Speaker 1: Hi, get everybody.
Speaker 2: I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading The Bengals Booth Podcast.
Speaker 2: The Gimmages one more last chance addition, as the Bengals
Speaker 2: hope that everything falls just right on the final weekend
Speaker 2: of the season, beginning with a win over Pittsburgh on
Speaker 2: Saturday night. Coming up, I'll talk to Boomer about Burrow.
Speaker 2: My one on one player interview is with Ted Krris
Speaker 2: and in this week's Know the Faux Conversation, we'll get
Speaker 2: an in depth look at the Steelers from the radio
Speaker 2: voice Rob King. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to
Speaker 2: you by pay Corps, proud to be the Bengals official
Speaker 2: hr software provider, by Ulta Fiber future proof fiber Internet
Speaker 2: designed to elevate your home, business, and community to a
Speaker 2: new level, and by Kettering Health the best care for
Speaker 2: the best fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider.
Speaker 1: Of the Bengals.
Speaker 2: Now here's a quick reminder that you can have the
Speaker 2: latest edition of this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet,
Speaker 2: or computer by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's
Speaker 2: the greatest thing since Second Win. The Boomer and Gunner
Speaker 2: assiasin story that's the name of a film. The debut
Speaker 2: on Christmas Eve on ESPN and can now be seen
Speaker 2: on ESPN Plus. The film is beautiful, moving, joyous, and inspirational,
Speaker 2: and it's one of the things I discussed with my
Speaker 2: first guest on this episode. With all of this Joe
Speaker 2: Burrow MVP talk, it is the perfect time to catch
Speaker 2: up with the bengals last most Valuable Player, Boomer Assiasin Boomer,
Speaker 2: your MVP season was your fifth year in the NFL.
Speaker 2: This is Joe Burrow's fifth year in the NFL. What
Speaker 2: do you find remarkable about what he's been doing this year?
Speaker 3: Seems like he's been around a hell of a lot
Speaker 3: longer than five years.
Speaker 4: I can tell you that.
Speaker 3: He's already jem packed in an entire career into those
Speaker 3: five years. You know, I think his growth, his leadership.
Speaker 3: You know, he's kind of an odd duck a little bit,
Speaker 3: which I like, he's his own person, But you know,
Speaker 3: you can't deny the historical things that he is doing
Speaker 3: and he's accomplishing. I mean, he's on the cusp of
Speaker 3: doing something only Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers have done,
Speaker 3: and that's forty five hundred yards forty touchdowns in less
Speaker 3: than ten interceptions in a season, and I would say
Speaker 3: to you, in a normal season, that would be the
Speaker 3: runaway MVP numbers, and nobody would have a problem voting
Speaker 3: for them. Unfortunately for them, because they're not in the playoffs,
Speaker 3: because they're not winning their division, because they have to
Speaker 3: hang on here at the end, he's probably going to
Speaker 3: get less votes because of that. I think there will
Speaker 3: be some people that do vote for him. I no
Speaker 3: longer have a vote, by the way, I gave that
Speaker 3: up this year. I would say that Lamar Jackson and
Speaker 3: Josh Allen right now have to be one A and
Speaker 3: one B, and depending on what happens here the last
Speaker 3: week of the season, maybe Lamar there was something even
Speaker 3: more historical and throws for over four thousand or uns
Speaker 3: for over eight hundred yards, which is just insane, and
Speaker 3: also throws for over forty touchdowns and has less than
Speaker 3: five the interceptions.
Speaker 1: I'm a broadcaster.
Speaker 2: I've got a healthy ego, like a lot of people
Speaker 2: in the business, but they're a handful of broadcasters boom
Speaker 2: or where. I say, you know what, I'm good, but
Speaker 2: I'm not that good.
Speaker 1: You had a phenomenal fourteen year NFL career.
Speaker 2: But is there anything about Joe where you say, man,
Speaker 2: I could have never done that or I didn't have that.
Speaker 3: Well, you know, first of all, they play in a
Speaker 3: different euro and the rules are different. So the one
Speaker 3: thing or the three things, I'll say that I didn't
Speaker 3: really have the benefit of or defensive holding, illegal contact,
Speaker 3: and protecting the quarterback. So I didn't have those things
Speaker 3: going for me back in the day. And the game
Speaker 3: has changed, but nonetheless it's still extremely physical. You've got
Speaker 3: to be cerebraled, you got to be a leader, you
Speaker 3: got to stand tall.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: Actually, I wish that Joe had a top ten defense,
Speaker 3: I really do. I mean, Patrick Mahomes has had that,
Speaker 3: and you could see that they can win without having
Speaker 3: to score thirty points or more a game. So the
Speaker 3: thing that's remarkable to me is this run that Joe
Speaker 3: is on. It's unprecedented when you think about it, when
Speaker 3: you're talking about the amount of yards, the amount of touchdowns.
Speaker 3: Now all of a sudden, the winning is starting to happen.
Speaker 3: You know, I just think that there are things that
Speaker 3: he does on the field that nobody else in the
Speaker 3: NFL is capable of doing. But you can't match numbers
Speaker 3: when it comes to just statistics when you're talking about
Speaker 3: things like that. But he does more than numbers, and
Speaker 3: you know his ability to spread it around. I know
Speaker 3: that Jamar is his favorite, but you know he does
Speaker 3: not mind getting everybody else involved. And you know you
Speaker 3: can see on this Hard Knocks AFC North how in
Speaker 3: control of the team is, how he is the leader,
Speaker 3: how everybody loves poking fun at him. He pokes fun
Speaker 3: at everybody else. So you know, those are all the
Speaker 3: great things that I see. And those are the things,
Speaker 3: by the way, Dan, that I expected five years ago
Speaker 3: before they drafted him, And I think you and I
Speaker 3: probably had a discussion about whether or not he was
Speaker 3: going to be the number one overall pick. I remember
Speaker 3: telling Jeff Hopson, I mean, look, how could he not
Speaker 3: be the number one overall pick? And he should go
Speaker 3: on to have a Hall of Fame career, And those
Speaker 3: were the expectations that I had for him five years ago.
Speaker 3: I can imagine that Mike Brown and everybody in Bengaledon
Speaker 3: probably had the same feelings that I did.
Speaker 2: Boomer, you were never shy about expressing your opinion in
Speaker 2: your playing days, and Joe has been a little more
Speaker 2: direct recently, expressing some of the things he would like
Speaker 2: to see going forward.
Speaker 1: Do you like that when you hear.
Speaker 3: It, I just be careful about it. I mean, I
Speaker 3: want him to be the quarterback that he is. You know,
Speaker 3: they need help, and they need help on defense in
Speaker 3: the offseason. Regardless of what happens this year, maybe somehow
Speaker 3: they get in. Maybe the Dolphins lose to the Jets,
Speaker 3: maybe the Broncos lose to the Chiefs, both probably playing
Speaker 3: backup quarterback. So the likely scenario is that that's not
Speaker 3: going to happen. That the Bengals won't make it, unfortunately.
Speaker 3: But this offseason, when I look at it, it's not
Speaker 3: about offense. It's never been about offense since he got there.
Speaker 3: Maybe about the offensive line early on, and didn't play
Speaker 3: with a great offensive line in the Super Bowl against
Speaker 3: the Rams and almost won the game despite that, but
Speaker 3: then at the end it came to fruition where Aaron
Speaker 3: Donalds won the game for the Rams late in that game.
Speaker 3: But I just think that if they could somehow get
Speaker 3: in the top ten defensively like the Chiefs are, then
Speaker 3: Joe may not be putting up these gaudy numbers as much,
Speaker 3: but he won't be asked to do so much, and
Speaker 3: maybe he'll last a hell of a lot longer. So
Speaker 3: I just I hope for him that the team becomes
Speaker 3: more balanced and somehow, some way he can win a
Speaker 3: game twenty one to nineteen or seventeen to fourteen, if
Speaker 3: it ever came down to that.
Speaker 2: Does that make you reluctant to extend both wide receivers.
Speaker 3: I don't see how you can. Your quarterback's making fifty
Speaker 3: five million dollars a year, Jamar Chase will be the
Speaker 3: highest paid wide receiver in football. So he will eclipse
Speaker 3: Justin Jefferson, and he deserves to. I mean, you know,
Speaker 3: I see a lot of stuff on X and I
Speaker 3: see a lot of people posting, and every now and
Speaker 3: then I'll get involved and people get mad at me
Speaker 3: because you know, they want T Higgins or Jamar Chase
Speaker 3: to take less money and try to keep everybody together.
Speaker 3: I mean, in this day and age, in the cap
Speaker 3: and the amount of money that is being spent, you
Speaker 3: can't do it that way anymore. So you got to
Speaker 3: be really judicious about who you're paying, how much you're
Speaker 3: paying them, what you're paying them. In signing bonuses. You know,
Speaker 3: the Browns are dealing with Deshaun Watson and maybe the
Speaker 3: dumbest move in the history of the NFL. I think
Speaker 3: t Higgins deserves to be paid. I think he's a
Speaker 3: number one receiver. I think there are a number teams
Speaker 3: out there that would love to give him a four year,
Speaker 3: probably thirty to maybe thirty one hundred and twenty million
Speaker 3: dollar contract with about sixty million guaranteed. And why should
Speaker 3: he expect less or take less because nobody else is
Speaker 3: And quite frankly, if if you're a part of the NFLPA,
Speaker 3: which they all are, their job is to eclipse the
Speaker 3: guy that's in front of them when they are worthy
Speaker 3: of it. And that's exactly what Jamar Chase's situation is
Speaker 3: right now. So ninety million dollars to a quarterback wide
Speaker 3: receiver tandem, that's a lot of money when it comes
Speaker 3: to the salary cap in the NFL these days.
Speaker 2: Let's specifically talk about Jamar. He hasn't even turned twenty
Speaker 2: five yet he's having a historically great season. Of the
Speaker 2: guys that you threw to and you've watched since, what's
Speaker 2: unique about Jamar.
Speaker 3: His length, first and foremost combined with his speed, so
Speaker 3: he also has an awareness on the football field. So
Speaker 3: the closest guy I had was Eddie Brown. Eddie Brown
Speaker 3: was not nearly as big as Jamar is, but he
Speaker 3: had an innate ability to understand where he was on
Speaker 3: the field, and no matter where you threw the ball,
Speaker 3: there was always the thought that he was going to
Speaker 3: take it to the house. So those are the little
Speaker 3: intangible things that you know. You don't know until you
Speaker 3: start playing and seeing a guy up close and personal,
Speaker 3: you know what kind of player they are are. You know,
Speaker 3: Chris and Tim McGee, Chris Comsworth and Tim McGee, they
Speaker 3: were straight line runners, great route runners. They could separate
Speaker 3: at the top of their routes. Jamar can do that.
Speaker 3: But Jamar is a freak athlete and he's got enormous hands,
Speaker 3: so he very rarely ever drops the ball. That's why
Speaker 3: when he drops the ball, you're like, oh my god,
Speaker 3: I can't believe he just dropped the ball. So and
Speaker 3: the combination and you know, the collection of playmakers that
Speaker 3: they have on the offense being orchestrated by Joe, it's
Speaker 3: just it's fun to watch.
Speaker 4: I mean, Paul.
Speaker 3: Brown Stadium, all the orange and black the way it looks,
Speaker 3: the way the uniforms look, the helmet looks. It's great
Speaker 3: to watch it up close and personal. It's just a
Speaker 3: shame that I don't I just unfortunately, I don't think
Speaker 3: they're going to make the playoffs.
Speaker 2: Man, Well, let's talk about the first thing they need
Speaker 2: to do, and that is beat Pittsburgh on Saturday night.
Speaker 2: The Steelers won the first meeting forty four to thirty eight.
Speaker 2: The Bengals haven't lost the game since. What do they
Speaker 2: have to do to beat them in Pittsburgh on Saturday?
Speaker 3: So Joe's throwing fourteen interceptions against this defense. They were
Speaker 3: a pain in the ass when I played. They're a
Speaker 3: pain in the ass to Lamar Jackson, and they seem
Speaker 3: to be a pain in the ass that Joe Burrow.
Speaker 3: But the last couple of times he's throwing for over
Speaker 3: three hundred yards against them. I would suspect it's going
Speaker 3: to be that type of game again. But unfortunately for
Speaker 3: the Steelers, you know, they've lost three in a row now,
Speaker 3: or maybe even four in a row. I mean, they
Speaker 3: are going off a cliff. I expect another probably twenty
Speaker 3: seven to twenty four, thirty twenty seven type of game.
Speaker 3: I would think the team that has the ball last
Speaker 3: is going to have a chance to kick a game
Speaker 3: winning field goal. And I would remind Zach Taylor, do
Speaker 3: not give the other team an opportunity at the end
Speaker 3: of the first the end of the game regulation to
Speaker 3: beat your defense because you have to protect them because
Speaker 3: they need protecting. So you know, managing the clock will
Speaker 3: be important once again, as it always is in every
Speaker 3: game when it's close late in late in the game.
Speaker 2: If the Bengals win on Saturday, they can kick back
Speaker 2: on Sunday afternoon and hope for help from Kansas City
Speaker 2: and from the Jets. Give me a scenario where those
Speaker 2: two upsets happen.
Speaker 3: I think both maybe playing with backup quarterbacks. Tyler Huntley
Speaker 3: could be going for Miami. They're saying Tool wants to play,
Speaker 3: but you know he's got the hip injury, so I
Speaker 3: don't know if they're going to put him out there
Speaker 3: in a meaning well, it's not meaningless for that. Of course,
Speaker 3: the Jets are a basket case. They were awful last
Speaker 3: week in Buffalo, but this is the NFL. That doesn't
Speaker 3: mean anything. You know, Aaron Rodgers wants this five hundred
Speaker 3: touchdown pass he'd like to throw to Devonte Adams. They
Speaker 3: would like nothing better than to ruin the Miami Dolphins
Speaker 3: hopes for a playoff themselves, which I don't think is
Speaker 3: going to happen because I maybe Carson Wentz beats Denver
Speaker 3: in Denver, I'm not sure that could happen, I guess,
Speaker 3: and I know Carson is auditioning for other teams for
Speaker 3: next year. So I think it would have to take
Speaker 3: a great performance by Carson Wentz in Kansas City to
Speaker 3: beat Denver. And then I think it would also have
Speaker 3: to take a big performance by Aaron Rodgers thinking maybe
Speaker 3: this is my last game of my career and I
Speaker 3: want to while winning a meaningless game. So I think
Speaker 3: that's what it would take. It reminds me in nineteen
Speaker 3: eighty six, we won our final game. We got the
Speaker 3: ten and six, and I think we needed the Dolphins
Speaker 3: to beat the Patriots or the Patriots to beat the Dolphins.
Speaker 3: One of those two teams had to win on Monday
Speaker 3: Night football, And I remember me and Chris sitting at
Speaker 3: the waterfront. We were on Monday Night Football sitting there
Speaker 3: watching this game and unfortunately and ended in disappointment for us.
Speaker 3: But we did have a good year, and it spring
Speaker 3: It was a springboard that ultimately got us to the
Speaker 3: super Bowl in eighty eight.
Speaker 2: Boomer on Christmas Eve, ESPN aired a film named Second Wind,
Speaker 2: the Boomer and Gunner asiasin story. I was floored. I
Speaker 2: was literally moved to tears. That is your family's life
Speaker 2: story up on the screen. How did you feel about
Speaker 2: the way it turned out?
Speaker 3: It was amazing. I had a sneak preview, so I
Speaker 3: was ready for it when they played it. And what
Speaker 3: I'm glad about is that it really told Gunner's story
Speaker 3: and how he has grown into a young man who's
Speaker 3: a bother and a husband himself. He's remarkable, he's got
Speaker 3: his own job, he's doing exceptionally well, and his whole
Speaker 3: life turned around with a miracle drug in twenty and eighteen.
Speaker 3: I have been praying ever since he was diagnosed that somehow, someway,
Speaker 3: we could be a part of something really, really special.
Speaker 3: And in twenty and eighteen it happened. And from twenty
Speaker 3: and eighteen to twenty twenty four, he's gotten married, he's
Speaker 3: gotten two MBAs, he's got a job up in Boston,
Speaker 3: he's got two kids. There are his kids. He's the
Speaker 3: biological father. They went through IVF. He went through the
Speaker 3: needle to the testicle's root, because that's the way you
Speaker 3: have to go if you are a CF father. And
Speaker 3: I have a grandson and a granddaughter. So it's my miracle,
Speaker 3: it's my super Bowl. It's everything that I could have
Speaker 3: hoped and prayed for. And I think they did such
Speaker 3: a good job of capturing who Gunner is as a person,
Speaker 3: and then watching his wife Darcy speak about Gunner aid
Speaker 3: me chills. So I had the same feelings most people had,
Speaker 3: but even more impactful. If you can imagine that.
Speaker 2: I thought I knew Gunner's story, but honestly, I didn't
Speaker 2: realize how dire his health had become in his early
Speaker 2: twenties until the discovery of the drug that you described.
Speaker 2: How concerned were you during those years that he might
Speaker 2: not make it much longer?
Speaker 3: You know, it's the physical part of it was apparent us,
Speaker 3: you could see it. The mental part is the scary part,
Speaker 3: because you don't see all the things that he's going through.
Speaker 3: And you know, as a twenty two year old man
Speaker 3: graduating from college and watching all of his friends go
Speaker 3: off and live their lives, get their jobs, of their dreams,
Speaker 3: and become successful young men themselves. It had to be
Speaker 3: weighing on Gunner extremely heavily. And that was the thing
Speaker 3: that I saw the most of You know, we could
Speaker 3: deal with the physical stuff, but the mental stuff I
Speaker 3: was scared about. And then when he met his girlfriend,
Speaker 3: then his wife, now his whole life changed because she
Speaker 3: graduated from college in the mental health space and has
Speaker 3: worked in the mental health space as a psychologist and a psychiatrist.
Speaker 3: So she was the perfect person. Was like she was
Speaker 3: sent from heaven. That's why I described her as the
Speaker 3: angel that she is, because she got him out of
Speaker 3: his doldrums, out of his depressed state, and gave him
Speaker 3: a reason to live. And then when twenty and eighteen
Speaker 3: came two years after I think it was two years
Speaker 3: after they met, it was like, Okay, it's a rocket
Speaker 3: ship blasting off, and we're going to do all of
Speaker 3: this stuff and so much in such a quick period
Speaker 3: of time that none of us really had a chance
Speaker 3: to digest what was happening in front of our eyes.
Speaker 3: And then when you sit down and you take stock
Speaker 3: of all of it, you realize that later on in life,
Speaker 3: she became the ultimate hero to who he has now become,
Speaker 3: and they make an unbelievable pair of parents and Gunner
Speaker 3: as a remarkable young man who is living his life
Speaker 3: to the fullest.
Speaker 2: Now, I don't know a lot of people who have
Speaker 2: changed the course of history. You have through the Boomer
Speaker 2: Assiasin Foundation. The money you raise toward research helped the
Speaker 2: discovery of Trikafta, which has changed the lives of tens
Speaker 2: of thousands of people. And fortunately it doesn't work for
Speaker 2: every CF patient. Do you believe now, Boomer, that a
Speaker 2: cure for CF will be discovered?
Speaker 3: I think it's on the horizon for sure. And let
Speaker 3: me just say this, This journey oft ourge started thirty
Speaker 3: years ago. I had just become a New York Jet
Speaker 3: and I think you over their shoulder you could see
Speaker 3: the Sports Illustrated cover where it all started. And here
Speaker 3: we are thirty years later. Gunner's thirty three. I'm sixty three.
Speaker 3: Do you know how many people I asked to be
Speaker 3: a part of our foundation? I mean thousands, from my
Speaker 3: former teammates Chris Collinsworth and Stanford Jennings and my offensive
Speaker 3: lines over the years, the coaches Sam Weisch, Bruce Cosled,
Speaker 3: I can go on and on, companies like Cincinnati Bell
Speaker 3: and my friend Jack Cassidy, Jeff Ruby from Ruby Steakhouse.
Speaker 3: All these people gave a little bit, then they gave
Speaker 3: some more, and then some more added up, and then
Speaker 3: over the years, it's been about two hundred million dollars
Speaker 3: of people that believed in the cause that I was
Speaker 3: trying to sell them. And I felt like like a
Speaker 3: college football coach dealing with boosters, you know, like, where's
Speaker 3: the When are we going to win the national championship?
Speaker 3: All right, we're getting there. We're getting there. Don't worry,
Speaker 3: but just give me some more money. I need some
Speaker 3: more money. And when we finally hit it in twenty
Speaker 3: and eighteen, you know, I sent out an email plass
Speaker 3: thanking everybody that I possibly could that has been a
Speaker 3: part of this incredible journey, including the families that went
Speaker 3: before us that lost their loved ones assistic bibrosis, whose
Speaker 3: parents are still involved in raising money from all over
Speaker 3: the country, and people that still use Cincinnati's Children's Pediatric
Speaker 3: Center that is named after Gunner, to the adult center
Speaker 3: here at Columbia Presbyteria that's also named after Gunner. All
Speaker 3: these institutions gave us the platform to be able to
Speaker 3: really expand the patient base and make sure that we
Speaker 3: had everything that we needed as we were going through
Speaker 3: the investigated process, the research process, and I can't there's
Speaker 3: not enough time in one day, or one year or
Speaker 3: the rest of my life to thank all the people
Speaker 3: that supported this fight. So I may be the face
Speaker 3: of it. Gunner is a patient who has basically benefited
Speaker 3: from it, but all those other people that were a
Speaker 3: part of this long running saga that was cystic fibrosis
Speaker 3: deserve a bow and deserve to take a thank you
Speaker 3: for me and from all the parents that have had
Speaker 3: their lives changed.
Speaker 1: The film is Second Win.
Speaker 2: If you missed it on Christmas Eve, you can check
Speaker 2: it out on ESPN Plus and I strongly encourage you
Speaker 2: to do so.
Speaker 1: It is an amazing story. Boomer.
Speaker 2: We always appreciate your time. Happy New Year, enjoy the grandkids,
Speaker 2: and we'll keep our fingers crossed that we're all watching
Speaker 2: Bang playoff football in another week.
Speaker 3: Wouldn't it be great if the Bengals had a second
Speaker 3: win and made it to the playoffs this year. That
Speaker 3: would be something that I could buy into. That would
Speaker 3: be great.
Speaker 2: Thanks Dan the boomerasiasin Foundation is raised somewhere in the
Speaker 2: vicinity of two hundred million dollars to help people with
Speaker 2: cystic fibrosis and to try to find a cure. As
Speaker 2: Boomer states in the film, money buys Science and science
Speaker 2: buys life. If you would like to help, go to
Speaker 2: asiasin dot Org. The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to
Speaker 2: you by pay Core, Proud to be the Bengals official
Speaker 2: hr software provider, by Alta Fiber future proof Fiber Internet
Speaker 2: designed to elevate your home, business, and community to a
Speaker 2: new level, and by Kettering Health the best Care for
Speaker 2: the best fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider.
Speaker 1: Of the Bengals.
Speaker 2: Over the years, I have frequently referred to this week's
Speaker 2: opponent as the dreaded, hated, but grudgingly respected Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 2: Let's face it, we wouldn't hate them if not for
Speaker 2: their historical success with six Super Bowl titles and their
Speaker 2: head to head success against the Bengals. Pittsburgh has won
Speaker 2: nearly sixty five percent of the one hundred and ten
Speaker 2: previous meetings, including the last three. I caught up with
Speaker 2: Ted Karras this week to discuss the game how Joe
Speaker 2: Burrows season compares to another MVP he blocked for and
Speaker 2: what he plans to do with the Samurai sword he
Speaker 2: got from his quarterback for Christmas? Ted, how has the
Speaker 2: last month and this four game winning streak impacted how
Speaker 2: you feel about this season as a whole.
Speaker 5: Well, I think we have a chance to get in
Speaker 5: the dance.
Speaker 6: Play Saturday night and so you know, no fates are
Speaker 6: sealed until Sunday, but that's going in that game.
Speaker 5: Everyone's gonna be fired up.
Speaker 2: Since you play on Saturday, and Denver and Miami don't
Speaker 2: play until day there's no point in scoreboard watching or
Speaker 2: anything like that.
Speaker 1: Those other teams won't be an action. Is that helpful
Speaker 1: to lock in on Pittsburgh?
Speaker 5: I think so. I think it just kind of takes
Speaker 5: some of that anxiety away. Or are we done or
Speaker 5: are we not? We don't know. We have one goal
Speaker 5: in this to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 1: Let's talk o line.
Speaker 2: Last week against Denver, the Broncos had seven sacks and
Speaker 2: fifteen quarterback hits. When asked about it earlier this week,
Speaker 2: Dan Pitcher said, as often as we throw it and
Speaker 2: as long as Joe holds the ball. I thought that
Speaker 2: the offensive line protected. Well, how do you guys evaluate it?
Speaker 6: I mean, obviously you never want to see that those numbers,
Speaker 6: but you know, I think it was a good front
Speaker 6: out there.
Speaker 5: You know we are a pass first offense and didn
Speaker 5: 'ten have to win the game.
Speaker 2: One of the film study guys I respect. Joe Goodberry
Speaker 2: tweeted recently, Ted Karris deserves Pro Bowl consideration.
Speaker 1: Pro Football Focus has you.
Speaker 2: Graded as the fourth best pass protecting center in the NFL.
Speaker 2: Do you feel this is as well as you played?
Speaker 6: I think we've had, you know, a lot of good games.
Speaker 6: I think we have a solid unit up front. Thanks
Speaker 6: Joe for the shout out, But you know, the ultimate
Speaker 6: stat that matters is are what are you doing to
Speaker 6: help the team win? And we've strung four in a row.
Speaker 6: Let's make it a fifth and make it interesting on
Speaker 6: Sunday for everybody.
Speaker 2: I want to mention something else that Dan Pitcher said recently.
Speaker 2: He was talking about Joe Burrow's ability to draw teams
Speaker 2: off side with the cadence this year, and Dan said,
Speaker 2: it's Joe and Ted Karras who have worked on that
Speaker 2: a lot. Explain your role in getting teams to jump.
Speaker 6: Well, there's a lot of posturing, I guess of you know,
Speaker 6: making real calls and making it se micro about to
Speaker 6: run a real play. And then there's certain mechanisms that
Speaker 6: if they jump on snapping and certain that they jump
Speaker 6: that we're just touching them. So we got to be
Speaker 6: locked in on that and deliver a good ball and
Speaker 6: then block the play. I think that's what a lot
Speaker 6: of guys, you know, it's a big emphasis here is
Speaker 6: once the ball stats, we're live, so we got to
Speaker 6: go so we don't get unobated to the quarterback.
Speaker 2: In twenty seventeen, you played with an MVP Tom Brady.
Speaker 2: How does Joe Burrow in twenty twenty four compare to
Speaker 2: that MVP season.
Speaker 5: In twenty seventeen.
Speaker 6: I mean, I think the biggest I mean, they're throwing
Speaker 6: a lot of a lot of good balls, throwing a
Speaker 6: lot of touchdowns, obviously the best player on their respective teams.
Speaker 5: I think the biggest difference, you know, it would be
Speaker 5: that we were.
Speaker 6: Fourteen to two and we're eight and eight right now.
Speaker 6: So you know, I think that kind of holds Joe
Speaker 6: back from getting the MVP. But you know, I think
Speaker 6: he should win it. I understand why he might not,
Speaker 6: because usually you know that goes to someone who's a
Speaker 6: higher seed. But if you're really looking at who's the
Speaker 6: most valuable for their team, I think there's no doubt
Speaker 6: it's Joe Burrow.
Speaker 2: You're gonna be trying to block a future Hall of
Speaker 2: Famer on Saturday night in Cam Hayward. What qualities does
Speaker 2: he have that other great interior guys in the NFL don't.
Speaker 6: He's stronger. He's one of the strongest guys you'll ever
Speaker 6: match up with. I have a ton of respect for
Speaker 6: Cam Hayward. You're fourteen putting together some of the film
Speaker 6: that he has, the effort that he plays with.
Speaker 5: I mean that whole front seven can't say.
Speaker 6: Enough good about him. You know, we're going into Pittsburgh
Speaker 6: in a night game. It's gonna be a battle.
Speaker 2: From a communic cation standpoint, How hard is a primetime
Speaker 2: road game in Pittsburgh.
Speaker 5: It's hard, i'd put it. I don't know.
Speaker 6: I'm not gonna rank it, but it's it's hard up there.
Speaker 6: You know one of my it's one of my favorite stadiums, Hinesfield.
Speaker 6: I don't know it's akature now, but you know one
Speaker 6: of my favorite stadiums. You know, with all the history
Speaker 6: of the NFL that's been there, I wish to catch
Speaker 6: a bottle is still there. But I think Renegade's also
Speaker 6: an awesome tradition, So we need to go up and
Speaker 6: get a win. Hopefully we're up when Renegade place.
Speaker 2: A couple more questions for Ted Karras. At one of
Speaker 2: our radio shows recently, a guy was wearing the Christmas
Speaker 2: edition of the Sincy Hat, the green hat with the
Speaker 2: Santa cap over the first sea. I was very jealous.
Speaker 2: Who comes up with this stuff? Who is the designer
Speaker 2: of the Sincy hat gear?
Speaker 6: I came up with that one. There's one right behind you,
Speaker 6: right there. But Imperial has a great art department, so
Speaker 6: we kind of just tell them my ideas and then
Speaker 6: they put it into practice.
Speaker 5: I didn't draw it or anything. I just requested a
Speaker 5: Santa hat over the sea.
Speaker 1: You nailed it.
Speaker 2: What are some of the things that the Sinsi Hat
Speaker 2: Foundation has in store for twenty twenty five.
Speaker 6: Well, we have a big, uh big project coming in Harrison,
Speaker 6: Ohio for building with adults with intellectual disabilities.
Speaker 5: We do the scholarships that you.
Speaker 6: See we have, We're gonna have a lot of things.
Speaker 6: It's gonna be kind of the year of the non hat.
Speaker 6: So we're gonna come out with all sorts of new
Speaker 6: cool gear and golf stuff and all that sort, and really,
Speaker 6: you know, gonna fulfill our mission of housing these people
Speaker 6: with intellectual disabilities. So we got a big twenty twenty
Speaker 6: five ahead.
Speaker 2: Final question, I appreciate your time. What are you going
Speaker 2: to do with a samurai sort?
Speaker 5: I'm gonna get a customed glass box and put it
Speaker 5: on the wall. Everyone keeps asking me to pull it out.
Speaker 5: I don't want to pull it out. It's serious. Oh
Speaker 5: he'll chop your arm off.
Speaker 2: Make sure that that thing can't be open. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: will that best of a lot. I appreciate your time.
Speaker 5: Thanks man.
Speaker 2: The Steelers are two and a half point favorites, and
Speaker 2: we'll have to keep our fingers crossed on some Bengals
Speaker 2: injuries as Chase Brown, T Higgins, a Marius Drew, Sample
Speaker 2: and Cam Taylor Britt are all listed as questionable, although
Speaker 2: I would expect most of those guys to play. Pittsburgh's
Speaker 2: best cover corner, Joey Porter, will be back after missing
Speaker 2: last week's game with a knee injury. For more on
Speaker 2: the Steelers. The radio voice Rob King joined Dave Lapham
Speaker 2: and me for this week's Know the Faux segment. Rob
Speaker 2: Let's talk about the stakes for the Steelers. It sounds
Speaker 2: like Mike Tomlin has pretty much squelched any thought that
Speaker 2: the Steelers are going to be resting key players on
Speaker 2: Saturday Night.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 7: I wouldn't expect him to do that, especially in light
Speaker 7: of how the team's played over the last three games.
Speaker 7: You know, they just did not put their best foot forward.
Speaker 7: I don't think anybody wants to go into the playoffs.
Speaker 7: You know, if you don't put your best foot forward
Speaker 7: against Cincinnati, it's going to be hard to beat Joe
Speaker 7: Burrow and company, even with everybody healthy and everybody going.
Speaker 4: You don't want to enter the playoffs on a four
Speaker 4: game losing streak. So I think you want to go in.
Speaker 7: You want to play good football and you know, hopefully
Speaker 7: win the game and hopefully get that feeling back that
Speaker 7: you had when you were ten and three and not
Speaker 7: the feeling that you've gotten the last three games and
Speaker 7: you've dropped the ten and six.
Speaker 8: The thing that is unbelievable jumped out at me and
Speaker 8: hit me right in the face. Again, I remember when
Speaker 8: the first game looking at the scoring by quarter and
Speaker 8: Pittsburgh had only given up sixteen points at that point
Speaker 8: in the season. Well, here it is a month later.
Speaker 8: The don't give up twenty nine one point eight points
Speaker 8: per game in the third quarter, one hundred and two
Speaker 8: in the first quarter, eighty one in the second quarter,
Speaker 8: one hundred and sixteen in the fourth quarter, and only
Speaker 8: twenty nine in the third quarter. It's such a huge disparity.
Speaker 8: What is it just coincidental or is there anything to it?
Speaker 4: Well, I think there's a couple of things.
Speaker 7: I mean, certainly the Steelers, you know, they always, like
Speaker 7: you almost always liked to defer, and so that means
Speaker 7: they're getting the ball to begin the third quarter. I
Speaker 7: think there's probably a little something in that. I I
Speaker 7: don't know Dave specifically how many times they've been on
Speaker 7: defense and beginning the third quarter, how many times they've
Speaker 7: been on offense. Right, I think when you talk about
Speaker 7: the team, you know what they want to do. They
Speaker 7: want to run the football. Generally, you begin to.
Speaker 4: See that take shape in the third and fourth quarter.
Speaker 7: You know a lot of times fans will wonder, hey,
Speaker 7: why are you running the ball? And you know, those
Speaker 7: are body blows, to use a boxing analogy, you know,
Speaker 7: those are things that wear down your opponent and are
Speaker 7: more effective as you move on in the game. So
Speaker 7: I think that those are those are some of the reasons.
Speaker 7: And I think you know, a good coaching staff making
Speaker 7: halftime adjustment. So I think those three things are probably
Speaker 7: the leading factors as to why that's the case.
Speaker 2: We are chatting with the voice of the Steelers, Rob
Speaker 2: King after Pittsburgh's most recent loss to Kansas City.
Speaker 1: Rob.
Speaker 2: We all saw some comments coming out of the locker
Speaker 2: room the kind of suggested that maybe ten guys are
Speaker 2: on one page and and one guy wasn't. Can you
Speaker 2: shed some light on what's going on there with the defense?
Speaker 7: You know, it's a great question, Dan, because you know
Speaker 7: a lot of times you'll hear that as an explanation,
Speaker 7: and it's a different person every time, right, you know, like, well,
Speaker 7: ten of us did their job and one didn't, and
Speaker 7: if we could just all get on the same page.
Speaker 7: It doesn't it's usually not a finger pointed at one guy.
Speaker 7: I feel like, I don't know whether this is different
Speaker 7: or not. It feels like maybe some guys in the
Speaker 7: secondary are maybe trying to do more than they should,
Speaker 7: or maybe there's some communication issues. Mike Tommlin was asked
Speaker 7: about that, and he said, look over the last three weeks,
Speaker 7: you know, and you know, he didn't use this as
Speaker 7: an excuse because it can't be a total excuse. But again,
Speaker 7: if you're looking for a partial reason, you know, for
Speaker 7: a couple of weeks you're without Deshaun Elliotto has been
Speaker 7: a terrific player and kind of really captains what happens
Speaker 7: in the secondary. He was out for two or three games.
Speaker 7: Dante Jackson, one of your starting corners, is out for
Speaker 7: two or three games. And then Joey Porter Junior, the
Speaker 7: starting corner, missed this last game after the other two
Speaker 7: guys came back. So how much of it is just
Speaker 7: communication out there? I think that could be part of it.
Speaker 7: Are guys trying to do too much, you know, quote
Speaker 7: unquote hero ball, trying to be the guy that makes
Speaker 7: the play.
Speaker 4: I mean, on the one hand, you want guys that
Speaker 4: want to make the play. On the other hand, you
Speaker 4: have to do that within the structure of what you're
Speaker 4: doing as a team.
Speaker 7: Because you know, Kansas City found that and they're so
Speaker 7: good man, they're so good it has is Joe Burrow.
Speaker 7: You make that one mistake, Mahomes or Burrow's gonna find it.
Speaker 7: You cannot live that way when you're going against elite quarterbacks.
Speaker 8: So the old turnover scenario, it's important in football robs,
Speaker 8: you know, at any level. Obviously in Pittsburgh, I remember
Speaker 8: in the first game. Going into the game, Pittsburgh was
Speaker 8: plus thirteen. They went plus two and Cincinnati against Cincinnati,
Speaker 8: so they were plus fifteen. Here it is a month later,
Speaker 8: there's still plus fifteen. So they've been even on the
Speaker 8: turnover ratio in their stretch where they struggled the Bengals
Speaker 8: just the opposite. They were minus one going to the game.
Speaker 8: Now they're minus three after the Pittsburgh game, and here
Speaker 8: they are plus four, So they're plus seven in the
Speaker 8: turnover ratio since that Pittsburgh game. I mean, turnovers are
Speaker 8: always a big deal. Do you think it's that simple.
Speaker 7: I think it's a big part of it, Dave, I
Speaker 7: really do you know. And there were four footballs on
Speaker 7: the ground, three of them in Baltimore and one at
Speaker 7: the beginning of the game in Kansas City, any of
Speaker 7: which could have turned the momentum. Now I don't think
Speaker 7: you can exclusively say that. You know, as a as
Speaker 7: a fan, as a broadcaster, I'd have felt more comfortable
Speaker 7: in Philadelphia, for example, if you made a stop, you
Speaker 7: know what I mean. So they're they're marching in late
Speaker 7: in the third quarter, down a touchdown, and they pitched
Speaker 7: to Naji Harris, who never never fumbles, took his.
Speaker 4: Eye off the pitch. You lose the ball deep in
Speaker 4: Philadelphia territory.
Speaker 7: You lose a chance to tie. And I understand you
Speaker 7: had five to three and outs to begin the game.
Speaker 7: You talk about body blows, right, that was they run
Speaker 7: the receiving end of those body blows. The defenses exhausted.
Speaker 7: It goes out there. But boy, you know, make one stop,
Speaker 7: get one more opportunity for your offense, and they just
Speaker 7: couldn't do it. So and then you know Baltimore is
Speaker 7: very similar. It's a seven to seven game. Russell Wilson
Speaker 7: is trying.
Speaker 4: To make a play. He gets it, you know, a twenty.
Speaker 7: Yard scramble, gets inside the five fumbles the ball. Very
Speaker 7: uncharacteristic of him. Baltimore recovers. Prior to that, there's been
Speaker 7: two footballs on the ground in Steelers territory right in
Speaker 7: the cusp of field goal range, so good field position.
Speaker 4: If you recover the fumbles.
Speaker 7: The Steelers don't recover those fumbles, then there's a special
Speaker 7: teams play that gives you the ball deep in Kansas
Speaker 7: City territory. You don't recover that fumble. So a little
Speaker 7: bit of it has been some bad luck. On the
Speaker 7: other hand, I think if you so, if you want
Speaker 7: to look at it as a glass half full, you say, okay, yeah,
Speaker 7: they just haven't gotten any breaks in the turnover department.
Speaker 7: I mean, you know, if there's four footballs on the
Speaker 7: ground and you recover two of them, do you win
Speaker 7: one of those games?
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 7: I don't know the answer to that, but I think
Speaker 7: you know, you would have also liked to have seen that.
Speaker 7: You know, if you want to go glass half empty,
Speaker 7: you didn't like to have seen the team rise up
Speaker 7: and make a stop here or there. Understandable why you didn't,
Speaker 7: you know, as you you know, look game by game.
Speaker 4: Why those things didn't happen.
Speaker 7: But as a whole, if you step back, it would
Speaker 7: have been more encouraging for fans. I think if somewhere
Speaker 7: along the stretch of those three games, you would have
Speaker 7: done something to stem the tide of momentum.
Speaker 1: Rob, here's my final question. During this three game losing streak.
Speaker 2: They've lost at Philly, at Baltimore home to the fifteen
Speaker 2: and one Chiefs. No shame there, right, but the margins
Speaker 2: have been fourteen, seventeen, and nineteen.
Speaker 1: Is that a big concern?
Speaker 4: Well?
Speaker 7: I think it all wraps up to this conversation Dan,
Speaker 7: and I think it's it's what makes Saturday's game, I
Speaker 7: think really important for the Steelers.
Speaker 4: So again, if.
Speaker 7: You're in Philadelphia, you get off to that sluggish start.
Speaker 7: You know, Dave talked about the third quarter points. Now
Speaker 7: maybe you take that drive in and you tie the game.
Speaker 7: Maybe there's forty five seconds left in the third quarter.
Speaker 7: Now your defense has gotten a break, right because you've
Speaker 7: run five more plays to get it into the end zone.
Speaker 4: Is that fourth quarter different? I don't know. If Russell
Speaker 4: Wilson goes in.
Speaker 7: For a touchdown and you go up fourteen to seven,
Speaker 7: is that a different outcome?
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 7: In Kansas City, against Kansas City, you had a touchdown
Speaker 7: call back on a rather dubious holding call that gives
Speaker 7: you the lead.
Speaker 4: In that game.
Speaker 7: You go into the halftime, probably with the lead in
Speaker 7: that game instead of a deficit, so things unraveled. Then
Speaker 7: you can't do that against good teams. So that's again
Speaker 7: part of what you know, what we've been talking about
Speaker 7: with Dave asked about. That's part of the explanation of
Speaker 7: what's been going on. Quality opponents, mistakes that you can't make.
Speaker 7: But then again, you still have to look at the
Speaker 7: scoreboard and say, just what you said, Dan, those have
Speaker 7: been big figures that you wound up losing by. So
Speaker 7: to me, this is a Cincinnati team that's beginning to
Speaker 7: resemble the team everybody thought they could be going into
Speaker 7: the end of the season, which is a legitimate playoff content,
Speaker 7: maybe more than that. So I think, you know, to
Speaker 7: quell the nerves a little bit, this feels like an
Speaker 7: important game. Hey, let's get out there and play a good,
Speaker 7: solid football game and get.
Speaker 4: Ourselves ready for the playoffs.
Speaker 7: So you know, I hope I've answered your question, but
Speaker 7: that again, to me, that's why Saturday.
Speaker 4: Nights game is important because of what you just mentioned.
Speaker 8: Final question. And certainly do appreciate your carving the time
Speaker 8: you always do. Rob, You're outstanding. Terol Austin the excellent
Speaker 8: defensive coordinator for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Jamar Chase has had cornerbacks,
Speaker 8: outstanding cornerbacks the last couple of weeks, you know, shadowing
Speaker 8: him some. Joey Porter Junior. I know he's a little
Speaker 8: beaten up. I'm sure he'll make the dance in this one.
Speaker 8: It's so important. But people were like, Okay, it'll be
Speaker 8: Joey Porter Junior shadowing Jamar Chase. Well, in the last game,
Speaker 8: Joey Porter Junior shadow t Higgins and then Ta committed
Speaker 8: resources to Jamar Chase, you know, doubling him in different
Speaker 8: ways and all that sort of thing. So he has
Speaker 8: had him trail Jamarrow. Now he's had him trail Higgins.
Speaker 8: Any feel for he might do or will he come
Speaker 8: up with something totally different?
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's a great question, Dave.
Speaker 7: You know, I think that you know, if you looked
Speaker 7: at it on paper, So I think that the Stevens
Speaker 7: coach matchups a lot, you know, and they and they
Speaker 7: gain coach a lot. So what do you need what
Speaker 7: is required to win this game? As opposed to saying, oh,
Speaker 7: this is what we do and so this is our
Speaker 7: style of football and we're blindly going to do this.
Speaker 7: I think there's some adjustability that's commendable within the coaching staff.
Speaker 7: And I think that if you look at you know,
Speaker 7: T Higgins is a big man Chase, isn't I had
Speaker 7: Jamar Chase. I love, I mean, I love watching the
Speaker 7: guy plays unbelievable. T Higgins is a huge, physical guy.
Speaker 7: Joey Porter is by far the bigger of the two
Speaker 7: corners that they have that they're starting, and so that
Speaker 7: makes sense to have because you to have your bigger
Speaker 7: guy on the bigger guy, they can both kill you.
Speaker 4: I mean, I think it's an interesting question. I was
Speaker 4: asked on a.
Speaker 7: Pittsburgh show, you know yesterday, you know, T Higgins, I
Speaker 7: guess said something like, Hey, if this is my last
Speaker 7: game in Cincinnati, you know, someone's probably gonna pay him
Speaker 7: like a one.
Speaker 4: I think it's an intriguing question. Is he a one?
Speaker 7: Do you have two ones there? Well, if you have
Speaker 7: two ones, you know, then you've got to go match up.
Speaker 7: You know, Joey Porter Junior has shadowed number one receivers
Speaker 7: throughout the course of the season. But I think that
Speaker 7: the view is that Cincinnati's got two number ones, Let's
Speaker 7: match up the best way physically, that we can with
Speaker 7: those guys and hope we can do. Listen, I think
Speaker 7: Steelers fans would sign up for what happened in Cincinnati
Speaker 7: for those guys with their receiving yards. Very respectable days,
Speaker 7: but it wasn't two hundred and fifty yards and three
Speaker 7: touchdowns we've seen from both of these guys.
Speaker 2: At some point, you know that's going to do it
Speaker 2: for This episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast brought to
Speaker 2: you by pay Corps, proud to be the Bengals Official
Speaker 2: That's our software provider by Alta Fiber future proof fiber
Speaker 2: Internet designed to elevate your home, business, and community to
Speaker 2: a new level, and by Kettering Health the best care
Speaker 2: for the best fans. Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider.
Speaker 1: Of the Bengals. If you haven't done so.
Speaker 2: Already, please subscribe to this podcast and if you have
Speaker 2: a minute, give it a rating or share a comment
Speaker 2: that helps more Bengals fans find us. I'm Dan Hord,
Speaker 2: and thanks for listening to The Bengals Booth Podcast