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Bengals Booth Podcast: Good To Be Alive · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody.
0:04
Speaker 2: I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading The Bengals Booth Podcast.
0:08
Speaker 2: The feels good to be alive right about now. Addition,
0:13
Speaker 2: as the seven and six Bengals look to boost their
0:15
Speaker 2: playoff chances by beating the Vikings on Saturday at Paycorp Stadium,
0:20
Speaker 2: coming up, I'll talk to Chase brown about running twenty
0:24
Speaker 2: two miles an hour. Chris Rose from the NFL Network
0:27
Speaker 2: shares his thoughts on Jake Browning's remarkable rise, and in
0:31
Speaker 2: this week's No The Fox Conversation, we'll take an in
0:33
Speaker 2: depth look at the Vikings with Kevin Seaffert, who covers
0:36
Speaker 2: the team for ESPN. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought
0:40
Speaker 2: to you by pay Corp, Proud to be the Bengals
0:42
Speaker 2: official HR software provider by Alta Fiber, future proof fiber
0:47
Speaker 2: Internet designed elevate your home, business and community to a
0:50
Speaker 2: new level, and by Kettering Health the best care for
0:54
Speaker 2: the best fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider
0:57
Speaker 2: of the Bengals. Now here's a quick remind me that
1:00
Speaker 2: you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered
1:03
Speaker 2: right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing wherever
1:07
Speaker 2: you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since crowd
1:11
Speaker 2: noise in the jungle. The Bengals have home field advantage
1:16
Speaker 2: on Saturday against the team that is about to use
1:19
Speaker 2: its fourth different starting quarterback. After Kirk Cousins tore his
1:23
Speaker 2: achilles in Week eight, rookie Jaren Hall started a game,
1:27
Speaker 2: Josh Dobbs started the next four, and now Nick Mullins
1:31
Speaker 2: is scheduled to be in there against Cincinnati. Additionally, the
1:34
Speaker 2: Vikings starting right tackle Brian O'Neill injured his ankle last week,
1:38
Speaker 2: left the stadium in a walking boot, and didn't practice
1:42
Speaker 2: on Tuesday or Wednesday. With those things in mind, Zach
1:46
Speaker 2: Taylor says Bengals fans can play a significant role on Saturday.
1:51
Speaker 3: If the person three seats down from you in the
1:53
Speaker 3: row can't hear you, then you're doing a good job, okay.
1:56
Speaker 3: And so that's essentially what quarterback's dealing with as he's
1:58
Speaker 3: trying to communicate with a tackle make a last second
2:01
Speaker 3: communication to the receiver. If they can't hear him, they
2:03
Speaker 3: can't make that check. And so it's critical in a
2:07
Speaker 3: December game like this with a team coming on the
2:10
Speaker 3: road against us that third downs in particular, that's where
2:14
Speaker 3: that's where you know, the communication is really stressed. But
2:17
Speaker 3: every down, so I do challenge our fans. We got
2:20
Speaker 3: outstanding fans to you know, drink one more drink and
2:24
Speaker 3: rush in the stadium and be as loud as you
2:26
Speaker 3: can humanly possibly be when Minnesota's offense is out there
2:31
Speaker 3: and help our guys. And and that's that is a
2:34
Speaker 3: critical element that we get this home field advantage. We're
2:36
Speaker 3: not playing on the road this week. If we were
2:38
Speaker 3: playing in Minnesota, it would be a real problem. And
2:40
Speaker 3: so Minnesota is here, Let's make a real problem for them.
2:43
Speaker 2: That's a call to action, Bengals fans. Zach Taylor wants
2:46
Speaker 2: you to be loud. I'm sure you'll make him proud.
2:50
Speaker 2: Now time for my first guest. Rookie Chase Brown is
2:54
Speaker 2: given the Bengals offense a turbo boost over the last
2:57
Speaker 2: two weeks. In the Jacksonville game, he had thirty one
3:01
Speaker 2: and fifteen yard runs and in the Colts game, he
3:04
Speaker 2: had a ten yard run, caught a screen pass for
3:07
Speaker 2: twenty five yards, and caught this screen pass for his
3:11
Speaker 2: first NFL touchdown. Rookie Chase Brown checks in for the
3:15
Speaker 2: first time at running back after nine carries for sixty
3:18
Speaker 2: one yards last week, they fake it to him. Now
3:21
Speaker 2: they screen it to him, all sorts of running room
3:24
Speaker 2: and balkers in front. He's flying to the thirty the twenty,
3:28
Speaker 2: the ten touch back makes a man miss.
3:31
Speaker 3: Half the five touchdown Bengals.
3:35
Speaker 4: Chase Brown showing his.
3:38
Speaker 2: Speed as he flies down.
3:40
Speaker 1: The field for the Bengals touchdown.
3:43
Speaker 2: I talked to Chase about that play and his rookie
3:47
Speaker 2: year this week. Chase, on your fifty four yard screen
3:52
Speaker 2: pass touchdown last week, you were timed at twenty two
3:55
Speaker 2: point zero.
3:55
Speaker 1: Five miles an hour.
3:57
Speaker 2: That's the second fastest time of need ball carrier in
4:01
Speaker 2: the NFL this year, behind only DK Metcalf of Seattle.
4:04
Speaker 2: You are ahead of the Cheetah Tyreek Hill, who has
4:08
Speaker 2: three of the top eight times. Did you think of
4:11
Speaker 2: yourself as one of the fastest people in the NFL
4:15
Speaker 2: before you saw that?
4:17
Speaker 5: Well, I always knew I could run, but there's an
4:20
Speaker 5: opportunity to open up. And I mean no, not initially,
4:24
Speaker 5: but I mean the numbers are there and it's pretty
4:27
Speaker 5: cool to reflect on.
4:28
Speaker 2: I tried an experiment this week. I set the cruise
4:31
Speaker 2: control on my car tot twenty two miles an hour.
4:33
Speaker 2: I stuck my head out the window to try to
4:35
Speaker 2: feel like what it must be like to run that fast?
4:38
Speaker 2: Is it God given for the product of hard work.
4:41
Speaker 5: My mom was a great athlete and my dad's a
4:43
Speaker 5: good athlete, So definitely have the genetics to back up
4:47
Speaker 5: a twenty two mile privor speed. But you know, maintaining
4:51
Speaker 5: that over time is you know, hard work and effort,
4:55
Speaker 5: and obviously I feel like there's so many areas I
4:58
Speaker 5: can improve, and you know that's what I'm focused on
5:00
Speaker 5: right now.
5:01
Speaker 2: We're chatting to Chase Brown. In the last two games,
5:04
Speaker 2: Joe Mixon has combined for two hundred and forty two
5:06
Speaker 2: rushing and receiving yards. You have one twenty one. It's
5:09
Speaker 2: kind of the classic thunder and lightning backfield. Do you
5:12
Speaker 2: guys feed off each other?
5:14
Speaker 5: I definitely feed off his energy, and you know, I
5:18
Speaker 5: think we both sparked the offense in different ways, so
5:21
Speaker 5: I think, you know, we combo each other well.
5:24
Speaker 2: After the game, you climbed into the stands to celebrate
5:28
Speaker 2: with some folks who had come down from your hometown
5:30
Speaker 2: in Canada.
5:31
Speaker 1: Who were they?
5:32
Speaker 6: Yeah?
5:32
Speaker 5: Those are those are my high school coaches from Canada,
5:36
Speaker 5: guys that introduced me to the game of football, and
5:39
Speaker 5: extremely grateful for the group of guys, especially making a
5:42
Speaker 5: trip out they did. They didn't have to do that,
5:44
Speaker 5: but you know, they're just showing their genuine interests in
5:47
Speaker 5: me and supporting me, and I'm just grateful that they
5:49
Speaker 5: were able to be there for that moment.
5:51
Speaker 2: We're chatting to Chase Brown. The coaches made it pretty
5:54
Speaker 2: clear coming out of the buy back in week eight
5:56
Speaker 2: that you were going to start getting more opportunities, and
5:59
Speaker 2: then you hurt your hand. I'm string at practice where
6:01
Speaker 2: you worried that your big chance had come and gone.
6:05
Speaker 5: You know, I have a a positive mindset, so you know,
6:10
Speaker 5: I knew that there's opportunity there. But you know, injury
6:14
Speaker 5: kind of helped me back, but I saw it as
6:15
Speaker 5: an opportunity to make sure I was ready to go
6:17
Speaker 5: mentally some as I got back, so you know, I
6:19
Speaker 5: prepared as if I was playing every single week, and
6:23
Speaker 5: you know that paid off.
6:24
Speaker 2: An NFL player's rookie year is a roller coaster ride.
6:28
Speaker 2: You are going through it with your twin brother, Sydney,
6:30
Speaker 2: who is playing for the Philadelphia Eagles. How much have
6:32
Speaker 2: you helped each other get through the roller coaster ride
6:35
Speaker 2: a year one.
6:35
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, we just talk. It makes the process
6:39
Speaker 5: so much easier when you know you have a twin
6:42
Speaker 5: brother that's pretty much exactly like you, but you know,
6:45
Speaker 5: going through something similar to you. So to sharing our experiences,
6:50
Speaker 5: talking about the goods and the bads and ups and
6:53
Speaker 5: the downs, and you know, that's always that always helps.
6:55
Speaker 5: It's like a little therapy session any time I get
6:57
Speaker 5: on there.
6:58
Speaker 2: Jake Browning is not a rookie, but he's getting his
7:01
Speaker 2: first opportunity at roughly the same time as you are.
7:04
Speaker 2: What has he shown you over the past few weeks.
7:07
Speaker 6: Yeah, he's he's a great leader, number one, But.
7:11
Speaker 4: Dudes, dialed in.
7:12
Speaker 5: He's playing really good football right now, and I mean
7:15
Speaker 5: him just being him as you know, helping us win
7:19
Speaker 5: games and you know, sparking the offense in different ways.
7:23
Speaker 5: And you know, I'm sure he learned a lot from
7:26
Speaker 5: you know, Joe Burrow throughout his time here, and you know,
7:30
Speaker 5: he's just ready to show who he is and make
7:33
Speaker 5: the most of this opportunity that's in front of him.
7:35
Speaker 2: You had an extremely heavy workload last year at Illinois
7:39
Speaker 2: three hundred and twenty eight attempts. That's roughly twenty seven
7:42
Speaker 2: a game. You had forty one carries in one game.
7:45
Speaker 2: You got nineteen so far this year. How fresh do
7:48
Speaker 2: you feel as a result.
7:49
Speaker 5: Pretty fresh, A lot more fresh than I did during
7:52
Speaker 5: the Illinois season. But you know, I kind of I
7:57
Speaker 5: took pride in them giving the ball seven times a game.
8:01
Speaker 5: They trusted me to make plays and get the ball
8:05
Speaker 5: in the end zone. So that's that was my job
8:06
Speaker 5: back then. Right now, it's just a little bit different.
8:08
Speaker 5: I'm a role player. I'm gonna do my role to
8:10
Speaker 5: the best my ability, and you don't do whatever I
8:12
Speaker 5: can help this team win.
8:14
Speaker 2: You've given the offense a huge jolt over the past
8:16
Speaker 2: couple of weeks. It's been fun to watch. Best of
8:18
Speaker 2: luck this week and going forward.
8:20
Speaker 1: Thank you.
8:21
Speaker 2: Let's go back to that GPS measurement of twenty two
8:24
Speaker 2: point zero five miles an hour, the second fastest for
8:27
Speaker 2: any ball carrier in the NFL this year. Jamar Chase
8:31
Speaker 2: is eleventh on the list. He hit twenty one point
8:34
Speaker 2: five four miles an hour when he caught a sixty
8:37
Speaker 2: three yard touchdown bomb from Joe Burrow in Arizona. And
8:41
Speaker 2: remember a couple of years ago against Kansas City, when
8:43
Speaker 2: Jamar caught a short pass and then ran away from
8:47
Speaker 2: about seven guys on a seventy two yard touchdown. He
8:50
Speaker 2: reached twenty one point seven four miles an hour on
8:54
Speaker 2: that one. In other words, not quite measuring up to
8:59
Speaker 2: Chase Brown's numb. Here's Jamar's reaction.
9:02
Speaker 6: I don't know.
9:02
Speaker 4: Maybe I'm slow man.
9:05
Speaker 1: Have you ever crossed seen your numbers? I'm slow right now,
9:07
Speaker 1: I'm not lie.
9:09
Speaker 2: I just looked up the GPS from the twenty twenty
9:11
Speaker 2: one Kansas City catch. It was twenty one point seven.
9:15
Speaker 1: Oh well, what he twenty one point eight? He was
9:18
Speaker 1: twenty two five?
9:20
Speaker 4: Oh damn, I'm slow, slow man, I'm slow.
9:25
Speaker 2: On the Kansas City play, you kind of had to start,
9:28
Speaker 2: you know, from a standing position almost, so it's harder
9:31
Speaker 2: to get up to twenty two.
9:32
Speaker 1: He was already moving when he caught the ball.
9:38
Speaker 4: You said I was twenty one?
9:39
Speaker 2: Was the other twenty one point seven and the other
9:41
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one. This year against Arizona, twenty one point five.
9:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm slow, broke. You gotta love Jabbar. Chase.
9:51
Speaker 2: By the way, he needs twenty three catches in the
9:54
Speaker 2: final four games of the year to break TJ. Hushman's
9:57
Speaker 2: out of his team record of one hundred and twelve
10:00
Speaker 2: receptions in a single season. The Bengals Booth Podcast is
10:04
Speaker 2: brought to you by pay Corps, Proud to be the
10:06
Speaker 2: Bengals official HR software provider, by Alta Fiber, future Proof
10:11
Speaker 2: Fiber Internet designed elevate your home, business and community to
10:14
Speaker 2: a new level, and by Kettering Health the best care
10:18
Speaker 2: for the best fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare
10:21
Speaker 2: provider of the Bengals. Saturday's game will be broadcast nationally
10:26
Speaker 2: on the NFL Network, and I caught up with one
10:29
Speaker 2: of the broadcasters on Wednesday. He is the host of
10:33
Speaker 2: NFL Game Day Highlights every Sunday on the NFL Network,
10:36
Speaker 2: and this Saturday he will do play by play of
10:38
Speaker 2: the Bengals Vikings game.
10:40
Speaker 1: It is great to visit with Chris Rose.
10:42
Speaker 2: Chris, we are always interested in getting the national perspective
10:45
Speaker 2: of the Cincinnati Bengals. Have you been wowed by what
10:49
Speaker 2: Jake Browning has done over the past couple of weeks?
10:52
Speaker 7: Absolutely, Dan, I don't think there's a question about it.
10:54
Speaker 7: We were all watching that Ravens Bengals game and when
10:57
Speaker 7: Joe Burrow couldn't throw the ball on the sidelines, we
10:59
Speaker 7: were like, Okay, we'll see the Bengals in twenty twenty four. Well,
11:02
Speaker 7: I guess joke's on everybody else, because the Bengals are
11:06
Speaker 7: playing great football.
11:07
Speaker 4: They're actually a.
11:08
Speaker 7: Very healthy team outside of the quarterback position, and I
11:12
Speaker 7: think they're one of those teams. It only feels like
11:15
Speaker 7: twenty teams in the AFC are at seven and six,
11:18
Speaker 7: and the Bengals are one of them. Hey, everybody's talking
11:21
Speaker 7: up Buffalo and that's the team you don't want to
11:22
Speaker 7: see in the playoffs. I think Brown can keep doing
11:25
Speaker 7: what he's doing. I have a feeling, based on Cincinnati's
11:29
Speaker 7: pedigree over the last couple of years, that it might
11:31
Speaker 7: be the Bengals that you do not want to face
11:33
Speaker 7: come mid January.
11:35
Speaker 2: So I'm sure as you have prepped to do play
11:37
Speaker 2: by play this week, you've learned a lot of things
11:39
Speaker 2: about the Bengals beyond the stars that maybe you didn't
11:42
Speaker 2: know from doing the highlights every Sunday. What stands out
11:45
Speaker 2: to you as you've learned more about this.
11:47
Speaker 7: Team, Well, I mean, listen, I knew that they were
11:49
Speaker 7: really young in the secondary right. We watch all the
11:52
Speaker 7: games together every Sunday as we get ready for our
11:55
Speaker 7: game day highlights and game day final shows, and it
11:57
Speaker 7: just seems like every time they're trotting out a rookie
12:00
Speaker 7: or a second year guy back there. Cameron Taylor Britt,
12:04
Speaker 7: who unfortunately is not going to play as he continues
12:06
Speaker 7: to be on IR, was a guy that the first
12:08
Speaker 7: half of the season we were like, Oh, that's one
12:10
Speaker 7: of those dudes who's making the huge leap. But DJ
12:13
Speaker 7: Turner has done a really nice job. Jordan Battle has
12:16
Speaker 7: now become a starter, so it feels like they've got
12:18
Speaker 7: their secondary for years to come. Chase Brown has added
12:23
Speaker 7: just a different element now that he's touched the ball
12:26
Speaker 7: the last two weeks. You know, he's one of those
12:28
Speaker 7: guys where you always hear rookies can't pass, block, and
12:31
Speaker 7: I understand with Joe Burrow in the injured cap the
12:33
Speaker 7: first month of the year, YU wouldn't want him back there.
12:36
Speaker 7: Then he got the hamstring injury, and then last week
12:38
Speaker 7: it looks like he was freaking shot out of a cannon.
12:40
Speaker 4: I mean, I have no idea.
12:41
Speaker 7: We all watched that screenplay early on, We're like, what
12:44
Speaker 7: the heck just happened there because nobody's you know, we
12:47
Speaker 7: all saw him at the combine. I think he ran
12:48
Speaker 7: like a four to four to three, which is a
12:50
Speaker 7: really good time, but it's not like DJ Turner's four
12:53
Speaker 7: to two six or something.
12:55
Speaker 4: But he just looked so much faster than everybody else.
12:58
Speaker 7: I was like, they got to get the ball to guy,
13:00
Speaker 7: and so I expect more of that to happen this weekend.
13:03
Speaker 2: Chris, you went to Miami University worked at Fox nineteen
13:06
Speaker 2: here in Cincinnati for a while back in the nineteen nineties.
13:09
Speaker 2: The Bengals were struggling at the time. What memories do
13:12
Speaker 2: you have of covering the Bengals back then?
13:15
Speaker 7: They were struggling, and I was struggling as I was
13:17
Speaker 7: learning to get into this business.
13:19
Speaker 4: So it was actually a perfect match.
13:21
Speaker 7: I remember when Shula was the coach, David Shula, and
13:27
Speaker 7: I want to say that one year they started out
13:31
Speaker 7: oh and eight or oh to nine or something like that,
13:35
Speaker 7: and they finally won a game. And here I am.
13:38
Speaker 7: I'm like I was. I was Greg Hord's sports producer
13:41
Speaker 7: and Kevin Fraser's sports producer, and so I had to
13:44
Speaker 7: go down to interview the coach afterward the next day
13:48
Speaker 7: and it's you know, there's a few writers in there
13:50
Speaker 7: and a couple of camera people, but it wasn't a
13:52
Speaker 7: very large contingent of media. And I'm thinking to myself, well,
13:55
Speaker 7: this is this is the day I can ask a
13:57
Speaker 7: good question or something. And I asked him something about out,
14:00
Speaker 7: well you have a win, but now you're like one
14:02
Speaker 7: in eight or one and nine, and he looked at
14:04
Speaker 7: me and he was like, can I enjoy this for
14:07
Speaker 7: one day? Can't we all just enjoy this for one day?
14:09
Speaker 7: And I was like, oh my god, So yeah, I
14:13
Speaker 7: got nailed. Back then I was like, don't try and
14:16
Speaker 7: be that tough guy. Just ask a legitimate question here,
14:20
Speaker 7: you moron.
14:22
Speaker 1: We're chatting with Chris Rose.
14:24
Speaker 2: What do you think of the job that Duke Tobin
14:26
Speaker 2: has done in building the roster and Zach Taylor and
14:29
Speaker 2: his leadership of this franchise?
14:31
Speaker 4: Great? That's great.
14:32
Speaker 7: Now listen, did they did they end up in a
14:35
Speaker 7: fortune area where Joe Burrow was the quarterback that was
14:38
Speaker 7: available in twenty twenty? You know absolutely, You know, Kyler
14:43
Speaker 7: Murray's a good quarterback, but he's not Joe Burrow. Baker
14:46
Speaker 7: Mayfield two years earlier solid quarterback, but he's now on
14:50
Speaker 7: his fourth team. I mean, could the Browns have taken
14:52
Speaker 7: Lamar Jackson or Josh Allen with that, yes, absolutely, But
14:55
Speaker 7: the Bengals they picked the right one. Although Justin Herbert
15:00
Speaker 7: has been very good and Tua is going to make
15:03
Speaker 7: the playoffs this year. They picked the right one, and
15:07
Speaker 7: that's the centerpiece, right. You get that piece on and
15:10
Speaker 7: then the rest kind of falls into place. But their
15:12
Speaker 7: free agent signings have been I think pretty solid. The
15:16
Speaker 7: offensive line, although you know at times it's been a
15:20
Speaker 7: little leaky, is significantly improved over the first time we
15:24
Speaker 7: saw Joe Burrow in the playoffs. Trey Hendrickson has been
15:28
Speaker 7: nothing short of phenomenal. And you win in this league
15:31
Speaker 7: when you make great draft picks, not just with your
15:34
Speaker 7: first rounder. I mean, that's the one that gets all
15:36
Speaker 7: the press, but it's those guys in the third, fourth,
15:39
Speaker 7: and fifth rounds that are going to help you become champions.
15:41
Speaker 7: I mean, just follow the trail of the Kansas City
15:44
Speaker 7: Chiefs a year ago, particularly on the defensive side of
15:46
Speaker 7: the football, where they had guys in rounds two, three,
15:49
Speaker 7: and four, and even in seven playing significant roles as
15:52
Speaker 7: they ran all the way to the Super Bowl, and
15:54
Speaker 7: I think that Duke Tobin has done as good a
15:56
Speaker 7: job as any talent evaluator in the NFL.
16:00
Speaker 2: You mentioned the muddled pack of teams at seven and
16:03
Speaker 2: six in the AFC. The Bengals probably need to go
16:05
Speaker 2: three and one in their last four games. They've got
16:07
Speaker 2: the Vikings this week, then the Steelers, then the Chiefs,
16:10
Speaker 2: and finally a home game against the Cleveland Browns. What
16:13
Speaker 2: do you think of their chances of emerging from this
16:16
Speaker 2: pack of seven and six teams and getting in So.
16:20
Speaker 7: Don't Here's what I would I would advise all Bengals
16:23
Speaker 7: fans out there, don't do the whole schedule thing, like,
16:26
Speaker 7: don't try and figure out what every other team who's
16:29
Speaker 7: fighting for a walk, well, they're going to lose to them,
16:30
Speaker 7: and those guys are gonna beat that. That doesn't work.
16:33
Speaker 7: Just go back to Monday night for the proof. Right,
16:35
Speaker 7: The Tennessee Titans had not won a road game all year.
16:39
Speaker 7: They were without their best player on either side of
16:42
Speaker 7: the football, and Jeffrey Simmons, and they went down to
16:44
Speaker 7: Miami and one when they were down fourteen points with
16:47
Speaker 7: like three minutes to go. So just let's stop that
16:50
Speaker 7: right now. If you want to familiarize yourself with the
16:55
Speaker 7: tiebreaker scenario, go ahead and let me know how that
17:00
Speaker 7: goes for you. Because I have followed this sport for
17:03
Speaker 7: like forty five years and I've read it eighteen times
17:06
Speaker 7: in the last three days and I still can't figure
17:09
Speaker 7: it out. So just you know what, let's take a
17:13
Speaker 7: sports cliche, everybody. Let's take it one game at a time.
17:16
Speaker 7: We'll deal with this Saturday, whatever happens on Sunday, and
17:19
Speaker 7: then Monday night, we'll deal with it next week. So
17:21
Speaker 7: I mean, like, I hate cliches, but let's just do that.
17:25
Speaker 7: I think you have a really good shot this weekend.
17:28
Speaker 7: I know you got to play four winning teams over
17:30
Speaker 7: the last month, but everybody but Mahomes is a backup quarterback,
17:34
Speaker 7: So just roll with it. And by the way, ten
17:38
Speaker 7: and seven I don't think necessarily is the number because
17:41
Speaker 7: I think there's going to be more than three teams
17:44
Speaker 7: at ten and seven, and then we have to get
17:45
Speaker 7: into the full tiebreaker scenario that I can't explain to you.
17:48
Speaker 1: Dan.
17:50
Speaker 2: If you figure out the tiebreakers by Saturday, please let
17:53
Speaker 2: me know because I'm struggling with it as well, so
17:56
Speaker 2: you'll be calling Bengals Vikings this week. Like the Bengals,
17:59
Speaker 2: the Vikings are seven and six, They are doing it
18:01
Speaker 2: without Kirk Cousins and they have a winning record since
18:04
Speaker 2: he went down eight games into the season.
18:06
Speaker 1: How are they doing it?
18:08
Speaker 4: Defense?
18:09
Speaker 7: Ryan Flores took over as the defensive play caller from
18:12
Speaker 7: Ed Donna Tell and they are totally different than.
18:14
Speaker 4: A year ago.
18:16
Speaker 7: They lead the league in blitzes, they lead the league
18:19
Speaker 7: in three and fewer pass rushers. So what does that mean.
18:23
Speaker 7: You can't really get a grasp on what they're doing.
18:25
Speaker 7: They're all over the place. So Jake Browning one play
18:28
Speaker 7: might see six or seven bodies up at the line
18:30
Speaker 7: of scrimmage, and the next down he might see two,
18:33
Speaker 7: which makes it fun for that Minnesota defense. Ivan Pace,
18:38
Speaker 7: who of course grew up there in Cincinnati, went to
18:40
Speaker 7: Cole Rain and I will take him as a Miami
18:43
Speaker 7: red Hawk, even though he finished that last year with
18:46
Speaker 7: the Cincinnati Bearcats. He is a red Hawk at heart,
18:49
Speaker 7: and when I talk to him, I will let him
18:50
Speaker 7: know that is the reigning NFC Defensive Player of the Week.
18:55
Speaker 7: I mean, he had an amazing stat line in that
18:58
Speaker 7: monumental three to nothing win over the Laws Vegas Raiders.
19:00
Speaker 7: We had thirteen tackles, a forced fumble, and a pick.
19:03
Speaker 7: We hadn't seen a rookie do that since the Texans
19:06
Speaker 7: coach Tamiko Ryans did it seventeen years ago, if my
19:10
Speaker 7: math is right. So they're just doing it with defense Offensively.
19:14
Speaker 7: Nick Mullens is the guy that can sling it a
19:15
Speaker 7: little bit.
19:15
Speaker 4: Now. He's no joke.
19:17
Speaker 7: He's got a decent arm, but he'll throw it to you.
19:19
Speaker 7: He's kind of like, you know, he went to Southern
19:21
Speaker 7: miss and of course the most famous player from there
19:23
Speaker 7: is Brett Farr. Just like Farm, He's going to throw
19:25
Speaker 7: it to you a couple times a game. It's just
19:26
Speaker 7: whether or not you're gonna catch it.
19:29
Speaker 2: So with those things in mind, give us a couple
19:31
Speaker 2: of keys to the Bengals getting out of pay Court
19:33
Speaker 2: Stadium on Saturday with a win.
19:36
Speaker 7: Well last week I talked to a good friend of
19:38
Speaker 7: mine who actually works for the Bengals this week and
19:43
Speaker 7: he reminded me he might even be on this right now.
19:46
Speaker 7: The zoom call that the Bengals did not give up
19:49
Speaker 7: a sack for the first time in their last forty
19:51
Speaker 7: three games, so If you do that against daneil Hunter
19:54
Speaker 7: and Crewe, that's that's a good deal. It's really important
20:00
Speaker 7: we look. Jake Browning has been great against like Blitz's.
20:03
Speaker 7: I just noticed his numbers. He's completing two thirds of
20:05
Speaker 7: his passes and has put up some pretty gaudy numbers.
20:08
Speaker 7: But you want to make it so that he's not
20:10
Speaker 7: getting a lot of pressure in his face. I would
20:14
Speaker 7: use Chase brown a ton. I'm a big fan of
20:16
Speaker 7: that kid. I know i'd like shiny new toys, but
20:19
Speaker 7: I think he's not just a different gear. He's like
20:21
Speaker 7: a different sports car that's been hanging out in the
20:23
Speaker 7: garage with the you know, the canvas over it for
20:26
Speaker 7: two months. So I would use him. And I think
20:29
Speaker 7: it's going to be really fun to see between Jamar,
20:31
Speaker 7: Chase and Justin Jefferson, which one of those two former
20:34
Speaker 7: great LSU teammates has the better day, because you better
20:37
Speaker 7: believe they both want to shine and outshine the other.
20:42
Speaker 2: Chris, this has been fun. Look forward to having you
20:44
Speaker 2: back in town on Saturday.
20:45
Speaker 1: Thanks for your.
20:46
Speaker 7: Time, absolutely and day if you need it. I've got
20:49
Speaker 7: the entire tiebreaker scenario. It's right right down here somewhere
20:53
Speaker 7: in one of these pages. So I'm going to send
20:55
Speaker 7: all this to you. It's not sloppy or anything. We'll
20:57
Speaker 7: take care of it.
20:58
Speaker 1: Just summarize for me. Please just summarize.
21:01
Speaker 4: Yeah, in three words or less. It shouldn't be probab
21:03
Speaker 4: that'd be perfect. Thanks Dan.
21:06
Speaker 2: I'm still not sure that I have a total grasp
21:08
Speaker 2: of the playoff tiebreakers, but I know this thanks to
21:11
Speaker 2: my pal Jay Morrison, who covers the Bengals for Pro
21:14
Speaker 2: Football Network. There are three NFL games on Saturday. If
21:19
Speaker 2: the Bengals beat the Vikings, the Colts beat the Steelers,
21:23
Speaker 2: and the Lions beat the Broncos, and those are the
21:26
Speaker 2: teams that are favored to win, the Bengals would jump
21:29
Speaker 2: to the number six playoff seed in the AFC, and
21:33
Speaker 2: nothing that happens on Sunday would change that. Finally, it's
21:37
Speaker 2: time for this week's Know the Faux segment. The Minnesota
21:40
Speaker 2: Vikings were four and four when Kirk Cousins tore his achilles,
21:43
Speaker 2: and they're three and two since, including that three nothing
21:47
Speaker 2: win over the Raiders last week that was scoreless with
21:50
Speaker 2: two minutes to go. Kevin Seaffert covers the Vikings for ESPN.
21:55
Speaker 2: He joined Dave Lapham and me on the Bengals Game
21:57
Speaker 2: Plan Show this week and explained how the Vikings have
22:00
Speaker 2: managed to stay in playoff contention without their starting quarterback.
22:07
Speaker 6: Really their defense.
22:09
Speaker 8: Brian Flores has come in this season his first year
22:11
Speaker 8: of the defensive coordinator and has really engineered a one
22:15
Speaker 8: hundred and eighty degree turn in the way they play defense.
22:18
Speaker 8: From last season when they were a very passive, you know,
22:22
Speaker 8: too deep type, look to this year where they have
22:26
Speaker 8: essentially with the same players, become this like wild blitzing,
22:30
Speaker 8: mixing coverages, mixing positions, essentially using.
22:36
Speaker 6: Players at multiple positions at any given time.
22:39
Speaker 8: And really since the start, since about the third or
22:42
Speaker 8: the fourth week of the season, they've been a top
22:44
Speaker 8: five defense across the board. And so that's what you
22:46
Speaker 8: need when you lose your starting quarterback, and not only
22:49
Speaker 8: is your starting quarterback, but you lose your number two
22:51
Speaker 8: and your number.
22:52
Speaker 6: Three as well.
22:53
Speaker 8: And Josh Dobbs when he was playing for the Vikings
22:55
Speaker 8: was really their fourth and so usually those situations lead
22:59
Speaker 8: to a disaster. And one of the reasons the Vikings,
23:02
Speaker 8: the biggest reason that hasn't been a disaster for them
23:05
Speaker 8: has been their defense.
23:07
Speaker 9: What is it about the Vikings with close football games?
23:10
Speaker 9: When they win eleven by one score or less? You
23:13
Speaker 9: know last year that was a record, I think. And
23:15
Speaker 9: then they've only had one game the entire season that's
23:19
Speaker 9: been decided by fourteen points some more against at Green Bay.
23:23
Speaker 9: Every other game there was one by eight, but that's
23:25
Speaker 9: one score the only two point conversion. Eight points are less.
23:28
Speaker 9: I mean, the six games they've lost by a total
23:31
Speaker 9: of twenty three points. The games they've won has been
23:35
Speaker 9: a whole lot different. It's unbelievable how every single game
23:39
Speaker 9: unfolds to be like a one score game or less?
23:42
Speaker 9: What is it?
23:44
Speaker 8: And it's not great for the blood pressure of beat
23:46
Speaker 8: riders on dead that. But they have played thirty games
23:51
Speaker 8: since the start of when Kevin O'Connell became the coach.
23:54
Speaker 8: Last year, twenty three of them have been decided by
23:58
Speaker 8: one score games, so that, as you said, they are
24:00
Speaker 8: eleven and zero last year. This year there's six and
24:02
Speaker 8: six in the twelve games that have been one score and.
24:06
Speaker 6: Then obviously the Packers game that you mentioned.
24:08
Speaker 8: And so I'm kind of out of explanations. I don't
24:12
Speaker 8: think there's like a through line through all of these things.
24:15
Speaker 8: I think last year especially, they were really good playing
24:19
Speaker 8: fourth quarter situational football and so and they were they
24:25
Speaker 8: able to pull out a lot of games at the
24:27
Speaker 8: very end, either through game winning drives with Kirk Cousins
24:30
Speaker 8: or their defense maybe making an interception here and there.
24:34
Speaker 8: This year, it's been a little bit all over the map,
24:36
Speaker 8: and I think it's just kind of an extreme example
24:39
Speaker 8: of what we see across the league. I mean, my
24:42
Speaker 8: theory on the NFL is that every year there's a
24:44
Speaker 8: handful of really good teams, maybe three to five, a
24:48
Speaker 8: handful of really bad teams another three and five, and
24:51
Speaker 8: everybody else is in that middle, and vast majority.
24:54
Speaker 6: Is in that middle. And so they're kind of an
24:57
Speaker 6: extreme example.
24:58
Speaker 8: Of that, where they're not good enough to just, you know,
25:01
Speaker 8: especially this year, just reel off wins every time they're
25:05
Speaker 8: in these close games, but they are good enough to
25:08
Speaker 8: rarely get.
25:09
Speaker 6: Blown out either. And so maybe it's just kind of.
25:14
Speaker 8: A little bit of a microcosm of the larger, you know,
25:17
Speaker 8: relative lack of disparity that we.
25:19
Speaker 6: See in the NFL.
25:20
Speaker 8: That they find themselves in every game playing with an
25:24
Speaker 8: opponent not necessarily being better, but sometimes this year sometimes
25:29
Speaker 8: coming out ahead sometimes this year being behind, but I'm
25:33
Speaker 8: always very close and I expect more of that to
25:37
Speaker 8: come this weekend.
25:38
Speaker 2: Kevin Sefford covers the vikings for ESPN I do University
25:42
Speaker 2: of Cincinnati football game. So I can honestly say I
25:45
Speaker 2: am not surprised that Ivan Pace is having success at
25:48
Speaker 2: the NFL level. What stands out to you about his
25:51
Speaker 2: play as a rookie from Minnesota just you.
25:55
Speaker 6: Know, just so energetic.
25:56
Speaker 8: I mean, he from the from the beginning of train camp,
26:00
Speaker 8: he was just making splash plays.
26:03
Speaker 6: He would just you would just see.
26:04
Speaker 8: Him running sideline the sideline in at a at a
26:08
Speaker 8: rate that most of the guys weren't, especially when he
26:11
Speaker 8: was working on that second and third team, Uh, those second.
26:14
Speaker 6: And thirteen groups.
26:15
Speaker 8: And then you never but you never know when you're
26:17
Speaker 8: watching training camp what that means.
26:19
Speaker 6: Sometimes it's just.
26:20
Speaker 8: A guy that's really it hustles a lot, but the
26:22
Speaker 8: coaches don't see, you know, potential to actually be a
26:26
Speaker 8: contributor at the first team. And then all of a
26:28
Speaker 8: sudden he started, uh, you know, they'd have an inner
26:31
Speaker 8: squad scrimmage and he's working with the first team and
26:33
Speaker 8: the guy that they had penciled in to be the
26:35
Speaker 8: starters of the second team, and you think, oh, well,
26:37
Speaker 8: maybe they're just seeing what he can do, and then
26:39
Speaker 8: it just never stopped. They just he just kept showing
26:41
Speaker 8: up and whenever they would line up with their first team,
26:44
Speaker 8: he would be there.
26:45
Speaker 6: Uh.
26:46
Speaker 8: Brian Forlores's defense, I think has one of the things
26:50
Speaker 8: that's been really good is that he has found ways
26:52
Speaker 8: to maximize the skills of each guy, and so in
26:55
Speaker 8: some cases that means they play ten snaps one week
26:59
Speaker 8: and the next week they play fifty snaps. And so
27:02
Speaker 8: that's where Ivan was at least early in the year,
27:05
Speaker 8: like a lot of his playing time was based on
27:08
Speaker 8: what Flores and the defensive staff thought was best for
27:10
Speaker 8: that particular week. But then I think it was three
27:13
Speaker 8: weeks ago Jordan Hicks, their veteran middle linebacker, had a
27:18
Speaker 8: really serious leg injury, and so they had no choice
27:21
Speaker 8: but to put Ivan out there every play and put
27:24
Speaker 8: the green dot on his helmet and say, hey, be
27:26
Speaker 8: the captain of our middle defense. And he's really just
27:29
Speaker 8: taken the bull by the horns. And I think that
27:31
Speaker 8: the game he had last week in Vegas, where he
27:33
Speaker 8: had thirteen tackles in a sack and the game clinching
27:36
Speaker 8: interception was definitely his best of the year and probably
27:39
Speaker 8: a springboard of things to come.
27:42
Speaker 9: The Vikings has scored twenty six points in the first
27:45
Speaker 9: quarter in thirteen football games, two points per game. Why
27:48
Speaker 9: the slow starts, do you think?
27:51
Speaker 8: Well, early in the year they were on this crazy
27:54
Speaker 8: run of not only not scoring but turning the ball over.
27:57
Speaker 8: I think they had first half of the season. I
27:59
Speaker 8: think it was four games where they turned the ball
28:01
Speaker 8: opening over on the opening possession, and so they were
28:04
Speaker 8: just coming out and maybe it was too you know,
28:09
Speaker 8: overthinking their script a little bit. Maybe it was trying
28:13
Speaker 8: to be too fine or too aggressive in what they
28:16
Speaker 8: were projecting opponents to do.
28:18
Speaker 6: But they were just really rough in.
28:21
Speaker 8: The in the especially on those opening drives, and that's
28:24
Speaker 8: where you see a lot of teams really excel as
28:26
Speaker 8: if you have the whole week to play in your
28:28
Speaker 8: opening script and if nothing is gonna work the whole day,
28:31
Speaker 8: but that but that, but you know that one one
28:34
Speaker 8: drive will And so it was really wild and they
28:37
Speaker 8: went they just kind of, I think, try to simplify
28:40
Speaker 8: things a little bit, uh decided who they thought was,
28:44
Speaker 8: you know, should have the ball in their hands more often,
28:47
Speaker 8: and and and some other guys maybe a little less often,
28:50
Speaker 8: and got that straightened out. And so I think that
28:53
Speaker 8: the average you cited was probably broad down significantly by
28:57
Speaker 8: that run they had in the beginning of the year.
28:59
Speaker 6: So they've been a little bit better better.
29:02
Speaker 8: But in the past two weeks, both the Raiders and
29:06
Speaker 8: the Bears got the opening kickoff and ended up on
29:11
Speaker 8: these long, time consuming, not a slight productive, but time
29:15
Speaker 8: consuming drives.
29:16
Speaker 6: And the Vikings didn'tn't.
29:17
Speaker 8: Really have many plays in the first quarter of those
29:19
Speaker 8: two games either, and so it's been a combination of factors.
29:22
Speaker 8: But now they've I think, have gotten their turnover situation
29:25
Speaker 8: under control. They're a little bit more effective now in
29:28
Speaker 8: the first quarters.
29:30
Speaker 2: Kevin, My final question has to do with Nick Mullins,
29:32
Speaker 2: who will be the starting quarterback this week. Fourth starting
29:35
Speaker 2: quarterback of the year for the Vikings, first time in
29:37
Speaker 2: franchise history. Apparently they've started four in one season. Was
29:42
Speaker 2: this building or was this just the result of him
29:45
Speaker 2: having a good fourth quarter last week and the three
29:48
Speaker 2: nothing win in Vegas?
29:50
Speaker 6: Well, it was a common factors.
29:51
Speaker 8: Nick Mullens started the year at the Vikings number two
29:54
Speaker 8: quarterback and he and then he had a back injury
29:57
Speaker 8: that happened in practice and he went on injury reserve,
30:00
Speaker 8: And if that injury had not happened, he would have
30:02
Speaker 8: been the person who came in to replace Kirk Cousins
30:05
Speaker 8: when Cousins suffered the Achilles injury, but he wasn't available,
30:08
Speaker 8: so they went with a number three quarterback who got
30:11
Speaker 8: Jared Hollow at a concussion, and then finally to Josh Jobbs.
30:15
Speaker 8: And I think there was a belief all along that
30:17
Speaker 8: they would eventually work their way back to Mullens. But
30:20
Speaker 8: Dobbs had these great couple of games just to start
30:23
Speaker 8: off and build himself up some equity, but over time
30:28
Speaker 8: he started to have some struggles with turnovers and just
30:31
Speaker 8: really getting down the complicated nature of this offense. So
30:35
Speaker 8: maybe it had been building behind the scenes a little bit,
30:37
Speaker 8: but they you know, he came in against Vegas.
30:40
Speaker 6: And led the only scoring drive they had in the
30:41
Speaker 6: whole game.
30:42
Speaker 8: And so at this point, I don't know that Kevin O'Connell,
30:45
Speaker 8: the head coach, had much of a choice but to
30:48
Speaker 8: turn to Nick.
30:49
Speaker 6: But he also, like I you know this, he had
30:52
Speaker 6: a very cutting quote.
30:53
Speaker 8: Where he said, this is a week to week offense,
30:55
Speaker 8: We're going to decide every week what we're doing and
30:57
Speaker 8: who the people out there are going to be.
31:00
Speaker 6: That's doing it. And so I don't know that I
31:03
Speaker 6: feel confident that Nick.
31:04
Speaker 8: Mallins has started for the rest of the year, but
31:06
Speaker 8: he's definitely going to be the starter this weekend.
31:09
Speaker 9: Thanks for giving us all the time you've given us.
31:12
Speaker 9: My final question involves the tight end position. How good
31:15
Speaker 9: is Hawkinson been? The Bengals have given up more receptions
31:19
Speaker 9: and more receiving yards than any defense in the National
31:22
Speaker 9: Football League. In Hawkinson eighty five catches over eight hundred yards,
31:26
Speaker 9: five touchdowns receiving. How good is this dude?
31:30
Speaker 8: Well, he's really become the security blanket for all the
31:33
Speaker 8: Vikings quarterbacks, and for reasons that we haven't even talked
31:37
Speaker 8: about yet, but justin Jefferson missed seven seven games with
31:40
Speaker 8: a hamstring injury, most of last week with the after
31:43
Speaker 8: he got hit in the back there and suffered a
31:46
Speaker 8: chest injury. So Hokinson has sort of been the first
31:49
Speaker 8: choice of every quarterback that's played for the Vikings this
31:52
Speaker 8: year during the Jefferson time away, and so that's really
31:55
Speaker 8: where Hockinson has made a lot of his Hey, he
31:58
Speaker 8: has not been a great like downfield receiver per se
32:03
Speaker 8: or a run after the catch guy, but in terms
32:06
Speaker 8: of someone who knows how to find the little scene
32:09
Speaker 8: in the in the zone and pulling a seven yard
32:11
Speaker 8: catch on first and ten or a five yard catch
32:14
Speaker 8: on third and three.
32:15
Speaker 6: He's been outstanding at that.
32:16
Speaker 8: I think he has more catches or remember he's now
32:20
Speaker 8: ranked number two in the NFL amongst all tight ends.
32:22
Speaker 8: And so he's been very durable and very available and
32:28
Speaker 8: very much a security blanket for all of those guys.
32:30
Speaker 6: And so we'll see.
32:32
Speaker 8: How that, you know, how that plays out now that
32:34
Speaker 8: we expect Jefferson to be on the field for most
32:36
Speaker 8: of this game most is not all of this game Saturday,
32:40
Speaker 8: but he's always going to be there and he's always
32:42
Speaker 8: going to be a guy that those quarterbacks know can
32:45
Speaker 8: be a reliable gainer of yards.
32:47
Speaker 9: And you're right, he's number one in tight end receptions
32:50
Speaker 9: with eighty five and number one in tight end receptions
32:53
Speaker 9: on third down with twenty five. So he's been a.
32:57
Speaker 8: Beast, absolutely, And they traded for him last year from Detroit,
33:03
Speaker 8: gave up a second round pick, and then sign him
33:05
Speaker 8: to a huge contract extension, so he's a premium player
33:08
Speaker 8: at a premium value and they're getting their money's worth
33:11
Speaker 8: out of them This year.
33:12
Speaker 2: The Bengals are currently a three point favorite this week.
33:16
Speaker 2: Here's an invitation to join Dave Lapham and me for
33:18
Speaker 2: the Bengals pep Rally Show this week. We'll be at
33:21
Speaker 2: the Wings and Rings location in Union, Kentucky on Friday
33:24
Speaker 2: from three to six, and since it's the day before
33:27
Speaker 2: a game, we won't have a current player joining us
33:30
Speaker 2: this week. Our special guest will be the starting center
33:34
Speaker 2: on the nineteen eighty eight Super Bowl team, Bruce Gazerski.
33:38
Speaker 2: That's going to do it for this episode of the
33:40
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Speaker 2: have a minute, give it a rating or share a
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Speaker 2: comment that helps more Bengals fans find us, I'm Dan Horde.
34:11
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening to the Bengals Booth Podcast