Speaker 1: Hi again, everybody on dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: the Bengals Booth podcast. The Staying Alive Staying Alive addition,
Speaker 1: as the Bengals try to staff a two game losing
Speaker 1: streak and stay alive in the AFC playoff hunt with
Speaker 1: a road win in Denver coming up, Dave Lapham joins
Speaker 1: me to discuss the latest Bengals news involving Trey Hendrickson,
Speaker 1: Riley Reef and others, and look ahead to Sunday's game
Speaker 1: in the Mile High City. My one on one player
Speaker 1: interview is with safety Ricardo Allen, who shares his process
Speaker 1: for dealing with a gut wrenching loss and describes why
Speaker 1: it is so freaking hard to cover. George Kittle with
Speaker 1: two touchdown catches last week, Jamar Chase broke the Bengals
Speaker 1: rookie record for receiving tds with ten and I'll speak
Speaker 1: to the legend whose record he broke, the sensational Isaac Curtis,
Speaker 1: and finally, in our Know the Faux segment, we'll take
Speaker 1: an in depth look at the Broncos with Mike Kliss,
Speaker 1: who covers the team for nine News in Denver. The
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals. The free
Speaker 1: to play Next Level Fantasy Football game downloaded now from
Speaker 1: the App Store and Google Play. And here's a quick
Speaker 1: reminder that you can have the latest edition of this
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Speaker 1: subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing
Speaker 1: since Dawn Powerwash. I am the primary dishwasher in the
Speaker 1: Horde household, and kudos to the geniuses at Procter and
Speaker 1: Gamble for inventing Dawn Powerwash or technically speaking, Dawn Ultra
Speaker 1: Platinum Powerwash dish spray. It claims to provide five times
Speaker 1: faster grease cleaning, but I'm here to tell you it
Speaker 1: removes anything and everything off of dishes. Shoot, I'm pretty
Speaker 1: sure a couple of sprays would remove fingerprints. And when
Speaker 1: you have a fifteen year old who will occasionally leave
Speaker 1: dirty dishes in the sink, it certainly comes in handy.
Speaker 1: So thank you don Powerwash. You've made spraying, wiping, and
Speaker 1: rinsing much easier. Now let's get to this week's guests,
Speaker 1: beginning with my broadcast partner Dave Lapham Lapp in more
Speaker 1: than forty years in the NFL as a player a broadcaster,
Speaker 1: do you ever remember a year where it seems like
Speaker 1: every team is so close to five hundred? I really don't, Dan,
Speaker 1: I really don't. I mean, it's like by now the
Speaker 1: dust is settled a little bit. You know, people who
Speaker 1: have kind of determined where they are, and I remember
Speaker 1: years where they were like, you know, maybe five or
Speaker 1: six teams still in the hunt with a month ago,
Speaker 1: how is it going to sort out? But you know,
Speaker 1: to have a dozen you know in the AFC alone
Speaker 1: still in the playoff picture. Like we said a few times,
Speaker 1: this is an early Christmas for the National Football League.
Speaker 1: This is what Santa they were hoping Santa might deliver.
Speaker 1: Everybody is in the hunt. The interest is probably in
Speaker 1: an all time high. It's the perfect storm for the
Speaker 1: National Football League. We got quite a bit of injury
Speaker 1: related news this week. Let's start with Trey Hendrickson. So
Speaker 1: last week he's down on the turf, they call for
Speaker 1: a cart. We breathed a sigh of relief when he
Speaker 1: managed to walk off the field. Now it looks like
Speaker 1: he's going to play. How crucial is that for the
Speaker 1: final four weeks? And what do you think that says
Speaker 1: to his teammates. Yeah, I think that initially Trent Williams
Speaker 1: gave him a pretty good shot and he was he
Speaker 1: was torked a little bit. He was twisting to start
Speaker 1: to pursue a play and he got hit in his
Speaker 1: body position was just wrong, particularly what the force that
Speaker 1: Trent Williams can hit you. And I think he felt
Speaker 1: like he had kind of nussed up a disc. You know,
Speaker 1: it was that painful. But you know, when you have
Speaker 1: spasms like that, they can be brutally painful and looks
Speaker 1: like unfortunately be the case where it just had a
Speaker 1: very very severe spasm that he's going to be working
Speaker 1: through and you know, it's gonna have to be smart
Speaker 1: probably about it and make sure that there's all the
Speaker 1: muscles around that that vertebrae and the disc and all
Speaker 1: those kind of things are everything's fine and calm down
Speaker 1: in the early stage. Is a week of practice here
Speaker 1: probably won't do much of anything, but to have him
Speaker 1: as a rush guy off the edge, it's huge. I
Speaker 1: mean twelve and a half sacks. He's so consistent. He gets,
Speaker 1: you know, at least a sack every game, it seems like.
Speaker 1: And this this is a good football team. This is
Speaker 1: a pretty darn good offensive line. I mean, it's it's solid.
Speaker 1: I look at their numbers. I look at the personnel,
Speaker 1: and then I look at them statistically, and I can't
Speaker 1: figure out how they're seven and six the number there's
Speaker 1: there's not any clearing thing. It's like, oh, that's the
Speaker 1: reason they lost, you know, some of these football games.
Speaker 1: But this is a pretty good, pretty good football team.
Speaker 1: And Garrett Bowls is a good left tackle, particularly in
Speaker 1: pass protection, a very good athlete. He's got very good
Speaker 1: movement skills. So having Trey Hendricks out there is a big,
Speaker 1: big plus. There's there's no question about it. And uh
Speaker 1: and it would have been a tough blow, to say
Speaker 1: the least, to not have him for any extended time frame.
Speaker 1: How big is the Mike munshack factor when you talk
Speaker 1: about Denver's offensive line? Huge? I think munchak is uh
Speaker 1: is as good as there is in the National Football League.
Speaker 1: He's a great player, and he's made He's developed a
Speaker 1: lot of players. You know, he'll take good players and
Speaker 1: make them great, great players and make them Hall of famers.
Speaker 1: He just he elevates guys over time. He just his way,
Speaker 1: the way he teaches it. He simplifies to the point
Speaker 1: where players are it's an easy thing to respond to,
Speaker 1: and I think they respond to him as a former
Speaker 1: player and a great former player, Hall of Fame caliber
Speaker 1: player and um, and he's got a track record from
Speaker 1: a coaching standpoint that is something that you know, I'm
Speaker 1: going to listen to this guy. He knows what he's
Speaker 1: talking about, and he's got a great reputation and uh,
Speaker 1: it's it's a reputation that's well earned, well deserved, and
Speaker 1: I think as players, you know, basically worship the ground
Speaker 1: he walks on it. Getting back to injuries, I'm sure
Speaker 1: Riley Reef would play if he could, but it sounds
Speaker 1: like the ankle injury is bad enough that he'll be
Speaker 1: out this week, so Isaiah Prince goes instead. How big
Speaker 1: of a drop off is there from a guy with
Speaker 1: a decade of snaps in the NFL to a guy
Speaker 1: who's barely started in Isaiah Prince. Yeah, I mean, I
Speaker 1: think I think the big thing is when when you
Speaker 1: start going against defenses that will run, you know, some
Speaker 1: different looks and different things, and defensively they will they'll
Speaker 1: go to a five man look out of their base defense,
Speaker 1: and they'll they'll change it up a little bit. They'll
Speaker 1: run they'll cover the center and the and the and
Speaker 1: the offensive tackles, and then they'll have two edge guys
Speaker 1: outside of those offensive tackles and leave the guards uncovered
Speaker 1: like a three four look. But then they'll run five
Speaker 1: defensive linemen and they'll cover the center, the guard, and
Speaker 1: the tackle away from the tight end. That's called under
Speaker 1: with five defensive lamon and two to the other side,
Speaker 1: and then they'll go over. They'll stack it, you know,
Speaker 1: center guard and tackle to the tight end side and
Speaker 1: leave the opposite guard uncovered. So they do they do
Speaker 1: a few different looks up front, and they'll do different
Speaker 1: things out of it, different twists and different blitz packages.
Speaker 1: So um, I think I think that there is there
Speaker 1: is a little bit of recognition and communication and making
Speaker 1: sure you're you're all on the same page. And I
Speaker 1: think that's the thing where Riley reef a lot of
Speaker 1: this would be like, oh man, this is kind of
Speaker 1: an old hat, second nature, whereas Isaiah princes like this
Speaker 1: might be the first time I've seen some of this stuff.
Speaker 1: So I think that's that's the big thing, is the
Speaker 1: is the mental part of it. I think. I think
Speaker 1: physically he's getting better and better. And like Brian Callahan said,
Speaker 1: he's got two things. He's got length, and he's got
Speaker 1: an athleticism. And if you've got some leverage to you
Speaker 1: and you can move, you have a shot. I mean
Speaker 1: it starts with your feet and ends with the hands.
Speaker 1: If you've got long levels that are manipulating operating those hands,
Speaker 1: and you get a fee to get you in position,
Speaker 1: you get a chance to block people in this league.
Speaker 1: Darius Phillips went on injured reserve with a shoulder injury
Speaker 1: on Tuesday. He obviously had a lousy game last week.
Speaker 1: I think the piling on was a little excessive. It's
Speaker 1: not like he'd fumbled a million times this year and
Speaker 1: he'd done a reasonably good job as a kickoff and
Speaker 1: put returner. But I digress, who do you think steps
Speaker 1: in as the punt returner and as the kickoff returner.
Speaker 1: That's a good question. I mean I think that you
Speaker 1: know you're gonna think Irwin probably is is a guy
Speaker 1: that they're they're given strong consideration too. Um. The thing
Speaker 1: with Tyler Boyd is you know it's a he's going
Speaker 1: to be running a lot of routes as a as
Speaker 1: you know, the third as in those three receiver packages,
Speaker 1: as a slot receiver, and particularly this week, the thin air.
Speaker 1: Do you run a go route? You know, and then
Speaker 1: you're you know, you're you're running a few of those
Speaker 1: during the course of the game, and there's fatigue kind
Speaker 1: of wears on you more and more, and then you're
Speaker 1: a return guy. You add that responsibility to it, and
Speaker 1: you know, I just I just think that it's uh,
Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe I'm overthinking it, but I think
Speaker 1: that this week it might be a little bit a
Speaker 1: little bit much to ask. And I think in general,
Speaker 1: if you're hoping that the offense is out there for
Speaker 1: the number of snaps that are out there, and he's
Speaker 1: running routes on every single high percentage of those snaps,
Speaker 1: not every single one of them. Some of them is blocking, obviously,
Speaker 1: but to add that to it, I think is a
Speaker 1: pretty pretty good load. I'm not saying he can't do it.
Speaker 1: I'm saying I know guys have done it in the past.
Speaker 1: You know, back in the day when we walked in
Speaker 1: a foot of snow and had to walk five miles
Speaker 1: to school, guys were doing that. Browth ways uphill. Guys
Speaker 1: were uphill both ways. Guys were doing that kind of stuff. Um,
Speaker 1: But the game was so much different, you know, and
Speaker 1: there's so much smarter about a lot of things in
Speaker 1: terms of player overload and player safety and all that
Speaker 1: sort of thing. So there's there's a lot to consider there.
Speaker 1: But I think I think Irwin. The thing that Irwin
Speaker 1: has shown is he'll catch the football. And I don't
Speaker 1: care the very first thing that has to happen. In
Speaker 1: Darren Simmons, I've heard him screaming many many times over
Speaker 1: the years, first thing, catch the football, you know. I mean,
Speaker 1: it doesn't do any good if you're a dynamic return
Speaker 1: guy and the balls rolling around the ground and they're
Speaker 1: falling on top of it. Kuka Williams up from the
Speaker 1: practice glad to return kicks. Yeah, he's really struggled, you know,
Speaker 1: the last game that he that he did it, and
Speaker 1: that's the small sample size you hate to label a guy.
Speaker 1: I don't think he can do it, because he's shown
Speaker 1: he can, UM. So it'll be interesting if that's another option,
Speaker 1: and if Darren Simmons decides, you know, that's that's something
Speaker 1: to think about. You You do think though, in Denver
Speaker 1: in the rarefied air. I mean the kickers. I remember
Speaker 1: all of our place kickers, punters. Everybody's like, oh my
Speaker 1: gosh if I punted here my whole career. You know,
Speaker 1: how do you not make the Pro Bowl here? With this?
Speaker 1: There's there's absolutely nothing that is is preventing the football
Speaker 1: from from coming back to earth, you know. I mean
Speaker 1: you get a lot of more distance. The higher you're
Speaker 1: talking about in the elevation, the more of a factor
Speaker 1: it is. And for the for the punters and place kickers,
Speaker 1: it's a it's a big plus. Although you know, I
Speaker 1: will say that obviously every year you're going to have
Speaker 1: the place kicker for the Denver Broncos have have big
Speaker 1: range and also have a ton of touchbacks, and this
Speaker 1: year's McManus is no exception. Fifty one touchbacks third the NFL.
Speaker 1: You know, you're you're crushing the football up there in
Speaker 1: that air, but I still I'd hang it high and
Speaker 1: get it up there. I mean, you could probably almost
Speaker 1: feel like it's going to the moon before it comes
Speaker 1: back to Earth. You could pin people inside the twenty
Speaker 1: multiple times. And it's happened to the Bengals this year
Speaker 1: when they've had those high trajectory kickoff returns, they haven't
Speaker 1: gotten bolt past the twenty yard line. The Bengals have
Speaker 1: been wildly unpredictable from week to week. Is that part
Speaker 1: of the learning process for a young team that hasn't
Speaker 1: been in contention for several years. Yeah, I think I
Speaker 1: think it is. I think that that is part of it.
Speaker 1: I just I think that you look around the National
Speaker 1: Football League, like we said, Dan, so many teams are
Speaker 1: in the Huntsdale and one of the reasons that so
Speaker 1: many teams are in the hunt one of the reasons
Speaker 1: for it is the inconsistency of play from one week
Speaker 1: to the next. We've kind of documented on on a
Speaker 1: week to week basis. But you know, the one thing
Speaker 1: that this football team has done, you know, they've they've
Speaker 1: they've had three wins by nineteen points or four wins
Speaker 1: by nineteen points or more, and two losses by nineteen
Speaker 1: points more. So it's been you know, really really good
Speaker 1: and really really bad and everything in between. I would
Speaker 1: like to see here down the playoffs stretch as such,
Speaker 1: the push to the playoffs, that they start to play
Speaker 1: very very good, consistent, complimentary football, complete football games. All
Speaker 1: three phases. It hasn't happened yet this year, and I'd
Speaker 1: like to see it happen, you know, boy, a couple
Speaker 1: of times in the last four games, maybe more if possible,
Speaker 1: But to have one of those games where everything clicked,
Speaker 1: it hasn't hasn't occurred yet. It's come close, but even
Speaker 1: in their wins when they pulled away, it's been a
Speaker 1: game until they've pulled away in the in the third
Speaker 1: or fourth quarter. I mean, I'd like to see him
Speaker 1: play with the lead. You know, they really haven't jumped
Speaker 1: out to an early lead in a football game where
Speaker 1: it changes the dynamic of everything, of the play calling
Speaker 1: on both sides of the football, it changes changes the
Speaker 1: whole whole ball of acts. I mean, you know, we
Speaker 1: talked about the two game losing streak at home. They
Speaker 1: never had a lead in eight quarters until overtime. That's
Speaker 1: the first lead they had was by three points in overtime.
Speaker 1: You know, you dig yourself holes like that because now
Speaker 1: they know what it's like. They've had to dig out
Speaker 1: a twenty four point hole, twenty four nothing. They're down
Speaker 1: two scores in the fourth quarter because they've had to
Speaker 1: dig out of a hole. If they start doing that
Speaker 1: to other people a little bit. It's a totally different
Speaker 1: game of football. I can tell you I've been on
Speaker 1: both sides of it, and it is night and day
Speaker 1: for an offensive lineman how difficult it is and how
Speaker 1: easy it is, and how your mental approach is affected
Speaker 1: by that. So three years ago, when teams are looking
Speaker 1: to hire head coaches, the Broncos zigged where everybody else zagged.
Speaker 1: The Bengals were one of the teams and this was
Speaker 1: the norm that went for the hot, young, offensive minded coach,
Speaker 1: and the Broncos went to a sixty year old guy
Speaker 1: who had been an NFL defensive coordinator for a couple
Speaker 1: of decades in Vic Fangio, and obviously he's had tremendous
Speaker 1: success as a defensive coordinator in the NFL. The Broncos
Speaker 1: are number two in the NFL, and FEUs points allowed,
Speaker 1: what stands out about a Vic Fangio coach defense, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's that everybody, the personnel that they choose, fits his
Speaker 1: scheme very well. He has a real good feel for
Speaker 1: that part of it. And they all are very very disciplined.
Speaker 1: They're all where they're supposed to be when they're supposed
Speaker 1: to be there. They don't necessarily have guys that jump
Speaker 1: off tape like wow, well geez, look at that. But man,
Speaker 1: it's like an amiba. I mean, it's totally in conjunction.
Speaker 1: There's no disjointedness to it anywhere. Watching them on tape,
Speaker 1: it's it's so fluid, it's it is. It's like it's choreographed.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's amazing to watch. And that's you know,
Speaker 1: that's that's the thing about that that defense. I do
Speaker 1: think they do have great players in the secondary. I
Speaker 1: think it's the best back end combined maybe in the
Speaker 1: National Football League. I think it's as good as anybody's.
Speaker 1: And when you look at it, one of the great
Speaker 1: matchups in this game are the three Bengals wide receivers, Chase,
Speaker 1: Higgins and Boyd sixty catches, fifty seven and fifty five.
Speaker 1: No other team has three wide receivers with fifty five
Speaker 1: or more catches. They got three players. But it's running
Speaker 1: backs are tight ends and that sort of thing against
Speaker 1: you know, these two guys in the secondary. Simmons is
Speaker 1: safety with five picks is tied for third in the league,
Speaker 1: and Sir Tan with four is tied for eighth in
Speaker 1: the National Football League. Nobody else has a duo, a
Speaker 1: dynamic duel with nine interceptions, and nobody else has a
Speaker 1: terrific trio of wide receivers that are as balanced is
Speaker 1: what the Banks have. So it's gonna be a it's
Speaker 1: going to be a very interesting, interesting battle, I think
Speaker 1: in that way. But it's put together well, it's constructed
Speaker 1: as schematic is so is so sound. They're they're very,
Speaker 1: very stout defensively. And I have to give credit to
Speaker 1: my former first roommate I ever had with the Cincinnati Bengals,
Speaker 1: Billy Kohlar. He was the first pick of the draft
Speaker 1: in my draft in nineteen seventy four, first round pick
Speaker 1: for the Bengals out of Montana State, and I played
Speaker 1: with him in the Senior Bowl and he won the
Speaker 1: Dodge Charger. He was player of the game, he won,
Speaker 1: he won the new car. He was driving around in
Speaker 1: a baby blue Dodge Charger convertible, so he was he
Speaker 1: was pimping all over the place. Man. But just a
Speaker 1: great player in terms of I mean first step quickness, relentless,
Speaker 1: just effort guy. That's how his defensive lineman all play,
Speaker 1: they penetrate. He was. He was unbelievable that way, he
Speaker 1: would penetrate, disrupt. That's that's what he believes in. He
Speaker 1: doesn't like this two gap stuff. He wants to get
Speaker 1: an edge. He wants to trade, he wants to disrupt.
Speaker 1: And all of his defensive lineman are you know, want
Speaker 1: to take a look at it. And it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: that's Billy Kohler's influence right there. Boy, I think Chub
Speaker 1: is their best guy, you know now on the edges
Speaker 1: from a rusher standpoint. But this this kid, Jones ninety three,
Speaker 1: he's a disruptive guy. I can. I can just hear
Speaker 1: Billy right now standing right behind him in practice in
Speaker 1: his ear. Come on, Jones, come on, give me something,
Speaker 1: give me all you got. I mean, that's just the
Speaker 1: way he He was a son of a gun in
Speaker 1: pass rushtral I mean he would he would bring he
Speaker 1: would bring it in in one on one pass rushtrol
Speaker 1: like it was the you know, the last quarter of
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. He was just a great effort guy.
Speaker 1: So that's what they have up front. Then they have
Speaker 1: linebackers that can run behind those guys, and then they
Speaker 1: have that that secondary. So it's well conceived, it's well
Speaker 1: put together, and like you said Dan their second in
Speaker 1: the NFL h in points aloud, They're only given up
Speaker 1: like seventeen point eight points per game in their wins.
Speaker 1: In their wins, it's it's crazy. They've they've allowed ten
Speaker 1: point seven points per game in their victories. In the
Speaker 1: seven wins, they've only given up seventy five points. The
Speaker 1: most that anybody scored against them as sixteen points by
Speaker 1: the Cowboys down in Dallas. The Chargers they held to
Speaker 1: thirteen points. I mean, that's that's getting it done. So
Speaker 1: this defense, it bends, but it doesn't break. I mean
Speaker 1: they do. They do a lot of things well. Their
Speaker 1: second in the NFL and first downs allowed as well.
Speaker 1: I mean they keep you out of the end zone.
Speaker 1: They don't allow you to move the chains all that easily.
Speaker 1: It's uh. The Bengals are seventh in the NFL and
Speaker 1: scoring their second in the NFL and points allowed. The
Speaker 1: red zone. Defense is good. Defensively, they're eighth in the NFL,
Speaker 1: allowing a touchdown only fifty one point seven percent of
Speaker 1: the time seven times. They haven't allowed a point. That's
Speaker 1: in the top ten in the league. So it's going
Speaker 1: to be it'll definitely be a big, big battle between
Speaker 1: between the Bengals offense in that Denver Broncos defense. It's
Speaker 1: going to be a stirring battle and the Jones. You
Speaker 1: mentioned Draymond Jones as a former Buckeye who was from
Speaker 1: Cleveland Saint Ignatious High School. The Broncos, like the Bengals,
Speaker 1: are seven and six. Denverse started three and zero, but
Speaker 1: then you look at the teams they beat. The Giants
Speaker 1: are four and nine, the Jags are two and eleven,
Speaker 1: the Jets are three and ten, so that's combined nine
Speaker 1: and thirty. Then they lost four in a row, including
Speaker 1: the other three teams in the AFC North, the Ravens, Steelers,
Speaker 1: and Browns all beat them. They've gone four and two.
Speaker 1: Since you referenced the Dallas game, that was a great win,
Speaker 1: thirty to sixteen in Dallas. They won by four touchdowns
Speaker 1: last week against Detroit. If the Bengals play their a game,
Speaker 1: they're low turnover a game, which we've seen on obviously
Speaker 1: several occasions this year. Did the Bengals win I think?
Speaker 1: I think that's what they're going to have to do
Speaker 1: to win the football game, because that's one thing that
Speaker 1: Denver doesn't do. They don't give the ball away. You know,
Speaker 1: they're turnovers are They've only got fifteen giveaways, tied for
Speaker 1: seventh in the National Football League. So you mentioned Vic Fangio.
Speaker 1: He wants to run the football. I mean in the
Speaker 1: games that they've run the ball thirty in their last
Speaker 1: five games, they've won three and lost two. And the
Speaker 1: games they've won them, they've run the ball thirty or
Speaker 1: more times. In the games they've lost, they've thrown it
Speaker 1: thirty more times. So their formula is run the football.
Speaker 1: Against Detroit they ran the ball twenty eighth straight times,
Speaker 1: So they want to he wants to pound the ball.
Speaker 1: He wants to control the clock, and they've done a
Speaker 1: great job of that. They're fifth in the NFL thirty
Speaker 1: one minutes and thirty seven seconds a game. Because on
Speaker 1: fourth down, Dan, that's the other thing on this game.
Speaker 1: Fourth down, they've gone fourteen for twenty two. That's a
Speaker 1: lot of attempts and a lot of success. That's tied
Speaker 1: for second best in league. It's sixty three point six percent.
Speaker 1: Team's gone at board against them too, twenty three times.
Speaker 1: They've only allowed eight conversions. That's second in the NFL
Speaker 1: at thirty four point eight percent. So they've dominated fourth down,
Speaker 1: and that helps you dominate time of possession because you're
Speaker 1: extending drives and it's almost like a turnover. You're ending
Speaker 1: drives with people on downs, it's like you know, you're
Speaker 1: taking the ball away. There's no kick that the drive
Speaker 1: hasn't ended in the punt, extra point or field goal.
Speaker 1: So that's the reason that they're a fifth in the
Speaker 1: National Football League in time of possessions. So that that's
Speaker 1: his whole, his whole m o, you know. And they
Speaker 1: want to limit their mistakes and capitalizing the opponent mistakes.
Speaker 1: That's what they play sound defense and minimize their mistakes
Speaker 1: and wait for the opponent the opposition to make mistakes.
Speaker 1: That to me is a Vic Fangiol blueprint for how
Speaker 1: he wants to play football. So I think that that
Speaker 1: that's the huge thing Dan is if they give it away,
Speaker 1: they're dead meat. I mean, they're they're in serious trouble.
Speaker 1: Um the Bengals on the season in terms of turnovers,
Speaker 1: it's it's crazy. Their their numbers there four and one
Speaker 1: this year when they're in the plus category two and oh,
Speaker 1: when it's even one in five when they've lost the
Speaker 1: turnover margin. But even more significant than that. They've all
Speaker 1: in the seven wins, they have five giveaways in the
Speaker 1: in the six losses, sixteen giveaways. So that's the that's
Speaker 1: almost something that you can track. It's it's it's that simple.
Speaker 1: If you take care of the football, you have a
Speaker 1: hell of a chance to win in the football game.
Speaker 1: If you don't, you're in trouble. How do you broadcast
Speaker 1: at high altitude? That is strength, I will I will say, though,
Speaker 1: you know, I remember the first time we played there
Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy five and beat them there, and then
Speaker 1: I was ten in a row going out there to Denver.
Speaker 1: And in twenty seventeen the Bengals broke that streak and
Speaker 1: one out there. But I remember the first time I
Speaker 1: went out there. It was first year as a starter,
Speaker 1: and it was kind of early early in h in
Speaker 1: the season and playing against Randy Gratis Shaw and Rulon
Speaker 1: Jones and Ruben Carter and all these guys, and man,
Speaker 1: I am geeked man and I'm running around and have
Speaker 1: the adrenaliner. It wasn't like I was couldn't breathe, but
Speaker 1: you do get winded faster, so you just have to
Speaker 1: you have to make a little bit of an adjustment,
Speaker 1: but you can't dwell on it. You can't let it
Speaker 1: get in your head. There's no there's no question about it.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it'll be. And we're up higher, we're even
Speaker 1: we were a few year yards higher in our booth
Speaker 1: and they're on field level. It's five thousand, two and
Speaker 1: eighty feet, but I don't know how many couple hundred
Speaker 1: feet there. I mean we're five thousand, four hundred and
Speaker 1: eighty feet, not two eighty. It will be light headed, really, really,
Speaker 1: it'll be. Huh, it's gonna be. It'll be. It'll be fun.
Speaker 1: I do remember this is in the old stadium now.
Speaker 1: It was this old rickety wooden press box. And those
Speaker 1: fans rocked and they would do the sway and stuff.
Speaker 1: It's like, man, the boots started moving. Literally it would
Speaker 1: feel it would move like an inch or two. It
Speaker 1: was crazy. It would actually rock. We'd be holy mackerel,
Speaker 1: you gonna hold on for dear life here. We won't
Speaker 1: have to deal with that this time, though, a much
Speaker 1: more on Sunday's game. Tune into the Bengals pep Rally
Speaker 1: Show this Friday afternoon from three to six on ESPN
Speaker 1: fifteen thirty or on the iHeart media app by searching
Speaker 1: for ESPN fifteen thirty. Now time for this week's one
Speaker 1: on one player conversation. I caught up with safety Ricardo
Speaker 1: Allen this week. A few days before his thirtieth birthday.
Speaker 1: He was part of a Super Bowl team of the Falcons,
Speaker 1: and Ricardo has valuable advice for his younger teammates as
Speaker 1: they had into a critical four games stretch. Ricardo, this
Speaker 1: is your seventh year in the NFL. You're coming up
Speaker 1: on game number one hundred if you include playoff games.
Speaker 1: How do you deal with a gut wrenching loss like
Speaker 1: last week? Do you go home and play with the kids?
Speaker 1: Do you watch Sunday Night football with a glass of
Speaker 1: wine or two? What's your process? I typically go home
Speaker 1: and I try to play with my kids and you know,
Speaker 1: talk to the game with my wife at first, and
Speaker 1: then later on I'll probably uh stay up and watch
Speaker 1: a little bit of the Sunday Night football and then
Speaker 1: I'll play a little bit of mad So I gotta,
Speaker 1: I gotta, I gotta go to sleep with a win.
Speaker 1: At least I try to get on there and beat
Speaker 1: everybody on line. So you were out there for quite
Speaker 1: a few defensive snaps last week and involved in trying
Speaker 1: to cover George Kittle, which obviously is hard to do.
Speaker 1: Is he about as close to unstoppable as any player
Speaker 1: in this league? Yeah, he is a very tough player
Speaker 1: to get out of their game plan against it. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, he's strong, he's fast, he can, he does
Speaker 1: really good job of blocking defensive line. He does really
Speaker 1: good job of you know, getting good match up because
Speaker 1: he's he's he's strong enough to fight with the defensive lineman.
Speaker 1: He's fastening up the wrong with the dbs, you know.
Speaker 1: So it's like he has like a good ball in
Speaker 1: and then he has a really good head coach who
Speaker 1: also has a good offersive coordinator who knows how to
Speaker 1: get him into like boys, knows how to get him
Speaker 1: into spots that uh there's not many people and he
Speaker 1: would get a lot of one on one and stuff.
Speaker 1: So they do a really good job of featuring him
Speaker 1: to get him, um, you know, good completions and easy
Speaker 1: catches and stuff, because he is a really good guy
Speaker 1: with the ball in his hand. And then the times
Speaker 1: you do cover him, well, he still makes the catch. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so that's what it is. It's like he is a
Speaker 1: freak of a nature, like a like athlete at that.
Speaker 1: So you know, the coach does a good job of
Speaker 1: scheming stuff up to make it real easy for him
Speaker 1: a lot of times. But even when you do cover
Speaker 1: him well like you said he will, he still will
Speaker 1: catch it. We're chatting with Ricardo Allen. You're seven and
Speaker 1: six with four games to go. If he can go
Speaker 1: three and one, you would definitely make the playoffs, very
Speaker 1: similar to what you encountered with Atlanta back in twenty seventeen.
Speaker 1: Then you were seven and five and went three and
Speaker 1: one on the stretch to make it. Is there anything
Speaker 1: you learn from that experience that this team needs to
Speaker 1: do when it comes down to those those tough games
Speaker 1: at the end, um, you gotta do whatever you can
Speaker 1: to pull them out. You got to. You gotta keep
Speaker 1: you know, scratching, clawing and fighting and once you see
Speaker 1: an opportunity to close the door on like a really
Speaker 1: good team. Because all these teams we're playing right now,
Speaker 1: as you can see this year in the league, the
Speaker 1: records are weird. Everyone has almost near the same record.
Speaker 1: There's a couple of teams who separated themselves. But I
Speaker 1: will see, it seems like that this year the records
Speaker 1: seem to be like fairly close. And when you get
Speaker 1: a chance to close the door on a team you
Speaker 1: have you have to you have to take their chances,
Speaker 1: and you can't give them a chance to fight back
Speaker 1: because as you can see, like we'll fighting team, we
Speaker 1: will fight back from you know, twenty points down, but
Speaker 1: also other teams will always keep fighting to the end.
Speaker 1: And as you can see, like, no matter what, these
Speaker 1: games statistically come down to, I guess one touchdown. I
Speaker 1: don't know. I think like eighty percent of the game
Speaker 1: typically come down to you know, less than one touchdown.
Speaker 1: So if we understand that, we got to know that
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a fight to the end. It has
Speaker 1: been kind of a wild roller coaster ride of a year.
Speaker 1: There have been games where you've dominated really good teams
Speaker 1: and then frustrating losses where you've kind of shot yourselves
Speaker 1: in the foot. Is that part of the learning process
Speaker 1: for a young team that has not been in playoff
Speaker 1: contention in recent years? Yes, you know, even though no
Speaker 1: one wants to hear that, just do the research of
Speaker 1: any championship team, you know. I listened to a lot
Speaker 1: of Bill Washing and I listened to a lot of
Speaker 1: like old school like football and stuff, and it always
Speaker 1: typically seemed that it's like a three year window for
Speaker 1: a new coach to come in first of all, before
Speaker 1: a team typically gets on like a consistent winning path.
Speaker 1: But with that up and down, it also comes with
Speaker 1: you know, winning some games, you know, and showing your
Speaker 1: team that like, okay, you can beat really good teams,
Speaker 1: but also losing some games to some teams that you know,
Speaker 1: you make sometimes consider a trap game. And then you
Speaker 1: have to what really good teams is. They find out
Speaker 1: how to just give every team respect and let you know,
Speaker 1: every win be equal because it doesn't matter like at
Speaker 1: the end of the day if you go out there
Speaker 1: and you beat team by forty points or you go
Speaker 1: out there and be the team by one point, and
Speaker 1: even the same with the losses at the end of
Speaker 1: the day is all window dressing just to get to win.
Speaker 1: Let's just get this win. At the end of the day,
Speaker 1: I just want to beat the team. I don't care
Speaker 1: if they won five championships before or they've never been
Speaker 1: to a playoff game, Like, let's give them the respect
Speaker 1: and just beat them. We're chatting with Ricardo Allen. The
Speaker 1: Bengals secondary is made up of some great leaders, Mike Kelton,
Speaker 1: Jesse Bates, Fine Bell, chittab A Wogia yourself. What stands
Speaker 1: out to you about this group? Man's um, this is
Speaker 1: one of the most like accountable, I could say groups
Speaker 1: that I've ever been around. Everyone in here takes pride
Speaker 1: in like noring their calls, making their plays, being in
Speaker 1: the right spot. And it's not a team a group
Speaker 1: that very like never really points fingers to the other person,
Speaker 1: like they're always looking for what can I do better?
Speaker 1: How can I get better? Uh? You know Cheeto coming
Speaker 1: in all the time and just being willing to take
Speaker 1: the challenge of the number one receiver. You know, Um,
Speaker 1: you know Eli even just jumping in there and you know,
Speaker 1: taking into a spot that when Trey went down, he
Speaker 1: was just ready to you know, feel the spot. You know,
Speaker 1: Jesse and Vaughn always you know, feeling the void of
Speaker 1: being the leaders in the room, trying to do it
Speaker 1: the right way. And then you know Mike, who is
Speaker 1: another adam this team that's just not willing to you know,
Speaker 1: not afraid to stay and stand up in front of
Speaker 1: the group and correct the group and not afraid to
Speaker 1: be that guy that you know, said what needs to
Speaker 1: be said. So you know, we have a good group
Speaker 1: and a good blend of guys in our room, and
Speaker 1: you know we're just gonna keep fighting. You had to
Speaker 1: den for this week. You've played there before. You're in
Speaker 1: for every snap and a win over the Brown Coast.
Speaker 1: Could you feel a difference playing at high altitude? Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: there's just there's a little difference. Um, you'll see that
Speaker 1: some of the games that you play in. Um, just
Speaker 1: even warming up out there, you can you can feel
Speaker 1: a little bit of the difference. It's uh, you know,
Speaker 1: once the game started stuff like that, you you already tired,
Speaker 1: like no matter what, just like playing hard. But it
Speaker 1: is like a small different just warming up, you can.
Speaker 1: You can. It's something there. It's kind of like hard
Speaker 1: to say like what it is, but you feel yourself
Speaker 1: just to get a little bit more fatigue and you
Speaker 1: have to make sure you stand hydrated and make sure
Speaker 1: you only like your card or your hard. This week,
Speaker 1: this is a two headed monster team with two running
Speaker 1: backs that each have more than seven hundred rushing yards,
Speaker 1: Javonte Williams and Melvin Gordon. How significant is that when
Speaker 1: you're on the other side of the ball, that is
Speaker 1: a tough feet because you always think about like us
Speaker 1: as athletes, at least myself, I'm always looking at a
Speaker 1: team and trying to figure out, like, Okay, what personnel
Speaker 1: do I believe is the easiest personnel that if we
Speaker 1: was to get the matchup on defense, what personnel could
Speaker 1: I feel that I can focus more on the wide
Speaker 1: receivers than having to focus on the backfield. And sometimes
Speaker 1: it is a backup running back. Some backup running backs
Speaker 1: in this league that if you take out like the starter,
Speaker 1: the second one is like a guy that like none
Speaker 1: of them is like, you know, no running back is
Speaker 1: a bomb, but some of them you really don't have
Speaker 1: to focus on. With both these guys, it's not the
Speaker 1: case because you take you know, Gordon out and you
Speaker 1: put you know, the young Buck in. He is you know,
Speaker 1: I guess the best in the league are now breaking
Speaker 1: tackles and after contacts, so you know, Gordon is already
Speaker 1: a tough feat within themselves. And then you put the
Speaker 1: young Buck in and then their wide receivers are not
Speaker 1: you know, scrubs either. So you got to be smart
Speaker 1: enough as a safety to stay deep enough because they
Speaker 1: will be too deep. And then you got to also
Speaker 1: be you know, good enough to come down and make
Speaker 1: an open field tackles. So like that's all what I'm
Speaker 1: always thinking of. It's like, you know, they got good
Speaker 1: enough wide receivers are stretched the field, it's gonna keep
Speaker 1: me deep enough. But also I got to be able
Speaker 1: to play at level one when it's running back breaks
Speaker 1: out behind the linebackers to you know, make the play
Speaker 1: so it don't go for a long down. So when
Speaker 1: I'm thinking about like those two total opposite things, that's
Speaker 1: why I believe this is a you know, a special offense,
Speaker 1: even though it doesn't always seem with the record. A
Speaker 1: couple more questions for Ricardo Allen. It's your first year
Speaker 1: at the Bengals after six with the Falcons. What's it
Speaker 1: been like for you to be in a new city
Speaker 1: and live in a new city. Oh, it's been amazing.
Speaker 1: And this city is like very welcome and it's a
Speaker 1: genuine family. You like feel everyone loves the being with
Speaker 1: everyone's all in for the community. Um, it's very uh,
Speaker 1: you don't know, it's been really cool. I always wonder
Speaker 1: like how would it feel to go somewhere else, knowing
Speaker 1: that I was, I mean, with the Falcons for so long,
Speaker 1: and um, I've enjoyed it. I've enjoyed it a lot.
Speaker 1: Just a new field. Everybody taking me you know, very
Speaker 1: well down here. Um, everyone loves it out here. The
Speaker 1: food's great, good living for my kids and stuff, good
Speaker 1: school system. So it's been, you know, all I can
Speaker 1: dream of so far. Just a couple more wins with help.
Speaker 1: No question about that last thing you turned. You turned
Speaker 1: thirty the day before the Broncos game on Sunday. I've
Speaker 1: said in a previous conversation, I believe you will be
Speaker 1: an NFL head coach someday, and I still feel that way.
Speaker 1: Do you want to play as long as you possibly
Speaker 1: can or are you getting close to the point where
Speaker 1: you want that coaching career to get underway? Yeah? See, Um,
Speaker 1: that is probably my toughest question that I'm on with
Speaker 1: actually right now myself, as uh, you know, like this
Speaker 1: is my first year coming to a team and actually
Speaker 1: just being like a piece, like maybe a guy that
Speaker 1: just you know, sometimes just used in certain situations and
Speaker 1: things like that, and um, you know which is which
Speaker 1: is cool if it's a guy who is okay with
Speaker 1: settling in a sense, um and um me, I want
Speaker 1: to come over here. I'm giving this team and giving
Speaker 1: everything I got, you know, to to the Bengals and
Speaker 1: all I have. But that uh, that coaching piece is
Speaker 1: something that UH is pulling at me. And I don't know,
Speaker 1: you know, like I'm hitting thirty, which is something that
Speaker 1: I always wanted to go forward. And you never know
Speaker 1: in this league. You know, one year you can be,
Speaker 1: you know, with a team, and you know, I'm on
Speaker 1: one year deals right now, so one year I can
Speaker 1: be with a team, and the next year I might
Speaker 1: not be. So I try to take it, you know,
Speaker 1: a day by day as as uh as much as
Speaker 1: I can. But I'm always ready for any opportunity that
Speaker 1: princess itself. So next year, let's say, if I wasn't
Speaker 1: to get you know, resigned with the Bengals or any
Speaker 1: team was to go, probably would be you know, in
Speaker 1: my coaching path as soon as possible. I probably wouldn't
Speaker 1: take any time down. I will go. I've had some
Speaker 1: undercover offers in the sense, but right now, all I'm
Speaker 1: focusing on is trying to get his team to the
Speaker 1: playoffs as much as I can trying to you know,
Speaker 1: throw this body and have as much fun as I
Speaker 1: can and give all I can to this team because
Speaker 1: you know, I want to make the most of it
Speaker 1: before I do hang it up and start working for
Speaker 1: my next uh you know, way up the mountain. You're
Speaker 1: seven years in, which is already an incredible accomplishment. Happy
Speaker 1: birthday this weekend, and thanks for the time. I appreciate you.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Allen has been an excellent addition to the
Speaker 1: Bengals locker room. He was a four time team captain
Speaker 1: in Atlanta. The Bengals Booth podcast is presented by Ultimate Bengals,
Speaker 1: the free to play fantasy football game. Ultimate Bengals will
Speaker 1: be awarding a weekly winner during the course of the
Speaker 1: season with tickets, autograph merchandise, and money can't buy experiences
Speaker 1: all up for grabs. Find Ultimate Bengals in the App
Speaker 1: Store and Google Play. Last week, Jamar Chase made Bengals
Speaker 1: history as he joined Chris Collinsworth in AJ Green as
Speaker 1: the only Bengals rookies to top one thousand receiving yards.
Speaker 1: Jamar is twenty three yards away from breaking AJ's record.
Speaker 1: Chase has already broken the team record for touchdown catches
Speaker 1: by a rookie with ten in this week, I spoke
Speaker 1: to the Bengals legend, who had nine back in nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy three. The Bengals have had some remarkable receivers in
Speaker 1: their history, but none better than Isaac Curtis, who was
Speaker 1: so good that the league had to change the rules
Speaker 1: to prevent defensive backs from holding him and hitting him
Speaker 1: all over the field. Isaac, great to be with you.
Speaker 1: Let's start with Jamar Chase, who has more than a
Speaker 1: thousand receiving yards and ten touchdown catches in his first
Speaker 1: thirteen NFL games. What are your impressions of Numero Uno
Speaker 1: so far? I'm extremely impressed. I'll tell you what. He
Speaker 1: is A dynamic receiver that can just uh it really
Speaker 1: opens a fill up. I mean he could stress to
Speaker 1: Phil and this this his athletic ability and you know
Speaker 1: his ability to get open uh. And he's you know,
Speaker 1: he's a good young receiver. I'll tell you what. He's
Speaker 1: going to be, UH, dynamic receiver for a lot of
Speaker 1: years with Cincinnati, with the Bengals era, they're they're very
Speaker 1: lucky to have him. He's he's a tremendous athlete. You
Speaker 1: were the first prominent Bengal to wear the number eighty five.
Speaker 1: Then Chad Johnson came along, then Tyler Eiffert, now Tee Higgins.
Speaker 1: How about Tea? What stands out when you watch team perform?
Speaker 1: He does everything. I mean he he runs really great routes,
Speaker 1: He catches the ball, he gets open um, he's just
Speaker 1: a you know, they Cincinnati, they have a really tremendous
Speaker 1: young receiving corps, and I think they're gonna be around.
Speaker 1: They're gonna be just gonna get better as the years,
Speaker 1: as the years uh go along, especially with with Burrows,
Speaker 1: you know, being so young. Uh, they got a bright,
Speaker 1: bright future with that receiving cores. And let's get to
Speaker 1: the third member of the so called Cincinnati three way,
Speaker 1: Tyler Boyd. What makes him great in the slot Just
Speaker 1: his ability to just to read the defenses to make
Speaker 1: to be in the right place at the right time. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, he come and gets in and out of
Speaker 1: his brakes. Well he catches the ball. Well, um all,
Speaker 1: I just say, all of them are really really impressive,
Speaker 1: uh wide receivers. But they are, They're they're gonna be
Speaker 1: They're gonna be good for quite a while, I think,
Speaker 1: And I can say they can only get better. We
Speaker 1: are visiting with the great Isaac Curtis. You played with
Speaker 1: one of the most accurate quarterbacks in NFL history, and
Speaker 1: Ken Anderson. Do you see a lot of Kenny when
Speaker 1: you watch Joe Burrow. I think his accuracy some of
Speaker 1: his leadership, you know. But but but I think from
Speaker 1: my accuracy standpoint, Burrows is extremely accuracy. I mean, and
Speaker 1: he just uh, you know, he's just he just has
Speaker 1: a presence that he stands up. It's you know, he
Speaker 1: stands and get to that pocket. You know that that
Speaker 1: I think that that all the guys can fill and
Speaker 1: receivers can fill it. And and this is a tremendous,
Speaker 1: tremendous quarterback. But like I say, he throws a good ball,
Speaker 1: it looks like it's an easy ball to catch. Kenny
Speaker 1: was very accurate to a very good ball to catch,
Speaker 1: you know. And his timing with his quarters with his
Speaker 1: receivers are great. Burroughs timing with his receivers are really
Speaker 1: really great. And I think to say that, I think
Speaker 1: it's only going to get better as the years, as
Speaker 1: the years go by, the more they play together. Isaac,
Speaker 1: I referenced how you changed the NFL. They started the
Speaker 1: Isaac Curtis rule basically to stop defensive backs from mugging
Speaker 1: wide receivers at least after the first five yards from
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage. Is the NFL a more entertaining
Speaker 1: game because of the Isaac Curtis rule, I actually think so,
Speaker 1: you know, I think it's it's opened up the passing game.
Speaker 1: It's kind of make it more of a wide open
Speaker 1: UH league, and the passing game is wide opened, and
Speaker 1: I think that's really good for a spectators. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it has opened it up by a And
Speaker 1: you know, back in the days when I was coming up,
Speaker 1: you know, of course, they didn't have that rule. They
Speaker 1: can cut you, chop you, they can do whatever they want.
Speaker 1: And I think the rue thing that really spurred that
Speaker 1: on was we played in Miami Dolphins in the playoff
Speaker 1: game and Essex Johnson was a tremendous running back. I
Speaker 1: think it was probably the first play of the game
Speaker 1: or second play offensive play. Essex Johnson broke through the middle,
Speaker 1: got hit, hurt his knee, and then and the next
Speaker 1: thing was just let's just take Isaacs say Curtis out
Speaker 1: of the game. And they just started coming up they
Speaker 1: would just cut you. You know, they wouldn't try to
Speaker 1: cover you. I mean, they were just trying to take
Speaker 1: you out. And that's what happened is it started becoming
Speaker 1: that type of the game where I would have a
Speaker 1: corner that would roll up and just coming to try
Speaker 1: to cut me. Sometimes I'd have corner roll up try
Speaker 1: to hold you up, and then there's an outside linebacker
Speaker 1: they come and try to cut you out from the side.
Speaker 1: So it has really opened the game up. And that's
Speaker 1: how that rule was spurred on, you know, with Paul
Speaker 1: Brown going to the Ruse committee talking with them about
Speaker 1: you know, what they're doing to wide receivers and you know,
Speaker 1: you got playmakers and you're you're you're not trying to
Speaker 1: cover them or contain them. What you're doing is just
Speaker 1: trying to take them out. And so they came up
Speaker 1: with that with that five yard bump row. You know,
Speaker 1: after five yards you cannot you got to you know,
Speaker 1: disengage with the h with the white outs, which is
Speaker 1: which was really a good rule. You know, it's it's
Speaker 1: it took some time because initially when it passed, it
Speaker 1: wasn't helping that much. But you know, I've never really
Speaker 1: complained about it because that's the way the game was
Speaker 1: played back then. Did defensive backs ever joke with you
Speaker 1: that you made it much harder on them once that
Speaker 1: role was passed. I had a couple of them that
Speaker 1: said that made it's made it. It's not fair, you know.
Speaker 1: And now, especially when you get some of these receivers
Speaker 1: that could run and dig and go down field after
Speaker 1: five yards, you can't you can't touch them, you know,
Speaker 1: you got to disengage with them. It makes it. It
Speaker 1: makes it very difficult on the defensive back. Uh, it really,
Speaker 1: it really does. But I think it's for the better
Speaker 1: the game, and some of the other changes that they've
Speaker 1: made in the league is better for the much better
Speaker 1: for the game a long. You know, like the cutting
Speaker 1: where we used to crack back and cut and get
Speaker 1: they'll below the waist, you know, all that stuff is
Speaker 1: cut out and that that stops a lot of leg
Speaker 1: and knee injuries. So I think a lot of the
Speaker 1: route changes have made the game a lot, a lot better,
Speaker 1: a lot safer. But sometimes it does drive me crazy
Speaker 1: the way they throw some of the flags without and
Speaker 1: they say passing affairans and I'm looking at passing affairs.
Speaker 1: You know, that's nothing, you know, but just incidental contact.
Speaker 1: My broadcast partner Dave Lapham says, if you had played today,
Speaker 1: with the way that they throw the ball, your statistics
Speaker 1: would have been crazy. Do you ever wonder what it
Speaker 1: would have been like if you were playing now? I
Speaker 1: think it would be fun. I don't think about it
Speaker 1: too much anymore, but at times I have thought how
Speaker 1: much fun it is to watch the game now, and
Speaker 1: how much freedom the wide receivers have at least, like
Speaker 1: I said, at least from being hit and pushed and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, on the on the field. But you know,
Speaker 1: back when I came in, we were more balanced. It
Speaker 1: was a more balanced game, more balanced offense, you have
Speaker 1: more running. It just seemed to be more more balanced.
Speaker 1: Now it's it's leaned towards more wide open of a
Speaker 1: passing game. So yeah, I think the statistics would have
Speaker 1: been much better, you know, But you know, it is
Speaker 1: what it is. I came along too early. Well, this
Speaker 1: is the fortieth anniversary of the nineteen eighty one Super
Speaker 1: Bowl team, Isaac, and you average sixteen and a half
Speaker 1: yards per catch that year. All these years later, what
Speaker 1: does it mean to you to have been part of
Speaker 1: the first Bengals team to make up to a Super Bowl. Well,
Speaker 1: I think it was That was a very special time
Speaker 1: because I think when you you know, even as a
Speaker 1: young kid, when you're coming in the league and you're playing,
Speaker 1: that is the one goal that every every player that's
Speaker 1: that's uh that comes in the league, I would love
Speaker 1: to play in a Super Bowl. And that's everybody's goal.
Speaker 1: And so they have the opportunity to be able to
Speaker 1: play in the Super Bowl. With the team that I
Speaker 1: played with with with Kenny and Chris and Lewis Breeden
Speaker 1: and no I mean just you know, Reggie Williams is
Speaker 1: all the guys we had. We had a tremendous team
Speaker 1: and we were a very close team. We were a
Speaker 1: good team, but we were very close uh as a
Speaker 1: as a as a group as well. But I couldn't
Speaker 1: you know, of course, it would have been better, we'd
Speaker 1: have won it. But but it was certainly special to
Speaker 1: have the opportunity to play in a Super Bowl, especially
Speaker 1: with the group of guys that I had the opportunity
Speaker 1: to play with. And I say it was a tremendous team.
Speaker 1: We had a lot of fun together on the field,
Speaker 1: off the field. I couldn't. I you know, I couldn't
Speaker 1: ask for anything else. Does it feel to you, Isaac,
Speaker 1: like the Bengals are building a contender with Joe Burrowd quarterback. Oh?
Speaker 1: I think so. I thought when I watched him last year,
Speaker 1: I said, boy, I'll tell you what, they got him,
Speaker 1: franchise quarterback. He's a real deal and I'm really I'm
Speaker 1: really impressed with him. He said. He's just got such
Speaker 1: a great air about himself. And you know, he's got
Speaker 1: a nice coup calm head. The way he sits back
Speaker 1: there in that pocket. He's good. He's good. I think
Speaker 1: we can keep him healthy. He's going to be good
Speaker 1: for a lot of years. We got some really good
Speaker 1: jung quarterbacks in the league all over the league, but
Speaker 1: I think Burrows is one of the special ones, and
Speaker 1: I think he will be for years to come. I
Speaker 1: know Joe loves the receivers that he has, but I
Speaker 1: guarantee he would have loved throwing to you. And it's
Speaker 1: great to talk to one of the best to ever
Speaker 1: do it. Thanks so much for your time, Isaac, and
Speaker 1: happy holidays. Well, thank you, thanks for thanks for having
Speaker 1: me in and enjoy the holidays. Last but not least
Speaker 1: it's time for this week's Know the Faux segment. When
Speaker 1: the Broncos lost four straight games and traded away Von Miller,
Speaker 1: I wrote them off. But they've played well since, including
Speaker 1: a dominant win over the Cowboys in Dallas. I asked
Speaker 1: Denver reporter Mike Cliss about it when he joined lapping me.
Speaker 1: I'm a Bengals game plan show. Yeah. That is funny
Speaker 1: how things work in sports sometimes, isn't it. It's for
Speaker 1: some reason the Vaughan Miller trade wasn't a white flag.
Speaker 1: It was more of a kick in the pants for
Speaker 1: the for the Bronco players. They got a little healthier.
Speaker 1: They got Jerry Judy back, They got Bradley Chubb back.
Speaker 1: They were out during that four game losing streak with
Speaker 1: with ankle injuries. That was a factor. Um. I think
Speaker 1: Fanjoe tightened up his defense. They had some inside linebacker problems.
Speaker 1: They're they're now on their They've played eight uh eight
Speaker 1: players at the two inside linebacker spots this year, which
Speaker 1: if you added up, that's that year down to your
Speaker 1: four stringers. And but the rookie Brandon Browning's playing better.
Speaker 1: They they got some guys that weren't very physical, so
Speaker 1: they've been a little more decent stopping the run and
Speaker 1: they've done a better job of running the ball themselves.
Speaker 1: Melvin Gordon and Javante Williams. Uh, you know, they really
Speaker 1: stepped up. The matchups have been good for the Broncos.
Speaker 1: You know how it goes, everybody is you know, I
Speaker 1: say this, It seems like nobody in the league is
Speaker 1: good this year, you know, so you got just as
Speaker 1: much chance as any to beat someone else. And the
Speaker 1: Lions came along at the right time, and you know,
Speaker 1: they're feeling pretty good about themselves as they go against
Speaker 1: much improved Bengal team. Is it as simple as okay,
Speaker 1: run the football efficiently and effectively and play good defense,
Speaker 1: they're gonna win games. If we don't run the ball
Speaker 1: well enough and have to throw it, we're going to struggle.
Speaker 1: The last five games, when they've been able to run
Speaker 1: the ball thirty times a more, they get three wins.
Speaker 1: When they've had to throw it thirty times some more,
Speaker 1: they have two losses. So is it that simple? Is
Speaker 1: the formula contingent on getting those two running backs going
Speaker 1: and then playing solid defense. Yeah, that's true. The only
Speaker 1: thing I would just say to that is sometimes you
Speaker 1: can't run the ball. They don't let you run the ball,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean it's not like, yeah, it's the formula,
Speaker 1: run the ball and play action. And Teddy's pretty good,
Speaker 1: you know, he's an efficient Last week he was eighteen
Speaker 1: out of twenty five to one hundred and eighty yards. No,
Speaker 1: that's pretty much Teddy Bridgewater. Two touchdowns, no, no turnovers.
Speaker 1: I think only one sack. But sometimes, you know, if
Speaker 1: they play seven in the box, you can't run the ball,
Speaker 1: and sometimes you go against some defensive linemen and inside
Speaker 1: linebackers that it's not easy to block those guys. So yeah,
Speaker 1: they would love to run the ball thirty times. But
Speaker 1: I'll tell you another thing, there's there's one more rents
Speaker 1: into that formula. The defense as good as it is.
Speaker 1: Three times this year after two drives, they've been down
Speaker 1: to nothing. They've been down ten nothing before the offense
Speaker 1: gets its fourth offensive play, and so that takes you
Speaker 1: out of your running rhythm. You know, you're this offense
Speaker 1: is not built, you know, primarily because Teddy's not a
Speaker 1: you know, he's not a twenty five yard down the
Speaker 1: field passer. He's much more patient. You know, his arm
Speaker 1: strength isn't isn't there with Josh Allen or anything or
Speaker 1: Patrick Mahomes. But when they're down ten nothing, you know,
Speaker 1: they come out of their game. They just don't get
Speaker 1: into an offensive rhythm. And that's happened three times to
Speaker 1: him this year. So the defense, as good as they
Speaker 1: look statistically, they tend to not show up until the
Speaker 1: second quarter, and you know then they you know, then
Speaker 1: they tighten things up and but it spend those slow
Speaker 1: starts that it hasn't been a complimentary defense with an
Speaker 1: offense that does need to run the ball and and
Speaker 1: news play action and those three games, Mike, did they
Speaker 1: come out flat? One of them was a little joke
Speaker 1: and I yeah, well, you know, Fangio always says that
Speaker 1: you know, when when you're getting you know, it's like baseball,
Speaker 1: when you're getting no hit, you know, you look flat. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, you can't hit the when when you're when
Speaker 1: when the other team is steamrolling you, you know, like uh,
Speaker 1: one of them was at Cleveland Browns game. He might
Speaker 1: have saw it on Thursday night and Cleveland had their
Speaker 1: top two running backs out, their mayfield was out, and
Speaker 1: they just ran it down the Broncos groats and uh yeah,
Speaker 1: they looked pretty flat that day. Um right, and yeah,
Speaker 1: so yeah, I know what you guys are getting at.
Speaker 1: And uh, you know that was the Cowboys, right, the
Speaker 1: Broncos jumped on the one time the defense had a
Speaker 1: had a big u a fourth down stop on the
Speaker 1: first two drives, and the Broncos jumped on. And Jerry
Speaker 1: Jones says, that was the plattists I've ever seen our teams. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, when you get punched in the notes, I
Speaker 1: guess you come out flat. Yep, your nose is flat,
Speaker 1: that's for sure. Mike Less from Denver is our guest Mike.
Speaker 1: Three years ago, the Bengals and the Broncos were both
Speaker 1: in the market for a new head coach. Cincinnati, like
Speaker 1: a lot of other teams in the NFL that year,
Speaker 1: looked for a young, offensive minded head coach and hired
Speaker 1: Zach Taylor, and the Broncos took the opposite approach. They
Speaker 1: went for an older guy who had been a longtime
Speaker 1: defensive coach, Vic Fangio. What have been your impressions of
Speaker 1: Vic Fangio over the last two and a half years.
Speaker 1: By the way, I'll give you a little anecdote there,
Speaker 1: the Broncos had a five man finalist list. Zach Taylor
Speaker 1: was interviewed. He was interviewed right before Vic Fangio, and
Speaker 1: ostensibly always grand plan was Fangio is going to be
Speaker 1: the head coach, and he wanted Zack Taylor, who was
Speaker 1: then the quarterback coach for the Rams. As you guys know,
Speaker 1: he made a big leap there head coach and he
Speaker 1: had never been a coordinator before. Elway wanted him as
Speaker 1: the offensive coordinator here. That was he wanted a young
Speaker 1: offensive coordinator is going to be Zach Taylor, and Fangio
Speaker 1: is going to be his defensive coordinator slash head coach.
Speaker 1: But you guys threw a wrench into that and by
Speaker 1: go ahead and hiring him as the head coach, and
Speaker 1: you know, Fangio, I think, like Zach Taylor, he's had
Speaker 1: some growing pains. Vick's not a ra ra guy. He's
Speaker 1: low key, and when you're not winning, you know, they
Speaker 1: say he doesn't have enough fire. And when you're not winning,
Speaker 1: he doesn't know about offense. The offense has struggled here
Speaker 1: really since two thou fourteen, not even since Peyton left,
Speaker 1: Since the year before Peyton left. Peyton's last year was
Speaker 1: nine touchdown seventeen interceptions. So they've struggled for a while
Speaker 1: on offense. But now that he's but now that they've
Speaker 1: started to win, they've won four of their last six.
Speaker 1: You know, if Angio's getting credit for staying the course,
Speaker 1: for not panicking, you know, everything is the same. You know,
Speaker 1: it's business as usual. I think you know, if you
Speaker 1: had done this interview six weeks ago, I would have
Speaker 1: said it didn't look good for Vic, you know, coaching
Speaker 1: after this season. Now it seems like, you know, this
Speaker 1: team is really pointing up and he's got a real
Speaker 1: chance to coach next year. With the Broncos, you got
Speaker 1: a dynamic duo at running back, and in the secondary
Speaker 1: you have Gordon and Williams. Gordon Williams are combined for
Speaker 1: fourteen hundred plus yards and ten touchdowns rushing. And then
Speaker 1: in the secondary, Sir Tan has four interceptions, Simmons has five.
Speaker 1: If you had to pick which dynamic duo has been
Speaker 1: the most important to the success of the Broncos this year. Cool. Uh,
Speaker 1: that's uh, that that's uh, that's a good one. Um.
Speaker 1: Simmons is as a safety is generally partnered up with
Speaker 1: Kareem Jackson. It was also a good player. Uh, you
Speaker 1: guys know him. He's been in the league twelve years.
Speaker 1: Or tan is A is a rookie. Fine, I don't know,
Speaker 1: Uh that is I guess I don't I guess I
Speaker 1: don't want to pick on that one, because you're right,
Speaker 1: you just picked the strength of the team, you know,
Speaker 1: the uh you know, they need a little more than
Speaker 1: that in the passing game on offense, and they need
Speaker 1: a little more, you know, beefy men to stop the
Speaker 1: run on defense. Um, but those are those are your
Speaker 1: your four best players here, um all around. The biggest
Speaker 1: upgrade though, that this team has made, guys, has been
Speaker 1: and you know, I know he doesn't get much credit,
Speaker 1: but the biggest upgrade has been at quarterback. Drew Locke,
Speaker 1: who has far more talent, just was way more careless
Speaker 1: with the football. Teddy, who's limited in his abilities, is
Speaker 1: very smart and and takes care of the football and
Speaker 1: does things like convert third and sixes. You know, he
Speaker 1: may throw at five yards and the guy's got to
Speaker 1: run a couple to convert it, but but he does
Speaker 1: things like that, and so I really think that's why
Speaker 1: the Broncos are seven and six. You you picked out
Speaker 1: the strengths there those four players, and then at quarterback
Speaker 1: they're just it's just more winning football at that position
Speaker 1: this year. Yeah, and VIC fan Joe being a defensive
Speaker 1: oriented head coach. I bet one thing he can't stand
Speaker 1: as a quarterback that turns it over, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: Final question, Mike can appreciate the time you've carved special teams.
Speaker 1: The punt game. The Broncos are in the league returning
Speaker 1: punts in their eighth covering punts, kickoff returns, they're thirty
Speaker 1: first in the league, returning them in thirty second in
Speaker 1: the league covering them, allowing almost thirty eight yards for
Speaker 1: a turn one hundred and two yard touchdown. Why why
Speaker 1: the up and down They've they've blocked three kicks, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean they they've had their ups and downs. It's
Speaker 1: almost like a roller coaster. The Bengals have had some
Speaker 1: roller coasters in some areas. Why the roller coaster and
Speaker 1: special teams? Yeah, that that and it's been like that
Speaker 1: for three or four years. I always say the kickoff.
Speaker 1: You know, they solved their kickoff return coverage last week.
Speaker 1: McManus kick six touchnacks out of six kickoffs, you know
Speaker 1: here in the mile high air. Why is you know,
Speaker 1: just boot them all out, you know, And maybe that's
Speaker 1: what Fanjie finally told Tom McMahon to do. Just boot
Speaker 1: them all out and let them start at the twenty
Speaker 1: five The Lions all six kickoff. They started at the
Speaker 1: twenty five all six times on them off of McManus kickoff.
Speaker 1: And that's one reason why I was a Special Teams
Speaker 1: Player of the Week. So that solves that problem. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, return it's not dynamic. You know, they've they
Speaker 1: have had injuries, and you guys know when you have injuries,
Speaker 1: that filters down to the back end of the roster,
Speaker 1: and the back end of the roster is where the
Speaker 1: special teamers are. And that has been a steady flow.
Speaker 1: It's never been consistent, especially at the inside. I talked
Speaker 1: about inside linebacker. Inside linebacker is the body type that
Speaker 1: you want on special teams and so that's been a
Speaker 1: revolving door. That's you know, I think that's that's part
Speaker 1: of it too. And you know, I don't know, maybe
Speaker 1: Tom McMahon has a system in place that that works
Speaker 1: if everybody's executing. But if you know, one little a
Speaker 1: cog in the wheel slips up, it messes up everything.
Speaker 1: It all falls apart, and that's what's happened. You know
Speaker 1: this year you said it was kickoff returns they stink at.
Speaker 1: The previous year, I don't have the numbers in front
Speaker 1: of me, but it was probably punt returns. Say they
Speaker 1: stunk at, and we're pretty good at kickoff returns. I
Speaker 1: just think it's just the turnover at the back end
Speaker 1: of the roster because of injuries. That's probably the biggest culprit.
Speaker 1: Sunday's game in Denverse starts at four oh five Cincinnati time,
Speaker 1: and the Broncos are favored by two and a half.
Speaker 1: That's going to do it for this episode of the
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Speaker 1: I'm Dan Horde and thank you for listening to The
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast. M HM