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Bengals Booth Podcast: Crazy Train · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: the Bengals Brood podcast. Uh I'm going off the rails
0:11
Speaker 1: on a crazy train addition, as we address some recent
0:16
Speaker 1: Bengals drama before looking ahead to Sunday's Battle of Ohio
0:20
Speaker 1: rematch at Paul Brown's Stadium between the Bengals and the
0:23
Speaker 1: four and two Cleveland Browns. Coming up, Dave Lapham joins
0:27
Speaker 1: me to discuss Carlos Dunlap, Geno Atkins, AJ Greene, John Ross,
0:32
Speaker 1: and the latest Bengals news. This week's one on one
0:35
Speaker 1: player interview is actually a one on two conversation as
0:40
Speaker 1: I speak to close pals Giovanni Bernard and c J Uzama.
0:44
Speaker 1: It's CJ's first interview since tearing his achilles, so we
0:47
Speaker 1: will discuss that. But we'll also talk about a fun
0:50
Speaker 1: contest they're involved with and provide details for how you
0:55
Speaker 1: can sign up to win, and in our Know the
0:57
Speaker 1: Faux segment, we'll get the latest news of Cleveland from
1:00
Speaker 1: our pal Zack Jackson, who covers the team for the Athletic.
1:04
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth podcast is presented by Bud Light. Seltzer
1:08
Speaker 1: refreshed the game and Here's a quick reminder that you
1:11
Speaker 1: can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered write
1:15
Speaker 1: to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher,
1:19
Speaker 1: Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing
1:24
Speaker 1: since not being harassed by political campaigns. As if the
1:30
Speaker 1: NonStop attack ads on TV weren't bad enough, now I'm
1:34
Speaker 1: getting several text messages a day asking for my vote.
1:38
Speaker 1: I don't know how they got my phone number, but
1:40
Speaker 1: I am extremely annoyed by it, and I tweeted the
1:43
Speaker 1: following response on Wednesday. Dear political candidates, I can promise
1:49
Speaker 1: you that there is not a single voter who wants
1:52
Speaker 1: a text message from a strange number asking for our vote.
1:57
Speaker 1: Please stop sending them. Sincerely, everybody. Based on your responses,
2:04
Speaker 1: I was right when I said everybody. Now time to
2:09
Speaker 1: bring in my broadcast partner, Dave Lapham lap As you know,
2:15
Speaker 1: I started my broadcasting career as a minor league baseball
2:18
Speaker 1: announcer after graduating from Syracuse back in the late nineteen eighties.
2:22
Speaker 1: This was pre internet, and when I would travel on
2:25
Speaker 1: the road with my minor league baseball team, had a
2:28
Speaker 1: lot of time to kill on the road during the
2:31
Speaker 1: day so I'd do my homework, I'd go for a run,
2:35
Speaker 1: i might read part of a book. And every day
2:39
Speaker 1: I watched The Young and the Restless. I am not
2:43
Speaker 1: proud to admit that now that is the only soap
2:48
Speaker 1: opera I have ever watched. Susan Lucci, now that's I
2:51
Speaker 1: think she was on All My Children Children different soap.
2:56
Speaker 1: So that's the only soap opera I have ever watched.
3:00
Speaker 1: Until now, I feel like I am watching one all
3:02
Speaker 1: of a sudden. With the Bengals, We've got Carlos Dunlab
3:05
Speaker 1: doing live Instagram feeds to complain about his role. We
3:09
Speaker 1: have people trying to read aj Green's lips when he's
3:12
Speaker 1: on the bench. We have John Ross's agent asking to
3:16
Speaker 1: be traded. It seems like the feel good portion of
3:20
Speaker 1: the Joe Burrow era did not last very long. Yeah,
3:25
Speaker 1: I just think. I mean earlier in the week, I
3:28
Speaker 1: asked both Zach and Lou and Rumo if social media
3:34
Speaker 1: was opinioned, because we never had to deal with that,
3:37
Speaker 1: and I think social media it's players don't even have
3:41
Speaker 1: to go through the media like Carlos did when he
3:43
Speaker 1: basically connived his press conference to announce that he wasn't
3:47
Speaker 1: starting anymore, did you go right to social media? So
3:53
Speaker 1: as a head coach, it's a different ball game, it
3:55
Speaker 1: is a different arena and guys right now, you know,
4:00
Speaker 1: bottom line is and I know I'm old school, because
4:03
Speaker 1: I'm old I understand. But instead of wasting your energy
4:08
Speaker 1: going on social media and trying to do whatever you're doing,
4:14
Speaker 1: just play, play hard, Just play, Go to the coach
4:18
Speaker 1: and say where am I deficient? What do I need
4:21
Speaker 1: to do better? How come I can't get snaps or
4:23
Speaker 1: you know, try to get on the same page with
4:25
Speaker 1: the guy and find and just improve on things you
4:28
Speaker 1: need to improve on. Go out and play. And it
4:32
Speaker 1: drives me nuts right now that Gino Atkins isn't in
4:35
Speaker 1: the same sentence with Carlos Dunlap. I think that's irresponsible.
4:39
Speaker 1: Gino Atkins is not Gino Atkins wants to play. Gino
4:42
Speaker 1: Atkins had a hell of a training camp. Gino Atkins
4:45
Speaker 1: was primed and ready to go, and unfortunately he got
4:48
Speaker 1: hurt and he didn't want to talk about it, and
4:50
Speaker 1: the coaches don't want to talk about it. So all
4:52
Speaker 1: these assumptions and all these it's a bigger, bigger deal
4:55
Speaker 1: than it is Why didn't he get surgery? Why didn't
4:58
Speaker 1: he go on ir? Why don't he do this? Why
4:59
Speaker 1: don't you do that? Well, maybe he wanted to try
5:01
Speaker 1: to play, that's why he didn't have surgery. Maybe he's
5:03
Speaker 1: you know, it's gone longer than he wanted it to
5:06
Speaker 1: go because he didn't have surgery and he's trying to
5:08
Speaker 1: rehab it. But I know one thing after watching him
5:10
Speaker 1: in training camp, he wanted to play. And the problem
5:15
Speaker 1: flat out with Carlos Dunlap, the reason they don't want
5:18
Speaker 1: you in on defensive run snaps is you're taking the
5:22
Speaker 1: easy way out. Instead of squeezing the tackle into a gap,
5:26
Speaker 1: you're running up the football field and making the whole
5:29
Speaker 1: naturally taking the easy way out doing things of that nature.
5:33
Speaker 1: Coaches would not have a guy take a guy off
5:36
Speaker 1: a football field if he's their best option. Bledsoe it
5:40
Speaker 1: doesn't have one iota of the athletic ability that Carlos
5:44
Speaker 1: Dunlap has. And you don't have to be a great
5:47
Speaker 1: athlete to give good effort. And so that's why they're
5:49
Speaker 1: playing other guys and the line of scrimmage to stop
5:53
Speaker 1: run snaps and to put Geno Atkins situation in the
5:56
Speaker 1: same sentence as Carlos Dunlap. Situation is ludicrous, in my
6:01
Speaker 1: humble apo, ludicrous. They're totally different. So people that are
6:04
Speaker 1: saying Geno Is doesn't want to play, he's you know,
6:09
Speaker 1: milking it, or whatever accusations are being made, you flat
6:13
Speaker 1: out say that's nonsense. The only reason he has not
6:16
Speaker 1: done well so far is that he's just slow coming
6:19
Speaker 1: back from a legitimate shoulder injury. Exactly exactly, he's not
6:22
Speaker 1: able to go. If you I mean, I know, I've
6:26
Speaker 1: had a shoulder problem and tried to play. It's a bitch.
6:30
Speaker 1: I mean, there's nothing tougher. And for him to try
6:33
Speaker 1: to do what he does as a defensive tackle with
6:36
Speaker 1: a legitimate shoulder injury, not knowing the severity. I don't
6:38
Speaker 1: know what the severity of it is, but I remember
6:40
Speaker 1: I've tried to play with a separated shoulder, and man,
6:44
Speaker 1: it was. It's tough. It's tough. I mean, you're you're
6:47
Speaker 1: you know, you're gritting your teeth and fighting through it
6:51
Speaker 1: every single snap. And I did take a shot in
6:53
Speaker 1: the shoulder. I took a shot at halftime, you know,
6:55
Speaker 1: before the game and at halftime of the game. And
6:57
Speaker 1: it's still. I mean that night, you know, and in bed,
7:00
Speaker 1: throbbing away, not able to sleep, you thinking, man, you
7:03
Speaker 1: know what do I do now? So, I mean it's
7:06
Speaker 1: tough and uh, you know Geno Atkins. In my mind,
7:10
Speaker 1: if Geno Atkins didn't want to play, did not want
7:12
Speaker 1: to have a season with the Cincinnati Band, he wouldn't
7:15
Speaker 1: have had the training camp he had. I mean, we
7:18
Speaker 1: talked about it a few times to winch you know, man,
7:20
Speaker 1: he's Gino's busting it. Gino's working. He was, he was
7:23
Speaker 1: primed and ready. It's sad that he got hurt. But
7:27
Speaker 1: don't put him in the same sentence as the Carlos
7:29
Speaker 1: Dunlap situation. To me, that's not responsible. Gino's got two
7:33
Speaker 1: years left on his deal twelve point two million next year,
7:35
Speaker 1: thirteen point four five the following year. Carlos has one
7:39
Speaker 1: year left eleven point two five mill. Not a big
7:43
Speaker 1: dead cap situation. If they let Carlos go at the
7:46
Speaker 1: end of this year, it would be a big dead
7:47
Speaker 1: cap hit if they let Gino go at the end
7:50
Speaker 1: of this year. Can Geno Atkins still be good enough?
7:53
Speaker 1: Maybe not as good as he once was was, but
7:56
Speaker 1: still good enough to be worth it at those prices.
8:00
Speaker 1: Geno Atkins at the end of last year when he
8:02
Speaker 1: made the Pro Bowls, that really Gino knew he didn't
8:05
Speaker 1: have a great year, and he worked as off in
8:08
Speaker 1: the off season and came back and had an unbelievable,
8:11
Speaker 1: really strong training camp. He was ready to get after
8:14
Speaker 1: it again. He made it on reputation and in his mind,
8:17
Speaker 1: he knows that when he made his eighth Pro Bowl,
8:20
Speaker 1: but he was ready to have another year. So I
8:22
Speaker 1: do think. I mean I thought watching him in twenty nineteen,
8:26
Speaker 1: I thought, teez, you know, maybe it's the end. He
8:28
Speaker 1: just he didn't. There was no suddenness, no explosion. It
8:31
Speaker 1: looked like the gas in the tank was, you know, draining,
8:35
Speaker 1: And for whatever reason, he resurrected himself and and came
8:40
Speaker 1: back and was ready to roll this year. So it will,
8:43
Speaker 1: it will. It have to be diminished obviously for this
8:46
Speaker 1: year for sure. If that shoulder is as big a
8:48
Speaker 1: problem as it appears to be that he's missing the
8:51
Speaker 1: number of games that he's missing or not able to
8:54
Speaker 1: participate at a higher level, If he were able to
8:56
Speaker 1: participate at a higher level, he'd be doing it. He
8:59
Speaker 1: would be doing it. The coaches would you know the
9:02
Speaker 1: coaches would say, I'll guarantee you that they're probably medical people,
9:06
Speaker 1: and coach are telling the coaches to not overdo it
9:10
Speaker 1: with them. He's not telling the coaches to not overdo
9:12
Speaker 1: it with them. In my opinion, that's the way. That's
9:16
Speaker 1: the way it is. A couple of weeks ago, things
9:18
Speaker 1: didn't look good for AJ Green. He had a hamstring
9:21
Speaker 1: injury and spent the second half on the bench. He
9:24
Speaker 1: admittedly loafed after a pass thrown for him was intercepted,
9:28
Speaker 1: and according to the lip readers out there, he was
9:31
Speaker 1: on the bench asking for a trade. He denied it.
9:34
Speaker 1: We'll never know if that's what he was saying, but
9:36
Speaker 1: in any case, this past week AJ was terrific. He
9:40
Speaker 1: was targeted eleven times. He had eight catches just under
9:43
Speaker 1: one hundred yards, and those catches came in huge situation
9:47
Speaker 1: second and long, third and long, fourth and long. AJ
9:50
Speaker 1: was the go to guy for Joe Burrow. Here are
9:53
Speaker 1: a couple of his fellow wide receivers T Higgins and
9:56
Speaker 1: Tyler Boyd on AJ's first big game in a couple
9:59
Speaker 1: of years, seeing him get his confidence back, having him,
10:03
Speaker 1: you know, have a good game like that, is um
10:06
Speaker 1: really good for him and his confidence, you know, just
10:08
Speaker 1: to get him rolling, and you know the offense is
10:11
Speaker 1: gonna be rolling now. I knew his game was gonna
10:13
Speaker 1: come and and all it took was one game, you know,
10:16
Speaker 1: and I felt he played good at the beginning the
10:18
Speaker 1: first game, second game. You know, his number just wasn't
10:20
Speaker 1: Aj Green numbers. You know, sometimes uh you won't have
10:24
Speaker 1: them big games like everybody used to see him do.
10:26
Speaker 1: That's why a lot of people criticize his performance, you know,
10:29
Speaker 1: but I felt that he always played great. You know,
10:32
Speaker 1: it stayed detailed and he did we had to do
10:34
Speaker 1: to keep the change rolling. Whenever his name is called,
10:36
Speaker 1: then you know he's gonna make that play. And then
10:39
Speaker 1: now he's starting to rally up. And now the offense
10:41
Speaker 1: is it looked like it just looked like an overall
10:44
Speaker 1: great offense when you see all three of us out
10:46
Speaker 1: there dominant, and that's the offense everybody wanted to see.
10:49
Speaker 1: But I don't think uh Aj was held back or
10:52
Speaker 1: it was was anything wrong with him. I just felt
10:55
Speaker 1: like it's just just the game just had to come
10:57
Speaker 1: to him. As great as Aj Green is having time
11:00
Speaker 1: pro bowler, certainly one of the top three wide receivers
11:03
Speaker 1: in Bengals history, along with Chad Johnson and Isaac Curtis.
11:06
Speaker 1: He's human. He needed a performance like that desperately he did.
11:11
Speaker 1: And actually to see him smile during the course of
11:14
Speaker 1: that game was huge because he kind of admitted he
11:18
Speaker 1: was in his own head and he got out of
11:20
Speaker 1: his own head and he just said, I got to
11:22
Speaker 1: start having fun again. And if you play this game
11:25
Speaker 1: making quote business decisions where you're playing not to get hurt,
11:29
Speaker 1: you're gonna get hurt. You're gonna get hurt. And that's
11:31
Speaker 1: on that play, the interception where he said, you know,
11:34
Speaker 1: he loathed what he did. He saw the interception and
11:36
Speaker 1: he started looking around, like who's going to hit me?
11:39
Speaker 1: And then just went, you know, north and stous instead
11:41
Speaker 1: of Easton was to put a hit on the guy
11:42
Speaker 1: and went north and south to make sure that he
11:45
Speaker 1: cleared all the all the potential damage of the play.
11:48
Speaker 1: And that that's uncharacteristic and totally foreign to what aj
11:52
Speaker 1: Green's all about. The guys on the Mount rushmore of
11:55
Speaker 1: great players in franchise history and deserves to be there.
11:58
Speaker 1: And I'm just glad that at two things, I was
12:02
Speaker 1: impressed that he called himself out and then after doing that,
12:05
Speaker 1: he went out and played and played great. So I
12:09
Speaker 1: think I think there was a Catharsis moment there when
12:11
Speaker 1: it happened during the game and when his reaction was
12:15
Speaker 1: silent obviously on the on the bench, and I'm sure
12:17
Speaker 1: his wife, his dad is, you know, his mom's dad.
12:20
Speaker 1: Everybody's like, what are you doing? It's not you, And
12:23
Speaker 1: he thought about it and it's not me. And then
12:25
Speaker 1: he had the Wednesday press pressor on zoom where that's
12:27
Speaker 1: not me, and I got to start doing things differently
12:30
Speaker 1: and play the way I can play. And he went
12:32
Speaker 1: out and did it. So hats off to AJ Green
12:36
Speaker 1: on characteristic mistake made restitution for it. I wish other guys.
12:41
Speaker 1: I wish Employee ninety six would have a Catharsis pressor
12:44
Speaker 1: and say, you know what I have been, Uh, I
12:46
Speaker 1: can give better effort than I've given. I'm going to
12:48
Speaker 1: go out and do it. And then he's had some Catharsis.
12:52
Speaker 1: He just hasn't said that. No, not that type of
12:55
Speaker 1: not the right Catharsis that I'm looking for. But yeah,
12:58
Speaker 1: I mean, um, it was. It was really good to
13:00
Speaker 1: see to see AJ involved in like you has said
13:03
Speaker 1: on your question when we were talking to Zach that
13:07
Speaker 1: his catchers were you know, are Joe. His catchers were second, third,
13:11
Speaker 1: and long fourth down. Had to have had keep a game,
13:14
Speaker 1: you know, a possibility of winning a football game alive.
13:17
Speaker 1: And he stepped up and made big plays in big moments.
13:20
Speaker 1: That's AJ, I'll tell you something outside liked. So he
13:22
Speaker 1: comes on the zoom after the game to talk to reporters.
13:25
Speaker 1: Eight catches, ninety six yards, kind of a feel good
13:28
Speaker 1: moment despite the loss. His response to the first question,
13:31
Speaker 1: I should have played the deep ball better. Could have
13:34
Speaker 1: been a forty four yard touchdown pass. He tried to
13:37
Speaker 1: show late hands. That's become the big topic this year,
13:40
Speaker 1: instead of going up trying to go over the guy,
13:42
Speaker 1: maybe draw pass interference. So that's the AJ that we're
13:46
Speaker 1: accustomed to. That is and that's interesting because on bengalstein
13:49
Speaker 1: Way had Bob mcnell on as a guest, and Bob
13:51
Speaker 1: mcnell on that play said, you know, he did try
13:54
Speaker 1: to do the late hands thing instead of going up
13:57
Speaker 1: to to you know, to aggressively attacked the football. He said,
14:01
Speaker 1: the reason I thought when I saw it, and it
14:04
Speaker 1: was confirmed on tape that he decided not to do that.
14:06
Speaker 1: He was really close to the sideline, So if you
14:08
Speaker 1: go airborne, now you've lost control where you are on
14:10
Speaker 1: the field and staying on the ground. He felt like
14:12
Speaker 1: he had better control being so tight to the sideline,
14:15
Speaker 1: and he said, I really I'm not going to grade
14:17
Speaker 1: him down from not going airborne because of where he
14:19
Speaker 1: was real estate wives on the football field. So I
14:22
Speaker 1: thought that was pretty interesting. But again AJ's first reaction, okay,
14:25
Speaker 1: I was okay, but I'm still gonna be self deprecating.
14:28
Speaker 1: I'm still gonna say, hey, I can be better. I
14:31
Speaker 1: love that. Love it. With Odd and Tate out last
14:35
Speaker 1: week with a sore's shoulder, John Ross was active. He
14:38
Speaker 1: was in for one snap on offense. It was a
14:41
Speaker 1: running play, so for the season his contribution remains minimal.
14:47
Speaker 1: Two catches for seventeen yards. They both came in the
14:49
Speaker 1: season opener against the LA Chargers, and now word comes
14:53
Speaker 1: that his agent has requested a trade. John is in
14:57
Speaker 1: the final year of his contract after being ninth pick
15:00
Speaker 1: in the draft. Here is his friend and teammate, Tyler
15:04
Speaker 1: Boyd and what John Ross is going through. I mean,
15:07
Speaker 1: it's tough, you know, I've been in that situation before,
15:10
Speaker 1: and I know how it is. You know. What I
15:12
Speaker 1: told him is just just just to be him, you know,
15:15
Speaker 1: don't let nobody uh categorize you and tell you what
15:19
Speaker 1: you are and what you are not. So I mean
15:22
Speaker 1: for for for him, you know, just just just just
15:24
Speaker 1: to stay ready, you know, no matter what, you know,
15:26
Speaker 1: if you feel like we're not going to use you
15:28
Speaker 1: or whatever the case may be, at the end of
15:30
Speaker 1: the day, you see a football player, you know, that's
15:31
Speaker 1: never that's not going to change regardless, you know. And
15:34
Speaker 1: and and one of these weeks, I feel like it's
15:36
Speaker 1: gonna be a week for John, just like I've said
15:37
Speaker 1: for for AJ. You know, you never know what can
15:39
Speaker 1: happen in the receiver room, you know. So I just
15:42
Speaker 1: feel like he's been doing pretty good, you know. I don't.
15:45
Speaker 1: I just just don't want him to start putting his
15:47
Speaker 1: head down. But I haven't seen it, so I think
15:49
Speaker 1: he's he's good so far. So his agent has requested
15:52
Speaker 1: the trade. Should the Bengals trade John Ross, I don't
15:56
Speaker 1: know what the market would be. Honestly, it's like he
15:59
Speaker 1: was the ninth pick the draft. I don't know what
16:01
Speaker 1: they could get. If they try to trade him, and
16:03
Speaker 1: I think teams are gonna they're gonna they're not gonna
16:05
Speaker 1: re up them. I mean, they know they're gonna let
16:07
Speaker 1: them go. So I'm not sure anybody would offer anything.
16:09
Speaker 1: I don't know what kind of trade value there would
16:11
Speaker 1: be right at this point in time for John Ross.
16:13
Speaker 1: That's that's a big, big issue. It's not going to
16:16
Speaker 1: be high. I mean, people would be silly to think
16:20
Speaker 1: they would get a high draft pick, but I personally
16:24
Speaker 1: think that somebody would give up a late pick just
16:28
Speaker 1: to roll the dice on that speed, particularly if you're
16:32
Speaker 1: not one of the first five or six to have
16:34
Speaker 1: a shot at him. Well, actually he'll be a free agent,
16:36
Speaker 1: so everybody can bid. But if you want to say, okay,
16:39
Speaker 1: let me try to get him and see if I
16:41
Speaker 1: can get him signed for less market value. Then if
16:44
Speaker 1: he goes out there and if there is if there's
16:47
Speaker 1: more than one person that wants him, his market value
16:49
Speaker 1: is a little bit better if you can get him
16:52
Speaker 1: in a trade and say to him, look, you know,
16:55
Speaker 1: we'll only do this to his agent. We'll only do
16:57
Speaker 1: this if we can extend the contract. We'll make the trade,
17:00
Speaker 1: but we don't want to have him be a free
17:02
Speaker 1: agent as soon as you know, he finishes the season
17:04
Speaker 1: with us, let's get let's get a deal done. Now
17:07
Speaker 1: the agent has to decide, what the hell do I do? Now,
17:09
Speaker 1: you know, I don't see that happening. I mean, it's
17:11
Speaker 1: to me, I don't know why I would trade for
17:15
Speaker 1: a guy, though, with ten games left in the season,
17:18
Speaker 1: who has shown that you know, he's he's spotty at
17:22
Speaker 1: best with hands. But you said many times and I
17:26
Speaker 1: can agree with you reverses Ali screens. There's got to
17:31
Speaker 1: be a package. Somebody is probably sitting out there saying,
17:35
Speaker 1: I'll take him and put together this little package and
17:38
Speaker 1: compliment what I've got from my receiver group, particularly a
17:41
Speaker 1: team that's struggling at the receiver position and has an
17:45
Speaker 1: offense like the Baltimore Riggans. And now they never trade
17:47
Speaker 1: him in the division obviously, But the New England Patriots,
17:50
Speaker 1: you know, are a team that they're saying. The Green
17:52
Speaker 1: Bay Packers supposedly have an interest in John Ross, and
17:56
Speaker 1: you know, I could see them creating a package with
17:58
Speaker 1: with Aaron Rodgers for John potentially. So I guess it's
18:02
Speaker 1: you know, it's not out of the realm of possibility,
18:04
Speaker 1: although I would deem it highly unlikely. I'm not sure
18:06
Speaker 1: that Mike Brown would pull the trigger on a trade.
18:09
Speaker 1: And then people will say, well, why wouldn't you if
18:12
Speaker 1: he's not part of your future, why not get anything?
18:15
Speaker 1: Assuming that somebody would flip you a late pick just
18:18
Speaker 1: because they're seduced by the speed, I guess the argument
18:22
Speaker 1: against would be, well, so then what happens when Aj
18:26
Speaker 1: Green pulls Hampshire? Yeah, Aj gets hurt or God forbid,
18:29
Speaker 1: another of your top receivers gets hurt. You want to
18:32
Speaker 1: have that guy available. I guess that's the argument against that.
18:35
Speaker 1: That's the obvious argument against, no question about it. And
18:39
Speaker 1: you know the way they get hit by injury at positions,
18:42
Speaker 1: and it spreads like a virus. You know, allowed defensive
18:46
Speaker 1: tackle this year or left tackle last year. Man you
18:49
Speaker 1: just never know. I would say that that is certainly
18:53
Speaker 1: a case where you should be talking to every team
18:56
Speaker 1: just to find out what the market would bear. I agree,
19:00
Speaker 1: there's no sense, there's no harm. I should say in
19:03
Speaker 1: doing research, there's no harm whatsoever and seeing what the
19:07
Speaker 1: market will give. Let's face it, if you look back
19:10
Speaker 1: at the Bengals one four and one start, they could
19:13
Speaker 1: have been perhaps should have been four and two, could
19:17
Speaker 1: have have the Chargers game in Week one, shouldn't have
19:20
Speaker 1: lost or shouldn't have tied against the Eagles in their
19:22
Speaker 1: first road game of the year, and then last week
19:25
Speaker 1: up by twenty one early in the second quarter. That's
19:28
Speaker 1: a game you can't let get away. Unfortunately they did.
19:32
Speaker 1: Here's veteran Josh Bines on that one four and one start.
19:36
Speaker 1: We definitely should be, definitely, for sure be a four
19:39
Speaker 1: and two team right now. You'll take the bow whip
19:41
Speaker 1: in the Ravens and the Cleveland of course as a
19:43
Speaker 1: learning lesson, But we just gotta learn how to finish
19:46
Speaker 1: these games, and then the conversation is different that we're
19:50
Speaker 1: having right now, and right now it just it just sucks,
19:52
Speaker 1: you know, because I feel like we're a better team
19:54
Speaker 1: than that. It just didn't make them one play or
19:56
Speaker 1: two players. We've needed important to come down to stretch
19:59
Speaker 1: to win the game, and that's what we haven't done
20:00
Speaker 1: this season. I haven't learned how to finish in all phases,
20:04
Speaker 1: and I just, you know, it just sucks to know
20:06
Speaker 1: that we're that close, really to be in such a
20:09
Speaker 1: great team and just to fall short and the record
20:12
Speaker 1: says otherwise, and actually, you know, than what we know
20:15
Speaker 1: we capable of. I don't know that the Bengals are
20:17
Speaker 1: that close to being a great team, as Josh Bunes
20:20
Speaker 1: just said, but they are that close to being a
20:22
Speaker 1: middle of the pack team as opposed to a one,
20:25
Speaker 1: four and one team. I agree. And if those had
20:29
Speaker 1: gone that way, the entire AFC North would be four
20:32
Speaker 1: and two were better, and the Bengals and Browns would
20:34
Speaker 1: be planned to be five and two potentially. I mean,
20:38
Speaker 1: think about that. I mean, the AFC North could have
20:41
Speaker 1: potentially been the most top to bottom, the strongest division
20:47
Speaker 1: in football by far, say four four plays, and it's
20:52
Speaker 1: not just you know, like the press conference this morning,
20:56
Speaker 1: it was asked to Zach, what are the four plays?
20:58
Speaker 1: It's not a specific play in any game, there's a myriad.
21:02
Speaker 1: There's maybe fifteen plays. If any one of fifteen plays
21:05
Speaker 1: goes differently, the ultimate score is totally different. And you
21:10
Speaker 1: know it is. It's it's ten to fifteen plays in
21:12
Speaker 1: every one of those games that we're talking about, you know,
21:15
Speaker 1: the tie in overtime, the loss to the Chargers at
21:19
Speaker 1: the conclusion, I mean the obvious one. You know, we
21:22
Speaker 1: hit the field goal from thirty one yards, interferences interference
21:28
Speaker 1: or it should have been um, you know, offsetting penalties
21:31
Speaker 1: and replay the down, you know, I mean, there's and
21:35
Speaker 1: and that's just the two the two biggest at the
21:37
Speaker 1: end of the football game, during the course of the game.
21:39
Speaker 1: That's why when I would lose close football games as
21:41
Speaker 1: part of a team, man, I think, you know, okay,
21:45
Speaker 1: sixty five snaps, how many had how many? How many
21:48
Speaker 1: of them if I did something differently? How many times
21:51
Speaker 1: did I influence a play that could have gone much
21:54
Speaker 1: better that didn't, that might have determined the game? And
21:57
Speaker 1: you can come up with a ton of them, a
21:59
Speaker 1: ton of them if you're honest with yourself. And that's
22:03
Speaker 1: what you have to do as a you know, as
22:05
Speaker 1: a member of a team that's struggling, What can I
22:08
Speaker 1: do to make it better? How do I change the
22:12
Speaker 1: outcome of these football games? If everybody takes that approach,
22:16
Speaker 1: it's not selfish. It's like, now, all of a sudden,
22:19
Speaker 1: you have the entire team elevating a level of play
22:23
Speaker 1: to be better, to be better and going to win
22:25
Speaker 1: more football games. That's the bottom line. The Bengals Booth
22:29
Speaker 1: podcast is presented by Bud Light Seltzer. It's light and
22:33
Speaker 1: refreshing with a hint of fruit flavor. We've got a
22:36
Speaker 1: rematch coming up on Sunday as the Bengals host the Browns,
22:39
Speaker 1: a team they lost to on Thursday Night Football in
22:42
Speaker 1: Week two, thirty five to thirty. It was an eventful
22:46
Speaker 1: night for c j Uzama. In the second quarter, he
22:49
Speaker 1: was on the receiving end of Joe burrows first NFL
22:52
Speaker 1: touchdown pass, but in the fourth quarter he suffered a
22:55
Speaker 1: season ending achilles injury. Recently, I had the opportunity to
23:00
Speaker 1: talk to cj his first interviews and suffering the injury,
23:03
Speaker 1: and the conversation also included his close pal Giovanni Bernard,
23:08
Speaker 1: because the two of them are getting together for a
23:10
Speaker 1: fun sweepstakes that you could win. They have been teammates
23:15
Speaker 1: for six years in Cincinnati. They have become great friends
23:18
Speaker 1: during that time period. Two guys who are better together
23:21
Speaker 1: running back Giovanni Bernard and tight end cj Uzama, and
23:25
Speaker 1: they are involved in a really fun idea in association
23:28
Speaker 1: with Fifth Third Bank that we will get to in
23:31
Speaker 1: just a moment. But CJ, we obviously have to start
23:33
Speaker 1: with you and your injury. You were off to a
23:35
Speaker 1: great start when you tour your achilles in week two.
23:38
Speaker 1: How are you doing physically and emotionally? I'm doing well.
23:42
Speaker 1: I've had a great support system with me, and my
23:45
Speaker 1: parents have come and helped me out. My friends, my
23:47
Speaker 1: teammates have been lifting me up, checking up, checking in
23:51
Speaker 1: with me, just making sure I'm fine. So yeah, obviously
23:56
Speaker 1: I'm upset because I want to help him as much
24:00
Speaker 1: as I can. But yeah, you know, I'm looking forward
24:04
Speaker 1: to coming back stronger next year, and right now just
24:06
Speaker 1: kind of being a leader and a voice in the
24:08
Speaker 1: locker room still and then going into meetings and helping
24:11
Speaker 1: out where I can. Jil, I assume you are one
24:14
Speaker 1: of the guys who has been checking in. How is
24:16
Speaker 1: he missed? On and off the field? Overall, he's a demeanor.
24:21
Speaker 1: Just having him around the locker room, having him from
24:23
Speaker 1: the huddle always brings a you know, a character, a
24:27
Speaker 1: happy guy. No matter what's going on in the field,
24:29
Speaker 1: he's gonna, you know, have that smile on his face
24:31
Speaker 1: and just be out there and just you know, trying
24:34
Speaker 1: to support his teammates. And um, he's continuing to do that. Yeah,
24:37
Speaker 1: not that many people, you know, not that many guys,
24:40
Speaker 1: you know, if they get hurt for the entire or
24:41
Speaker 1: they're out for the entire year, or showing up the meeting.
24:44
Speaker 1: So that's one way that CJ's definitely stayed in it. UM.
24:48
Speaker 1: I know for me when I tore my IC, I
24:50
Speaker 1: was not in any type of meeting. UM. I know
24:53
Speaker 1: I was just going, you know, to the rehab room
24:55
Speaker 1: and that was about it. UM. So big ups to
24:57
Speaker 1: CJ for that, just being in the meetings and obviously
25:00
Speaker 1: keeping that role, keeping that that figure there all the time. Well, Geo,
25:06
Speaker 1: you referenced the ACL. You tore your ACL twice once
25:09
Speaker 1: in college, once in the NFL. What advice do you
25:12
Speaker 1: have for CJ about attacking rehab. Well, I think it's
25:15
Speaker 1: one advice they can give to me, was I should
25:17
Speaker 1: have been in the meetings. But I think the biggest
25:21
Speaker 1: thing is really is just staying in it. And he's
25:24
Speaker 1: done a really good job of that obviously, just by
25:26
Speaker 1: obviously going to the meetings, by coming into the building.
25:29
Speaker 1: And I just continue to be himself no matter what,
25:32
Speaker 1: whether you know football is there or not, He's going
25:35
Speaker 1: to be that same guy each and every single day.
25:39
Speaker 1: Before your injury, CJ you were on the receiving end
25:41
Speaker 1: of Joe Burrow's first NFL touchdown pass. I want to
25:45
Speaker 1: ask you about the celebration. Was that inspired by Gladiator?
25:49
Speaker 1: Was that a soccer celebration? What exactly was that arms
25:54
Speaker 1: upraised maneuver of yours? Yeah, I'm not gonna lie to you.
25:57
Speaker 1: I have absolutely no idea. And then the crowds are booing.
26:03
Speaker 1: So then I kept my hands up obviously, and I
26:06
Speaker 1: was like, yeah, yeah, I'm just gonna keep doing this.
26:08
Speaker 1: It seems appropriate. Yeah. I don't know, honestly, I don't
26:13
Speaker 1: know where that came from. I was just spur of
26:15
Speaker 1: the moment. Yeah, are you not entertained? That's what it was. Yeah,
26:22
Speaker 1: I'll say that. I'll say that for now. I mean
26:24
Speaker 1: I'll say that for sure now because it does make sense.
26:29
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the Fifth third Bank Family Game Night Sweepstakes.
26:34
Speaker 1: I wish I was eligible, because one lucky family is
26:37
Speaker 1: going to win the opportunity to spend an evening playing
26:41
Speaker 1: family friendly games from the comfort of their home with
26:44
Speaker 1: the two of you guys through a video hook up,
26:47
Speaker 1: and Fifth Third Bank is also going to deliver a
26:50
Speaker 1: delicious dinner to the lucky family. What types of games.
26:54
Speaker 1: Are you guys up for CJ. Let's start with you.
26:58
Speaker 1: I'm up for anything. Um. You know, I'm you know,
27:02
Speaker 1: right now, I'm a little uh, you know, impaired, so
27:06
Speaker 1: I will have a little more time to prepare for this. Um.
27:10
Speaker 1: And I'm looking forward to beating Geo again at everything.
27:14
Speaker 1: You know, there's only one person that does well in
27:16
Speaker 1: his family and games, and it's his wife. Um, She's
27:19
Speaker 1: the real winner in that family. So I'm ready to
27:22
Speaker 1: beat Geo and anything. Um. No, I'm looking forward to it.
27:25
Speaker 1: I do enjoy games. I've grown up playing games with
27:28
Speaker 1: my family, card game, board games doesn't really matter. M
27:32
Speaker 1: pretty competitive, so it's another thing I can beat Gero
27:35
Speaker 1: and how about Jo. Yeah, I think it's just gonna
27:39
Speaker 1: be a competitive night. Um. I don't think everything is
27:42
Speaker 1: gonna be about beating CJ. In my opinion, I think
27:44
Speaker 1: that's kind of where my mind's gonna be at. Um.
27:47
Speaker 1: But obviously it's gonna be a fun time. Obviously, a
27:49
Speaker 1: way for us to interact with our fans. I think
27:52
Speaker 1: that's the biggest thing with kind of uh, kind of
27:54
Speaker 1: what's going on in the world right now. It's an
27:56
Speaker 1: opportunity for us to really engage with our fans and
28:00
Speaker 1: just to have a good night, especially with you know,
28:02
Speaker 1: just all the things that are going on. Um, it
28:04
Speaker 1: just gives us a chance to you know, meet new
28:06
Speaker 1: people and just to really take their minds off of
28:08
Speaker 1: you know what, you know, what the world is going
28:10
Speaker 1: through right now. So it'll be fun. I'm excited about it.
28:12
Speaker 1: I'm obviously excited to you know, play games. It's kind
28:15
Speaker 1: of been a thing for me, uh, me and CJ obviously,
28:18
Speaker 1: just to be able to play games. I know where
28:20
Speaker 1: they call of duty people, Um, but I don't know
28:22
Speaker 1: if that's a family, family type of game. But um,
28:25
Speaker 1: I think we'll just have fun with whatever they put
28:27
Speaker 1: in front of us. You should you should ask you
28:29
Speaker 1: should ask you who won the last game that we played? Hey, geo,
28:32
Speaker 1: who won the last game that you two guys played?
28:35
Speaker 1: And so we had to stop the game. But who won?
28:40
Speaker 1: That's a whole other story. But who you didn't win? Bro,
28:44
Speaker 1: what are you talking about? No, no, no no, no, it
28:51
Speaker 1: doesn't count. We there was something that happened outside that
28:54
Speaker 1: we had to take care of the dog. And no,
28:56
Speaker 1: we're not going into this story. See game two guys
29:01
Speaker 1: are obviously going to be very competitive with each other.
29:04
Speaker 1: But let's say the winning family has a couple of
29:06
Speaker 1: young kids and you're playing family games with them. Will
29:10
Speaker 1: you be humble in victory and gracious in defeat or
29:13
Speaker 1: are you going to go at it with these families
29:17
Speaker 1: regardless of how young and innocent the children are. There's
29:20
Speaker 1: no such thing as being okay with losing. So I
29:25
Speaker 1: don't think there would be happy moments whatsoever or if
29:27
Speaker 1: we lose. So who's ever going to be in this
29:30
Speaker 1: contest with us? We're definitely gonna hopefully not be as
29:34
Speaker 1: sort of losers, but we'll have a good time. It'll
29:37
Speaker 1: be fun. I'm excited about it. I think I think
29:39
Speaker 1: it depends on the age. You know, if they're if
29:43
Speaker 1: they're super young, I'm just gonna be like, hey, good
29:45
Speaker 1: job man. You know, if they're if they're fifth grade
29:49
Speaker 1: and above, maybe second grade, because I don't know, it
29:52
Speaker 1: just depends. It depends. I'll feel I'll fill off the
29:54
Speaker 1: crowd um. But yeah, no, Mercy exactly exactly going to
30:00
Speaker 1: lose this one. This fifth Third Bank Virtual Family Game
30:05
Speaker 1: Night is obviously going to be a thrill for the
30:07
Speaker 1: Lucky family. But you touched on this GEO. It will
30:10
Speaker 1: be fun for you guys to interact with fans again.
30:13
Speaker 1: How much have you missed having big crowds at your games?
30:17
Speaker 1: For sure? Um, well, we obviously had a little bit
30:20
Speaker 1: of the crowd. Our second game was Yeah, it was
30:23
Speaker 1: the second game. Yeah, the second game here and obviously
30:26
Speaker 1: in the state of Ohio, just passing another one where
30:28
Speaker 1: we will allow a little bit more fans. So um,
30:31
Speaker 1: obviously it's it's instant advantage to have fans, especially right now.
30:35
Speaker 1: But you know, the biggest thing is, you know, we
30:37
Speaker 1: want to be able to to just accommodate and just
30:40
Speaker 1: have fun and let those fans see, you know, kind
30:42
Speaker 1: of what we've been working out. Obviously, this hasn't really
30:44
Speaker 1: been the season now we wanted, but we can obviously
30:46
Speaker 1: turn it around and having the fans there, having the
30:49
Speaker 1: fans be able to experience that with us is obviously
30:53
Speaker 1: something that we miss and uh, this is obviously just
30:55
Speaker 1: an opportunity for the fans to get to see us,
30:57
Speaker 1: you know, off the field and just to be able
30:59
Speaker 1: to be with us. Um. So yeah, it'll be exciting.
31:02
Speaker 1: I think the main thing is I keep even now,
31:05
Speaker 1: I keep getting tweets and mentions of Man, I just
31:08
Speaker 1: wish we could go to the to the games and
31:11
Speaker 1: things of that nature. So I think especially with our fans,
31:14
Speaker 1: and you know what, you know, they believe in what
31:16
Speaker 1: we believe in. You know, we believe that. Um, we're
31:19
Speaker 1: we're on the up and up right now, and they
31:21
Speaker 1: believe in us in that. So you know, like Joe said,
31:24
Speaker 1: it's it's a huge factor, you know, having our fans there. Um,
31:27
Speaker 1: having people you know, hit me up saying, hey, man,
31:30
Speaker 1: I'll sneak into your bag and you know, go into
31:33
Speaker 1: the stands just to heck with the other team type stuff.
31:35
Speaker 1: It's it's awesome. So, um, you know, I'm with Geo. It's, um,
31:39
Speaker 1: it's a huge blow to not have fans, and it's
31:41
Speaker 1: it's tough to to not see our our our orangine
31:44
Speaker 1: black up there just cheering for us. All right. It
31:46
Speaker 1: is the fifth Third Bank Family Game Night Sweepstakes. To enter,
31:51
Speaker 1: go to the fifth Third Bank website five three dot
31:54
Speaker 1: com slash bangals. Be sure to enter by November fifth
31:59
Speaker 1: for your chance to win. And you guys are going
32:01
Speaker 1: to promote this on social media as well. Correct, Yeah,
32:04
Speaker 1: we'll be blasting out some stuff just let you know,
32:07
Speaker 1: both both my fans and CJ's fans to know, you know,
32:10
Speaker 1: really where they can go to enter and just you
32:13
Speaker 1: be a part of this. I think it's just an
32:15
Speaker 1: opportunity for us to just really engage, and it's obviously
32:18
Speaker 1: a relief for us to to kind of get away
32:20
Speaker 1: from all the football stuff and to just really have
32:23
Speaker 1: a good time. I'm going to try to get included
32:26
Speaker 1: into the video hookup so I can witness this. I
32:28
Speaker 1: don't know if that'll be allowed or not, but it
32:30
Speaker 1: should be a great night for the Lucky family. GEO,
32:33
Speaker 1: best of luck the rest of the year. Cej On
32:35
Speaker 1: behalf of all Bengals fans. We wish you a full
32:37
Speaker 1: and speedy recovery and enjoy the camaraderie even though you
32:42
Speaker 1: won't be able to participate for the rest of this year.
32:46
Speaker 1: I appreciate the Thank you, Dan appreciate it. Man once
32:50
Speaker 1: again to sign up for your chance to spend an
32:52
Speaker 1: evening playing family friendly games with GEO and CJ from
32:56
Speaker 1: the comfort of your home, go to five three dot
32:59
Speaker 1: com slash Bengals and be sure to enter by November fifth.
33:04
Speaker 1: Now time for our know the Faux segment. The Cleveland
33:07
Speaker 1: Browns are four and two under new head coach Kevin Stefanski.
33:10
Speaker 1: Their wins are against Cincinnati, Washington, Dallas, and Indianapolis. Their
33:15
Speaker 1: two losses are the AFC North foes Baltimore and Pittsburgh.
33:20
Speaker 1: They lost to the Ravens thirty eight to six. The
33:24
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh game was closer, that was thirty eight to seven.
33:30
Speaker 1: Zach Jackson covers the Browns for The Athletic and he
33:33
Speaker 1: joined lapping me on the Bengals Game Plan show. Zach,
33:37
Speaker 1: we have seen this Baker Mayfield guy now five times
33:41
Speaker 1: in person, and for the most part, he's been really impressive.
33:46
Speaker 1: But then I read your stories and I listen to
33:49
Speaker 1: your podcast and there's this other Baker Mayfield guy who
33:53
Speaker 1: isn't good. Tell me about that guy. Yeah, the Bengals
33:58
Speaker 1: have boosted Baker Mayfield stats. You know, guys. The one
34:03
Speaker 1: I remember would be late in the two thy eighteen
34:05
Speaker 1: season down in Cincinnati when the Browns just looked like
34:08
Speaker 1: they had turned the corner. Remember that game was over
34:10
Speaker 1: in about two possessions and they just did everything that
34:13
Speaker 1: they wanted to. It's been inconsistent, you know, and organizationally,
34:18
Speaker 1: they haven't done him any favors without with all the change,
34:20
Speaker 1: and you know, we know how last year turned out,
34:23
Speaker 1: because really this is what three times in seven games
34:27
Speaker 1: these teams have played, because they played the season finale
34:29
Speaker 1: last year. But he has struggled. Accuracy was his calling
34:35
Speaker 1: cards and again he's kind of lost it. The simple
34:37
Speaker 1: throws has not been easy, and as you guys know
34:40
Speaker 1: that that makes everything more complicated. And as I look
34:43
Speaker 1: at this week, you know, the Browns just really ran
34:46
Speaker 1: it all over. They did throw it early, but they
34:48
Speaker 1: really ran it all over the Bengals in the first meeting,
34:51
Speaker 1: and Nick chubbs on the shelf and Wyatt tell her
34:53
Speaker 1: the right guard who had been a revelation is on
34:55
Speaker 1: the shelf. So they're gonna need Baker Mayfield. Maybe seeing
34:59
Speaker 1: those helmets will bring out the best in him. But
35:03
Speaker 1: you know, the Browns had a bunch of momentum and
35:05
Speaker 1: it all came crashing down last week. So we're going
35:07
Speaker 1: to see how they pick up the pieces. And I
35:09
Speaker 1: certainly think anybody who's watching with any interest at all
35:12
Speaker 1: in the Browns is watching the quarterback first. Yeah, watching
35:15
Speaker 1: the quarterback first, and then a guy that's going to
35:16
Speaker 1: catch everybody's attention, as Miles Garrett because it doesn't matter
35:20
Speaker 1: who he's playing against, he seems to be, you know,
35:22
Speaker 1: affected in the game in some way, shape or form.
35:24
Speaker 1: And when I look at that relationship, it's an interesting
35:27
Speaker 1: one because he had the obviously the meltdown issue against
35:30
Speaker 1: the Steelers, and the organization stayed right behind him and
35:34
Speaker 1: they said, you know, he's our guy, We're going to
35:36
Speaker 1: give him a big contract. I think that if I'm
35:39
Speaker 1: if I'm Miles Garrett, it's like, you know what, this
35:41
Speaker 1: Cleveland Brown organization, now I'm gonna play. I'm gonna play
35:44
Speaker 1: my tail off for these guys. They stood behind me,
35:46
Speaker 1: they give me a ton of money. It seems to
35:48
Speaker 1: be a two way street relationship. What's it like? Do
35:50
Speaker 1: you think? Yeah, it's it's full trust in Miles. You
35:54
Speaker 1: know last year lap On that Thursday night, it was
35:57
Speaker 1: not only stunning that it happened, it was super stunning
35:59
Speaker 1: that it was Miles because there's just nothing in his background, temperament,
36:03
Speaker 1: anything to indicate that. But what you guys saw from
36:06
Speaker 1: him four or five weeks ago set him on his
36:08
Speaker 1: hair where he did that four games in a row,
36:11
Speaker 1: he made at least one game changing play, and I
36:14
Speaker 1: think it's just consistency. You know, what was the next
36:17
Speaker 1: step for him, just getting comfortable being healthy, playing a
36:20
Speaker 1: full season. You know, without that last year, he's going
36:23
Speaker 1: to get to sixteen eighteen twenty sacks. Well he has
36:25
Speaker 1: to sit this year. He's getting there, and you know,
36:28
Speaker 1: they're playing him on both sides. He's really coming in
36:32
Speaker 1: and he's intentionally going for the ball, and especially against
36:35
Speaker 1: a young quarterback, and he's done it to some other guys,
36:38
Speaker 1: not just what he did to Joe Burrow. You know,
36:41
Speaker 1: he's getting the ball and he's changing the game that way.
36:43
Speaker 1: So yeah, he is a super super talented guy who
36:46
Speaker 1: the Browns have faith in and will continue to have
36:49
Speaker 1: faith in, and right now with the holes on their defense,
36:52
Speaker 1: it's not just faith, it's trust that he will make
36:54
Speaker 1: that kind of play every single week. Zach, Let's talk
36:57
Speaker 1: about those holes. Because they gave up thirty to Cincinnati,
37:00
Speaker 1: they gave up thirty eight to Baltimore, thirty eight to Dallas,
37:03
Speaker 1: thirty eight to Pittsburgh. Some of those points came on
37:07
Speaker 1: the defensive scores by the opposition. But where are they
37:10
Speaker 1: weak on defense? You know, the back seven personnel wise,
37:15
Speaker 1: isn't isn't what you want, um, You know, they they
37:19
Speaker 1: they had some corners, their third corner, fourth corner, guys
37:22
Speaker 1: like that in and out of the lineup, and the
37:24
Speaker 1: linebacking corps has just it hasn't been there. Mac Wilson
37:28
Speaker 1: played a lot last year and he was injured. This
37:32
Speaker 1: year has not been the same guy. They had another
37:34
Speaker 1: second year linebacker, Sioni Taki Taki. They're cutting on him
37:37
Speaker 1: a third round pick. He has not really been a
37:39
Speaker 1: starting quality player. So, um, Denzel Ward is a Pro
37:43
Speaker 1: Bowl player and as long as he stays healthy, he's
37:45
Speaker 1: going to get a big contract and he's going to
37:47
Speaker 1: continue to rise in this league. But other than that,
37:50
Speaker 1: through injuries, through performance, through you know, multiple coaching changes.
37:55
Speaker 1: Last year they were they played five safeties last year, guys,
37:58
Speaker 1: only one of them is even still on the roster.
38:00
Speaker 1: It's just been a whole bunch of change, and you know,
38:03
Speaker 1: the results have been not really catching on. They have
38:05
Speaker 1: played better the last couple of weeks defensively, but they
38:08
Speaker 1: have not been outstanding. So let's talk about that. That
38:12
Speaker 1: offensive line you mentioned briefly. Teller obviously with the injury,
38:17
Speaker 1: like you mentioned, Treder was kind of banged up with
38:19
Speaker 1: the knee when the Bengals played the first time. But
38:21
Speaker 1: you know, he played and played fine. And Willis, I
38:24
Speaker 1: mean Will's honestly that offensive line when I saw it
38:29
Speaker 1: against the Bengals, I'm thinking, man, pretty good group. I
38:32
Speaker 1: really think when when all hands on deck, when it's intact,
38:36
Speaker 1: it's kind of like close to the top five in
38:38
Speaker 1: the league. Am I crazy? I don't think you're crazy
38:41
Speaker 1: at all out and I think they invested with that intent.
38:44
Speaker 1: You know, through all the change here, this is a
38:47
Speaker 1: third different group that has entrusted JC Treder. Patonio has
38:50
Speaker 1: been around since twenty fourteen. I mean he's been in
38:52
Speaker 1: the last two Pro Bowls and easily could have been
38:54
Speaker 1: in the last four or five. Wills Is the number
38:58
Speaker 1: ten pick in the draft, called them thirty million dollars guaranteed.
39:01
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's a good group and they did. They
39:04
Speaker 1: have missed Wyatteller. I don't think he's going to play
39:07
Speaker 1: on Sunday, and that is a huge loss. And frankly,
39:10
Speaker 1: that's where the Bengals got blown up last time, right
39:12
Speaker 1: in the middle, and that is their ticket this Sunday.
39:15
Speaker 1: They have got to get the front, get to Kareem
39:18
Speaker 1: Hunt and get pressure on Baker Mayfield before they get going,
39:21
Speaker 1: because it was a close game last time, but we
39:24
Speaker 1: all know that the Browns pretty much scored it. Will
39:27
Speaker 1: I don't think they punted until the fourth coure. You're
39:30
Speaker 1: right about that. We are talking to Zach Jackson, who
39:35
Speaker 1: covers the Browns for the Athletic. A great twitter follow
39:38
Speaker 1: at Akron Jackson following up on the offensive line. This
39:42
Speaker 1: might be hard to quantify, but how much of a
39:45
Speaker 1: difference has the hiring of Bill Callahan made a huge difference.
39:51
Speaker 1: It was just an organizational commitment. It was, hey, we
39:54
Speaker 1: have this wide zone coach, right and we have this
39:59
Speaker 1: core of power to guys, but we really struggled at
40:01
Speaker 1: tackle last year, so they upgraded talent wise. Bill Kellaghan
40:05
Speaker 1: was one of the first tires. I don't know what
40:07
Speaker 1: they paid him, but it wasn't enough and they just said,
40:10
Speaker 1: let's let's get these guys better. I mean, Teller was
40:13
Speaker 1: a starter for the Bills, sell out of favor that
40:15
Speaker 1: the Browns got him for basically nothing. You know, Treder
40:18
Speaker 1: has a couple of freak injuries in Green Bay, but
40:21
Speaker 1: otherwise there has been a rock solid starter for a
40:23
Speaker 1: long time. Tonio has been around a long time, as
40:25
Speaker 1: I previously mentioned, So you know, Kellaghan has kind of
40:28
Speaker 1: come in, gotten all those guys on the same page,
40:30
Speaker 1: gotten on the same page with the fancy, even though
40:32
Speaker 1: they had never previously worked together. And you just noticed
40:35
Speaker 1: it last week. Now, Pittsburgh's front seven does that to
40:37
Speaker 1: a lot of people, as we all know. But when
40:39
Speaker 1: the Browns offensive line is not playing well, they're really struggling.
40:43
Speaker 1: And when they are playing well, that's how they got
40:45
Speaker 1: on that four game win streak. How about our buddy
40:48
Speaker 1: Alex van Pel former quarterback coach here with the Bengals
40:51
Speaker 1: offensive coordinator with the Cleveland Browns. How is he being
40:54
Speaker 1: received up there? Yeah, you know pretty well. It's one
40:57
Speaker 1: of the disappointing things Lap is with this with COVID
41:01
Speaker 1: and not really getting around the guys. You know, I
41:04
Speaker 1: don't think we've seen Alex's personality to the full extent.
41:07
Speaker 1: He's not calling the plays, but he's certainly involved, and
41:09
Speaker 1: specifically this week, because he knows the Bengals personnel so well.
41:13
Speaker 1: But you know, his task is to get Baker Mayfield
41:17
Speaker 1: on track. His task is to make sure that they're
41:20
Speaker 1: using all of these weapons. I mean, no other team
41:23
Speaker 1: in the league could lose a talent like Nick Chubb
41:25
Speaker 1: and plug in Kareem Hunt and keep going. Right. They
41:29
Speaker 1: paid Austin Hooper a bunch of money at tight end,
41:31
Speaker 1: and they've got another rookie who comes in, Harrison Bryant,
41:34
Speaker 1: fourth rounder, who's also making plays. So you know, I
41:37
Speaker 1: think Alex has been well received. The offense is certainly
41:39
Speaker 1: the strength of the team, and it's just all about
41:41
Speaker 1: getting Baker on track so they don't have to go
41:43
Speaker 1: do this quarterback dance again at the end of the season.
41:46
Speaker 1: Final question, Let's talk about the all important third phase
41:49
Speaker 1: special teams. Statistically, the Cleveland Browns are struggling in a
41:54
Speaker 1: lot of areas. They gave up the hundred and one
41:56
Speaker 1: yard offer turn touchdown there thirty first in the NFL,
42:00
Speaker 1: covering kickoffs, nineteenth returning them, twenty fifth returning punts, and
42:03
Speaker 1: twenty first I mean twenty fifth covering punts, twenty first
42:07
Speaker 1: returning them and special teams. Has that been problematic all year? Yeah,
42:11
Speaker 1: I think they've been a little bit better, but yeah,
42:13
Speaker 1: it was a surprise early lap. They brought back their
42:15
Speaker 1: special teams coaches and almost all their core guys. And
42:18
Speaker 1: as you look at the Bengals, who have been really
42:20
Speaker 1: strong on special teams the last five or seven years,
42:23
Speaker 1: that's an area where they certainly have an advantage Sunday.
42:26
Speaker 1: So I do think the Browns have been better. They
42:28
Speaker 1: had some guys, They lost their return man for the season,
42:31
Speaker 1: one of their core guys, a backup receiver Cadero hodges
42:34
Speaker 1: out for a couple of weeks. So yeah, every time
42:37
Speaker 1: they kick or punt, the Bengals can be thinking about
42:40
Speaker 1: taking it the other way. You know, based on what
42:41
Speaker 1: we've seen early in this season, will you be traveling
42:44
Speaker 1: to Cincinnati, and if so, are their road markers along
42:48
Speaker 1: the way that you associate with firing general managers and
42:54
Speaker 1: or head coaches. No six coaches have been fired after
42:58
Speaker 1: Steelers games, but after Bengal games it was just Freddie
43:01
Speaker 1: And I was still in the stadium last year when
43:03
Speaker 1: that happened. So I actually will not be making the trip.
43:07
Speaker 1: With our regulations and protocols, I can't go two weeks
43:11
Speaker 1: in a row, and I went to Pittsburgh last week,
43:13
Speaker 1: So I will miss seeing you guys, both of you,
43:17
Speaker 1: but you know we'll be watching closely, and you know,
43:20
Speaker 1: I think from basically the new era of the Browns,
43:24
Speaker 1: right Browns Bengals is they haven't been good at the
43:26
Speaker 1: same time, but I think there's a chance over these
43:28
Speaker 1: next couple of years that could change. I really believe
43:30
Speaker 1: that it's crazy in the division. I mean, you get
43:33
Speaker 1: three young quarterbacks, two of them are Heisman Trophy winners,
43:36
Speaker 1: and two of them are first picks of the draft.
43:37
Speaker 1: It's nuts. It is it is And I really liked
43:40
Speaker 1: the guy that you guys got down there. Yep, we
43:43
Speaker 1: do too. Yeah, keep up the great work. Love your
43:45
Speaker 1: podcast and what you crank out about the Browns on
43:48
Speaker 1: the Athletic Thanks Zach, Thanks guys for a final luck
43:52
Speaker 1: ahead to Sunday's game. Join Lapping Me for the Bengals
43:55
Speaker 1: pep Rally Show on Friday from three to six on
43:58
Speaker 1: ESPN fifteen thirty. That's going to do it for this
44:02
Speaker 1: episode of the Bengals Booth podcast, brought to you by
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44:08
Speaker 1: so already, please subscribe and if you have a minute,
44:11
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44:14
Speaker 1: more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde. And
44:17
Speaker 1: thanks for listening to the Bengals Booth podcast.