Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody on dan Hoard, and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth podcast. The we could be good to
Speaker 1: get the addition as we hear from Mike Brown, Zach Taylor,
Speaker 1: Dan Pitcher, lou Anarumo, and Darren Simmons on six of
Speaker 1: the most important questions facing the Bengals when training Camp
Speaker 1: gets underway on Wednesday. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought
Speaker 1: to you by pay Core, Proud to be the Bengals
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Speaker 1: you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since mock
Speaker 1: Turtle Soup. The Bengals held their annual pre training camp
Speaker 1: media luncheon on Monday, an event that is affectionately known
Speaker 1: as the Turtle Soup Luncheon among veteran Cincinnati reporters. That's
Speaker 1: because since the early days of the franchise, when team
Speaker 1: founder Paul Brown presided over the festivities at the downtown
Speaker 1: Queen City Club, the appetizer has always, and I mean
Speaker 1: always been mock turtle soup. If you've never had it,
Speaker 1: there's no turtle meat. The key ingredients are ground beef, veal,
Speaker 1: ketchup eggs, Worcester sauce, and lemon. It apparently used to
Speaker 1: be popular at Cincinnati's many German saloons in the early
Speaker 1: nineteen hundreds. Would I order it in a restaurant, doubtful,
Speaker 1: But I happily consume a small cup every July, knowing
Speaker 1: that it means the football season is right around the corner.
Speaker 1: Now time to look at some key topics that were
Speaker 1: discussed at this year's luncheon. When training camp begins on Wednesday,
Speaker 1: I'll be sharing my five observations on Twitter or x
Speaker 1: if you prefer, at the end of every practice. In
Speaker 1: the same spirit, here are what I consider to be
Speaker 1: six important questions facing the Bengals at training camp. Number one,
Speaker 1: the status of Joe Burrow. Zach Taylor told reporters on
Speaker 1: Monday that Burrow is fully cleared for contact, as he
Speaker 1: returns from risk surgery. As I've said many times in
Speaker 1: recent months, I did not see a discernible difference in
Speaker 1: Joe's throws when I watched him in off season practices.
Speaker 1: Today I asked team president Mike Brown for his opinion.
Speaker 1: When you watched Joe Burrow this spring? Did he look
Speaker 1: the same? Everything look normal?
Speaker 2: I thought he looked up to speed, He was at
Speaker 2: the tail end of his reham him under wraps, they
Speaker 2: be in their trainers. They made sure he was spaced
Speaker 2: with how much he threw. Didn't ever try to overload him.
Speaker 2: From what I saw, he threw the ball with zip,
Speaker 2: with accuracy. He had distance when he needed it. He
Speaker 2: moved well. He looked tuned up and ready to go.
Speaker 1: Joe has stated publicly that he has learned from previous
Speaker 1: injuries that if he's feeling some discomfort, it's okay to
Speaker 1: take a day off, But the coaching staff plans to
Speaker 1: be proactive building days off into Joe's schedule to essentially
Speaker 1: protect him from himself. Here's Zach Taylor on Burrough's status
Speaker 1: heading into camp.
Speaker 3: How much is Joe starting to look like Joe again?
Speaker 3: I've only seen him physically walking down a Hallway. So
Speaker 3: I haven't seen him throw yet, but you know, everything
Speaker 3: everything has looked great, and so excited to get him
Speaker 3: back out there in the field new training camp. I
Speaker 3: know he's excited to go. Physically, he looks great.
Speaker 1: Zach added one surprising nugget at the media lunge and
Speaker 1: saying that he expects Burrow and the other offensive starters
Speaker 1: to play in the preseason. Joe has played a total
Speaker 1: of three preseason snaps in his NFL career, and that
Speaker 1: leads to topic number two, figuring out a way to
Speaker 1: get off to a better start. In Zach Taylor's five seasons,
Speaker 1: the Bengals have started oh and two, oh and two,
Speaker 1: one and one, oh and two, and oh and two.
Speaker 1: In fairness to Zach, Burrow's health has been a big factor.
Speaker 1: But there will clearly be an emphasis at this camp
Speaker 1: on being ready to win in Week one. Here are
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator lou Anroumo and offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher.
Speaker 4: I just think we're we're aware of it, you know,
Speaker 4: and I think you know coming out of the gates fast.
Speaker 4: That's been an emphasis and will be an emphasis throughout
Speaker 4: camp that. You know, Zach's already talked about but nobody
Speaker 4: wants to start behind the eight ball, that's for sure,
Speaker 4: and we're looking forward to getting off to a quick start.
Speaker 5: It's all what you emphasize every single day, and attacking
Speaker 5: teams start fast, they stay fast, and they finish fast,
Speaker 5: and that's who we want to be. So, you know,
Speaker 5: can I sit here and say we're doing A, B
Speaker 5: and C differently because we want to make sure we
Speaker 5: win the first game of the year.
Speaker 1: Well, we all.
Speaker 5: Every year we prepare to win the first game of
Speaker 5: the year. But I do think it's okay to sit
Speaker 5: there and say, how do we make sure we are
Speaker 5: checking every box we need to check? So when we
Speaker 5: step on the field here week one, there's nothing that
Speaker 5: we haven't done that would help us win that game.
Speaker 5: So yeah, we think about it, we talk about it,
Speaker 5: and it's important for us to start fast.
Speaker 1: Actions speak louder than words. And for the first time
Speaker 1: in their history, the Bengals will hold two joint practices
Speaker 1: in Chicago before their second preseason game and at home
Speaker 1: against the Colts before their third.
Speaker 3: But you choose to do two joint practices just the
Speaker 3: way it played out. Really, the Colts was the one
Speaker 3: that we had targeted early in the offseason to make
Speaker 3: sure we played them in a preseason game. Shane and
Speaker 3: I go way back, let's practice together.
Speaker 6: It's local.
Speaker 3: And then we just coincidentally were playing the Bears, and
Speaker 3: so Matt reached out and asked if we want to
Speaker 3: do a joint practice, and I was open to it.
Speaker 3: We haven't done one on the road since I've been here.
Speaker 3: I think it's a great opportunity, not only to practice
Speaker 3: again against what I think is a really good football team,
Speaker 3: but also the team bonding aspect of things. You know,
Speaker 3: where the stress isn't as high as it gets during
Speaker 3: the season, you get a chance to go on the
Speaker 3: road for three days. Guys get to go out to
Speaker 3: dinner together, spend time together. I think it's the right
Speaker 3: opportunity for our team at.
Speaker 2: The right time.
Speaker 1: Joint practices are intense and competitive and should help the
Speaker 1: team be battle ready for September. Topic number three, no
Speaker 1: drama despite no deals. It's no secret the t Higgins
Speaker 1: and Trey Hendrickson we're disappointed not to receive contract extensions
Speaker 1: in the offseason. But while the national media speculated about
Speaker 1: the two of them possibly being trained in camp, holdouts
Speaker 1: t and Trey are expected to be on the field
Speaker 1: for Day one. Unlike Jesse Bates, who waited until late
Speaker 1: in camp to sign his franchise tag a couple of
Speaker 1: years ago, Te put pen to paper last month. Here
Speaker 1: are Zach Taylor and Dan Pitcher.
Speaker 3: Te's character has shown brightly the four years he's been here.
Speaker 3: He's everything we hoped we were getting when I drafted
Speaker 3: him at A Clemson. He has handled a difficult situation
Speaker 3: perfectly in my opinion, you know, And so again it's
Speaker 3: there's a business side of things, and you had eight
Speaker 3: and you got to follow all that stuff. And for
Speaker 3: him to sign it when he did and say I'm
Speaker 3: showing up day one a training camp rated work so
Speaker 3: we can do great things as a team. Very appreciate
Speaker 3: of that. And again, I know he handled a very
Speaker 3: difficult decision as well as he could have.
Speaker 5: There's no bigger t Higgins fan than me. I've seen
Speaker 5: what he's done for this team, this organization and some
Speaker 5: of the most critical moments and some of the greatest
Speaker 5: successes that we've had during Zach's tenure. So super excited
Speaker 5: to have him back. I think he's a hu huge
Speaker 5: part of this team. I think his energy, the way
Speaker 5: he practices, the way he carries himself. I think guy's
Speaker 5: feet off of that, and so very happy that we
Speaker 5: get a chance to work with him through training him.
Speaker 1: As for Hendrickson, he's coming off of seventeen and a
Speaker 1: half sacks season and is under contract for this year
Speaker 1: and next. Here's Ana Rumo.
Speaker 4: He's had a great offseason. Like a lot of our guys,
Speaker 4: he's probably if you ask, you'll have to ask him,
Speaker 4: but to me, might be in the best shape of
Speaker 4: his life. Just had a baby here recently. I'll let
Speaker 4: him tell you that. But he's a great player.
Speaker 1: Trey is among the best pass rushers on the planet.
Speaker 1: The hope at camp is that Sam Hubbard, Miles Murphy,
Speaker 1: Joseph Osai, Sheldon Rankins and others will give the Bengals
Speaker 1: several defensive linemen that can get after the quarterback. Before
Speaker 1: we get to the next topic, here's a quick reminder
Speaker 1: that the Bengals Booth podcast is brought to you by
Speaker 1: pay Corps, proud to be the Bengals official HR software
Speaker 1: provider by Alta Fiber future Proof fiber Internet designed to
Speaker 1: elevate your home, business and community to a new level
Speaker 1: and by Kettering Health, the best care for the best fans.
Speaker 1: Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals.
Speaker 1: Now onto training camp. Topic number four the future of
Speaker 1: Dax Hill. When he was drafted in the first round
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two, Dax was expected to be Bates'
Speaker 1: long term replacement at safety, but that didn't work out
Speaker 1: as planned, and now Hill will go to training camp
Speaker 1: working with cornerbacks coach Chuck Burks as he battles with
Speaker 1: DJ Turner to start at outside corner, a position he
Speaker 1: didn't really play at Michigan. Here are Ana Arumo and
Speaker 1: Taylor Well.
Speaker 4: I think he's got traits that some of the best
Speaker 4: that have ever done it have. And then when I
Speaker 4: say that, I mean length, speed, athleticism. You know, if
Speaker 4: you're going to draw up an outside corner he had.
Speaker 4: He hits all the check marks on them on the dimensions.
Speaker 4: Now going to do it playing and play out as
Speaker 4: you know, as you said, he played slot corner in
Speaker 4: at Michigan. But you know, I'm really anxious to see
Speaker 4: him do it, and he's embraced it. He's a great,
Speaker 4: great guy and wants to do well, and so we're
Speaker 4: excited to see him.
Speaker 3: How do we help him reach his full potential? Because
Speaker 3: he got a really high level talent that we took
Speaker 3: in the first round that we're excited, we were excited
Speaker 3: about we took him, we're excited about now and and
Speaker 3: I know Chuck's really excited to work with him, get
Speaker 3: his hands on him. I'm sure there's a growing and
Speaker 3: a learning process out there, but he's got the skill
Speaker 3: set to do it. He's got the mental makeup to
Speaker 3: do it. So I'm excited to get him, get him
Speaker 3: on the field, and get him work in this this
Speaker 3: training camp, see what he can do there.
Speaker 1: Cornerbacks are susceptible to injury, and depth at the position
Speaker 1: is critical. The Bengals have talented young players and Cam Taylor,
Speaker 1: Britt Hill, Turner, draft pick Josh Newton, Alan Jorge and others,
Speaker 1: but the play of that group will certainly be a
Speaker 1: key thing to watch at training camp. For topic number five,
Speaker 1: we go back to the offense and consider how it
Speaker 1: might look different this year under a new offensive coordinator.
Speaker 1: Following Burrow's wrist injury in mid November, Jake Browning kept
Speaker 1: the Bengals in playoff contention and also provided a glimpse
Speaker 1: for how the offense might evolve going forward. There were
Speaker 1: more snaps with a quarterback under center, there were more
Speaker 1: play action passes. Here's pitcher is having a more diverse
Speaker 1: offense one of your objectives. I think any time that
Speaker 1: the defense is standing there trying to analyze what you
Speaker 1: presented formationally and from a motion standpoint, and there's a
Speaker 1: whole multitude of things that you've shown that you can
Speaker 1: do out of that that makes life hard on the defense.
Speaker 1: So that's always one of our goals.
Speaker 5: And how that plays itself out, I think changes from
Speaker 5: week to week and a pint to opponent. And the
Speaker 5: important part this time of year is establishing a really
Speaker 5: good basis and a library that you can pull from
Speaker 5: so that when you get in those situations you have
Speaker 5: diversity within your personnel groups and your formation families and
Speaker 5: things of that nature. So yeah, it's really important.
Speaker 7: The less time Joe spoke to us, and I'm going
Speaker 7: to paraphrase what he said, he said, we're going to
Speaker 7: be more attacking that you're what We're going to dictate
Speaker 7: more to the defense.
Speaker 2: What we want to do.
Speaker 7: How is an offensive coortin do you go about making
Speaker 7: those changes? To implement this thought.
Speaker 5: Sure, I mean I think there's there's a handful of
Speaker 5: things that come to mind. I'm not going to detail
Speaker 5: them all. Not that anything that we haven't discovered, any
Speaker 5: secret sauce that no one else in football has discovered.
Speaker 5: I mean, this is this game has been played for
Speaker 5: a long time and a lot of really smart people.
Speaker 5: I think, first and foremost, it's a mentality, and it's
Speaker 5: something that we talk about and we don't just talk
Speaker 5: about it once. We talk about it all the time.
Speaker 5: And so there are things you can do schematic you know,
Speaker 5: the speed you play at, the how you know how
Speaker 5: you use motion, how you choose to attack the field
Speaker 5: vertically in the passing game. There's all different things you
Speaker 5: can do to be more attacking. But but first and
Speaker 5: foremost it's about what's between the player's ears and knowing
Speaker 5: that they have the freedom to go attack and that
Speaker 5: they're not necessarily going to be second guests here and there.
Speaker 5: We're always going to coach them, but there has to
Speaker 5: be a freedom there to to be an attacking player
Speaker 5: with an attacking mindset.
Speaker 7: And how much effort or striving is there though still
Speaker 7: in today's game among teams to find the next secret,
Speaker 7: if you will, to come up with the next way
Speaker 7: that this game is going to develop. It never has before.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, it's what I've been doing for the
Speaker 5: last you know, six months, basically since the season ended.
Speaker 5: And you approach it from the standpoint of it is like,
Speaker 5: I'm not going to discover anything necessarily proprietary, but I
Speaker 5: need to know what's playing in the league. I need
Speaker 5: to know what's working and what isn't and how to
Speaker 5: is that maybe match what we have from a personnel standpoint.
Speaker 5: So I think guys across the league are constantly trying
Speaker 5: to discover you know, you know, one little wrinkle maybe
Speaker 5: turns into a bigger wrinkle, turns into maybe some new
Speaker 5: form of scheme that has been run before, but now
Speaker 5: somebody's doing a little bit differently, and hey, maybe that
Speaker 5: fits us, or maybe you know what's good for them,
Speaker 5: but it's not good for us. But you got to
Speaker 5: do the research to be able to make that decision.
Speaker 1: Dan Pitcher strikes me as being very Burrow like in
Speaker 1: being laser focused on football. I'm excited to watch practice
Speaker 1: to see how he'll employed Jamar Chase t Higgins, Jermaine Burton,
Speaker 1: Mike Gaziki, Zach Moss, Chase Brown, and the Bengals other
Speaker 1: offensive weapons. Finally, we get to training camp topic number
Speaker 1: six and perhaps the most obvious roster battle this year,
Speaker 1: the punt off between Brad Robbins and rookie Austin McNamara.
Speaker 1: Robbins had an inconsistent rookie year after being drafted in
Speaker 1: the sixth round out of Michigan. McNamara had great college
Speaker 1: that to Texas Tech, but was not selected in this
Speaker 1: year's draft. I asked Darren Simmons if the experienced Robbins
Speaker 1: heads into camp as the quote unquote favorite, or if
Speaker 1: it's a wide open competition.
Speaker 6: I think it's wide open, but I mean somebody has
Speaker 6: to take the first rep, you know, of the first day,
Speaker 6: and that'll be Brad. You know it's because he's thencome
Speaker 6: a guy and he deserves that. I mean, he's done
Speaker 6: this for a year. But he also knows that I
Speaker 6: told him that when he left. You know, after season's over,
Speaker 6: there'll be somebody here. They'll be competition. It's not your job.
Speaker 6: You have to go earn it again. And just like
Speaker 6: he did a year ago when Drew was here. So
Speaker 6: Brad'll trot out there first. I'm excited to see both guys.
Speaker 6: I really like the things that Brad did. We identified
Speaker 6: a bunch of things throughout the off season that we
Speaker 6: need to see from him differently than what they were
Speaker 6: a year doing. I think he's done that. I think
Speaker 6: he's addressed that. He's also really excited. I think he's
Speaker 6: he's really excited right now too, you know. I think
Speaker 6: he also feels like he made pretty good progression from
Speaker 6: the time he left in June until now. I think
Speaker 6: he's He's worked on a couple of different kicks. I
Speaker 6: think he's bulked up physically. He's a little bigger, he's
Speaker 6: a little stronger. So all good things, all positive things.
Speaker 6: There's a lot also positive things that Austin does well too,
Speaker 6: you know. I mean, he had a very good college career.
Speaker 6: He's very advanced in terms of his understanding about that position,
Speaker 6: about the punning position, in terms of technique and what
Speaker 6: we want from him. He's a good kid too. So
Speaker 6: I'm really excited to see where these two guys go.
Speaker 6: But I mean, the guy's going to try out there
Speaker 6: first as bread.
Speaker 1: So those are six important topics heading into camp. But
Speaker 1: I want to share one more thing from Monday's mock
Speaker 1: turtle soup luncheon. Last year, Joe Burrow injured his calf
Speaker 1: on the second day of camp, then aggravated that injury
Speaker 1: in Week two of the season against Baltimore. It was
Speaker 1: unclear heading into Week three if Joe would be able
Speaker 1: to play on Monday Night Football against the Rams. Before
Speaker 1: the Friday practice of that week, Mike Brown drove out
Speaker 1: onto the field while the team was stretching, picked up
Speaker 1: Burrow and a golf cart, drove around in a circle
Speaker 1: as they spoke, and then dropped Joe back off with
Speaker 1: his teammates. My assumption at the time was that Mike
Speaker 1: told his quarterback to be smart and not to play
Speaker 1: unless he was close to one hundred percent. On Monday,
Speaker 1: we got Mike's side of the story.
Speaker 2: I try to stay away enough that I don't get
Speaker 2: in the way. I don't want to be a problem
Speaker 2: for the coaches on that particular In that particular moment,
Speaker 2: I overstepped and did a dumb thing. I was convinced
Speaker 2: he shouldn't play, and he looked like he wanted to
Speaker 2: play in that game, and I went out there to
Speaker 2: tell him he wasn't going to play. I was going
Speaker 2: to make sure he wasn't going to play. Whereupon he played,
Speaker 2: and so that's all that happened. I felt still feel
Speaker 2: a little bit shamefaced about it.
Speaker 7: What is your relationship like with Joe in general?
Speaker 2: I respect him, I like his family. I don't want
Speaker 2: to be his best buddy. I don't think that's proper,
Speaker 2: but I admire how he handles himself. For me, he's
Speaker 2: one of the great players that I've had the chance
Speaker 2: to watch, and I enjoy watching him do what he does.
Speaker 1: Here's hoping that Mike gets to watch a healthy Burrow
Speaker 1: for seventeen games and beyond in twenty twenty four. That's
Speaker 1: going to do it for this episode of the Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth podcast, brought to you by pay Corps, Proud to
Speaker 1: be the Bengals official HR software provider by Alta Fiber
Speaker 1: future proof fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business,
Speaker 1: and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health
Speaker 1: the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is
Speaker 1: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. If you haven't
Speaker 1: done so already, please subscribe to this podcast and if
Speaker 1: you have a minute, give it a rating, or share
Speaker 1: a comment that helps more Bengals fans find us. I'm
Speaker 1: Dan Hord and thanks for listening to the Bengals Booth
Speaker 1: podcast