengals while also pointing out the comparable historically low statistics he found for the team creating pressure on opposing quarterbacks from it's other edge-rushers.

"Hendrickson was so good last year on a defense that remember early in the year I was looking up historical comps for games like 'was this the worst pass rush game we've ever seen from a team after watching the Bengals just try to put pressure on the quarterback and they were in the bottom-three, bottom-five, they had so many games where they just got zero pressure.

"They should've, could've, would've, should've, beat the Chiefs in week two, there was a fourth and long defensive pass interference. Trey Hendrickson almost singlehandedly [had] key sacks to keep them in that game and that happened throughout the year. He had this knack not only for pressure, but to also finish the play, to get the sack like a TJ Watt always does in Pittsburgh, and that was with no pass rush on the opposite side. Sam Hubbard now retired, was the top edge rusher on the other side, he was getting zero pressure. He's retired now for a reason."

The Bengals are banking on former first round pick Myles Murphy, this year's first rounder Shemar Stewart and veteran Joseph Ossai to help out Hendrickson on the edge.

"The two X-factors... Or maybe three, the two edge rushers. Trey Hendrickson, someone on the other side and then Al Golden coming in as defensive coordinator because we have seen historically too, sometimes teams with the same exact talent just put in a new defensive coordinator, and defense is fickle, just changing the scheme makes the defense a little bit better. I think the Bengals offense is gonna be elite, but defensively the same way we talk about offensive lines, I think they're in creep back towards average territory, if they can do that and it's Hendrickson getting back into camp, some kind of help on the other side whether it's rookie Shemar Stewart, Myles Murphy taking a step in year three which is possible that he could be a reasonable pass rusher, he dealt with injuries early last season and never really got going, Joseph Ossai looks like just a good rotational edge that's really what he's been. But they need somebody to step up or the conglomerate of those three to step up."

Palazoolo is bullish on the Bengals' chances of bouncing back.

"Al Golden with the returning corners. D.J. Turner coming off of injury, Dax Hill coming off of injury, that's the other part of this Bengals defense," he said. "They were hurt at corner, Just as D.J. Turner in his second year last year heading into year three, just as he was getting going, he gets hurt. Dax Hill just converted to corner, he gets hurt, they have the ingredients I think to get much better defensively."

It is good to see someone in the national media acknowledging everything that was missing and or went wrong with the Bengals defense from an in-depth point of view. The talk of training cam and preseason will be who can emerge as the starters at corner and starting edge opposite Trey Hendrickson, if these young players can emerge, then expect the Bengals defense to be much improved compared to last season.

Watch the full breakdown below:

"The Bengals have the ingredients to get much better defensively." 🔨@StevePalazzolo_ breaks down the X-factors that could unlock a defensive leap in Cincinnati 👇 pic.twitter.com/Fhq8LjTetP
— Check the Mic with Steve Palazzolo & Sam Monson (@CTM_Show) July 28, 2025

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