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Bengals Booth Podcast: Baby What A Big Surprise · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hike everybody on Dan Horde and thanks for downloading the
0:06
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth podcast, The Baby What a big surprise addition
0:13
Speaker 1: as we preview Sunday's game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at
0:16
Speaker 1: Paul Brown Stadium and discussed this week's surprising news, the
0:20
Speaker 1: anticipated return of Corty Glenn to the Bengals starting lineup.
0:24
Speaker 1: Coming up, you'll hear from offensive line coach Jim Turner
0:27
Speaker 1: on why the Bengals are giving Glen another shot and
0:31
Speaker 1: what can be expected out of a guy who last
0:33
Speaker 1: appeared in a game in the second week of August.
0:36
Speaker 1: In my weekly pregame visit with Dave Lapham, we'll discuss
0:40
Speaker 1: the early struggles of quarterback Ryan Finlay and how much
0:44
Speaker 1: longer he'll have the starting job if he doesn't start
0:47
Speaker 1: to show progress. My locker room conversation this week is
0:50
Speaker 1: with special teams coordinator Darren Simmons, whose unit is ranked
0:54
Speaker 1: number one in the NFL this year by the website
0:58
Speaker 1: Football Outsiders. We'll discuss that and a special team's rarity
1:03
Speaker 1: that Darren Simmons hopes to someday pull off. And in
1:07
Speaker 1: this week's Know the Faux segment, we'll talk to Steelers
1:10
Speaker 1: pregame host Tim Bens about the aftermath of the Miles
1:14
Speaker 1: Garrett Mason, Rudolph Brew Haha. All of that is straight ahead.
1:18
Speaker 1: But first, here's a quick reminder that you can have
1:21
Speaker 1: the latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
1:25
Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify,
1:30
Speaker 1: or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing since the ability
1:35
Speaker 1: to check scores at the touch of a button. It
1:39
Speaker 1: used to be hard to get sports scores. If you're
1:41
Speaker 1: as old as I am, you might remember Sports Phone,
1:45
Speaker 1: a number you could call to get frequently updated sports scores.
1:49
Speaker 1: It originally cost ten cents a minute. Then ESPN and
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Speaker 1: other sports networks came along and you could watch the
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Speaker 1: ticker and wait for the score you are interested in
1:58
Speaker 1: to scroll across the screen. Now we can get any
2:03
Speaker 1: score of any game in any sport instantaneously on our
2:08
Speaker 1: phones or computers. For example, today in college basketball, Saint
2:13
Speaker 1: Francis of Brooklyn beat Medgar Evers one twenty two to
2:18
Speaker 1: fifty eight, a tough sixty four point l for the Cougars.
2:24
Speaker 1: Now let's get to football. One of the most bizarre
2:27
Speaker 1: stories in a rough season for the Bengals has been
2:29
Speaker 1: the Cordy Glen saga. Following the bengals second preseason game
2:33
Speaker 1: in mid August, the highly paid left tackle reported having
2:37
Speaker 1: a concussion. Nobody thought much of it at the time
2:41
Speaker 1: until Cordy remained in concussion protocol for days, then weeks,
2:46
Speaker 1: and ultimately nearly two months after being cleared by an
2:51
Speaker 1: independent neurologist. In returning to practice in early October, Cordy
2:55
Speaker 1: reportedly got into a heated argument with a member of
2:58
Speaker 1: the coaching staff and not show up for work the
3:01
Speaker 1: following day. That led to a one game suspension and
3:04
Speaker 1: a hefty fine. Since then, Glenn has been on the
3:08
Speaker 1: scout team at practice and has been deactivated on game day.
3:13
Speaker 1: But after Ryan Finley got sacked five times last week
3:16
Speaker 1: in Oakland, including three times in the fourth quarter by
3:19
Speaker 1: rookie Max Crosby, head coach Zach Taylor announced on Wednesday
3:24
Speaker 1: that Glenn would practice with the first team. Following that practice,
3:30
Speaker 1: reporters asked offensive line coach Jim Turner if Glenn was
3:33
Speaker 1: likely to start this Sunday against the Steelers. He's going
3:37
Speaker 1: to have a real good shot at it. So he's healthy.
3:39
Speaker 1: He's been cleared to go, and he's a good ball player.
3:43
Speaker 1: We want him in there. What does he bring to
3:45
Speaker 1: the table? I mean other than he's bigger than a condo,
3:47
Speaker 1: But other than that would skill sets. Ah well, I mean,
3:52
Speaker 1: you know, like if you watch him over the years,
3:54
Speaker 1: I mean he's been he's so massive and he's athletic
3:58
Speaker 1: at that size, and he can definitely cover people up
4:01
Speaker 1: in the past game, um, you know, and then it's
4:04
Speaker 1: just a matter of in the run game obviously with
4:06
Speaker 1: that size and power, you know, he can help us
4:09
Speaker 1: move that line of scrimmage a little bit. But it's
4:12
Speaker 1: you know, pass protection is his big strength of course,
4:14
Speaker 1: you know, so holding down that left side, especially in
4:17
Speaker 1: this game coming that would be helpful. Did you see
4:20
Speaker 1: a difference in him after what happened a couple of
4:22
Speaker 1: weeks ago? A difference in what just his demeanor, the
4:25
Speaker 1: way he approached practice and was around here. I mean
4:28
Speaker 1: I have sense a difference in him for the last
4:30
Speaker 1: couple of weeks. Ah. I'm sure it's been frustrating for him,
4:33
Speaker 1: you know, Um, so he hasn't been in there, it's
4:36
Speaker 1: been frustrating for all of us. So, you know, to
4:39
Speaker 1: have that type of asset there and not be able
4:41
Speaker 1: to use him is frustrating. So I'll tell you this,
4:45
Speaker 1: I have more respect for John Jerry and Andre than
4:49
Speaker 1: I have for any ball players that I've ever coached.
4:52
Speaker 1: So just for what they've been able to do, I'm
4:54
Speaker 1: asking John Jerry to play a left tackle. John Jerry's
4:57
Speaker 1: not a left tackle. And then Andrey to come back
4:59
Speaker 1: to he did and give us the support that he's
5:02
Speaker 1: given us and the reps that he's given us. You know,
5:04
Speaker 1: these both of these guys are older guys, and you
5:07
Speaker 1: know what these bodies go through, and so for that,
5:12
Speaker 1: I'm grateful for those two players. And then but they
5:14
Speaker 1: have Corty back in the lineup, and you know, he's
5:17
Speaker 1: obviously well arrested, so he's not beat up, so there
5:21
Speaker 1: should be some juice there. And the kid looks excited
5:24
Speaker 1: to be there, So what we're excited. As you mentioned,
5:27
Speaker 1: he is well arrested. On the other hand, he hasn't
5:29
Speaker 1: played since preseason game two. How difficult is it going
5:33
Speaker 1: to be for Cordy at this point of the year
5:35
Speaker 1: to run out there legitimate point, So there's a mystery
5:39
Speaker 1: there for all of us. But we are all in ten,
5:43
Speaker 1: all right, So we're trying to fight through that. In
5:47
Speaker 1: other words, desperate times call for desperate measures. I sat
5:52
Speaker 1: down with Dave Lapham for this episode of the podcast
5:55
Speaker 1: just before Zach Taylor announced that Corty Glenn would have
5:59
Speaker 1: a chance to return to the starting lineup. As you'll
6:02
Speaker 1: hear right off the bat, lap had a feeling that
6:06
Speaker 1: it was a strong possibility. John Jerry really struggled last
6:10
Speaker 1: week at left tackle. He was signed to be a
6:12
Speaker 1: backup guard and an emergency play a few snaps at
6:16
Speaker 1: tackle if he absolutely have to do it. Well, he's
6:18
Speaker 1: been starting for several games at tackle. What should the
6:22
Speaker 1: Bengals do at this point, Well, if Andre Smith isn't
6:25
Speaker 1: physically ready yet, I mean, the other option is Corty Glenn.
6:30
Speaker 1: And I know that would sound distasteful to a lot
6:34
Speaker 1: of people, but you know what, everybody has to swallow
6:37
Speaker 1: their egos, swallow their pride and decide, Okay, what's what's
6:42
Speaker 1: best for the offensive line, what's best for the football
6:45
Speaker 1: team to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, to win this football game.
6:49
Speaker 1: They got great edge rushers. I mean, you know they
6:52
Speaker 1: come off the edge, you know, as well as anybody.
6:55
Speaker 1: And then you know, push inside from Cam Heyward. But
6:58
Speaker 1: you got to control those edge as you get a
7:00
Speaker 1: control watya, I got a control dupri Cordy Glenn is
7:04
Speaker 1: the best player that they have to play the left
7:06
Speaker 1: tackle position. And he's been practicing for a little bit,
7:11
Speaker 1: been running the scout team the other team's play as
7:13
Speaker 1: pretty much as the extent of his practice. But now
7:16
Speaker 1: it's now his football moral compass will be tested. You're
7:20
Speaker 1: going to go out there and play. You're gonna go
7:21
Speaker 1: out there and try to get it done, give the
7:24
Speaker 1: best stuffort you possibly can to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers
7:27
Speaker 1: and help help your football team. So I think that
7:31
Speaker 1: there's a strong chance they're going to have to go
7:33
Speaker 1: in that direction. And as I said, it might not be,
7:39
Speaker 1: you know, a real positive or popular decision for anybody,
7:44
Speaker 1: but it is what it is, as they say. After
7:47
Speaker 1: two starts, Ryan Finley has completed forty seven point five
7:51
Speaker 1: percent of his passes. He has a passer rating of
7:53
Speaker 1: fifty two point eight. Zach Taylor said on Monday that
7:57
Speaker 1: Ryan will definitely start this week against this dealers. How
8:00
Speaker 1: much rope do you think he has? Well? Initially Zach
8:04
Speaker 1: said that he's going to get eight starts. You know,
8:06
Speaker 1: the plan was to plan the rest of the season,
8:09
Speaker 1: and I'm not sure that that's going to be deviated
8:11
Speaker 1: from We'll have to see um. Honestly, though, there's the
8:15
Speaker 1: old saying that I firmly believe in. It's never as
8:18
Speaker 1: good as you think it is, and it's never as
8:20
Speaker 1: bad as you think it is. When I went back
8:21
Speaker 1: and looked at the game again, Tyler Effort did drop
8:24
Speaker 1: a contested catch that you know he can make. Tyler
8:29
Speaker 1: Boy dropped the third down pass. Joe Mixon dropped the
8:31
Speaker 1: screen that could have gone for a touchdown touchdown, Gievarni
8:35
Speaker 1: Bernard dropped the third down ball. So there there was
8:37
Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of plays that if those
8:40
Speaker 1: if those plays happen, you're looking at over one hundred
8:43
Speaker 1: more yards to the passing game. And I'm not saying
8:46
Speaker 1: that's tremendous, but you know it would have been over
8:48
Speaker 1: two hundred with I mean the net with the sacks
8:50
Speaker 1: and everything takes it down to seventy whatever and two
8:53
Speaker 1: yards per attempt. So I'm not What I'm saying is
8:56
Speaker 1: that there are other people contributed besides Ryan Finley to
8:59
Speaker 1: the wolful numbers of the passing game, and then you know,
9:05
Speaker 1: mad Max Crosby getting four sacks potential ASC Defensive Player
9:09
Speaker 1: of the Week makes me want to swallow my own vomit.
9:14
Speaker 1: Please doubt Tyler Boyd was targeted three times last week.
9:17
Speaker 1: He had one catch for zero yards. Did the Raiders
9:21
Speaker 1: make it that hard to get Tyler Boyd the ball?
9:25
Speaker 1: He did have one drop on third down that you
9:28
Speaker 1: know was uncharacteristic of him. But there may be some frustration,
9:31
Speaker 1: you know, involved there they were there was a safety
9:35
Speaker 1: over the top. I mean, Paul Gunter realized that he
9:37
Speaker 1: was the primary guy. He was the he was the
9:39
Speaker 1: guy that he felt like he had to take away
9:40
Speaker 1: in the in the passing game. But you know, Tyler
9:43
Speaker 1: felt like there were plenty of times where he had
9:46
Speaker 1: opportunities and anytime they were playing man against him, he
9:49
Speaker 1: feels like he can beat man coverage and he is,
9:53
Speaker 1: I mean, he's a great route runner. So I think
9:55
Speaker 1: you still have to You can't give up on Tyler
9:59
Speaker 1: Boyd as a as a potential target, even if they
10:01
Speaker 1: are trying to take him away. Sometimes you peticularly, like
10:05
Speaker 1: on fourth down play as a great example, he went
10:09
Speaker 1: to Damien Willis into double coverage and he had Tyler
10:13
Speaker 1: Boyd and Tyler Ryffant the other side of the field.
10:16
Speaker 1: Both Tyler Boyd had the first down. Tyler Tyler Eifford
10:20
Speaker 1: was running the same thing that Damian Willis was running
10:22
Speaker 1: the other side of the field. Looked like he had
10:25
Speaker 1: a better opportunity. Tyler Boyd was the clear cut guy
10:28
Speaker 1: to go to to get the first down. It shouldn't
10:31
Speaker 1: have been fourth down anyway, if Giovanni Bernard holds out
10:34
Speaker 1: of the football. But that's another that's another issue. So
10:39
Speaker 1: at times like that, forget the play think about the
10:43
Speaker 1: player and who's the guy that's done it the most,
10:47
Speaker 1: has the most experience, you know, playmaker, and you get
10:50
Speaker 1: to think, Okay, I gotta look at Tyler Boyd, I
10:52
Speaker 1: gotta look at Tyler ryfan in this situation, and uh,
10:55
Speaker 1: you know, that's a learning experience and next time maybe
10:58
Speaker 1: it'll turn out differently, but you know it is. It
11:03
Speaker 1: is difficult when you can't make the defense respect the
11:08
Speaker 1: deep ball. You know you can't. You can't stretch the defense.
11:12
Speaker 1: Um without aj Green and John Ross talking, it's been
11:15
Speaker 1: a season long problem. Can't take the top off the defense.
11:18
Speaker 1: We talked about it at nauseum. They're playing in a closet,
11:21
Speaker 1: they're playing in a box. They're gonna load the box
11:24
Speaker 1: to stop the run, and then they're gonna, you know,
11:26
Speaker 1: make it very tough for receivers to get open and
11:29
Speaker 1: the short and immediate routes with with tight coverage because
11:32
Speaker 1: they're not worried about anybody running by them. So it's
11:35
Speaker 1: a conundrum. So how do you get big plays on
11:38
Speaker 1: offense when you don't have receivers with blazing speed. You
11:42
Speaker 1: just have to scheme it up. You know. One of
11:44
Speaker 1: the most surprising touchdowns this year was the Arizona Cardinals
11:47
Speaker 1: when they blocked with eight guys and Tyler Boyd just
11:50
Speaker 1: ran a double move on a safety. Isolated safety and
11:53
Speaker 1: ran a double move on them and caught a forty
11:55
Speaker 1: some one yard touchdown reception. You don't think that that
11:59
Speaker 1: that chunk play in that situation. The numbers games that
12:03
Speaker 1: you were facing were not favorable and it happened. I mean,
12:07
Speaker 1: you do have to scheme things up instead of just saying,
12:11
Speaker 1: you know, this guy, I don't care what they do.
12:13
Speaker 1: This guy can get over the top of that guy.
12:15
Speaker 1: This guy's speed is too much to deal with and
12:18
Speaker 1: you know, even if he doesn't get over the top,
12:20
Speaker 1: he's going to remove so many people from the short
12:23
Speaker 1: and intermediate area that there's just space to work with.
12:25
Speaker 1: I mean, the whole thing is about is about space,
12:27
Speaker 1: and I think I mean the window differential for the
12:32
Speaker 1: two quarterbacks. Finley's windows were about the size of a
12:35
Speaker 1: porthole that he was trying to thread. And car had,
12:38
Speaker 1: you know, sliding glass windows out to your patio to
12:43
Speaker 1: throw too. I mean, they got separation by scheme and
12:47
Speaker 1: you know, athletic ability, and the Bengals didn't. In that
12:50
Speaker 1: football game, the Bengals had one hundred and seventy three
12:53
Speaker 1: rushing yards. That's their most sense twenty sixteen and it
12:57
Speaker 1: came after having one hundred and fifty plus the week before.
13:00
Speaker 1: Or are they building something sustainable in the ground game.
13:03
Speaker 1: I think they are. I think they are. I like
13:05
Speaker 1: the variation in the in the schematic in terms of
13:08
Speaker 1: you know, the blocking scheme, blocking patterns and instead of
13:12
Speaker 1: you know, relying so much on inside outside zone, they're
13:16
Speaker 1: they're running um, you know, they're pinning alignment by blocking
13:20
Speaker 1: down on them and then they're pulling people and you
13:22
Speaker 1: can call it, you know, gap scheme. You can call
13:24
Speaker 1: it power scheme, whatever you want to call it. Everybody's
13:26
Speaker 1: got different terminology for it. But basically, you're you're sealing
13:28
Speaker 1: one guy with a down block and pulling other people
13:31
Speaker 1: and the one Joe Mixon's responding to it, the offensive
13:36
Speaker 1: lineman responding to it. They've got guys that can pull.
13:39
Speaker 1: You know, Billy Price's player has played garden center. Trey
13:41
Speaker 1: Hawkins has played garden center. John Miller has played you know,
13:44
Speaker 1: can pull. Bobby Hart's mobile guy, he can pull. Everybody
13:48
Speaker 1: can pull. So it's not that they're not athletic enough
13:51
Speaker 1: up front to do it. And I think it's a
13:52
Speaker 1: good change up. Plus the other thing that does sure
13:55
Speaker 1: a defensive lineman instead of just playing inside outside zone
13:58
Speaker 1: all the time. Now you're getting hit from all angles.
14:00
Speaker 1: Now you have to think about, okay, man, are they
14:02
Speaker 1: going to down block on me here or instead of
14:04
Speaker 1: just like, all I have to do is make sure
14:06
Speaker 1: that I really hold my own and this double team,
14:08
Speaker 1: I hold this gap and I don't let them push
14:11
Speaker 1: me off the line of scrimmage. And you know, now
14:13
Speaker 1: my linebacker is going to make plays. You got more
14:15
Speaker 1: to think about than just that and that alone, I
14:17
Speaker 1: think is a big, big plus because defensive lineman, when
14:21
Speaker 1: they're getting hit from all angles, it slows them down,
14:23
Speaker 1: and it slows down their pass rush, It slows everything down.
14:27
Speaker 1: The team MVP this year might be special teams coordinator
14:30
Speaker 1: Darren Simmons. Brandon Wilson leads the NFL and kickoff return average.
14:34
Speaker 1: Randy Bullock has made twelve out of his last thirteen
14:36
Speaker 1: field goal tries. Kevin Huber is having his best net
14:40
Speaker 1: punting year in five years. Top to bottom, they have
14:44
Speaker 1: been solid on special teams. You know, one site that
14:47
Speaker 1: everybody goes to with respect in the NFL special teams
14:51
Speaker 1: has the Bengals rated number one and their number two
14:54
Speaker 1: and kickoff returns, their number five and kickoff coverage and
14:58
Speaker 1: their number seven in punt ridge. They haven't had a
15:01
Speaker 1: whole lot of opportunity to return punts. Other teams haven't
15:04
Speaker 1: punted that much quite honestly, and when they've punted, it's
15:08
Speaker 1: been you know, directional kicking or you know, trying to
15:11
Speaker 1: pin them back inside the ten yard line with you know,
15:14
Speaker 1: would be kicking into short field rather than long field
15:16
Speaker 1: where you get a lot of punt return opportunities. So
15:19
Speaker 1: They've only had three return thirteen return opportunities all season long,
15:24
Speaker 1: so they they I think is to think that an
15:28
Speaker 1: O and ten football team is rated number one in
15:32
Speaker 1: special teams in the entire NFL is mind boggling to me.
15:37
Speaker 1: The fact that they haven't been able to take advantage
15:39
Speaker 1: of favorable field position everything that goes with it. The
15:43
Speaker 1: game that comes to mind is the Rams game in London. Hell,
15:45
Speaker 1: the Rams average drive start was their eighteen yard line
15:48
Speaker 1: and you make them go long field after long field
15:51
Speaker 1: like that didn't bother them much. You know, they want
15:53
Speaker 1: eighty five yards for touchdowns multiple times. But I mean,
15:56
Speaker 1: the special teams are giving an opportunity. They're just not
16:00
Speaker 1: playing complimentary enough football offensively and defensively. But the special teams,
16:04
Speaker 1: the third phase, has consistently held up their end of
16:07
Speaker 1: the bargain. And I think Darren Simmons deserves a hell
16:10
Speaker 1: of a lot of credit for that because you know,
16:12
Speaker 1: he's always he's He's got a core of guys that
16:16
Speaker 1: um that he works with. But there's been a lot
16:18
Speaker 1: of change, you know, with injuries and other things in
16:22
Speaker 1: the linebacker position not a big contributor to Bengal special teams.
16:26
Speaker 1: That other teams maybe have um and you look at it,
16:29
Speaker 1: Cedric Peerman, not just kickers, not just your snapper holder kicker,
16:33
Speaker 1: but the special teams guy that makes the Pro Bowl
16:36
Speaker 1: because of his excellence in terms of coverage and tackling
16:39
Speaker 1: and all that. Cedric Peerman, the running reverend got it
16:42
Speaker 1: for a bit. Vegulum is in that mold. So, I
16:45
Speaker 1: mean he he coaches them up. Now, he coaches them
16:48
Speaker 1: up in every single way they can be coached up.
16:51
Speaker 1: And uh got to give coach Combs a you know,
16:54
Speaker 1: some credit on this too. I mean he's he's he's
16:56
Speaker 1: working in concert, him, in him with Darren Simmons. That
16:59
Speaker 1: Darren's been the stable here though for well over a
17:02
Speaker 1: decade and a half, and it's been a decade and
17:04
Speaker 1: a half plus of excellence. The Bengals host the Steelers,
17:07
Speaker 1: said Paul Brown Stadium, and this will be Pittsburgh's first
17:10
Speaker 1: game since the Miles Garrett Mason Rudolph Helmets swinging incident.
17:15
Speaker 1: Rudolph has started seven games. His best one was against
17:19
Speaker 1: the Bengals with a passer rating of one twenty four
17:21
Speaker 1: point six. His worst game was last week in the
17:25
Speaker 1: loss to Cleveland. Passer rating of thirty six point three
17:28
Speaker 1: with four interceptions. What must the Bengals do to limit
17:32
Speaker 1: Mason Rudolph and the Steelers. Well, the interesting thing to
17:36
Speaker 1: me is what is his offensive coordinator going to do,
17:40
Speaker 1: Randy Fickner. Is he going to do what he did
17:42
Speaker 1: against the Bengals where everything was shovel passes, screen passes,
17:47
Speaker 1: swing passes to the back out of the backfield. I
17:49
Speaker 1: think he went twenty four for twenty eight or something
17:51
Speaker 1: ridiculous like that, and he never threw the ball downfield.
17:54
Speaker 1: There was one completion of over forty yards where the
17:56
Speaker 1: Bengals blew a coverage and it was wide open. He
17:58
Speaker 1: made that throw. But Kichner said, and this was early,
18:01
Speaker 1: This was, you know, fairly soon after Ben was ruled
18:04
Speaker 1: out for the rest of the season and Kickner went
18:07
Speaker 1: he ran wildcat with Samuel you know he had He
18:10
Speaker 1: went three for three with shovel passes. They were shovel passes,
18:13
Speaker 1: jet sweep stuff, shovel passes off the jet sweep, very
18:16
Speaker 1: short throws. Get the confidence at the quarterback, you know,
18:19
Speaker 1: build it. See him with completions being made. Is he
18:23
Speaker 1: going to go back to that? After that meager performance
18:26
Speaker 1: against the Cleveland Browns or I didn't really see any
18:29
Speaker 1: of that. After the Bengals game, the element's surprise was done.
18:33
Speaker 1: They sprung it on the Bengals. You know, they had
18:35
Speaker 1: an extra data prepare Monday Night football and the Bengals
18:38
Speaker 1: had no clue what was coming, and they executed it.
18:42
Speaker 1: And they hadn't really run a whole lot of it
18:43
Speaker 1: since in a tape I've seen in the Pittsburgh Steelers
18:46
Speaker 1: stins well, they bring it out of off balls. The
18:48
Speaker 1: Bengals are going to have to prepare for it, there's
18:50
Speaker 1: no question about that. They're going to take some of
18:51
Speaker 1: their preparation time having to deal with all that stuff
18:54
Speaker 1: that happened in the first game. So it'll be interesting
18:57
Speaker 1: what Kickner does with Mason Rodolf after his worst performance
19:00
Speaker 1: as a starter in the NFL. The Steelers are five
19:03
Speaker 1: and five despite losing big ben early in the season,
19:07
Speaker 1: and they can thank their defense. If the Bengals are
19:09
Speaker 1: going to have a chance this Sunday, they have got
19:12
Speaker 1: to limit the sacks and the giveaways, no doubt about it.
19:15
Speaker 1: And that's that's that's Pittsburgh Zamo. They got thirty four sacks,
19:19
Speaker 1: fourth in the NFL, headed by t J. Watt with
19:22
Speaker 1: ten and a half, third in the NFL. But the
19:25
Speaker 1: takeaways are incredible. I mean, they've they've got twenty six
19:28
Speaker 1: on the season, second only the Patriots twenty seven. They've
19:32
Speaker 1: got fourteen interceptions Minca Fitzpatrick has five of them, tied
19:36
Speaker 1: for most in the NFL. And they've they've forced twenty
19:39
Speaker 1: one fumbles and recovered twelve. It's just ball security is
19:45
Speaker 1: paramount in this football game. I mean, they were they
19:47
Speaker 1: were plus thirteen on the season before the Cleveland game.
19:50
Speaker 1: Now they still find themselves plus nine, tied for second
19:53
Speaker 1: best in the NFL in terms of turnover ratio. But
19:55
Speaker 1: they're taking it away. I mean, they're It's just it's
19:59
Speaker 1: just unbelievable how much how many more opportunities they were
20:02
Speaker 1: giving their offensive football team and taking possessions away from
20:06
Speaker 1: the opposing offense. So yeah, they're Finley is going to
20:10
Speaker 1: have to be very sharp in terms of, you know,
20:12
Speaker 1: making sure to not turn the football over the offensive line.
20:17
Speaker 1: If I'm an offensive lineman, I'm embarrassed by what happened
20:20
Speaker 1: in the first matchup on Monday night. Eight sacks. Cameron
20:24
Speaker 1: Heyward and his boys threw them around and that's embarrassing.
20:29
Speaker 1: So I'm looking for a rematch. And you can't be
20:33
Speaker 1: minus eight in the sacked ratio department in any football
20:36
Speaker 1: game because that that affects hidden yards, that affects field position,
20:40
Speaker 1: that affects everything, not in the mindset of your offensive
20:43
Speaker 1: lineman and the mindset of your quarterback. So with a
20:47
Speaker 1: rookie quarterback being because the third NFL start, you can't
20:51
Speaker 1: you can't expose them to that kind of pressure. Now,
20:54
Speaker 1: time for this week's locker room conversation. When you're oh
20:57
Speaker 1: and ten, you don't expect to be ranked No. Number
21:00
Speaker 1: one in anything but the projected draft order. But according
21:04
Speaker 1: to the number crunchers at the website Football Outsiders, the
21:08
Speaker 1: number one team in the NFL in overall special team's
21:11
Speaker 1: performance so far this year is Cincinnati. I talked to
21:16
Speaker 1: the man in charge. We're in the locker room with
21:18
Speaker 1: Bengals special teams coordinator Darren Simmons. Let's start with Brandon Wilson,
21:21
Speaker 1: who leads the NFL and kickoff return average at thirty
21:24
Speaker 1: six yards are return. He's obviously fast. What else makes
21:29
Speaker 1: him so dangerous? Well, I think the fact that he's
21:31
Speaker 1: had the ball in his hands before you know, he's
21:33
Speaker 1: a former running back. I think that shows up. He's
21:37
Speaker 1: very instinctive when he does have the ball. He can
21:39
Speaker 1: make cuts at speed and he's not afraid. But I
21:43
Speaker 1: think the one thing that really sticks out is his
21:45
Speaker 1: past history as a running back shows up. I mean,
21:47
Speaker 1: people just think of him as a dB, but he
21:48
Speaker 1: also put running back in Houston too, so he's just
21:52
Speaker 1: very natural running the ball. It's his third year here.
21:55
Speaker 1: Why didn't you use him earlier? Well, because the guys
21:59
Speaker 1: we had in the past, you know, didn't lose the job.
22:03
Speaker 1: You know, Alex was ranked highly in the league a
22:07
Speaker 1: couple of years um, and Brandon was a blocker force. Um.
22:11
Speaker 1: There's a time where you know, Brandon wasn't even active
22:14
Speaker 1: the first or the first half of his first year here. Um,
22:17
Speaker 1: you know, the other part of the two. So he
22:18
Speaker 1: got to feel confident in handling the ball and catching
22:20
Speaker 1: the ball cleanly. UM. And he's you know, progressed at
22:23
Speaker 1: that too. So obviously you know, in hindsight you wish
22:26
Speaker 1: you to put him back there sooner, but it was
22:28
Speaker 1: it's in the same token. You know, we start off
22:30
Speaker 1: the year with Alex, Alex gets or we start off
22:32
Speaker 1: here with Darius. I'm sorry, Darius scores against Buffalo. So
22:36
Speaker 1: it's we've We've had a variety of guys who've been
22:38
Speaker 1: productive in that role. Um. You know, obviously Brandon's kind
22:41
Speaker 1: of take it to a new level. He's also tied
22:43
Speaker 1: for the team leading special teams tackles. Is he building
22:46
Speaker 1: a Pro Bowl resume well as an all around player?
22:49
Speaker 1: I think for sure. You know, Um, he's he's been
22:52
Speaker 1: productive in his role the last you know, two years.
22:55
Speaker 1: He's been a good gunner. Um again, because he is fast,
22:58
Speaker 1: he is tough, he can ale um, all those things
23:01
Speaker 1: that you're looking for in a core special teams player.
23:03
Speaker 1: He has, Um. You know, we haven't we haven't had
23:06
Speaker 1: to cover a bunch of kickoffs ring. He's been doing
23:07
Speaker 1: a good job of hitting touchbacks. But he's been in
23:10
Speaker 1: position to make plays even on kickoff even though he
23:12
Speaker 1: hasn't really been called on him to do him in
23:14
Speaker 1: or had to do him, but he's been in position.
23:15
Speaker 1: We're visiting with special teams coordinator Darren Simmons. The website
23:18
Speaker 1: Football Outsiders, which has a bunch of analytics and a
23:22
Speaker 1: wide variety of topics, has Cincinnati ranked number one for
23:25
Speaker 1: overall special teams performing so far this year, who have
23:29
Speaker 1: been some of the unsung heroes in your group. Well,
23:32
Speaker 1: I think right now the Specials are doing a good job,
23:34
Speaker 1: you know. I think Kevin's had a very efficient year,
23:38
Speaker 1: doesn't He doesn't rank super high in terms of overall
23:41
Speaker 1: gross average, but we're not giving up much in the
23:44
Speaker 1: returning game, and I think he's that's her credit to him.
23:46
Speaker 1: He's doing a good job of placing the ball um
23:48
Speaker 1: and putting our guys in position to make tackles or
23:51
Speaker 1: force fair catches. I think we've had as many fair catches, um,
23:54
Speaker 1: you know this year's he's ever had. U. I think
23:57
Speaker 1: Clark does a good job too. Um. You know, they're
24:00
Speaker 1: rushing us more than they have in the pass, which
24:02
Speaker 1: again frees up our gunners to be in single more
24:04
Speaker 1: to make more of those plays. I think Raindy's Raindy's
24:07
Speaker 1: kicked the ball pretty well too. Obviously had a little
24:09
Speaker 1: hit up against the Raiders. But when those three guys
24:12
Speaker 1: do their job and do their job, do their jobs well, um,
24:14
Speaker 1: it makes the jobs and the rest of the guys easier. Um.
24:18
Speaker 1: I think Jordan Evans has done a nice job for
24:20
Speaker 1: us this year. You know, he started off kind of
24:22
Speaker 1: with me, then he transitioned to a year ago become
24:24
Speaker 1: a defensive starter. Now he's kind of back with me again.
24:26
Speaker 1: He's played very solid. You know a guy that we
24:29
Speaker 1: missed super really missed a year ago, Sethan Carter. I
24:32
Speaker 1: think Sethan Carter is playing well. Let me getting contributions
24:35
Speaker 1: from a lot of different guys. Tony McCrae's played very
24:38
Speaker 1: well this whole year. Um, it hadn't been been really
24:43
Speaker 1: one guy. It's it's been a They've played pretty really
24:45
Speaker 1: will as a unit. They believe in each other. Um
24:47
Speaker 1: that there Really it's a lot of fun to coach
24:49
Speaker 1: hip right now. I know we're not having a bunch
24:50
Speaker 1: of a bunch of success as a team, but these
24:52
Speaker 1: guys are as good a group. It's fun a group
24:54
Speaker 1: of guys because they really believe they're gonna make every play.
24:57
Speaker 1: And as a coach, that's all you can ask for. Dared,
24:59
Speaker 1: you're the august tenured coach on this staff. You came
25:02
Speaker 1: with Marvin originally in two thousand and three. How big
25:05
Speaker 1: of an adjustment has it been for you being part
25:07
Speaker 1: of a completely different staff this year. I think just
25:10
Speaker 1: the staff dynamics a little different. You know, you're not.
25:12
Speaker 1: It's kind of like when I first came in here
25:14
Speaker 1: in two thousand and three. You don't know a lot
25:15
Speaker 1: of these guys, haven't had haven't had the chance to
25:17
Speaker 1: work with very many of them. But it's getting a
25:20
Speaker 1: feel for how Zach one thing's done, and I think
25:23
Speaker 1: permitting that that same theme through the rest of the team,
25:27
Speaker 1: uh and through my group specifically, and trying to spread
25:30
Speaker 1: his message um I. And that's not been a challenge.
25:32
Speaker 1: It's been different. Um I think the way we practice
25:35
Speaker 1: is a little different. The way we conduct day to
25:37
Speaker 1: day business at different. It's so it's there's but it's
25:40
Speaker 1: from anything. It's there's transition when it comes with that stuff. Um.
25:43
Speaker 1: You know, you get kind of set in your ways
25:44
Speaker 1: when you do it one way for sixteen years in
25:46
Speaker 1: a row, and then when that changes, it becomes different.
25:50
Speaker 1: But but in addition to that too, it kind of
25:52
Speaker 1: stimulates me, um to change, you know, and it makes
25:55
Speaker 1: me think about things in a different way. So that
25:57
Speaker 1: that part of has been very thankful for. Final question
26:01
Speaker 1: for Special teams coordinator Darren Simmons. My favorite special teams
26:05
Speaker 1: play almost happened in mid October the fair catch free kick.
26:11
Speaker 1: So for people that aren't aware of it, you can
26:13
Speaker 1: fair catch a punt, and if you do it within
26:15
Speaker 1: field goal range, the other team has to stand ten
26:19
Speaker 1: yards away. So there are a limited set of circumstances
26:22
Speaker 1: where you would even try it. But what do you
26:25
Speaker 1: think is that's something that like in the back of
26:27
Speaker 1: your mind as a special teams coordinator, you're always dreaming
26:30
Speaker 1: that maybe it'll work out. Oh. Absolutely, there's a couple
26:33
Speaker 1: of things that have to happen. Obviously, anytime you fair
26:35
Speaker 1: catch a punt, this could happen at any point in
26:37
Speaker 1: the game. You have the opportunity to do two things. One,
26:40
Speaker 1: you can put it in play with an offensive snap,
26:43
Speaker 1: which happens ninety nine point nine percent of the time,
26:45
Speaker 1: or be you can take a fair catch free kick,
26:47
Speaker 1: which means you take a field goal from the spot
26:50
Speaker 1: of the fair catch and they can't rush you. And
26:53
Speaker 1: if you kick it through the goal pos you get
26:54
Speaker 1: three points. That could happen to any point in the game.
26:57
Speaker 1: But the unique set of circumstances where that comes into play.
27:00
Speaker 1: It could be the end of the half or the
27:01
Speaker 1: end of a game, and you do not have to
27:04
Speaker 1: have time on the clock for a fair catch free kick.
27:07
Speaker 1: So if you have the opponent backed up, he's punting
27:09
Speaker 1: out of his own end zone, there's two seconds left
27:10
Speaker 1: in the half, he punts it to you and you
27:13
Speaker 1: fair catch it. Time expires, zero time left on the clocks.
27:16
Speaker 1: So obviously you can't put the ball in play with
27:18
Speaker 1: an offensive snap, but you can take a fair catch
27:20
Speaker 1: free kick. Just I'd love to have the opportunity if
27:23
Speaker 1: somebody backed up and force him to punt with you know,
27:26
Speaker 1: inside of five or six seconds to go, and you know,
27:28
Speaker 1: fair execute a fair catch and get the chance to
27:30
Speaker 1: do it. That would be, you know, one of those
27:32
Speaker 1: players you kind of dream would be awesome to bible
27:34
Speaker 1: to execute. One of these days, we'll get the chance
27:36
Speaker 1: to go out and do it, and hopefully when we do,
27:38
Speaker 1: our players will be very comfortable and no exactly that
27:40
Speaker 1: execute it. I love it now. I know it can
27:42
Speaker 1: be done with no time left on the clock. Congratulations
27:45
Speaker 1: on the special team's performance so far this season. I
27:48
Speaker 1: always appreciate your time. Thank you, appreciate you having me.
27:50
Speaker 1: That's Darren Simmons. Earlier this year, Carolina kicker Joey Sly
27:55
Speaker 1: attempt at a sixty yard field goal on a fair
27:57
Speaker 1: catch free kick at the end of half, but missed it.
28:02
Speaker 1: The last kicker to make one was the Chargers Rayworshing
28:06
Speaker 1: way back in nineteen seventy six. Now time for this
28:10
Speaker 1: week's No The Faux Segment. Tim Bens is a Pittsburgh
28:13
Speaker 1: sports columnist and talk show host, and joined Dave Lapham
28:16
Speaker 1: and me I'm the Bengals game Plan Show this week.
28:19
Speaker 1: Normally we take an in depth look at the Bengals
28:22
Speaker 1: upcoming opponent, but this week most of our conversation with
28:26
Speaker 1: Tim revolved around last week's helmets swinging fracas between Myles
28:32
Speaker 1: Garrett and Mason Rudolph. I started out by asking Tim
28:36
Speaker 1: if Miles Garrett has replaced Vontes Berfect as public enemy
28:41
Speaker 1: Number one in Pittsburgh. Yes, absolutely, yes he has. I
28:47
Speaker 1: can't believe it's possible, but I think it's a very
28:51
Speaker 1: apt comparison. I don't think Miles that's the track record
28:55
Speaker 1: that yet, but he's well on his way, and I
28:59
Speaker 1: think you're are the something there. Dan. Let me ask
29:02
Speaker 1: you a question about Mason Rudolph. Everybody's up at arms
29:05
Speaker 1: that he has not been suspended. He's going to receive
29:07
Speaker 1: a fine. Obviously, and everybody said, well, he exacerbated it
29:12
Speaker 1: when he went, you know, after Miles Garrett a second time.
29:16
Speaker 1: I'm telling in my opinion, when I saw it, I said,
29:19
Speaker 1: Mason Rudolph was just reacting that he lost his helmet.
29:21
Speaker 1: He's trying to get his helmet back. You don't want
29:24
Speaker 1: to be on a football field in an altercation without
29:26
Speaker 1: a helmet on your head because what can happen is
29:29
Speaker 1: exactly what happened. You might take a shot from somebody's
29:32
Speaker 1: fist or a help or whatever. You don't want to
29:35
Speaker 1: be exposed like that. So in my mind, he wasn't
29:37
Speaker 1: going after Miles Garrett. He dove right after his helmet.
29:41
Speaker 1: He was going after his helmet, and to me, he
29:44
Speaker 1: wasn't trying to prolong any kind of a fight. I
29:46
Speaker 1: don't think with Miles Garrett. I mean, what am I
29:49
Speaker 1: wrong on that? Or am I right? The narrative that
29:53
Speaker 1: Mason ulf is somehow responsible for what happened is about
29:56
Speaker 1: one of the dumbest things I've come across in my
29:59
Speaker 1: time covering sports. I've just shown you how I think
30:02
Speaker 1: social media has softened our brains and has made all
30:05
Speaker 1: of us try to think we're smarter than we all
30:07
Speaker 1: are by looking for some dumb excuse to marginalize what
30:11
Speaker 1: somebody did. And that's exactly what's happening here. You know,
30:15
Speaker 1: I think it's funny that O. J. Simpson has been
30:17
Speaker 1: the guy to advance this more than anybody else because
30:21
Speaker 1: in throwing that Mason Rudolf is at fault, it's sort
30:25
Speaker 1: of like saying one Goldman was a fault for delivering
30:28
Speaker 1: the sun glasses to Nicole. It's absolutely astonied. How do
30:33
Speaker 1: you blame Mason Rudolf when he was the one that
30:35
Speaker 1: got thrown to the ground laid trying to get up.
30:38
Speaker 1: There's notion that he was Danielson m karate kid and
30:42
Speaker 1: kicked Miles Garrett, and the growing is a joke. He
30:45
Speaker 1: was getting pulled up by his face mask. He's trying
30:47
Speaker 1: to separate himself from Garrett. People are working so hard
30:51
Speaker 1: to marginalized or alleviate the re fox on to Miles Garrett.
30:55
Speaker 1: And I don't know why. He's got a track record
30:58
Speaker 1: and he did something to Pittsburgh sports columnist and Steelers
31:03
Speaker 1: pregame host Tim Bens is our guest. I do want
31:07
Speaker 1: to ask you about Mike Tomlin's comments at a news
31:10
Speaker 1: conference yesterday, he was asked what the Steelers could learn
31:12
Speaker 1: from that incident, and he said, quote, I don't know
31:15
Speaker 1: that we did anything to make it happen in the
31:17
Speaker 1: first place. That's why I said we didn't have anything
31:20
Speaker 1: to learn from it. Did he mean that the way
31:23
Speaker 1: it sounds? I mean, I agree with you that what
31:26
Speaker 1: Miles Garrett did was infinitely worse than anything you could
31:31
Speaker 1: possibly suggest that Mason Rudolph did. Having said that, it
31:35
Speaker 1: doesn't seem to me the Steelers were completely blameless. Where
31:39
Speaker 1: would you fix the blame? That he would be wrong
31:41
Speaker 1: in that statement? Then well, what about pounce You who's
31:45
Speaker 1: now suspended for three games for kicking a guy in
31:47
Speaker 1: the head. Is that conducted Mike Tomlin condones I think
31:52
Speaker 1: he condones it. But I think what Garrett did was
31:55
Speaker 1: so above and beyond the pale that I think that
32:00
Speaker 1: that point Pouncey just lost his mind. Did I have
32:03
Speaker 1: to keep this guy from doing anything further? I think
32:07
Speaker 1: what Garrett did was so differentiating from any other behavior
32:12
Speaker 1: that football players have sleet on the field that there
32:15
Speaker 1: has to be a little attitude and how they responded
32:18
Speaker 1: both you know what Pouncing did initially and then even
32:23
Speaker 1: beyond when he kicked him. I think at that point
32:26
Speaker 1: it's suppressed the crazy man who was so unhinged and
32:30
Speaker 1: swinging the helmet and um, you know, I think one
32:34
Speaker 1: game is the absolute most from pouncing. And if probably
32:37
Speaker 1: came off sounding Kurtz for ignoring that part of the equation,
32:42
Speaker 1: I don't blame him to that because I think he
32:45
Speaker 1: incredibly I have no problem with Pouncey restraining him, you know,
32:49
Speaker 1: pin him, punch him in the gut, kicking him in
32:52
Speaker 1: the head, and that's not restraining. That's trying to get
32:56
Speaker 1: your shots in that There's a big difference there, big difference,
32:59
Speaker 1: and that's why gets trying to restrain him. Or do
33:01
Speaker 1: you think he's trying to stop him because I viewed
33:04
Speaker 1: it as trying. I think he's trying. I think it's
33:05
Speaker 1: trying to it's trying to damage him. He's got it.
33:08
Speaker 1: You know, Decastro's got him on the ground and he's
33:10
Speaker 1: kicking him in the head. I mean, you know, the
33:12
Speaker 1: restraining was being done by DeCastro. Pause, he could have
33:15
Speaker 1: helped restrain him. Pause, he decided to take some shots,
33:19
Speaker 1: whether it's punching, and then kick him in the head.
33:21
Speaker 1: I mean, let me ask you this, ding, especially when
33:25
Speaker 1: you were playing before, everybody was so suspension and fine crazy.
33:29
Speaker 1: I think, and I don't know about this, but I
33:32
Speaker 1: think that Filer and DeCastro clear Garrett off the pile
33:37
Speaker 1: before any of that happened. But everybody is so pentitive
33:40
Speaker 1: anymore that they didn't do that, and they were looking
33:43
Speaker 1: for the refs to blow the whistle or do something
33:45
Speaker 1: about it. And I think that's part of the reason
33:48
Speaker 1: why it went nuts, is because these guys are afraid
33:51
Speaker 1: of getting fined. He's just spend it in the first place,
33:53
Speaker 1: because I bet you those two were fighting the natural
33:55
Speaker 1: reaction to get Garrett off of a Mason Rudolph to
33:58
Speaker 1: begin with. All I can say is in any era
34:02
Speaker 1: of football, when I played, or before or after, kicking
34:06
Speaker 1: is termed a cowardly. I mean, kicking is not something
34:09
Speaker 1: that you do. I mean, you know, it's it's like
34:12
Speaker 1: if you see a street fight and somebody has a
34:14
Speaker 1: guy down on the ground the other one's kicking him.
34:16
Speaker 1: It's like, what the hell is that? I mean, the
34:19
Speaker 1: kicking stuff, that's why he suspended for three games, and
34:22
Speaker 1: it might be reduced, but I mean the suspension is
34:25
Speaker 1: for him kicking him, I mean that's a bad look too.
34:28
Speaker 1: You don't you don't want kids watching a football game
34:31
Speaker 1: and a fight breaks out and hit Hitting him with
34:33
Speaker 1: the helmets is inexcusable, But kicking him is not a
34:37
Speaker 1: good sign. It's it's not a good it's not a
34:39
Speaker 1: good look. It just isn't. I mean, you know, I mean,
34:43
Speaker 1: it isn't. And if you want him to apologize, like
34:45
Speaker 1: I thought he did that at the beginning of the
34:47
Speaker 1: fresh commence, I thought he said, we own an a
34:50
Speaker 1: portion of what took place. And I don't know what
34:52
Speaker 1: else he could possibly be referring to beside that, unless
34:55
Speaker 1: he really feels like Mason Rudelf acted out too much
34:59
Speaker 1: and be frank with you, I think Mason Rudolph kind
35:01
Speaker 1: of got bullied into making that apology or the team
35:04
Speaker 1: got bullied into making him make that apology because he
35:07
Speaker 1: read an apology. He read an apology. It wasn't like
35:11
Speaker 1: a heartfelt apology. He read the thing. Yeah, well, I
35:14
Speaker 1: think he's I think he's sorry for I think he's
35:17
Speaker 1: sincerely sorry because of what he did got Pouncey suspended.
35:21
Speaker 1: I think he's sorry about that. And you know, he
35:23
Speaker 1: did go off scrip and started looking out the cameras
35:26
Speaker 1: and say, look, I lost my cool and I shouldn't
35:28
Speaker 1: have done that. But again, I don't know what player
35:31
Speaker 1: has to wherewithal at that point to say, after being
35:34
Speaker 1: thrown to the turf laid you know, I'm not going
35:37
Speaker 1: to push back or I'm not going to get in
35:38
Speaker 1: the guy's face. I disagree that that Rudolph should apologize
35:44
Speaker 1: for Pouncy getting suspended. Pouncey did something that got pounced
35:48
Speaker 1: you to suspended. Rudolph didn't. Pouncey did Pouncey by kicking.
35:53
Speaker 1: I mean to me, that's that's totally that's the separating
35:56
Speaker 1: point I had. No, I would have no problem of
35:58
Speaker 1: him laying on top of him, him down, punching him,
36:01
Speaker 1: but kicking him in the head. Worry, no, no go,
36:05
Speaker 1: no go. That's well, if if that happens in a fight,
36:08
Speaker 1: if that happens in a fight on the field in
36:10
Speaker 1: the day, everybody would grab the guy that did kicking
36:13
Speaker 1: and wail on his tail. Well, you're purty right on it,
36:17
Speaker 1: and I'm wrong, And you know in the NFL decided
36:20
Speaker 1: to suspend him. But I think there's nothing more cowardly
36:22
Speaker 1: than slinging a helmet if somebody else's head. I totally agree,
36:27
Speaker 1: totally agree, totally agree, and he should be suspended for
36:30
Speaker 1: more than six games. But I got no problem with
36:32
Speaker 1: Pounds of being suspended for as many games as he
36:34
Speaker 1: is for kicking a guy when he's down in the
36:36
Speaker 1: head and he's being pinned by somebody else. I mean,
36:39
Speaker 1: you know that that's not I think that's a cowardly
36:42
Speaker 1: act as well. Our guest is Tim Ben's, Pittsburgh sports
36:46
Speaker 1: columnist and Steelers pregame host. Didn't intend for this to
36:49
Speaker 1: be entirely about that incident. We got you for a
36:51
Speaker 1: couple more minutes, so let's at least to hit on
36:54
Speaker 1: a couple of other topics. Yeah, I'm sure, I'm sure
36:59
Speaker 1: you've you've covered this topic a little bit in Pittsburgh.
37:03
Speaker 1: But let's hit on a couple of other things before
37:05
Speaker 1: we let you go Number one or I guess number two.
37:08
Speaker 1: After all we've been talking about to this point. Two. Yeah,
37:12
Speaker 1: the status of some key Steelers going into this game,
37:17
Speaker 1: Juju Smith, Schuster, James Conner, Deyanta Johnson. I mean, Pounce,
37:22
Speaker 1: he's already out because he's suspended. How limited are the
37:26
Speaker 1: Steelers going to be in this game very limited throwing
37:30
Speaker 1: the ball. Juju Smith Shues, even though he has not
37:33
Speaker 1: a good year, is still the number one receiving threat
37:35
Speaker 1: and draws all sorts of attentions from opposing defense, and
37:38
Speaker 1: another guy still can't get open. So I can't imagine
37:41
Speaker 1: how hard it's going to be for people to get
37:42
Speaker 1: open when Juju isn't being doubled all the time. So
37:46
Speaker 1: that's gonna be a problem. Rudolf had problems delivering the
37:49
Speaker 1: ball when on the rare occasions where players have been opened. Um,
37:53
Speaker 1: you know, like you talked about the running backs these
37:55
Speaker 1: connor is out, they were so good running the jet,
37:58
Speaker 1: sweet miss, direct, easlextended handoff, shovel past, wildcat stuff against
38:04
Speaker 1: the Bengals the first time. I don't know, maybe that
38:07
Speaker 1: comes back, Maybe that comes back a little bit. I
38:09
Speaker 1: know that both Shanlon Samuels and Mike Tomlin intimated both
38:13
Speaker 1: coming out of the Bengal game last time and this
38:16
Speaker 1: week going into it, that there are some matchup things
38:19
Speaker 1: that they think that they liked about playing against the Bengals.
38:21
Speaker 1: With that wildcat team into play, I don't know if
38:24
Speaker 1: it's as prominent as it was back in week four
38:27
Speaker 1: excuse yeah, week four on Monday Night Football. But with
38:30
Speaker 1: Benny Smellby and the other running back, now, maybe they
38:32
Speaker 1: try to do some of that again to insulate the
38:34
Speaker 1: passing game even further because the weapons are so uh
38:38
Speaker 1: scaled back with the knee injury to Juju on top
38:41
Speaker 1: of the concussion. Art Johnson at least practice today, So
38:44
Speaker 1: that's a good thing from their standpoint, but they are
38:47
Speaker 1: limited skill position wise for SUA. I agree with you though,
38:51
Speaker 1: because the you know, the Jets sweep the shovel passed
38:54
Speaker 1: the Wildcat. Haven't seen very seen very little of it
38:58
Speaker 1: since the Bengals game, but we talked about it earlier
39:00
Speaker 1: in the week. I mean, obviously the Bengal is going
39:03
Speaker 1: to be preparing for It's going to be a big
39:04
Speaker 1: part of their preparation time during the week. You know,
39:07
Speaker 1: it's going to take away from preparing for things they
39:09
Speaker 1: maybe have run the weeks since they played the Bengals.
39:12
Speaker 1: But with all that's going on in terms of player
39:15
Speaker 1: of availability, you got to be able to be able
39:18
Speaker 1: to defend it better than you did the first time,
39:20
Speaker 1: that's for sure. On Monday and Night Football. Yeah, and
39:22
Speaker 1: Benny Snell is a guy with a drafted should be
39:27
Speaker 1: a short yardage option to be a closure at the
39:30
Speaker 1: end of games. And he's been so injured and unavailable
39:33
Speaker 1: during the course of games this year that we haven't
39:36
Speaker 1: been able to see that much yet. In Pittsburgh and
39:39
Speaker 1: their biggest struggle of late, especially that Browns game is
39:43
Speaker 1: on third and short, fourth and short, and I'm wondering
39:46
Speaker 1: if they could feature him and just run between the
39:48
Speaker 1: tackles more effectively. I mean, with this and rule struggling
39:51
Speaker 1: to win it is. I think they had seven chances
39:54
Speaker 1: thirty fourth to short and they threw five of them
39:57
Speaker 1: because the line was so poor and moving the Kyle
40:00
Speaker 1: even six feet. There's a real kind of I don't know,
40:04
Speaker 1: chicken and egg debate there. Are you getting too complicated
40:07
Speaker 1: because the line camp walking to get the fourth downs
40:09
Speaker 1: concerned downs that way, or should you just make it
40:12
Speaker 1: simple and go behind the line and make them get
40:14
Speaker 1: better at it. I'm leaning towards the ladder, all right.
40:17
Speaker 1: Thanks to Tim Benz And that's going to do it
40:19
Speaker 1: for this episode of the podcast. If you haven't done
40:22
Speaker 1: so already, don't forget to subscribe, and if you have time,
40:25
Speaker 1: give it a rating or share. A comment. Those five
40:28
Speaker 1: star ratings help more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm
40:32
Speaker 1: Dan Horde and thank you for listening to the Bengals
40:35
Speaker 1: Booth podcast.