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Bengals Booth Podcast: Don't Stop Me · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: I get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
0:06
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The don't stop me because I'm
0:11
Speaker 1: having a good time. I'm having a good time. Addition,
0:16
Speaker 1: as the Bengals look to grab sole possession of first
0:19
Speaker 1: place in the AFC North as they battle the Baltimore
0:22
Speaker 1: Ravens on Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium. Coming up, I'll
0:25
Speaker 1: talk to Peter King from NBC Sports about Joe Burrow,
0:28
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor and what the two of them are building
0:30
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati. One on one player interview is with Tyler Boyd,
0:34
Speaker 1: who is savoring the first December playoff chase of his
0:38
Speaker 1: NFL career. Dave Lapham joins me to discuss the Bengals
0:41
Speaker 1: injury situation and what it's going to take to sweep
0:45
Speaker 1: the regular season series from Baltimore. And finally, in our
0:49
Speaker 1: Know the Faux segment, we'll get the scoop on the
0:51
Speaker 1: Ravens from former Baltimore linebacker turned media member Brad Jackson.
0:56
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the
1:00
Speaker 1: free to play Next Level Fantasy Football game downloaded now
1:04
Speaker 1: from the App Store and Google Play, and here's a
1:07
Speaker 1: quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of
1:09
Speaker 1: this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer
1:13
Speaker 1: by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest
1:17
Speaker 1: thing since a gas fireplace. When we moved into our
1:22
Speaker 1: home in Cincinnati, the family room included a gas fireplace,
1:26
Speaker 1: and when the weather turns cold, it's fantastic. With a
1:30
Speaker 1: flick of a button, it heats the room up in
1:33
Speaker 1: a matter of minutes and looks great with orange yellow
1:36
Speaker 1: flames that dance around realistic looking logs. And that's with
1:41
Speaker 1: minimal clean up, no smoke, and no need for firewood.
1:45
Speaker 1: So here's to having a gas fireplace, especially when it
1:50
Speaker 1: comes with a house. Now let's get to this week's guests,
1:54
Speaker 1: beginning with a three time National Sportswriter of the Year
1:58
Speaker 1: who covered the Bengals for the Cincinnati The Inquirer in
2:01
Speaker 1: the nineteen eighties. One of the highlights of my week
2:04
Speaker 1: is sitting down on Monday morning with a big cup
2:07
Speaker 1: of coffee and Peter King's weekly labor of love, the
2:10
Speaker 1: Football Morning and America Column. And Peter, you were here
2:13
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati a couple of weeks ago for a firsthand
2:16
Speaker 1: look at the Bengals for their overtime loss against the
2:19
Speaker 1: forty nine ers. What were a couple of your biggest
2:21
Speaker 1: takeaways from seeing this team in person, Dan As, you know,
2:26
Speaker 1: as somebody who's around this team a lot and who
2:29
Speaker 1: lives in Cincinnati, there's a there is a natural skepticism
2:36
Speaker 1: about the Bengals anytime they get good. There was a skepticism,
2:42
Speaker 1: you know, when Kurs and Palmers started to play well
2:44
Speaker 1: early this century. There was a skepticism around Andy Dalton.
2:49
Speaker 1: But you know, they both played well, and they both
2:52
Speaker 1: really lifted this franchise to heights that they hadn't seen
2:58
Speaker 1: since the Boomer days. Really, and you know, I think
3:03
Speaker 1: I think there might be one different thing now with
3:07
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow and the Bengals, and that is that there's
3:13
Speaker 1: something about Burrow. You know, in my column a couple
3:16
Speaker 1: of weeks ago, I called the machine gun Burrow. I'd
3:20
Speaker 1: like to see Burrow of the fourth quarter against the
3:24
Speaker 1: forty nine ers for four quarters consistently, and he hasn't
3:29
Speaker 1: done that yet, but I think he will in time.
3:33
Speaker 1: But I think the Bengals have themselves a guy who's
3:38
Speaker 1: going to turn out to be a consistent top five,
3:42
Speaker 1: top ten quarterback in the NFL for years, as long
3:45
Speaker 1: as they can keep them healthy. And that was my
3:48
Speaker 1: one overwriting take. But the other real difference to me
3:52
Speaker 1: is that, you know, and I was talking to Mike
3:54
Speaker 1: Brown about this a couple of days before the game,
3:59
Speaker 1: and that is they have such a good rotational defensive front.
4:05
Speaker 1: You know when you can go in. I thought one
4:07
Speaker 1: of the underrated trades that any team made this year
4:13
Speaker 1: was the Bengals trading a guy they really had no
4:16
Speaker 1: interest in keeping, Billy Price for b J Hill with
4:20
Speaker 1: the Giants. That to me was a terrific trade because
4:26
Speaker 1: I watch a lot of football, and I say, b J.
4:30
Speaker 1: Hill is a really good usable player, and you put
4:36
Speaker 1: him in there for twenty to twenty five snaps a game,
4:39
Speaker 1: you're gonna get some havoc being wrought. And you know,
4:42
Speaker 1: obviously the big name is Trey Hendrickson and he's been fantastic,
4:46
Speaker 1: but I think it is the depth on that defensive
4:49
Speaker 1: line that has given teams fits and I think is
4:53
Speaker 1: going to lead one of the things that's going to
4:55
Speaker 1: lead the Bengals into the playoffs. Well it's a really
4:58
Speaker 1: good point because we chatted before the season, Peter and
5:00
Speaker 1: you expected the Bengals to be a really exciting team
5:03
Speaker 1: that scored a ton of points but had to win
5:05
Speaker 1: games like thirty eight to thirty five, And as it
5:08
Speaker 1: turns out, the defense is top twelve in the league
5:11
Speaker 1: in points allowed. Has that been a big surprise to you?
5:14
Speaker 1: Very big surprise, because look, when I looked at the
5:18
Speaker 1: Bengals before this year, I saw three excellent receivers, a
5:24
Speaker 1: guy who was unafraid to throw it all around the lot,
5:26
Speaker 1: and then a defense that was very iffy. I saw
5:31
Speaker 1: the eighties slash early nineties San Diego Chargers, and they
5:38
Speaker 1: have become a much different team than that, I think
5:42
Speaker 1: because of their defense, And I think their defense is
5:46
Speaker 1: really what's going to separate them going down these last
5:48
Speaker 1: three games. We're visiting with Peter King from NBC Sports.
5:52
Speaker 1: You also visited with Zach Taylor when you were in
5:55
Speaker 1: town a couple of weeks ago, the day before that game.
5:57
Speaker 1: How have you seen him grow and evolve in his
6:00
Speaker 1: three years as an NFL head coach. I think one
6:03
Speaker 1: of the things that and I talked to Zach about
6:06
Speaker 1: this that I don't want to make this too dramatic
6:10
Speaker 1: or too different, really, but Zach Taylor's a better coach
6:15
Speaker 1: when he's got a quarterback. That's all there is to it.
6:18
Speaker 1: And you look right now at to me, some of
6:21
Speaker 1: the really good coaches in the NFL. I mean, let's
6:24
Speaker 1: just look at the last two years. How is Bill
6:26
Speaker 1: Belichick last year when he didn't have a quarterback and
6:29
Speaker 1: no offense to Cam Newton? But I think his best
6:32
Speaker 1: days are over. And you know they went seven and
6:36
Speaker 1: nine without a quarterback last year. I think it's very,
6:40
Speaker 1: very hard in today's game when you no matter how
6:45
Speaker 1: good a coach you are. I think Matt Rule. I mean, look,
6:49
Speaker 1: I'm probably going to be a laughing stock for saying this.
6:52
Speaker 1: I think Matt Rule is a top ten coach in
6:54
Speaker 1: the NFL period. I think he's tremendous. And what has
6:58
Speaker 1: happened to him over his first year and three quarters,
7:01
Speaker 1: you know, he has really really stumbled when you know
7:05
Speaker 1: when they've had to rely on their quarterback to win games,
7:09
Speaker 1: whether it's Teddy Bridgewater, Sam Darnelder, Cam Newton. So that's
7:13
Speaker 1: a long way of saying, essentially about Zach Taylor, I
7:17
Speaker 1: think every coach is going to be better when they
7:19
Speaker 1: have a quarterback that gives him a chance and look
7:23
Speaker 1: after the game I saw Dan. One of the things
7:26
Speaker 1: I thought that was really interesting is that is the
7:29
Speaker 1: heat that Zach Taylor took for his play calls, you know,
7:34
Speaker 1: in putting the ball in Joe Mixon's hands right at
7:37
Speaker 1: the end instead of putting it in Joe burrows hands. Okay,
7:41
Speaker 1: and I thought at the time, and I think everybody
7:43
Speaker 1: thought at the time, you know, not really great play calling.
7:47
Speaker 1: I applaud Zach Taylor for standing up after the game
7:51
Speaker 1: basically saying it's going to be hard to sleep thinking
7:54
Speaker 1: about those calls, and so he understands that he's still
7:59
Speaker 1: learning as a head coach and as a coach period.
8:02
Speaker 1: I like him. I think he's good, and I think
8:05
Speaker 1: his players play really hard for him. I'm bullish on
8:10
Speaker 1: his future. When you covered the Bengals for The Inquirer
8:14
Speaker 1: many years ago, Boomer Asiasin was the quarterback. See any
8:18
Speaker 1: parallels between Joe Burrow and Boomer fearlessness? But and again,
8:24
Speaker 1: I don't know Joe, you know, I really don't. Have
8:27
Speaker 1: talked to him a few times, but I don't know
8:29
Speaker 1: him at all really. But the thing I like about him,
8:33
Speaker 1: I'm reminded of the game he played his senior year
8:37
Speaker 1: at his last year at LSU against Alabama when he
8:41
Speaker 1: just came out firing. And I remember after the season,
8:44
Speaker 1: I asked Joe Brady about that, who at the time
8:47
Speaker 1: was his offensive coordinator, and he goes, Joe is not
8:51
Speaker 1: the kind of quarterback who needs a few completions to
8:55
Speaker 1: get him confident. You know, he just comes out firing.
9:00
Speaker 1: So I think I think the same thing as they.
9:04
Speaker 1: Boomer really had tremendous confidence. You know, he played in
9:09
Speaker 1: an error with Joe Montana and Dan Marino, and Boomer
9:13
Speaker 1: was not apologetic. He thought he was absolutely in their league.
9:17
Speaker 1: And you know, if you gave him truth, Ceremy so
9:20
Speaker 1: I'm better than those guys, And I think in a
9:22
Speaker 1: lot of ways, that's what you need to have at
9:25
Speaker 1: that position. What I sense from Burrow is that he
9:29
Speaker 1: believes no quarterback is better than he is. He's not
9:32
Speaker 1: going to say it, but he believes that deep down.
9:35
Speaker 1: And I think that's the way he plays the game.
9:38
Speaker 1: Fourth down to make that incredible throat to Jamar Chase
9:43
Speaker 1: trolling the back of the end zone where you know
9:46
Speaker 1: he's three blades of grass from being out the back
9:51
Speaker 1: of the end zone and somehow, some way, you know,
9:54
Speaker 1: scrambling around running for his life, Burrow finds him and
9:57
Speaker 1: he throws him a dart and it's a touchdown. I mean,
10:01
Speaker 1: I think you would count on about three or four
10:03
Speaker 1: fingers the players in the NFL who can make that
10:06
Speaker 1: play with the understanding that the entire game was on
10:12
Speaker 1: the line on that single play. One game separates first
10:17
Speaker 1: place from the last place in the AFC North with
10:20
Speaker 1: three games to go, how do you assess the race
10:23
Speaker 1: as we head into this three game stretch. I think
10:25
Speaker 1: what is really interesting about the race is that, you know,
10:29
Speaker 1: I look at the playoff race everywhere, and I just
10:32
Speaker 1: look at the schedules and look, I think, in order
10:36
Speaker 1: to win this division, the Bengals have to go two
10:40
Speaker 1: and one, and those two better be Baltimore in Cleveland.
10:47
Speaker 1: And look, winning at Cleveland in a game that the
10:49
Speaker 1: Browns probably are going to need to have any hope
10:53
Speaker 1: to make the playoffs. That's just my guests sitting here
10:56
Speaker 1: right now. And so that leaves the one other game. Oh,
10:59
Speaker 1: by the way, the team with the best record in
11:01
Speaker 1: football Kansas City. So that is a really rough schedule,
11:07
Speaker 1: and you know, look, you just don't have to be
11:10
Speaker 1: a genius. The Bengals have to go minimum two and one,
11:15
Speaker 1: and again, as I say, the two had better be
11:19
Speaker 1: the division games, because this could welcome down the division
11:22
Speaker 1: could welcome down to a tiebreaker. Peter, you've seen pretty nostalgic.
11:27
Speaker 1: On your trip back to Cincinnati. A couple of weeks ago,
11:30
Speaker 1: you visited your first house in Mount Washington. How did
11:33
Speaker 1: Cincinnati shape you as a young football reporter. I'm the
11:39
Speaker 1: luckiest man on the face of the earth. That was
11:41
Speaker 1: my first job in covering football because for many reasons.
11:46
Speaker 1: Number one, you know, I lived on the bottom floor
11:51
Speaker 1: in a dormitory at Wilmington College, with which was the
11:56
Speaker 1: player's dorm catty corner across the hall was my Brown,
12:00
Speaker 1: a lot younger in those days, thirty seven years ago.
12:05
Speaker 1: And then next door to him was Paul Brown. Now
12:07
Speaker 1: Paul Brown didn't stay in the dorm, I don't think
12:10
Speaker 1: very many nights, but he was there. I saw him
12:13
Speaker 1: in his room a lot Sam White down the hall.
12:16
Speaker 1: He said, anytime you need anything, anytime you have any questions,
12:21
Speaker 1: meetings are done about nine thirty or so, just come
12:23
Speaker 1: knock at my door. It's just it's just a different
12:28
Speaker 1: time covering the NFL. But half the practice is that
12:32
Speaker 1: summer in training camp I watched with Paul Brown and
12:37
Speaker 1: it just was it was amazing. It was an amazing education,
12:42
Speaker 1: and I think to have a team that, I mean,
12:45
Speaker 1: nobody now looks at them like that as a wide
12:49
Speaker 1: open franchise or anything like that. Everybody looks at the
12:53
Speaker 1: Bengals as being this secret of KGB team. I mean
12:59
Speaker 1: at the time, you know, when I covered him, it
13:02
Speaker 1: was the greatest time to be covering the NFL, and
13:06
Speaker 1: the education I got doing it was really terrific. So
13:11
Speaker 1: really a lot to that year. And then you know,
13:16
Speaker 1: when I left there and went to New York to
13:18
Speaker 1: cover the Giants, I think I was really prepared because
13:22
Speaker 1: I'm a competitive person. I was prepared to go and
13:26
Speaker 1: compete in that market covering a team that a year
13:30
Speaker 1: later would win the Super Bowls. So yeah, I had
13:33
Speaker 1: pretty pretty great formative years, you know, and just the
13:37
Speaker 1: opportunities that I had. Peter or Mary, Christmas to you
13:41
Speaker 1: and your family. Congratulations on your third grandchild, Peter born
13:45
Speaker 1: a week ago today, and thanks so much for your time.
13:48
Speaker 1: We always appreciate it. I really appreciate it. Dan, all
13:51
Speaker 1: the best to you, Mary, Christmas, to you and to
13:53
Speaker 1: everybody in your audience. One of the most amazing things
13:56
Speaker 1: statistically about the Bengals through fourteen games is how Joe
14:00
Speaker 1: Burrow has distributed the ball to the Cincinnati three way
14:03
Speaker 1: of Jamaar Chase, Tyler Boyd and t Higgins. Chase has
14:07
Speaker 1: sixty one catches, Boyd has sixty, and Higgins has fifty nine.
14:13
Speaker 1: As Dave Lapham pointed out this week, if you take
14:15
Speaker 1: one catch away from Chase and give it to Higgins,
14:18
Speaker 1: all three would have sixty receptions. Chase is headed to
14:23
Speaker 1: the Pro Bowl as a rookie, Higgins recently at three
14:26
Speaker 1: straight one hundred yard games, and Boyd was the offensive
14:30
Speaker 1: star last week in Denver. I spoke to Boyd in
14:33
Speaker 1: this week's one on one player conversation. Tyler, I am
14:38
Speaker 1: so happy for you and Joe Mixon and Sam Hubbard
14:43
Speaker 1: and Trey Hopkins, guys who have played their hearts out
14:46
Speaker 1: when the Bengals weren't in contention and now you're playing
14:49
Speaker 1: huge games in December. Does a playoff hunt make your
14:53
Speaker 1: body feel better? Absolutely, you know, And it makes your
14:56
Speaker 1: mental feel better, you know, because you're out there during
15:00
Speaker 1: the four reason you know later. Usually at this time,
15:03
Speaker 1: you know, we we we knew we wasn't playoff contenders,
15:06
Speaker 1: and we were just just trying to get by, you know.
15:08
Speaker 1: But now that we're actually playing for Solomon, it's more meaningful,
15:11
Speaker 1: and guys buy an end and we don't want to
15:14
Speaker 1: let each other down. Then it makes us want to
15:16
Speaker 1: want to play ever harder. We're chatting the Tyler Boyd.
15:18
Speaker 1: You had a gigantic game last week in Denver. Five
15:21
Speaker 1: catches and ninety six yards, including the fifty six yard
15:24
Speaker 1: touchdown that won the game. Three of the five catches
15:27
Speaker 1: came in crucial situations where the Bengals had to have it.
15:30
Speaker 1: It reminded me a little bit of that game in
15:32
Speaker 1: Atlanta several years ago where you had two fourth down
15:35
Speaker 1: catches and a big third down catch on the game
15:37
Speaker 1: winning drive at the end. Is that the best feeling
15:40
Speaker 1: in the world when the game is on the line
15:42
Speaker 1: and your quarterback is looking for you always, you know.
15:46
Speaker 1: But again, I've always been that guy, uh that came
15:49
Speaker 1: through in the clutch, you know, in third downs and
15:51
Speaker 1: fourth downs, you know, because um I just I just
15:55
Speaker 1: I just do a good job of winning my rots,
15:57
Speaker 1: you know. And in the quarterbacks trust me and they
16:00
Speaker 1: know what we have when when when when we break
16:02
Speaker 1: the hud on the defensive line up in a certain way,
16:04
Speaker 1: but at any given moment of the field, every time
16:07
Speaker 1: a third, third down or sprucial time. I mean, that's
16:10
Speaker 1: when the stars shot the most, the brightest, you know.
16:14
Speaker 1: And I was gonna be the guy when my numbers called.
16:16
Speaker 1: I want to make each and every player, you know,
16:19
Speaker 1: regardless of what the situation is. But when the big
16:21
Speaker 1: situation is always the best feeling, because that's when show
16:24
Speaker 1: you what type player you are. You are miked up
16:27
Speaker 1: for sound last week. He probably forget about it during
16:30
Speaker 1: the game. But then at the end of the game,
16:33
Speaker 1: when it's a great game, are you excited to go
16:35
Speaker 1: back and listen to the sound. Absolutely, because I remember
16:39
Speaker 1: being told I was gonna be miked up, but I
16:42
Speaker 1: didn't get the refresher going out there, so I didn't
16:45
Speaker 1: get the warring guys. But I don't think there's nothing
16:47
Speaker 1: going on crazy. But yeah, it's always fun, especially the
16:51
Speaker 1: guy that's being miked up that's having a big game,
16:54
Speaker 1: you know, and see how his his emotion is and
16:58
Speaker 1: how MPEd up he is, you know. So I think
16:59
Speaker 1: I think I had good stuff on there. We're chatting
17:02
Speaker 1: with Tyler Boy. This is your second year with Joe
17:04
Speaker 1: Burrow at quarterback. Do your wide receiver buddies around the
17:07
Speaker 1: league asking about Joe and if Sell, what do you say?
17:11
Speaker 1: I think Joe gets so much respect to running league.
17:13
Speaker 1: You know, every guy, every team has so much respect
17:16
Speaker 1: for him and know what he's capable of. You know,
17:19
Speaker 1: his numbers speak for it all. He's a sound player,
17:21
Speaker 1: he's smart, he gets it, gets in the best situations
17:25
Speaker 1: possible every time. You know, and uh, I mean guys
17:27
Speaker 1: don't really ask too much because because they know. You know,
17:30
Speaker 1: it's like he's almost as of Aaron Rodger Tom Brady
17:33
Speaker 1: level with respect, you know, but not quite there yet,
17:35
Speaker 1: but just filling him go out there and just knowing
17:38
Speaker 1: he can just take over a game at any given moment.
17:40
Speaker 1: You know, it's scary for for any team. So I
17:42
Speaker 1: think the whole league respects him. It doesn't seem that
17:46
Speaker 1: long ago to me. Where you are the youngster in
17:48
Speaker 1: a wide receiver room with guys like AJ Green and
17:51
Speaker 1: Brandon LaFell. Now you're the VET with more than eighty
17:54
Speaker 1: games of NFL experience under your belt. Does that change
17:57
Speaker 1: anything for you? Not really, just only in terms of
18:00
Speaker 1: my leadership because I hadn't seen it all, you know,
18:05
Speaker 1: I can I can help guy guys down the right
18:07
Speaker 1: path because I haven't been through it all. You know.
18:10
Speaker 1: I've been through having a great season. I've been through
18:12
Speaker 1: the season where I felt like I wasn't a part
18:14
Speaker 1: of it. I didn't feel like I was wanted things
18:16
Speaker 1: like that. But I mean I had to deal with
18:20
Speaker 1: Fight University my whole life, you know, So just being
18:22
Speaker 1: able to be that guy, the vet core guy who've
18:24
Speaker 1: been there and done it and seen it in every
18:27
Speaker 1: perspective from the practice squad who're not playing games to
18:30
Speaker 1: being active to being a guy, a core guy in
18:32
Speaker 1: the office, you know, so I could give so much
18:35
Speaker 1: intel to the younger guys and guys who's still waiting
18:38
Speaker 1: on the opportunity to just stay of course and just work.
18:42
Speaker 1: You know. So, I think I did a good job
18:43
Speaker 1: of just keeping guys up and motivating them and wanting
18:45
Speaker 1: to be here. You dominated the first meeting forty one
18:48
Speaker 1: to seventeen. Joe Burrow had four hundred and sixteen passing
18:52
Speaker 1: yards at the end of the third quarter. Does that
18:54
Speaker 1: mean anything? This Sunday. Um, just depending on how they
18:59
Speaker 1: want to come out of play us. You know, I
19:00
Speaker 1: knew Joe was gonna have a huge game because uh
19:04
Speaker 1: they're del their defensive structure based off a lot of
19:07
Speaker 1: blitzing and and went on one because they trust their corner.
19:10
Speaker 1: They have real talent talents at corners, so they can
19:12
Speaker 1: do that, you know. But um we we we believe
19:15
Speaker 1: in our guys too. We feel like we got the
19:17
Speaker 1: best weapons and if teams went the man ass up,
19:19
Speaker 1: I think that's when we have our best games. I
19:20
Speaker 1: saw our receivers to catch the ball and make a play,
19:24
Speaker 1: you know. But um we we always go out there
19:26
Speaker 1: expecting uh Joe to have a huge game, you know,
19:29
Speaker 1: no matter what. Even last week, I felt like he
19:32
Speaker 1: had one of the best games, you know, despite him
19:33
Speaker 1: not having a yardage, you know, just all the little
19:35
Speaker 1: things of him creating plays with his legs, you know,
19:38
Speaker 1: just keeping us manageable and downs and just getting us
19:41
Speaker 1: first downs when guys was an oprah they and they
19:43
Speaker 1: played us played well on the back end, you know,
19:45
Speaker 1: so he always uh figures a way to to to
19:49
Speaker 1: keep the ball rolling, to to move a chance. Last
19:52
Speaker 1: thing for Tyler Boyd on Christmas morning, there are a
19:54
Speaker 1: bunch of kids that are gonna get out, They're gonna
19:56
Speaker 1: rip open their package and they're gonna see a Tyler
19:59
Speaker 1: Boyd jersey New Bengals jersey that they had on their
20:02
Speaker 1: wish list. Do you ever think about stuff like that? Absolutely?
20:06
Speaker 1: He knows so so much. It's so aspiring to me, Uh,
20:09
Speaker 1: to know kids is looking up to me and care
20:13
Speaker 1: about me that much, you know, to want to ask
20:16
Speaker 1: their parents for a Tyler boy jersey because I was
20:18
Speaker 1: once a kid, you know, asking for a certain players jerseys,
20:20
Speaker 1: in particular Ladanian Thomainson that was that was my my guy.
20:24
Speaker 1: You know, I loved him. I had probably all different
20:26
Speaker 1: colors of his jerseys, you know. So I know the
20:28
Speaker 1: feeling of how excited kids be wanting to get their
20:31
Speaker 1: their favorite players jersey. But it's just an awesome feeling
20:33
Speaker 1: now that um, kids want to want my jersey, you know,
20:37
Speaker 1: because I haven't. I haven't been through that, and it's
20:39
Speaker 1: just just just an awesome feeling. Merry Christmas, best of
20:43
Speaker 1: luck on Sunday and the rest of the year. Appreciate you.
20:45
Speaker 1: Thanks for having me The Bengals Booth Podcast. Who's presented
20:48
Speaker 1: by Ultimate Bengals, the free to play fantasy football game.
20:52
Speaker 1: Ultimate Bengals will be awarding a weekly winner during the
20:55
Speaker 1: course of the season with tickets, autographed merchandise, and money.
20:59
Speaker 1: Can't my experience is all up for grabs. Find Ultimate
21:03
Speaker 1: Bengals in the App Store and Google Play. Now time
21:07
Speaker 1: for my weekly chat with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham Lapp.
21:12
Speaker 1: In your ten years as an NFL player, there were
21:15
Speaker 1: years where the Bengals were in contention, highlighted by the
21:17
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty one Super Bowl run, and there were years
21:20
Speaker 1: where you had no chance at this time of the year.
21:23
Speaker 1: Can you describe the impact of being in the hunt
21:27
Speaker 1: in such a physically demanding sport. Yeah, it's actually it's thrilling,
21:34
Speaker 1: you know, being in the hunt. It um, it makes
21:38
Speaker 1: it all worthwhile, you know, all the all the physical
21:42
Speaker 1: and mental anguish that can go along with playing the
21:45
Speaker 1: game of football. That's why it's it's so tough to
21:50
Speaker 1: to keep grinding when you're out of it. I mean,
21:52
Speaker 1: that's that's a tough dynamic. It's it's very easy to
21:56
Speaker 1: get yourself ready to play when you go to bed
21:59
Speaker 1: at night, to the football games you're not a store
22:01
Speaker 1: when you wake up the next morning, you're not quite
22:03
Speaker 1: a store. You're just you're excited about the game plan
22:07
Speaker 1: coming up. You can't wait to get the game plan
22:10
Speaker 1: coming up. You do extra, you know, and to prepare
22:13
Speaker 1: yourself to plan that football game. It's just that the
22:17
Speaker 1: ripple effect in a positive way is very very good,
22:20
Speaker 1: and the ripple effect in a negative way when you're
22:22
Speaker 1: out of it is you're always fighting to try to
22:25
Speaker 1: do everything you possibly can. You know, you know that
22:28
Speaker 1: you're getting paid to play. You know you're being evaluated.
22:32
Speaker 1: You don't want to be labeled a front runner. You
22:34
Speaker 1: don't want to be labeled a guy that, oh yeah
22:36
Speaker 1: he plays well, he plays hard when they're in the hunt,
22:39
Speaker 1: but man, he's a dog when they're not. That to
22:42
Speaker 1: me was as big a motivation as anything. I didn't
22:47
Speaker 1: want to have tape out there where people could even
22:51
Speaker 1: think about saying, oh, man, look at look at this
22:53
Speaker 1: guy dogging it, you know, because they've only won three
22:56
Speaker 1: games or whatever the case might be. That was a
22:58
Speaker 1: big motivator to me. Didn't want to be labeled a dog.
23:02
Speaker 1: So this is year two of the Joe Burrow era.
23:05
Speaker 1: This team won four games and tied one a year ago.
23:08
Speaker 1: Do you look at the Bengals essentially being a year
23:10
Speaker 1: ahead of schedule? Honestly? Yeah. I Mean when everybody says,
23:15
Speaker 1: you know, before the season, what do you think, you know,
23:19
Speaker 1: what do you think best case scenario? And my best
23:20
Speaker 1: case scenario I had them winning seven or eight games,
23:23
Speaker 1: you know, that was and they're there, They've already they've
23:25
Speaker 1: already hit my high water mark. So I'd have to
23:28
Speaker 1: honestly say that, you know, I would say that they're
23:34
Speaker 1: they're ahead of schedule. I mean, they get off to
23:35
Speaker 1: that five and two start was really pretty pretty dynamic,
23:40
Speaker 1: and I thought, man, they may be way out a schedule,
23:44
Speaker 1: and you know, there's peaks and valleys, ebbs and flows
23:46
Speaker 1: to every season. But I do think that some of
23:50
Speaker 1: the young players are playing a beyond and above and
23:54
Speaker 1: beyond their experience level, you know, And that's a tribute
23:57
Speaker 1: to them, guys coaching them, support staffs, whatever they may be.
24:03
Speaker 1: And that's at every level, you know. And people think, I, Yeah,
24:07
Speaker 1: that's that's just that's trite. It's really not. I mean,
24:11
Speaker 1: to get through a season, you need the training staff,
24:13
Speaker 1: you need the strength and conditioning staff, you need everybody
24:17
Speaker 1: and UM, so everybody shares in the successes and everybody
24:21
Speaker 1: shares in the failures. There's no doubt they won a
24:24
Speaker 1: road game last week against the team that had a
24:26
Speaker 1: winning record with Fred Johnson at right tackle and for
24:30
Speaker 1: the most of the game Jackson Carmen at right guard.
24:33
Speaker 1: What did those guys show you? They showed me that UM,
24:37
Speaker 1: that they were paying attention to their coach, Frank Pollock,
24:41
Speaker 1: and that they were getting themselves ready to play. UM.
24:45
Speaker 1: And I remember very vividly as a rookie, Tiger Johnson,
24:50
Speaker 1: my offensive line coach, said said every week I was
24:53
Speaker 1: playing in games that you know he was. He was
24:57
Speaker 1: getting me experienced. I wasn't starting as a rookie, but
24:59
Speaker 1: I was an experience. Whenever he could, he would put
25:02
Speaker 1: me in a game. And sometimes he'd put me in
25:03
Speaker 1: a game where the game was still on the line.
25:06
Speaker 1: There were meaningful snaps instead of mop up dude to
25:08
Speaker 1: either up by you know, two scores or more, or
25:11
Speaker 1: down by two scores or more. And and he said,
25:14
Speaker 1: you know this, this process is part of getting you ready.
25:18
Speaker 1: You're one snap away from being a starting you know
25:20
Speaker 1: linement in the National Football leaven and we got to
25:23
Speaker 1: count on you. Your teammates counting on you, the Coade,
25:26
Speaker 1: everybody's counting on you. So I know what that's like
25:30
Speaker 1: when you're not necessarily getting you know, tons of snaps
25:33
Speaker 1: on game day other than special teams and a few
25:36
Speaker 1: snaps here and there. I know what that can be like.
25:39
Speaker 1: And in order to keep yourself ready, you really have
25:42
Speaker 1: to push yourself to keep yourself ready both mentally and
25:45
Speaker 1: then because you don't get real a lot of snaps,
25:49
Speaker 1: particularly now the way they practiced, you get no snaps.
25:51
Speaker 1: I mean we at least had. It was never live,
25:54
Speaker 1: you know, in terms of tackling and all that, but
25:57
Speaker 1: it was pretty They called it thump drill where it
25:59
Speaker 1: was live in the line of scrim between offensive and
26:03
Speaker 1: defensive lineman. Just don't take running backs to the ground.
26:06
Speaker 1: So I would get pretty you know, close to game
26:08
Speaker 1: speed reps going against guys like Mike Read, you know,
26:12
Speaker 1: and guys like that. They were like, oh man, this
26:14
Speaker 1: is this is a big level of football. So getting
26:18
Speaker 1: yourself is ready mentally and physically, h and preparing yourself
26:22
Speaker 1: for all the goals with it on a everyday basis
26:26
Speaker 1: can be challenging. And they showed that they were they
26:30
Speaker 1: had done something when they went in there. As as
26:33
Speaker 1: Paul Brown used to say, it wasn't too big for you.
26:37
Speaker 1: You know, when you got your when you get your opportunity,
26:40
Speaker 1: you showed that you belonged. You showed that you could
26:42
Speaker 1: play in this league. And that's the first step for
26:45
Speaker 1: any any young football player, for sure. The Bengals have
26:49
Speaker 1: largely been healthy this year, certainly in comparison to most
26:52
Speaker 1: teams around the NFL. But the one spot where the
26:55
Speaker 1: injuries are piling up is linebacker. Jordan Evans went down
26:58
Speaker 1: a game, Davis Gaither went down, Logan Wilson is still
27:01
Speaker 1: out now, Joe Bacci unfortunately towards ACL You've got your
27:06
Speaker 1: main Pratt and Marcus Bailey left, and then a bunch
27:09
Speaker 1: of guys who were either on the practice squad or
27:11
Speaker 1: have been picked up off waivers from other teams. Have
27:14
Speaker 1: the Bengals reached the point where it's a problem or
27:16
Speaker 1: are they still one injury away from it being a problem.
27:20
Speaker 1: They're They're very convinced and feel good about the guys
27:24
Speaker 1: they've got. They feel like the guys that they've got
27:26
Speaker 1: are here for a reason. But let's think back for
27:30
Speaker 1: the Baltimore game is a great example, forty one seventeen victory.
27:35
Speaker 1: The three guys that you talked about being injured, Evans, Davis, Gaither,
27:40
Speaker 1: Logan Wilson were huge in that football Remember they went
27:43
Speaker 1: with that four fourth scheme sum and they had a
27:46
Speaker 1: fourth linebacker in there, and Pratt was that guy, and
27:51
Speaker 1: he was involved. They were liberally using four linebackers throughout
27:55
Speaker 1: the course of that football game. The lonesome soldier left
27:59
Speaker 1: is Pratt. So man, the linebackers were instrumental in what
28:04
Speaker 1: Louiana Rumo devised with his assistance to to stop Lamar
28:08
Speaker 1: Jackson and leverage you know, the quarterback with a down
28:12
Speaker 1: lineman and a linebacker, two linebackers, whatever the case may be,
28:16
Speaker 1: Mark Andrews leveraging him with a linebacker and a safety
28:19
Speaker 1: or those linebackers were big in the in the overall
28:24
Speaker 1: result of that football game, winning by twenty four points,
28:27
Speaker 1: and they could all run, you know. I mean, that's
28:29
Speaker 1: that's the thing. So will Louanna rum will have to
28:33
Speaker 1: tweak what he did, how he did it, who he's
28:35
Speaker 1: doing it with. Obviously, he's gonna have to tweak who
28:37
Speaker 1: he's doing it with. But I'm saying, will it be
28:40
Speaker 1: another position group. Will more safeties be involved in the
28:44
Speaker 1: package than linebackers? Um, you know, you get long range
28:48
Speaker 1: e safeties that that can that can be a factor.
28:51
Speaker 1: I mean Michael Thomas has got some some length and
28:53
Speaker 1: some range to him. Trey Flowers at corner, they've played
28:56
Speaker 1: him on tight end some. You know, he may be
28:58
Speaker 1: a guy that's uh in a package covering Mark Andrews,
29:03
Speaker 1: not solo, maybe some solo. It's going to be interesting
29:06
Speaker 1: to see what Louiana Ruma does, what he and his
29:09
Speaker 1: coaching staff cook up, because it's not going to be
29:14
Speaker 1: the exact same recipe because they don't have the exact
29:17
Speaker 1: same ingredients. So they're making a little alteration to the
29:22
Speaker 1: recipe as they get ready for this one. Let's look
29:26
Speaker 1: at the other side of the ball. In that first game,
29:28
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow threw for four hundred and sixteen yards and
29:31
Speaker 1: that was at the end of the third quarter. He
29:32
Speaker 1: didn't even have to complete a pass in the fourth. What,
29:35
Speaker 1: if anything can they take from that game and use
29:38
Speaker 1: in game two. Well, the one thing that happened in
29:41
Speaker 1: that football game that was stunning were the explosives. I mean,
29:45
Speaker 1: the Bengals went minus one. They had the only turnover
29:49
Speaker 1: the Ravens did not have a turnover played in Baltimore,
29:52
Speaker 1: had forty one hung on him and lost by twenty
29:54
Speaker 1: four points. I mean, that just doesn't even compute. That's
29:58
Speaker 1: not the Ravens that you know, you know, and you've
30:01
Speaker 1: seen execute over the over the years. So the big
30:06
Speaker 1: component in that was the explosives. At eighty two yard touchdown,
30:10
Speaker 1: a fifty plus yard touchdown catch by C. J. P
30:15
Speaker 1: Ryan goes forty six, Mixing goes twenty one. That's that's
30:19
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter. That's when they start pulling away.
30:21
Speaker 1: So I mean they had like nine explosives of thirty
30:25
Speaker 1: yards and war in that football game. Crazy, and I
30:28
Speaker 1: don't think you can expect to duplicate that. I just
30:32
Speaker 1: don't see that happening twice. I mean, well over five
30:36
Speaker 1: hundred yards offense and forty one points against against that
30:39
Speaker 1: football team. It was a case of Murphy's Law for them.
30:43
Speaker 1: If it could go wrong, it did and it's snowballed
30:47
Speaker 1: on them. And I think they're going to be a
30:49
Speaker 1: much different defensive unit, in a much different mindset, and
30:52
Speaker 1: a much different football team. I mean, honestly, I remember
30:56
Speaker 1: I was stunned Dan when in the fourth quarter of
30:58
Speaker 1: their fans started leaving place, emptied out, and they looked
31:02
Speaker 1: like they weren't interested in finishing the football game. I mean,
31:05
Speaker 1: they did not play raven football, you know, in that
31:08
Speaker 1: fourth quarter. I was like, Wow, my jaw was dropping
31:10
Speaker 1: over what I was seeing out there. So I think
31:14
Speaker 1: that they're gonna watch that tape, and like I said,
31:17
Speaker 1: when you're prideful, it's like you don't want to have
31:19
Speaker 1: that kind of tape out there going around the league.
31:22
Speaker 1: So I think they're gonna be coming back with a vengeance.
31:26
Speaker 1: I think they're gonna play extremely hard in this football game,
31:30
Speaker 1: and the Bengals are too. And I'm not saying that
31:32
Speaker 1: you know that the Bengals can't match that intensity. They're
31:36
Speaker 1: gonna have to though. They're gonna have to because in
31:38
Speaker 1: my mind, I'm not saying they're gonna be desperate. They're
31:40
Speaker 1: gonna be playing with desperation, but in acute sense of urgency.
31:45
Speaker 1: Let's put it that way, no question about it. I've
31:47
Speaker 1: always liked and respected John Harbaugh, going back to when
31:50
Speaker 1: he was the assistant head coach at the University of
31:53
Speaker 1: Cincinnati under Rick Minter. But it's gone up a notch
31:56
Speaker 1: my respect level for him this year because of the injuries.
31:58
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson's missed the last game and a half. You
32:01
Speaker 1: look at the guys on injured reserve, it's like an
32:03
Speaker 1: all star team. Ronnie Stanley, Marcus Peters, JK. Dobbins, the
32:08
Speaker 1: list goes on and on. How are they doing it?
32:12
Speaker 1: Tell you you really have to tip your cap to
32:14
Speaker 1: that entire organization because they've got a lot of players
32:18
Speaker 1: depth at positions where they have the type person that
32:23
Speaker 1: can play and execute the scheme that they've got out there.
32:26
Speaker 1: You know, you look at the quarterback position, I mean
32:29
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's not like they've gone from They've
32:31
Speaker 1: gone from a freakish athlete. I mean, there's no question
32:34
Speaker 1: about it. But this kid, Huntley, Tyler Huntley is a
32:37
Speaker 1: good He was all packed twelve and he's he's not
32:42
Speaker 1: He's a poor man's Lamar Jackson. I guess to an extent,
32:46
Speaker 1: But it's not like usually when you have a quarterback
32:49
Speaker 1: click like Lamar Jackson, if he goes down, you're installing
32:52
Speaker 1: almost another offense. They don't have to. They can stay
32:55
Speaker 1: with the exact same so they have pieces to the
32:58
Speaker 1: puzzle mull whole pieces one goes they can replace with
33:01
Speaker 1: another piece of the puzzle. Well, they don't have to
33:04
Speaker 1: overhaul everything. And it's like, oh, now we can't do this.
33:07
Speaker 1: We have to eliminate this package. We have to eliminate
33:09
Speaker 1: that package. That's the thing that I think is very,
33:14
Speaker 1: very praiseworthy is they know who they are, they know
33:18
Speaker 1: what they do, and the organization personnel department everybody gets
33:24
Speaker 1: players for the coaches that fit all of that, and
33:26
Speaker 1: then the coaches coach them and develop them, and man,
33:31
Speaker 1: there's nothing more satisfying to a coach. And I've heard
33:34
Speaker 1: many coaches over the years, you know, when I was
33:35
Speaker 1: playing and now doing the broadcast stuff, one of their
33:38
Speaker 1: biggest feel good deals is you develop a player, he
33:45
Speaker 1: gets a chance and it's like I was right, he
33:48
Speaker 1: can do it. There's nothing better than that for coaches
33:51
Speaker 1: to say I knew he could, I thought he could anyway,
33:55
Speaker 1: Now I know he can, and that's a real good feeling.
33:57
Speaker 1: Now we can depend on him. And that's what the
33:59
Speaker 1: Raven have going on. They've they've got guys not just
34:02
Speaker 1: next band up, but next band up and continue to
34:06
Speaker 1: play at a high level for as long a period
34:08
Speaker 1: of time as it's going to take. Um. You know,
34:11
Speaker 1: I think I think a real good example is instead
34:13
Speaker 1: of eliminating a package now, they decreased it when Ricard
34:16
Speaker 1: went down. They decreased it because Nick Boyle was down
34:20
Speaker 1: as well. But as soon as Nick Boyle came back healthy,
34:22
Speaker 1: they have Nick Boyle lining up and doing the things
34:25
Speaker 1: that Ricard was doing, a fullback, wing back, all that
34:27
Speaker 1: sort of thing. Another big body guy. So it's like,
34:30
Speaker 1: we have we have pieces we can move around. We
34:33
Speaker 1: don't have to junk our entire system. You know, we
34:37
Speaker 1: can still attack people the way we've done it and
34:40
Speaker 1: the way we've done it successfully with the pieces that
34:42
Speaker 1: we have left. So that's what John Harbon his staff
34:46
Speaker 1: have done. Let's talk about Zach Taylor and the Bengal staff.
34:50
Speaker 1: They're tied for first to three games to go. What
34:52
Speaker 1: stands out about the job Zach and his staff have
34:55
Speaker 1: done this year? You know, I think the steadiness of
35:00
Speaker 1: the whole thing. And you say it again, all this
35:03
Speaker 1: stuff sounds trite, but haven't been through it. It's easier
35:08
Speaker 1: said than done. Everybody talks about doing it, but when
35:13
Speaker 1: you lose a brutally tough football game. You can't hit
35:19
Speaker 1: the basement or lower, you know, you just you can't
35:22
Speaker 1: allow yourself to collapse like that emotionally, and they've done
35:25
Speaker 1: a really good job of not letting that happen. When
35:27
Speaker 1: you beat the Baltimore Ravens forty one seventeen, you can't
35:31
Speaker 1: think we're the greatest thing since you know we're cream.
35:35
Speaker 1: You know, it is unbelievable. The truth is, and I
35:38
Speaker 1: believe in this axiom, You're never as good as you
35:41
Speaker 1: think you are. You're never as bad as you think
35:43
Speaker 1: you are. You are definitely somewhere in between. And if
35:46
Speaker 1: you can realize on a week by week basis, if
35:49
Speaker 1: you can stay at that not have huge peaks and valleys,
35:52
Speaker 1: ups and downs, highs and lows, If you can be
35:56
Speaker 1: you know, very consistent with your approach, with your level
36:00
Speaker 1: of play, then coaches realize what to expect from players.
36:04
Speaker 1: Players realize what to expect from coaches, And I think
36:07
Speaker 1: the consistency of performance, you know, is the byproduct. And
36:12
Speaker 1: I do think that for the most part they have
36:15
Speaker 1: been they have been pretty consistent. Now, you know, it's
36:17
Speaker 1: some games in the National Football League you're gonna the
36:22
Speaker 1: bear is gonna get you, and you're gonna get the bear.
36:24
Speaker 1: You're gonna get outplayed, and sometimes you're gonna outplay others.
36:30
Speaker 1: In the National Football League, my experience in the league
36:33
Speaker 1: was these guys are all so good. Everybody's capable of
36:37
Speaker 1: making plays. Usually more games are lost than are one.
36:43
Speaker 1: You have to make plays, but you have to avoid
36:47
Speaker 1: the catastrophe. And when you don't avoid the catastrophe, it
36:52
Speaker 1: shows it's ugly. You know you've got trouble. If you
36:55
Speaker 1: avoid catastrophe and just hang in there make plays. At
36:58
Speaker 1: some point, it's going to come down to the very
37:00
Speaker 1: end of the football game, and the guy that makes
37:02
Speaker 1: the last play wins. And that's how most games are.
37:04
Speaker 1: High percentage of games and the National Football League have
37:07
Speaker 1: decided by a touchdown or less for that very reason.
37:09
Speaker 1: And so it's you just you just don't want to
37:14
Speaker 1: put put yourself in a in a situation that's impossible
37:18
Speaker 1: to recover from with some kind of deep inflicted wound.
37:23
Speaker 1: One more coaching question and his Football Morning in America
37:26
Speaker 1: column on Monday, Peter King mentioned the possibility of Marvin
37:31
Speaker 1: Lewis becoming the next head coach in Jacksonville. What do
37:34
Speaker 1: you think it makes pretty good sense. Really. You know,
37:38
Speaker 1: one thing that Marvin Lewis can do and has done
37:42
Speaker 1: and will continue to do is be a stabilizing influence.
37:46
Speaker 1: He calms everything down, you know, he really does. And
37:51
Speaker 1: we talk about that, even Keel approach, that that's that's
37:54
Speaker 1: Marvin Lewis to a t. And he understands football. He
37:58
Speaker 1: understands what he wants, how he wants the game to
38:03
Speaker 1: be played with him as a head coach. And it
38:08
Speaker 1: works in the National Football League. Five straight playoff appearances
38:10
Speaker 1: here in Cincinnati. I mean, that's that's a pretty good testament. Now,
38:14
Speaker 1: obviously it didn't work in the playoff games. Didn't win
38:17
Speaker 1: a playoff game, lost seven of them, but got there
38:20
Speaker 1: five straight times, franchise record. You know his mindset he is.
38:25
Speaker 1: He's like a defensive mindset, There's no question about it,
38:28
Speaker 1: and that his whole thing is plays sound offensively, don't
38:33
Speaker 1: put your don't put the ball in jeopardy, don't put
38:35
Speaker 1: your defense in jeopardy. Defense, play good, solid football, wait
38:39
Speaker 1: for the others to make a mistake. You know, he's
38:42
Speaker 1: Vic Fangio Marvin Lewis. They have the same type of mentality. Always.
38:47
Speaker 1: We've got to win the turnover battle. I mean, all
38:49
Speaker 1: he looked at the first thing he looked at when
38:50
Speaker 1: the NFL statue came out was a turnover ratio to
38:54
Speaker 1: the beginning of every single week. So um, you know,
38:58
Speaker 1: he did a good job. And the Bengals drafting Carson
39:02
Speaker 1: Palmer and him being the coach that developed Carson Palmer
39:05
Speaker 1: in his early stages, he'd have the same opportunity. You know,
39:08
Speaker 1: down there, Marvin Lewis is highly regarded. He'd be able
39:13
Speaker 1: to put together a pretty good coaching staff, I think still,
39:15
Speaker 1: so um, it makes it makes a lot of sense.
39:20
Speaker 1: And I think he'd like the weather down there in Florida.
39:25
Speaker 1: But he is still with the Arizona State. He's got
39:28
Speaker 1: property in Arizona. His wife loves Arizona. It'll be interest,
39:32
Speaker 1: it would be interesting to see. But I'll tell you what,
39:35
Speaker 1: they could make a lot worse decisions down there than
39:38
Speaker 1: hiring Marvin Lewis. I can tell you that by a wide,
39:41
Speaker 1: wide margin. I hope he gets it. I'd love to
39:44
Speaker 1: see him get one more opportunity, ye, And I think
39:46
Speaker 1: I think you'd take it to I think I think
39:48
Speaker 1: he'd like to. I think he'd like one more shot.
39:50
Speaker 1: He's plenty young enough, plenty young enough. Yeah, Lapp and
39:54
Speaker 1: I will have a special Christmas Eve edition of the
39:57
Speaker 1: Bengals pep Rally Show coming up on Friday after from
40:00
Speaker 1: three to six on ESPN fifteen thirty or you can
40:04
Speaker 1: find it on the iHeartMedia app by searching for ESPN
40:09
Speaker 1: fifteen thirty. Last, but not least, it's time for this
40:12
Speaker 1: week's No the Faux Segment and our Ravens expert is
40:15
Speaker 1: University of Cincinnati Hall of Famer Brad Jackson. Brad played
40:19
Speaker 1: football at UC for Rick Minter and basketball for Bob
40:23
Speaker 1: Huggins before winning a Super Bowl as a Ravens linebacker
40:27
Speaker 1: under defensive coordinator Marvin Lewis. Brad joined Lapping Me this
40:32
Speaker 1: week on the Bengals Game Plan Show. So let's talk
40:35
Speaker 1: about the Ravens. I gotta tell you, Brad, they've earned
40:39
Speaker 1: my respect even more than ever this year because the
40:42
Speaker 1: injury situation is ridiculous. Lamar Jackson's missed the last game
40:46
Speaker 1: and a half, Ronnie Stanley has been out. They lost
40:48
Speaker 1: their top three running backs in training camp. They've got
40:51
Speaker 1: two Pro Bowl cornerbacks who are both on injured reserve.
40:54
Speaker 1: How is this team still tied for first place, considering
40:59
Speaker 1: the asualties that they've had to deal with on that roster.
41:03
Speaker 1: I think you have to look at that the parody
41:06
Speaker 1: in the in the NFL, especially in the AMC. You
41:09
Speaker 1: guys out there in Cincinnati, you know, you kind of
41:11
Speaker 1: have a big win here way back in October, blow
41:14
Speaker 1: out the Ravens, which kind of shocked everybody. I mean people,
41:17
Speaker 1: we had to take people's shoelaces and belts for a
41:19
Speaker 1: week out here after that loss. You know, the last
41:22
Speaker 1: time I spoke with you guys, and you know the
41:25
Speaker 1: way Joe Burrow played obviously in Jamar Chase, having you know,
41:28
Speaker 1: two hundred yard plus a day, and so it was
41:31
Speaker 1: one of those things that it kind of set the
41:33
Speaker 1: guys back a little bit to say, you're not as
41:35
Speaker 1: good as you thought you were. You were just going
41:37
Speaker 1: to coast through. This isn't the same Bengals, you know,
41:40
Speaker 1: so to speak in there, and we know that you
41:42
Speaker 1: kind of see it. But when they had won five
41:44
Speaker 1: in a row, you know, and this is still relatively
41:47
Speaker 1: a young team, they're kind of like, oh, we're coasting along,
41:50
Speaker 1: you know. And so I think between the Browns having
41:52
Speaker 1: their issues. You know, you guys down there Cincinnati, the
41:56
Speaker 1: Bengal was now being able to kind of get that
41:58
Speaker 1: one or two extra wins. Obviously, league, you know people
42:01
Speaker 1: out here are you know, talking about coach Hardball's decisions.
42:05
Speaker 1: You know, two of the last three weeks in Pittsburgh
42:07
Speaker 1: on the road and obviously at home to go for
42:09
Speaker 1: two point conversions, versus used the best kicker in the
42:12
Speaker 1: National Football League to tie up the game and go
42:15
Speaker 1: into overtime. You know, one of those two could have
42:18
Speaker 1: went either way. Now you have a two game lead,
42:20
Speaker 1: and quite honestly, guys, considering if you look at what
42:23
Speaker 1: happened the first six games and to where we are now,
42:27
Speaker 1: once the Ravens came out of the buy and went
42:29
Speaker 1: to Miami and then on that Thursday night game, you know,
42:33
Speaker 1: they laid an egg and lost twenty two to ten
42:36
Speaker 1: the Dolphins, and give them credit, kind of put a
42:38
Speaker 1: playbook out there, and you guys both noticed from covering
42:41
Speaker 1: covering the game. Once once that's out there, it's a
42:44
Speaker 1: coffeecat league, and so you're seeing variations of that. And unfortunately,
42:47
Speaker 1: offensively they haven't been able to overcome and make the
42:51
Speaker 1: adjustments needed at key moments in times. And then quite frankly,
42:55
Speaker 1: you know, we look at Lamark and he's dealing with
42:59
Speaker 1: some injuries and ankle and so on so forth. The
43:01
Speaker 1: last couple of games, but his first his games had
43:04
Speaker 1: five interceptions and sixteen sacks, and they talked about at
43:07
Speaker 1: the buys kind of getting those numbers down. But then
43:09
Speaker 1: they come out of the buys and Lamar and the
43:12
Speaker 1: last six games has had eight interceptions and twenty two sacks,
43:16
Speaker 1: so he's almost quite came close to doubling those numbers up.
43:21
Speaker 1: And right now he has thirty eight sacks on the
43:22
Speaker 1: year and thirteen interceptions, so they're turning the football over.
43:27
Speaker 1: Taking untimely sacks have become a problem. And then you know,
43:32
Speaker 1: coach Harball has done a fantastic job. I who give
43:35
Speaker 1: them credit for and being able of making sure that
43:39
Speaker 1: the next guy up and we hear it it's coaches
43:41
Speaker 1: cliche and next man up nonsense. Well it truly is here.
43:45
Speaker 1: You know, I had a chance to talk to WENK. Martindale.
43:47
Speaker 1: As we all know, he's from Dayton and as a
43:50
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator here in Baltimore and obviously was at the
43:53
Speaker 1: Universe Cincinnati also and I talked to him Sunday night,
43:57
Speaker 1: and you know, he's got guys out there that they're
44:00
Speaker 1: they're literally taking them off the practice squad on Sunday morning.
44:04
Speaker 1: So you had a corner that found their garden, you know,
44:08
Speaker 1: the Packers best wide receiver, DeVante, and he literally was
44:11
Speaker 1: on the practice squad until Sunday morning. They had to
44:14
Speaker 1: call and say, hey, come down to the stadium. You're starting.
44:18
Speaker 1: So I mean that that's the situation that's been you know,
44:21
Speaker 1: especially for Chris Hewitt, you know, former Bearcat, and the
44:24
Speaker 1: defensive backs coach and the second and the passing game coordinator,
44:28
Speaker 1: you know him and wee Martin Dell. They're going ball
44:30
Speaker 1: like me right now because you know, having to have
44:33
Speaker 1: a stress of you know, who's going to play at
44:35
Speaker 1: corner Nicols safety. I mean, they're literally, you know, for
44:39
Speaker 1: lack of a better analogy, they're literally pulling guys out
44:41
Speaker 1: in the stands, you know, and trying to get them
44:44
Speaker 1: to go out there and play football at a high
44:45
Speaker 1: level of time at the most important time. And unfortunately
44:48
Speaker 1: right now, that's why the Ravens have set here in
44:50
Speaker 1: the month of December and they've lost three in the
44:52
Speaker 1: row and you can't make the playoffs losing three games
44:57
Speaker 1: in the month of December. That's just not going to happen.
44:59
Speaker 1: And somehow don't find a way on the road in
45:02
Speaker 1: the nasty Maddy this Sunday. It could be, you know,
45:08
Speaker 1: like that for the playoffs this year, for the Ravens.
45:11
Speaker 1: You know what you're talking about makes this total sense
45:16
Speaker 1: to me. Now is so many struggles on the back end,
45:20
Speaker 1: and you just confirmed a lot of it, read a
45:23
Speaker 1: lot of it, but to hear it from you, it's
45:25
Speaker 1: even more shocking. This team's number one in the National
45:28
Speaker 1: Football League stopping the run defensively eighty six point two
45:31
Speaker 1: yards a game. Number one Usually that means, you know,
45:35
Speaker 1: you have the right to rush the past, or it
45:37
Speaker 1: means a lot of turnovers, it means a lot of interceptions.
45:40
Speaker 1: They've got six interceptions tied for third fewest in the
45:43
Speaker 1: National Football League, eleven takeaways tied for second fewest in
45:46
Speaker 1: the National Football League in fourteen games. That is so
45:50
Speaker 1: un raven, Like you know, and I'm thinking, you know,
45:54
Speaker 1: the passing numbers, they're in trouble, you know, stopping the
45:56
Speaker 1: pass office it's just personnel, right, I mean, well, what
46:00
Speaker 1: can you do do you think that Wink will blink
46:03
Speaker 1: a little bit? Do you think Wink will use all
46:05
Speaker 1: those different sophisticated pressure packages or do you think he
46:08
Speaker 1: will follow what other teams have done here against the
46:12
Speaker 1: Bengals and play soft zone, play coverage, play soft zone,
46:16
Speaker 1: and make the Bengals earn every play, because in the
46:20
Speaker 1: first game, explosives killed the Ravens. The Bengals had like
46:24
Speaker 1: nine plays or thirty yards or more, an eighty two
46:26
Speaker 1: yard touchdown pass, you know, a forty six yard touchdown run,
46:30
Speaker 1: a fifty five yard touchdown pass they didn't tackle. Well,
46:34
Speaker 1: do you think Wink will blink or do you think
46:36
Speaker 1: Wink's gonna do what Wink does? Do what Wink does.
46:40
Speaker 1: And Matt being said, he's also not a fool, so
46:43
Speaker 1: he's also going to look at Okay, they hung forty
46:46
Speaker 1: one on us year in Baltimore, and as you said,
46:49
Speaker 1: the explosive plays, it was like going on an Opra
46:52
Speaker 1: Wifrey show because everybody was getting an explosive twenty plays
46:55
Speaker 1: yard catcher running a team like that game. So I
46:59
Speaker 1: look forward to Wink and being a part of the
47:01
Speaker 1: system and understanding how he does things. I think he'll
47:05
Speaker 1: he'll pick his spots a little more soodic, you know,
47:08
Speaker 1: methodically as far as when he's going to apply the pressure.
47:12
Speaker 1: But you also have to understand that that game plan
47:14
Speaker 1: it didn't work. But they'll go back, and you guys
47:16
Speaker 1: know this, they'll take out what did work because up
47:19
Speaker 1: until what the third or fourth quarter, still was a
47:21
Speaker 1: good football game. And then they gave up I think
47:23
Speaker 1: it was what fourteen in the fourth quarter or whatever
47:26
Speaker 1: it was, And you talked about those are supposed to plays,
47:29
Speaker 1: and I think to me one of the biggest explosive plays. Obviously,
47:32
Speaker 1: Jamar Chase had a huge day. He went eight for
47:34
Speaker 1: what two old one or something like that. But the
47:37
Speaker 1: guy that really hurt and the most was the tight
47:39
Speaker 1: end CJ c j Uzema, your kid out there. He
47:43
Speaker 1: was three for ninety one. And in the games that
47:46
Speaker 1: we talked about this last time. I know you guys
47:49
Speaker 1: may or may not remember, we talked about controlling Mark
47:51
Speaker 1: Andrew's ravings tight end and the games that the Bengals
47:55
Speaker 1: had had success prior to that. When he went back
47:57
Speaker 1: to twenty eighteen, when Mark got here, the games that
48:00
Speaker 1: he had basically four or less catches, they end up
48:04
Speaker 1: winning the game. And has a lot of successful If
48:06
Speaker 1: you look back at the last games, you know that
48:08
Speaker 1: Mark Ganis had against you guys, he was three for
48:12
Speaker 1: forty eight and in that week, so that kind of
48:14
Speaker 1: eliminated and taking away Lamar Jackson safety blanket and that
48:19
Speaker 1: being Mark Andrews, and then of course eliminating Hollywood Browns
48:23
Speaker 1: also helped out in the defense where you eliminate his
48:26
Speaker 1: two guys. I mean, when you look at the numbers, guys,
48:29
Speaker 1: you look at Mark Andrews leading teams with one hundred
48:31
Speaker 1: and twenty two target, Hollywood Brown, Markith brownleoleas a team
48:34
Speaker 1: with one hundred and twenty one target. There isn't anybody
48:37
Speaker 1: else on this team that has fifty targets. So if
48:40
Speaker 1: you're Heaves a coordinator, you sit there and say, wow,
48:43
Speaker 1: if we can keep Superman in the phone booth, not
48:45
Speaker 1: let him get out, not let him get those explicitive
48:47
Speaker 1: plays when he starts to break down the pocket, and
48:50
Speaker 1: then if we can take away the tide end the
48:51
Speaker 1: Marquis Brown you're looking at, you're giving yourself an opportunity
48:55
Speaker 1: to get those sacks, which is why, as we just
48:58
Speaker 1: alluded to, and the six games he's got twenty two
49:01
Speaker 1: cents because the other people are getting open. The other
49:05
Speaker 1: people haven't been able to make plays because they're so
49:08
Speaker 1: heavy focused on stopping Andrews or throwing the ball to
49:12
Speaker 1: Andrews and throwing the ball to Marquis Brown. That's been
49:15
Speaker 1: part of the frustration for a lot of fans and
49:17
Speaker 1: a lot of people here is that development of spreading
49:21
Speaker 1: the ball around for this offense hasn't occurred. And then,
49:24
Speaker 1: of course when you find your situation yourself in the
49:26
Speaker 1: situations of not running the ball, that's putting a lot
49:29
Speaker 1: of pressure on offensive coordinated great Roman. Do you think
49:32
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson will be back on Sunday, I personally do
49:36
Speaker 1: think so. Dan. I think that a lot of people
49:39
Speaker 1: were questioned whether you play against the Packers. They kind
49:41
Speaker 1: of looked at and said, okay, we got, you know,
49:44
Speaker 1: three guys that we just kicked up off the street,
49:46
Speaker 1: you know, playing in the secondary then maybe one of
49:49
Speaker 1: the top two passers of this era, along with Tom
49:51
Speaker 1: Brady obviously, and then I think they kind of said, okay,
49:55
Speaker 1: it's the NFC game. If we lose the game, we
49:58
Speaker 1: still have an opportunity. We still have to win the game.
50:00
Speaker 1: Because you the Ravens finish up with you guys out
50:02
Speaker 1: there in Cincinnati, and then they got the Los Angeles Rams,
50:06
Speaker 1: and then they got the Pittsburgh Steelers. We all know
50:09
Speaker 1: it could come down to that final week for them
50:11
Speaker 1: for the whole FC North, which obviously NFL would be
50:15
Speaker 1: excited about and probably fans would be stressed out about.
50:18
Speaker 1: But you know, I personally think that Lamar they sat
50:22
Speaker 1: him last week and just haven't talking to people, and
50:25
Speaker 1: that this is the week that they know. If they
50:27
Speaker 1: do not win this game first to Cincinnati Bengals on
50:30
Speaker 1: Sunday at one o'clock out in the Queen City, that
50:34
Speaker 1: is going to put a severe damper an opportunity for
50:38
Speaker 1: to make the playoffs this year, which which will be
50:40
Speaker 1: very very disappointing. Obviously, heads will probably roll out here
50:43
Speaker 1: because that's unacceptable. So when you look at that, I
50:48
Speaker 1: think he will play. Even though Huntley has played well,
50:50
Speaker 1: you know, obviously he had he had a really good
50:53
Speaker 1: game against the Packers. He's got really, really well. He's
50:55
Speaker 1: more of a ball spreader. He doesn't take as many
50:57
Speaker 1: deep shots. But Huntley a guy that has played very well,
51:01
Speaker 1: you know, completing seventy one percent of his passes and
51:04
Speaker 1: also has the ability to run the ball, so he's
51:07
Speaker 1: he's a little better passer than Lamar. Both of them
51:11
Speaker 1: kind of athletic, not as fast as Lamar, but very
51:14
Speaker 1: very athletic and very very quick. And they're both from
51:17
Speaker 1: the same area in Browery County in Fort Lauderdale, So
51:20
Speaker 1: you know, between Tyler Huntley and Lamar Jackson, you're gonna
51:23
Speaker 1: get pretty much the same thing, other than Lamar likes
51:25
Speaker 1: to take a little more shot down field and if
51:27
Speaker 1: that ankle is then one hundred percent that would be
51:30
Speaker 1: beneficial to the defense. But I fully expect after two
51:33
Speaker 1: weeks Lamar to be out there because this is the
51:35
Speaker 1: most important game of the season, and not just because
51:37
Speaker 1: it's the next game. This really is your last opportunity
51:41
Speaker 1: may win this division title. You know, if if Lamar
51:45
Speaker 1: comes back, you have that eleven on eleven running game
51:49
Speaker 1: again with that quarterback. In my two questions and my
51:52
Speaker 1: question on a couple of players, Ricard and boil um
51:58
Speaker 1: to me, when when the big three hundred pound fullback
52:01
Speaker 1: was out and they had to minimize that package, it
52:03
Speaker 1: was a different running game. And then Boyle was out
52:06
Speaker 1: and then boil comes back to and they put him
52:08
Speaker 1: in that in that role. Those two guys are going
52:11
Speaker 1: to be able to play because they were limited to
52:13
Speaker 1: day in practice. If they're able to play, it becomes
52:15
Speaker 1: a whole different dynamic with that running game. What's the
52:18
Speaker 1: thought there, Penrocard and obviously Nick Boiler tight end. I
52:24
Speaker 1: think both of those guys will be out there playing.
52:25
Speaker 1: I think today was kind of just to day, which
52:27
Speaker 1: we've seen throughout the season with coach har Ball being
52:30
Speaker 1: an extra long year. Obviously, gentlemen, as you guys know
52:33
Speaker 1: this with the extra game, the extra we can practice that.
52:36
Speaker 1: This has been kind of like you got to kind
52:38
Speaker 1: of manage guys injuries. Nick Boyle missed most of the season,
52:41
Speaker 1: so it's not unusual for him to kind of made
52:43
Speaker 1: take the rest day. But I fully expect those guys
52:46
Speaker 1: this is an all hands on that game. I mean,
52:48
Speaker 1: you know, they can try to underplay it and try
52:51
Speaker 1: not to overstate it in the press conferences and zoom
52:54
Speaker 1: calls and all that nonsense, but they're feeling here in
52:57
Speaker 1: Baltimore amongst the fans, amongst the people, amongst those inside
53:01
Speaker 1: the building, you can kind of get that that same
53:03
Speaker 1: feeling and talking with coaches and talking with people, and
53:07
Speaker 1: you know, just just the whole mentality and the attitude
53:10
Speaker 1: is that this is a must win game, and it
53:12
Speaker 1: truly is because it's the next game. But we all
53:14
Speaker 1: know you only need to be wanted, oh every week,
53:16
Speaker 1: that's the goal. But this game right here is extremely huge,
53:20
Speaker 1: and especially where the Bengals came here into Baltimore and
53:24
Speaker 1: basically took the Ravens behind the woodshed. So, um, this
53:27
Speaker 1: is an important game obviously because it's an AFC game
53:30
Speaker 1: and a division game. But if you don't win this game,
53:32
Speaker 1: I think this for both teams, it kind of really
53:35
Speaker 1: hinders their opportunities, not saying it is done and over with,
53:38
Speaker 1: but for the Ravens, you have the Rams coming in
53:41
Speaker 1: here and then you may have to you know, finish
53:43
Speaker 1: up with Pittsburgh, you know, and we all know what
53:45
Speaker 1: that's like. You know. You guys have your battles in Pittsburgh, obviously,
53:48
Speaker 1: the Ravens and their battles. You don't want to come
53:51
Speaker 1: down and have to Ben Ronsis Burger having one shining
53:54
Speaker 1: moment in what they're calling, you know, his walk off
53:57
Speaker 1: yere sou. You know, it's it's a frame. It tough
54:00
Speaker 1: with those guys, I expect to play. I expect it
54:02
Speaker 1: to be all hands on dates. Thank if they find
54:05
Speaker 1: enough money for me. You may see old fifty out
54:07
Speaker 1: there running around doing something. Sunday's game kicks off at
54:14
Speaker 1: one o'clock and the Bengals are favored by three. As
54:17
Speaker 1: for the rest of the AFC, North Cleveland is a
54:20
Speaker 1: seven and a half point underdog at Green Bay on
54:23
Speaker 1: Christmas Day. Pittsburgh is an eight and a half point
54:26
Speaker 1: underdog at Kansas City on Sunday. That's going to do
54:30
Speaker 1: it for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast brought
54:32
Speaker 1: to you by Ultimate Bengals, the free to play Next
54:35
Speaker 1: Level Fantasy Football game downloaded now from the App Store
54:39
Speaker 1: and Google Play. And if you haven't done so already,
54:42
Speaker 1: please subscribe to this podcast and if you have a minute,
54:45
Speaker 1: give it a rating or share a comment that helps
54:47
Speaker 1: more Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horde and thank
54:51
Speaker 1: you for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast