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Bengals Booth Podcast: Faith · Bengals Booth Podcast

0:03
Speaker 1: I get everybody.
0:04
Speaker 2: I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading The Bengals Booth
0:07
Speaker 2: Podcast the because I gotta have faith. I gotta have faith. Addition,
0:15
Speaker 2: as the Bengals look to improve to three to zero
0:17
Speaker 2: with Jake browninghead quarterback, as they head to Minnesota to
0:20
Speaker 2: face the Vikings. Coming up, Jim Nantz from CBS Sports
0:24
Speaker 2: tells us why he believes the Bengals can still be
0:27
Speaker 2: a playoff team. I'll go one on one with kicker
0:30
Speaker 2: Evan McPherson, who explains how a rules change is helping
0:33
Speaker 2: kickers routinely make field goals from crazy distances, and in
0:38
Speaker 2: our nother faux segment, we'll get the inside scoop on
0:41
Speaker 2: the one and one Vikings from their radio analyst Pete Bursich.
0:45
Speaker 2: The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Core,
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Speaker 2: is the official healthcare provider.
1:05
Speaker 3: Of the Bengals.
1:06
Speaker 2: Now here's a quick reminder that you can have the
1:08
Speaker 2: latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
1:12
Speaker 2: or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's
1:16
Speaker 2: the greatest thing since Impacting Tomorrow. That's the name of
1:22
Speaker 2: a nonprofit organization in the Cincinnati area that just opened
1:26
Speaker 2: a new facility in Loveland that is the first of
1:29
Speaker 2: its kind in the country. What used to be a
1:32
Speaker 2: gigantic factory is now a place where families in need
1:36
Speaker 2: can get food, clothing, and home supplies. And soon we'll
1:40
Speaker 2: be able to get medical care, dental care, and more
1:44
Speaker 2: at little to no cost. My friend Ken Tracy is
1:47
Speaker 2: the founder and CEO, and he and his staff are
1:50
Speaker 2: truly committed to making the Cincinnati community a better place.
1:55
Speaker 2: You can help by donating or becoming a volunteer. If
1:59
Speaker 2: you're interested, go to impactingtomorrow dot com. Now let's get
2:04
Speaker 2: to football. Beginning with his first NFL start two years ago,
2:08
Speaker 2: Jake Browning has taken the majority of the snaps at
2:11
Speaker 2: quarterback in eight games for the Bengals, including last week's
2:15
Speaker 2: win over Jacksonville. In those games, the Bengals are five
2:19
Speaker 2: and three, a winning percentage that would get a team
2:23
Speaker 2: to the playoffs. That's why the players and coaches are
2:26
Speaker 2: confident that Jake will keep the team in the hunt
2:30
Speaker 2: until the return of Joe Burrow. I discussed it with
2:33
Speaker 2: Dave Lapham.
2:36
Speaker 4: He knows it. The coaches know it, his teammates know it,
2:39
Speaker 4: the fans know it, ownership knows it, management knows it.
2:44
Speaker 4: He's been there, done that. It's nothing foreign to him.
2:46
Speaker 4: It's nothing that is overwhelming him. He's not like petrified,
2:50
Speaker 4: you know, wide eyed, like, oh my god, am I
2:53
Speaker 4: ready for this? He knows he is. He has full
2:56
Speaker 4: confidence that he is. He knows that his teammates respect him.
3:00
Speaker 4: He knows that his teammates know that he can get
3:03
Speaker 4: it done. And that is something that's very comforting, you know,
3:08
Speaker 4: when you're put in a position where you're replacing a
3:11
Speaker 4: superstar who does everything exceptionally well at a very high
3:17
Speaker 4: level physically, mentally. I mean, Joe Burrow is as good
3:21
Speaker 4: as there is. So is it a challenge Heck yeah.
3:27
Speaker 4: But is it something that Jake Browning shies away from.
3:30
Speaker 5: Hell?
3:30
Speaker 4: No, he will meet the challenge. I think he'll play
3:35
Speaker 4: exceptionally well. I think his graph will go up. I
3:38
Speaker 4: think he will have games that are going to be very,
3:41
Speaker 4: very good, you know, borderline extraordinary. He's capable of that
3:46
Speaker 4: kind of thing. He can throw the ball like that,
3:48
Speaker 4: He throws the ball well. He can hit tight spots
3:53
Speaker 4: down the football field and a ways down the football field,
3:57
Speaker 4: not dink and dunk stuff. I like Jake Browning makeup.
4:01
Speaker 4: I like everything about him. I think he's got leadership qualities.
4:06
Speaker 4: He's a football savant, guru, has been involved with the
4:10
Speaker 4: game his entire life. So he's got a lock to offer,
4:14
Speaker 4: There's no question about it.
4:15
Speaker 1: Absolutely.
4:16
Speaker 2: Cincinnati sports fans have dealt with their share, more than
4:19
Speaker 2: their share, really of heartbreak when it comes to injuries.
4:23
Speaker 2: One of the most devastating about twenty five years ago
4:25
Speaker 2: in Kenyan Martin broke his leg when the Bearcats looked
4:29
Speaker 2: like they were going to win the NCAA tournament that year,
4:31
Speaker 2: and I was working at Fox nineteen at the time.
4:33
Speaker 1: A few days later.
4:34
Speaker 2: Bob Huggins said to us, Hey, what if I pop
4:38
Speaker 2: out of a coffin on your Sunday night TV show
4:41
Speaker 2: to send the message we're not dead yet. So we
4:45
Speaker 2: managed to get a coffin.
4:46
Speaker 1: He did it.
4:47
Speaker 2: I mean, if it happened now would be incredibly viral.
4:50
Speaker 2: But it was a fun thing back then. And Zach
4:53
Speaker 2: Taylor was asked earlier today, you know, did you gather
4:56
Speaker 2: the troops and give them a you know, we're still
4:58
Speaker 2: a live type speech? Here was his response.
5:02
Speaker 6: I haven't felt the need to do that because just
5:04
Speaker 6: the energy at two and oh, and how these guys
5:06
Speaker 6: have what if they've done for us to very difficult
5:10
Speaker 6: games that some teams don't win, we found a way
5:13
Speaker 6: to win two and oh.
5:14
Speaker 1: So these guys have.
5:15
Speaker 6: A lot of confidence in themselves and each other, a
5:17
Speaker 6: lot of confidence in Jake, and so again, our focus
5:19
Speaker 6: right now is just being three now. It's a tremendous
5:21
Speaker 6: opportunity go on the road in the hostile environment, one
5:23
Speaker 6: of the toughest we'll overface against the team that we
5:25
Speaker 6: got a lot of respect for. They've obviously had some
5:27
Speaker 6: tremendous seasons and they're fighting the same way we are
5:30
Speaker 6: right now. So the team is in a really good
5:32
Speaker 6: heads face right now. Expect a great days of work
5:34
Speaker 6: and then we'll go from there.
5:36
Speaker 2: I like that you don't have to say, hey, we're
5:38
Speaker 2: still alive when you're two and oh. You've got faith
5:42
Speaker 2: in your backup quarterback because he proved it two years ago,
5:46
Speaker 2: not to mention last Sunday, the ninety two yard fifteen
5:49
Speaker 2: play drive to win the game in the final four minutes,
5:52
Speaker 2: So you don't have to rally the troops with a
5:54
Speaker 2: big a it's not over yet. They know they can do.
5:57
Speaker 4: This absolutely, And I mean I don't think John Q
6:01
Speaker 4: fan realizes how difficult the fifteen play drive in the
6:05
Speaker 4: NFL is. To sustain a drive for fifteen snaps, overcome
6:11
Speaker 4: third down situations, fourth down situations, and ultimately score to
6:16
Speaker 4: win a football game with eighteen seconds to play. That
6:19
Speaker 4: is heady stuff. That's that's you know, stuff that you'll
6:24
Speaker 4: find on Hall of Fame quarterbacks resumes, you know, and
6:28
Speaker 4: they might have done it multiple times. But Jake Browning,
6:32
Speaker 4: I mean, no flies on Jake Browning. Now he knows
6:35
Speaker 4: what he's doing. He knows his team's offense, he knows
6:38
Speaker 4: the skill players that he has, he knows how to
6:41
Speaker 4: utilize them. He knows how to get him to football,
6:44
Speaker 4: where to get him the football, when to get him
6:46
Speaker 4: the football. I think Jake Browning is going to play
6:48
Speaker 4: exceeding well. I'll be shocked that he doesn't.
6:52
Speaker 2: When he filled in in those seven games back in
6:54
Speaker 2: twenty twenty three, he completed seventy percent of his pass
6:59
Speaker 2: is twelve towns seven picks, had a passer rating of
7:02
Speaker 2: ninety eight point four, and during that seven game stretch,
7:07
Speaker 2: he was second in the NFL in passing yards. Only
7:10
Speaker 2: Dak Prescott had more. So it's not like he managed
7:13
Speaker 2: the game. Yeah, in those seven games and the defense
7:16
Speaker 2: was winning it or they were, you know, running for
7:18
Speaker 2: two hundred yards a game, they kept doing what they do.
7:21
Speaker 2: They made slight adjustments to what he does best. Little
7:24
Speaker 2: more under center, a little more play action, a lot
7:26
Speaker 2: of screens, stuff like that. But it's not like you
7:29
Speaker 2: got to reinvent the wheel when he takes over for
7:31
Speaker 2: Joe Burrow.
7:32
Speaker 4: No, true, I mean he does understand the screen game.
7:37
Speaker 4: He is very very competent. The way he sets up
7:41
Speaker 4: a screen. You know, people think, oh, you know screen,
7:44
Speaker 4: it's like it's it's cookie cutter.
7:47
Speaker 5: It's really not.
7:49
Speaker 4: There's an art form. There's a skill set to setting
7:52
Speaker 4: up a screen properly, and he has it. You know,
7:55
Speaker 4: your footwork, your timing, you know when you get the
8:00
Speaker 4: ball to the to the running back. He's he's got
8:04
Speaker 4: all that down. That that part of it is is
8:07
Speaker 4: almost like that that's gonna happen. That that's that's part
8:12
Speaker 4: of the game. That's building block one. But he can
8:15
Speaker 4: attack the field deep. He throws the ball well. His
8:18
Speaker 4: deep ball is about as good as maybe a lot
8:22
Speaker 4: of starters in the National Football League. He puts a
8:25
Speaker 4: lot of zip on it. It doesn't hang up in
8:27
Speaker 4: the air. He's got, you know, a trajectory that's that's
8:30
Speaker 4: crisp and sharp. He puts it in great spots. His
8:35
Speaker 4: his accuracy is phenomenal. The seventy percent. You know how
8:38
Speaker 4: many quarterbacks complete seventy percent of their passes the season.
8:42
Speaker 4: It's that's not yeah, that's not standard operating procedure. Man,
8:46
Speaker 4: it is a short list, and he's one of them.
8:49
Speaker 4: That's that's a tribute to UH, to Jake Browning, who
8:53
Speaker 4: you know, doesn't get a whole lot of live snaps
8:56
Speaker 4: in the NFL, to hone that craft and he's still
9:00
Speaker 4: performs and plays at a high level.
9:02
Speaker 2: I was talking to one staff member and he said,
9:05
Speaker 2: the dude is simply a winner, and that seems like
9:10
Speaker 2: the ultimate cliche to me. But then you look at
9:13
Speaker 2: the track record University of Washington thirty nine and fourteen
9:17
Speaker 2: as a starter oh went to the fourteen College Football
9:21
Speaker 2: Playoff as a sophomore, the Fiesta Bowl as a junior,
9:24
Speaker 2: the Rose Ball as a senior. Now, Washington's been historically
9:28
Speaker 2: a good, really good yeah football program, but they don't
9:32
Speaker 2: go to the fourteen Playoff, Fiesta Bowl, and Rose Bowl
9:35
Speaker 2: back to back to back in their history. That says
9:39
Speaker 2: a lot to me about Jake Browning it does.
9:40
Speaker 4: I mean, he took a good program and elevated it,
9:43
Speaker 4: and that's not an easy thing to do, but he
9:47
Speaker 4: did it, and he did it for multiple years. He
9:49
Speaker 4: wasn't a one hit wonder. He did it back to
9:52
Speaker 4: back to back. You you know, this guy can cut
9:56
Speaker 4: the mustard. I mean he's a prime time perform warmer
10:01
Speaker 4: and I'm looking forward to what he what he does.
10:03
Speaker 4: I think he can do a lot. I think his
10:05
Speaker 4: teammates believe in him. I think they trust him, I
10:08
Speaker 4: think they like him. All those components you have to
10:11
Speaker 4: have to have success as a quarterback in the National
10:14
Speaker 4: Football League, and I think Jake Brown is going to
10:16
Speaker 4: have success. I think he's gonna have some really big
10:19
Speaker 4: games this year. I think he's gonna make a little
10:22
Speaker 4: bit of a run.
10:23
Speaker 2: That's a good segue for this, let's hear from Andre
10:27
Speaker 2: Yosi Vash and why he has faith in Jake Browning.
10:30
Speaker 3: Because we've seen him do it before.
10:32
Speaker 7: And you know, just because he's a backup doesn't mean
10:34
Speaker 7: he doesn't have starting potential. You know, we have one
10:37
Speaker 7: of the best qbs in the world at the Helm,
10:39
Speaker 7: and you know, Jake is not able to be a
10:42
Speaker 7: starter just because of the situation he's in, and now
10:43
Speaker 7: he is, and we all are confident in him because he's.
10:46
Speaker 1: A great player.
10:48
Speaker 7: He plays, you know, a gunslinging type of play. So
10:52
Speaker 7: that's you know, that's how gunslingers think. Just throw the
10:55
Speaker 7: ball and yeah, and just be really aggressive.
10:58
Speaker 2: Zach Taylor pushed back on the term unslinger a little
11:01
Speaker 2: bit earlier today. I mentioned that that to him, But
11:04
Speaker 2: I think Andre means it in the sense that he's confident,
11:07
Speaker 2: he's not afraid to let it rip. You know, he's
11:09
Speaker 2: not just chucking it up there hoping guys will make plays.
11:13
Speaker 2: Not gunslinger in that sense. But guy carries himself like
11:17
Speaker 2: he knows he belongs.
11:18
Speaker 4: And he does he and his teammates know he does.
11:22
Speaker 4: He knows he does. He knows that his teammates know.
11:25
Speaker 5: I mean.
11:27
Speaker 4: It's it's it's no surprise that Jake Browning can win
11:33
Speaker 4: football games in the National Football League. He did it
11:36
Speaker 4: in high school, he did it in college at a
11:38
Speaker 4: very high level. He performed at extremely high level to
11:42
Speaker 4: lead his football teams to successful seasons. Jake Browning is
11:47
Speaker 4: just doing what he does and doing what he does best,
11:50
Speaker 4: and he's enjoying himself. He's having fun. I think that's
11:52
Speaker 4: a that's a big part of it. Don't put undue
11:55
Speaker 4: pressure on yourself. Don't make it bigger than it is.
11:58
Speaker 4: It's football. You know, you've done it your whole life.
12:02
Speaker 4: It's not any different. It's just performed at at a
12:05
Speaker 4: higher level in front of bigger crowds, on national television,
12:11
Speaker 4: tremendous media coverage. I mean, it's not you know, you're
12:17
Speaker 4: You're not in Kansas anymore, you know, any But he
12:23
Speaker 4: can get it done. He can play, and I think
12:25
Speaker 4: he's going to prove to a lot of people that
12:26
Speaker 4: he can play at a very very high level.
12:29
Speaker 2: The only team in NFL history to have a perfect
12:31
Speaker 2: season was the nineteen seventy two Miami Dolphins. Their starting
12:35
Speaker 2: quarterback Bob Greasy, broke his ankle in Week five, and
12:39
Speaker 2: veteran backup Earl Morale kept the team rolling until Greasy
12:43
Speaker 2: returned in the playoffs. Now, I'm not saying the Bengals
12:47
Speaker 2: will go undefeated, but they have already proven they can
12:50
Speaker 2: win games with Jake Browning. And as you're about to hear,
12:54
Speaker 2: my first guest on this edition of the pod agrees,
12:59
Speaker 2: when you tune in to the Bengals this week on CBS,
13:02
Speaker 2: you will hear the network's number one broadcast crew. And
13:04
Speaker 2: it is always a treat for me to visit with
13:07
Speaker 2: one of the best who ever do it, the great
13:09
Speaker 2: Jim Nance. Jim, I thought about introducing you with your
13:14
Speaker 2: signature greeting, but then I decided I would rather hear
13:17
Speaker 2: it in your voice.
13:18
Speaker 8: Ah, thank you and hello friends. Great to be on
13:22
Speaker 8: here with you. Dan's become kind of a tradition unlike
13:25
Speaker 8: any other. So I got two of them in there
13:29
Speaker 8: as I love it.
13:30
Speaker 2: So, Jim, I think of you first and foremost as
13:33
Speaker 2: a great storyteller. So let's look at the game this week.
13:36
Speaker 2: What is the storyline in your mind with the Bengals
13:40
Speaker 2: trying to get to three and oh with Jake Browning
13:42
Speaker 2: at quarterback.
13:43
Speaker 1: Well, I think when you look at it.
13:44
Speaker 8: How will the national broadcast come on the air and
13:47
Speaker 8: headline it. It's going to be the battle of the
13:49
Speaker 8: backup quarterbacks. You know it's going to start there. Pretty
13:53
Speaker 8: much have resigned myself on Sunday night to the fact
13:56
Speaker 8: we would not be seeing Joe.
13:58
Speaker 1: I was hoping this was not a long term.
14:00
Speaker 8: Injury, but I pretty much came to accept that he
14:04
Speaker 8: wouldn't be there for this game. The JJ McCarthy injury,
14:08
Speaker 8: I didn't see that. I watched the game. I didn't
14:10
Speaker 8: know that he would be out. So that's the headline
14:14
Speaker 8: on it. But you know, you have a Cincinnati team
14:17
Speaker 8: that it hasn't been pretty, but it's two to zero
14:20
Speaker 8: and that's all that counts in this league as this
14:23
Speaker 8: team tries to find itself, especially now that Jay Browning
14:28
Speaker 8: takes over a quarterback.
14:29
Speaker 1: But what a shame. I just feel really badly for.
14:32
Speaker 8: This organization, for the fan base that you got to
14:37
Speaker 8: go through this again. But you know, I've done all
14:40
Speaker 8: the math on it as far as Joe's injury, and
14:44
Speaker 8: I figure, I figure he's going to miss twelve games.
14:47
Speaker 1: That's what I've kind of come to the conclusion. Twelve games,
14:51
Speaker 1: which means.
14:51
Speaker 8: He could be back for weeks sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen
14:55
Speaker 8: if the reports are accurate, if this is a three
14:57
Speaker 8: month injury. So if you take the twelve games and
15:02
Speaker 8: let's say the Bengals in those twelve games go don't
15:06
Speaker 8: shoot the messenger here, don't be mad at me now.
15:08
Speaker 8: But if you went six and six, that would be
15:12
Speaker 8: eight and six with three games to go, and you
15:14
Speaker 8: got Joe back to lead you into the postseason. Okay,
15:17
Speaker 8: this doable. You can make something out of that. You
15:20
Speaker 8: can actually go as you know, as far as this
15:23
Speaker 8: team will take you. Let's say you go seven and five,
15:26
Speaker 8: Joe gets the job back. Maybe when he's nine and five.
15:30
Speaker 8: That's that's not bad, you know. And if it goes
15:34
Speaker 8: crazy and this team goes eight and four, which is
15:39
Speaker 8: going to take a lot in that division and a
15:41
Speaker 8: schedule that you know, it's it's it's definitely got its
15:46
Speaker 8: trappings this schedule, we go eight and four, he comes
15:49
Speaker 8: back and takes over a ten and fourteen and could
15:52
Speaker 8: fight for the division. So I think six and six
15:55
Speaker 8: is what you hope for the next twelve weeks, and
15:58
Speaker 8: then the Cincinnati team could still achieve all the goals
16:01
Speaker 8: that had set out to do when training camp open.
16:04
Speaker 2: Jake Browning led them to a four and three record
16:07
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty three when he took over for Joe Burrow.
16:09
Speaker 2: You called the next to last game of the regular
16:12
Speaker 2: season that year, Bengals at Chiefs. Jake Browning had the
16:16
Speaker 2: Bengals win the lead in the fourth quarter before Kansas
16:19
Speaker 2: City came back and won that game. So you and
16:22
Speaker 2: Tony are well aware of what Jake Browning is capable
16:25
Speaker 2: of doing.
16:26
Speaker 8: I've been impressed every time I've seen him step in.
16:28
Speaker 8: I really have. Okay, I know he threw some untimely picks.
16:34
Speaker 8: Picks are always untimely, by the way, but I know
16:36
Speaker 8: that last week, you know, he had some miscues, but
16:39
Speaker 8: he also had some very high marks and I'm impressed.
16:44
Speaker 8: I'm really impressed at what he's been able to do.
16:48
Speaker 8: And I think that experience from two years ago will
16:51
Speaker 8: serve this team well. I don't think the situation is
16:54
Speaker 8: too big for him now. And I'm not going to
16:57
Speaker 8: say it's business as usual, but this offense sputtered last
17:02
Speaker 8: week in Week one, we know that, and they started
17:06
Speaker 8: to open it up this past week. We're back to
17:09
Speaker 8: seeing Jamar Chase be Jamar Chase team scored a touchdown.
17:13
Speaker 8: You know, the next guy up that's kind of got
17:16
Speaker 8: to be more of a force is Chase Brown because
17:21
Speaker 8: I thought coming into the season he might be the
17:23
Speaker 8: most productive running back in the league, and I think
17:25
Speaker 8: he still can be.
17:27
Speaker 2: Speaking of Jamar Chase, you've been behind the mic for
17:30
Speaker 2: several of his best games and most memorable moments. There
17:34
Speaker 2: was the two hundred and sixty six yard game against
17:36
Speaker 2: Kansas City. You've called more than five hundred NFL games
17:40
Speaker 2: for CBS. Is Jamar on the short list of the
17:43
Speaker 2: best wide receivers you've seen.
17:46
Speaker 8: I knew that in that game that you just alluded to.
17:49
Speaker 8: That was his rookie year, And yeah, he put up
17:54
Speaker 8: two sixty six in the next to the last week
17:57
Speaker 8: of the regular season and the Bengals clinched the division
18:00
Speaker 8: at the end of that game and he had three touchdowns.
18:03
Speaker 1: So now he has and he's still just a young kid.
18:08
Speaker 8: So it is I mean, it is frightening what he
18:12
Speaker 8: could statistically rack up when it's all said and done.
18:15
Speaker 8: Let's hope he goes through a career without any major
18:18
Speaker 8: injury setbacks. But yeah, I would have him on that
18:21
Speaker 8: very short special list. You got to remember, though you
18:24
Speaker 8: alluded to it, I've I've broadcast five hundred plus games
18:27
Speaker 8: now in my career. I go back to Jerry Rice.
18:30
Speaker 8: I had Jerry Rice games a lot of them early
18:32
Speaker 8: in my career, so that's the standard. But who has
18:36
Speaker 8: followed suit that's been able to do jaw dropping things
18:41
Speaker 8: on a pretty steady basis and rack up Star Wars
18:45
Speaker 8: numbers almost every single week. It's it's definitely Jamar Chase.
18:49
Speaker 8: So it's gonna be interesting. By the way, on Sunday,
18:52
Speaker 8: you got you got Jamar and you got Justin Jefferson.
18:55
Speaker 8: You got the two old LSU teammates that are going
18:58
Speaker 8: to be on the field, and that's going to be
19:00
Speaker 8: fascinating to see.
19:01
Speaker 1: He's also quite special.
19:02
Speaker 2: As you know, Jimmy expected to see JJ McCarthy and
19:06
Speaker 2: his third NFL start. Instead, it'll be the veteran Carson
19:09
Speaker 2: Wentz with his fifteen and five years. What are the
19:13
Speaker 2: biggest the challenges the Vikings post for the Bengals this week.
19:17
Speaker 8: Well, I think they're going to be a little bit
19:19
Speaker 8: of a of an angry team, given fact they laid
19:22
Speaker 8: an egg on Sunday night against Atlanta and couldn't couldn't
19:26
Speaker 8: find the end zone. So there are a lot of
19:29
Speaker 8: people that thought that this team last year won fourteen
19:31
Speaker 8: games in the regular season. And yes, their quarterback Sam
19:35
Speaker 8: Darnell went off in free agency and signed with Seattle,
19:39
Speaker 8: But I think a lot of people felt like the
19:41
Speaker 8: parts were in place for them to be a Super
19:43
Speaker 8: Bowl contender. And they've already lost one home game, that
19:47
Speaker 8: was their home opener against the Falcons, and you know,
19:51
Speaker 8: they're ready to feast. They're ready to make a statement
19:53
Speaker 8: back and try to, you know, get on the north
19:57
Speaker 8: side of five hundred and not come out of the
19:59
Speaker 8: box with two home losses. I think they're going to
20:01
Speaker 8: be extremely fired up for this game, even though they
20:05
Speaker 8: don't have their starting quarterback.
20:08
Speaker 2: CBS is celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the NFL today
20:13
Speaker 2: this Sunday, Retro Graphics Old Music Brent Musburger is going
20:17
Speaker 2: to make an appearance in the studio. Is there anything
20:19
Speaker 2: in particular you are looking forward to you.
20:23
Speaker 1: Are looking live.
20:24
Speaker 8: I'm looking forward to hearing Brent say that, which, of
20:28
Speaker 8: course I grew up waiting for that to come on
20:31
Speaker 8: every single Sunday to hear Brent say that. First off
20:35
Speaker 8: to say that Brent is He's such an icon and
20:40
Speaker 8: a hero to me. It was such an honor to
20:43
Speaker 8: be in the studio that you know, Brent used to
20:49
Speaker 8: reside in. And I got to sit in a chair
20:53
Speaker 8: when I first started my career, and on the back
20:56
Speaker 8: of the chair there was a piece of ta and
21:00
Speaker 8: it was written in sharpy it said Brent and my
21:03
Speaker 8: first show ever, which was forty years ago, this past Sunday.
21:08
Speaker 1: I got to sit in his chair.
21:09
Speaker 8: Now, that just alone was a thrill, and I look
21:13
Speaker 8: forward to the whole thing where don't be alarmed, folks
21:16
Speaker 8: that if you happen to tune in and see us
21:18
Speaker 8: and we're wearing some ties that look like they're really
21:21
Speaker 8: out of date and a few other bells and whistles,
21:26
Speaker 8: don't think we've lost our minds. It's a company wide
21:29
Speaker 8: kind of tribute to fifty years of the NFL today,
21:33
Speaker 8: and I'm looking forward to it. And the thing is
21:35
Speaker 8: is that you know, fifty years ago, you think about
21:38
Speaker 8: where these franchises were, how young Cincinnati was, and you know,
21:43
Speaker 8: already developing.
21:47
Speaker 1: A great foundation with the likes of Ken Anderson.
21:51
Speaker 8: You know, think about that Ken Riley, guys of Yesterdyear
21:55
Speaker 8: Isaac Curtis. You think on the Minnesota side, fifty years ago,
21:59
Speaker 8: they had the Purple People leaders and they had Frank
22:01
Speaker 8: Tarkington at quarterback. And of course we were an NFC
22:05
Speaker 8: network back in those days, so we had a study die.
22:08
Speaker 8: By the way, I wasn't there yet, I was still
22:10
Speaker 8: ten years away, but we had a pretty steady diet
22:13
Speaker 8: of Minnesota on our broadcast. CBS was there a lot.
22:20
Speaker 8: And it's anyway I'm linking. I like these retro things
22:24
Speaker 8: when people do them. I think it's really cool. And yeah,
22:28
Speaker 8: we're going to be there Sunday with period pieces, so
22:32
Speaker 8: to speak, and you'll you'll be able to hear the
22:36
Speaker 8: old you know, CBS anthem that we you know, we
22:40
Speaker 8: used to open up our Sundays with every every Sunday.
22:44
Speaker 2: I can hear it in the back of my head.
22:46
Speaker 2: I watched the TV series Stick on Apple TV. Owen
22:50
Speaker 2: Wilson plays a washed up former pro golfer, and I
22:53
Speaker 2: was a pleasantly surprised to see you appear in a
22:57
Speaker 2: couple of episodes. Was all of your stuff script did
23:00
Speaker 2: or did they give you some leeway to just do
23:03
Speaker 2: what you do on a Sunday calling the final round
23:05
Speaker 2: of a PGA event.
23:06
Speaker 8: First off, it was a combination, so they give us
23:10
Speaker 8: the scenes and then you had to kind of simulate it.
23:13
Speaker 1: You know.
23:13
Speaker 8: We obviously we weren't there for the golf action that
23:16
Speaker 8: we were calling. So it's the Hollywood world of make
23:19
Speaker 8: believe and it was a lot of fun and Owen
23:22
Speaker 8: Wilson was a blast to get to know. Through this process.
23:26
Speaker 8: The show ended up being the number one episodic streaming
23:31
Speaker 8: show I Believe of the year. So it's been already
23:35
Speaker 8: picked up for a second season and you know, I'm
23:39
Speaker 8: looking forward. We've already been told we're back, we got
23:42
Speaker 8: we got a recurring role.
23:43
Speaker 1: Dan.
23:44
Speaker 2: Final thing for you and I appreciate your time. Owen
23:46
Speaker 2: Wilson went on Stephen Colbert's show. Steven asked him what
23:51
Speaker 2: happens when we die and he said, I think you
23:54
Speaker 2: hear a voice and that voice sounds like jim NANTZ.
23:59
Speaker 2: What do you think when Owen Wilson said that.
24:03
Speaker 8: First off, I have a lot of people that got
24:06
Speaker 8: it very excited about the fact that Owen said that.
24:10
Speaker 8: He said, Yeah, there's like a voice of God and
24:13
Speaker 8: it's almost like they welcome you in my voice, he said,
24:17
Speaker 8: and now on the first t welcome Owen Wilson.
24:22
Speaker 1: And the place is the only he can say, and
24:25
Speaker 1: the place goes crazy.
24:28
Speaker 8: You know, he has this ability to really express himself
24:30
Speaker 8: but never pitch his voice at a very high level.
24:34
Speaker 1: It's kind of softly said, the place goes crazy. I
24:39
Speaker 1: thought that was cool, honor unexpected.
24:42
Speaker 8: Again, one of the many things that have happened in
24:44
Speaker 8: my life in forty years of living my childhood dream,
24:48
Speaker 8: right down to the very network that I work for,
24:50
Speaker 8: is exactly what I wanted to do. And I'm grateful, grateful, grateful,
24:55
Speaker 8: and never take it for granted, never any sense of
24:59
Speaker 8: being entitled to have had this life and this opportunity.
25:03
Speaker 8: But the things that have come with it fall well
25:06
Speaker 8: beyond just calling the games. It's been amazing getting to
25:10
Speaker 8: know so many interesting people along the way to have
25:15
Speaker 8: done unimaginable things. As a kid, you can play act
25:20
Speaker 8: and imagine in your head that one day maybe you're
25:23
Speaker 8: going to be sitting at a game or at the
25:25
Speaker 8: master's golf tournament. You're going to be calling these events,
25:29
Speaker 8: and then you have when you get hired. And I'm
25:34
Speaker 8: just a few years out of college, again, it was
25:36
Speaker 8: forty years ago.
25:37
Speaker 1: I was thinking about it this weekend.
25:38
Speaker 8: There's a little bit of an imposters syndrome that you
25:41
Speaker 8: go through for a few years, like, really.
25:43
Speaker 1: What am I doing here? Don't they know? I'm only
25:46
Speaker 1: twenty six years old.
25:49
Speaker 8: And I never had thought about the weight of it
25:53
Speaker 8: and the expectations and the feedback, the number of people
25:56
Speaker 8: that would see it and talk to you about It's
26:00
Speaker 8: less to be able to work with great people and
26:03
Speaker 8: then on a side to do things like with Owen Wilson,
26:06
Speaker 8: to have play golf with four US presidents, to have
26:10
Speaker 8: actually set it a table and had dinner with five
26:13
Speaker 8: US present, have had dinner with the Queen of England
26:16
Speaker 8: sitting right directly across from her at a small round table.
26:19
Speaker 1: I mean, these are bizarre things that I'm saying. I
26:22
Speaker 1: had a total.
26:23
Speaker 8: Appreciation and gratitude, not name dropping, even though you could
26:26
Speaker 8: build a case for that too.
26:28
Speaker 1: But it has been. It has been amazing.
26:31
Speaker 8: But at the core of it all, Dan, is the
26:34
Speaker 8: excitement for the process of putting a board.
26:37
Speaker 1: Together, which I'm starting on right now. For this week's game.
26:41
Speaker 1: That was Cincinnati's offense, that is Minnesota's defense.
26:45
Speaker 8: The process all week of reading, reading, reading, talking, talking, talking,
26:49
Speaker 8: getting prepared, and then executing the game broadcast.
26:54
Speaker 1: It's not about being on TV. It's not about any
26:57
Speaker 1: of that other stuff I mentioned that came with it.
27:00
Speaker 8: About the joy of Hey, I get to be in
27:03
Speaker 8: Minneapolis this weekend and I get to see Cincinnati and
27:06
Speaker 8: Minnesota play a football game, and I get to tell
27:08
Speaker 8: the story.
27:09
Speaker 1: So grateful heart, big time gratefulness.
27:12
Speaker 2: I share that joy, and I'm grateful for my yearly
27:15
Speaker 2: opportunities to visit with you. Thank you so much for
27:17
Speaker 2: your time. Look forward to seeing in Minnesota.
27:20
Speaker 1: Thank you.
27:20
Speaker 2: Dan.
27:21
Speaker 1: One last thing for the fan base.
27:24
Speaker 8: I don't think things are going to change, but we're
27:26
Speaker 8: going to be right back with Cincinnati on week six
27:29
Speaker 8: up at Green Bay. That'll be a national doubleheader game.
27:32
Speaker 8: So let's get these Bengals going. Let's get the Jake
27:35
Speaker 8: Browning three months. He can handle these rains. I gave
27:40
Speaker 8: you the game plan, you know, go six and six,
27:43
Speaker 8: seven and five. We'll see where this team is and
27:46
Speaker 8: I'll be catching up with them in the postseason if
27:48
Speaker 8: that's the case.
27:49
Speaker 2: The last two times the Bengals made it to the
27:51
Speaker 2: AFC Championship Game, Jim nance was behind the mic, and
27:55
Speaker 2: here's hoping he's doing it again. On January twenty fifth
27:59
Speaker 2: of twenty six. The last two times the Bengals played
28:03
Speaker 2: the Minnesota Vikings, they won both games in overtime by
28:07
Speaker 2: the same final score. The first of those games was
28:10
Speaker 2: on Opening Day twenty twenty one. It was Evan McPherson's
28:15
Speaker 2: NFL debut. The Bengals field goal unit is lined up
28:18
Speaker 2: and ready to go at thirty three yard try to
28:20
Speaker 2: win the game for Evan McPherson, fifth round draft pick
28:23
Speaker 2: rookie out of Florida. Clark Harris thirteenth year pro, will
28:26
Speaker 2: snap it back to Kevin Hubert, thirteenth year pro. The snap,
28:29
Speaker 2: the put down, the swing of the leg, the kick
28:31
Speaker 2: on its ways good. The Bengals win it.
28:38
Speaker 9: On the final playoff overtime, Evan McPherson poisted it onto
28:42
Speaker 9: the shoulders of his teammates as Cincinnati pulls it out
28:47
Speaker 9: twenty seven to twenty four.
28:50
Speaker 2: Then, two years ago, with Jake browninghad quarterback Money Mack
28:53
Speaker 2: did it again against the Vikings from twenty nine yards away.
28:57
Speaker 2: Evan's off to a perfect start this year, but hasn't
29:00
Speaker 2: attempted any long field goals yet in a season where
29:04
Speaker 2: we've already had a sixty four yarder by the Cowboys
29:07
Speaker 2: Brandon Aubrey and a sixty yarder by Pittsburgh's Chris Boswell.
29:11
Speaker 2: There's an explanation for that, and it has to do
29:15
Speaker 2: with the footballs. That's one of the things I discussed
29:18
Speaker 2: with the Bengals twenty six year old.
29:20
Speaker 1: Kicker this week.
29:22
Speaker 2: Having the first couple of weeks of the NFL season,
29:25
Speaker 2: it's been kickers gone wild. There have been seventeen field
29:28
Speaker 2: goals of fifty plus, ten field goals of fifty five plus.
29:33
Speaker 2: In the kicking fraternity, what is considered a long field
29:37
Speaker 2: goal now.
29:38
Speaker 10: I think we're getting to the point where I would
29:41
Speaker 10: consider like a fifty seven to fifty eight yard field
29:44
Speaker 10: goal probably long. The way it's trending now, Once our
29:48
Speaker 10: team crosses the fifty, I feel like we're kind of
29:51
Speaker 10: expected to go out there and make the kick, and
29:54
Speaker 10: honestly think it's not a bad assumption.
29:58
Speaker 3: I don't think it's a bad all.
30:00
Speaker 10: I feel like once our team crosses fifty, I feel like,
30:03
Speaker 10: as an NFL kicker, you should have the ability to
30:05
Speaker 10: go out there and hit any kick that they throw.
30:07
Speaker 10: You out there for and I think it's fun. You know,
30:10
Speaker 10: I enjoy long kicks. I haven't gotten to experience one
30:13
Speaker 10: this year. I'm sure it's coming, but I always enjoy
30:17
Speaker 10: the longer kicks, you know. I struggled a little bit
30:19
Speaker 10: last year, but just looking forward to getting back, you know,
30:24
Speaker 10: behind the forty yard line and just letting it eat.
30:27
Speaker 2: The NFL record is sixty six yards by Justin Tucker.
30:30
Speaker 2: Cam Little of Jacksonville made a seventy yard or in
30:33
Speaker 2: the preseason, but that doesn't count because it was a
30:35
Speaker 2: preseason game. Will that regular season record fall this year.
30:40
Speaker 10: I'd say there's a really good chance, especially with a
30:43
Speaker 10: new k ball rule. And I'm not saying that we're
30:46
Speaker 10: doctor and the balls up to where they're just absolutely
30:49
Speaker 10: the juiciest things in the world, but I mean it
30:51
Speaker 10: does help, like practicing with your balls that you're gonna
30:54
Speaker 10: kick within the game and just make sure the leather's
30:56
Speaker 10: broken in and soft and kind of out of the
30:58
Speaker 10: quarterbacks and receivers get to practice for their football is
31:03
Speaker 10: kind of all week, and we're kind of getting do
31:04
Speaker 10: the same thing and making sure those things are prepped
31:06
Speaker 10: and ready for the game to give us the best
31:08
Speaker 10: opportunity to go out there and make every kick and
31:10
Speaker 10: you know, hit every punt ninety yards down the field.
31:13
Speaker 10: And so I feel like it's helped a lot of
31:15
Speaker 10: teams out for sure, just getting just being able to
31:18
Speaker 10: break in the balls and practice with them and kind
31:21
Speaker 10: of make the ball softer and having them compress a
31:24
Speaker 10: little bit a little bit more. I think you're going
31:26
Speaker 10: to see a lot more as we've already seen longer
31:29
Speaker 10: field goals. And I think that the I think the
31:31
Speaker 10: NFL record has no chance of standing here, and if
31:35
Speaker 10: this year and the next couple of years, I think
31:37
Speaker 10: someone is definitely gonna break it pretty easily.
31:40
Speaker 2: All right, let me follow up because I'm not sure
31:42
Speaker 2: everybody is aware of the rule change that the NFL
31:45
Speaker 2: made prior to this year. In the past, you got
31:48
Speaker 2: the kicking ball, the k ball on game day and
31:50
Speaker 2: you had like an hour to prep it the way
31:52
Speaker 2: you wanted it, break it in, so to speak. This year,
31:55
Speaker 2: you got sixty before training camp to prepare them to
31:58
Speaker 2: your liking and with them, do you notice a big difference.
32:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, I definitely do.
32:05
Speaker 10: It's impressive how much more the balls jump this year
32:10
Speaker 10: compared to the year's past. And you know, it's really
32:13
Speaker 10: just based off use. Obviously the years pass. Like we
32:17
Speaker 10: like you say, we got the balls fresh out of
32:18
Speaker 10: the box. They laid them on the table and I
32:21
Speaker 10: think the home team got the first pick at three,
32:23
Speaker 10: and then the away team got the the second three
32:25
Speaker 10: and then they had like forty five minutes to break
32:27
Speaker 10: them in and get them ready, and so it's like back,
32:30
Speaker 10: you know, last year, a couple of years ago, like
32:33
Speaker 10: the leather was just a lot firmer than it is
32:36
Speaker 10: this year. We're you know, we're able to soften the leather,
32:38
Speaker 10: get it compressing a lot easier.
32:40
Speaker 3: And I think that's what the NFL wants.
32:42
Speaker 10: I think the NFL wants longer field goals made, and
32:45
Speaker 10: it's kind of like entertainment in a way, and I
32:47
Speaker 10: think people enjoy seeing that. So I think it's a
32:49
Speaker 10: good rule change and I'm all in favor for it.
32:53
Speaker 2: I bet you are. We're visiting with Evan McPherson. Do
32:56
Speaker 2: you prepare the ball yourself or do you have the
32:58
Speaker 2: equipment staff do that?
33:00
Speaker 10: The equipment guys they do a really good job of
33:02
Speaker 10: doing it. Obviously they've done it ever since they've been here,
33:05
Speaker 10: so they do a really good job, and then we
33:07
Speaker 10: just kind of look at them and if we think
33:10
Speaker 10: there needs to be any modifications from there. They're good
33:13
Speaker 10: about getting it exactly the way.
33:16
Speaker 7: We like it.
33:17
Speaker 3: So they've done a really good job at that.
33:19
Speaker 2: What's legal and what's illegal.
33:22
Speaker 10: I probably need to study it a lot more on
33:26
Speaker 10: what is legal what's illegal, but I can say that
33:29
Speaker 10: we follow the rules. I don't want to toe the
33:32
Speaker 10: line and have any Patriots football controversy.
33:37
Speaker 2: You know, no deflate gate.
33:40
Speaker 3: No deflate gate, So we're by the book.
33:44
Speaker 10: But I definitely I don't know if there's like a
33:48
Speaker 10: actual like rule sheet. All I know is the rests
33:51
Speaker 10: they like, okay, the balls before the game, so they
33:54
Speaker 10: have the ability to throw one out if they don't
33:56
Speaker 10: think it's up to standard, if they think it's been
33:59
Speaker 10: doctor a little too much. So to my knowledge, you
34:04
Speaker 10: can do pretty much about anything you want. Then it's
34:07
Speaker 10: just up to the rest to put in the game
34:09
Speaker 10: or not.
34:10
Speaker 2: We're chatting with Devin McPherson. You're off to a perfect
34:13
Speaker 2: start this year on field goals and pats both in
34:15
Speaker 2: the preseason and the regular season. Five for five on
34:18
Speaker 2: field goals, fifteen for fifteen on pats and you've gone
34:22
Speaker 2: back to the approach you used as a rookie. Correct, Yeah, no.
34:27
Speaker 3: That's correct.
34:27
Speaker 10: And I think the biggest shift I've made is mentally
34:34
Speaker 10: mentality going out there on the field and just going
34:37
Speaker 10: out there with the belief that, you know, I can
34:38
Speaker 10: do it. And I think last year I struggled with
34:41
Speaker 10: the belief side of the kicking, in the middle side
34:44
Speaker 10: of kicking, and you know, I feel like a lot
34:47
Speaker 10: of people don't see that or understand, like the you know,
34:51
Speaker 10: NFL players, they could still get i don't know, distraught
34:55
Speaker 10: or lack of confidence kind of and like self confidence
34:59
Speaker 10: in themselves.
35:00
Speaker 3: And I feel like that's kind of what.
35:01
Speaker 10: I went through last year, is hoping that I was
35:04
Speaker 10: going to make the kick instead of knowing that I
35:06
Speaker 10: was going to make the kick in my head. And
35:07
Speaker 10: so this year is my biggest change is just you know,
35:10
Speaker 10: self affirmation out there on the field at all times.
35:13
Speaker 10: And while I'm walking out on the field, I'm focusing
35:15
Speaker 10: on my few key points and you know, I'm just
35:18
Speaker 10: telling myself, you know you got this, you know you're
35:20
Speaker 10: here for a reason. And I have this mental vision
35:23
Speaker 10: that I kind of run through right before the kick
35:26
Speaker 10: and you know, I try to see the kick go in.
35:28
Speaker 3: Before I've kicked in. So that's something I've changed.
35:31
Speaker 10: I feel like mentally is just going out through a
35:33
Speaker 10: lot more confidence this year, and.
35:34
Speaker 3: I think it's it's worked for me so far, like.
35:37
Speaker 10: In practicing games, and I'm just hoping to continue and
35:41
Speaker 10: hoping I don't forget about it.
35:42
Speaker 2: Did a sports psychologist help or did you figure that
35:45
Speaker 2: on your own?
35:46
Speaker 3: Yeah?
35:46
Speaker 10: No, I talked to doctor Ganchert a little bit. Obviously,
35:50
Speaker 10: he's he's here with the team, and he's definitely helped
35:52
Speaker 10: me navigate like certain thoughts that I had and turn
35:57
Speaker 10: them into the thoughts that I have now and just
36:00
Speaker 10: challenge me to turn those negative thoughts in my head
36:03
Speaker 10: to challenges and answering those challenges with like, you know,
36:08
Speaker 10: you got this, you're gonna make it, you're gonna crush it,
36:11
Speaker 10: stuff like that. And when you have those negative thoughts,
36:13
Speaker 10: just turning them into positive reinforcement is the biggest thing.
36:17
Speaker 10: So because those negative thoughts, they don't stay away, they
36:21
Speaker 10: always come come around whenever you don't need them. So
36:24
Speaker 10: I've really been learning ways to just counteract them and
36:28
Speaker 10: use them to help me.
36:29
Speaker 2: You missed the last five games last year with a
36:31
Speaker 2: groin injury. What are you doing to prevent a reoccurrence?
36:35
Speaker 10: Yeah, you know, I'm doing a lot more like pre
36:38
Speaker 10: impost kicking now, making sure that my body's completely warmed
36:43
Speaker 10: up ready to go, and if I do feel any
36:46
Speaker 10: tightness or anything like that, make sure I'm doing a
36:49
Speaker 10: lot extra. But I'm trying to stay on top of it,
36:51
Speaker 10: stay ahead of it, and make sure my body feels
36:53
Speaker 10: the best.
36:53
Speaker 3: Because when I'm realizing.
36:55
Speaker 10: That, I'm not saying I'm old, but I'm not as
36:56
Speaker 10: young as I used to be, so it takes a
36:58
Speaker 10: little bit longer for my body to get going. And so,
37:02
Speaker 10: like I said, pre post kicking, I got everything I
37:05
Speaker 10: do at my house before I go to bed, and
37:08
Speaker 10: just kind of all the body maintenance stuff that I
37:09
Speaker 10: wasn't doing originally. I'm kind of adapting and adopting this year,
37:14
Speaker 10: and it's.
37:14
Speaker 3: Been really good.
37:15
Speaker 10: My body feels great going into week was a week
37:19
Speaker 10: three and then I guess week six with preseason and
37:23
Speaker 10: then training camp and all that. You know, We've been
37:25
Speaker 10: kicking for a long time and my body feels really good.
37:28
Speaker 10: So I'm just gonna keep doing it, you know, not
37:31
Speaker 10: get bored with the process because you can come in
37:33
Speaker 10: and do the same thing over and over every day.
37:35
Speaker 3: It gets kind of boring.
37:36
Speaker 10: So I'm just trying to make it up, make it interesting,
37:38
Speaker 10: and just have a little fun with it.
37:40
Speaker 5: You're definitely not old.
37:42
Speaker 2: So last week the team had the high of a
37:45
Speaker 2: thrilling victory, scoring the game winning touchdown with eighteen seconds
37:48
Speaker 2: to go, and then the crushing news later that Joe
37:51
Speaker 2: Burrow is likely to miss several months due to his
37:53
Speaker 2: toe injury. How long does that disappointment linger?
37:57
Speaker 3: I don't think very long.
37:58
Speaker 10: I think as soon as Jake got in there, you know,
38:02
Speaker 10: I feel like there's a sense of, you know, we
38:05
Speaker 10: can still do this.
38:06
Speaker 3: You know, I don't.
38:06
Speaker 10: I think we got a really good team. I don't
38:09
Speaker 10: think anybody should be counting us out or doubting us.
38:11
Speaker 10: I think We've still got a lot of talent.
38:13
Speaker 1: You know.
38:14
Speaker 10: Jake's a really good quarterback. He's I like say, he's
38:17
Speaker 10: really aggressive, which is good, and I really.
38:20
Speaker 3: Enjoy watching him play.
38:21
Speaker 10: And like twenty twenty three season was arguably I feel
38:24
Speaker 10: like my best season, and that was with Jake at
38:27
Speaker 10: the helm for the most part that year, and I
38:30
Speaker 10: feel like we finished the season strong with with Jake
38:32
Speaker 10: that season, and honestly have no doubt for the rest
38:36
Speaker 10: of season that he's.
38:37
Speaker 3: Going to lead this team well for however long it is.
38:39
Speaker 10: And I think all our expectations and our goals that
38:43
Speaker 10: we set at the beginning of the season, I think
38:44
Speaker 10: they're still definitely in sight. I think this team still
38:48
Speaker 10: has a lot of confidence in each other, and we're
38:51
Speaker 10: just gonna go out there and kind of give it
38:53
Speaker 10: the best we we got and go from there.
38:55
Speaker 2: Final thing, you face the Vikings this week. You face
38:58
Speaker 2: them twice previously and you were the hero both times.
39:02
Speaker 2: Overtime field goal in your NFL debut, another overtime game
39:05
Speaker 2: winning field goal in twenty twenty three with Jake Browning
39:08
Speaker 2: head quarterback. Well that cycled through your head when you
39:11
Speaker 2: see those Vikings uniforms.
39:14
Speaker 3: You definitely think about that.
39:15
Speaker 10: Like every time we've played the Vikings, it's been a
39:18
Speaker 10: game winner, and I think, I mean, it could end
39:21
Speaker 10: up the same way three for three, or you know,
39:24
Speaker 10: I could see our offense kind of lighten it up
39:26
Speaker 10: and our defense is playing really well. So you never
39:28
Speaker 10: really know, I don't know, you just kind of go
39:30
Speaker 10: out there and see. But I do have a good
39:33
Speaker 10: track record against the Vikings, so hopefully we can keep
39:35
Speaker 10: it going.
39:36
Speaker 2: I'll be ready to call another game winner. Best of luck,
39:38
Speaker 2: appreciate your time.
39:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you.
39:40
Speaker 2: In his career, Evan is twenty four for thirty five
39:44
Speaker 2: from fifty plus. That's sixty nine percent with a career
39:47
Speaker 2: long of fifty nine yards. The Bengals Booth Podcast is
39:51
Speaker 2: brought to you by pay Corps, proud to be the
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Speaker 2: Bengals Official HR software provider, by Alta Fiber future proof
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40:01
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40:05
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40:08
Speaker 2: provider of the Bengals. Now time for this week's Know
40:12
Speaker 2: the Faux Segment. The Minnesota Vikings went fourteen and three
40:15
Speaker 2: last year, losing twice to the Lions and once to
40:19
Speaker 2: the Rams. They faced the Rams again in the playoffs
40:22
Speaker 2: and quarterback Sam Darnold struggled in a twenty seven to
40:25
Speaker 2: nine loss, so at the end of the year, the
40:28
Speaker 2: Vikings let Darnald walk as a free agent and handed
40:31
Speaker 2: the keys to the car to JJ McCarthy, the tenth
40:35
Speaker 2: pick in last year's draft who missed his rookie season
40:38
Speaker 2: with a knee injury. Well, in his first two starts,
40:41
Speaker 2: McCarthy has had one great quarter where he threw two
40:44
Speaker 2: touchdown passes and ran for another score, and seven lousy
40:48
Speaker 2: quarters where the Vikings as a team haven't scored a touchdown.
40:52
Speaker 2: Now he's out with an ankle injury, and ten year
40:55
Speaker 2: VET Carson Wentz is taking over. Wentz was not in
40:59
Speaker 2: NFL training camp this year before signing with Minnesota in
41:03
Speaker 2: late August. Pete burs Itch is the Vikings radio analyst
41:07
Speaker 2: and discuss that and much more when he joined Dave
41:10
Speaker 2: Lapham and me on the Bengals Game Plan Show.
41:14
Speaker 11: You look at how the Vikings offense has preceded the
41:17
Speaker 11: first two weeks of the season. We haven't thrown the
41:21
Speaker 11: ball nearly as much as Kevin O'Connell likes to, and
41:25
Speaker 11: when we do throw it's a completely different type of
41:28
Speaker 11: Look the big question, Yeah, Carson Wentz. Carson Wentz is
41:33
Speaker 11: going on this Sunday. He will start for his fix
41:37
Speaker 11: different team in six seasons. No other quarterback in the
41:41
Speaker 11: Common Era has done that. So that's a record that
41:45
Speaker 11: he has. So this is a shot at redemption, and
41:48
Speaker 11: you know, look you look at what Sam Darnold did
41:49
Speaker 11: a year ago. You know, can can Carson Wentz do
41:53
Speaker 11: the same thing? Now, Carson Wentz was with the Los
41:57
Speaker 11: Angeles Rams two seasons ago, so there's some similarity and
42:03
Speaker 11: carryover because that's where Kevin O'Connell got his you know,
42:06
Speaker 11: got his start as a coordinator and the verbiage and
42:11
Speaker 11: those things. Hopefully there's some carry out. He's only been
42:13
Speaker 11: here for about four weeks. It'll be about four weeks
42:16
Speaker 11: once the game starts, but because of his strengths, which
42:21
Speaker 11: hopefully are still just the ability to read a defense
42:26
Speaker 11: very quickly, be accurate, and have the arm strength. Now,
42:30
Speaker 11: he played one game last year against Kansas City was
42:32
Speaker 11: a week eighteen you know, doesn't matter type game where
42:36
Speaker 11: he started for the Kansas City Chiefs against the Denver Broncos.
42:40
Speaker 11: I mean, he hasn't started consecutive games since twenty twenty two.
42:43
Speaker 11: So you know, you can't you can't guarantee that he's
42:48
Speaker 11: going to look anything like he did a year ago
42:50
Speaker 11: or two years ago. But if by by by by
42:54
Speaker 11: some means he does, you know, you don't you don't know.
42:58
Speaker 11: I mean the Bengals could see a completely different offense
43:01
Speaker 11: than what they've seen the last couple of weeks. I mean,
43:04
Speaker 11: just how long is Justin Jefferson going to be happy
43:06
Speaker 11: k catching four balls a week?
43:08
Speaker 1: Right?
43:09
Speaker 11: I mean, it's just this offense has changed so much
43:14
Speaker 11: to a comedy for JJ McCarthy.
43:16
Speaker 5: And then with our offensive.
43:17
Speaker 11: Line issues, we've given up nine sacks in two games,
43:20
Speaker 11: second most in the NFL. I mean, there's a cavalcade
43:25
Speaker 11: of reasons as to why the Vikings are one and
43:28
Speaker 11: one right now, and Carson Wentz turned that around.
43:32
Speaker 5: You know, we will see, but.
43:36
Speaker 11: Who's starting to left tackle is going to be the biggest,
43:38
Speaker 11: biggest deal I think for the for the Sunday game.
43:42
Speaker 2: Glad you brought that up, Pete. I see that Christian
43:45
Speaker 2: Darisa was a full participant in practice today after not
43:49
Speaker 2: playing in the first two games, so it looks like
43:51
Speaker 2: he's trending in the right direction. Unfortunately for Cincinnati, Ryan Kelly,
43:55
Speaker 2: who's from Cincinnati former Pro Bowl center, suffered at concussion.
44:00
Speaker 2: He's had some concussions in the past, didn't practice today,
44:03
Speaker 2: So maybe that one's more of a question mark. But
44:06
Speaker 2: tell us give us like a big picture on the
44:08
Speaker 2: offensive line. They tried to fix the middle through free
44:11
Speaker 2: agency in the draft this year. How do you feel
44:14
Speaker 2: about that offensive line going forward?
44:16
Speaker 11: Yeah, I mean if we just need to keep the
44:18
Speaker 11: same five guys, yet they have consistency among the group.
44:22
Speaker 11: Those guys, you know, you don't practice and you don't
44:25
Speaker 11: practice as much as you used to. You definitely don't
44:27
Speaker 11: practice and pads as much.
44:29
Speaker 5: As you used to.
44:30
Speaker 11: So so those guys getting the field for playing together
44:34
Speaker 11: is going to take some time. You know, Ryan Kelly,
44:39
Speaker 11: he's been a big physical part of the offense. Michael
44:42
Speaker 11: Jergens comes in to replace him, a guy that we've
44:46
Speaker 11: had here for a couple of years. Will Fry's doing
44:49
Speaker 11: a good job at a right guard. Brian O'Neill a
44:52
Speaker 11: right tackle. He's pretty stalwart, but we're looking at maybe
44:55
Speaker 11: a replacement center for this game. Donovan Jackson, our left
44:59
Speaker 11: guard first run draft kite from Ohio State, had a
45:02
Speaker 11: really good evening against the Bears on Monday night. I
45:04
Speaker 11: think he regressed a little bit on Sunday night against
45:09
Speaker 11: Atlanta and then left tackle. Uh, we've been you know,
45:13
Speaker 11: darrisaw heard his their tour ligaments and his knee around
45:18
Speaker 11: weeks I think it was Week six or it was
45:20
Speaker 11: a Thursday night game Week six or seven last year,
45:22
Speaker 11: and he hasn't been back. He's been he practicing training
45:25
Speaker 11: camp a little bit. They just want to make sure
45:27
Speaker 11: that when he does come back, he can stay back.
45:29
Speaker 11: And in the meantime, just In School was the guy
45:33
Speaker 11: who's been filling in for him, and then ultimately he
45:36
Speaker 11: got contested in the last game.
45:38
Speaker 5: And then Walter Rouse.
45:40
Speaker 11: Four year guy at Stanford went to one year at Oklahoma,
45:43
Speaker 11: ended up finishing the game. So we were not We
45:45
Speaker 11: were on our third string left tackle by the end
45:47
Speaker 11: of the game against Atlanta. You know, again, that group,
45:53
Speaker 11: the unique consistency they need to play together. Hopefully will
45:57
Speaker 11: be Christian deisow back, that'll be a huge shot in
46:00
Speaker 11: the arm, but will probably be starting Michael Michael Jurgens
46:05
Speaker 11: at center.
46:06
Speaker 4: Again, how's JJ McCarthy performed. He does have some skill players,
46:12
Speaker 4: I mean, Justin Jefferson's as good as there is. He
46:14
Speaker 4: does have skilled players to throw the football to. Has
46:17
Speaker 4: he had enough time and I don't. Obviously there have
46:21
Speaker 4: been times where he hasn't. But overall, from a percentage standpoint,
46:25
Speaker 4: do you feel like the offensive line has done a
46:27
Speaker 4: decent job or has it been subpar.
46:31
Speaker 11: No, I think they've done a decent job, especially in
46:34
Speaker 11: the running game. Getting Jordan Mason in free agency. He
46:38
Speaker 11: was just started the season last year at tailback for
46:42
Speaker 11: the San Francisco forty nine ers. Aaron Jones has been good.
46:47
Speaker 11: Aaron Jones right now as currently has a hamstring tweak,
46:50
Speaker 11: so you know, his status for Sunday is going to
46:52
Speaker 11: be very much up.
46:53
Speaker 5: In the air, you know.
46:56
Speaker 11: For JJ and for this offense, it's kind of it's
47:00
Speaker 11: kind of been like whack them all right. Sometimes it's
47:04
Speaker 11: on JJ's JJ McCarthy's the young quarterback. Sometimes when he
47:08
Speaker 11: gets the top of his drop, the protection's bad and
47:11
Speaker 11: he's getting hit right away. It's it's like you can't
47:16
Speaker 11: put a finger on it. I think that's the most
47:17
Speaker 11: frustrating part, you know, for fans in Minnesota. Unfortunately, when
47:24
Speaker 11: things are good or when things are bad, the quarterback
47:26
Speaker 11: gets too much credit or too much blame. But there's
47:30
Speaker 11: there's a lot of things that need to be fixed.
47:33
Speaker 11: We haven't run more than.
47:34
Speaker 5: I think forty six or forty seven plays.
47:37
Speaker 11: In a game yet offensively, so we have not been
47:40
Speaker 11: able to, you know, stat good plays. We scored twenty
47:46
Speaker 11: one points in the fourth quarter against the Chicago Bears
47:49
Speaker 11: two through the year and then one with JJ McCarthy
47:52
Speaker 11: on the ground. We haven't scored another in the other
47:55
Speaker 11: seven quarters that we've played. We haven't scored another touchdown,
47:58
Speaker 11: only only four field goals. So the consistency, the moving
48:04
Speaker 11: the chains, the stacking of good plays, ending drives of touchdowns,
48:09
Speaker 11: things that are kind of hallmarks for Kevin O'Connell offense,
48:14
Speaker 11: just we just haven't seen it yet. And you know,
48:17
Speaker 11: to say one guy or one thing is the problem
48:20
Speaker 11: is probably a little premature.
48:22
Speaker 5: It's like, you know, we've talked about the offensive.
48:24
Speaker 11: Line, you know, young quarterback now we have a new
48:28
Speaker 11: call he's a veteran, but we have you know, a
48:30
Speaker 11: new one at Carson Wentz coming in this week. So yeah, it's, uh,
48:36
Speaker 11: we don't we We've been going into we've gone two
48:39
Speaker 11: weeks now going into games and having no idea what
48:43
Speaker 11: we're going to get or what we're going to do.
48:45
Speaker 11: This is going to be week number three of the
48:47
Speaker 11: same thing. I mean, it's it's just we just don't
48:49
Speaker 11: know what this offense is going to look like because
48:52
Speaker 11: it's going to have to change due to injury, and
48:56
Speaker 11: you know, brand new quarterback with a different skill set,
48:59
Speaker 11: different set of experience, and different offensive line again and
49:03
Speaker 11: then you know, uh, maybe just one running back going
49:06
Speaker 11: into it. So you know, every we both have our
49:12
Speaker 11: have our our beers to cry into.
49:14
Speaker 5: Right, both teams.
49:16
Speaker 11: Accurate, Both both teams are facing a lot of adversity,
49:20
Speaker 11: no question, but there's still gonna be a game Sunday.
49:23
Speaker 5: You still got to find a way to win. You know.
49:25
Speaker 11: For some reason, we just are struggling with stopping the
49:28
Speaker 11: run a lot that has to do with being on
49:30
Speaker 11: the field and I average like another like twelve more
49:32
Speaker 11: minutes than the offense the last couple of games. That
49:35
Speaker 11: wears down a defense. Uh, so you know, we we
49:39
Speaker 11: have we have things to fix now. You guys like to,
49:42
Speaker 11: you know, throw the football a lot, and we haven't
49:44
Speaker 11: faced a ton of of passing the last couple of weeks.
49:49
Speaker 11: So Bira Murphy and Isaiah Rodgers holding up against your group.
49:53
Speaker 5: I mean, you know, Jamar Chase T.
49:55
Speaker 11: Higgins. We might get Harrison Smith back. That could be
49:59
Speaker 11: a shot arm for what we need in the back
50:01
Speaker 11: end of this defense.
50:03
Speaker 5: But we're gonna be without play Cashman, and we really.
50:06
Speaker 11: Need Andrew vandinkel back because he's he's definitely fits the system.
50:10
Speaker 11: He was out last week with a concussion, so I
50:13
Speaker 11: think we were down five total starters going into the
50:15
Speaker 11: game last week, and hopefully we'll get a few of
50:18
Speaker 11: those guys back.
50:20
Speaker 2: I think my last question has to do with defensive
50:22
Speaker 2: coordinator Brian Flores. I believe he had the highest blitz
50:25
Speaker 2: percentage of any DC in the NFL last season. Facing
50:29
Speaker 2: Jake Browning this week, what would you expect.
50:32
Speaker 11: Flores has had the highest blitz percentage I think over
50:35
Speaker 11: the last three seasons. And for Flores, it's it's about
50:40
Speaker 11: getting pressure on the quarterback and he'll blitz. He'll blitz
50:44
Speaker 11: enough to get a certain level. He wants a certain
50:47
Speaker 11: level and if you can't get it just playing base defense,
50:50
Speaker 11: then he's going to have to blitz.
50:51
Speaker 5: Now.
50:52
Speaker 11: The crazy thing with Jake Browning is you look at
50:55
Speaker 11: his game against Jacksonville.
50:57
Speaker 5: I mean, he did better.
50:59
Speaker 11: He's more explosive against the blitz than he was against
51:03
Speaker 11: the four man rush.
51:05
Speaker 5: However, if you.
51:07
Speaker 11: You know and and I just released a YouTube video
51:10
Speaker 11: on this. However, if if you get pressure on him,
51:15
Speaker 11: that's when he makes his mistakes normally when he when
51:18
Speaker 11: he's rolling on and so however, whatever it is you
51:21
Speaker 11: have to do, and however it is, you have to
51:23
Speaker 11: get to him. You got to make him feel the pressure.
51:25
Speaker 11: If you blitz and and don't and and somehow don't
51:28
Speaker 11: get there, well you know, he can throw a fade
51:32
Speaker 11: on the outside and and you know, turn it into
51:35
Speaker 11: a forty seven yard t Higgins touchdown like you saw
51:38
Speaker 11: last week. So you you have to be pretty prudent,
51:41
Speaker 11: I think with with him and say, yeah, well we're
51:45
Speaker 11: gonna we want to get pressure on him. However, you
51:48
Speaker 11: can't just you know, pin your years back and give
51:52
Speaker 11: away or play the hand, or let him know before
51:54
Speaker 11: snaff what exactly he's gonna get, because you know, he knows,
51:58
Speaker 11: he knows what he's doing with the football, and he's
52:01
Speaker 11: got a great receiving corps. So no matter what, you're
52:06
Speaker 11: just one pass, one explosive play away from putting up
52:10
Speaker 11: a touchdown. So I think he'll be a little my overall,
52:12
Speaker 11: I think he'll be a little more prudent and maybe
52:15
Speaker 11: a little bit less aggressive against Jake Browning this week.
52:18
Speaker 2: All right, thanks to Pete Bursi chand here's a quick
52:20
Speaker 2: invitation to join us for the Bengals pep Rally show
52:23
Speaker 2: this week. We'll be at the on the Rhine Eatery
52:26
Speaker 2: on the second floor above the downtown Kroger on Friday
52:29
Speaker 2: from three to six and our special guest in the
52:32
Speaker 2: final hour of the show will be defensive lineman bj Hill.
52:36
Speaker 2: If you can't make it, you can listen on ESPN
52:39
Speaker 2: fifteen thirty or by searching for ESPN fifteen thirty on
52:43
Speaker 2: the iHeartMedia app. That's going to do it for this
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