Speaker 1: Hi, everybody on Dan Horde and this is the Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth podcast, the No Retreat, Baby, No Surrender addition, as
Speaker 1: the Bengals keep striving for their first win of the
Speaker 1: year and hope to get it this Sunday in Openend
Speaker 1: against the five and four Raiders. Coming up, I'll be
Speaker 1: joined by my broadcast partner Dave Lapham as we discuss
Speaker 1: the latest Bengals news, including this week's shocker, the release
Speaker 1: a veteran linebacker Preston Brown, less than one year into
Speaker 1: a three year free agent contract. Speaking of linebackers, we'll
Speaker 1: hear from Raiders coach John Gruden, who provides a passionate
Speaker 1: defense a former Bengal Vontes Berficht who was suspended for
Speaker 1: the final twelve games of the season back in September
Speaker 1: for a helmet to helmet hit on Colts tight end
Speaker 1: Jack Doyle. My locker room conversation this week is with
Speaker 1: kick returner Brandon Wilson, who admits he has started thinking
Speaker 1: about the possibility of going to the Pro Bowl thanks
Speaker 1: to his league leading kickoff return average. And in this
Speaker 1: week's Know the Faux segment, we'll get the lowdown on
Speaker 1: the Raiders from their radio analyst former three time Pro
Speaker 1: Bowl offensive lineman Lincoln Kennedy. All of that is straight ahead.
Speaker 1: But first, here's a quick reminder that you can have
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Speaker 1: screen at the gas pump. So there I am at
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Speaker 1: playing on the TV screen right there on the pump,
Speaker 1: along with several ads for the delicious coffee and doughnuts
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Speaker 1: simple fact that somebody figured out how to get a
Speaker 1: local TV news update into a gas pump deserves some recognition. Now,
Speaker 1: let's get to the latest Bengals news with my broadcast
Speaker 1: partner Dave Lapham. Zach Taylor has not been publicly critical
Speaker 1: of the players this year, but I thought that changed
Speaker 1: a bit on Monday when he called out the linebackers
Speaker 1: and his opening statement at a weekly news conference. The
Speaker 1: next day, the Bengals waived Preston Brown in the first
Speaker 1: year of a three year deal. What's your reaction. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's interesting. I mean what Zach was calling for someone
Speaker 1: to emerge as a leader, you know, at that position group,
Speaker 1: and then the very next day they wave a guy
Speaker 1: who probably had as much NFL experience at linebacker as
Speaker 1: anybody they had, you know, on the football team. So,
Speaker 1: I mean, you can guess and surmise anything I guess
Speaker 1: you want to out of that. Bottom line is I
Speaker 1: think Zach Taylor's just trying to get a better performance
Speaker 1: out of that position group. That position group has struggled,
Speaker 1: There's no question about it, and it's been isolated and
Speaker 1: picked on and attacked. So I think he's using every
Speaker 1: measure he can think of as a motivational tool to
Speaker 1: try to get better performance and and shaking it up
Speaker 1: by waving a guy like Preston Brown sends a message,
Speaker 1: you know, And obviously with what he said at his
Speaker 1: press conference yesterday and what took place today this morning,
Speaker 1: that's that's a big statement, a big statement at that
Speaker 1: position group. For sure. The Bengals historically have not liked
Speaker 1: to eat contracts, no, so you wonder, um, you know,
Speaker 1: what was Preston Brown's reaction about maybe his playing time
Speaker 1: being curtailed. Um, maybe Zack's comment the press conference. Maybe
Speaker 1: Zac's comment came after some kind of comment from Preston Brown.
Speaker 1: Who knows. I mean, I guess again you can speculate
Speaker 1: in s fromis all you want Bytom Line is Bengals
Speaker 1: let Preston Brown go for a decade or so? The
Speaker 1: Bengals have always had a big thumper at linebacker, Ray
Speaker 1: Mala Luga, Vontez perfect Preston Brown. Do they need to
Speaker 1: reconsider what they look for at that position? You know,
Speaker 1: everything's cyclical and um. You know, now so many teams
Speaker 1: are spreading you out. Um. But then you have a
Speaker 1: team like the Baltimore Ravens that played the type of
Speaker 1: offense they play, so you feel like you, you know,
Speaker 1: you should have somebody that can can stop the stop
Speaker 1: the run. U there's always going to be an outlier
Speaker 1: like the Baltimore Ravens. They're gonna go. Um contrarian thinking
Speaker 1: in terms of being ahead of the game before the
Speaker 1: offense starts to cycle back a little bit. I mean,
Speaker 1: last year the Patriots decided to go two tight ends
Speaker 1: and a fullback and hammer people m you know, on
Speaker 1: their way to another Super Bowl. Win. So, yeah, the
Speaker 1: one thing that you can't you can't all into the
Speaker 1: trap of those is is just have a thumper that
Speaker 1: you know can only play in a closet. You know,
Speaker 1: he still has to be able to do uh some
Speaker 1: other things for you because that that that guy's going
Speaker 1: to get isolated and picked on. There's no question about it.
Speaker 1: In today's NFL. So, um, the game is getting faster.
Speaker 1: It has gotten faster, so you do have to take
Speaker 1: that into consideration. I mean, the linebackers aren't as big
Speaker 1: as they used to be, in there a lot faster
Speaker 1: than they used to be, So I think, you know,
Speaker 1: that's the that's the way you have to approach it.
Speaker 1: That's what you have to look for. That's what everybody's
Speaker 1: looking for. And there's not enough of them, just like
Speaker 1: they're on enough offensive lineman for the NFL, because there's
Speaker 1: five of them with every football team three linebackers. You know,
Speaker 1: it's that's a significant number at a position. Um, so
Speaker 1: there's the NFL's eating up a lot of numbers. Well,
Speaker 1: you know it's it's for a while it was almost
Speaker 1: like they've decided, let's just beef up safeties and try
Speaker 1: to you know, play them at linebacker, and you know
Speaker 1: that that's had some mixed results, so you're always looking for,
Speaker 1: you know, a linebacker that can can play the run
Speaker 1: but still is not limited so much athletically that you
Speaker 1: can't leave him on the football field after first down.
Speaker 1: Ryan Finlay will make his second start this week, evaluate
Speaker 1: his first. Some tragedy obviously, and you can't have it
Speaker 1: any worse than a than a pick six. When you're
Speaker 1: going into score. You know you're in the red zone
Speaker 1: and you throw a pick six. That's tough. That's a
Speaker 1: very very tough dynamic. You know, you feel terrible about it,
Speaker 1: You feel terrible about letting your whole team down and
Speaker 1: all that goes along with it. And then compounded by
Speaker 1: you know, spitting the spitting the bid a little bit
Speaker 1: with a fumble in the in the pocket. You know,
Speaker 1: ball security when you're a quarterback is going to be big.
Speaker 1: So he had two touchdowns in two ways that you
Speaker 1: can turn the football over, and they both happened in
Speaker 1: the same game. So he's not going to face any
Speaker 1: more tragedy. He faced and he seemed to rebound from it,
Speaker 1: which was a good sign. I was asking guys in
Speaker 1: the locker room after the game. Did you see any
Speaker 1: deer in the headlights? Did you see anything like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is starting to look a little bit too big
Speaker 1: for him? And they were like new, nothing like that,
Speaker 1: just the opposite. You know, he's a very competitive guy,
Speaker 1: and it seemed to like, you know, even narrow his
Speaker 1: focus even more. And on the good side of it,
Speaker 1: as we expected, don Wick Martindale brought everything. He brought
Speaker 1: the house. So the exposure that Ryan Finlay had to
Speaker 1: everything possibly that you can see in his very first start,
Speaker 1: a lot of people were like more, you know, you'd
Speaker 1: wish for a softer landing than that. But the other
Speaker 1: side of it is he's had exposure to a bunch
Speaker 1: and he got through it, and he handled it and
Speaker 1: he's going to learn from it. And I think Zach
Speaker 1: Taylor's got running the money with this thought of, you know,
Speaker 1: don't make the same mistake twice. But a lot of
Speaker 1: guys were saying, man, he had a big burden responsibility
Speaker 1: of checking out of plays runs that weren't going to
Speaker 1: work against a lot of Martindale's looks protections. He had
Speaker 1: to change places, he had to change to in the
Speaker 1: passing game, he had a lot on his plate, and
Speaker 1: he handled all that with flying colors. You know, the
Speaker 1: pick six was just an execution thing. He just left
Speaker 1: the ball inside. And you know, if you're they're running
Speaker 1: eleven men up at the line of scrimmage, zero coverage,
Speaker 1: you got to make sure if that ball is not
Speaker 1: caught by your receiver, nobody else is getting it. It's
Speaker 1: got to go out of bounds. And he left an
Speaker 1: inside and he paid for it. So lesson learned. You know,
Speaker 1: it's not the end, it's just the NFL. It's not
Speaker 1: college football. You might have been able to get away
Speaker 1: with that throw in college, but not at this level. Um,
Speaker 1: they're faster and his arms not a howitzer. You know,
Speaker 1: he has to he has to. I thought he waited
Speaker 1: a little too long to throw it. He has He
Speaker 1: does throw with the anticipation. Actually he's accuracy. He's shown
Speaker 1: that and I think he's going to grow with that.
Speaker 1: But overall, from the mental part of it, the preparation
Speaker 1: for that week against Wink Martindale is intense as he's
Speaker 1: going to have and he passed the test. So was
Speaker 1: it something that you say, oh my gosh, what a
Speaker 1: great beginning. No, But there are a lot of a
Speaker 1: lot of bricks to you know, start to lay a foundation.
Speaker 1: Paul Gunt, to let's face it, he and Mike Zimmer
Speaker 1: they basically took the double A gap, putting the linebackers
Speaker 1: up on either side of the center and either bringing
Speaker 1: one of them or both of them, or none of
Speaker 1: them and dropping them to coverage. And you can run
Speaker 1: probably sixty percent of your coverages out of that double
Speaker 1: A gap looks still so it presents a lot of
Speaker 1: problems for quarterbacks. Joe Flacco never figured it out, and
Speaker 1: I'm sure Ryan Finley will be closing his eyes in
Speaker 1: Oakland pre game night before the game with double A
Speaker 1: gap dancing through his head and ways to ways to
Speaker 1: handle it because they're going to be bringing a lot
Speaker 1: of it, I'm sure. So you know, it's going to
Speaker 1: be interesting how he goes from week one to week two.
Speaker 1: And the best thing that can happen is they continue
Speaker 1: to run the ball effectively. With Joe Mixon, that'll be
Speaker 1: Ryan Finley's best friend. And that's our next topic. Two
Speaker 1: games ago in London, the Bengals ran for one hundred
Speaker 1: and four yards against the Rams. Last week against Baltimore,
Speaker 1: the team ran for one fifty seven. That's forty nine
Speaker 1: more than their next best game this year, and Joe
Speaker 1: Mixon ran for one fourteen. The Bengals are the only
Speaker 1: team all year to run it well against the Ravens
Speaker 1: when Brandon Williams has been on the field. Previous teams
Speaker 1: that succeeded in the ground game face the Ravens when
Speaker 1: he was out. What was different last week? What allowed
Speaker 1: the Bengals to run it that well? Yeah? I think
Speaker 1: they made a nice adjustment during the bye week with
Speaker 1: the blocking scheme. They ran more you know what people
Speaker 1: call gap where you'll you'll block down seal somebody and
Speaker 1: pull people, you know, instead of inside outside zone. Is
Speaker 1: like two guys going laterally and double teaming a down
Speaker 1: lineman somebody coming off to the linebacker level. It's just
Speaker 1: kind of like a horizontal push. You know, you're you're
Speaker 1: trying to capture the line of scrimmage and push that
Speaker 1: up the football field and then somebody have a cut
Speaker 1: off block or even take them off their feet and
Speaker 1: have a lane, a cutback lane, um that can be utilized.
Speaker 1: That hadn't that wasn't working as well as you know,
Speaker 1: the Bengals obviously hoped it was going to work. So
Speaker 1: they went to the more of the uh, the gap
Speaker 1: power type game, blocking down and pulling people. And they
Speaker 1: made an adjustment double team and the three technique on
Speaker 1: the outside shoulder of the guard, with the guard and
Speaker 1: the tackle in the center pulling around for the linebacker
Speaker 1: instead of you know, the center and guard, uh you know,
Speaker 1: double teaming and one of them rubbing off the linebacker.
Speaker 1: They're being very more, much more definitive and trying to
Speaker 1: move people and and and get get somebody up the
Speaker 1: football field. So Joe Mixon read it out well, I thought,
Speaker 1: and made some very very good cuts and ran hard.
Speaker 1: He ran very hard the entire football game, and I think, um,
Speaker 1: you know, he basically realized that they were getting a
Speaker 1: lot better push up front, or the execution was a
Speaker 1: lot more sound. He wasn't having people leaking into his backfield.
Speaker 1: We'd have to make his first cut. So you can
Speaker 1: see his confidence, you know, start to increase in the
Speaker 1: confidence to the guys up front increase as well. So hopefully,
Speaker 1: you know, everybody's prideful in their job and they'll take
Speaker 1: pride in a little bit of improvement and look to
Speaker 1: even take it even further against Oakland. The Bengals faced
Speaker 1: the Raiders on Sunday under head coach John Gruden in
Speaker 1: the second year of that ten year, one hundred million
Speaker 1: dollar contract. After going four and twelve last year, the
Speaker 1: Raiders are five and four this year, despite playing five
Speaker 1: straight games away from home, four road games in a
Speaker 1: London game. Where have the Raiders improved this year? They've
Speaker 1: improved closing close games. They've won five their five wins
Speaker 1: or by a total of twenty seven points, so they've
Speaker 1: had six games decided by a touchdown or less. They've
Speaker 1: won five of them. You know, that's that's what's going
Speaker 1: to happen for you. And the biggest reason is in
Speaker 1: the West Coast offense that John Gruden runs, you have
Speaker 1: to be able to run the football, and they've got
Speaker 1: a rookie out of Alabama, Jacobs, who's running the football
Speaker 1: well behind a behemoth offensive line. You get a pair
Speaker 1: of offensive tackles six foot eight and one of them
Speaker 1: six eight two three eighty six foot eight, three hundred
Speaker 1: and eighty pounds. My goodness, Jacobs eight hundred eleven yards rushing,
Speaker 1: sixth best in the league, seven rushing touchdowns, six best
Speaker 1: in the league. Got to have a running game to
Speaker 1: operate out of that for that West Coast offense, and
Speaker 1: you have to have a tight end, and they found
Speaker 1: a tight end. This young kid, Waller who's been cleaned
Speaker 1: for two years now, had drug issue that he's cleaned
Speaker 1: himself up from. You get a respected kid fifty one
Speaker 1: catches five eighty eight yards, three touchdowns. It's a very
Speaker 1: tight end friendly offense. West Coast offense cars playing at
Speaker 1: a very high level, completing over seventy percent of his passes.
Speaker 1: And that's the West Coast offense. You know, throws that
Speaker 1: you can anticipate and throw with accuracy and in attack
Speaker 1: required in the football field. They're playing very good offense
Speaker 1: and playing good enough defense under Paul Gunter to win
Speaker 1: some close games. Did you say? Six eight three eighty
Speaker 1: six eight three eighty depending what he has for pregame meal.
Speaker 1: Sunday will mark the last time the Bengals will play
Speaker 1: at Oakland, Alameda County Coliseum, the so called black Hole.
Speaker 1: You played there four times, including a playoff game in
Speaker 1: seventy five. What stands out about the black Hole? A
Speaker 1: lot of things, you know, John Madden, Al Davis, great players.
Speaker 1: You know, a bunch of characters, I mean the cast
Speaker 1: of characters. That place was the wildest place I think ever.
Speaker 1: And I was pretty good friends with Dave Casper, and
Speaker 1: he was telling me stories our rookie year about what
Speaker 1: it was like playing there in Oaklands. It's almost unbelievable stuff.
Speaker 1: I mean, you can't you can't comprehend it. But the
Speaker 1: biggest thing is those crazy fans. I mean, those people
Speaker 1: are nuts, the way they dress up, and I mean
Speaker 1: the vulgarity of the language. They don't there's not two
Speaker 1: words in a sentence that doesn't have one of them
Speaker 1: being vulgar. I mean, it's just I mean they'll spit
Speaker 1: on you, They'll they'll do everything and anything to you.
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, it's almost like you're you're in
Speaker 1: the middle of Hell's Angels, um, you know, international meeting
Speaker 1: or something. The way they're all dressed looks like they
Speaker 1: just get off their bikes and and and they're ready
Speaker 1: to roll um. But they're they're passionate and they were
Speaker 1: rabid fans. And man, that was a huge home field
Speaker 1: advantage for the Raiders. And the other thing I remember
Speaker 1: is how long the grass was because Al Davis had
Speaker 1: big backs. Mark van egu and Marv Hubbard not real speed,
Speaker 1: so he would grow and you know his his Danny
Speaker 1: of Bramm and people like that, Fred Bullittencoffe. I should
Speaker 1: say they didn't run well. He let that grass grow
Speaker 1: because you know, didn't affect their team speed. They didn't
Speaker 1: have it. He wanted to affect your team speed. Our
Speaker 1: boy from Syracuse, man, he didn't miss any trick. Al Davis,
Speaker 1: proud Syracuse grad. Normally we wear Bengals gear to the
Speaker 1: stadium on Sunday. I might seek a one game exemption
Speaker 1: just to not have those people get all over me.
Speaker 1: What do you think, I'll tell you they are They
Speaker 1: are something else and they will challenge it. They are challenging,
Speaker 1: and I do remember we want a game out there,
Speaker 1: and they literally started pounding on the buses. I mean
Speaker 1: they were trying to tip our buses before we rolled
Speaker 1: out there to get to the airport. I'm like, we're
Speaker 1: gonna be able to make it out of here or
Speaker 1: what I mean those folks they're serious is a heart
Speaker 1: attack about their raiders. Man. The big story in the
Speaker 1: NFL on Friday morning was the shocking end to the
Speaker 1: Thursday night football game as Cleveland Brown's defensive end Miles
Speaker 1: Garrett ripped the helmet off of Steelers quarterback Mason Rudolph
Speaker 1: and then swung it hard at Rudolph's head. It was
Speaker 1: a violent act that is certain to lead to a
Speaker 1: lengthy suspension. The longest suspension for an on field incident
Speaker 1: in NFL history was handed out earlier this year the
Speaker 1: former Bengals linebacker von tz Perfect. He got twelve games
Speaker 1: for a helmet to helmet hit to Colts tight end
Speaker 1: Jack Doyle. In Berfick's case, the league cited his history
Speaker 1: of violating unnecessary roughness rules despite his checkered passed. The
Speaker 1: Raiders signed Vontez as a free agent in the off season,
Speaker 1: and head coach John Gruden defended that move this week.
Speaker 1: He was a good addition. I mean, we have Liptoncott here,
Speaker 1: He's a linebacker coach who coached him as Cincinnati, and
Speaker 1: Gunther was a coordinator. So I don't know how much
Speaker 1: more intelligence I could have. I'm not happy about what
Speaker 1: the league did to him, I'm not at all. I'm
Speaker 1: really appalled by it, ticked off by it, But what
Speaker 1: can I do? You know, I got a lot of
Speaker 1: respects for what Burfick did. Coming in here. He was
Speaker 1: elected team captain by every man on our team. He
Speaker 1: played very very well, He had a helmet the helmet
Speaker 1: contact play, and he was thrown out of the league
Speaker 1: for twelve games, unprecedented in NFL history, and I'm not
Speaker 1: happy about it, given the way that his tenure kind
Speaker 1: of wrapped up in Cincinnati. Did you have any concerns
Speaker 1: about bringing him on the roster and how much did
Speaker 1: you everything that happened here before you brought him in.
Speaker 1: I don't want to vet any more than what I've
Speaker 1: already said. You know, Like I said, I have two
Speaker 1: coaches that coached him that have a lot more contact
Speaker 1: with him than I had, And he came in here
Speaker 1: did exactly what we asked him to do, and what
Speaker 1: has happened to him is unprecedented in the history of football,
Speaker 1: and I hope someday we can get a chance to
Speaker 1: coach him again. Test is twenty nine years old and
Speaker 1: has been suspended for a total of twenty two games
Speaker 1: in his career for illegal hits or peed violations. Now
Speaker 1: time for this week's locker room conversation as I visit
Speaker 1: with one of the bengals most pleasant surprises This season.
Speaker 1: We're in the locker room with Brandon Wilson, the NFL
Speaker 1: leader and kickoff return average at thirty six yards per return.
Speaker 1: Has leading the NFL in that category become a personal goal,
Speaker 1: you know, it's a blessing. I mean, the guys of France,
Speaker 1: they really they really just do a good job. And
Speaker 1: I mean they just make it so easy for me
Speaker 1: to return the ball there far, So I mean just
Speaker 1: props uping down. Honestly, you've been in that role before.
Speaker 1: Is the guy trying to block for somebody else? Is
Speaker 1: there anybody on that unit in particular that's just known
Speaker 1: as being great at crushing people in the blocking role
Speaker 1: on kick returns? I mean Clayton, Shoot, try Vaughn, you
Speaker 1: know all those really, all those guys they always make
Speaker 1: great blocks, honestly. So, I mean they just they just
Speaker 1: really do their job out there. We're talking to Brandon Wilson,
Speaker 1: the NFL leader and kickoff return average. You had the
Speaker 1: ninety two yard touchdown return against Baltimore, but your average
Speaker 1: isn't the result of like one or two really long returns.
Speaker 1: You've had a big one in all four games where
Speaker 1: you've been the kick returner. You've had one of at
Speaker 1: least forty nine yards in every game. How close have
Speaker 1: you been to multiple touchdowns? I mean, I know the
Speaker 1: jackson I know the Jacksonville game almost had another one.
Speaker 1: I mean, as soon as I came out of the
Speaker 1: out of the scene, I was like, oh, I'm gone,
Speaker 1: but guy, he kind of tripped me up. And you know,
Speaker 1: I had a I had a couple couple more. That's
Speaker 1: that's been really close to just a few little steps
Speaker 1: or just almost did. Really people might have heard in
Speaker 1: the background Brandon Combs, assistant Special teams coach Justin said
Speaker 1: to me, are you driving the Pro Bowl bus or what?
Speaker 1: So I'll ask you the question. Have you started to
Speaker 1: wonder if you might be able to go to the
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl this year as a special teamer? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: kind of have, you know, I mean, it'll be it'll
Speaker 1: be good if I'm if I'm able to do that.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, you know, it's just shows
Speaker 1: you how good our our kickoff return team is. And
Speaker 1: that's props so that you know, the guys, the guys
Speaker 1: in front just making them blocks and just making it
Speaker 1: so easy for me to just re read blocks and
Speaker 1: you know, make cuts. What kickoff returners, present or former.
Speaker 1: Do you admire Devin Hester the man, that's the man. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's one of the legends, and you know he's one
Speaker 1: of the greatest, honestly in my opinion kickoff returns. So
Speaker 1: on your kickoff return touchdown against the Ravens, you were
Speaker 1: timed at twenty two point zero three miles an hour.
Speaker 1: You are one of three people in the NFL while
Speaker 1: carrying the ball to top twenty two miles an hour
Speaker 1: this year. Do you know the other two? Matt Breda
Speaker 1: and I can't remember Cordeol Patters Pisen, Yeah, Cordell Patterson.
Speaker 1: That's what I was thinking. It was so inquiring minds
Speaker 1: want to know if you can run twenty two miles
Speaker 1: an hour, are you the fastest guy on this team?
Speaker 1: I don't think I am. I know John Ross he's
Speaker 1: real fast. William Jackson's fast, So I mean it's it's
Speaker 1: somewhere between us. Honestly, that's a pretty good top three.
Speaker 1: A couple more questions for Brandon Wilson. You've got six
Speaker 1: brothers and sisters. How excited are they by what you've
Speaker 1: done so far this year? Every time I do something
Speaker 1: specialty always like send something like group message that we have,
Speaker 1: so they're always excited. All right. Last question. You went
Speaker 1: to the University of Houston, but you're from Shreveport, Louisiana.
Speaker 1: Are the folks back home caught up in LSU fever? Yeah,
Speaker 1: some of them more. I know my wife's family. They
Speaker 1: like Ellis you a lot, but my family not much.
Speaker 1: They're big Houston fans because I went to Houston, so
Speaker 1: as they should be. I'm looking forward to calling another
Speaker 1: kickoff return touchdown hopefully this week. Congratulations on your great
Speaker 1: season to date. Best of LLULL going forward. Thank you.
Speaker 1: That's Brandon Wilson. Brandon's current average of thirty six yards
Speaker 1: per kick return would rank second best for a single
Speaker 1: season in NFL history if he keeps it up. The
Speaker 1: record is forty one point one, set by Travis the
Speaker 1: road Runner Williams of the Green Bay Packers as a
Speaker 1: rookie back in nineteen sixty seven. That year, Williams returned
Speaker 1: a total of eighteen kickoffs and took four back for touchdowns.
Speaker 1: Now time for this week's Know the Faux Interview, as
Speaker 1: we do a deep dive into the Bengals upcoming opponent.
Speaker 1: After going four and twelve last year, The Raiders already
Speaker 1: have five wins this year, and if the season ended today,
Speaker 1: Oakland would be the sixth and final playoff team in
Speaker 1: the AFC. Former Pro Bowl offensive lineman Lincoln Kennedy calls
Speaker 1: Oakland games on the radio with the legendary Brent Musburger,
Speaker 1: and he joined Dave Lapham and me this week on
Speaker 1: the Bengals Game Plan Show to discuss the much improved Raiders.
Speaker 1: Drafting smart has been one part of it, but more importly,
Speaker 1: putting a scheme that's more conducent to the players that
Speaker 1: you have when you take a look at the scheme
Speaker 1: this year, they put a lot ins assists into Antonio
Speaker 1: Brown for having him on his roster, and he wasn't.
Speaker 1: He didn't come on the roster, so they had to
Speaker 1: make adjustments and change it. The receiving corps has been
Speaker 1: a sort of a disarray with the injuries, but Josh
Speaker 1: Stacas has been a positive. Um. I really do believe
Speaker 1: he's offensive rookie of the Year. And more importantly, Derek
Speaker 1: car has been a lot more setting consistence because the
Speaker 1: protection up front is really else. Yeah, that protection up front,
Speaker 1: Like you know all about that as a as a
Speaker 1: former player, at twelve quarterbacks. Sacks tied for third fewers
Speaker 1: in the league, but sack per pass attempt third best
Speaker 1: in the NFL. And the only team in the league
Speaker 1: that has shut teams out without a sack. Shut defense
Speaker 1: is out four games, the only team that's spendable to
Speaker 1: do that four different times. So that offensive line is mammoth.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's hard to get around that offensive line.
Speaker 1: And has it been them? Has it been Car? Has
Speaker 1: it been a combination? Well, you know, when it comes
Speaker 1: to pass pro and pass plays, it's everyone receivers getting open,
Speaker 1: offensive line doing the job, Derek Carr making the right race.
Speaker 1: But you know, Derek Carr has been in this OFFICI well,
Speaker 1: not in this offense. Has been in the league for
Speaker 1: quite a few times, and there's been some times where
Speaker 1: he takes some hilations hits. Last year, I think he
Speaker 1: was sacked fifty nine times or something like that, fifty
Speaker 1: one sacked. But and so it kind of made him
Speaker 1: a little skittish. This time, he's getting rid of the
Speaker 1: ball quickly, he's making proper reads, and he's doing something
Speaker 1: of the ball rather than trying to hold on it
Speaker 1: and make a bigger play. We're visiting with Lincoln Kennedy
Speaker 1: talking about the Oakland Raiders. Let's talk about tight end
Speaker 1: Darren Waller. He's a guy that overcomes some drug issues
Speaker 1: early in his career in twenty sixteen and twenty seventeen.
Speaker 1: Right now he's playing about as well as any tight
Speaker 1: end in the NFL. Does he belong in the conversation,
Speaker 1: is one of the best. Yeah, without a doubt. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think when you look at last year, even though
Speaker 1: there was a whole lot of wins, the production that
Speaker 1: Derek carrhead with Jared Cook was now in New Orleans
Speaker 1: shows you how much you like succid in position. And
Speaker 1: I'm sure you guys will agree with today's game. The
Speaker 1: slot receiver and the tight end are extremely important because
Speaker 1: there's so much space and the rules that allow them
Speaker 1: to get open. With all that being said, Darren Waller
Speaker 1: has done a great job of not only turning his
Speaker 1: life around, but also become a very popular player. Not
Speaker 1: only the last game to San Diego, I'm not saying Nego,
Speaker 1: the Charges played against the Raiders. They doubled them. They
Speaker 1: doubled them a lot. And the same thing was said
Speaker 1: before with Detroit. So they're trying to take him out
Speaker 1: of the game plan, but that just frees up other people.
Speaker 1: Paul Gunter. Everybody here in Cincinnati is obviously very familiar
Speaker 1: with Paul Gunter's name and his brand of defensive play.
Speaker 1: His side, his group. I mean, they're young, he's got
Speaker 1: some injury issues he's battling with. You know, the numbers
Speaker 1: don't look you know, spectacular, buy any stretch at this point.
Speaker 1: But when you throw tape on and then they play hard,
Speaker 1: I mean they run around the field, they get after,
Speaker 1: they're giving effort out there. I totally agree. That was
Speaker 1: one of the things that set out to me about
Speaker 1: the team. When people ask me what is this team's identity,
Speaker 1: I say, it's never say die. They're never going to
Speaker 1: give up. There are a lot of young players out there.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of contribution from the defensive line. The
Speaker 1: linebacking corps has been a little bit of upheaval because
Speaker 1: of injuries as suspensions that the hero Whitehead has done
Speaker 1: a pretty fairly decent job at that middle linebacker spot,
Speaker 1: and the second there has been kind of complete disarray
Speaker 1: with injuries all around. In trades. You know, a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks ago, they traded Garyan Connley to the Euston Texans.
Speaker 1: That kind of left a little bit of home. But
Speaker 1: they have a lot of a lot of upside to
Speaker 1: guys like Trey von Muellen and Keishaan Nixon that they're
Speaker 1: looking forward to. So there have been a number of
Speaker 1: players that have stepped in and done a fairly decent job.
Speaker 1: But make no mistake about it, guys, this is a
Speaker 1: team that's going to have to score. The Raiders are
Speaker 1: a team that's going to have to score at least
Speaker 1: twenty eight to thirty one points a game in order
Speaker 1: to just be in a consideration of winning because their
Speaker 1: defensive is going to go some place. We're talking to
Speaker 1: Raiders broadcaster Lincoln Kennedy. Barring a home playoff game or
Speaker 1: more than one home playoff game, there are three games
Speaker 1: left in the black Hole before the Raiders moved to Vegas.
Speaker 1: What's the atmosphere like right now at a Raiders home game.
Speaker 1: It's really a frenzy and raucous atmosphere because a lot
Speaker 1: of people in Oakland, a lot of the Raider Nation,
Speaker 1: are really happy that the Raiders are doing, you know,
Speaker 1: fairly well. I don't think a lot of people gave
Speaker 1: the Raiders credit. I think the over and under out
Speaker 1: of Vegas coming into the season was like six games.
Speaker 1: Well they're on the doorstep of that. And I came
Speaker 1: into the season saying, look, I think the Raiders are
Speaker 1: an average team. They should finish around eight and eight.
Speaker 1: And if they get that eight to win and they
Speaker 1: still have some games to go, maybe, just maybe they
Speaker 1: could probably find that a ninth win that possibly challenged
Speaker 1: for a wild card. But that being said, I think
Speaker 1: people are starting to feel like that the possibility that
Speaker 1: there might be another playoff game, or that they can
Speaker 1: see they probably won't be at home, but still, you know,
Speaker 1: there's a chance because the Chiefs I thought were going
Speaker 1: to be stronger than where they are, and so there's
Speaker 1: a chance that the Raiders find a way that they
Speaker 1: can take one in Kansas City and maybe take a
Speaker 1: couple all along the division. They might be able to
Speaker 1: get past the Chiefs and maybe host the playoff game.
Speaker 1: Who knows. Man, you look at the quarterbacks that you've
Speaker 1: gone up against the last four weeks. You go to
Speaker 1: Green Bay, you got to battle Aaron Rodgers. You go
Speaker 1: to Houston, Deshaun Watson, play them a three point game.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's a hell of football game. Then you
Speaker 1: get Stafford, you know with Detroit and in Philip rivers
Speaker 1: the charges. I mean, you know you split those games
Speaker 1: two and two. But man's that's all of a run
Speaker 1: of quarterbacks that you had to go go face and
Speaker 1: came out you know pretty good. Well that's the NFL.
Speaker 1: You know that, that's the NFL. There aren't many quarterbacks
Speaker 1: where you can just sit and look down your nose.
Speaker 1: I'm like, well, you don't give him a chance. Even
Speaker 1: some of the backup quarterbacks, like what Teddy Bridgewater did
Speaker 1: in New Orleans, it was a comparable deal. So the
Speaker 1: thing is, the thing is that when you're playing up
Speaker 1: against these teams, like I said, the Raiders are happy
Speaker 1: that they're at a five and four record. Sure there
Speaker 1: was a couple of games that could have went either way,
Speaker 1: but they still have a lot of holes. They still
Speaker 1: have a lot of things they have to address, and
Speaker 1: it's I'm also a battle of attrition at this point
Speaker 1: because everybody's beat up, everybody's injured. You can't take anybody
Speaker 1: for granted. I don't think the Raiders will, but you know,
Speaker 1: that's the Cincinnati Bengal team coming in doesn't have a
Speaker 1: win yet, but you'd hate to be the first one
Speaker 1: to give it to him. A few more questions for
Speaker 1: Raiders broadcaster Lincoln Kennedy. We spoke on the phone today
Speaker 1: with John Gruden and he made a impassioned or gave
Speaker 1: an impassioned defense of Vantaz perfect saying that it's a
Speaker 1: total injustice that he was suspended for the rest of
Speaker 1: the year. There's never been anything like this in NFL
Speaker 1: history for a helmet to helmet contact play. Do you agree?
Speaker 1: I do agree, And the fact that the fact that
Speaker 1: the official ruling was is that he was too rough
Speaker 1: and that's why I suspended for a year is to
Speaker 1: me as an agree to say it because it's ridiculous.
Speaker 1: I thought we were talking about football, but I guess
Speaker 1: this is what we become. And I'm not just saying
Speaker 1: that because he plays for a team I cover. I'm
Speaker 1: saying that because I don't like how tiki tack they are,
Speaker 1: how they claim that they're protecting players when they still
Speaker 1: they still wanted to let them play. They let certain
Speaker 1: things go, but then they call they call other things
Speaker 1: to the to the team, and it just it's never
Speaker 1: been consistent with me. It's never been a good fill
Speaker 1: of me. I felt this is a contact game. I
Speaker 1: felt that these were men playing, But sometimes I think
Speaker 1: that they wanted want everybody to walk around and where
Speaker 1: something else. I guess, play a little pattycake out there.
Speaker 1: I guess I was what's looking for? I mean, it's
Speaker 1: it's crazy to hand too much? Yeah, exactly, so John
Speaker 1: Gruden he is. You know, every coach talks about establishing
Speaker 1: their culture. In your mind, what is John Gruden's culture?
Speaker 1: What do you think it's supposed to be and how
Speaker 1: close is it to you to being fulfilled? Do you think, Well,
Speaker 1: he came in last year and pretty much cleaned the house,
Speaker 1: didn't he? Sure? You know, given away Khalil Mack and
Speaker 1: Amari Cooper and made it a bunch of other decisions
Speaker 1: about other players that have been drafted by Reggie McKenzie
Speaker 1: and his staff. I think that pretty much sends the
Speaker 1: staple of an identity. But the more so than that,
Speaker 1: guys look at this, will you take into consideration how
Speaker 1: many rookies are first year players on the starting roster
Speaker 1: of this team and how they've contribute to this five
Speaker 1: and four record. I think that's a testament in itself.
Speaker 1: Do you know him? You know what I mean? Yep, yep,
Speaker 1: absolutely our thanks to Lincoln Kennedy and that's going to
Speaker 1: do it for this episode of the podcast. If you
Speaker 1: haven't done so already, don't forget to subscribe, and if
Speaker 1: you have time, given a rating or share a comment.
Speaker 1: Five star ratings help more Bengals fans find this podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm Dan Horde and thank you for listening to the
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast.