Speaker 1: I get everybody on Dan Horde and Banks for downloading
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The I'll Rise up and I'll
Speaker 1: do it a thousand times again. Addition, as the Bengals
Speaker 1: look to get off the deck after last week's disappointing
Speaker 1: loss to the Chargers and respond with a huge home
Speaker 1: win this Sunday against the forty nine Ers. Coming up,
Speaker 1: I'll talk to NFL Network analyst Brian Baldinger, who says
Speaker 1: he expects the Bengals to be a playoff team. My
Speaker 1: one on one player interview is with linebacker Joe Bacchi,
Speaker 1: who could play an important role down the stretch following
Speaker 1: a shoulder injury to Logan Wilson. Dave Lapham joins me
Speaker 1: to discuss the latest Bengals news, including the status of
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow's pinky finger and finally, in our Know the
Speaker 1: faux segment. I guarantee you will be entertained by one
Speaker 1: of the best radio announcers in the NFL, the legendary
Speaker 1: boy to the forty nine Ers, Greg Popa. The Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals, the free to
Speaker 1: play next Level Fantasy football game downloaded now from the
Speaker 1: App Store and Google Play. And here's a quick reminder
Speaker 1: that you can have the latest edition of this podcast
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Speaker 1: wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since
Speaker 1: Dana O'Neill's book about the Big East. I graduated from
Speaker 1: Syracuse in the mid eighties and worked there for several
Speaker 1: years after college, meaning I was watching and covering Big
Speaker 1: East basketball when Patrick Ewing played for Georgetown and Chris
Speaker 1: Mullen played for Saint John's and Pearl Washington played for
Speaker 1: the Qus. I could go on and on. I'm obviously biased,
Speaker 1: but I don't think there has ever been a better
Speaker 1: college basketball conference than the Big East from that era,
Speaker 1: and Dana O'Neill has done a wonderful job of describing
Speaker 1: what made it so special in her new book The
Speaker 1: Big East Inside the most entertaining and influential Conference in
Speaker 1: college basketball history. Reading it made me feel like I
Speaker 1: was back in my college dorm room, without the hangover
Speaker 1: or dirty laundry. Now time for this week's guests, beginning
Speaker 1: with an NFL Network analyst who spent eleven years playing
Speaker 1: offensive line for the Cowboys Colts and Eagles. If you
Speaker 1: love the NFL, then I hope you follow Brian Baldinger
Speaker 1: on Twitter because Baldy's breakdowns are fantastic. Brian, this week,
Speaker 1: he took a look at four of Joe Burrows throws
Speaker 1: from the Chargers game that really highlight his pinpoint accuracy.
Speaker 1: Is that the thing that stands out the most when
Speaker 1: you study Joe I think so. I mean, he could
Speaker 1: put the ball where he wants to put it, you know,
Speaker 1: whether it's against his own defense, whether it's you know, man,
Speaker 1: whether it's you know, a difficult out route to Tyler
Speaker 1: Boyd or Jamar Chase. I mean, he can put the
Speaker 1: ball pretty much where he wants to put it, with
Speaker 1: or without a bad finger. You know, it didn't seem
Speaker 1: to really bother him that much, to be honest with you,
Speaker 1: But that's impressive. It's impressive value sees the field. It
Speaker 1: was a good quarterback duel on Sunday with him and
Speaker 1: Justin Herbert. You were an offensive lineman for eleven years
Speaker 1: in the NFL. How is the Bengals offensive line progressing
Speaker 1: in your opinion? Well, you know, they played the rookie
Speaker 1: tray Hill last week. You know, for Hopkins and so
Speaker 1: I think he's got a bright future. But you know,
Speaker 1: they you know, Riley Reef didn't play, and so you
Speaker 1: know they're down two starters. So now you're in your
Speaker 1: depth a little bit. So you know, Isaiah Prince is
Speaker 1: a good player. I mean, he's probably a better third
Speaker 1: tight end than he is a starting tackle right now.
Speaker 1: And you know, the penalties heard him. They overcame some
Speaker 1: of them. But they had a lot of penalties on
Speaker 1: Sunday and that's something they didn't have against Pittsburgh the
Speaker 1: week before, you know, And so I thought they had
Speaker 1: played better than what they did last week. As a group,
Speaker 1: I thought they had played better. It took a while
Speaker 1: to get the running game going. I thought that they
Speaker 1: would be a little bit better against the Chargers with that.
Speaker 1: But credit to Chargers, they played run defense really well
Speaker 1: on Sunday. NFL network analysts, probably in balding Er is
Speaker 1: our guest. Balding, I think you were the first national
Speaker 1: analyst to really point out how well the Bengals wide
Speaker 1: receivers have been blocking. How vital has that been to
Speaker 1: their success? Oh, it's huge. It's a big part, you know,
Speaker 1: because if you know you can get your five or
Speaker 1: six yards between the tackles. But if you want the
Speaker 1: bigger games, the bigger runs, you need your wide receivers.
Speaker 1: You don't have to you know, you really don't have
Speaker 1: to knock guys down and you don't have to hold
Speaker 1: on to them, but you have to get yourself into position.
Speaker 1: And you know, if you're gonna run any kind of
Speaker 1: perimeter game, whether it's the hitch screens or all those
Speaker 1: kind of things, I mean, your wide receivers have to
Speaker 1: block and they have to be good. They have to
Speaker 1: understand how to do it so that you know they're
Speaker 1: not flagged for illegal contact or pass interference. So there's
Speaker 1: a lot to it. It's not more, it's more a
Speaker 1: lot more than just get in front of guys. You know,
Speaker 1: then you've got to be you just gotta be careful.
Speaker 1: I saw Joe Mixon run over Jamar Chase against Pittsburgh,
Speaker 1: and you know, for Jamar you can't get rolled up.
Speaker 1: You know, you gotta do your signment, but you can't
Speaker 1: get rolled up. So there's a lot that goes to it. Dan,
Speaker 1: It's more than just okay, he's your guy, that's your guy.
Speaker 1: You know, it's kind of how you do it. Is
Speaker 1: as much as if you can do it. Trey Hendrickson
Speaker 1: has had a sack in eight consecutive games. That's a
Speaker 1: new franchise record. On one of your recent breakdowns, you
Speaker 1: said everybody should watch him. Why if, first of all,
Speaker 1: he's got a multiple of moves. It's not just one move.
Speaker 1: I mean he's got a good stab and speed to
Speaker 1: power he's got he's got an array of moves, he's
Speaker 1: got a plan. And then he plays with uh, you know,
Speaker 1: really just NonStop energy, you know, and he plays the
Speaker 1: game really hard, plays the game the right way, makes
Speaker 1: plays on the other side of the field. A lot
Speaker 1: of guys don't you know, care to do that, But
Speaker 1: he plays the game really, really hard. He plays a
Speaker 1: high volume of plays. I think he's got twenty five
Speaker 1: sacks in the last twenty seven starts. Dan might be
Speaker 1: off by one or two there, but I mean it's
Speaker 1: it's it's it's a big number. So there's a consistency there,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean sacks or sacks. But you know,
Speaker 1: can you get the ball out, you can you get
Speaker 1: them down on third downs? Can you force a punt?
Speaker 1: Can you force a field goal versus you know, an
Speaker 1: extension of the drive and a touchdown. I mean, those
Speaker 1: things really come into play over the course of a
Speaker 1: game or a course of a season. Brian Baldinger is
Speaker 1: our gast. You can and should follow him on Twitter
Speaker 1: at Baldy NFL. Brian, you did the Bengals preseason game
Speaker 1: at Washington this year, is the TV analyst, and you
Speaker 1: pointed out something that I have never noticed before. The
Speaker 1: behavior of the Bengals on their sideline. Why do you
Speaker 1: find that to be important? Well, yeah, it's it's an
Speaker 1: indicator that the team is pulling for each other, that
Speaker 1: the offense has got the defense excited and vice versa.
Speaker 1: And so you constantly see Mike Hilton running up and
Speaker 1: down the sideline when Joe Mixon makes a ron or
Speaker 1: Jamar makes a catch, like they're pulling for each other,
Speaker 1: and it's you know, it's not like that everywhere, and
Speaker 1: it's been like that since preseason. It's still like that,
Speaker 1: even down twenty four nothing, you know, and you get
Speaker 1: the touchdown pass and the end zona T Higgins. I mean,
Speaker 1: you could see the excitement that they weren't down. They weren't,
Speaker 1: they weren't you know, this is the same old Bengals.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's that's over anyways. But it's just
Speaker 1: something that you see every week against Pittsburgh the week
Speaker 1: before it was really evident. But even when they come
Speaker 1: back last week with a chance to you know, take
Speaker 1: the lead in in late in the third quarter there,
Speaker 1: I mean, you could see you could see the defense
Speaker 1: pulling for the offense. And I just think that that matters,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean, it's not about just cheer leading.
Speaker 1: It's genuine excitement and pulling for each other. The Bengals
Speaker 1: have mostly had good luck in terms of injuries. I'm
Speaker 1: knocking on wood as I say that, but Logan Wilson
Speaker 1: is going to be out for at least a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks now with a shoulder injury. How does that
Speaker 1: impact the Bengals? D Well, he's really you know, he's
Speaker 1: really emerged, you know, I mean the interceptions of the
Speaker 1: interceptions earlier in the year that he had, but you know,
Speaker 1: I mean he's just an every down player. You know,
Speaker 1: he's a very very instinctive player. He knows where the
Speaker 1: ball is going, he knows how to get there. He
Speaker 1: makes a lot of tackles. Uh. He to me, he's
Speaker 1: been their quarterback of the defense. Now, they've had a
Speaker 1: lot of leaders on that side of the ball. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, Pratt will have to step up, and you know,
Speaker 1: they've got guys that can fill his shoes. But I
Speaker 1: think that you know, he's a guy that has really emerged,
Speaker 1: you know, early in his career right here as a
Speaker 1: guy that can lead a defense. And so there's a
Speaker 1: trick it down effect there. You're not going to be
Speaker 1: as good with him not on the field. But I
Speaker 1: think I think they're they're capable of overcoming the loss,
Speaker 1: but it's it's a big loss because he's a very
Speaker 1: very good player. The forty nine ers are coming to
Speaker 1: town this week. They're six and six after losing in
Speaker 1: Seattle last Sunday. What are a couple of things that
Speaker 1: a team needs to do to beat San Francisco? Well, there,
Speaker 1: they want to run the ball. They've got a rookie
Speaker 1: running back and Elijah Mitchell. Um. You know, prior to
Speaker 1: the last week's lost in Seattle, he carried the ball
Speaker 1: you know against the Rams, uh, you know, twenty seven times.
Speaker 1: I mean he's a volume carrier and don't be fooled
Speaker 1: by his size. He's got real power. I mean, you
Speaker 1: constantly see him pushed the pile and break tackles. He's
Speaker 1: good contact, balanced runner. So and they run a lot
Speaker 1: of stuff off the run game, a lot of play action,
Speaker 1: you know, do you get the ball down the field.
Speaker 1: George Kittle had his best game that I can remember
Speaker 1: the last two years last week in the absence of
Speaker 1: Deebo Samuel. But if Debo plays, and I don't know
Speaker 1: if he's up this week or not, if he plays,
Speaker 1: you got to defend him as a receiver, and you
Speaker 1: have to defend him as a running back. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's uh he's run for four touchdowns in the last
Speaker 1: couple of weeks, and uh, they really they feed him.
Speaker 1: He's he's really a good player. He could he could
Speaker 1: be a starting running back in this league. But as
Speaker 1: a wide receiver prior to last week, I think he
Speaker 1: led the league in yards you know after a reception.
Speaker 1: But uh that that those are things. And then defense,
Speaker 1: they play really hard. It's a lot more than just
Speaker 1: Nick Bosa. Like that group plays the game really hard.
Speaker 1: They're a little beat up in the secondary and Seattle
Speaker 1: made them pay for that. But they're front seven, they're
Speaker 1: eight deep, and they come after you. As it stands,
Speaker 1: right now, the Bengals are the number six playoff seed
Speaker 1: in the AFC. Who do you consider to be the
Speaker 1: team to beat in the AFC right now? And do
Speaker 1: you view the Bengals as a legitimate playoff contender. Well,
Speaker 1: I don't think anybody's better than the Patriots right now.
Speaker 1: I mean, they prove that again on Monday Night against
Speaker 1: Buffalo in the way that they played, in the way
Speaker 1: that they've been playing for the last seven weeks. So
Speaker 1: I think they're the cream the cream in the AFC.
Speaker 1: But it's it's wide open to me. I think the
Speaker 1: Bengals are a playoff team. I said that from the
Speaker 1: very beginning. It won't surprise me if they win the division.
Speaker 1: Obviously it's a very difficult division. Cleveland coming off their
Speaker 1: buy will give it their best shot. So I don't
Speaker 1: know that anybody can lay claim right now. Baltimore certainly
Speaker 1: has their struggles going on, has has Pittsburgh and Cincinnati,
Speaker 1: you know, as you know, they've struggled here. They've been
Speaker 1: up and down, you know, and so it's everybody's division.
Speaker 1: But I expect the Bengals to be a playoff team.
Speaker 1: I think they're built to be a playoff team, and
Speaker 1: I think they're built to win a playoff team. Brian,
Speaker 1: I love bald these breakdowns. It's one of my favorite
Speaker 1: things on Twitter. Thanks so much for your time and
Speaker 1: keep up the great work. I appreciate you, Dan, thank you,
Speaker 1: thanks for having me. Good luck this week. Here's hoping
Speaker 1: Brian's playoff forecast comes true. By and large, the Bengals
Speaker 1: have been one of the healthier teams in the NFL
Speaker 1: this year, but the one position group that's been hit
Speaker 1: hard by injuries is linebacker. Jordan Evans and to king
Speaker 1: Davis Gaither are both on injured reserve, and last week
Speaker 1: Marcus Bailey and Logan Wilson had to leave the game
Speaker 1: with shoulder injuries. Wilson is going to miss at least
Speaker 1: a few weeks. Second year pro Joe Bacchi stepped in
Speaker 1: and did a solid job against the Chargers. I spoke
Speaker 1: to Joe this week. Joe, you took over a linebacker
Speaker 1: when Logan Wilson heard his shoulder last week and did
Speaker 1: very well. You had the third highest grade on defense
Speaker 1: according to Pro Football Focus. Do you feel like you
Speaker 1: showed your teammates and coaches that they can count on you?
Speaker 1: While Logan is out, I hope, So, I mean, obviously,
Speaker 1: Logan has been a great player this year. You know,
Speaker 1: he's been on a role, and I knew if my
Speaker 1: time ever come, you know, you gotta gotta take advantage.
Speaker 1: Actually might not get another one. So you know, my
Speaker 1: opportunity came up, and you know, a tough circumstance with
Speaker 1: how Marcus and Logan both went down, and I just
Speaker 1: had to take advantage of it. So hopefully, you know,
Speaker 1: I gained the trust my teammates. I imagine we will
Speaker 1: see you in there quite a bit against the forty
Speaker 1: nine ers this week. A team that loses uses a
Speaker 1: lot of misdirection, a team that's got a great fullback
Speaker 1: and Kyle use Check, a team that's got a great
Speaker 1: tight end and George Kittle. Is this an especially demanding
Speaker 1: matchup for a linebacker? This one is one of those
Speaker 1: games they try to get your eyes as a linebacker,
Speaker 1: you know, with all the pre snap motion and moving around.
Speaker 1: But you know, it's a good week of preparation. You know,
Speaker 1: we got smart players defensively. You know, I think it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a fun game. I think they're gonna try
Speaker 1: and make it physical, which is right up our alley,
Speaker 1: So I think I think we're ready for it. We're
Speaker 1: talking to linebacker Joe Bacci. Last week, you got your
Speaker 1: most defensive snaps in a game, but you've been a
Speaker 1: key contributor on special teams all year. What's the key
Speaker 1: to earning the trust of special teams coordinator Darren Simmons.
Speaker 1: You gotta get on you know, his good side. He's
Speaker 1: gotta trust you because special teams means a lot, which
Speaker 1: is you know, totally right, and you know, just extra
Speaker 1: extra time with him, you know, asking them questions, being multiple,
Speaker 1: being able to do different things. Um, just showing that
Speaker 1: he can trust you out there, because like I said,
Speaker 1: you know, he's been doing this for a long time.
Speaker 1: So if you can gain his trust, that's a good thing.
Speaker 1: This is your second NFL season. You spend time with
Speaker 1: the Saints and the Eagles a year ago as a rookie.
Speaker 1: What was the most eye opening thing about your first
Speaker 1: exposure to the NFL. You know, everyone kind of gets
Speaker 1: that initial you know, a wild moment of all right, yeah,
Speaker 1: this guy's really good at football. You know, it's different
Speaker 1: than the college level. And you know, when I was
Speaker 1: down there with the Saints just going through camp. There
Speaker 1: was so much talent on that team from offensive defense,
Speaker 1: you know, guys like Drew Brees obviously, Cam Jordan, um,
Speaker 1: guys who've been doing it a long time. And they
Speaker 1: had a guy to Mario Davis who was in my
Speaker 1: position linebacker obviously, who's you know, had a hell of
Speaker 1: a career, so you know, he was a good guy
Speaker 1: to look up to. Craig Robertson. It was another older VET,
Speaker 1: but there were just guys down there who have done
Speaker 1: it for a long time and that definitely opened my eye.
Speaker 1: What if anything changes for you this week in terms
Speaker 1: of your preparation with Logan Wilson out, nothing will change. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, like I said, you got to prepare every
Speaker 1: week like you're going to be the guy. And last
Speaker 1: week that happened to me and I had to be
Speaker 1: ready to go. You know, no one's gonna you know,
Speaker 1: feel bad that, you know, I had to get thrown
Speaker 1: out there and didn't know everything. You know, I had
Speaker 1: to go out there. I had to own up to it.
Speaker 1: And you know, play football. You know, once you get
Speaker 1: back out there, it's like riding a bike and you know,
Speaker 1: you start playing football, start having fun with it and
Speaker 1: you know, I enjoyed it last week. You know, obviously
Speaker 1: I hope that Logan and Marcus are able to you know,
Speaker 1: have a speedy recovery. But you know the meantime, I
Speaker 1: gotta go out there and I gotta play well. We're
Speaker 1: chatting with linebacker Joe Bacchi. You played college football at
Speaker 1: Michigan State, but you are an Ohio kid. You're from
Speaker 1: the Cleveland area. Is it exciting for you and your
Speaker 1: family to be playing close to home in the NFL?
Speaker 1: I think it's huge. You know, it's nice to have
Speaker 1: my parents come down for the games on the weekend
Speaker 1: only be a three and a half hour drive or
Speaker 1: whatever it is. You know, it's huge. You know, just
Speaker 1: like college. They enjoyed coming to everything even when I
Speaker 1: was a little kid. You know, they went everywhere AU basketball, travel, baseball,
Speaker 1: whatever it was there and everything, and you know, it's
Speaker 1: nice to see this um, you know, go all the
Speaker 1: way to you know, my job really and you know,
Speaker 1: a professional football player and they're still able to come.
Speaker 1: So it's definitely a benefit. Based on your Twitter feed,
Speaker 1: you are a very proud Spartans grad. What did the
Speaker 1: win over Michigan mean this year? You know that just
Speaker 1: describes Michigan State, you know, never giving up. You know,
Speaker 1: they were down whatever it was, might have been eleven,
Speaker 1: I can't remember exactly, but you know, just constantly staying
Speaker 1: with the staying with it and uh you know eventually
Speaker 1: coming through just being relentless. And that's a you know,
Speaker 1: coach Tucker's thing there right now. So that was a
Speaker 1: great moment. But then Michigan did come back to win
Speaker 1: the Big Ten and now they've qualified for the four
Speaker 1: team playoff. To seeing Michigan in the top four make
Speaker 1: your skin crawl. It's definitely not something that you know,
Speaker 1: my skin enjoys, let's see. But you know that they're
Speaker 1: a hell of a football team if you actually watch them. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I think they had a great game play
Speaker 1: against Ohio State. You know, like you said, I'm an
Speaker 1: Ohio guy. I had one of my buddies, the G
Speaker 1: eight Ohio State, so I watched that game closely, and
Speaker 1: you know, Michigan was a better football team that day.
Speaker 1: And I still think, you know, they got a chance.
Speaker 1: Obviously they got Georgia, which a tough matchup, so you know,
Speaker 1: we'll see what they're made of. But you know, it's
Speaker 1: good to see the Big ten though, you know, a
Speaker 1: two spot in the playoffs, although you can route for
Speaker 1: the University of Cincinnati because defensive coordinator Mike Tressell had
Speaker 1: the same job when you were playing at Michigan State. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, and Tressell was, you know, the best to me.
Speaker 1: You know, he was hard on me like my dad
Speaker 1: was growing up, and you know, I really appreciate it
Speaker 1: that when I was in college. And obviously he's doing
Speaker 1: a hell of a job here at Cincinnati. I also
Speaker 1: have ties with Bama. My girlfriend's older brother who was
Speaker 1: a Spartan under trustle at a point, Max Bola. He
Speaker 1: is the second year here with Bama, so you know,
Speaker 1: I'm kind of tied between the two. I went to
Speaker 1: the national championship last year because of Alabama. You know,
Speaker 1: I got coach Trusts on the Cincinnati sidestyle. Definitely be
Speaker 1: a fun game to watch. You did a fantastic job
Speaker 1: last week. Best of luck this week, and I appreciate
Speaker 1: your time. Yeah, thank you. Joe tied for the team
Speaker 1: lead in tackles last week with nine. The Bengals Booth
Speaker 1: Podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals. There free to play
Speaker 1: fantasy football game Ultimate Bengals will be awarding a weekly
Speaker 1: winner during the course of the season with tickets, autograph merchandise,
Speaker 1: and money can't Buy experiences all up for grabs. Find
Speaker 1: Ultimate Bengals in the app Store and Google Play. Now
Speaker 1: time to discuss the latest Bengals news and Sunday's matchup
Speaker 1: against the Niners with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham lap
Speaker 1: It sounds like Trey Hopkins and Riley Reef will be
Speaker 1: back this week. That's obviously good news if that's the
Speaker 1: way it plays out, But linebacker Logan Wilson is definitely out.
Speaker 1: We don't know about Marcus Bailey yet. How did Joe
Speaker 1: Bacchi do last week stepping in? And how big of
Speaker 1: a challenge is it to play linebacker against this opponent
Speaker 1: the forty nine ers. Yeah, the forty nine ers. Uh,
Speaker 1: they do a lot of things to try to, you know,
Speaker 1: get you not trusting your eyes as such. Their whole
Speaker 1: thing is, you know, they just they try to ut
Speaker 1: out leverage you, out gap you with formations and motion
Speaker 1: and window dressing, and they try to get you to
Speaker 1: play cat and mouse a little bit and and guess
Speaker 1: you know, and I mean again, the legendary Paul Brown
Speaker 1: would say, we got him guessing. When you have the
Speaker 1: defense guessing, that puts us in a good position. So
Speaker 1: I mean that's that's kind of the mindset there. So yeah,
Speaker 1: it'll be a challenge. I mean, these guys run the
Speaker 1: football very creatively. I think they've got a very big,
Speaker 1: athletic offensive lineman that are built to run the football
Speaker 1: that they utilize the tight end fullback package as well
Speaker 1: as anybody in the National Football League. U use check
Speaker 1: is really really good, can block, can run, can catch.
Speaker 1: Kittle is a dominantly physical specimen, you know, probably the
Speaker 1: best blocking tight end in football. And he's a he's
Speaker 1: a great receiver as well because he's such a great blocker.
Speaker 1: So it's a snootful for any linebacker. And uh for
Speaker 1: Joe Bacchi to be technically his first start as such,
Speaker 1: you know, as a linebacker, it'll it'll be it'll be
Speaker 1: a challenge for sure, whether it's he or Bailey, very
Speaker 1: inexperienced Bailey obviously, and if if Bailey's still kind of
Speaker 1: licking his wound a little bit there, that could be
Speaker 1: a tough deal. Because it's this is gonna um, You're
Speaker 1: gonna have to make quick reads and get downhill and
Speaker 1: be physical and so doing against this offensive football team.
Speaker 1: There's no question. Now time for Joe burrow pinky update.
Speaker 1: I feel like we should have a breaking news sound
Speaker 1: effect here. And Joe hurt his finger on the fifth
Speaker 1: play from scrimmage. Offensively last week before that, he was
Speaker 1: two for two for seventeen yards. After that, twenty two
Speaker 1: for thirty eight. That's fifty eight percent, two hundred and
Speaker 1: eighty three yards, one touchdown, two picks. One of the
Speaker 1: interceptions was a perfectly thrown ball thirty one yards down
Speaker 1: field that could have been a seventy one yard touchdown,
Speaker 1: but Jamar Chase obviously bobbled it and it turned into
Speaker 1: an interception. With all of that in mind, how concerned
Speaker 1: are you about the status of Joe Burrow's pinky finger. Yeah,
Speaker 1: to me, it's sometimes during the heat of the battle
Speaker 1: when you have the injury, and my experiences, adrenaline, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of eases a lot of concerns there. You know,
Speaker 1: you don't really know how badly you're hurt. Now it's
Speaker 1: going to be you know, hours, days, a few days. Uh,
Speaker 1: their injury can change. I mean, there can be a
Speaker 1: lot more swelling at a lot of change in the injury,
Speaker 1: and then you have to decide how you're going to
Speaker 1: address it, you know, will you be able to throw
Speaker 1: I don't think he's going to do much practicing. This
Speaker 1: would got to be surprised. If he doesn't throw a
Speaker 1: football till Friday, that wouldn't surprise me at all, you know.
Speaker 1: I think they want to treat it and get it
Speaker 1: in as good as shape as they possibly can, and
Speaker 1: the best way to do that is to is to
Speaker 1: not you know, exert it over and over and over
Speaker 1: again throwing a football. So yeah, it'll be it'll be
Speaker 1: interesting to see how how the whole thing, uh, how
Speaker 1: the whole thing plays out, how it reacts. But that
Speaker 1: seventy one yard touchdown pass would have made him three
Speaker 1: to seventy one yards passing two touchdowns an interception instead
Speaker 1: of a quarterback grading at seventy, it would have been
Speaker 1: over one hundred, you know, like it's been. So the
Speaker 1: ripple effect that play was huge, obviously not just to
Speaker 1: Joe's stats, but to the outcome of the football game
Speaker 1: as well. Because it was nine nothing at that time.
Speaker 1: That would have made a big If it's a big
Speaker 1: explosive play, get momentum and all that sort of thing.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it's it's going to be interesting that the
Speaker 1: thing that happens on a dislocation because I've dislocated fingers,
Speaker 1: I dislocated my elbow, it wants to Once it's subluxes
Speaker 1: and you have the collateral damage of this stretch or
Speaker 1: tear or partial tear of ligaments, tenants, whatever, it wants
Speaker 1: to continue to sublux it wants to go back out.
Speaker 1: And that's that's the pain that he was feeling. That's
Speaker 1: the problem he was feeling without anything to help kind
Speaker 1: of support that from not happening. So I have a
Speaker 1: feeling that at this from during the course of the
Speaker 1: week here, he'll probably find a glove that will help
Speaker 1: that sum and you know, then you just have to
Speaker 1: get used to throwing, you know, with a glove. I
Speaker 1: don't know how much he's done with that. I don't
Speaker 1: know if he's had to do a whole lot of
Speaker 1: that during the course of his career high school, college,
Speaker 1: when he was at Ohio State. Probably not much at
Speaker 1: LSU obviously, but throwing with a glove can be a
Speaker 1: little different. Although some quarter back swear by it they
Speaker 1: say they get a better grip on the football with
Speaker 1: the gloves. So everybody's you know, teaching their own. Everybody's
Speaker 1: different in that regard. But it's going to be interesting
Speaker 1: to see what Joe Burrow comes up with. But I
Speaker 1: do think, really I think maybe, you know, the only
Speaker 1: guy of the injured players keeping everything crossed I can
Speaker 1: on a woozier. I mean, if Logan Wilson's the only
Speaker 1: guy that doesn't play, I'd be pretty good, you know,
Speaker 1: if they if they get all the walking wounded back.
Speaker 1: But like we've always talked about Dan, you know, being
Speaker 1: available at the start of the game and being available
Speaker 1: after you've taken twenty of thirty snaps in the game.
Speaker 1: When you have an injury of some sort, can you
Speaker 1: exacerbate it? Can you reinjure it? Can all those things happen? Yeah,
Speaker 1: they can happen. So you just never know until you
Speaker 1: get out there and start playing. As I mentioned off
Speaker 1: the top, it looks like Hopkins and Reef will be back.
Speaker 1: Did Trey Hill and Isaiah Prince struggle pretty badly last week? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I think it was. I don't think the offensive line
Speaker 1: as a whole played very well. I thought it was
Speaker 1: one of their least effective efforts efforts of the season.
Speaker 1: And you know, they just so happened to go up
Speaker 1: against a team that gave you a lot of different
Speaker 1: looks and personnel groupings and recognition and communication was a
Speaker 1: big deal. And it starts from that point person that
Speaker 1: center out in the offensive line, and there was some
Speaker 1: communication problems, there were some recognition problems, and obviously the
Speaker 1: Chargers realized that very very rapidly, so they started bringing
Speaker 1: more than they normally do, or not bringing more, but
Speaker 1: blitzing more a higher percentage. They weren't bringing more than
Speaker 1: five people necessarily, but you'd come up in a configuration
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, eight guys could come, which five
Speaker 1: are coming and which ones aren't. And they did a
Speaker 1: good job of changing that up and testing the communication,
Speaker 1: the identification communication and adaptation of rules for a blitz
Speaker 1: pickups and past protections and that sort of thing, and
Speaker 1: they fell short as well as, uh, you know, penalties.
Speaker 1: This team prides itself on lack of penalties. I mean,
Speaker 1: they're still first in the National Football League by by
Speaker 1: a wide margin. I mean, they've only got fifty penalties
Speaker 1: on the season. There's only two other teams that can
Speaker 1: that can make that claim um that have h fifty
Speaker 1: less than sixty penalties, and the Bengals have the fewest
Speaker 1: at fifty. And then they're number one in fewest penalty
Speaker 1: yards generated against them too. And there's only a couple
Speaker 1: of teams that have less than six five hundred yards
Speaker 1: and penalty yards and the Bengals are sitting there at
Speaker 1: four hundred and twenty four. So they've done a good
Speaker 1: job in that regard. But last week, seven penalties, you know,
Speaker 1: two on the center, one on the right tackle, and
Speaker 1: you know, two holding penalties and illegal use of hands
Speaker 1: to the face masks. Those those are brutal. You know,
Speaker 1: they took away good games, they took away significant plays,
Speaker 1: They put you off schedule when you were on schedule.
Speaker 1: So obviously they had their struggles. Let's stick with injuries.
Speaker 1: Trey Wayne's and Deonta Smith have been cleared to practice.
Speaker 1: The Bengals have three weeks to either activate them or
Speaker 1: rule them out for the rest of the year. Let's
Speaker 1: talk about Trey Wayne specifically. He missed the first three
Speaker 1: games of the year due to a hamstring injury that
Speaker 1: he suffered in training camp. He played pretty well in
Speaker 1: his first game back against Jacksonville, and then he hurt
Speaker 1: the other hamstring in his second game back against Green Bay.
Speaker 1: So now he's missed seven in a row. Do you
Speaker 1: expect him back this week? And can he help? That's
Speaker 1: a puzzling situation there, because he hasn't had a history
Speaker 1: of injuries, hamstring injuries in particular, and now he's got
Speaker 1: hamstring injuries in both areas, and it makes you wonder
Speaker 1: a little bit when you pectoral hamstring, other hamstring. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you're taking whatever supplement you're taking, or
Speaker 1: maybe you should rethink what you're doing if there's been
Speaker 1: some sort of a change in that regards that's maybe
Speaker 1: altered the way your body's reacting to whatever it is.
Speaker 1: And I'm not saying he's doing anything at least, I'm
Speaker 1: just saying that sometimes bodies don't respond well to certain
Speaker 1: diet changes or additives or whatever supplements whatever guys do.
Speaker 1: But with that said, if he's healthy, I think he
Speaker 1: can help, you know, I really do. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think the guy can help. And honestly, if he's been
Speaker 1: a pro, a pros pro, he's taken mental rep after
Speaker 1: mental rep, and he's kept up with everything they've done
Speaker 1: in terms of adjustments and problems they've had and how
Speaker 1: those problems have been rectified and all those sort of things.
Speaker 1: So hopefully, you know, it won't be like he's been
Speaker 1: in a closet somewhere and locked up and not understood
Speaker 1: what's been going on through this whole process. So if
Speaker 1: he can go out there and get it done physically,
Speaker 1: he's a he's a talented guy. I mean, he can run,
Speaker 1: he's long, he's got I mean, they paid him a
Speaker 1: ton of money for a reason. And if he can,
Speaker 1: if he can get out there and remain healthy, that
Speaker 1: would that would be a big plus. Can particularly if
Speaker 1: if it was he is not injured. Is that foot
Speaker 1: injury isn't so severe that you know he might even
Speaker 1: be able to suit up and help some um, that
Speaker 1: would be that would be a very big addition. I
Speaker 1: don't know. I don't know that they'd necessarily activate him.
Speaker 1: If a Woozier is showing signs of being totally ready,
Speaker 1: they may give him a little more practice time to adapt.
Speaker 1: But in a quote emergency situation, be good to have
Speaker 1: a guy that you paid a ton of money too,
Speaker 1: that you had a lot of confidence in if, in fact,
Speaker 1: you know, he's healthy, and I would think seven weeks,
Speaker 1: I mean, that's a good stretch to get your get
Speaker 1: your hamstring right. So hopefully that's that wouldn't be an
Speaker 1: issue anymore. But as we know, though, the weather is
Speaker 1: going to start to change. It's as it's not supposed
Speaker 1: to be as cold on Sunday as it's been you know,
Speaker 1: in the early stages of the week here. But sometimes
Speaker 1: in that that cold, damp weather, it's tough for some
Speaker 1: of these you know, tightly muscled guys to get themselves loose.
Speaker 1: Here's a good stat courtesy of our friend Paul Dayner
Speaker 1: Junior from the Athletic in the Bengals seven wins, they
Speaker 1: have five turnovers and they're five losses. They have fourteen turnovers.
Speaker 1: So for all the analysis that we do and everybody
Speaker 1: else does, is it as simple as when they take
Speaker 1: care of the ball, they win and when they don't
Speaker 1: they lose. Yeah, although they had you know, they had
Speaker 1: a minus turnover ratio in Baltimore and won by forty
Speaker 1: one twenty. There's always something that's like what there's there's
Speaker 1: you're always going to find, you know, an exception to
Speaker 1: the rule. But in general, I mean in their last
Speaker 1: two losses they've had seven giveaways, seven turnovers, and two
Speaker 1: game stretch. It's going to be hard to beat anybody,
Speaker 1: and they didn't. They didn't beat them, So it is
Speaker 1: holding one of the football. Ball security is a big deal.
Speaker 1: And the thing that you know, I took notice of
Speaker 1: as I was looking through numbers in the early stages
Speaker 1: of preparation, forty nine ers have forced twenty five fumbles
Speaker 1: number one in the National Football League. Twenty five fumbles
Speaker 1: in twelve games over to a game on an average basis.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's like, that's being aggressive in that area. Obviously,
Speaker 1: I mean some luck involved with all of that are
Speaker 1: bad luck for the players that are losing those footballs,
Speaker 1: but man, that's obviously a focus of attention. And have
Speaker 1: twenty five of them. They've only recovered eight, but you know,
Speaker 1: that's still a significant, significant number, and it puts them
Speaker 1: in amongst the league leaders. In the league, they're tied
Speaker 1: for six with eight fumble recoveries. But man, twenty five
Speaker 1: fit the ground. Man that's better secure the pig because
Speaker 1: you know, lost a couple last week and both of
Speaker 1: them were very, very painful. So you're gonna have to
Speaker 1: don't anything worse than even Stephen in the turnover ratio.
Speaker 1: You're starting to play with fire a little bit. The
Speaker 1: forty nine ers were a super Bowl team two years ago.
Speaker 1: Then they were injury plagued. Last year, three different guys
Speaker 1: started at quarterback. They went six and ten. I think
Speaker 1: people expected them to bounce back with a big year
Speaker 1: this year. They've had some more injury problems. They're six
Speaker 1: and six. How good are the forty nine ers this year?
Speaker 1: That's a that's a great You know, they on paper
Speaker 1: and they look like and when you watch you watch
Speaker 1: their scheme, their schemes offensively and defensively, you think this
Speaker 1: is a football team that has some talent. It's pretty
Speaker 1: well put together. But man, it just hasn't like you said, Man,
Speaker 1: it hasn't parlayed. You know, they've four their six losses
Speaker 1: or by uh seven points or less, so they've been
Speaker 1: in a bunch of close games and haven't haven't really
Speaker 1: taken full advantage of it. I think I think Jimmy
Speaker 1: Garoppolo is a quandary. I mean, that guy, to me,
Speaker 1: he'll he'll he'll make some plays and then he'll play
Speaker 1: some games where it's like, yeah, Jimmy gi man, he
Speaker 1: can he can get it done. And then he'll just
Speaker 1: look he'll look terrible. I mean you'll see him stare
Speaker 1: his target down. I mean just stare it down. And
Speaker 1: he tries to looks to me like sometimes he tries
Speaker 1: to keep everything between the numbers because I don't think
Speaker 1: he trusts his arm strength. To me, he doesn't like
Speaker 1: to go outside as much as most quarter about now.
Speaker 1: You we had a guy that we saw last week
Speaker 1: justin Herbert. I mean, he'd fired the heck out of
Speaker 1: it from the right sideline to the left side line
Speaker 1: and not worry about it. But I think Jimmy g
Speaker 1: feels more comfortable, Uh look, looking in the middle of
Speaker 1: the football field between the numbers and making reads there
Speaker 1: and the ball's not in the air, you know, as much.
Speaker 1: And I think he has a pretty good understanding of
Speaker 1: the depth, perception and touch to put on the ball
Speaker 1: over the linebackers in front of the state. He seems
Speaker 1: to want to throw the football in those u in
Speaker 1: those particular areas and uh, you know, I mean he's
Speaker 1: thrown into uh, he's thrown into coverage some you know.
Speaker 1: I mean he'll he hasn't. He hasn't been totally clean
Speaker 1: in that regard. So I think I think he's the
Speaker 1: key to the football game, particularly if the Bengals can, Uh,
Speaker 1: if the Bengals can can get a lead and and
Speaker 1: uh impact the middle of the football field, and and
Speaker 1: uh make make Jimmy g throw the ball to the
Speaker 1: outside where he's not real comfortable. And and then if
Speaker 1: he does throw the ball in the middle of the
Speaker 1: football field into crowds, which he has done some, then
Speaker 1: I think that's a that's a recipe for success. But
Speaker 1: the first thing they have to do is control the
Speaker 1: running game, or they may see Shanahan do what Belichick did,
Speaker 1: only throw it three times in a game. I mean,
Speaker 1: it would not shock me that it's happened before. I mean,
Speaker 1: the forty nine ers have won games where Jimmy Geeson
Speaker 1: owned the ball less than twenty times, you know, like
Speaker 1: seventeen times or something like that. If they get that
Speaker 1: running game going, that wouldn't have stunned me at all.
Speaker 1: If they if they just keep trying to keep the
Speaker 1: Bengals in the meat grinder and keep Joe Burrow and
Speaker 1: all his explosive weapons on the Bengal sideline. Is Kyle
Speaker 1: Shanahan the best play designer slash play caller in the NFL.
Speaker 1: I think he's I think he's right there. I've heard
Speaker 1: too many people given that kind of praise that too
Speaker 1: many people that I respect have a pretty good knowledge
Speaker 1: and understanding of what's going on. I do think that
Speaker 1: his running attack is very, very creative. It's very very multiple,
Speaker 1: it's very very diverse. There's physicality to it, there's a
Speaker 1: little deception to it, you know, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: a lot of window dressing to it. But the bottom
Speaker 1: line is he still wants to thump you, you know,
Speaker 1: he still wants to put it to you that way.
Speaker 1: And then I do think that that he does a
Speaker 1: great job. And you know, I've heard this for years
Speaker 1: about him that as far as creating plays that run
Speaker 1: his receivers open, he's as good as the resident the league.
Speaker 1: Instead of the receiver having to make a great move
Speaker 1: on a route to create separation, he creates separation by formation, configuration,
Speaker 1: patterns of the routes and all that sort of thing,
Speaker 1: and guys just you know, will bust open. So yeah,
Speaker 1: he's he's obviously very very smart, football minded guy. He's
Speaker 1: got a beautiful mind for the game of football. As
Speaker 1: they say, on defense, they have Nick Bosa twelve sacks,
Speaker 1: they got linebacker Fred Warner, first team All Pro last year,
Speaker 1: highest paid a linebacker in the NFL now, but their
Speaker 1: twentieth in points allowed. How good is their defense? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know, it's like you look at it and Bosa
Speaker 1: Bosa is. It's interesting because to my recollection, Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: went west with Bosa to rehab Nick and Joey, you
Speaker 1: know Nick in particulars Nick just had his surgery as well,
Speaker 1: so they're very they're very close. And Joey Bosa didn't
Speaker 1: play much in that football game at all. I mean,
Speaker 1: he went out with the concussion protocol and get cleared,
Speaker 1: but they just kept him out, you know, as a
Speaker 1: as a precaution more than anything that ended up didn't
Speaker 1: really need him. But yeah, Nick Bosa is a guy
Speaker 1: that is talented. They rush him from both edges. He's
Speaker 1: got some athletic versatility to him in that regard. I
Speaker 1: think Armstead can be a dangerous guy. You know. Warner
Speaker 1: is a very, very athletic linebacker who seemed a lot
Speaker 1: you know, during the course of his career. It's it
Speaker 1: is all very interesting. You know. The thing about the
Speaker 1: forty niners, like we talked about earlier Dan the Bengals
Speaker 1: turnover issues. The Bengals are minus two, forty nine are
Speaker 1: minus four. I mean, they've only got one fewer giveaway
Speaker 1: than the Bengals, and they've got three fewer takeaways than
Speaker 1: the Bengals. So that's been their problem in football games
Speaker 1: as well, is that turnover ratio. And they've they've gotten
Speaker 1: themselves penalized quite a bit. I mean, seventy three for
Speaker 1: seven hundred and eighty three yards as opposed to fifty
Speaker 1: for four and twenty four yards against the bengalsul mistakes
Speaker 1: in turn in the form of turnovers, penalties, mental areas,
Speaker 1: things of that nature have hurt the San Francisco forty
Speaker 1: nine ers is probably as much as any team in
Speaker 1: the National Football League as well. I mean, you look
Speaker 1: at them defensively, their numbers say, I mean they're eighth
Speaker 1: in the NFL defensively, and first downs allowed ninth and
Speaker 1: third down conversion percentage allowed. They're sixth in yards allowed
Speaker 1: per game, tenth in yards allowed per play. They're tied
Speaker 1: for fourth in fewest passing yards allowed, they're eight and
Speaker 1: sacks per pass attempt. You know, like I said, they
Speaker 1: forced twenty five fumbles and recovered eight of them. But
Speaker 1: then you look at it's all about points, and you know,
Speaker 1: maybe their offense has put them in bad field position.
Speaker 1: Special teams has put them in bad field position. So
Speaker 1: sometimes when you're just looking at paper and you don't
Speaker 1: have an understanding of the flow of you know, on
Speaker 1: a play by play basis of the team, some things
Speaker 1: just don't add up, you know. And I will say
Speaker 1: though that the other thing is you have Bosa with
Speaker 1: twelve sacks and then you drop off the face of
Speaker 1: the earth to like three and a half I think
Speaker 1: is the next one. Yeah, Keys got three and a
Speaker 1: half and Armstead has got three. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: you look at look at the Bengals. They've they've got
Speaker 1: Hendrickson with eleven and a half, Hubbard with seven and
Speaker 1: a half, Hill has four four and a half, Ogan
Speaker 1: Joby has four and a half. I mean, they've got
Speaker 1: they've got a little bit more balanced in their pass
Speaker 1: rush instead of just you know, totally dependent on one guy.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's all I can say is on a
Speaker 1: week to week basis in the NFL, though, it's all
Speaker 1: about matchups and that and that specific game and the
Speaker 1: early flow of the football game is going to have
Speaker 1: a big bearing on how this thing transpires, There's no
Speaker 1: question about it. Last thing, the Bengals announced down Wednesday
Speaker 1: that Kay Adams from Good Morning Football and the NFL
Speaker 1: Network will be the ruler of the jungle this Sunday
Speaker 1: at Paul Brown Stadium. I love Good Morning Football. I
Speaker 1: think if you could bottle the chemistry between the host,
Speaker 1: you'd be a very wealthy person. Are you a good
Speaker 1: morning football guy? Absolutely every single morning? And so's my
Speaker 1: wife Lynn. I mean we get up early, you know,
Speaker 1: we're early risals anyway, but we'll put that on, you know,
Speaker 1: right away as we're doing whatever we're doing and check
Speaker 1: it out. And she's become a huge Good Morning Football
Speaker 1: fan as survive from the from the start of it.
Speaker 1: I think that they're they're able to mix entertainment and
Speaker 1: information about as well as anybody. I mean, it is
Speaker 1: just when you you really have to, you know, pay
Speaker 1: full attention and don't get two swept away with sometimes
Speaker 1: the way they delivered, because there is some good information
Speaker 1: in there. But boy, if you want to if you
Speaker 1: want to start smiling in the morning. That's a good
Speaker 1: show to watch too, because they feed off each other
Speaker 1: exceptionally well. And I do think that there is there's great,
Speaker 1: great chemistry amongst amongst all of them. And even when
Speaker 1: they they'll you know, they'll bring in if they got
Speaker 1: ones off and they bring one in the other two
Speaker 1: or three will pick it up. And it just works.
Speaker 1: It just works no matter what three or four people
Speaker 1: are on the set for them, they do a heck
Speaker 1: of a job. I'm very impressed with what they do
Speaker 1: every day. It's okay if you're listening open invitation. The
Speaker 1: home Radio Booth would welcome you on Sunday after you
Speaker 1: lead the Hooday chant prior to the game, come join
Speaker 1: your friends and fans, Dan and Dave and the Bengals
Speaker 1: Radio Booth, no question about it. K is Okay, more
Speaker 1: than okay, K is special. K. Last, but not least,
Speaker 1: it's time for this week's No the Faux segment as
Speaker 1: we check in with Greg Poppa, who joined Lapping Me
Speaker 1: on the Bengals Game Plan Show. Greg graduated from Syracuse
Speaker 1: one year after I did and has become a legend
Speaker 1: in the San Francisco area At various points. He's called
Speaker 1: games for the Golden State Warriors, San Francisco Giants, Oakland A's,
Speaker 1: and Oakland Raiders before becoming the play by play voice
Speaker 1: of the San Francisco forty nine Ers. I've been fired.
Speaker 1: That's part of the deal, right, It's gonna beat we think,
Speaker 1: so too. Looking forward to seeing you as well. So
Speaker 1: Greggy called the Super Bowl a couple of years ago
Speaker 1: as the voice of the forty nine Ers. Then San
Speaker 1: fran had a bunch of injuries last year, including one
Speaker 1: to quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo, and the team went to went
Speaker 1: fell to six ten. I expected the forty nine Ers
Speaker 1: to bounce back in a big way this year and
Speaker 1: be one of the NFL's best teams. But that hasn't
Speaker 1: been the case. The six and six Why aren't they better?
Speaker 1: I agree with you. I thought the roster actually was
Speaker 1: deeper Dan starting this season, that it was leaving Miami
Speaker 1: on ground. Talks day night in twenty twenty after the
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen year, injuries not quite as dramatic as the
Speaker 1: twenty twenty year, and the main injury obviously, losing Jimmy
Speaker 1: was bad, but you know, George Kittle and Nick Bosa,
Speaker 1: who's an absolute game wrecker, went out in Week two.
Speaker 1: But this year they lost Jason Burrett in the first
Speaker 1: game in Detroit. They lost for he mosted in that game.
Speaker 1: They still got off to a two and oh start.
Speaker 1: They lost a home game against Green Bay that they
Speaker 1: probably should have won, a Seattle game. I think this
Speaker 1: is kind of the tipping point of the year. They
Speaker 1: controlled the Seattle home game in early October, and then
Speaker 1: Garoppolo got got hurt late at the first half of
Speaker 1: that game, couldn't play the second half and Trey Lance
Speaker 1: had to come in and they had some special teams mistakes.
Speaker 1: They lost that game, and then Trey had to start
Speaker 1: the next game, and they lost that game in Arizona.
Speaker 1: And then they came out of the bye and they
Speaker 1: had a game against Indianapolis at home and it was
Speaker 1: just an absolutely we don't get rain at this time
Speaker 1: of the year in October, but it was one of
Speaker 1: those ridiculous rain storms we had. It adversely affected Jimmy.
Speaker 1: He didn't play well in that game. We lost that
Speaker 1: game on Sunday Night Football, And the next season was
Speaker 1: kind at the crossroads. We were two and three going
Speaker 1: to Chicago and Jimmy played a great game, especially in
Speaker 1: the second half. We won that game. Deebo Samuel had
Speaker 1: a big game at a real bad game in Arizona
Speaker 1: the following week, and then they got hot. They won
Speaker 1: three in a row and they really re established the
Speaker 1: identity of the Super Bowl team day, which is heavy
Speaker 1: run game. We're talking forty four runs, two runs, thirty
Speaker 1: nine runs in three straight games. And when you run
Speaker 1: the ball like that and pick up third downs at
Speaker 1: the clip, they were picking them up at about half.
Speaker 1: They were keeping the balls damn near forty minutes of
Speaker 1: the game, and the defense wasn't on the field much.
Speaker 1: They were fresh. They had three quality wins this game
Speaker 1: in Seattle. They were sloppy. They didn't have Deebo Samuel
Speaker 1: and they have Fred Warner. They turned the boat over
Speaker 1: too much. But they're kind of wildly inconsistent. But I
Speaker 1: would say they are extremely capable. They are capable, maybe
Speaker 1: not quite to be at the level of that twenty
Speaker 1: nineteen team because they haven't had the bookend to rick
Speaker 1: this year with d Ford hardly playing, but they're still
Speaker 1: They're still capable and on any given Sunday they can
Speaker 1: beat anybody. If the NFL, But I think at any
Speaker 1: given Sunday they could lose any team in the NFL. Well,
Speaker 1: that sounds like a lot of teams in the NFL
Speaker 1: this year. It's crazy, isn't it. It It really is. I
Speaker 1: mean in the AFC, twelve of the sixteen teams in
Speaker 1: the conference have a five hundred record or better. It is.
Speaker 1: It's just all bunched up. It's nuts. Kyle Shanahan, is
Speaker 1: he an offensive guru? Is he an offensive wizard? I mean,
Speaker 1: everybody talks about his running game, how he out leverages people,
Speaker 1: out gaps people with formations, motions, window dressing, all that
Speaker 1: sort of thing, and how he schemes wide receivers open
Speaker 1: in his passing game. Is he a guru? A lot
Speaker 1: of question. He's Mike Shanahan's son, Dave, so he grew up.
Speaker 1: He was in diapers learning this stuff. And Mike who
Speaker 1: I called the Raiders games for twenty one years. So
Speaker 1: I saw a lot of him in the AFC West obviously,
Speaker 1: and he was a coach. When you were broadcasting against
Speaker 1: him or playing against him or coaching against him, you
Speaker 1: feared him. Mike was that good of a play designer
Speaker 1: and play caller Kyle has taken the Shanahan system, which
Speaker 1: is that outside zone. Alex Gibs the on line coach
Speaker 1: going back years ago, and he's taken up to another
Speaker 1: level with free staff motion and the way they get
Speaker 1: the edge. They have a blocking scheme called eighteen zoro
Speaker 1: and nineteen zoro eighteen to the right, nineteen to the left,
Speaker 1: which was a toss sweep action. But they do it
Speaker 1: with two special players at fullback and tight end and
Speaker 1: they're the highest paid players at their positions in the
Speaker 1: history of the NFL. And use Check is now on
Speaker 1: a second contract. You guys know him obviously well from Baltimore.
Speaker 1: Just a great player. He played so many different positions,
Speaker 1: and then he got George Kittle as well. The tight
Speaker 1: ends all block They get to the edge as well
Speaker 1: as any team in football, whether it's the pin and
Speaker 1: pull game, which a lot of teams are doing. But
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what they're doing, Dave. They're doing what
Speaker 1: I call positionless football. And we kind of saw this
Speaker 1: in basketball years ago with Miami and the Miami Heat.
Speaker 1: And you know, Dan mentioned my association with the Golden
Speaker 1: State Warriors. The Warriors took it to another level where
Speaker 1: you have like players of all the same size, and
Speaker 1: you can switch it all the forty nine ers when
Speaker 1: you take the five offensive linemen and the quarterback out
Speaker 1: of the equation. In some systems, the quarterbacks live in
Speaker 1: the run game, but take those six stationary players and
Speaker 1: you go to the five eligibles. What Kyle has done
Speaker 1: is cross train running backs, tight ends, wide receivers where
Speaker 1: they're all capable of lining up at any position, whether
Speaker 1: it's the X, the Z. He calls the slot position
Speaker 1: the F, but that F could be a wide receiver
Speaker 1: when they go eleven person out free wide receivers, or
Speaker 1: it could be a fullback, or it could be a
Speaker 1: tight end, or it could be anybody. So they cross
Speaker 1: train their players to play a multitude of position, so
Speaker 1: it's not just scheming like we're going to get to
Speaker 1: the edge and we're going to block this differently. But
Speaker 1: they also get especially in man teams. And then you're
Speaker 1: gonna see what DBO, Samuel, I think we'll come back
Speaker 1: and play. They have this package called the dead Pool
Speaker 1: because DBO sounds like deadpool and this cool. And they
Speaker 1: motioned the Z wide receiver, which is what DEVO is,
Speaker 1: the flanker, the move guy, the jet sweeper, and all
Speaker 1: of a sudden he comes in the offensive backfield and
Speaker 1: he lines up as a running back and they run him.
Speaker 1: And sometimes he's a lead blocker. Sometimes he says the
Speaker 1: half back and he follows a lead blocker. Could be anybody.
Speaker 1: So yeah, Kyle has just gotten so sophisticated. And they
Speaker 1: do it with tempo, they do it with blocking schemes,
Speaker 1: they do it all. But right now, what I think
Speaker 1: he's doing more than ever and Devo is the kind
Speaker 1: of a centerpiece of it all. Laugh is they've gone
Speaker 1: positionless football right now. Interesting. Yeah, our guest is Greg Papa,
Speaker 1: the voice of the forty nine ers. So San Francisco
Speaker 1: paid a hefty price in the offseason and move up
Speaker 1: in the draft to select Trey Lance. Did they do
Speaker 1: it because Jimmy g can't stay healthy or because of
Speaker 1: his limitations as a player, Yes, and yes I mean they,
Speaker 1: I mean the Jimmy's the greatest guy in the world.
Speaker 1: You know he would fit in write with us on
Speaker 1: the quad in Syracuse. SE's Assault to the Earth guy
Speaker 1: from Chicago Land love the guy and he has one.
Speaker 1: When this team has had a healthy Jimmy Garoppolo they've
Speaker 1: wanted the very high percentage you could win the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl with Jimmy Garoppolo. But Jimmy makes an air or
Speaker 1: to a game that is befuddling, and he did it
Speaker 1: twice this last game. Threw an interception to Bobby Wagner
Speaker 1: that was just hard to understand. It was a second
Speaker 1: window throw. He was supposed to wait till George Kittle
Speaker 1: passed Bobby Wagner, and he didn't, and he threw Bobby
Speaker 1: Wagoner the ball. Then he threw one later in the
Speaker 1: game that was even worse, where George Kittle was completely
Speaker 1: covered with a thicket of Seattle defenders and he overthrew them.
Speaker 1: He did it the week before when he threw one
Speaker 1: right to Harrison Smith. He turns the ball over a
Speaker 1: little bit too much and he frustrates Kyle in that regard. Now,
Speaker 1: all that being said, I would not anticipate Trey playing
Speaker 1: in this game, Dan, I mean maybe if they get
Speaker 1: into a down and distance goal line. I'm telling an
Speaker 1: extreme red zone, you know, third, fourth down, short yardage.
Speaker 1: You could see them jump into what they called Bison
Speaker 1: personnel because he's North Dakota State, which is the Bisons,
Speaker 1: the program there, but they haven't done that really since
Speaker 1: he started the game in Arizona back got October the tenth,
Speaker 1: so I don't anticipate that. But they wanted to upgrade
Speaker 1: at that position. They really wanted to get Matthew Stafford.
Speaker 1: They were they were all in on Stafford. It's just
Speaker 1: Stafford wanted to go play and in LA he wanted
Speaker 1: that lifestyle down there. So once they lost out on him,
Speaker 1: they were into Deshaun Watson a little bit, but that
Speaker 1: obviously went sideways in the offseason pretty quickly after that,
Speaker 1: so they moved on. But I they they felt like
Speaker 1: they had to upgrade to keep up with the rest
Speaker 1: of the league and in the quality of play. Now
Speaker 1: all that being said, you know, to make another basketball analogy,
Speaker 1: Trey is a one and done guy. He played one
Speaker 1: year of college football in one other game. He's a
Speaker 1: long way away. He only had three hundred eighteen pass
Speaker 1: attempts last year at a lower level of college football.
Speaker 1: He's a smart guy, or work his ass off. He's
Speaker 1: in his iPad constantly, but he's not ready right now
Speaker 1: to take this team over. In my my concern would
Speaker 1: be if he's ready next year to do it, because
Speaker 1: he's got a lot to learn. And this is a
Speaker 1: ready may team to be a playoff team and to
Speaker 1: turn it over to a young quarterback. Now, your guy's different.
Speaker 1: He's just so skilled and so ready. And you know
Speaker 1: he didn't play a lot either. But Trey's got some
Speaker 1: room to grow. So to answer your question, Jimmy gets
Speaker 1: hurt a lot, But Jimmy also hurts the team a
Speaker 1: little bit too much by throwing the ball to the
Speaker 1: wrong colored jerseys. Let's talk about the defensive side of
Speaker 1: things a little bit. You look, you look at some
Speaker 1: of the numbers. Eighth in the NFL and first downs aloud,
Speaker 1: their ninth and third down conversion percentage defensively sixth, and
Speaker 1: total yards per game tenth and yards per play tied
Speaker 1: for fourth and fewest passing yards allowed eighth, and sacks
Speaker 1: per play. They forced twenty five fumbles. That's the stunning number.
Speaker 1: Twenty five fumbles force leads the NFL. Eight recoveries tied
Speaker 1: for six. Are the numbers are they? Are they true?
Speaker 1: Or is the defense playing like the numbers say? Or
Speaker 1: how is the defense playing? They have some categories they're good,
Speaker 1: so they're not the twenty five forced fumble they they
Speaker 1: forced four fumbles. The other game is Day the Day
Speaker 1: in Seattle Day, but then they recovered two of them,
Speaker 1: so they've got twenty five force just eight recovered, so
Speaker 1: they they've had a lot of bad bounces on that.
Speaker 1: The one guy who's forced I think seven of them
Speaker 1: is Josh Norman, right, and in Chicago they have what
Speaker 1: they call the peanut punch and Charles Tillman punching the
Speaker 1: ball out. I call it the Norman knockout is what
Speaker 1: he does here, and he's a deept at it, but
Speaker 1: really that's the one thing he does well. He has struggled.
Speaker 1: So one thing you have to factor in, Dave is
Speaker 1: the number of defensive pills defensive pass interference calls is
Speaker 1: alarmingly high and the reason that their offense and the
Speaker 1: running game has been able to cover for them. This
Speaker 1: is not the twenty nineteen forty nine Ers defensively. I
Speaker 1: think this is the twenty nineteen forty nine or running
Speaker 1: game at some point. The pass he gave is a
Speaker 1: little bit inconsistent. They do miss Emmanuel Sanders off that
Speaker 1: Super Bowl team, but this is not a sledgehammer defense.
Speaker 1: That defense in twenty nineteen. That's what I called their
Speaker 1: pass rush group is what I call the gold Rush,
Speaker 1: which is when I first remembered forty nine or football,
Speaker 1: going back to the early seventies and John Brody and
Speaker 1: all those guys. There was a guy named Cedric Hardman
Speaker 1: on their defensive line. You may have known him Dave
Speaker 1: Ye Greek player, and their pass rush the backdown was
Speaker 1: called the gold Rush. So I immediately dugged Nick Bos.
Speaker 1: D Ford is the two ends DeForrest Buckner who's now
Speaker 1: at Indianapolis Colts and Eric Armstead, the modern day version
Speaker 1: of the gold Rush. They don't have that gold rush
Speaker 1: right now. D Ford doesn't get on the field. He's
Speaker 1: hurt with a bad slow to heel persistent back problem.
Speaker 1: The Forrest bunk their place for the Colts. They have gotten.
Speaker 1: They've moved Derek Armstead inside exclusively, and they've got DJ
Speaker 1: Jones number ninety three is a really good three technake
Speaker 1: up field penetrator, kind of plays more of a two eye,
Speaker 1: and then you've got the other end, whoever that may
Speaker 1: the hard and Key or Samson Abacam or Charles and
Speaker 1: Menehu or whoever. But it's not the same. Bos says
Speaker 1: better than he was at nineteen. Bosa is the best player.
Speaker 1: The two best players on the team, or Nick Bo said,
Speaker 1: Trent Williams on offense, the left tackle and then George.
Speaker 1: But George Kettle's been hurt a lot this year, so
Speaker 1: it's not been a great defense. Fred Warner's not playing
Speaker 1: nearly as well as he played last year when he
Speaker 1: was All Pro Fred and they've had injuries in the
Speaker 1: second day, losing Jason Barrett George rn acl first game
Speaker 1: of the year was something they still have not overcome.
Speaker 1: And in this game, we're not going to have Emmanuel Moseley.
Speaker 1: He's out several weeks with a high ankle. So Dante
Speaker 1: Johnson I think will start at one corner, Josh Norman
Speaker 1: at the other. Josh is a guy they attacked. The
Speaker 1: best guy clearly in that cornerback room is the slot guy,
Speaker 1: the nickelback, Kawan Williams. The safeties play well, Chakua's guitar
Speaker 1: Jimmy Ward and the new young guy telling who founda
Speaker 1: is a good player. And they play a lot of
Speaker 1: dime three safety three corner defenses day. But some of
Speaker 1: the numbers that tell the story, some of them miss
Speaker 1: leading because how much the offense has played keepaway with
Speaker 1: the ball. This is not It's not the forty nine
Speaker 1: or defense at twenty nineteen, and I would say it's
Speaker 1: not a championship caliber defense, but it is capable where
Speaker 1: if the offense is staying true to their formula to
Speaker 1: being a good enough defense you can win with. That's
Speaker 1: going to do it for This episode of the Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast brought to you by Ultimate Bengals, the free
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Speaker 1: have a minute, give it a rating or share a
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Speaker 1: and thanks for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast