Speaker 1: Hi again, everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast, the like one of us edition.
Speaker 1: As I talk to the delightful k Adams about her
Speaker 1: connection to Bengals fans, Dave Lapham joins me to review
Speaker 1: Wednesday's joint practice with the Packers, and finally, I'll chat
Speaker 1: with an undrafted wide receiver from just up the road
Speaker 1: at Miami University who will take the field for the
Speaker 1: first time in an NFL game on Friday night, Mac Hippenhammer.
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by Alta Fiber,
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Speaker 1: a quick reminder that you can have the latest edition
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Speaker 1: greatest thing since Hokah running shoes. I'm a recreational runner.
Speaker 1: I run in order to be able to eat and
Speaker 1: drink without gaining too much weight. I don't know who
Speaker 1: said it first, but I have embraced the motto that
Speaker 1: I'm playing for the tie.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 1: Over the years, I've tried just about every running shoe
Speaker 1: on the market, and recently I purchased my first pair
Speaker 1: of Hokahs. Now here's the catch. I don't use them
Speaker 1: for running, but I love them for walking and standing around.
Speaker 1: When my first guest on this podcast, Ky Adams, saw
Speaker 1: me wearing a pair, she raved about them as well
Speaker 1: and used the term marshmallow like to describe the cushioning.
Speaker 1: So if you have a job that requires you to
Speaker 1: be on your feet for long periods of time, Hokahs
Speaker 1: are comfortable, cushioned, and light weight. Now let's get to
Speaker 1: Kay Adams, who visited training camp this week for a
Speaker 1: live edition of her TV show Up and Atoms, which
Speaker 1: airs weekdays at eleven am on fan Duel TV. If
Speaker 1: you don't get that channel, you can find a ton
Speaker 1: of clips from the show on YouTube. After Ka interviewed
Speaker 1: players and coaches on Monday, she sat down with me
Speaker 1: for a one on one conversation. All Right, Kay, you
Speaker 1: didn't grow up in Cincinnati. From Chicago. You don't live
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati. I live in LA But Bengals fans think
Speaker 1: that you're one of us. Yeah, what's the origin story?
Speaker 1: How did that happen?
Speaker 3: I mean, I lived in New York for over a
Speaker 3: decade and between there's also but I saw something in
Speaker 3: this team that made a lot of sense to start
Speaker 3: rooting for them. When everyone was excited about Ben Roethlisberger's
Speaker 3: last year as a Steeler, and everyone was talking up
Speaker 3: Lamar and everyone was mentioning the Bills and every other
Speaker 3: team in the AFC except for the Bengals. It just
Speaker 3: didn't make sense to me. With Joe Burrow following the injury,
Speaker 3: knowing what he was on the college level, a champion,
Speaker 3: a sort of a strange cat who I still haven't
Speaker 3: met and want to get to know. The talent was there,
Speaker 3: Who's bringing his wide receiver of course over from LSU.
Speaker 4: It made too much sense.
Speaker 3: And then all of a sudden, nobody on the national
Speaker 3: level ever spoke about the Bengals for the longest time
Speaker 3: unless it was something that was critical, And this fan
Speaker 3: base sort of pulled me in, so I you know,
Speaker 3: it's not that I was driving here, it was that
Speaker 3: I was being magnetically pulled by this amazing fan base
Speaker 3: that really won me over because they weren't saying we
Speaker 3: deserve it, and they weren't expecting the.
Speaker 4: Sky to fall.
Speaker 3: And Jets fans, over the years, it's mostly enjoying the
Speaker 3: present moment as it was happening, and that's what I
Speaker 3: think willed them to the Super Bowl that year that
Speaker 3: I said they'd go deep into the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Bengals fans feel like they don't get enough respect from
Speaker 1: the national media. Are they right?
Speaker 3: Look at last year, ninety percent of sports media picked
Speaker 3: the Bills to win. A lot of strange things happened
Speaker 3: last year between the Bills and the Bengals, but they
Speaker 3: came out on top. And you know, I think the
Speaker 3: Bengals last year, from the inside of locker room, were
Speaker 3: growing a little bit frustrated, but also feeling themselves, which
Speaker 3: I don't like. I'm glad that borrowad is over.
Speaker 4: No one's talking about it. I haven't heard the words
Speaker 4: while I've been here.
Speaker 3: I haven't seen it in the media, And it seems
Speaker 3: like a lot of the teams in the AFC are
Speaker 3: now joined against a common foe named the Jets, who
Speaker 3: are out of nowhere getting all of the hype. Of course,
Speaker 3: they're stacked and they're built to go to the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3: But I think you know those comments that coach Sean
Speaker 3: Payton made as the head coach of the Broncos, Now
Speaker 3: that is a sentiment that I think is echoing and
Speaker 3: permeating through the AFC.
Speaker 4: What are the Jets? Give me a break?
Speaker 3: And I think it allows teams like the Bills, like
Speaker 3: the Bengals, like the Ravens, your division foe, to sort
Speaker 3: of get in the lab work on what needs to
Speaker 3: be worked on. And I'll say that just being here
Speaker 3: today and talking to the DJ readers of the world,
Speaker 3: Sam Hubbard, it's business as as usual. Jamar Ches, young player,
Speaker 3: just twenty three. But I keep asking what's unique about
Speaker 3: this camp? After facing so much adversity after a Super
Speaker 3: Bowl loss. Nobody seems to have the thing where they're
Speaker 3: cursed or there. We can't get there. We're not going
Speaker 3: to cash in on this. Everyone's really positive and doing
Speaker 3: their own work to be better as a whole.
Speaker 1: So anytime you post something on social media that's Bengals related,
Speaker 1: the response from the fan base is unbelievable. How would
Speaker 1: you describe that exchange you have?
Speaker 3: Would it's just the best fan base. I don't know
Speaker 3: how else to describe it. I think there's other fan
Speaker 3: bases that have been through it. The Vikings, my hometown
Speaker 3: Bears fans are you know, every time I've post something
Speaker 3: nice about the Bengals, I get the opposite end too
Speaker 3: from everybody in Chicago, and I'm excited for them. But
Speaker 3: there's something special about this squad. I love what Elizabeth
Speaker 3: Blackburn has done. She inspires me, so she sort of
Speaker 3: pulls me in as far as my interest and my
Speaker 3: attractiveness to the organization and the culture change that she
Speaker 3: sort of evolutionized, I'd say over the past several seasons
Speaker 3: to make it even better experience for the fans. You
Speaker 3: just love to see it because it's why I love
Speaker 3: the NFL, and the blink of a hat, you could
Speaker 3: have an NFL team go from nothing to the Super Bowl,
Speaker 3: or go from being hopeless to making a twenty seventeen
Speaker 3: eight championship run like the Jaguars.
Speaker 4: Di it. It can happen.
Speaker 3: It takes a lot of work behind the scenes, but
Speaker 3: I will always root for it when that happens.
Speaker 1: That was twenty twenty one for the Bengal Yeah, four
Speaker 1: wins the year before Super Bowl in twenty twenty one,
Speaker 1: you were the ruler of the jungle for one of
Speaker 1: the games that year, and you dove in head first.
Speaker 1: You're hanging out at Bengal Jim's tailgate, You're having cocktails
Speaker 1: with Bengals fans before the game. What about that experience?
Speaker 4: What do I remember?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: I mean do you remember? I mean way beyond what
Speaker 1: you expected.
Speaker 3: It was as welcoming as the social media response is.
Speaker 3: I think there's a little bit of no one talked
Speaker 3: about us, but there was reasons to be talked about,
Speaker 3: which is the most frustrating thing. Wait, we have a
Speaker 3: great quarterback. Wait, we have really dynamic receiving options. We
Speaker 3: have a coach that we believe in, Zach Taylor, coach
Speaker 3: lou This is the sixth best defense in total scoring
Speaker 3: last year, and nobody talks about it. It's on heralded now.
Speaker 3: Seventy five percent of that secondary has been overhauled. There's
Speaker 3: a lot of changes, and there are certainly question marks,
Speaker 3: but just the lack of being talked about motivates the team.
Speaker 3: I hope the Bengals stay in that mindset and as
Speaker 3: far as this season is again nationally, I don't think
Speaker 3: many people are talking about what this team can do.
Speaker 1: How did you refer to Burrow as an interesting cat?
Speaker 1: Was that your expression?
Speaker 4: I've ready met him.
Speaker 3: I'm just going to keep saying I've never met I've
Speaker 3: met his family members, I've met his lovely girlfriend, I've
Speaker 3: met all sorts of people near and dear to him,
Speaker 3: his favorite wide receiver from back in college. Of course,
Speaker 3: he's a bit of a mystery. He's so good at
Speaker 3: keeping things separate. It is a wild thing for him
Speaker 3: to play in the super Bowl, where you know, I'm
Speaker 3: having Sam Hubber tell me like jay Z was right there,
Speaker 3: and Justin Bieber was right there, but Joe's like, I
Speaker 3: don't care. He truly is the coolest, most interesting cat around.
Speaker 1: So when you see the footage of him hopping on
Speaker 1: one foot on day two of training camp, what went
Speaker 1: through your brain.
Speaker 3: I was on the phone with my producer Matthew Hamilton
Speaker 3: when we were lively going through the all of the
Speaker 3: drama of it, and we of course noticed he had
Speaker 3: a sleeve on his caps like, why is that they're
Speaker 3: wise that there?
Speaker 4: Should they put them out here? Whyse?
Speaker 3: And it just seems to me a strange blessing in disguise.
Speaker 3: I thought what I was watching over and over again,
Speaker 3: is him put a little weight on that foot when
Speaker 3: he was hopping onto the cart and I right away said, okay,
Speaker 3: I like this. And then to hear things like al
Speaker 3: Jamar Chase come out and say get your rest, to
Speaker 3: hear the confidence of this locker room, even after dealing
Speaker 3: with so much adversity and saying we've got you. I
Speaker 3: sort of think Joe at this point, after missing a
Speaker 3: rookie season, after dealing with injuries that have kept him
Speaker 3: sideline at times, that he wanted to build more chemistry.
Speaker 4: With his guys out there.
Speaker 3: He's probably a really hard player to get off the
Speaker 3: field and stay off the field. I'm sure you know
Speaker 3: people have to protect him from coming back too early.
Speaker 3: I think those were the words that Jamar Chase was
Speaker 3: trying to, you know, to tell everybody.
Speaker 4: We've got you.
Speaker 3: You get better through the Browns, through the Ravens, through
Speaker 3: Monday night football with the Rams, We've got you.
Speaker 1: So Chris collins Worth on your show, which the Bengals
Speaker 1: to win the Super Bowl, and one of the biggest
Speaker 1: reasons why was Burrow finally has a healthy training camp.
Speaker 1: He can get in all those reps that he hasn't
Speaker 1: been able to get. It's almost almost felt like a
Speaker 1: little bit of a jinx.
Speaker 4: He's a curse. It's the Chris Collinsworth curse. He doesn't say.
Speaker 3: I will say this about Chris Collinsworth. I think when
Speaker 3: you are from the team and then you are on
Speaker 3: something like Sunday Night Football, you almost talk about the
Speaker 3: other teams a little more to you know. I'm from Chicago,
Speaker 3: and I think that's why Bears fans think I hate them,
Speaker 3: because I don't talk about them very much because I'm
Speaker 3: from there, and I you know, I don't want to
Speaker 3: make any sort of perception or appearance that I favor them,
Speaker 3: or that I know them even better than other teams
Speaker 3: or whatever. So I think Chris collins is a bit
Speaker 3: of a victim of that, a little bit of him
Speaker 3: trying to be objective and maybe over correcting.
Speaker 4: That in some way.
Speaker 3: But I had no idea that Bengals fans felt this
Speaker 3: way about Chris. And then he came on my show
Speaker 3: and he cursed everything. Collins Worthworth pff around here, I mean,
Speaker 3: drive down there. I'll throw Greater's ice cream raspberry snowballs
Speaker 3: at the office.
Speaker 1: Now, now it sounds like It's kind of like coaching
Speaker 1: your kid in youth sports. You know you don't want
Speaker 1: to favor your own kid, right, that's similar.
Speaker 3: There's something like that going on. But I mean, Chris
Speaker 3: had a great point. If you look at the numbers,
Speaker 3: and they do bear out, they're not super fun if
Speaker 3: you're a Bengals fan to see Joe Burrow the first
Speaker 3: four weeks, first eight weeks of the season versus the
Speaker 3: last half has hotter last halfs his numbers really all
Speaker 3: across the board. I wouldn't say slow starts, but certainly takes.
Speaker 4: A bit of a warm up period.
Speaker 3: That could be for a ton of reasons, of course,
Speaker 3: but is it chemistry. Would it hurt for him to
Speaker 3: be out there right now? No, of course not. But
Speaker 3: it's also not the worst thing that Trevor Simeon's getting
Speaker 3: some getting some love and refs out there, and he's
Speaker 3: one of the better backups.
Speaker 1: I think everybody loves Joe Burrow for obvious reasons. Chase
Speaker 1: Higgins mix and you know, they're great star players on
Speaker 1: this team. But you referenced some of the guys that
Speaker 1: you talked to while you were here for training camp.
Speaker 1: Is there a Bengal or a couple of Bengals that
Speaker 1: you think this guy deserves a lot more attention then
Speaker 1: he gets.
Speaker 3: I'm really excited about the offensive line. I think maybe
Speaker 3: I think it's obviously a huge question mark, but we're
Speaker 3: seeing Jonah, who could have been more disgruntled than he
Speaker 3: was for a moment, now saying all right, I'm good,
Speaker 3: I'm fine. Orlando Brown's here, a very versatile player who
Speaker 3: feels very comfortable in position that he's in, in a
Speaker 3: veteran with championship pedigree coming into the building, and I
Speaker 3: think that offensive line should be much improved. I actually
Speaker 3: think it's the best one that Joe Burrow's played with,
Speaker 3: and so that's always the low hanging fruit for poking
Speaker 3: at this team. You're gonna hurt Joe Burrow, You're gonna
Speaker 3: let him get hit and sacked. I think it should
Speaker 3: be stronger out the gates, and it's been in previous years.
Speaker 3: That should help all around. Joe Mixon. I think top
Speaker 3: five year, no question, it should be available for him
Speaker 3: to go out there and get that. And I just
Speaker 3: think that one of the things that's flying under the
Speaker 3: radar is that you know there's always going to be
Speaker 3: salary cap issues on any team, especially a championship caliber team,
Speaker 3: and trying to keep everybody in the building.
Speaker 4: It's not possible. Dan. So the fact that.
Speaker 3: Even if the t Higgins thing doesn't work out, just
Speaker 3: the fact that he is showing up. That says a
Speaker 3: lot about Joe. It says a lot about everybody in
Speaker 3: the locker room. It says a lot about Zach Taylor.
Speaker 3: And you know, guys like Jamar Chase are watching that.
Speaker 3: Jamar Chase is seeing, Hey, I'm going to deal with
Speaker 3: that next year. I'm going to deal with my business.
Speaker 3: And I'm seeing how a guy like Tea sort of
Speaker 3: handles that. You have the same thing. Obviously they paid
Speaker 3: Logan Wilson. I loved seeing Tea say congratulations, I'm happy
Speaker 3: for you, fully knowing we don't know what's ahead, we
Speaker 3: don't know what the future is. So them being able
Speaker 3: to as an organization sort of handle what.
Speaker 4: Could be.
Speaker 3: Rapid and wide ranging disgruntlement among these players like a Jonah,
Speaker 3: it sort of gets nipped in the butt, and that
Speaker 3: is teamwork that takes everybody.
Speaker 1: So if the Bengals are the team to beat in
Speaker 1: the AFC North, who do you think is their biggest
Speaker 1: competition this year Baltimore, Cleveland or Pittsburgh.
Speaker 3: Collinsworth was really selling me on Cleveland, but I don't
Speaker 3: talk about Cleveland. So I'm going to say the Ravens
Speaker 3: their Week two opponent, because you can't deny it. They
Speaker 3: build themselves little super team. I think if the world
Speaker 3: wasn't enamored and solely focused on the Jets, the Ravens
Speaker 3: would be the story of the off season. Wow, who else?
Speaker 3: What would it be if you took the Jets stand
Speaker 3: off the table? What's the story of the NFL right now?
Speaker 3: It's not on the homes. They're good, they're boring, they're set. Lah.
Speaker 4: It's the Ravens.
Speaker 3: It's them bringing an Odell. Odell is always a headlining act.
Speaker 3: All of a sudden, he's not only because Aaron now
Speaker 3: is in the AFC.
Speaker 4: And in New York.
Speaker 1: He said in an interview on Monday that had he
Speaker 1: stayed healthy in that Super Bowl two years ago, the
Speaker 1: Rams would have won forty two seventeen. Really, we've had
Speaker 1: fifteen catches for two hundred and fifty yards. That was
Speaker 1: his quote.
Speaker 3: See, but I didn't even see me. I didn't even
Speaker 3: see that because they're really flying. They really are flying
Speaker 3: under the radar and they're trying to build and they've
Speaker 3: got a couple of great running backs as well. I mean,
Speaker 3: Lamar has to stay healthy, but I think he's got
Speaker 3: a little something to prove. And they went through They
Speaker 3: just had a bizarre year last year. They always have
Speaker 3: weird injuries that keep them sidelined, but there was this
Speaker 3: some soullessness going on. There were just weird things energetically
Speaker 3: that you were seeing on the sideline harbor, and you
Speaker 3: know at halftime that I forget which game it was
Speaker 3: Hamilton that they sort of were. Their vibe was so
Speaker 3: off the Ravens. I forget which game it was, but
Speaker 3: you could just tell this is not the team that
Speaker 3: you're used to. So if they can get back, I
Speaker 3: would say they're that definitely the toughest competition.
Speaker 4: Don't sleep on the.
Speaker 3: Steelers though, either They're never going to lose a season,
Speaker 3: and I think they're on the way up. They and
Speaker 3: they down the stretch one a ton of games, so
Speaker 3: if they pick up where they left off, you can't
Speaker 3: sleep on Talmlant.
Speaker 4: It's a gauntlet of a division, all right.
Speaker 1: Wild Card topics. Do you have any hidden talents.
Speaker 4: Oh man, I know Morse code really?
Speaker 1: Yes, awesome.
Speaker 4: That's so weird.
Speaker 3: My grandmother in Poland made me learn it in case
Speaker 3: the Soviets came.
Speaker 4: Back and took over Poland and I was sucking to
Speaker 4: forest somewhere. I literally know Morse code.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that is true.
Speaker 3: I haven't exercised that ever, but if I'm ever in
Speaker 3: a bad spot, I'm surviving the zombie apocalypse, all right.
Speaker 1: So some people can do sos, but you're you're well
Speaker 1: beyond that.
Speaker 3: Correct.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. Who is your all time favorite athlete in
Speaker 1: any sport? And why, oh my.
Speaker 3: Gosh, in any sport, I would say, I'm just going
Speaker 3: to go. The first game that popped in my head
Speaker 3: was Matt Fote. I think he's why I fell in
Speaker 3: love with the NFL, because there was so little to
Speaker 3: root for and he was so fun and electric and
Speaker 3: I was on my couch jumping up and down when
Speaker 3: he Obviously Devin Hester too, but I got more of
Speaker 3: Matt Forte, and he was so involved in changing the
Speaker 3: complexion of what the whole offense looked in any game
Speaker 3: that he played. So Matt Forte off the field, on
Speaker 3: the field was sort of the person who got me
Speaker 3: into loving the NFL on the level that I did.
Speaker 1: The greatest former two lane play NFL history cam sample
Speaker 1: from very good.
Speaker 4: We got a shout out about Camp samp.
Speaker 3: I think Sam Hubbard today gave him a really nice
Speaker 3: shout out for how he's looked at camps. We're excited
Speaker 3: to see what sample looks like in the NFL.
Speaker 1: Having a very good camp.
Speaker 4: All right.
Speaker 1: Final one, If you could meet anybody in history, I
Speaker 1: hate these questions athlete entertainer. Who would that person be? Mine?
Speaker 1: Is Steve Martin?
Speaker 4: By the way, is it really we were.
Speaker 3: Just talking about Steve Marron. Stay tuned, you'll know why
Speaker 3: we were talking about Steve Martin. Bengals fans just a
Speaker 3: couple of days. Julia Louis Dreyfuss I would say loved Seinfeld.
Speaker 4: I think she's brilliant.
Speaker 3: She's so understated and makes such a big impact in
Speaker 3: the community around her, and.
Speaker 4: I just love her. I would love it.
Speaker 3: I'd get nervous if I met her. I've met a
Speaker 3: lot of people and I've definitely heard parts of it,
Speaker 3: but I think I'd get nervous to meet her.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Oh, I'd be a babbling idiot. Around Steve Martin.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's okay.
Speaker 3: People want to meet like Taylor Swift. I've met her.
Speaker 3: She's lovely, but there was no freak out about it.
Speaker 1: I think.
Speaker 3: I changed my answer. Colleene Bennis, get out of here,
Speaker 3: Joe Burrow.
Speaker 4: I have to meet Joe Burrow. What's it going to
Speaker 4: take Dan, he's one room away.
Speaker 1: Let's you know, let's see if we can get him
Speaker 1: to drop.
Speaker 3: Yeah, him to heal up. That's what I keep saying.
Speaker 3: They won't let me talk to him, but I keep saying,
Speaker 3: I'm going to let him. I'm gonna let him heal up.
Speaker 3: That's my That was my pr spintch like he wants
Speaker 3: to talk to me, but I said, you need to.
Speaker 3: We need to be on ice buddy, get back on
Speaker 3: the training table.
Speaker 1: We're so happy to have you back in Cincinnati. You
Speaker 1: are my wife's favorite NFL broadcaster. Myself included your way above.
Speaker 2: Damn.
Speaker 1: I will get you your forehead signed bobblehead.
Speaker 3: You promised this, okay, And you said I heard graters
Speaker 3: called you this morning.
Speaker 1: They reached out to me to see if I could
Speaker 1: smuggle you in some ice cream.
Speaker 4: Isn't that hard?
Speaker 2: Things?
Speaker 4: I will say this.
Speaker 3: I was here for my ruler of the Jungle game
Speaker 3: and this is all business here at training camp. It
Speaker 3: is all hands on deck. Everyone's super focused and it's
Speaker 3: great to see and it's great to see you.
Speaker 4: Dan, you too, and tell your wife I love her.
Speaker 1: And say hi, you got it. Some TV personalities are
Speaker 1: inherently likable. There's a hard to define it factor that
Speaker 1: just jumps off the screen. Kay Adams has it. The
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by Bengals Picks
Speaker 1: and Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play with tickets inside,
Speaker 1: merchandise up for grabs. Find both inside the Bengals app
Speaker 1: and by Kettering Health, the official healthcare provider of the Bengals.
Speaker 1: With more than one hundred and twenty care facilities and
Speaker 1: fifteen hundred care providers, Kettering Health is committed to guiding
Speaker 1: you to your best health. Visit ketteringhealth dot org to
Speaker 1: learn more. Last year, the Bengals held two joint practices
Speaker 1: with the La Rams before their final preseason game. The
Speaker 1: first one went well. The second one featured the Aaron
Speaker 1: Donald hillmet swinging incident. Bengals safety Nick Scott was with
Speaker 1: the Rams last year.
Speaker 2: It was pretty wild.
Speaker 5: I mean, I to this day, I joke around like
Speaker 5: I don't know who the guy or girl was that
Speaker 5: sat down and said, hey, let's have a Super Bowl
Speaker 5: rematch three months after it happened, and hopefully everything comes
Speaker 5: out peaceful. We kind of knew that gonna happen.
Speaker 1: The Bengals and Packers did not meet in the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl last year, but sure enough, tempers flared when they
Speaker 1: held their joint practice on Wednesday. First, Packers left guard
Speaker 1: Elton Jenkins got into it with Jermaine Pratt and b
Speaker 1: J Hill, leading to a massive scrum. Later, Jenkins and
Speaker 1: DJ Readers squared off and the Packers pulled their offensive
Speaker 1: linemen out of practice. Here's Sam Hubbard on the brew.
Speaker 6: Haha, Yeah, it happened, So I don't think we need
Speaker 6: to make a big deal out of it. We're professionals
Speaker 6: and everybody's very competitive, and sometimes it happens.
Speaker 1: Is it almost something you expect when two teams get
Speaker 1: together and when they eat like this, You guys haven't
Speaker 1: seen another team yet.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's also kind of fun at units each side.
Speaker 6: You know, you rally with your teammates and come back
Speaker 6: in the locker room and you're a united front going
Speaker 6: against another jersey for the first time of the year.
Speaker 6: It's not all bad as long as everyone's you know,
Speaker 6: no need to throw a punch to helm and break
Speaker 6: your hand or something like that.
Speaker 2: We don't want to be smarter than that, but it's football.
Speaker 1: There was no clear winner in the skirmish, but both
Speaker 1: defenses came out on top, and wednesday's practice Reider blew
Speaker 1: up the Packers running game. Trey Hendrickson had a sack,
Speaker 1: came off the field for a few snaps, and then
Speaker 1: immediately had another sack after returning, and Mike Helton had
Speaker 1: the only takeaway for either side as he jumped around
Speaker 1: the red zone and likely would have had a long
Speaker 1: pick six. When asked about the Bengals defense, head coach
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor invented a new word, veterany.
Speaker 7: You know, it's they're just I think probably the underrated
Speaker 7: portion of our defense is how smart they are. They
Speaker 7: can make adjustments at the drop of a hat because
Speaker 7: they've played together for so many years. They're all so smart.
Speaker 7: It's really frustrating as a play calling often sometimes when
Speaker 7: you practice against the same team over and over and
Speaker 7: over and they do such a good job in so
Speaker 7: many areas, and they're so smart, and we feel like
Speaker 7: we have the same thing on offense. We feel like
Speaker 7: we've got a really smart football team. But you asked
Speaker 7: specifically about the defense, and that's what stands. Not only
Speaker 7: are they talented, and not only do they have great
Speaker 7: chemistry together and they understand what Lou and the position
Speaker 7: coaches want from them, but they are all really smart.
Speaker 7: I mean, really, there's great players in this league that
Speaker 7: you know, maybe maybe don't have both the talent, and
Speaker 7: I don't know, I can't speak to anybody specifically, but
Speaker 7: I know our guys are really really football smart.
Speaker 1: As for the Bengals offense, it's sputtered against Green Bay's
Speaker 1: D with Trevor Simmy and Jake Browning alternating at quarterback.
Speaker 1: Of course, things likely would have been better if Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow were healthy and he was in attendance On Wednesday,
Speaker 1: as Joe attended practice for the first time since injuring
Speaker 1: his calf thirteen days earlier. Here's offensive coordinator Brian Callahan.
Speaker 8: We had talked about it this morning, him coming out
Speaker 8: if he felt like it, and he decided he wanted to.
Speaker 8: So I looked over there and he was standing right
Speaker 8: next to me.
Speaker 2: He was great.
Speaker 8: It's good to have him.
Speaker 2: What's the biggest impact of having Joe out there watching?
Speaker 8: It's always nice to have his presence out there, you know.
Speaker 8: I think it's good for guys to see him out.
Speaker 8: I mean, he's been rehabbing quite a bit. He's doing
Speaker 8: a good job, and they have him out at practice
Speaker 8: is always beneficial. Guys like seeing him too, you know.
Speaker 8: I think he's everybody excited to have him out standing
Speaker 8: around watching.
Speaker 1: So I'm sure this process has been hard for him
Speaker 1: just being out. Are generally think this practice in particular
Speaker 1: is one he would want it to be out for.
Speaker 8: Oh, he's an elite competitor, so any chance he gets
Speaker 8: to go against somebody else, Yeah, he you know, I'm
Speaker 8: sure it's frustrating for him the standing and have to watch,
Speaker 8: but that's what it is, and you know he's going
Speaker 8: to have to swallow that frustration and he'll be ready
Speaker 8: for when it's time to be ready.
Speaker 1: The hope remains that Joe will be ready for the
Speaker 1: season opener at Cleveland, which is almost exactly one month away.
Speaker 1: I spoke to Dave Lapham after the joint practice and
Speaker 1: we started with the struggles that the Bengals had on offense.
Speaker 9: The Packers, I think are a pretty good defensive unit.
Speaker 9: They ran significant blitz packages for this stage of training camp,
Speaker 9: very significant really, but I don't think it was any
Speaker 9: surprise to the coaches. But there were some assignmenters. I
Speaker 9: saw some free runners made things difficult in the quarterback.
Speaker 9: I mean, the quarterbacks are having all they can handle
Speaker 9: just you know, trying to get the ball to the
Speaker 9: right spots at the right time, and when there's free
Speaker 9: runners in their face, I mean, it's it's very frustrating
Speaker 9: probably to try to execute. Obviously, and as a play caller,
Speaker 9: I'm sure Brian Callahan had his moments where it's like, mayah,
Speaker 9: this is like swimming up hill. They get they got
Speaker 9: humbled a little bit offensively and more than a little
Speaker 9: bit really. I mean, I think Green Bay, obviously, you know,
Speaker 9: ruled the day as far as making it tough for
Speaker 9: the Bengals to move the football. So that's not always bad,
Speaker 9: you know, it's it's particularly early in camp to get
Speaker 9: to get humbled and realize that you get miles to
Speaker 9: go before you rest, get back to the drawing board
Speaker 9: and get get things corrected. But again we've talked about
Speaker 9: it more than once. Number nine puts the ball in
Speaker 9: spots that not many do. That's what makes him a
Speaker 9: top ten should have been top five player in the NFL,
Speaker 9: has voted on by the players. But when when he
Speaker 9: when he's operating and and uh, you know, deciphering getting
Speaker 9: the ball out and putting it in very very good spots.
Speaker 9: It's a it's a much different dynamic. I mean is
Speaker 9: the key is in the National Football League especially, but
Speaker 9: any level of quarterback put the ball where your receiver
Speaker 9: can turn into a running back and make yards have
Speaker 9: to catch instead of making them stop or reach behind
Speaker 9: or whatever the case may be, and you don't have
Speaker 9: to restart. That's it's a totally different dynamics. So there's
Speaker 9: there's a lot of things. Protection for the quarterback has
Speaker 9: to be, you know, really good. You got to pick
Speaker 9: up the blitzers, you got to solidify the pocket. I thought,
Speaker 9: defensively in the red zone, Jordan Love can spin it,
Speaker 9: and he can spin it from he drops two different
Speaker 9: angles to throw the football. I thought accuracy might have
Speaker 9: been a little bit of his issue, you know, coming
Speaker 9: out not the most accurate, but you look pretty pretty
Speaker 9: accurate today. And he threw the ball through the ball
Speaker 9: pretty well. He can spin it. He's got some RPMs,
Speaker 9: I mean first round pick. But I thought defensively, particularly
Speaker 9: when it was the move at drill, neither team you
Speaker 9: don't get any points, you know, red zone seven on
Speaker 9: seven red zone, Packers had a little bit better success
Speaker 9: than the Bengals did in that regard. Overall, I'd say
Speaker 9: the Packers, you know, won the day, but it wasn't.
Speaker 9: It wasn't a total domination, a total like you know,
Speaker 9: stick ahead in the sand and don't bring it back out.
Speaker 2: It wasn't anything like.
Speaker 1: That, particularly for the Bengals defense. The Packers offense I
Speaker 1: think probably had more successful plays than the Bengals offense,
Speaker 1: But the Bengals defense had plenty of good moments throughout
Speaker 1: the practice.
Speaker 2: No question.
Speaker 9: And you know, the the Green Bay Packers get some
Speaker 9: young skill guys, I mean young quarterback who has been
Speaker 9: working behind a future Hall of Famer. I don't think
Speaker 9: that's done anything but help them get ready to assume
Speaker 9: his his role this year and succeed in it. And
Speaker 9: over the last two drafts they've drafted six receivers and
Speaker 9: two tight ends that are all good weapons, and so
Speaker 9: it's a challenge out there. And then there's always, you know,
Speaker 9: not only the fact that it's like we talked about,
Speaker 9: if they faced configurations and formations, they hadn't seen lots packages,
Speaker 9: they hadn't seen fronts, they hadn't seen alignments in the
Speaker 9: back end.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's a.
Speaker 9: Totally different ballgame than they've been working against, throwing different
Speaker 9: people with different skills, and all of a sudden, your
Speaker 9: comfort zone is gone. It's so much different. It's it's
Speaker 9: it's game time out there.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 9: It's it's very very very very similar to breaking a huddle,
Speaker 9: come to the line of scrimmage and it's it's game time.
Speaker 9: The difference is you haven't game planned, you know, for
Speaker 9: for the Green Bay Pack or so you know that
Speaker 9: that's a factor as well, although saying can be said
Speaker 9: for them they didn't. They didn't game plan against the
Speaker 9: Cincinnati Bengals either, so that's a wash. But as far
Speaker 9: as getting ready for to play in an NFL game,
Speaker 9: you feel much more confident and comfortable going into those
Speaker 9: games when you've had a week of game planning.
Speaker 1: We saw Joe Burrow out on the practice field for
Speaker 1: the first time since suffering his calf injury. He obviously
Speaker 1: didn't practice, but he was out there watching the action,
Speaker 1: communicating with his teammates and communicating with the coaching staff.
Speaker 1: Should we look at that as a positive? Do you
Speaker 1: take any meaning from his presence on the field today.
Speaker 9: You know, I think being the competitive that he is,
Speaker 9: I mean, you could just imagine what's going through his head.
Speaker 9: I'm sure he's like, I want to be out there
Speaker 9: so badly with my teammates, taking these reps, getting ready,
Speaker 9: working against the quality defensive football team that's well coached,
Speaker 9: has great talent in their personnel. This would be sharpening
Speaker 9: me for the game against the Cleveland Browns up in Cleveland,
Speaker 9: and you know I can't do it, but I want
Speaker 9: to be out there. And you know, the good point
Speaker 9: was being made where he hadn't seen exactly what the
Speaker 9: Green Bay package were presenting either. And it's not like
Speaker 9: he hasn't seen just about everything under the sun. He
Speaker 9: has at this point in time of his career, and
Speaker 9: he has incredible recall about it all. You can spit
Speaker 9: it back out for you exactly where people are aligned
Speaker 9: right away. But it's good to see it again. You know,
Speaker 9: it's not like he knows the Bengals defense cold. He's
Speaker 9: worked against it now for years. It's sophisticated. Lou has
Speaker 9: a lot of looks, but he's seen it all. But
Speaker 9: now Green Bay coming with some different blitz packages and
Speaker 9: some different personnel groupings and personnel within those groupings. So
Speaker 9: I'm sure he wanted to see it hands on instead
Speaker 9: of just watching tape. He probably wanted to test himself.
Speaker 9: All right, where would I go? Now? He's not out
Speaker 9: there just lollygagging around, you know, waving of the crowd.
Speaker 9: Joe Burrow's out there taking mental reps. He's out there
Speaker 9: listening to the play that's called. And there's no the
Speaker 9: you know, one of the periods, there's no scripting the plays.
Speaker 9: Whatsever It's just call it and run it, you know,
Speaker 9: and try to stay on the football field and move
Speaker 9: the ball drill. And I'm sure he was there here
Speaker 9: in the play call looking at the defense. What would
Speaker 9: I do? What would be my progression of reads? If
Speaker 9: in fact I were under center? Would I look for?
Speaker 9: What I look to audibilize out of this? Because you know,
Speaker 9: this is not a good look to run this play
Speaker 9: into you go through all those mental gymnastics, and I
Speaker 9: think that, in my mind was as big reason as
Speaker 9: any for him to be out there, just to go
Speaker 9: through the mental exercise and you know, sharpened that football
Speaker 9: IQ as best he can.
Speaker 1: What would a joint practice be without a fight or
Speaker 1: fights plural? In this case, there was a big skirmish
Speaker 1: that broke out and then a little one after that
Speaker 1: number seventy four. The great left guard for the Packers,
Speaker 1: Elgie Jenkins, was involved in both. It looked like in
Speaker 1: the first he and BJ Hill were going at it.
Speaker 1: Prap might have been involved in that one. The second
Speaker 1: time around it was Jenkins and DJ Reader, and the
Speaker 1: Packers pulled Jenkins out at that point. But uh, no,
Speaker 1: matter what you try to do in these joint practices,
Speaker 1: the intensity is much higher than it is when you're
Speaker 1: competing against your teammates, and it gets feisty.
Speaker 9: It does get feisty, and uh you know, I mean
Speaker 9: during the course of training camp and even in OTAs
Speaker 9: we've seen Ted Carriss and DJ Reader get into it,
Speaker 9: you know, And I mean it's it's just a competitive
Speaker 9: environment that that that's that's without you know, shoulder pads
Speaker 9: and helmets, on it, and it didn't turn into a fight.
Speaker 9: It was just you know, extracurricular pushing back and forth
Speaker 9: and challenging each other and uh and and getting a
Speaker 9: little heated.
Speaker 2: But DJ Reader is a man, and so is uh.
Speaker 9: The Green Bay Packers have a man at the guard position,
Speaker 9: and neither one of them wants to give an inch,
Speaker 9: you know, their egos won't let them do that. And
Speaker 9: and DJ Hill is feisty too. I mean, it's it's
Speaker 9: it's a hot day, it's a humid day. I'm sure
Speaker 9: there were some things going on that it built up
Speaker 9: and built up on a snap by snap basis and
Speaker 9: boiled over. And the fact that it was both of
Speaker 9: the interior run stuffers going against a pretty good run blocker.
Speaker 2: You know that.
Speaker 9: Number one teammate was defended another teammate and number two
Speaker 9: in the initial fight didn't appreciate what was going on.
Speaker 9: I guess in terms of maybe a little extra pushing
Speaker 9: after the whistle, whatever the case may be. But you're right,
Speaker 9: it seems like what is a training camp practice against
Speaker 9: an NFL opponent without a scuffle.
Speaker 2: As such.
Speaker 1: DJ Reader didn't hold back, but asked about his tussle
Speaker 1: with Elton Jenkins calling the two time pro bowler a
Speaker 1: jag that does not stand for judge Advocate Generals like
Speaker 1: the old TV show. In this case, it means just
Speaker 1: a guy. The Bengals Boot Podcast is brought to you
Speaker 1: by pay Corps. More than twenty nine thousand customers trust
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Speaker 1: preseason on Friday night at seven, and for the rookies,
Speaker 1: it will be a night they will never forget. Many
Speaker 1: of those rookies need to shine in the preseason games
Speaker 1: to earn a spot on the roster or the sixteen
Speaker 1: man practice squad. And I spoke to one of those
Speaker 1: rookies this week.
Speaker 2: One of the.
Speaker 1: Bengals rookie wide receivers played just up the road for
Speaker 1: the Miami RedHawks. We're talking to Mac Hippenhammer, who will
Speaker 1: wear the number fourteen in the preseason opener against the
Speaker 1: Green Bay Packers. Mac, what's it going to mean to
Speaker 1: you to charge out of that tunnel as an NFL
Speaker 1: player in the opener against Green Bay?
Speaker 2: It's gonna be really surreal. I will say that.
Speaker 10: I mean I think this is an opportunity that a
Speaker 10: lot of people like can't really imagine, and I think
Speaker 10: for me, it's just it's surreal and just being able
Speaker 10: to take that in and understand what's around me and
Speaker 10: what I'm really walking out to.
Speaker 2: So it'd be it'd be pretty cool.
Speaker 1: You're from Fort Wayne, Indiana. What kind of rooting section
Speaker 1: are you going to have?
Speaker 2: Oh, that's that's a good question.
Speaker 10: Probably mom and dad, my sister, maybe a couple of
Speaker 10: other relatives, but fairly small, but I think there'll be
Speaker 10: some family attendance.
Speaker 1: He went to the same high school as Jesse Bates.
Speaker 1: I believe you overlapped for one year in high school.
Speaker 1: Are you and Jesse friendly and have you been in
Speaker 1: contact since you signed with Cincinnati.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so, like Jesse was like my best friend in
Speaker 2: high school.
Speaker 10: As soon as I like signed with the Bengals, he
Speaker 10: reached out immediately, was hey, like, I still got my
Speaker 10: place there if you need somewhere to stay, like, I
Speaker 10: got you. So it's kind of it's it's all love,
Speaker 10: and he congratulated me on the opportunity.
Speaker 2: It was just, you know, it was it was a
Speaker 2: good talking to him.
Speaker 10: Since he missed him by a year, but it was
Speaker 10: it was really good to talk to him about it.
Speaker 1: We're chatting with Mac kipping Hammer, rookie wide receiver out
Speaker 1: of Miami University. You spent the last three years with
Speaker 1: the RedHawks, but you started your college career playing football
Speaker 1: and baseball at Penn State. You were starting outfielder for
Speaker 1: the Niitney Lions. Why did you give up baseball and
Speaker 1: do you miss it?
Speaker 10: At one time, I was super passionate about baseball, and
Speaker 10: you know, coming out of high school, like my dad
Speaker 10: always said, play both of them as long as you can.
Speaker 2: I obviously kind of took that to the heart.
Speaker 10: So, you know, coming out of high school, I was
Speaker 10: really passionate about both, and I think it got to
Speaker 10: the point where I was like, I can't do this
Speaker 10: for I can't do this forever and kind of have
Speaker 10: to pick one. And I feel like my ceiling was
Speaker 10: a bit higher, and you know, football, so I kind
Speaker 10: of think that was the route I took. And then
Speaker 10: my last year at Miami, you know, I didn't do
Speaker 10: so well, so I was like, Okay, it's time to
Speaker 10: hang it up.
Speaker 2: But like the thing is with.
Speaker 10: That, like if you want to be a really good
Speaker 10: baseball player, Like I always say, like swinging the bats
Speaker 10: like one of the hardest things to do, and like
Speaker 10: for me to be able to achieve like the highest
Speaker 10: level of baseball, I would have had it done a
Speaker 10: year I would have I would have had to do it.
Speaker 2: Like year round.
Speaker 10: So it was kind of like, Okay, I'm at that point.
Speaker 10: Well let's let's put all the tokens in where you
Speaker 10: know my ceilings.
Speaker 1: Highers, your last year of baseball might not have been great,
Speaker 1: but your last year of football at Miami was last
Speaker 1: year nine touchdown catches, including a thirty six yard TD
Speaker 1: against the UC Bearcats in the Battle for the Victory
Speaker 1: ball at pay Court Stadium. What were some of the
Speaker 1: highlights of your college experience at Miami.
Speaker 10: One of the best experiences top ten moments of my
Speaker 10: life was probably going to the Bahamas ball That was
Speaker 10: probably regardless of the result, that was probably like the
Speaker 10: most amazing experience. Just being able to go to Atlantis
Speaker 10: for a week with like your best friends and just
Speaker 10: you know, go down slides and you know, I'm not
Speaker 10: a gambler, but some of them were in the casino,
Speaker 10: but just like and knowing that was my last time
Speaker 10: with those guys that it made it all the more special.
Speaker 2: So I think that was probably one of the best
Speaker 2: experiences at Miami.
Speaker 1: Why'd you like to sign with the Bengals as a
Speaker 1: college free agent?
Speaker 10: Really kind of my opportunities were very limited, and I
Speaker 10: came in for I think it was like the rookie
Speaker 10: mini camp, I believe, which they kind of do it differently.
Speaker 2: It was only like it's.
Speaker 10: Only one day, so you know, I wasn't really expecting
Speaker 10: much out of that. And then you know, kind of
Speaker 10: like twenty minutes after the workout on my agent calls said, hey,
Speaker 10: Bengals are gonna sign and so I was like, okay,
Speaker 10: let's you know, this is it now?
Speaker 2: So I knew the opportunity was gonna come.
Speaker 10: So it happened to be this one, and you know,
Speaker 10: I just kind of hopped on it, and you know,
Speaker 10: here we are.
Speaker 1: So you are now part of the best wide receiver
Speaker 1: group in the NFL. Jamar Chase, Tyler bowayde T Higgins,
Speaker 1: and others. Let me get your thoughts on the Big three.
Speaker 1: Beginning with Jamar what stands out about him.
Speaker 2: Well he does really well was make contested catches look.
Speaker 10: Really easy, and it's just like, like I looked to
Speaker 10: the guy next to me, I'm like, how how does
Speaker 10: that happen? But what I did realize is he's very strong,
Speaker 10: Like in everything he does is row, you know, catching
Speaker 10: down field and making people miss.
Speaker 2: He's very sturdy overall.
Speaker 10: T Higgins t was probably the one like I watched
Speaker 10: the most just because, like, I've never seen somebody move
Speaker 10: like that at his height. He runs his routes like
Speaker 10: he's like five ten, which blows my mind. But he's
Speaker 10: very very I would say fast too, and not only
Speaker 10: just because you know he's got long strives, but he's
Speaker 10: like legit fast.
Speaker 2: So it's amazing what he can do. And I always
Speaker 2: trying to take from his game. Tyler Boyd.
Speaker 10: I think what he does really well is make every
Speaker 10: route look the same, and he's very crafty. He's obviously
Speaker 10: been doing this a really long time so and obviously
Speaker 10: we play the same position. So it's fun watching him
Speaker 10: because you know, I try to take after him, and
Speaker 10: you know, in the slot rule and the way he
Speaker 10: kind of runs his routes with confidence, like he knows
Speaker 10: he's gonna get open and some of the situations he
Speaker 10: gets and I'm like, I don't know how I would
Speaker 10: have got open in there, but he makes every route
Speaker 10: look the same, and you know it's exciting.
Speaker 1: Best of luck and thanks for the time.
Speaker 2: Thank you very much.
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for this episode of the
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Speaker 1: I'm Dan Hord. Thanks for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast.