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Bengals Booth Podcast: Let's Stay Together · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth podcast, The Let's Let's Stay two give addition,
0:16
Speaker 1: as we talked to the bengals longest tenured coach, Special
0:19
Speaker 1: teams coordinator Darren Simmons about his decision to turn down
0:23
Speaker 1: interest from other NFL teams and sign a contract extension
0:27
Speaker 1: with the Bengals. We'll also hear from college football broadcaster
0:30
Speaker 1: Sean McDonough, who called four LSU games this year, including
0:34
Speaker 1: the national semifinal win over Oklahoma and the National championship
0:38
Speaker 1: victory over Clemson. What does Sean think of Joe Burrow's
0:42
Speaker 1: NFL potential and what did he learn about the possible
0:45
Speaker 1: number one overall pick from talking to Burrow and as coaches.
0:50
Speaker 1: That's coming up. Finally, i'll speak to the executive director
0:53
Speaker 1: of the Senior Bowl, Jim Nagee. He'll share the latest
0:56
Speaker 1: developments on Burrow's possible attendance and why Bengals fans might
1:02
Speaker 1: want to consider a trip to Mobile, Alabama. All of
1:05
Speaker 1: that is straight ahead, but first, here's a quick reminder
1:08
Speaker 1: that you can have the latest edition of this podcast
1:11
Speaker 1: delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer. By subscribing
1:15
Speaker 1: on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean. It's
1:20
Speaker 1: the greatest thing since Kevin Harland's radio play by play.
1:26
Speaker 1: This week, Kevin Harland was named the National Sportscaster of
1:29
Speaker 1: the Year by the NSMA, the National Sports Media Association.
1:36
Speaker 1: Kevin is great at anything he does, including NFL football
1:39
Speaker 1: and college basketball on CBS and the NBA on Turner Sports,
1:44
Speaker 1: but in my opinion, he shines brightest when doing NFL
1:48
Speaker 1: games on the radio on Westwood One. As someone who
1:51
Speaker 1: tries to do the same job, I am in awe
1:55
Speaker 1: of Kevin's ability to paint a vivid picture of what
1:58
Speaker 1: he sees, not only the action on the field, but
2:01
Speaker 1: the weather conditions, the sights and sounds in and around
2:04
Speaker 1: the stadium. Shoot, you can almost taste what's grilling in
2:08
Speaker 1: the tailgate lots when Kevin calls the game. So kudos
2:12
Speaker 1: to the best in the business on a well deserved award,
2:16
Speaker 1: the incomparable Kevin Harlan. Now let's get to the Bengals.
2:22
Speaker 1: There have been some changes on the Bengals coaching staff
2:24
Speaker 1: since the end of the season. Braden Combs left to
2:27
Speaker 1: become the special teams coordinator for the Detroit Lions. Linebackers
2:31
Speaker 1: coach Tim Lucaboo is the new defensive coordinator at Boston College,
2:35
Speaker 1: and ESPN's Ben Baby has reported that cornerbacks coach Toronte
2:39
Speaker 1: Jones will not be back. On Thursday, the NFL Networks
2:43
Speaker 1: Mike Garoffalo reported that the bengals new linebackers coach will
2:47
Speaker 1: be Al Golden, the former college head coach at Temple
2:51
Speaker 1: and the University of Miami. It appears that everybody else
2:55
Speaker 1: on the staff will return, including special teams coordinator Darren Simmons.
3:00
Speaker 1: He is universally considered to be among the best at
3:03
Speaker 1: his job in the NFL, and Darren turned down opportunities
3:07
Speaker 1: to go elsewhere before signing a multi year extension in Cincinnati.
3:12
Speaker 1: I talked to him about staying and his hopes of
3:15
Speaker 1: eventually getting a head coaching opportunity. Darren, I think the
3:19
Speaker 1: Bengals have already retained one of the most important free agents.
3:22
Speaker 1: When you agreed to accept a contract extension, why are
3:25
Speaker 1: you coming back for an eighteenth season and beyond well,
3:28
Speaker 1: I'm excited about the future here. You know, we have
3:31
Speaker 1: a good, solid core group of young players. We just
3:34
Speaker 1: got to get him all on the field. At the
3:35
Speaker 1: same time, I think we've been a little banged up
3:39
Speaker 1: for a variety of reasons over the past couple of years.
3:41
Speaker 1: You know, it'll be it'll be good to get everybody
3:45
Speaker 1: together and going again. You know, my h the Brown
3:50
Speaker 1: family has been very critical to my family success here,
3:54
Speaker 1: and that really resonates with me, you know, the nuity
4:00
Speaker 1: of being able to keep my family in one place,
4:03
Speaker 1: you know, for so long. It was also a big
4:05
Speaker 1: part of I've got three kids and and you know,
4:08
Speaker 1: two of them at least are gonna be able to
4:09
Speaker 1: finish school here, to start school and finish school here,
4:11
Speaker 1: and that was a huge, huge, huge part of my
4:13
Speaker 1: decision to stay. Your job title is changing, and in
4:17
Speaker 1: addition to being the special teams coordinator, you will be
4:20
Speaker 1: the assistant head coach. Are there added responsibilities that go
4:23
Speaker 1: with that. Well, I think that that's still getting worked
4:27
Speaker 1: out a little bit. I'd like to think that I'll
4:32
Speaker 1: have a voice maybe in helping take some things off
4:35
Speaker 1: a Zax's plate. I think Zach's got a lot on
4:37
Speaker 1: his plate. You know, he's trying to serve two roles,
4:40
Speaker 1: being the head coach and being the offensive coordinator. And
4:42
Speaker 1: I think that that takes up a lot of time,
4:45
Speaker 1: so hopefully, you know, I can help him with ideas
4:49
Speaker 1: in terms of scheduling, timing, urch just bouncing other ideas
4:53
Speaker 1: off of you know, I've only spend here for the
4:56
Speaker 1: longest I kind of the landscape of what's going on,
4:58
Speaker 1: So you know, I trust Zach Uh. I'm excited to
5:05
Speaker 1: maybe have my role expanded that way to become more
5:07
Speaker 1: of an influence. We're visiting with Darren Simmons. You interviewed
5:10
Speaker 1: for the head coaching job when Marvin was let go.
5:13
Speaker 1: They elected obviously to hire Zach. It could have been awkward,
5:17
Speaker 1: but you guys seem to have a great working relationship.
5:20
Speaker 1: Why has it worked out so well? Well? I thinks
5:22
Speaker 1: to respect, you know, I respect the role that he's
5:25
Speaker 1: in UM, and I think that's a fantastic deal. He
5:31
Speaker 1: also respects what I do. I think in this area.
5:35
Speaker 1: I think he knows again that his plates are very
5:37
Speaker 1: full with a lot of the things. And I think
5:38
Speaker 1: it's probably reassuring to him to have an experienced guy
5:42
Speaker 1: UM like me, or one who's been through it here before,
5:45
Speaker 1: and he can kind of u not let me go,
5:49
Speaker 1: but he can trust and I'm going to get this
5:51
Speaker 1: or this side of the ball handled. Um. You know, obviously,
5:55
Speaker 1: I'm very appreciative that he elected to keep me here.
5:58
Speaker 1: Um again, I'm very excited to expand potentially my role
6:02
Speaker 1: going forward and the fact that he trusted me enough
6:06
Speaker 1: to you know, help me get this title. It's obviously
6:09
Speaker 1: a tough year for the team, and yet the special
6:11
Speaker 1: teams units as a whole. We're ranked number one in
6:14
Speaker 1: the NFL by the website Football Outsiders dot com, which
6:17
Speaker 1: is probably the most respected evaluator of that. Is that
6:22
Speaker 1: especially meaningful in a season where the team went too
6:25
Speaker 1: and fourteen? Yeah, I mean, I think if you you
6:28
Speaker 1: try to look for any type of positive when when
6:30
Speaker 1: your team goes too and fourteen or struggled the way
6:33
Speaker 1: we did as a team, you know, I'm very proud
6:35
Speaker 1: of the fact that we were able to do that. Um.
6:38
Speaker 1: You know, I think it's a certainly a testament to
6:40
Speaker 1: the players we had and the amount of work and
6:43
Speaker 1: time that they put in, and the you know, the
6:49
Speaker 1: degree of toughness that they showed to battle through and
6:52
Speaker 1: and the togetherness that they showed. That's also another reason
6:56
Speaker 1: why I decided to come back here. It's tough to
6:58
Speaker 1: walk away from. But I would certainly give up every
7:01
Speaker 1: single one of those Rankings mean nothing. Only ranking the
7:04
Speaker 1: means anything is wins and losses, and I would certainly
7:06
Speaker 1: give every bit of that up to change what our
7:09
Speaker 1: record was. And because it really doesn't matter what we do,
7:14
Speaker 1: it's about what our team does, and obviously we got
7:16
Speaker 1: to get you know, we got to get more wins.
7:18
Speaker 1: So again I would give every bit of that up.
7:21
Speaker 1: It's it's great that that happened, it's a silver lining
7:24
Speaker 1: to us. But again I would get every bit of
7:26
Speaker 1: that up to get some more wins. Your top assistant,
7:29
Speaker 1: Braden Combs, is leaving to become the special teams coordinator
7:32
Speaker 1: with the Detroit Lions. Are you like a proud dad? Yeah,
7:34
Speaker 1: I'm very I'm excited for Brandon. Braden's been here, you know,
7:38
Speaker 1: a long time too, and he's worked hard in the
7:40
Speaker 1: role that he's been in, and I think it's good
7:43
Speaker 1: to see guys who have been in part of something
7:47
Speaker 1: good here get the ability to spread their wings and
7:49
Speaker 1: go on and do their own gig. You know, I
7:53
Speaker 1: was part of that same deal when I left Carolina
7:57
Speaker 1: and it was a great opportunity for me, you know,
7:59
Speaker 1: coach Lewis took a chance on me as a whatever
8:01
Speaker 1: it was, twenty twenty nine year old guy and in
8:04
Speaker 1: the same thing with a Brown family. And again that
8:07
Speaker 1: still has great meaning to me and I respect that,
8:10
Speaker 1: and I know a lot of times guys, it's it's
8:14
Speaker 1: about being in the right spot at the right time.
8:16
Speaker 1: It's about opportunity. And you know, hopefully Braden will take
8:19
Speaker 1: this thing and run with it. But I'm again, I'm
8:20
Speaker 1: very happy for him and his family. It's a long
8:23
Speaker 1: time coming and I'm sure you'll do great things. We're
8:26
Speaker 1: talking to Darren Simmons. Let's discuss some of the individuals
8:29
Speaker 1: on special teams from last year, Beginning with Kevin Huber.
8:32
Speaker 1: He had a forty two point one net hunting average
8:36
Speaker 1: that tied his career high. That matched his Pro Bowl season.
8:39
Speaker 1: He'll be thirty five next year. He's got a year
8:42
Speaker 1: left on his contract. Is he like a veteran pitcher
8:45
Speaker 1: who doesn't have maybe his great fastball anymore, but he's
8:48
Speaker 1: found a way to get guys out. Yeah. I think
8:50
Speaker 1: it's a very good analogy. You know, he's become more
8:54
Speaker 1: proficient and efficient, I think is what he's become. I
8:57
Speaker 1: think we did. He didn't. You know, for whatever reason,
9:01
Speaker 1: we didn't have as many of the bad hits this
9:03
Speaker 1: year's we've had in the past. I think he was
9:06
Speaker 1: more consistent. I think we covered better. You know, anytime
9:10
Speaker 1: your net average is up there high like it is,
9:12
Speaker 1: it's it's a result of many things. It's a result
9:14
Speaker 1: of punting, it's a result of placement, but it's also
9:16
Speaker 1: a result of coverage. And fortunate for us, we didn't
9:19
Speaker 1: give any plays up in coverage, or do we really
9:22
Speaker 1: give any plays up in protection? You know, the quickest
9:24
Speaker 1: way to kill in net average to have a pump blocked,
9:27
Speaker 1: and that didn't happen to us that year. Fortunately, knock
9:29
Speaker 1: on wood and so you know, again, Kevin is somebody
9:33
Speaker 1: that we haven't that I haven't an immense amount of
9:36
Speaker 1: trust in um. He's an experienced guy, as a vetro guy,
9:39
Speaker 1: he knows all about handling situations when he has to
9:42
Speaker 1: speed up, when he has to when the ball has
9:44
Speaker 1: to be placed in certain spots. And there's a certainly
9:47
Speaker 1: a high, high level of trust that I have and
9:50
Speaker 1: him knowing what to do and when to do it.
9:53
Speaker 1: Randy Bullock also has a year left on his deal.
9:55
Speaker 1: He made eighty seven percent of his field goal attempts,
9:57
Speaker 1: only missed one Pat drill the fifty seven yard field
10:01
Speaker 1: goal in the next to last game to set the
10:03
Speaker 1: regular season franchise record. What did you think of his season?
10:06
Speaker 1: I thought he had a very good, very solid season two.
10:09
Speaker 1: You know, his first year with US was very good.
10:11
Speaker 1: I think he had eighteen to twenty. Last year was
10:14
Speaker 1: a little bit of a step back, you know. I
10:16
Speaker 1: think he was a little a little above eighty percent
10:18
Speaker 1: eighty one, two eighty three somewhere around. And I thought
10:20
Speaker 1: this year he came back and had another good bounce back.
10:23
Speaker 1: Yere Um. It was a little shaky at the beginning
10:25
Speaker 1: of the year. I think he got off to an
10:27
Speaker 1: average start. He was very very very solid through the
10:30
Speaker 1: middle of the season, you know, and then he picked
10:32
Speaker 1: the last game of the year to miss his first PAT.
10:36
Speaker 1: But but but again, I thought he had a solid
10:38
Speaker 1: season overall. You know. The one thing I think that
10:40
Speaker 1: also gets overlooked is he kicked off pretty effectively for
10:43
Speaker 1: US throughout the year, whether it was placement or distance
10:47
Speaker 1: and hang time. That's a second second half or aspect
10:51
Speaker 1: of his job too. And I thought he did a
10:52
Speaker 1: good job that's over. I think it's a very solid season.
10:55
Speaker 1: It's what you would expect to have a veteran guy.
10:57
Speaker 1: You had the NFL leader in kickoff return average, and
11:00
Speaker 1: Brandon Wilson he had the exact number of returns needed
11:03
Speaker 1: to qualify for the league lead. What does a guy
11:06
Speaker 1: like that do for the entire group? Oh, it brings
11:10
Speaker 1: an immense amount of juice, I mean, I think, and
11:12
Speaker 1: it's immense amount of belief. I think our guys felt that,
11:16
Speaker 1: you know, when when he was rolling there to the
11:18
Speaker 1: middle half of the year, that every single time um
11:21
Speaker 1: that we had an opportunity to return it, we're going
11:23
Speaker 1: to turn it for a touchdown. I mean, there's several
11:25
Speaker 1: other ones if you watch the video and that he
11:27
Speaker 1: should have had probably three or four touchdowns. He got
11:31
Speaker 1: tripped up once in a Jacksonville In the Jacksonville game,
11:33
Speaker 1: he he actually muffed one that he picked up and
11:37
Speaker 1: almost came out of their own So there's there's at
11:39
Speaker 1: least three that he should have scored on just off
11:41
Speaker 1: the top of my head. But I think guys take
11:45
Speaker 1: a great deal of pride in the fact that we
11:48
Speaker 1: have a chance to affect the game from a field position. Standpoint,
11:52
Speaker 1: that's a big deal for him. I think they love
11:54
Speaker 1: that responsibility and I think they also view it as
11:57
Speaker 1: viewed as a Another prideful part too, is that if
12:02
Speaker 1: these guys that the opponent screws up and tries to
12:04
Speaker 1: actually kick us the ball and will allow us to
12:06
Speaker 1: handle the ball, that we're gonna make him pay. And
12:09
Speaker 1: so I think it brings a certain level of confidence
12:12
Speaker 1: to not only your group, your special teams group, but
12:15
Speaker 1: also to the team. It's it's it's very neat to
12:17
Speaker 1: have the rest of the players on our whole team
12:20
Speaker 1: standing up on the sideline watching every kickoff, a turn
12:22
Speaker 1: play and when the Brandon might break it. We're visiting
12:25
Speaker 1: with Darren Simmons, the coaching staff is getting ready to
12:28
Speaker 1: go coach in the Senior Bowl. What will you be
12:31
Speaker 1: doing during the draft prep process. Obviously you look at
12:35
Speaker 1: kickers and punters and you want to have the latest
12:37
Speaker 1: intel on those guys, But what about Gunner's special teams
12:41
Speaker 1: core guys all of that. Well, I think that's a
12:44
Speaker 1: huge part about it. You know, that's where you find
12:47
Speaker 1: guys that can really help you and affect you. Guys
12:50
Speaker 1: like Brandon Wilson and guys like Clayton federally drafted in
12:52
Speaker 1: the sixth and seventh rounds that can again affect our
12:56
Speaker 1: team in a positive fashion. So I spend as much
12:59
Speaker 1: time looking at returners, looking at core cover players, um,
13:03
Speaker 1: you know, that have the traits that we want that
13:05
Speaker 1: we've identified as the coaching staff or as a scouting
13:07
Speaker 1: department that we want to have on our team. And
13:10
Speaker 1: so again, like I said, I spend part of the
13:13
Speaker 1: majority of my time looking at those guys as opposed
13:15
Speaker 1: to just look at the punters and kickers. You know,
13:17
Speaker 1: I feel confident, I feel comfortable with the three guys
13:20
Speaker 1: that we have right now, Kevin, Clark and Randy you know,
13:22
Speaker 1: we're always looking to get things better. That's it's no
13:25
Speaker 1: sic get all three of those guys are getting a
13:26
Speaker 1: little longer in the tooth, and it'll happen, you know
13:29
Speaker 1: here at some point. I just don't know when that's
13:31
Speaker 1: going to be. So, um, my focus doesn't change. I
13:34
Speaker 1: still look every year, like uh, you know, for these specialists,
13:38
Speaker 1: the punter, a kicker, and the snapper. Look for candidates there.
13:41
Speaker 1: But again I can push a little bit of my
13:43
Speaker 1: focus to other areas or my attention to other areas
13:47
Speaker 1: knowing we have guys in place there. So, um, you
13:50
Speaker 1: know that the draft process is a huge part of
13:52
Speaker 1: building our team. I think that's been established here with
13:54
Speaker 1: this franchise, that that the draft is the lifeblood of
13:58
Speaker 1: our team. So we got very important that a we
14:01
Speaker 1: get those players right and be we get him healthy
14:03
Speaker 1: to the season. The Giants hired a special teams coordinator
14:08
Speaker 1: to be their new head coach, Joe Judge. Ravens coach
14:12
Speaker 1: John Harbaugh was famously a special teams coordinator. Bill Belichick
14:15
Speaker 1: started out as an assistant special teams coach. Marv Levy
14:18
Speaker 1: began his pro coaching career as a special teams coach.
14:22
Speaker 1: When a guy like that Joe Judge gets a job,
14:24
Speaker 1: is it a victory for all of the people that
14:27
Speaker 1: do what you do? Yeah, it certainly is. I think
14:30
Speaker 1: he also feels the pressure of holding the torch right
14:33
Speaker 1: now too, of that that he better get it right.
14:35
Speaker 1: And you know, Joe's a good friend of Mine's a
14:38
Speaker 1: close friend of mine, and he told me that he
14:42
Speaker 1: certainly feels the weight of that. And I expressed him
14:45
Speaker 1: and said, you can't feel the way to that you
14:46
Speaker 1: have to go. You're gonna be fine, just going and
14:49
Speaker 1: doing what you do. I think that it's unfortunate that
14:53
Speaker 1: more guys haven't got that opportunity. You know, the special
14:56
Speaker 1: team's cord has been well documented. Is the one guy
14:59
Speaker 1: that affects the whole team or has his hands on
15:04
Speaker 1: the whole team other than the head coach, and has
15:07
Speaker 1: the best feel for every player on the forty six
15:10
Speaker 1: man roster on game days. I think it's also important
15:13
Speaker 1: to know that the special teams coaches have a great
15:15
Speaker 1: field for situational things, you know, timing situations and games.
15:21
Speaker 1: So I again, I'm obviously very jaded in the fact
15:25
Speaker 1: that I believe that more guys should get the opportunity,
15:27
Speaker 1: but it is a very exciting deal for him. I'm
15:29
Speaker 1: happy for him, and I'm sure he's gonna do something great.
15:33
Speaker 1: What do you think you need to do? You obviously
15:36
Speaker 1: are well regarded throughout the NFL for what you've done
15:39
Speaker 1: as a special teams coordinator. Is it tied to teams success?
15:43
Speaker 1: Does it depend on another guy like Joe Judge being successful.
15:47
Speaker 1: I think it's probably a combination of both, you know.
15:50
Speaker 1: I think the fact that I've been able to stay
15:53
Speaker 1: here as long as I have, there's a certain level
15:55
Speaker 1: of you know, distinction. Maybe I guess that goes with that, um,
16:00
Speaker 1: if that's the right word or respect, I guess, um.
16:04
Speaker 1: You know, I think that Joe going and doing well
16:07
Speaker 1: will be a big factor going forward. Um. There have
16:11
Speaker 1: been other guys who've been successful as special teams coaches
16:15
Speaker 1: that have gotten interviews that just haven't gotten the head job.
16:18
Speaker 1: Dave Tobe is one that comes to mind. It gets
16:20
Speaker 1: a lot of interviews and for whatever reason, somebody's not
16:23
Speaker 1: taking a chance on him, you know. And again he
16:26
Speaker 1: is somebody who I who I also think would do
16:28
Speaker 1: a fantastic job as a head coach. So I think
16:31
Speaker 1: it's just a matter of you know, getting the right
16:33
Speaker 1: opportunity at the right time, and having somebody, more importantly,
16:36
Speaker 1: having somebody in an organization, an owner or a general manager,
16:39
Speaker 1: believing in you and and taking a chance that way.
16:44
Speaker 1: But but I do know that I think just no
16:46
Speaker 1: different the way it was John Harbaugh. You know, it's
16:49
Speaker 1: a little unique too. If you'll remember, John was a
16:52
Speaker 1: special team's coach his whole career, then he went away
16:55
Speaker 1: from that for one year and coach the DBS in Philadelphia.
16:59
Speaker 1: Joe has been a special teams coach, but he also
17:01
Speaker 1: was the receiver coach this year in New England. So
17:04
Speaker 1: maybe I need to go coach another position for a
17:06
Speaker 1: year to open up my pathways. But I know I
17:12
Speaker 1: enjoy what I'm doing and I think, like I said,
17:14
Speaker 1: Joe will be fine and just as long as it's
17:18
Speaker 1: not against us. What other position would you coach if
17:22
Speaker 1: there was one? That's a good question. I don't know.
17:24
Speaker 1: I never really never really thought about it that way.
17:28
Speaker 1: Trust me, I have my eyes set on just doing
17:31
Speaker 1: a good job coach in the punt of the kicker,
17:33
Speaker 1: L four on the kickoff team, the PP on the
17:35
Speaker 1: punt team, the left gunner on the punt team, the
17:39
Speaker 1: right safety on the punt return team. And that's trust
17:42
Speaker 1: me that that's plenty for me. We've heard about how
17:44
Speaker 1: guys prepare for head coaching interviews. They've got their practice
17:49
Speaker 1: plan sketched out for an entire year. They have possible
17:53
Speaker 1: assistant coaches planned out. Do you have a notebook like
17:57
Speaker 1: that for the next time you have an opportunity to
17:59
Speaker 1: interview for a head coach position. Yeah, I've begun that process.
18:02
Speaker 1: I think you're naive if you don't, um you know,
18:05
Speaker 1: I think I found out a year ago that sometimes
18:08
Speaker 1: these things happened very quickly. Like last year was maybe
18:11
Speaker 1: the two days after the season, I got the fortunate
18:15
Speaker 1: opportunity to speak with the Brown family here about disposition.
18:19
Speaker 1: So sometimes it happens pretty quickly. So, you know, I
18:22
Speaker 1: think it's something that you you build a book towards.
18:27
Speaker 1: It's more getting your thoughts down on paper so somebody
18:30
Speaker 1: else can see them. I have in my own head,
18:31
Speaker 1: but it's I think it's it's putting pinned the paper,
18:34
Speaker 1: putting it to a computer and getting it on a
18:36
Speaker 1: piece of paper so somebody else can see it too.
18:38
Speaker 1: So yeah, that's been a process that I've been working
18:40
Speaker 1: towards for you know, really my my whole coaching career,
18:45
Speaker 1: you know, did it It was at the forefront earlier on, No,
18:50
Speaker 1: the forefront early on in my career, just trying to
18:52
Speaker 1: stay alive, just trying to keep my head above water
18:54
Speaker 1: and trying to be a good coach and trying to
18:55
Speaker 1: make our players good. You know, I think now that
18:58
Speaker 1: I've been in this league for a long time or
19:01
Speaker 1: been in this situation to spot for a bit, you know,
19:04
Speaker 1: I can you know, help expand my reach or expand
19:10
Speaker 1: my vision a little bit. And again I'm hopeful this
19:12
Speaker 1: year with this new added title, maybe that I can
19:15
Speaker 1: help Zach in some way that maybe, um, he wasn't
19:19
Speaker 1: prepared for a year ago. UM, And so maybe we
19:21
Speaker 1: can see things through the same eyes together, and you know,
19:24
Speaker 1: we can pull this whole thing tighter. You'll had a
19:27
Speaker 1: great head coach if you ever get the chance here.
19:29
Speaker 1: Attention to detail as unmatched. It's great that the Bengals
19:33
Speaker 1: were able to retain you as the special teams coordinator,
19:35
Speaker 1: and I appreciate your time. Well, I appreciate too, Dan,
19:38
Speaker 1: and I appreciate that all that you and Dave do
19:40
Speaker 1: on on a weekly basis to our fans on how
19:43
Speaker 1: good they got it. UM to have guys who are
19:45
Speaker 1: as insightful and more importantly as knowledgeable as what you
19:48
Speaker 1: guys are. So I really appreciate the chance to talk
19:50
Speaker 1: with you. Now, let's turn our attention to the NFL Draft.
19:54
Speaker 1: Let's face it, after throwing for four hundred and sixty
19:58
Speaker 1: three yards and five touchdowns and then National Championship Game
20:01
Speaker 1: and running for a sixth TD, it is widely assumed
20:05
Speaker 1: that LSU's Joe Burrow will be selected by Cincinnati with
20:09
Speaker 1: a number one overall pick in the NFL Draft. Here
20:12
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati, one of the radio stations that carries Bengals
20:15
Speaker 1: games has already started running humorous promos identifying itself as
20:21
Speaker 1: the home of Joe Burrow. Premature, but funny. I thought
20:26
Speaker 1: it would be interesting this week to talk to my
20:28
Speaker 1: friend Sean McDonough, the ESPN and ABC broadcaster who called
20:33
Speaker 1: both of LSU's postseason wins. Sean, Joe Burrow was incredible
20:39
Speaker 1: in those games. Seven touchdown passes against the Sooners, all
20:42
Speaker 1: in the first half, five touchdown passes against Clemson on
20:46
Speaker 1: Monday night. Based on what you've seen, what do you
20:50
Speaker 1: think of Joe Burrow as an NFL prospect? God, I
20:53
Speaker 1: think he's a great prospect. I think he said an
20:55
Speaker 1: amazing season, and we sit on the end of the
20:57
Speaker 1: other night that it might be the greatest season and
21:00
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks ever had in college football. I don't know
21:02
Speaker 1: how you could be much better, if at all. May
21:05
Speaker 1: he set the record for most touchdown passes in a season,
21:08
Speaker 1: you know, and I know some of that is skewed
21:09
Speaker 1: by the fact that these guys played more games now
21:12
Speaker 1: than quarterbacks did years ago, but still he shattered these records.
21:16
Speaker 1: You know, throw sixty touchdown passes. I think he had
21:19
Speaker 1: the third highest single season passing yardage total of all time.
21:22
Speaker 1: And the other guys were guys who played at Texas
21:25
Speaker 1: Tech who were throwing the ball on every down. And
21:27
Speaker 1: then you know, he came very close to the single
21:30
Speaker 1: season completion percentage mark. When you throw the ball down
21:34
Speaker 1: the field like he does and you complete seventy seven
21:38
Speaker 1: percent of your passes from yere, that's remarkable. He spoke strong, tough,
21:42
Speaker 1: as as good athlete as we saw. He can hurt
21:44
Speaker 1: you with the run. He's a great leader that he's
21:46
Speaker 1: a person of high character. You know, I don't know
21:50
Speaker 1: what he's lacking. I think he's about his closest, the
21:54
Speaker 1: closest thing to a sure thing that I've seen in quarterbacks,
21:58
Speaker 1: you know, coming out, maybe since Andrew Law two years ago,
22:01
Speaker 1: more than a few years ago. Now, how did the
22:03
Speaker 1: LSU coaches describe him when you had the opportunity to
22:06
Speaker 1: interact with them, Well, it's interesting is we met with
22:09
Speaker 1: Steve Ensming or the offensive coordinator before the national semifinal game,
22:13
Speaker 1: and he said, obviously he has a lot of great attributes.
22:16
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow does. And I said, of all the things
22:20
Speaker 1: that you appreciate about him, you know what stands out
22:22
Speaker 1: the most or how would he raped them? And the
22:24
Speaker 1: first thing that he said, there's his toughness and that
22:26
Speaker 1: his teammates fed off his toughness. And he said he
22:30
Speaker 1: really won the team over last season, his end of
22:34
Speaker 1: his first season as their starting quarterback in the Festival
22:37
Speaker 1: when they played UCF and he got really lit up
22:41
Speaker 1: after during he picked six, he threw an interception they're
22:46
Speaker 1: got returned by UCF for a touchdown and one of
22:49
Speaker 1: the defensive linemen jacked him up and then kind of
22:52
Speaker 1: stood old and flex and he always a hard, hardhead.
22:56
Speaker 1: I've seen the video over a couple of times. And
22:58
Speaker 1: he got up and got real mad and came back
23:01
Speaker 1: in and I think they were down fourteen to three
23:03
Speaker 1: at the time, and he led them back to a victory.
23:06
Speaker 1: And a lot of the guys that we talked to
23:08
Speaker 1: his team, they said that was really the day when
23:10
Speaker 1: he won them over. So I think you start with toughness, competitiveness,
23:15
Speaker 1: and then you know the football part of it, the accuracy.
23:17
Speaker 1: You know, the one thing you hear Dan is he
23:20
Speaker 1: doesn't have the rocket arm, but he has plenty enough arm.
23:24
Speaker 1: You know, there might be guys who could throw it
23:26
Speaker 1: with a little more velocity deep down the field, but
23:29
Speaker 1: as we saw a year long, he has more than
23:31
Speaker 1: enough arm. And I think the ability and process information
23:35
Speaker 1: is so important today's football. He does that exceedingly well.
23:38
Speaker 1: So I would give him nothing but the highest marks
23:41
Speaker 1: based on what I saw, and I think that his
23:43
Speaker 1: coaches more importantly agree with that. I know, if you're
23:47
Speaker 1: a broadcasting an NFL game, you would have had the
23:49
Speaker 1: chance to visit with Joe before one of those games.
23:52
Speaker 1: At least. Did you have that opportunity before either of
23:55
Speaker 1: these games? Yes, And we had a couple of their
23:57
Speaker 1: games during the regular season. We actually had four of
23:59
Speaker 1: their games over the course of the year, so talk
24:02
Speaker 1: to him several times, and you know, I was impressed
24:05
Speaker 1: by him. He's kind of a straight to the point guy.
24:08
Speaker 1: He's not in there spouting cliches. You know, he's honest,
24:12
Speaker 1: and I think we saw a window into who he
24:16
Speaker 1: is during his Heisman speech and I thought that was
24:18
Speaker 1: one of the most touching things that I've seen in
24:21
Speaker 1: a long time. And when he spoke so passionately about
24:25
Speaker 1: the area in which he grew up, you know the
24:27
Speaker 1: food pantry there in Athens, Ohio. A couple of days
24:30
Speaker 1: ago there was a report that as a result of
24:33
Speaker 1: Joe's Heisman's speech, they had received something like five hundred
24:36
Speaker 1: and three thousand dollars in donations. So I think he's
24:40
Speaker 1: a person a high character. I think he's very smart,
24:42
Speaker 1: very honest. I think he's a team leader type. And
24:46
Speaker 1: I think if the Bengals do select him, they will
24:48
Speaker 1: be very glad that they did. As I said, I
24:50
Speaker 1: think in all the years of doing this, there's very
24:53
Speaker 1: few times where I've seen a quarterback where I thought, Okay,
24:56
Speaker 1: this guy is guaranteed going to be a high level
24:58
Speaker 1: quarterback in the NFL. As I said, Andrew Luck was
25:01
Speaker 1: one of them. Obviously, Peyton Manning going back a lot
25:04
Speaker 1: further when he was at Tennessee's one of them. And
25:07
Speaker 1: I'm not saying this guy is gonna be Peyton Manning,
25:10
Speaker 1: but I have a strong feeling he'll be at least
25:14
Speaker 1: I think comparable to Andrew Luck. That's what reminds me
25:17
Speaker 1: a lot of terms of size and his athleticism, and
25:20
Speaker 1: you know, they'll knock on Andrew was that maybe the
25:23
Speaker 1: rocket arm, but again, he had plenty enough arm to
25:26
Speaker 1: be a terrific NFL player. So that's uh, you know,
25:30
Speaker 1: that's how kind of how I feel about Joe. I
25:32
Speaker 1: think whoever picks them is gonna be really glad he did.
25:35
Speaker 1: The draft is less than one hundred days away. It
25:38
Speaker 1: begins on April twenty third in Las Vegas. The Bengals
25:43
Speaker 1: coaching staff has headed to Mobile, Alabama, on Sunday for
25:46
Speaker 1: next week's Senior Bowl. The Bengals will coach the South
25:49
Speaker 1: team on Saturday the twenty fifth, while the Detroit Lions
25:52
Speaker 1: staff will coach the North. Right now, the Bengal Senior
25:56
Speaker 1: Bowl roster includes three quarterbacks, Oregon's Justin Herbert, Oklahoma's Jalen Hurtz,
26:02
Speaker 1: and Colorado Stephen Montez. Will Joe Burrow be in attendance
26:07
Speaker 1: even if he doesn't play in the game. I discuss
26:10
Speaker 1: that and more with a man in charge. We are
26:14
Speaker 1: visiting with Jim Nagie, the executive director of the Senior Bowl. Jim,
26:17
Speaker 1: what will the Bengals coaching staff gain by coaching in
26:20
Speaker 1: this game? It's it's really an incredible advantage dand to
26:25
Speaker 1: not only you know, be on the field, coaching them,
26:27
Speaker 1: so you know they're gonna they're gonna get to see
26:29
Speaker 1: you know, who can take coaching, who can apply coaching points,
26:33
Speaker 1: who bounce us back after a bad reve and who
26:36
Speaker 1: doesn't all be on the field? Stuff are huge takeaways.
26:39
Speaker 1: And then you know, the behind the scenes stuff is
26:42
Speaker 1: really where you separate from the other teams that are
26:44
Speaker 1: down here for the game. You know, seeing these guys
26:46
Speaker 1: in a in a meeting rooms and a training table,
26:50
Speaker 1: and who's showing up on time for stuff and who's
26:52
Speaker 1: not and who's attentive at meetings and all those sort
26:56
Speaker 1: of things. So there's so many takeaways. I do feel
26:58
Speaker 1: like it's a it's a big advantage for the participating teams.
27:01
Speaker 1: You are from a scouting background. How does this compare
27:05
Speaker 1: to being around the guys at the Combine. Uh, It's
27:08
Speaker 1: it's a lot more of a relaxed setting and it's
27:11
Speaker 1: just so much more time. Um, you know, I think
27:14
Speaker 1: the Combine schedule is a little more intense. There's there's
27:18
Speaker 1: more packed into those players days. Um, It's really this
27:22
Speaker 1: is a great place for the players and the teams
27:24
Speaker 1: together to really really connect in like I said, more
27:27
Speaker 1: of a laidback environment. Than there is an Indie And
27:30
Speaker 1: again that's to me, that's when from a scouting perspective,
27:32
Speaker 1: that's when you always felt like you were meeting the
27:34
Speaker 1: real the real person, the real player. You know they
27:37
Speaker 1: when they're when they're in Indie and some of the
27:40
Speaker 1: scheduled interviews they have there, it's a little more intimidating,
27:42
Speaker 1: it's a little more intense. Um, guys have their guard
27:45
Speaker 1: down a little more down here, and you really feel
27:47
Speaker 1: like you get to know them. We are visiting the
27:49
Speaker 1: Jim Nagie from the Senior Ball as we record this conversation.
27:53
Speaker 1: I have not seen a commitment one way or another
27:55
Speaker 1: from Joe Burrow. Where does that stand. Spoke to Joe
28:00
Speaker 1: last night and they are getting ready to board a plane.
28:03
Speaker 1: They're actually on their plane to the White House right now. Um,
28:06
Speaker 1: and we're going to talk again tomorrow, which is Friday,
28:09
Speaker 1: and uh and talk more about it. We'd love to
28:11
Speaker 1: get him, I told, I told Joe. I've met Joe
28:13
Speaker 1: over the summer at the Manning Passing Camp for the
28:15
Speaker 1: first time and then I get at SEC Media Days,
28:18
Speaker 1: so we've got a little bit of a relationship. And uh,
28:21
Speaker 1: you know, I've spoken to the dad mister Burrow a
28:23
Speaker 1: couple of times and they'd know how bad we want
28:25
Speaker 1: him here. But he's coming off, you know, a game
28:27
Speaker 1: in the in the National Championship where he got knocked
28:30
Speaker 1: around a little bit. So the important thing for for
28:33
Speaker 1: the Senior Bowl, and I want to speak for the Bengals,
28:35
Speaker 1: but the important thing with the Sea Bowl is just
28:37
Speaker 1: getting Joe inmobile um. So then the Bengals can spend
28:40
Speaker 1: time with him and vice versa. You know, he can
28:43
Speaker 1: he can spend time with the organization and get a
28:45
Speaker 1: feel for how they do things and how the staff is.
28:47
Speaker 1: So to me, there's a lot of value and having
28:49
Speaker 1: Joe here and we just hope he sees it the
28:51
Speaker 1: same way. So even if he does not play in
28:54
Speaker 1: the game, he should go there meet with the team's, uh,
28:58
Speaker 1: work out, etc. Yeah, Joe's a unique circumstance, he really is.
29:03
Speaker 1: You know, this is we're talking about guy that could
29:05
Speaker 1: be the potential number one pick in the draft. So
29:07
Speaker 1: again you have to take every you know, every circumstance
29:11
Speaker 1: in case by case basis. And I think agents are
29:14
Speaker 1: on the league and teams would understand, you know, if
29:17
Speaker 1: anyone were sitting in my position that you do what
29:20
Speaker 1: it takes to get a Joe Burrow to the event.
29:22
Speaker 1: So you know, we'll work with Joe depending on how
29:25
Speaker 1: he feels. Again, how unique is that that guys play
29:28
Speaker 1: on a Monday and then are called up to an
29:30
Speaker 1: Ullstar game. That's never happened before. That NAA pushed that
29:33
Speaker 1: back this year, so we've never had this come up.
29:36
Speaker 1: But yeah, the important thing is just getting Joe here
29:38
Speaker 1: and let him spend time with the Bengals. A couple
29:41
Speaker 1: more questions for Jim Nagie from the Senior Bowl. I
29:43
Speaker 1: looked it up this morning. You can fly round trip
29:45
Speaker 1: from Cincinnati to Mobile for three hundred and thirty six bucks,
29:48
Speaker 1: so that's not bad. It's a ten hour drive, which
29:51
Speaker 1: is doable. What would a Bengals fan get from going
29:55
Speaker 1: to Mobile for the Senior Bowl. I'm so glad you asked. Yeah.
30:00
Speaker 1: I was at the Draft last year in Nashville, and
30:03
Speaker 1: the Draft is a great event and that's why I
30:05
Speaker 1: got into scouting. When you know, watching the Draft is
30:07
Speaker 1: a little kid but you know, really that event and
30:09
Speaker 1: there were six hundred thousand people in Nashville. I promised
30:12
Speaker 1: diehard Bengals fans that if they come to Mobile. Um,
30:15
Speaker 1: they're gonna have an incredible, incredible experience, especially because their
30:21
Speaker 1: team's drafting first overall, in their in their coaching staff
30:24
Speaker 1: is coaching the game. So you know, you can stand
30:26
Speaker 1: ten feet from these drills. You know, the Bengals drafted
30:30
Speaker 1: six guys out of our game last year. You can
30:32
Speaker 1: say you're the first one to see him and be
30:33
Speaker 1: up close. You know that there's access to our players.
30:36
Speaker 1: You can take sophies with these guys. You know, a
30:38
Speaker 1: couple of years ago, Baker Mayfield's here, if Joe Burrows here.
30:41
Speaker 1: I mean, these guys are really accessible. And then you know,
30:44
Speaker 1: Mobile is a small town environment. You can walk up
30:46
Speaker 1: in down Dolphins Street here, which which is our main
30:48
Speaker 1: dragt through downtown m and walk, you know, pop in
30:51
Speaker 1: and out of restaurants, in bars in the NFL's here.
30:54
Speaker 1: If there's nine hundred, nine hundred NFL people, the league
30:57
Speaker 1: kind of descends on our town for a week. And
30:59
Speaker 1: you know last year, I use the example, I've walked
31:01
Speaker 1: into a bar to meet an old friend of mine
31:04
Speaker 1: from the league and there's three head coaches all sitting
31:06
Speaker 1: at the bar together. And that's pretty cool. If you're
31:09
Speaker 1: a diehard NFL fan. There's all these guys you see
31:11
Speaker 1: on TV throughout the year and here they are just
31:13
Speaker 1: you know, in a relaxed setting. So it's really a
31:16
Speaker 1: unique atmosphere and we would encourage all the Bengals fans
31:19
Speaker 1: to come. They will not regret it. They'll actually want
31:21
Speaker 1: to come back next year. Whether the Bengals coaches earn
31:24
Speaker 1: it or not. It's it's such a great event. One
31:27
Speaker 1: of the players on the South roster that the Bengals
31:29
Speaker 1: will coach is University of Cincinnati tight end Josiah Deguara,
31:34
Speaker 1: who played high school football with the Bengals first pick
31:37
Speaker 1: in last year's draft, Jonah Williams. In addition to working
31:40
Speaker 1: with the tight ends, Deguara will be taking some reps
31:43
Speaker 1: at fullback at the Senior Bowl as well. That's going
31:47
Speaker 1: to do it for this edition of a podcast. If
31:50
Speaker 1: you haven't done so already, don't forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher,
31:54
Speaker 1: Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean, and if you have
31:57
Speaker 1: a minute, please give it a rating or share a comment.
32:00
Speaker 1: Those five star ratings help more Bengals fans find this podcast.
32:05
Speaker 1: I'm Dan Horde and thanks for listening to the Bengals
32:08
Speaker 1: Boot Podcast