WEBVTT - Bengals Booth Podcast: Last Call 0:00:03.520 --> 0:00:06.040 Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and this is the 0:00:06.120 --> 0:00:10.320 Bengals Booth Podcast, the Last Call edition. As we get 0:00:10.360 --> 0:00:12.400 you set for the last home game of the year, 0:00:12.880 --> 0:00:16.360 featuring two teams that currently find themselves in last place 0:00:16.440 --> 0:00:18.959 to five and eight Bengals and the three and ten 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:22.960 Oakland Raiders coming up, My broadcast partner Dave Lapham joins 0:00:23.000 --> 0:00:26.720 me to discuss a wide variety of topics, ranging from 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:31.280 playing time at last for offensive lineman Christian Westerman to 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:36.400 a great lap story about legendary former Raiders owner Al Davis. 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:40.080 After hearing from lap we'll hear from Carlos Dunn lap 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:44.000 on being nominated for one of the NFL's most prestigious honors. 0:00:44.320 --> 0:00:46.879 And this week's Know the Faux segment, we'll get the 0:00:46.920 --> 0:00:50.760 lowdown on John Gruden's Raiders from former Pro Bowl offensive 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:54.760 lineman Lincoln Kennedy, who currently calls Oakland's games on the 0:00:54.880 --> 0:00:59.120 radio with Brent Musburger, still going strong at the age 0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:02.320 of seventy nine. All of that is straight ahead, but first, 0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:04.959 here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest 0:01:05.080 --> 0:01:08.800 edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, 0:01:08.920 --> 0:01:13.680 or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher or pod Bean. 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:20.280 It's the greatest inventions since Christmas cards. You heard me. 0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:24.119 I am a big fan of Christmas cards. Love seeing 0:01:24.160 --> 0:01:27.160 the family photos. I love hearing from friends that I 0:01:27.200 --> 0:01:30.759 haven't seen in years. However, I am not a big 0:01:30.840 --> 0:01:35.280 fan of the bragging Christmas letter. Well, we can agree 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:37.400 that it's great that your kids are crushing it at 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:41.760 Ivy League schools. We don't need three mimiographed pages about 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:45.400 it in your Christmas card. Now, let's get to football. 0:01:46.040 --> 0:01:48.400 The Bengals will try to snap their five game losing 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:51.280 streak this Sunday against an Oakland team that has been 0:01:51.400 --> 0:01:55.080 awful under the one hundred million dollar man John Gruden. 0:01:55.560 --> 0:01:57.880 The Raiders share the worst record in the NFL with 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:02.680 San Francisco and Arizona, and Oakland has been outscored by 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:06.480 one hundred forty four points. The Cardinals are the only 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:09.760 team that's been outscored by more, with a deficit of 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:13.760 one forty nine. The Bengals have been outscored by ninety 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:16.840 but last week they pushed one of the best teams 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:19.800 in the league to the brink, losing a nail bier 0:02:19.919 --> 0:02:24.480 to the Chargers in Los Angeles. The Bengals defense, last 0:02:24.480 --> 0:02:26.960 in the league in points allowed, last in the league 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:30.920 in yards allowed, was excellent over the final three quarters 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:34.040 of that game. And that's where I begin my conversation 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:37.880 with broadcast partner Dave lappham Lapp. In last week's game 0:02:37.919 --> 0:02:41.079 against the Chargers, LA scored touchdowns on its first two 0:02:41.200 --> 0:02:43.040 drives and it looked like it was going to be 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:46.320 another disaster like the Chiefs or Saints games. But after that, 0:02:46.440 --> 0:02:50.359 the Chargers had eight possessions without scoring a touchdown, including 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:54.680 two drives that started in Cincinnati territory. What changed and 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:57.240 is its significant going forward? I think it is Dan. 0:02:57.960 --> 0:03:00.320 On the first two drives, the Bengals gave up ten 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:02.639 first downs, four first downs on the first drive, six 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:04.840 first downs in the second drive. The rest of the 0:03:04.880 --> 0:03:08.440 game those eight drives seven first downs total, And they 0:03:08.480 --> 0:03:11.239 started playing more man in the in the secondary, and 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:15.520 they've drafted guys out of college William Jackson, Drake Kerpatrick, 0:03:15.639 --> 0:03:18.960 long long arms that like to press, play, bump and run, 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:21.720 get their hands on people. Darkis Denard same thing at 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:25.160 Michigan State. You know they feel comfortable doing that. And 0:03:25.400 --> 0:03:29.119 I think that the coverage coverage was much better as 0:03:29.120 --> 0:03:31.800 a result, rivers has to hold the ball a little longer, 0:03:31.840 --> 0:03:34.480 pass rush starts getting there. Now the pass rushers start 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:37.360 to get more confidence, they start turning up another notch 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:39.400 and all of a sudden, the gloves fit in their hand. 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:44.920 You know, good coverage, better sack possibility, better pressure, more 0:03:45.000 --> 0:03:48.640 interception possibility. I mean it all is, you know, conjoined, 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:51.720 there's no question about it, and it was disjointed, and 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:53.960 now it looks it looks like it's starting to Meldon 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:56.440 Mesh a little bit more. I hope that through the 0:03:56.480 --> 0:03:58.600 rest of the season they play more man coverage because 0:03:58.600 --> 0:04:00.880 they look pretty darn good. And I'm not saying that 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:04.120 the Chargers had multiple receivers that could really beat up 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:07.640 with route running Keenan Allen can and tell you what, 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:10.240 Jackson did a good job on him. So I'm anxious 0:04:10.280 --> 0:04:12.280 to see those guys go out and play man coverage 0:04:12.360 --> 0:04:14.400 and say I got you and I'm eliminating you for 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:17.440 the rest of the season, and watch watch the increase 0:04:17.480 --> 0:04:20.000 in pressure on the quarterback lab For much of our 0:04:20.040 --> 0:04:23.520 broadcast last Sunday, you were raving about the interior offensive 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:27.120 line play a belly price, Alex Redman and Christian Westerman. 0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:29.920 Did the Bengals have something there and it's had time 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:32.800 to see exactly what Westerman can do. Yeah, Westerman played 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:36.159 forty two snaps, you know, in the game. And you know, 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:39.240 I'm not I don't know about the assignment, if he 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:41.800 carried out his assignment fully with the right person and 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:44.240 all the things that go along with that. But watching 0:04:44.320 --> 0:04:48.320 him play, he is powerful, he is strong. He can bend, 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:51.360 and he bends at the knees, not the waste You 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:53.360 don't want to be a waste bender. You want to 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:55.560 bend at the knees and then you're instill in a 0:04:55.560 --> 0:04:57.800 good football position. And he is. I'll tell you the 0:04:57.800 --> 0:05:00.360 guy is. He's got some brute force and frute strength 0:05:00.440 --> 0:05:02.920 to him. And they were they were moving people. Dan. 0:05:03.080 --> 0:05:05.440 You know the first double team that I saw between 0:05:05.520 --> 0:05:08.520 Billy probably Price and Westerman, I mean, you got to 0:05:08.520 --> 0:05:10.440 buy a token for that ride if you're a defensive line. 0:05:10.520 --> 0:05:13.520 He went five seven yards backwards right into the linebacker's lap. 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:16.400 They just washed everything away and Joe Mixon was feeding 0:05:16.400 --> 0:05:17.839 off of it. I talked to Joe a little bit 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:19.960 after the game and I'm like, that was I mean, 0:05:20.000 --> 0:05:22.120 when you see a push like that, he goes, oh, man, 0:05:22.440 --> 0:05:25.120 you know that's now. Now it's you're living right, You're 0:05:25.120 --> 0:05:29.160 living good. And if you give Joe as talented as 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:32.080 he is, an ability to get past the line of scrimmage, 0:05:32.120 --> 0:05:34.240 for he makes his first cut and in some cases 0:05:34.240 --> 0:05:35.680 it was like two or three yards past the line 0:05:35.720 --> 0:05:37.839 of scrimmage, you know, just right up the belly of 0:05:37.839 --> 0:05:40.880 the defense. That's that's really getting it done. And I 0:05:40.880 --> 0:05:42.920 think that's why they stayed in the game against the 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:44.600 good football team as long as they did, as they 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:47.760 imposed their will in the interior and everything. You know, 0:05:47.760 --> 0:05:50.240 they fed off of that aspect of it. So I 0:05:50.279 --> 0:05:53.479 do think that you need to find out what you 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:56.400 have with you don't want to end another season and say, man, 0:05:56.560 --> 0:06:00.279 Christian Westerman, physically, we know we got something there. Kenny. 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:03.359 Can he respond? Can he handle a lot of the 0:06:03.360 --> 0:06:05.400 stress of the game mentally and all that goes along 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:07.479 with it? Can he do it? One way to find out, 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:11.280 got to expose him to snaps at critical times in 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:14.919 games against you know, really good competition and see what 0:06:14.960 --> 0:06:19.640 you got. Redman has to continue to improve and quit 0:06:19.680 --> 0:06:23.040 with the mental errors. And Billy Price is literally halfway 0:06:23.040 --> 0:06:25.880 through his rookie year because of the injury. So all 0:06:25.920 --> 0:06:29.040 three of those guys, I mean, I think the concluding 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:32.200 three games of this season are pivotal and monumental for 0:06:32.200 --> 0:06:35.039 those three guys, that they can start to form some 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:37.840 kind of a bond there and prove that, hey, the 0:06:38.279 --> 0:06:40.719 interior the Bengals offensive line might be pretty good in 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:44.640 years to come. We've seen two starts by Jeff Driscoll. 0:06:44.839 --> 0:06:48.240 In those games, he's thrown two touchdown passes, one interception, 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:50.760 he's had a touchdown run that got wiped out by 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:54.000 a bad rule, and he's been sacked seven times. Has 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:58.680 he been better, worse? Or about what you expected? I 0:06:58.720 --> 0:07:02.880 think about what I expected. He I knew he had 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:06.000 nfl arm talent and he does. I mean watching him throw, 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:09.440 he's got velocity, accuracy, puts it in in tight spots. 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:13.160 You know, he makes the uh the contested catch less contested. 0:07:13.200 --> 0:07:15.880 He'll hit his receiver before you know, the arrival of 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:19.920 the defender and those kind of things. But he still 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:22.000 needs to see the field, you know, a little bit 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:24.360 more readily and easily than he is right now. And 0:07:24.440 --> 0:07:28.360 that comes with reps they designed to play for Franks. 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:30.080 I was looking at the game again and Franks did 0:07:30.080 --> 0:07:33.160 a little out and up move and it's seven points. 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:35.520 It's there, and he either didn't see it or get 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:38.520 off it too fast and didn't see it as it unfolded. 0:07:38.560 --> 0:07:41.760 You know. Another time he made a completion and got 0:07:41.800 --> 0:07:44.040 the first down, but there was another receiver on an 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:47.320 eight yard hook that was all by himself. Would have 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:49.920 been an easier throw to make. And you can you 0:07:49.960 --> 0:07:53.040 can nit pick and cherry pick every single quarterbacks performance, 0:07:53.080 --> 0:07:55.880 but I think some of the easy throws I think 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:58.040 are going to come to him, you know, based on 0:07:58.200 --> 0:08:00.360 the number of reps and the number of snaps he gets. 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:02.600 But I'm impressed with him, I really am. I mean, 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:07.240 I think physically he's got he's got a lot of skills. 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:11.240 I mean, he's he can move, he's strong, he's big, physical. 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:15.720 I think that he's um accelerating his career. I think 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:19.040 that in the first two games that he's played. I 0:08:19.080 --> 0:08:21.880 think around the league it's like, m let's let's take 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:25.320 a longer look at at Jeff driscoll. He's not hurting himself. 0:08:25.320 --> 0:08:28.440 He's he's helping himself with this opportunity, and that's what 0:08:28.480 --> 0:08:31.160 you want as a as a backup quarterback when when 0:08:31.360 --> 0:08:34.360 opportunity knocks, you know, when the doors open to crack, 0:08:34.360 --> 0:08:36.280 you gotta kick it in, and I think he's doing that. 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:40.240 I'm looking forward to see him play against the Raiders 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:43.280 because the two games that he's played, look at the 0:08:43.320 --> 0:08:47.559 pass rush. I mean Denver edge rushers, you know, and um, 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:50.400 you know, back back to back games. You know, you 0:08:50.760 --> 0:08:53.599 got the situation that he just faced last week. You 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:55.640 know a couple of good edge rushers as well, so 0:08:55.960 --> 0:08:57.880 now maybe you get a little bit of a breather. 0:08:58.000 --> 0:09:01.000 Denver's only got eleven quarter back sacks as a team 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:04.079 in thirteen games, and he was playing against guys that 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:08.360 had that many individually, you know, Chubb von Miller, Joey 0:09:08.360 --> 0:09:10.400 Bosa hasn't played that many games this year, but he's 0:09:10.440 --> 0:09:13.920 capable of those kind of numbers. It's it's I think 0:09:13.920 --> 0:09:15.920 it's gonna be very interesting to see how he plays 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:19.520 against the open Raiders and Paul Gunther. Aaron Donald has 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:22.280 sixteen and a half sacks and the Raiders, as you mentioned, 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:24.720 have eleven as a team. One thing about Paul Gunther though, 0:09:24.760 --> 0:09:26.880 as we know, with that double a Gapplitz and all 0:09:26.880 --> 0:09:28.480 the things he does off of it. He can run 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:30.440 a lot of coverages behind that double a gapp. He 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:33.600 can confuse quarterbacks. We saw him confuse Flacco time after 0:09:33.679 --> 0:09:36.000 time at veteran quarterback. So that's the one thing. Jeff 0:09:36.040 --> 0:09:38.040 Driscoll is gonna be really good with his nose in 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:40.280 the book, you know, and study and tape in the 0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:42.920 playbook and everything to make sure that he's not confused 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:45.480 by stuff that Paul Gunther's going to concoct because you know, 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:48.440 going against an inexperienced quarterback, he's going to throw the 0:09:48.480 --> 0:09:51.400 kitchen sink at him. In terms of different looks, who's 0:09:51.440 --> 0:09:57.079 your most pleasant surprise and your biggest disappointment? I think 0:09:57.280 --> 0:10:02.200 I think based on the way the season unfolded the 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:04.400 four and one start, there are a lot of good surprises. 0:10:04.400 --> 0:10:08.040 But in the one and seven stretch here, I'm I'm 0:10:08.280 --> 0:10:10.880 most uh, I guess pleased. I don't know about surprise, 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:13.160 but most pleased with what Joe Mixon and Tyler Boyd 0:10:13.200 --> 0:10:17.920 are given. Not just with their numbers, but those guys 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:19.720 are all in. I mean, they go out and they 0:10:19.800 --> 0:10:21.840 play no matter what I mean, They're gonna go out 0:10:21.880 --> 0:10:23.600 and compete. They're gonna go out and slug it out. 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:27.040 They're gonna get after it snap after snap. I think 0:10:27.080 --> 0:10:30.920 I think the fan base has responded to Joe Mixon 0:10:31.160 --> 0:10:34.720 and Tyler Boyd because of that. You know. I think 0:10:34.760 --> 0:10:39.920 that those guys have I think, shown themselves as as leaders. 0:10:40.000 --> 0:10:42.520 I think their leadership is building. I think guys are 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:48.240 gravitating toward them, you know. And I think it's unfortunate 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:51.200 that Jeff driscal is in the situation he's in, but 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:54.400 I think he's responded well. I think the thing to 0:10:54.480 --> 0:10:58.400 me that's telling what a quarterback is how the guys 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:00.679 react and respond to him. And when he came into 0:11:00.720 --> 0:11:03.520 that football game, they responded very possitively, and they have 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:07.600 ever since, and even in a couple of defeats, teammates 0:11:07.600 --> 0:11:09.000 coming up to him in the locker room when I'm 0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:12.280 in there right away after the game, you know, nice job, Hey, 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:14.240 he worked your tail off today. I mean, you gave 0:11:14.280 --> 0:11:17.520 everything you got. So they are responding to Jeff Driscoll 0:11:17.600 --> 0:11:20.440 not only with his physical abilities, but also, you know, 0:11:20.520 --> 0:11:23.400 with his makeup and the way he is with his teammates. 0:11:23.400 --> 0:11:25.920 And I know he works hard at practice, he practices 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:29.120 his tail off, and I think guys are you know, 0:11:30.040 --> 0:11:33.480 grateful or appreciative of him taking advantage of the opportunity 0:11:33.480 --> 0:11:35.240 that he's been given. They feel like he deserves it 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:38.320 and he's doing something about it. I think probably my 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:42.439 biggest disappointment is I'm stunned at how the defense played. 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:45.080 I mean, I think every problem every Bengals fan is. 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:47.440 I mean I thought, really the beginning of the season, 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:51.160 with two Pro bowlers that just got big contract extensions 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:53.600 and they you know, they'd have a lot of juice 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:55.360 as a result, you know, for a lot of reasons 0:11:55.360 --> 0:11:57.560 to go out and really have big years. And then 0:11:57.640 --> 0:12:00.280 on the back end with three first round picks, they're 0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:02.280 covering people that we talked about it a few times. 0:12:02.280 --> 0:12:05.040 That's the makings of a decent defense in today's NFL. 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:08.200 And man, just to fall on their face the way 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:12.200 they did is stunning to me. I mean, it's historically bad, 0:12:12.559 --> 0:12:14.880 and I had no inkling that it was going to 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:17.560 be that bad. During the course of training camp. I thought, 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:20.080 oh man, they're hustling. Look, the only the thing that 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:22.360 they did in the four in one stretch was creating 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:25.160 the turnovers and defensive scores and all that that's dried up. 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:28.360 I mean, that that well has gone pretty dry, and 0:12:28.960 --> 0:12:33.280 really it's it's almost it's almost incomprehensible to me that 0:12:33.320 --> 0:12:36.520 they can be as bad as they are statistically after 0:12:36.600 --> 0:12:40.040 thirteen games in into the season. So by far, that's 0:12:40.080 --> 0:12:43.880 my biggest disappointment, Surprise, shock, stunner, whatever you want to 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:48.680 categorize it. It's it's just absolutely mind boggling to me. 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:52.240 So I'm watching Monday Night football this week and century 0:12:52.280 --> 0:12:55.800 Link Field in Seattle was rocking. The place was packed, 0:12:56.080 --> 0:12:59.000 the noise level was deafening. That will not be the 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:01.320 case here on Sunday for the home finale, but it 0:13:01.440 --> 0:13:04.360 used to be. The Bengals sold out fifty seven straight 0:13:04.400 --> 0:13:07.040 games between two thousand and three and two thousand and ten. 0:13:07.720 --> 0:13:10.920 As somebody who has been affiliated with this franchise for 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:13.800 most of your life, how much do the empty seats 0:13:13.840 --> 0:13:17.280 bother you? And what will it take to get people back? 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:19.920 It does bother me, and it bothers me as a 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:23.120 former player, because I can harken back to a four 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:25.319 and twelve season where our final home game against the 0:13:25.360 --> 0:13:28.680 Atlanta Falcons offense was being introduced, where we ran out 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:32.000 the tunnel and you know, it's ten minutes before kickoff 0:13:32.040 --> 0:13:35.600 or whatever it was, and our footsteps were echoing. There 0:13:35.679 --> 0:13:38.720 was nobody there, and you know, you look around, it's like, 0:13:38.760 --> 0:13:40.920 oh boy, you know now you have to you have 0:13:40.960 --> 0:13:44.280 to manufacture your own energy. And you got to do it. 0:13:44.320 --> 0:13:46.440 I mean, you're a professional, you're being paid to do it. 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:49.680 But sometimes it's not as easy to do as people think. 0:13:50.000 --> 0:13:52.960 But you have to. And that's been I think a 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:55.000 question that a lot of the fans have. Boy, these 0:13:55.040 --> 0:13:57.160 guys even going to give effort. I mean, I'll show 0:13:57.240 --> 0:14:00.000 up if they give effort, if they if they try 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:02.760 and my eyes are doing everything they can to win 0:14:02.760 --> 0:14:05.040 a football game and not throwing in a neutral and 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:07.920 cruise control, you know, come and support them. So I 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:09.520 think that's what it's going to take. And then when 0:14:09.559 --> 0:14:12.720 when the stadium is packed, I mean, feeding off that energy. 0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:16.040 You know, the Super Bowl season, super Bowl sixteen in 0:14:16.120 --> 0:14:18.120 nineteen eighty one with the fans with the orange and 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:21.560 black faces and the Hoodae, the you know, the the 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:24.680 birth of the Hooday Chance and all that. It was unbelievable. 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:27.360 It was like it was like a college atmosphere. And 0:14:27.480 --> 0:14:29.400 you know, then when you're running out of the tunnel, 0:14:29.560 --> 0:14:31.560 your feet aren't in the ground. I mean, you're you're 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:34.000 on cloud nine. You're floating, and you feel like you 0:14:34.040 --> 0:14:36.560 can pick the stadium up, you know, uh, not only 0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:39.640 go play football. So it is it is night and 0:14:39.720 --> 0:14:41.960 day and uh and all the other things go along 0:14:41.960 --> 0:14:44.840 with it. Dan, I mean as a as an offensive lineman, Um, 0:14:45.360 --> 0:14:47.320 I know what it's like to not be able to 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:49.840 hear people. And that's what it was like. Our defense 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:51.760 would feed off of that. Our crowd was going nuts 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:53.760 and and the Bengals have to get back to that. 0:14:53.800 --> 0:14:55.480 And the only way they can do it is to 0:14:55.480 --> 0:14:58.560 give full effort every single snap and win some football games. 0:14:59.240 --> 0:15:02.280 This week, it's the twenty eighteen home finale, has the 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:04.920 Bengals host the three and ten Oakland Raiders. The Bengals 0:15:04.920 --> 0:15:07.440 are three point favorite, despite all of their injuries and 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:11.360 their five game losing streak. Lap Raiders fans had high 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:14.240 hopes with John Gruden returning to the sidelines this year. 0:15:14.640 --> 0:15:20.640 Why do the Raiders stink? They dismantled the football team. Basically, 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:23.640 they're they're building for the opening of their new stadium 0:15:23.680 --> 0:15:26.320 in Las Vegas, and they basically are thumbing their noses 0:15:26.360 --> 0:15:28.720 at the open Raider fans who have been tremendously loyal 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:31.280 to that franchise for a number of years, and they 0:15:31.280 --> 0:15:34.360 had you know, they were thrilled. Here it comes John grudenback. Boy, 0:15:34.400 --> 0:15:36.960 We've got a quarterback this Pro Bowl caliber. We have Mac, 0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:40.360 who's the best defensive player, not anymore Max as Chicago Bear. 0:15:41.000 --> 0:15:44.240 Cooper is a Dallas cowboy. They're accumulating first round picks, 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:45.880 but I don't care. If you have ten first round picks, 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:48.520 you may not ever find another Mac. To give up him, 0:15:48.720 --> 0:15:50.880 to give up on Mac and to trade him is 0:15:51.320 --> 0:15:54.640 unbelievable to me. Irving Bruce Irvan, another good pass rusher, 0:15:54.800 --> 0:15:57.640 is no longer a Raider. So they only have eleven 0:15:57.680 --> 0:16:02.120 sacks in thirteen games. It's it's unbelievable. There's no no 0:16:02.240 --> 0:16:05.600 pass rush. And there they've had their injuries too. You 0:16:05.600 --> 0:16:07.600 look at their injury reserve list, it's about as lengthy 0:16:07.600 --> 0:16:10.000 as the Bengals is an interesting enough. Then there are 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:13.200 eight former Bengals on that roster for them an injury reserve, 0:16:13.440 --> 0:16:17.640 so the virus is not only current Bengals former Bengals 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:20.960 around the league. For the eighth former Bengals are on 0:16:21.040 --> 0:16:23.840 injury reserve with the Raiders that's that's mind boggling. So 0:16:24.760 --> 0:16:27.800 I think that's that's pretty much it. They've they've traded 0:16:27.840 --> 0:16:30.200 their best players to try to get future draft picks, 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:33.360 and then the injuries to players that remained, and they're 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:36.320 a sella what they thought they might be. Last thing. 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:40.240 It's been seven years since former Raiders owner Al Davis 0:16:40.280 --> 0:16:43.840 passed away, but his legend still looms large over the franchise. 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:48.000 You have an El Davis story. I remember early in 0:16:48.040 --> 0:16:51.560 my career going out to Oakland and uh, you know, 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:53.360 Al Davis said let the grass grow to about a 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:56.400 foot and a half long because he didn't have he 0:16:56.440 --> 0:16:59.840 didn't have huge speed, you know, like Blittnicoff really couldn't run. 0:17:00.040 --> 0:17:02.480 Marv Hubbard wasn't a guy that was really a runner, 0:17:02.560 --> 0:17:04.800 you know, more of a powerful football team than a 0:17:04.840 --> 0:17:07.400 speed team. So he would always let the grass grow 0:17:07.560 --> 0:17:10.320 and try trying to get the opposition's team speed a 0:17:10.320 --> 0:17:13.199 little bit. And I remember vividly the stories about it. 0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:14.879 Then when I went out there, I'm like, this grass 0:17:15.000 --> 0:17:17.600 is longer, there's no question about it. It's funny. And 0:17:17.640 --> 0:17:20.600 I see him on the field and uh, we were 0:17:20.600 --> 0:17:24.240 just going through um individual position drill warm ups, and 0:17:24.280 --> 0:17:26.960 he kind of walked by the offensive liner. And when 0:17:26.960 --> 0:17:29.080 I was curling back to the end of the line 0:17:29.080 --> 0:17:31.879 after going through a little drill um, he comes walking 0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:34.840 Behy in his black and silver you know, garb, his 0:17:34.840 --> 0:17:37.960 his raider garb and he's chewing gum about one hundred 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:40.119 and fifty miles an hour young. He was banging the 0:17:40.240 --> 0:17:46.120 banging his gums away and hey, hey, Sarah Kills, huh, 0:17:46.119 --> 0:17:50.280 he says, laughing, what's going on? Huh, Sarah Kills. I'm like, yeah, hey, 0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:53.360 mister Davis, how you doing? You know? And that, honestly, 0:17:53.480 --> 0:17:56.679 that was a thrill to actually see him in that 0:17:57.119 --> 0:17:59.840 in that kind of environment and then think, I mean 0:17:59.880 --> 0:18:02.440 he actually knows my name. That was like, God, that's 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:05.800 unbelievable that Al Davis knows my last name. That's cool 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:09.760 as heck. And then um, when the game later on, 0:18:10.560 --> 0:18:12.800 we're playing when Matt Millen is a Raider, we're playing 0:18:12.840 --> 0:18:15.359 the Raiders, and I was I'd gotten to be pretty 0:18:15.359 --> 0:18:17.160 good friends with him, and after the game we're talking 0:18:17.240 --> 0:18:19.040 and a couple of things happened during the course of 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:21.160 the game that were pretty funny. But after the game, 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:25.480 I said, man, you guys, you guys are dirty, you know, 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:28.240 I mean, your your whole mentality is I mean you guys, 0:18:28.320 --> 0:18:31.360 you guys push it every single snap. I mean you're 0:18:31.359 --> 0:18:35.560 committing multiple fouls. He goes, You don't think that's by design, dude. 0:18:36.119 --> 0:18:40.159 Al Davis says to us, look, go out there, do 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:42.520 whatever you need to do to get the job done. 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:45.840 And if they throw a penalty flag, all of you 0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:48.520 commit a foul and they're gonna go throw two in 0:18:48.560 --> 0:18:50.480 a row. And if they throw two, they're not gonna 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:52.400 throw three in a row. He said, go out there 0:18:52.400 --> 0:18:55.120 and do whatever it takes. And he said that came 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:57.800 from the top. That was that was from the top down. 0:18:58.320 --> 0:19:01.280 Just uh, you know, press the press the limit on 0:19:01.359 --> 0:19:05.680 the rule and fractions every single play. And man, those guys, 0:19:06.240 --> 0:19:08.320 it was a street fight when you played those guys. Man, 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:10.960 you had to bring it because they were bringing it 0:19:10.920 --> 0:19:13.520 all they were. They were going out there and doing 0:19:13.560 --> 0:19:16.240 everything they possibly could to win the football game. If 0:19:16.280 --> 0:19:19.720 we're within the rules or not within the boundary of 0:19:19.760 --> 0:19:24.480 the rules, just win baby, exactly. Just win baby at 0:19:24.520 --> 0:19:27.399 all costs, no matter what it takes. Al Davis the 0:19:27.480 --> 0:19:32.840 legend Thanks Lap. Last week, the Bengals announced that Carlos 0:19:32.920 --> 0:19:36.879 Dunlap is the team's nominee for the twenty eighteen Walter 0:19:37.000 --> 0:19:40.280 Payton NFL Man of the Year Award. Considered one of 0:19:40.280 --> 0:19:44.040 the league's most prestigious honors. It recognizes an NFL player 0:19:44.119 --> 0:19:48.399 for outstanding community service as well as excellence on the field. 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:52.400 Carlos is helping the Cincinnati community in a wide variety 0:19:52.440 --> 0:19:56.600 of ways. For starters, there's the Carlos Dunlap Foundation, which 0:19:56.640 --> 0:20:02.000 focuses on education, offering tutoring and after school events, and 0:20:02.119 --> 0:20:05.679 Carlos is in the second season of his anti bullying Tour. 0:20:06.280 --> 0:20:10.000 Dunlap made stops at five schools in Cincinnati and also 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:14.080 met with kids in Charlotte, Kansas City, in Baltimore during 0:20:14.200 --> 0:20:17.240 road trips. This is the second time in four years 0:20:17.280 --> 0:20:20.200 the Dunlap has been nominated for the Walter Payton Man 0:20:20.240 --> 0:20:22.600 of the Year Award, and he talked about the honor 0:20:22.640 --> 0:20:27.080 with Lap on Wednesday. It's an unbelievable acknowledgment, you know, 0:20:27.240 --> 0:20:30.960 being able to, you know, get recognized and nominated, you 0:20:31.000 --> 0:20:35.240 know twice, especially knowing with all my teammates are doing here. 0:20:36.080 --> 0:20:37.679 You know, a lot of guys are very active in 0:20:37.720 --> 0:20:41.840 the community here in Cincinnati at home. So to get 0:20:41.880 --> 0:20:45.679 recognized knowing what they're doing, it's definitely, you know, a 0:20:45.720 --> 0:20:49.720