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Bengals Booth Podcast: Let's Get It Started · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, can everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: the Bengals Boot podcast. Let's get it started, ha audition.
0:13
Speaker 1: As we get you set for Sunday's home opener at
0:15
Speaker 1: Paul Brown Stadium as the Bengals host the San Francisco
0:18
Speaker 1: forty nine Ers. Coming up, you'll hear three conversations. First,
0:22
Speaker 1: I'll talk to my broadcast partner, Dave Lapham, as we
0:25
Speaker 1: look back at last week's encouraging yet ultimately disappointing one
0:29
Speaker 1: point loss at Seattle and look ahead to Sunday's game
0:33
Speaker 1: against the Niners. I'll also sit down with a number
0:36
Speaker 1: one graded center in the NFL after the opening week
0:39
Speaker 1: of the season according to Pro Football Focus, Trey Hopkins
0:44
Speaker 1: will discuss his play who deserves the credit for dealing
0:47
Speaker 1: with the crowd noise in Seattle, and I'll offer him
0:51
Speaker 1: the opportunity to make a few extra bucks. And in
0:55
Speaker 1: this week's Know the Faux segment, we'll get the lowdown
0:57
Speaker 1: on the San Francisco forty nine ers from somebody who
1:00
Speaker 1: knew me when I had a full head of red hair.
1:05
Speaker 1: It was glorious, but that will not come up in
1:08
Speaker 1: our conversation. All of that is straight ahead. But first,
1:12
Speaker 1: here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest
1:14
Speaker 1: edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
1:18
Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify,
1:23
Speaker 1: or Podbean. It's the greatest invention since the Rewatchables podcast.
1:31
Speaker 1: I love movies and I love podcasts. As a result,
1:35
Speaker 1: I have sampled a bunch of movie podcasts, including some
1:40
Speaker 1: that have been highly recommended. I have found them all
1:44
Speaker 1: disappointing until I tried the Rewatchables. It's a simple concept.
1:50
Speaker 1: The hosts go back and rewatch a movie that they
1:53
Speaker 1: all liked, then discuss it. That's pretty much it. The
1:58
Speaker 1: hosts are interesting, they have some great nuggets, and most importantly,
2:03
Speaker 1: they're really funny. So if you love movies, look up
2:06
Speaker 1: three Watchables podcast. Just pick out a movie that you
2:09
Speaker 1: like from the list of available episodes and give it
2:12
Speaker 1: a try. You will not be disappointed. Now let's get
2:16
Speaker 1: to football. So how big is Sunday's home game against
2:20
Speaker 1: the San Francisco forty nine Ers. Well, let's put it
2:23
Speaker 1: this way. NFL teams that open the season oh and
2:26
Speaker 1: two only make the playoffs twelve point six percent of
2:31
Speaker 1: the time. That's it. Nearly nine out of ten teams
2:34
Speaker 1: that start the season oh and two don't make it.
2:38
Speaker 1: One and one teams, on the other hand, make it
2:41
Speaker 1: forty one percent of the time. And even if you
2:44
Speaker 1: think it's way too early to even think about the playoffs,
2:47
Speaker 1: then consider this. All the enthusiasm and optimism generated by
2:53
Speaker 1: last week's showing at Seattle will be seriously dampened if
2:57
Speaker 1: the Bengals lose it home to a team that has
3:00
Speaker 1: finished with a winning record in the last five years.
3:03
Speaker 1: Time to discuss all things Bengals with my broadcast partner
3:07
Speaker 1: Dave lappam Lap. Through one week, Andy Dalton leads the
3:10
Speaker 1: NFL in passing yards with four eighteen, but he's also
3:14
Speaker 1: tied for first in batted passes with four Is that
3:18
Speaker 1: a relative lack of height? Is that too much push
3:21
Speaker 1: allowed by the offensive line or is it just bad luck?
3:25
Speaker 1: I think it's a combination. You know, in certain cases,
3:29
Speaker 1: Andy isn't the tallest quarterback in the world, so the
3:31
Speaker 1: push becomes more of an issue. If you can, you know,
3:34
Speaker 1: see over guys and throw over guys with that height,
3:37
Speaker 1: it's it's a little bit easier. Sometimes you have to
3:39
Speaker 1: change your arm angle as a quarterback too. You have
3:41
Speaker 1: to change your arm slot try to throw around guys,
3:43
Speaker 1: but like Jejevian Clowney, if he gets close to you,
3:46
Speaker 1: it's like trying to throw around an octopus. I mean,
3:49
Speaker 1: the guy's got such a huge wingspan, it's really hard
3:52
Speaker 1: to get the ball around him. And the one that
3:53
Speaker 1: Clowne he got early in the game was set up
3:55
Speaker 1: nicely for big, big play who knows, maybe even a
3:58
Speaker 1: scoring play. So you know, those are ones that are
4:01
Speaker 1: that are tough to take because it's like, man, it
4:04
Speaker 1: was perfectly set up and a guy makes a makes
4:06
Speaker 1: a play like that, But a lot of times the
4:09
Speaker 1: defenders so close it's hard to change your arm angle
4:12
Speaker 1: and change the slot to get it around him, and
4:14
Speaker 1: you just have to You just have to hope. And
4:16
Speaker 1: then throwing in amongst these you know trees in the
4:19
Speaker 1: defensive line, when you're not throwing screen pass, it's just
4:21
Speaker 1: throwing the football. He's had a couple of those, you
4:23
Speaker 1: know batted down with the line of scrimmage. That's um
4:25
Speaker 1: you know, timing by a defensive lineman just getting his
4:28
Speaker 1: hand up in a throwing lane. It's just the absolute
4:30
Speaker 1: right time. The quarterbacks already in a thrown most and
4:32
Speaker 1: you can't change it, you know, and he just happens to,
4:35
Speaker 1: you know, stick his big paw in the right spot
4:37
Speaker 1: at the right time. So I think it is a
4:39
Speaker 1: combination of all things lap. The NFL's highest rated center
4:43
Speaker 1: according to Pro Football Focus after one week of the
4:45
Speaker 1: NFL season is Trey Hopkins. He gave up one pressure
4:50
Speaker 1: in forty nine pass blocking snaps, and he also had
4:54
Speaker 1: their highest run blocking grade. How about Trey, You know,
4:59
Speaker 1: I I don't know where to begin with Trey Hopkins.
5:02
Speaker 1: You got to tip your cap to this guy because
5:05
Speaker 1: think how he got into the league undrafted free agent
5:09
Speaker 1: out of Texas m Paul Alexander gabim an opportunity. He
5:13
Speaker 1: showed well at training camp, had injuries, you know, he
5:15
Speaker 1: had broken ankle, had other things to deal with, and
5:18
Speaker 1: he just showed enough to we got to develop this guy.
5:22
Speaker 1: We put him on the practice squad, you know, and
5:24
Speaker 1: he's got long arms, he's got some some potential. And
5:27
Speaker 1: the thing that you can't measure. You can't measure brains,
5:31
Speaker 1: you can't measure intellect, and he's off the charts in
5:33
Speaker 1: those categories, both in general and football wise. But you
5:36
Speaker 1: can't measure a guy's heart and in his desire and
5:39
Speaker 1: want to. And Trey Hopkins plays a very low key
5:43
Speaker 1: you know, he's very cerebral, and he's um. You know,
5:46
Speaker 1: he's not a raw, raw guy. He's but the dude
5:50
Speaker 1: wants to be the best. He competes and he does
5:55
Speaker 1: it very quietly within his own realm. You know, Trey
5:59
Speaker 1: Hopkins wants to be better than anybody at his craft,
6:03
Speaker 1: whatever it is, whether it's playing a musical instrument, what
6:05
Speaker 1: you can do, he can play multiple musical instruments. Teaching kids, um,
6:10
Speaker 1: you know that that says something about him for his
6:12
Speaker 1: offseason job being a substitute teacher, you know. And he's
6:16
Speaker 1: he's just a very very special guy. When you're when
6:19
Speaker 1: you're two line coaches that you work with on a
6:21
Speaker 1: daily basis immediately are impressed with you to the point
6:25
Speaker 1: where they call you a football savant. That's that's high
6:29
Speaker 1: high cotton right there. That's big time praise. So and
6:32
Speaker 1: I think the way that Trey Hopkins presents himself personality wise,
6:38
Speaker 1: his teammates love him, you know, they he just he's
6:42
Speaker 1: one of those guys that can can fit into any situation,
6:45
Speaker 1: can fit into any kind of environment because he's very uh,
6:50
Speaker 1: you know, adaptable, amenable in his personality, his approach. The
6:55
Speaker 1: guy has a lot going for him. And I couldn't
6:57
Speaker 1: be happier for any player on the Cincinnati Bengals for
7:00
Speaker 1: Trey Hopkins. So that was the good news as far
7:03
Speaker 1: as the offensive line was concerned. In Week one, on
7:05
Speaker 1: the other hand, Pro Football Focus said Bobby Hart gave
7:07
Speaker 1: up six pressures in a sack, Andrey Smith five pressures
7:10
Speaker 1: and a sack. Michael Jordan and John Miller did not
7:13
Speaker 1: get great PFF grades. Now, just pointing out one thing
7:17
Speaker 1: in the system that does not take into account the
7:20
Speaker 1: quality of the opponent. And the Seattle Seahawks have an
7:23
Speaker 1: excellent defense, But what did you think overall of the
7:26
Speaker 1: line play? Well, I think two things. Quality of the
7:29
Speaker 1: opponent is a factor, and the fact that they threw
7:31
Speaker 1: it over fifty times, I think it's a factor. You
7:34
Speaker 1: look at percentages, they were looking at just raw numbers,
7:37
Speaker 1: you know, I like sack ratio per pass attempt, And
7:45
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that they were great, but I'm saying
7:47
Speaker 1: that basically, Seattle lined up in a defense that said
7:52
Speaker 1: you're not going to run the football. So I said,
7:54
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to throw it to beat us, and
7:56
Speaker 1: Zach said, okay, we'll throw it to beat you. And
7:59
Speaker 1: they almost did. But with that said, when they know
8:03
Speaker 1: they're throwing fifty over fifty times, pass rush becomes a big,
8:07
Speaker 1: big deal, a much bigger deal. Now, Zack tried to
8:10
Speaker 1: still on first and second down, incorporate you know, play
8:14
Speaker 1: action stuff screens which you know, take the pressure off
8:17
Speaker 1: and just sitting there and dropping back and pass protecting.
8:21
Speaker 1: But every time you face third and five or more,
8:23
Speaker 1: third and seven or more, you're in a bind. I mean,
8:26
Speaker 1: they're coming after you. And they do have some talented
8:28
Speaker 1: pass rushers, But did they have you know, outstanding games.
8:34
Speaker 1: You're not going to say that, but were they pretty solid?
8:36
Speaker 1: The other thing the pro football doesn't focus doesn't take
8:39
Speaker 1: into account as the venue you're playing in. They're on
8:41
Speaker 1: the road in one of the loudest venues. That is
8:45
Speaker 1: another factor, and it's much much tougher to pass protect.
8:48
Speaker 1: And the fact that they didn't have, you know, uh,
8:51
Speaker 1: the illegal procedure penalties, jumping penalties and before the snap
8:55
Speaker 1: and all those sort of things I think was a
8:56
Speaker 1: big plus. Now on the raw numbers, you know Football
9:00
Speaker 1: Focus is going to grade the way they grade, but
9:02
Speaker 1: there are extraneous circumstances. I mean they're the environment, the
9:06
Speaker 1: conditions of the game, the opponents that you're playing against,
9:09
Speaker 1: the quality of the guy you're lined up against, you know,
9:11
Speaker 1: I mean, just raw numbers can tell one story, but
9:16
Speaker 1: there are subplots to the story in every game and
9:19
Speaker 1: in the National Football League. That's why some people have
9:22
Speaker 1: major issues with Pro Football Focus. Right over the course
9:25
Speaker 1: of time, some of that stuff will equal out, but
9:28
Speaker 1: in a one week sample it doesn't take it into effect.
9:30
Speaker 1: And if you're in a division where you have butt
9:34
Speaker 1: kicking defensive lineman, you're going to play them twice a year,
9:37
Speaker 1: so I mean, you know, six of year games are
9:39
Speaker 1: against the best and other teams in the league won't.
9:43
Speaker 1: It won't equal out, you know. Or if you're in
9:46
Speaker 1: a division where there's a bunch of terrible defense and
9:48
Speaker 1: you're germinate, yeah, exactly, you're going to dominate those Pro
9:51
Speaker 1: Football Focus grades or like. And I don't know how
9:54
Speaker 1: you try to make it an equalizer, you know, you
9:56
Speaker 1: just you just try to factor in whatever the best
9:58
Speaker 1: you can. But it's it is, I mean, it's just
10:01
Speaker 1: strength of schedule. You know has talked about all the time,
10:04
Speaker 1: Why not strength of opponent that you're trying to you know,
10:07
Speaker 1: trying to work against as a factor in your performance
10:10
Speaker 1: in a football game. At any any point, I thought
10:13
Speaker 1: the Bengals had three clear cut stars in Week one.
10:16
Speaker 1: John Ross on offense, Sam Hubbard on defense, and lou
10:21
Speaker 1: and A Rumo. Let's go back to when he was hired.
10:24
Speaker 1: People were killing the Bengals. They're on their eighty ninth
10:27
Speaker 1: candidate to be defensive coordinator, which obviously was not the case.
10:31
Speaker 1: But did Zach Taylor wind up hiring a creative, great
10:36
Speaker 1: teaching defensive coordinator. Well, Zach Taylor in the press conference
10:41
Speaker 1: after the game, when he was asked about lou Anna
10:43
Speaker 1: rum who said, I wasn't a bit surprised. You know
10:45
Speaker 1: when I coached with him. You know at Miami he
10:48
Speaker 1: was the interim defensive coordinator. You know, he they played
10:53
Speaker 1: for him, They played hard, they were they knew what
10:55
Speaker 1: they were supposed to do, they knew how to do it.
10:57
Speaker 1: Lou Anna Rumo is an impressed of teacher and over
11:02
Speaker 1: the years, offense, defense, special teams, whatever you're talking about.
11:06
Speaker 1: I found that the best coaches the coaches with tremendous
11:09
Speaker 1: success make things that look extremely complicated very simple with
11:15
Speaker 1: their rules and what they ask you to do and
11:17
Speaker 1: how they ask you to do it. And that's Loui
11:18
Speaker 1: an Rumo. There's defensive players, I mean, there's there's a lot,
11:22
Speaker 1: you know, on their plate in terms of you know,
11:25
Speaker 1: maybe different looks and formations and window dressings and things
11:28
Speaker 1: like that. When when all said and done, when the
11:30
Speaker 1: snap of the ball happens, they have rules that are
11:33
Speaker 1: very simple that they live by. And uh, you know,
11:36
Speaker 1: the the adjustment that Wilson and Lockett made on a
11:40
Speaker 1: route was very you know, that's the NFL. Those guys,
11:45
Speaker 1: there wasn't any from my understanding, there wasn't any blown
11:48
Speaker 1: assignment as such. They just took advantage of the way
11:52
Speaker 1: they were playing a coverage and neither guy played it
11:55
Speaker 1: maybe the best that they could have in terms of
11:58
Speaker 1: allowing that that big play. But at some point in time,
12:01
Speaker 1: you have to tip your cap to the opponent. They
12:03
Speaker 1: get paid two and you know, Wilson is a guy
12:06
Speaker 1: that is capable of making adjustments, probably as well as
12:09
Speaker 1: a lot of coaches in the NFL, and he unlock
12:11
Speaker 1: it made an adjustment that resulted in that forty four
12:14
Speaker 1: yard touchdown pass. So, um, you know that's that's the way,
12:18
Speaker 1: that's life in the NFL. But you know, these numbers
12:21
Speaker 1: are crazy, Dan, when you look at what Loui in Ruma,
12:23
Speaker 1: what the defense did in the football game. Forty nine
12:27
Speaker 1: snaps number one, when's the last time the Bengals defense
12:31
Speaker 1: only had forty nine snaps? The last two years, they've
12:34
Speaker 1: been on the field more than any defense in the NFL,
12:36
Speaker 1: they led the league and snaps played two years in
12:40
Speaker 1: a row. Forty nine snaps. That's a vacation on Monday
12:44
Speaker 1: of those guys. They were they were done with the
12:46
Speaker 1: tape and no time. I didn't have everything to watch.
12:49
Speaker 1: Six three and outs, yeah, sixtright and outs, forty nine STAPs,
12:52
Speaker 1: two hundred and thirty three yards of offense, four point
12:55
Speaker 1: eight yards per play. Now, they did give up three
12:58
Speaker 1: yards of three plays of twenty yards and war a
13:01
Speaker 1: forty eight yard pass at a forty four yard touchdown pass,
13:04
Speaker 1: and then and then that twenty one yard run that
13:07
Speaker 1: they had on third and one at the end of
13:09
Speaker 1: the football game that when Carson leaked out. You know
13:12
Speaker 1: that can't happen. But you take those three plays away,
13:15
Speaker 1: which you can't because you know Seattle did it, But
13:17
Speaker 1: forty six of the forty nine snaps, they were pretty
13:20
Speaker 1: darn good on those forty six other snaps. One hundred
13:23
Speaker 1: and twenty six yards offense on forty six snaps two
13:27
Speaker 1: point seven yards per play. I'm not talking about that
13:30
Speaker 1: would be unbelievable per rush. But we're talking about Russell
13:33
Speaker 1: Wilson at quarterback. Are you kidding me? Russell Wilson to
13:37
Speaker 1: me Dan in this game had had the most crazy
13:41
Speaker 1: quarterback rating of one thirty plus I've ever seen because
13:44
Speaker 1: they bottled his butt up. But he ended up with
13:47
Speaker 1: two big plays forty four forty eight yards, one of
13:49
Speaker 1: them a touchdown. And you know, Russell Wilson ends up
13:52
Speaker 1: with a quarterback rating of you know, one thirty six.
13:54
Speaker 1: And like Russell Wilson won the game, and you look
13:56
Speaker 1: at on a snap by snap basis, the Bengals defense
13:58
Speaker 1: played him as well as any but he has That's
14:01
Speaker 1: the NFL, though it is one crazy world, it's it
14:03
Speaker 1: can be a heartbreaking business. And that was a heartbreaker
14:06
Speaker 1: that game. I never thought I would say this. I
14:10
Speaker 1: thought there were times in the second half where Russell
14:12
Speaker 1: Wilson looked like he was seeing ghosts. Yeah, they had
14:15
Speaker 1: him confused. They had him. I'm not sure if he
14:18
Speaker 1: was confused maybe his too strong word, but definitely hesitant, Yes,
14:22
Speaker 1: hesitant for sure. I mean he was not the decisive
14:26
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson that you see. And and the thing that
14:29
Speaker 1: they did so well I thought was we always talked,
14:32
Speaker 1: we're talking all week about you have to defend the
14:35
Speaker 1: second part of the play when he's off schedule and
14:38
Speaker 1: he's you know, creating and extending and all that. They
14:41
Speaker 1: didn't even let him hardly get to that. They had him.
14:43
Speaker 1: That the five men rushed when they when they utilize that,
14:48
Speaker 1: the three inside guys, in my mind, should get as
14:51
Speaker 1: much credit as the edge rushes who got the sacks.
14:53
Speaker 1: You know, Sam Harvard got a couple and Carlos Dunlop
14:57
Speaker 1: had one where lou Anna Rumo matched him up on
14:59
Speaker 1: a tight end butt kicker, you know, Dray Kirkpatrick free runner,
15:03
Speaker 1: unblocked sack so loose, schemed a couple. But then you
15:07
Speaker 1: know you have Sam coming off. But the three interior
15:10
Speaker 1: guys stayed in their lanes and gotta push where Russell
15:12
Speaker 1: Wilson couldn't duck up underneath and you know, do the
15:15
Speaker 1: magic that he does. So they did a great job
15:18
Speaker 1: if everybody stayed in their rush lanes and had a
15:21
Speaker 1: team pass rush that ended up in multiple sacks. So
15:25
Speaker 1: I just thought that the scheme was unbelievably sound. I
15:29
Speaker 1: thought the execution of the scheme was extremely sound. I mean,
15:33
Speaker 1: those three interior pass rushers, they're they're not going to
15:36
Speaker 1: get any plotits, but they did their job as well
15:39
Speaker 1: as Hubbard and Dunlap. Dude, that's that's the way it works.
15:41
Speaker 1: If he has nowhere to go up between the tackles,
15:44
Speaker 1: the defensive ends are gonna eat and they ate. We've
15:47
Speaker 1: spent a lot of time talking about what Zach Taylor's
15:49
Speaker 1: offense might be able to do for Joe Mixon, and
15:52
Speaker 1: I think over the course of sixteen games and hopefully
15:55
Speaker 1: more this year, Joe Mixon will wind up having great numbers.
15:58
Speaker 1: Maybe we should have spent more time talking about what
16:01
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor's offense can do for John Ross. Yeah, very true.
16:05
Speaker 1: And when you think about it, you know, John Ross
16:10
Speaker 1: did not have a whole lot of time to sync
16:11
Speaker 1: up with Andy Dalton, obviously because of the hamstring issue.
16:14
Speaker 1: Now they had they worked together in the off season
16:18
Speaker 1: with OTAs and mini camps and things that nature. But
16:21
Speaker 1: when John had that that hamstring issue in a walk
16:24
Speaker 1: through the very first day at training camp, he's thinking,
16:26
Speaker 1: oh my god. But you know the numbers he put up,
16:30
Speaker 1: he was he was targeted. I believe it was twelve times.
16:33
Speaker 1: He had seven catches. He should have had two more,
16:34
Speaker 1: should had nine catches. Were probably close to two hundred
16:37
Speaker 1: yards or more he could have had if he if
16:39
Speaker 1: he caught all the balls that you know, a couple
16:42
Speaker 1: of drops to the other three really didn't have a
16:44
Speaker 1: chance for. But this guy, his speed is you know,
16:49
Speaker 1: almost incomparable. And the thing about him, he does have
16:51
Speaker 1: the quickness too. He can make guys mess. He does
16:54
Speaker 1: have short space quickness. A lot of guys have short
16:56
Speaker 1: space quickness and then can't stride it out. Some guys
17:00
Speaker 1: the opposite, don't, you know, have short spake quickness, you know,
17:04
Speaker 1: the reverse. He has both. He has both. He can
17:07
Speaker 1: make a guy missing and run away from you. Some
17:09
Speaker 1: guys can't do both of those things. And he's you know,
17:13
Speaker 1: he's a capable route runner. So the thing that's interesting now,
17:19
Speaker 1: San Francisco we got we gotta do something with this guy,
17:22
Speaker 1: Tyler Boyd. Things tilted I thought to Tyler Boyd a
17:24
Speaker 1: little bit in Seattle and Ross took advantage. Now you
17:27
Speaker 1: know what's going to happen. How are they going to
17:29
Speaker 1: tilt it? Are they going to tilt it equally? Some
17:31
Speaker 1: here to Boyd, some here to Ross? Wait till Aj
17:34
Speaker 1: Green comes back. When you think about all the all
17:36
Speaker 1: the things you do a laund your list to twelve
17:39
Speaker 1: things in that football game, if any wont to twelve things,
17:41
Speaker 1: maybe more had gone the other way. The Bengals win
17:43
Speaker 1: a one point game that they lost by a point,
17:45
Speaker 1: I should say they win that game that they lost
17:47
Speaker 1: by a point. All they need is two more points.
17:50
Speaker 1: I mean, you know. And the number one on my
17:53
Speaker 1: list was if Aj Green got played. But you can
17:55
Speaker 1: say that every team can say every week, jeez, we're
17:57
Speaker 1: missing a great player, but they aren't missing their best
18:00
Speaker 1: offensive player in that football game. What would have happened
18:03
Speaker 1: if Aj Green, John Ross, Tyler Boyd were in that
18:06
Speaker 1: game together against Seattle the way they decided to line
18:09
Speaker 1: up and stop the run. In my mind, the biggest
18:12
Speaker 1: reason that Pete Carroll did what he did is because
18:15
Speaker 1: aj Green wasn't in the game. You said, your best
18:18
Speaker 1: pass threat is on the sidelines. I'm gonna put the
18:21
Speaker 1: load the box up and say go ahead and beat
18:24
Speaker 1: us throwing the football with the guys remaining if you
18:26
Speaker 1: can almost pulled it off. But I think it's sound
18:31
Speaker 1: thought processed by Pete Carroll. You know you're missing your
18:34
Speaker 1: best weapon, and man, when he comes back showing what
18:38
Speaker 1: the other two have shown Nay can do, we'll see.
18:42
Speaker 1: Let's talk about Sam Hubbard. He was in the game
18:44
Speaker 1: for forty three snaps, ten tackles, two sacks, two other
18:49
Speaker 1: quarterback hits. Is Sam Hubbard a budding start? I think
18:53
Speaker 1: he is because of I mean, he's talented physically, but
19:01
Speaker 1: it's tenfold because of the way he goes. I mean
19:04
Speaker 1: he plays so hard. When you watch him every snap
19:07
Speaker 1: in practice, he's going like like his hair's on fire.
19:10
Speaker 1: And that's the way he played in the football game.
19:12
Speaker 1: I thought. One of the biggest tributes that I saw
19:16
Speaker 1: in training camp to Sam Hubbard, Nick Eason said to
19:20
Speaker 1: a rookie defensive lineman. He pulled the rookie defensive lineman
19:23
Speaker 1: over to him and he said, look, if you want
19:25
Speaker 1: to make it in the National Football League. Do what
19:27
Speaker 1: that guy's doing. He pointed to Sam Hubbard. He said,
19:30
Speaker 1: emulate him. Do everything he does. What he does in
19:34
Speaker 1: the classroom, what he does in the locker room, what
19:36
Speaker 1: he does in the football field. Do what that guy does.
19:39
Speaker 1: That's that speaks volumes when you when you have your coach,
19:42
Speaker 1: you know, buying in like that. And I think I
19:44
Speaker 1: think it's teammates. His teammates respect it, and he's starting
19:48
Speaker 1: to bring other guys with him. Other guys are starting
19:51
Speaker 1: to move and hustle like Sam Hubbard is, And that's
19:53
Speaker 1: that's a contagious thing. The Bengals host the San Francisco
19:57
Speaker 1: forty nine ers this week, lap led by quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo,
20:00
Speaker 1: who is nine and two in eleven NFL starts, including
20:04
Speaker 1: a win last week at Tampa Bay, but he looked
20:07
Speaker 1: a little bit shaky coming back from ACL surgery. The
20:10
Speaker 1: Bengals catching Jimmy Garoppolo at a good time, you know,
20:14
Speaker 1: when you look at it, dan eleven starts, I mean
20:17
Speaker 1: that's really virtually a first year quarterback. I mean he's,
20:20
Speaker 1: you know, seven, this is seventh year. I think there's
20:22
Speaker 1: a sixty or something like that. Jimmy g has been
20:24
Speaker 1: around a while, but of course he was the backup
20:26
Speaker 1: to Don Brady forever, so you're not gonna get any
20:28
Speaker 1: snaps over there. He's just over eight hundred snaps in
20:33
Speaker 1: his career as a starting quarterback, so he's just scratching
20:36
Speaker 1: the service. He had that five and old run and
20:38
Speaker 1: got a ton of money, you know, because of that.
20:40
Speaker 1: But I think, you know, I know, they like him
20:44
Speaker 1: in close games. They're four and three and old with
20:47
Speaker 1: him in games that they've won by four points or less,
20:50
Speaker 1: and they're one and nine without him in the same
20:52
Speaker 1: situation games four points or less. So they believe in him,
20:56
Speaker 1: you know, as a quarterback, and I think he is
20:58
Speaker 1: a you know, an excellent quarter back. But I'll tell
21:01
Speaker 1: you what if lou Anna Rumu comes up with something
21:04
Speaker 1: similar to what he came up with to frustrate Russell Wilson,
21:08
Speaker 1: I think Jimmy Garoppolo can be had in terms of
21:11
Speaker 1: you know, now you see me, now you don't, that's
21:13
Speaker 1: not really what you're looking at. And I think it's
21:15
Speaker 1: gonna be interesting to see what lou does. What the
21:17
Speaker 1: next step. When you do something like you did in Seattle,
21:20
Speaker 1: you have to have the step two, step three, step
21:22
Speaker 1: four because they have tape on it. Now, obviously you
21:25
Speaker 1: can't do the same thing. You don't have to tweak
21:27
Speaker 1: it and fine tune it. And that's what the forty
21:29
Speaker 1: nine is are trying to figure out now. For Jimmy
21:30
Speaker 1: g they use the fullback more than any other NFL team.
21:35
Speaker 1: That used to be the norm. Now most teams don't
21:37
Speaker 1: even carry one because it's unusual. How much of a
21:40
Speaker 1: problem does it present, Yeah, it's you do have to
21:43
Speaker 1: you do have to factor it in. It's it's the
21:45
Speaker 1: West Coast offense, you know, in the West Coast offense,
21:48
Speaker 1: throw us to the fullback. You know, I remember the
21:50
Speaker 1: first time we faked the ball to the fullback then
21:53
Speaker 1: threw it to him. Defenses couldn't believe it. You know.
21:55
Speaker 1: It's like, okay, well it's a fake to him, so
21:57
Speaker 1: you know we're gonna we don't have to worry about him. Well, shoot,
22:00
Speaker 1: he's a receiver. And uh the fullback plays a big
22:03
Speaker 1: role in the West Coast style of things. And Shanahan,
22:07
Speaker 1: I think is a big believer, you know, in the
22:09
Speaker 1: West Coast offense, and uh, yeah, it does. It changes
22:13
Speaker 1: it changes your approach how you handle how you handle,
22:16
Speaker 1: you know, the running game. Let's see what kind of
22:18
Speaker 1: adjustments lu and A Rumu makes in terms of personnel configurations, formations,
22:22
Speaker 1: all those all those sorts of things. And the other
22:25
Speaker 1: thing that Luke Ruma has to concern himself with is
22:28
Speaker 1: Kyle Shanahan is regarded and rightfully so, is one of
22:32
Speaker 1: the best in the league at getting separation for players
22:36
Speaker 1: because of scheme, not because of physical ability. He schemes
22:40
Speaker 1: up guys that are just wide open and he finds
22:44
Speaker 1: he finds weaknesses and defensive coverages that he utilizes. And
22:47
Speaker 1: it's not like guys are blowing assignments. He just finds, uh,
22:52
Speaker 1: you know, zones areas to take advantage of by film
22:54
Speaker 1: study and run a round combination. Accordingly, he's very very
22:59
Speaker 1: clever with that. A year ago, at this time, we
23:01
Speaker 1: would have had a hard time identifying who George Kittle was.
23:05
Speaker 1: He set the NFL record for yards receiving yards by
23:08
Speaker 1: a tight end last year one three hundred and seventy seven.
23:11
Speaker 1: He had two ten and a half against the Denver
23:14
Speaker 1: Broncos last year. What stands out when you watched George Kittle?
23:18
Speaker 1: I like his chips, Oh no, that's Kettle. But Kitt Kittle,
23:22
Speaker 1: Kittle is I mean, the guy. Here's a fifth round
23:24
Speaker 1: pick out of Iowa that has just I mean and
23:28
Speaker 1: the thing that impressed me the most, he had more
23:31
Speaker 1: receiving yards than any tight end in NFL history. Like
23:33
Speaker 1: you said, three different quarterbacks, three different quarterbacks thrown in
23:38
Speaker 1: the football. That's not that's not you know, the easiest
23:41
Speaker 1: thing to do. But the one thing that you realize
23:44
Speaker 1: is every single one of them said, I gotta find
23:47
Speaker 1: that guy. George Kittle became the primary no matter who
23:50
Speaker 1: the quarterback was in the progression. Kittle was like and
23:54
Speaker 1: Kyle Shanahan realized what he had with Kittle and he
23:58
Speaker 1: became a focal point in the progres of the routes. So, um, yeah,
24:02
Speaker 1: he's he's somebody you know that in the tight ends
24:06
Speaker 1: that are in the league now, they're they're too big
24:08
Speaker 1: for defensive backs. You know, they have too big a
24:10
Speaker 1: catching radius, too big a body, they can win the
24:12
Speaker 1: contested catches, and they're too fast for linebackers. So Kittle,
24:16
Speaker 1: Kittle falls into that department, and uh, you know you're
24:18
Speaker 1: gonna have to a lot of a lot of teams
24:20
Speaker 1: bracket him they'll bracket him with a with a linebacker
24:23
Speaker 1: and a safety, you know, a corner and a linebacker.
24:25
Speaker 1: If it's if it's nickel package, even they'll detach him
24:28
Speaker 1: and they'll they'll you know, have two defensive backs on him.
24:32
Speaker 1: You know, from time to time, Kittle's the guy that
24:34
Speaker 1: you have to look where he is in the formation
24:36
Speaker 1: and account for him. There's no question about it. Lap
24:39
Speaker 1: The San Francisco forty nine Ers defense forced four turnovers
24:42
Speaker 1: last week and a win at Tampa Bay after coming
24:45
Speaker 1: away with seven takeaways all of last year as a team,
24:50
Speaker 1: they had two interceptions all year. Last year, they had
24:54
Speaker 1: two pick sixes off Jamis Winston last week. How good
24:57
Speaker 1: is this forty nine ers d It's a heck of
25:00
Speaker 1: a lot better, I think last year Dan as you
25:02
Speaker 1: as you mentioned they had two interceptions, dead last in league,
25:05
Speaker 1: fifty five return yards, tied for worse than the league.
25:08
Speaker 1: In Week one, they had three interceptions, two of them
25:10
Speaker 1: would pick sixes for fifty seven yards. They've already returned
25:14
Speaker 1: interceptions for more yards than they did, you know, all
25:16
Speaker 1: of last season. Richard Sherman had one. That's you know,
25:20
Speaker 1: that's not a surprise, but I think it starts up front.
25:23
Speaker 1: You know, they traded, they traded for d Ford. They've
25:26
Speaker 1: got Armstead partner had twelve sacks last year. They draft
25:29
Speaker 1: Nick Boza, so they've got guys that can pressure the quarterback.
25:33
Speaker 1: And that's where it starts. Witherspoon, each cornerback had to
25:38
Speaker 1: pick six. Sherman had one, Witherspoon had one. So I
25:41
Speaker 1: think it starts with good pressure. And Jamis Winston has
25:44
Speaker 1: a p pensili to throw him. Let's face it, I
25:46
Speaker 1: mean he is He's to pick six king. I think
25:49
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton will take better care of the football, particularly
25:51
Speaker 1: you know, at home, although Winston was at home and
25:55
Speaker 1: everybody's tearing their hair out. I'm sher in Tampa Bay.
25:58
Speaker 1: But this defense is something to you know, concern yourself with.
26:02
Speaker 1: You have to, uh, you know, be very careful with
26:05
Speaker 1: the football, but you don't want to um get to
26:08
Speaker 1: the point where you're afraid to take a chance on
26:10
Speaker 1: a big play. But you want to try to make
26:12
Speaker 1: the big play and avoid the big mistake, that's for sure.
26:14
Speaker 1: Let's wrap up with your keys to the game. Keys
26:18
Speaker 1: to the game. Well, the first first key is the
26:21
Speaker 1: number fifteen, and that's because the Bengals left fifteen points
26:24
Speaker 1: on the on the on the field. In the red zone.
26:26
Speaker 1: They're o for three in the red zone. They're o
26:29
Speaker 1: for one in goal to go situations. Um, they had
26:32
Speaker 1: two field goals in Andy Dalton's fumble, So that's twenty
26:36
Speaker 1: one potential points and they get six of them. The
26:38
Speaker 1: other side of it, you know, Seattle is two for two.
26:42
Speaker 1: They had fourteen points possible and they got them all
26:44
Speaker 1: and they were one for one for one in the
26:46
Speaker 1: in the first and goal situation. So in the compressed,
26:49
Speaker 1: condensed field there they made more plays, they were more physical,
26:53
Speaker 1: they got it done. The Bengals have to do a
26:54
Speaker 1: better job in the red zone. And h minus two
26:57
Speaker 1: is another key. And that's what the Bengals were in
26:59
Speaker 1: the turnover of French Although the last turnover wasn't they
27:02
Speaker 1: called a fumble on Andy Dalton. That was bogus, that
27:05
Speaker 1: was an incomplete pass. But they were still minus in
27:07
Speaker 1: the turnover department. And you know, they only had one
27:11
Speaker 1: takeaway San Francisco, four takes, two gives. Two of their
27:14
Speaker 1: takes were pick sixes. Three of the four takes were
27:18
Speaker 1: interceptions two or pick sixes. Last year they had two
27:21
Speaker 1: interceptions on the season they had. They got three in
27:24
Speaker 1: the first game. They got more than they had all
27:26
Speaker 1: year last year. So they only had seven takeaways and
27:29
Speaker 1: they got four in this football game. So the Bengals
27:31
Speaker 1: are gonna have to have to mind their p's and ques.
27:34
Speaker 1: In terms of taking care of the football. Forty nine
27:37
Speaker 1: is a staggering minus twenty five. The turnover department Seattle
27:40
Speaker 1: was plus fifteen. They led the league the last week's
27:43
Speaker 1: upon it. This week's upon it was minus twenty five,
27:45
Speaker 1: worse than the league. And then defense, like we talked
27:48
Speaker 1: about Dan, you know, forty six or the forty nine
27:50
Speaker 1: plays the defense handled brilliantly. They got one hundred and
27:53
Speaker 1: twenty six yards on forty six of the plays, two
27:56
Speaker 1: point seven yards of play. Loui ana Una did a
27:58
Speaker 1: great job of mixing five defensive lineman sixty b s
28:01
Speaker 1: three of them sometimes with safeties. You know, they had
28:04
Speaker 1: a forty eight yard and forty four yard pass plays
28:06
Speaker 1: to forty fourty yard for a touchdown, third and one
28:08
Speaker 1: Carson squeaked out for twenty one yards. But you can't
28:12
Speaker 1: take those three plays a way. But forty six plays
28:15
Speaker 1: to hold an NFL offense run by Russell Wilson to
28:18
Speaker 1: two point seven yards of play. That dog will hunt Man.
28:21
Speaker 1: They're gonna win football games. They keep doing that. The
28:24
Speaker 1: website Pro Football Focus, which is based in downtown Cincinnati,
28:28
Speaker 1: grades every NFL player on every play in every game,
28:32
Speaker 1: and each week they come out with a Team of
28:35
Speaker 1: the Week made up of the highest graded players at
28:38
Speaker 1: every position. Four Bengals made it in Week one. Let's
28:43
Speaker 1: start with Sam Hubbard, who had two sacks, two additional
28:45
Speaker 1: quarterback hits, and finished with ten tackles. He was the
28:49
Speaker 1: only defensive lineman in the NFL with double digit tackles
28:53
Speaker 1: in Week one. Geno Atkins also made it as one
28:56
Speaker 1: of two interior defensive linemen along with Grady Jared of
29:00
Speaker 1: the Falcons. Although it's interesting to note that Andrew Billings
29:04
Speaker 1: of the Bengals got an even higher grade than Atkins.
29:09
Speaker 1: The fact that Gino is in for twice as many
29:11
Speaker 1: snaps as Billings probably explains why Atkins made the Team
29:15
Speaker 1: of the Week instead of his Bengals teammate. Punter Kevin
29:19
Speaker 1: Huber also made it. The hang time on Kevin's four
29:23
Speaker 1: punds averaged four point five one seconds. The final Bengals
29:28
Speaker 1: player on the Team of the Week was a surprise
29:31
Speaker 1: center Trey Hopkins. According to Pro Football Focus, he only
29:34
Speaker 1: allowed one hurry in fifty nine pass blocking snaps and
29:40
Speaker 1: also had the highest grade of any center on run
29:42
Speaker 1: blocking plays. I talked to Trey about that and much more.
29:47
Speaker 1: We're in the locker room with Bengals center Trey Hopkins,
29:49
Speaker 1: the number one ranked center in the NFL after one
29:53
Speaker 1: week according to Pro Football Focus. I assume you saw that.
29:57
Speaker 1: What was your reaction. Yeah, I got a couple of
29:59
Speaker 1: songs calls from people. Um, it was shocking. I mean,
30:03
Speaker 1: I felt like I played a pretty good game. Um,
30:06
Speaker 1: let other people notice what you know. It's one of
30:08
Speaker 1: the things where to be to be said, as you
30:10
Speaker 1: did so great and know exactly what you have to fix.
30:13
Speaker 1: It's like it's like there's still so much room for improvement.
30:15
Speaker 1: So that's kind of what you have to look forward.
30:16
Speaker 1: So you can't can't take the cheese. Say, you know,
30:21
Speaker 1: are you your own harshest critic? One one hundred percent?
30:25
Speaker 1: I think I think that's most guys in this locker
30:27
Speaker 1: room got. I think that's what gets you to this
30:29
Speaker 1: level as being your harshest critic because people don't pat
30:31
Speaker 1: you on the back all the time, but you have
30:34
Speaker 1: to realize that it's it's a lot of football. When
30:36
Speaker 1: you play you fifteen more regular season games, and I
30:40
Speaker 1: mean you have to be you have to be improving
30:42
Speaker 1: it each and every week. You can't. You can't fall
30:45
Speaker 1: back and say, Okay, I had a pretty good game,
30:46
Speaker 1: so let so I must have reached it. No, it's
30:49
Speaker 1: been one week and there was so much more to
30:51
Speaker 1: fix in that game. You know, we're talking to Trey Hopkins.
30:55
Speaker 1: Let's talk about how you guys handle the noise in
30:57
Speaker 1: Seattle because there were no false starts and I think
31:00
Speaker 1: someday my hearing loss will be traced to that game.
31:03
Speaker 1: It was so loud. Who deserves the credit? I think everybody,
31:07
Speaker 1: I really do. I think starting with coach which Coach
31:10
Speaker 1: Taylor and Coach Turners. I mean, since since we showed
31:13
Speaker 1: up in OCAs, we've been working at snap count, even
31:15
Speaker 1: not even having to use it, but each and every
31:18
Speaker 1: day walking to that Olan ring, Coach Turners just going
31:20
Speaker 1: through the snapgounts, hammering the snap count stuff, you know,
31:23
Speaker 1: each and every meeting. So it's it's really everybody on
31:26
Speaker 1: the offense. It's put in a lot of time on
31:28
Speaker 1: just nailing down the snapgount. That's that's one big advantage
31:31
Speaker 1: we have and we have to take full advantage of it.
31:33
Speaker 1: And you didn't do the same thing every time, which
31:36
Speaker 1: I found interesting. Yeah, Yeah, that's that's another part of it.
31:39
Speaker 1: We have to we have to be able to use
31:40
Speaker 1: multiple things, because again, you can't let a defense tee
31:43
Speaker 1: off on you and get into the same rhythm as you.
31:45
Speaker 1: You have to use it as an advantage. Talking to
31:48
Speaker 1: Trey Hopkins, over the last few years, you've started left guard,
31:51
Speaker 1: right guard, and center. What's the hardest thing about moving
31:54
Speaker 1: from spot to spot to spot. I don't I don't
31:58
Speaker 1: think there's there's one hard this thing. It's it's kind
32:01
Speaker 1: of just a mindset you have to have of Okay,
32:03
Speaker 1: I have to be I guess you could say this hard.
32:06
Speaker 1: Then you just have to be ready to play all
32:08
Speaker 1: the slots, I guess is the thing. You can't ever
32:11
Speaker 1: just focus in and being like okay when coaches giving
32:13
Speaker 1: out notes in the meeting, I can't just only right
32:15
Speaker 1: down left guard notes or only right down right garden.
32:18
Speaker 1: You have to know each and every person's responsibility and
32:21
Speaker 1: the corrections that they might get and you're not even
32:24
Speaker 1: playing that position just because you never know when you'll
32:26
Speaker 1: get thrown into a different in a different spot and
32:28
Speaker 1: you're expected to perform well. When you showed up for
32:31
Speaker 1: the off season program with a new coaching staff, did
32:33
Speaker 1: you go into it with a mindset that the slate
32:36
Speaker 1: ist clean, the best man will win the job. Um.
32:39
Speaker 1: I mean, I think you always hear that another year,
32:42
Speaker 1: that each and every year, but I mean this is
32:45
Speaker 1: the first year. I guess we actually kind of saw
32:47
Speaker 1: it and and my mindset coming into the off season,
32:52
Speaker 1: coming from all season was just the same one I
32:55
Speaker 1: have every year. Is I mean, I put in the
32:56
Speaker 1: work during the off season, during the months that we
32:58
Speaker 1: were off, and now it's just it's just up to
33:00
Speaker 1: me to just put it all out there and let
33:02
Speaker 1: the chips fall where they may. And this year they
33:04
Speaker 1: feel in my favor and it's gotta take advantage of it.
33:07
Speaker 1: Let's talk a little bit about the forty nine ers.
33:09
Speaker 1: They traded Ford Ford, they drafted Nick Posa's second overall.
33:13
Speaker 1: They've got DeForrest Buckner in the middle of had twelve
33:16
Speaker 1: sacks last year. When I watched a little of their
33:18
Speaker 1: game against Tampa Bay last week. Those guys were all
33:22
Speaker 1: over Jameis Winston. What stood out to you? They definitely
33:25
Speaker 1: invested in the past rush and they definitely have it.
33:27
Speaker 1: Those guys are quick up the field. Everybody is up
33:29
Speaker 1: the field, fast, quick twitch, explosive guys, and it's gonna
33:33
Speaker 1: be a it's gonna be another rough game for us
33:35
Speaker 1: up front. I mean, we've gotta we've gotta be stout,
33:37
Speaker 1: We've got to be quick with our feet and get
33:40
Speaker 1: in front of those guys and really hunker those guys
33:42
Speaker 1: down because they definitely have talent the front. I got
33:45
Speaker 1: the sense before the Seattle game that you guys were
33:47
Speaker 1: really confident. Now, I wonder, based on how you dominated statistically,
33:51
Speaker 1: if that confidence becomes belief that this team is as
33:55
Speaker 1: good as you were hoping it might be. I definitely
33:57
Speaker 1: think so, and that that's just a reflection of coach Taylor,
34:00
Speaker 1: just the confidence he has and and everybody I think
34:03
Speaker 1: over OTAs and through the prison Campbell's really bought in.
34:06
Speaker 1: We we believe in what we're doing. We've seen the
34:09
Speaker 1: success of it, and we and we expect success. And
34:12
Speaker 1: we're also willing and able and eager to put in
34:15
Speaker 1: the work to ensure the success. I think it's the
34:17
Speaker 1: biggest thing and and so you know, I'm excited to
34:20
Speaker 1: see what this year brings for us. I think it'll
34:22
Speaker 1: be some great things. Last thing, were you really a
34:26
Speaker 1: substitute teacher in the off season? Yeah? Yeah, I was
34:30
Speaker 1: in um Ohio Preparatory School off of Cole rang Sti
34:34
Speaker 1: of Ohio prep Um taught math and science for the
34:38
Speaker 1: moth of January. So that was that was a cool experience,
34:42
Speaker 1: just being with some some middle schoolers there. Did you
34:45
Speaker 1: tell the guys or kids that you're an NFL player?
34:48
Speaker 1: Did you let them figure it out? Yeah? They knew it,
34:50
Speaker 1: and I just I just don't think some of them,
34:52
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure just didn't believe me at first until
34:54
Speaker 1: some of the basketball kids came in and and we're like, yeah,
34:57
Speaker 1: we went and look you up, and then everybody started
34:59
Speaker 1: to believe me, and it became a little bit more
35:02
Speaker 1: of a thing. But yeah, I let him no day one.
35:04
Speaker 1: But it's one of those things, and you don't listen
35:06
Speaker 1: to the subsuit teacher when they're introducing the stuff one
35:08
Speaker 1: day one. I don't expect to be any different now.
35:11
Speaker 1: But but I had a great time. I had a
35:13
Speaker 1: great time. I love the school, i love the faculty
35:15
Speaker 1: and the experience, and I'm just really grateful for the principal,
35:18
Speaker 1: their principal best for giving me the opportunity. I've got
35:22
Speaker 1: an eighth grader at Walnut Hills. Are you available as
35:25
Speaker 1: a math tutor? If I need you, I can I
35:28
Speaker 1: pay you a few extra bucks, sir. Bring it on.
35:30
Speaker 1: I think I think I remember right, very man. Best
35:33
Speaker 1: of luck this week. Thank you. That's Trey Hopkins. Despite
35:37
Speaker 1: my generous offer of a paid tutoring gig, Trey is
35:40
Speaker 1: doing just fine financially. The Bengals used the second round
35:44
Speaker 1: tender to hold on to him as a restricted free
35:47
Speaker 1: agent this offseason, meaning the fourth year pro who was
35:50
Speaker 1: undrafted coming out of the University of Texas will make
35:54
Speaker 1: more than three million dollars this season. Now time for
35:57
Speaker 1: this week's Know the Faux segment, as we'd do a
36:00
Speaker 1: deep dive into the Bengals upcoming opponent with somebody that
36:04
Speaker 1: knows the team. This week, it's the forty nine Ers
36:07
Speaker 1: radio play by play man Greg Poppa, who was one
36:10
Speaker 1: year ahead of me at Syracuse University and was one
36:13
Speaker 1: of my biggest mentors as a sophomore at Syracuse. Greg
36:17
Speaker 1: didn't sound like a college dude, and he sounded like
36:20
Speaker 1: a pro. And over the years he has become a
36:22
Speaker 1: legend in the Bay Area, where at various times he
36:25
Speaker 1: has been the voice of the Oakland Raiders, the Oakland Days,
36:29
Speaker 1: the Golden State Warriors, the San Francisco Giants, and now
36:33
Speaker 1: the forty nine Ers. Greg joined Dave Lapham and me
36:36
Speaker 1: on the Bengals Game Plan Show, and we started our
36:39
Speaker 1: conversation by discussing that impressive resume. I've lost all those
36:45
Speaker 1: jobs staying over the years. I think I worked for
36:48
Speaker 1: everybody in child. Oh wait a minute, you're making this
36:51
Speaker 1: sound like you're a freshman and I was a senior.
36:54
Speaker 1: I think. I think technically you're older than me, so
36:57
Speaker 1: ill you're my mentor. I don't know what talking about. Well,
37:01
Speaker 1: I may look at you're only one year older than me,
37:04
Speaker 1: so I guess I shouldn't clarify. But your first job
37:07
Speaker 1: out of college was voice of the Indiana Pacers. Wow,
37:10
Speaker 1: So that indicates how advanced you were as a college student.
37:15
Speaker 1: That certainly helped my father on the team. That was good.
37:20
Speaker 1: But how are you David good account? He's like an
37:22
Speaker 1: all Orange Reunion to day. I'm looking forward. How about
37:25
Speaker 1: that great? Yeah? How school of communication we've all done?
37:30
Speaker 1: All right, let's talk about the matchup this Sunday at
37:33
Speaker 1: Paul Brown Stadium. I was watching the forty nine ers
37:36
Speaker 1: game against Tampa Bay Buccaneers last Sunday. Your pass rush
37:40
Speaker 1: is legit. They had a DFOD, they drafted Nick Bosa,
37:44
Speaker 1: and they were all over Jameis Winston in that game.
37:49
Speaker 1: Is that the strength of the team, without question, That
37:52
Speaker 1: is the identity of the twenty nineteen San Francisco forty
37:56
Speaker 1: nine erstand I saw d Ford obviously all my years
37:59
Speaker 1: with the Raiders in the AFC West, and it's even
38:02
Speaker 1: more you know David, you see him get down to
38:04
Speaker 1: that four point stand and not do it standing up
38:07
Speaker 1: like he did in Kansas City. And I was when
38:09
Speaker 1: I saw him do it, because he didn't he didn't
38:10
Speaker 1: do anything in the preseason. He had a PRP injection,
38:13
Speaker 1: he little leetzendonitis, and then right before the start of
38:16
Speaker 1: the first game they activated and I saw him in
38:19
Speaker 1: that four point stands and I said, man, you were
38:21
Speaker 1: fast and chard the city. Now you're just looking at
38:24
Speaker 1: track Star and he said he actually was at the
38:26
Speaker 1: four point stands in high school, in college, and he
38:29
Speaker 1: got to Kansas City and Coach Sutton set him up,
38:32
Speaker 1: so he is just so fast. I von Miller's got
38:35
Speaker 1: an incredibly fast first step, but I think a lot
38:38
Speaker 1: of it is drawn anticipates the stamp count DEALI lineup
38:42
Speaker 1: off sides a little bit too much like he did
38:44
Speaker 1: in the AFC title game last year. Again the basic it.
38:46
Speaker 1: But when he gets to get off, he's a track star.
38:49
Speaker 1: And then Nick on the other side, he reminds me
38:52
Speaker 1: so much of his brother, and I think he may
38:54
Speaker 1: even be better. And then he got to Forest Buckner
38:57
Speaker 1: inside Dan twelve Sacks and Eric arms and they're deep.
39:00
Speaker 1: They got five former number one drafts to their D
39:04
Speaker 1: line when you include Solomon Thomas, and when they they
39:07
Speaker 1: got you know, Sheldon Day is a good player in
39:08
Speaker 1: DJ Jones and Ronald Blair. But when they when they
39:12
Speaker 1: have D four to one end and Nick bo sat
39:14
Speaker 1: the other and the two I call him the tall
39:16
Speaker 1: trees from Oregon DeForrest Buckner and Eric Armstead inside those
39:20
Speaker 1: guys are like six seven sixty eight. It is really impressive.
39:25
Speaker 1: So your offensive line is gonna have to be ready
39:27
Speaker 1: on Sunday. Yeah, and I also saw we were doing
39:29
Speaker 1: some tape for our website showing some plays of the
39:32
Speaker 1: forty nine ers. They had Buckner out at defensive end
39:36
Speaker 1: and they kicked both inside at defensive tackle, and you know,
39:40
Speaker 1: he was basically an offset Knows on the other side
39:43
Speaker 1: of the formation away from Buckner. They ran a little twist.
39:46
Speaker 1: It was on the interception one of the pick sixes
39:48
Speaker 1: that Winston had. Yeah, they'll they'll transpose, they'll they'll interchange
39:52
Speaker 1: these great pass rushers and see who's who's the best
39:56
Speaker 1: matchup for him, right, I mean I can beat this
39:58
Speaker 1: guy easier, I could beat that guy kind of thing. Yeah,
40:00
Speaker 1: the one you're talking about was the screen at the
40:02
Speaker 1: end of the game. Was that screen and they Yeah,
40:05
Speaker 1: they lined up Nick inside. Nick is a powerful guy,
40:07
Speaker 1: like his brother Joey Dan. He could easily line up
40:10
Speaker 1: inside and they could put Armstead outside. And if you
40:13
Speaker 1: notice on one snap they had d Ford up at
40:17
Speaker 1: a two point and he lined up over a guard.
40:19
Speaker 1: I mean you could move them all around. So I mean,
40:22
Speaker 1: in theory, forward and Boss are your edge guys, and
40:25
Speaker 1: Buckner and Armstead are inside. But they both got skills
40:28
Speaker 1: to move all over the front. So uh. And then
40:30
Speaker 1: if you also notice on Richard Sherman's pick six that
40:34
Speaker 1: was his own blitz. They dropped Solomon Thomas back, so
40:37
Speaker 1: they'll you know, they'll play with a little bit and
40:39
Speaker 1: they're their dreads. They're not playing as much covered three,
40:42
Speaker 1: a little more covered two on Sunday. So this defense,
40:45
Speaker 1: which was not very good last year, and I'm being
40:47
Speaker 1: kind and Jamis is he's not a great player right now.
40:51
Speaker 1: We'll see what he can do the rest of the
40:52
Speaker 1: year and Andy will be more you know, clued in.
40:54
Speaker 1: But this defense looks pretty good one game out, there's
40:57
Speaker 1: no question. So last year only two interceptions, seven total
41:01
Speaker 1: takeaways that had to be crazy, no interception by cornerbacks,
41:05
Speaker 1: and this opener you get three interceptions, two pick six
41:08
Speaker 1: is by cornerbacks, So I mean I was destroyed that already. Um.
41:13
Speaker 1: And then Ford, like you mentioned Ford, this guy nine
41:17
Speaker 1: forced fumbles since two thy seventeen. The only guy that's
41:20
Speaker 1: got more as Aaron Donald, and he's forced in twenty
41:25
Speaker 1: and eighteen. He forced seven turnovers from pressure, seven turnovers himself.
41:31
Speaker 1: The forty nine Ers had seven turnovers as a team.
41:33
Speaker 1: So I mean getting a guy like that. I mean,
41:35
Speaker 1: it's like, that's that's incredible. I mean, one by trade,
41:38
Speaker 1: one by drafty they've done a good job of loading
41:41
Speaker 1: it up front and they spend it a lot, you know,
41:44
Speaker 1: to Nick to use the second pick overall the draft,
41:47
Speaker 1: and then you get d They traded their second round
41:49
Speaker 1: pick next year, right and Justin Houston was sitting out there.
41:52
Speaker 1: They couldn't have bought him, but they wanted d Ford.
41:55
Speaker 1: And as far as what you going to get the ball,
41:57
Speaker 1: you know, in the AFC West, I saw Kalil Mack's
42:01
Speaker 1: Defensive Player of the year's season in twenty sixteen, and
42:04
Speaker 1: when Vaughn Miller, you know what these guys are doing, Dave.
42:07
Speaker 1: They're not trying to sack the quarterback. They're trying to
42:10
Speaker 1: sack the football. They're going specifically for the ball. And
42:13
Speaker 1: I've talked to d about it. Look at the ball.
42:15
Speaker 1: Look at the sack he got on Jamis. He was
42:18
Speaker 1: just going for the ball. He was reaching. So if
42:21
Speaker 1: you don't put two hands on the ball, you know
42:23
Speaker 1: they're gonna go get the ball. Because when they know
42:25
Speaker 1: you want the sack, that the ultimate thing is the
42:27
Speaker 1: hat trick, the strip sack. And if you force the
42:30
Speaker 1: fumble right out of the quarterback, sayings you got two there,
42:33
Speaker 1: and then you want to go over cover the fumble
42:34
Speaker 1: to get the hat trick. Yep. Great radio voice of
42:37
Speaker 1: the forty nine is Greg Poppa is our guest. Let's
42:39
Speaker 1: talk about Jimmy Garoppolo. All he does is win nine
42:42
Speaker 1: and two and eleven NFL starts. But he didn't look
42:45
Speaker 1: great last week. One hundred and sixty six passing yards
42:48
Speaker 1: in the game. Is it just rust and dust as
42:51
Speaker 1: he comes back from the torn acl Yes, I think
42:54
Speaker 1: his rhythm is totally off and he's just not played
42:56
Speaker 1: a lot of football. Then he only had ten starts
42:59
Speaker 1: coming into the year. He had those two and New England.
43:01
Speaker 1: It really was one and a half. He played so well.
43:04
Speaker 1: He was supposed to play four when Brady got top
43:06
Speaker 1: for the Bogus to play game. But he had a
43:09
Speaker 1: great first game, came back and beat Arizona on the
43:11
Speaker 1: road and at Sunday night, and then he had an
43:13
Speaker 1: amazing game against Miami, but he held the ball too
43:16
Speaker 1: long one play, Kolonzo lit him up and he heard
43:19
Speaker 1: his shoulder and he lost that job. The set took
43:21
Speaker 1: over and then he had the five stats tier at
43:24
Speaker 1: the end of seventeen where they traded for him. But
43:25
Speaker 1: that year they kind of just simplified the offense and
43:30
Speaker 1: kind of let him run what he could run. It
43:32
Speaker 1: wasn't a full game plan. And then last year he
43:34
Speaker 1: got hurt you Week three in Kansas City at the end.
43:37
Speaker 1: So he's just not played enough during the off season
43:40
Speaker 1: because he had the surgery on the knee in early October,
43:45
Speaker 1: they didn't clear him. He was just doing seven on seven.
43:47
Speaker 1: He didn't really get you know, eleven on eleven until
43:50
Speaker 1: training camp and he had the one bad preseason game
43:53
Speaker 1: in Denver. He bounced back and played a good half
43:55
Speaker 1: in Kansas City. But there's going to be a point
43:57
Speaker 1: where he's going to get his rhythm. It's just not
43:59
Speaker 1: there yet. So but their defense is strong and they
44:03
Speaker 1: were able to win on Sunday. To spot, he made
44:05
Speaker 1: a couple of big rows. The one to Richie James
44:07
Speaker 1: Junor the out of the spot for the touchdown right
44:09
Speaker 1: after the half was a great throw. I think he
44:12
Speaker 1: missed like five or six pros. And when I'm seeing
44:15
Speaker 1: Jimmy when he's right is highly accurate, I mean ten
44:18
Speaker 1: point accurate. And I think he's been a little bit off.
44:22
Speaker 1: Some of it's on him and some of it is
44:24
Speaker 1: just the synchronicity with the wide receivers since he since
44:27
Speaker 1: he has missed so much time and they got young receivers.
44:29
Speaker 1: They got Marque's good when dealing Vet on this scene.
44:31
Speaker 1: The other guys are really young, Like you guys said,
44:35
Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty six yards passing the fewest passing
44:38
Speaker 1: yards in any game. That he was a starter and
44:41
Speaker 1: he had to pick six, you know, Winston had, but
44:44
Speaker 1: Jimmy Garoppolo had one as well. Tell us about that play?
44:46
Speaker 1: Was that just a misread? What happened there? That was
44:49
Speaker 1: really a bad play all the way around, And mean
44:51
Speaker 1: just inexcusable for the veteran quarterback. And I know he's young,
44:54
Speaker 1: but you know he was there with Brady and he's
44:56
Speaker 1: watched enough football, you know, being a backup. But they
44:59
Speaker 1: did motioned Kevin Coleman out and they got a matchup
45:03
Speaker 1: and Coleman, I think as an okay route runner as
45:05
Speaker 1: a back jerk. Mckinnedy's out the year is much better.
45:09
Speaker 1: But they had Colemban motioned out and Tampa played his
45:13
Speaker 1: own and they had Vernon Hargraves the corner out there,
45:16
Speaker 1: and I think Jimmy Dave read it like it was
45:18
Speaker 1: covered three. I thought he would stay on top. He
45:22
Speaker 1: had a better matchup in the slot. He had Marquis
45:24
Speaker 1: Goodwin against the linebacker. But for whatever reason, to the
45:28
Speaker 1: long side of the field, the ball was on the
45:29
Speaker 1: right Hash mark and he threw back across the entire
45:32
Speaker 1: width of the field from hash to sideline at loose
45:35
Speaker 1: and Hargraves just drove on the ball and it was
45:38
Speaker 1: in the air too wrong. And Kevin Coleman actually hurt
45:41
Speaker 1: his ankle on the first play of the game. When
45:43
Speaker 1: you watch it, I think, you know, a more experienced
45:46
Speaker 1: wide receiver or even Kevin if he's fully healthy, would
45:49
Speaker 1: have gotten back and broken that ball up, and he
45:52
Speaker 1: was late to transition and Hargraves just picked It was
45:55
Speaker 1: a bad play. I mean, it was a really bad play.
45:57
Speaker 1: But Jimmy was able to bounce back after that, making
46:00
Speaker 1: up throws to win the game. Yeah. A couple more
46:02
Speaker 1: questions for the voice of the forty nine is Greg
46:04
Speaker 1: Pop Greg, We're at a sports bar here in Cincinnati.
46:07
Speaker 1: Game on sports bar. We got a couple hundred people
46:09
Speaker 1: whether us probably a year ago at this time, there's
46:12
Speaker 1: not a person in this room that had ever heard
46:13
Speaker 1: of George Kittle, and now he might be the best
46:17
Speaker 1: tight end in the NFL. How did that happen? Well,
46:23
Speaker 1: his rookie year, he had a lot of injuries and
46:25
Speaker 1: he just played true I mean compad to, so he
46:27
Speaker 1: had everything and his numbers were modest. And then at
46:30
Speaker 1: the end of the year, Dan John Lynch the GM
46:33
Speaker 1: and Kyle Shannon had the head coach challenged him and
46:36
Speaker 1: he responded, I mean the guy ran a four to
46:39
Speaker 1: five two forty out of Iowa. The only time. I
46:42
Speaker 1: didn't know who he was at all, Like you, I
46:45
Speaker 1: was watching CJ. Betack the forty nine is rapped Bentham
46:48
Speaker 1: the third round that year, and I knew they grapped Kintle.
46:51
Speaker 1: So I mean, I'm watching the quarterback, I'll take a
46:52
Speaker 1: look at the tight end, and he was just mauling
46:55
Speaker 1: people as an inline why blocker, I mean, he's just
46:59
Speaker 1: trumping people bolt And then you know, I didn't know
47:01
Speaker 1: he ran. He ran a four or five two and
47:03
Speaker 1: he blocks like that Jesus, And he's just I don't
47:07
Speaker 1: know how if you heard interviews with him, but he
47:09
Speaker 1: is a trip. He's a little bit like grump of
47:12
Speaker 1: Youngbery's a lot of fun. He loves the game, and
47:15
Speaker 1: I think now, I mean, going into this game, Deebo,
47:18
Speaker 1: Samuel'll have a lot on his plate certainly in your game.
47:21
Speaker 1: But I'm sure you guys got to think about doubling him.
47:24
Speaker 1: I mean you gotta, really, He's the guy that Jimmy
47:26
Speaker 1: looks to, you know, like Rivers for years looks to
47:29
Speaker 1: Gates and the Homes and Alex before when things got tight,
47:33
Speaker 1: they looked at Kelsey. There's certain guys you got to
47:35
Speaker 1: look to, especially on third down. Kittle's going to be
47:39
Speaker 1: the guy. And I think, you know, with a lot
47:41
Speaker 1: of injuries in the wide receiver room, Trent Taylor's sounds
47:44
Speaker 1: the herds down, they're not going to play on Sunday.
47:47
Speaker 1: You're almost looking at George Kittle as a detatch tight
47:51
Speaker 1: end and more of a wide receiver than he is
47:53
Speaker 1: a tight end. Zach Ertz, I know, well, I actually
47:55
Speaker 1: saw him in high school play a lot of amount
47:57
Speaker 1: of mister near my home and watched him at Stanford.
48:00
Speaker 1: UH And Travis Kelson is just a great, great player,
48:03
Speaker 1: but they don't block like this guy. I think when
48:05
Speaker 1: you look at all components of tight end play. You
48:08
Speaker 1: can make the point that George is the best tight
48:10
Speaker 1: end and put football right now. Yeah, fifth round pick
48:12
Speaker 1: out of Iowa. Because you're at tight end in Iowa.
48:15
Speaker 1: You better block or you don't play. And so bobot Hopkinson, right,
48:19
Speaker 1: and that guy, I mean, it's like, Okay, well, who
48:22
Speaker 1: who's the tight end and has more receiving yards in
48:25
Speaker 1: a single season than anybody in the history of football.
48:28
Speaker 1: Oh no, not Bob Grontowski, not Gonzalez, not it's Kittle.
48:32
Speaker 1: It's not in Kittle that eight hundred and seventy yards
48:35
Speaker 1: after catch, which led the NFL any positions. So, I mean,
48:38
Speaker 1: we're watching tape and he looks faster than me than
48:41
Speaker 1: four or five too. He looks up four or five,
48:43
Speaker 1: he's pulling away five. I mean, and it's like and
48:46
Speaker 1: then and then you have a coach that can scheme
48:50
Speaker 1: guys open, so well, he's he's wide open and he flies.
48:53
Speaker 1: I mean, the guy's unbelievable. Well he's dead at Shane
48:56
Speaker 1: and Sharpe in Denver. I mean, they know what it's.
49:00
Speaker 1: You know how this thing works. It's an outside zone
49:02
Speaker 1: and all the complimentary movement off of it and they're
49:05
Speaker 1: constantly dragon tight end. But but George, she doesn't necessarily
49:09
Speaker 1: be the first reading. You know, it's a it's a
49:11
Speaker 1: layered level passing attack. He could be the second read
49:14
Speaker 1: deeper downfield. He's just a tremendous player and he's a hoot.
49:18
Speaker 1: The guy's got a great personality. I mean Jimmy because
49:21
Speaker 1: he's a star on offense, and Joe Staley and then
49:24
Speaker 1: Richard Sherman on defense. But I think it's time here.
49:28
Speaker 1: If he continues to play and he stays healthy, you know,
49:31
Speaker 1: George Kittle could be the face of this franchise. And
49:34
Speaker 1: just for the record, Greg's father did not own the
49:37
Speaker 1: Indiana Pacers. He got that job right out of college
49:40
Speaker 1: by being that good. That's going to do it for
49:44
Speaker 1: this episode of a podcast. If you haven't done so already,
49:47
Speaker 1: don't forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify,
49:51
Speaker 1: or pod Bean, and if you have a minute, please
49:54
Speaker 1: give it a rating or share a comment. Five star
49:57
Speaker 1: ratings help more Bengals fans find this p podcast. I'm
50:01
Speaker 1: Dan Horde and thank you for listening to the Bengals
50:04
Speaker 1: Booth podcast. M