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Bengals Booth Podcast: Safety Dance · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, Get everybody. I'm Dan Horden. This is the Bengals
0:06
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast, the Safety Dance Edition, as we analyze the
0:10
Speaker 1: Bengals decision to release veteran safety George I Loca following
0:14
Speaker 1: a preseason win over the Dallas Cowboys. Coming up, my
0:18
Speaker 1: broadcast partner Dave Lappom will join me to discuss that move,
0:21
Speaker 1: as well as the players that stood out to him
0:23
Speaker 1: in the Dallas game. I will also ask Lap if
0:26
Speaker 1: his confidence in the offensive line took a hit from
0:29
Speaker 1: what he saw in the first half at at and
0:31
Speaker 1: T Stadium aka Jerry World aka the Palace in Dallas.
0:38
Speaker 1: The next time you're in Dallas, by the way, you
0:40
Speaker 1: can take a guided tour of the stadium and have
0:42
Speaker 1: your picture taken on the start the fifty yard line
0:45
Speaker 1: for a mere thirty two bucks plus. In this week's
0:49
Speaker 1: fun Fact segment, you'll get to know German born tight
0:52
Speaker 1: end Moretz bo Ringer, who made NFL history a couple
0:55
Speaker 1: of years ago when he became the first player ever
0:59
Speaker 1: drafted straight out of Europe without playing college football in
1:02
Speaker 1: the US. First, he has a remarkable story and a
1:07
Speaker 1: cool accent. All of that is straight ahead, but first
1:10
Speaker 1: Here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest
1:13
Speaker 1: edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
1:16
Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play.
1:22
Speaker 1: It's the greatest invention since pie. When it comes to dessert,
1:27
Speaker 1: some people like cake, others like pudding or chocolate mouse.
1:31
Speaker 1: But I am a pie guy. And I mentioned it
1:34
Speaker 1: now because there is an apple pie a few feet
1:37
Speaker 1: away as I record this, and I will be crushing
1:40
Speaker 1: a slice as soon as I finish. Now, time to
1:43
Speaker 1: bringing my broadcast partner Dave Lapham to discuss the Iloca
1:46
Speaker 1: news and the standouts in Saturday's twenty one to thirteen
1:50
Speaker 1: win in Dallas. Lap Let's start with Sunday's big news,
1:54
Speaker 1: the release of George Iloca. Some people were shocked. I
1:57
Speaker 1: would say I was mildly surprised. How about you, Yeah,
2:02
Speaker 1: I'd say that maybe the timing, you know, a little bit.
2:05
Speaker 1: I think a lot of his teammates were surprised because
2:07
Speaker 1: of the timing. But when you look at it, I mean,
2:11
Speaker 1: Jesse Bates has shown that he can play. I thought
2:13
Speaker 1: he you know, I thought he made a lot of
2:15
Speaker 1: good plays in the game against Dallas. The one on
2:18
Speaker 1: one in space, he's hitting people and they're getting nothing.
2:20
Speaker 1: I mean, the journey is over. And that was the
2:23
Speaker 1: question about him, you know, coming in, Uh, you know,
2:26
Speaker 1: great guy tracking the football, interceptions, making players in the football,
2:30
Speaker 1: but would he tackle? And he's to me, he's answered
2:33
Speaker 1: that question with flying colors. So I think, um, you know,
2:37
Speaker 1: the fact that they have a belief in him, and
2:40
Speaker 1: you know, I think they're trying to clear some some
2:42
Speaker 1: cap space to sign extend the contracts of either Geno Atkins,
2:46
Speaker 1: Carlos Dunlapper both. So you know, when you look at
2:49
Speaker 1: the two moves they made with older players, there were, uh,
2:52
Speaker 1: there was money to be had for salary cap purposes.
2:55
Speaker 1: Though that that kind of makes you think the timing
2:58
Speaker 1: is coming sooner rather than later to have one of
3:00
Speaker 1: those guys extended potentially. So I mean, when you add
3:03
Speaker 1: it all, added it all up and thought about it,
3:06
Speaker 1: not really a shock, but I guess the timing may
3:09
Speaker 1: have been maybe a little surprising. I wasn't shocked for
3:12
Speaker 1: a couple of reasons. Number One, the Bengals made it
3:14
Speaker 1: abundantly clear in the offseason they wanted upgrade the safety position.
3:17
Speaker 1: They talked to Kurt Colem and he wind up signing
3:20
Speaker 1: with the Saints instead of the Bengals. They talked to
3:22
Speaker 1: Eric Reid, who still hasn't signed with anybody, and then
3:24
Speaker 1: they drafted a safety in the second round. So clearly
3:28
Speaker 1: they weren't thrilled with the play at least last year.
3:31
Speaker 1: If Sean Williams and George Iloka, and then secondly to me,
3:34
Speaker 1: Sean Williams and George Iloka are kind of the same guy,
3:38
Speaker 1: good tackling, solid, very solid players, but neither one is
3:44
Speaker 1: a center field type that's going to get a lot
3:46
Speaker 1: of picks. Sean Williams is a year younger, quite a
3:50
Speaker 1: bit cheaper. Seems to make sense to me. If you've
3:54
Speaker 1: got two guys that are more or less the same,
3:56
Speaker 1: keep the younger, less expensive guy. Yeah. And I think also, um,
4:00
Speaker 1: when when Jesse Bates showed that he could be the
4:03
Speaker 1: quarterback of the defense, because that's what George was. George
4:05
Speaker 1: was like a coach on the field, getting everybody lined up. Um,
4:09
Speaker 1: he's the guy that makes the calls and then makes
4:10
Speaker 1: the adjustments and coverages, you know, based on what the
4:13
Speaker 1: offense is doing, and that that's going to be a
4:16
Speaker 1: big responsibility. There's going to be some pressure quote Une
4:20
Speaker 1: Air quotes on on Bates to get that done. He'll
4:23
Speaker 1: make some mistakes. You know, he's a younger player. George
4:26
Speaker 1: was remarkable in that way though he had tremendous has
4:29
Speaker 1: tremendous football LIKEQ and I think they feel like Bates
4:32
Speaker 1: does as well. And and let's face it, you know
4:35
Speaker 1: what George Alka is, Bates is ceiling. You have no
4:38
Speaker 1: clue yet. And if they're close right now, why not
4:41
Speaker 1: go with the younger, less expensive guy that has a
4:44
Speaker 1: bigger upside. So from the business standpoint, you know, it
4:47
Speaker 1: makes it makes sense for a lot of the reasons
4:49
Speaker 1: that you know you mentioned earlier as well, and um,
4:52
Speaker 1: you know, it's just that's just the way it is
4:54
Speaker 1: in the national football A good example this week's opponent,
4:57
Speaker 1: the Buffalo Bills. They get ten interceptions out of their
5:00
Speaker 1: starting safeties, five apiece, one made the Pro BOL, the
5:02
Speaker 1: other one probably should have. Bengals got two out of
5:06
Speaker 1: their starting safety. So what they want is they want
5:08
Speaker 1: more plays like Buffalo has given them given that defensive
5:12
Speaker 1: football team on the back end, and they're hoping that,
5:15
Speaker 1: you know, Bates could be a big contributor to that.
5:17
Speaker 1: Let's follow up on the timing slash salary aspect of this,
5:21
Speaker 1: because George was in the third year of a five year,
5:23
Speaker 1: thirty million dollar deal. It reportedly frees up about five
5:27
Speaker 1: million bucks against the salary cap. Do you think that
5:31
Speaker 1: this is pointing toward a deal with Geno, Carlos or both. Yeah,
5:36
Speaker 1: you'd have to assume that. You'd have to think that
5:39
Speaker 1: that it's it's eminent, you know, it's they saved saved
5:43
Speaker 1: money by waving a veteran receiver, save money by veteran
5:48
Speaker 1: waving a veteran safety. It just, you know, it makes
5:51
Speaker 1: sense that they're on the customer getting something done with
5:54
Speaker 1: one of them, hopefully both, but at least one of them.
5:56
Speaker 1: And the timing is about when it has happened, you know,
6:00
Speaker 1: right right before the season starts, So it would not
6:03
Speaker 1: be a surprise at all if in the next few
6:06
Speaker 1: days or the next week or so, there's some kind
6:08
Speaker 1: of some kind of deal that's going to be announced
6:11
Speaker 1: and hopefully they're just thought in the eyes and crossing
6:13
Speaker 1: the tees. Let's face it, if they extend Geno Atkins,
6:16
Speaker 1: it all makes sense, absolutely, yeah, no question about it.
6:19
Speaker 1: And players we were talking about that you know Dre
6:23
Speaker 1: in conversation with Dre today, you know that's that's the business.
6:26
Speaker 1: And you know he said, I know there's guy's going
6:28
Speaker 1: to be making a pile of money on this football
6:30
Speaker 1: team here shortly. So it's it's no mystery. It's no secret.
6:34
Speaker 1: It's just life in the National Football League, in today's economy,
6:37
Speaker 1: in the UNFL, for sure. All right, Let's go back
6:39
Speaker 1: to Saturday's win in Dallas. Bengals win at twenty one thirteen,
6:42
Speaker 1: but the starters were outperformed by the Cowboys in the
6:45
Speaker 1: first half when Dallas led ten nothing. Let's specifically talk
6:49
Speaker 1: about the offensive line. Are you more concerned about the
6:51
Speaker 1: O line coming out of that game than you were
6:53
Speaker 1: going in? Yeah, I mean questions weren't answered, you know
6:56
Speaker 1: that that you were hoping might be. In looking at
6:59
Speaker 1: it a little bit, I thought that the running game
7:03
Speaker 1: wasn't as bad as my initial reaction was. It was
7:07
Speaker 1: a twofold thing. It certainly needs to be better than
7:10
Speaker 1: it was upfront, But I thought the running backs were
7:13
Speaker 1: trying to do too much, making cuts that they didn't
7:16
Speaker 1: have to make. They weren't running attack the tracks as
7:18
Speaker 1: tightly as they could have, and they were trying to
7:20
Speaker 1: create a home run and doing a little bit too much.
7:23
Speaker 1: So I think it's just a matter of you know,
7:25
Speaker 1: settling on whoever it is in the offensive line with
7:28
Speaker 1: the running backs and getting that rhythm and timing. I mean,
7:30
Speaker 1: you know, the relationship between your blockers and your running
7:34
Speaker 1: back is something that just comes with repetition, and repetition
7:38
Speaker 1: breeds comfort level and breeds excellence. And they're not there
7:41
Speaker 1: at this point in time. It's just it's just not
7:43
Speaker 1: in sync. It's not you know, they all talked about,
7:46
Speaker 1: like AJ talked about being off a tick after the
7:48
Speaker 1: game offensively with the passing game. Well they're off a tick,
7:52
Speaker 1: maybe a tick and a half in the running game.
7:54
Speaker 1: And it is it's all just a timing thing that
7:57
Speaker 1: you can only get done when you're at full speed.
7:59
Speaker 1: You know, in game conditions, you can rep it and
8:01
Speaker 1: practice all you want, but until you get out there
8:03
Speaker 1: and it's it's the real speed, the real deal, you know,
8:07
Speaker 1: things are a lot different for sure. Let's get to
8:10
Speaker 1: the positive. Let's pass out some game balls after the
8:12
Speaker 1: victory in Dallas. Give me a few guys that stood
8:15
Speaker 1: out to you on both sides of the ball. Well,
8:17
Speaker 1: I tell you. I thought that offensively, you know, you
8:20
Speaker 1: look at you look at Brian Hill. He took advantage
8:22
Speaker 1: of his opportunities fully. You know, he averaged twenty three
8:24
Speaker 1: and a half yards of catch and he averaged six
8:27
Speaker 1: yards of rush, so you know, that's pretty pretty proficient,
8:30
Speaker 1: pretty efficient. He had his four play fifty nine yard
8:33
Speaker 1: drive that was all him. So guys like Trey Carson,
8:37
Speaker 1: who I thought stepped up as well. Trey Carson and
8:40
Speaker 1: Brian Hill are saying, don't forget me. You know, I'm
8:42
Speaker 1: here here, I am I'm out here performing. And if
8:46
Speaker 1: it's not the Bengals that are going to answer the
8:48
Speaker 1: raised hand, it might be another team in the NFL,
8:50
Speaker 1: or it might be a team in Canada or these
8:52
Speaker 1: new leagues, or what these guys are doing in these
8:54
Speaker 1: preseason games is trying to extend their football life, trying
8:58
Speaker 1: to extend their football career. So they know that they're
9:01
Speaker 1: not putting tape down just to be evaluated by the
9:05
Speaker 1: Cincinnati Bengals organization. It's being looked at by everybody, and
9:08
Speaker 1: everybody is looking at every every single bit of tape
9:13
Speaker 1: that they possibly can from every single football team in
9:15
Speaker 1: the National Football League. So it's competitive to make that
9:19
Speaker 1: fifty three man roster, but there are other opportunities. You know.
9:23
Speaker 1: It's it's maybe you don't hit a home run, but
9:25
Speaker 1: why not hit a ground rule double. You know, if
9:27
Speaker 1: you if you can stay alive and you might score,
9:29
Speaker 1: somebody might knock in, you know. So it's the same
9:32
Speaker 1: same type of thing. You just you're scratching and clawed
9:35
Speaker 1: to continue your your career. And I thought, you know,
9:38
Speaker 1: those two guys stepped up, I thought, on the on
9:40
Speaker 1: the offensive side of the football, and then defensively, Nick Vigil,
9:43
Speaker 1: I mean Vigil. Vigil was strong. I think he had
9:45
Speaker 1: feign assisted tackles and a couple of assists, and he
9:48
Speaker 1: had the quarterback sack, one of the five sacks. The
9:51
Speaker 1: Bengals did have five sacks on the day and Dallas
9:54
Speaker 1: only had one. And I thought Bates, Jesse Bates, with
9:57
Speaker 1: feign assisted tackles. We saw him hit his game responsibilities
10:00
Speaker 1: properly and make plays, and I thought, that's the so
10:04
Speaker 1: we talked about earlier. That was the big plus. He's
10:06
Speaker 1: done it in a couple of games now, and you know,
10:08
Speaker 1: two preseason games does not a career make or a
10:10
Speaker 1: season make by any stretch. But it's encouraging to see
10:13
Speaker 1: him doing that, you know, that type of thing. And
10:15
Speaker 1: I thought Billings, you know, we talked about it before
10:18
Speaker 1: the game. Have they solved the nose tackle position. We
10:21
Speaker 1: thought maybe that's the closest one to be insolved. He
10:23
Speaker 1: took another step. I thought it wasn't Travis Frederick, but
10:27
Speaker 1: it was a good offensive line still in there when
10:29
Speaker 1: he was playing, and he had three unassisted tackles and
10:32
Speaker 1: as an interior guy, and that's not counting the disruptions
10:34
Speaker 1: that he took back to somebody else. One of his
10:37
Speaker 1: tackles was a tackle for lost four yard loss on
10:39
Speaker 1: his own, but then there were other plays that were
10:41
Speaker 1: negative plays because he made that back make his first
10:44
Speaker 1: cut and teammates were there to finish it up. So
10:46
Speaker 1: I thought, I thought Billings really showed up. And then
10:48
Speaker 1: you know the young guys, Jordan Willis with a couple
10:50
Speaker 1: of sacks and Sam hovered with the strip sacks. So
10:53
Speaker 1: defensively I thought they did. I thought they miss misfit
10:57
Speaker 1: one gap responsibility that hurt him in the running game,
11:01
Speaker 1: but overall, I thought they played the run decently against
11:03
Speaker 1: a pretty good, you know, offensive line. So you know
11:07
Speaker 1: even though they were they get outplayed. I agree with you, Dan,
11:11
Speaker 1: meaning in the football game, it wasn't like they were
11:13
Speaker 1: totally embarrassed and dominated. When when you look at it,
11:16
Speaker 1: it's never as bad as you think, and it's never
11:17
Speaker 1: as good as you think. You know once you really
11:19
Speaker 1: take a look at it. So I think you know
11:21
Speaker 1: you can work from it and build off it, that's
11:23
Speaker 1: for sure. Are you ready for my game ball? What's
11:26
Speaker 1: your game ball? I am giving it to Bengals head
11:28
Speaker 1: coach Marvin Lewis for the following reason, going for two
11:33
Speaker 1: with a minute to go in the third quarter to
11:35
Speaker 1: more or less guarantee that that game would not go
11:38
Speaker 1: to overtime. And of course it worked on a nice
11:40
Speaker 1: catch by John Ross half a fastball from Jeff driscoll.
11:43
Speaker 1: But you know what, we need to turn the clock
11:45
Speaker 1: back to the first preseason game because we did not
11:47
Speaker 1: kill Bears coach Matt Naggey nearly enough for attempting a
11:53
Speaker 1: game tying fifty two yard field goal with less than
11:57
Speaker 1: a minute to go that would have forced overtime. And
12:00
Speaker 1: there is over time in preseason games. Brook, you mistake
12:04
Speaker 1: I head coach, for I bet his teammates said, you
12:09
Speaker 1: make it, you're walking home, You're not flying. I mean
12:12
Speaker 1: that that was that was kind of nuts. And speaking
12:14
Speaker 1: of kickers, what about Brown? How about him getting the
12:16
Speaker 1: game ball fifty five yard or I honestly, I wonder
12:20
Speaker 1: if he was supposed to do all that kicking. I
12:22
Speaker 1: haven't asked the coaches yet, but because you know, he
12:24
Speaker 1: didn't have the opening kickoff right, that was the only
12:27
Speaker 1: time we saw a kitching right right and uh in
12:29
Speaker 1: the opening kickoff, and then after that when he made
12:31
Speaker 1: that fifty five yard or maybe you know, Darren says
12:34
Speaker 1: to Marvin, let's let's let's take a look at let's
12:37
Speaker 1: you know, let him can he deserves to continue here?
12:39
Speaker 1: He made that. Who knows, maybe it was planned. I've
12:42
Speaker 1: not checked that out. I don't know if it was
12:43
Speaker 1: planned that way or not, or if he just kind
12:45
Speaker 1: of kicked himself into additional opportunities and continued to shine.
12:49
Speaker 1: I mean, that kickoff goes through the end zone, hits
12:52
Speaker 1: the crossbar. That would have been at least another ten
12:56
Speaker 1: yards past the back line of the end zone. This
12:58
Speaker 1: that's that's twenty yard. It's you know, out of out
13:01
Speaker 1: of bounds, almost to the seats. I mean, the guy
13:03
Speaker 1: has a kin and a howitzer hanging off that right hip,
13:07
Speaker 1: and uh, the hang time he gets with it not
13:09
Speaker 1: only distance, but I mean that's a big parabola. Well
13:13
Speaker 1: that's that's in that dome. To get it was like
13:16
Speaker 1: an Adam upper deck home run, majestic trajectory on his kicks. Man,
13:21
Speaker 1: it's crazy. Marvin said after the game that it's not
13:23
Speaker 1: an open competition. It's still Mike Nugent's and not Mike
13:26
Speaker 1: Nugent Randy Bullock's job. And let's you know, give credit
13:30
Speaker 1: to Randy Bullock. He made ninety percent of his field
13:32
Speaker 1: goals last year. He hasn't missed a kick in a
13:34
Speaker 1: game so far this year. But I will say this,
13:38
Speaker 1: I used to think that if Randy Bullock went down,
13:42
Speaker 1: they would not have the nerve to go to John
13:44
Speaker 1: Brown just because he's never done it in a game before.
13:47
Speaker 1: I figured, well, if Randy tweaked something, they would do
13:50
Speaker 1: what they did last year. They would go find another
13:52
Speaker 1: Marshal Kane to kick in a game or two. John
13:54
Speaker 1: Brown is changing my mind about that. I think that
13:57
Speaker 1: if Randy Bullock were to suffer an injury, I think
14:00
Speaker 1: John Brown is showing them enough that they would say,
14:02
Speaker 1: you know what, let's give him a shot. And I
14:05
Speaker 1: think that's the reason they let him do the additional
14:07
Speaker 1: kicking is to build a resume that not only the
14:10
Speaker 1: Bengals have that opinion, but other teams in the league
14:12
Speaker 1: look at it and say, man, he's on my short list.
14:14
Speaker 1: You know, I'm gonna I'm gonna bring him in for
14:16
Speaker 1: at least a tryout where he wouldn't have been on
14:18
Speaker 1: on the tryout list. When kickers either you know, lose
14:22
Speaker 1: their opportunity due to ineffectiveness or injury and then they're
14:26
Speaker 1: looking for somebody else. He might be on a few
14:29
Speaker 1: people's list by the time this preseasons are what then,
14:31
Speaker 1: like we said again, Canadian football, these new leagues, he's
14:35
Speaker 1: trying to extend his career. I mean he is. He
14:37
Speaker 1: is a neophyte for sure. So every every opportunity he
14:41
Speaker 1: gets is going to be it's like gold. It's like
14:44
Speaker 1: a gold bar for him to have kicks that kind
14:47
Speaker 1: of magnitude and that kind of opportunity. So and he responded,
14:50
Speaker 1: so I think he is. You know, he's gonna he's
14:52
Speaker 1: gonna make his mark and make some lists. For sure.
14:55
Speaker 1: It seems like every year, or maybe every couple of years,
14:58
Speaker 1: somebody makes this team based on returns. In the preseason.
15:01
Speaker 1: It was Dane Sonzenbacher. A few years ago, it was
15:04
Speaker 1: Alex Ericson two years ago. Is Darius Phillips becoming that
15:08
Speaker 1: guy this year? Maybe he would have made it anyway?
15:10
Speaker 1: Fifth round draft, picked to play quarterback, But he had
15:12
Speaker 1: a forty four yard kick return. He had a twenty
15:15
Speaker 1: four yard punt return. He was very successful as a
15:18
Speaker 1: kick returner in college, and I'm wondering if he is
15:21
Speaker 1: showing them enough as a return man to more or
15:23
Speaker 1: less guarantee that he's going to stick around on the
15:25
Speaker 1: fifty three. I mean, he's he's making a making a
15:28
Speaker 1: statement for sure. He's shown up twice in both games.
15:32
Speaker 1: He showed the wiggle of short space quickness. He definitely
15:35
Speaker 1: has an innatability. Those return guys. Some of the things
15:39
Speaker 1: that they do you can't really coach. It's instinct, it's feel,
15:41
Speaker 1: it's knack. Guys have a knack for it and other
15:43
Speaker 1: guys don't. You know. That's why it's like, well, John Ross,
15:46
Speaker 1: why you know, why isn't he returning? Well, you saw
15:48
Speaker 1: in that punt he wasn't really too sure about messing
15:52
Speaker 1: with it, said he lost in the lights. Okay, that's happens.
15:56
Speaker 1: It happens. It definitely happens. And if you feel like
15:59
Speaker 1: you have you don't want to, you know, stab at
16:01
Speaker 1: it and cause cause issues. But I mean he is,
16:05
Speaker 1: he's totally comfortable back there. You know, when when guys
16:08
Speaker 1: are running down at you like they are in the
16:10
Speaker 1: National Football League on special teams, it's a it's a
16:15
Speaker 1: very very unique feeling. And he has to come and
16:18
Speaker 1: the composure to handle it and deal with it, make
16:21
Speaker 1: good decisions in the return game. And he has shown
16:24
Speaker 1: Darren Simmons the first thing you have to do is
16:26
Speaker 1: secure the football, and he's done a good job at
16:28
Speaker 1: catching the football. So and that's what Alex Erickson was
16:32
Speaker 1: all about. He was very very sure back there, as
16:35
Speaker 1: well as his ability to return it. But you know,
16:37
Speaker 1: now you look at it and you say, okay, well,
16:39
Speaker 1: alex Erickson and Phillips. So they in a battle because
16:41
Speaker 1: you're not just fighting all the wide receivers. If you've
16:44
Speaker 1: got a defensive back trying to make the back end
16:46
Speaker 1: of that roster and he can return kicks and you're
16:48
Speaker 1: a receiver trying to make the back end of the
16:50
Speaker 1: roster and you can return kicks. You're going against each other.
16:53
Speaker 1: You're not going against Auton Tat or whoever else, Cody Corps.
16:57
Speaker 1: You're going against those guys and a guy from an
17:00
Speaker 1: the position group. And that's that's the life in the
17:02
Speaker 1: NFL from a roster standpoint. But if both of them
17:05
Speaker 1: make it, Darren Simmons even in a better situation because
17:08
Speaker 1: one gets nicked up, you just tossed the other one
17:10
Speaker 1: in there. And he had that with Adam Jones. Now
17:13
Speaker 1: with Adam Jones, you know, not on the football team.
17:16
Speaker 1: You know, Phillips might be a guy that would be
17:18
Speaker 1: you know, potentially at some point in time and some
17:21
Speaker 1: of the sub packages if he works his way up
17:23
Speaker 1: to that. Plus he could provide a return opportunity if
17:26
Speaker 1: Ericson gets knicked up. I guess the good news for
17:28
Speaker 1: Alex Rickson is he's having excellent camp as a wide receiver.
17:31
Speaker 1: Made a tremendous toe tap catch on third and eleven
17:34
Speaker 1: for a twenty eight yard gain, drew a key pass
17:37
Speaker 1: interference penalty in the Dallas wins, so he doesn't necessarily
17:41
Speaker 1: have to hold on to his job as a return man.
17:44
Speaker 1: Because I think he's one of their top five wide receivers.
17:46
Speaker 1: I think he's one of their you know, if you
17:48
Speaker 1: look at the fifty three men roster, he's not He's
17:51
Speaker 1: not like number you know, forty six, the last guy.
17:55
Speaker 1: To me, he's a solid member of the football team.
17:58
Speaker 1: I was just pointing out. You know, it's like the competition.
18:01
Speaker 1: You can't have television just oh, I'm competing with these
18:04
Speaker 1: cornerbacks or you're competing with a lot of people when
18:06
Speaker 1: you're not, you know, one of the top twenty two
18:09
Speaker 1: guys on the football team. So it becomes the more
18:12
Speaker 1: you can do. And yeah, to me, Alex Erritson, it's
18:15
Speaker 1: it's it's gold stamp. I mean, he's he's on my
18:17
Speaker 1: football team and he will be as long as he
18:20
Speaker 1: can probably play. I love the kid. I love everything
18:22
Speaker 1: he gives to uh you on the football field, in
18:25
Speaker 1: the locker room. You know, he's a he's a great
18:28
Speaker 1: member of the organization. But that's uh you know, Phillips.
18:32
Speaker 1: Phillips is making showing it, showing that he can h
18:36
Speaker 1: It's all based on number of snaps you can provide,
18:38
Speaker 1: you know, and he's showing he could be maybe a
18:40
Speaker 1: factor in the sub packages. If if he's if he
18:43
Speaker 1: continues to improve and progress with what they want systematically here,
18:47
Speaker 1: and then with his natural gift of a return guy
18:51
Speaker 1: like you mentioned a few times. Anybody at any level
18:54
Speaker 1: that returns as many balls or scores as many touchdowns
18:56
Speaker 1: as that kid did, as many different ways as he did,
18:59
Speaker 1: he's got to be a football player, and he is.
19:01
Speaker 1: He's a good football player. Five kick return touchdowns, one
19:03
Speaker 1: punt return touchdown in college for Darius Phillips. Final topic
19:07
Speaker 1: is John Ross had a twenty nine yard catch, excellent
19:12
Speaker 1: play on the two point conversion to hold on to
19:14
Speaker 1: that throw from Driscoll before getting popped, and then early
19:17
Speaker 1: in the game failed to catch a punt that cost
19:20
Speaker 1: the Bengals field position. They had to start their first
19:22
Speaker 1: drive of the game from the four yard line as
19:24
Speaker 1: a result, I feel like in the first two weeks
19:26
Speaker 1: we have seen what the Bengals are going to get
19:29
Speaker 1: out of John Ross as a rookie. Knock on wood,
19:32
Speaker 1: that he stays healthy, they're going to be some mess ups.
19:35
Speaker 1: He didn't play last year. In Game one, he fell
19:38
Speaker 1: down it led to the pick six. In Game two,
19:40
Speaker 1: he fails to catch the punt but he is going
19:44
Speaker 1: to provide that big play element that they have sore
19:48
Speaker 1: so sorely lacked. Twenty yard catch in game one, twenty
19:52
Speaker 1: nine yard catch in game two. Maybe he doesn't catch
19:54
Speaker 1: sixty balls this year, but when he makes plays, they're
19:57
Speaker 1: going to be for big games. He may average twenty
19:59
Speaker 1: yards to catch or eighteen or more, you know, and
20:02
Speaker 1: that that's the kind of thing he can do. Like
20:04
Speaker 1: you said, he's gonna be um, he's gonna pop off
20:07
Speaker 1: the tape both ways, you know, potentially, and hopefully it's
20:11
Speaker 1: a heck of a lot more from a positive standpoint
20:14
Speaker 1: with him, you're gonna maybe look at some train wrecks,
20:18
Speaker 1: like we talked about. You hate to see train wrecks,
20:20
Speaker 1: you know, you don't want to steve penalties. You don't
20:22
Speaker 1: want to see turnovers, you want to see drops, You
20:24
Speaker 1: don't want to see any of those kind of things.
20:26
Speaker 1: But then when he gives a guy a little bit
20:28
Speaker 1: of shake you know, in space on like a little
20:30
Speaker 1: bubble screen and takes it sixty yards like, oh my gosh,
20:33
Speaker 1: not many guys in this world can do that, or
20:36
Speaker 1: just flat runs by somebody you know and secure as
20:39
Speaker 1: the football in a big play that way, he does provide,
20:43
Speaker 1: you know, what they've been looking for since Marvin Jones,
20:46
Speaker 1: a guy on the other side of the field to
20:47
Speaker 1: stretch the field opposite AJ, so you know, can't always
20:51
Speaker 1: tilt it and roll it toward AJ. You have to
20:53
Speaker 1: think about the other guy and hopefully he his biggest thing.
20:57
Speaker 1: Just like a lot of football players, strive for his consistency.
21:01
Speaker 1: And his graph is too you know, there's too many
21:03
Speaker 1: peaks and valleys in it. And if he can, if
21:05
Speaker 1: he can keep the keep the needle up toward that
21:08
Speaker 1: high end of his graph. He's not going to be
21:10
Speaker 1: there every snap do something like oh my god, I mean,
21:13
Speaker 1: nobody does that. But if he can get there a
21:15
Speaker 1: higher percentage of the time than he's doing now, he
21:18
Speaker 1: could be something special. We are off to Buffalo on Saturday.
21:21
Speaker 1: Will you join me again at my favorite chicken wing
21:24
Speaker 1: place in the city of Buffalo. As a native of
21:27
Speaker 1: that area, Dan, your your opinion proved to be solid gold.
21:33
Speaker 1: I think a return trip is in order. Brow Gabriel's
21:37
Speaker 1: Gate is the place and Horden Lapham will be crushing
21:40
Speaker 1: it on Saturday night. Look forward to it. Same here,
21:45
Speaker 1: Buffalo's most famous chicken wing establishment is the anchor bar
21:49
Speaker 1: where buffalo style wings were supposedly invented. But as Lap mentioned,
21:54
Speaker 1: I grew up in Western New York and I swear
21:56
Speaker 1: by Gabriel's Gate on Allen Street Intown Buffalo. They are awesome.
22:02
Speaker 1: Next Sunday's game in Buffalo starts at four o'clock. And
22:05
Speaker 1: if you missed the news, the Bengals will not be
22:08
Speaker 1: facing aj mccaron, who suffered his shoulder injury last week.
22:11
Speaker 1: The Bills have announced that rookie Josh Allen, the seventh
22:15
Speaker 1: pick and this year's draft, will get his first preseason
22:18
Speaker 1: start at quarterback. Now time for this week's fun facts segment,
22:22
Speaker 1: as we get to know the person under the pads,
22:25
Speaker 1: in this case, twenty four year old Moritz bo Ringer,
22:29
Speaker 1: a six four, two hundred forty three pound tight end
22:32
Speaker 1: who is a sixth round draft pick by the Minnesota
22:34
Speaker 1: Vikings in twenty sixteen, when he made history by becoming
22:38
Speaker 1: the first European player to be drafted without playing any
22:42
Speaker 1: college football in the US. Time for some fun facts
22:46
Speaker 1: with Bengals tight end Moritz bo Ringer, a native of Stuttgart, Germany,
22:50
Speaker 1: who is with the Bengals this year as part of
22:51
Speaker 1: the NFL's International Player Pathway program. Let's turn the clock back, Moritz,
22:58
Speaker 1: how does a kid growing up in Germany become interested
23:00
Speaker 1: in American football? I played soccer growing up, like most
23:05
Speaker 1: guys in Germany do, and then at some point I
23:08
Speaker 1: just saw a random video on YouTube by Adrian Peterson
23:13
Speaker 1: and I kind of liked what I saw and I
23:16
Speaker 1: just looked at what it is, and yeah, try to
23:19
Speaker 1: find a club in Germany. And luckily we had football
23:23
Speaker 1: in Germany, so I just joining the club in my
23:26
Speaker 1: hometown and yeah, basically that's where it all started. What
23:30
Speaker 1: was that club team? Like, how often did you practice?
23:32
Speaker 1: And how sophisticated was it in comparison to what kids
23:36
Speaker 1: are exposed to here? We have like we had like
23:38
Speaker 1: a chowing team with another city because we just didn't
23:41
Speaker 1: have enough guys. So we just like practiced, I don't know,
23:44
Speaker 1: like once or toys a week and then maybe two
23:47
Speaker 1: times a month we drove to the other city and
23:49
Speaker 1: practice with them. So it was hard in the beginning.
23:53
Speaker 1: We're doing fun facts with Bengals tight end Morris Bowringer.
23:56
Speaker 1: You eventually played in the German Football League for this
24:00
Speaker 1: Wabbish Hall Unicorns, if I'm saying that correctly. How popular
24:04
Speaker 1: is that league? Are the games televised? Did they get spectators?
24:07
Speaker 1: Tell me a little bit about the German Football League.
24:09
Speaker 1: I don't know, like the games get like around two
24:11
Speaker 1: three thousand people. It's not on TV now, but they're
24:15
Speaker 1: trying to get at least the highlights of the games
24:19
Speaker 1: on TV and then the final to Jane Bowl, that's
24:22
Speaker 1: what that's on TV. So it's kind of if you
24:25
Speaker 1: want to get in the game, so you give me
24:27
Speaker 1: on TV. And you played in the German Bowl, kind
24:30
Speaker 1: of the Super Bowl of European football. Yeah, exactly, it's
24:35
Speaker 1: that's a big, bigger game. It's probably like twelve thousand
24:37
Speaker 1: people come to that game and it's in Bolin in
24:40
Speaker 1: the Capitol. So that was a nice experience. We're visiting
24:44
Speaker 1: with Mart's bow ringer. NFL teams are always looking for
24:47
Speaker 1: undiscovered talent, and after you had great statistics in the
24:52
Speaker 1: German Football League, you got an invitation to come to
24:55
Speaker 1: the US and go through a pro day where you
24:57
Speaker 1: work out in front of NFL scouts. What was it
25:00
Speaker 1: like to you getting that call, getting that invitation to
25:04
Speaker 1: go through a pro day? Yeah, at first I didn't
25:07
Speaker 1: really believe it because the guy who contacted me first
25:11
Speaker 1: roll me on Facebook and ask me for my number
25:13
Speaker 1: and then just call into you want to come to
25:15
Speaker 1: the United States, And I was like, Okay, I'm not
25:19
Speaker 1: sure if that's like good joke or something, but in
25:22
Speaker 1: the end it was all real. So you come to
25:25
Speaker 1: the US. You did a workout at Florida University and
25:28
Speaker 1: you had great numbers of four four and the forty
25:31
Speaker 1: yard dash, a thirty nine in vertical leap, and you're
25:34
Speaker 1: a big guy. Your life changed from that workout, didn't it. Yeah,
25:39
Speaker 1: it was pretty crazy off of that, like especially all
25:43
Speaker 1: the media coverage I got, and it was just almost overwhelming.
25:47
Speaker 1: But it was also good because I wanted to play
25:51
Speaker 1: football in the highest level and that gave me a
25:54
Speaker 1: chance to do it. Teams got interested as a result
25:57
Speaker 1: of that workout, and you eventually got drafted in the
25:59
Speaker 1: sixth round two years ago by the Minnesota Vikings. Did
26:02
Speaker 1: that make you a big celebrity back in Germany? I
26:05
Speaker 1: get recognized from time to time, but it's not like
26:08
Speaker 1: I can't go outside and do anything. It's like I
26:11
Speaker 1: still can do what I normally do. You're drafted by
26:15
Speaker 1: the Vikings. You go to their camp and I can
26:19
Speaker 1: only imagine how intimidating it must have been where you're
26:22
Speaker 1: one of ninety guys, but they've been playing American style
26:25
Speaker 1: football their whole lives and you have very limited exposure
26:29
Speaker 1: to it back in Germany. Was it a little bit scary?
26:32
Speaker 1: I wasn't used to like a professional sport. I think
26:35
Speaker 1: that was the biggest challenge. Like people who grow up
26:39
Speaker 1: like go through the whole system and they like get
26:41
Speaker 1: slowly introduced to the whole what it takes to be
26:45
Speaker 1: an NFL professional player, And yeah, I just got thrown
26:49
Speaker 1: in there and I had to learn everything real fast.
26:52
Speaker 1: Were there really basic football terms or what we would
26:55
Speaker 1: consider to be basic football terms that you had never
26:58
Speaker 1: heard before and you're trying to pick it up in
27:00
Speaker 1: the NFL. No, it was more than like the complexity
27:03
Speaker 1: of the playbook. It was just more than I was
27:06
Speaker 1: used to and there was more details on everything in
27:09
Speaker 1: the roads had to be really clean. In Germany, I
27:12
Speaker 1: just could use the way Atlantics and just dominated with that.
27:17
Speaker 1: So in twenty sixteen, you spent a year on the
27:20
Speaker 1: Vikings practice squad, playing for Mike Zimmer, a former Bengals
27:24
Speaker 1: assistant coach. What was that year like? How much did
27:27
Speaker 1: you learn in that year on the practice squad? It
27:30
Speaker 1: was definitely a great chance to learn a lot about
27:32
Speaker 1: football and how the NFL works too. I just enjoyed
27:38
Speaker 1: being there and just experienced the whole thing. A few
27:41
Speaker 1: more fun facts with Bengals tight end more its bow ringer.
27:43
Speaker 1: So the NFL has started this International Players Pathway program,
27:47
Speaker 1: and basically the way it works just by random the
27:51
Speaker 1: four teams in the AFC North were selected. Each team
27:54
Speaker 1: was assigned an international player and that player could possibly
27:58
Speaker 1: make the fifty three man roster or if not, the
28:01
Speaker 1: team's get an exemption so that that player can stay
28:04
Speaker 1: on the practice squad for the year. So you are
28:06
Speaker 1: more or less assured of being with the Bengals for
28:09
Speaker 1: the upcoming year. What do you hope to get out
28:12
Speaker 1: of this season because I changed pocisions, I just try
28:15
Speaker 1: to get the whole tight end thing and yeah, just
28:19
Speaker 1: get better at that, get better at blocking, and just
28:24
Speaker 1: try to learn as much as they can. Yeah. I
28:26
Speaker 1: don't know if I even mentioned it. You are a
28:28
Speaker 1: wide receiver back home in Germany. That's what you played
28:31
Speaker 1: with the Vikings and now the Bengals are converting you
28:33
Speaker 1: to tight end. Yeah, it was just new in the beginning,
28:37
Speaker 1: and the whole terminology too, like the whole blocking schemes.
28:43
Speaker 1: But yeah, I'm getting used to it. So it's not
28:47
Speaker 1: rocket science. It's just got to block the right guy.
28:51
Speaker 1: It might be tougher than rocket science. Weren't you studying
28:54
Speaker 1: mechanical engineering back home exactly, so you're obviously a good
28:58
Speaker 1: student in addition to being an excellent athlete. Yeah, that's
29:01
Speaker 1: what I did most of the time. I was studying
29:04
Speaker 1: first and football was just on the side for fun.
29:06
Speaker 1: So okay, final fun fact for Moretz Bowringer, the Bengals
29:10
Speaker 1: tight end. Cincinnati has a great German heritage. We have
29:16
Speaker 1: an October Fest every year. There's a popular German language school.
29:20
Speaker 1: The over the Rhine neighborhood was built by German immigrants.
29:23
Speaker 1: Have you become familiar with all of these German ties
29:26
Speaker 1: in the city of Cincinnati. Yeah, I've seen some stuff,
29:30
Speaker 1: and I've seen the Hope Boy host in Newport and
29:34
Speaker 1: I went to the see Cincinnati game and had like
29:37
Speaker 1: some fang club in him stud that was a fang club.
29:41
Speaker 1: So yeah, there's a Lofer Jone stuff you should fit
29:44
Speaker 1: right in. Yeah, very good. We appreciate your time. Best
29:48
Speaker 1: of luck this year. I hope to make some catches
29:50
Speaker 1: in the preseason. Yeah, thank you. Bo Ringer had one
29:53
Speaker 1: catch for four yards in the Dallas game, and while
29:55
Speaker 1: he won't make the fifty three man roster to begin
29:57
Speaker 1: this season, he is sure to be on the prac
30:00
Speaker 1: to squad since all four teams in the AFC North
30:03
Speaker 1: get to carry an extra practice squad player this year
30:07
Speaker 1: as part of the new International Player Pathway program. That's
30:12
Speaker 1: going to do it for this edition of the podcast.
30:14
Speaker 1: If you haven't done so already, don't forget to subscribe
30:17
Speaker 1: on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play and give it a
30:21
Speaker 1: rating or leave a comment. Your feedback has been great
30:24
Speaker 1: and five star ratings help more Bengals fans find this podcast.
30:29
Speaker 1: I'm Dan Horde and thanks for listening to The Bengals
30:33
Speaker 1: Booth podcast