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Bengals Booth Podcast: Gratitude · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Happy Thanksgiving everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
0:07
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast. The we just want to get gratitude. Yeah. Addition,
0:15
Speaker 1: that's an earth Wind and Fire song in case you're interested.
0:18
Speaker 1: As we take a quick break from football and gluttony
0:21
Speaker 1: to discuss the latest Bengals news and look ahead to
0:24
Speaker 1: Sunday's game against the Giants coming up, Dave Lapham joins
0:28
Speaker 1: me to discuss the rehab process for Joe Burrow and
0:31
Speaker 1: who will start in his place this week. My one
0:35
Speaker 1: on one player interview this week is with c ju Zama,
0:38
Speaker 1: who knows all about rehab after tearing his achilles in
0:41
Speaker 1: week two. He looks forward to pushing and being pushed
0:45
Speaker 1: by Joe Burrow in the months to come. And in
0:48
Speaker 1: our Know the Faux segment, we'll get the scoop on
0:51
Speaker 1: the three and seven Giants from Jordan Ranan, who covers
0:55
Speaker 1: the team for ESPN. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented
1:00
Speaker 1: by Bud Light Seltzer. Refresh the game and here's a
1:03
Speaker 1: quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of
1:06
Speaker 1: this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer
1:10
Speaker 1: by subscribing on iTunes. Stitch your Google Play, Spotify, or
1:14
Speaker 1: pod Bean. It's the greatest thing since essential and frontline workers.
1:21
Speaker 1: On a previous podcast, I mentioned that during the COVID
1:24
Speaker 1: nineteen pandemic, I've tried to keep two words in mind,
1:28
Speaker 1: careful and hopeful. And on this Thanksgiving I'm adding grateful
1:34
Speaker 1: to our everyday heroes who have been there for us
1:37
Speaker 1: during this crisis. Doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers, police,
1:42
Speaker 1: firefighters and other first responders, teachers, grocery store employees, delivery people,
1:48
Speaker 1: news broadcasters. The list goes on and on. Thank you,
1:53
Speaker 1: and here's hoping that the end of this pandemic is
1:56
Speaker 1: in sight. Now let's get to my key Day conversation
2:01
Speaker 1: with Dave Lapham lapter Ryan Finlay. Era might have been
2:07
Speaker 1: short lived. At eight am on Wednesday, Mike Gara Folo
2:10
Speaker 1: from the NFL Network broke the news that the Bengals
2:13
Speaker 1: starting quarterback on Sunday will be third stringer Brandon Allen
2:17
Speaker 1: instead of Ryan Finley. Dak Taylor would not confirm that
2:20
Speaker 1: when asked about it on Wednesday, but in any case,
2:23
Speaker 1: Brandon Allen just brought it from the practice squad where
2:26
Speaker 1: he has been all year. He started three games for
2:28
Speaker 1: Denver last year, winning one with a passer rating of
2:31
Speaker 1: sixty eight point three. He's had very few practice reps
2:35
Speaker 1: this year, but he was with the Rams in two
2:37
Speaker 1: seventeen and two eighteen, so he knows Zach Taylor's offense.
2:41
Speaker 1: Here's offensive coordinator Brian Callahan. Part of the reason we
2:45
Speaker 1: signed Brandon is because he's he's got some familiarity. He's played.
2:54
Speaker 1: I played two games in Denver last year for three
2:56
Speaker 1: games stretching and won one of them. Hein't been out
2:58
Speaker 1: for a little bit. He's got a good way about it,
3:00
Speaker 1: and so he really was, you know, kind of our
3:04
Speaker 1: COVID quarterback in the stantus with the guy that we
3:06
Speaker 1: had to kind of have in the building and keep
3:08
Speaker 1: keep bringing along to start. And he's done a really
3:12
Speaker 1: nice job for what everything he's been asked to do.
3:14
Speaker 1: But yeah, I mean he's even the same boat, really
3:17
Speaker 1: is Ryan, though. I mean, either one of them got
3:19
Speaker 1: a ton of reps as a season has gone along,
3:21
Speaker 1: and that's just the nature of being a back of quarterback.
3:24
Speaker 1: If Brandon Allen is in fact the starter on Sunday,
3:27
Speaker 1: what do you think that means. I think it means
3:29
Speaker 1: that the coaches have you know, a strong comfort level
3:32
Speaker 1: with him. Zach Taylor has some experience with him. Brian
3:37
Speaker 1: Callahan knows him, likes him, likes his approach. And that's
3:41
Speaker 1: about as big as anything I think is which which
3:44
Speaker 1: guy do you think the team is going to rally
3:47
Speaker 1: around most? Which guy has the more it factor in
3:50
Speaker 1: his personality that is going to lift everybody and make
3:54
Speaker 1: everybody player play to a higher level. I think I
3:57
Speaker 1: think those are all considerations, and those three starts in Denver.
4:02
Speaker 1: He beat the Cleveland Browns twenty six to ten. Minnesota's
4:05
Speaker 1: up by four points. He takes on a drive late
4:08
Speaker 1: in the football game, a back shoulder passed to his
4:11
Speaker 1: tight end, goes off to tight ends face mask. I
4:13
Speaker 1: should have won that football game. And then they went
4:16
Speaker 1: to Buffalo and as you know, Dan, Buffalo with that crowd,
4:20
Speaker 1: that's a tough place to play, didn't win that one,
4:22
Speaker 1: but one and two should have gone and could have
4:24
Speaker 1: gone two and one. So move the football had some success,
4:29
Speaker 1: and I think the feeling is that he understands the
4:32
Speaker 1: offense and understands what defenses are trying to do to
4:36
Speaker 1: take away his offense. Maybe at a little bit higher level.
4:39
Speaker 1: Than Ryan Finley. Right now, some people are making a
4:42
Speaker 1: big deal out of the fact that he's on the
4:44
Speaker 1: practice squad, and Ryan Finley was on the roster this year.
4:48
Speaker 1: That is virtually insignificant because the rules have changed to
4:52
Speaker 1: allow you to bring up practice squad guys every week. Anyway,
4:55
Speaker 1: it might have simply been a matter of the Bengals saying, hey,
4:59
Speaker 1: we think other NFL teams are more likely to try
5:04
Speaker 1: to take away Ryan Finley if they had a high
5:07
Speaker 1: draft grade on him last year, if he were on
5:09
Speaker 1: the practice squad, then they are likely to take away
5:12
Speaker 1: Brandon Ellen. I agree with you, Dan, and look at
5:16
Speaker 1: look at the guy that's come off the practice squad
5:18
Speaker 1: in their last three games. That's given them a boosting
5:20
Speaker 1: their offensive line. Spain. You know, as you said, the
5:23
Speaker 1: rules and everything are so different this season. He lines
5:26
Speaker 1: up a left guard against Tennessee. They win the football game,
5:29
Speaker 1: they don't give up his tack, they don't turn the
5:31
Speaker 1: football over. And he goes against the Pittsburgh Steelers at
5:35
Speaker 1: right tackle. It quits himself very well. And then last week,
5:38
Speaker 1: of course, against Washington, he goes and plays the right
5:41
Speaker 1: guard position, you know very well. So where would they
5:44
Speaker 1: be without Quentin Spain, you know. And he's been coming
5:46
Speaker 1: off the practice squad for for three games and now
5:49
Speaker 1: they've activated them to the to the roster. But that's
5:53
Speaker 1: another good example of this year is different. There's no
5:55
Speaker 1: question about it. Twenty twenty is different and every way
5:57
Speaker 1: it can be. I want to get back to quintin
6:00
Speaker 1: Spain and just a little bit, but first I want
6:02
Speaker 1: to talk about Joe Burrow. The loss of Joe was
6:05
Speaker 1: obviously a gut punch to everybody in the organization. He
6:08
Speaker 1: is expected to make a full recovery and return to
6:11
Speaker 1: action next year, although it might not be in time
6:14
Speaker 1: for Week one. He's been at the stadium this week
6:17
Speaker 1: in typical Joe Burrow fashion. He's been lifting the spirits
6:20
Speaker 1: of his teammates instead of the other way around. C
6:23
Speaker 1: j Uzama Torres Achilles back in Week two, so he
6:27
Speaker 1: is likely to rehab went Burrow in the offseason. Listen
6:31
Speaker 1: to what he had to say about seeing Burrow in
6:34
Speaker 1: the training room today. I saw him in there and
6:38
Speaker 1: he seems high spirited, and he was asking a bunch
6:43
Speaker 1: of questions about like hey, can I do this? Hey
6:45
Speaker 1: can I do this? He can if I try to
6:47
Speaker 1: flex this right now? Is that? Can I? Is that okay?
6:51
Speaker 1: The trainer Nick was like yes, Like does that not hurt?
6:55
Speaker 1: And he's like, no, fels it feels a lot better
6:57
Speaker 1: already today. And I was doing the rest of my
7:00
Speaker 1: rehab and finishing up and Nick came, you know, to
7:02
Speaker 1: to help me out, and he was like that guy
7:04
Speaker 1: as a beast, Like that's insane that he's his pain
7:07
Speaker 1: tients has to be ridiculous for that. UM. So hearing that,
7:11
Speaker 1: you know itself, I'm like, yo, hold up, let's crank
7:14
Speaker 1: up my my rehab real quick. Man, Like come on, like,
7:16
Speaker 1: what are we doing here? I don't feel anything either,
7:19
Speaker 1: come on, push me a little harder. UM. But no,
7:21
Speaker 1: I think I think it'll be. I think it's good.
7:24
Speaker 1: You know, obviously traveling restrictions, I'm gonna be pretty much
7:27
Speaker 1: planned here, um throughout the entire off season, which I'm
7:30
Speaker 1: fine with. UM. And now, yeah, that's another kind of
7:34
Speaker 1: person I can, you know, work out with train with UM.
7:38
Speaker 1: I have my quarterback here, so when he's on his feet,
7:40
Speaker 1: you know, I'm gonna say, hey, you got it's time
7:42
Speaker 1: to throw a buddy, like let's let's go. And and
7:45
Speaker 1: I know he's gonna be as eager to get back
7:47
Speaker 1: out there. So yeah, I think, you know it's that's
7:50
Speaker 1: the probably the only positive of of of of his injuries.
7:54
Speaker 1: You know, I get to rehab with with you know,
7:57
Speaker 1: with my guy Lap, we are doctors. But I have
8:00
Speaker 1: no doubt that Burrow is going to attack rehab as
8:03
Speaker 1: much as humanly possible and be back as soon as possible.
8:07
Speaker 1: I agree with you. I did see CJ going into
8:11
Speaker 1: his rehab Tuesday morning before he walked in there into
8:14
Speaker 1: the locker room, and and he was walking well then,
8:18
Speaker 1: and he told me he's a good week two weeks
8:20
Speaker 1: ahead of schedule as of right now, So that could
8:23
Speaker 1: continue to progress in a positive way, and to have
8:26
Speaker 1: a rehab partner is significant. And I do think you're right.
8:31
Speaker 1: I think Joe Burrow not only a five star recruit,
8:34
Speaker 1: but a five star rehab guy. He's gonna be one
8:36
Speaker 1: of those guys that attacks it and the thing that
8:39
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to be careful of with him sometimes
8:41
Speaker 1: you can do too much, So there's that balancing act.
8:44
Speaker 1: They're not gonna have to light a firecrack or a
8:46
Speaker 1: cherry bomban to Joe Burrow to get him to work.
8:48
Speaker 1: They're gonna have to put a harness on him to
8:50
Speaker 1: pull him back, I think a little bit to make
8:52
Speaker 1: sure that he doesn't overdo it, particularly in the early
8:54
Speaker 1: stages and have a setback. That's the worst word you
8:57
Speaker 1: can hear during a rehab process. As all he experienced
9:00
Speaker 1: a setback. I don't want to hear that. So there
9:03
Speaker 1: is there is a point of diminishing returns, and I
9:06
Speaker 1: think he's smart enough to understand that and figure it out.
9:09
Speaker 1: But I agree with you. I think I think, if anything,
9:12
Speaker 1: he's going to come back early, and he's going to
9:15
Speaker 1: come back ready. And you can't compare injuries, but Carson
9:19
Speaker 1: Palmer toward the a c L MCL and dislocated as
9:21
Speaker 1: patella and he did it in January in a playoff game,
9:25
Speaker 1: and he played in the third preseason game. That following
9:29
Speaker 1: preseason in August, he played in the Pro Bowl and
9:32
Speaker 1: one MVP. So you know, if that's a good If
9:35
Speaker 1: that's a barometer, Joe Barrow should be in pretty good shape.
9:38
Speaker 1: The thing about it, too, Dan, is he's young, He's
9:41
Speaker 1: in tremendous condition, so the healing process should be pretty
9:45
Speaker 1: darn strong. Another comparison is Houston quarterback to Sean Watson.
9:49
Speaker 1: He tore his acl almost at the exact same point
9:52
Speaker 1: in his rookie year November of his rookie year. He
9:55
Speaker 1: was back in time to start the season opener the
9:57
Speaker 1: next season and went to the Pro Bowl that year
10:00
Speaker 1: and the following year. I just want to say, you know,
10:02
Speaker 1: prayers out the Joe Joe Burrow and his family and
10:05
Speaker 1: and just him and his team. Uh, Cincinnati being was
10:08
Speaker 1: I mean, that's just a tough situation. I watched the
10:11
Speaker 1: play and it was just fast emotion and you know
10:14
Speaker 1: that just kind of pitched things in perspective where you
10:16
Speaker 1: know it can be any play. Um, so you just
10:20
Speaker 1: gotta be grateful for the position. But you know, some
10:22
Speaker 1: of my best wishes and prayers out to him and
10:24
Speaker 1: his family and if he got any questions. You know,
10:26
Speaker 1: I dealt with the same thing my rookie year around
10:28
Speaker 1: similar time, UM, you know, kind of November ish. Um.
10:32
Speaker 1: You know, he can always reach out to me and
10:34
Speaker 1: I can reach out to him. So yeah, prayers out
10:36
Speaker 1: to him. Uh, you know, hopefully speedy recovery. But I
10:40
Speaker 1: would just say, you know, when I came back, it
10:42
Speaker 1: was just definitely making sure that I was, you know,
10:44
Speaker 1: a UM and I was really really comfortable, especially at
10:48
Speaker 1: this level where everything is flying around. UM. But you know,
10:51
Speaker 1: once you're out there, you just gotta play. You just
10:52
Speaker 1: gotta play fourth throttle. You know, that's the that's the
10:55
Speaker 1: part of the game. You kind of know what situation
10:57
Speaker 1: is going to happen and um, you know, for me,
10:59
Speaker 1: where my situation when I did it in practice, I
11:01
Speaker 1: didn't know it was gonna happen, and it happened. And
11:03
Speaker 1: when I came back, I was still you know, I
11:05
Speaker 1: would kind of started off, you know, let's sake you.
11:07
Speaker 1: But once out there, the first couple of plays, you know,
11:09
Speaker 1: I was just like, hey, I gotta cut it loose.
11:10
Speaker 1: It's not then I'm gonna you know, I'm gonna be
11:13
Speaker 1: a bard in for the team and then for myself too.
11:15
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be able to play, you know, my full potential.
11:18
Speaker 1: What does Joe Burrow lose from missing the last six
11:21
Speaker 1: games of this season and the offseason program, Yeah, obviously
11:25
Speaker 1: loses those those reps. And I was excited to see
11:29
Speaker 1: the rematch against Pittsburgh in Baltimore because Joe Burrow always
11:34
Speaker 1: learns from his mistakes. He doesn't make the same mistake twice.
11:38
Speaker 1: I think that's a big thing that has has put
11:40
Speaker 1: him on a straight up, up, up arrow in terms
11:44
Speaker 1: of his career. Is he is a he's a quick learner,
11:48
Speaker 1: a quick study, and it doesn't fall into any bad
11:51
Speaker 1: habits and make make mistakes over and over and over again.
11:54
Speaker 1: So he was disappointed in his performance after both of
11:56
Speaker 1: those football games. And you know how much of a
12:00
Speaker 1: hindery is. He's probably gonna grind even more before those
12:03
Speaker 1: football games. And I was looking forward to the to
12:05
Speaker 1: the rematches both you know, in Cincinnati, one of them
12:09
Speaker 1: on Monday night, one of them to finish the season
12:11
Speaker 1: and see how far he has progressed. So I think
12:14
Speaker 1: that's a little bit of a disappointment. I'm sure it's
12:16
Speaker 1: a disappointment to him. And then all the reps, I mean,
12:19
Speaker 1: every rep that you accumulate is a positive, you know,
12:22
Speaker 1: in your rookie year. Now he did get ten ten
12:24
Speaker 1: games or reps in, there's no question. And he got
12:27
Speaker 1: those ten games or reps in in the crazy year
12:30
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty, whether we're no OTAs, no mini camps,
12:33
Speaker 1: all those kind of things, which he'll miss probably this
12:36
Speaker 1: year as well, coming up, so he's at least got
12:39
Speaker 1: a track record showing I can't perform at a high
12:41
Speaker 1: level without that. But it would have been good for
12:44
Speaker 1: him to have an offseason of you know, working with
12:48
Speaker 1: his teammates, Mini camps, OTA's training camp, preseason games. How
12:53
Speaker 1: much of that will he be able to experience. That's
12:57
Speaker 1: that's the big question. That's the that's the million dollar
12:59
Speaker 1: question right now. But he has shown that he can
13:03
Speaker 1: perform extremely well even void of all that. It hurts
13:08
Speaker 1: the receiving corps too, right, they won't have all those
13:10
Speaker 1: offseason reps to work on timing, no doubt about it.
13:13
Speaker 1: It's it's you know, guys like Tylert Boyd, you know,
13:17
Speaker 1: and others Tee Hagens. I mean, they've found a nice
13:20
Speaker 1: little rhythm and with Joe Burrow, but you can always
13:24
Speaker 1: improve on it. And then other receivers that are just
13:26
Speaker 1: in the infancy stages of that, it will hurt them,
13:29
Speaker 1: there's no doubt in And so how much will it
13:33
Speaker 1: retard the development of Joe Burrow? I think he is
13:36
Speaker 1: so special in so many areas that it will be hurtful,
13:42
Speaker 1: but not absolutely devastating in terms of his development. People
13:48
Speaker 1: have been playing the blame game since Joe's injury. Some
13:52
Speaker 1: say the Bengals should have played a veteran quarterback early
13:55
Speaker 1: this year behind a shaky offensive line. Others say they
13:58
Speaker 1: shouldn't have passed so much. The most common criticism is
14:02
Speaker 1: that the Bengals have neglected their offensive line for too long.
14:05
Speaker 1: And that's what I want to discuss because the biggest problem,
14:08
Speaker 1: at least in my view, that has hampered this franchise
14:11
Speaker 1: isn't that they've neglected the offensive line. It's that there
14:14
Speaker 1: are many attempts to fix it have not worked out.
14:18
Speaker 1: Three of their five number one draft picks before Joe
14:21
Speaker 1: Burrow were offensive lineman Cedrico boy Heat, Billy Price, and
14:24
Speaker 1: Jonah Williams. Only one of those guys is starting right now.
14:28
Speaker 1: They traded for Cordy Glenn, which was the equivalent of
14:31
Speaker 1: signing an expensive free agent. He had three years left
14:34
Speaker 1: on his huge deal. This would have been the final
14:37
Speaker 1: year of that, but he's out of the NFL. They
14:40
Speaker 1: signed Xavier Suaphilo prior to this season. He got injured
14:43
Speaker 1: in Week one, So not only has the line continued
14:47
Speaker 1: to struggle, but other positions have suffered because they've used
14:51
Speaker 1: high draft picks on the old line that haven't necessarily
14:56
Speaker 1: panned out. So I guess the bottom line is they've
14:59
Speaker 1: got to do a deep dive into what's gone wrong
15:03
Speaker 1: and how to fix it going forward. Agreed with every
15:08
Speaker 1: single word of your analysis there. When the Bengals went
15:13
Speaker 1: to five straight playoffs club record, they hit it in
15:18
Speaker 1: the draft pick after pick after pick, you know, not
15:21
Speaker 1: just first round, but but all rounds, multiple rounds. But
15:25
Speaker 1: when you miss in that first rounder, like they have
15:28
Speaker 1: the ones you've described, when you miss on those, it's painful.
15:32
Speaker 1: There's a huge ripple effect, and there's ripple effect for years,
15:36
Speaker 1: not just that draft year, but if it doesn't pan out,
15:39
Speaker 1: you know, and a lot of times first round, first
15:42
Speaker 1: round picks don't really perform up to what you'd expect
15:46
Speaker 1: in the first year. By year two or three, there
15:48
Speaker 1: are an integral part of the football team and that
15:52
Speaker 1: is gone. That hasn't happened with a lot of these guys.
15:55
Speaker 1: So the ripple effect is like you said, like you say,
15:58
Speaker 1: not only did the position that those guys were drafted
16:01
Speaker 1: in either stay flat or decline because of the ineffectiveness
16:07
Speaker 1: of the play of that pick, but other positions that
16:10
Speaker 1: you could have made a pick at aren't improved either.
16:14
Speaker 1: So when you missed with a pick that high, the
16:17
Speaker 1: ripple effect is tremendous, and it's tremendous for a number
16:21
Speaker 1: of years. And I think that's what the Bengals are
16:23
Speaker 1: still trying to steady themselves from at this point in time.
16:27
Speaker 1: And yeah, whatever, whatever the process is, you need to
16:32
Speaker 1: take it apart, examine every portion of it, reassemble it,
16:35
Speaker 1: and go from there. So they're likely to have a
16:38
Speaker 1: really high pick in the draft. Right now, they're number
16:41
Speaker 1: three in the draft order. We keep going back and
16:44
Speaker 1: forth in recent weeks when we've discussed this, do you
16:46
Speaker 1: need a pass rush you're a defensive lineman. Do you
16:48
Speaker 1: need an offensive lineman? In light of the Joe Burrow injury?
16:53
Speaker 1: Do you think best offensive lineman on the board now
16:56
Speaker 1: becomes the most likely scenario. I think if the best
17:00
Speaker 1: offensive lineman on the board is better than the best
17:02
Speaker 1: pass rusher on the board, boom, make it right that
17:05
Speaker 1: you make that pick, because I do think they're equally.
17:08
Speaker 1: You know, the needs are astronomical in both areas. So
17:14
Speaker 1: I think you know, if the if the tackle from Oregon,
17:17
Speaker 1: for example, is better than whoever they've got as the
17:20
Speaker 1: best pass rusher on their board. At the third pick
17:23
Speaker 1: of the draft, you go with this six foot six
17:26
Speaker 1: in strand and forty pound behemoth that's athletic, and you
17:30
Speaker 1: know they project to be a superhero and and everything
17:33
Speaker 1: that goes along with it. So yeah, I would have
17:36
Speaker 1: no problem if they went with offensive. If they had
17:40
Speaker 1: the third pick in the draft and they went in
17:42
Speaker 1: that direction, I'd have no issue with it whatsoever. I
17:46
Speaker 1: want to get back to Clinton Spain, who you brought
17:48
Speaker 1: up earlier, because that's really the one offensive line move
17:52
Speaker 1: in recent months that's worked out extremely well. He's twenty
17:56
Speaker 1: nine years old. He was a free agent in October
17:58
Speaker 1: after being let go by buff Back in twenty sixteen,
18:02
Speaker 1: Pro Football Focus had him ranked as the number five
18:05
Speaker 1: guard overall in the NFL. His rankings have never been
18:09
Speaker 1: that high in his other seasons. But do you think
18:12
Speaker 1: they found a starting guard, a good starting guard that's
18:16
Speaker 1: going to be here for a few years. I think
18:19
Speaker 1: I think they've they've found something for sure. Dan. I
18:21
Speaker 1: mean he came into the league. He calls himself, you know,
18:25
Speaker 1: mister undrafted, because he entered the drafting he would be
18:28
Speaker 1: a very high pick, maybe even a first round pick,
18:31
Speaker 1: and went undrafted. So he had a chip on his
18:34
Speaker 1: shoulder as big as a two by four massive chip,
18:38
Speaker 1: and he's used it to his advantage. And I like
18:41
Speaker 1: everything about the guy. I mean, he's massive, you know,
18:44
Speaker 1: six five, three hundred and thirty pounds plus depending on
18:47
Speaker 1: what he has for pregame meal. And he's one of
18:50
Speaker 1: those guys that has an edge to him. You know,
18:53
Speaker 1: he's got that that streak about him where you have
18:56
Speaker 1: to he's you know, he's probably a heck of a
18:58
Speaker 1: guy off the football field, but on the football field,
19:01
Speaker 1: and I'm aware of what you have to do. You
19:02
Speaker 1: have to flip the switch and you have to become
19:04
Speaker 1: somebody that you can't be walking the streets, you know.
19:06
Speaker 1: I mean, it's a that's the way you have to
19:08
Speaker 1: play the game, and he plays it that way. The
19:11
Speaker 1: other thing about him is not just his mindset and
19:14
Speaker 1: his physicality in the edge that he brings to the
19:16
Speaker 1: football team, the toughness he is unbelievably football to wear.
19:20
Speaker 1: He sees the big picture. He's not a tunnel vision guy.
19:23
Speaker 1: It's not like, Okay, well they have me playing left
19:26
Speaker 1: guard against Tennessee, so I'm going to just understand that
19:30
Speaker 1: left guard. He sees the entire defense. He understands how
19:33
Speaker 1: the offense is trying to attack it with blocking schemes
19:36
Speaker 1: up front, and he just if he pulls, he knows
19:41
Speaker 1: the center is blocking back, the tackles blocking down, the
19:44
Speaker 1: back is feeling. He knows what's going on. If he pulls,
19:48
Speaker 1: you know, it's not just I'm gonna pull. I'm gonna
19:50
Speaker 1: hit this guy. What else is happening when I pull?
19:52
Speaker 1: Who's got my guy? If this guy that I'm supposed
19:55
Speaker 1: to block stunts, who else do I get? I mean,
19:57
Speaker 1: he gets football. He is fall aware, and I think
20:01
Speaker 1: that Dad has allowed him to play left guard, right tackle,
20:06
Speaker 1: and right guard in his three games with the Cincinnati
20:09
Speaker 1: Bengals to date. He is one of the big picture guys.
20:12
Speaker 1: And to boot, he can play. So he gives your
20:15
Speaker 1: position versatility and that's tremendously valuable. Instead of carrying eight
20:22
Speaker 1: offensive line with Quentin Spain, you can carry seven, instead
20:25
Speaker 1: of carrying nine, you can carry eight. I mean, it
20:27
Speaker 1: just gives you that that dimension where he's shown he
20:30
Speaker 1: can play both guards in both tackles. I don't know
20:33
Speaker 1: about center, but he's shown he can play the guarden
20:35
Speaker 1: tackle position on either side. For most of his NFL career,
20:39
Speaker 1: he's been a left guard. That's obviously the spot that
20:42
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan is playing in Cincinnati and the Bengals had
20:45
Speaker 1: high hopes that Michael would take a big step forward
20:48
Speaker 1: this year in his second year in the NFL and
20:50
Speaker 1: eventually be a really good guard. Where do you see
20:53
Speaker 1: him at this stage of his development? Unfortunately, still a
20:57
Speaker 1: little too inconsistent. You know, you can tape where it's
21:00
Speaker 1: like WHOA. I mean, he did some things against the
21:03
Speaker 1: Indianapolis Colts. He had a much better day against Cameron
21:07
Speaker 1: Hayward this year. Even though it didn't go well for
21:09
Speaker 1: the team, his individual matchup was light years better than
21:13
Speaker 1: it was his rookie year where he was just decimated
21:16
Speaker 1: by Cam Hayward and it basically got him benched. You know,
21:19
Speaker 1: sit back and look for a little while and uh
21:22
Speaker 1: and and readdress everything. So, I mean, there are there
21:26
Speaker 1: are games like that, and then there are times where
21:29
Speaker 1: you know, he just he lapses a little bit and
21:32
Speaker 1: doesn't doesn't play to that level. So I think, just
21:35
Speaker 1: like any young player, you have to realize that it
21:38
Speaker 1: can't be just some of the time it has to
21:40
Speaker 1: be all the time. You have to You have to
21:42
Speaker 1: be very very consistent with your approach and your execution
21:45
Speaker 1: to it. And nobody feels worse about Joe Burrow's injury.
21:48
Speaker 1: I can tell you for a fact in Michael Jordan
21:51
Speaker 1: and one of the things that you know you can
21:54
Speaker 1: you can claim. I mean, he got bear hugged defensive tackle,
21:57
Speaker 1: bear hugged and walk him back defensive tackle is not
22:00
Speaker 1: a hold like that either. I mean you could have
22:02
Speaker 1: called who cares about a penalty? Though if the end resulted,
22:05
Speaker 1: your quarterback gets his niche shredded. And at that point
22:09
Speaker 1: the reason happened is Michael's pad level is too high
22:11
Speaker 1: and he's a big, strapping, strong, long guy. Got to
22:15
Speaker 1: keep the pad level down. That's that's a big factor
22:17
Speaker 1: for him when he has issues. In my mind, it's
22:20
Speaker 1: because that's one of the biggest things is his pad
22:23
Speaker 1: levels too high, so he has to consistently work to
22:26
Speaker 1: play at a lower level. All right, let's turn to
22:29
Speaker 1: the final six weeks. Whether it is Brandon Allen or
22:32
Speaker 1: Ryan Finley at quarterback, chances are the Bengals are not
22:35
Speaker 1: going to be scoring thirty points a game, So to
22:38
Speaker 1: win games from here on in, the defense is going
22:40
Speaker 1: to have to play great. It's currently twenty second in
22:43
Speaker 1: the NFL and points allowed twenty seven points per game.
22:46
Speaker 1: Here is safety Jesse Bates with Joe being hurt. Yes,
22:52
Speaker 1: we're going to have an opportunity at the quarterback spot
22:54
Speaker 1: for you know, whether it's Finley or whoever it is,
22:57
Speaker 1: you know, to make an impact. But the standard for
23:01
Speaker 1: the defense just has to raise sometimes more with you
23:05
Speaker 1: know that that part being out um, and it's something
23:09
Speaker 1: that's not you know, a secret um, something that we
23:12
Speaker 1: gotta address in the room. Um. You know, we're gonna
23:15
Speaker 1: win games because our defense. Uh, these next couple of weeks,
23:18
Speaker 1: so very excited for the challenge. Lap This week they
23:21
Speaker 1: faced the Giants. Giants are not a good offensive team.
23:24
Speaker 1: Their thirtieth in scoring, their thirtieth in yards. They are
23:27
Speaker 1: next to last in sacks allowed per passing play. This
23:31
Speaker 1: is an opportunity, at least in the first game post
23:34
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow, for the defense to carry the Bengals to
23:37
Speaker 1: a win. It is and uh, you know Jones is
23:40
Speaker 1: a turnover machine. You know, in twenty three starts, he's
23:43
Speaker 1: got like thirty five giveaways. In terms of lost fumbles
23:47
Speaker 1: and interceptions. You fumbled the ball eighteen times last year
23:51
Speaker 1: and lost eleven of them. So that's you know that,
23:54
Speaker 1: that's if a guy has a reputation for that kind
23:56
Speaker 1: of thing, you have to try to separate them from
23:59
Speaker 1: the football and others. That One of the biggest things
24:03
Speaker 1: that the defense has to work on DAN is forcing fumbles.
24:07
Speaker 1: They've only forced four fewist in the NFL. They've recovered one,
24:11
Speaker 1: tied for fewest in the National Football League. So the
24:14
Speaker 1: suddenness fumbles occur when a player is, you know, protecting
24:19
Speaker 1: the ball, but he sees somebody and he's trying to
24:22
Speaker 1: protect the ball from one guy and incomes another puts
24:24
Speaker 1: his helmet right in the ball and he never sees
24:25
Speaker 1: him coming, and the suddenness of that is too much
24:29
Speaker 1: for the player to counter. So the banks are gonna
24:32
Speaker 1: have to do more of that type of thing. One
24:34
Speaker 1: guy set it up, another guy come in for the
24:37
Speaker 1: kill shot to course to cost the turnover, and they're
24:40
Speaker 1: gonna have to do a lot more of that. They're
24:42
Speaker 1: gonna have to separate players from the football, whether it's
24:44
Speaker 1: separating from an incompletion, separating for a ball that goes airborne,
24:49
Speaker 1: like the you know, tip interception off of Marcus Hunt's
24:51
Speaker 1: face mask, or a tip ball at the line of
24:53
Speaker 1: scrimmage from a defensive lineman, or not just in defense,
24:57
Speaker 1: but special teams. You know, the defense and special teams
25:02
Speaker 1: have to think not only special teams establishing field position,
25:05
Speaker 1: but score. You know, maybe get a return, take a
25:08
Speaker 1: return back to the house, punt or kickoff return. Maybe
25:11
Speaker 1: you force a fumble on a return of the opposition,
25:14
Speaker 1: give a short field. Defensively, force a FuMB will get
25:17
Speaker 1: a short field, get an interception, get a pick six,
25:19
Speaker 1: pick the phone, bump, and score. You know you don't
25:21
Speaker 1: you don't necessarily play every snap to try to do that,
25:25
Speaker 1: because it'll distort what you're really trying to do. You
25:27
Speaker 1: have to make sure you do your job, but try
25:29
Speaker 1: to try to get more involved from a gang perspective,
25:33
Speaker 1: more guys involved in around the football. As the old
25:36
Speaker 1: saying goes, and I believe in a one hundred thousand
25:37
Speaker 1: percent you see it over and over again. When you
25:40
Speaker 1: run to the football as a defensive football team, good
25:43
Speaker 1: things happen, and they're gonna have to create some good
25:45
Speaker 1: things and make good things happen to you know, the
25:48
Speaker 1: worst thing that you can have happen is whoever is
25:51
Speaker 1: a quarterback, even Joe Burrow, not starters own five yard line,
25:56
Speaker 1: ten yard line, inside the twenty and have to drive
25:59
Speaker 1: long field. You have to give them positive feel position
26:03
Speaker 1: and put the other team on the long field. You
26:05
Speaker 1: have to play long field for the opposition, short field
26:09
Speaker 1: for your football team. However that occurs, you're gonna have
26:12
Speaker 1: to do everything you possibly can to support who's playing quarterback,
26:15
Speaker 1: because even with the excellence of Joe Burrower quarterback, the
26:19
Speaker 1: team was two seven and one. Did you play a
26:21
Speaker 1: lot of Thanksgiving Day football in your childhood? I did.
26:26
Speaker 1: Out in the front lawn. We were yeah, we were
26:30
Speaker 1: doing that left and right. I have two brothers, had
26:33
Speaker 1: a lot of boys in the neighborhood, and we played.
26:36
Speaker 1: We played a quite a bit of football. We played
26:38
Speaker 1: tackle football without pads, you know, out an old daggers
26:41
Speaker 1: field man. We'd all but we go to Daggers Field
26:44
Speaker 1: and appropriately named mister Dagger had a big farm and
26:49
Speaker 1: he let us, he let us use a part of
26:50
Speaker 1: it to play all kinds of sports you know out there,
26:54
Speaker 1: and uh it was great, man. Those are great memories,
26:57
Speaker 1: all right. Well, I hope you have a fantastic Thanksiving day.
27:00
Speaker 1: My best to lend in your family. Crush that meal,
27:03
Speaker 1: all right? I will you do the same, Dan to
27:08
Speaker 1: Peg and yours and uh and I'm telling you, let's
27:11
Speaker 1: have the happiest Thanksgiving we've ever had because this year,
27:15
Speaker 1: this year is crazy, it's different, but there's still a
27:18
Speaker 1: lot of things to be thankful for in families. First
27:20
Speaker 1: and foremost, you too, see your Dan. The Bengals Booth
27:26
Speaker 1: podcast is presented by Bud Light Seltzer. It's light and
27:29
Speaker 1: refreshing with a hint of fruit flavor. Now time for
27:33
Speaker 1: this week's one on one player interview. This week, I
27:37
Speaker 1: caught up with tight ends CJ Uzama. We heard a
27:39
Speaker 1: small snippet of that interview earlier. CJ caught Joe burrows
27:44
Speaker 1: first NFL touchdown pass in Week two against Cleveland before
27:48
Speaker 1: suffering a season ending injury the same night. CJ, it's
27:52
Speaker 1: been a little bit more than two months since you
27:54
Speaker 1: tore your achilles. How are your spirits and what are
27:57
Speaker 1: you able to do in terms of rehab At this point,
28:00
Speaker 1: spirits are where they are for you know, considering I
28:02
Speaker 1: have an injury and I'm not able to be out
28:05
Speaker 1: there with the boys and you know, helping the team
28:08
Speaker 1: fight for for wins. Uh. So yeah, it's it's it
28:12
Speaker 1: is where it is with that. But in terms of rehab,
28:15
Speaker 1: I think I'm pretty ahead of schedule. I I'm out
28:18
Speaker 1: of the boot. I'm walking a fair amount. I just
28:23
Speaker 1: got a puppy, so I'm walking him a lot. And
28:25
Speaker 1: that's good rehab, they said. So it's it's good that
28:28
Speaker 1: he's kind of a handful. Um. And then yeah, I'm
28:31
Speaker 1: doing pool workouts and a bunch of different exercises. I
28:34
Speaker 1: actually have a call with the doctor here in two
28:37
Speaker 1: three weeks just so he can kind of see and
28:40
Speaker 1: monitor a session. And I've talked to him a little
28:44
Speaker 1: bit and um, yeah the trainers, and he seemed very
28:47
Speaker 1: optimistic about you know, the direction I'm headed headed in
28:51
Speaker 1: and how kind of a head of schedule I am.
28:54
Speaker 1: What kind of puppy and what could you name him
28:56
Speaker 1: or her? Um? So I got a um, a Saint
29:00
Speaker 1: bridudal Um, and I got him because he's hypologenic, and
29:05
Speaker 1: I named him apa um. And I'm actually gonna get
29:09
Speaker 1: him a little brother or sister or a brother or
29:12
Speaker 1: sister soon because I'm gonna adopt one as well, just
29:14
Speaker 1: just so he has kind of, uh, you know, someone
29:17
Speaker 1: someone to hang out with while I'm out doing where
29:19
Speaker 1: you haven't working out. Was the Uzama family a dog family?
29:23
Speaker 1: Did you have dogs growing up? No? I didn't have
29:26
Speaker 1: one dog. I didn't have a pet. I had well,
29:28
Speaker 1: I had like a turtle, um, and some fish and
29:32
Speaker 1: that was it. That was that was all I had
29:34
Speaker 1: growing up. My parents are really you know, keen on
29:38
Speaker 1: not no having no hair in the house and no
29:40
Speaker 1: fur and all the stuff. So, um, first, first, like
29:44
Speaker 1: pet that I'm having to actual actually take care of,
29:47
Speaker 1: take care of. And um, he's been good so far,
29:50
Speaker 1: he's been good. He's growing like crazy, but he's been
29:52
Speaker 1: really good. I'm sure you will enjoy it. We're visiting
29:55
Speaker 1: with c J Uzama. Back in your rookie year, CJ,
29:58
Speaker 1: you were teammates with Leon Hall, who tore his achilles
30:01
Speaker 1: twice and made a complete comeback both times. Do you
30:05
Speaker 1: draw inspiration from him or anybody else that's overcome this injury? Yeah,
30:10
Speaker 1: I mean, looking looking at it now, Um, you know
30:13
Speaker 1: Katie is battling this as well. And like you said, um,
30:17
Speaker 1: Leon with his and um Nick, you know, the our
30:21
Speaker 1: training staff is great. Nick was like, You're You're going
30:23
Speaker 1: to be completely fine. Like this is back in the day,
30:25
Speaker 1: this is something that you know, people were more worried
30:28
Speaker 1: about because of what they were doing. But um, with
30:31
Speaker 1: with what what's been going on in modern you'll be fine.
30:35
Speaker 1: You'll be completely fine. So um and then even seeing
30:38
Speaker 1: you know, I'm a huge Chelsea fan, so even seeing
30:40
Speaker 1: some of the players last year, uh, you know had
30:43
Speaker 1: this had a similar injury, and I'm I watched him
30:45
Speaker 1: on the pitch tonight or today, um in the Champions League,
30:48
Speaker 1: so one of them, one of them was out there
30:51
Speaker 1: and he actually scored a goal. So yeah, I'm I'm
30:54
Speaker 1: completely okay with with how how the process is going,
30:57
Speaker 1: and I'm expected to be one hundred and ten percent.
31:00
Speaker 1: But by the time I come out of this, sadly,
31:04
Speaker 1: you are joined on the injured list this week by
31:06
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow. You are always positive, but how hard did
31:10
Speaker 1: that one hit you? Yeah? That that hurts? You know
31:13
Speaker 1: that that hurts because of kind of the person that
31:17
Speaker 1: he is off off the bat and the leader that
31:21
Speaker 1: he is. And you can tell he's I mean, it's
31:23
Speaker 1: obvious he's a leader because we voted him Kats and
31:26
Speaker 1: and and he's a rookie, you know. So, Um that
31:29
Speaker 1: that definitely, you know, kind of is gut rich and
31:32
Speaker 1: and you know hurts to see obviously, no matter what,
31:36
Speaker 1: it hurts to see one of your guys go down.
31:37
Speaker 1: But to see it's your quarterback, to see it's Joe,
31:39
Speaker 1: to see it's a leader and a captain of your team. Um,
31:43
Speaker 1: all those things and the severity of it. You know
31:46
Speaker 1: that that that definitely is a gut punch. Um. And
31:50
Speaker 1: you know not being there is even ten times worse.
31:54
Speaker 1: You Now, I'm watching this on TV and I'm just like, man,
31:57
Speaker 1: I just want to, you know, give him some love,
31:59
Speaker 1: show him some love, and and watching the guys one
32:02
Speaker 1: by one go up to him and tap him on
32:03
Speaker 1: the head and say, you know, you know, say the
32:06
Speaker 1: praying for him and things like that. Um, you know
32:08
Speaker 1: that's what it's all about. But yeah, definitely that that's
32:12
Speaker 1: that's a tough one. I don't know how COVID restrictions
32:15
Speaker 1: could impact this, CJ, but do you envision the possibility
32:19
Speaker 1: of you and Joe helping to push each other through rehab? Oh?
32:25
Speaker 1: I think today I saw him in there, and um,
32:29
Speaker 1: he seems high spirited and and he was asking a
32:33
Speaker 1: bunch of questions about like, hey, can I do this? Hey?
32:35
Speaker 1: Can I do this? Hey? Can if I try to
32:37
Speaker 1: flex this right now? Is that? Can I? Is that okay?
32:41
Speaker 1: And the trainer Nick was like yes, like does that
32:45
Speaker 1: not hurt? And he's like it feels it feels a
32:48
Speaker 1: lot better already today. And I was doing the rest
32:51
Speaker 1: of my rehab and finishing up and Nick came, you know,
32:53
Speaker 1: to to help me out, and he was like that
32:55
Speaker 1: as a beast, Like that's insane that he's his pain
32:58
Speaker 1: talents has to be ridiculous for that. UM. So hearing that,
33:02
Speaker 1: you know itself, I'm like, yo, hold up, let's crank
33:05
Speaker 1: up my my rehab real quick, man, Like come on, like,
33:07
Speaker 1: what are we doing here? I don't feel anything either,
33:10
Speaker 1: Come on, push me a little harder. UM, But no,
33:12
Speaker 1: I think I think it'll be. I think it's good.
33:15
Speaker 1: You know, obviously traveling restrictions. I'm gonna be pretty much
33:18
Speaker 1: planted here throughout the entire all season, which I'm fine with. UM.
33:23
Speaker 1: And now, yeah, that's another kind of person. I can
33:26
Speaker 1: you know, work out with train with UM. I have
33:29
Speaker 1: my quarterback here, so when he's on his feet, you
33:31
Speaker 1: know I'm gonna say, hey, you got it's time to
33:33
Speaker 1: throw buddy, like let's let's go. And and I know
33:36
Speaker 1: he's gonna be as eager to get back out there.
33:38
Speaker 1: So yeah, I think, you know, it's that's the probably
33:42
Speaker 1: the only positive of of of of his injuries, you know,
33:46
Speaker 1: I get to rehab with with you know, with my guy.
33:49
Speaker 1: A couple more questions for c. J Uzama. Immediately after
33:52
Speaker 1: your injury, you're back in the building going through team meetings,
33:55
Speaker 1: much to the surprise of your buddy Giovanni Bernard. Why
33:59
Speaker 1: has that been so important to you? Yeah, and I
34:02
Speaker 1: think you know, it's been tougher now with all these
34:04
Speaker 1: things that are going on and you know, zoom when
34:07
Speaker 1: not to zoom um when we're on you know, when
34:11
Speaker 1: people can come into building, it's it's it's it's crazy.
34:14
Speaker 1: But yeah, I don't know. I just thinking about our
34:18
Speaker 1: team and how really we're a young team, you know
34:21
Speaker 1: when I think about it, and especially at the tight
34:23
Speaker 1: end position, I'm the oldest guy in there, which is
34:26
Speaker 1: super weird to me. Still, Um, I just feel like
34:29
Speaker 1: it's good to you know, let everyone know that one
34:32
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm back next year, like I expect to
34:35
Speaker 1: make a full recovery, So I want to know everything
34:37
Speaker 1: that's going on, but to just give any guidance to
34:39
Speaker 1: anybody that has a question or um, you know, just
34:43
Speaker 1: make my presence known, say something going. You know. The
34:47
Speaker 1: toughest part is not being able to, you know, congratulate
34:50
Speaker 1: someone when they make a good play or something right.
34:52
Speaker 1: So I'm watching film, I'm seeing catches that are made,
34:54
Speaker 1: I'm going up to people. I'm texting people like, hey,
34:57
Speaker 1: I saw you, but I was I was nice, I
34:59
Speaker 1: see you out and things like that. So, um, you
35:02
Speaker 1: know it is these are these are guys that you know,
35:05
Speaker 1: I spend majority of my life with. I don't my parents.
35:09
Speaker 1: I get to like see for Thanksgiving, maybe your Christmas
35:12
Speaker 1: things like that, but other than that, I'm planted here
35:15
Speaker 1: and you know, um, these are my brothers, so I
35:19
Speaker 1: I have that connection with them. I want to be
35:21
Speaker 1: a part of you know, any success that we have
35:24
Speaker 1: and you know, all the failures that we have. I'm
35:26
Speaker 1: a part of this team and I kind of just
35:27
Speaker 1: want everyone to know that, you know, I'm here if
35:29
Speaker 1: they knew anything. Last things for c j Uzama, I
35:32
Speaker 1: know you would rather be playing, but the injury has
35:35
Speaker 1: given you some time that you otherwise wouldn't have, allowing you,
35:39
Speaker 1: among other things, to make an appearance recently on the
35:42
Speaker 1: London Is Blue podcast for fans of Chelsea's Premier League
35:47
Speaker 1: soccer club. Tell me about that opportunity. That was Honestly,
35:52
Speaker 1: that was it was awesome. They had reached out to me,
35:57
Speaker 1: um a while ago too, actually, and we just weren't
36:00
Speaker 1: able to ever, you know, get on schedule with it,
36:02
Speaker 1: and um, yeah, being able to talk about Chelsea and um,
36:08
Speaker 1: you know, get in touch with people that love Chelsea
36:11
Speaker 1: as much as I do and want to go over
36:13
Speaker 1: and watch matches, and it was awesome. Um, you know
36:17
Speaker 1: those guys are you know, Nick, Brandon, Dan, They're They're
36:20
Speaker 1: all awesome guys and and you know they're like, hey,
36:24
Speaker 1: if we can get you back on the show, I'm like, hey,
36:25
Speaker 1: I'll definitely be back, um with you know, hopefully traveling
36:30
Speaker 1: permitted and rehab permitted. I can go over to a
36:33
Speaker 1: match with them, and uh, it was. It was good.
36:35
Speaker 1: It was good answer that we had, and um, I
36:38
Speaker 1: was probably one of my you know, one of my
36:41
Speaker 1: favorite interviews. I've had too many with you to to
36:44
Speaker 1: to count, but um, no offense taken. It was it was,
36:48
Speaker 1: it was. It was fun to be able to kind
36:49
Speaker 1: of talk talk soccer as well. You know, talking about
36:52
Speaker 1: football is something that I love doing because you know,
36:54
Speaker 1: I've been doing it since I was six, But being
36:56
Speaker 1: able to talk about another sport that I have, you know,
36:59
Speaker 1: great admiration for is something that I'll always enjoy. Well,
37:04
Speaker 1: look out for Leicester City because my beloved Foxes are
37:07
Speaker 1: looking really good this year. They are looking hey, they
37:10
Speaker 1: are looking good. I'd say it's between for me right now,
37:14
Speaker 1: it's between Chelsea Leicester and then I don't want to
37:18
Speaker 1: I don't want to say this team at all, but
37:20
Speaker 1: Tottenham is also putting on a strong campaign, so we'll
37:22
Speaker 1: see how it finishes. Great to catch up with you, CJ.
37:27
Speaker 1: Continued good fortune with the rehab and we look forward
37:30
Speaker 1: to seeing you back on the field soon. Awesome, Thank
37:32
Speaker 1: you very much. Now time for our know the faux segment.
37:36
Speaker 1: The New York Giants are three and seven. That means
37:39
Speaker 1: they're a half game better than the Bengals, but it
37:42
Speaker 1: also means they're only a half game behind the first
37:45
Speaker 1: place Eagles in the NFC East. Jordan Ranan covers the
37:49
Speaker 1: Giants for ESPN and joined Lap and Wayne box Miller
37:54
Speaker 1: this week on the Bengals game Plan shown that, Yeah,
37:59
Speaker 1: the three and seven, I got two and or other
38:00
Speaker 1: right in the middle of that division, Yes, sir, right,
38:04
Speaker 1: you know everybody's got three. Yeah, I think about it.
38:08
Speaker 1: You put him in like the you know, the AFC North,
38:10
Speaker 1: they're like their season's over exactly basically. Yeah, I looked
38:14
Speaker 1: at the you know, the conference, and I said, eleven
38:17
Speaker 1: of the twelve teams outside of that division would be
38:20
Speaker 1: in first place if they were in the NFC East.
38:22
Speaker 1: To put that in perspective, that's just crazy. Since very
38:26
Speaker 1: twenty twenty though, that's it's very apropole, right, there's no
38:30
Speaker 1: doubt speak speaking of appropole, this team has been in,
38:33
Speaker 1: you know, outside the San Francisco forty nine Er game
38:36
Speaker 1: and maybe the end of the Steeler game, they've been
38:38
Speaker 1: in every game that they played. Yeah, I mean that's
38:42
Speaker 1: the one thing you look at this team and I
38:43
Speaker 1: think that's why people and I'm on board with this
38:47
Speaker 1: as well. You see progress from Joe Judge and new
38:50
Speaker 1: first year head coach and the program he's building. I mean,
38:53
Speaker 1: they not only have they've been in all their games,
38:57
Speaker 1: they really should have one. And then I'm not somebody
39:00
Speaker 1: sitting there and say, you know, it makes excuses that
39:02
Speaker 1: you should win, but they blew two games big time,
39:06
Speaker 1: like you know, games that they absolutely should have won.
39:10
Speaker 1: So yeah, the Giants could have easily be five and
39:14
Speaker 1: five right now. I mean I don't I don't think
39:16
Speaker 1: that's out of the question easily. You know, four and
39:18
Speaker 1: six definitely should be like their minimum. So yeah, this
39:23
Speaker 1: is a team that has sown good flashes. I mean,
39:27
Speaker 1: they're not explosive offensively. I think right now, as it stands,
39:32
Speaker 1: there's two teams that have scored less points than them,
39:34
Speaker 1: and that is the Bears and the Jets. But yet
39:38
Speaker 1: the Giants have still managed to stay in a bunch
39:40
Speaker 1: of games and lead a lot of games late and
39:43
Speaker 1: now they claim they're just finally figuring out how to
39:47
Speaker 1: win games and how to finish. And that's the difference
39:49
Speaker 1: here in these last few weeks. And that speaks to
39:52
Speaker 1: the Giants defense. I think a lot of people think
39:54
Speaker 1: that the Giants may have the best defense in the
39:57
Speaker 1: NFC East overall. I mean, they're sixth in the league
40:00
Speaker 1: and rushing and they're only allowing four yards to carry,
40:04
Speaker 1: which is eighth best in the league. So you know,
40:06
Speaker 1: they stopped the run and then kind of go from there.
40:08
Speaker 1: And is it that is their defense? Uh, you know,
40:11
Speaker 1: keeping them in a lot of football games. Yeah, I
40:14
Speaker 1: mean their defense has been consistently competitive. And for a
40:18
Speaker 1: while I was on the board with you know, well,
40:21
Speaker 1: teams that could pass the ball and slinging around the
40:23
Speaker 1: yard could still be very successful against and the half.
40:26
Speaker 1: They have some awards on defense, They have trouble in
40:29
Speaker 1: the slot, they have trouble with their second cornerback, and
40:33
Speaker 1: you know, the reality is this is gonna be like
40:36
Speaker 1: their fifth I think this is their fifth backup quarterback
40:38
Speaker 1: they're basically playing this year. But so you're thought, okay,
40:41
Speaker 1: whence they start playing some real quarterbacks, they'll get torn apart.
40:45
Speaker 1: But then they went against Tom Brady and they held
40:47
Speaker 1: their own. Tom Brady was a short set whole first set. Yeah,
40:51
Speaker 1: Carson Wentz even though I know he's he's been shaky,
40:54
Speaker 1: flash bad this year. You know, they did a really
40:57
Speaker 1: good job against him in the in their last game.
40:59
Speaker 1: So yeah, the defense has managed to go from a
41:04
Speaker 1: unit that has been really bad the last couple of
41:07
Speaker 1: years too. Okay, they're about middle of the road now
41:09
Speaker 1: somewhere around there. They're really good against the run, but
41:12
Speaker 1: if you want to exploit them, you can have some
41:15
Speaker 1: success against the pass. And really that's gonna be the
41:18
Speaker 1: question here. Can the Bengals be successful in the pass game.
41:22
Speaker 1: They have a lot of receivers that can that are
41:25
Speaker 1: you know, it's a good match up against some of
41:26
Speaker 1: the Giants cornerbacks and defensive backs. But can they take
41:29
Speaker 1: advantage of that with Brandon Allen at quarterback and you know,
41:33
Speaker 1: with the Giants, you know, feeling better about themselves lately.
41:36
Speaker 1: You know, when I look at the game against the
41:38
Speaker 1: Philadelphia Eagles and you had thirteen quarterback hits and Leonard
41:42
Speaker 1: Williams had five of those. Going up against a quarterback
41:46
Speaker 1: that doesn't have the experience this coming week, I gotta
41:49
Speaker 1: believe that that's an area that they're really going to
41:52
Speaker 1: be paying attention to. Yeah, I mean, look, that's where
41:56
Speaker 1: the Giants. The Giants don't have a great pass rusher, right,
41:58
Speaker 1: they don't have an age rusher that's going to scare you.
42:01
Speaker 1: Where they can have some success. They're best passers, probably
42:04
Speaker 1: Leonard Williams. So the Eagles problem this year has been
42:07
Speaker 1: at the guard position, you know, up the middle, and
42:10
Speaker 1: so that's where they were able to exploit Philadelphia. You know,
42:14
Speaker 1: that's where they did the match up here for the Giants.
42:17
Speaker 1: They could probably have some success there as well. So
42:20
Speaker 1: Leonard Williams is kind of the guy as the pass rusher.
42:23
Speaker 1: He leads the team with five sacks that you need
42:25
Speaker 1: to keep an eye on because he's the only one
42:27
Speaker 1: in there. But it's not like they have multiple guys.
42:30
Speaker 1: He's the only one in there on that interior that's
42:32
Speaker 1: really good to threaten you and scare you in regards
42:35
Speaker 1: to pass rushing. Like they're good against the run, they're
42:37
Speaker 1: stout against the running. There. Leonard Williams is the guy
42:40
Speaker 1: as the pass rusher from the interior that if you're
42:43
Speaker 1: the Bengals, you say, okay, we need to make sure
42:46
Speaker 1: if we could limit this guy and we could stop
42:49
Speaker 1: this guy. And Leonard Williams, to be quite honest, he's
42:51
Speaker 1: been a guy who's been up and down most of
42:53
Speaker 1: his career. He hasn't been consistently dominant even though he's
42:56
Speaker 1: been a He was a really high pick by the Jets.
42:59
Speaker 1: If if they can limit him either, they should be
43:03
Speaker 1: able to have to get Brand down enough time if
43:06
Speaker 1: he's able to read the defense correctly. And that's another
43:09
Speaker 1: thing the Giants has done really well. Patrick Graham, he
43:12
Speaker 1: was with the Dolphins last year. He knows Joe Judge.
43:15
Speaker 1: For New England, he has done a really good job
43:17
Speaker 1: and the Giants has done a really good job. They
43:20
Speaker 1: bring they're gonna show Brand all and looks that he's
43:22
Speaker 1: probably never seen before. Yeah, I mean, they're gonna show
43:25
Speaker 1: him every look. You can imagine. That's what they do
43:27
Speaker 1: anyway on a regular basis. They're extremely multiple. They're gonna
43:32
Speaker 1: show everything and try to confuse the heck out of him. Yeah,
43:35
Speaker 1: he's got that New England pedigree three to four base.
43:39
Speaker 1: But they'll morph into just about everything and anything, and
43:42
Speaker 1: from one week to the next they look like a different,
43:44
Speaker 1: very different football team, a different scheme and philosophy. One
43:48
Speaker 1: thing that's not shy about admitting that either there yea
43:51
Speaker 1: their defense that is they're gonna do whatever is the
43:55
Speaker 1: best matchup for that week. They're totally matchup base right right,
43:59
Speaker 1: And that's you have to have versatile players, smart players,
44:02
Speaker 1: just like the Patriots over the years have had players
44:04
Speaker 1: that can you know, morph into different responsibilities and roles,
44:07
Speaker 1: and that's what they're starting to do a good job
44:09
Speaker 1: of With the New York Giants. One thing that is
44:11
Speaker 1: very obvious. Last year minus seventeen in the turnover department,
44:16
Speaker 1: I mean, they just gave games away worse than the
44:18
Speaker 1: National Football This year, it's dead even, you know, the
44:21
Speaker 1: fifteen takes fifteen gives. They're protecting the football better, and
44:25
Speaker 1: I'm looking at their defense. They've forced sixteen fumbles, tied
44:29
Speaker 1: for second most in the league, and they've recovered seven
44:31
Speaker 1: of them, tied for seven. At the Bengals, on the
44:33
Speaker 1: other hand, they've only forced four fumbles, dead last in
44:35
Speaker 1: the league, only recovered one, tied for the fewer. So
44:38
Speaker 1: the Giants are showing themselves to be a lot more sudden,
44:41
Speaker 1: you know, and really separating people from the football. Has
44:45
Speaker 1: that been real elevinant? Yeah? You know what's funny, you
44:48
Speaker 1: mentioned those numbers, and I didn't even realize they're at
44:51
Speaker 1: even because the Giants early in the sevey, Daniel Jones
44:55
Speaker 1: was turning it over like nothing. Early in the season
44:57
Speaker 1: like that kind of been hismo for most of the time.
44:59
Speaker 1: He's the starter. But these past two weeks, Daniel Jones.
45:03
Speaker 1: He started now twenty one games. He has three games
45:07
Speaker 1: that he hasn't committed a turnover. Two of them have
45:10
Speaker 1: been the last two weeks. The Giants force five turnovers
45:14
Speaker 1: against Washington two games ago, and I think we're plus
45:17
Speaker 1: two last week, so they're basically plus seven in the
45:22
Speaker 1: last two weeks alone. So they were minus seven up
45:24
Speaker 1: until two weeks two games ago, not two weeks ago
45:26
Speaker 1: because they're coming up a bye week, right, So this
45:28
Speaker 1: is really this has really been the difference. If they
45:31
Speaker 1: can limit those turnovers, that's when this Giant seemed they
45:35
Speaker 1: can they can win games if Daniel Jones is the
45:38
Speaker 1: one committing the turnovers, because, like you said, the defense
45:42
Speaker 1: they do enough to confuse the opponent that they're able
45:45
Speaker 1: to commit turnovers. They've been able to force a lot
45:47
Speaker 1: of fumbles, and they've also been able to, you know,
45:50
Speaker 1: create looks where they're defensive bats get opportunities to make plays.
45:55
Speaker 1: And that's you know, again back to that New England
45:58
Speaker 1: point of view. If you look back at the history
46:01
Speaker 1: of Bill Belichick in New England, where obviously Joe Judge
46:03
Speaker 1: comes from, right, look at their positive and negatives in turnovers.
46:07
Speaker 1: I mean in fumbles alone. Yep. I mean it's incredible
46:11
Speaker 1: how many more fumbles, and that's part of what they teach, right,
46:15
Speaker 1: I mean, the fumbles that they cause compared to the
46:17
Speaker 1: fumbles that they give up is just incredible in their favor,
46:22
Speaker 1: and this Giant seems sort of morphed into that as well,
46:27
Speaker 1: as long as they could keep Daniel Jones from fumbling
46:30
Speaker 1: the football and turning it over himself. To put an
46:33
Speaker 1: exclamation point on what you're talking about. Last year, he
46:35
Speaker 1: started thirteen games, fumbled at eighteen times, led the league,
46:39
Speaker 1: lost eleven of the crazy number. Yeah, lost eleven of them,
46:42
Speaker 1: had twelve interceptions, had twenty three giveaways in thirteen games.
46:46
Speaker 1: That's to turnover machine. And then you add this year's
46:49
Speaker 1: numbers to us. Now it's twenty three total games, has
46:52
Speaker 1: twenty five fumbles, lost fifteen of them, and he's also
46:55
Speaker 1: got twenty one interceptions, thirty six turnovers in twenty three games.
46:59
Speaker 1: Like you said, the last couple of weeks, it's gotten better.
47:01
Speaker 1: But man, he's given teams a lot of opportunity. But
47:05
Speaker 1: in talking about him, he's the leading rusher by well
47:08
Speaker 1: over one hundred yards. Jones. Yeah, So I mean, what
47:11
Speaker 1: the heck's going on there, And I guess that eleven
47:14
Speaker 1: on eleven him running the football eleven on eleven football
47:17
Speaker 1: becomes difficult for defenses. I guess yeah. There's a few
47:20
Speaker 1: reasons for that. Number one is he's sneaky fast. Okay, yeah,
47:24
Speaker 1: he's a really good athlete, and teams don't think he's
47:27
Speaker 1: gonna pull it on that you know, read option, yep,
47:29
Speaker 1: and he has and he turned it into some really
47:32
Speaker 1: big plays. So you have to be disciplined when you
47:35
Speaker 1: play against this Giants offense because he is a threat
47:38
Speaker 1: running the football. But part of the reason I think
47:41
Speaker 1: it's been such a success is because nobody was really
47:44
Speaker 1: expecting to see it much. Right. The Giants has stay
47:47
Speaker 1: Quon Barkley. He was their running game. But then they
47:50
Speaker 1: lose sta Quon Barkley. They're they're kind of, you know,
47:54
Speaker 1: going through running backs. They can't settle on one. You know,
47:57
Speaker 1: Davante Freeman was there starting running back for a couple weeks,
48:01
Speaker 1: Dean Lewis was getting a lot of playing time. But
48:04
Speaker 1: now they've finally settled in. Now Wayne Goldman is that guy.
48:07
Speaker 1: He's going to be their main ball carrier in this game.
48:10
Speaker 1: So he's had success in recently, so even though he
48:13
Speaker 1: might not be the leading rusher on the team, he's
48:16
Speaker 1: the guy you have to stop as a rusher. And
48:18
Speaker 1: then Daniel Jones is a guy you have to be
48:21
Speaker 1: disciplined because if you don't, if you sleep on him,
48:23
Speaker 1: he can turn that into a big play. And it's
48:25
Speaker 1: been a big part of the Giants offense. They've needed
48:27
Speaker 1: to find ways to make explosive place because when you
48:30
Speaker 1: look at if you're the Bengals and you enter this game,
48:32
Speaker 1: you say, well, everyting Ram's a pretty good tight end
48:36
Speaker 1: when he's at a down year. He's not a great player.
48:39
Speaker 1: Stirling Separate quality player, Golden Tate quality player. But at
48:42
Speaker 1: the end of his career running back No. One on
48:44
Speaker 1: the Giants, Wayne Goldman's their main guy. But he doesn't.
48:46
Speaker 1: They don't have that guy that scares opposing defensive coordinators
48:51
Speaker 1: and keeps them up at night. So the Giants have
48:53
Speaker 1: to have to find ways to make explosive place. One
48:57
Speaker 1: of the ways they found was, hey, let's get Day
49:00
Speaker 1: Jones in a you know, read option, have him keep
49:03
Speaker 1: the ball and we can make big plays out of that.
49:06
Speaker 1: And it's worked. It's really it's definitely worked, as you
49:08
Speaker 1: could tell by those numbers. YEA. Our guests Jordan ran
49:10
Speaker 1: on from ESPN Covers the Giant, said, you know, do
49:14
Speaker 1: you know, um, if people were surprised about his speed.
49:18
Speaker 1: I mean, obviously you guys scouted him and looked at
49:21
Speaker 1: the things that he did well, But do you think
49:23
Speaker 1: the league was pretty much sleeping on his speed because
49:25
Speaker 1: the couple of those runs, I know, he had a
49:27
Speaker 1: think a thirty plus yard run against the Eagles and
49:30
Speaker 1: then the big run against eight Yeah, eighty, and I
49:33
Speaker 1: think people were like, wait a minute, I didn't know
49:35
Speaker 1: this guy had that in the quality box. Yeah. No,
49:39
Speaker 1: you know what, I don't think anybody really knew he
49:42
Speaker 1: had this because you look at like the next gen speeds.
49:46
Speaker 1: I mean he's at the twenty two miles per hour
49:49
Speaker 1: and twenty two miles per hour. I mean you're talking
49:51
Speaker 1: about like what cornerbacks, and there's very few guys. I
49:55
Speaker 1: mean thinkwa Berkley barely hit twenty two miles per hour
49:58
Speaker 1: very often. It had to do number one. Well, I
50:01
Speaker 1: understand in part it was because you have to get
50:03
Speaker 1: a really long running start, Like, no, guys don't hit
50:06
Speaker 1: twenty two miles four in ten in a ten yards stretch,
50:08
Speaker 1: right sure, but still for him to get to those speeds,
50:11
Speaker 1: I was surprised. And I knew he was a good athlete,
50:15
Speaker 1: So I mean, yes, you kind of realized he was
50:19
Speaker 1: a good athlete, but you didn't realize when he gets
50:21
Speaker 1: a running start and full speed and gets going that
50:26
Speaker 1: he can kind of kick it up to that gear.
50:28
Speaker 1: And what's funny about that is, in a way is
50:31
Speaker 1: maybe he didn't know it either. He didn't realize faster.
50:35
Speaker 1: And then that's when the turm, you know, the turf
50:37
Speaker 1: monster came out and I play against the Eagles where
50:40
Speaker 1: he kind of you know, even he had a laugh
50:43
Speaker 1: about it afterwards, because you know he that was one
50:47
Speaker 1: right in front of the whole nation to see if
50:49
Speaker 1: himTo this fall on his face, but they also saw
50:52
Speaker 1: and I think that should have opened dies. That's why
50:54
Speaker 1: the Eagles, if you're the Eagles, you should be you
50:56
Speaker 1: should be slapping yourself like to let it happen again
50:59
Speaker 1: after that happen to you the first time, and you
51:01
Speaker 1: saw how fast he was right then in this last
51:03
Speaker 1: game to allow him for run for a touchdown, he
51:05
Speaker 1: should have run for another touchdown if it was a
51:08
Speaker 1: callback for penalty. Sometimes you run faster than you can, right,
51:11
Speaker 1: he took him to the ground. I guess I do
51:15
Speaker 1: it all the time in my head. I'm running. Really,
51:17
Speaker 1: I hear you, and I see it on like a
51:19
Speaker 1: video camera, like, oh my god, I'm old and slow?
51:22
Speaker 1: Is that I hear you? A question would be with
51:26
Speaker 1: the read option, has he done a good job of RPO,
51:29
Speaker 1: you know, putting the passion to a little play action
51:31
Speaker 1: off of that, off of that read option, have an RPO? Yeah,
51:35
Speaker 1: you know, that's a wrinkle we haven't seen very often,
51:38
Speaker 1: but just coming. And you bring up a good point.
51:41
Speaker 1: I'm sitting here thinking, all right, at some point you
51:45
Speaker 1: have to figure that's when they're going to whip it out, right, Yea,
51:48
Speaker 1: So it's coming. It's just a matter of when. At
51:52
Speaker 1: this point in my mind, okay, you know he's already.
51:54
Speaker 1: Once teams start really playing it and show that they're
51:58
Speaker 1: keying on it, that when I think we're gonna see. Okay,
52:02
Speaker 1: here's the wrinkle of him actually throwing off. You get
52:05
Speaker 1: the linebacker to freeze or you know, come or you
52:08
Speaker 1: know his eyes to come and and charge in and
52:12
Speaker 1: then that's when you can hit a big play. Down
52:14
Speaker 1: that middle of the field. So at some point I
52:17
Speaker 1: do expect them to to play off it. And uh,
52:20
Speaker 1: you know this week coming off to bye week, that's
52:23
Speaker 1: a that could be a prime spot to do it.
52:27
Speaker 1: Don't forget to tune into the Bengals pep Rally Show
52:29
Speaker 1: Friday from three to six on ESPN fifteen thirty. That's
52:34
Speaker 1: going to do it. For this episode of the Bengals
52:36
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast, brought to you by bud Light Seltzer, refresh
52:40
Speaker 1: the game. If you haven't done so already, please subscribe
52:43
Speaker 1: and if you have a minute, give it a rating
52:45
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52:49
Speaker 1: this podcast. I'm Dan Horde, and thank you for listening
52:52
Speaker 1: to The Bengals Booth Podcast.