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Bengals Booth Podcast: That's So Raven · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and this is the
0:06
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast That's So Raven edition, as we look
0:11
Speaker 1: back at a frustrating loss in Baltimore that saw the
0:13
Speaker 1: Bengals lose for the fourth time in the last five
0:16
Speaker 1: games to fall to five and five this season. In
0:19
Speaker 1: the battle for the sixth and final playoff spot in
0:22
Speaker 1: the AFC, five teams have five and five records, and
0:26
Speaker 1: here's how they currently stack up based on the tiebreakers.
0:30
Speaker 1: The Ravens currently have the final playoff spot, followed by
0:33
Speaker 1: the Bengals, Dolphins, Colts, and Titans. The Bengals wins over
0:39
Speaker 1: Miami and Indianapolis could come in very handy. On this
0:43
Speaker 1: episode of the podcast, you'll hear radio replays from the game,
0:47
Speaker 1: locker room interviews with several key players, and Dave Lapham
0:50
Speaker 1: will join me for postgame analysis. Plus, in this week's
0:54
Speaker 1: fun Facts Interview, I'll talk to rookie cornerback Darius Phillips
0:58
Speaker 1: on a wide variety of topics in hooting the two
1:01
Speaker 1: people in history he would most like to meet. I
1:04
Speaker 1: think his answer will surprise you. All of that is
1:08
Speaker 1: straight ahead, But first, here's a quick reminder that you
1:10
Speaker 1: can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right
1:13
Speaker 1: to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher,
1:19
Speaker 1: or pod Bean. It's the greatest invention since caffeine. I've
1:25
Speaker 1: had an eventful weekend calling. You see basketball at home
1:29
Speaker 1: on Friday night, you see football in Orlando on Saturday night,
1:34
Speaker 1: and the Bengals game in Baltimore on Sunday afternoon. I
1:38
Speaker 1: love it. It's what I dreamed of doing as a kid,
1:41
Speaker 1: and I kind of think of the challenge of getting
1:43
Speaker 1: from game to game is my own version of the
1:46
Speaker 1: Amazing Race. But I haven't had a lot of sleep,
1:49
Speaker 1: which is why caffeine is my drug of choice. Now,
1:53
Speaker 1: let's get to the game. With Joe Flacco missing practice
1:56
Speaker 1: all week with a hip injury, the Bengals knew they
1:59
Speaker 1: were like a face former Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Lamar Jackson.
2:03
Speaker 1: In his first NFL start in three years at Louisville,
2:07
Speaker 1: Jackson passed for more than nine thousand yards and ran
2:11
Speaker 1: for more than four thousand yards, and his ability to
2:14
Speaker 1: run was the big concern. According to Bengals linebacker Hardy Nickerson,
2:19
Speaker 1: when you go up against the Lamar Jackson, you know
2:22
Speaker 1: Cam Newton. A guy like that, like a Mike Vick,
2:25
Speaker 1: you always got to be ready for it. But even
2:27
Speaker 1: if they knew it was coming, the Bengals couldn't stop
2:30
Speaker 1: Jackson and the Ravens on their opening drive eleven plays,
2:34
Speaker 1: all runs, including five runs by the quarterback, for forty
2:38
Speaker 1: six yards. The end result an early seven nothing lead.
2:42
Speaker 1: Waits for the shotgun snap on second down and goal
2:45
Speaker 1: from the seven, Jackson hands it off Collins trying to
2:48
Speaker 1: bounce it wide toward the sideline. He will run toward
2:51
Speaker 1: the pylon and score a Baltimore touchdown. Man, I didn't
2:55
Speaker 1: think that was gonna bounce well enough. Looked like the
2:57
Speaker 1: Bengals were in position, but they didn't set a strong
3:01
Speaker 1: enough edge. Montest Burford kind of barking at his guys,
3:04
Speaker 1: who's setting the edge defensively. Jackson finished the game with
3:08
Speaker 1: twenty seven carries for one hundred and seventeen yards, a
3:12
Speaker 1: new rushing record for a Ravens quarterback. Here's Vinny Ray.
3:16
Speaker 1: Most of us have seen him in college. You know
3:18
Speaker 1: the highlights. But we saw a couple of games of
3:20
Speaker 1: him getting ready in the last couple of days in
3:23
Speaker 1: the preseason, and we see he's good. He's a good quarterback,
3:26
Speaker 1: goes through his reads and he is unbelievable quickness and
3:30
Speaker 1: as you see, I think his best qualities is toughness.
3:33
Speaker 1: So um good quarterback is gonna be a tough player
3:36
Speaker 1: to play against me. Is just what Bengals fans wanted
3:38
Speaker 1: to hear. Baltimore's lead didn't last. Early in the second quarter,
3:43
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton hit Tyler Boyd and Joe Mixon on back
3:46
Speaker 1: to back passes for twenty nine and twenty one yards,
3:49
Speaker 1: leading to a tying touchdown. Sam Hobbard in at fullback
3:53
Speaker 1: first in golf from the one they get it and
3:56
Speaker 1: he fights his way across the goal line. Touchdown, Bang
4:00
Speaker 1: goals as Joe Mixon plowed over Jefferson and took it
4:04
Speaker 1: into the end zone for the score. That was one
4:06
Speaker 1: of very few productive runs for the Bengals. Mixon finished
4:10
Speaker 1: with fourteen yards on twelve carries. Giovanni Bernard had five
4:14
Speaker 1: yards on two carries. In the final two minutes of
4:18
Speaker 1: the half, the Ravens scored twice. A twenty eight yard
4:21
Speaker 1: field goal by Justin Tucker made a ten seven, then
4:25
Speaker 1: the Bengals punted it back to Baltimore with twenty two
4:28
Speaker 1: seconds left, and Jackson was able to scramble around for
4:31
Speaker 1: an eternity before throwing a twenty three yard pass to
4:34
Speaker 1: John Brown that put the Ravens within the long field
4:38
Speaker 1: goal range of Justin Tucker. Here's Marvin Lewis on the
4:41
Speaker 1: defensive breakdown the field goal before halftime. He scrambles would
4:45
Speaker 1: come out of coverage. That's a huge play. You know,
4:48
Speaker 1: we can't do that. And you know they had a
4:51
Speaker 1: couple other opportunities there and you know where they had
4:54
Speaker 1: to end up punting it. But those are the things
4:56
Speaker 1: you got to learn. When you're playing a quarterback that runs,
4:58
Speaker 1: you gotta just you know, you gotta take care of
5:00
Speaker 1: your job that the other guys chase the quarterback. Tucker
5:02
Speaker 1: drilled a fifty six yard field goal to end the half,
5:06
Speaker 1: his ninth in a row from fifty plus, and the
5:09
Speaker 1: Ravens head a thirteen seven lead. In the third quarter,
5:13
Speaker 1: Baltimore's twenty one year old quarterback finally made a rookie mistake.
5:17
Speaker 1: Jackson rolling to the right now, he wants to take
5:19
Speaker 1: off and run now he throws intersected by Sean Williams.
5:22
Speaker 1: Williams at the forty five of Baltimore the forty to
5:26
Speaker 1: the thirty five, and he will be tackled by Lamar
5:29
Speaker 1: Jackson around the thirty three yard line. The Bengals capitalized
5:33
Speaker 1: on the great drive start to take their first lead
5:35
Speaker 1: of the day. Dalton, waiting for the shotgun snap catches
5:38
Speaker 1: at the nine, drop straight back through the flamental that
5:41
Speaker 1: is caught for a touchdown, hauled in by Matt Lengal,
5:45
Speaker 1: his second career touchdown catch, his first and a Bengals uniform.
5:51
Speaker 1: Cincinnati has tied it pending the extra point. Randy Bullock
5:55
Speaker 1: made the pat to put the Bengals up fourteen thirteen,
5:58
Speaker 1: and here's legal and hauling in that touchdown catch with
6:02
Speaker 1: no defenders nearby, knew there was gonna be nobody there.
6:05
Speaker 1: I thought I might be getting the ball, but I
6:07
Speaker 1: didn't realize until after that. It was like a little
6:09
Speaker 1: ten yard bubble I had there. So I'm just glad
6:11
Speaker 1: I could catch it and fall down and score touchdown.
6:15
Speaker 1: That was a thirty two yard touchdown drive, and the
6:17
Speaker 1: Bengals got great field position again on their next drive
6:22
Speaker 1: when the Ravens went for it on fourth and one
6:24
Speaker 1: in their own territory. On fourth down and one from
6:27
Speaker 1: the forty five yard line. Bengals crowd the middle, Jackson
6:31
Speaker 1: trying to knife left. I don't think he got it.
6:35
Speaker 1: The Bengals defense begins celebrating, and three and a half
6:38
Speaker 1: minutes later, the offense was celebrating thanks to John Ross.
6:42
Speaker 1: Dalton fakes a handoff. He's gonna love it deep toward
6:45
Speaker 1: Ross in the end zone and it is a touchdown.
6:49
Speaker 1: A great catch for John Ross as he somehow maneuvered
6:54
Speaker 1: up and over Marlin Humphrey to reel in the twenty
6:57
Speaker 1: two yard TD How about that a contested catch by
7:01
Speaker 1: John Russ. It was not only a terrific contested catch,
7:04
Speaker 1: but Ross showed great awareness to get both feet down
7:08
Speaker 1: in bounds for his fourth touchdown on a total of
7:11
Speaker 1: eleven receptions. I saw where it like when I filled
7:14
Speaker 1: the balls. I lived down and made sure I got
7:16
Speaker 1: both feet in, you know, before anything if he tried
7:19
Speaker 1: to drag me out or something like that. Because I
7:21
Speaker 1: caught it and he also had his hand on the boss,
7:22
Speaker 1: I wanted to make sure you know that I've definitely
7:24
Speaker 1: got my feet in, you know, so it'll be a touchdown.
7:26
Speaker 1: Calb regardless, the Bengals had an eight point lead with
7:28
Speaker 1: five forty five left in the third quarter, plenty of
7:32
Speaker 1: time for Baltimore to stick with the running game, and
7:34
Speaker 1: that's what the Ravens did with the combination of Jackson
7:38
Speaker 1: and a two hundred and thirty eight pound undrafted rookie
7:41
Speaker 1: out of Rutgers named Gus Edwards. Second and three for
7:45
Speaker 1: the Ravens at the eleven yard line, tenth play of
7:47
Speaker 1: the drive for Baltimore, Sneed goes in motion. It's a
7:50
Speaker 1: handoff to Edwards, breaking through tackles and taking it into
7:53
Speaker 1: the end zone for a piece of cake touchdown eleven
7:56
Speaker 1: yards for Gus Edwards. Hardy Nickerson Whift on an early
8:00
Speaker 1: tackle attempt. Edwards added a two point conversion run to
8:03
Speaker 1: tie the game at twenty one, and finished with one
8:06
Speaker 1: hundred and fifteen yards on seventeen sledgehammer carries. Most football
8:11
Speaker 1: fans have never heard of the guy, but Vinnie Ray
8:14
Speaker 1: had no about him. I'm no about him since for
8:17
Speaker 1: a long time, since he was like in grade school.
8:19
Speaker 1: He's from New York City, so I've been known about him.
8:23
Speaker 1: He's a tough guy, runs hard, big guy. The game
8:25
Speaker 1: was tied going to the fourth quarter when the Ravens
8:28
Speaker 1: drove fifty five yards on ten runs and only two passes.
8:33
Speaker 1: It led to a twenty four yard field goal by
8:35
Speaker 1: Tucker and a twenty four twenty one lead. The Bengals
8:39
Speaker 1: answered with a nice drive of their own, highlighted by
8:42
Speaker 1: a thirty two yard pass to Tyler Boyd on third
8:44
Speaker 1: and twelve, but the drive stalled at the Ravens thirty
8:48
Speaker 1: three and Randy Bullock is not justin Tucker. He missed
8:52
Speaker 1: a fifty five yard field goal wide right that would
8:55
Speaker 1: have tied the score. The offense put us in position
8:58
Speaker 1: to get to kick there, and we got to, you know,
9:00
Speaker 1: how to make the kick. That's part of it, you know,
9:02
Speaker 1: and it's unfortunate that Randy missed a kick there. The
9:05
Speaker 1: Bengals had one more chance, getting the ball at their
9:08
Speaker 1: own ten yard line with two forty five to go.
9:12
Speaker 1: The situation was eerily similar to last New Year's Eve,
9:15
Speaker 1: when the Bengals got the ball at their own ten
9:18
Speaker 1: with two forty three to go and drove ninety yards
9:21
Speaker 1: to beat the Ravens on Andy Dalton's forty nine yard
9:24
Speaker 1: touchdown pass to Tyler Boyd, but with aj green out,
9:29
Speaker 1: the Ravens put two defenders on Boyd, and on fourth
9:33
Speaker 1: and three, Dalton threw instead to Cody Kor. It hit
9:37
Speaker 1: him in the hands for what could have and probably
9:40
Speaker 1: should have been a first down, but Kor failed to
9:43
Speaker 1: make the catch and the Ravens ran out the clock
9:46
Speaker 1: for twenty four twenty one win. Here's Tyler Boyd. We
9:50
Speaker 1: got to win now. We can't. We can't, can't. We
9:54
Speaker 1: can't take no more loss. If we want to be
9:55
Speaker 1: great and we want to go to the postseason, then
9:58
Speaker 1: we gotta win. In Marvin Lewis's first game since taking
10:00
Speaker 1: over defensive coordinator duties, the Ravens rushed for two hundred
10:04
Speaker 1: sixty five yards on fifty four carries, the most rushing
10:08
Speaker 1: yards the Bengals have given up in marvin sixteen years
10:12
Speaker 1: as head coach. Baltimore added one hundred and fifty passing
10:15
Speaker 1: yards for a grand total of four h three, but
10:19
Speaker 1: the Bengals did hold Baltimore to twenty four points, eight
10:23
Speaker 1: less than teams ravaging against Cincinnati going into the game.
10:27
Speaker 1: Not exactly defensive dominance, but there was improvement with Marvin
10:31
Speaker 1: calling the shots. According to linebackers Hardy Nickerson and Vinny Ray,
10:35
Speaker 1: I think he did he did a good job today,
10:39
Speaker 1: you know, getting us the calls. We're coming to the sideline,
10:41
Speaker 1: we're talking about stuff where we're making adjustments, and then
10:47
Speaker 1: we're you know, the adjustments are working. So it's it's
10:50
Speaker 1: one of those things where I think he's he's going
10:52
Speaker 1: to be more comfortable next week. But to not do
10:56
Speaker 1: this since when two thousand and two or something like that,
10:59
Speaker 1: and to come out on call plays, I thought he
11:00
Speaker 1: did a hell of a job. I love going out
11:02
Speaker 1: there and playing for him, you know, I know he's
11:05
Speaker 1: in the fight there with us. He's right there on
11:07
Speaker 1: the field, and so we gave all Vontes goes out there.
11:11
Speaker 1: He's not even one hundred percent going out there fighting
11:15
Speaker 1: for every tooth and mail. Up next another rookie quarterback,
11:19
Speaker 1: number one overall draft pick, Baker Mayfield and the Cleveland Browns.
11:24
Speaker 1: Now time to bring in my broadcast partner Dave Lapham
11:27
Speaker 1: for postgame analysis, and we begin with the Bengals getting
11:31
Speaker 1: run over. Gus Edwards had fifteen carries for sixty four
11:34
Speaker 1: yards on the season. Today he had seventeen four hundred
11:38
Speaker 1: and fifteen six point eight a carry seventeen yard long,
11:42
Speaker 1: and he had that touchdown run where he ran through everybody.
11:44
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson confidence with twenty seven rushes one hundred and
11:47
Speaker 1: seventeen yards four point three year carry twenty one yard average.
11:51
Speaker 1: They average four point nine per rush, fifty four rushes
11:54
Speaker 1: of the football twenty sixty five yards. They only ran
11:57
Speaker 1: at nineteen times. It was the opposite in the first game.
12:00
Speaker 1: They threw at fifty five and ran at twenty two.
12:02
Speaker 1: They just turned the tables and put the Bengals in
12:05
Speaker 1: a meat grinder. Put that running game. And then on
12:07
Speaker 1: the other side, Bengals had sixteen carries for forty eight yards.
12:10
Speaker 1: You take away Andy Dalton's twenty yards scramble. Fifteen carries
12:14
Speaker 1: for twenty eight yards less than two yards a pop.
12:17
Speaker 1: Not going to beat anybody running the ball like that,
12:19
Speaker 1: particularly when the other team is rushing him down to
12:21
Speaker 1: your throat for two hundred and sixty five yards. So
12:24
Speaker 1: the difference in today's game was the running game. For
12:26
Speaker 1: the first time in the Marvin Lewis era. Against Baltimore,
12:29
Speaker 1: he lost the game where he was plusing the turnover department.
12:31
Speaker 1: They were plus one and they had a fourth down stop,
12:34
Speaker 1: so two of the drives for the Ravens didn't end
12:36
Speaker 1: in a kick and that kept him in the game.
12:38
Speaker 1: If not for those getting short fields out of those,
12:41
Speaker 1: the Bengals would have been in real trouble. So you know,
12:44
Speaker 1: there's miles to go before they arrest in terms of
12:47
Speaker 1: you know, staying in your gap, coming off the blocks,
12:50
Speaker 1: making tackles, and Jackson, even when he was in the pocket,
12:55
Speaker 1: bought time with his quick feet. You know, he doesn't
12:58
Speaker 1: see the field well. If you take away the running
13:00
Speaker 1: game and make him throw it, he's going to struggle.
13:02
Speaker 1: There's no question about it. Bengals couldn't do that today.
13:04
Speaker 1: They didn't make him one dimensional. A team that's going
13:07
Speaker 1: to be able to make him one dimensional is He's
13:09
Speaker 1: going to have his issues. But you know, I think
13:12
Speaker 1: Joe Flacco is more of an NFL quarterback than he
13:14
Speaker 1: is right now. But boy, I would not hesitate to
13:16
Speaker 1: use him more in the wildcat and run the wildcat,
13:19
Speaker 1: not just in the red zone. I'd run the wildcat
13:21
Speaker 1: anywhere you want to run the wildcat, just to change
13:23
Speaker 1: the temple of the game as a as a as
13:26
Speaker 1: an offset to Joe Flacco what he does stand in
13:28
Speaker 1: the pocket and throwing the ball down the field. Laugh,
13:31
Speaker 1: the Bengals are the first team to face Lamar Jackson
13:33
Speaker 1: as a starter at the NFL level. Was that a
13:37
Speaker 1: disadvantage for the Bengals? You know, I think that it
13:40
Speaker 1: was a little bit. Dan and I think Marty morning Wig,
13:42
Speaker 1: the offensive coordinator who had Michael Vick at Philadelphia, and
13:46
Speaker 1: Greg Roman, who basically is the assistant head coach and
13:49
Speaker 1: coaches the tight ends. He had Colin Kaepernick with the
13:52
Speaker 1: forty nine ers, so they had an understanding, I think,
13:56
Speaker 1: of what to do with the infancy stages of Lamar Jackson.
13:59
Speaker 1: But the Bengals had stopped the run with any modicum
14:02
Speaker 1: of success, it might have been a whole different ball
14:05
Speaker 1: game because I'm not sure he could have executed the
14:07
Speaker 1: passing attack that they wanted executed. I mean, when he
14:10
Speaker 1: had to throw the football, he was holding the ball,
14:13
Speaker 1: running around, creating, trying to create opportunities. He looked like
14:16
Speaker 1: Johnny Man's eldom. He had Texas A and m you know,
14:19
Speaker 1: just that's hard to pass protect for a guy like that.
14:22
Speaker 1: But he extended a lot of plays and he made
14:24
Speaker 1: plays when he had to. But I mean that running
14:26
Speaker 1: game was just was just dynamic, and you got to
14:29
Speaker 1: tip your cap to them, for sure. And I think
14:31
Speaker 1: the Bengals knew that that was gonna what was gonna unfold,
14:35
Speaker 1: and I think they're probably bitterly disappointed that they didn't
14:37
Speaker 1: do a better job of making him one dimensional and
14:41
Speaker 1: have to throw the football. They had maybe three series
14:44
Speaker 1: after the first touchdown drive where oh, it looks like
14:46
Speaker 1: now they're gonna handle, But then the Ravens adjusted to
14:50
Speaker 1: the adjustments and off they went again. Lap It was
14:52
Speaker 1: Marvin Lewis his first game since taking over as defensive
14:55
Speaker 1: coordinator for Terrell Austin. Did you see improvement with are
15:00
Speaker 1: in calling the defense. I think the biggest progress I
15:02
Speaker 1: saw were the guys I think felt more confident in
15:06
Speaker 1: what they were supposed to do and how they were
15:08
Speaker 1: supposed to do it. I didn't see any personnel issues,
15:11
Speaker 1: running guys on and off the field like a fire drill,
15:14
Speaker 1: and you know, just barely getting guys in in time,
15:17
Speaker 1: and then you know, getting to the line of screams,
15:18
Speaker 1: not even getting lined up, looking at each other like
15:21
Speaker 1: you know, what's the call, what's the final verdict, and
15:23
Speaker 1: then boom, the ball snapped and you're on your heels.
15:25
Speaker 1: I didn't see that. I thought, you know that the
15:27
Speaker 1: management part of that was a heck of a lot
15:29
Speaker 1: better managing personnel substitutions and getting calls in early enough
15:33
Speaker 1: where guys could communicate and all that. But man, they're
15:36
Speaker 1: going to do a much, much, light years better job
15:39
Speaker 1: beating blocks, getting off blocks, and tackling people. I mean,
15:42
Speaker 1: they're still horrendous tacklers on the defensive side of the football.
15:46
Speaker 1: When the Bengals beat Baltimore back in Week two, Aj
15:48
Speaker 1: Green cut three touchdown passes. Tyler Eifford was still healthy
15:52
Speaker 1: back then. I kind of have the feeling that if
15:54
Speaker 1: Aj Green had played today, the Bengals might have won
15:57
Speaker 1: the game. But that's meaningless. He didn't, but clear they
16:01
Speaker 1: need him back to make a playoff run down the stretch. Yeah,
16:04
Speaker 1: there's no question. I mean, when AJ's in the game,
16:07
Speaker 1: the vertical passing game, you know, was there. I thought
16:10
Speaker 1: today for the most part, it was a horizontal passing game,
16:13
Speaker 1: you know, just stretching it. I thought the Ravens stretched
16:15
Speaker 1: the field horizontally with their running game. The Mengals are
16:18
Speaker 1: trying to do with their passing game a little bit.
16:21
Speaker 1: They didn't. John Ross did make a good play on
16:23
Speaker 1: a deep ball. He found the football and Humphrey didn't.
16:25
Speaker 1: But you know that those were few and far between,
16:28
Speaker 1: and Tyler Boyd's finding out what it's like to be
16:30
Speaker 1: a primary target now in a passing game. And I
16:33
Speaker 1: agree with you. I mean, you know, in that first game,
16:37
Speaker 1: every tight end had two catches and more in that
16:39
Speaker 1: football game. Ifford had a couple, Croft had a couple.
16:43
Speaker 1: You know, CJ. Zama had three. So that multiple tight
16:46
Speaker 1: end package was starting to really show not only running
16:49
Speaker 1: the football but throwing it. Now they're all on inje reserve.
16:53
Speaker 1: So with that particularly effort out and AJ Green out,
16:56
Speaker 1: this offense looks so much different than the offense played
17:00
Speaker 1: Thursday night in Week two at Paul Brown Stadium. I
17:03
Speaker 1: mean AJ Green had three touchdown catches in less than
17:06
Speaker 1: seventeen minutes. You know, those first three catches were all touchdowns.
17:09
Speaker 1: And yeah, he's obviously he's the best player on that
17:13
Speaker 1: side of the football. When you're down your best player,
17:15
Speaker 1: you're gonna feel it. I don't know if Justin Tucker
17:18
Speaker 1: is the best player for the Baltimore Ravens, but he's
17:21
Speaker 1: the best kicker in NFL history. Randy Bullock missed a
17:24
Speaker 1: fifty two yarder that could have tied it in the
17:26
Speaker 1: fourth quarter. You're not going to have a high percentage
17:29
Speaker 1: from fifty plus, at least most kickers don't, but justin
17:32
Speaker 1: Tucker does. He drilled a fifty six yarder at the
17:35
Speaker 1: end of the half. Those three points turn out to
17:37
Speaker 1: be the difference of the game. And in on that play,
17:40
Speaker 1: Jackson's buying time scrambling around back there. The Bengals drop
17:44
Speaker 1: coverage thinking that Jackson's gonna be sacked. You can't drop coverage.
17:49
Speaker 1: I mean, you can't do that. You just can't leave
17:50
Speaker 1: your guy open. And maybe trying to go pressure the quarterback.
17:54
Speaker 1: That's not your job. Other people are pressing on the quarterback.
17:56
Speaker 1: Let them do their job. You stay with your job.
17:59
Speaker 1: And that path allowed it to be a fifty six
18:01
Speaker 1: yard fieldal opportunity, and Tucker, you know, made him pay.
18:05
Speaker 1: He was two for two from fifty and beyond. And
18:07
Speaker 1: uh the Bengals were oh for one and in a
18:09
Speaker 1: three point game. That's that's the difference in the football game.
18:12
Speaker 1: But there there are a lot of a lot of reasons.
18:14
Speaker 1: You know, they lost the football game. The kicking game
18:16
Speaker 1: you know, being won. But I mean, to get out
18:19
Speaker 1: rushed like they got out rushed. I mean that's that's
18:24
Speaker 1: basically high school mispatches when you look at that kind
18:26
Speaker 1: of rushing, you know, or Alabama playing in Division two
18:30
Speaker 1: or something like that. At the collegiate level, you don't
18:32
Speaker 1: see that kind of disparity very often in the National
18:34
Speaker 1: Football League. In today's NFL, teams don't run it fifty
18:37
Speaker 1: five times, you know, for two hundred and sixty five yards.
18:40
Speaker 1: But the Ravens did what they had to do. And
18:42
Speaker 1: I give him credit. I mean, the offensive line knew
18:45
Speaker 1: they had to run block the best they've ever done it,
18:47
Speaker 1: and they had a one two punch George Edwards. Who
18:50
Speaker 1: the heck is George Edwards sixty four yards rushing on
18:53
Speaker 1: the season. He stepped up and he had his coming
18:56
Speaker 1: out party today, and uh as did Lamar Jackson. As
18:59
Speaker 1: a runner at the quarterback position, He's still far from
19:02
Speaker 1: being anywhere near polished as a pastor. Thanks Lap. Up
19:05
Speaker 1: next the Cleveland Browns, who had to buy this week,
19:08
Speaker 1: and we'll come to Paul Brown Stadium with a record
19:11
Speaker 1: of three six and one. We'll see if Hugh Jackson's
19:14
Speaker 1: knowledge of his former team helps the Bengals beat the
19:17
Speaker 1: Browns for the eighth consecutive time. Now time for this
19:21
Speaker 1: week's fun Facts segment, where you get to know the
19:24
Speaker 1: person under the pads, in this case, the third of
19:28
Speaker 1: the Bengals three fifth round draft choices this year. Time
19:32
Speaker 1: for some fun facts with Bengals rookie Darius Phillips from Detroit, Michigan.
19:36
Speaker 1: From the heart of the city or from the suburbs
19:38
Speaker 1: the heart of the city, tell me a little bit
19:40
Speaker 1: about growing up in Detroit. Growing to Detroit's kind of
19:42
Speaker 1: I'll say as a while, but it's kind of. It's
19:43
Speaker 1: really like depending on who you surrounds us off with.
19:46
Speaker 1: You know a lot of people branch off like going
19:48
Speaker 1: to high school, middle school, so you surround up with
19:51
Speaker 1: some people that want to want to do succeed in life,
19:55
Speaker 1: where he surrounds of some people that want it that don't. Luckily,
19:58
Speaker 1: you'll surrounded myself with with people that want that wanted
20:01
Speaker 1: to help me get to the next level and go
20:04
Speaker 1: to college. For some of your favorite athletes going out,
20:07
Speaker 1: I was into basketball before I got into football, so
20:09
Speaker 1: I'd say Lebron James m Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook. Then
20:14
Speaker 1: when I got into football, probably switched over to like
20:17
Speaker 1: Calvin Johnson receivers. Now I played offense for I started
20:20
Speaker 1: playing defense, so it was mostly receivers. I didn't when
20:24
Speaker 1: you look at DBS. We're doing fun facts with Darius
20:27
Speaker 1: Phillips and any brothers and sisters. Um, yes, I have
20:29
Speaker 1: one biological sister and I have um three guy sisters
20:33
Speaker 1: and two god brothers. So I have I'll say my
20:38
Speaker 1: immediate family is small, but my extended family is bid.
20:41
Speaker 1: Sounds took a big group rooting for you though. Yeah. Come,
20:44
Speaker 1: they come to almost every game. I think last week
20:46
Speaker 1: was the first game they missed. Talking to Darius Phillips,
20:49
Speaker 1: I went to Syracuse. My broadcasting partner, Davel Appam went
20:52
Speaker 1: to Syracuse. You almost went to Syracuse, right, Yeah, that
20:57
Speaker 1: was actually my first, um, my first offer coming out,
21:01
Speaker 1: it was Syracuse. Uh, Wheely went to Robshaw and he
21:05
Speaker 1: was coaching the Tyrone week then he was coaching there.
21:09
Speaker 1: Then I guess the coaching staff at Syracuse got hired
21:12
Speaker 1: believe for the Bills. Correct, Moron went to the Bill. Yeah.
21:15
Speaker 1: So then when they went to the Bills, Um, they
21:17
Speaker 1: didn't pull my scholarship, but the coach coming in he
21:19
Speaker 1: didn't like contact me, So I just decommitted. You wound
21:24
Speaker 1: up at Western Michigan instead in Callamazoo, Michigan. Was that
21:28
Speaker 1: a little bit of a culture shock going from Detroit,
21:31
Speaker 1: the heart of the city, to callama Zoo. Um. I
21:34
Speaker 1: want to say it was a coaching shock, just because
21:36
Speaker 1: I don't know Detroit wild. But I wasn't into like
21:38
Speaker 1: all of all of while stuff, So when I went
21:40
Speaker 1: down there, it was just I say, they were more friendlier.
21:43
Speaker 1: So that probably was more the most shocking thing that
21:46
Speaker 1: was friendly. People's friendly. As you mentioned you worldwide receiver.
21:50
Speaker 1: You played wide receiver there your freshman year. Could you
21:52
Speaker 1: have made the NFL as a wide receiver? Me? Just
21:55
Speaker 1: because of me? I would say yeah, But Coach Fleck
21:58
Speaker 1: put me into the office several times telling me if
22:00
Speaker 1: I wanted to make to the NFL, I would have
22:03
Speaker 1: to switch. And eventually he made this decision and I
22:06
Speaker 1: couldn't be more happier. Now it certainly worked out well.
22:09
Speaker 1: But did you resisted at first making the switcher your
22:12
Speaker 1: sophomore year to the the cornerback? Um? Y'all resisted? Um? Because
22:16
Speaker 1: when I first found out Donald sellerscar he was leaving.
22:19
Speaker 1: He was leaving. We had a spot opening. We was
22:21
Speaker 1: at a basketball game and he came to me and Toby.
22:24
Speaker 1: They was gonna switch me to the the corner, and I
22:26
Speaker 1: didn't want to do it. First day, I think it
22:29
Speaker 1: was winner conditioning. They hit me down there with the
22:31
Speaker 1: corner trying to backpedal. I couldn't do none of that,
22:33
Speaker 1: so they excused me back to the corner, I mean
22:35
Speaker 1: the receiver. Then I would say, like a week later,
22:37
Speaker 1: sushed me back to the corner. When you were a
22:39
Speaker 1: junior in Western Michigan, you were a key member of
22:41
Speaker 1: a team that went thirteen at old and made it
22:44
Speaker 1: to the Cotton Bowl before losing to Wisconsin. Best four
22:47
Speaker 1: months of your life? Um? Yeah, I'll say it was
22:49
Speaker 1: the best for my months of my life. Um. Still
22:51
Speaker 1: keep in contact with a lot of them guys, and
22:53
Speaker 1: it was just we was just I'll said. The thing
22:56
Speaker 1: that was different from that team, we were just close family.
22:58
Speaker 1: You know. The culture was we knew he was gonna
23:00
Speaker 1: go out and win. We knew we was everybody's gonna
23:02
Speaker 1: do the job, and we just got it done. You
23:06
Speaker 1: hold an NCAA record for return touchdowns with twelve, five
23:10
Speaker 1: kick returns, five pick sixes, a punt return, and a
23:14
Speaker 1: fumble return. It's got to be pretty cool to hold
23:17
Speaker 1: an all time college football record. Um, yeah, I think
23:20
Speaker 1: it's pretty pretty cool. But I don't. I don't really
23:22
Speaker 1: tell anybody, so I don't think nobody on the team. No,
23:24
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't be going around just telling people
23:26
Speaker 1: that I do. But it's it's a compliment for me
23:29
Speaker 1: and myself and my family just knowing that I got
23:32
Speaker 1: a record in such a great game in Cuba football.
23:35
Speaker 1: You need me to go walk around the locker room
23:37
Speaker 1: right now and send your praises. People should know that
23:39
Speaker 1: that's incredible. Yeah. Yeah, I'm just quiet, quiet person, So
23:44
Speaker 1: I don't really do that, all right. Darius Phillips doesn't
23:47
Speaker 1: brag about himself, so I'll do it for him. You
23:50
Speaker 1: played in the MAC, but some of your biggest games
23:53
Speaker 1: happened when Western Michigan took on big name schools. One
23:56
Speaker 1: hundred yard kick return against USC, one hundred yard kick
23:59
Speaker 1: return against Chicken Stayed. Did you look at those games
24:02
Speaker 1: as an opportunity to prove what you could do? Whenever
24:04
Speaker 1: we played big schools, I always had a chip on
24:06
Speaker 1: my shoulder just because I didn't get the offers from
24:09
Speaker 1: the big schools. And just during the week we are
24:11
Speaker 1: just here. Oh yeah, we're gonna, they're gonna, We're gonna
24:13
Speaker 1: blow them out that week because we was in the MAX.
24:16
Speaker 1: So I just took pride in and planning the MAC
24:18
Speaker 1: and going out and and showing that as talent in
24:21
Speaker 1: any conference, no matter what conference you're win. Darry she
24:25
Speaker 1: lost her mom far too soon before your senior year
24:29
Speaker 1: of college. How did you cope. I'll just say, just
24:31
Speaker 1: surrounding myself with my teammates saying and my family and France,
24:34
Speaker 1: you know, just them keeping their hands around me and
24:38
Speaker 1: just trying to stay focused for her. My sister just
24:41
Speaker 1: had a niece and I mean a daughter, so my
24:43
Speaker 1: niece and just trying to be a positive road out
24:46
Speaker 1: of her life fan so show her it's different parts
24:49
Speaker 1: of life, just being in Detroit. So you're drafted by
24:52
Speaker 1: the Bengals in the fifth round this spring. Describe your
24:55
Speaker 1: draft experience. It was tough coming into the draft. I
24:58
Speaker 1: mean the road to the draft just because I had
25:01
Speaker 1: bumps and bruises that was from the previous season, so
25:03
Speaker 1: I couldn't really do nothing at the combine, couldn't do
25:06
Speaker 1: nothing at the Singer Bowl. Then I finally got to
25:08
Speaker 1: UM I guess compete at the pro day and I
25:13
Speaker 1: went in there and did everything I can. Then got
25:15
Speaker 1: the call. All my family gets up in Klimuzoo, so
25:19
Speaker 1: we're all happy and celebrated that day. Then I just
25:22
Speaker 1: went back to training. I guess like two or three
25:24
Speaker 1: days later is that phone call from the Bengals the altimat.
25:28
Speaker 1: It happened when I was downstairs in my rooms and
25:30
Speaker 1: everybody was upstairs, so and nobody really knew. I just
25:33
Speaker 1: went when they called me, I had just went upstairs
25:35
Speaker 1: and just turned the TV. There was already playing it.
25:37
Speaker 1: I just turned it up, and when it happened, everybody
25:40
Speaker 1: just surprised. They didn't know that I had talked to somebody.
25:42
Speaker 1: Now you pretended you didn't know already. Yeah, you went
25:44
Speaker 1: upstairs and sat down. Were still later, So then when
25:47
Speaker 1: they called my name, it got loud and were just
25:50
Speaker 1: happy to celebrated a few more fun factor Darius phill Ups,
25:53
Speaker 1: You're not extremely wealthy yet, but for a young man
25:56
Speaker 1: right out of college, you're doing pretty well. Did you
25:58
Speaker 1: splur join anything, did you treat yourself to anything? After
26:01
Speaker 1: he signed to the Bengals. The only thing I would say,
26:03
Speaker 1: I treated myself too as the car UM. That's the
26:06
Speaker 1: only thing I already explores out of the car where
26:08
Speaker 1: you get UM? I got a twenty eighteen challenging and well,
26:12
Speaker 1: everybody now telling me I'm gonna need something different for
26:15
Speaker 1: the winning up here, So I gotta see what I
26:18
Speaker 1: gotta do to get a different car or a different
26:20
Speaker 1: tire or something. If you could meet anybody in history,
26:24
Speaker 1: who would it be. I don't know, probably Thomas Jefferson,
26:28
Speaker 1: Thoma Jefferson, probably either him or elba Ostin, just to
26:31
Speaker 1: figure out how they how they minds were. Oh no,
26:34
Speaker 1: all right, you're off the hot seat. Appreciate the time,
26:36
Speaker 1: best of luck the rest of the year. Thank you,
26:37
Speaker 1: appreciate it. And that's going to do it for this
26:39
Speaker 1: episode of the podcast. If you haven't done so already,
26:43
Speaker 1: don't forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or pod Bean
26:47
Speaker 1: and give it a rating or leave a comment. Your
26:50
Speaker 1: feedback has been great and five star ratings help more
26:53
Speaker 1: Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde, and thanks
26:57
Speaker 1: for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast.