Speaker 1: Hi, Get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and this is the
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast. The change is gonna come. Oh yes
Speaker 1: it will. Addition, as we look at Zach Taylor's decision
Speaker 1: to benj Andy Dalton after an O and eight start
Speaker 1: and turned to rookie Ryan Finley as his starting quarterback.
Speaker 1: When the Bengals return to action a week from Sunday
Speaker 1: against the Baltimore Ravens. Coming up, you'll hear from four people. First,
Speaker 1: my broadcast partner Dave Lapham, as he analyzes the big switch,
Speaker 1: shares his opinion of Ryan Finlay, and looks back at
Speaker 1: what went wrong in the bengals fourteen point loss in
Speaker 1: London to the La Rams. You'll also hear from the
Speaker 1: two quarterbacks in the eye of the Hurricane, the twenty
Speaker 1: four year old Finlay and the thirty two year old Dalton.
Speaker 1: And finally, we'll hear from an expert uniquely qualified to
Speaker 1: weigh in on a decision, a former NFL quarterback who
Speaker 1: is Andy Dalton's teammate for two seasons in Cincinnati, and
Speaker 1: a guy who was once in Ryan Finley's shoes when
Speaker 1: he was suddenly thrust into Tampa based starting lineup. As
Speaker 1: a rookie I am speaking of Bruce Gradkowski. All of
Speaker 1: that is straight ahead. But first, here's a quick reminder
Speaker 1: that you can have the latest edition of this podcast
Speaker 1: delivered write to your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing
Speaker 1: on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or Podbean. It's the
Speaker 1: greatest thing since organizing one's Halloween candy. It's Halloween morning.
Speaker 1: My son is thirteen, and for the first time in
Speaker 1: his life, it does not sound like he is going
Speaker 1: to go trick or treating. That's sad for a couple
Speaker 1: of reasons. Number one, he's growing up way too fast,
Speaker 1: and number two, I will miss seeing the organized piles
Speaker 1: of candy. That was my favorite part of Halloween as
Speaker 1: a kid, getting home, dumping the bag of candy onto
Speaker 1: the floor, and then organizing it in small piles, hoping
Speaker 1: for stacks of Reese's peanut buttercups and kit kats, and
Speaker 1: quickly discarding all mounds and almond joys due to the
Speaker 1: dreaded presence of coconut. One of the true joys of childhood,
Speaker 1: parenthood and profitable dentistry the organized piles of Halloween candy.
Speaker 1: Now let's get to football. I was hired by the
Speaker 1: Bengals to be their radio announcer on May fourth, twenty eleven,
Speaker 1: less than a week after they selected Andy Dalton with
Speaker 1: a thirty fifth pick in the NFL Draft. I get
Speaker 1: the credit or blame, depending on how you feel about it,
Speaker 1: for coining the nickname the red Rifle. When he's been healthy,
Speaker 1: Andy has been the starting quarterback for every game that
Speaker 1: I've called. I have the utmost respect for him as
Speaker 1: a player and as a person, in my opinion, and
Speaker 1: he never received enough credit for inheriting a team that
Speaker 1: went four and twelve the year before he got there
Speaker 1: and taking it to the playoffs in each of his
Speaker 1: first five seasons. Additionally, he and his wife JJ have
Speaker 1: been incredibly giving to families facing serious medical challenges. He
Speaker 1: is one of the classiest athletes I have ever had
Speaker 1: the pleasure of covering, so I'll admit it. I was
Speaker 1: shocked when I saw the news on Tuesday. I thought
Speaker 1: it might happen at some point, but didn't see it
Speaker 1: happening now. When I sat down for this week's conversation
Speaker 1: with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham, I asked if he
Speaker 1: was shocked by the news as well. I'm not sure
Speaker 1: I was shocked, but I was definitely surprised. But we
Speaker 1: talked about it before. I thought if they were going
Speaker 1: to make that move, the bye week would make sense
Speaker 1: to do it because you have the extra week of
Speaker 1: Ryan Filly working with the number one. He's had no
Speaker 1: reps with AJ Green, He's back, he's had no reps
Speaker 1: with Basically, he said, rests with Damian Willis, Stanley Morgan,
Speaker 1: guys like that reps, not with Tyler Boyd and guys
Speaker 1: that are gonna you know, had been playing uh earlier
Speaker 1: in the season with Andy Dalton and him getting all
Speaker 1: those number one reps. So I think that was a big,
Speaker 1: big factor in the in the decision making process. And
Speaker 1: you know, it's it's tough for Andy Dalton, there's no
Speaker 1: question about I've said it a few times. I'm going
Speaker 1: to say it again. You know, I think that organizationally,
Speaker 1: as a group, they let Andy Dalton down more than
Speaker 1: he'd let the organization down. Lap Ryan was a fourth
Speaker 1: round draft pick. He had a passer rating of ninety
Speaker 1: nine point three in the preseason. What do you think
Speaker 1: of him based on what he saw during training camp
Speaker 1: and in those preseason games In the beginning of training camp,
Speaker 1: I would scratch my head a little bit. Didn't look
Speaker 1: didn't look like well man. Fourth round pick so high
Speaker 1: on him. He wasn't playing real well, but took coaching
Speaker 1: point to change his footwork, and once he did that,
Speaker 1: I mean he took off and started playing really well.
Speaker 1: The thing I liked best about him as a warmer
Speaker 1: offensive lineman is his ability to manipulate the pocket. He'll
Speaker 1: slap sidestep, he'll step up in the pocket, you know,
Speaker 1: climate at just the right time. It's almost like he
Speaker 1: has eyes in the back of his head, and those
Speaker 1: are instincts that really can't coach. He has a tremendous
Speaker 1: feel for that kind of thing, and I think that
Speaker 1: was one of the big problems I think that they
Speaker 1: had with Andy, is that not just mobility, you know,
Speaker 1: getting out of pocket, extending, creating, but within the pocket,
Speaker 1: even the mobility wasn't there, and you know he was,
Speaker 1: you know, he's just basically a little bit shell shocked,
Speaker 1: you know. I think I think his clock had been
Speaker 1: readjusted and wasn't showing any signs of changing that. And
Speaker 1: that's one of the big reasons I think they made
Speaker 1: the move to Ryan Finley to see if he can
Speaker 1: negotiate and manipulate the pocket a little bit better lap.
Speaker 1: The Bengals played Baltimore a couple of weeks ago and
Speaker 1: did not score an offensive touchdown until there was a
Speaker 1: minute in twenty eight seconds to go. How difficult is
Speaker 1: it going to be for a rookie quarterback to face
Speaker 1: that defense in his first NFL start? Coach Martindale, the
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator is a blitz master. Finley is going to
Speaker 1: see blitzes that he never knew existed. He's going to
Speaker 1: see every blitz known to mankind. And a little over
Speaker 1: a year ago, the home opener on Thursday Night Football,
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton torched it, torched it. He and aj Green
Speaker 1: combined for three touchdown receptions in a quarter and a
Speaker 1: half or less than a quarter and a half, and
Speaker 1: Martindale wink blinked. You know, he didn't blitz anymore for
Speaker 1: a myriad of plays, A good number of plays hadn't
Speaker 1: seen it before out of Baltimore. So I hope Andy
Speaker 1: can impart some of that knowledge, you know, Ryan Finley
Speaker 1: in terms of a pre snap reads a feel for it.
Speaker 1: But that I think that's Andy's biggest strength is really
Speaker 1: predicting blitzes based on what he sees pre snap. He's
Speaker 1: very hard to fool. He's seen everything Ryan Finley has not.
Speaker 1: That experienced level is going to be something that you
Speaker 1: can only get by taking snaps out on the football field.
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton's not going to be able to drill a
Speaker 1: hole and pour Andy Dalton knowledge in the in Finley's head,
Speaker 1: but he's going to be, you know, helping him as
Speaker 1: much as he possibly can on that sideline. We'll see
Speaker 1: how it rolls. I went back and looked at every
Speaker 1: time the la Rams faced third and eight or longer
Speaker 1: in last week's game in London. They converted on four
Speaker 1: of six opportunities when it was third and eight or longer,
Speaker 1: with gains of twenty one, twenty three, twenty and forty.
Speaker 1: That's unbelievable to me. Was it a lack of pass rush?
Speaker 1: Is that a bad scheme? How does that happen? I
Speaker 1: think it's everything. You know, the one that galls me
Speaker 1: the most. Third and ten from your own two yard line,
Speaker 1: you give up a twenty yard run. You've got to
Speaker 1: be kidding me, absolutely got to be kidding me. So
Speaker 1: I think all of it you know, I think everybody's
Speaker 1: looking at themselves during this bye week and looking at
Speaker 1: the mirror and saying, man, what can we do. I
Speaker 1: mean a lot of times in the coverages there was
Speaker 1: terrible discipline in the back end of his own coverages.
Speaker 1: Guys were getting as were getting their eyes were being
Speaker 1: downhill looking at crossers and shallower routes while things behind
Speaker 1: him were developing. And you just can't have those kind
Speaker 1: of things. Because Dan, as we saw, it wasn't just
Speaker 1: they found a little opening in his own. They found
Speaker 1: a cavern, they found the Grand Canyon. I mean sometimes
Speaker 1: when you look, there'd be nobody within ten yards of
Speaker 1: any direction of them, and it's like, how the hell
Speaker 1: can that be? You know, Cooper Cup lit him up,
Speaker 1: but a tea cup of coffee cup would have done
Speaker 1: the same thing. Didn't have to be Cooper Cup. I mean,
Speaker 1: there there was. It was so unbelievably wide open down
Speaker 1: the football field. Even one time when we were on
Speaker 1: a room well called the double team on Cup, Sean
Speaker 1: Williams goes airborne too early. You know, he makes a
Speaker 1: contested catch. It was like it was it was amazing.
Speaker 1: But the one that the one that really really threw
Speaker 1: me was from your own two yard line. As a
Speaker 1: former lineman offensive lineman, I'm thinking, man, if you bust
Speaker 1: a twenty yard run on third and ten from your
Speaker 1: own two yard line, you gotta feel pretty damn good
Speaker 1: about how the game's gonna unfold. According to our buddy
Speaker 1: Jay Morrison from The Athletic, the Bengals used two tight
Speaker 1: ends in a season high eighteen snaps against the Rams
Speaker 1: that matched their total in the previous three games combined.
Speaker 1: How much did multiple tight ends help the running game?
Speaker 1: I think it did help it. Guys talked to in
Speaker 1: the post game, you know, locker room show, we're saying
Speaker 1: that they were having a hard time matching up. Initially
Speaker 1: they caught him in some nickel looks, you know, and
Speaker 1: with the with the big bodies, Michael Jordan was the
Speaker 1: extra lineman quote tight end you know on some of
Speaker 1: those occasions, and they they creased them a little bit.
Speaker 1: So the Rams, the Rams didn't expect it, and they
Speaker 1: caught them in some favorable matches matchups to run the
Speaker 1: football and even up the numbers game in the box
Speaker 1: as such. Um. But then as the game war on,
Speaker 1: you know, now you're you're fighting from behind again, and
Speaker 1: if they could play with the lead, you know, have
Speaker 1: have a lead for doesn't have to be a huge lead,
Speaker 1: just a lead, things would be so different, you know,
Speaker 1: from them. They could continue to you know, run the
Speaker 1: football with multiple tight end looks and a lot of
Speaker 1: these things. But man, you get down, you know, a
Speaker 1: score plus in the second half of football games in
Speaker 1: the National Football League, that becomes very difficult, particularly when
Speaker 1: your defense was hemorrhaging like they were, you know, and
Speaker 1: like we talked about on third and longs and things
Speaker 1: that nature. So you know, as a play caller on
Speaker 1: both sides of the football, when you're having struggles like that,
Speaker 1: it's like the defense of coordinators thinking what do I
Speaker 1: call not only the best call for my defense, but
Speaker 1: to make sure that I helped the offense as much
Speaker 1: as I can, And the offensive coordin is thinking the
Speaker 1: same thing for the defense, you know, trying to play
Speaker 1: a complimentary football. When you get caught in that cross
Speaker 1: are it's brutal. It's hard enough to make calls just
Speaker 1: for your side of the football, but when you have
Speaker 1: to try to factor in you know, both sides of
Speaker 1: the football that having their issues in certain areas. Man
Speaker 1: that's a tough time. It's a tough scenario to find
Speaker 1: the right play call. It really is. The Bengals did
Speaker 1: not make any trades before the Tuesday deadline. I do
Speaker 1: think there's a miskin reception that that means they blew
Speaker 1: their chance to acquire extra draft picks. They can still
Speaker 1: do that in the offseason, and honestly, I think they will.
Speaker 1: Did they lose a chance to get maximum value? I
Speaker 1: honestly don't know the answer to that question. But do
Speaker 1: you think the current players appreciate the fact that there
Speaker 1: wasn't a fire sale. I do think they do appreciate
Speaker 1: that fact. But if I'm a current player, when Zach
Speaker 1: Taylor made the move that he made with Andy Dalton,
Speaker 1: that stignals to me it can happen to any of us.
Speaker 1: That's the most significant move to make, changing out your
Speaker 1: starting quarterback, And past experiences tell me when they change
Speaker 1: out the starting quarterback, there's a couple of other shoes
Speaker 1: going to fall. They may they may have already decided
Speaker 1: to make other changes that haven't been announced yet in
Speaker 1: terms of lineups and personnel, in amount of playing time.
Speaker 1: Because man, if you if you do that at the
Speaker 1: quarterback position. Nothing sacred. There's nothing that you you know,
Speaker 1: there's nothing, nothing that says that can't happen to me.
Speaker 1: So the message has been sent buckle it up, Buttercup,
Speaker 1: because you know you could be next. And there's nothing
Speaker 1: wrong with that part of it. So there weren't trade.
Speaker 1: So guys you know, are thinking, well, you know, there's
Speaker 1: nobody that's going to be taking my job by trade.
Speaker 1: But when they made the move they made to me,
Speaker 1: you better go out and re earn your job during
Speaker 1: the bye week because every position's wide open if they
Speaker 1: made that move with the quarterback position. We get to
Speaker 1: spend some time every week with Zach Taylor working on
Speaker 1: his TV show and you tape a weekly segment for
Speaker 1: the radio pregame show with him. How do you think
Speaker 1: he's holding up? I think the Cordy Glenn thing is
Speaker 1: wearing him out, you know. I think that's the that's
Speaker 1: the one variable that is I mean, it's football related,
Speaker 1: but it's not you know, x's and O is related,
Speaker 1: and that sort of thing. Am I making the right calls,
Speaker 1: my scheme property, all those kind of things that that's
Speaker 1: just a different dynamic and that that kind of thing
Speaker 1: and in handling the mine field of the media aspect
Speaker 1: of it, and um, the collective bargain agreement with the
Speaker 1: players associate aspect of it. It's is going to wear
Speaker 1: you out. And I think that he handled he's handled
Speaker 1: it well, you know, but there's no way in my
Speaker 1: mind it hasn't had an impact on him. Um, but
Speaker 1: he's handled the injury part of it. And you know,
Speaker 1: Jonah Williams aj Green the eleventh pick of the draft,
Speaker 1: the fourth pick of the draft. When he came out
Speaker 1: best player on your team, you lose your left tackling
Speaker 1: before training camp starts, your best player of forty five
Speaker 1: minutes into training camp play. If you talked about ad nauseam,
Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's that's brutal stuff. And he real
Speaker 1: handles it like you know, it's a blip on the screen.
Speaker 1: To me, my screen would be shattered. Man, I would
Speaker 1: have been like suicidal, you know. I mean, it's he's
Speaker 1: handled it very well. I think he's handled uh, you know,
Speaker 1: his media obligations with the fans, you know, admirably. What
Speaker 1: he's got to make sure of is you know, he's
Speaker 1: I think he still has the locker room. I don't
Speaker 1: think he's lost the locker room. But at some point
Speaker 1: there has to be validation to what you're doing. And
Speaker 1: when I when I watch the offense now as opposed
Speaker 1: to what I saw in OTAs and training camp in Seattle,
Speaker 1: the Seattle game, like what happened to it? Where is it?
Speaker 1: You know? And I know there's obviously player issues with injury,
Speaker 1: but man, when I when I first watched that offense
Speaker 1: and AJ Green was involved, you know, in the OTAs
Speaker 1: in mini camp, I'm like, God, this is going to
Speaker 1: be unbelievable. I was watching Rams PARTD, you know, and
Speaker 1: then against Seattle, same thing. Man, there was mister actually
Speaker 1: motion and quick slant short time like this is this
Speaker 1: is gonna be fun? You know, maybe he starts to
Speaker 1: run the ball. Now he can't run the ball, and
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff's gone away. The offense right now
Speaker 1: is a shell of itself. And maybe with the bye
Speaker 1: week and getting some bodies back, you know, like Aj
Speaker 1: and then hopefully you know, not too far behind is
Speaker 1: John Ross and you know, the whole thing, the whole
Speaker 1: dynamic can change, you know, back to what they were
Speaker 1: a little bit. But you know, I'm gonna get some
Speaker 1: lineman back healthy as well. You know Andre Smith, John
Speaker 1: Miller Accord. He decides he wants to play. You know,
Speaker 1: if he goes out there, that big old son of
Speaker 1: a gun is a moving condo. He can play. He
Speaker 1: just decide, has to decide he wants to play and
Speaker 1: contribute to me. I don't know. I don't know how
Speaker 1: you look at your teammates when they've been struggling as
Speaker 1: badly as they've been struggling at the left tackle position,
Speaker 1: and not once have you had said I'm stepping up,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do something about it. Not once, not even close.
Speaker 1: I don't know how you look at teammates in the eye.
Speaker 1: Now time to hear from the Bengals new starting quarterback
Speaker 1: Ryan Finley is six to four and a slender two
Speaker 1: hundred and seven pounds, so he is two inches taller
Speaker 1: and about fifteen pounds lighter than Andy Dalton. He was
Speaker 1: twenty five and fourteen as a starter at NC State,
Speaker 1: where he completed nearly sixty five percent of his passes,
Speaker 1: second best in school history to Philip Rivers. Now he
Speaker 1: gets an earlier than expected shot to show what he
Speaker 1: can do in the NFL. Ryan sat down with Lapping
Speaker 1: Me to discuss his opportunity. Ryan, I imagine when you
Speaker 1: got the news it had to be kind of a shock. Yeah. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I wasn't expecting it yesterday morning. But I'm
Speaker 1: excited for the opportunity. I guess, um the timing of it,
Speaker 1: with the bye week, you're having two full weeks to
Speaker 1: work with the Number ones, you know, get a rhythm
Speaker 1: and timing and reps with the Number ones. That seemed
Speaker 1: to make a lot of sense in your mind. Does
Speaker 1: that give you a feeling of you know, cheez, At
Speaker 1: least I got a little more time to get ready
Speaker 1: for this. Yeah, that's huge for me, I think, and
Speaker 1: I think you nailed it. That's that's kind of how
Speaker 1: I view it in my mind, is uh, you know,
Speaker 1: just the more days to kind of get my mind
Speaker 1: or I get reps with with those guys that I
Speaker 1: haven't thrown too much. Um, you know, get with get
Speaker 1: with Trey and get snaps and so I think, you know,
Speaker 1: having a bye week is as big so I was.
Speaker 1: I was thankful that it happened. At this time we're
Speaker 1: visiting with Ryan Finlay. You performed well in your preseason opportunities.
Speaker 1: You had a passer rating of ninety nine point three.
Speaker 1: Does that give you confidence going into your first regular
Speaker 1: season start? Yeah, it does, I think, Um, you know,
Speaker 1: that's just something I can look back on and have
Speaker 1: confidence in. And um, you know, I just did my
Speaker 1: best to execute football plays. And that's kind of that's
Speaker 1: kind of the mindset I'm taking right now. So, um,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of simplify it and make it, don't
Speaker 1: make it as much as it is, and just kind
Speaker 1: of execute football plays and uh, cover it on third
Speaker 1: downs and you get into the red zone score points,
Speaker 1: and I think that's kind of where it all starts.
Speaker 1: Baltimore is known to have every blitz known demand in
Speaker 1: their arsenal, and Andy Dalton has done a pretty good
Speaker 1: job of sorting it out, you know, seeing things almost
Speaker 1: like before they happen, pre snap, post snap, and making
Speaker 1: real good decisions that way. Obviously, you guys are good friends,
Speaker 1: You're both highly intelligent. You're gonna lean on his experiences
Speaker 1: and his intelligence to help you prepare for this one. Yes, yes, uh,
Speaker 1: and he's obviously, and he's very good with that, um
Speaker 1: you know, being in the league for as long as
Speaker 1: he's been in and Alex is very good with that. Um.
Speaker 1: So you know, I'm gonna do my best. Uh if
Speaker 1: I need to, I'll look over to the silne and
Speaker 1: he can signal to me what we need to do
Speaker 1: or something like that. But uh, you know, that's just something. UM,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to learn it until I just get
Speaker 1: thrown out there and I just, um, you know, get
Speaker 1: hit with live bullets and then i'll uh you know,
Speaker 1: Alex will coach off it and I'll be able to
Speaker 1: I'll be able to learn, you know. So I've confidenced
Speaker 1: my ability to pick it up. But it's one of
Speaker 1: those things where it's, uh, it's different watching it on
Speaker 1: film and then get out there and actually having to
Speaker 1: having to do it. So, UM, that's definitely something that
Speaker 1: I'll be thinking about a lot over the you know,
Speaker 1: over the course of the week and preparing for Ryan.
Speaker 1: You strike me as someone who kind of follows the
Speaker 1: rookie playbook where you come in, you keep your mouth shut,
Speaker 1: you work hard, pay attention. Uh, you try to just
Speaker 1: let your actions do the talking as a quarterback? Can
Speaker 1: you do that now when you step into the starting role? Um,
Speaker 1: I don't see why I'm not. Uh, you know, I
Speaker 1: think I've had Um, I've had practice with this type
Speaker 1: of situation in college, and I think I'm thankful for
Speaker 1: some of the experiences that I've had in college, so
Speaker 1: I can can lean back on that. But you know,
Speaker 1: like I said earlier, it's about just executing plays. Uh,
Speaker 1: And that's that's kind of how I see it. That's
Speaker 1: how I kind of visualize myself being out there, is
Speaker 1: just um doing what the coaches asked. And at the ball,
Speaker 1: you know, it's a curl flat and that these things
Speaker 1: underneath the curling to the flat. So it's kind of
Speaker 1: just simplify it for me, and that's how I kind
Speaker 1: of get into a rhythm of a game. So that's
Speaker 1: what I hope to do. I guess as a follow
Speaker 1: up to that, how do you classify yourself as a leader.
Speaker 1: Are you a guy that leads by example? You guy
Speaker 1: that's a you know, an emotional rohra guy. Are you
Speaker 1: guy that's like, I'm gonna let my play speak for itself.
Speaker 1: What type of leader or can we expect outa Ryan Finley? Um,
Speaker 1: I don't. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna define my leadership.
Speaker 1: I think, Uh. I think leadership is just when it's needed,
Speaker 1: it's given. Um and I think, Uh, it's it's a
Speaker 1: lot of times it's needed in a lot of different
Speaker 1: ways according to the circumstance in the situation. UM. But
Speaker 1: right now, I think, uh, like I said, you know,
Speaker 1: my my goal is to just play quarterback at a
Speaker 1: at a high level, and I think it starts with that.
Speaker 1: UM and then um, you know everything else comes after that.
Speaker 1: But uh, with that being said, I think, you know,
Speaker 1: bringing energy uh and some juice and some competitive spirit
Speaker 1: is never a bad thing ever. So UM, that's kind
Speaker 1: of what I plan on doing. Just bring an energy
Speaker 1: UM and juice to practice and making it competitive um
Speaker 1: and then um and then after that just executing. We're
Speaker 1: visiting with Ryan Finley. There are rookie quarterbacks having a
Speaker 1: lot of success right now, from the number one overall
Speaker 1: pick Kyler Murray right down to Gardner Minshew. Why do
Speaker 1: you think rookies are able to stay in and play
Speaker 1: well right away? I don't know. I think I don't know.
Speaker 1: They you know, they got their mind right, and um,
Speaker 1: they have confidence in themselves and you know, the stage
Speaker 1: wasn't too big for them, and they just kind of
Speaker 1: came in and had confidence in their innatabilities and kind
Speaker 1: of just um, you know, I don't know. One thing
Speaker 1: is a former linement that impressed me about you right
Speaker 1: away is the eyes in the back of the head
Speaker 1: kind of thing where you'll slidestep, you'll climb the pocket.
Speaker 1: I mean, you manipulate the pocket exceptionally well. Is that
Speaker 1: something that you've always had? Is that just been an
Speaker 1: instinct thing from Jump Street even in high schools? Was
Speaker 1: something that developed over time? How did that? How that?
Speaker 1: How does that occurred? I don't, I don't know. I
Speaker 1: think it's just uh, you know, it's just a part
Speaker 1: of my game that I have confidence in, uh and
Speaker 1: kind of just like you said, just kind of manipulating
Speaker 1: the pocket. Um, And that's kind of my game, you know.
Speaker 1: So my game is to kind of just you know,
Speaker 1: they have good pocket awareness and no when to take
Speaker 1: off and no when to be smart, and just kind
Speaker 1: of go through my progression and uh, you know, kind
Speaker 1: of whatever the defense gives me, that's what I'm gonna take. So, uh,
Speaker 1: that's just kind of what I'm good at. I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I think I've I've obviously worked on
Speaker 1: it a lot. Um, there's a lot of things you
Speaker 1: can do, but um, just you know, a lot of preparation,
Speaker 1: a lot of work over time. What are the next
Speaker 1: ten days going to be like for you? Are you
Speaker 1: going to be in front of that iPad studying non
Speaker 1: stop or will you just kind of follow a normal
Speaker 1: routine and trust what's worked for you before. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean I've played in a lot of football games. Uh,
Speaker 1: and that's that's kind of the way I see it
Speaker 1: in my mind. And you know, I'll just I'll get
Speaker 1: into I'm sure I'll fall into it, maybe a slightly
Speaker 1: different routine than I've had, um the last you know,
Speaker 1: eight nine weeks, but um, not too different. You know,
Speaker 1: a lot of the same things will apply, and um,
Speaker 1: you know, probably watch the maybe a little bit more film,
Speaker 1: but not not much more. I mean I think, uh,
Speaker 1: I think once you kind of get a there's a
Speaker 1: point where you know, you've watched plenty uh and then
Speaker 1: at the point you just gotta go out and you
Speaker 1: got to execute and you just gotta let your kind
Speaker 1: of let your body take over and just have the
Speaker 1: right mindset going in. So I know, you and Andy,
Speaker 1: you're great friends, and you're similar type guys, both extremely
Speaker 1: intelligent guys that the IQ in that quarterback room. This
Speaker 1: is pretty staggering, There's no question about it. Do you
Speaker 1: plan on um over this next ten days when he's
Speaker 1: comfortable with it? Leaning on him? You guys watch tape together.
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying bore a hole in your head
Speaker 1: and have andy poorn knowledge into it or whatever, but
Speaker 1: do you do You anticipate and you'll be there for you.
Speaker 1: It's kind of like a tutor as such, to get
Speaker 1: you up to speed as quickly as possible. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I trust me any any help, and he's
Speaker 1: gonna give me. I'm gonna take And you know he's
Speaker 1: he's played this game at a high level for a
Speaker 1: long time. Um, And so I don't take that lightly
Speaker 1: at all. So, UM, you know, he's he's He's mentioned
Speaker 1: to me that he doesn't want our relationship to change
Speaker 1: and that meant a lot to me. And you know,
Speaker 1: I'm hopeful that uh, you know he will. I guess
Speaker 1: tutor me u is an interesting word, but I you know,
Speaker 1: I hope he does, and I hope he'll he'll help me,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure you will. You mentioned the number of
Speaker 1: games you've played in college, and you know you're you're
Speaker 1: an experienced rookie as such. I mean, you've got a
Speaker 1: lot of snaps. Some of these record quarterbacks that are
Speaker 1: succeeding don't have the you know, the volume of players
Speaker 1: that you that you've had, and maybe even in different systems,
Speaker 1: being in two different places and adapting you, you know,
Speaker 1: to that the college game is filtering down in the NFL.
Speaker 1: It's it's it's coming from the college to the NFL,
Speaker 1: not the NFL to college. And I think that's what's
Speaker 1: what's helping. If you noticed that, is that something that uh,
Speaker 1: with Zach's offense, there's some similarities to what you've done
Speaker 1: in college, and it's an easier transition. Um. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess just regarding um, my own college situation, UM,
Speaker 1: I think there's a lot of similarities with just um,
Speaker 1: you know, being an under center. That's thankful, really thankful
Speaker 1: to just get under center work in college. That was
Speaker 1: that was huge for me U sending five motions and
Speaker 1: handing off jet sweeps and that kind of stuff. So
Speaker 1: that helped me a lot. For Zach's offense, and I
Speaker 1: think we'll just kind of continue to build on it.
Speaker 1: So there's definitely a lot of similarities with what I did.
Speaker 1: In college and what we're doing now now time to
Speaker 1: hear from Andy Dalton. His tenure with the Bengals, at
Speaker 1: least so far, peaked in twenty fifteen, when he led
Speaker 1: the team to an eight no start and was in
Speaker 1: the MVP conversation before breaking his thumb when Cincinnati was
Speaker 1: ten and two and the number one seed in the
Speaker 1: AFC playoff race. That year, Andy led the conference in
Speaker 1: passer rating at one oh six point three, and after
Speaker 1: the season, his peers chose him as the thirty fifth
Speaker 1: best player in the league in the NFL Network's annual
Speaker 1: Top one hundredth survey. Unfortunately, things have spiraled downhills since
Speaker 1: and for now he's a backup quarterback for the first
Speaker 1: time since high school. Lap and I were a I'm
Speaker 1: a group of reporters who spoke to Dalton in front
Speaker 1: of his locker on Wednesday. What have the last twenty
Speaker 1: four hours been? Like? Andy? Uh? Weird? Different? Uh, not
Speaker 1: what I was expecting. You know, it's um now how
Speaker 1: you thought the birthday was gonna go? Um, But you
Speaker 1: know it's it's an unfortunate situation. You know, I don't
Speaker 1: agree with it, but um, I mean Jack's making the
Speaker 1: decisions and so, UM, I'm gonna do my part. I'm here, Um,
Speaker 1: and so I'm gonna help right now the best I can. Uh.
Speaker 1: He said he has to think about the future and
Speaker 1: the draft and uh, let's see what they have and
Speaker 1: Ryan and so, UM, that's what it came down to. You.
Speaker 1: You know, it's it's been voiced to me. I was
Speaker 1: in no reason. You know, I wasn't the reason for
Speaker 1: the way the season has gone. It felt like I
Speaker 1: played well, and Um, you know I have done some
Speaker 1: things to keep this team together in this stretch. But
Speaker 1: he just feels like he's gotta figure out what they have.
Speaker 1: And Ryan, so many players in this locker room look
Speaker 1: to you as such a big leader here. Um, what
Speaker 1: did you say to your teammates when they found out
Speaker 1: this news? Yeah, I UM talk to everybody in the
Speaker 1: in the team meeting today and just said, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't agree with the decision, but you know, I'm here,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do my part. I'm gonna be the same
Speaker 1: guy that that I've been since I've got here. You know,
Speaker 1: I've had been through a lot in the nine years
Speaker 1: that I've been here. I've done a lot for this city.
Speaker 1: My heart has been in this in for this team,
Speaker 1: in for this city, and uh, I think a lot
Speaker 1: of people see that, and so, um, just letting everybody
Speaker 1: know that I'm I'm gonna be the same guy, regardless
Speaker 1: of the circumstances and regardless of the situation that I'm in.
Speaker 1: But um, and it just kind of through the air.
Speaker 1: Obviously there's the awkwardness of Okay, do I say something
Speaker 1: to him? Do I not say something? Tune, do we
Speaker 1: talk to him, do we leave him alone? And just like,
Speaker 1: let's just get that behind us. You know, if you
Speaker 1: want to say something to me, say something to me.
Speaker 1: If not, don't, It's fine. I'm gonna be okay. Because
Speaker 1: of the team's record, was there even a remote thought
Speaker 1: in your mind that they might do it just to
Speaker 1: shake things up? You know? I it's hard to say. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I felt like there's a lot of things
Speaker 1: that I did well and gave us a chance to
Speaker 1: win some of these games, and so um, you know,
Speaker 1: and I've had a lot of conversations with Zach. You know,
Speaker 1: he even said we've met after games. We've met on
Speaker 1: numerous occasions. I've been that that office way more than
Speaker 1: I've ever been in there and just trying to figure
Speaker 1: out what we can do, what I can do, and um,
Speaker 1: you know, obviously he wants to head a different direction.
Speaker 1: Try to you know, I don't did you tell him
Speaker 1: you don't agree? If I'm trying to talk him out
Speaker 1: of it. It's one of those things where he's not
Speaker 1: gonna bring it to me. It's already been decided. You know.
Speaker 1: It's nothing I'm gonna say is going to change anything.
Speaker 1: He obviously felt like it was the best thing to
Speaker 1: do for this team, even though I don't agree with it.
Speaker 1: But um, yeah, I mean it's I don't think anything
Speaker 1: I could have said would have talked him out of it,
Speaker 1: for sure. Yeah, I think just because of the unknown
Speaker 1: of everything. Um, I've had a lot of stability here,
Speaker 1: I've done a lot, and so to go through the
Speaker 1: stretch that we've gone through, as you know from a
Speaker 1: football standpoint, and then to have this happen, and it's
Speaker 1: one of those things you really have to For me,
Speaker 1: I really rely on my faith knowing that God has
Speaker 1: a plan for me and my family. And UM, it's
Speaker 1: easy to say when things are good, but if you're
Speaker 1: times like this, you really have to lean on that
Speaker 1: and and trust and believe it. Given that the news
Speaker 1: happened that Zach told you before the deadline, was there
Speaker 1: any thought of I'd like to go somewhere else? They
Speaker 1: didn't communicate that with them at all. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: that's an unfortunate thing. I mean, it happened three hours
Speaker 1: before the trade deadline. You know, it's I wish it
Speaker 1: would have at least, you know, if he was thinking
Speaker 1: about it, at least let me try to see if
Speaker 1: I could end up somewhere else or you know, at
Speaker 1: least see if there is interest and possibly getting traded.
Speaker 1: At that point, the way it was all handled, there
Speaker 1: wasn't enough time to even um even have that happened.
Speaker 1: Did you put you push that in this offseason and
Speaker 1: to look to go somewhere else? You know. Right now,
Speaker 1: I'm just focused on this year. Um. Obviously there's a
Speaker 1: lot to come in the next eight weeks and beyond
Speaker 1: um after this year, UM, I want to have an
Speaker 1: opportunity to play. I want to have an opportunity to
Speaker 1: be somewhere where I'm wanting and UM, you know, if
Speaker 1: that's here, great, If that's not, then um, you know,
Speaker 1: well we'll see. But right now it's not my focus.
Speaker 1: My focus is just you know, playing my role on
Speaker 1: this team. Been great. Ryan said that you told him
Speaker 1: you won't want the relationship to be the same, don't
Speaker 1: want it to change whatsoever. And um, he's looking forward to,
Speaker 1: you know, trying to absorb all the knowledge you have
Speaker 1: with respect your football I que and seeing the game
Speaker 1: and seeing the field. Are you up for that? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I Ryan was one of the first people I reached
Speaker 1: out to just let him know, like, this has nothing
Speaker 1: to do with Ryan. You know, Ryan and I have
Speaker 1: been close ever since he's been here, and we've built
Speaker 1: up a really good friendship. And um, so I don't
Speaker 1: want Ryan to think that I have any ill will
Speaker 1: towards him. He didn't do anything wrong. All he did was,
Speaker 1: you know, be here and show up and do things
Speaker 1: the right way. And they want to give him an
Speaker 1: opportunity and so, um, like I said, I'm gonna help
Speaker 1: him out. I've seen a lot of football, we have
Speaker 1: a lot of division games coming up. I understand how
Speaker 1: all all these defensive play does and just their scheme
Speaker 1: and things. So I mean, I'll help him from that standpoint.
Speaker 1: Did you vote that frustration with with Duke or anybody
Speaker 1: in the front office, and not Zach. Well, I haven't
Speaker 1: had a chance to talk to Duke or anybody, but
Speaker 1: I know my agent was, um, you know, trying to
Speaker 1: figure out what we could do in those last you know,
Speaker 1: remaining a couple hours before the trade deadline. With the
Speaker 1: way everything went down, I've heard richis and say even
Speaker 1: Zach said it to a certain extent, did you deserve
Speaker 1: a better faith here? Yeah. It's one of those things
Speaker 1: where I've had a lot of good, you know football
Speaker 1: years here. We've had a lot of good seasons. Can
Speaker 1: look back at all the playoff you know runs that
Speaker 1: we made the um just what we had to overcome
Speaker 1: to get there, you know, to start a season eight. No,
Speaker 1: I've been on the other side of the too, and
Speaker 1: so I'd never envisioned it to kind of happen like this.
Speaker 1: I never thought that I'd be in this position, um,
Speaker 1: and so I wish it would have been different, absolutely,
Speaker 1: because when Zach got hired here, it's like I had
Speaker 1: a plan that we were gonna get this thing turned around,
Speaker 1: and we were gonna get this thing going, and obviously
Speaker 1: that hasn't happened. There's been a lot of other things
Speaker 1: that have gone on that um probably you know, have
Speaker 1: have caused it to not be the way that that
Speaker 1: that we thought it was going to be and stuff
Speaker 1: that's been out of my control, and so that's unfortunate.
Speaker 1: But no, it's one of those things where I if
Speaker 1: this is the end here I which I don't know,
Speaker 1: I don't know what the future holes like I was saying,
Speaker 1: but um, now, this is not how I had envisioned
Speaker 1: envisioned it. What was your conversation like with Heim, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's AJ's been one of my closest friends since since
Speaker 1: we got here. Obvious we got here together. We've been
Speaker 1: through this whole thing together, and so you know, he's,
Speaker 1: like you said, he understands everything. He's AJ's got my back.
Speaker 1: You know, we're gonna be friends for the rest of
Speaker 1: our lives. So you know, it's it's tough to not
Speaker 1: have a guy like that out there when when you're
Speaker 1: going through all this, to not have your best player
Speaker 1: on the field. But you know, like I said, has
Speaker 1: been very supportive of me. Andy was upset about the
Speaker 1: timing since it came so close to the trading deadline,
Speaker 1: and some people think he was treated poorly and that
Speaker 1: the Bengals owed it to him to make a deal.
Speaker 1: I have a few thoughts on that topic. Number One,
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor made the move now because it's the bye week,
Speaker 1: giving Ryan Finley extra time to work with the number
Speaker 1: one offense. That happened to be the same week as
Speaker 1: the trade deadline. That was unfortunate timing. But more significantly,
Speaker 1: the only way it made sense for the Bengals to
Speaker 1: trade Dalton now is if there was a team really
Speaker 1: desperate for a quarterback that would pay maximum value. Who
Speaker 1: would that be? The Bears have been mentioned as a
Speaker 1: possible candidate, But are we sure the Bears are ready
Speaker 1: to punt Mitchell Trubisky the number two pick in the
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen draft for a quarterback who currently has a
Speaker 1: lower passer rating. The Bears gave up four draft picks
Speaker 1: when they trade it up to draft Trubisky. Do you
Speaker 1: really think they were going to give up a high
Speaker 1: pick to trade for Dalton. If the Andy Dalton era
Speaker 1: is over in Cincinnati, there will be a bigger market
Speaker 1: to trade him in the off season. You would have
Speaker 1: to think almost any contender would want Andy as a
Speaker 1: backup quarterback, and there will likely be a few teams
Speaker 1: that would want him to compete to be their starter.
Speaker 1: Andy is under contract for one more season, so it's
Speaker 1: not like the Bengals are about to lose him to
Speaker 1: free agency. If the Dalton era is over in Cincinnati,
Speaker 1: there will be plenty of time to trade him for
Speaker 1: a draft pick in the off season. Now time to
Speaker 1: hear from one more quarterback. In Eddie Dalton's NFL debut,
Speaker 1: he had to exit in the second quarter when he
Speaker 1: injured his wrist against the Cleveland Browns. Enter back up
Speaker 1: Bruce Gradkowski, who rallied the Bengals to an opening day
Speaker 1: win by engineering a fourth quarter comeback that included the
Speaker 1: first touchdown catch of AJ Green's career. After a long
Speaker 1: NFL career that included stops with the Buccaneers, Rams, Browns, Raiders, Bengals,
Speaker 1: and Steelers, Gradkowski is doing some broadcasting these days for
Speaker 1: Serious NFL Radio and evaluating quarterback play for Pro Football Focus.
Speaker 1: He is uniquely qualified to discuss what went down in
Speaker 1: Cincinnati this week, and Bruce joined lapping me on the
Speaker 1: Bengals Game Plan Show. I started our conversation by asking
Speaker 1: him his initial reaction to this week's news. You know
Speaker 1: I wasn't surprised just for the fact of where the
Speaker 1: team is at as a whole. You know, you see
Speaker 1: these teams going through changes and trying to rebuild and
Speaker 1: do different things. And now if you're Cincinnati and the
Speaker 1: last few years haven't been the greatest, you have a
Speaker 1: new head coach, you really have to see where you're
Speaker 1: at as a football team. I mean, right now, I
Speaker 1: don't think it's as much on Andy Dalton as it
Speaker 1: is as much as where do they go for the future.
Speaker 1: You know, is Thinley a guy? Is he a viable guy?
Speaker 1: You know? Is Andy still part of the mix or not?
Speaker 1: I mean, you look at it, guys, and he's been
Speaker 1: sacked twenty nine times this year. He has twenty one
Speaker 1: drop passes. And this is all from the Pro Football
Speaker 1: Focus grades that I do that I do with the guys,
Speaker 1: and you know, so it's not that he's getting much
Speaker 1: help out there. You know, he started with Mohammed Sanu,
Speaker 1: Jay Green, Marvin Jones, and now those weapons he has
Speaker 1: had in the past is diminished a little bit. And
Speaker 1: now when you're get in that position, as you as
Speaker 1: Andy doone is you try to do more. You try
Speaker 1: to take more on your plate, you try to squeeze
Speaker 1: more and throws in there. You try to feel like
Speaker 1: you have to save the world on every single snap,
Speaker 1: and then it starts to catch up to you. And
Speaker 1: then you have, you know, a few mistakes here and
Speaker 1: there that you want to take back if you force
Speaker 1: football in the tight coverage and things of that sort,
Speaker 1: and then you have miscommunication on route. So it's a
Speaker 1: lot of things going on as you guys see weekend
Speaker 1: and week out. And I think you have to start
Speaker 1: the quarterback position because right now you do have to
Speaker 1: see what do we even have behind Andy and where
Speaker 1: are we going for the future, because this is all
Speaker 1: in Zach Taylor's hands and he has to try to
Speaker 1: figure this out. Yeah, you make a bunch of excellent
Speaker 1: points there. To me, it's very simply every member of
Speaker 1: the organization, front office, coaching staff, and teammates have let
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton down more than he's let them down. He
Speaker 1: as you know, I mean, the quarterback gets very little
Speaker 1: credit when it's going well and all the blame when
Speaker 1: it goes poorly. And for all the things you talked about,
Speaker 1: I mean, his supporting cast is nowhere near you know
Speaker 1: what it was. So you know, they're they're making a move,
Speaker 1: you know, and they're moving on. My thing is AJ
Speaker 1: Green if he comes back after the bye. Andy Dalton
Speaker 1: has not had AJ Green all. So incomes Ryan Finley.
Speaker 1: He's got AJ Green right off the bat. And now
Speaker 1: you won't have an AJ Green for sixty snaps, but
Speaker 1: AJ Green for any snaps. That changes everything and you're
Speaker 1: not comparing apples to apples anymore. How tough would that be?
Speaker 1: You know, if you're in andy shoes and AJ comes back,
Speaker 1: John Ross, some of these guys start coming back from
Speaker 1: injury and you're not the guy, how tough would that
Speaker 1: be to deal with? Oh? That that's a tough tie
Speaker 1: to swallow because I look at look. I played with Andy.
Speaker 1: I backed him up, and as a young guy coming
Speaker 1: in the league, he was ahead of the curve as
Speaker 1: far as understanding protection. I understand how he's blocking what
Speaker 1: the old lineman should do in the running backs and
Speaker 1: you know, navigating through hand singnals to the receivers to
Speaker 1: put the receivers in the proper routes to run. So
Speaker 1: you're not gonna get better than Dalton right now. I
Speaker 1: mean you're really not. I mean, you know, yes, maybe
Speaker 1: you want to see what Finley has, but I don't
Speaker 1: expect much to change. I mean, you know, it's not
Speaker 1: like the play calling has been off the carter to either,
Speaker 1: so you know, you know, so a lot of things
Speaker 1: play play a part in this, and it's just it
Speaker 1: just thinks that, you know, Andy has to shoulders a
Speaker 1: load right now, and who knows. I mean maybe this
Speaker 1: just support a point that you know, when the dust settles,
Speaker 1: they'll see what they have. But you know, you look
Speaker 1: around the league guys too, and it's hard to find
Speaker 1: a viable starting quarterback that you trust week in and
Speaker 1: week out. I've always felt like Andy was that guy
Speaker 1: you could trust. I mean, he's accurate, he's gonna go
Speaker 1: with the right place at the right time with the football.
Speaker 1: He's gonna put your offense and the good run past situations,
Speaker 1: you know, as as audibles are concerned. So it's hard.
Speaker 1: I just feel like now you're taking a step back
Speaker 1: if you're the Bengals and they really need to figure out,
Speaker 1: you know, where do they go from here. Former Bengals
Speaker 1: quarterback Bruce Gradkowski is our guest. You studied Ryan Finley
Speaker 1: before the draft. What did you think? I like him?
Speaker 1: I actually did like him coming out because I felt
Speaker 1: like his timing and his rhythm, his footwork, he kind
Speaker 1: of had it already. You could tell he understood progressions
Speaker 1: and just how your feet match up with throws. And
Speaker 1: I think that just put them ahead of the curve.
Speaker 1: I mean, you look at a guy like Drew Locke's,
Speaker 1: he's really not ready to play yet because of those things,
Speaker 1: the timing and the four. And I think for Finley
Speaker 1: it helped tremendously getting to watch Andy for how many
Speaker 1: weeks already and getting to learn from him because you
Speaker 1: learned so much by sitting back and watching. And I
Speaker 1: thought Finley had a pretty good preseas, didn't you know?
Speaker 1: He made some plays that, you know, we're impressive. There's
Speaker 1: sometimes that maybe he held onto the ball too long
Speaker 1: or in the pocket awareness and you have to protect
Speaker 1: the football in the pocket. You see these young guys,
Speaker 1: I mean Gardner Minshew, he hasn't thrown many balls to
Speaker 1: put in harm's way, but when he takes sacks in
Speaker 1: the pocket, he's fumbling. You can count, you know, at
Speaker 1: least one fumball game Minshew's gonna have in the pocket.
Speaker 1: Same thing with Kyle Allen, so these young guys have
Speaker 1: a tendencies and not realize the pressure that the pocket brings.
Speaker 1: It collapsed as fast guys around who swinging, who's sweeping
Speaker 1: at the football. So it's not easy. But as a whole,
Speaker 1: I liked Finley as a quarterback. I liked his feet,
Speaker 1: his footwork, his time and rhythm. I think he has
Speaker 1: the right type of accuracy and he has enough arm strength.
Speaker 1: So it'll be interesting to see what happens given this
Speaker 1: opportunity tunity. So without aj Green, John Ross, two guys
Speaker 1: on the outside stretching the field, the Bengals were playing
Speaker 1: offense in a closet. They're in a box. You know,
Speaker 1: everybody's us. The line of scream is loaded up. Joe
Speaker 1: Mixon has more guys in the box they can block,
Speaker 1: and you know they're saying, yeah, we can cover your guys.
Speaker 1: We don't need extra people. We're gonna load up and
Speaker 1: make you know, you throw it to beat us. And
Speaker 1: the major weapons are out and then and he's starting
Speaker 1: to get hit and and he's you know, there's not
Speaker 1: windows out there, and Andy's clock changes, and you know,
Speaker 1: people are like, oh, the dude shell shocked. What is
Speaker 1: it like as a quarterback. When you find yourself in
Speaker 1: that situation, you know, you're you're you're throwing, You're never
Speaker 1: able to transfer your weight, you know what, your mechanics
Speaker 1: start to suffer because of all that. We just you know,
Speaker 1: just laid out there. What's it like? How how hard
Speaker 1: is it to fight through that? Yeah? No, it's it's
Speaker 1: real tough, because it happened to me in Oakland. You know,
Speaker 1: when I it took over for JaMarcus Russell, I kind
Speaker 1: of tended to you know, sling it from the back,
Speaker 1: back the foot and you can sling it side arm
Speaker 1: because you're always used to that pressure in your face
Speaker 1: and you're trying to just get the ball out without
Speaker 1: taking a sack. So you're you're technique and on the
Speaker 1: metals go out the window because now you're just kind
Speaker 1: of trying to survive and trying to make the play
Speaker 1: the best you can. So it's hard. Then when you
Speaker 1: get a good clean pocket, you're sitting back there and
Speaker 1: you look like you're Auntie and throwing off your back
Speaker 1: foot when you have all this time. But that hasn't
Speaker 1: necessarily been the case. I mean, like like I said,
Speaker 1: I mean, Andy's taking the most sacks so far this
Speaker 1: year has the most dropped passes, so things have definitely
Speaker 1: not been working in his favor. Now, look, you guys
Speaker 1: know a lot of you know, some of those sacks too,
Speaker 1: aren't just on the offensive line. You know a lot
Speaker 1: of things, playing the part with Andy holding the ball
Speaker 1: a little too long, did Andy drift too far outside?
Speaker 1: You know, the integrity of the pocket, or you know
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. But the majority is protected, being
Speaker 1: able to be protected, you know, running backs picking up
Speaker 1: their blitzes and knowing who to block. A lot of
Speaker 1: that goes into it. So I just think there's a
Speaker 1: lot right now in Cincinnati. I'm trying to digest it
Speaker 1: at all. I don't know how you guys are doing it.
Speaker 1: Not very well. I'm throwing from my mouth every night.
Speaker 1: No digestion, kind of whole heart. Questions for a former
Speaker 1: Bengals quarterback, Bruce Gradkowski. You have been in Ryan Finley's
Speaker 1: shoes as a rookie in Tampa Bay back in two
Speaker 1: thousand and six. You took over during the season when
Speaker 1: Chris Simms got hurt. What advice would you give Ryan Finley?
Speaker 1: I think you just you just have to execute the offense,
Speaker 1: you know, I was given a few opportunities, you know,
Speaker 1: especially my first one in Tampa as a rookie. I
Speaker 1: started eleven games, and you know, I had a good preseason,
Speaker 1: and then once the season started, I took over. I
Speaker 1: played a good shoot games, and then I started thinking
Speaker 1: too much. Now you're trying to be perfect. Now you're
Speaker 1: trying to please the coach. Oh, you know, what's what's
Speaker 1: Gruden want me to do? I know what I should do,
Speaker 1: But what's he want me to do? Instead of? You know,
Speaker 1: just trust yourself. I told I talked to Mason Rudolph
Speaker 1: before the Monday night football game and I told him,
Speaker 1: I said, look, man, if there's anything you could do,
Speaker 1: just trust yourself. Trust yourself in between those white lines.
Speaker 1: Trust what you see out there. You can grate the
Speaker 1: film tomorrow, you could get coach tomorrow. But trust what
Speaker 1: you're seeing out there and just play decisive because the
Speaker 1: worst thing you can do is the quarterback is played indecisive.
Speaker 1: And I see that in a lot with young quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: If you pick the wrong side and you weren't supposed
Speaker 1: to work that side, work the heck out of that
Speaker 1: side and just stick to it and just get after
Speaker 1: it and try to find a completion because you'll tend
Speaker 1: to try to flip to the other side. Now you're
Speaker 1: throwing a hitch late and it's going for a pick
Speaker 1: six the other way. So I think the most important
Speaker 1: thing is just trying to play decisive and trust your
Speaker 1: preparation throughout the week and trust what you see on Sunday.
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton's future, you know, you just never know what
Speaker 1: right now. I asked Zach, is this a one game
Speaker 1: situation or is it? He goes no. You know, we're
Speaker 1: giving him the rest of the season. You got to
Speaker 1: give a young guy a chance. But there's always injury,
Speaker 1: there's always we know Andy Dalton's going to be ready
Speaker 1: to play. We know Andy Dalton be right in there
Speaker 1: if needed to play as a backup. He's a little
Speaker 1: disgruntled because of the timing of the bye week the
Speaker 1: Bengals had. It was trade deadline time, and you know
Speaker 1: he was hoping that he might have had a little
Speaker 1: more time to see what kind of interesting might have
Speaker 1: been out there in the NFL for him. What do
Speaker 1: you think his future halts? I mean, obviously the guy
Speaker 1: belongs in the National Football League. Do you think he
Speaker 1: ends up going somewhere else and starting I'm not I
Speaker 1: don't know. I guess I'm asking to be a Southsayer.
Speaker 1: But what's your opinion? What do you think might happen
Speaker 1: in the future. Yeah, I mean that Look, Andy Doan
Speaker 1: is a good young quarterback. I mean still he still
Speaker 1: has a lot of mouths on that arm. And you know,
Speaker 1: I was thinking about it and I was like, man,
Speaker 1: I mean, what about the Bears. What is the Bears
Speaker 1: traded off for him? I just think Andy's a reliable player.
Speaker 1: It's hard to find a quarterback you can trust that's
Speaker 1: going to be accurate, smart, make the right decisions, put
Speaker 1: your offense in good positions. And he is now he
Speaker 1: needs the pieces around him. I mean, he's kind of
Speaker 1: Deshaun Wapton that's going to run around make plays and
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes. He needs the talent around him. That's why
Speaker 1: I thought Chicago might be a good spot. But you know,
Speaker 1: we'll see how it unfolds. But I know there will
Speaker 1: be definitely teams in the mix. He might be, you know,
Speaker 1: might end up being that guy like a Brian Hoyer was.
Speaker 1: Where you go to Cleveland, they bring you in to
Speaker 1: compete with the young guy and but he will have
Speaker 1: an opportunity. Again, I just think Joan's too smart of
Speaker 1: a quarterback, He's too reliable. Who knows out there in
Speaker 1: Oakland if it's a good fit with John Gruden and
Speaker 1: him matching up in that system that Andy was a
Speaker 1: part of with Jay Gruden back in the day. So
Speaker 1: you just never know. But I think Andy has still
Speaker 1: a lot of good football left in him, and I
Speaker 1: hope mentally he's handling this the right way. He's a
Speaker 1: true professional, so I know he is. He's gonna support Finley.
Speaker 1: But guys, you know, I mean, it's tough, man. It's
Speaker 1: tough when you get benched and now you're sitting on
Speaker 1: the sideline watching. It happened to me, you know, my
Speaker 1: rookie year. You asked me about, you know, advice for
Speaker 1: Finley because I took over for Chris Simms start eleven games,
Speaker 1: and then advice for Andy because in that same season
Speaker 1: I got bench for Tim Rote, you know, going into
Speaker 1: the twelfth Star. So you see both sides of it.
Speaker 1: So it's a world win, man. You got to handle
Speaker 1: those ups and down. But lap you know that that's
Speaker 1: what this game's about all Thanks to Bruce Gradkowski, and
Speaker 1: that is going to do it for this episode of
Speaker 1: the podcast. If you haven't done so already, don't forget
Speaker 1: to subscribe, and if you have a minute, give it
Speaker 1: a rating or share a comment. Those five star ratings
Speaker 1: help more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horne,
Speaker 1: and thanks for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast