Speaker 1: Hike and everybody on Dan Horde and this is the
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth podcast. The Welcome Back, Welcome Back, Welcome Back addition,
Speaker 1: as the Bengals return from their bye weekend to host
Speaker 1: the first Place Baltimore Ravens. In case you didn't recognize
Speaker 1: the tune, it was part of the theme song from
Speaker 1: the nineteen seventies TV show Welcome Back, Cotter, Good Lord,
Speaker 1: I'm Old Coming Up. I'll be joined by my broadcast
Speaker 1: partner Dave Lapham as well discussed the challenge Ryan Finley
Speaker 1: will face in his first NFL start. A Ravens quarterback
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson is changing the NFL, and Lapp will share
Speaker 1: some great stories about his friend and former teammate Jim Leclair,
Speaker 1: who passed away this week at the age of sixty nine.
Speaker 1: A locker room conversation is with wide receiver Alex Ericson.
Speaker 1: He'll share his impressions of his new starting quarterback, what
Speaker 1: aj Green's return will mean to the team whenever that happens,
Speaker 1: and I'll ask Alex if he should be the guy
Speaker 1: pretending to be Lamar Jackson at practice this week. And
Speaker 1: in this week's Know the Faux segment, we'll get the
Speaker 1: lowdown on the Ravens from Baltimore reporter Luke Jones. All
Speaker 1: of that is straight ahead, but first, here's a quick
Speaker 1: reminder that you can have the latest edition of this
Speaker 1: podcast delivered write to your phone, tablet, or computer by
Speaker 1: subscribing on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, or pod Bean.
Speaker 1: It's the greatest thing since The Office. I did not
Speaker 1: regularly watch The Office when it was on TV, but
Speaker 1: I've been catching up on flights and in hotel rooms
Speaker 1: on Netflix, and well you already know this, but it's awesome.
Speaker 1: I just wish I had enough time to watch every episode,
Speaker 1: but with my current schedule, it's really hard. That's what
Speaker 1: she said. Now, let's get to football time for this
Speaker 1: week's conversation with Dave Lapham, and we kept it a
Speaker 1: little bit shorter this week because, as you will hear,
Speaker 1: Lapp has been battling a pretty significant cold. One quick note,
Speaker 1: we recorded this on Wednesday before practice, when all signs
Speaker 1: pointed to the return of AJ Green. Then he reportedly
Speaker 1: experienced swelling in his ankle after a morning walkthrough and
Speaker 1: did not participate in practice. So as of now, aj
Speaker 1: status for Sunday's game is TBD. The Bengals could obviously
Speaker 1: use him as they looked for their first win of
Speaker 1: the season after an O and eighth start, a scenario
Speaker 1: that Dave Lapham can identify with. As we mentioned before,
Speaker 1: you are on a team back in nineteen seventy eight
Speaker 1: that started O and eight. You beat Houston in week nine,
Speaker 1: twenty eight to thirteen. That Houston team went ten and
Speaker 1: six and made it to the AFC Championship Game that year.
Speaker 1: Do you remember how that win felt. I do remember that.
Speaker 1: It almost felt like a playoff win, you know. I
Speaker 1: mean it had that kind of that kind of a
Speaker 1: relief moment to it. You know, it's finally like all
Speaker 1: this work finally paid off. You know, you can liken
Speaker 1: it to uh, you're a salesperson and you go two
Speaker 1: months without a sale and you're a straight commission salesman
Speaker 1: and the covers are getting there. You know, it's like
Speaker 1: you're not getting any you're not getting any any buzz
Speaker 1: for your work. There's no payback, and so it just
Speaker 1: it just felt like that. I remember how euphoric the
Speaker 1: locker room was, you know, it was. It was a huge,
Speaker 1: huge relief that was a good football team that Houston
Speaker 1: Moor football team was a daring good football team, so
Speaker 1: you know, we knew just like this team. I mean
Speaker 1: there's a lot of similarities. I mean, we played Houston
Speaker 1: a lot, they played Baltimore a lot. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of similarities there. So I mean, if they could, if
Speaker 1: the Bengals could knock off the Baltimore Ravens after they
Speaker 1: knocked off the undefeated New England Patriots, you got to
Speaker 1: think there's gonna be a little bit of Baltimore looking
Speaker 1: past the Cincinnati Bengals in this football game after what
Speaker 1: they did against New England's human nature, And if the
Speaker 1: Bengals can trap them, you know, load the trap and
Speaker 1: spring the trap on them, that would beat That would
Speaker 1: be a big, big win, a division win, because Dan
Speaker 1: they're won in seven in the last eight division games.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's they got to start competing a little
Speaker 1: bit better than that in the division lap. We don't
Speaker 1: know if Andy Dalton will play quarterback again for the Bengals.
Speaker 1: If the Dalton era is over after eight and a
Speaker 1: half years, how should it be remembered? You know, I
Speaker 1: think the fans are going to have some mixed memories
Speaker 1: of it because of the lack of a playoff win,
Speaker 1: but boy, to go to the playoffs five straight times,
Speaker 1: that's a franchise record. And you know, the average like
Speaker 1: ten wins a season during that time frame is as
Speaker 1: long a period of success as the franchise has ever enjoyed. So,
Speaker 1: I mean, Andy Dalton is responsible, a big should take
Speaker 1: a big shoulder a big part of that responsibility for
Speaker 1: that success. There's no question about it, Andy Dalton and
Speaker 1: AJ Green, that era was was prolific, you know, in
Speaker 1: the regular season from by club standards in terms of record.
Speaker 1: But again, unfortunately, you know, not having a playoff here.
Speaker 1: If they just could have come up with, you know,
Speaker 1: with a playoff wins somewhere along that that five year stretch,
Speaker 1: it would be remembered, I think, a lot differently than
Speaker 1: it'll probably be remembered now, no question about it. It's
Speaker 1: been a trying first year for Zach Taylor, to say
Speaker 1: the least. Are there any really obvious lessons that you
Speaker 1: think he can take from this year? You know, I
Speaker 1: know today's NFL and there's only so many things you
Speaker 1: can do by collective bargain agreement and protecting players and
Speaker 1: all that sort of thing. But I just think that.
Speaker 1: You know, I never saw nine on seven. You know,
Speaker 1: I never saw anything really really physical, you know, in
Speaker 1: training camp or practices, and I know once the season starts,
Speaker 1: you can't really do anything in practice. You can only
Speaker 1: have I think it's what seventeen padded practices for the season,
Speaker 1: maybe one a week if you're lucky. But I think
Speaker 1: in training camp, and I'm not saying beat them to death.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying, old man, get off my long kind
Speaker 1: of stuff. You know, beat these guys up and go
Speaker 1: back to the old school way of doing it. But
Speaker 1: I think I think maybe just a little bit more physicality,
Speaker 1: because it seems like in the beginning, especially, they were
Speaker 1: almost surprised by the tempo and speed of the game
Speaker 1: and the physicality of the game in the early stages
Speaker 1: of the season. Now you're just to it as the
Speaker 1: season wears on, and it's hard to practice harder as
Speaker 1: the season wears on. But maybe in the earlier stages
Speaker 1: of it, as you're getting ready for the regular season,
Speaker 1: because I mean I experienced it preseasons one. Speed, regular
Speaker 1: season ratcheted up, playoffs ratcheted up big time. And there's
Speaker 1: no question I think everybody would agree with that. So
Speaker 1: while you're in that infancy stage of you know, the
Speaker 1: tempo and the physicality of it in the preseason, I
Speaker 1: think maybe a little bit more physicality in the practice
Speaker 1: to get them ready for the early stages of the
Speaker 1: regular seas and might be something to think about. But
Speaker 1: in today's football, you know, I understand how everybody's going.
Speaker 1: And I know even in the back in the day,
Speaker 1: Bill Walts when he had those great teams with the
Speaker 1: forty nine or forty nine er players, told me they
Speaker 1: never wore shoulder pads once training camp broke. They never
Speaker 1: had a padded practice and they went out there and
Speaker 1: kick some tail. So you know, you can you can
Speaker 1: find cases. You can be Perry Mason and find precedent
Speaker 1: cases for just about anything you want to make. But
Speaker 1: I do think that you know, not tackling. I'm not
Speaker 1: saying tackle guys have one on one nutcracker drills. I'm
Speaker 1: not saying that kind of stuff. But I'm saying maybe
Speaker 1: just a little bit more thumb lap. We've got our
Speaker 1: fingers crossed that d aj Green will make his twenty
Speaker 1: nineteen debut this week. Aj missed seven of the last
Speaker 1: eight games last year, and the first eight this year,
Speaker 1: so he's basically missed a full season. The Bengals are
Speaker 1: one in fifteen in those games before he got hurt.
Speaker 1: Last year, they were five in three. Can he make
Speaker 1: that much of a difference when he returns this year.
Speaker 1: I think he can. I mean, I think he's the
Speaker 1: king Domino. When AJ Green's out in the football field,
Speaker 1: it reconfigures coverage, Chilt's coverage differently. It's going to make
Speaker 1: life easier for Tyler Boyd. It's going to make life
Speaker 1: easier for everybody else. He's gonna draw double teams. There's
Speaker 1: going to be space for others to take advantage of.
Speaker 1: He's going to empty the box out. There'll be one
Speaker 1: less guy in the box for the offensive line to
Speaker 1: worry about, Joe Mixon to worry about. Running lanes will improve.
Speaker 1: The ripple effect of AJ Green is huge, both up
Speaker 1: and down ripple effect. It's big big. I want to
Speaker 1: bring up something that your former teammate Chris Collinsworth said
Speaker 1: on Sunday Night Football last week. He said, quote, this
Speaker 1: is one of those moments in time where we're going
Speaker 1: to think back in a few years and go remember
Speaker 1: the night that Lamar Jackson and the Ravens style of
Speaker 1: offense took apart the Patriots. We're going to be able
Speaker 1: to point to quarterbacks in the National Football League that
Speaker 1: got a chance because of this night. That was the
Speaker 1: end of the Collin's Worth quote. Is Lamar Jackson opening
Speaker 1: the door for a different style of quarterback. It's not
Speaker 1: a real big door because not many people can run
Speaker 1: like Lamar Jackson. I mean, you know, if you can
Speaker 1: find guys they run a four, three five, they can play,
Speaker 1: you know, a quarterback well enough in the National Football League.
Speaker 1: That doesn't take long to call that role, you know.
Speaker 1: I mean, he is so unique. The dude, in my
Speaker 1: mind is a running back because he can make you
Speaker 1: miss in a short space and he can run away
Speaker 1: from you. Who can throw a little bit. It's not
Speaker 1: a quarterback, you know, they can throw a real well,
Speaker 1: they can run a little bit. He's the reverse of
Speaker 1: the norm. And that guy is so rare. And the
Speaker 1: thing about him is is, you know, people are like,
Speaker 1: you know, do you think it'll last? I mean, how
Speaker 1: how long can he can he go? Because of his elusiveness,
Speaker 1: he doesn't take flush hits, you know, he makes he
Speaker 1: makes them glancing blows and he's smart enough. He'll go
Speaker 1: to the ground, he'll go out of bounce. He doesn't
Speaker 1: lower his shoulder and try to run people over. He
Speaker 1: will run between the tackles. But he's clever enough to
Speaker 1: make it, you know, instead of just a direct hit
Speaker 1: right down the middle. I mentioned this a few times.
Speaker 1: Reminds me of James Brooks when I talk to him.
Speaker 1: You know, everybody's like JB. Everybody's like, how long are
Speaker 1: you gonna last? Running the way you run the football?
Speaker 1: He said, because man, I make it a glancing blow.
Speaker 1: If they take a direct hit at me, it's all
Speaker 1: on me. It's my bad. God bless me with these
Speaker 1: abilities to make them glancing blows. And I'm gonna make
Speaker 1: every one of them. I can a glancing blow. And
Speaker 1: you know, Frank Or even with his running style, he
Speaker 1: has a way of right at the very end, just
Speaker 1: moving a little bit where it's not a direct smoke hit.
Speaker 1: It's more of a glancing blow. That's why he's last
Speaker 1: as long as he has. Plus, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: luck involved. The Bengals face the most blitz happy defensive
Speaker 1: coordinator in the NFL on Sunday in Baltimore's Don Wink Martindale,
Speaker 1: a former UC assistant coach back in the Rick minter days.
Speaker 1: What is the formula for success for a rookie quarterback
Speaker 1: Ryan Finlay in his debut against that defense? Well, you know,
Speaker 1: all up the blitzpeeders, you know, I mean, because Wink
Speaker 1: Martindale is going to bring it. He's going to bring
Speaker 1: one more than you can block. I mean he's brought
Speaker 1: it a little over fifty percent of the time on
Speaker 1: the season, he blitz the heck out of Brady. So
Speaker 1: if he blitzs the heck out of Brady, what is
Speaker 1: he going to do it? Or a rookie with his
Speaker 1: first NFL start, Gosh, it might be you know, sixty
Speaker 1: five percent of the time, and a lot of times
Speaker 1: he just has only two defensive linemen and two point stance.
Speaker 1: Everybody is up into three point stance. Excuse me, everybody
Speaker 1: else is into two point stance, milling around and I'll
Speaker 1: have seven, eight, nine, ten, even eleven guys with the
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage and trying to identify who's coming and
Speaker 1: who's not. And you know they wait at the very
Speaker 1: last second until you call your final protection, and then
Speaker 1: they try to bring one more than you can block
Speaker 1: on the opposite side. It's it's very, very difficult. So
Speaker 1: communication is going to be real big. When he changed
Speaker 1: his protections, which he's gonna have to do, Trey Hopkins
Speaker 1: is going to call a protection. He's gonna have to
Speaker 1: change it to have to be able to communicate that
Speaker 1: and his receivers is gonna have to be on the
Speaker 1: same page of him. Was side just blitzpeaters with routes
Speaker 1: And that's what A. J. Green and Andy Dalton did
Speaker 1: so well Thursday nine, a year ago when they made
Speaker 1: Don Wink Martin deal Blink and he stopped blitzen for
Speaker 1: about thirty thirty five plays. They were killing him on
Speaker 1: side of just slants and quick slants and just blitzpeaters
Speaker 1: and beat him to death. Last thing, you lost a
Speaker 1: friend and a former teammate this week with the passing
Speaker 1: of former Pro Bowl linebacker Jim Leclair. When the Bengals
Speaker 1: named their top fifty retired players a couple of years
Speaker 1: ago in their fiftieth season, he checked in at number
Speaker 1: thirty three. Jim went back to North Dakota after his
Speaker 1: playing days. He became a mayor. What do you remember
Speaker 1: most vividly about Jim Leclair. We were just talking about thumb.
Speaker 1: That's what I remember about Jim Mclair thump. I had
Speaker 1: my first quote episode, you know. Was it a concussion.
Speaker 1: I don't know if it was a concussion, but I
Speaker 1: know I saw a big flash of lights and I
Speaker 1: couldn't walk a straight line. And I remember and that
Speaker 1: was my very first practice at training camp. I was
Speaker 1: working with Stan Walters, the SS Walters Stanley Steamer out
Speaker 1: of Syracuse. I was playing guard, he was playing tackle.
Speaker 1: We were running a little live drill against defensive linemen
Speaker 1: and linebacker are like a nine on seven type thing.
Speaker 1: And I came off a double team on the down
Speaker 1: linement and I tried to kind of like checking peekaboo
Speaker 1: a little bit where Jim Leclair was. That dude had
Speaker 1: the most fierce forearm I've ever felt. Man. He hit
Speaker 1: me square right in the forehead and shortened my neck,
Speaker 1: and I was, oh, I was buzzing long distance phone
Speaker 1: call nobody on the other end. Man. And I come
Speaker 1: walking back to the staggering back to the hud a
Speaker 1: little bit and Stan LOOKSIMI goes, hey, one thing I
Speaker 1: gotta tell you, rook. He says, that guy fifty five,
Speaker 1: Jacques Leclair, don't be peeking for him. You gotta bring it.
Speaker 1: You can't come out that double team unless you bring it.
Speaker 1: Us I already I just figured that out. That dude
Speaker 1: would hit you. And I remember. The big thing is
Speaker 1: they had Victor, the wrestling bear that traveled around to
Speaker 1: all the cities, and Jim Leclair was a heavyweight wrestling
Speaker 1: and Jim Leclair Russell's Victor and was shooting his leg
Speaker 1: you know, I mean, taking him down. I mean it
Speaker 1: was an unbelievable performance. And the handler or Victor called
Speaker 1: it off because Victor was undefeated and he was a
Speaker 1: little worried about Leclair and Victor. He got Victor down
Speaker 1: on his back and uh and Victor had this big,
Speaker 1: long tongue. They muzzled him and they declawed him, but
Speaker 1: his tongue came out of there and wrapped around Jimmy's head.
Speaker 1: And it's like, oh, so, I said, what was the
Speaker 1: worst part of Victor goes? Man, that tongue stunk. That
Speaker 1: tongue stunk like a garbage truck man, he goes and
Speaker 1: I couldn't get that thing off my head. But I'm
Speaker 1: telling you, man, Jimmy Jimy Leclair would he would hit
Speaker 1: you in the running game, and played with him with
Speaker 1: the Generals too. We both went to the Generals and
Speaker 1: what Michael's you know, named him captain to his defense,
Speaker 1: he was captain here. He was definitely a leader of men,
Speaker 1: big broad coat, hanger shoulders man and just a physical,
Speaker 1: physical football player who you know, brought it every single snap.
Speaker 1: And he and his wife Betty were pretty good friends
Speaker 1: of Lennon. Are Lennon mine and we're both we're both
Speaker 1: grieving that one because I remember Betty telling us that
Speaker 1: this was a while back, that she kept having to
Speaker 1: reintroduce herself to Jim, which you know, it's heartbreaking when
Speaker 1: somebody'd been with your whole life, you know, the partner
Speaker 1: doesn't recognize you anymore. That has to be a tough
Speaker 1: thing to deal with. So I hope Jim's in a
Speaker 1: better place now. I know he is, and he's probably
Speaker 1: organizing a game of nine on seven up there as
Speaker 1: we speak. Fourth round draft pick Ryan Finley will make
Speaker 1: his first NFL started quarterback this Sunday, and here's hoping
Speaker 1: he is as impressive as he was in the preseason.
Speaker 1: In the opener of Kansas City, Finley completed his first
Speaker 1: ten passes. The following week at Washington, he completed his
Speaker 1: first nine. Overall. In three preseason games, Ryan completed seventy
Speaker 1: three percent of his throws, with three touchdown passes, one
Speaker 1: I NT and a passer rating of ninety nine Think three.
Speaker 1: Alex Riksson was on the receiving end of several of
Speaker 1: those preseason throws, and I spoke to the Bengals wide
Speaker 1: receiver this week. We are in the locker room with
Speaker 1: Bengals wide receiver Alex ericson how did you spend your
Speaker 1: bye weekend? Well, I went back to Sonny, Wisconsin and
Speaker 1: hung out with the family and spent some time to
Speaker 1: just being a dad and being a husband. I assume
Speaker 1: you're refreshed more physically or mentally. I'd say both pretty equal,
Speaker 1: you know what. I think the mental size just as
Speaker 1: important as the physical side, and I'll be able to
Speaker 1: refresh and get away from it and come back just
Speaker 1: refocused and finished the season and the way we want to.
Speaker 1: For visiting with Alex Rikson's who You're back at it?
Speaker 1: This week? With Ryan Finley getting set to make his
Speaker 1: first NFL started quarterback, what stood out to you when
Speaker 1: he played in the preseason. Yeah, Ryan's a competitor. He
Speaker 1: just got something about him that, you know, he makes
Speaker 1: plays when that doesn't look like there's gonna to play there.
Speaker 1: He's got good pocket presents and he does a good boss.
Speaker 1: We're excited for it. Um, you know, he's preparing hard.
Speaker 1: This is our you know, this is our first week
Speaker 1: with really a new quarterback a long time, so it's
Speaker 1: a lot of it's different, and um, we just got
Speaker 1: to do our part to help him out with communicating
Speaker 1: and being in the right spots and just make sure
Speaker 1: he feels comfortable with us as receivers. He's twenty four,
Speaker 1: he was in college for six years. Do you think
Speaker 1: that makes a difference. Yeah, I think so another year
Speaker 1: the mature and figure figure yourself out and U So yeah,
Speaker 1: I think that definitely definitely makes a difference. We don't
Speaker 1: know at this point if aj Green will be back,
Speaker 1: but it certainly looks promising for the other wide receivers.
Speaker 1: Describe what it means when he's out there. You know,
Speaker 1: he's our leader, he's our captain. Uh, He's a guy
Speaker 1: we've all leaned on since the first day we got here,
Speaker 1: and a guy that we've all watched and admired and
Speaker 1: really just so when he's out there, it's just, you know,
Speaker 1: it's exciting. It's another obviously Hall of fame receiver out there,
Speaker 1: you know. So it's not like you're just getting a
Speaker 1: guy back. You know, you're getting You're getting the guy
Speaker 1: and a guy that's had a lot of success in
Speaker 1: this league over a long time. And so yeah, it's
Speaker 1: I think it's he's a vital part of this team
Speaker 1: and when he's out there definitely makes a difference. The
Speaker 1: record obviously isn't good. He's coming back from an injury,
Speaker 1: gets a contract here, and I can imagine some wide
Speaker 1: receivers around the NFL or players in general that would
Speaker 1: shut it down. He has no intention of doing that.
Speaker 1: What does that mean to the other guys on the team.
Speaker 1: It means everything. It means he's here to fight with
Speaker 1: us through through the tough times and through the uncertain times,
Speaker 1: and knowing that he's putting all his his own agendas
Speaker 1: stuff away and just being a great teammate. And um,
Speaker 1: this is the way he is. The type of guy
Speaker 1: he is. He he hates missing time, he hates missing practice,
Speaker 1: he hates missing one rep, you know, and you can
Speaker 1: tell by the way practice he'll be flying around, he'll
Speaker 1: be running more than anybody. And so we know what
Speaker 1: type of guy is and it just kills him not
Speaker 1: to be out there. So I'm not surprised that he
Speaker 1: wants to be out there and help us, help us
Speaker 1: get our first one. A few more questions for alex
Speaker 1: ericson you faced the Ravens. You played them three games ago.
Speaker 1: This team blitzes as much as any team in the NFL.
Speaker 1: Does that impact your route running? Do you have to
Speaker 1: be more aware of a hot route or things like that?
Speaker 1: You know, I think it's just like you said, just
Speaker 1: being aware of the positions there and the leverages are
Speaker 1: in and you know idea and that you know when
Speaker 1: they're bringing the zero pressures that they're obviously gonna have
Speaker 1: one more than we can block, so you know the
Speaker 1: ball is gonna come out quicker and gotta be ready
Speaker 1: for a fifty fifty play sometimes. And yeah, I think,
Speaker 1: as you know, throughout the game, you just you get
Speaker 1: a feel for what they're trying to do, and we
Speaker 1: know their aggressive defense, so we'll be aware of it
Speaker 1: and be ready to you know, make them pay. When
Speaker 1: we catch them in a blitz. The defense has to
Speaker 1: contend with Lamar Jackson, who is likely to shatter the
Speaker 1: NFL record for rushing yards back quarterback this year. He's
Speaker 1: on a pace for nearly thirteen hundred. I was trying
Speaker 1: to think of how the defense could possibly prepare for
Speaker 1: the Lamar Jackson threat, and then it hit me, alex
Speaker 1: Erics great running quarterback in high school. Do you think
Speaker 1: the coaches would ever consider having you do some of
Speaker 1: Lamar Jackson stuff at practice? Can you do that when
Speaker 1: you're working on what you need to work on? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's tough, obviously the amount of reps and the volume
Speaker 1: you're getting practice, so you know it's it's probably not likely,
Speaker 1: but yeah, he's definitely. He's definitely a guy that is
Speaker 1: unique to prepare for. And his ability to run the
Speaker 1: football and his ability to make plays with the ball
Speaker 1: in his hands, and um, he's anique talent and you know,
Speaker 1: there's not been a ton of guys like him throughout
Speaker 1: the years of the NFL. And he's definitely put on
Speaker 1: a show. Last thing. Ravens quarterback Sam Cook claims to
Speaker 1: have thirteen versions of punts, a hook, a slice, a knuckler,
Speaker 1: a high one line drive. Whatever. Are his punts more
Speaker 1: difficult to catch than other guys, Well, he just got
Speaker 1: a variation of punts and he hides, he hides his
Speaker 1: direction and where he's punding it by doing different variations.
Speaker 1: So it's it's always he's always hard to read. You
Speaker 1: can't just go back. There are always punting left. Just
Speaker 1: line up left and be ready to catch it. You know.
Speaker 1: You know, like I said, it might come end over end,
Speaker 1: it might come a liner, he might hang it up,
Speaker 1: he might um. Yeah, So he definitely has a you know,
Speaker 1: he's one of the guys that has been doing this
Speaker 1: a long time and a guy that's really I probably
Speaker 1: changed a lot of punting in the NFL, the way
Speaker 1: guys are doing a whole bunch of different things with
Speaker 1: the ball now, and his control on the plus fifties
Speaker 1: short punts and his ability to pin us back there.
Speaker 1: So yeah, he's definitely a unique talent. It's always a
Speaker 1: challenge preparing for him, and you know, game day, you
Speaker 1: never know what you're gonna get. Do you know? He
Speaker 1: was Zach Taylor's college teammate. He's that old. I think
Speaker 1: I remember reading that last thing we played him a
Speaker 1: few weeks ago. Uh yeah, that's that's pretty crazy. Appreciate
Speaker 1: your time, best luck this week, thank you, not time
Speaker 1: for this week's no. The faux interview is we do
Speaker 1: a deep dive into the Bengals upcoming opponent. The storyline
Speaker 1: in Baltimore is that this might be the biggest trap
Speaker 1: game in NFL history, since the Ravens are coming off
Speaker 1: a win over the eight no Patriots before facing the
Speaker 1: O and eight Bengals. Baltimore is favored by ten and
Speaker 1: the Ravens have never lost when favored by double digits.
Speaker 1: They're thirty three and oh. Luke Jones covers the Baltimore
Speaker 1: Ravens and joined Lap and Wayne box Miller on the
Speaker 1: Bengals Game Plan Show. The first topic of conversation the
Speaker 1: possibility of Baltimore taking the Bengals lightly. Yeah. I mean
Speaker 1: they said all the right things this week. I know,
Speaker 1: Ravens cornerback Jimmy Smiths, who is one of the elder
Speaker 1: statesmen on this team, basically said, look, we just were
Speaker 1: coming off two really good wins. But if we go
Speaker 1: and lay an egg on Sunday, what does it really mean?
Speaker 1: And I think recent history you guys know very well,
Speaker 1: save four a couple years ago that season opener in Cincinnati,
Speaker 1: the Ravens haven't won there very often. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: been quite a while where the Bengals have really taken
Speaker 1: care of business at home against the Ravens. And I
Speaker 1: think the thing that helps them is also just a
Speaker 1: few weeks ago. Even though you look at the stat
Speaker 1: sheet from a yarded standpoint and look at the numbers,
Speaker 1: it was pretty heavy in favor of the Ravens, but
Speaker 1: it was a six point game, and certainly that that
Speaker 1: opening kickoff return for the touchdown. You'd like to think
Speaker 1: from the Ravens perspective that the Bengals coming in and
Speaker 1: playing the Ravens tough on the scoreboard anyway, that should
Speaker 1: be a big enough reminder. But you guys know this
Speaker 1: is a crazy league and Cincinnati, despite its record, you
Speaker 1: guys have been in a lot of close games. So
Speaker 1: I think a John Harball team, you know, a well
Speaker 1: coached football team like John Harball has year in and
Speaker 1: year out, the message is gonna be hit home many
Speaker 1: times over the course of this week, not to be
Speaker 1: taken anyone lightly, because you know this league can turn
Speaker 1: very quickly to your point on the yards Luke Florida
Speaker 1: ninety seven yards for the Ravens Jordan fifty. That's the
Speaker 1: season low for the Ravens defense holding an offense to
Speaker 1: joining fifty yards the time of possession thirty nine minutes
Speaker 1: and forty two seconds to twenty minutes and eighteen seconds.
Speaker 1: They basically doubled them up in yards and double them
Speaker 1: up in time of possession. I mean it is basically
Speaker 1: double them up in yards and double them up in
Speaker 1: time of possession. I mean it is remarkable. The reason
Speaker 1: it was a one score game is because of the
Speaker 1: unconventional score the kickoff return. It really wasn't. And the
Speaker 1: other thing I'll point out in that game, which I
Speaker 1: think you know, Bengals fans can maybe take a little
Speaker 1: bit of optimism with, is if you were calling that game,
Speaker 1: they did a nice job against mark Ingram and the
Speaker 1: Ravens between the tackles, running game for the first three quarters.
Speaker 1: It wasn't until that final quarter with the Ravens just
Speaker 1: kind of do what they did. They had I believe
Speaker 1: a nine minute drive in that fourth quarter ended in
Speaker 1: a Justin Tucker field goal. But as I say, weekend
Speaker 1: and week out with this Ravens offense, whatever you try
Speaker 1: to do, whether you try to take away the between
Speaker 1: the tackle stuff, whether you try to take Lamar Jackson
Speaker 1: away on the edge, although people can try to do
Speaker 1: that and I haven't seen too many teams be successful there,
Speaker 1: or if you just try to load up the box
Speaker 1: and make Lamar's throw. There's a hidden cost to any
Speaker 1: possible way you try to defend this offense. So as
Speaker 1: much as the Bengals did well between the tackles through
Speaker 1: the first three quarters, of course you see what Lamar
Speaker 1: Jackson did getting to the edge, and that's what just
Speaker 1: makes this offense so difficult to defend. But I'll say this,
Speaker 1: and this was a talking point with John Harball today,
Speaker 1: the Bengals have seen Lamar Jackson a couple times down.
Speaker 1: I think that's kind of the great question around the
Speaker 1: league in the big picture, as you see him in
Speaker 1: this offense more and more, I equated to baseball, where
Speaker 1: you have that one hundred mile per hour pitcher who
Speaker 1: also has a nasty slider. First couple times to get
Speaker 1: up to the plate, you're not gonna have a chance.
Speaker 1: Maybe a couple more times through the order, maybe you
Speaker 1: get a little better idea. But I think that's going
Speaker 1: to be a tall challenge for the Bengals. Well, let's
Speaker 1: hope you've done an approach to light coal from the
Speaker 1: Astrols did on and run he had this year in baseball?
Speaker 1: What about the Baltimore Faithful? Do they believe in Lamar Jackson? Now?
Speaker 1: Obviously there was a mixed emotion when he was drafted,
Speaker 1: and then last year, well he had some good games,
Speaker 1: it was just an aberration. Now he's playing at an
Speaker 1: MVP level for the most part. He had a couple
Speaker 1: of bad games against Cleveland and Pittsburgh, but the total
Speaker 1: body of work this year has been impressive. Do people
Speaker 1: really think now that he can deliver the goods at
Speaker 1: that position? I really think. I think you're seeing more
Speaker 1: and more and more believers every single week. I think
Speaker 1: there's still concern about his style of play as far
Speaker 1: as sustainability, and more so probably from a health standpoint.
Speaker 1: Although as you guys know, we've seen somebody quarterbacks get
Speaker 1: injured from the pocket. I think it's just the balls
Speaker 1: in your hand. There's a risk to be injured on
Speaker 1: any single play. I mean, we just know that about
Speaker 1: this game. But I think in terms of what he's doing.
Speaker 1: I think the intangibles. I think the fact that one
Speaker 1: of the big knocks on him last year was his
Speaker 1: ball security. He had at least one fumble in every
Speaker 1: single start. This year, he's been credited with four fumbles,
Speaker 1: but a couple of those are actually bad snaps. The
Speaker 1: quarterback just got credit for the fumble. He has not
Speaker 1: lost the fumble. He's only thrown five interceptions, so he's
Speaker 1: making plays while also valuing the football in terms of
Speaker 1: ball security, and that's really rare for young quarterbacks. Even
Speaker 1: Baker Mayfield last year he was a toast to the
Speaker 1: league as a rookie quarterback. He still threw a lot
Speaker 1: of interceptions. So I think people are believing more and more.
Speaker 1: And I'll just say this from an intangible standpoint, from
Speaker 1: an energy standpoint, this is as energetic and excited as
Speaker 1: this Stan base has been since the days of Ray
Speaker 1: Lewis and and Edgared. No disrespect to Joe Flacco or
Speaker 1: some other veterans boot one in recent years, but just
Speaker 1: the smart at the face of the franchise that Lamar
Speaker 1: is rapidly becoming. I just haven't seen that really with
Speaker 1: the Ravens with any offensive player they've ever had. I mean,
Speaker 1: this has been a defense first down and it just
Speaker 1: he just got that vibe to him that remind you
Speaker 1: a little bit. I'm saying he's gonna be a Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer, but remind you a little bit of the
Speaker 1: way Ray Lewis and Ed Reid to oomanize the city
Speaker 1: way back when Luke, I agree with you that I think.
Speaker 1: I think when you look at Jackson, there was a
Speaker 1: running back the Bengals had years ago, James Brooks under
Speaker 1: size running back, but he would make people miss in
Speaker 1: space and then you know, run away from He had
Speaker 1: that short space quickness. Jackson, even if you have him contained,
Speaker 1: he'll make you miss. And I said to James Brooks
Speaker 1: that said, you know your size, JB. Everybody's saying, man,
Speaker 1: you're gonna get destroyed. You're not gonna be able to last.
Speaker 1: It's not a sustainable thing. He goes, look, the good Lord,
Speaker 1: bless me with this physical talent. If I take a
Speaker 1: flush hit, that's on me. And he would make every
Speaker 1: blow a glancing blow. He never got drill. He never
Speaker 1: get hit right down the middle, and you know it
Speaker 1: would always be like a partial shot. And that's what
Speaker 1: this kid can do and then he'll slide, he'll get
Speaker 1: out of bounds. He's smart. I agree with you. I
Speaker 1: think his biggest danger, like any quarterback, you know, look
Speaker 1: what happened to Jacobi Wasset, you know, in the pocket,
Speaker 1: gets stepped on and you know, get knee injuries, ankle injuries,
Speaker 1: all that kind of thing. I think if he gets
Speaker 1: caught in a pile in the running game, or he
Speaker 1: gets caught in a pile, you know, in the pocket.
Speaker 1: But that's that's the same for any quarterback. I think
Speaker 1: the sustainability thing, he's so athletic, I don't. I don't
Speaker 1: think that's gonna be a big, big part of the problem.
Speaker 1: I really don't. Yeah, I'm believing that more and more
Speaker 1: to the more I watch him play, and I've watched
Speaker 1: every single start, every single play going back to last November.
Speaker 1: The number of hard hits he's taken where you're holding
Speaker 1: your breath, you could probably count on a couple of hands.
Speaker 1: I mean a few in back that Cincinnati game a
Speaker 1: few weeks ago. I thought a couple of those hits
Speaker 1: were some of the bigger hits he's taken all year.
Speaker 1: But the difference this year, he's sliding a little bit more.
Speaker 1: He's definitely showing more of a willingness to go out
Speaker 1: of bound. Last year there were times where he would
Speaker 1: lower his shoulder like Jim Round. It's just like, that's
Speaker 1: not what we want and unless you're playing in January.
Speaker 1: But I think he just has that ability and he
Speaker 1: just he has this I don't know, his agility almost
Speaker 1: reminds you of a great point guard in basketball, where
Speaker 1: he just he can find the little seaman. He's really
Speaker 1: slippery in addition to just being fast, and I mean,
Speaker 1: I guess you know, the critics could say it only
Speaker 1: takes one hit, and that's true, but I don't know,
Speaker 1: you think about it in terms of would you rather
Speaker 1: a quarterback standing in the pocket like a statue and
Speaker 1: someone crashes into his knee like happened to Joe Flacco
Speaker 1: four years ago and towards acl or you have this
Speaker 1: guy who's so quick, so tough to catch him, he's
Speaker 1: so agile and change the direction where he can kind
Speaker 1: of dictate what kind of contact he's going to take,
Speaker 1: and to this point it's worked out really well for him.
Speaker 1: You know, you want to switch to defense before we
Speaker 1: let you go and talk about one guy I think
Speaker 1: has just really served you guys well as a first
Speaker 1: round pick is Humphrey the defensive back. He just seems
Speaker 1: to be a playmaker. Obviously, Ed Reid is the ultimate
Speaker 1: playrker Rud. I mean, this guy holds his own at
Speaker 1: the defensive back position and just continues to play well.
Speaker 1: He Marlin Humphrey has played extremely well. I mean, if
Speaker 1: he's not in the Pro Bowl this year, and I
Speaker 1: think by Merritt, he probably could have made it last year,
Speaker 1: but wasn't a household name around the league. But I
Speaker 1: think with some of the big splash players you've seen
Speaker 1: him make this year, that's changing. But I think what's
Speaker 1: been impressive with him is the Ravens lost Tavon Young,
Speaker 1: their slot cornerback, in August to a neck issue that
Speaker 1: required kurt that they've lost him for the year. They
Speaker 1: have Jimmy Smith back from the injury. Marcus Peters, who
Speaker 1: they picked up two weeks before the trade Deadvine is
Speaker 1: their other outside corner. Humphreys actually been playing in the slot,
Speaker 1: which he had been an outside guy, and a big
Speaker 1: part of that has been him traveling with some of
Speaker 1: these number one receivers, which as you guys know, number
Speaker 1: one receivers playing the slot more and more it seems
Speaker 1: in recent years. But he's really kind of become their
Speaker 1: inside corner. I mean he starts and he's only outside
Speaker 1: of her own base, which is very rare, but in
Speaker 1: that nickel and dime and quarter defense, he's kind of
Speaker 1: been playing that flot and he is just the playmaker
Speaker 1: and not just as a coverage guy, but he plays
Speaker 1: the run really well too. He's kind of like a
Speaker 1: he's almost like a hybrid safety, linebacker, corner, and he's
Speaker 1: definitely been their best defensive player. You know, I really
Speaker 1: respect what they did. They've done offensively. You know, they
Speaker 1: had Greg Roman, who's worked with Kaeperner and Tyrod Taylor,
Speaker 1: you know, to institute an offense for Lamar Jackson to
Speaker 1: take advantage of. I mean, they supported him not only
Speaker 1: with personnel, but with the coach that knew how to
Speaker 1: utilize this kid's talents, not try to put a square
Speaker 1: peg in a round hole. And then defensively, what they've done.
Speaker 1: They got Brandon car Now, another defensive back who they
Speaker 1: moved from corner to safety. They have him locking down
Speaker 1: tight ends in their sub packages. They now they just
Speaker 1: they'll blitch you like crazy. I mean when they played
Speaker 1: the Bengals the first time, they rushed five or more
Speaker 1: seventy five percent of the time on the sea and
Speaker 1: there in the high forty still rush five or more
Speaker 1: like forty six to forty eight percent. Against the Bengas
Speaker 1: was seventy five percent. And then they'll play man. They'll
Speaker 1: lock you down in man coverage with that blitz. It
Speaker 1: used to be they had sugs and these pass rushers
Speaker 1: they've rushed for and play coverage on the back end.
Speaker 1: Now it's just the opposite now, I mean, Martindale's just
Speaker 1: blitz in his tail off for pressuring because he knows
Speaker 1: he has these guys in the back end they can
Speaker 1: lock down in coverage. Yeah, it really allows them to
Speaker 1: dictate to the offense what they want to do, because
Speaker 1: really they're two weaknesses and you just mentioned one. Whenever
Speaker 1: there's the four man rush, they don't get home. And
Speaker 1: it's difficult to get home in the day and age
Speaker 1: because quarterbacks just get the ball out so quick. Andy
Speaker 1: Dalton did that for years against them. So their four
Speaker 1: man rush isn't what you'd like it to be. You
Speaker 1: don't have that sugs, you don't have Zadarius Smith like
Speaker 1: they did last year. And there are other weakness which
Speaker 1: they've certainly improved because they've brought in Josh Bines and LJ. Ford,
Speaker 1: you know, someone very familiar to the AFC North, and
Speaker 1: those guys have stabilized things that inside linebacker, but they're
Speaker 1: not great coverage linebackers. So you're just mentioned it. With
Speaker 1: Brandon Carr, they put him in a safety Chuck Clark
Speaker 1: use of their strong safety they dropped down to play
Speaker 1: the mic. And they've played plenty of plays over the
Speaker 1: last few weeks where they don't have a single traditional linebacker.
Speaker 1: With having Brandon Williams and Michael Pierce up front, they've
Speaker 1: they've been fined in the run game when they do that.
Speaker 1: So they're just they're multiple, they're very different, and the
Speaker 1: weaknesses that they do have, they seem to scheme as
Speaker 1: well as you can. Tom maybe not eliminate those weaknesses,
Speaker 1: but certainly alleviate them. I think as an organization, Ozzie
Speaker 1: Knewsom and now DaCosta and Harbaugh, they they've basically make
Speaker 1: their schemes fit their personnel, not the other way around.
Speaker 1: You know what it's like, you can't You can't just say, look,
Speaker 1: i'm gonna take this guy and I'm gonna play make
Speaker 1: him do this even if it doesn't fit his talents.
Speaker 1: That's crazy. They always will adjust and shift. Like the
Speaker 1: great bum Philip said about Don Shula, he take his
Speaker 1: and and beat your arn. He could take a urin
Speaker 1: and beat his n because he would have adjust and adapt.
Speaker 1: I mean when he had Zonkin kick, you know, formation,
Speaker 1: you would big people run the heck out of it.
Speaker 1: Dan Marino spread you out to throw the heck out
Speaker 1: of it. I mean, you have to be adaptable and
Speaker 1: adjust to things. And the Ravens organization offensively and defensively
Speaker 1: has done it as well as anybody. Yeah, they really have.
Speaker 1: And I think with John Harball specifically as much as
Speaker 1: what was the big criticism about him when he was hired, Well,
Speaker 1: he wasn't an offensive or defensive coordinator. Well right, that
Speaker 1: doesn't that lend itself to being more flexible. I mean
Speaker 1: he doesn't have and he even talked about this recently,
Speaker 1: talked about this after they drafted Lamar Jackson. He didn't
Speaker 1: have an offensive he was married too, And yeah, they
Speaker 1: ran the West Coast offense for a number of years. Here.
Speaker 1: You know, from the time Gary Kubiak came in and
Speaker 1: that was Flacco's best regular season performance in twenty fourteen.
Speaker 1: But it just kind of said, look, we can try
Speaker 1: to find the next Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, or
Speaker 1: here's this kid who has some really special traits and
Speaker 1: we love them at an athlete, we love him as
Speaker 1: a person. We think he's a winner. He's been successful
Speaker 1: at the collegiate level. Let's design something new, let's do
Speaker 1: something different and play into his strengths. And hey, there's
Speaker 1: still a long way to go and time will tell
Speaker 1: whether Lamar Jackson leads the Ravens to a super Bowl,
Speaker 1: but being an MVP candidate in his first four year
Speaker 1: as a starter, there's certainly a lot a lot of
Speaker 1: growing confidence that he'll be able to do that. Maybe
Speaker 1: not this year, but at some point here in the
Speaker 1: near future. Thanks to Luke Jones. And here's a quick
Speaker 1: reminder that if you listen to this podcast before Friday afternoon,
Speaker 1: we invite you to join us for the Bengals PEP
Speaker 1: Rally Show and Buffalo Wings and Rings the Beechmont location.
Speaker 1: This week's show is from two thirty to five thirty.
Speaker 1: That's a half hour earlier than usual, and our special
Speaker 1: guest in the final hour will be Bengals offensive lineman
Speaker 1: John Jerry. That's going to do it for this episode
Speaker 1: of the podcast. If you haven't done so already, don't
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Speaker 1: Dan Horde and thanks for listening to the Bengals Booth Podcast.