Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and this is the
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast, the Last Call edition. As we get
Speaker 1: you set for the last home game of the year,
Speaker 1: featuring two teams that currently find themselves in last place
Speaker 1: to five and eight Bengals and the three and ten
Speaker 1: Oakland Raiders coming up, My broadcast partner Dave Lapham joins
Speaker 1: me to discuss a wide variety of topics, ranging from
Speaker 1: playing time at last for offensive lineman Christian Westerman to
Speaker 1: a great lap story about legendary former Raiders owner Al Davis.
Speaker 1: After hearing from lap we'll hear from Carlos Dunn lap
Speaker 1: on being nominated for one of the NFL's most prestigious honors.
Speaker 1: And this week's Know the Faux segment, we'll get the
Speaker 1: lowdown on John Gruden's Raiders from former Pro Bowl offensive
Speaker 1: lineman Lincoln Kennedy, who currently calls Oakland's games on the
Speaker 1: radio with Brent Musburger, still going strong at the age
Speaker 1: of seventy nine. All of that is straight ahead, but first,
Speaker 1: here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest
Speaker 1: edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher or pod Bean.
Speaker 1: It's the greatest inventions since Christmas cards. You heard me.
Speaker 1: I am a big fan of Christmas cards. Love seeing
Speaker 1: the family photos. I love hearing from friends that I
Speaker 1: haven't seen in years. However, I am not a big
Speaker 1: fan of the bragging Christmas letter. Well, we can agree
Speaker 1: that it's great that your kids are crushing it at
Speaker 1: Ivy League schools. We don't need three mimiographed pages about
Speaker 1: it in your Christmas card. Now, let's get to football.
Speaker 1: The Bengals will try to snap their five game losing
Speaker 1: streak this Sunday against an Oakland team that has been
Speaker 1: awful under the one hundred million dollar man John Gruden.
Speaker 1: The Raiders share the worst record in the NFL with
Speaker 1: San Francisco and Arizona, and Oakland has been outscored by
Speaker 1: one hundred forty four points. The Cardinals are the only
Speaker 1: team that's been outscored by more, with a deficit of
Speaker 1: one forty nine. The Bengals have been outscored by ninety
Speaker 1: but last week they pushed one of the best teams
Speaker 1: in the league to the brink, losing a nail bier
Speaker 1: to the Chargers in Los Angeles. The Bengals defense, last
Speaker 1: in the league in points allowed, last in the league
Speaker 1: in yards allowed, was excellent over the final three quarters
Speaker 1: of that game. And that's where I begin my conversation
Speaker 1: with broadcast partner Dave lappham Lapp. In last week's game
Speaker 1: against the Chargers, LA scored touchdowns on its first two
Speaker 1: drives and it looked like it was going to be
Speaker 1: another disaster like the Chiefs or Saints games. But after that,
Speaker 1: the Chargers had eight possessions without scoring a touchdown, including
Speaker 1: two drives that started in Cincinnati territory. What changed and
Speaker 1: is its significant going forward? I think it is Dan.
Speaker 1: On the first two drives, the Bengals gave up ten
Speaker 1: first downs, four first downs on the first drive, six
Speaker 1: first downs in the second drive. The rest of the
Speaker 1: game those eight drives seven first downs total, And they
Speaker 1: started playing more man in the in the secondary, and
Speaker 1: they've drafted guys out of college William Jackson, Drake Kerpatrick,
Speaker 1: long long arms that like to press, play, bump and run,
Speaker 1: get their hands on people. Darkis Denard same thing at
Speaker 1: Michigan State. You know they feel comfortable doing that. And
Speaker 1: I think that the coverage coverage was much better as
Speaker 1: a result, rivers has to hold the ball a little longer,
Speaker 1: pass rush starts getting there. Now the pass rushers start
Speaker 1: to get more confidence, they start turning up another notch
Speaker 1: and all of a sudden, the gloves fit in their hand.
Speaker 1: You know, good coverage, better sack possibility, better pressure, more
Speaker 1: interception possibility. I mean it all is, you know, conjoined,
Speaker 1: there's no question about it, and it was disjointed, and
Speaker 1: now it looks it looks like it's starting to Meldon
Speaker 1: Mesh a little bit more. I hope that through the
Speaker 1: rest of the season they play more man coverage because
Speaker 1: they look pretty darn good. And I'm not saying that
Speaker 1: the Chargers had multiple receivers that could really beat up
Speaker 1: with route running Keenan Allen can and tell you what,
Speaker 1: Jackson did a good job on him. So I'm anxious
Speaker 1: to see those guys go out and play man coverage
Speaker 1: and say I got you and I'm eliminating you for
Speaker 1: the rest of the season, and watch watch the increase
Speaker 1: in pressure on the quarterback lab For much of our
Speaker 1: broadcast last Sunday, you were raving about the interior offensive
Speaker 1: line play a belly price, Alex Redman and Christian Westerman.
Speaker 1: Did the Bengals have something there and it's had time
Speaker 1: to see exactly what Westerman can do. Yeah, Westerman played
Speaker 1: forty two snaps, you know, in the game. And you know,
Speaker 1: I'm not I don't know about the assignment, if he
Speaker 1: carried out his assignment fully with the right person and
Speaker 1: all the things that go along with that. But watching
Speaker 1: him play, he is powerful, he is strong. He can bend,
Speaker 1: and he bends at the knees, not the waste You
Speaker 1: don't want to be a waste bender. You want to
Speaker 1: bend at the knees and then you're instill in a
Speaker 1: good football position. And he is. I'll tell you the
Speaker 1: guy is. He's got some brute force and frute strength
Speaker 1: to him. And they were they were moving people. Dan.
Speaker 1: You know the first double team that I saw between
Speaker 1: Billy probably Price and Westerman, I mean, you got to
Speaker 1: buy a token for that ride if you're a defensive line.
Speaker 1: He went five seven yards backwards right into the linebacker's lap.
Speaker 1: They just washed everything away and Joe Mixon was feeding
Speaker 1: off of it. I talked to Joe a little bit
Speaker 1: after the game and I'm like, that was I mean,
Speaker 1: when you see a push like that, he goes, oh, man,
Speaker 1: you know that's now. Now it's you're living right, You're
Speaker 1: living good. And if you give Joe as talented as
Speaker 1: he is, an ability to get past the line of scrimmage,
Speaker 1: for he makes his first cut and in some cases
Speaker 1: it was like two or three yards past the line
Speaker 1: of scrimmage, you know, just right up the belly of
Speaker 1: the defense. That's that's really getting it done. And I
Speaker 1: think that's why they stayed in the game against the
Speaker 1: good football team as long as they did, as they
Speaker 1: imposed their will in the interior and everything. You know,
Speaker 1: they fed off of that aspect of it. So I
Speaker 1: do think that you need to find out what you
Speaker 1: have with you don't want to end another season and say, man,
Speaker 1: Christian Westerman, physically, we know we got something there. Kenny.
Speaker 1: Can he respond? Can he handle a lot of the
Speaker 1: stress of the game mentally and all that goes along
Speaker 1: with it? Can he do it? One way to find out,
Speaker 1: got to expose him to snaps at critical times in
Speaker 1: games against you know, really good competition and see what
Speaker 1: you got. Redman has to continue to improve and quit
Speaker 1: with the mental errors. And Billy Price is literally halfway
Speaker 1: through his rookie year because of the injury. So all
Speaker 1: three of those guys, I mean, I think the concluding
Speaker 1: three games of this season are pivotal and monumental for
Speaker 1: those three guys, that they can start to form some
Speaker 1: kind of a bond there and prove that, hey, the
Speaker 1: interior the Bengals offensive line might be pretty good in
Speaker 1: years to come. We've seen two starts by Jeff Driscoll.
Speaker 1: In those games, he's thrown two touchdown passes, one interception,
Speaker 1: he's had a touchdown run that got wiped out by
Speaker 1: a bad rule, and he's been sacked seven times. Has
Speaker 1: he been better, worse? Or about what you expected? I
Speaker 1: think about what I expected. He I knew he had
Speaker 1: nfl arm talent and he does. I mean watching him throw,
Speaker 1: he's got velocity, accuracy, puts it in in tight spots.
Speaker 1: You know, he makes the uh the contested catch less contested.
Speaker 1: He'll hit his receiver before you know, the arrival of
Speaker 1: the defender and those kind of things. But he still
Speaker 1: needs to see the field, you know, a little bit
Speaker 1: more readily and easily than he is right now. And
Speaker 1: that comes with reps they designed to play for Franks.
Speaker 1: I was looking at the game again and Franks did
Speaker 1: a little out and up move and it's seven points.
Speaker 1: It's there, and he either didn't see it or get
Speaker 1: off it too fast and didn't see it as it unfolded.
Speaker 1: You know. Another time he made a completion and got
Speaker 1: the first down, but there was another receiver on an
Speaker 1: eight yard hook that was all by himself. Would have
Speaker 1: been an easier throw to make. And you can you
Speaker 1: can nit pick and cherry pick every single quarterbacks performance,
Speaker 1: but I think some of the easy throws I think
Speaker 1: are going to come to him, you know, based on
Speaker 1: the number of reps and the number of snaps he gets.
Speaker 1: But I'm impressed with him, I really am. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think physically he's got he's got a lot of skills.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's he can move, he's strong, he's big, physical.
Speaker 1: I think that he's um accelerating his career. I think
Speaker 1: that in the first two games that he's played. I
Speaker 1: think around the league it's like, m let's let's take
Speaker 1: a longer look at at Jeff driscoll. He's not hurting himself.
Speaker 1: He's he's helping himself with this opportunity, and that's what
Speaker 1: you want as a as a backup quarterback when when
Speaker 1: opportunity knocks, you know, when the doors open to crack,
Speaker 1: you gotta kick it in, and I think he's doing that.
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to see him play against the Raiders
Speaker 1: because the two games that he's played, look at the
Speaker 1: pass rush. I mean Denver edge rushers, you know, and um,
Speaker 1: you know, back back to back games. You know, you
Speaker 1: got the situation that he just faced last week. You
Speaker 1: know a couple of good edge rushers as well, so
Speaker 1: now maybe you get a little bit of a breather.
Speaker 1: Denver's only got eleven quarter back sacks as a team
Speaker 1: in thirteen games, and he was playing against guys that
Speaker 1: had that many individually, you know, Chubb von Miller, Joey
Speaker 1: Bosa hasn't played that many games this year, but he's
Speaker 1: capable of those kind of numbers. It's it's I think
Speaker 1: it's gonna be very interesting to see how he plays
Speaker 1: against the open Raiders and Paul Gunther. Aaron Donald has
Speaker 1: sixteen and a half sacks and the Raiders, as you mentioned,
Speaker 1: have eleven as a team. One thing about Paul Gunther though,
Speaker 1: as we know, with that double a Gapplitz and all
Speaker 1: the things he does off of it. He can run
Speaker 1: a lot of coverages behind that double a gapp. He
Speaker 1: can confuse quarterbacks. We saw him confuse Flacco time after
Speaker 1: time at veteran quarterback. So that's the one thing. Jeff
Speaker 1: Driscoll is gonna be really good with his nose in
Speaker 1: the book, you know, and study and tape in the
Speaker 1: playbook and everything to make sure that he's not confused
Speaker 1: by stuff that Paul Gunther's going to concoct because you know,
Speaker 1: going against an inexperienced quarterback, he's going to throw the
Speaker 1: kitchen sink at him. In terms of different looks, who's
Speaker 1: your most pleasant surprise and your biggest disappointment? I think
Speaker 1: I think based on the way the season unfolded the
Speaker 1: four and one start, there are a lot of good surprises.
Speaker 1: But in the one and seven stretch here, I'm I'm
Speaker 1: most uh, I guess pleased. I don't know about surprise,
Speaker 1: but most pleased with what Joe Mixon and Tyler Boyd
Speaker 1: are given. Not just with their numbers, but those guys
Speaker 1: are all in. I mean, they go out and they
Speaker 1: play no matter what I mean, They're gonna go out
Speaker 1: and compete. They're gonna go out and slug it out.
Speaker 1: They're gonna get after it snap after snap. I think
Speaker 1: I think the fan base has responded to Joe Mixon
Speaker 1: and Tyler Boyd because of that. You know. I think
Speaker 1: that those guys have I think, shown themselves as as leaders.
Speaker 1: I think their leadership is building. I think guys are
Speaker 1: gravitating toward them, you know. And I think it's unfortunate
Speaker 1: that Jeff driscal is in the situation he's in, but
Speaker 1: I think he's responded well. I think the thing to
Speaker 1: me that's telling what a quarterback is how the guys
Speaker 1: react and respond to him. And when he came into
Speaker 1: that football game, they responded very possitively, and they have
Speaker 1: ever since, and even in a couple of defeats, teammates
Speaker 1: coming up to him in the locker room when I'm
Speaker 1: in there right away after the game, you know, nice job, Hey,
Speaker 1: he worked your tail off today. I mean, you gave
Speaker 1: everything you got. So they are responding to Jeff Driscoll
Speaker 1: not only with his physical abilities, but also, you know,
Speaker 1: with his makeup and the way he is with his teammates.
Speaker 1: And I know he works hard at practice, he practices
Speaker 1: his tail off, and I think guys are you know,
Speaker 1: grateful or appreciative of him taking advantage of the opportunity
Speaker 1: that he's been given. They feel like he deserves it
Speaker 1: and he's doing something about it. I think probably my
Speaker 1: biggest disappointment is I'm stunned at how the defense played.
Speaker 1: I mean, I think every problem every Bengals fan is.
Speaker 1: I mean I thought, really the beginning of the season,
Speaker 1: with two Pro bowlers that just got big contract extensions
Speaker 1: and they you know, they'd have a lot of juice
Speaker 1: as a result, you know, for a lot of reasons
Speaker 1: to go out and really have big years. And then
Speaker 1: on the back end with three first round picks, they're
Speaker 1: covering people that we talked about it a few times.
Speaker 1: That's the makings of a decent defense in today's NFL.
Speaker 1: And man, just to fall on their face the way
Speaker 1: they did is stunning to me. I mean, it's historically bad,
Speaker 1: and I had no inkling that it was going to
Speaker 1: be that bad. During the course of training camp. I thought,
Speaker 1: oh man, they're hustling. Look, the only the thing that
Speaker 1: they did in the four in one stretch was creating
Speaker 1: the turnovers and defensive scores and all that that's dried up.
Speaker 1: I mean, that that well has gone pretty dry, and
Speaker 1: really it's it's almost it's almost incomprehensible to me that
Speaker 1: they can be as bad as they are statistically after
Speaker 1: thirteen games in into the season. So by far, that's
Speaker 1: my biggest disappointment, Surprise, shock, stunner, whatever you want to
Speaker 1: categorize it. It's it's just absolutely mind boggling to me.
Speaker 1: So I'm watching Monday Night football this week and century
Speaker 1: Link Field in Seattle was rocking. The place was packed,
Speaker 1: the noise level was deafening. That will not be the
Speaker 1: case here on Sunday for the home finale, but it
Speaker 1: used to be. The Bengals sold out fifty seven straight
Speaker 1: games between two thousand and three and two thousand and ten.
Speaker 1: As somebody who has been affiliated with this franchise for
Speaker 1: most of your life, how much do the empty seats
Speaker 1: bother you? And what will it take to get people back?
Speaker 1: It does bother me, and it bothers me as a
Speaker 1: former player, because I can harken back to a four
Speaker 1: and twelve season where our final home game against the
Speaker 1: Atlanta Falcons offense was being introduced, where we ran out
Speaker 1: the tunnel and you know, it's ten minutes before kickoff
Speaker 1: or whatever it was, and our footsteps were echoing. There
Speaker 1: was nobody there, and you know, you look around, it's like,
Speaker 1: oh boy, you know now you have to you have
Speaker 1: to manufacture your own energy. And you got to do it.
Speaker 1: I mean, you're a professional, you're being paid to do it.
Speaker 1: But sometimes it's not as easy to do as people think.
Speaker 1: But you have to. And that's been I think a
Speaker 1: question that a lot of the fans have. Boy, these
Speaker 1: guys even going to give effort. I mean, I'll show
Speaker 1: up if they give effort, if they if they try
Speaker 1: and my eyes are doing everything they can to win
Speaker 1: a football game and not throwing in a neutral and
Speaker 1: cruise control, you know, come and support them. So I
Speaker 1: think that's what it's going to take. And then when
Speaker 1: when the stadium is packed, I mean, feeding off that energy.
Speaker 1: You know, the Super Bowl season, super Bowl sixteen in
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty one with the fans with the orange and
Speaker 1: black faces and the Hoodae, the you know, the the
Speaker 1: birth of the Hooday Chance and all that. It was unbelievable.
Speaker 1: It was like it was like a college atmosphere. And
Speaker 1: you know, then when you're running out of the tunnel,
Speaker 1: your feet aren't in the ground. I mean, you're you're
Speaker 1: on cloud nine. You're floating, and you feel like you
Speaker 1: can pick the stadium up, you know, uh, not only
Speaker 1: go play football. So it is it is night and
Speaker 1: day and uh and all the other things go along
Speaker 1: with it. Dan, I mean as a as an offensive lineman, Um,
Speaker 1: I know what it's like to not be able to
Speaker 1: hear people. And that's what it was like. Our defense
Speaker 1: would feed off of that. Our crowd was going nuts
Speaker 1: and and the Bengals have to get back to that.
Speaker 1: And the only way they can do it is to
Speaker 1: give full effort every single snap and win some football games.
Speaker 1: This week, it's the twenty eighteen home finale, has the
Speaker 1: Bengals host the three and ten Oakland Raiders. The Bengals
Speaker 1: are three point favorite, despite all of their injuries and
Speaker 1: their five game losing streak. Lap Raiders fans had high
Speaker 1: hopes with John Gruden returning to the sidelines this year.
Speaker 1: Why do the Raiders stink? They dismantled the football team. Basically,
Speaker 1: they're they're building for the opening of their new stadium
Speaker 1: in Las Vegas, and they basically are thumbing their noses
Speaker 1: at the open Raider fans who have been tremendously loyal
Speaker 1: to that franchise for a number of years, and they
Speaker 1: had you know, they were thrilled. Here it comes John grudenback. Boy,
Speaker 1: We've got a quarterback this Pro Bowl caliber. We have Mac,
Speaker 1: who's the best defensive player, not anymore Max as Chicago Bear.
Speaker 1: Cooper is a Dallas cowboy. They're accumulating first round picks,
Speaker 1: but I don't care. If you have ten first round picks,
Speaker 1: you may not ever find another Mac. To give up him,
Speaker 1: to give up on Mac and to trade him is
Speaker 1: unbelievable to me. Irving Bruce Irvan, another good pass rusher,
Speaker 1: is no longer a Raider. So they only have eleven
Speaker 1: sacks in thirteen games. It's it's unbelievable. There's no no
Speaker 1: pass rush. And there they've had their injuries too. You
Speaker 1: look at their injury reserve list, it's about as lengthy
Speaker 1: as the Bengals is an interesting enough. Then there are
Speaker 1: eight former Bengals on that roster for them an injury reserve,
Speaker 1: so the virus is not only current Bengals former Bengals
Speaker 1: around the league. For the eighth former Bengals are on
Speaker 1: injury reserve with the Raiders that's that's mind boggling. So
Speaker 1: I think that's that's pretty much it. They've they've traded
Speaker 1: their best players to try to get future draft picks,
Speaker 1: and then the injuries to players that remained, and they're
Speaker 1: a sella what they thought they might be. Last thing.
Speaker 1: It's been seven years since former Raiders owner Al Davis
Speaker 1: passed away, but his legend still looms large over the franchise.
Speaker 1: You have an El Davis story. I remember early in
Speaker 1: my career going out to Oakland and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: Al Davis said let the grass grow to about a
Speaker 1: foot and a half long because he didn't have he
Speaker 1: didn't have huge speed, you know, like Blittnicoff really couldn't run.
Speaker 1: Marv Hubbard wasn't a guy that was really a runner,
Speaker 1: you know, more of a powerful football team than a
Speaker 1: speed team. So he would always let the grass grow
Speaker 1: and try trying to get the opposition's team speed a
Speaker 1: little bit. And I remember vividly the stories about it.
Speaker 1: Then when I went out there, I'm like, this grass
Speaker 1: is longer, there's no question about it. It's funny. And
Speaker 1: I see him on the field and uh, we were
Speaker 1: just going through um individual position drill warm ups, and
Speaker 1: he kind of walked by the offensive liner. And when
Speaker 1: I was curling back to the end of the line
Speaker 1: after going through a little drill um, he comes walking
Speaker 1: Behy in his black and silver you know, garb, his
Speaker 1: his raider garb and he's chewing gum about one hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty miles an hour young. He was banging the
Speaker 1: banging his gums away and hey, hey, Sarah Kills, huh,
Speaker 1: he says, laughing, what's going on? Huh, Sarah Kills. I'm like, yeah, hey,
Speaker 1: mister Davis, how you doing? You know? And that, honestly,
Speaker 1: that was a thrill to actually see him in that
Speaker 1: in that kind of environment and then think, I mean
Speaker 1: he actually knows my name. That was like, God, that's
Speaker 1: unbelievable that Al Davis knows my last name. That's cool
Speaker 1: as heck. And then um, when the game later on,
Speaker 1: we're playing when Matt Millen is a Raider, we're playing
Speaker 1: the Raiders, and I was I'd gotten to be pretty
Speaker 1: good friends with him, and after the game we're talking
Speaker 1: and a couple of things happened during the course of
Speaker 1: the game that were pretty funny. But after the game,
Speaker 1: I said, man, you guys, you guys are dirty, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, your your whole mentality is I mean you guys,
Speaker 1: you guys push it every single snap. I mean you're
Speaker 1: committing multiple fouls. He goes, You don't think that's by design, dude.
Speaker 1: Al Davis says to us, look, go out there, do
Speaker 1: whatever you need to do to get the job done.
Speaker 1: And if they throw a penalty flag, all of you
Speaker 1: commit a foul and they're gonna go throw two in
Speaker 1: a row. And if they throw two, they're not gonna
Speaker 1: throw three in a row. He said, go out there
Speaker 1: and do whatever it takes. And he said that came
Speaker 1: from the top. That was that was from the top down.
Speaker 1: Just uh, you know, press the press the limit on
Speaker 1: the rule and fractions every single play. And man, those guys,
Speaker 1: it was a street fight when you played those guys. Man,
Speaker 1: you had to bring it because they were bringing it
Speaker 1: all they were. They were going out there and doing
Speaker 1: everything they possibly could to win the football game. If
Speaker 1: we're within the rules or not within the boundary of
Speaker 1: the rules, just win baby, exactly. Just win baby at
Speaker 1: all costs, no matter what it takes. Al Davis the
Speaker 1: legend Thanks Lap. Last week, the Bengals announced that Carlos
Speaker 1: Dunlap is the team's nominee for the twenty eighteen Walter
Speaker 1: Payton NFL Man of the Year Award. Considered one of
Speaker 1: the league's most prestigious honors. It recognizes an NFL player
Speaker 1: for outstanding community service as well as excellence on the field.
Speaker 1: Carlos is helping the Cincinnati community in a wide variety
Speaker 1: of ways. For starters, there's the Carlos Dunlap Foundation, which
Speaker 1: focuses on education, offering tutoring and after school events, and
Speaker 1: Carlos is in the second season of his anti bullying Tour.
Speaker 1: Dunlap made stops at five schools in Cincinnati and also
Speaker 1: met with kids in Charlotte, Kansas City, in Baltimore during
Speaker 1: road trips. This is the second time in four years
Speaker 1: the Dunlap has been nominated for the Walter Payton Man
Speaker 1: of the Year Award, and he talked about the honor
Speaker 1: with Lap on Wednesday. It's an unbelievable acknowledgment, you know,
Speaker 1: being able to, you know, get recognized and nominated, you
Speaker 1: know twice, especially knowing with all my teammates are doing here.
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of guys are very active in
Speaker 1: the community here in Cincinnati at home. So to get
Speaker 1: recognized knowing what they're doing, it's definitely, you know, a
Speaker 1: privilege and honor to represent the team again. And let's
Speaker 1: try to bring it home. I hear you. Your anti
Speaker 1: bullying campaign has been highly recognized and rightfully so. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it's pretty pretty impressive what you're doing there. And
Speaker 1: you're not only doing it here in Cincinnati, you're doing
Speaker 1: it you know, you're taking it on the road a
Speaker 1: little bit to other NFL cities. What was the h
Speaker 1: what was the impetus of what? What was the trigger
Speaker 1: mechanism that kets you involved in the in the anti
Speaker 1: bullying campaign. Well, with my foundation, UM, we've been going
Speaker 1: to a lot of the schools and and you know,
Speaker 1: UM trying to hit home the importance of education. UM.
Speaker 1: So we go to talk to these n city athletes
Speaker 1: who don't really take their education that seriously, but they're
Speaker 1: you know, excelling on the football field, and we go
Speaker 1: on there and we challenge them to you know, take
Speaker 1: that same competitive mindset that they have on the field
Speaker 1: of playing service whatever it is that they're on UM
Speaker 1: and bring that into the classroom because uh, you know,
Speaker 1: you have to go through college and also, uh, your
Speaker 1: college education and your college degree is something that never
Speaker 1: depreciate or go away. You know, you might get old,
Speaker 1: slow down a little bit, right, you know, all those
Speaker 1: other things that happened, injuries happened, but they'll never be
Speaker 1: able to take your mind away. And that college degree
Speaker 1: that you know, putting that up on the wall his
Speaker 1: unbelievable accomplishment. And some people are you know, first generation
Speaker 1: for doing that. And you know, one of the schools nearby,
Speaker 1: one of the schools that I go to and talk
Speaker 1: about the importance of education, had a situation where, you know,
Speaker 1: a smart kid was excelling the classroom, but he was
Speaker 1: getting bullied for being smart, and it was to the
Speaker 1: point where he felt that alone that he wanted to
Speaker 1: take his own life. And for a young kid at
Speaker 1: that age, you know, I can't imagine what he must
Speaker 1: have been going through to feel that much pressure as
Speaker 1: a kid, you know, you know, kids don't usually feel
Speaker 1: much of anything, but he must have been going through
Speaker 1: that much pressure that he felt like that that was
Speaker 1: his only option. So we didn't want to We wanted
Speaker 1: to take a stand on that and try to make
Speaker 1: a difference on that, because no kids should feel that
Speaker 1: alone in a school system or school, at school whatever
Speaker 1: with this many adults, this many you know, principal administrators, UM,
Speaker 1: people that they didn't use as a resource. And and
Speaker 1: also you just want to educate the kids on what
Speaker 1: bullying is because you know a lot of times kids
Speaker 1: aren't aren't aware that they're actually bullying somebody. You know,
Speaker 1: they think it's a joke. But one of the things
Speaker 1: we say, it's not a joke unless everybody's included. If
Speaker 1: you win the National Award what is it two undred
Speaker 1: fifty thousand dollars that that goes to your in your name,
Speaker 1: to your to what play sixty is it? Or your
Speaker 1: foundation or both? Or how does that work? Yeah, there's
Speaker 1: so half of it goes to the playbook or UM
Speaker 1: the foundation that the NFL designates, and then the other
Speaker 1: half I get to designate who it will go to. UM.
Speaker 1: I get to pick a foundation of my choice UM.
Speaker 1: And for in order for me to win, I need
Speaker 1: everyone to go on their social media platform and use
Speaker 1: the hashtag Walter Payton Man of the Year but abbreviated
Speaker 1: w M. POY Challenge space Dunlap in this and that's
Speaker 1: how he can vote Yeah, that's how As simple as
Speaker 1: that is, how you can vote. You tweet that hashtag
Speaker 1: or you post a picture on Instagram using the hashtag,
Speaker 1: and that counts the voting. There's no there's no limits
Speaker 1: to how many times you want to voting. I want
Speaker 1: to thank everybody in advance. This year, all thirty two
Speaker 1: team winners will be highlighted as finalists and recognized for
Speaker 1: their important work during the weekend leading up to the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl. To learn more about Dunlap's nomination, visit NFL
Speaker 1: dot com backslash Man of the Year. Now time for
Speaker 1: this week's No The Fox segment is we take a
Speaker 1: closer look at the upcoming opponent, and to do that,
Speaker 1: we pick the brain, a former Pro Bowl offensive lineman
Speaker 1: Lincoln Kennedy who calls Raiders games on the radio with
Speaker 1: a legendary Brent Musburger. They're out manned at pretty much
Speaker 1: every position. What I mean by that is that injuries
Speaker 1: have decimated their this roster. They've asked Gruden and the
Speaker 1: staff has asked a lot of rookies to step up there.
Speaker 1: They're averaging, you know, starting on every game at least
Speaker 1: twelve first year players, so you know, across the board.
Speaker 1: It's a it's a very thin rang. And most people
Speaker 1: have asked me over the last couple of months where
Speaker 1: the Raiders trying to lose the better position themselves with
Speaker 1: the draft. Well know, and John Gruden have a playing
Speaker 1: for him the way I do. I would never see that,
Speaker 1: and I guess you saw it last week against the Steelers.
Speaker 1: Let me ask you, big man at the offensive tackle position,
Speaker 1: two rookies, Colton Miller, Marcel Eateman, how they playing, how
Speaker 1: they looking? They're big people, big body guy or excuse me,
Speaker 1: Brandon Parker at the right time. Yeah, yeah, Brandon Parker
Speaker 1: and Colton Miller. How the big boys playing on the
Speaker 1: edge there. Well, you can imagine if you're a rookie
Speaker 1: coming into the National Football League, especially the AFC West Division,
Speaker 1: where you've got guys like you know, you've got guys
Speaker 1: like Botha and Ingram and von Miller and all you know,
Speaker 1: just name a few Bradley Chubb at the outside end,
Speaker 1: how hard it can be to be successful. And there's
Speaker 1: no different. Colton Miller, for what it's worth, has done
Speaker 1: a fairly good job as a rookie stepping in and
Speaker 1: playing really one of the most difficult positions online cool
Speaker 1: and then Brandon Parker, for what it's worth, Brandon went
Speaker 1: to small school, he went to North Carolina and t
Speaker 1: and so for him to be thrusted in the position.
Speaker 1: He's got all the intangibles. He's got the footwork, he's
Speaker 1: got the size, he's got the strength. He just doesn't
Speaker 1: have the experience. And you know as well as I do,
Speaker 1: when it comes offensive line play, it's all about reps
Speaker 1: and snaps and playing against premier talent. That's what you
Speaker 1: have to do in the National Football League. So he's
Speaker 1: taken his lumps. I actually actually backed it up. Derek
Speaker 1: Carr has taken his lumps by an experience. But but
Speaker 1: for the most part, you know, they're they're doing fairly well.
Speaker 1: They'll be good for the future. It's just they're going
Speaker 1: to take their lumps this season. Right we're talking to
Speaker 1: the great firm pro bowler Lincoln Kennedy. The Raiders traded
Speaker 1: away too, eight players in Khalil Mackin and Maari Cooper.
Speaker 1: How did that impact morale? It really shrank it. I
Speaker 1: mean it really did. It depleted it. To be honest
Speaker 1: with you, A lot of guys in the locker room
Speaker 1: did not expect that to happen. I know why Gruden
Speaker 1: did it in both cases, but for the most part,
Speaker 1: a lot of guys didn't know what was going on.
Speaker 1: They kind of got over after a while the Khalil
Speaker 1: match trade, but then when they traded to Maari Cooper
Speaker 1: because John Gruden when he came in, he took over
Speaker 1: the roster. He made it from. It went from one
Speaker 1: of the youngest rosters in the National Football League to
Speaker 1: one of the older rosters by signing like seventeen guys
Speaker 1: who were thirty and over. So it left a lot
Speaker 1: of those guys, those veterans in they're unsure about their future.
Speaker 1: What's your take on the Roley McKenzie firing. And then
Speaker 1: John's catching a lot of a lot of grief obviously
Speaker 1: from the media about with the press conference about how
Speaker 1: he was surprised that it took place, and everybody's you know,
Speaker 1: interpretation is, Hey, the guys in control, the guy's gonna
Speaker 1: be head coach GM everything else. They're paying him one
Speaker 1: hundred million dollars, you know, for ten years. How can
Speaker 1: he not know? How can he be surprised? What kind
Speaker 1: of a trickle down you think there's been from that
Speaker 1: if any of the players, and what's your take on it. Well,
Speaker 1: my my take is this, and I'm not surprised. I'm
Speaker 1: surprised in the timing. I knew it was going to happen,
Speaker 1: because ever since I mentioned when Gruden came in and
Speaker 1: took over, he basically depleted the roster all the draft choices,
Speaker 1: pretty much governed a lot of the draft choices that
Speaker 1: regime and Kenzie and his staff had over the years.
Speaker 1: So you knew Reggie was going to move on. And
Speaker 1: Reggie's a good guy, he's a good general manager. He'll
Speaker 1: land on his feet somewhere else. I don't doubt that
Speaker 1: for a second. But you know, look, grud has been
Speaker 1: playing this game all season. He did it with Khalil
Speaker 1: MACKI did it with Mary Cooper, you know, acting like
Speaker 1: he wasn't in the know, and we all know it's
Speaker 1: We're not foolish, we all know what's going on. It
Speaker 1: is what it is. But he wants to put his
Speaker 1: own staple on this roster and he wants to He's
Speaker 1: going to start in this offseason. They've got a ton
Speaker 1: of cash to spend. More importantly, they've got you know,
Speaker 1: three first round draft choices, so they're going to do
Speaker 1: a lot in this upcoming draft, this upcoming off season. Lincoln,
Speaker 1: you were the ninth pick in the draft out of Washington.
Speaker 1: The Bengals have a ninth pick in the draft out
Speaker 1: of Washington and John Ross. I imagine you have interest
Speaker 1: in John. What do you think of the injury problems
Speaker 1: he's had and the relatively slow start to his NFL career.
Speaker 1: I would have liked him to stay in college a
Speaker 1: year longer and finish out that because I just think
Speaker 1: his durability needed to be tested and need to be
Speaker 1: tested by reps. It's very difficult to be put in
Speaker 1: that position, especially when you know what he did at
Speaker 1: a combine and everybody was so blown away about his speed.
Speaker 1: It's a little bit different than National football lea, Hey,
Speaker 1: everybody's fast, and you got to find a way to
Speaker 1: be durable. I'm wishing John the best. I do hope
Speaker 1: he figures it out sooner or later, because look, I
Speaker 1: was in the situation when I first got drafted by Atlanta,
Speaker 1: did not sit in their said scheme of things, was
Speaker 1: written off by many to a bus as being a
Speaker 1: bus until I got the chance to play in Oakland
Speaker 1: and sort of revitalize my career for Cincinnati Bengal fans
Speaker 1: and Cincinnati's sake. I hope he's able to figure out
Speaker 1: sooner rather than later. Yeah, it's amazing how it's It's
Speaker 1: where you go is almost as important as anything else.
Speaker 1: It's who you're, who you're coached by, what scheme it is.
Speaker 1: I mean, is it a fit? Isn't it a a fit?
Speaker 1: You know? I mean quarterbacks, Uh, if they if they
Speaker 1: get drafted into a bad situation in terms of coaches
Speaker 1: and schematic you know, they're a bus like golfs, a
Speaker 1: bus with fisher Now look at them. You know it
Speaker 1: really is. It's a lot of that is determined by
Speaker 1: the luck of a draw. You know where you end
Speaker 1: up and how you end up. Let me ask you
Speaker 1: about Jared Cook. This guy's a freakazoid. Sixty five two
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty five pounds, runs like a wide out.
Speaker 1: I mean they detach them and let them run routes
Speaker 1: like a wide out. How big a factor is this
Speaker 1: is this guy in the future of football with the Raiders. Well,
Speaker 1: you look at the overall position of tight end. It's
Speaker 1: absolutely key essential in order for us to an offensive
Speaker 1: be successful for the most part. They got to have
Speaker 1: a tight end. Look at Indianapolis. I think Indianapolis has
Speaker 1: four tight ends on the roster who are six three
Speaker 1: and taller. You talk about Travis Kelsey and you talk
Speaker 1: about the great Grocouski. Because the rules are the way
Speaker 1: they are. If you have a good size tight end,
Speaker 1: and if he has some speech to himself, it presents
Speaker 1: a matchup problem for defenses because he might be he'll
Speaker 1: be faster than an average linebacker, he'll be taller than
Speaker 1: an average safety. So who are you going to put him?
Speaker 1: You're gonna waste the corner to put on them. Then
Speaker 1: he's bigger than him. So that's the advantages you get
Speaker 1: out of the position, especially if the receiver type. So,
Speaker 1: but Jared Cook has been the Raider's MVP, and Derek
Speaker 1: Carton knows it, and he's going to try to get
Speaker 1: defenses into Nickel or a dome scheme and they're going
Speaker 1: to try to find out who's matched up. He saw
Speaker 1: last week in the Pittsburgh game that when he had
Speaker 1: a linebacker or undersized safety, it was automatic he was
Speaker 1: going to go to him. Yep. A couple more questions
Speaker 1: for Lincoln Kennedy. We saw a lot of Paul Gunter
Speaker 1: here as defensive coordinator and is the Bengals DC. Paul
Speaker 1: liked to rush for and drops seven. He hated the blitz.
Speaker 1: Bengals probably had the lowest blitz percentage while he was
Speaker 1: here of any team in the NFL. I looked at
Speaker 1: the Oakland stats. They see eleven sacks as a team,
Speaker 1: and I assume that that's what Paul has been doing.
Speaker 1: Is that the case? That is the case, Well, he look,
Speaker 1: he's having the blitz because the Raiders don't have a rusher.
Speaker 1: The Raiders on each level of the defense, defensive linebackers,
Speaker 1: in secondary have had holes. They have needs and there's
Speaker 1: gonna be major turnover this offseason the Robster, especially on
Speaker 1: the defensive side. I like Gunther's scheme. He just doesn't
Speaker 1: have the people to do it and talk with. But
Speaker 1: Paul extensively, you know, he said, look, if I had
Speaker 1: a guy like Khalil Mack, you know I can I
Speaker 1: could do some things with him, rushing him, get him isolated,
Speaker 1: stuff like that. But he doesn't have that luxury art
Speaker 1: and key. For what it's worth right now, the Raiders
Speaker 1: third round pick was is a nickel rusher because he's undersized,
Speaker 1: he's not an every down player. So the Raiders have
Speaker 1: got addressed the needs, as I said, on every level
Speaker 1: of their defense. And Paul Gunter is going to have
Speaker 1: to have a major turnover in order to implement his
Speaker 1: philosophy because right now they just don't have the people
Speaker 1: to do it. Lincoln, how good is Maurice Hurst. He's
Speaker 1: playing really well. He had he was injured. He didn't
Speaker 1: play the last game. I think he had the last
Speaker 1: game he was out, but he has been playing pretty well. Look,
Speaker 1: the Raiders are asking their rookies to do a lot
Speaker 1: because they have been decimated by injuries and had a
Speaker 1: bunch of the older players put on ir they're asking
Speaker 1: their young players to do a lot. More importantly, they've
Speaker 1: got to get the young players to believe into it,
Speaker 1: because even if the veterans say they don't want to
Speaker 1: be with the Raiders anymore, they want to go elsewhere,
Speaker 1: your future is going to be dictated a lot on
Speaker 1: your rookies and your newcoming players. And so they've asked
Speaker 1: Maurice and TJ. Hall and a lot of Justin Ellis,
Speaker 1: a lot of defensive tackles to do a lot, especially
Speaker 1: in that interior rotation, because they're valuable as far as
Speaker 1: run stopping goes. What are the players thinking, like next year,
Speaker 1: where are we going to play Oakland suing Us? I mean,
Speaker 1: do the players think idea? You think of that stuff. Yeah.
Speaker 1: The thing is that players, players just want to play.
Speaker 1: Said they had to play on the sandlot, they played,
Speaker 1: They do that. They don't. They don't get caught up
Speaker 1: in these things. Now. Yeah, the matter of uncertainty comes
Speaker 1: for a lot of the veterans who've got families and
Speaker 1: if they bought a place in California, they're trying to
Speaker 1: figure out where they're going to be. I mean that's
Speaker 1: where you kind of get offset. But I'm in a
Speaker 1: dark just like you guys, and I'm pretty close to
Speaker 1: the organization. I have no idea what we're playing this year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't. And it's it's said when you've got three
Speaker 1: games left in the season, and I'm really tired with
Speaker 1: a lot of the Raider faithful and Raider Nation up
Speaker 1: in the Bay Area. UM, there are a lot of
Speaker 1: season ticket holders who don't know they're they're unsure, they
Speaker 1: don't want to commit to the team, even though they
Speaker 1: want to follow because they don't know where it's gonna be. Huh, bizarre.
Speaker 1: The Raider fans have been is I mean, is energetic
Speaker 1: and supportive as any in the history of the NFL.
Speaker 1: Is it waning at all with all this that's going on,
Speaker 1: or as Raider Nation as strong as ever. No, it's
Speaker 1: it's definitely waning. There's there's no doubt about it, because
Speaker 1: there's a level and certainty right now. There were a
Speaker 1: lot of Raider fans who were excited that John Gruden
Speaker 1: came back in the fold because when he came back,
Speaker 1: he projected that the Raiders are going to be competitive
Speaker 1: and there they were going to try to challenge for
Speaker 1: a Super Bowl before the Raiders left. Well, that's not
Speaker 1: going to happen. It's not gonna happen this year, obviously,
Speaker 1: and it's not probably that's going to happen next year
Speaker 1: unless i mean everything falls their way and they get
Speaker 1: you know, it just doesn't happen like that in the
Speaker 1: National Football League. So there's a lot of uncertainty from
Speaker 1: the heartbeat of the Raider Nation, which is in Oakland, California.
Speaker 1: You know, the future looks bright as far as the
Speaker 1: stadium goes when they get in Vegas and everything else
Speaker 1: when that time comes. But in that interim, in that
Speaker 1: time between now and then, there's a lot of uncertainty,
Speaker 1: and the Raider Nation is up in the here because
Speaker 1: they don't know where the team's going to be. They
Speaker 1: would love to support them, but here's the thing, this
Speaker 1: is such a bizarre situation even with the relocation, that
Speaker 1: it's really hard to commit to something or want to
Speaker 1: be a part of something, especially when they're not being
Speaker 1: as successful as they as you want on the field.
Speaker 1: Final question will let you go, what's it like working
Speaker 1: with Musburger? Really surreal? And it really is. It's um.
Speaker 1: Every time I look over to Brent, I remember him
Speaker 1: as a kid on CBS with the crew and hearing
Speaker 1: his voice, you know, it's it was so it's timeless
Speaker 1: being and hearing the stories that he's had throughout his career.
Speaker 1: So it's it's absolutely wonderful. But um, it is a
Speaker 1: surreal moment when you when you realize what I realized
Speaker 1: that I'm calling games with the legendary Brent Musblatter. It's
Speaker 1: it's a dream from true all right, thanks to Lincoln Kennedy,
Speaker 1: And that's 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 on iTunes, Stitcher, or pod Bean, and if
Speaker 1: you have a minute, give it a rating or leave
Speaker 1: a comment. Your feedback is always appreciated. Five star ratings
Speaker 1: help more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde
Speaker 1: and thanks so much for listening to the Bengals Booth
Speaker 1: podcast