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Bengals Booth Podcast: Learn To Fly · 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 Make My Way Back Home
0:11
Speaker 1: When I Learned to Fly. Addition, as we pick a
0:16
Speaker 1: part of bitterly disappointing season opening loss to the LA
0:19
Speaker 1: Chargers with radio replays, postgame comments from players and coaches,
0:23
Speaker 1: and Dave Lapham's in depth analysis. The Bengals Booth Podcast
0:28
Speaker 1: is presented by Prime Sport, the official hospitality partner of
0:31
Speaker 1: the Cincinnati Bengals. And here's a quick reminder that you
0:34
Speaker 1: can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right
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Speaker 1: to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher,
0:42
Speaker 1: Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing
0:47
Speaker 1: since my job. I've dreamed of broadcasting NFL games for
0:52
Speaker 1: as long as I can remember, and trust me, I
0:55
Speaker 1: never take the privilege of being one of thirty two
0:58
Speaker 1: NFL team radio voices for granted. Despite Sunday's finish, it
1:03
Speaker 1: was a joy to be back in the Booth with
1:04
Speaker 1: Dave Lapham and our great crew on Sunday and we
1:07
Speaker 1: can't wait to do it again on Thursday night. Now,
1:11
Speaker 1: let's get to this week's three point loss to the Chargers.
1:15
Speaker 1: The highly anticipated start of the Joe Burrow era got
1:18
Speaker 1: off to a bit of a shaky start offensively, as
1:21
Speaker 1: the Bengals had to punt on their first three drives,
1:24
Speaker 1: but the fourth ended with Joe's first NFL touchdown empty
1:29
Speaker 1: backfield five wides. As Burrow waits for the shotgun snap
1:33
Speaker 1: on second and ten from the Chargers twenty three, he
1:35
Speaker 1: runs a narterback drawn Hopkins with a great native touchdown
1:41
Speaker 1: as Joe burrows first NFL touchdown comes out of twenty
1:46
Speaker 1: three yard run on a beautifully called quarterback draw and
1:51
Speaker 1: Burrow made the call. He looked at the Chargers defense
1:54
Speaker 1: and audible to the QB draw to give the Bengals
1:57
Speaker 1: a seven nothing lead, But they weren't able to add
1:59
Speaker 1: to the athlete in the first half despite consistently having
2:02
Speaker 1: great field position. Their average drive start on six first
2:06
Speaker 1: half possessions was the thirty seven and a half, and
2:10
Speaker 1: yet they only came away with seven points. Here's Zach Taylor. Yeah,
2:14
Speaker 1: that's the most disappointed part of the game. As our
2:16
Speaker 1: defensive special teams, we're winning the field position battle for us.
2:20
Speaker 1: We didn't capitalize on In an offense, we had some
2:23
Speaker 1: opportunities again in the third quarter that we didn't hit,
2:25
Speaker 1: and you know, that's just what it comes down to.
2:27
Speaker 1: The Chargers kicked a pair of field goals in the
2:29
Speaker 1: second quarter, and at the half the Bengals led seven six.
2:34
Speaker 1: Burrow was sacked three times and hit six times in
2:36
Speaker 1: the first half, but he wasn't hit at all over
2:39
Speaker 1: the final two quarters. Here's Jonah Williams. Yeah, I think
2:42
Speaker 1: we settled down. Obviously, you know, we weren't protecting like
2:45
Speaker 1: we need to and like we should have in the
2:47
Speaker 1: first half. You know, obviously they have great rushers, but
2:51
Speaker 1: it really comes down to us just not doing our jobs.
2:54
Speaker 1: And so I think, you know, as a game we're on,
2:57
Speaker 1: we kind of settled in and started to understand, you know,
3:00
Speaker 1: how to beat this specific front. And you know, it
3:03
Speaker 1: wasn't perfect the whole game, but I did get a
3:06
Speaker 1: little bit better as we got, you know, more comfortable
3:08
Speaker 1: with better protection. Burrow had two shots at long touchdown
3:12
Speaker 1: passes in a span of three snaps in the third quarter,
3:16
Speaker 1: barely overthrowing John Ross in the back of the end
3:18
Speaker 1: zone from thirty five yards out and then missing a
3:22
Speaker 1: wide open aj Green at the goal line from thirty
3:25
Speaker 1: one yards out still fifty and forty three yard field
3:29
Speaker 1: goals by Randy Bullock allowed the Bengals to take a
3:32
Speaker 1: thirteen sixth lead to the fourth quarter. It didn't last,
3:36
Speaker 1: as the Chargers pulled even early in the fourth. Virgil
3:39
Speaker 1: Green checks and is a blocking tight end and the
3:42
Speaker 1: pounding running back Joshua Kelly is into the game out
3:45
Speaker 1: of a pistol formation. Second and goal from the five,
3:47
Speaker 1: Taylor gives it to Kelly and he'll run it into
3:50
Speaker 1: the end zone for the Chargers first touchdown of the day.
3:54
Speaker 1: Joshua Kelly's five yard run tied the game, and when
3:56
Speaker 1: the Bengals got the ball back, they promptly caught it
4:00
Speaker 1: up double tight ends on second and ten, the Bengals
4:02
Speaker 1: at their own twenty five in a tie game. Twelve
4:05
Speaker 1: twenty left in regulation. It's a run to the right,
4:07
Speaker 1: Mixon fumbles the football and the Chargers recover at the
4:11
Speaker 1: Cincinnati twenty four yard line, the first turnover of the
4:15
Speaker 1: day for either team. Denzel Perryman forcing a fumble out
4:20
Speaker 1: of Joe Mixon, who never fumbles the football. Coming into
4:24
Speaker 1: this game, Joe Mixon had carried more than five hundred
4:28
Speaker 1: times without a fumble and he gives it up in
4:30
Speaker 1: his own territory. In the fourth quarter, the defense held
4:33
Speaker 1: the Chargers to a field goal, but that gave LA
4:35
Speaker 1: a sixteen thirteen lead. Joe Burrow promptly drove the offense
4:40
Speaker 1: to the Chargers twenty three yard line before he made
4:43
Speaker 1: a critical mistake. Burrow drops back to pass again. Here
4:46
Speaker 1: comes bosup Burrow moving to his left, intercepted by Melvin Ingram.
4:51
Speaker 1: There's a penalty flag down as burrows shovel pass intended
4:55
Speaker 1: for Giovanni Bernard was picked off by defensive end Melvin
5:00
Speaker 1: and Ingram ineligible receiver down the football field. There's Joe
5:03
Speaker 1: Burrow tried to throw it, so that's what the penalty
5:05
Speaker 1: flag is. That's not going to help the Bengals cause
5:08
Speaker 1: it's a turnover. Two turnovers for the Bengals on back
5:11
Speaker 1: to back drives in the fourth quarter, zero turnovers for
5:15
Speaker 1: the Chargers in the game. And that was the bottom line,
5:18
Speaker 1: according to Zach Taylor, killed us. I mean, we you know,
5:21
Speaker 1: we went into the second half and if we're gonna
5:22
Speaker 1: win the turnover battle, we're gonna win the game. And
5:25
Speaker 1: it certainly didn't work out that way. And the Chargers
5:27
Speaker 1: got him, so hats off to them, but that port's disappointing,
5:30
Speaker 1: and yet the Bengals were still in position to win.
5:34
Speaker 1: Burrow got the ball back at his own eighteen yard
5:36
Speaker 1: line with three o eight to go and no timeouts
5:39
Speaker 1: and executed a near perfect drive, going eight for eleven
5:43
Speaker 1: for seventy yards and throwing what could have been a
5:46
Speaker 1: dramatic game winning touchdown. Three receivers left AJ Green out
5:50
Speaker 1: to the right, shotgun snap Burrow from the ten yard line,
5:53
Speaker 1: throws for Green, penalty flag down if he AJ comes
5:57
Speaker 1: down with the ball, there's no touchdown. Six pennies for
6:00
Speaker 1: offensive pass in appearance. Oh man, that is a tough
6:04
Speaker 1: call at the top of the route, unbelievable. A J
6:07
Speaker 1: Green they called him. They're they're doing hand to hand
6:10
Speaker 1: combat at the top of the route. If they both
6:12
Speaker 1: have their hands on each other, they call a J
6:14
Speaker 1: Green for a push off. And it was sold big
6:17
Speaker 1: time by the defensive back. That's Casey Hayward. Here are
6:21
Speaker 1: AJ Green and Joe Burrow on the call. Well, when
6:25
Speaker 1: he h clamping me the whole time coming off the ball,
6:28
Speaker 1: so within five yards, So if you can call that,
6:32
Speaker 1: we can call that. Both ways, but they made the
6:34
Speaker 1: call bang bang plays. At the end of the day,
6:37
Speaker 1: you know, I made too many, too many mistakes to
6:40
Speaker 1: win the game, and we just didn't make enough plays.
6:42
Speaker 1: So you know, whether that call goes our way or not,
6:44
Speaker 1: a lot of calls are going to go on a
6:46
Speaker 1: lot of different ways throughout the game. And then you know,
6:49
Speaker 1: I made miss miss aj on a deep bombs John
6:52
Speaker 1: on a deep bond and through the interception that that
6:55
Speaker 1: just can't happen. The penalty moved the ball back to
6:57
Speaker 1: the thirteen yard line, and with seven seconds to go,
7:00
Speaker 1: Taylor called on Bullock to attempt a thirty one yard
7:03
Speaker 1: field goal to force overtime. Bullock two for two so
7:06
Speaker 1: far today. The snap is good, the kick is wide right,
7:11
Speaker 1: he missed it. Oh, the Chargers hold onto the lead
7:14
Speaker 1: with two seconds to go, and Pollock is hurt. Bullock
7:18
Speaker 1: immediately grabbed his lower leg after missing the kick. Yeah,
7:21
Speaker 1: on the last play, for whatever reason, during the kicking motion,
7:24
Speaker 1: my left calf just grabbed real hard. So obviously that's
7:28
Speaker 1: not not an excuse. That's a kick that I make
7:32
Speaker 1: ninety nine times out of one hundred. It was a
7:34
Speaker 1: freak deal. I wish I had a better answer for
7:37
Speaker 1: what transpired. It seems like just for whatever reason, a
7:41
Speaker 1: calf grabbed and it it affected the play. Instead of
7:44
Speaker 1: a thrilling last second victory, Joe Burrow's debut ended in
7:48
Speaker 1: a three point loss. How did he grate his performance?
7:51
Speaker 1: D Like, I can't, Yeah, D I can't. I mean,
7:55
Speaker 1: I can't miss that one too. Aj. That's you know,
7:59
Speaker 1: high schooler can make the throw and then I can't
8:01
Speaker 1: throw the ball right to Meld and Ingram and give
8:03
Speaker 1: them the ball back when we were in scoring ring.
8:04
Speaker 1: So um tough way to lose. But his coaches and
8:08
Speaker 1: teammates had a much different opinion, as Zach Taylor and
8:11
Speaker 1: AJ Green marveled at burrows poise under pressure in the
8:15
Speaker 1: final three minutes. That's what we expect, you know. That's
8:18
Speaker 1: he just moves on to the next boy. And I'm
8:20
Speaker 1: sure he's disappointed that you have to turnover. But again,
8:22
Speaker 1: you don't since that at all from him. On the sidelines.
8:24
Speaker 1: He's focused on what he's going to get done. And
8:26
Speaker 1: he went out there and put us some position to
8:28
Speaker 1: go there and winner tie the game. Is unbelievable. Man,
8:30
Speaker 1: that guy. Don't flinch. Um. I was very the way
8:34
Speaker 1: he handled itself when the last right was unbelievable. No
8:37
Speaker 1: rookie I have seen, you know, the way he handled
8:40
Speaker 1: it after advertually. Um, so you know, we got a
8:43
Speaker 1: special one in Joe. We're gonna be better next week
8:45
Speaker 1: and we're gonna build his thing brick by brick and
8:49
Speaker 1: uh get better each week. Jonah Williams gets the last
8:52
Speaker 1: word on the bengals first loss. It's tough because you know,
8:56
Speaker 1: in this league, like, there's no you know, you just
9:00
Speaker 1: have to own it. There's no like you can't feel
9:03
Speaker 1: sorry for yourself. You can't sit there and say, oh, well,
9:05
Speaker 1: we should have won, even though you know, I would
9:07
Speaker 1: agree that it was definitely a game we could have won,
9:11
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, it religious comes
9:12
Speaker 1: down to we didn't execute like we needed to on offense.
9:16
Speaker 1: You know, the defense played well, but there are obviously
9:18
Speaker 1: things that could have done better. You know. So it's
9:21
Speaker 1: definitely something where you can look and say that we
9:23
Speaker 1: could have won, we should have won, whatever you want
9:25
Speaker 1: to say, but at the end of the day, we
9:26
Speaker 1: just didn't, you know, do what it took to win.
9:29
Speaker 1: Last season began with a one point loss in Seattle,
9:32
Speaker 1: and that's where I began my postgame chat with Dave Lapham.
9:37
Speaker 1: All Right, Lap. For the second straight year, it felt
9:39
Speaker 1: to me like the Bengals lost an opening game that
9:41
Speaker 1: they should have won. Last year in Seattle, they outplayed
9:43
Speaker 1: the Seahawks, did not come away with a w in
9:46
Speaker 1: this game. Two fourth quarter to fourth quarter turnovers absolutely
9:50
Speaker 1: killed them, and then all that happened in the final
9:53
Speaker 1: ten seconds of the game. Yeah. I mean, when you
9:55
Speaker 1: look back at last year for this the LA Chargers,
9:59
Speaker 1: they were mine seventeen in the turnover department, they had
10:02
Speaker 1: thirty one giveaways none tonight. Tyrod Taylor is known as
10:07
Speaker 1: a guy that takes care of the football. His mantras
10:11
Speaker 1: just don't screw it up at the quarterback position, and
10:14
Speaker 1: ultimately that won the football game for them. Joe Burrow
10:18
Speaker 1: had a very unusual interception on a backhanded shovel pass
10:23
Speaker 1: on a screen that he was trying to accomplish, and
10:26
Speaker 1: England made a great play. I mean Pro Bowl player
10:28
Speaker 1: made a great play. And Joe Mixon had the fumble
10:31
Speaker 1: a game a short field and a touchdown on that
10:34
Speaker 1: short field. So yeah, I mean, those those two turnovers,
10:37
Speaker 1: the Bengals are going in to put points on the
10:39
Speaker 1: board and they turn it over and then gave short
10:41
Speaker 1: field for you know, touchdown. That's a minimum of a
10:44
Speaker 1: ten point swing, maybe more. Joe Burrow graded himself a D.
10:49
Speaker 1: Is he too harsh tough grader? You know, I mean,
10:53
Speaker 1: I think he's all about wins and losses. You know.
10:57
Speaker 1: The fact is, I think he's obviously disappointed with himself.
11:02
Speaker 1: Overthrown AJ Green, who beat the linebacker like a drum.
11:05
Speaker 1: He was opened by ten yards or more and he
11:07
Speaker 1: didn't make that throw. He felt like he overthrew John Ross.
11:11
Speaker 1: I didn't think John found the football. I thought the
11:13
Speaker 1: ball was like right through his hands. It looked like
11:16
Speaker 1: that was a catchable ball. But he said he's going
11:18
Speaker 1: to put the ball in John Ross's chest. A good
11:21
Speaker 1: quarterback does that. He deflects all the credit, takes all
11:24
Speaker 1: the plane, and that's what he's doing. So he understands
11:27
Speaker 1: that part of it for sure. But in my mind,
11:32
Speaker 1: very positive thing after that, you know, bone headed shovel
11:37
Speaker 1: pass interception. He goes down the field with no timeouts
11:40
Speaker 1: and almost wins the football game. AJ Green catches a
11:44
Speaker 1: touchdown pass that's nullified by offensive pass interference that would
11:47
Speaker 1: have won the football game tells me a lot about
11:51
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow. Compartmentalized. Move on, forget about that, try to
11:54
Speaker 1: make plays, can't do anything about the mistakes. Go make
11:57
Speaker 1: up for him. If he does that, he's gonna have
12:00
Speaker 1: a long, successful career. Well, let's talk about the final drive.
12:04
Speaker 1: The Bengals got the ball back with three O eight
12:06
Speaker 1: to go, no timeouts at their own eighteen yard line.
12:10
Speaker 1: Burrow went eight for eleven for seventy yards. He also
12:13
Speaker 1: had a seven yard scramble I think on the first
12:16
Speaker 1: play of the drive. Of the three incompletions, one was
12:20
Speaker 1: a spike, one was a kind of a deep ball
12:23
Speaker 1: for aj Green that was incomplete. The other was a
12:25
Speaker 1: great pass to John Ross that he bobbled going out
12:28
Speaker 1: a bound should have been a nine yard game. So basically,
12:31
Speaker 1: three O eight no time outs to go, He drives
12:34
Speaker 1: down the field, throws a game winning touchdown pass that
12:36
Speaker 1: gets wiped out. But even taking that into consideration, he
12:41
Speaker 1: sets up his kicker for a thirty one yard field
12:43
Speaker 1: goal that you know, ninety eight percent of the time
12:46
Speaker 1: is supposed to fours overtime. Yeah, and then the kicker
12:50
Speaker 1: ends up injuring his kicking calf hopefully. I'm hoping it's
12:55
Speaker 1: a cramp because during COVID nineteen, where the hell you're
12:58
Speaker 1: going to find a kicker on a short week go
13:00
Speaker 1: to Cleveland. It's gonna be interesting. I mean, if he
13:03
Speaker 1: can't go, that's a tough, tough deal. I mean, very
13:06
Speaker 1: tough deal. What's out there, I really don't know. Hopefully
13:10
Speaker 1: there's something out there, but that's a that's a huge factor,
13:13
Speaker 1: I think in that football game coming up less than
13:16
Speaker 1: a hundred hours from now. So yeah, I mean Joe
13:21
Speaker 1: Burrow to me is so poker faced, so cool, calm
13:25
Speaker 1: and collected. He is definitely cool hand Joe. I mean nothing.
13:29
Speaker 1: I remember the forty nine players talking about Joe Montana
13:34
Speaker 1: in the huddle in Super Bowl twenty three when he
13:36
Speaker 1: went down for the game winning touchdown drive. He's saying,
13:39
Speaker 1: other guys and hey, look there's John Candy over in
13:41
Speaker 1: the sideline just loosening guys up. You know that's Joe Burrows.
13:45
Speaker 1: I think he has a lot of Joe Montana makeup
13:49
Speaker 1: to him, which I know is saying a lot and
13:51
Speaker 1: he's getting a lot of praise and he's generational player
13:53
Speaker 1: in all this net. But the guy has something to him.
13:56
Speaker 1: Now he's got some fiber, and I think I think
14:00
Speaker 1: he made a very very favorable impression on his teammates
14:03
Speaker 1: once again offensively, defensively, special teams by what he did
14:06
Speaker 1: on that last drive with no timeouts. Your point about
14:10
Speaker 1: the kickers really interesting to me. If the injury to
14:13
Speaker 1: Bullock is significant, you've probably got to grab somebody off
14:16
Speaker 1: another team's practice squad and somebody that can get here
14:19
Speaker 1: quickly to start going through the protocol in order to
14:23
Speaker 1: be available on Thursday. You probably will not be able
14:26
Speaker 1: to practice with him. You're just going to have to
14:30
Speaker 1: hope that he can clear protocol because he will already
14:32
Speaker 1: be in the system, so there shouldn't be any problems there.
14:35
Speaker 1: But it does take a few days when you change
14:36
Speaker 1: teams and then he'll get his first opportunities to practice
14:41
Speaker 1: with your snapper and holder on game day. Maybe unbelievable.
14:45
Speaker 1: I mean, I think COVID nineteen with a short week
14:47
Speaker 1: a Thursday night game, hilacious problem massive. You know, I
14:53
Speaker 1: don't know Kevin Huber lining up from forty three yards
14:58
Speaker 1: out to field goal instead of hold for the field
15:01
Speaker 1: goal that would be That would be just absolutely crazy.
15:04
Speaker 1: But yeah, it's you know, hopefully, hopefully it's something that
15:11
Speaker 1: Randy Bullock can recover from. Maybe he just landed awkwardly
15:14
Speaker 1: and cramped. I don't know. You know, if he wasn't
15:16
Speaker 1: taking fluids it was human tonight. Maybe he lost more
15:19
Speaker 1: fluids than he thought. Maybe he ended up just cramping.
15:21
Speaker 1: I don't know. One can only hope. But if it
15:25
Speaker 1: is a pull, that it's a very very minor pull.
15:29
Speaker 1: But if you're a place kicker and you have calf
15:31
Speaker 1: pull in your kicking leg, that ain't good. It's not
15:34
Speaker 1: a good deal. I don't care how minor the pull is.
15:37
Speaker 1: And you know there's a bunch of muscles in the calf.
15:39
Speaker 1: You know, there's big ones, little ones. It's you know,
15:41
Speaker 1: it's it's a it's a complex area to have have
15:44
Speaker 1: an issue if you're trying to, you know, blast kickoffs
15:46
Speaker 1: and field goals. There's no doubt. Let's talk about the
15:49
Speaker 1: O line. You haven't seen any tape yet. We're talking
15:52
Speaker 1: about this game immediately in the press box after broadcasting it.
15:55
Speaker 1: But what do you think about Jonah Williams. Obviously, Joey
15:58
Speaker 1: Bosa gave Bobby Heart fits. That's why he's making twenty
16:01
Speaker 1: seven million dollars a year as the highest paid defensive
16:04
Speaker 1: player in the NFL, and then Billy Price wound up
16:07
Speaker 1: playing right guard toward the tail end of the game
16:09
Speaker 1: when Xavier sue Filo went out. Yeah, and I thought,
16:13
Speaker 1: I thought, in the second half, the offensive line played
16:15
Speaker 1: much better than they did in the first half. And
16:16
Speaker 1: that's when Billy was, you know, in the football game
16:18
Speaker 1: in the second half. So there wasn't any glaring thing there.
16:22
Speaker 1: But there's no doubt. I mean when we played the Raiders,
16:24
Speaker 1: how he Long back in the day would go up
16:26
Speaker 1: and down the offensive line and see what everybody had
16:30
Speaker 1: in terms of past protection and then settled in. And
16:33
Speaker 1: if you were the guy who settled in out it
16:34
Speaker 1: was like you were the fish man. So he got
16:36
Speaker 1: to pick which guy he wanted to rush out because
16:38
Speaker 1: he could rush from anywhere. How he Long was the man.
16:41
Speaker 1: And it looks like Joey Bosa, you know, he can
16:43
Speaker 1: rush from both end positions and looks like you know,
16:46
Speaker 1: they said, you know, give it a feel him out
16:48
Speaker 1: and see where, see where you feel like you might
16:51
Speaker 1: have your best opportunity. And he ended up settling over
16:54
Speaker 1: Bobby Hart more than Jonah Williams for sure. So and honestly,
17:00
Speaker 1: you know, I'd have to look to see how much
17:02
Speaker 1: help he got. But I would have given Bobby Hart
17:04
Speaker 1: more because when I see an offensive lineman what Bobby
17:07
Speaker 1: did in the first half, duck. When I see an
17:09
Speaker 1: offensive lineman duck his head and take his eyes off
17:12
Speaker 1: targets and everything else, I see a guy that's in
17:14
Speaker 1: a panic mode. That's just you can't pass protect anybody.
17:18
Speaker 1: Duck in your head, bringing your shoulders and everything closer
17:21
Speaker 1: to the defender who's got unbelievable hands and strength and
17:24
Speaker 1: strengthen his hands and everything else. I mean, you just
17:26
Speaker 1: you're you're beating yourself as well as him beating you.
17:29
Speaker 1: So yeah, that But it seems like from what people
17:35
Speaker 1: were saying after the game in the offensive line, that
17:38
Speaker 1: the Charges came out with a wrinkle with a nuance
17:40
Speaker 1: in their in their defensive front that caused some assignment
17:44
Speaker 1: errors assignment problems for the Bengals offensive line, and they
17:48
Speaker 1: definitely ran the ball better, pass protected better in the
17:52
Speaker 1: second half when they made they made adjustments, I guess
17:55
Speaker 1: they couldn't make them as quickly as they needed to
17:58
Speaker 1: or wanted to. When they came off after every series
18:00
Speaker 1: in the first half when they had time to get
18:02
Speaker 1: on a board at halftime and make some solid adjustments.
18:05
Speaker 1: It seems like they did that. So I thought the
18:08
Speaker 1: performance was better in the second half for sure. I
18:11
Speaker 1: think the secondary was good. Will Jackson was very solid.
18:14
Speaker 1: Darius Phillips gave up that one deep ball to Mike Williams,
18:17
Speaker 1: but that's a tough matchup for him. Big guy, good downfield,
18:20
Speaker 1: a lot of tackles for von Bell, Jesse Bates made
18:23
Speaker 1: a couple of plays. Kenzie Alexander was really solid. Yeah,
18:27
Speaker 1: I thought so too. That there was a Hunter Henry.
18:29
Speaker 1: There was an assignment era between the second level and
18:32
Speaker 1: third level linebacker secondary where Hunter Henry gould open like
18:37
Speaker 1: five yards when you know that's the only glaring mental
18:40
Speaker 1: mistake ground and say WHOA, I mean, where is everybody
18:44
Speaker 1: or anybody other than that? I thought. I thought overall
18:47
Speaker 1: it was pretty solid as well, And I thought the
18:50
Speaker 1: tackling wasn't atrocious, you know. I mean, these are NFL
18:55
Speaker 1: running backs and NFL receivers are a good run after catch.
18:58
Speaker 1: I mean, they get paid a lot of money to
18:59
Speaker 1: make you miss as much as you get paid to
19:01
Speaker 1: tackle him. So you're gonna win some you're gonna lose them.
19:04
Speaker 1: But I didn't think that tackling was like, oh my gosh,
19:07
Speaker 1: I mean, that's just that's horrible. I thought I thought
19:11
Speaker 1: they got people to the ground. How can it improve? Yeah,
19:13
Speaker 1: it can definitely improve. And I think, you know, in October,
19:17
Speaker 1: it's going to be a heck of a lot better
19:18
Speaker 1: than this here in the middle stages of September. I'll
19:22
Speaker 1: tell you what does bother me about this loss? Though?
19:24
Speaker 1: From a Bengals perspective, I don't think the Chargers are
19:26
Speaker 1: any good. I mean, Tyrod Taylor is somewhere between the
19:29
Speaker 1: twenty eighth and thirty second best starting quarterback in the NFL.
19:34
Speaker 1: He's carved out a long career, God bless him, but
19:36
Speaker 1: he's just not a good enough downfield thrower on a
19:39
Speaker 1: consistent basis to elevate a team. He is a I
19:42
Speaker 1: won't screw it up guy, and that was enough to
19:45
Speaker 1: get the job done, no doubt. They ran the ball
19:47
Speaker 1: well enough and they played good enough defense. I mean,
19:50
Speaker 1: Bradley didn't turn it over and didn't turn it over.
19:52
Speaker 1: He took care of the football. That's his mantra. You know,
19:56
Speaker 1: I'm I'm gonna make sure that I don't give the
19:58
Speaker 1: other team extra opportunity, these extra possessions. So defense, I'm
20:02
Speaker 1: not going to betray you. You do your thing. I mean,
20:05
Speaker 1: this is a good defense. Gus Bradley puts together good defense.
20:08
Speaker 1: As you know, last year they were, you know, top five,
20:11
Speaker 1: fourth in the NFL and against the past and scoring
20:14
Speaker 1: pretty good defense and with a rookie quarterback and the
20:18
Speaker 1: offensive line dealing with the adjustments they needed to deal
20:21
Speaker 1: with with the defense or front, it took them a
20:22
Speaker 1: half to kind of fall into a little bit of rhythm.
20:25
Speaker 1: And you know, while all that was going on, I mean,
20:30
Speaker 1: the Bengals had big average drive start field position advantages
20:35
Speaker 1: in the first half and two fourth down stops and
20:38
Speaker 1: they didn't turn it over in the first half. They
20:41
Speaker 1: had a lead, but it was nowhere near what the
20:43
Speaker 1: lead should have been. Why Chargers defense charges defense bailed
20:48
Speaker 1: them out and Tyrod Taylor did not betray the defense
20:51
Speaker 1: and put them in a very very bad situation where
20:54
Speaker 1: you know, like what happened with Joe's fumble that short
20:57
Speaker 1: field that the Chargers took advantage and scored their touchdown.
21:01
Speaker 1: I mean they jumped on that opportunity and said we
21:03
Speaker 1: can't let this go by touchdown and uh, you know,
21:07
Speaker 1: different different ballgame at that point in time. So yeah,
21:10
Speaker 1: I don't think they're you know, let's put it this way.
21:14
Speaker 1: They ain't gonna threaten the Chiefs in the AFC West.
21:16
Speaker 1: I know that. I mean the Kansas City, A City
21:20
Speaker 1: Chiefs are gonna have. You know, that's a different offensive
21:24
Speaker 1: club than what the Chargers face tonight. But yeah, I
21:29
Speaker 1: mean Cleveland gets smoked by Baltimore. I don't know what
21:32
Speaker 1: their injury status is. The Bengal sustained some injuries tonight,
21:36
Speaker 1: you know, kicker, offensive lineman, defensive lineman. A short week,
21:42
Speaker 1: how many of them they gonna have. How many injuries
21:44
Speaker 1: does Cleveland have? And if they have injuries, where are
21:46
Speaker 1: those injuries? And all that stuff to be determined at
21:49
Speaker 1: this point. A thirty one yard field goal to force
21:53
Speaker 1: over time, you gotta make that freaking kick unbelievable. Any
21:59
Speaker 1: drilled fifty yard or they miss one from fifty. He
22:02
Speaker 1: makes one from fifty. So he miss hit a kickoff
22:07
Speaker 1: and they brought it back out for big field position
22:10
Speaker 1: and then he miss hit the field goal. He had
22:13
Speaker 1: two miss hits, both of them were critical. One of
22:16
Speaker 1: them points should have been on the board and the
22:17
Speaker 1: other one allowed points to get on the board in
22:19
Speaker 1: a hotly contested football game, whereas otherwise, I mean, Darren
22:23
Speaker 1: Simmons and his group did their thing. You know, the
22:25
Speaker 1: special teams won for the most part that phase of
22:28
Speaker 1: the game in terms of dictating field position. And yeah,
22:32
Speaker 1: it came down to turnovers and miss kicks and the
22:37
Speaker 1: penalty situation. I mean, the the aj Green thing. Now,
22:41
Speaker 1: did he push off the top of the route. Yeah?
22:43
Speaker 1: Was there a chicken fighting going on earlier? Yeah? Could
22:47
Speaker 1: they have done an offset like they did when Jesse
22:50
Speaker 1: Bates and which receiver was it? Was it Williams, I
22:52
Speaker 1: can't remember who was? They both lowered their head. Keenan Allen,
22:54
Speaker 1: Keenan Allen, Yeah, Keenan Allen and Jesse Bates and they
22:58
Speaker 1: throw the penalty flag. Then they talk about it, and
23:00
Speaker 1: then they do over an offset do the down over
23:04
Speaker 1: that play which should could have been a touchdown, a
23:08
Speaker 1: game winning touchdown. Okay, I can see not allowing that
23:12
Speaker 1: to be a game winning touchdown, but to penalize the
23:15
Speaker 1: Bengals when you know, I just do it, just offset it,
23:18
Speaker 1: just like they did on the other one and and
23:21
Speaker 1: do over see what happens now maybe now final thought,
23:26
Speaker 1: the Bengals are now oh and nine in one score
23:28
Speaker 1: games under Zach Taylor. That's amazing. Yeah, game games decided
23:33
Speaker 1: by eight points or less last year on eight and
23:37
Speaker 1: this one, Like you said, the Seattle game could have
23:43
Speaker 1: gotten off to a you know, like every I'm not
23:46
Speaker 1: saying it would have shocked the world, but it would
23:47
Speaker 1: have been like, WHOA, that's a big win the Bengals
23:49
Speaker 1: going to Seattle. And then if they could have pulled
23:52
Speaker 1: this one off today, but oh for two unopeners. We
23:56
Speaker 1: get to do this again though in four days. Looking
23:58
Speaker 1: forward to it we go. Here's a quick reminder to
24:03
Speaker 1: join Lap and Lance McCalister for Bengals Line on Monday
24:06
Speaker 1: night from six to nine on seven WLW. Then I'll
24:10
Speaker 1: join Lap for the Bengals Game Plan Show on Wednesday
24:13
Speaker 1: night from six to eight on ESPN fifteen thirty. As
24:17
Speaker 1: we look ahead to Thursday night football in Cleveland. That's
24:21
Speaker 1: going to do it for this episode of the Bengals
24:23
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast, brought to you by Prime Sport, the official
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Speaker 1: hospitality partner of the Cincinnati Bengals. If you haven't done
24:30
Speaker 1: so already, please subscribe and if you have a minute,
24:33
Speaker 1: give it a rating or share a comment that helps
24:35
Speaker 1: more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde and
24:39
Speaker 1: thank you for listening to the Bengals Booth podcast