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Bengals Booth Podcast: Luck Be A Lady · Bengals Booth Podcast

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: I get everybody on Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth podcast. The Luck Be a Lady. Tonight addition,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: as the Bengals head to Las Vegas and hope to
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: hit the jackpot as they face the five and four
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Raiders coming up, I'll preview the game with one of
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: the guys who will be in the booth for CBS
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: on Sunday, Charles Davis. Among other things, he'll explain why
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: his twenty three year old son was so excited to
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: hear that his dad is doing a Bengals game this weekend.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: My one on one player interview is with punter Kevin Hubert,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: who will reach a milestone on Sunday that only two
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: other players have reached in team history. Dave Lapham joins
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: me to discuss the latest Bengals news, including why Hakimadnagi
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: is starting in place of Jackson Carmen at right guard,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: and finally, it's our no the faux segment as we
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: get the scoop on the Raiders from Jesse Eric, who
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: covers the team for ksn VTV in Las Vegas. The
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, The Free
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: to play Next Level Fantasy Football game downloaded now from
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: the App Store and Google Play. And here's a quick
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: reminder that you can have the latest edition of this
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: since the tradition of radio announcers getting in trouble for
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: criticizing officials. In nineteen eighty eight, Marty Brenneman and Joe
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Nuxall were summoned to Commissioner Peter Uberot's office for criticizing
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: umpire Dave Polone. In two thousand and three, my color
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: commentator on UC basketball games, the late grade Chuck Mayshock,
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: got ejected from an NCAA tournament game for yelling at
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: one of the refs. It never happened again in the
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: final four hundred forty six games of Chuck's broadcasting career.
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: And this week, the Texas Tech football announcers have been
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: suspended from Saturday's game against Oklahoma State for ripping the
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: officials last week in a win over Iowa State. Did
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: Brian Jensen and his analyst John Harris go too far? Yeah? Probably,
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: and I'm sure they regret it, but let me add this,
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: their call of Texas Techs sixty two yard walk off
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: field goal to win that game was fantastic. Now let's
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: get to my guests, beginning with one of the top
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: TV analysts in the NFL, Charles Davis, will be in
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: the booth with Ian Eagle this Sunday for CBS and Charles.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: You guys had the Browns Patriots game last week. Cleveland
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: lost by thirty eight. One week after a great showing
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: against the Bengals. The Ravens looked lousy last week the
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Steelers tied the winless Lions. Can you explain the AFC
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: North to us Dan? I can't explain the FC North.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: I can't explain the AFC South. I can't explain the NFL.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: You know, it's funny because as I was watching the
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Raiders get jumped on by Kansas City on Sunday night
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: and didn't expect that at all. I expected the Raiders
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: to get off the deck a little bit because we
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: all know that the troubles they've been through. But at
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: the same time, here comes Kansas City a chance to
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: really make a move a home game. All of that
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: in Kansas City, which had been struggling. They got right
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: in that game. And I read something recently and it
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: was so aproposed. The AFC West has let Kansas City
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: off the hook. You know, I feel like Dennis Green
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: is being channeled again, right. They let them off the
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: hook because they had them where they wanted them, and
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: now Kansas City's back in control. In the AFC North,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: every time there's a chance for someone to really take
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: control or to make a move, doesn't really happen that way.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: I guess my analogy is every time one of these
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: teams goes up the ladder, someone hooks an ankle and
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: pulls them back down to the pack. So I think
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: that's where we are right now with the entire NFL,
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: because every time we think someone has got it figured out,
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: I mean, who who wasn't a win in their jumped
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: the Arizona Carolina. I mean, I mean, just you just
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: don't know how it's gonna go. Yeah. I think the
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: Bengals had the greatest bye week in history last week
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: with the way things went in the AFC North. We're
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: visiting with Charles Davis. This will be the first Bengals
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: game that you and I and will do this year
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: What are you looking forward to seeing on the Cincinnati team. Well,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: you know, let's get away from all the things. We're
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: looking to see them get better at doing and after
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: this two game losing streak, let's just talk about the
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: Bengals overall. Where they are a team that people want
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: to watch play. You want to watch Joe Burrow at quarterback.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: You want to see Jamar Chase, te Higgins, Tyler Boyd,
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: cj Uzama. Am I getting there? Am I close to that?
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: I want to get close? Thank you, Zama, cj you Zomba.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: How's that all right? See, that's why I come to you.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: I come to you for the education. So you want
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: to see them play? I mean you enjoyed that. You
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: enjoy seeing the fireworks. Look, I'm tired of watching the highlights.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: I want to see the real thing. And now I'm
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: going to get a chance to do that. Defensively, you know,
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: I want to see Jesse Bates get back in form.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: I love the way that he's a ballhawk. I want
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: to see him get people on the ground in the
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: run game. I want to see all of those things
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: come together. This is a fun team to watch. This
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: is a team that now you talk about it. I'll
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: put to you this way. Dan, my son is twenty three,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: and when I told him I had this game first thing,
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: he said, oh wow, that'd be cool. You get to
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: see the Bengals. How often have you heard that in
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: the last ten years? You really have it that much
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: because you got used to a certain way. We saw
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: it during the Andy Dalton aj Green competing for division
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: crowns during that time frame, but the last few years
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: we haven't had it. There's a certain excitement about the
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: Bengals and what they bring to the table. So I'm
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: you know, I know myself, I and Evan Washburn and
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: our crew, we're pretty excited about a chance to see
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: them live. Tell your son, we said, thanks, let's talk
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: about the Bengals Widress Core a little bit more closely.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: What are your observations about Jamar t and Tyler so far?
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: I just think that they work together so well because
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: we always talk about roles, but I do think that
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: all of them fill different roles in different ways and
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: can do it, you know, with multiplicity, all right, you
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: can't just say this guy does this, this guy does that,
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: and this guy does that, and that's all they do.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: They kind of do it all but some of them,
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: but you got to accentuate what their strengths are. With
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: Jamar Chase, the explosiveness is off the charts. We know
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: that ball is in his hand. If you count to
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: three and he's not on the ground, there's a good
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: chance he's making a huge play for you downfield, all right.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: With t Higgins, the strength, the ability to shed people
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: after a catch, run through contact, that's another big, big
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: thing that you're looking for. And Tyler Boyd, it's funny
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: as a guy that I work with, we've been watching
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: swapping some some film, look at each other and he's like,
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: it just me or is he extremely underrated? Still? And
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: I love how he said still because we've recognized he's
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: a very good player for a long time now. But
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: because the Bengals didn't have a record where we talked
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: about them every week in the national scene, he didn't
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: get recognized for what he does. But put him in
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: the slot and figure out how you're going to cover him.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: Very nifty in what he does, excellent hands, body control
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: of the whole deal. Now take all of that and
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: put it all together. If you want to run certain
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: things as Zach Taylor and Brian Callahan do on offense.
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: You can mix and match with these guys. They don't
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: have to stay in one spot in order for you
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: to make plays. Man, I'm watching tape and there's Jamar
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: Chase back at tailback. So we're gonna see a lot
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: of different things out of him and continue to do so.
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: Find ways to get them the football. What's the old expression, Dan,
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: You don't always just call plays. You you call things
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: for people. There's certain things you have in mind that
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: you want to accomplish. Make sure you get those plays called.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: And I know the Bengals do that well, Charles, Let's
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: talk a little bit about the Bengals defense. Through five weeks.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: It was great, fifth in the NFL and fewest points
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: alot allowed. The last couple of games, they've given up
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: a bunch. What must the defense do against a very
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: good Raiders offense this week? Well, it's funny because the
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: Raider's identity, what they wanted to be their identities starting
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: the season was a really hard running football team who
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: beat you over the top off of play action, who
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: established that physicality at the line of scrimmage. That's why
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: they drafted Alex Leatherwood in the first round out of Alabama.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: They thought he'd be a plug and play right tackle
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: for them and beat you up. Hasn't worked out that well,
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: so he's moved inside to guard and Brandon Parker's plan
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: right tackle, and they run the ball a lot less
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: than I think that the Raiders wanted to do going
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: into the season. And it's not just because of the
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: shift that had coached either. They weren't running it well
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: before John Gruden lost his job. So now you've got
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: Derek Carr with the explosiveness out wide, with the ability
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: to create plays with his moxie in the pocket and
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: enough movement that he keeps plays alive and finds people
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: down field. Obviously, what Henry Ruggs did was horrific. There's
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: no other way to put it. The loss of life
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: for Tina Tintor. You can't express any more than that.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: The focus for me is on her, not on Henry Ruggs,
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: but he's no longer on this team. Still, for them
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: as a football team, there goes that speed out wide,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: and I hate to say that because that's what got
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: him into trouble in his personal life was speed. But
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: that's a problem for them on offense, That's why they
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: signed to Sean Jackson, hoping to find that person who
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: can open things up and now allow the other receivers
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: to play to their strengths. Brian Edwards is a big, strong,
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: physical receiver, but he's not a sprinter. Hunter Renfro can
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: run a route and have eighteen different moves on it.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Always laughed at myself because one of my favorite movies,
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you remember it, Dan, it's called
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: The Best of Times, Robin Williams Kurt Russell, and they
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: recreated a high school foot all game when they're adults
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: and they're playing, and Robin Williams moves off the line
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: of scrimmage where he'd give like a temptations, you know,
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: soul move and a spin and all that. Hunter Renfro
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: runs routes like that and finds himself open and making plays,
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: And always laughed at myself. He's a much more athletic
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: Jack Dundee from the Best of Times, but that I
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: need that speed out wide in order to create that
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: space for them to run those underneath routes. And Darren Waller,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: of course, is a tight end mask. You know, he's
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: a wide receiver masquerading as a tight end. He's just
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: a bigger force and he hasn't gotten the ball as
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: much lately. So I have a feeling Greg Olson, that
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: offensive coordinator. He's written down on his list find opportunities
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: for Darren Waller. So it'll be an I see how
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: that matchup it takes place. You will have to show
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: that movie to Hunter Renfro for him to understand it's
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: a compliment. Yeah, and and I don't know that he will.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: I think if I show it to me, he might
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: punch me in my face. So I'm not sure I will,
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: but it's it's one to me. It is a It's
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: a very interesting deal because it's funny to make. But Dan,
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: you've seen the highlights this year already. You're going to
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: see it live on Sunday. He makes extra moves and
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: we always talk about double move, occasionally a triple move.
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: I've seen Hunter Renfro with four moves on a route
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: and it turns into a big play. That's why I
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: started laughing about the Jack Dundee think because in a movie,
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: you know, he's doing all this stuff. In live scrimbar,
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: a spin in the toil and the twist and all that.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: You can't do that in real life, but Hunter Renfro
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: makes it work in real life with all without all
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: the Hollywood extras that go with it. A couple more
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: questions for Charles Davis from CBS. How about the Raiders defense.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: Max Crosby has been one of the best pass rushers
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: in the league this year, but they gave up forty
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: one last week to Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes basically
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: did whatever he wanted to. Yeah, he got right, didn't he?
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: Because Patrick Mahomes is going through a stretch. Like you know,
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: people talk about Joe Burrow and the interception bug. That's
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: what they were talking about with Patrick Mahomes. You're still
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: creating plays, but every game there's a turnover or what's
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: going on with that. Some of that the fault of
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: the quarterback. Some of that the ball bouncing off receiver's hands.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: You know, some of us just bad luck as you
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: go along. And that's why always caution people. You know,
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: that's why quarterbacks don't yell at receivers very often because
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: sometimes that ball bounce off their hands. But the next
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: time you throw it into double coverage and he goes
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: up and takes it away and give makes a big
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: play and all of a sudden you look good again.
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: So you gotta you take the good and the bad
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: and figure it out in between. But I think that
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: for this defense, they're not overly complex. Dan that front
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: four is gonna try and get after you. If you
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: get into second and long, third and long, here comes
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: Yannick and gok Way off of one edge, Max Crosby
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: off of the other. They're getting really good play from
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: Quinton Jefferson, Darius Filon, Damien Square Inside. Those guys have
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: played Hankins, They've played well for them inside in rushing
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: the passer. They've given up more in the run game
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: than you might expect. But if they get you pinned down,
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: here they come. They're gonna play that old Seattle Cover one,
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: Cover three behind it that Gus Bradley is going to do.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: And he's got a young secondary. He's gonna want to
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: keep Jonathan Abram, the strong safety, out of coverage if
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: he can. He's gonna have the high safety of Travan Merrick,
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: the Brookie out of TCU, and he's hoping to get
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: some help back out on the corners. Remember, Casey Habert
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: has played really well for them. I mean he's been
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: a big pick up, but they've been dinged up on
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: the other corner a lot. Trayvon Mullin hasn't been there,
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: and they're playing with Brandon Bason now who started the
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: season with the Chargers. So that's what you're going to
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: get out of them. It's not going to be overly complex.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: stay out of second and third and long because they
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: get after you off the edge, which is something they
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: didn't do last year. This year, this group, Oh, they're
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: coming for you. Final question, you mentioned your twenty three
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: year old son. I'm gonna mention my fifteen year old
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: son because since twenty sixteen, I'm pretty sure that he
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: has heard your voice more than he's heard my voice,
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: because you are of the commentators for Madden NFL Football,
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: the video game. When you talk to NFL players, do
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: they want to talk about Madden more than anything else?
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: It's funny, Dan, you brought that up, and I'll try
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: and be SUCYNC for once in my life. This is
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: the seventh year that I'm working on the game now
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: and it's myself and Brandon Godden, who who's my play
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: by play partner, formerly at Georgia Tech. Butler now he's
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: Westwood One. He does Fox Sports, Big ten Network. He's
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: a lead guy for them, the whole deal. Right, So
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: all this time frame, there's not a single weekend I've
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: done an NFL game since I've started this thing. That's
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: somewhere a Madden mention doesn't come up. But if doesn't
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: come from me, it's just part of the culture of
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: what we do. Right. So, like when you're doing something,
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: you're talking to someone, Man, that guy that you played,
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: you know, a guy you gotta cover this week. My god,
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: four touchdowns last week, that defensive back is likely gonna say, yeah,
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: it was like something out of Madden. I mean, my god.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: You know I remember I did game I think with
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: Chandler Jones a few years ago and he had three
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: sacks a week before with the Cardinals. Nobody said, sitting down, Man,
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: if that doesn't prove my Madden rating, I don't know
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: what will. Now never connected me with it, Okay, I've
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: not been connected, which has been an amazing part for
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: me and a good thing, I guess in a lot
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: of ways. Until this year. Jalen Hurts was the first
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: one I started to talk to him. Hey, Jalen, you
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: know he goes on a second. I know that voice.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: You're the Madden guy. First time that has happened seventh year,
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: so it doesn't happen very often. But I will tell
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: you this as a parent, let me give you some advice.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: Parent to parent. There's a mute button on the game.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: Exercise it as you need to. Can play with the
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: headphones on and the whole thing so you don't have
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: to keep hearing this apping at you all the time.
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: You know, of the various battles I want to fight
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: with my son, that isn't one of them. He is
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: welcome to listen to you while he's playing. Good man, child.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: This has been a treat. It's always great to catch up.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: I hope you have a great game on Sunday, and
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: I look forward to seeing the in Vegas. Hey, right
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: back at you, Dan. I can't wait to see when
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: we get there, see you and Dave and the crew.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: It's always a blast to see. It's been way too long.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: It's been a long time since I've done a Bengals game,
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: but we are very excited to see them in person.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: Up next, my one on one visit with the Bengals
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: all time leader in every significant hunting category, Kevin Hubert,
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: who will reach a milestone on Sunday in Las Vegas. Kevin,
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: you are about to play in your two hundredth NFL
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: regular season game, and that is a big number. Ken
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: Riley and Reggie Williams are the only other Bengals that
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: are in the two hundred club. What's this milestone mean?
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: Do you? You know, it's pretty cool. Fee It's something
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: that you know, I never thought I would get to,
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: you know, I've always just I never thought about a
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: number of games and the fact that you know, started
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: getting close and closer, as like Matt can actually do
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: this and get up to two hundred games, and I
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: just think I usually hit me. Yet I think it's
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: gonna be some of those things that I'm running like, why,
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: you know, I've crossed a two hundred game threshold, which
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: which is pretty pretty cool thing. And I think it's
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: gonna be a pretty pretty good accomplishment that I've I've
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: had in my career. I'll say. With a new seventeen
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: game regular season schedule this year, you can tie Ken
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: Riley's franchise record at the end of the season with
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: two O seven. To break it, you need to come
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: back for a fourteenth year. Is that the plan? Yeah,
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: I mean that's definitely the plan. And I can't just tie.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: I gotta break it. So I definitely got to come
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: back next year and uh, you know, get that and
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: hopefully pad the stats a little bit. I can't and
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: I gotta keep Clark behind me, you know. I can't
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: let Clark pass me. Are you guys competing for who's
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: gonna last the longest? You know, I don't think we've
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: ever really talked about that, but I'm sure there's a
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: little uh, you know, I definitely want to last longer
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: than him, and I don't want him to, you know,
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: pass me. So yeah, there's a little internal competition that
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: so you can last longest. We're chatting with Kevin Huber.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: So far this year, you're averaging forty six point four
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: yards a punt with a net average of forty point nine.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: Both of those numbers are above your career average. What's
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: been the key to your longevity? I think to staying
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: consistent and you know, listen to your body and knowing
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: what you need to do, just being ready. I think
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: that's the biggest thing I've learned throughout the years is
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: what it takes in the off season to get ready for,
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: you know, the long season, and then also during the
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: season to keep that maintenance up to to get yourself
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: through and you know, it's it's it's not overly complicated.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: It's just a matter of just knowing what you need
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: to do and you know, take control, being a professional
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: and doing it. Um. Also, it's helped a lot to
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: keep the continuity with Clark and then also with Darren,
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: and I know Darren's gonna get no matter who we
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: have out there, it's gonna have a team prepared. UM.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: So I can sit back they're confident and comfortable knowing
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: that you know, if someone gets hurt and we have
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: a backup come in in the middle of the game,
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: that I know they're gonna be ready to go and
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: know exactly what to do. And I don't like worry
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: about are they gonna make their block or not. I
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: can just be back there, be comfortable and you know,
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: get the job done. At this stage your career, in
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: your thirteenth NFL season, are you like a veteran pitcher
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: who maybe has lost a mile or two office fastball,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: but finds other ways to be just as effective. Yeah,
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: that's probably go way to put it. I mean, you know,
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: you see some of these young guys coming out and
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: they can just absolutely hammer the ball. Um, you know,
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: that wasn't really the style when I came out. Um,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: you know, but I think you know, this being consistent
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: at you know what I can do, not trying to
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: do what I you know, not trying to do something different.
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: You know, I know what I do works, and you know,
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: I've found myself in the you know, the top you
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: know ten um and you know, gross and net for
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: the last several years. So obviously, UM, it'd be great
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: if I had a light that can you know, like
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: some of these guys. But at the same time, UM,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: they probably wish they had more consistency. Consistency, and I
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: think the way I've done things has worked, and I'm
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: just thinking to continue to do that. Punting is not
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: the only part of your job. You've actually been out
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: there as the holder more on pats and field goals
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: than you have for punts this season. I think most
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: of us kind of take the job of holder for granted.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: Is it underappreciated? I think so. I think people look
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: at that as I don't even think when people pay
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: attention to that, but I think it's such a huge,
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: you know, part of the game. When you see all
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: these kicks that are missed around the league. You know
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: there's a lot this year, and there's been several in
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: the last couple of years. If you kind of look
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: at you know, people don't really pay a lot of time.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: They just put on the kicker. But if you really
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: break down the operation, a lot of times it's on
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: the holder. You know, they're not getting laces around, they're
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: not clean catching it, putting it down. That's definitely something
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: I pride myself on that I think. I think I'm
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: a pretty good holder, and especially in this division, you
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: have to be with you know, the weather, the cold,
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: the wind. You know, we have terrible conditions in this division.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: So it's something I've kind of pride myself on because
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: I don't ever want to kick to be blamed on me.
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: So I want to make sure that like everything's done
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: and everything's perfect for the for the kicker, just that
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: they can do their job and they're not worrying about,
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: you know, is the ball going again? In the spot
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: We're chatting with Kevin Huber you are working with a
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: new kicker this year and Evan McPherson. Does it sound
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: different when he kicks? Yeah. I mean he's got an
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: explosiveness that I've really never experienced. You know, you kind
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: of see it. I've gotten to the clothes I can
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: say is you know when we play against Tucker and Multimore,
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: you know, the ball kind of comes off very similar.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: And I think Evan's had a great job. He's got
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: a great you know, mental part of it. You know,
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: he's he's very knowledgeal about the position and he knows
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: right away, you know, if he missed a kick what
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: he did, and he does a great job of justining.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: He listens really well to Darren and um. Yeah, he's
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: got a great future out of him. Clark Harris is
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: thirty seven, you're thirty six. Evan McPherson is twenty two.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: Has it been fun to have a young kid in
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: the room. Yeah, he definite. He keeps us young. Well,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: we asked him a lot of time when some old
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: songs come on the radio if he knows who they are,
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: and he has no idea, So we have some fun
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: with that. At the same time, you know, he likes
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: to poke and brought us a little bit for being
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: the old guy. So it's been a fun mix and uh,
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: you know we've meshed really well. Our personalities are you know, different,
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: but also very similar. So it's it's uh, it's been
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: a nice, nice season so far. Just we've really meshed well.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: And uh, um it's been it's been a good run
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: so far. He told me a great story. He said,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: you took him golfing and the guy in charge of
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: the carts asked if he was your son? Can you
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: confirm yeah, it was. I think I think it's actually
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: what I asked me. It fills my son, so uh yeah,
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: I mean it's yeah, it's just one of those things.
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: I've been asked more times this year bye bye, because
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: we've had a lot of new faces in the locker room.
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: So I've been asked if I'm the coach several times. Um,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: a couple of the players, girl from the Wise, asks
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: if I'm if I'm a coach, and um, So it's
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: just just nature the business. You get old and you
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: looked at the older. I mean it's you know, the
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: locker room keeps staying young and I keep getting older.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: So it's it's just it's Bound to Happen thirty six
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: as a kid in my book, trusts Me. A couple
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: more questions for Kevin Huber. The Bengals went to the
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: playoffs in six of your first seven seasons, you haven't
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: been back in the last five. How much are you
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: enjoying being back in the hunt this year? And does
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: anything stand out about this group? I mean, first off,
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: it's great to be back. You know, it's you know,
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: it's tough when you're losing games. It's tough to stay focused.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: It's tough to you know, keep remembering that, like this
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: is your job and you have to perform, and and
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: it's it become it's freshrating because it becomes almost a
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: selfish mentality when you're losing, because you're like a right,
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: like I look out for myself and to make sure
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: I'm performing well for myself. Or now it's you're winning
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: games and you want to do well to help win
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: more games. And it's just more fun because the locker room,
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: just the mentality is better. Everyone's more excited. Um, everyone's
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: helping everybody out because they see it, they see that
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: you know where this team can go. And it's just
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: a lot more fun. And with this group, it's it's
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: a it's a really good group. It's probably one of
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: the best group as far as locker room presence and
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: um personalities that we've ever had. And you know, the
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: biggest thing I think I've said this in a lot
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: of a lot of interviews this year, is you know,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: the the egos are not there. You don't you don't
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: have the you know, you don't have the guys that
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: are that might be pulling away from what the rest
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: of the group wants to do um and kind of
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: create that that bad that bad juju if you will.
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: You know, everyone locker room right now just wants to win.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: They want to win. They want to do it for
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: each other, and you know, that's that's all they want
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: to do. Last thing, your last year, you see, was
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: two thousand and eight, and the program reached a point
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: that they had never reached before when you guys went
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: to the Orange Bowl, the first time Cincinnatie played in
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: the Bowl of that magnitude. Now you see his ranked
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: third in the country. They've got a legitimate chance of
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: going to the four team playoff. How exciting is that
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: for you? I mean, it's pretty cool, especially still being
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: in Cincinnati, so I can, you know, really be in it,
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: and I get to see all the media every day
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: talking about it. I've gotten a chance to go to
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: a couple of games, and then I got a chance
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: to go check out the game day experience, which is
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: the pretty awesome. They did a great job of that
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: and just seeing how you know, you know the fact
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: that we didn't you know, just completely do what typically
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: happens and programs like this or as you you have
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: some success, then you just drop off, you know, worre
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: sustaining success. And I think coach fickles on a phenomenal
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: job of just recruiting and getting guys in and getting
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: guys to buy in and just seeing you know, how
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: well they're playing and how consistent they're playing. It's just
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: really fun to watch. And I can, you know, you know,
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: talk a little bit more in the locker room with
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: with how weather they're playing. And your name is on
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: the stadium wall is when the greatest Bearcats of them all.
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: Congratulations on two hundred regular season NFL games. It's phenomenal
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: milestone and I hope there are many many more to come.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: I appreciate you, Ton, Thanks, I really appreciate it. Kevin
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: obviously wants to keep playing beyond this year, and at
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: age thirty six, he is not the oldest punter in
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: the NFL. Baltimore Sam Cook and Arizona's Andy Lee are
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: both thirty nine. The Bengals Booth podcast is presented by
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: Ultimate Bengals, the free to play fantasy football game. Ultimate
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: Bengals will be awarding a weekly winner during the course
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: of the season, with tickets, autograph merchandise, and money can't
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: buy experiences all up for grabs. Find Ultimate Bengals in
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: the app stores now. Now time for my midweek chat
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: with my broadcast partner, Dave Lapham lap Sunday's game is
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: not a must win for the Bengals. If they lose
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: to the Raiders and then win, they're five remaining home games,
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: that alone would make them ten and seven and give
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: them a decent chance of going to the playoffs. But
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: I was looking at one of these playoffs simulators earlier today.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: Right now, they supposedly have a thirty eight percent chance
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: of making the playoffs if they went on Sunday. It
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: jumps to fifty five percent if they went on Sunday
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: and then beat the Steelers at home. The next week
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: it jumps to sixty nine percent. So again it's not
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: a must win, but a win would really help. It's important,
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: you know. I think it's an important football game. And
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: you look at it, there's a lot of similarities. Both
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: teams have lost two in a row, Bengals obviously separated
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: by the you know, after the bye, and both teams
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: coming off a blog by division rival. So who's going
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: to be able to get up off the mat, you know?
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: And does have the bye week? Does the bye week
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: allow you to get over it? Or do you stew
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: in it? And it becomes more of an issue again,
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: sports psychologists have a field day, you know. Sometimes a
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: lot of people say, when you lay an egg, you know,
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: like the Raiders laid the egg, the best thing to
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: do is get right back to work the following Monday
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: and put that aside. And all the Bengals weren't in
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: that situation. They laid an egg and an effected, infested
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: and fostered itself or whatever. So it's it's it's going
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: to be interesting to see who comes out. And I
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: think we've talked about it just about ad nausium every week.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: A fast start, I think a fast start, and this
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: one's big because the team that starts out quickly maybe
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: has gotten over it a little bit faster, and and
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: that'll help them get over and be tougher to get
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: off the mat if you have to overcome a two
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: score deficit or something like that. So I think that's
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: going to be an interesting thing to watch. And you
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: look at the Raiders their first two games of the season.
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: They beat the Ravens, they beat the Steelers. They're two
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: and old against the AFC North. So the Bengals could
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: be the first AFC North team to knock them off.
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: Hopefully your comparison about their last two games is right
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: on the money. Even the score of the recent game
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: was almost identical. All the Bengals lost forty one to sixteen.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: The Raiders lost forty one to fourteen. Amazing, it is
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: it's it's amazing. And you look at the big win
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: the Bengals had, you know before they had their two
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: games slide, you know, fourteen. I mean, what's the deal
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: with the forty one and staying in the teams. I mean,
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: it's it's kind of a recurring theme. It's kind of
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: an interesting, interesting dynamic and uh, you know, the Bengals
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: and the Raiders are both just good examples of what's
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: going on in the National Football League, you know. I
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: mean the best the Bengals have played, obviously, is the
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: Baltimore Ravens game. That's about as close to as well
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: as they can play. But they've only done it one
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: time in nine games. So it gives you a little
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: bit of hope that, man, they haven't really put it
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: together on a consistent enough basis to get on on
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: a nice run, and you know, maybe they have that
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: in them. The Raiders, it's the same thing. You know,
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: They've They've looked pretty darn good at times and other
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: times have looked like is this the same football team?
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: There's so many similarities between these two teams, there really are.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: It's it's it's amazing how how their seasons have almost
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: unfolded the same way. For this stage of the year.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: The Bengals are markably healthy. I am. I'm knocking on
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: wood as I say that, but they do have a
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: significant injury now. A Keen Davis Gather suffered a foot
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: injury in the most recent game. He had surgery this week.
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: Sounds like there's a decent chance that he's out for
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: the rest of the year. Jordan Evans was already out
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: for the rest of the year. So those are two
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: of your core linebackers. Marcus Bailey has been on the
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: COVID list. He apparently is going to be back on Thursday.
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: The Bengals recently added Clay Johnston off waivers from the Panthers.
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: He was featured prominently on Hard Knocks last year after
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: being drafted by the Rams. But how is all of
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: this linebacker stuff going to impact the team? Yeah, it's yeah,
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: I think it's going to be, you know, one of
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: the one of the big storylines of this game and
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: the second half of the season. There's there's no doubt
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: about it. Joe Bacchis is a guy that you know
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: is going to have to take on a more significant role.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: Marcus Bailey with the COVID issue, you know, he didn't
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: practice in the early stages of the week that he
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: didn't practice on Wednesday. Hopefully be able to come back
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: and give him some practice snaps and be ready to
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: play in the football game. But yeah, you look at it,
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: and you know, Joseph Faci, you go way back, it's
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: like an outside linebacker, defensive end, more of a defensive
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: end type guy, but an edge rush kind of guy.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: They've had their they've had their issues at the linebacker position.
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: That if you were going to pick a position, and
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: usually it does when you start to have an injury. Um,
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: it's it's almost like a virus and it affects one
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: position group and the linebacker corps is definitely the group.
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: And it's now it's like the trickle down effect starts
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: to hit Darren Simmons because now linebackers and it hasn't
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: had that many of them on a special teams roster.
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: I mean that's been for the last couple of years
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: now something where a lot of teams have more linebackers
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: available on special teams than what Darren has had. Now
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: that that that pot is dwindled even more and so
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: the linebackers are playing special teams for him have to
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: step up and fill some of these subpackage snaps. You
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: know that they were being filled by like Davis gaitheror
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: Bailey's going to be the guy to take the place that.
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: Now who's your special teams linebackers? So you know there
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: there are guys that they're evaluating as we speak. I
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: mean guys that they've just signed and you know, taken
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: a look at and seeing what kind of roles they
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: can fill, whether it be special teams or sub package roles.
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: And I think that would be you know, a Caletro.
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: I think that's how you say his name. He was
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: here with the Bengals for a little bit. Austin Caletro.
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: What can he give you out of Villanova six foot
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: two h forty pound guy? Can he give you some
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: special team snaps? So yeah, it's it's a it's a
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: process where the ripple effect of injuries two guys you
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: know that aren't even starters as such, guys that will
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: have in a rotation or in some kind of package
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: or whatever the case may be, it starts to have
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: an impact. And Darren Simmons and Luanna Rumo and everybody's
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: trying to figure it out. At this point. The Raiders
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: have one of the best tight ends in the NFL
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: and Darren Waller, he's had back to back one thousand
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: yard receiving seasons. I imagine a Keen Davis Gaither would
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: have been involved in coverage on him. What do they
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: do now? I think that one of the packages that
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: Trey Flowers is involved in and he's been the guy
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: they put on the tight end um and he's he's
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: a bigger defensive back. He's got some some length and
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: some leverage to him. You know. I mean, he's a
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: he's a guy that's like sixty three and he's got
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: long arms, and I think I think that's a role
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: that he may he may fill. Michael Thomas, the safety
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: they they signed, he may be involved in that a
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: little bit. They may bracket him some. I would think
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: I would bracket him with a linebacker and a safety. Sometimes.
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: I think I think you're just gonna have to give
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: different looks to Waller. Whatever the Kansas City Chiefs did,
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: I'd do that because you know, it was the it
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: was the big matchup or not obviously against each other,
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: but who is going to have a bigger game for
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: their respective team, Travis kel Kelsey or Darren Waller. It
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: was Kelsey in a in a landslide, and that that's
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: the thing. Dan, you know, I'm looking at the second
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: half of the schedule. They have Waller, they have Kittle.
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: When the forty nine ers come to Cincinnati, they've got
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: Andrews again, the Ravens and Kelsey. Three AFC Pro Bowl
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: tight ends, all three of the guys that are probably
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: going to be in the Pro Bowl, and then Kittle
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: for the NFC. The quarterback tight end combinations they've got
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: in four out of their last eight games pretty darn significant.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: So this is a starting point to see, how are
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: you going to be able to handle the tight ends.
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: They did a good job against Andrews the first time.
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: They did a good job against the Ravens offense in general.
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: In fact, I think a lot of teams around the
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: league trying to crack the code like they did against
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: the Baltimore Ravens. But tight ends are going to be
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: an issue issue in the second half of this season.
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: You just depressed me with that stat You didn't even
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: mention Friar Muth would be getting a bigger and bigger
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: role with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Let's talk about the cornerback position.
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: In recent weeks, the Bengals have added a couple of
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: veteran corners who have been starters elsewhere. Trey Flowers, you
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: mentioned him formerly of Seattle, Vernon Hargraves, the former number
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: one draft pick who most recently was with Houston. There
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: was some speculation that maybe one of those guys who
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: had surpassed Eli Apple and move into the starting lineup.
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: It's not going to happen this week. Zach Taylor told
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: reporters that Eli is still the starter, and when asked why,
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: defended his play so far this year. But what do
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: you think long term? You know, I think that even
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: if you know Zach says that Eli Apples the starter,
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: all that matters to me. Starter is just a designation
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: who's taken the preponderance of the snaps, who's taking the
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: majority you know of the snaps, and what are the
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: packages of those snaps, and who's playing where. So I
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: think what they're they're trying to do is is work
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: everybody into, you know, a package as such and break
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: them into into playing time that way, and then if
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: they show they can handle that package with alacrity, then
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: they'll expand that package, you know. So I think that, uh,
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: I think that in my mind. As Paul Brown and
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: Tiger Johnson, the first coaches that I had experienced with
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: in my first NFL season, they said, hey, you have
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: to win your job every single week. In the National
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: Football League, there's no givens. I mean, everybody's good. You know,
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: a lot of times, there's not much difference between the
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: guy that's quote starting and the guy that's quote backing
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: them up. Sometimes they're pretty darn equal. So you just
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: what it should do is it should inspire competitive spirit,
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: you know, and hopefully you get the best out of guys,
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: and if guys are going to assume the feudal position
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: fold their tent, you don't want those guys anyway, you know,
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: So hopefully it lifts the entire level to play. On
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: the back end, the use of the word alacrity one
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: of the reasons why you got into Harvard or we're
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: accepted at least back in the day. Let's turn to
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: the offensive line. Hakima Dentogy will start at right guard
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: for the second consecutive game. What's it mean to him?
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: What's it mean to Jackson Carmen? Yeah, I think I
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: think for Identagy it's it's his patience was tested, his
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: resiliency was tested. How do you handle success, how do
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: you handle failure? All those kind of things were tested
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: when he had the injury that he had, and all
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: he was trying to do when he sustained the injury,
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: he was to get better. You know, he's trying to
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: get extra lift in and um, you know, I don't know,
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: it's you're you're in that in that place where you're
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: trying to get that one last rep and you're working.
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: You're working and sometimes and you know it can it
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: can cause a physical issue. You're trying to get that
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: that last rep and got it out. Sometimes it's best
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: just okay, give it away and let's do another set.
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: And however it happened, Um, it did happen to him,
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: and it set him back a little bit, but but
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: he responded well. I mean, I was very impressed with
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: how he handled that training camp. There's there's mental parts,
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: and I've seen guys and that you know, they get
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: injured and it's like I'm not part of this and
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: they kind of mope around and you know they don't
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: they don't really feel part of the team. And it's
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: hard to be hurt, hard to be injured. You feel
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: like you're almost you know, a leper. You know, you're
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: isolated and you can't do things that other people are doing.
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: But he was. He was right in the middle of it.
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: I mean he did everything short of taking the physical up.
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: I mean, he was on top of every coaching point
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: that Frank Pollock was going through and he would talk
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: to his teammates, He talked to the veteran players, and
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: I was impressed with that part of it. How he
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: was always trying to accumulate knowledge. And when I talked
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: to some of the veteran lineman, you know, I'd say,
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: what kind of questions is he asking you? You know?
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: And they'd be like good ones, you know, a real
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: good ones. So now you think, and here's the kid
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: that's dead serious. And so he got himself as ready
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: as he possibly could from all other areas other than
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: the actual will be able to go out there and
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: take the physical reps. And you know, as we've said
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: many times, and any athletic endeavor starts with the feet
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: ends with your hands. He's got he's excels in both areas.
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: I mean, he's got some sweet feet. Now. His lateral
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: movement is as good as I've seen. And then when
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: he finishes you with that punch, you know, and you're
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: now you're allowed to extend your hands and actually punch
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: with your palms, and he packs one. He packs a punch.
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: So hopefully, I think he's put himself in a position
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: to take advantage of an opportunity, he prepared himself to
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: do so. And I'm rooting for him because guys like that.
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: You know, he handled everything the right way, let's put
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: it that way. Everything that he could possibly do to
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: get himself ready for his next opportunity, he did in spades.
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: And how about Jackson now handling this? Yeah, I think
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: I think what Jackson has to do is I mean, everybody,
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: uh again, you handle success and then deal with failure?
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: How are you gonna How resilient are you? How are
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: you gonna how are you going to react? And coaches
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: and teammates, everybody's watching. Are you gonna Are you gonna
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: say it's over? You know, I lost my job, he's
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: the guy. Or are you gonna say I want that
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: job back? I'm gonna I'm gonna The first thing that
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: I always thought if something happened like that, the first
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: thing I was gonna do is going to the coach
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: and say, Coach, what do I need to do to
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: get better? How? What do I need to do to
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: get the job. This thing's important to me. How do
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: I help the team more? What do I have to
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: do that That type of a reaction, I think is
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: what is what teammates and coaches hope for instead of
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: you know, like, uh, you know, whoe is me, poor me?
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: Nobody gets a damn about you, you know. I mean,
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: there's been many many players and coaches that go through this.
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: They have gone through this league, and there's gonna be
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: many many coaches and players that go through it in
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: the future. So they don't care about one person's situation.
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: So there's not gonna be any pity party if you
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: if you get into that pity party mode, you're the
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: only one at the party, and it's gonna be hard
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: to dig yourself out of that. So I think it's
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: very important. This is probably the first time it's ever
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: happened to him. I mean, highly regarded prospect in high school,
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: highly regarded prospect coming out of Clemson. This is the
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: first significant slap in the face. WHOA, I just you know,
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: I'm not good enough right now? What do I need
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: to do to be good enough and proceed from there?
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: Because again, the other thing is from a teammate standpoint
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: and a coach standpoint, you're one snap away from going
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: back in and taking the job again. That's where you
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: have to look at it. It's like you're literally one
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: snap away. So you you better not be lax or
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: lack of daisical or whatever. You have to approach it
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: like you're a starter and you're in. You're preparing as
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: a starter, and that's what every player should do in
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: my opinion, you know, and then when the opportunity knocks
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: like it did for a humid energy, he's ready. Let's
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: talk about Joe Burrow, who's having an outstanding second NFL
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: season with one exception, He's three a lot of picks,
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: eleven of them, tied for most in the NFL with
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: Sam Darnold. Here's a stat for you. When he throws
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: one or fewer, the Bengals are five and one. When
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: he throws two or more, they're own three. How much
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: of it is on him so far this year? Well,
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: as the old saying goes, you know, every one of
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: them has its own story. But I do think a
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: couple of red zone or red zone into the end
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: zone interceptions were you know, almost like hoping a prayer
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: type throws and those more often than not don't work out.
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: But you've seen deflections for interceptions. You've seen defenders just
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: making great plays. I mean, sometimes you just have to
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: tip your cap to the the defender and say, you
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: know what, I wasn't necessarily fulled by the scheme, but
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: I didn't think he was good enough to do what
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: he did. I didn't think he had that kind of athleticism.
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: I thought I had a window to take advantage of.
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: And the thing with Joey has so much confidence in
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: his accuracy, and he should. He's about as accurate as
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: I've ever seen. He thinks, you know that a lot
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: of times he can get it into these micro windows,
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: you know, really really tiny ones. So and a lot
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: of times he does. So I think with him, there's
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: no doubt that he can tell you more about every
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: interception he's thrown than every touchdown pass he's thrown this year,
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: I'll guarantee you and you know that he'll remember the
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: story and the lesson to be learned by the story
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: with every single one of them. And the ones that
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: aren't on him, let it roll off your back like
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: water off a duck. But the ones that are on him,
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: you know, learn your lesson, uh you know, don't don't
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: wallow in it, you know, but but learn from it
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: and move on. And I think I think that's going
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: to be a big factor. I'd like to see him,
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: you know, the second half of the season, the last
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: eight games, maybe you know, no more than four or five,
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: you know, cut it in half or better. And he's
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: capable of doing that. It's just, you know, that that
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: balancing act that great players like him so competitive. It's like,
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: I can do this, you know, and I've done it.
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: I know I can do this. Sometimes you have to
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: just you know, live for another snap. The opponent this
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: week the Las Vegas Raiders, like the Bengals, five and four.
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: Like the Bengals, they started five and two before losing
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: two in a row, as you pointed out earlier. But
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: unlike the Bengals, this is a team with a ton
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: of turmoil. Their head coach John Gruden forced to resign.
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: They lost Henry Ruggs. He's likely to go to jail
• 43:59
  Speaker 1: for a long time for that accident that killed a
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: woman and her dog. They've got a bunch of injuries,
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: including some that happened just last Sunday night against the Chiefs.
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: This is a team where you can't help but wondering
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: if they are reeling and beginning to spire a lot
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: of control. Yeah, I mean, you were thinking the same
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: thing a little bit with the Cleveland Browns. You know,
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: I was thinking, boy, Cleveland Browns, some of the things
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: that are going on there, and you know the OBJ
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: situation that was going on with Cleveland and Baker Mayfield.
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: He's got a wounded wing, you know, and all these
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: things that, Uh, boy, what are the Cleveland Browns? What's
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: their mindset? Like? How are they going to be able
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: to how will they handle this? I think that again,
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: to go back to my first point about getting off
• 44:38
  Speaker 1: to a fast start, I think if if you get
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: off to a fast start when they're they've experienced everything
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: they've experienced, the scab comes off quicker and the wound
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: opens faster, and it's like, this isn't the week, This
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: isn't the week. We come back and rally boys. You know, man,
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: I was still was still struggling. We're still need to
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: get over we need more time. But if they take
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: a two score lead, yeah, guys, we're good. We're done
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: with that. We're tough, We're tough mentally, we're tough physically,
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: we're resilient. We can bounce back. You know, sometimes when
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: when when a group goes through that type of stuff,
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: it galvanizes, you know. I mean, it can have that,
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: It can have that effect as well. I don't know
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: what the percentages are. They have analytics on everything. I
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: don't know what the percentages are of you know, teams
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: that have recovered from this type of craziness that we're
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: talking about and have gone on to you know, win
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: a division or getting the playoffs and advancing the playoffs.
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure about that. But I think it's all
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: up to the Bengals at this point, you know. I
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: mean I think that the uh, the Raiders are probably
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: they're probably fragile, you know. I mean, I think it
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: could it could go either way. And I think on
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: how how the game goes early, I think we'll have
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: a bearing on it. I really do, particularly if they
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: if they really come out and take control of it.
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: I mean, just totally put a thumping on them. From
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: the early stages. I don't think there's going to be
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: that much fight. But if they the longer it's a game,
• 46:04
  Speaker 1: the more of a dog fight they're in. Because now
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden, it's like, yeah, guys, even though
• 46:08
  Speaker 1: all this crap that we've had to deal with, we're
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: still a good football team. I love you, man, Let's
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: go win this sucker. That kind of stuff can happen.
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to seeing this stadium. I'm looking forward
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: to being in Las Vegas for an NFL game because
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: I imagine it's going to be just a little bit
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: like when we've gone to London in the past, where
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: people come from all over because it's Vegas and it's
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: a chance to see your NFL team on the road
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: in a city where you can always find a cheap
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: hotel room and spend a little money doing other stuff. Yeah,
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: I mean, there's no doubt it's going to be interesting
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: to see how how diverse the crowd is, you know,
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: and what the mindset of the crowd might be. If
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: if the Raiders get off to a slow start and
• 46:51
  Speaker 1: you've gotten your butt kicked either you know, rolling the
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: bones or playing blackjack, you may start booing real quick,
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: mainly two snaps. But if they get out to a
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: great start and you're up a grand man, now, it's
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: all good boy, this is a this is paradise plus.
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: So it'll be it'll be interesting to see what the
• 47:10
  Speaker 1: what the crowd is like. And uh yeah, I agree,
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: it's it's um there's no place like Vegas, that's for sure.
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: There's absolutely it's it's one of a kind. And I
• 47:21
  Speaker 1: can't think of an organization that probably fits that city
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: better than the Raiders. You know that Raiders with Al Davis,
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: our Syracuse fellow alone, Um and he was he definitely
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: was one of a kind. And uh that I can
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: tell you Dan. When I played, I mean we're like
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: two and fifteen as an organization in Oakland, in LA
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: I mean that's when they were dominant. We went out
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: there and just we couldn't beat him. I mean we'd
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: lose thirty one twenty eight whatever the I mean, it
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: was close games, competitive games lose. We lost two playoff
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: games out there. I played in one of them, that
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: thirty one twenty eight game I'm talking about. I mean,
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: that was anybody's football game. But we just couldn't get
• 48:03
  Speaker 1: over the top against those great Raider teams that won
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: Super Bowls. And I'm I'm pulling for the Bengals to
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: spank the Raiders in Las Vegas. A new a new
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: new location, new environment and under the everything that Vegas
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: has to offer, get a victory against the Raiders. That
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: could be one sweet weekend finally, it's time for our
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: no the faux segment. Jesse Merritt covers the Raiders for
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: ksn VTV in Las Vegas, and he joined Lap and
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: Wayne box Miller on the Bengals Game Plan Show on
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: Wednesday night. You know, it's been kind of a poster
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: ride for Raiders in you know, they were living pretty well.
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: They were happy with the way the season was going,
• 48:44
  Speaker 1: you know, and then the buy comes around. They come
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: out of the buy. I think that they're gonna have
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: a nice DC game against the Giants, and then they
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: lose the game, lose the turnover battle on that one,
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: and then they drop another game there against the Chiefs.
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: So they're kind of down on it. You're starting to
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: hear all the people talking about car and that, you know,
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: people say it all they need to move on from
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: them and all this stuff because he's getting turnovers and
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: stuff like that. So, you know, they're kind of down
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: on it right now. But I think people need to
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: realize there's still a young season. There's still a lot
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: of time left to go on to the end of
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: the day. You know, both the Bengals and the Raiders,
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: they're five and four, they got a winning record and
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: They've got a whole lot of games in front of them,
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: so you know, they still kind of control their playoff dets.
• 49:18
  Speaker 1: To me, right now, a sports psychologist would have a
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: field day with the Raiders. Obviously. Really, the John Gruden incident,
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: you know, is polarizing. I'm sure there were some John
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: Gruden fans and some guys that weren't as much of
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: a fan of John Gruden, which could be a divisive
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: thing for the football team. Then what went on with
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: Henry Ruggs. I mean, this football team has dealt with
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: some adversity. Do you think that what they're dealing with
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: in terms of the mental part of it be off
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: the field stuff. Do you think it's had any bearing
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: on the two game losing streak. You know, I try
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: not to put too much stock into that because you know,
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: for me, I played college football and it was like
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: obviously nowhere near the level that these guys do. But
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: like when you get on on the field, that's like
• 50:02
  Speaker 1: your release. You know, you don't really think about anything else.
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: It's it's kind of off to the side. And maybe
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: when they're meetings and things like said, it can be,
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: but I think more than anything, it would be kind
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: of the emotional toll of like everything because it's been
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: like one after another. You mentioned Gruden, you mentioned the
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: situation with Ruggs, also Damon Arnett, who was another first
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: round pick. He was recently pleased. You know, it was
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: kind of just one thing after another. I had multiple
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: friends of mine who cover teams all across the league saying, like, man,
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: they're keeping you busy. It's just one thing after another.
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: I was getting it exhausted. So I'm sure you know,
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: for the players, it probably is because they know these
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: guys on a personal level. They're their brothers, their coach,
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: things like that, so it's got to take somewhat of
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: a toll. But I also think once you get the
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: game day, you know, they're only const round in the game.
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: They got so much coming at him they can't really
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: think about anything else at that point. I agree that
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: it's the sanctuary. Basically, game days you're sanctuary, you know,
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: and then everything else goes away. I agree. Jesse Merrick
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: from three News in Las Vegas, our guests and Jesse,
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: thanks to join us. When you look at what this
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: team needs to do down to stretch up what is broken,
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: per se or what needs to be tweaked their fix
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: going down to stretch. Yeah, they got to get back
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: to pushing the ball down the field the way that
• 51:09
  Speaker 1: they had. You know, they were they were able to
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: hit a lot of deep passes, you know, early on
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: in the season and get teams kind of on their heels.
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: That backed them off a bit, and you know, in
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: a couple of the games we saw them be able
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: to kind of establish the run a bit because of that.
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: Now lately, you know, the run blocking, it just hasn't
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: been there. They haven't been able to get the run
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: game going, and then they've been losing the turnover battle
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: every time they try and throw it down the field,
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: and teams are kind of just able to sit in
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: that shell and not worry about, you know, too much
• 51:33
  Speaker 1: over the top. Obviously, losing Rugs hurts because he's that
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: guy that had that game breaking type of speed. Then
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: they go bring into Sean Jackson. You know, in this
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: last game here against the Chiefs, looks like he had
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: a massive touchdown that was at a key moment in
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: the game and then I don't know what the heck happened,
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: he got turned around or whatever, and then the ball
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: gets punched loose and that's the pivotal moment in the
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: game where you know things just changed. So for me,
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: it's honestly, I think the Raiders need to not abandon
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: the run because I don't want to obviously just throw
• 51:58
  Speaker 1: it out of the window because they got Josh Jacob.
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: But at the same time, like in the early parts
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: of the season, they didn't have Josh Jacob and they
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: were cooking when they're able to get the passing in
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: going and use that short passing game to open up
• 52:10
  Speaker 1: the run and then take a couple of shots here
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: and there throughout the game, and they were hitting album
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: at a pretty decent clip. So I think for them,
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: really concentrate on the path, go ahead and throw it
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: like forty plus times a game, and let the run
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: game kind of hop in there as more of a
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: supplemental thing. And I think that's where they're going to
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: see more success throughout the year doing that. As the
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: Rugs ripple effect infected Waller, I mean, it seems like
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: the Kansas City Chiefs had a pretty good game plan
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: to contain Waller, who's in my mind a Pro Bowl
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: tight end. I mean, this guy's side speech race shows
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: off the charts. I thought you know, the Kelsey Waller
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: deal Chiefs Raiders, which tight end was going to step up,
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: and obviously Kelsey had a game and Waller didn't really
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: get that involved. What did in Europe mind, when you
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: watched it, What did they do to take Waller out
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: of the game. A lot of bracket coverage and we've
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: seen a lot more teams start to do that, you know,
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: and and they think the Raiders are using them as
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: a bit of a decoy. You know, in the first
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: game against the Ravens, they targeted in nineteen times and
• 53:05
  Speaker 1: people freaked out. They were like, nineteen times, throw the
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: ball to somebody else, and it's like, yo, hold up
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: that Darren Waller, like he's one of the best players
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: in the league, like beating the ball as many times,
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: feeding the ball twenty thirty times, But whatever it takes,
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: if that's gonna win you games. And so they've kind
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: of come away from that. I think they got to
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: get it more involved in that. And obviously, again it's
• 53:23
  Speaker 1: it's easier said than done when teams are bracketing you,
• 53:26
  Speaker 1: because now, let's be honest, without rugs in there, Tokay, yeah,
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: they have de Shaan Jackson, but he's not the same
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: type of speed guy. He's got obviously much older, you know,
• 53:35
  Speaker 1: and doesn't quite have the same level of speed and
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: game breaking type of stuff that he used to. So,
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: you know, I think teams are able to key in
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: on him a little bit more because they're not as
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: worried about the other players in there, because you know,
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: Brian Edwards hasn't shown the consistency as a receiver to
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: continue to do it to draw that type of attention.
• 53:50
  Speaker 1: And again we haven't seen Josh Jacobs get going either,
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: and the other receivers a lot of younger umcoving guys
• 53:55
  Speaker 1: Nna Renfro starting to emerge as a really good spot receiver,
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: but still to the point where a defense is gonna
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: key in on him at you know, all points about
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: the game. So I think they got to start kind
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: of forcing it a bit to Waller and saying, hey, look,
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: this guy's just better than the guys you got on
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: the other side of the ball. I don't care if
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: you're bracking in whatever the heck you do. We're gonna
• 54:13
  Speaker 1: feed him the ball. But then also at the same
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: time be able to connect when it's just not there,
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: and he'd be opening to when other guys are in
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: single coverage. So it's a matter of winning those one
• 54:22
  Speaker 1: on one of battles that they just haven't been able
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: to do with any contstency. That's far outside of Darren Waller. Okay,
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: Jesse Merrick, you can find him on Twitter social media.
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: Jesse News three LV. That's j e SSC News three LV.
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: You know, one of the things I was looking at
• 54:38
  Speaker 1: with you know, Darren Waller. I mean, this guy over
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: the last couple of years, fourteen catches for twenty and
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: more yards in nineteen sixteen, and more catches for twenty
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: more yards and already eight this year. I mean, you're
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: talking about a tight end getting twenty and more yards.
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: It's just like a huge bonus. Well, you're talking about
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: a guy that's six six plus two hundred and fifty
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: pounds plus that runs a sub four five forty. That
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: is a freakazoid. I mean that that is a size
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: speed ratio that's like unbelievable. I mean, he is uh,
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: He's he's really really talented and gifted. There's there's no
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: question about it. Why we have you, Jesse. Defensively, the
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: Bengals have a couple of uh I call him the
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: h Boys. You have Hendrickson and Hubbard and they've combined
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: for thirteen and a half sacks. You guys have in
• 55:29
  Speaker 1: Gockway and Crosby who've combined for eleven sacks. How how
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: much energy? How much? How much do they give this
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: defense off the edge at the defensive end position? Man?
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: It is? That was one thing that constantly talked about,
• 55:44
  Speaker 1: is that they got to get to the quarterback. They
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: got to get a pass rush going. Well this year
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: they've gotten it in spades. It hasn't translated to as
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: many sacks as you would think it probably would. And
• 55:52
  Speaker 1: depending on where you get your stacks from, Max Crosby
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: and Unique and Gockway different points about the year have
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: been number one in the league, and pressure from what
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: I know right now, Crosby is number one, and Treasures
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: by a Pro football focus, And so those guys really
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: set the tone for the defense around them, and it's
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: helped guys like Casey Hayward and coverage. You know, I
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: don't know anymore if he has, but I think up
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: until like a week or two ago, he hadn't allowed
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: you know, a catch at all all season or something
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: like that, or more than he had like one of
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: the highest coverage grades by Pro Football Focus, so he
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: had had been having a great year, and I think
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: a lot of that is because of the pressure those
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: guys that are applying, and they're really kind of breaking
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: the game for the defense and allowing guys to roam
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: around and just kind of be athletes. And so they
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: have been the driving for for this defense. And it's
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: fun to watch because they're competing NonStop. Even a practice,
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: it's a sprint in the line of scream because it's
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: a front offerer, whatever the heck they're doing. Brosby and
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: Unique seemed to really have this big connection and they're
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: they're playing off of each other very well, and it's
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: something that's given opposing offenses, you know, a heck of
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: the headache and you know you've been staught it against Mahome,
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: he was having to move around and get off the spot,
• 56:55
  Speaker 1: which he obviously does all the time, but they frustrated him.
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: That just obviously not enough. You guy sat it for
• 57:00
  Speaker 1: forty one point. Hi. Thanks the Lap Box and Jesse
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: Merrick for that interview. And here's a quick reminder to
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: join lap and Me for the Bengals PEP rally show
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: this Friday from two thirty to five thirty on ESPN
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: fifteen thirty. That's going to do it for this episode
• 57:16
  Speaker 1: of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by Ultimate Bengals,
• 57:20
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• 57:24
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• 57:32
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• 57:36
  Speaker 1: I'm Dan Horde and thanks for listening to The Bengals
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: Booth Podcast