Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The It's a Golden Opportunity addition
Speaker 1: as the Bengals look to reach five hundred after an
Speaker 1: zero three start as they host the Philadelphia Eagles on
Speaker 1: a white Bengal Day in the Jungle. Coming up, I'll
Speaker 1: talk to CBS sideline reporter Evan Washburn about the matchup
Speaker 1: and what it's like to be on the field for
Speaker 1: a game had sold out pay Corpse Stadium. My one
Speaker 1: on one player interview is with Charlie Jones, who explains
Speaker 1: how the heck he managed to stay in bounds on
Speaker 1: his kick return touchdown last week. And in our nother
Speaker 1: faux segment, we get an in depth look at the
Speaker 1: Eagles from their Hall of Fame radio voice Meryl Reese.
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Corps,
Speaker 1: Proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider, by
Speaker 1: Alta Fiber, future proof Fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business,
Speaker 1: and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health
Speaker 1: the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is
Speaker 1: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now here's a
Speaker 1: quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of
Speaker 1: this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer
Speaker 1: by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest
Speaker 1: thing since Unfinished Painting. That's the name of a new
Speaker 1: book written by longtime Cincinnati sportswriter Bill Cook about the
Speaker 1: greatest what if story in Bengals history, quarterback Greg Cook.
Speaker 1: Mike Brown says that Cook was the most talented quarterback
Speaker 1: in franchise history and that the Bengals would have been
Speaker 1: the dominant team of the seventies if not for the
Speaker 1: shoulder injury that essentially ended Greg's career after one season.
Speaker 1: It was an injury that would have been easily surgically
Speaker 1: repaired if it happened now. The book is an unflinching
Speaker 1: portrait of a transcendent talent who lived a difficult life.
Speaker 1: If you're like me and have always wanted to learn
Speaker 1: more about him, just search for Unfinished Painting Greg Cook
Speaker 1: and you'll see how to buy the book. Now, let's
Speaker 1: get to my first guest. The last time the Bengals
Speaker 1: faced the Eagles was Joe Burrow's rookie year, and I
Speaker 1: don't think he's ever been hit harder or is often.
Speaker 1: Burrow was sacked eight times and hit eighteen times, but
Speaker 1: he kept getting up like sliced alone and Rocky one,
Speaker 1: which was appropriate since the game was in Philly. Burrow
Speaker 1: threw for three hundred and twelve yards with a passer
Speaker 1: rating of one oh five, and the game ended in
Speaker 1: a twenty three all tie. Both teams were building at
Speaker 1: the time, and each has been to a Super Bowl since.
Speaker 1: For more on Sunday's matchup, I caught up with a
Speaker 1: member of this week's TV crew. Our guest this week
Speaker 1: is Evan Washburn will be on the sideline for CBS
Speaker 1: this Sunday. Avenue visited training camp to check out the Bengals.
Speaker 1: Then your crew covered the season zero or against the Patriots.
Speaker 1: Were you surprised when the Bengals got off to a
Speaker 1: slow start.
Speaker 2: Surprise would be putting it lightly. Dan.
Speaker 3: I was shocked, and not just because of what I
Speaker 3: saw in training camp during a one day visit, but
Speaker 3: just what this team has been over the last few
Speaker 3: years and what they're bringing back. And I think it
Speaker 3: only further cements the idea that well, the results matter
Speaker 3: in Week one for your record and what you're trying
Speaker 3: to do when the calendar turns to January. It's not
Speaker 3: at all what a team is, and it is the
Speaker 3: greatest sort of outlier on the schedule. But the reality
Speaker 3: is this team was shocking us in week one and
Speaker 3: now seems to have found themselves, as you well know.
Speaker 1: They have right of the ship. They've won three out
Speaker 1: of four. It could be very easily a four game
Speaker 1: winning streak if they didn't botch the hold of a
Speaker 1: game winning field goal against Baltimore. What's impressed you in
Speaker 1: recent weeks? What question marks do you still have about
Speaker 1: the Bengals.
Speaker 3: I think that they've found a way, as we like
Speaker 3: to say, win ugly where it hasn't. While Joe Burrow
Speaker 3: is putting up big time numbers and Jamar Chase is
Speaker 3: on a career pace, it hasn't been winning games in
Speaker 3: the thirties and the last two weeks. The defense finding
Speaker 3: some consistency and finding themselves now that they're healthy, especially upfront,
Speaker 3: has created some balance to this team. I think, well,
Speaker 3: the numbers don't jump off the page.
Speaker 2: In the run game. I like the duo of Brown
Speaker 2: and Moss, so just how well rounded this group has
Speaker 2: found themselves and finding a way to win games, to me,
Speaker 2: is a true testament when you're not at your best
Speaker 2: of a great team.
Speaker 1: Your CBS crew with Iron Eagle and Charles Davis has
Speaker 1: been assigned to quite a few Bengals games in recent years.
Speaker 1: What do you enjoy when you get assigned to a
Speaker 1: Cincinnati game?
Speaker 3: Well, I think it starts with the organization and for
Speaker 3: our purposes, specifically the head coach, the quarterback, and the
Speaker 3: number of the key players that we meet with. Our
Speaker 3: production meetings are the lifeblood of what we do.
Speaker 2: And if you can have that time be.
Speaker 3: Valuable, be enjoyable, and gain context on what's really going
Speaker 3: on with the team going into a game, you just
Speaker 3: feel like you're going to be so much more prepared
Speaker 3: to entertain and inform the fans, because that's the eventual goal.
Speaker 2: As you know.
Speaker 3: I mean, you have your audience that's listening to you
Speaker 3: on game days and they're the most passionate. We get
Speaker 3: a bit more of the broader fan base, but I
Speaker 3: still feel like we're servicing this weekend the Eagles fans
Speaker 3: and the Bengals fans. And look, we prepare Monday through
Speaker 3: Thursday and into Friday, but in those meetings is when
Speaker 3: we can kind of take things to the next level.
Speaker 3: And I always feel confident going to a Cincinnati game.
Speaker 3: We get a sign that spending time with Zach Taylor,
Speaker 3: with Joe Burrow, and whether it's Jamar t Sam Trey Logan,
Speaker 3: Mike Hilton, some of the kind of cornerstones that they're
Speaker 3: going to embrace the process. So I think that's one
Speaker 3: of the things I enjoy most. And then just to
Speaker 3: see what's happened on game days in Sincy. I mean,
Speaker 3: I've been doing this. This is my eleventh season for CBS,
Speaker 3: and then before that I worked in production for TV
Speaker 3: station in Baltimore, so we would come up to Cincinnati
Speaker 3: for games when the Ravens were playing. And I've seen
Speaker 3: this place at its zenith in big time playoff moments
Speaker 3: and big time regular season games, and then at some
Speaker 3: of its downtimes, and when this place is juiced and rocking,
Speaker 3: it's as good a game day as there is.
Speaker 1: Well, I certainly think that's going to be the case.
Speaker 1: On Sunday, it's the white Bengal game, so the Bengals
Speaker 1: will be wearing their white helmets and they're all white
Speaker 1: unis describe what it is like to be on the
Speaker 1: field for a game at pay Course Stadium when it
Speaker 1: is rocking.
Speaker 3: It's one of the stadiums and look, I get why
Speaker 3: the new ones are the shiny new toy, and some
Speaker 3: of them are incredible feats of architecture more than anything,
Speaker 3: but I think that becomes more the story or the experience.
Speaker 3: Whereas the stadiums that were built in the mid to
Speaker 3: late nineties early two thousands, the star of the show
Speaker 3: is the field, and they design them where the fans
Speaker 3: are right on top of the field. So I enjoy
Speaker 3: places like pay Corps on a big time game day
Speaker 3: because when I'm making my laps, and for me, it's
Speaker 3: a constant movement, I'm flipping sides to the field to
Speaker 3: make sure I'm not missing anything. When you can feel
Speaker 3: that energy, whether it's verbally at you at times because
Speaker 3: they want to feel a part of the action or
Speaker 3: just them cheering on their team. When you can feel
Speaker 3: it as you walk, that's when you know you're in
Speaker 3: a juiced environment, and you definitely get that in Sinsey.
Speaker 1: Kevin Washburnie is our guest. I imagine when you came
Speaker 1: to visit during training camp, the number one thing you
Speaker 1: wanted to check out was the status of Joe Burrow's
Speaker 1: right wrist. What do you think of the way he's
Speaker 1: played with a pass rating of one ten to this
Speaker 1: point of the season.
Speaker 3: It might be some of his best work, and that
Speaker 3: can be backed up with some of the statistical evidence.
Speaker 3: Look the record, we as a crew don't view that
Speaker 3: as something that's reflected on the quarterback. I don't like
Speaker 3: this idea of putting wins and losses on quarterbacks. So
Speaker 3: if you watch one of our games, when we put
Speaker 3: up Joe Burrow's stats, it won't have his wins and
Speaker 3: losses because it's a team sport. Yes, he's touching the
Speaker 3: ball on every Playoffensively, he has the biggest impact at
Speaker 3: times on winning and losing, but that's not necessarily all
Speaker 3: on him, and I think this season reflects that his
Speaker 3: ability to maintain stability at the position deal with some
Speaker 3: of the things they've dealt with offensively, whether it's Tea's injury,
Speaker 3: Jamar's contract situation leading all the way up until Week
Speaker 3: one and now what looks like some offensive line fluctuation
Speaker 3: due to injury. He's been like this, and I think
Speaker 3: the best quarterbacks in our league, whether it's Mahomes, Burrow Jackson,
Speaker 3: they can not just survive when situations are less than ideal,
Speaker 3: they can elevate others. And that's to me, the separator
Speaker 3: from being a top five quarterback to a mid to
Speaker 3: top ten to top fifteen. So I think Joe's done
Speaker 3: that this year and he's got a big test on
Speaker 3: Sunday because the Eagles defense is similar to Cincinnati, kind
Speaker 3: of found themselves in recent weeks and there's no margin
Speaker 3: freer for the Bengals. You guys know this that they
Speaker 3: can't stumble anymore, and to get back to five hundred
Speaker 3: as we creep towards November would be huge, if not critical.
Speaker 1: Let's look a little more specifically at the matchup, beginning
Speaker 1: with the Bengals defense against Philadelphia's offense. Saquon Barkley's averaging
Speaker 1: nearly one hundred and ten rushing yards per game. What
Speaker 1: must the Bengals defense do to hold Philly in check?
Speaker 3: Well, I think it starts up front, and it's why
Speaker 3: it's exciting to see that Cincinnati has gotten healthy across
Speaker 3: that defensive line, so they now have depth to kind
Speaker 3: of come at one of the best offensive lines in
Speaker 3: football in ways. Now they're down Jordan Malatta with that
Speaker 3: hamstring injury, but Saquon was still effective as we saw
Speaker 3: last week against the Giants, So stopping the run is
Speaker 3: going to be critical. That starts up front, winning the
Speaker 3: line of scrimmage as best they can, and then Logan
Speaker 3: Wilson and Tremaine Pratt still be in those tackling machines.
Speaker 2: And look, this is where you.
Speaker 3: Can get into the Minuti ship scheme. When I watch Philly,
Speaker 3: it's not overly complex in terms of the run game.
Speaker 3: It's just that they feel like they could beat you
Speaker 3: up up front, so that that's kind of one of
Speaker 3: those things we'll see early Dan, like who's winning that
Speaker 3: line of scrimmage in terms of success in the run
Speaker 3: or stopping them run.
Speaker 1: On the other side of the ball, Philly is seventh
Speaker 1: in points allowed. They sacked the Giants eight times last week.
Speaker 1: What must Berwin company do to be successful this Sunday?
Speaker 3: I think getting the ball out quick is going to
Speaker 3: be key, and you mentioned those.
Speaker 2: Those sack totals.
Speaker 3: Similarly, the Giants were down there left tackle and Andrew
Speaker 3: Thomas and now it looks like Orlando Brown junior statuses
Speaker 3: in question. So Cody Ford, a very capable backup, former
Speaker 3: starter in this league, will step in as you know,
Speaker 3: but he's gonna have to deal with Josh sweat Huff,
Speaker 3: Brandon Graham. But it's an interesting Bengals defense because it's
Speaker 3: one in transition.
Speaker 2: They still have some of the old heads.
Speaker 3: Whether it's Darius Lay, Graham Blankenship, but they've really infused
Speaker 3: it with youth.
Speaker 2: A lot of those former Georgia Bulldogs are starting.
Speaker 3: To really find their their momentum and so this will
Speaker 3: be a test for them. I'm really excited to see
Speaker 3: you got Slay matching up. Is it going to be
Speaker 3: Chase or Tea? Then you've got the rookie and Quinnon
Speaker 3: Mitchell is Who's he? How's that gonna go? Because Chase is,
Speaker 3: as you've been able to describe, I'm sure over the
Speaker 3: last few weeks on the air, is primed as we've
Speaker 3: seen them. So as much as it is about that
Speaker 3: line of scrimmage in this game on both sides, I
Speaker 3: am excited to see some of those matchups too.
Speaker 2: And then you throw in.
Speaker 3: Like a rookie at Cooper dejene as well with what
Speaker 3: he does in the nickel so it's a fun it's
Speaker 3: a fun matchup.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 3: This one, as you and I talked about before we
Speaker 3: started taping the show, is that. Man, this was a
Speaker 3: four to twenty five game for a reason a few
Speaker 3: weeks ago.
Speaker 1: Final thing for Evan Washburn. If they win, the Bengals
Speaker 1: are back to five hundred after an zero to three start.
Speaker 1: How significant would that be?
Speaker 3: Look, I don't know from a statistical standpoint, and I'm
Speaker 3: sure we'll have plenty of graphics that will line up. Hey,
Speaker 3: if you're four and four as you head into we
Speaker 3: gate or nine of the season or ten, and this
Speaker 3: is what that means.
Speaker 2: This many teams are going to the playoffs, YadA, YadA, YadA.
Speaker 3: I think it's a mental hurdle to get over and
Speaker 3: to not put the pass behind you because you're still
Speaker 3: sitting at four and four heading in to week nine.
Speaker 3: But I think it will allow them to then start
Speaker 3: sort of making progress. I can't speak for how those
Speaker 3: athletes and coaches feel right now, but if I were
Speaker 3: to put myself in that position, as someone who at
Speaker 3: least played sports at a relatively high level, until you
Speaker 3: get back to neutral, you feel like you're constantly trying
Speaker 3: to grab for water or air, I should say, And
Speaker 3: so I think that would do something from a mental
Speaker 3: headspace to say, Okay.
Speaker 2: We did what we did out of the gate. We
Speaker 2: have to live with that.
Speaker 3: But now we're back to square one and we're playing
Speaker 3: our best ball and we haven't hit November yet, and
Speaker 3: that's a good place for a team as talented and
Speaker 3: as experienced as this one.
Speaker 1: I know Bengals fans look forward to it when I
Speaker 1: and Charles and you are part of the broadcast team
Speaker 1: for a Bengals game. Best of luck this week, and
Speaker 1: thanks so much for the time you too.
Speaker 2: Dan always enjoy it mentioned.
Speaker 1: The game was originally scheduled to kick off at four
Speaker 1: point fifteen, but with the first two picks in this
Speaker 1: year's draft, Caleb Williams and Jaden Daniels, off to great
Speaker 1: starts and their big market teams doing well, the NFL
Speaker 1: decided to move the Chicago Washington game to the late
Speaker 1: afternoon window and make the Bengals Eagles game a one
Speaker 1: o'clock start. It's a move that might not work out
Speaker 1: as intended. Jaden Daniels is dealing with a rib injury,
Speaker 1: and his status for Sunday's game is up in the air.
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Corps,
Speaker 1: proud to be the Bengals Official HR software provider, by
Speaker 1: Alta Fiber future proof Fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business,
Speaker 1: and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health
Speaker 1: the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is
Speaker 1: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Charlie Jones was
Speaker 1: named the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week after
Speaker 1: returning the opening kickoff one hundred yards for a touchdown
Speaker 1: in last week's victory in Cleveland. Before we get to
Speaker 1: my com conversation with Chuck Sizzle, here's how that touchdown
Speaker 1: sounded on the radio. Here comes Hopkins, he swings the
Speaker 1: leg and thlack. We are underway. Charlie Jones catches right
Speaker 1: at the goal line and runs it out far.
Speaker 5: Side Numeros to the twenty twenty five thirty. Only the
Speaker 5: kicker can tackle.
Speaker 1: He failed to do it.
Speaker 6: Charlie Jones down the.
Speaker 5: Sideline twenty ten hot time from the path on touchdown.
Speaker 5: Charlie Jones, who had a putt return touchdowns a rookie
Speaker 5: last year against Baltimore, takes it one hundred yards for
Speaker 5: a game opening score.
Speaker 1: Charlie, the balance that you displayed to stay in bounds
Speaker 1: at the end of your kick return touchdown last week
Speaker 1: was unbelievable. Are you thinking about trying to stay in
Speaker 1: bounds toward the tail end of that play in real
Speaker 1: time or is that strictly pure instinct.
Speaker 7: It's probably a little bit of both.
Speaker 8: I mean, I knew as I was getting closer to
Speaker 8: the end zone on that the space was getting pretty
Speaker 8: limited over there, and I knew that I didn't want
Speaker 8: to get pushed out and come up short on this,
Speaker 8: so I knew I was going to have to do
Speaker 8: something and try to stay in bounce. So I think
Speaker 8: maybe a little bit of both.
Speaker 1: I'm going to ask you to not be humble. When
Speaker 1: you saw the replay, Were you amazed that you pulled
Speaker 1: it off? I?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean I think.
Speaker 8: I mean, it was just like, obviously, the blocking was great,
Speaker 8: and the beginning of the play was you know, exactly
Speaker 8: how we drew it up. I remember towards the end
Speaker 8: of it though, I was like, man, I gotta do
Speaker 8: something to finish this playoff.
Speaker 7: So but no, Washington back was pretty cool.
Speaker 1: Well, as you said, it was so well blocked and
Speaker 1: well designed. I'm not sure that I've ever seen one
Speaker 1: that looked that clean. Was that unusual for you, because
Speaker 1: I know you've had a bunch of touchdown returns pro, college,
Speaker 1: high school, et cetera.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean on those, it's like it's it's almost
Speaker 8: so open that it's like, am I missing something? Like
Speaker 8: someone about to you know, come across the top and
Speaker 8: you know, but no, I mean it literally couldn't have
Speaker 8: been more open. And you know that started with Drew
Speaker 8: on his block and everyone else doing their job.
Speaker 1: We're visiting the Charlie Jones. Your touchdown return was the
Speaker 1: third in the NFL this season. Yours was the longest
Speaker 1: one so far. Do you think teams are figuring out
Speaker 1: how to attack the new kickoff format?
Speaker 7: I think so.
Speaker 8: I think, you know, it's still so new, and there's
Speaker 8: still like this period of time where we're trying to
Speaker 8: figure out what's gonna work and what's not gonna work.
Speaker 8: But I think, you know, as we go on, teams
Speaker 8: are gonna start really picking up on things and finding
Speaker 8: ways to really, you know, take advantage of this new rule.
Speaker 1: You've been returning punts all year. Now you are returning
Speaker 1: punts and kickoffs. Do you have a preference?
Speaker 7: M that's a good question. I think I don't know.
Speaker 8: I mean, I like them both. I think they're different
Speaker 8: in a couple of ways. I think you know before
Speaker 8: I liked returning punts more. You know something about it.
Speaker 8: But you know I do like returning kicks, and I
Speaker 8: think with this new rule, it's it's in favor I think.
Speaker 7: Of the returner if if you get a chance.
Speaker 8: So we'll see, I mean, we'll see all keeps playing out,
Speaker 8: which one Which one I'm to end up liking more.
Speaker 1: We're chatting with Charlie Jones. I thought you were having
Speaker 1: an exceptional training camp as a pass receiver, and then
Speaker 1: just before the first preseason game you suffered a pretty
Speaker 1: significant knee injury and missed a few weeks. How did
Speaker 1: that impact the early portion of your season?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, I don't really know. I think obviously
Speaker 7: in preseason it affected it.
Speaker 8: I wasn't able to be out there, you know, that
Speaker 8: first week, and then the second week it was kind
Speaker 8: of iffy if I was going to be out there
Speaker 8: and ended up not being so didn't really get to
Speaker 8: get a snap till the till the third week, and
Speaker 8: I think in that sense maybe it affected a little bit.
Speaker 8: But you know, once I was back out there, I
Speaker 8: felt great and I was practicing. I think I only
Speaker 8: missed like a week of practice, so it's not that
Speaker 8: I missed very much, and once I came back, I
Speaker 8: felt great.
Speaker 7: So I don't know.
Speaker 1: The Bengals have been playing a lot of two tight
Speaker 1: end sets this year. They're right up there among the
Speaker 1: NFL leaders, which obviously means one fewer wide receiver has
Speaker 1: been on the field. And when there are two wide
Speaker 1: receivers on the field, it's almost always going to be
Speaker 1: Jamar and t for obvious reasons. Do the rest of
Speaker 1: the guys find themselves reminding themselves to stay patient because
Speaker 1: sooner or later, an opportunity is bound to come along.
Speaker 7: Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 8: I mean I think that's what's special about our room.
Speaker 8: We have guys that you know, understand how this league works,
Speaker 8: and you know sometimes you know it might take a
Speaker 8: little bit longer. I mean me specifically, you know, even
Speaker 8: even in the return game, I see that you're just
Speaker 8: patience is a big thing in this league, and just
Speaker 8: continue to come in and work and prepare like you know,
Speaker 8: you're gonna get that chance, and when you do, you
Speaker 8: take advantage of it, and you know it helps your
Speaker 8: situation moving forward.
Speaker 1: Do you feel like you're a better wide receiver than
Speaker 1: you were as a rookie?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think it's night and day.
Speaker 8: I think, you know, I'm I'm feeling, you know, the
Speaker 8: best I've I've felt in a long time as a receiver.
Speaker 8: And uh, you know, like I said, like I just said,
Speaker 8: you know that that's just something that I'm gonna continue
Speaker 8: to work on and continue to show up every week
Speaker 8: and and and work and and just you know, have
Speaker 8: that patience.
Speaker 1: We're chatting with Charlie Jones. After a slow start, the
Speaker 1: team has won three out of four. How did you
Speaker 1: guys weather the storm after starting on three?
Speaker 8: Yeah, I just think we really focused on caring about
Speaker 8: what this building like, inside this building thinks, not really
Speaker 8: thinking about any of that outside noise or what everyone
Speaker 8: else is saying, and just really knowing that we have
Speaker 8: the guys.
Speaker 7: And the coaches in this in this building to what
Speaker 7: we want to do.
Speaker 8: Still even getting off to a slow start, I mean
Speaker 8: we've proven that in the past, and we just you know,
Speaker 8: stayed together and kept reminding each other that.
Speaker 7: You know, it's a long.
Speaker 8: Season and you know everything we want is still in
Speaker 8: front of us.
Speaker 1: So the offense was really rolling for a while there.
Speaker 1: You scored thirty three or more in three straight games.
Speaker 1: Then over the last couple of weeks you've won, so
Speaker 1: that's the key. But only two touchdowns for the offense
Speaker 1: in both of those games. Was it more because the
Speaker 1: Giants and the Browns have really good defenses, or was
Speaker 1: the offense just to tick off?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 8: I think there's always more for us that we can
Speaker 8: that we can do.
Speaker 7: I think we can always we always have room.
Speaker 8: For improvement, and I think we haven't played our best yet. So,
Speaker 8: you know, whatever it was in the in those couple
Speaker 8: of games, but you know, we're always looking at it
Speaker 8: from the standpoint of you know, we aren't at our
Speaker 8: full potential yet, and you know we're just gonna keep
Speaker 8: working towards that final thing.
Speaker 1: It's white Bengal week, white helmets, all white unis. Are
Speaker 1: you a fan, You've you're already starting to smile a
Speaker 1: little bit?
Speaker 7: Yeah, No, I love it. I love it.
Speaker 8: I was surprised we we did it during for a
Speaker 8: day game.
Speaker 7: I thought we were gonna save it for a night game.
Speaker 8: But you know it's it's still exciting to wear the
Speaker 8: white uniforms, white helmets and and see everyone in the
Speaker 8: stands wearing white. So no, it's it's always. It was
Speaker 8: cool last year when we did it, and I'm excited
Speaker 8: for this year.
Speaker 1: No Olympic gymnast showed better balance than you did at
Speaker 1: the end of that touchdown run. Congratulations, thanks for.
Speaker 7: The time, Thank you. I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: The atmosphere there should be electric on Sunday, and Zach
Speaker 1: Taylor is hoping for a big home field advantage.
Speaker 9: I expect the joint to be jumping, and I do.
Speaker 9: We rely so much on our fans. They really the
Speaker 9: energy when our players get introduced and come out right
Speaker 9: out the gate and never fails. It's always good when
Speaker 9: we can get a team at home and make it
Speaker 9: really hard with the cadence. And the thing I always
Speaker 9: you want to stress to the fans is as difficult
Speaker 9: as everything. It's when the play clock starts at forty
Speaker 9: and the quarterbacks trying to hear the call from the
Speaker 9: coordinator before he calls it in the huddle. That is,
Speaker 9: it's not always just when you're breaking the huddle and
Speaker 9: getting to the line of the cadence. It's as much
Speaker 9: as soon as that forty second clock starts the crowd level,
Speaker 9: because you can waste seven or eight seconds in the
Speaker 9: huddle trying to hear the call, getting a repeated call,
Speaker 9: having to call it again because the tight end on
Speaker 9: the other side of the hell can't hear it. And
Speaker 9: so I think you could almost make a highlight tape
Speaker 9: of all the false starts or delay of games or
Speaker 9: timeouts that are being used here by our and so
Speaker 9: that's what I'm looking forward to, is seeing our crowd
Speaker 9: do that in our pershe on the right way.
Speaker 1: The Bengals are three and one on the road this year,
Speaker 1: and would be four and oh if not for the
Speaker 1: fourth and sixteen penalty in Kansas City. But they're inexplicably
Speaker 1: zero to three at home. It's time to hear the
Speaker 1: players do a hooday chant in the home locker room
Speaker 1: after the game. It won't be easy against Philadelphia, a
Speaker 1: team that's four and two despite being minus six in
Speaker 1: the turnover ratio with two takeaways and eight giveaways. The
Speaker 1: Eagles have not come out on top in that stat
Speaker 1: in thirteen consecutive games. For more on the Eagles, we
Speaker 1: turned to Merril Reese, now in his forty eighth year
Speaker 1: in the Philly radio booth. Earlier this year, he received
Speaker 1: the Pete Roselle Award from the Pro Football Hall of Fame,
Speaker 1: which is the highest honor a football announcer can receive.
Speaker 1: Merrill joined Lapping Me on the Bengals Game Plan show
Speaker 1: this week and we started the conversation by asking him
Speaker 1: about philadelphia Is abysmal turnover numbers.
Speaker 10: Well, it happened early in the season where Jalen Hurts
Speaker 10: was fumbling some footballs and then throwing some interceptions. But
Speaker 10: keep in mind that they had not turned over the
Speaker 10: football once in the last two games, not once. Unfortunately
Speaker 10: from an Eagles standpoint, they also haven't taken it away
Speaker 10: although they're Rookie defensive back Quinnyon Mitchell out of the
Speaker 10: University of Toledo, by the way, is an outstanding ballhawk.
Speaker 10: He's had his hands on them and sometime a teammate
Speaker 10: has knocked him out of the way or he's been
Speaker 10: out of bounds. But he is a he is a terrific,
Speaker 10: terrific young player, and I think that he's due to
Speaker 10: pick one off.
Speaker 4: So What do you like most about this this edition
Speaker 4: of the Philadelphia Eagles.
Speaker 10: Well, there's a lot to like and there's a lot
Speaker 10: to be concerned about.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 10: I think I think the offense has some real talent.
Speaker 10: And if I didn't say Saquon Barkley, I'd be out
Speaker 10: of my mind because he has just been sensational. He's
Speaker 10: averaging over six yards of carry. He almost had a
Speaker 10: career day against the Giants for one hundred and seventy
Speaker 10: six yards rushing. He's just a great player and he's
Speaker 10: a great teammate. He's just been outstanding. And then you
Speaker 10: have to like the wide receivers. Now, you guys have
Speaker 10: great wide receivers, There's no doubt about that. And I
Speaker 10: think you probably you and the Eagles have as good
Speaker 10: a pair of wide receivers as there are in the
Speaker 10: National Football League. Because you guys talk you about Chase
Speaker 10: and Higgins. The Eagles are talking about AJ Brown Devonte Smith.
Speaker 10: So there's danger there. And even though his stats have
Speaker 10: not been through the roof yet, I am still a
Speaker 10: believer in Jalen Hurts. He's a bright guy, he's a
Speaker 10: dedicated guy. He's he's been a lot more careful with
Speaker 10: the football, only through it fourteen times last week against
Speaker 10: the Giants, but he's had a quarterback rating of one
Speaker 10: hundred and twenty six two weeks ago and last week
Speaker 10: one nineteen. So I think he's acclimating himself to the
Speaker 10: new Kellen Moore offense and they're coming along.
Speaker 1: The Voice of the Eagles, Meryl Reeve is our guest.
Speaker 1: I want to ask you about Nick Sirianni. His father,
Speaker 1: Fran was the football coach and track coach at my
Speaker 1: high school. He was one of my high school science teachers,
Speaker 1: so I know the Sirianni family well. Has the quote
Speaker 1: unquote controversy died down from a couple of weeks ago,
Speaker 1: and Nick got a little bit heated in his response
Speaker 1: to the fans after a Philly win.
Speaker 10: All that has to happen to quell that is just
Speaker 10: to win. So they won last week and Nick didn't
Speaker 10: go anywhere near the crowd, and he gets a little
Speaker 10: bit emotional from time to time, but I think he
Speaker 10: learned a lesson. It wasn't as if he was hurling
Speaker 10: for fanities at the crowd. He just interacted with him
Speaker 10: a little bit. That became, in my opinion, much ado
Speaker 10: about nothing, But I don't think you'll see him do
Speaker 10: that anymore.
Speaker 4: The Philadelphia Eagles are very aggressive on fourth down, Sirianni
Speaker 4: will definitely definitely roll the dice and the trust push
Speaker 4: is it?
Speaker 6: Is it changed at all?
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, one of the one of the
Speaker 4: key members of the of the tush push, Kelsey is
Speaker 4: no longer the center of the tension, no pun intended
Speaker 4: on that. On that tush push. Are they still pretty
Speaker 4: effective with it? And do you anticipate them continue continuing
Speaker 4: to be aggressive on fourth down?
Speaker 10: Absolutely? Because when you talk about that tusch pusher, talking
Speaker 10: about a quarterback who is incredibly strong, and then Jason
Speaker 10: Kelsey was replaced by Cam Jurgens, who's bigger than Kelsey,
Speaker 10: and then from behind, now you have sa Kuon Barkley
Speaker 10: pushing Jalen Hurtz. That's that's that's like a locomotive. So
Speaker 10: it's it's still tough to stop Merril.
Speaker 1: The last time these two teams played was Game three
Speaker 1: of Joe Burrow's rookie year. I maintain that is the
Speaker 1: hardest he has ever been hit. He got sacked eight times,
Speaker 1: he got hit eighteen times. Several of those hits we
Speaker 1: were worried about his ability to get up, but he
Speaker 1: kept getting up. Do you think that that is going
Speaker 1: to be one of the biggest keys to the game
Speaker 1: this Sunday, The Bengals ability to protect Shoe against an
Speaker 1: Eagles pass rush that had eight sacks last week.
Speaker 10: Well, you know, I think that's a key to almost
Speaker 10: any game. Get to the quarterback, and Burrow is one
Speaker 10: of the best quarterbacks in the National Football League. It's
Speaker 10: interesting that game ended up in a tie, I believe,
Speaker 10: and at the time Doug Peterson was criticized for not
Speaker 10: being more aggressive at the end of that game. And
Speaker 10: in Cincinnati, the Eagles have the Eagles have never won
Speaker 10: in Cincinnati, and they have one game that they tied
Speaker 10: and in that game, but the reason they tied was
Speaker 10: because lately overtime. Donald McNabb admitted that he was playing
Speaker 10: for the second overtime, which of course you're never going
Speaker 10: to gage and during the regular season, so that became
Speaker 10: a funny thing that people still talk about. But the
Speaker 10: Eagles have never ever beaten the Bengals in Cincinnati. Has
Speaker 10: going to be tough. I will tell you that this
Speaker 10: Eagles defense has some really interesting young players. A guy
Speaker 10: they picked up as a free agent in the offseason
Speaker 10: from the Saints. Zach Bourn has been outstanding. He wears
Speaker 10: number fifty three. He is if there was an MVP
Speaker 10: so far the defense, that would be Zach Vaughan. And
Speaker 10: then the Kobe Dean had a couple of sacks last week,
Speaker 10: and so did say they are really coming on that way.
Speaker 10: Jalen Carter, a former number one draft choice from Georgia,
Speaker 10: he had two sacks, so they were really roaring. But
Speaker 10: of course I don't think Daniel Brown. Daniel Brown gets
Speaker 10: it off as quickly as Daniel Jones gets an off
Speaker 10: as quickly as Joe Burrow.
Speaker 4: You know, the one thing that I think is going
Speaker 4: to be interesting in this football game. Games are decided
Speaker 4: by turnovers and are also decided by explosive plays. And
Speaker 4: the Philadelphia Eagles number one in the NFL ten plays
Speaker 4: of forty yards or more. Barkley has four runs of
Speaker 4: forty yards or more and in six runs of thirty
Speaker 4: yards or more.
Speaker 6: That's unbelievable.
Speaker 4: I mean, this football team at any point in time
Speaker 4: can just I mean have a one play drive.
Speaker 6: It's crazy.
Speaker 10: Well, they can, but that's what happens when you have
Speaker 10: a back like Saquon Barkley. He reminds me in a
Speaker 10: sense like it back like you remember Emmitt Smith when
Speaker 10: the Cowboys sees to pick him in then and Emma
Speaker 10: Smith would carry the football and you'd see nothing spectacular,
Speaker 10: and he'd pick up two yards and maybe four yards
Speaker 10: and maybe two yards and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 10: zing he's going for sixty yards. That's the kind of
Speaker 10: thing that is with Saquon Barkley. If you keep pounding
Speaker 10: him and you keep running him, eventually, eventually he's going
Speaker 10: to burn you. From an Eagle standpoint, they just can't
Speaker 10: lose patience. They have to get that game going. The
Speaker 10: other interesting thing, I don't know if you guys are
Speaker 10: aware of this. The Eagles are the only team in
Speaker 10: the National Football that has yet to score a single
Speaker 10: points in the first quarter of any game, right.
Speaker 6: I mean, what do you attribute that to? Have they have?
Speaker 4: They lost a coin toss every week? I mean are
Speaker 4: they are they not getting possessions or are they just
Speaker 4: just off to slow start?
Speaker 6: Off the slow start?
Speaker 10: Well, when they when they win the coin tost, they
Speaker 10: always defer. A lot of teams do that now, so
Speaker 10: they always defer and I'm always rooting for them to
Speaker 10: take the football, go try to score. Then there have
Speaker 10: been other instances like the Atlanta game where they moved
Speaker 10: the ball very well and they had a fourth and
Speaker 10: four from inside the ten and the three points. Nick
Speaker 10: Sirianni went for it and failed. There were a couple
Speaker 10: of opportunities to score at least come up with easy
Speaker 10: field goals in first quarters and Nick put them aside
Speaker 10: and went for everything and it didn't work out. So
Speaker 10: it's it's it's a pretty good offense right now.
Speaker 1: It's not.
Speaker 10: You know, when you look at this team and you
Speaker 10: look at all of the teams, how much are the
Speaker 10: how much of the slow starts attributed to the fact
Speaker 10: that they don't play regular in the preseason. They don't
Speaker 10: tackle to the ground in the preseason. I really think
Speaker 10: September September football is the way preseason football used to be,
Speaker 10: where you would play the regulars for a half and
Speaker 10: get them into the games. Now they're just acclimating themselves
Speaker 10: in the month of September. I don't think you know
Speaker 10: where anybody is until you get to about this part
Speaker 10: of the season a couple of weeks into October. Now
Speaker 10: the real personalities, the real tendencies, the real ability of
Speaker 10: each of these teams becomes more and more apparent.
Speaker 4: How big a deal is it that my Latta won't
Speaker 4: be playing the left tackle position and Fred Johnson, who
Speaker 4: Cincinnati's very aware of, he'd form a Bengal How is
Speaker 4: Fred Johnson playing?
Speaker 6: How big of a dropoff might that be?
Speaker 10: If any Well, it certainly is a big drop off
Speaker 10: because you're talking about Jordan Malata, who is an amazing guy.
Speaker 10: I mean, he was an All Pro last year. He's
Speaker 10: six eight and three hundred sixty pounds and he's just
Speaker 10: just a great player and a great leader. So when
Speaker 10: you lose an All Pro, certainly there is a drop off.
Speaker 10: But Fred Johnson has not done badly. He's done pretty well,
Speaker 10: and they've had to make it. They had to make
Speaker 10: another move last week when Mackai Beckton went down and
Speaker 10: they brought in Tyler Steen over on the right side,
Speaker 10: so on the right guard spot, and they had they
Speaker 10: had two of the five offensive linemen out for much
Speaker 10: of that game. But you know the saying in the
Speaker 10: National Football League, next man up, and that's what they're doing.
Speaker 10: And they've been good enough to withstand any kind of pressure,
Speaker 10: at least in last week's game.
Speaker 1: Mere Ill want to wrap this up by asking you
Speaker 1: about winning the Pete Roselle Award. Only three NFL radio
Speaker 1: announcers have won it. My childhood hero Van Miller, longtime
Speaker 1: voice of Buffalo Bills, Myron Cope, a legend in Pittsburgh,
Speaker 1: and now yourself. Can you articulate what winning the Pete
Speaker 1: rosell Award means to you?
Speaker 10: Well, I was on my way to a day of
Speaker 10: golf and I got a call and I saw the
Speaker 10: thought it's at Canton, Ohio, And I thought, gee, I
Speaker 10: don't really know anyone in Canton, Ohio. And then I answered,
Speaker 10: the president of the Hall of Fame said it's this
Speaker 10: Merril Reece. I said, yes it is. He said, are
Speaker 10: you driving? I said, yes, I am. He said you
Speaker 10: might want to pull over to the side, which I did.
Speaker 10: And when he told me, and I'm not somebody who
Speaker 10: cries at basketball games like that for me or one
Speaker 10: of those guys is always sobbing. But when he said
Speaker 10: that to me, I just I just absolutely started to cry.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 10: I was so emotional because you have different goals when
Speaker 10: you are in this business. And I think then after
Speaker 10: I was doing the games for forty years now this
Speaker 10: is forty eight. I had hoped that someday I would
Speaker 10: be included in the Eagles Hall of Fame because for
Speaker 10: no other reason on longevity, and that happened in twenty sixteen.
Speaker 10: That was the end of my bucket list because this
Speaker 10: was something that never happens, or, as you said, rarely happens.
Speaker 10: And it was way out of my mind, nothing I
Speaker 10: even thought about. And when he told me that, it
Speaker 10: really hit me. And what it meant to me was
Speaker 10: the fact that I have been able to do what
Speaker 10: I love for all these years. And we have a
Speaker 10: great fan base who has been very very kind to
Speaker 10: me for these years. So I'm very very fortunate. I
Speaker 10: know you guys love what you do. But I'll tell
Speaker 10: you something and this is true. And I said this
Speaker 10: in my Hall of Fame address every week when we
Speaker 10: all stand for the national anthem, I say two things,
Speaker 10: and I mean them. There is no place in the
Speaker 10: world I'd rather be and there's nothing in the world
Speaker 10: I would rather be doing. And that's how I felt.
Speaker 10: To be rewarded for doing what you'd rather do than
Speaker 10: anything else in the world. Well, that's big, very well.
Speaker 1: Put both honors richly deserved and you're still doing it
Speaker 1: incredibly well. Meryl. Thank you so much for your time.
Speaker 1: Look forward to seeing you on Sunday.
Speaker 10: Thank you guys always to speak with you. And I'll
Speaker 10: see it at the what is it. It's called Paymore Stadium.
Speaker 4: Now pay Course Stadium, and I'm looking forward to seeing
Speaker 4: a living legend.
Speaker 6: I mean that wholeheartedly. You are a legend.
Speaker 10: As long as I'm living. That's the important half of it.
Speaker 1: Here's quick reminder to join lapp in Wayne box Miller
Speaker 1: for the Bengals pep Rally Show on Friday from three
Speaker 1: to six on ESPN fifteen thirty. If you're not in
Speaker 1: the Cincinnati area, just search for ESPN fifteen thirty on
Speaker 1: the free iHeartMedia app. That's going to do it for
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