Speaker 1: Hi everybody. I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading The
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast. The Simpsons addition, as the Bengals head
Speaker 1: to Dallas for a Monday night football game that will
Speaker 1: include a Simpsons themed alternate telecast. Coming up, I'll talk
Speaker 1: to the NFL Networks Brian Baldinger about Burrow Chase and
Speaker 1: how to improve the Bengals defense. In our Nova Faux segment,
Speaker 1: we'll get the lowdown on the Cowboys from Todd Archer,
Speaker 1: who covers the team for ESPN, and I'll do a
Speaker 1: story time with Dan this week to explain why there
Speaker 1: was a sportscaster named for me on an episode of
Speaker 1: The Simpsons. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you
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Speaker 1: Now here's a quick reminder that you can have the
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Speaker 1: the greatest thing since lists. I am a sucker for lists.
Speaker 1: Every time I see something online like the Rolling Stones
Speaker 1: five hundred Greatest Albums of All Time or Variety's one
Speaker 1: hundred Greatest Movies of All Time, I can't help myself.
Speaker 1: I click the link and spend way too much time
Speaker 1: studying the list. I suppose the appeal is seeing how
Speaker 1: it compares to our own. In this case, both lists
Speaker 1: are wrong. The Rolling Stones number one album of all
Speaker 1: time is Marvin Gaye's What's going On? To that? I say,
Speaker 1: what's going on? The correct answer is obviously Stevie Wonder's
Speaker 1: Songs in the Key of Life, which checked in at
Speaker 1: number four. Varieties number one movie of all time is Psycho,
Speaker 1: which might not be in my top fifty. My personal favorite,
Speaker 1: which is correct, came in at number nineteen. Godfather Too.
Speaker 1: Now time to get to football and my first guest,
Speaker 1: it is always great to talk football with our guy,
Speaker 1: Brian Baldinger from the NFL Network, And if you're like me,
Speaker 1: you love Baldi's breakdowns on social media. Baldia did run
Speaker 1: this week on Joe Burrow after the Pittsburgh game. Is
Speaker 1: he playing as well as any quarterback in the NFL.
Speaker 2: Yes, he is. You know, Joe basically all year. You know,
Speaker 2: I remember seeing him before that first Baltimore game week
Speaker 2: five there in the jungle, and you know, he came
Speaker 2: out and said that he basically has to be perfect
Speaker 2: in order to win. He didn't mean you had to
Speaker 2: be thirty for thirty, but you had to maximize each
Speaker 2: one of your possessions because you know things around him,
Speaker 2: you know, around the team and the injuries they had
Speaker 2: and defensively just struggles. You know, he had to be
Speaker 2: really good, and he's been really good. I'm sure he'd
Speaker 2: like to have a couple of fumbles back last week,
Speaker 2: but you know, I mean when you've got to drop
Speaker 2: back and throw it to win, some of those things
Speaker 2: are going to happen sometimes.
Speaker 1: Let me talk about some of his traits with you,
Speaker 1: ball placement, toughness, feel in the pocket. What makes you
Speaker 1: say wow when you put together those bal of these
Speaker 1: breakdowns on Joe Burrow.
Speaker 2: But I don't even know if those words really define
Speaker 2: it well enough because of just because it is it
Speaker 2: is something that and I've talked to Tom Brady about this,
Speaker 2: It's something you can't coach what he has. You can't
Speaker 2: coach that feel, when to step up, when to slide
Speaker 2: in the pocket, when to break the pocket, when to
Speaker 2: take the hit and deliver the throw. Those kind of
Speaker 2: things you can't you can't teach. And he's taken his
Speaker 2: share of lumps since he's bender. And we know this,
Speaker 2: we know how tough he is. But then just the
Speaker 2: just the way that he can go through a progression,
Speaker 2: just to eight from get to A to B to
Speaker 2: see to deve however he can do it, he does
Speaker 2: as well as anybody. And then you know his I
Speaker 2: don't know that anybody's just sat down and taught him
Speaker 2: how to throw a football. But if you wanted to
Speaker 2: teach somebody how to throw a football, there was Tom
Speaker 2: Brady and there's been Joe Burrow. I mean, those two
Speaker 2: guys is where you would start. If you wanted to
Speaker 2: just throw the ball the way you know, so that
Speaker 2: the ball goes where you wanted to go.
Speaker 1: Then there's Jamar Chase. He's at a pace for more
Speaker 1: than sixteen hundred yards and eighteen touchdown catches this year.
Speaker 1: How does Jamar do it? Considering that every defense the
Speaker 1: Bengals face is designed to try to take him away.
Speaker 2: Well, he plays with a great deal of awareness. First
Speaker 2: of all, Dan, so he knows where he's at in
Speaker 2: the field, and he knows everybody that's around him, so
Speaker 2: he has to feel for that. Then he's got extremely
Speaker 2: strong hands, so anytime there was a contested pass, he's coming,
Speaker 2: he's going to take the He's going to snatch the
Speaker 2: ball with his hands. He doesn't rely on trying to
Speaker 2: body catch things. And then I think the other thing
Speaker 2: is he's got very quick eyes, quick guys in quick hands,
Speaker 2: so he sees things. Because what we see Dan, you
Speaker 2: from you know, from your perspective the broadcast booth. Where
Speaker 2: I'm from the broadcast booth, the game is totally different.
Speaker 2: Down the field, I mean, the game is largely obstructed
Speaker 2: either the quarterback finding the receiver or the receiver finding
Speaker 2: the quarterback. And then the ball. His ability just to
Speaker 2: track a ball wherever it is. He's got tremendous eyes
Speaker 2: and hands. And so when he does score, I think
Speaker 2: his celebrations are fun because like, he did everything right
Speaker 2: to score, and there's a lot of things that got
Speaker 2: to go right to get it in there thirteen times
Speaker 2: like he has this year.
Speaker 1: Brian Baldinger from the NFL Network is our guest. Let
Speaker 1: me ask you about another Chase Chase Brown. He's averaging
Speaker 1: four point four yards of carry. He's out of pace
Speaker 1: to rush for about one thousand yards this year. What
Speaker 1: do you think of Chase Brown and what he's at
Speaker 1: it to the Bengals offense.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, there was a big, you know, big concern,
Speaker 2: you know when they when Joe Mixon left in free
Speaker 2: agency and who's gonna step up? And obviously they signed
Speaker 2: Zach and Zach, you know, had the injury. But Chase
Speaker 2: has been everything you could want. He's been an excellent runner.
Speaker 2: He had an excellent game against Pittsburgh. Uh, and then
Speaker 2: you know he's been an excellent receiver, whether it's a safety,
Speaker 2: valve screen game. I mean, you can't ask for a
Speaker 2: whole lot more from a guy that probably came in
Speaker 2: as your number two running back this year. See how
Speaker 2: he and he has stepped up tremendously and so he's
Speaker 2: been durable, he's been he's got very good feel between
Speaker 2: the tackles. Uh, He's a good contact runner. I think
Speaker 2: that he has been a big surprise here for for
Speaker 2: the Bengals.
Speaker 1: The defense has obviously had its struggles. What do you
Speaker 1: think are some of the most important areas the team
Speaker 1: is going to have to address going forward?
Speaker 2: Well, pass rush, Dan, I mean pass rush. I mean
Speaker 2: they've been drafting him, you know, Joseph Sai, you can
Speaker 2: look at you know, all the guys Jenkins, but I
Speaker 2: mean outside of Trey right now, nobody's giving you any
Speaker 2: sort of consistent pass rush right now. And if you
Speaker 2: can't affect a quarterback, they're gonna do what some of
Speaker 2: these quarterbacks have done to the Bengals this year. And
Speaker 2: so I would say it's got to start there. I
Speaker 2: know they've had, you know, injuries and you know whatever,
Speaker 2: but pass rush is to me, the one glaring weakness
Speaker 2: on this defense right now.
Speaker 1: You mentioned Joseph Osai and Chris Jenkins. There are some
Speaker 1: other young defensive players like Jordan Battle and Miles Murphy
Speaker 1: that are bound to get a lot of snaps in
Speaker 1: the final five weeks.
Speaker 2: Of the season.
Speaker 1: How important do you think it is for the Bengals
Speaker 1: to see what they have with those young defensive players.
Speaker 2: Oh, it's huge. You know, Loo's gonna evaluate everything, you know,
Speaker 2: the organization has to evaluate this to see just what
Speaker 2: their priorities need to be in the offseason via free
Speaker 2: agency or the draft, and so, uh, you know if
Speaker 2: any of these these five games are important. Now you're
Speaker 2: going to see you know, Dallas this week, and they've
Speaker 2: got at least a lot last couple weeks. They've had
Speaker 2: a backup left tackle in there, they've had a backup
Speaker 2: right tackle, they've had a rookie center. I mean, this
Speaker 2: is a pretty good test to see what these guys
Speaker 2: are going to do. These are not frontline starters that
Speaker 2: are going up against in some of these positions, and
Speaker 2: so you know, it's a good test to see if
Speaker 2: they can go to Dallas and win some of these
Speaker 2: battles up front.
Speaker 1: Despite some of those things that you mentioned. The Cowboys
Speaker 1: do come in with a two game winning streak going
Speaker 1: into the game on Monday night. What is Dallas doing
Speaker 1: well right now?
Speaker 2: Well, they found a way to beat Washington. You know,
Speaker 2: they have the two kickoff returns for touchdowns. You know,
Speaker 2: I always say Dan at the end at the beginning
Speaker 2: of every season, you want your special teams to help
Speaker 2: you win two games, but you definitely don't want to
Speaker 2: have them lose your two games. And so whether it's
Speaker 2: field goals or block punts or kickoff returns for touchdowns.
Speaker 2: Cowboys got that against Washington. But I thought on Thanksgiving
Speaker 2: they ran the ball really well. Rico Dado I thought
Speaker 2: had his best game running, you know, since he's been
Speaker 2: a starter in Dallas, and so up front, they did
Speaker 2: a really good job. Brock Hoffman is a backup right
Speaker 2: guard for Zach Martin. He played really well. So I
Speaker 2: think the Cooper BB has really kind of stepped up
Speaker 2: as a center guy. I think that they can lean
Speaker 2: on going forward. I think that. And then the other
Speaker 2: part is Cooper Rush. You know, I know he's a
Speaker 2: backup quarterback, but he's seven and three is a starter.
Speaker 2: Now seven and three is a starter. You're starting to
Speaker 2: get a feel that this guy actually can play the position,
Speaker 2: can win you games, knows where to go with the ball,
Speaker 2: knows that the offense goes through CD Lamb and so
Speaker 2: like he's done a good job of doing that. And
Speaker 2: then defensively, when we got Michael Parson's back, I thought
Speaker 2: everything changed. Demarvia On Overshown is a young linebacker that's
Speaker 2: got tremendous speed. It shows up, but you know, Mica
Speaker 2: just is just a huge difference maker, and he made
Speaker 2: everybody on defense the last couple of weeks look a
Speaker 2: lot better.
Speaker 1: Final thing for our friend, Brian Baldinger. You've been at
Speaker 1: some Bengals games this year, include the Kansas City game
Speaker 1: in Week two, when the Bengals seemingly had it wrapped
Speaker 1: up until they gave up that penalty on fourth and
Speaker 1: sixteen with less than a minute ago. Is this team
Speaker 1: the perfect example in twenty twenty four of the thin
Speaker 1: line in the NFL between having a great season and
Speaker 1: one that's disappointing.
Speaker 2: I mean, they're four and eight right now, Dan, and
Speaker 2: they could easily easily be seven and five, easily be
Speaker 2: seven and five or more. But I mean the first
Speaker 2: Baltimore game, the Kansas City game. You know, it's it
Speaker 2: comes down to a play. I know Zach talks about
Speaker 2: it all the time. You don't know what play it's
Speaker 2: going to be, when is going to happen, Who's gonna
Speaker 2: make it? But that's that's what's missing. Either the other
Speaker 2: team has made a play that has been the difference,
Speaker 2: or Cincinnati has not been able to make a play
Speaker 2: in a key spot. And it's the separation between Winley
Speaker 2: losing and that's why some teams can be out of
Speaker 2: the playoffs one year and be right back to the
Speaker 2: playoffs the next year. All of a sudden they make
Speaker 2: those plays. And I think there's a half a dozen
Speaker 2: play right now that they can look back on throughout
Speaker 2: the season, including the first Kansas City game for sure.
Speaker 2: But you could look back and say they could be
Speaker 2: right in a hunt with the Chargers in Denver and
Speaker 2: some of these other teams looking for wildcard spots right now.
Speaker 1: You've got a really busy schedule and you always make
Speaker 1: time for us. I greatly appreciate it, Brian, and keep
Speaker 1: up the great work.
Speaker 2: Damn my pleasure anytime, man.
Speaker 1: Good luck this week of Dallas, we found out this
Speaker 1: week that the Bengals are going to have a new
Speaker 1: kicker on Monday night. Evan McPherson suffered a groin injury
Speaker 1: on one of his pats in last week's game against
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh and was placed on the injured list. So the
Speaker 1: Bengals had a few kickers in for tryouts on Wednesday,
Speaker 1: and the winner was Cade York, who was LSU's kicker
Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen when Joe Burrow led the Tigers to
Speaker 1: a national championship. York kicked for Cleveland in twenty twenty
Speaker 1: two and for Washington in a game earlier this year,
Speaker 1: and he's eager to show NFL teams that he's capable
Speaker 1: of being one of the league's thirty two starting kickers. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's just making kicks. As simple as it sounds,
Speaker 3: it can be hard at times too.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I never stopped kicking the ball bad or stopped kicking
Speaker 3: the ball good. Just kicked bad at the wrong time.
Speaker 3: It's happened a couple of times now, So I just
Speaker 3: got to kick good at the right times and it'll
Speaker 3: work out.
Speaker 1: Reunited with Burrow and Chase.
Speaker 3: Yeah said there, hello's this morning. Yeah, it reminds me
Speaker 3: of college. So the last time it actually been a
Speaker 3: part of a winning team was back then. So I
Speaker 3: don't know if I'm a bad omen or something, but
Speaker 3: hopefully not.
Speaker 4: What do you remember most about that that season? Like
Speaker 4: what in your mind, like what's sticks out?
Speaker 3: A lot of extra points and just like it like
Speaker 3: spoiled the rest of my college career because it was like, Okay,
Speaker 3: you just go out there and beat everybody by fifty
Speaker 3: and always had to be like paying attention to the
Speaker 3: field because you either throwing a seventy five yard touchdown
Speaker 3: or Derek Singley's having a pick six or something like that.
Speaker 3: You're always paying attention. And then the next few years
Speaker 3: I found myself kicking in the net too much because
Speaker 3: I was always ready to go, and then we kept
Speaker 3: getting stalled. So a lot more long caicks after that.
Speaker 1: So, yeah, with Evan's success here, when he's healthy, he's
Speaker 1: going to be the kicker again. Do you look at
Speaker 1: this as a four or five game opportunity to show
Speaker 1: the rest of the NFL what you can do in games?
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, I'm just here while they got me here.
Speaker 3: Obviously know how good Evan is and I'm a big
Speaker 3: fan of his and good friends. But yeah, I'm excided
Speaker 3: to spend some time with him and just get to
Speaker 3: know some of the guys here and score some points.
Speaker 1: York is from McKinney, Texas, a Dallas suburb, so he'll
Speaker 1: be kicking in front of friends and family on Monday
Speaker 1: night and his girlfriend will have a great view of
Speaker 1: the action. Her name is Zoe Dale and she's a
Speaker 1: Dallas Cowboys cheerleader. The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to
Speaker 1: you by pay Corps proud to be the Bengals Official
Speaker 1: HR software provider by Alta Fiber future Proof Fiber Internet
Speaker 1: designed to elevate your home, business, and community to a
Speaker 1: new level, and by Kettering Health the best care for
Speaker 1: the best fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider
Speaker 1: of the Bengals. Now time for this week's Know the
Speaker 1: Faux Segment. Like the Bengals, the Cowboys had high expectations
Speaker 1: this year after winning twelve or more games in each
Speaker 1: of the last three seasons. But it's been a tough
Speaker 1: year in Dallas, as the Cowboys are five and seven
Speaker 1: and giving up an average of twenty eight points a game.
Speaker 1: Todd Archer, who used to cover the Bengals for the
Speaker 1: old Cincinnati Post, covers the Cowboys now for ESPN and
Speaker 1: joined Dave Lapham and me this week on the Bengals
Speaker 1: Game Plan Show. Are you surprised the Bengals are favored?
Speaker 5: No, I'm not surprised that they are favored, even though
Speaker 5: they have a worst record and you know all that stuff,
Speaker 5: because as much as the Cowboys have one two in
Speaker 5: a row, this has been a struggle of a season
Speaker 5: for it's been in trouble at home they just won
Speaker 5: their first home game of the year on Thanksgiving against
Speaker 5: the Giants. They've been outscored by ninety some odd points
Speaker 5: in the other five games, so not too surprising when
Speaker 5: you factor in what this season has looked like up
Speaker 5: to this point, even with their better play as of late.
Speaker 4: So let me ask you, Todd, the question that everybody's
Speaker 4: talking about. It's all over ESPN, all over everywhere NFL network. Well,
Speaker 4: Mike McCarthy be the head coach next year for the
Speaker 4: Dallas Cowboys. Do you think?
Speaker 5: I think, honestly, it's kind of so up in the air.
Speaker 5: I'm not saying Jerry is his patient, as Mike Brown,
Speaker 5: you know, has proven to be with coaches over the years.
Speaker 5: But he gave Jason Garrett nine years as this team's
Speaker 5: head coach, and now he had a longer relationship with
Speaker 5: Jason they did with Mike McCarthy.
Speaker 2: But Jerry has.
Speaker 5: Said on the radio here of this last week, it
Speaker 5: wouldn't be a crazy thing to think that Mike McCart
Speaker 5: if he could get an extension. I think some of
Speaker 5: it is how this season ends. And certainly they're playing
Speaker 5: better sound and more sound football. You can probably maybe
Speaker 5: learn not more but learn as much about a coach
Speaker 5: when he doesn't have his guys. Obviously, Dak Prescott season's over.
Speaker 5: So if the Cowboys were to finish well, and I
Speaker 5: don't know if that means getting the eight wins, getting
Speaker 5: the nine wins or whatever, but they can finish well,
Speaker 5: then I can see Jerry having a case to keep
Speaker 5: him based off the three twelve and five seasons that
Speaker 5: they had in twenty one, twenty two, and twenty three.
Speaker 5: So not out of the realm of possibility when you
Speaker 5: think of Jerry's history with coaches and now he's gone
Speaker 5: about things. But there'll be some names. I'm sure it
Speaker 5: will intrigue a lot of people.
Speaker 2: And we'll see.
Speaker 5: If I remember he's eighty two. Because you want to
Speaker 5: start over with a whole new coach with a team
Speaker 5: that he thinks wants healthy is good.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you really want to do that, right.
Speaker 1: The ESPN's Todd Archer is our guest. How much are
Speaker 1: the Cowboys struggles due to injuries and are they getting
Speaker 1: healthier with the Bengals coming to town on Monday Night.
Speaker 6: Look.
Speaker 5: Mike McCarthy tells us all the time that they won
Speaker 5: the Super Bowl in green Bay when they played seventy
Speaker 5: seven players. So it's hard to use injuries as an excuse,
Speaker 5: but it is a reason, right. I mean, you've not
Speaker 5: had Deron Bland, their Pro Bowl corner guys to an
Speaker 5: NFL record for pick six last. Yer has played in
Speaker 5: two games. DeMarcus Lawrence hasn't played since the middle of September.
Speaker 5: Micah Parsons missed four games with an ankle, and obviously
Speaker 5: I mentioned Dak Prescott. He's out for the year with
Speaker 5: a hamstring injury that required surgery. So yes, the injuries
Speaker 5: have hurt this team. They are getting healthier. I don't
Speaker 5: think you'll see DeMarcus Lawrence this week, but you might
Speaker 5: see well. I part of me wondered if Zach Martiner
Speaker 5: returned this week. It doesn't sound like that might be
Speaker 5: happening either. They're getting healthier at at different spots. But
Speaker 5: when this team was healthy's in they weren't playing well.
Speaker 5: And that's basically you know, even when they had everybody
Speaker 5: at the beginning of the season, they were still getting
Speaker 5: blown out by New Orleans in Week two, smothered by
Speaker 5: Baltimore despite what the finals score looked like. In Week three,
Speaker 5: like this is just a team that has not put
Speaker 5: it all together even when they're all good. So injuries
Speaker 5: are a reason, but it's not the only reason. This
Speaker 5: is a team that kind of misevaluated their losses in
Speaker 5: free agency and their lack of work in free agency
Speaker 5: to replace those guys.
Speaker 4: A couple of things that I scanned stats getting ready for,
Speaker 4: you know, for the football game. Fumbles. Twenty four fumbles.
Speaker 4: The ball's been on the ground two times a game
Speaker 4: for the Cowboys. They've lost ten of them. Could be worse, obviously,
Speaker 4: putting twenty four on the ground. That one jumped out
Speaker 4: at me. The other thing was they've rushed for four touchdowns,
Speaker 4: dead last in the league. They've allowed twenty one, dead
Speaker 4: last league. That minus touchdown rushing race minus seventeen is staggering,
Speaker 4: you know, in a in a twelve twelve game stretch
Speaker 4: of a season. Is what's up with the ground game?
Speaker 6: What the name is Rico Rica McDonald is going on
Speaker 6: around here? It's it's it is staggering.
Speaker 5: And what's funny, like the turnovers and the fumbles and things,
Speaker 5: they've actually been better here the last couple of games.
Speaker 5: Cooper Rush hasn't thrown an interception, in the last couple
Speaker 5: of games, they've they've done a better job of protecting
Speaker 5: the ball, although McCarthy noted today that they're the ball
Speaker 5: of smoot on the on the ground too much, even
Speaker 5: if they recovered it. The run defense, though, I mean
Speaker 5: that those numbers are bad, and don't get me wrong,
Speaker 5: I'm not trying to sugarcoat it, but it's been better
Speaker 5: as of late. And some of that is Parsons being back,
Speaker 5: and some of that I think is Mike Zimmer doing
Speaker 5: different things and not just letting teams run all over
Speaker 5: them by just lining up the same way. He's changed
Speaker 5: his front, he's added guys to the box, he's on defense,
Speaker 5: he's blitzed more, maybe than he thought he would coming
Speaker 5: into the season. He's still a lot of the same
Speaker 5: stuff you guys probably saw in Cincinnati, but he's added
Speaker 5: more things as the season's gone on because he's had to.
Speaker 5: But the run defense has been better, if not what
Speaker 5: it needs to be, especially the last two games. And
Speaker 5: some of it is poor tackling, but I think they've
Speaker 5: done a better job of just understanding their gaps and
Speaker 5: where they're supposed to be and not guessing and not
Speaker 5: trying to play hero ball a guy like Manzie Smith,
Speaker 5: their first round pick defensive tackle for Michigan. He's played
Speaker 5: much further of these last two games. I think some
Speaker 5: of it is because he's gone against centers that he's
Speaker 5: had success against. I'm curious to see how he does
Speaker 5: when he plays players he's not really seen before. But
Speaker 5: the run, the defense has been better. It's still not
Speaker 5: good enough, but I think Zim deserves credit for not
Speaker 5: just rolling out the same defense every week and trying
Speaker 5: to do the same old thing. He's changed things.
Speaker 2: Up a lot.
Speaker 1: Lapp gave some numbers that caught his eye. Here's one
Speaker 1: that caught mine. Their kick returner Cavante Turpin is averaging
Speaker 1: more than thirty six yards per kickoff. It's close to
Speaker 1: an NFL record. He's got a kick return touchdown and
Speaker 1: a punt return touchdown.
Speaker 2: How good is Turpin?
Speaker 5: Yeah, and he's got a sixty four yard touchdown catch too.
Speaker 5: The kick return stuff, it's funny. John Fossil, their special
Speaker 5: teams coach, was one of the authors of this new
Speaker 5: rule right, and I think he liked it because he
Speaker 5: knew he had a special guy in Turpin. And they'll
Speaker 5: they'll take it out they're not just you know, if
Speaker 5: it's eight or nine deep, they might sit back there
Speaker 5: and just take the touchback. But they're gonna take some chances.
Speaker 5: And one thing you'll notice, and Labs priority noticed from
Speaker 5: watching the film is when he takes his kickoff for turns,
Speaker 5: he kind of lows you to sleep. He starts with
Speaker 5: like a well for us, it would be a sprint,
Speaker 5: for him, it's a jog, and then he just turns
Speaker 5: the switch and goes and if he the hole, it
Speaker 5: allows the hole to open more in the in the
Speaker 5: new dynamic kickoff deal, and he's been dynamic. He's he
Speaker 5: reached twenty two miles an hour I think in that
Speaker 5: ninety nine yard kickoff against or twenty one and twenty
Speaker 5: one nine or something like that, and that kickoff against
Speaker 5: Washington where he did.
Speaker 2: The spin move.
Speaker 5: He's he's a guy that's dynamic with the ball in
Speaker 5: his hand, and they're trying to find different ways to
Speaker 5: get the ball in his hands. Uh, even on offense
Speaker 5: at receiver as well, sometimes even lining him up in
Speaker 5: the backfield.
Speaker 4: All Right, Tyler got another thing that jumped out at
Speaker 4: me red zone in the twilight zone offensively thirty first
Speaker 4: in the NFL and touchdown percentage defensively thirty second in
Speaker 4: the NFL. Touchdown percentage, teams have scored uh ninety four
Speaker 4: point nine percent of the time when they get in
Speaker 4: the red zone touchdown or field goal against Dallas thirtieth
Speaker 4: in the league. They've only scored seventy one point nine
Speaker 4: percent of the time touchdown or field goal, thirty first
Speaker 4: in the league. How come the red zones? Twilight zone?
Speaker 5: Tell me who scares your offensively?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 5: Right beside ceedee Lamb right, and then the game's Yeah,
Speaker 5: he's the only guy. Jakes Ferguson's a good tide and
Speaker 5: he's missed the last couple of games with a concussion.
Speaker 5: He was slowed early with a knee injury. He's the
Speaker 5: guy that can make some plays down there for you,
Speaker 5: But they really don't have a lot of guys that
Speaker 5: can scare you in the red zone. Brandon Cooks had
Speaker 5: a red zone touchdown last week against the Giant. Has
Speaker 5: a lot of speed where he can get you on
Speaker 5: crossers and things, so we'll see if that continues with
Speaker 5: him being backed. Lamb should play, although he's been battling
Speaker 5: his shoulder injury. Ferguson's expected back from that concussion, But yeah,
Speaker 5: they just don't have a lot and they One thing
Speaker 5: Bill Parcells said when I was covering the Cowboys here
Speaker 5: was the best red zone teams are the ones that
Speaker 5: can run the ball into the end zone. Well they
Speaker 5: can't and they haven't. And you mentioned four rushing touchdowns
Speaker 5: in the league, so they get behind it as soon
Speaker 5: as you get in the red zone. They might have
Speaker 5: a penalty although a negative player or something like that.
Speaker 5: So it's been bad all year and I look at it.
Speaker 5: In the last two games, they're four for seven and
Speaker 5: scoring touchdowns inside the red zones, so it's actually been
Speaker 5: better than what it had been all year. But there's
Speaker 5: too many games with no touchdowns with multiple red zone attempts,
Speaker 5: and that's really been the big difference in this offense,
Speaker 5: which the year ago led the league in scoring at
Speaker 5: more than twenty nine points. Now they're eight points below
Speaker 5: that going into this game. So it's been a struggle
Speaker 5: everywhere and offense.
Speaker 4: Final question, sir, appreciate your time and your expertise. Thirty
Speaker 4: four quarterback sacks for the Dallas Cowboy defense. Parsons got
Speaker 4: six and a half the injuries you're talking about. It's
Speaker 4: been a factor there. But they've got six different players
Speaker 4: with three or more sacks. The Bengals, you know, they
Speaker 4: got Trey Hendrickson with eleven and a half, but nobody
Speaker 4: else with more than two. Is it? Is it Mike
Speaker 4: Zimmer's scheme? Is it talent across the board? Where so
Speaker 4: many people are contributing three or more sacks with only
Speaker 4: twelve games into the season. I mean, that's a that's
Speaker 4: a pretty impressive number.
Speaker 2: Well, it's funny.
Speaker 5: One of those guys with three, it's to Marcus Lawrence,
Speaker 5: and as I mentioned, he's not played in September, so
Speaker 5: it's I would say it's a lot of it is
Speaker 5: Zimmer's scheme and the pressure that he's been able to
Speaker 5: get in the free runners. He's been able to get
Speaker 5: on on quarterbacks with not just the double a gap
Speaker 5: stuff that you guys know that he loves to do,
Speaker 5: but just kind of overloading offensive lines and and getting
Speaker 5: pre hits on quarterbacks that he's been really good there.
Speaker 5: But honestly, that number is really kicked up since Michael
Speaker 5: Parson has been back, and he's the guy that, yeah,
Speaker 5: everybody's got to account for him. And sometimes that doesn't
Speaker 5: even matter because the kids athletically so gifted that he
Speaker 5: can just kind of do whatever he wants again to
Speaker 5: however many blockers he has. But one guy I think
Speaker 5: you guys will like to see on Monday is the
Speaker 5: marve On Overshown, second year kid out of Texas. He
Speaker 5: had a pick six for a touchdown last week. He
Speaker 5: also what a sack. I think I want to read
Speaker 5: this and make sure I get it right. He's only
Speaker 5: the third Cowboy since eighty two to have the least
Speaker 5: five sacks, an interception, of fumble recovery, and a forced fumble.
Speaker 5: The other two guys in team history do that are
Speaker 5: DeMarcus Ware and Greg Ellis. I'm not saying he's DeMarcus Ware,
Speaker 5: but he has an athleticism and a burst and a
Speaker 5: jump to his game that honestly reminds me of Where
Speaker 5: and a little.
Speaker 2: Bit of Parsons.
Speaker 5: He's the guy I think you guys enjoy watching on
Speaker 5: Monday thanks to.
Speaker 1: Todd Archer, who does an outstanding job of covering the
Speaker 1: Cowboys for ESPN. Finally, on Monday night, you'll have three
Speaker 1: options for watching the game on TV. The regular ESPN
Speaker 1: tele with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, the Manning Cast
Speaker 1: with Peyton and Eli on ESPN two, and an alternate
Speaker 1: telecast on Disney Plus and ESPN Plus called The Simpson's
Speaker 1: Fun Day Football. It promises to transport viewers into the
Speaker 1: Simpsons universe with a real time animated viewing experience that
Speaker 1: will match the game action as Bart Simpson and the
Speaker 1: Bengals take on Homer Simpson and the Cowboys live from
Speaker 1: Adams Stadium in Springfield. Lisa and Marge will service on
Speaker 1: field sideline reporters, and that is the inspiration for this
Speaker 1: episode of story Time with Dan. Here's the concept. I've
Speaker 1: been broadcasting in some way, shape or form since weaving
Speaker 1: My Magic on WAER FM eighty eight, the student radio
Speaker 1: station at Syracuse University, where I called foot ball, basketball,
Speaker 1: and lacrosse. In fact, the first lacrosse game I ever
Speaker 1: saw I called on the radio. In case you're wondering,
Speaker 1: I was abysmal, but hopefully I've gotten better, and after
Speaker 1: all these years, I have a few stories to tell
Speaker 1: this week on Storytime with Dan. It's my true claim
Speaker 1: to fame. Here goes, I'm about to play a clip
Speaker 1: from season two of the Simpsons. It's an episode called
Speaker 1: Dance and Homer where Homer Simpson becomes the mascot for
Speaker 1: the local minor league baseball team, the Springfield Isotopes. In
Speaker 1: this clip, Blues singer Bleeding Gums Murphy belts out the
Speaker 1: national anthem with shall we say, lots of flair. When
Speaker 1: he starts, the clock over his shoulder reads seven thirty.
Speaker 1: By the time he's done, it reads seven fifty six.
Speaker 1: I am going to play the Simpsons clip, and then
Speaker 1: I want you to listen closely to what the radio
Speaker 1: play by play man says when ding Gums Murphy is
Speaker 1: finished singing no Honor America.
Speaker 5: When you play rhyme for our national anthem sunknighted by
Speaker 5: spring Field Bleeding Gums.
Speaker 2: O say can you I'm asking can you t theck Glen.
Speaker 5: The bombs first suited all popping.
Speaker 6: Will in the.
Speaker 2: O Breay.
Speaker 7: Hotty High, Springfield, Dan Horde, Mike side Tonight, our Isotopes
Speaker 7: take on the pesky Shelbyville Shelby Williams. The Topes are
Speaker 7: looking to snap that darn twenty six game losing streak
Speaker 7: longest and professional baseball. How about that our sleepy town
Speaker 7: is in the record book.
Speaker 1: That's right, the baseball play by play announcer on that
Speaker 1: episode of The Simpsons was named Dan Horde. Now here's
Speaker 1: the story. When I was a senior at Syracuse University,
Speaker 1: I was hired to be the radio announcer for the
Speaker 1: Syracuse Chiefs, the top minor league farm club for the
Speaker 1: Toronto Blue Jays. I did the games alone for a
Speaker 1: couple of years, and then one off season a baseball
Speaker 1: audition tape and resume arrived in the mail from a
Speaker 1: guy looking for a minor league broadcasting job. His name
Speaker 1: was Ken Levine and was quite the resume. Ken was
Speaker 1: an Emmy Award winning screenwriter for such shows as Mash
Speaker 1: and Cheers, But even though he had a hugely successful career,
Speaker 1: his childhood dream was to be a baseball broadcaster. So
Speaker 1: one summer he bought two season tickets in the upper
Speaker 1: deck behind home plate at Dodger Stadium, set his equipment
Speaker 1: up in one, sat down in the other, and called
Speaker 1: every game into a tape recorder in hopes of getting
Speaker 1: a job. At the end of that year, he sent
Speaker 1: his audition tape to every minor league team in the country.
Speaker 1: So we popped in Ken's tape and as you might expect,
Speaker 1: this guy who wrote for Mash and Cheers was really funny.
Speaker 1: So my boss said, I wonder what he'd be willing
Speaker 1: to work for. He called up Ken in Los Angeles
Speaker 1: and offered him the opportunity to be my broadcast partner
Speaker 1: for the five month minor league baseball season for the
Speaker 1: whopping sum of five thousand dollars one thousand bucks a month.
Speaker 1: Ken said, I'll take it. Because of his success as
Speaker 1: a screenwriter. He didn't really need the money. He just
Speaker 1: wanted to get experience as a professional baseball announcer. So
Speaker 1: he lugged his wife and two young kids to Syracuse
Speaker 1: and we spent a season together broadcasting minor league games. Predictably,
Speaker 1: we had a ton of laughs. Unfortunately, the ones we
Speaker 1: had on the air were basically heard by the person
Speaker 1: running the broadcast back at the station. It had such
Speaker 1: a crappy signal that we were convinced it was powered
Speaker 1: by a hamster on a treadmill. Ken had a million
Speaker 1: funny lines that summer, but my favorite came on a
Speaker 1: night in Omaha, Nebraska. The weather was miserable. It was
Speaker 1: about one thousand degrees in the press box, brutal humidity,
Speaker 1: and there were a bunch of dead insects in the
Speaker 1: radio booth in short nasty. So that night Ken began
Speaker 1: the broadcast as follows, Higain everybody, and welcome to Syracuse
Speaker 1: Chiefs Baseball tonight. It's game one of the three game
Speaker 1: series between the Chiefs and the Omaha Royals here in Omaha, Nebraska,
Speaker 1: and the big question going into the game is why
Speaker 1: do people live here. We'll be back with the first
Speaker 1: pitch right after this. So we developed a great friendship,
Speaker 1: and after Ken went home to Los Angeles at the
Speaker 1: end of the year, he wrote the Dance and Homer
Speaker 1: episode of The Simpsons and named the baseball broadcaster Dan Horde.
Speaker 1: I didn't do the voice. The person who did was
Speaker 1: Ken Levine. So here's another short clip from the episode.
Speaker 1: We pick it up with Homer Simpson becoming Dance and
Speaker 1: Homer as he dances on the dugout in hopes of
Speaker 1: firing up the crowd, followed by the Dan Horde character
Speaker 1: doing a little play by play, and I got.
Speaker 5: Up in front of him and I dumped an intoxication
Speaker 5: that had nothing to do with alcohol. It was the
Speaker 5: intoxication of being a public spectacle.
Speaker 8: There's some nutdown in right field dancing up the store.
Speaker 1: He's really got the crowd going, but.
Speaker 8: Seemed to get cheek a mediuner slugger, big Bilma story
Speaker 8: swung on and built it a deep left field. It's
Speaker 8: going going, It's gone.
Speaker 2: It's down in here. Oh my god.
Speaker 1: So there it is my true claim to fame. There
Speaker 1: was once a Dan Horde character on The Simpsons. Perhaps
Speaker 1: the only thing about me that's ever impressed my son Sam.
Speaker 1: That concludes story time with Dan and this episode of
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Speaker 1: haven't done so already, please subscribe to this podcast and
Speaker 1: if you have a minute, give it a rating or
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Speaker 1: I'm Dan Horde and thanks for listening to The Bengals
Speaker 1: Boot Podcast