Latest / Bengals Booth Podcast / Bengals Booth Podcast: Only Human
Transcript
- 0:03Speaker 1: Hike and everybody on Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
- 0:06Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast. The I'm only human of flesh
- 0:12Speaker 1: and blood. I'm made audition as the Bengals dropped some passes,
- 0:19Speaker 1: caused the officials to drop some flags and wind up
- 0:22Speaker 1: dropping their second preseason game to the Washington football team.
- 0:26Speaker 1: Coming up, you'll hear radio replays from Friday's game, postgame
- 0:29Speaker 1: comments from players and coaches, and analysis from my broadcast
- 0:33Speaker 1: partner Dave Lapham. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by
- 0:37Speaker 1: bud Light. Seltzer refreshed the game, and here's a quick
- 0:41Speaker 1: reminder that you can have the latest edition of this
- 0:43Speaker 1: podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by
- 0:46Speaker 1: subscribing on iTunes, Stitch, your Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean.
- 0:51Speaker 1: It's the greatest thing since Joey Vado. I hosted a
- 0:55Speaker 1: talk show about a month ago and said something that
- 0:58Speaker 1: didn't seem very controversial at the time. Nobody called in
- 1:01Speaker 1: to argue, and listeners might have even thought I didn't
- 1:04Speaker 1: go far enough. I said that Joey Vado, at the
- 1:06Speaker 1: age of thirty seven, was a middle of the pack
- 1:09Speaker 1: hitter among Major League Baseball first baseman, and that's what
- 1:13Speaker 1: he was going to be over the final two years
- 1:15Speaker 1: of his ten year, two hundred and twenty five million
- 1:17Speaker 1: dollar contract. I am happy to admit that the Reds
- 1:21Speaker 1: first baseman has not only forced me to eat a
- 1:24Speaker 1: heaping portion of crow, but he's forced me to reconsider
- 1:27Speaker 1: what he can still be in his late thirties and
- 1:30Speaker 1: early forties. As I record this podcast, Vado has hit
- 1:34Speaker 1: sixteen home runs in his last ninety one at bats.
- 1:38Speaker 1: That's a home run every five and a half times up.
- 1:40Speaker 1: And despite missing twenty eight games earlier this season with
- 1:44Speaker 1: a broken thumb, he's now in a pace to hit
- 1:46Speaker 1: thirty six homers and drive in one hundred five runs
- 1:49Speaker 1: this season. Every Vado at bat has become must watch TV.
- 1:55Speaker 1: I think most of us assume that while his best
- 1:57Speaker 1: days were behind him, Joey could still somewhat productive at
- 2:01Speaker 1: the end of his career because he would at least
- 2:03Speaker 1: continue to get on base. Now, he looks like he
- 2:07Speaker 1: can still be one of the game's best sluggers. Joey
- 2:10Speaker 1: Vado's career ops that's on base percentage plus slugging average
- 2:15Speaker 1: ranks ahead of Hank Aaron Frank Robinson and Albert Poohole's,
- 2:19Speaker 1: among others. He's basically Wade Boggs with power, and like Boggs,
- 2:25Speaker 1: Joey Vado is going to wind up in Cooperstown. Now,
- 2:30Speaker 1: let's get to football and last week's win over Tampa Bay,
- 2:34Speaker 1: the Bengals starting defense was only on the field for
- 2:36Speaker 1: one series, sacking Tom Brady and forcing a punt. On
- 2:40Speaker 1: Friday in Washington, the starting defense was on the field
- 2:43Speaker 1: for three series. The first ended with a punt, the
- 2:46Speaker 1: second ended with a fourth down stop near the red zone,
- 2:50Speaker 1: and the third ended with a takeaway. It's third down
- 2:53Speaker 1: in fourteen Fitzpatrick back to throw, has plenty of time
- 2:57Speaker 1: whistles won over the middle that catches made, but it's
- 2:59Speaker 1: short of the first down. Bengals picked up the ball
- 3:02Speaker 1: at the end of the play. We'll see if it's
- 3:04Speaker 1: a fumble or if the receiver was down before the
- 3:08Speaker 1: ball came out. Bengals are pointing like it's their ball
- 3:11Speaker 1: and the officials are going to confer. Sure enough, Logan
- 3:14Speaker 1: Wilson punched the ball out and Mike Hilton recovered the fumble.
- 3:18Speaker 1: Forcing turnovers is critical, but another stat is even more important.
- 3:23Speaker 1: To Zach Taylor zero points. You know, that's the one
- 3:25Speaker 1: that matters, you know, two games and Rosier points that
- 3:27Speaker 1: that's all I really care about. The fumble recovery led
- 3:30Speaker 1: to a short field goal by Evan McPherson, but that
- 3:33Speaker 1: was it for the Bengals offense in the first half.
- 3:35Speaker 1: There were penalties, there were lousy throws, and there were
- 3:39Speaker 1: drops by Jamar Chase. In fact, he dropped all three
- 3:43Speaker 1: passes that were thrown his way. Here are Zach Taylor
- 3:47Speaker 1: and Brandon Allen. We just expect our siperscutt the ball.
- 3:50Speaker 1: It's as simple as that, you know. I don't attribute
- 3:51Speaker 1: to any rhythm the balls coming at chup, catch it,
- 3:54Speaker 1: and that's what we need to improvement from. He's a
- 3:56Speaker 1: good player, and he's still getting his feet well with
- 3:59Speaker 1: the game experience in the NFL and all that. And
- 4:01Speaker 1: I think, you know, I've seen him make some unbelievable
- 4:04Speaker 1: plays in practice and that'll translate it will He'll make
- 4:08Speaker 1: the He'll make the easy ones, and he'll make some
- 4:10Speaker 1: spectactic ones as well. So I'm not worried about him.
- 4:13Speaker 1: I know he I know what he can do and
- 4:16Speaker 1: what he will do once he gets going. The Bengals
- 4:19Speaker 1: trailed six three at the half before finally showing some
- 4:22Speaker 1: life on their opening drive of a third quarter shotgun snap.
- 4:26Speaker 1: Alan's throw back, shoulder throw, juggling, leaping catch penalty flags
- 4:31Speaker 1: are down on both sides of the field. Aud and
- 4:34Speaker 1: Tate went right over the defender to make that grip.
- 4:38Speaker 1: Audum Tate's eighteen yard catch on third and five was
- 4:41Speaker 1: the Bengals' first third down conversion in seven tries. A
- 4:45Speaker 1: few plays later, they faced third and six. Alan waits
- 4:49Speaker 1: for the shotgun snap, catches the ball from Hill, looks
- 4:52Speaker 1: to throw his pass a slat caught by trend Irwin
- 4:55Speaker 1: inside the ten. Inside the five has the ball punched
- 4:58Speaker 1: out from behind, and Washington recovers at the one yard line,
- 5:04Speaker 1: David Mayo falling on the ball. It looked like the
- 5:07Speaker 1: Bengals are going to have it first in goal inside
- 5:10Speaker 1: the five and Trenton Irwin had had punched out at
- 5:14Speaker 1: the four. There are two penalty flags near the goal line,
- 5:18Speaker 1: and the first one came out at the point of
- 5:20Speaker 1: contact where that ball was knocked away from Irwin. The
- 5:23Speaker 1: penalty was unnecessary roughness for a helmet to helmet hit
- 5:27Speaker 1: by former UC Bearcat Derek Forrest. Here's Trenton Irwin. You know,
- 5:31Speaker 1: it was a blessing that there was a foul there,
- 5:33Speaker 1: but I mean I got to hold on the ball.
- 5:35Speaker 1: I was just I was excited to get an end
- 5:36Speaker 1: zone there. But it all worked out, got the touch
- 5:39Speaker 1: down on the end it came I'm the next play,
- 5:42Speaker 1: Allan lines up under center, he runs a quarterback sneak,
- 5:45Speaker 1: gets shoved from behind, and it's a touchdown for the
- 5:48Speaker 1: Bengals as Brandon Allen scores on a one yard quarterback
- 5:52Speaker 1: sneak and Cincinnati has the lead in the third quarter.
- 5:56Speaker 1: That made it ten six Bengals. But that was one
- 5:59Speaker 1: of only two rives all night where Cincinnati had more
- 6:02Speaker 1: than one first down out of rhythm. You know that
- 6:05Speaker 1: that's the key thing for me. You know, early on
- 6:07Speaker 1: we had a penalty on the first play the game
- 6:09Speaker 1: that set us back, and then they just played some
- 6:11Speaker 1: man coverage. On critical downs, you gotta thrown catch, and
- 6:14Speaker 1: when you don't thrown catch, I think we had some
- 6:16Speaker 1: opportunities that were there, and you're out there on three
- 6:18Speaker 1: and out, so again we don't convert those third down
- 6:21Speaker 1: It's hard to get into a rhythm and get a
- 6:24Speaker 1: chance to do a lot of things that we wanted
- 6:25Speaker 1: to do on the call sheet, and that was unfortunate.
- 6:27Speaker 1: That was frustrating. Those are things that we're gonna have
- 6:30Speaker 1: to correct when we get home. Too many drops really
- 6:32Speaker 1: in the game as well, that was frustrating as well.
- 6:34Speaker 1: And then late in the game, just too many penalties.
- 6:36Speaker 1: You know, there was a driver, we had a fall start,
- 6:37Speaker 1: we had an legal formation, we had a holding, we
- 6:39Speaker 1: had a snap on the wrong cadence, and we had
- 6:41Speaker 1: a fumble on the same play which they turned into
- 6:42Speaker 1: seven points. And so that's just the stuff that that
- 6:45Speaker 1: leaves us bad taste your mouth. And the snap on
- 6:47Speaker 1: the wrong cadence turned out to be the key play
- 6:50Speaker 1: of the game. With a ten nine lead in the
- 6:53Speaker 1: fourth quarter, rookie tray Hill snapped the ball while the
- 6:56Speaker 1: other four offensive linemen stood there like statues shot gun
- 7:00Speaker 1: snap Shermer in trouble, manages to avoid a hit, but
- 7:04Speaker 1: now he's brought down. Paul pops out. You know, it
- 7:07Speaker 1: looks like Washington recovers. That led to a one yard
- 7:10Speaker 1: touchdown run by Jared Patterson plus a two point conversion
- 7:14Speaker 1: that gave the football team a seventeen ten lead. Fourth
- 7:18Speaker 1: Team quarterback Eric Dungee saw his first action in the
- 7:21Speaker 1: Bengals uniform and drove the team within the long field
- 7:24Speaker 1: goal range of McPherson from the right house. Huber with
- 7:28Speaker 1: a put down. McPherson with the kick length is not
- 7:31Speaker 1: a problem, and the kick is good as he hammers
- 7:34Speaker 1: one home from fifty yards away, taking another big step
- 7:39Speaker 1: toward winning the kicking job as a Bengals rookie. But
- 7:42Speaker 1: that was Cincinnati's last hurrah as Washington held on for
- 7:46Speaker 1: a seventeen thirteen win. Here's Allan on a rough night
- 7:50Speaker 1: on offense. I mean it starts with me not being
- 7:53Speaker 1: accurate with a lot of those passes, a lot of
- 7:56Speaker 1: contested plays that I can put the ball in a
- 7:59Speaker 1: lot better aitions for the guys to at least make
- 8:01Speaker 1: a play on. I think I sailed at least two
- 8:04Speaker 1: out of bounds that I can think of on top
- 8:06Speaker 1: of my head that I can easily put those either
- 8:09Speaker 1: back shoulder, at least give a guy a chance to
- 8:10Speaker 1: make a play for me. So a lot of that
- 8:12Speaker 1: starts to maybe being more consistent in getting them catchable balls.
- 8:16Speaker 1: And yeah, it was just tough to find a rhythm
- 8:17Speaker 1: after that. I called Friday's game on the radio with
- 8:20Speaker 1: a good friend and a great broadcaster, the voice of
- 8:23Speaker 1: the Ohio State Buckeyes, Paul Keels. Dave Lapham had to
- 8:27Speaker 1: miss the game due to NFL COVID protocols. Lap watched
- 8:31Speaker 1: it on TV and join me for some postgame analysis.
- 8:36Speaker 1: How concerned should we be about Jamar Chase's drops. It's
- 8:40Speaker 1: something that went from the practice field to the playing field,
- 8:43Speaker 1: you know. That's that's the thing. It's like, yeah, man,
- 8:47Speaker 1: now it's happen. That has to be broken. There's no
- 8:49Speaker 1: question about that, and I think it can be. I
- 8:52Speaker 1: think that it's a you know, just focus on the details,
- 8:56Speaker 1: the final points, you know. And to have three of them, though,
- 8:59Speaker 1: three fur down balls that could have extended drives and
- 9:03Speaker 1: to go over is not a very good thing in
- 9:05Speaker 1: a very short time frame. Yeah, I'm worried that it
- 9:08Speaker 1: gets in his head a little bit. And the thing
- 9:09Speaker 1: I will say for Jamar Chases, I don't remember ever
- 9:12Speaker 1: seeing a receiver, whether it's the fifth pick in the
- 9:14Speaker 1: draft or an undrafted free agent from a tiny college,
- 9:19Speaker 1: spend more time after practice catching balls off a jugs machine.
- 9:22Speaker 1: So it's not a matter of not putting in the work.
- 9:25Speaker 1: I mean, this guy is incredibly dedicated, and I'm really
- 9:29Speaker 1: confident that he'll come out of it. I just hope
- 9:31Speaker 1: it's soon. I agree Dan, and I think the other
- 9:34Speaker 1: thing about him is he's extremely coachable. I mean, Coach
- 9:38Speaker 1: Walter's he's a sponge. Everything to Coach Walters is saying
- 9:42Speaker 1: he's taken in. It's not like he's, you know, shunning
- 9:46Speaker 1: coaching and you know, the other veteran receivers when they
- 9:50Speaker 1: talk to him, he seems to be willing to listen
- 9:54Speaker 1: to everybody. So maybe he's just in a little bit
- 9:57Speaker 1: of a slump. I don't know if he's ever had
- 9:59Speaker 1: this issue before. Obviously he and Joe Burrow haven't experienced this.
- 10:04Speaker 1: When here at LSU, it didn't seem to have drops,
- 10:07Speaker 1: did not seem to be a problem back then, So
- 10:11Speaker 1: hopefully they'll they'll get remedied. Here it seemed like the opposite.
- 10:15Speaker 1: I mean, the reputation at LSU is unbelievably strong. Hands
- 10:18Speaker 1: there was no track record of the drop season there,
- 10:22Speaker 1: So again, hopefully this is a rookie who missed a year,
- 10:26Speaker 1: who's thinking about it a little bit too much, and
- 10:30Speaker 1: hopefully after a couple of good catches under game conditions.
- 10:33Speaker 1: That will be something we'll laugh about eventually. Yeah, I
- 10:38Speaker 1: think sometimes, you know, one happens, you start to press,
- 10:42Speaker 1: then the second one you press more, you know. And
- 10:45Speaker 1: I think the best thing that happened was he was
- 10:48Speaker 1: done for the night, you know, in the early stages
- 10:50Speaker 1: of the football game. And I'm sure he was. He
- 10:54Speaker 1: probably had a long night the rest of the night
- 10:56Speaker 1: thinking about it, and I'm sure coach was talking to
- 10:59Speaker 1: him about a Teammates were trying to encourage them and
- 11:02Speaker 1: the best thing is now just to go back to work,
- 11:05Speaker 1: put it behind them, and get onto the next preseason
- 11:08Speaker 1: game against the Miami Dolphins. So let's talk O line.
- 11:11Speaker 1: The starting guards in Washington or quintin Spain on the
- 11:14Speaker 1: left side, Xavier Sue of Philo on the right side.
- 11:17Speaker 1: So they went with the Vets. Those guys the first
- 11:19Speaker 1: team unit on the O line, only in for eleven snaps.
- 11:23Speaker 1: The offense wasn't very productive, but it's kind of hard
- 11:27Speaker 1: to fault the O line when you've got drops and
- 11:29Speaker 1: penalties killing drives. Yeah, and I guess the harbinger of
- 11:34Speaker 1: things to come was the very first play of the game.
- 11:37Speaker 1: You know, they bust Joe Mixon for sixteen seventeen yards
- 11:40Speaker 1: on the screen in Quentin, Spain is called for a
- 11:42Speaker 1: hold in space out there, and so that negated that play.
- 11:47Speaker 1: And it seemed like whenever they would get a trunk
- 11:49Speaker 1: play of some sort, just to kind of get them
- 11:53Speaker 1: off to schnide a little bit, a penalty were to occur,
- 11:56Speaker 1: be an illegal formation and then and then the penalties
- 11:59Speaker 1: that you don't want to have a you have a
- 12:01Speaker 1: veteran player that's highly respected, Riley Reith, you know, just
- 12:04Speaker 1: false starts stuff, so that the mental the mental mistakes,
- 12:08Speaker 1: the physical things, holding penalties, things that nature are going
- 12:11Speaker 1: to happen. Guys are gonna get themselves in bad position
- 12:14Speaker 1: and uh, and then you know the technique is going
- 12:16Speaker 1: to be compromised. But the mental errors not lining up properly,
- 12:21Speaker 1: you know, not remembering the snap count, the fumble that occurred,
- 12:24Speaker 1: I mean that was that was with Schremer. That was
- 12:27Speaker 1: basically the center of Hill. Trey Hill snapped the ball
- 12:29Speaker 1: account early, he forgot the snap count. Here comes the
- 12:32Speaker 1: pass rush, and you know, the whole thing's an aborted
- 12:35Speaker 1: play at that point. Then it's compounded by the fact
- 12:37Speaker 1: that Schremer doesn't exercise ball security, But I mean that
- 12:41Speaker 1: two guys the battery, the center on the quarterback are
- 12:44Speaker 1: two guys that cannot forget the snap count. I'm telling you.
- 12:47Speaker 1: It causes major issues. And they're the two that are
- 12:51Speaker 1: handling the football, so they have to be very very
- 12:54Speaker 1: precise with respect to the snap count. And that was
- 12:58Speaker 1: a tragedy that occurred. So it just seems like the
- 13:01Speaker 1: focus overall just just wasn't there for whatever reason. They
- 13:04Speaker 1: were just just to tick off in terms of, you know,
- 13:07Speaker 1: being able to ca hone in on what was going
- 13:10Speaker 1: on that particular night. Going back to the Bengals first
- 13:13Speaker 1: offensive play, did Quentin Spain hold there? In your opinion?
- 13:18Speaker 1: You know, technically he had the hands inside the framework,
- 13:21Speaker 1: you know, and he grabbed the shoulder pad. The thing
- 13:25Speaker 1: is when cloth stretches, officials are going to throw the flag,
- 13:28Speaker 1: So you just have to be aware of letting go,
- 13:31Speaker 1: you know. I mean, it's one of it's it's one
- 13:33Speaker 1: of those things where if you employ that technique and
- 13:36Speaker 1: a pass rush where you know there you were treating
- 13:39Speaker 1: they're coming up the football field, It's it's a little
- 13:42Speaker 1: bit different than if you're in space and running laterally,
- 13:45Speaker 1: and he's faster, and he starts to pull away, and you,
- 13:48Speaker 1: you know, you retard his ability to run by by
- 13:53Speaker 1: grabbing even if visiting the framework. I thought, boy, that's
- 13:57Speaker 1: a little ticky tack. But then when I saw a
- 13:59Speaker 1: different angle, he played the one that I thought the
- 14:01Speaker 1: official was looking at. I can see why the official
- 14:03Speaker 1: through the flag, but it was it egregious No, but
- 14:08Speaker 1: can it be called? Yeah? And it was. I think
- 14:10Speaker 1: Brandon Allen, by and large has had a very solid camp.
- 14:14Speaker 1: I didn't think he was very good in Washington. There
- 14:17Speaker 1: was a third down pass for t Higgins where he
- 14:21Speaker 1: was open early in the game. He missed him way
- 14:23Speaker 1: too high. Later, Trent and Irwin was open for which
- 14:26Speaker 1: should have been a third down conversion, missed him wide.
- 14:29Speaker 1: Even the drops by Chase a couple of those throws
- 14:32Speaker 1: weren't quite where they probably should be. It just not
- 14:35Speaker 1: a very good game in my opinion from Brandon Allen,
- 14:38Speaker 1: I agree. I think he fell into the category of
- 14:41Speaker 1: the entire offense. They just worn't sharp, you know, weren't
- 14:45Speaker 1: sharp physically mentally. It just they never got in a rhythm.
- 14:49Speaker 1: They never never got anything, you know, a coordinated effort.
- 14:53Speaker 1: One player was the offensive line, another play it was
- 14:56Speaker 1: a quarterback, another player was a wide receiver, and pretty
- 14:59Speaker 1: soon the damn has got holes sprouting all over the place,
- 15:04Speaker 1: and you don't have enough fingers to plug up all
- 15:06Speaker 1: the holes. So you just have that kind of performance
- 15:09Speaker 1: and hopefully it's a it's a one time thing, and
- 15:13Speaker 1: it happened in the preseason and they can get over
- 15:15Speaker 1: it move on. But it just there really really was
- 15:19Speaker 1: never any synchronization of all three phases, you know, in
- 15:25Speaker 1: terms of position groups quarterback, offensive line, running back, receivers,
- 15:29Speaker 1: four phase. It's just it just it was disjointed. There's
- 15:32Speaker 1: no question about it. All. Right, let's turn to defense.
- 15:35Speaker 1: It's been great at practice and in the first two
- 15:38Speaker 1: preseason games, particularly the first teamers on defense have been outstanding.
- 15:42Speaker 1: They really have dan I mean, you look at it
- 15:45Speaker 1: in the first six quarters of of preseason football, giving
- 15:50Speaker 1: up a grand total they gave up the grand total
- 15:52Speaker 1: of four field goals, you know, and so that's number ones,
- 15:57Speaker 1: weren't that's ones and twos. I mean, they just they
- 16:00Speaker 1: really played very well. They gave up their first play
- 16:04Speaker 1: of twenty yards more in the first play of the
- 16:06Speaker 1: game because there was a brain cramp in terms of coverage,
- 16:09Speaker 1: and there was a there was a free free runner
- 16:12Speaker 1: tight end Thomas was running wide open and took a
- 16:15Speaker 1: five yard pass to a twenty six twenty seven yard
- 16:17Speaker 1: play whatever it was. But after that, they went back
- 16:21Speaker 1: to playing the type of defense that they they'd been
- 16:23Speaker 1: playing and uh and and really faced some adversity. I mean,
- 16:27Speaker 1: you know, they have a great stop on fourth down,
- 16:29Speaker 1: oj Ogan Joby, I should say, um shows himself well
- 16:34Speaker 1: and that fourth down play and you know, you think,
- 16:37Speaker 1: boy that that that could be a spark for the offense.
- 16:40Speaker 1: What does the offense do one, two, three and out?
- 16:43Speaker 1: So you know, they don't answer with any kind of
- 16:45Speaker 1: a you know, they just didn't respond whatsoever. It wasn't
- 16:48Speaker 1: complimentary football, um, But you know, the takeaway by Wilson
- 16:53Speaker 1: was good guys. Guys that had been playing well in
- 16:57Speaker 1: the first preseeing game continued in the second. Arrius Hodge,
- 17:00Speaker 1: Jalen Davis camp sample flashed and he's got that dinged
- 17:05Speaker 1: up shoulder. But it's encouraging to see, you know, the
- 17:08Speaker 1: same guys like you mentioned Trent Irwin. You know, he
- 17:12Speaker 1: made some plays for the second game in a row.
- 17:14Speaker 1: Jockos Patrick made some plays for the second game in
- 17:17Speaker 1: a row. Some of these young defensive players two games
- 17:20Speaker 1: in a row. So now they're they're not only stacking practices,
- 17:23Speaker 1: they're starting to stack games a little bit, which is
- 17:25Speaker 1: a good sign. I'm getting pretty excited about Darius Hodge.
- 17:30Speaker 1: Then I look at the roster situation on the defensive
- 17:33Speaker 1: line and I'm like, well, how does he make the
- 17:35Speaker 1: fifty three. It's it might take an injury. They would
- 17:38Speaker 1: certainly keep him on the practice squad, There's no question
- 17:40Speaker 1: about that. But he's proving to be a pretty intriguing
- 17:43Speaker 1: pass rusher, and given the opportunity, I agree. I think.
- 17:46Speaker 1: I think this kid, this kid's got something. Man, he's
- 17:49Speaker 1: got some explosive this He's got some juice. The thing is,
- 17:53Speaker 1: he did and I couldn't really see how many special
- 17:57Speaker 1: teams snaps that he was part of. He didn't. He
- 18:01Speaker 1: wasn't part of any in the first preseason game. And
- 18:03Speaker 1: I think that Darren Simmons was thinking about how am
- 18:06Speaker 1: I going to get him involved in special teams because well,
- 18:09Speaker 1: that's a very specialized thing to just be a switch
- 18:12Speaker 1: situational edge rusher and not be able to give you
- 18:16Speaker 1: anything else in terms of snaps, I'm not talking about
- 18:19Speaker 1: making the fifty three. I'm talking about being active on
- 18:21Speaker 1: game day. So it's going to be interesting to see
- 18:25Speaker 1: if Darren Simmons starts to incorporate him a little bit more,
- 18:29Speaker 1: maybe in special teams against the Miami Dolphins and make
- 18:33Speaker 1: that part of the evaluation process. Speaking of special teams,
- 18:37Speaker 1: Evan McPherson took another step toward winning the kicking job
- 18:40Speaker 1: the fifty yard or late in the game that sword
- 18:44Speaker 1: passed the goalpost from fifty yards away, telling you, Dan,
- 18:48Speaker 1: dude's got dynamite caps in his toe. It's unbelievable. That
- 18:52Speaker 1: thing explodes off that toe. And he does. He kicks
- 18:57Speaker 1: the ball straight. I mean he doesn't have you don't
- 19:01Speaker 1: You don't see his ball, you know, fading or hooking
- 19:04Speaker 1: or anything. And he kicks. He kicks a very straight ball.
- 19:07Speaker 1: And when you're dealing with some potentially you know, bad
- 19:11Speaker 1: weather conditions in terms of wind and things like that.
- 19:15Speaker 1: Being knowing that boy I not only have to play
- 19:19Speaker 1: factor in the wind here, I have a natural draw,
- 19:22Speaker 1: I have a natural fade or whatever. Those kind of
- 19:24Speaker 1: things can be a little bit of an issue. He
- 19:27Speaker 1: cranks it straight as an arrow and I mean high.
- 19:29Speaker 1: Like you said, boy, he just that thing was just
- 19:33Speaker 1: a majestic looking shot. You know. He got it up
- 19:36Speaker 1: there quickly and it cleared. It would have been good
- 19:39Speaker 1: from between fifty five and sixty easily. It hit halfway
- 19:42Speaker 1: up the net. Was crazy. Almost a memorable night for Marcus.
- 19:46Speaker 1: Bailey almost had two interceptions. He had one briefly that
- 19:49Speaker 1: got reversed on replay and then he almost had another
- 19:52Speaker 1: one earlier than that. He's been having a good camping
- 19:54Speaker 1: and that was almost his breakout of preseason game. Yeah,
- 19:58Speaker 1: he was. He was around the football, and that's another thing.
- 20:02Speaker 1: I think he's a he's an example of the defense
- 20:05Speaker 1: that he's running to the ball, he's hustling and defense defensively,
- 20:11Speaker 1: they've gotten their hands on quite a few footballs and
- 20:14Speaker 1: just you know, eight quarters of football. Louanna Room and
- 20:17Speaker 1: all the coaches have to be excited about that. And
- 20:20Speaker 1: he obviously will be a big contributor special teams for
- 20:23Speaker 1: Darren Simmons with the athleticism that he has and he
- 20:26Speaker 1: has shown so I think that he's had a very
- 20:31Speaker 1: very solid camp. I can remember, you know, multiple times
- 20:34Speaker 1: during practices us looking at each other. You know, hey, boy,
- 20:38Speaker 1: Bailey made another play. Bailey made another play. It's not like, boy,
- 20:42Speaker 1: how's this happening in games because he hasn't been doing
- 20:45Speaker 1: it on the practice field. He has so a ton
- 20:47Speaker 1: of snaps for the second string offensive line in this game,
- 20:51Speaker 1: Isaiah Prince left tackle, Michael Jordan left guard, Trey Hills, center,
- 20:55Speaker 1: Jackson Carmen right guard. Fred Johnson is in right tackle.
- 21:00Speaker 1: Anybody catch your eye or did that unit stand out
- 21:03Speaker 1: in any way to you? I thought Trey Hill didn't
- 21:06Speaker 1: play anywhere near at the level that he played at
- 21:09Speaker 1: in preseason game number one in this preseason game, not
- 21:12Speaker 1: just the the ill advised snap in the ball early
- 21:16Speaker 1: in the snap count, but he had he had other problems,
- 21:19Speaker 1: you know, at the line of scrimmage, and uh, you know,
- 21:22Speaker 1: Fred had a typical first outing. There were some positives,
- 21:26Speaker 1: but then you know there were some head scratchers as well,
- 21:29Speaker 1: and that that was the situation up and down the
- 21:32Speaker 1: line of scrimmage of those guys. Um, you know, it's
- 21:36Speaker 1: they all show the ability to do it. When you
- 21:40Speaker 1: look at snaps, none other snaps, It's like, where did
- 21:42Speaker 1: that come from? So those have to be eliminated or minimized.
- 21:46Speaker 1: And I'm not saying you're not gonna be perfect every snap,
- 21:49Speaker 1: but you can't, you know, you just you just can't
- 21:52Speaker 1: fall off a cliff almost from a from an execution standpoint. Um,
- 21:58Speaker 1: you know it's like, well then then coaches to wonder
- 22:00Speaker 1: can I trust you? And when is that they start
- 22:03Speaker 1: flinching and cringing on the sideline something bad. Uh, it's
- 22:08Speaker 1: due So and so's due for one of those brain
- 22:10Speaker 1: cramps or one of those play that comes out of
- 22:13Speaker 1: nowhere and you start to start to flinch about it
- 22:15Speaker 1: a little bit, and coaches aren't comfortable at that. So
- 22:19Speaker 1: until until that gets a self sorted out where everybody
- 22:23Speaker 1: is and you know, it's it's impossible. They're not going
- 22:26Speaker 1: to be five robots up there that are going to
- 22:28Speaker 1: be controlled by Frank Pollock with a joystick or anything
- 22:31Speaker 1: like that. But um, you know they do have to
- 22:35Speaker 1: exhibit more consistency and uh and avoid the train wrecks.
- 22:40Speaker 1: So one preseason game left next Sunday afternoon at home
- 22:44Speaker 1: against Miami Dolphins. And the big question this week we'll
- 22:47Speaker 1: involve Joe Burrow. Will he get to play in that game?
- 22:50Speaker 1: We know the risk. We know the reason why he
- 22:54Speaker 1: wouldn't play. Can you articulate what the benefits would be
- 22:59Speaker 1: to get think Joe Burrow his wish and throwing him
- 23:01Speaker 1: out there for a few snaps. I think you know,
- 23:04Speaker 1: there are a few boxes left to check. He hasn't
- 23:07Speaker 1: been on the football field since the injury, in a
- 23:10Speaker 1: game condition in the huddle, looking at his teammates and
- 23:14Speaker 1: getting the call from Zach Taylor in his headset and
- 23:17Speaker 1: then you know, communicating that to everybody break the huddle
- 23:21Speaker 1: to get up to the lines. Just to be in
- 23:23Speaker 1: that environment again is a box that can be checked.
- 23:27Speaker 1: And I remember the juice down there in Tampa when
- 23:31Speaker 1: the Goat went out there for that series. I mean,
- 23:33Speaker 1: the place was excited. The last time they'd all been
- 23:36Speaker 1: together was a Super Bowl victory, and how sweet is that?
- 23:40Speaker 1: And then when the Goat ran out there after winning
- 23:43Speaker 1: a seventh Super Bowl, everybody went knots. I mean, the
- 23:46Speaker 1: energy was pretty good, and I thought the Bengals really
- 23:48Speaker 1: responded that on the road. That was exciting to see
- 23:50Speaker 1: the Bengals kind of respond to that type of scenario.
- 23:53Speaker 1: But I think what about the fan base here and Cincinnati.
- 23:57Speaker 1: Joe Burrow Trot's out there for the first year he's
- 24:00Speaker 1: a place, will be off the hook. It'll be great.
- 24:03Speaker 1: And uh so, you know, to do that for the
- 24:05Speaker 1: fan base and to reward the players for you know, okay,
- 24:09Speaker 1: last preseason game, you've gone through a training camp. Let's
- 24:12Speaker 1: make it as good an environment as you possibly can
- 24:14Speaker 1: and um and then there are you know, there are
- 24:16Speaker 1: things you can do if you decide to do that.
- 24:19Speaker 1: It makes sure that Joe's not tested whatsoever physically. If
- 24:23Speaker 1: you are fearful of that situation and hand the ball
- 24:26Speaker 1: off a couple of times and throw a screen past
- 24:28Speaker 1: to Joe Mixon and be very careful, and you don't
- 24:33Speaker 1: want to go three and out, that's for sure. But
- 24:34Speaker 1: you don't want to have a seven play drive where
- 24:37Speaker 1: you've got him taken a three or five step or
- 24:40Speaker 1: seven step drop whatever in the shotgun and pockets closing
- 24:43Speaker 1: around him and necessarily taking a hit. But I think, honestly,
- 24:47Speaker 1: I think Joe might even not be against that, honestly,
- 24:53Speaker 1: although probably the organization and the coaches might be. But
- 24:56Speaker 1: that would be the final check box to be checked
- 25:00Speaker 1: is get hit and go to the ground, get up,
- 25:03Speaker 1: thush yourself off, yep, good and surgery held up. Everything's good,
- 25:06Speaker 1: Let's go play. So it'll be interesting to see. I
- 25:09Speaker 1: don't think if Joe's out there, he won't be out
- 25:12Speaker 1: there very long. And if they do go on multiplay
- 25:15Speaker 1: extended drive, I'm not sure you'll see him for that
- 25:18Speaker 1: entire drive. You know, he may he may come out
- 25:20Speaker 1: during the course of that drive. It may be, you know,
- 25:23Speaker 1: just a cameo appearance with a curtain call and let
- 25:25Speaker 1: the fans go nuts again. It also might be the
- 25:29Speaker 1: first situation in football history where the quarterback lines up
- 25:33Speaker 1: in the shotgun twenty seven yards behind the center have
- 25:38Speaker 1: to have a howards the shotgun staff, Gray Hawkins is
- 25:41Speaker 1: going to have to fire that thing about half a
- 25:44Speaker 1: football field. That's hilarious. They'll line up in like a pistol.
- 25:47Speaker 1: They'll snap it to somebody else who then relays it
- 25:49Speaker 1: backward to Joe and then he hands it off. Yeah,
- 25:54Speaker 1: they have a little little tier of like four players
- 25:56Speaker 1: just keep pitching it back to him. Well. I still
- 26:00Speaker 1: have mixed feelings as to whether I want to see
- 26:02Speaker 1: Joe Burrow play against the Miami Dolphins, but I do
- 26:04Speaker 1: want to see Dave Lapham to my right, in the
- 26:06Speaker 1: broadcast booth. Hopefully NFL protocols allow you to be back
- 26:10Speaker 1: behind the mic this week. If it's not this week,
- 26:13Speaker 1: it'll certainly be the game after that. But we missed
- 26:15Speaker 1: you badly in Washington and looking forward to being back
- 26:20Speaker 1: together in the booth hopefully this week. Oh same here, Dan,
- 26:24Speaker 1: listen to you and Paul and you guys are you guys?
- 26:26Speaker 1: Are both You talked about some Dulsted tones. Man, you've
- 26:30Speaker 1: talked about unbelievable radio voices, and that was like, Wow,
- 26:34Speaker 1: this is like radio heaven. Dan Horde and Paul Keels
- 26:37Speaker 1: listening to these guys. Man, you guys did a great job.
- 26:41Speaker 1: And you know pros pros, There's no question about it.
- 26:44Speaker 1: And boy, I really missed it. I really missed being
- 26:47Speaker 1: there in the booth with you. And I was thinking
- 26:50Speaker 1: about it that the first time or the last time
- 26:53Speaker 1: before this, and I watched the Bengals on TV where
- 26:57Speaker 1: I wasn't on another you know, I simon covering another
- 27:01Speaker 1: football game or whatever, where I was actually at home
- 27:04Speaker 1: watching the Bengals play on TV. Was nineteen eighty five. Um,
- 27:09Speaker 1: that was that was the the after the USFL season
- 27:15Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty eighty four. Um, that's that fall season.
- 27:20Speaker 1: I went to games with my son and then watch
- 27:23Speaker 1: games on TV when they're on the road. That's the
- 27:25Speaker 1: that's the last time I watched the Bengals on television.
- 27:28Speaker 1: And uh started doing the games in the eighty six
- 27:30Speaker 1: and haven't watched the Bengals game on television since then
- 27:33Speaker 1: until until this one against the Washington football team. And man,
- 27:37Speaker 1: it felt weird. I can tell you that weird. Well,
- 27:40Speaker 1: thirty six years from now, we'll let you miss another one.
- 27:43Speaker 1: Another one. Yeah, oh boy, yeah that thirty six years
- 27:49Speaker 1: from now. Man, I can't even I can't even think
- 27:52Speaker 1: about that. All right, Well, appreciate your time, see you soon.
- 27:57Speaker 1: Thanks for the info. Appreciate you, Dan. You best. That's
- 28:01Speaker 1: going to do it for this episode of the Bengals
- 28:03Speaker 1: Booth podcast, brought to you by Bud Light Seltzer. It's
- 28:06Speaker 1: light and refreshing with a hint of fruit flavor. If
- 28:09Speaker 1: you haven't done so already, please subscribe and if you
- 28:12Speaker 1: have a minute, give it a rating or share a
- 28:13Speaker 1: comment that helps more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm
- 28:18Speaker 1: Dan Horde, and thank you for listening to the Bengals
- 28:21Speaker 1: boot Podcast.