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Bengals Booth Podcast: Last Chance · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The Last Dance, Last Chance audition
0:13
Speaker 1: as the Bengals get set for their preseason finale in Washington,
0:17
Speaker 1: giving players one last chance to make their case for
0:20
Speaker 1: the fifty three man roster or the sixteen man practice
0:23
Speaker 1: squad coming up. Dave Lapham joins me to discuss some
0:27
Speaker 1: key topics at this stage of the preseason, including the
0:30
Speaker 1: most important one of all. Will Joe Burrow be the
0:33
Speaker 1: starting quarterback in Week one at Cleveland? Then I'll talk
0:38
Speaker 1: to one of those guys who is hoping for a
0:40
Speaker 1: big game on Saturday night to improve his chances of
0:43
Speaker 1: sticking around undrafted wide receiver Shdrick Jackson. The Bengals Booth
0:49
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1:02
Speaker 1: a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition
1:04
Speaker 1: of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or
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Speaker 1: computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the
1:12
Speaker 1: greatest thing since seeing the All Time greats in person.
1:18
Speaker 1: One of my goals as a sports fanatic is to
1:20
Speaker 1: see the legends of my lifetime in person if possible.
1:24
Speaker 1: I've been incredibly lucky. I've seen Michael Jordan, dunk Ken,
1:29
Speaker 1: Griffy Junior swing, Tiger Woods drive, Tom Brady pass, and
1:34
Speaker 1: Roger Federer serve. And now I can add Leonel Messi
1:39
Speaker 1: to the list. The soccer legend didn't disappoint on Wednesday
1:43
Speaker 1: night with two sublime assists and a successful penalty shootout
1:48
Speaker 1: strike in Miami's dramatic win over FC Cincinnati. I thought
1:52
Speaker 1: my friend Joe Daniman from Fox nineteen and Cincinnati described
1:55
Speaker 1: the superstars heroics perfectly when he tweeted that is inevitable
2:02
Speaker 1: the true superstars usually are. Now let's get to football
2:07
Speaker 1: and to look at some key questions at this stage
2:10
Speaker 1: of training camp with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham Lap.
2:15
Speaker 1: With one game left in the preseason, the number two
2:17
Speaker 1: quarterback job is still up in the air. Jake Browning
2:21
Speaker 1: has the better stats so far, but he has never
2:23
Speaker 1: thrown a pass and in a regular season NFL game.
2:26
Speaker 1: Trevor Simion has thirty starts under his belt. Where do
2:28
Speaker 1: you think things stand right now.
2:31
Speaker 2: Well, it's a close competition, there's no question. I mean,
2:35
Speaker 2: I think you point out the thing that you're going
2:38
Speaker 2: to have to On one side of it, got a
2:40
Speaker 2: young guy, very inexperienced. You got a veteran player that's
2:44
Speaker 2: seen a lot, been exposed to a lot of different offenses,
2:47
Speaker 2: a lot of different situations, maybe not on the football field,
2:50
Speaker 2: but has experienced and then has more reps obviously on
2:53
Speaker 2: the football field as well, so you weigh that experience.
2:56
Speaker 2: The flip side of it, got a younger guy who
3:00
Speaker 2: has been in the Bengals system longer, who has done
3:03
Speaker 2: as well. You know, it's almost a dead heat, and
3:06
Speaker 2: he's younger. So I mean those that's that's the that's
3:10
Speaker 2: the quandary. I'm gonna have to make a decision. It's
3:14
Speaker 2: gonna come come right down to it looks like the
3:16
Speaker 2: you know, the practices are equally important, I think then
3:20
Speaker 2: as the performances. And they've done as good a job
3:23
Speaker 2: as they possibly can in terms of guys having quote,
3:27
Speaker 2: you know, maybe better players around them. Not to give
3:30
Speaker 2: an edge one way or the other in terms of
3:32
Speaker 2: well they always had the you know, the backup at
3:34
Speaker 2: every position. Not guys struggling and trying to make the
3:37
Speaker 2: final roster kind of thing. So all those go into
3:40
Speaker 2: one big pot and you stir it up and come
3:43
Speaker 2: up with a decision. I mean, it's it's a it's
3:45
Speaker 2: a definite battle. There's no question.
3:48
Speaker 1: Does one or the other have to be the backup?
3:52
Speaker 1: At least in week one. I could see them bringing
3:55
Speaker 1: in another quarterback from somebody else's roster, but it's hard
3:58
Speaker 1: for me to imagine that guy would immediately become the backup.
4:02
Speaker 1: What do you think?
4:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree with you, Dan, I mean I think,
4:05
Speaker 2: you know, just unlearning and relearning terminology that would be
4:09
Speaker 2: you know, stressful. It's not like, depending on who the
4:12
Speaker 2: quarterback is and how much experience he has, just about
4:15
Speaker 2: any quarterback would understand the concepts that the Bengals are
4:19
Speaker 2: talking about and what they'd be you know, presenting to
4:21
Speaker 2: that individual to understand. But then what do you call it?
4:25
Speaker 2: What's the terminology? And you know, sometimes you can be
4:28
Speaker 2: bogged down a little bit just by language alone in
4:30
Speaker 2: terms of communication and calling the play properly and all
4:34
Speaker 2: that sort of thing in the huddle for everybody else.
4:37
Speaker 2: So I think it would be you know, not impossible,
4:41
Speaker 2: but a tough, tough task for sure, to have somebody
4:44
Speaker 2: come in off the street and and you know, God forbid,
4:47
Speaker 2: have to be the guy, you know, to lead him
4:49
Speaker 2: up there in Cleveland on the road against the Browns.
4:52
Speaker 1: If the backup has to play, And hopefully that's not
4:54
Speaker 1: the case now. One name that we've talked about off air,
4:57
Speaker 1: people have started to speculate in various places is Brandon Allen,
5:01
Speaker 1: who's been Joe Burrow's backup for the last three years.
5:04
Speaker 1: Right now, he's in San Francisco. By all accounts, he's
5:06
Speaker 1: number four on their depth chart. Hard to believe they'll
5:09
Speaker 1: keep four. They got rock Perty, Sam Darnold and Trey Lance.
5:13
Speaker 1: If he's cut, as is widely expected, should the Bengals
5:18
Speaker 1: try to sign him at least to the practice squad.
5:21
Speaker 2: I think that'd be a good move if, in fact,
5:24
Speaker 2: you know, that could present itself, because here's a guy
5:27
Speaker 2: that obviously understands this offense and when he called upon,
5:32
Speaker 2: he had some decent performance. I mean, he went out
5:34
Speaker 2: there and executed that game down in Houston. He put
5:37
Speaker 2: up some really good numbers, no question about it. And
5:40
Speaker 2: I think he's highly respected by people in the organization.
5:45
Speaker 2: By Joe Burrow. I think, you know, the quarterback room
5:47
Speaker 2: would be welcoming him with open arms. So it would
5:51
Speaker 2: be a very very smooth and easy transition and something
5:54
Speaker 2: that has some potential possibly.
5:57
Speaker 1: One thing to keep in mind is if he is cut,
5:59
Speaker 1: the Bengal might not be the only team that goes
6:01
Speaker 1: after him. There's been speculation that the Rams would be interested.
6:04
Speaker 1: He's familiar with Sean McVay from having time having spent
6:07
Speaker 1: time there as a backup. So just because he's cut
6:10
Speaker 1: doesn't mean the Bengals have a free opportunity. And by free,
6:14
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about dollars and cents, but can just
6:16
Speaker 1: automatically add him. He's going to consider whatever options he
6:20
Speaker 1: might have.
6:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, and and uh, you know he's a vested player
6:23
Speaker 2: obviously more than four four vested years, so he's free.
6:28
Speaker 2: He doesn't have to go through like guys years one, two,
6:31
Speaker 2: and three. If they're let go, they have to go
6:33
Speaker 2: through the draft order, you know, just the teams that
6:36
Speaker 2: finish worst to best. You know, they get the teams
6:39
Speaker 2: that finish worst get the best shot, first shot, I
6:41
Speaker 2: should say, and then all the way up to the
6:43
Speaker 2: to the best team in the NFL. Having the final shot. So,
6:45
Speaker 2: but he is, he's free to he's free to go
6:47
Speaker 2: anywhere and uh and choose a situation he thinks it's
6:51
Speaker 2: best for him. So yeah, it'd be interesting. It'd be
6:54
Speaker 2: interesting to see and he would just because of his
6:58
Speaker 2: experience with head coaches that are still in the National
7:01
Speaker 2: Football League, he would draw some interest, There's no question.
7:05
Speaker 1: So we were watching practice the other day. I was
7:07
Speaker 1: on one part of the field. You were studying the
7:09
Speaker 1: offensive line. You walked over to me raving about Jackson
7:12
Speaker 1: Carmen's physical ability. It hasn't consistently carried over when he's
7:17
Speaker 1: played in games. Is it confidence? Is it technique? Why
7:22
Speaker 1: do you think those great tools don't consistently produce great performance?
7:26
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think consistency is is, you know,
7:30
Speaker 2: more more of a mental thing. Focus, concentration, you know,
7:35
Speaker 2: don't don't let your mind stray, don't be overcome by
7:41
Speaker 2: something if if if there's movement in the defensive front,
7:44
Speaker 2: you know, don't freeze. Uh, you know, try to try
7:47
Speaker 2: to keep yourself in as good a mindset as you
7:49
Speaker 2: possibly can, because if if he's playing free and easy
7:54
Speaker 2: mentally physically, he can get it done. I mean physically
7:57
Speaker 2: he's got he's got a heck of a toolbox, he
8:00
Speaker 2: really does. But I think it is it's it's just
8:04
Speaker 2: you know, now, now he might be in a little
8:06
Speaker 2: bit of a situation where he was pressing, you know,
8:08
Speaker 2: some who knows what's going through the mind of a
8:12
Speaker 2: young guy like that. But if he goes up to
8:14
Speaker 2: the line of scrimmage with confidence, knowing that this is
8:18
Speaker 2: exactly what I'm going to do, if they make this
8:20
Speaker 2: kind of an adjustment, I know this is what I'm
8:22
Speaker 2: going to do, and hesitancy just kills you. I mean,
8:27
Speaker 2: if you if you're if you have any doubt when
8:30
Speaker 2: the ball is snapped and you're thinking should I do
8:32
Speaker 2: this or do that, it's it's done. You're you're beaten
8:34
Speaker 2: before the play even starts. So the physical part of
8:38
Speaker 2: it is just a part of it, and it's a
8:40
Speaker 2: good part to have, but all areas of the mental
8:43
Speaker 2: aspect of the game, you don't have to be fine
8:46
Speaker 2: tuned as well. And I think that's where you know
8:49
Speaker 2: he's he's had a little bit of a struggle, you know.
8:52
Speaker 2: And then if you do have a problem physically, like
8:55
Speaker 2: you didn't take the proper step, that's a mental thing
8:57
Speaker 2: as well. I mean, physically you're capable of doing it,
9:00
Speaker 2: but mentally, if you took an improper angle or whatever
9:03
Speaker 2: the case may be, now, all of a sudden, you
9:05
Speaker 2: doubt yourself again. And you know that is the worst
9:08
Speaker 2: enemy of anything in any athlete in the sports. Self
9:12
Speaker 2: doubt kills you, destroys you.
9:15
Speaker 1: The only offensive starter who has played so far in
9:18
Speaker 1: the preseason and will probably be the only start of
9:21
Speaker 1: the plays in the preseason, is Jonah Williams of right tackle.
9:24
Speaker 1: He got his first NFL snaps at right tackle last
9:27
Speaker 1: week in Atlanta. How'd you think he did?
9:29
Speaker 2: I thought he did pretty well. You know, I think
9:32
Speaker 2: there was a mix up in the in that drive
9:35
Speaker 2: in that there was a play that was supposed to
9:38
Speaker 2: be changed, and I think formationally it looked like it
9:41
Speaker 2: was odd he was doing an assignment on the backside
9:46
Speaker 2: that you wouldn't do on the backside, you'd do on
9:48
Speaker 2: the front side, and so there was some sort of problem.
9:51
Speaker 2: When I looked at it again, it's like, you know,
9:54
Speaker 2: it makes Jonah look really bad, But I think it
9:57
Speaker 2: might even been a back lined up on the wrong
9:59
Speaker 2: side of the quarter back. From a formation standpoint, the
10:02
Speaker 2: whole thing was disjointed. And that's the only snap where
10:05
Speaker 2: it looked like you know, in first blush was like, good,
10:07
Speaker 2: that didn't look But I don't think it was I
10:09
Speaker 2: don't think it was his problem necessarily. I think it
10:13
Speaker 2: was something else and he was doing what he was
10:14
Speaker 2: supposed to do. And that's the thing if you don't know,
10:17
Speaker 2: if you're looking at something, say, oh man, that guy
10:20
Speaker 2: just got his butt kicked, Well, what if the play
10:23
Speaker 2: design was supposed to be something totally different. He was
10:26
Speaker 2: doing exactly what he was supposed to do and you
10:28
Speaker 2: don't know that. So the only people that know that
10:30
Speaker 2: are the coaches and the players. So sometimes things can
10:33
Speaker 2: look one way and they're totally another. That's the danger
10:37
Speaker 2: of being quote, Okay, I'm going to grade this. Well,
10:40
Speaker 2: you don't know exactly what everybody's supposed to do on
10:43
Speaker 2: every single play sometimes. But with all that said, I
10:47
Speaker 2: thought that he was fluid. I thought he felt comfortable,
10:51
Speaker 2: looked like he felt comfortable anyway. You could tell he'd
10:54
Speaker 2: worked at it, and the whole time he was rehabbing
10:57
Speaker 2: that knee injury, he was doing something. You know, once
11:01
Speaker 2: he found out that they were going to make the
11:02
Speaker 2: move to the right tackle position. He definitely took a
11:05
Speaker 2: bunch of sets and you know, time on task, a
11:08
Speaker 2: repetition breeds, comfortablevel all that stuff. It's not like, you know,
11:11
Speaker 2: he sat around just feeling sorry for himself. I got
11:14
Speaker 2: to give him a lot of credit. You know, he
11:15
Speaker 2: went to work and uh and fine tuned, you know,
11:19
Speaker 2: reversing the sets. It's it's it's interesting people think, oh,
11:24
Speaker 2: that's that's easy to do. It's not a lot of
11:26
Speaker 2: times it's not if you're you know, not not everybody
11:29
Speaker 2: can be ambidexterous, you know. And uh, and it's a
11:32
Speaker 2: it's a totally different feel and it's almost like you
11:34
Speaker 2: have to remake yourself, you know. It's like you have
11:38
Speaker 2: a certain way of doing things on the right side,
11:40
Speaker 2: then a certain way of doing things on the left side.
11:42
Speaker 2: I can speak from experience on that, because you do have,
11:46
Speaker 2: you know, a dominant side and you have to make
11:48
Speaker 2: adjustments and all that sort of thing. So I thought
11:50
Speaker 2: that with all of that having having unfolded in a
11:55
Speaker 2: short period of time for him, I thought he looked
11:58
Speaker 2: pretty darn good. I thought he acquitted himself. Well.
12:00
Speaker 1: He told me this week he's reached the point where
12:02
Speaker 1: he doesn't have to think about this hand, this foot,
12:04
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff anymore. Moving from left to right.
12:07
Speaker 1: Is that kind of the first big key. All right,
12:09
Speaker 1: you're no longer having to process which side you're.
12:13
Speaker 2: On it is because as we know in this league,
12:17
Speaker 2: it's fast. I mean, it's instantaneous. So if you're again
12:21
Speaker 2: you know, okay, I have to make sure I got
12:24
Speaker 2: to put this okay on this play. Yeah, this right
12:26
Speaker 2: hand has to be at this number, and it has
12:29
Speaker 2: to be just like a reactionary. It has to be
12:32
Speaker 2: second nature. And again that's you know, that self doubt.
12:36
Speaker 2: It's not necessarily doubt, but it's not quite totally sure
12:41
Speaker 2: of it being like an instantaneous reaction. That that that
12:45
Speaker 2: makes it harder. That that puts a lot of stress
12:47
Speaker 2: on the player. So the more time on task and
12:50
Speaker 2: the more repetition he gets, and then now it's going
12:54
Speaker 2: to be interesting because you know, he hasn't gotten any
12:57
Speaker 2: reps with the right guard that he's going to be
12:59
Speaker 2: playing with the opener up there in Cleveland, So it's
13:03
Speaker 2: going to be a little bit of an adjustment there.
13:06
Speaker 2: It'll be time on task with live bullets, so it'll
13:09
Speaker 2: be an interesting thing to watch how it progresses.
13:13
Speaker 1: Much more to come with lap including his thoughts on
13:15
Speaker 1: the likelihood that chitabey A Woogie and Joe Burrow will
13:19
Speaker 1: play in the season opener. But first a reminder that
13:22
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Speaker 1: Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play with
13:41
Speaker 1: tickets inside merchandise up for grabs. Find both inside the
13:45
Speaker 1: Bengals app. You did a great podcast this week with
13:49
Speaker 1: chitabay A Wooje. I highly recommend listening to In the
13:52
Speaker 1: Trenches with Dave Lapham. The stuff that he said about
13:55
Speaker 1: chess in and of itself made it a great listen.
13:59
Speaker 1: Cheeto started doing eleven on eleven stuff this week. He
14:01
Speaker 1: looks great physically, That's been the case for several weeks,
14:04
Speaker 1: but he is not committing yet to playing in week one.
14:08
Speaker 1: He says he'll know when he's ready. What do you think?
14:14
Speaker 2: I guess maybe I'm a combination of thinking and hoping.
14:19
Speaker 2: But I just watching him flip his hips and run
14:23
Speaker 2: and the things that he did. And it's not only
14:26
Speaker 2: in seven on seven and team it was. It was impressive.
14:30
Speaker 2: It was really impressive. So I do think, you know,
14:33
Speaker 2: like like he said on the podcast, he goes, I
14:35
Speaker 2: felt like I'd play aff to four months. You know,
14:37
Speaker 2: I felt that good. But you can't do that. But
14:40
Speaker 2: that tells you the type of condition that he's in,
14:42
Speaker 2: the type of athlete he is. You know, these guys,
14:46
Speaker 2: their bodies are like it's ridiculous. I mean, they're so
14:50
Speaker 2: capable of bouncing back from serious trauma in such a
14:53
Speaker 2: short period of time. It really is incredible. But yeah,
14:58
Speaker 2: I think, you know, he's been taking a ton of
15:01
Speaker 2: mental reps. He's been out there into it the whole time.
15:04
Speaker 2: And you know, if now you start to fall into
15:07
Speaker 2: a category like Joe Burrow of you know, it's you're
15:11
Speaker 2: you're fresh, You're you're not beating up at all. You
15:14
Speaker 2: don't have any training camp, nicks, bumps, bruises, nothing. I mean,
15:17
Speaker 2: you feel as good as you've ever felt going into
15:21
Speaker 2: a start in a regular season, because you know, you've
15:23
Speaker 2: taken some mental things and you've done some of the
15:26
Speaker 2: of the work here down the stretch, and hopefully for
15:28
Speaker 2: both of them a couple of weeks prior to that
15:31
Speaker 2: first regular season game they'll get significant work in. But
15:36
Speaker 2: that's that's the positive of it. It's like, man, I've
15:39
Speaker 2: never felt better in my life to start an NFL
15:41
Speaker 2: regular season.
15:43
Speaker 1: Cheetah is very intellectual. He may even be a little
15:46
Speaker 1: bit superstitious. I don't know, but he's going back to
15:50
Speaker 1: the quote unquote scene at the crime. The injury happened
15:52
Speaker 1: at Cleveland on Halloween. That's where the Bengals open. He's
15:56
Speaker 1: going to be competing against his good friend Amari Cooper,
15:59
Speaker 1: That's who he was kind of ring when it happened.
16:01
Speaker 1: He might just be the type of person that he's
16:04
Speaker 1: not going to talk about it until he is out
16:08
Speaker 1: on that field in Week one.
16:10
Speaker 2: I agree, you know, I think I think he wants to, uh,
16:13
Speaker 2: you know, control the narrative and the drama and everything
16:17
Speaker 2: associated with it as best he possibly can. And and
16:20
Speaker 2: the best way to do that is to is to
16:23
Speaker 2: not be definitive, you know as to what your what
16:26
Speaker 2: your plans are. So I it's gonna be it is
16:30
Speaker 2: though it's so the coincidences are so like, man, it's
16:35
Speaker 2: almost like there's something else in control of this thing.
16:37
Speaker 2: It is weird. The football gods are saying, let's take
16:40
Speaker 2: let's let's test this guy's metal by by all of
16:43
Speaker 2: these circumstances. And uh. And honestly, the football gods owe
16:48
Speaker 2: him a year of leaving him alone in terms of
16:51
Speaker 2: an injury standpoint, because the guy had to go through
16:54
Speaker 2: quite a bit and he certainly did it well.
16:57
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the Bengals leading receivers. So in the
17:00
Speaker 1: preseason andre Yosi Vosh nine catches for ninety four yards.
17:05
Speaker 1: He's been targeted twenty times in the two preseason games.
17:09
Speaker 1: When the Bengals drafted him out of Princeton, I think
17:12
Speaker 1: I used the expression of lottery ticket at the time.
17:15
Speaker 1: I'm thinking big, strong, fast, IVY League athlete with a
17:20
Speaker 1: track background. It's going to take a while. He's going
17:22
Speaker 1: to be a project. I was wrong. He's not a project.
17:26
Speaker 1: I think he's one of the best six receivers on
17:28
Speaker 1: the team. What do you think?
17:29
Speaker 2: Agreed? One percent agreed? And I think I think the
17:34
Speaker 2: organization is a little bit surprised about how far along
17:38
Speaker 2: he is in terms of being an NFL caliber receiver.
17:42
Speaker 2: And the thing that I admire about him, he had
17:46
Speaker 2: a tendency early in training camp even to use his body,
17:50
Speaker 2: you know, and not get the full extension of his arms.
17:54
Speaker 2: That's a big plus for him. He's six ' three
17:56
Speaker 2: with long arms. His catching radius is big, and he
17:59
Speaker 2: wasn't even utilizing it fully yet. And you know, I
18:03
Speaker 2: give I give credit where credits due. I mean, he
18:06
Speaker 2: was coached and he accepted the coaching, and he extended
18:09
Speaker 2: those arms. And he's starting you know, he's catching with
18:11
Speaker 2: his hands now and not not catching with his body
18:13
Speaker 2: as much. And he's made a dramatic improvement in terms
18:18
Speaker 2: of high pointing and contested catches and that sort of thing.
18:21
Speaker 2: And I think there's no doubt that the thing that
18:25
Speaker 2: has impressed the coaching staff is his ability to Receivers
18:29
Speaker 2: have to read things and make adjustments like quarterbacks, you know,
18:32
Speaker 2: on coverages, when they're running routes, they have to be
18:35
Speaker 2: on the same page as the quarterback. And just because
18:38
Speaker 2: you're an IVY League educated person, that's intelligence doesn't necessarily
18:42
Speaker 2: equate to football IQ, and particularly if you haven't experienced
18:46
Speaker 2: all that, and it's just such a higher level He's
18:50
Speaker 2: been pretty seamless and flawless in that regard, which is good.
18:54
Speaker 2: So he's got not only raw intelligence, he's got a
18:57
Speaker 2: really strong football IQ as well. And you know he's
19:00
Speaker 2: a sponge, just like what else you got for me.
19:02
Speaker 2: I mean he's taken all the coaching in and looking
19:05
Speaker 2: for more. And that's what That's what you love is
19:08
Speaker 2: a guy that you know, the Good Lord blessed with
19:10
Speaker 2: all these physical attributes. Well, he wants to be great.
19:14
Speaker 2: I mean he wants to be do everything he possibly
19:17
Speaker 2: can to maximize that and accepting coaching the right way
19:20
Speaker 2: is a great way to do it. And it's like
19:23
Speaker 2: Courtel Volson's like that, you know, the young left guard.
19:26
Speaker 2: I mean he's physically gifted, but you know he knows
19:29
Speaker 2: that he needs to maximize what the Good Lord has
19:32
Speaker 2: given him. And that guy works man, and Yosi Vash
19:35
Speaker 2: is the same. I mean they have a lot of
19:36
Speaker 2: young players and a lot of players period on this
19:39
Speaker 2: football team that really work hard.
19:42
Speaker 1: Speaking of Cordel Olson, what do you make of Joe
19:45
Speaker 1: Mixon saying he is a potential Hall of Famer at
19:48
Speaker 1: this stage of his career.
19:50
Speaker 2: Pumped the brakes a little bit, But I like it.
19:53
Speaker 2: I mean, I really like it. It's great when teammates
19:56
Speaker 2: have that kind of feeling about another teammate. But I've
20:00
Speaker 2: I had conversation with Cordel Volson and said, you know,
20:03
Speaker 2: even from this year, I said, oh, you know, watching
20:07
Speaker 2: you this year as compared to last year, man, you
20:10
Speaker 2: really worked at it. And he's, you know, three hundred
20:13
Speaker 2: and twenty five pounds with the lowest body fat any
20:16
Speaker 2: offensive lineman. So he has done it right. He's worked
20:19
Speaker 2: extremely hard. And you know, he looked at me and
20:22
Speaker 2: he said, you know, I want to be great, man.
20:26
Speaker 2: My goal is to be great. I just don't want
20:28
Speaker 2: to be okay or you know, good, I want to
20:31
Speaker 2: be great. And I'm like, that's half the battle right there, man,
20:35
Speaker 2: you know, having that kind of an attitude. So, I mean,
20:38
Speaker 2: he's a guy that any offensive line coach would love
20:41
Speaker 2: to work with. And he's got a good one to
20:43
Speaker 2: work with. Frank Pollock is a guy that gives you
20:46
Speaker 2: all kinds of tools to put in that toolbox, and
20:49
Speaker 2: you know, you can you can change some of the
20:51
Speaker 2: tools in that toolbox on a week two week basis,
20:53
Speaker 2: and Cordel Volson is capable of you know, applying all
20:57
Speaker 2: of it, so it's a good combination there.
21:00
Speaker 1: I have not heard anyone refer to Jalen Davis as
21:02
Speaker 1: a potential Hall of Famer, but Chitabo Wouje calls him
21:06
Speaker 1: every day Davis because he seemingly makes plays every day.
21:10
Speaker 1: He had a couple of interceptions at a practice this week.
21:12
Speaker 1: He's had a bunch of them in this training camp.
21:14
Speaker 1: Is Jalen Davis the starting nickel corner on most NFL teams?
21:19
Speaker 2: In your opinion, Bingo, absolutely, I mean to me, it's
21:23
Speaker 2: like the Cincinnati Bengals. They just extended their two linebackers.
21:29
Speaker 2: Both of their linebackers, you know, Logan Wilson and Jermaine
21:32
Speaker 2: Pratt are three down players in the NFL. In today's NFL,
21:37
Speaker 2: the way the offenses have evolved, if you've got one
21:40
Speaker 2: three down linebacker on your roster, you're fortunate. When you
21:43
Speaker 2: have two and then throw Keem Davis Gator in the
21:46
Speaker 2: mix as three. Marcus Bailey can pretty much get there
21:50
Speaker 2: as well. Four Are you kidding me? Well, now the
21:53
Speaker 2: Bengals getting back to Davis, two corners that are starting
21:57
Speaker 2: caliber slot corners in the NFL. I mean mean you
22:00
Speaker 2: go to your dine package. You got both slots covered
22:03
Speaker 2: by these guys. I mean, it's it's unbelievable in terms
22:07
Speaker 2: of having you know, depth and talented depth at these
22:11
Speaker 2: physician groups. It really is. They've they've identified guys, They've
22:17
Speaker 2: identified them properly, and these guys have come in and
22:22
Speaker 2: the mesh between the coach and player has been extraordinary.
22:25
Speaker 2: So now one plus one equals three and they're in
22:28
Speaker 2: a good spot. Defensively, Lou and Romo can do a
22:31
Speaker 2: lot of things with these guys with the versatility and
22:35
Speaker 2: the depth of the versatility he's got in that roster.
22:38
Speaker 1: We can't have a podcast conversation without discussing the quarterback
22:42
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow. As we tape this, we are eighteen days
22:45
Speaker 1: away from the season opener at Cleveland. We saw Joe
22:47
Speaker 1: today in the Bengals cafeteria, pink T shirt, shorts, looking comfortable,
22:52
Speaker 1: looking fine, looking happy. I think things are trending in
22:56
Speaker 1: the right direction, but we don't see him by the
22:59
Speaker 1: way the training staff behind the scenes or whatever he
23:01
Speaker 1: might be doing in walk through periods or anything like that.
23:05
Speaker 1: Is Joe Burrow the starting quarterback in week one?
23:08
Speaker 2: Yes? I really believe that he is you know, when
23:14
Speaker 2: I watch him just just walking around physically, he looks
23:19
Speaker 2: as strong and as ready as I've ever seen him.
23:23
Speaker 2: I mean, he looks he looks unbelievable. The one thing
23:26
Speaker 2: you don't have to worry about with this training camp,
23:29
Speaker 2: you know, as you start to think about positives, all
23:31
Speaker 2: quarterbacks worry about dead arm, too many throws. Don't have
23:35
Speaker 2: to worry about that. You know, you don't have to
23:38
Speaker 2: worry about bumps and bruises, necks and little things you
23:41
Speaker 2: know that you might have accumulated during training camp. Joe
23:44
Speaker 2: didn't have to worry about that. Unfortunately, got the bump
23:47
Speaker 2: in the neck early and had to shut it down
23:49
Speaker 2: with that, with that calf strain. But you know, he's
23:53
Speaker 2: probably the freshest physically and mentally that he's been because,
23:59
Speaker 2: I mean he's off of appendectomies where he'd lost so
24:02
Speaker 2: much weight and so much strength. He was a shell
24:04
Speaker 2: of himself, you know, or an acl where you're you know,
24:08
Speaker 2: you're rehabbing a reconstruction of a joint, a key joint
24:12
Speaker 2: in your body. We're talking about a cash strain here.
24:15
Speaker 2: So I mean, I just think that that he's gonna
24:18
Speaker 2: be He's gonna be off to a great start. And
24:20
Speaker 2: how many times Dan in his in his early career
24:24
Speaker 2: here in mini camps, in after a draft in May
24:28
Speaker 2: or whatever, it's like two days in the mini camp.
24:30
Speaker 2: I'm watching him. I'm thinking, crap, this guy's ready to
24:33
Speaker 2: play right now. He's carving it up. Look at this dude,
24:37
Speaker 2: I mean, he he is so ready all the time.
24:39
Speaker 2: He never lets himself fall apart. I mean he never
24:42
Speaker 2: takes like a downtime. And it's like, yeah, I'm just
24:44
Speaker 2: gonna get sloppy. I'm gonna get sloppy with my preparation,
24:47
Speaker 2: I'm gonna get sloppy physically. He's always on and many
24:51
Speaker 2: times during OTA's in mini camp it's been the dude
24:55
Speaker 2: looks like mid season for him. I have no doubt
24:59
Speaker 2: that this is going to be able to throw the
25:01
Speaker 2: ball straight inaccurately as he ever has with a couple
25:06
Speaker 2: of weeks of practice. There's no doubt in my mind. So,
25:09
Speaker 2: I you know, now, in a perfect world, would you
25:13
Speaker 2: like to have been able to get a little bit
25:15
Speaker 2: more practice time with guys, particularly Yoshivash and guys like
25:18
Speaker 2: that Charlie Jones. Yeah, But if he gets a couple
25:22
Speaker 2: of weeks with those guys, all will be good. So
25:26
Speaker 2: I'm yes, he's starting against the Cleveland Browns.
25:30
Speaker 1: That's the headline from Dave lappam mark it down. But
25:32
Speaker 1: when Zach Taylor says in response to how much time
25:35
Speaker 1: does he need one rep, he's not exaggerating that much.
25:39
Speaker 2: I mean, honestly, it's like, okay, well, you know, being facetious,
25:45
Speaker 2: but hey, there's some reality to it. I honestly, watching him,
25:50
Speaker 2: like I said, in these camps, mini camps and stuff,
25:54
Speaker 2: all at various points, take a pick a spot in
25:57
Speaker 2: the off season, he never looks that different. He always
26:01
Speaker 2: looks like he's game ready. So I have no qualms
26:05
Speaker 2: fears whatsoever about Joe Burrow going out there and given
26:08
Speaker 2: a performance that will be you know, exceptional against the
26:12
Speaker 2: Cleveland Browns. I mean he went out there after the appendectomy.
26:17
Speaker 2: You know, had the turnovers, but I mean just for
26:18
Speaker 2: him to be out there, he was literally a shell
26:21
Speaker 2: of himself physically, and he goes out there and plays
26:23
Speaker 2: an NFL game against that caliber of a football team,
26:27
Speaker 2: coach that well by a guy like Mike Tomlin his
26:30
Speaker 2: coaching staff, and still has his team in position to
26:33
Speaker 2: potentially win the football game. Sh I ain't worried. He'll
26:38
Speaker 2: be there. He'll be there against the Browns up in Cleveland.
26:42
Speaker 2: He'll be there. Mistake on the lake, He'll be there.
26:46
Speaker 1: Lap's lips to God's ears. Let's help. He's right, and
26:50
Speaker 1: for the record, I think he is. The Bengals Booth
26:53
Speaker 1: Podcast is brought to you by Kettering Health, the official
26:55
Speaker 1: healthcare provider of the Bengals. With more than one hundred
26:58
Speaker 1: and twenty care facilities and ffteen hundred care providers, Kettering
27:02
Speaker 1: Health is committed to guiding you to your best health.
27:05
Speaker 1: Visit ketteringhealth dot org to learn more. Following Saturday night's
27:10
Speaker 1: game at Washington, the next couple of days are going
27:12
Speaker 1: to be nerve racking for quite a few players on
27:15
Speaker 1: every team. Right now, NFL franchises can have ninety players.
27:21
Speaker 1: By Tuesday at four o'clock, the roster has to be
27:23
Speaker 1: cut to fifty three. The following day, teams can establish
27:28
Speaker 1: a sixteen man practice squad. That means that every team
27:32
Speaker 1: has to say goodbye to roughly twenty players. Multiply that
27:36
Speaker 1: by thirty two teams and nearly six hundred and fifty
27:40
Speaker 1: players will be out of work next week. One of
27:43
Speaker 1: the Bengals rookies facing an anxious weekend is Sderick Jackson.
27:47
Speaker 1: With the Bengals skill and depth at wide receiver, Jackson
27:51
Speaker 1: almost certainly won't make the fifty three man roster, but
27:54
Speaker 1: he's in the running to make the practice squad. And
27:57
Speaker 1: I spoke to the undrafted rookie out of Auburn this week.
28:01
Speaker 1: All right, Schedick four catches last week for forty two
28:04
Speaker 1: yards in Atlanta. That's a good game, but you also
28:07
Speaker 1: had a twenty six yard catch that got negated by
28:10
Speaker 1: a penalty. You drew a thirty yard pass interference penalty,
28:14
Speaker 1: where you're pretty pumped up about that performance.
28:17
Speaker 3: Uh yeah, I feel like I went out there and
28:18
Speaker 3: you know, made most of my opportunities.
28:20
Speaker 4: Like you said, that last catch kind of hurt with
28:22
Speaker 4: the with the flag coming back.
28:24
Speaker 3: As soon as I got up, I saw the flag,
28:25
Speaker 3: I knew knew what it was, unfortunately, But uh yeah,
28:29
Speaker 3: just trying to build each week and get a little
28:31
Speaker 3: bit better, take advantage of my opportunities, like I said,
28:33
Speaker 3: and finish out camp strong.
28:35
Speaker 1: The first preseason game was solid as well. You had
28:37
Speaker 1: a couple of catches in that game and had the
28:39
Speaker 1: opportunity to return three kicks. They're giving you chances to
28:43
Speaker 1: show what you can do. Do you take that to
28:45
Speaker 1: be a good sign?
28:46
Speaker 2: Yeah?
28:47
Speaker 4: I think it's a great sign.
28:48
Speaker 2: You know.
28:49
Speaker 3: I'm very grateful for the opportunity to Bengals to give
28:51
Speaker 3: me to go out there showcase my talents. And great
28:55
Speaker 3: coach of staff, great teammates around me. So it's been
28:58
Speaker 3: it's been fun.
29:00
Speaker 1: We're visiting the Chrederick Jackson. I asked Zach Taylor about
29:03
Speaker 1: you today. He said he has earned my trust by
29:07
Speaker 1: understanding the playbook. He's clearly put a lot of time
29:10
Speaker 1: in and learning our offense. Is that about right?
29:14
Speaker 4: It sounds about right. Yeah.
29:16
Speaker 3: Ever since you know they told me or I said
29:20
Speaker 3: I would sign with him in free agency, I've just
29:23
Speaker 3: been trying to study the playbook, understand as much as
29:26
Speaker 3: I can multiple receivers positions, because that's how you like
29:29
Speaker 3: you like, he said, gain trust and get on the field,
29:32
Speaker 3: get those opportunities. So ever since, ota has been something
29:36
Speaker 3: I prided myself on, a knowing each position and not
29:40
Speaker 3: only what to do, but how to do it.
29:42
Speaker 1: When the head coach says he's earned my trust, is
29:45
Speaker 1: that about as good a compliment as you can get.
29:48
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that's up there, especially from a head
29:51
Speaker 3: coach in the league. So being at this level and
29:54
Speaker 3: continue to try to gain that trust, it's just, like
29:56
Speaker 3: I said, a big deal. It's truly a blessing in
29:59
Speaker 3: them looking to keep it going.
30:01
Speaker 1: We're chatting with Chrederick Jackson. So you're in a wide
30:04
Speaker 1: receiver room with three of the best in the game
30:06
Speaker 1: and Jamar, Chase t Higgins and Tyler Boyd. Who have
30:09
Speaker 1: you learned the most from?
30:12
Speaker 4: Oh, that's a tough one.
30:13
Speaker 3: I mean even those three guys like coming in, I
30:15
Speaker 3: knew I would be able to look at them and
30:18
Speaker 3: take a little bit from their game and learn a lot.
30:20
Speaker 3: But even the guys behind that, a lot of people don't,
30:23
Speaker 3: you know, give a lot of attention to, like Trent Irwin,
30:27
Speaker 3: Trent Taylor, Stan Kwalme, all those guys. So it's been
30:32
Speaker 3: great being in that room and just learning from a
30:33
Speaker 3: bunch of the veteran guys that are just great people too.
30:36
Speaker 1: That's interesting. You're a sponge. You can learn from anybody,
30:39
Speaker 1: most definitely. So you signed with the Bengals after playing
30:43
Speaker 1: at Auburn. Were you disappointed that you didn't get drafted.
30:47
Speaker 1: Did you expect to be selected?
30:50
Speaker 4: I kind of knew the reality of it going into it.
30:53
Speaker 3: If it wasn't, you know, somewhere in later rounds, I
30:56
Speaker 3: knew that going on drafted was a possibility. So yeah,
31:00
Speaker 3: watching it, of course, as being a competitor, I am.
31:02
Speaker 3: I was a little bit disappointed, But at the same time,
31:04
Speaker 3: the opportunity came with the Bengals and you know other
31:07
Speaker 3: teams that called. So I'm glad to be here and
31:10
Speaker 3: I'm you know, pushing forward.
31:12
Speaker 1: Did to put a chip on your shoulder?
31:14
Speaker 4: It did? I would say that.
31:17
Speaker 1: We've talked before and discussed your pro day where you
31:20
Speaker 1: ran a four two five forty. You're one of the
31:23
Speaker 1: fastest guys on the team. If everybody lined up at
31:26
Speaker 1: the goal line and had to sprint forty yards, who wins?
31:30
Speaker 3: I definitely like me. I think, of course DJ Turner
31:34
Speaker 3: would be there. He ran a fast forty two, but
31:37
Speaker 3: I like me.
31:39
Speaker 1: I also spoke to you this spring about your famous
31:41
Speaker 1: uncle Bo Jackson. You had a great line. I mentioned
31:43
Speaker 1: that he was arguably the greatest athlete of all time.
31:46
Speaker 1: He said, second best behind me in all seriousness. Is
31:50
Speaker 1: it a great source of pride to be Bo's nephew.
31:54
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's something that I've uh, you know, growing up with.
31:57
Speaker 3: I'm used to it by now. You know, people as
32:00
Speaker 3: me about people comparing me, you know, the speed and strength,
32:03
Speaker 3: all that stuff. So honestly, when I'm out there playing,
32:07
Speaker 3: when I'm out there practicing, you know, I'm gonna just
32:09
Speaker 3: worry about my craft and it doesn't really cost my mind.
32:13
Speaker 3: So yeah, it's just something I'm used to at this point.
32:16
Speaker 1: You're very good natured when I ask you about it
32:18
Speaker 1: doesn't get annoying at times.
32:20
Speaker 4: It has in the past, and you know, I've had to.
32:25
Speaker 3: Tell people to dial it back a little bit, but
32:27
Speaker 3: it's just, you know, something you gotta live with. Of Course,
32:30
Speaker 3: having somebody of that statue in the game in the past,
32:33
Speaker 3: of course you're gonna get questions about it, So I'm
32:36
Speaker 3: used to it.
32:37
Speaker 1: You've got one preseason game left coming up against Washington.
32:40
Speaker 1: What are your goals for this third and final preseason game?
32:44
Speaker 1: And how nerve racking well the days after that, bab.
32:49
Speaker 3: I try not to think about the days after, but
32:51
Speaker 3: just going out there, continue to play football, that's all
32:54
Speaker 3: it is, and go out there and get my all.
32:58
Speaker 4: Continue to execute the players or whatever. Let's be executed it.
33:01
Speaker 3: Make plays and go out there and play fast. So
33:05
Speaker 3: just looking forward to playing football. You've earned the coaches trust.
33:08
Speaker 3: That's a good sign. Best of luck appreciation. That's Shedar Jackson.
33:13
Speaker 1: Sunday's game to Washington starts at six pm our pregame
33:16
Speaker 1: coverage on the Bengals Radio Network. We'll get underway at
33:19
Speaker 1: four thirty. That's going to do it for this episode
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