Speaker 1: Higat everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading the
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast The So why don't you just meet
Speaker 1: me in the middle edition, as we take stock of
Speaker 1: the Bengals at the midway point of training cam coming up,
Speaker 1: Bengals dot Com editor Jeff Hobson joins me to discuss
Speaker 1: several topics, including what players have impressed us the most,
Speaker 1: where things stand on the offensive line, and what we
Speaker 1: are most interested to see in Friday's second preseason game.
Speaker 1: But before I get to Jeff, it's a fun facts
Speaker 1: conversation with a player who has a really interesting personal history,
Speaker 1: Wide receiver and former child actor Trenton Irwin. The Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast is presented by bud Light. Seltzer refreshed the
Speaker 1: game and here's a quick reminder that you can have
Speaker 1: the latest edition of this podcast delivered write to your phone, tablet,
Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google, Spotify, or
Speaker 1: pod Bean. It's the greatest thing since the dental hygienist.
Speaker 1: I went to my dentist this week. Shout out to
Speaker 1: doctor Lenz, who is awesome, but occurred to me that
Speaker 1: the dental hygienist is one of the great unsung heroes
Speaker 1: in the working world. They scrape and clean, getting rid
Speaker 1: of all the plaque and tartar while we sit in
Speaker 1: that chair squirming. Then the dentist comes swooping in to
Speaker 1: perform a final inspection before providing his diagnosis. The hygienist
Speaker 1: is like a starting pitcher who gives you eight strong innings,
Speaker 1: and then the dentist is the closer who shuts the
Speaker 1: door in the ninth. So thank you to all of
Speaker 1: the hard working dental hygienists out there. We appreciate your
Speaker 1: outstanding care and apologize for our bad breath. Now let's
Speaker 1: get to football. One of the regular features on our
Speaker 1: Bengals Radio Network pregame show is my weekly fun Facts
Speaker 1: interview where you get to know the person under the pad.
Speaker 1: This week's subject is a guy who is having an
Speaker 1: excellent training camp and has some very interesting stories to share.
Speaker 1: Time for some fun facts with wide receiver Trent and
Speaker 1: Irwin from Glendale, California, not far from Los Angeles, and
Speaker 1: we've got all sorts of stuff to cover with you.
Speaker 1: Let's start with acting. You were a child actor, mostly
Speaker 1: in commercials for some well known companies like Nissan, Subway
Speaker 1: and Microsoft. How did you get started? You know, my
Speaker 1: dad actually loved acting, so it was sort of a
Speaker 1: family family business. I don't know what you call it,
Speaker 1: but we all went on auditions and I had a
Speaker 1: blast with it. It actually was a cool experience to
Speaker 1: sort of express myself out there. You know, I was
Speaker 1: a shy kid, so it was you know, I learned
Speaker 1: a lot from that. Does child acting paywell, it actually
Speaker 1: did it did. I'm making you know, ten fifteen thousand
Speaker 1: from a commercial, so it was unbelievable. You know. It
Speaker 1: was expected that it might be a little bit of
Speaker 1: a college payment, but my college ended up being free,
Speaker 1: so that's a blood. Did you ever act with anybody
Speaker 1: in a commercial that went on to a significant acting career.
Speaker 1: I don't think I could say yes to that. I've
Speaker 1: been in quite a few commercials, but I don't know
Speaker 1: if anyone really had to glow up from the commercial
Speaker 1: to theatrical era. I don't think there was anyone there.
Speaker 1: Do you have a favorite actor and if so, why
Speaker 1: a favorite actor? Wow, that's tough. I might have to
Speaker 1: go with someone like like Denzel Washington or something, you know,
Speaker 1: just I feel like he never hit misses in a movie.
Speaker 1: That's my answer too. You can't go wrong with Denzel No,
Speaker 1: he never misses. We're doing fun facts with wide receiver
Speaker 1: Trenton Irwin. Let's turn to football. California is a big state,
Speaker 1: legendary high school football programs. At the end of your
Speaker 1: high school career, you had the most receptions of anybody
Speaker 1: in state history. If that were me, I'd be incredibly
Speaker 1: proud of that, are you? Oh? Totally? It was. It
Speaker 1: was an honor, you know, I had. I had the
Speaker 1: opportunity to play four years there, and me and my
Speaker 1: teammates were great, But it was it was an honor,
Speaker 1: and it was just it was a fun experience. I mean,
Speaker 1: I remember high school like it was yesterday, so I
Speaker 1: can't complain that it was a good old days having fun,
Speaker 1: just backyard, you know, messing around pretty much. Did your
Speaker 1: high school team ever have a running play? My senior year,
Speaker 1: we threw the ball a lot, we did, but you know,
Speaker 1: we made the playoffs second round and got knocked out
Speaker 1: by a team that could run the ball a little
Speaker 1: better than we could. So a number of college football
Speaker 1: powerhouse programs recruited you. You chose to play at Stanford,
Speaker 1: one of the most prestigious academic universities in the country.
Speaker 1: Why did you choose Stanford? Man, it was really between
Speaker 1: ASCU and Stanford for the longest time because my high
Speaker 1: school buddy, who I also played with since seventh grade,
Speaker 1: went to ASDU and he was quarterbacks that quarterback receiver connection.
Speaker 1: But came down to it, you know, it's hard to
Speaker 1: pass up on Stanford. And I'm being honest, My mama
Speaker 1: really wanted me to go to Stanford. So Mama rules
Speaker 1: mom gave you some good advice. Was that quarterback Brady White.
Speaker 1: That quarterback was Brady White, and that's still one of
Speaker 1: my best buds. I'm very thankful there. So I also
Speaker 1: broadcast University of since Sinnattie games, so I saw plenty
Speaker 1: of Brady White at Memphis and he went on to
Speaker 1: have a tremendous college career. Oh yeah, Now he did fantastic,
Speaker 1: as I knew was going to happen because it's just
Speaker 1: the type of person player that he is. All right,
Speaker 1: back to Stanford. What was the toughest course you took?
Speaker 1: The toughest course. I took this one course on like
Speaker 1: air pollution and water pollution based off of how far
Speaker 1: the distance was, and it was it was brutal. I
Speaker 1: took it the first time. I think my first two tests,
Speaker 1: I got like twenty five and thirty percent, and I
Speaker 1: was I dropped out. And then the curve was super friendly.
Speaker 1: So a lot of my guys passed, and they passed
Speaker 1: with bees and season I was like, dang, all right,
Speaker 1: I gotta take this again. So I took it twice.
Speaker 1: It was very brutal, but it was it was humbling,
Speaker 1: and it was it was inexperience. I'll just say that,
Speaker 1: and a great lesson. I'm grading on the curve. Yes,
Speaker 1: the curve can be friendly all the smokes. We're talking
Speaker 1: to Bengals wide receiver Trenton Irwin. Your freshman you were
Speaker 1: at Stanford. You guys went to the Rose Bowl. You
Speaker 1: wiped out Iowa forty five to sixteen. You had catch
Speaker 1: in the game. What do you remember most vividly about
Speaker 1: getting to play in a Rose Bowl? Man? I mean,
Speaker 1: my whole family had been Michigan fans, so they always
Speaker 1: watched the Rose Bowl a lot there with that being,
Speaker 1: you know, but I think just going out there watching
Speaker 1: the jet go over the top of the stadium was unbelievable,
Speaker 1: and then it was it was just surreal, you know,
Speaker 1: it came. It was like a fairytale because it just
Speaker 1: kept piling on. We just kept really smacking them. But
Speaker 1: it was a fun game and it was, I mean
Speaker 1: pretty cool to get that. My first year you had
Speaker 1: a catch in your final forty games at Stanford and
Speaker 1: then in the final regular season game. If you're seenior year,
Speaker 1: you tore your ACO or your MCO. Rather how disappointing
Speaker 1: or difficult was the timing of that. It's super tough,
Speaker 1: you know, it's super tough, and there's only so much
Speaker 1: you can handle. I mean, after an incident, what's done
Speaker 1: is done, and you got to bounce back from there.
Speaker 1: And I honestly think there was so much that I
Speaker 1: learned from that experience. You know, I don't ever wish
Speaker 1: that upon me or anyone, but I think that it's
Speaker 1: a learning opportunity and if you take it as that,
Speaker 1: you can grow a lot. We're talking to wide receiver
Speaker 1: Trent irwind Or, sixteen for the Bengals. This is your
Speaker 1: third year with Cincinnati, mostly on the practice squad so far,
Speaker 1: but you did have your first career regular season catch
Speaker 1: last year in the Houston game. Did that give you
Speaker 1: a feeling of no matter what happens from here on out,
Speaker 1: you made the NFL record Book. It was pretty awesome.
Speaker 1: That's always what we talk about. But I mean, it's
Speaker 1: I think it's a cool experience to try to get
Speaker 1: it out in the mud. You know, you're out there
Speaker 1: with your boys and you're trying to grind and try
Speaker 1: to get more opportunities and make more plays with those,
Speaker 1: and it's you know, it's a fight every day, and
Speaker 1: it's a honor to have a sport and a job
Speaker 1: that you really go out there and compete every single
Speaker 1: day on the field, and it's you know, sometimes things
Speaker 1: go bad, sometimes things go great, but that's that's the
Speaker 1: fact to compete in every single day. So I'm thrilled
Speaker 1: to have the job and have the opportunities when they
Speaker 1: come about, and just having fun with the day by day.
Speaker 1: A few more questions for Trent and Irwin. Were accustomed
Speaker 1: to seeing players swap jerseys after games, but your jersey
Speaker 1: collection goes well beyond that, correct, Oh, totally, I have.
Speaker 1: I think I had like a hundred and ten jerseys
Speaker 1: and I wore them every day in middle school, in
Speaker 1: high school, and I've fallen off a little bit just
Speaker 1: because I feel weird wearing jerseys with people I play with.
Speaker 1: All right, what are some of the favorites in your collection? Oh? Man,
Speaker 1: I've got a Tom Brady at Michigan. That was always
Speaker 1: one of my favorites, and my dad loved Michigan. There
Speaker 1: I've got, I mean, I've got some. I've got Randy
Speaker 1: Moss from like every team he was on. So I
Speaker 1: have a have a Yellow I don't even know if
Speaker 1: that's real, but I have a yellow Minnesota. I got
Speaker 1: a purple Minnesota. I got a New England. I have
Speaker 1: a Raiders Randy Moss. I mean, like, I have so
Speaker 1: many unique jerseys that it's you know, I wish I
Speaker 1: could still wear them, but I feel a little awkward
Speaker 1: with people who might actually be those people when I
Speaker 1: was young. And now Randy Moss's son, Thaddeus is your teammate.
Speaker 1: Does he know that you have this awesome collection of
Speaker 1: jerseys of his dad. We have not had that conversation yet.
Speaker 1: We might need to, you know, scratch that one up
Speaker 1: and check it out, but he does not know yet.
Speaker 1: All Right, you've got long flowing blonde hair, are you
Speaker 1: aware of the fact that the ladies in the COVID
Speaker 1: testing trailer call you Tarzan. Yes, they called me Tarzan
Speaker 1: every day. Man, they're the best. They bring that energy,
Speaker 1: you know, so it's always cool to, you know, have
Speaker 1: that energy from people, and you know, I just gotta
Speaker 1: rept the name. I guess you're having an excellent camp.
Speaker 1: It seems to me every day at training camp I
Speaker 1: write down a note. There he is again, number sixteen,
Speaker 1: making more catches. Do you feel like things have gone
Speaker 1: particularly well for you this training camp so far? I
Speaker 1: think they've gone great. You know. I've worked all offseason
Speaker 1: to try to get opportunities, and when opportunities come, I
Speaker 1: try to make plays. And all I can do is
Speaker 1: have the best response after a play this good or bad,
Speaker 1: because sometimes I play this good, We'll get you too high,
Speaker 1: or to play this bad, I'll get you too low.
Speaker 1: So trying to have the right response after whatever the
Speaker 1: outcome is of the previous play that is most conducive
Speaker 1: for me having success in this play. This has been fun.
Speaker 1: I appreciate your time. Best of luck in twenty twenty one. Hey,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you always great. That's fun. Facts with Trent Irwin.
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth podcast is presented by Bud Light Seltzer.
Speaker 1: It's light and refreshing with a hint of fruit flavor.
Speaker 1: The Bengals are basically midway through training camp. They've been
Speaker 1: practicing for about three weeks, and the regular season opener
Speaker 1: against the Vikings is roughly three weeks away. It's a
Speaker 1: good time to take stock of how the team looks
Speaker 1: at this point with Bengals dot Com editor Jeff Butch.
Speaker 1: Hobson all Right, Butch, I've come up with a series
Speaker 1: of topics for both of us to weigh in on
Speaker 1: heading into the Washington game on Friday night. Topic number one,
Speaker 1: the biggest story of training camp is what's your answer?
Speaker 1: I'm actually more interested to hear you than me, and
Speaker 1: I will say, obviously it's you know Borrow, It's obviously
Speaker 1: is is on another planet when you're talking about him,
Speaker 1: So we'll do something else. My opinion, how the defense,
Speaker 1: the defense is just surface the way they had drew
Speaker 1: it up on the board, when they drew this thing
Speaker 1: up in free agency and the draft, what they wanted
Speaker 1: these guys to do, I mean, day after day in
Speaker 1: practice and in the preseason game, in Tampa. These guys
Speaker 1: have just you know, the three three new cornerbacks, the
Speaker 1: Trey Hendrickson, the edge man, Logan Wilson has stepped in
Speaker 1: a middle linebacker. To me, that's been the stories of defense.
Speaker 1: And I know early on Borrows struggled and maybe we were,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe the defense sucked the sin like the
Speaker 1: Red Sox did. But I think that they that was
Speaker 1: part of a big reason that borrow struggles were. He
Speaker 1: was playing at defense that was a helld a lot
Speaker 1: better than the one he had the year before. So
Speaker 1: to me, for my money, it's how this defense has
Speaker 1: come to show up. No coincidence that you worked sucked
Speaker 1: and Red Sox into the same sentence there. I agree
Speaker 1: with you about the defense. I would say the secondary
Speaker 1: in particular Trey Wayne's should obey a wouge and Mike
Speaker 1: Hilton had been great. But it does an end there.
Speaker 1: Eli Apple was good before he tweaked his hamstring. Darius
Speaker 1: Phillips always seems to make plays. Jayalen Davis has been
Speaker 1: a nice or is having a nice camp. I was
Speaker 1: going to say has been a nice edition, but he
Speaker 1: was with the team for six games last year, but
Speaker 1: being used exclusively in the slot seems to be bringing
Speaker 1: out the best in him. But since I need to
Speaker 1: have an answer that is different from yours, I will
Speaker 1: say that the biggest story of training camp is that
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow is mortal. He set the bar so ridiculously
Speaker 1: high that as he came back from a major injury
Speaker 1: I stupidly thought that he would look exactly the way
Speaker 1: he did the play before the injury in Washington. Just
Speaker 1: everything would be fine, no big deal. He's Joe Burrow. Well,
Speaker 1: as it turns out, he's human. And it did take
Speaker 1: him some time, about a week that was it, and
Speaker 1: then he was Joe Burrow again. So I never really
Speaker 1: doubted that he was going to be Joe Burrow again.
Speaker 1: There was a little stretch where I thought it might
Speaker 1: take some time. It might be four games into the season,
Speaker 1: maybe be six games into the season. Now I don't
Speaker 1: fear that at all. I think he's going to be
Speaker 1: great from the opener against the Vikings, and you know,
Speaker 1: he's human, but he's not very much of a human.
Speaker 1: What I liked is he is he told us that
Speaker 1: you know, he was very open, right I I joked
Speaker 1: with them later, I thought the key was your was
Speaker 1: your was your news conference where you let it all
Speaker 1: hang out and you talked it into uh and you
Speaker 1: talked it into reality. I thought it was really that
Speaker 1: was to me that that was and you're right, horny,
Speaker 1: I think that is the that that is a good
Speaker 1: storyline to me the most. But well, think alreay Man.
Speaker 1: I'll take away from this camp is not any practice
Speaker 1: or any play or anything like that, but that those
Speaker 1: those fifteen minutes he stood up there and basically, you know,
Speaker 1: you could tell he was a guy searching and he
Speaker 1: didn't hide it, right, and think about the confidence that
Speaker 1: that takes for a quarterback to acknowledge. Yeah, I'm uncomfortable
Speaker 1: right now, right, I don't like seeing bodies around my
Speaker 1: injured left b And then it was almost like that
Speaker 1: very day flip the switch, just like you said, getting
Speaker 1: it off his chest seemed to be a freeing moment
Speaker 1: and since then he has looked, for lack of a
Speaker 1: better word, normal, see the media. You can help it.
Speaker 1: Let's take credit. All right, We'll move on to topic
Speaker 1: number two. Give me a player who has really impressed
Speaker 1: you and why you know, I would say just the
Speaker 1: rookie tackle Dante Smith, just because you've seen a lot
Speaker 1: of rookies come through who were much higher pedigree, who
Speaker 1: were drafted higher, and they haven't played like this. You know,
Speaker 1: he's come on and he's just been he's been great.
Speaker 1: You know. The only down thing is he at d hydrated.
Speaker 1: You know, he got de hydrated. Now that was effort
Speaker 1: he got, he got, he got. You got stood up
Speaker 1: pretty well from from Larry. Oh, go ahead, horder, you
Speaker 1: can pronounce it. Oh, Joe. Know, he was having a nice,
Speaker 1: nice little run here and he was kind of tortured
Speaker 1: Dante and he had a rough day and then he
Speaker 1: sat out Wednesday because he was dehydrated and he may
Speaker 1: not play Thursday. So but that's really the only down,
Speaker 1: that's really only blip he's had. And I think the
Speaker 1: fact that you know, this is all through, all through
Speaker 1: the draft, you know, after they drafted him in the spring.
Speaker 1: You know it was this guy, you know, we we
Speaker 1: we liked this guy because of his size. He's smart,
Speaker 1: and he's got the NFL dimensions, he's got the lap
Speaker 1: has talked about his arms, he's got those thirty five
Speaker 1: in arms, and you know it was just you just
Speaker 1: assumed he was going to be a project. Well, he's
Speaker 1: not a project. To me, it looks like he's pretty
Speaker 1: close to being in the opening day, uh, left guard,
Speaker 1: which is really that's that's something. So and he's a
Speaker 1: nice and he's a he's a very earnest guy. I
Speaker 1: talked to his high school coach, spent some time talking
Speaker 1: to him, and you know, he's the first well this
Speaker 1: is what amazed me. His county and Georgie's right outside Augusta, Georgia,
Speaker 1: and he is the first player in that county's history
Speaker 1: to be drafted by the NFL. And you would just
Speaker 1: assume that, you know, football rich territory like that, because
Speaker 1: they do border you know, such towns as but James
Speaker 1: Brooks was from and actually where Trade, where Trey Hill
Speaker 1: was from. The sixth round pick the center from Georgia.
Speaker 1: But no, nobody's he's like the first guy from his
Speaker 1: county drafted. And so an interesting guy, humble guy. And
Speaker 1: obviously Frank pollacka Frank poll loves him. He has been impressive,
Speaker 1: no question about it. I saw a little bit of
Speaker 1: his potential when he was at East Carolina competing against
Speaker 1: you see a couple of years ago. He was mostly
Speaker 1: out last year, but a couple of years ago. I
Speaker 1: remember in my notes people saying that, you know he
Speaker 1: was a legit NFL pros Becton, he certainly looks like one.
Speaker 1: So far, my guy would be chitubey a Wouge. I mean,
Speaker 1: he has been fly paper during training camp, sticking to
Speaker 1: whoever he has been defending at practice. He basically is
Speaker 1: he's been what we like about Will Jackson the third
Speaker 1: at half the price. I mean, just tremendous coverage skills.
Speaker 1: I know it's just three weeks of practice, but hopefully
Speaker 1: it carries over to the games. He was a second
Speaker 1: round draft pick by the Cowboys. If you go back
Speaker 1: and look at his PFF grades, they were great in
Speaker 1: two of his four NFL seasons. They were poor last
Speaker 1: year when he was playing hurt. But I think at
Speaker 1: seven million dollars a year for the next three years,
Speaker 1: that could turn out to be a tremendous steal. And
Speaker 1: then we heard Zach Taylor say he's one of the
Speaker 1: most impressive human beings that we've ever had in the building.
Speaker 1: So really encouraged by chitube A Wouge. So far. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's a good one, Dan, I know, talking to Stephen Nisovic,
Speaker 1: the Bengal spector of Pro Scout. I mean, he had
Speaker 1: scouted who's he coming out of Colorado and he had obviously,
Speaker 1: you know, looked at him a free agency and he
Speaker 1: said both times he surprised him about how you know,
Speaker 1: he knew he was a good player both both places
Speaker 1: when he was coming out of Colorado and from Dallas,
Speaker 1: and he both times he surprised them and how how
Speaker 1: good he was. But he was a guy that they
Speaker 1: and you hit it right on the head about the money.
Speaker 1: He was a guy they zeroed in on immediately because
Speaker 1: they because they felt like exactly what you said, they
Speaker 1: could get a pretty good price for him. And that's
Speaker 1: exactly what Steve pointed out was his PF grades were
Speaker 1: very comparable to some big to corners her who who
Speaker 1: we're going to haul down a fifteen million a year,
Speaker 1: which was one of them was will bull Jackson, And
Speaker 1: the PF grades were were almost the same. And it's
Speaker 1: amazing how guys get categorized and everything. But he is
Speaker 1: a he's an interesting guy as well. And that's another
Speaker 1: thing too that I guess I failed mentioned. All these
Speaker 1: guys bringing uh, they're they're they're confident, they're well spoken,
Speaker 1: their lead you know, their leaders from a wooz a
Speaker 1: to to to Mike Hilton to Hendrickson. These are guys
Speaker 1: who were just impressive guys. Whose was telling me about
Speaker 1: how he he and Matrie Cooper started playing chess when
Speaker 1: they were in Dallas And what was they like the
Speaker 1: fact that you know, all these guys were into Madden
Speaker 1: and all this other stuff, you know, call of duty
Speaker 1: and and was it was a Fortnite Fortnite guy? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I remember because I remember bow Gats. Remember bow Gats
Speaker 1: would hit a double. He used to do the celebration
Speaker 1: like That's how I know about Fortnite. And I certainly
Speaker 1: don't play it, but uh and he uh, and whose
Speaker 1: was saying it was kind of you know, he and
Speaker 1: Cooper were playing chess. I think you liked that because
Speaker 1: that that that knocked down some stereotypes, you know, and uh,
Speaker 1: he's he's a he's an interesting guy to talk to. Uh,
Speaker 1: smart guy and good to talk to. Good for the
Speaker 1: I mean, I wish, my god, I wish it was
Speaker 1: an open locker room because these guys are these guys
Speaker 1: are terrific to talk to them. Yeah, totally agree. I
Speaker 1: wonder if he's seen the Queen's gambit that was very good.
Speaker 1: I think he I think he has highly recommend I
Speaker 1: think I think I think I think Burrow is leading
Speaker 1: kind of a it's finely kind of funny because Woz
Speaker 1: came with this background and now and now Burrow has
Speaker 1: been playing chess with Daddy's moss, and so I think
Speaker 1: that's a little thing in the locker room right now,
Speaker 1: which is kind of which is you know, I don't think,
Speaker 1: you know, breaking into the business forty years ago, Hardy.
Speaker 1: I don't think we thought it'd be a chessboard in
Speaker 1: an NFL locker room, But I think it's great ping
Speaker 1: pong table out chessboard. Yeah, all right, let's move on
Speaker 1: to our next topic, similar topic, but let's choose from
Speaker 1: somebody that's more on the roster bubble who has impressed you.
Speaker 1: You already set him. Oh, I didn't take this from me,
Speaker 1: but Davis Jamlin Davis is I mean really and he
Speaker 1: was having a good camp even before he went down
Speaker 1: to camp, and like touched every ball that came that
Speaker 1: came out of the pocket. And really, when he talked
Speaker 1: about and this is kind of why I wrote about
Speaker 1: I kind of tried to compare him at Jamar Chase
Speaker 1: on their debuts. They were just trying to get Chase
Speaker 1: a touch number one fifth picker of draft, National champion. Hey,
Speaker 1: let's just get him a touch in space. You know,
Speaker 1: Davis needs a touch. He doesn't want one, he needs one,
Speaker 1: and he gets two. And here's you know, and he
Speaker 1: said it, and in his news converse he said, look,
Speaker 1: I'm just trying to get on the same team, you know,
Speaker 1: two years in a row. That's all, you know, That's
Speaker 1: what his goal is. You know, Chase's goal is to
Speaker 1: be the rookie of the year. This guy is just
Speaker 1: trying to survive, make a life for himself, you know.
Speaker 1: And he and he, you know, he's been on I
Speaker 1: believe he's signed with the you know, he's bounced around.
Speaker 1: He's I think he signed with the Dolphins, correct. Then
Speaker 1: then he moved on I can't remember where he moved
Speaker 1: on to now, but they ended up with in Cincinnati
Speaker 1: for the last no last year, and then because of
Speaker 1: the COVID protocols, he was never around until he actually
Speaker 1: had to check into the Steelers game because they had
Speaker 1: all those COVID protocol problems with their EBS plus injuries
Speaker 1: and Louie and Rumo said Davis had to introduce himself
Speaker 1: in the huddle. Basically played played like a career high
Speaker 1: seventy percent of the snaps. So you know, you got
Speaker 1: a root for a guy like that who stands up
Speaker 1: there and says, look, I'm just trying to get to
Speaker 1: you know. You know, I just want to play for
Speaker 1: the same team two years in a row. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's a that's a great story. My guy is Trenton Irwin.
Speaker 1: Every day at training camp, he does something that catches
Speaker 1: your eye, and he's this year's Auden Tate without as
Speaker 1: many spectacular catches that you know, everybody immediately tweets about
Speaker 1: another unbelievable play by Auden Tate like he's had in
Speaker 1: previous training camps. They're not necessarily spectacular by Trenton Irwin.
Speaker 1: But I'm thinking if you added up total receptions in
Speaker 1: training camp, I suspect he would be the leader. He's
Speaker 1: certainly close. By the way you kind of carried over
Speaker 1: to the game with three catch for thirty five yards
Speaker 1: and a tackle and kickoff coverage. You'll probably get a
Speaker 1: chance to return a punt before camp is over. So
Speaker 1: it's been very fun to watch, took a took a
Speaker 1: hilacious shot and held on. Um. By the way hoarder
Speaker 1: you lead me, I think in my career tweets by
Speaker 1: a H, I think, uh, you've got a great uh.
Speaker 1: And I didn't realize this, but you're obviously a great
Speaker 1: home homework reveal. I guess he was a child actor.
Speaker 1: I guess, which I'm anxious to hear about that, and
Speaker 1: I'll be looking for that. I guess that's that's coming
Speaker 1: up right. It's a matter of fact, you're not aware
Speaker 1: of this because of the way we're recording this podcast,
Speaker 1: but people listening will have already heard. Trenton Irwin discussed
Speaker 1: that in My Fun Facts interview with him. He was
Speaker 1: a child actor in commercials for big time companies Subway, Microsoft,
Speaker 1: Velveta Cheese, and he comes from a family of commercial actors.
Speaker 1: His dad acted in commercials. Enjoyed it. It wasn't his
Speaker 1: wasn't what he did for a living, but he enjoyed it,
Speaker 1: so he got the whole family into it. Trenton said
Speaker 1: it paid well. He was making like ten to fifteen
Speaker 1: thousand bucks doing these commercials. As a kid. He thought
Speaker 1: it was going to be his college fund and then
Speaker 1: he went to Stanford for free as a college athlete.
Speaker 1: How about that? That's a dan Hord. There you go.
Speaker 1: I figured i'd plugged that. That's a good. Uh, that's
Speaker 1: an excellent review of that. Now I don't have to
Speaker 1: listen to it, but I will very good. All right,
Speaker 1: let's move on to another topic. Early in camp, were
Speaker 1: you worried about Joe Burrow? And how do you feel? Now? Yeah,
Speaker 1: honestly I was, you know, you wonder. I guess I
Speaker 1: wasn't worried until like that last bad practice. Until then,
Speaker 1: I'd been you know, I've been buying the buying it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was early, and it was you know, jeez, you
Speaker 1: just he wasn't even barely eight months removed from surgery,
Speaker 1: and I was trying to think back about how cash
Speaker 1: and looked and I'm not and I'm not sure the
Speaker 1: Casson was even doing stuff like that then at that point.
Speaker 1: I don't know. For some reason, I just remember Casson
Speaker 1: all of a sudden appearing in the third preseason game
Speaker 1: and looking like a combination of Brady and a Rod.
Speaker 1: You know, so I can't I couldn't. I guess that
Speaker 1: maybe that's because of my my age. I'm failing my memory.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I was, I was, I was. I was.
Speaker 1: It wasn't until that last practice though, when they were
Speaker 1: when it was really bad, I think, and I think
Speaker 1: it was bad enough where Joe really maybe maybe that
Speaker 1: was the practice where you know, he said I gotta
Speaker 1: get by, you know, I gotta do so because if
Speaker 1: you remember, I think it was that next day that
Speaker 1: he did the news conference and it was after that
Speaker 1: bad where it was pretty it was that same like
Speaker 1: forty eight hours or something and that and from what
Speaker 1: apparently what he said was it was his idea. He
Speaker 1: went to the coaches and said, hey, I need more
Speaker 1: traffic in the I need more traffic in the pocket.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I was. I was okay until that last day,
Speaker 1: you know, and then I uh, but then when you know,
Speaker 1: when then. But I felt better even before he practiced.
Speaker 1: I felt better after he talked because I said, Okay,
Speaker 1: he's you know, he's you know, I thought, after I
Speaker 1: heard him talk, I said, he's gonna be okay. He
Speaker 1: knows what's going you know, you know what's going on.
Speaker 1: You know, he's one of those guys if you listen
Speaker 1: to him you're ready to you know, you probably go
Speaker 1: follow him wherever he went. He's one of those guys,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm even if you're in the I mean,
Speaker 1: even if you're you know, I mean, even if you're
Speaker 1: in the media, you get that sense. So, uh yeah,
Speaker 1: I was a little it was that that last day,
Speaker 1: I mean a little concerned. I already shared my feelings
Speaker 1: on that topic. Yes, I was a little worried. Now
Speaker 1: I'm not worried whatsoever. So I'm very excited to see
Speaker 1: him in year two of his NFL career. Would you
Speaker 1: play him in the final preseason game next week against
Speaker 1: the Miami Dolphins. Absolutely not. It's just too many We've
Speaker 1: seen it. We've seen too many weird things happen. Or
Speaker 1: you've been doing this thing. You've been doing these games,
Speaker 1: even doing the NFL since eleven every day, you know,
Speaker 1: I you know, it's it's I mean, it's it's I've
Speaker 1: seen some stuff that you wouldn't think you'd believed. Just
Speaker 1: just get him to the gig. Just get him to
Speaker 1: the gig, you know, I mean I thought, you know,
Speaker 1: like I was telling you before he went on. The
Speaker 1: Bengals played Tom Brady in the year after his he
Speaker 1: tore his ACL and an O eight opener. He came
Speaker 1: back at oh nine and in his first game he
Speaker 1: was ten of fifteen, and then the next night they played.
Speaker 1: The next week, they played the Bengals in Foxborough, the
Speaker 1: famous game where he started, went four of eight, but
Speaker 1: it was won actually by a chad Ocho Sinko extra point.
Speaker 1: So you can tell your grandkids that that. Anybody listening
Speaker 1: who saw that game can say that they saw a
Speaker 1: game started by Tom Brady won by a chad Ochocinco
Speaker 1: extra point. But he played in that one. So but
Speaker 1: that was, you know, for something I don't know. And
Speaker 1: Carson played once, famously played once. He played into the
Speaker 1: third quarter one time against Green Bay. But I just can't,
Speaker 1: I just I just it's a different league, it's a
Speaker 1: different time. Joe's a different guy. It was, you know,
Speaker 1: it was No. I just think he did well without
Speaker 1: a preseason. He should have won the opener as a
Speaker 1: rookie without ever playing in the NFL. If the referee
Speaker 1: keeps the flag in his pocket. It's one of the
Speaker 1: great Burrows signature moments that Dwarfs might have. Anything that
Speaker 1: would have Dwarfs. Anything he did besides maybe winning the
Speaker 1: national championship. So I'm fine, get him to the gate
Speaker 1: September twelfth. Zimmer and Paul Gunther are going to be
Speaker 1: a formidable enough. Don't throw in fortunate feet too. I
Speaker 1: have been joking for weeks or months that I would
Speaker 1: not allow him to attend any of the preseason games,
Speaker 1: much less playing them, you know, at lock him in
Speaker 1: his house and forbid him from coming to the stadium.
Speaker 1: But my resolve is weakening. Like you were saying earlier,
Speaker 1: he has a way of rallying you to his viewpoint,
Speaker 1: and clearly he wants to get out on the field again.
Speaker 1: So if they do it, I don't necessarily think it's
Speaker 1: some mistake. I will be nervous. I hope they are.
Speaker 1: You know, a handful of the safest play calls in
Speaker 1: the history of football, handoffs, the screen passes something where
Speaker 1: it's virtually impossible to get hit. Like you're saying, strange
Speaker 1: things can happen. I feet can get tangled, stuff like that.
Speaker 1: But if he plays, I hope that the play calls
Speaker 1: are the safest ones that Zach Taylor has in his playbook.
Speaker 1: Boomer almost sold me, and you were you were in
Speaker 1: here when you and lap and I had talked to Boomer,
Speaker 1: he was selling it pretty good about playing and uh,
Speaker 1: you know that that that kind of convinced me almost
Speaker 1: maybe he should. But you know, if we're just talking
Speaker 1: about a couple of handoffs in a screen, you know
Speaker 1: why bother so. But I understand where you guys are
Speaker 1: coming from too. And I'm sure you know if he
Speaker 1: comes out and he has a bad first half against
Speaker 1: Minnesota because he didn't play, you know, you could say, well,
Speaker 1: he's not he's not very sharp. So I can see both.
Speaker 1: I think this is one of those forty where we
Speaker 1: both get an a in philosophy. That thought, if we
Speaker 1: were taking a philosophy course at the Hall of Languages
Speaker 1: in Syracuse, how would you describe the state of the
Speaker 1: offensive line at this point? I think it's obviously it's evolving,
Speaker 1: as they say, and whenever you say evolving in sports,
Speaker 1: we get a little nervous. But I also think it's
Speaker 1: clearly in a new direction with Pollock. I mean, these
Speaker 1: guys have seemed to have bought into Frank Pollock, the
Speaker 1: offensive line coach who was here in twenty eighteen, got
Speaker 1: a great relationship with Joe Mixon, already and I think
Speaker 1: he can sense that. So while it is an evolving line,
Speaker 1: I also think it's one that has a direction. I
Speaker 1: think it's trending up. I think I also think, you know, really,
Speaker 1: I don't think there are as many issues as people
Speaker 1: think there are. Yes, I think it's okay at center.
Speaker 1: I think the tackles have played very well. I think
Speaker 1: Joey Williams that quietly had had a good camp. I think,
Speaker 1: you know, if it if it hadn't been from barrowin
Speaker 1: for Jamar Chase, we probably would have talked little bit
Speaker 1: about John Williams. I think he's looked all right. So
Speaker 1: I think they're going to be pretty good at the
Speaker 1: tackles and now they're going to just be and they
Speaker 1: have to figure out guard and that is not a obviously,
Speaker 1: that's not a minor thing. And I think they wish
Speaker 1: that they were fathering along with that, particularly with their
Speaker 1: young auds. But I do think everybody feels like I
Speaker 1: think everybody who's been watching this thing has to feel
Speaker 1: like they're in a better situation now than they have been,
Speaker 1: just because of the way they have bought into Pollock.
Speaker 1: Frank Pollock should be at practice in a yellow hard
Speaker 1: hat and an orange vest with a big sign that
Speaker 1: says under construction over in that little corner where the
Speaker 1: offensive linemen do their drills, because that's what it is
Speaker 1: right now, it's under construction. But I do think they
Speaker 1: have enough good players for Frank to be able to
Speaker 1: put a good enough line on the field. We're not
Speaker 1: trying to pretend that you know, this is the eighty
Speaker 1: one or eighty eight Bengals offensive line. It's not going
Speaker 1: to be that good. But I think the personnel is
Speaker 1: good enough to be solid. I agree with you that
Speaker 1: they're set at center and both tackles, and where center
Speaker 1: is concerned, I think they're too deep. I think Billy
Speaker 1: Price has quietly had a pretty good camp. I think
Speaker 1: the tackles are going to be fine. I personally like
Speaker 1: Clinton Spain. I don't know if he's going to wind
Speaker 1: up in the starting lineup, but I think that he's
Speaker 1: a solid guard for what Frank Pollock wants to do.
Speaker 1: And out of the other guys Michael Jordan, Xavier Sue of,
Speaker 1: Philo Jackson, Carmen Deonte Smith, I think you're going to
Speaker 1: find a guard that'll do a decent enough job. So
Speaker 1: I'm cautiously optimistic that they're going to be okay. And
Speaker 1: Frankly trust exactly. Frank's another guy. You listen to him
Speaker 1: talking and say, wow, guys, guys, an impressive guy. I
Speaker 1: you know, I think the fact that they love the
Speaker 1: fact that he played in the league, you know, and
Speaker 1: he had a head. He had a eight year back
Speaker 1: up with the forty nine ers, saw some things and
Speaker 1: you know, hung around long enough to play ninety games,
Speaker 1: and you know, and it was we've talked about. There
Speaker 1: are also other weapons at their disposal that go beyond
Speaker 1: the offensive line. They can protect the offensive line. They
Speaker 1: have a man named Joe Mixon running the ball who
Speaker 1: looks like who He looks very He looks very good
Speaker 1: after missing the last ten years with a foot injury.
Speaker 1: They have a We've talked about the defense, how the
Speaker 1: defense is so much better. That's gonna help Joe Burrow.
Speaker 1: It's not gonna you know, he if he's not behind
Speaker 1: by ten points all the time, you know, he won't
Speaker 1: be dropping back as much. So, I mean, all these
Speaker 1: things go together. It's just it's just not those guys
Speaker 1: up front. I mean, it is, a lot of it is,
Speaker 1: but I think they've done. They've done some major things
Speaker 1: to get it accomplished. They brought in a new guy
Speaker 1: to give him new direction. They signed a veteran tackle,
Speaker 1: they drafted a guard, Hi and Jackson Carmen they get
Speaker 1: They made their defense better, and they made the offensive
Speaker 1: line coach the run game coordinator. So to me, they've
Speaker 1: done a lot. They've done a lot of the things
Speaker 1: they had to to improve things. All right, final topic,
Speaker 1: one or two things that you're interested in seeing on
Speaker 1: Friday in Washington. I'm interested to see how they bounced back,
Speaker 1: you know, can they handle because I think I think
Speaker 1: we can all say it was Saturday night damp was successful.
Speaker 1: You know, the defense was terrific twenty you know, and
Speaker 1: I know it's a preseason game and everybody and it's
Speaker 1: hard to get excited. It's hard to get excited about
Speaker 1: a preseason game. You know. You you watch a backup
Speaker 1: tight end catch an eighteen yards seamball on backup defensive
Speaker 1: backs and suddenly you know, oh my god, we can't. Well,
Speaker 1: none of those people are gonna be playing in crunch time,
Speaker 1: so let's take it easy. So but yes, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be interesting to see how this team handles success. How
Speaker 1: do they come back? It's a it was a short week.
Speaker 1: They went back on the road. Be interested, and they're
Speaker 1: gonna play a little bit more the starters. I don't
Speaker 1: think they're gonna play much more than they did a talleup,
Speaker 1: but I think they're gonna play more. They won't play
Speaker 1: more than a quarter, but I and what will be there?
Speaker 1: My So I'm interested to see if they can put
Speaker 1: together the same kind of intensity and the same kind
Speaker 1: of and the same kind of efficiency that they had
Speaker 1: in Tampa and then and then beyond that, I'd like
Speaker 1: to see, you know, the offense, you know, not not
Speaker 1: turn it over obviously, and you know, I want to
Speaker 1: see Jane Davis get some hands and see if he
Speaker 1: can keep it up, See if Darius Hodge can keep
Speaker 1: it up, to see if really that's that's you know,
Speaker 1: can they can they keep it going? Can they can
Speaker 1: they handle success? Get on the plane and do it again?
Speaker 1: All right? I got a couple of things. Number One,
Speaker 1: the Bengals are returning to the scene of the crime
Speaker 1: where Joe Burrow got hurt. So for as long as
Speaker 1: Washington's front four is in the game, can they handle
Speaker 1: that front four? So we're talking about four first round
Speaker 1: draft picks. The Washington football team drafted defensive lineman in
Speaker 1: the first round in twenty seventeen to eighteen, two thousand, nineteen,
Speaker 1: two twenty. You talk about building a great front four, obviously,
Speaker 1: that's a good way of going about doing it. So
Speaker 1: we're talking Jonathan Allen who made the hit on Joe
Speaker 1: burrow Ton Payne. Both of those guys are Alabama guys,
Speaker 1: Montez Sweat, and then culminating with the second pick in
Speaker 1: last year's draft, Chase Young. Washington made the playoffs last
Speaker 1: year despite going through a bunch of quarterbacks because they
Speaker 1: had an excellent defense and played and allows you to
Speaker 1: vision it only took seven wins to get in. But
Speaker 1: fourth and points allowed, second in passing yards allowed, sixth
Speaker 1: and sacks. While those guys are in the game, can
Speaker 1: the Bengals handle it? So that's one big thing I'll
Speaker 1: be looking to see on Friday. And then secondly is
Speaker 1: the Bengals pass rush legit. Four sacks, thirteen quarterback hits
Speaker 1: in the Tampa Bay game. I know you know a
Speaker 1: few of those came after the starters for both teams
Speaker 1: were out, but after having seventeen sacks as a team
Speaker 1: last year and being last in the NFL. Just think
Speaker 1: of how much better this team will be if this
Speaker 1: pass rush, which looked really good in Tampa Bay, is legit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know, all great points. I mean, it'll be interesting
Speaker 1: to see how how Michael Jordan responds down there. He
Speaker 1: was obviously the h that's that's the guy that Alan
Speaker 1: was working against. And I know Paul Danner Junior wrote
Speaker 1: a good story back in the spring from The Athletic
Speaker 1: about how Jordan has a you know, attacked act and
Speaker 1: he reshaped his body, seems to be in a good, good,
Speaker 1: good good spirits mentally, has had a lot of support
Speaker 1: from Barrow himself. So and I got a lot of
Speaker 1: I got a lot of hopes for Mike, and I
Speaker 1: know he's I'm much. I don't know how the lineup
Speaker 1: is going to unfold in uh, in Washington, but I
Speaker 1: think Frank, I think Frank has high hopes for him,
Speaker 1: and I think that's an interesting one to watch. Will
Speaker 1: be interesting to see how Mike responds being back there. Man.
Speaker 1: Something about the date November twenty second, it's uh, that
Speaker 1: is uh. But I think also too, it's also you know,
Speaker 1: it just shows you Burrows resilience and just what they've
Speaker 1: got here in a franchise. Guy he's back and he's
Speaker 1: not playing. He's not playing Friday night, but he could.
Speaker 1: And that's, you know what a statement about him. A
Speaker 1: perfect way to end it. Butch, I appreciate your time.
Speaker 1: This was fun. Let's do it again sometime soon, Hordy.
Speaker 1: As always and as I always say, have a good call.
Speaker 1: After beating Tampa Bay nineteen fourteen, the Bengals face another
Speaker 1: playoff team from last year, Washington, on Friday night at eight.
Speaker 1: When the Bengals faced Washington and the regular season last year,
Speaker 1: the football team was two and seven at the time.
Speaker 1: Washington finished seven and nine, which was good enough to
Speaker 1: win the NFC East. That's going to do it. For
Speaker 1: this episode of the Bengals Booth podcast, brought to you
Speaker 1: by Bud Light Seltzer, refresh the game. If you haven't
Speaker 1: done so already, please subscribe, and if you have a minute,
Speaker 1: give it a rating or share a comment that helps
Speaker 1: more Bengals fans find this by cast. I'm Dan Horde,
Speaker 1: and thanks for listening to the Bengals boot Podcast. H