Speaker 1: I get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth podcast. The could it be as it could?
Speaker 1: Something's come in, something good if I can wait. Addition,
Speaker 1: as we gear up for the start of the regular
Speaker 1: season coming up a week from Sunday against Mike Zimmer's
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings. Coming up on the pod, Dave Lapham joins
Speaker 1: me to answer the ask lap questions that you submitted
Speaker 1: on Twitter. Then I'll quiz the coordinators. Not with x's
Speaker 1: and oh's, we do plenty of that, but I've got
Speaker 1: a few offbeat questions for Brian Callahan, lou Ana Rumo,
Speaker 1: and Darren Simmons. The Bengals Booth Podcast is presented by
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Speaker 1: It's the greatest since Traveling Trophies in college football. The
Speaker 1: eighth rank UC Bearcats open the season on Saturday against
Speaker 1: the Miami RedHawks in the one hundred twenty fifth Battle
Speaker 1: for the Victory Bell They've been playing for the right
Speaker 1: to hold on to the bell since the eighteen nineties.
Speaker 1: One side of the bell is painted black with white
Speaker 1: numbers showing Cincinnati's victories, while the other side is white
Speaker 1: with red numbers showing Miami's victories. It's a cool tradition
Speaker 1: and one of many like it in college football. TCU
Speaker 1: and SMU battle for the Iron Skillet, Minnesota and Michigan
Speaker 1: compete for the Little Brown jug and Mississippi State and
Speaker 1: Ole miss duke it out for the Golden Egg. It's
Speaker 1: part of the fun of college football. Now, let's get
Speaker 1: to my conversation with Dave Lapham, including a bunch of
Speaker 1: ask lap questions that you've submitted on Twitter. Were there
Speaker 1: any roster moves that you found surprising or particularly interesting?
Speaker 1: Nothing that was, you know, really surprising. Obviously, there was
Speaker 1: an indication during the course of training camp to Michael
Speaker 1: Jordan was having some consistency issues, which you know, had
Speaker 1: kind of plagued him throughout his career. Really, I mean,
Speaker 1: you see snaps where it's like, wow, big strong can
Speaker 1: come off the ball, can move people and be a
Speaker 1: real factor, and then there'd be snaps it'd be like
Speaker 1: where did that come from kind of thing, so that
Speaker 1: that North and South Pole inconsistency is is something that
Speaker 1: coaches are fearful of. You know, you don't know what
Speaker 1: you're going to get. So I think the biggest thing
Speaker 1: that coaches look for is is intelligence and then you know,
Speaker 1: know what to expect out of a player on a
Speaker 1: snap by snap basis, And in a couple of cases
Speaker 1: that was probably a factor in the elimination of you know,
Speaker 1: of them making the fifty three man roster. The biggest
Speaker 1: surprise to me was the absence of Trenton Or. I
Speaker 1: thought he was a slam dunk locke to be on
Speaker 1: the fifty three man roster. I thought he was the
Speaker 1: number five wide receiver. As we do this recording, there's
Speaker 1: a spot available on the practice squad. It might go
Speaker 1: to him if he clears waivers. It sounds like that's
Speaker 1: a possibility. But man, I thought he was good to
Speaker 1: go on the fifty three. Yeah. I think it's the
Speaker 1: special teams, you know, aspect is so important. Stanley Morgan
Speaker 1: is such a huge factor on special teams. Mike Thomas
Speaker 1: is such a huge factor on special teams that when
Speaker 1: you get down to that that number you know the
Speaker 1: five six seven, however many you're going to keep wide
Speaker 1: receivers that it's a combination of how many snaps you're
Speaker 1: gonna get from a player, not only at the line
Speaker 1: of scrimmage offensively or defensively, but at in special team snaps,
Speaker 1: and who gives you the largest total. And that's where
Speaker 1: you know, I guess he slid. Obviously, it'll slid down
Speaker 1: the total pole a little bit because Stanley Morgan and
Speaker 1: Mike Thomas or their core special teams guys for Darren.
Speaker 1: So it comes a big part of that evaluation process
Speaker 1: for sure. All Right, let's get to some ask Lap
Speaker 1: questions that were submitted by fans. Question number one comes
Speaker 1: from somebody named Trey Oddly enough, his questions about Trey
Speaker 1: Wayne's His question is, is Trey Wayne's third year of
Speaker 1: his contract a player or team option? And do you
Speaker 1: sense any frustration within the organization regarding his availability for
Speaker 1: the past two years. I can answer the first part.
Speaker 1: There isn't a player or a team option. It was
Speaker 1: a three year deal, however, structured in such a way
Speaker 1: that they could get out of it at the end
Speaker 1: of this year with minimal cap damage. It would be
Speaker 1: five million in dead cap money, So if things don't
Speaker 1: work out at some point this year, they could move
Speaker 1: on at the end of the season. Now on to
Speaker 1: the second part of the question, do you sense any frustration? Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's going to be a big factor in the evaluation process.
Speaker 1: I think of do they get out of it or
Speaker 1: do they go for another year. It's unbelievable how and
Speaker 1: he's been with respect to injury, it's it's it's amazing.
Speaker 1: I think you'd have to dig really hard to try
Speaker 1: to find a player that has been compensated at a
Speaker 1: higher level for fewer snaps. I mean, I don't think
Speaker 1: there is one. I think he may be the most
Speaker 1: in team history. And you know a lot of that.
Speaker 1: Bryant and a wide receiver a few years back. I
Speaker 1: know they paid a lot of money and he never
Speaker 1: played a snap. He never even really got through a
Speaker 1: training camp. Um. But that's that's the variable that you
Speaker 1: you have no control over as a player or an
Speaker 1: organization is the injury factor. And man, a once a
Speaker 1: guy seems to be hit by it, it's like how
Speaker 1: do you how do you work your way out of it?
Speaker 1: And then there are cases where we're going to be
Speaker 1: injured for a couple of years and go on and
Speaker 1: have a great career. So what are you looking at?
Speaker 1: You just don't know. Uh, if you had a crystal ball,
Speaker 1: that would be great. I guess it's going to be
Speaker 1: interesting how it turns out. First and foremost, even for
Speaker 1: this year. I mean, he's he's got a hamstring issue,
Speaker 1: he said, both hamstrings that have acted up on him
Speaker 1: in hand. Sometimes when no start, they linger and they
Speaker 1: nag and they nag away. Will he be able to
Speaker 1: get healthy and then go out and just play and play,
Speaker 1: you know, fourteen games of the seventeen game season potentially,
Speaker 1: and then then you'll be in a in a different
Speaker 1: evaluation mode obviously than you are right now, because right
Speaker 1: now you don't know what he can do at this
Speaker 1: stage of the relationship. You don't know what he can
Speaker 1: do other than rehab, you know, rehab from surgery, rehab
Speaker 1: from hamstring issues. That's that's all you've been able to
Speaker 1: determine other than that. It's so the level of frustration
Speaker 1: has to be high, not just for the organization, for
Speaker 1: him too. I mean, he's not happy about it. And
Speaker 1: there's no two ways a guy hopes to be injured
Speaker 1: as much as Trey Wayne's has been injured, there's absolutely
Speaker 1: no way in hell. And I thought he looked like
Speaker 1: the guy that they were hoping he would be in
Speaker 1: training camp. He and A Wougier were both performing very
Speaker 1: well at practice. I agree, he's long, he's got some strength,
Speaker 1: he's got you know, athletic ability, he can change direction.
Speaker 1: I think he's a I think he's a solid, a
Speaker 1: solid guy at the cornerback position. But again, when when
Speaker 1: will he be able to line up there on a
Speaker 1: consistent basis and show those abilities on a snap by
Speaker 1: snap by snap basis. Question number two comes from Alexander.
Speaker 1: Are the losses of Osi sample and Wayne's a big
Speaker 1: problem that hasn't really been fixed. I think I think
Speaker 1: the edge rush position is still If I had to
Speaker 1: pick a weakness on the roster, that that that's it,
Speaker 1: and they're still trying to address it. There's no doubt
Speaker 1: in my mind that when they traded for b. J. Hill,
Speaker 1: they were trying to find a defensive end and couldn't
Speaker 1: put a deal together. And even you know, fourth and
Speaker 1: fifth defensive ends have value, so couldn't come to an agreement.
Speaker 1: If there were any inkling of an agreement happening at
Speaker 1: the defensive end position. There was a trade at front
Speaker 1: for a defensive end before the Bengals did trade for
Speaker 1: for bj Hill, So I thought, well, you know the league,
Speaker 1: there has been a trade consummated and documented here, maybe
Speaker 1: the Bengals will be able to follow suit, but couldn't
Speaker 1: quite put it together. So they're still looking, you know,
Speaker 1: still bringing guys in off the waiver wire. Guys are
Speaker 1: here and and cut and brought back to the practice
Speaker 1: squad like Noah' spense. So they're still in a mode
Speaker 1: of trying to build that that edge rush position up.
Speaker 1: But it's unfortunate they drafted four defensive or four edge
Speaker 1: rush guys in the last two drafts and not many
Speaker 1: of them are making the dance here for the for
Speaker 1: the beginning of the football season, and that that's got
Speaker 1: to be a source of frustration. You know, whether whether
Speaker 1: it's a meniscus that has to be sutured or you know,
Speaker 1: a shoulder that has a laboring issue that on injury
Speaker 1: reserve for a short period of time. It's it's varied.
Speaker 1: It's for the year, it's for three weeks, it's for
Speaker 1: six weeks, it's for order that the case may be,
Speaker 1: but by every every guy that was drafted seems to
Speaker 1: be sprinkling. Those names are sprinkled all over the injury
Speaker 1: list from coach Queaz. With Geo gone, will this be
Speaker 1: the season Joe Mixon gets more involved in the passing game.
Speaker 1: I think, I think Joe Mixon is gonna get a
Speaker 1: lot of work. Yeah, I do. I think I think
Speaker 1: Joe is capable of being a three down back um.
Speaker 1: But I do think that samaj p Ryan can give
Speaker 1: them a blow, you know, uh, and Chris Evans can
Speaker 1: also do the same thing as a as a receiving
Speaker 1: you know, running back. But again, you get into those
Speaker 1: second and third and long situations, let's pick up pass
Speaker 1: protection becomes vitally important, and that's the that's the final
Speaker 1: step for Chris Evans to show the coaches that I'm
Speaker 1: I am more than adequate as a as a pass
Speaker 1: protector and blitz pick up. Joe Mixon will do that,
Speaker 1: you know, Joel stick his nose in there and get dirty.
Speaker 1: And I think we are going to see a lot
Speaker 1: of Joe Mixon, particularly early in the season. Question from
Speaker 1: Derek how huge of an impact did the addition of
Speaker 1: Frank Pollock have on the performance of the offensive line
Speaker 1: in the preseason, only giving up one sack, and on
Speaker 1: that play the ball was snapped early and the guys
Speaker 1: weren't really even trying to block. Yeah, I mean the guys.
Speaker 1: That's a bad situation When the center forgets to snap
Speaker 1: count and snaps at account earlier and you're still in
Speaker 1: your stacenary position, those guys are blown past you. That's
Speaker 1: a bad feeling. I've been there. It's not a good feeling.
Speaker 1: It's not a very comforting feeling at all. So I
Speaker 1: think the guys really did buy into, buy into Frank
Speaker 1: Pollock everything about him. They bought into him as a
Speaker 1: as a coach, as a former player, as a person,
Speaker 1: as techniques, how he how he conducts practice, the level
Speaker 1: of intensity, the level of focus, the grind of practice,
Speaker 1: the conditioning aspect of practice. The thing I like about
Speaker 1: Frank's practices, he gets a lot of sneaky conditioning in
Speaker 1: like they're not running sprints as such, but they're running
Speaker 1: a lot from drill to drill, and he has them
Speaker 1: on the move. There's no walking, they're running, And I
Speaker 1: think Frank utilizes every last second he can possibly utilize
Speaker 1: to his advantage and his players advantage in terms of
Speaker 1: trying to get better at practice. And I think the
Speaker 1: players responded to it both mentally, physically, spiritually, you know,
Speaker 1: every way you can. They are all in there buying,
Speaker 1: But Frank Pollock is selling and it's not being sold
Speaker 1: at a sale price. I need to add some sneaky
Speaker 1: conditioning to my lifestyle, all right. Next question comes from Bengalorean,
Speaker 1: help me understand what our offensive line depth looks like.
Speaker 1: I fear we are one injury away from a potential hold.
Speaker 1: It's young, you know, that's the thing. It's it's it's
Speaker 1: a young group. But again, you have to trust that
Speaker 1: Frank Pollock knows what he's doing. Um. I think I
Speaker 1: think that that Frank um understands maturity and understands when
Speaker 1: the player doesn't necessarily have the maturity. I think that
Speaker 1: was his biggest problem with Michael Jordan, and immaturity can
Speaker 1: show itself in many ways. Uh, in a way that
Speaker 1: it can show itself as the game not being important
Speaker 1: enough as such. You know, it's a little a little
Speaker 1: immature in that regard. Um. I think that he probably
Speaker 1: feels like he's got to work with Fred and that
Speaker 1: regard a little bit. Mcfred's got immense physical potential. Um
Speaker 1: Isaiah Prince is a is a a Frank Pollock feel
Speaker 1: good story. Basically in training camp, how we responded to
Speaker 1: Frank and Frank, I think, what's going on with a
Speaker 1: lot of these guys, and then you know, you talk
Speaker 1: about the young guys Hill at center, Carmen, you know
Speaker 1: at guard, and and Deonte Smith will talk about mature
Speaker 1: already in a positive way. Deante Smith carries himself like
Speaker 1: a six year of veteran. I mean, that's that's his
Speaker 1: I think that's one of his biggest intangibles. One of
Speaker 1: his biggest strengths is this guy gets it and he
Speaker 1: shows you that he gets it in a lot of
Speaker 1: different ways. So I wouldn't I wouldn't be all Wang
Speaker 1: chunged if I had to put Deante Smith in the game,
Speaker 1: Jackson Carmen, He's getting there. There's a maturity factor there
Speaker 1: as well. Hill to me, really is solid. I think
Speaker 1: he's a pretty pretty good player at the center position.
Speaker 1: I think he'd line up a guard as well. So
Speaker 1: I think there's I think there's enough depth. It's it's
Speaker 1: very inexperienced depth, and that could be the concern that
Speaker 1: the questions you know, were referencing and concerned about it.
Speaker 1: And I can understand that. You just have to have
Speaker 1: to have faith that Frank Pollock knows that these players
Speaker 1: are capable of going in there and handling it um
Speaker 1: mentally and physically. And there has to be a trust
Speaker 1: between coach and player and player and coach. It has
Speaker 1: to be both ways, and I think that's what's going
Speaker 1: on between Frank and these offensive linemen as long as
Speaker 1: Tray health is healthy, because that's the question mark, who
Speaker 1: is your backup center? If his groin injury lingers into
Speaker 1: the start of the season. Yeah, he's got a hip
Speaker 1: flexor and that's you know, right right in the front
Speaker 1: of the earth abd him into your leg, upper leg area.
Speaker 1: It's kind of like right in there. Um, so he's uh, Obviously,
Speaker 1: in my mind, they must not think it's too severe.
Speaker 1: I don't think they would have pulled the trigger on
Speaker 1: the Billy Price trade if Trey Hopkins had been dinged
Speaker 1: up in his three STAPs, because remember, you know you
Speaker 1: can protect Joe. You can you know, you can control
Speaker 1: the narrative and protect Joe from any kind of trade.
Speaker 1: Trays in there hucking and bucking in the running game,
Speaker 1: and you know, trying knocking heads around and uh and
Speaker 1: in pass protection, you know, taking some severe putt some
Speaker 1: severe stress on that NISA. For some reason it didn't
Speaker 1: work out for him or or Trey Hill had a
Speaker 1: significant injury. I don't think in my wildest imagination I
Speaker 1: would have traded Billy Price, and they must feel pretty
Speaker 1: good about it. We'll see question from Grants who impressed
Speaker 1: you the most during training camp? In preseason? Boy? Who
Speaker 1: impressed me the most? So that's an interesting question. I
Speaker 1: would have to say. Deante Smith kind of came out
Speaker 1: of nowhere in my mind. In my eyes, I he played,
Speaker 1: you know, East Carolina. What level of football did he play?
Speaker 1: On a snap by snap basis down there? I know
Speaker 1: he had a really good Senior Bowl, and that's that's
Speaker 1: kind of a that's an indicator. You know that he's
Speaker 1: he's not over his head. So if you're not over
Speaker 1: your head at the Senior Bowl, that's a that's a
Speaker 1: good omen uh. And he came in here and and
Speaker 1: I'm not saying he'd lit it up every single day,
Speaker 1: approximately whoa look at the anti Smith? But the thing,
Speaker 1: the thing that I always look for with players is
Speaker 1: when it goes badly, how long does it take for
Speaker 1: it to turn back around again? Anything more than a snap,
Speaker 1: you're gonna have trouble in the NFL. I mean, you're
Speaker 1: gonna have selective enmusu. You have to like boom, it's over.
Speaker 1: You can't let one bad play turn into two or
Speaker 1: five bad plays in a row. So to me, when
Speaker 1: I'm watching guys, I look at that and it's like,
Speaker 1: if a guy has a horrible repid practice, Okay, let's
Speaker 1: see what happens. Oh man, Deante's moved on, or in
Speaker 1: the game, oh man, he get knocked on his ass.
Speaker 1: Let's see what happens. Oh well, he's moved on. And
Speaker 1: then if you see guys, they'll have a great play
Speaker 1: what's going on? And then another one what's going and
Speaker 1: then a couple of great And then that's when you say,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure about that guy. I'm not sure how
Speaker 1: much I can trust that dude. But if you have
Speaker 1: a guy that bounces back mentally and physically right away,
Speaker 1: I think that's a huge factor in the evaluation process.
Speaker 1: The easy answer to the who impressed you most question
Speaker 1: was Van McPherson, Oh true. My guy though, would be
Speaker 1: Chitabey a wuge I think he looks like a legit
Speaker 1: quality starting cornerback, uh, second round draft pick type guy,
Speaker 1: which is what he was by Dallas five years ago. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I think he's going to have a big year.
Speaker 1: I think if I had to pick a position group
Speaker 1: that had the earliest impact on me and then continued,
Speaker 1: it would be the secondary. But then it started to
Speaker 1: get you know, sprinkled and dotted with injury, and it's like,
Speaker 1: now you know Owen's they're not all out there, and
Speaker 1: some practices there were as many as three guys that
Speaker 1: you know that weren't weren't available. Um, and there there
Speaker 1: was a major line of demarcation. I mean there were
Speaker 1: guys and then there weren't. And we saw when Miami
Speaker 1: put fifteen points on the board in the final less
Speaker 1: than six minutes of a game. Um, you know that
Speaker 1: that some of those guys weren't up to snuff. But um, yeah,
Speaker 1: and McPherson, you're right then, I mean, McPherson is people
Speaker 1: people have say kickers, kickers, football players, Hey, they put
Speaker 1: points on the board. Now they're they're hugely important. And
Speaker 1: when you have a guy that as soon as you
Speaker 1: cross the fifty yard line, the opponent not only you
Speaker 1: your special team's coach Darren Simons, but the opponent has
Speaker 1: to start to think about all Jesus, they're in scoring range.
Speaker 1: That's a huge weapon. That's a huge deal. You know,
Speaker 1: we saw that when facing Baltimore. Look look at every
Speaker 1: year and facing Baltimore Ravens, it's like Justin Tucker can
Speaker 1: hit from monster yardage. Now that's somebody that can do
Speaker 1: it for us as well. That's a that's a big
Speaker 1: factor question from Greg. Could Thats Moss play a big
Speaker 1: role this season potentially, you know, if they're injury, um,
Speaker 1: it'd be interesting to see if if they lose a
Speaker 1: tight end, depending on which tight end they lose, who's
Speaker 1: who's the one, Shrek or Moss. If it's a receiving
Speaker 1: tight end, probably you know, if lose a guy that
Speaker 1: is more of a factor in the passing game, probably Moss.
Speaker 1: If it's a guy that you know you need to
Speaker 1: have a little bit more um, a little bit more
Speaker 1: open to block on the on the edge, you know,
Speaker 1: it might be Shrek um that that'd be interesting to see.
Speaker 1: But obviously, Daddius Moss is the possessor of a ringing
Speaker 1: endorsement from his college quarterback, and that that holds some weight.
Speaker 1: So when you when when Joe Burrow has the faith
Speaker 1: and the confidence and Daddius Moss that he articulated, um,
Speaker 1: the coaches believe it, obviously, and it's a factor. So
Speaker 1: I think I think if it's uh, if it's somewhere
Speaker 1: at some point in the season and you have a
Speaker 1: stretch of games where I think we need a tight
Speaker 1: end that has has to be a receiving option or
Speaker 1: receiving threat, I think he's probably a guy they're really
Speaker 1: going to look at hard. Question from governor chief, what
Speaker 1: are your expectations for Darius Hodge and how many sacks
Speaker 1: can he rack up? That's that's what a story. What
Speaker 1: a story. That is a guy, undrafted linebacker from Marshall
Speaker 1: who we're talking about, how many sacks is he going
Speaker 1: to wrap, you know, rack up as an edge rush
Speaker 1: guy for the Bengals. I honestly, if all the edge
Speaker 1: rush guys were healthy that we talked about, he'd be
Speaker 1: a practice squad guy. And really, when I think about it,
Speaker 1: that's where he probably has the best fit because you
Speaker 1: can develop them. It'll be interesting to see how he
Speaker 1: responds going against true studs on a regular basis. So
Speaker 1: he does have to go in there and provide significant pressure.
Speaker 1: And right now, you know, he's one of five guys.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's one of the guys that that you know.
Speaker 1: I think he's probably gonna have to fill some sort
Speaker 1: of a role for twelve to fifteen snaps coming off
Speaker 1: of that edge. And if he's if he's out there
Speaker 1: for fifteen snaps a game, you know, and is accumulating
Speaker 1: a couple of hundred rushes, I don't know. She could
Speaker 1: he could he get as many as seven sacks possible, possible,
Speaker 1: But I think I think now we're I think now
Speaker 1: we're talking about best case scenarios. Obviously this question comes
Speaker 1: from a wog the goat, but the question is not
Speaker 1: about Chittabey a wouge. How long do you see Colleed
Speaker 1: Kareem being out? You know, I think I think Kareem
Speaker 1: will be out three weeks, you know, I think three weeks. Uh,
Speaker 1: he's on age, your reserve, he can come back after
Speaker 1: three weeks. So I think that that that is a
Speaker 1: time frame that that makes some sense he's got a
Speaker 1: laboring problem. It wasn't torn where it had to be
Speaker 1: repaired surgically, so he just has to rest it and
Speaker 1: rehabit and and those good things. But you know it's
Speaker 1: the opposite shoulder from the shoulder that he has some
Speaker 1: arthritis that he deals with in So I mean, now
Speaker 1: it's likes both your shoulders when you're a when you're
Speaker 1: a rush guy and you have to you know, you
Speaker 1: have to use your upper body, grab, pull, swim, rip,
Speaker 1: all these different moves. Your shoulders are vitally important. There's
Speaker 1: no question about it. But um, he may miss the
Speaker 1: first quarter of the season and hopefully he hopefully he
Speaker 1: comes back. But have you ever seen a situation, Dan,
Speaker 1: where where two guys like Osai and Kareem in the
Speaker 1: first preseason game against Tampas in the first series makes
Speaker 1: an impression that's just unbelievable. I mean, he beats a
Speaker 1: tackle that gave up one sack last year and he
Speaker 1: beats him and sacks the goat. And then Kareem in
Speaker 1: the in the game the third preseason game, blocks a
Speaker 1: pass and has a sack on first and third down.
Speaker 1: The first series you know of the football game against
Speaker 1: the Miami Dolphins and then they're both hurt. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's just it's just unbelievable. It's like it's like, man,
Speaker 1: this black cloud, when is it going to go away?
Speaker 1: Both of these guys have have extreme potential coming off
Speaker 1: the edge, and right now the Bengals are going to
Speaker 1: be missing one for the season and one for maybe
Speaker 1: twenty five percent of the season. This question comes from
Speaker 1: Joe bi Wan. As we ent our year three of
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor's tenure as our head coach, have you noticed
Speaker 1: any changes in the culture of the team or locker
Speaker 1: room and how about the culture of the organization in general.
Speaker 1: I do think that that the players that he that
Speaker 1: he brought in since he's been head coach, and of
Speaker 1: course that's not all his decision X Duke Tobin in
Speaker 1: the scouting department, the family, everybody's involved with these personnel
Speaker 1: decision making process. But the fact that so many of
Speaker 1: them are captains, so many of them have been captains
Speaker 1: of their high school and college football teams, so many
Speaker 1: of them have football intelligence and overall raw intelligence and
Speaker 1: leadership qualities. As a result of it, I do think that,
Speaker 1: um that you go around through that locker room. There's
Speaker 1: there's no lot, not a whole lot of turds sitting
Speaker 1: around in that locker room. I mean, there's some pretty
Speaker 1: good people in there, and I think that I think
Speaker 1: that the caliber of person, not only football player, has
Speaker 1: has really increased, you know, And it's it's one thing
Speaker 1: to be a solid citizen. You still have to play.
Speaker 1: You still have to be able to make plays. And uh,
Speaker 1: that was Paul Brown's big, big message. Um, you might
Speaker 1: be a fine human being, we might like you a lot,
Speaker 1: but if you can't play, you're not going to make
Speaker 1: the team. So you still have to go out there
Speaker 1: and be able to perform. So um, obviously the combination
Speaker 1: of the two is the best case scenario. And I
Speaker 1: think I do think, um that that the caliber of player,
Speaker 1: the depth of the caliber of player in the in
Speaker 1: the caliber of person, I think it's improved, I really do.
Speaker 1: And I think I think it's there is a pretty
Speaker 1: good culture in the locker room. Um, and I think
Speaker 1: you know, zach Is is primarily responsible for that, but
Speaker 1: there's no substitute for winning. Didn't Phil Sam tell you
Speaker 1: many years ago not to use the term turret in broadcasting?
Speaker 1: He did? This is a podcast, All that's raw, all right, yeah,
Speaker 1: he was. It was it was classic. I used it
Speaker 1: and nice working with you. I'm like, huh, he had
Speaker 1: me spell it, you know that that was the thing.
Speaker 1: It was like like, oh no, that's the little boy.
Speaker 1: That was a quick trip. We like to end with
Speaker 1: a wild card question. This one comes from local filmmaker
Speaker 1: Cam Miller. What's your take on Bird's Band, the original
Speaker 1: band of the Cincinnati Bengals. I'm trying to think of
Speaker 1: his first name, George, George and his Shirley was the
Speaker 1: daughter and Shirley Bird obviously, uh, you know, held on
Speaker 1: kept up the tradition as such. Honestly, I was never
Speaker 1: an enormous fan, to be quite honest, Um, you know,
Speaker 1: I thought, for my wife thought it was cute. That's
Speaker 1: that's I think that's very and I think a lot
Speaker 1: of the Cincinnati fans there was a there was a
Speaker 1: you know, soft spot in their heart for um, the
Speaker 1: original Birds band. But I could have done it, to
Speaker 1: be quite honest, But at that that stage of of
Speaker 1: of the week, that's game day, I am I'm not
Speaker 1: really I'm not looking at anything, I'm not listening to anything.
Speaker 1: I did have an ability to just I mean laser
Speaker 1: focus zone in and I felt like I had to,
Speaker 1: you know, I didn't. I wasn't gonna allow any distractions,
Speaker 1: you know, to be a reason that that I didn't.
Speaker 1: You try to execute at the at the highest level
Speaker 1: I possibly could, so I couldn't even tell you that
Speaker 1: the uh here the Bengals growling. I do remember hearing
Speaker 1: that sum, but that's about That's about the extent of it.
Speaker 1: I didn't hear much else. Well, George Bird did write that,
Speaker 1: so he hit it out of the park. He did
Speaker 1: with the Bengals themes he did. He did hit that,
Speaker 1: hit that out of the park. That that when when
Speaker 1: it when it sustains itself for as long as it
Speaker 1: did and has um, then you then you know you've
Speaker 1: got something going speaking of here, that Bengal growling. Jay
Speaker 1: Morrison of The Athletic Reason wrote a great story about
Speaker 1: the history of the song, and I highly recommend reading
Speaker 1: it if you haven't done so already. Several years ago,
Speaker 1: I asked Bengals president Mike Brown this question about that song.
Speaker 1: When Bengals Growl plays on the sound system at Paul
Speaker 1: Brown's stadium after a touchdown, You know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Here that Bengal growling, mean and angry. Do you sing
Speaker 1: along or hum along? I can't sing it. I can't
Speaker 1: dance either, But I'm very fond of that song because
Speaker 1: George Bird wrote it. And George Bird was our entertainment director.
Speaker 1: That was a title, but he was a neighbor of ours,
Speaker 1: dating back to when I was five years old and
Speaker 1: younger living in Masslin, or how he was a director
Speaker 1: of the Maslin High School band, which was phenomenal, and
Speaker 1: my dad had real respect for George and he brought
Speaker 1: him to Cleveland when we were doing the Browns and
Speaker 1: then down here. Let me tell you a story about
Speaker 1: George that always amused me. He would tell the performer,
Speaker 1: the person who was going to sing the national anthem,
Speaker 1: to make it at a fast clip, none of the
Speaker 1: so called creativity. Please. They would look at him and
Speaker 1: say yes sir, and then go about doing just what
Speaker 1: they wanted. But he had the answer to that. In
Speaker 1: those days we had a band. He directed the band,
Speaker 1: and he didn't care how they did it. He did
Speaker 1: it the way he wanted to do it. It went
Speaker 1: at that pace and they better keep up or they
Speaker 1: were left behind. He was a wonderful musician. He wrote
Speaker 1: that song. I think it's a great song. My wife
Speaker 1: can sing it. She's pretty musical. She can sing well.
Speaker 1: I think it's a great song. People can say what
Speaker 1: they want, Oh it's corny, they say, to heck with them.
Speaker 1: It's a great song and I'm proud of it. The
Speaker 1: Bengals Podcast is presented by Bud Light Seltzer. It's light
Speaker 1: and refreshing with a hint of fruit flavor. With a
Speaker 1: regular season set to begin next week, You'll hear plenty
Speaker 1: of football analysis on this podcast, but I have something
Speaker 1: a little different for you today. Five offbeat questions that
Speaker 1: I asked each of the Bengals coordinators. Up first, offensive
Speaker 1: coordinator Brian Callahan. If you had a time machine and
Speaker 1: could attend any sporting event in history, what would it
Speaker 1: be and why? I think, just because I love the
Speaker 1: history of football, I think it would be pretty fun
Speaker 1: to go watch the first Super Bowl, just for that
Speaker 1: simple fact that it's it's kind of what gives gives
Speaker 1: us all her living and it's the beginning of what
Speaker 1: it's become now and I think that would be kind
Speaker 1: of cool to be at that game in the stands
Speaker 1: watching it as a spectator. You know, I think, I
Speaker 1: truthfully think probably watching Secretariat in person would have been
Speaker 1: pretty awesome. And I know that wasn't that long ago,
Speaker 1: but you know it was before I was born, so
Speaker 1: that would have been pretty neat. I'll go those two.
Speaker 1: I Now, I'll be thinking about it all day, like
Speaker 1: what else would I want to go to? If you
Speaker 1: could have lunch with any athlete in history, who would
Speaker 1: it be? And why this is still possible for me
Speaker 1: to do? But I would say because I have never
Speaker 1: I'm trying to think where to start. When I was
Speaker 1: a sophomore in high school by as an undersized six
Speaker 1: foot quarterback, my kind of hero and idol at the
Speaker 1: time was Drew Brees, who was at Purdue and I
Speaker 1: wore fifteen when I was I was like he wore
Speaker 1: at Purdue. I still remember him holding that rose in
Speaker 1: his mouth when they wanted to get to Clint to
Speaker 1: go to the Rose Bowl. And he was kind of
Speaker 1: like my childhood and child a high school like my
Speaker 1: kind of hero that I that I'd always admired, and
Speaker 1: I loved watching him play. I still love I watched
Speaker 1: him play for his whole career. I loved watching the tape.
Speaker 1: But I have ever met Drew Brees, and we've played
Speaker 1: the Saints a few times, and I just never went
Speaker 1: up to go introduce myself. But that would be one
Speaker 1: that would be one that I was had. I never
Speaker 1: had a chance to tell Drew Brees that you were
Speaker 1: my childhood idol. I'd love to sit down and have
Speaker 1: lunch of them. So I think that that's what I'll
Speaker 1: go with for that one. It's interesting because Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: says that that was his favorite quarterback to watch. So
Speaker 1: the guy you're coaching, you you two share the quarterback
Speaker 1: you admire. We share an admiration for him and and
Speaker 1: deserving weself. You know, obviously had a chance to work
Speaker 1: with Peyton Manning, so that's a I had lots of
Speaker 1: years of being with one of the you know, I
Speaker 1: get Hall of Fame all time quarterback, but Drew Brees
Speaker 1: is one that I never had a chance. I've never
Speaker 1: had a chance to talk to him, and I think
Speaker 1: that would be a fun That'd be fun go have
Speaker 1: lunch of Drew Brees and and tell him how much
Speaker 1: i'd how much I appreciated watching him play. What coach
Speaker 1: that you played for had the biggest impact on you
Speaker 1: probably my high school coach, Um Bob Laddiser was a
Speaker 1: head coach of deals at high school, and then our
Speaker 1: quarterbacks coach there, Mark Pinella. He just actually just recently
Speaker 1: retired from coaching, And those were the two people that
Speaker 1: had probably, you know, the most impressionable age that I
Speaker 1: was probably most formed by, just philosophy, all of those
Speaker 1: types of things. They were a big part of what
Speaker 1: I believe football is supposed to be and all of
Speaker 1: those things. So I'll go with Bob Laddiser and Mark Pinella.
Speaker 1: Last thing, have you binge watched a TV show? And
Speaker 1: if so, what's your favorite? BINGE watched a few of
Speaker 1: them this summer. I loved ted Lasso. That's a great show. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm excited for the second season. And then I did
Speaker 1: binge watch Yellowstone this summer, which was phenomenal. That was
Speaker 1: That's an excellent show. And those are the two that
Speaker 1: I spent the summer. Those are the two I watched
Speaker 1: this summer. I'm also I really like Peaky Blinders too.
Speaker 1: Those are those are kind of my I like the
Speaker 1: the intense shows that you're gonna put a belief sign
Speaker 1: up in your office in honor of Ted lass, I
Speaker 1: should I saw somebody at a teacher I got gotta
Speaker 1: find that might buy and start wearing it. I'm with
Speaker 1: him on Ted Lasso. In fact, I've been thinking of
Speaker 1: buying some Richmond Greyhounds gear. If you don't watch the show,
Speaker 1: that's the fictional soccer team that Ted coaches. Up next
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator Lou at a Romo. All right, if you
Speaker 1: had a time machine and could attend any sporting event
Speaker 1: in history, not necessarily football, although it obviously could be,
Speaker 1: But what would that sporting event be? I would probably
Speaker 1: say the Miracle on Ice. I mean, I've watched the movie.
Speaker 1: I watched it. I was old enough to but I
Speaker 1: was young, and just to be in that stadium to
Speaker 1: witness that, I think that would be pretty pretty awesome.
Speaker 1: That's my answer as well. If you could have lunch
Speaker 1: with any athlete in history, who would it be? And why? Well,
Speaker 1: I'll just I'll play some favorite New York favoritism here
Speaker 1: would probably be Derek Jeter, just because again, you know,
Speaker 1: you watched the guy over twenty years and all he
Speaker 1: did was win, and he did it the right way,
Speaker 1: and to be able to ask him some questions about that.
Speaker 1: That would be I'd be pretty cool. Who is your
Speaker 1: favorite athlete when you were a kid, and why, Well,
Speaker 1: probably you go. When I was young, I would say
Speaker 1: probably Lawrence Taylor. I was a huge Giant fan growing up,
Speaker 1: and I mean one of the best defenders ever. So
Speaker 1: I would say LT for sure. And I remember chanting
Speaker 1: LT a lot when I was a kid, So probably
Speaker 1: be him. He'd like to have him right now. Oh
Speaker 1: my god, everybody would What coach that you played for
Speaker 1: had the biggest impact on you? My high school coach, Alpaterzo,
Speaker 1: just from overall being a young kid, teaching toughness, and
Speaker 1: I was a great teacher of the game and as
Speaker 1: the winning is football coach in New York City history.
Speaker 1: So to this day we're still best of friends, and
Speaker 1: so we'll be him. Have you? Binge watched a TV
Speaker 1: show and if still, what's your favorite? Um My wife
Speaker 1: had me pretty busy this summer, so there wasn't much
Speaker 1: TV watching, so I really didn't do much of that
Speaker 1: Game of Thrones. Game of Thrones, so it's damn good.
Speaker 1: Now I'm not using the internet stuff, but that was good.
Speaker 1: My wife and I also Binge watched Game of Thrones.
Speaker 1: When the villains on that show get what's coming to them,
Speaker 1: it's about as satisfying as TV gets. Last, but not least,
Speaker 1: Special Teams coordinator Darren Simmons. If you had a time
Speaker 1: machine and could attend any sporting event in history, doesn't
Speaker 1: necessarily have to be football, although it could be. What
Speaker 1: would that event be and why? Probably would have said
Speaker 1: one of the games for my dad's high school year
Speaker 1: of football. Um, you know, I think he was a
Speaker 1: good high school player. He never got to play in
Speaker 1: college because my granddad died not long after he graduated
Speaker 1: from high school. But he never got to play in college,
Speaker 1: so probably would have been one of the games my
Speaker 1: dad played in high school and football games. Was he
Speaker 1: a good athlete? Yeah, he was. I think he was. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, like I said, just because my family were farmers. Um,
Speaker 1: he kind of to take over the family farm, so
Speaker 1: he never got the opportunity to, um, you know, go
Speaker 1: on and play after that, so they probably would have
Speaker 1: been there. It's great if you could have lunch with
Speaker 1: any athlete in history, who would it be and why?
Speaker 1: That's a good one too. Joe Montana and Joe Montana
Speaker 1: was you know when I was growing up. Was was
Speaker 1: the guy. He was probably the time Brady of this era.
Speaker 1: And you know all the success that he had in
Speaker 1: San Francisco and led all those teams in San Francisco,
Speaker 1: but he had success in Kansas City, you know after that,
Speaker 1: which is closer to where I'm from, Um, it'll probably
Speaker 1: be him. This could be the same answer, but not necessarily.
Speaker 1: Who is your favorite athlete when you were a kid?
Speaker 1: This is this is close. Probably George Brett. Um. I
Speaker 1: was a Royals fan. Again, beamed from the Midwest Ben
Speaker 1: before I was from UM, and it was just you know,
Speaker 1: it was the time the Royals were a solid team.
Speaker 1: You know they've kind of been through their share of
Speaker 1: ups and downs. But um, probably George Brett. What coach
Speaker 1: that you played for had the biggest impact? Again, Um,
Speaker 1: Glenn Mason my high school excuse me, my high school
Speaker 1: college coach of Kansas. UM. You know, going to KU,
Speaker 1: we were a team, we were kind of on the
Speaker 1: verge whenever I went there of turning the corner. Kansas
Speaker 1: has been such a down tribe program for so long
Speaker 1: that they went to a bowl game, uh in ninety three,
Speaker 1: the year before I got there, and so they're just
Speaker 1: starting to trend upwards. And I think the one thing
Speaker 1: why I say that is because he really really pushed
Speaker 1: the players there to be better than what they thought
Speaker 1: they could. I think that's a job of every coach.
Speaker 1: But I think in Kansas we probably weren't the most
Speaker 1: talented group. You know, this is the my senior years,
Speaker 1: last year, the Big Eight, and so I think that
Speaker 1: he got the most out of the talent level of
Speaker 1: that team and we were able to have a good season.
Speaker 1: My senior year in ninety five, I think we were
Speaker 1: tending to you know, we finished like nineth or tenth
Speaker 1: in the country. And I really respect the way he
Speaker 1: how hard he pushed guys to excel and to really
Speaker 1: to believe in himself. So, you know, he really a
Speaker 1: lot of the foundations and stuff um that I even
Speaker 1: used day are a result of him because I played
Speaker 1: for him um And then Scott O'Brien would be another one.
Speaker 1: I never played for him, but I worked under and
Speaker 1: so a lot of the you know, everything that I'm
Speaker 1: about is what they were about. My last one. Have
Speaker 1: you ever Binge watched a TV show and if sell,
Speaker 1: what's your favorite? I've Binge watched a couple of them. Um.
Speaker 1: The last one that I binge watched, it was through
Speaker 1: the pandemic, was Game of Thrones. I've always heard about
Speaker 1: Game of Thrones. I've never watched any of them. Um,
Speaker 1: But then I would get up early every morning before
Speaker 1: the rest of my familys have to watch it. It's
Speaker 1: not probably the most family worthy show to watch. That's
Speaker 1: why I have to get up early to do it.
Speaker 1: But I just I couldn't believe the outdoor scenes, some
Speaker 1: of the graphics scenes, you know. It was just it
Speaker 1: was a crazy show. Um. The other one is uh
Speaker 1: Ozark all on Netflix. I'm on Big O's are Big
Speaker 1: Big O's art um person, So I've I've watched all those. Um.
Speaker 1: The that I've probably beinge watched before two is Yellowstone
Speaker 1: with Kevin Costner. I really enjoy that one too. Probably
Speaker 1: those three are the ones I could say I'm not
Speaker 1: a big binge watcher, though I don't. It's hard to
Speaker 1: find the time to sit down in front of the
Speaker 1: TV for one time. But those would be three. I
Speaker 1: haven't watched Yellowstone yet, but I can watch for the
Speaker 1: other two. Yeah, but the yellostone's really good. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it Uh. Kevin Cosser is a fabulous actor, and
Speaker 1: I think everybody on that show is good. I've been
Speaker 1: sitting there waiting. I thought the next season was supposed
Speaker 1: to come out in June. It hadn't been released yet,
Speaker 1: so I don't know what the paramount, I paramount network,
Speaker 1: what the hold up is, but I can't wait to
Speaker 1: see the next season. My thanks to Brian lew and
Speaker 1: Darren and that's going to do it for this episode
Speaker 1: of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you by bud Light.
Speaker 1: Seltzer refreshed the game. If you haven't done so already,
Speaker 1: please subscribe and if you have a minute, give it
Speaker 1: a rating or share a comment. Bad helps more Bengals
Speaker 1: fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde, and thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast. H