Speaker 1: Hi, Get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and this is the
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth podcast, the Erase the Taste Edition, as the
Speaker 1: four and three Bengals look to rid themselves of the
Speaker 1: bitter aftertaste from a dismal performance of Kansas City and
Speaker 1: get back on the winning track this Sunday at home
Speaker 1: against the three and three Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Coming up
Speaker 1: an in depth conversation with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham,
Speaker 1: including his thoughts on what's happened to the Bengals offense
Speaker 1: since Tyler Eifford went down and if the Bengals problems
Speaker 1: on defense are fixable. I'll chat with Carl Lawson about
Speaker 1: only having one sack so far this season after leading
Speaker 1: NFL rookies in that category last year. And this week's
Speaker 1: Know the Faux segment, we'll talk to Rick Stroud, who
Speaker 1: covers the Bucks for the Tampa Bay Times. All of
Speaker 1: that is straight ahead, but first, here's a quick reminder
Speaker 1: that you can have the latest edition of this podcast
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Speaker 1: since the previous button on your TV remote. When watching TV,
Speaker 1: especially live sporting events, I like to check out an
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Speaker 1: in the channel numbers, but the previous button makes it
Speaker 1: as easy as well the touch of a button. Now,
Speaker 1: let's get to this week's game. When the Bengals hit
Speaker 1: the practice field on Wednesday, nearly one fourth of the
Speaker 1: roster made the injury list. Twelve out of fifty three players,
Speaker 1: ten didn't practice at all, including Vontes Perfect with a
Speaker 1: hip injury, Bobby Hart with a bad back, Drake Kirkpatrick
Speaker 1: with an achilles issue, and John Ross who continues to
Speaker 1: deal with a groin injury. The Bengals have a bye
Speaker 1: coming up after this week's game against Tampa Bay, and
Speaker 1: it can't get here soon enough. Now time to bring
Speaker 1: in my broadcast partner, Dave Lapham to review last week's
Speaker 1: to baccle at Kansas City and look ahead to Sunday's
Speaker 1: home game against the Bucks. Lap I'm going to turn
Speaker 1: the clock back to twenty fourteen in prime time on
Speaker 1: Monday Night Football, The New England Patriots got embarrassed at
Speaker 1: Kansas City forty one to fourteen, not quite as bad
Speaker 1: as forty five ten, but awfully close. The next week,
Speaker 1: Bill Belichick famously said, we're on to Cincinnati, and the
Speaker 1: Patriots ended that season by winning the Super Bowl. I'm
Speaker 1: not saying the Bengals are going to win the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: but how do they flush that Kansas City disaster down
Speaker 1: the drain? Marvin Lewis channels inner Bill Belichick and Andy
Speaker 1: Dalton channels his inner Tom Brady. I think that's two
Speaker 1: big reasons why they were able to move on to
Speaker 1: Cincinnati and be so successful. But you do have to compartmentalize.
Speaker 1: I think, as I recall, Andy Dalton had his first
Speaker 1: three game losing streak ever in any sports endeavor youth,
Speaker 1: all the way up to the NFL when he lost
Speaker 1: three in a row here as the Cincinnati Bengal. He'd
Speaker 1: never had never happened to him before. So Andy Dalton
Speaker 1: historically has been able to put a bad performance aside
Speaker 1: and bounce back. And uh, you know, if it happens
Speaker 1: they lose two in a row, it doesn't happen more
Speaker 1: than that in a normal timeframe. So I think that
Speaker 1: they are at home. It's an important football game. I
Speaker 1: think that they have to look at this football game
Speaker 1: as a crucial moment of the season. You know, you
Speaker 1: do you crumble or do you get up off the ground,
Speaker 1: dust yourself off and get back at it and beat
Speaker 1: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It's a winnable football game. Obviously,
Speaker 1: they could go into the bye week at five and three,
Speaker 1: lick their wounds, get healed up for the stretch, and
Speaker 1: they're you know, they're tracking the ten and sixth season
Speaker 1: right where they want to be. If not, now there
Speaker 1: are more questions then probably can be answered during a
Speaker 1: short time of a bye week. Lap Oar colleague Jeff
Speaker 1: Butch Hobson from Bengals dot Com had a great stat
Speaker 1: In fourteen quarters with Tyler Eiffort this year, the Bengals
Speaker 1: have scored one hundred and seventeen points without him, sixty
Speaker 1: seven points, a drop off of fifty points. I did
Speaker 1: some research before the Kansas City game. In thirty six
Speaker 1: possessions with Tyler Eiffort healthy, not including Neil downs or
Speaker 1: possessions where the Bengals were not trying to score, they
Speaker 1: scored touchdowns on fourteen of thirty six drives. That's thirty
Speaker 1: nine percent of the time without him six touchdowns on
Speaker 1: thirty two drives nineteen percent. What has the Effort injury
Speaker 1: done to the Bengals offense? You know, I think you
Speaker 1: can look at it and say, what kind of defenses
Speaker 1: were they playing against when Effort was playing. Baltimore's pretty
Speaker 1: darn good Carolina historically, pretty darn good. Atlanta you know,
Speaker 1: has been not this year. But I mean it's not
Speaker 1: like they were playing against you know, ge the football teams.
Speaker 1: They were playing against good defensive football teams. I think
Speaker 1: it's it's exactly what we saw with Kansas City. You
Speaker 1: have two speeders because because the other factor is the
Speaker 1: John Ross factor in that Kansas City Sammy Watkins, you know,
Speaker 1: he can fly, he can stretch the football field, There's
Speaker 1: no doubt about it. They have speed on the perimeter.
Speaker 1: Hill was ridiculous. He's a joystick, you know, a video game.
Speaker 1: Those guys stretch it, and then you have Kelsey abusing it.
Speaker 1: With the aj Green John Ross, they could have stretched it,
Speaker 1: Effort abusing it, and that's what they were doing. So
Speaker 1: now you lose Effort abusing it, and you lose John
Speaker 1: ross stretching it the threat of the deep ball. On
Speaker 1: the other side, it tilts coverages differently. You know, Tyler
Speaker 1: Boyd was starting to get double teamed as well as
Speaker 1: AJ Green. So I mean the whole dynamic changed when
Speaker 1: Tyler Eiffort was in the football game. Every snap he played,
Speaker 1: they went nickel defense. They went to a sub package.
Speaker 1: They did not stay based defense. That tells you the
Speaker 1: defense's respect for Tyler Eifert was doing for them offensively
Speaker 1: and without him um and then Tyler Boyd down as well.
Speaker 1: I mean, CJ. Zami, you better put him in a bubble.
Speaker 1: I can't afford to lose that guy. You better make
Speaker 1: sure that he is protected. I would not put him
Speaker 1: in any contact drills in practice. I mean, you have
Speaker 1: to be very careful not to lose CJ. Zami. He's
Speaker 1: and CJ is capable. I mean, he's a big body
Speaker 1: guy that can run. He's a threat. But when when
Speaker 1: they had all hands on deck, very healthy and making
Speaker 1: the defense defend the entire football field, they were they
Speaker 1: were dynamic. They were getting a lot of deep balls.
Speaker 1: Now they're playing in a closet. Now the defense is compressed,
Speaker 1: The defense is tighter, to the line of scrimmage. They're
Speaker 1: not they're not feeling threatened with the downfield ball as much.
Speaker 1: And uh, and then they can tilt the coverage to
Speaker 1: AJ because a couple of weapons down. So I think
Speaker 1: it's Tyler Eiffert for sure. John Ross is another part
Speaker 1: of that equation. He may not be as big a
Speaker 1: catalyst or as big a part of the formulation, but
Speaker 1: he's a factor as well. And it's it's incredible. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, you look at the Miami game. The offense
Speaker 1: scored thirteen points. The defense had two defensive touchdowns. So
Speaker 1: offensive you put thirteen on the board. You put twenty
Speaker 1: one on the board against Pittsburgh and ten on the
Speaker 1: board against the Chiefs. That's the surprising one. Two hundred
Speaker 1: thirty nine yards, fifteen first downs and ten points against
Speaker 1: that defense. That's that's stunning. But the last three games
Speaker 1: they scored forty four points against Atlanta, they scored thirty
Speaker 1: seven to beat him, thirty seven thirty six. So it's
Speaker 1: not a lull. It's it's a lot longer than the lull.
Speaker 1: I mean, right now, it's hibernation. Offensively, it's not a lull.
Speaker 1: They have to come out of it. Let's talk about
Speaker 1: the Bengals defense next to last in the NFL and
Speaker 1: yards allowed twenty eight and points allowed twenty sixth versus
Speaker 1: the run twenty nine versus the pass. Is it fixable
Speaker 1: after seven games? You know, as all coaches will tell you, Dan,
Speaker 1: everything's fixable, you know, But I mean, is an injury
Speaker 1: related you know you're down some people? Well yeah, but
Speaker 1: everybody in the league. The Kents City Chiefs shut the
Speaker 1: Bengals offense down without Houston, their Pro Bowl uh linebacker
Speaker 1: and without Burry, their Pro Bowl safety. They're two best
Speaker 1: defensive players. The two Pro Bowl players that they lean
Speaker 1: on didn't play, didn't play a snap. So yeah, it's
Speaker 1: it's fixable, And it's it's you really have to focus
Speaker 1: on doing the little things, the minor details. You know.
Speaker 1: Sometimes when when it's going well, you have a Tennessee like,
Speaker 1: oh man, yeah we're good. You know, everything's you start
Speaker 1: to handling success is difficult. You know, it's sometimes even
Speaker 1: more difficult than handling failure. And that's that's the reason,
Speaker 1: because it's like, man, yeah, I get some swagger, I
Speaker 1: feel good about myself right now. They can't. They can't
Speaker 1: feel good about anything. They have to just have laser focus,
Speaker 1: razor sharp focus and every little minute, minute shut detail.
Speaker 1: They have to be all over because it seems like
Speaker 1: anytime anybody stumbles on any phase of it on any level.
Speaker 1: Up front, hitting the wrong gap, staying out, getting washed
Speaker 1: out of a pass rush lane, hitting the wrong gap
Speaker 1: in the run game, whatever it is. Same thing at
Speaker 1: the linebacker position, you're not in exactly where you should
Speaker 1: be on your drop. You know you're off a little bit,
Speaker 1: and there's a whole the quarterback finds it. In the secondary,
Speaker 1: you know you have some kind of a mistake or
Speaker 1: miscommunication issue. Any time any of it happens, they're getting
Speaker 1: they're getting beaten, and it's happening at different levels of
Speaker 1: the of the defense at different times. And if we're
Speaker 1: the same guy, we're making the mistake over and over.
Speaker 1: You could replace them. It's an easy solution, but it's not.
Speaker 1: They're doing it collectively. There's I don't think there's anybody
Speaker 1: on that defensive football team who suits clean, who can
Speaker 1: look in the mirror and say, have I had, you know,
Speaker 1: a perfect gear so far? Have I not screwed up? Now?
Speaker 1: Every single one of them, and you know this started
Speaker 1: on the offensive starting the Miami game. The two defensive
Speaker 1: scores were make up to hide imperfections, and it hid
Speaker 1: defensive imperfections as well. And now all of a sudden
Speaker 1: reality has hit them in the face with two really
Speaker 1: good opponents Pittsburgh Steelers in the Kansas City Chiefs. They
Speaker 1: got they gotta tighten it up. They gotta adopt the eyes,
Speaker 1: cross the t's in every single detail. No detail is
Speaker 1: too small. Every single one of them is magnificently large.
Speaker 1: You mentioned injuries. Two weeks ago, with one eighteen left
Speaker 1: in the Pittsburgh game, the Bengals had a one point
Speaker 1: lead over the Steelers. They're on the verge of being
Speaker 1: five and one and the toast of the town. Now
Speaker 1: they're four and three and being ridiculed after getting embarrassed
Speaker 1: on primetime. How much of this decline is injury related?
Speaker 1: I think I think a lot of it is. You know,
Speaker 1: but in this league, everybody has to adjust and adapt.
Speaker 1: You know, you watched the New England Patriots win a
Speaker 1: football game without Gronkowski. You know he's not available, then
Speaker 1: is They're outstanding rookie running back Michelle gets dinged up
Speaker 1: and he's out in the game, they go to White,
Speaker 1: they go to whoever, they go to Edelman, they find ways.
Speaker 1: You have to uh. You know, if if your your
Speaker 1: first plan of attack is eliminated, you have to have
Speaker 1: a plan B, a plan C, a plan all the
Speaker 1: way to Z. In the league, you really do offensively
Speaker 1: and defensively. And I think that's maybe maybe the Bengals
Speaker 1: have to work a little bit harder. I'm not saying
Speaker 1: they didn't have a plan B and C, but maybe
Speaker 1: a little bit more time could have, should have or whatever,
Speaker 1: in hindsight been devoted to them because they came upon
Speaker 1: them quickly, you know, and uh, and now they have
Speaker 1: to adjust on the fly. I think the bye week
Speaker 1: is coming at a good time for the physical part
Speaker 1: of it because of the injuries, guys looking their wounds
Speaker 1: and healing up, and for the coaches to really go
Speaker 1: back and do the self evaluation and say, here's what
Speaker 1: they did to us when when this happened, we didn't
Speaker 1: react quickly enough with a plan B or C. And
Speaker 1: let's do this down the stretch in the season instead
Speaker 1: of what we did in the first half. So I
Speaker 1: think it's going to be a twofold plus heal up, rest,
Speaker 1: and heal up. For the players do their rehab, and
Speaker 1: for the coaches sit back, take a good, long, hard
Speaker 1: look at what they did, how they did it, and
Speaker 1: make adjustments Accordingly. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers might have the
Speaker 1: worst pass defense of all time. They are giving up
Speaker 1: nearly three hundred twenty eight yards per game. Quarterbacks are
Speaker 1: completing seventy five percent of their passes against the Bucks.
Speaker 1: The passer rating against Tampa Bay is one twenty five
Speaker 1: point eight. If you're the Bengals, why even run this week?
Speaker 1: You to scratch your head and wonder. Tampa Bay has
Speaker 1: given up eighteen touchdown passes, most in the NFL. They
Speaker 1: only have one interception, tied for feuis in the league,
Speaker 1: and they have no yard return on that interception, the
Speaker 1: worst in the league. So why why run the football? Well,
Speaker 1: the Bengals thought that the Kansas City Chiefs defense was
Speaker 1: a sieve, and everybody did. The Kansas City was tracking
Speaker 1: to give up the most yards in the history of
Speaker 1: the National Football League. They gave up tune in thirty
Speaker 1: nine against the Bengals and only ten points. So you
Speaker 1: can take nothing for granted on a week to week
Speaker 1: basis in this league. And I still maintain no matter
Speaker 1: who you're playing against, you do have to have some
Speaker 1: kind of modicum of balance, you know, you have to
Speaker 1: if the defensive line doesn't have to respect the running
Speaker 1: game at all and can tee off. And Mark Duffner
Speaker 1: now the defensive coordinator, he's got a couple of weeks
Speaker 1: under his belt now and he can come up with
Speaker 1: some more creative designs with blitz packages. Put his stamp
Speaker 1: on it. It's gonna it'll probably be different. The Kansas
Speaker 1: City Chiefs through a coverage at AJ Green that he
Speaker 1: hadn't seen on tape or anybody had seen on tape
Speaker 1: from the Kansas City Chiefs all season long. You know,
Speaker 1: the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Mark Duffner in particular, Mark
Speaker 1: Duffnin wants to beat the Bengals and he's going to
Speaker 1: try to do it by showing a new wrinkle something
Speaker 1: that has not been on tape yet, and not just
Speaker 1: probably for AJ Green, but also in trying to confuse
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton. So take nothing for granted. And if you
Speaker 1: can pound the rock and anchor them, that's the best
Speaker 1: way to beat the football team. Then you can abuse
Speaker 1: them through the air. If you ask avid football fans
Speaker 1: to name the number one passing attack in the NFL,
Speaker 1: I'm guessing they would say New Orleans, maybe Kansas City,
Speaker 1: possibly Pittsburgh, Atlanta. It's actually Tampa Bay. Three hundred sixty
Speaker 1: four yards per game, including eight completions of forty yards
Speaker 1: or more. They've only played six games. What do the
Speaker 1: Bengals have to do on defense? Can't give up the
Speaker 1: explosive play. They have four different receivers with the reception
Speaker 1: of fifty yards or more. Evans has one for fifty one,
Speaker 1: Humphreys for fifty one, Howard has a seventy five yard
Speaker 1: touchdown catch. Jackson has a seventy five yard touchdown catch.
Speaker 1: The thing is, explosive plays buy a bunch of different people.
Speaker 1: Five different receivers have twenty more catches, four different have
Speaker 1: three or more touchdowns, and four different have three hundred
Speaker 1: yards or more receiving the tight ends. They have two
Speaker 1: good tight ends. Out of that tight end group, thirty catches,
Speaker 1: four hundred and fifty two yards five touchdowns. They combine
Speaker 1: twelve touchdowns last year. Bottom line is the Bengals have
Speaker 1: to be on their a game. They have to be
Speaker 1: on point because just like Kansas City. Tampa Bay attacks
Speaker 1: the entire football field. I mean, Fitzpatrick and Winston, they
Speaker 1: are both. They're not prejudicial. Wherever the reed takes them,
Speaker 1: that's where they're going with the football. They're not trying
Speaker 1: to force things. So you have to be assignment sound,
Speaker 1: be where you're supposed to be when you're supposed to
Speaker 1: be there, and you can't. You can't. You have to
Speaker 1: minimize your mental mistakes because they will take advantage of it.
Speaker 1: And they have such athletic people at the receiver position.
Speaker 1: Evan's big and strong. You know, Jackson runs as fast
Speaker 1: as anybody. They can. They can hit, hit you, beat,
Speaker 1: beat you deep, hit you hard, and they've done it
Speaker 1: to a lot of people. All right, last thing, the
Speaker 1: Bengals face the Tampa Bay Bucks, and the Buck's original coach,
Speaker 1: John McKay had some of the greatest one liners in
Speaker 1: coaching history. He was asked about his team execution, he said,
Speaker 1: I'm all for it. He was. He also said, after
Speaker 1: one game, we didn't tackle well, but we made up
Speaker 1: for it by not blocking. So here's my question for you,
Speaker 1: who is the funniest coach you were ever around? Has
Speaker 1: to be Sam White, you know, Sam, Sam could have
Speaker 1: done stand up comedy. I think, I mean, the guy
Speaker 1: he is so naturally funny, and he is so quick.
Speaker 1: His mind is so quick. He can make a joke
Speaker 1: out of anything. He can. He can come up with
Speaker 1: a with a one liner or take it in a
Speaker 1: direction where it's like, man, how how does your mind work?
Speaker 1: How do you make that association um and come up
Speaker 1: with what you come up with? I mean he was.
Speaker 1: He was hilarious and a real high level, you know,
Speaker 1: sophisticated level of humor. It could be you know, just
Speaker 1: flat out normal funny, real sarcastic funny. He was something else.
Speaker 1: And you talk to guys that played with him, you know,
Speaker 1: during his career, I think every one of them, you know,
Speaker 1: Bob Johnson, Bob Trumpy, Kenny, and you go through all
Speaker 1: the all the guys that played with Sam White, I
Speaker 1: think every one of them would say that he might
Speaker 1: be as funny a guy, you know, as it's ever
Speaker 1: been around, the guy that people would not think about
Speaker 1: with sarcastic humor. Though Paul brown Man, he was. He
Speaker 1: was funny. The guy could, The guy could. His sarcasm
Speaker 1: dripped with about as much real sharp needle to it
Speaker 1: than I've ever been around he could. He could crush
Speaker 1: you in a sentence with his sarcasm. He was a
Speaker 1: funny guy. And speaking of Paul Brown, the NFL celebrates
Speaker 1: its one hundred season next year, and the league recently
Speaker 1: announced that an all time team will be selected, along
Speaker 1: with a list of the ten greatest coaches, and Paul
Speaker 1: Brown should be a lock to be on that list.
Speaker 1: One of the mysteries of the Bengal season to date
Speaker 1: is the lack of a dominant pass rush. Geno Atkins
Speaker 1: has six sacks and Carlos Dunlap has five, so they're
Speaker 1: on pace for double digit seasons, but as a team,
Speaker 1: the Bengals are tied for twentieth in the NFL with
Speaker 1: just fifteen sacks. Carl Lawson led NFL rookies with eight
Speaker 1: and a half last year, but only has one sack
Speaker 1: through seven games. I talked to Carl at his locker
Speaker 1: on Wednesday. How bad did you get held on Sunday night?
Speaker 1: It was ridiculous. I mean, I think it was a
Speaker 1: hold in. It was a buck in the back, so,
Speaker 1: I mean, but I don't know, cause it's becoming a
Speaker 1: water year, which you just gonna keep working. I was
Speaker 1: among Benny that would have predicted a double digit sack
Speaker 1: here for you. This year. It could still happen, But
Speaker 1: have you been frustrated that they haven't come as rapidly
Speaker 1: as they came last year? I mean, of course, but
Speaker 1: I mean then again, the same snap counts last year.
Speaker 1: It's just I feel like there's a bunch of varying factors.
Speaker 1: But I can't and I've as I've reviewed the film.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's from a lack of just you know, winning,
Speaker 1: you know, the one on ones that to take. It's
Speaker 1: a bunch of variables applying to it. But the thing
Speaker 1: I can't do is I can't sit there and hang
Speaker 1: my head. I gotta even though you know the natural
Speaker 1: thing is to want to do that, I just gotta
Speaker 1: keep pushing, keep fighting, and you never know what happened.
Speaker 1: So I'm just keep taking it one day at a
Speaker 1: time and just gotta keep working. Sacks are very black
Speaker 1: and white stat they don't necessarily measure pressure. According to
Speaker 1: the website Pro Football Focus, you are still among the
Speaker 1: defensive lineman getting the most consistent pressure in the NFL.
Speaker 1: Do you feel that way? Honestly? I mean, that's cool
Speaker 1: and all, but I've always lose the model of sacks
Speaker 1: and you know, sacks get stacks, sacks or what you know,
Speaker 1: change the games. And yeah, everybody, of course, people are
Speaker 1: gonna see the pressure. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: when they're talking about the conversation how good this guy is,
Speaker 1: they're gonna that's what you're gonna be measured there. So
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna sit there and let a stat like pressure,
Speaker 1: you know, be like a pad on the bag. I
Speaker 1: don't take it as such. And I just need to
Speaker 1: continue to keep working and go out there and go
Speaker 1: out there and just you know, produce when I get
Speaker 1: my opportunity. But I know my time will come. I
Speaker 1: know I'm there's no there's no short of confidence that
Speaker 1: would be a great player in this league when you
Speaker 1: know when that time time is to hit. Two weeks ago,
Speaker 1: you guys are about a minute and twenty seconds away
Speaker 1: from being five and one. And the toast of the
Speaker 1: town Steelers game ended poorly. Last Sunday night was a
Speaker 1: rough one, and now people are questioning how good this
Speaker 1: team is. How about internally, what's the feeling in the
Speaker 1: locker room internally? I think, you know, we really need
Speaker 1: to just you know, regathering and regrouping and to get
Speaker 1: through the Bobwiek because of lot of things. You know,
Speaker 1: injury bug is a hit. It's like somebody threw a
Speaker 1: grenade in the tight end room. But you know, it's
Speaker 1: just you know, I've I've dealt with little stuff this
Speaker 1: year myself, but it's just you know, get just get
Speaker 1: this win and then going to the Bybwiek. That's so,
Speaker 1: that's the main goal. Carl has been in for two
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty five defensive snaps this year, forty four
Speaker 1: percent of the Bengals total, which is slightly up from
Speaker 1: forty two percent last year, and although he is clearly
Speaker 1: not satisfied with it, Pro Football Focus has him ranked
Speaker 1: number eight in the NFL among edge rushers in generating pressure.
Speaker 1: Now time for this week's No The Faux segment and
Speaker 1: to learn more about the Buccaneers. Rick Stroud, who covers
Speaker 1: the team for the Tampa Bay Times, joined Lapping Me
Speaker 1: on the Bengals Game Plan Show. Rick, thanks so much
Speaker 1: for coming out of the showton I greatly appreciate your time.
Speaker 1: Let's start with a key injury for the Buccaneers. They
Speaker 1: lost a bit of linebacker Kwon Alexander. Head coach Dirk
Speaker 1: Cutter called him the heart and soul of the defense,
Speaker 1: maybe even the team. How big a blow is that
Speaker 1: on the field, And what are the Bucks going to
Speaker 1: do to replace him? Well, yeah, it's enormous. I mean
Speaker 1: they've been bad on defense pretty much all year. He
Speaker 1: actually had maybe his best half of football before he
Speaker 1: tore his ACL you know, when he was a rookie,
Speaker 1: they were six and six under Lovey Smith and he
Speaker 1: ended up being suspended before games for Pegs and they
Speaker 1: lost all four. So, you know, he's a very valuable player.
Speaker 1: I don't think you can really replace him. First, say
Speaker 1: they're going to put a dairy A Taylor who's the linebacker,
Speaker 1: has played a lot of positions at the mic, linebacker
Speaker 1: Lavante David, who's a Pro Bowl player, will will fall
Speaker 1: the place. He's gonna wear that green helmet and have
Speaker 1: the communicator. But it's given me very hard to try to,
Speaker 1: you know, fill that boy. They're gonna have to do
Speaker 1: it with everybody. You know, in the typical cliche, everybody
Speaker 1: else has to play a little larger because Kuan, you know,
Speaker 1: was a guy that's really sidelined the sideline and it
Speaker 1: just brings that fire in passion as you need as
Speaker 1: a leader of the defense. Well, who's going to play
Speaker 1: that strong side outside linebacker? You got your backup is
Speaker 1: on ir with a knee injury. They signed Kevin Minter.
Speaker 1: Who do you think is gonna line up at that
Speaker 1: other the strong side outside linebacker spot. Yeah, when they
Speaker 1: go based defense, it'll be DeVante Bond. I mean, he's
Speaker 1: the guy that's been here for a couple of years.
Speaker 1: He was injured in training camp. They reached an injury settlement.
Speaker 1: The timing was kind of good for the Bucks and
Speaker 1: that they had a couple of players that were eligible
Speaker 1: to resign with them because they've been out for six
Speaker 1: weeks and was one of them. Now he's only had
Speaker 1: you know, really one week of practice, so but he's
Speaker 1: played before. Um, not exactly a frontline guy. But you know,
Speaker 1: when teams are in three receivers or three wide or more,
Speaker 1: you're you're you know, you're a nickel sixty six percent
Speaker 1: of the time. But that's who will start there for sure.
Speaker 1: What Gerald McCoy missed last week because of a calf,
Speaker 1: didn't practice today with the calf. You've already missed your shortstop,
Speaker 1: Alexandra a middle linebacker. If your catcher's out, you know
Speaker 1: you want to be strong up the middle in baseball,
Speaker 1: defensively end football. If you if McCoy didn't go and
Speaker 1: Alexander doesn't go, man, that's that's a big blow up
Speaker 1: the middle, isn't it. Yeah, you're losing. You're right, exactly right.
Speaker 1: You build that defense that way, and you know they
Speaker 1: they've gotten a little fortunate. Um, I guess if you
Speaker 1: want to call it that that um, you know, bo
Speaker 1: Allen has come back off an injury. Vita Vea, who
Speaker 1: was their first round pick out of Washington, he's only
Speaker 1: played in three games. It's sort of the equivalent of
Speaker 1: him playing now preseason, so this would be like his
Speaker 1: first game instead of the you know, sixth game or
Speaker 1: seventh game of the year. But um, you know those
Speaker 1: are those are two guys that did a nice job.
Speaker 1: They actually had their best game rushing the passer against
Speaker 1: the Browns. I may say more about the Browns, but
Speaker 1: they did have five sacked and Jason Pierre Paul has
Speaker 1: just been phenomenal. I mean he's coming here after being
Speaker 1: traded by the Giants and has six sacks already in
Speaker 1: six games, and lots of tackles and and just sort
Speaker 1: of been another guy that's been the emotional, sort of
Speaker 1: an emotional leader for them on defense. We are visiting
Speaker 1: with Rick Stroud from the Tampa Bay Times. The Buccaneers
Speaker 1: are number one in the NFL and passing yards next
Speaker 1: to last in rushing yards. Why such an imbalance, Well,
Speaker 1: I think if you really look at it, the first
Speaker 1: couple of games when Fitzpatrick was playing, they got up
Speaker 1: on teams really fast, and you know in those situations,
Speaker 1: you know, they just didn't have the ball very much.
Speaker 1: They didn't have many rushing attempts. And then in a
Speaker 1: couple of games, particularly Chicago, they got behind the early
Speaker 1: by five pets downs they weren't able to run it.
Speaker 1: So it's sort of been not by design to buy
Speaker 1: the same token. I mean, if you look at their weapons,
Speaker 1: the way they want to attack you is through the air,
Speaker 1: because you know, you've got Mike Evans and you know
Speaker 1: Cameron Braid and O. J. Howard a tight end, and
Speaker 1: Sean Jackson got off to a great start, Chris Godwin
Speaker 1: is playing really really well. Adam Humphries comes and plays
Speaker 1: in the slot, so they have so many receivers, which
Speaker 1: is why they leave the NFL in passing that they
Speaker 1: want to get the ball in their playmaker's hands, and
Speaker 1: a lot of times the best way to do that
Speaker 1: is to throw it. It's interesting not just the yard
Speaker 1: but the first downs. Twenty four first downs rushing fewest
Speaker 1: in the NFL, one hundred and eleven first down passing
Speaker 1: most in the NFL. That eighty seven differential between first
Speaker 1: downs on the ground and in the air, biggest differential
Speaker 1: in the NFL. So, I mean, they are definitely and
Speaker 1: I guess for the reasons you said, and most importantly
Speaker 1: I agree with you. I think the weaponry. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's the Bengals. It's going to be an interesting matchup
Speaker 1: for me because the Bengals have had their tight end
Speaker 1: position decimated, so you know, they get questions there. They've
Speaker 1: had their linebacker position decimated, questions there. Tampa Bay's got
Speaker 1: their linebacker position decimated, questions there. The only plus Tampa
Speaker 1: is tight ends, and that matchup, in the all important
Speaker 1: matchup in today's NFL, tight end on linebacker. Everything's hurt
Speaker 1: and except the Tampa Bay tight ends. Do you think
Speaker 1: that that could be a big advantage in this game. Oh,
Speaker 1: I think so. I mean, you know, those matchups are tough,
Speaker 1: um even against you know, the front line players that
Speaker 1: are that are on the field, let alone guys that
Speaker 1: are hurt. So you know, whether you try to man,
Speaker 1: I mean, you've got O. J. Howard is sick sick
Speaker 1: two hundred and what like forty five pounds, and you
Speaker 1: know Cameron Braid is six to five. And these guys
Speaker 1: can really go up and catch the ball. I mean,
Speaker 1: they have good ball skills, their red zone weapons. You
Speaker 1: know when you sprint, when they spread out and they
Speaker 1: go empty, which is quite a bit. You know, you
Speaker 1: can play zone if you want to, but if you
Speaker 1: go man to man, it's gonna be somebody's gonna be
Speaker 1: you know, they're gonna find the right guy. And that's
Speaker 1: what they've been doing. I mean, they're on a historic
Speaker 1: pace and go for over seven thousand yards this year.
Speaker 1: So we'll see if they can keep that up. With
Speaker 1: the way the rules have sort of morphed in favor
Speaker 1: of the passing game, and Jamis Winston and of course
Speaker 1: Finzpatrick have you know, thrown for over seventy percent. It's
Speaker 1: really something to watch when they get it going now,
Speaker 1: They've not finished drives, they've they've hurt themselves in the
Speaker 1: red zone. They've been their own worst enemy there. And
Speaker 1: on defense, they're not taking the ball away and Cincinnati has.
Speaker 1: So you know, those are the things that would help
Speaker 1: the Bengals is their ability to get turnovers. A couple
Speaker 1: more questions for Rick Stroud, who covers the Bucks to
Speaker 1: the Tampa Bay Times two years ago, the Bucks look
Speaker 1: like a team on the rise nine and seven and
Speaker 1: Jamis Winston's second year picked to be on hard knocks,
Speaker 1: Why have they regressed in your opinion? Well, I think
Speaker 1: they over the Skis that year in part because of
Speaker 1: the hard knocks, and you know, really they didn't draft
Speaker 1: any defensive players per se on the defensive line really
Speaker 1: for about four years. Jason Light neglected that side. So
Speaker 1: he went out and completely rebuilt this defensive line with
Speaker 1: Bo Allen and Vinny Curry, who's hurt. You know, the
Speaker 1: guys I mentioned with Vita Vea and JPP. So you know,
Speaker 1: they just weren't good enough on defense, and it showed.
Speaker 1: That's why Mike Smith is no longer here in part
Speaker 1: of the n't have any players. But you know, since
Speaker 1: then you know, Jamis got hurt. Last year he missed
Speaker 1: three games with an injury, he played three he probably
Speaker 1: shouldn't have played in, and this year he was suspended
Speaker 1: the first three. So they've just not had the kind
Speaker 1: of continuity at the quarterback position or really the defensive
Speaker 1: personnel to make them a complete football team. Mark Jeffner,
Speaker 1: one of my all time favorite people linebacker coach up
Speaker 1: here with the Bengals before you know, earlier in his career,
Speaker 1: takes over for Mike Smith. That had to be a
Speaker 1: tough decision for sure, for Dirk Cutter. I know they're
Speaker 1: very close friends. But it looked like Mike was very
Speaker 1: aggressive and a lot of blitzing and get burned. Looked
Speaker 1: like against Cleveland. Mark Duffner decided to let's calm it down,
Speaker 1: Let's play shell coverage, a lot of too deep safety,
Speaker 1: you know, let's play coverage and three men rush drop eight,
Speaker 1: four men rush drop seven and make them go on
Speaker 1: sustained drives. And it seemed to have worked out. Is
Speaker 1: that the way it looked to you, guys, And do
Speaker 1: you think you're gonna you're gonna see more of that
Speaker 1: and less aggressiveness and all out getting after its stuff. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that's exactly what he did. He tried to
Speaker 1: simplify things. They got a very young secondary. They're playing
Speaker 1: three rookies, which is hard to do, as you know,
Speaker 1: you can't get those guys experienced. So Carlton Davis and m. J.
Speaker 1: Stewart and Jordan Whitehead back there, they wanted to make
Speaker 1: sure they didn't turn guys free, and that's what they
Speaker 1: had been doing. They'd been turning receivers just absolutely loose.
Speaker 1: So they played a lot more covered to shell. What
Speaker 1: they did well was on third down they got off
Speaker 1: the field, you know, when they got him in third
Speaker 1: and longs. Then they came after him a few times.
Speaker 1: They did get the five stack, four man rush got home.
Speaker 1: So duff is great. I mean, he's seen so much
Speaker 1: in this game. He's really embraced this challenge. The players
Speaker 1: love him, as you know, he's got nicknames for all
Speaker 1: of them. He helped recruit most of them. So he's
Speaker 1: been awesome. And then I think the guys are excited
Speaker 1: to play for him. You know one thing about Mark Duffner.
Speaker 1: Every day is a good day. I don't care what
Speaker 1: the weather is, I don't care what kind of problems.
Speaker 1: Every day is a good day when you're around Mark Dufter.
Speaker 1: That guy's the most positive guy I've ever met. He's awesome,
Speaker 1: and I think that was something they needed. And nothing
Speaker 1: against Mike Smith, but you know they're they're playing hard
Speaker 1: for Duff and they really do enjoy him, all right.
Speaker 1: Thanks to Rick Strout, and that's going to do it
Speaker 1: for this episode of the podcast. If you haven't done
Speaker 1: so already, don't forget to subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher, or
Speaker 1: pod Bean, and if you have a minute, please give
Speaker 1: it a rating or leave a comment. Your feedback is
Speaker 1: always appreciated, and five star ratings help more Bengals fans
Speaker 1: find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for listening
Speaker 1: to The Bengals Booth Podcast