Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody on Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. Uh mister big Stuff, who do
Speaker 1: you think you are? Addition, as we go one on
Speaker 1: one with the Bengals' biggest free agent acquisition of the
Speaker 1: off season, both in terms of his physique and his contract.
Speaker 1: Defensive tackle DJ Reader plus offensive coordinator Brian Callahan gives
Speaker 1: us a Joe Burrow update after the quarterbacks first few
Speaker 1: days in the NFL, and then is roughly thirty minutes
Speaker 1: of solid gold from my broadcast partner, Dave Lapham. The
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Prime Sport, the official fan,
Speaker 1: travel and hospitality partner of the Cincinnati Bengals. And here's
Speaker 1: a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition
Speaker 1: of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or
Speaker 1: computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitch, your Google Play, Spotify,
Speaker 1: or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing Magic for Humans.
Speaker 1: I love magic, and my fourteen year old son and
Speaker 1: I have recently started watching the show Magic for Humans
Speaker 1: on Netflix. It features a magician and comedian named Justin
Speaker 1: Willman as he performs magic tricks for people on the
Speaker 1: street and it's amazing. Each episode is only twenty to
Speaker 1: twenty five minutes long, and there are some short segments
Speaker 1: on YouTube if you want to sneak peak, so check
Speaker 1: out Magic for Humans. You won't be disappointed. Now let's
Speaker 1: get to football. I probably don't have to tell you
Speaker 1: that the Bengals were last in the NFL. It's stopping
Speaker 1: the run last year, giving up nearly one hundred fifty
Speaker 1: rushing yards per game. In the immortal words of Madmen's
Speaker 1: Pete Campbell, not great, Bob. Now, let's take a look
Speaker 1: at this year's schedule. It includes NFL rushing leader Derreck Henry,
Speaker 1: two games against the league's second leading rusher, Nick u,
Speaker 1: two games against Lamar Jackson, two games against mark Ingram,
Speaker 1: plus games against Ezekiel Elliott, Leonard Fournette, Marlon Mack and
Speaker 1: Saquon Barkley. You know what those eight guys have in common.
Speaker 1: They all ran for more than one thousand yards last year.
Speaker 1: When you take all of that into consideration, it's easy
Speaker 1: to see why the Bengals made free agent DJ Reader
Speaker 1: the highest paid nose tackle in the NFL when they
Speaker 1: signed him to a four year, fifty three million dollar deal.
Speaker 1: According to the website Pro Football Focus, of all the
Speaker 1: interior defensive linemen in the NFL last year who were
Speaker 1: on the field for at least fifty percent of their
Speaker 1: team's defensive snaps. Reader ranked number four in the league
Speaker 1: at defending the run, behind Calais Campbell, Cam Hayward and
Speaker 1: Aaron Donald. That's like being the fourth member of the Beatles.
Speaker 1: He's ringo. Reader is sixty three, slimmed down to about
Speaker 1: three hundred and twenty five pounds, and just twenty six
Speaker 1: a month ago. I spoke to mister big stuff this week, DJ,
Speaker 1: I want to start with something I bet a lot
Speaker 1: of Bengals fans don't even know yet. Back in twenty thirteen,
Speaker 1: there was one two sport athlete on the Clemson football team.
Speaker 1: It wasn't Sammy Watkins, it wasn't Shack Lawson. It was
Speaker 1: DJ Reader, defensive tackle on the football team, first baseman
Speaker 1: and potential pitcher on the baseball team. It sounds like
Speaker 1: you were quite the all around athlete coming up, Yes, sir,
Speaker 1: plenty of a lot of sports growing up was home
Speaker 1: schools those six mos. I spent a lot of time outside,
Speaker 1: a lot of time and a basketball player as well, right, yeah,
Speaker 1: in high school. You know, my parents real competitive. My
Speaker 1: mom played college softball at a bunch of cousins and
Speaker 1: play sports in college. So most of them females, but
Speaker 1: they're just really competitive. And Dad told me a lot
Speaker 1: of just about ball, use my rickball coach and things
Speaker 1: like that. So you know, always just was around sports
Speaker 1: ball life. What did you hit on the radar gun
Speaker 1: as a picture? I think I topped out like ninety
Speaker 1: fives overhead, probably sat around like ninety ninety one into
Speaker 1: high school, like towards my senior year, so I was
Speaker 1: slinking pretty good. I'm trying to picture how intimidating it
Speaker 1: must have been to have a man your size throwing
Speaker 1: that hard to high school kids. Yeah, I think I think. Um,
Speaker 1: I retwittered to picture somebody I treated out the other
Speaker 1: day on my Twitter about it was um none of
Speaker 1: my child was talking about my son, just me. It
Speaker 1: is me at thirteen, throwing a fastball and in Cooperstown,
Speaker 1: New York. It was kind of crazy just to look
Speaker 1: back and see it, just the picture of the pitch,
Speaker 1: just like how you know how big I did look
Speaker 1: compared to other kids. I you know, I just just
Speaker 1: I mean, I never really noticed how big I looked
Speaker 1: towards other kids. Had a really big team at that time,
Speaker 1: so I just didn't ever think about So you played
Speaker 1: in some sort of youth tournament in Cooperstown, So there
Speaker 1: was a twelve another tournament that usually playing cooperstowns about
Speaker 1: ninety six teams. It's always a good top and the
Speaker 1: kid's gonna stay in the beards and things like that.
Speaker 1: So it's a fun little event. Learned a lot about
Speaker 1: the district baseball go down to the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1: I still that's cool. DJ. I'm gonna hit you with
Speaker 1: one more baseball reference. This week, defensive coordinator lou Anna
Speaker 1: Rumo was asked about you, and he said, we hit
Speaker 1: a home run as an organization. Can you sense how
Speaker 1: thrilled your new coaches and teammates are that you signed here? Definitely, um,
Speaker 1: you know, and it's different for me. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: real reserved guy obviously, just trying to come in and
Speaker 1: sit in and be one of the guys. So it's
Speaker 1: it's always just been, I mean, always been that, you know.
Speaker 1: I've never really had like a lot of hype around
Speaker 1: me growing up being a kid who's a three star recruise.
Speaker 1: It's not really sure if I was gonna play baseball
Speaker 1: or football or went to college, and you know, fifth
Speaker 1: round pig. Nothing really kind of went the way I
Speaker 1: expecting and then this is kind of it's different. It's
Speaker 1: definitely different, but you know, just trying to stay with
Speaker 1: them myself, and you know, I like coach Lu loves
Speaker 1: the system that we're in, and so I'm excited. We're
Speaker 1: chatting with DJ Reader. Your coaches and teammates in Houston
Speaker 1: obviously knew how good you were. J. J. Watt publicly
Speaker 1: said you were the best nose tackle in the NFL.
Speaker 1: But now that you have signed as a free agent
Speaker 1: with the Bengals and became the highest paid nose tackle
Speaker 1: in the league, do you think that validates just how
Speaker 1: good you are. I don't know. I think I gotta
Speaker 1: go out there and still improve it. Man, you know,
Speaker 1: you gotta stay hungry. Um. I think it's It's also
Speaker 1: it's nice to see that people who think that you're
Speaker 1: there good and you know they're warding for it. But
Speaker 1: so you gotta go up there improved. Now that I
Speaker 1: got this, dal, I gotta go out the improve it
Speaker 1: again and go out there every year. This feel I mean,
Speaker 1: I feel like I'm the best nose tackle in the league.
Speaker 1: But you know, I gotta go out there improved. I
Speaker 1: can say that all I want you in my head.
Speaker 1: I gotta go through that every day, day in and
Speaker 1: day DJ you have been part of league good teams.
Speaker 1: You spent four years in Houston. You won the division
Speaker 1: title three out of the four. You played for a
Speaker 1: national championship your last year at Clemson. Did anybody close
Speaker 1: to you question your decision to join a team coming
Speaker 1: off at two and fourteen season. Oh no, I'm talking
Speaker 1: to my mom about it. My mom's really bigging her
Speaker 1: faith for me. That's that's kind of how I grew
Speaker 1: up in the church, and my mom told me, you
Speaker 1: know that she's her big thing was she go, as
Speaker 1: a man, you don't get to go a lot of
Speaker 1: places a lot of times and leave your mark on
Speaker 1: the place and best like, she was like, that's what
Speaker 1: you have to do. You know, you have to be
Speaker 1: ready to step up as a leader. What they're looking
Speaker 1: at you is and go in there and be that.
Speaker 1: She said, guy's calling you for a reason. So I
Speaker 1: was too happy, you know to hear that for my
Speaker 1: mom and her never questioned her decision and her sit
Speaker 1: there and pray with me while I was getting ready
Speaker 1: to make that decision. J anybody knows me, you know,
Speaker 1: that's that's what I lean on the most. So I
Speaker 1: had to back end from my family. You know, they
Speaker 1: were just excited. Do you tall take it as a
Speaker 1: personal challenge to try to be part of a huge turnaround. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean I wouldn't have came here if I didn't.
Speaker 1: I think there's a lot of guys that we got
Speaker 1: on this team, in the room and things like that
Speaker 1: just that are really good. I don't think the record
Speaker 1: shows like the last year's record especially shows like what
Speaker 1: was exactly going on with the team. I think, you know,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of factors that go into having a
Speaker 1: season like that. You know, I've been a part of
Speaker 1: the four and twelve season. We also want to vision
Speaker 1: three out of four times. So it's just that's how
Speaker 1: the league goes sometimes, and you know, so it's about
Speaker 1: building a consistently good team. I think that's where we're
Speaker 1: on the way to do it. DJ is getting Pro
Speaker 1: Bowl recognition in the near future a big deal to you.
Speaker 1: It used to be not now I think I kind
Speaker 1: of fed myself up with that whole Or do you
Speaker 1: or realize that, you know, people vote for their friends
Speaker 1: and not for really who they feel like should be
Speaker 1: in there. Now I don't. I don't really care anymore.
Speaker 1: I'm just trying to go out there and play man.
Speaker 1: Winds are always Trump Pro Bowls and things like that
Speaker 1: over me. Defensive line coach Nikkison said, the Bengals planned
Speaker 1: to give you a bigger role than the one you
Speaker 1: had in Houston. How would you like to be used however,
Speaker 1: this is said, Man, I really want to use me.
Speaker 1: I can do it. I'll figure it out. I never
Speaker 1: had a problem figuring things out before. I'm just excited, man,
Speaker 1: to go out there and play football. It spent all
Speaker 1: spring and summer just trying to be in the dust
Speaker 1: shape of my life to go out to get out
Speaker 1: to getting ready to go out there and play the
Speaker 1: game I love. I've been playing since as a kid.
Speaker 1: You know, it's a child's game and I enjoy it.
Speaker 1: So that's really what it is. It's nothing, nothing crazy.
Speaker 1: I'm excited to see what they have a store and
Speaker 1: so far overs me going well well. Speaking of being
Speaker 1: in great shape, you're twenty pounds lighter than you were.
Speaker 1: Why and how did you drop that weight? Oh? Just
Speaker 1: being consistent in your diet and work. And you know,
Speaker 1: I just wanted to be better and better shape, being
Speaker 1: able to play more. If I had to all those
Speaker 1: things fact, then you know, I just wanted to be
Speaker 1: a better player and better overall. So yeah, I felt
Speaker 1: like if I lost that weight and just stay stay strong,
Speaker 1: kept my strength, and I could be the best player
Speaker 1: that I wanted to, like the best player. But I've
Speaker 1: been so far, and I'm just getting older and understanding
Speaker 1: that I need to maximize this opportunity that I have
Speaker 1: and this one day to play in the NFL, and
Speaker 1: I want to do it's the best of my ability.
Speaker 1: What unhealthy food that you love is now off limits? Cereal.
Speaker 1: I'm a big Cereal guy. Not that good healthy stuff. No,
Speaker 1: I'm a kid called Captain Crups, fruity pellows, fruit loops,
Speaker 1: Reese's posts, all types of cereal and milk. So I am.
Speaker 1: I have stopped on the Cereal train. And I'm a
Speaker 1: big fan of like grits and everybody who tries to
Speaker 1: tell you old mill and grits were similar than not,
Speaker 1: so that type of stuff and then I'm from the south,
Speaker 1: from Greensboro, and there's this thing we do we call Liverpool,
Speaker 1: and that's kind of like my cheap deal. And I
Speaker 1: don't really you probably don't want to hear on here
Speaker 1: what Liverpool is, but you can kind of take your guests.
Speaker 1: So but you know, so that's those are really my vices, honestly,
Speaker 1: as far as unhealthy foods like, those are my vices,
Speaker 1: like and fancy I eat chilings, which is also probably
Speaker 1: not the best thing to be doing. I will admit
Speaker 1: that sugary cereal sounds better than liver pudding. It is objectives.
Speaker 1: I am definitely going to take your word for it
Speaker 1: on that one. DJ. You agreed to the contract but
Speaker 1: couldn't come here right away. Now you're here, what's it
Speaker 1: like for you to get to town and finally get
Speaker 1: to enter the facility. Oh, you know, it's good, um,
Speaker 1: glad to just be able to go into facility and
Speaker 1: go to work. Man. You know, it's it's a long
Speaker 1: time with all the things that are going on in
Speaker 1: the world, and you know, praying for everybody to be
Speaker 1: safe and stay happy here in this pandemic. It's been crazy.
Speaker 1: Then all the things that are going on, you know,
Speaker 1: with trying to change the world, you know, just understanding
Speaker 1: that the innocent lives are being lost every day. So
Speaker 1: it's just I mean, it gave me time to be
Speaker 1: sit back and reflect on a lot of stuff that
Speaker 1: was going on. I'm thankful for that. I got a
Speaker 1: lot to spend a lot of time around my son,
Speaker 1: you know, becoming a father and just being able to
Speaker 1: get that time around my son. It was a blessing,
Speaker 1: you know. I'm just glad to be here. Um, still
Speaker 1: trying to stay safe, you know, we're not in the
Speaker 1: clear year with all the things that are going on,
Speaker 1: so you know, just trying to stay safe and just
Speaker 1: the people are nice. That's the biggest I've noticed that
Speaker 1: people were very very nice here and that's been that's
Speaker 1: been awesome. So just getting to a new place, you know,
Speaker 1: it's always different moving from some place that you've been
Speaker 1: for years and then coming to a new place. So
Speaker 1: I'm just trying to still figure about my way around here.
Speaker 1: You haven't been around your new teammates for very long,
Speaker 1: but where do your early impressions of Gino and Carlos
Speaker 1: and Sam Hubbard and Carl Lawson other guys who have
Speaker 1: just done it well for a long time, especially though
Speaker 1: Gino Carlos, they've done it just at the highest level
Speaker 1: for a long time, saying Carlos and other day said
Speaker 1: I'm in the loving greet. So it's funny, you know
Speaker 1: what to think about that many years just playing ball,
Speaker 1: and you know, it's just it's a blessing to be
Speaker 1: around those guys and just to cheat off the energy
Speaker 1: and a different intered parts they know about the game.
Speaker 1: And then you know you got the young guys with
Speaker 1: carl and Sam who and they're right, have played a
Speaker 1: lot of good ball in the last couple of years
Speaker 1: and still learning it. Be here, to be here and
Speaker 1: watching them hit their stride as I'm starting to hit
Speaker 1: my stride is gonna be an awesome thing. A few
Speaker 1: more questions for DJ reader. You're a Clemson guy. I'm
Speaker 1: sure you followed the team closely. What was your reaction, Yeah,
Speaker 1: what was your reaction to the selection of T Higgins
Speaker 1: in the second round. I'm super excited. You know, I've
Speaker 1: watched T player cups from just knew what kind of
Speaker 1: receiver he was. Just very good players, especially like the
Speaker 1: way they used him at close to them, so I knew.
Speaker 1: He's a kid who played multiple sports also a high
Speaker 1: school so he's very athletic, but just understands the game.
Speaker 1: He's humble, like he's not a I've never seeing him
Speaker 1: get out of character. Anybody say anything crazy about meim
Speaker 1: he's a very humble kid. And you know he's just
Speaker 1: shows up with that smile and works hum he's a
Speaker 1: he's a good player and you know, as I was
Speaker 1: excited to have him. We learned on the NFL network
Speaker 1: when you were on recently that your nickname going back
Speaker 1: to your college days is Barbecue. Have your Bengals teammates
Speaker 1: picked up on that. I'm not. Yeah, I don't know
Speaker 1: if anybody real maybe, but not not yet. Nobody. Nobody's
Speaker 1: picked up on it. And then you don't get you
Speaker 1: don't hear it too often. That's why you know when
Speaker 1: I when I hear it, I know you know me
Speaker 1: like it's not it's not a doubt in my mind
Speaker 1: that you either know somebody that really really knows me
Speaker 1: or you know me yourself. And I always turned every
Speaker 1: time I hear Geno Atkins was a fourth round draft
Speaker 1: pick and just turned out to be one of the
Speaker 1: best defensive players in the NFL. You were a tip,
Speaker 1: you were a fifth round draft pick. Does that still
Speaker 1: tick you off? Oh? Yeah, I carry a chip my
Speaker 1: shoulder about that every day. Um. You know, there's plenty
Speaker 1: of people who got picked before me, and I didn't
Speaker 1: feel it better than me. Um, I don't get to
Speaker 1: talk to you about it. I just put my head
Speaker 1: down at work. But yeah, there's I mean, there's plenty
Speaker 1: of things I could be pissed off about, like just
Speaker 1: from the respect point of what I get in the
Speaker 1: league now. So you know, that's just one of them.
Speaker 1: You know, everybody has their little thing they carried with
Speaker 1: them that's a chip for them, and so that's really
Speaker 1: one of the biggest ships that I carry. It's just
Speaker 1: that a lot of people passed on me, and whatever
Speaker 1: reason that was that they did not just I knew
Speaker 1: that I didn't want to. I wanted to make sure
Speaker 1: everybody knew they couldn't pass on me again, just so
Speaker 1: I wanted to go out there and play a roof
Speaker 1: and every day. Do you have any short term goals
Speaker 1: for this year personally? Um, just go out there and
Speaker 1: be a better player, better teammate, Just play hard. Um
Speaker 1: as a team, just win. That's the biggest thing. Just win,
Speaker 1: no matter how it comes down. I'm scratching a claw
Speaker 1: and to win, straining to win games. You know, go
Speaker 1: out there and know that the game is what it is.
Speaker 1: It's always been the same. You're gonna have to fight
Speaker 1: to win every single time. Just says still. Let of
Speaker 1: people and everybody getting that. You know, you gotta go
Speaker 1: out there and fight your golf to win the game.
Speaker 1: And that's like, that's probably my biggest thing. You know.
Speaker 1: You gotta go out there every Sunday and feel like
Speaker 1: you're the baddest guys on the field. And of course
Speaker 1: other teams don feel like that too, but you got
Speaker 1: to impose your rule on them, and that's how you
Speaker 1: got to go about it. That is music to the
Speaker 1: ears of Bengals fans. Yeah, that is exactly what folks
Speaker 1: are craving and we are so excited that you're part
Speaker 1: of the team. That, sir, If you're not going out
Speaker 1: there and play the sport that way, you're not playing it.
Speaker 1: DJ appreciate your time, stay safe, look forward to watching
Speaker 1: your practice in the weeks to come. Thank you, sir.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you. In addition to getting a great player
Speaker 1: the Bengals are getting a team leader. Reader was the
Speaker 1: Houston Texans nominee for the Walter Peyton NFL Man of
Speaker 1: the Year Award in twenty nineteen. This week, NFL teams
Speaker 1: began with the league calls Phase one of training camp,
Speaker 1: consisting of meetings, conditioning, workouts, and daily walkthroughs. That means
Speaker 1: most of the Bengals got their first look at Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow as he called out plays and made adjustments during
Speaker 1: those walkthroughs. Here's offensive coordinator Brian Callahan. I think a
Speaker 1: lot of guys that had made some comments to the
Speaker 1: day a bottom and he's just got a great feel
Speaker 1: for what we're trying to do. His offseason work was outstanding.
Speaker 1: He worked really hard. I think that part gets skipped
Speaker 1: over a little bit. He's such an intense worker that
Speaker 1: he's put himself in position to know what to do
Speaker 1: and how to do it, and I think that that's
Speaker 1: that's rubbed off on his teammates um and obviously his
Speaker 1: presentation and how he goes about his business has been
Speaker 1: everything we thought it would be. If there's a rookie
Speaker 1: quarterback miss not having a preseason game, getting hit for
Speaker 1: the first time, that's usually that's usually a big part
Speaker 1: of it. UM. You know, all quarterbacks kind of have those.
Speaker 1: They got a little jitters. They don't get touched very
Speaker 1: often in practice, they don't feel a live rush, and
Speaker 1: especially for a kid hasn't played NFL football at rookie quarterback, generally,
Speaker 1: that first time that rush comes live at full speed
Speaker 1: is a little bit different than college. Now, he was
Speaker 1: playing against great players in the secats. It's that's as
Speaker 1: close as you're gonna ever get probably to NFL speed
Speaker 1: and tempo. But that first that first pass rush, that
Speaker 1: first hit, that first time they get jolted around, uh,
Speaker 1: kind of reminds him that it's time to play football again.
Speaker 1: So you'd like that to happen obviously before the opener, um,
Speaker 1: but that we don't. We don't get that this year.
Speaker 1: So that's one thing. The other thing is gonna be
Speaker 1: the just being on the field in the huddle on
Speaker 1: your own. You know, every practice, guys are kind of
Speaker 1: behind and coaches are there and interacting and um just
Speaker 1: and then dealing with the game situations as they come up,
Speaker 1: dealing with the clock, the play clock. UM. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of just operational things that come into play that
Speaker 1: that we're not going to get a chance to do
Speaker 1: in a live situation. And we can simulate those things,
Speaker 1: but it's always different when you when you walk out
Speaker 1: there and it's just the eleven guys on the other
Speaker 1: eleven guys and when you're playing football for real. So, um,
Speaker 1: I think he'll be fine, But I know there's there's
Speaker 1: a part of there's some things that you're gonna miss
Speaker 1: without having the preseason games, just getting the getting the
Speaker 1: jitters out, if you will, um, from from that starting
Speaker 1: aspect for a young player, and Joe Burrow has generated
Speaker 1: so much excitement that people see a still photograph of
Speaker 1: him and they're they're frothing at the mouth around here.
Speaker 1: How is he handling that? And is there a lot
Speaker 1: of good natured ribbing going on with his teammates and
Speaker 1: coaches about the spotlight that's being shown on him right now? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it's not anything anything out of the ordin area.
Speaker 1: I don't think, Um, you know, he's I think he's
Speaker 1: used to it too. You know, his spot out at
Speaker 1: LSU last year was pretty bright, to the point where
Speaker 1: he probably didn't go out much in Baton Rouge without
Speaker 1: a lot of people all over him. You know, he
Speaker 1: was a he became a celebrity down there, and then
Speaker 1: he became really a celebrity across the country. So I
Speaker 1: don't think it's new to him. I think he handles
Speaker 1: it just like he handles everything else. He handles things
Speaker 1: with with poise and confidence, and you know, knows how
Speaker 1: to be gracious and knows how to how to respond
Speaker 1: to people that are in his corner and cheering for
Speaker 1: him and excited for him. So I think it's great
Speaker 1: for the city of Cincinnati and the fans of the Bengals.
Speaker 1: I know we're just as excited as they are, So um,
Speaker 1: that's great, you know. Unfortunately, I don't know if we're
Speaker 1: gonna get to have everybody in the stadium to cheer
Speaker 1: him on. But um, you know, I'm, I'm it makes
Speaker 1: me excited that everybody else is excited. On top of it,
Speaker 1: we'll see Joe Burrow in a Bengals helmet on Wednesday.
Speaker 1: Who who when Faced two of practice begins and then
Speaker 1: padded practices can get underway on Monday, August seventeenth, roughly
Speaker 1: four weeks before the season opener against the Chargers. Before
Speaker 1: we get to our next conversation. Here's a quick reminder
Speaker 1: that you can take your Bengals pride to the next
Speaker 1: level in twenty twenty with an official Bengals fan package
Speaker 1: from Prime Sport. Now here's this week's visit with my
Speaker 1: broadcast partner Dave Lapham. All Right, Lap, let's start with
Speaker 1: trying to play under these circumstances. If you were still
Speaker 1: an active player, would you be comfortable playing in a pandemic?
Speaker 1: You know, I would have talked it over with my
Speaker 1: wife first and foremost, because you know, when I was
Speaker 1: twenty five years old, I was already married with two kids,
Speaker 1: so we started our family pretty young, so it would
Speaker 1: have been an interesting decision. But having talked it over
Speaker 1: with Lynn, asking her that very question, what would what
Speaker 1: would you think about, you know, playing through this pandemic?
Speaker 1: And her response was, I know you would want to play.
Speaker 1: I know you'd be smart, I know you'd be as
Speaker 1: safe as you can be, so you know, why not play?
Speaker 1: And that would be my reaction obviously. I know as
Speaker 1: a back in the day, I would want to play
Speaker 1: under any circumstances I possibly could, and I'd make sure
Speaker 1: that the team obviously did everything they possibly could to
Speaker 1: from a protocol standpoint to make it as safe as possible.
Speaker 1: And I do think it's interesting the guys that have
Speaker 1: opted out. All I can hold is those guys that
Speaker 1: have decided to opt out, and I can understand why,
Speaker 1: but boy, pressures on. If I opted out, I'd have
Speaker 1: to live the life of a monk. I'd go nowhere
Speaker 1: because if I went somewhere and got COVID after opting
Speaker 1: out for my NFL season, I'd never forgive myself, you know,
Speaker 1: And now I'd be in danger in the family all
Speaker 1: the things the reason I opted out, So, man, I'd
Speaker 1: put myself on a lock and key of Literally, I
Speaker 1: would be a monk. I would not go anywhere, do
Speaker 1: anything if that's be a heavy, heavy decision to make,
Speaker 1: and that would be a tough lifestyle live. So I
Speaker 1: probably would play in trust that the team is doing
Speaker 1: everything possibly can at Paul Brown Stadium and surrounding practice
Speaker 1: fields and everything to keep everybody's self And it's on me.
Speaker 1: It's on me when I'm away from the stadium to
Speaker 1: do the right thing, just like it's on these guys
Speaker 1: opting out. They have more time to wander and do
Speaker 1: other things. And I'm telling you it'd be interesting to
Speaker 1: monitor the sixty six guys or however many it is
Speaker 1: they've opped it out, and see how many of them
Speaker 1: do end up getting coronavirus testing positive would be very interesting.
Speaker 1: That is a tremendous call, because if and when one
Speaker 1: of those guys tests positive, the abuse that he's going
Speaker 1: to suffer is going to be unbelievable, no doubt, no doubt.
Speaker 1: Let's look ahead to training camp a little bit. Obviously,
Speaker 1: they've started with strength and conditioning and some walkthroughs, but
Speaker 1: nothing really juicy yet. That's still about a week away.
Speaker 1: But as I said the last time we did a podcast,
Speaker 1: I thought the next time we got together we would
Speaker 1: look ahead to some training camp battles. So what training
Speaker 1: camp battle are you most looking forward to watching. Well,
Speaker 1: I've already talked about, you know, the old line. I
Speaker 1: guess probably a nausea and being a former old line,
Speaker 1: but I've done that. But I am very interested in
Speaker 1: the linebacker, you know position. I want to see how
Speaker 1: these young linebackers come along, how quickly they can come along.
Speaker 1: I think Josh Binds's role in listening to lou Ana
Speaker 1: Uma the other day at the presser was his role
Speaker 1: is to be the example that the young guys aspire
Speaker 1: to be the locker room leader. The guy that wasn't
Speaker 1: drafted coming out of college, made a football team, you know,
Speaker 1: went to the super Bowl. All all the things that
Speaker 1: go along with it, high level performer, overachiever kind of thing.
Speaker 1: Watch how he prepares, Watch how he trains, Watch how
Speaker 1: he eats, watch how he does everything. And not to
Speaker 1: say that he's not going to play initially. He may
Speaker 1: have to be. He may be given them some significant snaps.
Speaker 1: But I'm very interested to see how quickly, you know,
Speaker 1: Logan Wilson, m Keene, Davis Gaither, how how quickly can
Speaker 1: they work their way in to those sub packages and
Speaker 1: and make significant snaps because as we know Dan, the
Speaker 1: linebackers get isolated and they get they get you know,
Speaker 1: people spread the field, put them in one on ones,
Speaker 1: and it was a it was a tough, tough dynamics.
Speaker 1: So I think, uh, I think that position group is
Speaker 1: the one where I'm gonna be watching how the battles
Speaker 1: unfold and uh, you know, see how Pratt advances in
Speaker 1: year two, all the things that go along with that
Speaker 1: position group. I'm very very intrigued by it. I am
Speaker 1: all about right tackle. Yep, ken Ken Fred Johnson beat
Speaker 1: out Bobby Hard. I do agree when the coaches say
Speaker 1: Bobby Hart's not as bad as everybody thinks. I don't
Speaker 1: think he's the worst tackle, worst right tackle in the
Speaker 1: National Football League. But I do think we've seen enough
Speaker 1: of him at this point to know that he's not
Speaker 1: among the best and is never going to be among
Speaker 1: the best. What kind of upside does Fred Johnson have?
Speaker 1: If you look at the Pro Football Focus rankings from
Speaker 1: last year, and I know that's not the be all,
Speaker 1: end all, he would have been several spots ahead of
Speaker 1: Bobby Hart in a limited sample size. So can he
Speaker 1: elevate that position from what you know you're going to
Speaker 1: get at this point out of Bobby Hart. The thing
Speaker 1: that I think Fred has to do Dan is physically.
Speaker 1: I think they feel good about Fred. You know, six
Speaker 1: or eight long long arms the whole nine yards. Bobby
Speaker 1: Hart is strawly long too. He's got some long arm
Speaker 1: blown them. The thing that he has to show is
Speaker 1: Bobby's had problems with penalties, and now Fred has to
Speaker 1: show that his poise, composure, those kind of things. And
Speaker 1: if he shows that he's he handles that a little
Speaker 1: bit better than Bobby has handled it historically. That could
Speaker 1: give him a little bit of an edge. The other
Speaker 1: thing is Bobby Hart his football IQ and overall IQ
Speaker 1: has been praised by coach Turner, praised by a very
Speaker 1: very intelligent guy in Trey Hopkins. So you know, the
Speaker 1: dude is smart. Coaches and teammates trust and like smart players.
Speaker 1: So Bobby Hart is not going to make as Simon errors.
Speaker 1: Fred Johnson can't make as Simon arrss that I think
Speaker 1: if if he shows that mentally he can handle it
Speaker 1: in terms of you know, not making penalty mistakes and
Speaker 1: mental mistakes in terms of your assignment, I think those
Speaker 1: are things that you're going to be looking for. Because
Speaker 1: it was such a small sample size over time, how
Speaker 1: does that pan out between those two guys? All right?
Speaker 1: Is there a lesser known newcomer that you are eager
Speaker 1: to watch? We're all excited to watch Joe Burrow and
Speaker 1: some of the high profile free agents that they signed,
Speaker 1: But is there a lesser known guy that you're eager
Speaker 1: to get your eyes on? You know, Again, in listening
Speaker 1: to lou Anna Rumo during his pressor, and I asked
Speaker 1: him about other cornerbacks or Trey Waynes and McKenzie Alexander
Speaker 1: they as advertised, he goes, yeah, yeah, but don't sleep
Speaker 1: on Winston Rose, who led the Canadian Football League and interception.
Speaker 1: Don't sleep sleep on less Shawn Simms, who's played a
Speaker 1: lot of good snaps to the Tennessee Titans, significant snaps,
Speaker 1: and not only will they give depth to that you know,
Speaker 1: back end of the defense, it'll increase the production and
Speaker 1: performance hopefully for Darren Simmons on special teams as well.
Speaker 1: So I don't think people are even thinking about those guys,
Speaker 1: and they could, you know, play a significant role. How
Speaker 1: significant role, It all depends on injury and everything else
Speaker 1: that goes along with it. But it sounds like lu
Speaker 1: Ana Room was very satisfied with him. He's like, they're long,
Speaker 1: they're athletic. You know. I like him. So for him
Speaker 1: to come right out and the very first pressor and
Speaker 1: mentioned those guys made me sit up and take notice.
Speaker 1: He must have really liked the tape that he saw
Speaker 1: those guys before they signed him. Yeah, I'm withy on
Speaker 1: Winston Row as they signed a two years to two
Speaker 1: year deal in January, So this is not necessarily a
Speaker 1: just you know, show up and see if you can
Speaker 1: sneak on to the back end of the roster kind
Speaker 1: of guy. Maybe he's somebody who's ready to make the
Speaker 1: jump from the CFL to the NFL. As you mentioned,
Speaker 1: led the CFL and picks with nine part of a
Speaker 1: Great Cup championship team last year with Winnipeg. The starting
Speaker 1: quarterback of that team and the Great Crop Cup was
Speaker 1: former UC quarterback Zach Collaris, So I'll have to reach
Speaker 1: out to him and see if he gave me them
Speaker 1: intel on Winston Rose. The other person that I'm going
Speaker 1: to put on the list, and it really shouldn't count
Speaker 1: because I asked you for a newcomer that you were
Speaker 1: eager to see. But a guy that I'm really interested
Speaker 1: to watch even more closely going into this year is
Speaker 1: Darius Phillips, just based on how well he did in
Speaker 1: such a tiny sample size seventy five snaps in pass coverage,
Speaker 1: four interceptions, three pass breakups. That's amazing. I mean, that
Speaker 1: is productivity. That is a most of the football, That
Speaker 1: is ball skills. When you have an opportunity to make
Speaker 1: a play on football, you're making a play on football.
Speaker 1: And let's face it, you know how many times have
Speaker 1: we seen guys great courage and great position, Oh can't
Speaker 1: make a play? I mean the bottom lining, You've got
Speaker 1: to make plays. And Darius Phillips was showing that, showing
Speaker 1: people that he's a playmaker. He can make plays. I
Speaker 1: agree one hundred thousand percent. All right. On previous podcast,
Speaker 1: we did this and we're going to do it again.
Speaker 1: And by this I mean the following. If you could
Speaker 1: pick a player off another team's roster other than Patrick Mahomes,
Speaker 1: who would it be? And now that the roster is set,
Speaker 1: the eighty man roster is set, if you could grab
Speaker 1: somebody off another team's roster, who would that player be?
Speaker 1: George Kittle? Because in my mind, with the receiver corps
Speaker 1: that the Bengals have and hopefully the offensive line improvement,
Speaker 1: George Kittle is a dominant run blocker as well as
Speaker 1: dominant receiver. He is the blocks I could tackle, can
Speaker 1: run routes from catch like a receiver. He is the
Speaker 1: epitome of the tight end. And I'll tell you the
Speaker 1: guy when I the more I watch of him, it's like, man,
Speaker 1: this dude he loves football, I mean, and he just
Speaker 1: gets after it. And when I think back then the
Speaker 1: great Bengals teams that I've played on in the seventies,
Speaker 1: Bob Trumpy Pro Bowl tight end could block and catch.
Speaker 1: Getting a little bit later, Dan Ross Pro Bowl tight
Speaker 1: end block and catch eleven catches in the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: was shared the record for a long time. Rodney Holman
Speaker 1: in the eighty eight Super Bowl team block and catch
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl, all three of them Pro Bowl caliber tight ends.
Speaker 1: And I think with the receiving corps around him in
Speaker 1: the running game, you know, they help in that running game.
Speaker 1: To me, if I could pluck George Kittle and put
Speaker 1: him at the end of the line of scrimmage or
Speaker 1: flex him and you know, let him play, you know,
Speaker 1: three downs every series, I'd be a happy man. George Kendall, R.
Speaker 1: Travis Kelsey yere one. Now this is this is interesting
Speaker 1: because the last time we did this, we both chose
Speaker 1: Indianapolis Colts. You chose Quenton Nelson, I chose Darius Leonard.
Speaker 1: We would still happily take him most lines, but not
Speaker 1: about it. But now that we're doing it this time around,
Speaker 1: we are both choosing San Francisco forty nine ers. You
Speaker 1: chose George Kittle, I want Nick Bosa there you go.
Speaker 1: And here's my thinking as I look at the roster
Speaker 1: right now. Carlos Dunlap played great in the second half
Speaker 1: of the season last year, but let's face it, he's
Speaker 1: approaching the end of his career. Hopefully he's got a
Speaker 1: few more good years left, but he's not going to
Speaker 1: play forever. I would love for this team to have
Speaker 1: the dominant defensive line that they had during their run
Speaker 1: of five straight playoff appearances. And how did the forty
Speaker 1: nine ers turn it around last year from being one
Speaker 1: of the first teams in the NFL Draft to being
Speaker 1: a super Bowl team. Well, they did a lot of
Speaker 1: things well, but it all started with that great defensive line.
Speaker 1: So let's steal Nick Bosa from the forty nine ers
Speaker 1: defensive line. Ten sacks as a rookie, fifty two hurries
Speaker 1: as a rookie. We know he can get into Baker
Speaker 1: Mayfield's head by planting the flag again. So you'll take
Speaker 1: George Gittle, I'll take Nick Bosa, you know, And that's
Speaker 1: a great calling. Look at the forty nine ers, Dan
Speaker 1: all number one draft picks that defensive line. They had
Speaker 1: five first round picks, you know. John Lynch said, Hey,
Speaker 1: it starts up front. I know that's what I have
Speaker 1: to do to rebuild my defense. Invested five first rounders.
Speaker 1: The interesting thing is we picked guys from both sides
Speaker 1: of the ball of a team that had a lead
Speaker 1: in the Super Bowl seven minutes to play. And I
Speaker 1: think a big reason why is those two guys, you know,
Speaker 1: on either side of that football. They were huge contributors.
Speaker 1: There's no doubt about it. Let's take all four Quentony Elson,
Speaker 1: Darius Leonard, George Kittle and Nick Bosa would be a
Speaker 1: heck of an addition to the roster. All right, Time
Speaker 1: for ask Lap questions. These are questions submitted from fans
Speaker 1: via Twitter. We start with Don. Here's Don's question, how
Speaker 1: big of an impact? Well, no preseason games have I'm
Speaker 1: getting ready for Week one, specifically against the Chargers. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's a you know, everybody's automatic reaction is anybody
Speaker 1: that has a rookie head coach or a rookie quarterback
Speaker 1: is going to be behind the eight ball. Well, you know,
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor is not a rookie head coach. He went
Speaker 1: through some trials and tribulations, there's no question, but he's
Speaker 1: got new members in his coaching staff, and he's got
Speaker 1: a bunch of new players, you know, by free agency
Speaker 1: and the draft. So you'd like to have you know,
Speaker 1: you would have liked had OTAs and a rookie quarterback obviously,
Speaker 1: you'd like to have all the preparation, all the steps,
Speaker 1: all the protocols as such leading up to the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty season to be normal. But it's not. But I
Speaker 1: will say, if I had to pick a rookie quarterback
Speaker 1: and I don't know how many years to handle this,
Speaker 1: you know, with poise and you know, just composure, be
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow. And again, you know, we keep saying, uh,
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson is unanimous MVP last year, second player in
Speaker 1: NFLA history to do that. Joe Burrows older than Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson and at least as mature. You know, he actually
Speaker 1: is not. No, I take that back. You're right. He
Speaker 1: is older than Lamar Jackson. He's not as old as Mahomes.
Speaker 1: That's great, right, Like Lamar Jackson I think turned twenty three,
Speaker 1: like a week before the end of the season or
Speaker 1: something like that. I mean, but it's you know, it's
Speaker 1: he's He's had a lot of a lot of experiences,
Speaker 1: good and bad. You know, he's handled it all, Um,
Speaker 1: He's He's had a heck of a path to lead
Speaker 1: him to where he is right now, and I think
Speaker 1: he can handle it. You know, I think, I honestly
Speaker 1: believe that Joe Burrow is not going to be the
Speaker 1: biggest problem in Cincinnati Bengals have in the early stages
Speaker 1: of the season. Now, do I think that they're going
Speaker 1: to be as good in Week one as they're going
Speaker 1: to be, you know, if they're God willing, they're able
Speaker 1: to play sixteen games as they will be in November
Speaker 1: and December. No, you know, I don't think anybody will
Speaker 1: be without OTAs and you know, training the normal training camp,
Speaker 1: in preseason games and everything else. And I do believe,
Speaker 1: you know, teams like New Orleans with a veteran head
Speaker 1: coach and the veteran quarterback have a huge leg up,
Speaker 1: There's no question about it. Um. But you know, everybody's
Speaker 1: got the same issues. Everybody's dealing with the same problems. Dan,
Speaker 1: do you think Tyrod Taylor justin Herbert starts for the
Speaker 1: Chargers in Week one? The way, when I when I
Speaker 1: listen to people from the Chargers organization, it really sounds
Speaker 1: like it's going to be Tyrod Taylor, and that that
Speaker 1: would would not surprise me whatsoever that Tyrod Taylor's the guy,
Speaker 1: you know, I and I could see in the first
Speaker 1: two to four games in the season, depending on how
Speaker 1: Tyrod Taylor does and how the team does overall, they
Speaker 1: make a decision accordingly. All right, next question comes from Steven.
Speaker 1: With the addition to Joe Burrow and the return of
Speaker 1: AJ Green and the changes on the offensive line, will
Speaker 1: we see a vastly different offensive system? You know, I
Speaker 1: think that I think the running game is going to
Speaker 1: be carried over from the changes that they made last year.
Speaker 1: About halfway through the season, everybody knows, traveling to London,
Speaker 1: it was like, look, we gotta we gotta change. We
Speaker 1: can't just do it inside outside zone. We have to
Speaker 1: pin and pull people, we have to angle block, we
Speaker 1: have to gap block, we have to change it up
Speaker 1: and do a lot of things. And the Bengals were
Speaker 1: the sixth best rushing team in the league, and Joe
Speaker 1: Mixon was in the top ten and you know, in
Speaker 1: a bunch of categories. So in my mind, they're gonna
Speaker 1: they're gonna stay with that system in the running game
Speaker 1: and try to fine tune it and and develop that.
Speaker 1: As far as the offense with Joe Burrow at quarterback,
Speaker 1: Zach said it, Joe has said it. They're kind of
Speaker 1: melding what Joe feels real comfortable with. There is there.
Speaker 1: I think there's not a huge gigantic philosophical gap between
Speaker 1: what he did at LSU and what Zach Taylor wants
Speaker 1: to do. So I think from that standpoint, you know,
Speaker 1: terminology and things like that that every rookie has to
Speaker 1: deal with. Unlearned some terminology and relearn new. But Joe
Speaker 1: knows there's only so many ways you can line up
Speaker 1: and do things. From a football standpoint, it's just vernacular.
Speaker 1: It's just terminology. And then he does have things he
Speaker 1: likes to do and does well, and Zach probably knows them,
Speaker 1: and Joe wants to communicate those and I think they'll
Speaker 1: they'll come up with a formula for success. I really
Speaker 1: believe that, you know that those two equations will mesh
Speaker 1: what Joe likes to do and does well. Zach has
Speaker 1: at his disposal on his offense, and he'll just pare
Speaker 1: it down to what fits and what feels comfortable. Next
Speaker 1: question comes from Nick, who will be a bigger factor
Speaker 1: toward the Bengals having success. Joe Mixon or a J
Speaker 1: Green and how many yards for each if they stay healthy? Man.
Speaker 1: You know, that's like peanut butter and jelly. They're both
Speaker 1: good apart, but they're better together and they both feed
Speaker 1: off each other. You know. I mean you like a
Speaker 1: peanut butter sandwich. Yeah, jelly sandwich is okay, but peanut butter,
Speaker 1: PEBJ it's good stuff. So I think I think Joe
Speaker 1: Mixon will help AJ Green and AJ Green will help
Speaker 1: Joe Mixon. I think it's gonna be one of those
Speaker 1: deals where you know, Joe Mixon is gonna gonna make
Speaker 1: life easier for AJ because they left to you know,
Speaker 1: load the box up a little bit, pay more attention
Speaker 1: to Joe Mixon. And if they don't and they start
Speaker 1: paying attention to AJ Green, now Joe's gonna have more
Speaker 1: running lanes and bigger running lanes in the box. So
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, it's it's one hand washing the other.
Speaker 1: It's like pick your poison. Some weeks, it's gonna be
Speaker 1: a heavier box AJ has to eat some weeks when
Speaker 1: it's not the heavy box, Joe has to eat and
Speaker 1: and you know, make people change what they're what they're
Speaker 1: went into the game plan with so um, really, i'd
Speaker 1: love to see him both get fifteen hundred, Joe rush
Speaker 1: for fifteen and aj catch fifteen hundred. But you know,
Speaker 1: I think they're obviously both very capable of thousand yard seasons.
Speaker 1: I'd almost be disappointed that they don't go for a
Speaker 1: thousand each. I'm hoping twelve thirteen hundred. Nice, twelve hundred,
Speaker 1: twelve hundred plus, Yeah, yeah, nice balanced season. Speaking of
Speaker 1: Pebe and j have you seen that Graders is coming
Speaker 1: out with peanut butter and jelly ice cream stronger than
Speaker 1: New Road there as they celebrate there one hundred and
Speaker 1: fifty of anniversary. All right, next question comes from man.
Speaker 1: Man asks how would you handle the Red starting pitching?
Speaker 1: And he says, Jess kidding His real Bengals question is
Speaker 1: Ken Rennell ren make a second year leap and help
Speaker 1: the defensive line. Well you gotta hope, though, hope, so
Speaker 1: hope that's the case. And he's nicked up a little
Speaker 1: bit right now, but he's got great potential, you know.
Speaker 1: And now that Josh Tupau has decided to you know,
Speaker 1: opt out and it's interesting Dan. Only three teams in
Speaker 1: the NFL went through this opt out period without any
Speaker 1: player opting out, the Chargers, the Steelers, and the Falcons.
Speaker 1: So the Bengals have three games against team, two against
Speaker 1: the Steelers, one against the Chargers where nobody opted out
Speaker 1: of their of their organizations and U and really with
Speaker 1: Josh opting out it it puts a little strain on
Speaker 1: the defensive tackle position. And Wren, you know, you hope
Speaker 1: that he does step up. And I can speak from
Speaker 1: experience from in a lot of players that I know
Speaker 1: over you know, many years, a lot of them feel
Speaker 1: the same way. Year one to year two, the light
Speaker 1: really starts to go on. Now year one you think
Speaker 1: you know, but you really don't know what you don't know.
Speaker 1: And the year two you start to realize I really
Speaker 1: didn't know, and now I do feel like I know,
Speaker 1: and you start to uh, you know, the graph starts
Speaker 1: to go up, and it's there's not not for everybody,
Speaker 1: but even the players they had great rookie years. Very
Speaker 1: rarely do they have a you know, a great rookie
Speaker 1: or a solid rookiear and then fall off a cliff.
Speaker 1: You know, So I think, you know, Ren had his moments.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's he's he obviously belongs, but there's miles
Speaker 1: to go before he rests. I mean, there's a lot
Speaker 1: of development that he can you know, he can go through,
Speaker 1: and I think in year two he could be a factor.
Speaker 1: I mean, the dude is a house He's definitely a
Speaker 1: space eater or an. He's an athletic, big body guy.
Speaker 1: He's got potential. Hopefully in year two he really starts
Speaker 1: to elevate that level of play. What would you think
Speaker 1: of the possibility of bringing back a thirty five year
Speaker 1: old Demato Peco for depth? I would. I love domatp
Speaker 1: peco um, but you know I would that would be
Speaker 1: my last resort. I mean, if in my mind, if
Speaker 1: they bring Domata Peco back, it's that wasn't there in
Speaker 1: their first option they had in mind. And I'm not
Speaker 1: saying it's you know, it's I shouldn't say a last
Speaker 1: resort either. I'd have it on my list of options,
Speaker 1: but it wouldn't be my highest and Dormata he's done
Speaker 1: an unbelievable job of taking care of himself for a
Speaker 1: lot of years, and the thing about him, the dude's
Speaker 1: a dinosaur. You can't hurt him. He never never had surgery.
Speaker 1: I mean he's put together. I mean he's like he's
Speaker 1: indestructible in terms of that type of thing. So I
Speaker 1: mean he can he can still get in there and
Speaker 1: take up space and clog things up. But thirty five
Speaker 1: years old, you know, no matter who you are, you're
Speaker 1: on the back nine. What hole you pot it out
Speaker 1: on is the key. The thing I would like about
Speaker 1: at two things. One, as you mentioned, he's so durable,
Speaker 1: you know what you're gonna get. And secondly, he played
Speaker 1: for cheap last year, so I don't think he would
Speaker 1: be looking for huge veteran dollars. I think he would
Speaker 1: play close to the veteran minimum. And Dan you know,
Speaker 1: over the years, Marvin Lewis Andrew Worth led the offense,
Speaker 1: Domatopeco led the defense. Those two guys were the unquestioned
Speaker 1: when when it came to, you know, let's let's put
Speaker 1: the marbles on the table here, you know, all right,
Speaker 1: who's who's gonna who's gonna determine things? Who are the
Speaker 1: guys that set up the practices and got the team
Speaker 1: going In two thousand eleven, d the work stoppage Andrew
Speaker 1: Worth offensively, Domato Pecco defensively, and plenty of players lived
Speaker 1: at their houses literally when they first you know, young
Speaker 1: rookies trying to find something we'll take in. I mean
Speaker 1: multiple guys at the same time. We're living at their
Speaker 1: houses and they both have families, so, you know, unquestioned
Speaker 1: in terms of the type of person leader all the intangibles,
Speaker 1: Domato Pecco is top top shelf across the board in
Speaker 1: all those areas. All right, two more ask lap questions.
Speaker 1: This one is from Ryan. Give me one player on
Speaker 1: offense and one player on defense that could surprise people
Speaker 1: this year. I'm hoping since I mentioned Kittle, I'm hoping
Speaker 1: Drew Sample becomes George Kittleish. I'm hoping Drew Drew Sample
Speaker 1: came out of college as the best blocking tight end
Speaker 1: in college football and you know, capable receiver, and then
Speaker 1: you know he played decently and then got hurt. So
Speaker 1: I'm hoping again, from year one to year two, there's
Speaker 1: a big elevation in terms of understanding everything around you,
Speaker 1: what's going to make you successful as a player. I'm
Speaker 1: hoping that Drew Sample stays healthy first and foremost and
Speaker 1: took his learning experiences from that rookie year and during
Speaker 1: the offseason did what he needed to do to make improvements.
Speaker 1: And I hope he comes back as a complete tight
Speaker 1: end that Joe Burrow can rely on, because tight end
Speaker 1: as a quarterback's best friend normally, you know, unless you
Speaker 1: are a George Kittle or you know, a Kelsey or
Speaker 1: people like that, where they're gonna get double teamed even
Speaker 1: more than the Whiteouts. I mean, if they double teammates Green,
Speaker 1: you know, and U and T Higgins shows that he's something,
Speaker 1: you get Tyler Boyd and you have free receivers. Now
Speaker 1: you have sample. They can't They're not gonna double everybody
Speaker 1: can sample win one on ones and make himself an
Speaker 1: available target for Joe Burrow. And then can he block
Speaker 1: on the edge? Can he steal the edge in the
Speaker 1: running game. I'm hoping it through sample offensively, and then
Speaker 1: I'm hoping it's Jermaine Pratt defensively in that linebacker position.
Speaker 1: You know, he made strides, There's no question about it.
Speaker 1: But again, you know, like all the first year guys,
Speaker 1: miles to go before he rests um but they you know,
Speaker 1: they drafted linebackers. If I'm a linebacker, like Pratt, and
Speaker 1: they draft Logan Wilson in the third round and they
Speaker 1: draft Davis Gather in the fourth. I'm thinking, oh, that's
Speaker 1: that's about where I was drafted. Am I good? They
Speaker 1: think I'm good enough? I mean, I'm thinking I gotta
Speaker 1: bust my butt here. I gotta get into training camp.
Speaker 1: I gotta compete. So I think that drafting those linebackers
Speaker 1: who justify their pick obviously hopefully it lit a fire
Speaker 1: under Jermaine Pratt and he's saying, man, I can't rest
Speaker 1: in any laurels. I don't have anything going here. I'm
Speaker 1: not a shoe in. I gotta bust my tail. So
Speaker 1: hopefully he has a breakout season and surprises people this
Speaker 1: year as well. All Right, our final ask Lap question
Speaker 1: comes from Maine Bengals. That's like the state of Maine,
Speaker 1: m Ai ne. Maybe this is somebody that saw your
Speaker 1: brothers star at the University of Maine in football and basketball.
Speaker 1: Here comes the question, Lap. Imagine you're in your prime
Speaker 1: and you had to line up across from Geno Atkins
Speaker 1: or DJ Reader. Who would you choose? And why? Oh man?
Speaker 1: All right, well, now I'm saying DJ Reader is in
Speaker 1: his prime and Gino is not in his prime prime anymore.
Speaker 1: So I would say I'm going to put them both
Speaker 1: in their prime. Though you know it's like prime prime.
Speaker 1: You can't say all right, DJ Reader now today in
Speaker 1: Geno Atkins today, that's there are at different stages of
Speaker 1: their career. DJ Reader is going to be a snap eater.
Speaker 1: Gino actions If he's a snap eater, we're in trouble.
Speaker 1: I mean, they got to monitor his snaps. So they
Speaker 1: are at different stages of their career, there's no question
Speaker 1: about it. But when they're both in their prime. I
Speaker 1: love DJ Reader. I love watching how he pursues and
Speaker 1: hustles and Sam Hubbard DJ Reader, I'm telling you Dan,
Speaker 1: Tim Crumrye when he came to the Bengals practice sucked.
Speaker 1: I was going against timmy every day. I'm thirty years old,
Speaker 1: I'm eight years in the league. He's playing every snap
Speaker 1: like as super Bowl. And I'm like, Tim, Man, I'm thirty.
Speaker 1: I can't play a thousand games. I can't every Wednesday Thursday.
Speaker 1: I can't. I mean, man, but you know what, he
Speaker 1: made me better? And guys that play like that. I'm
Speaker 1: watching the tape of practice and it's like we're in
Speaker 1: a game. We're actually going that that hard that lot
Speaker 1: DJ reader has that type of reputation where and Sam does.
Speaker 1: Obviously we've seen it. Sam goes hard. They're gonna you
Speaker 1: every snaptoget, but Gino and his prime Dan who man,
Speaker 1: I would not ask for that. I would not ask
Speaker 1: for you guys that have that low center of gravity
Speaker 1: and convention press the world. Man, it is literally like
Speaker 1: trying to block a bowling ball, a cannon ball, I
Speaker 1: mean low center of gravity power. Oh my gosh, man,
Speaker 1: it's it's nightmare just trying to think about it. Gino
Speaker 1: actions in his prime was unbelievably effective and couldn't single
Speaker 1: block the guy. As we both know, Geno Atkins doesn't
Speaker 1: say much, particularly the members of the media, but if
Speaker 1: I pass this along to him, it actually might get
Speaker 1: a response. I'll tell you. Gino stud capital asque capital
Speaker 1: T capital to U capital d stud Geno Atkins player.
Speaker 1: All right, that concludes this week's chat for the podcast.
Speaker 1: Let's pass some COVID nineteen tests and go watch practice
Speaker 1: sometime soon. I'm with you, coach. Sounds like a plan. Bye,
Speaker 1: thanks to this week's guests, and that's going to do
Speaker 1: it for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought
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Speaker 1: give it a rating or share a comment that helps
Speaker 1: more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde, and
Speaker 1: thank you for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast.