Latest / Bengals Booth Podcast / Bengals Booth Podcast: Rock and Roll All Nite

Transcript

Bengals Booth Podcast: Rock and Roll All Nite · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody.
0:04
Speaker 2: I'm Dan Horden.
0:05
Speaker 1: Thanks for downloading The Bengals Booth Podcast b I want
0:10
Speaker 1: to rock and roll on the addition, as we get
0:15
Speaker 1: set for a Sunday Night primetime showdown between two of
0:18
Speaker 1: the best teams in the AFC, the Bengals and the
0:22
Speaker 1: Buffalo Bills. Coming up, I'll visit with the voice of
0:25
Speaker 1: Sunday Night Football on NBC, Mike Turrico. Jonah Williams joins
0:30
Speaker 1: me to discuss what a healthy Joe Burrow means to
0:33
Speaker 1: everybody else. On offense, we'll hear from the tight end
0:36
Speaker 1: who's been added to the roster, and in this week's
0:38
Speaker 1: Know the Faux segment, we'll get the latest down the
0:41
Speaker 1: Bills from Tyler Dunn. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought
0:44
Speaker 1: to you by pay Corps, proud to be the Bengals
0:46
Speaker 1: official HR software provider, by Alta Fiber future proof fiber
0:51
Speaker 1: Internet designed to elevate your home, business, and community to
0:54
Speaker 1: a new level, and by Kettering Health the best care
0:57
Speaker 1: for the best fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare
1:01
Speaker 1: provider of the Bengals. Now here's a quick reminder that
1:04
Speaker 1: you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered
1:07
Speaker 1: write to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing wherever
1:11
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since actor
1:15
Speaker 1: Jeremy Strong. About a year ago, I jumped down the
1:18
Speaker 1: bandwagon and started watching the TV show Succession. I watched
1:23
Speaker 1: two episodes, didn't really enjoy them, and punted well. After
1:27
Speaker 1: much badgering from friends and family, I decided to give
1:31
Speaker 1: it another shot, and by episode six I was officially hooked.
1:36
Speaker 1: There are four seasons of the show. I've just started
1:39
Speaker 1: season two, and I am bowled over by the performance
1:43
Speaker 1: of Jeremy Strong, who plays Kendall Roy. If you haven't
1:47
Speaker 1: watched the show, I don't think I'll be spoiling anything
1:50
Speaker 1: to say that. There's an accident in season one and
1:53
Speaker 1: his performance in the immediate aftermath is extraordinary. He won
1:58
Speaker 1: an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Up and now I know why.
2:02
Speaker 1: So if you haven't watched Succession, give it a shot,
2:06
Speaker 1: even if you don't enjoy the first few episodes. Now,
2:10
Speaker 1: let's get to the Bengals and Bills. Remember when we
2:14
Speaker 1: used to worry when the Bengals played in primetime. Thankfully
2:17
Speaker 1: those days are over. The Bengals are one to zero
2:20
Speaker 1: in primetime this year with a Week three win over
2:22
Speaker 1: the Rams, and they won their last primetime game last
2:25
Speaker 1: year when they beat the Ravens in the first round
2:28
Speaker 1: of the playoffs. Mike Tarico and Chris Collinsworth called that
2:31
Speaker 1: game on NBC, and I caught up with Mike on Wednesday. Mike,
2:37
Speaker 1: the last Bengals game you called featured arguably the most
2:40
Speaker 1: iconic play in franchise history, the fumble in the jungle
2:44
Speaker 1: by the Cincinnati kid as you called Sam Hubbard. What
2:47
Speaker 1: are your most vivid memories of that play and that night.
2:51
Speaker 3: Well, it was one of those and you know, damn
2:53
Speaker 3: the exact spot where the booth is. It's one of
2:56
Speaker 3: those sometimes you don't see who comes out of the pile, right,
2:58
Speaker 3: you don't know who's going to have the ball. And
3:00
Speaker 3: I just had a dead eye look right at Sam
3:03
Speaker 3: when the play happened, and happened to see the play
3:05
Speaker 3: because it was happening so fast. Remember, the Ravens rushed
3:08
Speaker 3: to the huddle. And it's just like there are benefits
3:11
Speaker 3: of years of doing something right. So having the Bengals
3:14
Speaker 3: Raiders Wild Card game the year before and doing our
3:17
Speaker 3: production meeting and talking to Sam about all the local
3:20
Speaker 3: ties from Cincinnati on through to Ohio State and all
3:24
Speaker 3: that stuff. It just that was just in my head.
3:26
Speaker 3: And sometimes when we prepare for games, I like to
3:29
Speaker 3: just think of somebody with a bumper sticker, if you will, Like,
3:33
Speaker 3: how do you describe this guy? You know, like buffalo
3:35
Speaker 3: at James Cook. Okay, he's Dalvin's brother boom right away, right,
3:39
Speaker 3: you just and when I was going through preparation for
3:42
Speaker 3: that Raiders game, like, Okay, he's the Cincinnati kid, right,
3:44
Speaker 3: He's that guy, right, So he's the local, he's the
3:46
Speaker 3: home down here living the dream. And I'm a big
3:49
Speaker 3: living the dream guy. So when we catch somebody who
3:51
Speaker 3: is doing it, you love to see it. But that
3:54
Speaker 3: was that was such a fun play and a memorable play,
3:57
Speaker 3: and the Mark Andrews' effort from the Ravens on that play,
4:01
Speaker 3: like fighting did that sticks in my mind too, as
4:04
Speaker 3: much as the celebration after and the place going nuts.
4:08
Speaker 3: Was That's why Mark Andrews is an All Pro player.
4:11
Speaker 3: You know, I know we're talking Bengals here, but that's
4:13
Speaker 3: the that's the effort of a great player. And that
4:18
Speaker 3: plus everything that happened after that after he scored was
4:20
Speaker 3: uh was something else? Stick with me for a long time,
4:23
Speaker 3: as it will for Bengals fans as well.
4:25
Speaker 1: Mike, I'm gonna bring up another possible bumper sticker. On
4:28
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl pregame show a couple of years ago,
4:30
Speaker 1: you had an interesting description for Joe Burrow. You said
4:33
Speaker 1: he had embraceable cockiness, two words that don't go together
4:38
Speaker 1: all that often. How did you mean embraceable cockiness? And
4:41
Speaker 1: what do you think of Joe Burrow's leadership?
4:44
Speaker 3: The dude pulls out the cigar to smoke the cigar
4:46
Speaker 3: when he wins, right and like you're going come on,
4:50
Speaker 3: I can't, but you like him, like there's a warmth,
4:54
Speaker 3: there's a there's I want to hang with Joe Burrow.
4:57
Speaker 3: Joe Burrow's got a the way he dresses coming into
4:59
Speaker 3: games right, Like there's something about him that is really
5:03
Speaker 3: cocky and very confident. Sometimes that is an off putting
5:07
Speaker 3: characteristic of individuals. Joe Burrow's cockiness is never about look
5:12
Speaker 3: at me. It's like, hey, I got this and I'm
5:15
Speaker 3: bringing my guys with me. So I personally embrace his cockiness.
5:20
Speaker 3: I love it. And I'm not a guy who's big
5:23
Speaker 3: on you know you score a touchdown, you point to
5:25
Speaker 3: the back of your jersey. Hey, look at my name,
5:26
Speaker 3: but we just said your name, dude, But I got
5:28
Speaker 3: it at your moment, celebrates you want. I don't won't
5:30
Speaker 3: be the old guy in the corner of the barbershop
5:33
Speaker 3: because you and I don't go to barbershops anymore. But
5:37
Speaker 3: I just love what Joe Burrows about. And you could
5:40
Speaker 3: see it last week, right, you could just see that's
5:44
Speaker 3: the Joe Burrow, that's the guy. And Chris and I Collinsworth,
5:48
Speaker 3: we were toying around as we were watching Justin Herbert
5:51
Speaker 3: of the Chargers last week. Okay, how good is he?
5:53
Speaker 2: Well?
5:54
Speaker 3: Who are the best? And we got into full talk
5:56
Speaker 3: radio mode, give me your best quarterbacks, right, and Joe
5:59
Speaker 3: Burrows in he's he's not even the conversations like, okay,
6:01
Speaker 3: so you got Mahomes right, you got josh Awdie and
6:03
Speaker 3: you got Burrow. Yeah all right? And then what right?
6:06
Speaker 3: So that's how good he is. So this is a
6:09
Speaker 3: great time and it's good to see him back to
6:11
Speaker 3: that inside the Velvet Rope club type of performance like
6:15
Speaker 3: we saw last week. And Santa Cleric, excuse me, we.
6:19
Speaker 4: Are visiting with Mike Terrico.
6:21
Speaker 1: Exactly one month ago, the Bengals lost by twenty four
6:24
Speaker 1: at Tennessee to fall to one in three. Did you
6:27
Speaker 1: have any concern that NBC might have a Sunday Night
6:32
Speaker 1: done on its hands at this point of the year.
6:35
Speaker 3: No. And we've been looking at the schedule and there
6:37
Speaker 3: are a couple that are sticking out like sore thumbs
6:39
Speaker 3: right now, but not this one for a couple of reasons. One,
6:43
Speaker 3: it's the Buffalo factor, which is very similar to the
6:46
Speaker 3: Cincinnati factor. I think there's a great parallel in these
6:50
Speaker 3: two quarterbacks, and they keep your team in every game,
6:53
Speaker 3: So there is that. I think also the experience of
6:57
Speaker 3: last year. I mean, the Bengals are pretty much right
6:59
Speaker 3: back where they were last year and then got on
7:01
Speaker 3: this roll. Was it ten in a row last year?
7:04
Speaker 3: And you know it's there and you know that, Okay,
7:07
Speaker 3: this isn't a team that's lost a ton of their talent.
7:10
Speaker 3: Most of those key people are there. There's the interchange
7:13
Speaker 3: of one year one there. You know, you're younger in
7:15
Speaker 3: the back end than you were, and the concern with
7:18
Speaker 3: the safeties and all that, but you know, the quarterback,
7:23
Speaker 3: if he got healthy, the offense around him. Lou Anarumo, who, man,
7:28
Speaker 3: does that guy deserve as much credit as any coordinator
7:31
Speaker 3: around the league. It is season in, season out now
7:35
Speaker 3: the steadiness, and it's the stability Dan you know, you go,
7:39
Speaker 3: Darren Simmons special teams coordinator, Brian Callahan an offense, Lou
7:43
Speaker 3: on the defense, and you know, and and the head
7:45
Speaker 3: coaching job obviously that that Zack's done. It's the same group.
7:50
Speaker 3: It's like we're coming in here for the last four years,
7:53
Speaker 3: same same dudes, same guys. That doesn't happen in the NFL.
7:57
Speaker 3: Just look at Buffalo. Leslie Frasier's not there now right,
7:59
Speaker 3: there's a change in that spot. Brian Dable has been
8:02
Speaker 3: gone the last couple of years. Doesn't mean that Kenny
8:04
Speaker 3: Dorsey is not doing a good job or Saw McDermott's
8:06
Speaker 3: not doing a good job as the defensive cordat calling
8:09
Speaker 3: the places. Excuse me as the head coach. It just
8:12
Speaker 3: is changed and there's been stability, steadiness and investing in
8:17
Speaker 3: your best natural talents in Cincinnati, which is not something
8:22
Speaker 3: we said on this franchise for many years. And it's
8:25
Speaker 3: great to see because the fan base is being rewarded
8:28
Speaker 3: by it and we as fans are being rewarded. So
8:31
Speaker 3: to answer your question, I didn't think this was gonna
8:33
Speaker 3: end up being a dud. And then obviously the storyline
8:37
Speaker 3: of last year and what happened on January second at
8:41
Speaker 3: that stadium when those two teams met, that had this
8:45
Speaker 3: circled right from when the schedule came out as it's
8:47
Speaker 3: going to be an emotional night and an exciting night
8:52
Speaker 3: too for a lot of reasons off the field and
8:55
Speaker 3: on the field as well.
8:56
Speaker 1: We saw real heroism that night with the way first
8:59
Speaker 1: response under his doctors and trainers save the life of
9:01
Speaker 1: DeMar Hamlin. Anything special plan for Sunday Night football this week.
9:07
Speaker 3: You know, it changes a little bit. DeMar hasn't been
9:09
Speaker 3: playing right, and why hasn't it been playing? He's the
9:12
Speaker 3: fourth safety on this team, and that's either a special
9:14
Speaker 3: team's role that the Bills have a couple of really
9:17
Speaker 3: good special teamers, so there's not the need to have
9:20
Speaker 3: him elevate and active. But I watched him practice a
9:23
Speaker 3: couple of weeks ago in Buffalo, and he's right as
9:25
Speaker 3: much of a part of a practice as any other
9:27
Speaker 3: player who's a healthy and active which is great to see,
9:30
Speaker 3: you know, I think for us, it'll be talked about,
9:32
Speaker 3: certainly in the body of the game as well, and
9:34
Speaker 3: all sort of appreciation, not just for the folks on
9:39
Speaker 3: the field that night, but also the people of Cincinnati
9:42
Speaker 3: who show their true colors, I think in their support,
9:48
Speaker 3: the way the sixty thousand plus in the building reacted
9:52
Speaker 3: that night, the outpouring of support, affection, belief, prayer from
9:58
Speaker 3: Bengals fans. So I think we'll touch on all of
10:03
Speaker 3: those as the game goes on. I think it'd be
10:05
Speaker 3: a little bit different if he was playing in the game,
10:07
Speaker 3: or something happens during the weekends up being active. I
10:10
Speaker 3: think that would change the conversation a little bit. But
10:12
Speaker 3: since he's not on the field, as you're going through
10:15
Speaker 3: a game, within the body of the game, there's not
10:17
Speaker 3: too many opportunities to stop and take that left turn.
10:19
Speaker 3: So but I certainly think we'll be talking about it
10:22
Speaker 3: a bunch and how it impacted the players who were
10:25
Speaker 3: in the game because it changed their lives forever as well.
10:28
Speaker 4: Chatted with Mike Turrico. Last week.
10:30
Speaker 1: The Bengals won their third straight and fourth in their
10:32
Speaker 1: last five, but it was different. It was San Francisco
10:34
Speaker 1: on the road, by fourteen points. Did they make any
10:38
Speaker 1: statement with that performance last week?
10:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, we're still here. We're still here, you know, just
10:45
Speaker 3: to scrape the escape play by Burrow, I still haven't gone.
10:49
Speaker 3: I want to go back and listen to your call
10:51
Speaker 3: of that. That was that was a magical play because
10:54
Speaker 3: he's he's done three times on that play and he
10:57
Speaker 3: gets out and he makes a great play, and that
11:01
Speaker 3: just told you he's back in. The deeper drops were
11:04
Speaker 3: the thing to meet Dan and watching the game, you know,
11:06
Speaker 3: you go back and you watch before the buye the
11:09
Speaker 3: game before the bye against Seattle and then balls out
11:12
Speaker 3: quick quick, quick, quick, quick quick, and this game it
11:15
Speaker 3: felt a little bit a little more comfort of taking
11:17
Speaker 3: a deep drop, keeping a play alive, those types of things,
11:21
Speaker 3: and really attacked. I think it's a good defense in
11:23
Speaker 3: San Francisco. We had them earlier in the season against
11:27
Speaker 3: Dallas and they destroyed a good Cowboys team. I go, wow,
11:30
Speaker 3: this is okay. They're in the Super Bowl. Who else
11:32
Speaker 3: is going to be there? Right? And then you wait
11:34
Speaker 3: three weeks and it all changes. So it was a
11:37
Speaker 3: statement by Cincinnati to go there, do that to that
11:40
Speaker 3: defense and look like the Bengals team We saw on
11:44
Speaker 3: the run through the fall and winter of twenty twenty two.
11:48
Speaker 3: Here in the start of the fall and winter twenty
11:50
Speaker 3: twenty three. Yeah, it's a statement that they're there and
11:53
Speaker 3: they're going to be around.
11:54
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the Bills for a second. They've outscored
11:57
Speaker 1: opponents by more points than any other team in the
12:00
Speaker 1: l They beat the Dolphins by twenty eight, but they've
12:03
Speaker 1: got three losses. What accounts for that roller coaster ride
12:06
Speaker 1: in Buffalo.
12:07
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a good question, Dan. It has been similar
12:12
Speaker 3: but not the same as the Burrow issue. When Josh
12:15
Speaker 3: Allen is moving and aggressively threatening to run if not running,
12:21
Speaker 3: this team is different, right, and I don't think they're
12:23
Speaker 3: there just yet. I also think they're undergoing a little
12:27
Speaker 3: bit of a seed change. I think John McDermott, undefeated
12:32
Speaker 3: wrestler as a high school senior right, a wrestling guy
12:34
Speaker 3: now calling the defense. I think he wants to establish
12:38
Speaker 3: some running toughness, physicality in this game. If you go
12:42
Speaker 3: back to the playoff game last year up in Orchard Park,
12:46
Speaker 3: the Bengals ran the ball effectively. The Bills did not
12:50
Speaker 3: at all. Josh Allen was their leading rusher in that game.
12:52
Speaker 3: I think Buffalo and Sean knows that they've got to
12:55
Speaker 3: have some of that as the season goes on, and
12:57
Speaker 3: it's trying to find where that balance is and how
12:59
Speaker 3: you can do it most effectively. So I think that
13:02
Speaker 3: that stopped them here. And also they've had some key
13:05
Speaker 3: losses all along their front Daikwon Jones, Matt Mulano, tra
13:10
Speaker 3: Davius White. At each level, they've lost one of their
13:13
Speaker 3: best performers. So now they're fitting new pieces in. Some
13:16
Speaker 3: of those new pieces are pretty good and they're getting there.
13:18
Speaker 3: So I like their pickup of Rasuel Butler in a trade.
13:22
Speaker 3: I think they're gonna have a couple of corners now
13:24
Speaker 3: who can play. So overall, I think the Bills can
13:28
Speaker 3: be as good as we saw in that Miami game.
13:31
Speaker 3: They just need to find their way. I just want
13:32
Speaker 3: to see the Bengals can beat somebody outside of the
13:34
Speaker 3: NFC West. I congratulate the congratulate the Bengals in their
13:38
Speaker 3: NFC West title, right, that's maybe the most bizarre thing
13:40
Speaker 3: that here are the Bengals. I feel like they can
13:42
Speaker 3: make a run here in the AFC. They might be
13:44
Speaker 3: the best team. They haven't beaten a team in the
13:46
Speaker 3: AFC yet four and zero against the NFC West. So
13:49
Speaker 3: this is a great measuring stick for both teams right now.
13:52
Speaker 3: But I also think a huge game because if they
13:55
Speaker 3: can't get to Miami and the AFC East, or can't
13:58
Speaker 3: get to Baltimore at the top of the af SEE North,
14:01
Speaker 3: you know, if it starts coming down seats five and
14:03
Speaker 3: six and seven. Nice to have a win over one
14:06
Speaker 3: of these other like minded animals. So it's an important
14:08
Speaker 3: game for both teams.
14:10
Speaker 1: They're definitely two of the best teams in the AFC.
14:12
Speaker 1: What are a couple of your keys on Sunday night?
14:16
Speaker 3: The ability of Burrow to extend plays and how do
14:19
Speaker 3: the Bills defensive backs plaster to Chase and Higgins and
14:24
Speaker 3: the rest of the crew and Boyd who know every
14:27
Speaker 3: game boy makes a big catch's So it's so neat
14:30
Speaker 3: to neat to see that. I love that. Can Buffalo
14:32
Speaker 3: run the ball? I think will be important Cincinnati pass
14:36
Speaker 3: protection because sometimes those escapes, whether it's the Houdini Act
14:40
Speaker 3: or the get out of the pocket and run for
14:42
Speaker 3: Joe Burrow, is because the protection breaks down and Oliver
14:46
Speaker 3: ninety one for Buffalo pushes the pocket in the middle.
14:49
Speaker 3: The edge rushers. Von Miller is coming on, getting more
14:52
Speaker 3: snaps now around twenty nine to thirty snaps a game.
14:55
Speaker 3: Greg Russo is starting to have an impact. Fifty off
14:58
Speaker 3: the edge for Buffalo Leonard Floyd, but they rotate a
15:00
Speaker 3: bunch of good players in there. I'm an ajp and
15:02
Speaker 3: as a fan fifty seven keeping on forty three for
15:06
Speaker 3: their defense too, Ture Bernard. So those are a couple
15:07
Speaker 3: of keys the Bills pressure. Is Joe Burrow running for
15:12
Speaker 3: his life or is he running to get out of harmsway,
15:14
Speaker 3: keep a play alive and hit a big one downfield.
15:17
Speaker 3: And then on the other side, you know this Bengals
15:20
Speaker 3: defense has done a terrific job. And you know this
15:23
Speaker 3: in the second half the last few weeks against Seattle
15:26
Speaker 3: and San Francisco, what a good job. And those late
15:28
Speaker 3: game plays, And when teams start to make plays in
15:32
Speaker 3: the red zone in the second half of close games
15:36
Speaker 3: against good teams, they start believing what they can do.
15:40
Speaker 3: And I get a sense that this Cincinnati defense starting
15:43
Speaker 3: to feel pretty good about what they can do against
15:45
Speaker 3: anybody in the league. So I watch for them late
15:48
Speaker 3: in games in passing situations as Josh Allen, who can
15:51
Speaker 3: put the ball in Harm's way is running around, the
15:53
Speaker 3: Cincinnati team can take it away, so I think that'll
15:55
Speaker 3: be a big part of the game as well.
15:57
Speaker 4: Mike, always appreciate your time.
15:59
Speaker 1: I hope Worth treat you to a great dinner at
16:02
Speaker 1: one of Cincinnati's finest establishments over the weekend. Look forward
16:05
Speaker 1: to seeing you in the booth on Sunday.
16:07
Speaker 3: Augusta is a tradition like any other, so is a
16:10
Speaker 3: Collinsworth Cincinnati party, so we will take care of that.
16:14
Speaker 3: And I can't wait to see you on Sunday, Pal,
16:16
Speaker 3: and keep up for great work.
16:18
Speaker 1: Mike spoke at length about the Bills pass rush. Buffalo
16:21
Speaker 1: has twenty eight sacks. That's tied for second in the NFL,
16:24
Speaker 1: behind the Ravens, who have thirty one, and Von Miller
16:27
Speaker 1: doesn't even have one yet he missed the first four
16:30
Speaker 1: games of the year due to injury. It's going to
16:32
Speaker 1: be a big challenge for the Bengals offensive line. And
16:35
Speaker 1: I spoke to right tackle Jonah Williams about Sunday Night's
16:38
Speaker 1: game and his season to date journal last week, Coach
16:42
Speaker 1: Taylor picked six Californians to go out for the coin
16:45
Speaker 1: Toss at San Francisco you were among them. I guess
16:48
Speaker 1: your hometown is a couple of hours away in Fulsome California.
16:51
Speaker 1: Did you know that was coming and was it meaningful?
16:53
Speaker 5: It was meaningful. I got the text, I think the
16:56
Speaker 5: day before, and it was just it was really excited.
16:58
Speaker 5: He was my first time being a captain in the
17:00
Speaker 5: NFL walking out for the coin toss. So I thought
17:03
Speaker 5: that was a cool gesture by Zach and started off
17:07
Speaker 5: the game on a high note.
17:08
Speaker 1: I think we can safely say that Joe Burrow's calf
17:11
Speaker 1: is one hundred percent. He looked great running around last week.
17:14
Speaker 1: What's that mean for the offensive line that he is
17:17
Speaker 1: not a stationary target?
17:19
Speaker 5: It makes things easier on us for sure, you know,
17:22
Speaker 5: and it just adds one more multiple to our offense.
17:25
Speaker 5: You know, Joe's arms is a huge component our receiving corps.
17:29
Speaker 5: And then you know, we want to establish the ground
17:31
Speaker 5: game with our you know, super talented backs, so that
17:34
Speaker 5: that's line one. But then if you can also attack
17:36
Speaker 5: them with the quarterback's legs, it just takes everything to
17:38
Speaker 5: another level. So it was great to see that and
17:42
Speaker 5: glad he's feeling good and we're ready.
17:44
Speaker 1: To roll on the opening series last week he had
17:46
Speaker 1: that one Houdini escape where he got away from what
17:49
Speaker 1: looked like a couple of sacks and eventually completed it
17:51
Speaker 1: past the t Higgins, you're blocking your guy on that play?
17:55
Speaker 1: When do you have a sense of what's going on?
17:57
Speaker 5: When I'm watching the film after no, you know, I
18:02
Speaker 5: was blocking my guy and kind of the way it
18:03
Speaker 5: played out is I wasn't really able to see him
18:06
Speaker 5: or get close to him. I know Cap and Orlando
18:09
Speaker 5: had two big blocks where there guy was a little
18:11
Speaker 5: bit more involved, or they were at least facing Joe
18:15
Speaker 5: and could pick people off of them, So that was
18:17
Speaker 5: great by them, But I didn't know what was going on.
18:19
Speaker 3: I was just kind of chasing.
18:20
Speaker 5: My guy around and you kind of hear the crowd
18:23
Speaker 5: going crazy, so I knew something was going on. But
18:26
Speaker 5: it was awesome to see that, and it helped us
18:29
Speaker 5: tremendously on that first drive to get the conversion and
18:31
Speaker 5: not be forced upon, and that totally changed the momentum
18:34
Speaker 5: of the game.
18:35
Speaker 1: We're visiting the Jonah Williams. Now that he's healthier, you
18:38
Speaker 1: can run plays under center where he takes the direct
18:40
Speaker 1: snap because he can push off on his calf and
18:43
Speaker 1: you did that thirteen times in the San Francisco game.
18:46
Speaker 1: That's more than you had had done that in the
18:48
Speaker 1: first six games of the season combined. How much does
18:51
Speaker 1: that expand the offense, specifically the running game.
18:55
Speaker 5: It changes the angles for the back, which allows us
19:00
Speaker 5: to be a little bit more downhill, and it adds
19:03
Speaker 5: a lot of variety to our offense as well. You know,
19:06
Speaker 5: we had I don't know how many, but a handful
19:08
Speaker 5: of runs under center, but also we had some play
19:10
Speaker 5: actions coming out of that, And anytime you can do that,
19:13
Speaker 5: it just makes our job easier, you know. I think
19:16
Speaker 5: the hardest thing to do is no line is just
19:18
Speaker 5: to drop back, drop back, pass straight up and they're rushing.
19:21
Speaker 5: It kind of makes everything feel like they'red down. So
19:24
Speaker 5: when you're able to change things up and we're still
19:26
Speaker 5: allowing our receivers to do what they do and allowing
19:29
Speaker 5: Joe to do what he does, but taking a little
19:31
Speaker 5: pressure off of us, that's that's obviously really nice.
19:35
Speaker 1: You've won three straight and four out of five, but
19:37
Speaker 1: in the wins before San Francisco, it almost felt to
19:40
Speaker 1: me like there was a little bit of an asterisk,
19:43
Speaker 1: Like in the Rams and Seahawks games, the offense sputtered
19:46
Speaker 1: in the Cardinals game. They're not having a great season,
19:48
Speaker 1: They've only got one win. But last week you beat
19:50
Speaker 1: a great team on the road and every aspect of
19:54
Speaker 1: the Bengals team was solid. Did it feel differently to
19:57
Speaker 1: you guys?
19:58
Speaker 3: It did?
19:58
Speaker 5: I think it was the first win that you know,
20:00
Speaker 5: we allowed ourselves to feel really good about for a day.
20:05
Speaker 5: It's already behind us, We're moving on just like any
20:07
Speaker 5: other game. But I think that that was that was
20:09
Speaker 5: one where you can look at all phases of the
20:11
Speaker 5: game and say, we played, you know, at least close
20:13
Speaker 5: to what our standard is. So now the challenges we have,
20:16
Speaker 5: what ten more games and then playoffs moving forward, so
20:20
Speaker 5: we're not even close to the finish line. And you know,
20:22
Speaker 5: I think that we know we can be even better.
20:24
Speaker 5: And like you said, that was a great team. Definitely
20:26
Speaker 5: wasn't easy to beat them, So we know we're capable
20:31
Speaker 5: of being the best team in football, and that's you know,
20:33
Speaker 5: it's been our goal all along. But that's what we
20:34
Speaker 5: really have to get to in the next ten weeks.
20:38
Speaker 1: I'm no expert on offensive line play, but I work
20:40
Speaker 1: with Dave Lapham and I listened carefully to his opinion.
20:44
Speaker 1: He says that you look very comfortable at right tackle
20:47
Speaker 1: seven games in.
20:48
Speaker 4: Is that how you feel?
20:49
Speaker 5: Definitely? I feel good. I'm not even thinking about, you know,
20:53
Speaker 5: what side I'm on anymore. It just feels feels comfortable.
20:56
Speaker 5: You know, It's been it's been great playing next to
20:58
Speaker 5: Cap and we just have really talented and pretty vetter
21:01
Speaker 5: in a line this year. So you know, it's been
21:05
Speaker 5: a lot of fun through these first couple of weeks,
21:07
Speaker 5: and I'm looking forward to, you know, gelling even more
21:10
Speaker 5: and getting even better as the rest of the season
21:12
Speaker 5: goes on.
21:13
Speaker 1: How do you feel going forward? Are you content to
21:17
Speaker 1: be a right tackle going forward? Would you like to
21:20
Speaker 1: get back to the left side at some point? How
21:21
Speaker 1: do you feel about that position.
21:23
Speaker 5: I'll play whatever I think that I you know, I'm
21:27
Speaker 5: That's kind of my competitive character, I guess is that
21:29
Speaker 5: I'm going to when I show up, I'm gonna show up.
21:32
Speaker 5: I'm going to do my best wherever they put me.
21:33
Speaker 5: And you know, I think I'm having a good season
21:36
Speaker 5: at right tackle, and I know we can play left
21:38
Speaker 5: tackle in the league too, So you know, whatever it
21:41
Speaker 5: is moving forward, I'm just gonna attack it.
21:43
Speaker 1: You face great pass rushers every week. But when I
21:46
Speaker 1: look at Buffalo, it's the number of guys that kind
21:49
Speaker 1: of stands out to me. Ron Miller, Leonard Floyd, Greg
21:52
Speaker 1: Russo at Oliver in the middle. Is that unique in
21:56
Speaker 1: Buffalo's case?
21:57
Speaker 3: I think so.
21:58
Speaker 5: They've got so much talent else the d line and
22:01
Speaker 5: you know, particularly at edge, I think they have pretty
22:05
Speaker 5: much too deep of guys who can be starters in
22:06
Speaker 5: the NFL, so that that poses some challenges. They move
22:10
Speaker 5: around a lot, so you're gonna get a lot of
22:12
Speaker 5: different looks throughout the game. You know, they're disciplined, really
22:16
Speaker 5: good front, so it'll be a challenge for us. But
22:19
Speaker 5: we're we're confident going into it and you know, excited
22:23
Speaker 5: to to start lining up some wins.
22:25
Speaker 1: The last time the Bengals played the Bills in the playoffs,
22:28
Speaker 1: you couldn't play because of your knee injury. How is
22:30
Speaker 1: your knee and did you learn anything about your kneecap
22:35
Speaker 1: or anything along those lines in the process.
22:38
Speaker 5: Well, I have a I have a super reinforced kneecap now,
22:41
Speaker 5: so that's good and it feels good.
22:45
Speaker 3: I think that.
22:46
Speaker 5: You know, if you ask anyone and that's currently playing
22:49
Speaker 5: in the NFL getting towards medway through the season, how
22:52
Speaker 5: their body feels. It's not always great, but you know,
22:55
Speaker 5: good enough to play and that's all that matters. So
22:58
Speaker 5: I learned probably more than I'd ever want to know
23:00
Speaker 5: about knees. I always joke with the trainers that I
23:03
Speaker 5: have an associate's degree in physical therapy from the unfortunate
23:07
Speaker 5: amount of time I've had to spend in there. So yeah,
23:10
Speaker 5: it feels good though, and you know, just keep treating it,
23:13
Speaker 5: keep getting better.
23:15
Speaker 1: Was your kneecap prone to that type of injury or
23:17
Speaker 1: just one of those things that happens in football.
23:20
Speaker 5: I think it might be prone because I have shallow grooves,
23:24
Speaker 5: But it also is kind of a benefit because I
23:27
Speaker 5: have flexible knees, so that allows me to kind of
23:30
Speaker 5: anchor and get low and stuff like that. But it also,
23:33
Speaker 5: you know, caused my kneycap to slip out, so's it's
23:37
Speaker 5: reinforced in there now and so I can enjoy the
23:41
Speaker 5: benefits of loose knees without worrying about it slipping out
23:44
Speaker 5: of you.
23:45
Speaker 3: All right.
23:45
Speaker 1: Final thing for johnaugh Williams, for people that don't know you,
23:48
Speaker 1: became a dad back in March. I guess the cliche
23:51
Speaker 1: is you get to go home from football practice and
23:54
Speaker 1: you can forget about the game and you know, play
23:56
Speaker 1: with your daughter. In some cases cliches are true. Is
24:00
Speaker 1: that what parenthood has been like for you?
24:02
Speaker 5: It is It's been by far best thing that's ever
24:04
Speaker 5: happened to me, and it definitely like it definitely makes
24:08
Speaker 5: my day. You know, if I have a tough day
24:10
Speaker 5: or whatever, and I go home and every time I
24:13
Speaker 5: walk in, she just gives me a big smile, and
24:16
Speaker 5: that lasts about five minutes before she's either hungry or
24:19
Speaker 5: grumpy or retired or wants you go for a walk
24:21
Speaker 5: or something. So I enjoy those first five minutes. But
24:24
Speaker 5: it's it's been awesome, and it's you know, I'm so
24:27
Speaker 5: grateful for her and my fiance and everything that you know,
24:31
Speaker 5: I'm fortunate to have in my house.
24:32
Speaker 1: It's the best, nothing better than parenthood. Congratulations on that
24:36
Speaker 1: and on a great season today, Best of luck on
24:38
Speaker 1: Sunday night.
24:39
Speaker 3: Thank you.
24:40
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Corps,
24:43
Speaker 1: proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider. By
24:47
Speaker 1: Alta Fiber future proof fiber Internet designed to elevate your home,
24:51
Speaker 1: business and community to a new level and by Kettering
24:54
Speaker 1: Health the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health
24:57
Speaker 1: is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. There was
25:00
Speaker 1: a lot of speculation about the Bengals possibly making a
25:04
Speaker 1: trade for a tight end. That didn't happen, but they
25:07
Speaker 1: did add one to their roster this week, as Tanner
25:10
Speaker 1: Hudson was promoted from the practice squad. In two previous
25:13
Speaker 1: games this year, Hudson had four catches for forty eight yards,
25:17
Speaker 1: including a key twenty six yard grab in the win
25:20
Speaker 1: over the Rams. Here are Zach Taylor and Tanner Hudson
25:24
Speaker 1: about his promotion.
25:26
Speaker 6: He's earned it, okay, so just start with that. He
25:28
Speaker 6: had a really good offseason. He had a first good
25:33
Speaker 6: practice rep last year when he joined our practice squad.
25:35
Speaker 6: He did a one on one drill and caught a
25:37
Speaker 6: fade ball and he got into his attention. Okay, so
25:39
Speaker 6: right away he set the tone with what he can
25:42
Speaker 6: bring to the table. And then he was on the
25:45
Speaker 6: practice squad you know, during the season and did a
25:47
Speaker 6: great job. I thought he had a great off season,
25:49
Speaker 6: great summer, great training camp. Sometimes the roster just shakes
25:52
Speaker 6: out the way the roster shakes out. But he's continued
25:54
Speaker 6: to put his head down to work every single day
25:56
Speaker 6: in practice, makes plays on the scout teams a great job,
26:00
Speaker 6: He's done a great job in line blocking, does a
26:02
Speaker 6: good job. We're out running, and so he's earned an
26:05
Speaker 6: opportunity to get up, you know. And so it's more
26:08
Speaker 6: about maybe him than anything else, just just earning that
26:11
Speaker 6: that opportunity, and and I think that's the right way
26:15
Speaker 6: to reward guys when it makes sense.
26:16
Speaker 7: Yeah, it just shows that you know, they're they're trusting
26:19
Speaker 7: in me to prepare and be able to go out
26:22
Speaker 7: there and use my talents to help this team.
26:25
Speaker 1: I mean, the first thing Zach said was you earned it.
26:27
Speaker 1: I mean, is that the satisfying partner.
26:29
Speaker 7: Yeah, that means a lot. I don't think anybody in
26:32
Speaker 7: the NFL wants to just be given a spot. I
26:34
Speaker 7: think everybody wants to be able to go out and
26:37
Speaker 7: show that they can, show that they are supposed to
26:40
Speaker 7: be out there, and like you said, earn the earn
26:43
Speaker 7: the time to be out there.
26:44
Speaker 1: Hudson has previous experience with the Buccaneers, forty nine Ers
26:48
Speaker 1: and Giants and won a Super Bowl ring in Tampa Bay.
26:51
Speaker 1: Now time for this week's Know the Faux segment. Tyler
26:55
Speaker 1: Dunn writes in podcasts about the entire NFL on his
26:59
Speaker 1: great website, I golongtd dot com, but he's based in
27:03
Speaker 1: Buffalo and has unique insight into the Bills. He joined
27:07
Speaker 1: Lapping Me this week on the Bengals Game Plan Show.
27:12
Speaker 2: I know everybody's freaking out about Josh Allen and the
27:16
Speaker 2: offense because it's not as automatic and sublime as we've seen.
27:23
Speaker 2: I feel like the offense will be fine. As long
27:25
Speaker 2: as you have Josh Allen, Stefan Dick's healthy, they're going
27:29
Speaker 2: to be a contender. To me, the problems are on defense.
27:32
Speaker 2: You know, this is Sean mcdermo's defense. It's been his
27:34
Speaker 2: defense since twenty seventeen. But now he's calling the place,
27:38
Speaker 2: so now he really has all the power, all the control.
27:42
Speaker 2: There's no more debate. He wow, what Leslie Fraser really
27:45
Speaker 2: doing it? Honestly, it hasn't been that pretty and I
27:48
Speaker 2: think the apologist would point to the injuries, and it's
27:51
Speaker 2: not easy to overcome the loss of Da Kwan Jones, which,
27:55
Speaker 2: by the way, he wasn't in that playoff game against
27:58
Speaker 2: Natti just a massive detail who could really anchor things,
28:01
Speaker 2: and the Bengals took advantage of it obviously in the snow.
28:04
Speaker 2: You don't have him. Now you don't have Matt Mulano,
28:07
Speaker 2: one of the five, maybe one of the three best
28:10
Speaker 2: linebackers in football. I mean, he's unbelievable, and you don't
28:14
Speaker 2: have Tradavius White. So those are massive injuries. Don't get
28:17
Speaker 2: me wrong, But you guys know, I mean every team
28:19
Speaker 2: has injuries. There's attrition to pro football inherently, and they
28:24
Speaker 2: really haven't adapted well. They've played some bad seats and
28:27
Speaker 2: they've eked out some wins the Giants and the Bucks.
28:30
Speaker 2: Those games could have gone the other way, and you're
28:32
Speaker 2: looking at a three and five football team, So you
28:34
Speaker 2: know they should make apologies for winning those games. But
28:37
Speaker 2: I don't know where the improvement comes on defense. Frankly,
28:40
Speaker 2: I don't know what else they can really do. It
28:42
Speaker 2: seems like, you know, there's a lot of Sean mcdermot's
28:45
Speaker 2: play and maybe he isn't handling the play calling well
28:48
Speaker 2: at times. You know he's blitzed in key moment and
28:51
Speaker 2: it's come back to bite him. Look at Calvin Ridley
28:54
Speaker 2: and a big catch he had in London when they
28:56
Speaker 2: sent the house, and now you have these injuries and
28:59
Speaker 2: von Miller. Frankly, they look like von Miller. So I
29:01
Speaker 2: think that Cincinnati is gonna have a field day offensively.
29:05
Speaker 8: What about in the secondary? They made a move to
29:08
Speaker 8: kind of less than the blow of White. They get
29:11
Speaker 8: Douglas from the Green Bay Packers. He didn't practice today,
29:14
Speaker 8: he's traveling to Buffalo. He's his zone, his strength, his
29:19
Speaker 8: zone coverage ability, breaking on the football, making plays in
29:22
Speaker 8: that regard. Do you think that the acquisition of Douglas
29:26
Speaker 8: at the trade deadline is big?
29:29
Speaker 2: I don't you know. And it's I live here and
29:33
Speaker 2: it's weird to pour like cold water on it all.
29:35
Speaker 2: But you know, I've watched the Packers closely. It was.
29:39
Speaker 2: It was an amazing find by GM Brian Gutikin to
29:42
Speaker 2: pick up Razel Douglas off the street and he earned
29:45
Speaker 2: his way to a big contract. You know, he's on
29:48
Speaker 2: the fringes of the NFL. Gets to the Packers. He
29:51
Speaker 2: makes plays like he will turn the ball over every
29:54
Speaker 2: few games. But man, he takes chances and you see
29:59
Speaker 2: that side of the he gives up plays. He's a
30:01
Speaker 2: riverboat gambler, and he's never been a guy who relies
30:05
Speaker 2: on speed. To your point, he's a zone corner. I
30:09
Speaker 2: don't know. I feel like, if I'm Joe Purrow, I'm
30:11
Speaker 2: looking to see where he's out there. If I'm any
30:13
Speaker 2: quarterback and I'm getting him to bite, I don't think
30:17
Speaker 2: he's just gonna cure all that ales the secondary. You know,
30:20
Speaker 2: you just swap a fit a third for a fifth
30:23
Speaker 2: to get him. Maybe it's worth it for the occasional turnover,
30:26
Speaker 2: but I'm not so sure he's gonna be able to,
30:29
Speaker 2: you know, fix what they need fix him.
30:31
Speaker 4: Tyler Donnis, our guest.
30:33
Speaker 1: Check out the website golongtd dot com. You'll find some
30:37
Speaker 1: awesome feature stories about the Bengals that he's written over
30:39
Speaker 1: the last few years. You've been critical on that site, Tyler,
30:43
Speaker 1: of Sean McDermott, especially going back to the playoff disaster
30:48
Speaker 1: against the Chiefs a couple of years ago. What do
30:50
Speaker 1: you think Sean McDermott deserves praise for and what are
30:54
Speaker 1: you most critical of?
30:56
Speaker 2: Great question, because he does deserve praise. Look, this is
30:59
Speaker 2: a team seventeen years they didn't make the playoffs, and
31:04
Speaker 2: let's be let's be frank they only got into the
31:06
Speaker 2: playoffs because of Andy Dalton and Tyler boy Connected for
31:10
Speaker 2: that touchdown Fellas. I mean, it was unbelievable. And in
31:13
Speaker 2: East Aurora, the suburb of Buffalo, I was hanging out
31:16
Speaker 2: with my wife and family, and in some of her family.
31:19
Speaker 2: I mean, I saw tears of joy in a forty
31:22
Speaker 2: and fifth year old. So there's a reason they gave
31:24
Speaker 2: all that money to Andy Dogg's charity and Tyler Boyd's
31:27
Speaker 2: charity to end that drought. I guess is big. I mean,
31:30
Speaker 2: this team was in a bad place. Deamar Hamlin nearly
31:33
Speaker 2: dies on a football field. I don't know how in
31:35
Speaker 2: the heck you got a football team through that. I've
31:38
Speaker 2: talked to players that were in that locker room. Frankly,
31:41
Speaker 2: a lot of guys wanted to play. Isaiah McKenzie we
31:45
Speaker 2: did the show last year. He said most guys wanted
31:47
Speaker 2: to keep playing that game, but a few weren't comfortable.
31:51
Speaker 2: Mitch Morris the Center spoke up, and you got to
31:53
Speaker 2: give Sean McDermott credit for saying, look, we can't play
31:56
Speaker 2: this football game. I don't even know how you lead
31:58
Speaker 2: a team through all that get down to football he's
32:01
Speaker 2: a defensive coach. He thinks through that lens. We saw
32:05
Speaker 2: it again against the Bucks last Thursday, where they're a
32:08
Speaker 2: complete command of that game and they punt at midfield
32:13
Speaker 2: on four fourth and shorts in a row to basically
32:17
Speaker 2: roll out the red carpet to an inferior Bucks team
32:21
Speaker 2: to get back into the game. That again had no
32:23
Speaker 2: business coming down to a hal mary where Chris Godwin,
32:26
Speaker 2: if he just turns the other way, catches it. That's
32:28
Speaker 2: because he's just a he's a glass half empty kind
32:31
Speaker 2: of coach. What can go wrong instead of what can
32:34
Speaker 2: go right? Thirteen seconds game. You see it there right,
32:39
Speaker 2: he overruled his special teams coordinator. The squip was on.
32:43
Speaker 2: He wanted the touchback because he wanted to lean on
32:45
Speaker 2: that defense. You know, so instead of wasting five to
32:48
Speaker 2: six seconds, now you're on your heels, you give up
32:52
Speaker 2: the first big play, you're on your heels even more
32:54
Speaker 2: now now he's thinking, oh, I don't want to give
32:56
Speaker 2: up a touchdown, Let's play for the field goal. I
32:59
Speaker 2: don't know. And even the Cincinnati game last year, the
33:02
Speaker 2: Bengals were gonna win that game, but to uh to
33:06
Speaker 2: punt at the end of the first half when you
33:08
Speaker 2: finally got something good cooking, and then to punt the
33:11
Speaker 2: last play of the third quarter when I don't know,
33:14
Speaker 2: you're not gonna stop Cincinnati twice in the fourth quarter.
33:17
Speaker 2: You're basically waving the white flag by punting there instead
33:21
Speaker 2: of going for it on fourth and two. This is
33:23
Speaker 2: who he is. I mean, we've we've seen it season
33:25
Speaker 2: to season. The season, I think they're wasting Josh Allen's
33:29
Speaker 2: primes defon Diggs's prime. I think that they know it,
33:31
Speaker 2: the players know it, and it's and it's kind of
33:33
Speaker 2: sad because I don't think he's gonna change. And I
33:36
Speaker 2: think you've got teams in Cincinnati, Kansas City, Jacksonville, even
33:41
Speaker 2: maybe even Baltimore who get it. They're they're gonna go
33:44
Speaker 2: for it on those fourth downs. They're gonna believe in
33:46
Speaker 2: their player. They're gonna choose to believe in their players.
33:49
Speaker 2: I just think that McDermott can't get there in those moments.
33:52
Speaker 2: He'll he'll do it in the regular season. All the
33:54
Speaker 2: metrics will show you. Yeah, I know he is. He
33:57
Speaker 2: is aggressive for the most part in the regular season,
34:00
Speaker 2: but he gets into the playoffs and he clams up
34:02
Speaker 2: and his players clam up, and I don't think it's
34:04
Speaker 2: an accident.
34:06
Speaker 8: You know, when I look at the Buffalo Bills, they're
34:11
Speaker 8: ranked in the top five in so many categories, offensively
34:14
Speaker 8: and defensively at the red zone. Eight times they've held
34:19
Speaker 8: the opponent defensively without any points in the red zone.
34:23
Speaker 8: Most in the National Football League. I mean sacks, pressure protection.
34:30
Speaker 8: They're number five, number three in sacks allowed, number one
34:34
Speaker 8: in yards allowed from sacks, tied for second in sacks generated,
34:40
Speaker 8: their second in yards lost for those sacks. They're plus
34:45
Speaker 8: sixteen in the sack ratio, second in the league. They're
34:49
Speaker 8: doing a lot of things, right. What are they doing best?
34:54
Speaker 8: You said, what you think some of their concerns are.
34:56
Speaker 8: They're doing a lot of things right. What are they
34:58
Speaker 8: doing best?
35:01
Speaker 2: I like hearing those statistics because it does speak to
35:04
Speaker 2: another one of Sean's strengths, and it is situational football.
35:08
Speaker 2: They do. They do practice that stuff to the extreme
35:14
Speaker 2: right year year round, to be the middle of May
35:16
Speaker 2: of the middle of June, and the pressure will be
35:19
Speaker 2: high for that situation, red zone, right third down, Like
35:25
Speaker 2: this is the stuff that he lives for. Uh So, yeah,
35:28
Speaker 2: I think their numbers are gonna be good in the
35:30
Speaker 2: regular season.
35:31
Speaker 3: You know.
35:32
Speaker 2: My criticism is more so you know, when you're wound
35:34
Speaker 2: that tight year round, you're gonna burst at some point,
35:38
Speaker 2: and that burst usually happens at the worst possible time.
35:41
Speaker 2: But you know, in that same vein, they don't really
35:46
Speaker 2: get blown out. You know, even when they were trying
35:48
Speaker 2: to turn this thing around, they never were really blown out.
35:52
Speaker 2: Maybe maybe once or twice. I'm thinking of a Saint's
35:55
Speaker 2: loss and a cult floss like year one. Other than that,
35:58
Speaker 2: they're so good at the situational football. They can keep
36:01
Speaker 2: games close, and I think that's what you see out
36:04
Speaker 2: of a lot of defensive minded coaches. They are good
36:07
Speaker 2: at situational football, keeping it close and trying to win
36:11
Speaker 2: it at the end. Hey, there's nothing wrong with that thinking.
36:15
Speaker 2: I just think when you have Josh Allen, you've got
36:17
Speaker 2: a freak show at quarterback. You've got a gangster like
36:20
Speaker 2: lean into that. Right be the front runner, be the
36:23
Speaker 2: team that wants to put up fifty on the board.
36:25
Speaker 2: And they don't really think that way on the sideline.
36:28
Speaker 2: So it's a weird dichotomy for the team. But they
36:31
Speaker 2: are really good, right it will It'll be competitive I
36:34
Speaker 2: think that they'll be able to move the ball offensively.
36:36
Speaker 2: Like I said, I'm not worried about the offense. I'd
36:39
Speaker 2: be worried about that defense because it's hard to think
36:41
Speaker 2: like a defensive minded coach when you are this underman.
36:45
Speaker 1: There are some teams in the league that just match
36:48
Speaker 1: up well with other teams. The Bengals have a hard
36:51
Speaker 1: time with the Cleveland Browns, at least to this point.
36:54
Speaker 1: For whatever reason, in the meetings last year, the DeMar
36:58
Speaker 1: Hamlin game had felt early on and like the Bengals
37:00
Speaker 1: were going to dominate. Then they went to Buffalo in
37:03
Speaker 1: the snow and did dominate. Do you think for whatever reason,
37:07
Speaker 1: the Bengals just match up well with this Buffalo team.
37:13
Speaker 2: I do, you know? And and these injuries play into
37:16
Speaker 2: that as well. Uh Dakwan Jones is he's a beast
37:20
Speaker 2: in the middle that he really did anchor that run game.
37:23
Speaker 2: So I think the Bengals will be able to run
37:25
Speaker 2: the ball exactly like they did last week. I'm sure
37:29
Speaker 2: they They don't want Joe Burrow taken off quite as much,
37:32
Speaker 2: but Joe Mixon he'll probably feast. You know. Even even
37:36
Speaker 2: the linebackers are kind of small Dreell Bernard. He had
37:39
Speaker 2: that big game against Washington. He's he doesn't have the
37:43
Speaker 2: size that Tremade Edmonds had, and in Tremade Edmunds didn't
37:46
Speaker 2: even really have a good game himself against Cincinnati at Oliver,
37:50
Speaker 2: you know, he'll rush the passer once every other game.
37:52
Speaker 2: He doesn't give you much run defense wise. I think
37:56
Speaker 2: the Bengals are are so versatile because yeah, yeah, they've
38:00
Speaker 2: They've got Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase T Higgins and
38:03
Speaker 2: they can throw it all over the place, and you
38:05
Speaker 2: got you gotta honor that right. You got to respect
38:08
Speaker 2: it and sit back in some coverages. But then you
38:11
Speaker 2: open yourself up to get gashed. So I don't really
38:14
Speaker 2: know how you stop Cincinnati. If you're Buffalo, maybe it
38:18
Speaker 2: blitz a little bit more. But okay, good luck blitzing
38:21
Speaker 2: against Joe Burrow, the smartest quarterback in football. I promise
38:25
Speaker 2: you I'm not just pandering to your audience. I think
38:28
Speaker 2: it's a bad matchup for Buffalo and I'd be shocked
38:30
Speaker 2: if they won this game.
38:31
Speaker 8: I agree with that you blitz, you're living a dangerous
38:35
Speaker 8: life against Joe Burrow the way he can see it
38:38
Speaker 8: before it happens the Bengals. Final question Bengals special teams
38:43
Speaker 8: under Darren Simmons, three of the four phases of special
38:47
Speaker 8: teams are top five in the NFL. What are Buffalo
38:50
Speaker 8: Bill's special teams like the all important hitting the yards
38:53
Speaker 8: field position. How they've been doing in that regard?
38:57
Speaker 2: You know, they've been fine, you know, Tyler, Yes, for
39:00
Speaker 2: the most part, it's been a solid kicker. Their punting
39:03
Speaker 2: game has been strong. I'm sure that's why Sean McDermott
39:07
Speaker 2: punted as much as he did against Tampa Bay last week,
39:10
Speaker 2: because he can do some situational punts, some coff and
39:13
Speaker 2: corner stuff. He's good, which is kind of crazy when
39:16
Speaker 2: you think back. Remember they drafted Matt Riza and that
39:18
Speaker 2: all hell broke loose with his legal case that they
39:21
Speaker 2: get out of that business and find Sam Martin and
39:25
Speaker 2: ended up with a pretty dang good punter. So Adobe
39:27
Speaker 2: disciplined in that third of the game, and maybe that's
39:30
Speaker 2: the pass for Buffalo is trying to you know, I guess,
39:34
Speaker 2: force a turnover on special teams maybe and force a fumble.
39:39
Speaker 2: Maybe you're able to keep Gilber off the field. But
39:42
Speaker 2: at the same time, you do want Josh Allen to
39:44
Speaker 2: be Josh all That's something to keep an eye on too.
39:46
Speaker 2: You know, they spoke all off season about Josh Allen
39:49
Speaker 2: needing to throw the ball away run less, and it
39:54
Speaker 2: was pretty clear they were trying to sanitize his game.
39:56
Speaker 2: It didn't work out. You know, if anything, he got
39:58
Speaker 2: into his head last week he finally kind of was himself,
40:01
Speaker 2: so maybeybe he turned a corner and then just cut
40:03
Speaker 2: the loose from here on out.
40:05
Speaker 1: Here's an invitation to join lapp in me for the
40:07
Speaker 1: Bengals pep Rally show this Friday. We'll be at the
40:10
Speaker 1: Wings and Rings location in Finnytown from three to six
40:13
Speaker 1: and DJ Reader is scheduled to join us for the
40:16
Speaker 1: final hour of that show. That's going to do it
40:19
Speaker 1: for this episode of the Bengals Booth podcast, brought to
40:21
Speaker 1: you by pay Core. Proud to be the Bengals Official
40:24
Speaker 1: HR software provider, by Alta Fiber future proof fiber Internet
40:29
Speaker 1: design to elevate your home, business and community to a
40:32
Speaker 1: new level, and by Kettering Health the best care for
40:36
Speaker 1: the best fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider
40:41
Speaker 1: of the Bengals. If you haven't done so already, please
40:44
Speaker 1: subscribe to this podcast and if you have a minute,
40:46
Speaker 1: given a rating or share a comment that helps more
40:49
Speaker 1: Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Hord and thanks for
40:53
Speaker 1: listening to the Bengals Booth podcast