Speaker 1: Higain everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading The
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast, the Every Little Step Pot Take edition.
Speaker 1: As the two and two Bengals look to continue to
Speaker 1: climb in the AFC North as they face the Baltimore
Speaker 1: Ravens on Sunday Night Football coming up, I'll talk to
Speaker 1: Chris Collinsworth, who will call the game on NBC with
Speaker 1: Mike Tariko. Tyler Boyd joins me before returning to the
Speaker 1: scene of his most famous NFL highlight. I'll discuss the
Speaker 1: Bengals running game woes with Dave Lapham and finally, it's
Speaker 1: our no the Faux segment as we visit with the
Speaker 1: voice of the Baltimore Ravens, Jerry Sandusky. The Bengals Booth
Speaker 1: Podcast is brought to you by pay Corps. More than
Speaker 1: twenty nine thousand customers trust pay core to help them recruit, pay, engage,
Speaker 1: and retain employees. Now here's a quick reminder that you
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Speaker 1: to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing wherever you
Speaker 1: get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since the elevators
Speaker 1: at the Center at six hundred Vine every Tuesday, I
Speaker 1: go into an office building at six hundred Vine Street
Speaker 1: in downtown Cincinnati to tape a TV show for Bally Sports, Ohio.
Speaker 1: I'm here to tell you that I have never been
Speaker 1: in a building with better elevators. I take one elevator
Speaker 1: from the parking garage to the main floor, and then
Speaker 1: another elevator to get to the Bally Sports studio, and
Speaker 1: when you hit the button, there's never a wait. So
Speaker 1: kudos to whoever designed the elevator system at six hundred Vine.
Speaker 1: It's like the elevators are clairvoyant. Now time for us
Speaker 1: to appear into the future and look ahead to Sunday's
Speaker 1: game in Baltimore, beginning with a former Bengals wide receiver
Speaker 1: and current Bengals season ticket holder. It's Sunday Night Football
Speaker 1: this week, meaning that Chris Collinsworth will be in the
Speaker 1: booth for NBC instead of in his seat at pay
Speaker 1: Course Stadium. What did you think of the atmosphere last
Speaker 1: Thursday night for the white out and the record crowd
Speaker 1: against the Dolphins. I told the commissioner, actually because I
Speaker 1: was in the box with him, that I thought other
Speaker 1: than the Pittsburgh Steelers game way back when Carson Palmer
Speaker 1: and the whole Chris Henry injury. And I thought, other
Speaker 1: than that game, that was the most electric I had
Speaker 1: ever seen that stadium. It was a it was I
Speaker 1: loved the unis rights so cool. I just loved it.
Speaker 1: It was like when I was studying the film of
Speaker 1: it getting ready for this game, I was like, it's white.
Speaker 1: It's like watching him run around in an X ray
Speaker 1: or something, just black and white. You just don't see
Speaker 1: that in the NFL, maybe other than Penn State kind
Speaker 1: of thing. But it was fantastic. That was a big
Speaker 1: win too. You know for them that they needed every
Speaker 1: ounce of that crowd and they got it. Chris. When
Speaker 1: the Bengals opened and two, did you figure, no big deal,
Speaker 1: they would get this thing back on the tracks. You
Speaker 1: knew they had a better team than what they were showing.
Speaker 1: But I hate it when you lose Opening Day. There's
Speaker 1: something about especially how they lost Opening Day with they
Speaker 1: got dude making an extra point at the end of
Speaker 1: the game, and you know, now you're three and one,
Speaker 1: you're in first place by yourself. But to jump out
Speaker 1: oh and two and start that way, I was definitely concerned,
Speaker 1: But you also had to figure that there had to
Speaker 1: be a little bit of time Joe getting back after
Speaker 1: the appen deck to me, the offensive line getting themselves
Speaker 1: in gear, and now you just hope to see him
Speaker 1: get a little uptick on with the running game. That
Speaker 1: would be sort of the last piece of it. You
Speaker 1: caught passes from the Bengals two previous Super Bowl quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: Kenny Anderson and Boomer Assias, and compare and contrast Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow to those two Bengals qbs. Yeah, I think he's
Speaker 1: a lot more like Kenny Anderson. He's a lot more
Speaker 1: of sit in the pocket, understand exactly what's happening to him.
Speaker 1: One of the most impressive drives I thought that he
Speaker 1: had all year was that opening drive last week. That
Speaker 1: the quarterback can do the best job of anybody of
Speaker 1: protecting himself with some quick throws, quick releases, get the
Speaker 1: ball out of his hands. And that was Kenny Anderson.
Speaker 1: You know, he understood all that Boomer was going to
Speaker 1: be in the wild West fish fight every week and
Speaker 1: we never knew what he was going to do. But
Speaker 1: Kenny really manipulated the defense, manipulated the pass rush, and
Speaker 1: that's what I always thought Joe Burrow was, but I
Speaker 1: really saw it in that opening drive last week or
Speaker 1: visiting with Chris Collinsworth you mentioned the Bengals running game.
Speaker 1: Joe Mixon convened a meeting with his offensive line last
Speaker 1: week to try to get it untracked. What do you
Speaker 1: see when you watch the Bengals running game right now?
Speaker 1: They're still getting there. There's a lot being thrown at
Speaker 1: Bolson at the left guard position. It seems like every
Speaker 1: stunt that anybody wants to ever run is always sort
Speaker 1: of run at him just to try and make him
Speaker 1: make a rookie mistake. Carris is the right person to
Speaker 1: be next to him, you know, to try and coach
Speaker 1: him along, and because I think he really gets the game.
Speaker 1: Lyle Collins is not close to what Lyle Collins has
Speaker 1: been in the past. I assume that back injury is
Speaker 1: still a bit of an issue, and hopefully he's ramping up,
Speaker 1: you know, as they go along for the season, because
Speaker 1: he can be such a dominating presence in the run
Speaker 1: game and just overpowering. I really I think that most
Speaker 1: people hope that Kappa and Collins would be sort of
Speaker 1: that that run force on that side while they were
Speaker 1: getting Bolson up and running at the guard position, so yeah,
Speaker 1: there's reason for hope. I thought, that is the first
Speaker 1: time I've really seen Hayden Hurst at the tight end
Speaker 1: in this offense. I thought, I think he's impressive. I
Speaker 1: just think he's really impressive that you know, former first
Speaker 1: round draft pick. He's some of the catch and run
Speaker 1: things he did. I thought he was an effective blocker.
Speaker 1: So there's a lot of upside left in this offense.
Speaker 1: The Bengals defense has given up four touchdowns in four games.
Speaker 1: Does Cincinnati belong in the discussion as one of the
Speaker 1: best defensive teams in the NFL? And what impresses you
Speaker 1: about lou Ana Rumo's crew. First, I like lou I
Speaker 1: think lou Is he's the lifetime defensive back coach. And
Speaker 1: it shows. I mean, they do a lot of stuff
Speaker 1: on the back end, and you want to know, why
Speaker 1: is this rookie or that rookie not getting a chance
Speaker 1: to play? And I guess in this case Taxton Hill,
Speaker 1: there is a lot for them to know. And so
Speaker 1: when they have veteran players back there, they can do
Speaker 1: a lot of different things and a lot of different looks.
Speaker 1: But yeah, when you have two players on the edge
Speaker 1: and We all talk about Trey Hendrickson and what he's
Speaker 1: done as a pass rusher since he's come here, and
Speaker 1: I agree with that, and Sam Hubbard's not quite the
Speaker 1: pass rusher that he is. But Sam Hubbard is one
Speaker 1: of the best football players that I've seen on tape.
Speaker 1: The game he had against the run against Miami was
Speaker 1: second to none. I'm telling you, a second to none.
Speaker 1: It was fantastic. And now he will have a huge
Speaker 1: role in trying to shut down Lamar because this is
Speaker 1: a challenge and this guy can do things. And I
Speaker 1: know everybody wants to say he's not this, and he's
Speaker 1: not that. I say, boloney, he can throw it from
Speaker 1: the pocket. No matter what you try and do in
Speaker 1: the run game, You've got to sign two guys to him.
Speaker 1: He is one of the most dangerous threats in all
Speaker 1: of football, and I think very much in the discussion
Speaker 1: for the MVP, despite them blowing to seventeen point leads
Speaker 1: in the second half, they could easily be the four
Speaker 1: node team that we're all talking about. They're two and two,
Speaker 1: the Bengals are two and two. You've got Borrow, You've
Speaker 1: got Lamar. It's going to be a great show. On
Speaker 1: NBC on Sunday Night. What are some of your keys
Speaker 1: to the matchup? You know, I really think it's going
Speaker 1: to come down to for the Bengal side, can they
Speaker 1: get him into passing situations where Lamar has to get
Speaker 1: out of that? You know, three ring circus offense where
Speaker 1: they've got people running in seventeen different directions, and it's
Speaker 1: really hard to figure out because and who knows what
Speaker 1: they're going to do with their left tackle position. They've
Speaker 1: got a rookie over there. I'm not sure how to
Speaker 1: say his name for Lela or something like that. Another
Speaker 1: rookie had center. So your preference would be the Bengals
Speaker 1: edge passed rushers going against two tackles that art as
Speaker 1: athletic as those guys that can be. And then on
Speaker 1: the offensive side, I just think it's simply can they
Speaker 1: balance out this offense because their three receivers can play
Speaker 1: with anybody, I'm telling you, with anybody in But the
Speaker 1: Ravens will have better poorners this time around. Marcus Peters
Speaker 1: to be back after he was out all year. Marlon Humphrey,
Speaker 1: I think is one of the better players in the
Speaker 1: entire league. So I love the matchups It may come
Speaker 1: down a little bit and Tyler Boyd take off Brandon
Speaker 1: Stevens in the slot, but who passed for tex who
Speaker 1: gets their running game going is probably the winner here. Chris,
Speaker 1: I want to end with last Sunday's game against the
Speaker 1: Chiefs because you had a priceless reaction to Patrick Mahomes
Speaker 1: spinning shot put toss touchdown. Passing that game, you said
Speaker 1: it was like a dad playing with little kids in
Speaker 1: the backyard. After all these years of playing and broadcasting
Speaker 1: NFL football, you seem to genuinely still just be amazed
Speaker 1: by some of the things that these guys do. Is
Speaker 1: that accurate. I'm dazzled by them, I really am. And
Speaker 1: you know what's kind of fun about it is that
Speaker 1: the players are allowed to have fun now. The Andy
Speaker 1: Reids of the world encourage personality, and so you see
Speaker 1: a little bit of that backyard flare. You know, you
Speaker 1: see it. You're going to see it again this week
Speaker 1: with Lamar. I mean, they're going to be some plays
Speaker 1: you go, oh, you know what you do and stop it,
Speaker 1: don't do that, And then there are going to be
Speaker 1: some plays you go, I can't believe he just did that.
Speaker 1: And to me, football is still a show. It's still entertainment,
Speaker 1: and I think those guys are have more freedom to
Speaker 1: try to make plays, to try and create. I would
Speaker 1: have loved to have played in today's game. I really
Speaker 1: would have. We were so disciplined and how we ran
Speaker 1: our routes and the way they study everything today people
Speaker 1: would have known everything he did an advance and prestaff
Speaker 1: But now there's this creative element to the game that
Speaker 1: really has made it more fun, more entertaining, a little
Speaker 1: NBA ish in some cases that they have a chance
Speaker 1: to create. So yeah, I do love it. I do
Speaker 1: really love it. It is tremendous entertainment. It's going to
Speaker 1: be great on Sunday night. We look forward to your
Speaker 1: call and appreciate your time today. Thanks Chris, you're met Dan,
Speaker 1: Good talk it to you. Chris spends several hours at
Speaker 1: pay Course Stadium on Wednesday talking to people from the team.
Speaker 1: I'm sure he'll have some great insight on Sunday night.
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Alta Fiber future
Speaker 1: proof fiber internet capable of delivering multi gigabit speeds designed
Speaker 1: to take your home, business, and community to a new level.
Speaker 1: Elevate your connection with Alta Fiber. The Bengals have played
Speaker 1: some memorable games in Baltimore over the years. Perhaps the
Speaker 1: most memorable was on New Year's Eve twenty seventeen. The
Speaker 1: Ravens needed a win to go to the playoffs and
Speaker 1: led the Bengals with less than a minute to go.
Speaker 1: Catches the football, he's back to throw, inches up in
Speaker 1: the pocket, throws spot bye boy the fifteen ten touchdown
Speaker 1: Tyler boy on fourth and twelve. It's a forty nine
Speaker 1: yard touchdown. He and the Bengals lead with forty four
Speaker 1: seconds to go. That was the final game of Tyler
Speaker 1: Boyd's second NFL season. He's in year seven now and
Speaker 1: I caught up with him this week. Tyler, it's been
Speaker 1: nearly five years since you're famous touchdown that knocked Baltimore
Speaker 1: out of the playoffs. When you walk out onto that
Speaker 1: field on Sunday, will you have a brief flashback to
Speaker 1: that moment? Yeah, you know, always, you know, because I
Speaker 1: kind of always looked back at that play because it's
Speaker 1: probably one of the most memorable plays of my life,
Speaker 1: you know, So just being able to continue to walk
Speaker 1: out on the field, I have another opportunity to create
Speaker 1: another special play, you know, is all I'm grateful for.
Speaker 1: How have Ravens fans treated you since? A lot of dislikes,
Speaker 1: you know, but at the end of the day, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm running for the Cincinnati Bengals, and we won't go
Speaker 1: out there and and try to get this one. We're
Speaker 1: chatting with Tyler Boyd. Let's go back to last week's
Speaker 1: win over the Dolphins. You made two big plays in
Speaker 1: the second half, including a twenty three yard pass to
Speaker 1: Jamar Chase. Now, this wasn't a the defense was completely fooled.
Speaker 1: You just lob it up there and the guy's wide
Speaker 1: open type of play. You had to fire a bullet
Speaker 1: for that to be complete. Describe that. Yeah, it was
Speaker 1: um basically we should have We only kept the play
Speaker 1: on because we thought they were given us a man look,
Speaker 1: which I really could have showed my arm all because
Speaker 1: it was a down the field throw. But once they
Speaker 1: see me in motion, they kind of showed what they
Speaker 1: were in and they went kind of two Tampa or
Speaker 1: three buzz or whatever it was. And uh, I just
Speaker 1: being a football player, you know, I've seen Chase open
Speaker 1: in between high safety in the corner so I just
Speaker 1: had to figure out way to just just fit it
Speaker 1: in there for him, I drive throw good spiral. That
Speaker 1: had to feel good, definitely. You know. You know I played,
Speaker 1: I've played a little QB in my day, so I
Speaker 1: knew guys gonna make it through, all right. So let
Speaker 1: the record show you've completed three passes in the NFL.
Speaker 1: You completed three passes in college, so this is nothing
Speaker 1: new for you. Two receivers around the league. No, which
Speaker 1: receivers can throw the ball? Well, no, not really, you know,
Speaker 1: But for those game planning at me, I'm pretty sure
Speaker 1: they're probably on alert because of my past history. But
Speaker 1: going into games, I'm pretty sure other teams or other receivers,
Speaker 1: they don't pass too much, you know, and when they do,
Speaker 1: it's going to be out the blue, some sort of
Speaker 1: trick plays, but you kind of don't know who's gonna
Speaker 1: do it. We're chatting with Tyler Boyd. There are a
Speaker 1: lot of great leaders on this team, but I think
Speaker 1: your unselfishness has been a big key to the Bengal
Speaker 1: success because you're the veteran among the wide receivers. You
Speaker 1: had back to back a thousand yards seasons, but you
Speaker 1: seem perfectly fine if the ball is going to Jamar
Speaker 1: or Tea instead of you. Do you think your attitude
Speaker 1: has filtered down to the other guys. Yeah, absolutely, you know,
Speaker 1: because I can be a guy that's that's selfish, you know,
Speaker 1: and kind of could bring the level of playing down
Speaker 1: to a lot of guys, especially with the guys in
Speaker 1: my room, you know, because if I feel the way
Speaker 1: towards them guys and complaining in the hudder or just
Speaker 1: complaining about less catches and things like that, then maybe
Speaker 1: they'll start stop having my back, you know, because they'll
Speaker 1: look at me very selfish. And I know what I
Speaker 1: bring to the table, and I know what I can
Speaker 1: do when my numbers caught. So I mean, at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, every game won't go my way
Speaker 1: and I know that, and not now that they know
Speaker 1: about Chase, you know, he's starting to, you know, feel
Speaker 1: that the same thing I've been feeling. But now that
Speaker 1: he knows how connected and how un selfish we are,
Speaker 1: he understands the position he's in. So now that I've
Speaker 1: been a veteran than been through this up and down
Speaker 1: and been around in the office, you know, I kind
Speaker 1: of know how how things are playoffs. Sometimes. I'm one
Speaker 1: of five kids. All of the kids are very different,
Speaker 1: different personalities. You three wide receivers seem like brothers, but
Speaker 1: your personalities are very different. It like a family, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it is, you know, because, like you said, all three
Speaker 1: of us at different personalities, you know. But one thing
Speaker 1: about us we talked before. We're all and selfish, you know,
Speaker 1: but we all love to come into compete and we
Speaker 1: all push each other to see who's better. Not necessarily
Speaker 1: figure out who's the best receiver, but we push each
Speaker 1: other to do certain things to to drive us to
Speaker 1: make us even better, you know. So I think just
Speaker 1: having that type of chemistry and connection, which is just
Speaker 1: everybody in our room as a collective whole, you know,
Speaker 1: I think empowers the whole unit as a whole. A
Speaker 1: couple more questions for Tyler Boyd. You beat the Ravens
Speaker 1: twice last year. Both games were lopsided at this level
Speaker 1: with veteran pros who play seventeen games a year, is
Speaker 1: there a revenge factor when you beat a team like
Speaker 1: that twice by twenty or more points? Absolutely, you know,
Speaker 1: despite how how the score was. You know, it's huge margins.
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day. Just losing to
Speaker 1: any division team twice in a year, you know, hurt you,
Speaker 1: you know, because you gotta at least one wants to
Speaker 1: advanced to the playoffs, you know. So I know they'll
Speaker 1: come back with vengeance. But we're built for that, you know.
Speaker 1: And we're not gonna take nothing for granted. We're not
Speaker 1: gonna sit back and reflect on how we beat them
Speaker 1: last year and come out lightly and I think we're
Speaker 1: gonna do again because they're talented team and the second game,
Speaker 1: you know, they didn't really had a key players and
Speaker 1: that was kind of a excuse or a reason how
Speaker 1: we did them like that the second time. But at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, that they go and get
Speaker 1: our our full potential each and every game with gardless
Speaker 1: who's out there. The offense is getting better. You've scored
Speaker 1: twenty seven points in each of the last two games,
Speaker 1: but it's been a while since you've had thirty plus.
Speaker 1: I think it goes back nine games going back to
Speaker 1: last year if you include the playoffs. Is there anything
Speaker 1: specific you need to do better or something you need
Speaker 1: to eliminate in order for the offense to take off
Speaker 1: the way that you know, it's capable of taking off.
Speaker 1: It's kind of a great area to say, because at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, I think if we just
Speaker 1: execute more plays, you know, on a third and shorts
Speaker 1: on a short yardage plays, execute it and get more
Speaker 1: first downs, and I think we absolutely surpass thirty points.
Speaker 1: You know. I think us as players in a unit,
Speaker 1: we had to do better job of doing our jobs.
Speaker 1: You know, we all have to be on Q on
Speaker 1: each each and every play, you know, and I think
Speaker 1: the points is just start coming because we're very very
Speaker 1: fundamental offense and we all do the right thing. But
Speaker 1: you know, it's always gonna be certain plays where you
Speaker 1: get got. You know, you can't be perfect. It's not
Speaker 1: of such thing as a perfect, perfect office or a
Speaker 1: perfect team. So I mean, as much as we want
Speaker 1: to score that many points to lead to keep stressed
Speaker 1: off off our defense, then I mean we'll continue to
Speaker 1: figure a way. I hope you have another memorable game
Speaker 1: in Baltimore, and I always appreciate your time. Thank you.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you. Tyler should have some opportunities to make
Speaker 1: plays this week because you have to think that the
Speaker 1: Ravens will be double teaming and or bracketing Jamar Chase
Speaker 1: all night after what he did to them last year.
Speaker 1: Jamar had eight catches for two hundred yards in Game
Speaker 1: one and seven catches for one hundred and twenty five
Speaker 1: yards in Game two. The Bengals Booth podcast is presented
Speaker 1: by Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play,
Speaker 1: with tickets and signed merchandise up for grabs. Find both
Speaker 1: inside the Bengals app. After allowing thirteen sacks in their
Speaker 1: first two games, the Bengals gave up just two sacks
Speaker 1: and their win over the Jets and only one sack
Speaker 1: in their win over the Dolphins. So the offensive line
Speaker 1: is getting better, but the running game remains a work
Speaker 1: in progress. Of the top fifty rushers in the NFL
Speaker 1: through four games, Joe Mixon ranks last in yards per
Speaker 1: carry at two point seven. His career average going into
Speaker 1: the season was four point one. Joe says he's confident
Speaker 1: that things will soon get better behind his rebuilt offensive line.
Speaker 1: Them boys, they put into work, and you know last
Speaker 1: week we even had a meeting. I'll call for a
Speaker 1: meeting with them to you know, just see what they
Speaker 1: think and on certain runs or what they think. Also
Speaker 1: do on certain runs, and I feel like that would
Speaker 1: definitely be beneficial down the road and taking that next
Speaker 1: step on you know, coming together and building that chemistry
Speaker 1: on and off the field. And um, I think that's
Speaker 1: gonna take us a long way, especially you know, doing
Speaker 1: down the road. So I look forward to it. What
Speaker 1: came out of meeting? Then, what'd you learn from it? Um?
Speaker 1: Like I said, they're pretty much just building that chemistry
Speaker 1: and having them see what I'm seeing on certain blocks
Speaker 1: or you know, if they could just tork a guy
Speaker 1: a different way, or if they can just cut somebody
Speaker 1: off backside, or I could just hit this a little
Speaker 1: faster or hit backside. Like It's just little things that
Speaker 1: you know, we didn't see over over the course of time.
Speaker 1: But I mean, like I said, man, I'm very optimistic.
Speaker 1: I mean, I I an't lost like nine near confidence
Speaker 1: in the run game and what I'm capable of and
Speaker 1: what I know they're capable. I asked my broadcast partner
Speaker 1: Dave Lapham about Joe Mixon calling for a meeting with
Speaker 1: the old line. Yeah, they've done it before. I mean
Speaker 1: they've they've watched tape as an offensive line and tight
Speaker 1: ends with Joe that's not the first time that they've
Speaker 1: done it, and I think it's a good sign. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think it's like, look, we're not happy with where
Speaker 1: we are. Let's let's let's do everything we possibly can
Speaker 1: to improve it. Joe's a captain. Joe organized the thing
Speaker 1: and uh, you know a lot of guys. I think
Speaker 1: it was over at his house if I'm not mistaken.
Speaker 1: I know Hayden Hurst was talking about being over at
Speaker 1: Joe Mixon's house looking at tape. So I think the
Speaker 1: tight ends were involved. And I think it's it's a
Speaker 1: it's a work in progress. And like like every situation
Speaker 1: when you're struggling, it's not there's not ten people breaking
Speaker 1: down and Joe is the only guy that is doing
Speaker 1: everything right. I mean, it's different. Things are happening at
Speaker 1: different times, and it might only be one thing. Front
Speaker 1: side's got a block, great, don't get the cut off
Speaker 1: block boom problem, haven't blocked well. Joe doesn't see it exactly,
Speaker 1: clearly makes a wrong cut. The double team on the
Speaker 1: front side, the synchronous has to be perfect. You can't
Speaker 1: leave before the other guy has taken over the hitting
Speaker 1: surface of the down lineman or else the down lineman
Speaker 1: is going to split them. You can't leave too late
Speaker 1: or else the linebackers flowing and you can't get so
Speaker 1: the timing, the coordination, the rhythm of these double and
Speaker 1: rubs and all that sort of thing is huge. So
Speaker 1: all it takes is one guy to break down, and
Speaker 1: you're gonna have some issues. And it's not the same guy.
Speaker 1: Every single player all stay just replaced the guy. And
Speaker 1: so it's this guy, one player, that guy. Another play.
Speaker 1: The running back right, it wrong this play. So if
Speaker 1: in some cases it's just an inch, it's really literally
Speaker 1: just inches where it got a couple of runs. Joe
Speaker 1: got tripped. The defensive lineman tripped them, no call, who happens.
Speaker 1: But and if they didn't trip him, it was going
Speaker 1: to be some pretty good runs. The problem in Joe's
Speaker 1: situation the last game game against the Dolphins, he had
Speaker 1: twenty four carries. Ten of his carries went for zero
Speaker 1: one or twelve of his carriage went for zero, one
Speaker 1: or two yards. Coupled that with the fact that his
Speaker 1: longest rush was seven yards, So now you're gonna have
Speaker 1: horrific average. If he had busted one for twenty five,
Speaker 1: it wouldn't look that bad on an average per carry,
Speaker 1: but it would still be a problem because twenty three
Speaker 1: out of twenty four runs it just wasn't good enough.
Speaker 1: So now the fact that he hasn't busted any explosives,
Speaker 1: it's claring. People are like, what the hell is wrong
Speaker 1: with the running game. So it's not like you're gonna,
Speaker 1: you know, throw it overboard and say, you know, this
Speaker 1: is a this is a hopeless cause they're so close.
Speaker 1: They just have to keep grinding and it'll pop, and
Speaker 1: when it pops, it'll probably pop pretty big. Twenty nineteen
Speaker 1: was his third NFL season. It was Zach Taylor's first
Speaker 1: as the Bengals head coach. In the first half of
Speaker 1: that year, the running game was a bismo, a troop trocious,
Speaker 1: and then on the flight to London before taking on
Speaker 1: the Rams, they really tried to figure out what can
Speaker 1: we do to get something out of the running game.
Speaker 1: They basically changed their primary runs, got away from the
Speaker 1: wide zone, tried to pin and pull, went to gap
Speaker 1: blocking attack and in the second half of the year
Speaker 1: he was incredible. He was more than eight hundred yards
Speaker 1: in the final half of the season. I think that's
Speaker 1: given Joe confidence that they will fix this and get
Speaker 1: it going. Should they be looking at stuff like that about,
Speaker 1: you know, really changing the types of runs that they're
Speaker 1: going to Well, my stick my thought after watching Somaj
Speaker 1: p run and the offensive line operate, Let Joe go
Speaker 1: a little more north and south, make a quicker decision
Speaker 1: on the wide zone, on the stretch, play whatever you
Speaker 1: want to term it. I think it's like he's trying
Speaker 1: to hit a home run every time. You know, take
Speaker 1: the single and double take those for a while, you know,
Speaker 1: don't try to hit a home run every time and
Speaker 1: make the perfect cut. And in those situations, you know,
Speaker 1: three guys will have their position properly. The fourth guy
Speaker 1: the guy works over his face and makes a play.
Speaker 1: You know, it's just like one one minor breakdown and
Speaker 1: it turns into a problem. But I do think that
Speaker 1: when a running back is struggling, and in my opinion,
Speaker 1: the best thing to do for him is to have
Speaker 1: the offensive line come off the ball with some confidence
Speaker 1: and some spirit and gap blocking can do that and
Speaker 1: let Joe get north and south like Somaji did. Somaji,
Speaker 1: he wasn't thinking about anything. He was like put a
Speaker 1: foot in the ground and go and he'd square his
Speaker 1: shoulder pads up and lower those shoulder pads and run
Speaker 1: with a good body lean and he was averaging over
Speaker 1: five yards of carry and on that drive and they
Speaker 1: get the ball with ten minutes and change left, he
Speaker 1: he has eight rushes of the twelve players in that drive,
Speaker 1: eight of his nine carries were in that drive. And
Speaker 1: their goal was to take a knee and run the
Speaker 1: clock out, and they came close to doing it. Mister
Speaker 1: forty one yard field goal with just a little over
Speaker 1: two minutes to play. They want on an eight minute
Speaker 1: drive or thereabouts. That's what That's what Bills. I thought
Speaker 1: that might have been a turning point. I honestly, Dan
Speaker 1: thought when Joe rushed that five yard touched on the
Speaker 1: offensive line, it was like a body surf five yards
Speaker 1: under the end zone. They mashed everything and everybody and Joe,
Speaker 1: Joe could have scored from you know, ten yards out,
Speaker 1: and I thought, yeah, that's that's a good sign. Keep
Speaker 1: coming downhill like that. And then it evaporated again. So
Speaker 1: they're they're are indicators, you know that they're close. They
Speaker 1: just got to get it over the top because if
Speaker 1: they can, if they can get a you know, it
Speaker 1: doesn't have to be spectacular, but a solid ground game
Speaker 1: going with the weapons they've got, they could be a
Speaker 1: real snoopful for any defense in the National Football League.
Speaker 1: There's no doubt, because you know then you're looking at
Speaker 1: play action pass, you're looking at all kinds of things,
Speaker 1: and if you can stay ahead of the change, that's
Speaker 1: one thing they were doing Dan. They verse five third
Speaker 1: down conversions. With third and one, you can play action pass,
Speaker 1: you can run, you can do anything you want, and
Speaker 1: they converted all five of those. So if they get
Speaker 1: a running game going and stay ahead of the chains,
Speaker 1: they are dictating totally. They are punching and the defense
Speaker 1: is counter punching. You don't want it the other way around,
Speaker 1: where the defense is punching you and it's third and eight,
Speaker 1: third and nine, here they come, and you gotta be
Speaker 1: counter punching. While Joe Mixon is averaging two point seven
Speaker 1: yards per run, Lamar Jackson is averaging eight point five.
Speaker 1: He's ninth in the NFL and rushing yards through four games,
Speaker 1: and he's one of only two quarterbacks in NFL history
Speaker 1: to rush for more than a thousand yards in a season.
Speaker 1: Michael Vick did it once. Lamar has done it twice
Speaker 1: so far. So how does the team practice for a
Speaker 1: quarterback who might be the fastest guy on the field.
Speaker 1: In the Bengals case, they are using defensive back cam
Speaker 1: Taylor Britt, a former high school quarterback with four three
Speaker 1: eight speed the forty to play the role of Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson at practice. Tell us about trying to help the
Speaker 1: team by impersonating him as well as you can, honestly
Speaker 1: just watching the film on him and just trying to
Speaker 1: do everything possibly you know that he does, you know,
Speaker 1: so I can help his defense on and give him
Speaker 1: the best look possible for Sunday. Is it fun most definitely. Yeah.
Speaker 1: He's like a player that you you know, create on Madden,
Speaker 1: So you really have to kind of imitate that, you know,
Speaker 1: for a defense so they can get a real look
Speaker 1: like the Bengals. The Ravens are two and two after
Speaker 1: playing four straight games against the AFC East. They beat
Speaker 1: the Jets twenty four nine and the Patriots thirty seven
Speaker 1: twenty six, but they blew a twenty one point lead
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter and lost to the Dolphins forty
Speaker 1: two thirty eight, and they blew a seventeen point lead
Speaker 1: late in the second quarter and lost last week to
Speaker 1: the Bills twenty three to twenty. The voice of the Ravens,
Speaker 1: Jerry Sandusky, joined us on the Bengals Game Plan Show
Speaker 1: this week and I asked him how Baltimore squandered those
Speaker 1: big lead. Kind of a combination of things won you
Speaker 1: know the Miami game, the secondary had three rookies on
Speaker 1: the field, There was a lot of mental mistakes, some
Speaker 1: communication errors. They left the back door wide open, and
Speaker 1: when you have to speed the Dolphins have they took
Speaker 1: advantage of it, and so it was costly rookie mistakes.
Speaker 1: And then you know last week, have a similar situation
Speaker 1: with Josh Allen. And it's easy to point all the
Speaker 1: fingers in the defense, but the offense plays a role
Speaker 1: in this as well. In the fourth quarter of the season,
Speaker 1: Lamar doesn't have a touchdown path and he has three turnovers.
Speaker 1: There was, you know, the controversial decision do the Ravens
Speaker 1: kick the field goal at the end? Do they go
Speaker 1: for the touchdown? While they went they went for the touchdown,
Speaker 1: Lamar throws an interceptions and then it's you know, it's
Speaker 1: game over from there. So to me, one of the
Speaker 1: biggest factors. Is unlike in recent years, the Ravens running
Speaker 1: game isn't putting games away in the fourth quarter the
Speaker 1: way they have the last couple of years. So, you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's easy to stand and say, oh, it's the
Speaker 1: defensive back, where it's this guy for the defensive coordinator.
Speaker 1: It's not that simple. It really he is a lot
Speaker 1: of variables to play. So you think about the Ravens,
Speaker 1: it's almost like, you know, the inverted wishbone. It's like
Speaker 1: a college football running game. Three hundred and five pound fullback. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, they've got, uh, the inverted bone. They've got
Speaker 1: all these different things they have. A quarterback is and
Speaker 1: is he really joint in thirty pounds? Jerry's he gotten
Speaker 1: that big I see in the listening in the roster
Speaker 1: he's six two two thirty and I mean he runs
Speaker 1: what's still sub four four. It's amazing with all of
Speaker 1: that that they're struggling in the running game. Is it
Speaker 1: due to the offensive line still jelling a little bit,
Speaker 1: the injury it's a left tackle, the rookie center, all
Speaker 1: of that. So it's a little bit of that. The
Speaker 1: rookie fenter. I think Tyler lenardbaut Field a great job.
Speaker 1: I mean, you're gonna you're gonna love what he does.
Speaker 1: He's really every week he's progressively, so he's right on target.
Speaker 1: They are down to their fourth tackle, the rookie daniel Leila,
Speaker 1: who was a backup right tackle. He had to play
Speaker 1: left tackle last week. So not having Ronnie Stanley has
Speaker 1: definitely been a factor, but an eque big factories. Until
Speaker 1: the last two weeks, they didn't have JK Dobbins for
Speaker 1: a second year in a row. They had running back
Speaker 1: to are either past their prime, aren't comfortable in the system,
Speaker 1: just aren't a great fit with this offense. And so
Speaker 1: now they got JK Dobbins back. Dobbins is getting back
Speaker 1: up to speed. They got Gus Edwards back on the
Speaker 1: practice field today. I highly doubt you'll see him on Sunday,
Speaker 1: but at least the pieces are coming back under the
Speaker 1: chessboard that I've been missing for the Ravens. So, you know,
Speaker 1: you take too many pieces off the board, it's really
Speaker 1: hard to do what you've done in the past, and
Speaker 1: that's kind of where they've been. What about Ronnie Stanley, Jerry,
Speaker 1: I know he's practiced a little bit he only played
Speaker 1: in one game last year. Bengals defensive coordinator Louiana Rumo
Speaker 1: said today they're expecting him to play. Is he right?
Speaker 1: Do you think he'll play on Sunday night? I think
Speaker 1: he will. He was really close to playing last week
Speaker 1: but did not play. And look, the Ravens have taken
Speaker 1: a very conservative approach with injuries this year because last
Speaker 1: year Stanley felt like he was he felt pressured to
Speaker 1: play in the first game of the season, he reaggravated
Speaker 1: the injury, didn't play all the last year. He's only
Speaker 1: played in one of the last thirty one games, and
Speaker 1: I think there's a feeling of let's make sure it's right.
Speaker 1: And while he was it was really close. It was
Speaker 1: a game day decision last week whether he played or not.
Speaker 1: I think long term it makes sense to just air
Speaker 1: on the side of being conservative and make sure he
Speaker 1: is one hundred ten percent so that once Ronnie Stanley
Speaker 1: returns and I expect him back this week, he returns
Speaker 1: for good. Defensively, John Wink Martindale is now a Giant
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator. Mike McDonald's was a coordinated with Michigan with
Speaker 1: Jim Harbad, John's brother, but he was on the staff
Speaker 1: with Wink Martindale. You know, he's noted the players, and
Speaker 1: players are familiar with him. But it seems like the
Speaker 1: defense is a little bit more multiple, doing some additional things,
Speaker 1: particularly coverage wise. They're less predictable with their blitz patterns.
Speaker 1: They'll still blitz, I mean, but it's not one of
Speaker 1: those crazy things Bill blitz, and they'll bring like a linebacker,
Speaker 1: they'll bring a safety, they'll bring a nickel corner, those
Speaker 1: kinds of things, And it's a little bit it's a
Speaker 1: little bit different, but it's still pressure oriented, isn't it.
Speaker 1: It is pressure oriented, but you don't see nearly as
Speaker 1: much cover zero now. Wink Martindale's philosophy is this pressure
Speaker 1: breaks pipes. Well, unfortunately in the second half of last year,
Speaker 1: the pipes that were getting broken were the Ravens and so,
Speaker 1: you know, I think they became predictably unpredictable was the
Speaker 1: phrase used around the castle. And so with Mike McDonald,
Speaker 1: you're seeing a lot more multiple. Look, you're seeing a
Speaker 1: lot more two three, cover four, different coverages, and you're
Speaker 1: seeing different blitz packages. You're not you know, you're not
Speaker 1: seeing necessarily blitzess when you expected. They're trying. They're trying
Speaker 1: to reintroduce the element of unpredictability to when then where
Speaker 1: they pressure as they mix that. And one of the
Speaker 1: things I will say for you know, he's been taking
Speaker 1: the heat because of the two late end classes, but
Speaker 1: he's a thirty four year old defensive coordinator. He's in
Speaker 1: his first year. He's a young guy and he's learning
Speaker 1: on the job. And one of the things we saw
Speaker 1: different coverages last week that we saw in the first
Speaker 1: three weeks of the season, which to me is a
Speaker 1: great time. You know, when you're feeling pressure, you tend
Speaker 1: to in life go back to what you know and
Speaker 1: not expand and not try new things. And he's still expanding.
Speaker 1: You know, he's trying new things. He's introducing things step
Speaker 1: by step for his players. So I think in the
Speaker 1: long term it's going to work out, but there are
Speaker 1: short term growth pains and that's not uncommon with the
Speaker 1: young coaches. The voice of the Ravens, Jerry Sandusky, is
Speaker 1: our guest. Here's my final question that has to do
Speaker 1: with Lamar Jackson. Is his contract situation. The Ravens tried
Speaker 1: to give him a bundle of money. He did not
Speaker 1: ultimately accept the offer. Is that causing tension or or
Speaker 1: hanging over this season for the Ravens. I don't think though.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's bothering the Ravens of the least.
Speaker 1: You know, if it's bothering Lamar, he doesn't let on
Speaker 1: about it. He handled himself very well. He was he
Speaker 1: was quite diplomatic. There was no acrimony, there was no
Speaker 1: of holding out. There's none of that. From an organizational standpoint.
Speaker 1: The Ravens know that they can't get a deal done.
Speaker 1: They've got the franchise tag they can use the next
Speaker 1: two years. That's not what they want to do. But
Speaker 1: the team still has the leverage if Lamar puts together
Speaker 1: the kind of season he wants to play together wins
Speaker 1: the super Bowl, you know, I'm sure it'll be a
Speaker 1: much more engaging conversation at the negotiating table in the offseason.
Speaker 1: But because it doesn't have to be done tomorrow, because
Speaker 1: the team wants Lamar, Lamar knows he's wanted. It's really
Speaker 1: down to how big subsigning vote is going to be.
Speaker 1: I think both sides still feel like they will eventually
Speaker 1: get it done. Last week, Third and One don't score
Speaker 1: forts and one throwing an interception at the just blew
Speaker 1: up on social media where Peters and John harborwor tchurff
Speaker 1: and back and forth at each other a little bit
Speaker 1: over you know, why didn't Why was it the field
Speaker 1: goal kicked? YadA YadA? Is there any lingering effect from that?
Speaker 1: Or how has John Harbaugh handled it? It's everything okay
Speaker 1: with Harball and Peters. Yeah, I think everything's fine there.
Speaker 1: Peters did not talk with the media today, but Marlon Humphrey,
Speaker 1: is running mate at the other corner, did and he said, look,
Speaker 1: we're a family. He said, you know, families fight, but
Speaker 1: we're fighting because we all want to win. And that's
Speaker 1: the big thing. If John Hardball was an argument with
Speaker 1: a player because he thought the player didn't care or
Speaker 1: wasn't giving his all, then you'd have a problem. But
Speaker 1: you know, game day, when a coach and a player
Speaker 1: get into it because they both want to win so much,
Speaker 1: and they might disagree on the player or the call
Speaker 1: that it's a lot, they are on the same page
Speaker 1: when it comes to do what it takes to win.
Speaker 1: I don't think you're gonna standing long term problems there.
Speaker 1: Hardball loves the competitiveness of Marcus Peters and he has
Speaker 1: no problem with guys showing that level. And you know,
Speaker 1: John's a veteran coach, just fifteenth years, so he understands
Speaker 1: what guys do and say sometimes in the heat of
Speaker 1: the decision that a game hangs on is a little
Speaker 1: different than what they might think about or say on
Speaker 1: a win. Our thanks to Jerry Sandusky. And here's an
Speaker 1: invitation to join us at the Wings and Rings King's
Speaker 1: Mills location for the Bengals pep Rally show this Friday
Speaker 1: from three to six. Rookie defensive end Jeffrey Gunter will
Speaker 1: join us in the final hour and we'll have plenty
Speaker 1: of giveaways throughout the show. That's going to do it
Speaker 1: for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast presented by
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Speaker 1: Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to the Bengals Booth podcast