Latest / Bengals Booth Podcast / Bengals Booth Podcast: Kiss and Say Goodbye

Transcript

Bengals Booth Podcast: Kiss and Say Goodbye · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast, the Let's Just Kiss and Say
0:12
Speaker 1: Good edition, as we look back at the ten and
0:18
Speaker 1: a half years that Carlos Dunlap spent with the Bengals.
0:22
Speaker 1: Following Wednesday's trade of the two time pro bowler to
0:25
Speaker 1: the Seattle Seahawks, coming up, Jesse Bates and Zach Taylor
0:29
Speaker 1: discussed the Dunlap deal, and then we'll turn the clock
0:32
Speaker 1: back and hear from Carlos on one of his most
0:36
Speaker 1: memorable moments in a Bengals uniform. This week's one on
0:40
Speaker 1: one player interview is with Billy Price as the Bengals
0:42
Speaker 1: look at the possibility of going into Sunday's game without
0:46
Speaker 1: three of their starting offensive linemen and in our Know
0:50
Speaker 1: the Faux segment, we'll be joined by the voice of
0:52
Speaker 1: the Tennessee Titans, Mike Keith. The Bengals Booth Podcast is
0:57
Speaker 1: presented by Bud Light Seltzer Refreshed the Game and here's
1:01
Speaker 1: a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition
1:03
Speaker 1: of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or
1:06
Speaker 1: computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or
1:12
Speaker 1: pod Bean, it's the greatest thing since taking the high Road.
1:17
Speaker 1: After granting Carlos Dunlap's wish and trading him to Seattle,
1:20
Speaker 1: the Bengals posted a picture of him high fiving fans
1:24
Speaker 1: on social media and thanked him for a memorable decade
1:28
Speaker 1: in the Jungle, and the team press release announcing the
1:32
Speaker 1: trade included the following quote from team president Mike Brown.
1:36
Speaker 1: Carlos had many fine seasons here and showed rare physical
1:40
Speaker 1: talent that took him to multiple Pro Bowls. I will
1:43
Speaker 1: always remember the role he played as a key part
1:46
Speaker 1: of exceptional defenses that we rode to the playoffs year
1:50
Speaker 1: after year. There are a lot of fond memories I
1:53
Speaker 1: have of Carlos, and I wish him well. I'm not
1:56
Speaker 1: surprised that Mike Brown showed class and paying tribute to
2:00
Speaker 1: former employee ninety six. And although the last few weeks
2:03
Speaker 1: got pretty ugly, it does not obscure the fact that
2:06
Speaker 1: Carlos Dunlap will go down as one of the best
2:09
Speaker 1: pass rushers in team history. Empty backfield shotgun staff to pack,
2:15
Speaker 1: hit it a scepto and he runs it in for
2:19
Speaker 1: a Cincinnati touchdown. He batted the ball up in the air,
2:24
Speaker 1: snatched it out of the air and then run it
2:26
Speaker 1: into the house to tie the game. That was one
2:30
Speaker 1: of three touchdowns that Carlos Dunlap has scored in the NFL.
2:33
Speaker 1: There have been eighty two and a half sacks, one
2:37
Speaker 1: off Eddie Edwards franchise record. There have been forty pass deflections,
2:42
Speaker 1: and there were the back to back Pro Bowl appearances
2:45
Speaker 1: in twenty fifteen and sixteen. Those stats are now final
2:50
Speaker 1: in a Bengals uniform, here's Zach Taylor. So we made
2:54
Speaker 1: a trade today was just official, and we'll get bj
2:57
Speaker 1: Finney from the Seahawks, who we woke. It'll help us
3:00
Speaker 1: in the offensive line room. He's a veteran offensive lineman
3:03
Speaker 1: and Carlos will go to Seattle, and we just want
3:06
Speaker 1: to think Carlos. Carlos had a tremendous career here, made
3:09
Speaker 1: a great impact on this organization and in the community Here,
3:12
Speaker 1: did a lot of roy positive things and was always
3:15
Speaker 1: out about in the community. So it'll be a good
3:17
Speaker 1: fit for him. Who have a great opportunity and we
3:19
Speaker 1: just wish him the best. Coach did the Carlos Dunlap
3:22
Speaker 1: situation just really reached a point where it was best
3:25
Speaker 1: for both sides to move in a different direction. I
3:28
Speaker 1: think that's a great way to put it. Yeah, Zach
3:30
Speaker 1: didn't mention it, but the Bengals also got a seventh
3:32
Speaker 1: round draft pick in the deal. As for b J Finney,
3:35
Speaker 1: he's twenty nine years old and was the seahawks backup center.
3:39
Speaker 1: He spent the last four years in Pittsburgh, where he
3:41
Speaker 1: started thirteen games when eight time Pro Bowler or Case
3:45
Speaker 1: Pouncey was injured. Dunlap joins a Seattle team that shares
3:50
Speaker 1: the best record in the NFC with Green Bay at
3:52
Speaker 1: five and one, and can definitely use a pass rusher.
3:56
Speaker 1: The Seahawks have nine sacks as a team. That's as
4:00
Speaker 1: many as Miles Garrett has by himself, and there are
4:03
Speaker 1: only five teams in the NFL with fewer. Here's Jesse
4:07
Speaker 1: Bates on Carlos heading West. I think Carlos is a
4:11
Speaker 1: good person, and I'm just happy that he's in another
4:14
Speaker 1: situation where maybe he's gonna have some success. So, you know,
4:18
Speaker 1: that's all I can say. You know, team building, Jesse
4:21
Speaker 1: has been an emphasis with coach Taylor ever since he
4:23
Speaker 1: got here. Do you feel at all that Carlos interfered
4:27
Speaker 1: with that, I don't think so. Like I said, I
4:30
Speaker 1: think Carlos is a good person. He means well. He
4:33
Speaker 1: does a lot of stuff in the community and stuff
4:35
Speaker 1: like that. So that's that's not for me to answer.
4:39
Speaker 1: Just like I said, I think Carlos is a good
4:41
Speaker 1: person and he means well. I have nothing but good
4:44
Speaker 1: things to say about Carlos. UM. I know things didn't
4:46
Speaker 1: work out here for home at the end, but I'm
4:49
Speaker 1: sure he'll have a lot of success, so they gotta
4:52
Speaker 1: be with him. A lot of his displeasure was voiced
4:55
Speaker 1: in social media. Did he voice any of that among
4:57
Speaker 1: you guys are in the locker room and did he
4:58
Speaker 1: become any kind of distraction in that way? I wouldn't
5:01
Speaker 1: say distraction. UM. I think when you have these type
5:04
Speaker 1: of things come into the locker room, people kind of
5:07
Speaker 1: avoid it. Honestly, we just don't talk about it. We
5:10
Speaker 1: got one goal and that's to win every week. So UM,
5:14
Speaker 1: you know, whether that was Carlos on the field with
5:16
Speaker 1: us or not. UM, I think our goal was to
5:18
Speaker 1: win the game and it wasn't any distraction. So sometimes
5:22
Speaker 1: it's best for all parties involved just to move on.
5:25
Speaker 1: Had getten to that point, where was just best to
5:27
Speaker 1: move on and uh and restart for everybody. Yeah. Absolutely, Um.
5:32
Speaker 1: I mean people get traded, people get released every year,
5:37
Speaker 1: and unfortunately it happened in the middle of the year
5:39
Speaker 1: for Carlos. So yeah, it's just it's just a weird situation.
5:44
Speaker 1: I don't know much about it, so I can't really
5:46
Speaker 1: speak on it as much. Um. Yeah, Carlos a great
5:49
Speaker 1: guy to me, so um, I respect him a lot.
5:52
Speaker 1: Last November, Carlos Dunlap joined Dave Lapham and me on
5:55
Speaker 1: the Bengals Game Plan Show for one hour at the
5:58
Speaker 1: Montgomery En Boathouse, and he was great when the fans
6:01
Speaker 1: who came out as he signed autographs and posed for
6:03
Speaker 1: pictures during the commercial breaks. We started the show that
6:07
Speaker 1: night by discussing something that had happened about one week earlier.
6:11
Speaker 1: I want to start by talking about my favorite moment
6:15
Speaker 1: of the season to date, and that was Salute to
6:18
Speaker 1: Service Day at Paul Brown Stadium. We've always seen the
6:22
Speaker 1: Bengals come out of the tunnel along with a service
6:25
Speaker 1: member and that was the case this year. But lo
6:29
Speaker 1: and behold, when you came out of the tunnel, the
6:32
Speaker 1: service member was Carlos Dunlap Senior. I was just about
6:37
Speaker 1: moved to tears. That was awesome, That was amazing. I
6:40
Speaker 1: had no clue until I went into the tunnel that
6:43
Speaker 1: I was gonna I was gonna be paired up with
6:45
Speaker 1: my father. Um, you know, I walked out there, I
6:48
Speaker 1: greeted all the vets that were all in uniform, and
6:52
Speaker 1: here my dad is with my jersey on and he
6:54
Speaker 1: had camo gear on and I'm wait, wait, wait, what
6:58
Speaker 1: are you doing here? And he's I didn't say nothing. Then,
7:01
Speaker 1: so I went down the line, shook the rest of
7:02
Speaker 1: the vets hands and then um, the announcer was like, okay,
7:06
Speaker 1: you're with him. You're with him, You're with him? Like,
7:09
Speaker 1: howd y'all pull this out? How long? How early in
7:13
Speaker 1: advance did he know? He still hasn't deal. Some of
7:18
Speaker 1: the Bengals staff did tell me that, uh, he actually
7:22
Speaker 1: reached out to them about the opportunity, so that I I
7:24
Speaker 1: was pretty cool, and they thought that he was. They
7:27
Speaker 1: thought that there wasn't sure if it was a real
7:30
Speaker 1: email or not, so they so they called Resty guy
7:32
Speaker 1: to do his background. Said Rosty is the Bengal's head
7:36
Speaker 1: of security. So that's funny. Yeah, and then the rest
7:39
Speaker 1: is history. So two branches a service, right, I mean
7:42
Speaker 1: two branches, that's that's highly unusual. Give us a story
7:46
Speaker 1: on that. Why two branches a service? Well, actually, fortunate
7:50
Speaker 1: enough for me and my family. He got out right
7:53
Speaker 1: when pretty much my brother was born and I was
7:56
Speaker 1: born two and a half years after that. So we
7:58
Speaker 1: weren't uh what, uh, I don't know. It's usually the
8:03
Speaker 1: terms usually army breats where you move, yeah, military brands,
8:06
Speaker 1: military breats. Yeah. Um, so we weren't. We didn't have
8:10
Speaker 1: to go through and experience that. But I'm very familiar
8:13
Speaker 1: with his naval history because you know how neat they are.
8:17
Speaker 1: My mom she also served in the Air Force. I
8:19
Speaker 1: gotta put that out there because she can run out
8:21
Speaker 1: next year, right, because my dad's getting all his love phones.
8:25
Speaker 1: You know, I think we need to just go ahead
8:28
Speaker 1: and make that a plan for next year. You'll run
8:31
Speaker 1: out with mom. Yeah. I love that opportunity too. Unfortunately
8:35
Speaker 1: that moment won't happen at least in Cincinnati. Later on
8:39
Speaker 1: that show, we discussed his charitable efforts in the Cincinnati community, which,
8:44
Speaker 1: much like the Anthony Munho's Foundation, have had a huge impact. Well,
8:49
Speaker 1: First of all, like I say, I admire what what
8:51
Speaker 1: anthlete does in the community. Him and Marvin Lewis, UM,
8:55
Speaker 1: their foundations have such a huge impact in the city
9:00
Speaker 1: of Cincinnati, and all the things that they're doing have
9:02
Speaker 1: long term impacts. Those are those are people that I
9:05
Speaker 1: look up to when I when I try to develop
9:07
Speaker 1: my foundation and bring it to the next level. Um.
9:11
Speaker 1: But as you guys know, you know, breast cancer awareness, UM,
9:15
Speaker 1: it's putting a stop the bullying, the portance of education
9:19
Speaker 1: and inner city athletes and you know, pretty much whatever
9:24
Speaker 1: my heart feels. You know, during the season, you have
9:27
Speaker 1: different months where they allow you to bring awareness to
9:30
Speaker 1: different platforms, right, And I really just like being the
9:34
Speaker 1: vehicle for you know, bringing awareness to whatever you know
9:37
Speaker 1: touches my heart of my family. It's great, it's awesome.
9:40
Speaker 1: You've been so generous with your time and your talent
9:42
Speaker 1: and your money and it helps so many people. It's
9:45
Speaker 1: truly appreciated. Holos played in one hundred and sixty games
9:49
Speaker 1: in a Bengals uniform, including five straight playoff appearances, and
9:53
Speaker 1: formed a tremendous one two punch on the defensive line
9:56
Speaker 1: with his fellow member of the two thousand ten draft
9:59
Speaker 1: class Geno Atkins. He was well compensated for that, as
10:03
Speaker 1: Carlos has earned more than seventy million dollars in his
10:06
Speaker 1: NFL career. He was always very accommodating with the media,
10:10
Speaker 1: and I wish him nothing but the best in Seattle.
10:14
Speaker 1: No time to change subjects. The Bengals took the practice
10:17
Speaker 1: field on Wednesday without three of their starting offensive linemen.
10:21
Speaker 1: Right tackle Bobby Hart has already been ruled out for
10:24
Speaker 1: Sunday's game with a knee injury, and left tackle Jodah
10:27
Speaker 1: Williams and center Trey Hopkins are considered day to day.
10:30
Speaker 1: Jonah has a stinger in his neck or a pinched nerve,
10:34
Speaker 1: and Hopkins suffered a concussion. Fred Johnson will take over
10:38
Speaker 1: at right tackle. If Jonah is out, rookie Achmadenagy replaces him,
10:43
Speaker 1: and if Hopkins can't play, Billy Price starts at center.
10:47
Speaker 1: I spoke to the former first round draft pick out
10:50
Speaker 1: of Ohio State on Wednesday. Billy You took over at
10:53
Speaker 1: center last week with three thirty nine left in the
10:56
Speaker 1: first half after Trey Hopkins left with a concussion. You
10:59
Speaker 1: were in for four drives, not including the one play
11:02
Speaker 1: Hail Mary. At the end of the game, all four
11:05
Speaker 1: drives were at least ten plays, All four drives were
11:08
Speaker 1: at least seventy six yards. Those drives ended in touchdown,
11:12
Speaker 1: field goal, touchdown, touchdown. How gratifying was that? I mean,
11:17
Speaker 1: it's extremely gratifying. But again, you got to give credit
11:19
Speaker 1: to again the whole entire offense executing at a high level.
11:23
Speaker 1: That's what it really comes down. So again, you extend
11:24
Speaker 1: those types of drives take you know, the time off
11:27
Speaker 1: the clock, and especially in games like that, you know
11:30
Speaker 1: time is precious for us. You have to be ready
11:32
Speaker 1: at a moment's notice. At three positions center, left guard,
11:37
Speaker 1: right guard. The assignments different on every play. You're working
11:41
Speaker 1: with a different teammate depending on where you line up.
11:44
Speaker 1: How hard is that and how do you keep it
11:47
Speaker 1: all straight? The level of difficulty is very, very high.
11:52
Speaker 1: I can tell you that the techniques are very different,
11:54
Speaker 1: extremely extremely extremely limited reps throughout the week at all
11:59
Speaker 1: three positions. But again it's it's a mental game. Again.
12:02
Speaker 1: If you understand how to get the job done itself
12:05
Speaker 1: and what the goal of the play is, it makes
12:07
Speaker 1: things a little bit easier. Again, I've gotten all three
12:10
Speaker 1: positions now a good amount of time in my past
12:12
Speaker 1: three years here in Cincinnati, so just become second nature.
12:16
Speaker 1: Just again, when your numbers called, you gotta be ready
12:17
Speaker 1: to go. We're chatting with Billy Price. How does your
12:20
Speaker 1: comfort level at center compare to your comfort level at
12:24
Speaker 1: either guard spot. I could say I'm a little bit
12:27
Speaker 1: more comfortable at guard lately, but now again, you know,
12:30
Speaker 1: I haven't played center and in an extended amount of
12:33
Speaker 1: times since my rookie year or so for me going
12:35
Speaker 1: back in there, it's just kind of really dusting the
12:36
Speaker 1: cobwebs off after not playing center last year, so feeling
12:41
Speaker 1: better about it this year, and again, whatever whatever the
12:43
Speaker 1: team needs me to do, I'm ready to go. Billy.
12:45
Speaker 1: We could see you at times during last week's game
12:49
Speaker 1: doing practice snaps with Joe Burrow between series on the sideline,
12:53
Speaker 1: not shotgun snaps, but direct snaps. Do you have to
12:57
Speaker 1: change anything based on the quarterback or is it a
12:59
Speaker 1: matter of him just getting comfortable with you? I think
13:02
Speaker 1: it's both. Again, it's a two way street. Again, making
13:05
Speaker 1: sure that I hit the point every single time at
13:07
Speaker 1: the same location where his hands are. Again, it's something
13:10
Speaker 1: we've gotten figured out and We're getting more comfortable with
13:13
Speaker 1: one another, and it's we're good to go. We're visiting
13:15
Speaker 1: the Billy Price. One thing I've always respected about you
13:18
Speaker 1: is that football is important. You want to be great.
13:22
Speaker 1: And this passed off season. After the season ended in
13:25
Speaker 1: late December, in January, you went to Dallas to work
13:28
Speaker 1: with a well known offensive line guru, Duke manny Weather.
13:32
Speaker 1: Why did you do it and what did you gain
13:34
Speaker 1: from that? For me, again, it's just the year I
13:37
Speaker 1: had last year, kind of up and down and the
13:39
Speaker 1: uncertainty off Again, I wasn't prepared to play all three positions.
13:42
Speaker 1: I was preparing for one in the previous offseason. It
13:45
Speaker 1: was really really good for me again just building confidence
13:48
Speaker 1: and again assessing what you're really good at. And you
13:51
Speaker 1: know the type of man Duke is and the type
13:52
Speaker 1: of people that you're around. I'm with some of the
13:55
Speaker 1: elite tackles and the interior players across the NFL offensive lines.
13:59
Speaker 1: So again you're training with great company, again sharpening your
14:02
Speaker 1: mind and again being able to pick the brains of others.
14:05
Speaker 1: We had Olie masterminds down there in July and I
14:08
Speaker 1: got to talk with Ryan Jensen, and Ryan Jensen is
14:10
Speaker 1: one of the most respected centers out there right now,
14:13
Speaker 1: and again being able to pick his mind about things
14:15
Speaker 1: that he does, things he looks for in film study,
14:18
Speaker 1: just really helps to develop the game, you know, and
14:20
Speaker 1: for what I'm doing this year again, being ready for
14:22
Speaker 1: all three positions, understanding things as a center and as
14:25
Speaker 1: a guard. Again, I've developed a really really strong relationship
14:28
Speaker 1: with Duke, you know. I talked to him weekly, send
14:30
Speaker 1: him clips just to make sure things are ready. And
14:32
Speaker 1: again if I need to sharpen something at left guard
14:35
Speaker 1: that I'm better at right guard, you know, getting another
14:37
Speaker 1: set of eyes is really beneficial for me. We're spending
14:39
Speaker 1: a few minutes with Billy Price. I watched an interview
14:42
Speaker 1: you did in June, and you said that being a
14:44
Speaker 1: first round pick is not something that you take lightly.
14:48
Speaker 1: Has it been difficult dealing with the expectations that go
14:51
Speaker 1: with that, considering that you really have not been fully
14:54
Speaker 1: healthy in your first two NFL seasons. Yeah, I wouldn't
14:58
Speaker 1: say the expectations and you're dealing the expectations, it's there.
15:01
Speaker 1: They're never to what my own expectations are. Again, I
15:04
Speaker 1: was very well respected player in college, did a lot
15:08
Speaker 1: of very good things helped teams win championships. And again
15:10
Speaker 1: that was the expectation, and that's my level of play.
15:13
Speaker 1: That's the standard of what you should be doing. Again,
15:17
Speaker 1: it's you know, the health is I've learned health is
15:20
Speaker 1: wealth in this league. And again it starts from the
15:22
Speaker 1: ground up. I've had two foot injuries and a situation
15:24
Speaker 1: I couldn't control my rookie one, and you know, getting
15:27
Speaker 1: in better routines this past offseason to make sure that
15:29
Speaker 1: I am fully healthy for a full sixteen sixteen week
15:32
Speaker 1: sixteen game schedule this year. Again, you've got to do
15:36
Speaker 1: things after you know, you leave the facility and making
15:39
Speaker 1: sure that the routines and again my wife knows the
15:41
Speaker 1: routine again at eight o'clock, normatech, getting the feet right,
15:44
Speaker 1: you know, do an extra stretching, playing with the dogs,
15:47
Speaker 1: just simple things like that to make sure that you're
15:49
Speaker 1: healthy for this upcoming week. So and it doesn't start
15:52
Speaker 1: on you know, it starts Monday. It doesn't start, you know,
15:55
Speaker 1: two days before the game. It starts on Monday. Again,
15:57
Speaker 1: if you're behind the eight ball when you get to Sunday,
15:59
Speaker 1: it's going to be bad news. Kelly. You mentioned your
16:01
Speaker 1: great college career when you were a third year sophomore
16:04
Speaker 1: at Ohio State. In your second year as a starter,
16:07
Speaker 1: a young high school quarterback from Athens, Ohio shows up.
16:11
Speaker 1: Do you remember your early impressions and Joe Burrow and
16:14
Speaker 1: what do you think of him six years later? You know,
16:16
Speaker 1: the first early impressions again, it was a situation. Again
16:19
Speaker 1: we always talk about spring ballum, and you know the
16:22
Speaker 1: stories of you know, Joe Burrow is live during spring
16:25
Speaker 1: ball and there was no there was no live about that. Um.
16:29
Speaker 1: The hits I watched him take against guys that are
16:31
Speaker 1: you know the bossa brother are just Joey Taekwon Lewis,
16:35
Speaker 1: Some of the guys are my are heavy hitters that
16:36
Speaker 1: we had on defense. UM, just letting it go on him, um.
16:40
Speaker 1: And again to see his resiliency and again knowing you know,
16:43
Speaker 1: the kid himself and then seeing the man they walked
16:45
Speaker 1: through the locker room when he first got here is
16:48
Speaker 1: a tremendous you know, transformation. And when he went down
16:50
Speaker 1: to LSU, when he told the team and you know, hey,
16:52
Speaker 1: I'm going to transfer it again, it was like, oh,
16:53
Speaker 1: you're going down South with them boys, Um. And then
16:55
Speaker 1: to come out the leader and the and the you
16:58
Speaker 1: know the true renaissance man, the heat is and how
17:00
Speaker 1: he leads the offense here in Cincinnati. Again, I'm just
17:03
Speaker 1: glad he's on our side. Early. You've got the Titans
17:05
Speaker 1: this week. As you've started to look at that defensive
17:09
Speaker 1: line for Tennessee. I don't know that a lot of
17:11
Speaker 1: people know Jeffrey Simmons number ninety eight, but he's one
17:14
Speaker 1: of the highest graded interior alignment in the NFL. People
17:17
Speaker 1: do know Jadevi and Clowney obviously former number one overall
17:21
Speaker 1: pick in the draft. What stands out when you study
17:23
Speaker 1: that group? Obviously you see jadeveon when they picked him
17:26
Speaker 1: up in the offseason. Again, and I know coach Rabel
17:30
Speaker 1: very well my time at Ohio State, so I know
17:32
Speaker 1: I know what he is. Very aggressive, you very technically sound,
17:35
Speaker 1: and I know that defense is definitely gonna bring it.
17:38
Speaker 1: Watching their game against Pittsburgh last week, again, you've got
17:40
Speaker 1: a great offense over there in Pittsburgh and seeing how
17:43
Speaker 1: they try to manipulate that defensive front to really control
17:46
Speaker 1: the game, and I think that that's important for us
17:48
Speaker 1: as we go to continue the game plan this week.
17:50
Speaker 1: Simmons very young kid, very good with his hands, you know,
17:53
Speaker 1: very physical guy. About Jadevion as he is, he is
17:57
Speaker 1: everything that everybody says he is, you know, great with
17:59
Speaker 1: his hands, explosive, athletic, and again, their entire cast is
18:03
Speaker 1: very well rounded, and so I think that that's going
18:05
Speaker 1: to present a good challenge for us, and I know
18:07
Speaker 1: we're looking forward to so that you were ready at
18:09
Speaker 1: a moment's notice last week and did a fantastic job.
18:11
Speaker 1: Congratulations on that. Best of luck Sunday against the Titans.
18:15
Speaker 1: Thank you, Looking forward to The Bengals Booth podcast is
18:18
Speaker 1: presented by Bud Light Seltzer. It's light and refreshing with
18:23
Speaker 1: a hint of fruit flavor. Now time for this week's
18:26
Speaker 1: No the Faux Segment. The Tennessee Titans are five and
18:29
Speaker 1: one under third year head coach Mike Vrabel, who took
18:32
Speaker 1: them to the AFC Championship Game last year. Vrabel also
18:37
Speaker 1: happens to be best friends with UC head football coach
18:40
Speaker 1: Luke Fickle. They were teammates for three years at Ohio State.
18:45
Speaker 1: The voice of the Titans, Mike Keith, joined Lapping Me
18:48
Speaker 1: on the Bengals Game Plan Show this week, and I
18:50
Speaker 1: started our conversation by asking him what makes Vrabel such
18:54
Speaker 1: a successful head coach. It's very smart to start with,
19:00
Speaker 1: very very bright, and very The first time I sat
19:03
Speaker 1: down with him, I knew he was gonna make it
19:05
Speaker 1: because he had the whole head coach thing right away.
19:09
Speaker 1: He's not I'm the head offense coach, or I'm the
19:13
Speaker 1: head defense coach, or I'm the head football coach. He's
19:17
Speaker 1: the head coach. He's involved in every aspect of the
19:21
Speaker 1: planning of arranging the staff. He knows everything that's going on.
19:26
Speaker 1: He takes a personal touch with players and coaches and
19:30
Speaker 1: people in the building when there were people in the building. Actually,
19:35
Speaker 1: he just has that feel, and you guys have seen
19:38
Speaker 1: it over the years and whatever sport it is. Some
19:41
Speaker 1: people have the CEO thing and some people don't. You know,
19:45
Speaker 1: some people are really good football coaches, but they can't
19:48
Speaker 1: be a head coach, and Rabel has that about him.
19:51
Speaker 1: He's grown over two plus years. He doesn't say a
19:55
Speaker 1: lot to the media. He quite frankly, doesn't say a
19:58
Speaker 1: whole lot behind closed door or doing his radio and
20:01
Speaker 1: TV show. What he gets the most pleasure in is
20:05
Speaker 1: harassing his host I don't know if Philichick does that
20:10
Speaker 1: to the guys he works with, but Raybol can be
20:13
Speaker 1: a tremendous amount of fun. He has a wicked sense
20:16
Speaker 1: of humor. He is very sarcastic. Sometimes he thinks he'll
20:23
Speaker 1: even stop and say, you know, I'm kidding, which we do.
20:26
Speaker 1: But I tell you the other thing about him too
20:28
Speaker 1: is he never takes a shot at somebody who's down
20:34
Speaker 1: or who can't come back or It's always playful and fun.
20:38
Speaker 1: It's never bullying. And he is particularly kind to people
20:43
Speaker 1: that he, as the head coach, doesn't necessarily have to
20:47
Speaker 1: be kind to. And so I think that speaks a
20:49
Speaker 1: lot to his character and who he is. And I
20:52
Speaker 1: think his players know that about him too, that even
20:56
Speaker 1: when he is yelling and screaming, it's not a personal thing.
21:00
Speaker 1: That's very interesting, good good insight there. I know he's
21:05
Speaker 1: not a defensive coordinator, but he was a defensive player,
21:09
Speaker 1: so he's got pride in his defense. Thirty second in
21:11
Speaker 1: the NFL on third down, thirty first in the NFL,
21:15
Speaker 1: and red zone touchdown percentage allowed at eighty one percent,
21:18
Speaker 1: allowing sixty one percent on third down. I mean, those
21:21
Speaker 1: numbers are just they're not you know, the running game.
21:25
Speaker 1: They're allowing almost one hundred and twenty nine yards a
21:27
Speaker 1: game in the ground four point nine per carry. That's
21:30
Speaker 1: not something that Mike Vrabel I'm sure is pleased about it. No, no,
21:36
Speaker 1: he's not. And the you know, the thing that we
21:39
Speaker 1: knew entering this year, Dave, is we understood that the
21:43
Speaker 1: offense was going to have to carry the defense for
21:45
Speaker 1: a while, and the reason was that the offense is
21:50
Speaker 1: very veteran, a bunch of guys who've been together, veteran quarterback,
21:55
Speaker 1: veteran running back, I mean, the whole thing. They we said,
21:59
Speaker 1: you know, they could have lined up for the first
22:02
Speaker 1: day on July thirtieth and been ready to play a
22:04
Speaker 1: game in the following Sunday. They were just they were
22:07
Speaker 1: just ready to go. And they returned ten of eleven
22:12
Speaker 1: starters and the entire coaching staff. The defense was different.
22:16
Speaker 1: They traded Jarell Casey, Wesley Woodyard departed and I think
22:20
Speaker 1: he's probably retired. Logan Ryan is no longer with the team.
22:24
Speaker 1: So three veteran presents players of veteran presents, and then
22:29
Speaker 1: Temps retires as defensive coordinator. They bring in Jim Haslett
22:35
Speaker 1: as part of the coaching staff. They have Shane Bowen
22:39
Speaker 1: the outside linebacker coach who I think is calling the plays.
22:43
Speaker 1: A new secondary coach as well. They had to kind
22:47
Speaker 1: of rotate their entire group in the secondary. They've been
22:50
Speaker 1: without a Dory Jackson. Hey, they needed OTAs in minicamp,
22:56
Speaker 1: they needed preseason games, and so this has shown up now.
23:00
Speaker 1: It's worse than we thought. Last year. They got off
23:03
Speaker 1: the field allowing thirty six percent third down conversions sixty
23:08
Speaker 1: one percent right now, right which is astronomical. And yeah,
23:13
Speaker 1: Rabel's pulling his hair out over it. He knows it's
23:15
Speaker 1: got to get better. It showed up last week in
23:18
Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh game. It's probably the number one staff that
23:21
Speaker 1: beat him in that game. And the Titans know if
23:24
Speaker 1: they're gonna have a chance to be special, that has
23:27
Speaker 1: to improve. In a big, big hurry, we are chatting
23:30
Speaker 1: with the voice of the Titans, Mike Keith. Let's talk
23:32
Speaker 1: Derrick Henry, the only running back in the NFL averaging
23:35
Speaker 1: more than a hundred yards a game. We see the highlights,
23:37
Speaker 1: the ninety four yard touchdown run, the stiff arm that
23:41
Speaker 1: you know Josh Norman will never be able to forget.
23:45
Speaker 1: He'll be reminded of it on Twitter for the rest
23:47
Speaker 1: of his life or at least as long as Twitter exists.
23:51
Speaker 1: Aside from that, is he the heart and soul of
23:54
Speaker 1: the team with the way that he plays and the
23:56
Speaker 1: way that he runs. Yes, yeah, he's the he's the
24:00
Speaker 1: face of Nashville Sports. Now he's he's tannehill Is. It's
24:05
Speaker 1: kind of Tannehill's team and that's and that's been a
24:09
Speaker 1: cool thing to see the quarterback. It's become his team.
24:12
Speaker 1: But if you if you had to put a player
24:15
Speaker 1: on a poster to represent who we are right now,
24:17
Speaker 1: it's Derrick Henry because this is a guy at this
24:21
Speaker 1: point two years ago, almost two years ago to the day,
24:26
Speaker 1: they didn't think Derrick Henry could help us. Dion Lewis
24:31
Speaker 1: had taken over for Derrick Henry is the number one
24:33
Speaker 1: running back. Because Derrick Henry was in this incredible slump.
24:37
Speaker 1: It seemed like he was running to darkness. He couldn't
24:41
Speaker 1: quite figure out the new offensive run game. They they
24:45
Speaker 1: did all sorts of things trying to figure out how
24:47
Speaker 1: to get him going. And to Henry's credit, he started
24:51
Speaker 1: working with the scout team. He stayed after practice, he
24:54
Speaker 1: kept he kept working on his moves, and they had
24:58
Speaker 1: put David Flewellen in game in November against the New
25:02
Speaker 1: England Patriots over Derrick Henry because they were just trying
25:07
Speaker 1: to get something going. This is two years ago. Two
25:10
Speaker 1: years ago, guys David in the game, and David unfortunately
25:16
Speaker 1: had a nice run and then hurt his knee and
25:19
Speaker 1: was gone for the year. So Derek got a chance
25:21
Speaker 1: to go back in and then something clicked and he
25:25
Speaker 1: gained confidence and he started hitting it the way they
25:29
Speaker 1: wanted him to hit it, and they figured out what
25:32
Speaker 1: worked for him. And then Arthur Smith took over last
25:35
Speaker 1: year at the offensive coordinator and gave him even more.
25:39
Speaker 1: And so the rise of Derrick Henry is about a
25:43
Speaker 1: toughness that really, you know, those guys in the locker
25:46
Speaker 1: room know this story. He's not the guy on the
25:49
Speaker 1: old spice commercial who's just been a star his whole life.
25:53
Speaker 1: He's a guy who's had to work for this and
25:55
Speaker 1: he works for it every single day. He nobody gives
25:59
Speaker 1: more in the same way Eddie George did for us
26:02
Speaker 1: twenty years ago. This is a more talented version of
26:06
Speaker 1: Eddie George, and if you can believe this, a little
26:08
Speaker 1: bit bigger Eddie George as well. Yeah, that's it's it's amazing.
26:13
Speaker 1: Run you over and run away from me. I mean
26:16
Speaker 1: Norman if if that, if he did that to Norman
26:18
Speaker 1: out in the street, he'd be serving a jail sentence
26:20
Speaker 1: right now. I mean, and I mean and flew Ellen, Yeah, Flewellen.
26:25
Speaker 1: I mean, that's a sick lady. Flew Ellen, that's a
26:27
Speaker 1: sick one. And he's playing over over Henry. That that's
26:31
Speaker 1: just that's unbelievable, that story. But you know Joe Burrows
26:36
Speaker 1: like that, Joe Burrow, it didn't didn't go well for
26:39
Speaker 1: him in a house date. He got the crap knocked
26:41
Speaker 1: out of him, you know, playing for the look team
26:43
Speaker 1: against the number one defense, and and just you know,
26:46
Speaker 1: kept getting up and and gaining respect. He transfers to
26:49
Speaker 1: tell us you and the rest is history. I mean,
26:51
Speaker 1: it's funny how guys have to work their way through
26:53
Speaker 1: things and earn things and appreciate it a heck of
26:56
Speaker 1: a lot more. It's very interesting. Quick on Tannehill. I
27:00
Speaker 1: was fortunate enough to do Big twelve games when he
27:02
Speaker 1: was at Texas A and M, and he caught over
27:04
Speaker 1: one hundred and forty balls as a wide receiver without
27:06
Speaker 1: going any wide receiver meetings. You know, he was the
27:08
Speaker 1: backup quarterback, but they so we got to get this
27:11
Speaker 1: athlete on the field, and he is. He is an athlete.
27:14
Speaker 1: What is what else is it about him? What makes
27:17
Speaker 1: him the quarterback that he is Because he's had his
27:20
Speaker 1: hard knocks as well, oh, big time, and that's a
27:24
Speaker 1: part of the respect that he has three things. I
27:28
Speaker 1: think Number one it's the toughness because he's from Big Spring, Texas.
27:32
Speaker 1: You know, he played in what was more or less
27:36
Speaker 1: a beer offense in high school. You mentioned his career
27:39
Speaker 1: as a wide receiver, and then he becomes the quarterback
27:42
Speaker 1: at A and M He takes all the hits and
27:44
Speaker 1: goes through the ups and downs in Miami. And if
27:48
Speaker 1: you talk to anybody in Miami, anybody with that organization,
27:52
Speaker 1: and a couple of them actually work for us now,
27:55
Speaker 1: it's amazing the comments and how happy they are for him.
27:59
Speaker 1: He that type of person. The athleticism is an underrated element.
28:04
Speaker 1: It's one of the reasons they chose to resign him
28:07
Speaker 1: in the offseason is he can take off occasionally, kind
28:10
Speaker 1: of like Joe Burrow, and can make a little something
28:14
Speaker 1: happen with his legs, can extend to play not necessarily
28:17
Speaker 1: a runner, but he can run. I mean, the guy's
28:20
Speaker 1: got a forty eight yard rush in his career in
28:22
Speaker 1: the NFL. The other thing, too, is this Arthur Smith,
28:26
Speaker 1: the offensive coordinator. The two of them are completely on
28:31
Speaker 1: the same page, and he is out there executing Arthur's offense.
28:37
Speaker 1: And what's interesting, guys, is Arthur gives him a lot.
28:41
Speaker 1: You will see Tannehill will call a lot at the
28:44
Speaker 1: line on his own, particularly when the Titans go into
28:48
Speaker 1: the We used to call it the hurry up. I
28:50
Speaker 1: think the kids today call it the tempo. They go tempo.
28:55
Speaker 1: Then that's Tannehill calling a lot of things on his own,
28:59
Speaker 1: sort of ill Peyton Manning from the Indianapolis days when
29:03
Speaker 1: he wasn't necessarily going to snap the ball with twenty
29:05
Speaker 1: on the play clock. He was going to take it
29:08
Speaker 1: down to ten and get in the right play. He
29:11
Speaker 1: wanted to be an orthopedic surgeon when he went to college.
29:14
Speaker 1: Obviously football kind of changed all that for him. But
29:17
Speaker 1: those smarts and football smarts as well, it all goes together,
29:23
Speaker 1: and I think everybody's just pleased for a guy who
29:27
Speaker 1: if that's the theme of this conversation, overcoming the adversity.
29:32
Speaker 1: I mean he has certainly done it and right now,
29:34
Speaker 1: I mean statistically he's elite and it's not a fluke.
29:38
Speaker 1: I mean it is. He's not throwing three yard passes
29:41
Speaker 1: and guys are running eighty yards. He's making plays. A
29:44
Speaker 1: couple more questions for the Voice of the Titans, Mike Keith,
29:46
Speaker 1: I'm so glad you brought up Arthur Smith, the offensive coordinator,
29:50
Speaker 1: because it's a fascinating story to me. He's the son
29:52
Speaker 1: of the CEO of FedEx, Red Smith. I'm sure he
29:56
Speaker 1: could have gone into the family business and been a billionaire,
29:59
Speaker 1: multi millionaire. Instead, he pursues a career as a football coach.
30:04
Speaker 1: Peter King seemingly has become the president of his fan club.
30:08
Speaker 1: Is he on the fast track to be an NFL
30:10
Speaker 1: head coach? So funny because he came to us as
30:15
Speaker 1: a defensive quality control coach. He's been here ten years
30:19
Speaker 1: and it was funny. So he was on Mike Munchak's staff.
30:23
Speaker 1: Ken wisen Hunt kept him and promoted him. Mike Mularkey
30:27
Speaker 1: kept him and promoted him. And then he comes here
30:31
Speaker 1: and you know, Matt Laflor ends up the offensive coordinator
30:34
Speaker 1: and once he's like, oh, guys, we gotta keep Arthur Smith,
30:37
Speaker 1: and so another head coach keeps Arthur Smith and matt
30:41
Speaker 1: I think would have taken him to Green Bay. I
30:43
Speaker 1: don't know that, but I feel like that would have happened.
30:46
Speaker 1: But when he got this chance, there were many, many,
30:50
Speaker 1: many people here who were like, Oh, this is what
30:53
Speaker 1: do we do, and we're hiring the tight end coach.
30:55
Speaker 1: But those of us that knew him understood he's a
30:58
Speaker 1: pretty special guy. And it was only then did people
31:03
Speaker 1: realize that he was the son of the founder of
31:05
Speaker 1: fed X. Nobody here outside of our building knew that
31:09
Speaker 1: because he was so unassuming, and he had been an
31:12
Speaker 1: eight year unassuming member of the staff. You know, it
31:15
Speaker 1: has been said accurately that he is the richest coach
31:18
Speaker 1: in the NFL. I think it's probably true, right, But
31:23
Speaker 1: Arthur's and I know another family member of this family,
31:27
Speaker 1: the Smith family, and I tell you they are hard working,
31:31
Speaker 1: unassuming people. He's one of the best guys that you
31:34
Speaker 1: ever met. My son goes to University of North Carolina,
31:38
Speaker 1: that's where he played. Arthur will talk to me all
31:41
Speaker 1: the time about, Hey, how's Matthew doing in Chapel Hill
31:44
Speaker 1: and you know, he's that kind of guy. He relates
31:48
Speaker 1: to the players, he's not a big personality. Yeah, he's
31:51
Speaker 1: going to be a head coach. I'm hoping we can
31:54
Speaker 1: hold on to him for another year or two. But
31:56
Speaker 1: if Peter King keeps up that thing with the megaphone,
32:03
Speaker 1: I get one last thing for you, and it's a
32:05
Speaker 1: kind of a two part thing, And appreciate your carving
32:09
Speaker 1: the time that you have for us. You've been great.
32:11
Speaker 1: Every single quarter, including overtime. The Tennessee Titans have one
32:16
Speaker 1: by single digits, outscored an opponent by six in the
32:19
Speaker 1: first quarter, five in the second, nine in the third,
32:22
Speaker 1: nine and the fourth six and overtime consistently, you know,
32:27
Speaker 1: just plugging along, very steady eddy kind of thing, kind
32:30
Speaker 1: of like the head coach Rabel. And then I look
32:33
Speaker 1: at Gostkowski five for eleven field goals less than fifty yards,
32:37
Speaker 1: five for five field goals fifty yards more in all
32:40
Speaker 1: these close games. What's it doesn't compute? I mean, what's
32:43
Speaker 1: going on with Gostkowski? And what about this team? Just
32:46
Speaker 1: every quarter treating at the same Usually you see a
32:50
Speaker 1: team has a big second quarter or a terrible third
32:53
Speaker 1: or whatever. Yeah, these guys are just like flatline man
32:56
Speaker 1: of excellence. Well, it's it's really kind of funny because
33:01
Speaker 1: in that way, they're sort of like the Jeff Fisher teams.
33:05
Speaker 1: They're not particularly sexy at any one thing, but they
33:08
Speaker 1: do lots of things well and they just keep playing.
33:12
Speaker 1: That's what happened. You know, they're in twenty seven to
33:14
Speaker 1: seven to the Steelers, ten minutes to go in the
33:17
Speaker 1: third quarter. It looks like they're going to get blown out,
33:20
Speaker 1: and they're kicking for a tie. At the end. You're like,
33:22
Speaker 1: how in the world did this happen? But it's verybel
33:26
Speaker 1: you know, Vraybel constantly makes adjustments. He has a staff
33:29
Speaker 1: that makes adjustments. They you know, they're very consistent there,
33:33
Speaker 1: and the organization is like that with the general manager,
33:37
Speaker 1: John Robinson. It's it's a very you know, we've gone
33:40
Speaker 1: nine and seven four straight years, one of only four
33:44
Speaker 1: teams with winning records in four straight seasons. And you
33:48
Speaker 1: guys know, I mean, nine and seven's not worldbending, but
33:51
Speaker 1: to have a winning season four straight years kind of
33:54
Speaker 1: just tells you you're doing more right than wrong. The
33:58
Speaker 1: Gayskowski thing is really difficult called on the second topic
34:01
Speaker 1: because last year we were eight of eighteen on field goals.
34:06
Speaker 1: That's not good for a high school, let alone a professor.
34:10
Speaker 1: Eight of eight. It was the worst kicking year an
34:13
Speaker 1: NFL team had had in thirty six years, and in
34:16
Speaker 1: some ways it was the worst kicking year that a
34:19
Speaker 1: team had had in the modern era. It was crazy,
34:22
Speaker 1: and yet this team went to the AFC Championship Game.
34:25
Speaker 1: The big thing that they do is they score a
34:28
Speaker 1: lot of touchdowns. You know, since Tannehill took over as
34:32
Speaker 1: the starter, the Tennessee Titans have been in a position
34:36
Speaker 1: where they've gotten into red zone fifty six times and
34:39
Speaker 1: scored I believe it's forty seven touchdowns. That's been the key. Gaskowski,
34:45
Speaker 1: I don't know. He's missed one right in each of
34:47
Speaker 1: the last two weeks. That scares you when a guy
34:51
Speaker 1: starts pushing it at the end of their career, you know,
34:56
Speaker 1: but he's ten of sixteen. It looks like they're going
34:59
Speaker 1: to hold on to him. They have a young man,
35:02
Speaker 1: Tucker McCann out of Missouri who's on the practice squad
35:05
Speaker 1: that they kept because this guy's got a leg like
35:08
Speaker 1: you wouldn't believe. I don't know if he's ready for
35:11
Speaker 1: prime time yet, but we'll see. I mean it it
35:14
Speaker 1: bit him in the butt on Sunday because that's a kick,
35:18
Speaker 1: you know, good snap, good hold, no no rush, he
35:22
Speaker 1: just missed it, and you know you gotta make him.
35:26
Speaker 1: I mean, if you're gonna be an elite level team
35:28
Speaker 1: and playing those kinds of games, particularly with how the
35:30
Speaker 1: AFC has unfolded right now, I mean, you're gonna need
35:34
Speaker 1: every point. You gotta make them all. What one quick thing?
35:37
Speaker 1: When when when the Pittsburgh steal has had one hundred
35:40
Speaker 1: and sixty one yards offense and fourteen points and the
35:43
Speaker 1: Titans had one yard and no points. What were you thinking?
35:47
Speaker 1: I'm going home. I'm I'm thinking, uh, dinner, you know,
35:54
Speaker 1: maybe a beer. Uh. You know, you're just like this
35:59
Speaker 1: is crazy. I mean they've had the ball sixteen twenty
36:02
Speaker 1: three to our one twenty one. Yeah, it was unreal.
36:07
Speaker 1: It was the whole thing was in their seven of
36:09
Speaker 1: seven on third down conversions. I think honestly, what I
36:14
Speaker 1: knew is it's like, well, Okay, you can't get any
36:16
Speaker 1: worse than this, right, not not with this team. This
36:19
Speaker 1: team will kind of get it back together and figure
36:23
Speaker 1: out some things. The Steelers came out with a good plan.
36:26
Speaker 1: I'll end it with this one thing though, in this
36:28
Speaker 1: whole crazy deal that the Titans have been through with
36:31
Speaker 1: COVID and not playing for sixteen days, there was some
36:35
Speaker 1: fear about how they would pop out of the gate
36:38
Speaker 1: last Sunday, based on the fact that last week was
36:41
Speaker 1: their first week of full speed practice in four weeks.
36:45
Speaker 1: And Frankly, Frankly and Dave, you'll understand this. They got
36:49
Speaker 1: to the end of the week, they played two games
36:51
Speaker 1: in five days, and then they have a heart Wednesday practice,
36:53
Speaker 1: a heart Thursday practice. They show up on Friday, they're sore. Yep, yep,
36:58
Speaker 1: no doubt if they're not in the group, and you know,
37:00
Speaker 1: you get in a groove as the season, and so
37:03
Speaker 1: he had to back them down even in the Friday
37:06
Speaker 1: practice a little bit. That was the first thing that
37:09
Speaker 1: they had really noticed about being off kilter. They won
37:13
Speaker 1: the two games in five days, and then you know,
37:16
Speaker 1: sort of we're trying to get their bodies back. They're
37:19
Speaker 1: hoping this week they're much more normal and now into
37:23
Speaker 1: some sort of rhythm than they have been. It is.
37:25
Speaker 1: It has clearly been an adventure, particularly if you're pushing thirty.
37:28
Speaker 1: If you're twenty eight years old. Themore you're real sore.
37:31
Speaker 1: You're twenty two, twenty three, no problem, but you're you've
37:34
Speaker 1: been in the league seven eight years. You're sore than
37:36
Speaker 1: sore man. And this is not a young team, right, Yeah,
37:40
Speaker 1: that's that's the other thing they're not. I mean, we're
37:42
Speaker 1: not talking about you know, George Allen's over the hill
37:45
Speaker 1: gang or anything. But this is not a young football
37:49
Speaker 1: team in terms of a first or you know, bunch
37:52
Speaker 1: of first or second year guys, or a final luck.
37:55
Speaker 1: I had the Sunday's game. Join lapping me for the
37:57
Speaker 1: Bengals pep Rally Show Friday from three to six on
38:01
Speaker 1: ESPN fifteen thirty. That's going to do it for this
38:04
Speaker 1: episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by
38:07
Speaker 1: bud Light. Seltzer refreshed the game. If you haven't done
38:10
Speaker 1: so already, please subscribe and if you have a minute,
38:13
Speaker 1: give it a rating or share a comment that helps
38:16
Speaker 1: more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde, and
38:20
Speaker 1: thanks for listening to the Bengals Booth Podcast.