Former Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Carl Lawson, now a member of the New York Jets, will look to disrupt a Joe Burrow-led offense and send the Bengals to 0-3 over the weekend.
But Lawson says he’s doing his best not to view the game as different from any other.
“Honestly, it’s no different,” Lawson said, according to Randy Lange of the team’s website. “It’s not another game, all games are important. But no different for me.”
It’s a coachspeak answer if there ever was one and expected, of course. But what was really interesting was seeing Lawson asked about the massive struggles of the Bengals offensive line and what he thinks about causes and exploiting it.
Lawson dove deep on the topic:
“I do see a lot as far as the offensive line but I do think there’s a lot of factors as far as not everybody being on the same page. If you watch the film and dive deeper into it, you can see some things that aren’t strictly on their offensive line. And I think we’ve got to go out there and compete. Everybody in the NFL, no matter 13 sacks or not, they’re probably saying, ‘Hey, we need to do a better job of protecting.’
That starting Bengals line didn’t have a ton of reps together this summer and it’s clear struggling right tackle La’el Collins has been playing through a back injury — and he’s questionable for Sunday.
As for Lawson, he signed that big-money deal with the Jets in the 2021 offseason but missed all of that season. So far, he has 0.5 sacks over two games.
