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Bengals Booth Podcast: Start Over · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. B Let's startle over addition, as
0:13
Speaker 1: the Bengals get ready for their preseason opener on Thursday
0:16
Speaker 1: night in Philly. Coming up, teammates and coaches react to
0:19
Speaker 1: an impressive training camp start for first round draft pick
0:22
Speaker 1: Shamar Stewart. I'll go one on one with quarterback Desmond Ritter,
0:26
Speaker 1: and we'll get smart analysis from Robert Weintraub from the
0:31
Speaker 1: FTN Football Almanac and Cincinnati Magazine. The Bengals Booth Podcast
0:36
Speaker 1: is brought to you by pay Corps, proud to be
0:38
Speaker 1: the Bengals official HR software provider, by aulta Fiber future
0:42
Speaker 1: proof fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business, and
0:45
Speaker 1: community to a new level, and by Kettering Health the
0:49
Speaker 1: best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is the
0:52
Speaker 1: official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now here's a quick
0:55
Speaker 1: reminder that you can have the latest edition of this
0:58
Speaker 1: podcast delivered to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing
1:03
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since
1:08
Speaker 1: playing the Feud. My wife and I enjoy playing bar
1:12
Speaker 1: trivia with our friends and neighbors, and we have a
1:14
Speaker 1: pretty competitive team. But recently we've also enjoyed playing a
1:18
Speaker 1: version that's similar to the classic TV show Family Feud.
1:23
Speaker 1: It's a little bit easier because instead of actually having
1:26
Speaker 1: to know facts, you just have to guess the most
1:29
Speaker 1: popular answers to survey questions. So if you've tried bar
1:35
Speaker 1: trivia and got turned off by the team of geeky
1:38
Speaker 1: geniuses that knew everything, give less, call feud a try.
1:43
Speaker 1: There's no Steve Harvey, but there is beer. Now let's
1:48
Speaker 1: get to football. There have been a lot of positive
1:51
Speaker 1: developments so far at training camp. The defense appears to
1:55
Speaker 1: be much improved, although there are days where it's impossible
1:59
Speaker 1: to stop Burrow, who's been throwing the ball with surgical precision.
2:04
Speaker 1: But my biggest takeaway in the last week since the
2:07
Speaker 1: last episode of this podcast is that Shamar Stuart has
2:10
Speaker 1: been living up to his nickname the Menace. In his
2:13
Speaker 1: second practice, Schamar had pass deflections on back to back
2:17
Speaker 1: plays and one of them would have been a sack
2:20
Speaker 1: if he didn't veer away from Jake Browning. Two days later,
2:24
Speaker 1: he had a sack of Desmond Ritter where I timed
2:27
Speaker 1: him getting to the quarterback in two point zero eight seconds.
2:31
Speaker 1: And on Saturday, when the team held its annual public
2:34
Speaker 1: practice inside of pay Court Stadium, Chamar had a sack,
2:38
Speaker 1: a pass deflection, and bull rushed three hundred and thirty
2:42
Speaker 1: pound tackle Devin Cochrane right into Browning. If you are
2:46
Speaker 1: skeptical of the pick because of Stuart's lack of sacks
2:49
Speaker 1: at Texas A and M, you should be encouraged by
2:52
Speaker 1: the impact he's having at practice. But don't take my
2:55
Speaker 1: word for it. Listen to these comments from Amarus Mims.
3:00
Speaker 2: It's a fierce ball of fire. Like some guys like that,
3:03
Speaker 2: you don't expect them to be big and fast. But
3:05
Speaker 2: he's just like I said's definitely definitely a very very
3:09
Speaker 2: talented m Like I said, man, speeding power is very
3:11
Speaker 2: important playing here because like I said, man, he's He's
3:13
Speaker 2: definitely a guy you gotta watch out focus. He would
3:15
Speaker 2: run through your face if you look, if you're not like,
3:17
Speaker 2: if you're not in.
3:17
Speaker 1: Your like ps and Q's man, fierce ball.
3:21
Speaker 2: That's what it is. That's what it is, man. I'm
3:23
Speaker 2: telling you, like he fast, he get off the ball.
3:25
Speaker 2: He running four six, but that ain't No. Four six
3:27
Speaker 2: off there. That's it feels faster for sure.
3:29
Speaker 3: Man.
3:29
Speaker 1: I guess everybody in this lock rings looking back out
3:32
Speaker 1: to make plays.
3:32
Speaker 2: Man, Man, yes, man, look at him like I said,
3:34
Speaker 2: we dropped him at seventeen pick for a reason. I
3:36
Speaker 2: know he's gonna make club. I told hm yesterday it's
3:38
Speaker 2: gonna be a bunch of ups and down player. But
3:40
Speaker 2: just getting up playbook and just minimize all your airs.
3:42
Speaker 2: You're gonna do a great football player. I saw one
3:44
Speaker 2: hundredth believe him. We're gona be a great player.
3:46
Speaker 1: He's not there yet, but five year veteran TJ. Slayton
3:49
Speaker 1: says it shouldn't take long for Stuart to make a splash.
3:52
Speaker 3: Uh.
3:53
Speaker 4: He's very quick.
3:53
Speaker 2: He's a naturally strong.
3:55
Speaker 3: Uh.
3:56
Speaker 4: He just needs a little little bit of moves and
3:58
Speaker 4: it's two balls and I feel like he be already
4:00
Speaker 4: right there.
4:01
Speaker 1: Defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery is trying to help Shamar
4:04
Speaker 1: develop those moves at practice. When he sees something he
4:08
Speaker 1: doesn't like, he immediately stops the drill and corrects it.
4:12
Speaker 4: You do something right on the patchout, you do something wall,
4:15
Speaker 4: I'm gonna show you how does do a better All right,
4:18
Speaker 4: I'm gonna correct it. But if you keep letting mistakes
4:20
Speaker 4: slip and you don't say anything, even to you are
4:23
Speaker 4: star players, then all of a sudden, you give him
4:25
Speaker 4: an answer to take a flip.
4:26
Speaker 1: All right, here comes a hot take. I'd be willing
4:29
Speaker 1: to bet that Shamar has more sacks this year than
4:33
Speaker 1: the four and a half he had in three years
4:35
Speaker 1: at A and M. But more importantly, he's going to
4:38
Speaker 1: impact the game with his versatility and relentless motor. Here's
4:43
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator Al Golden to.
4:45
Speaker 5: Whatever your opinion was of Shamar, that player is rare
4:51
Speaker 5: coming out of a draft. Somebody that can come off
4:54
Speaker 5: the edge one play playing the B gap, two plays
4:57
Speaker 5: later playing the C gap, set the edge, do multiple things.
5:01
Speaker 5: It's just rare because you generally get you guys that
5:05
Speaker 5: are two fifty five, But to get a guy to
5:08
Speaker 5: eighty that can do that with that kind of power
5:10
Speaker 5: is rare, and we're said to have.
5:12
Speaker 1: It's going to be fun to watch Stewart on Thursday
5:14
Speaker 1: night against the Eagles. Zach Taylor says his starters, including
5:19
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow, are going to play at some point in
5:21
Speaker 1: the preseason, but as of this recording, he hasn't shared
5:25
Speaker 1: his plans for the preseason opener. One thing we know
5:29
Speaker 1: for sure is that Jake Browning and Desmond Ritter will
5:33
Speaker 1: play in that game. Ritter joined the team just before
5:36
Speaker 1: the start of training camp as the Bengals were looking
5:38
Speaker 1: to upgrade the number three quarterback on the roster who
5:42
Speaker 1: is likely to be on the practice squad. Desmond, of course,
5:46
Speaker 1: had an incredible career at the University of Cincinnati, leading
5:49
Speaker 1: the Bearcats to a forty four and six record in
5:52
Speaker 1: his four years as the starting quarterback with trips to
5:55
Speaker 1: the Peach and Cotton Bolls. After being drafted in the
5:58
Speaker 1: third round by Atlanta, he went eight and nine as
6:01
Speaker 1: they're starting quarterback before being traded to Arizona after the
6:05
Speaker 1: Falcons signed Kirk Cousins. After spending last year with the
6:09
Speaker 1: Cardinals and the Raiders, Ritter became a free agent and
6:13
Speaker 1: beat out Tyler Hutley and c. J. Bethard in a
6:16
Speaker 1: tryout for a spot with the Bengals. I spoke to
6:20
Speaker 1: the twenty five year old from Lolaville this week. Dez
6:25
Speaker 1: complete the sentence. Joe Burrow is.
6:29
Speaker 6: The real deal, you know, just watching them every single day,
6:33
Speaker 6: all the days that I've been here the past couple
6:35
Speaker 6: of weeks. You know, on the field, off the field,
6:37
Speaker 6: you know, he's the real deal. So he's a great
6:40
Speaker 6: one to learn behind, a great one to see go
6:42
Speaker 6: through practice every single day, you know, go through his preparation,
6:46
Speaker 6: and so I'm excited, you know, once we get to
6:48
Speaker 6: a real game week to see what that truly looks like.
6:50
Speaker 6: But as four, it comes to camp. Every single day,
6:53
Speaker 6: he shows up and comes to work, and you know,
6:55
Speaker 6: it's it's like watching Art out there.
6:58
Speaker 1: You've been with the Falcons, Cardinals, and Raiders over the
7:00
Speaker 1: past few years, some good veteran quarterbacks on those teams,
7:04
Speaker 1: including Kyler Murray when you're in Arizona. But is Joe
7:07
Speaker 1: just different?
7:09
Speaker 6: Yeah, I would say so. You know, he's just different
7:11
Speaker 6: in a lot of ways. But you know, the biggest
7:14
Speaker 6: thing I've seen is just mentally the way he mentally
7:17
Speaker 6: sees the game out there on the field and is
7:19
Speaker 6: able to react and just get to the right place
7:22
Speaker 6: with the ball and put the ball on the right spot.
7:24
Speaker 6: But he's the fastest I've seen as far as reaction
7:28
Speaker 6: time to the defense and as far as where he
7:30
Speaker 6: knows where he wants to go to the.
7:31
Speaker 1: Ball we're visiting with Desmond Ritter. Let's turn the clock
7:34
Speaker 1: back to twenty eighteen. He red shirted your first year
7:37
Speaker 1: at UC and then in the off season, Joe Burrow
7:40
Speaker 1: is going to transfer from Ohio State. He's seriously considered.
7:44
Speaker 1: You see, he wound up at LSU. Had he been
7:47
Speaker 1: a Bearcat, you probably would have had to wait a
7:50
Speaker 1: couple of years to be the starting quarterback. Would you
7:52
Speaker 1: have stuck around? What do you think would have happened?
7:54
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, obviously back then, you know that transfer
7:57
Speaker 6: all there was different things of you know, it's not
7:59
Speaker 6: the wild ball, that's how it is today. But no,
8:01
Speaker 6: you know, we would have came in and we competed.
8:04
Speaker 6: You know, however it would have been you know, that
8:06
Speaker 6: was actually one of the couple of things that we
8:07
Speaker 6: had talked about. You know, when I got here earlier,
8:09
Speaker 6: I was like, you know, I heard that you you know,
8:12
Speaker 6: might have been coming to Cincinnati at some point, and
8:14
Speaker 6: he was like, yeah, you know, it's down to you know,
8:16
Speaker 6: the Bearcats and LSU, and you know, he chose a
8:19
Speaker 6: great route and obviously, you know, continue to have a
8:21
Speaker 6: great career down there at the Louisiana.
8:23
Speaker 1: I would say, it worked out well for both of
8:25
Speaker 1: you and both schools. Certainly, the Bengals have a quarterback
8:29
Speaker 1: centric organization. Mike Brown is a very successful quarterback at Dartmouth.
8:34
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor was the Big twelve Player of the Year
8:35
Speaker 1: in Nebraska. Dan Pitcher was an All American at the
8:38
Speaker 1: Division III level. Does that mean anything to you as
8:42
Speaker 1: a player in this organization.
8:44
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean for me being the quarterback and and
8:48
Speaker 6: just going out there and being able to play the
8:49
Speaker 6: game just a little bit different than I have the
8:51
Speaker 6: previous couple of years, you know, where maybe it's more
8:54
Speaker 6: of a pass first offense rather than a run first,
8:57
Speaker 6: whereas you know, throughout I would say as all of
9:00
Speaker 6: my past eight years through college through the NFL, I've
9:03
Speaker 6: been in run heavy offenses. So for to be able
9:06
Speaker 6: to come out here and you know, to want to
9:08
Speaker 6: throw the ball downfield and want to spread it out
9:10
Speaker 6: and get their playmakers of ball, it's something cool to
9:12
Speaker 6: be a part of.
9:13
Speaker 1: We're chatting with Desmond Ritter. You join the team just
9:16
Speaker 1: before the start of training camp. How long does it
9:18
Speaker 1: take to feel like you've got the offense mastered?
9:21
Speaker 3: Oh?
9:21
Speaker 6: I mean mastered is obviously the keyword. I mean, it
9:24
Speaker 6: takes a little bit, but to have a good sense
9:26
Speaker 6: and understanding of what you're doing, you know, I feel like,
9:29
Speaker 6: you know, we're into about the second week camp. We
9:31
Speaker 6: have about one hundred percent of the plays in and
9:33
Speaker 6: you know, i'd say I'm about you know, seventy five
9:35
Speaker 6: to eighty percent there. But there's still a lot of
9:37
Speaker 6: work to be done. But as far as mastering it,
9:39
Speaker 6: you know, it takes a year or a couple of years.
9:41
Speaker 6: And like I said, you know, Joe's been in it
9:43
Speaker 6: for five and he definitely hasn't mastered.
9:45
Speaker 1: In the Quarterback documentary on Netflix, there's a scene where
9:49
Speaker 1: Jared Goff has his wife helping him memorize the plays
9:53
Speaker 1: because they're so complicated and so wordy. Do you do
9:56
Speaker 1: anything like that with your wife or do you have
9:57
Speaker 1: any other tricks that help you?
9:59
Speaker 6: Yeah, no, that I mean, I would say that's pretty
10:01
Speaker 6: universal throughout the league, so I would I would say
10:03
Speaker 6: pretty much all of the quarterbacks wives have definitely read
10:06
Speaker 6: the script or time or two. So no, it was funny.
10:08
Speaker 6: We watched like the first episode of that show and
10:11
Speaker 6: my wife was like, hey, I do that and everything,
10:13
Speaker 6: and no, but I'd say, it's pretty universal if it's
10:16
Speaker 6: not your wife, someone's reading it to you, because there's
10:18
Speaker 6: no no way that you're able to just you know,
10:20
Speaker 6: read it off the paper and say it back to
10:22
Speaker 6: yourself and then truly understand it, because that's not how
10:25
Speaker 6: it is on Sundays. That's not how you get it
10:27
Speaker 6: in the game. You get it from someone else reading
10:29
Speaker 6: it to you. So it's pretty it's a pretty funny
10:32
Speaker 6: part of the of the Wags.
10:34
Speaker 1: Shout out to Claire for her assistance. Guys, you've had
10:37
Speaker 1: some good moments in the NFL. You've got eight wins
10:39
Speaker 1: as a starting quarterback. You beat Tom Brady in his
10:42
Speaker 1: final NFL regular season start. Do you have a highlight
10:46
Speaker 1: so far of your NFL career?
10:48
Speaker 3: Uh?
10:49
Speaker 6: No, I wouldn't. I woantn't say I have a highlight
10:51
Speaker 6: so far. You know, if you want to talk about one,
10:54
Speaker 6: it's just you know, being in the league, just stepping
10:55
Speaker 6: on the field for the first time, just going out
10:58
Speaker 6: there and playing the game I love and living out
11:00
Speaker 6: you know, my kids, my dream, and you know a
11:03
Speaker 6: lot of kids dreams in the world is just to
11:05
Speaker 6: be an NFL player. So to be able to go
11:07
Speaker 6: out there and live that out and just be one
11:09
Speaker 6: of the few, one of the many. You know, it's
11:12
Speaker 6: just a dream come true.
11:14
Speaker 1: You were the quarterback of two of the best teams
11:16
Speaker 1: in UC football history, and a lot of your former
11:18
Speaker 1: teammates are doing well in the NFL. Sauce Gardner's the
11:21
Speaker 1: highest paid cornerback. Alec Pierce led the league in yards
11:24
Speaker 1: per catch last year. Brian Cook has started for a
11:28
Speaker 1: Super Bowl team the last couple of years. Is that
11:30
Speaker 1: a huge source of pride to you, guys, and do
11:33
Speaker 1: you feel like you have changed the trajectory of UC football?
11:37
Speaker 3: Yeah?
11:37
Speaker 6: I don't know if that's a question for me or
11:39
Speaker 6: Coach Fick, but you know, I you know, I'm happy
11:42
Speaker 6: for all the guys that are successful. You know, they
11:44
Speaker 6: worked their butts off every single day, day in and
11:46
Speaker 6: day out, and show up to work every single week
11:49
Speaker 6: just to try to get better. And that's all we
11:51
Speaker 6: did at Cincinnati was just trying to make each other better,
11:53
Speaker 6: whether it was offense versus offense, or defense versus offense,
11:56
Speaker 6: whatever it may have been. I was just trying to
11:58
Speaker 6: make every single person around us better.
12:00
Speaker 1: As I imagine, you'll get a lot of opportunities to
12:02
Speaker 1: play in the preseason games. Is your thought, I need
12:06
Speaker 1: to do as well as I possibly can to show
12:08
Speaker 1: the Bengals that I'm a great option to be on
12:11
Speaker 1: the roster. Or is there also the thought in your
12:13
Speaker 1: back of your mind, I'm looking to be a starter
12:15
Speaker 1: in this league. If I play really well in the preseason,
12:18
Speaker 1: maybe somebody else picks me up.
12:19
Speaker 6: Uh you know, my thought is obviously just to go
12:22
Speaker 6: out and play the best ball that I can play,
12:24
Speaker 6: put my best foot for no matter whether it's here,
12:26
Speaker 6: there or anywhere, doesn't matter where I'm at. I want
12:28
Speaker 6: to go out there and be the best person on
12:30
Speaker 6: the field. So you know, I just want to step
12:33
Speaker 6: out there and have the mindset that I'm gonna go
12:35
Speaker 6: out there and play my best ball.
12:37
Speaker 1: Final thing for gusmin Ridder. You lived here for five years.
12:40
Speaker 1: Since you've been back playing for the Bengals, have you
12:42
Speaker 1: gone back to any of your favorite eateries or places
12:46
Speaker 1: in town? Have you had any opportunity to do anything
12:49
Speaker 1: like that, knowing how busy you've.
12:50
Speaker 6: Been, Uh no, not really. This is the only one
12:53
Speaker 6: place I've been to is Candada. You know, just grab
12:56
Speaker 6: a couple of tacos, some kso, but uh no, just
12:59
Speaker 6: during camp. Now, I haven't had that much time to
13:01
Speaker 6: kind of get out. You know, your off time has
13:03
Speaker 6: really just been wrestling, so you know, that's just what
13:06
Speaker 6: I've been doing.
13:07
Speaker 1: Great to see you in a Cincinnati jersey, whether it's
13:10
Speaker 1: Bearcats or Bengals. Best of luck in the preseason.
13:12
Speaker 6: Thank you Jan.
13:14
Speaker 1: Before we get to my next guest, here's a quick
13:16
Speaker 1: reminder that the Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you
13:18
Speaker 1: by pay Corps, proud to be the Bengals official HR
13:22
Speaker 1: software provider, by Alta Fiber future proof fiber Internet designed
13:26
Speaker 1: to elevate your home, business and community to a new level,
13:30
Speaker 1: and by Kettering Health the best care for the best fans.
13:33
Speaker 1: Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals.
13:37
Speaker 1: The FDN Football Almanac, formerly known as the Football Outsiders Almanac,
13:42
Speaker 1: came out recently and if you're thinking about buying one
13:45
Speaker 1: preseason guide to the NFL, this is the one to get.
13:49
Speaker 1: There's a bunch of interesting data in the book if
13:52
Speaker 1: that's your thing, but I enjoy it for the writing.
13:55
Speaker 1: The Almanac is informative, interesting and funny. There's an in
14:01
Speaker 1: depth look at every NFL team and the Cincinnati chapter
14:04
Speaker 1: was written by my friend Robert Weintraub, who also writes
14:08
Speaker 1: about the Bengals on a regular basis for Cincinnati Magazine
14:12
Speaker 1: dot com. Robert, every team in the FTN Almanac has
14:17
Speaker 1: a projected win total, and for the Bengals it's nine
14:20
Speaker 1: point one, which seems pessimistic, but then I look closer.
14:26
Speaker 1: It's the fifth best in the AFC, it's the eleventh
14:29
Speaker 1: best in the NFL. What does a projected win total
14:33
Speaker 1: of nine point one tell us about the Bengals.
14:36
Speaker 3: Well, let's remember first of all, that that was the
14:39
Speaker 3: win total exactly of what they've had the last two seasons,
14:42
Speaker 3: and they also arrived at those nine wins in very
14:46
Speaker 3: very different ways. If you remember twenty twenty three, they
14:49
Speaker 3: won nine games despite playing one of the hardest schedules
14:52
Speaker 3: we've ever measured, and without Joe Burrow for a lot
14:55
Speaker 3: of that time. And then last year it was the opposite.
14:58
Speaker 3: They had Burrow, they were explosive. We figured they cruise
15:01
Speaker 3: into the playoffs, and they found excruciating ways to lose
15:04
Speaker 3: every week. So you know, you have to remember that's
15:07
Speaker 3: just like a mean projection, mean not being pessimistic, mean,
15:11
Speaker 3: but mean being the sense of average. That we played
15:14
Speaker 3: the season a million times, as I always love to
15:16
Speaker 3: say to you and my doctor evil voice, and you
15:19
Speaker 3: know that's how it came out. The most number of
15:22
Speaker 3: times was nine wins. Doesn't mean we're predicting nine wins.
15:25
Speaker 3: And I think it's important to remember that the range
15:28
Speaker 3: is what's important, and by far the largest range in
15:31
Speaker 3: terms of percentage for the Bengals is between nine and
15:34
Speaker 3: eleven wins. So you know eleven The difference last year
15:38
Speaker 3: between nine wins and eleven wins was what a fumbled
15:42
Speaker 3: hold in overtime against the Ravens and the defensive penalty
15:45
Speaker 3: in Kansas City. You know, the slightest of margins, and
15:49
Speaker 3: we're thinking about the team entirely differently. Now. Of course,
15:53
Speaker 3: it could also increasingly go the other direction, and they
15:55
Speaker 3: could finish with fewer than nine wins, and then there
15:58
Speaker 3: would be wholesale changes, no doubt some of the areas
16:02
Speaker 3: on the sideline. But you know, I don't don't think
16:04
Speaker 3: of it as, oh, look, the Bengals are going to
16:06
Speaker 3: win nine games again. The truth is there, as you mentioned,
16:10
Speaker 3: one of the half dozen or so teams that are
16:13
Speaker 3: projected at the top of the AFC where they go
16:15
Speaker 3: from there. You know, the margins are very tight, but
16:18
Speaker 3: you know, this is sort of who the Bengals are also.
16:21
Speaker 3: I mean, we tend to think of if you take
16:23
Speaker 3: a holistic look at the team in the Borough era,
16:26
Speaker 3: you know, throw out his rookie year that didn't count,
16:28
Speaker 3: and just the last four years. We think of maybe
16:30
Speaker 3: last year as kind of the outlier. Oh, they were
16:32
Speaker 3: much better than a nine to eight team and they
16:34
Speaker 3: should have been a playoff team. And maybe that's true,
16:36
Speaker 3: but by under the hood metrics that we measure play
16:38
Speaker 3: by play efficiency DVA, our standard stat really twenty twenty
16:44
Speaker 3: two is the outlier. That's when they were really good
16:46
Speaker 3: and had a complete team and were much better than
16:50
Speaker 3: you know, sort of the competition, maybe the best team
16:52
Speaker 3: in football by the end of the year, even though
16:53
Speaker 3: it didn't translate to a Super Bowl championship. But the
16:57
Speaker 3: other three seasons that Burrow has been there, they've been
16:59
Speaker 3: basically the same team by DVOA and also by records nine,
17:02
Speaker 3: nine and ten wins. You know, so this is sort
17:04
Speaker 3: of who they are and DVOA isn't going to change
17:07
Speaker 3: that until they prove it on the field for more
17:09
Speaker 3: than one season, and you know the time is not
17:12
Speaker 3: to do that, no question about.
17:13
Speaker 1: It is the big difference for the DVOA. The defense.
17:18
Speaker 1: The defense of DVOA was good in twenty twenty two, correct, Yeah.
17:22
Speaker 3: It was much better than it has been the last
17:24
Speaker 3: couple of years. Absolutely, And yes there's also you know,
17:27
Speaker 3: subtle changes and when we project forward, you know, there's
17:30
Speaker 3: a lot of small differences that get taken into account
17:34
Speaker 3: in terms of you know, personnel changes and a little
17:36
Speaker 3: bit in terms of coaching as well. You know, in
17:38
Speaker 3: Cincinnati we're obviously banking a lot on a defensive coordinator change.
17:43
Speaker 3: That's the kind of thing that only slightly adjusts the
17:46
Speaker 3: statistics ort of the projection of the efficiency ahead of
17:49
Speaker 3: the season, but it can have a huge effect when
17:51
Speaker 3: the games actually are played. You know. So another reason
17:54
Speaker 3: why should only take those sort of preseason mean projections
17:58
Speaker 3: in terms of win totals as a you know, sort
18:00
Speaker 3: of a baseline indicator, but not necessarily something that's going
18:03
Speaker 3: to happen in terms of a week by week or
18:05
Speaker 3: an entire season projection.
18:07
Speaker 1: Really, we are chatting with our pal Robert Weintraub from
18:10
Speaker 1: the FTN Football Almanac. You can also read his work
18:12
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati Magazine. I have not read the Almanac cover
18:16
Speaker 1: to cover yet, but I've read a big chunk. And
18:19
Speaker 1: here is a sentence from the beginning of the Almanac.
18:22
Speaker 1: It's the fourth paragraph, in fact, and it's about how
18:25
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Eagles built their Super Bowl championship team. Quote.
18:29
Speaker 1: Teams win from the lines out, not from the perimeter
18:33
Speaker 1: in So when Bengals fans hear that, I can almost
18:38
Speaker 1: picture what they're saying. Ah, the Bengals are paying a
18:41
Speaker 1: lot of money on wide receivers when they should be
18:43
Speaker 1: focusing on the line. But then I look at the
18:46
Speaker 1: Bengals drafts. They took a defensive lineman in the first
18:49
Speaker 1: round this year, an offensive lineman in the first round
18:51
Speaker 1: last year, another defensive lineman in the first round the
18:54
Speaker 1: year before. So what do you think of the Bengals
18:57
Speaker 1: team building strategy.
19:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think their hearts, if you will, and minds
19:03
Speaker 3: have been in the right place. I mean, it's it's
19:06
Speaker 3: sort of you have to first and foremost before you
19:09
Speaker 3: build from the lines out. You got to get the
19:10
Speaker 3: quarterback right right, and that they did, and it happened
19:13
Speaker 3: to be in this case. You know, in Philadelphia's case,
19:16
Speaker 3: they still have excellent skill position players. They built from
19:19
Speaker 3: the line out because they had a lot of extra
19:22
Speaker 3: picks and they focused on that quite a bit and
19:24
Speaker 3: they've been able to you know, even when guys get
19:27
Speaker 3: lost to free agency or to injury, they are able
19:30
Speaker 3: to keep that machine going. Same as Baltimore. Really, Bengals
19:33
Speaker 3: haven't had the same you know, track record in developing
19:36
Speaker 3: the talent. That's really been where they've fallen behind the
19:38
Speaker 3: elite teams. I think though that as you mentioned, they've
19:41
Speaker 3: spent quite a bit of draft capital on the interior
19:44
Speaker 3: of their lines and both sides of the ball, that
19:47
Speaker 3: hasn't been the issue. And you know, you go back
19:49
Speaker 3: into Bengals history, they've always had an elite lineman, going
19:52
Speaker 3: back to the Anthony Mino's days right up until Andrew Whitworth,
19:56
Speaker 3: and you know, it's only been a recent vintage that
19:59
Speaker 3: they just for whatever reason can't seem to get that
20:01
Speaker 3: offensive line in shape the way they needed to play,
20:04
Speaker 3: and especially with the number of passes that they throw.
20:07
Speaker 3: Hopefully Amarius Men's takes that step forward and becomes that
20:10
Speaker 3: elite lineman. And you know, we've helped for other guys
20:12
Speaker 3: on both sides of the ball as well. But you know,
20:15
Speaker 3: it's not like the Bengals that, oh, we're gonna pay
20:18
Speaker 3: our wide receivers and ignore our line. I mean, it
20:20
Speaker 3: just happened to be a little bit. These things go in,
20:23
Speaker 3: you know, kind of dynamic ways, who was available to
20:25
Speaker 3: pay at what time, and it just so happened to
20:28
Speaker 3: be that they're really the only guys that you were
20:30
Speaker 3: going to pay the big money and extend right now
20:33
Speaker 3: are the wide receivers. If they had offensive or defensive
20:37
Speaker 3: linemen that were just justified in getting that money, I'm
20:40
Speaker 3: sure they would have given it to him without a
20:41
Speaker 3: second thought. So, you know, the Trey Hendrickson saga notwithstanding.
20:46
Speaker 3: So it's not like they're ignoring our precepts. And you know,
20:49
Speaker 3: those are rules that are made to be broken. There's
20:52
Speaker 3: plenty of teams that could be proven as counter examples
20:55
Speaker 3: to the Eagles, who you know, were extreme in that
20:59
Speaker 3: particular way of building from the lines out. But you know,
21:01
Speaker 3: the Browns forever had Hall of famers on their offensive
21:04
Speaker 3: line like Joe Thomas and Alex Mack, and they couldn't
21:07
Speaker 3: get out of their own way and finish last every
21:09
Speaker 3: single year. So It's not like it's a hard and
21:11
Speaker 3: fast rule, but in general principle, you do want to
21:14
Speaker 3: pay attention to the lines on both sides of the ball,
21:16
Speaker 3: and the Eagles certainly proved that last season.
21:19
Speaker 1: Robert, you wrote the Bengals chapter again this year in
21:21
Speaker 1: the Almanac, and there's some really interesting information and data
21:27
Speaker 1: on lou Anarumo in the Bengals chapter. His defenses were
21:30
Speaker 1: great in the playoffs in twenty one and twenty two,
21:35
Speaker 1: good in the regular season in twenty twenty two, and
21:38
Speaker 1: he almost got a head coaching job as a result.
21:41
Speaker 1: But as you point out, overall, the body of work
21:45
Speaker 1: was not that good. Was the reputation better than the record?
21:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think there's any question. And remember he
21:52
Speaker 3: didn't have much of a reputation when he came to Cincinnati,
21:55
Speaker 3: and he was hired very late in the process, and
21:57
Speaker 3: he was pretty anonymous really up until that twenty twenty
22:00
Speaker 3: one playoff run and maybe even until the second half
22:03
Speaker 3: of the Chiefs came. I mean, that's where his reputation
22:05
Speaker 3: really was built. Followed up on it with an excellent
22:08
Speaker 3: twenty two and two all the way through, as he
22:10
Speaker 3: pointed out, And you know, but that was a short
22:13
Speaker 3: sample size, and if you look at the rest.
22:15
Speaker 7: Of the years, the two years before and or two
22:19
Speaker 7: years before and two years after, defenses weren't that great
22:22
Speaker 7: and they had a lot of similar issues, which was
22:24
Speaker 7: mainly tackling and getting to the passer and you know,
22:28
Speaker 7: in a lot of ways, not making the key play
22:30
Speaker 7: in the key moments in the red.
22:32
Speaker 3: Zone and on third down. And you know, I think
22:35
Speaker 3: looking back on it, he had a certain way of
22:38
Speaker 3: style that he wanted to play. Lou And I'm not
22:41
Speaker 3: denigrating him as a coach, obviously he knows what he's doing,
22:44
Speaker 3: but it certainly seemed in the last couple of years
22:46
Speaker 3: that once Jesse Bates left, he didn't have an answer
22:49
Speaker 3: to it, just to the idea that, Okay, Jesse will
22:52
Speaker 3: clean up everything that doesn't go exactly right in the
22:55
Speaker 3: in the rest of the team at a given play.
22:59
Speaker 3: And he saw that really exacerbated last year I think,
23:01
Speaker 3: where he just you know, stuck to a system that
23:04
Speaker 3: wasn't working for way too long until the season got
23:06
Speaker 3: away from him. Had issues with a lot of the players,
23:09
Speaker 3: and you know, when he simplified things that made it
23:11
Speaker 3: easier for them and tailored his defense to what the
23:14
Speaker 3: guys he had left could do. Well. He saw the
23:17
Speaker 3: defense improve in the last third of the season, granted
23:19
Speaker 3: against you know, some mediocre quarterbacks, but still they played
23:23
Speaker 3: a lot better. And you know, I don't think there's
23:26
Speaker 3: any doubt that if he had gone to that sort
23:29
Speaker 3: of you know, I'll just use what I have right
23:31
Speaker 3: now and not you know, kind of force the players
23:34
Speaker 3: into playing what I think works best and do what
23:37
Speaker 3: they do best. A lot earlier in twenty twenty four,
23:39
Speaker 3: he might still have a job, but you know he doesn't.
23:42
Speaker 3: And now we'll see what Al Golden can do with
23:44
Speaker 3: basically the same personnel and you know, just a different
23:49
Speaker 3: approach and a different mindset, and hopefully it works. Obviously
23:52
Speaker 3: all Bengals fans eyes around him. There's no doubt about that.
23:55
Speaker 1: So, speaking of Al Golden, I heard you mentioned in
23:57
Speaker 1: a radio interview last week with our mutual friends Moegger
24:01
Speaker 1: that you are writing about Al for Cincinnati Magazine. What
24:05
Speaker 1: were some of the biggest takeaways from the time that
24:07
Speaker 1: you spent with him.
24:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, and shout out to mo what a guy. I
24:12
Speaker 3: think for the most part, it's you know, I didn't
24:14
Speaker 3: we didn't really get into like schemes or anything like
24:17
Speaker 3: that too heavily. But I think the most thing that
24:19
Speaker 3: I took away was just that, you know, his his
24:22
Speaker 3: overall professionalism and confidence in his ability to do the
24:26
Speaker 3: job and to you know, be a coach at this level.
24:29
Speaker 3: You know, I think a lot of Bengal fans kind
24:31
Speaker 3: of only know him as a position coach from the
24:34
Speaker 3: Super Bowl team and then a guy who left to
24:36
Speaker 3: go to Notre Dame and coordinate a really good defense
24:38
Speaker 3: there and now he's coming back to try and prove
24:40
Speaker 3: himself here. But you know, that's not really who Al
24:42
Speaker 3: Golden is. He's a programmed builder, head coach in college
24:46
Speaker 3: at multiple places, and the guy who actually won games
24:49
Speaker 3: at Temple, which is almost impossible to do. He knows
24:52
Speaker 3: what he's doing. He has an absolutely dedicated approach that
24:56
Speaker 3: he you know, has proven successful in a number of stops.
25:00
Speaker 3: And you know, the NFL is a different animal, and
25:03
Speaker 3: whether you can win on a consistent basis in this
25:05
Speaker 3: league with your style remains to be seen. But he
25:09
Speaker 3: definitely knows what he's doing and is very confident of that.
25:12
Speaker 3: There's no doubt about that.
25:14
Speaker 1: The last time he was here, there was a season
25:16
Speaker 1: where the Bengals drafted three linebackers out of seven picks,
25:20
Speaker 1: including Logan Wilson, and they all turned out to be
25:22
Speaker 1: good players. This year, two of their top four draft
25:25
Speaker 1: picks were linebackers. Demetrius Knight is likely to start from
25:29
Speaker 1: day one. Is linebacker especially critical to an l golden defense?
25:35
Speaker 3: You know, he certainly thinks, so who might argue with him? Yeah,
25:40
Speaker 3: I think in general terms, he's looking at it as
25:44
Speaker 3: two ways that you know, he wants to increase the
25:47
Speaker 3: speed of the defense and the tackling at that position.
25:49
Speaker 3: So that's why they went after, especially a player like Knight,
25:54
Speaker 3: and that can obviously help your defense as a whole.
25:56
Speaker 3: You know, there's an old saying in football, if your
25:58
Speaker 3: linebackers are faster, defense fast, and I think, you know,
26:01
Speaker 3: we saw the opposite be true in a lot of
26:03
Speaker 3: ways in Cincinnati last year. And I also think that,
26:05
Speaker 3: you know, for the most part, he saw a lot
26:08
Speaker 3: of guys that he could already work with in Cincinnati
26:10
Speaker 3: at the other position groups on the defensive line and
26:13
Speaker 3: in the secondary, almost thinking all right, I mean, you know,
26:16
Speaker 3: he only had so many draft picks to play with
26:19
Speaker 3: per se, but I mean, you know, he figured out
26:21
Speaker 3: we had the talent on hand up front, and then
26:24
Speaker 3: the defensive backfield linebacker is really the place where we
26:27
Speaker 3: can really improve. And you know, the idea is that
26:30
Speaker 3: with the new personnel, the two picks you mentioned, plus
26:33
Speaker 3: maybe an Orang Burks chips in as well and his
26:37
Speaker 3: sort of you know, not over reliance, but more reliance,
26:40
Speaker 3: I think you'll see a lot more of a three
26:41
Speaker 3: linebacker sets than you've seen in the past. Certainly, you know,
26:44
Speaker 3: the league kind of went to three wide receivers, which
26:47
Speaker 3: tended to take a lot of the linebackers off the
26:50
Speaker 3: field quite a bit, but that seems to be swinging
26:52
Speaker 3: a little bit the other way. And certainly in the
26:54
Speaker 3: AFC North, you always want to play good run defense.
26:56
Speaker 3: So I think he looks at it as there's a
26:59
Speaker 3: place where the defense and immediately be improved. Can really
27:02
Speaker 3: set a different kind of attitude for the team, and
27:05
Speaker 3: you know, give a different look than the defenses that
27:08
Speaker 3: were gashed the last couple of years, and maybe make
27:10
Speaker 3: offensive coordinators of the opposition think they'll have to go
27:13
Speaker 3: find another way to move the ball.
27:14
Speaker 1: Against Cincinnati, we are chatting with Robert Weintraub from the
27:18
Speaker 1: FTN Football Almanac in Cincinnati Magazine. Let's talk offensive line.
27:23
Speaker 1: It looks like third round draft pick Dylan Fairchild will
27:26
Speaker 1: be the starting left guard this year. Right guard still
27:30
Speaker 1: up for grabs, could be Cody Ford, could be Lucas Patrick.
27:33
Speaker 1: Maybe somebody else like Cordel Vohlson sneaks in there and
27:36
Speaker 1: wins the spot. You have referred to the battle at
27:39
Speaker 1: right guard as the melee of mediocrates. Is that position,
27:44
Speaker 1: or guard in general, the big worry in your mind
27:47
Speaker 1: going into this year?
27:49
Speaker 3: I mean, certainly on the offense, it is no question.
27:52
Speaker 3: You know, it's we've seen now in the NFL where
27:55
Speaker 3: defenses are really attacking quarterbacks up the middle more and
27:58
Speaker 3: more the linemen that they have to play against and
28:02
Speaker 3: up the gut at defensive tackle or getting ever more
28:05
Speaker 3: talented and giving a lot more pressure up the middle,
28:07
Speaker 3: and the The Bengals have responded by essentially turning over
28:10
Speaker 3: the position to a rookie who is a good prospect
28:13
Speaker 3: deal and Fairchild, but it's you know, it's not Quenton
28:15
Speaker 3: Nelson or somebody coming into the league as a slam
28:18
Speaker 3: dunk player, and you know, a journeyman in probably Lucas Patrick.
28:22
Speaker 3: As you say, most likely has the leg up, but again,
28:25
Speaker 3: who's missed a lot of time seventeen games, I think
28:28
Speaker 3: it is over the last three years, and you know,
28:31
Speaker 3: not much behind them except for stopgap you know, answers
28:34
Speaker 3: really there, and I guess it's still certainly possible they
28:36
Speaker 3: could call somebody in the off the sofa, but that
28:40
Speaker 3: has its own issues. And you know, it's just you
28:43
Speaker 3: have such a such an lead offense and so many
28:46
Speaker 3: other places, and you know, to have it be at
28:50
Speaker 3: acting and operating at its max doesn't require every single
28:55
Speaker 3: position to be awesome, but it does require every position
28:58
Speaker 3: not to be terrible, or these you know, two key
29:00
Speaker 3: positions in the same position group not to be terrible.
29:04
Speaker 3: So the bar isn't really all that high for the
29:06
Speaker 3: likes of Dylan Fairschild and Nucas Patrick or whoever plays
29:09
Speaker 3: right guard. They just have to be a little bit
29:11
Speaker 3: above replacement level player, which is unfortunately the level that
29:14
Speaker 3: the Bengals have seen over the last few years at
29:16
Speaker 3: some of those spots. So, you know, I'm a little
29:19
Speaker 3: pessimistic about the idea of turning your you know, this
29:22
Speaker 3: sort of lamborghinium and offense and then worrying about the
29:25
Speaker 3: hug caps falling off if you know, you wind up
29:27
Speaker 3: playing a rookie and a journeyman at these important spots.
29:30
Speaker 3: But you know, that's sort of where we are now.
29:32
Speaker 3: We're just gonna have to hope for the best.
29:34
Speaker 1: I suppose the Bengals are definitely going to be playing
29:37
Speaker 1: younger players on defense. And here's another line from the
29:40
Speaker 1: Almanac that caught my eye. Quote old players break down
29:44
Speaker 1: faster and young players improve faster. Does that bode well
29:50
Speaker 1: for this defense under Al Golden?
29:53
Speaker 3: I mean one would hope. So the defense is certainly young.
29:55
Speaker 3: I feel like the problem last year in a lot
29:57
Speaker 3: of ways, unfortunately, was that the young player is broke though,
30:01
Speaker 3: you know, I mean you look at the likes of
30:03
Speaker 3: Dax Hill and DJ Turner just the name too, you know,
30:06
Speaker 3: key elements, key factors, both guys who seem to be
30:10
Speaker 3: on the verge of kind of breaking through and then
30:12
Speaker 3: they were lost for the season. And you know, that's
30:15
Speaker 3: the NFL. I mean, that's that's just the way it works.
30:17
Speaker 3: But you know, just because you're young doesn't mean you're
30:20
Speaker 3: immune to injury. Obviously, you want to be young, fast
30:23
Speaker 3: and hungry, and if you're putting so much money. As
30:26
Speaker 3: the Bengals are into their offense, there's sort of no option.
30:29
Speaker 3: You're going to have to rely on younger players who
30:32
Speaker 3: don't make a lot of money to you know, get
30:34
Speaker 3: the job done. And I think that's you know, Al
30:38
Speaker 3: Golden has proven that as his specialty. Certainly in Notre Dame.
30:41
Speaker 3: He coached up a lot of young guys and turned
30:43
Speaker 3: them into a fearsome unit. I think that's what everybody's
30:45
Speaker 3: counting on him to do here in Cincinnati, and you know,
30:49
Speaker 3: I hope for the best, but you know, they have
30:52
Speaker 3: to stay healthy. And I think that was a big
30:53
Speaker 3: underrated element to last year's quote unquote defensive breakdown in
30:57
Speaker 3: a lot of ways was the fact that a lot
30:59
Speaker 3: of guys not only we're out for a season, but
31:02
Speaker 3: you know, got off to an injured starting training camp
31:04
Speaker 3: and never really got up to speed up to full speed.
31:07
Speaker 3: They were playing from behind the eight ball the whole time.
31:09
Speaker 3: Hopefully they can stay healthy. Injuries always happened, but you
31:12
Speaker 3: hope that Dell, certainly with the young players that have
31:14
Speaker 3: been picked highly in the draft in a few recent years,
31:17
Speaker 3: can stay on the field and prove their worth. That's
31:20
Speaker 3: really been the issue for them so far.
31:22
Speaker 1: Trey Hendrickson is in the building, but he's not practicing.
31:26
Speaker 1: We're not sure what's going to happen with his contract.
31:29
Speaker 1: He obviously is under contract for this year. He had
31:32
Speaker 1: seventeen and a half sacks. Last year, his teammates combined
31:35
Speaker 1: had eighteen and a half. How vital is Trey Hendrickson
31:39
Speaker 1: to the Bengals Super Bowl hopes?
31:41
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, he's one of their best players, and
31:43
Speaker 3: it's hard to win a Super Bowl without your best
31:46
Speaker 3: players being healthy and producing at a high level. I mean,
31:49
Speaker 3: that part's obvious, you know. I kind of feel that
31:53
Speaker 3: just by nature of his position, there's certainly a number
31:56
Speaker 3: of guys, including the player that they just picked, you know,
31:59
Speaker 3: for in the draft this past year, Samar Stewart, who
32:02
Speaker 3: are available to at least provide, you know, a healthy
32:05
Speaker 3: amount of percentage of what he provided at least last year,
32:09
Speaker 3: you know, and maybe they can get by without him
32:12
Speaker 3: operating at one hundred percent or if he has to
32:14
Speaker 3: miss a few games, whatever, you know. I look to
32:18
Speaker 3: a player, maybe like a Marius Mims or Orlando Brown
32:23
Speaker 3: as even more critical that they have to stay healthy
32:25
Speaker 3: and on the field and be there because of what's
32:28
Speaker 3: behind them, which is not much. And because of what
32:30
Speaker 3: we expect from both those players. You know, obviously, as
32:34
Speaker 3: we say, to make a Super Bowl run, to make
32:36
Speaker 3: a deep playoff run, it's hard to do without your
32:39
Speaker 3: very best guys, and Trey is certainly one of their
32:41
Speaker 3: very best guys. And I think you know you mentioned
32:44
Speaker 3: before about the question about older players breaking fast. I mean,
32:47
Speaker 3: I think that's what Cincinnati's front office has in the
32:49
Speaker 3: front of their mind in terms of contract negotiations with Trey,
32:52
Speaker 3: is that the greatest he's been in the past. The
32:55
Speaker 3: overwhelming likelihood of players of his age and his position
32:59
Speaker 3: going forward is that of breaking down or you know,
33:02
Speaker 3: certainly losing a percentage of ability to play through an
33:05
Speaker 3: entire season. So you just hope that Trey will be
33:08
Speaker 3: signed happy and make it through an entire season and
33:11
Speaker 3: have it be anywhere close to what he had last year,
33:14
Speaker 3: because he was, as you mentioned, virtually the entirety of
33:17
Speaker 3: their pass rush, although surprisingly enough, in twenty twenty three
33:21
Speaker 3: and twenty twenty four the past the pressure rate excuse me,
33:24
Speaker 3: it was almost exactly the same. It was just that
33:27
Speaker 3: the sacks themselves fell off, and the adjusted sack rate
33:30
Speaker 3: the percentage of sacks these a vi the dropbacks that
33:33
Speaker 3: they faced fell off dramatically, so you know, again it
33:37
Speaker 3: was the margins that really hurt them. If you think
33:40
Speaker 3: back to the games last year, how many times did
33:41
Speaker 3: they almost sacked the quarterback and yet the quarterback escaped
33:45
Speaker 3: they made a big play. Lamar Jackson's made a career
33:47
Speaker 3: of that against Cincinnati, or even the opener when Trey
33:50
Speaker 3: came so close against Jacoby Brissette against the Patriots in
33:53
Speaker 3: that game and just couldn't bring him down. You know,
33:56
Speaker 3: I don't. I don't feel like the defense is even
33:58
Speaker 3: that far off in that could and obviously having Hendrickson
34:01
Speaker 3: on the team can only help in that fashion.
34:04
Speaker 1: Robert, there are a ton of interesting stats and nuggets
34:07
Speaker 1: in the Almanac in addition to fantastic writing. But here
34:10
Speaker 1: are a couple of nuggets that really surprised me. Number One,
34:14
Speaker 1: the Bengals led the NFL in dropped passes. I would
34:18
Speaker 1: have never guessed that. Number Two, the Bengals were really
34:23
Speaker 1: bad at running plays when Joe Burrow was under center.
34:27
Speaker 1: For the last several years, we've talked about, Oh, he's
34:28
Speaker 1: got to get under center more to help the running game.
34:31
Speaker 1: Did those nuggets or any others really jump out to you?
34:36
Speaker 3: Well, I tell you I wasn't not shocked, but those
34:38
Speaker 3: two that you cite. And here's why. The drop passes
34:41
Speaker 3: mostly as a function of the fact that the Bengals threw
34:43
Speaker 3: it so much, their volume was so high. Surprisingly, only
34:47
Speaker 3: the Browns threw it more than the Bengals did last season.
34:50
Speaker 3: Amazingly enough, they had the same number of attempts almost
34:52
Speaker 3: but the Bengals completed I think about eleven percentage points
34:55
Speaker 3: higher than the Browns, which is almost impossible if you
34:58
Speaker 3: throw the same amount of passes. But that's a whole
35:00
Speaker 3: different story. So you know, it just goes to show
35:03
Speaker 3: if they had caught more of those grabs, how incredible
35:05
Speaker 3: burrow season really would have been. But it wasn't truly shocking,
35:09
Speaker 3: just from a volume point of view. And yeah, we've
35:11
Speaker 3: been talking forever about how getting Burrow under center can
35:15
Speaker 3: really help diversify the offense. I think when Eric All
35:17
Speaker 3: was on the field that they tried to lean in
35:20
Speaker 3: that direction a little bit more, and when he got hurt,
35:22
Speaker 3: you know, they went right back to their comfort zone.
35:24
Speaker 3: I mean, Joe Burrow is an elite shotgun player, and
35:27
Speaker 3: they've always had heavy splits in that department where they
35:30
Speaker 3: were very good with him both throwing and running from
35:34
Speaker 3: the shotgun, and very poor under center. And without a
35:38
Speaker 3: dedicated effort to really try and even those two splits out,
35:42
Speaker 3: it's kind of just going to be that way, and
35:44
Speaker 3: you know, hopefully we can see that change as the
35:46
Speaker 3: personnel maybe changes going forward. I think the stat that
35:49
Speaker 3: really jumped out of me as being most indicative of
35:52
Speaker 3: the entire season, however, was the fact that the Bengals
35:54
Speaker 3: spent more time than any other team tied during their games.
35:58
Speaker 3: Almost a full quarter every game was spent tied, and
36:02
Speaker 3: that just shows you how close the margins were and
36:06
Speaker 3: how even everything was, and how you know, coming out
36:10
Speaker 3: at nine and eight almost was sort of, you know,
36:13
Speaker 3: proper too bad they couldn't go eight and eight, and
36:16
Speaker 3: just you know, everything came down it seemed like every
36:18
Speaker 3: week to a coin flip, and so many of them fell,
36:21
Speaker 3: you know, on the wrong side of the fence, if
36:23
Speaker 3: you will, and they just have to get a couple
36:25
Speaker 3: of those games on the right side of the fence,
36:28
Speaker 3: and we think about the team in an entirely different way.
36:30
Speaker 3: That would really be what I'm looking forward for this
36:33
Speaker 3: season is to win some of those close games and
36:35
Speaker 3: hopefully the defense making plays, you know. And another stat
36:40
Speaker 3: that leeds to mind is that they, you know, really
36:42
Speaker 3: had a good season in terms of, you know, average
36:44
Speaker 3: yards per attempt against. The secondary was much maligned, but
36:48
Speaker 3: on a play to play basis, they weren't that bad.
36:50
Speaker 3: But they gave up thirty touchdowns and their the rate
36:54
Speaker 3: of touchdown passes against was at the bottom of the league.
36:57
Speaker 3: So if you just you know, you make some of
36:59
Speaker 3: those plays and tackle them at the eight yard line
37:01
Speaker 3: and you reset and you force the team and kick
37:03
Speaker 3: a field goal instead of scoring a touchdown, that changes
37:06
Speaker 3: everything in the game. We don't really think of it
37:08
Speaker 3: as that way when you take the holistic look at it,
37:10
Speaker 3: the big picture look, but you know, on a play
37:13
Speaker 3: to play basis, that's really where the Bengals were killed
37:16
Speaker 3: last year. And if they can improve that, dave as
37:18
Speaker 3: a good chance as anybody as being a you know,
37:20
Speaker 3: in a week team in a Upper Russia on team
37:22
Speaker 3: for sure.
37:22
Speaker 1: A few more topics for Robert Wintrop from the FTN
37:25
Speaker 1: Football Almanac in Cincinnati Magazine. Let's talk about the AFC North,
37:30
Speaker 1: the Almanac makes a compelling case that Baltimore statistically has
37:36
Speaker 1: been one of the best teams in the modern era,
37:40
Speaker 1: and yet they have not been to the Super Bowl
37:42
Speaker 1: with Lamar Jackson at quarterback? Is something obvious holding them back?
37:47
Speaker 1: What's the deal? You know?
37:50
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't think it's obvious. I think it's
37:52
Speaker 3: they've just come up against and had misfortune in the
37:55
Speaker 3: biggest of spots. And you know, it's hard for a
37:59
Speaker 3: statistical based organization like we are to really put our
38:02
Speaker 3: finger exactly on why that seemingly keeps happening. It wasn't
38:06
Speaker 3: that long ago, you remember, though, that they seem to
38:08
Speaker 3: be in a bit of a flux and Lamarrow obviously
38:11
Speaker 3: was playing out his contract and in a dispute maybe
38:14
Speaker 3: yet for trade, maybe there was collusion to keep him
38:17
Speaker 3: from being traded, whatever. But you know, we thought of
38:20
Speaker 3: the team as having a lot of holes and maybe
38:22
Speaker 3: in a direction that they didn't want to go in.
38:24
Speaker 3: And in typical Raven fashion, they managed to have a
38:27
Speaker 3: couple of really high impact drafts in a row, and
38:30
Speaker 3: Lamar came back and obviously came back that almost better
38:33
Speaker 3: than ever. And it's unfortunate, but that's the truth, we
38:36
Speaker 3: were almost rid of him and we just couldn't quite
38:39
Speaker 3: get him out of the division. But there's no doubt
38:41
Speaker 3: they've they've been probably the first or second best team
38:45
Speaker 3: overall over the last couple of years in the regular season.
38:48
Speaker 3: But you know, they have this thing, and it's certainly
38:50
Speaker 3: not unprecedented in football history or sports history for a
38:54
Speaker 3: team just to be really good and yet not break
38:57
Speaker 3: through to the championship level, you know, until they do.
39:00
Speaker 3: I mean, many's the time that the team has stubbed
39:03
Speaker 3: their toe on the way up multiple seasons in a row,
39:06
Speaker 3: only to finally then break through it one year or
39:10
Speaker 3: a number of years. I don't think we want that
39:12
Speaker 3: to happen in Cincinnati at the expense of the Bengals.
39:15
Speaker 3: But you know, in ravens Land, I'm sure they're thinking
39:17
Speaker 3: they're just really close. There's no point in changing things.
39:20
Speaker 3: They don't have a lot of, you know, things that
39:22
Speaker 3: they can point to and say, oh, this is the
39:24
Speaker 3: reason why we're losing in these you know, high impact,
39:27
Speaker 3: you know, high pressure playoff games. They've just made a
39:30
Speaker 3: few less plays than the opposition in those handful of games,
39:33
Speaker 3: and there's you know, there's only so much you can
39:35
Speaker 3: do about it, except, you know, play better on the day.
39:38
Speaker 3: I guess you'd have to say.
39:40
Speaker 1: You wrote the Pittsburgh Steelers chapter in the Almanac this year.
39:44
Speaker 1: Is this the year that Mike tomlin streak of never
39:48
Speaker 1: having had a losing season ends in year nineteen?
39:55
Speaker 3: Well, I mean to answer your own question almost by
39:57
Speaker 3: saying it in that way, it's almost impossible to think
39:59
Speaker 3: right out. I'm never one to soft pedal the Steelers.
40:04
Speaker 3: I've learned that lesson the hard way. With a lot
40:07
Speaker 3: of black and gold cleats on the back of my head.
40:09
Speaker 3: It feels like they have a lot of good players,
40:13
Speaker 3: a lot of good players. I mean, you look past
40:15
Speaker 3: their quarterback dysfunction, and obviously that's a huge thing. And
40:19
Speaker 3: I'm not trying to say that's not important. That's the
40:21
Speaker 3: most important thing really, But you know, the Bengals have
40:24
Speaker 3: lost the Steelers with the players like Duck Hodges and
40:27
Speaker 3: Kenny Pickett and all kinds of you know, mediocre the
40:30
Speaker 3: worst quarterbacks in Pittsburgh. So you know, we don't know
40:33
Speaker 3: what Aaron Rodgers is going to give them, if he
40:36
Speaker 3: gives them even sort of a you know, just above
40:38
Speaker 3: average play. They they do have a ton of young talent,
40:43
Speaker 3: especially as we were talking about, you know, on the
40:45
Speaker 3: lines on both sides of the ball, and a lot
40:48
Speaker 3: of good defensive players. They think they have an answer
40:51
Speaker 3: and they're gonna do what they do. It certainly seems
40:55
Speaker 3: that they have a hard ceiling that even with the
40:57
Speaker 3: winning record, you know, it obviously hasn't worked for them
41:00
Speaker 3: in the playoffs in many years. They have a long
41:02
Speaker 3: streak now of seasons without a playoff win. But to
41:07
Speaker 3: say that they're not going to you know, have a
41:09
Speaker 3: winning record or you know, to fall off in crater
41:12
Speaker 3: into some kind of five and twelve team, I don't
41:14
Speaker 3: see that at all. And you know, I think the
41:16
Speaker 3: Bengals and the Steelers will be battling it out right
41:18
Speaker 3: off until the end for maybe that maybe that that
41:21
Speaker 3: second playoff position behind the Ravens.
41:24
Speaker 1: And here's a hard hitting analytically based question to conclude
41:29
Speaker 1: our discussion of the AFC North. Well, the Cleveland Brown stink.
41:34
Speaker 3: They already do. I mean, come on, I can smell
41:37
Speaker 3: them from here, listen. Yeah, I mean it's they already
41:43
Speaker 3: were bad. And you know, their quarterback situation is you know,
41:48
Speaker 3: difficult to describe almost and it just gets worse. They
41:52
Speaker 3: you know, just lost Martine Emerson to a terrible injury
41:55
Speaker 3: in training camp. And Joker Jeremiah Owazu Karamosa always a
42:01
Speaker 3: hard name to say, Jay Okay exactly. He's a guy
42:04
Speaker 3: who's always given the Bengals fits with his speed and range,
42:07
Speaker 3: and you know, now he's gonna miss the season of course,
42:10
Speaker 3: and his careers in jeopardy. Just seems like there's just
42:13
Speaker 3: negative juju as usual there and saying that, you know,
42:17
Speaker 3: I mean, the Bengals were actually the only team to
42:19
Speaker 3: sweep the Browns in the AFC North last year. They
42:21
Speaker 3: split with the Ravens and the Steelers. Surprisingly enough, I
42:24
Speaker 3: know it doesn't feel that way. And the games between
42:27
Speaker 3: Cincy and Cleveland, you know, better than anybody, they always
42:30
Speaker 3: are tough, regardless of you know, the relative merits of
42:33
Speaker 3: either team. Miles Garrett is still there. He's always going
42:36
Speaker 3: to cause a problem for the Bengals no matter what happens.
42:39
Speaker 3: I mean, they're not going to be good, but that
42:41
Speaker 3: doesn't mean the Bengals are gonna have walkovers over them
42:44
Speaker 3: in either the games they play this year, and they'll
42:46
Speaker 3: be you know, they'll be a pain in the butt
42:47
Speaker 3: for somebody along the way, for sure, but overall you
42:49
Speaker 3: can't think of them is they're obviously rebuilding and looking
42:53
Speaker 3: to the future in amassing picks and trying to rebuild.
42:57
Speaker 1: Robert I mentioned you have a profile of al Golden
43:00
Speaker 1: coming up in Cincinnati Magazine. Can we look forward to
43:02
Speaker 1: your weekly reviews of the Bengals performances throughout the course
43:06
Speaker 1: of the year.
43:08
Speaker 3: Yes, And that's how I like to think of them,
43:09
Speaker 3: as almost like theatrical reviews of the team. You know,
43:13
Speaker 3: I don't want to get too burned down with the
43:15
Speaker 3: statistics like I do in the Albanac. I want to
43:19
Speaker 3: give more of a featuristic and artistic presentation of the
43:23
Speaker 3: team as best I can. And yes, I will be
43:25
Speaker 3: doing that once again. I think it's my really eighth
43:28
Speaker 3: or ninth year now of doing it, so I'm not
43:30
Speaker 3: even one hundred percent sure off the top of my
43:32
Speaker 3: head if to go back and look, but yes, I
43:34
Speaker 3: will be doing a weekly recap of our heroes on
43:37
Speaker 3: the Sporting Green and you can look forward to that
43:39
Speaker 3: Cincinnaimagazine dot com under my byline each week. Thank you
43:43
Speaker 3: for promoting that they are always great.
43:45
Speaker 1: And you also wrote the definitive Dave Lapham profile a
43:50
Speaker 1: few years ago. I imagine you were thrilled to see
43:53
Speaker 1: him selected into the Bengals Ring of Honor.
43:55
Speaker 3: Yes, I'm only hoping that I'll get the stand alongside
43:58
Speaker 3: Dave when they and he's actually fitted by the Cincinnati
44:03
Speaker 3: greater public there nobody deserves it more than him. I mean,
44:06
Speaker 3: you know that better than anybody. What a presence he's
44:10
Speaker 3: been in Cincinnati for all these decades now. It's incredible
44:14
Speaker 3: and just what he continues to bring his energy never
44:16
Speaker 3: seems to flag. It's really an incredible career he's put together,
44:20
Speaker 3: both as a player and as a broadcaster. I can't
44:23
Speaker 3: think of anybody really more beloved in Cincinnati than Dave.
44:26
Speaker 3: And what a great thing to have him have that honor.
44:30
Speaker 3: He's certainly deserving having his name and number up there forever.
44:33
Speaker 1: Absolutely can't wait for that to happen when the Bengals
44:36
Speaker 1: host the Jets. Last thing, I love great sports writing,
44:40
Speaker 1: and that's why I love the New York City or
44:44
Speaker 1: NYC one thousand. We've discussed it on this podcast before,
44:48
Speaker 1: but for those who have not heard of your great
44:50
Speaker 1: labor of love, tell them what it's all about.
44:54
Speaker 3: My God, we're almost getting to number seven hundred if
44:56
Speaker 3: you can believe it.
44:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, like I was really impressed to see that it's
45:02
Speaker 1: like seven oh four.
45:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, or getting there. I hope I live long enough
45:06
Speaker 3: to get all the way to the end. But you know,
45:08
Speaker 3: I'm running every day, swimming, keeping in shape, doing what
45:11
Speaker 3: I can. Yes, it is a countdown of the one
45:14
Speaker 3: thousand greatest sporting events in New York City sporting history.
45:19
Speaker 3: That's a redundancy. Sorry, And yeah, the conceit as it
45:24
Speaker 3: has to have happened in New York, which, despite this
45:27
Speaker 3: being a Cincinnati based podcast, is still very worthwhile. Don't
45:31
Speaker 3: think badly about Gotham. I beg of you, And yeah,
45:34
Speaker 3: it's really just a way to get not just sporting history,
45:37
Speaker 3: but you know American history, so much of that is
45:39
Speaker 3: tied into New York. I feel like over these past
45:43
Speaker 3: couple hundred beautiful seasons, and you know, it's everything from
45:47
Speaker 3: the things you would imagine the Yankee Baseball of course,
45:49
Speaker 3: and all kinds of great World Series moments to boxing
45:54
Speaker 3: and horse racing and track and field and anything else
45:57
Speaker 3: I can find that is, you know, outside of sort
46:00
Speaker 3: of the main actors and you know, all the great
46:03
Speaker 3: players who have passed through there. It's just a way
46:05
Speaker 3: to really get your handle on the history of sports
46:07
Speaker 3: as it's sort of refracted through a New York lens.
46:10
Speaker 3: It's been, as you say, a great labor of love.
46:12
Speaker 3: I've enjoyed every second of it. I'm very appreciative sorry
46:16
Speaker 3: of readers like you, Dan, who not only talk about
46:19
Speaker 3: it on their podcast but send me the occasional text
46:22
Speaker 3: wondering why such and such sport event is not higher
46:26
Speaker 3: than it is on the list. But you know the number.
46:28
Speaker 3: I just followed the numbers. I ranked them in six
46:30
Speaker 3: different categories, and you know, like the analytics based guy
46:33
Speaker 3: that I am, I just do what the numbers tell
46:35
Speaker 3: me to do. So I hope everybody enjoys it, and
46:38
Speaker 3: you can find it NYC one thousand at substack dot com.
46:42
Speaker 1: It's great stuff, and I think the ultimate compliment I
46:45
Speaker 1: can pay about the NYC one thousand is that a
46:48
Speaker 1: legitimate percentage of the time I see the two topics
46:53
Speaker 1: you typically do to at a time and I think, well,
46:55
Speaker 1: that thing doesn't really interested me all that much, and
46:58
Speaker 1: then I read it. The writing is great and you
47:02
Speaker 1: bring these stories to life that I wind up loving it.
47:05
Speaker 1: So I'm sure that's one of the things you set
47:07
Speaker 1: out to do when you succeed.
47:09
Speaker 3: Well, you know, the only new thing in the world
47:11
Speaker 3: is the history that you don't know, right, So I
47:13
Speaker 3: mean that's really my approach to this. And you know,
47:16
Speaker 3: I learned a lot along the way, too, which is
47:18
Speaker 3: always great. It's not like I'm some omniscient sports historian.
47:21
Speaker 3: I learned a lot about these guys and you know,
47:24
Speaker 3: things that are going on sort of around the games
47:28
Speaker 3: at the same time, and that's as important to me
47:30
Speaker 3: as the games themselves. So you know, it's really been
47:33
Speaker 3: a lot of fun to do and just a way
47:35
Speaker 3: to learn a lot about things about my native city
47:38
Speaker 3: that I didn't know and things about all these sporting
47:41
Speaker 3: greats and teams that I didn't know about ahead of
47:44
Speaker 3: time either, and just get a chance to pass them
47:46
Speaker 3: along to readers like you. So thanks a lot with.
47:48
Speaker 1: That, Dan, You bet good job with the Bengals chapter
47:53
Speaker 1: in the Almanac. As always looked forward to the al
47:55
Speaker 1: Golden Profile and your continued look at the Cincinnati Bengal
48:00
Speaker 1: throughout the course of the season.
48:01
Speaker 3: Thanks to your time, Robert, No, thank you, Dan, and
48:04
Speaker 3: uh listen, we're going to have eleven or twelve wins,
48:06
Speaker 3: not nine. Putting it down right now.
48:09
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for this episode of the
48:11
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48:42
Speaker 1: I'm Dan Hord and thanks for listening to The Bengals
48:45
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast