Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody.
Speaker 2: I'm Dan Hoard and thanks for downloading The Bengals Booth Podcast.
Speaker 2: The turn Around addition, as the Bengals look to bounce
Speaker 2: back from a Week one loss to New England as
Speaker 2: they head to Kansas City to take.
Speaker 3: On the Chiefs.
Speaker 2: Coming up by one on one conversation with Bond Bell,
Speaker 2: who made one of the biggest plays in team history
Speaker 2: at Arrowhead Stadium. Jim Nantz will be in the booth
Speaker 2: for CBS and has an interesting comparison between Joe Burrow
Speaker 2: and a legendary golfer. And in our nother faux segment,
Speaker 2: we get an in depth look at the Chiefs from
Speaker 2: their radio analyst Danan Hughes. The Bengals Booth Podcast is
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Speaker 2: healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now here's a quick reminder
Speaker 2: that you can have the latest edition of this podcast
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Speaker 2: wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since
Speaker 2: the Hall of Famer. In our broadcasting booth, the Greater
Speaker 2: Cincinnati Society of Professional Journalism welcomes a new Hall of
Speaker 2: Fame class on Monday, and it features nine people who
Speaker 2: have covered sports in the area, including our pregame, halftime
Speaker 2: in postgame host on the Bengals Radio Network, Wayne Box. Miller.
Speaker 2: Box has done it all over the years, from writing
Speaker 2: books to hosting a daily radio show with former Bengals
Speaker 2: defensive back Eric Thomas, and he is a pleasure to
Speaker 2: work with on the Bengals Radio Network. What I admire
Speaker 2: most about him is his sunny disposition. In an era
Speaker 2: where everybody seems to be competing over who can make
Speaker 2: the snarkiest comment about anything and everything, Box chooses to
Speaker 2: emphasize the positive. He is a great person and his
Speaker 2: Hall of Fame recognition is richly deserved. Now let's get
Speaker 2: to my first guest. When the Carolina Panthers released Von
Speaker 2: Bell in March for salary cap reasons, the Bengals welcomed
Speaker 2: him back with open arms. He played a key role
Speaker 2: in three straight wins over the Kansas City Chiefs, and
Speaker 2: we'll look to do it again this Sunday. Following last
Speaker 2: week's sixteen to ten loss to the Patriots. Ron if
Speaker 2: you hold a team to sixteen points for the rest
Speaker 2: of the year, you guys are going to have a
Speaker 2: really good record. How did you feel the defense performed
Speaker 2: in week one?
Speaker 4: Oh, it was flashes, But we got to finish, and
Speaker 4: we gotta put more physical and on the line of scrimmage,
Speaker 4: and we can't miss a lot of tackles because that
Speaker 4: creates diplosives and it gives chance, It give teams a
Speaker 4: chance of life. And we just got to finish and
Speaker 4: play amost each other and I'll play together.
Speaker 2: Luenarumo said there were fourteen teen miss tackles. Is that
Speaker 2: a matter of fundamentals? Is it adjusting to the speed
Speaker 2: of the game in week one? What's your explanation for that?
Speaker 1: It's just fundamentals.
Speaker 4: It's easy, easy fixed, and guys just gotta go out
Speaker 4: there with the want to and willing to and really
Speaker 4: just trust your brother that's that you playing next to,
Speaker 4: and everybody all liven hats run to the ball.
Speaker 2: Was there anything about that performance that really irked you?
Speaker 1: No, not really, you know, we're playing.
Speaker 4: With a lot of emotion, a lot of a lot
Speaker 4: of energy, and it's just some of those times we've
Speaker 4: gotten the little lulls. We gotta find the spark, we
Speaker 4: gotta find them within us, uh to just get it
Speaker 4: done and then and that's just the matter of it,
Speaker 4: you know, just getting it done on Sundays and getting
Speaker 4: the job done and getting to win.
Speaker 1: And uh, that's what we're here to do.
Speaker 4: And we suppost play at high level and play together
Speaker 4: as one and we all got bigger goals and visions
Speaker 4: at the end of it.
Speaker 2: We're visiting with Von Bell lou and Romo was asked
Speaker 2: about you last week. He said the following.
Speaker 3: He helps everybody.
Speaker 5: He helps, Uh certainly helps the linebackers just feeling comfortable
Speaker 5: with what's going on behind them. He's always been we
Speaker 5: know what he does in the locker room in terms
Speaker 5: of but that locker room communication, he takes that and
Speaker 5: he continues it onto the field because he's always talking football.
Speaker 5: I'll walk by there at seven thirty in the morning, him,
Speaker 5: Jermaine Logan and they're all in that corner and they're
Speaker 5: talking about something and so it just continues out onto
Speaker 5: the field. So there's a reason why he was voted
Speaker 5: captain as soon as he got back here. And it's
Speaker 5: not just because he's a good guy. His influence goes
Speaker 5: throughout the whole team.
Speaker 2: How do you go about trying to help everybody.
Speaker 4: There's overallers of communication and just really trying to give
Speaker 4: pre snapper eads and knowing the situation, knowing that formation,
Speaker 4: what they do out the formation, and just try to
Speaker 4: give tips to guys so they could set.
Speaker 1: Their mind down so they can play.
Speaker 4: Fast and they just try to be there. Always tell
Speaker 4: him like you got me here, it's you play off me.
Speaker 4: So if we both rent to the ball like i'sis
Speaker 4: I used to outside, So we always just playing off
Speaker 4: other so you can know where your help is at
Speaker 4: all times, so you can just play like, oh I
Speaker 4: got it. I could play a step faster and know
Speaker 4: you got that leverage and what routes you can cheat to.
Speaker 4: So it's just trying to just slow the game down
Speaker 4: like how the older guys I played with it slowed
Speaker 4: the game down for me.
Speaker 2: We're having this conversation on a Wednesday, What did you
Speaker 2: do on Tuesday, the player's day off?
Speaker 4: I did? I did pilates. I got the guys in.
Speaker 4: I lifted first and got the guys in around like
Speaker 4: nine nine thirty, and we had a dB bean and
Speaker 4: we're going through the you know, the guys, their personnel,
Speaker 4: what they like to do, and what we did previous
Speaker 4: years before playing this team, and how.
Speaker 1: They just how it's supposed to they are.
Speaker 4: They just replicated what they were passed and they just
Speaker 4: plug and play pieces with one with four, with five,
Speaker 4: those speed guys in eighty seven of course, and you
Speaker 4: know the fifteen is the cow bell.
Speaker 1: He runs the show.
Speaker 4: So you just know what he likes to do, what
Speaker 4: he likes to get to, who he likes to get
Speaker 4: it to, and know the situations and what it looks
Speaker 4: like and just getting just getting a head started that
Speaker 4: so the guys could already thinking it there at home
Speaker 4: and then just watching ball, it is always thinking balld
Speaker 4: So so we have a smooth Chris Wednesday.
Speaker 2: Did you start the tradition of those Tuesday meetings with
Speaker 2: the secondary or did you take that from an older
Speaker 2: teammate somewhere along the way.
Speaker 4: Oh, I think it was a combination of both, because
Speaker 4: we did it in New Orleans and we always had
Speaker 4: the guy.
Speaker 1: I always had the guys.
Speaker 4: Going there because I was always there and we just
Speaker 4: we just we just created it and.
Speaker 1: I said, I'm due. I did there.
Speaker 4: We had lots of says and we brought it here.
Speaker 4: We had a lots of sss and guys is jailled.
Speaker 1: And the rooms became one. And that's what you want
Speaker 1: at the end of the day.
Speaker 4: And you want to everybody on the same of course,
Speaker 4: in the same vision at the same less, so we
Speaker 4: could play out basketball in December.
Speaker 2: You're heading to Arrowhead on Sunday where you made one
Speaker 2: of the biggest plays in franchise history and the twenty
Speaker 2: twenty one AFC Championship game, the overtime interception that set
Speaker 2: up the game winning field goal. The Bengals send three
Speaker 2: cover with eight my homes deep down field for the Cheetah.
Speaker 3: It's deflected and intercepted.
Speaker 6: By von Belle Belle running in the middle of the
Speaker 6: field forty five, taken down with a high tackle by
Speaker 6: Kelsey at the forty five yard line. No penalty flag,
Speaker 6: but the Bengals come up with an overtime interception and
Speaker 6: now could win the game on a field goal.
Speaker 2: Is the ball on display at your house? Do you
Speaker 2: have a framed picture of it. What does that moment
Speaker 2: mean to you?
Speaker 4: That moment means a lot. But you know, I never
Speaker 4: just want to live in the past. I live in
Speaker 4: the now. And there's a lot of memories been made,
Speaker 4: a lot of great ones, a lot with great people
Speaker 4: here in this locker room. But I'm still trying to
Speaker 4: still chasing it. And that's the mindset, is like what's
Speaker 4: the next objective? And Sunday is the next objective. And
Speaker 4: we got to go do the task at hand and
Speaker 4: go out there with my brothers, have fun and fly
Speaker 4: around and make players go be a electric atmosphere. You
Speaker 4: know who they are and we know who We always
Speaker 4: gotta go and showcase our talents.
Speaker 1: Is the ball on display something like that, something like
Speaker 1: that pictures everywhere, But you.
Speaker 4: Know, I just I look fast and have a tunnel
Speaker 4: vision and just keep on going.
Speaker 2: As a Bengal, you're three to one against Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 2: Do you think the Bengals match up uniquely well against
Speaker 2: Kansas City?
Speaker 4: I think so. I think it's a great matchup. We
Speaker 4: always get their best, They always got bess And when
Speaker 4: you're playing the best, everybody uprise their play and you
Speaker 4: feel the energy is electric and you just want to
Speaker 4: be in that moment when made the big play and
Speaker 4: God's just feeding off each other.
Speaker 1: So I think we match up. Well, we've got to
Speaker 1: go out there and do our job.
Speaker 2: They've added Xavier Worthy ran a four to forty at
Speaker 2: the Combine, a new record. How has that impacted trying
Speaker 2: to defend the Chiefs.
Speaker 4: I think we played fast guys before, and that's the
Speaker 4: life of the NFL. You know, I still don't think
Speaker 4: he got Tyreek Hill, but that's one of the fast
Speaker 4: guys I've ever seen a play, though. We'll go see
Speaker 4: on Sunday.
Speaker 2: That's a good point. Tyreek Kel was on that one
Speaker 2: team when you made the pick. In fact, the past
Speaker 2: was thrown for him. Last question. In late August, after
Speaker 2: he was cut by New England, the Chiefs signed Juju
Speaker 2: Smith Schuster. Obviously you two have a history.
Speaker 7: There's a pressure from the Bengals. Roethlis Porter, Juju Smith
Speaker 7: Schuster is blown up and the whistles blow. Bun Bell
Speaker 7: not messing around.
Speaker 2: You've played against him since the big hit on Monday
Speaker 2: Night Football? Is there communication? Is there a look exchanged?
Speaker 2: Have you ever mentioned it? What happens after a play
Speaker 2: like that, I.
Speaker 1: Think it's sorry sitting done, and he's got mutual speke
Speaker 1: for me. I haven't respect families.
Speaker 4: He's a guy out there playing receiver and I'm just
Speaker 4: going at the time do my job at.
Speaker 1: A high level. So there's no beef, but nothing. It's ball.
Speaker 2: We look forward to seeing you play ball on Sunday.
Speaker 2: Thanks so much for the time, best of luck.
Speaker 1: Just say thank you for having me.
Speaker 2: It's worth noting that since that fumble forcing hit in
Speaker 2: December of twenty twenty, Juju Smith Schuster no longer performs
Speaker 2: TikTok dances on the other team's logo before games. Patrick
Speaker 2: Mahomes has a fifteen and three record in postseason play,
Speaker 2: including three Super Bowl titles. The only quarterbacks to beat
Speaker 2: him in the playoffs are Tom Brady, who did it twice,
Speaker 2: and Joe Burrow. Burrow certainly wasn't bad last week, completing
Speaker 2: seventy two percent of his passes, and he threw two
Speaker 2: balls that could have been or should have been touchdowns.
Speaker 2: Mike Kasicki's TV catch was overturned on replay, and Tanner
Speaker 2: Hudson fumbled just before getting to the goal line. Having
Speaker 2: said that it wasn't vintage Burrow, and the scrutiny of
Speaker 2: his wrist has reached absurd levels, including analysis on social
Speaker 2: media of the way he lifted a water bottle while
Speaker 2: sitting on the bench. Joe has actually asked about it
Speaker 2: at a news conference on Wednesday.
Speaker 8: I picked it up, weird. Yes, I don't know I
Speaker 8: drank water. I can't say I've seen that or know
Speaker 8: what anybody's talking about. Yeah, that's always tough when you're
Speaker 8: coming back from injury, you haven't played in a while,
Speaker 8: you're not quite sure how it's gonna feel.
Speaker 9: That's part of it. Week one, nobody's panicking sat up
Speaker 9: here and said that before. Unfortunately we're in the same
Speaker 9: spot after week one, but we got another opportunity on Sunday,
Speaker 9: and we got fifteen more opportunities after that to go
Speaker 9: and get better and show what we're all about.
Speaker 10: So we're excited for that.
Speaker 2: Sunday's game begins at four to twenty five, meaning it
Speaker 2: will have a huge national TV audience, and the number
Speaker 2: one broadcasting crew for CBS will be on the call
Speaker 2: when the Bengals take out the Chiefs. We think of
Speaker 2: two names on the field, Burrow and Mahomes and two
Speaker 2: names in the booth, Nancy Remo, and we are delighted
Speaker 2: to be joined by the great Jim Nance.
Speaker 11: Jim.
Speaker 2: This will be the sixth time in a little more
Speaker 2: than three years that you guys have called the Bengals
Speaker 2: Chiefs game, and the previous ones have all been thrillers.
Speaker 2: Do you think the Bengals have a unique ability to
Speaker 2: go toe to toe with the two time defending Super
Speaker 2: Bowl champs?
Speaker 3: They definitely have. By the way, great to see you, Dan,
Speaker 3: Great to be with you again, Hello friend. I definitely
Speaker 3: feel that the Bengals know how to compete with the
Speaker 3: Chiefs better than anyone. Yeah, Roof is in all these results,
Speaker 3: we've had, all these field goal games, margins in the end,
Speaker 3: and even though everybody right now is shaking their head
Speaker 3: off of last week's performance against the Patriots, we just
Speaker 3: know that Zach Taylor, his staff and Joe and this
Speaker 3: team know how to go down to arrowhead, not be intimidated,
Speaker 3: and not only hang with them, but often win. So
Speaker 3: it's going to be something to.
Speaker 2: See every time we've had one of these conversations. I've
Speaker 2: asked you some question about Joe Burrow, so I'm trying
Speaker 2: to think of something new, and I'm going to put
Speaker 2: you on the spot. You are the greatest golf announcer
Speaker 2: of all time. So what golf legend comes to mind
Speaker 2: when you think of Joe Burrow.
Speaker 3: Well, I'm going to keep that one in the because
Speaker 3: we're going to count his days at Ohio State before
Speaker 3: it went down to Alice.
Speaker 11: You.
Speaker 3: We're going to keep it in the Buckeye family. But
Speaker 3: there are some that's an interesting question. By the way,
Speaker 3: I'm going to go with the Golden Bear, Jack Nicholas.
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm only going to go with the greatest
Speaker 3: of all time here, and by that, I'm not saying
Speaker 3: that Joe is the greatest of all time. You're talking
Speaker 3: about just in terms of the way he carries himself,
Speaker 3: goes about his business and everything. I do see that
Speaker 3: if I had to figure out a golf legend, because
Speaker 3: Joe is brilliantly smart, strategically brilliant as well when it
Speaker 3: comes to what he needs to do, where the ball
Speaker 3: needs to go, how to handle himself. He's fully prepared
Speaker 3: as Jack was. No one prepared harder than Jack Nicholas,
Speaker 3: and his execution is spot on also, So I'll go
Speaker 3: with Jack Nicholas. You know you think about Arnold Palmer. No,
Speaker 3: I don't see it there, the swash buckling Arnold Palmer. No,
Speaker 3: that might be more like a Mahomes type comparison. Gary Player.
Speaker 3: I'm going through the list of all the old greats,
Speaker 3: but I think Jack Nicholas is a good one. I'll
Speaker 3: give him Jack. I'm going to tell him. By the way,
Speaker 3: in the production meeting, I got asked this interesting question.
Speaker 3: I know he plays a little bit of golf, and
Speaker 3: hopefully he'll like that comparison.
Speaker 2: We're visiting with Jim Nantz. We're a week into the season.
Speaker 2: We reference the Bengals slow start. What are your question
Speaker 2: marks about the Bengals at this point?
Speaker 3: Just the outside game, you know how that's such an
Speaker 3: important part of the success of the Bengals, is being
Speaker 3: able to go vertical and have a threat from the outside.
Speaker 3: And with t being injured again and you know it's
Speaker 3: going to take a lot for him to come back
Speaker 3: from a hamstring after only one week, so I'm not
Speaker 3: counting on him. And Jamar, you know, can't quite be
Speaker 3: the Jamorrow. We know number one without Tea on the
Speaker 3: other side, Number two having missed a significant amount of
Speaker 3: camp and all this controversy up in the air. By
Speaker 3: the way, no Tyler Boyd either, So my biggest question
Speaker 3: with them is just the weaponry that is around Joe Burrow.
Speaker 3: And by the way, I didn't even mention Joe Mixon,
Speaker 3: So I mean, Joe certainly had a lot to still offer,
Speaker 3: as we saw last week with a great performance in
Speaker 3: a Texans uniform. So yeah, I guess the biggest questions
Speaker 3: I have right now going to this game is what's
Speaker 3: this offense going to look like? When are they going
Speaker 3: to start playing the brand of football that we've come
Speaker 3: to expect and appreciated watching a really exciting, dangerous team
Speaker 3: from any point on the field. Is that when is
Speaker 3: that going to be rekindled?
Speaker 2: Joe commands so much attention, and rightfully so for his
Speaker 2: great play at quarterback, But from these Bengals Chiefs games
Speaker 2: that you've done and thrilling finishes, is there a Bengals
Speaker 2: player that you think deserves more of the national spotlight
Speaker 2: than he gets?
Speaker 3: You know, Mike Hilton. We definitely have built him up
Speaker 3: through the ears, and he's certainly got some postseason recognition.
Speaker 3: I actually think the biggest Bengal that gets short changed
Speaker 3: a little bit in terms of credit is a guy
Speaker 3: that cares the least about the credit, and that's your
Speaker 3: head coach. He's just so comfortable being who he is,
Speaker 3: not having to have a light shone on him. I'm
Speaker 3: really blown away by the way he conducts himself. He's
Speaker 3: just first class and people don't rattle off his name
Speaker 3: as one of these young geniuses out there in the
Speaker 3: NFL as far as a head coach, but he is.
Speaker 3: I mean, he's done remarkable things. So I think the
Speaker 3: one person that deserves a little bit more fanfare about
Speaker 3: him would be Zach. I just I don't see him
Speaker 3: getting quite that upper echelon kind of mentioned, oh you
Speaker 3: got to talk about this guy, that guy, and he's
Speaker 3: not on that list. He's really built it. So maybe
Speaker 3: we need to do a better job of that starting
Speaker 3: this weekend when they come in here and give the
Speaker 3: Chiefs a great game right down to the wire. By
Speaker 3: the way, all these games that we've done, I know,
Speaker 3: the favorite one for the Bengal Faithful would be the
Speaker 3: AFC Championship game at Arrowhead. But the one that was
Speaker 3: the real eye opener for me was that at that
Speaker 3: point it was a seventeen week regular season and it
Speaker 3: was the win at the wire, win the division that year,
Speaker 3: that Super Bowl year, Brandon Allen had to come into
Speaker 3: the end. He goes, Joe got nicked on first or
Speaker 3: second down near the goal line, and you know, they
Speaker 3: used up the clock and took a couple of with
Speaker 3: a backup quarterback and then kick the winner. And that
Speaker 3: was the game where Chase went crazy, went over two
Speaker 3: hundred yards as a rookie, And that was probably my
Speaker 3: most the game I enjoyed the most. It was absolutely
Speaker 3: took your breath away watching one big play after another.
Speaker 2: You had a spectacular call in that game, Chase, there
Speaker 2: is no Chase. I love that as he was pulling
Speaker 2: away from seemingly everybody on the Chiefs roster. But I
Speaker 2: want to talk about what I consider to be one
Speaker 2: of your all time most iconic calls, and that came
Speaker 2: on Evan McPherson's game winning field goal that sent the
Speaker 2: Bengals to the Super Bowl. Just before the kick, you
Speaker 2: said this could be a sentence that a month ago
Speaker 2: would sound incomprehensible. What a great word to pull that
Speaker 2: one out. And then after the kick, Cincinnati is headed
Speaker 2: to the Super Bowl. Is there anything better in this
Speaker 2: job than having one of those moments and saying the
Speaker 2: right thing off the cuff.
Speaker 3: Well, we're always trying to you know, we make our
Speaker 3: living with our words. That's the toolkit we bring to
Speaker 3: work every day, and believe me, they don't always feel
Speaker 3: like they landed. You're trying, and I appreciate you resurrecting
Speaker 3: those words because I truly could not have quoted it
Speaker 3: word for word like that. But I do remember the
Speaker 3: excitement when that ball went through. I had no doubt
Speaker 3: he was going to make the kick, so I definitely
Speaker 3: would have recalled saying something about the unlikelihood of that moment.
Speaker 3: It's one of those things that it kind of was
Speaker 3: foreshadowing that he was already going to make the kick
Speaker 3: in a way, but it kind of all that I
Speaker 3: said in the preamble wouldn't have matched up with a
Speaker 3: block field goal, and it only really worked if he did,
Speaker 3: you know, he did the thing he was supposed to do,
Speaker 3: knock it through the uprights, and it just it kind
Speaker 3: of reminds me a little bit of when Tiger won
Speaker 3: the twenty nineteen He masters and I probably got a
Speaker 3: little ahead of myself because he still had you know,
Speaker 3: I still had like two and a half feet to win.
Speaker 3: And I said, it's kind of a stylistically in a
Speaker 3: similar way, I said, oh, you know something about paraphrasing.
Speaker 3: I know the last line. But all the talk, all
Speaker 3: the years, people wondered, would we ever see a moment
Speaker 3: like this. Well, now here it is laid out, knocked
Speaker 3: it in the center of a cup, which again the
Speaker 3: preamble was assuming there was going to be the payoff,
Speaker 3: and the payoff line, there was the return to glory,
Speaker 3: and it just it's like one sentence with a pause
Speaker 3: in between for the athlete to go, do what I'm
Speaker 3: expecting you're going to do, kick it through the uprights,
Speaker 3: knock it in from two and a half three feet,
Speaker 3: and then it works and it feels like you found
Speaker 3: a sweet spot. Trust me, it's not always that way.
Speaker 3: But thank you for quoting that, Dan, Thank you.
Speaker 2: I've got time for one last question. I better ask
Speaker 2: you one about the Chiefs. So they won their opener
Speaker 2: by a tell literally what impressed you by Kansas City
Speaker 2: About Kansas City on opening night.
Speaker 3: I think they could be better. I think they could
Speaker 3: be physically better than they were. I think That's almost
Speaker 3: a pretty easy argument to present because they have more
Speaker 3: speed and they don't even have Hollywood brown Back yet.
Speaker 3: He's going to be another big weapon. But we saw
Speaker 3: it with Worthy breaking Xavier Worthy the rookie scoring two touchdowns.
Speaker 3: They had nothing like that to call on last year.
Speaker 3: I mean, in fact, they won going through road games,
Speaker 3: you having to win at Buffalo and at Baltimore and Mahomes.
Speaker 3: Patrick really did not have anything on the outside that
Speaker 3: he could trust. You know, he had Kelsey work in
Speaker 3: the middle of the field, and every once in a
Speaker 3: while if he would catch it and if Eldz Scantling
Speaker 3: would would make something happen. Very occasionally. I've been only
Speaker 3: caught like thirty balls on the year. So now all
Speaker 3: of a sudden, Rashid Rice looks like a solid wide
Speaker 3: receiver one in this league, worthy as a threat anytime
Speaker 3: he steps on the field, and maybe their best receiver
Speaker 3: of all is going to set out the first four weeks.
Speaker 3: So they're better. Their offensive line is just fine, their
Speaker 3: defense has got another year of seasoning. They're dangerous. Now.
Speaker 3: It takes a lot more than just being the best
Speaker 3: physically gifted team to win, and you're going to have
Speaker 3: this story. They can handle it all year long. Going
Speaker 3: for the first ever three p that's a lot to bear,
Speaker 3: but so was last year going through the playoffs and
Speaker 3: having to win those road games. I mentioned. It's going
Speaker 3: to be a really fun team to watch.
Speaker 2: This Chad is always one of the highlights of my season.
Speaker 2: I can't thank you enough. Keep up the awesome work.
Speaker 2: We look forward to seeing your call on Sunday.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much. Great to be with you. I
Speaker 3: love our tradition, so thank you.
Speaker 2: It might not be a tradition unlike any other, but
Speaker 2: I truly appreciate Jim making time for me every year.
Speaker 2: The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by Paid Corps,
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Speaker 2: Alta Fiber future Proof Fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business,
Speaker 2: and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health
Speaker 2: the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is
Speaker 2: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now time for
Speaker 2: this week's Know the Faux Segment. Dana Hughes played wide
Speaker 2: receiver for the Chiefs for six years in the nineteen
Speaker 2: nineties and is currently the analyst on the radio broadcasts.
Speaker 2: He joined Dave Lapham and me this week on the
Speaker 2: Bengals Game Plan Show. I want to start with this.
Speaker 2: The Chiefs were able to keep the core of the
Speaker 2: two time defending Super Bowl champion roster and they have
Speaker 2: added some great players in wide receiver Xavier Worthy and
Speaker 2: Hollywood Brown. This scares me to ask, but do you
Speaker 2: think the Chiefs are actually improved in twenty twenty five?
Speaker 11: Yeah, you know what, Thanks for having me, guys. This
Speaker 11: is gonna be an epic week. Obviously, this matchup a
Speaker 11: rivalry and a lot of respects. But you know, as
Speaker 11: far as the makeup of this team, I think it
Speaker 11: potentially has the ability to do so. I mean last
Speaker 11: year going eleven and six, with the drops that we experienced,
Speaker 11: the losses that we had, a lot of people say
Speaker 11: that that wasn't even our best version of the Chiefs
Speaker 11: in these three super Bowl runs. So like, I feel
Speaker 11: like this organization, Brett Beach, Andy Reid has done a
Speaker 11: dynamic job of always filling in the gaps. And if
Speaker 11: you go back to even when Tyreek Hill was here
Speaker 11: and then we traded him away and got all the
Speaker 11: draft picks for him, there was like addition by subtraction,
Speaker 11: and that may be the case even now with the
Speaker 11: construction of this offense, specifically Hollywood Brown, I not play
Speaker 11: this week, still nursing that shoulder injury. At the same time,
Speaker 11: what we saw in week one from the other task
Speaker 11: of receivers gives us a lot of hope here in
Speaker 11: Kansas City and a lot of optimism. So is it
Speaker 11: a better version? Tom will tell But I like what
Speaker 11: we look like right now, Well, I'll tell you.
Speaker 10: Patrick Mahomes obviously is the straw that sers that drink.
Speaker 10: Always hasn't been, always will be in the in the
Speaker 10: opening victory in the fourth quarter, had a perfect quarterback
Speaker 10: rating five for five sixty eight yards average, thirteen point
Speaker 10: six per completion, touchdown pass, no interceptions, a perfect fourth quarter.
Speaker 10: He seems to play big in the biggest moments of
Speaker 10: football games. He does it all the time, doesn't he.
Speaker 11: Well, the challenge is that I want to say, maybe
Speaker 11: the last time he didn't was in the AFT Championship
Speaker 11: against you guys, So like that's but having to go
Speaker 11: that far backwards is encouraging as a Chiefs fan. And
Speaker 11: you're right, like pressure buss pipes. But Patrick Mahomes doesn't
Speaker 11: feel that same kind of pressure. And I think, you know,
Speaker 11: when you're a leader like that, your attitude, that aura
Speaker 11: kind of permeates through the entire team, not just the
Speaker 11: offensive huddle. So I feel like if you ask players,
Speaker 11: and I'm in the locker room after the games, I'm
Speaker 11: asking questions, interviewing guys wins or losses, and to a
Speaker 11: man like you can see kind of an even keel mindset.
Speaker 11: They're just kind of you know, you know, we didn't
Speaker 11: play out best and we lost. We played really good
Speaker 11: and we played it good enough to win. And it's
Speaker 11: never the highs and lows. You never walk in there
Speaker 11: and hear anybody screaming at each other. You never see
Speaker 11: any face to face altercations. I've been in that locker room.
Speaker 11: I've played for six years here in Kansas City. I
Speaker 11: can tell you from experience there's been times where guys
Speaker 11: had to be separated back in those days in the nineties,
Speaker 11: and you don't ever see that. I think that's why
Speaker 11: this team can remain balanced and remain strong is because
Speaker 11: their leadership, even from the top. I heard the story
Speaker 11: about Travis Kelce. I want to say it was Xavier
Speaker 11: Worthy that was sitting by himself in OTA's and lunch,
Speaker 11: and Travis Kelsey and Patrick Mahomes just came over and
Speaker 11: sat with him by himself. And you know that's not normal.
Speaker 11: That's not normal behavior for veterans in regards to not
Speaker 11: hazing or embracing young guys. But they have a bigger
Speaker 11: picture of mine. I want to say that the leadership
Speaker 11: is the main cause of that. These guys understand the
Speaker 11: task at hand. They were talking about it before they
Speaker 11: even touched the trophy in Las Vegas, that it was
Speaker 11: about the three pet and they're doing everything they can
Speaker 11: control to get there.
Speaker 2: Chiefs radio analyst Dan and Hughes is our guest in
Speaker 2: this salary cap era, when you've got one of the
Speaker 2: highest paid quarterbacks, it's impossible to keep everybody, and the
Speaker 2: Chiefs were not able to keep a great corner and
Speaker 2: lugarious sneak. How do you feel about the Chief's secondary
Speaker 2: having lost one of the best cover corners in the league.
Speaker 11: Yeah, that was a big loss. And I'm not in
Speaker 11: the point of saying that it's an audition by subtraction yet,
Speaker 11: but I will say that what we've done in previous
Speaker 11: years got us to this point where you can feel
Speaker 11: some comfort in regards to the depth at the defensive
Speaker 11: back position. When you lose Lagarious Need, but you have
Speaker 11: Joshua Williams and Jalen Watson who have had ample playing
Speaker 11: time in the last previous two years and two Super
Speaker 11: Bowl runs. You feel comfortable. Now, do you feel like
Speaker 11: one side of the field is locked down? No, but
Speaker 11: you do feel comfortable. And if we can get we
Speaker 11: know the key to every coverage is a pass rush,
Speaker 11: and if you can get around the body of opposing quarterbacks,
Speaker 11: We've got like George Carl Loftus and Chris Jones and
Speaker 11: Mike Danna, and then when you know we get guys
Speaker 11: back off the shelf, we've been Steve's Nolo has drawn
Speaker 11: up a great, great defense the complement on offense. There's
Speaker 11: confidence there. So I don't think you can say in
Speaker 11: week two that you've successfully filled the shoes of a
Speaker 11: Jerious Need. But I think what you can say at
Speaker 11: this point is that you're comfortable with the depth that
Speaker 11: you had. Jayden Hicks, a draft pick this year, has
Speaker 11: really shown something in regards to the depth at the
Speaker 11: safety position. Shamari Connor is the guy that really played
Speaker 11: strongly last year his rookie campaign. So like the depth
Speaker 11: is there, the shutdown angle, I'm not sure yet.
Speaker 10: Let me ask you about Worthy. Worthy is obviously a
Speaker 10: blur for fastest sever recorded combine. I mean, he joins
Speaker 10: five other players. They have a touchdown receiving and a
Speaker 10: touchdown rushing in their career debut in the National Football
Speaker 10: League history, one of six guys. And when he turned
Speaker 10: the corner, when he played on his foot and cut
Speaker 10: up the kilt, it looks like everybody else was in concrete. Man,
Speaker 10: he was unbelievable.
Speaker 3: Unbelievable.
Speaker 11: Yeah, I mean Andy Reid, I call him a mad
Speaker 11: scientist of offense. He just sits back and you can
Speaker 11: imagine in late nights, the creativity, the juice is flowing,
Speaker 11: the wheels turning in his head about how he can
Speaker 11: make this offense better and how he can make players
Speaker 11: dynamic and force success upon them. And that's what you
Speaker 11: get with Xavier Worthy. Four two to one speed. Now,
Speaker 11: if you just line him up on the outside of
Speaker 11: the numbers and just say, okay, run these routes, you're
Speaker 11: not necessarily going to get the best effect or the
Speaker 11: best success from that. So what do you do you
Speaker 11: move him in motion so he doesn't have bump and
Speaker 11: run coverage. You get him in space, you run him
Speaker 11: out of the slot, you run jet sweeps. Now teams
Speaker 11: have to have to be justified in respecting the jet sweep.
Speaker 11: What's that going to do for other receivers like Rashid
Speaker 11: Rice running that play action off of that, So like
Speaker 11: it's all part of the process. And Andy Reid is
Speaker 11: one of the best, if not the best, to ever
Speaker 11: garner a headset for an offense, and like that speed
Speaker 11: is killer and can you only imagine what it's going
Speaker 11: to look like when Hollywood Brown is a part of
Speaker 11: the offense and back healthy. He's like those two complimenting
Speaker 11: each other. And then where she Rice and Travis Kelcey
Speaker 11: running the crossing routes, the shallow crosses, the pick routes,
Speaker 11: et cetera. As long as we can protect up front,
Speaker 11: Like I like our offense and how it compliments everything
Speaker 11: about our team.
Speaker 2: Hollywood didn't practice today. Do you think it's unlikely that
Speaker 2: he will play on Sunday?
Speaker 11: I feel like it's unlikely. I mean, if we're talking
Speaker 11: about Wednesday practice. You know, if I was a betting person,
Speaker 11: which I'm not. You just have to feel like if
Speaker 11: you've been injured for a long period of time and
Speaker 11: you've missed a couple of games, you missed preseason games.
Speaker 11: We had kind of a a semi bye week this
Speaker 11: past week because we played on Thursday night, and you're
Speaker 11: still not healthy. We go to Atlanta next week. I
Speaker 11: feel like, if he's not full speed and ready to
Speaker 11: go through the dog days of practices on Wednesday and Thursday,
Speaker 11: then I'm not sure that you would throw him to
Speaker 11: the Wolves on Sunday, especially against a team like the
Speaker 11: Cincinnati Bengals. So if I was a guessing person, a
Speaker 11: betting person, I would say it would be it would
Speaker 11: be not possible that he would be out there and playing.
Speaker 10: We mentioned him, mentioned him briefly, Chris Jones, and as
Speaker 10: a former offensive lineman. Anytime the Chiefs are an opponent,
Speaker 10: I'm like, oh my god, Chris Jones, this guy, you know,
Speaker 10: he and Aaron Donald. It was like one one A
Speaker 10: and I actually had him one in Aaron Donald one A.
Speaker 10: I think Chris Jones is a beast in every sense
Speaker 10: of the word. And I mean you have to have
Speaker 10: four hands and four eyes on him. You have to
Speaker 10: locate him. It's like when you come to the line
Speaker 10: of scrimmage, a quarterback is looking for you know, keys
Speaker 10: for coverage. Lineman and quarterback have to find him and
Speaker 10: they got to make sure that he's taken care of.
Speaker 10: And is he still doing the same stuff. Is he
Speaker 10: going up and down the line of scrimmage without any
Speaker 10: kind of pattern to rhyme or reason, looking for the
Speaker 10: biggest fish.
Speaker 11: Yeah, that's what I was just about to mention, is
Speaker 11: the versatility of Chris Jones. I think that's to me
Speaker 11: what stands out about him. Yes, his motor is great,
Speaker 11: he's dominant one on one. I feel sorry for the
Speaker 11: offensive lineman, but now when you move him from over
Speaker 11: the nose to the tackle to a wide seven or
Speaker 11: nine technique against the isolated tackle, like you create problems
Speaker 11: at the line of scrimmage. And it's not like we're
Speaker 11: breaking the huddle and he's lining up exactly where he's
Speaker 11: going to be. Like there were there were times in
Speaker 11: the last game if you watched it, where he was
Speaker 11: moving when the quarterback was under center. And now the
Speaker 11: whole protection as you know better than I do, to
Speaker 11: identifying guys and protection and now all of a sudden
Speaker 11: he's not where he was, that can create a problem.
Speaker 11: So like, yeah, the teams that are gonna be you know,
Speaker 11: have any semblance of success or at least try to
Speaker 11: have success against him, are going to be teams that
Speaker 11: are gonna have to break the huddle with fourteen fifteen
Speaker 11: seconds left on the playclock, you know, change up the
Speaker 11: tempo and tone up their offense, go quick run tempo,
Speaker 11: no huddle, et cetera. And then have him more isolated,
Speaker 11: because if you allow him to break the huddle and
Speaker 11: sit there and maneuver, change positions, etc. As the clock
Speaker 11: lines down and you get predictable. As a team that's
Speaker 11: a going to snap the ball inside five seconds, it's
Speaker 11: got to be a long day for your quarterback and
Speaker 11: your offense. So yeah, Chris Jones, as long as he
Speaker 11: stays healthy, I believe he's one. Now that Aaron Donald
Speaker 11: is not in the league, and he's he's embraced it,
Speaker 11: like he embraces that leadership role. He embraces the fact
Speaker 11: that he knows all eyes are going to be on
Speaker 11: him all game long, and that's what you need from
Speaker 11: dominance on defense as a guy that's going to say
Speaker 11: I'm the star of this defense. I'm gonna I know,
Speaker 11: I'm going to get the attention and I'm willing to
Speaker 11: step up and make the plays or suck up some
Speaker 11: of the blockers. So guys like George cal Offtis and
Speaker 11: Mike Danna and other guys blitz packages without VBS. We're
Speaker 11: able to get home as well. So a lot of
Speaker 11: confusion is created because of that dominance of Chris Jones.
Speaker 2: Our thanks to Dana and Hughes. And here's a quick
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