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Bengals Booth Podcast: If You Just Believe · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The If You Just Believe addition,
0:13
Speaker 1: as the Bengals look to stay alive in the playoff
0:16
Speaker 1: hunt as they host the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday at
0:19
Speaker 1: pay Corps Stadium. Coming up, I'll talk to Drew Sample
0:23
Speaker 1: about his teammate for seven of the last eight years,
0:26
Speaker 1: Jake Browning Hall of Fame wide receiver James Lofton tells
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Speaker 1: us who he thinks is the best wide receiver in
0:33
Speaker 1: Bengals history, and in this week's no The Faux Conversation
0:37
Speaker 1: will take an in depth look at the Colts with
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Speaker 1: their radio voice Matt Taylor. The Bengals Booth Podcast is
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Speaker 1: brought to you by pay Corps, proud to be the
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Speaker 1: Bengals official HR software provider, by Alta Fiber, future proof
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Speaker 1: fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business, and community
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Speaker 1: to a new level, and by Kettering Health the best
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Speaker 1: care for the best fans. Kettering Health is the official
0:59
Speaker 1: healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now here's a quick reminder
1:03
Speaker 1: that you can have the latest edition of this podcast
1:06
Speaker 1: delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing
1:10
Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since
1:14
Speaker 1: the New York Times Playoff Machine. With a six and
1:18
Speaker 1: six record in five games to go, the Bengals are
1:21
Speaker 1: still in playoff contention, and Joe Mixon says Monday's road
1:25
Speaker 1: win over the eight and three Jacksonville Jaguars was a
1:29
Speaker 1: reminder that the Bengals are still capable of beating anybody
1:33
Speaker 1: on their schedule, even without Joe Burrow.
1:37
Speaker 2: Honestly, I felt like just everybody was like, bro, we
1:41
Speaker 2: could do this, Like we are still the Bengals, you
1:44
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying, and nobody feeling sorry for themselves.
1:47
Speaker 2: And I think that was a huge thing that I've seen.
1:51
Speaker 2: I felt like this past week was nobody hanging their hands.
1:54
Speaker 3: Everybody like, man.
1:55
Speaker 2: Like, let's go, like we're still in it, you know
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Speaker 2: what I'm saying. And you know, you can see it
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Speaker 2: from the coach you was here, from the players, and
2:02
Speaker 2: you know, that's a great thing to see because you know,
2:04
Speaker 2: when somebody like Joe goes down, you expect, you know,
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Speaker 2: people would be like, oh, season's over, this, this and that.
2:09
Speaker 2: But we just beat what one of the top season
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Speaker 2: in AOC right now. So I feel like we can
2:15
Speaker 2: play out there. We can play out there with the
2:17
Speaker 2: best of them. I don't care who it is, you
2:19
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying. So we just got to go
2:20
Speaker 2: out there and do what we do each and every week.
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Speaker 1: But it's going to take.
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Speaker 3: All of us.
2:24
Speaker 1: So what exactly is it going to take for the
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Speaker 1: Bengals to make the playoffs? The New York Times has
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Speaker 1: an interactive online tool called the Playoff Machine that makes
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Speaker 1: it easy to figure out. It allows you to end
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Speaker 1: to the result of any of the remaining games, and
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Speaker 1: then the machine does three hundred and ninety thousand simulations
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Speaker 1: before spitting out their playoff chances. For example, right now,
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Speaker 1: the Bengals have a ten percent chance of getting in.
2:51
Speaker 1: If they beat the Colts on Sunday, it rises to
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Speaker 1: seventeen percent. I spent some time basically entering all of
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Speaker 1: the possibilities for the bengals remaining games, and here's what
3:01
Speaker 1: I found out. If they win four of their last
3:05
Speaker 1: five to finish ten and seven, they should make it.
3:09
Speaker 1: Depending on the one loss, the playoff probability ranges from
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Speaker 1: eighty one percent to ninety percent. But if they go
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Speaker 1: three and two even with wins over the three AFC
3:21
Speaker 1: teams in similar shape the Colts, Steelers, and Browns, they've
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Speaker 1: only got a twenty one percent chance of getting in.
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Speaker 1: In other words, nine to eight is probably not going
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Speaker 1: to do the trick. Four of their five remaining games
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Speaker 1: are against teams that currently have injured starting quarterbacks the Colts, Viking, Steelers,
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Speaker 1: and Browns, and three of those four games are at home.
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Speaker 1: If Jake Browning continues to give them solid play at quarterback,
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Speaker 1: a four to one finish is very possible. For more
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Speaker 1: on Browning, who was named the AFC's Offensive Player of
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Speaker 1: the Week, I spoke to tight end Drew Samp, who
4:00
Speaker 1: first took the field with Jake as a Washington Husky
4:05
Speaker 1: eight years ago. True, Monday's game is going to be
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Speaker 1: remembered as the Jake Browning game for his spectacular performance
4:12
Speaker 1: against the Jags. You played with him for four years
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Speaker 1: at Washington. He was your starting quarterback for the four
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Speaker 1: years that you played. What stood out to you about
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Speaker 1: that performance on Monday?
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Speaker 4: I think, same thing that Jake's always been great at.
4:24
Speaker 4: You know, the moment wasn't too big for him. It
4:26
Speaker 4: was Monday night on the road. You know, and he
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Speaker 4: just he studies hard, he does all the right things,
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Speaker 4: and when when it came.
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Speaker 3: Time for him to perform, he performed.
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Speaker 4: You know, he put the ball where he did to go,
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Speaker 4: he made the checks, he owned the huddle, and you know,
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Speaker 4: credit to the staff for you know, we had a
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Speaker 4: great game plan and we were able to execute on
4:45
Speaker 4: pretty much, you know, every position group was able to
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Speaker 4: execute and obviously.
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Speaker 3: A big chunk of that falls in my quarterback and
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Speaker 3: I think he did a great job doing that.
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Speaker 1: How excited were you for him that he had that
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Speaker 1: moment in primetime?
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Speaker 3: I mean it's awesome.
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Speaker 4: Obviously, like you said, I played with him for four years.
5:01
Speaker 4: You know, we we were together, you know, as freshman
5:04
Speaker 4: basically playing college football for the first time, and then
5:07
Speaker 4: to now be a part of his NFL journey is
5:09
Speaker 4: always awesome. You know, to see the work that he's
5:10
Speaker 4: put in and you know the type of guys he is,
5:13
Speaker 4: and you know, I've always known he's been.
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Speaker 3: A good player and he was able to kind of
5:16
Speaker 3: show the world that. So that's awesome.
5:18
Speaker 1: He started as a true freshman fresh out of high
5:20
Speaker 1: school nineteen years old, and you guys had a good
5:22
Speaker 1: season together that year. You had a winning record and
5:24
Speaker 1: won a bowl game. To me, that's amazing that a
5:27
Speaker 1: guy can come out of high school and do that
5:29
Speaker 1: at that level. What did he show you then?
5:32
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think he came in and you know, he
5:34
Speaker 4: had an amazing high school career. I think he set
5:37
Speaker 4: a bunch of records whatever. So that's kind of really
5:39
Speaker 4: all we kind of knew about him. You know, I
5:42
Speaker 4: had red shirted and then that was going to be
5:43
Speaker 4: my first year playing, and he came in. He came
5:45
Speaker 4: in early, and I mean, honestly, he just worked his
5:48
Speaker 4: ass off and he kind of just won everyone over
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Speaker 4: from like, hey, this guy was, you know, a pretty
5:51
Speaker 4: big time recruit, set a bunch of records. He came
5:54
Speaker 4: in early, he left high school, and you know, he
5:56
Speaker 4: worked his ass off, and he worked and he learned,
5:58
Speaker 4: and I think he just gained the respect of everyone.
6:00
Speaker 4: And then you know, once he started playing, kind of
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Speaker 4: never looked back from there. And just one of the
6:06
Speaker 4: things he's always been is he's always just you know,
6:08
Speaker 4: he's he's laid his body on the line. He's he's
6:10
Speaker 4: done everything that you know, he was asked to do.
6:12
Speaker 4: And then I think he's done that in the NFL
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Speaker 4: as well.
6:14
Speaker 1: We're visiting the Drew sample. You had a touchdown catching
6:17
Speaker 1: his first start, you had a big catch in the
6:19
Speaker 1: red zone last week, and his second start. We often
6:21
Speaker 1: hear about how important trust is between quarterback and receiver,
6:25
Speaker 1: quarterback and tight end. Do you feel like you have
6:27
Speaker 1: that because of the time you've spent together.
6:29
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I think it never hurts. And I
6:30
Speaker 4: think you know, Jake and and our offense, the way
6:33
Speaker 4: it works is, you know, he's he's done a good
6:35
Speaker 4: job of just find the open guys, you know, you know,
6:38
Speaker 4: whether that's you know, in the flat checkdowns, routes, play action, whatever,
6:42
Speaker 4: I think he's done a good job. And you know,
6:44
Speaker 4: I think, you know, in the tight end room, we've
6:45
Speaker 4: been able to, you know, kind of step up, you know,
6:48
Speaker 4: all of us in the last couple of weeks to
6:49
Speaker 4: try to you know, bring bring the offense for it
6:51
Speaker 4: in whatever way we can.
6:52
Speaker 3: And I think you're seeing the fruits of that.
6:54
Speaker 4: So it obviously never hurts to have that, you know,
6:57
Speaker 4: have that background, have that history. But you know, I
6:59
Speaker 4: think Jake is a good job of you know, really
7:01
Speaker 4: just finding where the ball needs to go based on
7:03
Speaker 4: you know, coverage, defense, whatever it may be.
7:06
Speaker 1: The school that you two guys played at, Washington is
7:09
Speaker 1: undefeated on its way to the College Football Playoff and
7:12
Speaker 1: a matchup against Texas. But at the end of this year,
7:15
Speaker 1: Washington is headed to the Big Ten with Ohio State,
7:19
Speaker 1: Michigan and those schools. Are you happy about it or
7:22
Speaker 1: are you bummed that the Pac twelve is coming to
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Speaker 1: an end?
7:25
Speaker 3: I mean, I think it's a little bit of both.
7:26
Speaker 4: I think obviously, you know, the PAC twelve dissolving, you know,
7:30
Speaker 4: growing up in Washington and kind of following that, and
7:32
Speaker 4: then you know, being a part of two pacdal champions
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Speaker 4: and all championships and all that, I think it's kind
7:37
Speaker 4: of sad to be, you know, kind of the end
7:38
Speaker 4: of an era, the end of you know, obviously a
7:41
Speaker 4: huge you know, part of living on the West Coast.
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Speaker 3: So I think, you know, it's kind of sad in
7:46
Speaker 3: that sense.
7:47
Speaker 4: But also, you know, I want what's best for Washington,
7:49
Speaker 4: and that's definitely you know, everyone's dissolving, everyone's leaving, and
7:53
Speaker 4: so I think, you know, that's what's right to do
7:55
Speaker 4: for Washington is to go there and play those teams,
7:58
Speaker 4: and you know, there's definitely gonna be a lot more,
8:00
Speaker 4: you know, big games. I think with some of those
8:02
Speaker 4: teams that we haven't you know, played a whole lot
8:03
Speaker 4: of so I think it'll.
8:04
Speaker 3: Be fun in that sense.
8:05
Speaker 4: And you know, as far as you know, TV money
8:08
Speaker 4: and all that, it's it's what's best for Washington and University.
8:11
Speaker 4: So I'm glad they did it. But also it's you know,
8:13
Speaker 4: it's kind of sad to think about it would be
8:15
Speaker 4: no more packed.
8:15
Speaker 1: Twelve Monday Nights game against Jacksonville was really fun to broadcast.
8:20
Speaker 1: There were five ties and six lead changes and all
8:24
Speaker 1: sorts of weird stuff going on. Do you have fun
8:27
Speaker 1: in the moment as a player or does the fun
8:31
Speaker 1: kick in after the game is over and you've won.
8:33
Speaker 4: I think the fun kicks in, you know, as the
8:35
Speaker 4: game is over. I mean, I think in that game,
8:37
Speaker 4: when you're playing such a good team like that, you know,
8:38
Speaker 4: and a team that's the top of the AFC. You know,
8:42
Speaker 4: it's fun to obviously go out and play on the
8:45
Speaker 4: big stage. But I think it's when you're in the
8:46
Speaker 4: moment like that, it's you know, it's stressful, you're back
8:49
Speaker 4: and forth, you know, you're in the game, you're you know,
8:51
Speaker 4: it was fun in the sense of, you know, our
8:53
Speaker 4: offense I think played well and we were able to,
8:55
Speaker 4: you know, do a lot of different things and play
8:57
Speaker 4: well against their defense. It was fun in that sense,
8:59
Speaker 4: but I think it was the real fun. Didn't kick
9:01
Speaker 4: it until the field goal went in and we knew
9:03
Speaker 4: it was over. But those are just the type of
9:05
Speaker 4: games that you know that you have to just stay
9:09
Speaker 4: locked in the whole time because it's up, it's down.
9:11
Speaker 4: You know, there's really good stretches, there's bad stretches, whatever
9:13
Speaker 4: it may be, and you just kind of have to
9:14
Speaker 4: stay locked in and you know, to get to the
9:16
Speaker 4: win and then you can kind of enjoy it after that.
9:19
Speaker 1: So two weeks ago against Pittsburgh, the team only had
9:22
Speaker 1: twenty five rushing yards. On Monday night against Jacksonville, thirty
9:25
Speaker 1: one carries one hundred and fifty six rushing yards. That's
9:28
Speaker 1: a top five run defense. Was the mindset different for
9:32
Speaker 1: everybody in the unit to get the running game going.
9:36
Speaker 4: And I think, you know, you always want to have
9:39
Speaker 4: a balanced offense, and for us, I think it was more,
9:41
Speaker 4: you know, we had just been we'd been close on
9:43
Speaker 4: a lot of stuff. When we turned the tape, you know,
9:45
Speaker 4: it was close, whether it was you know, assignment, getting
9:48
Speaker 4: whatever and all in all groups, running backs, tight ends,
9:50
Speaker 4: o line, whatever it may be. So I think it
9:53
Speaker 4: was just the focus to try to hone in on
9:54
Speaker 4: the details of it, to say, hey, we're close. It's
9:57
Speaker 4: not as bad as you know, everyone makes it out
9:59
Speaker 4: to be, like, we know that we're close, and we
10:01
Speaker 4: just got to clean up a few things. And I
10:02
Speaker 4: think that was kind of the The focus was just
10:05
Speaker 4: making sure that we were on top of our game
10:06
Speaker 4: to put us, you know, in successful spots and then
10:09
Speaker 4: when the runs are called, to be able to execute
10:11
Speaker 4: them and get positive yards and be efficient. And you know,
10:14
Speaker 4: when we were able to do that, obviously it gives
10:15
Speaker 4: the coaches confidence to call more of those and and
10:17
Speaker 4: kind of control the game that way. So I think
10:19
Speaker 4: it was just the the details and the execution part
10:21
Speaker 4: was what we focused on, not necessarily like, hey, we.
10:23
Speaker 3: Got to run the ball more.
10:24
Speaker 4: It was just being you know, trying to be efficient
10:25
Speaker 4: with those runs and letting it kind of handle itself
10:27
Speaker 4: from there.
10:28
Speaker 1: Chase Brown is back from a hamstring injury, got his
10:31
Speaker 1: first extended opportunity to play and had an excellent game.
10:34
Speaker 1: What kind of jolt did that bring to the offense.
10:37
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's awesome.
10:38
Speaker 4: I mean, he's he's you know, he's been playing some
10:40
Speaker 4: sucial teams before he was got hurt where he had
10:41
Speaker 4: you know, he had shown flashers just with his speed
10:43
Speaker 4: and explosiveness, and so, you know, I think he's been
10:46
Speaker 4: working hard to try to, you know, in practice to
10:48
Speaker 4: kind of show the show the coaches that he can
10:50
Speaker 4: be trusted in some of those spots.
10:52
Speaker 3: And he was just able to you know, take advantage
10:54
Speaker 3: of those opportunities. It was awesome.
10:55
Speaker 4: So I think, you know, hopefully he continues to do that.
10:59
Speaker 4: And like I said, we were able to run the
11:00
Speaker 4: ball effectively, and I think when you got multiple guys
11:03
Speaker 4: you know you can come in and run the ball well,
11:05
Speaker 4: that obviously helps the team.
11:06
Speaker 1: Three. You've come back from the MCL injury that you
11:08
Speaker 1: suffered in Week two last year against the Cowboys, and
11:11
Speaker 1: at the beginning of training camp, I wasn't sure if
11:13
Speaker 1: you were all the way back, were you or did
11:16
Speaker 1: it take some time?
11:17
Speaker 4: You know, obviously in the beginning, you just don't know
11:18
Speaker 4: where you're gonna you know where you're gonna be. You
11:20
Speaker 4: put in a lot of work, but just to get
11:22
Speaker 4: back into true you know football and and you know,
11:24
Speaker 4: being in camp and hitting and all that.
11:26
Speaker 3: I think there was just a little bit of you.
11:28
Speaker 4: Know, not a mental block, but just kind of you're
11:30
Speaker 4: kind of feeling it out a little bit, and then
11:31
Speaker 4: as you continue to go, you you know, you kind
11:33
Speaker 4: of gain confidence and go from there. And so I
11:35
Speaker 4: think each new you know, camp pads, you know, preseason games,
11:40
Speaker 4: ravers uson games, and then kind of going into the season,
11:43
Speaker 4: I think each of those you kind of gain a
11:44
Speaker 4: little bit more of that confidence.
11:45
Speaker 3: It's not necessary that the knee.
11:47
Speaker 4: Was you know, feeling bad or hurting, but you're kind
11:49
Speaker 4: of just you know, you're getting your legs back, You're
11:50
Speaker 4: getting your you know, just that that battle hardened you know,
11:54
Speaker 4: body back, and then you know, during the season, I
11:56
Speaker 4: felt good about it. So I think it just it
11:58
Speaker 4: took a little time to kind of really feel like
12:00
Speaker 4: you're back, just with the experience of being out for
12:02
Speaker 4: so long.
12:04
Speaker 3: But yeah, I was.
12:04
Speaker 4: I was really happy to be back for camp and
12:06
Speaker 4: into the preseason and to be to be back for
12:08
Speaker 4: the start of the season.
12:09
Speaker 1: You're known for your blocking ability, but I think people
12:12
Speaker 1: forget sometimes you had forty catches in a season your
12:15
Speaker 1: second year, do you feel like you've been type cast
12:18
Speaker 1: as somebody who is a blocking tight end?
12:21
Speaker 4: I mean somewhat, But I think for me, like you know,
12:24
Speaker 4: I obviously take pride. That's a huge part of my game.
12:26
Speaker 4: That's what you know, That's what I did in college
12:28
Speaker 4: a lot.
12:28
Speaker 3: That's what I do here.
12:29
Speaker 4: That's how I you know, am able to help the
12:30
Speaker 4: team win. But you know, I think as myself is
12:33
Speaker 4: a rounded tight end that I can do everything. And
12:36
Speaker 4: you know, every every offense, every team is different, and
12:39
Speaker 4: so James has done a good job just like hey
12:41
Speaker 4: for our tight ends.
12:42
Speaker 3: It for me just just be ready for your moment.
12:44
Speaker 4: And you know there was times and you know years
12:47
Speaker 4: past when I you know where it's hard because you're
12:49
Speaker 4: not getting a ton of opportunities that you do get
12:50
Speaker 4: do get opportunities and you haven't been.
12:52
Speaker 3: In those positions.
12:52
Speaker 4: So I think for me, just just making sure that
12:55
Speaker 4: I am ready for those moments, and I've been able
12:56
Speaker 4: to take advantage of those this year. But yeah, I mean,
12:59
Speaker 4: I I see myself and I want to be you know,
13:01
Speaker 4: a well rounded tight end and in our offense, you know,
13:04
Speaker 4: I think I'm able to do things that really helps
13:07
Speaker 4: us open up, whether that's you know, run game path
13:09
Speaker 4: protecting whatever it may be. But also you know, I'm
13:11
Speaker 4: confident in my abilities to go out and run routes
13:13
Speaker 4: and catch passes and you know, make a guy miss
13:15
Speaker 4: or go through a guy or whatever it may be.
13:17
Speaker 4: So that's always something that I'm working for. And you know,
13:20
Speaker 4: whether I get those opportunities or not, that's you know,
13:22
Speaker 4: depending on the game game plan, a lot of factors
13:24
Speaker 4: outside of my control. So for me, it's just making
13:26
Speaker 4: sure that I'm ready to go and be able to
13:28
Speaker 4: take advantage of whatever opportunities I get and in all aspects,
13:32
Speaker 4: and I think that's what's important, and that's the fun
13:33
Speaker 4: part about being a tight end.
13:35
Speaker 1: Final thing, you and your wife are involved in a
13:38
Speaker 1: toy drive for Christmas. It's something you've done before. Share
13:41
Speaker 1: some of the details.
13:42
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's really cool.
13:43
Speaker 4: The last couple of years, you know, so you know,
13:46
Speaker 4: my wife and I have a good connection with Children's Hospital.
13:48
Speaker 4: Both our daughters were born here and they spend some
13:50
Speaker 4: time after they were born in Children's and so it
13:53
Speaker 4: was something that you know, holiday season for those families
13:56
Speaker 4: that are at Children's, they're you know, they're going through
13:58
Speaker 4: a lot, whether it's surgeries, long term care, whatever it
14:01
Speaker 4: may be. So we did a little toy drive or
14:03
Speaker 4: my wife and I just had you know, the first
14:05
Speaker 4: year we'd gone out and bought some toys and we're
14:06
Speaker 4: able to deliver them. And just seeing those those family,
14:09
Speaker 4: those kids, you know, that reaction, you know, being in
14:12
Speaker 4: such a tough spot and just having a little bit
14:13
Speaker 4: of something where the parents didn't have to worry about
14:15
Speaker 4: going out and getting stuff and the kids were able
14:17
Speaker 4: to come out and pick something out.
14:18
Speaker 3: It was really cool.
14:19
Speaker 4: So this year is the first year where we're you know,
14:22
Speaker 4: we're trying to get the counit involved. We got some
14:24
Speaker 4: you know, some sponsors helping us out to kind of
14:27
Speaker 4: get some donations to hopefully get more toys and be
14:29
Speaker 4: able to do a much bigger event this year. You know,
14:32
Speaker 4: I've been in Cincinnati for a while and I've seen
14:34
Speaker 4: you know, the fans of the community be able to
14:35
Speaker 4: rally around these types of stuff.
14:37
Speaker 3: So if you want to, if you guys want to
14:38
Speaker 3: help out, you can go to my.
14:39
Speaker 4: Socials at Drew Kell on Twitter, at Drew Kell Eating
14:42
Speaker 4: on Instagram.
14:43
Speaker 3: There's a link in my bio to donate.
14:44
Speaker 4: We got some tickets and some other stuff raffled off
14:47
Speaker 4: for donations. Uh, and then donations will be done December
14:50
Speaker 4: fifteenth and then December eighteenth, my wife and I were
14:52
Speaker 4: going to go in and hopefully have a ton of
14:54
Speaker 4: toys for the kids to come out.
14:55
Speaker 3: And pick off. So it's something really cool that we
14:57
Speaker 3: do every year.
14:58
Speaker 4: It's something close to our heart which will and it's
15:00
Speaker 4: something really special that hopefully everyone can get involved in.
15:03
Speaker 1: It's awesome, Thank you for that. It's much appreciated by
15:06
Speaker 1: the community and best of Fluctu on Sunday and it's Cols.
15:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, awesome, thank you.
15:11
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by pay Corps,
15:13
Speaker 1: proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider, by
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Speaker 1: Alta Fiber future proof Fiber Internet designed to elevate your home,
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Speaker 1: business and community to a new level, and by Kettering
15:25
Speaker 1: Health the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health
15:29
Speaker 1: is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. If you
15:33
Speaker 1: can't make it Topey Corpse Stadium on Sunday, a Hall
15:36
Speaker 1: of Fame wide receiver will be the TV analyst and
15:40
Speaker 1: I caught up with him this week. One of the
15:44
Speaker 1: greatest wide receivers in NFL history will be in the
15:46
Speaker 1: booth for CBS this Sunday, James Lofton and James. We've
15:50
Speaker 1: got to start with Jake Browning, who is spectacular on
15:53
Speaker 1: Monday night in Jacksonville. What stood out to you about
15:56
Speaker 1: that performance?
15:57
Speaker 5: Well, the great thing about him performed so well. He's
16:01
Speaker 5: a California native. We know that from California. He also
16:06
Speaker 5: played in the Pac twelve. I played in the Pack
16:08
Speaker 5: eight next year for Pack two. I think that he
16:14
Speaker 5: never got flustered during the course of the ball game.
16:17
Speaker 5: Early on, Bengals through a lot of short passes and
16:20
Speaker 5: you're going, okay, let's throw the ball down the field.
16:22
Speaker 5: And then when he started to throw the ball down
16:24
Speaker 5: the field, he was ultra successful. So it was a
16:28
Speaker 5: perfect game for a guy who's stepping in and they'll
16:32
Speaker 5: just see what the follow up act will be like.
16:34
Speaker 5: It's kind of like one of those movies with a
16:36
Speaker 5: bunch of sequels. We know the prequel. A guy who
16:39
Speaker 5: gets bounced around, doesn't get signed anywhere, has a good,
16:43
Speaker 5: great high school career, good college career, and then can't
16:46
Speaker 5: get any traction in the pros, but looks like he
16:49
Speaker 5: has his footing pretty well cemented right now.
16:53
Speaker 1: James, you're on a Super Bowl team in Buffalo where
16:55
Speaker 1: Jim Kelly got hurt in the final regular season game
16:59
Speaker 1: and his backup for Reich was able to lead you
17:01
Speaker 1: to a couple of playoff wins before Jim got healthy,
17:04
Speaker 1: and then you guys went to the Super Bowl. What
17:06
Speaker 1: does a team have to do to rally around the
17:08
Speaker 1: backup quarterback.
17:10
Speaker 5: I think what the team really needs to do is
17:12
Speaker 5: not to worry. Uh, it's really in the coach's hands
17:16
Speaker 5: at that point to devise a game plan that cater's
17:20
Speaker 5: a little more to the skills of the guy who's
17:22
Speaker 5: coming in than the guy who's trying to replace.
17:25
Speaker 1: The Bengals are six and six with five games to go.
17:29
Speaker 1: Four of those five games are against teams that are
17:31
Speaker 1: missing their starting quarterback at least right now, what do
17:35
Speaker 1: you think of the bengals chances with a month left
17:37
Speaker 1: in the season.
17:38
Speaker 5: Well, I never hear this phrase uttered during training camp,
17:43
Speaker 5: but we control our own destiny, and just think about
17:46
Speaker 5: it at the training camp. You control your own destiny.
17:49
Speaker 5: If you were to go seventeen to zero, I think
17:51
Speaker 5: that's a pretty good record, And even now, at six
17:54
Speaker 5: and six, if you can win the last five games,
17:57
Speaker 5: and yes you're not going to play them Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
18:02
Speaker 5: but if you can win each game that you play,
18:05
Speaker 5: he got a really really good chance of being in
18:07
Speaker 5: the playoffs because ten eleven wins almost secures your playoff spot.
18:12
Speaker 1: We are visiting with Hall of Fame wide receiver James
18:14
Speaker 1: lofton last week, Jamar Chase became the fourth wide receiver
18:17
Speaker 1: in history to have eighty plus catches in one thousand
18:20
Speaker 1: plus yards in each of his first three seasons. What
18:23
Speaker 1: makes you go wow when you watch Jamar Chase.
18:27
Speaker 5: Well, it's not so much the numbers that guys are
18:29
Speaker 5: putting up now because there's more passing to the game.
18:33
Speaker 5: But the thing about Jamar Chase, and normally I use
18:36
Speaker 5: this phrase about running backs, it's contact balance. When you
18:41
Speaker 5: watch him play. You know, you know, we talk about
18:45
Speaker 5: Jalen Hurts and all that he can squat. If he
18:47
Speaker 5: can squat seven hundred pounds, I'm pretty sure Jamar Chase
18:50
Speaker 5: can squat six hundred and ninety five pounds because his
18:53
Speaker 5: lower body just looks so firm. He doesn't get bumped
18:56
Speaker 5: off his routes. He goes where he wants to on
18:59
Speaker 5: the football, and that's a trait that a lot of
19:02
Speaker 5: receivers don't have. They get pushed out where the defensive
19:06
Speaker 5: back wants to push them to. That didn't happen to
19:08
Speaker 5: Jamar Chase at all.
19:10
Speaker 1: Te Higgins was back on Monday night after missing three
19:13
Speaker 1: games with a hamstring injury. The Bengals had lost those
19:15
Speaker 1: three games. He came back and they won on Monday
19:18
Speaker 1: night against the Jaguars. What does team mean to this offense?
19:22
Speaker 5: Well, he's a big body, he's a When you take
19:26
Speaker 5: the three receivers as a group, you really can't double
19:30
Speaker 5: team or shade coverage to anybody. And even though we're
19:34
Speaker 5: talking about T Higgins, the guy that I got to
19:36
Speaker 5: take my hat off to is Tyler Boyd. And he
19:39
Speaker 5: came into the league. He was Robin to AJ Green's batman.
19:44
Speaker 5: Then he turned into Batman. Then somebody else shows up,
19:47
Speaker 5: he turns back into Robin. Now he's Alfred, the trusted
19:50
Speaker 5: guy who gets everybody where they're supposed to be. And
19:54
Speaker 5: I just love his spirit and the way that he
19:57
Speaker 5: plays the game and the unselfishness all three receivers. I
20:01
Speaker 5: think really that the attitude that they have that I
20:04
Speaker 5: see from them because they could all be stars in
20:06
Speaker 5: their own right, but collectively together they're awesome.
20:09
Speaker 1: James, I'm glad you mentioned Aj Green because the Bengals
20:12
Speaker 1: have had some great wide receivers in their history, Isaac Kurtis,
20:17
Speaker 1: Chad Johnson, AJ Green, Jamar Chase and others. Do you
20:21
Speaker 1: have a guy at the top of your totem pole
20:23
Speaker 1: from the Bengals all time list?
20:25
Speaker 5: Well, you named him first. When I was a going
20:29
Speaker 5: into my senior year at Stanford, Bill Walsh came in
20:33
Speaker 5: and he came down to the track where I was
20:35
Speaker 5: and he said, he said, who did you piss off?
20:38
Speaker 5: And I said, so, what do you mean? He said,
20:40
Speaker 5: why haven't you been playing on the football team. I said, well,
20:44
Speaker 5: you know, they told me I could run track, so
20:47
Speaker 5: when the football season was over, I might be second
20:49
Speaker 5: string and then i'd come back in the fall and
20:50
Speaker 5: I was third string. And he said, well that's not
20:53
Speaker 5: going to happen. He said, I got some tape I
20:55
Speaker 5: want you to watch, and I had never watched tape
20:57
Speaker 5: of a professional receiver. And he showed film on Isaac
21:01
Speaker 5: Curtis and he said, this is the guy that you
21:03
Speaker 5: could be like. And I never had anybody tell me
21:06
Speaker 5: that I could be a professional, that I could be
21:09
Speaker 5: like somebody who was in the pros. And so Isaac
21:11
Speaker 5: Curtis has always stood out to me. And I was
21:14
Speaker 5: fortunate to relay that story to him about three or
21:17
Speaker 5: four years ago. And you know, Bill Watsh was special
21:20
Speaker 5: to a lot of people, really special to me, And
21:23
Speaker 5: that association with Isaac Curtis, even though Isaac didn't know
21:27
Speaker 5: it for years, always stood out to me.
21:30
Speaker 1: When I picture your playing days and picture Isaac's playing days,
21:34
Speaker 1: you two guys remind me of each other in a
21:36
Speaker 1: lot of ways. You had the tremendous speed. Obviously you
21:39
Speaker 1: had several seasons where you averaged more than twenty yards
21:41
Speaker 1: of catch, But it was more than that. It was
21:44
Speaker 1: the style with which you played. Did you try to
21:48
Speaker 1: emulate Isaac in that way? Or is that just a
21:51
Speaker 1: similar personality with you two guys.
21:53
Speaker 5: It might just be similar personalities. I know this, I
21:56
Speaker 5: know about Isaac Curtis when he was in high school
21:58
Speaker 5: was a great running back. I was a bad high
22:01
Speaker 5: school quarterback and I didn't have the running skills that
22:04
Speaker 5: he had. When I saw some of his highlights and
22:06
Speaker 5: I go back and I google him. Now, I go, man,
22:08
Speaker 5: he was really awesome, and you know, sometimes you get
22:13
Speaker 5: a lot of credit for when you're playing. And then
22:15
Speaker 5: he merges with Chris Collinsworth, he beats out David Verser. Again.
22:19
Speaker 5: You haven't heard that name in a while. So Isaac
22:23
Speaker 5: Curtis was special in his era and probably a guy
22:26
Speaker 5: along with Ken Anderson, who didn't get the credit that
22:28
Speaker 5: he deserved a lot of times.
22:30
Speaker 1: James, you played in three straight Super Bowls with the
22:32
Speaker 1: Buffalo Bills and played for one of the great leaders
22:35
Speaker 1: of all time in Marv Levy. What do you think
22:37
Speaker 1: of Zach Taylor and does he have any Marv Levy
22:40
Speaker 1: qualities when you watch the way he coaches this team.
22:43
Speaker 5: I remember meeting Zach Taylor in his first year when
22:46
Speaker 5: this team was not where it is now. We'll just
22:49
Speaker 5: put it like that mildly, and I said, man, he's
22:53
Speaker 5: got a tough road in front of him. It's interesting
22:56
Speaker 5: when I watched the young coaches come in now, they
22:59
Speaker 5: have a pass for the game. They have the energy
23:02
Speaker 5: to pursue it twenty four hours a day, and they
23:05
Speaker 5: do that and if given the right elements to the
23:09
Speaker 5: systems that they want to play, to the things that
23:11
Speaker 5: they see dancing in their head at night. They can
23:15
Speaker 5: get it done. And he's been able to do that.
23:17
Speaker 5: And you know, you look no further than the stability
23:19
Speaker 5: that they've had along the offensive line, mixing the skilled players,
23:22
Speaker 5: get the quarterback, get a fine guy to tutor to
23:26
Speaker 5: everybody on defense. So there's a lot that goes into it,
23:29
Speaker 5: not just the calm demeanor, but Zach It's interesting he
23:34
Speaker 5: had a big grin on his face in one of
23:36
Speaker 5: the passes that Brown And completed, and so you could
23:39
Speaker 5: just see the joy that he had and the happiness
23:41
Speaker 5: that he has for his players. And I think that
23:43
Speaker 5: that infectious quality just goes throughout the whole organization.
23:48
Speaker 1: James, You've got the Bengals and Colts. This Sunday, Indianapolis
23:52
Speaker 1: is seven and five. The Colts have a four game
23:54
Speaker 1: winning streak. They only won four games all of last year.
23:57
Speaker 1: What's impressed you about Indy.
24:00
Speaker 5: Well, I was there in Jacksonville when we had Minshew
24:03
Speaker 5: Mania and Gardner. Minshew is a guy who you know,
24:09
Speaker 5: against all odds, yes he was drafted, but he's not
24:11
Speaker 5: supposed to be a starting quarterback. And he started thirty
24:14
Speaker 5: two games in the NFL already, so what used to
24:17
Speaker 5: be two full seasons, he's already had that under his belt,
24:20
Speaker 5: and he just kind of creates. Sometimes you might not
24:24
Speaker 5: see a lot there. He creates. He doesn't make a
24:27
Speaker 5: ton of errors, and but he does take risks, so
24:31
Speaker 5: that's impressive. Quintin Nelson, the left guard, is so much
24:36
Speaker 5: fun to watch. It's like having a refrigerator out there,
24:39
Speaker 5: just pushing the refrigerator for because he may not be agile,
24:42
Speaker 5: but you shouldn't be in front of him.
24:46
Speaker 1: It's an important game for both of these teams. As
24:48
Speaker 1: I mentioned the culture seven and five, the Bengals are
24:51
Speaker 1: six and six. What are a few things Cincinnati must
24:53
Speaker 1: do on Sunday to come away with a win.
24:56
Speaker 5: Well, they have to have the right attitude. And by
24:59
Speaker 5: that I mean take the things that we do well
25:02
Speaker 5: the Cincinnati Bengals and continue to do them. And that's
25:05
Speaker 5: what the coaching staff is geared for, because you just
25:09
Speaker 5: don't go in and say, Okay, let's see what's going
25:11
Speaker 5: to happen. When we looked last week and you saw
25:14
Speaker 5: Chase Brown run the ball really well, there were a
25:16
Speaker 5: couple of plays that they ran, and they ran them
25:19
Speaker 5: over and over again about five or six times because
25:22
Speaker 5: what they saw is they saw a defense that wasn't
25:24
Speaker 5: adapting to the way that they were blocking. So sometimes
25:27
Speaker 5: you get lucky on something like that. But I think
25:30
Speaker 5: in this ballgame, you gotta go with with the stars
25:34
Speaker 5: that you have. We talked about the receivers already, and
25:36
Speaker 5: I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about Joe Mixon,
25:39
Speaker 5: who I think is a top five running back. You
25:43
Speaker 5: may not have all the yards that everybody has, but
25:45
Speaker 5: when you watch him play every ounce of energy, I
25:49
Speaker 5: don't believe in one hundred and ten percent. I don't
25:51
Speaker 5: believe in second effort. I believe in one hundred percent
25:53
Speaker 5: and effort throughout the play. And you see that every
25:56
Speaker 5: time Joe Mixon touches the ball. I mean it's I
26:00
Speaker 5: would not want to be in his way trying to
26:01
Speaker 5: tack me.
26:03
Speaker 1: Final question for the great James Lofton. He never played
26:05
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati in your NFL career, but you did play
26:08
Speaker 1: for Forrest Greg in Green Bay. What was your experience
26:11
Speaker 1: like playing for Forrest.
26:13
Speaker 5: Force had a ton of respect for the game, and
26:17
Speaker 5: I remember there was one Saturday we were getting ready
26:19
Speaker 5: to play the Rams. And so we're, you know, a
26:22
Speaker 5: loose practice on Saturday, a little bit of a walk through,
26:24
Speaker 5: and there's some jokes and stuff like that, and so
26:26
Speaker 5: he said, oh, here comes Deacon Jones, and Force went
26:30
Speaker 5: into attack mode and he goes Deacon Jones never got
26:35
Speaker 5: around me. And what you realized at that moment is
26:39
Speaker 5: how much pride he had for that area that was
26:42
Speaker 5: right in front of him and a yard or two
26:45
Speaker 5: to the side of him in each direction. That's what
26:47
Speaker 5: he owned on the football field, and he took so
26:50
Speaker 5: much pride in it, and that was special about Forest Grade.
26:53
Speaker 1: James, this is great. I always appreciate your time, travel
26:56
Speaker 1: safe to Cincinnati and look forward to seeing you on Sunday.
26:59
Speaker 5: I'm looking should be a great game, great atmosphere well.
27:03
Speaker 1: James Lofton has Isaac Curtis ranked as the Bengals greatest
27:07
Speaker 1: receiver of all time. Jamar Chase is closing in on
27:11
Speaker 1: becoming the third receiver in team history to have one
27:14
Speaker 1: hundred or more catches in a single season. Carl Pickens
27:18
Speaker 1: had exactly one hundred in nineteen ninety six, and TJ.
27:22
Speaker 1: Hushman Zada holds the team record with one hundred and twelve.
27:26
Speaker 1: In two thousand and seven, Chase has eighty six receptions
27:30
Speaker 1: with five games to go.
27:32
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean that's a goal to mine too. I
27:35
Speaker 6: mean I'm many in my weight. Wasn't a seventy last game?
27:39
Speaker 6: Fourteen away from one hundred?
27:41
Speaker 3: Swear?
27:42
Speaker 6: Oh yeah, I'm about to get this.
27:43
Speaker 3: That's easy. Oh yeah, that's a gold. Oh yeah, I
27:46
Speaker 3: got it.
27:47
Speaker 6: Team records, one twelve, I got it, don't even where
27:49
Speaker 6: about it. Let me wear about it.
27:51
Speaker 3: The team records?
27:51
Speaker 6: How many games you got left?
27:53
Speaker 4: Why?
27:54
Speaker 3: I got it?
27:54
Speaker 4: I got it.
27:55
Speaker 1: We're good.
27:56
Speaker 6: I'm trying to get one to seventeen. Baby, you're on
27:58
Speaker 6: pace for one twenty two. Let's let's let's kill it,
28:01
Speaker 6: shatter it.
28:02
Speaker 5: Did you ever write that down a one of your goals?
28:04
Speaker 3: I do have it actually written. That's funny you said
28:08
Speaker 3: this year.
28:09
Speaker 6: Yeah, I just don't want to be close to what
28:12
Speaker 6: he has, so we want to make it a hard
28:14
Speaker 6: for somebody else.
28:14
Speaker 3: Next, on.
28:17
Speaker 1: The night the Bengals drafted Jamar, I brought up some
28:20
Speaker 1: of the greatest wide receivers in team history, and he said,
28:23
Speaker 1: then I'm going to break every record they've got if
28:28
Speaker 1: Jamar stays healthy. It seems like a safe bet. Finally,
28:32
Speaker 1: time for this week's Know the Faux segment. Matt Taylor
28:36
Speaker 1: is the radio voice of the Colts, a team that's
28:39
Speaker 1: seven and five this year after winning four games all
28:43
Speaker 1: of last year. When Matt joined Dave Lapham and me
28:46
Speaker 1: on the Bengals Game Plan Show this week, I asked
28:48
Speaker 1: him if the Colts' success has been a big surprise.
28:53
Speaker 7: I mean, yeah, obviously, I mean anything after last year,
28:56
Speaker 7: you know, in terms of the win total being up
28:58
Speaker 7: from a year ago is going to be better. But I
29:01
Speaker 7: got to tell you, I mean that the four to
29:02
Speaker 7: twelve and one season last year was really it just
29:05
Speaker 7: got out of control so fast. And you know, you
29:09
Speaker 7: are what your record says you are. I mean, there's
29:10
Speaker 7: no excuses for you know, the poor ending to last
29:14
Speaker 7: season when they lost their last seven games, But there
29:18
Speaker 7: was just too much talent. There was just too much
29:21
Speaker 7: you know, holdovers and guys in quality positions for that
29:27
Speaker 7: team to be that poor record wise. I mean, if
29:29
Speaker 7: you look back on it, you had you know, on defense,
29:33
Speaker 7: you had a pro bowler at every level of that defense.
29:35
Speaker 3: Right, we got.
29:37
Speaker 7: Zaire Franklin coming back, you got the Forrest Buckner back,
29:40
Speaker 7: and you know, Kenny Moore and then some guys that
29:43
Speaker 7: are taking a nice couple of steps here from year
29:45
Speaker 7: two to three and Quitty pay and dieing with Dingbo
29:48
Speaker 7: and then you basically return your entire offensive line from
29:52
Speaker 7: from last year. So it's kind of a long winded
29:55
Speaker 7: answer of way of saying that it was really disappointing.
29:59
Speaker 7: The Colts were just two good roster wise to be
30:02
Speaker 7: four twelve and one. And like I said, once the
30:05
Speaker 7: Colts got swept by Tennessee last year and it looked
30:08
Speaker 7: like there was kind of low hopes to win the
30:10
Speaker 7: AFC South, and you started firing offensive coordinators and Frank
30:15
Speaker 7: Reich was fired, Jeff Saturday came in. It was just
30:19
Speaker 7: kind of a kind of a free for all and
30:22
Speaker 7: kind of a tail spin. So it's certainly been an
30:25
Speaker 7: eventful you know, I would say, you know, twelve thirteen
30:28
Speaker 7: months for the Colts, certainly when you throw in the
30:31
Speaker 7: draft and the off season with Shane Stiken coming in,
30:34
Speaker 7: drafting Anthony Richardson in the hope that he brings long
30:37
Speaker 7: term to the Colts at the quarterback position, just like
30:40
Speaker 7: Joe Burrow a couple of years ago in Cincinnati. So
30:45
Speaker 7: it's definitely a pleasant surprise right now in that sense
30:48
Speaker 7: that last year was so hard to follow and make
30:50
Speaker 7: sense of it. This year it's you're on a four
30:53
Speaker 7: game winning streak, you're seven and five, five games to go,
30:56
Speaker 7: you got your playoff destiny in your own hand. That
30:58
Speaker 7: part of it is certainly much better or this December
31:00
Speaker 7: compared to last December.
31:02
Speaker 8: Yeah, I just watching the offensive line. I know it
31:05
Speaker 8: was the disappointment last year, but man, when you've got
31:08
Speaker 8: Quentin Nelson, Ryan Kelly, you know Smith, I'm Braden Smith.
31:13
Speaker 8: You've invested you know, Raymison as well, or excuse me,
31:17
Speaker 8: Raymond as well at the left tackle position. You've invested
31:20
Speaker 8: some significant draft capital in an offensive line. That's damn good.
31:25
Speaker 8: I mean, that's a good group. My question is no,
31:29
Speaker 8: go ahead.
31:30
Speaker 7: No, I was. I was agreeing with you with you laugh.
31:32
Speaker 7: I mean, that's you're exactly right. There was no excuse
31:34
Speaker 7: for that group to give up sixty sacks last year
31:37
Speaker 7: instead of franchise record, right, And like I said, it's
31:40
Speaker 7: basically all back this year, and it's kind of a
31:43
Speaker 7: one eighty with the same players, the same core players
31:46
Speaker 7: not that long ago in twenty eighteen when they led
31:48
Speaker 7: the NFL and a few sacks allowed, So I kind
31:51
Speaker 7: of think they changed some things. Again, Shane Steiken's offense
31:55
Speaker 7: has certainly changed some things, but they got a new
31:57
Speaker 7: leader now, new position coach there, and Tony Sperano junior.
32:00
Speaker 7: All of that has added up to much better success.
32:03
Speaker 8: So how about the battle of backup quarterbacks in this
32:06
Speaker 8: football game? Because of injury to starters that are you know,
32:10
Speaker 8: franchise quarterbacks for many years to come, hopefully with both franchises.
32:14
Speaker 8: But Gardner Minshew and Jake Browning back in twenty eighteen,
32:20
Speaker 8: they competed in the Apple Cup Washington, Washington State, Washington.
32:25
Speaker 8: Jake Browning's Washington team beat the Minshew's Washington State football team.
32:30
Speaker 8: How similar? How different do you think these guys are
32:33
Speaker 8: in terms of what they're doing for their football team.
32:37
Speaker 7: Well, it's tough to say. I got to go back
32:39
Speaker 7: and pull up the YouTube highlights I guess of that
32:42
Speaker 7: game from five years ago, right around Thanksgiving, I suppose.
32:47
Speaker 7: But you know, as far as Minshew with the Colts
32:49
Speaker 7: is concerned, you know, he's kind of this enigma because
32:53
Speaker 7: if you look at his stats and you just look
32:55
Speaker 7: at you know, the box scorers from the last couple
32:57
Speaker 7: of games, you'd say, well, he's really not having that
33:01
Speaker 7: grade of a season. I mean he ranks bottom. He
33:03
Speaker 7: ranks in the twenties or you know, twentieth or or below,
33:07
Speaker 7: and in all the major quarterback stats, right, you know, right,
33:10
Speaker 7: yards per attempt, quarterback rating, passer rating, completion percentage, yards,
33:15
Speaker 7: all of that stuff. But the Colts they're winning and
33:18
Speaker 7: that's all that matters. And Minshew is he's making like
33:22
Speaker 7: five or six plays a game that make you say wow,
33:25
Speaker 7: and he kind of like putting the team on his
33:28
Speaker 7: back in clutch situations. You know, a couple of weeks
33:30
Speaker 7: ago in Germany against New England, he had that twenty
33:33
Speaker 7: eight yard er kind of that flick of the wrist
33:35
Speaker 7: down by his own goal lines, you know, flips it
33:38
Speaker 7: out to Josh Downs for a diving catch that was
33:41
Speaker 7: like the game stealing chunk play for the Colts in
33:43
Speaker 7: that game. And then in this pass game and overtime
33:47
Speaker 7: against Tennessee, puts one right and the money drops it
33:50
Speaker 7: in the bucket for a fifty five yard you know,
33:52
Speaker 7: deep shot down the near side line to Alec Pierce
33:55
Speaker 7: to set up the Colts goal.
33:56
Speaker 5: To go.
33:56
Speaker 7: Then he's got the clutch touchdown pass to Michael Pittman
33:59
Speaker 7: Junior for the game winner and overtime. So he's just
34:02
Speaker 7: kind of like he's like Minshew MANI or Minshew Magic,
34:06
Speaker 7: Like he doesn't play well consistently throughout the course of
34:08
Speaker 7: the game, but he's just sort of like stone cold
34:12
Speaker 7: when he has to be. And the Colts are kind
34:15
Speaker 7: of riding that with him and Pittman and Josh Downs,
34:19
Speaker 7: who's a rookie wide receiver at a North Carolina. It's
34:21
Speaker 7: kind of those three guys in the passing game on offense,
34:24
Speaker 7: and it's been enough the last couple of games for
34:26
Speaker 7: the Colts to score twenty points. I mean, I know
34:30
Speaker 7: the Colts are going to blow you away with you
34:32
Speaker 7: know their personnel, and you know their their you know
34:35
Speaker 7: their their their size and the stature and with some
34:38
Speaker 7: of their weapons and things like that, but they are
34:40
Speaker 7: one of two teams in the NFL that has scored
34:43
Speaker 7: twenty points in eleven out of twelve games. They're an alliance,
34:46
Speaker 7: so they're finding ways to put points on the board
34:49
Speaker 7: because of Minshew's efficiency and the overall efficiency with big
34:53
Speaker 7: plays and certainly getting it done inside the Red Zone.
34:56
Speaker 1: Our guest is the voice of the Colts, Matt Taylor Man.
34:59
Speaker 1: I was surprised a few weeks ago when the Colts
35:02
Speaker 1: released former Pro Bowl linebacker Shaq Lenard. He has since
35:05
Speaker 1: signed on with Philly. What was the story there?
35:10
Speaker 7: It was really kind of an unfortunate thing for Shack.
35:12
Speaker 7: I mean, the long story, the short story is that
35:15
Speaker 7: he's had He's battled so many different injuries and so
35:18
Speaker 7: many and has had so many different surgeries. You go
35:21
Speaker 7: back to twenty twenty one, he had and battled through
35:25
Speaker 7: an ankle injury that entire season and still play it
35:29
Speaker 7: at an all pro level. And then the next offseason
35:33
Speaker 7: had this nagging ankle injury. Tried to get to it
35:36
Speaker 7: it addressed with the surgery, thought they had it figured out,
35:40
Speaker 7: it still wasn't eradicated. His injury was still there. Had
35:44
Speaker 7: another surgery in twenty twenty two in June with it,
35:48
Speaker 7: and then they figured out that he had a back
35:50
Speaker 7: problem as well, had some some pinch nerves and some
35:53
Speaker 7: disc issues in his back that was causing the lower
35:56
Speaker 7: body not to be able to fire. And listen, anytime
35:59
Speaker 7: you're talking about out backs and nerves and discs like that.
36:02
Speaker 7: I mean, that's that's a tricky proposition, and it's really
36:05
Speaker 7: kind of complicated, and so those things, I mean, I
36:08
Speaker 7: think he had four different procedures done in a span
36:11
Speaker 7: of about two years trying to figure those things out,
36:14
Speaker 7: and they just never could. And you know, last year
36:17
Speaker 7: he came back too early. You know, he was chopping
36:20
Speaker 7: at the bit to get out there, and obviously he's
36:22
Speaker 7: a great competitor, wanted to help his team, so he
36:25
Speaker 7: would admit to you now that he rushed it a
36:27
Speaker 7: little bit, you know, came back too soon, just wasn't
36:30
Speaker 7: the same guy, so he shut it down. I mean
36:32
Speaker 7: last year in twenty two, I think he only appeared
36:35
Speaker 7: in three games and played a combined seventy four snaps
36:38
Speaker 7: before they shut him down in November and had another surgery.
36:42
Speaker 7: And I give him a ton of credit. He just
36:44
Speaker 7: battled his tailoff, and I mean people behind the scenes
36:47
Speaker 7: really don't know how much work, how much sacrifice, and
36:51
Speaker 7: you know, just quite honestly, like a ton of his
36:53
Speaker 7: own money to hire specialists and fly people in all
36:57
Speaker 7: over the world trying to get his nerve issue fait're out.
37:00
Speaker 7: And you know he came back this year, they had
37:03
Speaker 7: him on a pitch count. He was playing, but it
37:05
Speaker 7: certainly wasn't the level in terms of participation snap count
37:09
Speaker 7: wise that he was used to. He wasn't playing on
37:12
Speaker 7: third down, and that's you know, he he he made
37:15
Speaker 7: a name for himself with all those splash plays and
37:17
Speaker 7: the takeaways and those traditionally come on third down, and
37:22
Speaker 7: when he's not out there to get those on the
37:23
Speaker 7: money down, it's just going to be hard to kind
37:26
Speaker 7: of make an impact. And so you know, they kind
37:28
Speaker 7: of told him, like, just the snap count's going to
37:30
Speaker 7: go down. You're just not the same guy. And then
37:33
Speaker 7: I think both parties come to, you know, needed to
37:35
Speaker 7: come to the realization that, you know, we we've got EJ.
37:38
Speaker 7: Speed here now playing linebacker and it's it's hard to
37:42
Speaker 7: keep him off the field considering where he's at and
37:45
Speaker 7: where Leonard was, and so they released him. And it's
37:49
Speaker 7: just a really unfortunate situation because of you know, the
37:52
Speaker 7: great player that he turned into and you know, all
37:55
Speaker 7: the special moments and the takeaways and the big moments
37:58
Speaker 7: on defense that he had when he was healthy from
38:00
Speaker 7: twenty eighteen to twenty twenty one. But you know, he's
38:04
Speaker 7: now continuing his NFL life somewhere else, and it's just
38:08
Speaker 7: unfortunate that he couldn't continue his upward trajectory with the Colts.
38:12
Speaker 7: And I'm rooting for him. I hope he has another
38:14
Speaker 7: chance to get back on the field and turn himself
38:17
Speaker 7: into the player that he used to be. But it
38:19
Speaker 7: was just sort of clear with the Colts that it
38:21
Speaker 7: was going to be hard for him to be that
38:23
Speaker 7: guy the rest of this season.
38:25
Speaker 8: Gus Bradley has the reputation around the league of you know,
38:29
Speaker 8: players believing in him and playing hard for Gus Bradley.
38:33
Speaker 8: And seems like this group is forty two sacks, second
38:36
Speaker 8: most in the NFL. You got four different players with
38:40
Speaker 8: five and a half sacks or more. It's led to
38:42
Speaker 8: twelve interceptions, tied for fifth in the NFL. More has
38:46
Speaker 8: taken two of his three interceptions back for touchdowns.
38:50
Speaker 3: He is.
38:51
Speaker 8: How good is Gus Bradley.
38:54
Speaker 7: Gus is awesome.
38:55
Speaker 3: He is.
38:55
Speaker 7: He's a great coach. Obviously, he brings the former head
38:58
Speaker 7: coach pedigree with the to the Colts. He's seen just
39:02
Speaker 7: about everything in the NFL. I mean, he had those great,
39:04
Speaker 7: you know seasons and uh, you know that that great
39:07
Speaker 7: you know personnel lineup with them in Seattle, that lesion
39:10
Speaker 7: of boom. But you're right that the Colts are just
39:12
Speaker 7: a very disruptive defense right now. I mean they're not
39:16
Speaker 7: gonna have right now. They don't have great stats that
39:18
Speaker 7: blow you away in terms of rush and pass and
39:21
Speaker 7: total yards, but they just make plays and they're disruptive,
39:25
Speaker 7: like like a chronicle, Dave.
39:26
Speaker 3: I mean, like.
39:27
Speaker 7: Number number two in sacks right now, during this four
39:30
Speaker 7: game winning streak for the Colts, they've got twenty one
39:33
Speaker 7: sacks and they're they're like five sacks away from setting
39:36
Speaker 7: the franchise record, the Indianapolis franchise record for sacks in
39:40
Speaker 7: a single season. It's really diverse right now. I think
39:43
Speaker 7: that's the most encouraging thing about this pass rush. In
39:46
Speaker 7: the past, it used to be, you know, DeForest Buckner
39:49
Speaker 7: fighting through double teams just to get after the quarterback
39:52
Speaker 7: and there really wasn't a whole lot going on off
39:54
Speaker 7: the edge. Well right now you can't say that. And
39:56
Speaker 7: I think Sampson Abacom, who's a nice addition in free agency.
40:00
Speaker 7: He leads the team in sacks. He's got a career
40:02
Speaker 7: high this year. He's been a great addition off the edge.
40:05
Speaker 7: He's having a tremendous season. And also, I go back
40:08
Speaker 7: to what I said earlier with Quitty pay and dioa Dangbo,
40:11
Speaker 7: those guys getting more playing time. The light bulb is
40:14
Speaker 7: sort of going off for those guys. You know, they're
40:17
Speaker 7: part of that that four player group that has at
40:20
Speaker 7: least five and a half sacks as well. So that
40:23
Speaker 7: that's the most encouraging thing about this defense right now
40:26
Speaker 7: with five games to go, is they're offsetting some of
40:30
Speaker 7: the bad, the bad rushing defense numbers by just getting
40:34
Speaker 7: after the quarterback and pushing teams, you know, getting teams
40:37
Speaker 7: behind the eight ball in terms of down and distance.
40:39
Speaker 7: The one good thing about the Colts right now is
40:42
Speaker 7: they're giving getting Grover Stewart back and Dave, I know
40:45
Speaker 7: you watched a lot of film on the Colts, and
40:47
Speaker 7: he just means so much to their interior rush defense.
40:50
Speaker 7: He's coming back after serving a six game suspension, right
40:54
Speaker 7: and the rushing defense it really fell off a cliff
40:57
Speaker 7: without them, I mean, that's there's no way to put it.
41:00
Speaker 7: I mean, without him in the lineup, the Colts gave
41:03
Speaker 7: up on average one hundred and fifty three rushing yards
41:06
Speaker 7: a game during his six game suspension, and those were
41:09
Speaker 7: to some teams that weren't great rushing teams like you know,
41:13
Speaker 7: Carolina and New England and Tampa Bay. Those are teams
41:16
Speaker 7: that want to throw the ball and they sort of
41:19
Speaker 7: gashed the Colts up front. So that's going to be
41:21
Speaker 7: an interesting storyline to me in this game is how
41:24
Speaker 7: much Mixing and Zach Taylor and Browning want to run
41:29
Speaker 7: the football with Grover Stewart backs because they they said
41:32
Speaker 7: today that he's full go. There's no ramp up time
41:35
Speaker 7: for him, there's no pitch count. He's ready to go.
41:37
Speaker 7: He didn't have an injury, he just had to sit
41:39
Speaker 7: out six games. So he's going to be fresh and
41:42
Speaker 7: his body's going to be feeling good.
41:44
Speaker 1: Bengals opened as an underdog for Sunday's game, but the
41:47
Speaker 1: line has changed. Cincinnati is currently a two point favorite.
41:52
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for this episode of the
41:53
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