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Bengals Booth Podcast: High Hopes · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, gain everybody on Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast. The had to have high high
0:11
Speaker 1: hopes for a living. Didn't know how, but I always
0:14
Speaker 1: had a feeling. Addition, as we hear from a national
0:17
Speaker 1: sports talk show and TV host who has high hopes
0:21
Speaker 1: for the Bengals this season and beyond. Plus, it's week
0:25
Speaker 1: three of voluntary spring practices, and I'll talk to Dave
0:28
Speaker 1: Lapham about Joe burrows improved arm strength, what the team
0:32
Speaker 1: is likely doing when the media is not allowed to watch,
0:35
Speaker 1: and lap will answer the questions you submitted on Twitter,
0:38
Speaker 1: including this classic what's the biggest animal you think you
0:43
Speaker 1: could wrestle? The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by bud Light.
0:47
Speaker 1: Seltzer refreshed the game and here's a quick reminder that
0:51
Speaker 1: you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered
0:54
Speaker 1: right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher,
0:58
Speaker 1: Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing
1:02
Speaker 1: since Chloe Kovaleski. The US Women's Open Golf Championship took
1:08
Speaker 1: place in San Francisco last week, and the leader in
1:11
Speaker 1: driving distance at the end of round one was Chloe Kovaleski,
1:15
Speaker 1: who averaged three hundred three yards off the tea that
1:19
Speaker 1: was about ten yards ahead of any other player. Now
1:23
Speaker 1: here's the catch. Chloe is fourteen years old. She was
1:29
Speaker 1: the youngest player to qualify for the US Women's Open
1:31
Speaker 1: this year, and while she missed the cut after shooting
1:34
Speaker 1: eighty one eighty one, I have a strong feeling that
1:37
Speaker 1: golf fans will be hearing the name Chloe Kovaleski for
1:41
Speaker 1: many years to come. Now let's get to my first guest.
1:45
Speaker 1: There's a story on NFL dot com today with a
1:48
Speaker 1: following headline nine NFL Bandwagons to hop on in twenty
1:53
Speaker 1: twenty one. It was written by columnist Adam Shine, who
1:57
Speaker 1: is hopping on the Joe Burrow bandwagon out the following
2:01
Speaker 1: It looks like he'll be ready for Week one and
2:04
Speaker 1: I can't wait. This cat has it. He's what you
2:08
Speaker 1: want in a franchise quarterback and he's going to be
2:11
Speaker 1: a superstar. Adam Shine, as you probably know, is a
2:15
Speaker 1: very entertaining national sports talk show host, and he was
2:19
Speaker 1: kind enough to work me into his insane schedule this week.
2:24
Speaker 1: All Right, people seem to think that I'm busy, but
2:27
Speaker 1: it's nothing in comparison to my next guest. He is
2:30
Speaker 1: the host of Shine on Sports Weekdays nine to noon
2:33
Speaker 1: on Sirius XM Radio. You can watch him weeknights at
2:36
Speaker 1: six o'clock on CBS Sports That. He is a columnist
2:39
Speaker 1: for NFL dot Com. He has a podcast. We're talking
2:43
Speaker 1: about my guy, proud Syracuse University graduate Adam Shine. Hi
2:47
Speaker 1: doing buddy, Oh Dan, I'm excellent and it's great to
2:50
Speaker 1: be with you, my friend Hope Ball as well with you.
2:53
Speaker 1: Things are great here. And I want to start with
2:55
Speaker 1: something that you wrote a couple of weeks ago on
2:58
Speaker 1: NFL dot Com. You made nine bold predictions. One of
3:02
Speaker 1: them involved the Tennessee Titans winning eleven games with Julio Jones,
3:06
Speaker 1: So you nailed that way before it actually went down,
3:10
Speaker 1: So your credibility is looking good. And you also made
3:13
Speaker 1: this prediction, the Bengals will win more games than the Steelers.
3:19
Speaker 1: We obviously love that here in Cincinnati, but Pittsburgh won
3:23
Speaker 1: eight more games than the Bengals did last year. Explain
3:26
Speaker 1: your reasoning, Well, it was for a variety of reasons.
3:31
Speaker 1: Number one, and I know how difficult it is to
3:34
Speaker 1: win in the NFL. I thought last year Mike Tomlin
3:38
Speaker 1: did a phenomenal job winning all those games in a
3:42
Speaker 1: row early because frankly, I didn't think the Pittsburgh Steelers
3:46
Speaker 1: were that good. And Tomlin's never been under five hundred
3:49
Speaker 1: and deserved the contract extension, and he's a heck of
3:52
Speaker 1: a coach. And I thought Pittsburgh really overachieved. I never
3:57
Speaker 1: thought they were going to be a super Bowl team.
4:00
Speaker 1: Never thought even when they were winning these games, they
4:02
Speaker 1: were going to go on some kind of playoff run.
4:05
Speaker 1: And I think Ben Roethlisberger is the first ballot Hall
4:07
Speaker 1: of Famer. I think he hit the wall and he
4:10
Speaker 1: looked like someone who's pushing forward. He was coming off
4:13
Speaker 1: of unprecedented surgery. And by the way, that's all factual
4:18
Speaker 1: more than in his opinion. And you know, I thought
4:21
Speaker 1: the Steelers run game. I said last year at this
4:23
Speaker 1: time it was gonna be literally the worst in the NFL,
4:25
Speaker 1: and it was thirty two out of thirty two. And look,
4:30
Speaker 1: I don't think the Steelers improved. Look Naj Harris, I
4:34
Speaker 1: think has the ability to be a strong running back
4:37
Speaker 1: and I like him a lot, But the weakness of
4:40
Speaker 1: the team was the offensive line, and they got worse
4:43
Speaker 1: Ben's not getting any younger. The defense is not what
4:48
Speaker 1: it was, and look at how they played on defense
4:51
Speaker 1: last year without bud Dupree, and bud Dupree left and
4:55
Speaker 1: went to Tennessee. So I'm not high on Pittsburgh. I
4:59
Speaker 1: think that Cleveland and Baltimore debate the order top two
5:03
Speaker 1: teams in the division. And Dan, I'm I'm high on
5:06
Speaker 1: the Bengals, I really am. I think since he has
5:10
Speaker 1: a chance this year to surprise some people. I think
5:13
Speaker 1: all I needed to see was Joe Burrow and his
5:17
Speaker 1: health and just knowing that he was going to be
5:20
Speaker 1: ready for the start of the season. That was it.
5:24
Speaker 1: And I love what Cincinnati did in the draft. I
5:27
Speaker 1: mean Jamar Chase to me is special and the fact
5:31
Speaker 1: that you don't even have to have an educated guess
5:33
Speaker 1: about the chemistry with the quarterback and the receiver. You
5:36
Speaker 1: saw it in college had a historic a winning a
5:39
Speaker 1: championship level. Boy I screamed forever. I'm one of the
5:43
Speaker 1: Packers to draft t Higgins instead of Jordan loved Higgins.
5:46
Speaker 1: I thought out a strong rookie year. You factor, Boyden, Listen,
5:50
Speaker 1: I'm still a believer. Joe Mixon is a stud at
5:53
Speaker 1: the running back position. And here's what I think the
5:56
Speaker 1: NFL defenses have become. You don't need to necessarily have
6:00
Speaker 1: a great defense as long as you can create turnovers.
6:06
Speaker 1: And I think Cincinnati can do that on defense and
6:09
Speaker 1: get the ball back to Joe. And it's almost like
6:12
Speaker 1: Joe was a little lost in the shuffle last year,
6:15
Speaker 1: which is crazy because he was putting up big numbers,
6:18
Speaker 1: what the offensive line was poored, he was getting sacked
6:20
Speaker 1: left and right, and since he wasn't winning games. I mean,
6:24
Speaker 1: it's still Joe Burrow and I love Herbert, and I
6:27
Speaker 1: thought Herbert was going to be a star. And you know,
6:30
Speaker 1: I still think Tooa is gonna be a good player
6:32
Speaker 1: in the NFL. It's still Joe Burrow, and I think
6:37
Speaker 1: this guy is gonna be special. Nothing has changed, so
6:41
Speaker 1: I didn't really even hesitate. I normally have a feel
6:44
Speaker 1: when I give it a strong opinion, and I only
6:46
Speaker 1: say or write what I believe. You know, when something's
6:49
Speaker 1: going to be you know, I'm gonna get me getting
6:51
Speaker 1: tweets positive and negative, left and right, or calls on
6:54
Speaker 1: my serious XM radio show. This one took on a
6:57
Speaker 1: fun life of its own, and I stand by every
7:00
Speaker 1: thing I said. I'm sure Steelers fans reacted very kindly
7:04
Speaker 1: on social media. Oh yeah, oh yeah. I'm very very
7:08
Speaker 1: popular in Pittsburgh. But look, you know, I've been critical
7:12
Speaker 1: of the Steelers in recent years. I think in a
7:15
Speaker 1: lot of ways. You know, I like to say, if
7:18
Speaker 1: you're a Stealer fan and you're going home at night
7:20
Speaker 1: and you know you're you're snuggling with your Drome Bettist
7:23
Speaker 1: Teddy Bear, or you're looking at a poster on your
7:26
Speaker 1: wall of Stalworth and Swan or a Bradshaw, then you know,
7:30
Speaker 1: we really can't have the discussion on what's going on now.
7:33
Speaker 1: And you know, they haven't won a playoff game in
7:36
Speaker 1: five years. And again, different teams, different standards. I'm not
7:39
Speaker 1: talking about the history of the Steelers, but I think
7:42
Speaker 1: they they've been living on planet delusional a little bit.
7:47
Speaker 1: You know, It's one thing to let Bell and Brown go,
7:50
Speaker 1: it's another, and they were right, it's another thing not
7:52
Speaker 1: to replace them. And I think that Pittsburgh can almost
7:57
Speaker 1: do that because of their history. You know, I would
8:00
Speaker 1: have signed Jameis Winston a year ago. I stand by
8:02
Speaker 1: that take. You know, I would have let Ben Roethlisberger
8:06
Speaker 1: go this offseason, I would have cut the cord and
8:09
Speaker 1: moved into the future. I stand by that opinion. I
8:11
Speaker 1: would have signed Leonard Fournette last year if I was Pittsburgh.
8:15
Speaker 1: I stand by that opinion. I think Pittsburgh has kind
8:18
Speaker 1: of been kind of been treading water and has been
8:22
Speaker 1: a forget the wins and losses. They have won a
8:25
Speaker 1: playoff game in a while, They're not that close to
8:28
Speaker 1: the super Bowl, and I think, if you're being honest
8:32
Speaker 1: and objective, and this is not gonna be a Bengal
8:33
Speaker 1: super Bowl season Sincecinnati's closer to the super Bowl for
8:39
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two, twenty twenty three and beyond because of
8:43
Speaker 1: the star quarterback. I also think the big three receiver
8:48
Speaker 1: and Cincinnati is gonna be fun. Like I always go
8:51
Speaker 1: back to something Phil Simms told me years ago. You
8:54
Speaker 1: want your receiving cord to be like a basketball team. Right.
8:58
Speaker 1: You want your point guards, you want your center, you
9:00
Speaker 1: want your small forward who can run the point, different
9:03
Speaker 1: types of guys at the receiver position. I thought there
9:06
Speaker 1: was such a brilliant line and the Bengals are gonna
9:09
Speaker 1: have that, you know. I think the offensive line should
9:11
Speaker 1: be better. I think it should be pretty good. I
9:13
Speaker 1: don't think it's gonna be the Hogs for Washington in
9:16
Speaker 1: the mid eighties, but I think Cincinnati is gonna be
9:19
Speaker 1: in a lot of games in the fourth quarter, and
9:22
Speaker 1: I think if they can get off to a good
9:24
Speaker 1: start and going through the Bengal schedule, I think it's favorable.
9:29
Speaker 1: And I think that Burrow helps change the attitude. You know,
9:33
Speaker 1: there's not going to be a loser's lament or here
9:36
Speaker 1: we go again in Cincinnati. Joe Burrows going into the
9:39
Speaker 1: season thinking he's winning every game. That's part of the
9:43
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow it factor and I can't wait for it.
9:46
Speaker 1: He has definitely added some swag to this franchise, There's
9:49
Speaker 1: no question about it. My guest is Adam Shine. You
9:51
Speaker 1: can follow him. You should follow him on Twitter at
9:53
Speaker 1: Adam Shine scchi N. When the schedule came out, you
9:58
Speaker 1: pick the top nine prime time games in order. Number
10:02
Speaker 1: five on the list Jacksonville at Cincinnati on Thursday Night
10:07
Speaker 1: Football early in the season. In your words, I am
10:10
Speaker 1: obsessed with this game. Listen. I think when you get
10:16
Speaker 1: the top two picks back to back years at the
10:18
Speaker 1: quarterback position and everything I'm saying about Joe. You know
10:23
Speaker 1: the scouts or gms or execs you talk to, you know,
10:27
Speaker 1: Trevor Lawrence is supposed to be better. Right Like, if
10:30
Speaker 1: you talk to people around the league in terms of
10:32
Speaker 1: projecting on Saturday and how they translate to Sunday, you know,
10:36
Speaker 1: it's John Elway, It's it's Andrew Locke, and it's Trevor Lawrence.
10:41
Speaker 1: I also think putting this game early in the season
10:43
Speaker 1: is great. I mean, we don't know the win total
10:46
Speaker 1: for Since or for Jacksonville, even though fans in both
10:49
Speaker 1: those cities should be excited. But when you can get
10:52
Speaker 1: these quarterbacks going head to head, they're both gonna take it. Personally,
10:56
Speaker 1: they both want to show off their skills. They both
11:00
Speaker 1: have solid surrounding pieces. Look, I love stuff like this.
11:04
Speaker 1: I think if you're a fan, you know, and I'll
11:08
Speaker 1: never I'm never one, you know, I don't. I don't
11:10
Speaker 1: get bored by Kevin Duranta, Lebron James. I I don't
11:14
Speaker 1: get bored by greatness or success. I like watching great
11:17
Speaker 1: athletes do great things. But if you're looking for new blood,
11:21
Speaker 1: and I think the NFL is in a great place
11:23
Speaker 1: Stan at the quarterback position, I think that Burrow and Lawrence.
11:28
Speaker 1: That's gonna be fun for a long time and comparing
11:31
Speaker 1: them and then we'll get to have the instant conversation
11:34
Speaker 1: and reaction. I'm genuinely obsessed with this game. I love it.
11:38
Speaker 1: On your podcast, your recent guests have included Boomer Assiasin
11:42
Speaker 1: and Carson Palmer. When you've talked to them about Joe Burrow,
11:47
Speaker 1: what's caught your ear? They love them, They both do that.
11:51
Speaker 1: That's a great question, and you can tell that how much.
11:55
Speaker 1: And I work with Boomer on on CBS on Sundays
11:58
Speaker 1: and he'll do his hits with us on on that
12:01
Speaker 1: of the pregame show and then on the podcast. He
12:03
Speaker 1: loves Joe. He loves every his skill set, his demeanor,
12:08
Speaker 1: his ability to tune out the noise, his arm, his accuracy.
12:13
Speaker 1: And it was interesting talking to Carson. I always enjoy
12:17
Speaker 1: talking to Carson because I find Carson to be a
12:21
Speaker 1: really fascinating individual. And he loves Burrow and he loves
12:26
Speaker 1: the fans in Cincinnati. And I love talking to Carson
12:30
Speaker 1: about his Cincinnati experience because he loves the fans in
12:34
Speaker 1: Cincinnati so much. He genuinely does and has such a
12:38
Speaker 1: great attachment and he's rooting so hard for Joe Burrow,
12:43
Speaker 1: so he loves the zip on the fastball, the accuracy,
12:47
Speaker 1: a lot of the same things that Boomer did. But
12:50
Speaker 1: both those guys were very high on Joe Burrow. Last
12:54
Speaker 1: thing for Adam Shine, because you have places to go.
12:57
Speaker 1: You praise the Bengals when they hired Zach Taylor a
13:00
Speaker 1: couple of years ago, and the first two years have
13:02
Speaker 1: obviously been rough. Injuries have been a huge factor. Where
13:05
Speaker 1: are you now on Zach Taylor, Dan, How's this for
13:09
Speaker 1: an answer? I don't know. I genuinely don't know. I
13:14
Speaker 1: think the first year I felt like I was wrong
13:18
Speaker 1: on being high on the hire. The second year I
13:21
Speaker 1: feel like was a little bit of a wash. I
13:23
Speaker 1: do think after the Borough injury in the Pittsburgh game,
13:26
Speaker 1: they played hard down the stretch and I thought that
13:29
Speaker 1: was a positive. I think we're gonna learn everything we
13:34
Speaker 1: need to know about Zach Taylor this year. I think
13:37
Speaker 1: that's fair. I thought the first year was a bit
13:40
Speaker 1: of a disappointment. I thought the second year there were
13:42
Speaker 1: some good signs late. You know, I think this year
13:46
Speaker 1: and I still like him for all the reasons I
13:49
Speaker 1: documented when he was hired but I expect the Bengals
13:55
Speaker 1: to be relevant. I expect the Bengals to surprise some people,
13:59
Speaker 1: win some game games that they're not supposed to win.
14:02
Speaker 1: You know that they're not favored to win. I expect
14:04
Speaker 1: Cincinnati to get off to a pretty good start. I
14:08
Speaker 1: think we're gonna learn a lot about Zach Taylor, how
14:10
Speaker 1: he can handle success, how he can deal with some expectations.
14:15
Speaker 1: I think this is a big year for Zach Tayler.
14:18
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna say hot seat. I'm just gonna say
14:21
Speaker 1: learn a lot about whether or not. But we start
14:23
Speaker 1: talking about the what I view as glory years for
14:27
Speaker 1: Cincinnati with Joe Burrow, if he's going to be the
14:30
Speaker 1: guy for the Cincinnati bas There is a reason why
14:34
Speaker 1: you have a national radio show, TV show, podcast and column.
14:39
Speaker 1: You're awesome. I know Bengals fans are going to love
14:42
Speaker 1: this conversation. Thanks so much for the time. I really
14:44
Speaker 1: appreciate it. You're the best, Dan. Anything for you. I
14:48
Speaker 1: mentioned this the last time that Adam was on this podcast,
14:50
Speaker 1: but I'll tell the story again. After graduating from Syracuse,
14:53
Speaker 1: I worked there for nearly ten years in radio and TV,
14:57
Speaker 1: and after moving to Cincinnati in the late nineties, my
15:00
Speaker 1: friends back in the Queues started telling me about a
15:02
Speaker 1: young sports talk host right out of su that they
15:06
Speaker 1: thought was going to make it big. He went by
15:09
Speaker 1: prime Time Shine, and they were right. Adam has become
15:13
Speaker 1: a star and I couldn't be happier for him. He's
15:15
Speaker 1: one of my favorite people in the business. The Bengals
15:19
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast is presented by Bud Light Seltzer. It's light
15:22
Speaker 1: and refreshing with a hint of fruit flavor. Now time
15:26
Speaker 1: to bring him my broadcast partner Dave Lapham, as we
15:29
Speaker 1: share some observations after watching practice on Tuesday and answer
15:33
Speaker 1: the ask lap questions you submitted on Twitter. Lap I
15:38
Speaker 1: want to start with one of the hot topics from
15:40
Speaker 1: the three weeks of OTAs, and that is Joe Burrow's
15:43
Speaker 1: arm strength. Is it noticeably better in your opinion? Yeah,
15:48
Speaker 1: I thought so. I mean definitely, like by the second
15:52
Speaker 1: the second workout, I thought maybe the first one he
15:55
Speaker 1: was adrenaline juice, you know, a little bit so excited
15:57
Speaker 1: to be out there after not having been out there
15:59
Speaker 1: for a while. But then watching him throw it just
16:01
Speaker 1: seemed like it had it had a little bit more
16:04
Speaker 1: zip on it. A few more RPMs, and so in
16:07
Speaker 1: the in the Zoom conference call started asking some of
16:10
Speaker 1: the receivers about it, and guys like Tyler Boyd and
16:13
Speaker 1: CJ said, yeah, you know, definitely, boy you can get
16:15
Speaker 1: the gloves on, you can definitely feel it coming in
16:17
Speaker 1: coming into the hands. And I thought, it's his mechanics,
16:22
Speaker 1: you know, doing the working out that he's doing. He's
16:24
Speaker 1: made his core so much stronger, his hips, everything is torque,
16:27
Speaker 1: you know, it all looks like he's gotten a little
16:30
Speaker 1: bit more powerful and everything that he's doing, and I
16:33
Speaker 1: think it's translating and hasn't lost a bit of accuracy,
16:35
Speaker 1: which is key. And that's the biggest thing is to
16:38
Speaker 1: make sure you're throwing it straight and hitting the spot
16:40
Speaker 1: you want to hit, and don't get so consumed with
16:43
Speaker 1: trying to throw it harder that you know, it starts
16:45
Speaker 1: to distort those kind of things, and it hasn't at all.
16:48
Speaker 1: So it's I think it's going to be exciting to
16:50
Speaker 1: see him throw it this year. I'm glad you said
16:52
Speaker 1: that because you talk to his dad, Jimmy for your podcast,
16:55
Speaker 1: and that's something that he pointed out. Accuracy is his
16:59
Speaker 1: super hour. And while you'd like to be able to
17:02
Speaker 1: throw it a little bit harder and a little bit deeper.
17:04
Speaker 1: It can't be at the expense of what got you here,
17:07
Speaker 1: no question about it. And uh, you know, I played
17:10
Speaker 1: with a quarterback that his calling card was his accuracy,
17:15
Speaker 1: Kenny Anderson for for quite a few years. And you know,
17:18
Speaker 1: Joe Montana, another guy that might not have had like
17:21
Speaker 1: a howards were thrown on Kenny Anderson's arm strength was
17:24
Speaker 1: plenty strong, but it wasn't one of those like Burt
17:27
Speaker 1: Jones or one of these guys that could throw a
17:29
Speaker 1: football through a wall kind of thing. And uh, but
17:32
Speaker 1: Kenny's was man. He would hit tight, tight spots. He
17:36
Speaker 1: was uncanny his accuracy. And I think that's the biggest thing.
17:42
Speaker 1: I think if a quarterback could ask for one thing,
17:45
Speaker 1: the first requirement, the first requisite thing to have as
17:49
Speaker 1: a quarterback would be thrown it where you want it
17:52
Speaker 1: to be thrown, hitting that spot, tight spots, throwing it
17:56
Speaker 1: to good spots. Receivers haven't confidence you're going to hit
17:58
Speaker 1: those spots. I think that's what it's all about for
18:00
Speaker 1: a quarterback. Excellent Bert Jones reference another LSU legend. There
18:06
Speaker 1: you go, Bert, I'll tell you that guy man when
18:09
Speaker 1: he was played at the same time we overlapped careers
18:13
Speaker 1: when he was playing with the Colts, and he could
18:15
Speaker 1: fire it. And Joe Worm and Syracuse defensive tackle was
18:18
Speaker 1: a teammate. And I remember, you know, playing against Joe
18:20
Speaker 1: and we played the Colts, and I'd say to him,
18:22
Speaker 1: apt to us, and man, your quarterback, man, he can
18:24
Speaker 1: he can fire the pill. He goes all brother, he said,
18:27
Speaker 1: all I hear about his receivers complaining about him, you know,
18:30
Speaker 1: dislodging fingers and all everything goes along with it, splitting
18:34
Speaker 1: the webbing you actually, you know, have a receiver having
18:37
Speaker 1: that skin between the fingers split a little bit. That's
18:39
Speaker 1: when they're really bringing it. Man. This is the first
18:42
Speaker 1: podcast we've recorded since the first week of OTAs, and
18:46
Speaker 1: after that first practice we talked about how they were
18:49
Speaker 1: being uber conservative with Joe Burrow. He was not rolling
18:52
Speaker 1: out left and right. They weren't even having a running
18:55
Speaker 1: back lineup with him in the backfield, just in case
18:58
Speaker 1: there was an accidental collision. Well, over the past couple
19:01
Speaker 1: of weeks that's changed. He is rolling out left and right.
19:04
Speaker 1: They did do some play action fakes today, so nothing crazy.
19:09
Speaker 1: It's certainly not a case of risking further injury or
19:14
Speaker 1: some sort of setback in his rehab. But they are
19:16
Speaker 1: gradually inching things forward just a bit right, and I
19:20
Speaker 1: think obviously he wants it, you know, he's all in
19:24
Speaker 1: for that. And then when they talk to the trainers
19:26
Speaker 1: and doctors, they're all on the same page as they're
19:28
Speaker 1: all on board and watching them today, he would he
19:32
Speaker 1: was jogging at a pretty good clip. I mean half
19:35
Speaker 1: jog half not sprint, but he was leading the pack.
19:38
Speaker 1: They'd go from one drill to another, and he's leading
19:40
Speaker 1: the pack, you know, so he's showing his teammates, hey,
19:42
Speaker 1: look man, I'm feeling pretty good. It's getting stronger and
19:45
Speaker 1: stronger by day. They're halfway through you know, these Ota
19:48
Speaker 1: Slash mini camp practices, So I think he feels like
19:52
Speaker 1: it's time to turn it up another notch. And I
19:54
Speaker 1: think he's progression along great and his teammates right now.
20:00
Speaker 1: If I were playing with Joe Burrow with the Cincinnati
20:02
Speaker 1: Bengals and teammate is I'd be like, Okay, he's showing
20:06
Speaker 1: not only physical toughness, he's showing mental toughness. He's showing
20:09
Speaker 1: he's about as tough as anybody we have in this
20:11
Speaker 1: football team. So let's follow this guy. Let's follow this
20:15
Speaker 1: guy's lead. He may be able to take us to
20:16
Speaker 1: the Promised Land. It's like the message you give your kid,
20:19
Speaker 1: be the first kid in every drill when you send
20:21
Speaker 1: him off to a basketball cap or whatever as a kid. Absolutely,
20:25
Speaker 1: you know, and I think it's a definite message. You know.
20:28
Speaker 1: It was like teammates were saying, you know, Joe, Joe
20:31
Speaker 1: could have said, I still want to rehab. No, instead,
20:34
Speaker 1: I want to be out here with my football team.
20:36
Speaker 1: Now take it to the next level. I not only
20:38
Speaker 1: want to be out here with my football team, I
20:40
Speaker 1: want to lead my football team. I want to show that,
20:43
Speaker 1: you know, by being the first guy to every drill
20:45
Speaker 1: and everything that goes along with it. I think I
20:47
Speaker 1: think a message is being sent there. I think it's
20:50
Speaker 1: an intentional message, and I think it's a really good message.
20:53
Speaker 1: During this phase of the offseason, we're only allowed to
20:56
Speaker 1: watch the team once a week, and over the past
20:58
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, they've made us wait while they were
21:01
Speaker 1: doing some stuff that they didn't want the media to see.
21:04
Speaker 1: What are they doing during those periods? Yeah, I think
21:07
Speaker 1: I think I have a feeling the installation has been
21:11
Speaker 1: fairly aggressive. You know, I think that there's two ways
21:14
Speaker 1: to look at it. You have all these new players.
21:17
Speaker 1: Do you take it along slowly and is it a
21:20
Speaker 1: gradual install or do you throw it all at them
21:24
Speaker 1: and then have them Okay, everything's installed. Here's the whole
21:28
Speaker 1: whole shebang, the whole ball of wax. Now you have
21:32
Speaker 1: the rest of June when they're done with the mandatory
21:35
Speaker 1: mini camp, and almost all of the month of July,
21:38
Speaker 1: and then you come back to training camp. How much
21:41
Speaker 1: of her retention has there been? You know, you have
21:43
Speaker 1: it all. Now you have a chance to review it
21:46
Speaker 1: and redigest it in that month and a half as
21:48
Speaker 1: you're waiting for training camp to start, and then you
21:50
Speaker 1: can reinstall and it might be a lot shorter process
21:53
Speaker 1: during the training camp installation period. And now I have
21:57
Speaker 1: a feeling that they're installing quite a bit. And I
21:59
Speaker 1: think that's what they're doing an earlier portion of camp
22:02
Speaker 1: that is off limits to the media. I think they're
22:05
Speaker 1: showing a lot of a lot of different formations, personnel groupings.
22:09
Speaker 1: I think a lot of diversity in fronts for the
22:12
Speaker 1: defense and on the back end and coverages. So I
22:16
Speaker 1: think that they're I think they're going to be very aggressive,
22:20
Speaker 1: both offensively and defensively in terms of the volume of
22:24
Speaker 1: looks and different things that are going to show the opponent.
22:27
Speaker 1: I think they're going to make the opponent have to
22:29
Speaker 1: think a lot. And I think they're attacking it as
22:32
Speaker 1: early as they possibly can as they're installing it. I'm
22:35
Speaker 1: going to plug You're in the Trenches podcast again because
22:38
Speaker 1: it's awesome. You had Jesse Bates on a recent episode
22:42
Speaker 1: and he was great. His play speaks for itself, But
22:46
Speaker 1: what else impresses you about Jesse Bates. Yeah, I think
22:49
Speaker 1: the person, you know, the character of him, um, you know, leadership.
22:54
Speaker 1: I think he's he's not bashful about I'm going to
22:58
Speaker 1: be the guy to bring everybody together. I'm going to
23:00
Speaker 1: be the guy to reach out to people. I'm going
23:02
Speaker 1: to be the I'm gonna be the glue not only
23:04
Speaker 1: on the football field, but in the locker room. I'm
23:06
Speaker 1: going to be the guy that people can turn to
23:10
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, be the conduit. I'm going to
23:13
Speaker 1: be the conduit between the coaching staff and the rest
23:16
Speaker 1: of the players. I think he's taken his role of captain,
23:19
Speaker 1: very very seriously, and I think it comes naturally to him.
23:23
Speaker 1: I think it comes easily. And I think his raw intelligence,
23:26
Speaker 1: you know, is real obvious as well. I think he's
23:28
Speaker 1: a really good communicator. I think he's a heck of
23:31
Speaker 1: a leader, very intelligent, and just a solid human being.
23:34
Speaker 1: I mean, he's he's one of those guys that you know,
23:37
Speaker 1: is a rarity in terms of as great a football
23:40
Speaker 1: player as he is, he's even a better human being.
23:42
Speaker 1: And once you start to get your share of those
23:44
Speaker 1: kind of guys in your locker room, you're gonna have
23:47
Speaker 1: really something special. And I think they're moving in that direction.
23:51
Speaker 1: We got a little treat when he walked out to
23:52
Speaker 1: practice today. Rehab coordinator Nick Cosgray was holding his drills
23:57
Speaker 1: right in front of the little area where the media
24:00
Speaker 1: is allowed to stand, so we got to see the
24:03
Speaker 1: status of DJ Reader, Renelle Wren, and Trey Hopkins right
24:08
Speaker 1: there in front of us as they were doing footwork, drills,
24:10
Speaker 1: pushing a sled, etc. How did those three guys look.
24:14
Speaker 1: I think they looked really good. Renelle Wren is a
24:17
Speaker 1: physical specimen anyway. That guy's a freaka zoid. I mean
24:20
Speaker 1: he's he's unbelieable to look at just a good lord
24:24
Speaker 1: blessed him with a football body man in every sense
24:26
Speaker 1: of the word. But I think, you know, when you're
24:29
Speaker 1: being very critical with your eye, you can still see
24:32
Speaker 1: a slight hitching to get along. But they're moving at
24:35
Speaker 1: a very very good clip. You know. It's it's not
24:38
Speaker 1: half speed. They're they're they're testing it. Um, they're change
24:41
Speaker 1: in direction. Uh, there's hesitation in what they're doing, and
24:45
Speaker 1: then acceleration off the hesitation. So there's not a whole
24:49
Speaker 1: lot of violent cutting going on yet. But it's all
24:52
Speaker 1: straight ahead stuff. But it's not straight ahead. Same type
24:55
Speaker 1: of speed, same type of gate, same type of steps.
24:58
Speaker 1: There's there's some jumps to ups, you know, jumping and
25:01
Speaker 1: landing and holding freezing that and then accelerating off of it.
25:05
Speaker 1: It was interesting to watch them and then hit the sled,
25:08
Speaker 1: you know, pushing the sled, not really hitting it, just
25:10
Speaker 1: driving a sled and then getting their body their back
25:13
Speaker 1: angle straight and their bodies low, bending at the knees
25:17
Speaker 1: and not at the waist, you know, to get in
25:19
Speaker 1: a football position while they're doing it. Um and Nick.
25:22
Speaker 1: Nick's as good as there is in the league, and
25:24
Speaker 1: every player for the Cincinnati Bengals that's rehabbed with Nick
25:27
Speaker 1: Cosgrey has nothing but great things to stay about him,
25:30
Speaker 1: and rightfully so he does. He does an outstanding job,
25:34
Speaker 1: and he's brought a lot of guys back way ahead
25:37
Speaker 1: of schedule, and um put guys in situations where if
25:41
Speaker 1: they did have any inclination of oh man, is this
25:44
Speaker 1: the end? Far from it. Nick's gonna bring me back,
25:47
Speaker 1: and he's gonna be bringing me back as strong as
25:49
Speaker 1: stronger than I was before Trey Hopkins tore his ACL
25:52
Speaker 1: in the final game of the year against Baltimore. I
25:54
Speaker 1: would have said at that point, Okay, he'll be back
25:57
Speaker 1: during the season, but I don't know if he'll be
25:58
Speaker 1: back in time for Week one, and I can't say
26:01
Speaker 1: that anymore. Based on how he looks. I think there's
26:05
Speaker 1: at least a chance that he's able to answer the
26:08
Speaker 1: bell in week one. I don't think it's out of
26:10
Speaker 1: the question. I'd be I'd be shocked if there if
26:13
Speaker 1: anybody has said, you know what, now, that's that's not happening.
26:16
Speaker 1: I think that if he doesn't come back week one,
26:19
Speaker 1: it's certainly not going to be it's going to be
26:21
Speaker 1: shortly thereafter before when he does return, and uh, and
26:25
Speaker 1: that'll be a site for sore eyes, and I think
26:26
Speaker 1: for for Frank Pollock. And you know that there's returning
26:30
Speaker 1: and then there's being able ready and able to play
26:33
Speaker 1: in an NFL game for you know, X number of snaps.
26:36
Speaker 1: So um, you know, he'd have to be able to
26:40
Speaker 1: a training camp. I'm not saying play in preseason games,
26:44
Speaker 1: although you'd almost like to test it in a preseason game,
26:47
Speaker 1: particularly if you're alignment before you go out there in
26:50
Speaker 1: that first regular season game. So it might you know
26:53
Speaker 1: that that might be the sticking point. What can he do?
26:56
Speaker 1: How far can he push it in training camp? But
26:59
Speaker 1: I wouldn't rule anything out looking at him out there today,
27:02
Speaker 1: and I did have a chance to just say, hey,
27:03
Speaker 1: trade man, you look good. How's it feeling goes great,
27:06
Speaker 1: It feels really good, man. So you know, talking about
27:10
Speaker 1: it's one thing, you know, lacing up the pads and
27:13
Speaker 1: the pleats and getting out there and going against these
27:16
Speaker 1: behemoths and doing what you need to do to play
27:18
Speaker 1: in the National Football leagues another. But again I agree
27:21
Speaker 1: with you, Dan, I would not rule it out all right.
27:24
Speaker 1: I aimed the lap signal into the Cincinnati Sky this week.
27:27
Speaker 1: That means we've got some asked lap questions. Are you
27:30
Speaker 1: ready ready to roll star? There are always questions about
27:33
Speaker 1: the offensive line. This one comes from Will in the
27:36
Speaker 1: current NFL landscape, which approach works best, zone blocking or
27:41
Speaker 1: straight up power blocking, and if it depends on personnel,
27:46
Speaker 1: which suits the Bengals current roster best. Well. The Bengals
27:50
Speaker 1: went from a zone blocking team to a gap blocking
27:53
Speaker 1: team where you block down and pull lineman and run
27:56
Speaker 1: powers and pull offside lineman and that sort of thing
28:00
Speaker 1: last year, and that's when Joe Mixon started to really
28:03
Speaker 1: show some gains in terms of his UH yards rushing yards.
28:07
Speaker 1: But Joe Joe feels good about Frank Pollock's system, and
28:10
Speaker 1: Frank Pollock's system is a is a zone blocking team,
28:13
Speaker 1: a wide stretch zone blocking team. But that's not to
28:17
Speaker 1: say that you don't incorporate some angle blocking. I think
28:21
Speaker 1: the best run games in the National Football League incorporate
28:24
Speaker 1: a little bit of you know, some of each. And
28:27
Speaker 1: I'm not saying it's fifty fifth or anything like that,
28:29
Speaker 1: But if you're having trouble, if a defensive configuration or
28:33
Speaker 1: personnel grouping or whatever it is is causing you problems.
28:36
Speaker 1: You have to have the flexibility in the in the
28:40
Speaker 1: ability to to try something else. And so I think that, uh,
28:45
Speaker 1: I think there's a there's a place for all of it.
28:48
Speaker 1: But I do think Frank's primary run blocking or run
28:53
Speaker 1: game philosophy is zone stretch, zone type things. Really getting
28:58
Speaker 1: a defensive line to have to run and then cutting
29:02
Speaker 1: somebody in half. That's that's the key to the success
29:05
Speaker 1: in the in the zone scheme or the stretch scheme,
29:07
Speaker 1: as you get the defense flowing and somebody gets somebody
29:10
Speaker 1: on the ground and that's a natural cutback lane. You
29:12
Speaker 1: can't make plays when you're on the ground. It's it's impossible.
29:15
Speaker 1: So that's the big deal. Either you get somebody walled
29:18
Speaker 1: off on the backside for a cutback lane, or if
29:21
Speaker 1: they're on the ground, the back has to see it
29:23
Speaker 1: and hit it. And Joe Joe's done a really good
29:25
Speaker 1: job of doing that. When Frank was here as the
29:28
Speaker 1: line coach, it wasn't working real well in Zach Taylor's
29:33
Speaker 1: initial stages of running games, so they went to the gap, blockdown, power,
29:39
Speaker 1: pull the off side, get more helmets at the front
29:43
Speaker 1: side of the play, try to outnumber them helmet wise
29:47
Speaker 1: and try to create gaps that way. Kyle has this
29:50
Speaker 1: offensive line question. How much of an upgrade have the
29:52
Speaker 1: Bengals made in their offensive line personnel and how much
29:55
Speaker 1: of an impact will Frank Pollack have as the coach? Yeah,
29:58
Speaker 1: I think at Frank's all about you know, technique and
30:02
Speaker 1: uh fundamentals and hammering them over and over and over again.
30:08
Speaker 1: I think he's going to have a major impact. I'll
30:10
Speaker 1: just go back to nineteen eighty one when Jim McNally,
30:13
Speaker 1: you know, was our line coach with the Cincinnati Bengals,
30:15
Speaker 1: and Jim was, you know, in the early stages of
30:18
Speaker 1: his career as a line coach then, but one thing
30:21
Speaker 1: that we did from the very first day of training
30:24
Speaker 1: camp to the very last practice before the Super Bowl,
30:28
Speaker 1: we did the exact same drills every single Wednesday, every
30:33
Speaker 1: single Thursday, everything single Friday. You can set you could
30:36
Speaker 1: set your clock to it that this is what we're
30:38
Speaker 1: gonna do. We're gonna you know, warm up at the
30:40
Speaker 1: duck walk. Make sure that you know we were doing
30:42
Speaker 1: it the way he wanted and having our having our
30:46
Speaker 1: feet in the proper way and and having your knees
30:49
Speaker 1: bent and duck walking and and and then you'd have
30:53
Speaker 1: targets that you had to hit on pads, you'd have
30:56
Speaker 1: hand placement drills, you'd have all all these drills, and
30:59
Speaker 1: it was like every single day was the same. So
31:03
Speaker 1: you become a creature habit, and uh, it becomes something
31:07
Speaker 1: you don't even have to think about the technique. It's
31:09
Speaker 1: you've done it so many times you get in the game,
31:12
Speaker 1: you've wrapped it so many times. In practice, it just happens.
31:14
Speaker 1: I mean, it's automatic. And then when you're working in
31:18
Speaker 1: tandem with a with a you know alignment that you've
31:21
Speaker 1: done it with over and over and over again every
31:24
Speaker 1: single day in practice. The old repetition breeds comfort level
31:28
Speaker 1: thing I think is real. I think Frank believes in
31:30
Speaker 1: that can. It worked for Jim McNally, and I know
31:33
Speaker 1: Frank Pollock is a disciple of Jim McNally, and uh,
31:36
Speaker 1: watching watching his drills. All starts with your feet and
31:39
Speaker 1: ends with your hands, and it always will. We've talked
31:42
Speaker 1: about almost every athletic endeavor starts with the feet ends
31:45
Speaker 1: with your hands. Blocking and tackling the same thing. And
31:48
Speaker 1: you can't tackle as an offensive linement, but you damn
31:50
Speaker 1: well better be able to do some blocking and uh
31:53
Speaker 1: and and I think Frank's going to do really good
31:56
Speaker 1: things with this, with this group of offensive linement. I
31:58
Speaker 1: think I think they're gonna The thing you have to
32:01
Speaker 1: do is believe in it because it's it's mundane. And
32:04
Speaker 1: Frank has a great saying master the mundane, because it's
32:08
Speaker 1: sometimes it's like, oh man, we gotta do this again.
32:11
Speaker 1: You knew exactly you'd walk out on the field, and
32:14
Speaker 1: you knew exactly what the next forty five minutes we're
32:16
Speaker 1: going to be every single step of it, every single movement.
32:20
Speaker 1: But it worked. It worked, and that repetition led to
32:24
Speaker 1: a great performance for sure. One more offensive line question,
32:28
Speaker 1: it comes from Johnny. What are the chances that Billy
32:31
Speaker 1: Price keeps the starting center spot, assuming that he does
32:34
Speaker 1: begin the year as the starter. Yeah, I mean, that's
32:37
Speaker 1: that's a great question. That's up to Billy. Billy's in
32:40
Speaker 1: control of his own destiny as far as that's concerned.
32:44
Speaker 1: Trey Hopkins get an opportunity because of injury to Billy Price.
32:47
Speaker 1: Now Billy Price gets another opportunity because of an injury
32:50
Speaker 1: to Trey Hopkins. And that's that's life in the National
32:53
Speaker 1: Football league. That's why when you're alignmenting, you do get injured,
32:57
Speaker 1: you try to get back in there as quick as
32:58
Speaker 1: you possibly can because you don't want anybody else getting
33:01
Speaker 1: your reps. But yeah, Billy, obviously, Frank Pollock had confidence.
33:06
Speaker 1: He was on the staff that drafted Billy Price, so
33:09
Speaker 1: he saw something in Billy Price in his tape up
33:12
Speaker 1: at Ohio State, and you know, respected him and respected
33:17
Speaker 1: respected his play. He was drafted high in the Cincinnati Bengals,
33:21
Speaker 1: a first round draft pick. So I think I think
33:24
Speaker 1: Billy feels good about Frank. Frank feels good about Billy.
33:28
Speaker 1: And it's a clean slate, and that's one thing that
33:30
Speaker 1: every lineman has to understand. It's a totally clean set slate. Now,
33:34
Speaker 1: Frank Pollock is the guy. He's the new sheriff in town.
33:38
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter what you did with Jimmy Turner, it
33:40
Speaker 1: doesn't matter Hill of Beans. You're starting. Everybody's starting fresh
33:44
Speaker 1: and new with Frank Pollock. And that's why I think
33:47
Speaker 1: Trey Hopkins, in his mind, he wants to get back
33:50
Speaker 1: as quick as he possibly can too, because he wants
33:53
Speaker 1: to make an impression, a positive impression on Frank Pollock
33:56
Speaker 1: and right now. He's missing all of these reps we're
33:59
Speaker 1: talking about. You know, you can't take them mentally. It's
34:02
Speaker 1: like it's a muscle memory thing. You have to go,
34:05
Speaker 1: you have to go through it, and your body just
34:07
Speaker 1: has to get used to it, and then it becomes
34:09
Speaker 1: something where you don't even need your mind. It's just
34:11
Speaker 1: it's total muscle memory. Here's a question from man, what
34:15
Speaker 1: player or position group has surprised you during these OTAs.
34:20
Speaker 1: I'm not really surprised by, you know, by any any group.
34:24
Speaker 1: I mean I'm thinking that, you know, groups are living
34:28
Speaker 1: up to billing. I think as such. I think overall
34:32
Speaker 1: this football team is so much younger and so much
34:34
Speaker 1: more athletic. It's ridiculous. In my opinion. It's just about
34:38
Speaker 1: every position group. The linebacker corps is one that just
34:42
Speaker 1: jumps out. I mean, they drafted three young linebackers last
34:45
Speaker 1: year that they're counting on a lot as second year players,
34:49
Speaker 1: and that's where you normally make some major strides. I
34:52
Speaker 1: think the secondary is light years better than where it
34:56
Speaker 1: was today and today's OTA for the first time in
35:03
Speaker 1: the halfway point, so they didn't even do seven on
35:06
Speaker 1: seven until halfway through OTAs. This was the introduction of
35:09
Speaker 1: seven on seven, the old skeleton drill as such, everybody's
35:14
Speaker 1: working except the offensive and defensive lines. And it was
35:17
Speaker 1: very interesting to see this, you know, wide receiver corps
35:21
Speaker 1: that they like a lot um, you know, Tyler Boyd,
35:23
Speaker 1: T Higgins and Chase you know, working against these new
35:27
Speaker 1: guys in the back end in the secondary and there
35:30
Speaker 1: was no pass rush. But I thought that everybody belonged,
35:34
Speaker 1: you know, I was looking at the far end of
35:36
Speaker 1: the field where those guys were working against each other's like, yeah,
35:40
Speaker 1: I mean, all these guys belong out here, and it's
35:42
Speaker 1: it's pretty competitive. It was that that seven on seven
35:45
Speaker 1: then only lasted ten or fifteen minutes, was the most
35:48
Speaker 1: competitive aspect of OTAs that I've seen, you know, in
35:52
Speaker 1: the first week and a half here. So I think
35:55
Speaker 1: at some point, probably during mandatory minicamp next week, they
35:58
Speaker 1: probably will do eleven on eleven. They'll probab we run
36:00
Speaker 1: some team um team plays. But they're they're ramping it up,
36:05
Speaker 1: and they're they're staying very very careful and cautious and
36:08
Speaker 1: elementary to be sure. But I think the message that
36:12
Speaker 1: I'm getting is just about every position group is as advertised.
36:17
Speaker 1: You know it's they've they've made additions, and they felt
36:20
Speaker 1: good about the additions they've made, and like it's now
36:23
Speaker 1: you've you've got your presence. Now you've had a chance
36:26
Speaker 1: to unwrap them and assemble them, get them out on
36:28
Speaker 1: the field, and as billed as advertising, didn't waste my money.
36:32
Speaker 1: Here's a question from Rob. The Bengals have clearly improved
36:35
Speaker 1: the secondary, but have they done enough to stop the
36:38
Speaker 1: run better this year? That's the that's the they have
36:42
Speaker 1: to have. That's the big key. Um. You know, over
36:46
Speaker 1: the last two years, they've given up more ground yards
36:49
Speaker 1: than anybody in the National Football League, and uh, you
36:52
Speaker 1: know that that has to stop. You you earn the
36:55
Speaker 1: right to stop the pass by, you have to be
36:58
Speaker 1: able to stop the run first and foremost. I mean,
37:01
Speaker 1: if you if you're going to get gashed on a
37:02
Speaker 1: regular basis in the running game. Every successful defense that
37:06
Speaker 1: I've seen and it's looking like they're, you know, trying
37:09
Speaker 1: to build this one this way. You have to have
37:12
Speaker 1: your big run stuffers inside, and they can't. They don't
37:16
Speaker 1: necessarily have to be big blobs that are stiffs. They've
37:19
Speaker 1: got big guys that have same athleticism and ability to
37:22
Speaker 1: stay on their feet and good feet and able to move.
37:25
Speaker 1: So you're you're big on the inside the stuff to
37:27
Speaker 1: run on the edge. You want speed off the edge,
37:30
Speaker 1: you know, to rush the pass or and be able
37:31
Speaker 1: to set the edge in the running game. Some athleticism there,
37:34
Speaker 1: and they've really you know, emphasized that both in the
37:37
Speaker 1: draft and people that they signed in free agency. And
37:40
Speaker 1: then you know, again, once you've got that front seven
37:45
Speaker 1: built to where okay, now, inside linebacker, okay, we've got
37:49
Speaker 1: youth and athleticism like we talked about at the inside
37:52
Speaker 1: linebacker position that they drafted, and they've you know, resurrected
37:56
Speaker 1: or reconstructed the secondary in the form of free agent
38:00
Speaker 1: see over the last two offseasons. So they're they're trying
38:02
Speaker 1: to build I think a defense the right way, but
38:05
Speaker 1: it has to start with a couple of run pluggers
38:07
Speaker 1: inside and uh, you know, I think I'm inter see
38:10
Speaker 1: how two poll he looks like he's got himself in
38:13
Speaker 1: pretty good shape. Will DJ Reader come back from injury
38:16
Speaker 1: the way you know, everybody hopes that he will, Ogan Joby,
38:20
Speaker 1: Will he be a guy that will help, you know,
38:21
Speaker 1: stuff that inside running game they've addressed it, but that
38:25
Speaker 1: that's the key if they, If they, if you can
38:27
Speaker 1: own a team between the tackles and just line up
38:30
Speaker 1: and say, you know, I'm going to impose my will
38:33
Speaker 1: on you. I'm not going to do anything fancy. I'm
38:35
Speaker 1: just gonna smack you right in the mouth and I'm
38:37
Speaker 1: gonna have my big running back, you know, uh, just
38:40
Speaker 1: destroy you. That. That's a that's a great feeling. When
38:44
Speaker 1: you're up front as an offensive lineman, that's a very
38:47
Speaker 1: very bad feeling. And if you're on the other side
38:49
Speaker 1: of things defensively, so you know, I hope the Bengals
38:52
Speaker 1: find themselves in that mode. The offensive line comes to
38:54
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage and like, yeah, we're gonna give
38:57
Speaker 1: you a doso Joe Mixon. When you think you've had enough,
38:59
Speaker 1: We're given you another spoonful and you're gonna like it,
39:02
Speaker 1: you know. I mean that. I hope they run the
39:04
Speaker 1: hell out of Joe Mixon like that. And I think
39:06
Speaker 1: I'm sure Joe does too. Here's a question I love
39:10
Speaker 1: it comes from Bengals John. Who is the best player
39:13
Speaker 1: you have seen at each level, high school, college and
39:18
Speaker 1: pro Oh, my goodness, so many. I mean so many
39:21
Speaker 1: great players high school. I'll probably have to go back
39:25
Speaker 1: to this guy running back in my high school. I
39:30
Speaker 1: wasn't play I did not play with him. He was
39:33
Speaker 1: like probably my first I don't know about sports idol,
39:36
Speaker 1: but sports player that I was like, Wow, Mike Martello.
39:41
Speaker 1: He was a running back at Wakefield High School. And
39:44
Speaker 1: I just remember, you know, like as a sixth seventh
39:46
Speaker 1: eighth grade a going to Wakefield High School football games
39:49
Speaker 1: and Mike Martello, who's in our high school Hall of Fame,
39:51
Speaker 1: just destroying people. And I thought, man, Mike Martello, if
39:56
Speaker 1: I could just be like Mike Martello, you know. And
40:00
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, one day I answered the doorbell
40:03
Speaker 1: rings in our front door, and I answered the front
40:06
Speaker 1: door and it's Mike Martello standing on our front porch
40:09
Speaker 1: selling some kind of ticket, raffle ticket or whatever, some
40:13
Speaker 1: high school fundraiser. And I couldn't even talk. My mother
40:17
Speaker 1: comes to the front door and I said, buy a
40:19
Speaker 1: bunch of mom. You know, that's Mike Martello. But he
40:23
Speaker 1: was the first guy that I can remember Thanksgiving Day
40:27
Speaker 1: games against Melrose High School, our big rival. I just
40:29
Speaker 1: remember him just putting his foot in the ground and
40:31
Speaker 1: making these unbelievable cuts. He was a low center of gravity, tough,
40:36
Speaker 1: you know, tough Italian kid that just you know, you
40:39
Speaker 1: could give him the ball a hundred times, it seemed
40:41
Speaker 1: like in a game and he was going to give
40:42
Speaker 1: you everything he had. So he probably made made the
40:45
Speaker 1: first impression on me as a as a high school player.
40:47
Speaker 1: But I mean I did see a bunch of really
40:50
Speaker 1: talented high school football players in the league that I
40:52
Speaker 1: played in up in the Boston area and then in
40:55
Speaker 1: high school. Man, just so many guys. But to pick
41:00
Speaker 1: to pick one guy, that's, uh, that's so hard. But
41:04
Speaker 1: I mean, honestly, a guy that that I really had
41:06
Speaker 1: a ton of respect for Joe Orman, And we talked
41:08
Speaker 1: about a little earlier. It was an All American defensive
41:11
Speaker 1: tackle at Syracuse, and I was a freshman, uh at Syracuse,
41:15
Speaker 1: and we couldn't play freshman a varsity as freshman. We
41:17
Speaker 1: had a freshman schedule, and so the freshman was still
41:20
Speaker 1: you know, the lowly freshman football players. But Joe Orman,
41:25
Speaker 1: the first time I scrimmaged against the varsity, you know,
41:27
Speaker 1: I guess I showed him enough where he just said
41:29
Speaker 1: to me, uh yeah, let's stay out after practice. I
41:33
Speaker 1: want to work with you, you know. I think you've
41:34
Speaker 1: got some uh some potential, you know, and you want
41:37
Speaker 1: to work I'm like, yeah, I'll work with you, you know.
41:40
Speaker 1: And and he, uh he rubbed my nose in it,
41:43
Speaker 1: and you know, the first few practices after practice. I mean,
41:47
Speaker 1: he was just he was a great player, and um,
41:50
Speaker 1: you know he I think he really helped me improved
41:53
Speaker 1: from freshman to season to where as a sophomore I
41:57
Speaker 1: ended up getting a starting job as a sophomore lineman
41:59
Speaker 1: and I think Joe Orman helped me big time in
42:03
Speaker 1: that regard. So he was a tremendous football player. I'll
42:06
Speaker 1: never forget well. Sitting in the stands as freshman football player,
42:09
Speaker 1: were playing Kansas, and there was this unbelievable goal line stand,
42:12
Speaker 1: and the last player of the goal line stand, John Riggins,
42:15
Speaker 1: the big fullback to play with the Jets, great running back.
42:18
Speaker 1: He is carrying it on fourth down and he and
42:21
Speaker 1: Joe worm and hit helmet the helmet and it was
42:23
Speaker 1: the loudest crack I've ever heard in my life in
42:26
Speaker 1: the middle of his Riddell helmet. Joe's helmet crack right
42:29
Speaker 1: from his mask, halfway up his helmet and Joe just
42:32
Speaker 1: you know, walks off the field, tosses the helmet to
42:34
Speaker 1: equipment guy. They take it was fourth down, we have
42:37
Speaker 1: a big goal line stand. Joe just you know, they
42:39
Speaker 1: changed the face mask, how to take all They got
42:42
Speaker 1: the drill and they're taking the screws out in their
42:43
Speaker 1: frantical putting the faceback. He puts the helmet on with
42:46
Speaker 1: the new face mask and goes out the next defensive
42:48
Speaker 1: series and just dominates some more. I'm like, that's a
42:50
Speaker 1: football player right there. And and uh he and John
42:53
Speaker 1: Riggins there was I watched the two of them after
42:56
Speaker 1: the game. They met at midfield and talked and I'm
42:59
Speaker 1: sure they were talking about that that play. And so
43:02
Speaker 1: I guess Joe probably comes to mind for me, you know,
43:06
Speaker 1: as as a college player that maybe really strong player
43:10
Speaker 1: that had a big influence on me. And I'd say
43:13
Speaker 1: in the National Football League, man, there's so many unbelievable players.
43:16
Speaker 1: But the guy that I just had so much respect
43:19
Speaker 1: for his game and the way he played his game
43:22
Speaker 1: was Walter Payton. And I get to meet him at
43:25
Speaker 1: a wrist wrestling thing out in Las Vegas, and I
43:28
Speaker 1: was just so impressed by the dude, and how strong
43:31
Speaker 1: he was. And I'll never forget he put down Curly
43:35
Speaker 1: Culp in a wrist wrestling thing. I was my jaw hit,
43:38
Speaker 1: my hit, my kneecaps probably one hundred and thirty pounds lighter,
43:42
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and just so explosive. And you got him
43:44
Speaker 1: on the jump and I'm like, you better run walk
43:47
Speaker 1: because I mean Curly Culp started swelling up and everything.
43:50
Speaker 1: But then Walter Peyton one of the days we were
43:54
Speaker 1: doing the wrist wrestling stuff, you know, we get done
43:56
Speaker 1: with what we're doing, and he jumps on his hands
43:58
Speaker 1: and he walks around the whole room on his hands,
44:01
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh, Mike, this is unbelievable. So
44:05
Speaker 1: the strength that that took, the balance, the gymnastic ability,
44:08
Speaker 1: and that the thing about him is he was he
44:11
Speaker 1: did everything. I mean, oh, his Splitz pick up, He'd
44:15
Speaker 1: embarrassed linebackers, he just wouldn't block him. So I think
44:18
Speaker 1: I think I just had a a such an enormous
44:22
Speaker 1: respect for how hard he played the game, how much
44:25
Speaker 1: the game meant to him. Knowing the kind of human
44:27
Speaker 1: being he wasn't all that, I'd have to say, sweetness
44:30
Speaker 1: was was pretty special and died way too young man.
44:33
Speaker 1: Only the good die young and not good. It might
44:36
Speaker 1: have been the greatest. And that one that one hit
44:39
Speaker 1: me when Walter Payton died, that one hit me hard.
44:43
Speaker 1: Excellent question, excellent answers. All right, we try to end
44:46
Speaker 1: ask Lap with a couple of wild card questions whenever possible.
44:50
Speaker 1: We've got two good ones this week. The first one
44:52
Speaker 1: comes from Casey. Casey asks could be could be Casey
44:57
Speaker 1: in the Sunshine Band. Here's the question, what is your
45:00
Speaker 1: favorite breakfast meal? And if you say yogurt and half
45:05
Speaker 1: a grapefruit, I will call BS. Don't worry about that
45:10
Speaker 1: no way, Jose. I'm I'm a I'm a guy that
45:16
Speaker 1: likes his pancakes and waffles. I'm that kind of breakfast guy,
45:20
Speaker 1: and I have to stay away from it. If I
45:22
Speaker 1: ate what I wanted for breakfast that way all the time,
45:25
Speaker 1: I'd be in real trouble. But I really, uh, you know,
45:29
Speaker 1: a really good waffle, really good pancake. Of course, you know,
45:32
Speaker 1: I'm gonna throw some bacon and sausage in there as well.
45:35
Speaker 1: But I used to like to go to the eyehop,
45:38
Speaker 1: you know, with all the flavored syrups and just try
45:41
Speaker 1: like a little little dollup of each. And I wasn't
45:44
Speaker 1: big on trying. I don't know. If I didn't like
45:46
Speaker 1: it ruining my whole breakfast, I'd ended up going back
45:49
Speaker 1: to the old stand by maple syrup. I mean really
45:51
Speaker 1: good maple syrup, the natural maple syrup out of Vermont.
45:55
Speaker 1: But yeah, I'm boysenberry blueberry. You know. I'd try a
45:59
Speaker 1: few of those things, strawberry, maple syrup, whatever, But I
46:03
Speaker 1: really liked m I guess it's because when we were young,
46:08
Speaker 1: it didn't have a ton of money. But my dad
46:10
Speaker 1: on Mother's Day would take the family out to I
46:12
Speaker 1: hop and it was a Mother's Day breakfast. So that
46:15
Speaker 1: was a big deal because when you know, mother didn't
46:17
Speaker 1: have to cook and all that. And I remember how
46:19
Speaker 1: how big it was, almost like our big is getting
46:22
Speaker 1: up there with Christmas and you know, Thanksgiving and all
46:25
Speaker 1: those kinds of things. Because it was a special thing.
46:27
Speaker 1: We never went out to eat. And when we went
46:30
Speaker 1: as a family piled up in the car and went
46:32
Speaker 1: to I hop Man, there was some pancakes and waffles
46:36
Speaker 1: and syrup. There there was some consumed because I got
46:38
Speaker 1: I got two brothers, who was about as big as
46:40
Speaker 1: eater as me and man. We I think the servers thatt,
46:43
Speaker 1: I hop were like man because it was all you
46:46
Speaker 1: could eat. We busted, We busted their bank man. When
46:50
Speaker 1: they saw us coming, they put up the white flag.
46:52
Speaker 1: They started waving that white surrender flag. Closed nine Mother's Day.
46:56
Speaker 1: That's right, Mother's Day, breakfast off limits to lap them's.
47:00
Speaker 1: It's funny the things you remember. I'm the fourth of
47:03
Speaker 1: five kids, middle class family. We didn't have a ton
47:07
Speaker 1: of money. Every now and again, my stepfather would bring
47:10
Speaker 1: a bucket of Kentucky fried chicken home. I thought that
47:13
Speaker 1: that was the greatest thing on God's green earth. I'm
47:16
Speaker 1: telling you, it's the simple things, you know. I mean,
47:18
Speaker 1: that's when life's the best. You appreciate the simple thing
47:22
Speaker 1: so so much. And yeah, I remember just when we
47:27
Speaker 1: would get roast beef, an actual roast beef for dinner.
47:31
Speaker 1: It'd be like maybe once a month, but it was
47:34
Speaker 1: like it was like heaven, man, just seeing that roast
47:37
Speaker 1: beef and carden and thinking, yeah, I'm gonna have a
47:40
Speaker 1: meal this day. Boy, this is high cotton. We never
47:43
Speaker 1: had steak, I mean, growing up, we never really I mean,
47:46
Speaker 1: I remember going on recruiting trips and coaches like you
47:49
Speaker 1: want to steak dinner? Oh heck, yeah, let's do that. Man.
47:52
Speaker 1: That's a big time all right. Final question comes from
47:55
Speaker 1: Tom McDowell. We met Tom at the Admiralty in London
47:59
Speaker 1: when the Bengals have played overseas. Here's his question, what's
48:03
Speaker 1: the biggest animal you think you could wrestle? Now? Probably
48:12
Speaker 1: a tomcat? But I did, uh. I think I've told
48:17
Speaker 1: this story. I'm not sure on the podcast, but I
48:19
Speaker 1: saw jim Leclair uh Russell Victor the wrestling Bear, and
48:25
Speaker 1: I thought, yeah, I might be able to like, you know,
48:28
Speaker 1: muscle with Victor a little bit. But Jimmy, Jimmy McClair
48:31
Speaker 1: was like a heavyweight wrestling champion at North Dakota State. So,
48:35
Speaker 1: I mean he was he was shooting the leg and
48:37
Speaker 1: he was doing some things with Victor. Victor wasn't sure
48:40
Speaker 1: what was happening, but um, that was that was impressive
48:43
Speaker 1: to watch that big old bear swat people around. They
48:46
Speaker 1: had a big swimming pool set up. It was like
48:48
Speaker 1: a you know, a line and garden show or a
48:51
Speaker 1: camp or show or whatever, and they had a big
48:53
Speaker 1: swimming pool and Victor would backhand people into the swimming pool. Um.
48:57
Speaker 1: But I guess, I guess uh. If I could have
49:01
Speaker 1: hung with Victor for a little while, I would have
49:02
Speaker 1: been would have been pretty happy about that. I think
49:05
Speaker 1: you wrestled an animal named crum Rye before your NFL
49:08
Speaker 1: career was finished. I'm telling you, Tim crum Rye, that's
49:12
Speaker 1: I mean. You start thinking about great football players. That guy,
49:16
Speaker 1: I mean, all football all the time. He had scar
49:19
Speaker 1: tissue on the bridge of his nose that looked like
49:21
Speaker 1: cottage cheese. I mean, he had just that helmet came
49:23
Speaker 1: down on the bridge of his nose so many times
49:26
Speaker 1: during his football career that it had built up scar
49:30
Speaker 1: tissue that was incredible. And it just you know it
49:34
Speaker 1: was football season when Tim would always have a bandage
49:37
Speaker 1: on that thing and it would always be weeping blood,
49:39
Speaker 1: you know, on and off the field the entire season,
49:42
Speaker 1: and you knew it was football season for Tim crum Rye.
49:45
Speaker 1: Another great addition I've asked lap keep those questions coming.
49:48
Speaker 1: Appreciate the time. Thank you, my pleasure, Dan the man,
49:51
Speaker 1: You're the best. This is week three of the voluntary
49:54
Speaker 1: spring practices for the Bengals. Next week, the hold of
49:57
Speaker 1: mandatory minicamp on Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday, and then the players
50:01
Speaker 1: will be off until the start of training camp. That's
50:05
Speaker 1: going to do it for this episode of the Bengals
50:06
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast, brought to you by Bud Light Seltzer, refresh
50:10
Speaker 1: the game. If you haven't done so already, please subscribe,
50:13
Speaker 1: and if you have a minute, give it a rating
50:15
Speaker 1: or share a comment that helps more Bengals fans find
50:19
Speaker 1: this podcast. I'm Dan Horde, and thanks for listening to
50:23
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast.