Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody.
Speaker 2: I'm Dan Hoard and thanks for downloading The Bengals Booth Podcast.
Speaker 2: The Hey California Waiting addition, as the Bengals head to
Speaker 2: San Francisco, or more accurately Santa Clara to take on
Speaker 2: the five and two forty nine ers. Coming up, I'll
Speaker 2: visit with the legendary Jim Nantz, who will be in
Speaker 2: the booth for CBS on Sunday. Bengals Safety's coach Rob
Speaker 2: Livingston discusses the challenge of trying to defend a Kyle
Speaker 2: Shanahan offense, and this week's Know the Faux segment, we'll
Speaker 2: get the latest on the Niners from their radio voice,
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Speaker 3: Of the Bengals.
Speaker 2: Now here's a quick reminder that you can have the
Speaker 2: latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
Speaker 2: or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's
Speaker 2: the greatest thing since kind celebrities. In just a moment,
Speaker 2: you're going to hear my conversation with one of the
Speaker 2: most famous sports broadcasters of all time, Jim Natz. Every
Speaker 2: time I talk to Jim, My admiration for him grows.
Speaker 2: For a celebrity of his magnitude, he is one of
Speaker 2: the nicest, most genuine people you could ever meet. I've
Speaker 2: been around another megastar who is similar, Dick Vitel, who
Speaker 2: always takes time for fans regardless of the circumstances. Many
Speaker 2: years ago, when I was a college student at Syracuse
Speaker 2: and people still had home answering machines, I asked Dick
Speaker 2: Vitel if he would record my outgoing message. Here was
Speaker 2: the result.
Speaker 4: Hi, everybody else is dig Vital of ESPN and EBC.
Speaker 4: My buddy Dan's not home right now. Right now, he's
Speaker 4: out at the Dome. He's working with the cubes. He's
Speaker 4: trying to help my man, Jimmy Beheim. Remember call my
Speaker 4: PTP buddy, my guy a prime time performer, Big Dan.
Speaker 2: That was a big hit at the time. But there
Speaker 2: was one problem. I came home to a ton of
Speaker 2: messages every day, only to listen to a bunch of
Speaker 2: people hanging up after hearing Dick Vital. In any case,
Speaker 2: I consider Jim Nance and Dick Vital to be awesome
Speaker 2: baby with a capital A. Now time for my conversation
Speaker 2: with the guy who will be behind the mic for
Speaker 2: the Super Bowl this year. It is a Nance and
Speaker 2: Romo game this Sunday, and it is a thrill for
Speaker 2: me to visit with one of my broadcasting heroes, the
Speaker 2: great Jim Nance. Tim The Bengals started zero to two.
Speaker 2: Now they're three and three. Joe Burrow appears to be
Speaker 2: close to one hundred percent. Are the Bengals back or
Speaker 2: do you still have some questions?
Speaker 5: Now?
Speaker 6: I have no questions. First off, Dan, great to be
Speaker 6: back with. You've got a nice little thing going here
Speaker 6: on a year to year basis. So I'm going to
Speaker 6: call this for what it is now, a tradition unlike
Speaker 6: any other. Okay, So I don't know. It seems like
Speaker 6: I may have said that somewhere, but it really it
Speaker 6: really fits right here right now. They're back. They're back,
Speaker 6: and they're on the same path that they had last year. Bumpy,
Speaker 6: start figure it out. Start winning games a big threat
Speaker 6: at the end. That's what I expect.
Speaker 2: Anyway, you and Tony have called many of their biggest
Speaker 2: games over the last couple of years. What do you
Speaker 2: enjoy about watching and broadcasting a Cincinnati Bengals game with
Speaker 2: this particular team.
Speaker 6: Well, I, believe it or not, For me, it starts
Speaker 6: behind the scenes. I enjoy dealing, if that's the right word,
Speaker 6: with that organization. They got a very sharp, by the way,
Speaker 6: pr team. I don't get to extol this very often,
Speaker 6: but for someone who wants to read everything and seeks information, UH,
Speaker 6: PJ and his crew, they're on top of it. They're
Speaker 6: already like loading me up with material times ten. It's
Speaker 6: most in the league. So it starts there, believe it
Speaker 6: or not, at the ground level, so that I get prepared.
Speaker 6: And then when I meet with the Bengals, Uh, they're
Speaker 6: just terrific. UH this week for example, UH, talking to
Speaker 6: the head coach, the decordinator of the offensive coordinator. They're
Speaker 6: all great. They're great guys, and they give us tremendous
Speaker 6: insight into the game. They're all very well spoken and insightful,
Speaker 6: so they're helpful. What I like is they're exciting and
Speaker 6: that's what the fans like. You know, the fans like
Speaker 6: with Cincinnati, anythink can happen on both sides of the ball.
Speaker 6: You know, their defense is starting to roll now. Like
Speaker 6: I said, Joe's starting to look healthy and once he
Speaker 6: is back at full throttle, which after a bye week,
Speaker 6: maybe this week he will be, and you get back
Speaker 6: to have that combo on both sides. Of course, Boyd
Speaker 6: can come in and do what he did in the
Speaker 6: last game. This is an exciting team. This is an
Speaker 6: exciting team. There's opportunity here for them. The season did
Speaker 6: not get away from them, even with that poor start
Speaker 6: the right back of the mix. But this is a
Speaker 6: tough assignment, as you know, coming off a bye and
Speaker 6: going into a Hornets nets where he's gonna get a
Speaker 6: very angry forty nine er team waiting for them after
Speaker 6: they've just lost two away from home. It's going to
Speaker 6: be a good matchup.
Speaker 2: There's more network crossover than there used to be, but
Speaker 2: CBS is still the primary home for AFC games, and
Speaker 2: that means an unbelievable gauntlet of quarterbacks this year. It's
Speaker 2: probably unprecedented. Where does Burrow fit in your opinion?
Speaker 6: I hate to make this list up Dan, because I
Speaker 6: always feel like I'm going to leave one of them out.
Speaker 6: But look, he's been to the AFC Championship Game multiple times,
Speaker 6: he's played in the Super Bowl. His record, I mean,
Speaker 6: what he's done in just fourth year, it's it's insane.
Speaker 6: You got the guy over in Buffalo, you got the
Speaker 6: guy in Kansas City, you got the guy down in Miami,
Speaker 6: you got the guy in Baltimore, you got the guy
Speaker 6: at the Chargers. By the way, you got the guy
Speaker 6: at Houston. That's going to be a force. Stroud's going
Speaker 6: to be a force.
Speaker 1: Man. It is.
Speaker 6: It is just his player after player. I've never seen
Speaker 6: one conference so rich with quarterbacks. And you look at
Speaker 6: it and they're all franchised guys. You start to think
Speaker 6: the next crop coming out. Sure, there are still teams
Speaker 6: that are looking for quarterbacks, but there's like a lot
Speaker 6: of teams on the AFC side, they're locked in. They've
Speaker 6: got their guy for the next decade, including a Cincinnati.
Speaker 6: So uh, it's a It gives us You're right, we
Speaker 6: are still the primary flagship network of the AFC, and
Speaker 6: it gives us a lot of great matchups to choose.
Speaker 1: Trump.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about the other quarterback, Brock Purty. Have we
Speaker 2: seen enough at this point it's about a full season
Speaker 2: if you include the playoffs last year. Have we seen
Speaker 2: enough to consider him to be in the upper echelon.
Speaker 6: I don't want to take anything away from what he's accomplished.
Speaker 6: He's coming off two losses with injured players around him,
Speaker 6: and I had McCaffrey back this last week. He's not
Speaker 6: one hundred percent. No debout Deebo Samuel, but it has
Speaker 6: been Hey, it has been an amazing journey for him
Speaker 6: as the last pick in the draft a year ago.
Speaker 6: It is not putting him down in any capacity, but
Speaker 6: you got to see multiple years in the postseason. I
Speaker 6: think he has that hit factor that goes with not
Speaker 6: only the ability to lead a team down the field,
Speaker 6: to make the right decisions in microseconds, to figure out
Speaker 6: where to go with the football. I mean's the real
Speaker 6: speed is. It's just crazy how you figure out where
Speaker 6: you need to go in the windows you need to hit.
Speaker 6: He's done all of that. He's done at a remarkably
Speaker 6: high level and with speed from a rookie to now
Speaker 6: just in his second year. It's amazing. But you know
Speaker 6: you're talking about elite. You've got guys like number nine Cincinnati.
Speaker 6: You can't compare what Brock has done because just hasn't
Speaker 6: enough time yet to what Joe has done or what
Speaker 6: Patrick has done. Or even though Josh Allen hasn't taken
Speaker 6: Buffalo to a super Bowl, they've been in an AFC
Speaker 6: Championship game. They've been in the playoffs multiple years, so
Speaker 6: you got to see more work. But the kid is good.
Speaker 6: The kid is better than good. And there's more than
Speaker 6: just the way he makes these decisions. Something about the
Speaker 6: way he carries himself way beyond his years. There's an
Speaker 6: ease and a comfort, a confidence, not an overconfidence. I
Speaker 6: was on a station this week in San Francisco and
Speaker 6: they were making comparisons. They tried to make it combarrasson
Speaker 6: to Rock Perty and my partner Tony Romo, and I said, no,
Speaker 6: I don't see it. Maybe you got the long shot
Speaker 6: story where Tony was undrafted Perdy was the last pick
Speaker 6: in the draft. There, you can draw a comparison in
Speaker 6: terms of style. They don't throw it the same way,
Speaker 6: they don't run around in the pocket the same way.
Speaker 6: He reminds me more of a Joe Montana again, talking
Speaker 6: about one of the legends of the game with the
Speaker 6: test of time. To look at that record versus a
Speaker 6: body of work here that's got one year behind it.
Speaker 6: So comparisons are dangerous, especially when you're talking early on.
Speaker 6: But the kids got something special happening. I know that,
Speaker 6: and players play for him.
Speaker 3: We're visiting with Jim Nantz.
Speaker 2: Let's talk for a moment about Jamar Chase, who is
Speaker 2: among the NFL leaders in receptions. He's on a pace
Speaker 2: for one hundred and forty two. The Bengals team record
Speaker 2: is one twelve. When you watch that Burrow to Chase combination,
Speaker 2: what stands out It looks unstoppable.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 6: The first memory I have of it, of course you'll
Speaker 6: you'll know it well your audience will too. Was that
Speaker 6: regular season game at Cincinnati against Kansas City. What he
Speaker 6: lit up the Chiefs for three touchdowns and I believe
Speaker 6: it was two hundred and twenty six yards. That was
Speaker 6: awesome to watch. And of course they went on to
Speaker 6: meet in the AFC Championship and he did some things
Speaker 6: that you just don't see anywhere. So that was an
Speaker 6: incredible day by the way at Cincinnati, and that game
Speaker 6: was back and forth, just a while affair. You remember
Speaker 6: at the end of the game, the coaches played it
Speaker 6: just right and Joe got knocked out late in that game,
Speaker 6: Brendan Allen, who's going to be the third quarterback this
Speaker 6: week for the forty nine ers, came in and took
Speaker 6: those last few snaps before the game winning field goal.
Speaker 6: But that was an amazing day in the jungle. And
Speaker 6: that's the biggest memory I have with Jamar Chase. I
Speaker 6: had a front row seat to one of the great
Speaker 6: performances ever seen by a wide receiver in my nearly
Speaker 6: forty years.
Speaker 2: You also had one of the all time great calls
Speaker 2: on one of his big plays in that game, Chase
Speaker 2: there is no Chase as he as he pulled away
Speaker 2: from the posse.
Speaker 6: I wasn't sure what I said, So when you were
Speaker 6: starting down there that path a moment ago, I was thinking, Oh,
Speaker 6: I hope it was good.
Speaker 3: It's really good.
Speaker 6: I don't know, well, thank you. Yeah. I was running
Speaker 6: out of superlatives that day. My reservoir of superlatives had expired.
Speaker 6: But he's fun to watch. We've had some good production
Speaker 6: meetings with him too, So I'm looking forward to this game,
Speaker 6: believe it or not. And You guys know it all
Speaker 6: too well. When you go to the Super Bowl, San
Speaker 6: Francisco is always there waiting for you. But it's our year.
Speaker 6: We go every three years. It's our year to be
Speaker 6: back with the big game February eleventh, and I'm thinking.
Speaker 6: I know, people say, wait a minute, what's he talking about.
Speaker 6: We're three and three. You know, forty nine ers are
Speaker 6: stumbling now at five and two. It's a early It's
Speaker 6: a long season. This could be our matchup, this could
Speaker 6: be our we could be getting a little preview of
Speaker 6: what we're going to see in February. I really believe it.
Speaker 6: I'm not predicting, and I'm just saying I think there's
Speaker 6: a chance and a good chance it could happen.
Speaker 2: I have one final thing for you. It is not
Speaker 2: related to the Cincinnati Bengals. It's related to something that
Speaker 2: made the rounds on social media about a week ago.
Speaker 3: You have a home near Pebble Beach. You are apparently
Speaker 3: going for a walk.
Speaker 2: Recently, you came upon a group that was playing the
Speaker 2: famed seventh hole, and you took one of the golfer's
Speaker 2: cell phones and did a little play by play, giving
Speaker 2: him a memory for a lifetime. I love random acts
Speaker 2: of kindness, which was great. Is that something you get
Speaker 2: a kick out of I do get a.
Speaker 3: Kick out of it.
Speaker 6: I didn't ever expect something like that to get posted
Speaker 6: or go viral. Last I heard, I think it was
Speaker 6: over seven million hits. The truth is, Nan, I've done it,
Speaker 6: not hundreds of times, thousands of times. I've lived at
Speaker 6: Pebble Beach full time for eleven years and I still
Speaker 6: live there part time. I'm going to be spending these
Speaker 6: days leading up to the game in my house and
Speaker 6: I'll be out on Pebble Beach golf links again, no
Speaker 6: doubt doing this for any number of groups. Not because
Speaker 6: I'm looking for something to do, but I get waved
Speaker 6: over to come stay over to a group, and I
Speaker 6: love people. I'm not going to blow anybody off and
Speaker 6: speed past them in my golf cart that Ken Ventury
Speaker 6: gave to me years ago. I'll pull over and go
Speaker 6: shake hands. If they asked me to call one of
Speaker 6: their shots, I will happily oblige. So that that video
Speaker 6: that went viral, that's something I've done so much many
Speaker 6: times I can't even begin to count. And that was
Speaker 6: not recent, by the way, when I saw it. I
Speaker 6: was shot because I had not been back in my
Speaker 6: home since this summer, so I'm figuring it happened in
Speaker 6: either June, July, or August of this summer. But this
Speaker 6: summer alone, I probably did it several hundred times to
Speaker 6: I can't say unsuspecting golfers, because they're the ones that
Speaker 6: ask for it. I'll walk up and say, hey, guys,
Speaker 6: can I come over and call some shots? They asked
Speaker 6: for it, And again I'm happy to try to make
Speaker 6: a memory for people. And I try to get creative too.
Speaker 6: I know on that video that went viral I opened
Speaker 6: up with tonight on CBS begins with sixty minutes. So
Speaker 6: we're back here at the seventh hole. My new favorite
Speaker 6: has become. Sounds terrible, It sounds a little smart of me,
Speaker 6: but I take their phone. I normally record it because
Speaker 6: I know how I want to. I can shoot the
Speaker 6: shot probably better than someone hasn't done it before and
Speaker 6: filed the ball. But I also have the microphone right
Speaker 6: at the base of the phone, so my voice is
Speaker 6: it's gonna come through a little clearer. But now I
Speaker 6: start with the phone tilted to the sky and I'll
Speaker 6: pick it up at mid sentence, and I'll be in
Speaker 6: the middle of an old bits, a faux oh bit.
Speaker 6: He was one of the great guys of all time,
Speaker 6: and he will be missed. Pause, pause, pause, and I'll
Speaker 6: bring the camera down and give that respectful space and pause,
Speaker 6: and then I'll say, we're back here at the seventh hole,
Speaker 6: and I'll go into my call, and I always include
Speaker 6: Dottie Pepper, my colleague, Dottie. Where did that go? Oh, Dottie,
Speaker 6: that was going right. I'm just being silly. I had
Speaker 6: no idea it was become this viral video. But hey,
Speaker 6: it's all good. It's all fun, and I love being
Speaker 6: a bebble beach and I love being a part of
Speaker 6: the experience with people. If they ask for it, I'm
Speaker 6: not looking looking for it, but I'm happy to try
Speaker 6: to make someone else happy.
Speaker 2: And it comes as no surprise that you add production
Speaker 2: value as one of the greatest broadcasters of all time, Jim,
Speaker 2: this has been a treat It is a tradition unlike
Speaker 2: any other. So I look forward to doing it again
Speaker 2: in the future. Appreciate your time and look forward to
Speaker 2: seeing you on Sunday.
Speaker 6: Thank you, my friend. Look forward to the next time too.
Speaker 6: All the very best.
Speaker 2: If you haven't seen the video I referred to, just
Speaker 2: search for Jim nance Pebble Beach and it will pop
Speaker 2: right up. As I said at the beginning of this podcast,
Speaker 2: you won't find a nicer, more friendly celebrity. I recorded
Speaker 2: that conversation with Jim before the news broke on Wednesday
Speaker 2: that Niners quarterback Brock Party is in concussion protocol. ESPN's
Speaker 2: Adam Schefter says that Perty is unlikely to play, although
Speaker 2: it is technically possible for him to clear concussion protocol
Speaker 2: in time for Sunday's game. If he can't play, Sam
Speaker 2: Darnold would start in his place. The former Jets and
Speaker 2: Panthers quarterback was the third pick in the draft in
Speaker 2: twenty eighteen and has started fifty five games in the NFL.
Speaker 2: He has sixty one touchdown passes and fifty five interceptions,
Speaker 2: but he's never played for an offensive mastermind like San
Speaker 2: Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan. The Niners are second in the
Speaker 2: NFL in scoring at roughly twenty nine points a game,
Speaker 2: and I discussed the challenge of facing that offense with
Speaker 2: Bengals safety's coach Rob Livingston. Rober would seem to me
Speaker 2: that the forty nine ers offense with the constant motion
Speaker 2: and the heavy play action emphasis would be especially tough
Speaker 2: on your position group, the safeties.
Speaker 3: Is that true?
Speaker 7: Yeah, it is. It's a unique offense. Obviously. It starts
Speaker 7: with the personnel, the people. You know, a top top
Speaker 7: three tight end and he's not number three, so he's
Speaker 7: one or two. How you view him, and then the
Speaker 7: shifts and the motions and you know, the personnel in
Speaker 7: terms of twenty one personnal. We don't see that a
Speaker 7: lot here obviously, so it's different. You know, you gotta
Speaker 7: have great eyes, gotta have a great plan, you know,
Speaker 7: lose come up with a great play. We feel good
Speaker 7: about it and just excited to get the week started.
Speaker 7: And again there are some moving pieces that you got
Speaker 7: to work through and make sure everybody kind of sees
Speaker 7: it the same way. And that's why it's good. We
Speaker 7: have a long week and the guys are excited.
Speaker 3: About twenty one personnel fullback right.
Speaker 7: The fullback. Some places that's gone the way of the
Speaker 7: Dodo bird, but in San Francisco and Miami obviously has not.
Speaker 7: And they do a great job with it. They can
Speaker 7: make it look like you know, any personnel grouping like
Speaker 7: three wide out, they can look like two tight ends.
Speaker 7: And they're both special players. So forty four and eighty
Speaker 7: five obviously are dynamic and everything they do and it
Speaker 7: kind of all starts there for.
Speaker 2: Us, excluding your own offensive coaching staff. Do you consider
Speaker 2: Kyle Shanahan to be the best play designer in the NFL?
Speaker 7: Oh, yeah, he's up there for sure. Again, I think
Speaker 7: each week has its own challenges, so I'm a little
Speaker 7: bit short sighted that way. But in the off season,
Speaker 7: I think for sure, if you went and looked at
Speaker 7: what they did and the compliments, you know, this play
Speaker 7: looks the same, but it's the opposite. And I think
Speaker 7: he does a great job putting his dynamic players position
Speaker 7: to impact the game. And that's really what it's about.
Speaker 7: I mean, with him, it's it's people, it's not plays,
Speaker 7: and they really do a great job. Obviously, the back
Speaker 7: is as unique as anybody in the NFL, and he's dynamic.
Speaker 7: So what he's done, you know, with the run game
Speaker 7: and then the play actions off of that, you know,
Speaker 7: I think if you look at it, embarrassingly, I listen
Speaker 7: to play callers. The thing on the athletic every morning
Speaker 7: working out this summer in Montana and just his his mind,
Speaker 7: his his weekly preparation, the way he goes and kind
Speaker 7: of sees the game. It's it's unique. Obviously, it's in
Speaker 7: his blood. So it's all he's ever done, and he
Speaker 7: is a phenomenal challenge for sure.
Speaker 2: We're visiting the safety's coach, Rob Livingston. Nick Scott came
Speaker 2: from the Rams. He faced this team nine times over
Speaker 2: the last four years. Now, in some of those games
Speaker 2: he was just playing special teams. But still that's a
Speaker 2: bunch of exposure to the forty nine ers.
Speaker 3: Is that a big deal or not? Really?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think it always helps. You know, he's been
Speaker 7: in that environment. It's been a long time since we've
Speaker 7: been in San Francisco. So as simple as it is,
Speaker 7: you know, a let's talk about the grass, Nick, what's
Speaker 7: it like?
Speaker 8: The is it wed?
Speaker 7: Is it the old candlestick where it was kind of
Speaker 7: always wet? You know, what's the stadium like, what's the
Speaker 7: environment like? You know what should we think that way
Speaker 7: in terms of what it's gonna feel like. And then
Speaker 7: the offense, for sure, I mean we can try to
Speaker 7: replicate how fast it's gonna be in the shifts and
Speaker 7: the motions and all that kind of stuff. But he's
Speaker 7: lived it for sure, so have those conversations early in
Speaker 7: the week, and if he speaks to the group about it,
Speaker 7: he's got you know, open dialogue and he's got the
Speaker 7: floor so he'll kind of paint the picture for what
Speaker 7: it's gonna be like. And yeah, it's a phenomenal asset
Speaker 7: for sure. Again, it's not the the everything, but it helps.
Speaker 2: Let's talk about the secondary. I think it's easy to
Speaker 2: forget how young this group is. Of the guys that
Speaker 2: are playing. Where does that youth show up.
Speaker 7: Early in the week. You know, it's it's a new
Speaker 7: week obviously every week. So you know with those guys
Speaker 7: that they do a great job. You know Mondays and Tuesdays.
Speaker 7: You know, the leaders of this group, the Mike Hilton's,
Speaker 7: the Cheetos, the guys like that really kind of set
Speaker 7: the stage. They watch film together on Tuesdays and so
Speaker 7: some of the tough questions of at least come up
Speaker 7: by the time you come in the building on Wednesday.
Speaker 7: But you know, the great thing about young players is
Speaker 7: there eager. There's no scars, there's nothing that they can
Speaker 7: think back to of you know, Okay, I faced this
Speaker 7: guy before. It's their first time matching up or some
Speaker 7: so it's it's a phenomenal blessing. And you know, it
Speaker 7: really is unique, especially in my time here, to have
Speaker 7: this many young guys, and it gives you a different
Speaker 7: teaching environment. I guess, you know, you hate to say
Speaker 7: every young guy is different than how it used to be.
Speaker 7: You sound like that old guy yelling from your front porch,
Speaker 7: but you do find yourself, you know, how do you
Speaker 7: reach these guys. You got to learn the learner. That's
Speaker 7: our job as coaches, as teachers. So maybe it's not
Speaker 7: as much you know, just playbook stuff. Hey, let's go
Speaker 7: walk it out. Let's let's do this like half speed.
Speaker 7: Let's let's go in the turf air. Let's see some things.
Speaker 7: You know, here's some other teams doing the same technique.
Speaker 7: I think the more they can see other people doing
Speaker 7: what we're talking about the better. With teams like San Francisco,
Speaker 7: sometimes that can be a challenge because we haven't played
Speaker 7: them in a while, so you kind of spend your
Speaker 7: early part of the week making cut ups, trying to
Speaker 7: so they can see it, and then then it's just practice.
Speaker 7: You know again, that's why we do it. If we
Speaker 7: didn't need it, we would just show up on Sunday
Speaker 7: and everybody's life would be a lot easier. So try
Speaker 7: to put them in tough spots Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, so
Speaker 7: the again, the snakes are all on earth and you
Speaker 7: can see what you got and go from there.
Speaker 2: And Daxa's first year as a starter, he's got two
Speaker 2: interceptions and two sacks through six games.
Speaker 3: Evaluate his play.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's been like most young players has been up
Speaker 7: and down. I've told Daxis so I'll say it to anybody.
Speaker 7: He could be, you know, as as great as anybody.
Speaker 7: He's God gave him a phenomenal athletic ability and he's
Speaker 7: he's a unique athlete that way. You know, playing the
Speaker 7: position full time for the first time this year, you know,
Speaker 7: training camp was was great for him to just get
Speaker 7: his feet set and go play again. Nick Scott said,
Speaker 7: you know, you can't really learn to play safety. You
Speaker 7: have to play safety. It's like if somebody says, hey,
Speaker 7: I'm gonna teach you how to play basketball in a classroom, Well, no,
Speaker 7: you're not. You have to go play basketball. So the
Speaker 7: more reps these guys get the you know, the better
Speaker 7: they are. It's just how it is and in any profession,
Speaker 7: so it's exciting, you know. I think the whole group
Speaker 7: has really kind of taken strides and and we're just
Speaker 7: working on being consistent. I think with any young player,
Speaker 7: with any team that has guys that are playing together
Speaker 7: for the first time, consistencies what you're looking for. So
Speaker 7: that's our goal here for the next half of the season.
Speaker 2: We're chatting in safeties coach Rob Livingston. Your position group
Speaker 2: also includes a thirty three year old twelve year vet
Speaker 2: who's on the practice squad in Michael Thomas.
Speaker 3: What's it mean to have Mike still be on this team?
Speaker 7: Oh, it means the world.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 7: Mike is as special as anybody I've ever been around.
Speaker 7: Mike could could do anything in the world. He could
Speaker 7: work at Procter and Gamble. He could be in the government,
Speaker 7: he could be in secret Service. He could do anything.
Speaker 7: And he's here with us, and he's away from his family,
Speaker 7: and he's he's putting himself through you know what a
Speaker 7: lot of other thirty three year olds won't do for
Speaker 7: the for the good of the team. You know, we
Speaker 7: talk all the time about a team mentality and what
Speaker 7: does that look like? That looks like Mike Thomas. So
Speaker 7: he's a special, special guy. I think the world of him.
Speaker 7: I do anything in the world for him. You know,
Speaker 7: He's made me a better person, a better coach, and
Speaker 7: just really grateful to have him.
Speaker 3: It's your fifth year working with lou Ana Roumo.
Speaker 2: He's been called the mad Scientist, He's been called Loudini
Speaker 2: for his ability to confuse opposing quarterbacks. After working side
Speaker 2: by side with him for that period of time, what
Speaker 2: do you admire and respect?
Speaker 7: What's a blessing to be with him? Number one? You
Speaker 7: know each week is different. You know he sees the
Speaker 7: game from a back end perspective, which helps, and there's
Speaker 7: always a why to what we're doing. So you know,
Speaker 7: he's got the ability to kind of tear up the
Speaker 7: old game plan and do something completely different. And his
Speaker 7: feel on game day, I think is incredibly unique and dynamic.
Speaker 7: I think that's probably his his secret sauce. You know,
Speaker 7: that's what separates him is he can kind of see
Speaker 7: what's hurting us and go away from it if it
Speaker 7: is hurting us, and get to something that can help us.
Speaker 7: And and just his ability to trust in the guys.
Speaker 7: You know, there's been plenty of times where you know, hey,
Speaker 7: what are you thinking here? What are you thinking there?
Speaker 7: As a position coach, as a player, he gives you,
Speaker 7: you know, carte blanche as long as you're gonna do
Speaker 7: it the right way. And again, it's a phenomenal blessing
Speaker 7: to work for him and work for Zach and this organization.
Speaker 7: And I'll take a lot from Lou you know, whether
Speaker 7: it's how we game plan, to how you call the game,
Speaker 7: how you set up something maybe in the fourth quarter
Speaker 7: by doing something second quarter and just staying ahead of
Speaker 7: your calls that way, so each week, you know, after
Speaker 7: the game, you kind of make your notes about you know, hey,
Speaker 7: this is what we did, and kind of store those
Speaker 7: in you know, binder if that day ever comes up.
Speaker 3: Really appreciate your time. Best of luck this week.
Speaker 7: Oh thanks a lot.
Speaker 3: I appreciate you to The Bengals.
Speaker 2: Booth podcast is brought to you by pay Corps, Proud
Speaker 2: to be the Bengals official HR software provider by Alta
Speaker 2: Fiber future proof fiber Internet designed to elevate your home,
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Speaker 2: health the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health
Speaker 2: is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now time
Speaker 2: for this week's Know the Faux segment. When I got
Speaker 2: to Syracuse University in hopes of becoming a sports broadcaster,
Speaker 2: there was a student one year ahead of me who
Speaker 2: sounded like a network broadcaster as a college sophomore.
Speaker 3: His name was Greg Poppa.
Speaker 2: His first job out of college was broadcasting Indiana Pacers games,
Speaker 2: and he eventually moved to San Francisco.
Speaker 3: We're over the year.
Speaker 2: He's been the announcer at some point for nearly every
Speaker 2: team in the Bay Area, including the forty nine Ers,
Speaker 2: Oakland Raiders, Golden State Warriors, San Francisco Giants, and Oakland A's.
Speaker 2: He's one of the all time greats and he joined
Speaker 2: lap in Me this week on the Bengals Game Plan Show.
Speaker 2: The first topic the status of San Francisco quarterback brock
Speaker 2: perty So.
Speaker 9: There were a couple of situations in the game on
Speaker 9: Monday night where he may have been concussed. There was
Speaker 9: a couple of quarterback sneaks, as we call him, the
Speaker 9: Purty plunge, and he got whacked on swimming on top
Speaker 9: of a pile by the Vikings middle linebacker Jordan Hicks.
Speaker 1: He also.
Speaker 9: One played Daniel Hunter, a great edge rusher, beat our
Speaker 9: right tackle Colton mckiddit so quick to the inside that
Speaker 9: Brock had a spin out to his left right away
Speaker 9: and he didn't get thrown down on that play. But
Speaker 9: when you talk to had trauma experts to and it's
Speaker 9: sometimes it's just a violent nature of moving your head
Speaker 9: fast and sometimes just decellrat it. It doesn't have to
Speaker 9: be a whack to the head or even a whiplash
Speaker 9: to the ground, so it could be any one of
Speaker 9: those plays.
Speaker 1: So I think it's safe to say.
Speaker 9: He played a portion of the game with it, but
Speaker 9: he didn't feel it until we'd landed on Monday morning
Speaker 9: turning to Tuesday night, so we landed like we had
Speaker 9: to go to SFO.
Speaker 5: San Francisco Airport at two thirty in the morning.
Speaker 9: We landed, didn't get back to Santa Clara until pre fifteen,
Speaker 9: and so a long night.
Speaker 1: So we'll see.
Speaker 9: He was out there today when they were doing walkthrough
Speaker 9: portions of practice, and then when it was more than
Speaker 9: that he had to leave, and then we'll see where
Speaker 9: he is tomorrow. But that's why they brought in Sam
Speaker 9: Donald the first hour of the legal tampering period back
Speaker 9: in March. They signed Sam Donald with a contract and
Speaker 9: that was right after Brock had the u Stel search
Speaker 9: on March tenth, which was that Friday, and they didn't
Speaker 9: know if he was going to be full blown Tommy
Speaker 9: John the league of a replacement or just the internal brace.
Speaker 5: They did do it the internal.
Speaker 9: Brace, but it was very early in his reap, and
Speaker 9: Trey Lance was still the Niner then and he he.
Speaker 1: Was not clear yet.
Speaker 9: So they got Sam in the air and incentivize this contract.
Speaker 5: And then your guy Brandon Allen is the.
Speaker 1: Third quarterback, that he would be the number two and
Speaker 1: he may get.
Speaker 5: Some scout team reps tomorrow.
Speaker 6: So I thought we'd be.
Speaker 5: Talking about Joe Burrow.
Speaker 9: And his calf going into this talk tonight, and daw
Speaker 9: has turned into brock Party's head and whether or not
Speaker 9: he's going to be cleared to be able to play
Speaker 9: on Sunday.
Speaker 8: What about other guys? Deebo Samuel has got that fracture
Speaker 8: of the shoulder right the hairline fracture, So he's already
Speaker 8: been ruled out, at least he was. They said he
Speaker 8: was going to be out for a couple of weeks
Speaker 8: when in the Monday Night game Trent Williams with the hand.
Speaker 8: Is this guy, in my mind a beast? I mean,
Speaker 8: I think he's the best line in football.
Speaker 3: I really do.
Speaker 8: I think this guy is incredibly gifted with his size
Speaker 8: and his movement and his athletic ability. I mean, he's
Speaker 8: a freakazoid. How about him? Is he going to be
Speaker 8: able to make the dance.
Speaker 9: Trench trying to work through it? He did the best
Speaker 9: left tackle of football. I mean, the forty Niners at
Speaker 9: Joe Staley here for a number of years, and then
Speaker 9: they'm in a trade with Washington to get Trent and
Speaker 9: as you're going from one Hall of Famer to another,
Speaker 9: and Joe was a terrific player.
Speaker 5: But we're talking Anthony Munios.
Speaker 1: You know your guy.
Speaker 9: This guy, he's just all that. He's a maller, great
Speaker 9: and pass pro. Go back and watching our Dallas game
Speaker 9: on Sunday Night Football and what he did to Michael
Speaker 9: Parsons in that game. And I don't think Michael was right.
Speaker 9: He had a knee injury going into that game from
Speaker 9: the week before against New England, but Trenches had just
Speaker 9: owned him. He got rolled up on in Cleveland Shelby Harris,
Speaker 9: the veteran defensive line.
Speaker 5: I've been rolled up on him in a pile. He
Speaker 5: was out for exactly two snaps.
Speaker 9: Did not play well in that game. It was his
Speaker 9: worst game by far. He has a history of ankle injuries.
Speaker 9: It's not a high ankle, it's a low but I'll
Speaker 9: try to work through it. An Obviously this game, Trey
Speaker 9: Hendrickson's terrific and he lines up mainly over the left tackle,
Speaker 9: so that would be trend if Trent can't go. Jalen
Speaker 9: Moore played the game against Minnesota and did all right
Speaker 9: in the game, but we didn't run the ball well
Speaker 9: in that game, and that's the essence of the forty
Speaker 9: nine er offense is being able to run the football consistently.
Speaker 5: And McCaffrey only had three yards of carry.
Speaker 9: The whole team was three yards of carry against Minnesota
Speaker 9: and the best night was a scramble.
Speaker 5: By Brock Perdy.
Speaker 9: So it's a major, major drop off if Brock can't play.
Speaker 9: Sam Donald's a really good player. If Trent can't play,
Speaker 9: Jalen Moore is learning his way in the NFL, and
Speaker 9: you guys will take advantage of that, So that is
Speaker 9: the major major X factor going into the game. Obviously
Speaker 9: brought Pretty's availability, but the grand Schwrett Williams and right
Speaker 9: now it's his tour in the week.
Speaker 5: We don't know about either guy.
Speaker 2: The voice of the forty nine Ers, Great Pop is
Speaker 2: our guest. I caught the end of the broadcast on
Speaker 2: Monday night.
Speaker 3: I was in my car.
Speaker 2: You described how Kirk Cousins was surgical for the Vikings
Speaker 2: late in that game. He was thirty five for forty
Speaker 2: five overall three hundred and seventy eight yards. Did he
Speaker 2: expose the forty nine ers secondary in any way?
Speaker 3: Is that a group that's not great.
Speaker 9: Outside of a Patrick Mahomes performance. And you guys have
Speaker 9: seen him a lot in big games. In the last
Speaker 9: seven minutes of the Super Bowl, Super Bowl fifty four,
Speaker 9: and then he came in last year October twenty third
Speaker 9: and just devoured the Niners. They almost put up fifty.
Speaker 9: And then at Josh Allen game in the pandemic year,
Speaker 9: I can't remember anybody else played quarterback like Kirk Cousins
Speaker 9: did against the Niner defense with Nick Moosa on the field.
Speaker 9: It's just they didn't sack him. Dan They did, and
Speaker 9: they pressured him, but he just he manipulated the whole thing.
Speaker 9: And I think a lot of it is their head coach,
Speaker 9: Kevin O'Connell and his knowledge of the forty nine or
Speaker 9: defense going back to his rings, and then Kirk, you know,
Speaker 9: knowing Kyle and it was all checked with me at
Speaker 9: the line.
Speaker 1: He looked like Peyton Manning and then he just was
Speaker 1: a mat of what the Niners did.
Speaker 9: Whether they pressured seven or dropped into a cover two zone,
Speaker 9: whether you played man or zone. He just outside of
Speaker 9: the interception he threw early in the game to Tarvarius
Speaker 9: Ward when Ward was inside of Jordan Addison, he didn't
Speaker 9: make a mistake. He missed one touchdown throw in the
Speaker 9: back of the end zone when Addison made a double move,
Speaker 9: he threw it two flat. Outside of that, he was surgical,
Speaker 9: which leads to this game. You know, Kirk's a really
Speaker 9: good player, but your guys better and now that he's
Speaker 9: looked like he's moving around better, and then you're coach
Speaker 9: Jack Taylor would have the same intel that Kevin O'Connell
Speaker 9: would have from the RAM days. So I think it's
Speaker 9: the same kind of challenge in this game is and
Speaker 9: you got more wide receiver weapons obviously of their trio.
Speaker 9: And you know they didn't have justin Jefferson on Monday.
Speaker 1: You got chamorrow. It's gonna be.
Speaker 9: The first thing is they got to get more pressure
Speaker 9: on the quarterback, and I mean hit them, sack them,
Speaker 9: knock them down.
Speaker 1: The Niners did not sack Kirk Cousins at all in
Speaker 1: the game.
Speaker 9: They pressured him, but he he manipulated it and stepped
Speaker 9: around it and and then he you know, he found
Speaker 9: open guys.
Speaker 1: So TJ.
Speaker 9: Hockinson was a problem. Jordan Andison was a problem the
Speaker 9: whole game. But your trio is better, So I think
Speaker 9: this is a real challenge.
Speaker 1: I wasn't as worried about the Viking game going in
Speaker 1: as I was the Bengal game, because, as I say it,
Speaker 1: we have a short week.
Speaker 9: We didn't get back to the wee hours on Tuesday morning,
Speaker 9: and you guys are coming off your bye week, and
Speaker 9: look at what the Browns were able to do to
Speaker 9: the Niners off there by a week be random ball
Speaker 9: on the perimeters. So a huge advantage I think for
Speaker 9: the Bengals in this game day and is the Niners
Speaker 9: playing a Monday night game.
Speaker 5: Traveling home late, short week.
Speaker 1: Of practice, and you guys haven't you know, an extra
Speaker 1: week to get ready for the game.
Speaker 8: What did you think of Christian McCaffrey. I mean two
Speaker 8: touchdowns obviously, I mean he's the scoring machine. But do
Speaker 8: you think that that o'bleaque was bothering him? To me,
Speaker 8: it looked like it was a little bit of an issue.
Speaker 8: It didn't look like the Christian McCaffrey free flow, free flowing,
Speaker 8: you know, violent cut kind of guy. Or was I
Speaker 8: just seeing things now?
Speaker 9: I thought he looked the same I just watched, and
Speaker 9: that guy is a tireless worker. He works harder to
Speaker 9: get ready to practice than he does even and guys
Speaker 9: doing games. He's like Bosa on offense. He's just a Niacle.
Speaker 1: Second generation player. We saw him at Stanford, you know,
Speaker 1: during his college career. Dave and I thought he was
Speaker 1: going to be a great splat wide receiver in the NFL.
Speaker 9: The next in Stoke, clear West wid elker Julian Edelman.
Speaker 9: He could do all that, but he is a terrific
Speaker 9: running back.
Speaker 1: He has great field. He said to learn his own
Speaker 1: scheme because he didn't grow up at it.
Speaker 9: At Stanford with David Shaw, they power, but he's learned
Speaker 9: it and he kind of does it differently than the
Speaker 9: other backs, where it's three four steps at your landmark,
Speaker 9: get downhill.
Speaker 1: Christian's like he's surfing and.
Speaker 5: He kind of feels it.
Speaker 9: The problem he's having right now is fumbling. He fumbled
Speaker 9: in the Cowboy game on the goal line.
Speaker 1: He fumbled in this game. Now Harrison Smith punched it
Speaker 1: out at the right moment. But whatever it was, Dave
Speaker 1: and I think it's his teams getting a feel for
Speaker 1: the Niner running game. He hasn't been as productive.
Speaker 9: He wasn't as productive in Cleveland, he wasn't as productive
Speaker 9: in Minnesota.
Speaker 1: And I'm sure Anna Rumo is going to look.
Speaker 5: In on our run game.
Speaker 1: You take the run game away, that's the start you forgot.
Speaker 1: If I'm going to the game against the Niners, I'm
Speaker 1: starting on Kyle's run game. Now.
Speaker 9: It's hard to do how many teams can do it.
Speaker 9: But if you do that and make us play, you know,
Speaker 9: without the Breton Buter the foundation of the house.
Speaker 1: But I think Christian was fine in the game.
Speaker 9: I just think Brock missed some throws in Cleveland with
Speaker 9: the wind and the rain just couldn't grip it and
Speaker 9: rip it. Brock was really good in this game going
Speaker 9: into the fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: And then go back and.
Speaker 9: Watch the two picks that he threw at the end
Speaker 9: of the game, both to cam bineh the Viking stafety
Speaker 9: and you'll wonder, you know, did he not have all
Speaker 9: of his mental faculties?
Speaker 1: When did the concussion symptoms start to creep in.
Speaker 9: He didn't feel it until he landed at SFO on
Speaker 9: Monday night turning the Tuesday morning.
Speaker 1: But maybe he was slightly off a little bit at
Speaker 1: the end of that game.
Speaker 8: Let's hit defense real quick. Nick Bosa reigning Defensive Player
Speaker 8: of the Year. I mean, he had seventy three quarterback
Speaker 8: pressures last year, more than anybody in the NFL. He's
Speaker 8: a freak azoid. We know that Fred Warner might be
Speaker 8: the best linebacker in football. I mean, but Bosa is
Speaker 8: an All Pro. Fred Warner is an all Pro Lufanga
Speaker 8: in the back end. It's safety is an all Pro.
Speaker 8: Talk about those other guys, so Bosa. Everybody knows about Bosa.
Speaker 8: Talk about your linebacker and your safety, you know, like
Speaker 8: the shortstop in the center fielder in a good defensive
Speaker 8: baseball team, well, I mean that you guys.
Speaker 9: Knowing from Ohio State, he's dominant, he's a game record,
Speaker 9: but teams have been chipping him and it's bothering him,
Speaker 9: frustrated him.
Speaker 1: At times early in his career. I know Cleveland did
Speaker 1: it and they bothered him.
Speaker 9: He just sometimes he quits on rushes because he gets
Speaker 9: chipped and he gets frustrated. I think he's playing as
Speaker 9: well as he ever has, but they're not covering behind him,
Speaker 9: so the sacks aren't there. He's got two and a
Speaker 9: half on the year. Of course, he held out, he
Speaker 9: missed all the training camp. He signed the Wednesday or
Speaker 9: Thursday before the first game at Pittsburgh, so he's not
Speaker 9: been ass productive. I think a lot of it has
Speaker 9: been the coverage that they're just not They've sinking up
Speaker 9: the coverage behind the pass rush with the with the
Speaker 9: with the pass rush. So a lot of it is
Speaker 9: they get there so fast that and they got Jamon
Speaker 9: Hargrave now from Philadelphia and Eric Armstead they just traded
Speaker 9: for Randy Gregory.
Speaker 1: But the ball's not fast.
Speaker 9: Watch our ram game and how quickly Matthew Stafford quick
Speaker 9: passed this in the first half and it was lightning
Speaker 9: and he's back.
Speaker 1: You guys saw him on Monday Night football. What a
Speaker 1: great thrower of the ball he is. And they didn't
Speaker 1: have Cooper Cup in that game.
Speaker 9: They did have Pooka Nakua and to Chadwell and they
Speaker 9: they got it out fast before Nick and the guys
Speaker 9: could get there. The gold rush and then the back
Speaker 9: end they're not covering as well. Tarvarius Ward to a
Speaker 9: tough game at mooney Man and you know him from
Speaker 9: Kansas City, just didn't cover as well.
Speaker 1: And they're they're picking on the nickel guy, Isaiah Oliver.
Speaker 1: So uh Wufum is not making the amount of splash
Speaker 1: plays he did last year when he was All Pro.
Speaker 9: And then the other linebacker, Fred's playing great. The other linebacker,
Speaker 9: Dray Greenlaw next to Fred, has been in and out
Speaker 9: of the lineup because he's got.
Speaker 1: A hamstring injury.
Speaker 9: He missed the game in Cleveland, and he missed some
Speaker 9: snaps in Minnesota and he didn't cover. They asked him
Speaker 9: to man up on Hockinson a lot and that was
Speaker 9: not a good matchup for him and man He also
Speaker 9: got peed in his zone in a third and two
Speaker 9: where they lined up Jordan Addison is the number three
Speaker 9: inside receiver and when he runs an over route at
Speaker 9: number three, a week side linebacker's got to pick him
Speaker 9: up and they went right at him.
Speaker 1: So to me, it's a lot of the same issues.
Speaker 9: Because Kevin O'Connell is from Sean McVay plays the Niners
Speaker 9: multiple times. Oh the one year they ought you know
Speaker 9: when the Rams won the Super Bowl. We saw him
Speaker 9: three times that year because we saw him in the
Speaker 9: championship game before they beat you guys in the in.
Speaker 1: The Super Bowl at SOFI.
Speaker 9: So the defense, Dave was lights out down the first
Speaker 9: five games. The last two games has not been as strong.
Speaker 9: And I know you look at our We scored seventeen
Speaker 9: points the last two games offensively after.
Speaker 1: Scoring thirty thirty thirty, thirty five forty two. So the
Speaker 1: offense is down, but the defense, they're not getting off
Speaker 1: the field on third down. They're not playing as well
Speaker 1: as they played the first five games of the year.
Speaker 2: Here's an invitation to join Lapp and Wayne box Miller
Speaker 2: for the Bengals pep Rally show on Friday. They'll be
Speaker 2: at the Wings and Rings location in Finnytown from two
Speaker 2: thirty to five thirty and Chase Brown is scheduled to
Speaker 2: be there for the final hour of that show That's
Speaker 2: going to do It for this episode of the Bengals
Speaker 2: Booth Podcast brought to you by pay Corps, Proud to
Speaker 2: be the Bengals official HR software provider, by All to Fiber,
Speaker 2: future proof fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business
Speaker 2: and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health
Speaker 2: the best care for the best fans. Hettering Health is
Speaker 2: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. If you haven't
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Speaker 2: a comment that helps more Bengals fans find us. I'm
Speaker 2: Dan Horg and thanks for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast.