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Bengals Booth Podcast: Do It Again · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody.
0:04
Speaker 2: I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading The Bengals Booth Podcast.
0:08
Speaker 2: The You Go Hoo Back Jack Do It Again addition,
0:15
Speaker 2: as the Bengals look for their second straight win and
0:17
Speaker 2: try to even the record at three and three as
0:19
Speaker 2: they host the Seattle Seahawks. Coming up, I'll visit with
0:24
Speaker 2: Iron Eagle, who will broadcast the game for CBS. My
0:28
Speaker 2: one on one player interview is with Kwame Lassiter, the
0:30
Speaker 2: second who received a game ball last week in the
0:34
Speaker 2: city where his late father spent most of his NFL career.
0:38
Speaker 2: Dave Lappam will join me to discuss Joe Burrow's significantly
0:41
Speaker 2: improve mobility and how Jamar Chase caught fifteen passes despite
0:46
Speaker 2: the Cardinals trying to double team him whenever possible. And finally,
0:51
Speaker 2: in our no The Faux segment, we'll get the latest
0:53
Speaker 2: on the Seahawks from their longtime radio voice, Steve Rabel.
0:57
Speaker 2: The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay
1:00
Speaker 2: Proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider, by
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Speaker 2: Alta Fiber future Proof Fiber Internet designed to elevate your home,
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Speaker 2: business and community to a new level, and by Kettering
1:13
Speaker 2: Health the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health
1:17
Speaker 2: is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now here's
1:21
Speaker 2: a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition
1:23
Speaker 2: of this podcast delivered write to your phone, tablet, or
1:26
Speaker 2: computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the
1:31
Speaker 2: greatest thing since the Sinsy Hat. If you've seen Ted
1:36
Speaker 2: Kerris do an interview in the last year, chances are
1:38
Speaker 2: he was wearing the Sinsey hat, more specifically a baseball
1:43
Speaker 2: hat with the word Sensei and three cat scratch marks
1:47
Speaker 2: on the front. Ted had the hats made when he
1:50
Speaker 2: joined the Bengals is a fun gift to give to teammates,
1:53
Speaker 2: never dreaming that there would be a demand for them
1:56
Speaker 2: from fans, so he decided to have more made and
1:59
Speaker 2: sell them, with all of the proceeds going to the
2:02
Speaker 2: Village of Marichi, a nonprofit living community in his hometown
2:07
Speaker 2: of Indianapolis designed to assist adults with Down syndrome, autism,
2:13
Speaker 2: and other developmental disabilities. Between hat sales and donations, Ted
2:18
Speaker 2: has helped raise more than one million dollars. It's a
2:22
Speaker 2: great cause and we can all help by buying a hat.
2:26
Speaker 2: I'm currently rocking a white one with black lettering. There's
2:30
Speaker 2: a wide variety of styles and colors available and you
2:33
Speaker 2: can check them out by visiting the sincyhat dot com.
2:38
Speaker 2: Now time for my first guest. He is the father
2:43
Speaker 2: of rising broadcasting star Noah Eagle and he will be
2:47
Speaker 2: in the booth this Sunday for CBS to call the
2:49
Speaker 2: Bengals Seahawks game. My buddy I and Eagle. I and
2:53
Speaker 2: Joe Burrow called last week's game in Arizona a must
2:56
Speaker 2: win and then he delivered. What did you think of
2:58
Speaker 2: Joe's performance and the Bengals victory over the Cardinals last week?
3:03
Speaker 3: Most importantly, it looked like Joe Burrow previous weeks that
3:08
Speaker 3: was not the guy that we had seen in his
3:11
Speaker 3: time with Cincinnati. So to me, that was the best
3:15
Speaker 3: storyline of all that Joe Burrow is healthy and Joe
3:20
Speaker 3: Burrow looks the part once again. Give him a lot
3:24
Speaker 3: of credit for going out there with his teammates, for
3:26
Speaker 3: having the pride in which to go and play and
3:30
Speaker 3: perform coming off the huge contract that he signed. And
3:33
Speaker 3: I know that he's a competitor, no one will ever
3:36
Speaker 3: question that. But we did not see the best in
3:40
Speaker 3: Joe Burrow. The first few weeks we saw the real
3:43
Speaker 3: Joe Burrow.
3:44
Speaker 2: He stood up last week and you were there in
3:47
Speaker 2: Week one with Charles Davis to call the game in Cleveland.
3:49
Speaker 2: It obviously did not go well for Cincinnati. What were
3:52
Speaker 2: your takeaways as you exited the stadium that day?
3:55
Speaker 1: Shock more than anything else.
3:57
Speaker 3: Look, the element certainly played a role, and I think
4:01
Speaker 3: that's always an issue that teams have to handle, and
4:05
Speaker 3: for Joe, part of it was that, but I think
4:07
Speaker 3: it was compounded by the fact that he just wasn't right.
4:11
Speaker 3: He wasn't throwing the ball with any velocity. There were
4:13
Speaker 3: times where he just wasn't throwing the ball in a
4:17
Speaker 3: normal Joe Burrow like motion. When he snapped off that
4:22
Speaker 3: long pass to Jamar Chase last week for the touchdown,
4:25
Speaker 3: that was the oh wow moment. He's back, And if
4:29
Speaker 3: he's back, then you get the sense that the Bengals
4:32
Speaker 3: are back. It doesn't mean that it solves all of
4:35
Speaker 3: the issues so far, but it goes a long way
4:37
Speaker 3: in getting to the place where Cincinnati ultimately wants to be,
4:41
Speaker 3: and that's consistent, which is a difficult place to get
4:44
Speaker 3: to in this league. Maintaining excellence is really challenging in
4:50
Speaker 3: the NFL, and when you get to a certain stage
4:53
Speaker 3: as a franchise and you expect a certain level of
4:57
Speaker 3: performance and you don't get it, that's when you have
4:59
Speaker 3: to figure out some answers and make some adjustments.
5:02
Speaker 1: We're visiting with Ian Egel.
5:04
Speaker 2: There are a bunch of great wide receivers in the
5:06
Speaker 2: NFL right now, and Jamar Chase is obviously one of
5:09
Speaker 2: the very best. When you watch Jamar Chase, what stands
5:13
Speaker 2: out more than anything else.
5:15
Speaker 3: It's almost effortless in how he goes about his business,
5:19
Speaker 3: and that shows you that he's at a different level
5:23
Speaker 3: his versatility. You could put him anywhere on the field.
5:26
Speaker 3: He knows every position at wide receiver and he knows
5:30
Speaker 3: it thoroughly, and you could put him there and he's
5:34
Speaker 3: the best guy at it. That shows you a great deal.
5:37
Speaker 3: You want to work him on the outside, great. You
5:39
Speaker 3: want to work him out of the slot, not a problem.
5:41
Speaker 3: You want to send him on a go route, He
5:44
Speaker 3: can do it. I want a fifty to fifty ball
5:46
Speaker 3: where you're asking him to go up and get it
5:48
Speaker 3: and be physical with a dB not an issue. I
5:52
Speaker 3: think wide receivers by nature are confident, and most of
5:57
Speaker 3: them can use that to their advantage.
6:00
Speaker 1: Some do not.
6:01
Speaker 3: Jamar Chase, that's real. That's not him trying to create
6:06
Speaker 3: a character or trying to fire himself up. What he
6:10
Speaker 3: says he believes. And when he says that he's open
6:15
Speaker 3: all the time, he's probably right.
6:19
Speaker 1: He is definitely right.
6:21
Speaker 2: You've done quite a few Bengals games in recent years
6:23
Speaker 2: and you always have the opportunity to meet with Zach
6:25
Speaker 2: Taylor before the game. What stands out about his leadership
6:29
Speaker 2: and the job he's done in building the Bengals to
6:32
Speaker 2: contender status.
6:34
Speaker 3: He's really thorough and there is no minute detail that
6:39
Speaker 3: he has not thought of or considered, and I think
6:42
Speaker 3: it says a lot about where we are with modern coaches.
6:47
Speaker 3: It's been a different job. It's not just x's and
6:50
Speaker 3: o's that's a big part of it, but managing personalities,
6:54
Speaker 3: handling success, motivating, pushing the right buttons, knowing when to
7:01
Speaker 3: push your guys and when to maybe go in and
7:04
Speaker 3: give him a hug or a tender moment. And I
7:08
Speaker 3: think he balances that really well. When you sit down
7:12
Speaker 3: and talk with him, he's highly organized. He's locked in
7:17
Speaker 3: on the task at hand. This is not someone that's
7:20
Speaker 3: easily distracted. This is not someone that has a short
7:24
Speaker 3: attention span. I've talked to all of them through the years.
7:27
Speaker 3: That's the one real positive of doing this job is
7:31
Speaker 3: you get some time with them and not with a
7:33
Speaker 3: camera on and a microphone on, so odds are you're
7:37
Speaker 3: getting them a little more at ease. And Zach, to me,
7:42
Speaker 3: has really grown into this role and he's a student
7:46
Speaker 3: of it and he cares a lot that comes across
7:49
Speaker 3: every time that we sit with him.
7:51
Speaker 2: Trey Hendrickson had a huge game last week, two and
7:53
Speaker 2: a half sacks in Arizona. He's currently tied for second
7:56
Speaker 2: in the NFL with six. Do you consider Trey to
7:59
Speaker 2: be among the best pass rushers in the NFL.
8:03
Speaker 1: I think he is.
8:04
Speaker 3: I think there's that top level that always gets notice
8:08
Speaker 3: and this happens in sports. We categorize players and coaches.
8:14
Speaker 3: It's part of what we do. And I think sports
8:15
Speaker 3: fans by nature have almost been taught this. It's learned behavior.
8:21
Speaker 3: Comparisons contrast put people in certain boxes, and Trey is
8:29
Speaker 3: probably considered on that next tier, which is still really
8:34
Speaker 3: good in the NFL. But to crack that top tier
8:38
Speaker 3: you've got to do it again and again and again.
8:41
Speaker 3: You almost have to do it in a very outward
8:47
Speaker 3: dramatic public fashion. And I don't know if Trey is
8:50
Speaker 3: ever going to be that.
8:52
Speaker 1: He just does his job. He does it really well, and.
8:56
Speaker 3: You look at his numbers at the end of the
8:58
Speaker 3: season and say, hey, this guy, he's one of the
9:01
Speaker 3: best guys doing it. So I think he's He's mentioned
9:04
Speaker 3: in that whole topic. But to get into that next year,
9:10
Speaker 3: that elite tier, that requires four, five, six years of
9:16
Speaker 3: sustained play.
9:19
Speaker 2: So the Seahawks come to town this week, and I'm
9:21
Speaker 2: not sure there is a comparison in NFL history for
9:24
Speaker 2: Geno Smith. He started his first two years with the Jets,
9:27
Speaker 2: he had thirty four interceptions, basically sat the bench for
9:31
Speaker 2: seven years, and then last year he takes over for
9:33
Speaker 2: Russell Wilson and earns Pro Bowl recognition. Are you sold
9:37
Speaker 2: on Geno Smith at this point?
9:40
Speaker 3: So we had Seattle earlier in the season, Dan and
9:43
Speaker 3: asked Pete Carroll this exact question, because I find it
9:46
Speaker 3: to be one of the best stories in the NFL,
9:51
Speaker 3: and the guys that we came up with in comparison,
9:54
Speaker 3: these are not perfect comparisons by any stretch. But Pete
9:58
Speaker 3: mentioned Steve Young that Steve strugg early in his career
10:01
Speaker 3: and then obviously excelled went to the Hall of Fame.
10:05
Speaker 3: That to me probably is a bit extreme. Vinny Testaverdi,
10:10
Speaker 3: that's a name that came up, struggles early and then
10:13
Speaker 3: had his best years, not necessarily in his second stop,
10:17
Speaker 3: but it required his third stop with the Jets where
10:21
Speaker 3: you started to see what he could do when given
10:24
Speaker 3: all the tools around him and his experience. And Rich
10:27
Speaker 3: Gannon is another one that popped up as well. Rich
10:30
Speaker 3: and I worked together at CBS. Rich was a great partner,
10:33
Speaker 3: a terrific guy, worked his butt off to make himself
10:38
Speaker 3: an NFL quarterback and won the MVP Award later in
10:41
Speaker 3: his career as a member of the Oakland Raiders. I
10:45
Speaker 3: think Geno's writing his own story. He was given a
10:48
Speaker 3: chance early in his career with the Jets. I was
10:50
Speaker 3: doing those preseason games, so I was in those production meetings,
10:53
Speaker 3: and Gino was very confident and to me followed almost
10:57
Speaker 3: the handbook of what you're supposed to do and what
11:00
Speaker 3: you're supposed to say as a starting NFL quarterback.
11:03
Speaker 1: And now when you meet with him.
11:06
Speaker 3: I think it's even more sincere and genuine because of
11:10
Speaker 3: all of the experience that he's gotten and the guys
11:14
Speaker 3: that he's been around and waiting for his chance. He
11:18
Speaker 3: told us he never stopped believing that he was a
11:22
Speaker 3: starting quarterback. While everybody else may not have seen it,
11:26
Speaker 3: he believed it. So to answer your question, yes, I
11:31
Speaker 3: believe in him. I think it's a legitimately great NFL
11:35
Speaker 3: story and one that other quarterbacks are going to follow
11:38
Speaker 3: for many years to come in the league, Guys that
11:41
Speaker 3: either aren't getting their opportunity or let one slip away,
11:44
Speaker 3: but still hold out hope that they could maybe have
11:47
Speaker 3: an impact down the road and be the guy somewhere else.
11:51
Speaker 2: A couple more questions for my friend Ian Eagle. So
11:54
Speaker 2: the Bengals take on Seattle this week, they have a
11:56
Speaker 2: bye next week, and then a road game at San
11:59
Speaker 2: Francisco forty nine ers or five and L. They're winning
12:02
Speaker 2: by an average of twenty points a game. Is San
12:04
Speaker 2: Francisco the team debat and what teams are in that
12:07
Speaker 2: conversation right now.
12:09
Speaker 3: It feels like Cincinnati's in the NFC West.
12:12
Speaker 1: That's how it feels for me.
12:14
Speaker 3: That's been the bulk of their schedule and then obviously
12:17
Speaker 3: that's going to come to an end when they play
12:19
Speaker 3: the forty nine ers. San Francisco has been a joy
12:22
Speaker 3: to watch. That's an offense that's clicking on all cylinders. Defensively,
12:25
Speaker 3: they really get after it, and they've been doing that
12:28
Speaker 3: now for a number of years, going back to when
12:31
Speaker 3: Sala was running that defense before he got the head
12:34
Speaker 3: coaching job with the Jets, and it's still the same mentality.
12:37
Speaker 3: Brock Purdy, you want to talk about great stories. He's
12:40
Speaker 3: the last pick of the draft. He's playing at an
12:43
Speaker 3: MVP level and that doesn't happen every day. We know
12:47
Speaker 3: how hard it is in this league to find a
12:49
Speaker 3: quarterback and then believe in that quarterback. This is year
12:53
Speaker 3: two for Brock Perdy in a job that he wasn't
12:55
Speaker 3: supposed to have, and here he is excelling. They've been
12:59
Speaker 3: the best team in the NFL so far, no doubt
13:02
Speaker 3: about it. Philadelphia obviously has to be in that conversation.
13:05
Speaker 3: They're still undefeated. Kansas City. They can look like world beaters,
13:10
Speaker 3: but it's not quite the same mistique as it was.
13:14
Speaker 3: And because of that, I think there are teams in
13:17
Speaker 3: the AFC that see and opening. Buffalo has certainly played better.
13:21
Speaker 3: Cincinnati gets mentioned because of what they've done the last
13:23
Speaker 3: couple of years, They're going to have to go out
13:26
Speaker 3: and prove it. Beyond that, there feels like a drop
13:30
Speaker 3: off in the NFL, and that's what makes this league
13:35
Speaker 3: so unpredictable and so intriguing, not just year to year Dan.
13:40
Speaker 3: Week to week, you think you have a handle on
13:43
Speaker 3: things and then something happens. The two games that I
13:46
Speaker 3: did last week Thursday, I was in Landover, Maryland, and
13:50
Speaker 3: I had Chicago and Washington, and everything was lined up
13:53
Speaker 3: for the Commanders to get a win and get that
13:57
Speaker 3: extra time off and feel good about where they are
14:00
Speaker 3: and their development with Sam.
14:02
Speaker 1: How they didn't.
14:04
Speaker 3: The Bears win their first game. They looked really impressive
14:08
Speaker 3: in the first half Offensively, DJ Moore was unstoppable. Then
14:12
Speaker 3: Sunday I go to Pittsburgh. Everything about the Steelers all
14:16
Speaker 3: week had been about the offense being poor, and this
14:20
Speaker 3: team may not be able to compete with the elite teams,
14:24
Speaker 3: let alone in their division. Forget about the conference for
14:27
Speaker 3: a moment. Baltimore controls, it dominates in the first half.
14:31
Speaker 3: Mistake here, mistake there, missed opportunity and then boom, the
14:36
Speaker 3: bottom drops out safety interception. Steelers take advantage. They're now
14:41
Speaker 3: leading the division at three and two. They had no
14:44
Speaker 3: right to win the game. So to me, this is
14:47
Speaker 3: what really makes the NFL what it is. It's a
14:51
Speaker 3: reality show and every week we're finding out something new
14:54
Speaker 3: and something different that we didn't expect.
14:57
Speaker 2: Seattle comes to town at three and one. They've got
15:00
Speaker 2: three game winning streak. What are some of the keys
15:02
Speaker 2: this Sunday.
15:04
Speaker 3: Key for Cincinnati? Got to force some turnovers? Seattle has
15:07
Speaker 3: avoided it. Can you take that next step? And we
15:11
Speaker 3: saw it last week? Really good sign for this Bengals defense.
15:15
Speaker 3: I think numbers wise, I hate getting caught up in
15:19
Speaker 3: rankings through five weeks.
15:21
Speaker 1: You see trends.
15:23
Speaker 3: I believe they're better than their numbers indicate, and they
15:26
Speaker 3: will be better when the smoke clears. But can you
15:29
Speaker 3: put pressure on Geno Smith force them into a mistake.
15:33
Speaker 3: Seattle has one turnover this season.
15:36
Speaker 4: One.
15:37
Speaker 1: That's it. That has to.
15:39
Speaker 3: Change if you're the Cincinnati Bengals. In addition, the mar
15:44
Speaker 3: Chase show is great and it was highlight driven last week.
15:51
Speaker 3: They do have to spread it around.
15:52
Speaker 1: And the running game.
15:54
Speaker 3: If we believe in trends, it's been getting a little
15:57
Speaker 3: bit better, incremently better each week. The hope is this
16:01
Speaker 3: is the week for Cincinnati where they bust through over
16:04
Speaker 3: one hundred yards rushing and a real impact. Look, this
16:08
Speaker 3: is just from the outside looking in. I remember specifically
16:12
Speaker 3: a game that you did, a game that I did
16:14
Speaker 3: the Jets and the Bengals last year where they needed
16:16
Speaker 3: to bleed clock and secure a win. They just gave
16:20
Speaker 3: the bolt a samajp Ron over and over and over again.
16:24
Speaker 3: And it just feels like they've been missing that piece
16:28
Speaker 3: this year when they've just needed that. Maybe they find
16:32
Speaker 3: it and maybe Trevion Williams is that guy. I don't know,
16:36
Speaker 3: but that and the tight end position, you'd like to
16:38
Speaker 3: see a little more production from that. I'll put that
16:41
Speaker 3: in the keys for Sunday as well.
16:43
Speaker 2: And your schedule is crazy. I always appreciate your time
16:46
Speaker 2: when you spend a few minutes with us. Thanks so much,
16:49
Speaker 2: look forward to seeing you on Sunday. The Bengals Booth
16:51
Speaker 2: Podcast is brought to you by Paid Corps, proud to
16:54
Speaker 2: be the Bengals official HR software provider by Alta Fiber
16:59
Speaker 2: future Proof vibber Internet designed to elevate your home, business
17:02
Speaker 2: and community to a new level and by Kettering Health
17:06
Speaker 2: the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is
17:09
Speaker 2: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Last week, with
17:14
Speaker 2: t Higgins unable to play because of a fractured rib,
17:17
Speaker 2: the Bengals promoted Kwame Lassiter the second from the practice squad.
17:22
Speaker 2: It was the second time in his two NFL seasons
17:24
Speaker 2: that Kwame has been on the active roster for a game,
17:27
Speaker 2: and it was especially meaningful in this case because his dad,
17:31
Speaker 2: who passed away three years ago at the age of
17:34
Speaker 2: forty nine due to a heart attack, was a great
17:37
Speaker 2: player for the Arizona Cardinals. I talked to Kwame this week. Kwami,
17:43
Speaker 2: not only were you on the active roster for last
17:45
Speaker 2: week's team against Arizona, but you took part in the
17:48
Speaker 2: coin toss as one of the coin toss captains in
17:51
Speaker 2: the same city where your dad spent the first eight
17:54
Speaker 2: years of his NFL career. How did you get the
17:57
Speaker 2: news that you were going to be a game day captain.
17:59
Speaker 5: Oh, we got the hotel and we was going through
18:01
Speaker 5: the walkthrough and Zach called me over and told me
18:03
Speaker 5: so I was appreciated of that because my family's gonna
18:07
Speaker 5: be there. Sadly, my mom wasn't there. She's in Italy,
18:10
Speaker 5: so it's a win lose for her. But it was special.
18:17
Speaker 5: I'm appreciative of him for that.
18:18
Speaker 2: Can you describe the emotions walking out to the fifty
18:21
Speaker 2: with Logan Wilson by your side?
18:23
Speaker 5: To be honest, I was just thinking about the game.
18:24
Speaker 5: I know that was more for my family to enjoy it,
18:27
Speaker 5: but I was just thinking about the game. I knew
18:28
Speaker 5: what we were trying to do when we got out there,
18:30
Speaker 5: so I was honestly thinking about winning that football game.
18:34
Speaker 2: The story doesn't end there. With about a minute left
18:36
Speaker 2: in regulation, you caught your first regular season NFL catch.
18:41
Speaker 2: Borro takes the snap, throws it out to the right.
18:43
Speaker 2: It is caught by Kwame Lassiter. He will be tackled
18:47
Speaker 2: in bounds, but that is significant. You might be thinking,
18:49
Speaker 2: all right, why are they throwing the ball with a
18:51
Speaker 2: minute to go up by fourteen. Well, Kwame Lassiter does
18:55
Speaker 2: not have an NFL catch. His father played here for
18:59
Speaker 2: near a decade. His late dad Kwame Senior. So the
19:03
Speaker 2: Bengals made Kwame Lassiter a captain prior to the game
19:07
Speaker 2: today and they allow him to have his first ever
19:10
Speaker 2: NFL catch.
19:11
Speaker 6: That's that's a good example of how everybody feels about
19:17
Speaker 6: everybody else in the football team. I mean, you know,
19:20
Speaker 6: it's just one of those things where that's a moment
19:23
Speaker 6: this guy will remember the rest of his life and
19:27
Speaker 6: pats off to Zach Taylor and everybody else responsible for
19:30
Speaker 6: making it happen.
19:31
Speaker 2: We learned the next day that play wasn't called from
19:34
Speaker 2: the sideline. Joe Burrow checked to a pass on that
19:37
Speaker 2: play to make sure that you got to catch, and
19:39
Speaker 2: then you got a game ball after the game. What
19:41
Speaker 2: did that tell you about how your coaches and teammates
19:44
Speaker 2: feel about you.
19:45
Speaker 4: It was real solid. No, they got my bag.
19:47
Speaker 5: They knew that was a special moment for my family,
19:49
Speaker 5: and it was a special moment for Mitsu. So I
19:53
Speaker 5: got a good group around me and they're real solid.
19:57
Speaker 2: When Coach Taylor tossed to your game ball in the
20:00
Speaker 2: locker room afterward, he mentioned the fact that your late dad,
20:03
Speaker 2: Kwame had four interceptions in an NFL game, which is
20:07
Speaker 2: tied for the all time record. He's one of twenty
20:09
Speaker 2: guys to do it. I didn't realize that before Zach
20:12
Speaker 2: shared that story in the locker room. I think that
20:15
Speaker 2: was the year you were born. What have you learned
20:18
Speaker 2: about his performance in that game?
20:21
Speaker 5: So I see the highlights all the time when I
20:22
Speaker 5: was growing up, and it's on YouTube actually, so I
20:24
Speaker 5: would when I was a kid, I'd go watching them
20:26
Speaker 5: highlights on YouTube, and like you said, I wasn't born yet,
20:31
Speaker 5: or I might have just been born, so I just.
20:34
Speaker 4: Know the highlights.
20:35
Speaker 5: And he would always say like, I'm a Deefens bag,
20:37
Speaker 5: but I always got the ball in my hands, so
20:39
Speaker 5: that's kind of the thing of where I got my
20:40
Speaker 5: hands from.
20:41
Speaker 2: So we've learned that your mom was in Italy and
20:43
Speaker 2: couldn't be there last Sunday. But what friends and family
20:46
Speaker 2: did you have there and did you have a chance
20:48
Speaker 2: to visit before after the game?
20:49
Speaker 5: Yeah, I had my fiance out there. I had the
20:52
Speaker 5: rest of my family out there, my cousins, brothers, so
20:56
Speaker 5: it was special. I got to see them a little
20:58
Speaker 5: bit before during warm ups because they got there early.
21:00
Speaker 5: They made sure they got there early for that one,
21:02
Speaker 5: so I got to see him a little bit before
21:03
Speaker 5: during war up warm ups, and then I seen them
21:05
Speaker 5: all after the game, and it was special.
21:08
Speaker 2: We're visiting with Kwame Lassiter. Speaking of family, I learned
21:12
Speaker 2: from broadcasting University of Cincinnati games that you have a
21:15
Speaker 2: brother who is a wide receiver at BYU. He had
21:18
Speaker 2: a touchdown catch against the Bearcats. You have another brother, Quinton,
21:21
Speaker 2: who is a defensive back at You're alma mater, Kansas.
21:24
Speaker 2: He had interceptions in each of the first two games
21:26
Speaker 2: of this season. So they're both having great years. And
21:29
Speaker 2: they played each other. Kansas played BYU last month. What
21:33
Speaker 2: was that like for you?
21:34
Speaker 4: That was a special we got.
21:36
Speaker 5: My mom got us split cut shirts, well Darius on
21:40
Speaker 5: one side and Quinn on the other side. She kept
21:42
Speaker 5: running with bad a little brothers even though we were
21:44
Speaker 5: trying to switch it to the last of the bow,
21:46
Speaker 5: but she kept running with better little brothers. And it
21:48
Speaker 5: was a great weekend for me. I was here, which
21:51
Speaker 5: is a good thing that I'm here, But I did
21:52
Speaker 5: want to be at that game. My whole family was
21:54
Speaker 5: out there for that one too. I didn't really care
21:57
Speaker 5: who won. That was the first time I would not
21:58
Speaker 5: have been mad if Kansas lost. Really, so, I do
22:01
Speaker 5: want to see my boys ball and they did for
22:05
Speaker 5: the record.
22:06
Speaker 1: Kansas squad, Yeah, it.
22:07
Speaker 5: Was a win win and and Darius. He lost, but
22:10
Speaker 5: he had a good game so and he scored.
22:12
Speaker 2: So that's a split jersey that your mom had made.
22:15
Speaker 5: So I got a split They have a split jersey.
22:17
Speaker 5: I have a split shirt just with pictures of them.
22:19
Speaker 5: And then I gotta I make sure I bought a
22:21
Speaker 5: b whye jersey because I got so much Kansas gear
22:23
Speaker 5: and Quentin Ward's eight too, so I could just throw
22:26
Speaker 5: in a jersey old school jersey. But uh yeah, I
22:29
Speaker 5: got split jerseys in BYU five and all black.
22:33
Speaker 2: All right, let's turn to the Bengals. As a wide receiver.
22:36
Speaker 2: I'm sure you have great appreciation for the people that
22:39
Speaker 2: are masters of your craft, and Jamar Chase had one
22:42
Speaker 2: of those games last week with a team record fifteen catches.
22:45
Speaker 2: What did you respect most about that performance?
22:49
Speaker 5: You see what he can do with the ball in
22:50
Speaker 5: his hands, and uh, you know, he got a great
22:54
Speaker 5: He's a great athlete, so he can do a lot
22:56
Speaker 5: with the ball in his hands. And there was one
22:58
Speaker 5: play that stuck out to me that he's a d ball.
23:01
Speaker 5: He had a post route kind of and he is
23:03
Speaker 5: when he scored. That's a tough catch to make for
23:06
Speaker 5: a wide receiver if you don't know the game is over,
23:08
Speaker 5: the like the behind your head, and he put his
23:10
Speaker 5: hands back here and caught it.
23:11
Speaker 1: And that's impressive.
23:13
Speaker 7: Man.
23:13
Speaker 5: It's it's a tough catch to make, but you're supposed
23:17
Speaker 5: to make the catch.
23:18
Speaker 2: In my eyes, he has numero uno for a reason.
23:22
Speaker 2: Prior to that game last week, Joe Burrow said, it's
23:25
Speaker 2: a must win, and you guys went out and delivered.
23:28
Speaker 2: What's the mindset for you and your teammates this week
23:31
Speaker 2: going into the Seattle game.
23:32
Speaker 5: I think every game is a must win, honestly, and
23:34
Speaker 5: I think the guys in there thing so too. I
23:36
Speaker 5: feel like you don't go as a game expecting to lose,
23:39
Speaker 5: So I think every game is a must win, especially
23:41
Speaker 5: with them guys and they where their head is at.
23:43
Speaker 4: I think here on out, every game is a must win.
23:45
Speaker 2: Final question for Kwame Lassiter. This is your second year
23:48
Speaker 2: on the Bengals practice squad and you're not getting rich,
23:51
Speaker 2: but it is a six figure income. How would you
23:54
Speaker 2: describe your thought process as you try to move toward
23:58
Speaker 2: more regular season opportunities.
24:00
Speaker 5: You gotta keep blessing again. You study the playbook like
24:03
Speaker 5: as you plan practice, as you plan I feel like
24:06
Speaker 5: you're supposed to do everything as you're about to play,
24:07
Speaker 5: just in case, because you know, anything happen. So I
24:11
Speaker 5: still trying to slow the game down every aspect of
24:14
Speaker 5: the game.
24:14
Speaker 4: And I'm just blessing the game.
24:16
Speaker 3: Man.
24:16
Speaker 5: I'm trying to be I'm trying to be one of
24:18
Speaker 5: them greats and potentially and I feel like the guys
24:21
Speaker 5: in here.
24:22
Speaker 2: Sidesla congrats on the first of what we hope are
24:25
Speaker 2: many NFL regular season catches.
24:28
Speaker 4: Yeah, amen to that. I hear that one real.
24:31
Speaker 2: That's Kwame Glassiter. Wami will join Dave Lapham and me
24:35
Speaker 2: on the Bengals pep Rally Show this Friday. We'll be
24:38
Speaker 2: broadcasting from the Wings and Rings location in Greendale, Indiana,
24:43
Speaker 2: from three to six, and Kwame will join us for
24:45
Speaker 2: the final hour of the show. We hope to see
24:48
Speaker 2: you there. In last week's fourteen point win at Arizona,
24:52
Speaker 2: the impostor that had been wearing the Bengals number nine
24:55
Speaker 2: jersey in the first four weeks was replaced by.
24:59
Speaker 1: The real deal.
25:00
Speaker 2: Joe Burrow was finally able to move around as his
25:03
Speaker 2: calf continues to heal, and the result was a vintage
25:06
Speaker 2: Joey franchise performance, as he completed seventy eight percent of
25:10
Speaker 2: his passes for three hundred and seventeen yards with three
25:14
Speaker 2: touchdowns and a passer rating of one oh eight point one.
25:19
Speaker 2: Joe spoke to reporters on Wednesday and shared encouraging news
25:23
Speaker 2: about his calf.
25:24
Speaker 8: Feel good, keep getting better, So it's exciting.
25:27
Speaker 4: Is his problems close to one hundred percent?
25:28
Speaker 9: He felt since going back to before.
25:31
Speaker 1: Trying to get start by far.
25:32
Speaker 4: Yeah, when he woke up the next morning from the game.
25:35
Speaker 4: Was it encouraging? How good you felt when he woke
25:38
Speaker 4: about exerting as much.
25:39
Speaker 1: As you did.
25:39
Speaker 8: Yeah, it was, And I felt that way last week too,
25:42
Speaker 8: after the game. It felt it felt good after last week.
25:45
Speaker 8: So we're just getting.
25:46
Speaker 4: Better and better. On your coat, it's hard to say.
25:50
Speaker 8: I'm confident that I can. I can run around and
25:52
Speaker 8: extend and make plays right now, So tough to say
25:56
Speaker 8: percentage wise, but we're pretty close.
25:58
Speaker 7: What's the biggest difference for you physical ability to be
26:02
Speaker 7: more mobile or was it more like a mental.
26:05
Speaker 1: Thing or something else?
26:06
Speaker 8: Physical ability?
26:07
Speaker 6: Physical?
26:08
Speaker 1: What is it about that that made such a difference
26:11
Speaker 1: for you?
26:12
Speaker 4: On Sunday, I.
26:12
Speaker 8: Was just you know, it's feeling feeling good after, you know,
26:16
Speaker 8: the first touchdown, I figured I was gonna be confident
26:19
Speaker 8: in my calf all day, and it's it's tough. It's
26:23
Speaker 8: tough sledding. When you can't when you can't move around
26:25
Speaker 8: in the pocket, when you can't extend plays, you gotta
26:28
Speaker 8: play a certain kind of way. And so I was
26:29
Speaker 8: able to play the game the way I wanted to,
26:31
Speaker 8: the way I expected to. We were able to come
26:33
Speaker 8: out with a big win.
26:35
Speaker 4: Folks.
26:35
Speaker 2: On this week now, Dave Lapham and I discussed Burrow
26:38
Speaker 2: and his favorite target, Jamar Chase on the Bengals Game
26:41
Speaker 2: Play and Show. So Joe threw three touchdown passes last week,
26:46
Speaker 2: all to Jamar Chase. I don't know if he could
26:49
Speaker 2: have thrown any of them the previous week when his
26:53
Speaker 2: calf was still hurting. On touchdowns one in three he
26:56
Speaker 2: moved in the red zone. Yep, he hadn't been moving.
27:00
Speaker 2: Touchdown number two, he threw the ball fifty eight yards
27:03
Speaker 2: in the air where he had to really push off
27:05
Speaker 2: on the right calf. So that was pretty definitive proof
27:09
Speaker 2: that the calf is getting better.
27:11
Speaker 6: No question that fifty eight yards in the air is
27:13
Speaker 6: the longest of his career. If it had gone to
27:16
Speaker 6: the ground, it would have been well over sixty yards
27:18
Speaker 6: in the air.
27:19
Speaker 4: That's a goose in the town. They're pretty good.
27:22
Speaker 6: And like you said, getting out of pocket or climbing
27:26
Speaker 6: the pocket and changing direction in the pocket, all those
27:28
Speaker 6: kind of things. I mean, that wasn't there for Joe
27:32
Speaker 6: for the first you know, four football games, but it
27:34
Speaker 6: was there for this one, and what a difference it made.
27:39
Speaker 4: And honestly, in.
27:40
Speaker 6: Today's NFL third down red zone, quarterback mobility is a must.
27:46
Speaker 6: I mean it's, you know, the fields compressed in the
27:49
Speaker 6: red zone, it's gonna be harder to get open.
27:51
Speaker 4: And sometimes the.
27:53
Speaker 6: Play that's called, you know, is taken away and then
27:56
Speaker 6: it's like extend and create. Get receiver and quarterback on
27:59
Speaker 6: the same page. Like Joe and Jamar do so well.
28:02
Speaker 6: It's like they have mental telepthy esp. They know what
28:05
Speaker 6: each other is going to do before they really do it.
28:08
Speaker 6: It's kind of crazy, really, And actually, Joe Burrow had
28:11
Speaker 6: a fourth touchdown pass to Tyler Boyd's right that was
28:14
Speaker 6: taken away on a bogus call on Kappa. I mean,
28:18
Speaker 6: he got his hand up there maybe for a split
28:21
Speaker 6: second and My understanding of the rule is if you
28:24
Speaker 6: get your hand out of there right away, which he did.
28:27
Speaker 6: He knew he was close, so he get out of there,
28:29
Speaker 6: it's not a penalty. And I can find plays in
28:33
Speaker 6: that game where defensive players had offensive lineman's face past
28:37
Speaker 6: grab and the other way around, they weren't called in.
28:40
Speaker 6: I mean, it was unfortunate that that little bogus moved
28:43
Speaker 6: there nullified a fourth touchdown pass for Joe Burrow to
28:47
Speaker 6: Tyler Boyd. That would have been extraordinary. They had three
28:49
Speaker 6: touchdowns for the season going into the game, and they
28:53
Speaker 6: matched their total would have exceeded it if they let
28:55
Speaker 6: that one. Let that one stand. But I do think
28:59
Speaker 6: that now they can build on something. You know, it's
29:03
Speaker 6: like they're getting closer to getting back to normal. And
29:08
Speaker 6: it had to be so frustrating to Joe Burrow and
29:11
Speaker 6: the receivers to realize if I wasn't medically challenged, if
29:18
Speaker 6: I could buy us a little bit more time, we
29:21
Speaker 6: could have done so much more in those four games.
29:24
Speaker 6: But it wasn't meant to be at that point.
29:27
Speaker 2: And on the receiving end of the touchdowns was Jamar
29:30
Speaker 2: Chase and an unbelievable performance fifteen catches. That's a new
29:34
Speaker 2: Bengals single game record, one hundred and ninety two yards,
29:37
Speaker 2: three touchdowns, and he had that game by lining up
29:41
Speaker 2: and moving around all over the place. Let's hear from
29:44
Speaker 2: head coach Zach Taylor on what it took to have
29:49
Speaker 2: that kind of performance for Jamar Chase.
29:51
Speaker 9: And we've got to continue to be creative with ways
29:53
Speaker 9: to get him the ball because teams are always gonna
29:55
Speaker 9: try their best to take him away, and we that's
29:58
Speaker 9: part of our job as coach just to make sure
30:00
Speaker 9: that you can't fully take a guy away. We got
30:03
Speaker 9: to continue to be creative and find ways to get
30:07
Speaker 9: him the ball and allow him to be explosive. And
30:09
Speaker 9: it might not always be fifty eight years down the field,
30:12
Speaker 9: you know, launching the ball. It might be just trying
30:13
Speaker 9: to get him the ball and the move or get
30:14
Speaker 9: him the ball in the backfield. And he's done a
30:17
Speaker 9: great job. Again, there's never any m as from you know,
30:21
Speaker 9: miss assignments from him when he's putting those positions. He
30:24
Speaker 9: he nails it and knows how to do it, and
30:27
Speaker 9: that allows you to be a lot more flexible with
30:29
Speaker 9: how you use him and get him fifteen catches in
30:31
Speaker 9: a game because he's able to retain all the information
30:34
Speaker 9: you're throwing out of the week. I mean he's got
30:36
Speaker 9: he's got as much information as he's got to retain
30:37
Speaker 9: as any any player other than quarterback maybe over the
30:40
Speaker 9: course of the week in terms of how what position
30:42
Speaker 9: am I playing, Where am I lined up?
30:44
Speaker 4: What is my route?
30:45
Speaker 9: In this concept, he's got to do a lot lap.
30:48
Speaker 2: I think you can speak to the difficulty of what
30:51
Speaker 2: Jamar Chase did in lining up at every wide receiver spot,
30:55
Speaker 2: knowing the route you got to run from every spot
30:57
Speaker 2: going in motion a lot. In your playing days, you
31:00
Speaker 2: played every spot on the offensive line and did that
31:03
Speaker 2: in single games. It wasn't like, you know, you played
31:07
Speaker 2: left tackle one game, you played right tackle another one.
31:09
Speaker 2: There were games where you played every spot on the
31:12
Speaker 2: offensive line, which takes a tremendous amount of study and
31:16
Speaker 2: knowing the assignments. What Jamar Chase is doing is not
31:19
Speaker 2: as simple as people might think.
31:21
Speaker 6: You're right, Dan, and you know, the different positions require
31:26
Speaker 6: different skill sets too. On the outside, it's a much
31:30
Speaker 6: different route routes that you're running as opposed in the slot.
31:34
Speaker 6: You know, and like when I played all those spots
31:38
Speaker 6: Garden tackle were much different in terms of pass protection,
31:42
Speaker 6: technique and responsibility Center as well. I mean, center had
31:46
Speaker 6: a whole different set of responsibilities and techniques and everything
31:50
Speaker 6: to it. So it can if you let it, it
31:52
Speaker 6: can overwhelm you, you know, But you.
31:56
Speaker 4: Try to just do the best you can.
31:59
Speaker 6: And in putting it in a in a form that
32:02
Speaker 6: you can relate to and recall quickly. It's almost like
32:07
Speaker 6: you're studying schematics and concepts as much as you are
32:13
Speaker 6: memorizing assignments. It's always like it's it's it's better to
32:17
Speaker 6: have an understanding of if I'm an uncovered lineman, there's
32:21
Speaker 6: two or three things I'm going to have to do
32:23
Speaker 6: on this play, which one makes the most sense, you know,
32:26
Speaker 6: And so if you get in a pinch, just rely
32:29
Speaker 6: on your football instincts to take you to a to
32:32
Speaker 6: a place where you can make a call and have
32:34
Speaker 6: it work. Same type of thing with with Joe and
32:38
Speaker 6: his receivers. When plays are covered initially and they break down,
32:44
Speaker 6: now you have to understand concepts, understand where you are
32:47
Speaker 6: in the field, what things you can do to create
32:51
Speaker 6: a secondary play that the quarterback is going to be
32:54
Speaker 6: able to react to.
32:55
Speaker 4: That's not easy stuff.
32:56
Speaker 6: I mean, that takes a lot of work, a lot
32:58
Speaker 6: of timing with each other, and I admire the guys
33:02
Speaker 6: that can do it. I mean Jamar Jamar is not
33:05
Speaker 6: only physically gifted, he's mentally gifted to be able to
33:08
Speaker 6: do that. Trenton Irwin was doing is doing the same thing.
33:12
Speaker 6: You know, in his role, he has to line up
33:16
Speaker 6: everywhere and and honestly, the Bengals bring in receivers.
33:19
Speaker 4: That can do that, Yosi vash the young guys.
33:23
Speaker 6: I mean, I did a podcast with Troy Walters yesterday
33:27
Speaker 6: and he said that every single receiver in that room
33:31
Speaker 6: has to know every spot, and some are further along
33:35
Speaker 6: than others in that regard. But I mean, we played
33:38
Speaker 6: back in the seventies and eighties, it might have been
33:40
Speaker 6: one guy that could do that. If that guy get hurt,
33:44
Speaker 6: you are still back to the drawing board in terms
33:46
Speaker 6: of jeez, we can't move anybody around here. So then
33:49
Speaker 6: it'd be a second guy, but no more than two.
33:53
Speaker 6: Now it's everybody on this on this football team, And
33:57
Speaker 6: to me, it's uh, it's great because it makes life
34:01
Speaker 6: so much easier for Joe Burrow as well, because He
34:03
Speaker 6: trusts all these guys that they know their end of
34:07
Speaker 6: the bargain as well as he knows his end of
34:10
Speaker 6: the bargain. And when he sees something, he expects them
34:13
Speaker 6: to be where they're supposed to be, when they're supposed
34:15
Speaker 6: to be there, doing what they're supposed to do. And
34:18
Speaker 6: the trust level between quarterback and receiver on this football team.
34:22
Speaker 4: Is sky high. It's as good as there is in
34:25
Speaker 4: the National Football League.
34:26
Speaker 2: Every opponent the Bengals face, the number one objective on
34:30
Speaker 2: defense that take away Jamar Chase. If again, they're going
34:33
Speaker 2: to double team them or shade in his direction on
34:36
Speaker 2: virtually every snap. For him to have a game like
34:38
Speaker 2: that with fifteen catches, really about the only way to
34:41
Speaker 2: do it is to move them around the way they
34:43
Speaker 2: did absolutely.
34:44
Speaker 6: I mean, you know, particularly with t Higgins down. With
34:48
Speaker 6: t Higgins down, it's like we're going to double you,
34:50
Speaker 6: and we're going to try to single up some others,
34:52
Speaker 6: maybe double Tyler Boyd, try to single up on Trent
34:55
Speaker 6: and Irwin. But the fact is, you have it's musical
35:00
Speaker 6: chairs and you don't know when the music's gonna stop.
35:03
Speaker 6: You have trenton Irwin moving around, you have Jamar Chase
35:06
Speaker 6: moving around. I mean Trent Irwin was single receiver on
35:10
Speaker 6: one side of the formation one play, he's lined up
35:12
Speaker 6: in trips. On another play he motions to slot on
35:15
Speaker 6: another and Jamar's moving around too. It's like, I mean,
35:19
Speaker 6: if you're saying, okay, what we want to do is
35:21
Speaker 6: double that guy and single that guy. But then they
35:24
Speaker 6: motion the opposite way. It's like, BOYD, now do I
35:28
Speaker 6: try to run with them?
35:29
Speaker 4: We're playing zone defense. We can't do that. We're gonna
35:32
Speaker 4: have to roll.
35:33
Speaker 6: Oh, make sure we roll to double coverage here and
35:35
Speaker 6: single up here. So your chance for the defense making
35:39
Speaker 6: a mistake based on what their original call was by formation,
35:44
Speaker 6: then all of a sudden, the whole formation changes because
35:46
Speaker 6: everybody can line up everywhere. Puts a lot of pressure
35:49
Speaker 6: on the defense to make sure that they're communicating all
35:53
Speaker 6: the changes due to the shift and strength to the formation,
35:57
Speaker 6: and it's the current and everything, and it puts a
35:59
Speaker 6: lot of stress in the defense, particularly when the clock's
36:01
Speaker 6: winding down, the play clock's winding down. All that's going on, man,
36:06
Speaker 6: that's like a fire drill out there, man.
36:08
Speaker 2: And that's a good segue to the next topic because
36:11
Speaker 2: Jamar Chase did his best to dows a fire on Thursday.
36:16
Speaker 2: One of Seattle's best receivers, DK Metcalf, was asked this
36:20
Speaker 2: week what he appreciates about Jamar's game.
36:23
Speaker 10: I mean, just the long ball that I think Burrowed
36:26
Speaker 10: threw to him on like a seventy yard bomb. Just
36:29
Speaker 10: how effortlessly he caught the ball. So he's just a
36:32
Speaker 10: great receiver. Took my hat off to him with you
36:34
Speaker 10: know what he's done the first three years in the league,
36:36
Speaker 10: So you know, it'll be fun to watch Sunday, But
36:40
Speaker 10: I think it's going to get the best of them.
36:41
Speaker 2: So at the end of all of those mostly flattering comments,
36:45
Speaker 2: Metcalf said, I think Spoon will get the best of him,
36:48
Speaker 2: expressing confidence in rookie cornerback Devin Witherspoon, who is the
36:53
Speaker 2: fifth pick in this year's draft. In this day and age,
36:57
Speaker 2: that is considered to be trash talk, so reporters myself
37:01
Speaker 2: included race to get your mars reaction.
37:05
Speaker 11: He ain't doing nothing but just praising his teammate.
37:07
Speaker 1: Though you know what I'm say, that's.
37:08
Speaker 11: What he's supposed to do. At the end of the day,
37:10
Speaker 11: it's about game time. Represent game time de sitting, so
37:13
Speaker 11: he gonna get the opportunity to get his match ups
37:15
Speaker 11: and they just see who win that matchup.
37:19
Speaker 2: Like when does peop.
37:19
Speaker 4: All talk trash to you?
37:21
Speaker 11: I mean you seem to have like so much fun.
37:24
Speaker 11: I mean that sports part of the game. I expect
37:26
Speaker 11: people to talk trash to me. If you don't talk trash,
37:28
Speaker 11: you don't like football. But I'm usually one talking first,
37:32
Speaker 11: so so I don't think they have time to talk
37:34
Speaker 11: about there.
37:35
Speaker 1: Do you like enjoy it?
37:36
Speaker 11: Or does it start laughing first? I haven't heard anything
37:40
Speaker 11: that's like really like damn you said that?
37:42
Speaker 2: Is there a line you can't cross when the trash start?
37:45
Speaker 11: There is no line trash talking for no, No, there's
37:48
Speaker 11: no rules to it. That's why I stalled trash talking.
37:51
Speaker 11: So how does it work since whether spentiff talk track
37:55
Speaker 11: persons to.
37:55
Speaker 7: Make talk more.
37:57
Speaker 11: Yeah, that's why I ain't say nothing until he says something.
38:00
Speaker 11: I'll say something, but is DK I'm not lynched. I'm
38:03
Speaker 11: not checking DK, DK not checking me. You know what
38:04
Speaker 11: I'm saying. He just saying what you want to say
38:07
Speaker 11: at the end of day, so which they just spice
38:09
Speaker 11: it up the game, Like what I said against Cleveland
38:12
Speaker 11: just spicing up the game a little bit and make
38:13
Speaker 11: NH making us have more energy coming into the game.
38:17
Speaker 2: Follow this, Oddly enough, Witherspoon might not be the primary
38:21
Speaker 2: person covering Chase. The Seahawks also have Tariq the Freak Woollen,
38:26
Speaker 2: who is six ' four, ran a four to two
38:28
Speaker 2: six forty at the combine and had six interceptions as
38:32
Speaker 2: a rookie last year, the most of any NFL cornerback. Finally,
38:38
Speaker 2: time for this week's Know the Faux segment. The radio
38:41
Speaker 2: voice of the Seahawks, Steve Rabel, joined Lapping Me on
38:43
Speaker 2: the Bengals Game Plan Show this week, and I started
38:46
Speaker 2: our conversation by asking him about QB Geno Smith, who
38:51
Speaker 2: took over for Russell Wilson last year and went to
38:54
Speaker 2: the Pro Bowl after basically sitting the bench for the
38:57
Speaker 2: previous seven seasons. I asked Steve, at what point last
39:01
Speaker 2: year he started to think that Geno Smith could be
39:05
Speaker 2: a quality starting quarterback in the NFL.
39:09
Speaker 7: You know, it might have even taken place the year
39:12
Speaker 7: before that, Dan and that was when Russ broke his
39:16
Speaker 7: finger and missed four games and Gino came in, and
39:21
Speaker 7: you know, we kind of didn't play well around him
39:24
Speaker 7: a couple of those games, but then a couple of
39:26
Speaker 7: them he really lit it up, and it was a
39:29
Speaker 7: parent that he you know, he got it, He knew
39:32
Speaker 7: the offense, and and he still had obviously a really
39:36
Speaker 7: good arm. What we didn't all know was could he
39:40
Speaker 7: protect himself in the pocket. We were so used to
39:42
Speaker 7: seeing Russ being able to get up and take off,
39:45
Speaker 7: move around, throw on the run. But could Gino do
39:47
Speaker 7: those things? Could he command the huddle like a starter
39:51
Speaker 7: has to do, And it had been a long time
39:54
Speaker 7: that he had done that. Well, he did all those
39:56
Speaker 7: things and amaze everybody but the guys on the team
40:01
Speaker 7: and the coaches because they saw it every day.
40:04
Speaker 4: They saw how.
40:04
Speaker 7: He prepared every day they knew and even during training
40:08
Speaker 7: camp of last year, Pete would, you know, pull me
40:11
Speaker 7: in a few of the guys aside and say, listen,
40:13
Speaker 7: if you don't watch Gino every single day, you're not
40:17
Speaker 7: really knowing the full story of how prepared he is
40:20
Speaker 7: and how well he's going to play. I don't think
40:23
Speaker 7: there was ever any doubt in Pete's mind as they
40:26
Speaker 7: got into preseason a year ago and then the start
40:29
Speaker 7: of the regular season that Gino was going to do
40:31
Speaker 7: his job.
40:34
Speaker 6: So Steve, turnovers are huge at any level of football.
40:37
Speaker 6: I mean, watching my grandson play pee wee football. When
40:41
Speaker 6: they turn it over, they lose the football game. When
40:43
Speaker 6: they don't, they got a chance.
40:45
Speaker 4: For a football team to not only haven't.
40:48
Speaker 6: Lost a fumble, they're one of four teams that haven't
40:50
Speaker 6: lost a fumble, but think the only team in the
40:52
Speaker 6: NFL that hasn't put it on the ground once in
40:55
Speaker 6: four that's very very unusual. One give one interception by
41:01
Speaker 6: Gino Smith one giveaway on the season is best in
41:04
Speaker 6: the National Football League as well. Obviously, obviously it's a
41:08
Speaker 6: it's a it's a focus and when in the plus
41:11
Speaker 6: department since twenty ten and turnovers eighty five and nineteen,
41:16
Speaker 6: that's that's pretty good. I mean, is it is it
41:19
Speaker 6: a big deal? Do they work on that part of things,
41:22
Speaker 6: ball security turnovers all the time?
41:27
Speaker 7: I mean it's it's literally every day that not only
41:32
Speaker 7: do they work on it, but that he talks about it.
41:35
Speaker 7: You know, I interview him twice during the course of
41:37
Speaker 7: the week, one on one for different segments of our broadcast.
41:41
Speaker 7: And if he doesn't stick in there somewhere that it's
41:44
Speaker 7: all about the ball. Then, you know, I feel like
41:47
Speaker 7: I haven't done my job to kind of to kind
41:51
Speaker 7: of get him to say those because he is just
41:53
Speaker 7: so much about what it means to be able to
41:56
Speaker 7: take the ball away and not turn it over. You know,
41:59
Speaker 7: with plus after four games, you know, San Francisco is
42:03
Speaker 7: only plus seven. And in my estimation after watching them
42:06
Speaker 7: now for a couple of weeks, they're the best team
42:07
Speaker 7: in football. I don't care if you're the Chiefs, I
42:10
Speaker 7: don't care if for the Eagles. No offense to the Bengals,
42:13
Speaker 7: but San Francisco looks like the real deal. And then
42:16
Speaker 7: come to me, as you said, we've given it away
42:19
Speaker 7: once and we're a plus five. You win football games
42:22
Speaker 7: if you do that, and if you can protect the ball,
42:24
Speaker 7: and our running backs are really solid with it, our
42:28
Speaker 7: receivers they don't cough it up when they get hit.
42:30
Speaker 7: And we're just now really getting into I think, a
42:34
Speaker 7: real kind of nice run, you know how they come
42:35
Speaker 7: in bunches. I think we're getting into that phase right
42:38
Speaker 7: here where we might see a couple more in the
42:40
Speaker 7: next few weeks. I know that's what they're sure hoping for.
42:44
Speaker 2: We are visiting with the voice of the Seahawks Steve Rabel.
42:46
Speaker 2: Seattle is three and one. They got a three game
42:49
Speaker 2: winning streak, and they're doing it despite some pretty significant
42:52
Speaker 2: injury issues so far this year. Jamal Adams has been out,
42:56
Speaker 2: the starting right tackle has been out. Former UC Bear
43:00
Speaker 2: Kobe Bryant's missed the last couple of games. What are
43:02
Speaker 2: some of the biggest injury question marks going into this
43:06
Speaker 2: week's game from Seattle's perspective, You.
43:09
Speaker 7: Know, it's not question marks now, it's sort of, you know,
43:15
Speaker 7: sigh of relief. Some of these guys are going to
43:17
Speaker 7: start coming back now how quickly, and for this week,
43:21
Speaker 7: I think maybe a couple of them will be back.
43:23
Speaker 7: We're hoping that Charles Cross, our big tackle on the
43:27
Speaker 7: left side, will be back. But then again, we got
43:30
Speaker 7: a couple of the guards hurt last week in that game,
43:34
Speaker 7: that Monday night game in New York. They may or
43:36
Speaker 7: may not be ready to play. Abe Lucas, our right tackle,
43:39
Speaker 7: still has another game out on the IR so he's
43:41
Speaker 7: still got one more to go. I think a couple
43:45
Speaker 7: of things. First of all, back in the day when
43:47
Speaker 7: Dave and I played, and that's you know, back before
43:49
Speaker 7: they had microphones and plastic for helmets, and we really
43:54
Speaker 7: did use the flatterer. We really did use the bladder
43:57
Speaker 7: of a pig to play the game. But in those days, uh,
44:03
Speaker 7: you know, the whole idea get that starting group together
44:06
Speaker 7: and they play all the time, and if you had
44:08
Speaker 7: to stick somebody in there, uh, it was you know,
44:11
Speaker 7: oftentimes it was a real issue for you. The best
44:16
Speaker 7: thing that happened to the Seahawks early in the season
44:18
Speaker 7: was that if guys were going to go down, they
44:21
Speaker 7: went down, and they plugged right in with these young
44:24
Speaker 7: especially young offensive linemens and a couple of young defensive backs,
44:28
Speaker 7: and those guys stepped up and played. And that only
44:31
Speaker 7: can pay dividends for you as the season goes on.
44:35
Speaker 7: So I don't think Pete batter than I. He was
44:39
Speaker 7: a little bit concerned, but yeah, these guys have stepped
44:42
Speaker 7: up and done a great job. I think we're going
44:44
Speaker 7: to have Jamal back. I'm pretty sure we will. You know,
44:46
Speaker 7: he's out of cushion protocol. Gino Hurd his be a
44:50
Speaker 7: little bit on a rough tackle. He practiced right away
44:54
Speaker 7: starting on Monday, so he'll be fine. So I think
44:57
Speaker 7: we're actually in better shape, maybe than we were going
44:59
Speaker 7: into New York.
45:00
Speaker 4: He wasn't happy about that tackle, There's no question about that.
45:03
Speaker 1: He was.
45:05
Speaker 4: He thought that was a little bit dirty, didn't he.
45:07
Speaker 7: I mean this, yeah, you know, and back in the day,
45:10
Speaker 7: that was just the tackle. In fact, you know, it
45:14
Speaker 7: was nothing to it then, And I think even Gino
45:17
Speaker 7: walked it back a little bit in the locker room.
45:19
Speaker 7: He sort of wasn't happy about the way it happened
45:22
Speaker 7: and the guy fell on the back of his leg.
45:24
Speaker 7: But you know, shoot that those things happened. That's the game,
45:28
Speaker 7: you know, So you don't have to be happy about it.
45:31
Speaker 7: Just don't get hurt, get back out there and throw
45:33
Speaker 7: a couple of dutchdowns.
45:35
Speaker 6: My question is a lot of times first down success
45:38
Speaker 6: leads to third down success. It's so disjointed with Seattle
45:43
Speaker 6: great on first down. Offensively six point one yards per play,
45:46
Speaker 6: eighth best in the league on first down, it's not
45:50
Speaker 6: converting on third down twenty eight point nine percent, thirty
45:53
Speaker 6: first in the league. Defensively, four point twenty seven yards
45:56
Speaker 6: per playing first down, second best in the league. Not
45:59
Speaker 6: converting on third down fifty two point four conversion percent,
46:03
Speaker 6: it's thirty first.
46:04
Speaker 4: In the league.
46:05
Speaker 6: What what What's what gives there? I guess I'm just
46:08
Speaker 6: a little confused by those numbers. They don't they don't
46:11
Speaker 6: jive for me.
46:12
Speaker 7: We have a production meeting for our broadcast every Wednesday,
46:15
Speaker 7: when we go over and we talk to players and
46:17
Speaker 7: we talk to Peach and we talked about that today,
46:20
Speaker 7: trying to figure out why is this the case and
46:24
Speaker 7: how you're right, how kind of disjointed that is. One
46:27
Speaker 7: of the things we sort of came up with is uh.
46:29
Speaker 7: And I'm not giving away anything that you know you
46:31
Speaker 7: can't see on film, but we're on third down conversion.
46:36
Speaker 7: One of the things we're not really doing, especially on
46:39
Speaker 7: third and shorts, we're not moving guys off the line
46:42
Speaker 7: of scrimmage. It's amazing that we have running lanes first
46:45
Speaker 7: and second down, or we go on first down for
46:48
Speaker 7: eight yards and then we have some running lanes on
46:50
Speaker 7: second down. But it seems like when we get up
46:53
Speaker 7: there and we absolutely have to have it and we
46:56
Speaker 7: have to run that the other guys or suddenly the
46:58
Speaker 7: defensive line is playing on our side of the line
47:00
Speaker 7: of scrimmage and that's not a good thing. Uh. And
47:03
Speaker 7: I think also Ken Walker, our second year running back,
47:07
Speaker 7: who is just just a treat, just phenomenal. Is as
47:10
Speaker 7: good a kid as he is a football player. But
47:13
Speaker 7: what he tends to do sometimes is, you know, he'll
47:16
Speaker 7: lose a yard to pick up three yards. He'll slide
47:19
Speaker 7: down the line of scrimmage and look for a crease
47:22
Speaker 7: when there's no crease there, and especially when you need
47:25
Speaker 7: to go straight ahead. I think they need to again
47:29
Speaker 7: continue to work on that. Just the power blocking up front.
47:33
Speaker 7: You know, we're not much of his own blocking team.
47:36
Speaker 7: We like to get you know, get a hat on
47:38
Speaker 7: a hat and push people and I think I think
47:41
Speaker 7: we're going to get better at that. And listen, one
47:44
Speaker 7: of our best capt secrets, although he's not a great
47:46
Speaker 7: secret anymore, is Zach Sharbonay, the rookie out of UCLA.
47:50
Speaker 7: This guy is a battering ram and he can also
47:52
Speaker 7: catch the ball out of the backfield. He is fun
47:55
Speaker 7: to watch, So watch him a little more now, maybe
47:58
Speaker 7: in those second and short, third and short situation.
48:02
Speaker 2: Our thanks to Steve Rabel, and that's going to do
48:04
Speaker 2: it for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought
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48:35
Speaker 2: for Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Hord. Thanks for
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Speaker 2: listening to the Bengals Booth podcast.