Speaker 1: Hi, Get Everybody. I Dan Hord and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The Keep Roll and Roll and
Speaker 1: Roll and Rolling addition, as the Bengals look to extend
Speaker 1: their winning streak to five straight as they host the
Speaker 1: four and four Houston Texans. Coming up, I'll talk to
Speaker 1: Cam Taylor Britt about facing rookie quarterback c J. Stroud
Speaker 1: and we'll find out what teammate he avoids when he
Speaker 1: cruises around the locker room with a camera after wins.
Speaker 1: After a big night for the tight Ends last week,
Speaker 1: I'll discuss it with the best tight End in franchise history.
Speaker 1: And this week's no the Faux segment, we'll get the
Speaker 1: lowdown on the Texans from the radio voice Mark Vandermere.
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Corps,
Speaker 1: Proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider, by
Speaker 1: All to Fiber future proof Fiber Internet design to elevate
Speaker 1: your home, business and community to a new level, and
Speaker 1: by Kettering Health the best care for the best fans.
Speaker 1: Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals.
Speaker 1: Now here's a quick reminder that you can have the
Speaker 1: latest edition of this podcast delivered write to your phone, tablet,
Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's
Speaker 1: the greatest thing since Striping the Jungle. I've got to
Speaker 1: hand it to everybody in attendance last Sunday night at
Speaker 1: pay Course Stadium, Striping the Jungle in alternating sections of
Speaker 1: orange and black looked absolutely incredible in person and on
Speaker 1: national TV. In fact, they're already selling panoramic photos of
Speaker 1: the tiger striped stadium at the Bengals Pro shop. I've
Speaker 1: also seen an amusing meme for what the Bengals should
Speaker 1: try next. Somebody made an image for the upcoming home
Speaker 1: game against Pittsburgh that shows most of the fans wearing
Speaker 1: black except for the ones that spell out Steeler suck
Speaker 1: in Org. Well done, sir. This week's opponent is Houston,
Speaker 1: a team that only won three games last year and
Speaker 1: already has four wins this year, thanks in large part
Speaker 1: to rookie quarterbacks.
Speaker 2: C J.
Speaker 1: Stroud, the second pick in the draft out of Ohio State,
Speaker 1: is fourth in the league in passer rating, has the
Speaker 1: best ratio of touchdown passes to interceptions in the NFL
Speaker 1: at fourteen to one, and through for a rookie record
Speaker 1: four hundred and seventy yards last week in a last
Speaker 1: second win over Tampa Bay. It's a major challenge for Cam,
Speaker 1: Taylor Britt and the Bengals secondary and I caught up
Speaker 1: with Cam this week.
Speaker 2: Cam.
Speaker 1: One of the things that many of us now look
Speaker 1: forward to after Bengals wins is the Cam Taylor Britt.
Speaker 1: Dubcam typically shows you walking around the locker room dancing
Speaker 1: with teammates who walk in and out of the frame.
Speaker 1: How did the dubcam get started?
Speaker 3: Honestly, I think you started. I don't know what win
Speaker 3: did we get, but it was last year when I,
Speaker 3: uh think I went on live on my Instagram and
Speaker 3: they kind of just blew up and everybody was like, oh,
Speaker 3: we need to see this every time. And I think
Speaker 3: after that game, uh, you know, that's when we you know,
Speaker 3: it was just started streaking and every game, you know,
Speaker 3: it was cams cam, the dub cam, you know, and
Speaker 3: I take it on. You know, sometimes I forget, you know,
Speaker 3: he's even coming, and then they hit me with it,
Speaker 3: so you know.
Speaker 4: I just do my thing.
Speaker 1: I should clarify when you say streaking, you mean winning streak,
Speaker 1: not people streaking in the background running around naked. So
Speaker 1: in last week's dub cam, Brian Callahan made a cameo appearance.
Speaker 1: I always get a kick out of bj Hill. He
Speaker 1: seems to be a regular. Are there certain guys that
Speaker 1: amuse you? And is there anybody that give you the
Speaker 1: look that says, I don't really want to be on uh?
Speaker 3: I think most of my teamers are, you know, kind
Speaker 3: of accepting of the the cams cam dub cam thing. Uh.
Speaker 3: It said proud to Trey Hendry say, you know he
Speaker 3: still you know, turned turned up, you know, fired up
Speaker 3: from the game, so you know he's just ready to get.
Speaker 4: Up by cam.
Speaker 1: When I asked coaches about you, one of the first
Speaker 1: things that they always mention is your confidence. Of all
Speaker 1: of the good traits that a cornerback has to have, speed, agility, whatever,
Speaker 1: how important is confidence.
Speaker 3: I feel like you that should be a number one thing.
Speaker 3: You know, you're out there on the island, you know,
Speaker 3: and your your team trusty. You know, I feel like
Speaker 3: I put myself in these situations all the time throughout
Speaker 3: my life. You know, four seconds left in the fourth quarter,
Speaker 3: you know, just imagine myself, you know, out there on
Speaker 3: the island. You know, getting the ball throw and making
Speaker 3: a huge play. And I've dreamed that, you know, and
Speaker 3: and had the opportunity for you know, it to happen.
Speaker 3: You know, I think that's the biggest thing, you know,
Speaker 3: just not shining away from anything, you know, just going there,
Speaker 3: you know, putting my bits for forward, you know, just
Speaker 3: doing it, you know, no hesitation.
Speaker 1: You've been making a lot of big plays lately. You've
Speaker 1: had three interceptions in the last four games. You never
Speaker 1: had more than two in a season at Nebraska. Is
Speaker 1: that because at the college level teams were reluctant to
Speaker 1: throw your way or have you become better at ball skills,
Speaker 1: accepting passes, whatever.
Speaker 3: So we played a lot of zone in Nebraska, but
Speaker 3: also when we did playing man, I didn't get a
Speaker 3: lot of targets. It started to get like that after
Speaker 3: my sophomore year to where I had to just you know,
Speaker 3: try to try to just make those plays, you know,
Speaker 3: whenever they did come to me. But other than that,
Speaker 3: you know, I really didn't, you know, get too much action.
Speaker 1: What's your biggest area of improvement from rookie year to
Speaker 1: second year.
Speaker 3: My preparation, you know, just preparing for the next team,
Speaker 3: you know, just my whole routine. It is different, you know.
Speaker 3: I feel like, you know, I've axed out some things
Speaker 3: and you know, just also added some things. You know,
Speaker 3: the the you know better myself and that you know,
Speaker 3: different aspects in life. You know.
Speaker 1: Did you learn that from Vets or was that a
Speaker 1: matter of I realized this is what I have to
Speaker 1: do to be successful in this league.
Speaker 3: So most definitely. I did talk to events last year,
Speaker 3: but I think just coming into the season, I had to,
Speaker 3: you know, just go on my own and you know,
Speaker 3: take my experiences and kind of just put it into
Speaker 3: play and you know, just map that out for you know,
Speaker 3: how I work for myself.
Speaker 1: I think you've played in twenty one games, including the
Speaker 1: playoff games last year. Do you feel like a VET
Speaker 1: at this point?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Just tab it, you know, most definitely. And I can see,
Speaker 3: you know, some of my teammate see me as that
Speaker 3: as well. So you know, I just take it on,
Speaker 3: you know, because it is what it is.
Speaker 1: For chatting Cam Taylor Bread. I look at the secondary room.
Speaker 1: You're in your second year, Dax Hills in his second year.
Speaker 1: DJ Turner is a rookie. Jordan Battles a rookie do
Speaker 1: you look around the room and think, man, we could
Speaker 1: be good for a long time with this group.
Speaker 3: Most definitely, I think a lot of people says that
Speaker 3: you know, and yeah, well when you look at it,
Speaker 3: most definitely are that we are young on the back end,
Speaker 3: but you know we're damn good and you know, just
Speaker 3: use working together for multiple years to come. Yeah, I
Speaker 3: think the Skuys are living for this group.
Speaker 1: Every cornerback is going to get beaten from time to time.
Speaker 1: It happens. When it happens to you, what goes to
Speaker 1: your mind and how do you bounce back on the
Speaker 1: next snap.
Speaker 3: It's like I replayed quickly, you know, back through my head.
Speaker 3: No what I did wrong for them to catch that ball.
Speaker 3: It wasn't anything spectacular that they did. You know, I
Speaker 3: just need to make sure my technique is better on
Speaker 3: the next rip. But you know it, last year, I
Speaker 3: think I was a more of a guy, you know,
Speaker 3: the kind of beat myself up and my teammates on me.
Speaker 3: You know, like you know it's gonna be all right,
Speaker 3: Da da dah. But you know now that I, you know,
Speaker 3: had the opportunity to play in games, had my own experiences,
Speaker 3: and you know, the welcome to the NFL moments and everything.
Speaker 3: You know, it's just you know, I kind of know
Speaker 3: just how to deal with things now, you know, just
Speaker 3: you know, let it roll off my shoulder on to
Speaker 3: the next player.
Speaker 1: Was the relmost significant welcome to the NFL moment for you?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I think I said it last year, the Terrence Marshall one.
Speaker 3: I believe I still should have made a play on
Speaker 3: the ball. I think about it now if it would
Speaker 3: have happened. I promised that what happened is just crazy
Speaker 3: because yeah, you know, and me and him McCool. So
Speaker 3: for that to happen, you know, it just stuck with me.
Speaker 1: So you faced the Texans this week and a rookie
Speaker 1: quarterback who's playing well and c J. Stroud you faced
Speaker 1: them a couple of years ago when you were at
Speaker 1: Nebraska and he was at Ohio State. Nebraska had a
Speaker 1: couple of interceptions in that game. What do you think
Speaker 1: think of c J. Stroud and the way that he's
Speaker 1: performing is a rookie.
Speaker 3: I believe you know, he's performing, you know, past everybody's expectations.
Speaker 3: You know, I I don't think a lot of people,
Speaker 3: you know, knew what he was gonna do, and got
Speaker 3: to the league. But you know, as I seen in college,
Speaker 3: he was always a sound quarterback, you know, very like
Speaker 3: a system guy, knows where to put the ball. You know,
Speaker 3: doesn't want to, you know, throw turnovers, you know, just
Speaker 3: throw the game away. But you know, once he trust
Speaker 3: his guys, he trust him and he's gonna put him
Speaker 3: in that position every time. I know, they love the
Speaker 3: deep balls. And if he, like I said, he trust
Speaker 3: his guys, he's gonna get him opportunity. So you know,
Speaker 3: that's that's the guy he's turned into right now that
Speaker 3: you know I've seen, you know through a film, you know,
Speaker 3: through just watching games. You know, he's getting comfortable out there.
Speaker 3: You know, we gotta be ready to stop him.
Speaker 1: He's one rookie that's doing well, and wide receiver Tank
Speaker 1: Dell is another. He's averaging more than sixteen yards to catch.
Speaker 1: He's got four touchdowns. He's a little guy, he's five ten,
Speaker 1: like one hundred and sixty five pounds, but super fast,
Speaker 1: super quick. Are those guys hard to cover?
Speaker 3: We got something for everybody, and on the back end,
Speaker 3: you know, we'll switch it up on the most definite
Speaker 3: I want to say, it's hard to cover, you know,
Speaker 3: just put hands on all right.
Speaker 1: Final topic for Cam Taylor Brett. I was checking out
Speaker 1: Camtaylor brit dot com looking at the merchandise. Got some
Speaker 1: good gear on that website. Your nickname is Juice or
Speaker 1: Cam Juice or some Juice shirts and hoodies and stuff
Speaker 1: like that. But I want to ask you about the
Speaker 1: logo because the logo is great. It's a juice box
Speaker 1: with the letter C in it. Obviously Cam Juice who
Speaker 1: came up.
Speaker 4: With the logo.
Speaker 3: Shout out to my dog Aura Gharsht. He Me and him,
Speaker 3: you know, kind of went back and forth with ideas,
Speaker 3: just trying to figure out what my logo would be.
Speaker 3: Back in college. We were kind of the first one
Speaker 3: to try to you know, start the nil with Smecia Rattler,
Speaker 3: So you know, we just put our ideas together and
Speaker 3: he sent.
Speaker 4: Me the logo.
Speaker 3: I was like, bro, like this perfect, you know this,
Speaker 3: you know basically you know what his stance for Camjuice,
Speaker 3: and you know, I just kind of took it on
Speaker 3: and we started, you know, trade marketing to make sure
Speaker 3: everything was official. It started the brand and it's kind
Speaker 3: of just taking off. People doing their own thing with it.
Speaker 3: With the Juice game Jerseys and you know, just you know,
Speaker 3: I'm glad to see you know something that I started,
Speaker 3: you know, take off.
Speaker 1: I'll throw in another plug for Camtaylor Brick dot Com.
Speaker 1: Some good gear there, Yes, there you go.
Speaker 2: Get that.
Speaker 1: Best of luck this week. Appreciate you, Thomas always, Thank you.
Speaker 1: Cam is one of three players from last year's draft
Speaker 1: class who is currently starting. Dax Hill and Cordel Vohlsen
Speaker 1: are the others. Additionally, Zach Carter is a regular in
Speaker 1: the defensive line rotation, and Tyson Anderson was leading the
Speaker 1: team in special teams tackles before tearing his ACL in
Speaker 1: the San Francisco game. Remarkably, Tyson actually suffered the injury
Speaker 1: early in that game and kept playing. One of the
Speaker 1: keys to last week's went over Buffalo was the production
Speaker 1: of the tight end group. Tanner Hudson, Drew Sample and
Speaker 1: earth Smith Junior combined for ten catches for one hundred
Speaker 1: and one yards and two touchdowns. Together, they were Travis
Speaker 1: kelce Esqus the biggest pop star in the world. Girlfriend.
Speaker 1: It seemed like a good time to catch up with
Speaker 1: the greatest tight end in Bengals history, four time Pro
Speaker 1: bowler Bob Trumpy, who will be the ruler of the
Speaker 1: jungle this Sunday at pay Course Stadium. With the trio
Speaker 1: of wide receivers that they have, how important is the
Speaker 1: tight end position in this offense?
Speaker 4: Key, If he's willing to do it, he's going to
Speaker 4: be open a lot. You see the guy in Kansas City,
Speaker 4: he just goes down, turns around and waits for the
Speaker 4: quarterback in Kansas City to find him, throws him in
Speaker 4: the ball six eight yards. You take it. Tight Ends
Speaker 4: can't be particular. If we get it for four or
Speaker 4: five six yards, that's good. Shut up, go back to
Speaker 4: the huddle. You're the outlet again. And with the three
Speaker 4: wide receivers that they have and the attention that they
Speaker 4: get from defenses, yeah, the tight end could be very,
Speaker 4: very productive and workers way up in the confidence level
Speaker 4: of the quarterback. But you've got a six foot five
Speaker 4: inch quarterback looking over the defensive line that tight ends
Speaker 4: easy to find. I'm all for it.
Speaker 1: I'm sure that you are. What do you admire and
Speaker 1: respect about Joe Burrow?
Speaker 4: I hear everybody say he's so cool. I've never met
Speaker 4: Joe Burrow. But there are some people that are born
Speaker 4: to the position. They have a mindset. They're just born
Speaker 4: to the position. Joe seems to have the mindset to
Speaker 4: be to be born to the position, which is leadership.
Speaker 4: On the sideline, leaving him around alone. He sits there
Speaker 4: and looks at his his surface, and you know, everybody
Speaker 4: leaves him alone. I don't see him running up and
Speaker 4: down and do this, do this. I need more from you.
Speaker 4: That's the thing I think I like the most about him.
Speaker 4: That I don't like the way he dresses.
Speaker 1: The game. But you're not his audience.
Speaker 4: But he handled this this whole thing so beautifully. Uh
Speaker 4: what he says afterwards smoking a cigar. You know at
Speaker 4: LSU there's a lot to like about him. And when
Speaker 4: he's healthy, which we've witnessed the last two weeks. You
Speaker 4: and I had a conversation about a month ago about
Speaker 4: is he healthy enough to such and such. When healthy,
Speaker 4: he's going to be hard to beat for a lot
Speaker 4: of years.
Speaker 1: They've won four straight, they've won five out of six
Speaker 1: last two weeks. They've beaten two of the best teams
Speaker 1: in the league, Episco in Buffalo. At this point, can
Speaker 1: we confidently say they are back and among the best
Speaker 1: teams in the NFL?
Speaker 4: Uh Finn at run running back. That's my concern. Joe
Speaker 4: Mixon establishing establishing some control of the line of scrimmage
Speaker 4: by the offensive line. His thret is key. That makes
Speaker 4: I think everything else work back. I don't know. There's
Speaker 4: a lot of teams that have improved dramatically. Baltimore's defense
Speaker 4: is better, Cleveland's defense is better. So you got to
Speaker 4: win the division and we're zer and two against those guys.
Speaker 4: So are they back? I don't know. You see them
Speaker 4: up close and personal. They look pretty good. But there's
Speaker 4: about a half a dozen teams in the AFC that
Speaker 4: everybody's chasing. Bigels are certainly one of them.
Speaker 1: I think they're back, but there's obviously a long way
Speaker 1: to go. Seven teams in the AFC make the playoffs,
Speaker 1: four division winners, three wild cards. Right now, all four
Speaker 1: teams from the AFC North are in Baltimore leads the division,
Speaker 1: the other three are the three wild cards. Is the
Speaker 1: AFC North clearly the best division in football in Europe?
Speaker 4: It appears to me, yes, no hesitation whatsoever. Absolutely. Philadelphia
Speaker 4: on the other side is certainly appearing to be very strong.
Speaker 4: But in the AFC, yeah, you've got to go through
Speaker 4: the AFC North and it's not easy. And you certainly
Speaker 4: include the Bengals. Yeah, they're up there. What do you
Speaker 4: think of lou Anarumo, He's a magician. In my retired life,
Speaker 4: I try to pay attention very close to the defense.
Speaker 4: I don't know what's coming next. They give you one look,
Speaker 4: they show one defense, play another, they show blitz drop
Speaker 4: the blitzer out. He's a magician. And look, the defense
Speaker 4: has great speed at a key position. Linebackers, they're good tacklers,
Speaker 4: and the most important thing is when they make all
Speaker 4: these changes from the time they line up until the
Speaker 4: ball is snapped. I don't see anybody at a position
Speaker 4: so deep deep. It's a playbook and it appears complicated,
Speaker 4: and everybody handles it beautifully, and it's really flomoxed a
Speaker 4: lot of opponents. What's he doing? Are you seeing other
Speaker 4: teams trying to do the same thing? I have? Yeah,
Speaker 4: not as well, not as well. You're absolutely right, not
Speaker 4: as well. But to lose baits and put almost a
Speaker 4: rookie kid back there at safety and he catches on
Speaker 4: that says an awful lot for lou He's an absolute magician.
Speaker 4: Don't scream that too loud. Because I have a feeling
Speaker 4: he might be a candidate as a head coach for
Speaker 4: somebody else, and we don't want that.
Speaker 1: He doesn't need me to sing his praises. I think
Speaker 1: the word is definitely out, but we'll keep him as
Speaker 1: long as we possibly can. The atmosphere on Sunday night
Speaker 1: last week was awesome. Night games at pay Course Stadium
Speaker 1: becomes such an event. And this city is obviously really
Speaker 1: rallied around the Bengals in the last few years. You've
Speaker 1: been here in Super Bowl runs previous to this. What
Speaker 1: do you think of Cincinnati When the Bengals run a roll?
Speaker 4: They're the topic of conversation. I don't know who I
Speaker 4: was talking to. Going back to nineteen sixty eight, somebody
Speaker 4: brought in a sheet of tickets for the Bengals in
Speaker 4: nineteen sixty eight that were unused, seven dollars and twenty
Speaker 4: five cents each, and the guy said, can you imagine that?
Speaker 4: I said, you know the thing I remember about nineteen
Speaker 4: sixty eight, sixty nine, and even seventy when we went
Speaker 4: into Riverfront Stadium, the people going to the game, they
Speaker 4: were very reserved whether we won or loss, and they
Speaker 4: were wearing a button down collar, white shirt, tie, sport
Speaker 4: code or suit. And look at them now. The conversation
Speaker 4: about the Bengals happens every day, all day long. That's
Speaker 4: great that I have a feeling. Certainly they were popular before,
Speaker 4: but with Joe Burrow the promise, you know, the future
Speaker 4: going to be an awful lot of fans for an
Speaker 4: awful long time. They might want to figure out a
Speaker 4: way to put more seats in the stadium.
Speaker 1: Are you excited to be the ruler of the jungle?
Speaker 4: Sure? Absolutely. I barely rule my house, so being the
Speaker 4: ruler of anything is important to me at my age.
Speaker 1: I'm sure you will rule it well. They play Houston
Speaker 1: this week. I think most football fans expected the Texans
Speaker 1: to stink this year. They've got a rookie quarterback out
Speaker 1: of Ohio State, CJ. Stroud. He's been spectacular. Any thoughts
Speaker 1: on Sunday's game.
Speaker 4: I love seeing these rookie quarterbacks have great starts. I'm
Speaker 4: all for that. And the Bengals they're difficult to deal with.
Speaker 4: I don't care who comes in here offensively and defensively.
Speaker 4: Houstin's going to have problems dealing with this, and I
Speaker 4: hope the best for the young kid, but next week,
Speaker 4: not this week.
Speaker 1: I agree with you one hundred percent. We look forward
Speaker 1: to you ruling the Jungles.
Speaker 4: Thank you Sunday. I appreciate your time, my pleasure.
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by pay Corps,
Speaker 1: proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider, by
Speaker 1: Alta Fiber future Proof Fiber Internet designed to elevate your home,
Speaker 1: business and community to a new level, and by Kettering
Speaker 1: Health the best Care for the best fans. Kettering Health
Speaker 1: is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. We're paying
Speaker 1: close attention this week to the status of wide receivers
Speaker 1: Jamar Chase and t Higgins. Jamar didn't practice on Wednesday
Speaker 1: after falling down hard on his back in the Buffalo game,
Speaker 1: and t was limited practice due to a hamstring injury.
Speaker 1: If either, or God forbid both can't play on Sunday,
Speaker 1: Tyler Boyd, Trenton Irwin, andre Yosi Vosh and maybe Charlie
Speaker 1: Jones or Kwame Lassiter will have to fill the void.
Speaker 1: Boyd had back to back one thousand yard seasons before
Speaker 1: Chase and Higgins joined the team, and says he'll be
Speaker 1: ready to do whatever is needed.
Speaker 5: You know, I might have to step up a lot more.
Speaker 5: I might get a lot more opportunities when a guy
Speaker 5: like him is down, you know, But I'll brace them
Speaker 5: rules because I've been there before, you know, and I
Speaker 5: don't shy away for no moments.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 5: I always be there on my numbers call, you know,
Speaker 5: like I know, I got to do it more. Got
Speaker 5: a guys. He chased down any of those guys, and
Speaker 5: that's how they'll probably feel if I go down as well.
Speaker 5: But again, like I said, we got the our back
Speaker 5: ups man playing so well. I mean, I feel comfortable
Speaker 5: if even if I might not get the extra lot,
Speaker 5: and maybe they might feel comfortable. I mean, I feel
Speaker 5: comfortable with bit. You just put any of those guys
Speaker 5: in chase this position and to just continue to do
Speaker 5: what we do. Just give him the balls, you know,
Speaker 5: either way, I feel comfortable.
Speaker 1: Charlie Jones, the fourth round draft pick out of Purdue
Speaker 1: this year, was cleared to practice on Wednesday after missing
Speaker 1: the last five games with a broken right thumb. He's
Speaker 1: eligible to be activated anytime in the next three weeks.
Speaker 1: With that injury, you can still stay in shape. Do
Speaker 1: you feel like you could play if needed.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I feel like I'm ready to go. The trainers
Speaker 6: did a good job with me on the other field,
Speaker 6: just keeping me, you know, in shape, running, running routs,
Speaker 6: catching punts. So you know, today I felt good being
Speaker 6: out there. Obviously practice is a little bit different than
Speaker 6: being off to the side, but I think, you know,
Speaker 6: a couple of days of it and you know, I'm
Speaker 6: ready to go.
Speaker 1: While you were hurt, Joe got healthy. Are you eager
Speaker 1: to be one of his targets now that he's able
Speaker 1: to move around?
Speaker 2: Oh?
Speaker 6: Yeah, you know watching him has been awesome seeing him,
Speaker 6: you know, first and foremost is feeling healthy, being healthy
Speaker 6: out there, and then playing the way that we all
Speaker 6: know he could play. So I'm definitely looking forward to
Speaker 6: to getting my chance to show him that I'm someone
Speaker 6: he could rely on.
Speaker 1: While Charlie was out of action, he practiced catching punts
Speaker 1: with his left hand only since he couldn't use his right.
Speaker 1: Now time for this week know the Faux Segment. Mark
Speaker 1: Vandermere is the radio voice of the Texans, and he
Speaker 1: joined Lapping Me this week on the Bengals Game Plan show.
Speaker 1: I asked him if he's surprised by the teams four
Speaker 1: and four start well.
Speaker 2: Dan, you know, I'm a little surprised, I guess about
Speaker 2: the proficiency of the passing game with CJ. Stroud being
Speaker 2: this good this quickly, I'm not surprised they're winning some
Speaker 2: games here. But we'll see where it all ends up, right,
Speaker 2: because we all know in this league sometimes the team
Speaker 2: will have a good first half not a good second half,
Speaker 2: vice versa. We'll see where it all goes. And I'm
Speaker 2: hoping the Texans get stronger, obviously, And I think the
Speaker 2: big surprise here is Stroud and the passing game, because
Speaker 2: I thought he'd be okay, and he's a rookie quarterback.
Speaker 2: I didn't think they had the weaponry that is being displayed,
Speaker 2: at least statistically right now. I thought they had some assets.
Speaker 2: Dalton Schultz looks good, Damian Pierce, Devin Singletary. I knew
Speaker 2: the receivers were okay at the very least, but man,
Speaker 2: they're putting on a show right now. And I credit
Speaker 2: the whole organization here, the mcnares for reaching out and
Speaker 2: hiring Demico Ryans, Nick Catherio, the GM. They've put together
Speaker 2: a nice group here and they've got four wins, so
Speaker 2: that's a pretty good start through eight games.
Speaker 7: Man the game that he had last week against Tampa Bay,
Speaker 7: completing seventy one point four percent of his passes, four
Speaker 7: hundred and seventy yards, five touchdowns, quarterback rating one four
Speaker 7: to seven point eight, no interceptions. I mean, rookie record
Speaker 7: for yards and for touchdowns, youngest to throw for four
Speaker 7: hundred and fifty yards more six quarterback in NFL history.
Speaker 7: I mean, that's just crazy watching him. He is so
Speaker 7: on time with his intermediate throws, and boy does he
Speaker 7: have an extremely accurate deep ball. He drops dimes on
Speaker 7: those deep balls.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that is really impressive. We all know how hard
Speaker 2: it is for quarterbacks to come into the league and
Speaker 2: throw to a window and there's nobody there yet. Right,
Speaker 2: even the touchdown pass that won the game last week,
Speaker 2: you know when he releases the ball, tank Dell is
Speaker 2: not in the area yet, but he knows he's going
Speaker 2: to be there. At least he hopes he's going to
Speaker 2: be there, and he's right. And Dell had that one
Speaker 2: where he caught it at the fifteen yard line to
Speaker 2: set up the winning play. That's a beautiful throw and
Speaker 2: catch as well. Stroud has the timing accuracy. It's funny
Speaker 2: because when he began training camp, you know, OTAs, let's
Speaker 2: go back there. He progressed really nicely because from where
Speaker 2: he started to where he finished, he improved a lot
Speaker 2: when camp began. If you told me day one, day
Speaker 2: two that he would do this in week nine, I'd
Speaker 2: say really. But and again it wasn't I doubt that
Speaker 2: he could be good. But he got off to a
Speaker 2: little bit of a slow start. And he's a rookie.
Speaker 2: You got to expect those things. And we always say this, right,
Speaker 2: everybody has to improve, everybody's got to get better. The
Speaker 2: rookies come into this league. I don't care where you played,
Speaker 2: if it's Alabama or wherever. You got to get better
Speaker 2: from where you started. And that's what he's doing. He's
Speaker 2: dedicated to it. He wants to be great. He's putting
Speaker 2: in the time and you're seeing the results.
Speaker 1: We began our show tonight, Mark by talking about the
Speaker 1: Bengals potential injury situation. Jamar Chase didn't practice today, Sam
Speaker 1: Hubbard was out, t Higgins was limited. Then we received
Speaker 1: the Texans injury report. I've never seen one this long
Speaker 1: in my life. Eleven guys didn't practice, nine guys were
Speaker 1: listed as limited. I imagine most of these guys are going
Speaker 1: to be able to play. But of the key players
Speaker 1: on the roster, which guys do you have your eye
Speaker 1: on his possible concerns for Sunday?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm looking at that injury report. It's easier to
Speaker 2: just read the Houston phone book. You know, there's so
Speaker 2: many names on it that you start to wonder, Wait
Speaker 2: a minute, because when you have a Wednesday did not practice,
Speaker 2: sometimes that's all right, You've got something right. There's an
Speaker 2: injury listed, But is it a day of rest for
Speaker 2: that injury or rehab for that injury? I think the
Speaker 2: key day turns out to be Thursday. You know, it's
Speaker 2: PGA equivalent of moving day on a Saturday. Thursday is
Speaker 2: when you got to make that move. Are you limited
Speaker 2: on Thursday or are you still at DNP Because you know,
Speaker 2: I watched Will Anderson limp a bit at the end
Speaker 2: of that game, and I thought, uh oh, and we
Speaker 2: saw a number of guys we thought uh oh. But
Speaker 2: John nettually had a practice today and he had a
Speaker 2: rib injury, so he hasn't really done everything yet that
Speaker 2: you hoped he would do when you drafted him. But
Speaker 2: he's on the rise. I think the key ones though.
Speaker 2: You know, obviously you look at Steven Nelson, you hope
Speaker 2: that he can play at corner. They had Derek Stingley
Speaker 2: Junior out of practice today, which was good. He was limited.
Speaker 2: He's coming back from a hamstring that put him on
Speaker 2: IR So we got a lot of guys that we
Speaker 2: had to wait and see, and this is a tough
Speaker 2: week to wait and see. But hey, this team has
Speaker 2: had so much injury adversity already, particularly on the O line,
Speaker 2: and at times when you think it's gonna be at
Speaker 2: its hardest, they come up with a great performance. They
Speaker 2: had Michael Dieter in there at center on Sunday. This
Speaker 2: is their fourth center since the start of training camp,
Speaker 2: and he has center starting experience with the Miami Dolphins.
Speaker 2: But still, you know, they're playing together as a group
Speaker 2: for the first time, and somehow they put together enough
Speaker 2: pass protection to throw for four to seventy So you
Speaker 2: never know how injuries are going to play into it.
Speaker 2: I just hope everybody can go.
Speaker 7: When I watched a little bit of tape that I've seen,
Speaker 7: I see a heavy forty nine er influence. I mean,
Speaker 7: it looks like San Francisco, Part two to me when
Speaker 7: I'm watching the offense and defensive schematic and makes sense.
Speaker 7: I mean, Demiko was obviously heavily influenced forty nine Ers.
Speaker 7: Bobby Slowick is a disciple of Shanahan as well. You
Speaker 7: have a defensive coordinator that's been around, but it's his
Speaker 7: first year. You know, with this organization, it seems like
Speaker 7: it's very forty nine or ish am I seeing things?
Speaker 7: Or am I correct in that assessment?
Speaker 2: No? I think you see a lot of that because
Speaker 2: Demiico Ryans obviously, like you pointed out, with that organization,
Speaker 2: and last year the forty nine Ers were number one
Speaker 2: of the in defense in yards and points for the
Speaker 2: first time in the history of that franchise, which started
Speaker 2: in what nineteen forty six, So that said something about
Speaker 2: not just the players, but his ability to coach them.
Speaker 2: And now he's here, He's got Jimmy Ward and you know,
Speaker 2: they bring in Ridgeway, they're bringing in some people from there,
Speaker 2: some of the other coaches. But he also reached out
Speaker 2: from across the board, you know, not just forty nine
Speaker 2: Er guys. Now Slowick was there and he is a
Speaker 2: disciple of that system. Slowik is interesting to me because
Speaker 2: Dimiko takes a chance on a new offensive coordinator. But
Speaker 2: he's got a lot of brains. He was with Pro
Speaker 2: Football Focus for a number of years, which I don't
Speaker 2: think necessarily makes you a better coach, but it's interesting
Speaker 2: how that affects things and his evaluation of players and
Speaker 2: how to use them. And what I see from him
Speaker 2: is the ability to adjust, because they definitely want to
Speaker 2: run the football, but they have not been able to
Speaker 2: run the football at all the way you want to
Speaker 2: as a forty nine er type offense. So look what
Speaker 2: happened on Sunday. Look, let's just go throw it. We
Speaker 2: got to go throw it. We got a great quarterback here,
Speaker 2: a great young quarterback. Let's see what he can do.
Speaker 2: And they're making the most of it. So the ability
Speaker 2: to adjust, and Dimko has got to do it too
Speaker 2: with the injuries they've had on defense. The positive effect
Speaker 2: of Demico, the vibe in the building is so strong,
Speaker 2: so good, so uplifting. He wants everybody to be energetic,
Speaker 2: have fun, work hard. You just feel it. Even if
Speaker 2: you're not involved with the team, you feel it. And
Speaker 2: it's such a breath of fresh air at NRG Stadium.
Speaker 2: It's so good to have him as the head coach.
Speaker 1: I mentioned the Houston is four and four. Those wins
Speaker 1: include a twenty point win over Jacksonville. I don't think
Speaker 1: the Jaguars have lost since that game. And how about
Speaker 1: a thirty to six win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. We
Speaker 1: love that as Bengals fans. Did those wins show you
Speaker 1: just how legitimate the Texans are at this early stage
Speaker 1: of the season.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think one thing to point out about those
Speaker 2: wins defense relatively healthy. They had some guys out, but
Speaker 2: relatively healthy, and they were on fire at Jacksonville. That
Speaker 2: was Week three. They were coming off the loss and
Speaker 2: they really torched them. I mean, they really took it
Speaker 2: to them. I don't know if the Jags were overlooking
Speaker 2: or whatever, but it was wonderful to see the kind
Speaker 2: of performance they put together. They picked off Trevor Lawrence,
Speaker 2: CJ looked really good, big third down play at the
Speaker 2: end for a dagger touchdown pass. And against the Steelers
Speaker 2: that was the day they retired JJ Watt. Well, they
Speaker 2: didn't retire as Jersey, but they put them in the
Speaker 2: Ring of Honor and it was a great ceremony and everything.
Speaker 2: I think everybody was pumped up. There were a lot
Speaker 2: of Steeler fans in the building. You all know how
Speaker 2: they travel, and I think it pumped up the Texans
Speaker 2: to see the terrible towels in the building. But they
Speaker 2: performed well. I think what happened is coming on. They
Speaker 2: lost to Atlanta, then they come back to beat the Saints,
Speaker 2: then they lose to Carolina after the buy their kids,
Speaker 2: and they don't know how to win yet consistently. And
Speaker 2: it's tough of this league to win consistently no matter
Speaker 2: who you are. So they've got to learn these lessons.
Speaker 2: But I can tell you this, the Bengals will have
Speaker 2: their undivided attention. I mean, if they were playing Carolina
Speaker 2: this week for instance, who knows what happens, but the
Speaker 2: fact that you're playing the Bengals, which yeah, this is
Speaker 2: a team as good as any team in the league,
Speaker 2: they'll be certainly ready for this one.
Speaker 7: I look at this defensive football team as a former
Speaker 7: old lineman, though, and Will Anderson man, this kid for
Speaker 7: a rookie is fundamentally sound. His use of his hands
Speaker 7: is like very very exceptional. I mean he's extraordinary that way.
Speaker 7: Malik Collins the three technique. This dude is disruptive. I mean,
Speaker 7: he really causes issues up there. This is good football
Speaker 7: team up front. Cashman you know, makes plays at linebacker.
Speaker 7: I mean, it's a it's a good front seven. It's
Speaker 7: it's nothing, nothing to sneeze at. But you don't feel
Speaker 7: like they're playing at the level they were playing at
Speaker 7: earlier in the season when they knocked off the division
Speaker 7: leader Jacksonville and Pittsburgh back to back weeks.
Speaker 2: Well, I think in some ways they have this pass
Speaker 2: game not as much because obviously you look at thirty
Speaker 2: seven points on the board, you're thinking, Okay, they gave
Speaker 2: up some points to Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Carolina,
Speaker 2: they held them to a low point total, but they
Speaker 2: gave up the game winning field goal drive when they
Speaker 2: had them pinned at the nine yard line Atlanta. They
Speaker 2: had a chance to close them out, but Atlanta drove
Speaker 2: for a game winning field goal. So they lost those
Speaker 2: two games, Carolina and Atlanta at the Buzzer. But the defense,
Speaker 2: they've been holding teams to relatively low point totals other
Speaker 2: than this past week. They came into the game tied
Speaker 2: for six in the NFL and points per game allowed.
Speaker 2: So I do like that there's some bend but not break.
Speaker 2: And they are good against the run, and you pointed
Speaker 2: out Will Anderson fundamentally Sam the leak, You've got Jonathan Grenard,
Speaker 2: and you've got good players up front. Demico cites them
Speaker 2: setting the edge as a key reason or one of
Speaker 2: the reasons why they're good against the run. They don't
Speaker 2: let you get to the outside. They stuffed the middle.
Speaker 2: They've been playing to run relatively well, but in the
Speaker 2: passing game they've given up some things from time to time,
Speaker 2: and they got to shore that up. Well. Look, it's
Speaker 2: like I said, it's a young team. They're learning. And
Speaker 2: you know, I don't know how you guys feel, but
Speaker 2: I always look around the league and I say, man,
Speaker 2: it's all about are you ready to go at noon
Speaker 2: on Sunday noon Central one Eastern and whatever the case
Speaker 2: may be. Are you at your best at that point?
Speaker 2: And what are the coaches and players need to do
Speaker 2: to make sure that happens? Because too many good teams
Speaker 2: go win one lose one, right, and too many bad
Speaker 2: teams win games. Maybe they're quote not supposed to. Why
Speaker 2: It just feels like some teams maybe aren't ready or
Speaker 2: maybe everybody's that even that good. The differences are so minute, no.
Speaker 7: Doubt in the real quick the run, like you pointed out,
Speaker 7: only allowing ninety seven yards a game on the ground,
Speaker 7: that's top ten in the NFL. Three point five yards
Speaker 7: per rush, third best in the NFL. Last year they
Speaker 7: gave up for franchise record one hundred and seventy point
Speaker 7: two yards a game. I mean, was worse than the league,
Speaker 7: our franchise worst. Tamika Ryan said, no more of that.
Speaker 7: We're handling the running game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because there's nothing more demoralizing, right when you're giving
Speaker 2: up gashes on the ground. Last year that was really
Speaker 2: tough to take. And last year, look, they were in
Speaker 2: a lot of games. They had the Chiefs deep in
Speaker 2: overtime and actually stopped Mahomes and overtime. I felt like
Speaker 2: putting up a banner in the stadium. We stopped Mahomes
Speaker 2: and overtime. They were right there with the Cowboys first
Speaker 2: and goal late with a chance to put the game away,
Speaker 2: couldn't score. They had games like that last year and
Speaker 2: we all know they won the last one against the Colts,
Speaker 2: which turned out to be the biggest blessing ever because
Speaker 2: they got CJ. Stroud with the number two pick in
Speaker 2: the draft, and you guys know, when you have the quarterback,
Speaker 2: food tastes better, the air smells cleaner, life is better,
Speaker 2: and we'll see where it takes them.
Speaker 1: Bengals are favored this week by six and a hal
Speaker 1: half points. Here's an invitation to join Lapp and Wayne
Speaker 1: box Miller for the Bengals pep Rally Show on Friday
Speaker 1: from two thirty to five thirty at the Wings and
Speaker 1: Rings Beachmont location. Their special guest in the final hour
Speaker 1: will be defensive tackle Zach Carter. That's going to do
Speaker 1: it for this episode of the Bengals Booth podcast, brought
Speaker 1: to you by pay Core, Proud to be the Bengals
Speaker 1: official hr software provider, by Alta Fiber, future proof Fiber
Speaker 1: Internet designed to elevate your home, business and community to
Speaker 1: a new level, and by Kettering Health the best care
Speaker 1: for the best fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare
Speaker 1: provider of the Bengals. If you haven't done so already,
Speaker 1: please subscribe to this podcast and if you have a minute,
Speaker 1: give it a rating or share a comment that helps
Speaker 1: more Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Hord and thanks
Speaker 1: for listening to the Bengals Booth podcast