Speaker 1: Hike and everybody on Dan Horde and this is the
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast. I'm standing on the rooftop shouting out, baby,
Speaker 1: I'm ready to go. Addition, as the Bengals try to
Speaker 1: make this the week that they get their first win
Speaker 1: under Zach Taylor, as they try to upset the first
Speaker 1: place Ravens in Baltimore. Coming up, you'll hear three conversations. First,
Speaker 1: it's my broadcast partner, Dave Lapham. We'll discuss the matchup,
Speaker 1: the possibility of the Bengals trading veteran players, and we'll
Speaker 1: do something a little different as each of us will
Speaker 1: pick the player on another NFL roster that we would
Speaker 1: most like to have in Cincinnati. With a qualifier, we
Speaker 1: weren't allowed to select Patrick Mahomes. That would have been
Speaker 1: too easy. My locker room conversation this week is with
Speaker 1: wide receiver Auden Tate, who had his first NFL touchdown
Speaker 1: catch last week, but as he was quick to point out,
Speaker 1: he probably should have had two. We'll discuss his catch
Speaker 1: and his drop. And in this week's No The Faux segment,
Speaker 1: we'll get the lowdown on the Ravens from their longtime
Speaker 1: radio play by play man, Jerry Sandusky, that's Jerry with
Speaker 1: a G. 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,
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Speaker 1: or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing since NFL Turning Point.
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Speaker 1: It's a thirty minute show where they do a deep
Speaker 1: dive into a couple of games from the previous week,
Speaker 1: using highlights and on field audio provided by NFL Films.
Speaker 1: For my money, it's the best show out there that
Speaker 1: captures both the strategy of pro football and the emotional drama.
Speaker 1: New episodes are on FS one every Wednesday night, and
Speaker 1: I highly recommend NFL Turning Point. Now let's get to
Speaker 1: my conversation with Dave Lapham, and we started with something
Speaker 1: that isn't going to happen, but was fun to discuss.
Speaker 1: Here's a question we are both going to answer. If
Speaker 1: you could add one player to the Bengals roster off
Speaker 1: another team, who would it be? With this qualifier, it
Speaker 1: can't be a quarterback because we would both pick Patrick Mahomes,
Speaker 1: you go first. A close second might be Russell Wilson
Speaker 1: for me, that dude, he just seems to make plays
Speaker 1: when he has to make plays. That son of a gun.
Speaker 1: He's amazing. As a former offensive lineman, I'm going to
Speaker 1: take the offensive side of the football and struggling up
Speaker 1: front the offensive line. And the Indianapolis Colts went into
Speaker 1: Kansas City and beat the Chiefs and they were just
Speaker 1: physical with them, and they just you know, they mauled
Speaker 1: the Kansa City Chiefs up front. They kept Mahomes off
Speaker 1: the football field. And a guy that I think is
Speaker 1: the lead to the pack there is Quintin Nelson, kid
Speaker 1: out of Notre Dame. I just think I like everything
Speaker 1: about him. I like his demeanor. He's the policeman out there.
Speaker 1: He's the bodyguard for everybody. Anytime there's a little skirmish,
Speaker 1: he's the first one in to support his teammates, pulling
Speaker 1: guys apart or doing what he needs to do to
Speaker 1: help his teammate. And h plus the fact that he's
Speaker 1: a hell of a football player. I mean, run blocker,
Speaker 1: great pulling guard, tremendous pass protector. Just need to start
Speaker 1: to improve that. That up front, you know, get get
Speaker 1: something done up front, and his style of play may
Speaker 1: be contagious as well. Maybe that'll, you know, get get
Speaker 1: somebody like a kingpin up front that has that kind
Speaker 1: of mentality. As for me, if I knew he could
Speaker 1: stay healthy and would play eight to ten more years,
Speaker 1: I'd take Louke Keekley, But he's twenty eight and in
Speaker 1: his eighth year in the NFL, So I'm going to
Speaker 1: go with Quentin Nelson's Indianapolis teammate. Linebacker Darius Leonard, twenty
Speaker 1: four years old, second year in the NFL, led the
Speaker 1: league in tackles last year. Eight passes defended, seven sacks,
Speaker 1: two interceptions. Give me a playbacking, a playmaking linebacker that
Speaker 1: can go sideline to sideline, reading stuff and making plays.
Speaker 1: When was the last time the Bengals defense was good
Speaker 1: when Vont's perfect was still good. The Bengals desperately need
Speaker 1: a guy like that. That's their two weakest positions, you know,
Speaker 1: offensive line and linebacker though, where they need the most
Speaker 1: help for sure. Dan. We had Andy Benoit, formerly of
Speaker 1: Sports Illustrated, on one of our radio shows earlier this year,
Speaker 1: and I asked him if the Rams style offense that
Speaker 1: Zach was springing to Cincinnati would help the offensive line,
Speaker 1: and he said, not necessarily, because the best runs that
Speaker 1: Sean McVay likes to go to are outside zone runs,
Speaker 1: and Andy said they require a threshold of athleticism that
Speaker 1: the Bengals don't have upfront. Is that preventing the Bengals
Speaker 1: from running the type of plays that Todd Gurley has
Speaker 1: been so successful doing. I mean, yeah, you could. You
Speaker 1: could say that the running game or the lackter of
Speaker 1: with respect to the running game, my theory as having
Speaker 1: played the position is I always love play action pass
Speaker 1: because you're in max protection. It's very offensive line friendly
Speaker 1: and usually very quarterback friendly because you're you're basically in
Speaker 1: max protection of a fake, faking running back that basically
Speaker 1: consumes somebody potentially if he runs a good enough fake
Speaker 1: or can block the guy if he does blitz and
Speaker 1: he doesn't have the football. So that's your six blocker
Speaker 1: picking up of a you know, an extra rusher, and
Speaker 1: you're you're selling the run and that's making the defensive
Speaker 1: line not too often rush the quarterback. So you know, normally,
Speaker 1: if your running game's going, play action pass is great.
Speaker 1: It's very very friendly. But if the running game gets
Speaker 1: a lack of execution or whatever the case may be,
Speaker 1: isn't working, or you're putting yourself and down in distances
Speaker 1: where the running game isn't a factor, and you're, you know,
Speaker 1: first in fifteen second and twenty too often like they
Speaker 1: have been, you're going to drop back and throw it.
Speaker 1: And this offensive line strength is not you know, pass protecting,
Speaker 1: dropping back and throwing the football thirty times a game.
Speaker 1: That's not that's not who they are at all. So,
Speaker 1: you know, and he makes a great point. I mean, theoretically,
Speaker 1: if you can establish some sort of a pressure point
Speaker 1: with that outside zone or inside zone, they're much better
Speaker 1: inside zone blockers than outside zone for the reasons Andy said.
Speaker 1: You have to be you know, you have to be
Speaker 1: able to move latterly, horizontally, athletically, you know, to be
Speaker 1: able to get the stretch in the in the outside
Speaker 1: zone that you're looking for. So until they get that
Speaker 1: running game going, the theory of it being a very
Speaker 1: offensive line friendly, quarterback friendly offense goes out the window
Speaker 1: because you're stuck in down to distances where you're just
Speaker 1: dropping back and throwing the football and people are teeing
Speaker 1: off on you. You have made no secret of your
Speaker 1: desire to see Giovanni Bernard more involved. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: I think whenever he plays, I like what he does.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think he can be a fact, a
Speaker 1: very positive factor the organization. They don't give a guy,
Speaker 1: you know, an eight figure contract, not seven figures, an
Speaker 1: eight figure contract because they just like you, and they
Speaker 1: do like him. What's not to like about him? He's
Speaker 1: a great guy. He's doing a lot of a lot
Speaker 1: of good for people that need help with respect to water,
Speaker 1: you know, the bare necessities of life. You know, he's
Speaker 1: providing people. And you know, how can you not respect
Speaker 1: and like a guy like that. But you know, at
Speaker 1: some point, okay, you think he's he's really a good
Speaker 1: football player. You want him to be part of your
Speaker 1: your football team. How about giving him some snaps, you know,
Speaker 1: incorporate him. You're down in the game, the Bengals were
Speaker 1: down to four receivers. They lost Alex Erickson and you know,
Speaker 1: no offense to the third and fourth receiver. But why
Speaker 1: why can't Gievarnie Bernard do at least what they're doing
Speaker 1: in some formations or you know, two back sets, you know,
Speaker 1: be a little creative, do some jets jets sweeps with him,
Speaker 1: do some shovel passes with him. He's a guy that
Speaker 1: could do this sort of thing and get on the
Speaker 1: perimeter for you. So yeah, I'd like to see a
Speaker 1: little more Giovanni Bernard involvement for sure, And I think
Speaker 1: I think it would pay dividends. And nobody wants to
Speaker 1: win any more than Giovanni Bernard does. And I'll guarantee
Speaker 1: you he's frustrated, but you know the reason he was
Speaker 1: elected captain. He's not going to verbalize his frustration. He's
Speaker 1: frustrated about being oh and five, and I'm sure he's
Speaker 1: frustrated about not being more of a remedy to solve
Speaker 1: the problem. But you know, recently married, elected captain, eight
Speaker 1: figure contract. Life's good lap. Let's talk about this year's
Speaker 1: rookie class. Jonah Williams is obviously out. Nothing the Bengals
Speaker 1: could do about that. Their second round pick, tight Andrew
Speaker 1: Sample is in for fifteen snaps last week. He's played
Speaker 1: sixty seven snaps on offense through five games. Third round
Speaker 1: pick linebacker Jermaine Pratt in for nine snaps last week.
Speaker 1: He's been in thirty four on defense through five games.
Speaker 1: Is it time for that to change? I think it is.
Speaker 1: I think it's time to take the reins off the rookies,
Speaker 1: or take the training wheels off the bike and let
Speaker 1: the rookies ride. You know. Lu and Umu in our
Speaker 1: conversation that everybody in the media had with him earlier
Speaker 1: in the week, was pointing out the fact that, look
Speaker 1: what Arizona did. They ran ten personnel, one back, four wides,
Speaker 1: no tight ends, you know, just one back, four wide
Speaker 1: receivers a high percent of almost like sixty percent of
Speaker 1: the time. Well, they lost a couple of receivers to injury.
Speaker 1: They were going as much as twelve personnel, one back
Speaker 1: and two tight ends, and they didn't even they weren't
Speaker 1: even playing a tight end. They would go eleven personnel
Speaker 1: with one of the tight ends twelve personnel and that
Speaker 1: changed the gap responsibilities and the assignments in the running game.
Speaker 1: And it took the Bengals a while to adjust, and
Speaker 1: they really did never adjust to it all that well,
Speaker 1: to the two to two hundred and sixty sixty yards.
Speaker 1: So why not Cincinnati do the same thing, I mean,
Speaker 1: why not give the Baltimore Ravens a little bit more
Speaker 1: to think about. I mean, Baltimore utilizes their tight ends.
Speaker 1: Three of their top five receivers are tight ends. So
Speaker 1: they put them out there, they throw it to him,
Speaker 1: and they have more than one out there to block,
Speaker 1: and you know, why not go to a little bit
Speaker 1: of that style of offense. Give them a taste of
Speaker 1: their own medicine. I guess a little bit, because I mean,
Speaker 1: you draft a kid in the second round, you don't
Speaker 1: draft them just to block, you know, on short yarriage
Speaker 1: and goal line situations or whatever the case may be.
Speaker 1: And I think he's proven that. I think he can
Speaker 1: be a factor. It can be a viable factor. So
Speaker 1: let let him roll a little bit. And then you know,
Speaker 1: at the linebacker position, with all the problems that there
Speaker 1: they have at the linebacker position, I mean, pratt Is
Speaker 1: is probably overall the most athletic of all of them.
Speaker 1: And obviously, you know, like Lewis talking about earlier again,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm telling them just this one gap, don't
Speaker 1: worry about anything else. Just hit this gap. And it's
Speaker 1: not one hundred percent of the time that maybe maybe
Speaker 1: he's doing it, because you know, he's he said, he's
Speaker 1: a kid that wants to please people, and maybe he's
Speaker 1: trying to do too much, maybe he's press them a
Speaker 1: little bit. But at some point you get to let
Speaker 1: them get out there. And the only the only way
Speaker 1: you can improve in the NFL is to experience it.
Speaker 1: To stand there and watch it is nothing. Believe me,
Speaker 1: it's nothing like being out there and experiencing what it's like,
Speaker 1: the speed of the game, how quickly you have to
Speaker 1: adjust all the things you have to do, both mentally
Speaker 1: and physically. So I think it's it's time to let
Speaker 1: these guys, uh, you know, step up and see what
Speaker 1: they can do. The Baltimore Ravens are a three four
Speaker 1: defense with two massive defensive tackles up front three hundred
Speaker 1: and forty five pounds and three hundred and thirty six pounds,
Speaker 1: and they're probably bigger than that. If you were a
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator, philosophically, would you be a three four guy
Speaker 1: or a four three guy? It would depend on my personnel.
Speaker 1: I mean, if I if I came to an organization,
Speaker 1: you know, blank slate, I mean, I think the three
Speaker 1: four defense is you have you have to draft well
Speaker 1: for it. You have to draft the right guys. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I see, I see benefits to both of them. Um,
Speaker 1: having played the center position, if you have a nose guard,
Speaker 1: they can dominate. I can tell you that that that
Speaker 1: that makes it tough on everybody when you have it,
Speaker 1: when you have a big old beast that's inverting the
Speaker 1: center all the time. Um, you know, it's just like
Speaker 1: anywhere you want to be solid up the middle and
Speaker 1: baseball shortstops center field, you know, catcher and if you
Speaker 1: can be solid up the middle of a lacious nose guard,
Speaker 1: you know, in a like an inside linebacker at the
Speaker 1: next level to boot and a safety that's that's assaulting
Speaker 1: in the middle of football field. Man, that you know,
Speaker 1: you're making people go side and the sideways go go outside.
Speaker 1: So I think, you know, unless like unless I have
Speaker 1: two beasts inside a defensive tackle, I mean that you
Speaker 1: know that that's that's great as well. But I just
Speaker 1: think that in a three to four it's I think
Speaker 1: it's harder to run against. I think it's harder to
Speaker 1: get that initial push on him, you know, But you
Speaker 1: better have dan good linebackers to people in a throat
Speaker 1: on you, they're going to isolate your linebackers in a
Speaker 1: three to four defense. If you go base three four,
Speaker 1: they're going to isolate those linebackers, and you better better
Speaker 1: be able to be up to snuff. I'd be a
Speaker 1: three four guy for a lot of the reasons that
Speaker 1: you just described. Secondly, it makes you better on special
Speaker 1: teams because you carry more linebackers, and they are ideal
Speaker 1: special teams guys. Darren Simmons wouldn't agree with with the
Speaker 1: with the Bengals right now. The linebackers agree with the philosophy.
Speaker 1: Not necessarily team, no doubt. But I mean, you know
Speaker 1: he's got some my JP Ryan. You know, he's got
Speaker 1: a running back making huge contributions. He has players at
Speaker 1: other position groups. Darren Simmons, in my mind, does such
Speaker 1: an unbelievable I know we're getting off on a totally
Speaker 1: different subject, but he, of any special teams coach in
Speaker 1: the National Football League piece meals different positions into his
Speaker 1: special teams more so I mean others. It's cookie cutter.
Speaker 1: You know, I got these tight ends, I have these linebackers,
Speaker 1: I have these defense about you know, it's it's like
Speaker 1: I've got X y Z. You know, Darren will he'll
Speaker 1: pull a receiver out of there, He'll pull a running
Speaker 1: back out of there if he has to. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's not a shy er embarrassed to try other things
Speaker 1: like that. But I agree with you. Usually linebackers are
Speaker 1: some of the best athletes on your football team from
Speaker 1: a size speed ratio, you know kind of thing. They're
Speaker 1: getting smaller in the NFL, but they're also getting faster,
Speaker 1: smaller and faster. So special teams now they've taken away
Speaker 1: double teams, they've taken away the wedge. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: just all about matching up in space. The whole NFL
Speaker 1: is offense defense, special teams. Who can match up in space,
Speaker 1: who can block speed in space? Who can defeat blocks
Speaker 1: in space? I mean, who can It is. It's all
Speaker 1: about spreading people out as wide as you can and
Speaker 1: in creating as much space as you can, and you
Speaker 1: need guys that have speed and the short space quickness.
Speaker 1: You know, you're looking for as many of those type
Speaker 1: athletes as you can find. The Bengals defense has struggled
Speaker 1: this year, and this Sunday they face Lamar Jackson and
Speaker 1: the Baltimore Ravens. Jackson has eleven touchdown passes so far.
Speaker 1: That is as many as Patrick Mahomes. He has also
Speaker 1: rushed for three hundred and eight yards. That's a pace
Speaker 1: for nine eighty six this year. What is the formula
Speaker 1: for preventing Lamar Jackson from having a monster day? And
Speaker 1: he's rushed it in the first five games fifty times. Now,
Speaker 1: it's not all design runs. There's scrambles in there, but
Speaker 1: I bet half of it minimum is design runs. And
Speaker 1: we saw it. We were the first team to see
Speaker 1: it when he had his first NFL start. We saw
Speaker 1: quarterback sweep, quarterback draw, quarterback counter, quarterback power. I mean,
Speaker 1: they used him as a running back. And the thing
Speaker 1: about it is when the quarterbacks running the football like that,
Speaker 1: it's eleven on eleven football. It's not ten on eleven
Speaker 1: quarterbacks not handing off and not doing anything. So you
Speaker 1: can get an extra helmet at the point of attack,
Speaker 1: pulling lineman and getting an extra helmet out there to
Speaker 1: outleverage the defense. And that's that's the problem he you know,
Speaker 1: he presents. He's averaging six point two yards to carry
Speaker 1: on those fifty carries, so and that's part. That's a
Speaker 1: big part of his game. But I think his pocket
Speaker 1: presence is getting better. I think his ability to throw
Speaker 1: the deep ball with accuracy has gotten better. I think
Speaker 1: he's become a better quarterback, although I think he's thrown
Speaker 1: an interception in three out of the last fourth series
Speaker 1: that he's been on the field for the Ravens. But
Speaker 1: the Ravens were crying about a couple of the interceptions
Speaker 1: the Steelers had should have been a one should have
Speaker 1: been a rule non catch on the interception. The other
Speaker 1: one should have been past interference. But you know they
Speaker 1: go on the record books as interceptions, so I guess
Speaker 1: they're not blatant interceptions where he's forcing into a spot
Speaker 1: where he shouldn't force, which he had done a little bit.
Speaker 1: I think he's becoming more of a quarterback and man.
Speaker 1: Two guys back to back that are basically the epitome
Speaker 1: of what you're looking for in the NFL quarterback today.
Speaker 1: Feet and throwing on Kyler Murray last week, Lamar Jackson
Speaker 1: this week. There's no question it's hard to stop and
Speaker 1: very effective from an offensive standpoint. The question is is
Speaker 1: it sustainable? Can those guys do that week after week
Speaker 1: after week and stay on their feet? You know? The
Speaker 1: only the thing the thing that Michael Vick did RG
Speaker 1: three was a straight line runner, so RG three could
Speaker 1: not avoid contact. He got blown up. I mean it
Speaker 1: was like you watch him running. Even at Baylor, I'd
Speaker 1: watch him running and there was no dipsy due to it.
Speaker 1: It was just I mean, he was an Olympic caliber hurdler.
Speaker 1: So I'd watch and I'd think, oh, man, this could
Speaker 1: be you know, like an AUTOBONND collision. I mean, the
Speaker 1: got there's two people on it, a high rate of
Speaker 1: speed in it, and he took some shots, you know,
Speaker 1: and he would stay in bounds and take the shots,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, uh, that's not gonna bode well. These guys.
Speaker 1: You can't get a straight hit on them if you
Speaker 1: if it's like it's like James Brooks would say to me.
Speaker 1: I'd say, JB Man, pooh, gotta put a shot. That's me, man,
Speaker 1: that's my bad. I can't let guy take a hit
Speaker 1: like that on me. He said. I gotta I gotta
Speaker 1: make them. I gotta make it a glancing blow. I
Speaker 1: can't take a full force, you know, facial shot like that.
Speaker 1: That's what these quarterbacks do. They're so quick with short
Speaker 1: space quickness. It's like and if you're hitting them, you
Speaker 1: don't run up there one hundred miles an hour, like
Speaker 1: they're run up to r G three. You have to
Speaker 1: break it down because they'll juke you. If you're going
Speaker 1: one hundred miles an hour and they juke you, you're
Speaker 1: you're off in space. So I think that they have
Speaker 1: a better chance because of those kind of things, but
Speaker 1: they're still gonna get cought in traffic, caught in a pile.
Speaker 1: Those are the kind of things when you get you know,
Speaker 1: you get caught in something that you really can't control,
Speaker 1: and somebody falls on your leg awkwardly and stuff, and
Speaker 1: backs don't normally unless in the pocket, you know, when
Speaker 1: the protections collapse and they may find out, but they
Speaker 1: don't find that, you know, seven yards down the field
Speaker 1: where four guys are gang tackle. Now you got to
Speaker 1: worry about all these bodies in a pile and how
Speaker 1: am I going to get contorted and twisted? So I
Speaker 1: just keep going back to the to the same thought.
Speaker 1: In the NFL, one hundred percent of the players are
Speaker 1: one hundred percent of injury risk one hundred percent of
Speaker 1: the plays. And the little you are, the more susceptible
Speaker 1: you are. But if you're quick as a cat, you
Speaker 1: know that that kind of balances it out a little bit,
Speaker 1: but man, the more you run them, the odds are
Speaker 1: increased and they're gonna get smoked. The Baltimore Ravens have
Speaker 1: one of the best defenses in the NFL. That is
Speaker 1: usually the case, but Andy Dalton has historically done well
Speaker 1: against Baltimore as a winning record against the Ravens last
Speaker 1: year in two games, six touchdown passes, no interceptions. Why
Speaker 1: does the red Rifle do well against the Ravens? Well?
Speaker 1: The Thursday night game here and since and Andy last year,
Speaker 1: they were blitzing him to death and he was tearing
Speaker 1: them up. Aj Green had three touchdown catches in the
Speaker 1: first half and they just backed off the blitz because
Speaker 1: Andy was destroying them. And I'd never seen Baltimore back
Speaker 1: off the blitz for as many snaps as they did.
Speaker 1: When you look at last week's game, you know against Arizona,
Speaker 1: the touchdown drive before the forty two yard touchdown to Boyd,
Speaker 1: they were blitzing like crazy. They were bringing all their
Speaker 1: pressure packages. That's when he played the best. He got
Speaker 1: rid of the football. He can really pre snap, diagnose
Speaker 1: the blitz pretty well and know the vacated spot that
Speaker 1: he has to go to. At the football and he
Speaker 1: does it very well. He does it as well as
Speaker 1: most quarterbacks in the NFL. So I think it's going
Speaker 1: to be interesting to see if Baltimore comes out with
Speaker 1: as heavy a blitz percentages as they have in the past,
Speaker 1: because he torched them with it twice last year, really,
Speaker 1: particularly in that Thursday night game, and I thought his
Speaker 1: best drive of quite a few quarters came against a
Speaker 1: pot of we're gonna get after him, we're gonna blitz him,
Speaker 1: and he made him pay. They went on a nice
Speaker 1: touchdown drive there where they mixed the run in the
Speaker 1: pass and as he's releasing the ball, he's getting stung.
Speaker 1: I mean, they're hitting him hard, but he realizes, you know,
Speaker 1: I got to stand in there and throw it and
Speaker 1: I'm going to throw it to where that guy should be.
Speaker 1: He was hitting me and he did it very well.
Speaker 1: The trade deadline is three weeks away. It's two days
Speaker 1: after the London game in Week eight. What would it
Speaker 1: take for the Bengals to consider trading some of their
Speaker 1: best veterans. You know, in a league where it's very competitive,
Speaker 1: fifty percent of the games are decided by a touchdown
Speaker 1: or less. Twenty five percent of decided by a field
Speaker 1: goal or less, and the Bengals were looking at that
Speaker 1: kind of ratio. Unfortunately, they haven't won any of those
Speaker 1: close ones. So you're saying, what can we do to
Speaker 1: get better? Everybody's always trying to get better, and not
Speaker 1: just necessarily the last third of your roster, the bottom third.
Speaker 1: What's wrong with improving anywhere in your roster? So to me,
Speaker 1: I mean, I certainly wouldn't disconnect my phone. I'd listen
Speaker 1: to phone calls. I mean, I'd listen to people. I'd
Speaker 1: see what they're talking about. Anyway. That wouldn't necessarily mean
Speaker 1: I'd pull the trigger on anything, but man, I'd at
Speaker 1: least see what the market is bearing out there, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, why not explore that and you know, and
Speaker 1: maybe initiate something. You don't have to do it, but
Speaker 1: call and say, anybody on our roster that appeals to you?
Speaker 1: And if so, what do you got for me? What
Speaker 1: are we talking about here? I mean, there's nothing wrong
Speaker 1: with exploring it. You know, players understand, particularly the dollars
Speaker 1: in the NFL now fourteen billion dollar industry. The players
Speaker 1: know they're independent contractors on a weekly basis. It's a business.
Speaker 1: So I mean, if you know, if it's not here,
Speaker 1: it might be somewhere else. People move all the time.
Speaker 1: Trades aren't a real big, high percentage thing in the
Speaker 1: National Football League as the salary cap consequences and all
Speaker 1: those kinds of things. But I mean, you never know
Speaker 1: till you explore. If you just if you sit idly
Speaker 1: by and do nothing, who knows what might have been
Speaker 1: a possibility Thanks Lap. The Baltimore Ravens have one of
Speaker 1: the top cornerbacks in the NFL and Marlon Humphrey, and
Speaker 1: he typically shadows the other team's top receiver. In the
Speaker 1: last two weeks, that's been Odell Beckham Junior of the
Speaker 1: Browns and Juju Smith Schuster of the Steelers, and they
Speaker 1: combined for a total of ninety five yards against the Ravens.
Speaker 1: That means it could be tough for Tyler Boyd to
Speaker 1: put up huge numbers this week. If Andy Dalton looks elsewhere.
Speaker 1: One of his primary targets figures to be Auden Tate.
Speaker 1: I spoke to the second year receiver out of Florida
Speaker 1: State this week. We are in the locker room Bengals
Speaker 1: wide receiver Auden Tate, who caught his first career touchdown
Speaker 1: passed last week. How big of a moment was that
Speaker 1: for you? It was a big, big moment for me,
Speaker 1: you know, getting that first says down. I hit a
Speaker 1: little bit of sweet because I dropped the first one,
Speaker 1: But no, it's good to get that first one out
Speaker 1: of the way. You've been very hard on yourself about
Speaker 1: that drop, A little slant on the opening possession. I
Speaker 1: guess in your own mind, if you hold under that ball,
Speaker 1: there's no question you're in. Oh yeah, no question, no question,
Speaker 1: I'm in right to two yards away that point, I
Speaker 1: could pretty much just try to care man, just getting
Speaker 1: the ends on. So yeah, I was pretty sure I
Speaker 1: was gonna get in there. You're talking to y'ard and take.
Speaker 1: It was kind of shocking because since you've been here
Speaker 1: at the beginning of last year, the one thing you
Speaker 1: haven't done is drop anything. Uh yeah, you know. It
Speaker 1: was just thing, you know, a little high violations taking
Speaker 1: taking my eyes off the ball too soon, looking to
Speaker 1: get up Phil, I'm gonna get into pain just you know,
Speaker 1: got to focus on the ball mode. Nay J. Green
Speaker 1: is obviously still out, Sean Ross is out as well.
Speaker 1: You've become a focal point of the passing game right now.
Speaker 1: I guess that's something that you dream of when you
Speaker 1: get the opportunity to play in the NFL. You know, definitely,
Speaker 1: you know, definitely, you know, coming into the NFL, starting
Speaker 1: to be more in a game planning and offense, you know,
Speaker 1: definitely something you know you work for and you know
Speaker 1: dream about, you know, since he was young. So you know,
Speaker 1: I'm just happy for the opportunity. It's just ready to
Speaker 1: take full advantage of top two passing weapons right now
Speaker 1: have been you and Tyler Boy. Tyler had ten catches
Speaker 1: last week. He's on a pace for one hundred and
Speaker 1: eighteen this season. What do you notice most when you
Speaker 1: observe him, I says, mentality. You know, you gotta you
Speaker 1: gotta real kill mentality. You know anything as well, you know,
Speaker 1: you just try to kill it, no no matter how big, small,
Speaker 1: whatever it is. You just gotta real kill mentality. And
Speaker 1: I think you know everybody see it. On Sundays, smile
Speaker 1: came to your face when you talked about that killer mentality. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: because that that man is a funny guy. If you
Speaker 1: was around him, like, you don't know what I mean,
Speaker 1: but yeah, you gotta killer mindset. We're on that field.
Speaker 1: Ardy came from Florida State, won a lot of games there.
Speaker 1: How difficult it isn't one and five started for you personally? Um,
Speaker 1: you know, it's difficult to know, mostly for the summer
Speaker 1: fact of knowing that you know, we're not an O
Speaker 1: and five team, but you I mean, that's what I record,
Speaker 1: so so I mean that's what we are. But you know,
Speaker 1: knowing how easily you know, this easily could be three
Speaker 1: and two or you know, maybe something else. So that's
Speaker 1: really the only disappointing thing other than that, you know,
Speaker 1: we know what we can do, and you know we're
Speaker 1: just ready to get back on track. We score touchdowns
Speaker 1: in your final two possessions in last week's game against
Speaker 1: the Cardinals. Did that generate any sort of momentum going
Speaker 1: into Baltimore this week? Oh? Yeah, I think it did.
Speaker 1: I mean, especially how fast we scoring, how effortlessly. It
Speaker 1: kind of looked, you know, it looked like we just
Speaker 1: kind of just planning, you know, we weren't thinking doing nothing,
Speaker 1: just planning. So I think it definitely does build up
Speaker 1: something that we could use going into Baltimore. She get
Speaker 1: the Ravens this week. Historically, a very good defense. Not
Speaker 1: off to a great start defensively this year. But Marlin
Speaker 1: Humphreys playing great at cornerback. Where are you impressions of him?
Speaker 1: Got a good skill set, you know, it's talented a
Speaker 1: corner you know, it pays plays press, real physical, you know,
Speaker 1: just want you know, just win against Himore Man. Maybe
Speaker 1: we're going against a lot of good corners here too,
Speaker 1: so I think you know we'll be there for and
Speaker 1: a veteran safety in the middle. Now that they picked
Speaker 1: up ear Old Thomas, who of course had so many
Speaker 1: great years out in Seattle, what do you notice about him?
Speaker 1: Real savvy. You know he ain't the biggest person on
Speaker 1: the field, but he played big. You know he got
Speaker 1: he got that killer, killer instinct type of mind, sat
Speaker 1: too when he bat well. Like I said, you know,
Speaker 1: he's just going Now, just do what we gotta do,
Speaker 1: prepare ourselves. You know we'll be fine. A couple more
Speaker 1: questions for Auden take one of the big plays last
Speaker 1: week was the touchdown past the Tyler Boyd and you
Speaker 1: help make it happen with a block. It seems like
Speaker 1: that's a part of your game that you embrace. Oh yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't have a problem with, you know, going in
Speaker 1: out blocking some of the bigger guys. I was asked
Speaker 1: to do a lot of fluid state or something up
Speaker 1: comfortable and congrats on that TV last week. I hope
Speaker 1: there are many more. And best of luck against the Ravens. Yes, sir,
Speaker 1: will be that's home to take. Now time for this
Speaker 1: week's No the Foe interview as we do a deep
Speaker 1: dive into the Bengals upcoming opponent with somebody that knows
Speaker 1: the team. This week it's the voice of the Ravens,
Speaker 1: Jerry with a G. Sandusky. He joined Lapping Me on
Speaker 1: the Bengals Game Plan show this week and made Bengals
Speaker 1: Radio Network history by doing the interview while getting his
Speaker 1: hair cut. Our first topic the play off quarterback Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson through Baltimore's first five games this season. Well, I
Speaker 1: think what you see with Lamar Jackson is pretty traditional
Speaker 1: what you see in the journey of a young NFL
Speaker 1: quarterback in that he opened up with much better skills
Speaker 1: than anybody anticipated. His development was far above what anybody
Speaker 1: thought from a year ago. And then in the last
Speaker 1: two weeks we have seen teams adjust what they're doing
Speaker 1: defensively they've grown some different looks. He hasn't adjusted quite
Speaker 1: as well. This last week against the Steelers, he had
Speaker 1: his lowest quarterback rating, his highest interception count, and then
Speaker 1: most sacks he's taken in the game. So he did
Speaker 1: not have a particularly strong game, which is going to
Speaker 1: happen to young guys. But the thing I like the
Speaker 1: most about Lamar Jackson is he has a quality that
Speaker 1: I haven't seen in young quarterbacks since Dan Marino. And
Speaker 1: I'll take get back to Marino in the eighties with
Speaker 1: the Dolphins because my dad was the offensive line coach
Speaker 1: and he used to always say Marino as a young
Speaker 1: player if he had a three interception game, which is rare,
Speaker 1: but on a third interception, he walked to the sideline
Speaker 1: be all mad, cussing my dad and say, bleeve be bleep,
Speaker 1: Now I've got to throw four touchdown passes to win.
Speaker 1: He always had the mindset up what he had to
Speaker 1: do yet to win the game. And Lamar Jackson has
Speaker 1: that same thing. He doesn't get all hung up in
Speaker 1: his quarterback rating or I've thrown to three interceptions. It's
Speaker 1: always what do I need to do next to make
Speaker 1: sure we win the game. So in the overtime of
Speaker 1: the Steelers game, he's in danger of his sixth sack
Speaker 1: that's going to knock the Ravens out of field goal range,
Speaker 1: and instead he just makes a quick heads up decision
Speaker 1: to scramble to the left where he can get back
Speaker 1: to the line of scrimmage and preserve the field goal range.
Speaker 1: So that's the thing I do like about him, even
Speaker 1: as he goes to his learning curve. By the way,
Speaker 1: your dad was a hell of an offensive line coach.
Speaker 1: I had him in one of the College All Star Games.
Speaker 1: A great dancer too. He get up and cut a
Speaker 1: rug now at one of the one of the dinners.
Speaker 1: That was pretty outstanding. He had great feat was right, great,
Speaker 1: look my dad. Now you can hear the buzzers going,
Speaker 1: good now my dad. That I'm always of NBA three.
Speaker 1: Really he was a great coach. But he could dance
Speaker 1: and he could oh yeah, yeah, you're right, he was.
Speaker 1: He had he had like a Pavarotti caliber voice, and
Speaker 1: he could dance. And because I was always fascinated by
Speaker 1: the fact that my dad was this huge man, a
Speaker 1: former pro player and he could dance so well. From
Speaker 1: that point forward, I personally think the combines a waste
Speaker 1: of time. If you want to find out who is
Speaker 1: eligible to play offensive line in the NFL, take him,
Speaker 1: put him on a dance floor, and see who's light
Speaker 1: under feet, because I think that is a truer test
Speaker 1: of who has the DNA necessary to be an NFL
Speaker 1: offensive lineman. Dancing with the stars NFL combine style. I
Speaker 1: love it. Maybe that part of the exactly exactly so
Speaker 1: obviously the running game is making a life a lot
Speaker 1: easier for Lamar Jackson. He's a big part of the
Speaker 1: running game. Ingram has seventy four carries, He has fifty,
Speaker 1: Edwards has thirty eight. I mean that is a three
Speaker 1: headed monster in anybody's book. That all of them are averaging,
Speaker 1: you know, great yards per carry Ingram six rushing touchdowns,
Speaker 1: tied for second most in the NFL. How good has
Speaker 1: that rushing game been, averaging over one hundred and ninety
Speaker 1: two yards a game and leading the NFL and points
Speaker 1: scored as a result of it. It's been spectacular because
Speaker 1: it's not just a one dimensional running game. When they
Speaker 1: were not got mark Ingram, they really completed their ability
Speaker 1: to run at any angle around the field. Mcgus Edwards
Speaker 1: is a wrecking ball. He's going to go between garden center.
Speaker 1: He's just going to He's one cut, he's gonna slam
Speaker 1: right at the middle. Ingram takes you all the way
Speaker 1: out to the tackle, and then Lamar takes you all
Speaker 1: the way to the sideline. So the ability to stretched
Speaker 1: defenses out with very different styles of runners, you know,
Speaker 1: it makes it really hard for a defensive coordinator say, Okay,
Speaker 1: we're gonna take this area of the field away from
Speaker 1: this running back. You can do that, but you still
Speaker 1: are going to be vulnerable in other areas. We are
Speaker 1: visiting with the voice of the Ravens, Jerry Sandusky. Statistically,
Speaker 1: Baltimore has struggled against the pass, giving up two hundred
Speaker 1: and eighty yards a game. But I wonder if that's
Speaker 1: just because teams have a hard time running against those
Speaker 1: gigantic tackles. How tell me how accurate the statistics are.
Speaker 1: They're unfortunately very accurate. Then the Ravens path defense has
Speaker 1: had some scaping holes, and the fluke of the running
Speaker 1: numbers was the one game when Brandon Williams wasn't able
Speaker 1: to go because of a knee injury. He's the difference
Speaker 1: maker in the run defense. When he's in there, they
Speaker 1: give up on average about ninety four yards a game.
Speaker 1: When he's not in there, they gave up one hundred
Speaker 1: and seventy four yards a game. So the one game
Speaker 1: when he's not in there, Yeah, those numbers are a
Speaker 1: little bit misleading, but the secondaries numbers are I would
Speaker 1: say very accurate. I mean, they have not been good
Speaker 1: in the secondary. The effect communication breakdown, They've had coverage breakdowns.
Speaker 1: Their pass rush has been inconsistent, quarterbacks have had way
Speaker 1: too much time to throw, and they have been beating
Speaker 1: that secondary for chunk plays, which is just so unusual
Speaker 1: for the Ravens on all levels that you know, the
Speaker 1: numbers are real and the concern is real as well.
Speaker 1: I want to go back to the offense for just
Speaker 1: a second and talk about the tight ends. You guys
Speaker 1: have had some great tight ends, you know, individual players
Speaker 1: in your franchise history. But this group of tight ends
Speaker 1: is it as good as you've had. I mean, three
Speaker 1: of the top five receivers for Jackson or tight ends,
Speaker 1: and I'm looking at Andrews, He's got fifteen third down
Speaker 1: catches on twenty eight receptions. I mean that's you know,
Speaker 1: he's Number one in the NFL and third down catches.
Speaker 1: He's got three touchdown receptions. The tight ends seem to be,
Speaker 1: you know, not only a factor in the running game,
Speaker 1: but they can catch the football pretty damn well you
Speaker 1: hit it right on the head. And that not only
Speaker 1: do they have three good tight ends, but just like
Speaker 1: the running backs, the three tight ends compliment each other.
Speaker 1: Nick Boyle is a power blocker. He is the kind
Speaker 1: of guy who can line up in the backfield on
Speaker 1: the wing as a fullback and bring the noise. Mark
Speaker 1: Andrews has a unique skill that only football players will understand.
Speaker 1: This he's ordinary. Looking at OTA's coming out of college,
Speaker 1: I even thought, why did the Ravens draft his kids
Speaker 1: in the third round? There's nothing special about him. And
Speaker 1: then when you put them on pad pads put him
Speaker 1: in a game. He has the ability to find the
Speaker 1: open spot in the zone and to settle down better
Speaker 1: than anybody I've ever seen since maybe Todd Heap, Shannon
Speaker 1: Sharp that that good of a player, and then Hayden
Speaker 1: Hurst last years number one. Tick has really started to emerge.
Speaker 1: I think he probably is the best hands of the group.
Speaker 1: So you've got three different guys who can stretch the fields.
Speaker 1: Who can do the blocking, who can really open up
Speaker 1: number to number for Lamar Jackson, And they're set up
Speaker 1: by Hollywood Brown Speed. So that's the conundrum, you know.
Speaker 1: Moving forward, we talked about the defense and making some adjustments.
Speaker 1: I think you'll see the Ravens make some adjustments starting
Speaker 1: this week. Look at you want to take Hollywood Brown
Speaker 1: Speed away. That means you've got to take your safeties
Speaker 1: far to on the field. You can't put him fifteen
Speaker 1: yards off the line of scrimmage. And once you do that,
Speaker 1: then you open up that middle area. And that's why
Speaker 1: the tight ends are having so much success because you
Speaker 1: can't take away three tight ends and Hollywood Brown. There
Speaker 1: just aren't enough guys in the back end of a
Speaker 1: secondary to do that. Right. We're visiting with a voice
Speaker 1: of the Ravens. Jerry Sandusky will have a great looking
Speaker 1: haircut when he's in the booth on Sunday clippers in
Speaker 1: the background. Hats My hair is great, but I don't
Speaker 1: have great hair, so you can only do so much.
Speaker 1: Trust me. I feel your pains unfair, Sorry about that, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's all right. Justin Tucker is the best kicker in NFL. History.
Speaker 1: He hasn't missed a kick yet yet this year, field
Speaker 1: goal or extra point. But I'm intrigued by the kickoffs
Speaker 1: because he has become the best weapon at pinning teams
Speaker 1: deep in their own territory in the league. Describe what
Speaker 1: the Ravens are doing when they kick off. So it's
Speaker 1: really a great move by Christ their special teams coordinator,
Speaker 1: and John Hardball, who has a special team's background, And
Speaker 1: we've all kind of grown customs the last couple of
Speaker 1: years of the day rigger kickoff, touchback, kickoff, touchback. Well,
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden, the Raibos started to ship
Speaker 1: and they use this really high, short kickoff and the
Speaker 1: first time I saw it, I thought, whoa, he must
Speaker 1: have gotten too low under the ball, and then I realized, no,
Speaker 1: that's totally intentional. They're using the punt mentality on the kickoff,
Speaker 1: and they're forcing teams to return kicks that they have
Speaker 1: to catch the five yard line, but they have no
Speaker 1: time to set up any kind of blocking, so the
Speaker 1: return is getting only out about the fifteen sixteen yard line,
Speaker 1: And instead of teams starting on the twenty five, they're
Speaker 1: starting inside their own twenty because of the way Tucker
Speaker 1: has been able to make the adjustment to pin people
Speaker 1: back with a high short kickoff fifteen point six yards
Speaker 1: per kickoff return, second best in the NFL due to
Speaker 1: that strategy. And yeah, I mean leave it to John
Speaker 1: Harbaugh and others to utilize. You know this this guy's talents.
Speaker 1: He is without a doubt. I mean, the way he
Speaker 1: played that wind in Pittsburgh, all the fans in the
Speaker 1: end zon't going crazy. You think it's gonna go, you know,
Speaker 1: wide left, and just plays that plays that fade right
Speaker 1: back through the uprights and broke their hearts. I mean,
Speaker 1: this guy is He's is dominant his position. I think
Speaker 1: as anybody is at their position in the NFL, I
Speaker 1: would agree. I mean, statistically he's the most accurate. But
Speaker 1: you know the statistics can lie. What doesn't lie about
Speaker 1: Justin Tucker is we were talking about my dad was
Speaker 1: a great singer. We Justin Tucker is an opera singer too,
Speaker 1: and he right the stage. He loves the spotlight, he
Speaker 1: loves the performance. So when the spotlight is on him,
Speaker 1: when the game is on him, when that pressure that
Speaker 1: cracks a lot of kickers is on him, it brings
Speaker 1: him to live and he just kind of steps into it,
Speaker 1: and he's so natural. He loves that moment, and he
Speaker 1: has proven he is quite good at that moment. So
Speaker 1: in your I know, it's early in the week, and
Speaker 1: I don't know how many conversations you've had, you know,
Speaker 1: with members of the Baltimore organization, particularly the coaches. I
Speaker 1: just curry. Has anybody said anything about the on five
Speaker 1: start and what they think of the Cincinnati Bengals at
Speaker 1: this stage of Zach Taylor's tenure. You know, it's really interesting, Dave,
Speaker 1: because if you were, let's say you were a team
Speaker 1: winner player all the time, say you were the Denver
Speaker 1: Broncos or maybe the La Rams, and you were off
Speaker 1: to an on five start, there'd be a lot of
Speaker 1: talk about that, especially with a rookie head coach. But
Speaker 1: because you have so many players who are familiar that
Speaker 1: the Ravens have played against, and because the Bengals have
Speaker 1: been so successful against the Ravens and the Ravens frustrations
Speaker 1: have been consistent and enormous, there is literally nobody talking
Speaker 1: about the Bengals record. The only record they're focusing on
Speaker 1: is the record the Bengals have had against the Ravens.
Speaker 1: In recent years, so the respect is a lot higher
Speaker 1: than you might expect with an on five record. Bengals
Speaker 1: and Ravens have split the regular season matchups in each
Speaker 1: of the last three years, but prior to that, Cincinnati
Speaker 1: beat Baltimore five straight times. That's going to do it
Speaker 1: for this edition of the podcast. If you haven't done
Speaker 1: so already, don't forget to subscribe, and if you have
Speaker 1: a minute, give it a rating or share a comment.
Speaker 1: Five star ratings help more Bengals fans find this podcast.
Speaker 1: I'm Dan Horde and thank you for listening to The
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth podcast.