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Bengals Booth Podcast: Right Here Right Now · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: I get everybody. I'm Dan Horde, and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast the right here, right now. There
0:12
Speaker 1: is no other place I wanna be. Addition, as the
0:18
Speaker 1: Bengals look to capitalize on a six game stretch of
0:21
Speaker 1: their schedule in which four of the games are against
0:24
Speaker 1: teams with a combined record of nine and twenty eight Washington,
0:29
Speaker 1: the Giants, the Cowboys, and the Texans coming up, Dave
0:33
Speaker 1: Lapham joins me to discuss how the Bengals are handling
0:36
Speaker 1: positive COVID tests among players and coaches, and the teeter
0:40
Speaker 1: totter that aj Green and te Higgins have been on.
0:45
Speaker 1: My one on one player interview is with Mike Daniels,
0:47
Speaker 1: and we'll find out if he agrees with my prediction
0:50
Speaker 1: that he has headed toward a highly successful career in
0:53
Speaker 1: broadcasting when his playing days are finished. And in our
0:57
Speaker 1: know the faux segment, I'll ask Washington radio voice Bram
1:00
Speaker 1: Weinstein if he ever slips and accidentally says Redskins. The
1:07
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Bud Light Seltzer. Refresh
1:11
Speaker 1: the game, and here's a quick reminder that you can
1:14
Speaker 1: have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right to
1:17
Speaker 1: your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher,
1:21
Speaker 1: Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing
1:25
Speaker 1: since none. During the pandemic, we've tried to support local
1:32
Speaker 1: restaurants by getting takeout once or twice a week, including
1:35
Speaker 1: occasional trips to our favorite Indian restaurant. I'm a big
1:39
Speaker 1: fan of Indian food, and for me, the best part
1:42
Speaker 1: of the meal is the non the oven baked flatbread.
1:47
Speaker 1: There used to be an Indian restaurant in town that
1:50
Speaker 1: served a non which a sandwich on none that might
1:54
Speaker 1: have been the greatest sandwich in history. So if you
1:58
Speaker 1: are a restaurant to or in the Cincinnati area, put
2:02
Speaker 1: a nonwich on your menu and I will beat a
2:04
Speaker 1: path to your door. Now let's get to my conversation
2:10
Speaker 1: with Dave Lapham. It's been a turbulent week and a
2:13
Speaker 1: half for the Bengals, largely due to COVID nineteen. They
2:17
Speaker 1: did not have Fred Johnson last week, they did not
2:19
Speaker 1: have Marcus Hunt last week. They did not have several
2:22
Speaker 1: of their coaches, including four that they thought they would
2:26
Speaker 1: have until game day. Stuff to overcome it is, I mean,
2:30
Speaker 1: you know they're they're flying out to Pittsburgh. Coach takes
2:34
Speaker 1: off his mask to eat. You know, they have their
2:36
Speaker 1: masks on even when they fly. Duffner's sitting across from
2:40
Speaker 1: them and a linebacker coach sitting behind them. Both those
2:45
Speaker 1: guys are contact traced, and I mean they're woken up
2:50
Speaker 1: like in the wee hours on the morning to tell them,
2:53
Speaker 1: you know, we've got a situation here. You guys are
2:56
Speaker 1: part of contact tracing. Stay in your rooms, quarantine until
2:59
Speaker 1: further no and then earlier a few hours later, they're
3:02
Speaker 1: told get rental cars, al golden and marked. After they
3:05
Speaker 1: have to get rental cars, one each drive back separately
3:09
Speaker 1: to Cincinnati. Crazy and Dan. When you have guys that
3:13
Speaker 1: were as experienced as these guys head coaches both have
3:17
Speaker 1: been former head coaches during the course of a game,
3:20
Speaker 1: I mean their eyes, experienced eyes are valuable. They're experienced,
3:25
Speaker 1: you know, just having all the experiences of being a
3:27
Speaker 1: head coach as well as coordinator and position coach and
3:30
Speaker 1: everything else for all those years. When you're making adjustments
3:32
Speaker 1: and adjustments to adjustments as that game goes on. That
3:35
Speaker 1: that's a factor, you know, and players like to come
3:38
Speaker 1: off the field and have the same coach that they're
3:40
Speaker 1: speaking to when they come off the field, and all
3:42
Speaker 1: that change. Am I saying that's the reason that Pittsburgh
3:44
Speaker 1: thumped them? Hell no, I mean they didn't do anything right.
3:47
Speaker 1: There's no any one of the three phases. Nobody in
3:50
Speaker 1: any of the three phases stepped up and played modicum
3:53
Speaker 1: of a game that would have been worthy of a
3:56
Speaker 1: victory in Pittsburgh. But all of these things are facts,
4:00
Speaker 1: and it certainly didn't help the cause. I can tell
4:02
Speaker 1: you that for sure. Because of the positive tests coming
4:05
Speaker 1: out of the buy. Nothing has been normal since. Their
4:09
Speaker 1: meetings have all been virtual, their practices have been disjointed.
4:12
Speaker 1: They've been wearing masks at practice. It's unprecedented. Teams have
4:17
Speaker 1: never gone through anything like this before. Let's hear from
4:20
Speaker 1: Von Bell about the Bengals trying to deal with these
4:24
Speaker 1: COVID issues. Man, we're in a weird time and you
4:27
Speaker 1: never know, how can you get the virus whatnot? And
4:31
Speaker 1: it's like it's weird. But when you get close contact,
4:34
Speaker 1: they track it with those tracers and and so you
4:38
Speaker 1: could be next to somebody for five minutes and then
4:40
Speaker 1: got do in close contact and you could be knocked
4:42
Speaker 1: out and it's always the next play, next man of mentality.
4:45
Speaker 1: It's like man, and it affects the whole group because
4:48
Speaker 1: of you know, we're not getting that time together. We
4:51
Speaker 1: could spend the meetings and really break down of how
4:54
Speaker 1: can we do this and get detailed and what can
4:57
Speaker 1: we do in the game because all on zoom and
5:00
Speaker 1: you're not getting enough reps sometimes and it's just crazy, man.
5:05
Speaker 1: So you know, you just gotta find a way because
5:08
Speaker 1: nobody cares about that. Like my old coach's telling me, Man,
5:11
Speaker 1: ninety percent of the world I don't care about your problems.
5:14
Speaker 1: Ten percent care that you got them, and we just
5:16
Speaker 1: gotta figure out to produce on Sunday and then that's
5:19
Speaker 1: that's that's the end of it, and we just gotta
5:21
Speaker 1: find a way. Let's talk specifically about zoom meetings. Everybody
5:27
Speaker 1: and just about every walk of life is doing them
5:29
Speaker 1: these days. But when it comes to a game plan
5:32
Speaker 1: and a team football setting, how much do you think
5:34
Speaker 1: they're missing by not being in a room discussing exactly
5:39
Speaker 1: what they're going to do against the next opponent. Well,
5:41
Speaker 1: I mean, you know you can you can still follow
5:45
Speaker 1: the grease board in a zoom with the coach up
5:48
Speaker 1: there at the grease board. You can watch tape, you know,
5:51
Speaker 1: on zoom with a coach. It's you know, the meetings.
5:56
Speaker 1: That's the big thing to me is when they go
5:59
Speaker 1: on in the field, like you said, they go out
6:01
Speaker 1: and shifts. So the offense will come in, and the
6:04
Speaker 1: offense go out for a walkthrough, they'll leave, Defense comes in,
6:08
Speaker 1: defense goes out for a walkthrough, they leave, and then
6:11
Speaker 1: they all reconvene a few hours later for a practice
6:14
Speaker 1: and uh so, and right now they're in the stiffest
6:20
Speaker 1: protocols possible because they've had positive tests. So that's that's
6:24
Speaker 1: the stiffest scenario schedule wives that you can go through.
6:27
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh was going through it. That's why with Ben not
6:29
Speaker 1: practice or you know, he had treatment. That's all he
6:34
Speaker 1: was going to do anyway, and he went out and played. Well,
6:36
Speaker 1: I'm gonna not take credit away from for doing that,
6:38
Speaker 1: but I think that whole thing was overrated. He couldn't
6:40
Speaker 1: have done any more than he did anyway. COVID or
6:42
Speaker 1: no COVID and he's in his seventeenth year. Yeah, I
6:45
Speaker 1: mean there's there's no that was no. Uh that was
6:48
Speaker 1: Everybody's like, oh, my gosh, it's just unbelievable. Ben didn't practice.
6:52
Speaker 1: Ben hasn't practiced a bunch of weeks during the course
6:55
Speaker 1: of his seventeen year career and then gone out and
6:57
Speaker 1: played on game day. Right, he said so many times
7:00
Speaker 1: he just stands behind watching the other quarterbacks, and that's helpful. Yeah,
7:04
Speaker 1: but yeah, he's getting mental reps, you know. And you know,
7:08
Speaker 1: the bottom line was, in my opinion after watching it again,
7:11
Speaker 1: the Bengals played zone every time. You know, Pittsburgh went
7:15
Speaker 1: jet sweep motioning guys. Nobody went with them, so they
7:19
Speaker 1: knew right away of the playing zone defense. And they're
7:22
Speaker 1: just playing soft. I mean, forget cushion. They were giving
7:28
Speaker 1: counties up. It wasn't just cushion. And part of that
7:31
Speaker 1: is if you're getting beaten, you know, I remember coaches
7:35
Speaker 1: many times pushing the defensive backs in practice, get up there,
7:39
Speaker 1: get up there. I don't want you given an eight
7:40
Speaker 1: yard cushion. I'm talking like four yards. What do you
7:43
Speaker 1: do well your natural instinct when you think that you've
7:46
Speaker 1: got a guy that's a good receiver in Pittsburgh had
7:48
Speaker 1: three of them, and the defensive backs that were playing
7:51
Speaker 1: a corner weren't necessarily all starting corners. Your tendency is
7:55
Speaker 1: to back up. I remember one time in an All
7:59
Speaker 1: Star game, had a cornerback that was getting torched by
8:01
Speaker 1: this wide receiver who's damn good on the other team,
8:04
Speaker 1: obviously going to a big Division one school. The kid
8:07
Speaker 1: lined up from the they have the ball at the
8:09
Speaker 1: eight yard line. The receiver lines up our defensive backs
8:12
Speaker 1: two yards in the end zone. He's given him ten yards.
8:14
Speaker 1: Be's so scared. It's like, there's no field from to
8:17
Speaker 1: run behind you. What are you doing? But he's Your
8:19
Speaker 1: natural reaction is to back up, and that's what the
8:22
Speaker 1: Bengals were doing in the secondary. When I watched this, like,
8:24
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, they just basically didn't didn't really feel
8:29
Speaker 1: like I can make place here. I got all the
8:31
Speaker 1: confidence in the world. I mean, they were they were
8:33
Speaker 1: playing defensive defense. I mean they weren't. They weren't playing
8:37
Speaker 1: offensive defense. I can tell you that they weren't aggressive.
8:40
Speaker 1: They were very, very not aggressive in their posture, and
8:42
Speaker 1: Ben took full advantage of it. But yeah, it's it's
8:46
Speaker 1: it's crazy, crazy times. There's no other way to put it.
8:49
Speaker 1: It's whatever can Murphy's Law is twenty twenty with COVID nineteen.
8:55
Speaker 1: Whatever can happen will happen, and you better be ready
8:57
Speaker 1: for all of it. And you know, Zach mentioned earlier
9:01
Speaker 1: today on Zoom conference calls that press conferences that you know,
9:06
Speaker 1: during training camp they had all these things in place.
9:09
Speaker 1: If this guy goes down, this guy's taken it, and
9:11
Speaker 1: every team had to do that. You have to go
9:13
Speaker 1: all the way through your coaching staff and have plan B, C,
9:17
Speaker 1: D all the way to z. Yeah, it's one thing
9:19
Speaker 1: to make a plan, it's another thing to actually have
9:22
Speaker 1: to do it or the guy that's never done that
9:25
Speaker 1: job before. I also wonder about the state of anxiety
9:30
Speaker 1: because of the positive tests and all the things that
9:32
Speaker 1: have happened over the last nine or ten days. We
9:34
Speaker 1: get tested once a week as NFL Tier three employees.
9:39
Speaker 1: So we got to Paul Brown Stadium. There's a trailer outside,
9:42
Speaker 1: You go into the trailer, you get your test, you
9:44
Speaker 1: leave immediately, and then sometime overnight you get an email
9:49
Speaker 1: that your results are in. You go to this website,
9:51
Speaker 1: you check the website and you get your result. And
9:54
Speaker 1: I've had no symptoms. I feel great. Nobody in my
9:57
Speaker 1: immediate family has tested positive and Yeah, there's always a
10:01
Speaker 1: tiny bet of anxiety for me when I click that link,
10:05
Speaker 1: just to know for sure that I'm not positive. Yeah,
10:09
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's unfortunately, it's a fact of COVID life.
10:12
Speaker 1: You know, it's it's the uncertain. Here's what you're dealing with,
10:16
Speaker 1: and it is it's an unusual time. And as said
10:20
Speaker 1: from the very beginning of this, the teams and the
10:23
Speaker 1: coaches and players that can pivot the best and avoid
10:28
Speaker 1: over infection of COVID nineteen are the ones that are
10:32
Speaker 1: gonna gonna survive in advance. It's a it's a it's
10:35
Speaker 1: a much different ballgame. There's no doubt. Last week's lost
10:39
Speaker 1: in Pittsburgh wasn't a good day for anybody, but it
10:42
Speaker 1: was a particularly tough day for AJ Green. He was
10:45
Speaker 1: targeted five times in that game and did not have
10:48
Speaker 1: a single catch. Here's head coach Zach Taylor on the
10:52
Speaker 1: status of AJ Green. We have a really deep receiving
10:55
Speaker 1: corps and so it's a benefit for the quarterback where
10:59
Speaker 1: he doesn't have to be dialed into just trying to
11:01
Speaker 1: get a ball to somebody. He can just throw to
11:04
Speaker 1: the open man. And you know, so again it's just
11:07
Speaker 1: it's part of the way it goes. I've kind of
11:08
Speaker 1: predicted that this could happen for a couple of guys
11:10
Speaker 1: as the season goes, where a guy has eight catches
11:13
Speaker 1: one game and has zero the next game, you know,
11:15
Speaker 1: And so again we just are careful enough to overreact
11:17
Speaker 1: to that. Aj Green did have eight catches in one game,
11:20
Speaker 1: the Indianapolis game, eight catches for ninety six yards. Came
11:24
Speaker 1: back the next week had seven catches and a very
11:26
Speaker 1: solid game against the Cleveland Browns. But really that's been
11:30
Speaker 1: it this year. Yeah, it's still still kind of a
11:33
Speaker 1: work in progress. The one thing I will say is
11:35
Speaker 1: he's drawn the number one corner again, you know, I
11:37
Speaker 1: mean he was, he was matched up in that scenario. So,
11:41
Speaker 1: like we said before, he used to draw the number
11:44
Speaker 1: one as well as tilting his safety over there. That
11:46
Speaker 1: is not happening as much. I think they paid a
11:50
Speaker 1: lot of attention to Tyler Boyd and as a result,
11:52
Speaker 1: he Higgins benefited. So there's a trickle down, you know,
11:55
Speaker 1: trickle up, trickle down. When you have three good ones,
11:58
Speaker 1: you know, you can't double all of them. Somebody's going
12:00
Speaker 1: to have the day. Who are they? Who are they
12:01
Speaker 1: going to try to take out of the game, and
12:04
Speaker 1: who are they going to try to see who can
12:06
Speaker 1: they might be able to handle more one on one.
12:09
Speaker 1: They do feel like most teams do feel like putting
12:11
Speaker 1: their number one corner on AJ eliminates them and then
12:14
Speaker 1: they can play accordingly coverage wives with the other guys.
12:17
Speaker 1: So until AJ starts UH, you know, ramping it up
12:21
Speaker 1: a little bit in terms of production and UH and
12:23
Speaker 1: makes people change their mind. It is good to get
12:26
Speaker 1: that number one corner removed from the process, but like
12:32
Speaker 1: to see AJ break out of it. Do you think
12:34
Speaker 1: he has lost a half a step because he's thirty
12:36
Speaker 1: two or because he missed the last year and a half.
12:39
Speaker 1: I think it's both. I think it's at the double whammy.
12:42
Speaker 1: You know, when you lose when you're when you're off
12:45
Speaker 1: the field and out of the game for that long
12:47
Speaker 1: a time frame, and you're also hitting that magic year
12:50
Speaker 1: of thirty and you know, getting into those into those
12:53
Speaker 1: early adult years as such, it's hard. So I think
12:58
Speaker 1: it is a combination, and it's it's a combination you
13:02
Speaker 1: don't want to have to experience. And I think he's
13:04
Speaker 1: going through the process now of having experienced it and
13:08
Speaker 1: trying to come out the other end on the flip side.
13:10
Speaker 1: Te Higgins had the best game of his NFL career,
13:13
Speaker 1: at least in terms of catches. He had a career
13:15
Speaker 1: high seven grabs, targeted nine times, finished with one hundred
13:19
Speaker 1: and fifteen receiving yards, including a touchdown. Let's hear from
13:23
Speaker 1: Tyler Boyd on his rookie teammate, te Higgins. He really
13:26
Speaker 1: can be a very special player in this league. You know,
13:29
Speaker 1: he just gotta be more detail in a few things.
13:33
Speaker 1: I mean, that's saw a rookies have to work on.
13:36
Speaker 1: But I think I think he's hit it in the
13:38
Speaker 1: right direction so far. So the the skuy thelema for him.
13:42
Speaker 1: We were told before this draft that it might be
13:44
Speaker 1: the best wide receiver crop in history. Man, it looks
13:49
Speaker 1: like they got that right because most of the guys
13:51
Speaker 1: that were selected in the first two rounds are having
13:53
Speaker 1: fantastic rookie years. Yeah, they really are. And U te Higgins,
13:57
Speaker 1: I think Tyler Boyd hit it on the head, you know,
14:00
Speaker 1: a little more attention to detail. First play the game
14:03
Speaker 1: penalty a little bit later in the game fumble and
14:06
Speaker 1: that's stunned te Higgins. I mean, he does not fumble.
14:09
Speaker 1: He hadn't fumbled a while, and he was like wooh,
14:12
Speaker 1: but he got over it. You know, the thing is
14:14
Speaker 1: he had the penalty and had the fumble. Two things
14:16
Speaker 1: you don't want to do. You don't want to cost
14:18
Speaker 1: your team yards. You don't want to cost your team
14:19
Speaker 1: to football. And what did he do? Responded to the diversity?
14:23
Speaker 1: Made plays. You know, it's good to see him have
14:26
Speaker 1: that mental toughness to absorb when it's not going well, compartmentalized,
14:32
Speaker 1: move on and play. And he played well. So a
14:35
Speaker 1: lot of positives there. Eliminate those couple of negatives and
14:39
Speaker 1: you'd have as good a game as you can possibly have.
14:42
Speaker 1: He's on a pace to have more than a thousand
14:44
Speaker 1: receiving yards his rookie year. Tyler Boyd. His success obviously
14:48
Speaker 1: speaks for itself. He's got sixty catches this season for
14:51
Speaker 1: that third spot. Obviously, AJ is still the guy for now.
14:55
Speaker 1: But do the Bengals have to consider rotating Odd and
14:58
Speaker 1: Tate in more frequently or Mike Thomas in that spot.
15:02
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't think it's to that point yet, um,
15:05
Speaker 1: but you know, I mean, at some point in time,
15:07
Speaker 1: it's a meritocracy. You know, and I think AJS is
15:10
Speaker 1: acutely aware of that as anybody. The Bengals are one
15:13
Speaker 1: of six teams in the NFL. They have three different
15:15
Speaker 1: guys with five hundred scrimmage yards and more. AJ is
15:17
Speaker 1: automatic in that in that role. Call not this year,
15:22
Speaker 1: it's it's mixing Still and Boyden Higgins and AJ Green
15:26
Speaker 1: and doesn't even have four hundred yards, you know if
15:28
Speaker 1: scrimmage yards just barely over three hundred. So he's at
15:33
Speaker 1: a different place on the totem pole. But you know,
15:37
Speaker 1: I'd love to love to see him have a breakout game,
15:40
Speaker 1: uh when when it's least expected. I'd like to see
15:43
Speaker 1: it happen more than once. I'd love to see it
15:45
Speaker 1: happen against one of the division opponents that have left
15:47
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh in Baltimore, because he's had those kind of games
15:50
Speaker 1: against him before. Twenty nine year old Quentin Spain was
15:53
Speaker 1: picked up a few weeks ago after being let go
15:56
Speaker 1: by the Buffalo Bills, and he certainly had an interesting
15:59
Speaker 1: first two games as a member of the Bengals. After
16:02
Speaker 1: joining the team on a Friday, he wound up playing
16:04
Speaker 1: most of the game in the victory over the Tennessee Titans,
16:07
Speaker 1: and then this past week, due to the absences of
16:11
Speaker 1: Bobby Hart and Fred Johnson, the Bengal's top two options
16:13
Speaker 1: at right tackle, he had to play that position really
16:17
Speaker 1: for the first time in an NFL game. He'd played
16:20
Speaker 1: a handful of snaps, but nothing significant until last week,
16:24
Speaker 1: and he played extremely well. Here's Michael Jordan on his
16:28
Speaker 1: new teammate Quentin Spain. It doesn't even compare how impressed
16:32
Speaker 1: I am. I mean, oh, my goodness for him. So
16:36
Speaker 1: I was supposed to play against the Titans and I
16:38
Speaker 1: went down sick with colleidis, and you know, he just
16:42
Speaker 1: got there. What there had to be three days, three days,
16:46
Speaker 1: knee comes in. He has a hell of the game.
16:48
Speaker 1: I was like, this guy is the real deal. I
16:51
Speaker 1: need to learn as much as possible from him. So
16:53
Speaker 1: I'm truly impressed by him and his experience as a
16:57
Speaker 1: veteran offensive linement in NFL. What was more impressive coming
17:02
Speaker 1: in and playing in two days or going out and
17:04
Speaker 1: playing right tackle. Well, they're both impressive, honestly, and I
17:10
Speaker 1: thought he did a tremendous job at right tackle as well.
17:13
Speaker 1: Quinton Spain, he knows, he knows defenses, he knows you
17:18
Speaker 1: know the playbook, and he knows how to react to
17:23
Speaker 1: different defenses on what they're doing. So he's just an
17:26
Speaker 1: impressive guy all around. How well did he do it right? Tackle?
17:30
Speaker 1: Very well? I mean, what is legit? And a couple
17:34
Speaker 1: of times he buckled him, I mean he covered him up.
17:36
Speaker 1: He did a good job. Now you know, a couple
17:39
Speaker 1: of sacks to what gout. One of them was on
17:42
Speaker 1: a twist, a te twist tackle penetrated Redman staying on
17:46
Speaker 1: the tackle a little bit too long when he hit
17:47
Speaker 1: them off to Spain and what being so quick, Redman
17:50
Speaker 1: couldn't react back inside, So that doesn't go as a
17:54
Speaker 1: downgrade to Spain because he was blocking the tackle that
17:57
Speaker 1: he ended up having to block. And you know the
18:00
Speaker 1: other sack that Watt was involved with, Joe Barrows climbing
18:04
Speaker 1: the pocket. He kind of clouded with Trey Hopkins a
18:06
Speaker 1: little bit and held on to the ball probably a
18:08
Speaker 1: little bit too longer than than would have liked. And uh,
18:11
Speaker 1: eventually walk got a piece of that action. But I mean, Spain,
18:15
Speaker 1: to me, this is the most unusual and incredible storyline
18:22
Speaker 1: an offensive lineman's ever had here in this franchise. They
18:25
Speaker 1: come off the Street and in three days Friday Saturday,
18:29
Speaker 1: play on Sunday. I have a walkthrough on Saturday and
18:32
Speaker 1: a coach's office with other coaches and other players in
18:36
Speaker 1: the offensive line. Tells me that what he's got Dan
18:40
Speaker 1: is he's got the feel for the game. He's got instincts.
18:43
Speaker 1: He sees the big picture, I mean the total picture,
18:47
Speaker 1: though the picture window. It's it's not a little porthole.
18:51
Speaker 1: He sees it all. And Willie Anderson was like that.
18:55
Speaker 1: Willie saw the game, you know, and a lot of
18:57
Speaker 1: guys in Spain, Spain has that has that ability, and
19:01
Speaker 1: Adenogy as well. I mean he's playing next to Adenagy
19:05
Speaker 1: in the Tennessee game and then the bye week and
19:08
Speaker 1: then he's a bookend tackle with a Dentagy And as
19:11
Speaker 1: Dennis Green said, they were who we thought they were
19:14
Speaker 1: and we let him off the hook. Identagy is who
19:16
Speaker 1: I thought he was. And once he actually got a
19:18
Speaker 1: chance to go in a game and play without any
19:20
Speaker 1: preseason games, he's who I thought he was. Identagy has
19:23
Speaker 1: done a good job at left tackle. And if Jonah
19:26
Speaker 1: Williams could have if he could have played instead of
19:29
Speaker 1: just being an emergency guid, Adenagy would have been the
19:31
Speaker 1: right tackle. Jonah would have been the left tackle, but
19:33
Speaker 1: Identagy stayed at left tackle, and they said, ask Spain,
19:36
Speaker 1: He's like, let's go. And I thought Identagy acquitted himself
19:41
Speaker 1: well with Dupris and uh, I thought that Spain did
19:45
Speaker 1: well with Wat as well. Michael Jordan's the left guard,
19:48
Speaker 1: Alex Redman is the right guard. Do you see those
19:51
Speaker 1: two guys holding off Quentin Spain for a starting spot
19:54
Speaker 1: the rest of the way this year? That's a that's
19:56
Speaker 1: a great question what I would do. And you know,
19:59
Speaker 1: I'm I'm a believer in if you have shown you
20:03
Speaker 1: can play, play him some rottum in why not play
20:07
Speaker 1: all three of them? Just rote every every series. You know,
20:11
Speaker 1: two guys play one sits, then just rotate them, rotate
20:15
Speaker 1: them every series in there, because at some point somebody's
20:18
Speaker 1: gonna go down again, whether it's COVID nineteen injury or whatever.
20:22
Speaker 1: And it's like we talked about before Major League Baseball.
20:26
Speaker 1: You're a utility guy. You don't sit them and then
20:28
Speaker 1: you know, for like twenty five thirty games and then
20:31
Speaker 1: expect him to come right off the bench and be
20:32
Speaker 1: the guy that he you know normally is you have
20:35
Speaker 1: to let him. You have to let him still go
20:37
Speaker 1: out there and perform. So I think there might be
20:40
Speaker 1: in that situation in a couple of categories. I mean,
20:44
Speaker 1: in my mind, when Bobby Heart's back, and you know
20:48
Speaker 1: in Jonah Identagy, rotat them, rotate those three. I have
20:53
Speaker 1: no problem. If there are seven or eight linemen that
20:56
Speaker 1: can play, let them play. We know Bengals are patient
21:01
Speaker 1: with coaches, to say the least, and this is only
21:05
Speaker 1: year two for Zach Taylor, but at some point every
21:08
Speaker 1: coach needs to win games, and so far Zach's record
21:11
Speaker 1: is four twenty and one. Well, it's gonna have some
21:15
Speaker 1: opportunity to add some wins to that ledger in the
21:18
Speaker 1: weeks to come, because three of the next four games
21:20
Speaker 1: are against three of the lousiest teams in the NFL
21:23
Speaker 1: so far this season. Washington this week two and seven,
21:28
Speaker 1: then the Giants three and seven. A couple of weeks
21:31
Speaker 1: after that Dallas currently two and seven. Houston is still
21:34
Speaker 1: on the schedule this year. The Texans are two and seven.
21:38
Speaker 1: Here's von Bell on facing some of the weaker teams
21:41
Speaker 1: in the NFL. We don't even look at the record,
21:43
Speaker 1: you know, we always think about the next game because
21:46
Speaker 1: it's the biggest game, and we just trying to build
21:49
Speaker 1: upon and keep on getting better each and every week
21:51
Speaker 1: and just trying to stack wins. And that's the end
21:53
Speaker 1: of the day. That's all we're come to do at
21:55
Speaker 1: work every day. So we don't look at the record.
21:57
Speaker 1: We just going to work every day and just getting better,
22:00
Speaker 1: all right. So that's what they say, that's what they
22:02
Speaker 1: always say. But you played the game for twelve years
22:05
Speaker 1: as a pro. How much does a team's record going
22:09
Speaker 1: into the game affect your mindset? Well, depending on my record.
22:14
Speaker 1: I mean everybody's doing that to us. I mean everybody's
22:17
Speaker 1: looking as oh, the Bengal I can't wait to get
22:18
Speaker 1: to the Bengals game. You know, that's that's one we're
22:21
Speaker 1: gonna get. So it's it is, you know, to me,
22:25
Speaker 1: it's it's almost like on any given Sunday kind of thing,
22:29
Speaker 1: because it's happened. You know, we've had games where how
22:33
Speaker 1: do we lose to that football team and it's happened.
22:36
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean when you are playing a team
22:40
Speaker 1: down the stretch that has struggled to win football games,
22:44
Speaker 1: you feel like you have a better opportunity to get
22:46
Speaker 1: one of your own. I mean, Zack doesn't have a
22:48
Speaker 1: road win yet. He has a tie against Philadelphia, you know,
22:51
Speaker 1: that very elusive road win. Maybe this weekend in Washington,
22:56
Speaker 1: that would be good to get off the schneide. There
22:58
Speaker 1: no doubt. Does he need to win a few games
23:02
Speaker 1: in the final seven weeks of the season. Oh, I
23:04
Speaker 1: think so, I think so. You know, it's you know,
23:07
Speaker 1: you just you can't continue validation. You can only buy
23:14
Speaker 1: in for so long. Words start to get hollow if
23:18
Speaker 1: there's not validation of those words and everything that goes
23:22
Speaker 1: along with them. Got to get some ws. Like I said,
23:27
Speaker 1: one season that sticks out in my mind, we start
23:29
Speaker 1: oh and eight and I don't think I've ever worked
23:32
Speaker 1: harder some of those weeks to prepare for a game
23:37
Speaker 1: and have no result, No, like a terrible result oh
23:41
Speaker 1: and eight. I mean it's like, oh my gosh, man,
23:44
Speaker 1: working too hard for no return on the investment of
23:47
Speaker 1: the work. There's nothing worse than that. There's nothing worse
23:52
Speaker 1: than that. It's like, you know, if we're doing a
23:55
Speaker 1: radio show, prep harder than we've ever prepped to do
23:58
Speaker 1: a good show and come on the air and stink
24:01
Speaker 1: it out for whatever reason, just stink up the joint
24:03
Speaker 1: you know never happened, you know, or a salesperson that's
24:08
Speaker 1: out there just you know, going after all kinds of
24:11
Speaker 1: making cold call after cold call, can't close the sale
24:15
Speaker 1: to save his life. You know, it just gets in
24:17
Speaker 1: one of those one of those ruts. And the thing is,
24:22
Speaker 1: that's why you get the big bucks when you're struggling
24:25
Speaker 1: your job. Everybody knows about it because it's the National
24:29
Speaker 1: Football League. That's why you get paid so handsomely. But man,
24:33
Speaker 1: the bottom line is everybody's human beings with the same
24:36
Speaker 1: human emotions and the same human feelings. Nobody wants to
24:40
Speaker 1: go work as hard as they're working for no good result.
24:45
Speaker 1: It's like, you know, you're still getting your paycheck, but
24:48
Speaker 1: you're not really getting the payday because you're not getting
24:50
Speaker 1: any w's no pay day. They've certainly been close to
24:54
Speaker 1: that payday. The Bengals have taken the lead to the
24:56
Speaker 1: fourth quarter in six of their nine games, including every
25:00
Speaker 1: game they played outside of the AFC North. The Bengals
25:04
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast is presented by Bud Light Seltzer. It's light
25:08
Speaker 1: and refreshing with a hint of fruit flavor. Now time
25:12
Speaker 1: for this week's one on one player interview. This week,
25:15
Speaker 1: I caught up with Mike Daniels, who has been chosen
25:18
Speaker 1: three times by his peers is one of the top
25:21
Speaker 1: one hundred players in the NFL. Mike, about a week ago,
25:25
Speaker 1: you tweeted that you love it here with three smiley
25:28
Speaker 1: face emojis and a Jodey hashtag what are you loving?
25:32
Speaker 1: I really enjoy the locker room. I enjoy the fan base.
25:37
Speaker 1: Everybody really supports the team out here and they love
25:43
Speaker 1: they love the Bengals and coach Taylor. I really like
25:47
Speaker 1: coach Taylor Man. He definitely knows how to take care
25:51
Speaker 1: of his players, and he cares a polo players as
25:55
Speaker 1: a players coach, and he really commands respects in that way.
25:59
Speaker 1: So really, I really do enjoy that. And I like
26:04
Speaker 1: the guys that management has been bringing in. I can't
26:07
Speaker 1: I really remember looking back and seeing that there's a there.
26:13
Speaker 1: There is a theme with the guys that are bringing in,
26:15
Speaker 1: and everybody are bringing in has a tough, hard nose demeanor.
26:20
Speaker 1: So that's that's the kind of guy I am. And
26:24
Speaker 1: it's always good to be on the same page with
26:26
Speaker 1: your employer. Man, I love it, I really do. Or
26:29
Speaker 1: chattingman Mike Daniels. Early this season, you messed up your
26:33
Speaker 1: elbow in practice and had to miss a few games.
26:35
Speaker 1: What happened and how bad was it? I believe it
26:39
Speaker 1: was a It was just a strain, and it's really
26:43
Speaker 1: the same injury that knocked me out put me on
26:45
Speaker 1: IR last year. But this time around, I did a
26:50
Speaker 1: really good job taking care of it, recovering from it
26:52
Speaker 1: pretty well, and I was ready go in two weeks.
26:55
Speaker 1: Unfortun I had to miss uh three games, but you
26:59
Speaker 1: know it, I taken care of as we can see
27:01
Speaker 1: on the film, and I'm am I feel feeling really good.
27:05
Speaker 1: You've been getting more and more snaps every week. You
27:07
Speaker 1: had a season high forty two last week against Pittsburgh.
27:10
Speaker 1: Do you feel like you're getting back to being the
27:12
Speaker 1: dominant player that you've always been? Absolutely, and with the
27:16
Speaker 1: more reps that that definitely happens, and I really do.
27:22
Speaker 1: I'm really enjoying this process right now. It's it's tough,
27:25
Speaker 1: but it takes you back to a good place of
27:29
Speaker 1: humility for more areas of growth. So I definitely feel
27:33
Speaker 1: like I'm getting back to a really good place, and
27:36
Speaker 1: I think I'm in a really good place right now. Definitely,
27:39
Speaker 1: progress from the Browns game to the Titans game to
27:42
Speaker 1: last week in Pittsburgh, and really the only issue I
27:45
Speaker 1: have is the fact that we went went and two
27:47
Speaker 1: in that span. You just gotta continue to I gotta
27:50
Speaker 1: get some more those wins. I asked Alex Redman about
27:54
Speaker 1: you last week, and he said, hitting Mike Daniels is
27:57
Speaker 1: like hitting a school bus? Is that what you want
28:00
Speaker 1: offensive lineman to think after they spend a day lined
28:03
Speaker 1: up opposite of you. That's absolutely what I want offensive
28:06
Speaker 1: lineman to think, and to come from a guy like
28:09
Speaker 1: Redman who hitting him is like hitting school bus as well,
28:12
Speaker 1: that's a that's an awesome compliment. I gotta make sure
28:14
Speaker 1: I give him a hug for us speaking speaking so
28:17
Speaker 1: highly of me by saying that. But but that's definitely
28:20
Speaker 1: what you want. You weren't anything. You want the respect
28:23
Speaker 1: from the guys that line up across from you. You
28:25
Speaker 1: can make a whole bunch of plays, but that doesn't
28:27
Speaker 1: necessarily mean you have the respect, right, So you really
28:31
Speaker 1: want the respect of your peers and your brothers out there,
28:33
Speaker 1: your brothers in arms and your brothers in combat. And
28:35
Speaker 1: that's uh, that's that's what it's all about. Chatting with
28:40
Speaker 1: Mike Daniels, if there was a big positive last week
28:42
Speaker 1: against the Steelers that were stopping the run twenty carries
28:45
Speaker 1: for forty four yards, did you look at that as
28:48
Speaker 1: a big step forward despite the final score. That's that
28:51
Speaker 1: definitely was a step forward, And outside of a couple
28:55
Speaker 1: runs against Tennessee, we did a pretty good job stopping
28:58
Speaker 1: that run as well. So we've been doing a good
29:00
Speaker 1: job with that in the last few weeks here. We
29:02
Speaker 1: just have to be more consistent with it and everything
29:06
Speaker 1: else will start to follow with that. You're facing Washington
29:11
Speaker 1: this week, led by quarterback Alex Smith, who's made a
29:14
Speaker 1: miraculous recovery after nearly having to have his leg amputated
29:18
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago. If you have a chance
29:21
Speaker 1: to deliver a clean but brutal hit, well his history
29:25
Speaker 1: enter your mind at all. Well, I'm not a dirty player,
29:29
Speaker 1: so you know I'm not gonna go for the head
29:33
Speaker 1: or anything like that right now. Those times where you
29:37
Speaker 1: could grab a quarterback by the legs, but those days
29:39
Speaker 1: have done so you don't go for their legs anyway.
29:42
Speaker 1: So it's just all about playing football and him being
29:47
Speaker 1: the great professional that he is. He's had a lot
29:49
Speaker 1: of sense in NFL. He knows that I'm not necessarily
29:53
Speaker 1: thinking about where a guy had an injury. I'm just
29:57
Speaker 1: focused on delivering the best blow, and that's in the
30:03
Speaker 1: waste to but below the neck area, you know, just
30:07
Speaker 1: in that core body, and that's the that's full walls about.
30:09
Speaker 1: That's where you're talking to, tackles where you're taught to hit,
30:11
Speaker 1: and that's where I'll hit. Mike, You're thirty one, You'll
30:14
Speaker 1: be a free agent at the end of the year.
30:16
Speaker 1: Do you know at this point if you want to
30:18
Speaker 1: keep playing. Absolutely, I definitely want to keep playing. I'm
30:22
Speaker 1: going to keep playing, and your wife and kids are
30:24
Speaker 1: on board. Everybody's on board. Man. We enjoy football. We
30:28
Speaker 1: enjoy playing it. Well, I enjoy playing it. They enjoy
30:31
Speaker 1: watching me out there, and I want to continue to
30:34
Speaker 1: provide that. All right, I'm going to make a bold
30:36
Speaker 1: prediction for what I now know is the distant future.
30:40
Speaker 1: When you decide to hang it up, you are going
30:42
Speaker 1: to thrive as a broadcaster. Does that interest you? Oh?
30:47
Speaker 1: I love speaking. I love being in front of camera,
30:51
Speaker 1: and I love speaking to people more importantly. So absolutely,
30:55
Speaker 1: I definitely look forward into a look forward to getting
30:58
Speaker 1: into doing some form of broadcasting. Rockin talked to some
31:03
Speaker 1: of the guys about football and many other topics too.
31:06
Speaker 1: Like I said, it's the distant future. Correct, Correct, Mike,
31:12
Speaker 1: appreciate your time, best of luck this week. Thanks thanks
31:15
Speaker 1: for having me look forward to the next time. Mike,
31:18
Speaker 1: just do to be a free agent after the season.
31:20
Speaker 1: It would be great if he had a strong second
31:23
Speaker 1: half of the year and worked out a deal to
31:25
Speaker 1: stay in Cincinnati. Now time for our know the faux segment.
31:30
Speaker 1: Bram Weinstein, the former ESPN SportsCenter anchor, is in his
31:34
Speaker 1: first year as the radio voice of the Washington football team,
31:37
Speaker 1: and he joined Dave Lapham and me this week on
31:40
Speaker 1: the Bengals Game Plan show. Look up to the XS
31:44
Speaker 1: and o's in just a second. But I have to
31:45
Speaker 1: start with this question because it's my fear. On Sunday,
31:50
Speaker 1: have you slipped and said Redskins at all? So I
31:55
Speaker 1: put a jar in the booth and we decided that
31:58
Speaker 1: anyone who says the our word has to put twenty
32:01
Speaker 1: bucks in it. Twenty take, yeah, twenty. We've got to
32:04
Speaker 1: make it worthwhile and whatever the total is by the
32:07
Speaker 1: end of the year, it's going to go to a
32:08
Speaker 1: charity that we all agree and decide on. And it
32:11
Speaker 1: hasn't happened one wow, not once I've said it. I
32:16
Speaker 1: have a radio show in DC, and I've said it
32:18
Speaker 1: a million times in the three hours you know that
32:20
Speaker 1: we do the radio show here. But something it's turned into. Somehow,
32:24
Speaker 1: it's turned into like, you know, how you can turn
32:26
Speaker 1: your brain off and not say a curse word when
32:28
Speaker 1: you don't when you don't want to. Somehow we've been
32:31
Speaker 1: able to control it. It It has not been said once
32:33
Speaker 1: on one game day broadcast it's because you you made
32:36
Speaker 1: the figure twenty dollars lap and I said we would
32:39
Speaker 1: do one dollar this week when it's only one. You
32:42
Speaker 1: don't really care enough. That's right, it has to be worthwhile.
32:46
Speaker 1: But we've we've gotten through it. And you know, the
32:49
Speaker 1: funny part is that I don't know. I would love
32:51
Speaker 1: to hear your experience with this when because of my
32:54
Speaker 1: first year doing this, and I wanted to have some
32:56
Speaker 1: kind of touchdown call and I'm limited in my choices
33:00
Speaker 1: are so it's going to end in Washington, you know,
33:05
Speaker 1: no matter what. And so I think I've just kind
33:07
Speaker 1: of trained in my brain over and over and over
33:09
Speaker 1: just to say, Washington, that's pretty good. That's real good.
33:12
Speaker 1: So there are a couple of real inspirational stories with
33:15
Speaker 1: this football team. Ron Rivera publicly fighting cancer. That's inspirational,
33:20
Speaker 1: no question about it. And then Alex Smith. What do
33:24
Speaker 1: you say about this guy? They should rename the Comeback
33:27
Speaker 1: Player of the Year award, the Alex Smith player, the
33:30
Speaker 1: Comeback Player of the Year award. They really should. I mean,
33:33
Speaker 1: the guy has thirty eight completions throughout a ninety yards
33:38
Speaker 1: against Detroit, both career highs. What do you say about
33:41
Speaker 1: Alex Smith and what he's done. So it's amazing we're
33:44
Speaker 1: talking today about it because this is the two year anniversary,
33:46
Speaker 1: literally to the day of when the injury happened against Houston,
33:50
Speaker 1: and it also happens to be the exact anniversary of
33:54
Speaker 1: the date that Joe Eisman broke his leg on Monday
33:57
Speaker 1: night football against the Giants and it ended his career.
34:00
Speaker 1: And One, because both of those things happened to you
34:04
Speaker 1: almost arguably two of the best of the maybe five
34:08
Speaker 1: quarterbacks that have come through this organization over that period
34:11
Speaker 1: of time. One, it tells you how advanced our medicine
34:16
Speaker 1: and training regiments are now that Alex Smith is playing somehow,
34:19
Speaker 1: playing when he almost lost his life, and Joe s.
34:22
Speaker 1: Eisman's career was definitively over the second that the practically
34:26
Speaker 1: the exact same injury occurred back then, So it tells
34:30
Speaker 1: you about progress in the sport and in medicine and
34:33
Speaker 1: in recovery, which is amazing in its own right. And secondarily,
34:38
Speaker 1: to answer your question directly, back in the winter and spring,
34:43
Speaker 1: when it was pretty clear that he was going to
34:45
Speaker 1: try to give it a go and test his body
34:48
Speaker 1: and come back, there was not one single person in
34:51
Speaker 1: or out of the organization that thought he would play
34:53
Speaker 1: football again. They were all really proud of him, and
34:56
Speaker 1: they thought this was an incredible example to set, and
34:59
Speaker 1: they wanted to keep him around the team, especially with
35:01
Speaker 1: a young quarterback here for mentorship. But no one thought
35:06
Speaker 1: he would be playing by the time the summer rolled
35:08
Speaker 1: around and practice, you know, whatever portions of practice we
35:11
Speaker 1: could watch. I'm sure you went to the same thing
35:13
Speaker 1: with the Bengals there. Because of the COVID protocols, it
35:16
Speaker 1: became pretty clear, at least to me, that if they
35:20
Speaker 1: actually gave him an opportunity to compete for the job,
35:22
Speaker 1: he would have had the opportunity to win it. They
35:25
Speaker 1: chose not to do that. Like they wanted Dwayne Haskins
35:28
Speaker 1: to win the job, they wanted a clear path for him.
35:30
Speaker 1: They brought in no particular competition for him, and they
35:33
Speaker 1: did not think Alex Smith was going to be in
35:35
Speaker 1: his way. Anyone who has seen the documentary of called
35:39
Speaker 1: Project eleven about Alex Smith, you can't unsee what you
35:42
Speaker 1: see there. He nearly lost his life. They almost removed
35:46
Speaker 1: his leg. He had a flesh eating bacteria that you
35:49
Speaker 1: can't unsee if you see it. And there's part of me,
35:53
Speaker 1: and I think a lot of us that go, Okay,
35:55
Speaker 1: we appreciate your proving a point. Why do you have
35:57
Speaker 1: to run away from Fletcher Cox. Why don't you just
35:59
Speaker 1: go run an iron man or see in France or
36:02
Speaker 1: do something like that. But he's done this and then
36:05
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, in the last two weeks he's
36:07
Speaker 1: had back to back three hundred plus yard passing games,
36:11
Speaker 1: one in relief, having had no snaps with First Steamers
36:14
Speaker 1: at all since this, you know, since this recovery began,
36:18
Speaker 1: and it truly is an inspirational, an amazing story. And
36:22
Speaker 1: he also just happens to be the type of person
36:25
Speaker 1: you want in your locker room, whether he's your quarterback
36:28
Speaker 1: or your backup or someone who just works in the organization.
36:31
Speaker 1: So this is beyond an inspirational thing that's occurring here.
36:35
Speaker 1: Brand Before the injury, Alex Smith was one of the
36:37
Speaker 1: most mobile quarterbacks in the NFL. How's his mobility now?
36:42
Speaker 1: It's not the same. He is able to move, He
36:45
Speaker 1: is able, you know, he uses his acumen and skill
36:48
Speaker 1: to get out of trouble and get out of the pocket.
36:51
Speaker 1: But he has not you know, he used to run.
36:54
Speaker 1: I mean, he was one of the original run pass
36:56
Speaker 1: option type quarterbacks because you could do that with him.
36:59
Speaker 1: We have and seen a lot of that yet and
37:01
Speaker 1: I don't get the sense at all that he is
37:03
Speaker 1: interested in trying to figure out if he can do that.
37:06
Speaker 1: And Washington is going out of its way to try
37:08
Speaker 1: to protect him as much as possible, not because they
37:11
Speaker 1: don't think it's unsafe for him to play. They believe
37:13
Speaker 1: that his leg is safe, but I think they know
37:15
Speaker 1: that his body cannot handle that level of mobility. And
37:19
Speaker 1: really the big unanswered question here is now that he's
37:22
Speaker 1: the starter, at least while they're in it's a playoff
37:25
Speaker 1: race because of their division, at least while they're in
37:28
Speaker 1: that that we don't know how long he can physically
37:32
Speaker 1: handle this, Like can he really do this? This is
37:34
Speaker 1: a beware of what you wish for, Like he wanted
37:36
Speaker 1: to come back prove something to himself or whoever else. Well,
37:39
Speaker 1: it happened, and now we're asking him to do this
37:42
Speaker 1: for seven, eight, nine weeks, and I don't think anyone
37:45
Speaker 1: knows the answer to whether his body can physically handle that. Well.
37:49
Speaker 1: I guess a good way to help him be everybody
37:51
Speaker 1: else step up and the running game. What's the status
37:54
Speaker 1: of the running game in Washington? Very poor, very erratic.
38:00
Speaker 1: A couple problems here at one, they have not scored
38:02
Speaker 1: first in any game they've played. They have been down
38:05
Speaker 1: by double digits in almost every game they've played in
38:08
Speaker 1: the first half with the absence of Dallas, who came
38:11
Speaker 1: in here completely inept a situation. Outside of that, they've
38:16
Speaker 1: been behind in every game they play, and so they
38:18
Speaker 1: end up getting away from the running game. They have
38:21
Speaker 1: problems along their offensive line, have got a lot of
38:23
Speaker 1: injuries that may manifest themselves in a real tough way
38:25
Speaker 1: this weekend. It happened last week against Detroit, but Morgan Moses,
38:29
Speaker 1: who's their right tackle, had to move to left tackle
38:32
Speaker 1: at the end of the game because of injuries for
38:33
Speaker 1: both Chair and Kristen and his backup Cornelius Lucas, and
38:36
Speaker 1: that may stay that way this week, so we're not
38:39
Speaker 1: sure how that's going to play out. And the running
38:42
Speaker 1: back JD. Mckistick is outstanding out of the back yield
38:45
Speaker 1: as a almost traditional receiving back. He will get some handoffs,
38:49
Speaker 1: but he's never going to be a full workload type
38:52
Speaker 1: running back. Antonio Gibson is the rookie they're really excited about,
38:55
Speaker 1: the third round pick, and he's been outstanding for them,
38:58
Speaker 1: but he's transitioning to running back. He took maybe thirty
39:02
Speaker 1: three snaps as a lead back and was mainly used
39:05
Speaker 1: as a wide receiver. They're using him in both roles,
39:08
Speaker 1: but out of the backfield, so he's really learning how
39:11
Speaker 1: to be a running back. So coupled the two problems together.
39:14
Speaker 1: They get behind in every game that they're in, which
39:16
Speaker 1: forces them to throw the ball to try to come
39:18
Speaker 1: back a lot more. And they have inexperience and injuries
39:22
Speaker 1: across their offensive line, and what you'll see are results
39:25
Speaker 1: that don't look very good on the whole for the
39:27
Speaker 1: running game. A couple more questions for the radio voice
39:31
Speaker 1: of the Redskins, Bram Weinstein. There's a lot of interest here,
39:34
Speaker 1: obviously in former Ohio State Buckeye Chase Young, the second
39:37
Speaker 1: pick in the draft. There were some that thought the
39:39
Speaker 1: Bengals should have taken him or traded down and tried
39:44
Speaker 1: to take him in order to get more draft capital.
39:47
Speaker 1: How is Chase Young doing in his rookie year? Good? First,
39:50
Speaker 1: you have to put twenty bucks in the jar because
39:52
Speaker 1: I heard you say the R words, and I really
39:54
Speaker 1: it's only a dollar on our end. Hold that he's
39:59
Speaker 1: been great. He's been everything build is advertised. He's a monster.
40:04
Speaker 1: He is. You'll get one look at him and you'll go, man,
40:07
Speaker 1: I wish that dude was on my team so he
40:09
Speaker 1: could be a game changing type player for them. Now,
40:13
Speaker 1: last week, he owes them one because the reason why
40:16
Speaker 1: Detroit won in regulation and it didn't get the overtime
40:19
Speaker 1: was a very bad late roughing the pastercall that was
40:22
Speaker 1: completely unnecessary that gave Detroit a shot on a fifty
40:26
Speaker 1: nine yard field goal. Otherwise they would have been playing
40:28
Speaker 1: in overtime after a major comeback against them a week ago,
40:31
Speaker 1: so that one's a little bit on him. Other than that,
40:34
Speaker 1: he is typically getting double and triple teamed because you
40:36
Speaker 1: cannot block him one on one. He's got a lot
40:39
Speaker 1: of energy, and I think what we like most about
40:41
Speaker 1: him here he's humble, he's team player, he talks work ethic,
40:46
Speaker 1: he wants to get better, he wants to be coached.
40:48
Speaker 1: He's one of those first in, last out type of guys.
40:51
Speaker 1: And there's nothing better than when the best athlete on
40:54
Speaker 1: the field and it's clear that he's the best athlete
40:56
Speaker 1: on the field wants to be that way. And he's
40:58
Speaker 1: also walking into a really good situation here, Like if
41:01
Speaker 1: five first round picks on their defensive line, most of
41:03
Speaker 1: which we're young, and unfortunately matt I and I just
41:07
Speaker 1: got hurt for them, is missing the season, he might
41:09
Speaker 1: have been their best interior defensive lineman. Had he been
41:11
Speaker 1: there as well, they would have been even more effective.
41:14
Speaker 1: But they've spent first round picks in the last four
41:16
Speaker 1: years on two interior defensive linemen at two rush ends,
41:21
Speaker 1: all of which are performing pretty well. It is by
41:23
Speaker 1: far the strength of the team, so they're not asking
41:26
Speaker 1: him to do this as a lone wolf. Collectively, it
41:29
Speaker 1: is their strength. Surprisingly, the trouble that Dave had the
41:34
Speaker 1: last couple of weeks last month is their run defense.
41:37
Speaker 1: So even I don't know what Joe Mixon's situation is,
41:39
Speaker 1: but even backup running backs for the Giants, we're having
41:43
Speaker 1: easy time moving the ball in the ground against Washington
41:46
Speaker 1: and that's something that we hope is going to be rectified.
41:48
Speaker 1: But young in itself. We look at him and we go,
41:51
Speaker 1: this could be our Khalil Mack or our JJ Watt.
41:54
Speaker 1: You mentioned built the defensive line through the draft. Secondary
41:58
Speaker 1: was done in free agency, I mean overhaul the secondary
42:01
Speaker 1: and free agency. And Jack del Rio, who I have
42:03
Speaker 1: a lot of respect for, is put together and pretty good,
42:07
Speaker 1: pretty good scheme. It looks like, I mean, number one
42:09
Speaker 1: in the NFL against the pass, fifth and first downs alloud,
42:12
Speaker 1: top ten and you know, multiple categories. Is del Rio?
42:17
Speaker 1: Is he made that big an impact? Did the numbers
42:20
Speaker 1: justify the way they've been playing? No, they really actually don't,
42:24
Speaker 1: and they're actually their deceptive. Like last week, you can go,
42:29
Speaker 1: if you go look at the box score the game
42:30
Speaker 1: against the Lions, you will not understand how Washington lost.
42:33
Speaker 1: They ran almost thirty more plays, had twelve thirty more
42:38
Speaker 1: minutes time of possession. Like every metric you would look
42:41
Speaker 1: at and barely turn the ball over one So every
42:43
Speaker 1: metric you would look at, you go, I don't know
42:44
Speaker 1: how they lost that game the Lions. It's deceptive. The
42:48
Speaker 1: Lions were able to move the ball so quickly and
42:50
Speaker 1: efficiently against their defense. The time of possession looks skewed
42:54
Speaker 1: that way. It's happened against the Giants twice too, over
42:57
Speaker 1: the last month. I don't want to sit here and
42:59
Speaker 1: say that they're you know that they're bad. They're not like,
43:02
Speaker 1: they're clearly an above average group. But it's deceptive when
43:07
Speaker 1: you see these stats and say they're number one at
43:08
Speaker 1: this or number one at that. Their record shows you
43:11
Speaker 1: that their defense is not as effectives as those stats
43:16
Speaker 1: might suggest, and they do have a lot of work
43:18
Speaker 1: to do. And as I mentioned before, the big surprise
43:20
Speaker 1: run here is teams that aren't great running teams are
43:23
Speaker 1: running the ball on them pretty easily. They haven't caused
43:26
Speaker 1: the turnover in a few weeks. They're not getting anywhere
43:29
Speaker 1: near the sack totals that they got. They're having trouble
43:32
Speaker 1: getting pressure with their front four, which should be the
43:35
Speaker 1: thing they had in their hat on. So there's a
43:36
Speaker 1: lot of room for improvement. They're not bad, you know,
43:39
Speaker 1: by any stretch of the imagination, But maybe the bar
43:42
Speaker 1: was just set a little too high because we're expecting
43:44
Speaker 1: them to be top ten in every way eye test
43:47
Speaker 1: and statistical test, and they're not meeting that. And they've
43:50
Speaker 1: had a couple of injuries. And the other part for
43:52
Speaker 1: them that I think would be a concern against Cincinnati
43:56
Speaker 1: is they've given up a ton of deep balls, a ton.
44:00
Speaker 1: When Landon Collins was in there, it was problematic. Even
44:03
Speaker 1: as he's injured, it's been problematic. They have made numerous
44:06
Speaker 1: changes at the safety position. One of the guys who
44:09
Speaker 1: became kind of the main replacement, Duches or Everett, may
44:13
Speaker 1: not be playing this weekend. They've been beaten over the top,
44:16
Speaker 1: over and over and over by teams that are capable
44:18
Speaker 1: of it, and that's a concern this weekend too. The
44:20
Speaker 1: number that blows my mind. They've forced eleven fumbles and
44:23
Speaker 1: recovered one. That's almost impossible. They're a little unlucky. Oh
44:28
Speaker 1: my gosh, it'tle unlucky that way, You'll see. It's it's interesting,
44:32
Speaker 1: like there will be periods of the game. This happens
44:34
Speaker 1: every week. I describe them as inconsistent, Like there are
44:37
Speaker 1: periods where you'll watch them and you're like, oh my,
44:40
Speaker 1: like they're electric, You're like, oh my, you can't block them.
44:44
Speaker 1: And then there are periods where you just walk right
44:46
Speaker 1: through them and it's as if it's a completely different
44:48
Speaker 1: team and we just quite can't figure out what's going
44:51
Speaker 1: on here. This is extremely resilient. They come back in
44:54
Speaker 1: every game, the results are close. They could very easily
44:58
Speaker 1: have a very different record right now, and I bet
45:00
Speaker 1: you probably could say the same things familiar. We're both
45:04
Speaker 1: bobbing our heads, Like I remember we played Cleveland early
45:11
Speaker 1: in the year, and I watched the Thursday night game
45:13
Speaker 1: where Burrow through twenty seven fourth quarter passes or whatever
45:16
Speaker 1: that was to get them back into it. And I
45:18
Speaker 1: think you all know that the record probably and I
45:21
Speaker 1: haven't watched enough really the Bengals jet, but I'm pretty
45:23
Speaker 1: certain I'm going to see the same thing, that their
45:25
Speaker 1: record could be different. You could say the same thing
45:28
Speaker 1: about Washington. You'll watch him in the first half and
45:30
Speaker 1: you'll go that team didn't show up or they weren't
45:32
Speaker 1: prepared or whatever it is, and then the second half
45:35
Speaker 1: you'll go, I can't believe they're practice. They look unstoppable
45:38
Speaker 1: at times, so they're very inconsistent. There's a lot going
45:42
Speaker 1: on here. If they're a young team, they got a
45:45
Speaker 1: new coach. They do believe in this coach. As you
45:47
Speaker 1: mentioned with Ron Rivera, there was a lot going on
45:49
Speaker 1: there with his health. He was not as available he
45:53
Speaker 1: would have liked to have been, but he fought through it.
45:54
Speaker 1: His chemotherapy rounds. The regiment's done for now, he said.
45:58
Speaker 1: The bye week kid at the right time for him personally,
46:01
Speaker 1: so he's more engaged and more available to the team.
46:04
Speaker 1: And this is the process for them, and they're selling
46:06
Speaker 1: it as a process. The tough part's been I think,
46:09
Speaker 1: you know, we all think around here, especially with the
46:11
Speaker 1: defensive talent that they have, that the record could be
46:14
Speaker 1: a little better than it is, and so they're looking
46:17
Speaker 1: for a couple of results to kind of validate the process.
46:20
Speaker 1: They're going through it as you all are probably going
46:22
Speaker 1: through the same thing there. Don't forget to tune into
46:25
Speaker 1: the Bengals pep Rally Show this Friday afternoon on ESPN
46:28
Speaker 1: fifteen thirty. We're on a half hour earlier than usual
46:31
Speaker 1: this week two thirty to five thirty, and our guests
46:35
Speaker 1: include the great Greg Kosell from NFL Films. That's going
46:40
Speaker 1: to do it for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast,
46:42
Speaker 1: brought to you by bud Light Seltzer, refresh the game.
46:46
Speaker 1: If you haven't done so already, please subscribe and if
46:49
Speaker 1: you have a minute, give it a rating or share
46:51
Speaker 1: a comment that helps more Bengals fans find this podcast.
46:55
Speaker 1: I'm Dan Horde and thanks for listening to The Bengals
46:58
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast.