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Bengals Booth Podcast: Looks Like We Made It · Bengals Booth Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Hi again everybody, I'm Dan Hoard and thanks for downloading
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast, the Looks Like We Made It edition,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: as I talk to a pair of players who turned
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: outstanding play in the preseason into spots on the Bengals
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: 53-man roster, Dante Myers and Landon Robinson. Then, Robert Weintraub
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: from the FTN Football Almanac and Cincinnati Magazine joins me
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: for an analytical look at the Bengals' chances of being
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: a contender in 2026. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: to you by Paycor, proud to be the Bengals' official
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: HR software provider. By AltaFiber, future-proof fiber internet designed to
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: elevate your home, business, and community to a new level.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: And by Kettering Health, the best care for the best fans.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now,
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: here's a quick reminder. that you can have the latest
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing, wherever you get your podcasts. It's
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: the greatest thing since my ability to reheat leftovers. Okay,
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: I know I've bragged about this before, but you're about
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: to get another serving, which is appropriate considering the topic.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Aside from speaking into a microphone, I don't have many
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: useful skills.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: But one thing I do.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Incredibly well is reheat leftovers. And don't take my word
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: for it. My son Sam jokes that if the Food
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Network comes out with a show named Reheat Masters, that
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: I would definitely win the title. My latest masterpiece came
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: after Friday's road game against the Eagles, where we were
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: handed Philly cheesesteaks before getting on the plane and flying home.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: It was nearly midnight, and my stomach told me, not
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: to wolf down a gigantic Philly cheesesteak at that hour,
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: so I brought it home and had it for lunch
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: the next day.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: Now here's the key.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: I didn't just throw it into the microwave or the oven.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: I deconstructed that sucker, carefully reheating the meat, cheese, and
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: bread separately, so when I put it all back together,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: it was like it had just been purchased. Food Network
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: or not, I am a reheat master. Now, Let's get
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: to football. The Bengals announced their initial 53-man roster on Sunday,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: and there are several players who are considered long shots
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: at the beginning of camp who earned a spot, including
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: linebacker Swayze Bozeman and offensive lineman Jacob Baer. But the
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: two long shots who have really captivated Bengals fans are
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: wide receiver Dante Myers and defensive tackle Landon Robinson. Myers
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: helped the Saskatchewan Rough Riders win the Gray Cup last year,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: That's the Super Bowl of the Canadian Football League. Several
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: NFL teams were interested in signing him after the season,
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: but he chose Cincinnati and began impressing coaches and teammates
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: in the OTAs and minicamps with his lightning-quick feet and
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: route-running ability. In three preseason games, Dante had 242 all-purpose yards,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: and it became obvious that he was not only going
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: to make the team, but could be a significant weapon
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: this year. I talked to him on Sunday about after
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: he learned he had made the 53.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: Dante, how'd you get the news?
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: I got a FaceTime call from Coach Walters early in
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: the morning. So he called me and kind of told
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: me what my new reality was.
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: Where does that rank among some of the more memorable
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: phone calls or FaceTime calls that you've received?
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: Number one right now. Number one for sure.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: Who is the first person you shared the news with?
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: My parents.
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: I did a group FaceTime family call. So my mom
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: was on there, my dad. My siblings. So everybody got
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: the news at the same time.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: Was there some crying on the other end of the line?
• 3:55
  Speaker 3: Yeah. I started crying first.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: I just told them, you know, we did it. You know,
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: first short step. Something that we dreamed of is here,
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: you know. So we just kind of enjoyed it. You know,
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: they said their spiel. They started crying once I started crying.
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: But it was nice.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: You had options after your great year in the CFL
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: last year. And you chose to come to a place
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: where there wasn't a glaring need.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: At your position.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: What made you think that you could come here and
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: win a job?
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: Honestly, I feel like God led me to choose Cincinnati.
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: I feel like it was a great opportunity, and it
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: just aligned where I wanted to be in my life
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: and where I wanted to go. So it was just
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: a clear decision for me.
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: You had 11 catches in the preseason. You ran it
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: a couple of times. There were punt returns. There were
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: kick returns. Did you feel like you had the opportunity
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: to showcase what you can contribute to this team?
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 4:46
  Speaker 3: Yes, I feel like I was put in multiple positions.
• 4:48
  Speaker 3: And I feel like I was able to play football,
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: something that I love to do. I was out there
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: on the field and able just to make plays, you know,
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: with the ball in my hands, being out there, whether
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: it was catching punts, blocking, just playing football. You know,
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: a game that I love, a game that I grew
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: up playing. The last time I played football was last November.
• 5:04
  Speaker 3: You know, so to be able to suit it up
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  Speaker 3: for the team that I wanted to be a part of,
• 5:08
  Speaker 3: to play, it was just everything. You know, it was
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: an amazing moment. It was an amazing opportunity. I'm just
• 5:12
  Speaker 3: happy how everything went.
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: I think after the game on Friday night, Bengals fans
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: and reporters had concluded that you were going to make
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: the team, but I don't know how a player feels
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: about that. Were you confident or were you still a
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: little bit nervous about what was going to happen?
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: I thought there were still some butterflies, you know. You never,
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: I forget what I want to say, but you don't
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  Speaker 3: want to jump the gun, you know, take each day
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: as it is and just wait for the call, you know,
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: wait to see what the news is, you know, and
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: of course hoping for the best, but, you know, I
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: want to say it's not real, but it's not set
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: in stone until you get that final call. So receiving
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: that call, calling my family, it was a great feeling.
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: I was happy with how I played. I think it
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: was Friday. But until it's done, you don't really know.
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: Your story is getting more and more play from no-star
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: recruit to paying for a CFL tryout and now to
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: being on a 53-man roster. Do you think you're an
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: example for somebody to pursue their dreams?
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: I would just say I want people to be inspired,
• 6:12
  Speaker 3: you know, be a source of inspiration, you know, to
• 6:15
  Speaker 3: be encouraged. You know, that's what we do when we
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: play this game, you know. People draw a lot of
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: inspiration from this game. You learn a lot through this game.
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: And I feel like, you know, you can use my
• 6:23
  Speaker 3: story and other people that's in this locker room to
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: have stories that you can kind of piggyback off. Just inspire,
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: you know. We play this game out of love and just,
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: you know, we want to spread that love, you know.
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: I feel like love conquers all, you know. So if
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: you love your dream and you can see somebody that
• 6:36
  Speaker 3: you want to emulate and look up to, I feel like,
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  Speaker 3: you know, that's something good that you can be a
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  Speaker 3: part of.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: You just checked off a big box. What's next?
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: Winning. You know, that's something that we want to do here.
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  Speaker 3: That's a tradition that we want to create and be
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: a part of, you know. Come in here, compete, and
• 6:52
  Speaker 3: I think I said before, you know, the chip is
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: even bigger now. You know, so dealing with that chip
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  Speaker 3: and continue to work, that's what's on my mind. You know,
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: I'm ready to get to work.
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: Congratulations.
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much.
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: Then, their seventh-round draft pick Landon Robinson, who had two
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: things working against him, in the eyes of many NFL scouts.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: Number one, he played at Navy. And number two, his
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: size or lack thereof. Landon is under six feet tall
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: and weighs less than 300 pounds. But he's strong, quick,
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: and relentless. Pro Football Focus credited him with four sacks
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: and 11 pressures in the preseason. I talked to Landon
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: after he learned the good news on Sunday.
• 7:36
  Speaker 2: Landon, how did you get the news?
• 7:38
  Speaker 4: Well, this morning, Coach Montgomery, he called me. I just
• 7:41
  Speaker 4: got out of the shower, and I just saw him calling.
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: At first, he called me on the phone, and then
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: he hung up, and I was like, okay, what's going on?
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: Then he FaceTimed me, and I was like, okay, this
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: is something important. So obviously I picked up, and I
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: was like, hey, Coach, how you doing? He was like, hey, Landon,
• 7:55
  Speaker 4: how you think camp went? And I told him how
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: I think it went. It continued to get better every
• 8:00
  Speaker 4: single day, and he was like, what would you do
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: if you didn't get on the team And I was like,
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: you know, I'd probably see what other opportunities lie ahead
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: and then probably go back active duty. He was like,
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: you know, good thing you don't have to do that.
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: And I just started crying and was just like, thank you, coach,
• 8:15
  Speaker 4: for the opportunity. And, you know, you didn't waste a
• 8:17
  Speaker 4: spot on me, you know, and I'm just going to
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: continue to get better every single day and just go
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: do the best I can.
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: Literally crying or just choked up a little bit?
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: Literally crying, yeah. At first I was just choked up
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: and then, you know, some tears started to roll down.
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  Speaker 4: So it just means a lot to me and just
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: having the opportunity to, to be on this team and
• 8:34
  Speaker 4: just give it all I got every day.
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: Who was the first person you shared the news with?
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: My mom. My mom.
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: I called her immediately, and I think I was crying
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: that entire conversation. Like, I was, like, probably a 20-minute conversation,
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: and I just really didn't say much. I was just, like,
• 8:50
  Speaker 4: just crying and just really just soaking in the moment.
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: My mom was, you know, she was choked up with me.
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: So it was a beautiful moment for sure.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: According to Pro Football Focus, you led all defensive linemen
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: in sacks and pressures in the preseason. What do you
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: think you proved to yourself and everybody else?
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: I think to myself is that you can play at
• 9:08
  Speaker 4: this level. A lot of times during the draft process
• 9:11
  Speaker 4: and coming out of Navy, people say that, oh, it's
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: not the same.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: It's a different level up here and all that stuff.
• 9:17
  Speaker 4: But if you put in the work and you really
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: study the game the way you need to, it just
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: translates right into this level.
• 9:22
  Speaker 5: So I think I've proved that to myself.
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: But I think to my coaches and my teammates is
• 9:26
  Speaker 4: that they can trust me and that, you know, no
• 9:28
  Speaker 4: matter where I came from or, you know, what I've
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: done in the past, I'm here and I'm, I can
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: work and contribute at this level.
• 9:34
  Speaker 5: So I think that's it.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: Is this a big day for service Academy players? I
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: believe so.
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: Um, last year, uh, Ray on lane out of the Jaguars,
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: he made the 53 and I remember seeing that and
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: he was one of the first that I've seen, you know,
• 9:46
  Speaker 4: throughout my entire Academy career. So seeing that really gave
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: me a lot of motivation. And then obviously being able
• 9:52
  Speaker 4: to do that myself is just such a dream come true.
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: You were selected in the seventh round, pick number 226,
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: the Pat Tillman pick. What did the other 32 or
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: 31 teams miss?
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: I think they missed a guy who's just competitive, a
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: guy who competes, a guy who's dedicated and motivated to
• 10:08
  Speaker 4: just get better every single day. There's never a day
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: that's in my mind where I want to let it
• 10:13
  Speaker 4: slip or I don't have that edge about me that
• 10:16
  Speaker 4: I can be better, so I think they missed out
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: on that, but they'll Through my actions, they'll come to
• 10:21
  Speaker 4: see that.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Well, I saw it firsthand last week at the end
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: of the last practice I attended. There you were out
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: there alone slamming into a sled.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: Why do you do that?
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: To get better.
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: Those repetitions, they'll pay off when it's game time. I
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: call my hands and I'm on my battering ram, so
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: I've got to continue to hone that skill and continue
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: to train that and just work the techniques so that,
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: like I said, when the game time comes, I'll be ready.
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: What's next? just getting better.
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: I think learning a lot from these older guys, I
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: think Dexter Lawrence, Jonathan Allen, these are guys who have
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: a lot of experience, right?
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: BJ Hill.
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: And I'm just every day, I'm just trying to pick
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: their brain, just trying to get a little bit of
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: information from them and then, you know, continue to work
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: and grow and watch.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: So I think just learning, growing.
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: And then when I get the opportunity to get out there,
• 11:04
  Speaker 4: you know, more often than go and make the most
• 11:06
  Speaker 4: of it.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: You mentioned talking to your mom. We know your dad
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: loves the Bengals. How big of a day is this
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: for him?
• 11:11
  Speaker 5: Huge day.
• 11:12
  Speaker 4: You know, I think my dad, I called him right
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: before practice and he was, He was like, let's go.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: He was super excited.
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: I think he shed a couple tears as well. So
• 11:19
  Speaker 4: he's super ecstatic, and I think he's ready for Tampa.
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: Congrats. You earned it. Thank you, sir.
• 11:24
  Speaker 5: Appreciate it.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: Now that the initial 53-man roster is set, the 16-man
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: practice squad is next. The Bengals will announce that on Monday.
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: The FTN Football Almanac, formerly known as the Football Outsiders Almanac,
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: came out recently. And if you're thinking about buying one
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: preseason guide to the NFL, this is the one. The
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: Almanac is informative, interesting, and funny. There's an in-depth look
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: at every NFL team, and the Cincinnati chapter was written
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: by my friend Robert Weintraub, who also writes about the
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: Bengals on a regular basis for Cincinnati Magazine. The FTN
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: Football Almanac is out, and Robert Weintraub has resumed writing
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: about the Bengals for CincinnatiMagazine.com. So life is good if
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: you enjoy reading about the Bengals. Robert, let's start with
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: this year's almanac. You wrote the chapter about the Bengals again.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: A lot of things caught my eye this time around.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: Number one, according to the almanac, the Bengals have the
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: easiest schedule in the NFL this year. I've seen them
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: ranked near the top in some other websites and various
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: polls out there, but I hadn't seen them with the
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: number one easiest schedule. Historically speaking, does that typically turn
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: out to be fairly accurate?
• 12:44
  Speaker 5: We're Super Bowl bound, Dan. There's no other way around it.
• 12:51
  Speaker 5: You know, yes, generally speaking, it doesn't necessarily mean that
• 12:54
  Speaker 5: they're actually going to have the number one easiest schedule
• 12:57
  Speaker 5: in the league. More often than not, it means that,
• 13:01
  Speaker 5: you know, you can count on an easier slate than
• 13:05
  Speaker 5: he's fine, but then, you know, there's always exceptions. Last year,
• 13:07
  Speaker 5: the easiest schedule in the league belonged to the bears
• 13:10
  Speaker 5: and they were, or sorry, the hardest schedule in the
• 13:12
  Speaker 5: league belonged to the bears in our projections. They wound
• 13:14
  Speaker 5: up playing, uh, one of the easiest, the softest. And just,
• 13:17
  Speaker 5: just because the way things work out, as you know,
• 13:19
  Speaker 5: it's not necessarily who you play, but when you play them,
• 13:22
  Speaker 5: what's happening with the teams, obviously, uh, teams that had
• 13:25
  Speaker 5: Cincinnati on the schedule last year, we were preparing for
• 13:28
  Speaker 5: Joe burrow. And then suddenly they wound up with Jake
• 13:30
  Speaker 5: Browning or Joe Flacco, you know? So obviously all these
• 13:33
  Speaker 5: things can be, uh, taken with a bit of a
• 13:35
  Speaker 5: grain of salt. But, you know, generally speaking, if you're
• 13:39
  Speaker 5: a good team, you're a good team. And having an
• 13:41
  Speaker 5: easier schedule can elevate you a little bit, take you
• 13:44
  Speaker 5: from a good team to what we would consider a
• 13:47
  Speaker 5: great team by your number of wins. Like, say, the
• 13:51
  Speaker 5: Patriots last year, they were a good team. Their easy schedule,
• 13:55
  Speaker 5: you know, played into that. But they were still a
• 13:56
  Speaker 5: good team by our DVOA numbers regardless. So, you know,
• 14:00
  Speaker 5: I think it can only help. It's a data point.
• 14:03
  Speaker 5: I jest about the Super Bowl, but you'd much rather
• 14:06
  Speaker 5: have a division that's a little bit down looking like
• 14:09
  Speaker 5: in the AFC North as opposed to the usual monster
• 14:11
  Speaker 5: games against the Steelers and Ravens four times a year.
• 14:14
  Speaker 5: And you'd like to have the cycle being the two
• 14:18
  Speaker 5: souths of the AFC and the NFC and not other
• 14:21
  Speaker 5: divisions that may be harder. So overall, it's a good thing,
• 14:25
  Speaker 5: but don't necessarily make those plans for Los Angeles and
• 14:28
  Speaker 5: the Super Bowl just yet.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: Do teams projected to have an easy schedule generally wind
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: up having a good season?
• 14:37
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I think overall they do. Again, plenty of exceptions
• 14:40
  Speaker 5: to that rule, so I don't want to, you know,
• 14:42
  Speaker 5: it's painting with a broad brush. Like I say, it's
• 14:45
  Speaker 5: definitely something that you'd rather have. And, you know, we
• 14:49
  Speaker 5: make these projections based on, you know, playing the seasons out,
• 14:53
  Speaker 5: you know, a million times before they begin. And we
• 14:56
  Speaker 5: include tons of variables, but the one thing that we've
• 14:59
  Speaker 5: discovered over the years is that there's even more variables
• 15:03
  Speaker 5: to be played out than you can possibly account for
• 15:05
  Speaker 5: in any kind of computer projection. And I think that's
• 15:07
  Speaker 5: important to remember with all these, you know, pre-seasons. projections,
• 15:12
  Speaker 5: whether they're from our FTN almanac or whether they're from your,
• 15:15
  Speaker 5: you know, sort of favorite national media type, predicting the season, whatever.
• 15:21
  Speaker 5: Just when you think you have a handle on things,
• 15:23
  Speaker 5: they usually tend to zig when you think they're going
• 15:25
  Speaker 5: to zag. So don't take it as a, you know,
• 15:27
  Speaker 5: for a gospel. But yes, generally speaking, if your projected
• 15:31
  Speaker 5: schedule looks on the lighter side, especially at the extremes,
• 15:34
  Speaker 5: it's one thing to have sort of the 20th easiest schedule,
• 15:36
  Speaker 5: but to have the absolute easiest schedule in the league,
• 15:40
  Speaker 5: That usually plays out to something you can count on
• 15:42
  Speaker 5: for at least a couple extra wins a year.
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: All right, here's something else that I found interesting. There
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: are three units on a football team, the offense, the defense,
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: and special teams. According to the Almanac, they are not
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: of equal importance. Explain the relative importance of offense, defense,
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: and special teams and what it means to the Bengals.
• 16:03
  Speaker 5: Yeah, well, that's important in terms of calculating our baseline stat,
• 16:07
  Speaker 5: which is DVOA, basically an efficiency stat. I won't get
• 16:11
  Speaker 5: into the higher math. You can find that very easily online.
• 16:14
  Speaker 5: But what we do, essentially how we play it out
• 16:16
  Speaker 5: is that there's– the weight is four to three to one,
• 16:21
  Speaker 5: four offense, three defense, one special teams. So, you know,
• 16:26
  Speaker 5: a team that historically, even going back to the days
• 16:28
  Speaker 5: of Paul Brown– have always been, the Bengals have always
• 16:32
  Speaker 5: been an offense first team. So, you know, that's a,
• 16:34
  Speaker 5: that's an advantage and the rules and modern football has
• 16:37
  Speaker 5: only made it even more so. That's why we give
• 16:39
  Speaker 5: a slightly higher weight to the offense rather than the defense. Now,
• 16:43
  Speaker 5: if as in the last couple of years is the
• 16:45
  Speaker 5: case when your defense is terrible, as in Cincinnati's case, unfortunately,
• 16:50
  Speaker 5: you know, it's not an advantage, but that's the breakdown
• 16:53
  Speaker 5: when we give. And I think You know, special teams
• 16:56
  Speaker 5: often overlook, but it's still a full eighth of your
• 16:59
  Speaker 5: overall projection, your overall team efficiency. There is an interesting
• 17:04
  Speaker 5: tidbit I noticed, which is that in the Evan McPherson era,
• 17:08
  Speaker 5: five years now since 2021, in the odd years, they've
• 17:11
  Speaker 5: been a top six special teams unit. And that encompasses
• 17:14
  Speaker 5: not just kicking, but, you know, returns, covering, everything, pumping.
• 17:18
  Speaker 5: In the even years, partially because McPherson was hurt in 2024,
• 17:22
  Speaker 5: but they were closer to 20th in those even years.
• 17:24
  Speaker 5: So it'll be a small thing to look out for
• 17:27
  Speaker 5: this year is whether they can break that trend and
• 17:29
  Speaker 5: in an even year, 2026, have their standard, which I
• 17:34
  Speaker 5: think we would all agree in the Darren Simmons era
• 17:36
  Speaker 5: to be, you know, a top 10-ish special teams unit.
• 17:39
  Speaker 5: And the way Evan McPherson is kicking in the preseason
• 17:41
  Speaker 5: would lead you to believe that's definitely possible.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: Robert Weintraub is our guest. I mentioned that you wrote
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: the Bengals chapter again this year in the FTN Football Almanac,
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: the only NFL guide anybody needs to purchase prior to
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: the season. Let's dig into your chapter a little bit.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: You begin it with a quote from a World War
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: II admiral. Explain the quote and what it means to
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: the Bengals.
• 18:03
  Speaker 5: Yeah, as I often do, dipping deep into history for
• 18:07
  Speaker 5: a Bengals relation. Well, basically what Nimitz said was something
• 18:10
  Speaker 5: along the lines of, You know, you can't achieve great
• 18:12
  Speaker 5: things without a corresponding degree of risk. Now, I will
• 18:16
  Speaker 5: stipulate at the start of this that World War II
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: and the Battle of Midway have a different level of
• 18:21
  Speaker 5: import than the Bengals offseason. Nevertheless, I think everybody listening
• 18:25
  Speaker 5: to this podcast would put them very much level. So
• 18:30
  Speaker 5: it was always saying basically, yes, we know the Bengals
• 18:33
  Speaker 5: went outside their comfort zone in a big way to
• 18:35
  Speaker 5: reshape the team, especially the defense. Did things like trading
• 18:39
  Speaker 5: the 10th overall pick for Dexter Lawrence. as we know, they,
• 18:42
  Speaker 5: you know, paid T Higgins and Jamar chase at the
• 18:46
  Speaker 5: same time, two years ago, and then added on to
• 18:48
  Speaker 5: that by drafting players. They wouldn't normally draft that side
• 18:51
  Speaker 5: of their usual physical specs, et cetera. Everybody knows all
• 18:55
  Speaker 5: the things that they've done. And, you know, it's not
• 18:58
  Speaker 5: like these are some, you know, all out balls to
• 19:01
  Speaker 5: the wall. If it doesn't work, we're, you know, at
• 19:04
  Speaker 5: the bottom of the league kind of thing, like say
• 19:05
  Speaker 5: the saints have done in the Drew Brees era and
• 19:07
  Speaker 5: cost them, you know, down the line, but, By Bengals standards,
• 19:11
  Speaker 5: this was certainly a case of looking around, seeing the
• 19:14
  Speaker 5: landscape that Joe Burrow's career is already six years in.
• 19:19
  Speaker 5: You don't ever want to waste a potential Hall of
• 19:21
  Speaker 5: Famer's prime like a lot of people think that they have. Obviously,
• 19:26
  Speaker 5: the injuries have played a large part of that. But,
• 19:28
  Speaker 5: you know, you have to do everything you can to
• 19:30
  Speaker 5: maximize your chances while you have a quarterback like that.
• 19:32
  Speaker 5: So the Bengals obviously did the things, like I say,
• 19:36
  Speaker 5: outside their comfort zone, outside their usual operating standards. And
• 19:40
  Speaker 5: that's not necessarily the case where they won't keep doing that.
• 19:43
  Speaker 5: I think it's possible they would, but it was just
• 19:45
  Speaker 5: so outsized heading into this year that I thought it
• 19:48
  Speaker 5: was worth putting a little bit of Admiral Nimitz's genius
• 19:51
  Speaker 5: into the front of the chapter to highlight that aspect.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: The Almanac always features a lot of projections, and they're
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: favorable for the Bengals this year. The projected win total
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: is 9.8. That's tied for first in the AFC North
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: with Baltimore. There are odds of making the postseason 63 percent.
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: There are odds of being a Super Bowl contender, which
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: for the sake of the almanac is winning 12 or
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: more games. That's 25 percent. Explain how that stuff is
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: calculated and really how Bengals fans should feel about it
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: this year.
• 20:22
  Speaker 5: Yeah, well, pretty good. As I said, you know, they're
• 20:26
  Speaker 5: done by the projection, the season being played out in
• 20:29
  Speaker 5: every parameter of one million times.
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: Dr.
• 20:32
  Speaker 5: Evil voice insertion at your leisure. And, yeah, I think
• 20:36
  Speaker 5: the way to read it is, as you point out,
• 20:38
  Speaker 5: how many of those seasons and what percentage are of
• 20:42
  Speaker 5: winning seasons, nine plus wins. And in the Bengals' case,
• 20:44
  Speaker 5: it's like 70% of them, right? And a full quarter
• 20:47
  Speaker 5: of them, you know, 250,000 of those seasons had the
• 20:50
  Speaker 5: Bengals winning 12 or more games, which puts you into
• 20:53
  Speaker 5: firm Super Bowl contention. And at the other margin, winning
• 20:58
  Speaker 5: five or fewer games, putting them in contention for the
• 21:00
  Speaker 5: number one overall pick, I think was only 4%. So,
• 21:03
  Speaker 5: you know, that's how you read the numbers. You don't
• 21:05
  Speaker 5: necessarily look at it and say, oh, their mean projection
• 21:08
  Speaker 5: is 9.8 wins. They're going to go 10 and 7. Obviously,
• 21:12
  Speaker 5: it doesn't mean that. What it means is that, you know,
• 21:15
  Speaker 5: on the greater scheme of all these seasons that we
• 21:18
  Speaker 5: played out on the balance, they're definitely a playoff contender,
• 21:23
  Speaker 5: a lot of times a Super Bowl contender. Again, as
• 21:25
  Speaker 5: we mentioned before with the schedule, I mean, there's so
• 21:27
  Speaker 5: many variables and, of course, injury being first and foremost,
• 21:30
  Speaker 5: as we know all too well. You know, anything can happen.
• 21:34
  Speaker 5: to either increase those chances or subvert them. But, you know,
• 21:38
  Speaker 5: you like to go into a season thinking you have
• 21:40
  Speaker 5: a 70% chance of winning nine plus games. That gives
• 21:43
  Speaker 5: you all the chance. And once you get into the postseason,
• 21:46
  Speaker 5: you know, you have Joe Burrow playing, anything's possible. So,
• 21:49
  Speaker 5: you know, I think overall you have to feel pretty
• 21:51
  Speaker 5: good about those numbers as.
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: A Bengals fan.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: We know the Bengals' defense wasn't good last year, but
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: there was statistical improvement, and honestly, I didn't realize how
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: great that improvement was until reading the almanac. In the
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: first half of the season, dead last in the DVOA
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: metric that you mentioned. In the second half of the season,
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: 13th best in the NFL. Why was it so much better,
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: and does it carry over?
• 22:17
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and we should mention that improvement was the best
• 22:20
  Speaker 5: in 10 years that we've been recording. Not since 2014
• 22:22
  Speaker 5: have we seen one. go up that much. Now, part
• 22:26
  Speaker 5: of that was because of course, as we know, they
• 22:28
  Speaker 5: basically had nowhere to go, but up. But I mean,
• 22:32
  Speaker 5: you know, your eyes didn't deceive you, right? Miles Murphy
• 22:35
  Speaker 5: started to become a really good player. DJ Turner became
• 22:37
  Speaker 5: one of the best cornerbacks in the league. Even the
• 22:40
  Speaker 5: much maligned linebacker duo of Barrett Carter and Demetrius Knight,
• 22:44
  Speaker 5: you know, started to figure a little bit out and
• 22:46
  Speaker 5: they weren't, you know, a missed tackle machine quite as
• 22:49
  Speaker 5: much as they were in the first half of the
• 22:50
  Speaker 5: year when they were just basically throwing it over their heads.
• 22:52
  Speaker 5: They started to learn how to swim. And they weren't
• 22:56
  Speaker 5: Michael Phelps, but, you know, at least they weren't drowning. So,
• 22:59
  Speaker 5: you know, that's what went into it. Now, it should
• 23:02
  Speaker 5: be stipulated that most of the time things do not
• 23:05
  Speaker 5: carry over from year to year in any particular way.
• 23:09
  Speaker 5: I mean, every Bengal fan can picture in their mind
• 23:11
  Speaker 5: a great, you know, last half of the season or
• 23:14
  Speaker 5: like a good last month of the season, whether from
• 23:16
  Speaker 5: a player or a unit. Even in 2024, the last
• 23:19
  Speaker 5: month of the season, they played some pretty good defense
• 23:22
  Speaker 5: and that did not carry over into 2025, as we know.
• 23:25
  Speaker 5: But to their credit, the Bengals front office, I think,
• 23:27
  Speaker 5: realized that. That's why they revamped the defense with so
• 23:30
  Speaker 5: many new players and put such an emphasis on reshaping
• 23:33
  Speaker 5: that unit, not taking last year's second half on its face,
• 23:38
  Speaker 5: but taking it more as a trampoline and a jumping
• 23:41
  Speaker 5: off point and thinking we can still improve. But now
• 23:44
  Speaker 5: we have a little bit of a baseline that we can,
• 23:46
  Speaker 5: you know, go from to get better. So, you know,
• 23:49
  Speaker 5: I don't know that the idea is to vault from
• 23:53
  Speaker 5: the 30th defense, which they were last year overall on DVOA,
• 23:57
  Speaker 5: to the fifth best or whatever. It's not really, to me,
• 24:00
  Speaker 5: a matter of the number as much as it is both,
• 24:03
  Speaker 5: you know, are you week to week? Is the defense
• 24:05
  Speaker 5: keeping you in the game, especially in the fourth quarter?
• 24:08
  Speaker 5: Are they making the plays to either protect the lead?
• 24:11
  Speaker 5: or to get you the ball back so that you
• 24:13
  Speaker 5: can go and win the game at the end. As
• 24:14
  Speaker 5: we know, the NFL, the margins are so small. So
• 24:17
  Speaker 5: many of the games are one-score games. And what you
• 24:20
  Speaker 5: do in that fourth quarter at winning time, quote-unquote, is
• 24:23
  Speaker 5: what really matters, and especially your pass rush. And I
• 24:26
  Speaker 5: think they've gone out of their way to improve that unit.
• 24:29
  Speaker 5: And it remains to be seen, but I think we
• 24:31
  Speaker 5: can all feel pretty good that early returns seem to
• 24:34
  Speaker 5: indicate they'll definitely be an improved unit in 2026.
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: We're visiting with Robert Weintraub. He writes about the Bengals
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: in the FTN Football Almanac this year and regularly. Now
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: that the season is about to begin for CincinnatiMagazine.com. I
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: love the term you use to describe Dexter Lawrence, heliocentric.
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: The sun that other planets revolve around. How does the
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: heliocentric Dexter Lawrence impact the other 10 guys on defense?
• 25:04
  Speaker 5: That's right. Well, you know, we know, uh, we're familiar
• 25:06
  Speaker 5: with the work of say DJ reader, right? He was
• 25:08
  Speaker 5: a really good nose sack over the bangles. He was
• 25:10
  Speaker 5: kind of the earth that the moon orbited around, but
• 25:13
  Speaker 5: when you're Dexter Lawrence, the entire galaxy revolves around you. And, uh,
• 25:17
  Speaker 5: that's the difference that, you know, I, uh, I happen
• 25:20
  Speaker 5: to be able to stand next to him this summer, uh,
• 25:22
  Speaker 5: doing a piece for him and about him. And, uh,
• 25:24
  Speaker 5: let me tell you, you just, you can't appreciate how
• 25:27
  Speaker 5: enormous he is until you're up close to him, as
• 25:29
  Speaker 5: you certainly well know, Dan, um, You expect when he
• 25:33
  Speaker 5: walks on the field, the goalposts just bang in toward him.
• 25:36
  Speaker 5: That's the kind of volume that he's like, it was
• 25:39
  Speaker 5: like a black hole. And, you know, we have seen
• 25:42
  Speaker 5: it in training camp and in the preseason, he'll eat
• 25:44
  Speaker 5: up double teams. If he gets one-on-one, that's a bad
• 25:47
  Speaker 5: matchup for the offensive line. He's going to make, you know,
• 25:51
  Speaker 5: one-on-ones available for the other pass rushers. He's going to
• 25:54
  Speaker 5: ease second level blocking on the aforementioned linebacker duo of
• 25:59
  Speaker 5: Baron Carter and Demetrius Knight. And, I think more of
• 26:03
  Speaker 5: the point, kind of more of a global point, is
• 26:05
  Speaker 5: that when you have a really good defensive tackle, Geno Atkins,
• 26:10
  Speaker 5: let's say, he can ruin a series. He can ruin
• 26:13
  Speaker 5: a quarter for the opponents. But when you have Dexter Lawrence,
• 26:16
  Speaker 5: he's bullet item number one on the other team's agenda
• 26:19
  Speaker 5: when they're laying in their offensive game plan. What do
• 26:21
  Speaker 5: we do about number 97? And if they don't accomplish it,
• 26:24
  Speaker 5: the entire game is ruined. He wrecks everything the offense
• 26:27
  Speaker 5: is trying to do. So the Bengals have really Searched
• 26:30
  Speaker 5: for that desperately for a long time now. Can't wait
• 26:34
  Speaker 5: to see how it plays out. And even if he's
• 26:36
  Speaker 5: not the Dexter Lawrence that he was in 2022 and
• 26:39
  Speaker 5: 2023 when he was playing at a Hall of Fame rate,
• 26:42
  Speaker 5: he's still going to be a really good player, still
• 26:44
  Speaker 5: going to be the guy that other teams have to
• 26:46
  Speaker 5: account for first and foremost, and it will just make
• 26:48
  Speaker 5: everybody better.
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: I had almost forgotten until reading this year's almanac that
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: the Bengals allowed nine defensive touchdowns last year.
• 26:58
  Speaker 5: Nine.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: Six pick sixes, three fumbles recovered for touchdowns, all of
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: those fumbles by Noah Fant, who is now a member
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: of the New Orleans Saints. Were the Bengals unlucky last year?
• 27:11
  Speaker 5: Yeah, well, I mean, it depends how you look at it.
• 27:13
  Speaker 5: They were not necessarily by bringing Noah Fant onto the
• 27:17
  Speaker 5: team and having him fumble, right? I mean, Joe, you know,
• 27:20
  Speaker 5: Joe and Joe, they threw those picks that were returned
• 27:23
  Speaker 5: for touchdowns. So, you know, ball security and some questionable
• 27:26
  Speaker 5: decisions maybe were part of it. But obviously, they were
• 27:28
  Speaker 5: very unlucky in that all those were returned for six points.
• 27:32
  Speaker 5: I mean, that's very seldom does it happen in that capacity.
• 27:36
  Speaker 5: I mean, in the previous three years, they'd only given
• 27:38
  Speaker 5: up seven return touchdowns combined. So that should tell you.
• 27:41
  Speaker 5: That's a classic example of what we look at as
• 27:44
  Speaker 5: what we'll call plexiglass principle in the almanac, which is
• 27:48
  Speaker 5: an extreme outlier of a statistic tends to bounce back
• 27:51
  Speaker 5: to the mean. The following season and the idea that
• 27:54
  Speaker 5: they're going to give up that many returns for touchdowns
• 27:57
  Speaker 5: is highly unlikely. Doesn't mean they'll only have one or
• 27:59
  Speaker 5: two necessarily, but nine is a lot. And, you know,
• 28:03
  Speaker 5: with the defense being improved, it's incumbent upon them to
• 28:05
  Speaker 5: make the other team go, you know, go the distance
• 28:08
  Speaker 5: of the field or, you know, at least try and
• 28:10
  Speaker 5: do something offensively against them rather than giving up an
• 28:13
  Speaker 5: easy touchdown on those returns. And, you know, it was
• 28:16
  Speaker 5: definitely somewhat fluky. And you just hope that exercising the
• 28:21
  Speaker 5: Noah Fant goes from the tight end room will have
• 28:24
  Speaker 5: a major impact on that number.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: Up next, what the FDN Almanac has to say about
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: the Bengals' offensive line. But first, here's a quick reminder
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: that the Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by Paycor,
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: proud to be the Bengals' official HR software provider. By AltaFiber,
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: future-proof fiber internet designed to elevate your home, business, and
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: community to a new level. and by Kettering Health. But
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is the
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: official health care provider.
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: Of the Bengals.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: I love the almanac mostly for the great writing, but
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: there are charts and graphs and numbers for people who
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: really are into the data. Here's something that I think
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: might surprise some people in the second half of last year.
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: The offensive line was number two in the NFL in
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: pressure rate allowed and number seven in rushing success. Those
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: are great numbers. Is this actually a good offensive line?
• 29:24
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I definitely think it can be. And I think
• 29:26
  Speaker 5: we're almost short selling it by limiting it to the
• 29:28
  Speaker 5: second half of the season when they were definitely improved.
• 29:31
  Speaker 5: But if you look at the season long numbers, a
• 29:33
  Speaker 5: lot of the underlying stats, they were really good. I mean,
• 29:36
  Speaker 5: they were, you know, they, it's not like they were,
• 29:38
  Speaker 5: I think the national media saw it Burrow go down
• 29:40
  Speaker 5: in what was really a flukish toe injury, let's face it,
• 29:44
  Speaker 5: and immediately thought to themselves, oh, again, same old Bengals
• 29:47
  Speaker 5: can't protect Joe Burrow, offensive line's a sieve. And that
• 29:49
  Speaker 5: certainly wasn't the case. They were 10th in adjusted sack
• 29:52
  Speaker 5: rate overall. You know, they were top half of the
• 29:55
  Speaker 5: league and sacks given up totally. And then a lot
• 29:58
  Speaker 5: of that was front loaded. And in the running game,
• 30:01
  Speaker 5: that's really where I think you saw it. And maybe
• 30:03
  Speaker 5: it was hidden from most people who weren't Bengals fans. But,
• 30:06
  Speaker 5: you know, even some of the lesser numbers, like they
• 30:09
  Speaker 5: were number one overall in the league in what we
• 30:11
  Speaker 5: call stuffed percentage, which is not allowing tackles for loss, essentially.
• 30:15
  Speaker 5: And no team gave up fewer than the Bengals. They
• 30:18
  Speaker 5: were seventh in the league in what we call power situations,
• 30:20
  Speaker 5: which is third or fourth down and two yards or fewer.
• 30:24
  Speaker 5: You know, and even good as Chase Brown is when
• 30:27
  Speaker 5: we separate out what we call adjusted line yards from
• 30:30
  Speaker 5: running back yards, you see that it was more of
• 30:33
  Speaker 5: the line making chase Brown and chase Brown making the line.
• 30:36
  Speaker 5: I mean, you know, you don't, I don't say that
• 30:38
  Speaker 5: to Denny great Brown in any way, but you know,
• 30:40
  Speaker 5: it's not like he was dancing around and making the
• 30:43
  Speaker 5: line look good. He was getting a lot of holes
• 30:45
  Speaker 5: and you know, this, they definitely improved as the season
• 30:48
  Speaker 5: went along. Of course, when Dalton Reisner kind of got
• 30:50
  Speaker 5: his sea legs under him and really gelled on that
• 30:52
  Speaker 5: right side, Orlando Brown had a really tough beginning of
• 30:56
  Speaker 5: the year, but played better down the stretch. You know,
• 30:58
  Speaker 5: we'll see how that plays out coming up this year.
• 31:01
  Speaker 5: But most years, remember, the Bengals go into the season
• 31:04
  Speaker 5: really concerned about the starting unit and who's going to
• 31:07
  Speaker 5: play right tackle or left guard or whatever. And, you know,
• 31:11
  Speaker 5: that's not the case this year. Their depth is certainly
• 31:14
  Speaker 5: a talking point. And I think, you know, but that's
• 31:17
  Speaker 5: worthwhile to talk about. But it's also true of all
• 31:19
  Speaker 5: 32 teams. Nobody has really good offensive line depth around
• 31:22
  Speaker 5: the league. So, you know, I don't worry about that
• 31:25
  Speaker 5: maybe quite as much as, as some other people, but
• 31:29
  Speaker 5: in the overall point is that the front five, the
• 31:31
  Speaker 5: starting five guys coming into the season for the first
• 31:34
  Speaker 5: time in forever, you can actually look at as, as
• 31:36
  Speaker 5: a strength and you know, barring injury, I don't think
• 31:40
  Speaker 5: there's any reason to look at the, look at them
• 31:42
  Speaker 5: as one of the, certainly one of the better lines
• 31:44
  Speaker 5: in the league, if not right at the top of the,
• 31:46
  Speaker 5: of the NFL.
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: So I found that offensive line data interesting. Was there
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: anything in particular that you found interesting in the statistical
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: or analytical area?
• 31:57
  Speaker 5: There's a million things. A couple of brief ones that
• 31:59
  Speaker 5: leapt out to me was, one, we were all so
• 32:02
  Speaker 5: enamored with Joe Flacco, the human being and the personality.
• 32:06
  Speaker 5: Of course, we know he played well when he was
• 32:07
  Speaker 5: asked to step in there for the Bengals coming over
• 32:11
  Speaker 5: from Cleveland. The Bengals' offense was actually better by DVOA
• 32:15
  Speaker 5: with Joe Flacco at the helm than with Joe Burrow. Now,
• 32:18
  Speaker 5: there were fewer games, so a smaller sample, but I
• 32:21
  Speaker 5: think that just goes to show what an effective player
• 32:23
  Speaker 5: he was and still can be. especially in short bursts.
• 32:27
  Speaker 5: You don't want to, you know, necessarily ask him to
• 32:29
  Speaker 5: play a full 17-game schedule at his age, especially after
• 32:33
  Speaker 5: some of those trips to the restaurant by himself. You know,
• 32:37
  Speaker 5: I agree with him wholeheartedly in that aspect. But, you know,
• 32:40
  Speaker 5: after a full season of starting quarterback to him, he
• 32:43
  Speaker 5: might get swamped in those restaurants. He wouldn't be so
• 32:46
  Speaker 5: anonymous anymore. But, yeah, the offense clicked really well. And
• 32:49
  Speaker 5: I think it's a testimony not just to Flacco but
• 32:51
  Speaker 5: also to the– the Bengals coaching staff, especially Dan Pitcher
• 32:55
  Speaker 5: and Zach Taylor, the things that they've historically really been
• 32:58
  Speaker 5: able to do for the most part with their backup quarterbacks. Unfortunately,
• 33:01
  Speaker 5: we've had to see it more often than we want to,
• 33:04
  Speaker 5: but you know, with the exception of the three games
• 33:07
  Speaker 5: that Jake Browning played last year in the wake of
• 33:09
  Speaker 5: Burroughs injury, they've really been effective, you know, going back
• 33:13
  Speaker 5: to Browning in 2023 and various other times in their tenure. So,
• 33:17
  Speaker 5: you know, I thought that leapt out to me. Another one,
• 33:20
  Speaker 5: It involves a guy that we don't really talk about
• 33:23
  Speaker 5: a ton. One of the big acquisitions that the Bengals
• 33:25
  Speaker 5: made in the offseason, Jonathan Allen, totally obscured as what
• 33:30
  Speaker 5: happens when you acquire a heliocentric force like Dexter Lawrence,
• 33:34
  Speaker 5: but I don't want to undersell Jonathan Allen, and a
• 33:37
  Speaker 5: lot of his numbers stood out. It was sort of
• 33:39
  Speaker 5: the public perception that he kind of had a down
• 33:42
  Speaker 5: season in Minnesota last year for various reasons, but not
• 33:46
  Speaker 5: only did he play a ton of snaps, I mean,
• 33:48
  Speaker 5: he played more snaps than Lawrence did last year, but
• 33:50
  Speaker 5: His numbers, his underlying numbers are really good. We have
• 33:53
  Speaker 5: a stat called defeats, which is essentially making sure the
• 33:56
  Speaker 5: other team either doesn't get a first down on third
• 33:58
  Speaker 5: down or knocking the ball free, making a tackle for loss.
• 34:02
  Speaker 5: And he had 15, which is more than any other
• 34:05
  Speaker 5: Bengal would have had last year, except for Miles Murphy. And,
• 34:09
  Speaker 5: you know, his sack numbers were down. But, you know,
• 34:12
  Speaker 5: defensive tackle sack numbers are never really a true indicator.
• 34:15
  Speaker 5: His pressure rate was good. his double team numbers were
• 34:18
  Speaker 5: good and showing that, you know, he eats up a
• 34:21
  Speaker 5: lot of players. He eats kind of Dexter Lawrence writ
• 34:24
  Speaker 5: small and he plays a more, more of a penetrating position.
• 34:27
  Speaker 5: So I think the two of them will really work
• 34:29
  Speaker 5: well off each other. And, you know, the idea that
• 34:31
  Speaker 5: they have both and, you know, put last year's starting tackles,
• 34:36
  Speaker 5: BJ Hill and TJ Slayton, the Jays into a second
• 34:39
  Speaker 5: unit role that, That's a depth that few teams now
• 34:43
  Speaker 5: can match at defensive tackle. It really bodes well for
• 34:45
  Speaker 5: the defense this season.
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: Robert, a big topic of conversation during training camp is
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: having Joe Burrow under center more to help the running
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: game and also potentially to have play-action passes that lead
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: to big passing plays.
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: Is it necessary?
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: Should the Bengals be leaning into this as much as
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: they seemingly have in training camp?
• 35:08
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I wonder how much of that is really just
• 35:10
  Speaker 5: working on things that they don't do well, you know,
• 35:13
  Speaker 5: and how much of it is really you always want
• 35:15
  Speaker 5: to be more multiple and no team except for one
• 35:18
  Speaker 5: last year and no team over the last five years. Really,
• 35:21
  Speaker 5: the Borough era is more shotgun oriented than the Bengals, obviously.
• 35:26
  Speaker 5: And you always want to put your players in positions
• 35:28
  Speaker 5: where they are comfortable and where they perform best. And
• 35:31
  Speaker 5: with Joe, that shotgun formation, that's a superpower. But saying that,
• 35:36
  Speaker 5: you want to be able to threaten the defense in
• 35:38
  Speaker 5: a myriad of ways. They have a bunch of tight
• 35:40
  Speaker 5: ends that they want to play and use in various ways.
• 35:45
  Speaker 5: And some of their splits last year, the one time
• 35:49
  Speaker 5: you look at it and you say, the offense wasn't
• 35:53
  Speaker 5: really performing up to their usual electric self, was when
• 35:56
  Speaker 5: the other team was sort of in base defense, was
• 36:01
  Speaker 5: able to man up and see what was coming, essentially.
• 36:05
  Speaker 5: And I think any time you can, and that includes
• 36:07
  Speaker 5: not just being under center, but putting men in motion.
• 36:10
  Speaker 5: They were only, I think, 20th in the league last
• 36:12
  Speaker 5: year in players in motion. Part of that had to
• 36:15
  Speaker 5: do with the fact that Burrow went down and when
• 36:17
  Speaker 5: they were breaking in Flacco and when Browning was at
• 36:20
  Speaker 5: the helm, they tried to simplify things a little bit.
• 36:23
  Speaker 5: With Burrow in there, I think they can do a
• 36:24
  Speaker 5: lot more movement, a lot more isolation of mismatches on defense.
• 36:28
  Speaker 5: You always want to get to that stage where the
• 36:31
  Speaker 5: other team is guessing and and not just coming out
• 36:33
  Speaker 5: and saying, oh, we know Joe Burrow's going to be
• 36:36
  Speaker 5: into their classic three-wide set, and he's going to be
• 36:40
  Speaker 5: in shotgun, and just relying more on players' abilities, like
• 36:43
  Speaker 5: Jamar Chase and Tee Higgins, just being better than their opponent,
• 36:47
  Speaker 5: rather than scheming up some easy yards and doing more
• 36:50
  Speaker 5: of that. I think they're working on that. The question
• 36:52
  Speaker 5: will be, of course, when the season comes and when
• 36:54
  Speaker 5: it's crunch time, are they going to just default to
• 36:57
  Speaker 5: what they do best and know best, or will this
• 37:00
  Speaker 5: actually be you know, sort of a larger part of
• 37:03
  Speaker 5: the offense than it has been in the Burrow era.
• 37:06
  Speaker 5: Time will tell. You know, I'm not so sure at
• 37:08
  Speaker 5: this moment just how deep it'll go. But it's good
• 37:10
  Speaker 5: to work on it now when you have the opportunity
• 37:12
  Speaker 5: because they know they can throw the ball and do
• 37:15
  Speaker 5: what they've done the last few years at a high level.
• 37:17
  Speaker 5: Now it's just adding things to the recipe.
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: If not now, when? Work on it. Exactly.
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: What are your biggest concerns with the season opener looming
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: in less than two weeks?
• 37:29
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 37:30
  Speaker 5: Well, I mean, you know, I have the same concerns
• 37:32
  Speaker 5: a lot of people do in terms of the offensive
• 37:33
  Speaker 5: line backups per se, you know, and are they a
• 37:37
  Speaker 5: cornerback short? And, you know, if Chase Brown gets hurt,
• 37:40
  Speaker 5: you know, the usual stuff. I think more in a
• 37:44
  Speaker 5: holistic sense, though, I'd look at it as, you know,
• 37:47
  Speaker 5: vibes are high for the first time in a while.
• 37:50
  Speaker 5: Expectations are pretty elevated. Generally speaking, the Bengals and high
• 37:54
  Speaker 5: expectations don't mix well. That's the pessimist Bengal fan in
• 37:58
  Speaker 5: me coming out. And What I look at is, you know,
• 38:02
  Speaker 5: we talked about the easy schedule before, but the front,
• 38:05
  Speaker 5: you know, the first few games, tricky. You know, Tampa Bay,
• 38:09
  Speaker 5: they got a lot of good players. You know, they
• 38:11
  Speaker 5: had the contra Tom with Baker Mayfield's contract, but they're
• 38:14
  Speaker 5: a talented squad. And then you play Houston and Pittsburgh
• 38:17
  Speaker 5: on the road back to back. What happens, you know,
• 38:20
  Speaker 5: if they get off to a slow start? They're one
• 38:22
  Speaker 5: and three and two and four. You know, we always
• 38:24
  Speaker 5: know what happens. In years past, the grumbling gets loud
• 38:28
  Speaker 5: and no matter how well they do down the stretch
• 38:31
  Speaker 5: to make up for that, it always seems like you
• 38:34
  Speaker 5: look back on those early games and think to yourself, boy,
• 38:36
  Speaker 5: if only they'd come out with a bit more urgency
• 38:38
  Speaker 5: or a bit better play, whatever. I guess that's my
• 38:42
  Speaker 5: concern is that for all the high hopes, they can
• 38:45
  Speaker 5: easily be undercut by a slow start. And then you
• 38:47
  Speaker 5: start looking out in the locker room thinking, oh boy,
• 38:49
  Speaker 5: we made all these additions and we're still losing games
• 38:52
  Speaker 5: in September. Why is that? So You know, I don't
• 38:54
  Speaker 5: want to put any more pressure on those early games
• 38:56
  Speaker 5: than I'm sure they're already feeling and everybody already is
• 38:59
  Speaker 5: looking forward to them so highly. But I do worry
• 39:01
  Speaker 5: in the back of my mind that if there is
• 39:03
  Speaker 5: a slow start, regardless of how they finish, that could
• 39:06
  Speaker 5: have a sort of deleterious and compounding effect on the
• 39:09
  Speaker 5: locker room. But hopefully not. I'm remaining optimistic as we
• 39:12
  Speaker 5: head into the season for sure this year, Dan.
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that's why Zach Taylor wrote six and
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: 11 big numbers in front of the team at the
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: first team meeting before training camp to make that. Don't
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: get into the expectations message as loudly as he could.
• 39:28
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and people have asked me about that. you know,
• 39:30
  Speaker 5: all off season. And it's like, why aren't the Bengals
• 39:32
  Speaker 5: considered a higher favorite than they are or whatever? Why
• 39:34
  Speaker 5: isn't their DVOA projection higher? And it's like, you know,
• 39:37
  Speaker 5: it's true. They'd made a lot of additions. They have
• 39:40
  Speaker 5: a lot of superstar players, but they were still, no
• 39:42
  Speaker 5: matter what they did and who was hurt and whatever
• 39:44
  Speaker 5: happened last year, they were still six and 11.
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: And, you know, a 6-11.
• 39:48
  Speaker 5: Team is not often a couple of moves away from
• 39:51
  Speaker 5: suddenly being, whatever, 13-4 and going to the Super Bowl. Now, obviously,
• 39:55
  Speaker 5: it has happened. And we all know the jump they
• 39:58
  Speaker 5: took from 2020 to 2021. And there's a lot of
• 40:01
  Speaker 5: parallels there. But, you know, it still remains that you
• 40:05
  Speaker 5: have to prove it first. And there's a lot of
• 40:06
  Speaker 5: moving parts and a lot of new faces. And, you know,
• 40:09
  Speaker 5: it's not uncommon. untoward to think that it's going to
• 40:12
  Speaker 5: take a little while for all those new places, new
• 40:14
  Speaker 5: faces to mesh as a team, especially on defense. And,
• 40:17
  Speaker 5: you know, they may, it might cost them a game
• 40:19
  Speaker 5: or two on the way because of that. But like
• 40:21
  Speaker 5: I say, my fingers are definitely crossed and who wants
• 40:23
  Speaker 5: to think that way in August and none of us,
• 40:25
  Speaker 5: we all want to dream about something great happening in
• 40:28
  Speaker 5: January and actually February. I should say this year, it's
• 40:31
  Speaker 5: going to go maybe until all the way to April soon,
• 40:33
  Speaker 5: but you know, we're still, still only at Valentine's day
• 40:36
  Speaker 5: for the time being let's enjoy it while football weather
• 40:39
  Speaker 5: still remains football weather.
• 40:41
  Speaker 1: All right. We all have something to look forward to
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: coming up in Cincinnati Magazine, a big feature story about
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: Sexy Dexy. You alluded to it earlier in the podcast.
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: You had the opportunity to spend some time with him.
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: I'm really looking forward to this feature story. Tell me
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: a little bit about the time you spent with Dexter.
• 40:59
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I was lucky enough to go see him sort
• 41:01
  Speaker 5: of away from the facility and away from football a
• 41:03
  Speaker 5: little bit in his hometown, which is Wake Forest, North Carolina.
• 41:08
  Speaker 5: Not to be confused with Winston-Salem or Wake Forest University,
• 41:11
  Speaker 5: as it's a different city entirely. But he had a
• 41:15
  Speaker 5: football camp. It's really more of a seven-on-seven tournament that
• 41:18
  Speaker 5: they kind of expanded when Dexter got involved to include, like,
• 41:23
  Speaker 5: linemen competitions as well. But really, it was just a
• 41:25
  Speaker 5: chance to see him sort of in his relaxed home setting.
• 41:29
  Speaker 5: You know, fans and friends and family were all around him,
• 41:32
  Speaker 5: coming up to him all day long, you know, dapping
• 41:35
  Speaker 5: him up and congratulating him for not being part of
• 41:37
  Speaker 5: the Giants anymore. Getting to play with Joe Burrow instead
• 41:39
  Speaker 5: of the revolving cast of tragic comic quarterbacks the Giants
• 41:44
  Speaker 5: have employed over his career. And, you know, he's just
• 41:48
  Speaker 5: as I mentioned before, how huge he is in person.
• 41:51
  Speaker 5: That's definitely true. He's also really humble, really sweet, you know,
• 41:56
  Speaker 5: away from the football field. Just as great a guy
• 41:59
  Speaker 5: as you could possibly want. You hope he turns it
• 42:02
  Speaker 5: on and turns into a vicious animal when the gun sounds.
• 42:05
  Speaker 5: But before that, really just a friendly dude all the
• 42:08
  Speaker 5: way around. And you could see it in the way
• 42:10
  Speaker 5: he was embraced and still is embraced, not just by
• 42:13
  Speaker 5: his high school coach, but also by the whole community there.
• 42:16
  Speaker 5: It's a really good opportunity to see him. And I
• 42:19
  Speaker 5: was glad to get a chance to see him away
• 42:21
  Speaker 5: from sort of the Cincinnati or just NFL world. kind
• 42:25
  Speaker 5: of exterior and see what makes them tick a little bit.
• 42:28
  Speaker 5: So yeah, that'll be in Cincinnati magazine coming up in
• 42:30
  Speaker 5: its football preview issue very soon on your newsstands and
• 42:34
  Speaker 5: online as well.
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: Love it. All right.
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: Last thing they say, nothing in life is free, but
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: that saying is not true because the NYC 1000 is.
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: I would pay for it because I love it, but
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: you have provided it to all of us for free.
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: It's great sports writing. about a wide variety of sports.
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: But for folks who have not heard us discuss it
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: before on the podcast, fill them in on the NYC 1000.
• 43:00
  Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm really failing in my capitalist.
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: Yes, you are. I need to.
• 43:07
  Speaker 5: There is a button on there where you can, you know,
• 43:09
  Speaker 5: you can support it if you feel the need, Dan.
• 43:12
  Speaker 2: You should. I encourage you to.
• 43:15
  Speaker 5: Donate your millions, your mega millions over to my side
• 43:18
  Speaker 5: of this particular podcast. Yeah, it's the NYC 1000 that
• 43:22
  Speaker 5: refers to the, what I determined are the greatest 1000
• 43:25
  Speaker 5: sporting events in New York City history. Wes, 1000, you
• 43:29
  Speaker 5: heard that right. Just about the 600 mark now. So
• 43:33
  Speaker 5: it's been going on for a while. We're not quite halfway,
• 43:35
  Speaker 5: but we're getting there. And it obviously encompasses all manner
• 43:39
  Speaker 5: of sports, not just the big ones, football, baseball, basketball,
• 43:42
  Speaker 5: as you would expect, but you know, a lot of
• 43:44
  Speaker 5: offbeat and lesser known and less remembered stuff, you know,
• 43:48
  Speaker 5: from the long, long, long history of sports in New
• 43:51
  Speaker 5: York City. And I fold in, I'm a historian at heart.
• 43:55
  Speaker 5: I fold in a lot of things that are, you know,
• 43:57
  Speaker 5: sort of not related to sports per se, but I
• 43:59
  Speaker 5: tie them in sometimes tenuously, sometimes directly. And, you know,
• 44:03
  Speaker 5: the history of New York City is sort of the
• 44:05
  Speaker 5: history of America and the history of sports writ small,
• 44:09
  Speaker 5: as I like to think. So, Yeah, there's something in
• 44:11
  Speaker 5: there for everybody. It's a sub stack, as Dan points out,
• 44:15
  Speaker 5: doesn't cost you a penny. And you can do two
• 44:19
  Speaker 5: a week and you can get ahead there and sign
• 44:21
  Speaker 5: up to subscribe or just veer over there at your leisure.
• 44:25
  Speaker 5: Enter the NYC 1000 on Google or on substack.com and
• 44:31
  Speaker 5: you'll find all kinds of fun stuff. So I know
• 44:34
  Speaker 5: not all of them is it's not as much men's
• 44:36
  Speaker 5: tennis or as Dan might prefer, but there's a lot
• 44:40
  Speaker 5: of it in there. And I got all the sports covered,
• 44:42
  Speaker 5: track and field, boxing, horse racing, whatever. If it happened
• 44:45
  Speaker 5: in New York City, it's in the list. So we're
• 44:48
  Speaker 5: working our way toward number one, Dan. Hopefully you'll hang
• 44:50
  Speaker 5: in there till the end.
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: I definitely will. I think I picked it up somewhere
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: around 900. So I've been with you for a while
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: now and I'm enjoying them immensely. So keep up the
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: good work with that. Can't wait to see the Dexter
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: Lawrence feature in Cincinnati Magazine. And appreciate your time as always, Robert.
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 45:06
  Speaker 5: No, it's my pleasure as always, Dan. And go Bengals
• 45:08
  Speaker 5: for everybody out there.
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: I was at a grocery store on Sunday and the
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: newest issue of Cincinnati Magazine is on the shelves featuring
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: Robert's profile of Dexter Lawrence. That's going to do it
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast brought to
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: you by Paycor, proud to be the Bengals official HR
• 45:27
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• 45:35
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• 45:38
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• 45:42
  Speaker 1: If you haven't done so already, please subscribe to this podcast,
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: and if you have a minute, give it a rating
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: or share a comment. That helps more Bengals fans find us.
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: I'm Dan Hoard, and thanks so much for listening to
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast.