Speaker 1: Happy Thanksgiving everybody. I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The Don't Give Up Onus Baby addition,
Speaker 1: as the Bengals try to keep their playoff hopes alive
Speaker 1: as they host the dreaded, hated, but grudgingly respected Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 1: Coming up, I'll go one on one with Evan McPherson
Speaker 1: as he tries to break out of his first slump
Speaker 1: since high school. ESPN NFL analyst Field Yates joins me
Speaker 1: to discuss the season to date, what the Bengals should
Speaker 1: be looking for in next year's draft, and this week's
Speaker 1: Know the Faux segment, we'll find out why the Steelers
Speaker 1: are in first place from their radio voice Rob King.
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Speaker 1: greatest thing since the Syracuse sportscasting tradition. During the bye week,
Speaker 1: I have the opportunity to visit my alma mater, Syracuse University,
Speaker 1: and it was a powerful reminder of how unbelievably fortunate
Speaker 1: I am to be part of s u's sportscasting fraternity.
Speaker 1: It was started by Marty Glickman in the nineteen thirties.
Speaker 1: After Marty started calling New York Knicks games, he became
Speaker 1: a mentor to a ball boy who wanted to get
Speaker 1: into broadcasting named Marv Albert. Marv eventually followed his lead
Speaker 1: and also went to Syracuse, and that started a tradition
Speaker 1: that continues to this day and the list of Syracuse
Speaker 1: sportscasting grads includes Abcostas, Mike Tarico, Sean McDonough, Iron Eagle,
Speaker 1: Beth Mowens, Dave Lapham, and many others. Simply put, attending
Speaker 1: Syracuse turned my childhood broadcasting dreams into a reality. Now
Speaker 1: let's get to my first guest. The Bengals field goal
Speaker 1: unit is lined up and ready to go. At thirty
Speaker 1: three yard try to win the game for Evan McPherson,
Speaker 1: fifth round draft pick rookie out of Florida. Clark Harris,
Speaker 1: thirteenth year pro, will snap it back to Kevin Huber,
Speaker 1: thirteenth year pro. The snap, the put down, the swing
Speaker 1: of the leg, the kick on its way.
Speaker 2: He good.
Speaker 1: The Bengals win it.
Speaker 3: On the final playoff overtime, Evan McPherson poist it onto
Speaker 3: the shoulders of his teammates, has Cincinnati pulls it out
Speaker 3: twenty seven to twenty four.
Speaker 1: From the first game of his rookie year, Evan McPherson
Speaker 1: has been well money Mack. He's nineteen for nineteen in
Speaker 1: the postseason. He's made seven game winners, including two in
Speaker 1: the playoffs, and he's drilled field goals from fifty six,
Speaker 1: fifty seven, fifty eight, and fifty nine yards. But this
Speaker 1: year Evan has struggled, missing a game winning try in
Speaker 1: overtime against Baltimore and hooking a pair of fourth quarter
Speaker 1: kicks against the Chargers that would have given the Bengals
Speaker 1: the lead. I talked to the twenty five year old
Speaker 1: this week about trying to get back on track. Evan,
Speaker 1: you have been remarkably consistent in your NFL career, and
Speaker 1: you started off great this year, making nine out of
Speaker 1: your first ten. Since then, you've struggled a bit. You've
Speaker 1: gone six for eleven. Have you been able to pinpoint
Speaker 1: anything specific, No.
Speaker 2: Not to this point.
Speaker 4: In my head, I'm kicking about as good as I
Speaker 4: have and I think I've expressed that hitting the ball
Speaker 4: really well, just not putting the ball where it needs
Speaker 4: to go. So it's just continue to trust what I
Speaker 4: do in practice in preparation for the game, and just
Speaker 4: carry that over because like I said, I feel like
Speaker 4: I'm kicking well in practice, kicking well in pregame, and
Speaker 4: for whatever reason, it's not translating. But it's just keep
Speaker 4: the trust and know that eventually my body will figure
Speaker 4: it out and I'll start start getting on the roll again.
Speaker 1: Seems like your last few misses have been left. Is
Speaker 1: it easier to fix when you're missing in one direction
Speaker 1: than if you were missing both ways?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think for a right foot a kicker, it's
Speaker 4: probably easier to fix a miss to the right.
Speaker 2: And I've always been a right miss guy.
Speaker 4: I've never missed left, and to be honest, I mean
Speaker 4: I can't pinpoint again like the exact reason why I'm
Speaker 4: missing left. I'll maybe tugging it a little more than
Speaker 4: I have been. But yeah, it's just kind of interesting
Speaker 4: that all my misses this year have been left rather
Speaker 4: than right.
Speaker 1: It would be human nature for confidence to waiver a
Speaker 1: little bit. Has any doubt started to creep in?
Speaker 4: No, I wouldn't say so. Like I said, I got
Speaker 4: great teammates around that believe in me. I got great
Speaker 4: coaches that believe in me. And I've got a great
Speaker 4: family and friends just surrounding me and pouring confidence into me.
Speaker 2: Even though, like you know.
Speaker 4: Sometimes I will say, the devil will try to creep
Speaker 4: into your mind and get get a hold of you.
Speaker 4: But you just got to trust in God and know
Speaker 4: that he's going to pull you out of any tough times.
Speaker 4: And they say there's a peak to every valley, right,
Speaker 4: there's a there's a mountaintop up there somewhere.
Speaker 2: We just got to climb the mountain and just keep trusting.
Speaker 1: We haven't seen you experience anything like this in the NFL.
Speaker 1: How about before that, did you ever have a stretch
Speaker 1: in college or even high school where, for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: it just took a little while to get it back.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 4: I feel like high school was that time where I struggled.
Speaker 2: My senior year.
Speaker 4: I went like nine to eighteen my senior year on
Speaker 4: field goals, which we attempted like a lot.
Speaker 2: I attempted like four or five.
Speaker 4: Over sixty and then all the other ones were like
Speaker 4: fifty plus. But definitely struggled with my senior year of
Speaker 4: high school. And then I feel like I turned it
Speaker 4: around and had a really good freshman, sophomore, and junior year. So,
Speaker 4: like I said, I feel like even when you're struggling,
Speaker 4: I feel like you learn the most from those moments
Speaker 4: and you get mentally tougher from those times, and so
Speaker 4: I feel like coming out of it, we're going to
Speaker 4: be better than ever.
Speaker 1: We're visiting with Devin McPherson. You've had four holders in
Speaker 1: the last three years. I know you well enough to
Speaker 1: know you're not going to blame anything on a holder,
Speaker 1: But how big are the differences from one person to
Speaker 1: the next.
Speaker 4: It's just understanding what each other like and getting building
Speaker 4: trust and just so that I don't have to think
Speaker 4: about any other situation other than kicking the ball, you know,
Speaker 4: I think that's the main thing as a kicker is like,
Speaker 4: you don't have to worry about if the snap's going
Speaker 4: to be good, or if the hole is going to
Speaker 4: be on the spot, or if you're gonna have the
Speaker 4: correct lean on the ball and the laces are going to.
Speaker 2: Be facing straight out.
Speaker 4: I feel like a kicker doesn't want to have to
Speaker 4: worry about those things. And when you don't have to,
Speaker 4: and all you think about is going out there and
Speaker 4: hitting the best wall you can, I feel like you
Speaker 4: aren't a good place. But all four guys that I've had,
Speaker 4: I mean, obviously Kevin and Clark were a well oiled machine.
Speaker 2: They rarely messed up.
Speaker 4: But after them, I mean, everybody that we brought in
Speaker 4: has adapted really well, really fast, and.
Speaker 2: Has really done a great job.
Speaker 1: Justin Tucker is widely considered to be the greatest kicker
Speaker 1: of all time. He's got the same number of misses
Speaker 1: that you have so far this year. In a roundabout
Speaker 1: way or a weird way, is it kind of reassuring
Speaker 1: to know that that guy is going through it this year?
Speaker 4: I mean, I feel like everybody goes through it at
Speaker 4: some point in their career. I feel like you try
Speaker 4: to focus on yourself for the most part. Of course,
Speaker 4: you look at the guys around you, But I feel
Speaker 4: like you can get so caught up looking around you
Speaker 4: that you're not focusing on yourself. And so I feel
Speaker 4: like maybe that's what I've been doing a little bit
Speaker 4: too much, And so I feel like from here on out,
Speaker 4: it's just kind of staying in my lane, not worrying
Speaker 4: about anybody else but this team and what we're doing.
Speaker 1: Did the buy come at a good time just to
Speaker 1: get away and relax.
Speaker 4: Oh, fantastic time. Me and my wife and daughter we
Speaker 4: went back home, were obviously from the same hometown, so
Speaker 4: you got both families, and my wife's family has a
Speaker 4: place on the mountain on the river and no cell
Speaker 4: service whatsoever, And so talk about just fantastic and like
Speaker 4: you said, coming at the right time, It probably couldn't
Speaker 4: come at a better time. Just to kind of sit back,
Speaker 4: relax and just enjoy family. It was fantastic, And to
Speaker 4: play a little golf and just get a little mental release.
Speaker 4: And I feel like it just rejuvenates your spirit to
Speaker 4: finish the season strong.
Speaker 1: I have no doubt that you were going to kick
Speaker 1: a game winning field goal sometime soon. Do you want
Speaker 1: that opportunity more than ever, just because some of the
Speaker 1: recentness is.
Speaker 4: Yeah, of course, like I mean, that opportunity is always
Speaker 4: a special one to get out there and to win
Speaker 4: the game, and you know, it sucks that we haven't
Speaker 4: been able to come through recently in those opportunities.
Speaker 2: But you know, I feel like.
Speaker 4: Coming up, like I said, I feel like bye week,
Speaker 4: we've kind of reset and come into it like a
Speaker 4: new season and we're just going to treat it as
Speaker 4: that and just attack every opportunity that we get. And
Speaker 4: we know the games coming up are really important, so
Speaker 4: we're just gonna be uh locked in and ready for those.
Speaker 1: I look forward to asking you about the game winner
Speaker 1: as soon as it happens, hopefully on Sunday against the Steelers.
Speaker 2: Appreciate your time, Yeah, thank you, appreciate it.
Speaker 1: I've seen a few people suggest that the Bengals should
Speaker 1: bring in somebody to compete with McPherson or even cut him.
Speaker 1: My response is, don't cut him, fix him. Evan is
Speaker 1: one of the players on the team who has proven
Speaker 1: to be elite at his position. The last thing they
Speaker 1: should do is let him go to another team, make
Speaker 1: a tiny adjustment and become mister reliable again. That will
Speaker 1: happen hopefully this Sunday against Pittsburgh. ESPN NFL analyst Field
Speaker 1: Yates has a unique background. He spent six years assisting
Speaker 1: the scouting and coaching staffs of the Kansas City Chiefs
Speaker 1: and New England Patriots before getting into broadcasting. He joined
Speaker 1: me this week to discuss the Bengals struggles so far
Speaker 1: this year and what it's going to take to make
Speaker 1: a playoff push. Our guest this week is ESPN football
Speaker 1: analyst Field Yates, among other things, a fantasy football expert.
Speaker 1: Leading to this question, Field, is Jamar Chase having one
Speaker 1: of the great wide receiver fantasy football seasons of all time?
Speaker 5: He sure is up there. I'll tell you what. He's
Speaker 5: a whole hot in three and let's call it a
Speaker 5: half season into his NFL career. But we came into
Speaker 5: the season saying to ourselves there was so much wide
Speaker 5: receiver depth across the league, and it felt like, because
Speaker 5: of the contract situation, it wasn't totally clear where Jamar
Speaker 5: would rank amongst those wide receivers. But the uncertainty surrounding
Speaker 5: would he be there in Week one? Would he not? Well? Instead,
Speaker 5: he has been the best wide receiver in the NFL
Speaker 5: by a significant margin. Not just the NFL's receiver in
Speaker 5: terms of well, he's got the triple Crown threat on
Speaker 5: right now, but also the number one score in fantasy
Speaker 5: football wide receiver as well. In recent weeks, he has
Speaker 5: also reminded us that in a single game, there is
Speaker 5: no player who is more explosive than Jamar Chase. So
Speaker 5: he has been a joy to having a fantasy football
Speaker 5: roster this season, that much is for sure.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get to the team in general. Four
Speaker 1: and seven through eleven games. What do you make of
Speaker 1: the Bengals so far in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 5: Yeah, nothing revelatory about this, but this is the Kuda
Speaker 5: would have should a team right now in the NFL.
Speaker 5: I know that you can't do this, but you flip
Speaker 5: a few of those games and next thing you know,
Speaker 5: we're talking about a team was challenging for the AFC
Speaker 5: North title. That's not how the football had, not how
Speaker 5: football works, not how the NFL works. Bengals fans have
Speaker 5: been around long enough to know exactly that, But situational
Speaker 5: football has been unkind to this team. You know, I
Speaker 5: know the offense would never pin things publicly entirely against
Speaker 5: the defense, but one side of the offense, one side
Speaker 5: of the ball, has held up its end of the
Speaker 5: bargain much more than the other side of the ball
Speaker 5: has this year. And while you know the playoff chances
Speaker 5: might be low, they're not gone completely. And perhaps this
Speaker 5: bi week will be one that we look back upon
Speaker 5: and say that was the flashball moment for the defense
Speaker 5: to get things going, and the special teams for that matter.
Speaker 5: But it just feels like a comprehensive sixty minute game
Speaker 5: has been very elusive from all sides of the football
Speaker 5: so far from the team this season, and they have
Speaker 5: really no margin for error going forward. They must take
Speaker 5: care of business, and of course starts this upcoming Sunday
Speaker 5: against Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1: To make the playoffs, it probably is going to require
Speaker 1: a five to one finish, maybe six, And oher does
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow make that possible?
Speaker 5: He does with the way he's playing right now. And
Speaker 5: I know that we don't hand out the MVP award
Speaker 5: after two weeks or eight weeks or twelve weeks, but
Speaker 5: you know, at least if you're putting together a potential ballot,
Speaker 5: Joe Burrow is on that ballots, and he's been so
Speaker 5: impressive with the usual suspect traits right, the accuracy down
Speaker 5: the field underneath intermedia throws has been great. I still
Speaker 5: think he is the best in pocket navigator in the
Speaker 5: entire NFL. His capacity to buy himself an extra half
Speaker 5: second by himself a little bit more time and space.
Speaker 5: And he is a good athlete. Obviously he can do
Speaker 5: some damage with his legs, but he's so smart about
Speaker 5: finding ways to buy himself a bit extra time in
Speaker 5: the pocket that rather than scramble for eight yards, he
Speaker 5: might turn it into an eighteen or twenty eight yard
Speaker 5: throw down the field. He has been nothing short of
Speaker 5: remarkable this year. He's playing maybe the best football of
Speaker 5: his career, which is saying a lot for a guy
Speaker 5: that started the Super Bowl early on in his career.
Speaker 5: But Joe has been brilliant. You hate to see a
Speaker 5: season like this go away, so that increases the urgency
Speaker 5: required not just this Sunday, but the rest of the season,
Speaker 5: because I agree it's going to take at least five
Speaker 5: and one to get into the playoffs. Now for Cincinnati, the.
Speaker 1: ESPN's field Gates is our guest, do you have an
Speaker 1: NFL scouting background. You're heavily involved in ESPN's coverage of
Speaker 1: the draft. Let's talk about this year's draft class for Cincinnati.
Speaker 1: Amarus Mims is starting the right tackle, Chris Jenkins is
Speaker 1: playing more than fifty percent of the defensive snaps. Eric
Speaker 1: All looked terrific before he suffered his knee injury. How
Speaker 1: good do you think this year's class is panning out
Speaker 1: for Cincinnati?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'd say this has been a solid start for them.
Speaker 5: You know, the All injury was such a bummer, just
Speaker 5: because you know, unfortunately, if there was kind of a
Speaker 5: red flag for him coming into the NFL, it was
Speaker 5: a health the durability a guy who missed much of
Speaker 5: his last season in college because of that back issue.
Speaker 5: God do is he talented? It looks just so effortless
Speaker 5: when he moves on the field. And well, you know,
Speaker 5: with Cincinnati, they play probably the heaviest tight end rotation
Speaker 5: alongside the Steelers and the entire NFL. So he wasn't
Speaker 5: going to be a full time player for them on
Speaker 5: an every snap basis. But you know, those first two picks,
Speaker 5: and I'll say this is that you know, it's great
Speaker 5: when you can hit on guys in the fifth, sixth,
Speaker 5: seventh round and you find yourself a Chase Brown has
Speaker 5: become a really meaningful contributor out of the sixth round
Speaker 5: at one point. But I really truly believe that the
Speaker 5: best way to build your roster up is to hit
Speaker 5: on those first and second round picks, because those are
Speaker 5: and nothing is a one hundred percent certainty, but those
Speaker 5: are the best bets in the NFL. Right, It's not
Speaker 5: some big surprise that you look at the best players
Speaker 5: in this Bengals roster and it's guys like Joe Burrow
Speaker 5: the first overall pick, and Jamar Chase the fifth overall pick,
Speaker 5: and the list goes on throughout the league. So to
Speaker 5: see a mary Is playing right tackle at a steady
Speaker 5: level is not a major surprise. The talent was never
Speaker 5: a question mark for him. It was just a matter
Speaker 5: of how quickly he get up the speed. Well, the
Speaker 5: Trent Brown injury opens up the door for Marius Mims
Speaker 5: to not just play, but need to play and do
Speaker 5: so on a high level. He's such an impressive athlete,
Speaker 5: such an incredibly large human when he puts it all together.
Speaker 5: His snaps snaps in college were as good as any
Speaker 5: offensive tackle in the draft last year, and I've been
Speaker 5: impressed the Trial by Fire as treated them. I think
Speaker 5: pretty well all things considered.
Speaker 1: Field looking ahead, is there a position group or are
Speaker 1: there position groups that you think the Bengals need to
Speaker 1: target in twenty twenty five, Yeah.
Speaker 5: I mean it's all going to be defense, right. I mean,
Speaker 5: we can talk about the guard play, and that's something
Speaker 5: that I think certainly is of note and can be addressed.
Speaker 5: But you know, at some point you just have to
Speaker 5: sort of rebalance the equation a little bit. And when
Speaker 5: your offense plays like it does, and we'll see what
Speaker 5: happens with a couple of notable free agents this offseason,
Speaker 5: but with the offense playing as well as it has,
Speaker 5: you have to say to yourself, like it's almost a
Speaker 5: responsible to just try on defense, throw a bunch of
Speaker 5: resources that way and see what you might be able
Speaker 5: to come up with. I think the draft class has
Speaker 5: aligned decently with some of their needs on the defensive
Speaker 5: side of the ball. Defensive tackle class looks very very
Speaker 5: deep in the NFL Draft this upcoming year, and they
Speaker 5: could use a few more players in the middle of
Speaker 5: that defense to team to build out the depth. You know,
Speaker 5: Chris Jenkins, as you mentioned, going to be a big
Speaker 5: part of this defense for a long time. But he's
Speaker 5: a certain type of player, right. This isn't some massive, overwhelming,
Speaker 5: three hundred and twenty five pound defensive tackle. Needs some
Speaker 5: continued added girth there in the middle of that defense,
Speaker 5: and then you know, I would just say complimentary pass rushers,
Speaker 5: more corners, more corners, more corners. Safety play has kind
Speaker 5: of been up and down this season for Cincinnati, so
Speaker 5: anybody in that back end certainly is a prospect. Note
Speaker 5: in this upcoming cycle.
Speaker 1: The first place Steelers are coming to town this Sunday.
Speaker 1: They've got a record of eight and three. What are
Speaker 1: some of the biggest keys for the Bengals to get
Speaker 1: a badly needed win over Pittsburgh.
Speaker 5: I'll tell you what this team has an identity to.
Speaker 5: It's Pittsburgh does. So it's don't be caught off guard.
Speaker 5: I'll start there, and you better tackle. This is a
Speaker 5: Pittsburgh team that wants to run the football and do
Speaker 5: so right between the tackle. They want to ride Naji
Speaker 5: Harris as much as they possibly can. It was actually
Speaker 5: Jalen Warren who was more effective in their last game
Speaker 5: against the Browns. He's a good, very good sort of
Speaker 5: lightning quick act. But Najee Harris for much of this
Speaker 5: year has kind of been the guy that they have
Speaker 5: tried to run this offense through. And you know, I
Speaker 5: know what Pittsburgh is probably thinking right now, and we're
Speaker 5: playing Cincinnati. His offense has been incredible, lights out. We've
Speaker 5: got a great defense. But the defense is good. But
Speaker 5: you know, another way to be a great defensive team
Speaker 5: against Pitts against Cincinnati is to just not let them
Speaker 5: on the field. So Pittsburgh, I'm sure wants to control
Speaker 5: the line of scrimmage, find ways to wear down that
Speaker 5: Cincinnati defense and not allow Joe and the two wide
Speaker 5: receivers especially to do their thing on offense. They're very
Speaker 5: well coached on special teams as well, Danny Smith. Their
Speaker 5: special team's coach always has a wrinkle or two. The
Speaker 5: team the opponent has to be, you know, mindful of
Speaker 5: as we know, last game was in part decideed by
Speaker 5: miss kicks, and while those weren't block kicks, you know,
Speaker 5: the operation has to be smooth against the team that
Speaker 5: has been as effective in terms of blocking field goals
Speaker 5: as any in the NFL. Under Danny Smith's guidance. So
Speaker 5: it's a good team. It's a balanced team, not super
Speaker 5: explosive on offense, but defensively very very sound. That you
Speaker 5: have depths of rushers, you know, obviously TJ. Watt being
Speaker 5: the one that you have to pay the most attention to.
Speaker 5: But if you can find a way to play this
Speaker 5: game more on your terms as the Bengals, you got
Speaker 5: a really good chance because I don't think Pittsburgh is
Speaker 5: the kind of team that's built to play or run
Speaker 5: a race offensive and they want to find a way
Speaker 5: to grind things out, almost a first to twenty type
Speaker 5: of game.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of football fans wondered if Russell
Speaker 1: Wilson had anything left in the tag considering his play
Speaker 1: in recent years. How has he performed for Pittsburgh.
Speaker 5: I think he's been solid, And I think the thing
Speaker 5: with Russ this year and specifically since he took over
Speaker 5: his starter, as he is playing within the confines of
Speaker 5: what the rasking him to do. You know, this last
Speaker 5: game is not a toss away, but you know, the
Speaker 5: snow obviously impacted it, but for the most part it
Speaker 5: was you know, it wants you to get a lot
Speaker 5: of guys involved. George Pickens will be the most targeted
Speaker 5: Steelers wide receiver, but they go deep at tight end.
Speaker 5: They got a handful of wide receivers that play meaningful
Speaker 5: snaps for them. They have two backs. They are looking
Speaker 5: for ways to ease the burden off of Russell Wilson
Speaker 5: because they don't need him to throw for three hundred
Speaker 5: yards in two touchdowns most weeks. But the accuracy down
Speaker 5: the field has been a strength of Russ's. He is
Speaker 5: unafraid to just sort of let his wide receivers do
Speaker 5: their thing down the field. He is, you know, sort
Speaker 5: of known, I'm not the King, but you know, a
Speaker 5: prominent moon ball thrower where he just lets whether it's
Speaker 5: you know, most often George Pickens or maybe even Van
Speaker 5: Jefferson occasionally, very occasionally Mike Williams, who was acquired a
Speaker 5: few weeks ago in a trade. So don't be surprised
Speaker 5: if the Steelers try their shots down the field against
Speaker 5: this Bengals defense that you know, as we talked about,
Speaker 5: has been leaky in the secondary for a lot of
Speaker 5: this year.
Speaker 1: Field. Let me wrap up by asking you about the
Speaker 1: other football team in town, the Cincinnati Bearcats. They've got
Speaker 1: some draftable players on the roster this year, most notably
Speaker 1: tight end Joe Royer, defensive tackle Dante Corleone, offensive lineman
Speaker 1: Luke Candra. All three of those guys are local Cincinnati
Speaker 1: kids as well. What do you think of their draft
Speaker 1: prospects going forward?
Speaker 5: Yeah, A sort of Joe only because he's probably surprised me.
Speaker 5: I think he's surprised everybody, maybe even the Bearcats program
Speaker 5: his first year there had I think it was four
Speaker 5: catches in his first three seasons of college all of
Speaker 5: Ohio State, comes home, goes to a program that's going
Speaker 5: to allow him to talent maximize, and all he's done
Speaker 5: is actually, I don't know if he's gotten there yet,
Speaker 5: but the last check he was knocking on the door
Speaker 5: of Travis Kelcey's single season tight end receiving record in
Speaker 5: terms of catches at the program. So that's a pretty
Speaker 5: darn good company right there for Joe Royer. Incredible athlete,
Speaker 5: He was a big time recruit, as you well know,
Speaker 5: four star recruit going to Columbus. Great to see him
Speaker 5: get his opportunity to shine. If he does come out,
Speaker 5: I think he ends up being maybe a late Day
Speaker 5: two or early Day three pick in a good tight
Speaker 5: end class, Dante the Godfather, mister reliable, the kind of
Speaker 5: guy that I think you know what you're going to
Speaker 5: get out of him in a process that's very fickle
Speaker 5: and funny, you don't always get what you think you
Speaker 5: are getting. I think Dante corle owns the kind of
Speaker 5: guy that a defensive coordator signs off on a GM says,
Speaker 5: I know I'm getting a steady, dependable or your force.
Speaker 5: And then Luke kind of in that same bab you
Speaker 5: know guys put a ton of football both Louisville and
Speaker 5: obviously in Cincinnati, has kind of seen it all as
Speaker 5: a blocker. Mister reliable, steady, tough, instinctive, not a dominant athlete,
Speaker 5: but the kind of guy who I do think ends
Speaker 5: up going somewhere you know, day three and has a
Speaker 5: chance to stick around as a depth level guard of
Speaker 5: the NFL field.
Speaker 1: Love picking your brain as ahweys really appreciate your time.
Speaker 1: Keep up the great work and thanks.
Speaker 5: Thanks ch having on. As always, The.
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Speaker 1: the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is
Speaker 1: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Before I moved
Speaker 1: to Cincinnati nearly thirty years ago, I was the sports
Speaker 1: director of a TV station in Syracuse, New York. When
Speaker 1: I left that job, the guy who replaced me was
Speaker 1: raw King, who eventually moved from Syracuse to Pittsburgh. Well,
Speaker 1: this year, Rob became the radio voice of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 1: Small world huh, and he joined me this week for
Speaker 1: our nother faux segment.
Speaker 6: Rob.
Speaker 1: The Steelers are eight and three. They've got the third
Speaker 1: best record in the AFC, behind Kansas City and Buffalo.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure many people saw that coming. I certainly didn't.
Speaker 1: In what ways has this season been a surprise to you?
Speaker 6: Oh, that's a great question, Dan, I think that you know,
Speaker 6: I think I'm not quite as surprised. I was a
Speaker 6: little mystified that people weren't picking the students to have
Speaker 6: a better record. I think part of that was because
Speaker 6: the schedule is so murderous, and let's be honest, did
Speaker 6: murderous part of the schedule is really begun after their
Speaker 6: bye week. The schedule looks softer now, of course, it
Speaker 6: looks softer than it really was, because Chargers were better
Speaker 6: than people thought, and the Broncos were better than people thought.
Speaker 6: The Commanders were better than people thought they were going
Speaker 6: to be. But you know, when you look at this
Speaker 6: team year ago getting into the playoffs, you know they
Speaker 6: got there because at the end of the year they
Speaker 6: got reasonable quarterback played from Mason Rudolph. Prior to that,
Speaker 6: the quarterback position had been a real problem for this
Speaker 6: year as they were really struggling. And you know, when
Speaker 6: you upgrade that position, and I think they upgraded it
Speaker 6: with you know, significantly with Russell Wilson and also with
Speaker 6: Justin Fields. My expectation was, why wouldn't that make you
Speaker 6: a better team?
Speaker 4: You know?
Speaker 6: And then and then they also went out in the
Speaker 6: offseason and they signed Patrick Queen and Deshaun Elliott, two
Speaker 6: players of course we know from being in the Baltimore Ravens.
Speaker 6: They traded for Dante Jackson, the cornerback from Carolina, leaving
Speaker 6: a whole receiver, but improving your team speed on defense
Speaker 6: drafting Peyton Wilson at the middle linebacker position, so I
Speaker 6: really thought this was going to be a better team. Maybe,
Speaker 6: you know, perhaps not a better record because of the
Speaker 6: schedule was so difficult, but a better team. So I'm
Speaker 6: not really that surprised. I think Dan I was more
Speaker 6: surprised that people didn't see that didn't see that, you
Speaker 6: know what an upgrade in the quarterback position would mean,
Speaker 6: because at the end of the year last year, they
Speaker 6: needed to win three games to get into the playoffs,
Speaker 6: and they did it with Mason Rudolph at quarterback, and
Speaker 6: he provided an upgrade to what they'd had before. So
Speaker 6: based on really mostly the quarterback position, but also those
Speaker 6: key additions as well, I felt like this years were
Speaker 6: a better team Heading into this season.
Speaker 1: I think maybe some people wondered whether Russell Wilson was
Speaker 1: going to be an upgrade, even over Mason Rudolph. He's
Speaker 1: thirty five years old, he hadn't played particularly well in
Speaker 1: recent seasons, although maybe he played better than people realized.
Speaker 1: But since taking over as the starter for the Steelers,
Speaker 1: the team is four and one. He's thrown seven touchdown
Speaker 1: passes and only has a couple of picks. How would
Speaker 1: you describe his play?
Speaker 6: I think it's been solid and I think that solid
Speaker 6: is a big upgrade. He's careful of the football. Of course,
Speaker 6: Kenny Pickert was careful to the football too, but he
Speaker 6: just wasn't making a lot of plays now again, whether
Speaker 6: that was play designed and coordinator or quarterback, you know.
Speaker 6: I think that was another big addition for the team
Speaker 6: was getting Arthur Smith, a very well respected offensive coordinator,
Speaker 6: to come in and run this offense.
Speaker 5: Russell, I think has been very solid.
Speaker 6: And I think that there are a couple of Steelers,
Speaker 6: elder Statesman Steelers, who probably had a little extra motivation,
Speaker 6: a little bit of a chip on their shoulders. One
Speaker 6: was Connor Hayward or a bigger pardon of the Cameron Hayward,
Speaker 6: the fine defensive tackle, outstanding players we all know who
Speaker 6: you know could wind up in Canton when his season
Speaker 6: is over. But he had a down year last year,
Speaker 6: get nagging injuries, and his contract was up, and there
Speaker 6: were those in Pittsburgh who questioned rather vocally whether he
Speaker 6: should be brought back or not. And I and the
Speaker 6: Steelers brought a back and he's having a fine season.
Speaker 6: He's having to bounce back season, he's healthy. And I
Speaker 6: think the same was true with Russell. Wilson, you know,
Speaker 6: traded to Denver. Obviously, the massive trade the first year
Speaker 6: was just a catastrophe he's had, which is no longer
Speaker 6: to the best of my knowledge, even in the NFL.
Speaker 6: I don't believe in any coaching capacity.
Speaker 5: And then you know.
Speaker 6: Last year, you know, with his head coach Sean Payton
Speaker 6: just pulled the plug on him. You look at his
Speaker 6: numbers and they were solid numbers. You know, the quarterback
Speaker 6: rating was very good, to touchdown interception racetio was very good.
Speaker 6: The team had a winning record in Denver under Russell Wilson.
Speaker 6: So I think that those things, that sort of stability,
Speaker 6: I think that might be the key word. And he's
Speaker 6: provided stability to this offense, sort of a known commodity
Speaker 6: of what you can and cannot do. The ability to
Speaker 6: be more aggressive, whether it is coaching and other aspects
Speaker 6: going for it. Do you bring a blitz on fourth down?
Speaker 6: Do you take a risk here or there knowing that
Speaker 6: your margin for error might be a little greater than
Speaker 6: it's been in years past because you have a proven quarterback.
Speaker 6: So I think all those things again, you know, I
Speaker 6: think that's part of the Russell Wilson equation. You know.
Speaker 6: To answer your question, I think it's been, you know,
Speaker 6: very stolid quarterback play, much like we saw through much
Speaker 6: of his career in Seattle, especially the latter half, where
Speaker 6: you know he's not you know, he's not gonna throw
Speaker 6: for five thousand yards and the offense doesn't require that.
Speaker 6: But he knows how to win, knows how to move
Speaker 6: the ball, knows how to put points in the board.
Speaker 1: We are visiting with the voice of the Steelers, Rob King.
Speaker 1: Over the last few years, the Steelers offensive line hasn't
Speaker 1: been particularly good. They're starting a couple of rookies this
Speaker 1: year and a second year player as well. Has it
Speaker 1: been a significant upgrade.
Speaker 6: That's a great question, Dan. I think it's I think
Speaker 6: you can see that it will be. It's certainly upgraded
Speaker 6: to center position. Zach Frazers having an outstanding season at
Speaker 6: at center. You know, they they drafted Troy Futanu at
Speaker 6: right tackle in the first round this year. He was
Speaker 6: expected to be the starter. He was injured very early on.
Speaker 6: We haven't seen him. James Daniels was one of their
Speaker 6: better and certainly most experienced, a young veteran right guard.
Speaker 6: He was a guy they were kind of counting on
Speaker 6: he was injured. They put in Mason McCormick. It was
Speaker 6: a unit that when we were watching them up in camp,
Speaker 6: we were thinking, well, it's this is ten or eleven deep,
Speaker 6: and what a wonderful position that's that is to be
Speaker 6: in in the NFL because they just don't make that
Speaker 6: many good offensive linemen.
Speaker 5: It's hard to find a.
Speaker 6: Team that goes you know, some teams don't have five
Speaker 6: good starters, much less six, seven or eight. And then
Speaker 6: injuries started to happen. They've they've lost a lot of
Speaker 6: players to injuries along that offensive line. The Bengals will
Speaker 6: have no sympathy with that. With the injuries they've had
Speaker 6: on the back end of their defense, no one's going
Speaker 6: to be crying any any tears for this year there's
Speaker 6: injury was I think that it's it's solidifying. The expectation
Speaker 6: would be if you told me you're going to start
Speaker 6: a second year right tackle who's extremely young, and you're
Speaker 6: going to be starting a first year right guard and
Speaker 6: first year center, then I think that all in all,
Speaker 6: it's been solid and hopefully the arrow is pointing up
Speaker 6: for those guys in terms of improvement as well.
Speaker 1: Chris Boswell leads the NFL with thirty one field goals.
Speaker 1: For sake of comparison, he's got more than twice as
Speaker 1: many as Evan McPherson, who's made fifteen. How critical has
Speaker 1: Boswell been to this eight and three start?
Speaker 6: Well, Absolutely critical, Dan, And you know he's had two
Speaker 6: games in which he's six for six with field goals
Speaker 6: and this year has won both those games and didn't
Speaker 6: score touchdown either time. So without that happening for you,
Speaker 6: you're not winning games, including the win over the Ravens.
Speaker 6: And not to bring up a sore spot for the Bengals,
Speaker 6: but think about McPherson's you know, extra pointed or a
Speaker 6: field goal attempt in overtime that wins that game for
Speaker 6: Cincinnati and what a different position that puts them in
Speaker 6: going to this week. Just you know, five and six
Speaker 6: is a huge difference in the AFC over four and seven.
Speaker 6: He has been one of their best players. He was
Speaker 6: the AFC Defensive Player of the Month in both September
Speaker 6: and October. Without him, they are not in this position
Speaker 6: because the formula, and again this ties back in with
Speaker 6: the Russell Wilson conversation and some of the other improvements
Speaker 6: they've made around the roster, but we all know how
Speaker 6: important the quarterback position is. You know, there is there
Speaker 6: was very little margin for error for the Steelers in
Speaker 6: the last couple of years. Nine to two in one
Speaker 6: score games. That's a very difficult pace to maintain. I
Speaker 6: give Mike tom On a lot of credit for coaching
Speaker 6: the team to victories and managing their way through victories,
Speaker 6: and I think there's a you know, Chris Boswell has
Speaker 6: been a huge part of that. I think that they'll
Speaker 6: need a little bit less of that with Russell Wilson
Speaker 6: at quarterback, the ability to maybe score some more points.
Speaker 6: But no question, they don't make the playoffs last year
Speaker 6: and they're not eight and three this year without Chris Boswell.
Speaker 1: The Steelers defense has been excellent as always, their fourth
Speaker 1: in the NFL and points allowed, but I was a
Speaker 1: little bit surprised when I looked at the stats and
Speaker 1: saw that they didn't have many sacks this year. Their
Speaker 1: tied for twenty second in the NFL with twenty five
Speaker 1: sacks as a team. What are they doing well on
Speaker 1: defense to limit opposing offenses to such a low number
Speaker 1: in terms of.
Speaker 6: Scoring, well, I think, and you're right, Dan, I think
Speaker 6: that that is something that raises an eyebrow, especially in
Speaker 6: light of what happened on Thursday night in Cleveland during
Speaker 6: the loss. So I think that one of the things
Speaker 6: that's been beneficial is that even though they're not getting
Speaker 6: a lot of sacks, they are getting a lot of pressure.
Speaker 6: You know, Patrick Queen was one of the key guys
Speaker 6: they picked up, and I was extremely interested to see
Speaker 6: how they would use a middle linebacker of his varied skills.
Speaker 6: He can blitz the passer, he can drop into coverage,
Speaker 6: he can cover running backs, he can cover linebackers. He's
Speaker 6: a sidelined to sideline player with great speed. A terrific
Speaker 6: signing by the Steelers. Well, they've almost blitzed him. I
Speaker 6: mean they've almost never blitzed him all season. They've been
Speaker 6: able to drop seven. So they're not getting sacks, they
Speaker 6: are getting some pressure. They're dropping seven. Dante Jackson, on
Speaker 6: the other side, has added speed to the to the
Speaker 6: cornerback position. You know, I was always a fan of
Speaker 6: Deshaan Elliott as a safety when he played with Baltimore,
Speaker 6: and now that I've seen him every day, I'm even
Speaker 6: a bigger fan. I think he is one of the
Speaker 6: unsung heroes in the defense. He is just a really,
Speaker 6: really good football player. So they added to the overall
Speaker 6: team speed. They're dropping seven and getting enough pressure on
Speaker 6: quarterbacks that they don't have to bring a lot of blitzes.
Speaker 6: You know, the Steelers played the Giants earlier. In the
Speaker 6: Giants blitz a lot, and they get after the quarterback
Speaker 6: a lot, but it makes them susceptible to giving up
Speaker 6: big plays. The Steelers have been able to drop seven
Speaker 6: get enough pressure on now. They didn't get enough pressure
Speaker 6: on Jamis Winston on Thursday night in the snow in
Speaker 6: Cleveland to affect the outcome of that game. That's not
Speaker 6: something we're used to seeing with the Steelers. We're used
Speaker 6: to seeing them get more pressure from the quarterback and
Speaker 6: have that positive outcome from the defense. As far as
Speaker 6: putting pressure on forcing the other team to make mistakes,
Speaker 6: coming up with stripsacks, coming up with sacks, what have you,
Speaker 6: coming up with a fluttering ball that gets intercepted. We
Speaker 6: haven't seen that as much this year, and I think
Speaker 6: that that's it. You know, it's going to need to
Speaker 6: be a factor. I think on Sunday against Joe Burrow
Speaker 6: and the Bengals, all.
Speaker 1: Right, final thing for the voice of the Steelers, Rob King.
Speaker 1: The Bengals, as you know, are scoring a lot of points,
Speaker 1: but they are giving up just as many. What do
Speaker 1: you think some of the keys to the game are
Speaker 1: going to be from the Steelers perspective.
Speaker 6: I think that obviously you have to limit You have
Speaker 6: to limit those guys on the outside. I mean, Chase
Speaker 6: and Higgins are you know what a formidable one two punch.
Speaker 6: I don't think there's a better one two punch in
Speaker 6: the league than those two guys. And I think Dante
Speaker 6: Jackson will help you know, you have Joey Porter Junior
Speaker 6: on one side and Dante Jackson the other that will
Speaker 6: help you. Know, Brown, especially over the last three games,
Speaker 6: it's one hundred and thirty one plus yards per game
Speaker 6: from scrimmage for him, he's a guy who can run
Speaker 6: the ball and beat you also out of the backfield.
Speaker 6: So I think that they're going to have to do
Speaker 6: a good job, you know, trying to contain those guys. Again,
Speaker 6: you have to understand that Joe Burrow and that team
Speaker 6: is probably going to score some points on you. So
Speaker 6: if that happens, even if you limit them somewhat, what
Speaker 6: does that mean then you have to do offensively.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 6: It begins to me with stopping Hendrickson, you know, I mean,
Speaker 6: he's got what eleven and a half and the next
Speaker 6: guy is hvered with two.
Speaker 5: That's a wide drop off.
Speaker 6: They were facing a similar scenario in Cleveland against Miles Garrett,
Speaker 6: and Miles Garrett had a phenomenon and was a huge
Speaker 6: factor in Cleveland upsetting the Steelers. So I think that
Speaker 6: stopping Hendrickson has to be a big key as well.
Speaker 6: I mean, there are others, but I think limiting what
Speaker 6: those guys can do, the skill guys offensively and making
Speaker 6: sure that your quarterback stays up bright and Hendrickson doesn't
Speaker 6: get home repeatedly, I think those would be the biggest keys.
Speaker 1: Rob appreciate the time, appreciate the insight, and I'm looking
Speaker 1: forward to the reunion of former WTVH five sports anchors
Speaker 1: on Sunday at pay Corp Stadium.
Speaker 6: Hey, you know, I'm very happy to say that one
Speaker 6: of the two of us was recently awarded a prestigious
Speaker 6: award from the New House School in Syracuse, and that
Speaker 6: guy lives. But one guy, the guy who won that award,
Speaker 6: I'm not going to go to it. He lives a
Speaker 6: little further west than the guy who didn't work well.
Speaker 1: I'll say this. We are very lucky to do what
Speaker 1: we do for a living and it's great to make
Speaker 1: great friends over the years like you. So look forward
Speaker 1: to seeing you on Sunday.
Speaker 6: Thank you, d I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Hi, thanks to Rob King and that's going to do
Speaker 1: it for this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought
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Speaker 1: more Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horde. Hope you
Speaker 1: have a great Thanksgiving. Thanks for listening to The Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast.