Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Hoard and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The Running Down a dream addition
Speaker 1: as the Bengals look to get back on track and
Speaker 1: re establish themselves as a playoff contender as they face
Speaker 1: the New York Giants on Sunday Night. Football coming up.
Speaker 1: Chris Collinsworth will be in the booth for NBC and
Speaker 1: says it's not too late for the Bengals to get rolling.
Speaker 1: Dave Lappelman and I will discuss the Bengals defensive issues
Speaker 1: and in our No The Faux segment, we'll get an
Speaker 1: in depth look at the Giants from Dan Duggan, who
Speaker 1: covers the team for the Athletic The Bengals Booth Podcast
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Speaker 1: Sports Connections. Have you ever played wordle I've been playing
Speaker 1: the five letter word game for a couple of years
Speaker 1: and I'm proud to say I have a perfect career record.
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Speaker 1: new obsession. It's called Sports Connections and you can play
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Speaker 1: you want to check it out, just search for Sports Connections.
Speaker 1: And in the interest of full disclosure, my record in
Speaker 1: this game is far from perfect. Now let's get to
Speaker 1: my first guest as we look ahead to this week's
Speaker 1: game in the Meadowlands. Sunday Night Football is the biggest
Speaker 1: show on TV, and we are joined by one of
Speaker 1: the guys in the booth every Sunday Night for NBC,
Speaker 1: our buddy, Chris Collinsworth. Chris, the way the Bengals offense
Speaker 1: is performing, they are bound to start winning games aren't.
Speaker 2: They You would think you would think. I mean it
Speaker 2: has been spectacular to watch. I mean it really is.
Speaker 2: And Joe coming off the injury and being able to
Speaker 2: do what he did, and even you know, going through
Speaker 2: two right tackles now and still being able to get
Speaker 2: the ball out. Burrows just he's magical with the way
Speaker 2: that he can manipulate the pass rush. He's going to
Speaker 2: have to do it this week too, because the Giants
Speaker 2: lead the league with twenty two sacks for comparative purposes,
Speaker 2: the Bengals have six. Right, So I mean that's what
Speaker 2: we're talking about, the kind of pressure of this team
Speaker 2: I can generate. But I've got to go to Jamar Chase,
Speaker 2: and you know, you just the first words out of
Speaker 2: your mouths to have to be Joe Burrow. But at
Speaker 2: Jamar Chase. The plays that that sucker made in that
Speaker 2: game the other day unbelievable. I mean, I slowed down
Speaker 2: that little wide receiver screen pass and I took four
Speaker 2: like screenshots. I do a video every week for our
Speaker 2: guys on NBC just to get everybody ready for the game,
Speaker 2: and I took like four screenshots of Okay, here it is,
Speaker 2: this may gain a yard here it is. This may
Speaker 2: get intercepted here. It is all right. He actually caught
Speaker 2: the ball, but there's two guys right there, there's another
Speaker 2: one behind him, and there's another safety behind them. So
Speaker 2: there's two blockers, two guys and two guys behind them,
Speaker 2: and at best this is gaining five yards. And it
Speaker 2: went for seventy yard touchdown. And I know Joe Burrow
Speaker 2: had to be going off the sideline going, I'm the
Speaker 2: greatest cornerback of all time. I'm here, look at me
Speaker 2: a seventy yard touchdown pass. And but it was it
Speaker 2: was magical. I mean it really was. And the post
Speaker 2: pattern in behind Jamar had a little wiggle move at
Speaker 2: the top of that and got that one that was
Speaker 2: a hard catch too over the top. My guy, Yosi Bosch,
Speaker 2: is you know with that big long play, how they
Speaker 2: lost that game? I have no idea. I mean, they
Speaker 2: kept going from a ten point lead to a three
Speaker 2: point lead, to a ten point lead to a three
Speaker 2: point lead, you know, back and forth, and then the
Speaker 2: one interception, which was just the timing kind of thing,
Speaker 2: you know, is just sort of seemed like it spun
Speaker 2: the other way. But then it was all going to
Speaker 2: be fine. You know, and you got the fumble and
Speaker 2: now you're already in field goal range and just one
Speaker 2: of those days.
Speaker 1: I know you'll be humble about this, you always are,
Speaker 1: but you are a great wide receiver in your day.
Speaker 1: Three time pro bowler, four one thousand yard seasons. But
Speaker 1: when you watch Jamar and t is it like you're
Speaker 1: watching Aliens a little bit.
Speaker 2: You know, they they because a because of their hands,
Speaker 2: you know, you say, Aliens, I'm old enough to think
Speaker 2: about et. You know, the big loarm fingers and that
Speaker 2: that I mean, they literally rebound the basketball. You know,
Speaker 2: they go up and you see both of them they
Speaker 2: go up and catch it and you know, yank it
Speaker 2: down back into their bodies.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 2: And they're so powerful at the catch point. And so
Speaker 2: Joe you can tell, feels so comfortable, you know, just
Speaker 2: giving them much chance. And you know that's what he
Speaker 2: did on the interception. He was like, I had tomorrow
Speaker 2: make this play and you know, Humphrey jumped it. And
Speaker 2: that's the way it goes sometimes. But yeah, and I
Speaker 2: think I probably appreciate T Higgins a little bit more
Speaker 2: now even than I did, because when you saw, you know,
Speaker 2: Jamar coming back and then you saw Higgins not on
Speaker 2: the field. It wasn't quite the same, right, And I
Speaker 2: know Burrow had to get back in the flow of
Speaker 2: things and everything that went with that, but it wasn't
Speaker 2: quite the same without Tea and to have that X
Speaker 2: receiver that if you choose to overload to Jamar then okay,
Speaker 2: but you've got a one on one monster on the
Speaker 2: backside of that that's big and strong and physical, and
Speaker 2: your five to ten cornerback is going to have to
Speaker 2: be able to make the play. So the combination of
Speaker 2: those two guys and the other guy that I've got
Speaker 2: to throw into this a couple of them. Eric Hall
Speaker 2: is a great blocker. He is a great blocker. Now,
Speaker 2: he missed a couple in that game, but they weren't
Speaker 2: all his fault. But I mean, that guy plays the
Speaker 2: game hard. I'm a fan of Eric Hall. And Kasiki
Speaker 2: makes a ton of big plays for this team. I mean,
Speaker 2: just it's not always pretty. It doesn't always look like
Speaker 2: he's the most athletic world beater in the but he
Speaker 2: makes really he catches in the football game. So I'm
Speaker 2: looking forward to it. It's been fun for me just
Speaker 2: to get a chance to spend the whole week sort
Speaker 2: of studying them because you know, I watched the games,
Speaker 2: but it's not the same as preparing for a game,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 1: Chris Joe Burrow told reporters this week he's still not
Speaker 1: completely satisfied with the way that he's throwing the ball
Speaker 1: coming back from risk surgery, specifically mentioned spin rate. He
Speaker 1: leads the NFL in passer rating, leads in touchdown passes,
Speaker 1: number two in completion percentage. When you hear him say that,
Speaker 1: are you amused that it's not up to his own
Speaker 1: high standards.
Speaker 2: Well, I wish I had such high standards for myself.
Speaker 2: You know. If I just get through the opening on
Speaker 2: camera on Sunday, usually I'm happy. I'm like, Okay, good
Speaker 2: watch a football game now. But yeah, I think it
Speaker 2: says a lot. And the fun part for me is
Speaker 2: they're reflecting back on an era with Kenny Anderson and
Speaker 2: I was a part of it. You know, in nineteen
Speaker 2: whatever it was eighty two, the strike shortened year when
Speaker 2: he had the seventy whatever it was plus completion percentage,
Speaker 2: and I think that was the year we were playing
Speaker 2: in Houston and he hit nineteen in a row or
Speaker 2: something like that, and none of us knew it. You know,
Speaker 2: it was like, you know, Kenny Anderson completing passes was not,
Speaker 2: you know, some rare occurrence. So for Joe Burrow now
Speaker 2: to be sort of in that class and help me
Speaker 2: remember what Kenny Anderson was is all those sorts of
Speaker 2: things is really fun. But that's a very high standard.
Speaker 2: I think Kenny Anderson is arguably the most accurate throwover
Speaker 2: the football that the league has ever seen.
Speaker 1: They signed Orlando Brown junior last year, they drafted a
Speaker 1: Marius Mims this year. Is the offensive line the best
Speaker 1: that Joe Burrow has had? And what do you think
Speaker 1: of the way that they performed so far this year?
Speaker 2: I think they're good. I do think they're good. I
Speaker 2: think Volson's been playing a little bit better than what
Speaker 2: I've seen in the past, and Harris and Kappa just
Speaker 2: rock solid. Too bad about Trent Brown. That would have
Speaker 2: been a nice cornerstone over there. But I thought Mems
Speaker 2: played well and hopefully he's back from I think he
Speaker 2: heard his ankle something like that. But Cody Ford played
Speaker 2: all right. He was okay in that game. I kept
Speaker 2: looking for I go, this is their third tackle. This
Speaker 2: is going to be a disaster. It was not, and
Speaker 2: some of that goes because of Joe Burrow. I mean,
Speaker 2: I hate to do this, but the guy gets the
Speaker 2: ball out of his hands and it is really the
Speaker 2: responsibility of the quarterback to not take the sacks, and
Speaker 2: I think Joe does that great. The only time he
Speaker 2: takes sacks is tends to be when he knows he
Speaker 2: may take a sack and it's third and twelve and
Speaker 2: he's got to hold it a little bit longer. But
Speaker 2: this game against the Giants, they really rely on their
Speaker 2: past rushing skills and Dexter Lawrence is a beast inside
Speaker 2: the They don't have Kvon Thibodeau sounds like this week
Speaker 2: because of the surgery, but still Brian burns and still
Speaker 2: lead the league. So maybe a little bit more out
Speaker 2: of the secondary. But we really see Joe Burrow and
Speaker 2: when he fases the defense like the Giants, which is
Speaker 2: much more of a zone kind of back off. You know,
Speaker 2: we give you the five yard completion, that's that's dangerous space.
Speaker 2: When you're playing against Jamar Chase, you know, you give
Speaker 2: him a five yard completion, he is trotting in the
Speaker 2: end zone somewhere. So I'll be interested to see how
Speaker 2: they play it, you know, will they put Deontay Banks
Speaker 2: on them, who's their best corner, and try to match
Speaker 2: up in some way. But that sounds that sounds dangerous
Speaker 2: to me too.
Speaker 1: Let me follow up on Dexter Lawrence because these two
Speaker 1: teams haven't played in four years, and back then he
Speaker 1: hadn't emerged as the force that he is now. He's
Speaker 1: a three hundred and forty pound nose tackle who had
Speaker 1: three sacks last week. What the Bengals are going to
Speaker 1: be dealing with in Dexter Lawrence on Sunday night.
Speaker 2: Well, they call him Sexy Dexi, or at least he
Speaker 2: calls himself that. He's a character. He's fun, he's a
Speaker 2: Pro Bowl player, and he makes your life hard because
Speaker 2: think about what they have going for them now with
Speaker 2: especially when they had Thibodeaux before he hurt his wrist.
Speaker 2: But you got Thibodeau, you know, a high draft pick
Speaker 2: on one side, Brian Burns a speedster on the other,
Speaker 2: and then Sexy dex He's sitting there in the middle.
Speaker 2: It's hard because somebody is going to get that one
Speaker 2: on one right, and it's whoever they choose to get it.
Speaker 2: Most teams double team Lawrence, which then means you either
Speaker 2: have to single up Burns or Thibodeaux or leave six
Speaker 2: or seven in the block, so you're only getting a
Speaker 2: handful of people out in the route. I tend to
Speaker 2: think Joe will be the opposite of that. He'll want
Speaker 2: all his guys out and let him get rid of
Speaker 2: the ball quickly because he's really sort of masterful doing that.
Speaker 2: So we'll see, you know, with Ojelari as he's Ojelari
Speaker 2: taking the place of Thibodeau, that you know, maybe it
Speaker 2: comes down a notch, maybe that's a little bit. But
Speaker 2: Ojeli is a pretty good player too. He was a
Speaker 2: second round pick as well. But like Pinnock, Jason Pinnock
Speaker 2: out of the secondary has three sects, So they're going
Speaker 2: to be bringing a lot of pressure from a lot
Speaker 2: of different places against this team. But I mean, you
Speaker 2: can't be any more impressed than what we've seen out
Speaker 2: of the Bengals offense. We just you know, now you
Speaker 2: turn your attention to the defense and hope it can
Speaker 2: live up to it a little.
Speaker 1: We're visiting with Chris collins Worth and let's do that.
Speaker 1: Let's turn to the Bengals defense in weeks one and two,
Speaker 1: they gave up twenty nine points. They were performing pretty
Speaker 1: well in those first couple of weeks, but they've really
Speaker 1: struggled over the last three. What are the things that
Speaker 1: you consider to be fixable.
Speaker 2: They got stung in that game last week. They had
Speaker 2: a lot of stuff they were trying to do against
Speaker 2: Lamar Lamar and the Baltimore Ravens. Hey, let me start
Speaker 2: with they put up forty one on a lot of
Speaker 2: people already. I mean, it's a great offense that may
Speaker 2: be the best team in football if they ever get
Speaker 2: their defense together, you know. But offensively, they're almost impossible
Speaker 2: to stop with Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson and three
Speaker 2: hundred pound full backs and the two tight ends that
Speaker 2: they have, and Andrews and likely and it's just it's
Speaker 2: a really, really good football team. So it's not insulting
Speaker 2: that that happened to them. But I really thought when
Speaker 2: Dax Hill got hurt and Mike Hilton missed the game already,
Speaker 2: now you're trying to play exotic defenses where they would
Speaker 2: play six guys on the line of scrimmage and five
Speaker 2: guys in a line across the back line. You're trying
Speaker 2: to mix and match. You're trying to play a cover
Speaker 2: three zone defense with Geno Stone on the line of
Speaker 2: scrimmage and renting back to play free safety in the
Speaker 2: middle of the field. The one long play they gave
Speaker 2: up von Bell basically was having to play cornerback on
Speaker 2: the two tight end side, and it was you know,
Speaker 2: it's a route that a corner would have seen a
Speaker 2: million times, a guy wheeling down the boundary and a
Speaker 2: guy going up to Seaman Andrews, you know, and they
Speaker 2: just hit the play. You know, that's a play that
Speaker 2: if Dax Hill's out there, they're not even throwing that ball.
Speaker 2: So and then you know, Jalen Davis came in the game,
Speaker 2: and so now you're trying to run some of these
Speaker 2: blitz packages. Josh Newton came in the game, some guys
Speaker 2: that don't have a lot of experience with that first bunch,
Speaker 2: and so there was this transition period in there about
Speaker 2: the third quarter where it got a little tough, and
Speaker 2: then they kind of pieced it back together a little
Speaker 2: bit in the secondary. But yeah, if you're going to
Speaker 2: have that many new faces on the back end, you
Speaker 2: better have your pass rush together. And we know without
Speaker 2: Sheldon Rankins and without some of these guys that have
Speaker 2: been in out of the lineup, it's been harder to
Speaker 2: do that too. So hopefully some of these guys start
Speaker 2: getting healthy. Hopefully Mike Hilton gets a chance to play
Speaker 2: in this game as well. And they're they're putting a
Speaker 2: lot on Cam Taylor Brett, and you know he had
Speaker 2: I mean, he's he's an up and down guy. He
Speaker 2: has really great plays and he has a few that
Speaker 2: aren't so great, but he is He's the ace back there.
Speaker 2: I mean athletically, you go, this should be the guy
Speaker 2: and then we'll see what DJ Turner can do.
Speaker 1: The defense held a players only meeting this week. Mike
Speaker 1: Hilton came out publicly and said, we are not upholding
Speaker 1: our end of the bargain. How tough is it for
Speaker 1: a team when one side of the ball is performing
Speaker 1: really well and the other side isn't well.
Speaker 2: I've been on either side of that equation. I've been
Speaker 2: on the side where you you know, you're jogging off
Speaker 2: the feet or jogging back onto the field. The defense
Speaker 2: just gave up a touchdown and you're looking at him like,
Speaker 2: are you guys ever going to stop him? And then
Speaker 2: I've been on the side where the defense is jogging
Speaker 2: off and looking at us like, are you guys ever
Speaker 2: going to score a point? Or We're gonna have to
Speaker 2: do everything ourselves. So if you're around the game long enough,
Speaker 2: you're gonna see both ends of it. And right now
Speaker 2: the defense is struggling some. But it's also you know,
Speaker 2: they spent a lot of money on offense, you know,
Speaker 2: I mean, let's face it, this is a team that
Speaker 2: has really built around the two receivers and Joe Burrow,
Speaker 2: and you know they go out in their first round
Speaker 2: draft picks or you know, a lot of times offensive
Speaker 2: guys and and offensive lineman trying to short up to
Speaker 2: keep the franchise alive on the back end. So you
Speaker 2: have and I think that's the right approach. I mean,
Speaker 2: this game, you have to be able to put up
Speaker 2: thirty on occasion. They do it on a fairly regular basis.
Speaker 2: And lou Anroumo is a fantastic defensive coordinator. I mean,
Speaker 2: the game plan he had last week was tremendous, and
Speaker 2: they were doing a good job in the first half
Speaker 2: of the game. I mean, you're gonna everybody's gonna give
Speaker 2: up some place to the MVP, Lamar Jackson, Jerrick Henry.
Speaker 2: It is just like sick. But yeah, I think he'll
Speaker 2: have it back together. I'm really interested to see what
Speaker 2: Lou does this week. Does he pair it back a
Speaker 2: little bit because he's got some younger guys in there,
Speaker 2: or now that he's got some of the defensive lineman
Speaker 2: coming back, does he ramp it up with some other
Speaker 2: exotic stuff. So, but he's the right guy, you know,
Speaker 2: he's a really good defensive coordinator. He just needs the
Speaker 2: part right now.
Speaker 1: She'll have the opportunity to visit with players and coaches
Speaker 1: before the game on Sunday night. Anybody in particular that
Speaker 1: you're looking forward to chatting with.
Speaker 2: Well, we already talked to Jamar. That was fun and
Speaker 2: Hendricks and so that was fun too. So these guys,
Speaker 2: it's hard to catch them anymore. We have to split
Speaker 2: it up, take them when we can. I'm going to
Speaker 2: go down and watch some practice today, so get a
Speaker 2: chance to visit with a few more and some of
Speaker 2: the coordinators. And yeah, but it's a long way from
Speaker 2: over seventeen games is a long season, you know. And
Speaker 2: they go out there and they can get there, get
Speaker 2: a win against the Giants in this one, and you know,
Speaker 2: just continue to play offense the way that they are,
Speaker 2: they're going to beat most of the teams in the league.
Speaker 2: In my opinion, there was only one team they weren't
Speaker 2: going to beat with the performance they put on the
Speaker 2: other day, and that was the team they played. Only
Speaker 2: Baltimore had the ability to straight as quickly as they did,
Speaker 2: and some of the plays Lamar made, I mean they
Speaker 2: had him sacked three times, four times and key moments
Speaker 2: and just couldnot get him on the ground. I ask,
Speaker 2: what he does is really underrated in some way. It's
Speaker 2: hard to say the MVPs underrated, but he's making some
Speaker 2: plays and some escapes that we just don't see anybody
Speaker 2: else in the league. Make.
Speaker 1: Chris always great to visit with you. We know you
Speaker 1: and Mike Trico have a great call on Sunday Night.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your time and look forward to
Speaker 1: seeing you on Sunday.
Speaker 2: All right, buddy, Good talk to you. Dan.
Speaker 1: Historically, the Bengals have not fared well since NBC started
Speaker 1: broadcasting sent night football games, but like most negative stats,
Speaker 1: they no longer apply. In the Joe Burrow era, the
Speaker 1: Bengals have won their last two Sunday Night games, beating
Speaker 1: the Bills last year and beating the Ravens in the
Speaker 1: playoffs the year before thanks to the fumble in the jungle.
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Corps,
Speaker 1: Proud to be the Bengals Official HR software provider, by
Speaker 1: Alta Fiber future Proof Fiber Internet designed to elevate your home,
Speaker 1: business and community to a new level, and by Kettering
Speaker 1: Health the Best Care for the best Fans. Kettering Health
Speaker 1: is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. The Bengals
Speaker 1: are currently fourth in the NFL in scoring, and if
Speaker 1: you toss out Week one, where Joe Burrow was still
Speaker 1: getting comfortable after being out of action since mid November
Speaker 1: of last year, they've averaged thirty two and a half
Speaker 1: points over their last four games. Unfortunately, over the same
Speaker 1: four game stretch, the defense is giving up an average
Speaker 1: of thirty two point three US. The defense with lap
Speaker 1: this week, beginning with a back breaking play from Sunday's
Speaker 1: overtime loss to Baltimore. Second in goal from the sixth
Speaker 1: for Baltimore, Justice Hill back in at running back shotguns
Speaker 1: down by Lamar.
Speaker 4: He picks it up. He's in trouble. Babbs has him,
Speaker 4: but he gets away. Lamar looking throwing into the end zone. Cough,
Speaker 4: pil likely we're a touchdown. Wow, magic by Lamar Jackson
Speaker 4: has He dropped the snap, eventually picked it up, got
Speaker 4: away from Sam Hubbard, and floated it into the.
Speaker 1: End zone for a six yard touchdown.
Speaker 5: Unbelievable.
Speaker 1: Here is my hot take of the week, Dave Lapham.
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson is the most underrated player in the National
Speaker 1: Football League, which sounds absurd to say. The guy has
Speaker 1: been the MVP twice. Right, But when you see most
Speaker 1: people's lists of the top quarterback in the NFL, they
Speaker 1: are usually three names on top Mahomes, Burrow, Allen that
Speaker 1: Mount Rushmore needs four heads because Lamar Jackson is so
Speaker 1: unbelievably good. Yeah, he's not a classic passer, so what
Speaker 1: He'll create ten seconds until somebody is wide open and
Speaker 1: the ball might not look beautiful, but it gets there
Speaker 1: for the freaking score.
Speaker 5: It sure does. I mean that was as athletica play
Speaker 5: as I've ever seen at the quarterback position. He's done
Speaker 5: it before. He's probably if you put a highlight reel
Speaker 5: together of Lamar Jackson not just against any I'm talking
Speaker 5: about just against the Bengals, for God's sake. Seen this guy.
Speaker 5: I mean he's like an apparition. He's there, then he's not,
Speaker 5: then he's back. It's like, man, is he a ghoster?
Speaker 5: Is he real? It is amazing to watch that guy.
Speaker 5: He's one of one, you know. When I see and
Speaker 5: like you say, his sewing arms plenty fine, it's not
Speaker 5: like he's you know, throw the ball all over the place.
Speaker 5: He can't hit the broadside of a barn. I mean,
Speaker 5: his accuracy isn't pinpoint. But man, he makes so many
Speaker 5: huge plays. And for him to create the time in
Speaker 5: and out of the pocket that he creates, I mean
Speaker 5: he'll climb in evade people and by time and then
Speaker 5: he gets out of pocket and it's like now he
Speaker 5: has a run past, you know, two way go, and
Speaker 5: he is just he is so deadly man. And the
Speaker 5: thing that impresses me a lot about him is he
Speaker 5: never seems to change his appearance, his countenance, his heart
Speaker 5: rate doesn't seem I mean, it's just cool, calm and collected.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 5: He's out there like you know, yeah, I've done this before,
Speaker 5: I'm going to do it again. Yeah, boom got you
Speaker 5: down the football field we go. He is definitely athletically,
Speaker 5: I think one of one to run straight line speed
Speaker 5: is one thing, and he's got that. But with Sam,
Speaker 5: when Sam was trying to sack him on that play,
Speaker 5: I mean, he ran latterly and almost like an our
Speaker 5: forty five degree angle, like took three of the quickest
Speaker 5: steps to separate himself space wise from Sam. That you know,
Speaker 5: it made Sam's hit a lot less. It was more
Speaker 5: of a glancing blow and instead of putting a big
Speaker 5: smack on him, he just basically eluded it by just
Speaker 5: that short space quickness. And that's the thing about him man,
Speaker 5: Like we've talked about before. I mean, you're getting a
Speaker 5: phone booth with him and you're playing tag it for
Speaker 5: your life.
Speaker 1: I love Kevin Harlan. Nobody on the in the world
Speaker 1: loves Kevin Harlan more than I do. But Lamar didn't
Speaker 1: rag doll Sam Hubbard on that play. That was his description,
Speaker 1: and it's a great word. But he eluded him. He backed,
Speaker 1: he gave ground, yeah, to prevent Sam from putting a
Speaker 1: good hit on him. It's just an incredible play. Nobody
Speaker 1: is going to suggest that the Bengals defense played well.
Speaker 1: They gave up forty one points. They couldn't hold double
Speaker 1: digit leads multiple times in the second half, but Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson had a lot to do with the Bengals problems.
Speaker 1: Last Sunday, let's hear from defensive coordinator lou Anroumo.
Speaker 6: He's a great, great, great football player. And you just
Speaker 6: look at the one just the one play where he
Speaker 6: drops the snap, fens off Sam Jermaine hit him as
Speaker 6: you thought about throw and throws a touchdown pass. So like,
Speaker 6: tell me else, who show me somebody else I can
Speaker 6: do that. You know, he's just an amazing football player.
Speaker 6: And uh, but you know that we had our opportunities
Speaker 6: to you know, get around him and hit him and
Speaker 6: and uh and you know, we just we just got
Speaker 6: to do better.
Speaker 1: They've got to face him again in five weeks, but
Speaker 1: only one more time unless they meet again in the postseason.
Speaker 1: And if you're looking for reason for optimism, I think
Speaker 1: Paul Daanner Junior wrote a great story in The Athletic
Speaker 1: just talking about consider the teams that they're going to
Speaker 1: be facing as opposed to one the ones they faced.
Speaker 1: They faced the best quarterback in the world in week two,
Speaker 1: the hot quarterback in the world Jayden Daniels. In Week three,
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson. Last week, the guy's coming up. It's not
Speaker 1: a murderer's row of great quarterback play. Daniel Jones has
Speaker 1: had his moments, good and bad. That's coming up this week.
Speaker 1: Deshaun Watson has been a disaster at least so far
Speaker 1: this year. A couple weeks after that, we don't know
Speaker 1: who the Raiders quarterback is going to be. By then
Speaker 1: they're talking about Benching Gardner Minshew. So the Bengals defense
Speaker 1: might start looking considerably better just based on the offenses
Speaker 1: that they're going to be taking on.
Speaker 5: I agree with you. But then the flip side of
Speaker 5: that is Joe Burrow's damn good and the Bengals are
Speaker 5: one and four.
Speaker 1: Mm hm.
Speaker 5: It's like, oh my god, how can you waste some
Speaker 5: of these performances. I mean, you're wasting a great year.
Speaker 5: At this stage that Joe Burrows is posting, it's like, man,
Speaker 5: oh man, I mean seventy two percent of his passes
Speaker 5: are being completed. That's second right now in the NFL.
Speaker 5: Twelve touchdown passes leads the league. His quarterback rating and
Speaker 5: one thirteen point eight leads the league. But the problem
Speaker 5: is as you look at quarterbacks against our defensive football
Speaker 5: team to this stage, like you're talking about sixty seven
Speaker 5: point seven percent, that's toward the bottom of the National
Speaker 5: Football League. Allowed ten touchdown passes and only three interceptions,
Speaker 5: an opposing quarterback rating of one on one point four.
Speaker 5: So I mean it's being negated, you know, by defensive
Speaker 5: support that is not quite up to snuff to stand
Speaker 5: behind what Joe Burrow and that offense is doing because
Speaker 5: he is seeing it man and he is delivering. He's
Speaker 5: playing at such a high level. It's a crying shame
Speaker 5: that this football team is one and four.
Speaker 1: Hopefully the improving health on the defensive line is going
Speaker 1: to start making a significant difference. It was better last week.
Speaker 1: They stopped the run at least until the final run
Speaker 1: of the game by Derrick Henry. Sam Hubbard played better,
Speaker 1: BJ Hill played well. He was back. They got Miles
Speaker 1: Murphy and McKinley Jackson back on the field. There's a
Speaker 1: chance that they're gonna have Sheldon Rankins back this Sunday night,
Speaker 1: So that portion of the injury bug is getting much
Speaker 1: much better and getting back to Sam Hubbard. Yeah, he
Speaker 1: wasn't able to get Lamar Jackson down on that play,
Speaker 1: but he had the safety great play to tackle a
Speaker 1: Derreck Henry in the end zone. He had a sack
Speaker 1: in the game, applied pressure on a few occasions, and
Speaker 1: he is feeling much better. Let's hear from Sam Hubbard.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I felt great. You know, I had that training
Speaker 3: camp injury that I had to I said it came
Speaker 3: back too early, but we had a lot of guy
Speaker 3: who goes go down and training camp camp sample went down,
Speaker 3: Miles went down, and kind of didn't really have the
Speaker 3: luxury of waiting until I was fully healthy. First couple
Speaker 3: of weeks started slow, just kind of grinding through a
Speaker 3: really bad hamstring. And I felt like myself this past
Speaker 3: week and was nice to make some plays and you know,
Speaker 3: I'm gonna continue to get better from here on board
Speaker 3: and trying to do whatever you can to win. And
Speaker 3: it was nice, you know, personally to just get some
Speaker 3: of that pressure off and make some plays.
Speaker 1: I's like a lot of you guys are winning up front.
Speaker 1: Did you feel like against any quarterback but Lamar there
Speaker 1: might have been multiple sacks in that game.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we were, you know, multiple times, we were all
Speaker 3: over him, and he's just such an elusive athlete.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 3: For sure sacks turned into massive plays somehow, and it's frustrating,
Speaker 3: but you know, we know that we just keep chopping wood,
Speaker 3: doing the right thing, those plays will come. And yeah,
Speaker 3: that's so the NFL.
Speaker 1: With BJ back and Miles and McKinley active, there was
Speaker 1: more of a rotation. How helpful is that for the
Speaker 1: entire group going forward?
Speaker 3: So helpful. Having those guys back is huge for us.
Speaker 3: BJ played great, you know, having Miles back to give
Speaker 3: just some more snaps across the board so we can
Speaker 3: all be fresher. I think he played thirty five his
Speaker 3: first game back off injury, which is a lot of plays,
Speaker 3: and he'll continue to get more and keep getting better.
Speaker 3: And McKinley was getting some action. You know, the great
Speaker 3: d lines in this league, they just have eight to
Speaker 3: nine guys that continuously roll and to be able to
Speaker 3: play a long season. I know myself personally, I'm excited
Speaker 3: to take some of those snaps off me so I
Speaker 3: can be my best. So you know, it's good to
Speaker 3: have those guys back because we were thin for a
Speaker 3: while there.
Speaker 1: And good that Sam looked a lot better than he
Speaker 1: had in the previous few weeks. It was an interesting
Speaker 1: game plan for lou Anroumo, not one of the blitz
Speaker 1: happy defensive coordinators in the NFL, but forty one blitzes,
Speaker 1: including run blitzes in that game. He's trying to generate
Speaker 1: some pressure and some big plays up front.
Speaker 5: He is, I mean, he blitzed over fifty percent of
Speaker 5: the snaps. That is very unloo like. And you're right,
Speaker 5: he blitzed or was aggressive downhill, bringing people to stop
Speaker 5: the run as well as pressure Lamar. He decided, you know,
Speaker 5: instead of having three guys you know, in their rush
Speaker 5: lanes and dropping eight, you know, I'm going to be
Speaker 5: aggressive and not conservative in my posture. And it worked
Speaker 5: for a good part of the football game up until
Speaker 5: Henry broke that fifty one yard er. I mean, the
Speaker 5: two running backs, running backs, the quarterback and running back
Speaker 5: twenty six carries ninety six yards, right around three and
Speaker 5: a half yards of pop. They were totally controlling you know,
Speaker 5: that running game pretty well so and overall, you take
Speaker 5: everybody that had to carry in that football game, thirty
Speaker 5: three carries one hundred and twenty four yards. When you
Speaker 5: take away that fifty one yard run. Now you can't.
Speaker 5: I mean it leaked out. But right up until the
Speaker 5: end of the football game in overtime, you know, they
Speaker 5: were averaging under three and a half yard three point
Speaker 5: four plus per carry. So they did take away you know,
Speaker 5: a good part. They said, Okay, we're going to try
Speaker 5: to make you left handed, and Lamar's proven to be ambidexterrous,
Speaker 5: you know, make him use either hand. He can still
Speaker 5: kill you. I mean really, yeah, he's got a bunch.
Speaker 5: It's uh, it really is incredible. But you look at this,
Speaker 5: you look at this game coming up. Jones. Jones is mobile.
Speaker 5: There's no questions is that he's not Lamar, but he
Speaker 5: is mobile. So better you know, make sure that when
Speaker 5: you are closed in on Daniel Jones you're finishing them
Speaker 5: because he can. He can. He's elect athletic. He's very
Speaker 5: up and down with his level of play. He played
Speaker 5: well against Seattle. He had thirty eight yards rushing and
Speaker 5: threw for two ninety seven. Not too bad. Really, that's
Speaker 5: that's a you know, a nice little day's work right there.
Speaker 5: But and you look at it very similar to what
Speaker 5: they saw in Baltimore. You know, a mobile quarterback offensive
Speaker 5: line that they've rea he done. They went out in
Speaker 5: free agency, got three starters, and they want to run
Speaker 5: the football. Support you know that that is a starting point. Offensively,
Speaker 5: their Tracy their fifth round pick this year, rushaurund in
Speaker 5: twenty nine yards against Seattle, so he supported you know
Speaker 5: what what Jones was doing. So it's it's like, Okay,
Speaker 5: you played the Giants on steroids offensively and defensively. When
Speaker 5: you played Baltimore last week and you hung in there,
Speaker 5: lost on a walkoff kicker. We'll lose it on a
Speaker 5: walk off kick in overtime. It's on the road, granted,
Speaker 5: you know it's it's it's never easy traveling New York
Speaker 5: fans can get loud and you know, rabid and all that,
Speaker 5: but got to beat this football team. Bottom line is,
Speaker 5: it's almost like you had a dress rehearsal against offensive
Speaker 5: and defensive units that kind of do what the Giants
Speaker 5: do to the to another level with better athletes. I mean, hell,
Speaker 5: they had fourteen have fourteen Pro bowlers on that damn team.
Speaker 5: It's crazy counting the two specialists or twelve and six
Speaker 5: defensive Pro Bowlers and four offensive Come on, now, you're
Speaker 5: not going to find that kind of a numbers. You
Speaker 5: look through the New York Giants roster up and down.
Speaker 5: They've got good players. They don't have players like Baltimore
Speaker 5: put on the football field.
Speaker 1: The only Giants player picked for the Pro Bowl last
Speaker 1: year was defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, and the team doesn't
Speaker 1: have a single player on offense who has ever been
Speaker 1: to a Pro Bowl. For more on the Giants, we
Speaker 1: turned to Dan Duggan, who covers the team for the
Speaker 1: Athletic He joined Lapp in Me this week on the
Speaker 1: Bengals Game Plan Show, and Dugan has high regard for
Speaker 1: the Giants coaching staff.
Speaker 7: When you go back to twenty twenty two, I think
Speaker 7: the only reason the Giants won nine games then year
Speaker 7: one a playoff game was the coaching advantage that head
Speaker 7: almost you know, weekly where they did not have a
Speaker 7: lot of talent on that team, and Brian Davile is
Speaker 7: kind of able to rub two six together and get
Speaker 7: that offense.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 7: The thing is you look at the box score, I
Speaker 7: think get twenty seventh of the league scoring. So you think
Speaker 7: I'm crazy to say that they have some great schematic advantage,
Speaker 7: but I think that there's limited offensive talent. You know,
Speaker 7: obviously League Neighbors is a superior talent, but he didn't
Speaker 7: play on Sunday. And then even Devin Singletoary, their number
Speaker 7: one running back, he didn't play on Sunday. And you
Speaker 7: know they put twenty nine points and even six of
Speaker 7: those came on a block field goal. But you just
Speaker 7: watch the way, week in and week out his plan
Speaker 7: to attack opposing defenses. I think he does a really
Speaker 7: good job of coming up with a plan that is
Speaker 7: going to accentuate what his guys can do well, but
Speaker 7: also pick apart what the other team's defense doesn't do well,
Speaker 7: and really never really feed into what they do, you know,
Speaker 7: into this straints. Now, again, that might sound basic, but
Speaker 7: I've been around here long enough to see that that
Speaker 7: does not always happen with Giants offenses. And you even
Speaker 7: see the other teams knowing the Giants defensive weaknesses, like
Speaker 7: why are they not running the ball, why they're not
Speaker 7: throwing deep, whatever it may be, and it seems like
Speaker 7: some coaches and some coordinator a little less FLEXI I
Speaker 7: think that's one of Davie's strengths. And then he has
Speaker 7: to dump tail with the defense. You know, a new
Speaker 7: coordinator comes in here, Shane Boone, who had been to
Speaker 7: Tennessee drastically different style than Wake Martindal US the last
Speaker 7: couple of years figured it who takes some time the
Speaker 7: really young secondary, and that unit has been a pleasant
Speaker 7: surprize as well. I mean they lead the league in sacks,
Speaker 7: which a little misleading because it's basically racked him up
Speaker 7: against Seattle and Cleveland. Haven't done much the other three games,
Speaker 7: but definitely have shown something there. And yeah, I think
Speaker 7: he's done a pretty good job because again they're very
Speaker 7: young in the secondary and it hasn't been as exploited
Speaker 7: nearly as much as I expected. Coming into the year.
Speaker 5: The offensive line was was basically overhauled. How is it playing?
Speaker 5: They went out and they signed some veteran free agents.
Speaker 5: Have they made an impact? Oh enormous.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean that's been an Achilles sale of this team.
Speaker 7: You know, basically since that last Super Bowl, they went
Speaker 7: with eli as basically all downhill and tried every sort
Speaker 7: of different combination, spending on free agents, using top ten
Speaker 7: picks like really else. Thing has worked. So this year
Speaker 7: this offseason that kind of went just like get some
Speaker 7: functional vets in here, and you know, that's like kind
Speaker 7: of a give you a baseline level of competency, which
Speaker 7: is a big step up from once they've had in
Speaker 7: recent years. And that's what they've gone. I mean, like
Speaker 7: Andrew Thomas is a Pro Bowl level left tackle, young
Speaker 7: guy in the fourth season now. But the other three
Speaker 7: of the other four starters are you know, John Runyan
Speaker 7: who was in his fifth year, Greg Van Rowden is
Speaker 7: like his twelfth year, Jermaine Iluminer is like his eighth year,
Speaker 7: and then they have a second year center, John Michael Schmith.
Speaker 7: But with Thomas being the one like guy who can
Speaker 7: count on, the other four guys are just playing at
Speaker 7: like a solid level and maybe even above saw that
Speaker 7: might be selling a short pass protection and that's just
Speaker 7: helped everything. Like Daniel Jones isn't you know, running for
Speaker 7: his life every time he hits the back of his drop.
Speaker 7: There's some big holes for the run games. He saw
Speaker 7: the Seattle game, like the rookie tyro Tracy. Everyone typing up,
Speaker 7: you know this rookie running back and he did play well.
Speaker 7: You or I could hit some of those holes and
Speaker 7: there was massive holes and he did a good job
Speaker 7: getting through them and getting to the second level. But
Speaker 7: I think the guys up front deserve a lot of credit,
Speaker 7: especially when you consider how much of a disaster The
Speaker 7: Lion has been here for the better part of a decade,
Speaker 7: so they've definitely made big strides just to have a nice, solid,
Speaker 7: functional unit, and that's I think that's been one of
Speaker 7: the biggest differences with this team so far.
Speaker 1: Dan Duggans our guest. He covers the Giants for the
Speaker 1: athletic Let's stick with offense. These two teams haven't played
Speaker 1: in four years. So we've all watched Daniel Jones on TV.
Speaker 1: We can read the stats, but you see him every week.
Speaker 1: What are his biggest flaws? Why is there so much
Speaker 1: inconsistency with Daniel Jones.
Speaker 7: No, you kind of stole my answer is gonna be
Speaker 7: it is just the inconsistency. Now get to the root
Speaker 7: of that. I'll try and do that here for you.
Speaker 7: But that's been the thing. I go back to that
Speaker 7: twenty twenty two season where he showed them enough to
Speaker 7: give him the big second contract. But it's always just
Speaker 7: been like glimmers, he can't string three and four really
Speaker 7: high level games together. Now that year he went to
Speaker 7: a high level, but he took care of the ball
Speaker 7: did just enough used his legs. He kind of scraped
Speaker 7: and clawed that season. The last year was a disaster,
Speaker 7: the old line, just ravage of injuries. He dealt with,
Speaker 7: you know, two major injuries and neck and then the
Speaker 7: ACL the knocked out of the year. The coming back
Speaker 7: to this year, you know everyone's from sure saw hard knocks.
Speaker 7: It was such a do or die the way Joe
Speaker 7: Shane the GM laid it out, like we either find
Speaker 7: out if he's the guy, or we're gonna have to pivot.
Speaker 7: And I mean, let's be honest, they were already trying
Speaker 7: to pivot. They tried to trade up for Drake May
Speaker 7: and obviously weren't successful. But I think the thing he's
Speaker 7: done this year, if you throw out that Minnesota game,
Speaker 7: which you have to because that was ugly. The Week one,
Speaker 7: you were like, oh boy, this is gonna get I mean,
Speaker 7: we're there was legitimate talk if he was gonna get
Speaker 7: benched if that kept up. That's how bad Week one was.
Speaker 7: But since then, the four games since then, he's played
Speaker 7: varying levels of solid, Like has not had any monster
Speaker 7: four or fifty yard five touchdown game, but he's not
Speaker 7: turning the ball over he's getting the ball out quick.
Speaker 7: He started to use his legs more against Seattle, so
Speaker 7: it kind of feels like the AHL maybe isn't some
Speaker 7: stance affecting him anymore. But I think the thing he's
Speaker 7: done really well and it goes handing him. With the
Speaker 7: last question about the old line, he's kind of you know,
Speaker 7: getting through his reads a little bit. That's always been
Speaker 7: one of the biggest knocks on him is he'll lock
Speaker 7: onto a guy and you know, obviously defenses catch catch
Speaker 7: on that and they can you know, get into deceptions
Speaker 7: that way, or just kind of sport with the Giants
Speaker 7: trying to do Having a little more time in the pocket,
Speaker 7: I think obviously that helps any quarterback, and it's helped him, right.
Speaker 7: I think he's a little more comfortable back there, and
Speaker 7: he's making plays, you know, on a second read or
Speaker 7: you know, you know, getting out of pressure and still
Speaker 7: throwing the ball down field. Stuff. He really hadn't done
Speaker 7: a lot throughout his career. So but yeah, to to
Speaker 7: bring it full circle, the consistency has been the thing
Speaker 7: where it's like he's had a couple of good games.
Speaker 7: Now let's see on Sunday night. He has been terrible
Speaker 7: in prime time? Can he have a big time game?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 7: And you know not the Bengals record is what it is,
Speaker 7: but this is still a huge game for the Giants,
Speaker 7: and can he deliver and and that's the kind of
Speaker 7: the jury is still out on him having that level
Speaker 7: of play consistently.
Speaker 5: You talk about the offense and scheming it up and uh,
Speaker 5: you know, extentient in the strengths of the players and
Speaker 5: attacking defensive weakness on the other side of the football,
Speaker 5: it doesn't seem like looking at it, and I haven't
Speaker 5: looked at that much yet, but looking at it, it
Speaker 5: doesn't seem to be that sophisticated. It seems to be
Speaker 5: a relatively simple scheme, predictable in a lot of ways.
Speaker 5: But the talent of the players, I think, you know, uh,
Speaker 5: the way they execute so consistently, it makes it makes
Speaker 5: it hard to block, you know, I mean, what what
Speaker 5: do you think is is this? This defense? Isn't They're
Speaker 5: not always trying to trick you a fool you They
Speaker 5: just play well, don't they?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 7: Yeah? I mean, Shane Bone's ideal world is to just
Speaker 7: run rush the front four. You know, you have a
Speaker 7: well funky with the coverages and you do some disguises
Speaker 7: with that, but yeah, he wants to just get the
Speaker 7: pressure with four. That's why I even say that sack
Speaker 7: total is a little bit fluky, because they had nine
Speaker 7: against Cleveland where Cleveland's OH line was absolutely decimated and
Speaker 7: Shaun Watson is just you know, horrible, you know, pocket
Speaker 7: awareness at the stage of his career, so they kind
Speaker 7: of released the hounds and Bliss like crazy stuck. You
Speaker 7: never see him do as smart because I mean, obviously
Speaker 7: it was effective and it parts in that game, but
Speaker 7: that's not what you're gonna see on Sunday. I would
Speaker 7: certainly not expect to get the quarterback like Joe Borrowing
Speaker 7: against the receiver Cincinnati has so weekend and week out,
Speaker 7: it's much more relying on that front four, and that's
Speaker 7: from fourth took up a blow today with team on
Speaker 7: Timba so uh broke his wrist in Sunday's game against Seattle.
Speaker 7: He's gonna be out probably anywhere from four to six weeks,
Speaker 7: so obviously won't be playing on Sunday. So again, for
Speaker 7: a unit to rely so much on the front four
Speaker 7: to generate pressure to lose a piece of that hurts
Speaker 7: and even at that it's really more of a front
Speaker 7: three because the second defensive tackle is you know, in
Speaker 7: passing situations, is an undrafted rookie name Elijah Chapman, who
Speaker 7: it does have a couple of sacks this year, but
Speaker 7: isn't a guy who down in, down out like a
Speaker 7: game wrecker. But if game wreckers, everything starts with Dexa Lawrence.
Speaker 7: I mean you might I think he's I think at
Speaker 7: this point that you know, maybe the record would keep
Speaker 7: him out of it. The team's record. He should be
Speaker 7: the defensive player of the year as a nose tackle
Speaker 7: that six sacks in five games, and that's with getting
Speaker 7: double teams every play. Like he absolutely just disrupts games.
Speaker 7: So if the other team's interior line can't, you're in
Speaker 7: a double on no matter how good you are. But
Speaker 7: if you can't at least do a passle doubling him,
Speaker 7: he'll just ruin the game. And that's what he did
Speaker 7: in Seattle, That's who did in Cleveland. Like the games
Speaker 7: they've won, it's basically he just caves everything in and
Speaker 7: offenses can't function. So that that's where everything you have
Speaker 7: about game plans since day, game plan one hundred percent
Speaker 7: starts with the hell, we're going to keep this guy
Speaker 7: out of Joe Barrow's lap all day because that's what
Speaker 7: he does. And it's really remarkable to see a guy
Speaker 7: at his size, he's such a dominant factor as a
Speaker 7: pass rusher.
Speaker 5: In quick question, I mean they they have to double him, right,
Speaker 5: not four hands, four eyes. I mean that's kind of
Speaker 5: the mantra. And he's still kicking butt like that against doubles.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, listen, they do some things that. In
Speaker 7: the Dallas game, he was pretty quiet and they doubled
Speaker 7: into like literally historic rate, you know, according to Next
Speaker 7: Gen Stats, And he bristled because PFF put out a
Speaker 7: stat of like Cooper Beattie the freshman, the freshman the
Speaker 7: rookie center for Dallas, like didn't give him any pressures
Speaker 7: and and dextually really doesn't sound off on social media.
Speaker 7: He like fired back basically saying they know what they
Speaker 7: were watching. He was whooping his butt all game. Maybe
Speaker 7: he got the bit mad for Seattle and he had
Speaker 7: another extra gear, but no, yet every team is going
Speaker 7: to double him. I think that that's one thing I'll
Speaker 7: give Shane Bowing credit because you know there's ways around that.
Speaker 7: It's not easy, but he did a good job against Satt.
Speaker 7: He does a lot of simulated pressures, so that might
Speaker 7: be walking Bobby Ocharacter in the middle linebacker up, head
Speaker 7: up over the center of the center has to least
Speaker 7: to count for him. And now by the time of
Speaker 7: Kak's dropping back and coverage and the center is going
Speaker 7: to help the right guard, the right guard's already been
Speaker 7: a turnstile because Decks blew buy him off the snap.
Speaker 7: So stuff like that. You know, you probably can't double
Speaker 7: him every single play, but I'm sure the intention of
Speaker 7: every Alliant coach and coordinator is gonna be, we need
Speaker 7: to accompli this guy and if we can get four
Speaker 7: hands on it. Lead you said, we need to do
Speaker 7: that as much as possible. But you know there are
Speaker 7: times where you get him one on one, and if
Speaker 7: you look back in one of the sacks he heads
Speaker 7: in the Seattle game, he literally took a grown man
Speaker 7: and has three pump spaces walking right back into you know,
Speaker 7: Smith's lap and sacked him. So it's a scary site
Speaker 7: for any guard I assume when you go one on
Speaker 7: one with deck.
Speaker 1: I bet PFF is based in Cincinnati and largely owned
Speaker 1: by Chris collins Worth, so Dexter will see him on
Speaker 1: Sunday if he wants to have a word with Chris
Speaker 1: about the uggrading system in that game. Here's my final
Speaker 1: question for you, Dan, will Malik Neighbors play? Do you know?
Speaker 7: I don't know, But it's Wednesday. So he suffered the
Speaker 7: concussion on a Thursday night game, you know, two weeks.
Speaker 7: We're coming up on the two week mark tomorrow, so
Speaker 7: obviously didn't play last week. He was on the field
Speaker 7: today on the side, you know, in this helmet, doing
Speaker 7: like agility stuff with trainers. So in my experience, that's
Speaker 7: the first step to really getting back on the playing
Speaker 7: where last week he didn't do anything. So I feel
Speaker 7: like he's he's on track right now as long as
Speaker 7: there's no stepbacks. And then tomorrow presumably he'd progress a
Speaker 7: non contact participant in practice Friday. You'd hope that that
Speaker 7: goes well and he'd be a full participant, and then
Speaker 7: you get cleared by the doctor after that, you know, again,
Speaker 7: assuming there's no symptoms or anything in return. So I
Speaker 7: would say as a as a Wednesday night, which is
Speaker 7: you know, it's hard for me to forecast how a
Speaker 7: guy's brain has got to react. I think he'll play
Speaker 7: just assuming he doesn't have any setbacks, which again that's
Speaker 7: an assumption I'm making because there's no way to know.
Speaker 7: But yeah, I would think he's at least he's on
Speaker 7: the track, and again, assuming no setbacks, he should be
Speaker 7: good to go.
Speaker 5: Uh my final question, and appreciate all the knowledge and
Speaker 5: all the time you've given us. The two inside linebackers,
Speaker 5: I mean they have a stud in front of them,
Speaker 5: obviously in Lawrence. So it's when we talk about him
Speaker 5: beating double team, it's it's hard to get to these guys.
Speaker 5: And they can run. I mean they can flat out run.
Speaker 5: They are both tackling machines, aren't they. I Mean they've
Speaker 5: combined for I mean so many big plays. The tackle
Speaker 5: total is ridiculous. And let's see the inside linebacker group
Speaker 5: they've they've they've got sixty one total tackles and three
Speaker 5: quarterback sacks out of that inside linebacker group. That's pretty
Speaker 5: darn good production.
Speaker 7: Yeah. No, I think to your point on the tackle,
Speaker 7: that definitely helps to have, you know, a three hundred
Speaker 7: and fifty pound guy just clogging up the middle and
Speaker 7: they're getting you know, probably some more clean runs to
Speaker 7: the backs. But yeah, both those guys, Bobby o'caake Mike
Speaker 7: McFadden are athletic guys and they'll get downhill. McFadden's actually
Speaker 7: had I wouldn't they better. Yet No, Cake is like,
Speaker 7: you know, he was a you know, kind of big
Speaker 7: money agent signing last off last offseason, had a great
Speaker 7: first season. He's been fine. This should not nothing bad.
Speaker 7: But the new scheme, I don't know if he still
Speaker 7: kind of feel his way through it. Because the thing
Speaker 7: he did last year we haven't seen yet is maybe
Speaker 7: a splash played like for a middle linebacker, like he
Speaker 7: was getting his hand on balls, a getting accepted, he
Speaker 7: was picking himself, force fumbled all that. We haven't seen
Speaker 7: that yet. But he's shown that that ability in the past.
Speaker 7: And then McFadden, Yeah, he's the thing I say with McFadden,
Speaker 7: he's always in the right spot. Now that might lead
Speaker 7: to a TfL, that might lead to an ugly miss tackle.
Speaker 7: Like he you know, he's still a little in consistent
Speaker 7: and that's finishing the play, but he must he reads
Speaker 7: it fast, gets to the spot and then again that
Speaker 7: it's just about matter of finishing. But yet, No, they're
Speaker 7: they're two you know, pretty good players. Because this run
Speaker 7: defense got the really rough start. Uh, Minnesota and Washington
Speaker 7: kind of ran all over them, and they've tightened it
Speaker 7: up since then.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 7: I'm sure Cincinnati is going to be content to probably
Speaker 7: air it out because I do still think the secondary
Speaker 7: is the is the rush mark on this defense. So
Speaker 7: if I was them, I would take my chances with
Speaker 7: the With the two guys that have outside there, I
Speaker 7: think that that's probably where the biggest mismatch would be.
Speaker 7: But in terms of running the ball, I would think that,
Speaker 7: you know, the middle linebackers for the Giants, you'll be
Speaker 7: able to hold up pretty well.
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