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Bengals Booth Podcast: Patience · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: I get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The all we need is just
0:11
Speaker 1: a little patience. Addition, as we look back at the Bengals'
0:18
Speaker 1: biggest issues in their first two games of the year
0:20
Speaker 1: and look ahead to Sunday's game against another OH and
0:23
Speaker 1: two team, the Philadelphia Eagles. Coming up, Dave Lappham joins
0:27
Speaker 1: me to discuss protecting Joe, connecting with AJ, and expecting
0:33
Speaker 1: a better pass rush. This week's one on one player
0:36
Speaker 1: interview is with Kevin Huber, whose goal twelve years ago
0:40
Speaker 1: was to punt until he was thirty five years old.
0:44
Speaker 1: He's made it, so what's his goal now? And finally
0:48
Speaker 1: it's our no the Faux segment as we get an
0:50
Speaker 1: entertaining look at the Eagles from Michael Barkan, who hosts
0:54
Speaker 1: the team's pre and postgame shows on NBC Sports Philadelphia.
0:59
Speaker 1: The Bengal Booth Podcast is presented by Prime Sport, the
1:02
Speaker 1: official hospitality partner of the Cincinnati Bengals. And here's a
1:06
Speaker 1: quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of
1:08
Speaker 1: this podcast delivered write to your phone, tablet, or computer
1:12
Speaker 1: by subscribing on iTunes. Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean.
1:18
Speaker 1: It's the greatest thing since that other pregame show. Since
1:24
Speaker 1: the Bengals played at four o'clock in Week one and
1:26
Speaker 1: on Thursday Night in Week two, I've had more time
1:29
Speaker 1: available on the first two Sunday mornings of this season
1:32
Speaker 1: than I do when the Bengals have their usual one
1:34
Speaker 1: o'clock kick. That's given me the chance to watch that
1:38
Speaker 1: other pregame show, which airs from eight to noon every
1:42
Speaker 1: Sunday on CBS Sports Network. The cast includes host Adam Shine,
1:47
Speaker 1: former players Kyle Long and London Fletcher, and former Raiders
1:51
Speaker 1: executive Amy Trask and is just the right mix of
1:54
Speaker 1: information and entertainment without the painful fake laughs you have
2:00
Speaker 1: to endure on the traditional network pregame shows. So check
2:04
Speaker 1: out that other pregame show or tops for short Sunday
2:09
Speaker 1: mornings on CBS Sports Network. Now, let's get to the Bengals,
2:13
Speaker 1: beginning with this week's breakdown with Dave Lapham lap I
2:18
Speaker 1: think when the schedule came out and we looked at
2:21
Speaker 1: Week three, a road game in Philly, most of us figured,
2:24
Speaker 1: all right, that's an l right, but not anymore. The
2:27
Speaker 1: Eagles struggled in their first two games worse than the
2:30
Speaker 1: Bengals did. They blew a seventeen nothing lead to Washington
2:33
Speaker 1: in Week one, gave up twenty seven straight points and
2:36
Speaker 1: lost twenty seven to seventeen. Then they lost by eighteen
2:39
Speaker 1: points to the Rams last week. Yeah. I mean they've
2:42
Speaker 1: been outscored sixty four to thirty six, twenty six points
2:46
Speaker 1: allowed in the fourth quarter. I mean they've down the stretch,
2:48
Speaker 1: They've they've collapsed basically, and you know, you think, okay,
2:53
Speaker 1: playoff team more than not on the road in Philadelphia,
2:57
Speaker 1: fans at BOO Santa Claus when the schedule came out. Now,
3:01
Speaker 1: they don't look like the Philadelphi Eagles expected and anticipated,
3:04
Speaker 1: and there's going to be no fans in the stand,
3:06
Speaker 1: so it's going to be a much easier scenario to
3:09
Speaker 1: try to go steal a w in Philadelphia. I agree
3:12
Speaker 1: with you, Dan, I mean, I think right now the
3:15
Speaker 1: Eagles are doing a lot of things wrong. I mean,
3:17
Speaker 1: six giveaways, dead last in the NFL, minus five turnover ratio,
3:20
Speaker 1: dead last in the NFL. We think the Bengals have
3:23
Speaker 1: turnover issues. Man, Philadelphia, they got more turnovers in a
3:27
Speaker 1: bakery many they're just producing them. Left and right. Basically
3:33
Speaker 1: one third of the league so far ISZ and two.
3:35
Speaker 1: Eleven of the thirty two teams are off to an
3:37
Speaker 1: O and two start. The Bengals lost their two games
3:40
Speaker 1: by a total of eight points, and there's only one
3:43
Speaker 1: team with an O and two record with a smaller
3:46
Speaker 1: point differential, Denver. They lost their first two games by
3:48
Speaker 1: a total of seven points. Should we be encouraged by that?
3:53
Speaker 1: I guess, I guess you could be, you know, but
3:56
Speaker 1: people are going to compare the Cleveland Browns to the
3:59
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh Steelers, which who the Bengals played Cleveland, Denver played Pittsburgh,
4:03
Speaker 1: you know in Week two. Yeah, it's I don't know,
4:07
Speaker 1: I guess, I guess, you know. Close. Only constant horseshoes
4:11
Speaker 1: and hand gernads, as the old saying goes, and Mike Man, Mike,
4:15
Speaker 1: we've been saying for a while. Oh, in ten now,
4:18
Speaker 1: in two seasons games decided by eight points or less,
4:21
Speaker 1: NFL standard says, when about half of them, they haven't
4:25
Speaker 1: won one of them. So it's a matter of learning
4:27
Speaker 1: how to finish or making plays at crucial times of
4:31
Speaker 1: football games. They're going to be a big factor in
4:33
Speaker 1: determining the outcome of the football game. You can't let
4:35
Speaker 1: an opportunity that when it presents itself just slip through
4:38
Speaker 1: your fingers and move on. That's that's coming back to
4:42
Speaker 1: Biden big time. There's no doubt the Bengals are giving
4:44
Speaker 1: up one hundred eighty five rushing yards per game so far,
4:47
Speaker 1: third worst in the NFL. It would help. I would
4:50
Speaker 1: think if Geno Atkins and Mike Daniels returned this week,
4:53
Speaker 1: but neither one is practicing today, and if I had
4:56
Speaker 1: to guess, I'd guess, you know, if the injury are equal,
5:02
Speaker 1: meaning that the groin injury wasn't a real, real severe
5:04
Speaker 1: one and it's going to take like you know, forever.
5:07
Speaker 1: In Gino's shoulder injury, whether it's rotator cuff or if
5:11
Speaker 1: it's labor on, whatever it is, it's not, I think
5:15
Speaker 1: probably have a better chance of Daniel's coming back from
5:17
Speaker 1: a groin you know, depending on the severity of the pull,
5:20
Speaker 1: a groin strain, a growing pull. I would think that
5:23
Speaker 1: Daniels may be able to make the dance in a
5:26
Speaker 1: better way than Geno Atkins would potentially and maybe need
5:30
Speaker 1: another week or so for Gino and you know, again,
5:34
Speaker 1: their day to day week to week, but the fact
5:36
Speaker 1: that neither one of them practiced, you know, and when
5:40
Speaker 1: when they came back with the extra practice time, Today's
5:43
Speaker 1: today's injury report will have a big bearing on it.
5:46
Speaker 1: Wednesday's the big work day. Hopefully at least one of
5:50
Speaker 1: them went limited. Maybe both went limited. But if I
5:54
Speaker 1: were to pick one that might have done something today,
5:57
Speaker 1: I'd probably gamble and pick Daniel's over. At let's talk
6:01
Speaker 1: offensive line. Pro Football Focus has the Bengals ranked twenty
6:06
Speaker 1: sixth in past blocking so far. Who are the sixth best,
6:11
Speaker 1: sixteen twentieth in run blocking so far? How has the
6:18
Speaker 1: old line performed in your opinion, you know, it's been
6:22
Speaker 1: I guess spotty would be kind. I do think that
6:28
Speaker 1: Fred obviously had a couple of issues, but I do
6:30
Speaker 1: agree with Zach's comments that he didn't even have a practice,
6:34
Speaker 1: a full practice with any physicality to it before going
6:38
Speaker 1: into play Thursday night against the Cleveland Browns. That's tough duty,
6:41
Speaker 1: it really is. I mean, you think, okay, you take
6:44
Speaker 1: some snaps of training camp, it wasn't. It was never
6:46
Speaker 1: really anything more than a scrimmage situation, you know, not
6:50
Speaker 1: live not tackling people in everything defense going one hundred
6:54
Speaker 1: miles an hour with a bunch of different looks and
6:55
Speaker 1: adjustments you have to make. And he probably took more
6:59
Speaker 1: snaps at tackle initially when he was battling Bobby Hart
7:03
Speaker 1: than he did a guard. And I can speak from experience.
7:06
Speaker 1: Going from tackle to guard is easier physically because you
7:10
Speaker 1: have people on both sides of you. You have less
7:11
Speaker 1: space to worry about, and not as athletic a player
7:15
Speaker 1: as you might see on the edge, So physically it
7:17
Speaker 1: might be easier although they're they're behemous. You know, you've
7:20
Speaker 1: got to be strong inside, but boy, it's fast in there.
7:24
Speaker 1: The traffic patterns are quicker on the edge. No matter
7:27
Speaker 1: what I found when I was playing all the different positions,
7:31
Speaker 1: every single assignment blocked the end. What if they do
7:34
Speaker 1: this block the end? If you're playing center a guard,
7:37
Speaker 1: they'll give you different looks. They'll bring linebackers. You know,
7:39
Speaker 1: there's a lot goes on double a gap blitz is
7:41
Speaker 1: and it's quick and man, sometimes you feel like, you know, man,
7:44
Speaker 1: you're over the speed limit. These guys are really you
7:47
Speaker 1: have to make quick So mentally it's a big adjustment
7:50
Speaker 1: going from tackle to guard. Physically, it's not as much.
7:54
Speaker 1: Although Fred got rocked man on that bullrush, he got
7:58
Speaker 1: rocked and I was surprised. I thought that would not
8:01
Speaker 1: be happening to Fred. If I were to pick anything,
8:04
Speaker 1: that wouldn't happen to Fred, being the behemoth that he is.
8:06
Speaker 1: But it just goes to show you if you're tentative
8:08
Speaker 1: at all in terms of what you're supposed to do
8:11
Speaker 1: and how you're supposed to do it, and you have
8:12
Speaker 1: a high pad level, and I don't care if you're
8:14
Speaker 1: King Kong, you know they're gonna get under your pads
8:16
Speaker 1: and knock you around a little bit. So I think,
8:19
Speaker 1: you know, it was probably really really quick for him
8:22
Speaker 1: mentally in there, and hopefully it's slowed down a little
8:24
Speaker 1: bit because it's tough. And now you have again you're
8:28
Speaker 1: between the center and tackle. Either one have worked with
8:31
Speaker 1: you in live conditions either. It's it's an issue. I mean,
8:34
Speaker 1: it's it's not as easy as people think. And but
8:37
Speaker 1: the one thing I will say, Fred Taylor has untapped upside.
8:42
Speaker 1: Fred Johnson, I keep on him run the football. Fred
8:45
Speaker 1: Johnson has untapped upside. I mean he is he is gargantulan,
8:51
Speaker 1: you know, and I do think when if he does
8:53
Speaker 1: get his feet under him and start to feel real
8:55
Speaker 1: comfortable mentally, Michael Jordan and Fred Johnson could be you know,
9:00
Speaker 1: a twin tower of strength inside at the guard position. Yeah,
9:04
Speaker 1: he he learned a couple of things. He got bowled
9:07
Speaker 1: by one guy and got beaten upfield. Miles Garrett, you know,
9:10
Speaker 1: came came upfield on him and get got a quick
9:12
Speaker 1: rush and knocked the ball out of Joe Burrow's hand.
9:15
Speaker 1: So he had a couple of major negatives, um that
9:18
Speaker 1: were visible to everybody. But boy, he needs reps that.
9:23
Speaker 1: It has been announced that Fred Johnson will start again
9:26
Speaker 1: this week at right guard, but in the meantime, Alex
9:29
Speaker 1: Redmond was resigned this week to the practice squad. At
9:31
Speaker 1: least what happens with him going forward? Do you think?
9:34
Speaker 1: I wonder if he gets activated, you know to the
9:36
Speaker 1: fifty one of the fifty five, the two guys that
9:38
Speaker 1: bring up for fifty five. But I don't know if
9:41
Speaker 1: that would be an overload inside. You know, they get Calhoun, Um, uh,
9:46
Speaker 1: let's see who else they have. They have Billy Billy
9:49
Speaker 1: and Identity playing tackle and guard. I mean, I don't know,
9:52
Speaker 1: I don't know where Redman, And I don't know exactly
9:56
Speaker 1: why he was terminated, waved or or whatever. I think
10:01
Speaker 1: it was because he keeps getting hurt. You know, he's
10:04
Speaker 1: injured himself wrestling in the offseason and couldn't participate in
10:08
Speaker 1: training camp until the very end. And you know, against
10:12
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh the year before in pregame warmups, blows his elbow out.
10:16
Speaker 1: It's like, man, you gotta be kidding me. So they're wondering.
10:19
Speaker 1: I think again again, one of the best availables, one
10:23
Speaker 1: of the best abilities to have his availability, and he
10:25
Speaker 1: hasn't been available. So is that that is it? Other things?
10:29
Speaker 1: Is it a compilation of multiple Who knows? But I
10:34
Speaker 1: do know one thing. When he is healthy, that is
10:37
Speaker 1: one finishing fool. He is the strong. He is a
10:40
Speaker 1: strong guy that loves to fight you. He will battle you,
10:44
Speaker 1: he will finish you. He loves hand to hand combat.
10:47
Speaker 1: He's one of the best finishers I think in the league.
10:49
Speaker 1: I mean, the dude is like distraught. If he doesn't
10:53
Speaker 1: dominate a guy at the end, he'll give him the
10:55
Speaker 1: rabbit punch. He'll give him that, you know, a little
10:57
Speaker 1: gut action. He'll do anything to finish guys. That's another issue.
11:02
Speaker 1: You don't want to be drawn penalties unnecessarily and all
11:05
Speaker 1: that sort of thing. But that guy wants to compete, man,
11:08
Speaker 1: he wants to finish. So I think I think he's
11:12
Speaker 1: a He belongs to the National Football League. Just gotta
11:16
Speaker 1: get everything right, everything calmed down, everything in place, and
11:20
Speaker 1: get healthy. See if he can contribute. Alex Redman, he
11:23
Speaker 1: is a little nutty, but he is lovable in his
11:25
Speaker 1: own brawling sort of way. According to the official league
11:30
Speaker 1: stats in Cleveland, the Browns sacked Joe Burrow three times
11:34
Speaker 1: and had seven quarterback hits. And there's a common misconception
11:38
Speaker 1: that those are separate numbers. They're not right. It might
11:42
Speaker 1: be different for Pro Football Focus or football outsiders, but
11:45
Speaker 1: according to the official NFL stats, right, a sack counts
11:50
Speaker 1: as a quarterback hit, and it should. You shouldn't get
11:53
Speaker 1: double you know, double credit forward if your defense right.
11:56
Speaker 1: So by official NFL stat keeping, he was hit seven
11:59
Speaker 1: times in the Cleveland game. Now that seemed low to me.
12:02
Speaker 1: So I went back and I watched the All twenty
12:04
Speaker 1: two video. And there's another thing. If a quarterback gets
12:08
Speaker 1: rocked running the ball, that doesn't count as a quarterback hit.
12:11
Speaker 1: That's strictly the stat exists for pass rushing, so I
12:15
Speaker 1: included runs and I counted up eleven times that Burrow
12:20
Speaker 1: was legitimately knocked to the ground, some harder than others
12:23
Speaker 1: in the Cleveland game. Is that sustainable for Joe Burrow?
12:28
Speaker 1: I asked him that very question, like right after the game,
12:31
Speaker 1: you know how you doing? Took some shot? I'm fine.
12:34
Speaker 1: You know, he feels like a football player when he
12:37
Speaker 1: gets hit. He says all the right things. But I
12:40
Speaker 1: don't want to see an Andrew Lux situation where you know,
12:43
Speaker 1: you have a great player who just takes too many hits,
12:47
Speaker 1: whether they're because he's inflicting them a lot on himself
12:53
Speaker 1: basically by the manner in which he's playing, or the
12:56
Speaker 1: offensive line is not up to part line. Is he
13:00
Speaker 1: took a ton of hits and he said that's enough,
13:02
Speaker 1: No Moss, I'm done out of the game, Star future,
13:06
Speaker 1: I mean, bright superstar out of the game. I don't
13:08
Speaker 1: want to see that. I definitely don't want to see that.
13:11
Speaker 1: Getting hit eleven times, solid contact eleven times times sixteen
13:17
Speaker 1: football games adds up quickly. You're looking at one hundred
13:20
Speaker 1: and seventy six off the top of my head one
13:21
Speaker 1: hundred and seventy six times during the course of the season.
13:24
Speaker 1: It's a lot of hits. That's a lot of and
13:27
Speaker 1: you got a hope that some of them was direct
13:31
Speaker 1: hit to the head, that were a couple of them
13:33
Speaker 1: were missed. There were shots to the head, and you start,
13:36
Speaker 1: you know, getting that done and start scrambling things upstairs.
13:39
Speaker 1: That's not good. You don't want to be in concussion
13:41
Speaker 1: protocol and everything that goes along with that. So yeah,
13:45
Speaker 1: I mean, i'd like to see those decrease by at
13:50
Speaker 1: least fifty percent or maybe seventy five percent. I mean,
13:54
Speaker 1: you're gonna get hit, but you don't want to You
13:56
Speaker 1: don't want to see your quarterback get hit, you know,
13:59
Speaker 1: more than a handful of times. You always want to
14:01
Speaker 1: see it less than a handful of times. But if
14:03
Speaker 1: you're throwing at sixty one times, you're putting them him
14:07
Speaker 1: at risk a hell of a lot more. That's usually
14:10
Speaker 1: two football games. You throw it thirty thirty one times
14:13
Speaker 1: in a game. It's a lot of pass did one
14:15
Speaker 1: game two times the normal? I mean in one football game,
14:19
Speaker 1: that's a lot of throws. In the Bengals most recent
14:22
Speaker 1: game last Thursday in Cleveland. They threw it to Aj
14:24
Speaker 1: Green a lot and didn't get much out of it.
14:27
Speaker 1: He was targeted thirteen times, finished with just three catches
14:30
Speaker 1: for twenty nine yards. And going back to July, prior
14:34
Speaker 1: to training camp, I spoke to former Bengals wide receiver T. T. J.
14:38
Speaker 1: Hushman Zada, and I asked him this question about Aj Green.
14:44
Speaker 1: AJ Green turns thirty two on the last day of
14:47
Speaker 1: the month. How much great football does he have left
14:50
Speaker 1: in him? The way the game of football is now
14:53
Speaker 1: like honestly, as can play if he stays healthy, he
14:56
Speaker 1: can play at a high level for four to five
14:58
Speaker 1: more years. High level, high level, and the game of
15:03
Speaker 1: football is different. Like up, I'm forty two, I have
15:08
Speaker 1: weighed the same for twenty years. I still in shape,
15:11
Speaker 1: I still have ASPS. I only work out a couple
15:14
Speaker 1: of times a week. The game of football is different
15:17
Speaker 1: if guys are standing in shape. AJ in essence, his
15:20
Speaker 1: body should be healthy, if it's healthy, if that makes
15:23
Speaker 1: any sense, because he's been hurt for the last couple
15:26
Speaker 1: of years and so AJ phenomenal man. I tell people
15:31
Speaker 1: all the time, if you want to learn how to
15:32
Speaker 1: get off of press coverage. Even if the release isn't
15:35
Speaker 1: a great release, it will be a great release by
15:38
Speaker 1: watching like AJ is just so violent at the line
15:42
Speaker 1: of scrimmage that even if it's not good, it's gonna
15:45
Speaker 1: work because he believes in it. And Yeah, I'm looking
15:49
Speaker 1: forward to AJ reminded people that he's Aj Green. I'm
15:55
Speaker 1: looking forward to that because he doesn't talk a lot.
15:56
Speaker 1: He's not gonna tape himself up. And I don't even
16:00
Speaker 1: know Aj that will, but I'll hype him up. I'm
16:03
Speaker 1: looking forward to him reminded people how did he really is?
16:08
Speaker 1: All right? Again? That was t J Hushman Zata back
16:11
Speaker 1: in July. I'm not going to panic over that last
16:14
Speaker 1: game for AJ Green. It was a short week, which
16:16
Speaker 1: I think was tough on him considering the hamstring injury
16:19
Speaker 1: and training camp and the injuries he's coming back from
16:21
Speaker 1: before that. Additionally, Denzel Ward might be one of the
16:26
Speaker 1: top two or three cornerbacks in the NFL. I was
16:29
Speaker 1: gonna say Dan Denzel Ward did a great job. I don't.
16:32
Speaker 1: I can't remember a game where AJ was targeted thirteen
16:37
Speaker 1: times and only at three catches. There's never been one
16:39
Speaker 1: ten balls that he doesn't come up with. I mean,
16:41
Speaker 1: I can't, so I wonder if Darius Slay, who they
16:44
Speaker 1: picked up from the troity, three time pro bowler. I
16:46
Speaker 1: wonder if they're gonna put him on AJ all over
16:50
Speaker 1: the field like like you know, Cleveland had Ward basically
16:53
Speaker 1: on AJ. And he's gonna get He's a Pro Bowl
16:56
Speaker 1: he's gonna get If there's a pro bowler in the
16:57
Speaker 1: in the secondary, he's gonna get him. You would think,
17:00
Speaker 1: unless you know they're so stubborn about note, we're not
17:02
Speaker 1: gonna we're not going to travel corners. We're just gonna
17:05
Speaker 1: play right and left corner. AJ Green is the type
17:07
Speaker 1: of talent that might make your mind change a little bit,
17:10
Speaker 1: particularly when you look at the success that DJ Ward had.
17:14
Speaker 1: He played, he played them well, he played a good
17:17
Speaker 1: football game. And I think they're getting their hands on
17:20
Speaker 1: AJ now, hands are really you know, it's it's a big,
17:23
Speaker 1: big deal, and the officials aren't aren't really even when
17:26
Speaker 1: it's more than five yards down the field and they're
17:28
Speaker 1: getting hands on him, it's not being called. And on
17:31
Speaker 1: the touchdown that was reversed, he was bear hugged basically
17:34
Speaker 1: coming off the line of screen. It wasn't called in
17:36
Speaker 1: Week one against the Chargers, and then he did push
17:39
Speaker 1: off a little bit to get started because he was
17:41
Speaker 1: getting bear hugged and he gets called. So you would
17:44
Speaker 1: think that a guy who's made seven Pro Bowls might
17:47
Speaker 1: get a little bit of a benefit of a doubt.
17:49
Speaker 1: But right now he's not getting anything. He's really not
17:51
Speaker 1: getting much called in there. There's some sticky coverage going on.
17:55
Speaker 1: There's some handsy stuff happening. The Thursday night game in
17:58
Speaker 1: Cleveland a special one for rookie wide receiver t Higgins.
18:01
Speaker 1: He was targeted six times in that game and had
18:03
Speaker 1: his first three NFL catches, three catches for thirty five yards,
18:08
Speaker 1: including an eighteen yard or on a great throw by
18:11
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow into a very narrow window. In any case,
18:14
Speaker 1: here's the second round pick out of Clemson on his
18:17
Speaker 1: first two NFL games. Man, it's feeling like no other,
18:21
Speaker 1: you know, something always dreamed of and now I'm living
18:24
Speaker 1: my dream. You know, I just got to go out
18:25
Speaker 1: there and go out there and keep competing and go
18:29
Speaker 1: out there and get some ws now. So just like
18:32
Speaker 1: with Joe said not too long gone Thursday night when
18:35
Speaker 1: he did his interview, I've never lost two in a row.
18:38
Speaker 1: You know, it's been a long time since I've done that.
18:41
Speaker 1: Last time I've done now, I was playing basketball in
18:42
Speaker 1: high school, So I mean it's been has been a minute.
18:46
Speaker 1: Hopefully he will not experience losing three games in a row.
18:50
Speaker 1: Let's talk lap about the Bengals use of their wide receivers,
18:54
Speaker 1: particularly in the Cleveland game. Tyler Boyd got the most
18:57
Speaker 1: snaps seventy eight. AJ Green was in for fifty seven,
19:00
Speaker 1: and you would expect him to get little breaks here
19:03
Speaker 1: and there since he's coming back from the injuries. Tae
19:05
Speaker 1: Hagan's got the second most. He was in for sixty,
19:09
Speaker 1: more than twice as many as John Ross, who was
19:11
Speaker 1: in for twenty eight. Michael Thomas was in more than
19:14
Speaker 1: John Ross. He was in for thirty two snaps. Auden
19:18
Speaker 1: Tate inactive. Yeah, that one's that one's a tough one.
19:23
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, so you think Alex Erickson and
19:28
Speaker 1: Thomas will provide special teams plays snaps that Audum Tate
19:32
Speaker 1: isn't going to necessarily provide. I guess it came down
19:35
Speaker 1: to that in terms of who is going to be
19:36
Speaker 1: active for the game. But the snaps, I mean, it's
19:39
Speaker 1: a meritocracy. You know, there's no there's no way two
19:42
Speaker 1: ways about it. I mean, m John Ross's production, you know,
19:46
Speaker 1: even though he's quote the third receiver as such, you know,
19:51
Speaker 1: I would think they'd have no higher, no, no higher
19:55
Speaker 1: than number three. He hasn't really produced. So it's a
19:59
Speaker 1: meritoxic you produce. If you don't produce, your snaps are
20:01
Speaker 1: going to diminish. So te Higgins, I mean, it's all
20:04
Speaker 1: about how you practice. It's all about you know, what
20:07
Speaker 1: kind of rhythm and timing you're starting to see with
20:11
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow and some of these guys, because te Higgins
20:13
Speaker 1: really didn't work much with Joe at training camp. AJ
20:17
Speaker 1: obviously didn't, so John Ross didn't. So those guys are
20:21
Speaker 1: obviously getting in a better rhythm and timing with Joe
20:24
Speaker 1: Burrow than John Ross is. So it is, it's it's
20:27
Speaker 1: all about what you see, what the coaches see during practice,
20:30
Speaker 1: and meritocracy of you know, who's going to be able
20:33
Speaker 1: to perform, who's gonna be able to make plays. That's
20:36
Speaker 1: why the ten balls that we're in intended for Aj Green.
20:43
Speaker 1: For him not to come up with any of them,
20:45
Speaker 1: thirteen targets, three catches is so Unaj like, and it's
20:49
Speaker 1: there's probably, you know, multiple reasons for it. There's never
20:52
Speaker 1: just one reason. But that's got to change. You can't.
20:55
Speaker 1: You can't. You can't target your number one guy thirteen
20:59
Speaker 1: times and only harvest three receptions for thirty yards. Whatever
21:02
Speaker 1: it was, I forgot to mention Alex Rikson. I ran
21:05
Speaker 1: down those snapcounts, by the way, he had eight snaps
21:08
Speaker 1: at wide receiver. I don't want to be killed the
21:11
Speaker 1: play calling guy, because Zack Taylor and Brian Callahan know
21:16
Speaker 1: a million more things about offense than I ever will.
21:19
Speaker 1: But I scratch my head that they are not finding
21:22
Speaker 1: something for John Ross to do chet sweeps, some sort
21:26
Speaker 1: of packs that'll short Cross to try to take advantage
21:30
Speaker 1: of his speed. He really hasn't displayed the ability on
21:33
Speaker 1: a consistent basis to run way down field and catch
21:37
Speaker 1: forty or fifty yard throws. But can we get him
21:41
Speaker 1: the ball close to the line of scrimmage and see
21:42
Speaker 1: if he can run away from somebody. I'll tell you
21:44
Speaker 1: they better start figuring out a way to get big
21:46
Speaker 1: plays somehow, because they have one in each area twenty
21:49
Speaker 1: three yard touchdown on a quarterback draw from Joe Burrow
21:52
Speaker 1: and one twenty three yard pass which was a touchdown
21:55
Speaker 1: to cj Uzama. Those are the only splash plays of
21:58
Speaker 1: twenty yards more this season for the season, and we're talking,
22:02
Speaker 1: you know, quite a few plays. So you have to
22:06
Speaker 1: figure out some way to get some kind of you know,
22:12
Speaker 1: burst explosion chunks. Got to get some of them going.
22:15
Speaker 1: They're chunkless, they don't they don't have any chunk plays
22:18
Speaker 1: going on. Got to figure out a way and looking
22:21
Speaker 1: at him physically, Bass's got everyone the forty in the
22:25
Speaker 1: history of the National Football League. Yeah, I mean some
22:31
Speaker 1: kind of you know, little motion alley screen or something.
22:34
Speaker 1: I mean when when they have hit him on a
22:36
Speaker 1: slant he split the safeties and gone to the house.
22:39
Speaker 1: I mean, it's frustrating. It's frustrating when he's not used.
22:46
Speaker 1: It's frustrating to see him not execute when he is used.
22:49
Speaker 1: He may be as frustrating a Bengal player to watch
22:53
Speaker 1: as there's been in quite a while. He really is.
22:56
Speaker 1: Prior to last year in training camp, it's seemed like
23:01
Speaker 1: there was going to be somebody in jet sweep or
23:03
Speaker 1: fly sweep motion on almost every play. The forty nine
23:08
Speaker 1: Ers do it a ton, Chiefs do it a lot.
23:10
Speaker 1: Rams do it a lot. I've seen it more in
23:13
Speaker 1: practice than we've seen it in games. Yeah, and I
23:17
Speaker 1: mean the forty nine ers. One of their touchdowns this
23:20
Speaker 1: past week was there was so much going on in
23:23
Speaker 1: terms of motion. They had nine defensive players in a
23:27
Speaker 1: ball in the middle of the football field and it
23:29
Speaker 1: was a walk in a little short reverse touchdown run,
23:33
Speaker 1: but it had like five pieces of motion to it.
23:35
Speaker 1: It was like unbelievable. It's like, at this point, I
23:38
Speaker 1: can't trust my eyes. My eyes are deceiving me. My
23:41
Speaker 1: eyes are telling me this, my brain's telling me that.
23:43
Speaker 1: You know. It's like there's so much going on. I agree.
23:46
Speaker 1: And the running game too, where's the pin and pull?
23:51
Speaker 1: Joe Mixon was killing it with the pin and pull
23:54
Speaker 1: getting outside. I haven't seen much pin and pull. I
23:57
Speaker 1: haven't seen a whole lot of it, you know. I
24:00
Speaker 1: know in h in the second week in this game
24:04
Speaker 1: against Cleveland, Cleveland played against Baltimore. Baltimore's offense is so unique.
24:08
Speaker 1: They threw out the fronts and everything. I mean, they
24:10
Speaker 1: had Garrett in a four eye technique inside and the
24:12
Speaker 1: offensive tackle just blowing up the field to try to
24:15
Speaker 1: disrupt some of the running game. You're not gonna do that.
24:17
Speaker 1: I mean, they're not gonna line up like that against them.
24:19
Speaker 1: And they lined up in wide seven and nine techniques,
24:21
Speaker 1: so I can understand, you know, hammering the ball between
24:24
Speaker 1: the tackles. Some try to come downhill and pound them. Man,
24:28
Speaker 1: I'd like to see some of that pin and pull.
24:29
Speaker 1: That was How many times do we see Joe Mixon,
24:32
Speaker 1: you know, timing it perfectly, letting his offensive lineman work
24:36
Speaker 1: tight end, pinning, tackle blocking down center, and guard pulling.
24:39
Speaker 1: They're getting their blocks. Man, it's good looking stuff. Got
24:42
Speaker 1: to see it. Like to see that again. It's interesting
24:45
Speaker 1: that Joe Mixon because it feels like he's not getting
24:47
Speaker 1: enough touches. He's averaging twenty a game. He is fifteen
24:51
Speaker 1: carries five catches a game. Basically, they're they're they're putting
24:55
Speaker 1: the ball in his hands. They are yep, they're just
24:58
Speaker 1: right now. They're not getting any explosives everything. I remember
25:03
Speaker 1: saying it multiple times because I'm thinking it again, and
25:06
Speaker 1: I remember saying it during the Thursday night game Root
25:09
Speaker 1: Canal Surgery. Every drive is like, man, you go on
25:13
Speaker 1: a fourteen play drive for forty one yards. You don't
25:18
Speaker 1: even average four yards of play on their first drive
25:21
Speaker 1: and settle for a field goal. That's root canal surgery.
25:24
Speaker 1: I mean, man a chevits, you know. And the thing
25:27
Speaker 1: is the Philadelphia Eagles. Looking at their run defense, Dan,
25:31
Speaker 1: They're only allowing three point six to carry, seventh best
25:34
Speaker 1: in the NFL. They gave up a forty yard run.
25:37
Speaker 1: Take that run away that they had seventy five carries,
25:40
Speaker 1: So now seventy four carries two hundred and forty one
25:43
Speaker 1: yards three point two five yards are rushed. They're not
25:46
Speaker 1: an easy football team to run the ball on this
25:48
Speaker 1: defensive line. Fletcher Cox, immovable object. I mean, I'm telling
25:53
Speaker 1: you they got they got, they got some guys. The guy,
25:56
Speaker 1: the guy that I see playing pretty well again as
25:59
Speaker 1: Malik Jackson. This dude, strong, explosive. You know, he's in
26:04
Speaker 1: the rotation of three defensive tackles. Telling you not gonna
26:09
Speaker 1: be easy street running the ball against these guys either.
26:11
Speaker 1: You're not making me happy. Dave Lapplan, let's hit one
26:14
Speaker 1: more topic. After having two sacks in the opener, the
26:17
Speaker 1: Bengals did not have a sack or even a quarterback
26:20
Speaker 1: hit on Baker Mayfield. So, Carl Lawson, what's the problem
26:24
Speaker 1: with the pass rush. The struggled to stop to run.
26:27
Speaker 1: You don't get that many attempts to just have dropped
26:29
Speaker 1: back passes to get after the quarterback. So we got
26:33
Speaker 1: to fix that problem first. And then you know, obviously
26:36
Speaker 1: we have talent and the pass rusher should go get
26:38
Speaker 1: the quarterback. But that's the narrative is, oh, you you
26:41
Speaker 1: guts to struggled to get out to the quarterback. But
26:43
Speaker 1: I'm like, when you're in third and short or put
26:46
Speaker 1: teams in doing plays and boots and things of that nature,
26:48
Speaker 1: you don't really get that many drop back opportunities. As
26:50
Speaker 1: you see one of the best teams in league, and
26:53
Speaker 1: then some defenses, you know, and then last year the
26:55
Speaker 1: team that had the most sacks wasn't think it's Tampa Bay.
26:57
Speaker 1: They stopped to run first, and then they had to
26:59
Speaker 1: guys go get the quarterback. Um, Pittsburgh did a good
27:01
Speaker 1: job of stopping a run. Then they get to go
27:03
Speaker 1: get the quarterbacks. So people know what we could do.
27:06
Speaker 1: People don't want to sit back, and you've seen what
27:08
Speaker 1: happened at the end of the last season. The pass
27:10
Speaker 1: russ picked up. That's because we were you know, more sounded.
27:13
Speaker 1: We started playing again better against the run. So but
27:16
Speaker 1: you know, it's easy to go sit there and be
27:17
Speaker 1: a writer and be like, oh, the past rush sucks.
27:19
Speaker 1: I mean, like, no, we got to stop the run
27:21
Speaker 1: first so we can get those people in the positions
27:23
Speaker 1: to do that. I mean, Carl, how frustrating is it
27:25
Speaker 1: to have writers like us? Uh? Oh no, I mean
27:29
Speaker 1: it's not frustrating. I mean rantings do every day, So
27:31
Speaker 1: like the narrative can change what you write in the day,
27:34
Speaker 1: or this staves sucked next day. I've had so many
27:37
Speaker 1: experiences that with media just talking when I was at
27:41
Speaker 1: all and just like trashing me like a bout injuries
27:45
Speaker 1: or or people on the fans talking to me. So
27:47
Speaker 1: I mean it doesn't really affect me at all. Like
27:49
Speaker 1: this is this is your job, this is how you
27:50
Speaker 1: make your money. I'm not knocking you for your craft
27:53
Speaker 1: at all. It's not frustrating at all. But like you
27:55
Speaker 1: said that the narrative can change the next day. You
27:59
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, The right can change the next day,
28:01
Speaker 1: and guests the job of that to do that's us,
28:03
Speaker 1: you know, But until then you're gonna keep saying we sucks.
28:06
Speaker 1: So I mean, I'm not mad at you at all,
28:07
Speaker 1: like you're still offered it. We're cool. I love that.
28:11
Speaker 1: I tell you what. Carl Lawson's got a pretty good
28:13
Speaker 1: grasp on how this works. You play lousy, we all
28:16
Speaker 1: say you stink. I turned it around the next day
28:19
Speaker 1: and we're gonna love you. But he's also right about
28:22
Speaker 1: the total inability to stop the run making it impossible
28:27
Speaker 1: to get after the quarterback. Had a high school coach
28:31
Speaker 1: played offensive defensive line in high school. In the high
28:33
Speaker 1: school coach or my d line coach said, look, you
28:37
Speaker 1: have to make them, or we have to earn the
28:40
Speaker 1: right to rush the passer. It's not they're not going
28:44
Speaker 1: to give you the right to earn the pastor you
28:46
Speaker 1: have to earn it, meaning control the running game, put
28:49
Speaker 1: him in bad down and distance situations, and get after
28:52
Speaker 1: the quarterback. It is, that's simple. It's it's very very true.
28:55
Speaker 1: When you're giving up one hundred and eighty five a
28:57
Speaker 1: game on the ground, your thirtieth in the NFL, hard
29:01
Speaker 1: to hard to pressure the quarterback. Plus when Cleveland, when
29:04
Speaker 1: you know they get make Baker Mayfield a lot of pocket,
29:06
Speaker 1: a bunch changed in launch point. That's tough. You know,
29:08
Speaker 1: instead of a guy just being seven to nine yards
29:11
Speaker 1: away from the line of screens depending on the five
29:12
Speaker 1: or seven step drop like a statue. The only guys
29:15
Speaker 1: they're going to play this year that plays like that
29:17
Speaker 1: is Philip Rivers. Every other quarterback on their schedule has
29:21
Speaker 1: some movement skills, so they're only going to play against
29:24
Speaker 1: Philip Rivers, who they know exactly where he's going to
29:26
Speaker 1: be every time he throws it pretty much one time.
29:30
Speaker 1: So you better start stopping the run and put them
29:33
Speaker 1: in third and long situations where these guys are going
29:35
Speaker 1: to at least be in the pocket for a while
29:37
Speaker 1: before they try to extend and create plays like every quarterback,
29:40
Speaker 1: including Joe Burrow, is doing for the Bengals. I mean,
29:43
Speaker 1: that's part of the quarterback package these days is everybody's
29:46
Speaker 1: not fran Tarkington, but they want them to be more
29:49
Speaker 1: like Fran Tarkenton than Johnny You. They don't want him
29:52
Speaker 1: just standing in the pocket, you know, and and throwing
29:54
Speaker 1: the football. That's not the NFL these days. So yeah,
29:57
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to earn the right to rush the passer.
30:01
Speaker 1: For the younger audience out there, Fran Tarkenton was the
30:05
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson of the sixties and seventies. Need proof, Google
30:09
Speaker 1: search fran Tarkenton scrambling and watch some video on YouTube
30:14
Speaker 1: to see what I mean. One of the Bengals best
30:17
Speaker 1: performers so far this season is kick returner Brandon Wilson.
30:20
Speaker 1: He leads the NFL with a forty three point seven
30:23
Speaker 1: yard average on his three returns, and that's more than
30:27
Speaker 1: ten yards better than anybody else in the league. And
30:30
Speaker 1: he's not the only standout on special teams. Kevin Huber
30:34
Speaker 1: is averaging more than fifty three yards on his first
30:37
Speaker 1: eight punts. And I spoke to the bengals longest tenured
30:41
Speaker 1: player this week. Kevin, I heard you say in a
30:44
Speaker 1: recent interview that your goal when you got into the
30:46
Speaker 1: NFL was to punt until you were thirty five years old.
30:50
Speaker 1: You made it, but it sounds like you might have
30:52
Speaker 1: to update that goal. Yeah. You know, when I first started,
30:57
Speaker 1: my goal was, you know, back when I was a
30:59
Speaker 1: young twenty something year old, I thought it'd be a
31:02
Speaker 1: pretty good moles on a place weels thirty five. So
31:05
Speaker 1: that was what I I don't know why that number
31:07
Speaker 1: kind of came out, but that was my goal. So
31:10
Speaker 1: I reached that, and now you know, the next goals
31:12
Speaker 1: to plays on forty, so a couple more years for that.
31:15
Speaker 1: Your first punt of the year was a seventy yarder
31:19
Speaker 1: and we're not talking about a bouncing roll seventy yarder.
31:22
Speaker 1: It flew about sixty two yards from the line of scrimmage.
31:26
Speaker 1: Were you like, WHOA, ielt good to start the year? Yeah? Yeah,
31:31
Speaker 1: I came off pretty good. Obviously, like to have a
31:33
Speaker 1: better bounce keep by the end zone, but you know,
31:35
Speaker 1: it was one of those things. It's, you know, no
31:37
Speaker 1: preseason games, just you know, you just want to get
31:39
Speaker 1: a good hit on the ball to skip the year off,
31:41
Speaker 1: start off right, so hanging time to be better. But
31:44
Speaker 1: I was happy with the hit itself. And you know,
31:47
Speaker 1: I'll take a seventy fifty you know, all day long. Yeah,
31:52
Speaker 1: fifty net after seventy gross. Right, we're chatting with Kevin Huber.
31:57
Speaker 1: You're averaging fifty three and a half yards so far
31:59
Speaker 1: this year per punt. And I asked Darren Simmons the
32:01
Speaker 1: other day what's gotten into Kevin Hubert, and he said
32:05
Speaker 1: he thinks the lack of OTAs and many camps might
32:09
Speaker 1: have helped. Do you agree it was kind of like
32:12
Speaker 1: the lockout year where you just kind of get ready
32:15
Speaker 1: for the season, you know, you just instead of getting
32:19
Speaker 1: ready to go for OTAs and you know, and then
32:22
Speaker 1: you kind of calm down in the summer and then
32:24
Speaker 1: pick back up in training camp. It's just, you know,
32:26
Speaker 1: I just kind of took this year and I just
32:29
Speaker 1: I didn't really rush anything. I just let it build
32:31
Speaker 1: up until we got the training camp, and that way,
32:33
Speaker 1: by the season I was ready to go. So I
32:35
Speaker 1: think I was probably more fresh coming to the year
32:36
Speaker 1: than I've ever been in the past, and just really
32:39
Speaker 1: took it slower this year, knowing that, you know, we
32:44
Speaker 1: weren't going to have you know, all the games, so
32:47
Speaker 1: it just really just took some more time. Probably lifted
32:50
Speaker 1: more this year than I ever had before, just because
32:52
Speaker 1: I had more time to do that and just really
32:54
Speaker 1: got myself ready for week one versus ready for OTAs
32:58
Speaker 1: and ready for training camp. How do you think your
33:00
Speaker 1: legs strength compares at thirty five too when you broke
33:04
Speaker 1: into the league twelve years ago, it's probably you know,
33:07
Speaker 1: I think it's probably just as you know, just as
33:09
Speaker 1: strong as it was. And then I've had a couple
33:10
Speaker 1: of years where I was probably strong on him now,
33:12
Speaker 1: But I think overall, probably you know a much similar
33:16
Speaker 1: you know strength than I was when I first came out.
33:19
Speaker 1: I think now I just know how to utilize it
33:20
Speaker 1: better and get more out of it than I did then.
33:23
Speaker 1: I think my form and my technique and just knowledge
33:28
Speaker 1: of the game and when I need out of a
33:30
Speaker 1: certain situation has really changed, which has helped me to
33:33
Speaker 1: you know, use leg strength when I need it, but
33:36
Speaker 1: also be able to back off when any too as well.
33:38
Speaker 1: Kevin is the holder. You were obviously the closest person
33:40
Speaker 1: to Randy Bullock when he missed his game tying attempt
33:43
Speaker 1: in Week one. Could you tell what happened right away? Um?
33:47
Speaker 1: I just knew that the hits sounded different. You know,
33:51
Speaker 1: I don't get to see the ball flight. I get
33:53
Speaker 1: to see like the aftermath. I just knew, you know,
33:57
Speaker 1: the ball. It just it wasn't the same kind of thought.
34:00
Speaker 1: So I knew something that had happened. And then once
34:02
Speaker 1: I looked up and saw that he was grabbing his leg,
34:05
Speaker 1: I you know, I didn't know if he had um
34:08
Speaker 1: pulled something to ur something. I had no idea what
34:10
Speaker 1: was going on. Um, So you know, it felt so
34:14
Speaker 1: bad for him Um, but I know, you know, he
34:16
Speaker 1: came back last week and had a great game, and
34:19
Speaker 1: you know he hasn't He's been, you know, more committed
34:21
Speaker 1: now than you know, than I've ever seen him before
34:23
Speaker 1: to you know, kind of to get back to, you know,
34:25
Speaker 1: what we know we can do. And you know, I
34:27
Speaker 1: think he showed that last week. UM, on our last
34:29
Speaker 1: game and he made all his kicks. He had great kickoffs,
34:32
Speaker 1: and I'm man pretty common he'll be able to do
34:34
Speaker 1: that the rest of the year. A couple more questions
34:36
Speaker 1: for punter Kevin Huber. Darren Simmons had his contract run
34:40
Speaker 1: out at the end of last season, and Lapp and
34:43
Speaker 1: I both thought that there was a decent chance he
34:45
Speaker 1: would move on to another team. How happy were you
34:48
Speaker 1: when the Bengals were able to retain him. Yeah, I
34:50
Speaker 1: think that was huge. Um. You know, I think he's
34:53
Speaker 1: a great coach. I think he's probably the best coach
34:54
Speaker 1: in the NFL especial teams wise. Um. And the fact
34:57
Speaker 1: that we have him is huge. And you know he's
35:00
Speaker 1: able to help me individually with punning because he's punt
35:03
Speaker 1: in the past, but I like it better for how
35:07
Speaker 1: he can get the other guys ready for a game.
35:10
Speaker 1: And you know, for me specific is the punt protection guys.
35:15
Speaker 1: He's dealt the short end of the stick, you know,
35:17
Speaker 1: week in and week out because he's the last guy
35:19
Speaker 1: to know who's gonna get activated or and activated. So
35:22
Speaker 1: he's got to get every guy ready. And you know,
35:25
Speaker 1: there's no look that our guys haven't seen going into
35:27
Speaker 1: a game. And that's a lot of confidence for me
35:29
Speaker 1: knowing that, you know, whatever a team throws at us,
35:32
Speaker 1: our guys are going to protect it. So the fact
35:34
Speaker 1: that he got signed back and you know he's now
35:37
Speaker 1: here two or three more years of that is m
35:40
Speaker 1: that's huge and that was a big confidence thing for
35:42
Speaker 1: me as well, to be able to, you know, going
35:45
Speaker 1: the season knowing that you know, no matter who we
35:47
Speaker 1: have on the team, thirty of you ready to go.
35:50
Speaker 1: So Coen, full circle back to the start of the interview.
35:53
Speaker 1: If the goal now is to punt until you are forty,
35:56
Speaker 1: hopefully that'll be the case. But have you given much
35:59
Speaker 1: thought to what you're going to do when you are
36:01
Speaker 1: no longer punting in the NFL? I actually got to
36:04
Speaker 1: ask that question. I think it was the last night
36:07
Speaker 1: yesterday some that I always think about that but it's
36:10
Speaker 1: always you know, it's the changes from year to year,
36:14
Speaker 1: and you know from day to day is what interests me.
36:17
Speaker 1: I really liked the real estate field. What part of
36:22
Speaker 1: real estate I would get into? Not really sure, but
36:25
Speaker 1: I'm not really like, you know, doubting on one thing.
36:29
Speaker 1: Kind of If something comes my way that interests me,
36:31
Speaker 1: I'll I'll pursue it. But no real like set plans
36:35
Speaker 1: right now. Just something comes on my way and I
36:38
Speaker 1: like it, I'll try it out, keep blasting away, and
36:40
Speaker 1: you don't have to worry about it for a few
36:42
Speaker 1: more years. Well that's the goal. Hey, congratulations on a
36:46
Speaker 1: great start. I appreciate your time. Best of luck this
36:48
Speaker 1: week against Eagles. Thanks appreciate it. Thanks for having me.
36:52
Speaker 1: Now time to turn our attention to this week's opponent,
36:54
Speaker 1: the going to Philadelphia Eagles. Michael bar Can host the
36:59
Speaker 1: Eagles pre postgame shows on NBC Sports Philadelphia, and he
37:03
Speaker 1: joined lapping me this week. I'm a Bengals game plan
37:07
Speaker 1: show here in Cincinnati. An O and two start is
37:11
Speaker 1: being seen as well. It's Burrows rookie year. They're bound
37:13
Speaker 1: to be some growing pains. How is an O and
37:16
Speaker 1: two start being received in the City of Brotherly Love. Well,
37:20
Speaker 1: it's as you might expect, you know, in fact, and
37:23
Speaker 1: I don't know if I don't know if Fox did
37:25
Speaker 1: this or if the Eagles did it. I'm hoping it
37:28
Speaker 1: was Fox. But if you watched any of the game,
37:30
Speaker 1: you heard the Birds running off the field after one
37:32
Speaker 1: of several miscues, and I'm being kind saying several, and
37:36
Speaker 1: you heard booze if you were watching the telecast, and
37:39
Speaker 1: I'm thinking, are they booing them in their own stadium
37:41
Speaker 1: with no fans. People think the season is on the brink,
37:47
Speaker 1: even at O and two, and with the Bengals coming up,
37:50
Speaker 1: and you know, anything can happen on Sunday. There's no
37:54
Speaker 1: reason the Bengals can't get win number one, and then
37:56
Speaker 1: they've got to fly and play San Francisco. They got
38:00
Speaker 1: Alison the first date. Um, it's going to be a
38:03
Speaker 1: real uphill battle for the Eagles from here on out.
38:05
Speaker 1: They should have blasted Washington in that first game, and
38:08
Speaker 1: they had every opportunity to beat the Rams as well
38:11
Speaker 1: as good as the Rams are, and it was it
38:14
Speaker 1: was their own miscuse. It was their own sloppy play,
38:17
Speaker 1: it was their own poor play calling. And I don't
38:21
Speaker 1: know if that improves in week number three, I just
38:24
Speaker 1: don't what do you guys think, you know, I'm looking
38:27
Speaker 1: at Wentz and uh, he gets sacked five times in
38:30
Speaker 1: the first twenty five plays against the Redskins, and and
38:33
Speaker 1: that that that changes your clock a little bit. I
38:35
Speaker 1: kind of it altered his clock. Now. To me, it
38:39
Speaker 1: looks like he's pressing and he's become a turnover machine.
38:42
Speaker 1: Five giveaways, most in the NFL six by the team.
38:46
Speaker 1: He's responsible for five of them, four interceptions and lost fumble.
38:49
Speaker 1: I mean, the dude is just he's now he wants
38:52
Speaker 1: to get it out of his hand so quickly as
38:54
Speaker 1: mechanics have fallen apart his you know, his form. I mean,
38:57
Speaker 1: he looks like he's he's definitely, you know, definitely he's struggling.
39:00
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's something that can be remedied by,
39:03
Speaker 1: you know, one good game against a team that's struggling
39:06
Speaker 1: as well against the Bengals. But man, he looks like
39:08
Speaker 1: a different guy to me right now. Yeah, I don't
39:10
Speaker 1: know if it could be remedied, Dave, although it did
39:13
Speaker 1: happen in somecembers last year and then he led the
39:16
Speaker 1: team the last four games to the playoffs, and then
39:20
Speaker 1: he got knocked out against Seattle. Unfortunately. I think all
39:24
Speaker 1: of that has to in some sense form who you
39:27
Speaker 1: are as a quarterback. He's just getting blasted physically, but
39:31
Speaker 1: also he continues to give up his body, as the
39:35
Speaker 1: hockey guys say, and I don't think that's a good idea.
39:37
Speaker 1: I think he needs to be more more careful. And
39:40
Speaker 1: this week, week number two, you saw what happened week
39:42
Speaker 1: one with the sacks, but week number two, the line
39:46
Speaker 1: protected him. And it's his inaccuracy, as you spoke of.
39:50
Speaker 1: He's not throwing the ball and placing it where it
39:53
Speaker 1: needs to go. And there was one play in particular
39:56
Speaker 1: to Dallas Goddard. Goddard's wide open, he throws behind him
39:59
Speaker 1: on his back shoulder and God had almost got blasted.
40:02
Speaker 1: There a couple other plays like that. The same with
40:05
Speaker 1: the Sean Jackson. In fact, Jackson didn't have a catch
40:07
Speaker 1: in the first half and then comes back and leads
40:09
Speaker 1: the team in receptions with six. But it's something I
40:14
Speaker 1: really go back to the departure of Frank Reich is
40:17
Speaker 1: now with Indianapolis and John D. Filippo, who was the
40:20
Speaker 1: quarterbacks coach, and I think sometimes and then you can say, Dave,
40:24
Speaker 1: you can speak more to this better than I. But
40:27
Speaker 1: sometimes there's just a chemistry between coach and player. There's
40:30
Speaker 1: a comfort zone and there's an ability to make the
40:35
Speaker 1: player understand better than when with other coaches and whatever.
40:41
Speaker 1: It is this chemistry now with Press Taylor, who's really
40:44
Speaker 1: the facto offensive coordinator, and the quarterbacks coach, and Doug
40:48
Speaker 1: Peterson and his words from the locker room that perhaps
40:51
Speaker 1: you know Wentz doesn't always listen to the play call
40:54
Speaker 1: and that he calls the plays that he wants to call,
40:57
Speaker 1: and I don't know if Peterson's on board with that.
41:00
Speaker 1: So there's a whole bunch of tumult going on right now.
41:03
Speaker 1: But I really think it started with that with the
41:06
Speaker 1: departure of Reich and Di Filippo. After the Super Bowl,
41:10
Speaker 1: we're talking to Eagles pregame and post game host Michael Barkan.
41:13
Speaker 1: We know the Eagles have had injuries on the OH line.
41:16
Speaker 1: How is the group that they have now okay, below average?
41:20
Speaker 1: How would you consider these guys? I think it's okay.
41:23
Speaker 1: You know, it's so easy to just say, oh, these
41:25
Speaker 1: guys can't play. I mean, you know they're not Jason
41:28
Speaker 1: Peters on the left side. It's not Lane Johnson. And
41:31
Speaker 1: even Jason Peters isn't Jason Peters anymore. But I think
41:35
Speaker 1: this line is all right. You know, they still have Peters,
41:38
Speaker 1: still have Kelsey. Peters has not been a major issue.
41:42
Speaker 1: As old as he is, I think I think he
41:44
Speaker 1: came back in good shape and I think he's all right.
41:47
Speaker 1: They've got this rookie at right guard, Nate Herbig, and
41:50
Speaker 1: then Lane Johnson, who missed the first game, but Jack Driscoll,
41:53
Speaker 1: this rookie came in and he was okay. For Lane
41:56
Speaker 1: Johnson the first week. It wasn't because of him that
42:00
Speaker 1: they got all those sacks. And Johnson comes back in
42:03
Speaker 1: at right tackle and the line kept Carson Wentz clean. Um,
42:08
Speaker 1: So I don't think there's an issue there. I think
42:11
Speaker 1: there is an issue with the with the tight end,
42:14
Speaker 1: Zach Ertz, the All Pro tight end. He's not getting
42:17
Speaker 1: the ball very much. And as you may have heard,
42:20
Speaker 1: he's complained about his contract situation and he's expressed that
42:23
Speaker 1: he's not he's unsure that the Eagles want him to
42:26
Speaker 1: finish his career in Philadelphia. Well maybe they don't. I
42:29
Speaker 1: don't know, but don't cry about it, start catching some
42:32
Speaker 1: balls and maybe you leave to get a new deal.
42:35
Speaker 1: He's got a contract, by the way, that always you know,
42:38
Speaker 1: I'm sure, I'm sure, Dave, you gotta love that the
42:41
Speaker 1: arrow which you played, you know, you got a contract
42:44
Speaker 1: and plays pays some pretty good money. Finish the darn
42:46
Speaker 1: thing off, you know, I know you're Zach Ertz. But
42:49
Speaker 1: and then Dallas Goddard, honest the goodness, who was drafted
42:53
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago, and a lot of people
42:55
Speaker 1: raise their eyebrows because we thought many they got a
42:59
Speaker 1: top fight tight hand and you get in, you bring
43:01
Speaker 1: it in another one. And then sometimes it looks like
43:04
Speaker 1: he just doesn't know what the plays are. Sometimes he's
43:07
Speaker 1: yelling back to Wentz like do I got here? Is
43:10
Speaker 1: it over here? And so that's a problem. But he
43:14
Speaker 1: is a physical specimen. So but I'd like to see
43:18
Speaker 1: Ertz get the ball a little bit more. And then
43:20
Speaker 1: there's Doug Peterson, who I don't know if you've heard
43:24
Speaker 1: or seen, is kind of like his mentor Eddy Reid,
43:27
Speaker 1: who got his first trophy, which is nice because he
43:29
Speaker 1: was beloved this town. But he doesn't run the ball,
43:32
Speaker 1: and he doesn't run the ball, then they get their
43:35
Speaker 1: brains beat in. Then he runs the ball and usually
43:38
Speaker 1: that'll send him back to a more fifty fifth not
43:41
Speaker 1: it's never fifty fifty, but to a more fifty fifty
43:44
Speaker 1: type of offense. And they still lost against the Rams,
43:48
Speaker 1: But I think that had more to do with Carson
43:51
Speaker 1: Wentz and his inaccuracy and his throwing into double coverage.
43:55
Speaker 1: And I don't know what's going on with him right now,
43:57
Speaker 1: but they got to figure out quickly, you know, let's
44:00
Speaker 1: flip to the other side of the ball. Jim Schwartz,
44:03
Speaker 1: I mean defensively, he's the kind of guy that he
44:06
Speaker 1: doesn't want to blitz all that much. He wants to
44:08
Speaker 1: rush four drop seven. Have four really good rush guys.
44:11
Speaker 1: They don't even really twist and stunt all that much.
44:13
Speaker 1: He just wants to overpower you with good players in
44:16
Speaker 1: the pass rush and then play good sound defense on
44:19
Speaker 1: the back end. That's what it looks like he's doing
44:21
Speaker 1: in the early stages here. And shoot their top ten
44:24
Speaker 1: and yards allowed yards per play their seventh, I mean
44:28
Speaker 1: they're fifth and yards passing aloud. Has it just been
44:31
Speaker 1: bad field position because of the turnovers? I think that's
44:34
Speaker 1: the way it was in week number one, and I
44:39
Speaker 1: guess to some sense week number two. But these guys,
44:42
Speaker 1: there was one play at the end of the game
44:44
Speaker 1: last week where Josh Sweat is it's kind of spying
44:50
Speaker 1: Jared Goff and Goss out there, and Sweats just kind
44:53
Speaker 1: of jogging like he's not gonna run. He's not gonna run,
44:56
Speaker 1: and oh my goodness, he run and then then he's
44:58
Speaker 1: too late and Cop ends up picking picking up six yards.
45:02
Speaker 1: And so I think these these guys need a wake
45:06
Speaker 1: up call, Um, Brandon Graham, how about trying to, you know,
45:10
Speaker 1: set an edge for everybody. Fletcher Cox has not been
45:13
Speaker 1: what he can be. He's not been his Pro Bowl self.
45:16
Speaker 1: But the other thing is Dave. They've got linebackers that
45:19
Speaker 1: should be safeties or Nathan Gary. He's hand tackling guys.
45:24
Speaker 1: He's undersized. And the Eagles have long believed, indeed, if
45:29
Speaker 1: not by stated uh intent, they have long believed that
45:32
Speaker 1: the linebackers really don't have a big place in the defense.
45:35
Speaker 1: And so they have these linebackers that really are not
45:38
Speaker 1: you know, they're either playing out a position or they're
45:41
Speaker 1: just not as good as they need to be, Um
45:44
Speaker 1: Malcolm Jenkins. They let go to the to the Saints,
45:47
Speaker 1: as you know. And then they moved Jalen Mills, who
45:50
Speaker 1: was a corner and he was an okay corner, but
45:53
Speaker 1: they moved him to strong safety, Rodney Mclouds at free safety,
45:57
Speaker 1: and then they brought in Darius save Detroit and that
45:59
Speaker 1: was a great and crav Craivon LeBlanc. LeBlanc is out
46:04
Speaker 1: there as the nickelback with Avante Maddox is the right corner.
46:08
Speaker 1: It's um, you know it just it has not worked.
46:12
Speaker 1: They've looked really bad. And with regard to m to
46:17
Speaker 1: Jim Schwartz, I guess the bottom line is does your
46:20
Speaker 1: team have more points than the other team when the
46:22
Speaker 1: when the clockage zero. But Schwartz gives up tons of
46:26
Speaker 1: yards all the time and tons of points, and everybody
46:30
Speaker 1: kind of glosses over it because they went to the
46:31
Speaker 1: Super Bowl in eighteen and then you know nineteen Wentz
46:36
Speaker 1: has hurt all season. There's always an excuse. But to me,
46:39
Speaker 1: lets Schwartz's defenses give up way too much yards and
46:44
Speaker 1: points and that's the bottom line. Our guest is Michael
46:48
Speaker 1: Barkan Eagles pregame post game host on NBC Sports Philadelphia.
46:52
Speaker 1: Here's my last question, Michael, you mentioned Jalen Hurts. To me,
46:56
Speaker 1: that was a curious draft pick. You've got. Carson went
46:58
Speaker 1: second overall pick in the draft MVP candidate before he
47:01
Speaker 1: got hurt a few years ago. Did you find it
47:04
Speaker 1: strange that they selected a quarterback in the second round
47:07
Speaker 1: with the other needs they have on the roster, Dan,
47:10
Speaker 1: I think the entire NFL establishment found it strange that
47:14
Speaker 1: you take a guy with the fifty third overall pick
47:17
Speaker 1: when you've got a Pro Bowl quarterback and a guy
47:20
Speaker 1: who were not for an injury in his second year
47:23
Speaker 1: would have likely won d MVP. I think everybody thought
47:27
Speaker 1: it was bizarre. And then last week, I don't know
47:30
Speaker 1: if you know this, excuse me. He had been inactive
47:33
Speaker 1: in week one and Nate Sudfeld had been the number two.
47:36
Speaker 1: Sudfeld was inactive in week two and Hurts was the
47:41
Speaker 1: number two QB, and then he was in there for
47:43
Speaker 1: a couple of snaps. They put him out at wide receiver.
47:47
Speaker 1: But at some point you got to ask yourself, if
47:49
Speaker 1: this is the guy that you're gonna use him, and
47:52
Speaker 1: you're gonna use him as a decoy, you have to
47:54
Speaker 1: use him at some point don't you. I mean, you
47:56
Speaker 1: have to otherwise the defense is just gonna say, yeah,
48:00
Speaker 1: they put him in there every every play they ever
48:02
Speaker 1: go to him. So at some point he's gonna have
48:04
Speaker 1: to get the ball, whether it's under center, or whether
48:07
Speaker 1: it's a pass from Wentz or or it's a wildcat formation.
48:11
Speaker 1: But that is the you know, you start getting into
48:15
Speaker 1: the into the weeds with this, and you can go
48:17
Speaker 1: all day because that Howie Roseman is a general manager
48:20
Speaker 1: of Philadelphia Eagles, and a lot of people questioned that selection.
48:23
Speaker 1: They questioned many of his selections through the through the years.
48:26
Speaker 1: And you may recall that when Chip Kelly came in,
48:31
Speaker 1: they spent one year together and then Chip basically said
48:34
Speaker 1: either that guy goes or I go. And at that
48:37
Speaker 1: point everyone thought Chip would still a genius, so they
48:41
Speaker 1: Jeffrey Lewis, the owner, said yeah, okay, we're gonna put
48:43
Speaker 1: you how at the end of the hall and stay
48:45
Speaker 1: out of Chip's way. And then they brought him back
48:47
Speaker 1: when they fired Chip, and how he was celebrated after
48:51
Speaker 1: they won the Super Bowl. And he has had some
48:54
Speaker 1: good drafts, but I think a lot of them have
48:56
Speaker 1: been wasted drafts. And I don't mean just at the
48:58
Speaker 1: number one pick, I mean entire draft and so um.
49:03
Speaker 1: I don't know that that happens with with top flight
49:06
Speaker 1: gms and top flight teams that are there every single year.
49:10
Speaker 1: The most important position, in my opinion, I'd love to
49:13
Speaker 1: hear your guys on this. The most important position in
49:16
Speaker 1: any organization is the guy picking the talent. Because you know,
49:21
Speaker 1: you can be inferior a coach, and you can have
49:25
Speaker 1: some players that are a little off. But the guy
49:27
Speaker 1: who's selecting your talent needs to know what talent is.
49:31
Speaker 1: And I question that at times with Howie I really
49:34
Speaker 1: do play? I was going to say play by play
49:37
Speaker 1: guy is most important, followed closely by the person picking
49:41
Speaker 1: the talent. You're right, You're right. I'm sorry, Sorry Dad,
49:46
Speaker 1: I think you're right though. I mean I'm expecting a
49:48
Speaker 1: Hurts package, you know, gadget gimmick stuff. When you're struggling,
49:52
Speaker 1: you got to come up with something. I think they
49:53
Speaker 1: are going to come up one final question. Thanks, thanks
49:56
Speaker 1: for Cardinals. Are you kidding? Sc guy? I know we're
50:01
Speaker 1: on Marshall Street, right there we go im Street. I
50:03
Speaker 1: love it. Get a little slice, all right? So I
50:07
Speaker 1: thought the Bengals are having a hard time finishing. The
50:10
Speaker 1: Philadelphia Eagles have scored three points in the second half
50:13
Speaker 1: and two football games they've been all scored thirty six
50:15
Speaker 1: to three. No, they've been shut out in the third quarter,
50:18
Speaker 1: three points in the fourth quarter. I mean, my goodness,
50:21
Speaker 1: talk about not finishing. What's up again? I think that's
50:25
Speaker 1: Peterson And I always thought a strength of his was
50:27
Speaker 1: the adjustment at halftime, thinking, well, it's not going to
50:30
Speaker 1: get worse. They're not going to double up on the
50:32
Speaker 1: score or they're they're they're not going to fail to score.
50:36
Speaker 1: But that's what's That's what's happened, Dave. That's exactly what's happened.
50:39
Speaker 1: And I think there's some kind of communications gap going
50:43
Speaker 1: on with Peterson and Wentz. I don't know what that is.
50:46
Speaker 1: And I think the defense is just they need to
50:50
Speaker 1: get They need to get kicked in the butt. They
50:52
Speaker 1: really do. And Jim Schwartz to me, this is a
50:57
Speaker 1: defining game for him. But you can do before it
51:00
Speaker 1: just one more if I can have one more question,
51:03
Speaker 1: what are you making of the Bengals offense? Joe Burrow.
51:06
Speaker 1: I saw what happened how he threw away Game number one,
51:09
Speaker 1: which was a shame. He's a rookie with that little
51:11
Speaker 1: shovel path that got picked off. Um, I don't I
51:14
Speaker 1: don't know what happened last week, But what do you
51:16
Speaker 1: make of this guy in this offense? Well, he was
51:18
Speaker 1: thirty seven for sixty one in the in week two,
51:24
Speaker 1: only sixty one yeah, yeah, second most ever by a rookie,
51:28
Speaker 1: and he had the most completions buy a rookie. He's
51:30
Speaker 1: he's um. I think he's he's cut from a good cloth.
51:34
Speaker 1: He's got some five or two him. He's the real deal.
51:36
Speaker 1: He's far from their biggest problem, that's for sure. And
51:39
Speaker 1: after the interception that you referenced in week one, he
51:42
Speaker 1: threw a game winning touchdown pass with seven seconds to go,
51:45
Speaker 1: they got wiped out by a semi bogus call, right
51:47
Speaker 1: so off he bounced back nicely from that. That's the
51:51
Speaker 1: thing about him. He has a short memory. You know.
51:53
Speaker 1: He moves on, He compartmentalizes. He uh, he doesn't let
51:57
Speaker 1: he doesn't let one bad play turn in multiples. I mean,
52:00
Speaker 1: he's pretty sharp. He's he's a mature guy, very mature,
52:04
Speaker 1: very patient. I think he's gonna be I think he's
52:06
Speaker 1: gonna be around for a long time. Yeah, Well, I
52:08
Speaker 1: love watching him play at LSU, and I love the sensibility.
52:13
Speaker 1: I'd love when he came at ed Burrow Spell within
52:15
Speaker 1: eau right XU. And I'm really I'm really looking forward
52:21
Speaker 1: to seeing him play. He gets it. He'll have much
52:25
Speaker 1: more on the game this Friday and the Bengals pep
52:27
Speaker 1: Rally Show from three to six on ESPN fifteen thirty
52:30
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati, Online at ESPN fifteen thirty dot com, or
52:35
Speaker 1: on the iHeart Radio app by searching for ESPN fifteen thirty.
52:40
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for this episode of the
52:42
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by Prime Sport, the
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52:49
Speaker 1: done so already, please subscribe, and if you have a minute,
52:52
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Speaker 1: thanks for listening too. Up Bengals Booth Podcast. Mm hm