Speaker 1: Hi, gain everybody. I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The Keep On Running addition, as
Speaker 1: the Bengals look for their second straight win as they
Speaker 1: faced the Browns in Cleveland. Coming up, Chase Brown discusses
Speaker 1: his touchdown run that clinched last week's win and the
Speaker 1: fumble that preceded it. CBS sideline reporter Adde Kinkobwalla shares
Speaker 1: her thoughts on the Bengals as she gets ready to
Speaker 1: cover this week's game, and in our No The Faux segment,
Speaker 1: we'll get an in depth look at the Browns from
Speaker 1: Zach Jackson, who covers the team for The Athletic. The
Speaker 1: Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Corps,
Speaker 1: Proud to be the Bengals official HR software provider, by
Speaker 1: Alta Fiber future proof Fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business,
Speaker 1: and community to a new level, and by Kettering Health
Speaker 1: the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is
Speaker 1: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now here's quick
Speaker 1: reminder that you can have the latest edition of this
Speaker 1: podcast delivered write to your phone, tablet, or computer by
Speaker 1: subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest thing
Speaker 1: since The Wonder of Stevie podcast. I love Stevie Wonder,
Speaker 1: and if we play the you can only have five
Speaker 1: albums on a Desert Island game, one of my selections
Speaker 1: is definitely going to be Stevie's nineteen seventy six masterpiece
Speaker 1: Songs in the Key of Life. It's also cheating a
Speaker 1: bit because it's a double album. In any case, I'm
Speaker 1: currently listening to a podcast series called The Wonder of
Speaker 1: Stevie that focuses on a five year stretch when Stevie
Speaker 1: Wonder put out five of his greatest albums. Featured guests
Speaker 1: include Barack and Michelle Obama, Smokey Robinson, Dion Warwick, and
Speaker 1: many others. It's very well done. And the title of
Speaker 1: this podcast, Keep on Running, is a Stevie Wonder song.
Speaker 1: He sings it slightly better than I do. Now let's
Speaker 1: get to my first guest. The Cleveland Browns get running
Speaker 1: back Nick Chubb back this week from the gruesome knee
Speaker 1: injury he suffered in Week two last year. For his career,
Speaker 1: Chub averages five point twenty six yards per carry. That's
Speaker 1: second best in NFL history, behind Jamal Charles at five
Speaker 1: point three eight. Well, so far this year, Chase Brown
Speaker 1: has been even better than them. He's averaging five and
Speaker 1: a half yards per carry. Get I caught up with
Speaker 1: a twenty four year old this week.
Speaker 2: Chase.
Speaker 1: I interviewed you right after the game on Sunday night.
Speaker 1: You had just scored the clinching thirty yard touchdown run
Speaker 1: and you were not happy because you had fumbled on
Speaker 1: the previous plane it ruled out of bounds. It's been
Speaker 1: a few days. Have you let it go?
Speaker 2: Let it go?
Speaker 3: My mind's on Cleveland. Just got to be better in
Speaker 3: those situations. Got to protect the ball regardless of you know,
Speaker 3: how we finished.
Speaker 1: Was it meaningful to you that they went to you
Speaker 1: on the very next play? It was.
Speaker 3: It's something that I thought about after the game, just,
Speaker 3: you know, coach having that trust in me to you know,
Speaker 3: learn from my mistakes quickly and you know, flush that
Speaker 3: out and just focus on the next play.
Speaker 4: So it meant a lot.
Speaker 1: There's the Lambeau Leap, There's the jungle jump. I don't
Speaker 1: know what they call it at MetLife Stadium, but you
Speaker 1: jumped into the stands after that touchdown. Did you seek
Speaker 1: out Bengals fans? Did you know that there was a possibility?
Speaker 1: How did that go?
Speaker 3: I just well, I didn't know what I was gonna
Speaker 3: do when I first got in, but when I saw
Speaker 3: the first Bengals fan in the corner, I'm like, screw it,
Speaker 3: I'm going out. So I jumped up there, had a
Speaker 3: little bit of fun, and got right back down. But yeah,
Speaker 3: it was It was definitely a moment. Maybe we can
Speaker 3: tell it the Giant jump or something like that.
Speaker 1: Coach Taylor said on Monday that in retrospect, he would
Speaker 1: have asked the team to go down before scoring in
Speaker 1: order to run out the clock. Is that hard to
Speaker 1: do as a running back. I'm sure you would have
Speaker 1: done it, but you spend every waking moment trying to
Speaker 1: get into the end zone.
Speaker 3: Definitely just got another situation. We'll call that mud situation.
Speaker 3: So I mean, get the first down and get down.
Speaker 3: So in the future, definitely learn from that moment so
Speaker 3: we don't have to send the defense back out there.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I mean to finish the game on an
Speaker 3: explosive play. I'm not going to complain about that, but
Speaker 3: definitely could approach that situation. Smarter.
Speaker 1: We're visiting with Chase Brown. Through six games, your sixth
Speaker 1: in the NFL and yards per carry five point five
Speaker 1: yards per carry, nearly twenty percent of your runs have
Speaker 1: gone for ten or more yards. What do you think
Speaker 1: you've done well? What do you think you need to
Speaker 1: do better?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that's a huge shout out to the line.
Speaker 3: I mean they're crushing it up front, opening up these
Speaker 3: run lanes and I'm just taking advantage of what I'm seeing.
Speaker 3: So we just got to keep that rolling. Something that
Speaker 3: I could do better. We can just be more efficient,
Speaker 3: eliminate the negative runs and turn those into more efficient
Speaker 3: and positive games. So that's that's my thought process at
Speaker 3: this point.
Speaker 1: In season from the broadcast booth. Every time you get
Speaker 1: the ball, it feels like there's a chance you might
Speaker 1: go the distance. Is that how it feels on.
Speaker 3: The field, Definitely. I mean with with with the way
Speaker 3: that the tight ends and the on line seats are blocking,
Speaker 3: I mean, anything's possible on any run play. So for myself,
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm trying to put that put that ball
Speaker 3: in the paint every single time if I can. But
Speaker 3: I think the best is yet to come. Playing it
Speaker 3: more explosives in big place.
Speaker 1: You were miked up for sound in the Baltimore game.
Speaker 1: What's it like when you watch one of those segments back.
Speaker 3: I'm just having fun out there. There's so much build up,
Speaker 3: so much preparation that goes into every single week, and
Speaker 3: you know there's I just put a ton of focus
Speaker 3: and a ton of energy into that so when game
Speaker 3: day comes around, I can just go have fun like
Speaker 3: I was. When I watch it back, I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 3: I'm just having fun out there and enjoying my time.
Speaker 1: You kind a touchdown passing that game. We heard you
Speaker 1: excitedly say you wanted the ball because it was your
Speaker 1: first Joe Burrow touchdown ball. Did you get it?
Speaker 3: I do, I did my coach. I actually gave it
Speaker 3: to my coach and then he gave it back to
Speaker 3: me and said, give this to your son. So that's
Speaker 3: my plan with the ball. It's sitting in my apartment
Speaker 3: right now.
Speaker 1: What game balls or memorabilia have you saved over the years.
Speaker 3: Well, obviously that that reception and then my first touchdown
Speaker 3: from last year against the Colts. I've got framed with
Speaker 3: the jersey and the gloves, I think, but yeah, I
Speaker 3: have that and something that can hold on to forever.
Speaker 1: We're chatting to Chase Brown. You face the Cleveland Browns
Speaker 1: this week. I heard a couple of your teammates say
Speaker 1: earlier in the week that they think it's going to
Speaker 1: be the most physical game of the year. Is that
Speaker 1: the team's mindset?
Speaker 3: I agree? I mean it's a divisional game. Every divisional
Speaker 3: game is more physical than any other game. A side
Speaker 3: of that, they have a all the defense all round.
Speaker 3: I mean there's they don't really have a weakness. They
Speaker 3: have a crazy athlete at number six and then obviously
Speaker 3: Miles Garrett. So I mean taking care of those two
Speaker 3: guys and making taking advantage of our shots and just
Speaker 3: winning a man coverage. That's going to be the main
Speaker 3: thing going this week, and we just gotta go with
Speaker 3: there nexecute.
Speaker 1: They'll also have Nick Chubb back, one of the best
Speaker 1: to do it at your position. What do you admire
Speaker 1: and respect about Nick Chubb?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean just his his mindset. He came back
Speaker 3: from one hell of an injury, right, so just I know,
Speaker 3: his whole approach, in his whole mindset going into you know,
Speaker 3: everything between getting that injury and then coming back from
Speaker 3: an injury. I know there's a lot of work that
Speaker 3: goes into that, just talking with my brother and learning
Speaker 3: from him and seeing what he went through, so I
Speaker 3: know that he's probably hungry to be back and get
Speaker 3: on the field.
Speaker 1: Speaking of your brother, the Bengals host the Eagles next week.
Speaker 1: How exciting is that for the two of you.
Speaker 2: It'll be cool.
Speaker 3: Never really got to compete against them throughout my football career,
Speaker 3: but this will be the first time I see him
Speaker 3: in a different jersey, so it'll be crazy. I mean,
Speaker 3: we're just doing our jobs in the day, but the
Speaker 3: fact that I get to compete against my brother at
Speaker 3: the highest level is just gonna make it that much cooler.
Speaker 1: And hopefully you will go in with a two game
Speaker 1: winning streak after beating the Browns on Sunday. Best of luck,
Speaker 1: Thank you for the time.
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 1: Chase's twin brother, Sidney, is a safety who was drafted
Speaker 1: in the third round by Philly last year. He tore
Speaker 1: his ACL in the regular season finale in January, but
Speaker 1: it sounds like Sydney could be back in action this Sunday.
Speaker 1: As you probably know, the Bengals have not fared well
Speaker 1: against the Cleveland Browns, in recent years. Sure, they beat
Speaker 1: him in the regular season finale last year, but the
Speaker 1: Browns rested their starters in that game to get ready
Speaker 1: for the playoffs. Over the last Cleveland is nine and
Speaker 1: three in the Battle of Ohio, and the Browns have
Speaker 1: won six straight at home. Furthermore, Joe Burrow is one
Speaker 1: in five against Cleveland and only managed to put up
Speaker 1: three points against the Browns defense last year. They have
Speaker 1: been Joe's kryptonite. For more on Sunday's matchup, I spoke
Speaker 1: to a member of this week's TV crew. It's the
Speaker 1: Bengals in Browns on Sunday, and our friend Addie Kinkobwallo
Speaker 1: will be on the sideline for CBS Aditi. The Bengals
Speaker 1: started zero three, but they've won two out of their
Speaker 1: last three. They've got that overtime loss to Baltimore in between.
Speaker 1: Does it look to you like the Bengals are hitting
Speaker 1: their stride.
Speaker 5: It certainly feels that way.
Speaker 6: I'll say that, Dan, you know this last outing, the
Speaker 6: defense in particular tackled well. I know that that's something
Speaker 6: that's leagued the Bengals. But let's be honest, we've seen
Speaker 6: bad tackling in the first month of the season ever
Speaker 6: since they changed the way the preseason works. You and
Speaker 6: I go back to when we had two days in
Speaker 6: training camp when the pads were on. Now we never
Speaker 6: see that. Guys don't play in the preseason, so most
Speaker 6: every team suffers from bad tackling. Now. I don't know
Speaker 6: if this is Mike Hilton calling that players only meeting
Speaker 6: last week. I don't know if it's him kind of
Speaker 6: lighting the fire under guys, but certainly knowing that the
Speaker 6: tackling is better and knowing that the defense was a
Speaker 6: little bit more on its p's and q's makes you
Speaker 6: feel a bit more confident with that side of the
Speaker 6: ball and the offense stend. Do you ever count out
Speaker 6: an offense that has Joe Barrow at the helm?
Speaker 1: I certainly don't. He does say that the ball still
Speaker 1: isn't spinning quite the way that he likes, but he
Speaker 1: leads the NFL in passer rating. He showed off his
Speaker 1: speed last week with that forty seven yard touchdown run.
Speaker 1: What stands out to you about his performance through six games?
Speaker 6: That's exactly it, right that he told the Sunday Night
Speaker 6: Football Crew last week that he thinks it might still
Speaker 6: be a full year before that risk is one hundred percent.
Speaker 6: We certainly see footage of him flexing his wrist that risk.
Speaker 6: And despite that, he is still able to ben the
Speaker 6: ball as well as he does, even if it's not
Speaker 6: up to his standards. And and the offense has helped,
Speaker 6: let's be honest, by a better defense too.
Speaker 1: So that defense got most of its defensive lineman back
Speaker 1: over the past couple of weeks. That group is finally healthy.
Speaker 1: What do you think of the potential of the Bengals
Speaker 1: defense with lou Anarumo calling shots.
Speaker 6: I think the health makes so much of a difference.
Speaker 6: And you're right, it all starts up front. And so
Speaker 6: when that whole line is healthy, when that line can
Speaker 6: help stop the run, that enables that back end to
Speaker 6: make more plays. And so again, I just it's so
Speaker 6: hard to assess, and it's especially been this season. You
Speaker 6: and I were talking about this before this first month
Speaker 6: of the season. For six weeks of this season has
Speaker 6: been so odd. The teams that have been underachieving, the
Speaker 6: teams that have seemingly been middling, the teams that have
Speaker 6: had sort of slow starts. And I think a piece
Speaker 6: of that for the Bengals is nobody's running away with
Speaker 6: anything right now. You look at the AFC North and yes,
Speaker 6: the Steelers are four and two, but they're making a
Speaker 6: change at quarterbacks, so who knows how that's going to
Speaker 6: work out. And obviously I still feel that the Ravens
Speaker 6: are currently the class of the division. But they start
Speaker 6: the season so well either so are they a couple
Speaker 6: bad plays from being caught? Really, you're talking about maybe
Speaker 6: five plays, and the Bengals record is what five and one?
Speaker 5: So it's just there's a reason.
Speaker 6: That coaches use that cliche that there's such a fine
Speaker 6: line between winning and losing, and there's still a lot
Speaker 6: of football left, a lot of football left.
Speaker 1: And then there are the Cleveland Browns. You're part of
Speaker 1: their preseason broadcast team. You know this team extremely well.
Speaker 1: Are you stunned that Cleveland is one in five?
Speaker 5: Yes? I am, Frankly I am.
Speaker 6: You know, I just said this to you that nobody
Speaker 6: plays in the preseason, And I'll tell you a funny story.
Speaker 6: So in the preseason, the way that the Browns allow
Speaker 6: us to do their broadcasts, we interview a lot of
Speaker 6: players during the broadcast, and each week we talked to
Speaker 6: one of the coordinators and Jim Schwartz is their defensive coordinator.
Speaker 6: You know that this defense was a top two defense
Speaker 6: all year last year. And one of our interviews or
Speaker 6: you know, we were going in the halftime and I
Speaker 6: said to coach Schortz, how do you build off of
Speaker 6: what you did last year? Or something along the lines,
Speaker 6: what's the next step off of what you established last year?
Speaker 6: And I'll tell you, Dan, you need to find the clip,
Speaker 6: because he basically bit off my head and said, forget
Speaker 6: about last year.
Speaker 5: Who knows what we are this year? Nobody's played in
Speaker 5: the preseason. I have no idea what we are.
Speaker 6: And I'm paraphrasing here, but it was essentially calling me
Speaker 6: silly for assuming that this team would pick up where
Speaker 6: it was last year.
Speaker 5: Well, he was right.
Speaker 6: I was wrong, clearly you So, Miles Garrett is still
Speaker 6: Miles Garrett.
Speaker 5: He is not one hundred percent healthy. But it's funny.
Speaker 6: I was talking to a player on the Eagles who
Speaker 6: just faced them last week, asking, hey, just give me
Speaker 6: some background.
Speaker 5: What did you see?
Speaker 6: And his first line was ninety five is still ninety five?
Speaker 6: And when I said, but can you tell that he's
Speaker 6: not one hundred percent? And he said, who cares that
Speaker 6: he's not one hundred percent. He's still jumped over a
Speaker 6: guy and blocked a kick, so he's still making plays.
Speaker 6: Jay Okay, Jeremiah Usukuromoa is playing fantastic. He had a
Speaker 6: monster year last year. He is a sideline to sideline,
Speaker 6: unbelievably fast linebacker. He's playing really well.
Speaker 5: That back end that in.
Speaker 6: Theory, should be such a strength, has just been plagued
Speaker 6: by injuries. And so you think about Jamar Chase t Higgins,
Speaker 6: is Joe Burrow picking apart a secondary that likes to
Speaker 6: play man. There are opportunities right there, you know, but
Speaker 6: it's a shame. I wish that Denzel word was fully healthy.
Speaker 6: I hope he's on his way to getting healthy. Mj Emerson.
Speaker 6: You know, these are players that are fun to watch
Speaker 6: when they're in peak form. So of course that's the
Speaker 6: defense right there, and still it's still a good defense.
Speaker 6: The offense is just I mean, what do you say,
Speaker 6: what do you say? I mean, the can't score twenty points.
Speaker 6: They haven't scored twenty points all year. And what's dumbfounding
Speaker 6: to me is that Kevin Stefanski had an offensive staff
Speaker 6: in place from when he was hired, and his first
Speaker 6: season as head coach, he was Coach of the Year.
Speaker 6: That was the COVID year, and that offensive staff with
Speaker 6: Baker Mayfield as their quarterback or its quarterback, led the
Speaker 6: Browns to the playoffs in won a road playoff game
Speaker 6: when Kevin Stefanski was in his basement with COVID. That
Speaker 6: was that offensive staff. Then that same offensive staff last year,
Speaker 6: behind five different starting quarterbacks, earned a playoff berth and
Speaker 6: the Browns decided to completely rip up that offensive staff
Speaker 6: and completely remake their offense. They say it's an augmented
Speaker 6: passing game, but it's obviously a very very different passing game.
Speaker 6: And here you are six weeks in and nothing looks smooth,
Speaker 6: nothing looks efficient, nothing looks like it's looked the last
Speaker 6: few years. Deshaun Watson is clearly still not the player
Speaker 6: that he was at some point in Houston when people
Speaker 6: thought he was one of the bright young stars at
Speaker 6: the quarterback position. I will say this, Nick Chubb, who
Speaker 6: is everybody's favorite player, who is arguably one of the
Speaker 6: best running backs in the National Football League, in my opinion,
Speaker 6: the best running back in the National Football League when healthy.
Speaker 6: He's coming back and Dan, the city of Cleveland loves Snickchubb, loves, loves,
Speaker 6: loves loves Nick Chubb. When he runs out of the
Speaker 6: tunnel on Sunday, that building will come down with all
Speaker 6: that noise. And so, first of all, I never count
Speaker 6: out Nick Chubb. His first game back after destroying his
Speaker 6: knee at Georgia, he went for two hundred and twenty
Speaker 6: two yards. So maybe Kevin Stefanski will tell us he's
Speaker 6: on a pitch count, but I don't know that that
Speaker 6: ever works with Nick chub But even beyond that, I
Speaker 6: think the Browns are expecting, hoping for an emotional boost
Speaker 6: and emotional lift from the guy that really, actually, truly
Speaker 6: is the face of their franchise and embodies everything that
Speaker 6: they want to be. I can't tell you how many
Speaker 6: people I've been around who've said, if I had a
Speaker 6: roster full of Nick Chubbs, I'd never lose.
Speaker 1: I really don't root for the star players on the
Speaker 1: other teams and the AFC North, but I've got so
Speaker 1: much respect for Nick Chubb. After this week, I will
Speaker 1: be rooting for Nick Chubb going forward. Logan Wilson said
Speaker 1: this week it's the first time in his life that
Speaker 1: the team that he was about to play traded one
Speaker 1: of its best players that week. The Brown's obviously trading
Speaker 1: Amari Cooper. Why do you think they did that.
Speaker 6: I don't think that this is the fire sale that
Speaker 6: some people think from the outside. I don't think this
Speaker 6: is the Browns giving up on the season. This is
Speaker 6: just Amari Cooper was under this last year. This was
Speaker 6: the last year of his deal. He wasn't going to
Speaker 6: be re signed next year, and Brown general manager Andrew
Speaker 6: Berry was able to get more picks from the Bills.
Speaker 5: Then he gave up.
Speaker 6: To get Amari Cooper a couple of years ago from Dallas.
Speaker 6: And so I think when you can make a play
Speaker 6: like that, and remember the Browns haven't had a lot
Speaker 6: of picks because of everything they've given up for j
Speaker 6: Deshaun Watson, it seems to make some sense.
Speaker 5: I don't think there was another player in the NFL
Speaker 5: who had.
Speaker 6: More uncatchable targets than Amari Cooper did.
Speaker 5: So it's a deep, wide receiver room.
Speaker 6: You haven't seen everything that the Browns want to see
Speaker 6: by any means out of Jerry Judy or Elijah or
Speaker 6: Cedric Tillman, who's a very young talented guy. It's an
Speaker 6: opportunity for some other people to step up. And they're
Speaker 6: tight ends too. Don't forget about the tight ends. You
Speaker 6: know those are at least in Kevin Stefanski's previous offense.
Speaker 6: Those tight ends are very, very key.
Speaker 1: Final thing for add Kin Kabwala. If the Bengals are
Speaker 1: able to win this week and get to three and four,
Speaker 1: they've got back to back home games coming up after that,
Speaker 1: were that to happen, do you feel like they're right
Speaker 1: back in the thick of things.
Speaker 6: Win this week and of course you're right back in
Speaker 6: the thick of things. You know, every coach loves to
Speaker 6: say this. The goal is just to go Wan to know.
Speaker 6: The goal is to go Wan to know. You keep
Speaker 6: stacking those one and oh's, and you're in good shape.
Speaker 5: And as we keep.
Speaker 6: Saying, no one is running away with the AFC North
Speaker 6: right now, no one is necessarily looking.
Speaker 5: Yeah, the Chiefs, the Bills, you know, you have the class.
Speaker 6: Of the AFC in some ways, but it's also just
Speaker 6: about getting in the dance and nothing is insurmountable right now.
Speaker 6: The Bengals just need to continue because we saw it
Speaker 6: this past week, and continue to play better defense, and
Speaker 6: I think you'll see some good things. You know the
Speaker 6: talents there, and you know the coaching is there.
Speaker 1: Look forward to seeing you on the sideline this Sunday
Speaker 1: and really appreciate your time. Keep up the great work, Adidi, Thank.
Speaker 5: You and thanks so much for having me. It's always
Speaker 5: a pleasure.
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Corps,
Speaker 1: Proud to be the Bengals Official HR software provider, by
Speaker 1: Alta Fiber future proof Fiber Internet designed to elevate your home,
Speaker 1: business and community to a new level, and by Kettering
Speaker 1: Health the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health
Speaker 1: is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. As add
Speaker 1: pointed out, the Browns offense has been abysmal this year.
Speaker 1: Not only haven't the Browns scored more than eighteen points
Speaker 1: in a game, but DeShawn Watson, who has still owed
Speaker 1: ninety two million bucks over the next two years, hasn't
Speaker 1: passed for two hundred yards in a single game this year,
Speaker 1: and at one point, the Browns offense failed to convert
Speaker 1: on twenty six consecutive third downs. Now, normally that might
Speaker 1: mean a change at quarterback and the Browns have former
Speaker 1: number one overall draft pick Jamis Winston waiting in the wings,
Speaker 1: but head coach Kevin Stefanski says he is sticking with
Speaker 1: Deshaun Watson.
Speaker 7: I think Deshaun gives us the best chance to win,
Speaker 7: continues to give us the best chance to win, and
Speaker 7: we need to play really good offensive football at his
Speaker 7: position and really at every position to be successful.
Speaker 8: On Sunday, Kevin, I know that we asked you this
Speaker 8: last week, but it seems to be that the prevailing
Speaker 8: narrative still seems to be that everyone thinks that Jimmy
Speaker 8: Haslam is forcing you to play Deshaun Watson. So I
Speaker 8: guess I just want to throw it out there again
Speaker 8: and ask how is this decision made and is there
Speaker 8: any truth.
Speaker 5: To that whatsoever.
Speaker 7: Well, as you know, Mary Kay, I don't get caught
Speaker 7: up in narratives, but we have a good dialogue with
Speaker 7: myself Andrew Ownership about all things that have to do
Speaker 7: with this team. They've been nothing but supportive and any
Speaker 7: decision when it comes to football is my decision.
Speaker 1: For more on the Browns, we turned to Zach Jackson,
Speaker 1: who covers the team for the Athletic He joined Lapping
Speaker 1: me this week on the Bengals Game Plan Show.
Speaker 4: What's that locker room like? I mean, what you're dealing
Speaker 4: with all kinds of crap? Really, what is it like
Speaker 4: in here on a day to day basis?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's quiet, Lap. You know what you do if
Speaker 2: you're them, is you find a positive. And you mentioned it.
Speaker 2: It's Chubb coming back, it's coming home after a three
Speaker 2: game road trip, right, it's that Miles Garrett is really good.
Speaker 2: It's the defense is really good. And you know, frankly,
Speaker 2: the defense has not been great, but which one is
Speaker 2: every single Sunday? You know, the defense has been good
Speaker 2: enough for this team to at least be five hundred,
Speaker 2: And it's been so bad that if they didn't just
Speaker 2: scored two touchdowns in some of these games, they'd be
Speaker 2: five hundred. So that's not to say that they're close
Speaker 2: to turn in the corner, because they're not. But we
Speaker 2: know when these teams get together, you know, strange things happen.
Speaker 2: We know that Miles Garrett taking over games is not
Speaker 2: a strange thing. It's a common thing. And you know,
Speaker 2: like maybe the trade of Amari Cooper is the start
Speaker 2: of a total teardown and an admission that this whole
Speaker 2: thing's a disaster, because right now it's a disaster. Or
Speaker 2: maybe it was just to send a little message that
Speaker 2: it's time to change and the guys here has to
Speaker 2: play better, which they do and we'll see. So I'm
Speaker 2: not ruling the Browns out this week, but I'm here
Speaker 2: to tell you guys, in total honesty, that it's worse
Speaker 2: than it looks from the outside, and there's a chance
Speaker 2: that it's going to be bad for a lot of times.
Speaker 1: Zach, why did they trade Amari Cooper?
Speaker 2: Well, his body language stunk, his performance was up and down,
Speaker 2: and a lot of that was attributed to the fact
Speaker 2: that they can't get him the ball and the pass
Speaker 2: offense just thinks. He had been pouting since the summer
Speaker 2: over a contract issue. You know, some of it was
Speaker 2: brought on themselves. They didn't extend him. They acquired Jerry
Speaker 2: Judy for nothing and immediately extended Jerry Judy, who's never
Speaker 2: done anything in his career. When Amari wanted his money.
Speaker 2: They offered up Amari to the Niners and a trade
Speaker 2: in a pursuit of Brandon Ayukamuri didn't like that, but
Speaker 2: mostly it's because Amari spent five of the six games
Speaker 2: running routes and the ball wasn't coming near him most times.
Speaker 2: And the other day in the fourth quarter, watching through
Speaker 2: the best pass of the season and Amari caught it
Speaker 2: and it set up first and goal at the five
Speaker 2: in the last four minutes of the game, and they
Speaker 2: ended up kicking a field goal from the thirteen, which
Speaker 2: kind of sums up the season.
Speaker 4: So when you have a season like this, normally injury
Speaker 4: is somewhere in the storyline. The offensive line is beaten up,
Speaker 4: the back end defensively is beaten up. I mean, has
Speaker 4: that been a big contributing factor.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the other line been a huge factor lap underperformance.
Speaker 2: That availability, bad luck with the injuries and having to
Speaker 2: mix and match things. You know, they bench the rookies
Speaker 2: enter the other day and then he's in there on
Speaker 2: the third play because the center got hurt and so
Speaker 2: the guy who replaced him had to go to center.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it's just been not good. Now. They did
Speaker 2: start running the ball in the second half the other day.
Speaker 2: I think the offensive line had something to do with that,
Speaker 2: But there's just been sequences where someone misses a block,
Speaker 2: Watson misses a pass, and then maybe he gets off
Speaker 2: a pass and it's dropped, or somebody else misses the
Speaker 2: block and he misses a read. I mean, it's it's
Speaker 2: been a lot of things. He has played awful. He
Speaker 2: has played awful by the standards of a rookie seventh rounder,
Speaker 2: let alone a guy with his contract. But it's not
Speaker 2: all been his fault. And you have a two time
Speaker 2: Coach of the Year whose team can't stop getting penalties
Speaker 2: and can't figure out a way to spark the quarterback,
Speaker 2: if quarterback who drops back and doesn't appear to know
Speaker 2: what he's seeing most of the time. So that's how
Speaker 2: you end up one five and staring at a future
Speaker 2: that looks pretty bleak because every dime of his contract
Speaker 2: is fully guaranteed. So they they this is the most
Speaker 2: expensive roster in NFL history, and even with its works,
Speaker 2: it still has Miles Garrett, Denzel Ward right, some other
Speaker 2: guys who were really good, had Amarty Cooper until yesterday
Speaker 2: at three o'clock. But going forward, I'm not sure they
Speaker 2: can spend their way out of this one, because this
Speaker 2: is this is the worst trade in the history of
Speaker 2: the NFL.
Speaker 4: So does does dun stay at center and Zinra come
Speaker 4: back and play at the guard position. And of the
Speaker 4: thirty one sacks accumulated, which is is it more on
Speaker 4: the quarterback holding the football, is the old line guilty
Speaker 4: or is in mix?
Speaker 2: It's been all of them up. I remember a sequence
Speaker 2: in Washington they threw a screen for a loss of seven.
Speaker 2: They had an unblocked head rusher. On the next play,
Speaker 2: Watson escape throws at it's dropped, and then on third
Speaker 2: down here comes to rush again and he has to
Speaker 2: throw it away before anybody could get open. So it's
Speaker 2: been all that. Yeah, I think post Sick might get back.
Speaker 2: I don't know that he's totally ruled out, but if
Speaker 2: it's not him, it'll be done at center. Dune's been
Speaker 2: around a long time and he's played all five positions
Speaker 2: in practice, but he never had to play center in
Speaker 2: a game until last week. And like I said, Zenner
Speaker 2: made a couple of starts they didn't go well. He's
Speaker 2: back in Jack Conklin's back. That's good for him. He's
Speaker 2: been through major knee injuries, as you know, been a
Speaker 2: really good player when he's been healthy, missed thirteen months. Really,
Speaker 2: if Chubb plays Sunday and he's going to barring something crazy,
Speaker 2: those two guys will have missed the exact amount of
Speaker 2: time because Conkland got hurt in last year's opener and
Speaker 2: Hubb got hurt we too, so you know, for better
Speaker 2: or worse, both have been off of injuries before. Both
Speaker 2: have been really good players. Nick Chubb is a really
Speaker 2: special player, and he's a player that's super popular with
Speaker 2: the fan base and everybody wants him to succeed. We
Speaker 2: don't know what he's going to be, We don't know
Speaker 2: what his snap count is going to be, here can be,
Speaker 2: but that's really the only thing that's going to bring
Speaker 2: the energy that in the defense on Sunday, because if
Speaker 2: the offense doesn't come out and score the first draft
Speaker 2: and they have one touchdown and their last twenty nine possessions,
Speaker 2: let me say that again, one touchdown and their last
Speaker 2: twenty nine possessions, and that stadium is going to turn
Speaker 2: as ugly as it's ever been.
Speaker 1: Zach Jackson is our guest. He covers the Browns for
Speaker 1: The Athletic. You can follow him on x at Akron
Speaker 1: Jackson let me follow up on Nick Chubb. In Week
Speaker 1: two last year, he told tour the ACL MCL PCL
Speaker 1: I think those are all of the cls that you
Speaker 1: have in the knee. From what you've heard, does he
Speaker 1: look like he's running as fast as ever? As you said,
Speaker 1: we don't know how many snaps he's going to get
Speaker 1: on Sunday, But from what coaches and teammates have said,
Speaker 1: how does he look?
Speaker 2: Yeah, he looks like Nick Chubb and there's been no
Speaker 2: brace or anything. You know, he's been doing the work.
Speaker 2: This is a guy that I've always called him the
Speaker 2: ultimate low maintenance superstar, right because he's just not in
Speaker 2: to anything but football, and he has always been an
Speaker 2: incredibly hard worker and an incredibly low key talent by
Speaker 2: his personality and by playing on some bad teams. You know. Frankly,
Speaker 2: I think they preserved his career intentionally with those years.
Speaker 2: The Kareem Hunt was really running with him. You know,
Speaker 2: at first they had to actually trade a guy to
Speaker 2: get him on the field. That's back when Hugh Jackson
Speaker 2: was the coach and things were really bleak. But man,
Speaker 2: they would love to have him, and like I said,
Speaker 2: he it will be an emotional boost because he has
Speaker 2: that kind of respect in the locker room, not earned,
Speaker 2: I mean, not given earned to him. So you know,
Speaker 2: I don't know. I think the second time around you
Speaker 2: might see more of Nick Chubb, but I think he'll
Speaker 2: be introduced as a starter on Sunday. I think he'll
Speaker 2: probably be the starter for the emotional boost. But if
Speaker 2: he gets any more than ten or twelve carries, I'll
Speaker 2: be surprised. And I think that's probably a key to
Speaker 2: the game. The Browns have to get the run other
Speaker 2: than the trambles. They have to do it. They have
Speaker 2: to help their defense that way. They have to help
Speaker 2: the offensive line settle in, and they have to help
Speaker 2: their quarterback by doing it. I think when they finally
Speaker 2: moved the ball over the last twenty or so minutes
Speaker 2: last week in Philly, it was because the run set
Speaker 2: up some other things and finally set up the one
Speaker 2: big pass. They only have two passes over thirty yards
Speaker 2: all year long.
Speaker 4: Wow, So Miles Garrett, are they moving them around as
Speaker 4: much as they have in the pastors? He pretty much
Speaker 4: settled in in one spot.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean he starts in that spot. Lap they
Speaker 2: do move him around, But the major problem is this
Speaker 2: is an attack defense even without Miles Garrett, and they
Speaker 2: haven't had the lead to really let it loose. So
Speaker 2: he's been awesome. He blocked the field goal last week.
Speaker 2: He's had the multi sat games. You know, even when
Speaker 2: the other guy, Alex Right gets the winning safety in Jacksonville,
Speaker 2: it's Miles Rush, it's interrever Lawrence's head. You've seen him
Speaker 2: do it. You've seen him do it to Joe, You've
Speaker 2: seen him do it to other guys. This is the
Speaker 2: best version of Miles last year carried into this year.
Speaker 2: So you know what's going to happen. How will they
Speaker 2: move him around if they get a chance to play
Speaker 2: with a lead, if they get in the game, or
Speaker 2: the defense needs that one stop to preserve it. They
Speaker 2: just haven't been in that situation. You know, they've been
Speaker 2: they've been losing these games and they've been coming down
Speaker 2: to the end and they haven't done that. But he
Speaker 2: looks great and he's you know, he's going to haunt
Speaker 2: Joe's thoughts and Dan Pitcher's thoughts all week, and he
Speaker 2: does that to all those guys. He really does.
Speaker 1: My final question Zach asked to do with Deshaun Watson.
Speaker 1: We heard the comment earlier on this show from Kevin
Speaker 1: Stefanski where he said Deshaun gives us the best chance
Speaker 1: to win. He's just audio, so we couldn't see if
Speaker 1: there was a Pinocchio factor there with a nose growing.
Speaker 1: But what do you think happened to Deshaun Watson? What's
Speaker 1: your theory? Why has he gone from being one of
Speaker 1: the best quarterbacks in the league to arguably the worst.
Speaker 2: Well, I think it's a lot of things. I think
Speaker 2: the time away, I'm not sure where his mind is
Speaker 2: in relation to football, and I'm not going to put
Speaker 2: any words in his mouth. We didn't know him before this,
Speaker 2: you know, he was never here. He played in Cleveland
Speaker 2: one time and initially didn't want to come in. The
Speaker 2: weather was a part of it because he played in
Speaker 2: like an early November, late October game and it was
Speaker 2: twenty degree like it is in January here, you know.
Speaker 2: But he is not a stylistic fit with Kevin Stefanski.
Speaker 2: He has not played enough to be confident here. But
Speaker 2: to me, he's just he has zero pocket presence. He
Speaker 2: doesn't process, and I just don't see a confident player.
Speaker 2: I just don't. I occasionally see good throws, I occasionally
Speaker 2: see the talent that we've seen. I mean, this is
Speaker 2: we watched him as a true freshman. It comes to
Speaker 2: the nation, did right, But I see a guy who's
Speaker 2: a shell of that, and these numbers are appallingly bad.
Speaker 2: Some of them are historically bad. I'm sure you haven't
Speaker 2: in front of you somewhere there. We're will in the
Speaker 2: booth on Sunday, and it matches the eye test, it
Speaker 2: really does, and we're really we've seen it. Like I said,
Speaker 2: I've seen stretches, I've seen throws, but training camp, practice
Speaker 2: and now to games like this has been three years.
Speaker 2: He's just not good anymore. And those numbers often don't
Speaker 2: tell the story, but in this case, right now, mid
Speaker 2: October twenty four, they do, And every dime is guaranteed
Speaker 2: for one hundred and seventy dollars seventy million dollars in
Speaker 2: cap commitments to this guy who's giving you no chance
Speaker 2: to win, and the head coach is saying with a
Speaker 2: straight face, he gives us our best chance to win,
Speaker 2: all right, thanks.
Speaker 1: To Zach Jackson. And that's going to do it for
Speaker 1: this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you
Speaker 1: by pay Core, proud to be the Bengals official HR
Speaker 1: software provider by Alta Fiber future Proof fiber Internet designed
Speaker 1: to elevate your home, business and community to a new level,
Speaker 1: and by Kettering Health the best care for the best fans.
Speaker 1: Kettering Health is the official healthcare provider of the Bengals.
Speaker 1: If you haven't done so already, please subscribe to this
Speaker 1: podcast and if you have a minute, give it a
Speaker 1: rating or share a comment that helps more Bengals fans
Speaker 1: find us. I'm Dan Hord and thank you for listening
Speaker 1: to the Bengals Booth podcast.