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Bengals Booth Podcast: Afternoon Delight · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi again, everybody. I'm Dan Horton. Thanks for downloading the
0:06
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast. The sky rockets in flight. Afternoon delight. Addition,
0:14
Speaker 1: as we look ahead to the Bengals' first 1 o'clock
0:17
Speaker 1: game in Baltimore in five years. Coming up, it's a hello, friends.
0:23
Speaker 1: Addition of the pod, as I'll talk to Jim Nance
0:25
Speaker 1: from CBS Sports. My one-on-one player interview is with Evan
0:29
Speaker 1: McPherson as we find out if he's superstitious enough about
0:33
Speaker 1: his record streak of consecutive field goals. And in this
0:36
Speaker 1: week's Know the Foe segment, we'll get the scoop on
0:38
Speaker 1: the Ravens from former Baltimore linebacker Brad Jackson, University of
0:43
Speaker 1: Cincinnati Hall of Famer. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought
0:46
Speaker 1: to you by Paycor, proud to be the Bengals' official
0:49
Speaker 1: HR software provider. By AltaFiber, future-proof fiber internet designed to
0:54
Speaker 1: elevate your home, business, and community to a new level.
0:57
Speaker 1: And by Kettering Health. The best care for the best fans.
1:01
Speaker 1: Kettering Health is the official health care provider of the Bengals. Now,
1:05
Speaker 1: here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest
1:07
Speaker 1: edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
1:11
Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's
1:15
Speaker 1: the greatest thing since early voting. The Bengals traveled to
1:20
Speaker 1: Madrid on Election Day, and while I could probably vote
1:23
Speaker 1: that morning... I didn't want to run the risk of
1:26
Speaker 1: having a bunch of stuff to do before departing that
1:28
Speaker 1: prevented me from getting to the polls. So, for the
1:31
Speaker 1: first time in my life, I voted early. In Cincinnati,
1:36
Speaker 1: it was very busy, but also fast and easy, thanks
1:40
Speaker 1: largely to the army of volunteers who care enough about
1:43
Speaker 1: the election process to donate their time. So, if you
1:47
Speaker 1: think you might be too busy to vote on November 3rd,
1:51
Speaker 1: vote early. But don't vote often.
1:55
Speaker 2: Now.
1:55
Speaker 1: Time for my first guest. Sunday's game in Baltimore will
1:59
Speaker 1: be televised by CBS's number one broadcast crew of Jim Nance, J.J. Watt,
2:04
Speaker 1: and Tracy Wolfson. Jim has been kind enough to join
2:07
Speaker 1: me on this podcast for several years in a row,
2:10
Speaker 1: and I spoke to him on Thursday. I feel like
2:13
Speaker 1: I have the opportunity to potentially break news this week.
2:17
Speaker 1: How is your hand and or wrist after becoming the
2:21
Speaker 1: first play-by-play man to ever demonstrate a peanut punch on
2:25
Speaker 1: national TV.
2:27
Speaker 3: First and last. I mean, I went after it as
2:29
Speaker 3: much as I could.
2:31
Speaker 4: And I felt as soon as I did, I felt
2:33
Speaker 4: the sensation come up to the elbow and all the
2:35
Speaker 4: way up into the shoulder. And I thought, I mean,
2:38
Speaker 4: I've just really injured myself. Of course, you're still on camera.
2:42
Speaker 4: So you try to laugh it off and continue calling
2:46
Speaker 4: the game. I had to play hurt for a little bit.
2:48
Speaker 4: I thought I might be in rough shape. I made
2:51
Speaker 4: kind of a joke. I think I just broke my wrist.
2:54
Speaker 4: But I knew I felt a sting of some sort.
2:57
Speaker 4: But miraculously, on Monday morning, I awoke and there's basically
3:01
Speaker 4: no pain there at all.
3:02
Speaker 3: Now, there's a little bit of some after effects.
3:06
Speaker 4: I was out with my son, who's a good golfer,
3:08
Speaker 4: playing some golf, and I had to stop after five
3:10
Speaker 4: holes because every time I made contact, I was still
3:13
Speaker 4: feeling a little bit of that sensation. But the good
3:18
Speaker 4: news is it's not enough to put me on the
3:20
Speaker 4: injury report list.
3:22
Speaker 3: And I am good to go for Sunday, full participant
3:25
Speaker 3: in practice.
3:26
Speaker 1: You know, Jim, it occurs to me that in your
3:28
Speaker 1: incredible career, four decades plus now at CBS, I can't
3:32
Speaker 1: think of any moment like that. Do you have a
3:35
Speaker 1: best blooper? Do you have some sort of embarrassing moment
3:39
Speaker 1: that I can't think of?
3:41
Speaker 4: Oh, there's, I mean, basically every week there's an embarrassing moment.
3:44
Speaker 4: That's live TV. Sure, there are things that I would
3:48
Speaker 4: have liked to have done better. I'm trying to think
3:50
Speaker 4: of something that was.
3:53
Speaker 3: Really raw.
3:53
Speaker 4: You know, the funniest one of all for me was pre-CBS.
3:58
Speaker 4: I was the Brigham Young University announcer with Steve Young
4:02
Speaker 4: on TV. Steve was playing in the USFL, so this
4:06
Speaker 4: is moons ago. But we were taping our own camera
4:10
Speaker 4: for the game broadcast down on the field and then
4:14
Speaker 4: headed up to the booth, and we're on the elevator
4:17
Speaker 4: up to the booth, and the elevator blew a fuse.
4:20
Speaker 4: And we missed the first quarter and a half of
4:22
Speaker 4: the game. We're stuck in an elevator. So that one
4:26
Speaker 4: always will be the top of mind for me. But
4:30
Speaker 4: as far as mistakes and things that you would like
4:33
Speaker 4: to be able to have a mulligan or a do-over on, yeah,
4:36
Speaker 4: that's pretty much every week.
4:39
Speaker 3: That's what we all do, though. We're perfectionists. We're making
4:42
Speaker 3: this stuff up as we go on the fly. It's
4:45
Speaker 3: all extemporaneous.
4:46
Speaker 4: It's all ad-libbed. It's all see and observe and tell
4:51
Speaker 4: people what you're watching. And, you know, sometimes it doesn't
4:54
Speaker 4: come out exactly the way you intended it to.
4:57
Speaker 1: But that's what makes it so much fun. No backspace key,
5:00
Speaker 1: no eraser. You got one chance to get it right,
5:03
Speaker 1: and you almost always do. When the schedule comes out
5:08
Speaker 1: each year, I am scrambling to figure out how I'm
5:10
Speaker 1: going to get from a University of Cincinnati game on
5:12
Speaker 1: Saturday to a Bengals game on Sunday. In your case,
5:16
Speaker 1: I imagine you are looking at the best matchups that
5:19
Speaker 1: you're going to have to call during the course of
5:21
Speaker 1: the season. How high was Bengals, Ravens, and Baltimore on
5:25
Speaker 1: the list?
5:26
Speaker 3: Was it going to fall?
5:28
Speaker 4: On a regional week where Fox has the doubleheaders, you know,
5:31
Speaker 4: we alternate the weeks. And last week we had the
5:33
Speaker 4: doubleheader with Buffalo at the Raiders. And next week we
5:36
Speaker 4: have the doubleheader with Denver hosting Kansas city. So now
5:40
Speaker 4: you're looking at that schedule is a little, sometimes more
5:43
Speaker 4: difficult to figure out what's the best one game on
5:47
Speaker 4: the CBS ledger.
5:48
Speaker 3: This one jumped off the page.
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Speaker 4: I mean, I've been there for this rivalry game many
5:54
Speaker 4: times through the years in both buildings and I wanted
5:58
Speaker 4: it to be our game. I was stoked it was
6:00
Speaker 4: our game. I like coming to Charm City. And I
6:04
Speaker 4: like that stadium. I like the sight lines there. I
6:07
Speaker 4: like working with the Bengals. It hasn't been all that
6:11
Speaker 4: frequent in recent years because of Joe's injuries and that.
6:16
Speaker 3: Sort of thing.
6:17
Speaker 4: So I'm really excited to have this matchup. Every time
6:21
Speaker 4: I've ever had it, and I would say probably... In
6:25
Speaker 4: my years, I've probably gotten this matchup a good five
6:29
Speaker 4: to eight times, probably maybe even higher than that. And
6:33
Speaker 4: they've all been good matchups. They know each other so well.
6:36
Speaker 4: There are some that I wish I would have had
6:39
Speaker 4: the game on the last week of the regular season
6:41
Speaker 4: when Andy threw the touchdown that beat Baltimore, that put
6:46
Speaker 4: Buffalo in the playoffs.
6:49
Speaker 3: I missed that one.
6:50
Speaker 4: Of course, the game where Joe got injured was at
6:53
Speaker 4: Baltimore a few years ago. One of his injuries when
6:58
Speaker 4: he was running down toward a goal line from left
7:00
Speaker 4: to right. But in between, I've had the matchup a
7:03
Speaker 4: lot and there have been some crazy great plays in it.
7:07
Speaker 4: I expect it's going to be a beautiful day in Baltimore.
7:09
Speaker 4: It's an important game. The Bengals are coming off a bye.
7:13
Speaker 4: They're 3-2 trying to find a running game. Everybody in
7:16
Speaker 4: Baltimore is all upset about blowing a 10-point lead to
7:19
Speaker 4: the Browns last week, but, uh, with a division where
7:23
Speaker 4: you have some surprises, namely Cleveland, every team is above
7:27
Speaker 4: 500 right now.
7:28
Speaker 3: This game means a lot. So we're excited to have it.
7:32
Speaker 1: We're visiting with the great Jim Nance. When you look
7:34
Speaker 1: at the Bengals after the off season acquisition of Dexter Lawrence,
7:38
Speaker 1: what do you think the ceiling is? And what are
7:40
Speaker 1: you eager to see with your own two eyes this week?
7:43
Speaker 4: Well, I thought that I think that move is, uh, is,
7:46
Speaker 4: is working out really well. And, um, You know, I
7:49
Speaker 4: think for Cincinnati, and maybe I'm just influenced by the
7:54
Speaker 4: storylines I read, you.
7:56
Speaker 3: Know, I know that P.
7:58
Speaker 4: Ryan had a good game running the football in the
8:01
Speaker 4: last one down at Miami, and it hasn't quite been
8:05
Speaker 4: the running attack, not quite, it hasn't been anywhere close
8:08
Speaker 4: to the running attack they wanted to start the year. But,
8:12
Speaker 4: you know, I enjoy being around Burroughs, so I love
8:15
Speaker 4: the way he throws the football. I love seeing it
8:17
Speaker 4: in person. I love watching it leave his hands. So, no,
8:21
Speaker 4: just general thoughts. I had high expectation for Cincinnati coming
8:26
Speaker 4: into the year. And I was surprised to see that
8:29
Speaker 4: I thought I kind of had a sneaky long shot pick.
8:32
Speaker 4: There were a lot of people who thought the Bengals
8:33
Speaker 4: were going to be good. So, I'm anxious to see
8:36
Speaker 4: what the team looks like.
8:37
Speaker 3: I really am.
8:39
Speaker 1: You called the back-to-back AFC championship games in Kansas City
8:43
Speaker 1: in 21 and 22, or those seasons at least. And
8:47
Speaker 1: there were production meetings with Joe Burrow. You just referenced
8:50
Speaker 1: enjoying watching him play. How about interacting with him? Anything
8:54
Speaker 1: stand out about those visits with Joe?
8:56
Speaker 4: You know, he's always been, you know, he's always come
9:00
Speaker 4: in and been very analytical. He's a thoughtful guy with
9:03
Speaker 4: his answers. I don't know how much he enjoys being
9:06
Speaker 4: in production meetings, but we've enjoyed having him. And, you know,
9:11
Speaker 4: I'm always looking for questions that maybe hasn't been asked
9:13
Speaker 4: that tell a little bit more about him as a person,
9:16
Speaker 4: as opposed to the X's and O's. I leave that
9:19
Speaker 4: up to JJ and my analysts to do that. I'll
9:23
Speaker 4: tell you one thing I've really enjoyed through the years
9:26
Speaker 4: is I just, by circumstance, I've run into his mom
9:30
Speaker 4: and dad like many times on the road. And I've
9:33
Speaker 4: always enjoyed a visit with them. I don't know if
9:36
Speaker 4: that'll materialize this week, but Seems like we always end
9:39
Speaker 4: up at the same hotel and have a chance to
9:41
Speaker 4: have a little chat and they're great folks.
9:43
Speaker 3: So I'm hoping that'll be the case.
9:46
Speaker 1: You and JJ have had the opportunity to see the
9:48
Speaker 1: Ravens this year. You did that game in Rio against
9:51
Speaker 1: the Cowboys. What'd you think of Baltimore and what are
9:54
Speaker 1: going to be some of the keys for Cincinnati this week?
9:56
Speaker 4: Of course, they had Lamar in the game and and
10:01
Speaker 4: they had, uh, Derek doing his thing. So he ran
10:05
Speaker 4: for a lot of yardage and a couple of touchdowns
10:07
Speaker 4: and they won it with a field goal, uh, at
10:09
Speaker 4: the wire in a thrilling game down there. Uh, I
10:13
Speaker 4: think we all are wondering the same thing is, is
10:16
Speaker 4: Lamar going to play in the game? Uh, Huntley has
10:21
Speaker 4: surprisingly done some very good things when he's had to
10:24
Speaker 4: fill in for him. Just go back two weeks ago,
10:26
Speaker 4: he let him do a win and they moved the
10:28
Speaker 4: ball up and down the field on Atlanta and won
10:31
Speaker 4: in overtime. He put together a great drive there. It
10:33
Speaker 4: looked like last week, though, watching the game broadcast against Cleveland,
10:38
Speaker 4: it looked like the Browns after the first quarter kind
10:40
Speaker 4: of figured him out a little bit and they shut
10:43
Speaker 4: him out from after the first quarter on. So It's interesting.
10:49
Speaker 4: The second time, as you said, second time of the
10:51
Speaker 4: year I've had the Ravens. Both times now I have
10:54
Speaker 4: them coming off of a loss. Before the Cowboy game
10:58
Speaker 4: in Brazil, they had lost to the Saints the week
11:00
Speaker 4: before and they had blown a big lead, a double-digit lead.
11:03
Speaker 4: Now we're going into this one. They blew a 10-point
11:05
Speaker 4: lead against Cleveland. So the stories that you pour through
11:08
Speaker 4: all week long, they're pretty much aligned with the same
11:12
Speaker 4: storylines from something that had been a concern before with
11:18
Speaker 4: John Harbaugh and the previous coaching staff. They thought that
11:21
Speaker 4: they gave too many games away late and gave up
11:24
Speaker 4: big leads, and here it's resurfaced again with Jesse as
11:27
Speaker 4: their new coach. I think Baltimore's really good.
11:30
Speaker 3: I do.
11:32
Speaker 4: I'm not handicapping anybody right now to win that division,
11:35
Speaker 4: but they've got Buffalo next week, so this is a
11:39
Speaker 4: pretty serious stretch here when you go Bengals and Bills
11:42
Speaker 4: back-to-back weeks.
11:44
Speaker 3: Better be careful.
11:45
Speaker 4: I mean, it's... There are no shoe-ins, as we know
11:48
Speaker 4: that in this league, and certainly Cincinnati is not a
11:51
Speaker 4: shoe-in at all.
11:51
Speaker 3: This is a toss-up game.
11:54
Speaker 1: Last thing for Jim Nance, the Bengals host the Chiefs
11:57
Speaker 1: in mid-December. That game is on Fox. It's not going
12:00
Speaker 1: to feel right. We are accustomed to having Jim Nance
12:04
Speaker 1: calling big games between the Bengals and the Chiefs. Do
12:07
Speaker 1: you think we are going to get to see you
12:09
Speaker 1: during the rest of the regular season again, or will
12:11
Speaker 1: it have to wait for a playoff game?
12:14
Speaker 4: Right now, our schedule is so murky as to deadlock
12:18
Speaker 4: cinches of games we're going to do the rest of
12:20
Speaker 4: the way because the league is upside down.
12:23
Speaker 3: I'll give you an example.
12:25
Speaker 4: In our package, which is primarily AFC, not 100%, we
12:30
Speaker 4: thought the Chargers, or at least the people that handicapped,
12:33
Speaker 4: and let's take it right back to the league that
12:36
Speaker 4: puts the schedule together.
12:38
Speaker 3: I think we had the.
12:38
Speaker 4: Chargers in a lot of scenarios, and they're 0-6. Now
12:42
Speaker 4: you have to move off of that. Houston was 0-4,
12:45
Speaker 4: now they won a couple of straight games, but there
12:46
Speaker 4: were Texans scenarios too.
12:48
Speaker 3: So we're searching down the road for.
12:52
Speaker 4: A lot of games on weekends, and they will present themselves,
12:57
Speaker 4: and I'm optimistic that we'll have a Cincinnati game or
13:02
Speaker 4: two before the end of the regular season. I'd like
13:05
Speaker 4: to get back to the real jungle. And have a
13:11
Speaker 4: game at Cincinnati. I'm trying to think off the top
13:13
Speaker 4: of my head. I think there's a game in early
13:15
Speaker 4: December that looks like a real possibility. But I'm not
13:22
Speaker 4: sure which matchup that is.
13:24
Speaker 1: Jim, I reach out every year. The first time that
13:27
Speaker 1: you call a Bengals game and you're always very gracious
13:29
Speaker 1: to give me some of your time. I greatly appreciate it.
13:32
Speaker 1: I'm glad the wrist is doing well. And I look
13:34
Speaker 1: forward to seeing you in Baltimore.
13:36
Speaker 3: Thank you.
13:37
Speaker 4: Yeah, we're going to be 100% ready to go. And
13:39
Speaker 4: I look forward to seeing you there, Dan. Always a
13:41
Speaker 4: great pleasure. Thank you, my friend.
13:43
Speaker 1: You can probably tell that I have the utmost respect
13:46
Speaker 1: and admiration for Jim Nance. And I'll say this, whoever
13:50
Speaker 1: replaces him someday as the primary announcer on coverage of
13:54
Speaker 1: the Masters might have the most difficult job in the world.
13:59
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by Paycor,
14:02
Speaker 1: proud to be the Bengals' official HR software provider. By AltaFiber,
14:06
Speaker 1: future-proof fiber internet designed to elevate your home, business, and
14:10
Speaker 1: community to a new level. And by Kettering Health, the
14:13
Speaker 1: best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is the
14:16
Speaker 1: official healthcare provider of the Bengals. In Cincinnati's Week 5
14:20
Speaker 1: win in Miami, a 19-year-old franchise record was broken by
14:25
Speaker 1: kicker Evan McPherson. The snap is perfect. The kick is up,
14:29
Speaker 1: and it is good.
14:31
Speaker 5: And with that kick, Money Mac takes over as the Bengals'
14:35
Speaker 5: all-time leader in consecutive field goal tries without a miss,
14:39
Speaker 5: 22 in a row. He has passed Shane Graham on
14:44
Speaker 5: the Bengals' all-time list, and he's given Cincinnati a 31-18
14:48
Speaker 5: lead with 2.09 to go. McPherson is 10-for-10 this year,
14:53
Speaker 5: including field goals of 55, 57, and 58 yards. I
14:59
Speaker 5: caught up with him this week. I have three important
15:03
Speaker 5: yes or no questions to begin with. Question number one,
15:07
Speaker 5: do you consider a black cat crossing your path.
15:11
Speaker 1: To be bad luck?
15:12
Speaker 6: I do not.
15:13
Speaker 1: All right, that's a no. Do you avoid walking under
15:16
Speaker 1: a ladder?
15:18
Speaker 6: I would say no.
15:19
Speaker 1: That's a no. Do you have any apprehension about the
15:22
Speaker 1: number 13? such as staying on the 13th floor of
15:25
Speaker 1: a hotel?
15:26
Speaker 6: You know, I don't necessarily, so no.
15:28
Speaker 1: Okay. So we have clearly established that you are not superstitious,
15:33
Speaker 1: so I am now free to ask you about the streak.
15:37
Speaker 1: You have broken the franchise record for consecutive field goals
15:40
Speaker 1: without a miss 22 in a row as we sit
15:43
Speaker 1: down for this interview. Is that a record that you
15:47
Speaker 1: are particularly proud of because it speaks to your consistency?
15:50
Speaker 7: Yeah, I feel like now, it's funny, I didn't know
15:53
Speaker 7: about the record until maybe somebody brought it up a
15:57
Speaker 7: week before we broke it. Or no, it was the
15:59
Speaker 7: week we tied it at home. I didn't know about
16:03
Speaker 7: it at all. I didn't know what kind of streak
16:05
Speaker 7: I was on. I was just kind of going out there,
16:08
Speaker 7: attempting these field goals, not knowing really anything. So it's
16:10
Speaker 7: probably good to be a little naive at times. But
16:14
Speaker 7: whenever I did find out about it, I still tried
16:16
Speaker 7: to not really think about it. Because in the grand
16:21
Speaker 7: scheme of things, it's like if I go out there
16:23
Speaker 7: and do what I'm supposed to do, the streak will
16:26
Speaker 7: go on and on and on. But it is what
16:29
Speaker 7: I'm proud of because I feel like I've seen my
16:32
Speaker 7: consistency grow in practice, training camp, preseason, regular season. I
16:39
Speaker 7: feel like as I've gotten older, I've been able to
16:43
Speaker 7: find a little bit more consistency in making kicks.
16:46
Speaker 1: I find it interesting that you said we, is it
16:49
Speaker 1: important for you that everybody involved gets credit?
16:52
Speaker 6: Yeah, of course.
16:52
Speaker 7: Cause it, it doesn't, it doesn't happen without everybody else
16:55
Speaker 7: on the field. Um, and everybody else in the building, uh,
16:58
Speaker 7: Ryan and Will are a big part of it. They've
17:01
Speaker 7: been able to make my job a lot easier. So
17:03
Speaker 7: I'm not thinking about laces. I'm not thinking about if
17:07
Speaker 7: Ryan's going to hit the spot or not. Um, not
17:09
Speaker 7: worried about snap location, anything like that more often than not.
17:14
Speaker 6: Um, The snap's going to be right where it needs
17:17
Speaker 6: to be.
17:17
Speaker 7: Ryan's going to get it down with plenty of time,
17:19
Speaker 7: and the line's going to do a great job blocking.
17:21
Speaker 7: We talk about every week that we're going to face
17:23
Speaker 7: a good field goal block team, and more times than not,
17:27
Speaker 7: I don't feel any pressure. And so I feel like
17:30
Speaker 7: we have a great unit as a whole, and that
17:34
Speaker 7: stands for our offensive line, our tight ends out there
17:37
Speaker 7: blocking for me. And I feel like everybody has a
17:39
Speaker 7: great sense of.
17:40
Speaker 6: Pride in the field goal.
17:43
Speaker 2: Group.
17:43
Speaker 7: Because I know it's not an easy position. You're just
17:46
Speaker 7: standing there still, letting guys.
17:48
Speaker 6: Just plow over you. And, well, I don't take that lightly.
17:52
Speaker 7: And every time we step on the field, I want
17:55
Speaker 7: to come through for those guys for that sole reason. Like,
17:58
Speaker 7: I don't want them to be out there for a
18:00
Speaker 7: missed field goal. Like, that's kind of what gets me upset, honestly,
18:04
Speaker 7: whenever I miss is because these guys are putting their
18:06
Speaker 7: body on the line for me.
18:07
Speaker 6: The least I could do is put the ball through
18:09
Speaker 6: the uprights.
18:10
Speaker 1: The record you broke was held by Shane Graham. You
18:13
Speaker 1: two have a bit of a history. Explain that, and
18:15
Speaker 1: did he reach out right after you broke his record?
18:17
Speaker 7: Yeah, Shane was with me my last year at Florida,
18:21
Speaker 7: and he was really good for me. At UF, a
18:25
Speaker 7: guy that had played, whatever it was, 15 years in
18:28
Speaker 7: the league, had that experience, and so he did, I guess,
18:32
Speaker 7: give some types of wisdom and advice on what to
18:36
Speaker 7: expect a little bit at Florida. but I feel like
18:40
Speaker 7: he was like so new at the time at Florida.
18:42
Speaker 7: He didn't know how much input to give, you know,
18:46
Speaker 7: maybe he wasn't given enough or maybe given too much.
18:49
Speaker 7: He was kind of teetering on that line at that time. So,
18:52
Speaker 7: but I feel like as a personal relationship, he really
18:55
Speaker 7: helped me probably land here. Um, cause I'm sure I
18:58
Speaker 7: haven't talked to Darren, but I don't know if Darren
19:00
Speaker 7: talked to Shane about, about me going through the process.
19:04
Speaker 6: Uh, but yeah, he was a good resource for me
19:05
Speaker 6: at Florida.
19:06
Speaker 7: And then whenever I got here, um, I guess he
19:09
Speaker 7: keeps up with the games and stats and stuff, and
19:13
Speaker 7: obviously he's got some records. I don't know how many
19:14
Speaker 7: records he has left, but.
19:19
Speaker 6: I feel like.
19:21
Speaker 7: If I was in Shane's shoes, I would want the
19:24
Speaker 7: next generation to come up and be better than I
19:26
Speaker 7: was just to help the team in general because it's
19:29
Speaker 7: like if the kicker's doing well and helping the team
19:32
Speaker 7: out and be successful, then that's kind of all I'd
19:34
Speaker 7: be happy for.
19:37
Speaker 1: We're visiting with Evan McPherson. You are now halfway to
19:40
Speaker 1: the NFL record of 44 straight by Hall of Famer
19:44
Speaker 1: Adam Vinatieri. Is that number mind-boggling?
19:47
Speaker 6: When you sit back and think about it, yeah, because it.
19:50
Speaker 7: It took him whatever, two years, a span of like
19:52
Speaker 7: two seasons to complete that. And it's really impressive. And
19:57
Speaker 7: I think he didn't do that until later, right? Like 2016, 15,
20:00
Speaker 7: something like that. So it is funny how you feel
20:03
Speaker 7: like you get more consistent the older you get. and
20:07
Speaker 7: how much more confident, I guess, you get. And that
20:10
Speaker 7: record is really impressive, and I think I've seen him
20:12
Speaker 7: talk about it maybe on a podcast, and he just
20:15
Speaker 7: felt like in that phase when he set the record,
20:19
Speaker 7: he just felt like he was in a groove, in
20:21
Speaker 7: a rhythm, and he wasn't missing in practice. He wasn't
20:23
Speaker 7: missing in the games. He just felt like everything was
20:25
Speaker 7: clicking at the right time. And so after hearing that,
20:29
Speaker 7: it's like these practice kicks are important. They give you
20:32
Speaker 7: confidence going into the game that, um you hit it
20:35
Speaker 7: well all week you hit it well in pre-game um
20:38
Speaker 7: so whenever you try out there on the field during
20:41
Speaker 7: the game it doesn't have any different type of feeling
20:43
Speaker 7: you know and i feel like that's the most important
20:46
Speaker 7: thing is not feeling any added extra pressure during the
20:51
Speaker 7: game and i feel like i found maybe a way
20:55
Speaker 7: this year and a little bit last year to be
20:59
Speaker 7: more confident when i'm out on the field and enjoy
21:01
Speaker 7: the moment having fun.
21:03
Speaker 1: This is not your first team record. Last year you
21:06
Speaker 1: set the franchise record for longest field goal with a 63-yarder,
21:09
Speaker 1: the first 60-plus field goal in franchise history. For most
21:13
Speaker 1: of my lifetime, 63 was the NFL record by Tom
21:16
Speaker 1: Dempsey a million years ago, and now it's up to
21:19
Speaker 1: 68 in the regular season. There was a 70-yarder in
21:22
Speaker 1: the preseason. What do you consider to be a long
21:25
Speaker 1: field goal at this point?
21:27
Speaker 7: So it's funny how my perspective has changed. Like my
21:30
Speaker 7: rookie year, it was really impressive if you're hitting 50
21:33
Speaker 7: plus yard field goals. Like I remember my rookie year,
21:36
Speaker 7: I think we had the most in the season, almost
21:39
Speaker 7: tied the record for the most, I guess in NFL history,
21:44
Speaker 7: made 50 yard field goals in one season. And so
21:48
Speaker 7: back then 50 yard field goals were looked at as like, awesome.
21:51
Speaker 7: Like if you can make those, then you're a really
21:53
Speaker 7: good kicker. But now I feel like if it's anything
21:57
Speaker 7: on our side of the field, you dang near like
22:01
Speaker 7: better make it. And it's impressive like over five, six years,
22:05
Speaker 7: how much it's changed. And it's just really impressive. And
22:08
Speaker 7: I feel like me personally, like I do feel like
22:11
Speaker 7: if we're on our side of the field, we should
22:13
Speaker 7: be operating so well that we can make anything. And
22:17
Speaker 7: I feel like if you want to push it back
22:20
Speaker 7: to like 61, 62, I feel like in the regular
22:24
Speaker 7: course of a game, that those field goals are looked
22:29
Speaker 7: at as must makes and which is crazy like yes
22:32
Speaker 7: yeah it doesn't make any sense but that's just kind
22:35
Speaker 7: of how everybody's evolving um getting stronger more accurate from
22:38
Speaker 7: deep and uh it definitely comes along with like the
22:42
Speaker 7: k balls and how they're letting us kick them in
22:44
Speaker 7: practice um and kind of prepare them in a better
22:49
Speaker 7: way than getting them an hour and a half before
22:51
Speaker 7: the game and.
22:52
Speaker 6: The leather is a little stiffer the ball doesn't fly
22:55
Speaker 6: as far.
22:57
Speaker 7: And I think it's a fun part of the game. Honestly,
23:00
Speaker 7: it just brings a little bit more excitement into it.
23:02
Speaker 1: You've given a lot of credit to Dr. Peter Ganshurt
23:05
Speaker 1: who works with the players on confidence and the mental
23:07
Speaker 1: approach to the game. How has he helped you?
23:10
Speaker 7: Yeah, you know, it's funny because I haven't had like
23:12
Speaker 7: a formal sit down one-on-one with him.
23:15
Speaker 6: We just kind of have conversations on the field.
23:19
Speaker 7: And I never really thought about like talking to like a,
23:25
Speaker 7: psychologist and like the mental approach to football I just
23:30
Speaker 7: felt like I had it figured out and how my
23:33
Speaker 7: mind and my body works and yeah it wasn't until
23:36
Speaker 7: last year where he gave me a tip just asked
23:40
Speaker 7: me like what's going through my mind during games or
23:42
Speaker 7: when I'm out on the field practicing kicking and usually
23:45
Speaker 7: it's a lot of negative things and I usually would
23:48
Speaker 7: let those negative things creep into my head if it's
23:50
Speaker 7: something that the fans said if it's maybe something that
23:54
Speaker 7: pops into my head from a long time ago. And
23:57
Speaker 7: he was like, you're just thinking about it all wrong.
23:59
Speaker 7: He's like, you need to counteract these negative thoughts with
24:02
Speaker 7: positive ones. And he gave me this stat on like
24:05
Speaker 7: the negative thoughts in your brain doubles the positive ones.
24:07
Speaker 7: And so he just talked to me a lot about
24:13
Speaker 7: like positive self positive talk when you're on the field,
24:17
Speaker 7: no matter in what situation, practice games off season, And
24:23
Speaker 7: it just kind of shifted my focus to, I don't know,
24:28
Speaker 7: like being grateful for each opportunity that I get. And also,
24:34
Speaker 7: I mean, I have a million negative thoughts running through
24:36
Speaker 7: my head every single game, every single practice.
24:39
Speaker 6: It's like I can hear.
24:41
Speaker 7: The groans of a crowd after a missed field goal.
24:44
Speaker 7: And it's weird how all that pops into your head
24:47
Speaker 7: during these, I guess, pressure situations during the game. And
24:52
Speaker 7: I try to, I, if there was a microphone in
24:56
Speaker 7: my brain during the game, I think it would be
24:58
Speaker 7: a funny thing to listen to just because anytime that
25:01
Speaker 7: I hear anything negative, I'm just like, come on, you
25:04
Speaker 7: got this. Like you're, you're here for a reason. You're
25:07
Speaker 7: the best in the league. Just go out there and
25:09
Speaker 7: do what you do. My mom, that's one thing that
25:10
Speaker 7: she says to me all the time before every game
25:12
Speaker 7: is she just says, go out there and just do
25:14
Speaker 7: what you do.
25:15
Speaker 6: And if I go out there and do what I do, I.
25:19
Speaker 7: Feel like more times than not, it's going to.
25:21
Speaker 6: Be, a good outcome.
25:23
Speaker 7: And so I just, before every kick, before I hit
25:27
Speaker 7: in the, in the net, it's, you got this, you're
25:31
Speaker 7: the best in the league.
25:31
Speaker 6: You're here for a reason.
25:32
Speaker 7: Just go do what you do and just give God
25:35
Speaker 7: all the glory. Cause at the end of the day,
25:37
Speaker 7: that's the most important thing is I'm not out there
25:40
Speaker 7: for myself. I'm out there performing for God and for
25:44
Speaker 7: his glory.
25:44
Speaker 1: So we've gotten to know you well enough over the
25:47
Speaker 1: last five years to know that you're not the bragging type.
25:49
Speaker 1: But when you say that, internal voice says you're the
25:53
Speaker 1: best in the game have you reached the point now
25:55
Speaker 1: where you truly believe you're as good as anybody in
25:57
Speaker 1: the league yeah i.
25:59
Speaker 7: I like to i guess it could be like a
26:01
Speaker 7: mental pump up uh just for yourself and i'm sure
26:05
Speaker 7: a lot of guys do it and a lot of
26:06
Speaker 7: guys like to think that they are the best in
26:08
Speaker 7: the league and i do feel like there's guys in
26:10
Speaker 7: the league now um that are really impressive uh and
26:15
Speaker 7: i feel like we're all kind of like up there
26:16
Speaker 7: together i don't know it's like You think of Brandon
26:20
Speaker 7: Aubrey and Cam Little, and you talk consistently like Will
26:24
Speaker 7: Reichert with the Vikings. I think he's like 34, 35
26:26
Speaker 7: in a row. Me and Will are really good friends.
26:30
Speaker 7: Cam Little are really good friends. I haven't been able
26:32
Speaker 7: to play against Brandon Aubrey yet, but you talk about
26:36
Speaker 7: some of my closest friends in the league and just
26:39
Speaker 7: the consistency and the ability to hit the long field
26:42
Speaker 7: goals is really impressive. And so I feel like if
26:47
Speaker 7: you look at the league right now, Even like Spencer
26:49
Speaker 7: Schrader with the Colts.
26:52
Speaker 6: I feel like.
26:55
Speaker 7: It's not like it was maybe, I don't know, like
26:59
Speaker 7: 10 years ago where that guy was Justin Tucker. Everybody
27:02
Speaker 7: looked at Justin and he was kind of a level
27:05
Speaker 7: above everybody else. And right now it feels like there's
27:09
Speaker 7: a core group that's just kind of steady right there
27:12
Speaker 7: at the top and competing week to week with each other.
27:15
Speaker 7: It's like anybody any certain week could win Special teams
27:19
Speaker 7: player of the week, special teams player of the month.
27:21
Speaker 7: It's kind of like a fun battle just to compete.
27:24
Speaker 6: Against these guys.
27:26
Speaker 7: They definitely help push the envelope and make everybody better.
27:32
Speaker 1: Last weekend you didn't play, but your younger brother Alex did,
27:37
Speaker 1: and he kicked a walk-off field goal for Auburn to
27:39
Speaker 1: help the Tigers knock off the number one team in
27:42
Speaker 1: the country, Georgia. Was that as exhilarating for you as
27:46
Speaker 1: any kick that you've made?
27:48
Speaker 6: It's probably more, honestly. I truly feel like it was
27:52
Speaker 6: more exhilarating.
27:53
Speaker 7: We were down at the beach watching in a Mexican restaurant.
27:59
Speaker 7: We had a Georgia alum. My sister-in-law's boyfriend was eating
28:04
Speaker 7: with us. We were giving it to him all day
28:07
Speaker 7: and talking about Auburn's going to beat Georgia, this and that.
28:10
Speaker 7: Then the game starts off 14-0 and you're like, oh shoot,
28:13
Speaker 7: here we go. Then they fight and claw back and
28:15
Speaker 7: Auburn Football team did a great job not giving up,
28:19
Speaker 7: not quitting. And they put Alex in some great situations.
28:23
Speaker 6: And then to get.
28:24
Speaker 7: That fumble on George's last drive, the first thing that
28:29
Speaker 7: pops in your head is like they're going to get
28:31
Speaker 7: at least 15 yards in an attempt to field goal here.
28:33
Speaker 6: So I was just super excited that.
28:35
Speaker 7: He would finally get that opportunity to hit a game
28:37
Speaker 7: winner because I never did in college. And those moments
28:42
Speaker 7: don't come by often. I feel like especially in college.
28:46
Speaker 7: And just the series that happened, the, the rough and
28:49
Speaker 7: the passer got it moved up closer.
28:51
Speaker 6: Um, and then when it was like a 34 yarder, uh.
28:55
Speaker 7: There was no doubt in my mind that he was
28:57
Speaker 7: going to make it and, you know, just so happy
29:01
Speaker 7: and proud of him to come through in that moment,
29:04
Speaker 7: because I know he's obviously like his goal is to
29:09
Speaker 7: play in the NFL. And I feel like going through
29:12
Speaker 7: those situations in college, um, It kind of helps prove
29:16
Speaker 7: that you have that mental capacity to play in the NFL.
29:21
Speaker 7: And he's got all the talent in the world to
29:25
Speaker 7: hopefully play against me one day. And I have no
29:28
Speaker 7: doubt that the rest of the season, whatever happens, I
29:33
Speaker 7: feel like he's going to go out there and break
29:36
Speaker 7: some records of his own, NCAA, SEC records, whatever it is.
29:40
Speaker 7: and he's going to put out a good name for himself,
29:43
Speaker 7: I feel like.
29:44
Speaker 1: He had a real health scare a couple of years
29:46
Speaker 1: ago where his entire large intestine was removed. I've seen
29:50
Speaker 1: pictures of him after losing 55 pounds. He was skeletal.
29:54
Speaker 1: He was down to 110 pounds. When he was hoisted
29:57
Speaker 1: on his teammates' shoulders last week after that game-winning kick,
30:01
Speaker 1: was it emotional for you?
30:02
Speaker 7: Yeah, I don't think it can't not be emotional for
30:09
Speaker 7: seeing all that he went through.
30:13
Speaker 6: And the time that he took off.
30:14
Speaker 7: He could have easily probably just not tried to come
30:18
Speaker 7: back and play football again because that's a pretty traumatic
30:20
Speaker 7: thing that he went through.
30:21
Speaker 6: But this is like football is... what he enjoys to do.
30:26
Speaker 7: And I feel like football for the same, for me
30:30
Speaker 7: as it is for him, like he sees it as
30:31
Speaker 7: a platform that he can use in a good way. Um,
30:36
Speaker 7: and that's just kind of like his motivation is like,
30:39
Speaker 7: he wants to be the best kicker that he can be.
30:42
Speaker 7: And so all he wanted to do was get back
30:45
Speaker 7: on the field and that he's got a great story.
30:47
Speaker 7: Like he's showing all these kids with the ulcerative colitis
30:50
Speaker 7: and Crohn's that you still can play sports, even if,
30:54
Speaker 7: you do get your large intestine taken out and you
30:56
Speaker 7: have a ostomy bag and you can still do all
30:58
Speaker 7: these things that you maybe doctors tell you you can't do,
31:01
Speaker 7: or you think you can't do, you can still do
31:05
Speaker 7: all these things. And he, he's such a good story. I,
31:09
Speaker 7: I always tell him, I'm like, I'm jealous of him
31:11
Speaker 7: because he's like, he got a little cheat code. Like
31:14
Speaker 7: he's going to do all these motivational speaking engagements and
31:17
Speaker 7: he does all these, um, like speaking engines for like
31:21
Speaker 7: Crohn's and UC and, um, man, that kid just got
31:25
Speaker 7: a great story of, you know, trusting the Lord and,
31:29
Speaker 7: and his plan for your life and never given up
31:32
Speaker 7: and family, friends, like he has really impressed me, honestly, um,
31:39
Speaker 7: over the past two years. And yeah, it's just really
31:42
Speaker 7: impressive what he's been able to accomplish.
31:45
Speaker 1: He is not afraid of black cats. He will walk
31:47
Speaker 1: under a ladder. He doesn't Get unnerved by the number 13,
31:52
Speaker 1: and he's having an awesome season. Congratulations.
31:54
Speaker 6: Thanks for the time. Yeah, thank you.
31:56
Speaker 1: Evans' brother Alex is 46 for 53 on field goal
32:00
Speaker 1: attempts at Auburn. That's 87%, and has made all 106
32:05
Speaker 1: of his PATs. Finally, it's time for this week's Know
32:09
Speaker 1: the Foe segment, as we get the lowdown on the
32:11
Speaker 1: 4-2 Ravens from Brad Jackson, who earned a Super Bowl
32:15
Speaker 1: ring in Baltimore after playing football and basketball recently. at
32:19
Speaker 1: the University of Cincinnati. Brad joined Wayne Boxmiller and me
32:23
Speaker 1: on the Bengals game plan show this week, and I
32:25
Speaker 1: started our conversation by asking him if anything in Baltimore
32:29
Speaker 1: looks different under new head coach Jesse Minter. Jackson played
32:33
Speaker 1: for his dad, Rick Minter, at UC.
32:37
Speaker 2: I think a lot of what's remained the same has
32:41
Speaker 2: been the attention to detail, how the defense is going
32:45
Speaker 2: to attack. The pressure may come from a little bit in.
32:48
Speaker 2: The thing that's different from Rex Ryan and Wake Martindale,
32:51
Speaker 2: obviously former Bearcats, coaches in and of themselves is a
32:55
Speaker 2: lot of the pressure came from up front it came
32:57
Speaker 2: from the linebackers it came from you know them disguising
33:01
Speaker 2: blitzes as far as attacking the front and and and
33:04
Speaker 2: the pass protections of the offenses where jesse you know
33:08
Speaker 2: who is more of a guy that you know cut
33:10
Speaker 2: his teeth on the back end and then the secondary
33:12
Speaker 2: um you know obviously he started at the university of
33:15
Speaker 2: cincinnati at the ga um and then he was out
33:18
Speaker 2: here with us in baltimore going back in 2017 so
33:20
Speaker 2: you he brings a lot of the pressure and a
33:23
Speaker 2: lot of the scheme, the same type of pressure that
33:26
Speaker 2: we do. It just comes from the back end with
33:29
Speaker 2: the secondary, which is why you see Cal Hamilton, you know, continuously,
33:34
Speaker 2: you know, be a phenomenal player in and around the
33:37
Speaker 2: line of scrimmage using his great athleticism and the abilities
33:41
Speaker 2: and the tools and traits that he has to make plays,
33:44
Speaker 2: you know, whether he's blitzing and he's causing them havoc.
33:48
Speaker 2: And you'll see Malachi Starks in safety as well. So,
33:51
Speaker 2: That's probably the biggest difference that, you know, Bengals fans
33:54
Speaker 2: will see is they'll see a lot more pressure coming
33:57
Speaker 2: from the secondary and then getting the safeties down. You'll
34:00
Speaker 2: see a lot more corner blitzes, a lot more nickel blitzes.
34:04
Speaker 2: But the pressure, the scheme, the play like a raven,
34:07
Speaker 2: as we say out here, and being tough physical, playing
34:10
Speaker 2: with extreme violence and controlled chaos remains a hallmark with
34:14
Speaker 2: Jesse Minter as the new head coach.
34:17
Speaker 8: You know, Brad Wayne, Box Miller here. Thanks for joining us.
34:20
Speaker 8: Zach Taylor talked about Kyle Hamilton and said that he's
34:24
Speaker 8: probably the most underrated player in the NFL. I mean,
34:26
Speaker 8: he's already leading defensive backs with six tackles for loss.
34:30
Speaker 8: But I saw a stat on their sheet, 31 tackles
34:33
Speaker 8: for loss since he came in the league ahead of
34:35
Speaker 8: a guy we loved, Mike Hilton, who had 29. But
34:39
Speaker 8: just talk about what makes him special in your eyes.
34:42
Speaker 2: Well, it's just his versatility. I mean, you're talking about
34:45
Speaker 2: a player that has great length. You know, he's only 54.
34:49
Speaker 2: He's extremely smart. We know he played at Notre Dame.
34:51
Speaker 2: He's from Atlanta. But he's a guy that can be
34:55
Speaker 2: a linebacker because of his physicality and because of his length.
34:58
Speaker 2: He has excellent ability to blitz, you know. doing all
35:02
Speaker 2: the scouting that I'm doing now, you know, you see
35:05
Speaker 2: a lot of guys and they blitz, but they don't
35:06
Speaker 2: know how to blitz. They're just running where the, where
35:09
Speaker 2: the coach drew it up on the, on the screen
35:11
Speaker 2: for them to go. Well, Kyle has the ability to
35:13
Speaker 2: read protection and understand when he's blitzing with him, whether
35:17
Speaker 2: it's the back of tight end or alignment, what their
35:19
Speaker 2: weaknesses are. And that's attributed to Anthony Weaver, you know,
35:22
Speaker 2: who is the defensive coordinator by Todd, even though we
35:25
Speaker 2: know Jesse calls a play, We being a former Northern
35:29
Speaker 2: guy and obviously played here with the Baltimore with us
35:32
Speaker 2: as well as a defensive lineman, he does a great
35:35
Speaker 2: job of breaking down the protections. And so he gives
35:38
Speaker 2: that information to whether it's Cal or Malachi Starks or
35:42
Speaker 2: the corners or even when it's the linebackers. And so
35:45
Speaker 2: Cal's ability to cover a tight end, play in short
35:47
Speaker 2: areas versus defense. you know, smaller, maybe even faster wide
35:51
Speaker 2: receivers because of his great length, he causes problems. And
35:54
Speaker 2: then you just don't know as you guys have seen,
35:56
Speaker 2: whether he's blitzing, whether he's dropping, whether he's a drop
35:59
Speaker 2: or a man dropper, or sometimes he'll be all the
36:01
Speaker 2: way at the line of scrimmage and he'll be a
36:03
Speaker 2: robber completely on the other side. You know, you'll see
36:06
Speaker 2: him line up on the line of scrimmage versus in
36:08
Speaker 2: tight end. And then all of a sudden he's just
36:10
Speaker 2: shooting to the other side and he's robbing underneath, you know,
36:13
Speaker 2: the wide receiver, you know, in the slot. or he'll
36:16
Speaker 2: be all the way down in the line of scrimmage
36:18
Speaker 2: and then he takes off and he's the half field
36:20
Speaker 2: or middle of the field safety with him and Malachi
36:22
Speaker 2: rocking and rolling the coverages, as we call it out here.
36:25
Speaker 2: So he's just uniquely versatile. You see a lot of
36:28
Speaker 2: guys in a lot of defenses and, you know, the
36:31
Speaker 2: safety out of South Carolina, you mean your, you know,
36:33
Speaker 2: that Mike McDonald, who was here in Baltimore, he's kind
36:36
Speaker 2: of utilizing that same type of safety, that 6-3, 6-4,
36:39
Speaker 2: you Guys that can run with anybody full forward, great
36:43
Speaker 2: blitz ability and the ability to cover. So you're starting
36:47
Speaker 2: to see more of that, you know, guys that are
36:49
Speaker 2: coming from the Ravens bloodline and get those bigger safeties
36:52
Speaker 2: that have the ability to play, you know, almost a
36:55
Speaker 2: linebacker and even some nickel, depending on the coverages because
37:00
Speaker 2: of their athleticism.
37:02
Speaker 1: Former Ravens linebacker and former UC football and basketball player
37:05
Speaker 1: Brad Jackson is our guest. Let's talk about Lamar Jackson.
37:09
Speaker 1: Jesse Minter said he was a limited participant at practice today.
37:12
Speaker 1: He's missed the last two with an ankle injury. What's
37:15
Speaker 1: your gut tell you? Do you think Lamar is able
37:17
Speaker 1: to answer the bell this week?
37:19
Speaker 2: It would be interesting to see. I saw he was
37:22
Speaker 2: kind of playing last week. I mean, I saw he
37:25
Speaker 2: did not practice when the media was there today. I
37:30
Speaker 2: know he was inside. I know what Coach Brown said. But,
37:33
Speaker 2: you know, the fact that he wasn't out there today,
37:36
Speaker 2: he'll kind of have a lift. Lamar has been a
37:40
Speaker 2: guy that he's been in these situations before, and then
37:43
Speaker 2: he'll go out there and play. We know with the
37:45
Speaker 2: great medicines and the techniques that occur in medicine nowadays
37:50
Speaker 2: that he's a guy that even if he's 75%, he's
37:52
Speaker 2: probably better than 85% of the quarterbacks in the National
37:57
Speaker 2: Football League. But this is an important division battle. I mean,
38:00
Speaker 2: we've talked about this with you guys for over the years.
38:03
Speaker 2: You know, the fact that the Bengals are sitting at
38:05
Speaker 2: three and two, this division is kind of muddled up.
38:07
Speaker 2: You know, surprisingly, the team up by the mistake by
38:11
Speaker 2: the Lakers in first place, you know, as of right now.
38:15
Speaker 2: And it's going to come down to these divisional games,
38:18
Speaker 2: especially in November, December.
38:19
Speaker 9: So I would firmly expect to see Lamar play this
38:24
Speaker 9: week because going against Joe Burrow and obviously the passing
38:28
Speaker 9: attack of the Cincinnati Bengals, I think this is, it's almost,
38:32
Speaker 9: it's too early to say, but this is a very
38:34
Speaker 9: important game.
38:35
Speaker 2: You know, you don't want to go four and three
38:37
Speaker 2: and then you're sitting there right there with the Bengals
38:39
Speaker 2: having the tiebreaker the first one, especially with the game
38:42
Speaker 2: being here in Baltimore. We know how tough it is. I've,
38:44
Speaker 2: you know, played, you know, even going back to play
38:49
Speaker 2: in Cincinnati and on the road in the jungle. You
38:51
Speaker 2: guys know that you live out there. You're part of that.
38:53
Speaker 2: So it being a home game here, This is almost
38:57
Speaker 2: like a game you expect them to have, considering that
39:01
Speaker 2: you know, the last time they were playing at home against,
39:03
Speaker 2: you know, the Saints team, which was supposed to be
39:05
Speaker 2: the home opener, supposed to be an easy win, you know,
39:08
Speaker 2: and it turned out, you know, not to be what
39:10
Speaker 2: they expected to be against the Saints team that everybody
39:13
Speaker 2: expected to beat. And then, you know, they were in
39:15
Speaker 2: a dogfight against the Titans before, you know, they had
39:19
Speaker 2: to go on the road and beat Atlanta. And then obviously,
39:22
Speaker 2: you know, lose to the Browns last week on the road. So,
39:25
Speaker 2: you know, this is an important must win, you know,
39:29
Speaker 2: for them because of the division. So I fully expect
39:32
Speaker 2: to see Lamar out there. It's just a matter of
39:35
Speaker 2: who's going to snap on the ball. I mean, obviously
39:37
Speaker 2: some of the Bengals fans don't know the Ravens are
39:39
Speaker 2: on their fourth offensive center. They've had three of them
39:43
Speaker 2: go down already. They traded for Cam Jurgens, who is
39:46
Speaker 2: still in concussion protocol from the Philadelphia Eagles a week ago.
39:50
Speaker 2: So there's some serious concern on the offensive line, especially
39:53
Speaker 2: who's going to snap the ball to Lamar.
39:56
Speaker 8: Well, you always say if you have those struggles, you
39:58
Speaker 8: try to run the ball. Derrick Henry is that guy.
40:01
Speaker 8: But I said this, and I stand by this. I
40:04
Speaker 8: think that the one-two combination of Derrick Henry and Justin Hill,
40:07
Speaker 8: Justin Hill to me is one of the hardest runners
40:10
Speaker 8: in the NFL, and gets quite a few yards after contact.
40:14
Speaker 8: But just talk about them as a tandem. And Derek
40:17
Speaker 8: Henry's fumble last week, usually if a guy fumbles one week,
40:21
Speaker 8: the defense the next week is trying to find out
40:23
Speaker 8: if that's going to be a habit.
40:25
Speaker 2: Oh, no question about that, Box. Like, if I see
40:27
Speaker 2: you put anything on film like that, I guarantee the
40:30
Speaker 2: Bengals coach you. And if they're not, then they better
40:33
Speaker 2: be making sure that those guys are working on punching
40:35
Speaker 2: the ball out. You know, Derrick doesn't fumble often, and
40:38
Speaker 2: it kind of gets to those certain type of games
40:41
Speaker 2: where I think there's a lack of focus or whatever
40:43
Speaker 2: the case is. But give credit to the Bengals. I mean,
40:46
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, to the Browns for continually to punch out
40:48
Speaker 2: the ball. And you're right, Box and Gordy. You know,
40:52
Speaker 2: when you're talking about Derrick Henry, he's 111 yards away
40:55
Speaker 2: from passing Jerome Bettis. I think it is for seventh
40:58
Speaker 2: or eighth all-time. They have to rely on the run game,
41:01
Speaker 2: even if Lamar is not healthy, because that is obviously
41:05
Speaker 2: what gets everything else going. You know, Declan is the
41:08
Speaker 2: new offensive coordinator. He's got a fabulous job with all
41:10
Speaker 2: the formations. and everything else, but you have Zay Flowers,
41:14
Speaker 2: and even though he's out there playing, he's probably about 80%, 85%
41:17
Speaker 2: with his hamstring. You know, Rashad Bateman left the game
41:21
Speaker 2: and didn't return last week. Mark Andrews still has not
41:24
Speaker 2: turned into being the Mark Andrews before he fumbled and
41:27
Speaker 2: dropped the pass in the playoffs a couple years ago
41:29
Speaker 2: up in Buffalo. Losing Isaiah Likely was a huge loss
41:33
Speaker 2: for this team. He followed Coach Harbaugh to the New
41:35
Speaker 2: York Giants. So, you know, having that second and third,
41:38
Speaker 2: you know, which is why the Ravens are kind of,
41:43
Speaker 2: you know, in the market right now to see if
41:45
Speaker 2: they can go ahead and get another wide receiver in
41:47
Speaker 2: here because you don't know how long Bates is going
41:49
Speaker 2: to be out. They are still, you know, getting a
41:51
Speaker 2: lot of the extra coverage because there isn't that second
41:55
Speaker 2: wide receiver. And so the running game, to your point, Box,
41:59
Speaker 2: it's going to be huge. Justice Hill, obviously, you know,
42:02
Speaker 2: he's completely different. type of player and athlete, you know,
42:05
Speaker 2: he's under five, nine, you know, 180, 185 pounds. He
42:09
Speaker 2: has great explosion, great contact balance. He's the guy that
42:12
Speaker 2: they use in the third thousand. So he, like you said,
42:15
Speaker 2: he's extremely tough to bring down because of his low
42:18
Speaker 2: center of gravity and he runs hard and he just
42:21
Speaker 2: brings a different burst. And after, you know, Derek Henry's
42:24
Speaker 2: leaning on you, leaning on and leaning on you, beat
42:26
Speaker 2: you up, beat you up, beat you up, you know,
42:28
Speaker 2: takes you back to the old days. When I was playing,
42:30
Speaker 2: you had Jerome Bettis and then you had, you know,
42:32
Speaker 2: famous Amos Airway you know so you know you kind
42:35
Speaker 2: of had that where the bus would kind of beat
42:37
Speaker 2: you up and then they would change the pace with
42:39
Speaker 2: Amos Airway and that's what the Ravens have right here
42:41
Speaker 2: with uh with Derrick Henry just leaning on you and
42:44
Speaker 2: you know going downhill and then you get that change
42:46
Speaker 2: of pace in there with the guy that you know
42:48
Speaker 2: he he brings a lot of shiftiness and ability to
42:51
Speaker 2: make people miss in short areas in the phone booth
42:53
Speaker 2: so They're a good one-two punch, and, you know, Justice
42:56
Speaker 2: obviously averaging over seven yards. I think they, you know,
42:59
Speaker 2: they need to get him more involved. He only has
43:03
Speaker 2: 133 on the season, and I just think there needs
43:04
Speaker 2: to be more touches there for him. But I think
43:07
Speaker 2: with Lamar's ankle and with the questions at the offensive line,
43:10
Speaker 2: especially at the center position, you know, questions at the
43:13
Speaker 2: wide receiver, tight end is not really stepping up. I
43:16
Speaker 2: think this is definitely going to have to be a
43:19
Speaker 2: game where you can control the line of scrimmage and
43:21
Speaker 2: kind of just beat up on the Bengals' run defense.
43:25
Speaker 2: You know, obviously, you know, for them, it's 23rd in
43:28
Speaker 2: the league, I believe it is, and they're giving up 123.
43:30
Speaker 2: Derrick's averaging 111. You know, the Ravens as a team,
43:34
Speaker 2: you know, they're doing pretty well, you know, themselves averaging
43:37
Speaker 2: over 150 yards a game. So I would expect that
43:40
Speaker 2: to be more of Declan's game plan. as well to
43:44
Speaker 2: control the line of scrimmage, take pressure off Lamar, and
43:47
Speaker 2: obviously try to keep the Ravens on track, as we
43:53
Speaker 2: say out here, with running the football and play-action ability
43:55
Speaker 2: with Lamar making plays if need to be.
43:58
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