Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody on Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The we lose our way, we
Speaker 1: get back up again. It's never too late to get
Speaker 1: back up again. Addition, as the Bengals look to rebound
Speaker 1: from their first lopsided loss of the season as they
Speaker 1: face the three and two Colts on Sunday in Indianapolis.
Speaker 1: Coming up, Dave Lapham joins me to discuss Joe Burrow,
Speaker 1: a j Greene DJ reader, and the latest Bengals news.
Speaker 1: This week's one on one player interview is with the
Speaker 1: highest graded safety in the NFL according to Pro Football Focus,
Speaker 1: Jesse Bates and at Our Know the Faust segment, Mike Wells,
Speaker 1: who covers the Colts for ESPN, makes a prediction of
Speaker 1: sorts that is bound to annoy Bengals fans. The Bengals
Speaker 1: Booth Podcast is presented by bud Light Seltzer. Refresh the
Speaker 1: game and here's a quick reminder that you can have
Speaker 1: the latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
Speaker 1: or computer by subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify,
Speaker 1: or pod Bean. It's the greatest thing since Archie Manning
Speaker 1: sending encouraging texts to Joe Burrow on a weekly basis.
Speaker 1: Burrow shared that nugget with reporters this week. Apparently, Joe
Speaker 1: struck up a friendship with the legendary quarterback and father
Speaker 1: of Peyton and Eli when he attended the Manning Passing
Speaker 1: Academy in college. In this week, after Burrow had the
Speaker 1: worst game of his young career against Baltimore, Archie texted him,
Speaker 1: told Joe to keep his head up and shared that
Speaker 1: in Eli's rookie year, he had a game with a
Speaker 1: zero passer rating against Baltimore. I looked it up and
Speaker 1: Archie wasn't exaggerating. In Eli's fourth NFL start, he went
Speaker 1: four for eighteen with twenty seven yards, no touchdowns, two interceptions,
Speaker 1: and a zero passer rating in a thirty seven to
Speaker 1: fourteen loss to the Ravens. In other words, it happens
Speaker 1: to the best of them, especially as rookies. Thank you,
Speaker 1: Archie Matting for the reminder. Now time to bring in
Speaker 1: my broadcast partner, Dave Lapham. Lab It's Wednesday, and I
Speaker 1: think Joe Burrow just got hit again by a blitzing
Speaker 1: Baltimore Raven. Baltimore had seven sacks in that game. Burrow
Speaker 1: leads the NFL with twenty two through five games. I
Speaker 1: want to start with your specialty offensive line play. How
Speaker 1: much of that performance, that rough performance for Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: was on the old line. Part of it, you know,
Speaker 1: good part of it. But when you're looking at what
Speaker 1: happened in that football game, which was a total collapse
Speaker 1: against the Blitz, everybody suits dirty offensive line, quarterback, you know,
Speaker 1: holding the football too long, trying to make too much happen,
Speaker 1: receivers not getting any separation, backs and tight ends not
Speaker 1: doing a good enough job when they were assigned. You know,
Speaker 1: people in Blitz pickup. But the the disconcerting thing to
Speaker 1: me is when you know it's a simple inside linebacker
Speaker 1: five yards off the line of scrimmage and he's a
Speaker 1: free runner because of an assignment error. I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: physical things one thing, but the mental part of it
Speaker 1: at this stage, that's that's that's troubling to me, you know,
Speaker 1: And all the way back to peewee football, basically you're
Speaker 1: always taught block from the inside out, protect quarterbacks from
Speaker 1: the inside out. The shortest distance to the quarterback is
Speaker 1: right up the gut. Make him come off the edge.
Speaker 1: You know, and we'll take our chances. Then at that point,
Speaker 1: if there's a free runner there a lot of times
Speaker 1: it's on the quarterback. He has to make them missing
Speaker 1: and create an extent or get the ball out before
Speaker 1: the guy gets there. So to have those those kind
Speaker 1: of mental errors and simple, simple blitzes, that's not good.
Speaker 1: That's not good at all. The NFL keeps quarterback hits
Speaker 1: as a statistic. I'm not sure it's perfectly accurate. When
Speaker 1: I go back and look, it might be off by
Speaker 1: one or two. But here's what the NFL says for
Speaker 1: the first five games of the Joe Burrow era, hit
Speaker 1: six times in Week one, seven in Week two, eighteen
Speaker 1: in Week three, five, and week four fifteen in week five.
Speaker 1: That adds up to fifty one hits. That's an average
Speaker 1: of about ten hits per game. It's a cautionary tale,
Speaker 1: particularly as the Bengals get ready to take on the
Speaker 1: Indianapolis Colts, because we all remember what happened with Andrew
Speaker 1: Luck a year ago. He retired at the age of
Speaker 1: twenty nine. He still had sixty million dollars coming and
Speaker 1: yet he walked away. And here's why. Torn cartilage and
Speaker 1: two ribs, a partially torn abdomen, a lacerated kidney, at
Speaker 1: least one concussion, a torn labram in his throwing shoulder,
Speaker 1: and calf and ankle injuries. Earlier today, Colt's head coach
Speaker 1: Frank Reich was asked about that difficult balance that you
Speaker 1: go through as a head coach when you have a
Speaker 1: young quarterback who has the ability to extend plays and
Speaker 1: make people miss and obviously has a lot of talent,
Speaker 1: but you're trying to protect that guy as well. Yes,
Speaker 1: Mark's win James, and you know you get behind, you know,
Speaker 1: you get behind in the game or the guy that
Speaker 1: you drafted is an elite pest and that's why he
Speaker 1: was drafting you. That's why he's your quarterback, and that's
Speaker 1: what he's good at doing so and part and part
Speaker 1: of developing is you gotta take your lumps um. But then,
Speaker 1: as you say, there is a fine balance, I mean,
Speaker 1: you know you're going to get hit and so that's
Speaker 1: that's just a week by week coaching decision. You know,
Speaker 1: play by play that you got to you gotta weigh
Speaker 1: how it's going in game, and there is I think
Speaker 1: there are times where you pull back a little bit
Speaker 1: and protect the guy. Um. But then there's other times
Speaker 1: where you know, you just gotta gotta take your lumps
Speaker 1: and you gotta go, you gotta work through it. It
Speaker 1: being around Andrew Luck at all towards the end there
Speaker 1: change your view of that and the idea of taking
Speaker 1: their lumps and things like that. We place a very
Speaker 1: high priority. I'm sure that angles due too, but on
Speaker 1: protecting the quarterback. And you know that's that involves everybody.
Speaker 1: That's not just not just the quarterbacks, not just the
Speaker 1: offensive lines, the whole offensive units and coaching staff, includes
Speaker 1: the play caller, it includes everything, and so it takes
Speaker 1: the total commitment to it. And then it opously the
Speaker 1: quarterbacks has to perform and get the ball out and
Speaker 1: know the right protection calls. Um. That's all part of
Speaker 1: the equation of learning and grow. When Andrew Luck shocked
Speaker 1: the football world with his retirement announcement last year, he
Speaker 1: cited the soul crushing cycle of injury and rehab and
Speaker 1: here was the quote. The only way I see out
Speaker 1: is to no longer play football. It has taken my
Speaker 1: joy of this game away. Now. Obviously Joe Burrows nowhere
Speaker 1: close to that. Hopefully it'll never come to that. And
Speaker 1: I'm not suggesting it will, but that's what you got
Speaker 1: to try to prevent. Oh, there's no doubt. And when
Speaker 1: you think about it, Andrew Luck bigger, stronger, faster, six
Speaker 1: four two forty and you know, and can run better
Speaker 1: than Joe. So you got you got you know, mega
Speaker 1: QB at the quarterback position instead of Megatron Megatron QB
Speaker 1: or whatever. I mean, he's he's a robot QB. He's
Speaker 1: exactly what you would want physically, yet he sustained all
Speaker 1: these injuries. And that's what's amazing to me right now
Speaker 1: is it's in the early stages, but Joe Burrows tracking
Speaker 1: for well over seventy sacks on one hundred and sixty
Speaker 1: plus hits. Man, that's not sustainable. And right now, when
Speaker 1: I watch him sometimes it's like Gumby. He is so flexible.
Speaker 1: It's almost like he has no bones. He's all cartilage.
Speaker 1: His whole body's cartilage. You know, he just kind of
Speaker 1: like rolls with the punches. Andrew Luck was, you know,
Speaker 1: kind of a thick, strong dude, and man, when you
Speaker 1: get hit, there's not a whole lot of give their flexibility.
Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe Joe's built a little bit better
Speaker 1: to take the abuse and the punishment. But nobody can
Speaker 1: sustain taking the abuse and punishment that he's taken right now.
Speaker 1: So and to have a guy who love the game
Speaker 1: of football like Andrew Luck, I mean loves the game
Speaker 1: of football. I mean his dad football quarterback, ran a league,
Speaker 1: you know, in charge of the NFL Europe. Everything he
Speaker 1: grew up around the game. He is a football savant.
Speaker 1: For him to say, can't do it, man, that cycle
Speaker 1: getting hurt, rehabbing, getting hurt and rehab it all the time,
Speaker 1: it's just taken away, you know, every every other good
Speaker 1: part of life's that's a bad way to live in.
Speaker 1: He's a brilliant guy as well, so he knows you
Speaker 1: could do something else, you know, It's not like football
Speaker 1: is the only thing that he can do. Joe Burrows
Speaker 1: the same way. I mean, Joe's a smart guy, but
Speaker 1: he absolutely loves football. And like you said, it's far
Speaker 1: from you know, the Andrew Luck situation. But man, you
Speaker 1: don't want to do anything to even get him in
Speaker 1: the same neighborhood as what Andrew Luck was thinking about.
Speaker 1: And on the opposite side of the field. This week,
Speaker 1: you have thirty eight year old Philip Rivers, who might
Speaker 1: be probably is the least mobile quarterback in professional football,
Speaker 1: and yet he has only been sacked four times this year,
Speaker 1: only been sacked four times, throwing five interceptions, because I
Speaker 1: think he's a lot of times he tries to get
Speaker 1: the ball out really quickly, too quick. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: sometimes maybe he's you know, he's trying to protect not
Speaker 1: trying to protect his offensive line from numbers, but he knows,
Speaker 1: I want to get it out so I can prevent
Speaker 1: getting blown up totally. You know, I might, I might
Speaker 1: take a glancing blow or a pull up shot or
Speaker 1: something like that. Sometimes it's too quick, Sometimes it's way
Speaker 1: too long. Like the check down that he threw for
Speaker 1: the pick six against the Browns. He was in the
Speaker 1: pocket forever, but the safety that he threw, h he
Speaker 1: could have just climbed the pocket. And he doesn't like,
Speaker 1: he doesn't like moving off his spot. And that's going
Speaker 1: to be a key in this football game if the
Speaker 1: Bengals can somehow get him off his spot and you know,
Speaker 1: make him throw the ball sooner than he wants to. Uh.
Speaker 1: Five interceptions, four touchdown passes. That's not that's not your
Speaker 1: typical Philip Rivers ratio. I mean back when he was
Speaker 1: he was really getting it done in uh in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 1: Thirty two touchdowns, twelve picks. You know, that's that's more
Speaker 1: like the Philip Rivers that people want to think about.
Speaker 1: Last week, before his gruesome ankle injury, Dak Prescott caught
Speaker 1: a touchdown pass, meaning he has one more TD catch
Speaker 1: this year than AJ Green. A rough start to the
Speaker 1: twenty twenty season hit an unimaginable low for aj in
Speaker 1: Baltimore last week, where he looked loss and the only
Speaker 1: pass throwing his way, and then spent the second half
Speaker 1: of the game on the bench voicing his frustration, apparently
Speaker 1: with a reported hamstring injury. The day after the game,
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor was asked five questions in a news conference
Speaker 1: about the seven time pro bowler. I have edited those
Speaker 1: questions and Zach's answers together. Is it AJ Green's left hamstring,
Speaker 1: the same one he aggravated training camp? Yeah, it's the
Speaker 1: same string. Zach, Did you talk to Ajo about maybe
Speaker 1: a sense of frustration more than just the injury that
Speaker 1: heast mentioned? Anything to you today about that? If you
Speaker 1: had a conversation with him, I mean I'll keep all
Speaker 1: those conversations private, but we talked to our players every week,
Speaker 1: and I feel really good about where everything's at. That
Speaker 1: you said you feel good about the conversations that you
Speaker 1: have with your players. Does that include Aj after after yesterday? Yes,
Speaker 1: I mean it looked like we haven't talked to him yet.
Speaker 1: It looked like he was very frustrated with his role
Speaker 1: and then his rotation. I mean is did you did
Speaker 1: you see the video? Do you have any comments on
Speaker 1: what we said on the sideline? No comments? Is that
Speaker 1: when you look at AJ's numbers off catapult during practice? Um,
Speaker 1: do you has there been any inclination that he hasn't
Speaker 1: been able to go full go during games? When you
Speaker 1: look at the numbers that you've been seeing that Joey's
Speaker 1: looking at off catapult? I know, comment several one word answers.
Speaker 1: Not the typical way that Zach Taylor address his questions
Speaker 1: from the media, particularly about Aj Green. Yeah, very very
Speaker 1: ei Yeah, very effusive, usual normally with Aja, and very
Speaker 1: tertius A good word. So when you heard that, what
Speaker 1: was your reaction? Uh? Not happy, you know, obviously frustrated.
Speaker 1: So there was some sort of frustration that went on
Speaker 1: in that football game, and Zach decided to keep it
Speaker 1: all in the house, which is the norm. But I
Speaker 1: you know two things on that play. I don't think
Speaker 1: AJ saw the football. I don't think he did, but
Speaker 1: he did see the interception and when he saw the interception,
Speaker 1: he ran away from contact. And you just hate to see,
Speaker 1: you know, that, that type of situation. So whatever it is,
Speaker 1: that's bothering AJ if he feels like, if he's trying
Speaker 1: to play football not to get hurt. Can't play that way.
Speaker 1: You just can't play fearful of injury and trying to
Speaker 1: avoid or prevent injury while you're playing the game. It's impossible.
Speaker 1: You just have to go play as hard as you can.
Speaker 1: As soon as you're not playing at that level, that's
Speaker 1: when you do get hurt. So it's an interesting dynamic
Speaker 1: that's going on. I mean, I don't, I don't. Obviously
Speaker 1: we don't have the facts, all the facts that are
Speaker 1: taking place. Hard to draw conclusions. But the eye in
Speaker 1: the sky don't lie, and what you're seeing on tape
Speaker 1: is not Aj Green. It's just not. Zach Taylor said
Speaker 1: on Wednesday that AJ would not practice on Wednesday, but
Speaker 1: made it sound like that's not uncommon for him at
Speaker 1: this stage of his career. He said he would practice
Speaker 1: on Thursday and that he thought he would be okay.
Speaker 1: It's going to be very interesting to see what happens
Speaker 1: on Sunday. They've got John Ross waiting in the wings.
Speaker 1: He's been a healthy scratch. Well he was ill last week,
Speaker 1: but probably would have been a healthy scratch anyway. Is
Speaker 1: this the week that that aj takes a seat if
Speaker 1: his hamstring is tender at all, and John Ross gets
Speaker 1: another shot potentially, you know, if if his hamstring is
Speaker 1: causing issues, there's a there's a chance that could be
Speaker 1: the case. And you know John Ross obviously one thing
Speaker 1: he can do is run and stretch a field. Um,
Speaker 1: Now the question is will he catch the football? You know,
Speaker 1: that's that's the inconsistency in his game. It's not his
Speaker 1: speed's not insistent. He's fast every time he runs, but
Speaker 1: catching the football on a high percentage basis has been
Speaker 1: where he's had his issues. So yeah, it's very interesting.
Speaker 1: You know, you look at the two position groups they're
Speaker 1: going into the season. Stars you know, a star on
Speaker 1: the forehead of this position. Defensive line decimated by injury
Speaker 1: wide receiver. What's going on there. It's a different it's
Speaker 1: a different group, a different animal. You know, John Ross
Speaker 1: hasn't panned out. Aj hasn't panned out. Now it's those
Speaker 1: the strengths of the football team anymore. Those two position
Speaker 1: groups makes you scratch your head and wonder. I've never
Speaker 1: seen ull. Last year it was left tackle, left tackle.
Speaker 1: They played five of them, which is crazy for one spot,
Speaker 1: one position, defensive tackle. It's like seven count and counting
Speaker 1: this year after only five football games. Come on, man,
Speaker 1: it's crazy. Going back. Prior to training camp, the defensive
Speaker 1: lineman began dropping for the Cincinnati Bengals. Ryan Glasgow failed
Speaker 1: as physical, Josh Tupo opted out due to coronavirus. Then,
Speaker 1: once training camp began, Ronelle Wren suffered a season ending
Speaker 1: quadriceps injury. Gino Atkins got hurt. Thankful he's back from
Speaker 1: his shoulder injury. Mike Daniels is on the injured list
Speaker 1: now with an elbow injury, and now most recently, DJ Reader,
Speaker 1: the great defensive tackle signed as a free agent this offseason.
Speaker 1: We'll miss the rest of the year with a quad injury.
Speaker 1: Here's his teammate, Christian Covington, you know, he's a heart
Speaker 1: and sold his defensive line heart and sold his defense.
Speaker 1: Really one of the key guys on this team, so
Speaker 1: you know, the loser guy like him is it's hard.
Speaker 1: You know, I was able to talk to him after
Speaker 1: the game, obviously talked to him today. You know, he's
Speaker 1: feeling good, he's optimistic. He you know, he has faith
Speaker 1: and you know, this defense, this team, so we gotta just, uh,
Speaker 1: we gotta pick it up now, we gotta just uh,
Speaker 1: we gotta we have to feel you know, filling the
Speaker 1: spot that you know that he played with the team,
Speaker 1: and uh what we can honestly, I mean, can you
Speaker 1: quantify how big of a loss is, especially given the
Speaker 1: already lack of bodies on that line. You know, it's
Speaker 1: a big loss. M I can't lie. But at the
Speaker 1: same time, you know, this is this is the NFL.
Speaker 1: You know, we play a violin sport. This is you know,
Speaker 1: this is a hard league to be able to compete
Speaker 1: with and nobody ever is gonna be one hundred percent healthy.
Speaker 1: So it's it's that old time you know, that old
Speaker 1: time saying that goes with being in this league. You know,
Speaker 1: it's the next man up mentality. So it's a it's
Speaker 1: a matter of fact right now. It's it is what
Speaker 1: it is. We pray for this brother, we love him,
Speaker 1: We send our best to him. We know he's gonna
Speaker 1: be great. He's gonna come back healthier, stronger than ever.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, you know, we have a
Speaker 1: job to do right now, and that's to be able
Speaker 1: to pick it up and you know, keep battling, keep going.
Speaker 1: This one hurts. The Bengals made DJ Reader the highest
Speaker 1: paid nose tackle in the NFL when they signed him
Speaker 1: in the offseason to a four year, fifty three million
Speaker 1: dollar deal. Obviously, a big signing bonus was part of that.
Speaker 1: He's making twenty two point two five million dollars this year.
Speaker 1: Done after five games. Sad. You know, um lose the secondary,
Speaker 1: he lose the defensive tackle. You lose two defensive tackles.
Speaker 1: Your big signings in free agency, three multimillion dollar deals,
Speaker 1: not participating at this point in time. Wren and Reader
Speaker 1: same injury tendon that attaches quad to the knee. They have,
Speaker 1: they have surgery exactly the same injury. It's crazy, just
Speaker 1: absolutely crazy, and uh, it's mind boggling when you when
Speaker 1: you think about it again, what would have been the
Speaker 1: strength position wise, position group wise, and the team is decimated.
Speaker 1: It's a shell of itself to nobody's fault other than injury,
Speaker 1: which you can't control, and it's just eating that position
Speaker 1: group alive. DJ Reader large man six three three twenty
Speaker 1: five pounds, depending on whether he had his sugary cereal
Speaker 1: that morning, but in any case, you know, the Bengals
Speaker 1: clearly went out and got him because they've been so
Speaker 1: bad at stopping the run over the past couple of years.
Speaker 1: And while that's been up and down so far this year,
Speaker 1: that wasn't his fault. He's doing his job in that area.
Speaker 1: He was giving it all he's got. I mean, he
Speaker 1: is a he's a you know, one hundred percent effort guy.
Speaker 1: There's no doubt about that, you know, and that that
Speaker 1: that's the thing is the guys that you paid millions
Speaker 1: of dollars to, you know, and Carlos is on a
Speaker 1: third extension or a third contract of his career. Guys
Speaker 1: that you're paying big money to, you know, like Reader,
Speaker 1: like Carlos, like you know Daniels. Now Reader and Daniels
Speaker 1: are down due to injury. But those are the guys
Speaker 1: that the organization. If I'm spending that kind of money,
Speaker 1: I'm saying, give it, give me something, give it to me.
Speaker 1: I'm not mad at Covington. I traded for Covington and
Speaker 1: you know he's he's giving me everything he's got. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you can't ask for anything more from it. But some
Speaker 1: of these guys that you're paying the big money to,
Speaker 1: Carlos Agent, I mean, it's an organization. You have to
Speaker 1: think this man, start giving me something, Start giving me
Speaker 1: some sort of return on the investment. You know, that's
Speaker 1: only fair. And one of those guys is Geno Atkins.
Speaker 1: They worked him back in as a pass rush here
Speaker 1: last week, but the role is going to have to
Speaker 1: increase with DJ Reader out. It is. He probably played
Speaker 1: twenty five percent of the snaps and he came out
Speaker 1: of it well, which is good. But yeah, you need
Speaker 1: needs somebody to really push the inside of the pocket
Speaker 1: and pass rush and then and then play the run
Speaker 1: stuff the run. Gino can do that. And uh, you know,
Speaker 1: Sam Hubbard looked to me like he dislocated his elbow.
Speaker 1: I think Sam Hubbard's probably on the shelf for multiple weeks.
Speaker 1: It's it's not just a one week thing with Sam
Speaker 1: Hubbard and I've dislocated my elbow. I know what that feels.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, not good, good, not good, not good
Speaker 1: at all. All right, I get real quick. The trainer
Speaker 1: came out, Mark Pollins came out, and the referee he
Speaker 1: sees that my arms going the wrong way. It just
Speaker 1: was going the wrong way. Mike McCoy, big defense attack
Speaker 1: Green Bay just rolls on it and cut blocking me
Speaker 1: and it keeps out. I'm so the referee, Tuney says,
Speaker 1: you know, stay honest. I'm not going anywhere. The trainer
Speaker 1: comes out. He looks, oh god, stick cover what you
Speaker 1: want to hear from the trainer. I'm like, Marv, give
Speaker 1: me a doctor, for God's sake. Doctor grabs my thumb
Speaker 1: and Pinky tries to snap it back into place. Doesn't
Speaker 1: fall in you guys, give me one one more shot.
Speaker 1: That's it. Second time went into place and they tape
Speaker 1: it up sixty degree angle. Tiger looks at me Dan
Speaker 1: and goes, you're playing, aren't you? I said, I hadn't
Speaker 1: really thought about that. I can't get in the right
Speaker 1: hand of stance. He goes, put your left hand down,
Speaker 1: then sends me back in the game. Wow, I know
Speaker 1: it's a different game. Different again. The Bengals had a
Speaker 1: new guy at practice on Wednesday, defensive lineman Xavier Williams.
Speaker 1: He's a six year VET and he won a Super
Speaker 1: Bowl ring last year as a member of the Kansas
Speaker 1: City Chiefs. He's only played in one game so far
Speaker 1: this year. That was as a member of the Patriots.
Speaker 1: And Xavier Williams was picked up earlier this week due
Speaker 1: to all the injuries the Bengals have suffered on their
Speaker 1: defensive line. So he's practicing on Wednesday, he's going to
Speaker 1: be playing on Sunday. And earlier this week, defensive coordinator
Speaker 1: lou An A. Rumo remembered an incidant, an incident or
Speaker 1: an instance, I should say from his days as a
Speaker 1: defensive backs coach with the Miami Dolphins, where the Dolphins
Speaker 1: picked up a cornerback during the week late in the
Speaker 1: year and had to throw him out there we claim him.
Speaker 1: Like week fourteen, the GM comes to my office as
Speaker 1: all right, this guy's starting this week. I said, okay, great,
Speaker 1: no problem. He doesn't. He doesn't for whatever reason, missed
Speaker 1: the flight, get screwed up on Tuesday. The first time
Speaker 1: I meet the guy is Wednesday, during period six of practice,
Speaker 1: I shake his hand, I say get in the huddle,
Speaker 1: and I stood behind him and he played sixty five
Speaker 1: plays in the game on Sunday. So if a corner
Speaker 1: can do it, I got it's got to get in
Speaker 1: an A or a B gap. He can do it too.
Speaker 1: We'll get him. We'll get him. We'll get him ready
Speaker 1: taking on the double team and that does and change
Speaker 1: no matter where you're at. So you know, we'll make
Speaker 1: sure we uh and I'm oversimplified and obviously, but we'll
Speaker 1: make shore when he's in the game that we're doing
Speaker 1: things that he can do. How tough will that be
Speaker 1: for a defensive tackle? I think I don't think it'll
Speaker 1: be that tough for him. I really don't, you know.
Speaker 1: I do think, like you know, Luke said, you don't
Speaker 1: want to oversimplify it, but I mean, honestly, you're you
Speaker 1: are hitting gaps or two gaping, are do whatever whatever's
Speaker 1: whatever's asked. And he's obviously had exposure to Spagnolo, you know,
Speaker 1: with Kansas City, Belichick with New England Patriots. I mean,
Speaker 1: he brings some unique experiences with him. So, um, I
Speaker 1: think I think he's going to be fine. I don't think.
Speaker 1: I don't think you'll see him hitting wrong gaps. Are
Speaker 1: you know, making the mental errors. I think with his
Speaker 1: experience in the league, within with the teams that he's
Speaker 1: been with, accumulating that experience. Last week, the Baltimore Ravens
Speaker 1: blitzed on fifty nine percent of Joe burrows drop backs.
Speaker 1: They like Moore did, they got prep're on forty seven
Speaker 1: percent of his drop backs. So he was under pressure
Speaker 1: eighteen times twelve on blitzes during the game, seven sacks
Speaker 1: and when he was under pressure, Joe Burrow is three
Speaker 1: for nine for fifteen yards. It was obviously a tough day.
Speaker 1: It made me ask this question if Bengals defensive coordinator
Speaker 1: lou Anna Romo, why doesn't everybody blitz like Baltimore does.
Speaker 1: They do a fantastic job with their their pressure package,
Speaker 1: and you know, the different multiple looks that you give it.
Speaker 1: But yes, it is a little bit tay, let's just
Speaker 1: do that. And well if you don't get home. Sometimes
Speaker 1: there's some guys running free behind those guys, but they
Speaker 1: never get to get it off, you know, so that
Speaker 1: that rush can really cover up for a lot of them,
Speaker 1: you know. And again not that they make mistakes. I'm
Speaker 1: not suggesting that. I'm just saying that sometimes if you
Speaker 1: don't have the same type of guys up front that
Speaker 1: are getting there, you know, it can be challenging on
Speaker 1: the back end guys. So if you look at the
Speaker 1: five games the Bengals have played so far, Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: has been blitzed on twenty seven percent of the snaps.
Speaker 1: No blitz seventy three percent of the snaps. Is that
Speaker 1: blitz percentage are about to go up for everybody, even
Speaker 1: though that's the way that Baltimore would normally do it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, you got to think Eberflus is a great example.
Speaker 1: He's not a heavy blitz guy. But when you see
Speaker 1: the level that it got home, the level that affected
Speaker 1: the play, maybe you say, I do have you know,
Speaker 1: I have some packages. I had a couple of three
Speaker 1: packages that I haven't really emphasized all that much. Maybe
Speaker 1: I introduce him because well, the one thing you don't
Speaker 1: want to do is say, all right, we're gonna do
Speaker 1: what Baltimore does and we don't have the personnel that
Speaker 1: Baltimore does. We're still going to do it Baltimore does.
Speaker 1: And you have to you have to pretty much as
Speaker 1: a coach and a coordinator, you know, kind of work
Speaker 1: your schematic around what you have for people instead of
Speaker 1: the other way around. You can't say we're doing this
Speaker 1: no matter what, I'm force feeding you in square peg
Speaker 1: and a round hole and it doesn't work out that way.
Speaker 1: But there are packages that lend itself to your talent
Speaker 1: in personnel that you can incorporate. So I wouldn't be
Speaker 1: surprised if ebra Flus brings those and sees which one
Speaker 1: are most effective. And that's what Martin Deal did such
Speaker 1: a great job of. Once they started a once it
Speaker 1: hit home, they saw it until they were you know,
Speaker 1: give me some semblance of stopping it, and maybe I'll
Speaker 1: stop blitzen. You're not stopping at all. I'm going to
Speaker 1: keep doing it, and that's the way it's going to be.
Speaker 1: So I do think, and Joe Burrow said it himself.
Speaker 1: When you're a rookie quarterback, you face a higher blitz
Speaker 1: percentage with almost every team you face, So I think
Speaker 1: he's expecting it for sure. According to Pro Football Focus,
Speaker 1: when Joe Burrow has not been pressured, he's one oh
Speaker 1: five for one forty four. That's seventy three percent completion percentage,
Speaker 1: four touchdowns, one pick. Passer rating of ninety seven point nine.
Speaker 1: Pretty good when he's under pressure. Thirty for sixty three
Speaker 1: it's under fifty percent, two touchdowns, two picks, passer rating
Speaker 1: of fifty nine point eight. Now, those numbers are dramatic,
Speaker 1: but not that unusual. Very few quarterbacks have great statistics
Speaker 1: when they're under pressure. But based on that, if I'm
Speaker 1: a defensive coordinator, I'm trying to apply pressure. Yeah, And
Speaker 1: I think those Baltimore numbers really affected because it's a
Speaker 1: fairly small sample size. You know, four or five games
Speaker 1: into the season. When you have a horrific day like
Speaker 1: the entire offense did against Baltimore, it can distort those
Speaker 1: numbers pretty well. And it did. I mean not to
Speaker 1: say that he has not had his struggles with pressure before,
Speaker 1: but nothing like what happened last Sunday in Baltimore. The
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by Bud Light Seltzer. It's
Speaker 1: light and refreshing with a hint of fruit flavor. Now
Speaker 1: time for this week's one on one player conversation. As
Speaker 1: Jim Neighbors used to sing before the Indie five hundred,
Speaker 1: Bengal safety Jesse Bates is about to be back holmag Yeah,
Speaker 1: in indian Jesse is from Fort Wayne, a couple of
Speaker 1: hours away from Indianapolis, and he's looking forward to returning
Speaker 1: to the Hoosier State on Sunday. Jesse, the website Pro
Speaker 1: Football Focus has you graded as the number one safety
Speaker 1: in the NFL so far this season, and it's not close.
Speaker 1: In fact, there's a bigger gap between you and the
Speaker 1: second rated safety than there is between the first guy
Speaker 1: and the second guy at any other position. Were you
Speaker 1: aware of your high grade and how do you feel
Speaker 1: about the way you've been playing. Yeah, so I'm very aware.
Speaker 1: I have a group chat with my mom and my sister,
Speaker 1: my family, and they put everything, whether it's the good
Speaker 1: the bad, they put it off in there. So yes,
Speaker 1: I'm very aware of that, and I think I've played
Speaker 1: very well up until now. I think I had a
Speaker 1: little fall off, a little humble humbleness game and Week
Speaker 1: two against the Browns where I missed up a lot
Speaker 1: of tackles I felt like I could have made. I'm
Speaker 1: capable of making. But you know, it's only it's only
Speaker 1: been what five games, I think it is. We have
Speaker 1: eleven games left and you know that a lot can
Speaker 1: happen in that eleven week span. So my only focus
Speaker 1: is it only it only makes me better. It shows
Speaker 1: me what I'm capable of and what my potential is.
Speaker 1: And I just want to continue to show that. We're
Speaker 1: chatting to Jesse Bates. You've broken up seven passes already
Speaker 1: this season, which suggests that you're playing fast. Is that
Speaker 1: a product of experience? Do you recognize where the ball
Speaker 1: is going faster? Yeah, it's just better preparation, you know,
Speaker 1: expecting what to you know, see on Sundays. I think
Speaker 1: Rob has done a really good job of doing that
Speaker 1: the first two years. But it's just me, you know,
Speaker 1: growing up and being able to you know, hear the
Speaker 1: same things and see the same things and just see
Speaker 1: how the quarterback is going through its progression and stuff
Speaker 1: like that. And I mean it also helps, um, you know,
Speaker 1: with Joe Borough being here, he doesn't really good job
Speaker 1: of looking people off in the middle of the field.
Speaker 1: So I got a lot of work with that. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, in a short two weeks, two training camp
Speaker 1: weeks that we had, defensive coordinator lou Ana Romo says
Speaker 1: that you're tackling has improved this year. How does a
Speaker 1: guy who's been in the NFL for a couple of
Speaker 1: years yet better as a tackling The main thing for
Speaker 1: me was strength, you know, coming in here, I think
Speaker 1: I was around like one nine two hundred and if
Speaker 1: my weight would drop as the weeks will go. And
Speaker 1: I think this offseason I really focused on you know,
Speaker 1: the quarantine did me very well. That's what I've been
Speaker 1: telling people. I was able to just stay at home
Speaker 1: in Fort Wayne, Indiana and train with one of one
Speaker 1: of my high school trainers that's been training me since
Speaker 1: high school, and Lawrence Barnett, who did a really good
Speaker 1: job of having a play set for me and what
Speaker 1: exactly the goals were this offseason. So I didn't run
Speaker 1: for the first maybe two months or something like that.
Speaker 1: I got up to like two fifteen. I was a
Speaker 1: little bit too heavy, you know. We we we found
Speaker 1: a really good plan and it worked out. I think
Speaker 1: that's been the biggest key for me in tackling this year. Jesse,
Speaker 1: You've got a new tag team partner at safety this year,
Speaker 1: and Von Bell. He's a couple of years older. He
Speaker 1: basically has twice as much NFL experience as you do.
Speaker 1: What impact has he had on you. Like I said,
Speaker 1: you know, you see my preparation improves throughout the years,
Speaker 1: and you know, you see, von He's come from a
Speaker 1: really good football team, a really good organization where I'm
Speaker 1: sure their preparation was very good. You know, he's seen
Speaker 1: a lot of good things in his first four five
Speaker 1: years in the NFL. So, you know, being able to
Speaker 1: just ask questions, being humble enough, and you know, building
Speaker 1: that relationship with him where I can ask questions and
Speaker 1: you know, and prepare the same. Vanna is a little
Speaker 1: bit more early bird type of guy, but but we
Speaker 1: still talk while we're at work. For sure. The team
Speaker 1: lost defensive tackle Dj Reader this week for the rest
Speaker 1: of the year. He's obviously an outstanding player, but it
Speaker 1: seems like he had a huge impact as a leader
Speaker 1: in a very short period of time. Was that the
Speaker 1: case and if so, how Yeah? Absolutely? DJ got paid
Speaker 1: a lot of money in the offseason for a reason.
Speaker 1: He does. He's kind of like me. He doesn't really
Speaker 1: say much. You know, he's not a very right, right,
Speaker 1: right guy, but he makes it know him that he's there,
Speaker 1: and you know, if you turn on the tape, you'll
Speaker 1: always see DJ making plays. Even if he's not making
Speaker 1: a tackle, he's always in the right position and knocking
Speaker 1: the liner screams back. So that'll be a huge blow
Speaker 1: for us on defense for sure. He faced the Colts
Speaker 1: this week in thirty eight year old quarterback Philip Rivers
Speaker 1: sixth dollar time in passing yard, sixth dollar time in
Speaker 1: touchdown passes, but he does have five interceptions so far
Speaker 1: this year. How important is it this week to make
Speaker 1: a play on the ball if and when he makes
Speaker 1: a mistake, It's very important. I feel like we've we've
Speaker 1: had a lot of opportunities to get turnovers and we
Speaker 1: haven't capitalized on it. Even myself, I think some of
Speaker 1: those PPUs that I've had could be interceptions, and that's
Speaker 1: something that I'm gonna continue to improve on and we
Speaker 1: need to improve on as a defense, because that's what
Speaker 1: this game is all about, the turnover ratio. And you know,
Speaker 1: the more turnovers we have, our offense has more opportunities
Speaker 1: to score the ball as well. So, yes, Philip, Philip
Speaker 1: is a Hall of Famer, but yes, hopefully we can
Speaker 1: get some you know, some interceptions off them. This week,
Speaker 1: we're chatting with Jesse Bates. Rivers is in his seventeenth year,
Speaker 1: he's played more than two hundred and thirty games. Is
Speaker 1: it possible to confuse Philip Rivers at this point? It's
Speaker 1: gonna be very hard to trick them. But I think
Speaker 1: one thing you can do that that mess with the
Speaker 1: quarterbacks that are a little older. They don't really move.
Speaker 1: We're not going to play a Lamar Jackson this week,
Speaker 1: so you know, being able to hopefully bring some pressures
Speaker 1: to him, get them off the spot a little bit,
Speaker 1: well that's up with some of his accuracy. So I'm
Speaker 1: very excited to go home and playing in uh in
Speaker 1: the Lucas Oil Stadium for sure. Yeah, it's a homecoming
Speaker 1: for you. You are from Fort Wayne, that's about two
Speaker 1: hours north of Indie. How big of a deal is this?
Speaker 1: It's a it's a huge deal. Um, you know, it's
Speaker 1: another week obviously, but I think it's a really big deal,
Speaker 1: you know, going back to my home state, um and
Speaker 1: playing in that in that stadium. I think the last
Speaker 1: time I played in it was went the state my
Speaker 1: sophomore year in high school. Uh, you know, obviously we
Speaker 1: did the combine there or whatever. But yeah, it's it's uh,
Speaker 1: it sucks that I can't have all my family at
Speaker 1: the game, uh, due to the COVID stuff like that.
Speaker 1: Um So, you know Grandma's will will be at home
Speaker 1: watching the game for sure, but my mom and other
Speaker 1: family members will be there for sure. How did that
Speaker 1: high school game go? Um Man, We're not gonna talk
Speaker 1: about that. I'm pretty sure we got whooped by I
Speaker 1: think Lawrence North or whatever it is. They had a
Speaker 1: lot of talent theories. Hopefully Sunday will go better. Appreciate
Speaker 1: the time. Congratulations on a great first five games, sir,
Speaker 1: Thank you. I have another question about Philip Rivers that
Speaker 1: I didn't ask Jesse Bates. What do you think has
Speaker 1: been harder for the veteran quarterback learning the Colts offense
Speaker 1: after sixteen years with the Chargers, or remembering the birthdays
Speaker 1: of his nine kids. For more on Rivers and the Colts,
Speaker 1: it's time for Our Know the Faux segment, and this
Speaker 1: week Mike Wells, who covers the Colts for ESPN, joined
Speaker 1: Day of Lapham and Me on the Bengals Game Plan Show.
Speaker 1: This week, the one, three and one Bengals head to
Speaker 1: Indianapolis to take on the three and two Colts. Time
Speaker 1: for Our Know the faux segment and to learn more
Speaker 1: about the Colts. Who welcome in Mike Wells, who covers
Speaker 1: the team for ESPN in Indianapolis. Mike, I've been reading
Speaker 1: newspapers and websites about the Colts since the beginning of
Speaker 1: the week. There have been a lot of questions about
Speaker 1: whether Philip Rivers should be yanked from the starting lineup.
Speaker 1: How shaky has Philip Rivers been? Well, First off, anytime
Speaker 1: I hear a record about a team, an opposing team
Speaker 1: that says one, three and one, automatically think of hockey
Speaker 1: or that's how rare of highs are in the NFL.
Speaker 1: But back back to your question about Philip Rivers, the
Speaker 1: reality is, I mean, you're talking about a thirty eight
Speaker 1: year old quarterback who you know, had twenty three turnovers
Speaker 1: last season and in the coach two losses. He was
Speaker 1: a big part of that. I mean, he had two
Speaker 1: interceptions in Week one again Jacksonville. Then he had two
Speaker 1: interceptions including that pick six and a intentional brownie safety
Speaker 1: against Cleveland last weekend, responsible for nine points. I wasn't
Speaker 1: a math major in college, but the coach while I
Speaker 1: lost by nine points to the Bengals and Rivers were
Speaker 1: responsible for those nine points. The more Philip Rivers struggles,
Speaker 1: the questions are going to continue with them if the
Speaker 1: coach were to go ahead at bench Philip Rivers. You know,
Speaker 1: after just five weeks in the NFL season, that is
Speaker 1: a complete sign that they made a bad decision in
Speaker 1: signing Rivers to that twenty five million dollars contract. Last freak.
Speaker 1: So Mike is the offensive line working in concert with
Speaker 1: Philip Rivers? Is he trying to get rid of the
Speaker 1: ball too quickly? I mean he's got five interceptions in
Speaker 1: the offensive line, you know, or I should say the
Speaker 1: Indianapolis Colts only giving up five sacks and he's got
Speaker 1: five interceptions. Is he trying to protect them getting the
Speaker 1: ball too quickly? Sometimes it's just a matter of you know,
Speaker 1: Rivers making bad decisions. I mean where he's locked in
Speaker 1: on the receiver and got rid of the ball. I
Speaker 1: mean last week and you play you guys know Miles
Speaker 1: Garrett very well from AFC North, I mean wondered premier
Speaker 1: pass rushers and the Colts did not have started an attack.
Speaker 1: We had six sons though they Rivers had to get
Speaker 1: rid of the football last week, as Garrett was a carrot,
Speaker 1: a terror out there in the football field. But Rivers
Speaker 1: can't he That's been one of his flaws, and what's
Speaker 1: been an incredible sixteen plus year career is that he
Speaker 1: makes some bad decisions with the football. But when you're
Speaker 1: a team like the Colts that has deal with so
Speaker 1: many injuries and you have to make smart decisions because
Speaker 1: you have to give you your football team a chance
Speaker 1: to score as many times as possible. But when Rivers
Speaker 1: is doing it, it's just not a good thing. And
Speaker 1: the more interceptions meaning five interceptions right now, compare they're
Speaker 1: just four touchdowns that Rivers continue to pile up. The
Speaker 1: more the heat and the pressure is going to be
Speaker 1: on Rivers and the Colts on Chammers. Longer can he
Speaker 1: you remain the turning quarterback. We're talking to Mike Wels,
Speaker 1: who covers the Colts for ESPN. You mentioned the left
Speaker 1: tackle Anthony Costanzo didn't play last week. I guess it's
Speaker 1: a rib injury for him. Darius Leonard, arguably one of
Speaker 1: the top two or three linebackers in the NFL, didn't
Speaker 1: play last week because of a groin injury. The head coach,
Speaker 1: Frank Reich, has been a little bit evasive so far
Speaker 1: about whether they'll be back this week. But what do
Speaker 1: you think do you have a best guess on those
Speaker 1: two guys? See Bagels fans are gonna come after me.
Speaker 1: They're gonna they're gonna try to come after me when
Speaker 1: I give this answer. Is nothing personal Cincinnati fans. I
Speaker 1: would say that's about any team that has a losing
Speaker 1: record and the culture playing a team that probably they
Speaker 1: should beat. But when I was at practice earlier today,
Speaker 1: Costanzo was back out there. There was no site, no site,
Speaker 1: a sign of Darius Leonard. If I'm the Colts, they
Speaker 1: played at Bengals this week and then they have their buy,
Speaker 1: there's zero, zero reason for putting Darius, I mean Darius
Speaker 1: Leonard and Anthony Costanzo out there because I think whether
Speaker 1: they have Leonard and Costanzo or not, they should be
Speaker 1: able to beat the Bengals. And I say that as
Speaker 1: being very impressed and what I've seen from Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: so far as the season. But if the Coats belader
Speaker 1: a playoffs team, they should beat a rebuilding Cincinnati Bengals team.
Speaker 1: So it's going to be up in the air. I
Speaker 1: would not be surprised if Casanzo played this week because
Speaker 1: he was out there in a practice field. But with
Speaker 1: a guy like Leonard a groin injury, we all know
Speaker 1: groin injuries if you tweak it can linger on for
Speaker 1: a long long time. There's a lot of football enough
Speaker 1: to be played. If Leonard misses this week, he's essentially
Speaker 1: having three weeks off with the growing injury. He can
Speaker 1: get healthy after the buy against the Lions. So again,
Speaker 1: Bengals fans, is nothing personal, but I don't think I
Speaker 1: don't think the Coats need Darius Lennon or Anthony Gosanzo
Speaker 1: to beat Cincinnati this weekend. Let's go to the other
Speaker 1: side of the ball for a second. De Forest Buckner,
Speaker 1: big trade, give up what I think it was the
Speaker 1: thirteenth pick in the first round to get the Forest Buckner?
Speaker 1: Has he been playing as advertising? Statistically looks pretty good?
Speaker 1: How's it looking? You know what? I think he's been
Speaker 1: better than what his stats say. I don't have the
Speaker 1: stats right in front of me, but he is. He's
Speaker 1: causing teams to have to pay attention to him, which
Speaker 1: is allowing you know, the ages wonder justin Houston to
Speaker 1: be able to make plays still and on the back end.
Speaker 1: The coata I think they had six or seven interceptions
Speaker 1: already this season, so fortion turnovers and yells, yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: short changing the coach nine interceptions. So it's kind of
Speaker 1: a trickle down effect. Bucklers may not be having the
Speaker 1: stats they're gonna have everybody screaming and say, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: this guy dominated, but he's causing quarterbacks to get rid
Speaker 1: of the ball quicker, which is allowing the deep, the
Speaker 1: back end players to defense the backs to be able
Speaker 1: to make plays and you know, forced turnovers. ESPN Colt
Speaker 1: reporter Mike Wells is our guest that coach defense number
Speaker 1: one in yards allowed, number two and points allowed, number
Speaker 1: one in interceptions. As we were just talking about, it's
Speaker 1: not chock full of Pro bowlers. It's not like the
Speaker 1: Ravens in that respect. Why are these guys so freaking
Speaker 1: good on defense? You know, it starts with the defense.
Speaker 1: The coordinator, Matt even Flus, he has a model of
Speaker 1: you know, you played through the whistle. You know, most
Speaker 1: people play until they hear whistle. The coach defense, they
Speaker 1: played through the whistle. They and they're always trying to
Speaker 1: strip the ball and they don't want it to be
Speaker 1: all about one player. It's not about it. It's not
Speaker 1: just about Darius Leonard or the Ford Buckner's. It is
Speaker 1: a whole complete unit. You know, if one unit is
Speaker 1: playing well, it should help the other two units. So
Speaker 1: if the D line is playing good, the linebackers and
Speaker 1: the defensive backs should be able to thrive all of it.
Speaker 1: So that's It's that motto of hey always attacked the football,
Speaker 1: played through the whistle. I mean aggressive it as fast
Speaker 1: as possible, because I mean, I look at the Forest bucking.
Speaker 1: I think he should be a power forward on an
Speaker 1: NBA team. He said, he's six seven clock in the
Speaker 1: middle of the lane, the middle of the line of scrimmage,
Speaker 1: and he's helping everybody out on that unit. Matt Ebraflush
Speaker 1: he was a defensive coordinator at Missouri. I was doing
Speaker 1: big twelve games at the time, and I remember Gary Pinkel,
Speaker 1: the head coach of Missouri, said, I have a kid
Speaker 1: that's coaching my defense that is going to be have
Speaker 1: a future that you won't believe in football. I said,
Speaker 1: you mean like at the professional level. He gets, oh yeah,
Speaker 1: he said, this kid is destined. And it was Ebraflus
Speaker 1: and his whole thing. When he was at Missouri was
Speaker 1: do a few things as well as we possibly can.
Speaker 1: Keep it simple, and they keep it simple where they can.
Speaker 1: They know what they're doing, and they play fast. They're confident,
Speaker 1: and man, I'll tell you what, he had those guys
Speaker 1: flying around the field. It seems like he's doing the
Speaker 1: same thing with the Colts, and that's exactly what it is.
Speaker 1: He's like, yeah, it's not it's all about trying to
Speaker 1: do too much. It's like, keep it simple, just keep
Speaker 1: it simple, and the simple things we do, we have
Speaker 1: to be the best set it. And that's evil. Plus
Speaker 1: is you know mind frame. I mean you talked to
Speaker 1: Mattie Bifus. He's kind of just kind of blow whatever.
Speaker 1: But his his his tenacity and getting things making a
Speaker 1: perfect making everything perfection is over the top, and that's
Speaker 1: what you'd like to see at the coordinator Mike Wells
Speaker 1: is our guest. The Colts have had their share of injuries,
Speaker 1: including Marlon Mack there, one thousand yard rusher from last
Speaker 1: year but waiting in the wings. Second round draft pick
Speaker 1: Jonathan Taylor, sixth leading rusher in college football history, despite
Speaker 1: only being at Wisconsin for three years. He was the
Speaker 1: second round draft pick this year. How much of the
Speaker 1: offense now is going through Jonathan Taylor. It's Jonathan Taylor's show,
Speaker 1: and unfortunately that's a lot to put on Jonathan Taylor's
Speaker 1: is his plate, you know. He I think he's realized
Speaker 1: pretty quickly that, you know, this is not Wisconsin where
Speaker 1: you can try to stretch a run out and hopefully
Speaker 1: turned the corner. He's realizing that if he sees a
Speaker 1: slight trease, he has to turn and turn up field
Speaker 1: and get through it because defensive players are a lot.
Speaker 1: He's not facing a Rutgers decense. He's facing legit NFL players.
Speaker 1: But I think, you know, with Marlin Matt going down
Speaker 1: and it kind of put a lot that he had
Speaker 1: to put out there. I think it would be better
Speaker 1: for Taylor if Mac not, if Mack had not torn
Speaker 1: his achilles. But Nathan Taylor's gonna be funny. He's already
Speaker 1: had one hundred yard rushing game. So they're going to continue.
Speaker 1: They're going to continue to feature him as much as
Speaker 1: possible because as much as we talk about Philip Rivers
Speaker 1: or a t Y Hilton in the passing year, the
Speaker 1: Colts want to be a run first football team and
Speaker 1: to be a run first football team. It's all about
Speaker 1: Jonathan Taylor. We talked about how opportunistic the secondary is.
Speaker 1: With nine interceptions leads the league. They get two pick sixes,
Speaker 1: which also leads the league, and they've returned the kickoff
Speaker 1: one hundred and one yards for a touchdown, so three
Speaker 1: returns is tied to the league league with Baltimore and
Speaker 1: the Bengals just played the Ravens last week seeing how
Speaker 1: opportunistic they were. But this special teams for Indianapolis, Man,
Speaker 1: I'm telling you they're They're eighth in the NFL and
Speaker 1: punt returns their tenth covering punts second and kickoff returns
Speaker 1: eleventh covering kickoffs. I mean, they're special teams have dictated
Speaker 1: fuel position all year, it seems like it is. And
Speaker 1: as the keeping them. They want to get Philip Rivers
Speaker 1: a short field to work with and then a Rigaberto
Speaker 1: Sanchez of the punter. He does an incredible job being
Speaker 1: able to pin teams down. They probably their hat on
Speaker 1: special teams. They want to be able to shorten the
Speaker 1: field for the thirty eight year old quarterback and they
Speaker 1: want to they know their defense is so good that
Speaker 1: if they can get a team inside the team, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be hard for a team to go ninety plus
Speaker 1: yards the score touchdown against will And speaking of special teams,
Speaker 1: Adam Vinari will go down as one of the greatest
Speaker 1: kickers of all time, but he was brutal last year
Speaker 1: for the Colts, made less than seventy percent of his
Speaker 1: field goals miss six pats. What has rookie Rodrigo blank
Speaker 1: and Shift done for the Colts confidence in their kicking game. Well,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you that. I gotta say this. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm forty three years old and you know, times to
Speaker 1: change because I remember talking to Blanket Shift, Blanket Ship
Speaker 1: early on and we were asking him about hobbies and
Speaker 1: what he likes to do when he's not playing football.
Speaker 1: He puts legos together. He puts lego together. That's what
Speaker 1: my nine year old son used to do. He legos together,
Speaker 1: and Blanketship says, you know, he's like, I like to
Speaker 1: build legos. And we asked the special teams accordinated about that.
Speaker 1: He goes and listen. As long as he makes kicks,
Speaker 1: that's all the game. And that's the thing. You know,
Speaker 1: last year was a disaster for the coach. Kicking game
Speaker 1: Adam Mina Tarry as great as he was during his
Speaker 1: future Hall of Fame career, he costs him so many
Speaker 1: games and blanketship. He's the air parent. I mean, you
Speaker 1: talk about a guy that made all two hundred extra
Speaker 1: points kicks when he was at the University of Georgian,
Speaker 1: if I'm not mistaken, maybe only his thirteen shield goals
Speaker 1: in his four year career. So you're playing in the
Speaker 1: toughest conference in college football. So he's NFL ready. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's gonna have some missus as we've seen from him
Speaker 1: and a number of other kicker in the league. But
Speaker 1: he's definitely putting, you know, making life easy for him.
Speaker 1: And I think he leads the NFL and scoring two
Speaker 1: fifty six points. I believe, Yeah, he does fifty six
Speaker 1: points fifteen out of seventeen field goals. Is fifteen field
Speaker 1: goals lead the league. Is fifty six points lead the league.
Speaker 1: You're right on, Mike, Is there a guy that's kind
Speaker 1: of flying under the radar? I mean, as a guy
Speaker 1: that's been playing real well that has not gotten as
Speaker 1: much media hype as maybe he should have gotten. For
Speaker 1: the Colts, a player or two tight end mo Ali
Speaker 1: Cox I know Bengal fan. Bengals fans are like who
Speaker 1: is that? They're probably looking at Google and the first
Speaker 1: thing that's gonn pop up with basketball probably is a
Speaker 1: VCU college basketball soccer smart. Ali Cox is a former
Speaker 1: VCU college basketball player. Hadn't played football since who like
Speaker 1: the youth, but he's a he leads a coult as
Speaker 1: far as tight end goal, as far as receiving yards
Speaker 1: and catches go. I mean, he's using his athleticism. He's
Speaker 1: taking him time to learn the game, but he's he's
Speaker 1: definitely moved into that role and he is a legit
Speaker 1: passing threat for Philip Rivers in the in the offense
Speaker 1: because Rivers and Frank Wright love the tight ends in
Speaker 1: his offense, seventeen point six yards per catch, two touchdown
Speaker 1: catches he got along of forty five. He has been.
Speaker 1: He has been a big time target real long obviously.
Speaker 1: Huh oh yeah yeah, he's I'm not a guy that
Speaker 1: played a power forward and played above the ram. So
Speaker 1: he's one of those one of the Philip Rivers says,
Speaker 1: go up and get a big boy goal. Snatched the
Speaker 1: ball out of the air like right rebound, Ali Cox
Speaker 1: will go do it. For a final look ahead to
Speaker 1: Sunday's game. Joined Lap and Wayne box Miller for the
Speaker 1: Bengals pep Rally Show Friday from three to six on
Speaker 1: ESPN fifteen thirty. That's going to do it. For this
Speaker 1: episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by
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Speaker 1: more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde and
Speaker 1: thank you for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast