Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The Last Dance, Last Chance audition
Speaker 1: as the Bengals get set for their preseason finale in Washington,
Speaker 1: giving players one last chance to make their case for
Speaker 1: the fifty three man roster or the sixteen man practice
Speaker 1: squad coming up. Dave Lapham joins me to discuss some
Speaker 1: key topics at this stage of the preseason, including the
Speaker 1: most important one of all. Will Joe Burrow be the
Speaker 1: starting quarterback in Week one at Cleveland? Then I'll talk
Speaker 1: to one of those guys who is hoping for a
Speaker 1: big game on Saturday night to improve his chances of
Speaker 1: sticking around undrafted wide receiver Shdrick Jackson. The Bengals Booth
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Speaker 1: greatest thing since seeing the All Time greats in person.
Speaker 1: One of my goals as a sports fanatic is to
Speaker 1: see the legends of my lifetime in person if possible.
Speaker 1: I've been incredibly lucky. I've seen Michael Jordan, dunk Ken,
Speaker 1: Griffy Junior swing, Tiger Woods drive, Tom Brady pass, and
Speaker 1: Roger Federer serve. And now I can add Leonel Messi
Speaker 1: to the list. The soccer legend didn't disappoint on Wednesday
Speaker 1: night with two sublime assists and a successful penalty shootout
Speaker 1: strike in Miami's dramatic win over FC Cincinnati. I thought
Speaker 1: my friend Joe Daniman from Fox nineteen and Cincinnati described
Speaker 1: the superstars heroics perfectly when he tweeted that is inevitable
Speaker 1: the true superstars usually are. Now let's get to football
Speaker 1: and to look at some key questions at this stage
Speaker 1: of training camp with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham Lap.
Speaker 1: With one game left in the preseason, the number two
Speaker 1: quarterback job is still up in the air. Jake Browning
Speaker 1: has the better stats so far, but he has never
Speaker 1: thrown a pass and in a regular season NFL game.
Speaker 1: Trevor Simion has thirty starts under his belt. Where do
Speaker 1: you think things stand right now.
Speaker 2: Well, it's a close competition, there's no question. I mean,
Speaker 2: I think you point out the thing that you're going
Speaker 2: to have to On one side of it, got a
Speaker 2: young guy, very inexperienced. You got a veteran player that's
Speaker 2: seen a lot, been exposed to a lot of different offenses,
Speaker 2: a lot of different situations, maybe not on the football field,
Speaker 2: but has experienced and then has more reps obviously on
Speaker 2: the football field as well, so you weigh that experience.
Speaker 2: The flip side of it, got a younger guy who
Speaker 2: has been in the Bengals system longer, who has done
Speaker 2: as well. You know, it's almost a dead heat, and
Speaker 2: he's younger. So I mean those that's that's the that's
Speaker 2: the quandary. I'm gonna have to make a decision. It's
Speaker 2: gonna come come right down to it looks like the
Speaker 2: you know, the practices are equally important, I think then
Speaker 2: as the performances. And they've done as good a job
Speaker 2: as they possibly can in terms of guys having quote,
Speaker 2: you know, maybe better players around them. Not to give
Speaker 2: an edge one way or the other in terms of
Speaker 2: well they always had the you know, the backup at
Speaker 2: every position. Not guys struggling and trying to make the
Speaker 2: final roster kind of thing. So all those go into
Speaker 2: one big pot and you stir it up and come
Speaker 2: up with a decision. I mean, it's it's a it's
Speaker 2: a definite battle. There's no question.
Speaker 1: Does one or the other have to be the backup?
Speaker 1: At least in week one. I could see them bringing
Speaker 1: in another quarterback from somebody else's roster, but it's hard
Speaker 1: for me to imagine that guy would immediately become the backup.
Speaker 1: What do you think?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I agree with you, Dan, I mean I think,
Speaker 2: you know, just unlearning and relearning terminology that would be
Speaker 2: you know, stressful. It's not like, depending on who the
Speaker 2: quarterback is and how much experience he has, just about
Speaker 2: any quarterback would understand the concepts that the Bengals are
Speaker 2: talking about and what they'd be you know, presenting to
Speaker 2: that individual to understand. But then what do you call it?
Speaker 2: What's the terminology? And you know, sometimes you can be
Speaker 2: bogged down a little bit just by language alone in
Speaker 2: terms of communication and calling the play properly and all
Speaker 2: that sort of thing in the huddle for everybody else.
Speaker 2: So I think it would be you know, not impossible,
Speaker 2: but a tough, tough task for sure, to have somebody
Speaker 2: come in off the street and and you know, God forbid,
Speaker 2: have to be the guy, you know, to lead him
Speaker 2: up there in Cleveland on the road against the Browns.
Speaker 1: If the backup has to play, And hopefully that's not
Speaker 1: the case now. One name that we've talked about off air,
Speaker 1: people have started to speculate in various places is Brandon Allen,
Speaker 1: who's been Joe Burrow's backup for the last three years.
Speaker 1: Right now, he's in San Francisco. By all accounts, he's
Speaker 1: number four on their depth chart. Hard to believe they'll
Speaker 1: keep four. They got rock Perty, Sam Darnold and Trey Lance.
Speaker 1: If he's cut, as is widely expected, should the Bengals
Speaker 1: try to sign him at least to the practice squad.
Speaker 2: I think that'd be a good move if, in fact,
Speaker 2: you know, that could present itself, because here's a guy
Speaker 2: that obviously understands this offense and when he called upon,
Speaker 2: he had some decent performance. I mean, he went out
Speaker 2: there and executed that game down in Houston. He put
Speaker 2: up some really good numbers, no question about it. And
Speaker 2: I think he's highly respected by people in the organization.
Speaker 2: By Joe Burrow. I think, you know, the quarterback room
Speaker 2: would be welcoming him with open arms. So it would
Speaker 2: be a very very smooth and easy transition and something
Speaker 2: that has some potential possibly.
Speaker 1: One thing to keep in mind is if he is cut,
Speaker 1: the Bengal might not be the only team that goes
Speaker 1: after him. There's been speculation that the Rams would be interested.
Speaker 1: He's familiar with Sean McVay from having time having spent
Speaker 1: time there as a backup. So just because he's cut
Speaker 1: doesn't mean the Bengals have a free opportunity. And by free,
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about dollars and cents, but can just
Speaker 1: automatically add him. He's going to consider whatever options he
Speaker 1: might have.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and and uh, you know he's a vested player
Speaker 2: obviously more than four four vested years, so he's free.
Speaker 2: He doesn't have to go through like guys years one, two,
Speaker 2: and three. If they're let go, they have to go
Speaker 2: through the draft order, you know, just the teams that
Speaker 2: finish worst to best. You know, they get the teams
Speaker 2: that finish worst get the best shot, first shot, I
Speaker 2: should say, and then all the way up to the
Speaker 2: to the best team in the NFL. Having the final shot. So,
Speaker 2: but he is, he's free to he's free to go
Speaker 2: anywhere and uh and choose a situation he thinks it's
Speaker 2: best for him. So yeah, it'd be interesting. It'd be
Speaker 2: interesting to see and he would just because of his
Speaker 2: experience with head coaches that are still in the National
Speaker 2: Football League, he would draw some interest, There's no question.
Speaker 1: So we were watching practice the other day. I was
Speaker 1: on one part of the field. You were studying the
Speaker 1: offensive line. You walked over to me raving about Jackson
Speaker 1: Carmen's physical ability. It hasn't consistently carried over when he's
Speaker 1: played in games. Is it confidence? Is it technique? Why
Speaker 1: do you think those great tools don't consistently produce great performance?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think I think consistency is is, you know,
Speaker 2: more more of a mental thing. Focus, concentration, you know,
Speaker 2: don't don't let your mind stray, don't be overcome by
Speaker 2: something if if if there's movement in the defensive front,
Speaker 2: you know, don't freeze. Uh, you know, try to try
Speaker 2: to keep yourself in as good a mindset as you
Speaker 2: possibly can, because if if he's playing free and easy
Speaker 2: mentally physically, he can get it done. I mean physically
Speaker 2: he's got he's got a heck of a toolbox, he
Speaker 2: really does. But I think it is it's it's just
Speaker 2: you know, now, now he might be in a little
Speaker 2: bit of a situation where he was pressing, you know,
Speaker 2: some who knows what's going through the mind of a
Speaker 2: young guy like that. But if he goes up to
Speaker 2: the line of scrimmage with confidence, knowing that this is
Speaker 2: exactly what I'm going to do, if they make this
Speaker 2: kind of an adjustment, I know this is what I'm
Speaker 2: going to do, and hesitancy just kills you. I mean,
Speaker 2: if you if you're if you have any doubt when
Speaker 2: the ball is snapped and you're thinking should I do
Speaker 2: this or do that, it's it's done. You're you're beaten
Speaker 2: before the play even starts. So the physical part of
Speaker 2: it is just a part of it, and it's a
Speaker 2: good part to have, but all areas of the mental
Speaker 2: aspect of the game, you don't have to be fine
Speaker 2: tuned as well. And I think that's where you know
Speaker 2: he's he's had a little bit of a struggle, you know.
Speaker 2: And then if you do have a problem physically, like
Speaker 2: you didn't take the proper step, that's a mental thing
Speaker 2: as well. I mean, physically you're capable of doing it,
Speaker 2: but mentally, if you took an improper angle or whatever
Speaker 2: the case may be, now, all of a sudden, you
Speaker 2: doubt yourself again. And you know that is the worst
Speaker 2: enemy of anything in any athlete in the sports. Self
Speaker 2: doubt kills you, destroys you.
Speaker 1: The only offensive starter who has played so far in
Speaker 1: the preseason and will probably be the only start of
Speaker 1: the plays in the preseason, is Jonah Williams of right tackle.
Speaker 1: He got his first NFL snaps at right tackle last
Speaker 1: week in Atlanta. How'd you think he did?
Speaker 2: I thought he did pretty well. You know, I think
Speaker 2: there was a mix up in the in that drive
Speaker 2: in that there was a play that was supposed to
Speaker 2: be changed, and I think formationally it looked like it
Speaker 2: was odd he was doing an assignment on the backside
Speaker 2: that you wouldn't do on the backside, you'd do on
Speaker 2: the front side, and so there was some sort of problem.
Speaker 2: When I looked at it again, it's like, you know,
Speaker 2: it makes Jonah look really bad, But I think it
Speaker 2: might even been a back lined up on the wrong
Speaker 2: side of the quarter back. From a formation standpoint, the
Speaker 2: whole thing was disjointed. And that's the only snap where
Speaker 2: it looked like you know, in first blush was like, good,
Speaker 2: that didn't look But I don't think it was I
Speaker 2: don't think it was his problem necessarily. I think it
Speaker 2: was something else and he was doing what he was
Speaker 2: supposed to do. And that's the thing if you don't know,
Speaker 2: if you're looking at something, say, oh man, that guy
Speaker 2: just got his butt kicked, Well, what if the play
Speaker 2: design was supposed to be something totally different. He was
Speaker 2: doing exactly what he was supposed to do and you
Speaker 2: don't know that. So the only people that know that
Speaker 2: are the coaches and the players. So sometimes things can
Speaker 2: look one way and they're totally another. That's the danger
Speaker 2: of being quote, Okay, I'm going to grade this. Well,
Speaker 2: you don't know exactly what everybody's supposed to do on
Speaker 2: every single play sometimes. But with all that said, I
Speaker 2: thought that he was fluid. I thought he felt comfortable,
Speaker 2: looked like he felt comfortable anyway. You could tell he'd
Speaker 2: worked at it, and the whole time he was rehabbing
Speaker 2: that knee injury, he was doing something. You know, once
Speaker 2: he found out that they were going to make the
Speaker 2: move to the right tackle position. He definitely took a
Speaker 2: bunch of sets and you know, time on task, a
Speaker 2: repetition breeds, comfortablevel all that stuff. It's not like, you know,
Speaker 2: he sat around just feeling sorry for himself. I got
Speaker 2: to give him a lot of credit. You know, he
Speaker 2: went to work and uh and fine tuned, you know,
Speaker 2: reversing the sets. It's it's it's interesting people think, oh,
Speaker 2: that's that's easy to do. It's not a lot of
Speaker 2: times it's not if you're you know, not not everybody
Speaker 2: can be ambidexterous, you know. And uh, and it's a
Speaker 2: it's a totally different feel and it's almost like you
Speaker 2: have to remake yourself, you know. It's like you have
Speaker 2: a certain way of doing things on the right side,
Speaker 2: then a certain way of doing things on the left side.
Speaker 2: I can speak from experience on that, because you do have,
Speaker 2: you know, a dominant side and you have to make
Speaker 2: adjustments and all that sort of thing. So I thought
Speaker 2: that with all of that having having unfolded in a
Speaker 2: short period of time for him, I thought he looked
Speaker 2: pretty darn good. I thought he acquitted himself. Well.
Speaker 1: He told me this week he's reached the point where
Speaker 1: he doesn't have to think about this hand, this foot,
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff anymore. Moving from left to right.
Speaker 1: Is that kind of the first big key. All right,
Speaker 1: you're no longer having to process which side you're.
Speaker 2: On it is because as we know in this league,
Speaker 2: it's fast. I mean, it's instantaneous. So if you're again
Speaker 2: you know, okay, I have to make sure I got
Speaker 2: to put this okay on this play. Yeah, this right
Speaker 2: hand has to be at this number, and it has
Speaker 2: to be just like a reactionary. It has to be
Speaker 2: second nature. And again that's you know, that self doubt.
Speaker 2: It's not necessarily doubt, but it's not quite totally sure
Speaker 2: of it being like an instantaneous reaction. That that that
Speaker 2: makes it harder. That that puts a lot of stress
Speaker 2: on the player. So the more time on task and
Speaker 2: the more repetition he gets, and then now it's going
Speaker 2: to be interesting because you know, he hasn't gotten any
Speaker 2: reps with the right guard that he's going to be
Speaker 2: playing with the opener up there in Cleveland, So it's
Speaker 2: going to be a little bit of an adjustment there.
Speaker 2: It'll be time on task with live bullets, so it'll
Speaker 2: be an interesting thing to watch how it progresses.
Speaker 1: Much more to come with lap including his thoughts on
Speaker 1: the likelihood that chitabey A Woogie and Joe Burrow will
Speaker 1: play in the season opener. But first a reminder that
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Speaker 1: Bengals Picks and Ultimate Bengals. They're free to play with
Speaker 1: tickets inside merchandise up for grabs. Find both inside the
Speaker 1: Bengals app. You did a great podcast this week with
Speaker 1: chitabay A Wooje. I highly recommend listening to In the
Speaker 1: Trenches with Dave Lapham. The stuff that he said about
Speaker 1: chess in and of itself made it a great listen.
Speaker 1: Cheeto started doing eleven on eleven stuff this week. He
Speaker 1: looks great physically, That's been the case for several weeks,
Speaker 1: but he is not committing yet to playing in week one.
Speaker 1: He says he'll know when he's ready. What do you think?
Speaker 2: I guess maybe I'm a combination of thinking and hoping.
Speaker 2: But I just watching him flip his hips and run
Speaker 2: and the things that he did. And it's not only
Speaker 2: in seven on seven and team it was. It was impressive.
Speaker 2: It was really impressive. So I do think, you know,
Speaker 2: like like he said on the podcast, he goes, I
Speaker 2: felt like I'd play aff to four months. You know,
Speaker 2: I felt that good. But you can't do that. But
Speaker 2: that tells you the type of condition that he's in,
Speaker 2: the type of athlete he is. You know, these guys,
Speaker 2: their bodies are like it's ridiculous. I mean, they're so
Speaker 2: capable of bouncing back from serious trauma in such a
Speaker 2: short period of time. It really is incredible. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I think, you know, he's been taking a ton of
Speaker 2: mental reps. He's been out there into it the whole time.
Speaker 2: And you know, if now you start to fall into
Speaker 2: a category like Joe Burrow of you know, it's you're
Speaker 2: you're fresh, You're you're not beating up at all. You
Speaker 2: don't have any training camp, nicks, bumps, bruises, nothing. I mean,
Speaker 2: you feel as good as you've ever felt going into
Speaker 2: a start in a regular season, because you know, you've
Speaker 2: taken some mental things and you've done some of the
Speaker 2: of the work here down the stretch, and hopefully for
Speaker 2: both of them a couple of weeks prior to that
Speaker 2: first regular season game they'll get significant work in. But
Speaker 2: that's that's the positive of it. It's like, man, I've
Speaker 2: never felt better in my life to start an NFL
Speaker 2: regular season.
Speaker 1: Cheetah is very intellectual. He may even be a little
Speaker 1: bit superstitious. I don't know, but he's going back to
Speaker 1: the quote unquote scene at the crime. The injury happened
Speaker 1: at Cleveland on Halloween. That's where the Bengals open. He's
Speaker 1: going to be competing against his good friend Amari Cooper,
Speaker 1: That's who he was kind of ring when it happened.
Speaker 1: He might just be the type of person that he's
Speaker 1: not going to talk about it until he is out
Speaker 1: on that field in Week one.
Speaker 2: I agree, you know, I think I think he wants to, uh,
Speaker 2: you know, control the narrative and the drama and everything
Speaker 2: associated with it as best he possibly can. And and
Speaker 2: the best way to do that is to is to
Speaker 2: not be definitive, you know as to what your what
Speaker 2: your plans are. So I it's gonna be it is
Speaker 2: though it's so the coincidences are so like, man, it's
Speaker 2: almost like there's something else in control of this thing.
Speaker 2: It is weird. The football gods are saying, let's take
Speaker 2: let's let's test this guy's metal by by all of
Speaker 2: these circumstances. And uh. And honestly, the football gods owe
Speaker 2: him a year of leaving him alone in terms of
Speaker 2: an injury standpoint, because the guy had to go through
Speaker 2: quite a bit and he certainly did it well.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the Bengals leading receivers. So in the
Speaker 1: preseason andre Yosi Vosh nine catches for ninety four yards.
Speaker 1: He's been targeted twenty times in the two preseason games.
Speaker 1: When the Bengals drafted him out of Princeton, I think
Speaker 1: I used the expression of lottery ticket at the time.
Speaker 1: I'm thinking big, strong, fast, IVY League athlete with a
Speaker 1: track background. It's going to take a while. He's going
Speaker 1: to be a project. I was wrong. He's not a project.
Speaker 1: I think he's one of the best six receivers on
Speaker 1: the team. What do you think?
Speaker 2: Agreed? One percent agreed? And I think I think the
Speaker 2: organization is a little bit surprised about how far along
Speaker 2: he is in terms of being an NFL caliber receiver.
Speaker 2: And the thing that I admire about him, he had
Speaker 2: a tendency early in training camp even to use his body,
Speaker 2: you know, and not get the full extension of his arms.
Speaker 2: That's a big plus for him. He's six ' three
Speaker 2: with long arms. His catching radius is big, and he
Speaker 2: wasn't even utilizing it fully yet. And you know, I
Speaker 2: give I give credit where credits due. I mean, he
Speaker 2: was coached and he accepted the coaching, and he extended
Speaker 2: those arms. And he's starting you know, he's catching with
Speaker 2: his hands now and not not catching with his body
Speaker 2: as much. And he's made a dramatic improvement in terms
Speaker 2: of high pointing and contested catches and that sort of thing.
Speaker 2: And I think there's no doubt that the thing that
Speaker 2: has impressed the coaching staff is his ability to Receivers
Speaker 2: have to read things and make adjustments like quarterbacks, you know,
Speaker 2: on coverages, when they're running routes, they have to be
Speaker 2: on the same page as the quarterback. And just because
Speaker 2: you're an IVY League educated person, that's intelligence doesn't necessarily
Speaker 2: equate to football IQ, and particularly if you haven't experienced
Speaker 2: all that, and it's just such a higher level He's
Speaker 2: been pretty seamless and flawless in that regard, which is good.
Speaker 2: So he's got not only raw intelligence, he's got a
Speaker 2: really strong football IQ as well. And you know he's
Speaker 2: a sponge, just like what else you got for me.
Speaker 2: I mean he's taken all the coaching in and looking
Speaker 2: for more. And that's what That's what you love is
Speaker 2: a guy that you know, the Good Lord blessed with
Speaker 2: all these physical attributes. Well, he wants to be great.
Speaker 2: I mean he wants to be do everything he possibly
Speaker 2: can to maximize that and accepting coaching the right way
Speaker 2: is a great way to do it. And it's like
Speaker 2: Courtel Volson's like that, you know, the young left guard.
Speaker 2: I mean he's physically gifted, but you know he knows
Speaker 2: that he needs to maximize what the Good Lord has
Speaker 2: given him. And that guy works man, and Yosi Vash
Speaker 2: is the same. I mean they have a lot of
Speaker 2: young players and a lot of players period on this
Speaker 2: football team that really work hard.
Speaker 1: Speaking of Cordel Olson, what do you make of Joe
Speaker 1: Mixon saying he is a potential Hall of Famer at
Speaker 1: this stage of his career.
Speaker 2: Pumped the brakes a little bit, But I like it.
Speaker 2: I mean, I really like it. It's great when teammates
Speaker 2: have that kind of feeling about another teammate. But I've
Speaker 2: I had conversation with Cordel Volson and said, you know,
Speaker 2: even from this year, I said, oh, you know, watching
Speaker 2: you this year as compared to last year, man, you
Speaker 2: really worked at it. And he's, you know, three hundred
Speaker 2: and twenty five pounds with the lowest body fat any
Speaker 2: offensive lineman. So he has done it right. He's worked
Speaker 2: extremely hard. And you know, he looked at me and
Speaker 2: he said, you know, I want to be great, man.
Speaker 2: My goal is to be great. I just don't want
Speaker 2: to be okay or you know, good, I want to
Speaker 2: be great. And I'm like, that's half the battle right there, man,
Speaker 2: you know, having that kind of an attitude. So, I mean,
Speaker 2: he's a guy that any offensive line coach would love
Speaker 2: to work with. And he's got a good one to
Speaker 2: work with. Frank Pollock is a guy that gives you
Speaker 2: all kinds of tools to put in that toolbox, and
Speaker 2: you know, you can you can change some of the
Speaker 2: tools in that toolbox on a week two week basis,
Speaker 2: and Cordel Volson is capable of you know, applying all
Speaker 2: of it, so it's a good combination there.
Speaker 1: I have not heard anyone refer to Jalen Davis as
Speaker 1: a potential Hall of Famer, but Chitabo Wouje calls him
Speaker 1: every day Davis because he seemingly makes plays every day.
Speaker 1: He had a couple of interceptions at a practice this week.
Speaker 1: He's had a bunch of them in this training camp.
Speaker 1: Is Jalen Davis the starting nickel corner on most NFL teams?
Speaker 2: In your opinion, Bingo, absolutely, I mean to me, it's
Speaker 2: like the Cincinnati Bengals. They just extended their two linebackers.
Speaker 2: Both of their linebackers, you know, Logan Wilson and Jermaine
Speaker 2: Pratt are three down players in the NFL. In today's NFL,
Speaker 2: the way the offenses have evolved, if you've got one
Speaker 2: three down linebacker on your roster, you're fortunate. When you
Speaker 2: have two and then throw Keem Davis Gator in the
Speaker 2: mix as three. Marcus Bailey can pretty much get there
Speaker 2: as well. Four Are you kidding me? Well, now the
Speaker 2: Bengals getting back to Davis, two corners that are starting
Speaker 2: caliber slot corners in the NFL. I mean mean you
Speaker 2: go to your dine package. You got both slots covered
Speaker 2: by these guys. I mean, it's it's unbelievable in terms
Speaker 2: of having you know, depth and talented depth at these
Speaker 2: physician groups. It really is. They've they've identified guys, They've
Speaker 2: identified them properly, and these guys have come in and
Speaker 2: the mesh between the coach and player has been extraordinary.
Speaker 2: So now one plus one equals three and they're in
Speaker 2: a good spot. Defensively, Lou and Romo can do a
Speaker 2: lot of things with these guys with the versatility and
Speaker 2: the depth of the versatility he's got in that roster.
Speaker 1: We can't have a podcast conversation without discussing the quarterback
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow. As we tape this, we are eighteen days
Speaker 1: away from the season opener at Cleveland. We saw Joe
Speaker 1: today in the Bengals cafeteria, pink T shirt, shorts, looking comfortable,
Speaker 1: looking fine, looking happy. I think things are trending in
Speaker 1: the right direction, but we don't see him by the
Speaker 1: way the training staff behind the scenes or whatever he
Speaker 1: might be doing in walk through periods or anything like that.
Speaker 1: Is Joe Burrow the starting quarterback in week one?
Speaker 2: Yes? I really believe that he is you know, when
Speaker 2: I watch him just just walking around physically, he looks
Speaker 2: as strong and as ready as I've ever seen him.
Speaker 2: I mean, he looks he looks unbelievable. The one thing
Speaker 2: you don't have to worry about with this training camp,
Speaker 2: you know, as you start to think about positives, all
Speaker 2: quarterbacks worry about dead arm, too many throws. Don't have
Speaker 2: to worry about that. You know, you don't have to
Speaker 2: worry about bumps and bruises, necks and little things you
Speaker 2: know that you might have accumulated during training camp. Joe
Speaker 2: didn't have to worry about that. Unfortunately, got the bump
Speaker 2: in the neck early and had to shut it down
Speaker 2: with that, with that calf strain. But you know, he's
Speaker 2: probably the freshest physically and mentally that he's been because,
Speaker 2: I mean he's off of appendectomies where he'd lost so
Speaker 2: much weight and so much strength. He was a shell
Speaker 2: of himself, you know, or an acl where you're you know,
Speaker 2: you're rehabbing a reconstruction of a joint, a key joint
Speaker 2: in your body. We're talking about a cash strain here.
Speaker 2: So I mean, I just think that that he's gonna
Speaker 2: be He's gonna be off to a great start. And
Speaker 2: how many times Dan in his in his early career
Speaker 2: here in mini camps, in after a draft in May
Speaker 2: or whatever, it's like two days in the mini camp.
Speaker 2: I'm watching him. I'm thinking, crap, this guy's ready to
Speaker 2: play right now. He's carving it up. Look at this dude,
Speaker 2: I mean, he he is so ready all the time.
Speaker 2: He never lets himself fall apart. I mean he never
Speaker 2: takes like a downtime. And it's like, yeah, I'm just
Speaker 2: gonna get sloppy. I'm gonna get sloppy with my preparation,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna get sloppy physically. He's always on and many
Speaker 2: times during OTA's in mini camp it's been the dude
Speaker 2: looks like mid season for him. I have no doubt
Speaker 2: that this is going to be able to throw the
Speaker 2: ball straight inaccurately as he ever has with a couple
Speaker 2: of weeks of practice. There's no doubt in my mind. So,
Speaker 2: I you know, now, in a perfect world, would you
Speaker 2: like to have been able to get a little bit
Speaker 2: more practice time with guys, particularly Yoshivash and guys like
Speaker 2: that Charlie Jones. Yeah, But if he gets a couple
Speaker 2: of weeks with those guys, all will be good. So
Speaker 2: I'm yes, he's starting against the Cleveland Browns.
Speaker 1: That's the headline from Dave lappam mark it down. But
Speaker 1: when Zach Taylor says in response to how much time
Speaker 1: does he need one rep, he's not exaggerating that much.
Speaker 2: I mean, honestly, it's like, okay, well, you know, being facetious,
Speaker 2: but hey, there's some reality to it. I honestly, watching him,
Speaker 2: like I said, in these camps, mini camps and stuff,
Speaker 2: all at various points, take a pick a spot in
Speaker 2: the off season, he never looks that different. He always
Speaker 2: looks like he's game ready. So I have no qualms
Speaker 2: fears whatsoever about Joe Burrow going out there and given
Speaker 2: a performance that will be you know, exceptional against the
Speaker 2: Cleveland Browns. I mean he went out there after the appendectomy.
Speaker 2: You know, had the turnovers, but I mean just for
Speaker 2: him to be out there, he was literally a shell
Speaker 2: of himself physically, and he goes out there and plays
Speaker 2: an NFL game against that caliber of a football team,
Speaker 2: coach that well by a guy like Mike Tomlin his
Speaker 2: coaching staff, and still has his team in position to
Speaker 2: potentially win the football game. Sh I ain't worried. He'll
Speaker 2: be there. He'll be there against the Browns up in Cleveland.
Speaker 2: He'll be there. Mistake on the lake, He'll be there.
Speaker 1: Lap's lips to God's ears. Let's help. He's right, and
Speaker 1: for the record, I think he is. The Bengals Booth
Speaker 1: Podcast is brought to you by Kettering Health, the official
Speaker 1: healthcare provider of the Bengals. With more than one hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty care facilities and ffteen hundred care providers, Kettering
Speaker 1: Health is committed to guiding you to your best health.
Speaker 1: Visit ketteringhealth dot org to learn more. Following Saturday night's
Speaker 1: game at Washington, the next couple of days are going
Speaker 1: to be nerve racking for quite a few players on
Speaker 1: every team. Right now, NFL franchises can have ninety players.
Speaker 1: By Tuesday at four o'clock, the roster has to be
Speaker 1: cut to fifty three. The following day, teams can establish
Speaker 1: a sixteen man practice squad. That means that every team
Speaker 1: has to say goodbye to roughly twenty players. Multiply that
Speaker 1: by thirty two teams and nearly six hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: players will be out of work next week. One of
Speaker 1: the Bengals rookies facing an anxious weekend is Sderick Jackson.
Speaker 1: With the Bengals skill and depth at wide receiver, Jackson
Speaker 1: almost certainly won't make the fifty three man roster, but
Speaker 1: he's in the running to make the practice squad. And
Speaker 1: I spoke to the undrafted rookie out of Auburn this week.
Speaker 1: All right, Schedick four catches last week for forty two
Speaker 1: yards in Atlanta. That's a good game, but you also
Speaker 1: had a twenty six yard catch that got negated by
Speaker 1: a penalty. You drew a thirty yard pass interference penalty,
Speaker 1: where you're pretty pumped up about that performance.
Speaker 3: Uh yeah, I feel like I went out there and
Speaker 3: you know, made most of my opportunities.
Speaker 4: Like you said, that last catch kind of hurt with
Speaker 4: the with the flag coming back.
Speaker 3: As soon as I got up, I saw the flag,
Speaker 3: I knew knew what it was, unfortunately, But uh yeah,
Speaker 3: just trying to build each week and get a little
Speaker 3: bit better, take advantage of my opportunities, like I said,
Speaker 3: and finish out camp strong.
Speaker 1: The first preseason game was solid as well. You had
Speaker 1: a couple of catches in that game and had the
Speaker 1: opportunity to return three kicks. They're giving you chances to
Speaker 1: show what you can do. Do you take that to
Speaker 1: be a good sign?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 4: I think it's a great sign.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: I'm very grateful for the opportunity to Bengals to give
Speaker 3: me to go out there showcase my talents. And great
Speaker 3: coach of staff, great teammates around me. So it's been
Speaker 3: it's been fun.
Speaker 1: We're visiting the Chrederick Jackson. I asked Zach Taylor about
Speaker 1: you today. He said he has earned my trust by
Speaker 1: understanding the playbook. He's clearly put a lot of time
Speaker 1: in and learning our offense. Is that about right?
Speaker 4: It sounds about right. Yeah.
Speaker 3: Ever since you know they told me or I said
Speaker 3: I would sign with him in free agency, I've just
Speaker 3: been trying to study the playbook, understand as much as
Speaker 3: I can multiple receivers positions, because that's how you like
Speaker 3: you like, he said, gain trust and get on the field,
Speaker 3: get those opportunities. So ever since, ota has been something
Speaker 3: I prided myself on, a knowing each position and not
Speaker 3: only what to do, but how to do it.
Speaker 1: When the head coach says he's earned my trust, is
Speaker 1: that about as good a compliment as you can get.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that's up there, especially from a head
Speaker 3: coach in the league. So being at this level and
Speaker 3: continue to try to gain that trust, it's just, like
Speaker 3: I said, a big deal. It's truly a blessing in
Speaker 3: them looking to keep it going.
Speaker 1: We're chatting with Chrederick Jackson. So you're in a wide
Speaker 1: receiver room with three of the best in the game
Speaker 1: and Jamar, Chase t Higgins and Tyler Boyd. Who have
Speaker 1: you learned the most from?
Speaker 4: Oh, that's a tough one.
Speaker 3: I mean even those three guys like coming in, I
Speaker 3: knew I would be able to look at them and
Speaker 3: take a little bit from their game and learn a lot.
Speaker 3: But even the guys behind that, a lot of people don't,
Speaker 3: you know, give a lot of attention to, like Trent Irwin,
Speaker 3: Trent Taylor, Stan Kwalme, all those guys. So it's been
Speaker 3: great being in that room and just learning from a
Speaker 3: bunch of the veteran guys that are just great people too.
Speaker 1: That's interesting. You're a sponge. You can learn from anybody,
Speaker 1: most definitely. So you signed with the Bengals after playing
Speaker 1: at Auburn. Were you disappointed that you didn't get drafted.
Speaker 1: Did you expect to be selected?
Speaker 4: I kind of knew the reality of it going into it.
Speaker 3: If it wasn't, you know, somewhere in later rounds, I
Speaker 3: knew that going on drafted was a possibility. So yeah,
Speaker 3: watching it, of course, as being a competitor, I am.
Speaker 3: I was a little bit disappointed, But at the same time,
Speaker 3: the opportunity came with the Bengals and you know other
Speaker 3: teams that called. So I'm glad to be here and
Speaker 3: I'm you know, pushing forward.
Speaker 1: Did to put a chip on your shoulder?
Speaker 4: It did? I would say that.
Speaker 1: We've talked before and discussed your pro day where you
Speaker 1: ran a four two five forty. You're one of the
Speaker 1: fastest guys on the team. If everybody lined up at
Speaker 1: the goal line and had to sprint forty yards, who wins?
Speaker 3: I definitely like me. I think, of course DJ Turner
Speaker 3: would be there. He ran a fast forty two, but
Speaker 3: I like me.
Speaker 1: I also spoke to you this spring about your famous
Speaker 1: uncle Bo Jackson. You had a great line. I mentioned
Speaker 1: that he was arguably the greatest athlete of all time.
Speaker 1: He said, second best behind me in all seriousness. Is
Speaker 1: it a great source of pride to be Bo's nephew.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's something that I've uh, you know, growing up with.
Speaker 3: I'm used to it by now. You know, people as
Speaker 3: me about people comparing me, you know, the speed and strength,
Speaker 3: all that stuff. So honestly, when I'm out there playing,
Speaker 3: when I'm out there practicing, you know, I'm gonna just
Speaker 3: worry about my craft and it doesn't really cost my mind.
Speaker 3: So yeah, it's just something I'm used to at this point.
Speaker 1: You're very good natured when I ask you about it
Speaker 1: doesn't get annoying at times.
Speaker 4: It has in the past, and you know, I've had to.
Speaker 3: Tell people to dial it back a little bit, but
Speaker 3: it's just, you know, something you gotta live with. Of Course,
Speaker 3: having somebody of that statue in the game in the past,
Speaker 3: of course you're gonna get questions about it, So I'm
Speaker 3: used to it.
Speaker 1: You've got one preseason game left coming up against Washington.
Speaker 1: What are your goals for this third and final preseason game?
Speaker 1: And how nerve racking well the days after that, bab.
Speaker 3: I try not to think about the days after, but
Speaker 3: just going out there, continue to play football, that's all
Speaker 3: it is, and go out there and get my all.
Speaker 4: Continue to execute the players or whatever. Let's be executed it.
Speaker 3: Make plays and go out there and play fast. So
Speaker 3: just looking forward to playing football. You've earned the coaches trust.
Speaker 3: That's a good sign. Best of luck appreciation. That's Shedar Jackson.
Speaker 1: Sunday's game to Washington starts at six pm our pregame
Speaker 1: coverage on the Bengals Radio Network. We'll get underway at
Speaker 1: four thirty. That's going to do it for this episode
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Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast.