Speaker 1: Hig and everybody. I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast. The aerizone take Off Your Rainbow
Speaker 1: Shades addition, as the Bengals head to the desert looking
Speaker 1: for a badly needed win over the one in three Cardinals,
Speaker 1: coming up an in depth look at the Bengals offense
Speaker 1: as Joe Burrow, Tyler Boyd, Jonah Williams, and Brian Callahan
Speaker 1: discuss what's gone wrong in the first four weeks and
Speaker 1: more importantly, how to fix it. My one on one
Speaker 1: player interview this week is with Mike Hilton, who knows
Speaker 1: all about the opposing quarterback on Sunday. He and Joshua
Speaker 1: Dobbs are former teammates who have worked out together in
Speaker 1: the off season. The NFL Networks Brian Baldinger joins me
Speaker 1: to share his observations after the Bengals won in three.
Speaker 1: Start and in our Know the Faux segment, we'll get
Speaker 1: the latest on the Cardinals from their radio play by
Speaker 1: play voice.
Speaker 2: Dave pash Angles.
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Speaker 1: is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now here's
Speaker 1: a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition
Speaker 1: of this podcast delivered write to your phone, tablet or
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Speaker 1: greatest thing since Nicholas from Starbucks. I celebrated my birthday
Speaker 1: this week.
Speaker 2: In case you're wondering.
Speaker 1: How old I am, well, let's just say I remain
Speaker 1: younger than George Clooney. The comparison ends there. In any case,
Speaker 1: if you have the Starbucks app, you get a birthday reward,
Speaker 1: a free food or drink item of your choice. So
Speaker 1: I went in and ordered the usual, a small coffee
Speaker 1: with skim milk. But when I tried to use my
Speaker 1: birthday reward, Nicholas, the guy behind the counter said, you're
Speaker 1: going to use it for a small coffee. You can
Speaker 1: get anything. I said, I'm not really a fancy coffee guy,
Speaker 1: and I already had breakfast, so I'll just take the
Speaker 1: small coffee. Well, Nicholas was so perplexed and borderline offended
Speaker 1: that I wasn't claiming a free iced apple, crisp oak
Speaker 1: milk shaken espresso or a white chocolate macadamia cream cold brew.
Speaker 1: That he said, forget it. You can have the small coffee,
Speaker 1: come back in and use the reward for something more expensive.
Speaker 1: So thanks to Nicholas, I get a double birthday reward
Speaker 1: this year. I look forward to another free small coffee
Speaker 1: with skim milk. Now, let's get to football. After beating
Speaker 1: the Rams in Week three, the Bengals were looking to
Speaker 1: even the record at two and two last Sunday against
Speaker 1: the Titans. Instead, Tennessee Capes then Joe Burrows current lack
Speaker 1: of mobility, sacking him three times and hitting him nine
Speaker 1: times and holding the Bengals without a touchdown.
Speaker 3: It's been a tough couple of weeks.
Speaker 4: It's been a tough couple of weeks.
Speaker 5: That's for sure. We're gonna get through it. We're gonna
Speaker 5: get through it. We got tough, resilient guys in there.
Speaker 5: We got mentally tough guys that have have been through
Speaker 5: a lot, so we know how to how to handle
Speaker 5: these situations. It's tough right now, but we're gonna get
Speaker 5: through it.
Speaker 1: On Wednesday, Joe stress that his calf is improving along
Speaker 1: with his ability to move. That's welcome news to the
Speaker 1: coaching staff as they try to build a game plan
Speaker 1: around what he can and cannot do. Here's offensive coordinator
Speaker 1: Brian Callahan.
Speaker 6: I mean, he's the only one that can tell you
Speaker 6: how how he feels and where he's at. It feels
Speaker 6: like he gets better every day. We talked to Joe
Speaker 6: about where he's at and how he feels and make
Speaker 6: sure we're doing the right things by him in the
Speaker 6: game plan process. But the hope is that he's getting
Speaker 6: better every every time he steps out there and feels
Speaker 6: more confident as he plays. I think that that's where
Speaker 6: his mind's that is too, is he feels better and
Speaker 6: plays better and start to get a little momentum back.
Speaker 1: So far this season, the Bengals have tried to use
Speaker 1: a quick passing game with Joe staying in the pocket,
Speaker 1: but opponents know his limitations and are making that difficult
Speaker 1: by collapsing the pocket with their defensive line and then
Speaker 1: sending extra rushers when the Bengals are in obvious passing downs.
Speaker 1: It's made protecting Joe more challenging. According to Jonah Williams.
Speaker 7: It's an added level of difficulty for sure, you know,
Speaker 7: the like I said, it's a tough play for the
Speaker 7: line because everyone knows what we're doing, they can bring
Speaker 7: the pressure that we want, and they also know where
Speaker 7: the quarterback is going to be. So it's kind of
Speaker 7: that perfect storm of issues. But if we're all perfect
Speaker 7: across the board, then we'll pick everything up and be fine.
Speaker 7: So we're focused on that. You know, we have a
Speaker 7: lot of belief in Joe and what he can do,
Speaker 7: and obviously he's a little bit limited right now, but
Speaker 7: we still believe that he's, you know, one of the
Speaker 7: very best quarterbacks in the league and just have to
Speaker 7: give him some time to let things happen.
Speaker 1: A big part of Joe's brilliance when healthy is his
Speaker 1: ability to maneuver in the pocket or scramble left and
Speaker 1: right to extend plays that gives receivers more time to
Speaker 1: get open and results in the big plays that have
Speaker 1: been missing so.
Speaker 2: Far this year.
Speaker 1: Here are Tyler Boyd and Brian Callahan.
Speaker 8: The way we win games the extends and we even
Speaker 8: we talk about it even on the sidelines and during
Speaker 8: games that we got to make a big play. We
Speaker 8: gotta we gotta, we gotta scrambled Jill, we gotta get
Speaker 8: open for him. And I mean we never really discussed that,
Speaker 8: and that was the only kind of difference I've seen him.
Speaker 8: But at the end of the day, I believe in
Speaker 8: him making plays with all him having to be mobile,
Speaker 8: you know, that's just his extra level of that in
Speaker 8: factor for him to be able to be mobile, that's
Speaker 8: what makes him him.
Speaker 9: You know.
Speaker 6: It's it's funny when you when you're watching other games,
Speaker 6: it's like all you can see is the quarterbacks running,
Speaker 6: like that's all you see. But that's a huge part
Speaker 6: of playing quarterback in the NFL. Is you can play
Speaker 6: on time, you can play with great accuracy, but there's
Speaker 6: always comes a moment in a game and a play
Speaker 6: where where that's part of playing quarterback and part of
Speaker 6: the really good ones that Josh Allen and Patrick Mahomes
Speaker 6: and Lamar Jackson, that's part of their game. And that's
Speaker 6: really been part of Joe's game too. And when you
Speaker 6: look at third down and you have struggles on third down, well,
Speaker 6: you know a lot of times you got guys running
Speaker 6: for two to three of those a game, and it
Speaker 6: certainly makes your third down percentage look a lot better
Speaker 6: because they make a play with their legs and so
Speaker 6: that's a that's an element that we have missed. There's
Speaker 6: no hiding that or sugar. We all see it. But
Speaker 6: that is part of what playing NFL quarterback the good
Speaker 6: ones requires. When you look at the red zone, the
Speaker 6: teams that are great in the red zone are the
Speaker 6: teams that are great off script. That's just what they do.
Speaker 2: It's it's being it.
Speaker 6: If you can run the ball well down there, and
Speaker 6: you can and you can create, that's what makes teams
Speaker 6: dangerous in the red zone. And the best ones usually
Speaker 6: have a trigger that that does that really well. And
Speaker 6: that's what Joe's done really well, and that's why we've
Speaker 6: been so good in the red zone.
Speaker 1: The Bengals face the Cardinals this week, host Seattle next week,
Speaker 1: and then have their buye. I asked Burrow if his
Speaker 1: thought process is to find a way to win the
Speaker 1: next two games and then hopefully be fully recovered or
Speaker 1: close to it after the bye week.
Speaker 5: We're just focused on one in this week. We've got
Speaker 5: to be one on O this week. Orry about next
Speaker 5: week when it comes, or about the bye week. When
Speaker 5: it comes. I'm laser focused on the day to day
Speaker 5: process right now, getting better.
Speaker 3: Does it feel like a must win game to you guys.
Speaker 5: In the locker room, Yes, we got to go in
Speaker 5: and get a win on the road. We haven't had
Speaker 5: a road win yet. We've prided ourselves on the road.
Speaker 5: We're playing a really good football team, good defense, good scheme.
Speaker 5: You know, we need it from our morale, we need
Speaker 5: it for the rankings, We needed for everything.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, there are smart people on the Bengals
Speaker 1: coaching staff. They beat the Chiefs on the road in
Speaker 1: the AFC Championship Game two years ago and beat the
Speaker 1: Bills on the road in the playoffs last year. They
Speaker 1: are studying four weeks of tape and looking for the
Speaker 1: best formula for offensive success under challenging circumstances.
Speaker 6: That's sort of how it goes sometimes. That's that's life
Speaker 6: in the NFL. And some of your best laid plans
Speaker 6: aren't always going to go the way you think they're
Speaker 6: going to go, and so it's up to us to
Speaker 6: find a way to adjust, do a better job putting
Speaker 6: guys in better positions and finding ways to improve. And
Speaker 6: you know, I think a lot of it improves If
Speaker 6: we handle a few third downs over the course of
Speaker 6: the season a little bit better than we have and
Speaker 6: we score seven points in the red zone when we've
Speaker 6: had limited shots at it. To put seven points on
Speaker 6: the border in the game, I think that changes it too. So, yeah,
Speaker 6: we're not anywhere close to where we expected to be
Speaker 6: or or have any desire to be. We're not in
Speaker 6: a good place statistically for a lot of reasons, and
Speaker 6: we have to play better. At the end of the day,
Speaker 6: we need to win, and so however that looks for us,
Speaker 6: is what matters most is coming home from Arizona with
Speaker 6: a win and moving from there.
Speaker 1: Sunday's game starts at four to zero five Cincinnati time,
Speaker 1: and the Bengals are favored by three. The Cardinals are
Speaker 1: an interesting team. Starting quarterback Kyler Murray hasn't even practiced
Speaker 1: yet after a serious knee injury last December, and their
Speaker 1: best defensive player, Buddha Baker, is out with a hamstring injury.
Speaker 1: Arizona's record is one in three, but the Cardinals have
Speaker 1: had fourth quarter leads in two of their three losses
Speaker 1: and could easily be three and one, and journeyman quarterback
Speaker 1: Joshua Dobbs, who didn't even join the team until the
Speaker 1: final week of the preseason, has played great. He's one
Speaker 1: of only three quarterbacks in the NFL this year to
Speaker 1: throw more than one hundred passes without an interception. I
Speaker 1: discussed him and this week's game with Mike Hilton.
Speaker 4: Mike.
Speaker 1: Arizona quarterback Joshua Dobbs is one of the good stories
Speaker 1: in the NFL this year. And you know him well,
Speaker 1: having been his teammate for several seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 1: What can you share with your teammates about trying to
Speaker 1: defend Joshua Dobbs.
Speaker 10: I mean, he's a really good quarterback. Obviously, he might
Speaker 10: not have been his starter his whole career, but when
Speaker 10: he stepped in, he's won a lot of games for
Speaker 10: different teams, and you know, you just throw on the tape.
Speaker 10: He's real smart with his reeds, he's good with his
Speaker 10: legs outside the pocket, so he's gonna stand plays, and
Speaker 10: he's a guy that just really menages the game.
Speaker 1: Will you obviously want to beat him on Sunday, but
Speaker 1: happy to see him get a chance in his seventh
Speaker 1: year in the NFL to finally be somebody's quarterback.
Speaker 10: Oh yeah, definitely knowing Josh since he was drafted in Pittsburg.
Speaker 10: We spent three years together there and then we actually
Speaker 10: trained together an off season. So he's a Georgia guy,
Speaker 10: so we always had that connection too. So I'm just
Speaker 10: excited to see how far he's come, and you know,
Speaker 10: he's taking advantage of his great opportunity.
Speaker 1: He was an aerospace engineering major, the rocket scientist. Is
Speaker 1: he super smart?
Speaker 10: Yeah? Man, he's one of the more intelligent guys I
Speaker 10: ever member. Sitting down having a conversation with him, you know,
Speaker 10: it's definitely a good convo and he's a guy that
Speaker 10: you know, people really need to know.
Speaker 1: We're chatting with Mike Kilton. You'll also be trying to
Speaker 1: tackle a former teammate, running back James Connor. You were
Speaker 1: with him in his Pro Bowl season with the Steelers.
Speaker 1: What do you respect about his game?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 10: Man, he has no quick mentality, He's he's a hard tackle,
Speaker 10: so we gotta get a lot of guys around the ball.
Speaker 10: He's great outside the backfield and no kitching passes, catching
Speaker 10: screen past his pass pro He just to do it
Speaker 10: all back and you know, I'm happy to see him
Speaker 10: throw where he's at.
Speaker 1: So at the start of the season, some people said
Speaker 1: it looks like Arizona is tanking for the number one
Speaker 1: picking the draft. Well, somebody forgot to tell the Cardinals
Speaker 1: because they're playing well. They beat the Cowboys a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks ago, they give the forty nine ers a
Speaker 1: good game last week.
Speaker 2: What stands out to you when you watch.
Speaker 10: Them, they're just a whole fights to group. They played
Speaker 10: with a lot of energy, they played with a lot
Speaker 10: of chemistry, and it just shows you know how much
Speaker 10: they love being around and playing with each other. Obviously,
Speaker 10: it's you can say one game is easy, but nothing
Speaker 10: easy in this league, and we know we're gonna go
Speaker 10: go into their hostile environment and we got to find
Speaker 10: a way to get a win.
Speaker 1: So it was an understandably quiet locker room after the
Speaker 1: game last week against Tennessee. Was that one of the
Speaker 1: more frustrating losses you've been a part of in your
Speaker 1: NFL career?
Speaker 10: Yeah, for sure, No one who we are as a team.
Speaker 10: The performance we put out Sunday was far from far,
Speaker 10: far from our best, and you know, maybe that's the
Speaker 10: wake up call we needed, Like we're we're quartered away
Speaker 10: into the season. Things aren't going our way, but we
Speaker 10: have a chance to write the ship on Sunday and
Speaker 10: we we gotta find a way to go out to
Speaker 10: Arizona beat a tough opponent.
Speaker 1: You're one of the leaders on this team. What's the
Speaker 1: message in the locker room about trying to get things
Speaker 1: turned around?
Speaker 10: Urgency? It's enough of the we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll figure
Speaker 10: it out. We gotta figure it out now. You know,
Speaker 10: we already buried ourselves in the deep hole. So it's
Speaker 10: only one way for us to get out of it,
Speaker 10: and that's win games. So we gotta come together offensively, defensively,
Speaker 10: and special teams and just find ways to win.
Speaker 1: You can't really look ahead in the NFL beyond the
Speaker 1: next game, But with Arizona on the road, Seattle at home,
Speaker 1: and then a bye week and then the next three
Speaker 1: do you think, man, if we can get to the
Speaker 1: buy at three and three and maybe Joe's calf makes
Speaker 1: significant improvement, is that in the back of your mind
Speaker 1: at all?
Speaker 10: Yeah, it's definitely been thought about, but we can't thank
Speaker 10: that far ahead. Like I said, we got a tough
Speaker 10: point at Sunday and we're still working to get another win,
Speaker 10: and that's the important thing. We'll let future games come
Speaker 10: when that time comes. We just got to focus on
Speaker 10: Sunday and like I said, it be the tough Arizona team.
Speaker 1: So when you're riding high, every show on TV is
Speaker 1: praising the Bengals talking about you, it's a super Bowl contender,
Speaker 1: and when you start one and three, it's the opposite.
Speaker 2: Now you're the worst team in the world.
Speaker 1: Do you shut that out completely or do you listen
Speaker 1: to a little bit of it and let it service motivation?
Speaker 10: Now we shut it out obviously. You know we here
Speaker 10: through social media and stuff like that, but we know
Speaker 10: who we are in this locker room. We know what
Speaker 10: it takes to go on a run and start knocking
Speaker 10: out wins. We just got to go out there and
Speaker 10: execute better and just play play better as a whole
Speaker 10: and really show the NFL who we are as a team.
Speaker 2: Appreciate your time, best of luck on Sunday. Thank you.
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by Paid Corps,
Speaker 1: proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider. All
Speaker 1: to Fiber future Proof Fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business,
Speaker 1: and community to a New level and by Kettering Health
Speaker 1: the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is
Speaker 1: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals from the National
Speaker 1: perspective on the team. This week, I caught up with
Speaker 1: a former NFL offensive lineman who is a current NFL
Speaker 1: Network analyst. Perhaps my favorite NFL content on Twitter are
Speaker 1: Baldi's breakdowns, and it's always great to visit with a
Speaker 1: man responsible. NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger Baldi, it's obvious
Speaker 1: the Bengals offense has struggled through the first four games
Speaker 1: of the season. What do you see when you put
Speaker 1: on the tape, Well, I see.
Speaker 9: A quarterback that can't move it all damn. And I
Speaker 9: remember last time I saw you was out of training camp.
Speaker 9: And I'll never forget asking Jamar about his quarterback. I mean,
Speaker 9: just you know, just out of concern, and Jamar, he
Speaker 9: kind of made our jaws drop. He goes, I because
Speaker 9: you were talking about, you know, Cleveland's Week one all
Speaker 9: that stuff.
Speaker 3: He goes, I hope he doesn't play.
Speaker 9: And you know, hindsight is what it is, Dan, but honestly,
Speaker 9: maybe he knew something.
Speaker 1: The hope, obviously, is that Joe's mobility improves as his
Speaker 1: calf heels and the buy is a couple of weeks away.
Speaker 1: Are there tweaks you would like to see to the
Speaker 1: offense in the meantime?
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, look, there are you know, they're a
Speaker 3: pass for a team.
Speaker 9: I mean, you'd love to be able to run the
Speaker 9: ball better, you know, with your quarterback impaired like he
Speaker 9: is right now, you'd love to be able to run
Speaker 9: it better and play action pass.
Speaker 3: But honestly, Dan.
Speaker 9: I've seen him turns back to the defense once in
Speaker 9: the last two weeks like they're deathly. I mean, evidently
Speaker 9: they're definitely afraid that if anybody comes a blitz whatever,
Speaker 9: that he's not going to be able to get out
Speaker 9: of the way. But that one time they did do
Speaker 9: the play action pass, they got the ball down to
Speaker 9: Jamar Chase for forty three yards two weeks ago, and
Speaker 9: so that's that component is missing. Even I feel like anytime,
Speaker 9: you know, you could get Joe Mixon running or Evans whoever,
Speaker 9: whoever you got back there, you know, you always feel
Speaker 9: like the threat of play action off that is really good,
Speaker 9: but you don't really get that threat.
Speaker 1: Right now, Baldy, let's talk about Joe mix and he
Speaker 1: is on pace for a one thousand yard season. His
Speaker 1: yards per carry is above his career average. How does
Speaker 1: Joe look to you in year seven?
Speaker 3: He looks good. Joe's good.
Speaker 9: They popped out, you know, a bunch of runs early
Speaker 9: in that game. And like I said, it's against some
Speaker 9: really good defensive front. That's a good group. You saw
Speaker 9: him in the playoffs a couple of years ago. You know,
Speaker 9: there's they're about as talented as anybody. They're healthy right now.
Speaker 9: But you know, he pops some runs in there, and
Speaker 9: he looks good, like he's excellent. Let's pick up. He's
Speaker 9: a tough guy. He plays really hard. You know, you
Speaker 9: can throw the ball to Joe. There's really he's in
Speaker 9: every down back. You know, I think he's enjoying a
Speaker 9: good season. So, you know for a team that's really struggling,
Speaker 9: but uh, you know it's not because Joe Mixon isn't producing.
Speaker 1: Right now, you did some bald these breakdowns after the
Speaker 1: Ram victory, shining the spotlight on a couple of the
Speaker 1: Bengals defensive leaders, including Logan Wilson. Logan signed a four
Speaker 1: year contract extension in the offseason. What stands out when
Speaker 1: you watch.
Speaker 9: Him, well, I just think the way that him and
Speaker 9: Jermaine played together. Uh, you know, there's usually the last
Speaker 9: thing to come for a young linebacker. I think Logan
Speaker 9: is in his fourth year now, but I usually the
Speaker 9: last thing to come is just pass coverage, getting depth,
Speaker 9: being able to recognize formations, what they do out of
Speaker 9: those formations. I mean, he's got I think ten interceptions
Speaker 9: or something like that.
Speaker 2: Da.
Speaker 9: I mean, he's got you know, it's it's an uncanny
Speaker 9: amount for a young player, so he sees the whole field.
Speaker 9: I think him and Jermaine played really well together. I
Speaker 9: mean that's a I mean, look the defensive front. I
Speaker 9: think they gave up too many big plays last week
Speaker 9: to Tennessee, quite honestly, you know, and the and the
Speaker 9: touchdown run by by Henry you just can't give up.
Speaker 9: But overall, I think they played pretty good. And the
Speaker 9: linebackers are every down players. They never come off the field.
Speaker 1: The other defensive player that you shine the spotlight on
Speaker 1: recently was Trey Hendrickson, who also got a contract extension
Speaker 1: in the offseason. What makes him one of the better
Speaker 1: pass rushers in the league.
Speaker 3: Well, I think he plays with great effort.
Speaker 9: I think he has, you know, an array of moves
Speaker 9: to beat elite tackles in his business, you know, so
Speaker 9: he can win one on once. You don't want to
Speaker 9: have to, you know, run a lot of twist stunts
Speaker 9: or or stunt or or or blitzes in order to
Speaker 9: get pressure in the quarterback. So he's been able to
Speaker 9: do that since he got here. He had the one
Speaker 9: great year in New Orleans. They signed him. The Saints didn't.
Speaker 9: I don't think they've ever replaced him since. But you know,
Speaker 9: he's a he's a talented player that plays to run
Speaker 9: the pass equally well. And you know, I think they've
Speaker 9: got a lot of depth on the defensive line, just
Speaker 9: watching what Miles Murphy did last week, and so I think,
Speaker 9: you know, they've got some movable parts up front. But
Speaker 9: I mean, Trey is an elite player just because he
Speaker 9: can beat elite tackles in his business.
Speaker 1: In the lou Anromo era, the Bengal run defense has
Speaker 1: typically been good, I believe, seventh in the NFL last year.
Speaker 1: As you noted, Derrek Henry had the big game last
Speaker 1: week for the Titans, and stopping the run has been
Speaker 1: a bit of a problem. Through the first four games.
Speaker 1: Is that a big concern or do you expect Lou
Speaker 1: to be able to fix it?
Speaker 3: It's always a concern, Dan.
Speaker 9: I don't think you can just go I mean, there's
Speaker 9: things you can always do to fix run. You go
Speaker 9: a five man defensive front, you can play your linebackers tight,
Speaker 9: and there's a lot of things you can do. You
Speaker 9: might give up other things in order to do that,
Speaker 9: but you'd like to. I mean, you have DJ, Reeder
Speaker 9: and BJ and you got the horses that you have.
Speaker 9: You'd love to be able to, you know, stop the
Speaker 9: run with just seven. You know, you'd love to be
Speaker 9: able to keep Dax and you know in Scott back
Speaker 9: right now, and you know, just defend against the deep pass.
Speaker 9: I mean, Arizona got a lot of deep passes in
Speaker 9: against San Francisco last week. They got them back in
Speaker 9: the game. You love to be able to play your
Speaker 9: safeties back and control the run with your front. Every
Speaker 9: team would love to be able to do that, and
Speaker 9: ideally that's what Lou would like to do.
Speaker 1: So we're basically twenty five percent of the way into
Speaker 1: the regular season, four games out of seventeen. The Ravens
Speaker 1: are three and one in the division. Brownson Steelers are
Speaker 1: two and two. The Bengals are one in three of
Speaker 1: those other three teams, Baltimore, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, how do you
Speaker 1: have them shaping up right now?
Speaker 9: Well, Pittsburgh's a mess, Dan, I mean, their offense has
Speaker 9: not come around yet. They were blown out by San Francisco.
Speaker 9: That they were blown out last week. The offense has
Speaker 9: not answered the bill. So that's to me like they've
Speaker 9: got I don't know what their fix is right now
Speaker 9: because they just changed right guards. They're trying to get
Speaker 9: the line right. The left tackle went down last week,
Speaker 9: so they're trying to get that right up front. Maybe
Speaker 9: they do, maybe they don't. Baltimore has been a pleasant surprise, Dan,
Speaker 9: because it is a new offense. There's a lot of
Speaker 9: new pieces in Baltimore. They've played without a couple key
Speaker 9: starters in their offensive line, yet there's still finding ways
Speaker 9: to win the game.
Speaker 3: You know, that was an impressive performance.
Speaker 9: Now, they've played against the backup rookie quarterback last last week,
Speaker 9: but they made them look like a backup rookie quarterback,
Speaker 9: you know, and not everybody does that. And so they
Speaker 9: did that, and they took control of the division. But
Speaker 9: I'm still waiting for, you know, the explosive plays to
Speaker 9: come from Baltimore. I haven't really seen that part of
Speaker 9: the offense yet, so you know, it's just a quarter
Speaker 9: of the way through it.
Speaker 3: There's a lot to be played.
Speaker 9: But Cleveland, if they get their quarterback back, the way
Speaker 9: they can play defense right now, Dan, and you saw
Speaker 9: it week one, the way they can play defense, They're
Speaker 9: gonna be a contender of this division throughout the season.
Speaker 1: The Bengals head to Arizona on Sunday. The Cardinals are
Speaker 1: one in three. The one win a twelve point victor
Speaker 1: over the Cowboys. And we know how good Dallas has
Speaker 1: look so far this season. What are a couple of
Speaker 1: keys for the Bengals to go to Arizona and come
Speaker 1: back with a badly needed win.
Speaker 9: Well, you can't like if you look at the roster, Dan,
Speaker 9: and I know you've already started. I mean, I'd be
Speaker 9: hard pressed for any analysts to tell me who their
Speaker 9: starters are in offense and defense. I mean, it's just
Speaker 9: that kind of a roster. But I think they're very
Speaker 9: well coach. I've watched it all four games so far, Dan,
Speaker 9: I knew Jonathan Gannon in Philadelphia. They're very well coached.
Speaker 9: They play very hard. You can't take them lightly. San
Speaker 9: Francisco was up twenty one to three. It looked like
Speaker 9: they were control.
Speaker 3: Of the game.
Speaker 9: Next to you know, they're in a dog fight and
Speaker 9: it's twenty one sixteen late in the third quarter. So
Speaker 9: I mean that's San Francisco now. So Joshua Dobbs is
Speaker 9: he's getting a chance to play. And first of all,
Speaker 9: he's very mobile. He's gotten he's made a lot of
Speaker 9: big runs, like big runs, twenty thirty forty yard runs.
Speaker 9: He sees the field very very well. He's very smart,
Speaker 9: and he takes care of the football, hasn't turned it over.
Speaker 3: That's that.
Speaker 9: And then defensively, they they just play hard. They're young
Speaker 9: in some spots, but they blitz. They come at you
Speaker 9: from everywhere. And I mean the Dallas couldn't they couldn't
Speaker 9: score in the red zone against I mean, they were
Speaker 9: just lights out good. So I think they've played above
Speaker 9: their talent level to this point because they've been in
Speaker 9: every single game so far.
Speaker 1: Our hope is that the Bengals give you reason for
Speaker 1: some great baldise breakdowns after the game. Always appreciate your time.
Speaker 1: Keep up the great work, Baldy.
Speaker 3: Julia Trip.
Speaker 1: Finally time for this week's Know the Faux Segment. Dave
Speaker 1: Pash calls NBA games in college football and college basketball
Speaker 1: games for ESPN and is also the Arizona Cardinals radio voice.
Speaker 1: He joined Dave Lapham and me on the Bengals Game
Speaker 1: Plan Show this week.
Speaker 4: So, Dave, how about the Cardinals last year?
Speaker 3: What was it?
Speaker 4: Four and thirteen? I think? And there have been a
Speaker 4: lot of changes, obviously with respect to the roster, a young, energetic,
Speaker 4: enthusiastic coaching staff. Are they off to a better start
Speaker 4: than you had anticipated? Or did you see this coming? No?
Speaker 11: I did not see this coming, Dave. I think when
Speaker 11: you look at the turnover on the roster, you know,
Speaker 11: a new GM, new coach, first time play caller on offense,
Speaker 11: first time played caller on defense. Nick rollis the decoordinator,
Speaker 11: just turned thirty a couple months ago. No Kyler Murray,
Speaker 11: no Buddha Baker to start the year. You know, I
Speaker 11: did not see this coming. And if you look at it,
Speaker 11: and I'm sure you guys have you know, paid close attention,
Speaker 11: I mean they could easily have won all the games,
Speaker 11: with the exception of San Francisco, they had to lead
Speaker 11: in the fourth quarter. Against Washington, they led by twenty
Speaker 11: one early in the second half against the Giants, obviously
Speaker 11: beat Dallas. But I think it goes back to what
Speaker 11: you said. You know, you got a hungary coaching staff.
Speaker 11: You've got a GM that is you know, I think
Speaker 11: he wants a certain type of player, a certain type
Speaker 11: of person as well as a certain type of player,
Speaker 11: and I think Josh Dobbs fits that very well. It's
Speaker 11: a big reason why he's having this success that he is.
Speaker 11: But no, I didn't know what to expect. The expectations
Speaker 11: were low, I'll put it that way, just because of
Speaker 11: looking at the roster. I mean, you got guys on
Speaker 11: the defense of line that you know, even if they
Speaker 11: were healthier our backups, and yet you know they're they're
Speaker 11: doing a great job up front on both sides of
Speaker 11: the ball.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Josh Dobbs is one heck of a story. He's
Speaker 1: been in the league for six years, He's been with
Speaker 1: six different franchises. He had never started until the last
Speaker 1: two games of last season. Now he gets this chance
Speaker 1: without being in training camp with the Cardinals and he's
Speaker 1: playing great. What stands out most about his play.
Speaker 11: Dan, I think it's overall his intelligence. You know, he
Speaker 11: just he understands what they're asking him to do. He
Speaker 11: understands the offense. He was with Drew Petsing and Cleveland
Speaker 11: last year before Petsing got the job here with the Cardinals,
Speaker 11: so you know, they identified him when it seemed like
Speaker 11: Cole McCoy just they felt he couldn't do it anymore.
Speaker 11: They decided to go away from him. They weren't ready
Speaker 11: to start a rookie in Clayton Tune. They thought that,
Speaker 11: you know, they could acquire somebody who will have an
Speaker 11: idea what they were trying to do, could pick the
Speaker 11: offense up quickly and be a leader in the absence
Speaker 11: of Kyler Murray. And and yeah, Josh Dobbs fits that perfectly.
Speaker 11: You know, at some point, you know he's going to
Speaker 11: throw a pick right and you're not gonna get it
Speaker 11: through the whole year without interception. But man, he's he's
Speaker 11: played great beyond he's temph in the NFL and passer
Speaker 11: rating and he you know, he's a great guy. I
Speaker 11: think people appreciate. I mean, you played Dave in the
Speaker 11: league you know, guys appreciate you know. I think it's
Speaker 11: kind of with Rock Purdy. When you've been you know,
Speaker 11: somebody that's been overlooked and you're tough mentally and physically
Speaker 11: and you're a great player. Guys buy into that. Guys
Speaker 11: rally around that. I think guys are rallying around Josh Dobbs,
Speaker 11: the guy that, yeah it was a fourth round pick,
Speaker 11: but a journeyman who've been you know, traded cut numerous times.
Speaker 11: They believe in him.
Speaker 4: You know, I think a quarterback's best friend is a
Speaker 4: solid running game in James Connor and thirty three pounder.
Speaker 4: The Bengals are very familiar with this guy, having played
Speaker 4: in the division before, tied for third in the National
Speaker 4: Football League and yards rushing five point one yards per attempt,
Speaker 4: a couple of rushing touchdowns. I mean that running game
Speaker 4: has been impressive and that makes it a little bit
Speaker 4: easier for any quarterback, including Josh Dobbs. How impressive has
Speaker 4: that running game been?
Speaker 11: Connor's been great. How they're kind of still looking for
Speaker 11: that number two? Keanton Ingram's been hurt. Their offensive line
Speaker 11: has done a great job. You consider you got really
Speaker 11: three and we've got a rookie right tackle Paris Johnson.
Speaker 11: You guys know well from playing Ohio State and being
Speaker 11: a Cincinnati guy, he's been great. And then your center
Speaker 11: and left harder journeyman. Yet they're finding a way to
Speaker 11: protect the quarterback. They're running the ball well, I think
Speaker 11: they're being creative with their run game as well. And yes,
Speaker 11: to your point, you gotta and I don't think Josh
Speaker 11: Shobbs just managing the game. I mean he's throwing it
Speaker 11: down the field. They have a lot of explosive plays
Speaker 11: in the passing game, but I think the big reason
Speaker 11: why is because they've had a lot of explosive plays
Speaker 11: in the run game and Josh Dobbs provided that as
Speaker 11: well in the win over Dallas.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the voice of the Cardinals, Dave Pass is our guest.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about Kyler Murray tore his ACL in Week
Speaker 1: fourteen last year, so was mid December. He's eligible to
Speaker 1: practice at this point. Do you have any idea when
Speaker 1: he's expected to start practicing again?
Speaker 11: Now, I wish I did, And if they know, they're
Speaker 11: not telling anybody, and I'm not sure they know because
Speaker 11: you know he it was the ACL, but it wasn't
Speaker 11: just that obviously that that's another thing that's been reported,
Speaker 11: and you know he, I think they want to be
Speaker 11: careful when they open that window. They want to make
Speaker 11: sure that, you know, in that twenty one day window
Speaker 11: when it starts, that you know he's gonna be ready
Speaker 11: to go during that timeframe. Otherwise you're stuck. So I'm
Speaker 11: finding to guess. I mean, it'd be November probably at
Speaker 11: this point, but I don't know. You know, he, I
Speaker 11: think he is itching to prove people wrong about him.
Speaker 11: There is certainly a narrative out there, whether it's the
Speaker 11: off the field narrative or the on the field struggles
Speaker 11: from a year ago. Dan So I think he he's
Speaker 11: itching to prove people wrong, but they need to make
Speaker 11: sure he's one hundred percent, especially with the way he plays.
Speaker 11: There cannot be any doubt. Obviously the medical staff, you know,
Speaker 11: determines that. But then I think also there's the component
Speaker 11: of we need to make sure this guy is one
Speaker 11: hundred percent mentally and ready to attack, you know, ready
Speaker 11: to handle the punishment that you deal with on a
Speaker 11: weekly basis as an NFL quarterback.
Speaker 4: As a former alignman. I'm interested in checking out a
Speaker 4: matchup in the pits. Paris Johnson, Sam Hubbard, both local
Speaker 4: Cincinnati high school stars Princeton High School, mol Or High School.
Speaker 4: They both go to Ohio State. They're going mano a
Speaker 4: mano and a lot of us snaps obviously in this
Speaker 4: football I think, you know, the games were won and
Speaker 4: lost in the pits. It's always interesting to watch that
Speaker 4: that warfare up there. But that I think that's gonna
Speaker 4: be a real interesting one to watch.
Speaker 11: Yeah, and if you look at Paris Johnson, I mean
Speaker 11: he's pretty much run the gauntlet, especially the last two
Speaker 11: weeks with Parsons and Bosa. Yeah, and he's done a
Speaker 11: great job.
Speaker 3: You know, they.
Speaker 11: Obviously moved around in the draft. They targeted him. You know,
Speaker 11: they had the third pick, they traded down, they traded
Speaker 11: back up. They wanted Paris Johnson. They feel like they
Speaker 11: need to build up the offensive and defensive lines. And
Speaker 11: you know, so far, so good. He's looked like he's
Speaker 11: been playing in the league for a long time.
Speaker 4: How the heck is the team that was out has
Speaker 4: been outscored forty four to seven in the fourth quarter,
Speaker 4: been in every football game. I mean, it's finishing the game.
Speaker 4: Has that been a chronic problem? Or is it just
Speaker 4: one game put that way out of whack since it's
Speaker 4: only a four game stretch. How did that happen where
Speaker 4: they had such an imbalance in that fourth quarter.
Speaker 11: Well, I think it's a couple of things. They had
Speaker 11: the lead in three of the four games, you know,
Speaker 11: going into the fourth quarter. And I think the bottom
Speaker 11: line is, you know, at some point when you're playing,
Speaker 11: you know, Saquon Barkley was healthy. Even though Daniel Jones
Speaker 11: does not looked good since that game, those are really
Speaker 11: good players. Washington has some talent obviously, and you know
Speaker 11: the Cardinals they don't have. I don't think the roster
Speaker 11: that's as good as those teams. You know, even Dallas
Speaker 11: in that game. You know, Dallas made a run in
Speaker 11: the second half and in the fourth quarter. You know,
Speaker 11: at some point those great players make plays. It's just
Speaker 11: hard that the games are so long. I mean, at
Speaker 11: some point, it's just you know, when you when you
Speaker 11: lack talent at a lot of positions compared to your opponent,
Speaker 11: especially on the defense, especially on that front seven. The
Speaker 11: Cardinals already were thin, as I mentioned, they have injuries,
Speaker 11: so you got a lot of guys playing that should
Speaker 11: be on practice squads or maybe not in the league,
Speaker 11: and you know that those guys are holding their own.
Speaker 11: I mean, they did a pretty good job even last
Speaker 11: week against what I think is the best team in
Speaker 11: the NFC and maybe the NFL and Stamper Cisco, So
Speaker 11: I you know, I think, you know, the Dallas game
Speaker 11: was big because they had blown the leads in weeks
Speaker 11: one and two and you know, the interception by Tisier
Speaker 11: White to be able to you know, get Dallas off
Speaker 11: the field and then that game was was big for
Speaker 11: their confidence. But I think it's something that Cardinals are
Speaker 11: going to have to fight all year because they just
Speaker 11: don't have you know, when you compare to most of
Speaker 11: the teams they're going to play, they just don't have
Speaker 11: the roster.
Speaker 1: Our thanks to Dave Pash and here's a quick reminder
Speaker 1: to join lapp in me for the Bengals pep Rally
Speaker 1: Show on Friday from three to six at the Wings
Speaker 1: and Rings location at King's Mills. Our special guest in
Speaker 1: the final hour will be wide receiver Trenton Irwin. That's
Speaker 1: going to do it for this episode of the Bengals
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Speaker 1: I'm Dan Hord and thanks for listening to the Bengals
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