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Bengals Booth Podcast: Arms Wide Open · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: the Bengals Boot Podcast. UH with MS wide open. Addition,
0:13
Speaker 1: as we speak to a guy that the Bengals certainly
0:16
Speaker 1: hope will be wide open for many years to come.
0:18
Speaker 1: Second round draft pick Te Higgins. Then after I chat
0:22
Speaker 1: with t it's forty five quality minutes with my broadcast
0:25
Speaker 1: partner Dave Laplam, including a new round of ask Lap
0:29
Speaker 1: questions that you submitted on Twitter. The Bengals Booth Podcast
0:34
Speaker 1: is presented by Prime Sport, the official fan, travel and
0:37
Speaker 1: hospitality partner of the Cincinnati Bengals. And here's a quick
0:41
Speaker 1: reminder that you can have the latest edition of this
0:43
Speaker 1: podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by
0:47
Speaker 1: subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean.
0:53
Speaker 1: It's the greatest thing since Peyton's Places. Last year, Future
0:59
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame Corps back Peyton Manning hosted a thirty
1:02
Speaker 1: episode documentary series in conjunction with a celebration of the
1:06
Speaker 1: NFL's one hundredth season. The series looks at key moments
1:10
Speaker 1: in NFL history through conversations with former players, coaches, and
1:15
Speaker 1: other key figures. I've only recently started watching Peyton's Places
1:19
Speaker 1: on ESPN Plus and they are awesome. Manning is extremely
1:25
Speaker 1: likable as a host, and his appreciation for the history
1:28
Speaker 1: of the game shines through in every episode. You have
1:32
Speaker 1: to pay for a subscription to watch on ESPN Plus,
1:35
Speaker 1: but I've noticed that ESPN has been running episodes for
1:39
Speaker 1: free on its various channels due to the absence of
1:42
Speaker 1: live sporting events. So if you don't have ESPN Plus,
1:47
Speaker 1: I recommend searching for Peyton's Places and setting up your
1:51
Speaker 1: DVR to record any episodes that run on TV. I
1:56
Speaker 1: promise you won't be sorry. Now let's get to this
2:00
Speaker 1: week's guests. My first conversation this week is with the
2:04
Speaker 1: Bengal second round draft pick Te Higgins, the six four,
2:08
Speaker 1: two hundred and sixteen pound wide receiver out of Clemson
2:11
Speaker 1: with great hands and a ridiculous catch radius thanks to
2:16
Speaker 1: his eighty one inch wingspan. Higgins was the seventh wide
2:20
Speaker 1: receiver taken in what was considered to be one of
2:23
Speaker 1: the deepest pools of wide receivers in the history of
2:26
Speaker 1: the NFL draft, and the Bengals obviously hope that he
2:30
Speaker 1: will be one of Joe Burrow's top targets for many
2:34
Speaker 1: years to come. See, we learned on draft night that
2:36
Speaker 1: you are a Bengals fan and an AJ Green fanatic.
2:41
Speaker 1: Four years ago you tweeted, I will meet AJ Green
2:44
Speaker 1: one day. Have you had any contact with AJ since
2:48
Speaker 1: the draft? We talked over the phone, but I haven't
2:52
Speaker 1: met him at first yet. Now, were those phone conversations interesting?
2:57
Speaker 1: You know, it was just, you know, more of a
2:58
Speaker 1: congratulations and can't wait to get the work type phone call.
3:02
Speaker 1: So it wasn't too much. We're chatting with T Higgins.
3:06
Speaker 1: AJ is your favorite wide receiver, but you will wear
3:09
Speaker 1: the uniform number of another Bengals legend, Chad Johnson. Did
3:13
Speaker 1: I read correctly that you reached out to chat about
3:15
Speaker 1: wearing eighty five? Yeah, I definitely did. You know, just
3:18
Speaker 1: how to respect, you know, what he's done with the
3:21
Speaker 1: organism for the organization, and you know, I just wanted
3:24
Speaker 1: to reach out to him before I even you know,
3:26
Speaker 1: told to you know, the equipment guys that I wanted
3:30
Speaker 1: to wear eighty five. Obviously I wanted to keep my
3:33
Speaker 1: college number was in my number, whether it was either
3:36
Speaker 1: fifteen or eighty five. You know, fifteen was already taken,
3:39
Speaker 1: so eighty five was the only other option. But you know,
3:42
Speaker 1: I had asked him and he was okay with us.
3:46
Speaker 1: It sounds like he was more than okay with it.
3:48
Speaker 1: He tweeted basically that he's honored that you wanted to
3:51
Speaker 1: wear it. Just something that I gotta I gotta keep
3:54
Speaker 1: the tradition going with that number, so hopefully I can't.
3:58
Speaker 1: T You were born in nineteen ninety nine, two years
4:01
Speaker 1: before Chad was drafted. How much do you know about
4:04
Speaker 1: his NFL career. I just know he was well, they say, hey, kn'
4:09
Speaker 1: guard eighty five, so that's that's and he was real
4:13
Speaker 1: quick with his feat. He was just unguardable. Ironically, you
4:17
Speaker 1: have trained with his former college and NFL teammate TJ.
4:21
Speaker 1: Hushman Zada, who recommended you to Bengal Scouts. What were
4:25
Speaker 1: some of the biggest things you took away from training
4:27
Speaker 1: with TJ? Just like the basic stuff, really, uh, you know,
4:31
Speaker 1: at the top of routes, you know, releases and really
4:35
Speaker 1: the knowledge of the game. You know, he's a really
4:37
Speaker 1: great guy and he's a great coach, and you know,
4:40
Speaker 1: I look forward to working to him in the future
4:42
Speaker 1: more and more so we're chatting with t Higgins, what's
4:45
Speaker 1: your schedule like these days? You know, obviously we have
4:49
Speaker 1: you know, team meetings and stuff, but you know, other
4:52
Speaker 1: than that, you know, I'm I'm on the field or
4:54
Speaker 1: you know, in a workout room getting my grind on,
4:57
Speaker 1: you know, that's what I do best, and just working
4:59
Speaker 1: on my draft, trying to get better and better each
5:01
Speaker 1: and every day. What's been the best part of those
5:03
Speaker 1: teams zoom meetings? Just getting to meet all the new teammates,
5:07
Speaker 1: you know, all my new coaches, and really just learning
5:11
Speaker 1: in the new playbook. Where you're living, have you been
5:14
Speaker 1: able to do football activities? Yeah, definitely. You know, we
5:18
Speaker 1: have a few quarterbacks out here and James is open now,
5:22
Speaker 1: so definitely have that. How much interaction have you had
5:26
Speaker 1: with Joe since the draft? Oh, you know, we've talked
5:28
Speaker 1: a few times. We talked over to over zoom. Um.
5:32
Speaker 1: You know, so we've been talking. What did it mean
5:36
Speaker 1: do ut when Joe was among the first NFL quarterbacks
5:39
Speaker 1: to show his support for the black community after the
5:42
Speaker 1: death of George Floyd. You know, it means a lot.
5:45
Speaker 1: You know, it's the guy with his platform. You know,
5:48
Speaker 1: it's just showing that he really cares and and that, uh,
5:54
Speaker 1: this is the guy that is showing his true colors.
5:58
Speaker 1: You faced him and LA in the National Championship Game
6:01
Speaker 1: last year. What stood out about his performance in that game?
6:05
Speaker 1: You know, he's guy that's never gonna give up. He
6:07
Speaker 1: was obviously up on him and you know you can
6:10
Speaker 1: see that he plays some poys and he brought his
6:13
Speaker 1: team back and you know, one of the biggest game
6:16
Speaker 1: shoot in college. Have you set any goals for your
6:19
Speaker 1: rookie year, Oh, that's you know, obviously every rookie wants
6:23
Speaker 1: to be Rookie of the Year, but you know that's
6:26
Speaker 1: one of my goals. And really just go out there
6:28
Speaker 1: and just you know, help my team come out with
6:31
Speaker 1: a better season than we did, you know, the past
6:34
Speaker 1: few years, and just contribute the best way I can.
6:38
Speaker 1: You were the first pick of the second round, number
6:40
Speaker 1: thirty three overall, but I read that you have a
6:44
Speaker 1: bit of a chip on your shoulder from not being
6:46
Speaker 1: selected in the first Is that accurate? You can say that,
6:49
Speaker 1: but you know, with me, I just wanted to be
6:51
Speaker 1: drafted no matter where I went. But you know I
6:54
Speaker 1: can use that as a chip on my shoulder, So
6:58
Speaker 1: I guess that's all I'm gonna do TJ hood Shmnzata
7:00
Speaker 1: was a seventh round pick, and I remember that he
7:03
Speaker 1: used to be able to recite every wide receiver selected
7:06
Speaker 1: before him in the NFL draft? Are you motivated by
7:10
Speaker 1: the guys that were selected ahead of you? You know,
7:13
Speaker 1: I know those guys really well because you know, Um,
7:16
Speaker 1: I'm real good friends with him, but you know those
7:20
Speaker 1: guys deserved to be when they got picking. Um, I'm
7:24
Speaker 1: happy for him, and you know, so just how I
7:27
Speaker 1: go about it? Tell you what I watched footage of
7:29
Speaker 1: you at Clemson. I see you running away from defenders,
7:32
Speaker 1: but you didn't run a great forty yard dash time
7:34
Speaker 1: before the draft? Did you have an injured hamstring? I
7:38
Speaker 1: wasn't running that. But you know there's there's no excuses. So,
7:43
Speaker 1: I mean, you guys see my game film. The Bengals
7:47
Speaker 1: organizations trusting me and they believe in me, so they're
7:51
Speaker 1: gonna get the hundred. So Jerry Rice ran a four
7:54
Speaker 1: point seven one forty and he's the best wide receiver
7:57
Speaker 1: of all time. Michael Thomas and a four point five
8:01
Speaker 1: seven and he might be the best current wide receiver.
8:04
Speaker 1: Do we put too much emphasis on the forty yard dash? Yeah?
8:08
Speaker 1: I really don't think, you know, because a lot of
8:11
Speaker 1: football guys don't run track, so they don't they would
8:15
Speaker 1: have like two to three months to say stance and
8:18
Speaker 1: starts right. So I mean forty times really don't matter
8:22
Speaker 1: to me, obviously, the guy the organizations want to see
8:24
Speaker 1: if you're fast or not. But you know your game film,
8:28
Speaker 1: it just takes you to a whole another level, you know,
8:31
Speaker 1: so because it's actually competition on the field with you
8:34
Speaker 1: and you can see how you separate from defenders and
8:36
Speaker 1: stuff like that. So how eager are you to get
8:40
Speaker 1: up to Cincinnati and have some sort of practicing with
8:43
Speaker 1: your teammates? Can't wait. So it's gonna be fun. Just
8:47
Speaker 1: can't wait to go out there and compete with those guys. Hey,
8:50
Speaker 1: we're looking forward to seeing you here. Congratulations on a
8:53
Speaker 1: tremendous college career, and I look forward to meeting you
8:55
Speaker 1: in person soon. Thank you. See at fifty nine catches
8:59
Speaker 1: for one hundred and sixty seven yards and thirteen touchdowns
9:03
Speaker 1: at Clemson last year, and according to Pro Football Focus,
9:07
Speaker 1: Higgins is probably the most complete big wide receiver we've
9:12
Speaker 1: seen come into the league in quite some time. Before
9:16
Speaker 1: we get to Dave Lapham. Here's a quick reminder that
9:18
Speaker 1: you can take your Bengals pride to the next level
9:20
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty with an official Bengals fan package from
9:24
Speaker 1: Prime Sport. I'm posting this podcast on Friday, June fifth,
9:29
Speaker 1: the first day that NFL coaches have been allowed back
9:32
Speaker 1: into their team facilities since mid March when the league
9:36
Speaker 1: shut things down due to the coronavirus. Zach Taylor and
9:39
Speaker 1: most of his staff were back at Paul Brown Stadium
9:42
Speaker 1: on Friday morning. A few coaches are still out of
9:45
Speaker 1: town and we'll return next week. It's a hopeful sign
9:49
Speaker 1: that the league will be able to begin on schedule
9:51
Speaker 1: this season, and that was my first topic of conversation
9:55
Speaker 1: this week with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham. Lap it's
9:59
Speaker 1: the first week of June. How confident are you that
10:01
Speaker 1: there will be an NFL season. Well, I'm confident there'll
10:05
Speaker 1: be an NFL season in some way, shape or form,
10:08
Speaker 1: you know, I'm not I'm not confident that the early
10:11
Speaker 1: stages of it will be played in front of crowds.
10:14
Speaker 1: Um and if it is played in front of crowds,
10:17
Speaker 1: that they'll be sparse, to say the least. And I
10:21
Speaker 1: just wonder about the preseason. I mean, you know, if
10:23
Speaker 1: it would not surprise me, would not shock me if
10:28
Speaker 1: they lost a couple of preseason games in the process
10:31
Speaker 1: of all this and had a couple of preseason games
10:33
Speaker 1: to tune up and and and get ready for the season,
10:36
Speaker 1: And you know, at that point you wonder, is it
10:40
Speaker 1: doesn't even make sense to have ninety guys in training Canadon.
10:43
Speaker 1: I mean, how you're going to be able to make
10:45
Speaker 1: a truer evaluation. You haven't You haven't been able to
10:49
Speaker 1: watch them in OTAs, in mini camps where you make
10:52
Speaker 1: your first and probably most important decision on guys on
10:56
Speaker 1: the field, watching them run, watching them, do they take
10:59
Speaker 1: proper angles? Are they coachable? And you think they have
11:02
Speaker 1: a chance, and then and then it's it's solidified by
11:06
Speaker 1: action in the games. But a lot of times, you know,
11:08
Speaker 1: decisions are made on guys during OTAs and mini camps
11:13
Speaker 1: or good percent decision is made there. And they're absolutely
11:17
Speaker 1: this season. So it's going to be very, very tough
11:19
Speaker 1: for guys that you know, are just coming out of
11:23
Speaker 1: college and haven't transitioned to the NFL at all, and
11:27
Speaker 1: you're trying to decide can they and you don't really
11:29
Speaker 1: have a measuring stick. I get signing veteran free agents.
11:33
Speaker 1: You already know that, all right, I get taped them.
11:36
Speaker 1: I can see how they performed at the NFL level,
11:38
Speaker 1: but not so with the college kids. You mentioned the
11:41
Speaker 1: possibility of games being played in front of no fans
11:44
Speaker 1: or a limited number of fans, particularly early in the season.
11:48
Speaker 1: How much would that negate home field advantage tremendously, you know,
11:52
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, I guess, I guess you try
11:55
Speaker 1: to take every advantage you possibly can. And the schedule
12:00
Speaker 1: first came out, I mean four of the six four
12:03
Speaker 1: of the first six games for the Bengals are on
12:05
Speaker 1: the road, and you know, in boisterous places, vociferous crowds. Cleveland, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Indianapolis,
12:14
Speaker 1: and the Dome. Those are the four road games and
12:17
Speaker 1: their first six games of the season. Well, you know,
12:19
Speaker 1: I think if there are are limited crowds or no
12:22
Speaker 1: crowd at all, man, that that that's a that's a big,
12:25
Speaker 1: big difference maker, particularly offensively. I mean, that's where you
12:29
Speaker 1: know you have to go with silent counts and hand
12:32
Speaker 1: stignals and there's no verbal communication, and uh, you know,
12:35
Speaker 1: there's a there's a real good chance for false starts
12:38
Speaker 1: and guys not being on the same page, and all
12:41
Speaker 1: those kinds of things where nearing those in those environments,
12:43
Speaker 1: and I've been in those environments, it is very difficult. Uh,
12:46
Speaker 1: you eliminate the reason that it becomes difficult in those environments,
12:50
Speaker 1: that being the rabid fan base, and all of a sudden,
12:54
Speaker 1: what could have been a difficult start seems to be
12:57
Speaker 1: a lot easier with respect to the conditions and environment
13:00
Speaker 1: that you're planning. Would you enjoy being able to hear
13:04
Speaker 1: everything being said on the field as an announcer I
13:09
Speaker 1: worked because I remember back in the day there was
13:11
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff being said. Uh, some of it
13:14
Speaker 1: you could hear and some of it you couldn't. But um,
13:17
Speaker 1: that would that would be interesting, and you know a
13:20
Speaker 1: lot of it would obviously be x rated. It have
13:24
Speaker 1: to be for mature audiences only. Uh that that would
13:27
Speaker 1: be The problem that I could see is is some
13:30
Speaker 1: of these young kids' heroes just cuts them up a
13:31
Speaker 1: blue street. You know, it's like mom and Dad are like,
13:35
Speaker 1: you know, we don't want you can you can respect athletes,
13:40
Speaker 1: but don't make them your heroes. Well, if they listen
13:43
Speaker 1: to one football game. They may not be as big
13:45
Speaker 1: a hero as they might have been before they listen
13:48
Speaker 1: to them participate in that football game, because I mean
13:50
Speaker 1: it's it's obviously raw and emotional, and you know a
13:53
Speaker 1: lot of things are said, that's for sure. Um, but
13:56
Speaker 1: it would it would be interesting, you know, and you
14:00
Speaker 1: really have to I think, um, it would add an
14:03
Speaker 1: extra burden to both sides of the football in terms
14:06
Speaker 1: of changing signals every week because you get you get
14:10
Speaker 1: a tape of that of that game and you you
14:13
Speaker 1: just take the TV tape and you get all the
14:15
Speaker 1: audio and you can match up alignment's configuration. Blitz is
14:19
Speaker 1: to calls. You know, the guys are making an adjustments
14:21
Speaker 1: they're making and audibles they're making all that sort of thing,
14:25
Speaker 1: and uh, that makes it, that makes it very interesting,
14:27
Speaker 1: That makes it very intriguing. So you know, um, that
14:32
Speaker 1: might add another layer to preparation during the course of
14:35
Speaker 1: the week. You know, not having the same the same trigger,
14:38
Speaker 1: the same uh color keyword that you know, right after
14:42
Speaker 1: I say in my cadence the lave color this week
14:46
Speaker 1: is black. Well the following week it's on the week
14:48
Speaker 1: got that it's going to be white. We got that
14:50
Speaker 1: it's going to be perful. You know, you have to
14:52
Speaker 1: change it up for sure, because teams will get a
14:55
Speaker 1: you know, beat on it, no doubt about that. With
14:57
Speaker 1: h you know, with with having no trout boys to
15:01
Speaker 1: impede what they might be hearing on the audio part
15:03
Speaker 1: of their tape. It seems like a strong possibility at
15:06
Speaker 1: this point that there isn't going to be an off
15:08
Speaker 1: season program, that the first time the team's practiced together
15:12
Speaker 1: would be training camp. If that's the case, is there
15:17
Speaker 1: a position group that would suffer the most, or a
15:21
Speaker 1: particular type of player that would suffer the most from
15:24
Speaker 1: no off season program? Well, I think I think, you know,
15:29
Speaker 1: the young player obviously probably suffer the most trying to
15:33
Speaker 1: make that jumped to the National Football League. I can remember,
15:37
Speaker 1: you know, and back in nineteen seventy four when I
15:40
Speaker 1: was a rookie deal and we only had like like
15:42
Speaker 1: a four week called mini camp as such after the draft.
15:46
Speaker 1: Then there was nothing until training camp. Now mighty training
15:49
Speaker 1: camp was nine weeks long. It was ridiculous. There were
15:52
Speaker 1: six preseason games, you know, right out to the fourth
15:54
Speaker 1: of July. We were in Willikee College. Until you know,
15:57
Speaker 1: it seemed like Labor Day. I mean there's crazy after
16:01
Speaker 1: Labor Day. It was it was nuts but gotten and
16:04
Speaker 1: guys literally played themselves into shape. Um. But so this dynamic,
16:08
Speaker 1: the way the guys take care of themselves. You're around
16:10
Speaker 1: guys don't necessarily have off season jobs like veteran players
16:14
Speaker 1: had to have back then, and you know, work out
16:16
Speaker 1: at lunch time and try to catch a workout and
16:18
Speaker 1: keep yourself in shape and nutrition. And I mean, it's
16:20
Speaker 1: it's such a different game now that was back then.
16:23
Speaker 1: But I do think that they'll show that. Okay, just
16:27
Speaker 1: if you get the training camp and get plenty of
16:30
Speaker 1: reps and somehow scheduled practices where you try to catch
16:34
Speaker 1: up on reps. That's the thing that you're that you're
16:36
Speaker 1: missing is the physical repetition, repetition breachs comfort level. You
16:41
Speaker 1: can talk to your blue in the face about when
16:43
Speaker 1: this defense has been penetration, this tackle loops around them
16:46
Speaker 1: all right, right, tackle you you got to stop the penetrator.
16:49
Speaker 1: Make sure you stop and pass them off to your
16:51
Speaker 1: guard and then you know, take a drop step and
16:53
Speaker 1: take the looper. And you can talk about that all
16:55
Speaker 1: you want to go out there and do it physically
16:58
Speaker 1: and get some kind of muscle memory, repetition of doing
17:00
Speaker 1: it over and over again. Because tackle step differently. One
17:04
Speaker 1: guy you work with might set a little deeper than
17:06
Speaker 1: the other guy who sets more shallow. At the last scimes,
17:08
Speaker 1: you have to get a feel for all of your teammates.
17:10
Speaker 1: And that's why I think offensive line play dan Honestly,
17:13
Speaker 1: it's the it's the biggest number of players in a
17:16
Speaker 1: position group. There are five players, and I always talk
17:19
Speaker 1: about you know, solid offensive line players, like making a
17:21
Speaker 1: fist becomes an involuntary reaction. You curl four fingers and
17:27
Speaker 1: wrap your thumb and you don't even think about it.
17:28
Speaker 1: It's just involuntary. Well, when an offensive line has been
17:32
Speaker 1: working together and understands each other and all the repetitions,
17:35
Speaker 1: all the muscle memory, all the being on the same
17:37
Speaker 1: page mentally, that's that's how it plays. It's almost like
17:41
Speaker 1: making a fist. But when it's not, you know, then
17:43
Speaker 1: if one's just joining it, you can't make a strong
17:46
Speaker 1: fist and the line player suffers, you know, as a
17:49
Speaker 1: results of that from an analytic being an analogy there,
17:54
Speaker 1: so you know, it's it's that that position group takes
17:58
Speaker 1: a lot of repetition camaraderie, understanding each other, you know
18:04
Speaker 1: in the meeting room. On the football field even more
18:07
Speaker 1: so than in the meeting room might be. So i'd
18:09
Speaker 1: say offensive line players is a big, big part of it.
18:13
Speaker 1: And um, you know, quarterbacks and receivers obviously timing, timing
18:17
Speaker 1: things out. It's uh. Sometimes you'll see receivers that quarterback
18:21
Speaker 1: throws the football, it's like, why, how do you know
18:24
Speaker 1: to throw it there? And when he threw it and
18:26
Speaker 1: how he threw it and where he put it. Well,
18:28
Speaker 1: it's because they've done it a million times. And you know,
18:32
Speaker 1: if you haven't had that dead luxury, Um, you know
18:35
Speaker 1: that all of it, all of it's going to suffer
18:38
Speaker 1: a little bit. It'll be interesting to see how quickly
18:40
Speaker 1: you know, guys can come up to speed and uh
18:43
Speaker 1: and and make the game. Look, I'm I'm not saying
18:47
Speaker 1: the game is gonna look terrible, But if there's only
18:49
Speaker 1: a couple of preseason games, they go to training camp
18:53
Speaker 1: later and there are a couple of preseason games and
18:55
Speaker 1: then they get into started the regular season. You know,
18:58
Speaker 1: it's it's gonna take a well a little bit before
19:01
Speaker 1: the product gets up to what you know, up to
19:03
Speaker 1: stuff to what people are used to seeing, you know,
19:06
Speaker 1: so many years and quality NFL line play and and
19:09
Speaker 1: football in general. Do you think it's important for Joe
19:12
Speaker 1: Burrow to get together with the wide receivers before training camp?
19:17
Speaker 1: I do? I do? You know? I know? Uh, I
19:21
Speaker 1: mean you look at two thousand and eleven though, that
19:23
Speaker 1: was such an aberration in such a such a you know,
19:27
Speaker 1: a difference. That was a lockout. So Andy Dalton couldn't
19:31
Speaker 1: he couldn't get together with his teammates. The first time
19:34
Speaker 1: you get together is you know, um, when they when
19:36
Speaker 1: they basically um called practices. You know they basically I
19:42
Speaker 1: shouldn't say couldn't get together because Andrew worked on the
19:45
Speaker 1: top packle those guys put together practices offense against defense
19:49
Speaker 1: and and and I think that was very very very instrumental,
19:53
Speaker 1: very very major. And Andy Dalton, you know, being ready
19:57
Speaker 1: when training camp unfolded. Um, you know he's a intelligent guy,
20:01
Speaker 1: and he is, and he picked up the offense very quickly.
20:04
Speaker 1: The word is Joe Burrow is at least that and
20:07
Speaker 1: maybe one. I mean he's a Menza, he's a football savant,
20:10
Speaker 1: picks things up extremely quickly. But again, the physical repetition
20:15
Speaker 1: you know, you can talk about him. You can talk
20:17
Speaker 1: about and look at tape and say, oh yeah, when
20:19
Speaker 1: the safety does this, you know, you have to look here,
20:22
Speaker 1: or when they line up in this configuration, you have
20:24
Speaker 1: to check to this. You can talk about it all
20:27
Speaker 1: you want, but you have to go out and wrap
20:29
Speaker 1: it and everybody has to be on the same page
20:31
Speaker 1: and hear the quarterback do it and see him execute it,
20:34
Speaker 1: you know, and and then start to get a feel
20:37
Speaker 1: for where he likes to put the football. If I
20:39
Speaker 1: have a defensive player in this position, I know he's
20:43
Speaker 1: going to back shoulder me, or he's gonna high point me,
20:45
Speaker 1: or he's going to do this, or he's going to
20:47
Speaker 1: do that. Those kinds of things happen, you know, just
20:49
Speaker 1: over time, you know, getting used to each other and
20:52
Speaker 1: realizing each other's strengths and weaknesses and and you know,
20:55
Speaker 1: proceeding accordingly with with how they're going to you know,
20:58
Speaker 1: play and how they're gonna execute against various coverages, various techniques.
21:02
Speaker 1: And you people think it's so simply you just go
21:05
Speaker 1: out there, and hey, you know, just go like out
21:06
Speaker 1: in the backyard. It's pitching catch. You know, you're just
21:09
Speaker 1: playing catch out there. That's it's so much different than that.
21:11
Speaker 1: It's you know, it's it's a it's a very complicated
21:14
Speaker 1: puzzle that has to be put together. For sure, the
21:17
Speaker 1: NFL is going to have a loss of revenue this year,
21:20
Speaker 1: there's no doubt about that. And that will affect the
21:23
Speaker 1: salary cap next year since it is based on the
21:25
Speaker 1: percentage of revenue. Is that going to impact extensions for
21:30
Speaker 1: aj Green and Joe Mixon? Boy, you know you have
21:33
Speaker 1: to you have to wonder about that. Um. You know,
21:35
Speaker 1: you look at it and you say, all right, well,
21:38
Speaker 1: there's a there's a massive TV contract. It's going to
21:41
Speaker 1: be done here shortly, and that's going to be a huge,
21:45
Speaker 1: huge influx into salary cap um splitting the revenues and
21:50
Speaker 1: there's no question about that. But you know it's there.
21:54
Speaker 1: There is going to be a diminished revenue, there's no
21:56
Speaker 1: question about it. If they play without without saying ends um.
22:01
Speaker 1: And I think right now no rookies have been signed,
22:05
Speaker 1: no veteran free agency or very few veteran free agency
22:09
Speaker 1: see signing. I mean, it's it's it's an impact in
22:11
Speaker 1: all this the stars rookies are concerned. You can come
22:14
Speaker 1: to an agreement but they can't. It can't. It's not
22:17
Speaker 1: going to be debstituted, and they're not going to get
22:19
Speaker 1: any money until they past physical and the same with
22:23
Speaker 1: you know, with and Joe Mixon, and I mean, there's
22:26
Speaker 1: got to be the doctors have to get their hands
22:29
Speaker 1: on these guys to make sure there isn't anything that's
22:31
Speaker 1: cropped up and anything that they've had in their past
22:34
Speaker 1: is not going to be an issue in the future
22:35
Speaker 1: and all those kinds of things before you make those investments. So, um,
22:40
Speaker 1: it's it's slow. I mean, there's no reason to no
22:43
Speaker 1: reason to hurry anything. If you can't, you can't get
22:45
Speaker 1: your money, you know, until until things start to start
22:50
Speaker 1: to wind back up again. Um. Then when they do
22:53
Speaker 1: start to wind back up again, the second phase is
22:56
Speaker 1: like you're talking about, is what's the what's the money
22:58
Speaker 1: going to look like? I mean, what what are we
23:00
Speaker 1: going to have in terms of our pot? And until
23:03
Speaker 1: we know what the pot is on our comfortable divide it,
23:07
Speaker 1: until we know what we've got as a whole, and
23:09
Speaker 1: then we can start given out pieces of the pies.
23:12
Speaker 1: Paul Brown used to saying, Mike Brown says, now you
23:15
Speaker 1: know your piece of the pie. Is this. It's not
23:17
Speaker 1: gonna be any more than that. So until you can
23:20
Speaker 1: find out how big that pie is? Is that pie?
23:23
Speaker 1: You know? Is that pie just a tiny little uh
23:26
Speaker 1: you know, eskimo pire? Is it a big old pie?
23:29
Speaker 1: What is that pie? You used to love that piece
23:32
Speaker 1: of the pie discussion in your playing days, didn't you.
23:35
Speaker 1: Oh lordy, I used to have nightmares about that, that
23:38
Speaker 1: phrase to just keep I'd hear it over and over
23:41
Speaker 1: and over again, just you know, when in the chambers
23:44
Speaker 1: of my empty head, your piece, your piece of the pie.
23:47
Speaker 1: Is this? So the NFL talked about it and then
23:53
Speaker 1: elected not to add the option of having a fourth
23:56
Speaker 1: down and fifteen play from the twenty five yard line
23:59
Speaker 1: as a post ability instead of an on side kick.
24:02
Speaker 1: Do you like that idea? You know, part of me,
24:06
Speaker 1: part of me does like it. But honestly, I mean,
24:08
Speaker 1: I've seen a lot of fourths and fifteen. They say
24:10
Speaker 1: the conversion rate is like less than twenty percent, or maybe,
24:14
Speaker 1: you know, maybe closer to fifteen percent or even less
24:16
Speaker 1: than that. I don't know. I mean I've seen a
24:18
Speaker 1: bunch of I've seen a bunch of third and fifties converted. Unfortunately,
24:23
Speaker 1: here in the past few years, you know, So fourth
24:26
Speaker 1: and fifteen though it's fourth and fifteen, it's it's one down,
24:31
Speaker 1: it's one play, so you don't you don't have to
24:33
Speaker 1: worry about you know, if you can make a play
24:37
Speaker 1: that it's all over with. You can descend the stooks
24:40
Speaker 1: and don't let anything get behind you and rally up
24:42
Speaker 1: and trying to make a tackle. You get beaten over
24:44
Speaker 1: the top on a fourth and fifteen, I mean, that
24:46
Speaker 1: would be uh, that would be devastation for sure, but
24:51
Speaker 1: I'm sure, I'm sure it would happen. I'm sure it's
24:53
Speaker 1: going to happen. I think they probably feel like the
24:55
Speaker 1: fourth and fifteen is too easy, you know, and ch
24:59
Speaker 1: donal a couple of scores go uh, you convert a
25:01
Speaker 1: fourth and fifteen and you can you can get right
25:03
Speaker 1: back in the football game. It's a one score game.
25:06
Speaker 1: I think that's probably their reaction is, um, the onside
25:10
Speaker 1: kick is a tougher thing to convert, but it's a
25:14
Speaker 1: lot more dangerous, you know, and they're trying to eliminate
25:16
Speaker 1: those kind of things. I mean, when you're talking onside
25:18
Speaker 1: kick and involved in a couple of those over the years,
25:21
Speaker 1: I mean, you talk about a mask humanity that goes
25:24
Speaker 1: inst that pile, you know, full contact. I mean it's
25:27
Speaker 1: like it's like a mass uh, a mass vehicle um
25:32
Speaker 1: accident on the year state. You know, when everybody's going
25:35
Speaker 1: at uh, you know, at at the speed limit. I mean,
25:37
Speaker 1: it's it's there's some serious potential contact in there when
25:40
Speaker 1: you're when everybody's diving for that football and you can
25:43
Speaker 1: have your you know, your foot plan and then you
25:46
Speaker 1: you knee mangled in an awkward position. That's the only
25:49
Speaker 1: time I had injuries to my knees was in a
25:53
Speaker 1: pile of people. It's you know, when when you're not
25:55
Speaker 1: in spate, so you're working, you know, and nothing, there's
25:58
Speaker 1: nothing in hipping your lower extremities, you're fine. But when
26:02
Speaker 1: you have you know, a body laying on the ground
26:05
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, and then you're you're taking over
26:08
Speaker 1: the top of it and you're needing torchs and bens
26:10
Speaker 1: in a way that it's not supposed to. That's when
26:12
Speaker 1: you have these big injuries as lineman, more so than
26:15
Speaker 1: you know, just like running backs will plant, they'll have
26:17
Speaker 1: non contact injuries lineman, that's that's more rare. Usually you
26:21
Speaker 1: have injuries when you're you're gnled up and part of
26:25
Speaker 1: the master humanities and a big old human human beach
26:27
Speaker 1: ball lap. Joe Burrow showed empathy for people in needing
26:31
Speaker 1: his Heisman speech, and he did it again after the
26:33
Speaker 1: murder of George Floyd. He tweeted, the black community needs
26:37
Speaker 1: our help. Open your ears, listen and speak. This isn't politics,
26:42
Speaker 1: this is human rights. What did Joe show you when
26:46
Speaker 1: he did that? And what do you think it meant
26:47
Speaker 1: to his teammates? He showed me. I think everything that
26:51
Speaker 1: everything that everybody hoped that that he's going to be.
26:54
Speaker 1: And I think it meant a lot to his teammates. Um.
26:58
Speaker 1: You know, there's there's no question about it. I mean,
27:00
Speaker 1: Jill Burrow Um has talked about, he talked about during
27:03
Speaker 1: his his Hysman speech that he grew up in an
27:07
Speaker 1: area where there wasn't a lot of money, you know,
27:09
Speaker 1: and people were trying to figure out how to feed families,
27:12
Speaker 1: you know, white, black, whatever color you're you're talking about.
27:15
Speaker 1: And uh so, I think I think he feels like
27:18
Speaker 1: he's got maybe a little bit more empathy, um, but
27:21
Speaker 1: not like you know, problems and issues that that the
27:27
Speaker 1: black racists had to deal with um, you know, during
27:30
Speaker 1: their during their lifetime, in lifetimes of many generations. You know,
27:34
Speaker 1: it's it's it's weird, Dan. It's my situation is. I
27:39
Speaker 1: grew up in a in a in a town Wakefield, Massachusetts,
27:42
Speaker 1: was was basically white and we had one black family, uh,
27:48
Speaker 1: come to Wakefield when I was in junior high school,
27:51
Speaker 1: and the two kids, Larry and Lewis Roberts, were exceptional,
27:56
Speaker 1: exceptional people not just you know, I mean, I don't
28:00
Speaker 1: care how what, what race, religion, whatever. I mean, these
28:04
Speaker 1: guys were both highly intelligent, incredibly successful athletically. I mean,
28:09
Speaker 1: my exposure to black people was I aspired to be
28:13
Speaker 1: Larry Roberts, who was a year ahead of me. He
28:16
Speaker 1: was president of my brother's class, National honor society, went
28:19
Speaker 1: to Darkness. He was you know, all state across country.
28:24
Speaker 1: Um he played uh basketball, he was you know all
28:29
Speaker 1: league basketball and then rain track and field. His brother
28:32
Speaker 1: was like that. I mean, that was my exposure. I
28:34
Speaker 1: wanted to be Larry Roberts. I mean he was he
28:36
Speaker 1: was somebody that he was my role model. And you know,
28:40
Speaker 1: and I had some success in high school, and you know,
28:42
Speaker 1: Larry Roberts graduated and on top ten of his class.
28:45
Speaker 1: I wanted to graduate in the top ten of my
28:46
Speaker 1: class and ended up doing it. Ended up, you know,
28:48
Speaker 1: having an opportunity to go to Avonlea school like uh,
28:51
Speaker 1: like Larry Roberts did. And I mean that was my
28:53
Speaker 1: exposure to uh, you know, to the black race. And
28:57
Speaker 1: then I go to UH Syracuse my freshman year, we
29:01
Speaker 1: have a black boycott benchwarsball the College Football Hall of
29:06
Speaker 1: Fame head coach m didn't have minority enough minority members
29:10
Speaker 1: on his coach and staff, and the blacks players decided
29:13
Speaker 1: a boycott. And you know, I had never been exposed
29:16
Speaker 1: to anything like that, so that was an education process.
29:19
Speaker 1: And we had one black player, Ronnie Page, decided to
29:21
Speaker 1: stay with the team, and you know, I got to
29:24
Speaker 1: be pretty good friends with Ronnie Page and how courageous
29:27
Speaker 1: that guy was, and you know, all the things that
29:29
Speaker 1: he had to deal with. And then I saw all
29:31
Speaker 1: the racial unrest in Syracuse, and I was I was
29:35
Speaker 1: part of part of some things that weren't that were
29:38
Speaker 1: very very ugly. Witnessed some things and one of our quarterbacks,
29:44
Speaker 1: who was a good high school basketball player, went down
29:46
Speaker 1: to the down to the basketball courts in the city
29:49
Speaker 1: to play pick up basketball, and he was the only
29:52
Speaker 1: white player on the court. And he he did in
29:54
Speaker 1: a situation where he was beating up and they had
29:57
Speaker 1: to reconstruct his stays and put the others cheap bones
30:00
Speaker 1: surgery up through his mouth at me. He was saw
30:02
Speaker 1: some unbelievable stuff. So, you know, I started in one
30:06
Speaker 1: way and then kind of get educated at the other.
30:08
Speaker 1: And they come to the National Football League and have
30:11
Speaker 1: teammates like Archie Griffin, Isaac Curtis, these guys. If if
30:19
Speaker 1: I had no family members to raise my kids, something
30:22
Speaker 1: happened to me. I want those guys to raise my kids.
30:24
Speaker 1: I mean, just unbelievable people. You know. And h Vernon Holland,
30:28
Speaker 1: who I played next to in the offensive line, we
30:31
Speaker 1: got to be so close. When he turned thirty years old,
30:33
Speaker 1: he invited me to his part. I was the only
30:35
Speaker 1: white person at at this party, and he was taking
30:39
Speaker 1: me around to his friends and family members like I
30:42
Speaker 1: was a family member, you know. And it's I mean,
30:44
Speaker 1: it's gone. It's been an up and down, big range
30:47
Speaker 1: of experiences and education in terms of you know, racism
30:53
Speaker 1: or lack thereof, or understanding the differences. And there are
30:57
Speaker 1: there are huge differences. I mean, until you've walked in
31:00
Speaker 1: the series of somebody that has had to deal with
31:03
Speaker 1: all the things that you know, some of these uh
31:05
Speaker 1: you know, black people have had to deal with their
31:08
Speaker 1: entire lives and multiple generations. You can't, you have no
31:12
Speaker 1: right to, you don't have a reference point. But all
31:14
Speaker 1: I can say is my experiences over the years I've done.
31:19
Speaker 1: They're they're unbelievable white people, you know, just role modeled
31:23
Speaker 1: white people. They're jerks. They're unbelievable people. Role model Black
31:27
Speaker 1: people and they're jerks. Now, don't care what color they are.
31:30
Speaker 1: They're good people and they're bad people. And what we
31:34
Speaker 1: have to do is just just uh, you know, just
31:38
Speaker 1: trying to understand understand each other's flights a little bit,
31:42
Speaker 1: you know. And because I've got I've got a granddaughter
31:46
Speaker 1: who has uh you know, one of her best friends
31:49
Speaker 1: in her class at school, preschool as a young black kid,
31:54
Speaker 1: and she loves the guy. So I mean, it's it's
31:57
Speaker 1: it's all about experiences right now. She has it's Christine.
32:01
Speaker 1: She has no you know, there's no opinions trying to
32:04
Speaker 1: sway her one way or the other. And that's the
32:07
Speaker 1: way so you start out that way, don't get poisoned.
32:11
Speaker 1: And you know, and if you do have bad experiences,
32:14
Speaker 1: I hope that you're going to have some good experiences,
32:16
Speaker 1: you know, so you can understand the total picture. And man,
32:19
Speaker 1: I'll tell you it is. It's it's it's just a
32:21
Speaker 1: matter of everybody trying to understand, you know, the other
32:26
Speaker 1: person's plight, the other person's person's problems. You know, like
32:30
Speaker 1: like Rodney King said so many years ago, can't we
32:33
Speaker 1: all just get along? That's some that's somes the whole
32:36
Speaker 1: thing up in a nutshell, open your ears, listen and speak.
32:39
Speaker 1: I thought that was that was perfect from Joe Burrow.
32:43
Speaker 1: All right, no doubt. Let's get to some ask Lap
32:48
Speaker 1: questions that were submitted on Twitter. We start with Joe
32:51
Speaker 1: Joe Jammer. Here's this question. Over the years, what rule
32:56
Speaker 1: change has helped offensive lineman the most? Being able to
33:00
Speaker 1: use your hands, you know, extend your arms and use
33:03
Speaker 1: your hands. Um, you know, you can lock your arms
33:06
Speaker 1: out and uh and as long as you're inside the
33:09
Speaker 1: framework of the body. I said, you can't put your
33:11
Speaker 1: arms around defensive players and bear hug them, but you
33:14
Speaker 1: know you can, you can even grab you can grab
33:17
Speaker 1: cloth if you're inside the flamework of the of the
33:21
Speaker 1: of the body of the person you're trying to block.
33:23
Speaker 1: And I mean, I've been on both sides of that.
33:26
Speaker 1: When I first started playing, it was you had to
33:29
Speaker 1: keep your hands and you had to keep them buy
33:32
Speaker 1: your chest and you you could throw a forearm type thing,
33:35
Speaker 1: but you could never extend your arms and open your
33:37
Speaker 1: hands and grab people. There's no way any of that
33:40
Speaker 1: can happen. Uh. And we were human punching bags, There's
33:43
Speaker 1: no question about it. Defensive players could head slap, they
33:46
Speaker 1: could do everything. I mean, they just tee off on you,
33:49
Speaker 1: and you know, you're you're you're just uh, you're just
33:52
Speaker 1: an instrument to absorb, you know, punishment. It was crazy.
33:57
Speaker 1: Now allowing offensive lineman to do that, I think it
34:02
Speaker 1: has changed the game unbelievably because part of the reason
34:06
Speaker 1: that it's it's a it's a better passing it's a
34:09
Speaker 1: passing game now is because offensive linement can you know,
34:12
Speaker 1: can pass protect so much easier. You can do so
34:15
Speaker 1: much more in terms of trying to uh, you know,
34:17
Speaker 1: prevent defensive players from getting your quarterback in a heartbeat,
34:20
Speaker 1: and that allows the field to open up, and so
34:24
Speaker 1: I think that was a major major rule change, big
34:27
Speaker 1: time question from Lockey, who does not have the glass
34:32
Speaker 1: half full based on this question, If God forbid, Joe
34:38
Speaker 1: Burrow suffers a season ending injury and the Bengals earn
34:42
Speaker 1: the number one overall draft pick again, would they take
34:45
Speaker 1: Trevor Lawrence or trade down? Wow, it's not gonna happen, Lockey,
34:53
Speaker 1: don't worry, buddy, Lockey. That is about as dark as
34:57
Speaker 1: it gets. Man, have an adult bet it's loosen up
35:00
Speaker 1: a little bit, my man. Oh goodness, Yeah, that's nothing.
35:05
Speaker 1: I don't even want to think about that. Um, that
35:08
Speaker 1: would be that would be tragic, you know, but it's
35:10
Speaker 1: it's um, it's funny. You're not funny. It's sad. Really.
35:15
Speaker 1: I mean, Kenny Anderson got his opportunity because Greg Cook,
35:18
Speaker 1: who was the greatest going to be the greatest quarterback
35:20
Speaker 1: in Bengal's history, if not amongst the best in NFL
35:24
Speaker 1: history at the University of Cincinnati, you know, I mean,
35:27
Speaker 1: he just this guy was a freak freak athlete and
35:31
Speaker 1: he had that terrible shoulder injury and then um, you know,
35:35
Speaker 1: eventually they drafted Key Anderson. So I mean it happens. Unfortunately,
35:40
Speaker 1: it happens. You do have the injuries. I don't hate
35:44
Speaker 1: to think about career ending injuries, but sepe of injuries,
35:47
Speaker 1: they're going to put people on on a shelf. I
35:49
Speaker 1: mean that that would be, you know, something that it
35:52
Speaker 1: certainly didn't want to contemplate happening after you draft somebody,
35:55
Speaker 1: you know, the first pick in the entire draft. Um,
35:59
Speaker 1: it would have to be I think for them to
36:01
Speaker 1: go quarterback again, they would have to be a debilitating,
36:06
Speaker 1: almost career ending injury. Um. And we're not talking about
36:10
Speaker 1: somebody who's drafting in the top ten. You know, we're
36:13
Speaker 1: not We're not talking about that. We're not talking about
36:15
Speaker 1: like what happened in Arizona where they draft a quarterback
36:19
Speaker 1: in the top ten and then you know he's traded
36:21
Speaker 1: away and then they draft a quarterback number one and
36:24
Speaker 1: Tyler Mars. It's it's not we're not talking about that
36:26
Speaker 1: type of situation. UM. So I think, to me, I
36:31
Speaker 1: think the odds are introtestinably small, not gonna happen. Lockey,
36:38
Speaker 1: don't worry about her buddy Yep from Cornelius, who is
36:43
Speaker 1: up to battle for the kicker job or do the
36:45
Speaker 1: Bengals think they're set. There are no other kickers on
36:49
Speaker 1: the roster right now, so that would seem to indicate
36:51
Speaker 1: their set, right. Yeah, I think they're I think they're
36:54
Speaker 1: pretty pretty pretty well set. I think they're um. They
36:58
Speaker 1: feel like they've got you know, people that they can
37:01
Speaker 1: count on, uh in terms of getting things done when
37:06
Speaker 1: when the press is on and and trying to you know,
37:09
Speaker 1: make a big play to win a football game. And
37:11
Speaker 1: you I know they I know they like every phase
37:15
Speaker 1: of it. You know, Harris as a snapper has been
37:17
Speaker 1: to the Pro Bowl. Huber as a punter has been
37:19
Speaker 1: to the Pro Bowl. They don't have a Pro Bowl
37:21
Speaker 1: plays clicker, but you know, they feel like they've got
37:23
Speaker 1: somebody that can can handle the task issue. I think,
37:28
Speaker 1: you know, again with the coronavirus though, I mean, everything
37:32
Speaker 1: is so stalled, you know, I don't think there's any
37:35
Speaker 1: rush to do anything right now. And honestly, like we're
37:39
Speaker 1: talking about earlier, it would not shock me if a
37:42
Speaker 1: ton of teams around in the league end up having
37:46
Speaker 1: far fewer than ninety players, you know, nineties number that
37:49
Speaker 1: the NFL allows to come to camp. It would not
37:52
Speaker 1: stun me if teams have fewer fewer players than that,
37:56
Speaker 1: you know in training camp, it would not stun me whatsoever.
37:58
Speaker 1: And and you know, how do you how do you
38:01
Speaker 1: give a kicker? You want to look at him for
38:05
Speaker 1: a long period of time. You want to set up
38:07
Speaker 1: as many multiple competitions as you can to see, you know,
38:10
Speaker 1: who is who is the guy? You haven't had time
38:13
Speaker 1: to do that, And I don't know. I mean, this
38:16
Speaker 1: is such an unusual year in terms of evaluating players.
38:20
Speaker 1: If if, if you are somebody looking to earn a
38:24
Speaker 1: spot somewhere in some way, shape or form, whatever that
38:27
Speaker 1: may be, this might be the toughest year to try
38:29
Speaker 1: to get that done. If you're established, you might feel
38:32
Speaker 1: a little bit more comfortable. But if you're not, man,
38:35
Speaker 1: it's a tough year to try to start a start
38:37
Speaker 1: a career out when you're you know, you're totally unestablished
38:41
Speaker 1: and you're not a high draft pick and you're not
38:43
Speaker 1: a sought after veteran free agent. I mean, it's a
38:46
Speaker 1: it's a very very tough year for that for sure.
38:49
Speaker 1: Question from Scott is the current offensive line personnel good
38:53
Speaker 1: enough to protect Joe Burrow and allow him to have
38:56
Speaker 1: a season comparable to Andy Dalton and AJ Green's rookie year. Well,
39:01
Speaker 1: the one commonality that hopefully he has is a healthy
39:04
Speaker 1: AJ Green and you know, not a rookie AJA Green.
39:08
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow will have an AJ Green that was a
39:10
Speaker 1: perennial Pro Bowl player unhealthy and has proven himself to be,
39:15
Speaker 1: you know, among the top worst case scenario when healthy,
39:19
Speaker 1: top five, top handful, maybe top three, you know, when
39:22
Speaker 1: totally healthy in the NFL. So that would be a
39:25
Speaker 1: huge advantage for Joe Burrow and Joe Burrow I think
39:29
Speaker 1: there's a lot of similarities and with the learning capacities
39:34
Speaker 1: and mindsets and mentalities of Joe Burrow and Andy Dalton,
39:37
Speaker 1: I think in a very very positive way. So the
39:41
Speaker 1: question is, you know, Joe Burrow is going to know
39:44
Speaker 1: what he's looking at. He's gonna know where to throw
39:47
Speaker 1: the football, how to throw the football, and when to
39:50
Speaker 1: throw the football, and you know he's gonna get them
39:53
Speaker 1: out of bad plays into better plays. The key component
39:56
Speaker 1: is will the offensive line given time to op given
40:00
Speaker 1: time to do all those things? And that's that's the
40:02
Speaker 1: that's the million dollar question. I think potentially, you know,
40:06
Speaker 1: there are some guys up there that have skill sets,
40:09
Speaker 1: you know, Jonah Williams from what I'm watching him on
40:12
Speaker 1: tape in college. He's got a great skill set and
40:16
Speaker 1: it's at the SEC level, which is the highest level
40:19
Speaker 1: you can face in college football. But it's not the
40:21
Speaker 1: National Football League. And you know, there have been I
40:26
Speaker 1: don't want to be Debbie Downer, but I've seen many
40:28
Speaker 1: first round draft picks not be able to cut the mustard.
40:31
Speaker 1: I've seen many first round draft picks able to cut
40:33
Speaker 1: the mustard. So I think I think he'll cut the mustard.
40:36
Speaker 1: You know, I think Michael Jordan has untapped potential. Trey
40:39
Speaker 1: Hopkins got themselves an extension and earned it and deserved
40:42
Speaker 1: it um physically and mentally. He's he's a he's a
40:46
Speaker 1: hell of a football player, Uh, sue A fee level. Uh.
40:50
Speaker 1: You knows does an NFL experience. But when you have
40:53
Speaker 1: forty percent of the offensive law has not taken a
40:57
Speaker 1: snap as the Cincinnati Bengal and Michael Jordan's snaps are
41:01
Speaker 1: you know, minimal? Bobby hard at right tackle Fred Johnson
41:05
Speaker 1: in a fight there, Isaiah Prents me. They've got bodies,
41:08
Speaker 1: They've got people. The question is, like the talked about earlier,
41:12
Speaker 1: will they play like a fifth. Will they play as one?
41:17
Speaker 1: Will they play cohesive? Will they play as a unit?
41:20
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, I always like to use this number.
41:25
Speaker 1: Offensive line play can be summed up like this. You
41:27
Speaker 1: throw the ball twenty times in a game. You're an
41:31
Speaker 1: offensive lineman. You blocked your guy nineteen times out of twenty.
41:35
Speaker 1: He beats you once, maybe for a pressure, hopefully not
41:38
Speaker 1: a stack, but you grade ninety five. Everybody in the
41:41
Speaker 1: offensive line blocks their guy nineteen times out of twenty,
41:45
Speaker 1: and they all grade in eight ninety five. Problem is,
41:48
Speaker 1: they all get beaten on different snaps. So instead of
41:52
Speaker 1: grading ninety five as a group, you grade seventy five,
41:56
Speaker 1: five of the twenty times you were beaten as a group.
42:00
Speaker 1: So you greatly see so individually everybody. And I had
42:05
Speaker 1: a game. I got my chest pumped out. You know,
42:08
Speaker 1: I blocked my guy. I blocked at an a level
42:12
Speaker 1: and now, well we all did, but the quarterback it
42:13
Speaker 1: hit five times. And as a group, you guys will see.
42:17
Speaker 1: To me, that is the epitome of teamwork. The offensive
42:21
Speaker 1: line is the epitome of teamwork. And until those guys
42:25
Speaker 1: prove that they can, you know, work together like that
42:29
Speaker 1: and be make all the components. When you add everybody's
42:33
Speaker 1: talents and abilities up, you have, you know, a sooner
42:38
Speaker 1: justic effect. One plus one equals three, not just two.
42:41
Speaker 1: Because they're playing so well together and we can hide
42:44
Speaker 1: each other. If there's a weakness, they configure out a
42:46
Speaker 1: way to hide it by making a call and giving
42:48
Speaker 1: some help here, doing whatever. That's that's the key to
42:51
Speaker 1: offensive line play. It's how are you performing as a unit?
42:55
Speaker 1: How are you performing as a group? One more follow
42:58
Speaker 1: up to that last question. Andy Dalton obviously led the
43:01
Speaker 1: Bengals to nine wins his rookie year and a spot
43:04
Speaker 1: in the playoffs, but statistically he wasn't great as a rookie.
43:08
Speaker 1: He was good twenty touchdown passes, thirteen picks, passer rating
43:12
Speaker 1: of eighty point four by Justin. Following up on that
43:16
Speaker 1: last question, I think Joe Burrow stands a very good
43:19
Speaker 1: chance of surpassing those numbers. The hard part will be
43:23
Speaker 1: matching the nine wins. All right, question from Brian Man
43:27
Speaker 1: and others, why not make a run at free agent
43:32
Speaker 1: offensive lineman Larry Warford, the three time pro bowler out
43:35
Speaker 1: of UK who was recently released by the Saints. Yeah,
43:38
Speaker 1: I mean I think there are a lot of people
43:40
Speaker 1: that are trying to determine around the league, trying to
43:43
Speaker 1: determine whether they make a run out him or not.
43:46
Speaker 1: I think part of the right now is economics. You know,
43:48
Speaker 1: That's why he's not a New Orleans Saint anymore. And
43:52
Speaker 1: in the Bengals are like we're talking about not only
43:55
Speaker 1: trying to sign all their rookies and you know what
43:58
Speaker 1: you're spending from a cap standpoint, I mean, everything is uh,
44:01
Speaker 1: you know, is basically predetermined. The Bengals know exactly what
44:06
Speaker 1: they have to spend on rookies based on the number
44:09
Speaker 1: that they've they've they've drafted you know seven, I mean
44:12
Speaker 1: New England drafted fourteen. They know what they have to spend.
44:15
Speaker 1: The Bengals know what they have to spend. It's all
44:16
Speaker 1: predicated on slotted where they're drafted, and Bengals have some
44:20
Speaker 1: high draft pick picks everywhere else. They're going to be
44:22
Speaker 1: spending some money on their rookies in their in their
44:25
Speaker 1: salary job. They have to just need to. And then
44:27
Speaker 1: you want to extend agree and you want to extend
44:28
Speaker 1: Joe Mixon. You know, it's it's where your priorities and
44:33
Speaker 1: how far along are you in the process of all
44:35
Speaker 1: those things and what might be left over, and then
44:38
Speaker 1: you make a determination based on you know who, how
44:41
Speaker 1: many people are are competing for the services of Warford,
44:46
Speaker 1: where's that contract going to end up? And I'll guarantee
44:50
Speaker 1: if it's been discussed that there's there's not one of
44:55
Speaker 1: the Saints made their decision. Thirty one of the teams.
44:59
Speaker 1: They all have to just the Saints have decided. But
45:03
Speaker 1: maybe not. Maybe if Warford is out there and there's
45:05
Speaker 1: not the dollars out there that he thinks may he
45:07
Speaker 1: may come back to the Saints and saying what about this,
45:10
Speaker 1: and maybe the Saints saying hello, Yeah. So I mean
45:13
Speaker 1: there's a lot to a lot to play out in
45:15
Speaker 1: terms of what's going on with him. And there's no
45:18
Speaker 1: way in my mind the Bengals having kicked the tires,
45:20
Speaker 1: you know, thought about that, that that that process. But
45:23
Speaker 1: there's a lot of a lot of variables in the equation.
45:26
Speaker 1: And you know, that's the way it is when a
45:28
Speaker 1: lot of a lot of teams around the league on
45:30
Speaker 1: top of the game, you know, the coronavirus, and he
45:33
Speaker 1: can't get your hands on him and give him a
45:35
Speaker 1: physical and all the things I mean, he's played a
45:36
Speaker 1: lot of snaps in the National Football League at the stage,
45:39
Speaker 1: and so you want to make sure that that there
45:41
Speaker 1: are no surprises there physically as well. So you know,
45:44
Speaker 1: it's it's all a slow, slow process. He reportedly wants
45:50
Speaker 1: seven million a year. He's a big man, three hundred
45:54
Speaker 1: thirty pounds plus. And I read one story out of
45:56
Speaker 1: a New Orleans outlet that said there was a significant
45:59
Speaker 1: drop off in his play last year even though he
46:02
Speaker 1: was a pro bowler, and he had weight and conditioning issues.
46:05
Speaker 1: So I don't know if that's true. I haven't studied
46:08
Speaker 1: it enough, but I did read that, and I wonder
46:11
Speaker 1: based on that, if you've really got to get your
46:13
Speaker 1: hands on that guy before you commit that kind of money. Well,
46:17
Speaker 1: if he um and that does happen, guys will decline
46:22
Speaker 1: and still make the Pro Bowl best based on reputation.
46:25
Speaker 1: You know, sometimes it becomes a popularity contest and it
46:28
Speaker 1: doesn't catch up as a guy to he you know,
46:30
Speaker 1: he has another year that's not maybe as good as
46:32
Speaker 1: it was when he was a pro bowler, And if
46:36
Speaker 1: he had weight and conditioning problems last year, this year
46:39
Speaker 1: with the coronavirus, and you have to be a self
46:42
Speaker 1: starter in terms of working out and finding a place
46:45
Speaker 1: to work out, and you have to really commit yourself
46:47
Speaker 1: to your profession. And he had problems last year in
46:51
Speaker 1: that regard. Boy, he'd be radioactive until I can at
46:54
Speaker 1: least see him, you know, and see you know, is
46:57
Speaker 1: he a hot mess or is he in some kind
46:59
Speaker 1: of a monicuma condition to that you can work with
47:02
Speaker 1: where you know he might be able to get back
47:04
Speaker 1: to playing at his at his form, his prior form.
47:08
Speaker 1: You know, maybe he had a wake up call and
47:10
Speaker 1: he's in great shape, or maybe you know he's down
47:13
Speaker 1: down the dumps because of what happened last year and
47:15
Speaker 1: he's in worse shape, And you don't know until you
47:18
Speaker 1: work them out and you see him right, all right.
47:21
Speaker 1: Question from Matthew with Burrows accuracy, do you see pass catchers,
47:27
Speaker 1: especially wide receivers, having an easier time boosting stats? This
47:32
Speaker 1: question comes from Matthew Heitzman, not fantasy football guru Matthew Barry,
47:38
Speaker 1: because it sounds sounds kind of like somebody who's interested
47:41
Speaker 1: in those fantasy numbers for the Bengals wide receivers in
47:44
Speaker 1: the Joe Burrow era. You know, I do think that
47:47
Speaker 1: the quarterbacks that have uncanny accuracy can improve the numbers
47:53
Speaker 1: for their receivers on a yards per catch basis totally
47:57
Speaker 1: yards as a result of that, and everything goes along
47:59
Speaker 1: with it because there's completions and then there's completions. By that,
48:04
Speaker 1: I mean, okay, you can put the ball on him
48:07
Speaker 1: and complete it and you make him stop to make
48:09
Speaker 1: the catch and he's tackled. Or I'm talking about a
48:12
Speaker 1: guy that's on a slant and he's running open, but
48:15
Speaker 1: you make him stop to catch the football and he
48:17
Speaker 1: gets me built. Or a guy that's on a slant,
48:20
Speaker 1: he's open and you lead him where he doesn't break stride.
48:23
Speaker 1: He catches the football and he catch he's in full
48:26
Speaker 1: stride when he catches it and takes for a seven
48:28
Speaker 1: yard touchdown all at John rosterd when he went up
48:30
Speaker 1: to up to see him up the gut, you know
48:33
Speaker 1: in score. So quarterbacks that have that uncanny innate ability
48:38
Speaker 1: to to put it to spots where you know the
48:41
Speaker 1: receiver can catch the football in full stride, those are
48:46
Speaker 1: the guys that are gold. And I think Joe Burrow
48:47
Speaker 1: does have that ability. I think he showed that kind
48:50
Speaker 1: of ability. You know at LSU. The other thing, you know, simple,
48:55
Speaker 1: You see completions work. The quarterback makes the receiver work
48:58
Speaker 1: too hard and he falls to the ground. You know,
49:00
Speaker 1: in college they're down. Now you can get back up
49:02
Speaker 1: and run in the NFL, but HeLEX they're on the ground.
49:05
Speaker 1: You ain't getting up and run it too far. In
49:06
Speaker 1: the NFL, You're gonna get destroyed. You're gonna get smoked
49:08
Speaker 1: while you're on the ground. Probably, So you want to
49:11
Speaker 1: keep people on their feet and if possible, you want
49:14
Speaker 1: to hit them in stride. And that's where numbers increase.
49:18
Speaker 1: For receivers and quarterbacks that can you know, yeah, execute
49:22
Speaker 1: that type of a completion accuracy. Those are the ones
49:27
Speaker 1: that are you know, amost the best in the league
49:29
Speaker 1: for sure. Question from Big Mike, what's the plan for
49:33
Speaker 1: Billy Price? Is he going to compete for a starting
49:36
Speaker 1: a starting spot or is it safe to say he's
49:38
Speaker 1: going to be a backup? Well, I think I think everybody.
49:42
Speaker 1: The one thing that that I will sell the offensive
49:45
Speaker 1: line coaches mindset is it's meritocracy. I mean, if you
49:50
Speaker 1: if you earn the job, you're going to get the job.
49:52
Speaker 1: And that's why I mean, you have to pencil somebody
49:54
Speaker 1: in as a starting line as you know, as a
49:56
Speaker 1: starter in your line. And I do think, you know,
49:59
Speaker 1: the starting five would probably be Jonah Williams at left tackle,
50:03
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan left guard, Trey Hopkins at center, Davie sue
50:06
Speaker 1: A Filo at right guard, and Bobby Hart initially at
50:09
Speaker 1: right tackle and then compete best man wins. So I
50:13
Speaker 1: don't think that Billy Price is necessarily penciled in as
50:16
Speaker 1: a starter, but you know, if he has a has
50:21
Speaker 1: a very strong performance, you know, in again, now we're
50:26
Speaker 1: talking about a potentially shortened training camp, but if he
50:30
Speaker 1: goes out and performs well in preseason games, performs well
50:34
Speaker 1: in the early stages of regular season games, and you know,
50:36
Speaker 1: if guys good line coaches I play for, if guys
50:41
Speaker 1: have shown that they can play, you might have seven guys.
50:45
Speaker 1: You may have seven guys that you feel like could
50:48
Speaker 1: start rotate them. I mean you rotate. You rotate defensive lineman.
50:54
Speaker 1: Why they he'll not rotate offensive lineman. You're rotating defensive
50:57
Speaker 1: lineman to keep him fresh. You can play more than
51:00
Speaker 1: you know, five offensive lineman if you feel like you're
51:02
Speaker 1: not gonna drop off in terms of performance and keep
51:06
Speaker 1: guys fresh and play guys at multiple positions. And you
51:09
Speaker 1: know I experienced that. I mean, the more positions you
51:12
Speaker 1: can play, the more valuable you are. And uh, you know,
51:15
Speaker 1: Billy Price, if he shows he's the equally effective at center, right, left,
51:19
Speaker 1: right or left guard, he's got some value. Um, you know.
51:22
Speaker 1: And if he if he shows, he should get some snaps,
51:25
Speaker 1: you know, some snaps. So and I'm you know, I'm
51:28
Speaker 1: not talking about every other series, you know, I'm talking
51:30
Speaker 1: about you know, maybe rolling a guy in their period
51:33
Speaker 1: just to keep them shop and uh, you know, and
51:35
Speaker 1: to keep other guys fresh. And so I mean, in
51:39
Speaker 1: a perfect world, you've got eight offensive linemen. It's you
51:43
Speaker 1: don't really like. I mean, there's there's a whisker difference
51:46
Speaker 1: between the talents and the performance potential production, you know,
51:50
Speaker 1: of all of them. And then then it starts to
51:52
Speaker 1: get into the other things. Uh, the intelligence factor. Coaches
51:56
Speaker 1: are confident with smart players. If the other guy that is,
52:01
Speaker 1: you know, one percent guy never makes any mental mistakes,
52:04
Speaker 1: that's a tiebreaker. Now that's a tiebreaker. So there are
52:07
Speaker 1: a lot of things you evaluate, but you want to
52:10
Speaker 1: have you don't want to have just five quote five
52:13
Speaker 1: starting offensive libin you want to have you know, seven
52:16
Speaker 1: or eight as you possibly can. All right, final ask
52:20
Speaker 1: lap question. This one comes from Jim and I'm shocked
52:24
Speaker 1: that I have never asked you this question. Here goes,
52:29
Speaker 1: what's the most you ever benched, squatted and deadlifted? Whoa?
52:34
Speaker 1: You know, it's it's interesting because I was in the
52:37
Speaker 1: era of Nautilus with the Bengals. We didn't use free weights.
52:42
Speaker 1: So in a Syracuse, I mean, the most eye benched
52:46
Speaker 1: was four ten. I can't remember when I squatted. I think,
52:52
Speaker 1: you know, it got to the point where they were
52:55
Speaker 1: very very uh nervous about you know, letting you load
53:00
Speaker 1: up and squatting ridiculous amount of weights to max and
53:04
Speaker 1: so we would we would use you know, significant amount
53:07
Speaker 1: of weight and try to rep rep that weight in
53:09
Speaker 1: terms of squatting and deadlifting. Man, you know, I never
53:13
Speaker 1: did that deadlift either, you know, being in that in
53:15
Speaker 1: that era that I was in. But I will say
53:17
Speaker 1: one thing our work construction, um concrete forms and UM.
53:25
Speaker 1: I remember picking up some concrete forms that had you know,
53:27
Speaker 1: dried concrete in them and you pick them up off
53:30
Speaker 1: the ground and it's like, I don't know how much
53:32
Speaker 1: a weight. But boy, that was that was a big
53:34
Speaker 1: old deadlift. And I remember the ones that weren't quite
53:37
Speaker 1: as filled with as much concrete, you know, let's stick,
53:39
Speaker 1: you know, pressing them over my head and try. I
53:41
Speaker 1: was trying to get a workout doing the construction job,
53:45
Speaker 1: you know, kind of curling some of these concrete forms
53:47
Speaker 1: if I could grab them well enough. And then I
53:50
Speaker 1: also moved furniture as well, did the construction job in furniture.
53:53
Speaker 1: And remember, you know, taking a refrigerator, putting it on
53:56
Speaker 1: my back with the strap and going up three flights
53:59
Speaker 1: of stairs to an apartment and delivering a refrigerator. That's
54:02
Speaker 1: a squad. That's a good thing. That was. That was.
54:05
Speaker 1: I remember my legs were quivering. Men I got I
54:08
Speaker 1: got to that third floor and I was like, whoa,
54:10
Speaker 1: put that thing down, and my legs were like shaken.
54:12
Speaker 1: But that was, you know, that was great work. So um.
54:16
Speaker 1: But you know, Kim Wood was was a strong coach
54:21
Speaker 1: and he P Brown were partners in Nautilus and the
54:24
Speaker 1: Bengals were huge Nautilus disciples. Uh that's what that's what
54:28
Speaker 1: we worked out was mostly. Well, your four ten bench
54:32
Speaker 1: press is currently the lead in the Bengals Booth. You've
54:36
Speaker 1: got You've got me beat for now, but now I
54:39
Speaker 1: have a target. If I can double my all time high,
54:45
Speaker 1: I have a chance. All Right, you're off the hot seat.
54:50
Speaker 1: Appreciate the information as always. Hope to see you soon.
54:54
Speaker 1: All right, damn the man, I have a great one.
54:57
Speaker 1: Here's one final note before we wrap things up. I
55:00
Speaker 1: mentioned earlier, I'm recording this on Friday, June fifth, and
55:04
Speaker 1: tonight at eight o'clock Eastern time, NBC Sports Network is
55:08
Speaker 1: airing Super Bowl twenty three in its entirety. I plan
55:13
Speaker 1: to watch before turning it off after Jim Breach's game
55:16
Speaker 1: winning field goal with three twenty to go. In my
55:20
Speaker 1: family room tonight, there will be no such thing as
55:24
Speaker 1: Montana to Taylor. That's going to do it for This
55:28
Speaker 1: episode of the Bengals Booth podcast brought to you by
55:31
Speaker 1: Prime Sport, the official fan, travel and hospitality partner of
55:35
Speaker 1: the Cincinnati Bengals. If you haven't done so already, please subscribe,
55:39
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55:41
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Speaker 1: this podcast. I'm Dan Horde, and thanks for listening to
55:49
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth podcast,