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Bengals Booth Podcast: Waiting On The World To Change · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody on Dan Horde and this is the
0:06
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth podcast Waiting on the world to change. Addition,
0:12
Speaker 1: as the Bengals try to get over the hump after
0:15
Speaker 1: another nail biting loss and pick up their first win
0:18
Speaker 1: of the season on Monday Night in Pittsburgh. Coming up,
0:21
Speaker 1: I'll spend about twenty minutes with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham,
0:25
Speaker 1: as we discussed the emergence of Autumn Tate at wide receiver,
0:28
Speaker 1: how Billy Price did and his first started left guard,
0:32
Speaker 1: why the Steelers are off to an Owen three start,
0:35
Speaker 1: and since we're heading to Pittsburgh, we'll find out what
0:38
Speaker 1: lap thinks of the steel Cities legendary Fromante Brothers Sandwich.
0:43
Speaker 1: We'll also hear from Sports Illustrated's Andy Benoit on this
0:46
Speaker 1: episode of the pod of the many things written about
0:49
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor after the Bengals hired him, I thought Andy
0:52
Speaker 1: wrote the best story. He spent time at Zach's house
0:56
Speaker 1: office and in the meeting rooms at Paul Brown Stadium,
0:59
Speaker 1: and you'll hear what Andy thinks of Zach Taylor and
1:02
Speaker 1: his chances of being a successful NFL head coach. And
1:06
Speaker 1: in this week's no the faux segment. We'll get the
1:08
Speaker 1: lowdown on the Steelers from pregame radio host and local
1:12
Speaker 1: columnist Tim Bens. All of that is straight ahead, But first,
1:16
Speaker 1: here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest
1:18
Speaker 1: edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
1:22
Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify,
1:28
Speaker 1: or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing since Marty Brenneman.
1:33
Speaker 1: What do you consider to be the greatest streak in
1:36
Speaker 1: baseball history? Joe Tomaggio's fifty six game hitting streak, Cal
1:40
Speaker 1: Ripken streak of playing in two thousand, six hundred and
1:43
Speaker 1: thirty two consecutive games, or maybe it's Derek Jeter's streak
1:47
Speaker 1: of dating nothing but perfect tens in his twenty seasons
1:50
Speaker 1: as shortstop for the New York Yankees. All impressive streaks,
1:54
Speaker 1: especially Jeters, but none of them is the correct answer.
1:59
Speaker 1: The greatest streak in baseball history is forty six years
2:02
Speaker 1: and approximately seven thousand games old. It is Marty Brenneman's
2:07
Speaker 1: streak of never blowing a big call as the voice
2:11
Speaker 1: of the Reds. Take it from somebody who got completely
2:15
Speaker 1: fooled by Andy Dalton Zone read fake to Joe Mixon
2:18
Speaker 1: last Sunday, that streak is nothing short of miraculous. As
2:23
Speaker 1: a play by play announcer of live sporting events, you
2:25
Speaker 1: work without an e racer or a backspace key. You
2:28
Speaker 1: get one chance to get the moment right. For Marty Brenneman,
2:33
Speaker 1: whether it was the final out of the World Series,
2:35
Speaker 1: a perfect game by Tom Browning, or the Jay Bruce
2:39
Speaker 1: walk off homer that clinched a division title back in
2:41
Speaker 1: two ten, there was never a stumble, never an incorrect name,
2:47
Speaker 1: never a botch detail. The words and the tone have
2:51
Speaker 1: always been perfect. Marty Brenneman is one of the most
2:54
Speaker 1: important people in Red's history, as he has provided the
2:57
Speaker 1: soundtrack to summer throughout the state for more than four decades.
3:02
Speaker 1: He was the voice of the Big Red Machine and
3:04
Speaker 1: the Wire to Wire World Series champs, and has helped
3:08
Speaker 1: entertain us through the inevitable lousy seasons as well. Perhaps
3:13
Speaker 1: the biggest thing that makes Marty unique is that he
3:15
Speaker 1: is the most candid home team announcer in the history
3:19
Speaker 1: of broadcasting. If the Reds are screwing up, Marty isn't
3:23
Speaker 1: afraid to say so. But that's not the only thing
3:25
Speaker 1: that makes him an all time great. He is effortlessly entertaining, funny, opinionated,
3:32
Speaker 1: quick to poke, funded himself, and an absolute masterd making
3:35
Speaker 1: his broadcasting partners sound good. And I speak from experience,
3:39
Speaker 1: having had the privilege of calling games with both Marty
3:43
Speaker 1: and the late Joe Knoxhall. This podcast is being posted
3:47
Speaker 1: on the same day that Marty concludes his Hall of
3:49
Speaker 1: Fame broadcasting career. So here's to a friend, mentor, and
3:54
Speaker 1: broadcasting hero, the truly one of a kind, Marty Brennaman.
4:00
Speaker 1: Now let's get to football. Is I bring in my
4:02
Speaker 1: broadcast partner Dave Lapham to look back at last week's
4:06
Speaker 1: four point lost to Buffalo and look ahead the Monday
4:09
Speaker 1: night football between two teams still looking for their first win.
4:13
Speaker 1: The O and three start is obviously disappointing, but there
4:16
Speaker 1: are some guys that have been playing well. Give me
4:18
Speaker 1: a guy on each side of the ball that stands
4:21
Speaker 1: out to you, I think for the exact same reasons
4:26
Speaker 1: in terms of no matter of the situation, haven't had
4:30
Speaker 1: many leads, but when they're in the lead, they play hard,
4:32
Speaker 1: and when they're trailing by you know, twenty four thirty
4:36
Speaker 1: one points, they're still playing hard. Tyler Boyd for the offense,
4:40
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton can count on him. The guy competes no
4:45
Speaker 1: matter what the situation. He's gonna he's gonna work hard
4:48
Speaker 1: to get open. He's tough as there is, tough as nails,
4:51
Speaker 1: catches everything. Andy Dalton knows that Tyler Boyd's gonna give
4:55
Speaker 1: him every ounce of effort. And on the defensive side
4:57
Speaker 1: of it, Sam Harvard the same way, you know when
4:59
Speaker 1: you watch Hubbard play, can't tell if the teams ahead
5:02
Speaker 1: or behind. Playing with his hair on fire, running every
5:04
Speaker 1: play down, his pursuit angles are really good and his
5:08
Speaker 1: effort to get there unbelievably good and leads the team
5:11
Speaker 1: in sacks. Disruptive player, and I think every single game
5:17
Speaker 1: after the football game, even though all three of them
5:20
Speaker 1: been defeats, two of them pretty close defeats, they can
5:22
Speaker 1: look in the mirror and say, Yep, gave everything I
5:25
Speaker 1: had emptied. The tank couldn't have done more physically out there,
5:29
Speaker 1: just didn't work out for us. At halftime of last
5:32
Speaker 1: week's game in Buffalo, I think both of us were
5:34
Speaker 1: thinking the same thing, along with probably every Bengals fan watching. Yikes,
5:39
Speaker 1: this team's not very good, but they managed to turn
5:41
Speaker 1: around in the second half and at least come away
5:43
Speaker 1: with something positive from that game. I don't think I've
5:47
Speaker 1: seen in quite a while, particularly in the Bengals organizations.
5:51
Speaker 1: They've probably been cases of it around the National Football League,
5:54
Speaker 1: but a team that was so subpar in the first half,
5:58
Speaker 1: I mean, couldn't get out of their own way. Uh
6:01
Speaker 1: didn't generate a first down until less than two minutes
6:04
Speaker 1: to go in the first half, oh for five on
6:06
Speaker 1: third down. Andy Dalton's first completion at the end of
6:10
Speaker 1: the play was a fumble. I mean, that's the exercise
6:12
Speaker 1: and futility if you'd ever seen or heard a one
6:15
Speaker 1: and and to regroup a little bit like they did
6:18
Speaker 1: at halftime and realize that, you know, we're our biggest problem.
6:24
Speaker 1: Buffalo's defense is good, and they are They're very good.
6:26
Speaker 1: I mean they're they're well put together, and the players
6:28
Speaker 1: understand every nuance of it, and they understand how to
6:31
Speaker 1: take things away from the opposition offense. You know, they're
6:34
Speaker 1: right in line mentally with with what the coaches are
6:38
Speaker 1: trying to ask them to do. So that's a good
6:40
Speaker 1: defensive unit. But when they came out and in the
6:43
Speaker 1: second half and and put three straight scores on the board,
6:48
Speaker 1: three straight possessions and run a seventeen point total up
6:51
Speaker 1: there and take a lead. It was it was not stunning,
6:54
Speaker 1: but it was surprising. You know that what we're were
6:57
Speaker 1: these guys to go from to go from the outhouse,
7:01
Speaker 1: not to the penthouse, but closer to the penthouse than
7:03
Speaker 1: you were. I mean, you were definitely in the outhouse,
7:06
Speaker 1: there's no question about that. For them to you know,
7:08
Speaker 1: pull themselves up individually and collectively by the bootstraps like
7:12
Speaker 1: they did, I thought, I thought was pretty impressive. You know. Unfortunately,
7:16
Speaker 1: the defense, I honestly think that the number of snaps
7:20
Speaker 1: they took in the first half had a cumulative effect
7:23
Speaker 1: on them. They took forty six snaps in the first half.
7:25
Speaker 1: In the fourth quarter, you know, that's that's when you're tired.
7:28
Speaker 1: You're not only physically tired, your mind is a little
7:30
Speaker 1: bit tired. And you know, they made made a big
7:33
Speaker 1: assignment error on a forty nine yard completion to the
7:35
Speaker 1: tight end Knox that killed them. Lap. Let's talk about
7:38
Speaker 1: wide receiver autumn Tate, who had the best game of
7:40
Speaker 1: his young career last week. Six catches for eighty eight
7:43
Speaker 1: yards against the Bills in the first two games, Damian
7:46
Speaker 1: Willis was getting those snaps. Last week they went to
7:49
Speaker 1: Autumn Tate. What I think you get healthy. You know,
7:52
Speaker 1: Autumn Tate had been fighting that foot ankle injury that
7:56
Speaker 1: that he sustained or nagasus was a knee injury that
7:59
Speaker 1: he sustained during training camp. And you know he's rehabbing,
8:03
Speaker 1: you know, real aggressively, but he just wasn't able to
8:06
Speaker 1: make the dance, you know, in the first first couple
8:08
Speaker 1: of weeks. So I think that, you know, he just
8:11
Speaker 1: keeps working hard. I mean, I'd like everything about his
8:13
Speaker 1: work ethic and he's got he brings a lot to
8:17
Speaker 1: the table. I mean six to five between two twenty
8:20
Speaker 1: five and two hundred and thirty pounds, long arms, big,
8:23
Speaker 1: huge catching radius, broad shoulders, huge frame, easy target to
8:27
Speaker 1: see in the middle of field, and he looks like
8:29
Speaker 1: a tight end to a quarterback when he's running routes
8:31
Speaker 1: in the middle of the football field. And he's not
8:34
Speaker 1: he's not going to run by you necessarily, you know,
8:36
Speaker 1: straight line speed, but he has way above average short
8:39
Speaker 1: space quickness for a guy his size, so he gets
8:42
Speaker 1: in and out of cuts well. He can make people miss,
8:45
Speaker 1: you know, initially when they're trying to contact him after
8:47
Speaker 1: the catch, and because of his length and his size,
8:51
Speaker 1: he's a contested catch, you know, maniac. I mean, it's
8:54
Speaker 1: not a fifty fifty ball in his mind. It's one
8:56
Speaker 1: hundred zero ball in his mind. Every time it's up
8:59
Speaker 1: for grabs, he's going to get the thing. Big vice,
9:02
Speaker 1: grip hands. You know two things you want in a receiver.
9:06
Speaker 1: We've talked about a Lockdan Tyler Boyd gives it and
9:09
Speaker 1: this kid does too. Is toughness and you know, good hands.
9:13
Speaker 1: The thing that impressed me most is he got screwed.
9:16
Speaker 1: No other way to put it. He got shafted on
9:18
Speaker 1: a holding call that nullified at ninety two yard touchdown
9:20
Speaker 1: return on a kickoff. He could have gone in the tank.
9:23
Speaker 1: A lot of guys would you know, man let that linger.
9:27
Speaker 1: You know, because of that play, you know, the next
9:29
Speaker 1: half dozen times you're targeted, it doesn't work out because
9:32
Speaker 1: your mind's messed up. He didn't do any of that
9:34
Speaker 1: that impressed me as a young player. Put it aside.
9:37
Speaker 1: You know, I know I didn't do what he said
9:39
Speaker 1: I did. I'm going to put it aside and see
9:41
Speaker 1: if I can make plays other ways to help the
9:42
Speaker 1: team win the football game, because that play would have
9:44
Speaker 1: been a huge spark and it could have taken away unnecessarily,
9:48
Speaker 1: and he was the guy that was, you know, pointed
9:50
Speaker 1: the finger at and so doing it. Didn't do anything
9:52
Speaker 1: wrong really, So sometimes that's life in the NFL with
9:55
Speaker 1: the Zebras. After three weeks, John Ross is third in
9:59
Speaker 1: the NFL and heaving yards, but number one in drops
10:01
Speaker 1: according to Pro Football Focus, five of them so far.
10:04
Speaker 1: He had a fumble last week against Buffalo. Is this
10:07
Speaker 1: just the John Ross experience, as we have kind of
10:10
Speaker 1: jokingly referred to it, You got to live with a
10:12
Speaker 1: few drops in order to get the big plays. I mean,
10:14
Speaker 1: his good has been exceptionally good, and as bad has
10:17
Speaker 1: been frustratingly bad as it always is, you know. I
10:20
Speaker 1: mean it's like easy throws or boom right there in
10:23
Speaker 1: the hands and you know, not drop him. And yeah,
10:27
Speaker 1: I was on the overthrow from Andy Dalton to John Ross.
10:32
Speaker 1: My first reaction was, why don't you dive, you know,
10:36
Speaker 1: full extension, go for the football. Now I watched the
10:38
Speaker 1: trajectory of the throw from Andy and that you can't dive.
10:42
Speaker 1: You gotta put some marunder it and let him run
10:44
Speaker 1: underneath it. And you know, if he did dive, he
10:48
Speaker 1: wouldn't have been able to get his hands up high
10:49
Speaker 1: enough to catch in anyway, because it was more of
10:51
Speaker 1: a direct line show. I mean, Andy was trying to
10:53
Speaker 1: just put it on him from that distance and the
10:56
Speaker 1: margin Farr is minimal at that point, and the overthrow
10:59
Speaker 1: him by yard if he just puts a little air
11:01
Speaker 1: in it, because you can't overthrow John Ross. It's like,
11:03
Speaker 1: how do you overthrow John Ross? Put a little more error,
11:06
Speaker 1: and I think he would have been able to run
11:07
Speaker 1: underneath that thing, and that that's a you know, that's
11:10
Speaker 1: a touchdown right there, that that the Bengals didn't take
11:13
Speaker 1: full advantage of. So U you know, those kind of
11:17
Speaker 1: things can can be frustrating. And you know, five five
11:22
Speaker 1: drops a drop at least one drop every game. So
11:25
Speaker 1: it's not you know, something that is coming and going.
11:27
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's there. And you know, if I
11:32
Speaker 1: know the fans are crossing their fingers hoping every time
11:35
Speaker 1: it's thrown to him, he's gonna make a play. If
11:37
Speaker 1: his quarterback starts thinking that and the coaches start thinking that,
11:40
Speaker 1: you know, pretty soon as like man, do I throw
11:42
Speaker 1: it to him or not? You can't have those kind
11:44
Speaker 1: of thoughts. You just have to gun it and cut
11:46
Speaker 1: it loose. He just needs to uh. And I thought
11:48
Speaker 1: that the opposite of Odd and Tate one aud and
11:52
Speaker 1: Tate faced the adversity of the holding call. He never wavered.
11:56
Speaker 1: I thought John Ross kind of checked out for a
11:58
Speaker 1: little while. I mean, he just wasn't, you know, he
12:01
Speaker 1: let it bother him for too long a period of time.
12:04
Speaker 1: You just have to have, you know, selective amnesia. Put
12:06
Speaker 1: it aside, move on. You can't let one mistake turn
12:10
Speaker 1: into not even being available for a period of time.
12:14
Speaker 1: You got to get yourself right back into the game.
12:16
Speaker 1: You can't mentally say, oh, man, I can't believe I
12:19
Speaker 1: did that, and you know, pout and whine about it.
12:21
Speaker 1: You know, internally just can't do it. You just have
12:24
Speaker 1: to be the mental toughness that you know that Zach's
12:27
Speaker 1: talking about. You gotta come right back, you know, like
12:29
Speaker 1: he did when when he dropped the ball and then
12:33
Speaker 1: has a fifty yard touchdown pass the very next play
12:36
Speaker 1: and it makes a big play to make up for
12:38
Speaker 1: the drop. I mean, that's what you have to do.
12:40
Speaker 1: And in this case. I thought he'd let it linger
12:43
Speaker 1: too long. I'm going to save this recording the next
12:46
Speaker 1: time I play golf, because nobody goes into the tank
12:49
Speaker 1: after a double bogie like Dan or what I'm telling you.
12:52
Speaker 1: My recovery skills are not great on the course. Let's
12:55
Speaker 1: talk about the offensive line. How did they do as
12:57
Speaker 1: a whole, and how did Billy Price do, in particular
12:59
Speaker 1: get his first studied left guard. Yeah, I respect the
13:02
Speaker 1: job that Billy Price did. I'll start with that one.
13:06
Speaker 1: You know, the thing when something happens to a you know,
13:11
Speaker 1: a highly decorated player coming out of college, you know,
13:14
Speaker 1: everybody's all American in first round pick to play a
13:17
Speaker 1: center for the Bengals, and you lose that job, and then,
13:21
Speaker 1: you know, instead of moaning and pouting and grousing about
13:24
Speaker 1: it and putting your chin on your chest, he basically
13:27
Speaker 1: handled it pretty darn well. You know, he said all
13:29
Speaker 1: the right things. That's one thing, But then do all
13:31
Speaker 1: the right things. Make sure you're working hard, make sure
13:34
Speaker 1: you're trying to overcome the deficiencies that cost you, you know,
13:39
Speaker 1: that starting position. And I do think that he's still
13:43
Speaker 1: not right physically. I still think he's got a little
13:47
Speaker 1: bit of a foot problem. I truly believe that. And
13:51
Speaker 1: you know it's it's not the Liz Frank, it's the
13:54
Speaker 1: planet face Siatis stuff. Liz Frank was last year, Planet
13:56
Speaker 1: face Siatis this year, and those things can hang on.
14:00
Speaker 1: I mean, I've had it, you know, not because the
14:02
Speaker 1: distance running. I know you've had it from distance running,
14:04
Speaker 1: not me, but I've had but I've had plant of
14:06
Speaker 1: facey itis and man, it's nasty. Depending on the severity
14:10
Speaker 1: of it, it can be very nasty. So you know
14:14
Speaker 1: the fact that Billy worked hard physically and mentally even
14:18
Speaker 1: more so to be ready for an opportunity because it's
14:21
Speaker 1: some time. At some point, you know it's going to come.
14:24
Speaker 1: Somebody's gonna get nicked up in the interior of the
14:26
Speaker 1: offensive line and he's gonna have to step in and
14:29
Speaker 1: them not miss a beat. And unfortunately it was Michael
14:32
Speaker 1: Jordan that went down with the knee injury. Not severe.
14:35
Speaker 1: You know, I think he'll be able to play this week.
14:36
Speaker 1: But Billy went in there and acquitted himself. Well. I
14:39
Speaker 1: thought he did. Thought he played played a solid football game.
14:42
Speaker 1: And I think up and down the line of scrimmage,
14:44
Speaker 1: I thought they all did you know, there was one
14:46
Speaker 1: false start. Andre had a false start. So in two loud,
14:50
Speaker 1: boisterous stadium's toughest, you know, amongst the toughest in the NFL.
14:55
Speaker 1: There a silent staff count system that they installed was impeccable,
14:59
Speaker 1: you know. And and in the communication again, Trey Hopkins
15:03
Speaker 1: communicating calls really well. They picked up things from Andy
15:06
Speaker 1: Dalton they needed to pick up. So I thought the
15:09
Speaker 1: operation was, you know, pretty pretty darn efficient. And I
15:14
Speaker 1: didn't think that that the offensive line was the big
15:17
Speaker 1: reason that they weren't in SYNK, you know. I thought
15:19
Speaker 1: it was other reasons that they weren't in SYNK. And
15:23
Speaker 1: I thought the offensive line pretty much from the entire
15:25
Speaker 1: game played at the same level of consistency. And that's
15:28
Speaker 1: that's what you want. Like we're talking with John Ross,
15:31
Speaker 1: you know, man to be impeccable one snap and putrid another.
15:35
Speaker 1: You just can't have that rise and fall. Your graft
15:38
Speaker 1: can't be North Pole South Pole. You know, it's going
15:40
Speaker 1: to be a steady The coaches have to know what
15:42
Speaker 1: they can expect every single snap from he's a football player.
15:46
Speaker 1: Speaking of Trey Hopkins, he remains the highest graded player
15:49
Speaker 1: on the team. According to Pro Football Focus, he's no
15:52
Speaker 1: longer number one among centers, but he is still number four,
15:54
Speaker 1: which is obviously very good. On defense. Their highest graded
15:58
Speaker 1: player after three weeks is Andrew Billings, number eleven among
16:02
Speaker 1: interior defensive lineman. It's telling they don't have anybody in
16:06
Speaker 1: the top ten after three weeks. But he had a
16:09
Speaker 1: good game against Buffalo. Five tackles, including two for losses.
16:12
Speaker 1: He did. I thought that he his penetration was you know,
16:17
Speaker 1: was consistent. You know. Yeah, I thought he was winning
16:20
Speaker 1: at a very high level. There's no question about it. Um.
16:23
Speaker 1: And I think the big thing is now he's healthy.
16:27
Speaker 1: When he had that knee injury, such a big body,
16:30
Speaker 1: you know, and he's not a real tall guy, so
16:34
Speaker 1: he's got he's got a lot of weight packed on
16:36
Speaker 1: a you know, not a real long frame, and when
16:39
Speaker 1: you have a knee injury in that regard, I thought
16:41
Speaker 1: it really hurt his lateral movement, you know. I thought
16:44
Speaker 1: I thought he could still go ahead and pet you know,
16:47
Speaker 1: straight ahead and penetrate kind of thing, but then to
16:49
Speaker 1: stop and redirect it, that's where he was having difficulty.
16:52
Speaker 1: Now he's got all that back where he can penetrate,
16:55
Speaker 1: he can move laterally, he's staying on his feet better. Um.
16:59
Speaker 1: You know, I think that now they're starting to see
17:01
Speaker 1: the Andrew Billions that when they draft him in the
17:03
Speaker 1: fourth round, they said, well, you know, we had him.
17:05
Speaker 1: He's great as a first round talent. You know, coming
17:07
Speaker 1: out of Baylor, he was a co defensive player of
17:10
Speaker 1: the Year in the Big Twelve. I mean, this guy
17:11
Speaker 1: was a player. And I think now they're starting to see,
17:14
Speaker 1: you know, that type of player. You often talk about
17:17
Speaker 1: how the offensive line, you want the sum to be,
17:21
Speaker 1: you know, greater than the individual parts. How about the
17:24
Speaker 1: secondary Because I look at those guys individual and I'm thinking,
17:27
Speaker 1: all right, he's a decent player, he's a good player,
17:29
Speaker 1: he was an igh draft pick, etc. But that group
17:32
Speaker 1: as a whole has not played well, at least to
17:35
Speaker 1: my eyes, in the first three games. Yeah, I don't.
17:37
Speaker 1: I don't think it's been up to up to standard
17:40
Speaker 1: that they the expectations they have of themselves, or their
17:43
Speaker 1: coaches have of them, or defensive coordinator Luana Rumo has
17:47
Speaker 1: of them. Um. I think that one of the bigger
17:50
Speaker 1: areas is inconsistent tackling, you know, I mean the when
17:53
Speaker 1: the edge when the edge is being captured, like it's
17:56
Speaker 1: being captured a lot of times the run support the
17:58
Speaker 1: run forces to be coming from that cornerback spot and uh,
18:02
Speaker 1: and it's not. It's not being you know, it's being
18:04
Speaker 1: fulfilled from an assignment responsibility. So and when I know
18:10
Speaker 1: in the first in the first two games, I think
18:13
Speaker 1: it was eleven and eight tackles missed, nineteen tackles missed
18:17
Speaker 1: eight and the opener eleven in the second game or
18:20
Speaker 1: something like that, I know, I know against San Francisco
18:23
Speaker 1: there are eleven tackles missed Seattle, it wasn't that bad,
18:26
Speaker 1: but there are eleven tackles missed against against the San
18:29
Speaker 1: Francisco forty nine ers and a lot of them were
18:32
Speaker 1: on that in that level, you know. So I think, yeah,
18:36
Speaker 1: it's in a perfect world, you have to have the
18:39
Speaker 1: two components. You have to have the pressure and in coverage.
18:43
Speaker 1: If you have both, you know you're in great shape.
18:45
Speaker 1: And good pressure will you know, lessen the burden on
18:48
Speaker 1: the back end. Great coverage can sometimes create sacks that
18:51
Speaker 1: you normally wouldn't expect to be there if a quarterback
18:54
Speaker 1: has to pull it down and start running around unless
18:56
Speaker 1: you're Josh Allen who fakes everybody out and throws them
19:00
Speaker 1: all down the field. But I think I think there's room.
19:04
Speaker 1: There's room for growth, for sure, there's room for improvement
19:07
Speaker 1: on the back end. I think they can tighten things
19:09
Speaker 1: up big time. The Bengals head to Pittsburgh on Monday
19:13
Speaker 1: night and lap somebody sprayed a big old can of
19:15
Speaker 1: raid on the Killer Bees. Bell is gone, Brown is gone,
19:20
Speaker 1: Big Ben is injured. How good is the Steelers offense
19:23
Speaker 1: without those guys? Time for the Bengals defense to sting
19:26
Speaker 1: the Steelers offense. Man, their numbers aren't very good. You know,
19:32
Speaker 1: who would have thought that they'd be thirtieth in the
19:35
Speaker 1: NFL and yards per game twenty sixth in yards per
19:39
Speaker 1: pass twenty ninth and rushing yards per game twenty fourth
19:42
Speaker 1: and rushing average twenty fifth and passing yards twenty seventh
19:46
Speaker 1: and passing average that is unsteelerlike, tied for twenty seventh
19:50
Speaker 1: and points scored. That's a different a different football team.
19:54
Speaker 1: The thing is, though, Dan, as we know, you're as
19:58
Speaker 1: good as your guys up front in a lot of
19:59
Speaker 1: instant and the guys up front are still pretty good
20:02
Speaker 1: for the Pittsburgh Steels. They have three Pro bowlers. Pouncey
20:05
Speaker 1: has been a Pro Bowler, to Castro and Villaneueva. Sixty
20:08
Speaker 1: percent of their offensive line has been Pro Bowl participants,
20:11
Speaker 1: so you know that's something to work with. Um, they're
20:15
Speaker 1: all back. They signed Ramon Foster even though he's advanced
20:18
Speaker 1: in years. They didn't want to break up the break
20:20
Speaker 1: up the band as such, and they're still operating, you know,
20:25
Speaker 1: I think pretty effective. They've only allowed four quarterback sacks,
20:28
Speaker 1: which is amongst the fewest in the National Football League.
20:31
Speaker 1: But their offensive line coaches in Denver and Mike Munchak,
20:36
Speaker 1: is as good as there is in the National Football League,
20:39
Speaker 1: And in my mind that's that's a big difference. But
20:42
Speaker 1: when when those Killer Bees all lost their stingers or
20:45
Speaker 1: flew away, there's a ripple effects as a defense hasn't
20:48
Speaker 1: playing as well either. You know, the offense isn't holding
20:51
Speaker 1: up there under the bargain, so the defense has more
20:53
Speaker 1: pressure on them. They're more snaps out in the field,
20:56
Speaker 1: more exposure. So when the Killer Bees either died or
21:00
Speaker 1: flew away, really really hurt the football team in a
21:04
Speaker 1: lot of ways. Lap In their last twenty games against Pittsburgh,
21:07
Speaker 1: the Bengals have not scored more than twenty one points
21:11
Speaker 1: one time. They've only won four out of those twenty games.
21:15
Speaker 1: Why does the Steelers defense always give Cincinnati so much trouble?
21:20
Speaker 1: I think that as an organization, they have a belief
21:23
Speaker 1: in the defensive scheme addict that they're running, and they
21:26
Speaker 1: run it very well, and they draft to fit that
21:29
Speaker 1: defensive scheme. You know, they don't. They don't say, oh,
21:33
Speaker 1: this is a great player and we might be able
21:35
Speaker 1: to transition him into what we do. It's like, this
21:38
Speaker 1: guy is a solid player and does exactly what we
21:41
Speaker 1: need at this position or that position. Let's draft him
21:44
Speaker 1: and develop him. Many they've very rarely miss on, you know,
21:48
Speaker 1: somebody that they've targeted to fill a very very necessary
21:53
Speaker 1: role in that defensive structure. And you know it started
21:56
Speaker 1: with Dick lebou. You know, the great Dick Lebau put
21:58
Speaker 1: together a package that was amazing and highlighted and accentuated
22:04
Speaker 1: the talents of his great defensive players, particularly the linebackers.
22:07
Speaker 1: I mean, Pittsburgh's had unbelievable linebackers for so long, amazing linebackers,
22:13
Speaker 1: and you know, Bush is the latest one they drafted.
22:15
Speaker 1: He's not quote in the starting lineup, but he's in
22:18
Speaker 1: there on a lot of packages. And uh, you know,
22:20
Speaker 1: they've also had safeties like Troy Polamalo that was such
22:24
Speaker 1: unbelievable playmakers and they just traded for one, making Fitzpatrick
22:28
Speaker 1: who can fit that bill. So they've always been good.
22:31
Speaker 1: They have a defensive line in the middle, they have
22:33
Speaker 1: a linebacker, and they have a safety. We talk about
22:35
Speaker 1: in baseball you want to be strong catcher, shortstop, center
22:38
Speaker 1: field defensively, and they're strong up the middle defensively normally
22:42
Speaker 1: with what they've done, and that's where it starts. They
22:45
Speaker 1: take take the middle of the field away from him,
22:47
Speaker 1: make you go to the outside in the running game
22:49
Speaker 1: and throwing the football, and that's that's been their their
22:53
Speaker 1: formula for success for a bunch of years. Let's talk
22:56
Speaker 1: about the Bengal Steelers rivalry. He has been spirited in
22:59
Speaker 1: a bad way in recent years. We've seen a lot
23:01
Speaker 1: of cheap shots. We've seen guys, you know, taken off
23:04
Speaker 1: the field unconscious, etc. Vontes Perfect isn't around anymore, Joey
23:09
Speaker 1: Porter isn't around anymore. Do you think there is a
23:11
Speaker 1: reasonable chance that these two teams will will get after
23:14
Speaker 1: it without at crossing a line. Yeah, when you think
23:17
Speaker 1: about um, that that game in the playoffs, Um Vontes Perfect,
23:22
Speaker 1: Adam Jones, Joey Porter. The three prime figures in that
23:26
Speaker 1: in that drama are no longer with their respective football team.
23:30
Speaker 1: So maybe with that turnover, um, you know maybe, but
23:35
Speaker 1: there's a lot of guys still on both teams that
23:38
Speaker 1: were part of that of that fracas, in the the
23:42
Speaker 1: ending of the fracas and everything that goes along with it.
23:45
Speaker 1: My my thing, one of my big keys this week
23:48
Speaker 1: is razor sharp mental focus and no no hidden agendas,
23:56
Speaker 1: no personal vendettasn't doing any good. It's past history. You
24:00
Speaker 1: gotta go win this football game on a snap by
24:04
Speaker 1: snap basis period. You know, don't don't be like, yeah,
24:08
Speaker 1: this is for so and so that you knocked out out,
24:10
Speaker 1: This is for so and so who you knee, you
24:11
Speaker 1: wrecked or you know that that kind of stuff never
24:15
Speaker 1: ends up working out well for you. You know, playing
24:17
Speaker 1: football now now it can be part of your your
24:21
Speaker 1: overall you know, getting yourself adrenaline pump and getting ready
24:24
Speaker 1: for a game. You know all the pre pre but
24:27
Speaker 1: once the game starts, man, you still have you have
24:30
Speaker 1: to be. You know, I call it the controlled rage,
24:32
Speaker 1: which is a delicate balance. You want to be able
24:35
Speaker 1: to pick the stadium up, but you want to be
24:36
Speaker 1: able to fulfill your assignments and not be out of
24:38
Speaker 1: your mind because you know, you're you know, adrenaline's pump
24:41
Speaker 1: is so of coursing through your veins and you're you're
24:43
Speaker 1: a wild man that didn't do anybody any good. You
24:46
Speaker 1: know you're gonna have unnecessary penalties, be a pre snap
24:50
Speaker 1: penalties because you're out of your mind and you're not
24:52
Speaker 1: focused or um you know, after the play, late hit,
24:56
Speaker 1: whatever the case may be. Those are the kind of
24:58
Speaker 1: things you don't want to have. And in my mind,
25:01
Speaker 1: in the two things that have cost this football team
25:05
Speaker 1: dearly offensively staying on schedule, it's been penalties self destruction
25:11
Speaker 1: penalties defensively misdirection. Those are the if I had to
25:15
Speaker 1: pick one thing for each side of the football, that's
25:18
Speaker 1: what I would pick. And both of them require immense
25:22
Speaker 1: focus to rectify. You know, just you know you're gonna
25:26
Speaker 1: you're gonna be in allowed place again. You've handled the
25:29
Speaker 1: noise and everything. It hasn't been false starts and those
25:32
Speaker 1: kind of things, but holding penalties, you know, sloppy hands,
25:35
Speaker 1: very opportune times. You know, you have to be real
25:37
Speaker 1: focused on that stuff and defensively and you Pittsburgh's gonna
25:42
Speaker 1: run misdirection. Everybody's gonna run misdirection. You're gonna see it
25:45
Speaker 1: once once the forty nine ers had the success they
25:47
Speaker 1: had in week two. The other fourteen weeks remaining from there,
25:51
Speaker 1: everybody's going to do some of it, maybe not as much,
25:54
Speaker 1: but you're gonna see it until you stop it. You're
25:56
Speaker 1: gonna see it. So you better start sharpen your folks
26:00
Speaker 1: and getting your eyes right because everybody thinks that the
26:03
Speaker 1: Bengals defense man. All you have to do is get
26:06
Speaker 1: them running one way their eyes are fooled and misdirection
26:09
Speaker 1: the other way, and they can't get back to where
26:11
Speaker 1: they need to be. Final thing, as we make our
26:14
Speaker 1: annual trip to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where do you stand on
26:18
Speaker 1: the Promante Brothers sandwich where basically they stick everything in
26:22
Speaker 1: between two pieces of Italian bread, The burger, the fries,
26:25
Speaker 1: the coleslaw, the whole bit stuffed inside those two pieces
26:29
Speaker 1: of bread. When it's freshly made and warm, I'm okay
26:33
Speaker 1: with it, but a cold greasy. I feel like I'm
26:39
Speaker 1: eating Crisco between They can usually give it to us
26:43
Speaker 1: on the flight home, which is a lovely gesture. They
26:45
Speaker 1: try to tie the postgame flight home meal to whatever
26:50
Speaker 1: city you're in, which is a really cool concept. But
26:52
Speaker 1: it does tend to be a little chilly. Yeah, and
26:55
Speaker 1: at that point, I mean, forget the fries. I mean,
26:58
Speaker 1: there's nothing worse than like cold no cold fries that
27:03
Speaker 1: look like they have lard on him. You know, it's
27:05
Speaker 1: like I'm going on that. But it is a nice
27:11
Speaker 1: gesture though, And I mean that is that is like,
27:15
Speaker 1: you know, the Montgomery and the greater is the skyline
27:18
Speaker 1: of Cincinnati that that sandwich is. That's Pittsburgh. Now, that's
27:22
Speaker 1: that's a slice of Pittsburgh. But when there's cold fries,
27:25
Speaker 1: they can keep the slice. One of our favorite guests
27:30
Speaker 1: on Bengals radio shows is Andy Benoit from Sports Illustrated
27:34
Speaker 1: and The MMQB. He's one of the best in the
27:36
Speaker 1: business at breaking down the tape and sharing what he
27:39
Speaker 1: sees in an entertaining and informative way. Andy has written
27:43
Speaker 1: a couple of great stories about Zach Taylor. Last December,
27:47
Speaker 1: he wrote about Zach and his brother Press, who is
27:49
Speaker 1: an assistant coach with the Eagles, and the title of
27:52
Speaker 1: that story was the Brothers Taylor are Coaching's next big thing.
27:57
Speaker 1: Then this year during OTAs in June, and he spent
28:00
Speaker 1: twenty four hours behind the scenes with Zach and provided
28:03
Speaker 1: a very illuminating look at the Bengals new head coach. Recently,
28:08
Speaker 1: Andy Benoit joined Dave Lapham and me to discuss Zach
28:12
Speaker 1: and his coaching staff. Well, I think very highly of
28:15
Speaker 1: him on a personal level, him and his brother. I'm
28:19
Speaker 1: big fans of both guys as people and as coaches.
28:22
Speaker 1: And one thing that really impresses me about Zach is
28:26
Speaker 1: and Sean McVay was the first that emphasized this to
28:29
Speaker 1: me first. I mean, you notice that anyone notices it
28:31
Speaker 1: when he talked to him, but to hear McVay elocuted
28:34
Speaker 1: he has great emotional intelligence, and McVay talked about how
28:38
Speaker 1: good he was in meeting. There's a natural openness to
28:41
Speaker 1: the way everyone can communicate around him. There's no pretense
28:44
Speaker 1: at all with either of the Taylor brothers, and you
28:47
Speaker 1: feel like you can be vulnerable to make mistakes, which
28:50
Speaker 1: is in my opinion, that's a big deal. When you're
28:53
Speaker 1: trying to get creative minds in the room and thinking
28:55
Speaker 1: about what's best to do for a football team. And
28:57
Speaker 1: that stood out when I spent time with him too.
28:59
Speaker 1: It's a group effort on that coaching staff, and Zach
29:03
Speaker 1: Taylor will never pretend that he knows something that he
29:06
Speaker 1: doesn't know. He wants to learn and the moment, and
29:09
Speaker 1: he doesn't care whose idea it is. He wants the
29:11
Speaker 1: best idea. Yeah. I mean that. That's one thing Andy
29:15
Speaker 1: that he mentioned to me early on. I said, you know,
29:17
Speaker 1: you obviously have not hired a bunch of yes men.
29:21
Speaker 1: You have hired guys that have opinions. You want that?
29:24
Speaker 1: I mean, are you basically searching for that? He goes absolutely,
29:28
Speaker 1: I who want guys to look at me and nod
29:29
Speaker 1: in agreement with everything that I'm talking about. I remember
29:32
Speaker 1: hearing Cincinnati one of the best offenses ever put together,
29:36
Speaker 1: Sam White and Bruce Costlin battles fights, I mean, arguments
29:40
Speaker 1: over what to put in the game plan. They had
29:42
Speaker 1: different maybe ideas, and out of those, out of those
29:45
Speaker 1: meetings came an unbelievable game plan. And I think you
29:49
Speaker 1: do have to have different opinions. There's no question about it. Right, absolutely,
29:54
Speaker 1: And one of the really cool things that I saw
29:56
Speaker 1: when I was what I was with them those well,
30:00
Speaker 1: people don't realize offensive staff in the NFL spend a
30:03
Speaker 1: lot of time trying to figure out ways to beat
30:05
Speaker 1: their defensive staff. These guys face each other all off
30:08
Speaker 1: season that these are some of the most competitive men
30:11
Speaker 1: on the face of the planet. And as Bill Callahan
30:14
Speaker 1: once said to me, we want to beat the crap
30:15
Speaker 1: out of our own defensive coaches. Now you want those
30:18
Speaker 1: guys to succeed, but it's competitive. So Loui, Anna Rumo
30:22
Speaker 1: and Jack Taylor got in the conversation when I was there.
30:25
Speaker 1: Taylor's spend all day trying to figure out, Okay, here's
30:28
Speaker 1: what Lou's gonna do. We think he's gonna play this
30:30
Speaker 1: route this way. They get into the practice and Anna
30:33
Speaker 1: Rumo's defense destroys the route and the plays at stack
30:37
Speaker 1: or whatever it was, and Taylor goes to Loui Anna
30:40
Speaker 1: Rumo afterwards and just said, hey, how did you know
30:43
Speaker 1: it was coming? Tell us because we need to know that.
30:45
Speaker 1: And to watch Anna Rubo break it down, and the
30:47
Speaker 1: aha look on Taylor's faith and the back and forth
30:50
Speaker 1: that those two guys had. It's one of the really
30:53
Speaker 1: fun things about football because when you're learning that way,
30:56
Speaker 1: you're not just learning answers for the question you're addressing
30:59
Speaker 1: at that moment, and you're learning how to think together
31:02
Speaker 1: and think of other answers for questions that you don't
31:04
Speaker 1: even know exists yet. We are talking to Andy Benoy
31:07
Speaker 1: from Sports Illustrated and the MMQB. He is a great
31:10
Speaker 1: Twitter follow at Andy Underscore Benoit b E n o I.
31:15
Speaker 1: Once again this year, Andy, the big question mark for
31:18
Speaker 1: the Bengals revolves around the offensive line. How much can
31:21
Speaker 1: a Sean mcvayh like offense might be a little bit different,
31:25
Speaker 1: but certainly that's a big part of it. How much
31:28
Speaker 1: can that type of offense help the offensive line? Well,
31:33
Speaker 1: that's a little bit of a chicken or an Ago
31:35
Speaker 1: question because when you had that offense, it's an outside
31:38
Speaker 1: zone running scheme first and foremost. Just think elephants on parade,
31:43
Speaker 1: all these big men moving in unison off the snap,
31:46
Speaker 1: and in order to play that way, you have to
31:48
Speaker 1: have a certain threshold of athleticism up front. You don't
31:52
Speaker 1: need world beaters, but you you need guys who are
31:55
Speaker 1: a plus athlete that are nimble, that get off the ball,
31:59
Speaker 1: and if you don't have that, you're gonna struggle. And
32:01
Speaker 1: if you're gonna struggle in your outside zone running game,
32:04
Speaker 1: then your play action game and therefore your passing game
32:06
Speaker 1: will struggle as well. And that's my big concern for Cincinnati.
32:11
Speaker 1: They have a good offensive line coach and Jim Turner.
32:13
Speaker 1: The system is a smart sound system, and it's still
32:17
Speaker 1: the NFL, and you have to have a thirtain level
32:19
Speaker 1: of talent ups front, and I don't know if they
32:21
Speaker 1: have that taler not. They've had a lot of injuries
32:23
Speaker 1: so far, but you know, we'll find out through three games.
32:28
Speaker 1: One offensive lineman gets extremely high grades from the website
32:31
Speaker 1: Pro Football Focus, as Trey Hopkins has ranked fourth among centers.
32:36
Speaker 1: John Miller is tied for twentieth among guards who have
32:39
Speaker 1: been in there for at least fifty percent of their
32:42
Speaker 1: team snaps. Now time for this week's Know the Faux segment.
32:46
Speaker 1: When the Bengals head to Pittsburgh on Monday night, it'll
32:48
Speaker 1: be the first time in fifteen years and ten months
32:51
Speaker 1: that they will face the Steelers without Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback.
32:55
Speaker 1: Over the first fifteen years of his career, big Ben
32:58
Speaker 1: missed twenty five starts, but none of them were against Cincinnati.
33:04
Speaker 1: He always played against the Bengals, and he almost always won,
33:08
Speaker 1: going twenty five and seven against Cincinnati, including a pair
33:12
Speaker 1: of playoff wins. Instead of having big Ben back there,
33:16
Speaker 1: it'll be second year pro Mason Rudolph at quarterback, and
33:20
Speaker 1: there's an interesting storyline there. Last year, in the third
33:23
Speaker 1: round of the draft, Seattle had the seventy sixth pick,
33:26
Speaker 1: The Bengals had the seventy seventh, followed by Kansas City
33:30
Speaker 1: and then Pittsburgh. The Steelers made a trade, moving up
33:35
Speaker 1: three spots in order to take Rudolph, supposedly because they
33:39
Speaker 1: thought the Bengals were going to take the Oklahoma state quarterback.
33:43
Speaker 1: I don't know if they're right, but I do know
33:45
Speaker 1: the Bengals were perfectly happy to get Sam Hubbard at
33:49
Speaker 1: number seventy seven. For a closer look at the Steelers,
33:52
Speaker 1: Tim Bens joined us on the Bengals Game Plan Show
33:55
Speaker 1: this week. He hosts the Steelers pregame show, and I
33:58
Speaker 1: started our conversation by asking him to describe the mood
34:02
Speaker 1: in Pittsburgh these days when the Killer Bees gone and
34:05
Speaker 1: the team off to an O and three start. I
34:08
Speaker 1: think the fan base tried really, really hard to talk
34:11
Speaker 1: itself into everything would be fine with Levion Bell officially
34:15
Speaker 1: gone in Antonio Braun leaving, there was so much anger
34:19
Speaker 1: at those two guys as to how they treated the
34:22
Speaker 1: organization and Roethlisberger and the coach and the players in
34:25
Speaker 1: the way out the door that it galvanize the fan
34:27
Speaker 1: base to the point that maybe we kitted ourselves to
34:30
Speaker 1: believe that they could be okay with their absence. Unfortunately,
34:34
Speaker 1: the negatives and manifested. Then it's just been exacerbated by
34:38
Speaker 1: think Ben's injury for sure. Let me ask a two
34:41
Speaker 1: part question your reference negatives. You know that you ended
34:45
Speaker 1: up kind of fooling yourselves a little bit with the
34:48
Speaker 1: effect that the killer bees going out the door by
34:51
Speaker 1: injury and other reasons. But what about the killer m
34:56
Speaker 1: Mike Munchak, the offensive line coach in his absence, is
34:59
Speaker 1: the offense some line playing as well? No, it isn't.
35:03
Speaker 1: I think that the factors may be not limited to
35:07
Speaker 1: the fact that Munshack was a master technician and seeing
35:11
Speaker 1: a magic charge even with the ability to continue to
35:14
Speaker 1: teach your veterans when their technique swift. Beyond that, I
35:18
Speaker 1: think he was a vocal component of how the run
35:20
Speaker 1: game should operate, and that is worth pattered at best
35:24
Speaker 1: here in Pittsburgh, just simple nuanced things like do you
35:29
Speaker 1: really want a perceived power back like James Connor speaking
35:32
Speaker 1: handoffs and the shotgun starting flat footed instead of running
35:35
Speaker 1: into the handoff and taking it from a quarterback that's
35:38
Speaker 1: under center. You constantly want a run game that's kind
35:43
Speaker 1: of built for Levion' bell or a guy like James Conner.
35:46
Speaker 1: And if same Conner, is it getting it done that
35:48
Speaker 1: Mike munschac makes suggestment to better utilize deal and Samuels
35:52
Speaker 1: or Benny's Snell. I think Munshack's absence has really been
35:57
Speaker 1: felt so far for those reasons. Daryl Drey, who was
36:00
Speaker 1: a wide receivers coach for the team that was beloved
36:04
Speaker 1: by his players guide during twenty Times and was replaced
36:07
Speaker 1: by Ray Sherman, and I think a lot of the
36:10
Speaker 1: things that have been said about how much he helped
36:12
Speaker 1: teach the young Waters Shivers, those intangible to have become
36:16
Speaker 1: tangibly obvious because they haven't taken a step without Antonio Brown.
36:19
Speaker 1: So I think that hurts. There's a mart wrong here,
36:22
Speaker 1: no doubt. Steelers free game host Tim Benz is our guests,
36:26
Speaker 1: So no Bell, no Brown, no ben That helps explain
36:30
Speaker 1: some of the problems on offense. Why has the defense
36:34
Speaker 1: been so lousy? They'd given up four hundred plus in
36:36
Speaker 1: every game this season. Yeah, they did not take this
36:40
Speaker 1: scrudge that they thought they would in the middle third
36:43
Speaker 1: of the defense with better coverage from the safeties and linebackers.
36:47
Speaker 1: I think there's one major blaring problem. Darrell Edmunds hasn't
36:50
Speaker 1: started to show that year two leap that try Paulamalu
36:54
Speaker 1: did when they were both kind of playing the same
36:56
Speaker 1: position that us try being tryer, but they had high
36:59
Speaker 1: hopes Stregmond not that degree, but better than what he's been. Also,
37:04
Speaker 1: I think the linebackers Devin Bush and Mark Barron haven't
37:07
Speaker 1: solved that big problem from last year. Vince Williams, who's
37:11
Speaker 1: a run stuffer, has been hurt. Neither Bell nor Baron
37:14
Speaker 1: are great at getting off bocks of supporting the run,
37:17
Speaker 1: and they haven't been as a depth in coverage as
37:20
Speaker 1: the team at Hope when they acquired them to be
37:21
Speaker 1: a free agency in the draft. The Steelers have not
37:24
Speaker 1: fired a head coach since nineteen sixty eight. How safe
37:27
Speaker 1: is Mike Tomlin. Well, that's that's a great way to
37:30
Speaker 1: frame it, because you know what else they hasn't done
37:32
Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty seven is straight a first round draft
37:35
Speaker 1: lace and they did that right. So you know, I'm
37:38
Speaker 1: glad if a certain astee's been thinking on some things,
37:41
Speaker 1: and I'm wondering if the coach is still in the
37:43
Speaker 1: hot seat, and that's why he endorsed the street form
37:45
Speaker 1: make it attraction to get up a first rounder. I
37:48
Speaker 1: think there is a built in excuse with Roofisberger being absent.
37:52
Speaker 1: I think that the Rooney's hate the idea of firing
37:56
Speaker 1: the coach. I think they like Mike Comlin a lot,
38:00
Speaker 1: and I think unless it really goes bad, plays list
38:07
Speaker 1: of the judge mcdolphin, something like that, and he concerned
38:11
Speaker 1: about time as a coach without row with his further
38:14
Speaker 1: manifest before in our eyes, I think he'll be back. Yeah.
38:17
Speaker 1: I mean, he's never had a losing season as a
38:19
Speaker 1: head coach. I think it would be tough to cann them,
38:22
Speaker 1: you know, based on but you know, Pittsburgh's expectations are high.
38:26
Speaker 1: They're seven and two at one point last year, wasn't
38:28
Speaker 1: it and didn't make Yeah yeah, seven two and one.
38:32
Speaker 1: So talking about Maker Fitzpatrick, first round pick for him,
38:37
Speaker 1: but you know, you want the Troy Paulamalo type, you know,
38:40
Speaker 1: playmaker on the back end. His first start against San Francisco,
38:43
Speaker 1: he has an interception on a deflection and uh and
38:47
Speaker 1: he also or he has an interception he and he
38:50
Speaker 1: also forces a fumble. So the last time that happened
38:54
Speaker 1: in the same game was two thousand and sixteen, William
38:58
Speaker 1: Engage did it against the Colts. So in his first
39:00
Speaker 1: game he's involved with two turnovers. Is that what they
39:03
Speaker 1: expect out of make of Fitzpatrick? And is the fan
39:06
Speaker 1: base content with giving up that first round pick for
39:08
Speaker 1: Makeum Fitzpatrick. It's a tremendous question, and it's a tremendous debate.
39:13
Speaker 1: And the direct answer the question about fitspatric is yes,
39:15
Speaker 1: that's what they're anticipating and hoping for. He attacked the
39:18
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage with Blitz is a lot more than
39:20
Speaker 1: what was anticipated last week. And that was a scheme
39:24
Speaker 1: specific thing. He told us to try to disrupt the
39:27
Speaker 1: Niners run game, which is what happened. At first, they
39:29
Speaker 1: adjust him and the Niners started to run better. But
39:32
Speaker 1: they do like him a lot, and they do think
39:34
Speaker 1: he can provide that. I thought it was a crystallization
39:37
Speaker 1: of the entire debate I who loved the player. If
39:40
Speaker 1: the Steelers had a chance to take Fitstatrick in the
39:42
Speaker 1: first round last year, I wish they could have done it.
39:44
Speaker 1: I'm glad he's en. I don't, however, like the notion
39:48
Speaker 1: of giving up a first round pick to get him
39:50
Speaker 1: if this is in fact the first year the Steelers
39:52
Speaker 1: draft in the top ten or the top on eleven
39:55
Speaker 1: when they got Roethlisberger since two thousand and six. Because
39:58
Speaker 1: if you're drafting that high, as good as he is
40:00
Speaker 1: as a press team, if you're drafting that high, give
40:03
Speaker 1: me Roethlisberger's successor as a quarterback. Give me the next
40:06
Speaker 1: great pass rusher, you know, because Bud Dupree is gonna
40:09
Speaker 1: leave it white outside linebacker. Get these replacements. Get a
40:12
Speaker 1: replacement for Joe Hayden mc corner. Get me a more
40:15
Speaker 1: impactful position if your team is drafted in that high.
40:18
Speaker 1: Bengals were interested in Devin Bush potentially in the draft
40:22
Speaker 1: this year, they took Jonah Williams. Unfortunately, he's hurt. He's
40:26
Speaker 1: got a labrom surgery done on a labrom ter. Devin
40:30
Speaker 1: Bush twenty nine tackles leads all rookies, sixth in the
40:34
Speaker 1: National Football League. He's recovered three fumbles in three games,
40:38
Speaker 1: Number one in the National Football League. Are they happy
40:41
Speaker 1: with Bush? I noticed they don't list him as quote
40:43
Speaker 1: a starter, but he's playing a hell of a lot
40:45
Speaker 1: of snaps. Are they happy with him or is he
40:47
Speaker 1: got a lot of room to grow? Well, they should
40:49
Speaker 1: be listening to the starter now unless they're assuming that
40:51
Speaker 1: they're doing at the time to begin, because Vince Williams
40:55
Speaker 1: is hurt. So maybe it's just because they're not ruling
40:57
Speaker 1: out Williams that they don't list him that way. He's
41:00
Speaker 1: getting plenty of snaps, especially with Williams. Joss is the
41:02
Speaker 1: last well for the most part, two games. Really, the
41:05
Speaker 1: way he's been playing a lot of those tackles are
41:07
Speaker 1: not to draw an analogy to last year's star and
41:10
Speaker 1: start a rookie life backer Darius Leonard did not Dennis
41:12
Speaker 1: Leonard tackles. The ball has fortunately bounced his way by
41:16
Speaker 1: virtue of good plays. Blacker guys to get those fourth tumbles,
41:19
Speaker 1: all those tackles are downfield, he's gonna be trouble getting
41:22
Speaker 1: off the blocks. He hasn't looked quite at a depth
41:24
Speaker 1: in coverage as they've hoped. Um, you know, they didn't
41:27
Speaker 1: trust him initially to be the communicator with the green doubt,
41:30
Speaker 1: which forced him to put it on an outside learned
41:32
Speaker 1: doctor and T. J. Watt, which is the first time
41:34
Speaker 1: I've seen that happen in my years covering the team,
41:37
Speaker 1: going back to two thousand and one. Now, and he's
41:40
Speaker 1: will guys, I mean he's he was lifted small, but
41:43
Speaker 1: he looked smaller than that, and he has had some
41:46
Speaker 1: trouble getting away from the lineman that have gotten out
41:48
Speaker 1: to the second level of him. Yeah, he's not when
41:50
Speaker 1: you look at him, I mean he looks the height
41:53
Speaker 1: of his safety, I mean he's not. I'm you about
41:56
Speaker 1: five ten, yeah, five ten. I think they list him
41:59
Speaker 1: a little bit, always five ten and a half. If
42:02
Speaker 1: you look at the height comparisons between like him and
42:06
Speaker 1: She's Deer and James Barrier, they arn't all that different.
42:09
Speaker 1: But right I can tell you just being around him
42:11
Speaker 1: in the losh room like Farrier and she's here with
42:13
Speaker 1: bigger guys. Right, it doesn't feel like an inch and
42:16
Speaker 1: a half or two inches should make that much different,
42:18
Speaker 1: but it sure doesn't look that way, all right, thanks
42:21
Speaker 1: to Tim Bens. And before we wrap this up, if
42:24
Speaker 1: you'll listen to this podcast before Friday afternoon at three,
42:27
Speaker 1: we invite you to come out and join us for
42:29
Speaker 1: the Bengals pep Rally show. We'll be at Buffalo Wings
42:32
Speaker 1: and Rings in Crestview Hills, Kentucky from three to six
42:35
Speaker 1: on Friday, and Tyler Eifford will join us for the
42:38
Speaker 1: final hour of that show. We'll have some giveaways too,
42:42
Speaker 1: but you have to be there in order to win.
42:44
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for this episode of the podcast.
42:47
Speaker 1: If you haven't done so already, don't forget to subscribe,
42:50
Speaker 1: and if you have a minute, please give it a
42:52
Speaker 1: rating or share a comment. Five star ratings help more
42:55
Speaker 1: Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde and thank
42:59
Speaker 1: you for listening to the Bengals Booth podcast. H