WEBVTT - Bengals Booth Podcast: Start Me Up 0:00:03.640 --> 0:00:06.640 I get everybody on Dan Horde and thanks for downloading 0:00:06.680 --> 0:00:12.039 the Bengals Booth podcast. The Stubby Up. Addition, as we 0:00:12.160 --> 0:00:14.440 take a look at the first several days of training 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:17.480 camp coming up, I'll talk to my broadcast partner Dave 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:20.919 Lapham about a topsy turvy first week of practice under 0:00:21.000 --> 0:00:25.239 new head code Zach Taylor. We'll discuss AJ Green's injury 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:27.880 and what it means to the Bengals offense, take a 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:29.960 look at a few players who have stood out in 0:00:30.000 --> 0:00:34.240 the early going, and discuss coach Taylor's approach to trying 0:00:34.240 --> 0:00:36.479 to keep the team as fresh and as healthy as 0:00:36.520 --> 0:00:40.200 possible leading up to the regular season opener in Seattle. 0:00:40.560 --> 0:00:43.559 And in this week's fun Facts conversation, you'll get to 0:00:43.560 --> 0:00:46.879 know one of the best special teams coaches in the NFL, 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:51.400 Darren Simmons. We'll discuss a wide variety of topics, including 0:00:51.760 --> 0:00:56.000 his playing career as a college quarterback and punter, his 0:00:56.160 --> 0:00:59.800 favorite special teams play in sixteen years as a Bengals coach, 0:01:00.080 --> 0:01:04.600 and his ultimate goal of becoming a head coach. Those 0:01:04.640 --> 0:01:07.880 conversations are straight ahead, but first here's a quick reminder 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:10.440 that you can have the latest edition of this podcast 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:15.080 delivered rite to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:20.240 on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean. It's 0:01:20.280 --> 0:01:27.640 the greatest invention since YouTube how to videos. I am 0:01:27.680 --> 0:01:31.120 ashamed to admit that I am probably the world's least 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:34.759 handy person. Other than changing a light bulb or filling 0:01:34.800 --> 0:01:38.640 my gas tank, I'm basically useless. But I'm getting a 0:01:38.720 --> 0:01:42.400 little better thanks to the numerous how to videos you 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:47.319 can find on YouTube. For example, this week, I replaced 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:50.920 the watch band on my running watch. Now that might 0:01:50.960 --> 0:01:54.280 sound pretty rudimentary to you, but trust me, it was 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:58.560 a borderline miracle. Now time for football is I bring 0:01:58.600 --> 0:02:02.320 in my broadcast partner, Dave lappam Lapp. Quite a first 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:04.800 week for new head coach Zach Taylor and his first 0:02:04.840 --> 0:02:07.760 practice as the Bengals head coach. A. J. Green goes 0:02:07.800 --> 0:02:10.799 down about forty five minutes into practice, the first day 0:02:10.800 --> 0:02:12.920 that the Bengals are supposed to be in full pads, 0:02:12.960 --> 0:02:16.840 it gets canceled due to lightning. He has quote unquote 0:02:16.840 --> 0:02:19.760 weathered the storm pretty well. I think I think, I 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:23.600 think you're absolutely right. I mean, it's one thing about 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:27.040 him that I felt like after meeting him on and 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:29.680 off the field as such. Is that he was steady, 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:33.160 very steady personality wise, and I think it's pretty much 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:36.080 born fruit there, you know. I think he's he's had 0:02:36.120 --> 0:02:37.880 a couple of howards is thrown out him and he's 0:02:37.880 --> 0:02:41.320 just you know, just shucks him like like it's no problem, 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:44.160 which I think is a good sign. Um, you know, 0:02:44.160 --> 0:02:46.239 it doesn't get flustered easily. I think that's going to 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:49.760 be a good good indicator of his temperament during the 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:52.200 course of a game. I think he'll keep his cool, 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:55.480 uh and stay level headed and be able to make good, 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:59.160 solid decisions because you know, he won't be emoting as such. 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:02.160 So I think those are those are all good signs. 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:05.680 You know. Aj Green, it's just so unfortunate. I've had 0:03:05.680 --> 0:03:07.200 a chance to talk to him a little bit and 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:10.840 he's he was just so you know, for AJ he 0:03:10.919 --> 0:03:13.119 was as down as I've seen him. And that he said, 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:16.000 you know, laugh, I never got hurt now all of 0:03:16.040 --> 0:03:18.440 a sudden, the last three years, it just seems to 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:21.400 be an injury bug a boo. And uh, he was 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:25.240 he was definitely you know, sad's not the word for it. 0:03:25.240 --> 0:03:28.440 It was. It was even sadder than sad. But then 0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:30.760 I saw him a day later and he was already 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:33.680 his spirits were already, you know, starting to bounce back. 0:03:33.760 --> 0:03:37.600 So I think he is a quick healer, you know, 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:40.880 I think he will scar, which has to happen, you know, 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:44.240 after injuries and after surgery if there's ligament tears, and 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:46.880 you know, the problem with those kind of things is 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:48.720 when you have an injury and a joint, you know, 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:52.120 there's so many things in there. There's bone, there's ligament, 0:03:52.200 --> 0:03:55.320 there's tendons, there's sheaths around the tendons and ligaments, and 0:03:55.760 --> 0:03:57.640 all of those things can be messed up. There's a 0:03:57.680 --> 0:03:59.560 lot of soft tissue and a lot of things that 0:04:00.120 --> 0:04:01.880 and the soft tissue can affect the bone and it 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:04.680 can be bone chips and all these particular in there. 0:04:04.720 --> 0:04:06.880 I mean, over the years, I've I've had some injury, 0:04:06.880 --> 0:04:08.960 and teammates of mine have had injury, and you know, 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:12.640 you just get to learn to realize that sometimes until 0:04:12.680 --> 0:04:15.440 you get in there as such, which is I think 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:17.800 it's a wise thing that they did. You don't really 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:20.000 know what you're looking at. And m R eyes are great, 0:04:20.160 --> 0:04:21.720 don't get me wrong. Where I never had an m R. 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:23.880 I don't even know what an mr I would would 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:27.040 feel like. I guess it doesn't feel like much of anything, 0:04:27.080 --> 0:04:30.680 But you know, the pictures are very very clear, so 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:33.040 I think based on those pictures, I think they've decided 0:04:33.080 --> 0:04:36.240 they're better go in there and make sure that everything's 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:40.400 everything's hunky dory as such, and hopefully he'll be he'll 0:04:40.400 --> 0:04:42.839 be back sooner rather than later, because that's a that's 0:04:42.880 --> 0:04:45.360 a huge, huge piece of an offense to miss, for sure. 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:48.640 He had surgery on Tuesday. Zach Taylor said later that 0:04:48.760 --> 0:04:50.640 day that he's likely to miss at least the first 0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:53.800 two games of the regular season. Do you think that 0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:56.800 that is an optimistic timetable for how quickly he could 0:04:56.800 --> 0:05:00.400 be back, You know, I hope it's a I hope 0:05:00.400 --> 0:05:02.240 it's on the on the long end, you know. I mean, 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:04.800 there's no way he's going to be around for the 0:05:04.800 --> 0:05:07.960 open to me, in a perfect not a perfect world, 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:11.560 but a perfect world based on the world we're in 0:05:11.720 --> 0:05:14.479 right now, which is not a perfect world with the injury, 0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:18.200 if they could get him back for the Steeler game 0:05:18.360 --> 0:05:21.880 Week four, Week four and last game September Monday night 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:26.919 football national television, big you know, a big game against 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:30.400 a division rival, I hated division rival. If AJ Green 0:05:30.480 --> 0:05:32.200 could come back and play in that game, that would 0:05:32.200 --> 0:05:34.640 be a shot of juice that this team would be. 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:38.120 You know, it would be unbelievable. It's like getting a 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:40.599 not just a first round pick, You're getting a future 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:43.040 Hall of Famer, you know, back as a weapon. That 0:05:43.560 --> 0:05:46.320 would be a nice a nice component to having that game. 0:05:46.320 --> 0:05:47.840 That's gonna be a tough game, going on the road 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:51.000 and playing against the Pittsburgh Steelers under the lights, uh, 0:05:51.480 --> 0:05:54.040 with that crowd and everything that goes along with it. Um, 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:58.320 you know, it's it's unfortunate. The thing the thing that 0:05:58.360 --> 0:06:00.320 you know, I look at it when I think you're 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:03.760 gonna miss him for regular season games potentially you know, 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:09.320 two or three games, maybe four. Okay, now you can 0:06:09.320 --> 0:06:11.320 put another guy in the box because there's not a 0:06:11.360 --> 0:06:14.359 weapon that you have to maybe worry about with doubling. 0:06:14.960 --> 0:06:17.359 So if you really want to run the football like 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:20.000 this team does, all of a sudden, you know, it's 0:06:20.040 --> 0:06:24.000 like the hands washing the other hand, A teams try 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:25.480 to take them out of the football game. The only 0:06:25.520 --> 0:06:27.080 way to do it is to put a couple of 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:30.640 guys on them. So now not having to worry about that, 0:06:31.320 --> 0:06:32.760 you might be able to load the box up a 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:34.839 little bit more regularly. Now it's tougher for Joe Mixon. 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:37.200 He's got to make the unblocked guy miss all the time. 0:06:38.520 --> 0:06:41.400 It just becomes you know, in the National Football League, 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:44.440 the biggest commodity you can have is space, and you 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:46.920 try to create space. You try to make the defense 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:49.640 defend every blade of grass you can. And if you've 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:52.120 got a j and John Ross and all these components, 0:06:52.240 --> 0:06:54.760 your offense healthy, and you can spread the field out 0:06:54.920 --> 0:06:58.440 and stretch them horizontally by formation, then stretch them vertically 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:01.280 by speed, by foot speed. You know, you get a 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:03.960 dynamic there. But if AJ is not in the mix, 0:07:04.040 --> 0:07:06.279 and John Ross isn't in the mix yet, but hopefully 0:07:06.360 --> 0:07:09.039 he should be, you know by the regular season. That's 0:07:09.040 --> 0:07:11.600 why if Malone shows he can play, he can run, 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:14.240 I mean he can stretch it. John Ross can stretch it. 0:07:14.280 --> 0:07:16.440 You know, AJ can stretch it. And now you're having 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:21.000 to defend again horizontally en vertically. Wouldn't shock me, though, 0:07:21.080 --> 0:07:23.760 Dan if instead of eleven personnel, one running back, one 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:27.000 tight end, maybe goes some twelve personnel because you've got 0:07:27.000 --> 0:07:29.360 seven tight ends in camp I think four of them 0:07:29.400 --> 0:07:31.880 are going to make the football team, and you know 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:35.720 that'll help Darren Simmons as well, because you know it's 0:07:35.760 --> 0:07:38.760 you know, other than Tyler Eiffort, every other tight end 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:41.000 that's on the football team could help him in a 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:44.680 special teams play. Plus the fact that you know, all 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:47.360 of them have different skill set. Some are better blockers, 0:07:47.360 --> 0:07:50.200 some are better receivers, some can do both. Tyler Eiffort, 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:51.880 you know, can do both. But I mean when he's 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:54.440 on the field, they went nickel last year, whether he 0:07:54.480 --> 0:07:55.880 was on the field a loan or he was on 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:58.200 the field as a as a second tight end. So 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:01.440 at least if you go to personnel, you might get 0:08:01.480 --> 0:08:03.280 him in base defense and be able to balance him 0:08:03.360 --> 0:08:05.920 up so you can take away some of the funk 0:08:06.040 --> 0:08:07.680 that they might be doing. You know, put a tight 0:08:07.800 --> 0:08:09.320 underneath the stide of line of scriment. Do you make 0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:11.760 them balance up? Now, all of a sudden, it's you 0:08:11.800 --> 0:08:13.720 have a base defense that's balance up, and it's a 0:08:13.800 --> 0:08:16.120 it's a different picture. So, I mean, there's a lot 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:19.560 of things you can do. They're not hamstrong necessarily by 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:22.800 losing a wide receiver. With respect to what they can 0:08:22.800 --> 0:08:25.960 do offensively, personnel wise, formations, all the things they're going 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:29.840 to do. But when it's AJ Green, I mean that guy. 0:08:30.640 --> 0:08:33.720 There's there's not very many guys, if any, in the league. Honestly, 0:08:33.800 --> 0:08:36.080 they can do all the things he can do. I 0:08:36.120 --> 0:08:40.880 mean he's got speed, quickness, his jackhammer, feed on that sideline, 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:44.320 I hand coordination, I mean he does. We've seen him 0:08:44.360 --> 0:08:46.720 in practice two things that are out of this world. 0:08:46.800 --> 0:08:50.560 They're crazy. They just can't replace that. There's no good 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:53.319 time to lose AJ Green that we know, But if 0:08:53.360 --> 0:08:56.240 it had to happen, I would think first day of 0:08:56.320 --> 0:08:58.640 camp would be the best time for two reasons. Why. 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:00.640 It gives him a chance to come back sooner in 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:03.200 the regular season and not miss many games. But secondly, 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:06.440 Andy Dalton, AJ Green have been doing this forever. They've 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:09.560 got chemistry, and the offense is different, so the routes 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:13.320 are a little bit different, but at least they've got 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:16.520 that history, that shared history. If you're trying to get 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:20.679 other wide receivers ready to play and contribute, then all 0:09:20.679 --> 0:09:24.760 this additional time at camp will be good for them. Agreed. 0:09:25.120 --> 0:09:27.760 I think you're running the money on both points. I 0:09:27.800 --> 0:09:31.160 think that AJ Green is such a ridiculous physical freak 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:36.000 of nature that he'll heal quickly and he won't need 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:38.400 a whole lot of practice to ramp up to a 0:09:38.480 --> 0:09:41.000 high level. Maybe not as high level as AJ can be, 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:43.560 but it's still a higher level than your average wide 0:09:43.559 --> 0:09:47.160 receiver around the National Football League. So you look at that. 0:09:47.240 --> 0:09:49.640 I mean, Julio Jones is saying he's not going to 0:09:49.679 --> 0:09:53.040 play a preseason stap. I'd venture to say Antonio Brown's 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:54.640 not going to play much in the preseason. All these 0:09:54.640 --> 0:09:57.480 elite groups wide receivers aren't going to play in preseason 0:09:57.480 --> 0:09:59.400 games anyway. And take a chance I'm losing. These guys 0:09:59.440 --> 0:10:01.880 are paying fifteen twenty million dollars a year or two, 0:10:01.920 --> 0:10:05.640 so AJ Green, I mean, I wouldn't be surprised that 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:08.280 they were going to limit his snaps in preseason games anyway. 0:10:08.440 --> 0:10:11.560 But practice, repetition and all those things you're talking about 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:14.120 are important. But like you said, they've done it for 0:10:14.160 --> 0:10:16.880 eight years already, so they have a lot of that, 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:20.000 but it is some different routes. And AJ was talking 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:22.600 about getting his nose in the playbook, and he'd missed 0:10:22.640 --> 0:10:24.800 all the OTAs and the mini camps and all that, 0:10:24.920 --> 0:10:27.360 so he wanted to get that part of it, the 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:29.160 study part of it, and then translating it to the 0:10:29.200 --> 0:10:31.800 football field. And he's a rep guy. AJ likes to 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:35.640 have reps on the practice field, So with those diminished, 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:37.720 you know, there's a little bit of catching up to 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:40.400 do there. So it's going to be interesting to see 0:10:40.400 --> 0:10:43.720 how how it all plays out. But I do think, 0:10:43.720 --> 0:10:47.920 I like think again looking at the very first workout today, 0:10:48.000 --> 0:10:52.199 Dan in pads Man, I mean, tight ends are motion 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:54.839 and whamen knows, you know, defensive tackles and it's a 0:10:54.880 --> 0:10:57.520 play actually pass over that pass in the middle of 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:01.120 football field. You know, a receiver's wide open. Quarterbacks have 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:03.760 changed in the launch point. You know, both ways, rolling right, 0:11:03.840 --> 0:11:07.880 rolling left. Linemen are pulling. Receivers are you know, in 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:10.400 tight formations, the splits are tight to the formation and 0:11:10.440 --> 0:11:12.880 then they're wide and then they're motioning and then jet 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:15.319 sweep motion and motion back the other way. There's a 0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:18.120 there's a lot going on, and then you'll see the defenses, 0:11:18.160 --> 0:11:20.800 I mean basically a lot of these motions and everything 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:23.520 will change the strength of the formation. Defensive lineman will 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:27.200 be shifting, linebackers will be everybody's communicating shifting if you 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:29.839 do this stuff at the end of the play clock, 0:11:30.320 --> 0:11:34.080 I mean there's a chance, in my mind, the later 0:11:34.120 --> 0:11:36.600 you do something like that, the higher the risk of 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:39.760 them somebody not getting the line properly. Maybe you'll catch them. 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:42.160 Not they're moving, they're not even in their stance where 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:45.320 they're lined up improperly or whatever. So I like a 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:46.880 lot of the things that they're doing. I think it 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:49.600 stresses a defense. I think there's there's a lot of 0:11:49.640 --> 0:11:52.640 things that that are positive there. And man, they ran 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:55.880 the first team period. They're ran fifteen plays in like 0:11:56.160 --> 0:11:58.200 seven minutes. I mean they were they were boom. They 0:11:58.200 --> 0:12:01.000 were getting reps. When I went the pass rush drill, 0:12:01.040 --> 0:12:02.959 they were getting reps. I mean, you know, there was 0:12:03.000 --> 0:12:05.520 no standing around and talking about every fine point and 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:09.080 doing all this coaching and guys are not working. You know, 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:11.319 they'll they'll coach him, but they'll coach him on the 0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:13.480 run and next guy's up and it's I mean, well, 0:12:13.760 --> 0:12:16.559 I'll tell you what. Coach Turner and Coach Easton got 0:12:16.640 --> 0:12:18.560 got a lot of reps in the pass rush, more 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:21.000 more than I've seen. So I like the temple of 0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:23.240 everything they're doing, and I think that's going to translate, 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:26.839 you know, out on the football field and defensively, you know, 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:31.079 they continue to impress. I mean, they continue to understand 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:33.640 what coach Lou wants done and how he wants it done, 0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:37.000 and they're responding. I mean, I think I think that 0:12:37.640 --> 0:12:40.400 you know, again, this is the first padded workout, but 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:44.000 like we talked about after the first practice on Bengals 0:12:44.040 --> 0:12:49.400 dot com, um it's it's happens every year, even if 0:12:49.440 --> 0:12:52.600 you've played a number of years. When you're anchoring your pads, 0:12:52.640 --> 0:12:54.520 the other thing you have to do is lower your pads. 0:12:54.559 --> 0:12:56.760 And there's two ways to lower your pads. You can 0:12:56.800 --> 0:12:58.560 bend your knees to lower your pads, and that's the 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:01.400 football functional way to do it, or you can bend 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:03.160 at your waist and lower your paths. And that's not 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:05.360 the good way to do it, because you know, you 0:13:05.400 --> 0:13:08.000 don't have flection in your knees. You're bending at your waist, 0:13:08.080 --> 0:13:10.800 your chins over your skis, over your feet, you're out 0:13:10.800 --> 0:13:13.240 of balance. But if you're bending at the knees properly 0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:16.719 and you're still a good football, powerful striking position, that's 0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:19.520 a good way to lower your paths. And I saw 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:22.480 some bending at the waist instead of bending in the knees. 0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:25.959 And that's just a repetition, breeds comfort level with guys, 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:27.640 and that as well. The more you do it these 0:13:27.760 --> 0:13:29.600 you know, it's muscle memory stuff, and get back to 0:13:29.679 --> 0:13:34.080 doing that so that that'll ramp up quickly. And that's 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:36.880 that's something that's noticeable every every year when training camp 0:13:36.880 --> 0:13:40.199 starts first padded practice. A couple of lineup nuggets from 0:13:40.200 --> 0:13:43.320 the first padded practice. Number one, Christian Westerman was in 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:45.880 there with the ones at the left guard position after 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:49.679 John Jerry was the first left guard when they opened 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:54.079 camp in Dayton last Saturday, and Ryan Glasgow lined up 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:57.800 as one of the starting defensive linemen. Was rotating in 0:13:57.800 --> 0:13:59.840 there quite a bit with Andrew Billings at the defensive 0:14:00.000 --> 0:14:03.480 accle spot next to Geno Atkins. But Ryan Glasgow is 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:06.040 the first guy out there coming off his knee injury. Yeah, 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:08.960 the good things to see Ryan Glasgow. I thought, uh, 0:14:09.240 --> 0:14:11.760 you know, he's a he's a sluggo man. He'll just 0:14:11.800 --> 0:14:14.439 go in there and mall with you. And he's just 0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:18.199 he is a blue collar lunch pail, all the cliche 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:21.320 you want football player love, the guy of the effort. 0:14:21.360 --> 0:14:24.640 He gives football means something to him, means a lot 0:14:24.680 --> 0:14:27.440 to that guy, means a lot to his family. I 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:31.040 think that's that's another football family of brothers and dads 0:14:31.080 --> 0:14:34.720 and you know, everybody's played, so um, it was good 0:14:34.720 --> 0:14:36.800 to see him back and they're slugging it out. The 0:14:36.800 --> 0:14:39.200 other guy that I thought looked good was Carl Lowston 0:14:39.240 --> 0:14:41.760 coming off the edge. I wanted to see in pads. 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:45.640 What did his first step look like? Was there some explosion? 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:48.000 What was that takeoff looking like? And it was looking 0:14:48.000 --> 0:14:50.440 pretty good, pretty good for the first you know, time 0:14:50.440 --> 0:14:53.520 in padded practice. So I thought those two guys, it 0:14:53.640 --> 0:14:55.920 was good to see them get out there and uh 0:14:55.960 --> 0:14:59.800 and show something and show that their rehab has gone 0:14:59.800 --> 0:15:02.520 one and they're ramping up, tracking up in the right direction. 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:06.400 Starting center, Billy Price hasn't practiced yet. It sounds like 0:15:06.480 --> 0:15:08.480 he's going to be back any day now, so that's 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:11.280 good news. In the meantime, Trey Hopkins has been the 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:15.200 number one center, no surprise there, but rookie Michael Jordan 0:15:15.520 --> 0:15:18.560 was the guy getting the second team reps at the 0:15:18.560 --> 0:15:21.800 center position, and that padded practice on Wednesday, Yeah, Michael 0:15:21.880 --> 0:15:24.480 Michael Jordan and Brian Lundblade a kind of like you know, 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:27.520 rotated a little bit between the center and guard spot, 0:15:27.920 --> 0:15:30.440 and you know that's that's both of them have to 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:32.520 show that they can play both of those positions if 0:15:32.520 --> 0:15:35.400 they're going to make the football team. And Michael Jordan 0:15:35.480 --> 0:15:38.200 played center at Ohio State and played guard at Ohio 0:15:38.240 --> 0:15:41.400 State and even could play tackling emergency up there, so 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:43.880 you know he's got that position versatility. And like we've 0:15:43.920 --> 0:15:47.000 talked about a few times, whoever makes the team if 0:15:47.360 --> 0:15:50.440 they don't have a starting spot, not just two positions, 0:15:50.480 --> 0:15:52.600 not just like center and right guard, center, right guard, 0:15:52.680 --> 0:15:54.120 left guard, you have to show that you can you 0:15:54.160 --> 0:15:58.000 can play multiple positions because they that's why Trey Hopkins 0:15:58.080 --> 0:16:01.360 has a big advantage because he's so smart. He understands 0:16:01.400 --> 0:16:04.120 them all because assignment wise, and he's shown he can 0:16:04.120 --> 0:16:07.120 play them. So he's got an inside track, you know, 0:16:07.120 --> 0:16:09.480 on being an extra lineman. If he doesn't get a 0:16:09.520 --> 0:16:12.600 starting position, well, they want to find out what other 0:16:12.680 --> 0:16:15.680 lineman can play not just two, but three of the 0:16:15.680 --> 0:16:19.640 five spots potentially, you know, you know, worst case scenario, 0:16:20.720 --> 0:16:23.400 you can't have a guy who's not a starter being 0:16:23.520 --> 0:16:26.160 just a backup center or just a backup right guard, 0:16:26.160 --> 0:16:28.160 but you can't play center or left guard. You just 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:30.440 can't do that. In today's NFL, you don't carry that 0:16:30.480 --> 0:16:34.120 many guys, So you know, I think they'll be moving 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:38.360 guys around and taking to look see. And I bet 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:40.880 we'll see some guys out there, particularly in preseason games, 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:43.520 you know, kicking out there to the tackle positions. It's like, no, 0:16:43.640 --> 0:16:45.840 that's interesting, you know. I guess they want to see 0:16:45.840 --> 0:16:47.720 if he could do that in a pinch to finish 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:50.480 the game or whatever. So there'll be some experimentation, for sure. 0:16:50.720 --> 0:16:53.480 I thought the most disruptive defensive lineman in the first 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:56.720 padded practice with Sam Hubbard moving into the starting lineup 0:16:56.720 --> 0:16:59.800 in Michael Johnson's old spot. And I think he's poised 0:17:00.160 --> 0:17:02.520 to have a really big second season in the NFL. 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:06.679 Love him, Love everything about the guy because you know, 0:17:06.800 --> 0:17:10.320 his work ethic is unbelievable. I mean he gets up 0:17:10.359 --> 0:17:13.000 the football field with pressure and then just dead sprints 0:17:13.040 --> 0:17:15.520 back to wherever the football is. I mean that guy. 0:17:16.600 --> 0:17:20.040 The GPS tracker on him, i'd like to see for 0:17:20.119 --> 0:17:22.840 a defensive lineman. I bet his miles parr. I bet 0:17:22.840 --> 0:17:25.440 he's he's rolling up there at a significant rate running. 0:17:25.480 --> 0:17:27.840 He's he can run. Man, he's got some speed and 0:17:27.920 --> 0:17:30.600 he's busting it. He's busting and he's putting smiles on. 0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:33.000 I mean, he's running a good distance and he's running 0:17:33.040 --> 0:17:36.159 at a high rate of speed. So just his work ethic, 0:17:36.240 --> 0:17:40.280 his hustle and you know, we steen, we saw him 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:44.240 as a rookie being involved in a takeaway touchdown. That's 0:17:44.280 --> 0:17:46.560 because of his practice habits of you know, running to 0:17:46.640 --> 0:17:49.080 the ball. You know, he'll pressure the quarterback if the 0:17:49.080 --> 0:17:50.960 ball so he'll run to where the ball is. And 0:17:51.280 --> 0:17:52.840 if one of his teammates makes a play in the 0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:54.959 balls in the ground, he's in prime position to do 0:17:55.040 --> 0:17:58.119 something with it and about it. So everything that he 0:17:58.200 --> 0:18:03.080 does is a high, high level of intensity. And uh, 0:18:03.400 --> 0:18:05.600 I love Sam Harvard and he can there's another guy 0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:08.520 that can. You know, he's shown he can play defensive end. 0:18:08.520 --> 0:18:10.680 He's shown he can slide inside the nickel and pass 0:18:10.760 --> 0:18:13.320 rush in there. They used him as a defensive tackle 0:18:13.359 --> 0:18:15.159 in the regular you know, as a three technique in 0:18:15.280 --> 0:18:18.240 some instances last year as a rookie, you know, due 0:18:18.240 --> 0:18:20.080 to injury. That's not his Ford tape, but he's shown 0:18:20.080 --> 0:18:23.159 he can do it. So he's got positioned versatility as well. 0:18:23.400 --> 0:18:26.240 After that first padded practice, Zach Taylor said, the offense 0:18:26.320 --> 0:18:29.439 won early, the defense won late. It was interesting to 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:32.560 watch new defensive coordinator lou An A. Rumo early when 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:37.040 the offense was dominating. He was almost Mike zimmer Esque 0:18:37.080 --> 0:18:39.600 in the way he was lighting up the defensive players. 0:18:40.280 --> 0:18:43.800 Finish blank blank blank finish, finish every point. I mean 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:47.359 he was at a lot of blank blank blanks, and 0:18:47.359 --> 0:18:49.880 and you know it was like, Okay, that's good. I mean, 0:18:49.960 --> 0:18:53.000 hard coach him, and it's you know, the communication wasn't there. 0:18:53.040 --> 0:18:55.560 There were there were some mistakes and then play like 0:18:55.560 --> 0:18:57.280 like he was staying there. You know, there were miss 0:18:57.320 --> 0:19:00.240 tackles and not in position to make plays. And and 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:03.480 they flipped. They flipped the switch man. They turned it 0:19:03.560 --> 0:19:07.440 and turned turned their fortunes around. And the next three 0:19:07.520 --> 0:19:10.480 periods that were scoring periods, the defense dominated one at 0:19:10.560 --> 0:19:14.000 eighteen to three. Big reason for that big a margin 0:19:14.160 --> 0:19:16.639 is miss field goals, makeable field goals. I mean, one 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:18.639 drive started from the thirty five yard line, there was 0:19:18.680 --> 0:19:20.880 some yards game and miss a field goal, missed another 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:23.040 field goal in the red zone. Each kicker miss one 0:19:23.040 --> 0:19:25.080 of them. When the offense gets the ball in that 0:19:25.160 --> 0:19:28.600 favorable field position, defense holds and no points. You know, 0:19:28.720 --> 0:19:30.240 God bless, you did a hell of a job. So 0:19:30.800 --> 0:19:32.480 they want to make sure the defense gets a nice 0:19:32.520 --> 0:19:35.119 kiss on that because the offense can score touchdowns. And 0:19:35.200 --> 0:19:37.800 they didn't. They didn't, they didn't come, they didn't sniff 0:19:38.320 --> 0:19:41.080 the end zone in those three defensive periods. So the 0:19:41.200 --> 0:19:44.520 defensive communication turned it up big time. And then offensively 0:19:45.160 --> 0:19:47.680 they were. They were doing things right early on and 0:19:47.800 --> 0:19:52.720 those three scoring, three competitive scoring deals that went on 0:19:52.840 --> 0:19:56.639 in different stages and situations field position, they had some 0:19:56.760 --> 0:19:59.440