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Bengals Booth Podcast: Makin' Plans · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast, the and We're Making Plans edition
0:13
Speaker 1: as I discussed the twenty twenty four Bengals schedule with
0:16
Speaker 1: my colleagues Dave Lapham and Jeff Hobson. But first, it's
0:20
Speaker 1: my one on one conversation with Trey Hendrickson on why
0:24
Speaker 1: he's fired up and ready to go for his fourth
0:27
Speaker 1: season in Cincinnati. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to
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Speaker 1: of the Bengals. Now here's a quick reminder that you
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Speaker 1: to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing wherever you
1:00
Speaker 1: get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since the La
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Speaker 1: signed up for a temporary online subscription to the La
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Speaker 1: Times in order to prepare for my broadcasts. As it
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Speaker 1: turns out, the sports section is outstanding and the online
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Speaker 1: subscription is inexpensive, so I've kept it. Again. It's mostly
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Speaker 1: for the sports section, but every Saturday I enjoy checking
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Speaker 1: out the hot property section. It can best be described
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Speaker 1: expensive homes in southern California. If you want to see
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Speaker 1: what I mean, go to Instagram and check out La
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Speaker 1: Times Hot Property. You'll be amazed at how the other half,
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Speaker 1: or more like the other one percent, lives. Now, let's
2:00
Speaker 1: get to football. Several weeks ago, just before the NFL Draft,
2:04
Speaker 1: many of us were stunned when Adam Schefter reported that
2:07
Speaker 1: Trey Hendrickson had requested a trade. It seemed to come
2:11
Speaker 1: out of nowhere. After all, Trey signed a contract extension
2:15
Speaker 1: last summer that runs through next season. The trade request
2:20
Speaker 1: led to rampant speculation that Trey might hold out, and
2:24
Speaker 1: his agent even told a reporter that Hendrickson was considering retirement. Well,
2:30
Speaker 1: if that was ever really the case, there's no reason
2:32
Speaker 1: to worry now, as Trey practiced with the team this week.
2:36
Speaker 1: Even though it's a voluntary period. I spoke to him
2:40
Speaker 1: one on one about where things stand. Trey, I think
2:44
Speaker 1: Bengals fans were delighted when they saw the video of
2:47
Speaker 1: you practicing yesterday, not knowing what was going through your
2:51
Speaker 1: mind in the off season. Explain why you are here
2:53
Speaker 1: in a voluntary period.
2:56
Speaker 2: Well, you know, there's a lot to be excited about
2:58
Speaker 2: about being a Cincinnati Bengal know, and I think the
3:02
Speaker 2: pieces that the organization has added to help the defense
3:05
Speaker 2: and obviously the offense is something to be excited about.
3:08
Speaker 3: So I want to be a part of the foundation.
3:10
Speaker 2: That we're building, and the only way to do that
3:13
Speaker 2: is to be in meeting rooms, be a practice, build
3:17
Speaker 2: relationships as we all collectively come together, and obviously have
3:22
Speaker 2: that same.
3:22
Speaker 3: Like minded goal to win the Super Bowl.
3:25
Speaker 1: I've told people when I came into the building last
3:27
Speaker 1: year in the off season, I think I saw you
3:30
Speaker 1: here every time I came in. I mean, it speaks
3:34
Speaker 1: to your dedication to try to be the best player
3:36
Speaker 1: that you can be. Have you followed a similar course
3:39
Speaker 1: of action this offseason.
3:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was a little more quiet, you know, it
3:43
Speaker 3: was a little earlier.
3:44
Speaker 2: You know, I wanted to be respectful of the guys
3:46
Speaker 2: that were working out, and there was a lot of
3:49
Speaker 2: confusion going around, and you know, I'm not the most
3:52
Speaker 2: approachable person, so people would just kind of assume. So
3:57
Speaker 2: it was good that I got my work in, got
3:59
Speaker 2: to go home. My wife and I prayed about it,
4:01
Speaker 2: working it out day by day, you know, and we're
4:04
Speaker 2: at peace of the situation, and I think that's what's
4:06
Speaker 2: most important, and that only comes from Jesus Christ, and
4:10
Speaker 2: you know, we're very blessed.
4:11
Speaker 1: Where are you in terms of hoping to get a
4:14
Speaker 1: contract extension or revised deal, whatever it might be.
4:20
Speaker 3: You know, that's a good question.
4:21
Speaker 2: It's a you know, my contract situation is it's just
4:26
Speaker 2: it's interesting. It's it's something that's out of my control
4:29
Speaker 2: at the end of the day. So what is in
4:30
Speaker 2: my control is how hard I work, you know, how
4:34
Speaker 2: hard I you know, film study.
4:36
Speaker 3: Prepare myself and things like that.
4:38
Speaker 2: And obviously I'm going to control what I can control
4:41
Speaker 2: and be the best teammate I can be, and end
4:44
Speaker 2: of the day, I think everything else will work itself.
4:46
Speaker 1: About seventeen and a half sacks last year kind of
4:49
Speaker 1: speaks for itself. Do you feel like you are still
4:51
Speaker 1: in a sending player.
4:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, like I think it's something that I
4:56
Speaker 2: was blessed to be a part of. You know, statistics
4:58
Speaker 2: are something that are again and out of my control
5:01
Speaker 2: in some ways. You know, you need good coverage, you
5:03
Speaker 2: need good opportunity. Obviously having a lead will always help
5:06
Speaker 2: with past rushing, you.
5:08
Speaker 3: Know, and stuff like that.
5:09
Speaker 2: So, you know, sharpening my sword to be the best
5:12
Speaker 2: defensive end I can be is my goal every year,
5:15
Speaker 2: and I feel like I've achieved that this offseason, and
5:17
Speaker 2: I'm excited for the Hendrickson product I can put out
5:20
Speaker 2: there underneath.
5:21
Speaker 3: The Bengals level.
5:23
Speaker 1: You spoke to Jeff Hobson yesterday and said something to
5:26
Speaker 1: the effect that your dealings with the front office had
5:29
Speaker 1: been respectful. You felt like you are at least being heard. Yeah,
5:34
Speaker 1: can you elaborate on that?
5:36
Speaker 2: Well, you know, like, obviously what I'm asking for is
5:39
Speaker 2: not something that would be the best, you know, business decision,
5:42
Speaker 2: you know, as at their running a business at the
5:44
Speaker 2: end of the day. And I understand that, and I
5:46
Speaker 2: can I can unpack that as however, I you know,
5:50
Speaker 2: it's an unlimited amount. So through prayer with my wife
5:54
Speaker 2: and hearing you know, it's not something that they want
5:56
Speaker 2: to do right now. Respectfully, it was frustrating in some ways,
6:02
Speaker 2: you know, and then some things you have to do
6:04
Speaker 2: what's best for your family.
6:06
Speaker 3: But once that was the business side of it. Now
6:08
Speaker 3: we're getting.
6:09
Speaker 2: Into the team side of it, which is a completely
6:11
Speaker 2: different dynamic.
6:12
Speaker 3: You know, me rushing the past.
6:14
Speaker 2: It will help DJ Hill, it will help you know,
6:16
Speaker 2: these rookies producer their family, as Sam Hubbard as he
6:19
Speaker 2: wants to play ten plus a year. You know, it'll
6:22
Speaker 2: help Dax be a better corner. It'll help the lineback
6:25
Speaker 2: rushing with their fits. So separating that business frustration, I
6:30
Speaker 2: guess you can say, and the love I have for
6:32
Speaker 2: the team and the coaches.
6:34
Speaker 3: You know, we want to get lou a head coaching job.
6:37
Speaker 2: You know, we want to be a top ten defense
6:39
Speaker 2: and help him out because he's given us so much
6:41
Speaker 2: opportunity myself included over the last three years of you know,
6:45
Speaker 2: being one of the you know, top pass rushers and
6:48
Speaker 2: stuff like that. Those are things that come from a
6:50
Speaker 2: good defensive scheme and everything him. So if I'm not participating,
6:55
Speaker 2: that doesn't help him, his family, their families, and it
6:58
Speaker 2: would be selfish.
6:59
Speaker 3: Don't think about Marin.
7:01
Speaker 2: You know, there's a time and a place to think
7:02
Speaker 2: about my family, and I did that. Now that all
7:05
Speaker 2: of this is unfolded, it was very clear that this
7:08
Speaker 2: is the direction.
7:09
Speaker 3: Work hard, continue to work for what.
7:12
Speaker 2: I want, and obviously take it day by day and
7:16
Speaker 2: help having help from my wife and being at peace
7:18
Speaker 2: with that. And obviously our foundation and Jesus Christ has
7:22
Speaker 2: helped tremendously, and it's a perfect piece that surpasses all understanding.
7:26
Speaker 1: I think the one thing that anybody could understand is
7:29
Speaker 1: the fact that there are people playing your position accomplishing
7:34
Speaker 1: similar things that make more is that at the root
7:39
Speaker 1: of what bothers you, you know.
7:43
Speaker 2: I think it's more that I want to know where,
7:48
Speaker 2: Like I love Cincinnati, I love Ohio. I don't want
7:52
Speaker 2: to bounce around the league.
7:53
Speaker 3: If I want to play twelve years, you know, I don't.
7:55
Speaker 2: Want to tell my wife, hey, look we're going to
7:59
Speaker 2: have to, you know. And some ways that's me speaking
8:04
Speaker 2: on my wants again and not what's best for the team.
8:07
Speaker 2: And I think the organization does a good job balancing
8:10
Speaker 2: what's best for the team to win a Super.
8:11
Speaker 3: Bowl and things like that.
8:13
Speaker 2: And I don't necessarily see my contract being something that
8:18
Speaker 2: needs to be addressed right now. From a business standpoint,
8:21
Speaker 2: what I'm asking for is not a business thing. I
8:23
Speaker 2: just want security knowing that I can continue to play
8:27
Speaker 2: here at a high level and not have to worry
8:30
Speaker 2: about what logo you know I'm representing at thirty one
8:35
Speaker 2: or however that looks. So end of the day, though,
8:38
Speaker 2: I am at peace with the situation. I am blessed
8:40
Speaker 2: to be in the spot, regardless of what our contracts are,
8:43
Speaker 2: that I get to start in the National Football League.
8:45
Speaker 2: You told me that when I was twenty one years old,
8:47
Speaker 2: i'd probably be over the moon. So it's one of
8:51
Speaker 2: those things that my wife has helped me unpack. It's
8:53
Speaker 2: taken some time, and I'd be lying if it was
8:55
Speaker 2: an overnight decision.
8:57
Speaker 3: It's taken time.
8:58
Speaker 2: It's taken a lot of prayer, and obviously her helping
9:02
Speaker 2: me through this has been a tremendous help, and that
9:04
Speaker 2: she's a gift from God. And continuing to work hard
9:08
Speaker 2: for what I want something I'm excited for.
9:11
Speaker 1: You're here, Sam's here, Aj is here. We've added Sheldon Rankins.
9:16
Speaker 1: Miles Murphy's got a year of experience under his belt.
9:19
Speaker 1: The drafted two defensive tackles, including Chris Jenkins in the
9:22
Speaker 1: second round. What do you think of this group?
9:25
Speaker 3: Oh, you know, it's very early.
9:27
Speaker 2: You know, we're still figuring it out, you know, And
9:29
Speaker 2: that's what I'm excited to be here about. You know,
9:31
Speaker 2: as we figure out our identity. I can see it
9:35
Speaker 2: from the ground up. And obviously, you know, I'm in
9:38
Speaker 2: the back half of my career regardless of anything. I mean,
9:41
Speaker 2: playing sixteen years would be great, but you know, just
9:45
Speaker 2: seeing it from a different perspective of like watching these
9:48
Speaker 2: rookies grow, giving them tidbits on what I think and
9:51
Speaker 2: what I've learned as being successful is helpful to them
9:56
Speaker 2: so that they can provide for their families, and I
9:58
Speaker 2: want to be a part of that as we lay
9:59
Speaker 2: the foundation. So I'm excited about the team we have.
10:02
Speaker 2: I'm excited about this defense, and obviously there's a lot
10:04
Speaker 2: to be excited about on our offense, always so, but
10:08
Speaker 2: I'm excited to take the next step as the defense
10:10
Speaker 2: and produce as best I can with my numbers.
10:12
Speaker 1: Called, We're excited that you're here. Thanks for your ton Yes,
10:15
Speaker 1: it's no doubt you can make a strong case that
10:19
Speaker 1: Trey Hendrickson is the best free agent acquisition in team history.
10:24
Speaker 1: He's been a Pro Bowler in all three of his
10:26
Speaker 1: seasons in Cincinnati and certainly doesn't appear to be slowing down.
10:31
Speaker 1: Trey doesn't turn thirty until December, and here's hoping that
10:34
Speaker 1: as long as he chooses to play pro football, he'll
10:37
Speaker 1: do so in a Bengals uniform. Now, let's get to
10:41
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty four schedule. If you judge the Bengals
10:45
Speaker 1: schedule by their opponent's projected win totals in Las Vegas,
10:49
Speaker 1: which is usually a better gauge than going by last
10:52
Speaker 1: year's records, the Bengals have the sixth easiest schedule in
10:56
Speaker 1: the NFL this year. That's quite a contrast from their
10:59
Speaker 1: a FC North rivals. Pittsburgh has the toughest schedule, Baltimore
11:05
Speaker 1: ranks third hardest, and Cleveland ranks fourth hardest. Advantage Cincinnati.
11:12
Speaker 1: We already knew who the Bengals were playing and where
11:15
Speaker 1: they were playing. Now we know when they're playing. A
11:19
Speaker 1: broadcast partner Dave Lapham and Bengals dot Com editor Jeff
11:23
Speaker 1: Butch Hobson join me to take a closer look. All right, gentlemen,
11:29
Speaker 1: the schedule is out. We have all seen it. Let's
11:32
Speaker 1: start with some general thoughts. Butch, I will let you
11:34
Speaker 1: bat lead off tonight.
11:36
Speaker 4: Well, I defer the LAP. I want to see what
11:39
Speaker 4: lap since I was because when it came out, the
11:41
Speaker 4: first thing I'd said is I wonder what laugh thinks.
11:43
Speaker 1: So fair enough, we will the point guard will go
11:47
Speaker 1: behind the back and pass it to Lap to get
11:49
Speaker 1: his general thoughts.
11:51
Speaker 5: Well, as I started looking at it here, I mean,
11:55
Speaker 5: the thing that seems really obvious to me is there's
12:00
Speaker 5: not three straight road games, not three straight home games.
12:04
Speaker 6: You know, it's home away, home away, home away.
12:08
Speaker 5: You have a couple of straight home games, a couple
12:10
Speaker 5: of straight away games, then you go into the buy.
12:12
Speaker 5: I like the fact that the buy occurs after the
12:15
Speaker 5: biggest trip of the year, longest trip out to LA
12:19
Speaker 5: to play, you know, to play the Chargers out there.
12:22
Speaker 5: I think the buy is very well placed after the
12:25
Speaker 5: eleventh game there. I like the fact that the travel
12:32
Speaker 5: miles total travel miles, the team's on second fewest in
12:35
Speaker 5: the league eleven air miles. Washington's the fewest ten fifty
12:43
Speaker 5: the Chargers, for example, twenty three. I think I think
12:48
Speaker 5: the schedule from a travel standpoint is extremely reasonable, you know,
12:52
Speaker 5: but then you look at the league feels like this
12:55
Speaker 5: is a damn good football team. They get five prime
12:58
Speaker 5: time games, three at home to UH two at home,
13:02
Speaker 5: three on the road.
13:04
Speaker 6: They've got two additional or three additional.
13:07
Speaker 5: Four to twenty five kicks, So you know, that's half
13:11
Speaker 5: the schedule is you know, is a special games a
13:14
Speaker 5: special special game that week from a scheduling standpoint, So
13:18
Speaker 5: you know, it confirms the fact that the league is
13:20
Speaker 5: in agreement that that, you know, it's it's a pretty
13:23
Speaker 5: good football team. The other thing is, we knew this
13:26
Speaker 5: before the actual dates, but five new head coaches and
13:30
Speaker 5: the Bengals the first four games. The Bengals have three
13:34
Speaker 5: new head coaches, the Patriots, Washington, and Carolina. So you know,
13:40
Speaker 5: you'd think you can you can make two arguments there.
13:43
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, you don't know what the heck those teams
13:44
Speaker 5: are going to do because they have a new head coach.
13:47
Speaker 5: What are they going to do systematically?
13:48
Speaker 3: This and that?
13:49
Speaker 6: I counted that with.
13:51
Speaker 5: You know, the Bengals in the early stages of the
13:52
Speaker 5: season will still be putting their schematics together as well.
13:57
Speaker 5: And I'd rather have a coaching staff that's been together
14:00
Speaker 5: for a while. Uh, in the first you know, month
14:03
Speaker 5: of the season, as opposed to one that's just trying
14:06
Speaker 5: to figure each other out, figure out the players. And
14:09
Speaker 5: I think that's a that's a big deal, the fact
14:11
Speaker 5: that three new head coaches in four games. I mean,
14:15
Speaker 5: if the Bengals can handle the Chiefs on the road,
14:18
Speaker 5: you got to figure they'd have a decent shot of
14:20
Speaker 5: starting the season out four and oh and the and
14:22
Speaker 5: the way it's been the last few years, there's been
14:25
Speaker 5: struggles to start the season. This year with this scheduled, potentially,
14:30
Speaker 5: you know, if you certainly don't want to assume anything
14:33
Speaker 5: in the National Football League, there's no question about it.
14:36
Speaker 5: Anybody can beat anybody and.
14:37
Speaker 6: We all know that. But i'd uh, I think that
14:41
Speaker 6: they're going to be favored in three of the four
14:43
Speaker 6: first games of the season for sure.
14:46
Speaker 1: All Right, Butch, you want to go second or would
14:48
Speaker 1: you like me to go second?
14:50
Speaker 4: Well? I was just gonna say kind of what piggyback
14:52
Speaker 4: what Lapp said.
14:53
Speaker 7: Uh, three of those new head coaches who from are
14:56
Speaker 7: probably gonna start rookie quarterbacks. So you know, you go
15:00
Speaker 7: and they're going and they're going against a defense it's
15:03
Speaker 7: been together for a defensive scheme that's been running for
15:09
Speaker 7: six straight years, so you know that's uh probably probably
15:13
Speaker 7: uh uh probably may starts for the Patriots and the AGA,
15:18
Speaker 7: which would be the first time though if there's a
15:21
Speaker 7: rookie quarterback on opening Day since they took our Joe
15:24
Speaker 7: Flacco in Baltimore, oh eight, then they go to k C.
15:27
Speaker 4: Then they come back and they'll probably play another rookie
15:29
Speaker 4: again in jayde Dangs. So you know, that's that's pretty
15:33
Speaker 4: helpful if you're looking to get out of the Great
15:35
Speaker 4: Gate fast. And then I think just the other thing
15:38
Speaker 4: is uh, you know, kind of what like what Lapp
15:42
Speaker 4: said to me, the the toughest spot of part of
15:46
Speaker 4: the schedule stats in November seventh, that that Thursday night
15:49
Speaker 4: game uh in uh in Baltimore, which by the way
15:53
Speaker 4: is the second birthday of fourth down Freddie Miller. But
15:57
Speaker 4: that's but they get cushion by that because they have
16:00
Speaker 4: a ten day mine by after that game in Baltimore
16:05
Speaker 4: Thursday night, then they go to the Chadgers. Then they
16:07
Speaker 4: got thereby so it really doesn't get tough until that
16:12
Speaker 4: last month, and everybody's last month it's tough nowadays. That's
16:15
Speaker 4: how they do it. Everybody's got a brutal December. You know,
16:19
Speaker 4: the Bengals no different. But you know they've got another
16:24
Speaker 4: short week, first time in history they've had two Thursday
16:27
Speaker 4: night games. They got a short week in December. But
16:30
Speaker 4: so do the Steels and Ravens who are getting screwed
16:32
Speaker 4: up in the Christmas Day stuff. So I think it's
16:36
Speaker 4: pretty good. I you know, it gets rough. You know,
16:40
Speaker 4: December one starts Borough member, not December Borough member. Remember
16:46
Speaker 4: he is thirteen and four in games in December and January,
16:51
Speaker 4: so they get a pretty good I think it's pretty
16:53
Speaker 4: good until December. But they got a guy that can
16:56
Speaker 4: win in December when he gets tough.
16:58
Speaker 1: All right, I've scribbled down a few things. Number one,
17:01
Speaker 1: and this is something both of you guys touched on.
17:04
Speaker 1: Three of the first four games are against three of
17:06
Speaker 1: the worst teams in the NFL. New England four and
17:09
Speaker 1: thirteen last year, Washington in Week three, four and thirteen
17:13
Speaker 1: last year, Carolina and Week four, two and fifteen last year.
17:18
Speaker 1: Add that up, you get ten and forty one in
17:21
Speaker 1: three of their first four games. If you can't win
17:24
Speaker 1: those three and start the season at least three in one,
17:28
Speaker 1: maybe four to zero. If he can go to Kansas
17:30
Speaker 1: City and pull off an upset, shame on you. I mean,
17:33
Speaker 1: the schedule is right there to get off to a
17:35
Speaker 1: good start this year, which would be great after the
17:38
Speaker 1: last two seasons. My second thought is Week ten at
17:42
Speaker 1: Baltimore on Thursday night. Why does the NFL insist on
17:47
Speaker 1: sending the Bengals to Baltimore for primetime games third year
17:52
Speaker 1: in a row at M and T Banks Stadium. It's
17:54
Speaker 1: almost exactly a year to the day from last year's
17:57
Speaker 1: game where Joe Burrow suffered his wrist injury. And as
18:00
Speaker 1: we know, it is tough to win in the division
18:04
Speaker 1: on the road. In the AFC North, the Bengals have
18:08
Speaker 1: never done it. The AFC North.
18:12
Speaker 4: Lost. The Ravens have never lost a Thursday night home
18:15
Speaker 4: game in this century.
18:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, the AFC North started in two thousand and two.
18:19
Speaker 1: The Bengals have played ten prime time road games in
18:24
Speaker 1: the division oh and five in Pittsburgh, oh And three
18:27
Speaker 1: in Baltimore, oh and two in Cleveland. So it's time
18:31
Speaker 1: time to put an endo that streak and see if
18:33
Speaker 1: they can go on the road and win a game
18:35
Speaker 1: in Baltimore in primetime, which is obviously going to be
18:38
Speaker 1: tough right there with it for a tough road game,
18:41
Speaker 1: in my mind is at Dallas. The Cowboys were the
18:43
Speaker 1: only team in the NFL last year that did not
18:45
Speaker 1: lose at home during the regular season. Then they promptly
18:48
Speaker 1: lost in the first round of the playoffs to Green Bay.
18:52
Speaker 1: But Dallas historically has been tough for the Bengals to
18:55
Speaker 1: travel to and win. They haven't done it since Super
18:57
Speaker 1: Bowl twenty three year nineteen eighty eight, So see if
19:00
Speaker 1: they can go to Dallas and get that done in
19:03
Speaker 1: that difficult primetime road game. And then the fact that
19:09
Speaker 1: they've got two primetime home games is very significant because
19:13
Speaker 1: they've become one of the harder teams to beat at
19:16
Speaker 1: home in primetime. They've won seven in a row. One
19:19
Speaker 1: of those games is with Ryan Finley at quarterback. There's
19:22
Speaker 1: obviously the primetime playoff win a couple of years ago
19:24
Speaker 1: over Baltimore. So I like the fact that at least
19:27
Speaker 1: this year there's a pretty good balance between the primetime
19:30
Speaker 1: home and road games.
19:32
Speaker 5: You know, one other interesting matchup is going to be Philadelphia.
19:39
Speaker 5: The four to twenty five kickoff Philadelphia in Cincinnati.
19:45
Speaker 6: Hurts and Burroughs score off for the first.
19:47
Speaker 5: Time you know that Burrows played. You know a lot
19:52
Speaker 5: of a lot of great quarterbacks he's matched up against it.
19:55
Speaker 5: Now Hurts is another one. How's that one gone unfold?
19:59
Speaker 5: That's going to be interest seem to to digest as well,
20:02
Speaker 5: you know, and uh that's I think the first thing
20:07
Speaker 5: that came to my mind about the about the schedule
20:11
Speaker 5: was that it was balanced and it was fair. I
20:15
Speaker 5: think those two things, you know, kind of our forefront
20:19
Speaker 5: front and center in my mind a little bit.
20:21
Speaker 4: And you know, again.
20:24
Speaker 5: As a former player, the one thing you look at is,
20:27
Speaker 5: oh man, how many times way on national TV?
20:29
Speaker 4: Well?
20:30
Speaker 5: Five, I mean five five time games you get to
20:33
Speaker 5: get to show your stuff and then these you know,
20:35
Speaker 5: these four games are big audiences as well. You get
20:40
Speaker 5: you get one of one at home and one on
20:42
Speaker 5: the road. There actually three of them, uh this year, right,
20:46
Speaker 5: there's three of them Philadelphia, uh, the Chargers and Kansas
20:51
Speaker 5: City three of them. So you get, you get, you
20:55
Speaker 5: get two of those on the road and one of
20:57
Speaker 5: those at home to show to show you whereas a
21:00
Speaker 5: little bit. And then you then you wonder, okay, well,
21:03
Speaker 5: how many times will we be in a situation we're
21:07
Speaker 5: gonna have a short week.
21:09
Speaker 6: Long weeks.
21:09
Speaker 5: You love.
21:10
Speaker 6: You look for a long week and oh yeah, we've
21:11
Speaker 6: got long week action there. Short week.
21:14
Speaker 5: Who But like we're talking about, you get to buy
21:17
Speaker 5: to buy after the big trip, you know, you have
21:20
Speaker 5: you have Baltimore on the road for that Thursday night game.
21:23
Speaker 5: Short week, and then you get to travel all the
21:25
Speaker 5: way or I should say a long week. You travel
21:28
Speaker 5: all the way to Los Angeles, like Putsch was talking about,
21:31
Speaker 5: but you have a long week to do it, and
21:33
Speaker 5: then you get to rest more after that football game.
21:35
Speaker 6: So the league I think was extremely fair.
21:38
Speaker 5: To the Bengals when they said, all right, we're going
21:41
Speaker 5: to stick you on Prime on Thursday, and you know,
21:44
Speaker 5: we know you've got to go to the West Coast
21:45
Speaker 5: one time. We're going to give you ten days to
21:47
Speaker 5: recover and then give you a bye week after that. Now,
21:50
Speaker 5: I think that's about as balance and fair as you
21:52
Speaker 5: can be. And that's why I think that's a kind
21:54
Speaker 5: of a microcosm of I think the schedule itself being
21:58
Speaker 5: fair and balanced to the team.
22:00
Speaker 4: I think December is gonna be really interesting. You played
22:03
Speaker 4: the Steelers twice, first primetime game ever between Dallas, you know,
22:08
Speaker 4: between Mike Brown and Jerry Jones, they're in primetime together.
22:11
Speaker 4: Then you go the next week, you go see Brian Callahan,
22:14
Speaker 4: you go see Cincinnati South. Right, let's get finally get
22:18
Speaker 4: that Tyler Boyd Mike Hilton match up. Cheetahu Oozier is
22:21
Speaker 4: down there, so that then.
22:23
Speaker 3: Then you got it.
22:24
Speaker 4: Then you get like three days and here come the
22:26
Speaker 4: Browns come to town, and uh, you know, then I
22:31
Speaker 4: don't know what's gonna happen when Sean Payton comes in,
22:34
Speaker 4: but uh, I do know. Russell Wilson comes in two
22:37
Speaker 4: days after his birthday and he was actually born in Cincinnati,
22:40
Speaker 4: which is kind of a nice, kind of a nice wrinkle.
22:43
Speaker 4: And then I bet, but I don't know what to
22:45
Speaker 4: expect from Denver. My god, I I don't know they're
22:49
Speaker 4: you know, that's another nice one to have. I think
22:51
Speaker 4: between Cleveland and uh Pittsburgh, the trip to Pittsburgh end
22:55
Speaker 4: of season.
22:56
Speaker 1: Well, I can tell you what Dallas thinks of Denver.
22:58
Speaker 1: They've got the Broncos winning five and a half games
23:01
Speaker 1: on the Vegas line this year, so they don't expect
23:03
Speaker 1: Sean Payton's team good to be very good. Let's quickly
23:06
Speaker 1: run down the schedule game by game. We start in
23:09
Speaker 1: Week one. Bill Belichick has gone after twenty four years
23:12
Speaker 1: as the Patriots head coach. Thirty seven year old Girodmeo
23:16
Speaker 1: takes over youngest head coach in the NFL. Which you
23:19
Speaker 1: mentioned the possibility that the number three pick in the draft,
23:22
Speaker 1: Drake may could be the starting quarterback, but they might
23:25
Speaker 1: start the year with Jacoby Brissett, who they signed to
23:28
Speaker 1: kind of be that bridge QB. Add all of that up.
23:32
Speaker 1: A home game Week one against a team with those factors,
23:36
Speaker 1: that's a game you gotta win, right.
23:38
Speaker 5: No question, no question question. You got to And I mean,
23:45
Speaker 5: let's face the New England's defense is always good and
23:48
Speaker 5: I think it will be again. But got to win
23:50
Speaker 5: that football game.
23:53
Speaker 1: Week two at Kansas City. The Chiefs play in the
23:57
Speaker 1: kickoff game on the Thursday, and Week one against BA Baltimore,
24:00
Speaker 1: so they'll have a long week to prepare. But Butch,
24:02
Speaker 1: I'm kind of excited to see a Bengals Chiefs game
24:06
Speaker 1: that isn't one of the final games of the year.
24:08
Speaker 1: All these matchups over the last few years, they've played
24:10
Speaker 1: five times in the last three years. The earliest one
24:13
Speaker 1: was in Week twelve and obviously you've had the two
24:16
Speaker 1: AFC championship games. We're going to get to see these
24:18
Speaker 1: two teams early this year.
24:21
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think the what's nice is and I know
24:26
Speaker 4: they still have a ten day break, but you know,
24:29
Speaker 4: this is going to probably be there might be a
24:30
Speaker 4: little bit of a letdown after all the hoopla of
24:34
Speaker 4: that opener, you know, and you know, maybe there's you know,
24:38
Speaker 4: the Bengals had a Super Bowl hangover when they went
24:40
Speaker 4: to Zoombo. Now they didn't win it, but you know,
24:43
Speaker 4: Kansas City's won too. I think this is that's kind
24:46
Speaker 4: of where you want to catch this team. I think,
24:48
Speaker 4: you know, you don't want to get them when they're rolling,
24:50
Speaker 4: you know, So I kind of like that. And you know,
24:55
Speaker 4: I think the fact, you know, the Bengals know they
24:57
Speaker 4: can win an arrow, that's that's that's absolutely huge. So
25:00
Speaker 4: I'm with you, Dan. I like the fact that you know,
25:03
Speaker 4: maybe you catch him, you know, maybe maybe you you know,
25:08
Speaker 4: those are the teams you can catch him.
25:09
Speaker 1: And it might not be brutally cold this time.
25:11
Speaker 3: Around.
25:12
Speaker 1: Week three is a Monday night home game against Washington,
25:16
Speaker 1: a new head coach, and Dan Quinn, in all likelihood
25:19
Speaker 1: a rookie starting quarterback and the number two pick in
25:21
Speaker 1: the draft Jade and Daniels, although maybe Marcus Mariotis starts
25:25
Speaker 1: the year at QB before they work him in. But
25:28
Speaker 1: in any case, Lap that's a team that won four
25:30
Speaker 1: games last year. Primetime home game against one of the
25:35
Speaker 1: weaker teams in the NFL again, much like Week one,
25:38
Speaker 1: certainly when you'd expect the Bengals to take care of business.
25:41
Speaker 5: In I agree, and real quick about Kansas City. Isn't
25:45
Speaker 5: there Thursday night game? Their opener is at home as well?
25:48
Speaker 5: Aren't they direct home games in a row?
25:50
Speaker 1: Correct?
25:50
Speaker 6: So they're going to have to travel. So I think
25:53
Speaker 6: that's a factor.
25:54
Speaker 5: They don't have to travel, you know, they get the
25:56
Speaker 5: home crowd in two straight games. I think that one's
26:00
Speaker 5: going to be a challenge, I really do, you know,
26:02
Speaker 5: it's I think the league did them a favor by saying,
26:07
Speaker 5: all right, we're giving you two tough opponents, but you're
26:10
Speaker 5: gonna have them both at home, and you're gonna have
26:12
Speaker 5: all that time in between those two games. So we're
26:14
Speaker 5: gonna make that as fair and balanced as we can
26:16
Speaker 5: as well. And I think that's what took the league
26:18
Speaker 5: so damn long to make the schedule, and they're trying
26:20
Speaker 5: to be fair and balanced to everybody, and there's so
26:22
Speaker 5: many partners and so many teams, it's almost impossible to
26:25
Speaker 5: juggle every ball. But yeah, I mean, I do think Washington,
26:31
Speaker 5: you know, here in Cincinnati, Monday night football primetime game.
26:38
Speaker 5: I just I just think the Bengals will be able
26:40
Speaker 5: to handle business. You know, that would be a disappointment
26:44
Speaker 5: if they don't take care of the Washington here in
26:48
Speaker 5: Cincinnati on Monday Night.
26:50
Speaker 1: Which one of the benefits of finishing in fourth place
26:52
Speaker 1: last year in the AFC North is that the Bengals
26:55
Speaker 1: get three games against teams that finished in fourth place
26:58
Speaker 1: in their division last year, and one of those teams
27:00
Speaker 1: is Carolina in Week four. It's a road game. But
27:03
Speaker 1: the Panthers had the worst record in the league last year.
27:05
Speaker 1: They won two games. They've got a new head coach
27:07
Speaker 1: and Dave Canallis, former offensive coordinator with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
27:12
Speaker 1: Good circumstances to go get a road win.
27:15
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I just was trying to look at
27:17
Speaker 4: their depth chart, you know, in the last couple of
27:19
Speaker 4: days and having trouble coming up with anybody that I
27:24
Speaker 4: really knew, you know, I mean, they just don't really
27:27
Speaker 4: have any impact players on either side of the ball.
27:31
Speaker 4: They got some good players, but you know, I think, yeah,
27:36
Speaker 4: I mean, that's to get to be able to go
27:39
Speaker 4: down there and get a win. I think they've got to.
27:42
Speaker 4: They've got to do that because I, like I said,
27:46
Speaker 4: I can't think of it. You know, they lost their
27:47
Speaker 4: two best defensive players everybody. You know, they they lost
27:51
Speaker 4: Brian Burns and Frankly Lavou the linebacker, you know, and
27:56
Speaker 4: I mean, you know they're going with kids, so that
28:00
Speaker 4: really should be a you know, you gotta that's one
28:04
Speaker 4: you gotta win.
28:05
Speaker 1: You do know their redheaded backup quarterback. That's one guy
28:08
Speaker 1: on the roster that you know.
28:10
Speaker 2: I do.
28:10
Speaker 4: I did know that that's true. That's true. But I'm
28:13
Speaker 4: not sure he's gonna play. But who knows. I guess
28:15
Speaker 4: you never know.
28:15
Speaker 1: Nowadays, not likely to play a significant role barring an
28:19
Speaker 1: injury to Bryce Young. Let's move to Week five. Last year,
28:22
Speaker 1: lap the Bengals had to open the season with back
28:24
Speaker 1: to back games against teams from the division, and they
28:26
Speaker 1: didn't have a healthy Joe Burrow. This year, they don't
28:29
Speaker 1: get that first Divisional game until Week five, a home
28:32
Speaker 1: game against Baltimore. Here come the Ravens after sweeping the
28:36
Speaker 1: Bengals last year. But Joe Burrow wasn't healthy either of
28:40
Speaker 1: those games. And the Ravens are a great team obviously,
28:43
Speaker 1: But I also think Baltimore lost more in free agency
28:46
Speaker 1: than any other team in the NFL.
28:49
Speaker 5: I agree with that statement, Dan, and I think it's
28:52
Speaker 5: time to spank the Baltimore Ravens in Cincinnati.
28:56
Speaker 6: I mean, you know they're suitful in Baltimore. There's no
28:59
Speaker 6: question about, no two ways about it.
29:01
Speaker 1: Period.
29:02
Speaker 5: Uh you've got to take advantage of your home crowd.
29:05
Speaker 5: I think I think the Baltimore Ravens respect the atmosphere
29:09
Speaker 5: at pay Corps. I think that you know, they know,
29:12
Speaker 5: they know that the Bengals being a division division arrival
29:16
Speaker 5: of big battle on the road at pay Corps. I mean,
29:19
Speaker 5: the Bengals have to feel like they can get get
29:21
Speaker 5: the job done. And Joe Burrow we matching up with
29:24
Speaker 5: Lamar Jackson again and uh that that'll be interesting to
29:28
Speaker 5: talk about. But uh, I do there's there was some
29:31
Speaker 5: turnover with the Baltimore Ravens, and you just wonder how
29:34
Speaker 5: long will it take for everything that they that they
29:38
Speaker 5: had to replace. How long will it take for them
29:41
Speaker 5: to gel and uh, this is only the sixth game
29:45
Speaker 5: of the season or the fifth game of the season,
29:47
Speaker 5: so you know that's that's still there's still a work
29:52
Speaker 5: in progress at that point.
29:54
Speaker 1: Butch Week six, Sunday Night Football at the New York Giants,
29:58
Speaker 1: a team that won six games a year ago. They
30:00
Speaker 1: did not take a quarterback with the sixth pick in
30:03
Speaker 1: the draft. They're sticking with Daniel Jones. What do you
30:06
Speaker 1: think of that matchup in Week six?
30:08
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, it's on the road, it's at night,
30:10
Speaker 4: so you never know, you know, you never I mean,
30:12
Speaker 4: ask the Steelers about it. Asked the twenty twenty Steelers
30:15
Speaker 4: about that at pay Corpse, So there's all you never know.
30:19
Speaker 4: But I mean that's another one that before that. You know,
30:22
Speaker 4: that's where you kind of ah, that's what because I
30:25
Speaker 4: think the next two games or you know, you know,
30:27
Speaker 4: the next three games or Cleveland Philly I in Baltimore,
30:31
Speaker 4: so you know, you've got to beat a not very
30:33
Speaker 4: good team. You know, you got to get those you
30:36
Speaker 4: get all that you can, you know how you know
30:38
Speaker 4: we do this every year and he win a game,
30:40
Speaker 4: he didn't think they're gonna win, and they lose a
30:42
Speaker 4: game then so it kind of evens out right. But
30:45
Speaker 4: that's you gotta that's that's when you have to circle
30:47
Speaker 4: because you know the Lake neighbors their number one pick,
30:52
Speaker 4: you know, great player, but you know, can they protect
30:55
Speaker 4: Jones to get them the ball?
30:56
Speaker 3: You know?
30:56
Speaker 4: That's uh. It should be a day where the Bengals
30:59
Speaker 4: defensive line teas off lap.
31:02
Speaker 1: Week seven is the first game against the Cleveland Browns.
31:05
Speaker 1: It is in Cleveland, and this is the team that's
31:07
Speaker 1: been Joe burrows nemesis so far in his NFL career,
31:10
Speaker 1: one in five as a starter against Cleveland. We all
31:13
Speaker 1: remember what happened in Week one last year when the
31:15
Speaker 1: Bengals couldn't do anything on a rainy day offensively in Cleveland.
31:20
Speaker 1: The Bengals did beat the Browns in the final game
31:22
Speaker 1: of the regular season last year, but that was Cleveland's
31:24
Speaker 1: B squad. This is an opportunity to show that they
31:27
Speaker 1: can beat the Browns at full strength.
31:30
Speaker 6: It is Dan and I'll tell you you know, the
31:32
Speaker 6: Cleveland Browns have good personnel. There's no doubt about it.
31:35
Speaker 5: I mean you look at that at that group top
31:38
Speaker 5: to bottom, the biggest question is what are they going
31:41
Speaker 5: to get out of the quarterback? Is the quarterback play
31:44
Speaker 5: going to be consistent enough to be a difference from
31:48
Speaker 5: win football game for him? I think defensively that group
31:51
Speaker 5: can keep them in any football games they're playing to
31:53
Speaker 5: their capabilities. I think their offensive line is solid. I
31:56
Speaker 5: think they've got you know, good skill player. It's a
31:59
Speaker 5: it's a damn good football team. And I think what
32:01
Speaker 5: the Bengals have an opportunity to do here is to uh, basically,
32:07
Speaker 5: last year they struggled in the to start the season,
32:11
Speaker 5: and they struggled in division games this year in their
32:14
Speaker 5: first seven games, two of them in division games. Now,
32:17
Speaker 5: you know, it'd be it'd be great to beat Baltimore
32:20
Speaker 5: at home, and it'd be uh unbelievably great to follow
32:24
Speaker 5: off of the road winning Cleveland. And I think with
32:27
Speaker 5: this football team, it's it's doable in both situations.
32:30
Speaker 6: You certainly don't want.
32:31
Speaker 5: To come out of those two division games in the
32:34
Speaker 5: first seven games of the season zero and two in
32:36
Speaker 5: the division them, don't damn sure don't want to do that.
32:39
Speaker 5: Better be at least one on one or two and oho,
32:43
Speaker 5: you know, be sweet sugar, there's no doubt, but you
32:45
Speaker 5: don't want to go over and lose those first two
32:48
Speaker 5: division games and find yourself in a hole like they
32:50
Speaker 5: found themselves in last year in the division.
32:54
Speaker 4: But that's yeah, Now I was gonna say that game,
32:58
Speaker 4: that's the They're going to have to win one of
33:00
Speaker 4: those division games on the road. They're going to have
33:02
Speaker 4: to get the four and playing in Baltimore on a
33:05
Speaker 4: Thursday night and playing Pittsburgh in a finaleon a road,
33:08
Speaker 4: you know, probably Cleveland on October twenty twentieth at one pm, probably,
33:13
Speaker 4: you know, let's get that one first.
33:17
Speaker 1: All right. Let's go to the next game, Week eight
33:19
Speaker 1: at home against Philly. I think this is one of
33:21
Speaker 1: the great home games on the schedule this year, a
33:23
Speaker 1: four to twenty five kick at pay Corps. The Eagles
33:26
Speaker 1: were good last year. They faded late after going to
33:29
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl the year before. But they've added Saquan Barkley.
33:32
Speaker 1: They've added a good pass rusher and Bryce Holt. They
33:35
Speaker 1: drafted the top two cornerbacks on most people's boards this
33:40
Speaker 1: year in the NFL Draft. It's going to be a
33:42
Speaker 1: formidable Philly team that rolls into Cincinnati in Week eight.
33:46
Speaker 4: And I think what I think they picked up Vic
33:49
Speaker 4: Fangio is their DC right, probably the best move they
33:52
Speaker 4: It is probably the best move they made in the offseason.
33:54
Speaker 4: You know, he will give you and he will give
33:57
Speaker 4: you nothing. He will give you nothing deep. It's going
33:59
Speaker 4: to be a grind job right from the get going.
34:01
Speaker 4: It's amazing. But in the league seven years, the Bengals
34:05
Speaker 4: have never played him. I think he was hurt when
34:07
Speaker 4: the Giants were here in twenty twenty and they saw
34:10
Speaker 4: hurts just a little bit when he was a rookie
34:12
Speaker 4: just but he was not the stating quarterback. So it's
34:16
Speaker 4: you know, those guys coming here. You know, like you said, Dan,
34:20
Speaker 4: that's an elite team.
34:23
Speaker 1: Lap The Las Vegas Raiders come to town in week
34:27
Speaker 1: nine on November third. It's the return of Marvin Lewis,
34:30
Speaker 1: who has surfaced on Antonio Pierce's coaching staff there with
34:33
Speaker 1: the Raiders. I guess the question is can Marvin play quarterback?
34:37
Speaker 1: Because I'm not sure that Aiden O'Connell or Gardner Minshew
34:40
Speaker 1: is going to lead the Raiders to much glory this year.
34:44
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's that's the deal.
34:46
Speaker 5: I mean, Joe Burrow or those two guys, I know
34:51
Speaker 5: where I put my money, and they're playing, you know,
34:55
Speaker 5: in Cincinnati. Obviously they get back to back home games
35:00
Speaker 5: for the first time on the schedule for the season.
35:04
Speaker 5: So it'd be nice to put together a couple of
35:06
Speaker 5: a couple of if they can beat the Philadelphia Eagles
35:09
Speaker 5: in Cincinnati on that on October twenty seventh to four
35:13
Speaker 5: to twenty five, a lot of eyeballs watching that carry
35:16
Speaker 5: some momentum into the U into the Raiders game. And
35:20
Speaker 5: young head coach, I mean, this guy hasn't been He
35:23
Speaker 5: did a hell of a job, there's no question interim scenario,
35:28
Speaker 5: he delivered and h and he's still you know, still
35:31
Speaker 5: a young head coach.
35:32
Speaker 6: But the players love him.
35:34
Speaker 5: But man, you gotta have a quarterback in the National
35:36
Speaker 5: Football League to get where you want to want to
35:39
Speaker 5: try to go. And uh and and that's that's obviously
35:41
Speaker 5: the big hole with the Las Vegas Raiders.
35:45
Speaker 1: Which Week ten, almost exactly one month after playing Baltimore
35:49
Speaker 1: at home, the Bengals play the Ravens on the road.
35:51
Speaker 1: And we've already talked about this. It's a Thursday night
35:53
Speaker 1: primetime game, in my mind, the toughest game on paper
35:58
Speaker 1: on the schedule this year.
36:00
Speaker 4: That is no question about it. Like I said, high
36:01
Speaker 4: ball never loses down there at night. They've never lost
36:05
Speaker 4: down there on a Thursday night. And h but I
36:07
Speaker 4: will say this, Uh, Joe Burrow's last pass put them
36:11
Speaker 4: up ten to seven. So uh uh with you know,
36:15
Speaker 4: late in the second quarter of that game. So let's
36:17
Speaker 4: see how is it, you know, let's see how the
36:19
Speaker 4: let's see how it goes with four quarters. Whenever he
36:22
Speaker 4: and Lamara get going, the thing is going to be
36:24
Speaker 4: decided by a field goal. So you know, whenever they
36:27
Speaker 4: play a full game together, Uh, you know, it comes
36:31
Speaker 4: down to a turnover, right laugh. Whenever they played Baltimore,
36:34
Speaker 4: it comes down to a turnover. Last year, I give
36:37
Speaker 4: you last year, I give you Geno Stone. If Gino
36:41
Speaker 4: Stone doesn't make that play, Bengals win that game. So
36:44
Speaker 4: I'm glad. I'm glad No Stone is Uh we got
36:48
Speaker 4: them on this Thursday.
36:51
Speaker 1: The following week is the final game before the Bengals
36:53
Speaker 1: by It is a road game in Los Angeles against
36:56
Speaker 1: the Chargers. It's the Bengals returned to Cell Fi for
36:59
Speaker 1: the first time since Super for Ball fifty six. They'll
37:01
Speaker 1: have some extra time to prepare after playing on Thursday night, football.
37:05
Speaker 1: They'll be taking on a Chargers team. Lap with Jim
37:08
Speaker 1: Harbaud now as the head coach, LA is going to
37:11
Speaker 1: be a better team simply because he is the guy
37:13
Speaker 1: running the show.
37:14
Speaker 6: Absolutely, you know.
37:15
Speaker 5: I mean, I think it's going to be a much
37:17
Speaker 5: more disciplined football team. I think it's going to be
37:21
Speaker 5: a tougher, more hard nosed football team. They're going to
37:24
Speaker 5: try to get the running game going. And they've got
37:27
Speaker 5: a quarterback, there's no doubt about that. That's that's gonna
37:29
Speaker 5: be the interesting dynamic I think, uh with with the
37:33
Speaker 5: h Boys, barbar and a Bear Herbert, I mean, I think,
37:38
Speaker 5: you know, it's like, all right, I like, I want
37:41
Speaker 5: to throw the pig.
37:42
Speaker 3: I want to.
37:43
Speaker 5: I want to. I want to spend the spin the
37:44
Speaker 5: ball down the football field. Our ball believes in that
37:47
Speaker 5: running game, you know. And he had a very talented
37:50
Speaker 5: quarterback that only lost one football game for him at Michigan,
37:54
Speaker 5: and he ran the football and the kid probably you
37:58
Speaker 5: know secretly with I wish I had an opportunity to
38:02
Speaker 5: throw more at Michigan. But we're winning a bunch of
38:05
Speaker 5: football games and Barbaugh wants to run it, play solid
38:08
Speaker 5: defense and the passing attack is a complimentary type thing.
38:13
Speaker 5: It's going to be interesting to see how they respond
38:16
Speaker 5: to Harbaugh, and I think that he is going to
38:18
Speaker 5: make the LA Chargers a different football team from a
38:24
Speaker 5: mindset standpoint.
38:25
Speaker 6: There's no question.
38:28
Speaker 1: We'll wrap up our look at the schedule in a moment,
38:30
Speaker 1: but first, here's a quick reminder that the Bengals Booth
38:33
Speaker 1: podcast is brought to you by pay Corps, Proud to
38:35
Speaker 1: be the Bengals Official HR software provider, by Alta Fiber
38:39
Speaker 1: future proof Fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business
38:43
Speaker 1: and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health
38:47
Speaker 1: the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is
38:51
Speaker 1: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. I buy comes
38:56
Speaker 1: in week twelve. That's the latest buy for the Bengals
38:59
Speaker 1: since the two thousand was in thirteen season when they
39:01
Speaker 1: went eleven and five and made the playoffs before losing
39:04
Speaker 1: to the Chargers. Then after the buy in week thirteen.
39:07
Speaker 1: Butch it's a home game against the Steelers. It's the
39:09
Speaker 1: first meeting this year against Pittsburgh. Second year in a
39:12
Speaker 1: row that the two teams do not meet until the
39:15
Speaker 1: latter stages of the year.
39:17
Speaker 4: Yeah, last year I think they played two. I think
39:19
Speaker 4: they played their two games within three or four weeks.
39:22
Speaker 4: Now they're playing within December. Is Russ gonna cook? That's
39:26
Speaker 4: the big question that's going to be the deal in Pittsburgh.
39:28
Speaker 4: Is he going to be the guy?
39:30
Speaker 1: Could be justin fields by then who knows?
39:33
Speaker 4: Well if Russ's you know, the last the only game
39:36
Speaker 4: Russ ever played in in the city of his birth
39:40
Speaker 4: was he got he was the victim of a twenty
39:43
Speaker 4: four to seven comeback. But that will be you know,
39:45
Speaker 4: they've lost some guys on defense too, or do you
39:48
Speaker 4: know they've lost you know, but they've added They've added
39:51
Speaker 4: the great Patrick Queen, who is a piece that Bengals
39:55
Speaker 4: could never seem to solve when he was in Baltimore.
39:57
Speaker 4: So you know, it could be a typical Pittsburgh game.
39:59
Speaker 4: Then I think, you know, they've beat you know, Mike
40:02
Speaker 4: Tomins beating the Bengals with you know, guys like guys
40:08
Speaker 4: you can't even remember now, so like Doug Dodges, Yeah, Doc, yes,
40:14
Speaker 4: that's the guy. And he'll have and of course Mason Rudolph.
40:17
Speaker 4: Uh maybe he's not that bad at I don't know,
40:20
Speaker 4: but he'll you know, Tom it will get his shot
40:24
Speaker 4: with with russ Well.
40:27
Speaker 1: The Steelers swept the Bengals last year, but they didn't
40:29
Speaker 1: face Joe Burrow in either of those games. We'll see
40:32
Speaker 1: if that changes things in week thirteen on December first lap.
40:37
Speaker 1: The following week, another really difficult game, Monday Night football
40:41
Speaker 1: at Dallas. I mentioned this at the beginning of our conversation.
40:44
Speaker 1: Cowboys didn't lose a home game during the regular season
40:46
Speaker 1: last year, and now they have Mike Zimmer as their
40:49
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator. See if the Bengals can solve a Mike
40:53
Speaker 1: Zimmer Paul Gunther defense on December the ninth.
40:58
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's that's going to be very, very interesting because
41:03
Speaker 5: I'm telling you, the Dallas Cowboys, the last time we
41:07
Speaker 5: saw them, they're getting run off the football field literally,
41:10
Speaker 5: I mean they were getting the ball run down their
41:12
Speaker 5: collective throats. So obviously that's going to be something that
41:17
Speaker 5: has been talked about the entire off season and it's
41:21
Speaker 5: going to be addressed.
41:22
Speaker 3: Uh.
41:22
Speaker 5: And really, how will the Bengals approached this Dallas Uh,
41:28
Speaker 5: this Dallas defensive football team. And you know, the Cowboys
41:32
Speaker 5: is just about the time of year where they they
41:37
Speaker 5: start to shrink a little bit maybe not maybe not
41:39
Speaker 5: quite yet. It's not the playoffs. They seem to have
41:43
Speaker 5: things very very well.
41:44
Speaker 4: Uh.
41:44
Speaker 5: During the course of the regular season, particularly at home.
41:47
Speaker 5: Like you said, Uh, last year they didn't lose one.
41:51
Speaker 5: So it's a it's a difficult place to play, there's
41:54
Speaker 5: no no, no question about that.
41:57
Speaker 4: It's uh, it's.
41:59
Speaker 5: America's team, Jerry Jones. It's going to be a nationally
42:03
Speaker 5: televised game, There's gonna be a lot on the line.
42:07
Speaker 5: It's going to be a tough, tough football game, there's
42:09
Speaker 5: no doubt. Then you have a short week, Monday night football.
42:14
Speaker 5: I think the toughest thing about it as a former
42:16
Speaker 5: player was I do remember that short week, particularly if
42:20
Speaker 5: you had a few years under your belt.
42:23
Speaker 6: That short week becomes a factor, there's no question.
42:26
Speaker 1: And that next game is a road game at Tennessee.
42:29
Speaker 1: You talked about it earlier, butch the Brian Callahan reunion
42:33
Speaker 1: with Zach Taylor. Now first year NFL head coaches tend
42:37
Speaker 1: to struggle, particularly early in their first year. But this
42:41
Speaker 1: isn't early. This is week fifteen, and I imagine Brian
42:44
Speaker 1: Callahan and his dad, Bill Callahan, will probably have that
42:47
Speaker 1: team playing reasonably be well by then.
42:50
Speaker 4: Also, the Bengals are not exactly a mystery to him.
42:53
Speaker 4: He's been going against this defense and Loumann Rumo for
42:57
Speaker 4: five training camps and five five seasons practice, so that
43:01
Speaker 4: won't be a problem for him. You know. The folks
43:05
Speaker 4: down into you know, it's going to be a completely
43:07
Speaker 4: different you know, Zach Taylor had it all over Mike
43:10
Speaker 4: Vrabel in those matchups, you know, and that was not
43:13
Speaker 4: exactly an offensive minded team down there. The folks in
43:17
Speaker 4: Nashville are gonna think Callum I wrote this today. They're
43:19
Speaker 4: gonna think Callahan's air Coriel. They're gonna be be a
43:23
Speaker 4: much different offense than they've played in the past, you know,
43:27
Speaker 4: and you're throwing You're throwing Bill Callahan down there, working
43:31
Speaker 4: with the first round pick in jac Latham at left tackle.
43:34
Speaker 4: They're going to be a formidable group on offense. It's
43:36
Speaker 4: not going to be a twenty to sixteen game or
43:40
Speaker 4: a night or a nineteen to sixteen game down there,
43:43
Speaker 4: like the playoffs whore. It's going to be a different style.
43:46
Speaker 1: So lap, after back to back road games at Dallas
43:49
Speaker 1: and Tennessee, the Bengals come home for two games in
43:51
Speaker 1: a row, including a Thursday night home game against the
43:54
Speaker 1: Cleveland Browns on December the nineteenth, the week before Christmas.
44:00
Speaker 1: They will have played Cleveland in mid October and they
44:02
Speaker 1: get them again in the rematch in late December.
44:06
Speaker 5: Yeah, and uh, it's the Battle of Ohio Part two.
44:12
Speaker 5: And the fact that you get the Cleveland Browns in
44:16
Speaker 5: Cincinnati at pay Court Stadium when it could be two
44:20
Speaker 5: out of the last three games of the season division
44:23
Speaker 5: games the NFL, there's intent there, those are tie breakers.
44:28
Speaker 5: Those are significant football games. You get the one at home.
44:32
Speaker 5: You've got one at home and one on the road.
44:34
Speaker 5: You got Cleveland at home, you get Pittsburgh on the
44:36
Speaker 5: road to and it and the season. You've got to
44:39
Speaker 5: get the Cleveland Browns victory at home. You cannot lose
44:42
Speaker 5: a division game at home in the month of December
44:47
Speaker 5: when the playoffs are on the line. And I think
44:49
Speaker 5: that that's going to be the case for this football team.
44:51
Speaker 5: I think the playoffs will be on the line. They'll
44:53
Speaker 5: be playing probably for a seed or whatever the case
44:56
Speaker 5: may be. And the Cleveland Browns like nothing better than
45:02
Speaker 5: to knock off the Cincinnati Bengals for obvious reasons. And
45:07
Speaker 5: you know this division last year, the only division in
45:09
Speaker 5: the NFL that did not have a team with a
45:11
Speaker 5: losing record. You wonder, you wonder how competitive it's going
45:16
Speaker 5: to be this year. I think it's going to be
45:17
Speaker 5: just as competitive. Domlin doesn't lose, he does have losing seasons.
45:22
Speaker 5: Cleveland's got great personnel, like we talked about, you know,
45:25
Speaker 5: the first time matching up with them. Got to win
45:29
Speaker 5: this nationally televised Thursday night game in Cincinnati, The Battle
45:33
Speaker 5: of Ohio, Part two has to go to Cincinnati, all right.
45:38
Speaker 1: One week later it's the final home game of the
45:41
Speaker 1: regular season, the Bengals hosting the Denver Broncos. Could be
45:44
Speaker 1: on Saturday, could be on Sunday, December twenty eighth or
45:46
Speaker 1: twenty ninth. Who do you think the starting quarterback will
45:50
Speaker 1: be at that point for the Denver Broncos. Butch bow Knicks,
45:53
Speaker 1: Jared Stidham or Zach Wilson.
45:57
Speaker 4: They gotta beat in one of them because you cannot
46:01
Speaker 4: lose to the Laps kind of taken off a Lap said,
46:04
Speaker 4: you can't lose to the You gotta win twelve games.
46:07
Speaker 4: I mean in that division, in this conference, you got
46:09
Speaker 4: to get to twelve. And it takes a lot to
46:12
Speaker 4: win twelve games, and these are the games you have
46:14
Speaker 4: to win, you know. I think Zach Taylor in December,
46:17
Speaker 4: I think he's nine and four. I talked about Burrow
46:20
Speaker 4: in December and January. He's, uh, you know, he's got
46:24
Speaker 4: he's got a He's like thirteen and four. You know,
46:28
Speaker 4: Burrough's never lost a prime time game at home. So
46:31
Speaker 4: they got a lot of things going for him into
46:33
Speaker 4: Cleveland and Denver matchups there that they have to they
46:37
Speaker 4: have to continue the December success.
46:40
Speaker 1: And it all ends in the regular season in Pittsburgh
46:43
Speaker 1: Week eighteen. The day and the time TBD based on
46:47
Speaker 1: what's at stake. But obviously the NFL likes to end
46:51
Speaker 1: the regular season lap with divisional rivalries, and this is
46:54
Speaker 1: one of the best, the Bengals and Steelers.
46:57
Speaker 5: Of course, Dan, of course it's gonna end in what
47:02
Speaker 5: what what else could be the case? Oh my goodness,
47:07
Speaker 5: Mike Tomlin, we talked about his his excellence. The guy
47:11
Speaker 5: he just does not lead football teams to losing records.
47:16
Speaker 6: It just it's he's.
47:17
Speaker 5: Never had a losing record in his entire National Football
47:21
Speaker 5: League career. Quite amazing. This this Pittsburgh Steeler team will
47:26
Speaker 5: be up in the bit, it's going to be a
47:29
Speaker 5: physical football game, going to be a slave knock er extraordinaire.
47:33
Speaker 5: Who's going to be able to control the line of scrimmage?
47:36
Speaker 5: Not necessarily, you know, in the run, I'm saying, control
47:41
Speaker 5: the line of scrimmage. Lets your quarterback operate, let's your
47:44
Speaker 5: running game operate. It's not necessarily who out rushes the other.
47:48
Speaker 5: Who can execute their game plan the best by controlling
47:51
Speaker 5: that line of scrimmage. And the Pittsburgh Steelers at this
47:56
Speaker 5: stage of the season under Mike Tomlin historically don't make mistakes,
48:01
Speaker 5: they don't self destruct, They wait for you to screw
48:04
Speaker 5: it up. The Bengals have to play a clean football
48:07
Speaker 5: game in terms of turnovers, minimized turnovers, minimized mental eras,
48:13
Speaker 5: because the Pittsburgh Steelers history has shown that Mike Tomlin
48:18
Speaker 5: as his guys believing that if they play that way,
48:21
Speaker 5: if they play an error free mental game and take
48:26
Speaker 5: care of the football, they're gonna win these important games.
48:30
Speaker 5: So the Cincinnati Bengals have to be better at Pittsburgh's
48:35
Speaker 5: game than Pittsburgh is in that particular matchup.
48:39
Speaker 4: I think both teams drafted with this game in mind.
48:42
Speaker 4: Both of them took offensive tackles in the first round.
48:45
Speaker 4: Steel Has took an offensive line in the second round.
48:47
Speaker 4: The Bengals took a defensive tackle in the next two
48:50
Speaker 4: rounds and two and three, So they must have known
48:54
Speaker 4: something with everything on the line and probably all those
48:59
Speaker 4: guys they'll be checking in at that point in the season,
49:02
Speaker 4: probably your top draft picks out to be playing.
49:05
Speaker 5: Yeah, I agree, Butch, I think from a rotation standpoint,
49:09
Speaker 5: they'll have expanded their roles as such, and who's going
49:13
Speaker 5: to control the line of scrimmage. That's the bottom line
49:17
Speaker 5: in the AC North in general. You know, you can
49:21
Speaker 5: say the same thing when you face the Baltimore Ravens
49:23
Speaker 5: with the Cleveland Browns. I mean, both all three of
49:26
Speaker 5: these football teams leave in having a depth in their
49:32
Speaker 5: talent in the trenches, and that's what you have to
49:36
Speaker 5: have to win this division. So will the Bengals be
49:40
Speaker 5: able to get it done?
49:42
Speaker 1: Vegas has the Bengals winning ten and a half, butch
49:45
Speaker 1: says it's going to take twelve to win the AFC North.
49:48
Speaker 1: I look at that schedule and I think twelve wins
49:50
Speaker 1: is very possible if Joe Burrow stays healthy. So far,
49:54
Speaker 1: it's looking good.
49:57
Speaker 5: Yes, sir, that's the circle that in. That's the big
50:00
Speaker 5: Kirklet underline it, capitalize it.
50:04
Speaker 4: It's great if you go thirteen and four in that division,
50:07
Speaker 4: station and his own body call the playoffs.
50:11
Speaker 1: Well, if you go thirteen and four, you've got a
50:13
Speaker 1: chance to be the number one seed and that would
50:16
Speaker 1: certainly go a long way toward getting the Bengals to
50:19
Speaker 1: the Superdome in New Orleans. The Burrow and Chase returned
50:23
Speaker 1: to the Bayou. It was written in the stars. It's
50:25
Speaker 1: going to happen, and now we know how it's going
50:28
Speaker 1: to happen, now that the schedule has been released. Gentlemen,
50:31
Speaker 1: I appreciate your time as always, look forward to seeing
50:33
Speaker 1: you soon. That's going to do it for this episode
50:37
Speaker 1: of the Bengals Booth podcast, brought to you by pay Corps,
50:40
Speaker 1: Proud to be the Bengals Official HR software provider by
50:44
Speaker 1: Alta Fiber future proof Fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business,
50:48
Speaker 1: and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health
50:52
Speaker 1: the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is
50:55
Speaker 1: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. If you haven't
50:58
Speaker 1: done so already, please subscribe to this podcast and if
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Speaker 1: you have a minute, give it a rating or share
51:04
Speaker 1: a comment that helps more Bengals fans find us. I'm
51:08
Speaker 1: Dan Horde and thanks for listening to the Bengals Booth
51:12
Speaker 1: podcast