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Bengals Booth Podcast - Kansas City Here We Come · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, Get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and this is the
0:06
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth podcast, the Kansas City Here we Come edition.
0:11
Speaker 1: As we get you set for Sunday nights game between
0:13
Speaker 1: the four and two first place in the AFC North
0:16
Speaker 1: Bengals and the five and one first place in the
0:19
Speaker 1: AFC West Kansas City Chiefs. Coming up an in depth
0:23
Speaker 1: conversation with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham, including his thoughts
0:27
Speaker 1: on how the Bengals should have managed the clock better
0:30
Speaker 1: in the final few minutes of last week's lost to
0:32
Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh Steelers. As the Bengals prepare to face the
0:36
Speaker 1: hottest jung quarterback in the NFL, Patrick Mahomes, I'll talk
0:40
Speaker 1: to a member of the Bengals defense who knows all
0:43
Speaker 1: about the Chiefs, twenty three year old QB linebacker Jordan Evans.
0:47
Speaker 1: When Mahomes was at Texas Tech, he threw for seven
0:52
Speaker 1: hundred thirty four yards and five touchdowns in a game
0:56
Speaker 1: against Devans Oklahoma Sooners. I'll talk to George and about that,
1:01
Speaker 1: and in this week's Know the Faux segment on the
1:03
Speaker 1: upcoming opponent, we'll talk to Nate Taylor, who covers the
1:06
Speaker 1: Chiefs for the athletic Kansas City. All of that is
1:10
Speaker 1: straight ahead. But first, here's a quick reminder that you
1:13
Speaker 1: can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right
1:15
Speaker 1: to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher,
1:21
Speaker 1: or pod Bean. It's the greatest invention since music streaming services.
1:29
Speaker 1: I'm an Apple music guy, but whether it's Spotify, Pandora,
1:32
Speaker 1: or whatever, how great is it to have a gigantic
1:36
Speaker 1: music library at your fingertips at all times? While I
1:41
Speaker 1: missed the time I used to spend browsing through record stores,
1:44
Speaker 1: it's pretty cool to have the world's largest record store
1:48
Speaker 1: on my phone. Now, let's get to football. The Bengals
1:52
Speaker 1: not only suffered a gut wrenching loss to the Pittsburgh
1:55
Speaker 1: Steelers last week, but the game was very costly in
1:58
Speaker 1: terms of injuries. Lineacker Nick Vigil, who is tied for
2:01
Speaker 1: sixth in the NFL and tackles, is currently walking around
2:05
Speaker 1: on crutches with a knee injury. Slot Cornered Darquez Dinard
2:09
Speaker 1: has his right arm in as sling due to an
2:11
Speaker 1: injury to the joint between his sternham and collar bone,
2:15
Speaker 1: and safety Shawn Williams is in concussion protocol. If Williams
2:20
Speaker 1: isn't back by Sunday, the Bengals will be missing three
2:24
Speaker 1: of their four leading tacklers against the team that's averaging
2:28
Speaker 1: nearly thirty six points a game. Yikes. There was some
2:33
Speaker 1: good injury related news on Wednesday, as John Ross was
2:36
Speaker 1: full go at practice, so there's reason to think he'll
2:39
Speaker 1: be back on the field this week after missing the
2:42
Speaker 1: Miami and Pittsburgh games. Now time to bring him. My
2:45
Speaker 1: broadcast partner Dave Lapham to close the book on last
2:48
Speaker 1: week's lost to the Steelers and look ahead to Sunday
2:51
Speaker 1: night at KC. Lap You've seen the video, You've heard
2:55
Speaker 1: from various current and former officials. Should the Steelers game
2:59
Speaker 1: winning touchdown pass had been wiped out by an offensive
3:02
Speaker 1: pass interference penalty? I really think it should have because
3:08
Speaker 1: the litmus test for me would be, if I were
3:11
Speaker 1: a coach, is that how I would coach that play
3:14
Speaker 1: technique wise? And it's not because it's a fifty fifty proposition.
3:20
Speaker 1: You hear, you know, the NFL hierarchy is saying, well,
3:23
Speaker 1: you know they're not going they're not gonna dog their guy.
3:26
Speaker 1: They're gonna say, oh, it's within the yard of the
3:28
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage and blah blah blah. But in the
3:31
Speaker 1: Miami game, same Sunday, exact same concept was run. It
3:37
Speaker 1: was called OPI. I think if the Cincinnati Bengals go
3:40
Speaker 1: to Kansas City and run that, they'll get called for OPI.
3:44
Speaker 1: So if if it's that dicey fifty fifty, and as
3:49
Speaker 1: a coach, I wouldn't teach that technique. You know that
3:53
Speaker 1: that hunter employed. I mean, big guy sixty three just
3:56
Speaker 1: came off engulfed Tony McCrae didn't even try to run route,
4:00
Speaker 1: just blocked him. So I mean he didn't even try
4:03
Speaker 1: to hide it. You know, think that he was running
4:04
Speaker 1: a route. So if that technique is employed, I mean
4:08
Speaker 1: I wouldn't coach that technique. That's too risky. So I
4:11
Speaker 1: think it should have been called just for that alone.
4:13
Speaker 1: But Tony McCray told us on Bengal's line on Monday
4:17
Speaker 1: night that no matter he said, he can't rely on
4:19
Speaker 1: officials calls. He ran the ron technique. He took outside
4:24
Speaker 1: technique and he should have been inside, and if you're inside,
4:27
Speaker 1: maybe it would have been called because it would have
4:29
Speaker 1: been more egregious to contact with the rub coming inside,
4:32
Speaker 1: but because he was outside, it was easier for a
4:34
Speaker 1: hunter to contact him and more room for Antonio Brown
4:38
Speaker 1: to get inside of him. And then you fear so
4:40
Speaker 1: last make a split second decision. Who contacted who first?
4:44
Speaker 1: Wasn't within a yard and it was so close. I mean,
4:47
Speaker 1: in discussion with Tony, he said, I can't tell you
4:51
Speaker 1: who touched who first. It was a blur. I mean,
4:53
Speaker 1: it's all so fast, you're playing press coverage. I don't know.
4:56
Speaker 1: I don't know if he hit me first or I
4:58
Speaker 1: hit him. We hit each other. That's all I can
5:00
Speaker 1: tell you. And he said, once again, it was my bad.
5:03
Speaker 1: There was no confusion. I said, I saw you tapping
5:06
Speaker 1: your head, tapping your helmet, you know, as William Jackson
5:10
Speaker 1: came inside. You guys were in communication, you know, he said, yep.
5:14
Speaker 1: And then I made a mistake. I played improper technique.
5:18
Speaker 1: And I loved that kid because he got in front
5:20
Speaker 1: of it. He came out in front of the whole
5:22
Speaker 1: city of Cincinnati and said, it's on me, and that
5:26
Speaker 1: kid's going to be around a long time because he's
5:28
Speaker 1: going to learn from his mistake and it will never
5:30
Speaker 1: ever happen to him again. Let's hope he plays well
5:33
Speaker 1: at Kansas City because he's definitely going to get a
5:35
Speaker 1: lot of playing time. The other thing down on that
5:38
Speaker 1: is he said they practice a play Pittsburgh has running
5:43
Speaker 1: a ton. He said a couple of years ago, Adam
5:45
Speaker 1: Jones made a play on it where they running that rubbing.
5:48
Speaker 1: Adam Jones recognized it, made a play on it, so
5:50
Speaker 1: it's not it wasn't something new that Pittsburgh And he
5:53
Speaker 1: said he felt like they checked to it like Ben
5:55
Speaker 1: check to it when he saw zero coverage, and he
5:58
Speaker 1: said they they've run it multiple time times in the
6:00
Speaker 1: red zone and goal line situations, so he was aware
6:03
Speaker 1: of it. There was no confusion. He knew what was
6:05
Speaker 1: going on. He just played it wrong. As the Bengals
6:08
Speaker 1: are driving for their go ahead touchdown, you were saying
6:10
Speaker 1: in real time, don't leave too much time on the
6:14
Speaker 1: clock for Big Ben. Should they or could they have
6:17
Speaker 1: done anything different? You know, it's Hindsight's always twenty twenty
6:22
Speaker 1: and there's no question about it. And the first thing
6:25
Speaker 1: you have to do you're down six points, field goal
6:28
Speaker 1: is not going to do any good. You gotta get
6:29
Speaker 1: the ball in the end zone. We're not talking just
6:31
Speaker 1: a field goal. But in today's football, as explosive as
6:36
Speaker 1: offenses are and as good as Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger,
6:40
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers, we saw all of them this past weekend.
6:44
Speaker 1: Do last minute drives that ended up last second field
6:49
Speaker 1: goals or touchdowns to win football games. These guys are
6:52
Speaker 1: too good. So unfortunately, as an offensive coordinator, head coach, whatever,
6:57
Speaker 1: you have to look at the big picture and say,
6:59
Speaker 1: I know only have to score a touchdown. I have
7:01
Speaker 1: to melt it. I can't give this guy time. Look
7:04
Speaker 1: what almost happened in Atlanta when Matt Ryan got the
7:07
Speaker 1: ball with very little time on the clock. I mean
7:10
Speaker 1: he had Julio Jones for like sixty seven yards on
7:12
Speaker 1: two plays. It's like, are you kidding me? Oh my gosh, unbelievable.
7:17
Speaker 1: You know, Ben, the Bengals. The Bengals not only left
7:20
Speaker 1: too much time, they left all the I mean he
7:22
Speaker 1: had timeouts. A minute and twelve seconds with multiple timeouts
7:26
Speaker 1: is a eon of time. It can run way too
7:29
Speaker 1: many plays. So my thing is, even if you're at
7:33
Speaker 1: your own thirty five yard line, don't snap the ball
7:37
Speaker 1: with twenty two seconds on the play clock. Don't snap
7:40
Speaker 1: the ball when you're at the eleven yard line of
7:42
Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh Steals with seventeen secons on the play clock.
7:44
Speaker 1: You know, if if you took thirty five seconds off
7:49
Speaker 1: that play clock during the course of that drive instead
7:52
Speaker 1: of a minute twelve, he would have had, you know,
7:54
Speaker 1: like thirty thirty seven seconds to work with. So that's
7:57
Speaker 1: a big, big difference. And again, you know, I know,
8:01
Speaker 1: the first thing is we got to score a touchdown,
8:03
Speaker 1: so you don't want to have to worry about all
8:05
Speaker 1: the other stuff, and you like the tempo you're moving
8:07
Speaker 1: with and all that. Just stay in the huddle, stay
8:09
Speaker 1: in the huddle and let the clock mill town, don't
8:11
Speaker 1: let the don't make the offensive lineman stand up there
8:14
Speaker 1: for fifteen seconds and the defense is saying stuff to you,
8:17
Speaker 1: and you know you're bannering back forth. You might lose
8:19
Speaker 1: your focus, concentration, whatever. Stay in the huddle, get up
8:22
Speaker 1: the line screen. And then people gonna be like, well,
8:23
Speaker 1: what if you have to audible, Well, don't leave the
8:25
Speaker 1: huddle with two seconds, you know, leave the huddle, you know,
8:28
Speaker 1: under ten seconds. And if you have to audible, that's
8:30
Speaker 1: even better, and snap it at two seconds. You know,
8:32
Speaker 1: if you don't snap it at seven or six or whatever.
8:34
Speaker 1: But I mean Ben does it, Brady does it. I
8:39
Speaker 1: mean you have to see the whole big picture on
8:42
Speaker 1: top of the fact, Dan, like we talked about, during
8:45
Speaker 1: the course of the game, the defense was injured, they
8:48
Speaker 1: were leaking oil, they were bleeding, they were struggling. You
8:52
Speaker 1: had you had people in there that didn't practice with
8:54
Speaker 1: the number ones all week. And you want to give
8:56
Speaker 1: Ben Roethlisberger a minute and twelve seconds and multiple timeouts.
9:00
Speaker 1: You're asking you're cruising for a bruising and all you
9:03
Speaker 1: had to get was a field goal. A field goal
9:05
Speaker 1: all you were taking one point lead if you scored
9:07
Speaker 1: the touchdown and kicked the extra point. So in my mind,
9:10
Speaker 1: that should even heighten it more overall game management. I mean,
9:13
Speaker 1: Ben only has to get even if it's a touchback
9:18
Speaker 1: from the twenty five yard line. You know, Ben's looking
9:20
Speaker 1: at maybe getting forty yards and he's got a minute
9:23
Speaker 1: in twelve seconds and you know, multiple timeouts. That's that's
9:27
Speaker 1: a tough call for the defense to step up to
9:30
Speaker 1: prevent for sure. And the last two weeks Andy Dalton
9:34
Speaker 1: has been under more pressure than he was in the
9:36
Speaker 1: first four games of the year. Did the Dolphins and
9:38
Speaker 1: Steelers do something that everybody's gonna copy. I think part
9:43
Speaker 1: of it as a former lineman is the run pass imbalance.
9:47
Speaker 1: You know, when you're running it twelve like times like
9:50
Speaker 1: they did twelve thirteen times and throwing it over forty
9:53
Speaker 1: that's tough. That's their tea and off on first down.
9:56
Speaker 1: I just rechecked my play by playsheet through it twenty
10:00
Speaker 1: times and ran it twice on twenty seven first downs,
10:02
Speaker 1: and I'm cotton lam all penalty. Whatever the case may be.
10:05
Speaker 1: The call was a pass. That's hard. That's hard when
10:08
Speaker 1: you're pass protecting that much. And the two runs, one
10:10
Speaker 1: of them Joe Mixon gassed for thirteen yards. It's not
10:13
Speaker 1: like Joe Mixon ran the ball efficiently. Mark Walton had problems,
10:17
Speaker 1: but Joe Mixon was gashing them. In my opinion, with
10:22
Speaker 1: leadyon Bell, in the situation he's in, Joe Mixon's the
10:25
Speaker 1: best running back in the division, the best running back
10:28
Speaker 1: in the division. Give him the football, put it in
10:32
Speaker 1: his belly, throw it to him, give it to him
10:34
Speaker 1: in space. Utilize that talent. Then it's a hell of
10:39
Speaker 1: a lot easier to pass protect when you have Joe
10:41
Speaker 1: Mixon doing his thing, then pass protection becomes less of
10:45
Speaker 1: an issue. There's in my mind, there's no question about it.
10:47
Speaker 1: I think I think that they self inflicted issues with
10:52
Speaker 1: play selection. Not to say that the defense, you know,
10:55
Speaker 1: hasn't been bringing pressures and doing the things they're doing,
10:58
Speaker 1: but the Bankers are exhaust abating the problem with their
11:01
Speaker 1: play selection. The Chiefs scored forty points last week and
11:05
Speaker 1: lost forty three forty at New England. If the Bengals
11:09
Speaker 1: are going to upset Kansas City on Sunday night, will
11:12
Speaker 1: it have to be like the Atlanta game where they
11:14
Speaker 1: score at least thirty Yeah, And I think I think
11:19
Speaker 1: it's going to be who has the ball last? And
11:21
Speaker 1: if you don't have the ball last, you better allow
11:24
Speaker 1: Mahomes only five seconds with the football. I mean, clock
11:27
Speaker 1: management's going to be big. It was an issue in
11:29
Speaker 1: my opinion. You know, letting Roethlisburg get the ball back
11:32
Speaker 1: didn't even make Pittsburgh burn time outs. You know, snap
11:36
Speaker 1: the ball on the play clock with like seventeen seconds
11:39
Speaker 1: twenty two seconds. And I don't care where you are
11:41
Speaker 1: on the football field. In this day and age in
11:43
Speaker 1: the NFL, offenses is so explosive. I don't care if
11:46
Speaker 1: you're on your side of the field or their side
11:48
Speaker 1: of the field. You have to start burning clock at
11:50
Speaker 1: the end. You have to treat two minute drills like
11:51
Speaker 1: four minute drills. You know, take all the clock and
11:55
Speaker 1: try to score points. I mean, it's unfortunate offenses have
11:58
Speaker 1: to think that big picture, but you do. And that's
12:01
Speaker 1: I think that's going to be the case in this
12:02
Speaker 1: football game. I think you have to be really really
12:04
Speaker 1: smart with your clock management, Mahomes and try to, you know,
12:07
Speaker 1: try to his time of possession is going to be big.
12:10
Speaker 1: Limiting his possession number is going to be big. In
12:14
Speaker 1: the Kansas City defensive football teams, you know, not that good.
12:17
Speaker 1: They're thirty second in the league, dead last in yards
12:20
Speaker 1: allowed per game, first downs allowed per game. They're twenty
12:24
Speaker 1: seventh in scoring. They give up five point four yards
12:27
Speaker 1: on the ground per rush, thirty first in the NFL.
12:30
Speaker 1: Let Joe Mixon carry the football. Don't don't throw at
12:33
Speaker 1: forty times and run at fifteen or something like that.
12:37
Speaker 1: Don't do that. The Bengals threw the ball on first
12:40
Speaker 1: down twenty seven times and ran it twice last week
12:45
Speaker 1: against the Pittsburgh Steelers. What what And on one of
12:49
Speaker 1: those first downs, Joe Mixon runs, he broke, He busted
12:52
Speaker 1: one for thirteen yards. Give Joe mix In the football,
12:56
Speaker 1: get it in his hands either out of the backfield
12:58
Speaker 1: throwing it, or let him run the football. You have
13:00
Speaker 1: to minimize opportunities for a guy's explosive is Patrick at
13:05
Speaker 1: Holmes period. You just have to do it. And there's
13:08
Speaker 1: going to be a lot of game management game within
13:11
Speaker 1: the game of game management stuff in this one, because
13:14
Speaker 1: both of these offenses are so dynamic. Prior to last
13:18
Speaker 1: year's draft, the Kansas City Chiefs made a trade to
13:21
Speaker 1: select a player they didn't really need. They already had
13:23
Speaker 1: a decent quarterback in Alex Smith, but they gave up
13:26
Speaker 1: two first round picks and a third round pick to
13:28
Speaker 1: move up from the twenty seventh pick to the tenth
13:31
Speaker 1: pick in order to take quarterback Patrick Mahomes. It looks
13:35
Speaker 1: brilliant now. He leads the NFL with eighteen touchdown passes
13:39
Speaker 1: in six games and only four interceptions, and that ratio
13:43
Speaker 1: of plus fourteen is the best in the NFL as well,
13:46
Speaker 1: So he's not putting the ball in jeopardy very often.
13:50
Speaker 1: It goes back to college. Cliff Kingsbury, who played quarterback
13:53
Speaker 1: in Texas Tech, recruited Patrick Mahomes to play quarterback. Baker
13:57
Speaker 1: Mayfield was a starting quarterback the year before he opened
14:00
Speaker 1: up the quarterback competition. Baker Mayfield saw Patrick Mahomes and
14:04
Speaker 1: transferred to Oklahoma. He knew what kind of arm talent
14:08
Speaker 1: that guy had. As it turns out, they both end
14:11
Speaker 1: up being number one draft picks. Baker Mayfield ends up
14:14
Speaker 1: being the first pick of the draft, so it worked
14:15
Speaker 1: out for both guys. But that just tells you Baker
14:19
Speaker 1: Mayfield is an uber competitor, and Baker Mayfield said, no Moss.
14:23
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes has a howards are hanging off their right
14:26
Speaker 1: shoulder and he's gonna be the guy. And Patrick Mahomes
14:29
Speaker 1: is used to play in offense with a defense that stinks.
14:32
Speaker 1: I mean, Texas Tech never had a defense. Kansas City's
14:35
Speaker 1: defense is struggling this year. Patrick Mahomes has used to
14:38
Speaker 1: that that's another day at the office for him. He
14:41
Speaker 1: just likes to get and shootouts and I'll score you anyway.
14:44
Speaker 1: Last thing. Patrick Mahomes has one of the strongest arms
14:48
Speaker 1: in NFL history. You can see workout video on YouTube.
14:51
Speaker 1: Where he throws it upwards of seventy five yards. He
14:54
Speaker 1: threw the ball sixty miles an hour at the NFL
14:57
Speaker 1: scouting Combine, which is one of the hardest readings they've
15:00
Speaker 1: or recorded. Here's my question for you. Give me the
15:04
Speaker 1: best arm you ever saw back in your playing days,
15:08
Speaker 1: and then secondly, the best arm and a guy that
15:12
Speaker 1: didn't make it, Terry Bradshaw. I saw when I was
15:15
Speaker 1: doing a game with NBC Bradshaw and this is at
15:17
Speaker 1: the end of his career. Now he's not the young
15:20
Speaker 1: spry Terry Bradshaw, so he might have been able to
15:22
Speaker 1: throw one hundred yards because I saw him taking one
15:25
Speaker 1: step to the goal line and throw the ball to
15:28
Speaker 1: the opposite ten yard line nine yards in the air.
15:31
Speaker 1: And it wasn't more than ten feet off the ground.
15:33
Speaker 1: It wasn't like a big parabola. You know, he just
15:35
Speaker 1: I mean, it was unbelievable. And I knew he had
15:38
Speaker 1: a strong arm because I remember our defensive backs when
15:41
Speaker 1: we played the Steelers, They're like, man, we're all the Lenza.
15:45
Speaker 1: I can't believe he threw that ball. I mean, no
15:47
Speaker 1: quarterback throws that ball with that kind of coverage, And
15:50
Speaker 1: that's what defensive backs around the league is saying about Mahomes.
15:52
Speaker 1: I can't believe he took that chance. I can't believe
15:55
Speaker 1: he threw that ball. That's what they said about Brett Farr.
15:57
Speaker 1: That's what they said about John Elway. The guy, though
16:00
Speaker 1: to Dan that I saw at college at the college level,
16:03
Speaker 1: guy named Michael Bishop played at Kansas State, and he
16:07
Speaker 1: was a great runner as well as a thrower, a
16:09
Speaker 1: physical specimen. But he could rip it. I mean he
16:12
Speaker 1: could throw the ball seventy five yards on a frozen rope,
16:16
Speaker 1: but not in any tight windows. I mean, forget portholes.
16:20
Speaker 1: He was thrown to the whole cruise ship. It might
16:22
Speaker 1: not hit the cruise ship. He couldn't put the beach
16:24
Speaker 1: ball in the ocean, man, he couldn't hit the ocean
16:26
Speaker 1: with the beach ball, but he could throw the crap
16:29
Speaker 1: out of it. I mean, man, it had some RPMs.
16:31
Speaker 1: You know, you're standing there and listening when quarterbacks throw
16:36
Speaker 1: the ball like that, you hear the laces like it's
16:40
Speaker 1: like that's when you know, wow, man, this guy, this
16:42
Speaker 1: guy's ripping that pigskin. Thanks lap, Patrick, Mahomes has treated
16:48
Speaker 1: football fans to some great highlights this year, like that
16:51
Speaker 1: left handed pass he threw against Denver, but some of
16:55
Speaker 1: his best video can be found on workout videos on
16:58
Speaker 1: YouTube leading up to lad year's draft. For example, in
17:02
Speaker 1: one video, Mahomes throws a football sixty five yards from
17:07
Speaker 1: his knees. Bengals linebacker Jordan Evans knows all about Mahomes.
17:12
Speaker 1: He was on the opposite side of the field four
17:15
Speaker 1: Oklahoma when Mahomes through for seven hundred thirty four yards
17:19
Speaker 1: in a game two years ago. Inside the locker room
17:23
Speaker 1: with Bengals linebacker Jordan Evans, how quickly do you bounce
17:26
Speaker 1: back from a tough loss? Oh, you gotta bounce back
17:28
Speaker 1: the next day. I mean, you don't want to hang
17:30
Speaker 1: your head too too long on it. So he's got
17:32
Speaker 1: to learn from your mistakes, watch the film, and then
17:34
Speaker 1: you know you got to gain the next week. So
17:35
Speaker 1: it's time to prepare for that twenty four hour old. Yeah,
17:37
Speaker 1: basically that's what it is. Looks like the Bengals are
17:40
Speaker 1: going to be without linebacker Nick Vigil this week, so
17:43
Speaker 1: obviously the other linebackers are going to have an increased
17:46
Speaker 1: opportunity and need to step up. And you're one of
17:48
Speaker 1: those guys. Yeah, we always gotta be ready. You know,
17:50
Speaker 1: we had problems like this last year when guys got injured,
17:53
Speaker 1: and you know, this show job as a pro and
17:55
Speaker 1: as a teammate to always be ready, especially when your
17:59
Speaker 1: numbs calls squat and performing to highs. Love talking to
18:01
Speaker 1: Jordan Evans. For the last seven years, Sunday Night Football
18:04
Speaker 1: has been the highest rated show on TV and average
18:07
Speaker 1: of eighteen million people watching, including your peers. When you
18:10
Speaker 1: got the word that this game is being flexed, what
18:12
Speaker 1: was your reaction. I mean, it's cool, you know, it's
18:15
Speaker 1: it's always cool to go out there and playing, you know,
18:17
Speaker 1: and obviously for me back home, you know, a lot
18:19
Speaker 1: of film you're gonna get to watch. But I mean
18:21
Speaker 1: it's still it's still got a game that you gotta
18:23
Speaker 1: go out there and win. Kind of a whole hum
18:24
Speaker 1: reaction on your part. I thought you, I thought you'd
18:27
Speaker 1: be effusive and excited. Oh, I'm obviously, I'm always excited.
18:29
Speaker 1: I'm excited it is a one o'clock game, or if
18:31
Speaker 1: it's the prime time Monday night football game or sending
18:33
Speaker 1: that game. It doesn't I mean, it's I'm excited it
18:36
Speaker 1: for any game. You just I don't want to get
18:38
Speaker 1: you know, and can't get over excited that. You know
18:40
Speaker 1: that your emotions take control. So but I mean, I'm
18:42
Speaker 1: alway excited as to my family be able to get
18:44
Speaker 1: to watch. I hear you. You You gotta be excited every week,
18:46
Speaker 1: regardless of game time. I agree with you on that.
18:48
Speaker 1: Let's talk about Patrick Mahomes. You saw this guy in
18:50
Speaker 1: college when you were at Oklahoma and he was a
18:52
Speaker 1: Texas tech. What stands out, man, It's just he can
18:56
Speaker 1: I don't know, he does it all for Like, like
18:58
Speaker 1: I said, I knew. I always say that he was
19:00
Speaker 1: one of the best guys that I played against in
19:01
Speaker 1: college because I saw what he was doing. And obviously
19:04
Speaker 1: you go back with that game he tore us up.
19:05
Speaker 1: But um, yeah, you know he his arm is phenomenal.
19:10
Speaker 1: He makes plays off his feet and just you know,
19:12
Speaker 1: he's he's got that offense out there rolling and he
19:14
Speaker 1: obviously has a lot of great skill guys on helping
19:16
Speaker 1: him out. The game you are referring to, you won,
19:19
Speaker 1: Okama scored sixty six points, but he threw at eighty
19:22
Speaker 1: eight times. Yeah, yeah, that was a crazy game. I
19:26
Speaker 1: only like going back to watch the film. But you know,
19:29
Speaker 1: shout out to Bacon, Joe and the offensive guys out there,
19:32
Speaker 1: Oh you for holding it down for us and getting
19:33
Speaker 1: that win back on back a couple of years back.
19:36
Speaker 1: All Right, one of the challenges for the Bengals linebackers
19:40
Speaker 1: this week we tight end Travis Kelsey, whether it's covering
19:43
Speaker 1: him or tackling him. How big of a key is
19:46
Speaker 1: that to this game? Yeah? If you you know, he's won.
19:49
Speaker 1: He's like the best tight end in the are one
19:51
Speaker 1: of the best tight ends in the NFL. He does
19:54
Speaker 1: it all. Good blocker, great routes, right hands. So yeah,
19:57
Speaker 1: he's definitely a great player. Going to be you know,
19:59
Speaker 1: key then on him and try to limit Hill as
20:01
Speaker 1: much as we can, Jordan, you get a lot of
20:03
Speaker 1: special team snaps as well. They have Tyreek Hill returning punts,
20:07
Speaker 1: one of the fastest guys, if not the fastest guy
20:10
Speaker 1: in the NFL. How do you handle him in that
20:13
Speaker 1: phase of the game. Yeah, you gotta bottle them up obviously,
20:16
Speaker 1: do our best to you know, get down there, have
20:18
Speaker 1: great coverage and you know, Shanna just keep him limited.
20:21
Speaker 1: But you know, I had a look glimpse of that
20:23
Speaker 1: too my sophomore year college. You returned to kick on
20:25
Speaker 1: us to beat us when he was at OSU, So
20:27
Speaker 1: you know, he's definitely a very explosive player back there.
20:29
Speaker 1: So it's gotta go out there and just go play ball.
20:31
Speaker 1: The Cheetah. Is he the fastest guy you've ever seen
20:33
Speaker 1: on a football field? Um? Yeah, I mean I can remember.
20:40
Speaker 1: He's crazy fans, So yeah he was. He was moving
20:42
Speaker 1: back then. All right. Last thing, Kansas City Chief's offense
20:47
Speaker 1: is averaging about thirty six points a game. Do you
20:50
Speaker 1: relish the opportunity with everybody watching to show what the
20:53
Speaker 1: Bengals defense can do? Oh? Of course, you know you
20:56
Speaker 1: always want to go out there make a statement. But
20:58
Speaker 1: you know it's the biggest thing is it's just competitian,
21:00
Speaker 1: you know, So you know, we're always excited to go
21:02
Speaker 1: compete every single one of us on the defensive side.
21:05
Speaker 1: So you know, we know that they're gonna, you know,
21:09
Speaker 1: make plays, and that's just that's just what it is.
21:11
Speaker 1: That's how supposed to their offenses. But obviously, you know
21:13
Speaker 1: we can try to keep keep them down. We know
21:15
Speaker 1: offense is going to go out there and do what
21:16
Speaker 1: they're supposed to do, so it should be fun, appreciate
21:19
Speaker 1: your time. Best to luck this week. Appreciate With Nick
21:21
Speaker 1: vigil out, it'll be interesting to see how much playing
21:24
Speaker 1: time Evans gets this week. His speed and coverage ability
21:28
Speaker 1: could be needed against Travis Kelsey. Now time for this
21:32
Speaker 1: week's Know the Faux segment and to learn more about
21:34
Speaker 1: the Chiefs. Nate Taylor from the Athletic KC joined lapping
21:38
Speaker 1: me on the Bengals Game Plan Show. Let's start with
21:42
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes. We all see the physical talent. He has
21:45
Speaker 1: been fantastic so far this year. Tell us what else
21:49
Speaker 1: has impressed you aside from that great right arm. Yeah, well,
21:54
Speaker 1: it's honestly everything because of it's just mental acumens. The
21:59
Speaker 1: fact that he had learning from Alex Smith has just
22:02
Speaker 1: been immense and you can see it um in particular
22:05
Speaker 1: when the Chiefs don't score points. So when they have
22:08
Speaker 1: sort of a mishap, which of course we saw Sunday
22:11
Speaker 1: night against the Patriots. You know, Bill Belichick has a
22:14
Speaker 1: very good game plan. Um leaves Patrick early in the game,
22:18
Speaker 1: and then he kind of forces another interception late in
22:20
Speaker 1: the second half, and then he comes back out and
22:23
Speaker 1: acts as if he's not playing the Patriots in chill
22:26
Speaker 1: that stadium on Sunday Night football when obviously there's a
22:28
Speaker 1: lot of playoff implications involved, and goes out and throws
22:31
Speaker 1: four touchdowns and really shreds the Patriots defense that had
22:35
Speaker 1: the Chiefs had the ball last I think many people,
22:38
Speaker 1: including me, would suggesst that they would have won the game. Um,
22:41
Speaker 1: So he leaves the league in touchdowns. He's an early
22:46
Speaker 1: leading MVP candidate, but he is mental ability to move
22:51
Speaker 1: on to the next play, to rarely recognize it, just
22:54
Speaker 1: you know, dissect defenses and then it just rally is
22:57
Speaker 1: his teammates. I mean, this is a first year play
23:00
Speaker 1: who's gotten the confidence and the faith from everyone in
23:03
Speaker 1: that locker room, and that's things find a lot for
23:05
Speaker 1: a guy who's twenty three years though, you know, trying
23:07
Speaker 1: to lead men who were already successful with a veteran
23:10
Speaker 1: quarterback in Alex fith Andy Reid, when he was talking
23:14
Speaker 1: to the Cincinnati media earlier today, asked him about the
23:19
Speaker 1: mental acumen of Mahomes and he said, Hey, Alex Smith
23:23
Speaker 1: is the smartest quarterback I've ever worked with. And we've
23:26
Speaker 1: moved on from Alex Smith where you have not dumbed
23:28
Speaker 1: it down one bit for Mahomes and Mahomes is just
23:33
Speaker 1: equally as intelligent. And you know, obviously he has more
23:36
Speaker 1: more physical ability than Alex Smith did. And uh so
23:41
Speaker 1: you know he he was giving him a lot of
23:43
Speaker 1: platitudes and rightfully so when you talk about how he
23:49
Speaker 1: can lead a team when you're when you can make
23:52
Speaker 1: plays like he can and you can endanger a defense
23:57
Speaker 1: every inch of the football field, man, that's leadership. Man.
24:01
Speaker 1: You know, talking's one talking, The talks one thing. But
24:04
Speaker 1: when you can walk the walk like Patris the Holmes
24:06
Speaker 1: walks the walk. Who that's a proud peacock walking right there.
24:10
Speaker 1: I mean that guy. People people fall on line around him.
24:13
Speaker 1: Do they gravitate toward him like he is the man? Yeah? Yeah.
24:17
Speaker 1: And one of the moments that I thought was truly
24:20
Speaker 1: um telling and almost inspirational, sort of the senses that
24:24
Speaker 1: you know, again, this is Andy Eve. This is like
24:27
Speaker 1: one of the best offensive innovative coaches in the league. Um,
24:31
Speaker 1: you have a team that has plenty of veterans and
24:34
Speaker 1: skill talent with Travis Kelsey and you have so many
24:39
Speaker 1: valuable guys on defense. Sign up. Eric Berry isn't playing,
24:41
Speaker 1: but you still have justin Houston DeFord, as a merger,
24:44
Speaker 1: as a as a leading defensive you know, most improved
24:47
Speaker 1: defensive player candidate for the year. In the time of
24:50
Speaker 1: one started. None of those guys gave the pregame get hyped,
24:53
Speaker 1: leads them up to the field speech. When the Chiefs
24:55
Speaker 1: played on Monday Night football in Denver, it was Patrick Mahomes.
24:58
Speaker 1: It was just twenty three year old kid, honestly being like,
25:01
Speaker 1: let show the world how good we are. And then
25:03
Speaker 1: of course he has arguably his best game of his
25:07
Speaker 1: young career, leading the Chiefs back from a two point
25:09
Speaker 1: Dava said against the Broncos. You know, on the road,
25:12
Speaker 1: in a hostile environment. He gets a division opponent on
25:15
Speaker 1: one of the biggest stages. That's the regular Chiefs can
25:17
Speaker 1: prevent you. So it's not just that he's physically talented
25:21
Speaker 1: and has the mental ability and can retain just a
25:24
Speaker 1: ton of information for such a young age. It's that
25:28
Speaker 1: the guys have around him have give him you have
25:30
Speaker 1: really given him the opportunity to lead, to have a voice.
25:33
Speaker 1: And then he's taken upon himself to use his voice,
25:36
Speaker 1: to use his leadership, to do it on his particular way,
25:39
Speaker 1: in his particular style. And it's led to the success.
25:42
Speaker 1: And it's undeniable really, just the infectious nature he has
25:47
Speaker 1: on that locker room, because you can look back to
25:49
Speaker 1: last year and you can say, well, Alex Smith is
25:52
Speaker 1: a veteran. He can get these guys pretty four. But
25:56
Speaker 1: there's no doubt, there's full faith that if this guy
25:59
Speaker 1: thinks healthy, if this guy keeps getting better, if he
26:01
Speaker 1: keeps someone off this crazy arm. Um, they haven't mean
26:05
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl? Is it out of question? Um? And
26:07
Speaker 1: that's what I think most Chiefs the AFC are starting
26:09
Speaker 1: to deal with, you know, the Patriots and now the
26:11
Speaker 1: Mingles included. Dave Taylor covers the Chiefs for the athletic
26:15
Speaker 1: Kansas City. Let's talk about Kansas City's defense, currently last
26:18
Speaker 1: in the NFL and yards allowed four sixty eight games.
26:21
Speaker 1: Although the fact that they score so much has something
26:23
Speaker 1: to do with that. Chiefs also nothing up about twenty
26:26
Speaker 1: nine points a game. Where is the defense okay? And
26:30
Speaker 1: where is it weak? Yeah? That's a really good question, um.
26:34
Speaker 1: And the way I try to explain it to people
26:35
Speaker 1: is that Bob stud and the Chiefs is you know,
26:38
Speaker 1: respected to pencil coordinator, Like the dude doesn't care about yards.
26:42
Speaker 1: He basically said to me in the one on one
26:44
Speaker 1: interview that yards are misleading. So what really matters to
26:47
Speaker 1: the Chiefs defense. It's choses, it's third down efficiency. Would say,
26:50
Speaker 1: we're not good at last Sunday gets the Patriots, but
26:53
Speaker 1: they've been, you know, pretty good overall this season. Like
26:57
Speaker 1: when when the Chiefs gets you in the third one situation,
26:59
Speaker 1: they usually get off the field, which is the only
27:01
Speaker 1: time they've been successful. The other reason that Bond, Sudden
27:05
Speaker 1: and Hosts defense will get better is if they create
27:08
Speaker 1: more turnovers. The more they do that, the better chance
27:10
Speaker 1: they have of building these big leaves in the first
27:12
Speaker 1: quarter that they could squeeze you out for the rest
27:15
Speaker 1: of the game. That didn't happen against New England. New
27:18
Speaker 1: England sort of flip the script. They got the early
27:20
Speaker 1: turn onovers, they got to go their league, and then
27:22
Speaker 1: the Chiefs had to play come back from most of
27:24
Speaker 1: the second half. That's how the Chiefs recipe for successes. Fan.
27:28
Speaker 1: If you're a Beingals fan, they let Patrick Mahomes really
27:31
Speaker 1: scheme you up for the first fifteen to twenty plays.
27:33
Speaker 1: They get a lead, and then the defense is hoping
27:36
Speaker 1: that they either get a third down stop or a
27:38
Speaker 1: turnover early in the first half to sort of make
27:41
Speaker 1: it a two score game, which in many cases, or
27:43
Speaker 1: at least the first five game, those leads are sort
27:46
Speaker 1: of insurmountable for opponents. So if you're a Beingals fan,
27:50
Speaker 1: you want to do what New England did. Convert a
27:53
Speaker 1: decent amount of your third downs, don't commit penalties, don't
27:56
Speaker 1: commit turnovers, then you should have a chance to win
27:58
Speaker 1: the game. Late. Know, it's interesting what you say. The
28:02
Speaker 1: Chiefs defensively last in the NFL. On first down give
28:06
Speaker 1: up seven point one five yards of her play, but
28:08
Speaker 1: on third down, you know, they're six in the league
28:11
Speaker 1: thirty three point eight, little over a third of the
28:13
Speaker 1: conversions allowed. So that usually first down failure usually leads
28:18
Speaker 1: to third down failure, and it doesn't in this case,
28:20
Speaker 1: So it is it's kind of odd. What what did?
28:24
Speaker 1: What did? The loss of Derek Johnson, Tomahale, Marcus Peters
28:28
Speaker 1: of course wasache, but Marcus Peters goes when you lose
28:31
Speaker 1: three guys like that, um, you know on the in
28:34
Speaker 1: the middle and back end of your defense. How big
28:37
Speaker 1: of an adjustment has that been for Sutton and company? Yeah,
28:40
Speaker 1: it's been huge, honestly, And look, people in Kansas City
28:44
Speaker 1: were kind of high and low and Marcus Peters they
28:46
Speaker 1: had kind of gone tired of his antics. But I
28:48
Speaker 1: will tell you this, Marcus Peters to take the ball away,
28:52
Speaker 1: he could you know, cover half the field, um nine
28:55
Speaker 1: of He's been injured with with you know, with the
28:57
Speaker 1: Rams this year, and unfortunately Dirt Johnson has you know,
29:01
Speaker 1: he's over the hill. He's what thirty five going on
29:03
Speaker 1: thirty six. I know the Raiders just cut him. But
29:04
Speaker 1: he was the Chiefs all time leadings hackler in franchise history.
29:07
Speaker 1: Like he was a guy that you could rely on
29:10
Speaker 1: in the middle. And so what you're seeing is a
29:12
Speaker 1: collection of young guys coming in in their rookie deals
29:16
Speaker 1: and understands. The Chiefs tract that five players on defense
29:20
Speaker 1: this past April with a mix of other veterans from
29:22
Speaker 1: other teams tour Tranceler Bob Sutton system, and it just
29:26
Speaker 1: hasn't been the best blending that you would want in
29:29
Speaker 1: this new kind of revamped, remodel defense. And unfortunately, you know,
29:33
Speaker 1: I was really looking forward to seeing what Eric Burry
29:35
Speaker 1: could do with an even bigger leadership role now that
29:38
Speaker 1: Derek Johnson had left, Now that there were new guys
29:41
Speaker 1: on the team, and we haven't seen him practice since
29:43
Speaker 1: August eleventh because of this achilles injury that has continued
29:46
Speaker 1: to nack him. You know, he had it last year.
29:49
Speaker 1: He has not played yet a practice yet in this
29:51
Speaker 1: regular season. We don't We're not sure when he's going
29:54
Speaker 1: to return. He's sort of on this week to week basis.
29:57
Speaker 1: But if you don't have your best player, Eric Berry,
30:00
Speaker 1: and if your second Miss Slayer and Justin Houston is
30:02
Speaker 1: going through a hamstring injury and needed not practice today,
30:05
Speaker 1: so it's unclear field placed Sunday Without those two guys,
30:08
Speaker 1: it gives opponents a lot of holes to sort of
30:12
Speaker 1: attack the defense. And again, unless you get turnovers or
30:15
Speaker 1: unless you're in some third and long situations, most of
30:17
Speaker 1: the time the advantage has been to the opposing offense. Finally,
30:21
Speaker 1: appreciate the time that you're carved out for us here
30:24
Speaker 1: and Nate, we really do. But yeah, we talked, we
30:26
Speaker 1: talked to offense, we talked defense. Let's talk about the
30:29
Speaker 1: all important third phase, which could be big in a
30:32
Speaker 1: game like this. This special teams group, I mean they're
30:35
Speaker 1: number one in both punt returns and punt coverage. Their
30:39
Speaker 1: number four and kickoff returns number five covering kicks. That's
30:42
Speaker 1: the that's the units. Their punter in their place kicker
30:46
Speaker 1: are amongst the best in the NFL. I mean right,
30:49
Speaker 1: that is one hilacious group. How good have the special
30:52
Speaker 1: teams been and how much time do they give to
30:55
Speaker 1: special teams? Well, that's a great question, and I think
30:59
Speaker 1: they're the best special teams unit in the AFC. So
31:01
Speaker 1: think about it from this respective, guys. The first time
31:05
Speaker 1: the Chiefs touched the ball on offense this year was
31:07
Speaker 1: on a punt return, and Tyree Hill took it to
31:10
Speaker 1: the house. Their second touch in the excuse their first
31:14
Speaker 1: touch in the second game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The
31:17
Speaker 1: Anthony Thomas takes the punt eight yards sets up an
31:20
Speaker 1: easy touchdown for Patrick Holds. That's how the Chiefs got
31:23
Speaker 1: these early leads early on in the season. Thou teams
31:26
Speaker 1: don't punt the Tyree Hill for obvious raisins to get
31:28
Speaker 1: for Dave To, who's an excellent you know specialty's cordinator
31:32
Speaker 1: does Oh, I'm going to take a six rounds draft
31:34
Speaker 1: pick in Traymon Smith. Plug him in on Sunday Night
31:37
Speaker 1: Football for his first real game. Actions. He's gonna return
31:40
Speaker 1: a kickoff ninety seven yards to set up another easy
31:43
Speaker 1: touchdown right for Patrick Ball to try the game? Are
31:47
Speaker 1: you going to get the Chiefs closer to the game
31:50
Speaker 1: to the Patriots? Harrison Bucker has not miss Philo this year.
31:53
Speaker 1: Think about that, he's given all the calamity that's gone
31:55
Speaker 1: on the rest of the league with fieldball kickers making
31:57
Speaker 1: cars be you know, most notably, and then Justin kolchwis
32:01
Speaker 1: in his fourteenth year, and it looks like he's in
32:03
Speaker 1: his seven because he still looks like he's in his
32:05
Speaker 1: crime and he's still punching people deep into you know,
32:08
Speaker 1: inside the twenty or cornering them. And because the Chiefs
32:11
Speaker 1: are so good at net yard and or coverage, you
32:14
Speaker 1: don't really get a big explusive play yourself. There's not
32:16
Speaker 1: really an opportunity for you to return a kick or
32:18
Speaker 1: a punt the way you would like to. So you're
32:21
Speaker 1: right when you make this point that the Chiefs have
32:23
Speaker 1: won games only with Patrick Mahomes. But they've they've either
32:27
Speaker 1: given their defense the length of the field to trying
32:29
Speaker 1: to defend, to do the whope and don't break sort
32:31
Speaker 1: of style, and they've also created these dynamic plays that
32:35
Speaker 1: the field gets shrunken for this already highly fussive offense.
32:39
Speaker 1: So if you're if you're look, you know, Beagles do
32:42
Speaker 1: your best because even teams like the Steelers and even
32:45
Speaker 1: things like the Patriots and we all considered to be
32:47
Speaker 1: one of the top two teams in the conference, they
32:49
Speaker 1: struggled to keep this chief special teams from making an
32:51
Speaker 1: impact on the game. All right, thanks to Nate Taylor,
32:54
Speaker 1: And that's going to do it for this episode of
32:57
Speaker 1: the podcast. If you haven't done so already, don't forget
33:00
Speaker 1: to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or pod Bean. And if
33:04
Speaker 1: you have a minute, please give it a five star
33:06
Speaker 1: rating or leave a comment. Your feedback has been great
33:09
Speaker 1: and those five star ratings help more Bengals fans find
33:13
Speaker 1: this podcast. I'm Dan Horde and thank you for listening
33:16
Speaker 1: to The Bengals Booth podcast