Latest / Bengals Booth Podcast / Bengals Booth Podcast: Alive
Transcript
- 0:03Speaker 1: I get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
- 0:06Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The who I'm Still Alive addition,
- 0:16Speaker 1: as the Bengals looked to bounce back from last week's
- 0:19Speaker 1: disappointing loss to the Jets and had proved a six
- 0:21Speaker 1: and three overall and three and oz in the AFC
- 0:24Speaker 1: North by beating the Cleveland Browns, coming up, Dave Lapham
- 0:28Speaker 1: joins me to discuss what went wrong last week and
- 0:31Speaker 1: answer the ask lap questions you submitted on Twitter. My
- 0:35Speaker 1: one on one player interview is with Jonah Williams, who
- 0:38Speaker 1: faces the challenge of trying to block NFL sack leader
- 0:41Speaker 1: Myles Garrett. On Sunday, I'll preview the game with one
- 0:44Speaker 1: of three quarterbacks who played for both the Bengals and
- 0:47Speaker 1: the Browns, Bruce Gradkowski, and I'll also tell you who
- 0:51Speaker 1: the other two quarterbacks were. And finally, it's our No
- 0:54Speaker 1: the Faux segment, as we discussed the four and four
- 0:57Speaker 1: Cleveland Browns with long time Cleveland's sportswriter Tony Grossie. The
- 1:02Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the free
- 1:05Speaker 1: to play Next Level Fantasy Football game downloaded now from
- 1:09Speaker 1: the App Store and Google Play. And here's a quick
- 1:12Speaker 1: reminder that you can add the latest edition of this
- 1:15Speaker 1: podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by
- 1:18Speaker 1: subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing
- 1:22Speaker 1: since the Monday Night Football Manning Cast. Every Monday, I
- 1:28Speaker 1: spend my evening doing prep work on the Bengals upcoming opponent,
- 1:32Speaker 1: and the so called Manning Cast on ESPN two has
- 1:35Speaker 1: proven to be the perfect background entertainment. If you haven't
- 1:39Speaker 1: watched it yet, The Manning Cast is officially titled Monday
- 1:43Speaker 1: Night Football with Peyton and Eli, and it's an alternate
- 1:47Speaker 1: broadcast of the Monday Night football game. It's basically like
- 1:51Speaker 1: hanging out in their living room as the Manning brothers
- 1:53Speaker 1: and their guests watch the game. The football content is fine,
- 1:57Speaker 1: but the best part is listening to Peyton and e
- 2:00Speaker 1: Lie poke fun at each other. The guests this year
- 2:03Speaker 1: have included a bunch of quarterbacks, Russell Wilson, Matthew Stafford,
- 2:06Speaker 1: Tom Brady, Drew Breese, Bred Farv and most recently, Josh Allen.
- 2:10Speaker 1: I've got my fingers crossed that will get a Joe
- 2:13Speaker 1: Burrow appearance sometime soon. Now let's get to my guest list,
- 2:18Speaker 1: beginning with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham Lap. Did the
- 2:23Speaker 1: Jets provide a blueprint for the best way to attack
- 2:26Speaker 1: the Bengals defense? I think that the Bengals can make
- 2:30Speaker 1: adjustments to what they did. Dan. They gave a lot
- 2:34Speaker 1: of space. You know, they retreated, and then when things
- 2:39Speaker 1: start to go badly, when you're retreating, your instinct is
- 2:42Speaker 1: to retreat more, you know, human nature instead of I'm
- 2:46Speaker 1: not saying flight instead of fight, but I mean it's
- 2:48Speaker 1: like the last thing you want to do is, oh
- 2:50Speaker 1: my gosh, this isn't working out. They're moving the ball.
- 2:53Speaker 1: I gotta make sure they're don't throw it over my head.
- 2:55Speaker 1: So you exacerbate the problem by dropping more a defense
- 3:00Speaker 1: A coordinator who remained unnamed on this one, but he
- 3:03Speaker 1: hit a cornerback that was you know, got beat in
- 3:07Speaker 1: practice as training camp. So he kept giving space, giving space,
- 3:11Speaker 1: giving space. Defensive corners up, kicks him in the button,
- 3:14Speaker 1: pushes them up. The line of scrimmage goes, get up
- 3:16Speaker 1: and press them, don't let them get a free release
- 3:18Speaker 1: on you reround him. You're doing the opposite of what
- 3:21Speaker 1: you should be doing, and I think that's what ended
- 3:23Speaker 1: up happening in this football game. It was almost like
- 3:27Speaker 1: the human nature was the reverse of what you should
- 3:29Speaker 1: be doing. You know, your natural reaction was almost like
- 3:32Speaker 1: contrarian and because you know one thing, offensively, you want
- 3:37Speaker 1: to create space. Defensively, you want a shrink space, and
- 3:40Speaker 1: the Bengals defensively, we're helping them create space. And it
- 3:43Speaker 1: ended up kicking them in the butt and backfiring on them.
- 3:46Speaker 1: And then compound that with the fact that they didn't,
- 3:50Speaker 1: like Luna Rumo said, they block tackled, they didn't use
- 3:53Speaker 1: their arms, they never wrapped up, and fifteen broken tackles
- 3:56Speaker 1: in one football game. Over half of the offense came
- 4:01Speaker 1: as a result of, you know, yards after catch because
- 4:04Speaker 1: the space provided, or yards after contact because of mistackles. So,
- 4:09Speaker 1: speaking of lou Anna Rumo, he's done a phenomenal job
- 4:12Speaker 1: this year. He's right up there with Team MVP almost
- 4:15Speaker 1: through eight games. But I thought that they stayed with
- 4:17Speaker 1: their defensive game plan too long and didn't adjust to
- 4:21Speaker 1: what the Jets were doing. Is that fair? I mean,
- 4:23Speaker 1: I'm no experts, certainly, yeah, And I guess part of
- 4:27Speaker 1: it is my reaction would have been you know, shrink
- 4:31Speaker 1: the space, shrink the space. And maybe it was being said,
- 4:35Speaker 1: but players just weren't doing it unless you're out in
- 4:38Speaker 1: the field actually, you know, make that kind of correction.
- 4:41Speaker 1: And then you look at the tape in gosh, it's
- 4:43Speaker 1: even worse than I thought it was. And so it
- 4:46Speaker 1: was just it was one of those scenarios where I
- 4:49Speaker 1: think this is an oval simplification. But I thought out
- 4:53Speaker 1: to look at it again that m lou wanted to
- 4:56Speaker 1: to muddy up the middle of the football field. For White,
- 4:59Speaker 1: you know, did a lot of some zero stuff and
- 5:01Speaker 1: all that, and he wanted to you know, make that
- 5:03Speaker 1: like you know, rush hour traffic, not be able to
- 5:07Speaker 1: sort it out. And what Lafleur did and what White
- 5:11Speaker 1: executor was get it to perimeter, you know, to the
- 5:14Speaker 1: short passes, the screens though a lot of a lot
- 5:17Speaker 1: of routes that were to the outside, stay away from
- 5:19Speaker 1: all that stuff in the middle. I thought they had
- 5:21Speaker 1: a good game plan and they didn't have to adjust
- 5:23Speaker 1: their game plan. And the Bengals, you know, if they
- 5:27Speaker 1: did adjust, took them obviously a little bit too long
- 5:29Speaker 1: and then did not execute either the game plan or
- 5:33Speaker 1: the adjustment to the game plan well enough. I mean
- 5:36Speaker 1: the Jets made more plays. That's what it boiled down to.
- 5:39Speaker 1: And how about White, not only the yards but the
- 5:42Speaker 1: Philly special he catch us the two point conversion. I mean,
- 5:44Speaker 1: the guy's going to have a statue at the stadium.
- 5:47Speaker 1: I mean after one game, he's I know one thing,
- 5:51Speaker 1: He's not gonna be buying too many dinners or drinks
- 5:52Speaker 1: in that town, which is good considering how much they
- 5:57Speaker 1: cost to first quarter of the game, fourth and goal
- 6:00Speaker 1: from the three after the Jesse Bates interception. I don't
- 6:04Speaker 1: want a second guess just because it didn't work. But
- 6:06Speaker 1: at the time, did you agree with going for it
- 6:10Speaker 1: or would you kick the field goal? Yeah? I probably
- 6:13Speaker 1: would have put points on the board because of the
- 6:16Speaker 1: fact that, all right, I already got I already took
- 6:19Speaker 1: a hit, I already get staggers as they went right
- 6:21Speaker 1: down the field in the first drive and scored. Then
- 6:24Speaker 1: your defense makes a play and returns it a bunch
- 6:28Speaker 1: of yards, and it's rare to get tack to the
- 6:31Speaker 1: one yard line interception return. You know, it's almost amazing
- 6:36Speaker 1: that he did. That's that's just an unbelievble hustle players.
- 6:38Speaker 1: It was a seven point play, as it turned out,
- 6:41Speaker 1: But first and goal at the one you get knocked back,
- 6:44Speaker 1: two straight downs, third down, your best receiver production wise
- 6:48Speaker 1: in terms of yards and catches and touchdowns drops, the
- 6:51Speaker 1: ball gets right in the chest at that point. It's like,
- 6:54Speaker 1: it's a rocky start. Let's get something out of this.
- 6:57Speaker 1: Let's get some points on the board, you know, and
- 6:59Speaker 1: then and then okay, let's go attack again. But and
- 7:02Speaker 1: that's easy to say, hindsight is twenty twenty. But with
- 7:06Speaker 1: all the things that went on before that, I think
- 7:08Speaker 1: I would have been and we both agree, you know,
- 7:12Speaker 1: you gotta got kick it, get the points. Yeah, I
- 7:15Speaker 1: was with you at the time I take that field goal.
- 7:17Speaker 1: I want to come away with something, avoid the risk
- 7:20Speaker 1: of coming away with nothing. But it wasn't like I
- 7:23Speaker 1: felt that way ninety to ten. I felt that way,
- 7:25Speaker 1: you know, fifty three to forty seven, right right, No,
- 7:28Speaker 1: you're right, because in the competitive part of you is like,
- 7:32Speaker 1: are you kidding me? This is embarrassing, this is ridiculous.
- 7:35Speaker 1: It's the Jets, the only one, only one a game.
- 7:38Speaker 1: We gotta we gotta let's get even steven right now,
- 7:41Speaker 1: Let's establish something. I mean, I can see both ways.
- 7:45Speaker 1: I can see a case for both ways, but I've
- 7:48Speaker 1: seen particularly the way their first three downs went. Now
- 7:52Speaker 1: you expect to rise from the ashes and make something
- 7:56Speaker 1: you know, really good happen. You know, I mean the
- 7:58Speaker 1: odds say, I guess if you do analytics, if you
- 8:01Speaker 1: have three bad players or oh it's you augs, you
- 8:03Speaker 1: gonna have four in a row as opposed to have
- 8:04Speaker 1: one good one, probably favoring the one good one. I
- 8:07Speaker 1: don't know. You can analytic to death. All I know
- 8:10Speaker 1: is the Bengals took a shot to the mouth when
- 8:12Speaker 1: they went down the field and scored their first points
- 8:14Speaker 1: of the season in the first quarter. They were so
- 8:17Speaker 1: confident they wanted to toss instead of deferring. This so
- 8:19Speaker 1: we want the ball because we feel so good about
- 8:21Speaker 1: our game plan. We want the ball. They went right
- 8:24Speaker 1: down the field and scored. It's like, whoo man. Now
- 8:26Speaker 1: now it's like you get pushed off your spot here
- 8:29Speaker 1: a little bit. You got to rebalance, recompose. So those
- 8:33Speaker 1: are the reasons I would have done it. And they
- 8:35Speaker 1: still had an eleven point leading the fourth quarter, so
- 8:37Speaker 1: it's not like that decided the game. But still thought
- 8:39Speaker 1: it was worth discussing all right. So far this year,
- 8:42Speaker 1: the Bengals have scored fifty eight points in the second quarter,
- 8:46Speaker 1: sixty five points in the third quarter, seventy points in
- 8:49Speaker 1: the fourth quarter, but only twenty four in the first quarter.
- 8:53Speaker 1: That's an average of three points a game. Now, part
- 8:55Speaker 1: of that is they've won all these coin tosses and
- 8:57Speaker 1: they defers, so they've got fewer drives the first quarter
- 9:00Speaker 1: then the other ones. But why do you think the
- 9:04Speaker 1: offense keeps starting slow? That's a million dollar question, you know,
- 9:08Speaker 1: it really is. I just I don't know. It's almost
- 9:11Speaker 1: like you think about it so much. You know, it
- 9:14Speaker 1: starts to be a trend after like your third game,
- 9:18Speaker 1: you know, for a game or two, it's like, oh, well,
- 9:20Speaker 1: you know it'll turn around. Now getting into the halfway
- 9:24Speaker 1: point of the season and still an issue. So not
- 9:26Speaker 1: it starts to take on a life of its own,
- 9:28Speaker 1: and you really start to press and to try to
- 9:31Speaker 1: maybe do too much or I don't know, I really
- 9:35Speaker 1: can't explain it. You're trying to do too much as
- 9:37Speaker 1: a play caller. You're trying to do too much, to
- 9:39Speaker 1: be too perfect in your execution instead of just going
- 9:42Speaker 1: out and relaxing and playing football. I mean, it has
- 9:46Speaker 1: taken on a life of its own, just like scoring
- 9:48Speaker 1: in the final two minutes of the second quarter is
- 9:49Speaker 1: taken on a life of its own, and coming right
- 9:51Speaker 1: out in the first drive in the third quarter and
- 9:53Speaker 1: scoring like six out of eight games in both cases.
- 9:56Speaker 1: There that's taken on a life of its own. So
- 9:58Speaker 1: there's a negative life of its own, then a couple
- 10:00Speaker 1: of positive life of its owns um but boy, if
- 10:04Speaker 1: they could get that sword away, It's it's hard playing
- 10:09Speaker 1: from behind, you know, in the national football again. And
- 10:12Speaker 1: even though they haven't scored in the first quarter every
- 10:14Speaker 1: every game, or if scored been the other team has
- 10:18Speaker 1: scored first, probably more than them every in most games,
- 10:23Speaker 1: they've been able to bounce back. I mean they've been
- 10:25Speaker 1: able to you know. It hasn't necessarily been the biggest
- 10:29Speaker 1: reason they lost the football game, but it's a reason.
- 10:31Speaker 1: I think it's a factor. I think it's a factor
- 10:33Speaker 1: for sure. Let's talk about the Browns. They're four and four.
- 10:38Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield is playing with the left shoulder injury that
- 10:40Speaker 1: will eventually require surgery. Kareem Hunt is out right dackle
- 10:44Speaker 1: Jack Conklin is an excellent player. He's going to miss
- 10:46Speaker 1: this week's game. Now they've got Odell Beckham junior and
- 10:50Speaker 1: senior drama going on in Cleveland. How did the Browns
- 10:53Speaker 1: look to you right now? And what are some of
- 10:55Speaker 1: the keys to beating them? Yeah, I mean they're still
- 10:58Speaker 1: they're still a physical football team. You watch you watch
- 11:01Speaker 1: them on tape and you think, how does this football
- 11:03Speaker 1: team not won more games? Because their offensive line is
- 11:07Speaker 1: very good, their defensive line is very good. I mean
- 11:11Speaker 1: just in the running the football alone, they have the
- 11:15Speaker 1: best differential in the National Football League. They've outrushed their
- 11:19Speaker 1: opponent by seventy six point three yards, best in the league.
- 11:22Speaker 1: Their number one rushing it, the number one in yards
- 11:24Speaker 1: per while they're rushing it, they're the third and stopping
- 11:28Speaker 1: the run, and their second in yards per stopping the run.
- 11:31Speaker 1: That's that's exactly what you want. They're a plus one
- 11:35Speaker 1: point seven per attempt. That's one. Now, that's first in
- 11:39Speaker 1: the National Football League as well. When you can run
- 11:42Speaker 1: the ball and stop the run like that, I don't
- 11:44Speaker 1: care what level of football you're talking about, you should
- 11:47Speaker 1: be a winning football team. Now they're minustering in the
- 11:49Speaker 1: turnover department, which is which is probably a little bit perplexing.
- 11:55Speaker 1: The biggest thing is that their lack of takeaways, Dan,
- 11:57Speaker 1: that's stunned me. Only five takeaways, tied for the second
- 12:01Speaker 1: fewest in the league. You know, they've only got eight
- 12:04Speaker 1: eight giveaways. That's not terrible, but being minus three with
- 12:08Speaker 1: just the five takeaways, they've only recovered two fumbles, tied
- 12:12Speaker 1: for the second fewest in the National Football League as well.
- 12:14Speaker 1: So you know, you can always find a reason why
- 12:18Speaker 1: they are what they are. But when you look at
- 12:20Speaker 1: their personnel and you look at the way they've executed
- 12:24Speaker 1: as a result they having that personnel, and they've had
- 12:27Speaker 1: some injury issues. Chubb has been hurt, Hunt's been hurt.
- 12:29Speaker 1: They haven't had their one two punch at the running
- 12:31Speaker 1: back position together for a whole lot of snaps. They've
- 12:36Speaker 1: got a tanement defensive ends that's as good as there
- 12:38Speaker 1: is in the league. I mean, they've got players. They've
- 12:41Speaker 1: got players. So the Bengals are gonna have to play
- 12:44Speaker 1: at a very high level to get this thing taken
- 12:47Speaker 1: care of. And I think you know, when you look
- 12:49Speaker 1: at it, the Bengals are in such a good situation
- 12:52Speaker 1: because they've won two division games. If they can win
- 12:54Speaker 1: this one, they have Basically, they have their net three
- 13:00Speaker 1: division games at home, three in a row at home,
- 13:03Speaker 1: and then they have to go up to Cleveland the
- 13:04Speaker 1: end of the season. But if they can take care
- 13:06Speaker 1: of business on the division games at home and start
- 13:10Speaker 1: five at all. And I'm getting way ahead of myself,
- 13:12Speaker 1: but I mean, if you can win this home division
- 13:14Speaker 1: game and your first two division games in the second
- 13:16Speaker 1: half of the season or at home, man, that that's
- 13:20Speaker 1: pretty high Cotton. That's you know, that's that's why you
- 13:22Speaker 1: won in Pittsburgh and in Baltimore to put yourself in
- 13:26Speaker 1: this position now you have to capitalize and finalize. Is
- 13:30Speaker 1: stopping the run far and away the number one key
- 13:33Speaker 1: this week? I think it is. I think I think,
- 13:36Speaker 1: you know, being competitive with their run game in terms
- 13:39Speaker 1: of running it and stopping the run, they're the best
- 13:42Speaker 1: in the league in my opinion, you know, combined. That's
- 13:47Speaker 1: I think that's the core of what the Bengal is
- 13:49Speaker 1: going to have to be competitive in those areas to
- 13:52Speaker 1: win this football game. I don't think they can get
- 13:55Speaker 1: you know, just rush for seventy yards against the Cleveland
- 13:58Speaker 1: Browns and give up one hundred forty and think they're
- 14:02Speaker 1: gonna win the football game. I just I don't I
- 14:04Speaker 1: don't see that being the case. I see that that
- 14:06Speaker 1: rush differential as being a factor. The Bengal is gonna
- 14:10Speaker 1: have to you know, narrow that margin. They can't be
- 14:13Speaker 1: out rushed by seventy six plus yards like everybody else
- 14:17Speaker 1: has been on an average basis. Myles Garrett leads to the
- 14:20Speaker 1: the NFL and sacks. I think we all know that.
- 14:22Speaker 1: I was surprised to see he's tied for second on
- 14:24Speaker 1: the Browns and tackles. So he's doing the job in
- 14:27Speaker 1: the run game as well. When you watch that guy
- 14:29Speaker 1: on tape, what jumps out freak, I mean, so explosive,
- 14:34Speaker 1: and I think he's even more effective. Probably two of
- 14:39Speaker 1: his ten sacks have come from inside. But man, he's
- 14:43Speaker 1: so explosive and they twist and stunt with them, and
- 14:46Speaker 1: he's man, he hits gaps and you know, he just
- 14:49Speaker 1: he just overpowers people. He grabs two, you know, and
- 14:52Speaker 1: he's just so effective inside. That's big. Fred Fred Johnson
- 14:56Speaker 1: gave up a you know, a sack last year. That
- 15:00Speaker 1: was he lined up over Fred at Fred playing in
- 15:04Speaker 1: a right guard position, lined up a defensive tackle, blew
- 15:06Speaker 1: up the field sack Joe stripped him, recovered the fumble,
- 15:10Speaker 1: I mean all of it. He got the he got
- 15:11Speaker 1: the triple dip ice cream cone, the sacks, stripped, fumble
- 15:15Speaker 1: and fumble recovery. They have a short field and they
- 15:18Speaker 1: score big, big play in that football game. If I'm
- 15:21Speaker 1: a guard and I think I think they were going
- 15:23Speaker 1: to say, let's challenge the guards a little bit. Match
- 15:26Speaker 1: up wise, I think we may see Garrett inside, maybe
- 15:29Speaker 1: even more than people think potentially. But he's he's the
- 15:33Speaker 1: son of a gun on the edge too though. And
- 15:35Speaker 1: like you said, Dan, he and Clowney, Clowney to Clowney said,
- 15:38Speaker 1: such a good solid edge in the running game. Garrett's
- 15:42Speaker 1: doing it as well. I mean, they're they're just a
- 15:44Speaker 1: very very sound football team. In Clowney. Remember we saw
- 15:48Speaker 1: Clowney when we beat Tennessee, when Quentin Spain was his
- 15:52Speaker 1: first game with this historic you know, doesn't even know
- 15:55Speaker 1: the names and faces the guys in the huddle. He
- 15:57Speaker 1: goes out there and plays the heck of a game.
- 15:59Speaker 1: Clowney was in again. Clowney to me looked like look
- 16:02Speaker 1: back nine ish. Now he's got juice. Now, now he's
- 16:07Speaker 1: got a guy that you know, a duo, A tandem guy.
- 16:11Speaker 1: He's playing with a lot more juice than he played
- 16:13Speaker 1: with when we saw him last when Tennessee came here
- 16:16Speaker 1: to Cincinnati in that game. Not what I wanted to hear.
- 16:20Speaker 1: I pointed the lap signal into the sky above Paul
- 16:23Speaker 1: Brown Stadium this morning. So I've got some asked lap
- 16:26Speaker 1: questions that were submitted via Twitter. This one comes from Chris.
- 16:30Speaker 1: Every player and coach knew the Jets was a potential
- 16:35Speaker 1: trap game or a letdown game, and your experience what
- 16:39Speaker 1: causes a team to still come out flat? Man? Chris,
- 16:43Speaker 1: let me you give me an opportunity to talk about
- 16:46Speaker 1: something to happen in our Super Bowl team in nineteen
- 16:48Speaker 1: eighty one, first time we went to the Super Bowl.
- 16:51Speaker 1: This is unbelievable when I thought back to it, because
- 16:54Speaker 1: I thought the circumstances were pretty close. We're five and two.
- 16:58Speaker 1: We go to play the New Orleans Stain. It's one
- 17:00Speaker 1: and six down in New Orleans Forest. Greg's like man, trap,
- 17:05Speaker 1: tr ap, big trap until he was blue in the face.
- 17:11Speaker 1: We go down there, Saints spank us seventeen to seven.
- 17:15Speaker 1: I'll guarantee you all week, guys, I'm telling you they're
- 17:17Speaker 1: gonna come out. They're embarrassed. They're embarrassed by the Patriot.
- 17:20Speaker 1: This is gonna be a physical football game. You can
- 17:23Speaker 1: talk to you blue in the face until you get
- 17:25Speaker 1: out there and feel the trap and squeeze on you.
- 17:29Speaker 1: You know you Sometimes you have to learn the lesson
- 17:32Speaker 1: the hard way. And what did we do? Okay, well,
- 17:34Speaker 1: you can go one of two ays. You can fold
- 17:36Speaker 1: your tent or respond. That was the last game in October.
- 17:40Speaker 1: Then we had the November to remember. Dan and I
- 17:43Speaker 1: looked all the games up. November first against the Oilers
- 17:46Speaker 1: in Cincinnati, thirty four, twenty one, thirteen point win. We
- 17:50Speaker 1: go out to San Diego on November eighth, beat him
- 17:53Speaker 1: forty to seventeen, and everybody's like, oh the freezer ball man,
- 17:57Speaker 1: if you guys have played, we pumped them by twenty
- 18:00Speaker 1: three points in their place. We're better than the San
- 18:03Speaker 1: Diego charges now the Er charges. But then on the
- 18:07Speaker 1: fifteenth the Rams come to town, Jack Youngblood and the
- 18:11Speaker 1: second Fearsome forcemen as such, Fred Dryer, all these guys.
- 18:14Speaker 1: We beat them twenty four to ten. Then the Denver
- 18:17Speaker 1: Broncos come, Oh wait, I mean just to hell of
- 18:19Speaker 1: a football team. It's when the Broncos. With the Broncos,
- 18:20Speaker 1: we've beat him thirty eight twenty one, beat him by seventeen.
- 18:23Speaker 1: Then we go to Cleveland on the twenty ninth. Five
- 18:26Speaker 1: games in the month of November, the way that calendar
- 18:28Speaker 1: worked out, on the twenty ninth of November, beat Cleveland
- 18:31Speaker 1: forty one twenty one. The closest anybody came was thirteen
- 18:34Speaker 1: points in a five game sweep of good football teams.
- 18:38Speaker 1: Every one of these teams was a playoff contender. Then
- 18:41Speaker 1: all of a sudden, yeah, we are as good as
- 18:43Speaker 1: we thought we are. This I'm not saying this football
- 18:46Speaker 1: team is going to go on a five game winning
- 18:47Speaker 1: streak or four game and winning streak or whatever and
- 18:49Speaker 1: go to the Super Bowl. But what I'm saying is,
- 18:52Speaker 1: don't let one stub your toe where you broke your toe,
- 18:56Speaker 1: or don't let it break your toe. Stub your toe,
- 18:58Speaker 1: don't let it break your toe. On recover, you know,
- 19:01Speaker 1: all your goals is still ahead of you, particularly with
- 19:04Speaker 1: respect to the division. You can bounce back against a
- 19:06Speaker 1: division opponent, sweep the division in the first part of it,
- 19:10Speaker 1: be three and all at the break at the bye
- 19:13Speaker 1: week in the division in great shape. Like we said
- 19:16Speaker 1: two out of the last year at home, this big game,
- 19:21Speaker 1: stop your toe, don't break your talent. I like that.
- 19:24Speaker 1: This question comes from r as have you ever seen
- 19:27Speaker 1: players come to the podium together to answer questions? No, now,
- 19:33Speaker 1: I shouldn't say that, because you know, when they have
- 19:37Speaker 1: the big games that are network televised playoffs and all that,
- 19:41Speaker 1: they'll have teammates out there together because of just the
- 19:43Speaker 1: timing of it and all that. But they're not out
- 19:46Speaker 1: there necessarily, you know, as one to answer questions. It's
- 19:51Speaker 1: like they'll they'll be peppered questions just trying to get
- 19:54Speaker 1: a sheer volume people out there. This is a situation
- 19:57Speaker 1: where let's go out there and show united from we
- 20:01Speaker 1: all believe in each other, we believe in the football team,
- 20:04Speaker 1: and let's approach it that way. I thought that was
- 20:09Speaker 1: that was a great idea. And I don't know who
- 20:12Speaker 1: the idea it was, but all three of them should
- 20:15Speaker 1: take a bow, I think for that. I think their
- 20:17Speaker 1: teammates appreciated it. I know as a former player I did,
- 20:21Speaker 1: and they all representing themselves and their football team very well.
- 20:27Speaker 1: I thought it was a very very positive statement and
- 20:30Speaker 1: I think it kind of it eased the fracture was.
- 20:35Speaker 1: It wasn't as bad a break of the bone. You know,
- 20:37Speaker 1: after losing that football game. The way they handled it,
- 20:41Speaker 1: they stopped the damage. You know, they basically stuck the
- 20:45Speaker 1: finger in the dike and stopped the leaking of the damn.
- 20:49Speaker 1: I thought it was a good move. I agree, I
- 20:51Speaker 1: thought it was great. This question comes from John in
- 20:53Speaker 1: a season where the Bengals have been incredibly healthy so far,
- 20:56Speaker 1: I'm knocking on something that sounds like wood. Should the
- 20:59Speaker 1: Bengals have made moves at the trade deadline to position
- 21:02Speaker 1: themselves for a playoff push. You know, you heard about
- 21:08Speaker 1: all these potential deals that we're going to be made,
- 21:10Speaker 1: and just a very very few of them are made.
- 21:12Speaker 1: It's just hard. It's hard. It's hard to make deals
- 21:16Speaker 1: that benefit both football teams enough where they both feel
- 21:19Speaker 1: comfortable enough to do it. We don't know how many
- 21:22Speaker 1: deals they kicked the tires on. We don't know how
- 21:24Speaker 1: many deals they got into big discussions on, but none
- 21:27Speaker 1: to materialize. I have no problem with the fact that
- 21:30Speaker 1: they didn't make any trades. Now, I hope and I
- 21:33Speaker 1: think there's number one focus still is signed. Jesse Bates.
- 21:36Speaker 1: You know, I think their mindsets take care of their
- 21:39Speaker 1: own and even and now that they didn't make any
- 21:42Speaker 1: of these trades and have to mess with any salary
- 21:44Speaker 1: cap deal scenarios in the in so doing, they know
- 21:48Speaker 1: still exactly what they were going to be looking at
- 21:50Speaker 1: you at the conclusion of the season and for future
- 21:53Speaker 1: seasons on. So you know, maybe maybe the deal will
- 21:56Speaker 1: come together for Jesse Bates before the end of the year,
- 21:59Speaker 1: who knows, But I think that would still be my
- 22:01Speaker 1: first priority. You know, when you have when you have
- 22:05Speaker 1: a teammate like Mike Hilton, a conclusion of a press
- 22:07Speaker 1: or say, signed Jesse Bates, it's powerful stuff. You know,
- 22:11Speaker 1: those kind of things mean something, I think, and that
- 22:13Speaker 1: would be my number one priority now is getting number
- 22:16Speaker 1: thirty signed, followed closely by Larry Ogan Joby absolutely. Next
- 22:20Speaker 1: question from governor chief, how do you think the defense
- 22:23Speaker 1: will respond after an abysmal performance last week. I think
- 22:27Speaker 1: they'll respond big time. I think that I think this
- 22:31Speaker 1: one is gonna be a cage match. I mean, I
- 22:35Speaker 1: think it's gonna be like MMA. It's it's gonna be
- 22:39Speaker 1: a very very physical football game. It's a division rivalry.
- 22:44Speaker 1: Cleveland Cincinnati are always physical football games with what's at
- 22:48Speaker 1: stake now, and I mean the sports psychologists could have
- 22:51Speaker 1: a field day. Bengals have the big win in Baltimore
- 22:54Speaker 1: and they get full of themselves and they, you know,
- 22:57Speaker 1: don't listen to everybody about the trap game deal. They
- 23:00Speaker 1: go down to go up to the Jets and lose
- 23:03Speaker 1: that football game, how are they going to respond? I mean,
- 23:06Speaker 1: they had more to lose than the Jets obviously in
- 23:09Speaker 1: that football game, and they'd lost it in the Jets
- 23:11Speaker 1: one to Cleveland coming off a brutally physically tough football game,
- 23:18Speaker 1: Pittsburgh Steelers lose five in the division by five in
- 23:20Speaker 1: the division game, what's their mindset going to be? Like?
- 23:23Speaker 1: I think both of them are going to come into
- 23:24Speaker 1: this football game dan angry, upset, disappointed, wanting to make restitution.
- 23:31Speaker 1: I think it's going to be really physical, particularly at
- 23:34Speaker 1: the onset. And then then what you have to do is,
- 23:37Speaker 1: all right, you get over that phase of it and
- 23:39Speaker 1: now you get into the snap by snap grind of
- 23:42Speaker 1: the game. But keep that intense and new level high.
- 23:45Speaker 1: And I think that's what we're going to see out
- 23:46Speaker 1: of the Bengals. We're not going to see that intensity
- 23:48Speaker 1: level sag like it's sag in New York. This question
- 23:51Speaker 1: comes from Willie, not Cunningham. Ken Hakima Dentagy be the
- 23:56Speaker 1: first guard off the bench once he's activated to the
- 23:59Speaker 1: fifty three manuster, assuming that happens. I want if that's
- 24:02Speaker 1: Big Williamerson asking that old line question, Big will it
- 24:06Speaker 1: wouldn't surprise me if But he has to be physically ready,
- 24:10Speaker 1: and thing that he's fighting, like we talked about before
- 24:13Speaker 1: right now, is not just getting ready physically for football.
- 24:19Speaker 1: I mean, he hasn't had any contact so and he
- 24:23Speaker 1: hasn't taken all the reps at OTA's Mini Camps training
- 24:28Speaker 1: camp that all the other linemen took with Frank Pollock
- 24:31Speaker 1: and his new new technique's new footwork and all that thing.
- 24:34Speaker 1: So he's he's trying to catch up in a very
- 24:36Speaker 1: very short time for him of thousands of reps that
- 24:39Speaker 1: the other guys are taken. So it's not easy. And
- 24:42Speaker 1: he hasn't played a lot of football in the National
- 24:44Speaker 1: Football League, So you throw all that into the mix,
- 24:46Speaker 1: and it's like, I don't know if you want to
- 24:49Speaker 1: rush it necessarily, because that could be kind of productive
- 24:53Speaker 1: and it could be a confidence buster in some way.
- 24:56Speaker 1: Shape or for him. But he's got talent, and if
- 24:59Speaker 1: it looks like he's ready to play, I'd see how
- 25:03Speaker 1: well he can play. I really would. I'd find out.
- 25:06Speaker 1: Another offensive line question comes from man, can you see
- 25:10Speaker 1: Trey Hill getting snaps at center? Potentially? But I think
- 25:16Speaker 1: I think the one thing that that Trey Hill has shown, unfortunately,
- 25:22Speaker 1: is when a problem happens, he kind of loses his mind.
- 25:26Speaker 1: You know, it happened to him, you know, in Baltimore,
- 25:29Speaker 1: and he only lasted a couple of snaps before Frank said,
- 25:32Speaker 1: all right, look this, you're gonna have to sit back
- 25:34Speaker 1: down and chill a little bit. And then he did,
- 25:36Speaker 1: and he came back. He played some lights, some snaps.
- 25:39Speaker 1: But the one thing you can't have happen is the
- 25:42Speaker 1: center who makes all the calls and everything that goes
- 25:44Speaker 1: along with it. Trey Hopkins does an unbelievable job, super
- 25:48Speaker 1: intelligent and doesn't never lose his you know, he's like
- 25:51Speaker 1: he's always got his he knows the responsibility, so he's
- 25:55Speaker 1: not gonna lose his mind. As such. Tray shown that
- 26:02Speaker 1: can happen to the young rookie, so that that would
- 26:04Speaker 1: be a concern of mine. That's somebody that I've I've
- 26:07Speaker 1: got play in the center position that kind of orchestrates,
- 26:09Speaker 1: you know, everybody's movements based on his calls. He would
- 26:13Speaker 1: be a very clear minded, clearhead and all that sort
- 26:16Speaker 1: of thing. So physically, yeah, I think he could. Mentally,
- 26:20Speaker 1: maybe a little work to do there. The final two
- 26:23Speaker 1: questions come from Bengal super fan and podcaster Zim Zim's
- 26:28Speaker 1: a good dude. Here's the first question. With last week's
- 26:31Speaker 1: injury to Carmen and the uncertainty of hopkins knee, coupled
- 26:35Speaker 1: with the fact that the Bengals are likely to have
- 26:37Speaker 1: a couple of extra draft picks next year, how do
- 26:40Speaker 1: you justify not adding interior line help at the deadline? Well,
- 26:46Speaker 1: I think that Carmen's injury was not anywhere near as
- 26:49Speaker 1: bad as people thought, you know, at that point. And
- 26:52Speaker 1: I think that they're at this point in time trying
- 26:55Speaker 1: to develop a guy that they've added to the interior
- 27:00Speaker 1: line to improve it and to make it make it
- 27:05Speaker 1: a better unit inside. So I don't think they necessarily
- 27:08Speaker 1: want to give up on Carmen at this point in time. Now,
- 27:10Speaker 1: I know you're thinking because of injury, but again, the
- 27:13Speaker 1: injury is not as severe as as initially could have been.
- 27:19Speaker 1: So I think that's a that's a factor. And again, interior,
- 27:26Speaker 1: really good interior offensive lineman. People don't just give him up.
- 27:30Speaker 1: I mean it's he's say, yeah, yeah, I want to
- 27:31Speaker 1: trade for an interior offensive linement. Well, I don't want
- 27:34Speaker 1: to give you mine. You can't give me enough for
- 27:37Speaker 1: what I think the value of my interior offensive lineman is.
- 27:40Speaker 1: I remember that, Uh, Mike McCormick divulged to me that
- 27:45Speaker 1: when I played center to finish out a season, I
- 27:48Speaker 1: think it was a nineteen eighty season. I think I
- 27:50Speaker 1: had to play Blair Bush Tours knee up and I
- 27:53Speaker 1: had to play the last six games at center. And
- 27:55Speaker 1: Mike McCormick was our line coach. And then he went
- 27:59Speaker 1: to fill Ladelphia, and uh, and he said that they
- 28:03Speaker 1: trying to work at trade to go to Philadelphia, and
- 28:05Speaker 1: the Bengals wanted a first or second undraft pick for
- 28:08Speaker 1: and obviously, you know, like eight years in the league
- 28:10Speaker 1: or whatever. Debtok, Mike goes, hey, I love you and everything,
- 28:12Speaker 1: but that that wasn't gonna happen. Those are the kind
- 28:14Speaker 1: of things though, the people like somebody's uh trash is
- 28:19Speaker 1: another person's treasure kind of thing, you know, in terms
- 28:21Speaker 1: of what the values are. So that's why a lot
- 28:23Speaker 1: of those deals don't come together, you know that quickly.
- 28:26Speaker 1: It's like, now, man, that's unrealistic. I mean, yeah, I
- 28:30Speaker 1: like the guy. I think he's a good player of it. Heck,
- 28:31Speaker 1: I don't want to leverage my you know, my franchises future.
- 28:35Speaker 1: So it's it's a lot easier than it sounds. And
- 28:39Speaker 1: that's why thirty two teams all to talk about the
- 28:42Speaker 1: trade deadline and what less than a handful of deals happened.
- 28:46Speaker 1: If I'm the Bengals back in the day, I would
- 28:48Speaker 1: have held out for Ricky Williams like package for day
- 28:51Speaker 1: of Lapham. I want your entire draft or I'm not
- 28:54Speaker 1: giving lap up all right, Second and final question from
- 28:58Speaker 1: Zim what position would Dan play? I assume he means
- 29:04Speaker 1: me in today's soft NFL. Well, the thing about Dan
- 29:11Speaker 1: Horde is he's sneaky athletic. You got to you got
- 29:15Speaker 1: to realize that he's very sneaky athletic. Plus, though nobody
- 29:19Speaker 1: is more intelligent than Dan Horde. Dan Horde could I
- 29:22Speaker 1: would I would have him somewhere on the field, you know,
- 29:25Speaker 1: he's gonna have a green dot on his helmet wherever
- 29:27Speaker 1: he is because I want to communicate with him, because
- 29:29Speaker 1: I know what I communicate will be communicated to everybody
- 29:32Speaker 1: else precisely. And uh so I would put Dan Horde
- 29:37Speaker 1: in a position safety something like that where he has
- 29:41Speaker 1: to he has to direct traffic and uh and take
- 29:43Speaker 1: care take care of business. That way, I trust the
- 29:46Speaker 1: man's mind as well as his body. I appreciate that
- 29:49Speaker 1: very much, reiterating that that is in the soft NFL
- 29:54Speaker 1: because you don't want Dan Horde trying to hit anybody.
- 29:57Speaker 1: I can promise you that lap. Thank you kindly, pleasure
- 30:00Speaker 1: as alis my pleasure, Damn the man. Great questions from
- 30:04Speaker 1: zim Hu Day, who co hosts the Orange is the
- 30:06Speaker 1: New Black podcast with Ace Boogey. I look forward to
- 30:10Speaker 1: being their guest this week. Up next my one on
- 30:13Speaker 1: one visit with offensive lineman Jonah Williams, who faces the
- 30:17Speaker 1: challenge of trying to block Myles Garrett on Sunday, John,
- 30:21Speaker 1: I want to start with something three of your teammates
- 30:23Speaker 1: did after the loss to the Jets last week. Tyler Boyd,
- 30:26Speaker 1: Joe Mixon and Jessee Bates chose to address the media
- 30:29Speaker 1: in Unison. What should we take from that? I mean,
- 30:32Speaker 1: I think that that says a lot about our team
- 30:34Speaker 1: and the connectedness that we're showing. And it's important that
- 30:38Speaker 1: when we win, we acknowledge that we want as a team,
- 30:41Speaker 1: and when we lose, we lose as a team. So
- 30:43Speaker 1: there's no pointing fingers. It's just accountability as a unit.
- 30:48Speaker 1: I thought after they had been embarrassed the week before
- 30:50Speaker 1: by the Patriots, the Jets played violently on both sides
- 30:54Speaker 1: of the ball last week. Did you notice a little
- 30:56Speaker 1: extra juice while you were trying to block those guys? Yeah,
- 31:00Speaker 1: they were playing hard, but it's the NFL. You know,
- 31:02Speaker 1: we expect everyone to play hard every week, so you know,
- 31:05Speaker 1: they post challenges and we just didn't do enough to win.
- 31:09Speaker 1: You did score thirty one points. That's the third straight
- 31:12Speaker 1: week you've topped thirty all on the road. What do
- 31:15Speaker 1: you think is clicking right now that maybe wasn't quite
- 31:18Speaker 1: there early in the year. I just think that we're
- 31:21Speaker 1: we've been together more, we've practiced together more, we've played
- 31:24Speaker 1: together more. So I think that we're really starting to
- 31:27Speaker 1: gel as a unit. And it's also the progression of
- 31:31Speaker 1: the offense. You know, schematically, teams are adjusting to something,
- 31:35Speaker 1: so we have to have good responses to that, and
- 31:37Speaker 1: I think we've been doing a good job, and you know,
- 31:40Speaker 1: for the rest of the season, it's going to be
- 31:41Speaker 1: important that we continue to put up a lot of points.
- 31:43Speaker 1: We're visiting with Jonah Williams. A key play and last
- 31:46Speaker 1: week's game was the interception by the Jets with about
- 31:48Speaker 1: four and a half minutes to go. It's a screen
- 31:51Speaker 1: to Jamar Chase. The right side of the line goes
- 31:53Speaker 1: to the right faking a run. You and Quinton Spain
- 31:57Speaker 1: peel out to the left. You're gonna block for Jamar
- 32:00Speaker 1: and it looks like if Shack Lawson doesn't tip and
- 32:03Speaker 1: intercept the pass, that's going to be a huge game.
- 32:07Speaker 1: Is that the way it looked on tape? Yeah, I
- 32:09Speaker 1: mean I think that it. You know, the play call
- 32:12Speaker 1: made sense with that defense, and you know, if if
- 32:15Speaker 1: we executed just a little bit better, I think it
- 32:17Speaker 1: would would have been a big game or a big play,
- 32:20Speaker 1: and unfortunately it was, you know, it just didn't work
- 32:23Speaker 1: out that way. Sometimes the other guys make plays too.
- 32:27Speaker 1: Joe Burrow has been sacked twenty times this year, but
- 32:30Speaker 1: ten came in the first two games. You've only given
- 32:32Speaker 1: up ten in the last six. What's been the key
- 32:35Speaker 1: to protecting him so well? If light well, I think
- 32:38Speaker 1: I mean any sacks or too many sacks. So I
- 32:41Speaker 1: think it's been better, but there's a lot to there's
- 32:43Speaker 1: a lot to clean up. You know. It's it's similar
- 32:46Speaker 1: to what I said in terms of why the offense
- 32:47Speaker 1: is scoring. I think that you know, we're working together,
- 32:50Speaker 1: working together better as an OH line and as an
- 32:54Speaker 1: offense as a whole. Everyone's on the same page, and
- 32:57Speaker 1: you know Joe's making good decisions with the ball, and
- 33:00Speaker 1: you know we're just doing a better job of protecting.
- 33:01Speaker 1: So we've play a lot of good D lines coming
- 33:04Speaker 1: up the rest of the year, and it's going to
- 33:05Speaker 1: be important for us to, you know, player best game.
- 33:08Speaker 1: Every week. We're visiting the Jonah Williams because you were
- 33:11Speaker 1: selected three drafts ago. I'm not sure that people realize
- 33:14Speaker 1: how young you still are. You don't turn twenty four
- 33:17Speaker 1: for about two weeks. You're eleven months younger than Joe Burrow.
- 33:21Speaker 1: Do you feel like you're still early in your NFL
- 33:24Speaker 1: learning curve? I do. I don't look at that as
- 33:29Speaker 1: a disadvantage, though. I just think that, you know, I
- 33:33Speaker 1: have room to grow, and that's that's why I'm still here,
- 33:36Speaker 1: you know, That's why I'm That's why I'm here at practice,
- 33:38Speaker 1: working every day, and it's it's just a continue to
- 33:42Speaker 1: get better and you know, hopefully have a long career
- 33:44Speaker 1: ahead of me. So you face the Browns this week,
- 33:47Speaker 1: and that means you will be matched up against the
- 33:48Speaker 1: NFL sack leader Miles Garrett. He's also tied for second
- 33:52Speaker 1: on the Browns and tackles so far this year, so
- 33:55Speaker 1: he's doing a great job against the run as well.
- 33:57Speaker 1: You faced him last year. What's the out. I mean,
- 34:01Speaker 1: he's a he's a phenomenal football player, and I think
- 34:03Speaker 1: that that's obvious to anyone who watches him. Um, you know,
- 34:06Speaker 1: he's he's quick, he's powerful, he has a good arsenal
- 34:09Speaker 1: of moves at his disposal. So it's it's on me
- 34:13Speaker 1: and on the rest of the line to use great
- 34:15Speaker 1: technique and you know, to just do what we can
- 34:18Speaker 1: to to control them and neutralize him. And I think
- 34:21Speaker 1: that that's gonna be one of the big keys of
- 34:22Speaker 1: the game. Watching their last game, I thought it was
- 34:25Speaker 1: striking how wide he lines up, he's almost even with
- 34:28Speaker 1: the slot receivers as opposed to write over you what
- 34:32Speaker 1: challenges does that present? I mean it gives him a
- 34:36Speaker 1: running started, kind of a full head of steam by
- 34:37Speaker 1: the time he actually gets to engage me. Um. You know,
- 34:41Speaker 1: but it also opens up lanes in the run game.
- 34:43Speaker 1: And you know, so there's there's advantages and disadvantages to
- 34:46Speaker 1: everything in football. UM, so we just have to take
- 34:49Speaker 1: advantage of that. Um. It is a unique alignment. Last
- 34:54Speaker 1: week was disappointing, no question, but you are five and
- 34:57Speaker 1: three if the season ended today, he a playoff team.
- 35:01Speaker 1: Evaluate this team through eight games. I think that we've
- 35:05Speaker 1: shown a lot of really good stuff that makes me
- 35:08Speaker 1: excited and that you know, makes us believe that we
- 35:11Speaker 1: can be a playoff team. It's just a matter of execution,
- 35:14Speaker 1: because I think we saw this past week that you know,
- 35:17Speaker 1: no matter how talented we are, how you know, how
- 35:20Speaker 1: many good wins we have, any team can show up
- 35:23Speaker 1: and take it to us on the weekend. And so
- 35:26Speaker 1: I think that we know we have the ability to
- 35:29Speaker 1: be a really good team and to be a playoff team.
- 35:31Speaker 1: We just have to continue to prove that. Um. You know,
- 35:33Speaker 1: for the rest of these games. Last question for Jonah
- 35:36Speaker 1: Williams the bias coming up after this game? Anything fun planned? Um,
- 35:41Speaker 1: just you know, recovering the body. Maybe it's some good
- 35:45Speaker 1: food and and hang out and relax a little bit.
- 35:48Speaker 1: But I'm I'm having a hard time thinking about that
- 35:52Speaker 1: with these next four or five days in front of me,
- 35:55Speaker 1: you know, so I'll be excited about when it comes understandable.
- 35:58Speaker 1: Beat the Browns. First, enjoy the break. Second, appreciate your time.
- 36:01Speaker 1: Best of lut this week. Thank you for having but
- 36:04Speaker 1: one it's worth. The Bengals offensive line is currently tied
- 36:07Speaker 1: for eighth in past blocking efficiency according to Pro Football Focus.
- 36:12Speaker 1: Tampa Bay is number one, Indianapolis is dead last. The
- 36:17Speaker 1: Bengals Booth podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the free
- 36:21Speaker 1: to play fantasy football game. Ultimate Bengals will be awarding
- 36:25Speaker 1: a weekly winner during the course of the season, with tickets,
- 36:28Speaker 1: autographed merchandise, and money can't buy experiences all up for grabs.
- 36:33Speaker 1: Find Ultimate Bengals in the app stores. Now. Now time
- 36:37Speaker 1: to bring in a former Bengals quarterback who is currently
- 36:40Speaker 1: an analyst for Pro Football Focus and for Sirius XM
- 36:44Speaker 1: NFL Radio. The perfect person to preview this week's game
- 36:48Speaker 1: between the Bengals and the Browns. Is one of only
- 36:51Speaker 1: three quarterbacks to play for both franchises, Bruce Gradkowski, and
- 36:57Speaker 1: I'm going to name the other two at the end
- 36:59Speaker 1: of this inner view, so people have to stay tuned
- 37:02Speaker 1: until the very end. Bruce, Let's start with Joe Burrow.
- 37:05Speaker 1: He's a little bit more than one year into his
- 37:08Speaker 1: NFL career. What do you find extraordinary about what he's
- 37:11Speaker 1: been able to do so far? Well, thanks for having me, Dan,
- 37:14Speaker 1: and I just think Burrow what's so special and unique
- 37:17Speaker 1: about him is what he brings in that locker room
- 37:21Speaker 1: and just the leader he is, the mentality he has,
- 37:24Speaker 1: and of course he has all the ability on the field,
- 37:26Speaker 1: but I'll tell you when anytime I've been around him,
- 37:29Speaker 1: he makes me a believer. And I knew the Bengals
- 37:33Speaker 1: made some good pieces and acquisitions this offseason, but to
- 37:37Speaker 1: watch how they're planning so far this year, watch how
- 37:40Speaker 1: Joe Burrows playing, It's just really a compliment to him
- 37:44Speaker 1: in his leadership and his mentality of what is resonate
- 37:48Speaker 1: throughout that locker room. And that's what I have a
- 37:50Speaker 1: lot of respect for, is how he approaches the game,
- 37:54Speaker 1: his toughness, his mentality, and it's fun to watch. The
- 37:58Speaker 1: Bengals have top thirty points in each of their last
- 38:00Speaker 1: three games. The franchise record for consecutive games with thirty
- 38:03Speaker 1: plus is four, so theoretically they can tie that this
- 38:06Speaker 1: week against Cleveland. What stands out when you watch the
- 38:08Speaker 1: Bengals offense right now? You know the thing that's unique
- 38:12Speaker 1: and that I was kind of pulling up numbers from
- 38:14Speaker 1: our PF data Burrow verse man and man. Last year
- 38:19Speaker 1: his PF passing grade was seventy nine point three. In
- 38:24Speaker 1: this year, verse man a man, his passing grade is
- 38:27Speaker 1: ninety four point two. So I think Burrow's doing a
- 38:31Speaker 1: great job. But you also have to look at his
- 38:33Speaker 1: counterpart in Jamar Chase and what these two do well together.
- 38:39Speaker 1: Jamar Chase on third down has two hundred and seventy
- 38:41Speaker 1: two yards. This was before last week, and you know,
- 38:44Speaker 1: second behind Justin Jefferson, and that just shows you know,
- 38:48Speaker 1: Burrows third down grade as well, how that got better
- 38:53Speaker 1: from last year to this year. And so just watching
- 38:57Speaker 1: how Burrow continues to get better. Last year they opened
- 39:01Speaker 1: up the offense, he was executing a ton of different
- 39:03Speaker 1: concepts and now this year he's one year more experienced
- 39:07Speaker 1: in it. They're giving him some flexibility at the line
- 39:11Speaker 1: of scrimmage. And when you have a quarterback that could
- 39:14Speaker 1: do those type of things, he's gonna put your offense
- 39:17Speaker 1: in a downhill play. Is Jamar even better as a
- 39:21Speaker 1: rookie than you thought he would be? You know, he
- 39:24Speaker 1: really is, especially the things we're hearing, you know, coming
- 39:27Speaker 1: out of Bengals camp about drop passes and stuff like that.
- 39:32Speaker 1: But then you know, it goes back to you know,
- 39:34Speaker 1: even quarterbacks when we studied these college guys or first
- 39:37Speaker 1: year in the NFL, we're talking about, oh they're inaccurate,
- 39:39Speaker 1: or or receiver dropping football, Oh he can't catch. Well,
- 39:43Speaker 1: there's so much on their plate as a young player,
- 39:47Speaker 1: you're trying to learn an offense. You're trying to know
- 39:51Speaker 1: where to line up and what to do and get
- 39:53Speaker 1: used to the speed of game, to the speed of
- 39:55Speaker 1: the game. Then all of a sudden, the ball hits
- 39:58Speaker 1: you in the hands. Here, Oh, shoot, that's right, I
- 40:00Speaker 1: gotta catch it too, you know. So there's so much
- 40:02Speaker 1: going on, and so to watch Jamar Chase in his
- 40:05Speaker 1: progress so far from training camp till now, and what
- 40:08Speaker 1: he's doing is very special. And I'll tell you what.
- 40:11Speaker 1: Against the Ravens, I was impressed with his yards after
- 40:14Speaker 1: the catch. I mean, this guy's this guy's tough and
- 40:18Speaker 1: physical and explosive. I didn't know he could get away
- 40:21Speaker 1: like that, and that's what was cool to see. And
- 40:24Speaker 1: I think the more Jamar Chase does it, the more
- 40:28Speaker 1: he's building his own confidence and be like, Wow, this
- 40:32Speaker 1: is the NFL. I can dominate here. And it's pretty
- 40:36Speaker 1: cool to see what he's doing. Already, we're talking to
- 40:39Speaker 1: former Bengals quarterback Bruce Gradkowski. Let's talk about the Browns.
- 40:42Speaker 1: A lot of people looked at Cleveland as a Super
- 40:44Speaker 1: Bowl contender going into the season. I'm sure many people
- 40:47Speaker 1: still do. But they're four and four so far. What
- 40:50Speaker 1: stands out about Cleveland so far this year? You know,
- 40:54Speaker 1: it's it's tough, you know, I know Mayfield going through
- 40:56Speaker 1: this shoulder injury. I had a shoulder injury similar college
- 41:00Speaker 1: that I had to play through times, and you know,
- 41:02Speaker 1: it's not easy, and I know it's his non throwing shorter,
- 41:05Speaker 1: but it's still something you're thinking about, something that kind
- 41:09Speaker 1: of makes you a little hesitant. But Mayfield has to
- 41:13Speaker 1: play cleaner football. And I think too when you look
- 41:15Speaker 1: at the Browns, you know their playmakers have to step up.
- 41:19Speaker 1: I know last week Jarvis Landry, you know, had to
- 41:24Speaker 1: fumble and to keep position. He dropped a pass another time.
- 41:28Speaker 1: And your leaders, your captains, that's when they have to
- 41:32Speaker 1: make plays. Because this division, the AFC North, you know,
- 41:35Speaker 1: it's tough, man and so if you have an opportunity,
- 41:38Speaker 1: you have to take advantage of it. If you have
- 41:40Speaker 1: a throw that's open, you gotta hit it. If you
- 41:42Speaker 1: have a pass that should be caught, you got to
- 41:44Speaker 1: catch it. And you can't turn the football over and
- 41:47Speaker 1: that bit. You know, the Browns last week against the Steelers.
- 41:51Speaker 1: But this is a competitive division. A lot of games
- 41:54Speaker 1: still left in the season. So you know, if you're
- 41:57Speaker 1: the Browns, you stuff to be optimistic in that sense.
- 42:00Speaker 1: But you're coming in and gonna face a good, you know,
- 42:03Speaker 1: Bengals football team, and the Bengals coming off, you know,
- 42:06Speaker 1: a tough loss against New York. They're ready to rebound.
- 42:09Speaker 1: So this is gonna be primetime football you know to watch,
- 42:13Speaker 1: So it's gonna be an exciting game. Odell Beckham Junior's
- 42:17Speaker 1: dad basically called out Baker Mayfield this week by posting
- 42:21Speaker 1: video that showed times that Odell was open and didn't
- 42:24Speaker 1: get the ball. How do you think that plays in
- 42:26Speaker 1: an NFL locker room? You know, it's tough. I mean,
- 42:31Speaker 1: I want to say, doesn't carry a lot of weight,
- 42:33Speaker 1: you know, because these guys communicate on a daily basis,
- 42:36Speaker 1: so you know, it could be something that hopefully they
- 42:39Speaker 1: joke around with one another to lighten the mood and
- 42:43Speaker 1: like come on, man, tell your dad to call me
- 42:45Speaker 1: if he has an issue or you know, something like that,
- 42:47Speaker 1: or let's get your dad on FaceTime and talk to him.
- 42:50Speaker 1: But you know, I witnessed it last week as I
- 42:53Speaker 1: was great in the game and Mayfield through a pass
- 42:56Speaker 1: down the middle of the field to Obj. It was
- 42:59Speaker 1: a little overthrow own and you know, the safety kind
- 43:01Speaker 1: of was creeping over too, so kind of look like,
- 43:04Speaker 1: what were you throwing me into here? And why would
- 43:07Speaker 1: you leave it high and towards the safety And the
- 43:10Speaker 1: way ob J got up after the round kind of
- 43:12Speaker 1: gave a little stair back to Mayfield kind of had
- 43:15Speaker 1: me intrigued, like, ah, yeah, I think there's a lot
- 43:19Speaker 1: of emotions going on when you're winning. You could slide
- 43:22Speaker 1: this stuff under the rug. But when things get tough,
- 43:27Speaker 1: you know, you know, this is when things come to light.
- 43:29Speaker 1: How can you manage these situations? Kevin Stefanski, how does
- 43:33Speaker 1: he do during this time? He did a phenomenal job
- 43:35Speaker 1: last year during COVID. How do you continue bring the
- 43:38Speaker 1: guys together. It's easy to lead during good times when
- 43:41Speaker 1: you're winning, everything's gravy. But when you face some adversity,
- 43:45Speaker 1: that's when you know the real testament stands out. And
- 43:48Speaker 1: as a receiver, Dan look, I mean the great, the
- 43:51Speaker 1: greatest of the great. They want the football, you know,
- 43:55Speaker 1: because the receivers they want to be a part of
- 43:57Speaker 1: the game and help the team. So I apre obj
- 44:00Speaker 1: and wanting the ball, wanting to help. But he's got
- 44:04Speaker 1: to do his job. He's got to run better routes,
- 44:07Speaker 1: he's got to be in the right spot, and then
- 44:09Speaker 1: when he is open, yeah, Mayfield has to hit it.
- 44:11Speaker 1: So it's not just one guy's problem. Everyone plays a
- 44:14Speaker 1: part in it, and they just can't seem to get
- 44:16Speaker 1: in a rhythm. First, Kretkowski is our gas, all right.
- 44:19Speaker 1: The Bengals are five and three, the Browns are four
- 44:22Speaker 1: and four. This week's games at Paul Brown Stadium. What
- 44:24Speaker 1: are a couple of keys in your mind? You know,
- 44:27Speaker 1: it's turnovers. Turnovers stand out to me. You know, who's
- 44:30Speaker 1: going to protect the football. But also up front, I mean,
- 44:34Speaker 1: I think you have to stop the run if you're
- 44:36Speaker 1: the Bengals, because that's what the Browns are gonna want
- 44:39Speaker 1: to do. They you want to take some stuff off
- 44:41Speaker 1: of Mayfield's played. Hope played better when you're running the football.
- 44:45Speaker 1: So the Browns are gonna come off the bus trying
- 44:47Speaker 1: to establish that run, getting back to what they're good at,
- 44:50Speaker 1: what they're used to doing, and try to establish the
- 44:53Speaker 1: ground game in a sense like that. And I think,
- 44:57Speaker 1: you know, as far as the Bengals defensively, Joe Burrow,
- 45:00Speaker 1: you know, Burrow did a great job last week through
- 45:02Speaker 1: three quarters. Same thing defensively, it was that fourth quarter.
- 45:05Speaker 1: It's kind of like a mountdown in a sense. I
- 45:08Speaker 1: think the Bengals just had to put a fourth quarter
- 45:10Speaker 1: game together, play clean football in Burrow just being Burrow,
- 45:15Speaker 1: kind of like that guy behind you in that photo.
- 45:17Speaker 1: Remember we played the Browns in Cleveland. Don't goes down
- 45:22Speaker 1: to a little hand injury or wrist and we come
- 45:25Speaker 1: back to win. But a lot of good times. But
- 45:27Speaker 1: I think I think the Bengals. I would love to
- 45:29Speaker 1: see the Bengals rebound here because I think it would
- 45:32Speaker 1: show a testament to their team character and that they
- 45:36Speaker 1: are a good, tough football team. Hey, it happens you
- 45:40Speaker 1: lose a game you shouldn't. Now you just have to
- 45:42Speaker 1: bounce back. Well, you reference that game in Cleveland where
- 45:46Speaker 1: you were the hero the opener in twenty eleven. You
- 45:48Speaker 1: threw AJ Green's first career touchdown catch to win that game.
- 45:53Speaker 1: That's one trivia question. It's time to answer the other.
- 45:56Speaker 1: Do you know the other two quarterbacks to play for
- 45:58Speaker 1: both the Bengals and the Browns? Man, it doesn't come
- 46:03Speaker 1: to mind right now, you know? Should I know? This
- 46:05Speaker 1: is this one that a probably should know right now?
- 46:08Speaker 1: Not really? The other two quarterbacks to play for both
- 46:12Speaker 1: the Bengals and the Browns are Jason Campbell and Todd Philcox. Gradkowski,
- 46:19Speaker 1: Campbell and Philcox, the Big Three. Bruce, It's always great
- 46:24Speaker 1: to visit with you. Thanks so much for your time.
- 46:26Speaker 1: Keep up the good work. Yeah, thanks, Dan, you good luck.
- 46:29Speaker 1: This week, Bruce became a high school football coach in
- 46:32Speaker 1: his hometown of Toledo. This year and took Saint Francis
- 46:36Speaker 1: de Sales to the Division two playoffs before losing to
- 46:40Speaker 1: second seeded Avon. Finally, it's time to take an in
- 46:43Speaker 1: depth look at the Browns with longtime Cleveland sportswriter Tony Grossi,
- 46:47Speaker 1: who joined Lappinbe on the Bengals Game Plan show on
- 46:50Speaker 1: Wednesday night. We started by asking Tony for his take
- 46:54Speaker 1: on the Odell Beckham junior situation, after the former Pro
- 46:58Speaker 1: Bowl wide receiver was told not to come to practice
- 47:01Speaker 1: on Wednesday afternoon. Well, first of all, I think it's
- 47:04Speaker 1: safe to say that the Bengals won't have to worry
- 47:07Speaker 1: about defending Odell on Sunday. So no way can I
- 47:11Speaker 1: see him reconciling the situation and playing in Sunday's game.
- 47:17Speaker 1: More likely, I see them separating somehow. The means must be,
- 47:23Speaker 1: you know, kind of negotiated. I don't think the Browns
- 47:27Speaker 1: want to release O'Dell still pay him eight million dollars
- 47:31Speaker 1: and have him, you know, join a contending team that
- 47:35Speaker 1: the Browns make face somewhere down the line. So it's
- 47:39Speaker 1: very possible, in my opinion, that we can see almost
- 47:42Speaker 1: a Deshaun Watson situation here where the Browns pay Backham
- 47:46Speaker 1: the rest of the year not to play. Wow, that's unreal.
- 47:51Speaker 1: So he would be on the commissioner's list as such.
- 47:55Speaker 1: Not No, I don't think any list. It's just that
- 47:59Speaker 1: they won't give him his release. There there, you know,
- 48:04Speaker 1: he's guaranteed his salary as a vested veteran even if
- 48:08Speaker 1: they would release him. And I don't see it being
- 48:12Speaker 1: a situation where he could play with them again whether
- 48:15Speaker 1: he wants to or not. So just game day and
- 48:19Speaker 1: active for the rest of the year. Like Deshaun Watson
- 48:22Speaker 1: with Houston. Wow. Yeah, paying him to go away, that's
- 48:25Speaker 1: pretty good, pretty good gig if you can find it.
- 48:27Speaker 1: I guess that's unbelievable at any rate. So so he's
- 48:31Speaker 1: he's going to be. He didn't practice today, and of
- 48:34Speaker 1: course they they said quote shoulder injury or whatever, but
- 48:37Speaker 1: I mean shoulder problem. But it's obviously the personal issues
- 48:41Speaker 1: that he's dealing with. Fifteen other players were on the
- 48:44Speaker 1: Wednesday injury report in varying degrees. Uh. Seven others didn't
- 48:49Speaker 1: practice at all. Six practice limited too on the injury report,
- 48:54Speaker 1: including Baker Mayfield. You know, practice bowl. How severe are
- 48:59Speaker 1: a lot of these injuries I mean, I know, you
- 49:01Speaker 1: play the Pittsburgh Steelers, you're always licking your wounds when
- 49:04Speaker 1: you're done. How severe are some of these injuries? Now?
- 49:07Speaker 1: These are all legit. Uh, they've they've been beat up
- 49:13Speaker 1: for about I don't know, three four five weeks, and
- 49:19Speaker 1: it's gonna stay with him, uh, the whole year. They
- 49:23Speaker 1: don't have a bye week until December, and that they've
- 49:28Speaker 1: they've been beat up, there's no doubt. I mean, now
- 49:30Speaker 1: you mentioned Odell, he's got a legit shoulder injury in
- 49:34Speaker 1: addition to this mass and all of the all of
- 49:37Speaker 1: the injuries listed are fairly legit. They've played with him.
- 49:42Speaker 1: You probably know Banker situation. He's got a totally torn
- 49:45Speaker 1: left laborum and also a very small chip fracture in
- 49:50Speaker 1: his uh humorous bone, and he's playing with that wearing
- 49:54Speaker 1: a tight harness to keep the shoulder from popping out
- 49:57Speaker 1: even without contact. So are banged up, and it's it's
- 50:01Speaker 1: partly the reason they're four for him. So it is
- 50:04Speaker 1: partly the reason. Tony Grossi from eight fifty ESPN Cleveland
- 50:08Speaker 1: is our guest. Let me follow up on Baker Mayfield Tony,
- 50:12Speaker 1: because he's played great against Cincinnati the six times he's
- 50:15Speaker 1: played the Bengals, and last year with Kevin Stefanski coaching him,
- 50:18Speaker 1: he was so great at those rollouts and just using
- 50:22Speaker 1: the running game to create wide open lanes or in
- 50:25Speaker 1: the in the passing game. Have they had to curtail
- 50:28Speaker 1: that stuff because of the bad shoulder. Are they reluctant
- 50:31Speaker 1: to have him rolling out and potentially exposing himself to
- 50:35Speaker 1: hits to the shoulder. This will be a good test
- 50:38Speaker 1: to that, because they surely limited him against Pittsburgh. But
- 50:43Speaker 1: as you guys know, it's tough for quarterbacks to get
- 50:46Speaker 1: on the edge. Against Pittsburgh, they played that wide defensive front,
- 50:49Speaker 1: and yeah, it's just it's just tough to begin with.
- 50:53Speaker 1: But clearly they had two fourth and one quarterback sneak
- 50:57Speaker 1: possibilities and they didn't use the stake because they don't
- 51:01Speaker 1: want to further injure him. So I do think he's
- 51:05Speaker 1: more limited now and we'll see if they get him
- 51:08Speaker 1: out on the edge. That's where he's more effective. To
- 51:11Speaker 1: be able to see the field, even if you're only
- 51:13Speaker 1: seeing half of it. When you do that, when he's
- 51:16Speaker 1: in the pocket, it's very difficult for him to connect.
- 51:19Speaker 1: You see him sailing the ball high down the middle
- 51:24Speaker 1: on a lot of throws this year. So Nick Chubb
- 51:30Speaker 1: is now back. I guess we won't see Hunt it
- 51:33Speaker 1: doesn't look like but Chubb is back the offensive line. Conklin.
- 51:38Speaker 1: Is he going to try to play with a big brace,
- 51:40Speaker 1: a big contraption or no, he's out indefinitely. He's so
- 51:46Speaker 1: he's not gonna have surgery, but he's out indefinitely. They haven't.
- 51:49Speaker 1: They haven't cleared him out yet at this point. I
- 51:51Speaker 1: guess are they going to put him in into reserve.
- 51:54Speaker 1: That's to be determined by the end of the week.
- 51:57Speaker 1: But they turned it a multiple week injury. So who
- 52:02Speaker 1: goes for him? Is that Hants or is it Hudson?
- 52:06Speaker 1: Now it'll be blank Hants, who's kind of emerged as
- 52:10Speaker 1: their new sixth man. You know, they also have Chris
- 52:12Speaker 1: Hobbard out, who was their sixth man. He's on ir right.
- 52:16Speaker 1: So Hants has emerged as that guy who will fill in.
- 52:21Speaker 1: He's skilled in at left tackle, he's skilled in at
- 52:23Speaker 1: right tackle, and now he's the starter at right tackle. Uh, indefinitely.
- 52:28Speaker 1: So the offensive line this the Cleveland Brown team, number
- 52:31Speaker 1: one in the league, rushing number one in the league
- 52:34Speaker 1: rushing touchdowns. You know, they just they pound people expect
- 52:38Speaker 1: even you know, with Hants at the at the right
- 52:42Speaker 1: tackle position, that's not going to alter their mindset. I mean,
- 52:45Speaker 1: their whole offense is built around pounding the football, averaging
- 52:49Speaker 1: over one hundred and sixty yards in the ground. Do
- 52:50Speaker 1: you expect the same type of thing this week? Oh yeah,
- 52:54Speaker 1: that's their bread and butter. And they were even to
- 52:57Speaker 1: do They were even able to do that against Denver
- 52:59Speaker 1: with Chubb and hunt out, you know, with his number
- 53:02Speaker 1: three de Ernest Johnson the third back. So it's all
- 53:05Speaker 1: based on the offensive line, and Hants has been steadily
- 53:10Speaker 1: improving under you know, Bill Callahan, the offensive line coach,
- 53:15Speaker 1: is known for improving players alonger they're playing for him,
- 53:20Speaker 1: and Blake Hants is one of those. So I don't
- 53:23Speaker 1: expect that to change, especially when you consider that Baker
- 53:27Speaker 1: is restricted now playing with a tight harness, and and
- 53:32Speaker 1: you know, knowing that shoulder has already been rehindred once already.
- 53:38Speaker 1: How bad is Will's ankle injury and Trader's knee? How
- 53:41Speaker 1: bad are those guys? Well, Trader is one of those
- 53:44Speaker 1: guys who hardly ever practices, but hasn't missed a snap
- 53:47Speaker 1: in four years. He's always going to have a legit
- 53:51Speaker 1: knee injury on the injury list. The other one, Wills
- 53:55Speaker 1: has probably survived the worst. He played when he probably
- 54:01Speaker 1: shouldn't have during the initial stages of that ankle injury.
- 54:04Speaker 1: He admitted that. But now he's much better after he
- 54:08Speaker 1: missed two games, so he's closer to normal. A couple
- 54:13Speaker 1: more questions for Tony Gross, who covers the Cleveland Browns
- 54:16Speaker 1: for the Land on Demand dot Com. I'm looking at
- 54:19Speaker 1: Miles Garrett stats. He's got two more sacks than anybody
- 54:23Speaker 1: else in the NFL. He's got five more quarterback hits
- 54:25Speaker 1: than anybody in the NFL. I kind of knew that,
- 54:28Speaker 1: but then I see he's tied for second on the
- 54:30Speaker 1: team and tackles. That tells me he's playing the running
- 54:33Speaker 1: game great. Has he taken his game to the next
- 54:37Speaker 1: level this year? I think so, although he is missing
- 54:43Speaker 1: the element of strip sacks. Yeah. Last year he had
- 54:47Speaker 1: four strips in four straight games. I think one was
- 54:51Speaker 1: on Burrow early on. He hasn't done that, and of
- 54:57Speaker 1: course he lost the band again last week in a
- 55:01Speaker 1: type game. It wasn't able to affect that game. Um,
- 55:05Speaker 1: he is collecting the sacks and he's a great player,
- 55:08Speaker 1: don't you know. Don't get me wrong, but it seems
- 55:11Speaker 1: every time he and TJ Water on the field together,
- 55:14Speaker 1: TJ has the better game. So in terms of Clowney, jadeveon, clowney, ankle, knee, hip,
- 55:23Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's pretty extensive. All all three of
- 55:27Speaker 1: those are listed in Um. You know, he missed practice. Uh,
- 55:32Speaker 1: but he seems to be watching him as compared to
- 55:36Speaker 1: when I saw him play last year when he was
- 55:39Speaker 1: with Tennessee against the Bengals and watching him on tape,
- 55:42Speaker 1: this year, he seems to have more juice. I mean,
- 55:44Speaker 1: is it because he's playing with a great player or what? What?
- 55:48Speaker 1: What is his status physically, do you think? Yeah, he's
- 55:52Speaker 1: got the hat trick of injuries right now, and again
- 55:54Speaker 1: they're all legit. Um. Uh. Yeah. He started the year,
- 56:01Speaker 1: the training camp, the preseason in a very happy state,
- 56:05Speaker 1: basically because he started camp healthy for the first time
- 56:09Speaker 1: in like three years. In his opinion, he had missed.
- 56:12Speaker 1: He had missed training camps for the last three years
- 56:15Speaker 1: of rehabbing injuries from the previous year. This year he
- 56:18Speaker 1: started healthy, which made him happy. He liked the vibe here.
- 56:22Speaker 1: He liked, you know, not being the number one guy,
- 56:26Speaker 1: the batman, but being the robin to Garrett. Uh, and
- 56:30Speaker 1: he knew the Browns should contend. Uh, he is when
- 56:35Speaker 1: he's on the field, Uh, he's pretty pretty well. You know,
- 56:39Speaker 1: he's he's best against the run and he had two
- 56:42Speaker 1: tackles for loss against Pittsburgh on running plays. That's that's
- 56:45Speaker 1: vintage Clowney there. But when he's on the field, he
- 56:50Speaker 1: does help make Garrett more effective because they can't double everybody.
- 56:54Speaker 1: Both teams chipped and used tight ends on Garrett. Um,
- 56:59Speaker 1: he would wrecked a little more pass rush numbers out
- 57:02Speaker 1: of clowning. But he's he's having a better year than
- 57:07Speaker 1: Like he said that, you remember last year and maybe
- 57:10Speaker 1: even the year before that. So what about Denzel Ward?
- 57:16Speaker 1: How bad is the hamstring with Denzel Ward? I think
- 57:22Speaker 1: he returned to practice today. I think I think he
- 57:24Speaker 1: was limited on their report, which was improvement because he
- 57:27Speaker 1: missed the last game. And usually with Denzel Ward, when
- 57:30Speaker 1: he has a hamstring that forces in the miss a game,
- 57:34Speaker 1: it's usually multiple games. So I wasn't We'll see if
- 57:40Speaker 1: he gets into the game. It's going to be literally
- 57:43Speaker 1: a questionable situation, but the fact that he was at
- 57:48Speaker 1: practice and limited today was encouraging. So we'll see how
- 57:53Speaker 1: that one goes. And finally, Tony and thanks for all
- 57:57Speaker 1: your time. How big of a blow was losing the
- 58:01Speaker 1: rookie from Notre Dame A woosue Cora. That guy is
- 58:05Speaker 1: a freak. He does some freak is stuff to tape
- 58:08Speaker 1: and I saw on him. I'm telling you what if
- 58:10Speaker 1: he was in there with Clowney and Garrett, Are you
- 58:13Speaker 1: kidding me? What was he? How big an addition was
- 58:16Speaker 1: that dude? Yeah, well that's that's what they envisioned. Would
- 58:20Speaker 1: you just expressed? And he was based how like a hybrid.
- 58:24Speaker 1: He looks like a quarterback. He's so short and he
- 58:27Speaker 1: wears a quarterback number two twenty eighth, so it's weird.
- 58:31Speaker 1: But he's very quick. He was going to be the
- 58:34Speaker 1: quick guy to help him defend Lamar Jackson. You know,
- 58:38Speaker 1: Kyler Murray. They got some of those guys on their
- 58:40Speaker 1: schedule homes. But and he was coming along really well
- 58:48Speaker 1: as the weak side linebacker and uh and and had
- 58:52Speaker 1: gotten to the point where he was on the field
- 58:54Speaker 1: for three downs rather than just special packages. They loved
- 58:58Speaker 1: the way he was developing and the impact he was having,
- 59:00Speaker 1: So yeah, that was a blow. He'll be back in
- 59:05Speaker 1: a couple of weeks, I believe, and it's not I
- 59:09Speaker 1: don't think he's not done for the year, but he
- 59:12Speaker 1: is on IR all right. Thanks to Tony Grossie. And
- 59:15Speaker 1: here's a quick reminder to join lapping me for the
- 59:17Speaker 1: Bengals pep Rally show this Friday from two thirty to
- 59:20Speaker 1: five thirty on ESPN fifteen thirty. That's going to do
- 59:25Speaker 1: it for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought
- 59:27Speaker 1: to you by Ultimate Bengals, the free to play Next
- 59:31Speaker 1: Level Fantasy Football game downloaded now from the App Store
- 59:34Speaker 1: and Google Play. And if you haven't done so already,
- 59:37Speaker 1: please subscribe to this podcast and if you have a minute,
- 59:40Speaker 1: give it a rating or share a comment that helps
- 59:43Speaker 1: more Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horde and thanks
- 59:46Speaker 1: for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast.