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Bengals Booth Podcast: Begin Again · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi again everybody. I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The I watched it begin again. Addition,
0:13
Speaker 1: as the Bengals emerged from their bye week looking to
0:15
Speaker 1: climb over five hundred for the first time this year
0:18
Speaker 1: as they face the San Francisco forty nine Ers coming up,
0:22
Speaker 1: Dave Lapham joins me to discuss a wide variety of topics,
0:25
Speaker 1: including the state of the offensive line, the possibility of
0:29
Speaker 1: trading for a tight end, and what he'll say if
0:32
Speaker 1: he runs into Joe Montana in San Francisco. I'll talk
0:37
Speaker 1: to safety Nick Scott, who faced the forty nine Ers
0:40
Speaker 1: nine times in the last four years, and we'll hear
0:43
Speaker 1: from Brian Callahan on jump starting the Bengals offense after
0:47
Speaker 1: the bye. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you
0:50
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Speaker 1: the best fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider
1:10
Speaker 1: of the Bengals. Now here's a quick reminder that you
1:13
Speaker 1: can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right
1:16
Speaker 1: to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing wherever you
1:20
Speaker 1: get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since fall golf.
1:26
Speaker 1: My golf season basically ends when Bengals training camp begins,
1:30
Speaker 1: but I had the opportunity to play this weekend because
1:33
Speaker 1: of the bye, and I was reminded of how enjoyable
1:36
Speaker 1: it is to play this time of the year. The
1:38
Speaker 1: fall foliage was spectacular, as the leaves were various shades
1:42
Speaker 1: of yellow, orange, red, green, and brown. The course was
1:46
Speaker 1: mostly empty since a lot of people put their clubs
1:49
Speaker 1: away after Labor Day, and the temperature was cool but comfortable.
1:53
Speaker 1: The only negative was my play from the thirteenth hole on.
1:58
Speaker 1: For the first twelve holes, I was a stud. For
2:01
Speaker 1: the last six I was a dud. Now let's get
2:06
Speaker 1: the football, beginning with my conversation with Dave Lapham. Now
2:12
Speaker 1: that Joe Burrow is fully healthy, or at least close
2:14
Speaker 1: to it, do you expect the offense to take off?
2:18
Speaker 2: I do you know? I think it maybe not right away,
2:23
Speaker 2: but I do think that it'll ramp up fairly quickly,
2:27
Speaker 2: and it's a ripple effect with Joe being able to
2:30
Speaker 2: move around. I mean, the protection will be better, defenses
2:34
Speaker 2: will have to honor more things, and honestly, it'll help
2:38
Speaker 2: the running game because right now, people are crowding the
2:41
Speaker 2: line of scrimmage. You know, they don't feel like the
2:43
Speaker 2: Bengals are going to attack the deep cordiners of the
2:45
Speaker 2: football field, and every time they take the field it's
2:48
Speaker 2: like they're in the red zone, of the low red zone,
2:50
Speaker 2: it seems like. So I think a healthy, close to
2:55
Speaker 2: one hundred percent Joe Burrow is going to make a
2:57
Speaker 2: huge difference, a big ripple effect, I think offense.
3:01
Speaker 1: Are there other significant issues though that haven't been talked
3:04
Speaker 1: about much because we've all been so focused on Joe's calf.
3:09
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, can the running game be better? Heck yeah,
3:13
Speaker 2: I mean there's no question. I was looking at it
3:15
Speaker 2: during the bye week and they're being out rushed by
3:18
Speaker 2: seventy three yards. That's the worst in the league teams
3:21
Speaker 2: out rushing an opponent. They're average per care the efficiency
3:26
Speaker 2: part of it, they're minus a yard and a half
3:28
Speaker 2: worse than the league. So, you know, the numbers don't lie.
3:32
Speaker 2: I mean, the running game hasn't been there. The efficiency
3:35
Speaker 2: of the running game hasn't been there. They're going to
3:37
Speaker 2: have to, you know, make it at least something that
3:40
Speaker 2: defenses have to consider. You know, it's it's going to
3:44
Speaker 2: have to pick up the pick up the pace there
3:46
Speaker 2: as such, and whether it's tweaking a schematic or evaluating
3:52
Speaker 2: what you're doing, how you're doing it, with whom you're
3:54
Speaker 2: doing it. That's what the bye week was all about.
3:58
Speaker 2: That's what you spend time doing the those kind of
4:00
Speaker 2: things for. So hopefully they obviously got their due diligence
4:05
Speaker 2: done there and we'll see what the outcome is.
4:07
Speaker 1: Along those lines, Brian Callahan discussed the possibility of having
4:10
Speaker 1: Burrow under center more now that his calf is better.
4:13
Speaker 1: Do you think that would significantly help the running game?
4:17
Speaker 2: I think yeah, I think that that is a that's
4:20
Speaker 2: definitely a factor. I probably they've been under center half
4:24
Speaker 2: a dozen times in the first six games. I mean,
4:26
Speaker 2: it's crazy. I think that that will at least give
4:31
Speaker 2: the defense something else to think about. And plus I
4:35
Speaker 2: think the play action game would be much more effective
4:37
Speaker 2: that way too, if in fact, you do show that
4:40
Speaker 2: you're serious about running the football when Joe's under center,
4:43
Speaker 2: can't be an automatic talent can't be like every time
4:46
Speaker 2: he's understand to running the football and every time he's
4:48
Speaker 2: in the shotgun and he's throwing the football. I mean,
4:50
Speaker 2: peebe football coaches would jump on that pretty quickly. So,
4:54
Speaker 2: but having a mix and being able to have more
4:58
Speaker 2: than one thing for defense to think about and prepare for,
5:02
Speaker 2: I think is an advantage.
5:04
Speaker 1: I checked out Pro Football focused grades. Through six games
5:07
Speaker 1: this season, Four of the five starting offensive linemen have
5:10
Speaker 1: grades in the sixties, which is okay, not great, not bad.
5:15
Speaker 1: The one exception is Cordell Vohlsen, with a grade of
5:18
Speaker 1: forty eight point two. His pass blocking grade is twenty
5:21
Speaker 1: three point five. How much of that is due to
5:24
Speaker 1: the guys that he's faced and how much of that
5:26
Speaker 1: is his level of play.
5:28
Speaker 2: I think it starts with who he's faced and a
5:33
Speaker 2: young player, and he's still a young player. You know,
5:37
Speaker 2: when you're going against guys that are that good, you
5:41
Speaker 2: start to question yourself. You know, it's like, man, all
5:44
Speaker 2: of a sudden, it's saying, am I doing the right thing?
5:46
Speaker 2: And then I've been there where you watch tape and
5:51
Speaker 2: it's like, did I really do that? You don't even
5:54
Speaker 2: realize you're doing it. It's almost like fight or flight time.
5:58
Speaker 2: So you're not gonna fly fly, gonna fight. And when
6:01
Speaker 2: you get overly aggressive and forget about your techniques and
6:04
Speaker 2: it's like, all right, well he whip my, but I'm
6:06
Speaker 2: gonna go kick his butt right now. Well, you can't
6:08
Speaker 2: throw out you know what you're supposed to be doing
6:10
Speaker 2: and how you're supposed to be doing it, and and
6:13
Speaker 2: it's it's not it's not super obvious, but all all
6:17
Speaker 2: is a little bit more of a lean. When you're
6:19
Speaker 2: trying to be a little bit more aggressive or get
6:20
Speaker 2: your hands on a guy sooner, you know that that's
6:23
Speaker 2: the that's the panic mode I remember, is like all right,
6:26
Speaker 2: well I'm gonna get my when I could use my
6:28
Speaker 2: hands when they finally liberalize it, I'm gonna get my
6:30
Speaker 2: hands on the guy. Sometimes, you know, when you're trying
6:33
Speaker 2: too hard to get your hands on a player who's
6:36
Speaker 2: that elusive and combine speed with power and uh you know,
6:42
Speaker 2: have quickness and short space quickness and all that everything
6:45
Speaker 2: goes along with it, those guys are hard to block
6:48
Speaker 2: and and so I think I think that's his biggest issue.
6:52
Speaker 2: And that's the thing with pro football focus that I've
6:55
Speaker 2: said over and over again. They don't factor any of
6:57
Speaker 2: that in. You know, there's no learning, there's no grading
7:00
Speaker 2: curve on that. You know. So it's like if you
7:05
Speaker 2: play against the number one interior defensive lineman and the
7:09
Speaker 2: league and Aaron Donald and he's one A and Simmons
7:12
Speaker 2: is one being. You get him back to back weeks,
7:14
Speaker 2: that's an adventure, and you know that's that's something that
7:18
Speaker 2: can be hard to deal with. I think the buy
7:21
Speaker 2: will do him good. Get away from it for a while,
7:24
Speaker 2: you know, clear your head, come back with an idea
7:28
Speaker 2: that I'm going to start. I'm going to start from
7:30
Speaker 2: square one again and I'm going to do the building blocks,
7:32
Speaker 2: and I'm going to get in my routine of exactly
7:36
Speaker 2: what I have to do step by step from a
7:37
Speaker 2: fundamentals and technique standpoint, and I'm gonna I'm gonna block
7:41
Speaker 2: my ass off for the last living games of the season.
7:44
Speaker 1: Orlando Brown Junior heard his growing in the Tennessee game,
7:48
Speaker 1: played through it, played the next game against Arizona, and
7:51
Speaker 1: then early in the most recent game against Seattle, he
7:53
Speaker 1: tweaked it and sat out the rest of the game.
7:56
Speaker 1: Were you surprised that Cody Ford was the guy that
7:58
Speaker 1: took his place at left tackle.
8:00
Speaker 2: You know, I didn't have an idea that that's where
8:05
Speaker 2: they were, that's where they were, you know, putting there
8:07
Speaker 2: too deeps. But from watching him, remembering how he played
8:13
Speaker 2: at the college level, you know, I guess not really.
8:15
Speaker 2: I mean, he came out of Oklahoma as a pretty
8:19
Speaker 2: highly graded tackle, his second round pick, higher pick than
8:23
Speaker 2: Orlando Brown was coming out of Oklahoma. So Orlando didn't
8:26
Speaker 2: have the greatest Pro day. But yeah, Cody Ford, he
8:30
Speaker 2: has he has some abilities, he has some natural power.
8:34
Speaker 2: I mean, he's a very physical dude. I thought he
8:38
Speaker 2: acquitted himself pretty well. I thought he did a darn
8:40
Speaker 2: good job in there when he when he went in
8:42
Speaker 2: there for Orlando Brown. So it's the National Football League.
8:49
Speaker 2: If you show up and you show that you're the
8:51
Speaker 2: guy on on a more consistent snap by snap basis
8:55
Speaker 2: and the coaches start to gain some confidence in what
8:57
Speaker 2: they're seeing, you're gonna get your shot. He got a shot,
9:01
Speaker 2: and he was ready to take advantage of his opportunity.
9:04
Speaker 2: And that's you know, that's a credit to him as well.
9:06
Speaker 2: You never know what's gonna happen, and you don't think
9:08
Speaker 2: it's gonna be with Orlando Brown necessarily, and he went
9:12
Speaker 2: out there and just kept his composure, kept his poise
9:16
Speaker 2: and executed his assignments.
9:18
Speaker 1: Orlando Brown Junior, by the way, says he will play
9:21
Speaker 1: this week at San Francisco. Let's turn the tight end.
9:24
Speaker 1: Irv Smith Junior has been dealing with a hamstring injury.
9:27
Speaker 1: He's only played in four out of the six games.
9:29
Speaker 1: It's unfair to make a determination on his status in
9:34
Speaker 1: terms of, you know, whether it's a good signing or
9:36
Speaker 1: a bad signing, whatever, but it is fair to say
9:40
Speaker 1: he has not produced much in the four games that
9:42
Speaker 1: he's played in. Are you wondering if he is a
9:45
Speaker 1: good fit in this offense?
9:48
Speaker 2: From what I saw, you know, in the early stages
9:51
Speaker 2: of OTAs in training camp, it was almost like, yeah,
9:56
Speaker 2: this will be good now, this this looks like it's
9:59
Speaker 2: gonna it's going to be a good fit because I
10:02
Speaker 2: mean this is a pass offense. It's a pass first offense,
10:05
Speaker 2: and he's a receiving tight end more so than a
10:09
Speaker 2: You don't think of HERR Smith Jr. As man. He's
10:13
Speaker 2: a He's a dominant guy in the edge, you know,
10:15
Speaker 2: as a blocker. You think of him is almost like
10:17
Speaker 2: he's another wide receiver, big body, wide out at the
10:21
Speaker 2: tight end position, and that's what I was looking for
10:25
Speaker 2: with him. I thought he was gonna, you know, have
10:27
Speaker 2: a very big season with Joe Burrow and get on
10:30
Speaker 2: the same page pretty quickly. But you know, hamstring issues
10:33
Speaker 2: and injuries and whatever have curtailed that. Hopefully he's in
10:38
Speaker 2: a situation where he has the bye week is the
10:41
Speaker 2: is the final piece of allowing him to get totally healthy,
10:45
Speaker 2: because you know, hamstrings can be tricky too, depending on
10:48
Speaker 2: where his pull is. If it's up high by his buttocks,
10:50
Speaker 2: those are a pain in the box. If it's in
10:53
Speaker 2: the middle of his hamstring, you know, that's another less issue.
10:57
Speaker 2: If it's down by his knee, then that's even less
11:00
Speaker 2: of an issue. Mild hamstring. I think his is one
11:04
Speaker 2: of the other two. I think his at least mid,
11:06
Speaker 2: maybe high. But with the bye week, hopefully that's the
11:12
Speaker 2: final necessary time that he needs to get back to
11:16
Speaker 2: not having to be an issue whatsoever when he's out
11:18
Speaker 2: there trying to run full till.
11:20
Speaker 1: The Bengals historically have not given up draft picks to
11:23
Speaker 1: get players at the trade deadline, but history doesn't really
11:26
Speaker 1: seem to apply in the Joe Burrow era. They've done
11:29
Speaker 1: a lot of things that they did not do in
11:30
Speaker 1: the past. If you could add a tight end without
11:34
Speaker 1: giving up, say a first three rounds draft pick, so four, five, six,
11:40
Speaker 1: or seven, would you do it?
11:42
Speaker 2: I'd have to think about it, you know, I'd have
11:45
Speaker 2: to consider it depends you know what tight end the
11:48
Speaker 2: tight end that is available, and you know, if it's
11:52
Speaker 2: not given up a first, second, or third round er,
11:55
Speaker 2: you know what's the talent level of that tight end.
11:59
Speaker 2: I at this point, I would explore every option from
12:03
Speaker 2: a personnel standpoint that there is to explore. And I
12:07
Speaker 2: know they do that, and you know, I mean a
12:10
Speaker 2: lot of fans, Oh, that's just a waste of time,
12:12
Speaker 2: that's an exercise of futility. Well, there's always going to
12:15
Speaker 2: be the occasion where somebody becomes available that you didn't
12:18
Speaker 2: think was going to be available, and you didn't do
12:20
Speaker 2: your due diligence, you didn't do your homework, and other
12:24
Speaker 2: people took advantage of it because they did. And you're
12:26
Speaker 2: sitting there saying, only if you know I had done
12:30
Speaker 2: a little bit more so, I think at this point
12:34
Speaker 2: and burning the midnight oil going through every possible scenario
12:39
Speaker 2: that they can think of. And now are they making
12:43
Speaker 2: phone calls and trying to initiate things? I don't think so,
12:46
Speaker 2: But I think if they they're preparing themselves, if in
12:50
Speaker 2: fact they were to get a phone call and not
12:53
Speaker 2: get caught totally by surprise by that phone call and
12:56
Speaker 2: what that phone call was going to be talked about,
12:59
Speaker 2: I mean, I think I think you got to get
13:01
Speaker 2: that done for the organization the least.
13:03
Speaker 1: Here are some tight end names that have been mentioned
13:06
Speaker 1: as possibly being available on the internet, and as we know,
13:08
Speaker 1: the Internet is never wrong. Zach Ertz former Bengal c
13:13
Speaker 1: j Uzama, Hunter, Henry, Mike Kasicki. Henry and Gasicki are
13:17
Speaker 1: both of the Patriots, and Darren Waller has been mentioned.
13:20
Speaker 1: I think that one's a pipe dream personally. But how
13:22
Speaker 1: about those other names? And I have no idea what
13:26
Speaker 1: the other team would want they might want to pick
13:28
Speaker 1: in the first three rounds. But of those other names,
13:31
Speaker 1: does anybody really pique your interest?
13:33
Speaker 3: You know?
13:34
Speaker 2: I mean all of them would be somebody that I'd
13:36
Speaker 2: want to take a look at and see how they're playing. Now,
13:38
Speaker 2: see how they're playing. You know, currently, some guys may
13:43
Speaker 2: not have as big a role. That's why they might
13:46
Speaker 2: be available for whatever reason. I don't know. There's many
13:51
Speaker 2: reasons that guys fall out of favor. Some of it
13:54
Speaker 2: is obviously physical they're aging or slowing down or whatever
14:00
Speaker 2: the case may be. Sometimes it's just personality conflicts or
14:05
Speaker 2: issues that happen around the league. I mean, everybody's human
14:09
Speaker 2: and human beings don't all get along all the time,
14:12
Speaker 2: and that occurs as well. But yeah, I mean you'd
14:16
Speaker 2: have to look at what those guys are doing, what
14:19
Speaker 2: they're capable of doing when you look at them on tape,
14:21
Speaker 2: and see if it fits what you're going to be
14:23
Speaker 2: asking you're tight end to do. And like you said,
14:27
Speaker 2: it takes two to tango. I mean, you may have
14:29
Speaker 2: one value in mind and the team that you're trying
14:32
Speaker 2: to pull the deal with, Like you're kidding me. I
14:35
Speaker 2: was thinking more along these lines, and it's like you're
14:38
Speaker 2: light years apart and can't work a deal out.
14:40
Speaker 1: All three teams in the AFC North won this week,
14:43
Speaker 1: So the Bengals are a game and a half behind
14:44
Speaker 1: Baltimore and a game behind Pittsburgh and Cleveland. Want to
14:47
Speaker 1: start with Pittsburgh. The Steelers are twenty eighth in rushing yards,
14:52
Speaker 1: twenty fifth in passing yards. They're ravaging seventeen points a game.
14:55
Speaker 1: It must be a great defense, right. They're twenty eighth
14:58
Speaker 1: in rushing yards given U they're twenty fifth in passing
15:01
Speaker 1: yards allowed, exactly the same as their offense. They're giving
15:05
Speaker 1: up even more points than they're scoring twenty one points
15:07
Speaker 1: a game. How are they foreign too?
15:11
Speaker 2: Mike Tomlin the Magician, I mean, I don't. That's a
15:15
Speaker 2: hell of a question. I mean, I look at them.
15:17
Speaker 2: They're being out rushed. The efficiency of the running game
15:21
Speaker 2: is not in their favor in terms of yards per carry.
15:23
Speaker 2: I mean, it's like they're being outscored. The Bengals have
15:27
Speaker 2: been outscored by twenty seven points. They've been outscored, you
15:30
Speaker 2: know as well. You know Bengals have a plus five
15:34
Speaker 2: turnover ratio. Off the top of my head, I can't
15:36
Speaker 2: remember what Pittsburgh's is. I know it's plus, but I mean,
15:41
Speaker 2: they don't they must be winning field position battles, what
15:47
Speaker 2: is it? I mean, it is amazing that they're pulling
15:50
Speaker 2: victories out, like they pull out every single close game
15:53
Speaker 2: though seems to go their way. They seem to have
15:56
Speaker 2: an unbelievable confidence that they can finish that football game.
16:01
Speaker 2: They're going to make plays down the stretch. They're going
16:04
Speaker 2: to ultimately win them a football game. You know, when
16:06
Speaker 2: the rubber meets the road and a play has to
16:09
Speaker 2: be executed, they figure out a way to get it done.
16:12
Speaker 2: It It is mind boggling. Mike Tomlin and his never
16:17
Speaker 2: having a losing season record. I guess the football gods
16:21
Speaker 2: are buying it, man. I mean, it's it really is.
16:25
Speaker 2: It's a tribute to him, really attribute to the way
16:29
Speaker 2: he gets his players to think and believe. Every player
16:33
Speaker 2: that has come here from Pittsburgh they can't say enough
16:36
Speaker 2: good things about Mike Tomlin. I mean, it's it's unbelievable
16:41
Speaker 2: how his players. You have to have respect, and if
16:46
Speaker 2: you don't have that, you know you have problems. But
16:48
Speaker 2: when you have love and respect, that's a that's a
16:53
Speaker 2: combination that's hard to beat. And his players love them
16:56
Speaker 2: and they totally respect them. And I don't think that
16:59
Speaker 2: there's a coach in league that can claim a better
17:02
Speaker 2: relationship between himself and his players.
17:05
Speaker 1: The Browns are also foreign too. They got a big
17:07
Speaker 1: assist from the officials in Sunday's win over the Colts.
17:11
Speaker 1: They're four and two. To me is easier to understand
17:14
Speaker 1: because at least until the Colts game, their defense had
17:16
Speaker 1: been unbelievably good. But now they've got these questions with
17:20
Speaker 1: Deshaun Watson. He was checked for a concussion against the Colts.
17:25
Speaker 1: The doctors ruled him fine and said he could have
17:27
Speaker 1: gone back into the game, and they did not put
17:29
Speaker 1: him back into the game. Is that strictly because of
17:32
Speaker 1: the shoulder injury that he's been dealing with. Was it
17:35
Speaker 1: because of how poorly he was playing? Do you think
17:37
Speaker 1: they've got a major problem there.
17:40
Speaker 2: That's the biggest mystery in the league right now. I
17:42
Speaker 2: think was he one for five? I think in that game.
17:45
Speaker 1: One for five with an interception and another should have
17:48
Speaker 1: been interception that was thrown right to a guy in
17:50
Speaker 1: the Colts and he let the ball hit the ground.
17:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it wasn't he was cleared medically. Was it
17:58
Speaker 2: his call? Was that the organization and coaches call not
18:02
Speaker 2: to put them back in? Was there collaborative call? It is?
18:05
Speaker 2: It's a There hasn't been any definitive word. It's a mystery.
18:09
Speaker 2: It really is a mystery. I wonder if you know,
18:12
Speaker 2: when they watched him go one for five with the interception,
18:15
Speaker 2: it's like his throwing motion just doesn't look right. Yet,
18:18
Speaker 2: you know, maybe we need to even if you did
18:21
Speaker 2: pass the concussion protocol test, he did get dinged, you know,
18:26
Speaker 2: maybe it's better that we we go with Walker. But
18:29
Speaker 2: that is that's a that's a very interesting one right there,
18:33
Speaker 2: because if they if they get consistently good quarterback play,
18:40
Speaker 2: a football team will be something serious to deal with.
18:44
Speaker 1: So it's off to San Francisco this week. The forty
18:47
Speaker 1: nine ers are five and one. They play on Monday
18:49
Speaker 1: night against Minnesota. Before they lost last week in the
18:53
Speaker 1: rain in Cleveland, I thought the forty nine ers were
18:56
Speaker 1: the best team in the NFL, did you two?
18:58
Speaker 2: I did? I mean, just looking at you know, before
19:02
Speaker 2: this game tonight, the game has decided on the scoreboard,
19:06
Speaker 2: their second in the NFL and scoring their second in
19:08
Speaker 2: the NFL in points without They've outscored the opponent by
19:11
Speaker 2: ninety seven points in their first six football games, including
19:15
Speaker 2: you know that lost to Cleveland. But I mean they
19:18
Speaker 2: were putting up the lowest point total that they had
19:22
Speaker 2: scored before the Cleveland debacle was thirty I mean they
19:26
Speaker 2: had scored thirty three times, scored thirty five against Arizona
19:29
Speaker 2: and forty two against Dallas, and then Cleveland holds into
19:32
Speaker 2: seventeen points and Rock Purty comes down to earth a
19:35
Speaker 2: little bit. But I mean his numbers are still staggering.
19:39
Speaker 2: He's got a plus nine ratio touchdown interception, ten touchdowns
19:43
Speaker 2: in the top ten. I think it's tied for eighth
19:45
Speaker 2: right now before the game only one interception, tied for
19:48
Speaker 2: the fewest. That plus nine ratio is the best in
19:50
Speaker 2: the league. So he's taking care of the football. And
19:53
Speaker 2: you know they're plus eight number one in the NFL.
19:55
Speaker 2: And turnover ratio, I mean there's not a category, whether
20:00
Speaker 2: not top five, never mind top ten. I mean they
20:04
Speaker 2: to me, it was crazy how dominant they've been. Now,
20:08
Speaker 2: their rookie third round draft picked kicker let them down
20:11
Speaker 2: with a forty two yard miss. They could have won
20:15
Speaker 2: that football game against Cleveland. Man, I wish he had
20:17
Speaker 2: made that bad boy. But yeah, they're they're they're playing.
20:22
Speaker 2: They're playing at an extremely high level. I just think
20:26
Speaker 2: Shanahan's running game is unbelievable, unbelievable. It's so creative, and
20:33
Speaker 2: you know they're there, they're second in the league. And
20:35
Speaker 2: yards per play, they're second in the NFL. And rushing,
20:41
Speaker 2: they're averaging four and a half yards on like over
20:44
Speaker 2: one hundred and forty yards rushing per game. And he
20:46
Speaker 2: does it in such a creative way. I do think
20:50
Speaker 2: that Fortunately for the Bengals, they saw Seattle, whose run
20:54
Speaker 2: game is kind of similar to what Shanahan's doing in
20:58
Speaker 2: San Francisco. But there's, man, there's a lot of misdirection,
21:00
Speaker 2: there's a lot of motion, there's a lot of a
21:02
Speaker 2: lot of things that his whole thing is try to
21:05
Speaker 2: get linebackers and safe, these eyes distracted, you know, and
21:09
Speaker 2: and make them think a little bit too much. He's
21:12
Speaker 2: he's a hell of a coach and he's got He's
21:15
Speaker 2: got seven players, four on offense, three on defense that
21:19
Speaker 2: are All Pro. Seven of them not just Pro Bowlers.
21:22
Speaker 2: The Pro Bowl you make you're the best in your conference.
21:25
Speaker 2: Then to the other level is they select an All
21:28
Speaker 2: Pro from those all conference teams. They have seven guys
21:33
Speaker 2: that have made have made All Pro. From my count,
21:37
Speaker 2: it was Trent Williams at left tackle, George Kittle at
21:40
Speaker 2: tight end, Deebo Samuel and some of these guys Williams
21:44
Speaker 2: has the ankle issue, Deebo Samuel's shoulder issue, and McCaffrey
21:47
Speaker 2: with the oblique. But that's all three of those. All
21:51
Speaker 2: four of those guys, McCaffrey, Samuel, Kittle, and Williams all
21:56
Speaker 2: been All Pro offensively defensively, one at each level. Nickosa,
22:00
Speaker 2: who is Defensive Player of the Year last year, Fred
22:03
Speaker 2: Warner at linebacker, and Yufanga at the safety position second
22:09
Speaker 2: year player out of USC seven ball Pros's. That's a
22:15
Speaker 2: roster of talent coached by a very, very creative, detail
22:23
Speaker 2: oriented football coach.
22:25
Speaker 1: Final question, and this one's critical. On Sunday, when you
22:29
Speaker 1: get into the elevator at Levi Stadium and you're heading
22:32
Speaker 1: to the broadcast booth, if Joe Montana steps on that elevator,
22:37
Speaker 1: what do you say to him? Why?
22:41
Speaker 2: Why? Joe? I mean, couldn't you just give us one?
22:50
Speaker 2: I'll tell you I would. I would look at him
22:51
Speaker 2: and say, man, you're the best. Got to tip my
22:56
Speaker 2: cap to you, and then vomit all over his shoes.
23:02
Speaker 1: If I see Lappin Joe Montana getting on an elevator together,
23:06
Speaker 1: I'll be waiting for the next elevator. The Bengals Booth
23:10
Speaker 1: podcast is brought to you by pay Corps, Proud to
23:12
Speaker 1: be the Bengals official HR software provider by all to
23:16
Speaker 1: Fiber future Proof Fiber Internet designed to elevate your home,
23:19
Speaker 1: business and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health,
23:23
Speaker 1: the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is
23:27
Speaker 1: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Nobody on the
23:31
Speaker 1: Bengals roster is more familiar with the forty nine ers
23:34
Speaker 1: than safety Nick Scott. As a member of the Rams
23:37
Speaker 1: for the last four seasons, he faced San Francisco twice
23:40
Speaker 1: a year, and it was three times in twenty twenty
23:43
Speaker 1: one when the Rams beat the Niners in the NFC
23:46
Speaker 1: Championship Game. But here's the catch. That was the only
23:50
Speaker 1: time during nicks four years in LA that the Rams
23:54
Speaker 1: beat San Francisco. The Niners won the other eight games.
24:01
Speaker 1: You've seen the forty nine ers plenty from being in
24:04
Speaker 1: that division. As media members, we think we know and
24:08
Speaker 1: makes that attack so difficult to defend all the movement
24:11
Speaker 1: and so forth. But describe it from your perspective.
24:14
Speaker 4: One of the things that the forty nine ers do
24:16
Speaker 4: extremely well is they kind of they have an identity
24:19
Speaker 4: and they played at our identity every single game. They
24:22
Speaker 4: don't switch up for anybody. They kind of have the
24:24
Speaker 4: mentality of you gotta play us, and that's kind of
24:28
Speaker 4: what I felt and saw being in LA playing them
24:31
Speaker 4: twice a year, and it's something that they do well.
24:34
Speaker 4: They're extremely tough, they know what their quarterbacks do well,
24:37
Speaker 4: and they stick with it. So it's gonna be a
24:40
Speaker 4: tremendous challenging. You know, I like you. I like my
24:43
Speaker 4: odds a whole lot better being here with the Bengals,
24:46
Speaker 4: just because I think our identity aligns a little bit
24:49
Speaker 4: more with with how they like to play. And that's
24:51
Speaker 4: just tough football and just you know, making teams feel
24:56
Speaker 4: like they got to go through us. So it's gonna
24:57
Speaker 4: be a good matchup.
24:58
Speaker 1: If there are any brock Per already doubters still out there,
25:01
Speaker 1: I'd be surprised. He's basically got a full year now
25:05
Speaker 1: of showing close to elite play. Yeah, what are your
25:09
Speaker 1: impressions of him?
25:10
Speaker 4: Like I said, he's a he's a guy that you know,
25:13
Speaker 4: credit to him and what he's done and how he
25:15
Speaker 4: came in the league, and you know how he's taking
25:18
Speaker 4: the league by storm. And I think it's also a
25:20
Speaker 4: credit to their coaches and their coaching staff, which is
25:23
Speaker 4: honing in on what he does really well and making
25:26
Speaker 4: sure that's a focal point of that offense. So it's
25:29
Speaker 4: worked out for him. You know, hopefully we can just
25:32
Speaker 4: as a defense do the best we can to make
25:34
Speaker 4: sure he's not comfortable in the pocket and knocking balls
25:38
Speaker 4: down and making sure things are contested.
25:40
Speaker 1: Is there a position group that's most stressed by Kyle
25:44
Speaker 1: Shanahan's offense.
25:46
Speaker 2: Ah, that's a good question.
25:48
Speaker 4: I would I would say it's it's it's top to bottom, honestly.
25:52
Speaker 4: I know. You know their run game, they like to
25:54
Speaker 4: attack those sea gaps and you know, create with and
25:58
Speaker 4: get going downhill and everything like that, which puts stress
26:01
Speaker 4: on whoever those ends or outside linebackers are. We got
26:05
Speaker 4: two great and three really a lot of depth on
26:08
Speaker 4: the d line, so it'll be a great challenge for them,
26:11
Speaker 4: and then also who they got their skills players. McCaffrey
26:14
Speaker 4: poses a challenge for linebackers and corners and safeties alike,
26:18
Speaker 4: as well as Debo and a UK. So they just
26:21
Speaker 4: got a lot of talent. But you know, we got
26:23
Speaker 4: a lot of talent on this defense as well. We
26:25
Speaker 4: got guys that are super competitive and guys that look
26:29
Speaker 4: forward to challenges, so we're gonna we're gonna meet them,
26:32
Speaker 4: you know, with open arms.
26:33
Speaker 2: They bring it on.
26:34
Speaker 1: Look for a while on Sunday, like you guys might
26:36
Speaker 1: get some help from the Rams and the Colts against
26:39
Speaker 1: the Steelers and the Browns. And obviously it didn't work
26:42
Speaker 1: out that way. Was it a bummer to see how
26:45
Speaker 1: those games finished?
26:46
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, it's it's one of those things where
26:48
Speaker 4: it's like it just a little bit of a bummer,
26:53
Speaker 4: you know. But at the end of the day, you know,
26:55
Speaker 4: we look at who's on our schedule and everything is
26:58
Speaker 4: in our control if we want to, you know, be
27:02
Speaker 4: above the Steelers at the end of the year. We
27:04
Speaker 4: got opportunity to beat them twice if we want to,
27:07
Speaker 4: you know, have a good shot at division. We got
27:09
Speaker 4: another opportunity at the Ravens and the Browns. So yeah,
27:14
Speaker 4: I guess in a sense, you never want to take
27:16
Speaker 4: the easy way out. But if somebody could do your
27:17
Speaker 4: dirty work for you, that have be nice every once
27:20
Speaker 4: in a while. But you know, we we we relished
27:23
Speaker 4: the opportunity to take these teams on it and get
27:25
Speaker 4: them out the way ourselves.
27:27
Speaker 1: The first place Ravens will be in Arizona to face
27:30
Speaker 1: the one and six Cardinals on Sunday. The Steelers have
27:33
Speaker 1: a home game against the five and two Jaguars, and
27:36
Speaker 1: Cleveland has a tough road game in Seattle against the
27:40
Speaker 1: four and two Seahawks. The Bengals, of course, beat the
27:43
Speaker 1: Seahawks their last time out, thanks to an incredible red
27:46
Speaker 1: zone performance by the defense that offset a fairly lousy
27:51
Speaker 1: outing for the offense. As Zach Taylor put it after
27:54
Speaker 1: the game, it's better to win ugly than lose pretty.
27:58
Speaker 1: But later that night, offensive coordinator Brian Callahan had a
28:02
Speaker 1: hard time enjoying the win.
28:04
Speaker 3: I was on my couch last night, you know, watching
28:07
Speaker 3: it on iPad, just fuming like it's you know, there's
28:11
Speaker 3: just too many We had too many good coaches, too
28:14
Speaker 3: many good players to not play to our standard.
28:18
Speaker 1: Aside from Jamar Chase, who is on a pace to
28:20
Speaker 1: have one hundred and forty two catches that would be
28:24
Speaker 1: thirty more than t J. Hushman's out his team record
28:27
Speaker 1: for a single season, nobody else on offense is having
28:30
Speaker 1: a stellar year.
28:31
Speaker 3: Missing throws, We've dropped some balls, We've give up some sacks.
28:36
Speaker 3: You know, it's kind of a everyone's at a moment
28:41
Speaker 3: in the barrel if you will, So you know, just
28:44
Speaker 3: need overall better consistency allows us to score more points.
28:46
Speaker 3: I mean, we haven't haven't done as good a job
28:48
Speaker 3: as I think we're capable of doing.
28:51
Speaker 1: Fortunately, Joe Burrow is no longer the statue of liberty
28:54
Speaker 1: that he was in the first four weeks. In his
28:57
Speaker 1: last two games, Joe completed seventy four percent of his passes,
29:01
Speaker 1: with five touchdowns, two picks, and a passer rating of
29:05
Speaker 1: ninety nine point nine. At this point, can we safely
29:09
Speaker 1: say that Burrow is back to normal?
29:11
Speaker 3: If he's not normally, he's pretty close, thankfully. That's that's
29:15
Speaker 3: a good thing and an obviously a handful of days
29:18
Speaker 3: off the rest and should put him in a pretty
29:21
Speaker 3: good place comeing out of buy. And that was always
29:23
Speaker 3: the hope and the goal to get to this point
29:26
Speaker 3: where he was feeling like pretty close to normal. Obviously,
29:29
Speaker 3: the Baltimore re injury or whatever you call it, has
29:34
Speaker 3: set us back a little bit, but you know, we
29:37
Speaker 3: found a way to fight and claud a three and
29:39
Speaker 3: three and hopefully not coming out of the buy, he
29:41
Speaker 3: feels like himself.
29:41
Speaker 1: The bye week should help t Higgins ribs, IRV Smith's hamstring,
29:46
Speaker 1: and Orlando Brown Junior is growing as well. As for
29:50
Speaker 1: the running game, Joe Mixon's on a pace to rush
29:53
Speaker 1: for one thirty seven yards, but he's only averaging three
29:57
Speaker 1: point eight per carry with a long run of twenty
30:00
Speaker 1: two yards.
30:01
Speaker 3: We get was blocked a lot, and you know, we
30:02
Speaker 3: don't get a lot more than that, and sometimes we
30:05
Speaker 3: get our four and five yards and we're okay with
30:07
Speaker 3: that most of the time, but it makes it hard
30:10
Speaker 3: to run for a lot of yards when you run
30:11
Speaker 3: like that.
30:12
Speaker 1: It will be interesting to see if the Bengals lighten
30:14
Speaker 1: the load on mixing and get the ball to rookie
30:17
Speaker 1: Chase Brown more after the bye. He ran a four
30:20
Speaker 1: four three forty at the combine and is the fastest
30:23
Speaker 1: running back on the roster. Chris Evans has averaged nearly
30:27
Speaker 1: ten yards to catch in his NFL career, and perhaps
30:30
Speaker 1: he can provide more production on swing passes out of
30:33
Speaker 1: the backfield. This much is certain. With a healthy Burrow,
30:38
Speaker 1: there's no reason why the Bengals shouldn't have one of
30:41
Speaker 1: the top offenses in the NFL. They were seventh in
30:44
Speaker 1: the league in scoring last year, upgraded their offensive line
30:48
Speaker 1: and have most of their skill position players back except
30:50
Speaker 1: for Hayden Hurst and some I JP Ryn. The remaining
30:54
Speaker 1: schedule includes six teams that are currently in the top
30:57
Speaker 1: ten of the NFL in scoring. Francisco, Buffalo, Kansas City, Jacksonville, Baltimore,
31:04
Speaker 1: and believe it or not, Indianapolis. The offense needs to
31:08
Speaker 1: improve and improve now.
31:10
Speaker 3: We're as talented as anybody in football. I believe in
31:14
Speaker 3: the guys that are on our roster. I believe in
31:15
Speaker 3: the guys on offense. I think we have an outstanding quarterback,
31:19
Speaker 3: and I think we're good enough to be any team
31:22
Speaker 3: in this league. And you see there's there's teams that
31:24
Speaker 3: have had moments this early part of the year. It's
31:26
Speaker 3: it's not just us. I mean, there's there's team it's
31:30
Speaker 3: been hard on offense for for some teams. And it
31:33
Speaker 3: doesn't make it an excuse, but it just shows me
31:35
Speaker 3: that we're as good as anybody. We can beat anybody
31:38
Speaker 3: that we line up against the play, and I have
31:40
Speaker 3: a ton of confidence and our guys be able to
31:42
Speaker 3: do that. And we just have to correct the mistakes
31:45
Speaker 3: and stop stop doing things that are hurting drives and
31:49
Speaker 3: I feel very good about our ability to turn turner
31:51
Speaker 3: turn our performs around.
31:53
Speaker 1: Here's a quick reminder to join us for our Bengals
31:55
Speaker 1: radio shows this week. On Wednesday night from six to eight,
31:59
Speaker 1: will be at of Varsity Sports Bar and Grill in
32:02
Speaker 1: Anderson Township for the Bengals Game Plan Show. Our special
32:06
Speaker 1: guest in the first hour will be wide receiver andre
32:09
Speaker 1: Yosi Vash. Then on Friday from two thirty to five thirty,
32:13
Speaker 1: it's the Bengals pep Rally Show from the Wings and
32:15
Speaker 1: Rings location in Finnytown. Chase Brown is scheduled to be
32:19
Speaker 1: there for the final hour of that show. That's going
32:23
Speaker 1: to do it for this episode of the Bengals Booth podcast,
32:25
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Speaker 1: Bengals official HR software provider by Alta Fiber future proof
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32:40
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Speaker 1: healthcare provider of the Bengals. If you haven't done so already,
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Speaker 1: please subscribe to this podcast and if you have a minute,
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Speaker 1: give it a rating, or share a comment that helps
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Speaker 1: more Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Hord and thanks
32:57
Speaker 1: for listening to the Bengals Booth podcast