Latest / Bengals Booth Podcast / Bengals Booth Podcast: You're Still The One

Transcript

Bengals Booth Podcast: You're Still The One · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi again everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The You Still Go one full
0:11
Speaker 1: life addition as I chat one on one with Kevin Huber,
0:17
Speaker 1: who held off a worthy challenger and Drew Chrisman to
0:20
Speaker 1: return for his fourteenth season as the Bengals punter. Then
0:25
Speaker 1: Dave Lapham joins me to discuss a flurry of player
0:28
Speaker 1: transactions in assembling the fifty three man roster, from cuts
0:32
Speaker 1: to waiver claims to the possible signing a former first
0:37
Speaker 1: round draft pick O J. Howard. The Bengals Booth Podcast
0:41
Speaker 1: is presented by Ultimate Bengals. Download Ultimate Bengals ahead of
0:44
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty two season. It's free to play next
0:47
Speaker 1: level fantasy football with fantastic Bengals prizes. Get it now
0:52
Speaker 1: on the App Store and Google Play. And here's a
0:55
Speaker 1: quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of
0:57
Speaker 1: this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer
1:01
Speaker 1: by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest
1:05
Speaker 1: thing since golf carts with speed governors. I have a
1:11
Speaker 1: weird and very specific phobia. Are you ready for it?
1:15
Speaker 1: It's going down a steep hill on a golf cart.
1:19
Speaker 1: I don't know why, but that makes me very queasy,
1:22
Speaker 1: especially if the cart path is slick. So kudos to
1:27
Speaker 1: golf courses that have carts with governors on the engine
1:30
Speaker 1: to limit speed, making those treacherous downhill drives slower and safer.
1:36
Speaker 1: Long Part three's over water scare me enough. I don't
1:40
Speaker 1: need an out of control golf cart to make it worse. Now,
1:44
Speaker 1: let's get to my first guest, who happens to be
1:47
Speaker 1: an avid golfer. Kevin Huber is the Bengals all time
1:51
Speaker 1: leader in every significant punting category including punts, yards, gross average,
1:56
Speaker 1: and net average is two hundred and seven games played,
2:00
Speaker 1: is tied for the most in team history with the
2:03
Speaker 1: great Ken Riley. Now, at age thirty seven, Kevin's about
2:07
Speaker 1: to break that record after winning a training camp duel
2:11
Speaker 1: with twenty five year old Drew Christman. I sat down
2:14
Speaker 1: with Kevin on Wednesday to discuss the toughest training camp
2:17
Speaker 1: battle of his fourteen years in Cincinnati. Were you nervous
2:22
Speaker 1: at all waiting to get that phone call? Uh? Yeah,
2:25
Speaker 1: there was, you know a bit of uncertainty. Um, just
2:29
Speaker 1: you know, being able to I've been around long enough
2:32
Speaker 1: to know that you know, at some point, you know,
2:36
Speaker 1: I'm gonna moved on from so and you know, I
2:39
Speaker 1: think Drew has a lot of potential. I think he
2:41
Speaker 1: kicked well this this training camp, and uh, you know,
2:44
Speaker 1: I was kind of prepared either way. You know, if
2:48
Speaker 1: if they had moved on, you know, I understood, but uh,
2:51
Speaker 1: you know, I do feel like I had, you know,
2:54
Speaker 1: um down the stretch of better camp, and you know,
2:57
Speaker 1: once game started coming on and the game weeks and
2:59
Speaker 1: getting back in the group of it, I think I
3:01
Speaker 1: I think I definitely did her my spot. So, um,
3:04
Speaker 1: you know, there's still that uncertainty, I think, cause I
3:06
Speaker 1: think George got a lot of a lot of talent,
3:08
Speaker 1: a lot of potential, and um, so I think he
3:11
Speaker 1: will be playing at some point. Um, and I think
3:13
Speaker 1: we'll have a good career. Garon Simmons said, when he
3:17
Speaker 1: called you, your reaction was okay, cool, I mean, pretty
3:20
Speaker 1: pretty mellow reaction. Was that just the way that you felt?
3:25
Speaker 1: Is that just your standard not too high, not too
3:27
Speaker 1: low personality, That's just my standard. My uh, Actually, laying
3:31
Speaker 1: in bed last night, my wife read that article and
3:33
Speaker 1: she just started busting out laughing because, um, that's pretty
3:37
Speaker 1: much my typical viewpoint on everything. I just, um, you know,
3:42
Speaker 1: it benefits me a lot um in football, just because
3:45
Speaker 1: I don't let too many things get under my skin.
3:47
Speaker 1: But uh, you know sometimes at home it h it's
3:51
Speaker 1: not always the best h the best route to go.
3:55
Speaker 1: So um, yeah, I think that's just like my my
3:58
Speaker 1: typical attitude. It's just pretty calm to me. And you know,
4:01
Speaker 1: there's obviously there's obviously excitement and some really at the
4:04
Speaker 1: same time. But I think it just I never allowed
4:07
Speaker 1: myself to show show the higher the low, so the okay,
4:09
Speaker 1: cool came out. So there's also eight o'clock in the morning,
4:12
Speaker 1: eight thirty and the more some of that. So I
4:13
Speaker 1: was a little tired. Sometime in the last week or two,
4:17
Speaker 1: you said if they elected to go with Drew, you
4:20
Speaker 1: felt pretty confident that you would hook up with another
4:22
Speaker 1: NFL team, considering that you played high school football here,
4:26
Speaker 1: college football here, and now more than a decade in
4:28
Speaker 1: the NFL here, is there any part of you that wonders, huh,
4:32
Speaker 1: what would it be like to punt for fill in
4:34
Speaker 1: the blank? Yeah, there's always that, you know, Um, there's
4:39
Speaker 1: always that like wonder. Yeah, I've I've never left Cincinnati. UM.
4:42
Speaker 1: Fortunately I've never left, and but there's always you know,
4:45
Speaker 1: what's it like? What? Um, you know, what is it
4:48
Speaker 1: like for these guys that have to basically uproot their
4:52
Speaker 1: lives and learn a new city? Um, you know, I
4:55
Speaker 1: can't imagine it's an easy thing for them to do,
4:58
Speaker 1: but I'm sure there's some of excitement with it, a
5:01
Speaker 1: different excitement that I've experienced. UM. So yeah, there's definitely
5:04
Speaker 1: that wonder of what it's like. But UM, you know,
5:07
Speaker 1: I'm definitely happy to you know, on the other on
5:09
Speaker 1: the flip side of that, not have to you know,
5:12
Speaker 1: learn about that. So what's going to mean more to you?
5:15
Speaker 1: Setting the Franchisees all time record for most games played?
5:19
Speaker 1: You currently tied with Ken Riley for the all time record,
5:21
Speaker 1: or staying ahead of Clark Harris, who is six games
5:25
Speaker 1: behind you, hands down, stating other Clark, you know, I
5:30
Speaker 1: can't let Clark, you know, take that crown for me. Um. No,
5:33
Speaker 1: I mean it's gonna be a pretty pretty cool day
5:36
Speaker 1: next week to experience that and you know, be able
5:38
Speaker 1: to you know, you know, break that record. Just be
5:42
Speaker 1: hoble to stay in one place for so long in
5:44
Speaker 1: this league, especially, Um, is a pretty pretty cool UM
5:47
Speaker 1: milestone to reach, So I'm really looking forward to it.
5:51
Speaker 1: Your first punt last week forty five yards, great hang time,
5:56
Speaker 1: fair cought. Is that kind of the quintessential Kevin Huper
6:01
Speaker 1: punt at this stage of your career. Yeah, UM, you know,
6:05
Speaker 1: I know, the the new UM, the new you know
6:08
Speaker 1: batch of punters coming out is really really strong, big
6:11
Speaker 1: leg just crush it downfield, UM, and you know it's
6:15
Speaker 1: it's all good and pretty too, you know to the
6:18
Speaker 1: fan and UM to a lot of people. But I
6:21
Speaker 1: think you know, going into a game knowing what you're
6:23
Speaker 1: gonna get, knowing you know, you get those forty five,
6:26
Speaker 1: forty six, forty seven, forty eight year puns, they're fair
6:28
Speaker 1: cot um versus you you know, touchback that goes thirty
6:35
Speaker 1: five UM. So kind of just knowing what you're gonna
6:38
Speaker 1: get UM, I think probably played a big role in UM.
6:43
Speaker 1: I would think it played a big role in decision
6:44
Speaker 1: just to you know, because we have a pretty great
6:48
Speaker 1: team and you know, it's it's a lot of times
6:52
Speaker 1: you kind of play a little bit more conservative to um,
6:56
Speaker 1: not put your team in a bad position, not expose
6:58
Speaker 1: them to you know, a return or something that could
7:02
Speaker 1: flip the momentum of the game. You know, there's nothing
7:05
Speaker 1: wrong with a forty four forty five yard fair catch.
7:07
Speaker 1: It's a you know, it's a you flip the field position.
7:11
Speaker 1: There wasn't a return, there wasn't a block. That's a
7:13
Speaker 1: fair catch, no return, no nothing, So I think, yeah,
7:17
Speaker 1: that's probably you know, I'd be so happy to having
7:20
Speaker 1: that every every single potty five forty six yard fair
7:23
Speaker 1: catch and walk off the field. We've talked before about
7:26
Speaker 1: how long you'd like to do this, and you said, hey,
7:28
Speaker 1: forty years old would be a great target if if
7:30
Speaker 1: I could pull that off. But beyond that, considering that
7:34
Speaker 1: this team was less less than two minutes away from
7:36
Speaker 1: winning a Super Bowl last year, did that just add
7:39
Speaker 1: to your desire to maintain this job and come back
7:43
Speaker 1: with another chance potentially to get there again. Yeah. Absolutely,
7:46
Speaker 1: I mean just you know, being that close and seeing
7:50
Speaker 1: what you know, moves were made this offseason too to
7:53
Speaker 1: build on what we had last year. Um just kind
7:55
Speaker 1: of you know, built the excitement and you know, definitely
7:58
Speaker 1: fueled some fire to get back and try to run again. So,
8:01
Speaker 1: you know, getting a taste of it, and I wanted
8:04
Speaker 1: to get back there again. Is definitely a big part
8:05
Speaker 1: of it is Evan McPherson better than he was a
8:08
Speaker 1: year ago. I would say, yeah, because he's got game experience. Now,
8:12
Speaker 1: he's got the confidence, he knows, he knows what it takes.
8:14
Speaker 1: He knows he played in the longest season ever. You know,
8:17
Speaker 1: the rookie year for for all rookies is the longest year.
8:21
Speaker 1: They get done with their season from college and they
8:23
Speaker 1: go right into training to get ready to the Combine.
8:26
Speaker 1: It's just a NonStop grind. And he did that in
8:28
Speaker 1: his rookie year. What he did and accomplished, you know,
8:31
Speaker 1: there's not much he can't do. So I think just
8:33
Speaker 1: the confidence and experience that he gained, it's only gonna
8:36
Speaker 1: make him better. And he needs to learn stadiums and
8:38
Speaker 1: start learning wind patterns and stuff like that. So yeah,
8:41
Speaker 1: he's he's going to be better than he was last year.
8:44
Speaker 1: Get the sixty five yard or at the practice at
8:46
Speaker 1: Pacour Stadium amaze you as much as it amazed the
8:49
Speaker 1: rest of us, or no, at this point, Yeah, I mean,
8:51
Speaker 1: I know kind of legy has, but just to see,
8:55
Speaker 1: you know, the height that it cleared by and the
8:57
Speaker 1: distance that still hit the net behind the wall, which
8:59
Speaker 1: is our fifteen yards find it. It's just pretty impressive.
9:02
Speaker 1: So it's you know, I'd love to be a part
9:04
Speaker 1: of that to see if we can get a chance
9:06
Speaker 1: for him to you know, get the longest field goal
9:09
Speaker 1: and you know, take that crown and be cool to
9:11
Speaker 1: hold for that. But yeah, there's not much that kid
9:14
Speaker 1: can't do. He's taken away a lot of punts for me,
9:16
Speaker 1: which is nice. That's a very good point. Hey, congratulations
9:21
Speaker 1: on winning the job and holding off a worthy competition.
9:24
Speaker 1: Look forward to another great season from number ten. I
9:26
Speaker 1: appreciate it. Thank you. Kevin was a fifth round draft
9:29
Speaker 1: picked by the Bengals back in two thousand and nine,
9:32
Speaker 1: number one forty two overall. Ten picks. Later, the Houston
9:36
Speaker 1: Texans selected a tight end who is now in his
9:38
Speaker 1: fourth year as a Bengals coach, James Casey. The Bengals
9:43
Speaker 1: Booth podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals. They're free to
9:46
Speaker 1: play fantasy football game. This past season, Ultimate Bengals awarded
9:50
Speaker 1: a weekly winner during the course of the year with tickets,
9:53
Speaker 1: autograph merchandise, and money can't buy experiences all up for grabs.
9:58
Speaker 1: Find Ultimate Bengals app store and Google Play as I
10:03
Speaker 1: record this podcast, the bengals fifty three man roster is
10:06
Speaker 1: still in flux. For example, backup quarterback Brandon Allen was
10:11
Speaker 1: cut on Wednesday, leaving Joe Burrow as the only QB
10:15
Speaker 1: on the roster. Allan's not going anywhere. The Bengals needed
10:19
Speaker 1: space on the roster after claiming three players on waivers.
10:24
Speaker 1: Allen is among the veterans who can resign after another
10:27
Speaker 1: Bengals player goes on injured reserve. Then there's Oj Howard,
10:32
Speaker 1: the first tight end selected in the two seventeen draft.
10:36
Speaker 1: According to the NFL Network's Ian Rappaport, the twenty seven
10:39
Speaker 1: year old former Tampa Bay buccaneer who was recently cut
10:42
Speaker 1: by the Buffalo Bills, was expected to be in Cincinnati
10:46
Speaker 1: on Wednesday night for a physical and could sign with
10:50
Speaker 1: the Bengals on Thursday. We'll know soon enough. In any case,
10:55
Speaker 1: I discussed a wide variety of roster moves with my
10:58
Speaker 1: broadcast partner of Lap them Well, Lap never a dull
11:03
Speaker 1: moment at this time of the year. I'll be honest
11:05
Speaker 1: with you, because the Bengals are so low in the
11:09
Speaker 1: waiver claiming order thirty first after being the super Bowl
11:12
Speaker 1: runner up. I didn't expect them to make significant waiver
11:16
Speaker 1: claims after teams made their cuts. I was wrong. They
11:20
Speaker 1: picked up three guys. Let's start with Max Sharping, because
11:23
Speaker 1: I think that's probably the name that fans are most
11:26
Speaker 1: familiar with. He's been a starter for the Houston Texans
11:29
Speaker 1: the last three years. He's an interior offensive lineman. He's
11:32
Speaker 1: not coming in here to start, but that's certainly an
11:35
Speaker 1: upgrade in terms of depth, no question about it. And
11:39
Speaker 1: he's a guy that has got some some veteran experience
11:43
Speaker 1: at that position that I think they like. And honestly,
11:51
Speaker 1: I bet they didn't think they were going to get
11:52
Speaker 1: him at thirty one. I bet they were surprised. You know,
11:55
Speaker 1: Frank likes them. Frank's got a history with him a
11:59
Speaker 1: little bit, so there's that part of it. And supposedly
12:04
Speaker 1: he's a very intelligent player, so they feel like he
12:08
Speaker 1: can come in and grasp the offense very very quickly
12:11
Speaker 1: and be somebody that they could rely on to give
12:15
Speaker 1: him some snaps. He's got that he's been there, done
12:18
Speaker 1: that NFL experience. Why so, let's a heck of an
12:21
Speaker 1: upgrade at this point. And I think they're really happy
12:24
Speaker 1: that he was there, and they were excited to be
12:26
Speaker 1: able to claim him former second round draft pick in
12:29
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen and again three years of starting experience. I
12:33
Speaker 1: haven't looked at PF grades or anything like that. I'm
12:36
Speaker 1: guessing if the Texans let him go, his grades must
12:39
Speaker 1: not have been off the charts. But nonetheless, like we said,
12:43
Speaker 1: the Bengals are not expecting to plug him in as
12:45
Speaker 1: the starting left guard or anything like that. They're trying
12:47
Speaker 1: to get better in those backup spots. Yeah, and I think,
12:51
Speaker 1: you know, having a backup with experience like that, you
12:55
Speaker 1: know that that's something that can help a young lineman
12:57
Speaker 1: as well, like Folson, because Jack and Carmen as a
13:01
Speaker 1: you know, as a you know, a backup player doesn't
13:04
Speaker 1: have all that much experience. Sharping is somebody that in
13:08
Speaker 1: that room has the most experience of well other than
13:13
Speaker 1: you know. On the other side, you have Kappa, who's
13:16
Speaker 1: obviously played on a Super Bowl winning team. That's a
13:19
Speaker 1: that's a much different dynamic. But you've got another guy
13:22
Speaker 1: that the young players can can look to and lean
13:25
Speaker 1: on and pick the brain of and and all that
13:28
Speaker 1: sort of thing. So I think they're feeling like sharping
13:31
Speaker 1: sharpens that entire offensive line room a little bit in
13:34
Speaker 1: terms of the mental part of the game as well
13:36
Speaker 1: as physical. Waiver claim number two, three hundred and five
13:39
Speaker 1: pound interior defensive lineman j To Feele, drafted by the
13:44
Speaker 1: Jaguars last year, played for the Jaguars last year. Now,
13:47
Speaker 1: he apparently had some injury problems. He only appeared in
13:51
Speaker 1: four games. As I turn off my ringing cell phone,
13:55
Speaker 1: but that one kind of interested me because the Bengals
13:58
Speaker 1: kept a lot of defensive linemen and it'll be interesting
14:01
Speaker 1: to see what exactly they do to make room for
14:03
Speaker 1: j to Fele. Yeah, but they only had four defensive
14:08
Speaker 1: tackles in that in that mix, and they wanted to
14:10
Speaker 1: go with five. So are they gonna go five and five?
14:15
Speaker 1: You know, one less edge rush guy, the vulnerable spots.
14:20
Speaker 1: As you look at the at the roster, the eleventh
14:23
Speaker 1: defensive back, whoever that may be, is that Alan George,
14:26
Speaker 1: you know, the rookie college free agent who made the
14:30
Speaker 1: first fifty three minion roster. And like we said, there's
14:33
Speaker 1: going to be multiple fifty three min rosters here over
14:36
Speaker 1: the next few days, and there's going to be practice
14:39
Speaker 1: squad construction variances over the next few days, that sixteen
14:44
Speaker 1: player practice squad list could look different from one day
14:48
Speaker 1: to the next. I mean, that's just the nature of
14:50
Speaker 1: the beast in the National Football League these days. And
14:52
Speaker 1: then you'd have to think another spot of vulnerability would
14:55
Speaker 1: be the fourth running back Trayon Williams potentially, you know,
14:59
Speaker 1: makes it on the initial fifty three man roster, but
15:03
Speaker 1: that's that's a luxury as a fourth running back as such.
15:07
Speaker 1: So those are two spots potentially where if they have
15:11
Speaker 1: to make moves, they're gonna they're gonna make some moves
15:14
Speaker 1: with guys that are gonna go to IR. You know,
15:16
Speaker 1: after they make the fifty three man roster, they put
15:18
Speaker 1: them on IR. It's only a four game stretch that
15:21
Speaker 1: they're gonna miss. So you know, there's there's all kinds
15:25
Speaker 1: of roster procedures to follow, and and and if you're
15:30
Speaker 1: in the last five or six guys on any roster
15:33
Speaker 1: in the National Football League, or you're a practice squad guy,
15:36
Speaker 1: you don't go to sleep and sleep soundly every night,
15:39
Speaker 1: there's no doubt about that. It can be in flux,
15:42
Speaker 1: and that's what's going on here. But yeah, I think
15:45
Speaker 1: they were looking for that fifth defensive tackle, and when
15:48
Speaker 1: Shelton didn't work out, you know, they still were looking
15:51
Speaker 1: and they like what they saw. Um in to fele
15:55
Speaker 1: so big boy, plug up that interior. You know, all
16:00
Speaker 1: the beef upfront, you can get waiver claim number three,
16:03
Speaker 1: a tight end from New England, Devon ASSISI, former third
16:08
Speaker 1: round draft pick. He's been with the Patriots the last
16:10
Speaker 1: couple of years. Doesn't have a lot of catches at
16:13
Speaker 1: the NFL level. It looks like he profiles more as
16:15
Speaker 1: a blocking, inline type tight end. Yeah, but I guess
16:20
Speaker 1: coach Casey probably watches as much tight end film or
16:24
Speaker 1: more than anybody in the National Football League. And they
16:27
Speaker 1: did see, you know, routes that were intriguing. You know
16:30
Speaker 1: that he ran and uh and he had some some
16:34
Speaker 1: potential in that regard and catching the football. But you're right,
16:38
Speaker 1: I think, you know, you look at him as as
16:41
Speaker 1: more of a physical hand in the dirt at the
16:44
Speaker 1: end of the line of scrimmage. You know, inline blocker
16:46
Speaker 1: could fill that role. So obviously, with what's going on,
16:50
Speaker 1: if O. J. Howard, you know, makes his way to
16:53
Speaker 1: Cincinnati this evening, like is being projected and they signed him,
16:58
Speaker 1: and you know, they address they addressed the position again
17:01
Speaker 1: with Asiasi. It's like they were really concerned about that
17:05
Speaker 1: tight end position from a health standpoint. You know, could
17:09
Speaker 1: they have enough healthy bodies to throw three of them
17:12
Speaker 1: out on the football field that you might need during
17:14
Speaker 1: the course of the game against Pittsburgh Steelers or other
17:17
Speaker 1: games that on that schedule. So they had to do
17:21
Speaker 1: a quick remake there. It looks like, well, let's talk
17:23
Speaker 1: about OJ Howard. Sounds like the first step is to
17:26
Speaker 1: make sure he could pass a physical. He had a
17:28
Speaker 1: torn achilles a couple of years ago, the nineteenth pick
17:31
Speaker 1: in the draft back in twenty nineteen. The Bengals really
17:33
Speaker 1: liked him in that draft. I guess they took John
17:36
Speaker 1: Ross instead. That didn't work out so well. But he's
17:39
Speaker 1: a guy had some success early in his career, but
17:42
Speaker 1: always missed a few games every season. Then he had
17:44
Speaker 1: the torn achilles two years ago. The Bills signed him
17:48
Speaker 1: this past offseason. How how concerned should we be that
17:52
Speaker 1: Buffalo did not hold on to him when they're guaranteeing
17:55
Speaker 1: him a couple million dollars this year. That's that's a
17:59
Speaker 1: that's a red flag. I mean, that's a warning sign.
18:01
Speaker 1: And again I think, like you describe, the physical is everything.
18:05
Speaker 1: It's all important and um, it's interesting around the National
18:09
Speaker 1: Football League, you know there there are teams. I mean
18:12
Speaker 1: this changes over the years with the doctors. They change
18:15
Speaker 1: with these respect for franchises. But some guys would not
18:19
Speaker 1: be able to pass the physical at one franchise and
18:21
Speaker 1: they go to another and they pass the physical. So
18:24
Speaker 1: it's it's going to be very very interesting to see
18:27
Speaker 1: if he can pass the physical, if the Bengals doctors
18:31
Speaker 1: are okay with what they see with that achilles and
18:33
Speaker 1: other things that he's had problems with. They get basically
18:37
Speaker 1: the X rays, they get the medical reports, and they
18:39
Speaker 1: tug and pull and check on everything that they possibly
18:42
Speaker 1: can and try to make as good a guests as
18:45
Speaker 1: possible about the durability of the player. But that that
18:48
Speaker 1: has been availability and durability, you know, two abilities you'd
18:52
Speaker 1: like to have. O. J. Howards had had some struggles
18:55
Speaker 1: with no question about it, because he does have you know,
18:58
Speaker 1: when healthy, he does have talent and some skill sets.
19:03
Speaker 1: There's no question about it. Let's talk about the roster cuts.
19:06
Speaker 1: I guess the closest battle appears to have been the
19:09
Speaker 1: one at punter. Thirty seven year old Kevin Huber wins
19:11
Speaker 1: the job. Twenty five year old Drew Chrisman on the
19:14
Speaker 1: practice squad for now unless another NFL team comes calling.
19:18
Speaker 1: Do you think that was as close as it appears.
19:21
Speaker 1: Do you think that was an agonizing call for Darren Simmons.
19:24
Speaker 1: I think it was close. Yeah. I think he's vacillated
19:26
Speaker 1: a little bit with it and it probably changed, you know,
19:30
Speaker 1: from week to week a little bit. I think the
19:32
Speaker 1: fact that Kevin Huber had good weeks of practice back
19:37
Speaker 1: to back weeks and training camp was a big factor.
19:41
Speaker 1: The one game he had a really good week of practice,
19:43
Speaker 1: didn't punt at all, Chrisman got all the punts, and
19:46
Speaker 1: then another good week of practice. They alternated, and it
19:50
Speaker 1: is interesting that the strength of Chrisman you blast it,
19:54
Speaker 1: and the strength of Huber directional kick and pin him
19:57
Speaker 1: back in there. Those are the opportunities that cutting those
20:00
Speaker 1: in the game. The way the rotation went, in the
20:02
Speaker 1: way the field position dictated how your approach, you know,
20:05
Speaker 1: your opportunity as a punter. It would have been very
20:07
Speaker 1: intriguing to see if we had flipped the other way around,
20:09
Speaker 1: if Chrispin could have responded like Kevin did in terms
20:13
Speaker 1: of pinning people back. And then if Kevin could have
20:16
Speaker 1: launched and maybe not a sixty five yarder, but launched
20:19
Speaker 1: a good fifty plush yard punt to try to flip
20:21
Speaker 1: field position. So I do think that, you know, I guess,
20:27
Speaker 1: as the old saying goes, the devil you know is
20:29
Speaker 1: better than one you don't. He's been around with Darren
20:32
Speaker 1: Simmons for a long time. There's big trust there. We
20:35
Speaker 1: talk about trust in these relationships between teammates and coaches
20:39
Speaker 1: and coaches and players, and there's an immense amount of
20:43
Speaker 1: trust there. And he's been part of a lot of
20:46
Speaker 1: successes with the Cincinnati Bengals, and it's it's a good
20:48
Speaker 1: football team. So you're almost hesitant to say, why disrupt
20:54
Speaker 1: the apple cart, you know. I mean, it's not like
20:57
Speaker 1: it was a knockout punch, and that's what I felt
20:59
Speaker 1: had to happen. And Chrisman had to knock him out,
21:01
Speaker 1: not not decision him, you know, he had to He
21:03
Speaker 1: had to put him on the on the floor. And
21:07
Speaker 1: I didn't think that that happened. So I'm not I'm
21:09
Speaker 1: not surprised. It wouldn't have surprised me if they decided
21:12
Speaker 1: to go the other way too. I mean, I think
21:13
Speaker 1: it was that close, but I'm certainly not surprised that
21:17
Speaker 1: they decided to stay status quo with the operation Clark
21:21
Speaker 1: Harris as the snapper, Kevin Huber as the holder, and
21:24
Speaker 1: Money mac drill in the thing and then Harris and
21:27
Speaker 1: Huber the h boys, you know, the operation there and
21:31
Speaker 1: not bobbling a snap ever in any phase of it
21:34
Speaker 1: in the operation, and Kevin Huber continuing to pin people
21:38
Speaker 1: back and put them on long field. So I think,
21:41
Speaker 1: you know, like we talked about and he said, you know,
21:43
Speaker 1: hopefully you're not never You're never backed up. You got
21:46
Speaker 1: Joe Borden, you get all these skilled players, and you're
21:48
Speaker 1: not going to be backed up. And you know, it's like, okay,
21:52
Speaker 1: I've never I haven't done a study. I never read
21:54
Speaker 1: a study which are is pinning the opponent back inside
21:58
Speaker 1: the twenty you get more opportunity. He's at that during
22:01
Speaker 1: the course of a normal season, and you do having
22:03
Speaker 1: to you know, flip bad field position. I think I
22:07
Speaker 1: think Darren Simmons puts value in backing teams up and
22:11
Speaker 1: having them make having them, you know, negotiate a big
22:14
Speaker 1: field along field to try to get some points. You
22:17
Speaker 1: mentioned Alan George earlier. Of the guys that at least
22:21
Speaker 1: made the initial fifty three man roster, he would be
22:24
Speaker 1: the most unlikely story, I would think, an undrafted free agent.
22:27
Speaker 1: I looked him up in the Dane Brugler pre draft
22:31
Speaker 1: guide The Beast. He was listed as the number eighty
22:34
Speaker 1: four cornerback coming out of college last year. And I'm
22:38
Speaker 1: not sure why. He ran a four foward eight four
22:40
Speaker 1: four eight forty. That's not, you know, top ten draft
22:44
Speaker 1: pick speed, but that's fast enough. He's got an eighty
22:47
Speaker 1: and a half inch wingspan that was about as big
22:50
Speaker 1: as anybody in the draft. He went to Vanderbilt, so
22:53
Speaker 1: he's smart. I think he can play in the NFL.
22:56
Speaker 1: What do you think he's shown it. I mean, he
23:00
Speaker 1: thought he made really good decisions in terms of when
23:05
Speaker 1: to break on the football. I thought his coverage was
23:07
Speaker 1: very sticky. Thought he got his hands on footballs, he
23:10
Speaker 1: had opportunities to make plays on footballs. I thought that
23:14
Speaker 1: he just absolutely capitalized on every every snap opportunity that
23:17
Speaker 1: he got. And sometimes, you know, guys fall through the cracks.
23:22
Speaker 1: People miss on guys. There's no two ways about it.
23:24
Speaker 1: And you got to credit the Bengals scouting department in
23:28
Speaker 1: personnel department for saying, you know what, this guy's got
23:32
Speaker 1: some traits that you have to have in terms of
23:35
Speaker 1: the arm length and the body type and the intelligence
23:40
Speaker 1: and football IQ and all those things that go along
23:42
Speaker 1: with it. I mean, he's he's a very very bright
23:46
Speaker 1: guy to talk to. There's no question about that. Very
23:49
Speaker 1: mature kind of mature beyond his years. Married man. The player,
23:54
Speaker 1: the coaches, and his teammates I think look at him
23:56
Speaker 1: as like not your typical rookie in that regard. You know,
24:00
Speaker 1: it seems like he's got some life experiences tucked under
24:03
Speaker 1: his belt already. So yeah, it'll be interesting to see
24:07
Speaker 1: if he's if he's still with that fifty three man
24:10
Speaker 1: roster or he's going to have to suffer, you know,
24:13
Speaker 1: going through waivers and being put on the practice squad
24:16
Speaker 1: and all that sort of thing, you know, at this stage.
24:19
Speaker 1: But I think his future is bright. I think that
24:22
Speaker 1: he put enough good tape out there that, as they
24:26
Speaker 1: do decide to eliminate him from the fifty three man roster,
24:30
Speaker 1: now that somebody may pick him up. It's there's a
24:34
Speaker 1: strong possibility there. I think teams around the league say, Okay,
24:37
Speaker 1: this is a pretty good defensive football team. They have
24:39
Speaker 1: a pretty good back end. Luna Rumo and company decided
24:42
Speaker 1: to keep him. Let's take a let's let's look at
24:44
Speaker 1: the tape again and make sure we didn't miss anything,
24:47
Speaker 1: and it would not shock me if he gets grabbed
24:49
Speaker 1: by somebody. Several of our fellow reporters on the Bengals
24:54
Speaker 1: beat came out of the final preseason game thinking that
24:57
Speaker 1: Jake Browning was pushing Brandon Allen for the backup quarterback spot.
25:00
Speaker 1: I'll be honest, I never really saw it that way,
25:02
Speaker 1: but there are certainly instances where I'm wrong about stuff
25:06
Speaker 1: like that. Did you see it that way? Did you
25:08
Speaker 1: think that there was a chance that Jake Brownie was
25:10
Speaker 1: going to move up to the number two spot? I
25:12
Speaker 1: think that that Jake Brownie took advantage of situations where
25:18
Speaker 1: you know, at the end of preseason football games there
25:22
Speaker 1: are guys planned that aren't necessarily being encountered on to
25:25
Speaker 1: be big contributors during the course of the season. But
25:28
Speaker 1: then he's playing with guys in the same category, so
25:31
Speaker 1: it's like, Okay, he put those guys on his shoulder.
25:36
Speaker 1: On his back and said, I'm going to take you
25:38
Speaker 1: to a high level of execution and performance, and everybody
25:44
Speaker 1: fed off of that. You had, you know, guys that
25:48
Speaker 1: are going to be potential practice squad receivers didn't make
25:52
Speaker 1: the fifty three men roster, but you know, young receivers
25:55
Speaker 1: took advantage. And one of the young receivers is now
25:58
Speaker 1: down in Jacksonville, so you know he get claimed and
26:01
Speaker 1: put on a fifty three man roster. So it's you know,
26:04
Speaker 1: it's a it's it's a situation where I don't think
26:10
Speaker 1: they were fortunate and Brandon Allen didn't do anything to
26:12
Speaker 1: lose the spot that he had. Jake Browning maybe pushed
26:17
Speaker 1: it a little bit, competed with him, but it's almost
26:19
Speaker 1: like the Kevin Huber Chrispin thing did. Was there a knockout?
26:23
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't think, you know, you don't make
26:26
Speaker 1: a move like that on a split decision. And I
26:29
Speaker 1: do think that the relationship between Joe Burrow and h
26:34
Speaker 1: and Brandon Allen as a factor as well. I mean,
26:36
Speaker 1: I think that Joe Burrow respects Brandon Allen's opinion, respects
26:40
Speaker 1: how Brandon Allen sees things and all that that goes
26:43
Speaker 1: along with it in that quarterback room. And I know
26:45
Speaker 1: that the relationship that Brandon Allen has was Zach Taylor,
26:49
Speaker 1: and you know Dan Pitcher his position coach, and Brian Callahan.
26:52
Speaker 1: All those factors are are real. So I didn't see
26:59
Speaker 1: it as he was competing with them, for sure, But
27:01
Speaker 1: I didn't see Brandon Allen in tremendous danger by any
27:05
Speaker 1: structuring the imagination the offensive line is set. Zach Taylor
27:09
Speaker 1: officially said that Cordell Wilson will be the starting left guard.
27:13
Speaker 1: Those guys practice together last week and those joint practices
27:16
Speaker 1: against the Rams. So if you take last week, this week,
27:19
Speaker 1: and next week, they'll have about three weeks together as
27:22
Speaker 1: a starting offensive line. That a good amount of time
27:25
Speaker 1: to develop chemistry and communication and the things that make
27:28
Speaker 1: that fist that you often talk about. Yeah, you know
27:31
Speaker 1: it's it's when you look at it and you think,
27:34
Speaker 1: here's a team that was within a whisker winning the
27:37
Speaker 1: Super Bowl, and eighty percent of their offensive lines different
27:40
Speaker 1: than the one that played in that Super Bowl, four
27:42
Speaker 1: different starters. The only consistent dimension is having Jonah Williams
27:48
Speaker 1: at the left tackle position. That's that's pretty unbelievable. Really,
27:54
Speaker 1: I do think those RAMS practices were critical. I think
27:58
Speaker 1: that they're going to work together as a unit more
28:01
Speaker 1: now in the next couple of weeks. They haven't really
28:03
Speaker 1: particularly LC. I mean, Collins hasn't been able to get
28:06
Speaker 1: many reps in many snaps because of that back usure
28:08
Speaker 1: that he was dealing with. I think that he's going
28:11
Speaker 1: to have to, you know, push that a little bit.
28:13
Speaker 1: They're gonna have to see if he can go and
28:16
Speaker 1: if they can count on him to go. So I
28:18
Speaker 1: do think you have to It's not going to be
28:20
Speaker 1: live or at the speed that it was against the
28:24
Speaker 1: Rams in a lot of situations. But one on one
28:26
Speaker 1: pass rush is one on one pass rush that is
28:27
Speaker 1: full go. And then the stunts that you do in
28:31
Speaker 1: that you know, t eet, twist, tackle, tackle, twist, the
28:35
Speaker 1: whole nine yards. I would like to see a blitz
28:38
Speaker 1: period or two where it's the entire front seven because
28:42
Speaker 1: a lot of times, you know, you pick up the
28:45
Speaker 1: twists and stunts to the line of scrimmage, but then
28:47
Speaker 1: when you have to get your eyes to the next
28:48
Speaker 1: level and here comes a linebacker downhill and he's involved
28:51
Speaker 1: with a twist and he's scrape, and you've got to
28:53
Speaker 1: make sure that everybody's on the same page recognizing the
28:56
Speaker 1: same things. It's almost like almost like a quarterback receiver,
29:00
Speaker 1: they see things through the same eyes. Everybody in the
29:03
Speaker 1: offensive line has to see everything through the same eyes.
29:06
Speaker 1: And with the experience that these guys have, and I'm
29:10
Speaker 1: talking about reps and snaps at a high level, you know,
29:13
Speaker 1: super Bowl game winners, in playoff participants, they've they've they've
29:18
Speaker 1: seen it now they just need to see it together
29:22
Speaker 1: and again see it through the same eyes. Make sure
29:25
Speaker 1: that that there they feel comfortable with when I set
29:30
Speaker 1: I'm on the exact level I need to be at
29:31
Speaker 1: with respect my guard, when they're twists and stunt's taken
29:34
Speaker 1: place and all those little fine tuning things. I think
29:37
Speaker 1: they're going to be fine. But I do think I
29:39
Speaker 1: do think that they're going to be better towards the
29:42
Speaker 1: end of September than there at the beginning of September.
29:45
Speaker 1: It'll probably take a little while to get rhythm and
29:46
Speaker 1: timing down and all that in the comfort level, but
29:49
Speaker 1: I think they've mentally, they've been at it for a
29:52
Speaker 1: while in terms of recognizing, communicating, and trying to get
29:56
Speaker 1: seeing things through the same eyes like I was talking about.
29:59
Speaker 1: But then those physical reps are important. Dan, there's no
30:01
Speaker 1: substitute for him. In that second practice against the Rams,
30:05
Speaker 1: LC had some trouble with Leonard Floyd. Leonard Floyd as
30:08
Speaker 1: a fine player. I'm not referring to the three fights
30:10
Speaker 1: that they got into, but just the matchup against Leonard Floyd.
30:14
Speaker 1: Do you find that concerning considering how little ELC practiced.
30:18
Speaker 1: I think I think that he went against a high
30:21
Speaker 1: caliber guy with very little time to prepare, you know,
30:25
Speaker 1: and knocking the dustin rustoff is one thing. Knocking dustin
30:30
Speaker 1: rustoff against a guy who's one of the one of
30:34
Speaker 1: the best edge rush guys available in the National Football League,
30:38
Speaker 1: it's a challenge. So I think I think that that
30:43
Speaker 1: was an eye opener um. And I do think that
30:47
Speaker 1: Um that his muscle memory, everything is going to come
30:50
Speaker 1: back pretty darn quickly, every every every part of his
30:53
Speaker 1: game that make him the great player that he is.
30:57
Speaker 1: I think it's it's gonna hopefully it's for the Pittsburgh Steelers,
31:01
Speaker 1: because you know, you look at what they provide on
31:03
Speaker 1: the edge of your kid me. TJ. Watt tied the
31:05
Speaker 1: record twenty two sacks or twenty two and a half
31:08
Speaker 1: whatever it was last year, that that group can rush
31:12
Speaker 1: the pastor I mean five straight years they've led the
31:14
Speaker 1: NFL and sacks. It's nuts. They had fifty sacks last year.
31:18
Speaker 1: So we know Ogan Joebi, we know Cam Hayward, TJ.
31:24
Speaker 1: Watt if totally healthy, he had that strain of his MCL,
31:27
Speaker 1: but it looks like he's going to be able to
31:30
Speaker 1: make the dance and be a pretty good dancer. So
31:33
Speaker 1: the offensive line has a challenge, There's no two ways
31:36
Speaker 1: about it. It's going to be a very very big
31:38
Speaker 1: key in this football game. That veteran group that they
31:42
Speaker 1: signed in free agency and then the rookie to compliment
31:45
Speaker 1: them that they that's what they wanted to do. Let's
31:48
Speaker 1: go repare the offensive line hit it with three pretty
31:52
Speaker 1: darned good veteran players and drafted rookie who shows that
31:56
Speaker 1: he's ready, maybe even a little earlier than they thought.
31:59
Speaker 1: Going to get hester ruddy gay right away against division
32:02
Speaker 1: rival Pittsburgh. It's not going to be an easy chore,
32:04
Speaker 1: that's for sure. Last thing. Hopefully those five offensive linemen
32:08
Speaker 1: will gel and they'll be terrific, and the Bengals will
32:10
Speaker 1: have an above average offensive line this year, but chances
32:13
Speaker 1: are they won't all start all seventeen games. Guys go down.
32:16
Speaker 1: Things happen during the course of the season. Of the
32:19
Speaker 1: backups Carmen Hill, Identagy Smith, Prince now Sharping being added
32:26
Speaker 1: to the mixed, Who do you feel best about? Yeah, Sharping,
32:30
Speaker 1: you know, going to really take a look at I mean,
32:32
Speaker 1: obviously though, he was highly regarded coming out of college
32:35
Speaker 1: and was a starter in the National Football League for
32:38
Speaker 1: three seasons, so he's got some pelts on the wall,
32:40
Speaker 1: there's no question about that. But I think the guy
32:43
Speaker 1: that's probably been the most consistent as Trey Hill, you know,
32:47
Speaker 1: in terms of if Ted Carriss were to go down,
32:50
Speaker 1: you know, what would you do. I think Trey Hill
32:54
Speaker 1: has shown steady progress. I think he's gotten better. I
32:57
Speaker 1: think he's been very consistent with his efforts during during
33:02
Speaker 1: a training camp. You know, I think idenergy has gotten
33:06
Speaker 1: better as camp has gone on as well. But Trey Hill,
33:10
Speaker 1: I think, is like you know what what, probably pretty
33:12
Speaker 1: well against the Giants and then followed it up with
33:15
Speaker 1: pretty good work in practice against the Rams and during
33:18
Speaker 1: the game against the Rams. So I feel pretty good
33:21
Speaker 1: about him. Being able to, you know, to play really
33:25
Speaker 1: any three of the interior positions if need be in
33:27
Speaker 1: a pinch. Really, all right, You've got your last weekend
33:31
Speaker 1: off for a long time coming up this Saturday and Sunday.
33:34
Speaker 1: Hopefully there's some good grandchildren time planned. Yes, we do
33:37
Speaker 1: have some good grandchildren time. We've got my granddaughter turned
33:42
Speaker 1: nine years old this week, so we're having a big
33:44
Speaker 1: birthday celebration for her on Saturday on this weekend and
33:48
Speaker 1: roller skating and then all kinds of stuff and Labor
33:52
Speaker 1: Day fireworks since it's going to be a big Wallala loser.
33:55
Speaker 1: But yeah, I get some of that done. And man,
33:57
Speaker 1: you rest up to you talk about my schedule. My goodness,
34:00
Speaker 1: I remember what it was like double duty man with
34:04
Speaker 1: college football in the NFL. It's the best. But I
34:08
Speaker 1: remember being sleep deprived a few times and thinking, oh,
34:11
Speaker 1: my goodness, I would just I'd give a lot, just
34:14
Speaker 1: for two more hours. And you don't even drink coffee.
34:17
Speaker 1: I don't know how you did it. I don't I
34:19
Speaker 1: don't drink coffee. No, it was, it was, It was interesting.
34:23
Speaker 1: And then for about a seven year stretch, I was
34:26
Speaker 1: doing high school games on Friday, and then doing a
34:29
Speaker 1: college games Saturday and an NFL game Sunday? What was
34:33
Speaker 1: I thinking? What was I thinking? I assumed they all paid. Yeah,
34:37
Speaker 1: but the prep, I mean the prep was like, okay, well,
34:40
Speaker 1: now the high school was the hardest prep because there's
34:42
Speaker 1: a hundred kids. You know. It's like, man, that was
34:45
Speaker 1: that was not a very smart commitment because you just
34:48
Speaker 1: can't do it. It's almost impossible to do it the
34:50
Speaker 1: way you want to do it, doing it right, you know,
34:53
Speaker 1: and it's like, ah am, I giving everything the attention
34:56
Speaker 1: I need to get it. So you you impressed me? Dan?
34:59
Speaker 1: You are are you have? You're so organized, you have
35:02
Speaker 1: a download science, your prep is impeccable, and you're the best.
35:07
Speaker 1: You get it done. You're a pros pro. Thanks buddy.
35:09
Speaker 1: I'm gonna have fun in Fanville, Arkansas and Saturday. I
35:12
Speaker 1: can tell you that Suee Pick're gonna be I remember
35:15
Speaker 1: when Texas, Arkansas We're out out to dinner and all
35:19
Speaker 1: these Arkansas fans, I mean, every bite they're taking to
35:21
Speaker 1: Suee Pig, It's like, what the heck is this? Man?
35:24
Speaker 1: College football is the best though, It's great, isn't it.
35:27
Speaker 1: I am definitely looking forward to calling Saturday's game between
35:30
Speaker 1: twenty third ranks Cincinnati and number nineteen Arkansas. I also
35:35
Speaker 1: got a great Friday night restaurant recommendation from former razorback
35:40
Speaker 1: star Brandon Allen. That's going to do it. For this
35:43
Speaker 1: episode of The Bengals Booth Podcast, presented by Ultimate Bengals.
35:47
Speaker 1: Download Ultimate Bengals ahead of the twenty twenty two season.
35:50
Speaker 1: It's free to play next level fantasy football with fantastic
35:54
Speaker 1: Bengals prizes. Get it now on the App Store and
35:57
Speaker 1: Google Play. And if you haven't done so already, please
36:00
Speaker 1: subscribe to this podcast and if you have a minute,
36:03
Speaker 1: give it a rating or share a comment. Matt helps
36:06
Speaker 1: more Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horde and thanks
36:10
Speaker 1: for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast