Latest / Bengals Booth Podcast / Bengals Booth Podcast: Don't Give Up
Transcript
- 0:03Speaker 1: Happy Thanksgiving everybody. I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading
- 0:07Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The Don't Give Up Onus Baby addition,
- 0:13Speaker 1: as the Bengals try to keep their playoff hopes alive
- 0:16Speaker 1: as they host the dreaded, hated, but grudgingly respected Pittsburgh Steelers.
- 0:21Speaker 1: Coming up, I'll go one on one with Evan McPherson
- 0:24Speaker 1: as he tries to break out of his first slump
- 0:27Speaker 1: since high school. ESPN NFL analyst Field Yates joins me
- 0:32Speaker 1: to discuss the season to date, what the Bengals should
- 0:35Speaker 1: be looking for in next year's draft, and this week's
- 0:38Speaker 1: Know the Faux segment, we'll find out why the Steelers
- 0:41Speaker 1: are in first place from their radio voice Rob King.
- 0:45Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Corps,
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- 1:03Speaker 1: is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now here's
- 1:07Speaker 1: a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition
- 1:10Speaker 1: of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or
- 1:13Speaker 1: computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the
- 1:17Speaker 1: greatest thing since the Syracuse sportscasting tradition. During the bye week,
- 1:24Speaker 1: I have the opportunity to visit my alma mater, Syracuse University,
- 1:28Speaker 1: and it was a powerful reminder of how unbelievably fortunate
- 1:32Speaker 1: I am to be part of s u's sportscasting fraternity.
- 1:36Speaker 1: It was started by Marty Glickman in the nineteen thirties.
- 1:39Speaker 1: After Marty started calling New York Knicks games, he became
- 1:43Speaker 1: a mentor to a ball boy who wanted to get
- 1:45Speaker 1: into broadcasting named Marv Albert. Marv eventually followed his lead
- 1:51Speaker 1: and also went to Syracuse, and that started a tradition
- 1:54Speaker 1: that continues to this day and the list of Syracuse
- 1:57Speaker 1: sportscasting grads includes Abcostas, Mike Tarico, Sean McDonough, Iron Eagle,
- 2:03Speaker 1: Beth Mowens, Dave Lapham, and many others. Simply put, attending
- 2:08Speaker 1: Syracuse turned my childhood broadcasting dreams into a reality. Now
- 2:14Speaker 1: let's get to my first guest. The Bengals field goal
- 2:17Speaker 1: unit is lined up and ready to go. At thirty
- 2:19Speaker 1: three yard try to win the game for Evan McPherson,
- 2:22Speaker 1: fifth round draft pick rookie out of Florida. Clark Harris,
- 2:25Speaker 1: thirteenth year pro, will snap it back to Kevin Huber,
- 2:27Speaker 1: thirteenth year pro. The snap, the put down, the swing
- 2:30Speaker 1: of the leg, the kick on its way.
- 2:32Speaker 2: He good.
- 2:36Speaker 1: The Bengals win it.
- 2:38Speaker 3: On the final playoff overtime, Evan McPherson poist it onto
- 2:42Speaker 3: the shoulders of his teammates, has Cincinnati pulls it out
- 2:46Speaker 3: twenty seven to twenty four.
- 2:49Speaker 1: From the first game of his rookie year, Evan McPherson
- 2:52Speaker 1: has been well money Mack. He's nineteen for nineteen in
- 2:57Speaker 1: the postseason. He's made seven game winners, including two in
- 3:00Speaker 1: the playoffs, and he's drilled field goals from fifty six,
- 3:04Speaker 1: fifty seven, fifty eight, and fifty nine yards. But this
- 3:08Speaker 1: year Evan has struggled, missing a game winning try in
- 3:12Speaker 1: overtime against Baltimore and hooking a pair of fourth quarter
- 3:16Speaker 1: kicks against the Chargers that would have given the Bengals
- 3:19Speaker 1: the lead. I talked to the twenty five year old
- 3:22Speaker 1: this week about trying to get back on track. Evan,
- 3:27Speaker 1: you have been remarkably consistent in your NFL career, and
- 3:30Speaker 1: you started off great this year, making nine out of
- 3:33Speaker 1: your first ten. Since then, you've struggled a bit. You've
- 3:35Speaker 1: gone six for eleven. Have you been able to pinpoint
- 3:38Speaker 1: anything specific, No.
- 3:41Speaker 2: Not to this point.
- 3:44Speaker 4: In my head, I'm kicking about as good as I
- 3:46Speaker 4: have and I think I've expressed that hitting the ball
- 3:49Speaker 4: really well, just not putting the ball where it needs
- 3:52Speaker 4: to go. So it's just continue to trust what I
- 3:57Speaker 4: do in practice in preparation for the game, and just
- 4:00Speaker 4: carry that over because like I said, I feel like
- 4:02Speaker 4: I'm kicking well in practice, kicking well in pregame, and
- 4:06Speaker 4: for whatever reason, it's not translating. But it's just keep
- 4:09Speaker 4: the trust and know that eventually my body will figure
- 4:14Speaker 4: it out and I'll start start getting on the roll again.
- 4:17Speaker 1: Seems like your last few misses have been left. Is
- 4:21Speaker 1: it easier to fix when you're missing in one direction
- 4:23Speaker 1: than if you were missing both ways?
- 4:25Speaker 4: Yeah, I think for a right foot a kicker, it's
- 4:27Speaker 4: probably easier to fix a miss to the right.
- 4:30Speaker 2: And I've always been a right miss guy.
- 4:32Speaker 4: I've never missed left, and to be honest, I mean
- 4:35Speaker 4: I can't pinpoint again like the exact reason why I'm
- 4:39Speaker 4: missing left. I'll maybe tugging it a little more than
- 4:42Speaker 4: I have been. But yeah, it's just kind of interesting
- 4:45Speaker 4: that all my misses this year have been left rather
- 4:48Speaker 4: than right.
- 4:49Speaker 1: It would be human nature for confidence to waiver a
- 4:52Speaker 1: little bit. Has any doubt started to creep in?
- 4:56Speaker 4: No, I wouldn't say so. Like I said, I got
- 4:59Speaker 4: great teammates around that believe in me. I got great
- 5:01Speaker 4: coaches that believe in me. And I've got a great
- 5:04Speaker 4: family and friends just surrounding me and pouring confidence into me.
- 5:09Speaker 2: Even though, like you know.
- 5:10Speaker 4: Sometimes I will say, the devil will try to creep
- 5:13Speaker 4: into your mind and get get a hold of you.
- 5:15Speaker 4: But you just got to trust in God and know
- 5:17Speaker 4: that he's going to pull you out of any tough times.
- 5:21Speaker 4: And they say there's a peak to every valley, right,
- 5:26Speaker 4: there's a there's a mountaintop up there somewhere.
- 5:29Speaker 2: We just got to climb the mountain and just keep trusting.
- 5:33Speaker 1: We haven't seen you experience anything like this in the NFL.
- 5:36Speaker 1: How about before that, did you ever have a stretch
- 5:38Speaker 1: in college or even high school where, for whatever reason,
- 5:41Speaker 1: it just took a little while to get it back.
- 5:43Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure.
- 5:43Speaker 4: I feel like high school was that time where I struggled.
- 5:47Speaker 2: My senior year.
- 5:49Speaker 4: I went like nine to eighteen my senior year on
- 5:51Speaker 4: field goals, which we attempted like a lot.
- 5:53Speaker 2: I attempted like four or five.
- 5:55Speaker 4: Over sixty and then all the other ones were like
- 5:58Speaker 4: fifty plus. But definitely struggled with my senior year of
- 6:01Speaker 4: high school. And then I feel like I turned it
- 6:03Speaker 4: around and had a really good freshman, sophomore, and junior year. So,
- 6:08Speaker 4: like I said, I feel like even when you're struggling,
- 6:11Speaker 4: I feel like you learn the most from those moments
- 6:13Speaker 4: and you get mentally tougher from those times, and so
- 6:18Speaker 4: I feel like coming out of it, we're going to
- 6:19Speaker 4: be better than ever.
- 6:21Speaker 1: We're visiting with Devin McPherson. You've had four holders in
- 6:24Speaker 1: the last three years. I know you well enough to
- 6:27Speaker 1: know you're not going to blame anything on a holder,
- 6:29Speaker 1: But how big are the differences from one person to
- 6:32Speaker 1: the next.
- 6:33Speaker 4: It's just understanding what each other like and getting building
- 6:37Speaker 4: trust and just so that I don't have to think
- 6:39Speaker 4: about any other situation other than kicking the ball, you know,
- 6:45Speaker 4: I think that's the main thing as a kicker is like,
- 6:46Speaker 4: you don't have to worry about if the snap's going
- 6:49Speaker 4: to be good, or if the hole is going to
- 6:50Speaker 4: be on the spot, or if you're gonna have the
- 6:52Speaker 4: correct lean on the ball and the laces are going to.
- 6:54Speaker 2: Be facing straight out.
- 6:55Speaker 4: I feel like a kicker doesn't want to have to
- 6:57Speaker 4: worry about those things. And when you don't have to,
- 7:00Speaker 4: and all you think about is going out there and
- 7:02Speaker 4: hitting the best wall you can, I feel like you
- 7:05Speaker 4: aren't a good place. But all four guys that I've had,
- 7:09Speaker 4: I mean, obviously Kevin and Clark were a well oiled machine.
- 7:13Speaker 2: They rarely messed up.
- 7:17Speaker 4: But after them, I mean, everybody that we brought in
- 7:20Speaker 4: has adapted really well, really fast, and.
- 7:24Speaker 2: Has really done a great job.
- 7:26Speaker 1: Justin Tucker is widely considered to be the greatest kicker
- 7:29Speaker 1: of all time. He's got the same number of misses
- 7:31Speaker 1: that you have so far this year. In a roundabout
- 7:34Speaker 1: way or a weird way, is it kind of reassuring
- 7:37Speaker 1: to know that that guy is going through it this year?
- 7:41Speaker 4: I mean, I feel like everybody goes through it at
- 7:44Speaker 4: some point in their career. I feel like you try
- 7:49Speaker 4: to focus on yourself for the most part. Of course,
- 7:52Speaker 4: you look at the guys around you, But I feel
- 7:54Speaker 4: like you can get so caught up looking around you
- 7:57Speaker 4: that you're not focusing on yourself. And so I feel
- 7:58Speaker 4: like maybe that's what I've been doing a little bit
- 8:00Speaker 4: too much, And so I feel like from here on out,
- 8:02Speaker 4: it's just kind of staying in my lane, not worrying
- 8:06Speaker 4: about anybody else but this team and what we're doing.
- 8:10Speaker 1: Did the buy come at a good time just to
- 8:12Speaker 1: get away and relax.
- 8:14Speaker 4: Oh, fantastic time. Me and my wife and daughter we
- 8:17Speaker 4: went back home, were obviously from the same hometown, so
- 8:20Speaker 4: you got both families, and my wife's family has a
- 8:24Speaker 4: place on the mountain on the river and no cell
- 8:29Speaker 4: service whatsoever, And so talk about just fantastic and like
- 8:35Speaker 4: you said, coming at the right time, It probably couldn't
- 8:38Speaker 4: come at a better time. Just to kind of sit back,
- 8:41Speaker 4: relax and just enjoy family. It was fantastic, And to
- 8:46Speaker 4: play a little golf and just get a little mental release.
- 8:48Speaker 4: And I feel like it just rejuvenates your spirit to
- 8:52Speaker 4: finish the season strong.
- 8:54Speaker 1: I have no doubt that you were going to kick
- 8:56Speaker 1: a game winning field goal sometime soon. Do you want
- 8:59Speaker 1: that opportunity more than ever, just because some of the
- 9:03Speaker 1: recentness is.
- 9:04Speaker 4: Yeah, of course, like I mean, that opportunity is always
- 9:08Speaker 4: a special one to get out there and to win
- 9:10Speaker 4: the game, and you know, it sucks that we haven't
- 9:12Speaker 4: been able to come through recently in those opportunities.
- 9:15Speaker 2: But you know, I feel like.
- 9:18Speaker 4: Coming up, like I said, I feel like bye week,
- 9:21Speaker 4: we've kind of reset and come into it like a
- 9:24Speaker 4: new season and we're just going to treat it as
- 9:26Speaker 4: that and just attack every opportunity that we get. And
- 9:32Speaker 4: we know the games coming up are really important, so
- 9:35Speaker 4: we're just gonna be uh locked in and ready for those.
- 9:38Speaker 1: I look forward to asking you about the game winner
- 9:40Speaker 1: as soon as it happens, hopefully on Sunday against the Steelers.
- 9:43Speaker 2: Appreciate your time, Yeah, thank you, appreciate it.
- 9:47Speaker 1: I've seen a few people suggest that the Bengals should
- 9:50Speaker 1: bring in somebody to compete with McPherson or even cut him.
- 9:54Speaker 1: My response is, don't cut him, fix him. Evan is
- 9:58Speaker 1: one of the players on the team who has proven
- 10:01Speaker 1: to be elite at his position. The last thing they
- 10:04Speaker 1: should do is let him go to another team, make
- 10:07Speaker 1: a tiny adjustment and become mister reliable again. That will
- 10:12Speaker 1: happen hopefully this Sunday against Pittsburgh. ESPN NFL analyst Field
- 10:18Speaker 1: Yates has a unique background. He spent six years assisting
- 10:22Speaker 1: the scouting and coaching staffs of the Kansas City Chiefs
- 10:26Speaker 1: and New England Patriots before getting into broadcasting. He joined
- 10:30Speaker 1: me this week to discuss the Bengals struggles so far
- 10:33Speaker 1: this year and what it's going to take to make
- 10:36Speaker 1: a playoff push. Our guest this week is ESPN football
- 10:41Speaker 1: analyst Field Yates, among other things, a fantasy football expert.
- 10:46Speaker 1: Leading to this question, Field, is Jamar Chase having one
- 10:50Speaker 1: of the great wide receiver fantasy football seasons of all time?
- 10:55Speaker 5: He sure is up there. I'll tell you what. He's
- 10:57Speaker 5: a whole hot in three and let's call it a
- 10:59Speaker 5: half season into his NFL career. But we came into
- 11:02Speaker 5: the season saying to ourselves there was so much wide
- 11:05Speaker 5: receiver depth across the league, and it felt like, because
- 11:08Speaker 5: of the contract situation, it wasn't totally clear where Jamar
- 11:11Speaker 5: would rank amongst those wide receivers. But the uncertainty surrounding
- 11:15Speaker 5: would he be there in Week one? Would he not? Well? Instead,
- 11:17Speaker 5: he has been the best wide receiver in the NFL
- 11:20Speaker 5: by a significant margin. Not just the NFL's receiver in
- 11:23Speaker 5: terms of well, he's got the triple Crown threat on
- 11:26Speaker 5: right now, but also the number one score in fantasy
- 11:28Speaker 5: football wide receiver as well. In recent weeks, he has
- 11:31Speaker 5: also reminded us that in a single game, there is
- 11:34Speaker 5: no player who is more explosive than Jamar Chase. So
- 11:37Speaker 5: he has been a joy to having a fantasy football
- 11:39Speaker 5: roster this season, that much is for sure.
- 11:42Speaker 1: All right, let's get to the team in general. Four
- 11:44Speaker 1: and seven through eleven games. What do you make of
- 11:48Speaker 1: the Bengals so far in twenty twenty four.
- 11:50Speaker 5: Yeah, nothing revelatory about this, but this is the Kuda
- 11:53Speaker 5: would have should a team right now in the NFL.
- 11:56Speaker 5: I know that you can't do this, but you flip
- 11:58Speaker 5: a few of those games and next thing you know,
- 12:00Speaker 5: we're talking about a team was challenging for the AFC
- 12:03Speaker 5: North title. That's not how the football had, not how
- 12:05Speaker 5: football works, not how the NFL works. Bengals fans have
- 12:08Speaker 5: been around long enough to know exactly that, But situational
- 12:11Speaker 5: football has been unkind to this team. You know, I
- 12:13Speaker 5: know the offense would never pin things publicly entirely against
- 12:17Speaker 5: the defense, but one side of the offense, one side
- 12:19Speaker 5: of the ball, has held up its end of the
- 12:20Speaker 5: bargain much more than the other side of the ball
- 12:23Speaker 5: has this year. And while you know the playoff chances
- 12:26Speaker 5: might be low, they're not gone completely. And perhaps this
- 12:30Speaker 5: bi week will be one that we look back upon
- 12:32Speaker 5: and say that was the flashball moment for the defense
- 12:34Speaker 5: to get things going, and the special teams for that matter.
- 12:37Speaker 5: But it just feels like a comprehensive sixty minute game
- 12:41Speaker 5: has been very elusive from all sides of the football
- 12:43Speaker 5: so far from the team this season, and they have
- 12:46Speaker 5: really no margin for error going forward. They must take
- 12:49Speaker 5: care of business, and of course starts this upcoming Sunday
- 12:52Speaker 5: against Pittsburgh.
- 12:53Speaker 1: To make the playoffs, it probably is going to require
- 12:55Speaker 1: a five to one finish, maybe six, And oher does
- 12:59Speaker 1: Joe Burrow make that possible?
- 13:02Speaker 5: He does with the way he's playing right now. And
- 13:04Speaker 5: I know that we don't hand out the MVP award
- 13:06Speaker 5: after two weeks or eight weeks or twelve weeks, but
- 13:08Speaker 5: you know, at least if you're putting together a potential ballot,
- 13:11Speaker 5: Joe Burrow is on that ballots, and he's been so
- 13:13Speaker 5: impressive with the usual suspect traits right, the accuracy down
- 13:17Speaker 5: the field underneath intermedia throws has been great. I still
- 13:20Speaker 5: think he is the best in pocket navigator in the
- 13:23Speaker 5: entire NFL. His capacity to buy himself an extra half
- 13:27Speaker 5: second by himself a little bit more time and space.
- 13:30Speaker 5: And he is a good athlete. Obviously he can do
- 13:32Speaker 5: some damage with his legs, but he's so smart about
- 13:35Speaker 5: finding ways to buy himself a bit extra time in
- 13:38Speaker 5: the pocket that rather than scramble for eight yards, he
- 13:41Speaker 5: might turn it into an eighteen or twenty eight yard
- 13:43Speaker 5: throw down the field. He has been nothing short of
- 13:46Speaker 5: remarkable this year. He's playing maybe the best football of
- 13:49Speaker 5: his career, which is saying a lot for a guy
- 13:51Speaker 5: that started the Super Bowl early on in his career.
- 13:54Speaker 5: But Joe has been brilliant. You hate to see a
- 13:57Speaker 5: season like this go away, so that increases the urgency
- 14:01Speaker 5: required not just this Sunday, but the rest of the season,
- 14:04Speaker 5: because I agree it's going to take at least five
- 14:06Speaker 5: and one to get into the playoffs. Now for Cincinnati, the.
- 14:09Speaker 1: ESPN's field Gates is our guest, do you have an
- 14:11Speaker 1: NFL scouting background. You're heavily involved in ESPN's coverage of
- 14:15Speaker 1: the draft. Let's talk about this year's draft class for Cincinnati.
- 14:19Speaker 1: Amarus Mims is starting the right tackle, Chris Jenkins is
- 14:22Speaker 1: playing more than fifty percent of the defensive snaps. Eric
- 14:25Speaker 1: All looked terrific before he suffered his knee injury. How
- 14:29Speaker 1: good do you think this year's class is panning out
- 14:32Speaker 1: for Cincinnati?
- 14:33Speaker 5: Yeah, I'd say this has been a solid start for them.
- 14:35Speaker 5: You know, the All injury was such a bummer, just
- 14:37Speaker 5: because you know, unfortunately, if there was kind of a
- 14:39Speaker 5: red flag for him coming into the NFL, it was
- 14:41Speaker 5: a health the durability a guy who missed much of
- 14:44Speaker 5: his last season in college because of that back issue.
- 14:47Speaker 5: God do is he talented? It looks just so effortless
- 14:49Speaker 5: when he moves on the field. And well, you know,
- 14:52Speaker 5: with Cincinnati, they play probably the heaviest tight end rotation
- 14:55Speaker 5: alongside the Steelers and the entire NFL. So he wasn't
- 14:58Speaker 5: going to be a full time player for them on
- 15:00Speaker 5: an every snap basis. But you know, those first two picks,
- 15:04Speaker 5: and I'll say this is that you know, it's great
- 15:05Speaker 5: when you can hit on guys in the fifth, sixth,
- 15:07Speaker 5: seventh round and you find yourself a Chase Brown has
- 15:09Speaker 5: become a really meaningful contributor out of the sixth round
- 15:12Speaker 5: at one point. But I really truly believe that the
- 15:15Speaker 5: best way to build your roster up is to hit
- 15:18Speaker 5: on those first and second round picks, because those are
- 15:21Speaker 5: and nothing is a one hundred percent certainty, but those
- 15:23Speaker 5: are the best bets in the NFL. Right, It's not
- 15:26Speaker 5: some big surprise that you look at the best players
- 15:28Speaker 5: in this Bengals roster and it's guys like Joe Burrow
- 15:30Speaker 5: the first overall pick, and Jamar Chase the fifth overall pick,
- 15:33Speaker 5: and the list goes on throughout the league. So to
- 15:35Speaker 5: see a mary Is playing right tackle at a steady
- 15:38Speaker 5: level is not a major surprise. The talent was never
- 15:41Speaker 5: a question mark for him. It was just a matter
- 15:43Speaker 5: of how quickly he get up the speed. Well, the
- 15:45Speaker 5: Trent Brown injury opens up the door for Marius Mims
- 15:49Speaker 5: to not just play, but need to play and do
- 15:52Speaker 5: so on a high level. He's such an impressive athlete,
- 15:55Speaker 5: such an incredibly large human when he puts it all together.
- 15:59Speaker 5: His snaps snaps in college were as good as any
- 16:01Speaker 5: offensive tackle in the draft last year, and I've been
- 16:04Speaker 5: impressed the Trial by Fire as treated them. I think
- 16:06Speaker 5: pretty well all things considered.
- 16:08Speaker 1: Field looking ahead, is there a position group or are
- 16:12Speaker 1: there position groups that you think the Bengals need to
- 16:15Speaker 1: target in twenty twenty five, Yeah.
- 16:17Speaker 5: I mean it's all going to be defense, right. I mean,
- 16:19Speaker 5: we can talk about the guard play, and that's something
- 16:21Speaker 5: that I think certainly is of note and can be addressed.
- 16:24Speaker 5: But you know, at some point you just have to
- 16:26Speaker 5: sort of rebalance the equation a little bit. And when
- 16:28Speaker 5: your offense plays like it does, and we'll see what
- 16:31Speaker 5: happens with a couple of notable free agents this offseason,
- 16:34Speaker 5: but with the offense playing as well as it has,
- 16:36Speaker 5: you have to say to yourself, like it's almost a
- 16:39Speaker 5: responsible to just try on defense, throw a bunch of
- 16:41Speaker 5: resources that way and see what you might be able
- 16:45Speaker 5: to come up with. I think the draft class has
- 16:47Speaker 5: aligned decently with some of their needs on the defensive
- 16:50Speaker 5: side of the ball. Defensive tackle class looks very very
- 16:53Speaker 5: deep in the NFL Draft this upcoming year, and they
- 16:56Speaker 5: could use a few more players in the middle of
- 16:58Speaker 5: that defense to team to build out the depth. You know,
- 17:02Speaker 5: Chris Jenkins, as you mentioned, going to be a big
- 17:03Speaker 5: part of this defense for a long time. But he's
- 17:05Speaker 5: a certain type of player, right. This isn't some massive, overwhelming,
- 17:08Speaker 5: three hundred and twenty five pound defensive tackle. Needs some
- 17:11Speaker 5: continued added girth there in the middle of that defense,
- 17:15Speaker 5: and then you know, I would just say complimentary pass rushers,
- 17:18Speaker 5: more corners, more corners, more corners. Safety play has kind
- 17:22Speaker 5: of been up and down this season for Cincinnati, so
- 17:24Speaker 5: anybody in that back end certainly is a prospect. Note
- 17:28Speaker 5: in this upcoming cycle.
- 17:30Speaker 1: The first place Steelers are coming to town this Sunday.
- 17:33Speaker 1: They've got a record of eight and three. What are
- 17:35Speaker 1: some of the biggest keys for the Bengals to get
- 17:37Speaker 1: a badly needed win over Pittsburgh.
- 17:40Speaker 5: I'll tell you what this team has an identity to.
- 17:42Speaker 5: It's Pittsburgh does. So it's don't be caught off guard.
- 17:45Speaker 5: I'll start there, and you better tackle. This is a
- 17:47Speaker 5: Pittsburgh team that wants to run the football and do
- 17:49Speaker 5: so right between the tackle. They want to ride Naji
- 17:52Speaker 5: Harris as much as they possibly can. It was actually
- 17:54Speaker 5: Jalen Warren who was more effective in their last game
- 17:56Speaker 5: against the Browns. He's a good, very good sort of
- 17:59Speaker 5: lightning quick act. But Najee Harris for much of this
- 18:02Speaker 5: year has kind of been the guy that they have
- 18:03Speaker 5: tried to run this offense through. And you know, I
- 18:07Speaker 5: know what Pittsburgh is probably thinking right now, and we're
- 18:09Speaker 5: playing Cincinnati. His offense has been incredible, lights out. We've
- 18:12Speaker 5: got a great defense. But the defense is good. But
- 18:15Speaker 5: you know, another way to be a great defensive team
- 18:18Speaker 5: against Pitts against Cincinnati is to just not let them
- 18:21Speaker 5: on the field. So Pittsburgh, I'm sure wants to control
- 18:24Speaker 5: the line of scrimmage, find ways to wear down that
- 18:26Speaker 5: Cincinnati defense and not allow Joe and the two wide
- 18:29Speaker 5: receivers especially to do their thing on offense. They're very
- 18:32Speaker 5: well coached on special teams as well, Danny Smith. Their
- 18:35Speaker 5: special team's coach always has a wrinkle or two. The
- 18:38Speaker 5: team the opponent has to be, you know, mindful of
- 18:41Speaker 5: as we know, last game was in part decideed by
- 18:43Speaker 5: miss kicks, and while those weren't block kicks, you know,
- 18:47Speaker 5: the operation has to be smooth against the team that
- 18:49Speaker 5: has been as effective in terms of blocking field goals
- 18:52Speaker 5: as any in the NFL. Under Danny Smith's guidance. So
- 18:55Speaker 5: it's a good team. It's a balanced team, not super
- 18:57Speaker 5: explosive on offense, but defensively very very sound. That you
- 19:01Speaker 5: have depths of rushers, you know, obviously TJ. Watt being
- 19:05Speaker 5: the one that you have to pay the most attention to.
- 19:07Speaker 5: But if you can find a way to play this
- 19:09Speaker 5: game more on your terms as the Bengals, you got
- 19:11Speaker 5: a really good chance because I don't think Pittsburgh is
- 19:13Speaker 5: the kind of team that's built to play or run
- 19:15Speaker 5: a race offensive and they want to find a way
- 19:18Speaker 5: to grind things out, almost a first to twenty type
- 19:21Speaker 5: of game.
- 19:22Speaker 1: I think a lot of football fans wondered if Russell
- 19:24Speaker 1: Wilson had anything left in the tag considering his play
- 19:27Speaker 1: in recent years. How has he performed for Pittsburgh.
- 19:31Speaker 5: I think he's been solid, And I think the thing
- 19:32Speaker 5: with Russ this year and specifically since he took over
- 19:37Speaker 5: his starter, as he is playing within the confines of
- 19:39Speaker 5: what the rasking him to do. You know, this last
- 19:41Speaker 5: game is not a toss away, but you know, the
- 19:44Speaker 5: snow obviously impacted it, but for the most part it
- 19:46Speaker 5: was you know, it wants you to get a lot
- 19:48Speaker 5: of guys involved. George Pickens will be the most targeted
- 19:51Speaker 5: Steelers wide receiver, but they go deep at tight end.
- 19:54Speaker 5: They got a handful of wide receivers that play meaningful
- 19:56Speaker 5: snaps for them. They have two backs. They are looking
- 20:00Speaker 5: for ways to ease the burden off of Russell Wilson
- 20:03Speaker 5: because they don't need him to throw for three hundred
- 20:05Speaker 5: yards in two touchdowns most weeks. But the accuracy down
- 20:09Speaker 5: the field has been a strength of Russ's. He is
- 20:11Speaker 5: unafraid to just sort of let his wide receivers do
- 20:13Speaker 5: their thing down the field. He is, you know, sort
- 20:16Speaker 5: of known, I'm not the King, but you know, a
- 20:18Speaker 5: prominent moon ball thrower where he just lets whether it's
- 20:22Speaker 5: you know, most often George Pickens or maybe even Van
- 20:24Speaker 5: Jefferson occasionally, very occasionally Mike Williams, who was acquired a
- 20:28Speaker 5: few weeks ago in a trade. So don't be surprised
- 20:31Speaker 5: if the Steelers try their shots down the field against
- 20:34Speaker 5: this Bengals defense that you know, as we talked about,
- 20:36Speaker 5: has been leaky in the secondary for a lot of
- 20:38Speaker 5: this year.
- 20:38Speaker 1: Field. Let me wrap up by asking you about the
- 20:40Speaker 1: other football team in town, the Cincinnati Bearcats. They've got
- 20:44Speaker 1: some draftable players on the roster this year, most notably
- 20:47Speaker 1: tight end Joe Royer, defensive tackle Dante Corleone, offensive lineman
- 20:52Speaker 1: Luke Candra. All three of those guys are local Cincinnati
- 20:55Speaker 1: kids as well. What do you think of their draft
- 20:57Speaker 1: prospects going forward?
- 20:59Speaker 5: Yeah, A sort of Joe only because he's probably surprised me.
- 21:02Speaker 5: I think he's surprised everybody, maybe even the Bearcats program
- 21:05Speaker 5: his first year there had I think it was four
- 21:07Speaker 5: catches in his first three seasons of college all of
- 21:09Speaker 5: Ohio State, comes home, goes to a program that's going
- 21:12Speaker 5: to allow him to talent maximize, and all he's done
- 21:15Speaker 5: is actually, I don't know if he's gotten there yet,
- 21:17Speaker 5: but the last check he was knocking on the door
- 21:19Speaker 5: of Travis Kelcey's single season tight end receiving record in
- 21:22Speaker 5: terms of catches at the program. So that's a pretty
- 21:25Speaker 5: darn good company right there for Joe Royer. Incredible athlete,
- 21:28Speaker 5: He was a big time recruit, as you well know,
- 21:30Speaker 5: four star recruit going to Columbus. Great to see him
- 21:34Speaker 5: get his opportunity to shine. If he does come out,
- 21:36Speaker 5: I think he ends up being maybe a late Day
- 21:38Speaker 5: two or early Day three pick in a good tight
- 21:40Speaker 5: end class, Dante the Godfather, mister reliable, the kind of
- 21:44Speaker 5: guy that I think you know what you're going to
- 21:46Speaker 5: get out of him in a process that's very fickle
- 21:49Speaker 5: and funny, you don't always get what you think you
- 21:52Speaker 5: are getting. I think Dante corle owns the kind of
- 21:54Speaker 5: guy that a defensive coordator signs off on a GM says,
- 21:58Speaker 5: I know I'm getting a steady, dependable or your force.
- 22:00Speaker 5: And then Luke kind of in that same bab you
- 22:03Speaker 5: know guys put a ton of football both Louisville and
- 22:05Speaker 5: obviously in Cincinnati, has kind of seen it all as
- 22:08Speaker 5: a blocker. Mister reliable, steady, tough, instinctive, not a dominant athlete,
- 22:14Speaker 5: but the kind of guy who I do think ends
- 22:16Speaker 5: up going somewhere you know, day three and has a
- 22:18Speaker 5: chance to stick around as a depth level guard of
- 22:20Speaker 5: the NFL field.
- 22:21Speaker 1: Love picking your brain as ahweys really appreciate your time.
- 22:24Speaker 1: Keep up the great work and thanks.
- 22:26Speaker 5: Thanks ch having on. As always, The.
- 22:28Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by Paid Corps,
- 22:31Speaker 1: proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider by
- 22:35Speaker 1: Alta Fiber future proof fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business,
- 22:39Speaker 1: and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health
- 22:42Speaker 1: the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is
- 22:45Speaker 1: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Before I moved
- 22:49Speaker 1: to Cincinnati nearly thirty years ago, I was the sports
- 22:52Speaker 1: director of a TV station in Syracuse, New York. When
- 22:56Speaker 1: I left that job, the guy who replaced me was
- 22:59Speaker 1: raw King, who eventually moved from Syracuse to Pittsburgh. Well,
- 23:04Speaker 1: this year, Rob became the radio voice of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
- 23:09Speaker 1: Small world huh, and he joined me this week for
- 23:12Speaker 1: our nother faux segment.
- 23:15Speaker 6: Rob.
- 23:15Speaker 1: The Steelers are eight and three. They've got the third
- 23:17Speaker 1: best record in the AFC, behind Kansas City and Buffalo.
- 23:20Speaker 1: I'm not sure many people saw that coming. I certainly didn't.
- 23:24Speaker 1: In what ways has this season been a surprise to you?
- 23:27Speaker 6: Oh, that's a great question, Dan, I think that you know,
- 23:31Speaker 6: I think I'm not quite as surprised. I was a
- 23:33Speaker 6: little mystified that people weren't picking the students to have
- 23:37Speaker 6: a better record. I think part of that was because
- 23:40Speaker 6: the schedule is so murderous, and let's be honest, did
- 23:44Speaker 6: murderous part of the schedule is really begun after their
- 23:47Speaker 6: bye week. The schedule looks softer now, of course, it
- 23:50Speaker 6: looks softer than it really was, because Chargers were better
- 23:52Speaker 6: than people thought, and the Broncos were better than people thought.
- 23:55Speaker 6: The Commanders were better than people thought they were going
- 23:57Speaker 6: to be. But you know, when you look at this
- 23:59Speaker 6: team year ago getting into the playoffs, you know they
- 24:04Speaker 6: got there because at the end of the year they
- 24:05Speaker 6: got reasonable quarterback played from Mason Rudolph. Prior to that,
- 24:09Speaker 6: the quarterback position had been a real problem for this
- 24:12Speaker 6: year as they were really struggling. And you know, when
- 24:16Speaker 6: you upgrade that position, and I think they upgraded it
- 24:18Speaker 6: with you know, significantly with Russell Wilson and also with
- 24:21Speaker 6: Justin Fields. My expectation was, why wouldn't that make you
- 24:25Speaker 6: a better team?
- 24:26Speaker 4: You know?
- 24:27Speaker 6: And then and then they also went out in the
- 24:28Speaker 6: offseason and they signed Patrick Queen and Deshaun Elliott, two
- 24:33Speaker 6: players of course we know from being in the Baltimore Ravens.
- 24:36Speaker 6: They traded for Dante Jackson, the cornerback from Carolina, leaving
- 24:41Speaker 6: a whole receiver, but improving your team speed on defense
- 24:45Speaker 6: drafting Peyton Wilson at the middle linebacker position, so I
- 24:48Speaker 6: really thought this was going to be a better team. Maybe,
- 24:52Speaker 6: you know, perhaps not a better record because of the
- 24:55Speaker 6: schedule was so difficult, but a better team. So I'm
- 24:57Speaker 6: not really that surprised. I think Dan I was more
- 25:00Speaker 6: surprised that people didn't see that didn't see that, you
- 25:04Speaker 6: know what an upgrade in the quarterback position would mean,
- 25:07Speaker 6: because at the end of the year last year, they
- 25:08Speaker 6: needed to win three games to get into the playoffs,
- 25:11Speaker 6: and they did it with Mason Rudolph at quarterback, and
- 25:13Speaker 6: he provided an upgrade to what they'd had before. So
- 25:17Speaker 6: based on really mostly the quarterback position, but also those
- 25:20Speaker 6: key additions as well, I felt like this years were
- 25:22Speaker 6: a better team Heading into this season.
- 25:25Speaker 1: I think maybe some people wondered whether Russell Wilson was
- 25:28Speaker 1: going to be an upgrade, even over Mason Rudolph. He's
- 25:31Speaker 1: thirty five years old, he hadn't played particularly well in
- 25:33Speaker 1: recent seasons, although maybe he played better than people realized.
- 25:38Speaker 1: But since taking over as the starter for the Steelers,
- 25:40Speaker 1: the team is four and one. He's thrown seven touchdown
- 25:43Speaker 1: passes and only has a couple of picks. How would
- 25:45Speaker 1: you describe his play?
- 25:47Speaker 6: I think it's been solid and I think that solid
- 25:50Speaker 6: is a big upgrade. He's careful of the football. Of course,
- 25:53Speaker 6: Kenny Pickert was careful to the football too, but he
- 25:55Speaker 6: just wasn't making a lot of plays now again, whether
- 25:58Speaker 6: that was play designed and coordinator or quarterback, you know.
- 26:03Speaker 6: I think that was another big addition for the team
- 26:06Speaker 6: was getting Arthur Smith, a very well respected offensive coordinator,
- 26:10Speaker 6: to come in and run this offense.
- 26:13Speaker 5: Russell, I think has been very solid.
- 26:15Speaker 6: And I think that there are a couple of Steelers,
- 26:19Speaker 6: elder Statesman Steelers, who probably had a little extra motivation,
- 26:22Speaker 6: a little bit of a chip on their shoulders. One
- 26:25Speaker 6: was Connor Hayward or a bigger pardon of the Cameron Hayward,
- 26:28Speaker 6: the fine defensive tackle, outstanding players we all know who
- 26:32Speaker 6: you know could wind up in Canton when his season
- 26:35Speaker 6: is over. But he had a down year last year,
- 26:37Speaker 6: get nagging injuries, and his contract was up, and there
- 26:40Speaker 6: were those in Pittsburgh who questioned rather vocally whether he
- 26:44Speaker 6: should be brought back or not. And I and the
- 26:47Speaker 6: Steelers brought a back and he's having a fine season.
- 26:49Speaker 6: He's having to bounce back season, he's healthy. And I
- 26:51Speaker 6: think the same was true with Russell. Wilson, you know,
- 26:53Speaker 6: traded to Denver. Obviously, the massive trade the first year
- 26:57Speaker 6: was just a catastrophe he's had, which is no longer
- 27:00Speaker 6: to the best of my knowledge, even in the NFL.
- 27:02Speaker 6: I don't believe in any coaching capacity.
- 27:05Speaker 5: And then you know.
- 27:06Speaker 6: Last year, you know, with his head coach Sean Payton
- 27:09Speaker 6: just pulled the plug on him. You look at his
- 27:11Speaker 6: numbers and they were solid numbers. You know, the quarterback
- 27:15Speaker 6: rating was very good, to touchdown interception racetio was very good.
- 27:18Speaker 6: The team had a winning record in Denver under Russell Wilson.
- 27:21Speaker 6: So I think that those things, that sort of stability,
- 27:26Speaker 6: I think that might be the key word. And he's
- 27:28Speaker 6: provided stability to this offense, sort of a known commodity
- 27:33Speaker 6: of what you can and cannot do. The ability to
- 27:36Speaker 6: be more aggressive, whether it is coaching and other aspects
- 27:40Speaker 6: going for it. Do you bring a blitz on fourth down?
- 27:43Speaker 6: Do you take a risk here or there knowing that
- 27:47Speaker 6: your margin for error might be a little greater than
- 27:49Speaker 6: it's been in years past because you have a proven quarterback.
- 27:52Speaker 6: So I think all those things again, you know, I
- 27:55Speaker 6: think that's part of the Russell Wilson equation. You know.
- 27:58Speaker 6: To answer your question, I think it's been, you know,
- 28:01Speaker 6: very stolid quarterback play, much like we saw through much
- 28:05Speaker 6: of his career in Seattle, especially the latter half, where
- 28:09Speaker 6: you know he's not you know, he's not gonna throw
- 28:13Speaker 6: for five thousand yards and the offense doesn't require that.
- 28:16Speaker 6: But he knows how to win, knows how to move
- 28:17Speaker 6: the ball, knows how to put points in the board.
- 28:20Speaker 1: We are visiting with the voice of the Steelers, Rob King.
- 28:22Speaker 1: Over the last few years, the Steelers offensive line hasn't
- 28:25Speaker 1: been particularly good. They're starting a couple of rookies this
- 28:29Speaker 1: year and a second year player as well. Has it
- 28:31Speaker 1: been a significant upgrade.
- 28:34Speaker 6: That's a great question, Dan. I think it's I think
- 28:36Speaker 6: you can see that it will be. It's certainly upgraded
- 28:41Speaker 6: to center position. Zach Frazers having an outstanding season at
- 28:45Speaker 6: at center. You know, they they drafted Troy Futanu at
- 28:49Speaker 6: right tackle in the first round this year. He was
- 28:52Speaker 6: expected to be the starter. He was injured very early on.
- 28:57Speaker 6: We haven't seen him. James Daniels was one of their
- 29:01Speaker 6: better and certainly most experienced, a young veteran right guard.
- 29:05Speaker 6: He was a guy they were kind of counting on
- 29:07Speaker 6: he was injured. They put in Mason McCormick. It was
- 29:11Speaker 6: a unit that when we were watching them up in camp,
- 29:14Speaker 6: we were thinking, well, it's this is ten or eleven deep,
- 29:17Speaker 6: and what a wonderful position that's that is to be
- 29:20Speaker 6: in in the NFL because they just don't make that
- 29:23Speaker 6: many good offensive linemen.
- 29:25Speaker 5: It's hard to find a.
- 29:26Speaker 6: Team that goes you know, some teams don't have five
- 29:29Speaker 6: good starters, much less six, seven or eight. And then
- 29:33Speaker 6: injuries started to happen. They've they've lost a lot of
- 29:36Speaker 6: players to injuries along that offensive line. The Bengals will
- 29:40Speaker 6: have no sympathy with that. With the injuries they've had
- 29:42Speaker 6: on the back end of their defense, no one's going
- 29:45Speaker 6: to be crying any any tears for this year there's
- 29:48Speaker 6: injury was I think that it's it's solidifying. The expectation
- 29:52Speaker 6: would be if you told me you're going to start
- 29:54Speaker 6: a second year right tackle who's extremely young, and you're
- 29:59Speaker 6: going to be starting a first year right guard and
- 30:01Speaker 6: first year center, then I think that all in all,
- 30:04Speaker 6: it's been solid and hopefully the arrow is pointing up
- 30:07Speaker 6: for those guys in terms of improvement as well.
- 30:10Speaker 1: Chris Boswell leads the NFL with thirty one field goals.
- 30:14Speaker 1: For sake of comparison, he's got more than twice as
- 30:17Speaker 1: many as Evan McPherson, who's made fifteen. How critical has
- 30:20Speaker 1: Boswell been to this eight and three start?
- 30:23Speaker 6: Well, Absolutely critical, Dan, And you know he's had two
- 30:26Speaker 6: games in which he's six for six with field goals
- 30:29Speaker 6: and this year has won both those games and didn't
- 30:32Speaker 6: score touchdown either time. So without that happening for you,
- 30:37Speaker 6: you're not winning games, including the win over the Ravens.
- 30:40Speaker 6: And not to bring up a sore spot for the Bengals,
- 30:42Speaker 6: but think about McPherson's you know, extra pointed or a
- 30:45Speaker 6: field goal attempt in overtime that wins that game for
- 30:48Speaker 6: Cincinnati and what a different position that puts them in
- 30:52Speaker 6: going to this week. Just you know, five and six
- 30:54Speaker 6: is a huge difference in the AFC over four and seven.
- 30:58Speaker 6: He has been one of their best players. He was
- 31:00Speaker 6: the AFC Defensive Player of the Month in both September
- 31:04Speaker 6: and October. Without him, they are not in this position
- 31:07Speaker 6: because the formula, and again this ties back in with
- 31:11Speaker 6: the Russell Wilson conversation and some of the other improvements
- 31:14Speaker 6: they've made around the roster, but we all know how
- 31:16Speaker 6: important the quarterback position is. You know, there is there
- 31:19Speaker 6: was very little margin for error for the Steelers in
- 31:23Speaker 6: the last couple of years. Nine to two in one
- 31:25Speaker 6: score games. That's a very difficult pace to maintain. I
- 31:30Speaker 6: give Mike tom On a lot of credit for coaching
- 31:32Speaker 6: the team to victories and managing their way through victories,
- 31:36Speaker 6: and I think there's a you know, Chris Boswell has
- 31:38Speaker 6: been a huge part of that. I think that they'll
- 31:41Speaker 6: need a little bit less of that with Russell Wilson
- 31:43Speaker 6: at quarterback, the ability to maybe score some more points.
- 31:46Speaker 6: But no question, they don't make the playoffs last year
- 31:49Speaker 6: and they're not eight and three this year without Chris Boswell.
- 31:52Speaker 1: The Steelers defense has been excellent as always, their fourth
- 31:56Speaker 1: in the NFL and points allowed, but I was a
- 31:59Speaker 1: little bit surprised when I looked at the stats and
- 32:01Speaker 1: saw that they didn't have many sacks this year. Their
- 32:04Speaker 1: tied for twenty second in the NFL with twenty five
- 32:07Speaker 1: sacks as a team. What are they doing well on
- 32:11Speaker 1: defense to limit opposing offenses to such a low number
- 32:15Speaker 1: in terms of.
- 32:15Speaker 6: Scoring, well, I think, and you're right, Dan, I think
- 32:19Speaker 6: that that is something that raises an eyebrow, especially in
- 32:24Speaker 6: light of what happened on Thursday night in Cleveland during
- 32:27Speaker 6: the loss. So I think that one of the things
- 32:30Speaker 6: that's been beneficial is that even though they're not getting
- 32:32Speaker 6: a lot of sacks, they are getting a lot of pressure.
- 32:35Speaker 6: You know, Patrick Queen was one of the key guys
- 32:37Speaker 6: they picked up, and I was extremely interested to see
- 32:40Speaker 6: how they would use a middle linebacker of his varied skills.
- 32:43Speaker 6: He can blitz the passer, he can drop into coverage,
- 32:47Speaker 6: he can cover running backs, he can cover linebackers. He's
- 32:50Speaker 6: a sidelined to sideline player with great speed. A terrific
- 32:53Speaker 6: signing by the Steelers. Well, they've almost blitzed him. I
- 32:58Speaker 6: mean they've almost never blitzed him all season. They've been
- 33:00Speaker 6: able to drop seven. So they're not getting sacks, they
- 33:03Speaker 6: are getting some pressure. They're dropping seven. Dante Jackson, on
- 33:07Speaker 6: the other side, has added speed to the to the
- 33:11Speaker 6: cornerback position. You know, I was always a fan of
- 33:14Speaker 6: Deshaan Elliott as a safety when he played with Baltimore,
- 33:17Speaker 6: and now that I've seen him every day, I'm even
- 33:19Speaker 6: a bigger fan. I think he is one of the
- 33:22Speaker 6: unsung heroes in the defense. He is just a really,
- 33:25Speaker 6: really good football player. So they added to the overall
- 33:28Speaker 6: team speed. They're dropping seven and getting enough pressure on
- 33:32Speaker 6: quarterbacks that they don't have to bring a lot of blitzes.
- 33:36Speaker 6: You know, the Steelers played the Giants earlier. In the
- 33:38Speaker 6: Giants blitz a lot, and they get after the quarterback
- 33:40Speaker 6: a lot, but it makes them susceptible to giving up
- 33:42Speaker 6: big plays. The Steelers have been able to drop seven
- 33:45Speaker 6: get enough pressure on now. They didn't get enough pressure
- 33:49Speaker 6: on Jamis Winston on Thursday night in the snow in
- 33:52Speaker 6: Cleveland to affect the outcome of that game. That's not
- 33:56Speaker 6: something we're used to seeing with the Steelers. We're used
- 33:58Speaker 6: to seeing them get more pressure from the quarterback and
- 34:01Speaker 6: have that positive outcome from the defense. As far as
- 34:04Speaker 6: putting pressure on forcing the other team to make mistakes,
- 34:07Speaker 6: coming up with stripsacks, coming up with sacks, what have you,
- 34:11Speaker 6: coming up with a fluttering ball that gets intercepted. We
- 34:14Speaker 6: haven't seen that as much this year, and I think
- 34:17Speaker 6: that that's it. You know, it's going to need to
- 34:21Speaker 6: be a factor. I think on Sunday against Joe Burrow
- 34:24Speaker 6: and the Bengals, all.
- 34:26Speaker 1: Right, final thing for the voice of the Steelers, Rob King.
- 34:29Speaker 1: The Bengals, as you know, are scoring a lot of points,
- 34:31Speaker 1: but they are giving up just as many. What do
- 34:34Speaker 1: you think some of the keys to the game are
- 34:36Speaker 1: going to be from the Steelers perspective.
- 34:39Speaker 6: I think that obviously you have to limit You have
- 34:43Speaker 6: to limit those guys on the outside. I mean, Chase
- 34:45Speaker 6: and Higgins are you know what a formidable one two punch.
- 34:49Speaker 6: I don't think there's a better one two punch in
- 34:50Speaker 6: the league than those two guys. And I think Dante
- 34:53Speaker 6: Jackson will help you know, you have Joey Porter Junior
- 34:56Speaker 6: on one side and Dante Jackson the other that will
- 34:58Speaker 6: help you. Know, Brown, especially over the last three games,
- 35:02Speaker 6: it's one hundred and thirty one plus yards per game
- 35:05Speaker 6: from scrimmage for him, he's a guy who can run
- 35:07Speaker 6: the ball and beat you also out of the backfield.
- 35:11Speaker 6: So I think that they're going to have to do
- 35:12Speaker 6: a good job, you know, trying to contain those guys. Again,
- 35:15Speaker 6: you have to understand that Joe Burrow and that team
- 35:17Speaker 6: is probably going to score some points on you. So
- 35:20Speaker 6: if that happens, even if you limit them somewhat, what
- 35:23Speaker 6: does that mean then you have to do offensively.
- 35:25Speaker 1: Well.
- 35:25Speaker 6: It begins to me with stopping Hendrickson, you know, I mean,
- 35:30Speaker 6: he's got what eleven and a half and the next
- 35:32Speaker 6: guy is hvered with two.
- 35:34Speaker 5: That's a wide drop off.
- 35:36Speaker 6: They were facing a similar scenario in Cleveland against Miles Garrett,
- 35:41Speaker 6: and Miles Garrett had a phenomenon and was a huge
- 35:44Speaker 6: factor in Cleveland upsetting the Steelers. So I think that
- 35:47Speaker 6: stopping Hendrickson has to be a big key as well.
- 35:50Speaker 6: I mean, there are others, but I think limiting what
- 35:53Speaker 6: those guys can do, the skill guys offensively and making
- 35:56Speaker 6: sure that your quarterback stays up bright and Hendrickson doesn't
- 35:59Speaker 6: get home repeatedly, I think those would be the biggest keys.
- 36:03Speaker 1: Rob appreciate the time, appreciate the insight, and I'm looking
- 36:07Speaker 1: forward to the reunion of former WTVH five sports anchors
- 36:12Speaker 1: on Sunday at pay Corp Stadium.
- 36:14Speaker 6: Hey, you know, I'm very happy to say that one
- 36:16Speaker 6: of the two of us was recently awarded a prestigious
- 36:20Speaker 6: award from the New House School in Syracuse, and that
- 36:24Speaker 6: guy lives. But one guy, the guy who won that award,
- 36:26Speaker 6: I'm not going to go to it. He lives a
- 36:27Speaker 6: little further west than the guy who didn't work well.
- 36:31Speaker 1: I'll say this. We are very lucky to do what
- 36:33Speaker 1: we do for a living and it's great to make
- 36:36Speaker 1: great friends over the years like you. So look forward
- 36:38Speaker 1: to seeing you on Sunday.
- 36:40Speaker 6: Thank you, d I appreciate it.
- 36:42Speaker 1: Hi, thanks to Rob King and that's going to do
- 36:44Speaker 1: it for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought
- 36:46Speaker 1: to you by pay Corps, Proud to be the Bengals
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- 37:01Speaker 1: for the best fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare
- 37:04Speaker 1: provider of the Bengals. If you haven't done so already,
- 37:08Speaker 1: please subscribe to this podcast and if you have a minute,
- 37:10Speaker 1: give it a rating or share a comment that helps
- 37:14Speaker 1: more Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horde. Hope you
- 37:17Speaker 1: have a great Thanksgiving. Thanks for listening to The Bengals
- 37:21Speaker 1: Booth Podcast.