Joseph Ossai Just Changed Everything for the Bengals — and He Might Be Playing His Way Right Out of Cincinnati

The most welcome trend to arise from the Cincinnati Bengals' 32-14 victory over the Baltimore Ravens on Thanksgiving was how well the defense played for the second time in five days.

A quick turnaround on the heels of a demoralizing loss could've been enough to sink Cincinnati. After the Ravens answered a field goal on Joe Burrow's first drive back with a touchdown march, it looked like the rout could be on at M&T Bank Stadium.

While Burrow deserves a ton of credit for coming back way sooner than anticipated, orchestrating two second-half TD drives, and reinstating a winning standard for Cincinnati, the defense needs its flowers, too.

In fact, one player I've been critical of ad nauseam has started to ball out, and I couldn't be happier to be proven wrong.

'Waiting for Godot' Joseph Ossai has finally arrived for Bengals defense

I thought I was on point after the Bengals' loss to the Steelers a few games ago when it felt like the notion of a resurgent Cincinnati defensive front was an illusion. Aaron Rodgers' time to throw was super long, and any pass rush generated was a result of sticky coverage on the back end.

Then the last two games happened. And Thanksgiving in particular happened. And Joseph Ossai, who the Bengals paid $6.5 million to stick around this year, had the breakout performance Who Dey Nation has longed for since he was a third-round pick back in 2021.

This sack on Lamar Jackson was no fluke. It was Ossai being a human heat-seeking missile who actually finished a pass rush, knocked the ball out, and gifted Burrow's offense a short field.

Ossai stormed the backfield later as a free rusher on an exotic blitz dialed up by defensive coordinator Al Golden. Lamar Jackson caved in the face of the pressure, and crumbled to the turf as Ossai pummeled him for another sack.

Even though the Bengals are engaged in a perpetual contract spat with Trey Hendrickson, I'm convinced they'll either franchise tag him and ride it out, or just let him walk. They refuse to pay him, and Hendrickson has been injured lately anyway.

When it comes to Joseph Ossai, if he maintains his current form, he'll command a decent-sized payday elsewhere. Now that 2023 first-rounder Myles Murphy is starting to come on in his own right, and Cincinnati also invested a Day 1 selection in rookie Shemar Stewart at defensive end, Ossai could be the odd man out. He's now at five sacks on the season, tying his career high. The arrow is indubitably pointing up.

Based on Ossai's longer tenure, inferior draft status, and how desperately de facto GM Duke Tobin needs a reversal in perception of his latest rookie classes, I feel like Ossai will price himself out of Cincinnati by season's end.

All I could remember Ossai for was his 15-yard penalty on Patrick Mahomes in the AFC Championship Game that sent the Chiefs to the Super Bowl. That was the last time the Bengals graced the postseason.

Could we be seeing Ossai rewrite his legacy in real time? You just wonder where this was all season, but the same can be said for the entire Bengals defense that looks like they know how to play football again.

Panthers’ Playoff Hopes Are Crumbling Under One Fatal Flaw — And Everyone Knows It

The Panthers have to fix this issue.

The Carolina Panthers find themselves in unfamiliar territory with a very real path back to the playoffs for the first time in what seems like forever. But one thing is very clearly holding them back.

That is the pass rush.

This has been a consistent issue for most of the season, save for a few bright spots. However, if the Panthers want any chance of beating the Los Angeles Rams and possibly taking over the NFC South, they have to find a way to get after quarterback Matt Stafford.

That was the only way the Panthers were going to have any chance, even before the injuries to Jaycee Horn, Christian Rozeboom, and Claudin Cherelus. The team is second-to-last league-wide with only 16 sacks this season. This is put into perspective: the Denver Broncos lead the NFL with 49 and have played one fewer game.

Carolina Panthers cannot generate pressure on opposing quarterbacks effectively enough

A competent pass rush can cover a multitude of sins on the back end of a defense, and sadly, the opposite has been true for most of this year. Considering the Panthers will be without their Pro Bowl cornerback this weekend at Bank of America Stadium, that's a massive problem.

Stafford is not Brock Purdy. The Panthers cannot expect to be gifted anything in this game unless they get in his face and make the veteran uncomfortable. The main question is who can actually step up and make that happen?

Blitzing is the natural suggestion to help fix this problem, but with the lack of any consistency in the secondary, the team cannot afford to take any players from there to help get after the quarterback. At least not very often, that is.

The adage "you live by the blitz, you die by the blitz" seems apt to add here.

While players like Nic Scourton have shown some good promise this season, the Panthers are beyond the point of promise and need tangible contributions now. This season is right within reach, and the team has its own destiny in its hands for the rest of the season as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers come calling twice at the end of the year.

The pressure is on for this Panthers defensive line, but can they rise to the occasion and take the leap?

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