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Bengals Booth Podcast: Runnin' Down a Dream · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Hoard and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The Running Down a dream addition
0:12
Speaker 1: as the Bengals look to get back on track and
0:15
Speaker 1: re establish themselves as a playoff contender as they face
0:18
Speaker 1: the New York Giants on Sunday Night. Football coming up.
0:22
Speaker 1: Chris Collinsworth will be in the booth for NBC and
0:25
Speaker 1: says it's not too late for the Bengals to get rolling.
0:29
Speaker 1: Dave Lappelman and I will discuss the Bengals defensive issues
0:33
Speaker 1: and in our No The Faux segment, we'll get an
0:35
Speaker 1: in depth look at the Giants from Dan Duggan, who
0:37
Speaker 1: covers the team for the Athletic The Bengals Booth Podcast
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Speaker 1: And in the interest of full disclosure, my record in
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Speaker 1: this game is far from perfect. Now let's get to
2:01
Speaker 1: my first guest as we look ahead to this week's
2:04
Speaker 1: game in the Meadowlands. Sunday Night Football is the biggest
2:09
Speaker 1: show on TV, and we are joined by one of
2:11
Speaker 1: the guys in the booth every Sunday Night for NBC,
2:14
Speaker 1: our buddy, Chris Collinsworth. Chris, the way the Bengals offense
2:18
Speaker 1: is performing, they are bound to start winning games aren't.
2:22
Speaker 2: They You would think you would think. I mean it
2:25
Speaker 2: has been spectacular to watch. I mean it really is.
2:30
Speaker 2: And Joe coming off the injury and being able to
2:32
Speaker 2: do what he did, and even you know, going through
2:35
Speaker 2: two right tackles now and still being able to get
2:40
Speaker 2: the ball out. Burrows just he's magical with the way
2:43
Speaker 2: that he can manipulate the pass rush. He's going to
2:47
Speaker 2: have to do it this week too, because the Giants
2:49
Speaker 2: lead the league with twenty two sacks for comparative purposes,
2:53
Speaker 2: the Bengals have six. Right, So I mean that's what
2:57
Speaker 2: we're talking about, the kind of pressure of this team
3:00
Speaker 2: I can generate. But I've got to go to Jamar Chase,
3:03
Speaker 2: and you know, you just the first words out of
3:05
Speaker 2: your mouths to have to be Joe Burrow. But at
3:08
Speaker 2: Jamar Chase. The plays that that sucker made in that
3:11
Speaker 2: game the other day unbelievable. I mean, I slowed down
3:15
Speaker 2: that little wide receiver screen pass and I took four
3:19
Speaker 2: like screenshots. I do a video every week for our
3:22
Speaker 2: guys on NBC just to get everybody ready for the game,
3:26
Speaker 2: and I took like four screenshots of Okay, here it is,
3:31
Speaker 2: this may gain a yard here it is. This may
3:35
Speaker 2: get intercepted here. It is all right. He actually caught
3:38
Speaker 2: the ball, but there's two guys right there, there's another
3:41
Speaker 2: one behind him, and there's another safety behind them. So
3:44
Speaker 2: there's two blockers, two guys and two guys behind them,
3:48
Speaker 2: and at best this is gaining five yards. And it
3:52
Speaker 2: went for seventy yard touchdown. And I know Joe Burrow
3:55
Speaker 2: had to be going off the sideline going, I'm the
3:58
Speaker 2: greatest cornerback of all time. I'm here, look at me
4:01
Speaker 2: a seventy yard touchdown pass. And but it was it
4:05
Speaker 2: was magical. I mean it really was. And the post
4:09
Speaker 2: pattern in behind Jamar had a little wiggle move at
4:13
Speaker 2: the top of that and got that one that was
4:16
Speaker 2: a hard catch too over the top. My guy, Yosi Bosch,
4:20
Speaker 2: is you know with that big long play, how they
4:23
Speaker 2: lost that game? I have no idea. I mean, they
4:26
Speaker 2: kept going from a ten point lead to a three
4:29
Speaker 2: point lead, to a ten point lead to a three
4:31
Speaker 2: point lead, you know, back and forth, and then the
4:33
Speaker 2: one interception, which was just the timing kind of thing,
4:37
Speaker 2: you know, is just sort of seemed like it spun
4:40
Speaker 2: the other way. But then it was all going to
4:42
Speaker 2: be fine. You know, and you got the fumble and
4:45
Speaker 2: now you're already in field goal range and just one
4:48
Speaker 2: of those days.
4:50
Speaker 1: I know you'll be humble about this, you always are,
4:52
Speaker 1: but you are a great wide receiver in your day.
4:54
Speaker 1: Three time pro bowler, four one thousand yard seasons. But
4:58
Speaker 1: when you watch Jamar and t is it like you're
5:01
Speaker 1: watching Aliens a little bit.
5:03
Speaker 2: You know, they they because a because of their hands,
5:07
Speaker 2: you know, you say, Aliens, I'm old enough to think
5:10
Speaker 2: about et. You know, the big loarm fingers and that
5:14
Speaker 2: that I mean, they literally rebound the basketball. You know,
5:18
Speaker 2: they go up and you see both of them they
5:20
Speaker 2: go up and catch it and you know, yank it
5:22
Speaker 2: down back into their bodies.
5:25
Speaker 3: Uh.
5:25
Speaker 2: And they're so powerful at the catch point. And so
5:28
Speaker 2: Joe you can tell, feels so comfortable, you know, just
5:33
Speaker 2: giving them much chance. And you know that's what he
5:35
Speaker 2: did on the interception. He was like, I had tomorrow
5:37
Speaker 2: make this play and you know, Humphrey jumped it. And
5:40
Speaker 2: that's the way it goes sometimes. But yeah, and I
5:45
Speaker 2: think I probably appreciate T Higgins a little bit more
5:48
Speaker 2: now even than I did, because when you saw, you know,
5:52
Speaker 2: Jamar coming back and then you saw Higgins not on
5:56
Speaker 2: the field. It wasn't quite the same, right, And I
6:00
Speaker 2: know Burrow had to get back in the flow of
6:03
Speaker 2: things and everything that went with that, but it wasn't
6:08
Speaker 2: quite the same without Tea and to have that X
6:11
Speaker 2: receiver that if you choose to overload to Jamar then okay,
6:20
Speaker 2: but you've got a one on one monster on the
6:22
Speaker 2: backside of that that's big and strong and physical, and
6:24
Speaker 2: your five to ten cornerback is going to have to
6:27
Speaker 2: be able to make the play. So the combination of
6:29
Speaker 2: those two guys and the other guy that I've got
6:33
Speaker 2: to throw into this a couple of them. Eric Hall
6:35
Speaker 2: is a great blocker. He is a great blocker. Now,
6:39
Speaker 2: he missed a couple in that game, but they weren't
6:41
Speaker 2: all his fault. But I mean, that guy plays the
6:44
Speaker 2: game hard. I'm a fan of Eric Hall. And Kasiki
6:48
Speaker 2: makes a ton of big plays for this team. I mean,
6:51
Speaker 2: just it's not always pretty. It doesn't always look like
6:55
Speaker 2: he's the most athletic world beater in the but he
6:58
Speaker 2: makes really he catches in the football game. So I'm
7:03
Speaker 2: looking forward to it. It's been fun for me just
7:06
Speaker 2: to get a chance to spend the whole week sort
7:08
Speaker 2: of studying them because you know, I watched the games,
7:12
Speaker 2: but it's not the same as preparing for a game,
7:14
Speaker 2: you know.
7:15
Speaker 1: Chris Joe Burrow told reporters this week he's still not
7:18
Speaker 1: completely satisfied with the way that he's throwing the ball
7:21
Speaker 1: coming back from risk surgery, specifically mentioned spin rate. He
7:25
Speaker 1: leads the NFL in passer rating, leads in touchdown passes,
7:28
Speaker 1: number two in completion percentage. When you hear him say that,
7:33
Speaker 1: are you amused that it's not up to his own
7:36
Speaker 1: high standards.
7:37
Speaker 2: Well, I wish I had such high standards for myself.
7:41
Speaker 2: You know. If I just get through the opening on
7:44
Speaker 2: camera on Sunday, usually I'm happy. I'm like, Okay, good
7:48
Speaker 2: watch a football game now. But yeah, I think it
7:53
Speaker 2: says a lot. And the fun part for me is
7:55
Speaker 2: they're reflecting back on an era with Kenny Anderson and
7:59
Speaker 2: I was a part of it. You know, in nineteen
8:01
Speaker 2: whatever it was eighty two, the strike shortened year when
8:04
Speaker 2: he had the seventy whatever it was plus completion percentage,
8:09
Speaker 2: and I think that was the year we were playing
8:11
Speaker 2: in Houston and he hit nineteen in a row or
8:15
Speaker 2: something like that, and none of us knew it. You know,
8:17
Speaker 2: it was like, you know, Kenny Anderson completing passes was not,
8:20
Speaker 2: you know, some rare occurrence. So for Joe Burrow now
8:25
Speaker 2: to be sort of in that class and help me
8:27
Speaker 2: remember what Kenny Anderson was is all those sorts of
8:32
Speaker 2: things is really fun. But that's a very high standard.
8:35
Speaker 2: I think Kenny Anderson is arguably the most accurate throwover
8:39
Speaker 2: the football that the league has ever seen.
8:41
Speaker 1: They signed Orlando Brown junior last year, they drafted a
8:44
Speaker 1: Marius Mims this year. Is the offensive line the best
8:49
Speaker 1: that Joe Burrow has had? And what do you think
8:50
Speaker 1: of the way that they performed so far this year?
8:53
Speaker 2: I think they're good. I do think they're good. I
8:57
Speaker 2: think Volson's been playing a little bit better than what
9:01
Speaker 2: I've seen in the past, and Harris and Kappa just
9:04
Speaker 2: rock solid. Too bad about Trent Brown. That would have
9:07
Speaker 2: been a nice cornerstone over there. But I thought Mems
9:10
Speaker 2: played well and hopefully he's back from I think he
9:14
Speaker 2: heard his ankle something like that. But Cody Ford played
9:16
Speaker 2: all right. He was okay in that game. I kept
9:19
Speaker 2: looking for I go, this is their third tackle. This
9:22
Speaker 2: is going to be a disaster. It was not, and
9:25
Speaker 2: some of that goes because of Joe Burrow. I mean,
9:28
Speaker 2: I hate to do this, but the guy gets the
9:31
Speaker 2: ball out of his hands and it is really the
9:35
Speaker 2: responsibility of the quarterback to not take the sacks, and
9:40
Speaker 2: I think Joe does that great. The only time he
9:42
Speaker 2: takes sacks is tends to be when he knows he
9:46
Speaker 2: may take a sack and it's third and twelve and
9:48
Speaker 2: he's got to hold it a little bit longer. But
9:51
Speaker 2: this game against the Giants, they really rely on their
9:54
Speaker 2: past rushing skills and Dexter Lawrence is a beast inside
9:59
Speaker 2: the They don't have Kvon Thibodeau sounds like this week
10:02
Speaker 2: because of the surgery, but still Brian burns and still
10:05
Speaker 2: lead the league. So maybe a little bit more out
10:07
Speaker 2: of the secondary. But we really see Joe Burrow and
10:14
Speaker 2: when he fases the defense like the Giants, which is
10:17
Speaker 2: much more of a zone kind of back off. You know,
10:23
Speaker 2: we give you the five yard completion, that's that's dangerous space.
10:28
Speaker 2: When you're playing against Jamar Chase, you know, you give
10:30
Speaker 2: him a five yard completion, he is trotting in the
10:33
Speaker 2: end zone somewhere. So I'll be interested to see how
10:37
Speaker 2: they play it, you know, will they put Deontay Banks
10:40
Speaker 2: on them, who's their best corner, and try to match
10:43
Speaker 2: up in some way. But that sounds that sounds dangerous
10:46
Speaker 2: to me too.
10:48
Speaker 1: Let me follow up on Dexter Lawrence because these two
10:50
Speaker 1: teams haven't played in four years, and back then he
10:52
Speaker 1: hadn't emerged as the force that he is now. He's
10:55
Speaker 1: a three hundred and forty pound nose tackle who had
10:57
Speaker 1: three sacks last week. What the Bengals are going to
11:01
Speaker 1: be dealing with in Dexter Lawrence on Sunday night.
11:05
Speaker 2: Well, they call him Sexy Dexi, or at least he
11:07
Speaker 2: calls himself that. He's a character. He's fun, he's a
11:12
Speaker 2: Pro Bowl player, and he makes your life hard because
11:17
Speaker 2: think about what they have going for them now with
11:21
Speaker 2: especially when they had Thibodeaux before he hurt his wrist.
11:23
Speaker 2: But you got Thibodeau, you know, a high draft pick
11:26
Speaker 2: on one side, Brian Burns a speedster on the other,
11:30
Speaker 2: and then Sexy dex He's sitting there in the middle.
11:34
Speaker 2: It's hard because somebody is going to get that one
11:37
Speaker 2: on one right, and it's whoever they choose to get it.
11:41
Speaker 2: Most teams double team Lawrence, which then means you either
11:45
Speaker 2: have to single up Burns or Thibodeaux or leave six
11:49
Speaker 2: or seven in the block, so you're only getting a
11:51
Speaker 2: handful of people out in the route. I tend to
11:54
Speaker 2: think Joe will be the opposite of that. He'll want
11:57
Speaker 2: all his guys out and let him get rid of
12:00
Speaker 2: the ball quickly because he's really sort of masterful doing that.
12:04
Speaker 2: So we'll see, you know, with Ojelari as he's Ojelari
12:09
Speaker 2: taking the place of Thibodeau, that you know, maybe it
12:12
Speaker 2: comes down a notch, maybe that's a little bit. But
12:15
Speaker 2: Ojeli is a pretty good player too. He was a
12:17
Speaker 2: second round pick as well. But like Pinnock, Jason Pinnock
12:20
Speaker 2: out of the secondary has three sects, So they're going
12:23
Speaker 2: to be bringing a lot of pressure from a lot
12:25
Speaker 2: of different places against this team. But I mean, you
12:30
Speaker 2: can't be any more impressed than what we've seen out
12:32
Speaker 2: of the Bengals offense. We just you know, now you
12:35
Speaker 2: turn your attention to the defense and hope it can
12:38
Speaker 2: live up to it a little.
12:39
Speaker 1: We're visiting with Chris collins Worth and let's do that.
12:41
Speaker 1: Let's turn to the Bengals defense in weeks one and two,
12:44
Speaker 1: they gave up twenty nine points. They were performing pretty
12:47
Speaker 1: well in those first couple of weeks, but they've really
12:49
Speaker 1: struggled over the last three. What are the things that
12:52
Speaker 1: you consider to be fixable.
12:54
Speaker 2: They got stung in that game last week. They had
12:59
Speaker 2: a lot of stuff they were trying to do against
13:02
Speaker 2: Lamar Lamar and the Baltimore Ravens. Hey, let me start
13:06
Speaker 2: with they put up forty one on a lot of
13:08
Speaker 2: people already. I mean, it's a great offense that may
13:12
Speaker 2: be the best team in football if they ever get
13:15
Speaker 2: their defense together, you know. But offensively, they're almost impossible
13:21
Speaker 2: to stop with Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson and three
13:24
Speaker 2: hundred pound full backs and the two tight ends that
13:27
Speaker 2: they have, and Andrews and likely and it's just it's
13:30
Speaker 2: a really, really good football team. So it's not insulting
13:35
Speaker 2: that that happened to them. But I really thought when
13:39
Speaker 2: Dax Hill got hurt and Mike Hilton missed the game already,
13:43
Speaker 2: now you're trying to play exotic defenses where they would
13:46
Speaker 2: play six guys on the line of scrimmage and five
13:49
Speaker 2: guys in a line across the back line. You're trying
13:52
Speaker 2: to mix and match. You're trying to play a cover
13:55
Speaker 2: three zone defense with Geno Stone on the line of
13:59
Speaker 2: scrimmage and renting back to play free safety in the
14:02
Speaker 2: middle of the field. The one long play they gave
14:04
Speaker 2: up von Bell basically was having to play cornerback on
14:08
Speaker 2: the two tight end side, and it was you know,
14:11
Speaker 2: it's a route that a corner would have seen a
14:13
Speaker 2: million times, a guy wheeling down the boundary and a
14:15
Speaker 2: guy going up to Seaman Andrews, you know, and they
14:19
Speaker 2: just hit the play. You know, that's a play that
14:22
Speaker 2: if Dax Hill's out there, they're not even throwing that ball.
14:25
Speaker 2: So and then you know, Jalen Davis came in the game,
14:29
Speaker 2: and so now you're trying to run some of these
14:31
Speaker 2: blitz packages. Josh Newton came in the game, some guys
14:35
Speaker 2: that don't have a lot of experience with that first bunch,
14:38
Speaker 2: and so there was this transition period in there about
14:41
Speaker 2: the third quarter where it got a little tough, and
14:44
Speaker 2: then they kind of pieced it back together a little
14:47
Speaker 2: bit in the secondary. But yeah, if you're going to
14:50
Speaker 2: have that many new faces on the back end, you
14:54
Speaker 2: better have your pass rush together. And we know without
14:57
Speaker 2: Sheldon Rankins and without some of these guys that have
14:59
Speaker 2: been in out of the lineup, it's been harder to
15:02
Speaker 2: do that too. So hopefully some of these guys start
15:06
Speaker 2: getting healthy. Hopefully Mike Hilton gets a chance to play
15:10
Speaker 2: in this game as well. And they're they're putting a
15:14
Speaker 2: lot on Cam Taylor Brett, and you know he had
15:17
Speaker 2: I mean, he's he's an up and down guy. He
15:20
Speaker 2: has really great plays and he has a few that
15:23
Speaker 2: aren't so great, but he is He's the ace back there.
15:26
Speaker 2: I mean athletically, you go, this should be the guy
15:28
Speaker 2: and then we'll see what DJ Turner can do.
15:32
Speaker 1: The defense held a players only meeting this week. Mike
15:34
Speaker 1: Hilton came out publicly and said, we are not upholding
15:38
Speaker 1: our end of the bargain. How tough is it for
15:41
Speaker 1: a team when one side of the ball is performing
15:43
Speaker 1: really well and the other side isn't well.
15:46
Speaker 2: I've been on either side of that equation. I've been
15:48
Speaker 2: on the side where you you know, you're jogging off
15:51
Speaker 2: the feet or jogging back onto the field. The defense
15:54
Speaker 2: just gave up a touchdown and you're looking at him like,
15:56
Speaker 2: are you guys ever going to stop him? And then
15:58
Speaker 2: I've been on the side where the defense is jogging
16:01
Speaker 2: off and looking at us like, are you guys ever
16:03
Speaker 2: going to score a point? Or We're gonna have to
16:04
Speaker 2: do everything ourselves. So if you're around the game long enough,
16:08
Speaker 2: you're gonna see both ends of it. And right now
16:11
Speaker 2: the defense is struggling some. But it's also you know,
16:15
Speaker 2: they spent a lot of money on offense, you know,
16:17
Speaker 2: I mean, let's face it, this is a team that
16:20
Speaker 2: has really built around the two receivers and Joe Burrow,
16:23
Speaker 2: and you know they go out in their first round
16:26
Speaker 2: draft picks or you know, a lot of times offensive
16:29
Speaker 2: guys and and offensive lineman trying to short up to
16:32
Speaker 2: keep the franchise alive on the back end. So you
16:35
Speaker 2: have and I think that's the right approach. I mean,
16:38
Speaker 2: this game, you have to be able to put up
16:40
Speaker 2: thirty on occasion. They do it on a fairly regular basis.
16:44
Speaker 2: And lou Anroumo is a fantastic defensive coordinator. I mean,
16:47
Speaker 2: the game plan he had last week was tremendous, and
16:50
Speaker 2: they were doing a good job in the first half
16:52
Speaker 2: of the game. I mean, you're gonna everybody's gonna give
16:54
Speaker 2: up some place to the MVP, Lamar Jackson, Jerrick Henry.
16:58
Speaker 2: It is just like sick. But yeah, I think he'll
17:03
Speaker 2: have it back together. I'm really interested to see what
17:05
Speaker 2: Lou does this week. Does he pair it back a
17:08
Speaker 2: little bit because he's got some younger guys in there,
17:11
Speaker 2: or now that he's got some of the defensive lineman
17:13
Speaker 2: coming back, does he ramp it up with some other
17:16
Speaker 2: exotic stuff. So, but he's the right guy, you know,
17:21
Speaker 2: he's a really good defensive coordinator. He just needs the
17:23
Speaker 2: part right now.
17:25
Speaker 1: She'll have the opportunity to visit with players and coaches
17:27
Speaker 1: before the game on Sunday night. Anybody in particular that
17:31
Speaker 1: you're looking forward to chatting with.
17:33
Speaker 2: Well, we already talked to Jamar. That was fun and
17:36
Speaker 2: Hendricks and so that was fun too. So these guys,
17:40
Speaker 2: it's hard to catch them anymore. We have to split
17:43
Speaker 2: it up, take them when we can. I'm going to
17:44
Speaker 2: go down and watch some practice today, so get a
17:47
Speaker 2: chance to visit with a few more and some of
17:49
Speaker 2: the coordinators. And yeah, but it's a long way from
17:54
Speaker 2: over seventeen games is a long season, you know. And
17:59
Speaker 2: they go out there and they can get there, get
18:00
Speaker 2: a win against the Giants in this one, and you know,
18:03
Speaker 2: just continue to play offense the way that they are,
18:06
Speaker 2: they're going to beat most of the teams in the league.
18:08
Speaker 2: In my opinion, there was only one team they weren't
18:11
Speaker 2: going to beat with the performance they put on the
18:13
Speaker 2: other day, and that was the team they played. Only
18:16
Speaker 2: Baltimore had the ability to straight as quickly as they did,
18:20
Speaker 2: and some of the plays Lamar made, I mean they
18:22
Speaker 2: had him sacked three times, four times and key moments
18:28
Speaker 2: and just couldnot get him on the ground. I ask,
18:31
Speaker 2: what he does is really underrated in some way. It's
18:36
Speaker 2: hard to say the MVPs underrated, but he's making some
18:40
Speaker 2: plays and some escapes that we just don't see anybody
18:42
Speaker 2: else in the league. Make.
18:44
Speaker 1: Chris always great to visit with you. We know you
18:46
Speaker 1: and Mike Trico have a great call on Sunday Night.
18:48
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your time and look forward to
18:50
Speaker 1: seeing you on Sunday.
18:52
Speaker 2: All right, buddy, Good talk to you. Dan.
18:55
Speaker 1: Historically, the Bengals have not fared well since NBC started
18:59
Speaker 1: broadcasting sent night football games, but like most negative stats,
19:04
Speaker 1: they no longer apply. In the Joe Burrow era, the
19:06
Speaker 1: Bengals have won their last two Sunday Night games, beating
19:10
Speaker 1: the Bills last year and beating the Ravens in the
19:13
Speaker 1: playoffs the year before thanks to the fumble in the jungle.
19:17
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Corps,
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Speaker 1: is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. The Bengals
19:38
Speaker 1: are currently fourth in the NFL in scoring, and if
19:41
Speaker 1: you toss out Week one, where Joe Burrow was still
19:43
Speaker 1: getting comfortable after being out of action since mid November
19:47
Speaker 1: of last year, they've averaged thirty two and a half
19:49
Speaker 1: points over their last four games. Unfortunately, over the same
19:54
Speaker 1: four game stretch, the defense is giving up an average
19:57
Speaker 1: of thirty two point three US. The defense with lap
20:01
Speaker 1: this week, beginning with a back breaking play from Sunday's
20:04
Speaker 1: overtime loss to Baltimore. Second in goal from the sixth
20:09
Speaker 1: for Baltimore, Justice Hill back in at running back shotguns
20:12
Speaker 1: down by Lamar.
20:14
Speaker 4: He picks it up. He's in trouble. Babbs has him,
20:17
Speaker 4: but he gets away. Lamar looking throwing into the end zone. Cough,
20:22
Speaker 4: pil likely we're a touchdown. Wow, magic by Lamar Jackson
20:28
Speaker 4: has He dropped the snap, eventually picked it up, got
20:31
Speaker 4: away from Sam Hubbard, and floated it into the.
20:34
Speaker 1: End zone for a six yard touchdown.
20:37
Speaker 5: Unbelievable.
20:40
Speaker 1: Here is my hot take of the week, Dave Lapham.
20:43
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson is the most underrated player in the National
20:47
Speaker 1: Football League, which sounds absurd to say. The guy has
20:50
Speaker 1: been the MVP twice. Right, But when you see most
20:54
Speaker 1: people's lists of the top quarterback in the NFL, they
20:58
Speaker 1: are usually three names on top Mahomes, Burrow, Allen that
21:04
Speaker 1: Mount Rushmore needs four heads because Lamar Jackson is so
21:09
Speaker 1: unbelievably good. Yeah, he's not a classic passer, so what
21:14
Speaker 1: He'll create ten seconds until somebody is wide open and
21:18
Speaker 1: the ball might not look beautiful, but it gets there
21:21
Speaker 1: for the freaking score.
21:22
Speaker 5: It sure does. I mean that was as athletica play
21:26
Speaker 5: as I've ever seen at the quarterback position. He's done
21:28
Speaker 5: it before. He's probably if you put a highlight reel
21:33
Speaker 5: together of Lamar Jackson not just against any I'm talking
21:37
Speaker 5: about just against the Bengals, for God's sake. Seen this guy.
21:41
Speaker 5: I mean he's like an apparition. He's there, then he's not,
21:44
Speaker 5: then he's back. It's like, man, is he a ghoster?
21:46
Speaker 5: Is he real? It is amazing to watch that guy.
21:50
Speaker 5: He's one of one, you know. When I see and
21:54
Speaker 5: like you say, his sewing arms plenty fine, it's not
21:57
Speaker 5: like he's you know, throw the ball all over the place.
22:01
Speaker 5: He can't hit the broadside of a barn. I mean,
22:03
Speaker 5: his accuracy isn't pinpoint. But man, he makes so many
22:09
Speaker 5: huge plays. And for him to create the time in
22:14
Speaker 5: and out of the pocket that he creates, I mean
22:16
Speaker 5: he'll climb in evade people and by time and then
22:19
Speaker 5: he gets out of pocket and it's like now he
22:21
Speaker 5: has a run past, you know, two way go, and
22:24
Speaker 5: he is just he is so deadly man. And the
22:29
Speaker 5: thing that impresses me a lot about him is he
22:32
Speaker 5: never seems to change his appearance, his countenance, his heart
22:36
Speaker 5: rate doesn't seem I mean, it's just cool, calm and collected.
22:39
Speaker 2: Man.
22:39
Speaker 5: He's out there like you know, yeah, I've done this before,
22:41
Speaker 5: I'm going to do it again. Yeah, boom got you
22:44
Speaker 5: down the football field we go. He is definitely athletically,
22:50
Speaker 5: I think one of one to run straight line speed
22:54
Speaker 5: is one thing, and he's got that. But with Sam,
22:58
Speaker 5: when Sam was trying to sack him on that play,
23:01
Speaker 5: I mean, he ran latterly and almost like an our
23:04
Speaker 5: forty five degree angle, like took three of the quickest
23:06
Speaker 5: steps to separate himself space wise from Sam. That you know,
23:10
Speaker 5: it made Sam's hit a lot less. It was more
23:13
Speaker 5: of a glancing blow and instead of putting a big
23:16
Speaker 5: smack on him, he just basically eluded it by just
23:20
Speaker 5: that short space quickness. And that's the thing about him man,
23:24
Speaker 5: Like we've talked about before. I mean, you're getting a
23:26
Speaker 5: phone booth with him and you're playing tag it for
23:28
Speaker 5: your life.
23:30
Speaker 1: I love Kevin Harlan. Nobody on the in the world
23:33
Speaker 1: loves Kevin Harlan more than I do. But Lamar didn't
23:36
Speaker 1: rag doll Sam Hubbard on that play. That was his description,
23:40
Speaker 1: and it's a great word. But he eluded him. He backed,
23:44
Speaker 1: he gave ground, yeah, to prevent Sam from putting a
23:47
Speaker 1: good hit on him. It's just an incredible play. Nobody
23:50
Speaker 1: is going to suggest that the Bengals defense played well.
23:53
Speaker 1: They gave up forty one points. They couldn't hold double
23:56
Speaker 1: digit leads multiple times in the second half, but Lamar
24:00
Speaker 1: Jackson had a lot to do with the Bengals problems.
24:04
Speaker 1: Last Sunday, let's hear from defensive coordinator lou Anroumo.
24:07
Speaker 6: He's a great, great, great football player. And you just
24:10
Speaker 6: look at the one just the one play where he
24:13
Speaker 6: drops the snap, fens off Sam Jermaine hit him as
24:17
Speaker 6: you thought about throw and throws a touchdown pass. So like,
24:21
Speaker 6: tell me else, who show me somebody else I can
24:23
Speaker 6: do that. You know, he's just an amazing football player.
24:29
Speaker 6: And uh, but you know that we had our opportunities
24:32
Speaker 6: to you know, get around him and hit him and
24:35
Speaker 6: and uh and you know, we just we just got
24:38
Speaker 6: to do better.
24:39
Speaker 1: They've got to face him again in five weeks, but
24:41
Speaker 1: only one more time unless they meet again in the postseason.
24:44
Speaker 1: And if you're looking for reason for optimism, I think
24:47
Speaker 1: Paul Daanner Junior wrote a great story in The Athletic
24:50
Speaker 1: just talking about consider the teams that they're going to
24:53
Speaker 1: be facing as opposed to one the ones they faced.
24:56
Speaker 1: They faced the best quarterback in the world in week two,
24:59
Speaker 1: the hot quarterback in the world Jayden Daniels. In Week three,
25:03
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson. Last week, the guy's coming up. It's not
25:07
Speaker 1: a murderer's row of great quarterback play. Daniel Jones has
25:11
Speaker 1: had his moments, good and bad. That's coming up this week.
25:14
Speaker 1: Deshaun Watson has been a disaster at least so far
25:17
Speaker 1: this year. A couple weeks after that, we don't know
25:19
Speaker 1: who the Raiders quarterback is going to be. By then
25:22
Speaker 1: they're talking about Benching Gardner Minshew. So the Bengals defense
25:27
Speaker 1: might start looking considerably better just based on the offenses
25:33
Speaker 1: that they're going to be taking on.
25:34
Speaker 5: I agree with you. But then the flip side of
25:37
Speaker 5: that is Joe Burrow's damn good and the Bengals are
25:40
Speaker 5: one and four.
25:40
Speaker 1: Mm hm.
25:41
Speaker 5: It's like, oh my god, how can you waste some
25:45
Speaker 5: of these performances. I mean, you're wasting a great year.
25:49
Speaker 5: At this stage that Joe Burrows is posting, it's like, man,
25:53
Speaker 5: oh man, I mean seventy two percent of his passes
25:56
Speaker 5: are being completed. That's second right now in the NFL.
25:58
Speaker 5: Twelve touchdown passes leads the league. His quarterback rating and
26:02
Speaker 5: one thirteen point eight leads the league. But the problem
26:07
Speaker 5: is as you look at quarterbacks against our defensive football
26:11
Speaker 5: team to this stage, like you're talking about sixty seven
26:14
Speaker 5: point seven percent, that's toward the bottom of the National
26:18
Speaker 5: Football League. Allowed ten touchdown passes and only three interceptions,
26:23
Speaker 5: an opposing quarterback rating of one on one point four.
26:27
Speaker 5: So I mean it's being negated, you know, by defensive
26:32
Speaker 5: support that is not quite up to snuff to stand
26:37
Speaker 5: behind what Joe Burrow and that offense is doing because
26:40
Speaker 5: he is seeing it man and he is delivering. He's
26:44
Speaker 5: playing at such a high level. It's a crying shame
26:46
Speaker 5: that this football team is one and four.
26:48
Speaker 1: Hopefully the improving health on the defensive line is going
26:51
Speaker 1: to start making a significant difference. It was better last week.
26:55
Speaker 1: They stopped the run at least until the final run
26:57
Speaker 1: of the game by Derrick Henry. Sam Hubbard played better,
27:00
Speaker 1: BJ Hill played well. He was back. They got Miles
27:04
Speaker 1: Murphy and McKinley Jackson back on the field. There's a
27:07
Speaker 1: chance that they're gonna have Sheldon Rankins back this Sunday night,
27:10
Speaker 1: So that portion of the injury bug is getting much
27:14
Speaker 1: much better and getting back to Sam Hubbard. Yeah, he
27:17
Speaker 1: wasn't able to get Lamar Jackson down on that play,
27:19
Speaker 1: but he had the safety great play to tackle a
27:22
Speaker 1: Derreck Henry in the end zone. He had a sack
27:24
Speaker 1: in the game, applied pressure on a few occasions, and
27:28
Speaker 1: he is feeling much better. Let's hear from Sam Hubbard.
27:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, I felt great. You know, I had that training
27:35
Speaker 3: camp injury that I had to I said it came
27:38
Speaker 3: back too early, but we had a lot of guy
27:41
Speaker 3: who goes go down and training camp camp sample went down,
27:43
Speaker 3: Miles went down, and kind of didn't really have the
27:46
Speaker 3: luxury of waiting until I was fully healthy. First couple
27:49
Speaker 3: of weeks started slow, just kind of grinding through a
27:51
Speaker 3: really bad hamstring. And I felt like myself this past
27:56
Speaker 3: week and was nice to make some plays and you know,
28:01
Speaker 3: I'm gonna continue to get better from here on board
28:03
Speaker 3: and trying to do whatever you can to win. And
28:06
Speaker 3: it was nice, you know, personally to just get some
28:08
Speaker 3: of that pressure off and make some plays.
28:10
Speaker 1: I's like a lot of you guys are winning up front.
28:12
Speaker 1: Did you feel like against any quarterback but Lamar there
28:15
Speaker 1: might have been multiple sacks in that game.
28:18
Speaker 3: Yeah, we were, you know, multiple times, we were all
28:21
Speaker 3: over him, and he's just such an elusive athlete.
28:25
Speaker 7: You know.
28:26
Speaker 3: For sure sacks turned into massive plays somehow, and it's frustrating,
28:31
Speaker 3: but you know, we know that we just keep chopping wood,
28:34
Speaker 3: doing the right thing, those plays will come. And yeah,
28:39
Speaker 3: that's so the NFL.
28:43
Speaker 1: With BJ back and Miles and McKinley active, there was
28:46
Speaker 1: more of a rotation. How helpful is that for the
28:49
Speaker 1: entire group going forward?
28:50
Speaker 3: So helpful. Having those guys back is huge for us.
28:54
Speaker 3: BJ played great, you know, having Miles back to give
28:58
Speaker 3: just some more snaps across the board so we can
29:00
Speaker 3: all be fresher. I think he played thirty five his
29:04
Speaker 3: first game back off injury, which is a lot of plays,
29:07
Speaker 3: and he'll continue to get more and keep getting better.
29:10
Speaker 3: And McKinley was getting some action. You know, the great
29:13
Speaker 3: d lines in this league, they just have eight to
29:16
Speaker 3: nine guys that continuously roll and to be able to
29:19
Speaker 3: play a long season. I know myself personally, I'm excited
29:23
Speaker 3: to take some of those snaps off me so I
29:25
Speaker 3: can be my best. So you know, it's good to
29:28
Speaker 3: have those guys back because we were thin for a
29:31
Speaker 3: while there.
29:32
Speaker 1: And good that Sam looked a lot better than he
29:34
Speaker 1: had in the previous few weeks. It was an interesting
29:37
Speaker 1: game plan for lou Anroumo, not one of the blitz
29:41
Speaker 1: happy defensive coordinators in the NFL, but forty one blitzes,
29:45
Speaker 1: including run blitzes in that game. He's trying to generate
29:49
Speaker 1: some pressure and some big plays up front.
29:52
Speaker 5: He is, I mean, he blitzed over fifty percent of
29:54
Speaker 5: the snaps. That is very unloo like. And you're right,
29:59
Speaker 5: he blitzed or was aggressive downhill, bringing people to stop
30:04
Speaker 5: the run as well as pressure Lamar. He decided, you know,
30:07
Speaker 5: instead of having three guys you know, in their rush
30:10
Speaker 5: lanes and dropping eight, you know, I'm going to be
30:14
Speaker 5: aggressive and not conservative in my posture. And it worked
30:19
Speaker 5: for a good part of the football game up until
30:22
Speaker 5: Henry broke that fifty one yard er. I mean, the
30:25
Speaker 5: two running backs, running backs, the quarterback and running back
30:29
Speaker 5: twenty six carries ninety six yards, right around three and
30:31
Speaker 5: a half yards of pop. They were totally controlling you know,
30:34
Speaker 5: that running game pretty well so and overall, you take
30:39
Speaker 5: everybody that had to carry in that football game, thirty
30:42
Speaker 5: three carries one hundred and twenty four yards. When you
30:45
Speaker 5: take away that fifty one yard run. Now you can't.
30:47
Speaker 5: I mean it leaked out. But right up until the
30:50
Speaker 5: end of the football game in overtime, you know, they
30:52
Speaker 5: were averaging under three and a half yard three point
30:54
Speaker 5: four plus per carry. So they did take away you know,
30:57
Speaker 5: a good part. They said, Okay, we're going to try
30:59
Speaker 5: to make you left handed, and Lamar's proven to be ambidexterrous,
31:03
Speaker 5: you know, make him use either hand. He can still
31:06
Speaker 5: kill you. I mean really, yeah, he's got a bunch.
31:10
Speaker 5: It's uh, it really is incredible. But you look at this,
31:16
Speaker 5: you look at this game coming up. Jones. Jones is mobile.
31:20
Speaker 5: There's no questions is that he's not Lamar, but he
31:23
Speaker 5: is mobile. So better you know, make sure that when
31:27
Speaker 5: you are closed in on Daniel Jones you're finishing them
31:31
Speaker 5: because he can. He can. He's elect athletic. He's very
31:35
Speaker 5: up and down with his level of play. He played
31:39
Speaker 5: well against Seattle. He had thirty eight yards rushing and
31:42
Speaker 5: threw for two ninety seven. Not too bad. Really, that's
31:47
Speaker 5: that's a you know, a nice little day's work right there.
31:52
Speaker 5: But and you look at it very similar to what
31:55
Speaker 5: they saw in Baltimore. You know, a mobile quarterback offensive
31:59
Speaker 5: line that they've rea he done. They went out in
32:01
Speaker 5: free agency, got three starters, and they want to run
32:05
Speaker 5: the football. Support you know that that is a starting point. Offensively,
32:09
Speaker 5: their Tracy their fifth round pick this year, rushaurund in
32:13
Speaker 5: twenty nine yards against Seattle, so he supported you know
32:16
Speaker 5: what what Jones was doing. So it's it's like, Okay,
32:21
Speaker 5: you played the Giants on steroids offensively and defensively. When
32:26
Speaker 5: you played Baltimore last week and you hung in there,
32:31
Speaker 5: lost on a walkoff kicker. We'll lose it on a
32:36
Speaker 5: walk off kick in overtime. It's on the road, granted,
32:40
Speaker 5: you know it's it's it's never easy traveling New York
32:44
Speaker 5: fans can get loud and you know, rabid and all that,
32:47
Speaker 5: but got to beat this football team. Bottom line is,
32:51
Speaker 5: it's almost like you had a dress rehearsal against offensive
32:56
Speaker 5: and defensive units that kind of do what the Giants
32:58
Speaker 5: do to the to another level with better athletes. I mean, hell,
33:02
Speaker 5: they had fourteen have fourteen Pro bowlers on that damn team.
33:06
Speaker 5: It's crazy counting the two specialists or twelve and six
33:10
Speaker 5: defensive Pro Bowlers and four offensive Come on, now, you're
33:14
Speaker 5: not going to find that kind of a numbers. You
33:15
Speaker 5: look through the New York Giants roster up and down.
33:18
Speaker 5: They've got good players. They don't have players like Baltimore
33:22
Speaker 5: put on the football field.
33:24
Speaker 1: The only Giants player picked for the Pro Bowl last
33:27
Speaker 1: year was defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, and the team doesn't
33:31
Speaker 1: have a single player on offense who has ever been
33:35
Speaker 1: to a Pro Bowl. For more on the Giants, we
33:37
Speaker 1: turned to Dan Duggan, who covers the team for the
33:40
Speaker 1: Athletic He joined Lapp in Me this week on the
33:43
Speaker 1: Bengals Game Plan Show, and Dugan has high regard for
33:47
Speaker 1: the Giants coaching staff.
33:50
Speaker 7: When you go back to twenty twenty two, I think
33:52
Speaker 7: the only reason the Giants won nine games then year
33:54
Speaker 7: one a playoff game was the coaching advantage that head
33:56
Speaker 7: almost you know, weekly where they did not have a
33:58
Speaker 7: lot of talent on that team, and Brian Davile is
34:01
Speaker 7: kind of able to rub two six together and get
34:04
Speaker 7: that offense.
34:04
Speaker 1: You know.
34:05
Speaker 7: The thing is you look at the box score, I
34:07
Speaker 7: think get twenty seventh of the league scoring. So you think
34:09
Speaker 7: I'm crazy to say that they have some great schematic advantage,
34:12
Speaker 7: but I think that there's limited offensive talent. You know,
34:15
Speaker 7: obviously League Neighbors is a superior talent, but he didn't
34:18
Speaker 7: play on Sunday. And then even Devin Singletoary, their number
34:20
Speaker 7: one running back, he didn't play on Sunday. And you
34:23
Speaker 7: know they put twenty nine points and even six of
34:24
Speaker 7: those came on a block field goal. But you just
34:27
Speaker 7: watch the way, week in and week out his plan
34:30
Speaker 7: to attack opposing defenses. I think he does a really
34:32
Speaker 7: good job of coming up with a plan that is
34:35
Speaker 7: going to accentuate what his guys can do well, but
34:37
Speaker 7: also pick apart what the other team's defense doesn't do well,
34:41
Speaker 7: and really never really feed into what they do, you know,
34:43
Speaker 7: into this straints. Now, again, that might sound basic, but
34:45
Speaker 7: I've been around here long enough to see that that
34:48
Speaker 7: does not always happen with Giants offenses. And you even
34:50
Speaker 7: see the other teams knowing the Giants defensive weaknesses, like
34:53
Speaker 7: why are they not running the ball, why they're not
34:55
Speaker 7: throwing deep, whatever it may be, and it seems like
34:58
Speaker 7: some coaches and some coordinator a little less FLEXI I
35:00
Speaker 7: think that's one of Davie's strengths. And then he has
35:02
Speaker 7: to dump tail with the defense. You know, a new
35:05
Speaker 7: coordinator comes in here, Shane Boone, who had been to
35:07
Speaker 7: Tennessee drastically different style than Wake Martindal US the last
35:11
Speaker 7: couple of years figured it who takes some time the
35:13
Speaker 7: really young secondary, and that unit has been a pleasant
35:16
Speaker 7: surprize as well. I mean they lead the league in sacks,
35:18
Speaker 7: which a little misleading because it's basically racked him up
35:21
Speaker 7: against Seattle and Cleveland. Haven't done much the other three games,
35:24
Speaker 7: but definitely have shown something there. And yeah, I think
35:26
Speaker 7: he's done a pretty good job because again they're very
35:28
Speaker 7: young in the secondary and it hasn't been as exploited
35:31
Speaker 7: nearly as much as I expected. Coming into the year.
35:34
Speaker 5: The offensive line was was basically overhauled. How is it playing?
35:41
Speaker 5: They went out and they signed some veteran free agents.
35:44
Speaker 5: Have they made an impact? Oh enormous.
35:48
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean that's been an Achilles sale of this team.
35:50
Speaker 7: You know, basically since that last Super Bowl, they went
35:52
Speaker 7: with eli as basically all downhill and tried every sort
35:55
Speaker 7: of different combination, spending on free agents, using top ten
35:58
Speaker 7: picks like really else. Thing has worked. So this year
36:02
Speaker 7: this offseason that kind of went just like get some
36:03
Speaker 7: functional vets in here, and you know, that's like kind
36:06
Speaker 7: of a give you a baseline level of competency, which
36:09
Speaker 7: is a big step up from once they've had in
36:10
Speaker 7: recent years. And that's what they've gone. I mean, like
36:12
Speaker 7: Andrew Thomas is a Pro Bowl level left tackle, young
36:15
Speaker 7: guy in the fourth season now. But the other three
36:18
Speaker 7: of the other four starters are you know, John Runyan
36:20
Speaker 7: who was in his fifth year, Greg Van Rowden is
36:22
Speaker 7: like his twelfth year, Jermaine Iluminer is like his eighth year,
36:25
Speaker 7: and then they have a second year center, John Michael Schmith.
36:27
Speaker 7: But with Thomas being the one like guy who can
36:30
Speaker 7: count on, the other four guys are just playing at
36:33
Speaker 7: like a solid level and maybe even above saw that
36:35
Speaker 7: might be selling a short pass protection and that's just
36:38
Speaker 7: helped everything. Like Daniel Jones isn't you know, running for
36:41
Speaker 7: his life every time he hits the back of his drop.
36:43
Speaker 7: There's some big holes for the run games. He saw
36:45
Speaker 7: the Seattle game, like the rookie tyro Tracy. Everyone typing up,
36:48
Speaker 7: you know this rookie running back and he did play well.
36:51
Speaker 7: You or I could hit some of those holes and
36:52
Speaker 7: there was massive holes and he did a good job
36:55
Speaker 7: getting through them and getting to the second level. But
36:57
Speaker 7: I think the guys up front deserve a lot of credit,
36:59
Speaker 7: especially when you consider how much of a disaster The
37:02
Speaker 7: Lion has been here for the better part of a decade,
37:04
Speaker 7: so they've definitely made big strides just to have a nice, solid,
37:07
Speaker 7: functional unit, and that's I think that's been one of
37:10
Speaker 7: the biggest differences with this team so far.
37:12
Speaker 1: Dan Duggans our guest. He covers the Giants for the
37:14
Speaker 1: athletic Let's stick with offense. These two teams haven't played
37:18
Speaker 1: in four years. So we've all watched Daniel Jones on TV.
37:22
Speaker 1: We can read the stats, but you see him every week.
37:25
Speaker 1: What are his biggest flaws? Why is there so much
37:28
Speaker 1: inconsistency with Daniel Jones.
37:32
Speaker 7: No, you kind of stole my answer is gonna be
37:34
Speaker 7: it is just the inconsistency. Now get to the root
37:36
Speaker 7: of that. I'll try and do that here for you.
37:38
Speaker 7: But that's been the thing. I go back to that
37:41
Speaker 7: twenty twenty two season where he showed them enough to
37:43
Speaker 7: give him the big second contract. But it's always just
37:45
Speaker 7: been like glimmers, he can't string three and four really
37:49
Speaker 7: high level games together. Now that year he went to
37:51
Speaker 7: a high level, but he took care of the ball
37:53
Speaker 7: did just enough used his legs. He kind of scraped
37:56
Speaker 7: and clawed that season. The last year was a disaster,
37:59
Speaker 7: the old line, just ravage of injuries. He dealt with,
38:02
Speaker 7: you know, two major injuries and neck and then the
38:03
Speaker 7: ACL the knocked out of the year. The coming back
38:05
Speaker 7: to this year, you know everyone's from sure saw hard knocks.
38:08
Speaker 7: It was such a do or die the way Joe
38:10
Speaker 7: Shane the GM laid it out, like we either find
38:12
Speaker 7: out if he's the guy, or we're gonna have to pivot.
38:14
Speaker 7: And I mean, let's be honest, they were already trying
38:15
Speaker 7: to pivot. They tried to trade up for Drake May
38:17
Speaker 7: and obviously weren't successful. But I think the thing he's
38:20
Speaker 7: done this year, if you throw out that Minnesota game,
38:22
Speaker 7: which you have to because that was ugly. The Week one,
38:24
Speaker 7: you were like, oh boy, this is gonna get I mean,
38:26
Speaker 7: we're there was legitimate talk if he was gonna get
38:28
Speaker 7: benched if that kept up. That's how bad Week one was.
38:31
Speaker 7: But since then, the four games since then, he's played
38:35
Speaker 7: varying levels of solid, Like has not had any monster
38:37
Speaker 7: four or fifty yard five touchdown game, but he's not
38:40
Speaker 7: turning the ball over he's getting the ball out quick.
38:42
Speaker 7: He started to use his legs more against Seattle, so
38:44
Speaker 7: it kind of feels like the AHL maybe isn't some
38:47
Speaker 7: stance affecting him anymore. But I think the thing he's
38:50
Speaker 7: done really well and it goes handing him. With the
38:52
Speaker 7: last question about the old line, he's kind of you know,
38:55
Speaker 7: getting through his reads a little bit. That's always been
38:57
Speaker 7: one of the biggest knocks on him is he'll lock
38:58
Speaker 7: onto a guy and you know, obviously defenses catch catch
39:02
Speaker 7: on that and they can you know, get into deceptions
39:04
Speaker 7: that way, or just kind of sport with the Giants
39:05
Speaker 7: trying to do Having a little more time in the pocket,
39:08
Speaker 7: I think obviously that helps any quarterback, and it's helped him, right.
39:11
Speaker 7: I think he's a little more comfortable back there, and
39:12
Speaker 7: he's making plays, you know, on a second read or
39:15
Speaker 7: you know, you know, getting out of pressure and still
39:17
Speaker 7: throwing the ball down field. Stuff. He really hadn't done
39:19
Speaker 7: a lot throughout his career. So but yeah, to to
39:22
Speaker 7: bring it full circle, the consistency has been the thing
39:24
Speaker 7: where it's like he's had a couple of good games.
39:25
Speaker 7: Now let's see on Sunday night. He has been terrible
39:28
Speaker 7: in prime time? Can he have a big time game?
39:31
Speaker 3: You know?
39:32
Speaker 7: And you know not the Bengals record is what it is,
39:34
Speaker 7: but this is still a huge game for the Giants,
39:36
Speaker 7: and can he deliver and and that's the kind of
39:38
Speaker 7: the jury is still out on him having that level
39:41
Speaker 7: of play consistently.
39:42
Speaker 5: You talk about the offense and scheming it up and uh,
39:46
Speaker 5: you know, extentient in the strengths of the players and
39:49
Speaker 5: attacking defensive weakness on the other side of the football,
39:52
Speaker 5: it doesn't seem like looking at it, and I haven't
39:54
Speaker 5: looked at that much yet, but looking at it, it
39:56
Speaker 5: doesn't seem to be that sophisticated. It seems to be
39:59
Speaker 5: a relatively simple scheme, predictable in a lot of ways.
40:03
Speaker 5: But the talent of the players, I think, you know, uh,
40:06
Speaker 5: the way they execute so consistently, it makes it makes
40:10
Speaker 5: it hard to block, you know, I mean, what what
40:12
Speaker 5: do you think is is this? This defense? Isn't They're
40:15
Speaker 5: not always trying to trick you a fool you They
40:17
Speaker 5: just play well, don't they?
40:20
Speaker 2: Right?
40:20
Speaker 7: Yeah? I mean, Shane Bone's ideal world is to just
40:23
Speaker 7: run rush the front four. You know, you have a
40:25
Speaker 7: well funky with the coverages and you do some disguises
40:27
Speaker 7: with that, but yeah, he wants to just get the
40:29
Speaker 7: pressure with four. That's why I even say that sack
40:31
Speaker 7: total is a little bit fluky, because they had nine
40:34
Speaker 7: against Cleveland where Cleveland's OH line was absolutely decimated and
40:37
Speaker 7: Shaun Watson is just you know, horrible, you know, pocket
40:40
Speaker 7: awareness at the stage of his career, so they kind
40:42
Speaker 7: of released the hounds and Bliss like crazy stuck. You
40:44
Speaker 7: never see him do as smart because I mean, obviously
40:46
Speaker 7: it was effective and it parts in that game, but
40:48
Speaker 7: that's not what you're gonna see on Sunday. I would
40:50
Speaker 7: certainly not expect to get the quarterback like Joe Borrowing
40:52
Speaker 7: against the receiver Cincinnati has so weekend and week out,
40:55
Speaker 7: it's much more relying on that front four, and that's
40:57
Speaker 7: from fourth took up a blow today with team on
40:59
Speaker 7: Timba so uh broke his wrist in Sunday's game against Seattle.
41:03
Speaker 7: He's gonna be out probably anywhere from four to six weeks,
41:06
Speaker 7: so obviously won't be playing on Sunday. So again, for
41:08
Speaker 7: a unit to rely so much on the front four
41:11
Speaker 7: to generate pressure to lose a piece of that hurts
41:13
Speaker 7: and even at that it's really more of a front
41:15
Speaker 7: three because the second defensive tackle is you know, in
41:18
Speaker 7: passing situations, is an undrafted rookie name Elijah Chapman, who
41:21
Speaker 7: it does have a couple of sacks this year, but
41:23
Speaker 7: isn't a guy who down in, down out like a
41:25
Speaker 7: game wrecker. But if game wreckers, everything starts with Dexa Lawrence.
41:29
Speaker 7: I mean you might I think he's I think at
41:31
Speaker 7: this point that you know, maybe the record would keep
41:32
Speaker 7: him out of it. The team's record. He should be
41:34
Speaker 7: the defensive player of the year as a nose tackle
41:36
Speaker 7: that six sacks in five games, and that's with getting
41:39
Speaker 7: double teams every play. Like he absolutely just disrupts games.
41:43
Speaker 7: So if the other team's interior line can't, you're in
41:46
Speaker 7: a double on no matter how good you are. But
41:47
Speaker 7: if you can't at least do a passle doubling him,
41:49
Speaker 7: he'll just ruin the game. And that's what he did
41:51
Speaker 7: in Seattle, That's who did in Cleveland. Like the games
41:53
Speaker 7: they've won, it's basically he just caves everything in and
41:56
Speaker 7: offenses can't function. So that that's where everything you have
41:59
Speaker 7: about game plans since day, game plan one hundred percent
42:02
Speaker 7: starts with the hell, we're going to keep this guy
42:04
Speaker 7: out of Joe Barrow's lap all day because that's what
42:06
Speaker 7: he does. And it's really remarkable to see a guy
42:07
Speaker 7: at his size, he's such a dominant factor as a
42:10
Speaker 7: pass rusher.
42:11
Speaker 5: In quick question, I mean they they have to double him, right,
42:15
Speaker 5: not four hands, four eyes. I mean that's kind of
42:17
Speaker 5: the mantra. And he's still kicking butt like that against doubles.
42:22
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, listen, they do some things that. In
42:25
Speaker 7: the Dallas game, he was pretty quiet and they doubled
42:28
Speaker 7: into like literally historic rate, you know, according to Next
42:31
Speaker 7: Gen Stats, And he bristled because PFF put out a
42:34
Speaker 7: stat of like Cooper Beattie the freshman, the freshman the
42:37
Speaker 7: rookie center for Dallas, like didn't give him any pressures
42:39
Speaker 7: and and dextually really doesn't sound off on social media.
42:42
Speaker 7: He like fired back basically saying they know what they
42:44
Speaker 7: were watching. He was whooping his butt all game. Maybe
42:47
Speaker 7: he got the bit mad for Seattle and he had
42:49
Speaker 7: another extra gear, but no, yet every team is going
42:52
Speaker 7: to double him. I think that that's one thing I'll
42:54
Speaker 7: give Shane Bowing credit because you know there's ways around that.
42:57
Speaker 7: It's not easy, but he did a good job against Satt.
43:00
Speaker 7: He does a lot of simulated pressures, so that might
43:02
Speaker 7: be walking Bobby Ocharacter in the middle linebacker up, head
43:05
Speaker 7: up over the center of the center has to least
43:07
Speaker 7: to count for him. And now by the time of
43:09
Speaker 7: Kak's dropping back and coverage and the center is going
43:11
Speaker 7: to help the right guard, the right guard's already been
43:13
Speaker 7: a turnstile because Decks blew buy him off the snap.
43:16
Speaker 7: So stuff like that. You know, you probably can't double
43:18
Speaker 7: him every single play, but I'm sure the intention of
43:20
Speaker 7: every Alliant coach and coordinator is gonna be, we need
43:23
Speaker 7: to accompli this guy and if we can get four
43:25
Speaker 7: hands on it. Lead you said, we need to do
43:27
Speaker 7: that as much as possible. But you know there are
43:29
Speaker 7: times where you get him one on one, and if
43:31
Speaker 7: you look back in one of the sacks he heads
43:33
Speaker 7: in the Seattle game, he literally took a grown man
43:36
Speaker 7: and has three pump spaces walking right back into you know,
43:39
Speaker 7: Smith's lap and sacked him. So it's a scary site
43:41
Speaker 7: for any guard I assume when you go one on
43:43
Speaker 7: one with deck.
43:44
Speaker 1: I bet PFF is based in Cincinnati and largely owned
43:48
Speaker 1: by Chris collins Worth, so Dexter will see him on
43:50
Speaker 1: Sunday if he wants to have a word with Chris
43:53
Speaker 1: about the uggrading system in that game. Here's my final
43:55
Speaker 1: question for you, Dan, will Malik Neighbors play? Do you know?
44:00
Speaker 7: I don't know, But it's Wednesday. So he suffered the
44:03
Speaker 7: concussion on a Thursday night game, you know, two weeks.
44:07
Speaker 7: We're coming up on the two week mark tomorrow, so
44:09
Speaker 7: obviously didn't play last week. He was on the field
44:12
Speaker 7: today on the side, you know, in this helmet, doing
44:14
Speaker 7: like agility stuff with trainers. So in my experience, that's
44:18
Speaker 7: the first step to really getting back on the playing
44:20
Speaker 7: where last week he didn't do anything. So I feel
44:23
Speaker 7: like he's he's on track right now as long as
44:25
Speaker 7: there's no stepbacks. And then tomorrow presumably he'd progress a
44:29
Speaker 7: non contact participant in practice Friday. You'd hope that that
44:32
Speaker 7: goes well and he'd be a full participant, and then
44:34
Speaker 7: you get cleared by the doctor after that, you know, again,
44:36
Speaker 7: assuming there's no symptoms or anything in return. So I
44:39
Speaker 7: would say as a as a Wednesday night, which is
44:41
Speaker 7: you know, it's hard for me to forecast how a
44:42
Speaker 7: guy's brain has got to react. I think he'll play
44:45
Speaker 7: just assuming he doesn't have any setbacks, which again that's
44:47
Speaker 7: an assumption I'm making because there's no way to know.
44:49
Speaker 7: But yeah, I would think he's at least he's on
44:51
Speaker 7: the track, and again, assuming no setbacks, he should be
44:53
Speaker 7: good to go.
44:55
Speaker 5: Uh my final question, and appreciate all the knowledge and
44:58
Speaker 5: all the time you've given us. The two inside linebackers,
45:02
Speaker 5: I mean they have a stud in front of them,
45:04
Speaker 5: obviously in Lawrence. So it's when we talk about him
45:07
Speaker 5: beating double team, it's it's hard to get to these guys.
45:10
Speaker 5: And they can run. I mean they can flat out run.
45:12
Speaker 5: They are both tackling machines, aren't they. I Mean they've
45:16
Speaker 5: combined for I mean so many big plays. The tackle
45:20
Speaker 5: total is ridiculous. And let's see the inside linebacker group
45:27
Speaker 5: they've they've they've got sixty one total tackles and three
45:32
Speaker 5: quarterback sacks out of that inside linebacker group. That's pretty
45:36
Speaker 5: darn good production.
45:39
Speaker 7: Yeah. No, I think to your point on the tackle,
45:40
Speaker 7: that definitely helps to have, you know, a three hundred
45:42
Speaker 7: and fifty pound guy just clogging up the middle and
45:44
Speaker 7: they're getting you know, probably some more clean runs to
45:47
Speaker 7: the backs. But yeah, both those guys, Bobby o'caake Mike
45:50
Speaker 7: McFadden are athletic guys and they'll get downhill. McFadden's actually
45:54
Speaker 7: had I wouldn't they better. Yet No, Cake is like,
45:58
Speaker 7: you know, he was a you know, kind of big
45:59
Speaker 7: money agent signing last off last offseason, had a great
46:02
Speaker 7: first season. He's been fine. This should not nothing bad.
46:05
Speaker 7: But the new scheme, I don't know if he still
46:06
Speaker 7: kind of feel his way through it. Because the thing
46:08
Speaker 7: he did last year we haven't seen yet is maybe
46:10
Speaker 7: a splash played like for a middle linebacker, like he
46:13
Speaker 7: was getting his hand on balls, a getting accepted, he
46:14
Speaker 7: was picking himself, force fumbled all that. We haven't seen
46:17
Speaker 7: that yet. But he's shown that that ability in the past.
46:20
Speaker 7: And then McFadden, Yeah, he's the thing I say with McFadden,
46:23
Speaker 7: he's always in the right spot. Now that might lead
46:26
Speaker 7: to a TfL, that might lead to an ugly miss tackle.
46:29
Speaker 7: Like he you know, he's still a little in consistent
46:30
Speaker 7: and that's finishing the play, but he must he reads
46:33
Speaker 7: it fast, gets to the spot and then again that
46:35
Speaker 7: it's just about matter of finishing. But yet, No, they're
46:37
Speaker 7: they're two you know, pretty good players. Because this run
46:39
Speaker 7: defense got the really rough start. Uh, Minnesota and Washington
46:43
Speaker 7: kind of ran all over them, and they've tightened it
46:45
Speaker 7: up since then.
46:45
Speaker 4: I don't know.
46:46
Speaker 7: I'm sure Cincinnati is going to be content to probably
46:49
Speaker 7: air it out because I do still think the secondary
46:51
Speaker 7: is the is the rush mark on this defense. So
46:52
Speaker 7: if I was them, I would take my chances with
46:55
Speaker 7: the With the two guys that have outside there, I
46:56
Speaker 7: think that that's probably where the biggest mismatch would be.
46:59
Speaker 7: But in terms of running the ball, I would think that,
47:01
Speaker 7: you know, the middle linebackers for the Giants, you'll be
47:03
Speaker 7: able to hold up pretty well.
47:05
Speaker 1: All right, thanks to Dan Duggan, And that's going to
47:07
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