Speaker 1: I Get everybody. I'm Dan Horden. This is the Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth podcast, the London Calling addition, as the Bengals travel
Speaker 1: across the Atlantic Ocean to face the La Rams at
Speaker 1: Wembley Stadium. Coming up, I'll be joined by my broadcast
Speaker 1: partner Dave Lapham to discuss the hot button topics right
Speaker 1: now for Bengals fans, including the trade deadline, the Cordy
Speaker 1: Glenn situation, and what if anything, the Bengals can do
Speaker 1: to generate a running game. My locker room conversation this
Speaker 1: week is with punter Kevin Huber, who had one of
Speaker 1: the best games of his eleven year NFL career last week.
Speaker 1: We'll discuss that and if my recent induction into the
Speaker 1: UC Athletics Hall of Fame as a broadcaster has ruined
Speaker 1: it for guys like him who earned their way in
Speaker 1: with great athletic achievement. And in this week's No The
Speaker 1: Faux segment, we'll get the load down on the Rams
Speaker 1: from Gary Klein, who covers the team for the La Times.
Speaker 1: All of that is straight ahead, but first, here's a
Speaker 1: quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of
Speaker 1: this podcast delivered right to your phone tablet or computer
Speaker 1: by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean.
Speaker 1: It's the greatest thing since sleeper seats on an airplane.
Speaker 1: When the Bengals travel to London, many of the players
Speaker 1: will have sleeper seats, the so called bed in the
Speaker 1: sky where they can fully recline and get a good
Speaker 1: night's sleep in order to hit the ground running. When
Speaker 1: the team arrives at six thirty five in the morning
Speaker 1: London time, that's still one thirty five at night back
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati. The time change makes for a challenging trip,
Speaker 1: but hopefully the players will be rested and ready thanks
Speaker 1: to those sleeper seats. Now let's get to my conversation
Speaker 1: with Dave Lapham, and we start in a familiar place.
Speaker 1: The Bengals struggling running game last week against Jacksonville. Joe
Speaker 1: Mixon had ten carries for two yards and Giovanni Bernard
Speaker 1: had four carries for zero. Surely they can do and
Speaker 1: must do better, But how lap The Bengals are on
Speaker 1: a pace to rush for eight hundred and fifty yards
Speaker 1: this year. The lowest total in team history is ninety
Speaker 1: nine back in nineteen eighty two, and that was a
Speaker 1: strike season, when the Bengals only played nine games, what
Speaker 1: would be the first couple of things you would try
Speaker 1: to get something going in the ground game. It is
Speaker 1: really quandry, a nightmare because let's let's just take the
Speaker 1: last football game Jacksonville. Watching some of that again, and
Speaker 1: the point of attack looks pretty good. Don't block the
Speaker 1: backside linebacker, you know he he's not cut off, crushes
Speaker 1: the play. Later front side's crushed. They have no opportunity
Speaker 1: at the lay and later a tight end misses his block.
Speaker 1: You know, it's it's equal opportunity participation. It is the
Speaker 1: damndest thing I've ever seen in terms of they can't
Speaker 1: come up with a clean snap. You know, everybody involved,
Speaker 1: five offensive lineman, if there's tight end involved him, you know,
Speaker 1: wide receivers in the perimeter, every single person. I'd just
Speaker 1: like to see a handful of plays during the course
Speaker 1: of a game where every single person that has a
Speaker 1: responsibility fulfills the responsibility. It has to be driving the
Speaker 1: coach is crazy because there are you know, if the
Speaker 1: play starts, you look at it, Oh got a shot,
Speaker 1: Oh no shot. Somebody totally misses, whiffs, goes the wrong way.
Speaker 1: They had people going the wrong way halfway through the season.
Speaker 1: That is inexcusable. The season is almost half over and
Speaker 1: you got guys going the wrong way, whether it be
Speaker 1: a running back, whether it be an offensive lineman, whatever
Speaker 1: the case may be. Can't have it, can't have that
Speaker 1: kind of stuff. Now you start to think, is the
Speaker 1: focused starting to slip? You know, is that part of
Speaker 1: its starting to go away? You know, the old woe
Speaker 1: is me kind of thing. You just you just can't
Speaker 1: can't have it. But uh, you know again, they're they're
Speaker 1: trying to find their identity, struggling, and honestly, I really
Speaker 1: don't know what it can be, what it is, I
Speaker 1: have no clue myself. I really don't know. And that's
Speaker 1: a that's a scary thing because right now they've rushed
Speaker 1: for three hundred and seventy two yards and they've given
Speaker 1: up thirteen hundred and twenty three. They've been out rushed
Speaker 1: by nine hundred and fifty one yards in seven games.
Speaker 1: That's an average of one hundred and thirty six yards
Speaker 1: a game. They've been out rushed by a football field
Speaker 1: and a quarter plus almost a football field and a half.
Speaker 1: That is nuts. So they're averaging three point nine two
Speaker 1: point nine one am I talking about two point ninety
Speaker 1: carry the opposition five point two minus two point three
Speaker 1: is Nutso basically, when the opponent carries the ball twice,
Speaker 1: they have a first down. When the Bengals carry three times,
Speaker 1: they don't have a first down. You can't win football
Speaker 1: games that way. You just can't do it. I don't
Speaker 1: care if you got Vince Lombardi, Don Shula, Bill Walsh,
Speaker 1: you have a staff of Hall of famers, man, you
Speaker 1: just can't. You can't win games that way. Lap The
Speaker 1: news broke Tuesday that the Falcons were trading former Bengals
Speaker 1: wide receiver Mohammed Sanu to the Patriots for a second
Speaker 1: round pick. Last week, Jacksonville got two number ones and
Speaker 1: a number four for Jalen Ramsey. The trade deadline is
Speaker 1: coming up next Tuesday. Do you think teams are reaching
Speaker 1: out to the Bengals about possible trades. I think they
Speaker 1: probably have made phone calls. That wouldn't shock me at all.
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick and Mike Brown have a great relationship. I
Speaker 1: would be stunned if Bill Belichick did not call just
Speaker 1: to see if AJ Green might be available, depending on
Speaker 1: what Mike Brown wanted, but aj and Sneuer same same age,
Speaker 1: and they got a number two from Mohammed Sanu. The
Speaker 1: thing is, Mohammed Sanu hasn't been hurt recently AJ Green.
Speaker 1: So there's the question of you know, it's it's not
Speaker 1: necessarily age. It's like, oh, Willie be available, you know,
Speaker 1: to health concerns. He's also signed for one more year.
Speaker 1: That helps, Yeah, definitely helps, definitely helps. So you know,
Speaker 1: look at what they got for Jalen Ramsey. I mean
Speaker 1: a Hall two, number ones and a number four. So
Speaker 1: I'm sure I don't think, you know, if Bill Belichick
Speaker 1: did talk to Mike Brown, I'm not sure it even
Speaker 1: gets to the point of, you know, what round picks.
Speaker 1: I think Mike probably politely said Bill, appreciate the interest,
Speaker 1: but now we're keeping AJ Green. He's our guy. We're
Speaker 1: going to keep AJ Green. We want him for years
Speaker 1: to come, and that sort of thing. But I'm sure
Speaker 1: I'm sure teams are called. I'm sure teams are called
Speaker 1: about AJ Green, about Geno Adkins, you know, potentially Carlos Dunlap.
Speaker 1: Carlos Dunlap a couple of weeks to go in the
Speaker 1: locker room made it sound like he knew that people
Speaker 1: were calling, so his agent must have told him. He
Speaker 1: must have found out from teams that they have reached
Speaker 1: out to the Cincinnati Bengals and inquired about Carlos Dunlap
Speaker 1: for him to say that to the media, Oh, it's
Speaker 1: a business. I know, it's a business. I'm sure they've
Speaker 1: called about you know, they probably have called about me.
Speaker 1: So he's heard something and that's not a shock. Um,
Speaker 1: those kind of calls happen all the time. But I
Speaker 1: just don't think, Um, you know, the Bengals will will
Speaker 1: be in the market, and I think if they weren't
Speaker 1: in the market, it might be tough to strike a
Speaker 1: deal because, let's face it, when they give their players
Speaker 1: second and third bites to the Apple, it's significant money.
Speaker 1: And a lot of people here in bengaland think that
Speaker 1: the Bengals overvalue their veteran players. They think their guys
Speaker 1: are better than than other people think they are. So
Speaker 1: if that's the case, they probably asking way more than
Speaker 1: other people are willing to offer. And you know, it's
Speaker 1: it's tough to make deals at that point. But that
Speaker 1: Muhammed's a new deal is very interesting. I Mean, Patriots
Speaker 1: needed them and they gave up some value. I think.
Speaker 1: I think that's a good deal for for Atlanta to
Speaker 1: get a second round pick. Now it'll basically be a
Speaker 1: third you know, New England second. It's like early three. Um,
Speaker 1: it's going to be so late after they win another
Speaker 1: super Bowl probably, but still that's that's a decent pick
Speaker 1: from Mohammed Sanu. The Bears are three and three. Mitchell
Speaker 1: Trubisky is averaging the fewest passing yards per game of
Speaker 1: any full time quarterback. I think there's any chance the
Speaker 1: Bears reach out about Andy Dalton. They might, Yeah, I
Speaker 1: bet they reach out about you know, a few quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: and they may. They may realize that historically, again, the
Speaker 1: Bengals don't move players, particularly a quarterback, so they may
Speaker 1: reach out elsewhere. And there's going to be other quarterbacks
Speaker 1: around the league that probably fall into the same category.
Speaker 1: I mean, Aaron Rodgers, the performance he put on last
Speaker 1: week is like that's that's basically what you think Aaron
Speaker 1: Rodgers might be able to do any given week. He's
Speaker 1: about the only guy in the league. You know, maybe
Speaker 1: maybe one other you know, maybe Mahomes can do that
Speaker 1: kind of thing, but there's there's no more than three
Speaker 1: of them walking the streets, so everybody else kind of
Speaker 1: falls into a category where they need a lot of
Speaker 1: support to put up, you know, significant numbers in the
Speaker 1: league for sure. Lapt the Bengals and seven start has
Speaker 1: the doomsayers talking about the nineteen nineties when things obviously
Speaker 1: did not go well. But I want to go back
Speaker 1: to our first five years together in the Booth two
Speaker 1: eleven to two fifteen, when the Bengals went to the
Speaker 1: playoffs every year, and the reason why they did that,
Speaker 1: or probably the biggest reason, was that from two thousand
Speaker 1: and nine to twenty fourteen, they had six straight excellent
Speaker 1: drafts with at least three really good players every year.
Speaker 1: In two twelve, they drafted five really good ones and
Speaker 1: signed Vontz Berfect as an undrafted free agent. The two
Speaker 1: fifteen draft was a disaster. CJ. Zama is the only
Speaker 1: guy left. The last five drafts really haven't been home runs.
Speaker 1: Injuries have been a factor. I guess my question is
Speaker 1: what happened? Why did they go from drafting so well
Speaker 1: to not doing nearly as well. Yeah, that's that's a
Speaker 1: great question, and I think I think it's just like
Speaker 1: like anything, if you as an organization let's face it,
Speaker 1: the Bengals theory, and there are other teams in the
Speaker 1: league that do. At Seattle, you can name off a
Speaker 1: bunch of teams. They build through the draft and they're
Speaker 1: gonna they're gonna draft develop pertain. That's their mantra. And
Speaker 1: when you do that, when you live by their draft,
Speaker 1: you die by the draft. And they put their release
Speaker 1: every week. How many players the Bengals of draft that
Speaker 1: are still in the league, and it's like second usually, no,
Speaker 1: no worse than third, but it's usually in the top three.
Speaker 1: So but that's still going back to those drafts where
Speaker 1: they had those consecutive you know, put the bat on
Speaker 1: the ball regularly, and some of those guys are still
Speaker 1: in the league. That shows you how good they were
Speaker 1: in selecting in those particular drafts the last few year.
Speaker 1: Talking about I'd like to see how many guys are
Speaker 1: still in the league, you know, I bet the numbers
Speaker 1: are down. And if you're not going to supplement it
Speaker 1: with you know, serious free agency intent or trades or whatever.
Speaker 1: And your philosophy is draft developer tain, you are You're
Speaker 1: you're basically putting all your eggs in that one phase
Speaker 1: of building a roster. And when you have a situation
Speaker 1: like they had we've talked about with Setrica Boy and Fisher,
Speaker 1: set you back. I mean the left that left tackle
Speaker 1: position is again a microcosm of what's what's happened those
Speaker 1: two don't pan out. Um, we saw stetric away with
Speaker 1: the Jaguars and Fishers out of the game. Um. And
Speaker 1: and then trade for Corty Glenn and look what's going
Speaker 1: on with the Corty Glenn fiasco. So that left tackle
Speaker 1: iss got, you know, like a black cloud hanging over it. Uh.
Speaker 1: And then and then you try to address it with
Speaker 1: the eleventh pick in the draft, and Jonah Williams rips
Speaker 1: or a rotator or a labor terraces labor before training
Speaker 1: camp even starts. So man, you're you're you even try
Speaker 1: to trade to solve that. You drafted three different guys
Speaker 1: and Jonah william School still out. I'm not saying Jona
Speaker 1: Williams isn't going to be a great player for a decade,
Speaker 1: but this year they didn't won a football game, and
Speaker 1: he's not responsible for any of it, but they were
Speaker 1: hoping that he'd be at that left tackle position solidifying it.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's you there's a lot of pressure to
Speaker 1: put your bat on the balls at a high, high percentage,
Speaker 1: high high ratio. If that's the way, that's the only
Speaker 1: way that you've decided you're going to try to build
Speaker 1: your franchise. Part of that Cordy Glenn trade was moving
Speaker 1: backward in the first round. The Bengals had the number
Speaker 1: twelve pick. They went backward to select a Billy Price.
Speaker 1: And when you look at some of the guys they
Speaker 1: could have had at number twelve, Derwin James was the
Speaker 1: seventeenth pick in that draft. Layton vander ashe was the
Speaker 1: nineteenth pick in the draft. I remember how much the
Speaker 1: Bengals loved him going into that draft. Imagine what either
Speaker 1: of those guys would be doing for the Bengals. D Yeah,
Speaker 1: you can. You can go back historically, you know, um
Speaker 1: on a lot of drafts and say that the what
Speaker 1: ifs and uh, you know, I was just thinking the
Speaker 1: other day when I was watching Lamar Jackson just tooled
Speaker 1: the Seattle Seahawks like he tooled the Bengals. I mean,
Speaker 1: Ozzie Knewsom said, enough, this guy's the first round pick.
Speaker 1: Can't let this guy slide out of the first round.
Speaker 1: He's the first round talent athletically, Ozzie Knewsom said, now,
Speaker 1: I'm going to be the one. I mean, he went
Speaker 1: all the way to the end of the end of
Speaker 1: the draft in that first round. I bet there's a
Speaker 1: lot of franchises in the NFL right now they're saying, man,
Speaker 1: but the thing that they decided to do is a
Speaker 1: franchise is We're not going to try to fit him
Speaker 1: into something that doesn't work. We are going to say
Speaker 1: what he did at Louisville, we're implementing here and we're
Speaker 1: we're going that way. We're making sure that we set
Speaker 1: him up to succeed, not to fail. And that's just
Speaker 1: a great organizational you know, decision on many levels by
Speaker 1: the Baltimore Ravens. And you know sometimes when you when
Speaker 1: you start drafting specifically for need and you're trying to say,
Speaker 1: can that guy translate from what he's doing in college
Speaker 1: to what we're doing here with our scheme it's similar,
Speaker 1: but could he translate the better way to go as
Speaker 1: the way Baltimore and others are doing now Arizona's you know,
Speaker 1: take what that guy did so well in college and
Speaker 1: implemented in the National Football league. That's why these young
Speaker 1: quarterbacks are succeeding. Instead of trying to put a square
Speaker 1: peg in a round hole, They've got the same shapes
Speaker 1: and these these young guys are fitting a lot better
Speaker 1: and a lot more quickly. Getting back to Corty Glenn,
Speaker 1: is there a way out of this mess? Man? You know,
Speaker 1: if I'm a player in that locker room, that's a
Speaker 1: that's a totally unnecessary distraction. And you know, if everything
Speaker 1: to happen rumored to be happened have happened last week,
Speaker 1: did um my understanding is he when he went out
Speaker 1: to practice, he didn't he didn't really feel like he
Speaker 1: should be going out to practice. But this independent doctor
Speaker 1: in pitts Berg said that you're cleared. So they said
Speaker 1: you got to go out there. And he went out
Speaker 1: there and Jim Turner said, and hit the two men
Speaker 1: Slett He put two hands on and walked away, and
Speaker 1: you know, of course that started a beef. And then
Speaker 1: after practice on Wednesday, he went home, didn't hang around,
Speaker 1: go to the meetings, goes home and basically says, you know,
Speaker 1: you know, to a coach, Taylor just cut me. And
Speaker 1: of course you had just cut me. I'm gonna collect
Speaker 1: my ten eleven million and not have to do anything
Speaker 1: for it. They're not going to do that. Then he
Speaker 1: doesn't come the next day, so he's he's suspended. And
Speaker 1: I wonder if suspended with pay or suspended without pay.
Speaker 1: It's all defined by the collective Bargaining Agreement. But and
Speaker 1: when you have any questions like, oh, just get rid
Speaker 1: of them, well you get just get rid of them.
Speaker 1: I mean there's a salary cap concerned. That's a salary
Speaker 1: cap hit of not seven figures eight figures, eight figure
Speaker 1: hit to your cap. And so now you're trying to
Speaker 1: figure out what the collective bargain agreement, what are the steps?
Speaker 1: If there are five steps, you can't go from one
Speaker 1: to five. You have to go one two throughout. You know,
Speaker 1: can't go one to three. I mean you have to
Speaker 1: take it step by step in this process. So I'm
Speaker 1: not familiar enough with the collector Bargain Agreement to see
Speaker 1: if there are any things you can do to protect
Speaker 1: yourself as an organization or you know, in what Cordy
Speaker 1: Glenn can do on his behalf of the union as
Speaker 1: a player. But right now, the thing's a mess. It
Speaker 1: is just a country hot mess, and I don't know
Speaker 1: how it's gonna I don't know how it's gonna unfold
Speaker 1: and unstore. But if I'm a teammate, and honestly, you know,
Speaker 1: when I watch the interaction between Cordy and his teammates,
Speaker 1: there is none there is none zero. So it's a
Speaker 1: you know, I think they decided the best thing to
Speaker 1: do is suspend them or you know, try to separate
Speaker 1: them from from the locker room, because it's not it's
Speaker 1: not an easy situation, and players are going to sympathize
Speaker 1: to some extent because CTE and you know, all concussions
Speaker 1: are different. But Alex Erickson, he has a concussion. A
Speaker 1: few days later, he's catching four balls in the in
Speaker 1: the in the second quarter for ninety three yards and
Speaker 1: he's got you know, eight catches one hundred and thirty
Speaker 1: seven during the course of the game. And I'm not
Speaker 1: saying that his concussion is the same as Quartery Glens.
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to say that at all. They're all different,
Speaker 1: but I mean, you talk about North and South Pole,
Speaker 1: that's a pretty good example right there. The team is
Speaker 1: off to London as the Bengals take on the defending
Speaker 1: NFC champion rams LA snapped to three game losing streak
Speaker 1: last Sunday, hammering the Falcons thirty seven to ten. Give
Speaker 1: me a scenario for the Bengals pulling off the shocker
Speaker 1: in London. Well, the easiest thing to think of is
Speaker 1: the Rams have to help. The Rams have to self destruct.
Speaker 1: The Rams have to turn the ball over. The Bengals
Speaker 1: went minus four last week and lost a game that
Speaker 1: they had a ten to nine lead going into the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter, and have you know, three interceptions in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter. They had a fumble I think in the third,
Speaker 1: but three interceptions in the four so you have a
Speaker 1: you have a three turnover quarter. That's the kind of
Speaker 1: thing the Rams are going to have to help with.
Speaker 1: Be at fumble, be an interception, be a you know,
Speaker 1: some sort of misq like that. And the Bengals have
Speaker 1: to play a very clean game in that regard, because
Speaker 1: you know, looking at them right now, at fifteen giveaways,
Speaker 1: thirty first in the league. They're minus nine, that's thirtieth
Speaker 1: in the league. The flip, the script is gonna have
Speaker 1: to flip for the Bengals to compete with the Rams.
Speaker 1: The Rams are gonna have to be the generous ones,
Speaker 1: and the Bengals are gonna have to be the selfish
Speaker 1: ones taking all those those extra possessions. And I think
Speaker 1: that the red zone defense has to stay the way
Speaker 1: it's been playing. I mean that they're doing a really
Speaker 1: good job in the red zone. They find themselves fourth
Speaker 1: in the NFL now red zone touchdown percentage allowed. They
Speaker 1: have two teams the Bengals are played, Arizona and Jacksonville
Speaker 1: both went one touchdown and six opportunities in the red zone.
Speaker 1: They did it twice two touchdowns in twelve red zone possessions.
Speaker 1: I mean, you look at it. The Bengals defense has
Speaker 1: been in the red zone twenty seven times, thirtieth in
Speaker 1: the league. They've only a lot of eleven touchdowns, tied
Speaker 1: for eighth in the league. So they have really when
Speaker 1: the field's compressed, I don't have to worry about the
Speaker 1: ball going over their head, and the tricks and the
Speaker 1: gadget and the misdirection is less of an issue. Because
Speaker 1: the fields so compressed, they played pretty good. They play
Speaker 1: a lot better defense. The other thing that has to
Speaker 1: continue to happen if the Bengals do turn it over
Speaker 1: on the Bengals fifteen giveaways, the defenses allowed five field
Speaker 1: goals fifteen points. That's unbelievablely good. I mean, that's that
Speaker 1: might be the best in the league. And one of
Speaker 1: the one of the turnovers, it was a pick six,
Speaker 1: so they had nothing to do with any of it.
Speaker 1: So say fourteen of the turnovers, fourteen turnovers they've allowed
Speaker 1: fifteen points. Still pretty pretty damn strong. And if they
Speaker 1: if they continue to you know, play complimentary football that way,
Speaker 1: if the Bengals do have a mistake and they you know,
Speaker 1: don't let it turn into a big mistake, then they
Speaker 1: have a chance. They have a chance. Lap The Rams
Speaker 1: are averaging twenty seven points a game, tied for seventh
Speaker 1: in the NFL, so they're not exactly struggling, but it
Speaker 1: is down a little bit from thirty two points last year.
Speaker 1: And on they scored three points in the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: laws to the Patriots. To what extent has the league
Speaker 1: caught up to the Rams offense? I think there's probably
Speaker 1: something to that. Defensive coordinators, you give them, you know,
Speaker 1: an opportunity, they're going to figure out a way to
Speaker 1: defend things. I think the other part of it is
Speaker 1: forty percent of the offensive lines, New Sullivan, their center retired. Uh,
Speaker 1: they're left guard left in free agency and they have
Speaker 1: a new guy at the left guard position, Stafford or
Speaker 1: I think it was Stafford, the big left guard left
Speaker 1: in free agency. So uh, you know that's that's a
Speaker 1: that's a factor. You see how new pieces can can
Speaker 1: take take a while. And girly's not the girly of old.
Speaker 1: They say that that knee has had some sort of
Speaker 1: a degeneration, whatever it is. So they're not they're not
Speaker 1: clicking with all the cylinders and the engine that they
Speaker 1: were clicking with when they were. You know, executing is
Speaker 1: such a high level, so I think the execution slips some.
Speaker 1: I think defensive coordinators have caught up some. And uh,
Speaker 1: I think the combination of it is is what you're
Speaker 1: talking about. They win their first three games three and oh,
Speaker 1: and then they lose three in a row. So the
Speaker 1: model of inconsistency there. But they did win. I mean
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay hung fifty five points on them. I can't
Speaker 1: fathom that with Aaron Donald and following those guys, how
Speaker 1: they held. Did Jamis Winston hang fifty five on them?
Speaker 1: That's that's remarkable to me. They scored over forty you know,
Speaker 1: their offense wasn't the problem there. As I'm looking at
Speaker 1: their at their you know, their prior games, that one
Speaker 1: jumped out at me, like what fifty five to forty
Speaker 1: man Seattle thirty to twenty nine. You know, I can
Speaker 1: see that, I guess a little bit. But that defense,
Speaker 1: I mean they gave up eighty five points in two weeks,
Speaker 1: eighty five points to Tampa Bay in Seattle in a
Speaker 1: two week stretch. Crazy in the National Football League. Crazy
Speaker 1: thanks lap. In that shocking fifty five to forty lost
Speaker 1: to Tampa Bay. Jamis Winston threw for three hundred eighty
Speaker 1: five yards and four touchdowns, but perhaps more significantly, the
Speaker 1: Buccaneers defense picked off three Jared Goff passes and recovered
Speaker 1: one of his fumbles. One positive last week in the
Speaker 1: Bengals lost to Jacksonville was the play of the special teams.
Speaker 1: Brandon Wilson had a sixty one yard kickoff return and
Speaker 1: now has enough attempts to qualify as the NFL leader
Speaker 1: in kickoff return average. He's at thirty seven point four
Speaker 1: yards on nine attempts. And punter Kevin Huber was also outstanding,
Speaker 1: consistently pinning the Jags deep in their own territory. I
Speaker 1: spoke to the twenty fourteen pro bowler this week, keV.
Speaker 1: Last Sunday was your one hundred and seventieth NFL game
Speaker 1: including playoffs. You averaged forty eight yards upon forty six
Speaker 1: yards net. Jacksonville started drives from the one, the three,
Speaker 1: and the nine. Was game number one, seventy one of
Speaker 1: your all time best personally, Yeah, that was up there.
Speaker 1: That was a good game all around. You know, they
Speaker 1: do a lot of Friday things on punt ross, so
Speaker 1: we had a lot of the I did a great
Speaker 1: job of protecting that. They do a lot of work
Speaker 1: they you know, they change games up from week to week. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, then the gunners did a great job getting
Speaker 1: down to the make less plays, Um, keep a boy
Speaker 1: of the end zone. So it was all around, you know,
Speaker 1: good everybody, the entire punt team, you know, on the
Speaker 1: entire special teams inner for that matter. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: it was a big point of Vents just won the game.
Speaker 1: You know in that field position was a big key.
Speaker 1: So um, you know we did a good job executing that.
Speaker 1: Or Visiting with Kevin Huber, this is your eleventh NFL season.
Speaker 1: Has punting changed and have you changed over the course
Speaker 1: of eleven years. Yeah, punting is definitely changed. You know,
Speaker 1: it's uh, I think it's just looked at more and
Speaker 1: more as a weapon and uh the ability to control
Speaker 1: field position, um and really um, you know, eliminate returners
Speaker 1: because there's a lot of good returners right now, a
Speaker 1: lot of fast guys, so to uh, you know, I
Speaker 1: think the punt team has been used a lot to
Speaker 1: really rely on them for flipping the field, you know,
Speaker 1: controlling field position. UM. I think a lot more than
Speaker 1: it was really looked at in the past. And I
Speaker 1: think it kind of shows that the quality of punners
Speaker 1: that are coming out now, they're they're getting better and
Speaker 1: better and they can hit the ball further with the control.
Speaker 1: So you know, it's just, you know, something's got to
Speaker 1: keep up with and uh, you know, I think I
Speaker 1: just kind of you know, I've been trying to do
Speaker 1: a good job of just seeing how things are changing
Speaker 1: adapt to it. You're thirty four. Sam Cook of the
Speaker 1: Ravens is thirty seven. Dustin Colquitt of the Chiefs is
Speaker 1: thirty seven. Donnie Jones was punning last year at thirty eight.
Speaker 1: Why are punters lasting longer? UM, I think for that
Speaker 1: very reason I just talked about, is they are you know,
Speaker 1: they're seeing what it takes to play and they're doing
Speaker 1: what it takes. I think it's uh, you know, there's
Speaker 1: a lot more you know, lifting weights involved, just to
Speaker 1: get stronger to keep up with these young guys that
Speaker 1: are coming in a lot stronger than they having in
Speaker 1: past years, you know. So I think that's one of
Speaker 1: the biggest things, is just strength of these younger guys
Speaker 1: coming out that we gotta do more, you know, to
Speaker 1: keep our jobs so they don't come in and uh,
Speaker 1: you know take take our job. We're visiting with Kevin
Speaker 1: Hubert for seven years, you were the holder on field
Speaker 1: goals and points. After from Mike Nugent, who has resurfaced
Speaker 1: in the NFL with the New England Patriots, have you
Speaker 1: guys been in touch and what was your reaction to
Speaker 1: him getting that opportunity. Yeah, I was happy for him. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I know Mike, Mike always stays in shape
Speaker 1: and stays ready to go, so it didn't surprise me
Speaker 1: one bit. Um. But yeah, I texted him by if
Speaker 1: I heard it happened to set tone congrats and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, tell me we seen him a couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: maybe maybe be able to come out meeting for Doner.
Speaker 1: I'm not sure what the rules are, but we'll see.
Speaker 1: Knowing balid Chick, it's probably a no go. Kevin. You
Speaker 1: went to the playoffs in six of your first seven
Speaker 1: seasons with the Bengals, and the team is obviously struggling
Speaker 1: this year. As somebody who grew up here, how difficult
Speaker 1: is this for you? Um, you know, it's just you know,
Speaker 1: you know, being here for amount of years I've been here,
Speaker 1: you know what it takes. You know, the time it takes,
Speaker 1: the effort it takes, the coaches and the players, um,
Speaker 1: you know, and it's just tough to be a part
Speaker 1: of it, just because you know how much efforts being
Speaker 1: put in, and you know, you feel for the guys
Speaker 1: that you know, all the coach that have you know,
Speaker 1: they're they're working their butts off to you know, to
Speaker 1: try to get that first one the season. So you know,
Speaker 1: I think everybody's still everybody's still really dialed, and everybody's
Speaker 1: really you know, wanting to get that first one or
Speaker 1: all on the same page. We know we can get there. Um,
Speaker 1: we just gotta put all there for a game. Our
Speaker 1: buddy Dave Lapham was on a Bengals team that started
Speaker 1: a season O and eight, and he says he would
Speaker 1: send his son to take the garbage out to the
Speaker 1: curve because he was just he didn't even want to
Speaker 1: see people at that point. Do you have some of
Speaker 1: the same things going on where maybe you and your
Speaker 1: wife are reluctant to go out to dinner or anything
Speaker 1: because of that. Not really, because luckily people really don't
Speaker 1: recognize me. I'm just your normal six foot one guy
Speaker 1: that you know. I'm no different than the rest of
Speaker 1: the guys at the restaurant, So I don't really had
Speaker 1: that issue. It's good to be the punter. I guess
Speaker 1: this is your second trip to London. What stood out
Speaker 1: about the first, Well, it was a long trip to
Speaker 1: tie it's uh, you know, I think not knowing the
Speaker 1: first time, you know what was involved. It was a
Speaker 1: little bit shocked just to get used to the time
Speaker 1: change and shut a short period of time. Um, I
Speaker 1: think going back to the second time, you're kind of
Speaker 1: used to a nine note to expect, so there's really
Speaker 1: no you know, there's nothing to uh that's gonna catch
Speaker 1: off guards. So I think it'll be a lot of
Speaker 1: easier the second time around. Can you sleep on a plane?
Speaker 1: You have movies downloaded? Do you have a good book
Speaker 1: ready to go? How are you going to deal with that?
Speaker 1: I'm gonna try to sleep just because the time change.
Speaker 1: You know, if you don't sleep, it's gonna be a
Speaker 1: rough weekend. So I think dooever I can get to sleep,
Speaker 1: and mean, I'll try to week up earlier than night
Speaker 1: to stry. I getting used to it, but um yeah,
Speaker 1: I think just try to get some sleep. If I'm
Speaker 1: if I turned the TV on, I'm not going to bed.
Speaker 1: So all right. Last thing for Kevin Huber. You are
Speaker 1: a deserving member of the University of Cincinnati Athletics Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame. I was incredibly honored to be inducted last weekend.
Speaker 1: But have I cheapened it for guys like you that
Speaker 1: really earned their way into that Hall of fame? Oh?
Speaker 1: Absolutely not. You were more deserve than I was. Know
Speaker 1: You've definitely not. You definitely not cheaping it and h yeah,
Speaker 1: congratulations on that. I feel much better now. Congratulations at
Speaker 1: a great game last week last week do it again
Speaker 1: in Webbley Stadium. I appreciate That's Kevin Huber website Pro
Speaker 1: Football Focus has Huber ranked is the eleventh be punter
Speaker 1: in the NFL this year. Now time for this week's
Speaker 1: Know the Faux interview as we do a deep dive
Speaker 1: into the Bengals upcoming opponent. After going eleven and five
Speaker 1: and Sean mcvay's first season and thirteen and three with
Speaker 1: a trip to the Super Bowl in his second, the
Speaker 1: Rams have not been as dominant this year. They snapped
Speaker 1: a three game losing streak last Sunday with a thirty
Speaker 1: seven to ten win over Atlanta and bring a four
Speaker 1: and three record into Sunday's game. Gary Klein covers the
Speaker 1: Rams for the La Times and joined Dave Lapham and
Speaker 1: me on the Bengals Game Plan Show this week. I
Speaker 1: started our conversation by asking him what the rams biggest
Speaker 1: issues have been to date. Well, the main issue, or
Speaker 1: at least the one that got all the attention coming
Speaker 1: into the season, of course, was a condition of Todd
Speaker 1: Gurley's left knee and how that would affect not only
Speaker 1: Gurley but the entire Rams offense. There have also been
Speaker 1: some issues with the offensive line that have slowed down
Speaker 1: a unit that pretty much dominated the NFL over the
Speaker 1: last two seasons, So Gurley's condition and the way Sean
Speaker 1: McVay has limited his touches, the turnover in the offensive line,
Speaker 1: and also some injuries and also some injuries on defense
Speaker 1: have all played a role in the Rams struggling through
Speaker 1: that three game losing streak before finally winning last week.
Speaker 1: So you think Stullivan obviously retires at the center position.
Speaker 1: Stafford goes in free agency, So your center and your
Speaker 1: left guard move on for different reasons. Do you think
Speaker 1: at this point, approaching mid season that the offensive line
Speaker 1: is starting to gel? And part B to that question
Speaker 1: is Andrew we are still playing at a at a
Speaker 1: decently high level or what's his play been like recently?
Speaker 1: The entire offensive line really, I think has struggled with consistency.
Speaker 1: You mentioned the departures of Sullivan and Saffold. They were
Speaker 1: replaced by second year pros who had never started, and
Speaker 1: Brian Allen is playing center. Joe Noboom was playing left
Speaker 1: guard alongside Whitworth, but he suffered a knee injury. So
Speaker 1: in this last game, rookie David Edwards, who only played
Speaker 1: tackle in college, started at guard and did a pretty
Speaker 1: good job. I think we'll have to see We're almost
Speaker 1: through the halfway point of the season, and you have
Speaker 1: to remember the Rams over the last two seasons were
Speaker 1: maybe the only NFL team that started the same five
Speaker 1: guys in every single game, and that was over the
Speaker 1: two seasons. So they've missed that, they've missed Staffold. In
Speaker 1: regard to Whitworth, he's still I think, you know, obviously
Speaker 1: going strong. Playing at his age, but playing against with Art,
Speaker 1: not against, but with some younger teammates I think has
Speaker 1: put maybe some added pressure on him. And he's still
Speaker 1: performing at a high level, although I think it's fair
Speaker 1: to say that he has not been quite as dominant
Speaker 1: as he was earlier in his career. Garry Klein from
Speaker 1: the La Times is our guest, Can you explain how
Speaker 1: Tampa Bay scored fifty five points the Rams? Gary? Really?
Speaker 1: You know what they Tampa Bay came into that game,
Speaker 1: and Jamis Winston played like the number one pick. I think,
Speaker 1: you know, people envisioned people in Tampa probably hoped for
Speaker 1: when they took him. He was He played phenomenally, really
Speaker 1: did a great job. Mike Evans was terrific, and the
Speaker 1: Rams had some defensive breakdown and Shaquille Barrett just went
Speaker 1: crazy and really terrorized that Rams offensive line on both
Speaker 1: ends of it. So Tampa Bay obviously played its best
Speaker 1: game of the season. The Rams talked about that not
Speaker 1: being a trap game is if you will, but it
Speaker 1: really did sneak up on them and they happened to
Speaker 1: run into Jamis Winston on a bad day for the Rams.
Speaker 1: Eighteen sacks for the Rams by six different players. Usually
Speaker 1: eighteen sacks there's like eleven guys. They're blitz in corners,
Speaker 1: they're blitz and safeties. Matthews has six and real quick
Speaker 1: is injuries. He is he Matthews. Clay Matthews will be
Speaker 1: out at least I would think too. It will be
Speaker 1: out this game for sure. I wouldn't be surprised if
Speaker 1: he also is out against the Steelers after the Rams
Speaker 1: come back from the buy. So they miss him, they
Speaker 1: missed his leadership, They missed those six sacks that would
Speaker 1: have probably grown had he remained healthy. But I think
Speaker 1: the addition and I'm sure we'll get this, the addition
Speaker 1: of Jalen Ramsey on the back end kind of open
Speaker 1: things up for that rush and we saw what happened
Speaker 1: just past week against the Falcon Dante Fowler had three sacks.
Speaker 1: Aaron Donald a traditionally, even though he finishes with so
Speaker 1: many sacks at the end of each year, he's not
Speaker 1: a super fast starter. He's starting to heat up. So
Speaker 1: I think that rams pass rush again. With the addition
Speaker 1: of Ramsey, we're going to see a lot more action.
Speaker 1: I think a lot more pressure. Yeah, I think, you know,
Speaker 1: it was fifteen sacks out of three guys, with Matthew six.
Speaker 1: It's still you know, you don't take those sacks away,
Speaker 1: although he won't be adding to it. Fowler has five
Speaker 1: after the three last week and a forced flumble. Donald
Speaker 1: has four. He had a sack and a forced flumble.
Speaker 1: I believe as well. So I mean with Ramsey, as
Speaker 1: everybody knows, I mean coverage pressure. It's like the hand
Speaker 1: fitting the gloves, you know, It's like one feeds off
Speaker 1: the other. So with Ramsey tightened up coverage, there's going
Speaker 1: to be more pressure possibilities. And with the pressure possibilities increasing,
Speaker 1: Ramsey's gonna eat two with big play potential that that trade.
Speaker 1: How big was that trade? How excited was the locker
Speaker 1: room about getting Jalen Ramsey. I think players you know
Speaker 1: who knew him, and there are a few in that
Speaker 1: locker room. Blake Bortle's obviously played quarterback for the Jaguars.
Speaker 1: Dante Fowler was there before he joined the Rams in
Speaker 1: a trade deadline deal before last season, so they knew
Speaker 1: what they were getting and I think with the trade
Speaker 1: of Marcus Peters and with a keep to leeb On
Speaker 1: injured reserve, it was a well needed shot for that defense. Now,
Speaker 1: the Rams gave up a lot with two number one
Speaker 1: picks and a fourth round pick, but they are confident
Speaker 1: that they're going to be able to sign Ramsey for
Speaker 1: the long term. And I think the way they look
Speaker 1: at it is there are not that many true lockdown
Speaker 1: cornerbacks in the NFL, and if you have the opportunity
Speaker 1: to get one, not only for the short term, but
Speaker 1: possibly for the long term, you've got to do that.
Speaker 1: And I think he made an immediate impact against the Falcons,
Speaker 1: not only with his coverage of Julio Jones and the
Speaker 1: jawing back and forth, but also the forced fumble. I
Speaker 1: think more than anything, that showed the Rams that they
Speaker 1: have added a playmaker to a defense that was in
Speaker 1: need of one. A few more questions for Gary Klein,
Speaker 1: who covers the Rams for the LA Times. What was
Speaker 1: the reaction in LA when the Bengals hired Zach Taylor. Well,
Speaker 1: I think on some level it was not surprising, just
Speaker 1: given that the Packers had hired Matt Lafleur. It was
Speaker 1: obvious that NFL teams are or were enamored with see
Speaker 1: Nickvey effect. Everyone was looking for the next Sean McVey.
Speaker 1: So I don't think it came as a real surprise
Speaker 1: to people in LA. I think that they looked at
Speaker 1: it as like, yeah, he's probably the next logical successor
Speaker 1: if this, if that what happened with Lafleur continues. So
Speaker 1: obviously the Bengals with Taylor have not gotten off to
Speaker 1: a great start. But I know historical league, this isn't
Speaker 1: the first time, right, It's I think it's the seventh
Speaker 1: time this has happened, if I'm not mistaken from reading
Speaker 1: some of the stuff coming out of Cincinnati. But I
Speaker 1: think that the people who are in Los Angeles who
Speaker 1: know Zach Taylor, I think he's probably going to try
Speaker 1: and follow a similar kind of path that McVey laid out,
Speaker 1: and they seem to be rude for him and confidence
Speaker 1: that he'll he'll have some success once he gets that
Speaker 1: culture kind of fully implemented. What do you think that
Speaker 1: the Sean McVay, I mean, it's been incredible the Sean
Speaker 1: McVay aura about him. What as as a media member,
Speaker 1: when you deal with Sean MCVAYH, what is the most
Speaker 1: impressive thing and what do you think that a guy
Speaker 1: like Zach Taylor could have picked up from a Sean MCVAYH. Well,
Speaker 1: it struck me in the in the two years that
Speaker 1: I got to know Zach very similar to Sean in
Speaker 1: terms of communication, kind of oriented and all of us
Speaker 1: who've watched the NFL for a long time, I think
Speaker 1: we've seen a shift in the kinds of personalities of
Speaker 1: coaches that are that are being successful. I mean, there's
Speaker 1: certainly some old school guys like Bill Pelichick that still
Speaker 1: get it done at the highest level, but I think
Speaker 1: some of these younger coaches, especially the ones that are
Speaker 1: geared words, you know, open communication as long as well
Speaker 1: as football smarts. In a league that seems to be
Speaker 1: getting younger and younger and younger in terms of the
Speaker 1: turnover and players, I think those these guys can be successful,
Speaker 1: or at least Sean McVay proved that with a you know,
Speaker 1: a very very good football mind and those communication skills
Speaker 1: that he can win. And so I'm guessing the Bengals
Speaker 1: were looking for similar kinds of traits when they or
Speaker 1: they saw those when they spoke and interviewed to Zach Taylor.
Speaker 1: I'm the Packers, I'm sure saw the same thing with
Speaker 1: Matt Lafleur, And so we'll see. It's funny you mentioned
Speaker 1: that because the story I'm writing for tomorrow or at
Speaker 1: least my notebook, kind of deals with the fact that
Speaker 1: the results are mixed so far, you know, with la
Speaker 1: Fleur six and one and Zach at oh and seven.
Speaker 1: We'll see how this plays out, not only over the
Speaker 1: end of this season, but it seasons to come common
Speaker 1: denominator for Sean McVay and now Lafloor are in Green Bay,
Speaker 1: experienced defensive coordinator, been around the league. Both had been
Speaker 1: prior head coaches as defensive coordinators, you know, supporting those
Speaker 1: young coaches. Wade Phillips, what is he meant to Sean McVay,
Speaker 1: And obviously, you know up in Green Bay they followed
Speaker 1: the same type of pattern, having that experience, maybe more
Speaker 1: old school coaching philosophy like you're talking about in Wade
Speaker 1: Phillips and what they did up in Green Bay as well.
Speaker 1: What is Wade Phillips meant to Sean mcvay's success. I
Speaker 1: think he shares a very big role in it. I
Speaker 1: think one of the reasons, though, is that Wade Phillips
Speaker 1: seems pretty open minded to new thinking. I mean, obviously
Speaker 1: he's got his systems, he's got his way of doing things,
Speaker 1: but it has struck me from the beginning that he
Speaker 1: welcomes the way that McVey operates. And you know, his son,
Speaker 1: West Phillips coached with mcveay in Washington, so he knew
Speaker 1: about him. He knew about that. But I don't think
Speaker 1: you can underestimate the fact, as you point out, that
Speaker 1: McVay came in with a very experienced defensive coordinator and
Speaker 1: a very experienced and talented special teams guy in John Fossil.
Speaker 1: So the only thing that McVey the only thing, I
Speaker 1: don't want to say the only thing, because the head
Speaker 1: coach obviously has innumerable responsibilities. But McVeigh could concentrate on
Speaker 1: what he knew best, which was the offense, and what
Speaker 1: he does best, which is communicate with people, not only
Speaker 1: his staff, but his players, and he got the players
Speaker 1: to respond, the coaches respond, and that's why as a
Speaker 1: writer it was so interesting to cover this last month
Speaker 1: because this is the first time that they were really
Speaker 1: going through some adversity with those three losses, and you
Speaker 1: could tell there was a sigh of relief when they
Speaker 1: beat the Falcons because they think they've kind of got
Speaker 1: through that. We'll see if they can continue it through
Speaker 1: the rest of the season, but that was something new
Speaker 1: for Sean McVeigh and his young coaching career. I thanks
Speaker 1: to Gary Klein, and here's a quick reminder that if
Speaker 1: you are making the trip to London or live in
Speaker 1: the UK, we will be broadcasting the Bengals pep Rally
Speaker 1: Show from the Admiralt, the Bengals official Bar, on Friday
Speaker 1: from five to eight London time. The show will then
Speaker 1: air in Cincinnati in its normal three to six time slot.
Speaker 1: Our guests will include the great Ken Anderson. So if
Speaker 1: you are in London for the game, we hope to
Speaker 1: see you on Friday at the Admiralty. It should be
Speaker 1: a fun night. That's going to do it for this
Speaker 1: edition of the podcast. If you haven't done so already,
Speaker 1: don't forget to subscribe and if you have time, give
Speaker 1: it a rating or share a comment. Five star ratings
Speaker 1: help more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde
Speaker 1: and thank you for listening to The Bengals Booth podcast