Speaker 1: I get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and this is the
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast, the Final four edition. The Bengals have
Speaker 1: four games left in the regular season, including a road
Speaker 1: game this Sunday against the nine and three Los Angeles Chargers.
Speaker 1: Is it me or will Los Angeles Chargers never sound right?
Speaker 1: We'll get you set for the matchup. Here's what's coming up.
Speaker 1: My broadcast partner Dave Lapham joins me to discuss several
Speaker 1: hot button topics, including the Bengals use of Joe Mixon,
Speaker 1: what it's like for the players when your head coach
Speaker 1: is under fire, and if the Bengals defensive personnel simply
Speaker 1: isn't as good as we thought, and I know the
Speaker 1: faux segment. This week, we'll talk to Chargers beat reporter
Speaker 1: Sam forty, a who has all sorts of good nuggets
Speaker 1: from being around the Chargers on a daily basis, and
Speaker 1: we'll have a one on one conversation with Andy Dalton
Speaker 1: about the injury that ended his season and his future
Speaker 1: with the Bengals. All of that is straight ahead, but first,
Speaker 1: here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest
Speaker 1: edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, or pod Bean.
Speaker 1: It's the greatest invention since the cast iron skillet. They
Speaker 1: heat evenly, they're naturally non stick, they're the best pan
Speaker 1: to give your food a good seer, and they're easy
Speaker 1: to clean. In case you can't tell, I'm a big
Speaker 1: fan of the cast iron skillet. Now let's get to football.
Speaker 1: The La Chargers are hot. The Bengals are not. The
Speaker 1: Chargers have won eight of their last nine, and they're
Speaker 1: only lost during that stretch was by one point to Denver.
Speaker 1: The Bengals have dropped four in a row in six
Speaker 1: of their last seven, and the Bengals defense is in
Speaker 1: danger of joining a list that nobody would have imagined
Speaker 1: the Bengals being part of at the start of the season.
Speaker 1: There have only been five teams in history that have
Speaker 1: allowed an average of thirty or more points a game
Speaker 1: and four hundred or more yards a game. The two
Speaker 1: sixteen forty nine Ers, two thousand and eight Lions, nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty one Colts, nineteen fifty one Yankees, Yes there was
Speaker 1: a New York Yankees football franchise had folded at the
Speaker 1: end of that season, and the nineteen fifty colts. Right now,
Speaker 1: the Bengals would make it six teams. They are allowing
Speaker 1: thirty point nine points and four hundred thirty three yards.
Speaker 1: Both figures rank last in the NFL. Defense is where
Speaker 1: I began my conversation with Dave lapham Lap. In two fifteen,
Speaker 1: the Bengals finished number two in the NFL and scoring
Speaker 1: defense at seventeen point four points a game. Since then,
Speaker 1: they have dropped to eighth in twenty sixteen, still good,
Speaker 1: sixteenth last year, middle of the pack, dead last with
Speaker 1: four games to go this year? Do we tend to
Speaker 1: think that the Bengals defensive personnel is better than it
Speaker 1: really is? You know, I think that's a tendency that
Speaker 1: everybody has. You know that they if your fans and
Speaker 1: close to your team, you think that your players sometimes
Speaker 1: are better than other people around the league might think. Now,
Speaker 1: Geno Atkins, I think is universally regarded as a disruptor,
Speaker 1: a destroyer in the interior of a defense, and it's
Speaker 1: it's well earned, and I think he is that guy.
Speaker 1: I think part of their problem is though, that not
Speaker 1: only are they underperforming physicals, they're just not getting lined
Speaker 1: up right. You know. It's it's there. They're not gap sound,
Speaker 1: even on alignment sometimes and until that's solved, and I
Speaker 1: can't understand why it can't be solved. I just don't
Speaker 1: get it. Why every week it's the same problem over
Speaker 1: and over and over again. And that's in that situation
Speaker 1: you're even the offense an immediate win. I mean, you
Speaker 1: can't win snaps when you're improperly aligned. It's you're given
Speaker 1: too much of an advantage. I don't care if you have,
Speaker 1: you know, superheroes at every every defensive position. So they've
Speaker 1: got they've got to get that part of it right.
Speaker 1: And the little tidbit this week, you know, for me,
Speaker 1: is one hundred and sixty seven points allowed in the
Speaker 1: second quarter, the most points allowed in any quarter by
Speaker 1: any team. Marvin Lewis was a defensive coordinator, a record
Speaker 1: holder with the Baltimore Ravens. In the year two thousand,
Speaker 1: they allowed one hundred and sixty five in sixteen games.
Speaker 1: The Bengals of allowed one hundred and sixty seven and
Speaker 1: one quarter of twelve football games. It is ridiculous. It's
Speaker 1: mind boggling, it really is. And that's that's their second
Speaker 1: quarter is just killing them. And by the way looking
Speaker 1: at this matchup. Charges in the second quarter, they scored
Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty four. They've i'll scored the pe
Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty four to fifty one. They're plus
Speaker 1: seventy three in the second quarter. That's the best quarter.
Speaker 1: Here we go in surviving the second quarter. But it
Speaker 1: is dan it. I think I think that guys should
Speaker 1: be humbled. But it's about time that they whatever, it's whatever,
Speaker 1: the reason is that they keep aligning themselves, improperly, hitting
Speaker 1: him the absent, properly doing things that aren't supposed to
Speaker 1: be done. It's got to stop. I mean, it's got
Speaker 1: to stop. It's it's embarrassing to watch it. It really is.
Speaker 1: We don't know Marvin Lewis's fate. Mike Brown will obviously
Speaker 1: have the final say, and if history has taught us anything,
Speaker 1: the last four games of the season will have an impact.
Speaker 1: But lap, I want to go back to nineteen seventy nine,
Speaker 1: your sixth NFL season. Homer Rice was the coach and
Speaker 1: at this point of the season, the Bengals were two
Speaker 1: and ten and people were undoubtedly calling for his head.
Speaker 1: How does it affect the players when the public has
Speaker 1: turned against the head coach. Yeah, and biggest memory that
Speaker 1: season for me is Homer Rice getting on the intercom
Speaker 1: system and begging guys to show up to the meetings.
Speaker 1: You're now ten minutes late, please report to the wide
Speaker 1: receiver room. Like what I mean, that was a huge
Speaker 1: mistake that that might be one of the only mistakes
Speaker 1: I think Paul Paul Brown might have made naming Homer
Speaker 1: Rice the interim head coach and then keeping him, you know,
Speaker 1: the following we started oh and eighth that year. And
Speaker 1: I mentioned this before. I can vividly remember driving into
Speaker 1: my neighborhood at night with my headlights out so neighbors
Speaker 1: wouldn't detect I was there, and I remember saying to
Speaker 1: my five year old son, take the rubbish down to
Speaker 1: the curb. You know, I'm not going out there and here.
Speaker 1: You know, It's like I didn't want to go anywhere
Speaker 1: be seen by anybody. And that's that's really if you
Speaker 1: have pride in your job, I mean, you're a laughing stock.
Speaker 1: That's there's nothing worse than that, nothing worse than that
Speaker 1: at all. And all you have is each other. And
Speaker 1: and again there's some guys that are going to fight
Speaker 1: no matter what. There are guys that are going to quit.
Speaker 1: There are front runners. You find out who your front
Speaker 1: runs are right away. You find out who your you know,
Speaker 1: real pros are right away in situations like this, and
Speaker 1: you know all you have is each other. Do you
Speaker 1: rally around your coach or not? They rallied around Marvin
Speaker 1: last year with the two wins to knock playoff teams out,
Speaker 1: and it brought it brought Marvin back. What are they
Speaker 1: going to do this year? It's going to be interesting
Speaker 1: to see how it all onlines. The Bengals are an
Speaker 1: organization that relies on drafting and developing players, and by
Speaker 1: and large they've drafted well. But the two fifteen draft
Speaker 1: looks like a disaster. Cedrico Boyhe, Jake Fisher, and p J.
Speaker 1: Dawson remember him. We're all taken to the first three
Speaker 1: rounds that haven't panned out. The only players taken in
Speaker 1: that draft that have done okay are tight ends Tyler
Speaker 1: Croft and c. J Uzama. How much did the twenty
Speaker 1: fifteen draft set back the franchise heard it big time, Dan,
Speaker 1: There's no question, you know, look at the offensive line
Speaker 1: that they started the season with this year. They had
Speaker 1: to trade for a tackle to play left side, Paim
Speaker 1: eleven million bucks a year and sign a veteran free
Speaker 1: agent from the New York Giants, Bobby Hart and the
Speaker 1: other because they were over two drafting tackles in that
Speaker 1: particular draft. And that's the thing. A lot of times,
Speaker 1: if a team needs a corner, you know, they don't
Speaker 1: just draft one. They'll draft a couple because you know,
Speaker 1: you lessen the operator or the chance that you're gonna
Speaker 1: have a disaster if one doesn't pan out. You don't
Speaker 1: have a plan B. They went, they draft the two
Speaker 1: of them, you know, and uh, and neither one of
Speaker 1: them at this point have done anything. Fisher more so
Speaker 1: injury a boy, he just deciding, you know, he's not
Speaker 1: going to do it anymore. He's basically shut it down.
Speaker 1: The thing about citrical boy, he that bothers me as
Speaker 1: a former player. If it doesn't work with your first
Speaker 1: offensive line coach and then you get a chance with
Speaker 1: a second one, it doesn't work there, at some point
Speaker 1: go to the coach and say, you know what, obviously
Speaker 1: I'm not doing something right. You know what is it
Speaker 1: that I need to do to make myself a good
Speaker 1: football player in your eyes? To improve myself and crickets.
Speaker 1: He's never done it to me that that's an indicator
Speaker 1: that wears his heart. Where's his head? Is he really
Speaker 1: interested in being a pro in this foot in National
Speaker 1: Football League? So but yeah, it was crippling, and I
Speaker 1: mean it's rare you go over for three or the
Speaker 1: track work of this team has It's well documented that
Speaker 1: has more draft picks in the National Football League, not
Speaker 1: just with their franchise, but all franchises picking players up
Speaker 1: and everything. The Bengals drafting players initially coming in the
Speaker 1: league by that route, there were more of those in
Speaker 1: the National Football League than anybody else has. So they've
Speaker 1: done a remarkable job. But that that draft was a
Speaker 1: tough one and it did set him back because when
Speaker 1: you're still trying to figure out who's going to play
Speaker 1: at tacle position to handle the edge rushers, which is
Speaker 1: a big deal in this era of the NFL, that's
Speaker 1: tough dynamic right there. Despite missing two games, Joe Mixon
Speaker 1: is twelfth in the NFL and rushing with seven hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty five yards and he's averaging four point nine
Speaker 1: yards per attempt, which is excellent. So why isn't he
Speaker 1: carry the ball at least twenty times a game. Very frustrating.
Speaker 1: I know it's frustrating for Joe, and I'm sure it's
Speaker 1: frustrating for his position coach, and I'm sure it's frustrating
Speaker 1: for the offensive coordinator because he's probably thinking, you know,
Speaker 1: I want to do it, but then doesn't do it, because,
Speaker 1: particularly in this last game, aj Green went down early.
Speaker 1: Your best offensive player on the football field at that
Speaker 1: point is Joe Mixon. Feed twenty eight. Put the ball
Speaker 1: in his belly. Throw it to him in space. He
Speaker 1: should have a myriad of touches, you know, twenty rushes,
Speaker 1: at least five more opportunities in the passing game. He
Speaker 1: got to take care of your best player, however you
Speaker 1: do it, however you want to scheme it up, however
Speaker 1: you want to design it. I know the penalties became
Speaker 1: an issue. You know, there were runs that he had
Speaker 1: that were negated by holding penalties. And now it's you know,
Speaker 1: now it's first and twenty instead of first and ten.
Speaker 1: Harder run the football. I know all those things occurred.
Speaker 1: But even with that said, at some point you still
Speaker 1: have to get the ball in his belly. And the
Speaker 1: other part of it is we talked about before another
Speaker 1: one of your very talented offensive players with the injury
Speaker 1: hits that you've taken at tight end and receiver and
Speaker 1: quarterback and everywhere. Now is Giovanni Bernard making your slot receiver.
Speaker 1: He made a nice catch out of the slot for him.
Speaker 1: That's what we were crying about as soon as he
Speaker 1: came back to the team. Two of your best offensive
Speaker 1: players at the running back position. You know, New Orleans
Speaker 1: can deploy to him, and Kansas City's deployed to him,
Speaker 1: and people are doing it. Do it. But Feature twenty eight.
Speaker 1: I would much rather be accused of force feeding Joe
Speaker 1: Mixon than not giving him enough the ball enough. I
Speaker 1: would rather have fans complaining, man, you know the running
Speaker 1: game is not there. Quit giving it to Joe Mixon.
Speaker 1: I'd rather have that at this stage in the state
Speaker 1: this football teams in than having fans saying, man, you've
Speaker 1: got to give Joe Mixon the ball more. I mean,
Speaker 1: I'd err on the side of here you go again,
Speaker 1: Joe and again and again, because at some point he's
Speaker 1: gonna bust one for twenty five thirty five forty yards.
Speaker 1: He's that talent. He runs hard. Every chance to give him.
Speaker 1: He'll reward you. He'll he'll never give you half effort.
Speaker 1: Where you say, man, I shouldn't have given him the football,
Speaker 1: He's going to say, thanks for giving me the ball.
Speaker 1: And I'm going with aj Green joining a list. The
Speaker 1: Bengals are up to fifteen players on injured reserve, including
Speaker 1: three Pro Bowlers. Here's my question for you this week.
Speaker 1: What's the worst injury you ever witnessed in person? The
Speaker 1: Tim crumb Rye injury. Just to watch his legs snap
Speaker 1: like that, I mean both both bones, the tibia and
Speaker 1: fibula snap right above his ankle, right below his knee,
Speaker 1: so it was just flapping in the wind. I mean,
Speaker 1: just to see that, And honestly, having practiced against Tim
Speaker 1: Crumbrye and knowing the power of that man and the
Speaker 1: dogged determination of that man, and watching him play and
Speaker 1: do the things that he did as a player, I
Speaker 1: literally thought it was instructible. So it shocked me to
Speaker 1: see something like that happened to a guy that was
Speaker 1: so frequenthly strong and physical and from football standpoint, so
Speaker 1: it was stunning in so many ways. And I know
Speaker 1: it had an impact on the football team. When you're
Speaker 1: when you're lead dog. I mean the guy that nobody
Speaker 1: can beat. Tim Crumrye goes down to with an injury
Speaker 1: like that, it can be a devastating thing. So I think,
Speaker 1: you know, emotionally, spiritually, physically, every way that it can
Speaker 1: impact you. I know it impacted me that way. And
Speaker 1: I remember Merlin Olson. I was talking to Merlin Olson
Speaker 1: did that game with Edinburgh, and I remember talking to
Speaker 1: Merlin Olson about it, and he said, I couldn't watch
Speaker 1: it the replay. I watched it once and I said
Speaker 1: on the air, if those of you that have weak stomach,
Speaker 1: you might want to turn away. He goes, I didn't
Speaker 1: want to watch it anymore. I said, I know. I
Speaker 1: felt the same way. I couldn't believe that his leg
Speaker 1: did what it did. It's it's amazing, but it just
Speaker 1: goes to show you the power what you're dealing with
Speaker 1: in the NFL. You know that all the all the
Speaker 1: moisture was sucked out of I field. His foot went
Speaker 1: in like a like a beach umbrella into the sand
Speaker 1: and planted, and he tried to tork and make a
Speaker 1: tackle in his power, in the power of the running
Speaker 1: back and all that force, you know, his leg would
Speaker 1: just snapped it. It snapped it like was toothpicks. It's
Speaker 1: crazy how powerful that game can be. The Bengals faced
Speaker 1: one of the NFL's hottest teams this week, the La Chargers,
Speaker 1: winners of eight of their last night, including a thrilling
Speaker 1: come from behind win in Pittsburgh last Sunday night, and lapped.
Speaker 1: The thing that stood out to me watching that game
Speaker 1: was how many times quarterback Philip Rivers knew he was
Speaker 1: about to get hit and still stood there and delivered
Speaker 1: a great throw just before getting drilled. Field general extraordinary
Speaker 1: heart and soul of the football team. He's so tough,
Speaker 1: he's tough minded, he's tough physically to do what they did.
Speaker 1: They're down sixteen and a half. It's the first time
Speaker 1: in franchise history Pittsburgh lost a sixteen point lead at home.
Speaker 1: There were one hundred and seventy four wins no losses
Speaker 1: in the tie, so the one hundred and seventy six
Speaker 1: time they finally get a loss. But the toughness that
Speaker 1: it takes mentally, physically, emotionally to do that, as we
Speaker 1: know at that place, is unbelievable. And when your quarterback
Speaker 1: is doing that, that inspires everybody. The offensive lineman know
Speaker 1: what's happening. Defense is watching and saying, man, look at
Speaker 1: our quarterback. Man, I gotta play harder. I got to
Speaker 1: do a little bit more here. Look at our quarterbacks doing.
Speaker 1: I mean, he fueled that furnace. There's no question about it.
Speaker 1: I mean, Philip Rivers is the best trash talking quarterback
Speaker 1: I've ever seen. I mean he will. He doesn't cuss
Speaker 1: guys out because you know that's against his religion. Literally,
Speaker 1: he's a very religious man. But this guy, he will,
Speaker 1: he'll challenge you. He just gets in your face. I
Speaker 1: mean it's it's like he's a defensive player playing the
Speaker 1: quarterback position the way he gets after people. And man,
Speaker 1: how about Philip Rivers. His wife's pregnant with his ninth child.
Speaker 1: She's got to be tough too. That's a tough household
Speaker 1: right there, Thanks Lap. With eight kids and a ninth
Speaker 1: on the way, Philip and Tiffany Rivers elected to keep
Speaker 1: their home and say and diego, meaning that Philip has
Speaker 1: about a ninety minute commute each way to get to
Speaker 1: and from practice. To make that tolerable, Rivers spent two
Speaker 1: hundred thousand bucks on a custom made suv with a
Speaker 1: forty inch TV, satellite, dish, WiFi, and refrigerator. He calls
Speaker 1: it his mobile man Cave. For more on Rivers and
Speaker 1: the Chargers, it's time for this week's No The Faux segment.
Speaker 1: Sam Fortyer covers the Chargers for The Athletic and joined
Speaker 1: Lapping me on the Bengals Game Plan Show, where I
Speaker 1: started our conversation by asking him if we should look
Speaker 1: at the Chargers as a legitimate Super Bowl contender. I
Speaker 1: think that they have established themselves as a legitimate postseason player.
Speaker 1: I know that's that's not as attractive as maybe super
Speaker 1: Bowl contender. Obviously, I think he has to go to
Speaker 1: the Patriots and Chiefs. Those are the two heavyweights in
Speaker 1: the ASC right now. But the Chargers last weekend scored
Speaker 1: twenty three un answered to erase a twenty seven depths
Speaker 1: and a half time in Pittsburgh, became the first team
Speaker 1: ever to win Athletes Field when the Steelers had built
Speaker 1: a fourteen point lead. So I think this team, they
Speaker 1: have Joey Bosa back, now they're running. You know, they're
Speaker 1: operating well on offense. They won that game in Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: without running back Melvin Gordon. I think they have established
Speaker 1: themselves as a serious threat coming out of the ASC
Speaker 1: the city of Los Angeles. What if the Rams make
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl and the Chargers make the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: I know there's a fight for LA going on. The
Speaker 1: Rams are the sexy, you know, spent a lot of
Speaker 1: money in the offseason, get a lot of players. The
Speaker 1: Chargers kind of stood Pat Moore in terms of that,
Speaker 1: although they did make some major improvements. I mean, Pouncey
Speaker 1: obviously was a big deal. But how about if those
Speaker 1: two teams play in the Super Bowl and they have
Speaker 1: to travel all the way across the country to play
Speaker 1: in Atlanta. But well, what will happen in the city
Speaker 1: of LA if they have two Super Bowl teams? They
Speaker 1: would I can mostly be pulling for the Rams. This
Speaker 1: is the Chargers have. They are carving out a niche
Speaker 1: for themselves, especially because of how good they are. But
Speaker 1: this is a RAM town. You know. You go into
Speaker 1: the grocery stores and the blood light packs are all Rams.
Speaker 1: Even in even in Orange County, where where the Chargers
Speaker 1: are based out of, it is a It's a Ram city.
Speaker 1: But if that were to happen, I'm sure the city
Speaker 1: of LA. You know, it's a buzzy city. They like
Speaker 1: what they like winners, so I'm sure that they would
Speaker 1: get off for that game for sure. Sam forty eight
Speaker 1: is our guest. He covers the Chargers for the Athletic.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about Philip Rivers, who's got a birthday coming
Speaker 1: up on Saturday. He will turn thirty seven. That's supposed
Speaker 1: to be the point where guys are just about done,
Speaker 1: if not already done. But he seems to be playing
Speaker 1: better than ever is he. Yeah, he's playing the best
Speaker 1: football of his career. And that is really in large
Speaker 1: part due to the head coach Anthony Lynn's philosophy. Anthony
Speaker 1: Lynn a former running back Super Bowl winner. His philosophy
Speaker 1: is do not turn the ball over. He's a Bill
Speaker 1: Parsnel stifle. You know. He wants the balanced offense. He
Speaker 1: wants the other team he wants he takes away the
Speaker 1: other team's best players. He wants you to make your
Speaker 1: mistakes and not lose. Is really his philosophy. And so
Speaker 1: when he came here after twenty sixteen Philip Rivers led
Speaker 1: the league with twenty one interceptions, he said, that is
Speaker 1: not going to happen anymore. So he he really tried
Speaker 1: to curb that down. There was some friction, you know, Philip,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of made himself Philip rivers on throwing
Speaker 1: those long balls, being the gun flinger, and so, you know,
Speaker 1: just parping on it again and again, you know, holding
Speaker 1: the accountable on every throw. You know, Philip was afford
Speaker 1: of a lot of freedom under Mike McCoy, the previous coach.
Speaker 1: So and Philip himself has said he has that internal conflict,
Speaker 1: you know, when they were trailing the Rams by two
Speaker 1: touchdowns earlier in the year, when Philip had to tell
Speaker 1: himself on some drives, don't do it. Don't you do it.
Speaker 1: Don't throw two interceptions one for a touchdown and make
Speaker 1: that the blowout. You know, keep yourself in the game,
Speaker 1: keep yourself in the game flow. And we've seen that
Speaker 1: constantly kind of play out on the field this year,
Speaker 1: where he'll make some thank you throws or he'll you know,
Speaker 1: consciously have to throw it away or take a sack.
Speaker 1: And that has been one of the most fascinating storylines
Speaker 1: this season. That is interesting, you know, you look at it. Overall,
Speaker 1: their turnover ratio, they're plus eleven, tied for second in
Speaker 1: the NFL twenty two takeaways tied for fourth only eleven
Speaker 1: gives fourth in the league, top five in every category
Speaker 1: in terms of turnovers. I mean that that's going to
Speaker 1: win you a lot of football games, there's no question.
Speaker 1: And they've won a lot of football games in their
Speaker 1: last twenty four games. They're eighteen and six. They've won
Speaker 1: fifteen to their last nineteen games. They finished last year
Speaker 1: six and one and now nine and three to start
Speaker 1: this season. Six out of the last seven, I should
Speaker 1: say they won. How about this football team? Is it
Speaker 1: playing the best football that that franchise has has seen
Speaker 1: for quite a while now? I asked the Antonio Gates
Speaker 1: and some people forget he's still playing, but he is here.
Speaker 1: He's used mostly in the red zone and on third downs.
Speaker 1: Philip trust him implicitly more than anyone. They've been together
Speaker 1: there for I want to say eighteen years. They seventeen
Speaker 1: years now. Um Antonio Gates said, this team really feels
Speaker 1: he hasn't felt this way about a team, you know,
Speaker 1: since they're fourteen and two team, uh in they're in
Speaker 1: their twelve and fourteen that won I think it was
Speaker 1: something like ten straight games to finish off the season
Speaker 1: in oh nine under North Turner. Um. You know, he
Speaker 1: thinks that this this team, this franchise is playing the
Speaker 1: best football it has its probably close to the decade
Speaker 1: um and I think it really does go back to
Speaker 1: that Anthony Lyz philosophy. Nick Hardwick m a long time
Speaker 1: center with Philip Rivers who was here for about a
Speaker 1: decade when when Phillip started his career, he said, you
Speaker 1: know you've seen and this is sort of spearheaded by
Speaker 1: Philip Rivers, right, And he's an emotional guy that play
Speaker 1: emotional football. That's why he would throw so many picks,
Speaker 1: is you know, he'd try to wild himself back into
Speaker 1: the game. But he said, Anthony lind has really bought
Speaker 1: brought a steadiness, an emotionless not emotion list, but a
Speaker 1: very steady, very calculated approach. And he said this team
Speaker 1: wasn't playing emotional football like it used to be. They're
Speaker 1: playing the numbers, they're playing their schemes, and they're kind
Speaker 1: of staying in that ruthless mentality. We are talking to
Speaker 1: Sam Fortyer, who covers the Chargers for The Athletic. If
Speaker 1: you are looking for more info on the Chargers, you
Speaker 1: can follow him on Twitter at Sam than the Number
Speaker 1: four then the letters t R. We are not far
Speaker 1: from Columbus. So fans here know all about Joey Bosa.
Speaker 1: How well is he playing after missing the first ten
Speaker 1: games of the year with a foot injury. Joey Boza
Speaker 1: looks like he is just about back to the number
Speaker 1: he had. The Chargers were really struggling to generate a
Speaker 1: pass rush. How the Studs are pretty oftens blind last week,
Speaker 1: and Joey Buzza came through in the third quarter for
Speaker 1: a big sack that ultimately led to a punt and
Speaker 1: that ultimately led to a punt return touchdown that's allowed
Speaker 1: the Chargers to tie the game and ultimately take the lead.
Speaker 1: He is playing just as well as as you know,
Speaker 1: as he ever had. And a part of that key
Speaker 1: is so Nick Bosa. After he withdrew from the Ohio State,
Speaker 1: he came out here and he lives with Joey. Now.
Speaker 1: They have a pretty serious workout set up in their garage.
Speaker 1: And I know that Joey at halftime, especially in that
Speaker 1: first team when he came back, Joey texted Nick at halftime,
Speaker 1: he said, Hey, how do I look? And Nick said,
Speaker 1: focus on your get off. Here's what you want to
Speaker 1: do with your hands, your legs, and Joey said that
Speaker 1: has really helped in those two playing off each other.
Speaker 1: Joey attributed to to how he played so far interesting.
Speaker 1: You know you look at it. The coaching staff that
Speaker 1: Lynn has assembled. Both his coordinators are former head coaches
Speaker 1: Ken wizzen Hunt and Gus Bradley. That's that's pretty impressive.
Speaker 1: And defensively, I mean they're playing the Seattle Gus Bradley
Speaker 1: Pete Carroll type of scheme, Cover three, and they drafted
Speaker 1: a guy, Derwin James with the seventeenth pick. Everybody had
Speaker 1: him as a top ten and he slides through the
Speaker 1: seventeenth pick. And with Bosa and Ingram, you know, applying
Speaker 1: pressure up front and Derwin James, Casey Hayward in the
Speaker 1: back end, I mean, it has some some look of
Speaker 1: the Seattle Seahawks what they do. It's not real complicated.
Speaker 1: They just go out and executed extremely well, don't they. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And there they've had that. They have that Cover three
Speaker 1: scheme and it's sort of remarkable because, um, this team
Speaker 1: has lost Denzel Perriman, uh their uh they're outside linebacker
Speaker 1: who was a big run stopper for them. They lost
Speaker 1: Corey Legit defensive tackle m who was also ever they
Speaker 1: lost both of them in the last four weeks. They
Speaker 1: didn't have Brandon Knibe in the last two games because
Speaker 1: of a personal reason. Um, and that's their you know,
Speaker 1: first and second down defensive tackles. So this defense has
Speaker 1: really been decimated by injuries personal reasons. And then you know,
Speaker 1: going back to the start of the years, you know,
Speaker 1: you lose your starting free safety and Jay with Watkins.
Speaker 1: I mean, this defense has certainly faced in Kaisier White
Speaker 1: there their rookies starting outside linebacker Huland played three days
Speaker 1: this year, So they still have the stars that you've mentioned.
Speaker 1: They've also lost a lot of talent, but um, they've
Speaker 1: still maintained and you could probably attribute that to discuss
Speaker 1: Bradley systems, but they've still maintained an elite level of defense.
Speaker 1: A couple more questions for Chargers Beat reporter Sam forty A.
Speaker 1: We have talked about a lot of the charge Your stars, Rivers, Gates, Bosa,
Speaker 1: et cetera. Keenan Allen. I guess we haven't spent much
Speaker 1: time talking about him, But give me a couple of
Speaker 1: guys that typical football fan, uh doesn't watch the Chargers
Speaker 1: every week. Doesn't know about that's playing really good football.
Speaker 1: Adrian Phillips is there, and he's there middle linebacker in
Speaker 1: their nickel package. I'm not sure, uh, you know with
Speaker 1: aj greeno out how much we'll see you know, three
Speaker 1: receiver sets. But I know you know, a lot of
Speaker 1: football teams are an eleven personnel now, so I assume
Speaker 1: the nickel package will be on the defense. We'll be
Speaker 1: on the field a lot of the Chargers this week.
Speaker 1: He is the Anthony Lynn has called him the key cock.
Speaker 1: He's he's an undrafted free agent. Um. He directs that defense.
Speaker 1: He's effective against the run. UM, he gets everybody lined up.
Speaker 1: He's a really smart guy. Adrian Phillips thirty one on
Speaker 1: the defense as a guy you're gonna watch, you're gonna
Speaker 1: want to watch out for. And then also Michael Davis
Speaker 1: on the outside a corner. He takes the second receiver usually,
Speaker 1: you know, if they're not playing zone. Last week they
Speaker 1: went man against G. G. Smith, Schuster and Antonio Brown
Speaker 1: of the Steelers. Michael Davis is a guy. He didn't
Speaker 1: start until about week nine, right after the bye week.
Speaker 1: They moved on from Trevor Williams their other starting corner,
Speaker 1: and Michael Davis is sort of that longer he's you know,
Speaker 1: six two one h Gus Bradley kind of batted down
Speaker 1: in comparison to Richard Sherman ball Steel's wise, but his
Speaker 1: body type is exactly that prototype Gus Bradley corner you
Speaker 1: want to look for. So those two guys are going
Speaker 1: to be I would say, fixed factors on the defense
Speaker 1: this weekend. My question is that, like you mentioned the
Speaker 1: the comeback, and we know how hard it is playing
Speaker 1: the Steelers every year in Pittsburgh to come from behind
Speaker 1: when trailing by two scores or actually three scores at
Speaker 1: one point in the in the football game. I think
Speaker 1: they rallied from sixteen down, didn't they? And it had
Speaker 1: never happened. They were one hundred and seventy one hundred
Speaker 1: and seventy four wins, no loss, is one tie to
Speaker 1: do that in the momentum that's built off of that,
Speaker 1: do you think that's something that carries over or do
Speaker 1: you think this is a classic trap game. Income the
Speaker 1: Bengals struggling lost six out of their last seven, the
Speaker 1: team might just roll their helmets out there, big emotional
Speaker 1: win Sunday Night football the whole nation. While look at
Speaker 1: the Chargers, how do you think this team reacts? You've
Speaker 1: been around them on a daily basis. Do you think
Speaker 1: that momentum carries do you think they do have a
Speaker 1: little bit of an emotional you know, lull and maybe
Speaker 1: trap game problems. It's tough to say. I don't want
Speaker 1: to buy into to coach speak too much, but I mean,
Speaker 1: fucking a rufloccuming the left tackle. And he's an incredibly
Speaker 1: intelligent person, and he was saying the other day, he said,
Speaker 1: I you know, I don't know if I've ever been
Speaker 1: around a football team this resilient. And he was on
Speaker 1: those Seattle Seahawks teams, you know, those the Legion of Boom.
Speaker 1: And I mean he has played with some end He
Speaker 1: played with Teyton Manning and Denver. I mean, he has
Speaker 1: been around some serious football teams. And he said, this
Speaker 1: team is one of the more resilient squads I've ever
Speaker 1: been a part of. And it's tough to say, I mean,
Speaker 1: this could possibly be a trapped game. But even even
Speaker 1: when I mean, for example, two weeks ago, the Chargers
Speaker 1: started in the first quarter, they got dominated by Arizona
Speaker 1: they were down ten nothing. Josh Rosen was looking like
Speaker 1: an all pro. The offense, you know, had two three
Speaker 1: and outs something like that, and they came back and
Speaker 1: they scored forty five on answers to win forty five ten.
Speaker 1: And I think Josh Rosen one hundred and some yards
Speaker 1: in the first quarter and he had maybe forty nine
Speaker 1: yards the rest of the way. It was. You know,
Speaker 1: you hate to say they can just flip the switch,
Speaker 1: but even if they even if they spot you two scores,
Speaker 1: they're still raring back, you know. Our thanks to Sam
Speaker 1: forty A last, but not least, aj Green was placed
Speaker 1: on season ending injury reserve on Wednesday joined the club.
Speaker 1: It's a list that includes Andy Dalton, Tyler Eifford, Preston Brown,
Speaker 1: Carl Lawson and nine others. Dalton had surgery to repair
Speaker 1: ligament damage in his thumb last week and sat down
Speaker 1: this week to talk with Dave Lapham, the two guys
Speaker 1: this team could not afford to lose. It loses about
Speaker 1: this year with injuries. It's the craziest thing I've ever seen. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's been been really crazy. You know, it's unfortunate that
Speaker 1: we've had so many guys go down, and uh, it's
Speaker 1: tough to have your your season cut short. And uh,
Speaker 1: you know, especially for me, I've had it had had
Speaker 1: it happened one other time in my career, and I
Speaker 1: mean you never want to see it happened. So, um,
Speaker 1: there's been a lot of key pieces that have gone down,
Speaker 1: and so it's it's just been tough your injury. Everybody
Speaker 1: says you're gonna be fine back for OTAs you know, rehab,
Speaker 1: they just had to surgically repair or torn ligament is
Speaker 1: at the situation. Yeah, so they just went in there
Speaker 1: and they got everything fixed and um, you know, expect
Speaker 1: full recovery and uh, we'll just take it slow because
Speaker 1: there's no reason to push it at this point. And
Speaker 1: so um yeah, that's that's the biggest thing, is just
Speaker 1: to kind of take it one day at the time
Speaker 1: right now. Just uh, the healing process takes time. And
Speaker 1: that's where I'm at heart was aching for you all
Speaker 1: because you I think you knew something was really wrong
Speaker 1: when you went to the sideline. Just the expression I
Speaker 1: saw you one time, just you know, throw your head
Speaker 1: down and frustrate and I think, man, he knows, you
Speaker 1: know something's up, And that kind of thing is is
Speaker 1: your worst nightmare, isn't it. Yeah, it's one of those
Speaker 1: things like in fifteen when it had happened, I didn't
Speaker 1: know exactly what had gone on. I felt like there's
Speaker 1: still a chance, um that I'd still be able to
Speaker 1: play and all that kind of stuff, and then, um,
Speaker 1: you know, after getting the X rays and stuff solid
Speaker 1: it was broken. This time, I knew right away, just
Speaker 1: because I'd kind of been through that feeling before and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, knowing what had gone on, and so uh yeah,
Speaker 1: it was I think right away I knew this something
Speaker 1: something was wrong. You got the brace on. I had
Speaker 1: what they called gate keepers where you've been your thumb
Speaker 1: back to your forearm kind of And is that what
Speaker 1: happened to you? Because I mean I played with a
Speaker 1: club I couldn't hold anymore, but I played with the club.
Speaker 1: But I mean obviously quarterback, you can't you can't do
Speaker 1: anything with an injury like that. But did you have
Speaker 1: that kind of thing that gatekeepers feeling? Yeah, it's just
Speaker 1: one of those things, the um you know, with the
Speaker 1: ligament being being to win the way it was it, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, can't grip a football. It's one of those
Speaker 1: things like you said, if you played a different position,
Speaker 1: you may be all right, but when you have to
Speaker 1: throw the ball, you're not gonna be able to make
Speaker 1: that work. We just had Bob Noll on the show
Speaker 1: a little bit earlier, and you know, he said, you know,
Speaker 1: people have to understand this is an elite quarterback. Andy
Speaker 1: Dalton is an elite quarterback, and he's talking about all
Speaker 1: the phases of the of the position. The people really
Speaker 1: don't understand, you know. And he says, you do that
Speaker 1: at such a a such a high level. How do
Speaker 1: you think your season was going this year? How did
Speaker 1: you think it win? Yeah, there's a lot of good
Speaker 1: things that happened this year. Um, I think the way
Speaker 1: that you know, you look at the games we won,
Speaker 1: how we won them. Um, you know, being the fourth quarter, comingbacks,
Speaker 1: making the play at the end of the game you
Speaker 1: need to I mean that that was. When you look
Speaker 1: back on the season, there's there's something you can definitely
Speaker 1: take away. And there's some games we wish we would
Speaker 1: have had back, we wish we'd have been in. You know,
Speaker 1: you look at a couple of games like the Kansas
Speaker 1: City and the Saints game, it's like we wish we
Speaker 1: could have done more and wish I could have done more.
Speaker 1: But um, and there's definitely a lot of positives take
Speaker 1: away from the season. What's your role going to be
Speaker 1: with Jeff? What do you what are you gonna do?
Speaker 1: And support of Jeff driscoll. Yeah, and I'm still sitting
Speaker 1: in all the meetings and um and being around and
Speaker 1: just trying to help out any any any way I can.
Speaker 1: I think just with talking through the game plan with
Speaker 1: with different players. This is hey, this is how I
Speaker 1: view this play, this is what I would do on
Speaker 1: uncertain reads. Obviously the coaches are doing a great job
Speaker 1: with him, um, and so I'm just trying to give
Speaker 1: little bits of information that maybe the coaches may not
Speaker 1: be given him. What do you think if you looked
Speaker 1: at the tape of his first start, what do you
Speaker 1: think overall? Yeah, I thought he played well. I thought, um,
Speaker 1: you know, he was really accurate with the ball, He
Speaker 1: put the ball in good spots and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: he moved the offense well. And um, I think I
Speaker 1: thought he did a great job this football team, the Chargers.
Speaker 1: Gus Bradley was a head coach and uh he was
Speaker 1: with the Seattle Seahawks it looks like they're running Seattle's defense.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, they're playing that cover three and
Speaker 1: they have Derwin James, who's ideal for that for that defense.
Speaker 1: What do you see out of the charges when you
Speaker 1: look at them on tape. Yeah, it's they're not a
Speaker 1: complicated team. They're just uh sounding. What they do is
Speaker 1: again like you're saying, it's that whole Seattle style of defense,
Speaker 1: which you know several teams are now have adopted that
Speaker 1: that defensive scheme and just because of the success that
Speaker 1: Seattle had with it, and um, I think with coordinators
Speaker 1: moving on to be head coaches and position coaches kind
Speaker 1: of taking over as coordinators, it just kind of it's
Speaker 1: kind of how it works. But um, you know, it's
Speaker 1: it's just this is how where they're gonna line up.
Speaker 1: You know where they're gonna be, and they're just sounded
Speaker 1: what they do, and so um, when you get the
Speaker 1: chances to attack them, you've you've got to make the
Speaker 1: most of it. Atlanta, Jacksonville, I mean, those are some
Speaker 1: of the defense that you had great success obviously in
Speaker 1: the Atlanta game earlier this year. Attack and that uh,
Speaker 1: that defense Jacksonville. You know, I was running it. So yeah,
Speaker 1: it is. It is around the league a little bit,
Speaker 1: and I think it's it's gonna be a real big
Speaker 1: asset to Jeff to have you who already prepared for
Speaker 1: that defense earlier in the season, you know, to kind
Speaker 1: of sit there and say, this is what I was
Speaker 1: thinking when they were doing this, They'll probably do this
Speaker 1: if we do that. Those kind of things were invaluable. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I think you can. But just the way
Speaker 1: that this defense plays, you kind of know in certain
Speaker 1: spots where they're gonna be and um so maybe on
Speaker 1: certain regime it would get off some get somebody quicker
Speaker 1: and gets to your next progression or you maybe the hey,
Speaker 1: this is probably where the ball is going to go
Speaker 1: because of the way they play. Plus Cleveland Pittsburgh, you've
Speaker 1: played both of those teams. I mean, you can provide
Speaker 1: the same type of source resource and information formed down
Speaker 1: the stretch in those last two road games. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna, like I said, I'm just trying to try
Speaker 1: to help out as much as I can. Uh, you
Speaker 1: know in any way that that he needs me. So
Speaker 1: you envision yourself here with the Cincinnati Bengals for the
Speaker 1: long haul I mean, you want to be a twenty
Speaker 1: year quarter you don't play as long as pretty play
Speaker 1: two four five. That's a long time. I don't know
Speaker 1: about that, but you know, I would love to be
Speaker 1: here my whole career. I know, we um, we love
Speaker 1: it here and we're established here, and um, you know,
Speaker 1: this is the only thing I know. I kind of
Speaker 1: like what Aj was saying. He's, uh, he's in this
Speaker 1: for the long haul, and UM, you know, I hope
Speaker 1: to be too. And he has two years left on
Speaker 1: his contract at an average of about seventeen million dollars
Speaker 1: a year. That's obviously a out of money, but Andy
Speaker 1: ranks nineteenth among NFL quarterbacks in salary. That's going to
Speaker 1: do it for this episode of the podcast. If you
Speaker 1: haven't done so already, don't forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher,
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Speaker 1: fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde, and thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to The Bengals Booth podcast.