Speaker 1: Hi, gain everybody on Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast. The had to have high high
Speaker 1: hopes for a living. Didn't know how, but I always
Speaker 1: had a feeling. Addition, as we hear from a national
Speaker 1: sports talk show and TV host who has high hopes
Speaker 1: for the Bengals this season and beyond. Plus, it's week
Speaker 1: three of voluntary spring practices, and I'll talk to Dave
Speaker 1: Lapham about Joe burrows improved arm strength, what the team
Speaker 1: is likely doing when the media is not allowed to watch,
Speaker 1: and lap will answer the questions you submitted on Twitter,
Speaker 1: including this classic what's the biggest animal you think you
Speaker 1: could wrestle? The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by bud Light.
Speaker 1: Seltzer refreshed the game and here's a quick reminder that
Speaker 1: you can have the latest edition of this podcast delivered
Speaker 1: right to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher,
Speaker 1: Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing
Speaker 1: since Chloe Kovaleski. The US Women's Open Golf Championship took
Speaker 1: place in San Francisco last week, and the leader in
Speaker 1: driving distance at the end of round one was Chloe Kovaleski,
Speaker 1: who averaged three hundred three yards off the tea that
Speaker 1: was about ten yards ahead of any other player. Now
Speaker 1: here's the catch. Chloe is fourteen years old. She was
Speaker 1: the youngest player to qualify for the US Women's Open
Speaker 1: this year, and while she missed the cut after shooting
Speaker 1: eighty one eighty one, I have a strong feeling that
Speaker 1: golf fans will be hearing the name Chloe Kovaleski for
Speaker 1: many years to come. Now let's get to my first guest.
Speaker 1: There's a story on NFL dot com today with a
Speaker 1: following headline nine NFL Bandwagons to hop on in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty one. It was written by columnist Adam Shine, who
Speaker 1: is hopping on the Joe Burrow bandwagon out the following
Speaker 1: It looks like he'll be ready for Week one and
Speaker 1: I can't wait. This cat has it. He's what you
Speaker 1: want in a franchise quarterback and he's going to be
Speaker 1: a superstar. Adam Shine, as you probably know, is a
Speaker 1: very entertaining national sports talk show host, and he was
Speaker 1: kind enough to work me into his insane schedule this week.
Speaker 1: All Right, people seem to think that I'm busy, but
Speaker 1: it's nothing in comparison to my next guest. He is
Speaker 1: the host of Shine on Sports Weekdays nine to noon
Speaker 1: on Sirius XM Radio. You can watch him weeknights at
Speaker 1: six o'clock on CBS Sports That. He is a columnist
Speaker 1: for NFL dot Com. He has a podcast. We're talking
Speaker 1: about my guy, proud Syracuse University graduate Adam Shine. Hi
Speaker 1: doing buddy, Oh Dan, I'm excellent and it's great to
Speaker 1: be with you, my friend Hope Ball as well with you.
Speaker 1: Things are great here. And I want to start with
Speaker 1: something that you wrote a couple of weeks ago on
Speaker 1: NFL dot Com. You made nine bold predictions. One of
Speaker 1: them involved the Tennessee Titans winning eleven games with Julio Jones,
Speaker 1: So you nailed that way before it actually went down,
Speaker 1: So your credibility is looking good. And you also made
Speaker 1: this prediction, the Bengals will win more games than the Steelers.
Speaker 1: We obviously love that here in Cincinnati, but Pittsburgh won
Speaker 1: eight more games than the Bengals did last year. Explain
Speaker 1: your reasoning, Well, it was for a variety of reasons.
Speaker 1: Number one, and I know how difficult it is to
Speaker 1: win in the NFL. I thought last year Mike Tomlin
Speaker 1: did a phenomenal job winning all those games in a
Speaker 1: row early because frankly, I didn't think the Pittsburgh Steelers
Speaker 1: were that good. And Tomlin's never been under five hundred
Speaker 1: and deserved the contract extension, and he's a heck of
Speaker 1: a coach. And I thought Pittsburgh really overachieved. I never
Speaker 1: thought they were going to be a super Bowl team.
Speaker 1: Never thought even when they were winning these games, they
Speaker 1: were going to go on some kind of playoff run.
Speaker 1: And I think Ben Roethlisberger is the first ballot Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer. I think he hit the wall and he
Speaker 1: looked like someone who's pushing forward. He was coming off
Speaker 1: of unprecedented surgery. And by the way, that's all factual
Speaker 1: more than in his opinion. And you know, I thought
Speaker 1: the Steelers run game. I said last year at this
Speaker 1: time it was gonna be literally the worst in the NFL,
Speaker 1: and it was thirty two out of thirty two. And look,
Speaker 1: I don't think the Steelers improved. Look Naj Harris, I
Speaker 1: think has the ability to be a strong running back
Speaker 1: and I like him a lot, But the weakness of
Speaker 1: the team was the offensive line, and they got worse
Speaker 1: Ben's not getting any younger. The defense is not what
Speaker 1: it was, and look at how they played on defense
Speaker 1: last year without bud Dupree, and bud Dupree left and
Speaker 1: went to Tennessee. So I'm not high on Pittsburgh. I
Speaker 1: think that Cleveland and Baltimore debate the order top two
Speaker 1: teams in the division. And Dan, I'm I'm high on
Speaker 1: the Bengals, I really am. I think since he has
Speaker 1: a chance this year to surprise some people. I think
Speaker 1: all I needed to see was Joe Burrow and his
Speaker 1: health and just knowing that he was going to be
Speaker 1: ready for the start of the season. That was it.
Speaker 1: And I love what Cincinnati did in the draft. I
Speaker 1: mean Jamar Chase to me is special and the fact
Speaker 1: that you don't even have to have an educated guess
Speaker 1: about the chemistry with the quarterback and the receiver. You
Speaker 1: saw it in college had a historic a winning a
Speaker 1: championship level. Boy I screamed forever. I'm one of the
Speaker 1: Packers to draft t Higgins instead of Jordan loved Higgins.
Speaker 1: I thought out a strong rookie year. You factor, Boyden, Listen,
Speaker 1: I'm still a believer. Joe Mixon is a stud at
Speaker 1: the running back position. And here's what I think the
Speaker 1: NFL defenses have become. You don't need to necessarily have
Speaker 1: a great defense as long as you can create turnovers.
Speaker 1: And I think Cincinnati can do that on defense and
Speaker 1: get the ball back to Joe. And it's almost like
Speaker 1: Joe was a little lost in the shuffle last year,
Speaker 1: which is crazy because he was putting up big numbers,
Speaker 1: what the offensive line was poored, he was getting sacked
Speaker 1: left and right, and since he wasn't winning games. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's still Joe Burrow and I love Herbert, and I
Speaker 1: thought Herbert was going to be a star. And you know,
Speaker 1: I still think Tooa is gonna be a good player
Speaker 1: in the NFL. It's still Joe Burrow, and I think
Speaker 1: this guy is gonna be special. Nothing has changed, so
Speaker 1: I didn't really even hesitate. I normally have a feel
Speaker 1: when I give it a strong opinion, and I only
Speaker 1: say or write what I believe. You know, when something's
Speaker 1: going to be you know, I'm gonna get me getting
Speaker 1: tweets positive and negative, left and right, or calls on
Speaker 1: my serious XM radio show. This one took on a
Speaker 1: fun life of its own, and I stand by every
Speaker 1: thing I said. I'm sure Steelers fans reacted very kindly
Speaker 1: on social media. Oh yeah, oh yeah. I'm very very
Speaker 1: popular in Pittsburgh. But look, you know, I've been critical
Speaker 1: of the Steelers in recent years. I think in a
Speaker 1: lot of ways. You know, I like to say, if
Speaker 1: you're a Stealer fan and you're going home at night
Speaker 1: and you know you're you're snuggling with your Drome Bettist
Speaker 1: Teddy Bear, or you're looking at a poster on your
Speaker 1: wall of Stalworth and Swan or a Bradshaw, then you know,
Speaker 1: we really can't have the discussion on what's going on now.
Speaker 1: And you know, they haven't won a playoff game in
Speaker 1: five years. And again, different teams, different standards. I'm not
Speaker 1: talking about the history of the Steelers, but I think
Speaker 1: they they've been living on planet delusional a little bit.
Speaker 1: You know, It's one thing to let Bell and Brown go,
Speaker 1: it's another, and they were right, it's another thing not
Speaker 1: to replace them. And I think that Pittsburgh can almost
Speaker 1: do that because of their history. You know, I would
Speaker 1: have signed Jameis Winston a year ago. I stand by
Speaker 1: that take. You know, I would have let Ben Roethlisberger
Speaker 1: go this offseason, I would have cut the cord and
Speaker 1: moved into the future. I stand by that opinion. I
Speaker 1: would have signed Leonard Fournette last year if I was Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1: I stand by that opinion. I think Pittsburgh has kind
Speaker 1: of been kind of been treading water and has been
Speaker 1: a forget the wins and losses. They have won a
Speaker 1: playoff game in a while, They're not that close to
Speaker 1: the super Bowl, and I think, if you're being honest
Speaker 1: and objective, and this is not gonna be a Bengal
Speaker 1: super Bowl season Sincecinnati's closer to the super Bowl for
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two, twenty twenty three and beyond because of
Speaker 1: the star quarterback. I also think the big three receiver
Speaker 1: and Cincinnati is gonna be fun. Like I always go
Speaker 1: back to something Phil Simms told me years ago. You
Speaker 1: want your receiving cord to be like a basketball team. Right.
Speaker 1: You want your point guards, you want your center, you
Speaker 1: want your small forward who can run the point, different
Speaker 1: types of guys at the receiver position. I thought there
Speaker 1: was such a brilliant line and the Bengals are gonna
Speaker 1: have that, you know. I think the offensive line should
Speaker 1: be better. I think it should be pretty good. I
Speaker 1: don't think it's gonna be the Hogs for Washington in
Speaker 1: the mid eighties, but I think Cincinnati is gonna be
Speaker 1: in a lot of games in the fourth quarter, and
Speaker 1: I think if they can get off to a good
Speaker 1: start and going through the Bengal schedule, I think it's favorable.
Speaker 1: And I think that Burrow helps change the attitude. You know,
Speaker 1: there's not going to be a loser's lament or here
Speaker 1: we go again in Cincinnati. Joe Burrows going into the
Speaker 1: season thinking he's winning every game. That's part of the
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow it factor and I can't wait for it.
Speaker 1: He has definitely added some swag to this franchise, There's
Speaker 1: no question about it. My guest is Adam Shine. You
Speaker 1: can follow him. You should follow him on Twitter at
Speaker 1: Adam Shine scchi N. When the schedule came out, you
Speaker 1: pick the top nine prime time games in order. Number
Speaker 1: five on the list Jacksonville at Cincinnati on Thursday Night
Speaker 1: Football early in the season. In your words, I am
Speaker 1: obsessed with this game. Listen. I think when you get
Speaker 1: the top two picks back to back years at the
Speaker 1: quarterback position and everything I'm saying about Joe. You know
Speaker 1: the scouts or gms or execs you talk to, you know,
Speaker 1: Trevor Lawrence is supposed to be better. Right Like, if
Speaker 1: you talk to people around the league in terms of
Speaker 1: projecting on Saturday and how they translate to Sunday, you know,
Speaker 1: it's John Elway, It's it's Andrew Locke, and it's Trevor Lawrence.
Speaker 1: I also think putting this game early in the season
Speaker 1: is great. I mean, we don't know the win total
Speaker 1: for Since or for Jacksonville, even though fans in both
Speaker 1: those cities should be excited. But when you can get
Speaker 1: these quarterbacks going head to head, they're both gonna take it. Personally,
Speaker 1: they both want to show off their skills. They both
Speaker 1: have solid surrounding pieces. Look, I love stuff like this.
Speaker 1: I think if you're a fan, you know, and I'll
Speaker 1: never I'm never one, you know, I don't. I don't
Speaker 1: get bored by Kevin Duranta, Lebron James. I I don't
Speaker 1: get bored by greatness or success. I like watching great
Speaker 1: athletes do great things. But if you're looking for new blood,
Speaker 1: and I think the NFL is in a great place
Speaker 1: Stan at the quarterback position, I think that Burrow and Lawrence.
Speaker 1: That's gonna be fun for a long time and comparing
Speaker 1: them and then we'll get to have the instant conversation
Speaker 1: and reaction. I'm genuinely obsessed with this game. I love it.
Speaker 1: On your podcast, your recent guests have included Boomer Assiasin
Speaker 1: and Carson Palmer. When you've talked to them about Joe Burrow,
Speaker 1: what's caught your ear? They love them, They both do that.
Speaker 1: That's a great question, and you can tell that how much.
Speaker 1: And I work with Boomer on on CBS on Sundays
Speaker 1: and he'll do his hits with us on on that
Speaker 1: of the pregame show and then on the podcast. He
Speaker 1: loves Joe. He loves every his skill set, his demeanor,
Speaker 1: his ability to tune out the noise, his arm, his accuracy.
Speaker 1: And it was interesting talking to Carson. I always enjoy
Speaker 1: talking to Carson because I find Carson to be a
Speaker 1: really fascinating individual. And he loves Burrow and he loves
Speaker 1: the fans in Cincinnati. And I love talking to Carson
Speaker 1: about his Cincinnati experience because he loves the fans in
Speaker 1: Cincinnati so much. He genuinely does and has such a
Speaker 1: great attachment and he's rooting so hard for Joe Burrow,
Speaker 1: so he loves the zip on the fastball, the accuracy,
Speaker 1: a lot of the same things that Boomer did. But
Speaker 1: both those guys were very high on Joe Burrow. Last
Speaker 1: thing for Adam Shine, because you have places to go.
Speaker 1: You praise the Bengals when they hired Zach Taylor a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago, and the first two years have
Speaker 1: obviously been rough. Injuries have been a huge factor. Where
Speaker 1: are you now on Zach Taylor, Dan, How's this for
Speaker 1: an answer? I don't know. I genuinely don't know. I
Speaker 1: think the first year I felt like I was wrong
Speaker 1: on being high on the hire. The second year I
Speaker 1: feel like was a little bit of a wash. I
Speaker 1: do think after the Borough injury in the Pittsburgh game,
Speaker 1: they played hard down the stretch and I thought that
Speaker 1: was a positive. I think we're gonna learn everything we
Speaker 1: need to know about Zach Taylor this year. I think
Speaker 1: that's fair. I thought the first year was a bit
Speaker 1: of a disappointment. I thought the second year there were
Speaker 1: some good signs late. You know, I think this year
Speaker 1: and I still like him for all the reasons I
Speaker 1: documented when he was hired but I expect the Bengals
Speaker 1: to be relevant. I expect the Bengals to surprise some people,
Speaker 1: win some game games that they're not supposed to win.
Speaker 1: You know that they're not favored to win. I expect
Speaker 1: Cincinnati to get off to a pretty good start. I
Speaker 1: think we're gonna learn a lot about Zach Taylor, how
Speaker 1: he can handle success, how he can deal with some expectations.
Speaker 1: I think this is a big year for Zach Tayler.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna say hot seat. I'm just gonna say
Speaker 1: learn a lot about whether or not. But we start
Speaker 1: talking about the what I view as glory years for
Speaker 1: Cincinnati with Joe Burrow, if he's going to be the
Speaker 1: guy for the Cincinnati bas There is a reason why
Speaker 1: you have a national radio show, TV show, podcast and column.
Speaker 1: You're awesome. I know Bengals fans are going to love
Speaker 1: this conversation. Thanks so much for the time. I really
Speaker 1: appreciate it. You're the best, Dan. Anything for you. I
Speaker 1: mentioned this the last time that Adam was on this podcast,
Speaker 1: but I'll tell the story again. After graduating from Syracuse,
Speaker 1: I worked there for nearly ten years in radio and TV,
Speaker 1: and after moving to Cincinnati in the late nineties, my
Speaker 1: friends back in the Queues started telling me about a
Speaker 1: young sports talk host right out of su that they
Speaker 1: thought was going to make it big. He went by
Speaker 1: prime Time Shine, and they were right. Adam has become
Speaker 1: a star and I couldn't be happier for him. He's
Speaker 1: one of my favorite people in the business. The Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast is presented by Bud Light Seltzer. It's light
Speaker 1: and refreshing with a hint of fruit flavor. Now time
Speaker 1: to bring him my broadcast partner Dave Lapham, as we
Speaker 1: share some observations after watching practice on Tuesday and answer
Speaker 1: the ask lap questions you submitted on Twitter. Lap I
Speaker 1: want to start with one of the hot topics from
Speaker 1: the three weeks of OTAs, and that is Joe Burrow's
Speaker 1: arm strength. Is it noticeably better in your opinion? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I thought so. I mean definitely, like by the second
Speaker 1: the second workout, I thought maybe the first one he
Speaker 1: was adrenaline juice, you know, a little bit so excited
Speaker 1: to be out there after not having been out there
Speaker 1: for a while. But then watching him throw it just
Speaker 1: seemed like it had it had a little bit more
Speaker 1: zip on it. A few more RPMs, and so in
Speaker 1: the in the Zoom conference call started asking some of
Speaker 1: the receivers about it, and guys like Tyler Boyd and
Speaker 1: CJ said, yeah, you know, definitely, boy you can get
Speaker 1: the gloves on, you can definitely feel it coming in
Speaker 1: coming into the hands. And I thought, it's his mechanics,
Speaker 1: you know, doing the working out that he's doing. He's
Speaker 1: made his core so much stronger, his hips, everything is torque,
Speaker 1: you know, it all looks like he's gotten a little
Speaker 1: bit more powerful and everything that he's doing, and I
Speaker 1: think it's translating and hasn't lost a bit of accuracy,
Speaker 1: which is key. And that's the biggest thing is to
Speaker 1: make sure you're throwing it straight and hitting the spot
Speaker 1: you want to hit, and don't get so consumed with
Speaker 1: trying to throw it harder that you know, it starts
Speaker 1: to distort those kind of things, and it hasn't at all.
Speaker 1: So it's I think it's going to be exciting to
Speaker 1: see him throw it this year. I'm glad you said
Speaker 1: that because you talk to his dad, Jimmy for your podcast,
Speaker 1: and that's something that he pointed out. Accuracy is his
Speaker 1: super hour. And while you'd like to be able to
Speaker 1: throw it a little bit harder and a little bit deeper.
Speaker 1: It can't be at the expense of what got you here,
Speaker 1: no question about it. And uh, you know, I played
Speaker 1: with a quarterback that his calling card was his accuracy,
Speaker 1: Kenny Anderson for for quite a few years. And you know,
Speaker 1: Joe Montana, another guy that might not have had like
Speaker 1: a howards were thrown on Kenny Anderson's arm strength was
Speaker 1: plenty strong, but it wasn't one of those like Burt
Speaker 1: Jones or one of these guys that could throw a
Speaker 1: football through a wall kind of thing. And uh, but
Speaker 1: Kenny's was man. He would hit tight, tight spots. He
Speaker 1: was uncanny his accuracy. And I think that's the biggest thing.
Speaker 1: I think if a quarterback could ask for one thing,
Speaker 1: the first requirement, the first requisite thing to have as
Speaker 1: a quarterback would be thrown it where you want it
Speaker 1: to be thrown, hitting that spot, tight spots, throwing it
Speaker 1: to good spots. Receivers haven't confidence you're going to hit
Speaker 1: those spots. I think that's what it's all about for
Speaker 1: a quarterback. Excellent Bert Jones reference another LSU legend. There
Speaker 1: you go, Bert, I'll tell you that guy man when
Speaker 1: he was played at the same time we overlapped careers
Speaker 1: when he was playing with the Colts, and he could
Speaker 1: fire it. And Joe Worm and Syracuse defensive tackle was
Speaker 1: a teammate. And I remember, you know, playing against Joe
Speaker 1: and we played the Colts, and I'd say to him,
Speaker 1: apt to us, and man, your quarterback, man, he can
Speaker 1: he can fire the pill. He goes all brother, he said,
Speaker 1: all I hear about his receivers complaining about him, you know,
Speaker 1: dislodging fingers and all everything goes along with it, splitting
Speaker 1: the webbing you actually, you know, have a receiver having
Speaker 1: that skin between the fingers split a little bit. That's
Speaker 1: when they're really bringing it. Man. This is the first
Speaker 1: podcast we've recorded since the first week of OTAs, and
Speaker 1: after that first practice we talked about how they were
Speaker 1: being uber conservative with Joe Burrow. He was not rolling
Speaker 1: out left and right. They weren't even having a running
Speaker 1: back lineup with him in the backfield, just in case
Speaker 1: there was an accidental collision. Well, over the past couple
Speaker 1: of weeks that's changed. He is rolling out left and right.
Speaker 1: They did do some play action fakes today, so nothing crazy.
Speaker 1: It's certainly not a case of risking further injury or
Speaker 1: some sort of setback in his rehab. But they are
Speaker 1: gradually inching things forward just a bit right, and I
Speaker 1: think obviously he wants it, you know, he's all in
Speaker 1: for that. And then when they talk to the trainers
Speaker 1: and doctors, they're all on the same page as they're
Speaker 1: all on board and watching them today, he would he
Speaker 1: was jogging at a pretty good clip. I mean half
Speaker 1: jog half not sprint, but he was leading the pack.
Speaker 1: They'd go from one drill to another, and he's leading
Speaker 1: the pack, you know, so he's showing his teammates, hey,
Speaker 1: look man, I'm feeling pretty good. It's getting stronger and
Speaker 1: stronger by day. They're halfway through you know, these Ota
Speaker 1: Slash mini camp practices, So I think he feels like
Speaker 1: it's time to turn it up another notch. And I
Speaker 1: think he's progression along great and his teammates right now.
Speaker 1: If I were playing with Joe Burrow with the Cincinnati
Speaker 1: Bengals and teammate is I'd be like, Okay, he's showing
Speaker 1: not only physical toughness, he's showing mental toughness. He's showing
Speaker 1: he's about as tough as anybody we have in this
Speaker 1: football team. So let's follow this guy. Let's follow this
Speaker 1: guy's lead. He may be able to take us to
Speaker 1: the Promised Land. It's like the message you give your kid,
Speaker 1: be the first kid in every drill when you send
Speaker 1: him off to a basketball cap or whatever as a kid. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: you know, and I think it's a definite message. You know.
Speaker 1: It was like teammates were saying, you know, Joe, Joe
Speaker 1: could have said, I still want to rehab. No, instead,
Speaker 1: I want to be out here with my football team.
Speaker 1: Now take it to the next level. I not only
Speaker 1: want to be out here with my football team, I
Speaker 1: want to lead my football team. I want to show that,
Speaker 1: you know, by being the first guy to every drill
Speaker 1: and everything that goes along with it. I think I
Speaker 1: think a message is being sent there. I think it's
Speaker 1: an intentional message, and I think it's a really good message.
Speaker 1: During this phase of the offseason, we're only allowed to
Speaker 1: watch the team once a week, and over the past
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, they've made us wait while they were
Speaker 1: doing some stuff that they didn't want the media to see.
Speaker 1: What are they doing during those periods? Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: I think I have a feeling the installation has been
Speaker 1: fairly aggressive. You know, I think that there's two ways
Speaker 1: to look at it. You have all these new players.
Speaker 1: Do you take it along slowly and is it a
Speaker 1: gradual install or do you throw it all at them
Speaker 1: and then have them Okay, everything's installed. Here's the whole
Speaker 1: whole shebang, the whole ball of wax. Now you have
Speaker 1: the rest of June when they're done with the mandatory
Speaker 1: mini camp, and almost all of the month of July,
Speaker 1: and then you come back to training camp. How much
Speaker 1: of her retention has there been? You know, you have
Speaker 1: it all. Now you have a chance to review it
Speaker 1: and redigest it in that month and a half as
Speaker 1: you're waiting for training camp to start, and then you
Speaker 1: can reinstall and it might be a lot shorter process
Speaker 1: during the training camp installation period. And now I have
Speaker 1: a feeling that they're installing quite a bit. And I
Speaker 1: think that's what they're doing an earlier portion of camp
Speaker 1: that is off limits to the media. I think they're
Speaker 1: showing a lot of a lot of different formations, personnel groupings.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of diversity in fronts for the
Speaker 1: defense and on the back end and coverages. So I
Speaker 1: think that they're I think they're going to be very aggressive,
Speaker 1: both offensively and defensively in terms of the volume of
Speaker 1: looks and different things that are going to show the opponent.
Speaker 1: I think they're going to make the opponent have to
Speaker 1: think a lot. And I think they're attacking it as
Speaker 1: early as they possibly can as they're installing it. I'm
Speaker 1: going to plug You're in the Trenches podcast again because
Speaker 1: it's awesome. You had Jesse Bates on a recent episode
Speaker 1: and he was great. His play speaks for itself, But
Speaker 1: what else impresses you about Jesse Bates. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: the person, you know, the character of him, um, you know, leadership.
Speaker 1: I think he's he's not bashful about I'm going to
Speaker 1: be the guy to bring everybody together. I'm going to
Speaker 1: be the guy to reach out to people. I'm going
Speaker 1: to be the I'm gonna be the glue not only
Speaker 1: on the football field, but in the locker room. I'm
Speaker 1: going to be the guy that people can turn to
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, be the conduit. I'm going to
Speaker 1: be the conduit between the coaching staff and the rest
Speaker 1: of the players. I think he's taken his role of captain,
Speaker 1: very very seriously, and I think it comes naturally to him.
Speaker 1: I think it comes easily. And I think his raw intelligence,
Speaker 1: you know, is real obvious as well. I think he's
Speaker 1: a really good communicator. I think he's a heck of
Speaker 1: a leader, very intelligent, and just a solid human being.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's he's one of those guys that you know,
Speaker 1: is a rarity in terms of as great a football
Speaker 1: player as he is, he's even a better human being.
Speaker 1: And once you start to get your share of those
Speaker 1: kind of guys in your locker room, you're gonna have
Speaker 1: really something special. And I think they're moving in that direction.
Speaker 1: We got a little treat when he walked out to
Speaker 1: practice today. Rehab coordinator Nick Cosgray was holding his drills
Speaker 1: right in front of the little area where the media
Speaker 1: is allowed to stand, so we got to see the
Speaker 1: status of DJ Reader, Renelle Wren, and Trey Hopkins right
Speaker 1: there in front of us as they were doing footwork, drills,
Speaker 1: pushing a sled, etc. How did those three guys look.
Speaker 1: I think they looked really good. Renelle Wren is a
Speaker 1: physical specimen anyway. That guy's a freaka zoid. I mean
Speaker 1: he's he's unbelieable to look at just a good lord
Speaker 1: blessed him with a football body man in every sense
Speaker 1: of the word. But I think, you know, when you're
Speaker 1: being very critical with your eye, you can still see
Speaker 1: a slight hitching to get along. But they're moving at
Speaker 1: a very very good clip. You know. It's it's not
Speaker 1: half speed. They're they're they're testing it. Um, they're change
Speaker 1: in direction. Uh, there's hesitation in what they're doing, and
Speaker 1: then acceleration off the hesitation. So there's not a whole
Speaker 1: lot of violent cutting going on yet. But it's all
Speaker 1: straight ahead stuff. But it's not straight ahead. Same type
Speaker 1: of speed, same type of gate, same type of steps.
Speaker 1: There's there's some jumps to ups, you know, jumping and
Speaker 1: landing and holding freezing that and then accelerating off of it.
Speaker 1: It was interesting to watch them and then hit the sled,
Speaker 1: you know, pushing the sled, not really hitting it, just
Speaker 1: driving a sled and then getting their body their back
Speaker 1: angle straight and their bodies low, bending at the knees
Speaker 1: and not at the waist, you know, to get in
Speaker 1: a football position while they're doing it. Um and Nick.
Speaker 1: Nick's as good as there is in the league, and
Speaker 1: every player for the Cincinnati Bengals that's rehabbed with Nick
Speaker 1: Cosgrey has nothing but great things to stay about him,
Speaker 1: and rightfully so he does. He does an outstanding job,
Speaker 1: and he's brought a lot of guys back way ahead
Speaker 1: of schedule, and um put guys in situations where if
Speaker 1: they did have any inclination of oh man, is this
Speaker 1: the end? Far from it. Nick's gonna bring me back,
Speaker 1: and he's gonna be bringing me back as strong as
Speaker 1: stronger than I was before Trey Hopkins tore his ACL
Speaker 1: in the final game of the year against Baltimore. I
Speaker 1: would have said at that point, Okay, he'll be back
Speaker 1: during the season, but I don't know if he'll be
Speaker 1: back in time for Week one, and I can't say
Speaker 1: that anymore. Based on how he looks. I think there's
Speaker 1: at least a chance that he's able to answer the
Speaker 1: bell in week one. I don't think it's out of
Speaker 1: the question. I'd be I'd be shocked if there if
Speaker 1: anybody has said, you know what, now, that's that's not happening.
Speaker 1: I think that if he doesn't come back week one,
Speaker 1: it's certainly not going to be it's going to be
Speaker 1: shortly thereafter before when he does return, and uh, and
Speaker 1: that'll be a site for sore eyes, and I think
Speaker 1: for for Frank Pollock. And you know that there's returning
Speaker 1: and then there's being able ready and able to play
Speaker 1: in an NFL game for you know, X number of snaps.
Speaker 1: So um, you know, he'd have to be able to
Speaker 1: a training camp. I'm not saying play in preseason games,
Speaker 1: although you'd almost like to test it in a preseason game,
Speaker 1: particularly if you're alignment before you go out there in
Speaker 1: that first regular season game. So it might you know
Speaker 1: that that might be the sticking point. What can he do?
Speaker 1: How far can he push it in training camp? But
Speaker 1: I wouldn't rule anything out looking at him out there today,
Speaker 1: and I did have a chance to just say, hey,
Speaker 1: trade man, you look good. How's it feeling goes great,
Speaker 1: It feels really good, man. So you know, talking about
Speaker 1: it's one thing, you know, lacing up the pads and
Speaker 1: the pleats and getting out there and going against these
Speaker 1: behemoths and doing what you need to do to play
Speaker 1: in the National Football leagues another. But again I agree
Speaker 1: with you, Dan, I would not rule it out all right.
Speaker 1: I aimed the lap signal into the Cincinnati Sky this week.
Speaker 1: That means we've got some asked lap questions. Are you
Speaker 1: ready ready to roll star? There are always questions about
Speaker 1: the offensive line. This one comes from Will in the
Speaker 1: current NFL landscape, which approach works best, zone blocking or
Speaker 1: straight up power blocking, and if it depends on personnel,
Speaker 1: which suits the Bengals current roster best. Well. The Bengals
Speaker 1: went from a zone blocking team to a gap blocking
Speaker 1: team where you block down and pull lineman and run
Speaker 1: powers and pull offside lineman and that sort of thing
Speaker 1: last year, and that's when Joe Mixon started to really
Speaker 1: show some gains in terms of his UH yards rushing yards.
Speaker 1: But Joe Joe feels good about Frank Pollock's system, and
Speaker 1: Frank Pollock's system is a is a zone blocking team,
Speaker 1: a wide stretch zone blocking team. But that's not to
Speaker 1: say that you don't incorporate some angle blocking. I think
Speaker 1: the best run games in the National Football League incorporate
Speaker 1: a little bit of you know, some of each. And
Speaker 1: I'm not saying it's fifty fifth or anything like that,
Speaker 1: But if you're having trouble, if a defensive configuration or
Speaker 1: personnel grouping or whatever it is is causing you problems.
Speaker 1: You have to have the flexibility in the in the
Speaker 1: ability to to try something else. And so I think that, uh,
Speaker 1: I think there's a there's a place for all of it.
Speaker 1: But I do think Frank's primary run blocking or run
Speaker 1: game philosophy is zone stretch, zone type things. Really getting
Speaker 1: a defensive line to have to run and then cutting
Speaker 1: somebody in half. That's that's the key to the success
Speaker 1: in the in the zone scheme or the stretch scheme,
Speaker 1: as you get the defense flowing and somebody gets somebody
Speaker 1: on the ground and that's a natural cutback lane. You
Speaker 1: can't make plays when you're on the ground. It's it's impossible.
Speaker 1: So that's the big deal. Either you get somebody walled
Speaker 1: off on the backside for a cutback lane, or if
Speaker 1: they're on the ground, the back has to see it
Speaker 1: and hit it. And Joe Joe's done a really good
Speaker 1: job of doing that. When Frank was here as the
Speaker 1: line coach, it wasn't working real well in Zach Taylor's
Speaker 1: initial stages of running games, so they went to the gap, blockdown, power,
Speaker 1: pull the off side, get more helmets at the front
Speaker 1: side of the play, try to outnumber them helmet wise
Speaker 1: and try to create gaps that way. Kyle has this
Speaker 1: offensive line question. How much of an upgrade have the
Speaker 1: Bengals made in their offensive line personnel and how much
Speaker 1: of an impact will Frank Pollack have as the coach? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think at Frank's all about you know, technique and
Speaker 1: uh fundamentals and hammering them over and over and over again.
Speaker 1: I think he's going to have a major impact. I'll
Speaker 1: just go back to nineteen eighty one when Jim McNally,
Speaker 1: you know, was our line coach with the Cincinnati Bengals,
Speaker 1: and Jim was, you know, in the early stages of
Speaker 1: his career as a line coach then, but one thing
Speaker 1: that we did from the very first day of training
Speaker 1: camp to the very last practice before the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: we did the exact same drills every single Wednesday, every
Speaker 1: single Thursday, everything single Friday. You can set you could
Speaker 1: set your clock to it that this is what we're
Speaker 1: gonna do. We're gonna you know, warm up at the
Speaker 1: duck walk. Make sure that you know we were doing
Speaker 1: it the way he wanted and having our having our
Speaker 1: feet in the proper way and and having your knees
Speaker 1: bent and duck walking and and and then you'd have
Speaker 1: targets that you had to hit on pads, you'd have
Speaker 1: hand placement drills, you'd have all all these drills, and
Speaker 1: it was like every single day was the same. So
Speaker 1: you become a creature habit, and uh, it becomes something
Speaker 1: you don't even have to think about the technique. It's
Speaker 1: you've done it so many times you get in the game,
Speaker 1: you've wrapped it so many times. In practice, it just happens.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's automatic. And then when you're working in
Speaker 1: tandem with a with a you know alignment that you've
Speaker 1: done it with over and over and over again every
Speaker 1: single day in practice. The old repetition breeds comfort level
Speaker 1: thing I think is real. I think Frank believes in
Speaker 1: that can. It worked for Jim McNally, and I know
Speaker 1: Frank Pollock is a disciple of Jim McNally, and uh,
Speaker 1: watching watching his drills. All starts with your feet and
Speaker 1: ends with your hands, and it always will. We've talked
Speaker 1: about almost every athletic endeavor starts with the feet ends
Speaker 1: with your hands. Blocking and tackling the same thing. And
Speaker 1: you can't tackle as an offensive linement, but you damn
Speaker 1: well better be able to do some blocking and uh
Speaker 1: and and I think Frank's going to do really good
Speaker 1: things with this, with this group of offensive linement. I
Speaker 1: think I think they're gonna The thing you have to
Speaker 1: do is believe in it because it's it's mundane. And
Speaker 1: Frank has a great saying master the mundane, because it's
Speaker 1: sometimes it's like, oh man, we gotta do this again.
Speaker 1: You knew exactly you'd walk out on the field, and
Speaker 1: you knew exactly what the next forty five minutes we're
Speaker 1: going to be every single step of it, every single movement.
Speaker 1: But it worked. It worked, and that repetition led to
Speaker 1: a great performance for sure. One more offensive line question,
Speaker 1: it comes from Johnny. What are the chances that Billy
Speaker 1: Price keeps the starting center spot, assuming that he does
Speaker 1: begin the year as the starter. Yeah, I mean, that's
Speaker 1: that's a great question. That's up to Billy. Billy's in
Speaker 1: control of his own destiny as far as that's concerned.
Speaker 1: Trey Hopkins get an opportunity because of injury to Billy Price.
Speaker 1: Now Billy Price gets another opportunity because of an injury
Speaker 1: to Trey Hopkins. And that's that's life in the National
Speaker 1: Football league. That's why when you're alignmenting, you do get injured,
Speaker 1: you try to get back in there as quick as
Speaker 1: you possibly can because you don't want anybody else getting
Speaker 1: your reps. But yeah, Billy, obviously, Frank Pollock had confidence.
Speaker 1: He was on the staff that drafted Billy Price, so
Speaker 1: he saw something in Billy Price in his tape up
Speaker 1: at Ohio State, and you know, respected him and respected
Speaker 1: respected his play. He was drafted high in the Cincinnati Bengals,
Speaker 1: a first round draft pick. So I think I think
Speaker 1: Billy feels good about Frank. Frank feels good about Billy.
Speaker 1: And it's a clean slate, and that's one thing that
Speaker 1: every lineman has to understand. It's a totally clean set slate. Now,
Speaker 1: Frank Pollock is the guy. He's the new sheriff in town.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter what you did with Jimmy Turner, it
Speaker 1: doesn't matter Hill of Beans. You're starting. Everybody's starting fresh
Speaker 1: and new with Frank Pollock. And that's why I think
Speaker 1: Trey Hopkins, in his mind, he wants to get back
Speaker 1: as quick as he possibly can too, because he wants
Speaker 1: to make an impression, a positive impression on Frank Pollock
Speaker 1: and right now. He's missing all of these reps we're
Speaker 1: talking about. You know, you can't take them mentally. It's
Speaker 1: like it's a muscle memory thing. You have to go,
Speaker 1: you have to go through it, and your body just
Speaker 1: has to get used to it, and then it becomes
Speaker 1: something where you don't even need your mind. It's just
Speaker 1: it's total muscle memory. Here's a question from man, what
Speaker 1: player or position group has surprised you during these OTAs.
Speaker 1: I'm not really surprised by, you know, by any any group.
Speaker 1: I mean I'm thinking that, you know, groups are living
Speaker 1: up to billing. I think as such. I think overall
Speaker 1: this football team is so much younger and so much
Speaker 1: more athletic. It's ridiculous. In my opinion. It's just about
Speaker 1: every position group. The linebacker corps is one that just
Speaker 1: jumps out. I mean, they drafted three young linebackers last
Speaker 1: year that they're counting on a lot as second year players,
Speaker 1: and that's where you normally make some major strides. I
Speaker 1: think the secondary is light years better than where it
Speaker 1: was today and today's OTA for the first time in
Speaker 1: the halfway point, so they didn't even do seven on
Speaker 1: seven until halfway through OTAs. This was the introduction of
Speaker 1: seven on seven, the old skeleton drill as such, everybody's
Speaker 1: working except the offensive and defensive lines. And it was
Speaker 1: very interesting to see this, you know, wide receiver corps
Speaker 1: that they like a lot um, you know, Tyler Boyd,
Speaker 1: T Higgins and Chase you know, working against these new
Speaker 1: guys in the back end in the secondary and there
Speaker 1: was no pass rush. But I thought that everybody belonged,
Speaker 1: you know, I was looking at the far end of
Speaker 1: the field where those guys were working against each other's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, all these guys belong out here, and it's
Speaker 1: it's pretty competitive. It was that that seven on seven
Speaker 1: then only lasted ten or fifteen minutes, was the most
Speaker 1: competitive aspect of OTAs that I've seen, you know, in
Speaker 1: the first week and a half here. So I think
Speaker 1: at some point, probably during mandatory minicamp next week, they
Speaker 1: probably will do eleven on eleven. They'll probab we run
Speaker 1: some team um team plays. But they're they're ramping it up,
Speaker 1: and they're they're staying very very careful and cautious and
Speaker 1: elementary to be sure. But I think the message that
Speaker 1: I'm getting is just about every position group is as advertised.
Speaker 1: You know it's they've they've made additions, and they felt
Speaker 1: good about the additions they've made, and like it's now
Speaker 1: you've you've got your presence. Now you've had a chance
Speaker 1: to unwrap them and assemble them, get them out on
Speaker 1: the field, and as billed as advertising, didn't waste my money.
Speaker 1: Here's a question from Rob. The Bengals have clearly improved
Speaker 1: the secondary, but have they done enough to stop the
Speaker 1: run better this year? That's the that's the they have
Speaker 1: to have. That's the big key. Um. You know, over
Speaker 1: the last two years, they've given up more ground yards
Speaker 1: than anybody in the National Football League, and uh, you
Speaker 1: know that that has to stop. You you earn the
Speaker 1: right to stop the pass by, you have to be
Speaker 1: able to stop the run first and foremost. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you if you're going to get gashed on a
Speaker 1: regular basis in the running game. Every successful defense that
Speaker 1: I've seen and it's looking like they're, you know, trying
Speaker 1: to build this one this way. You have to have
Speaker 1: your big run stuffers inside, and they can't. They don't
Speaker 1: necessarily have to be big blobs that are stiffs. They've
Speaker 1: got big guys that have same athleticism and ability to
Speaker 1: stay on their feet and good feet and able to move.
Speaker 1: So you're you're big on the inside the stuff to
Speaker 1: run on the edge. You want speed off the edge,
Speaker 1: you know, to rush the pass or and be able
Speaker 1: to set the edge in the running game. Some athleticism there,
Speaker 1: and they've really you know, emphasized that both in the
Speaker 1: draft and people that they signed in free agency. And
Speaker 1: then you know, again, once you've got that front seven
Speaker 1: built to where okay, now, inside linebacker, okay, we've got
Speaker 1: youth and athleticism like we talked about at the inside
Speaker 1: linebacker position that they drafted, and they've you know, resurrected
Speaker 1: or reconstructed the secondary in the form of free agent
Speaker 1: see over the last two offseasons. So they're they're trying
Speaker 1: to build I think a defense the right way, but
Speaker 1: it has to start with a couple of run pluggers
Speaker 1: inside and uh, you know, I think I'm inter see
Speaker 1: how two poll he looks like he's got himself in
Speaker 1: pretty good shape. Will DJ Reader come back from injury
Speaker 1: the way you know, everybody hopes that he will, Ogan Joby,
Speaker 1: Will he be a guy that will help, you know,
Speaker 1: stuff that inside running game they've addressed it, but that
Speaker 1: that's the key if they, If they, if you can
Speaker 1: own a team between the tackles and just line up
Speaker 1: and say, you know, I'm going to impose my will
Speaker 1: on you. I'm not going to do anything fancy. I'm
Speaker 1: just gonna smack you right in the mouth and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna have my big running back, you know, uh, just
Speaker 1: destroy you. That. That's a that's a great feeling. When
Speaker 1: you're up front as an offensive lineman, that's a very
Speaker 1: very bad feeling. And if you're on the other side
Speaker 1: of things defensively, so you know, I hope the Bengals
Speaker 1: find themselves in that mode. The offensive line comes to
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage and like, yeah, we're gonna give
Speaker 1: you a doso Joe Mixon. When you think you've had enough,
Speaker 1: We're given you another spoonful and you're gonna like it,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean that. I hope they run the
Speaker 1: hell out of Joe Mixon like that. And I think
Speaker 1: I'm sure Joe does too. Here's a question I love
Speaker 1: it comes from Bengals John. Who is the best player
Speaker 1: you have seen at each level, high school, college and
Speaker 1: pro Oh, my goodness, so many. I mean so many
Speaker 1: great players high school. I'll probably have to go back
Speaker 1: to this guy running back in my high school. I
Speaker 1: wasn't play I did not play with him. He was
Speaker 1: like probably my first I don't know about sports idol,
Speaker 1: but sports player that I was like, Wow, Mike Martello.
Speaker 1: He was a running back at Wakefield High School. And
Speaker 1: I just remember, you know, like as a sixth seventh
Speaker 1: eighth grade a going to Wakefield High School football games
Speaker 1: and Mike Martello, who's in our high school Hall of Fame,
Speaker 1: just destroying people. And I thought, man, Mike Martello, if
Speaker 1: I could just be like Mike Martello, you know. And
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, one day I answered the doorbell
Speaker 1: rings in our front door, and I answered the front
Speaker 1: door and it's Mike Martello standing on our front porch
Speaker 1: selling some kind of ticket, raffle ticket or whatever, some
Speaker 1: high school fundraiser. And I couldn't even talk. My mother
Speaker 1: comes to the front door and I said, buy a
Speaker 1: bunch of mom. You know, that's Mike Martello. But he
Speaker 1: was the first guy that I can remember Thanksgiving Day
Speaker 1: games against Melrose High School, our big rival. I just
Speaker 1: remember him just putting his foot in the ground and
Speaker 1: making these unbelievable cuts. He was a low center of gravity, tough,
Speaker 1: you know, tough Italian kid that just you know, you
Speaker 1: could give him the ball a hundred times, it seemed
Speaker 1: like in a game and he was going to give
Speaker 1: you everything he had. So he probably made made the
Speaker 1: first impression on me as a as a high school player.
Speaker 1: But I mean I did see a bunch of really
Speaker 1: talented high school football players in the league that I
Speaker 1: played in up in the Boston area and then in
Speaker 1: high school. Man, just so many guys. But to pick
Speaker 1: to pick one guy, that's, uh, that's so hard. But
Speaker 1: I mean, honestly, a guy that that I really had
Speaker 1: a ton of respect for Joe Orman, And we talked
Speaker 1: about a little earlier. It was an All American defensive
Speaker 1: tackle at Syracuse, and I was a freshman, uh at Syracuse,
Speaker 1: and we couldn't play freshman a varsity as freshman. We
Speaker 1: had a freshman schedule, and so the freshman was still
Speaker 1: you know, the lowly freshman football players. But Joe Orman,
Speaker 1: the first time I scrimmaged against the varsity, you know,
Speaker 1: I guess I showed him enough where he just said
Speaker 1: to me, uh yeah, let's stay out after practice. I
Speaker 1: want to work with you, you know. I think you've
Speaker 1: got some uh some potential, you know, and you want
Speaker 1: to work I'm like, yeah, I'll work with you, you know.
Speaker 1: And and he, uh he rubbed my nose in it,
Speaker 1: and you know, the first few practices after practice. I mean,
Speaker 1: he was just he was a great player, and um,
Speaker 1: you know he I think he really helped me improved
Speaker 1: from freshman to season to where as a sophomore I
Speaker 1: ended up getting a starting job as a sophomore lineman
Speaker 1: and I think Joe Orman helped me big time in
Speaker 1: that regard. So he was a tremendous football player. I'll
Speaker 1: never forget well. Sitting in the stands as freshman football player,
Speaker 1: were playing Kansas, and there was this unbelievable goal line stand,
Speaker 1: and the last player of the goal line stand, John Riggins,
Speaker 1: the big fullback to play with the Jets, great running back.
Speaker 1: He is carrying it on fourth down and he and
Speaker 1: Joe worm and hit helmet the helmet and it was
Speaker 1: the loudest crack I've ever heard in my life in
Speaker 1: the middle of his Riddell helmet. Joe's helmet crack right
Speaker 1: from his mask, halfway up his helmet and Joe just
Speaker 1: you know, walks off the field, tosses the helmet to
Speaker 1: equipment guy. They take it was fourth down, we have
Speaker 1: a big goal line stand. Joe just you know, they
Speaker 1: changed the face mask, how to take all They got
Speaker 1: the drill and they're taking the screws out in their
Speaker 1: frantical putting the faceback. He puts the helmet on with
Speaker 1: the new face mask and goes out the next defensive
Speaker 1: series and just dominates some more. I'm like, that's a
Speaker 1: football player right there. And and uh he and John
Speaker 1: Riggins there was I watched the two of them after
Speaker 1: the game. They met at midfield and talked and I'm
Speaker 1: sure they were talking about that that play. And so
Speaker 1: I guess Joe probably comes to mind for me, you know,
Speaker 1: as as a college player that maybe really strong player
Speaker 1: that had a big influence on me. And I'd say
Speaker 1: in the National Football League, man, there's so many unbelievable players.
Speaker 1: But the guy that I just had so much respect
Speaker 1: for his game and the way he played his game
Speaker 1: was Walter Payton. And I get to meet him at
Speaker 1: a wrist wrestling thing out in Las Vegas, and I
Speaker 1: was just so impressed by the dude, and how strong
Speaker 1: he was. And I'll never forget he put down Curly
Speaker 1: Culp in a wrist wrestling thing. I was my jaw hit,
Speaker 1: my hit, my kneecaps probably one hundred and thirty pounds lighter,
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, and just so explosive. And you got him
Speaker 1: on the jump and I'm like, you better run walk
Speaker 1: because I mean Curly Culp started swelling up and everything.
Speaker 1: But then Walter Peyton one of the days we were
Speaker 1: doing the wrist wrestling stuff, you know, we get done
Speaker 1: with what we're doing, and he jumps on his hands
Speaker 1: and he walks around the whole room on his hands,
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh, Mike, this is unbelievable. So
Speaker 1: the strength that that took, the balance, the gymnastic ability,
Speaker 1: and that the thing about him is he was he
Speaker 1: did everything. I mean, oh, his Splitz pick up, He'd
Speaker 1: embarrassed linebackers, he just wouldn't block him. So I think
Speaker 1: I think I just had a a such an enormous
Speaker 1: respect for how hard he played the game, how much
Speaker 1: the game meant to him. Knowing the kind of human
Speaker 1: being he wasn't all that, I'd have to say, sweetness
Speaker 1: was was pretty special and died way too young man.
Speaker 1: Only the good die young and not good. It might
Speaker 1: have been the greatest. And that one that one hit
Speaker 1: me when Walter Payton died, that one hit me hard.
Speaker 1: Excellent question, excellent answers. All right, we try to end
Speaker 1: ask Lap with a couple of wild card questions whenever possible.
Speaker 1: We've got two good ones this week. The first one
Speaker 1: comes from Casey. Casey asks could be could be Casey
Speaker 1: in the Sunshine Band. Here's the question, what is your
Speaker 1: favorite breakfast meal? And if you say yogurt and half
Speaker 1: a grapefruit, I will call BS. Don't worry about that
Speaker 1: no way, Jose. I'm I'm a I'm a guy that
Speaker 1: likes his pancakes and waffles. I'm that kind of breakfast guy,
Speaker 1: and I have to stay away from it. If I
Speaker 1: ate what I wanted for breakfast that way all the time,
Speaker 1: I'd be in real trouble. But I really, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: a really good waffle, really good pancake. Of course, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna throw some bacon and sausage in there as well.
Speaker 1: But I used to like to go to the eyehop,
Speaker 1: you know, with all the flavored syrups and just try
Speaker 1: like a little little dollup of each. And I wasn't
Speaker 1: big on trying. I don't know. If I didn't like
Speaker 1: it ruining my whole breakfast, I'd ended up going back
Speaker 1: to the old stand by maple syrup. I mean really
Speaker 1: good maple syrup, the natural maple syrup out of Vermont.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I'm boysenberry blueberry. You know. I'd try a
Speaker 1: few of those things, strawberry, maple syrup, whatever, But I
Speaker 1: really liked m I guess it's because when we were young,
Speaker 1: it didn't have a ton of money. But my dad
Speaker 1: on Mother's Day would take the family out to I
Speaker 1: hop and it was a Mother's Day breakfast. So that
Speaker 1: was a big deal because when you know, mother didn't
Speaker 1: have to cook and all that. And I remember how
Speaker 1: how big it was, almost like our big is getting
Speaker 1: up there with Christmas and you know, Thanksgiving and all
Speaker 1: those kinds of things. Because it was a special thing.
Speaker 1: We never went out to eat. And when we went
Speaker 1: as a family piled up in the car and went
Speaker 1: to I hop Man, there was some pancakes and waffles
Speaker 1: and syrup. There there was some consumed because I got
Speaker 1: I got two brothers, who was about as big as
Speaker 1: eater as me and man. We I think the servers thatt,
Speaker 1: I hop were like man because it was all you
Speaker 1: could eat. We busted, We busted their bank man. When
Speaker 1: they saw us coming, they put up the white flag.
Speaker 1: They started waving that white surrender flag. Closed nine Mother's Day.
Speaker 1: That's right, Mother's Day, breakfast off limits to lap them's.
Speaker 1: It's funny the things you remember. I'm the fourth of
Speaker 1: five kids, middle class family. We didn't have a ton
Speaker 1: of money. Every now and again, my stepfather would bring
Speaker 1: a bucket of Kentucky fried chicken home. I thought that
Speaker 1: that was the greatest thing on God's green earth. I'm
Speaker 1: telling you, it's the simple things, you know. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's when life's the best. You appreciate the simple thing
Speaker 1: so so much. And yeah, I remember just when we
Speaker 1: would get roast beef, an actual roast beef for dinner.
Speaker 1: It'd be like maybe once a month, but it was
Speaker 1: like it was like heaven, man, just seeing that roast
Speaker 1: beef and carden and thinking, yeah, I'm gonna have a
Speaker 1: meal this day. Boy, this is high cotton. We never
Speaker 1: had steak, I mean, growing up, we never really I mean,
Speaker 1: I remember going on recruiting trips and coaches like you
Speaker 1: want to steak dinner? Oh heck, yeah, let's do that. Man.
Speaker 1: That's a big time all right. Final question comes from
Speaker 1: Tom McDowell. We met Tom at the Admiralty in London
Speaker 1: when the Bengals have played overseas. Here's his question, what's
Speaker 1: the biggest animal you think you could wrestle? Now? Probably
Speaker 1: a tomcat? But I did, uh. I think I've told
Speaker 1: this story. I'm not sure on the podcast, but I
Speaker 1: saw jim Leclair uh Russell Victor the wrestling Bear, and
Speaker 1: I thought, yeah, I might be able to like, you know,
Speaker 1: muscle with Victor a little bit. But Jimmy, Jimmy McClair
Speaker 1: was like a heavyweight wrestling champion at North Dakota State. So,
Speaker 1: I mean he was he was shooting the leg and
Speaker 1: he was doing some things with Victor. Victor wasn't sure
Speaker 1: what was happening, but um, that was that was impressive
Speaker 1: to watch that big old bear swat people around. They
Speaker 1: had a big swimming pool set up. It was like
Speaker 1: a you know, a line and garden show or a
Speaker 1: camp or show or whatever, and they had a big
Speaker 1: swimming pool and Victor would backhand people into the swimming pool. Um.
Speaker 1: But I guess, I guess uh. If I could have
Speaker 1: hung with Victor for a little while, I would have
Speaker 1: been would have been pretty happy about that. I think
Speaker 1: you wrestled an animal named crum Rye before your NFL
Speaker 1: career was finished. I'm telling you, Tim crum Rye, that's
Speaker 1: I mean. You start thinking about great football players. That guy,
Speaker 1: I mean, all football all the time. He had scar
Speaker 1: tissue on the bridge of his nose that looked like
Speaker 1: cottage cheese. I mean, he had just that helmet came
Speaker 1: down on the bridge of his nose so many times
Speaker 1: during his football career that it had built up scar
Speaker 1: tissue that was incredible. And it just you know it
Speaker 1: was football season when Tim would always have a bandage
Speaker 1: on that thing and it would always be weeping blood,
Speaker 1: you know, on and off the field the entire season,
Speaker 1: and you knew it was football season for Tim crum Rye.
Speaker 1: Another great addition I've asked lap keep those questions coming.
Speaker 1: Appreciate the time. Thank you, my pleasure, Dan the man,
Speaker 1: You're the best. This is week three of the voluntary
Speaker 1: spring practices for the Bengals. Next week, the hold of
Speaker 1: mandatory minicamp on Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday, and then the players
Speaker 1: will be off until the start of training camp. That's
Speaker 1: going to do it for this episode of the Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast, brought to you by Bud Light Seltzer, refresh
Speaker 1: the game. If you haven't done so already, please subscribe,
Speaker 1: and if you have a minute, give it a rating
Speaker 1: or share a comment that helps more Bengals fans find
Speaker 1: this podcast. I'm Dan Horde, and thanks for listening to
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth Podcast.