Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The dang addition as the Bengals
Speaker 1: host the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night at Paycore Stadium.
Speaker 1: And by the way, this podcast is named Heavy Action
Speaker 1: because that is the actual name of the Monday Night
Speaker 1: football theme song. You're welcome for the trivia question. Coming up,
Speaker 1: I'll talk to Boomers Siasin about Joe Burrow, Zach Taylor
Speaker 1: and what it's going to take to beat the Bills.
Speaker 1: You'll hear from Logan Wilson about facing his former teammate
Speaker 1: Josh Allen, Chimadenage on moving into the starting lineup at
Speaker 1: right tackle, and Cam Sample on his increased role after
Speaker 1: injuries to Trey Hendrickson and Sam Hubbard. And finally, in
Speaker 1: this week's No The Faux segment, we'll spend a few
Speaker 1: minutes with the voice of the Buffalo Bills, John Murphy.
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by Bengals
Speaker 1: Picks and Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play with tickets
Speaker 1: and signed merchandise up for grabs. Find both inside the
Speaker 1: Bengals app. Now here's a quick reminder that you can
Speaker 1: have the latest edition of this podcast delivered right to
Speaker 1: your phone, tablet, or computer by subscribing wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts. It's the greatest thing since pilots. As you
Speaker 1: may have read, the Bengals had a little trouble getting
Speaker 1: home from New England after beating the Patriots on Christmas Eve.
Speaker 1: About fifteen minutes into the flight home, one of the
Speaker 1: flight attendants notified us that due to a mechanical issue,
Speaker 1: we were going to have to divert to New York
Speaker 1: and land at JFK Airport. That was a little unsettling,
Speaker 1: but didn't seem like a major issue. A few minutes later,
Speaker 1: the pilot got on the intercommon said, folks, this is
Speaker 1: your Captain Skooking. Were having a mechanical issue at one
Speaker 1: of the engines, so we're going to land at JFK
Speaker 1: and have it checked out. We should touchdown at about
Speaker 1: fifteen minutes. We apologize for the inconvenience. Okay, so now
Speaker 1: we know it's engine related and that made me a
Speaker 1: little nervous, but the players were happy about the win
Speaker 1: and barely seemed to notice. The landing in New York
Speaker 1: was pretty bumpy, but still felt like normal turbulence, as
Speaker 1: one of my colleagues put it, about a three on
Speaker 1: a scale to ten. But when we hit the runway,
Speaker 1: we were greeted with about ten fire trucks with their
Speaker 1: lights flashing. It was only after landing that we learned
Speaker 1: exactly what happened, when the pilot got back on the
Speaker 1: intercom and said, okay, folks. While we were in the air,
Speaker 1: a warning indicated that there was an issue with the
Speaker 1: left engine. So after checking the proper procedure, I shut
Speaker 1: it down and we landed with one engine at the
Speaker 1: nearest airport. We should have another plane ready to go shortly.
Speaker 1: Thank you for your patients. Amazing He shut off an
Speaker 1: engine and landed with one like it was nothing. We
Speaker 1: got home several hours late, but we got home safely.
Speaker 1: All I can say is thank God for islets. Now
Speaker 1: let's look ahead to Monday's game between the eleven and
Speaker 1: four Bengals and the number one playoff seed in the
Speaker 1: AFC at the moment, the twelve and three Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 1: It's no coincidence that when the schedule came out in May,
Speaker 1: the NFL picked this matchup to be the final Monday
Speaker 1: Night football game of the year. It figured to be
Speaker 1: a critical game, and that is exactly how it's played out.
Speaker 1: A huge game warrants a big time guest, and that's
Speaker 1: exactly what we have on this podcast. We are joined
Speaker 1: this week by one of the greatest Bengals of all time,
Speaker 1: Boomer Asiasin and Boomer, let's start with an obvious topic
Speaker 1: and you know what's coming. Joe Burrow. You had a
Speaker 1: great career fourteen years MVP, took the Bengals to the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl. Is there anything about Joe Burrow at age
Speaker 1: twenty six in his third season that you wish you
Speaker 1: had had your playing days? Oh? Boy, I'll tell you
Speaker 1: what I wish I were playing during during this time
Speaker 1: in the NFL. It's a completely different game than when
Speaker 1: we played back in the you know, in the eighties,
Speaker 1: and I don't want to always go back to that,
Speaker 1: but it's a different game. It's more wide open. Uh.
Speaker 1: These kids are more prepared coming out of college than
Speaker 1: we were when we were coming out of college. So,
Speaker 1: you know, I think he has lived up to every
Speaker 1: single expectation that I certainly had for him coming out
Speaker 1: of LSU. I remember talking to Jeff Hopson before the draft,
Speaker 1: and he asked me, why are you so sure Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow is going to be the first overall pick. I said,
Speaker 1: if you watched him play, and you watched the boys
Speaker 1: that he that he possessed on the field for LSU.
Speaker 1: Did you watch that national championship game? I mean the
Speaker 1: kids and can't miss players, So you know you combine that,
Speaker 1: and I've said this, you know many years now watching
Speaker 1: him play, you combine that with his whole aspect of
Speaker 1: being a point guard in the high school and being
Speaker 1: an All state point guard. You understand that he understands distribution, leadership,
Speaker 1: and how to run a football team. So I'm not
Speaker 1: surprised by any of this. And this a matter of fact,
Speaker 1: I think he's going to go to even greater heights
Speaker 1: and he'll get his Super Bowl. If it's not this year,
Speaker 1: it will be in the next comming years. Boomer. He
Speaker 1: might not have the armed talent of Patrick Mahomes, he
Speaker 1: doesn't have the legs of Lamar Jackson, but I say
Speaker 1: he's the perfect quarterback for this franchise. And I wouldn't
Speaker 1: trade him for anybody. You know the city, you know
Speaker 1: the fan base, you know ownership. Do you agree with that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but you know he's an Ohio kid too. I mean,
Speaker 1: so he gets the whole thing, and he's a local kid,
Speaker 1: and he's done well and he's exceeded every single expectation.
Speaker 1: There's no question about that. You know, he could run,
Speaker 1: believe me, he's an athlete. He just wants to play
Speaker 1: quarterback like Tom Brady plays quarterback. You know, I would,
Speaker 1: I would basically compare him to a young Tom Brady.
Speaker 1: This is what Brady looked like when he finally took
Speaker 1: over and he really, you know, basically ran the offense
Speaker 1: for the New England Patriots. So what we're watching to
Speaker 1: me in terms of the way that he plays is
Speaker 1: the way that Tom Brady plays the game. You know,
Speaker 1: Josh Allen plays fearlessly. He can be chaotic times, but
Speaker 1: his game has been refined to now, you know, whether
Speaker 1: it be him justin Herbert, Patrick Mahomes or Joe Burrow.
Speaker 1: You know, we're looking at the four best quarterbacks in
Speaker 1: the league right now, and I guess in another year
Speaker 1: or so, Trevor Lawrence will probably join that group. But
Speaker 1: the Big four, as I'd like to put them in
Speaker 1: the AFC, you know, all bring something special to their
Speaker 1: own franchise, And I think all these teams pick the
Speaker 1: right guys and when you think about marrying them to
Speaker 1: the coaching staff, to the city, and to everything that
Speaker 1: they're bringing to their football teams, all four of those
Speaker 1: players are perfect fits for their respective organizations. Let's talk
Speaker 1: about some news of the week and that involves right
Speaker 1: tackle Al Collins and the eighty eight Super Bowl season.
Speaker 1: You lost your great right tackle Joe Walter final game
Speaker 1: of the regular season when he's playing at a Pro
Speaker 1: Bowl level. Now the Bengals have lost the Al Collins
Speaker 1: for the rest of this season. What problems does that
Speaker 1: present this late in the year. You know, for us,
Speaker 1: we had Brian Blados that substant for Joe Walter. Everybody says,
Speaker 1: why did I have a number sixty three in my
Speaker 1: helmet that year? Well that was Joe's number. And Joe
Speaker 1: is a big part of our success, much like Stanley
Speaker 1: Wilson was. You know, it's got to be the next
Speaker 1: man up mentality. You know, when Jamar Chase went down,
Speaker 1: who do they bring in Trenton Irwin? Like everybody's like,
Speaker 1: who is Trenton Irwin? Well, Trenton Irwin turned out to
Speaker 1: be a pretty damn big player. So you never know
Speaker 1: when that opportunity is going to present your present itself
Speaker 1: to the next player, that is, the next man up
Speaker 1: in a DNA. Jay has played in big games before.
Speaker 1: He knows what's going on. You know, he's not going
Speaker 1: to be overwhelmed. He's not a rookie. Let's see how
Speaker 1: he does first, and this is going to be a
Speaker 1: really good test for him because the Buffalo Bills have
Speaker 1: a good pass rush, not a great pass rush. It's
Speaker 1: not basing von Miller out there, I can tell you that.
Speaker 1: So luckily for Joe Barrow, you know, von Miller is
Speaker 1: out for the rest of the season for the Bills.
Speaker 1: So you know, it's like you got to think about
Speaker 1: the locker room itself and how guys look at each
Speaker 1: other and how long they've been, you know, working together
Speaker 1: and playing together. And he's there for a reason. He's
Speaker 1: there for depth. And the one good thing about the Bengals,
Speaker 1: I've had a lot of good depth all throughout their
Speaker 1: roster this year. When guys have gone down, other guys
Speaker 1: have stepped up. So Haydon Hurst smissed a couple of games.
Speaker 1: Now all of a sudden, Trent Irwin is one of
Speaker 1: those down the middle patterns. You know, at six foot two,
Speaker 1: it's like you're throwing it to a tight end. He
Speaker 1: may not be as heavy as one, but he's as
Speaker 1: tall as one, and he's got the aththeticism of a
Speaker 1: wide receiver. So that's the mentality that every team in
Speaker 1: the league has to have, and that's the mentality that
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor has definitely brought to the Bengals. So I
Speaker 1: know that there's people out there saying that they should
Speaker 1: go out and sign you know, will it Worth and
Speaker 1: bring him back and all that other stuff. Number One,
Speaker 1: I don't know if he wants to plan anymore. And
Speaker 1: number two, that would wreak at desperation. To me, that's
Speaker 1: not who the Bengals are. That's not what this organization
Speaker 1: is all about. This organization is all about, next man up.
Speaker 1: Put him out there. He's experienced, and we can win
Speaker 1: with him, because hell, they won with him last year,
Speaker 1: or why couldn't they do it again this year? We're
Speaker 1: chatting the boomer Assias and three coaches of Arvin already
Speaker 1: been fired this year, including Nathaniel Hackett, who is in
Speaker 1: his first year on the job in Denver. The Bengals
Speaker 1: stuck with Zach Taylor through two tough seasons and now
Speaker 1: they're reaping the benefits. What do you admire and respect
Speaker 1: about Zach Taylor and the job he's done in Cincinnati. Well,
Speaker 1: Zach was lucky he was able to draft Joe Burrow.
Speaker 1: And that's the most important position in all of sports.
Speaker 1: You've got to have the quarterback. You've got to have
Speaker 1: the unquestioned leader of the guy that inspires everybody else.
Speaker 1: And that includes the defense, the special teams, the front office,
Speaker 1: the fan base. You know, you have somebody to sell.
Speaker 1: And it's one of the reasons why the Bengals are
Speaker 1: so popular, why they're on national television as much as
Speaker 1: they are, and why this game was selected to be
Speaker 1: on Monday night before the season even started, because whoever
Speaker 1: put the schedule together knew that this was going to
Speaker 1: be a meaningful game. So I think Zach Taylor has
Speaker 1: done a magnificent job. But it's really more the patience
Speaker 1: of the Bengals, Like we used to make fun of it.
Speaker 1: You know, Marvin Lewis was there for fifteen years, and
Speaker 1: you know, Mike Brown has never won to react to
Speaker 1: finn pressure. He's never got to react to national pressure
Speaker 1: from people like me that may say, hey, this guy's
Speaker 1: got to be fired, that guy should be fired. He's
Speaker 1: always going to do it his way, and that's been
Speaker 1: the Bengal way for as long as I can ever remember.
Speaker 1: So I never thought in my wild the streams that
Speaker 1: Mike would have gotten rid of Zach early on in
Speaker 1: his career. You know, he's a young coach. He was
Speaker 1: learning on the fly. And now when you see he
Speaker 1: and Joe come together and you see what it can
Speaker 1: really turn into, you realize that it's pretty special. This
Speaker 1: thing that happened in Indianapolis with my buddy Frank Wright,
Speaker 1: what happened in Denver. You know, it's obvious to see
Speaker 1: what happened. You know, they had older quarterbacks, so the
Speaker 1: older quarterbacks were not playing well. The team looks listless.
Speaker 1: You know, Russell Wilson has been awful this year. Matt
Speaker 1: Ryan has been you know, I would say partly awful
Speaker 1: when it came to turnovers and things like that. In Nature,
Speaker 1: you saw his replacement, Nick Falls throw interceptions. Those are
Speaker 1: the things that older quarterbacks do that get them in trouble,
Speaker 1: get their coaches in trouble. So that's not the case
Speaker 1: with the Bills or the Bengals, because they have young,
Speaker 1: vibrant quarterbacks. They got really solid head coaches, won an
Speaker 1: offensive coach, Sean McDermot as a defensive coach for the Bills.
Speaker 1: And that's why, you know, these coaches end up lasting
Speaker 1: a long time. Like Andy Reid. You know he had
Speaker 1: Donovan McNabb for all those years and then all of
Speaker 1: a sudden has Alex Smith and then drafts of Patrick Moms.
Speaker 1: It doesn't get much better than that for Big Red.
Speaker 1: So all I can tell you right now, Dan is
Speaker 1: we got four great quarterbacks in the AFC, and it
Speaker 1: is going to be one wild playoff fund And I
Speaker 1: would tell you Monday Night's game is going to be
Speaker 1: a playoff atmosphere, much like it wasn't Week thirteen when
Speaker 1: we played the Bills when they came to Cincinnati back
Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty eight as well. But when people talk
Speaker 1: about great defensive minds in the NFL, they'll start with Belichick.
Speaker 1: They might mention Dan Quinn or Link Martindale, whatever, should
Speaker 1: lou Anna Rumo be included on that list? So lou
Speaker 1: Anna Rumo came to the forefront last year. You know
Speaker 1: we had their AFC Championship game out there in Kansas City.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you were doing the game, so
Speaker 1: you didn't see halftime when we had the speakers behind us,
Speaker 1: you know, just absolutely drowning everything out that we were saying.
Speaker 1: But I would We were all talking about lou Anna
Speaker 1: Rumo and his ability to change up, you know, in
Speaker 1: the second half of games, and he never gives the
Speaker 1: quarterback a comfort zone of seeing the same thing over
Speaker 1: and over and over again. The number one, you gotta
Speaker 1: have really smart players on your defense to be able
Speaker 1: to pull stuff off like that. So the Bengals, you know,
Speaker 1: when you see their players and you see like Bondell
Speaker 1: make this put at the end of the game last
Speaker 1: week and bj Hill fall on the ball, you know
Speaker 1: that they understand what's going on, where they are in
Speaker 1: the game, how important their plays are to be made,
Speaker 1: and what they did in the second half last year
Speaker 1: against Patrick Mahomes and what they did to Patrick Mahomes
Speaker 1: again this year. You know, speaks volumes to who lu
Speaker 1: and A Rumo is. But really the players that he
Speaker 1: has the ability to adjust them the fly, have a
Speaker 1: plan and be patient with that plan. So if you know,
Speaker 1: if the Bill score seventeen points of the first half
Speaker 1: on Monday Night. You know he's not going to panic.
Speaker 1: He'll come back and he'll have something for the second
Speaker 1: half that Josh hasn't seen yet. So I think he's
Speaker 1: definitely a guy that is on everybody's radar now because
Speaker 1: of their success. This has been one of the best
Speaker 1: defenses in football. You know, they're not San Francisco. You
Speaker 1: know that's that's a deep it's on a different level.
Speaker 1: But I will say that the defense has come up
Speaker 1: with a huge plays throughout the year and he's a
Speaker 1: big reason for that. But the players have to buy
Speaker 1: into what he's selling, and I think that's the combination
Speaker 1: that makes them work so well together. I did see
Speaker 1: the video of halftime last year in Kansas City. I'm
Speaker 1: glad you didn't suffer permanent hearing damage, or at least
Speaker 1: it doesn't appear that you did. Last thing for Boomerassias
Speaker 1: and Bills and Bengals Monday Night. You've talked about the
Speaker 1: importance of this game. What do you see as a
Speaker 1: couple of keys to victory on Monday. Well, you know,
Speaker 1: number one, the Bills have a hard time with wide receivers,
Speaker 1: A lot of wide receivers have had big games against them.
Speaker 1: You know, they put against Miami, They've struggled against Miami's
Speaker 1: wide receivers, and I wouldn't say that Cincinnati is right
Speaker 1: there with the Miami wide receivers, especially with the emergence
Speaker 1: of Trenton Irwin. And maybe they get Hayden Hurst back too,
Speaker 1: So that creates a lot of problems down the field.
Speaker 1: They're not a blitzing team. They're a team that likes
Speaker 1: to play seven men in coverage. One of the reasons
Speaker 1: that went out and got Bond Miller was to create
Speaker 1: that pressure so they can they can have more guys
Speaker 1: in the secondary, and they're going to meet every guy
Speaker 1: they possibly can get in the secondary this week against
Speaker 1: this bingle wide receiver crews. So to me, if I
Speaker 1: was Jack Daylor, i walk in. Everybody knows the quarterbacks
Speaker 1: are important, so you don't have to talk to them.
Speaker 1: They know what they got to do. But you say, hey,
Speaker 1: if we're going to win this game on offense, the
Speaker 1: wide receivers got to win the game. Because in my eyes,
Speaker 1: even with Trey Davias White back with the Buffalo Bills,
Speaker 1: that's where they're susceptible because they don't have the pass
Speaker 1: rush that they had prior to Bond Miller's injury. So
Speaker 1: you know, to me that the wide receivers, you know,
Speaker 1: the big, the big guys. This week, they got to
Speaker 1: have the mammoth game, and I would like to think
Speaker 1: that they can. And then on the other side, you know,
Speaker 1: the Bills are running the ball a lot more. There's
Speaker 1: no question that. You know, last week they had a
Speaker 1: lot of subtests running the ball. But you know, to me,
Speaker 1: you know it's always Josh Allen. Josh Allen is the
Speaker 1: wild card because by Patrick Mames, you know, he's not
Speaker 1: overly concerned about running with the ball. And you know
Speaker 1: they actually have bets in their quarterback room in Buffalo.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you guys knew this that if
Speaker 1: he slides, then one of their guys that's got to
Speaker 1: show up just with a jock on the walk through
Speaker 1: on Wednesdays, because he never slides. He very rarely ever slides.
Speaker 1: So he's the wild card, you know. So you've always
Speaker 1: got to have somebody aware of where he is going
Speaker 1: to be. And I'm sure that lou Anerom will come
Speaker 1: up with a plan to try to deal with the
Speaker 1: plays that just happened naturally for Josh, and that's a big,
Speaker 1: big problem for everybody who plays the Bills. I think
Speaker 1: it's going to be a great game. I think it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a high scoring game, and I think it's
Speaker 1: just going to be kind of a glimpse into what
Speaker 1: I think is going to be another great playoff run.
Speaker 1: You know, for all of us on the AFC side,
Speaker 1: because we have the best quarterbacks in the league. Boomer,
Speaker 1: you're the best. Hope he had a wonderful Christmas with
Speaker 1: your kids and grandkids, and we really appreciate your time.
Speaker 1: Thank you, my pleasure. Then, thank you very much. No
Speaker 1: Bengals Podcast is brought to you by Alta Fiber, future
Speaker 1: proof fiber Internet capable of delivering multi gigabits speeds designed
Speaker 1: to take your home, business, and community to a new level.
Speaker 1: Elevate your connection with all to Fiber. As I mentioned
Speaker 1: in that conversation with Boomer, the Bengals will have a
Speaker 1: change in the starting line up at right tackle. L
Speaker 1: Collins suffered a season ending knee injury in New England,
Speaker 1: meaning that third year pro hakimad Energy will take his place.
Speaker 1: You are the next man up. As they say, it
Speaker 1: looked like things went pretty well for you in New England.
Speaker 1: How did you think you did? You know, there's there's
Speaker 1: definitely things to fix, but ultimately was able to go
Speaker 1: out there and produce enough to get the job done.
Speaker 1: We could get a win Washton, and you know, there's
Speaker 1: plenty of things to clean up and we have a
Speaker 1: lot of time to clean things up before the game
Speaker 1: Winday night. What are your emotions now taking over a
Speaker 1: right tackle in the hunt with two games left in
Speaker 1: the regular season? Business as usual? I mean, we've been
Speaker 1: through this situation last year and you know, just we
Speaker 1: know what our goals are and you know, got great
Speaker 1: guys with experience across the old line, got great coach
Speaker 1: and so I mean it's just going out there and executing.
Speaker 1: Just another week. Really, honestly, do you feel happy to
Speaker 1: be playing tackle in this situation as opposed to being
Speaker 1: in there at guard last year? Uh, no doubt. You know,
Speaker 1: it was kind of new playing guard last year, and
Speaker 1: it's kind of you know, more natural here playing tackling,
Speaker 1: and you know, having that full full camp and early
Speaker 1: season as opposed to you know, last year. Definitely feel
Speaker 1: a lot better energy, started the last thirteen games last year,
Speaker 1: including the postseason, at right guard, but he was a
Speaker 1: tackle in college and appears more comfortable on the outside.
Speaker 1: According to Pro Football Focus, he was in for forty
Speaker 1: five pass blocking snaps last week and did not allow
Speaker 1: a sack or a quarterback hit. The Bengals Booth podcast
Speaker 1: is brought to you by Kettering Health, the official healthcare
Speaker 1: provider of the Bengals. With more than one hundred twenty
Speaker 1: care facilities and fifteen hundred care providers, Kettering Health is
Speaker 1: committed to guiding you to your best health. Visit Kettering
Speaker 1: health dot org to learn more. Monday's game will feature
Speaker 1: the first ever meeting between two of the NFL's best
Speaker 1: young quarterbacks, twenty six year old Joe Burrow and twenty
Speaker 1: six year old Josh Allen. Yes, even though Allen has
Speaker 1: been in the NFL two years longer than Burrow, he's
Speaker 1: only six months and nineteen days older. Logan Wilson was
Speaker 1: Josh Allen's teammate at the University of Wyoming. It's like
Speaker 1: the Wyoming Showdown, you know. I mean, Wyoming loves loves
Speaker 1: Joston rightfully, so I mean he's he's the highest draft
Speaker 1: pick we've had in school history, and he's represented you know,
Speaker 1: the state very well, and so guys, the whole state
Speaker 1: loves him back home. You know, I'm proud to be
Speaker 1: his former teammate. Obviously, will be on the opposing sidelines
Speaker 1: on Sunday, so it'll be it'll be a cool opportunity
Speaker 1: for us. He's become so much more accurate. He's worked
Speaker 1: hard at that. Obviously, Are you at all surprised the
Speaker 1: way that he's developed that aspect of his game? No,
Speaker 1: I knew the talent was there. He's always used just
Speaker 1: call as you was just very raw and those those
Speaker 1: skills weren't as developed and sometimes those things just take time.
Speaker 1: You know. They had a good coaching staff that obviously
Speaker 1: brought out the best in him. And you know what
Speaker 1: he is today is didn't happen by chance. Josh Allen
Speaker 1: his throne for more than four thousand yards and rushed
Speaker 1: for more than seven hundred. I discussed tackling him and
Speaker 1: other topics this week with defensive lineman cam sample Can.
Speaker 1: The NFL made Bengals Bills the final Monday night game
Speaker 1: of the year for a reason. I think they realized
Speaker 1: there was a good chance that a lot would be
Speaker 1: at stake in this game. When the schedule came out
Speaker 1: and you saw Bengals Bills Week seventeen, did you think
Speaker 1: the same thing? Honestly, no, I didn't really. Uh. I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously you look at the whole schedule, you know, as
Speaker 1: a grad opportunity, but you really don't know the significance.
Speaker 1: I mean, I know we're both two very good teams,
Speaker 1: so but I mean I didn't know I had this
Speaker 1: type of ampet. But we're just kind of taking the monset,
Speaker 1: you know, one game out of time to try and
Speaker 1: get the next win. The mindset that has certainly been
Speaker 1: working well of late. You and your fellow defensive lineman,
Speaker 1: we'll be trying to sack Josh Allen on Monday ninety
Speaker 1: six five two thirty seven. Is there a different approach
Speaker 1: you have to take to try to bring down a
Speaker 1: guy like that? I would say it's not really much
Speaker 1: of a difference. I mean, he is a bigger guy, stronger,
Speaker 1: I mean, we just got to do what we do,
Speaker 1: beat the offensive lineman and get to him and just
Speaker 1: make the play. So over the last few weeks, you
Speaker 1: guys have either been without Sam Hubbard or without Trey Hendrickson,
Speaker 1: and you're the guy that's really been getting the bulk
Speaker 1: of the snaps in the rap since last week it
Speaker 1: was ninety five percent, fifty three out of fifty six plays.
Speaker 1: How have you approached these games the last few weeks
Speaker 1: knowing that your role was going to be so much bigger.
Speaker 1: The great thing for me is my approach really didn't change.
Speaker 1: I mean, the kind of approach I'd taken through the
Speaker 1: whole season's prepares you to start us. So I mean
Speaker 1: when Sam and Tray went down, I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: I didn't change my routine, study the same amount of film,
Speaker 1: did the same things. I mean, so I'll just trying
Speaker 1: to take advantage of opportunity in front of me. As
Speaker 1: it felt like you were back in college or back
Speaker 1: in high school being out there for every snap. Oh yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: now that that far is definitely to college. But you know,
Speaker 1: once you get in the floor of the game, you
Speaker 1: start to catch a second win and rhythm, and you
Speaker 1: know it's just playing ball. We're chatting with camp Sample
Speaker 1: so on the key defensive play last week, the fumble
Speaker 1: in the final minute forced by Von Bell, you were
Speaker 1: one of the guys out there that was kind of
Speaker 1: pushing Romandre Stevenson backward before the ball was punched out.
Speaker 1: In that situation, when do you realize that there's a fumble?
Speaker 1: Do guys start yelling? How do you know? Um? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's just a shift in a big shifting movement
Speaker 1: or energy. You know, it goes from everybody focus on
Speaker 1: him to a little, you know, a little pile to
Speaker 1: the side. So, I mean it was a great play
Speaker 1: by a first DJ. I think he came off a
Speaker 1: double team stood him up and we all rallied to it.
Speaker 1: And then on the way down. I mean, we're always
Speaker 1: preached attacking the ball, so Vron had a great you
Speaker 1: know punch out and you know BJ came up with it.
Speaker 1: BJ's recovered three fumbles this year. Is that luck or
Speaker 1: is that skill? Man? I think it's a I'll say
Speaker 1: it's skill because I mean our kind of mentalit on
Speaker 1: defenses hats around the ball. So I mean, if you
Speaker 1: if you go around the ball that much, good things
Speaker 1: attending to happen. So when it comes out, he's in
Speaker 1: a position made to play. So I'm gonna go with
Speaker 1: that one. You were next to DJ Reader on that play.
Speaker 1: You've lined up next to him quite a bit this season.
Speaker 1: What makes him the immovable object that he is in
Speaker 1: the middle of your defensive line. I mean, I mean
Speaker 1: just a pride he takes him coming in and doing
Speaker 1: his job to the best of the ability. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's very technically sound. He takes his job serious, approaches
Speaker 1: it the right way. So I mean he's not a
Speaker 1: surprise for anybody on defense on the team, and we
Speaker 1: see him making those plays because how hard he works
Speaker 1: and he does every day in practice, So that's just him.
Speaker 1: How cold were you last week? Oh man, I wasn't
Speaker 1: cold to after the game, but I mean it was
Speaker 1: cold out there, way different than New Orleans for shire.
Speaker 1: How many layers did you have on? I didn't do
Speaker 1: anything out of ordinary. I wear my long sleeves and shots.
Speaker 1: So the same thing. You know out there while you're playing,
Speaker 1: you don't feel it's on the sideline and starting to
Speaker 1: get to you. We're chatting with Cam sample. You are
Speaker 1: a rookie on last year's Super Bowl team. You got
Speaker 1: into the game. That had to be a thrill. Is
Speaker 1: this year starting to feel similar with an eleven and
Speaker 1: four record in a seven game winning street. I only
Speaker 1: like to compare years. I mean everything last year was
Speaker 1: last year. We kind of put it to bed. But um,
Speaker 1: I mean we're turning in the right direction of our
Speaker 1: you know, our main goal to win the Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: So I mean we're taking step by step beach the
Speaker 1: co try to accomplish that goal. What was getting into
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl? Like for you? I mean, guys, go,
Speaker 1: some players go ten years and never get a chance
Speaker 1: to play in that game. There you are in year
Speaker 1: one and you're on the field in LA and a
Speaker 1: super Bowl. Yeah. Man, it's crazy. All the older guys
Speaker 1: coming mess with, you know, the guys in our class
Speaker 1: and say, we don't know how blessed we are to
Speaker 1: have it, not even just a chance at Super Bowl.
Speaker 1: Was just the playoffs. You know. I was talking to
Speaker 1: in DJ and he told me one guy he played
Speaker 1: with his rookie year made the playoffs then or a
Speaker 1: guy who made the playoffs and then make it again
Speaker 1: for nineteen years. You know, you know, we're blessing making
Speaker 1: it bad to bad years in our first two seasons.
Speaker 1: So I mean, I don't think we realized the Sevin
Speaker 1: nic is now probably after you know, years passed, we
Speaker 1: take some time away from it. Because I mean, we're
Speaker 1: just attacking it one day at the time. It's definitely
Speaker 1: a blessing though. All right, let's talk a little bit
Speaker 1: about your alma mater. Tulane won two games last year.
Speaker 1: They've won eleven so far this year. They won the
Speaker 1: American Athletic Conference title, they ended Cincinnati's home field winning streak.
Speaker 1: Now they get to play USC and the Cotton Bowl.
Speaker 1: What's it been like for you as an alum to
Speaker 1: watch that team this year? Honestly, a little jealous, I
Speaker 1: which happened when I was there, But now I'm happy
Speaker 1: for those guys. I mean, I know a lot of
Speaker 1: the guys. I'm around them. You know, when I get
Speaker 1: the chance to and just see some of those young
Speaker 1: guys grow up and be the leaders and stuff like
Speaker 1: that is great for the program, great for coach Fritz.
Speaker 1: He's did a great job over there. So I'm happy
Speaker 1: to see it all come together from and you know,
Speaker 1: they got one more win to go get so I'll
Speaker 1: be tuned in watching before we got to get ready.
Speaker 1: Have you been doing a lot of bragging in the
Speaker 1: locker room this year? Oh? Yeah, they can't shut me
Speaker 1: up in there. I was, I was bragging. We were
Speaker 1: two and ten, so now now the rolls of flip.
Speaker 1: They can't shut me up. I'm talking to everybody about Toulin. Well,
Speaker 1: I hope you are bragging about a victory over USC.
Speaker 1: Congratulations on a great season, Best of luck against Buffalo.
Speaker 1: All right, gotsa thank you. Appreciate its beat podcasts just
Speaker 1: brought to you by pay Corps. More than twenty nine
Speaker 1: thousand customers trust pay Corps to help them recruit, pay, engage,
Speaker 1: and retain employees. Learn more at paycorps dot com. Finally,
Speaker 1: it's time for this week's No the Faux segment. John
Speaker 1: Murphy is the radio voice of the Buffalo Bills, and
Speaker 1: he joined Dave Lapham in me this week. Got in
Speaker 1: the Bengals game plan show. Let's discuss what you folks
Speaker 1: have been dealing with in Western New York. Buffalo has
Speaker 1: been hit with one of the worst storms in recent memory.
Speaker 1: It has crippled the city. How is that impacting the
Speaker 1: Buffalo Bills so far? It's not infecting them much, to
Speaker 1: be honest. I mean with the Bills played at Chicago
Speaker 1: last Saturday and couldn't get home until late Sunday, so
Speaker 1: they got home late on Christmas Day for thirty five
Speaker 1: o'clock or so, and then they had a couple of
Speaker 1: days off, you know, just kind of reset. And that's
Speaker 1: the benefit of having a Monday game. The practice week
Speaker 1: has begune. I think it's going fairly smoothly. Things are
Speaker 1: where we are in Orchard Park, and I live a
Speaker 1: couple of the mouths of the stadium. You know, there's
Speaker 1: a lot of snow on aground here were three feet
Speaker 1: but it was thirty nine forty degrees today. It started
Speaker 1: to melt. It'll be former tomorrow, it will melt some more,
Speaker 1: and I'm pretty sure by Friday morning they'll be just
Speaker 1: a trace us though, So I don't think the storm,
Speaker 1: which was considerable here last Friday, Saturday, Sunday, I don't
Speaker 1: think gonna have any impact on their preparations for this
Speaker 1: coming week. Murph, I know you've lost you know you've
Speaker 1: lost players during the season earlier, Von Miller, you know,
Speaker 1: great edge guy, one of your tremendous safeties on injury reserve.
Speaker 1: You've had your injuries. Bengals lose LC Collins at the
Speaker 1: right tackle position. So I guess the football God said, well,
Speaker 1: they don't have Miller you're not gonna have Collins kind
Speaker 1: of like balance that off a little bit. Is there
Speaker 1: anybody that's limping and gimping along that you think might
Speaker 1: not be able to make the dancer? Is everybody pretty
Speaker 1: healthy otherwise? Well somewhere in between. I would say a
Speaker 1: lot of guys are limping and gimping, but they're all
Speaker 1: kind of gutting it out the last three or four
Speaker 1: weeks and playing. Among those, inside linebacker Matt Milano, who's
Speaker 1: got a leg injury that he kind of limits. He
Speaker 1: get is limited in practice most of the week, then
Speaker 1: cuts through practice on Friday and then playing he's on Sunday.
Speaker 1: He would be one of the biggest ones. Stacy Jordan Ployer,
Speaker 1: I know, has banged up in a lot of different ways,
Speaker 1: and he too misses practice time during the week and
Speaker 1: is landing up and playing on Sundays. It's kind of
Speaker 1: a whole roster full of people like that. I mean
Speaker 1: the guys that you think about. You mentioned Bon Miller. Obviously,
Speaker 1: Josh Allen banged his elbow in the Jets game back
Speaker 1: on November sixth. I want to say it was and
Speaker 1: it took him a while to recover from that, and
Speaker 1: he didn't miss any time, but he's not point where
Speaker 1: he was. I think before that, before he heard his
Speaker 1: elbow and I think, I forget the name of the
Speaker 1: nerve and there the all there or something. But he's okay,
Speaker 1: He's not great. He's throwing the ball well, but I
Speaker 1: know he's playing through some pain. I think that whole
Speaker 1: roster is playing through some pain right now. It is
Speaker 1: that time of the year, isn't it. Our guest is
Speaker 1: the radio voice of the Buffalo Bills, John Murphy. Murph
Speaker 1: The Bills were seemingly everybody's pick to win the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl this year, and rightfully so. It's been an excellent
Speaker 1: team for several years now. But was there a burden
Speaker 1: of expectation on the team because of that? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think so a little bit. I mean, they're they're an
Speaker 1: interesting team, and Sean mcdermots does a great job of
Speaker 1: removing any internal doubts the players might have, and he
Speaker 1: does a great job of getting this team ready to play. Look,
Speaker 1: they've only lost three times this year, and they've won
Speaker 1: six in a row now, so it'd be I'd be
Speaker 1: hard pressed to say, yes, they struggled through a burden
Speaker 1: of expectation, because I don't know when that was. I
Speaker 1: think I think they've managed to make it true then
Speaker 1: and this win six game win Street. Now it's setting
Speaker 1: up well for the run to the postseason and hopefully
Speaker 1: I think of runs through the postseason. And they're aware
Speaker 1: that they're heavily favored. And I think because of mcdermot's
Speaker 1: leadership and some of the veteran leaders he has, they
Speaker 1: don't care whether you think they're any good or anybody
Speaker 1: they're any good, you know what I mean. They don't
Speaker 1: care what the expectations are. They don't care what people
Speaker 1: say about them. They just want to go out and
Speaker 1: playing and win. And that's after credit McDermott for aid
Speaker 1: the type of people he brought into accomplice that, and
Speaker 1: be just his leadership style in general. Murph. I don't
Speaker 1: know if it's this simple or not, but it seems
Speaker 1: to be. When when the game is on the line,
Speaker 1: you know the ball is going to be in Josh
Speaker 1: Allen's hands either either gonna run it or throw it.
Speaker 1: And if he's gonna throw it, he's gonna throw it
Speaker 1: to Diggs. I mean, you know, Diggs is third in
Speaker 1: the league and catches with over one hundred, third in
Speaker 1: the league receiving yards with over thirteen hundred and ten touchdowns,
Speaker 1: tied for second in the NFL. I mean, what makes
Speaker 1: Diggs digs and what kind of relationship does Josh Allen
Speaker 1: have with him? They have a good one, I will
Speaker 1: say this day. They they've gotten away from that a
Speaker 1: little bit in recent weeks and sort of expanded their
Speaker 1: range offensively. Other guys, Gustin Knocks in particular, and some
Speaker 1: others are making contributions in the passing game. It's not
Speaker 1: just Digg. In fact, Diggs did not have a target
Speaker 1: in the first half last Saturday in Chicago. He targeted
Speaker 1: on the first pass of the SEC and alf and
Speaker 1: made a nice catch and a nice pickup. But they've
Speaker 1: tried to expand themselves. They've run the ball more often
Speaker 1: and better in the last couple of weeks than they
Speaker 1: did off season. Long Now that being said, Diggs is
Speaker 1: the most important offensive weapon they have, and I think
Speaker 1: they want to. I think the Bills have done a
Speaker 1: good job of expanding their offense, in the range of
Speaker 1: their offense, kind of teaching themselves that there's more than
Speaker 1: one way they can move the ball. But I think
Speaker 1: They all know that when push comes to shove, to
Speaker 1: get at the Stefan Diggs is the way to go.
Speaker 1: He's a remarkable player, a tremendous competitor. I don't you know,
Speaker 1: have an internal line to his way he's thinking. But
Speaker 1: I'm sure he's not crazy about not being targeted and
Speaker 1: one half of football last Saturday, and I'm sure he
Speaker 1: lets people know that. But he keeps an in house
Speaker 1: and gets the job done. And I think he's all
Speaker 1: about winning. He's a remarkable competitor. He really is the
Speaker 1: voice of the Bills. John Murphy is our guest. Here's
Speaker 1: my final question for you, Murphy, has to do with
Speaker 1: a Bill secondary. They lost Micah Hyde, who's multiple time
Speaker 1: All Pro safety, their best corner, Tredavious White, who's been
Speaker 1: to the Pro Bowl a couple of times, just started
Speaker 1: playing again after missing a year with a torn acl
Speaker 1: The Bengals obviously have a great quarterback and a trio
Speaker 1: of outstanding receivers. From Buffaler's perspective, is that the concern
Speaker 1: that the Bill secondary versus Joe Burrow and his weapons. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it has to be right and he's got
Speaker 1: weapons to be sure. I mean the Buffalo secondary. Yes,
Speaker 1: Mike Hides is missed and he's been out since I
Speaker 1: want to say Week two this season. Trdavious White just
Speaker 1: came back maybe three or four weeks ago. He is
Speaker 1: not totally rounded into form. He plays every down, plays
Speaker 1: every snap, but he's you know, he's not quite where
Speaker 1: he was the last few years, and he missed a
Speaker 1: whole year, more than a year with that injury. The
Speaker 1: other cornerback spot is either a three year veteran Dave
Speaker 1: Jackson or Guy Eelam their first round pick, and they
Speaker 1: sort of alternate. Yeah, that's the area concern. I think
Speaker 1: I'll tell you one and one other guy because he
Speaker 1: plays like he's a starter. He almost Taron Johnson the nickelback.
Speaker 1: He's playing great. I think he's one of the most
Speaker 1: underrated players in the league to be honest, number seven
Speaker 1: for the Bill Star and Johnson. But all that being said, yes,
Speaker 1: that's the number one threat that the Bengals posed, right,
Speaker 1: and it's it's Burrow obviously one of the great quarterbacks
Speaker 1: in the game. And as arsenal of weapons, I mean,
Speaker 1: who do you focus on? Which one of the three
Speaker 1: DA focus on? It's pretty impressive and yeah, I think
Speaker 1: that's the number one challenge the Bills will face next
Speaker 1: Monday night. So I know that you know McDermott does
Speaker 1: not want to to blitz much. I mean he rushes
Speaker 1: for plays coverage. He's got seven in coverage with you know,
Speaker 1: with regularity, Leslie Fraser obviously on board. They're they're both
Speaker 1: have the same mindset in that regard. But with Millard
Speaker 1: down and with the issues that you know they've had
Speaker 1: their secondary a little bit, do you anticipate that they
Speaker 1: will pick up the blitz the blitz percentages as the
Speaker 1: season winds down here down the stretcher, Do you think
Speaker 1: this is who we are and this is what we're
Speaker 1: gonna do. Well, you know, it's already happened a little bit.
Speaker 1: They blitzed more now and send more pressure now than
Speaker 1: they did back when von Miller was in the lineup,
Speaker 1: and he's been out now since I want to say,
Speaker 1: before the Thanksgiving Gay game. That's what he got hurt.
Speaker 1: So it's just about a month. They blitzed more now
Speaker 1: than they did before, but they don't flitz a lot.
Speaker 1: And ideally, this defense I think is at its best
Speaker 1: when they have a four man rush and drop guys
Speaker 1: into coverage. As you asstutely point out, that's what they
Speaker 1: want to do. They will blitz when the question comes
Speaker 1: for it. Now, when the question, when the issue calls
Speaker 1: for it, I should say, but I'll be honest, they
Speaker 1: haven't face a passing an attack like this since von
Speaker 1: Miller's been out right. They just I mean, they've rolled
Speaker 1: through their opponents pretty well with the sixth straight wins,
Speaker 1: but they haven't faced a team that can provide the
Speaker 1: kind of challenge the Bengals did. So if they're gonna
Speaker 1: blitz more, this I think would be a game to
Speaker 1: do it. But I don't think they're ever going to
Speaker 1: be a tournam loose. Uh you know, we're blitzing sixty
Speaker 1: percent of the time. Kind of defense. They like to
Speaker 1: play covers. They using get a pretty good pass rushing
Speaker 1: with four. A guy to watch is last years first
Speaker 1: round draft picks Greg Russo, Who's I'm not going to
Speaker 1: say he's still in von Milou choose, but he's done
Speaker 1: a great job rushing the passer. Is a defensive end.
Speaker 1: He's been a starter for most of the season. He
Speaker 1: missed about four or five weeks in an injury, but
Speaker 1: he's a really good pass rusher. They haven't. They had
Speaker 1: a nice eight man healthy rotation on the defensive line.
Speaker 1: With the injury, especially von Miller. They're down to about
Speaker 1: six or seven now, but they still like the cycle.
Speaker 1: Guys through there and get contributions from a number of
Speaker 1: different guys up fronts Offensive book. That's why to do it.
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Speaker 1: Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Horde. Thanks for listening
Speaker 1: to The Bengals Booth Podcast.