Speaker 1: I get everybody on Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The Running with the debut addition,
Speaker 1: because we look ahead to Sunday's game in Baltimore as
Speaker 1: the Bengals try to slow down the Ravens formidable running
Speaker 1: game led by Lamar Jackson and by the way, r
Speaker 1: ip to Eddie Van Halen, who passed away this week
Speaker 1: at the age of sixty five, one of the greatest
Speaker 1: guitarists of all time. Coming up, Dave Lapham joins me
Speaker 1: to discuss why Joe Mixon was so effective last week
Speaker 1: and if Alex Redman should remain at right guard even
Speaker 1: after Xavier sue Philo returns from injury. This week's one
Speaker 1: on one player interview is with safety Von Bell as
Speaker 1: we find out who gets more done before ten am,
Speaker 1: Bell or Horde. And finally, it's our no the Faux
Speaker 1: segment as we get an in depth look at the
Speaker 1: Ravens from a guy known as Nasty Nestor in Baltimore
Speaker 1: talk show host and author Nestor Apparichio. The Bengals Booth
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Speaker 1: thing since all of the great Bengals content out there.
Speaker 1: Here's a shout out to all of the folks all
Speaker 1: over the world producing tremendous content about the Bengals. And
Speaker 1: I don't mean the traditional outlets. I'm talking about the
Speaker 1: website creators, the podcasters, the film study analysts, and the
Speaker 1: message board operators. You guys are awesome. I just wish
Speaker 1: I had more time to read, watch, and listen to
Speaker 1: all of your content. But please know that your hard
Speaker 1: work and passion for the team is truly appreciated. Now
Speaker 1: time to bring in my broadcast partner, Dave Lapham. All right,
Speaker 1: let's start with some news that broke on Wednesday morning.
Speaker 1: Joe Mixon was name the AFC Offensive Player of the
Speaker 1: Week after his great game against Jacksonville. Twenty five carries,
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty one yards and two touchdowns, six
Speaker 1: sketches thirty yards and another touchdown, one hundred eighty one
Speaker 1: total yards which is a new career high. My question
Speaker 1: for you is why, and here are your options. A.
Speaker 1: Jacksonville stinks. B Alex Redman in the offensive line, we're
Speaker 1: really good. Ce. Whatever they did at the hospital on
Speaker 1: Saturday night when he had chess pains was powerful or
Speaker 1: d it was simply a matter of time. I think
Speaker 1: that the hospital is a little bit of a factor.
Speaker 1: I like from Joe said the doctors loved on him
Speaker 1: a little bit. That's a little injection. That's a little
Speaker 1: bit of relief right there. You get loved on a
Speaker 1: little bit, so you're able to play freely. I do
Speaker 1: think that as far as Joe run the football, it
Speaker 1: was a bunch of guys, you know, the offensive line,
Speaker 1: the receivers. They did a great job in the perimeter
Speaker 1: of the tight ends, uh, sealing edges when they had to,
Speaker 1: and you know, setting an edge. I think that it
Speaker 1: was it was an upgrade in performance across the board
Speaker 1: from a running game standpoint, because Joe has has had issues,
Speaker 1: you know, make having to make his first cutting his
Speaker 1: own backfield, you know, between the tackles, just outside the
Speaker 1: tackles multiple places, so there've been breakdowns everywhere in the
Speaker 1: receivers again, that's what makes a five yard run a
Speaker 1: fifteen yard run, or makes a five yard run a
Speaker 1: fift yard run and a touchdown, or like in Joe's case,
Speaker 1: when he busted outside bounced it. You know that was
Speaker 1: supposed to be between the tackles run. Giovanni Bernard bounced
Speaker 1: for eleven and then he bounced for thirty plus for
Speaker 1: a touchdown. Tyler Boyd was great on both of those.
Speaker 1: And now you put the cornerback in a sweat because
Speaker 1: he's you know, he wants to keep leverage and pinch
Speaker 1: you if you're going between the tackles. Well, he was
Speaker 1: going too far down inside to pinch him, way too
Speaker 1: far inside, never set an edge, and Giovanni made him pay.
Speaker 1: Then Joe made him pay. So once you start getting
Speaker 1: everybody doing what they're supposed to do and how they're
Speaker 1: supposed to do it, it can look like that for sure. Plus,
Speaker 1: I mean, you gave in all your choice, you gave
Speaker 1: a little bit of a little bit of reason for everything.
Speaker 1: Jacksonville's not up to snuff from what they've been going against.
Speaker 1: There's no question, absolutely no question. We will specifically get
Speaker 1: to Alex Redman's impact in just a bit, but did
Speaker 1: anything stand out about the offensive lines performance in general?
Speaker 1: I think Jonah is getting better on a weekly basis,
Speaker 1: and you know, he was lining up against the best
Speaker 1: guy and Alan was not well. I mean, we weren't
Speaker 1: talking about him, So when you're not talking about a guy,
Speaker 1: he's being held in check. He had the most bogus
Speaker 1: sack in history right when Joe got down at the
Speaker 1: end of the game. The whole post game, I'm saying
Speaker 1: it wasn't sacked at all, And then you look at
Speaker 1: the stats and technically he lost about two inches when
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow is trying to kill the quod right right.
Speaker 1: And you know, Joe, if Joe knew that was going
Speaker 1: in the books as a sack, he would have made
Speaker 1: sure even if he took a hit, he would have
Speaker 1: made sure to gain another foot to make sure his
Speaker 1: offensive line didn't get nicked with a sack because he
Speaker 1: knows that they've been under the heat big time, and
Speaker 1: he was obviously very proud of their performance and they
Speaker 1: made his life a lot easier during the course of
Speaker 1: that football game. I mean, Alan, Alan was responsible. He
Speaker 1: was the guy on the twist. He came inside on
Speaker 1: a super loop instead of just a tackle end twist
Speaker 1: with a tackle penetrates the end loops. He looped all
Speaker 1: the way inside to Trey Hopkins, and that was the
Speaker 1: guy that Trey Hopkins held that took the Tyler Boyd
Speaker 1: touchdown off the board. So he had an impact play there,
Speaker 1: you know, by forcing a penalty and again got a
Speaker 1: bogus sack, but on a snap by and Jonah had
Speaker 1: nothing to do with that one. You know, he came
Speaker 1: from the opposite side. Jonah went on that on that
Speaker 1: particular play. So every time that he lined up I
Speaker 1: think against Alan, I think it went pretty well for him.
Speaker 1: And and that's that was their best guy coming off
Speaker 1: the end for sure. So I think his his graphs
Speaker 1: going up. And he's that kind of guy, you know.
Speaker 1: I think he's not a guy that makes the same
Speaker 1: mistake over and over and over again. He learns from
Speaker 1: it and he compartmentalized it. And I think he's almost
Speaker 1: got you know, he's got like a computer like mind.
Speaker 1: He'll just click into that. I've been in this situation.
Speaker 1: Here's the tendencies here. My percentage of doing this is that,
Speaker 1: I mean he's got that uh, that computer like mind.
Speaker 1: I think that's really going to help him. He certainly
Speaker 1: looked good late in the game, getting out as the
Speaker 1: lead blocker on that one run around the left by
Speaker 1: Joe Mixon and literally taking the cornerback that he was
Speaker 1: blocking out of bounds. Yeah, chopped him down and you know,
Speaker 1: took him off his feet and rolled him out of bounds.
Speaker 1: It was like make that spare. You know, he knocked
Speaker 1: that pinned out and took it all the way through
Speaker 1: the gutter, you know, I mean, way to go. Yeah, exactly, exactly, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he was. He was that. That showed his athleticism. I
Speaker 1: mean he was. He was running with and really, Dan
Speaker 1: and I've been there. You're out in space and you're
Speaker 1: an eighteen wheeler and you're trying to stay with a
Speaker 1: fra a. It's got rack and pinion steering and it's
Speaker 1: changed in directionally whoa, whoa, you know I can't change
Speaker 1: and he's changed direction with him pretty well and uh
Speaker 1: and really made it. Made a hell of a play
Speaker 1: in space against a defensive back. I mean there, that's
Speaker 1: what they're That's what impressed me when I when I
Speaker 1: see Joe Burrow with unblocked free runner linebackers, unblocked free
Speaker 1: runner cornerbacks on blitzes, and he does his little pirouette
Speaker 1: and tight spin and spin away from these guys. Dude.
Speaker 1: Some athleticism, that's some short space ability, short space quickness,
Speaker 1: some suddenness to him. And Jonah was very good in
Speaker 1: short space, no doubt. On the other side of the ball,
Speaker 1: the Bengals defense finally held an opponent under one hundred
Speaker 1: rushing yards. Jacksonville had eighty nine in the game. It
Speaker 1: obviously helps to have the lead and forced Jacksonville to
Speaker 1: throw it down the stretch. But what did you think
Speaker 1: of the run defense in particular? Yeah, I thought it
Speaker 1: was better. Again, a forty yard run was nullified by penalty,
Speaker 1: you know, and that's that's helpful. That would that would
Speaker 1: have changed the dynamic of it, you know, pretty extensively.
Speaker 1: And uh, you know Robinson's he's a he sold me
Speaker 1: he's a legit that kids, that kid's a good football player.
Speaker 1: Instead of seventeen carries for seventy five yards, you would
Speaker 1: have had eighteen for one fifteen, which is almost six
Speaker 1: and a half you know a carry he ends up
Speaker 1: at four point four, which looks good, looks better than
Speaker 1: you know than it has. That's for sure, but I
Speaker 1: do think they you know, they did a better job.
Speaker 1: They did a nice job with the mush rush of
Speaker 1: controlling Minshew, you know, not getting yards. He does a
Speaker 1: great job of finding a lane and abusing it and
Speaker 1: getting yards up in the middle. He's more of a
Speaker 1: between the tackles runner and when he scrambles rather than
Speaker 1: he's not a real speed guy busted the outside, and
Speaker 1: they did a good job of preventing, you know, some
Speaker 1: of that because they've had their issues with quarterbacks, you know,
Speaker 1: rushing for yardage against him. Of course their face and
Speaker 1: the best of the NFL has to offer him this week.
Speaker 1: For the year, through four games, which is a quarter
Speaker 1: of the schedule, the Bengals are twenty seventh in the
Speaker 1: NFL and rushing yards allowed sixteenth and passing yards allowed.
Speaker 1: But I was looking at football outsiders because they have
Speaker 1: that dvoacetistic which takes into account the quality of the
Speaker 1: opposition and then the game situation. A five yard gain
Speaker 1: on third and ten is not as bad from a
Speaker 1: defensive perspective as a five yard gain on first and ten. Correct,
Speaker 1: So looking at that statistic, the Bengals defense actually checks
Speaker 1: in at sixteenth in the NFL, according to Football Outsiders,
Speaker 1: right in the middle of the pack. Are we starting
Speaker 1: to think that maybe the Bengals defense is closer to
Speaker 1: the middle of the pack than the bottom of the pack,
Speaker 1: You know, I do like I do like that they
Speaker 1: try to give you criterion. Instead of just five yards,
Speaker 1: there's five yard runs and then there's five yard runs.
Speaker 1: They're not all born the same and built the same, right,
Speaker 1: and the quality of opposition is figured in as well,
Speaker 1: And I like that, you know, I mean, look, look
Speaker 1: what Cleveland's doing. Cleveland went for over three hundred against Dallas,
Speaker 1: you know, all of a sudden, the two hundred yards
Speaker 1: given up against Clean Right, it's not good, but hell
Speaker 1: it's one hundred yards better than what Dallas did, you know.
Speaker 1: And they were supposed to win their division and be
Speaker 1: a playoff contender and everything else. So that's that's my point. Dan,
Speaker 1: this AFC North. If the Bengals had won the two
Speaker 1: games they should have won, they lose to Cleveland, but
Speaker 1: they'd be three and one, still be fourth in the
Speaker 1: division because a tiebreaker with a division loss, but everyone
Speaker 1: in the division would have three wins and nobody have
Speaker 1: more than one loss. In Pittsburgh, wouldn't have lost yet
Speaker 1: because they have a game that hasn't been played. But
Speaker 1: I mean the AFC North and the Bengals have, you know,
Speaker 1: two games against everybody. The AFC North is no joke.
Speaker 1: Ten four and one unbelievable, unbelievable. Can the Bengals petition
Speaker 1: the NFL to join the NFC East three twelve and
Speaker 1: one as a division on Philadelphia with the same one
Speaker 1: and two record one two and one record? Is the
Speaker 1: Bengals currently alone in first with Washington and Dallas tied
Speaker 1: for second at one and three and the Giants bringing
Speaker 1: up the rear and four? Yeah, I mean the Bengals
Speaker 1: would be in a virtual tie with the Eagles, both
Speaker 1: with one two and one records the top the division
Speaker 1: because they tied us a division rivalry game there if
Speaker 1: they were in that division, That's that's sick. That just
Speaker 1: tells you, you know, there's the penthouse and there's the outhouse,
Speaker 1: and there's there's houses in between. And I don't know
Speaker 1: how these you know, stats are going to be factored
Speaker 1: by you know, how you incorporate a variable that that
Speaker 1: says this team is exponentially better than that team or
Speaker 1: not even necessarily the team. This defensive lineman is on
Speaker 1: a crap team. But this defensive lineman is a Pro
Speaker 1: Bowl guy, and this one guy, it's hard for anybody
Speaker 1: to block this guy. So if you play against this guy,
Speaker 1: your numbers aren't going to be as good as you
Speaker 1: if you play against some schmo. You know, and I
Speaker 1: don't know how they ever factor that in. To me,
Speaker 1: there's nothing more true than looking at tape and trusting
Speaker 1: your eyeballs. And guy's doing a pretty good job against
Speaker 1: high caliber competition and more than handling his own against
Speaker 1: guys he should. That's a good football player because that
Speaker 1: guy that he's having just you know, a little bit
Speaker 1: more difficult time with. That guy's a Pro bowler. He's
Speaker 1: been there five times. There's a reason he's been there
Speaker 1: five times. He's not doing it just against this guy,
Speaker 1: he does it against almost every guy. So that's why
Speaker 1: those things, in my mind are so so tough to
Speaker 1: so so off to buy into. I mean, I think
Speaker 1: they're all great tools. And plus the other thing is
Speaker 1: sometimes coaches, honestly, I mean it's like the scheme put
Speaker 1: you in tough spot. How do you factor that in?
Speaker 1: He didn't block that guy that way because he was
Speaker 1: coached not too and you're taking points away from him,
Speaker 1: you're giving him demerits because he didn't get that guy block.
Speaker 1: That's what he's supposed to do. And the coach was like,
Speaker 1: don't worry about that. Well, don't worry about it, but
Speaker 1: pro football focused. And everybody's ripping my ass because you
Speaker 1: know they're saying that I didn't get this done. So
Speaker 1: it's hard. There are some variables that are still almost
Speaker 1: impossible to factor into those equations. They really are. We
Speaker 1: know the Bengals won't have Mike Daniels again this week.
Speaker 1: He's going to miss at least three games at the
Speaker 1: elbow injury. Gino Atkins will see. He's doing a little
Speaker 1: bit of individual stuff at practice, but it's still very
Speaker 1: much a question mark. There are some veteran accomplished defensive
Speaker 1: tackles out there, Marcel Darius, mister big stuffy snacks, Harrison,
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, Demata Peco. Normally I would say they won't
Speaker 1: do it, though, wait a few weeks with the guys
Speaker 1: that they have on the roster, and you know, hope
Speaker 1: that Geno's playing soon and Mike Daniels is back in
Speaker 1: three weeks, but as aggressive as they were this offseason,
Speaker 1: and they obviously acted quickly to get Mike Daniels before
Speaker 1: the season began. What do you think, do you think
Speaker 1: that they might nibble at one of those veteran defensive linemen.
Speaker 1: It all depends on how veteran they are. I think
Speaker 1: if I think there's an age cut off, I think
Speaker 1: if they feel like they bring in another veteran guy
Speaker 1: who hasn't really been doing that much and it's vulnerable
Speaker 1: to injury, that why take on another one? Yeah, slap
Speaker 1: another one, you know, on injury reserve or keep on
Speaker 1: the roster and hope he gets healthy. So I think
Speaker 1: the one that makes the most sense to me is
Speaker 1: Darius because he's not you know, he's the he's the
Speaker 1: younger one, he's played the most recently, you know, recent football.
Speaker 1: That's the AJ Green Andy Dalton draft class right right.
Speaker 1: And he's not a kid obviously he's not a kid,
Speaker 1: but I mean snacks and some of these I mean,
Speaker 1: don't dematas up there. You know, he's he's been around.
Speaker 1: So I think that's the that's the fear. I think
Speaker 1: that a lot of teams in the league have not
Speaker 1: bringing these guys in because you're bringing a guy that
Speaker 1: hasn't hasn't been playing football, and again there's shape and
Speaker 1: then there's football shape. And look at out. There's been
Speaker 1: like three or four achilles tears. I mean, the achilles
Speaker 1: tendon is the vulnerable thing after this coronavirus. It seems
Speaker 1: like tight ends, defensive backs. I mean they've they've been
Speaker 1: tearing achilles. The Bengals know all about it with CJ
Speaker 1: and uh. Tampa Bay lost Howard two an achilles tear,
Speaker 1: and I know there was a safety that I lost,
Speaker 1: going to lose the season two an achilles tears. So
Speaker 1: I think I think all of that is is part
Speaker 1: of it. But um, it's going to be interesting to see,
Speaker 1: you know, if they do decide to bring somebody in
Speaker 1: like that, and you know what, Dan Geno Atkins and hindsight,
Speaker 1: I R three weeks you could have put him on
Speaker 1: IR and maybe done something else. Then obviously they didn't
Speaker 1: think it was that serious. And now all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: here it is a month plus and he's it's you know,
Speaker 1: fifty fifty if he's going to be available this week? Man,
Speaker 1: what is what really would have been better to just
Speaker 1: have surgery or whatever? Would have taken to put him
Speaker 1: and then slap him one ir and as many weeks
Speaker 1: it took to give him back. I mean, hindsight's always
Speaker 1: twenty twenty with this stuff. But obviously this thing was
Speaker 1: more significant than what they initially thought. I think they
Speaker 1: put him week to week like right away, and man,
Speaker 1: it's been a lot of weeks, a lot of weeks.
Speaker 1: The Bengals had their fourth right guard in their first
Speaker 1: four games. Last Sunday, Alex Redman getting his first start
Speaker 1: of the year, and the Bengals passed for three hundred yards,
Speaker 1: ran for two hundred and five yards, and only gave
Speaker 1: up one sack. So how good was Alex Redman? Here
Speaker 1: are Jonah Williams and Zach Taylor. Alix is a great player.
Speaker 1: He's got a lot of He's got a lot of
Speaker 1: violence and physicality. I think that's the first thing that
Speaker 1: the coaches and his teammates ever knowses about him. As
Speaker 1: you know, he wants to call off the ball and
Speaker 1: just dominate people every play. And you know he did it.
Speaker 1: He did a lot of that, and so it was
Speaker 1: good to have him back. He fit in well, you know,
Speaker 1: he had good, good chemistry there with Trey and with
Speaker 1: Bobby and brought up physicality there and again, it wasn't perfect.
Speaker 1: I think he'd be the first one to tell you that,
Speaker 1: but there were some things that he did a nice
Speaker 1: job of, and he was the first person to tell
Speaker 1: us that. Immediately after the game last Sunday, Alex Redman said,
Speaker 1: I didn't play all that well, but he played better
Speaker 1: than Fred Johnson or Billy Price had been playing the
Speaker 1: previous couple of weeks. He did Dan and the very
Speaker 1: first looking looking back at the game, the very first
Speaker 1: run play, wif I thought he was so geeked out.
Speaker 1: I'm sure you know. Redman was like, I'm sure he
Speaker 1: had all his weight for the defensive times, a little
Speaker 1: old lay move, I mean he went whip. It was like, okay,
Speaker 1: choke it down a little bit. Let's let's let's calm.
Speaker 1: Let's calm this down. And then he started doing some
Speaker 1: of the things that that Alex Redmand does. He when
Speaker 1: I talk about finishing, it's like a lot of times
Speaker 1: guys hit and stalemate and a lot of people just
Speaker 1: stay in the stalemate. He will finish. He'll manipulate his hands,
Speaker 1: he'll roll his hips, he'll do things to get a
Speaker 1: second movement on a player and finish him, and he'll
Speaker 1: pancake people, knock him right on their backside, you know,
Speaker 1: knock him over, throw him down, whatever the case may be.
Speaker 1: That's where the you know, like the violence and the
Speaker 1: physicality that that guys are talking about, and that's what
Speaker 1: that's what he does. You know. He's a he's a
Speaker 1: martial arts guy, you know, and he's a wrestler. So
Speaker 1: every wrestle if played against me, and they would hunker down, knees,
Speaker 1: over the ankles, hips, over the knees, and was like
Speaker 1: a rooted tree. When Redmond kind of hunkers down, he's
Speaker 1: all load. You know, he's got that part of it,
Speaker 1: and he's got he's got the hands with the martial
Speaker 1: arts stuff. I mean, he'll like, you know, kung full
Speaker 1: you're in a heartbeat kind of thing with his hands.
Speaker 1: He just has to physically, he's nfl. He has to
Speaker 1: make sure that you know, he doesn't get overly geeked,
Speaker 1: you know, and just staying composed. Control and again that
Speaker 1: controlled rage, which I know every time I say it
Speaker 1: sounds stupid, but it is what you have to try
Speaker 1: to four and again, like we talked about Bobby Hart,
Speaker 1: Trey Hopkins. They know everybody's a simon and every play,
Speaker 1: not just theirs. So I think that was a big
Speaker 1: comforting thing for Alex Redman if he had any questions
Speaker 1: in the huddler at the line of scrim and she
Speaker 1: just leaned over those guys in like you know, and
Speaker 1: let me double check this. And that's that's big. And
Speaker 1: as a result, and see any assimon I was in
Speaker 1: there with him. You had the whiff like I talked about,
Speaker 1: but I didn't see him blocking wrong people. It didn't
Speaker 1: look like to me. I think Bobby and you know,
Speaker 1: and training need to take a bow with that. The
Speaker 1: Bengals signed Xavier Suefhila in the offseason to be the
Speaker 1: right guard. He was coming back from a broken leg
Speaker 1: last year and then he got hurt in Week one.
Speaker 1: He will be back at some point this year. But
Speaker 1: you know, Alex Redman's an interesting guy because he got
Speaker 1: into the NFL at a really young age. He's in
Speaker 1: his fourth year, he's only twenty five. Is a healthy
Speaker 1: head straight. Alex Redman a better right guard than Xavier Suephila.
Speaker 1: Do we know? Yeah? Do you think so? I think
Speaker 1: for what. I Yeah, from what I've seen for when
Speaker 1: I've seen a Xavier, and again it's just training camp,
Speaker 1: I thought he played best in the scrimmage. But I
Speaker 1: think I think Alex Redmond, if Alex Redman stays healthy
Speaker 1: and you know, plays at his highest level, I think
Speaker 1: his highest level might be higher than Xavier. Xavier Suefilo is.
Speaker 1: He's got a lot of intangible leadership. He's unbelievable in
Speaker 1: terms of all that you know, and that gives him,
Speaker 1: that gives him some some some juice, you know, in
Speaker 1: terms of what coaches think about. I mean with players
Speaker 1: like that, you're looking for added value, and he gives
Speaker 1: that added value and Alex hasn't given that added value
Speaker 1: at this point in time. But based on just pure
Speaker 1: physical abilities, I think Alex's upside is that much. Because
Speaker 1: Xavier has been injured. He broke his leg, now he's
Speaker 1: got an ankle injury. I mean, those are starting to
Speaker 1: pile up. When you start, I don't care if the
Speaker 1: house has a crack in the foundation, you know, like
Speaker 1: Bill Walton, his career into because of foot injuries, breaking
Speaker 1: the feet and all that you have footing, you know,
Speaker 1: ankle and knee injuries and stuff. Man all of a
Speaker 1: sudden it can't support the rest of the building. That's
Speaker 1: when you start to have some issues. And in honest
Speaker 1: Lee Dan Alex Redman hadn't done anything for so long.
Speaker 1: This is I mean. To go in and play as
Speaker 1: well as he did, in my mind was kind of remarkable.
Speaker 1: He's going to only get better. He better because he's
Speaker 1: going against Baltimore. Now, he's going against Klais Campbell and
Speaker 1: Brandon Williams. He's not going against you know, the guys
Speaker 1: he went against in Jacksonville, you know, Brian and whoever
Speaker 1: else they had inside there. It's a different ball game
Speaker 1: in Baltimore against those two beasts. NFL Next Gen Stats
Speaker 1: tracks something called average separation for wide receivers. It's on
Speaker 1: a catch or on an incompletion, so it doesn't take
Speaker 1: into account the passing route. It doesn't take into account
Speaker 1: plays where they weren't the person that the ball was
Speaker 1: thrown too, and maybe they were wide open, but this
Speaker 1: is strictly how much separation they have on balls thrown
Speaker 1: to them. Well, so far this season, AJ Green is
Speaker 1: tied for last in the NFL with former Bengals teammate
Speaker 1: Marvin Jones. Earlier this week, Zach Taylor was asked about
Speaker 1: AJ Green so far this year, that's not a concern
Speaker 1: for us or AJ. Aj is doing the right things
Speaker 1: and we got a lot of really good receivers. We
Speaker 1: got tight ends that can get targets, backs that can
Speaker 1: get targets. There's times where AJ is opening the balls
Speaker 1: going elsewhere for explosive plays, and I think that's the
Speaker 1: key to our success, is not forcing the ball to
Speaker 1: any weapon, just let it play out naturally. His attitude's unbelievable.
Speaker 1: You know, you watch that third and one tight zone
Speaker 1: run to mix him for the touchdown. You just watch
Speaker 1: his energy there. You know, that was in the third
Speaker 1: quarter and at that point he'd had one catch and
Speaker 1: just to see his celebration, the way he responded to
Speaker 1: when his teammates made a big play just says everything
Speaker 1: you need to know about AJ. And his time will come.
Speaker 1: You know, there's gonna be moments where he has unbelievable
Speaker 1: games and he's gonna help us win here, and you know,
Speaker 1: it's just it's a it's tremendous to have that guy
Speaker 1: as a captain and part of this offense and this
Speaker 1: team coach. When you watch AJ Green on film, does
Speaker 1: he look like the same player that you know he's
Speaker 1: been for the past decade. Oh yeah, yeah, he's he's
Speaker 1: a you know, he comes off the ball and you
Speaker 1: can see the respect that he gets from the DBS
Speaker 1: and UM. Again, there's opportunities there where we're you know,
Speaker 1: you call the ball thinking it might go there number one,
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden it pops off somewhere else
Speaker 1: for UM a big game somewhere else. So again, I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna I'm not gonna second guess those decisions. One
Speaker 1: catch three yards for AJ Green last week on the
Speaker 1: first play from scrimmage. Yeah, it's it's been a it's
Speaker 1: been a tough run for aj in the first month
Speaker 1: of the season, first four games. I asked John Harbaugh
Speaker 1: during the pressor that he had about AJ Green. I said,
Speaker 1: when you watch AJ on tape, you know, do you
Speaker 1: still see the same guy? And remember the on NFL
Speaker 1: films or NFL Network John Harrows saying we were going
Speaker 1: to cover this guy. I mean, AJ was just that's
Speaker 1: when he's just ripping the Ravens apart multiple times, and
Speaker 1: he said, you know, yeah, he's ripped. It's the same.
Speaker 1: He didn't. He wasn't effusive in his praise. He didn't
Speaker 1: rip him. Didn't think he was gonna rip him. But
Speaker 1: he didn't really throw all lavish praise out there like
Speaker 1: I thought. He just stayed away from the totally, which
Speaker 1: I don't know. I will say, get my COVID test
Speaker 1: this week and I was in the I was right
Speaker 1: behind Aj in the trailer and I'm telling you, looking
Speaker 1: at him, he's unbelievable looking athlete. I mean he is
Speaker 1: if you put requirements into a computer, would spend our
Speaker 1: Aj Green physically. The Bengals face the reigning unanimous MVP
Speaker 1: this week for the first of two times this year,
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson. So far this year, he leads Baltimore in
Speaker 1: rushing yards two hundred and thirty five through four games.
Speaker 1: He's averaging six yards to carry. He has a passer
Speaker 1: rating of one eleven point three, seven touchdown passes, and
Speaker 1: one pick. Some of the Bengals will be seeing him
Speaker 1: for the first time, including rookie linebacker a Keen Davis Gaither,
Speaker 1: who has asked this week if it's a little bit
Speaker 1: overwhelming to face the prospect of taking on Lamar Jackson. Now,
Speaker 1: I want to say, oh, women, just football, how do
Speaker 1: you prepare for that? Though? This stick? And so you'd
Speaker 1: satany We all know that he's fast, he can cut,
Speaker 1: and he just got trying to take away something not
Speaker 1: gonna take away to spee. So having great angles, trying
Speaker 1: to give him a one way route and to try
Speaker 1: to give him on a grown How many times did
Speaker 1: you see Lamar's spin move that long touchdown he had
Speaker 1: against the Bengals last year before you even came here.
Speaker 1: I'll send it quite a bit trying to send it.
Speaker 1: He's tired of seeing it. He's not alone in that
Speaker 1: Bengals locker room, obviously, every guy who was on the
Speaker 1: field in that game last year at Paul Brown Stadium
Speaker 1: has been tired of seeing that replay. The Ravens are
Speaker 1: three and one, the one loss at home to Kansas City,
Speaker 1: and the Chiefs did a great job against Lamar Jackson,
Speaker 1: particularly in the passing game, ninety seven passing yards, a
Speaker 1: passer rating of seventy three point one. Any sort of
Speaker 1: formula provided by the Kansas City Chiefs, you know my
Speaker 1: thing is, and I'm not sure I'd have to study
Speaker 1: the Chiefs tape a lot more than I did but
Speaker 1: if you can get a lead, play with the lead
Speaker 1: and then make them think they have to throw the football,
Speaker 1: because I mean, they're human. Greg Roman's human in that regard.
Speaker 1: I mean, if they fall behind by a couple of scores,
Speaker 1: you know, he'll probably try to throw the football a
Speaker 1: little bit more. You have to make Lamar Jackson throw
Speaker 1: outside the numbers. He with his RPO. A lot of
Speaker 1: his passing yards are off the RPO in the middle
Speaker 1: of the football field. And that's where Andrews, the tight
Speaker 1: end will gash you because linebackers are sucking up. Safeties
Speaker 1: are nosy because of that great running game. And then
Speaker 1: he's killing you in the middle of the football field.
Speaker 1: So and that's the ball's not in the air very long.
Speaker 1: You know, attack in the middle of football field. Make
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson throw it outside, make him throw it toward
Speaker 1: the numbers, and and you know, get a lead and
Speaker 1: try to expand on that lead. The thing about Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson that's so tough in the running game. Coaches work
Speaker 1: all week in the running game trying to scheme how
Speaker 1: they can out gap the opponent, get one more person
Speaker 1: at the point of attacking the opponent. When it's eleven
Speaker 1: on eleven football. That's one more gap, that's one more person.
Speaker 1: And normally in the NFL because normally quarterback hands off
Speaker 1: and watches. Now this guy is running it, so you
Speaker 1: can get an extra helmet at the point of attack
Speaker 1: and you can get out gap. So you have to defensively,
Speaker 1: you have to play your gap control responsibility. And can
Speaker 1: I just jump in when you say eleven on eleven football,
Speaker 1: somebody out there is going, well, what's he talking about?
Speaker 1: It's always eleven on eleven football. No, if you picture
Speaker 1: a normal running play, quarterback hands it off, running back
Speaker 1: gets the ball, quarterback stands behind the play twiddling his thumbs. Sure,
Speaker 1: so now you've got nine guys trying to block. Eleven
Speaker 1: people removing the person who has the ball and the
Speaker 1: quarterback who's doing nothing. Right, if the quarterback runs the ball,
Speaker 1: now you've got an extra person, got an extra get
Speaker 1: can block, got an extra gap. You know next like
Speaker 1: gap they call power counters, it's gap run game instead
Speaker 1: of you know, inside outside zone. Now you're blocking down.
Speaker 1: You're trying to get extra bodies at the point of attack.
Speaker 1: So now when you have him running the ball, you
Speaker 1: have extra he's the point of attack, like we just describe,
Speaker 1: plus the guy that's running it might be the most athletic,
Speaker 1: fastest guy in the field. When he's definitely the most
Speaker 1: athletic of almost anybody in the National Football League, and
Speaker 1: he's probably in the top five in terms of raw speed.
Speaker 1: When you have that running the football with extra blockers
Speaker 1: in front of him by scheme, and I mean recard
Speaker 1: that big defensive linemen slash fullback, three and eleven pound
Speaker 1: guy that's an extra helmet at the point of attack.
Speaker 1: He's crushing people. The only guy in the NFL last
Speaker 1: year they had over one hundred snaps offensively, defensively and
Speaker 1: special teams. This guy, Patrick Ricard. This guy is a gem,
Speaker 1: I mean, the unsung hero that football team. So you
Speaker 1: have big tight ends, you got a three hundred eleven
Speaker 1: pound fullback, and you get that that son of a
Speaker 1: gun behind them. You know, Orlando Zeus Brown can eclipse
Speaker 1: the sun. You know, you get these big offensive linemen
Speaker 1: on the edge, Zeus Brown poom, you know, coming off
Speaker 1: the ball, tight ends, fullback, and then here comes this
Speaker 1: little fleet footed son of a gun. Is you know,
Speaker 1: he makes you miss. I mean, you know, he's like
Speaker 1: he's ripping your acls MCLs lcl's everything. Your knees are
Speaker 1: ripping up as you're trying to change direction with this guy.
Speaker 1: The Ravens defensive coordinator is Wink Martindale, Not Winston Conrad Martindale,
Speaker 1: the legendary host of such game shows as Tik Tag
Speaker 1: Doe and High Rollers. No, this is Don Wink Martindale,
Speaker 1: the linebackers coach at u See for three years under
Speaker 1: Rick Minter, and this guy loves to blitz. On most plays,
Speaker 1: there will be six guys right up there at the
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage, filling all the gaps. Sometimes all six
Speaker 1: will go after Joe Burrow. More often than not it'll
Speaker 1: be five. Sometimes it might be as few as three.
Speaker 1: What you don't know from snap to snap is how
Speaker 1: many are coming and where they're coming from. Right, That's
Speaker 1: the bottom line. It's all about confusion, uncertainty, being unsettled.
Speaker 1: You know, make the offensive line makes some sort of mistake,
Speaker 1: either from an assignment standpoint or a technique standpoint, setting
Speaker 1: for the wrong person, taking a false step the wrong way,
Speaker 1: you know, not being able to trust your eyes. You know,
Speaker 1: defensive players talk about trusting their eyes. I can tell
Speaker 1: you when a team's doing what the Baltimore Ravens do.
Speaker 1: As an offensive lineman, you have to trust your eyes
Speaker 1: as well, and Link Martindale makes that tough. I mean,
Speaker 1: they are definitely a challenge. And but if you can
Speaker 1: beat him, if somehow you can make a couple of
Speaker 1: plays and make him a little bit hesitant about doing that,
Speaker 1: he'll go when you're inside the twenty, he's bringing it.
Speaker 1: It's automatic. Just just count on it. It's happening inside
Speaker 1: the twenty, inside the twin, inside the ten yard and
Speaker 1: he'll go zero coverage. Nobody in the middle of football field.
Speaker 1: He'll just go zero coverage and just and try to
Speaker 1: knock you backwards. He is as an aggressive a defensive
Speaker 1: coach as there is in any level of football, honestly,
Speaker 1: And like I said, almost fifty five percent of the
Speaker 1: time they blitzed last year. That led the league. It's
Speaker 1: a Baltimore in Pittsburgh are one and two, both over
Speaker 1: fifty percent of the time bringing it. And maybe they're
Speaker 1: onto something. They're the two best on two of the
Speaker 1: best defenses in the National Football League. They just so
Speaker 1: happened to both be in the AFC North and you
Speaker 1: got a rookie quarterback Joe Burrow trying to figure it out.
Speaker 1: It's going to be very very interesting dynamic when he
Speaker 1: faces those defenses. And yet, so far this year, Baltimore
Speaker 1: only has one more sack than the Bengals do. Now.
Speaker 1: Last week against Washington, the Ravens had three and they
Speaker 1: hit Dwayne Haskins nine times. Matthew Judon number ninety nine,
Speaker 1: had five of those quarterback hits. But up until then, Cleveland, Houston,
Speaker 1: Kansas City had done a nice job of at least
Speaker 1: avoiding sacks and interceptions. They only have two interceptions, but
Speaker 1: they've forced six fumbles and recovered five of them. That's
Speaker 1: where they've done their damage as a defense. They've knocked
Speaker 1: the ball out of people's hands five fumble recoveries, tied
Speaker 1: for second most in the National Football League. And another
Speaker 1: thing that this Ravens defense has done, they've pitched a
Speaker 1: shout out in the third quarter. They've they've not allowed
Speaker 1: one point in the third quarter. Even the Kansas City
Speaker 1: Chiefs in the third quarter scored squadouche. I mean, they've
Speaker 1: outscored the opponent twenty to nothing in the third quarter.
Speaker 1: So you know there's multiple circumstances and reasons for that.
Speaker 1: If the Baltimore Ravens had lost a bunch of tosses
Speaker 1: and they got the ball to start the second half
Speaker 1: and they go on one of their patented seven and
Speaker 1: a half eight nine minute drives, the quarter is almost
Speaker 1: done anyway, So you have minimal possessions in that quarter,
Speaker 1: depending on how well the offense is played. But I
Speaker 1: mean to not give up a point in four games
Speaker 1: in the third quarter. That's saying something about a defensive
Speaker 1: football team. After allowing Joe Burrow to get hit seventeen
Speaker 1: times in the Philadelphia game, the Bengals offensive line cut
Speaker 1: that number down to five last week against Jacksonville. That
Speaker 1: was excellent looking at the season so far, Burrows dropped
Speaker 1: back to pass two hundred and three times, second most
Speaker 1: in the NFL to Dak Prescott. He's been pressured seventy
Speaker 1: five times, according to Pro Football Focus. That is thirty
Speaker 1: six point nine percent of the time that he's dropped
Speaker 1: back to pass, he's been pressured, and that is the
Speaker 1: eighth highest rate in the NFL. Other guys who have
Speaker 1: been pressured more frequently Kirk Cousins forty one percent. Fellow
Speaker 1: rookie Justin Herbert forty one percent, Daniel Jones from the
Speaker 1: Giants forty one percent, Sam Donald forty percent. None of
Speaker 1: those guys are doing very well, at least in terms
Speaker 1: of wins and losses. Then you've got Russell Wilson thirty
Speaker 1: seven point seven percent, slightly ahead of Joe Burrow, And
Speaker 1: of course right now he's probably the leading candidate to
Speaker 1: be MVP. Sixteen touchdown passes in the first four games,
Speaker 1: first time it's ever happened, sixteen touchdown passes four game.
Speaker 1: And when you look at the numbers, Joe Burrow one
Speaker 1: hundred and sixteen four hundred and seventy seven, second most
Speaker 1: attempts and completions in the National Football League, Jackson sixty
Speaker 1: seven for ninety eight. He's almost half of Borrow's numbers
Speaker 1: in both categories. And that's why they he's been sacked
Speaker 1: eleven times, they're thirty first in the league and sacked
Speaker 1: per pass attempt because he hasn't been dropping back as
Speaker 1: much obviously in eleven sacks. The Bengals have given up
Speaker 1: fifteen sacks. But Borrows thrown at one hundred and seventy
Speaker 1: seven times and Jackson's only thrown at ninety eight. So
Speaker 1: Jackson obviously is not making quick reads with the football,
Speaker 1: holding on to it, you know, creating, extending and doing
Speaker 1: all the things like an athletic guy like him want.
Speaker 1: I mean, they're not Their game is not for Jackson
Speaker 1: to be in the pocket, two reads in the front side,
Speaker 1: get to the backside, check it dot. Now that's not
Speaker 1: That's not Jackson's game at all. So it's going to
Speaker 1: be contrasting styles. And I wonder how aggressive the Bengals
Speaker 1: will be in terms of blitzing Jackson if they get
Speaker 1: in favorable down in distant situations, do you blitz them?
Speaker 1: I know one thing, if you blitz and play man.
Speaker 1: If the blitz doesn't get there and the guys their
Speaker 1: backs turn trying to cover people down the field, he'll
Speaker 1: rip you. He will rip you. So do you play
Speaker 1: like soft zone and don't blieve? I mean, these are
Speaker 1: some of the problems that start to happen if you
Speaker 1: don't get some sort of lead against these Baltimore Ravens.
Speaker 1: One update on one of the veteran defensive tackles we
Speaker 1: were talking about, Damon snax Harrison is no longer on
Speaker 1: the market. The thirty one year old run Stopper was
Speaker 1: signed to the Seahawks practice squad on Wednesday. Now time
Speaker 1: for this week's one on one player conversation. This week,
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor said there are two keys to slowing down
Speaker 1: Baltimore's lethal rushing attack. Discipline and tackling. Those words are
Speaker 1: perfect for safety Von Bell. He's one of the best
Speaker 1: tackling safeties in the NFL and his discipline on and
Speaker 1: off the field is legendary. We're spending a few minutes
Speaker 1: with Bengal safety Von Bell. We are recording this on
Speaker 1: Wednesday morning at ten am. I got up a few
Speaker 1: two hours ago. I've had coffee and toast. I've done
Speaker 1: some reading and research. When did you get up and
Speaker 1: what have you accomplished today? Yeah, but like a fourth fifteen,
Speaker 1: did my little workout this morning, did my you know,
Speaker 1: had my breakfast made and ready to go. Hit the
Speaker 1: weight room with the fellas this morning, and I got
Speaker 1: it going and did a couple of meetings and ready
Speaker 1: to go. Von Bell won Dan Horde. Nothing in the
Speaker 1: scoreboard of what's been accomplished on a Wednesday morning. Who
Speaker 1: are some of your fellow early birds? Oh yeah, Tony Brown, Yeah,
Speaker 1: Winston Rose. Yeah, a couple more guys on there, but
Speaker 1: a couple of my dvs, but a couple of linebackers too.
Speaker 1: So you know, they're getting up with me a little bit.
Speaker 1: Meet me in the weight room. Uh you know, still
Speaker 1: some crusted eyes, but they're getting up and going and
Speaker 1: they're just trying to get better each and every day.
Speaker 1: And I appreciated and doing that making a team better.
Speaker 1: For visiting with von Bell. The first time you met
Speaker 1: with the Cincinnati made you were wearing a baseball hat
Speaker 1: that said no bull. That's a company that makes athletic gear.
Speaker 1: But is there a message there about your approach to
Speaker 1: football and life? For sure as everything that's who I
Speaker 1: am as how I was raised, and well, go ahead
Speaker 1: and get it every day. And we just challenge ourselves
Speaker 1: each and every day to find that one percent to
Speaker 1: get better. And that's where that had comes in and play.
Speaker 1: But no bull, no bs, and just keep going buying.
Speaker 1: People that are watching the games on TV will notice
Speaker 1: that you are the guy on defense with that little
Speaker 1: green dot on the back of your helmet, meaning that
Speaker 1: you are the person that's in communication with defensive coordinator
Speaker 1: lou Anna Rumo. And then relay the play call to
Speaker 1: your teammates. Have you done that before? And do you
Speaker 1: like the responsibility. This is my first year doing it,
Speaker 1: but I've always been a big communicated on the defense,
Speaker 1: and but as an honor to have it this year
Speaker 1: and I love the role, love being in charge, and
Speaker 1: love having my troops out there listen to me and
Speaker 1: ready to go to Warwell does it take any getting
Speaker 1: used to to have that voice in your ear as
Speaker 1: you're getting ready for the play. For sure, we gotta
Speaker 1: create anticipate the play in the situation high is you
Speaker 1: gonna call the game and get a look tough when
Speaker 1: you know two million drives or if they're doing harry
Speaker 1: up offense trying to get a call in. But we
Speaker 1: just trying to use our signals then. But other than that,
Speaker 1: everything's pretty smooth. Comma collected and reason. Just get to
Speaker 1: play in and just reiterated throughout the whole defense, so
Speaker 1: everybody get to play call so we could play fast.
Speaker 1: We're spending a few minutes with von Bell. When you
Speaker 1: signed as a free agent with the Bengals, I reached
Speaker 1: out to UC's head coach Luke Fickle, who is your
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator at Ohio State, and he said, from the
Speaker 1: day you arrived on campus at OSU, you had a presence,
Speaker 1: an it factor that commanded respect. Is that an intentional
Speaker 1: thing on your part or does it just come naturally?
Speaker 1: I think it a little both. You know, coming into
Speaker 1: the league now everything is earned. It's not just given.
Speaker 1: Out there and show what you can do and what
Speaker 1: you can bring, and that's how you gain respect on
Speaker 1: the locker room and throughout the league. And there's just
Speaker 1: being you every day, just going to work, putting your
Speaker 1: hard head on and really just going out there just
Speaker 1: taking care of what you could take care of. And
Speaker 1: it's really just going out there being you and just
Speaker 1: making the plays that come to you, and just really
Speaker 1: just having given everybody respect and really just being you,
Speaker 1: having a outgoing personality and just challenging everybody. And this
Speaker 1: is being me, and I think it just comes naturally.
Speaker 1: But also I'll work at it every day. Were getting
Speaker 1: up every morning with my routine and I really just
Speaker 1: sticking to it and sticking to the process and just
Speaker 1: trusting the process and just letting myself just be myself
Speaker 1: and everything else gonna take care of yourself. So this
Speaker 1: week you face the Ravens and Lamar Jackson. You got
Speaker 1: a little taste of facing him a couple of years
Speaker 1: ago when you were still with the Saints and he
Speaker 1: was a rookie. He wasn't starting yet, but he did
Speaker 1: get in for several plays in that game. Did it
Speaker 1: make a big impression? Oh, for sure. We know what
Speaker 1: he could do. His legs could beat you and um,
Speaker 1: and that's what why he's so special. He's could dual threat,
Speaker 1: he could throw it, he he could do it all.
Speaker 1: And what really, you gotta make him play left handed?
Speaker 1: And I'm I'm excited the guys that excited on the
Speaker 1: defensive side for this challenge. We'll build him momentum each
Speaker 1: and every week. We're getting better each and every week
Speaker 1: at practice, and uh, we just keep on stacking them.
Speaker 1: And it was a challenge we go to have this week,
Speaker 1: and uh, I can't wait get to it. When you
Speaker 1: say make him play left handed, you obviously not being
Speaker 1: literal there. What do you mean? Oh yeah, make him
Speaker 1: drop back passing. Um that bread and butter is running
Speaker 1: gap scheme runs and uh, you know they got him.
Speaker 1: They got a bunch of running backs. Say they can
Speaker 1: run the ball pretty well and and that, and that's
Speaker 1: what they do well, and that's how they get guys
Speaker 1: on their toes with the run game, and they can
Speaker 1: set the boot game off that and the past game
Speaker 1: off that. So you gotta stop the run and make
Speaker 1: them play and back uh drop back passing game and
Speaker 1: really just make them play left handed. There's no other
Speaker 1: team right now that plays it's quite like they do.
Speaker 1: They'll line up with two tight ends most of the time.
Speaker 1: They've got a three hundred and eleven pound fullback in there.
Speaker 1: How challenging is it just to face the team that's
Speaker 1: a little bit different from everybody else. It's very different.
Speaker 1: You know, they're in the pistol offense, and they got
Speaker 1: a lot of the gap scheme runs and a whole
Speaker 1: bunch of turble emotions and they always just trying to
Speaker 1: draw your eyes. You just got to reach your keys
Speaker 1: and just play fast and get down in there as
Speaker 1: it go be a big runt emphasis gets passed higher early,
Speaker 1: make go plays and tackle, and we just got sworn
Speaker 1: to the ball, get all eleven hands to the ball,
Speaker 1: and we're just to go out there and just have
Speaker 1: fun to reach keys. You're answering these questions with a
Speaker 1: smile on your face. It sounds like you relish this
Speaker 1: challenge for sure. Every week it's a new opponent, a
Speaker 1: new challenge, and you just trying to hit from the
Speaker 1: head coaching and defensive coordinator and rally the troops and
Speaker 1: give us a mission and we got to go accomplish that.
Speaker 1: And that's the beauty of this NFL life. You get
Speaker 1: sixteen weeks to that and you just go out there
Speaker 1: with your soldiers. Is you get ready to go getting
Speaker 1: the foxhole? Let's go to walk last thing for Bengal safety.
Speaker 1: Von Bell. Your four games into your Bengals tenure, are
Speaker 1: you still adjusting to team and scheme or does it
Speaker 1: feel like you're pretty much, you know, entrenched in this
Speaker 1: organization at this point. Oh, you know it's still different
Speaker 1: from me. But you know I got that very well.
Speaker 1: So everything and some nuances at times, but I'm trying
Speaker 1: to stick to it, keep on growing within the system
Speaker 1: and within the locker room. And I'm really just taking it,
Speaker 1: honed it in and writly, just enjoying a moment. It's
Speaker 1: the nobul philosophy. God, I appreciate the time. Best of
Speaker 1: luck this week, Thank you so much, Yes, sir, now
Speaker 1: time to turn our attention to this week's opponent, the
Speaker 1: three and one Baltimore Ravens, And few people know the
Speaker 1: team better than Nestor Apparisio from w NST Radio and
Speaker 1: the author of two books about the team. He joined
Speaker 1: Dave Lapham and me this week on the Bengals Game
Speaker 1: Plan Show. So, the Ravens are three and one, they're
Speaker 1: three wins, are all by at least two touchdowns. They're
Speaker 1: one loss, fourteen points to Kansas City at home. Why
Speaker 1: can't John Harbob beat Andy Reid? Well, I don't know.
Speaker 1: You know, some people would say, why can't Lamar Jackson
Speaker 1: beat Patrick Mahomes. Maybe they're not on the field at
Speaker 1: the same time, But look, they played three times and
Speaker 1: the games are getting the differences in the games have
Speaker 1: gotten more wide, is not closer together. And you know,
Speaker 1: Lamar is going through the sophomore thing. He's gonna, you know,
Speaker 1: see everybody this time around. The Bengals spent much of
Speaker 1: the offseason right worried about those ankles that were broken
Speaker 1: in the middle of the field there. Last year he
Speaker 1: embarrassed a lot of teams, a lot of defenses embarrassed
Speaker 1: these d LA rams last year a lot of teams
Speaker 1: had extra time on their hands, and that no one
Speaker 1: was out socializing in the spring, and I'm sure the
Speaker 1: coaches everywhere were scheming up a way to stop him,
Speaker 1: specifically in this division right where you guys in Cleveland, Pittsburgh,
Speaker 1: that he's the league MVP, and what the Titans did
Speaker 1: last year to him, and what the Chargers did the
Speaker 1: year before, not just in frustrating him, but getting the
Speaker 1: Ravens behind. This is this offense has not yet come
Speaker 1: from behind. Now you'd say, well, they were fourteen and two, right,
Speaker 1: you don't have to come from behind often. But this
Speaker 1: isn't the John Elway down ten points, four minutes left
Speaker 1: to go, pull the rabbit out of the hat kind
Speaker 1: of offense. This is the offense that gets up on you.
Speaker 1: That's a defense the forces a turnover, plays a little
Speaker 1: field position, plays a lot second and one because they
Speaker 1: run the ball aggressively and do it well with Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson and a three headed monster. And then they're up
Speaker 1: on you thirteen to three, and they're up on you
Speaker 1: twenty to ten, and then they just run the ball
Speaker 1: and shorten the game. It's different when the other team
Speaker 1: gets the lead and as much as the defenses have
Speaker 1: played well, and the Chargers in that playoff game had
Speaker 1: a great scheme sort of a ninety two defense, and
Speaker 1: the Titans just matched up well and frustrated Lamar early
Speaker 1: and stopped them on a four down. And you know,
Speaker 1: Harball will go for it on his own thirty two
Speaker 1: yard line fourth and one. We're gonna go for it.
Speaker 1: When you don't make it, then you have a problem.
Speaker 1: And that is really what happened the Titans game last year.
Speaker 1: The Chiefs, however, was more about just getting up on
Speaker 1: them and making the Ravens play differently than they want
Speaker 1: to play. And if you can do that, you might
Speaker 1: have some success, because this offense has had built to
Speaker 1: chuck it around and have a second half where they
Speaker 1: throw the ball twenty eight or thirty times. Interesting this morning,
Speaker 1: John Harbaugh, when he had his conference call with the
Speaker 1: local media here in Cincinnati, you know, I asked him
Speaker 1: about how many different defenses have you seen over the
Speaker 1: last couple of years, how many twists and wrinkles and
Speaker 1: everything else have you seen in an effort to stop Jackson?
Speaker 1: And he said, you know, we know going into the
Speaker 1: game that they're not going to run the defense they've
Speaker 1: run all year long, necessarily, and that's not easy for us.
Speaker 1: He goes, as coaches, we're basically trying to look at
Speaker 1: what they're doing dee sensively and what would be the
Speaker 1: next adaptation they would do to handle Jacksons. So he said,
Speaker 1: we're guessing. We don't know what they're going to run.
Speaker 1: So he said, it's not easy for us. Sometimes game
Speaker 1: planning as well, I'm thinking that it's not easy maybe
Speaker 1: to necessarily game plan specifically against certain defenses. But man,
Speaker 1: this offense you can call it old school, you can
Speaker 1: call it revolutionary, but it's contrarian to what everybody else
Speaker 1: is doing in the NFL, and it's hard to prepare
Speaker 1: for in a short week, and it makes people do
Speaker 1: things they haven't done, and that's where mistakes happen. And
Speaker 1: that's where Baltimore gashes people when those defenses that they're
Speaker 1: not running things they are comfortable with, make mistakes. Well
Speaker 1: constructed defenses who've communicated, who've been together for a period
Speaker 1: of time are going to fare better because for me,
Speaker 1: it's all about communication right and trying to stop him.
Speaker 1: You need to identify the ball, and I tell my
Speaker 1: audience in Baltimore this and I'll tell your audience. I
Speaker 1: was out in LA last year and you guys are
Speaker 1: all fans. You remember the groofy purple uniforms out there,
Speaker 1: and Eric Weddle looked like standing mustard, you know. And
Speaker 1: I know I know well from his years in Baltimore,
Speaker 1: and he's playing for the Rams, and he had spent
Speaker 1: a year, you know, a watching Lamar, being Lamar's teammate,
Speaker 1: trying to win. He was a part of that team
Speaker 1: when the Chargers came into beat him and he said
Speaker 1: to several Baltimore reporters up in the you know, after
Speaker 1: they lost forty five to six, Eric Wedel said, I
Speaker 1: practiced against it. I preached it to everyone what we
Speaker 1: needed to do. And then you didn't know where the
Speaker 1: ball was and and you had no idea where the
Speaker 1: ball was going. So even in a communicative defense, that's
Speaker 1: an issue. Then you need to make sure there's there's
Speaker 1: two three bodies wherever the ball's going and flowing to
Speaker 1: the ball, and you better be able to cover on
Speaker 1: the backside, because Hollywood Brown will get behind you, Mark
Speaker 1: Andrews will get underneath you. All the things that we've
Speaker 1: seen Patrick Mahomes do. We've seen the Ravens do to
Speaker 1: be effective offensively, but that's when they're getting after you
Speaker 1: in second and one and second and two and grinding
Speaker 1: you down. And that's quite frankly, we're at the quarter pole, guys.
Speaker 1: There's no Marshall Yamda in this offense anymore. So it
Speaker 1: has looked differ and there were questions for John Harball
Speaker 1: and Wednesday about why it's looked different. Will you take
Speaker 1: a Hall of Fame guard out, Dave, I know you'd
Speaker 1: have a few things to say about that. Oh, that's
Speaker 1: my guy, Marshall Yonda. Well, we've wondered from what fourteen
Speaker 1: years now what we looked like without Marshall Yonda in
Speaker 1: the same way that you guys are trying to figure
Speaker 1: out post Wentworth and post you know, the offense that
Speaker 1: you have when Marvin was around. Everyone's in a transitional
Speaker 1: phase and the Ravens have really good football players. I mean,
Speaker 1: this is a really good team. This isn't about Lamar
Speaker 1: or just about Horrorball. This is about them drafting Well,
Speaker 1: this is about them stealing Marcus Peters and signing him.
Speaker 1: This is about them signing Marlin Humphrey last week to
Speaker 1: a Laaren term deal. This is about them playing now
Speaker 1: without Flacco's cap number and playing with a rookie contract
Speaker 1: with Lamar. So they have some benefits of being able
Speaker 1: to sign Kalaiscampbell, who's a very large man. But they're
Speaker 1: the better team most weeks, and they push you around
Speaker 1: on offense, confuse you, and out athletic you most weeks.
Speaker 1: But then the Chiefs show up. And you asked me
Speaker 1: at the beginning, what happened against the Chiefs. Chiefs are
Speaker 1: a better football team right now. That's what happened against them.
Speaker 1: And I'm waiting to see what happens to the Ravens
Speaker 1: when there is a fumble or there is a mistake,
Speaker 1: or there are some mistakes and they get down against
Speaker 1: an inferior team quote unquote inferior team. Will they be
Speaker 1: able to come back from a deficit, because they haven't
Speaker 1: been able to do that yet, because they win a
Speaker 1: lot and they're up a lot, and that would maybe
Speaker 1: solve a little bit of what happens when they play
Speaker 1: a better team. And I don't know that home field
Speaker 1: means anything yet. We don't have any fans anywhere enough
Speaker 1: to make enough noise, But when those things happen. And
Speaker 1: let's say Lamar has to go out to Kansas City
Speaker 1: in January and we solve COVID and miracle happens, and
Speaker 1: there's seventy thousand people there and he's down fourteen points.
Speaker 1: That's going to be the true test for Lamar at
Speaker 1: some point to be able to lead a team back
Speaker 1: from a couple of touchdowns down, doing it in the air,
Speaker 1: doing it on on the ground when things go wrong.
Speaker 1: Because so many things have gone right, guys, I mean,
Speaker 1: this has been a juggernaut over a year and a half.
Speaker 1: It really has been. We're visiting with Nestor Apparicchio from Baltimore.
Speaker 1: You mentioned Marvin Lewis, Nestor and lap and I have
Speaker 1: great respect for Marvin for what he did to elevate
Speaker 1: this franchise, and he certainly had a solid working relationship
Speaker 1: with him when he was here, but you became his
Speaker 1: close friend. How is Marvin these days and has he
Speaker 1: determined to be a head coach again? You know when
Speaker 1: I spend time with him, ideld talk to him about
Speaker 1: that sort of stuff. I mean, I guess the Arizona
Speaker 1: State thing when we were talking was very much like
Speaker 1: we're going to work every day and hoping to play football.
Speaker 1: You know. I mean, he's a football coach, and I
Speaker 1: don't know that that there really is an achender to
Speaker 1: go back and coach in the NFL, that that is
Speaker 1: burning at him. I think this is a marriage of
Speaker 1: he lives there, it's convenient, he knows everyone involved, his
Speaker 1: daughter's five minutes away, his son is five minutes away,
Speaker 1: and he loves coaching football, and quite frankly, I think
Speaker 1: Golfwood bore him, you know what I mean, Like, I
Speaker 1: just think he loves football that much. And you know,
Speaker 1: I don't know about you guys. You're traveling or are
Speaker 1: you not traveling to these games? Not traveling? Okay, well,
Speaker 1: then you're getting tested on how much you love football,
Speaker 1: because I had it taken away from me. Like I've
Speaker 1: done this for twenty four years, and I own a
Speaker 1: sports radio station, and you know, I've written books and
Speaker 1: all these things, and I've had life experiences above and
Speaker 1: beyond sports or going to a game. And I love baseball.
Speaker 1: My last name's Apparisio. The reason I'm in Baltimore is
Speaker 1: Louis brought a cousin from Venezuela and here I am
Speaker 1: a freedom fighter. I was born in sixty eight. Louis
Speaker 1: came here in sixty four, brought my father in sixty five,
Speaker 1: met my mother in sixty six, and here I am
Speaker 1: so all these years later. So you know, I you know,
Speaker 1: I'm a baseball guy, right and I'm a football guy.
Speaker 1: And having sports taken away from all of us right
Speaker 1: for six months, I could never imagine being, you know,
Speaker 1: April May July would know sports anywhere in our culture.
Speaker 1: What would have to happen? You know, what kind of
Speaker 1: a war, what kind of a plague that would have
Speaker 1: to happen. And I missed the first game against Cleveland
Speaker 1: because I go to home and road. I've only missed
Speaker 1: seven games in twenty four years. Wow. A couple of
Speaker 1: them are because my wife was ill in fourteen and fifteen,
Speaker 1: and so you know, I missed the first game and
Speaker 1: I watched it on TV. First things first, the game's
Speaker 1: not the same in person. So anybody that comes down
Speaker 1: and you know, to the stadium in Cincinnati that sees football,
Speaker 1: it's different in person. It's better in person if you
Speaker 1: love the game, you study the game a little bit.
Speaker 1: You can't really see the game as well on TV. Dave.
Speaker 1: I know they brought you in at all twenty two,
Speaker 1: but you know, I watched the game with my cat
Speaker 1: the first week. I thought, well, this is a plague
Speaker 1: and sports is um you know, for when a functioning
Speaker 1: society right the reward of a functioning society. And then
Speaker 1: I went down to Houston and I flew and I
Speaker 1: put a mask on, and I stopped and saw a
Speaker 1: special future friend of ours out in the desert and
Speaker 1: tried to get away from people for a couple of
Speaker 1: days at a pool and take advantage of one hundred
Speaker 1: dight degrees. And I went into Houston and I sat
Speaker 1: on the roof with a maskman, and I thought it
Speaker 1: was gonna make me feel like lonely or sad or
Speaker 1: you know, it made me more sort of resolute that
Speaker 1: we're not going down like this right, like this better
Speaker 1: be one of the very very few football fanless games
Speaker 1: that I attended Houston, Texas on the roof of that
Speaker 1: stadium where I seeing two Super Bowls play right, incredible games.
Speaker 1: I was a big Houston Oiler fan during the thirteen
Speaker 1: years when we didn't have a team in Baltimore. I
Speaker 1: just loved the Oilers that they were the team I adopted.
Speaker 1: When you lose your football team, you know. And having
Speaker 1: said that, I went down there and watched the game,
Speaker 1: and I realized how much I love it, how much
Speaker 1: I love football. So you asked me about Marvin. He
Speaker 1: asked me about me, and you asked me about two
Speaker 1: guys drinking wine on a canyon looking down into a
Speaker 1: desert a couple of weeks ago. I guess he gets
Speaker 1: up every morning and drives down the canyon, not for money,
Speaker 1: not because he thinks he's gonna coach the Cowboys one
Speaker 1: day or whatever. I think he loves football. And I think,
Speaker 1: having had football taken away from me, having sports taken
Speaker 1: away for me for six months, I love sport. It's
Speaker 1: a love football. I love being at the game, and
Speaker 1: I don't love being there when there's nobody there. I
Speaker 1: love it a lot more when there's fans. And I've
Speaker 1: learned that I love music even more like I missed
Speaker 1: concerts even more than I miss fanless football and land
Speaker 1: over Sunday. You know, final question, And we appreciate your
Speaker 1: carving the time for us. You're you're a heck of
Speaker 1: a heck of a guest. Don Wink Martindale defensive coordinator
Speaker 1: Blitz just under fifty five percent of the time. Last
Speaker 1: year sent five players and more, and people thought, you know,
Speaker 1: the pass rush suspect or whatever worked on it in
Speaker 1: the off season. Now he's splits in fifty one fifty
Speaker 1: two percent, Pittsburgh and Baltimore two highest splits percentages in
Speaker 1: the league. No surprise is it still because questionable pass
Speaker 1: rusher is don Wink Martindale can't help himself. He's just
Speaker 1: gonna send five no matter what. Well, I think he's
Speaker 1: got the ghost of Buddy in his year, right, Send
Speaker 1: them all, Send them all. But they've gotten up the
Speaker 1: field too much, right, and they've gotten burned. And you know,
Speaker 1: when you're very very capable coaches, and you're very capable
Speaker 1: Number one wonder con quarterback, get together. This team has
Speaker 1: not defended the screen pass yet and a tight ends.
Speaker 1: But if if you don't, if they get to you
Speaker 1: first or get the quarterback off the spot, and you
Speaker 1: don't have receivers getting separation down the field and you
Speaker 1: don't have a quarterback making quick reads, it becomes three
Speaker 1: and out pretty quickly if that pressure gets to you.
Speaker 1: And you know part of that's the crowd noise and
Speaker 1: different things that happen at home in a way that
Speaker 1: create different things. Certainly for Patrick Mahomes coming into our stadium,
Speaker 1: my wife wasn't in the upper deck streaming at him.
Speaker 1: You know, that creates confusion and those those kinds of
Speaker 1: things that the line of scrimmage that you know, neither
Speaker 1: side has a competitive advantage on the road anymore, right
Speaker 1: or at home anymore, I should say for the defense,
Speaker 1: but I would say they've been very aggressive because they
Speaker 1: don't have any they don't have a Michael McCrary, they
Speaker 1: don't have a specialist, they don't have an Elmis Stoomerville anymore. Right,
Speaker 1: So they're trying to create it in this way because
Speaker 1: he believes so much in his back end. They've invested
Speaker 1: so much. You know, they invested so much. Guys. They
Speaker 1: told Earl Thomas, they just tapped him and said get out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's unreal. You know, they just said leave, we don't
Speaker 1: need you anymore. Because Chuck. They believe in Chuck Clark
Speaker 1: so much, and he's been such a good quarter means,
Speaker 1: you know, he's got the beautiful football mind and wearing
Speaker 1: the helmet and aligning the defense in the back. Patrick
Speaker 1: queen comes in with a nice background than that, so
Speaker 1: they're hoping to get better. But they didn't practice much, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, they didn't have any of that going on.
Speaker 1: And I do think a lot of this is instinct,
Speaker 1: and I think it's winked that if we get after
Speaker 1: that young quarterback, you know, and we startle him and
Speaker 1: move him around a little bit, and our offense day
Speaker 1: and now we're up seventeen to three, then then we win,
Speaker 1: you know. And I think that that's part of being aggressive,
Speaker 1: that's just it's bred in him. But I think he
Speaker 1: wishes he had a couple more real pass rushers and
Speaker 1: he could maybe be a little bit more creative on
Speaker 1: the back end. But the back end so solid. These
Speaker 1: guys cover well. They don't have much more on the
Speaker 1: game This Friday afternoon on the Bengals pep Rally Show
Speaker 1: from A six on ESPN fifteen thirty. That's going to
Speaker 1: do it for this episode of the Bengals Booth podcast,
Speaker 1: brought to you by Prime Sport, the official hospitality partner
Speaker 1: of the Cincinnati Bengals. If you haven't done so already,
Speaker 1: please subscribe and if you have a minute, give it
Speaker 1: a rating or share. A comment that helps more Bengals
Speaker 1: fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde and thank you
Speaker 1: for listening to the Bengals Booth podcast.