Latest / Bengals Booth Podcast / Bengals Booth Podcast: Last Call
Transcript
- 0:03Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and this is the
- 0:06Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast, the Last Call edition. As we get
- 0:10Speaker 1: you set for the last home game of the year,
- 0:12Speaker 1: featuring two teams that currently find themselves in last place
- 0:16Speaker 1: to five and eight Bengals and the three and ten
- 0:19Speaker 1: Oakland Raiders coming up, My broadcast partner Dave Lapham joins
- 0:23Speaker 1: me to discuss a wide variety of topics, ranging from
- 0:26Speaker 1: playing time at last for offensive lineman Christian Westerman to
- 0:31Speaker 1: a great lap story about legendary former Raiders owner Al Davis.
- 0:36Speaker 1: After hearing from lap we'll hear from Carlos Dunn lap
- 0:40Speaker 1: on being nominated for one of the NFL's most prestigious honors.
- 0:44Speaker 1: And this week's Know the Faux segment, we'll get the
- 0:46Speaker 1: lowdown on John Gruden's Raiders from former Pro Bowl offensive
- 0:50Speaker 1: lineman Lincoln Kennedy, who currently calls Oakland's games on the
- 0:54Speaker 1: radio with Brent Musburger, still going strong at the age
- 0:59Speaker 1: of seventy nine. All of that is straight ahead, but first,
- 1:02Speaker 1: here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest
- 1:05Speaker 1: edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
- 1:08Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher or pod Bean.
- 1:14Speaker 1: It's the greatest inventions since Christmas cards. You heard me.
- 1:20Speaker 1: I am a big fan of Christmas cards. Love seeing
- 1:24Speaker 1: the family photos. I love hearing from friends that I
- 1:27Speaker 1: haven't seen in years. However, I am not a big
- 1:30Speaker 1: fan of the bragging Christmas letter. Well, we can agree
- 1:35Speaker 1: that it's great that your kids are crushing it at
- 1:37Speaker 1: Ivy League schools. We don't need three mimiographed pages about
- 1:41Speaker 1: it in your Christmas card. Now, let's get to football.
- 1:46Speaker 1: The Bengals will try to snap their five game losing
- 1:48Speaker 1: streak this Sunday against an Oakland team that has been
- 1:51Speaker 1: awful under the one hundred million dollar man John Gruden.
- 1:55Speaker 1: The Raiders share the worst record in the NFL with
- 1:57Speaker 1: San Francisco and Arizona, and Oakland has been outscored by
- 2:02Speaker 1: one hundred forty four points. The Cardinals are the only
- 2:06Speaker 1: team that's been outscored by more, with a deficit of
- 2:09Speaker 1: one forty nine. The Bengals have been outscored by ninety
- 2:14Speaker 1: but last week they pushed one of the best teams
- 2:16Speaker 1: in the league to the brink, losing a nail bier
- 2:19Speaker 1: to the Chargers in Los Angeles. The Bengals defense, last
- 2:24Speaker 1: in the league in points allowed, last in the league
- 2:27Speaker 1: in yards allowed, was excellent over the final three quarters
- 2:30Speaker 1: of that game. And that's where I begin my conversation
- 2:34Speaker 1: with broadcast partner Dave lappham Lapp. In last week's game
- 2:37Speaker 1: against the Chargers, LA scored touchdowns on its first two
- 2:41Speaker 1: drives and it looked like it was going to be
- 2:43Speaker 1: another disaster like the Chiefs or Saints games. But after that,
- 2:46Speaker 1: the Chargers had eight possessions without scoring a touchdown, including
- 2:50Speaker 1: two drives that started in Cincinnati territory. What changed and
- 2:54Speaker 1: is its significant going forward? I think it is Dan.
- 2:57Speaker 1: On the first two drives, the Bengals gave up ten
- 3:00Speaker 1: first downs, four first downs on the first drive, six
- 3:02Speaker 1: first downs in the second drive. The rest of the
- 3:04Speaker 1: game those eight drives seven first downs total, And they
- 3:08Speaker 1: started playing more man in the in the secondary, and
- 3:11Speaker 1: they've drafted guys out of college William Jackson, Drake Kerpatrick,
- 3:15Speaker 1: long long arms that like to press, play, bump and run,
- 3:19Speaker 1: get their hands on people. Darkis Denard same thing at
- 3:21Speaker 1: Michigan State. You know they feel comfortable doing that. And
- 3:25Speaker 1: I think that the coverage coverage was much better as
- 3:29Speaker 1: a result, rivers has to hold the ball a little longer,
- 3:31Speaker 1: pass rush starts getting there. Now the pass rushers start
- 3:34Speaker 1: to get more confidence, they start turning up another notch
- 3:37Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, the gloves fit in their hand.
- 3:39Speaker 1: You know, good coverage, better sack possibility, better pressure, more
- 3:45Speaker 1: interception possibility. I mean it all is, you know, conjoined,
- 3:48Speaker 1: there's no question about it, and it was disjointed, and
- 3:51Speaker 1: now it looks it looks like it's starting to Meldon
- 3:54Speaker 1: Mesh a little bit more. I hope that through the
- 3:56Speaker 1: rest of the season they play more man coverage because
- 3:58Speaker 1: they look pretty darn good. And I'm not saying that
- 4:00Speaker 1: the Chargers had multiple receivers that could really beat up
- 4:04Speaker 1: with route running Keenan Allen can and tell you what,
- 4:07Speaker 1: Jackson did a good job on him. So I'm anxious
- 4:10Speaker 1: to see those guys go out and play man coverage
- 4:12Speaker 1: and say I got you and I'm eliminating you for
- 4:14Speaker 1: the rest of the season, and watch watch the increase
- 4:17Speaker 1: in pressure on the quarterback lab For much of our
- 4:20Speaker 1: broadcast last Sunday, you were raving about the interior offensive
- 4:23Speaker 1: line play a belly price, Alex Redman and Christian Westerman.
- 4:27Speaker 1: Did the Bengals have something there and it's had time
- 4:29Speaker 1: to see exactly what Westerman can do. Yeah, Westerman played
- 4:32Speaker 1: forty two snaps, you know, in the game. And you know,
- 4:36Speaker 1: I'm not I don't know about the assignment, if he
- 4:39Speaker 1: carried out his assignment fully with the right person and
- 4:41Speaker 1: all the things that go along with that. But watching
- 4:44Speaker 1: him play, he is powerful, he is strong. He can bend,
- 4:48Speaker 1: and he bends at the knees, not the waste You
- 4:51Speaker 1: don't want to be a waste bender. You want to
- 4:53Speaker 1: bend at the knees and then you're instill in a
- 4:55Speaker 1: good football position. And he is. I'll tell you the
- 4:57Speaker 1: guy is. He's got some brute force and frute strength
- 5:00Speaker 1: to him. And they were they were moving people. Dan.
- 5:03Speaker 1: You know the first double team that I saw between
- 5:05Speaker 1: Billy probably Price and Westerman, I mean, you got to
- 5:08Speaker 1: buy a token for that ride if you're a defensive line.
- 5:10Speaker 1: He went five seven yards backwards right into the linebacker's lap.
- 5:13Speaker 1: They just washed everything away and Joe Mixon was feeding
- 5:16Speaker 1: off of it. I talked to Joe a little bit
- 5:17Speaker 1: after the game and I'm like, that was I mean,
- 5:20Speaker 1: when you see a push like that, he goes, oh, man,
- 5:22Speaker 1: you know that's now. Now it's you're living right, You're
- 5:25Speaker 1: living good. And if you give Joe as talented as
- 5:29Speaker 1: he is, an ability to get past the line of scrimmage,
- 5:32Speaker 1: for he makes his first cut and in some cases
- 5:34Speaker 1: it was like two or three yards past the line
- 5:35Speaker 1: of scrimmage, you know, just right up the belly of
- 5:37Speaker 1: the defense. That's that's really getting it done. And I
- 5:40Speaker 1: think that's why they stayed in the game against the
- 5:42Speaker 1: good football team as long as they did, as they
- 5:44Speaker 1: imposed their will in the interior and everything. You know,
- 5:47Speaker 1: they fed off of that aspect of it. So I
- 5:50Speaker 1: do think that you need to find out what you
- 5:53Speaker 1: have with you don't want to end another season and say, man,
- 5:56Speaker 1: Christian Westerman, physically, we know we got something there. Kenny.
- 6:00Speaker 1: Can he respond? Can he handle a lot of the
- 6:03Speaker 1: stress of the game mentally and all that goes along
- 6:05Speaker 1: with it? Can he do it? One way to find out,
- 6:07Speaker 1: got to expose him to snaps at critical times in
- 6:11Speaker 1: games against you know, really good competition and see what
- 6:14Speaker 1: you got. Redman has to continue to improve and quit
- 6:19Speaker 1: with the mental errors. And Billy Price is literally halfway
- 6:23Speaker 1: through his rookie year because of the injury. So all
- 6:25Speaker 1: three of those guys, I mean, I think the concluding
- 6:29Speaker 1: three games of this season are pivotal and monumental for
- 6:32Speaker 1: those three guys, that they can start to form some
- 6:35Speaker 1: kind of a bond there and prove that, hey, the
- 6:38Speaker 1: interior the Bengals offensive line might be pretty good in
- 6:40Speaker 1: years to come. We've seen two starts by Jeff Driscoll.
- 6:44Speaker 1: In those games, he's thrown two touchdown passes, one interception,
- 6:48Speaker 1: he's had a touchdown run that got wiped out by
- 6:50Speaker 1: a bad rule, and he's been sacked seven times. Has
- 6:54Speaker 1: he been better, worse? Or about what you expected? I
- 6:58Speaker 1: think about what I expected. He I knew he had
- 7:03Speaker 1: nfl arm talent and he does. I mean watching him throw,
- 7:06Speaker 1: he's got velocity, accuracy, puts it in in tight spots.
- 7:09Speaker 1: You know, he makes the uh the contested catch less contested.
- 7:13Speaker 1: He'll hit his receiver before you know, the arrival of
- 7:15Speaker 1: the defender and those kind of things. But he still
- 7:19Speaker 1: needs to see the field, you know, a little bit
- 7:22Speaker 1: more readily and easily than he is right now. And
- 7:24Speaker 1: that comes with reps they designed to play for Franks.
- 7:28Speaker 1: I was looking at the game again and Franks did
- 7:30Speaker 1: a little out and up move and it's seven points.
- 7:33Speaker 1: It's there, and he either didn't see it or get
- 7:35Speaker 1: off it too fast and didn't see it as it unfolded.
- 7:38Speaker 1: You know. Another time he made a completion and got
- 7:41Speaker 1: the first down, but there was another receiver on an
- 7:44Speaker 1: eight yard hook that was all by himself. Would have
- 7:47Speaker 1: been an easier throw to make. And you can you
- 7:49Speaker 1: can nit pick and cherry pick every single quarterbacks performance,
- 7:53Speaker 1: but I think some of the easy throws I think
- 7:55Speaker 1: are going to come to him, you know, based on
- 7:58Speaker 1: the number of reps and the number of snaps he gets.
- 8:00Speaker 1: But I'm impressed with him, I really am. I mean,
- 8:02Speaker 1: I think physically he's got he's got a lot of skills.
- 8:07Speaker 1: I mean, he's he can move, he's strong, he's big, physical.
- 8:11Speaker 1: I think that he's um accelerating his career. I think
- 8:15Speaker 1: that in the first two games that he's played. I
- 8:19Speaker 1: think around the league it's like, m let's let's take
- 8:21Speaker 1: a longer look at at Jeff driscoll. He's not hurting himself.
- 8:25Speaker 1: He's he's helping himself with this opportunity, and that's what
- 8:28Speaker 1: you want as a as a backup quarterback when when
- 8:31Speaker 1: opportunity knocks, you know, when the doors open to crack,
- 8:34Speaker 1: you gotta kick it in, and I think he's doing that.
- 8:37Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to see him play against the Raiders
- 8:40Speaker 1: because the two games that he's played, look at the
- 8:43Speaker 1: pass rush. I mean Denver edge rushers, you know, and um,
- 8:48Speaker 1: you know, back back to back games. You know, you
- 8:50Speaker 1: got the situation that he just faced last week. You
- 8:53Speaker 1: know a couple of good edge rushers as well, so
- 8:55Speaker 1: now maybe you get a little bit of a breather.
- 8:58Speaker 1: Denver's only got eleven quarter back sacks as a team
- 9:01Speaker 1: in thirteen games, and he was playing against guys that
- 9:04Speaker 1: had that many individually, you know, Chubb von Miller, Joey
- 9:08Speaker 1: Bosa hasn't played that many games this year, but he's
- 9:10Speaker 1: capable of those kind of numbers. It's it's I think
- 9:13Speaker 1: it's gonna be very interesting to see how he plays
- 9:15Speaker 1: against the open Raiders and Paul Gunther. Aaron Donald has
- 9:19Speaker 1: sixteen and a half sacks and the Raiders, as you mentioned,
- 9:22Speaker 1: have eleven as a team. One thing about Paul Gunther though,
- 9:24Speaker 1: as we know, with that double a Gapplitz and all
- 9:26Speaker 1: the things he does off of it. He can run
- 9:28Speaker 1: a lot of coverages behind that double a gapp. He
- 9:30Speaker 1: can confuse quarterbacks. We saw him confuse Flacco time after
- 9:33Speaker 1: time at veteran quarterback. So that's the one thing. Jeff
- 9:36Speaker 1: Driscoll is gonna be really good with his nose in
- 9:38Speaker 1: the book, you know, and study and tape in the
- 9:40Speaker 1: playbook and everything to make sure that he's not confused
- 9:42Speaker 1: by stuff that Paul Gunther's going to concoct because you know,
- 9:46Speaker 1: going against an inexperienced quarterback, he's going to throw the
- 9:48Speaker 1: kitchen sink at him. In terms of different looks, who's
- 9:51Speaker 1: your most pleasant surprise and your biggest disappointment? I think
- 9:57Speaker 1: I think based on the way the season unfolded the
- 10:02Speaker 1: four and one start, there are a lot of good surprises.
- 10:04Speaker 1: But in the one and seven stretch here, I'm I'm
- 10:08Speaker 1: most uh, I guess pleased. I don't know about surprise,
- 10:10Speaker 1: but most pleased with what Joe Mixon and Tyler Boyd
- 10:13Speaker 1: are given. Not just with their numbers, but those guys
- 10:17Speaker 1: are all in. I mean, they go out and they
- 10:19Speaker 1: play no matter what I mean, They're gonna go out
- 10:21Speaker 1: and compete. They're gonna go out and slug it out.
- 10:24Speaker 1: They're gonna get after it snap after snap. I think
- 10:27Speaker 1: I think the fan base has responded to Joe Mixon
- 10:31Speaker 1: and Tyler Boyd because of that. You know. I think
- 10:34Speaker 1: that those guys have I think, shown themselves as as leaders.
- 10:40Speaker 1: I think their leadership is building. I think guys are
- 10:42Speaker 1: gravitating toward them, you know. And I think it's unfortunate
- 10:48Speaker 1: that Jeff driscal is in the situation he's in, but
- 10:51Speaker 1: I think he's responded well. I think the thing to
- 10:54Speaker 1: me that's telling what a quarterback is how the guys
- 10:58Speaker 1: react and respond to him. And when he came into
- 11:00Speaker 1: that football game, they responded very possitively, and they have
- 11:03Speaker 1: ever since, and even in a couple of defeats, teammates
- 11:07Speaker 1: coming up to him in the locker room when I'm
- 11:09Speaker 1: in there right away after the game, you know, nice job, Hey,
- 11:12Speaker 1: he worked your tail off today. I mean, you gave
- 11:14Speaker 1: everything you got. So they are responding to Jeff Driscoll
- 11:17Speaker 1: not only with his physical abilities, but also, you know,
- 11:20Speaker 1: with his makeup and the way he is with his teammates.
- 11:23Speaker 1: And I know he works hard at practice, he practices
- 11:25Speaker 1: his tail off, and I think guys are you know,
- 11:30Speaker 1: grateful or appreciative of him taking advantage of the opportunity
- 11:33Speaker 1: that he's been given. They feel like he deserves it
- 11:35Speaker 1: and he's doing something about it. I think probably my
- 11:38Speaker 1: biggest disappointment is I'm stunned at how the defense played.
- 11:42Speaker 1: I mean, I think every problem every Bengals fan is.
- 11:45Speaker 1: I mean I thought, really the beginning of the season,
- 11:47Speaker 1: with two Pro bowlers that just got big contract extensions
- 11:51Speaker 1: and they you know, they'd have a lot of juice
- 11:53Speaker 1: as a result, you know, for a lot of reasons
- 11:55Speaker 1: to go out and really have big years. And then
- 11:57Speaker 1: on the back end with three first round picks, they're
- 12:00Speaker 1: covering people that we talked about it a few times.
- 12:02Speaker 1: That's the makings of a decent defense in today's NFL.
- 12:05Speaker 1: And man, just to fall on their face the way
- 12:08Speaker 1: they did is stunning to me. I mean, it's historically bad,
- 12:12Speaker 1: and I had no inkling that it was going to
- 12:14Speaker 1: be that bad. During the course of training camp. I thought,
- 12:17Speaker 1: oh man, they're hustling. Look, the only the thing that
- 12:20Speaker 1: they did in the four in one stretch was creating
- 12:22Speaker 1: the turnovers and defensive scores and all that that's dried up.
- 12:25Speaker 1: I mean, that that well has gone pretty dry, and
- 12:28Speaker 1: really it's it's almost it's almost incomprehensible to me that
- 12:33Speaker 1: they can be as bad as they are statistically after
- 12:36Speaker 1: thirteen games in into the season. So by far, that's
- 12:40Speaker 1: my biggest disappointment, Surprise, shock, stunner, whatever you want to
- 12:44Speaker 1: categorize it. It's it's just absolutely mind boggling to me.
- 12:49Speaker 1: So I'm watching Monday Night football this week and century
- 12:52Speaker 1: Link Field in Seattle was rocking. The place was packed,
- 12:56Speaker 1: the noise level was deafening. That will not be the
- 12:59Speaker 1: case here on Sunday for the home finale, but it
- 13:01Speaker 1: used to be. The Bengals sold out fifty seven straight
- 13:04Speaker 1: games between two thousand and three and two thousand and ten.
- 13:07Speaker 1: As somebody who has been affiliated with this franchise for
- 13:11Speaker 1: most of your life, how much do the empty seats
- 13:13Speaker 1: bother you? And what will it take to get people back?
- 13:18Speaker 1: It does bother me, and it bothers me as a
- 13:19Speaker 1: former player, because I can harken back to a four
- 13:23Speaker 1: and twelve season where our final home game against the
- 13:25Speaker 1: Atlanta Falcons offense was being introduced, where we ran out
- 13:28Speaker 1: the tunnel and you know, it's ten minutes before kickoff
- 13:32Speaker 1: or whatever it was, and our footsteps were echoing. There
- 13:35Speaker 1: was nobody there, and you know, you look around, it's like,
- 13:38Speaker 1: oh boy, you know now you have to you have
- 13:40Speaker 1: to manufacture your own energy. And you got to do it.
- 13:44Speaker 1: I mean, you're a professional, you're being paid to do it.
- 13:47Speaker 1: But sometimes it's not as easy to do as people think.
- 13:50Speaker 1: But you have to. And that's been I think a
- 13:53Speaker 1: question that a lot of the fans have. Boy, these
- 13:55Speaker 1: guys even going to give effort. I mean, I'll show
- 13:57Speaker 1: up if they give effort, if they if they try
- 13:59Speaker 1: and my eyes are doing everything they can to win
- 14:02Speaker 1: a football game and not throwing in a neutral and
- 14:05Speaker 1: cruise control, you know, come and support them. So I
- 14:07Speaker 1: think that's what it's going to take. And then when
- 14:09Speaker 1: when the stadium is packed, I mean, feeding off that energy.
- 14:13Speaker 1: You know, the Super Bowl season, super Bowl sixteen in
- 14:16Speaker 1: nineteen eighty one with the fans with the orange and
- 14:18Speaker 1: black faces and the Hoodae, the you know, the the
- 14:21Speaker 1: birth of the Hooday Chance and all that. It was unbelievable.
- 14:24Speaker 1: It was like it was like a college atmosphere. And
- 14:27Speaker 1: you know, then when you're running out of the tunnel,
- 14:29Speaker 1: your feet aren't in the ground. I mean, you're you're
- 14:31Speaker 1: on cloud nine. You're floating, and you feel like you
- 14:34Speaker 1: can pick the stadium up, you know, uh, not only
- 14:36Speaker 1: go play football. So it is it is night and
- 14:39Speaker 1: day and uh and all the other things go along
- 14:41Speaker 1: with it. Dan, I mean as a as an offensive lineman, Um,
- 14:45Speaker 1: I know what it's like to not be able to
- 14:47Speaker 1: hear people. And that's what it was like. Our defense
- 14:49Speaker 1: would feed off of that. Our crowd was going nuts
- 14:51Speaker 1: and and the Bengals have to get back to that.
- 14:53Speaker 1: And the only way they can do it is to
- 14:55Speaker 1: give full effort every single snap and win some football games.
- 14:59Speaker 1: This week, it's the twenty eighteen home finale, has the
- 15:02Speaker 1: Bengals host the three and ten Oakland Raiders. The Bengals
- 15:04Speaker 1: are three point favorite, despite all of their injuries and
- 15:07Speaker 1: their five game losing streak. Lap Raiders fans had high
- 15:11Speaker 1: hopes with John Gruden returning to the sidelines this year.
- 15:14Speaker 1: Why do the Raiders stink? They dismantled the football team. Basically,
- 15:20Speaker 1: they're they're building for the opening of their new stadium
- 15:23Speaker 1: in Las Vegas, and they basically are thumbing their noses
- 15:26Speaker 1: at the open Raider fans who have been tremendously loyal
- 15:28Speaker 1: to that franchise for a number of years, and they
- 15:31Speaker 1: had you know, they were thrilled. Here it comes John grudenback. Boy,
- 15:34Speaker 1: We've got a quarterback this Pro Bowl caliber. We have Mac,
- 15:37Speaker 1: who's the best defensive player, not anymore Max as Chicago Bear.
- 15:41Speaker 1: Cooper is a Dallas cowboy. They're accumulating first round picks,
- 15:44Speaker 1: but I don't care. If you have ten first round picks,
- 15:45Speaker 1: you may not ever find another Mac. To give up him,
- 15:48Speaker 1: to give up on Mac and to trade him is
- 15:51Speaker 1: unbelievable to me. Irving Bruce Irvan, another good pass rusher,
- 15:54Speaker 1: is no longer a Raider. So they only have eleven
- 15:57Speaker 1: sacks in thirteen games. It's it's unbelievable. There's no no
- 16:02Speaker 1: pass rush. And there they've had their injuries too. You
- 16:05Speaker 1: look at their injury reserve list, it's about as lengthy
- 16:07Speaker 1: as the Bengals is an interesting enough. Then there are
- 16:10Speaker 1: eight former Bengals on that roster for them an injury reserve,
- 16:13Speaker 1: so the virus is not only current Bengals former Bengals
- 16:17Speaker 1: around the league. For the eighth former Bengals are on
- 16:21Speaker 1: injury reserve with the Raiders that's that's mind boggling. So
- 16:24Speaker 1: I think that's that's pretty much it. They've they've traded
- 16:27Speaker 1: their best players to try to get future draft picks,
- 16:30Speaker 1: and then the injuries to players that remained, and they're
- 16:33Speaker 1: a sella what they thought they might be. Last thing.
- 16:36Speaker 1: It's been seven years since former Raiders owner Al Davis
- 16:40Speaker 1: passed away, but his legend still looms large over the franchise.
- 16:44Speaker 1: You have an El Davis story. I remember early in
- 16:48Speaker 1: my career going out to Oakland and uh, you know,
- 16:51Speaker 1: Al Davis said let the grass grow to about a
- 16:53Speaker 1: foot and a half long because he didn't have he
- 16:56Speaker 1: didn't have huge speed, you know, like Blittnicoff really couldn't run.
- 17:00Speaker 1: Marv Hubbard wasn't a guy that was really a runner,
- 17:02Speaker 1: you know, more of a powerful football team than a
- 17:04Speaker 1: speed team. So he would always let the grass grow
- 17:07Speaker 1: and try trying to get the opposition's team speed a
- 17:10Speaker 1: little bit. And I remember vividly the stories about it.
- 17:13Speaker 1: Then when I went out there, I'm like, this grass
- 17:15Speaker 1: is longer, there's no question about it. It's funny. And
- 17:17Speaker 1: I see him on the field and uh, we were
- 17:20Speaker 1: just going through um individual position drill warm ups, and
- 17:24Speaker 1: he kind of walked by the offensive liner. And when
- 17:26Speaker 1: I was curling back to the end of the line
- 17:29Speaker 1: after going through a little drill um, he comes walking
- 17:31Speaker 1: Behy in his black and silver you know, garb, his
- 17:34Speaker 1: his raider garb and he's chewing gum about one hundred
- 17:37Speaker 1: and fifty miles an hour young. He was banging the
- 17:40Speaker 1: banging his gums away and hey, hey, Sarah Kills, huh,
- 17:46Speaker 1: he says, laughing, what's going on? Huh, Sarah Kills. I'm like, yeah, hey,
- 17:50Speaker 1: mister Davis, how you doing? You know? And that, honestly,
- 17:53Speaker 1: that was a thrill to actually see him in that
- 17:57Speaker 1: in that kind of environment and then think, I mean
- 17:59Speaker 1: he actually knows my name. That was like, God, that's
- 18:02Speaker 1: unbelievable that Al Davis knows my last name. That's cool
- 18:05Speaker 1: as heck. And then um, when the game later on,
- 18:10Speaker 1: we're playing when Matt Millen is a Raider, we're playing
- 18:12Speaker 1: the Raiders, and I was I'd gotten to be pretty
- 18:15Speaker 1: good friends with him, and after the game we're talking
- 18:17Speaker 1: and a couple of things happened during the course of
- 18:19Speaker 1: the game that were pretty funny. But after the game,
- 18:21Speaker 1: I said, man, you guys, you guys are dirty, you know,
- 18:25Speaker 1: I mean, your your whole mentality is I mean you guys,
- 18:28Speaker 1: you guys push it every single snap. I mean you're
- 18:31Speaker 1: committing multiple fouls. He goes, You don't think that's by design, dude.
- 18:36Speaker 1: Al Davis says to us, look, go out there, do
- 18:40Speaker 1: whatever you need to do to get the job done.
- 18:43Speaker 1: And if they throw a penalty flag, all of you
- 18:46Speaker 1: commit a foul and they're gonna go throw two in
- 18:48Speaker 1: a row. And if they throw two, they're not gonna
- 18:50Speaker 1: throw three in a row. He said, go out there
- 18:52Speaker 1: and do whatever it takes. And he said that came
- 18:55Speaker 1: from the top. That was that was from the top down.
- 18:58Speaker 1: Just uh, you know, press the press the limit on
- 19:01Speaker 1: the rule and fractions every single play. And man, those guys,
- 19:06Speaker 1: it was a street fight when you played those guys. Man,
- 19:08Speaker 1: you had to bring it because they were bringing it
- 19:10Speaker 1: all they were. They were going out there and doing
- 19:13Speaker 1: everything they possibly could to win the football game. If
- 19:16Speaker 1: we're within the rules or not within the boundary of
- 19:19Speaker 1: the rules, just win baby, exactly. Just win baby at
- 19:24Speaker 1: all costs, no matter what it takes. Al Davis the
- 19:27Speaker 1: legend Thanks Lap. Last week, the Bengals announced that Carlos
- 19:32Speaker 1: Dunlap is the team's nominee for the twenty eighteen Walter
- 19:37Speaker 1: Payton NFL Man of the Year Award. Considered one of
- 19:40Speaker 1: the league's most prestigious honors. It recognizes an NFL player
- 19:44Speaker 1: for outstanding community service as well as excellence on the field.
- 19:49Speaker 1: Carlos is helping the Cincinnati community in a wide variety
- 19:52Speaker 1: of ways. For starters, there's the Carlos Dunlap Foundation, which
- 19:56Speaker 1: focuses on education, offering tutoring and after school events, and
- 20:02Speaker 1: Carlos is in the second season of his anti bullying Tour.
- 20:06Speaker 1: Dunlap made stops at five schools in Cincinnati and also
- 20:10Speaker 1: met with kids in Charlotte, Kansas City, in Baltimore during
- 20:14Speaker 1: road trips. This is the second time in four years
- 20:17Speaker 1: the Dunlap has been nominated for the Walter Payton Man
- 20:20Speaker 1: of the Year Award, and he talked about the honor
- 20:22Speaker 1: with Lap on Wednesday. It's an unbelievable acknowledgment, you know,
- 20:27Speaker 1: being able to, you know, get recognized and nominated, you
- 20:31Speaker 1: know twice, especially knowing with all my teammates are doing here.
- 20:36Speaker 1: You know, a lot of guys are very active in
- 20:37Speaker 1: the community here in Cincinnati at home. So to get
- 20:41Speaker 1: recognized knowing what they're doing, it's definitely, you know, a
- 20:45Speaker 1: privilege and honor to represent the team again. And let's
- 20:49Speaker 1: try to bring it home. I hear you. Your anti
- 20:52Speaker 1: bullying campaign has been highly recognized and rightfully so. I mean,
- 20:58Speaker 1: it's it's pretty pretty impressive what you're doing there. And
- 21:02Speaker 1: you're not only doing it here in Cincinnati, you're doing
- 21:04Speaker 1: it you know, you're taking it on the road a
- 21:06Speaker 1: little bit to other NFL cities. What was the h
- 21:09Speaker 1: what was the impetus of what? What was the trigger
- 21:12Speaker 1: mechanism that kets you involved in the in the anti
- 21:14Speaker 1: bullying campaign. Well, with my foundation, UM, we've been going
- 21:17Speaker 1: to a lot of the schools and and you know,
- 21:20Speaker 1: UM trying to hit home the importance of education. UM.
- 21:24Speaker 1: So we go to talk to these n city athletes
- 21:27Speaker 1: who don't really take their education that seriously, but they're
- 21:30Speaker 1: you know, excelling on the football field, and we go
- 21:33Speaker 1: on there and we challenge them to you know, take
- 21:36Speaker 1: that same competitive mindset that they have on the field
- 21:40Speaker 1: of playing service whatever it is that they're on UM
- 21:43Speaker 1: and bring that into the classroom because uh, you know,
- 21:46Speaker 1: you have to go through college and also, uh, your
- 21:50Speaker 1: college education and your college degree is something that never
- 21:53Speaker 1: depreciate or go away. You know, you might get old,
- 21:57Speaker 1: slow down a little bit, right, you know, all those
- 22:00Speaker 1: other things that happened, injuries happened, but they'll never be
- 22:02Speaker 1: able to take your mind away. And that college degree
- 22:05Speaker 1: that you know, putting that up on the wall his
- 22:08Speaker 1: unbelievable accomplishment. And some people are you know, first generation
- 22:12Speaker 1: for doing that. And you know, one of the schools nearby,
- 22:15Speaker 1: one of the schools that I go to and talk
- 22:17Speaker 1: about the importance of education, had a situation where, you know,
- 22:21Speaker 1: a smart kid was excelling the classroom, but he was
- 22:23Speaker 1: getting bullied for being smart, and it was to the
- 22:26Speaker 1: point where he felt that alone that he wanted to
- 22:29Speaker 1: take his own life. And for a young kid at
- 22:33Speaker 1: that age, you know, I can't imagine what he must
- 22:37Speaker 1: have been going through to feel that much pressure as
- 22:39Speaker 1: a kid, you know, you know, kids don't usually feel
- 22:42Speaker 1: much of anything, but he must have been going through
- 22:47Speaker 1: that much pressure that he felt like that that was
- 22:50Speaker 1: his only option. So we didn't want to We wanted
- 22:53Speaker 1: to take a stand on that and try to make
- 22:55Speaker 1: a difference on that, because no kids should feel that
- 22:58Speaker 1: alone in a school system or school, at school whatever
- 23:02Speaker 1: with this many adults, this many you know, principal administrators, UM,
- 23:08Speaker 1: people that they didn't use as a resource. And and
- 23:12Speaker 1: also you just want to educate the kids on what
- 23:14Speaker 1: bullying is because you know a lot of times kids
- 23:16Speaker 1: aren't aren't aware that they're actually bullying somebody. You know,
- 23:20Speaker 1: they think it's a joke. But one of the things
- 23:22Speaker 1: we say, it's not a joke unless everybody's included. If
- 23:24Speaker 1: you win the National Award what is it two undred
- 23:26Speaker 1: fifty thousand dollars that that goes to your in your name,
- 23:30Speaker 1: to your to what play sixty is it? Or your
- 23:33Speaker 1: foundation or both? Or how does that work? Yeah, there's
- 23:36Speaker 1: so half of it goes to the playbook or UM
- 23:40Speaker 1: the foundation that the NFL designates, and then the other
- 23:44Speaker 1: half I get to designate who it will go to. UM.
- 23:48Speaker 1: I get to pick a foundation of my choice UM.
- 23:52Speaker 1: And for in order for me to win, I need
- 23:54Speaker 1: everyone to go on their social media platform and use
- 23:58Speaker 1: the hashtag Walter Payton Man of the Year but abbreviated
- 24:02Speaker 1: w M. POY Challenge space Dunlap in this and that's
- 24:09Speaker 1: how he can vote Yeah, that's how As simple as
- 24:11Speaker 1: that is, how you can vote. You tweet that hashtag
- 24:14Speaker 1: or you post a picture on Instagram using the hashtag,
- 24:16Speaker 1: and that counts the voting. There's no there's no limits
- 24:20Speaker 1: to how many times you want to voting. I want
- 24:21Speaker 1: to thank everybody in advance. This year, all thirty two
- 24:24Speaker 1: team winners will be highlighted as finalists and recognized for
- 24:28Speaker 1: their important work during the weekend leading up to the
- 24:31Speaker 1: Super Bowl. To learn more about Dunlap's nomination, visit NFL
- 24:36Speaker 1: dot com backslash Man of the Year. Now time for
- 24:41Speaker 1: this week's No The Fox segment is we take a
- 24:43Speaker 1: closer look at the upcoming opponent, and to do that,
- 24:47Speaker 1: we pick the brain, a former Pro Bowl offensive lineman
- 24:50Speaker 1: Lincoln Kennedy who calls Raiders games on the radio with
- 24:54Speaker 1: a legendary Brent Musburger. They're out manned at pretty much
- 24:58Speaker 1: every position. What I mean by that is that injuries
- 25:00Speaker 1: have decimated their this roster. They've asked Gruden and the
- 25:04Speaker 1: staff has asked a lot of rookies to step up there.
- 25:07Speaker 1: They're averaging, you know, starting on every game at least
- 25:11Speaker 1: twelve first year players, so you know, across the board.
- 25:14Speaker 1: It's a it's a very thin rang. And most people
- 25:17Speaker 1: have asked me over the last couple of months where
- 25:19Speaker 1: the Raiders trying to lose the better position themselves with
- 25:22Speaker 1: the draft. Well know, and John Gruden have a playing
- 25:25Speaker 1: for him the way I do. I would never see that,
- 25:27Speaker 1: and I guess you saw it last week against the Steelers.
- 25:30Speaker 1: Let me ask you, big man at the offensive tackle position,
- 25:33Speaker 1: two rookies, Colton Miller, Marcel Eateman, how they playing, how
- 25:39Speaker 1: they looking? They're big people, big body guy or excuse me,
- 25:42Speaker 1: Brandon Parker at the right time. Yeah, yeah, Brandon Parker
- 25:46Speaker 1: and Colton Miller. How the big boys playing on the
- 25:48Speaker 1: edge there. Well, you can imagine if you're a rookie
- 25:52Speaker 1: coming into the National Football League, especially the AFC West Division,
- 25:55Speaker 1: where you've got guys like you know, you've got guys
- 25:58Speaker 1: like Botha and Ingram and von Miller and all you know,
- 26:01Speaker 1: just name a few Bradley Chubb at the outside end,
- 26:04Speaker 1: how hard it can be to be successful. And there's
- 26:06Speaker 1: no different. Colton Miller, for what it's worth, has done
- 26:09Speaker 1: a fairly good job as a rookie stepping in and
- 26:11Speaker 1: playing really one of the most difficult positions online cool
- 26:16Speaker 1: and then Brandon Parker, for what it's worth, Brandon went
- 26:18Speaker 1: to small school, he went to North Carolina and t
- 26:21Speaker 1: and so for him to be thrusted in the position.
- 26:24Speaker 1: He's got all the intangibles. He's got the footwork, he's
- 26:26Speaker 1: got the size, he's got the strength. He just doesn't
- 26:29Speaker 1: have the experience. And you know as well as I do,
- 26:32Speaker 1: when it comes offensive line play, it's all about reps
- 26:34Speaker 1: and snaps and playing against premier talent. That's what you
- 26:37Speaker 1: have to do in the National Football League. So he's
- 26:40Speaker 1: taken his lumps. I actually actually backed it up. Derek
- 26:43Speaker 1: Carr has taken his lumps by an experience. But but
- 26:48Speaker 1: for the most part, you know, they're they're doing fairly well.
- 26:51Speaker 1: They'll be good for the future. It's just they're going
- 26:53Speaker 1: to take their lumps this season. Right we're talking to
- 26:56Speaker 1: the great firm pro bowler Lincoln Kennedy. The Raiders traded
- 26:59Speaker 1: away too, eight players in Khalil Mackin and Maari Cooper.
- 27:02Speaker 1: How did that impact morale? It really shrank it. I
- 27:08Speaker 1: mean it really did. It depleted it. To be honest
- 27:11Speaker 1: with you, A lot of guys in the locker room
- 27:13Speaker 1: did not expect that to happen. I know why Gruden
- 27:16Speaker 1: did it in both cases, but for the most part,
- 27:19Speaker 1: a lot of guys didn't know what was going on.
- 27:22Speaker 1: They kind of got over after a while the Khalil
- 27:25Speaker 1: match trade, but then when they traded to Maari Cooper
- 27:28Speaker 1: because John Gruden when he came in, he took over
- 27:30Speaker 1: the roster. He made it from. It went from one
- 27:32Speaker 1: of the youngest rosters in the National Football League to
- 27:35Speaker 1: one of the older rosters by signing like seventeen guys
- 27:37Speaker 1: who were thirty and over. So it left a lot
- 27:40Speaker 1: of those guys, those veterans in they're unsure about their future.
- 27:44Speaker 1: What's your take on the Roley McKenzie firing. And then
- 27:48Speaker 1: John's catching a lot of a lot of grief obviously
- 27:51Speaker 1: from the media about with the press conference about how
- 27:54Speaker 1: he was surprised that it took place, and everybody's you know,
- 27:57Speaker 1: interpretation is, Hey, the guys in control, the guy's gonna
- 27:59Speaker 1: be head coach GM everything else. They're paying him one
- 28:02Speaker 1: hundred million dollars, you know, for ten years. How can
- 28:04Speaker 1: he not know? How can he be surprised? What kind
- 28:07Speaker 1: of a trickle down you think there's been from that
- 28:09Speaker 1: if any of the players, and what's your take on it. Well,
- 28:13Speaker 1: my my take is this, and I'm not surprised. I'm
- 28:15Speaker 1: surprised in the timing. I knew it was going to happen,
- 28:18Speaker 1: because ever since I mentioned when Gruden came in and
- 28:20Speaker 1: took over, he basically depleted the roster all the draft choices,
- 28:24Speaker 1: pretty much governed a lot of the draft choices that
- 28:26Speaker 1: regime and Kenzie and his staff had over the years.
- 28:29Speaker 1: So you knew Reggie was going to move on. And
- 28:31Speaker 1: Reggie's a good guy, he's a good general manager. He'll
- 28:33Speaker 1: land on his feet somewhere else. I don't doubt that
- 28:35Speaker 1: for a second. But you know, look, grud has been
- 28:38Speaker 1: playing this game all season. He did it with Khalil
- 28:41Speaker 1: MACKI did it with Mary Cooper, you know, acting like
- 28:44Speaker 1: he wasn't in the know, and we all know it's
- 28:47Speaker 1: We're not foolish, we all know what's going on. It
- 28:49Speaker 1: is what it is. But he wants to put his
- 28:52Speaker 1: own staple on this roster and he wants to He's
- 28:55Speaker 1: going to start in this offseason. They've got a ton
- 28:57Speaker 1: of cash to spend. More importantly, they've got you know,
- 29:00Speaker 1: three first round draft choices, so they're going to do
- 29:02Speaker 1: a lot in this upcoming draft, this upcoming off season. Lincoln,
- 29:06Speaker 1: you were the ninth pick in the draft out of Washington.
- 29:09Speaker 1: The Bengals have a ninth pick in the draft out
- 29:12Speaker 1: of Washington and John Ross. I imagine you have interest
- 29:15Speaker 1: in John. What do you think of the injury problems
- 29:19Speaker 1: he's had and the relatively slow start to his NFL career.
- 29:24Speaker 1: I would have liked him to stay in college a
- 29:25Speaker 1: year longer and finish out that because I just think
- 29:29Speaker 1: his durability needed to be tested and need to be
- 29:32Speaker 1: tested by reps. It's very difficult to be put in
- 29:34Speaker 1: that position, especially when you know what he did at
- 29:37Speaker 1: a combine and everybody was so blown away about his speed.
- 29:40Speaker 1: It's a little bit different than National football lea, Hey,
- 29:42Speaker 1: everybody's fast, and you got to find a way to
- 29:45Speaker 1: be durable. I'm wishing John the best. I do hope
- 29:48Speaker 1: he figures it out sooner or later, because look, I
- 29:52Speaker 1: was in the situation when I first got drafted by Atlanta,
- 29:55Speaker 1: did not sit in their said scheme of things, was
- 29:57Speaker 1: written off by many to a bus as being a
- 29:59Speaker 1: bus until I got the chance to play in Oakland
- 30:02Speaker 1: and sort of revitalize my career for Cincinnati Bengal fans
- 30:05Speaker 1: and Cincinnati's sake. I hope he's able to figure out
- 30:07Speaker 1: sooner rather than later. Yeah, it's amazing how it's It's
- 30:11Speaker 1: where you go is almost as important as anything else.
- 30:14Speaker 1: It's who you're, who you're coached by, what scheme it is.
- 30:16Speaker 1: I mean, is it a fit? Isn't it a a fit?
- 30:19Speaker 1: You know? I mean quarterbacks, Uh, if they if they
- 30:22Speaker 1: get drafted into a bad situation in terms of coaches
- 30:25Speaker 1: and schematic you know, they're a bus like golfs, a
- 30:27Speaker 1: bus with fisher Now look at them. You know it
- 30:29Speaker 1: really is. It's a lot of that is determined by
- 30:32Speaker 1: the luck of a draw. You know where you end
- 30:34Speaker 1: up and how you end up. Let me ask you
- 30:36Speaker 1: about Jared Cook. This guy's a freakazoid. Sixty five two
- 30:39Speaker 1: hundred and fifty five pounds, runs like a wide out.
- 30:42Speaker 1: I mean they detach them and let them run routes
- 30:44Speaker 1: like a wide out. How big a factor is this
- 30:46Speaker 1: is this guy in the future of football with the Raiders. Well,
- 30:50Speaker 1: you look at the overall position of tight end. It's
- 30:52Speaker 1: absolutely key essential in order for us to an offensive
- 30:55Speaker 1: be successful for the most part. They got to have
- 30:58Speaker 1: a tight end. Look at Indianapolis. I think Indianapolis has
- 31:01Speaker 1: four tight ends on the roster who are six three
- 31:05Speaker 1: and taller. You talk about Travis Kelsey and you talk
- 31:08Speaker 1: about the great Grocouski. Because the rules are the way
- 31:12Speaker 1: they are. If you have a good size tight end,
- 31:15Speaker 1: and if he has some speech to himself, it presents
- 31:19Speaker 1: a matchup problem for defenses because he might be he'll
- 31:23Speaker 1: be faster than an average linebacker, he'll be taller than
- 31:26Speaker 1: an average safety. So who are you going to put him?
- 31:28Speaker 1: You're gonna waste the corner to put on them. Then
- 31:30Speaker 1: he's bigger than him. So that's the advantages you get
- 31:32Speaker 1: out of the position, especially if the receiver type. So,
- 31:34Speaker 1: but Jared Cook has been the Raider's MVP, and Derek
- 31:37Speaker 1: Carton knows it, and he's going to try to get
- 31:40Speaker 1: defenses into Nickel or a dome scheme and they're going
- 31:43Speaker 1: to try to find out who's matched up. He saw
- 31:45Speaker 1: last week in the Pittsburgh game that when he had
- 31:47Speaker 1: a linebacker or undersized safety, it was automatic he was
- 31:50Speaker 1: going to go to him. Yep. A couple more questions
- 31:52Speaker 1: for Lincoln Kennedy. We saw a lot of Paul Gunter
- 31:55Speaker 1: here as defensive coordinator and is the Bengals DC. Paul
- 31:58Speaker 1: liked to rush for and drops seven. He hated the blitz.
- 32:02Speaker 1: Bengals probably had the lowest blitz percentage while he was
- 32:05Speaker 1: here of any team in the NFL. I looked at
- 32:07Speaker 1: the Oakland stats. They see eleven sacks as a team,
- 32:10Speaker 1: and I assume that that's what Paul has been doing.
- 32:13Speaker 1: Is that the case? That is the case, Well, he look,
- 32:17Speaker 1: he's having the blitz because the Raiders don't have a rusher.
- 32:20Speaker 1: The Raiders on each level of the defense, defensive linebackers,
- 32:24Speaker 1: in secondary have had holes. They have needs and there's
- 32:29Speaker 1: gonna be major turnover this offseason the Robster, especially on
- 32:32Speaker 1: the defensive side. I like Gunther's scheme. He just doesn't
- 32:35Speaker 1: have the people to do it and talk with. But
- 32:38Speaker 1: Paul extensively, you know, he said, look, if I had
- 32:40Speaker 1: a guy like Khalil Mack, you know I can I
- 32:43Speaker 1: could do some things with him, rushing him, get him isolated,
- 32:45Speaker 1: stuff like that. But he doesn't have that luxury art
- 32:47Speaker 1: and key. For what it's worth right now, the Raiders
- 32:49Speaker 1: third round pick was is a nickel rusher because he's undersized,
- 32:54Speaker 1: he's not an every down player. So the Raiders have
- 32:57Speaker 1: got addressed the needs, as I said, on every level
- 32:59Speaker 1: of their defense. And Paul Gunter is going to have
- 33:01Speaker 1: to have a major turnover in order to implement his
- 33:05Speaker 1: philosophy because right now they just don't have the people
- 33:07Speaker 1: to do it. Lincoln, how good is Maurice Hurst. He's
- 33:12Speaker 1: playing really well. He had he was injured. He didn't
- 33:14Speaker 1: play the last game. I think he had the last
- 33:16Speaker 1: game he was out, but he has been playing pretty well. Look,
- 33:20Speaker 1: the Raiders are asking their rookies to do a lot
- 33:22Speaker 1: because they have been decimated by injuries and had a
- 33:25Speaker 1: bunch of the older players put on ir they're asking
- 33:28Speaker 1: their young players to do a lot. More importantly, they've
- 33:30Speaker 1: got to get the young players to believe into it,
- 33:32Speaker 1: because even if the veterans say they don't want to
- 33:34Speaker 1: be with the Raiders anymore, they want to go elsewhere,
- 33:36Speaker 1: your future is going to be dictated a lot on
- 33:40Speaker 1: your rookies and your newcoming players. And so they've asked
- 33:43Speaker 1: Maurice and TJ. Hall and a lot of Justin Ellis,
- 33:45Speaker 1: a lot of defensive tackles to do a lot, especially
- 33:48Speaker 1: in that interior rotation, because they're valuable as far as
- 33:51Speaker 1: run stopping goes. What are the players thinking, like next year,
- 33:56Speaker 1: where are we going to play Oakland suing Us? I mean,
- 33:59Speaker 1: do the players think idea? You think of that stuff. Yeah.
- 34:03Speaker 1: The thing is that players, players just want to play.
- 34:06Speaker 1: Said they had to play on the sandlot, they played,
- 34:08Speaker 1: They do that. They don't. They don't get caught up
- 34:10Speaker 1: in these things. Now. Yeah, the matter of uncertainty comes
- 34:14Speaker 1: for a lot of the veterans who've got families and
- 34:17Speaker 1: if they bought a place in California, they're trying to
- 34:19Speaker 1: figure out where they're going to be. I mean that's
- 34:21Speaker 1: where you kind of get offset. But I'm in a
- 34:24Speaker 1: dark just like you guys, and I'm pretty close to
- 34:25Speaker 1: the organization. I have no idea what we're playing this year. Yeah,
- 34:28Speaker 1: I don't. And it's it's said when you've got three
- 34:30Speaker 1: games left in the season, and I'm really tired with
- 34:33Speaker 1: a lot of the Raider faithful and Raider Nation up
- 34:35Speaker 1: in the Bay Area. UM, there are a lot of
- 34:37Speaker 1: season ticket holders who don't know they're they're unsure, they
- 34:39Speaker 1: don't want to commit to the team, even though they
- 34:41Speaker 1: want to follow because they don't know where it's gonna be. Huh, bizarre.
- 34:44Speaker 1: The Raider fans have been is I mean, is energetic
- 34:49Speaker 1: and supportive as any in the history of the NFL.
- 34:51Speaker 1: Is it waning at all with all this that's going on,
- 34:54Speaker 1: or as Raider Nation as strong as ever. No, it's
- 34:57Speaker 1: it's definitely waning. There's there's no doubt about it, because
- 34:59Speaker 1: there's a level and certainty right now. There were a
- 35:02Speaker 1: lot of Raider fans who were excited that John Gruden
- 35:04Speaker 1: came back in the fold because when he came back,
- 35:06Speaker 1: he projected that the Raiders are going to be competitive
- 35:09Speaker 1: and there they were going to try to challenge for
- 35:10Speaker 1: a Super Bowl before the Raiders left. Well, that's not
- 35:12Speaker 1: going to happen. It's not gonna happen this year, obviously,
- 35:15Speaker 1: and it's not probably that's going to happen next year
- 35:16Speaker 1: unless i mean everything falls their way and they get
- 35:19Speaker 1: you know, it just doesn't happen like that in the
- 35:20Speaker 1: National Football League. So there's a lot of uncertainty from
- 35:23Speaker 1: the heartbeat of the Raider Nation, which is in Oakland, California.
- 35:26Speaker 1: You know, the future looks bright as far as the
- 35:28Speaker 1: stadium goes when they get in Vegas and everything else
- 35:30Speaker 1: when that time comes. But in that interim, in that
- 35:33Speaker 1: time between now and then, there's a lot of uncertainty,
- 35:35Speaker 1: and the Raider Nation is up in the here because
- 35:37Speaker 1: they don't know where the team's going to be. They
- 35:39Speaker 1: would love to support them, but here's the thing, this
- 35:41Speaker 1: is such a bizarre situation even with the relocation, that
- 35:45Speaker 1: it's really hard to commit to something or want to
- 35:49Speaker 1: be a part of something, especially when they're not being
- 35:51Speaker 1: as successful as they as you want on the field.
- 35:54Speaker 1: Final question will let you go, what's it like working
- 35:56Speaker 1: with Musburger? Really surreal? And it really is. It's um.
- 36:01Speaker 1: Every time I look over to Brent, I remember him
- 36:04Speaker 1: as a kid on CBS with the crew and hearing
- 36:07Speaker 1: his voice, you know, it's it was so it's timeless
- 36:11Speaker 1: being and hearing the stories that he's had throughout his career.
- 36:13Speaker 1: So it's it's absolutely wonderful. But um, it is a
- 36:16Speaker 1: surreal moment when you when you realize what I realized
- 36:19Speaker 1: that I'm calling games with the legendary Brent Musblatter. It's
- 36:23Speaker 1: it's a dream from true all right, thanks to Lincoln Kennedy,
- 36:25Speaker 1: And that's going to do it for this episode of
- 36:27Speaker 1: the podcast. If you haven't done so already, don't forget
- 36:31Speaker 1: to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or pod Bean, and if
- 36:35Speaker 1: you have a minute, give it a rating or leave
- 36:37Speaker 1: a comment. Your feedback is always appreciated. Five star ratings
- 36:41Speaker 1: help more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde
- 36:45Speaker 1: and thanks so much for listening to the Bengals Booth
- 36:48Speaker 1: podcast