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Bengals Booth Podcast: Here We Go Again · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth podcast. The Here We Go Again addition,
0:12
Speaker 1: as we look ahead to Sunday's season opener in Seattle,
0:15
Speaker 1: and yes, I know the White Snake song is Here
0:19
Speaker 1: I Go again, But here we Go Again fit the
0:23
Speaker 1: opening week theme coming up. Approximately twenty one minutes of
0:28
Speaker 1: Dave Lapham Podcast Gold. I am so lucky to work
0:32
Speaker 1: with the guy because there's nobody better in the NFL
0:35
Speaker 1: at covering a team. Lap is knowledgeable, he is smart,
0:38
Speaker 1: he is funny, and he is definitely one of the
0:40
Speaker 1: world's great storytellers. Will hit all of the important topics
0:44
Speaker 1: going into the season opener every year. In Week one,
0:48
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton is kind enough to join me for a
0:50
Speaker 1: one on one interview. We'll discuss what it's like to
0:53
Speaker 1: play for a head coach who is only four and
0:55
Speaker 1: a half years older than he is, and I'll ask
0:58
Speaker 1: Andy to do something that he doesn't like to do. No,
1:02
Speaker 1: I didn't ask him to cuss. It's something else he
1:04
Speaker 1: doesn't like to do. And in this week's No the
1:07
Speaker 1: Faux segment, we'll get the scoop on the Seahawks from
1:10
Speaker 1: their longtime radio voice former wide receiver Steve Rabel. All
1:15
Speaker 1: of that is straight ahead. But first, here's a quick
1:17
Speaker 1: reminder that you can have the latest edition of this
1:20
Speaker 1: podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by
1:24
Speaker 1: subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean.
1:29
Speaker 1: It's the greatest invention since Triple A. No, not the
1:35
Speaker 1: top level of Minor League Baseball, although that's great too,
1:39
Speaker 1: I'm talking about the American Automobile Association. On Wednesday night,
1:44
Speaker 1: when I had a billion things to do, including putting
1:47
Speaker 1: together this podcast, my car wouldn't start in downtown Cincinnati.
1:51
Speaker 1: So I pulled the Triple A card out of my wallet,
1:55
Speaker 1: called the Trusty toll free number, and it didn't take
1:58
Speaker 1: long for a gentleman named Mark to come to the rescue.
2:02
Speaker 1: It turned out I had a dead battery, and Marty
2:05
Speaker 1: replaced it in no time. I have been a Triple
2:08
Speaker 1: A member forever and I can't even count the number
2:11
Speaker 1: of times it's paid off. Now let's get to football.
2:16
Speaker 1: For the first time in seventeen years, the Bengals will
2:18
Speaker 1: have a new head coach on Sunday, as Zach Taylor
2:21
Speaker 1: makes his official debut. He's thirty six years old, making
2:25
Speaker 1: Zach the second youngest current head coach in the NFL,
2:29
Speaker 1: behind his former boss Sean McVay of the Rams, who
2:33
Speaker 1: is still only thirty three. For what it's worth, Paul
2:36
Speaker 1: Brown coached his first pro football game in Cleveland at
2:40
Speaker 1: the age of thirty seven. It was actually the day
2:42
Speaker 1: before his thirty eighth birthday. Dave Lapham played for Paul Brown,
2:47
Speaker 1: and this Sunday he begins his thirty fourth year in
2:51
Speaker 1: the Bengals broadcast booth. We start this week's discussion by
2:55
Speaker 1: looking at the makeup of the Bengals fifty three man
2:58
Speaker 1: roster and surprises, in your opinion, not anything huge, Dan.
3:03
Speaker 1: I mean, I remember we were talking on a podcast
3:05
Speaker 1: and said, you know, based on what I'm seeing, eleven
3:08
Speaker 1: defensive linemen deserve to make the team and only four linebackers,
3:11
Speaker 1: and that's kind of the way it shook down. I'm
3:12
Speaker 1: not shocked by that, particularly as fewer times you have
3:16
Speaker 1: three linebackers on the field in today's NFL seventy five
3:19
Speaker 1: eighty percent of the time, most teams are in three
3:21
Speaker 1: receiver formations are on war So it doesn't really surprise
3:25
Speaker 1: me all that much with that configuration. You know, John
3:29
Speaker 1: Jerry was the Michael George Johnson of this football team. Agreed,
3:34
Speaker 1: you know, to go ahead and get way of come
3:35
Speaker 1: back and then they put Duga on the IR, which
3:38
Speaker 1: IR recall they can do now after the fifty three months.
3:40
Speaker 1: So if they need a guy at tackle later in
3:43
Speaker 1: the season, that doesn't surprise me at all. SOMJ. P Ryan,
3:47
Speaker 1: I think is a very good pickup. It's the Sooner
3:51
Speaker 1: Sooner East, I guess. I mean running back rooms the
3:53
Speaker 1: same as when they're in college, mix and Anderson and
3:56
Speaker 1: p Ryan. Anderson rehabbing from the knee surgery obviously, but
4:00
Speaker 1: Samaj p Ryan played all four special teams for the Redskins,
4:03
Speaker 1: So Darren Simmons is happy about that that he's going
4:06
Speaker 1: to have, you know, an option there. I'm not sure
4:08
Speaker 1: how much of the offense p run will have you know,
4:11
Speaker 1: a grasp of, but special teams wise, I think he's
4:13
Speaker 1: going to be a factor in that opening day, you know,
4:15
Speaker 1: as the third running back for sure. Let's talk about
4:18
Speaker 1: the Bengals offense. They hired Zach Taylor in large part
4:22
Speaker 1: for his ability to bring the Rams offense to Cincinnati.
4:26
Speaker 1: During the preseason, they kept it extremely vanilla. How much
4:30
Speaker 1: different is it going to be on Sunday. I think
4:32
Speaker 1: it will be a lot different. I think there'll be,
4:34
Speaker 1: you know, tweaks to formations, tweaks to blocking patterns. I
4:37
Speaker 1: didn't see very sophisticated blocking patterns up front in the
4:40
Speaker 1: run game or protection wise, so I think they've kept
4:43
Speaker 1: a lot close to the vest, which is really smart
4:45
Speaker 1: to do. I remember after the first preseason game, coach
4:51
Speaker 1: and Rumo told me that Andy Reid came up and said,
4:54
Speaker 1: you guys are a pain in the neck to try
4:55
Speaker 1: to prepare for. We didn't know what to look at.
4:57
Speaker 1: We look at giants, we look at dolphins. What are
4:59
Speaker 1: we look at? And then you didn't do anything. So
5:02
Speaker 1: that's their advantage. It's going to be the same thing
5:05
Speaker 1: for Pete Carroll offensively, what does he look at With
5:07
Speaker 1: Zach he says, you look at the dolphin as you
5:09
Speaker 1: look at the Rams. Obviously he's going to be a
5:11
Speaker 1: lot of Rams influence, but he's got other influences along
5:14
Speaker 1: the way. Same with lou and Rumo. You know, it's
5:16
Speaker 1: like I don't know exactly what they're going to do
5:18
Speaker 1: until they spring it. And this is the only time
5:20
Speaker 1: they'll have that advantage that there's no tape on them,
5:23
Speaker 1: So they did a pretty good job of keeping things
5:25
Speaker 1: under wraps. The other I guess the flip side to
5:28
Speaker 1: that coin is the only time they've been working on
5:30
Speaker 1: it so far, and they've got this week of practice,
5:32
Speaker 1: but is in walkthroughs when nobody's around to see what's
5:35
Speaker 1: going on. So they really haven't gone and you know,
5:38
Speaker 1: practiced it against anybody. So will they be insane? Will
5:42
Speaker 1: they be you know in cohesion? Will they be meshed up?
5:45
Speaker 1: Because sometimes if you put too much in, you know,
5:48
Speaker 1: you can hurt yourself. So there's that delicate balance. You know,
5:50
Speaker 1: how cute do you want to be? And you know,
5:53
Speaker 1: can it hurt us more than it fools them? And
5:56
Speaker 1: ultimately you just gotta go out. Like Paul Brown said,
5:58
Speaker 1: you know we can trick them. I get tired of
6:00
Speaker 1: tricking them. Just go out and block and tackle people.
6:02
Speaker 1: Will you go win a football game? That's what it
6:04
Speaker 1: boils down to. Lap Over the last two years with
6:07
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor on the Rams coaching staff, Todd Gurley averaged
6:10
Speaker 1: nearly thirteen hundred yards rushing, seven hundred yards receiving, and
6:15
Speaker 1: twenty touchdowns. Those were his averages, not his two year totals.
6:19
Speaker 1: Do you expect Joe Mixon to approach those numbers in
6:21
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor's offense? I think, more importantly Joe expects it.
6:26
Speaker 1: I do, and I think Joe does. I mean the
6:28
Speaker 1: thing that he talked about just the other day, not
6:31
Speaker 1: only running football, you know zas put an emphasis on
6:33
Speaker 1: that obviously, but he likes how Zach utilizes the running
6:37
Speaker 1: backs out of the backfield. I mean that's a that's
6:39
Speaker 1: a very big characteristic and trade that Joe has. It's
6:42
Speaker 1: very favorable. I mean, he catches the ball. You get
6:45
Speaker 1: him the ball in space when that big freight train
6:47
Speaker 1: gets moving, He's he's gonna make some people miss. He's
6:49
Speaker 1: gonna get yards after catch. So it would not shock
6:52
Speaker 1: me to have him with a thousand yards rushing in
6:55
Speaker 1: two thousand, you know, scrimmage yards when you're throwing the
6:59
Speaker 1: yards pass. Would It would not stun me whatsoever. And
7:02
Speaker 1: uh you know, I mean he scored a bunch of
7:04
Speaker 1: touchdowns last year. I think he had eight rushing touchdowns
7:06
Speaker 1: last year. So I mean if he if he fifteen
7:10
Speaker 1: to twenty, would be no shock to me whatsoever to
7:12
Speaker 1: see Joe mix and put up those kind of numbers
7:14
Speaker 1: telling you though the uh, the kind of secret weapon,
7:19
Speaker 1: hidden weapon as such, Giovanni Bernard in this offense, watch
7:23
Speaker 1: out for Giovanni Bernard. And then there recently acquired Samaj
7:27
Speaker 1: p Ryan, all two hundred and forty three pounds of him.
7:30
Speaker 1: He's the thunder and now he got a couple of
7:32
Speaker 1: lightning strikes in Bernard and Mixing. If I had predicted
7:37
Speaker 1: at the start of training camp that Jake Della la
7:39
Speaker 1: Gala would make the fifty three man roster, what would
7:42
Speaker 1: you have said. I would have said that he's gonna
7:44
Speaker 1: have to light it up, you know in the exhibition games.
7:47
Speaker 1: We saw him though, you know, right at the end
7:51
Speaker 1: of workouts the mandatory mini camp, do a job out
7:56
Speaker 1: there and watching him spend the football, it's like, man,
7:59
Speaker 1: looking at this guy with his measurables and I'm talking
8:02
Speaker 1: about his height at sixty seven and two hundred and
8:04
Speaker 1: forty pounds and be able to spin the ball like
8:07
Speaker 1: he did. It's like, hey, you've got something to work
8:09
Speaker 1: with there, you know, potentially, but you wouldn't think, oh,
8:12
Speaker 1: this guy's gonna make such a statement. They're gonna have
8:14
Speaker 1: to keep three quarterbacks, he's gonna make the fifty three
8:16
Speaker 1: men roster and be deactivated. But he did it, and
8:20
Speaker 1: you know, credit to him. The one thing though, that
8:23
Speaker 1: that he definitely has to work on, and I think
8:25
Speaker 1: it was part of the part of what he was
8:26
Speaker 1: doing was trying to impress the coaches and the organization
8:29
Speaker 1: that he should make the team because of his arm.
8:32
Speaker 1: Everything was going down the field. I mean Charlie checked down.
8:35
Speaker 1: He was not. He was the opposite of that. He
8:36
Speaker 1: had Ellis a couple of times in that last game
8:39
Speaker 1: against the Colts where one of them was a touchdown,
8:41
Speaker 1: another one was a big game. He was like five
8:45
Speaker 1: yards open, catching yards after catch would have been a
8:47
Speaker 1: big game, and he was trying to get it to
8:49
Speaker 1: the second and third level down the football field, showing
8:51
Speaker 1: off that arm strength time and time again. So that
8:54
Speaker 1: was his mindset. So I think now that he's made it,
8:57
Speaker 1: he has to work on all the things necessary to
9:01
Speaker 1: be a complete quarterback in the National Football League and
9:03
Speaker 1: don't try to force things. If you try to force
9:06
Speaker 1: things against you know, and the guys that are starting
9:09
Speaker 1: in the National Football League as much as you did
9:11
Speaker 1: against guys he was playing against in the second half,
9:14
Speaker 1: fourth quarter of those football games. That'd be a different story,
9:17
Speaker 1: I think. Lap the Bengals have tried to fix the
9:19
Speaker 1: offensive line. They've used their number one draft pick each
9:22
Speaker 1: of the last two drafts on an offensive lineman, and unfortunately,
9:25
Speaker 1: neither one of those guys will be in the starting
9:26
Speaker 1: lineup on Sunday. Is the line better or worse than
9:30
Speaker 1: a year ago? You know, I think it's I think it's.
9:33
Speaker 1: Looking at it, it's pretty much the same. You know.
9:36
Speaker 1: I do think Miller is an upgrade at the right
9:39
Speaker 1: guard position. I mean, I think that that kid is
9:42
Speaker 1: a very very consistent performer. You've got to give Trey
9:45
Speaker 1: Hopkins a big tip of the cap, you know, if
9:47
Speaker 1: you're winning the job at the center position. And Michael
9:50
Speaker 1: Jordan's an unknown, but he has got huge upside potential.
9:53
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess that's why it's hard to put
9:55
Speaker 1: a mark on it with him in particular, because his
9:58
Speaker 1: good is unbelievably good. He's so long and so powerful,
10:02
Speaker 1: and his bad can be bothersome though, because he's you know,
10:06
Speaker 1: he's young, and hopefully he won't the bad won't continue,
10:09
Speaker 1: you know, maybe a one time thing, and he works
10:12
Speaker 1: through it. And gets over it. You know, the left
10:14
Speaker 1: tackle position is a big question mark. You know, Corty Glenn,
10:17
Speaker 1: how much will he be able to play? You can't
10:20
Speaker 1: count on it for sixteen games. He hasn't been there
10:22
Speaker 1: for sixteen games, even in the opener. If he's able
10:25
Speaker 1: to uh to suit up in the opener, I don't
10:28
Speaker 1: know if I count on him for sixty minutes. You know,
10:30
Speaker 1: I got to get Andre Smith ready to play the
10:32
Speaker 1: tackle position, so you know that I get in my opinion,
10:37
Speaker 1: hopefully this group the offensive lines that I played on
10:41
Speaker 1: that were the better offensive lines, the sum total of
10:45
Speaker 1: the offensive line was better than the individual parts except
10:48
Speaker 1: for Anthony Munos, but I mean usually the sum total
10:52
Speaker 1: was a better component than each guy when you evaluate
10:58
Speaker 1: each guy, because you know, the offensive line is the
11:01
Speaker 1: only It's like a bunch of three hundre pound June
11:03
Speaker 1: Taylor dancers. You have to be in total concert. You
11:06
Speaker 1: have to be helping each other, you have to be
11:07
Speaker 1: doing the same thing and understand, everybody has to be
11:10
Speaker 1: on the exact same page. So we'll see if this
11:14
Speaker 1: offensive line is that type of offensive line, and it
11:17
Speaker 1: could be. It could be. I don't think Jimmy Turner
11:20
Speaker 1: is not doing a whole bunch that is going to
11:22
Speaker 1: confuse these guys. Now. They didn't show anything in the preseason,
11:26
Speaker 1: and they'll show more, obviously against the Seahawks in terms
11:28
Speaker 1: of blocking configurations and all that sort of thing. But
11:31
Speaker 1: I don't think it's going to be rocket science. I
11:33
Speaker 1: really don't. I think he's going to keep it pretty
11:35
Speaker 1: simple and just let guys go out and execute and
11:39
Speaker 1: see what they can put together. What new assistant coach
11:42
Speaker 1: really cut your eye in training camp? Oh, a bunch
11:44
Speaker 1: of them, did. I think? You know, Jim Turnercott and
11:46
Speaker 1: eye with this simplistic approach that he was taken to
11:50
Speaker 1: it all and he's a rep guy, and you know,
11:54
Speaker 1: over and over and over and over again the same things.
11:56
Speaker 1: And I remember with Jimmy McNally, it started with our
11:59
Speaker 1: stance every access, then we did the duck walk, then
12:01
Speaker 1: we did you know, the other other drills, and the
12:04
Speaker 1: last practice for the Super Bowl started with our stands.
12:06
Speaker 1: You're got to work on your stands every practice, guys.
12:08
Speaker 1: You know, shift your weight, don't tip that you're shifting
12:11
Speaker 1: your weight, but get get all your weight on the
12:13
Speaker 1: left side of your body to your right side. Is
12:14
Speaker 1: freed up. Shift it back to the right side of
12:16
Speaker 1: your body so your left side is freed up, and
12:18
Speaker 1: don't tip it by how much pressure you're putting it
12:20
Speaker 1: in your hand. Working on all from the stands all
12:22
Speaker 1: the way through, exact same thing every single day. And
12:26
Speaker 1: Jimmy Jimmy Turner funny, it's too Jimmy, Jimmy McNally and
12:30
Speaker 1: Jimmy Turner. Jimmy Turner is doing the same type of
12:32
Speaker 1: thing with these guys. The repetition of it and the
12:36
Speaker 1: targets are simple. Everything fits. So I've been impressed with him,
12:40
Speaker 1: how he's worked with that offensive line. James Casey, been
12:44
Speaker 1: impressed with that guy. I think he's a hell of
12:46
Speaker 1: a tight end coach. And in talking to the tight ends,
12:49
Speaker 1: they said that he not only tells you what to do,
12:52
Speaker 1: he tells you what to avoid because he's been on
12:53
Speaker 1: the field. Don't think he can do this, don't think
12:56
Speaker 1: he can take this shortcut. Don't don't assume anything here.
12:59
Speaker 1: I mean he's he's been there, done that. And so
13:02
Speaker 1: the tight ends have had consecutive coaches that have played
13:06
Speaker 1: in the National Football League for a duration. There's something
13:09
Speaker 1: you know significant there and I mean, I could go
13:11
Speaker 1: down the list, and that's I think Zach Taylor took
13:14
Speaker 1: his time and put together a staff that is really
13:18
Speaker 1: really good teachers, and they can all all get their
13:23
Speaker 1: points across, and they do it with enthusiasm, excitement, and
13:27
Speaker 1: the guys are buying into it. I think I think
13:29
Speaker 1: every player is buying what the coach and staff is selling.
13:31
Speaker 1: I really do. Last year, the Bengals allowed nearly four
13:35
Speaker 1: hundred and fourteen yards a game, most enfranchise history, ranked
13:40
Speaker 1: last in the NFL. They gave up twenty eight point
13:42
Speaker 1: four points a game. Only two teams are worse, the
13:44
Speaker 1: Raiders and the Buccaneers. Will the defense be significantly better
13:48
Speaker 1: in your opinion? And if so, why, Yeah, it's the same.
13:52
Speaker 1: It's the same scenario. The strength of the teams. The
13:56
Speaker 1: defensive line kept a loving of them. I mean, that's
13:59
Speaker 1: that's pretty oppressive. To keep eleven defensive lineman. It was meritocracy,
14:03
Speaker 1: just like everything. Um, you know, Damian Willis gets the
14:07
Speaker 1: starting exposition because he was the best player. Didn't matter,
14:10
Speaker 1: So keep eleven defensive lineman, four linebackers because eleven defensive
14:14
Speaker 1: lineman played better than the other linebackers that they let
14:17
Speaker 1: go so you know, it's it's like players appreciate if
14:21
Speaker 1: you go out there and you put tape a good
14:23
Speaker 1: tape on your resume, it should benefit you. And I
14:27
Speaker 1: think they respect and appreciate, you know, the fact that
14:30
Speaker 1: they've structured the team the way they have. In today's football,
14:36
Speaker 1: you know, how many times do you use three linebackers?
14:38
Speaker 1: That's the concern defensive line. Unbelievable back end, solid linebacker,
14:43
Speaker 1: big question marks. So we've seen it three years now.
14:46
Speaker 1: Linebacker has been picked on. They've been isolated and picked
14:49
Speaker 1: on over and over and over again. And in today's
14:52
Speaker 1: NFL with teams going seventy five three receivers or more,
14:56
Speaker 1: you know, you go Nickel and Dine no more than
14:58
Speaker 1: two linebackers potentially, So it fits. I mean, and the
15:03
Speaker 1: thing that impresses me about the defensive lineman Dan, you
15:05
Speaker 1: have multiple guys that can do multiple things. Carl Lawson
15:10
Speaker 1: can be like Ah, like Ross Browner with us and
15:14
Speaker 1: others over the years, he can rush or drop. Hubbard
15:18
Speaker 1: has shown he can rush or drop. Willis has shown
15:21
Speaker 1: he can rush or drop. I mean, they have multiple
15:24
Speaker 1: guys that they can do multiple things with on their
15:26
Speaker 1: defensive line. To try to confuse pass protections, assignments. I
15:31
Speaker 1: do I count him as a linebacker? Do I count
15:33
Speaker 1: him as a defensive lineman? What do I count him
15:35
Speaker 1: as in our protection? You know, all those kind of
15:37
Speaker 1: things offensive linemen have to start to think about. So
15:39
Speaker 1: I think I think that this group, potentially, you know,
15:44
Speaker 1: could hopefully play better. And the biggest reason is lou
15:47
Speaker 1: Anna Rumo. His whole scenario has been eliminate grayer, black
15:52
Speaker 1: and white. I'm simplifying. It's like too much grayer or
15:56
Speaker 1: too much thinking. And I think that he's done a
15:59
Speaker 1: good job of that, and I think that's going to
16:00
Speaker 1: show up, and I think it's going to be the
16:03
Speaker 1: defense is going to be as good as their front
16:05
Speaker 1: and their back end allows it to be lap. The
16:08
Speaker 1: Bengals open the season at Century Link Field in Seattle,
16:12
Speaker 1: which has twice held the Guinness World Record for loudest
16:15
Speaker 1: crowd roar at an outdoor stadium. We hear about that
16:19
Speaker 1: all the time, but take us to the line of scrimmage.
16:21
Speaker 1: What does that mean? When you're playing, it means it
16:25
Speaker 1: means a bunch, There's no question about it. I mean,
16:27
Speaker 1: particularly if you're in if you're in a close football game,
16:30
Speaker 1: fourth quarter of a close football game, third and seven,
16:33
Speaker 1: you have to convert your you're down four points, you
16:37
Speaker 1: have to keep a drive going. And it's a din
16:40
Speaker 1: I mean, you can't hear a thing. If you look
16:42
Speaker 1: at your teammate, you can see his mouth move. You
16:45
Speaker 1: can't hear one word in they're screaming, you know, they're
16:48
Speaker 1: they're screaming at the top of their lungs and it
16:50
Speaker 1: just looks like their minds. I mean, there's nothing happening.
16:53
Speaker 1: So it is disconcerting to an offensive lineman. For sure.
16:57
Speaker 1: Your only advantage is being able to hear the snap
17:00
Speaker 1: count and move on the snap count because the defensive
17:03
Speaker 1: lineman doesn't know what the snap count is. When you
17:05
Speaker 1: have to give up that advantage and look and kind
17:08
Speaker 1: of move on the ball moves that your only advantage
17:11
Speaker 1: is taken away. So what the Bengals have done a
17:14
Speaker 1: big time job on, and it started even during way
17:17
Speaker 1: back in OTAs a silent snap count because they've known
17:20
Speaker 1: they've had the Seahawks for an opener for a long
17:22
Speaker 1: time and they've been working on in the meeting rooms,
17:25
Speaker 1: on the field, in the locker room, this silent snap count.
17:28
Speaker 1: And there's a couple of different triggers they can use,
17:30
Speaker 1: and it's it's pretty cool what they're what they're going
17:32
Speaker 1: to try to do. And I'm thinking they may draw
17:35
Speaker 1: Seattle offside. How big would that be? If they draw
17:38
Speaker 1: the Seahawks off sides out there utilizing a silent snap
17:41
Speaker 1: counts of their advantage, that would be that would be
17:43
Speaker 1: bigger than big time. The Seahawks are number one in
17:46
Speaker 1: the NFL and running the ball last year they haveage
17:48
Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty yards a game. The Bengals are
17:50
Speaker 1: twenty eighth. Then stopping the run, they gave up one
17:53
Speaker 1: thirty eight. It's that the biggest key on Sunday, it is,
17:56
Speaker 1: you know, and Dan, you look at it. Um they're
18:00
Speaker 1: only five teams in the NFL that threw the ball
18:02
Speaker 1: last year less than five hundred times, and Buffalo is
18:06
Speaker 1: one of them, Seattle's another, Miami's another, Arizona is another.
18:11
Speaker 1: Bengals play all of them, and then Tennessee is the fifth.
18:14
Speaker 1: So all those teams really emphasize the running game, and
18:18
Speaker 1: you know, the Bengals play all all those teams. Only
18:21
Speaker 1: two teams in the NFL ran the ball more than
18:24
Speaker 1: five hundred times and that's a Baltimore and Seattle. So
18:31
Speaker 1: you play Baltimore twice, you play Seattle. They both emphasize
18:35
Speaker 1: the run. So looking at these opponents Arizona with this
18:39
Speaker 1: new quarterback, will they still emphasize the run? I think
18:41
Speaker 1: so with a rookie quarterback, you want to make sure
18:43
Speaker 1: you get the running game on. He may be a
18:44
Speaker 1: weapon in the running game, and I don't know how
18:46
Speaker 1: much he's so small, but Miami's going to try to
18:49
Speaker 1: still pound it, you know, Seattle's obviously gonna Buffalo is
18:52
Speaker 1: obviously the Bengals have to be able to stop the run,
18:56
Speaker 1: and they have to be able to run the ball themselves.
18:58
Speaker 1: They have to win. They're playing all these teams an
19:00
Speaker 1: emphasize the running game to the extent that they had
19:02
Speaker 1: last year and probably will this year. You have to
19:05
Speaker 1: be able to not get dominated in the running game
19:08
Speaker 1: and be one dimensional. You have to be able to
19:10
Speaker 1: be balanced and I mean try to outrush some of
19:13
Speaker 1: these people, you know, in terms of attempts inefficiency and
19:17
Speaker 1: see where it takes you. Russell Wilson is now the
19:19
Speaker 1: highest paid player in the NFL, average salary thirty five
19:23
Speaker 1: million dollars a year. He's obviously among the best scramblers
19:26
Speaker 1: in the league, but Seattle gave up fifty one sacks
19:30
Speaker 1: last year. Could this be a big day for the
19:33
Speaker 1: Bengals pass rush. Yeah, I think, I think. You know
19:35
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson because of his scrambling ability, like you described,
19:39
Speaker 1: he thinks that you can't ever get him on the ground,
19:42
Speaker 1: So he is deeper in the shotgun and any other
19:45
Speaker 1: quarterback in the NFL because he's diminutive with the hype factor,
19:50
Speaker 1: so he wants to get separation from the line of
19:52
Speaker 1: scrimment so he can see better. So he's got a
19:54
Speaker 1: deeper shotgun snap acceptance to the football, and he'll run around,
19:59
Speaker 1: he'll run around act there, and he'll he'll create and
20:01
Speaker 1: he'll he'll do all of his things that way. Um,
20:05
Speaker 1: So he does get trapped. And once once you know,
20:09
Speaker 1: once a certain amount of time is taken has taken
20:12
Speaker 1: place on the clock. At that point there's an offensive lineman,
20:16
Speaker 1: you're okay, okay, man, you're on your own because you
20:18
Speaker 1: don't know where he's gonna run, you don't know how
20:20
Speaker 1: he's gonna you know, address the rest of the play.
20:23
Speaker 1: And you know, the unscripted unscripted plays is where Russell
20:27
Speaker 1: Wilson sometimes excels. Sometimes his unscripted plays end up being
20:31
Speaker 1: better than the play that was called. But sometimes he's
20:34
Speaker 1: gonna get trapped too. So I mean, if he's getting
20:37
Speaker 1: sacked in three point five seconds, that's on the old line.
20:40
Speaker 1: But if he's running around for ten seconds back there
20:43
Speaker 1: and gets gets trapped, that's that's not on the old line.
20:46
Speaker 1: Seattle still has the reputation of being great on defense,
20:49
Speaker 1: but the legion of boom Era is officially over. It
20:53
Speaker 1: ended in Week four last year when Earl Thomas broke
20:55
Speaker 1: his leg and then flipped off Pete Carroll as he
20:59
Speaker 1: was taken off the field on a cart. Thomas says
21:01
Speaker 1: in Baltimore, now, how good is Seattle's defense these days?
21:05
Speaker 1: And how will it challenge the Bengals on Sunday. I
21:08
Speaker 1: think it's good. You know, Seattle runs their stuff. You
21:11
Speaker 1: know Seattle, Pete Carroll and the defensive coaches aren't saying,
21:15
Speaker 1: you know, they are to an extent, but it's like,
21:18
Speaker 1: you know, you know what, no matter what the Bengals
21:20
Speaker 1: end up deciding to do, We're going to play Seattle
21:23
Speaker 1: Seahawk defense. We are going to do our stuff. And
21:25
Speaker 1: they do that as well as anybody. No matter what
21:29
Speaker 1: you're trying to do against them, they're going to do
21:30
Speaker 1: their thing. And the other thing they do is retool
21:33
Speaker 1: as well as anybody. And Jadavian Clowney is the most
21:37
Speaker 1: recent example of it. This guy, when you add tackles,
21:41
Speaker 1: philoss and sacks together, he's number one in the NFL
21:43
Speaker 1: the last few years. His tackle floss is off the charts.
21:47
Speaker 1: So everybody talks about him as an edge pass rusher
21:49
Speaker 1: and he's good, but man, nobody talks about how good
21:52
Speaker 1: he is disrupting the run and those We've talked about
21:55
Speaker 1: it all the time. You know, the quarterback sacks are
21:58
Speaker 1: so sexy. You know it's like quarterback steps up in
22:01
Speaker 1: the pocket and he's sack for a two yard loss
22:03
Speaker 1: and everybody goes, oh, that's great, a running backs hit
22:06
Speaker 1: for two yard loss. And he's like, yeah, you know,
22:07
Speaker 1: second and twelve. I mean it's the same deal. It's
22:10
Speaker 1: the same situation that you're stressing the offense with and
22:13
Speaker 1: the defense performing. So Jadeveon Clowney is disruptor and you
22:18
Speaker 1: know he's going back to a four three defense, which
22:20
Speaker 1: he was in college. He was a four three defensive end. Well,
22:23
Speaker 1: he was in a three man package down there in Houston,
22:26
Speaker 1: and Romeo Cornell did a great job of putting him
22:29
Speaker 1: in a two point stands, putting him in the A gap,
22:31
Speaker 1: and he'd get a lot of a lot of disruption
22:33
Speaker 1: in the A gap from two point two point outside.
22:35
Speaker 1: He'd line him up, say find the fish, find the
22:38
Speaker 1: weakest spot in the offensively, and go take advantage of
22:40
Speaker 1: it out of a two point stanch, you know. And
22:43
Speaker 1: so I don't think, I don't know if Seattle's going
22:45
Speaker 1: to do that. That's not Seattle sting Seattle. I think
22:47
Speaker 1: we'll have him as a as a right defensive end
22:49
Speaker 1: going against whoever our left tackle is in that football game,
22:52
Speaker 1: and that's a matchup that you're gonna have to watch.
22:54
Speaker 1: The other thing that is a factor in that defense
22:58
Speaker 1: higher than the average bear, Bobby Wagner's a stud. Bobby Wagner,
23:03
Speaker 1: in my opinion, is the best linebacker in the NFL,
23:05
Speaker 1: because I mean, he's equally effective against the runner of
23:08
Speaker 1: the past. He can run laterally, he'll come downhill and
23:12
Speaker 1: hit you. He had one hundred and thirty eight tackles
23:14
Speaker 1: for him last year, led them in tackles. He had
23:16
Speaker 1: a ninety eight yard interception return for a touchdown. I mean,
23:19
Speaker 1: the dude's a playmaker, so you know, and Nake try
23:22
Speaker 1: to keep him clean with those four down linemen. So yeah,
23:24
Speaker 1: there's still there's still plenty to worry about. I don't
23:27
Speaker 1: think the back end is anywhere near as good as
23:29
Speaker 1: it was in the Legion of Boom and Doom. But there,
23:33
Speaker 1: you know, I think the front seven is still so
23:37
Speaker 1: good that it kind of uh, you know, puts some
23:40
Speaker 1: makeup on the on the blemish of the back end
23:43
Speaker 1: of that defense a little bit. When you say go
23:46
Speaker 1: find the fish, that's an expression for finding the weak
23:48
Speaker 1: link on the other team's line. We got to do
23:51
Speaker 1: that literally this weekend, going to see that. I got
23:53
Speaker 1: to go find some good fish, no question, I mean
23:55
Speaker 1: I want to. Last time I was up there, I
23:57
Speaker 1: was watching him throw the I mean the guy that
23:59
Speaker 1: catches the fish, she's strong man, because those fish are sliming. Now,
24:02
Speaker 1: this dude is good. He must have more stick him
24:05
Speaker 1: on than Daniel Brentwood's head. You know, for him to
24:08
Speaker 1: just pluck the fish like he does, that's pretty impressive.
24:10
Speaker 1: I'm that guy. He knows what He's doing our broadcast
24:13
Speaker 1: on the Bengals Radio Network this Sunday begins at two
24:16
Speaker 1: thirty Eastern, and my fun Facts interview on the pregame
24:20
Speaker 1: show will be with Bengals President Mike Brown. It is
24:23
Speaker 1: always a great conversation. The Bengals have not played in
24:27
Speaker 1: Seattle since two eleven, the seventh game of Andy Dalton's
24:31
Speaker 1: rookie year. That day, the Red Rifle led the Bengals
24:34
Speaker 1: to a thirty four to twelve win, part of a
24:37
Speaker 1: five game winning streak that season that helps Cincinnati make
24:40
Speaker 1: the playoffs. And He's only other game against the Seahawks
24:44
Speaker 1: was a twenty seven, twenty four overtime win in two
24:47
Speaker 1: fifteen that saw the Bengals rally from a seventeen point
24:51
Speaker 1: deficit in the fourth quarter. Dalton will try to make
24:55
Speaker 1: it three and oh against Seattle on Sunday as he
24:58
Speaker 1: plays his first NFL game for a head coach other
25:01
Speaker 1: than Marvin Lewis. I talked to Andy about Zach Taylor
25:05
Speaker 1: and much more. Do you remember your initial reaction when
25:09
Speaker 1: you learned that the Rams young quarterbacks coach was going
25:11
Speaker 1: to be your new head coach? I do. I was excited,
25:14
Speaker 1: you know, you've seen rumors a different thing that's going
25:17
Speaker 1: to happen. But you know, for me to it's my
25:20
Speaker 1: first time on our career to have an offensive coach
25:22
Speaker 1: and to know the background of Zach where he's been,
25:25
Speaker 1: and you know, just to have him that played the
25:28
Speaker 1: quarterback position everything, I was really excited about it. It
25:32
Speaker 1: seems to me you two guys have a lot in common.
25:34
Speaker 1: You're only four and a half years apart in age.
25:37
Speaker 1: He was a highly successful quarterback although his career ended
25:40
Speaker 1: at Nebraska, your devoted family men. You both have kind
25:43
Speaker 1: of even keeled personalities. Did all of that stuff help
25:47
Speaker 1: you guys connect right off the bat? Yeah, for sure.
25:49
Speaker 1: I think we are similar in the way we just
25:52
Speaker 1: kind of carry ourselves and the way we live our life,
25:54
Speaker 1: and so it makes it easy to connect with people
25:56
Speaker 1: like that. And so yeah, I mean it's been great.
26:00
Speaker 1: Ever since he's been here, it's been fun to get
26:03
Speaker 1: to know him more. And yeah, I'm just really looking
26:06
Speaker 1: forward to him being here for a long time. For
26:09
Speaker 1: visiting with Andy Dalton. You've had four offensive coordinators in
26:13
Speaker 1: your first eight seasons. Brian Callahan makes it five, and
26:16
Speaker 1: we just assume as fans that it's Andy. He'll be
26:19
Speaker 1: able to handle that. He's got such a great grasp
26:21
Speaker 1: of the xs and ohs. But how difficult is it
26:24
Speaker 1: and what's the most challenging part? Yeah, I mean it's
26:27
Speaker 1: you're doing similar stuff. I mean the offense. It's like
26:30
Speaker 1: I said, it's a copycat league, and so there's similar
26:34
Speaker 1: things that I've done throughout my career. It's gonna be
26:36
Speaker 1: called completely different and to have three different terminologies in
26:40
Speaker 1: three years, I mean, it's just okay, you're interpreting. Okay,
26:43
Speaker 1: this is what I used to call it, this is
26:45
Speaker 1: what I'm calling it now, and just getting ready for it.
26:47
Speaker 1: But yeah, it's it's fun to learn a new offense. Obviously,
26:50
Speaker 1: I'd like to be an assistant longer than just one year.
26:54
Speaker 1: But now it's been good. No sane person would suggest
26:59
Speaker 1: that AJ Green's injury was a good thing for the team.
27:02
Speaker 1: But did it accelerate the progress of some of the
27:04
Speaker 1: other receivers. Yeah, obviously, if you know, you never wanted
27:08
Speaker 1: an injury to happen, But it allowed other guys to
27:11
Speaker 1: get reps that they wouldn't have gotten. So when AJ
27:14
Speaker 1: comes back, it'll be you know, we'll be that much
27:17
Speaker 1: farther ahead, because these guys will have played a lot,
27:21
Speaker 1: and so I definitely think that it's helped the development
27:24
Speaker 1: of some of these guys. You were drafted one year
27:27
Speaker 1: before Andrew Luck. What was your reaction to him retiring
27:30
Speaker 1: at the age of twenty nine. You know, it's Andrew's
27:34
Speaker 1: obviously been through a lot with all the injuries that
27:37
Speaker 1: he's had, and at the end of the day, if
27:40
Speaker 1: you're not finding joy in the game of football, which
27:45
Speaker 1: I think is what he was saying, it's like he
27:46
Speaker 1: wasn't able to be himself. He wasn't able to live
27:49
Speaker 1: the life that he wanted to live. And so, you know,
27:53
Speaker 1: I'm happy for him that he's had that clarity and
27:56
Speaker 1: he's had that peace with the decision. Obviously, it's going
27:59
Speaker 1: to be different having him as the quarterback for the
28:02
Speaker 1: for the Colts played against each other for a long time.
28:05
Speaker 1: Obviously every preseason we would end against each other and
28:08
Speaker 1: then played against him throughout the years. But um, you know,
28:11
Speaker 1: I'm just happy for him that he's got that piece
28:13
Speaker 1: with everything. I'm going to ask you to do something
28:15
Speaker 1: you don't like to do. Brag about yourself. You've been
28:18
Speaker 1: a starting quarterback in the NFL for eight years, three
28:21
Speaker 1: time Pro Bowler. By the end of this year, you'll
28:23
Speaker 1: probably have the franchise record for completions. What are you
28:27
Speaker 1: proudest of so far? Yeah, I think anytime you can
28:30
Speaker 1: stay in one place for a long time, I think
28:32
Speaker 1: that's that's one thing. We've really established ourselves in Cincinnati
28:35
Speaker 1: from the time that we got here, and so this
28:37
Speaker 1: is a place that we wanted to be and we
28:39
Speaker 1: wanted to be here for a long time. So I
28:42
Speaker 1: think the first and foremost to be able to, you know,
28:45
Speaker 1: have success enough to where you know you're going to
28:47
Speaker 1: be in the city of Cincinnati. I think that's that's
28:49
Speaker 1: one thing. There's been a lot of accomplishments that have
28:52
Speaker 1: gone on since I've been here. Obviously, like you said,
28:54
Speaker 1: the three the three Pro Bowls and different things. But
28:58
Speaker 1: now I think just a lunge of a career. I mean,
29:00
Speaker 1: going into year nine now, you know, I want to
29:03
Speaker 1: keep playing for a while, so you know, hopefully we're
29:07
Speaker 1: kind in the middle stages of my career. A couple
29:09
Speaker 1: of questions about Seattle. They had two double digit sack
29:12
Speaker 1: guys last year. They traded front Frank Clark, Jaron Reid,
29:15
Speaker 1: is suspended. I thought, maybe you catch him in a
29:19
Speaker 1: good time when their pass rush isn't going to be great,
29:21
Speaker 1: and then last weekend they get Jadvan Clowney. How does
29:25
Speaker 1: that impact you going into Week one. Yeah, he's a
29:28
Speaker 1: disruptive player, and you know, he had seen rumors about
29:32
Speaker 1: maybe Seattle trying to go after him, and then obviously
29:36
Speaker 1: it actually happened. It's just a guy that we had
29:39
Speaker 1: to prepare for. We have to know where he's at.
29:40
Speaker 1: He's so good. He's able to do things and and
29:45
Speaker 1: make plays that not a lot of guys can make.
29:47
Speaker 1: So for us, we just got to know where he's at.
29:50
Speaker 1: What makes Bobby Wagner so unique. He's got instincts. He
29:54
Speaker 1: understands their defense really well. He's obviously been in that
29:57
Speaker 1: system for a long time. He is athletic. He really
30:01
Speaker 1: can do it all. He can play the run, he
30:03
Speaker 1: can recover, you know, getting the past lanes and all
30:06
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. But I think it's just his
30:08
Speaker 1: knowledge of the game and knowledge of their system make
30:11
Speaker 1: him the player that he is. Last question, do you
30:13
Speaker 1: like being an underdog? You know, I feel like I've
30:16
Speaker 1: been donna dog from a lot of my career and
30:19
Speaker 1: so now it's one of those things you you want
30:23
Speaker 1: to prove people wrong when you're not getting any attention
30:26
Speaker 1: any of that stuff. But frous, we're just worried about,
30:30
Speaker 1: you know, this one, getting getting a win for Seattle
30:33
Speaker 1: and we'll put ourselves in good position moving forward. My
30:36
Speaker 1: first year as the announcer was your first year as
30:38
Speaker 1: the quarterback. Best of luck in year number nine, and
30:41
Speaker 1: thank you for all you and JJ have done for
30:45
Speaker 1: needy families in our community. Yeah, I appreciate it. And
30:48
Speaker 1: he could be going into Sunday's game without Cordy Glenn
30:50
Speaker 1: had left tackle. Glenn is still in concussion protocol, although
30:54
Speaker 1: Cordy was on the rehab field on Wednesday, which is
30:58
Speaker 1: the first step toward we turn into action. If he
31:01
Speaker 1: can't play in Seattle, Andre Smith will take his place.
31:06
Speaker 1: Now time for this week's No the Faux segment, and
31:08
Speaker 1: this week Lap and I had the chance to visit
31:11
Speaker 1: with Seahawks radio voice Steve Rabel, a former wide receiver
31:14
Speaker 1: for the team. We started by asking Steve to discuss
31:18
Speaker 1: the Seahawks biggest storylines during training camp leading up to
31:22
Speaker 1: Game one. The biggest one, of course, is the one
31:25
Speaker 1: on just the other day, the trade for Jadevian Clowney.
31:29
Speaker 1: You know a few of us kind of speculated on
31:31
Speaker 1: and there were people talking about it, but we just
31:35
Speaker 1: we we didn't believe that it would really come to pass,
31:38
Speaker 1: only because you know, the cost was going to be
31:41
Speaker 1: fairly high, and you know that late were you were
31:45
Speaker 1: you ready prepared to take on somebody like Clowney at
31:47
Speaker 1: that point in season. Well, now we find out that
31:50
Speaker 1: that John Schneider actually started to make contact back before
31:53
Speaker 1: the draft, just to touch base on it. So what
31:56
Speaker 1: they did in one fell swoop is you know, I've
31:59
Speaker 1: been saying all through training camp, how are they going
32:02
Speaker 1: to replace the production of Frank Clark fourteen sacks counting
32:06
Speaker 1: the playoff last year, how are you going to replace that?
32:09
Speaker 1: Well they just did. Zicknions is healthy and he a
32:13
Speaker 1: career nine, ten eleven fact guy every year every season
32:17
Speaker 1: he's healthy. And now you get Clowney who's gotten what
32:19
Speaker 1: career twenty nine or thirty sacks in just three four seasons.
32:23
Speaker 1: So I think I think we've taken care of that
32:26
Speaker 1: part of the equation and that now frees us up
32:28
Speaker 1: to do other things on defense instead of trying to
32:31
Speaker 1: trying to game plan how you're going to put pressure
32:34
Speaker 1: with guys that you know are just are just guys.
32:37
Speaker 1: They're not Pro bowlers like these two. And the thing
32:40
Speaker 1: about Clowney that a lot of people don't realize is
32:43
Speaker 1: his tackles. Philoss. I mean, when he sets the edge,
32:45
Speaker 1: it's it's a tackle forloss a lot of times. He's
32:48
Speaker 1: one of four guys in the NFL that have over
32:50
Speaker 1: fifty tackles for loss in over twenty sacks since two sixteen.
32:55
Speaker 1: So this guy sets the edge in the in the
32:58
Speaker 1: running game and will be leebell edge rusher. And you
33:01
Speaker 1: couple him with Anzo, who's you know, going to have
33:04
Speaker 1: his first appearance. That's a that's a pretty good book end.
33:07
Speaker 1: And then in the middle you put Bobby wagner Man.
33:10
Speaker 1: That's a Bermuter triangle potentially defense. Yeah, it's really interesting,
33:15
Speaker 1: laugh how this defense has changed from the Legion of
33:18
Speaker 1: Boom just a couple of years ago, focused so much
33:21
Speaker 1: as it was on the secondary and rightly so, you know,
33:23
Speaker 1: three out of four of the guys were Pro bowlers
33:25
Speaker 1: back there. Two of them almost certainly maybe three are
33:29
Speaker 1: going to end up in the Ring of Honor. Earl
33:31
Speaker 1: Kind of might have fingered his way out of a
33:33
Speaker 1: out of that list, but that's story. But you know,
33:38
Speaker 1: the move now is back toward the middle of the field,
33:41
Speaker 1: and we've got this great trio of linebackers veteran guys
33:45
Speaker 1: and Bobby Wagner and kJ Wright and Michael Kendricks and
33:49
Speaker 1: some young guys behind them. They went specifically in the
33:51
Speaker 1: draft looking for who are the next guys who are
33:55
Speaker 1: going to step up when these guys are finally done playing,
33:58
Speaker 1: and they went and found those guys too. So the
34:00
Speaker 1: defense has really kind of shifted a little bit. But
34:03
Speaker 1: the real key now is those Let's not forget the
34:06
Speaker 1: best down defensive line had all last season and then
34:09
Speaker 1: back the last couple of years. Jaren Reid is not
34:12
Speaker 1: going to play the first six weeks. He's been suspended
34:15
Speaker 1: right by the league. Very questionable, but he is a
34:18
Speaker 1: guy who really he had ten sacks last year from
34:21
Speaker 1: He's like Geno Atkins, I mean, he can make things
34:23
Speaker 1: happen from that inside position. So when he comes back,
34:27
Speaker 1: and then poor A Ford, the guy who everybody was
34:30
Speaker 1: talking about at the end of training camp last year,
34:32
Speaker 1: has solidified himself at maybe five eleven and three hundred
34:37
Speaker 1: pounds and he's like trying to move a buick in
34:40
Speaker 1: the middle of the line. He is a good one too,
34:42
Speaker 1: so I'm really excited about our defense. We are talking
34:45
Speaker 1: to the voice of the Seahawks, Steve Rabel. Let's turn
34:47
Speaker 1: to offense for a second. How does rookie receiver dk
34:50
Speaker 1: Metcalf looking I don't mean with his shirt off. Well, yeah,
34:57
Speaker 1: those guys when I was playing were defensive ends, and
35:00
Speaker 1: now he's a wide receiver. For heaven's sake, He's an
35:04
Speaker 1: unbelievable physical specimen. He's also a really smart, humble kid,
35:08
Speaker 1: and all he wants to do is get better and learn,
35:11
Speaker 1: and that's what he's done all during training camp until
35:14
Speaker 1: he kind of injured his knee a little bit and
35:16
Speaker 1: had to undergo a procedure. Nobody's really said what it was,
35:20
Speaker 1: but kind of a cleanout procedure in his knee about
35:23
Speaker 1: fourteen days ago, two weeks ago, and Pete says he's
35:26
Speaker 1: very likely going to be ready to play on Sunday,
35:29
Speaker 1: which is a big deal. Now he might he won't
35:31
Speaker 1: play every snap on offense, and that's probably a good thing.
35:34
Speaker 1: But slowly get him in there, get him some playing time.
35:36
Speaker 1: He's listed as a starter on the depth chart, but
35:38
Speaker 1: I got a feeling that Jeron Brown will probably start
35:41
Speaker 1: opposite Tyler Lockett, or if they start three wide receivers,
35:44
Speaker 1: then you might put DK in there. But he's been,
35:47
Speaker 1: he's been something, and he can get down field. He
35:51
Speaker 1: actually runs routes better than anybody expected. You know, he
35:54
Speaker 1: worked with Jerry Sullivan out of the former coach at
35:57
Speaker 1: Arizona on running pass routes, you know, breaking down, getting
36:01
Speaker 1: out of his routes, but getting his head around, and
36:03
Speaker 1: he's much better at that than I think any of
36:05
Speaker 1: us thought he was going to be. And we all
36:07
Speaker 1: know he can run. He's a four three guy downfield
36:10
Speaker 1: at six to four and two hundred and twenty pounds
36:13
Speaker 1: and one and a half percent body fat. Oh my god,
36:16
Speaker 1: I mean I can't even imagine I get one percent
36:21
Speaker 1: body fighting a little finger. But I mean, that's that's unbelievable. Really,
36:24
Speaker 1: it really is. Well, so the thing that I realized
36:28
Speaker 1: that the Seahawks, you know, were established that ground game. Obviously,
36:31
Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty yards a game last year led
36:33
Speaker 1: the league fifth in the league four point and to carry.
36:36
Speaker 1: But when I looked at numbers. They ran the ball
36:40
Speaker 1: second most in the NFL behind Baltimore, who when they
36:42
Speaker 1: put Jackson at quarterback, they were pounding the ball. But
36:45
Speaker 1: those are the only two teams in the NFL that
36:47
Speaker 1: ran it over five hundred times. You know, for the season,
36:50
Speaker 1: they're dead last in past attempts, the second in the
36:53
Speaker 1: league in Rushes, dead last in past attempts. And with
36:57
Speaker 1: that said, Russell Wilson had the best year he's ever had.
37:01
Speaker 1: I guess I guess less was more for him with
37:03
Speaker 1: that running game so established him. Yeah, exactly what it
37:07
Speaker 1: meant was he was so effective thirty five touchdown, seven interceptions.
37:12
Speaker 1: That ratio himself is great. If you're throwing the ball,
37:16
Speaker 1: you know, three four or five times, he's not right.
37:20
Speaker 1: And he also didn't run as much as he has
37:23
Speaker 1: in the past two straight weeks. He almost got his
37:25
Speaker 1: life taken off. Some guys would have been on ir
37:27
Speaker 1: and yet he's amazingly tossed. He really operates well in
37:31
Speaker 1: this offense. He operates well. He loves handing the ball
37:34
Speaker 1: to Chris in the backfield. You got um pro Sites
37:41
Speaker 1: who was just coming back kind of really starting to
37:44
Speaker 1: look like he's he's the player we thought he was
37:46
Speaker 1: when they drafted him in the third round. But this
37:49
Speaker 1: is this is a good offense. And you know where
37:50
Speaker 1: it starts, slap and everybody will say this, who's ever
37:53
Speaker 1: been a part of football? It starts up front. And finally,
37:56
Speaker 1: we have an experienced veteran, a group of guys returning,
38:02
Speaker 1: and they all understand the system. They're led by Dwayne
38:04
Speaker 1: Brown on the left end, left tackle side, and I
38:08
Speaker 1: think they're just as good as any offensive line in
38:10
Speaker 1: the game right now. A couple more questions for Seahawks
38:12
Speaker 1: voice Steve Rabel. I've got a thirteen year old son,
38:15
Speaker 1: Steve Russell Wilson is his favorite player in the NFL.
38:18
Speaker 1: Even though his dad works for the Bengals. He's not
38:21
Speaker 1: allowed to wear his number three Seahawks jersey this weekend.
38:24
Speaker 1: So what I'm going to say will be heresy to
38:27
Speaker 1: my own son. But I want to ask this question.
38:29
Speaker 1: He was sacked fifty one times last year. We see
38:32
Speaker 1: him run around and make big plays when he buys
38:35
Speaker 1: extra time. But are there not just times, but numerous
38:39
Speaker 1: times where Russell Wilson holds onto it too long? Yeah,
38:43
Speaker 1: there are some of those times, and it's and it
38:45
Speaker 1: comes strictly from a guy trying to make a play.
38:48
Speaker 1: I mean, he comes from a guy who's so confident
38:50
Speaker 1: in his own ability. It also came at times when
38:55
Speaker 1: it was a jail a jailbreak pass rush. And you
38:58
Speaker 1: know there are times when our rights coach Germaine Fetti
39:01
Speaker 1: can be had. Fast pass rushers, tough guys outside make
39:05
Speaker 1: it difficult on him. He's not got the best feat
39:07
Speaker 1: in the world. So at times Russ had to just
39:10
Speaker 1: as soon as he got the ball, turn and pull away.
39:13
Speaker 1: And it also came when guys miss blocks. Running backs
39:16
Speaker 1: miss blocks. You know, we the tight end maybe stay
39:19
Speaker 1: in for max protection and miss the block on a
39:22
Speaker 1: blitzing linebacker. You know, those kind of things happen too.
39:25
Speaker 1: But Russ will tell you that probably seven or eight
39:29
Speaker 1: times out of ten, when he makes that wheel route
39:32
Speaker 1: out of the backfield, something good is going to happen.
39:34
Speaker 1: His receivers know where he's going. They practice it every
39:38
Speaker 1: single day. That okay, he's wheeling out. Here is where
39:41
Speaker 1: I need to be, There's where you need to be.
39:43
Speaker 1: Here's how we need to get separation. So Russ has
39:45
Speaker 1: people to throw too, and then you also have that
39:48
Speaker 1: option is a great ability to run this preseason needed
39:51
Speaker 1: a great job getting out of bounds protecting himself. He
39:54
Speaker 1: slid down a couple of times and guys went flying
39:56
Speaker 1: or rented. Was preseason, after all, and they might take
39:59
Speaker 1: more shots obviously as the season starts. But most of
40:03
Speaker 1: the time he didn't wheel out and get us in trouble.
40:06
Speaker 1: In third and long situations, it was always you know,
40:09
Speaker 1: it might have been first or second down, third down
40:11
Speaker 1: when they knew they had to convert. You didn't see
40:13
Speaker 1: nearly as much of that, you know. I think when
40:18
Speaker 1: I watch him on tape, he more than any quarterback
40:21
Speaker 1: that I think in the league does the greatest job
40:24
Speaker 1: of putting players between the rock and a hard place.
40:27
Speaker 1: They can't guess right he's on the edge, linebacker, do
40:30
Speaker 1: I drop coverage come after him? Do I stay back
40:32
Speaker 1: and coverage is going to tuck it and go. He
40:34
Speaker 1: seems to leverage defensive backs with receivers the same way.
40:38
Speaker 1: He has them so many times between the rock and
40:40
Speaker 1: a hard place, and a receiver that he does that
40:42
Speaker 1: with as well as any is lock it. I mean
40:45
Speaker 1: lock it last year almost seventeen yards to catch and
40:48
Speaker 1: over nineteen yards to catch on third down. Four touchdown
40:51
Speaker 1: catches on third down. He is definitely his deep ball guy,
40:54
Speaker 1: isn't he? He really is, And you know it is
40:57
Speaker 1: one of the big keys of this team. You know,
41:01
Speaker 1: we talked about how much they run the ball, and
41:02
Speaker 1: then they're going to run it again this time. Carson
41:05
Speaker 1: is going to get the ball twenty five times a game.
41:07
Speaker 1: Penny is going to get his share of runs. But
41:10
Speaker 1: what makes this offense really go? And then you know
41:13
Speaker 1: teams are not done. They can see film, they understand it.
41:16
Speaker 1: But you keep pounding the football and guys keep coming
41:18
Speaker 1: up and playing a little bit closer to the line,
41:20
Speaker 1: a little bit closer, and then you have the run
41:22
Speaker 1: pass option and Russell rolls out and you watch Tyler
41:27
Speaker 1: Lockett and he has the greatest ability to cross the
41:31
Speaker 1: field and get into the olden area on the far
41:33
Speaker 1: side of the field on a deep sale route and
41:35
Speaker 1: Russell can put that ball on the money. Did it
41:38
Speaker 1: several times in preseason. We saw in a bunch last year.
41:41
Speaker 1: We are one of the best teams in the league.
41:43
Speaker 1: Get explosive plays and they come specifically off of what
41:48
Speaker 1: was perhaps a short pass route or a run pass option,
41:52
Speaker 1: and Russell is able to find his guy downfield, because
41:55
Speaker 1: exactly what you said, you put the defense in such
41:57
Speaker 1: a bond should they come up as they drop back,
42:01
Speaker 1: and if they're all not on the same page, there's
42:03
Speaker 1: generally a big open spot in there someplace, and Russell
42:05
Speaker 1: has the vision to find it. Here in Cincinnati, we're
42:09
Speaker 1: morning the final month of Marty Brenneman's broadcasting career. And
42:12
Speaker 1: of course Marty's signature call is and this one belongs
42:17
Speaker 1: to the reds Well. Steve Rabel's signature call when the
42:20
Speaker 1: Seahawks do something spectacular is holy Cutfish. Hopefully you'll have
42:27
Speaker 1: to save that for week two. That's going to do
42:30
Speaker 1: it for this edition of the podcast. If you haven't
42:33
Speaker 1: done so already, please subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, google Play, Spotify,
42:38
Speaker 1: or pod Bean and if you have a minute, give
42:40
Speaker 1: it a rating or leave a comment. Your feedback has
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Speaker 1: been great in five star ratings. Help more Bengals fans
42:47
Speaker 1: find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde. Thanks for listening to
42:51
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth podcast.