Speaker 1: I get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading
Speaker 1: The Bengals Booth Podcast. The simply having a wonderful Christmas
Speaker 1: time addition, as the Bengals move on after being the
Speaker 1: Grinch that stole Christmas from Steelers fans and head to
Speaker 1: Houston two days after the holiday to face the Texans
Speaker 1: coming up, Dave Lapham joins me to put a bow
Speaker 1: on Monday night shocking win and look ahead to what
Speaker 1: it's going to take to make it two in a row.
Speaker 1: My one on one player interview this week is actually
Speaker 1: with a former player who started on the Bengals nineteen
Speaker 1: eighty eight Super Bowl team, and in our know the
Speaker 1: post segment, we'll find out what's gone wrong in Houston
Speaker 1: this year from one of the best NFL reporters out there,
Speaker 1: John McLean from the Houston Chronicle. The Bengals Booth Podcast
Speaker 1: is presented by bud Light Seltzer. Refresh the game, and
Speaker 1: here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest
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Speaker 1: or Podbean. It's the greatest thing since Darlene Love's annual
Speaker 1: Christmas appearance on Late Night with David Letterman for nearly
Speaker 1: every year from nineteen eighty six to twenty fourteen, when
Speaker 1: the show ended, the Great Darlene Love performed her signature
Speaker 1: song Christmas Baby, Please Come Home on David Letterman's final
Speaker 1: late night show each year before Christmas. It was always
Speaker 1: fantastic and helped raise the profile of a nineteen sixties
Speaker 1: singing great who had never received the stardom she deserved.
Speaker 1: Even though the Letterman Show has been off the air
Speaker 1: for nearly six years, the tradition continues as Darlene belts
Speaker 1: out the song each year on the view. You can
Speaker 1: check it out by searching for Darlene Love on YouTube. Now,
Speaker 1: let's get to football, beginning with my podcast partner Dave Lapham,
Speaker 1: and we start our chat by discussing Monday's win over
Speaker 1: the suddenly reeling Pittsburgh Steelers. Think about, all right, Bengals
Speaker 1: have to bring their A game, Pittsburgh maybe bring their
Speaker 1: C game. And that's what happened. I mean, Pittsburgh did
Speaker 1: not play well, but part of that was because the
Speaker 1: Bengals were bringing their A game. I mean, honestly, they suffocated.
Speaker 1: The suffocating, stifling defense was the Bengals, not the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Speaker 1: Cincinnati Bengals ran the football, They controlled tempo. They frustrated
Speaker 1: the Pittsburgh Steelers by running the football the way they did.
Speaker 1: The quarterback run package a big part of it. They
Speaker 1: didn't turn the football over Cincinnati Pittsburgh did. Pittsburgh basically
Speaker 1: flipped the script. They ran the ball down your throat,
Speaker 1: they didn't make mistakes, and they played suffocating defense. Check
Speaker 1: check check flipped the script on Pittsburgh win. So I
Speaker 1: was thinking about this today. Lap. The Bengals are three
Speaker 1: and one with two games to go. Right now, they've
Speaker 1: got the third pick in next year's draft. But if
Speaker 1: you really go back and look at the early portion
Speaker 1: of the season before Joe Burrow got hurt. In Week one,
Speaker 1: they threw a game winning touchdown pass with seven seconds
Speaker 1: to go. AJ Green got called for a tikie tack
Speaker 1: offensive fast interference. Randy Bullock missed a chip shot field
Speaker 1: goal to four's overtime due to cramping in the calves.
Speaker 1: They're want a wink, yeah, Calfman. Week three, seven point lead,
Speaker 1: less than thirty seconds to go, Carson Wentz scrambles for
Speaker 1: a game tying touchdown. There goes another win. Game ends
Speaker 1: in an overtime tie. Week six, twenty one nothing second
Speaker 1: quarter in Indianapolis, still up by six in the fourth quarter,
Speaker 1: wound up losing to the Colts. Week seven, three different
Speaker 1: leads in the fourth quarter, including a touchdown pass with
Speaker 1: one oh six to go. They allowed Baker Mayfield to
Speaker 1: beat them with a TD pass of his own with
Speaker 1: eleven seconds left. Week eleven, they go up and down
Speaker 1: the field in Washington Borough. Had twenty one pass completions
Speaker 1: in the first half, they had the lead in the
Speaker 1: third quarter when he blew out his knee. That's five
Speaker 1: games that could have been wins, really should have been wins.
Speaker 1: I mean, those are what just happened type of losses.
Speaker 1: The Bengals probably should be eight and six with two
Speaker 1: games to go. Yeah, and that's that would be the
Speaker 1: best case if they win all the game, all those games.
Speaker 1: If they only win three of them, they still have
Speaker 1: six wins. I mean, you know, it's it's not as
Speaker 1: desperate or as desolate a seasons as it sounds. And
Speaker 1: in all of those wins, I mean, in the Philadelphia game,
Speaker 1: if Carlos Dunlap had played against the Eagles like he's
Speaker 1: playing for the Seattle Seahawks. Carson Wentz does not score,
Speaker 1: Carlos Dunlap makes a play on him. Carlos Dunlap, he
Speaker 1: was in his mode where it's not that he couldn't play,
Speaker 1: he wouldn't play, and they that whole thing blew up
Speaker 1: and fell apart. But in that game, I can point
Speaker 1: to a handful of plays where it's like, come on, man,
Speaker 1: just give some kind of effort. And I'm not going
Speaker 1: to put that loss just on that play with Carlos Dunlap.
Speaker 1: But but you know, there were other players in that
Speaker 1: football game, obviously. But I mean, if in fact, he
Speaker 1: had stepped up to his ability in the fourth quarter
Speaker 1: in any of those close games when he was still
Speaker 1: with the team defensively, they'd have handful more wins potentially.
Speaker 1: And again it's not all Carlos Dunlap, obviously, I mean,
Speaker 1: that would be ridiculous, that would be you know, small,
Speaker 1: to try to put it on a guy that's not
Speaker 1: even here anymore. But he was a factor while he
Speaker 1: was here. And because honestly, when you look at the
Speaker 1: overall effort, it's not that they're not trying. It's that
Speaker 1: they weren't playing smart enough football, you know, And you
Speaker 1: can't when you're when you're in the situation that since
Speaker 1: then any Bengals are in, you have very little margin
Speaker 1: for error. You can't put yourself on your schedule so
Speaker 1: often and turning the ball over, turn it over, turn
Speaker 1: it over. I mean we're like a bakery. We're making
Speaker 1: turnovers every Sunday, you know, and giving them to everybody. Now,
Speaker 1: the two games that they won, big games that they
Speaker 1: won it at Paul Brown Stadium against two playoff teams
Speaker 1: right now, playoff worthy teams, Tennessee in Pittsburgh. No giveaways,
Speaker 1: no turnovers, if you keep care of the football and
Speaker 1: then you can get it into the fourth quarter with
Speaker 1: a chance to win a football game and give your
Speaker 1: defense a chance to do their thing. And they get
Speaker 1: takeaways against Tennessee and they get takeaways against Pittsburgh. So
Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's that's the formula. But the formula
Speaker 1: has been you know, just basically taken apart too many
Speaker 1: times by giving the football away. It just just can't
Speaker 1: do it. That's the Lottom line. So you know, it
Speaker 1: also is great about Monday's victory. It's caused major ajita
Speaker 1: in Pittsburgh. I mean the sky is falling from eleven
Speaker 1: and zero to eleven and three. They were hoping and
Speaker 1: expecting to clinch the AFC North title on Monday night
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati. Well now it's a real question mark whether
Speaker 1: they are going to hold off the Cleveland Browns. Cleveland
Speaker 1: is one game behind. Pittsburgh has to play the Colts
Speaker 1: this week ten and four, then the Browns in the
Speaker 1: regular season finale. Cleveland plays the Jets this week. I
Speaker 1: don't see New York winning back to back games after
Speaker 1: beating the Rams last week. I want to listen to
Speaker 1: something that I heard on Sports Center. This is former
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh Steelers defensive back Ryan Clark talking to host Kenny
Speaker 1: Maine after the game on Monday night. All Right, Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: was the last unbeaten team. Now they've done threes three?
Speaker 1: How far in your eyes have they fallen? When you
Speaker 1: look at the whole AFC playoffs which aren't too far away, Kenny,
Speaker 1: who can they beat? You tell me who can they beat?
Speaker 1: Can they beat the Coats? No? Right? Can they beat
Speaker 1: the Tennessee Titans in the playoffs? No? Can they beat
Speaker 1: the Cleveland Browns. We know they can't beat the Kansas
Speaker 1: City Chiefs. We know they can't beat the Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 1: We look at this team play offense. They are playing
Speaker 1: at such a deficit each game. There is no way
Speaker 1: that they'll win. Tonight, they were getting stopped behind the line.
Speaker 1: You couldn't convert third and one, fourth and one. The
Speaker 1: past game was any fishing. There weren't their drops, whether
Speaker 1: there were the incompletions, the passes that were blown up
Speaker 1: interceptions by the Cincinnati Bengals. They made the Cincinnati Bengals
Speaker 1: look like an All Pro Bowled caliber defense and they
Speaker 1: haven't been that all year. And so you think when
Speaker 1: you're playing the Kansas City Chiefs, the Buffalo Bills, the
Speaker 1: Cleveland brown some of the better teams in the AFC,
Speaker 1: that the Pittsburgh Steelers can win. They were eleven and old,
Speaker 1: and that was fool's goal. You're now losing players on defense,
Speaker 1: you have injuries on offense, and you have a quarterback
Speaker 1: that can't seem to make the right decision when that
Speaker 1: is what you're expecting him to do as a Pittsburgh
Speaker 1: Steelers fan. As an alum, i Am said, because I
Speaker 1: don't see them winning the game in the playoffs. So
Speaker 1: to summarize, you're not high on the Pittsburgh Steelers right now.
Speaker 1: Kenny Mayne putting the perfect capra on that so is
Speaker 1: a Bengals fan. How great is it to hear the
Speaker 1: Steelers and their fans and their former players just absolutely
Speaker 1: depressed for a change after losing a game at Paul
Speaker 1: Brown Stadium? How does it feel? You know, it's like
Speaker 1: ashen was a great description. And I think rol Aids
Speaker 1: had a record sales week and it wasn't because of
Speaker 1: overeating pre holiday food. It's because of the Steelers. I mean,
Speaker 1: they're just trying to lessen that hard burn. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it really is. It is amazing to watch the
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh Steelers. Though offensively Dan, they're they're very hard to recognize.
Speaker 1: I mean, they look nothing like they looked before. It's
Speaker 1: it's almost like an impostor out there. And you know,
Speaker 1: now people are saying that the Steelers, it's Ben's done there.
Speaker 1: They're not going to extend Ben. They're not going to
Speaker 1: ask him. He's got forty some odd million dollar cap
Speaker 1: hit next year. What they normally do with them is
Speaker 1: they say Okay, we'll extend you and you know, lessen
Speaker 1: the load. There, ll give you a little bonus money
Speaker 1: and help us give us some cap releaf. And now
Speaker 1: they're not doing that. They're not doing that with a
Speaker 1: quarterback like that. I mean, I love it. It's great.
Speaker 1: How does it feel? I mean, boy, welcome to the
Speaker 1: real world reality in the National football You can suck,
Speaker 1: can it? Honest? Question? Do they win again this year? Cults?
Speaker 1: This week, Brown's the week after that? They have clinched
Speaker 1: to playoff Berth. Not the way you're playing right now,
Speaker 1: and not the way they're playing. And you think, all right,
Speaker 1: well they'll fix it. Well, I thought they'd try to
Speaker 1: run the ball against Buffalo. You know, you got to
Speaker 1: try to run the ball against Buffalo. No. I thought
Speaker 1: they try to definitely run the ball against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Speaker 1: Didn't do it against Buffalo. No. I mean, I guess
Speaker 1: they feel like they can't run the football. I mean
Speaker 1: Connor obviously is a factor in the equation. But I'll
Speaker 1: tell you, I mean running back is Snell. He was
Speaker 1: far from their worst problem. They had much bigger problems
Speaker 1: than that dude. That dude ran hard. I thought i'd
Speaker 1: take him and my team is running back any day.
Speaker 1: That wasn't the issue. Wasn't the issue that Snell was
Speaker 1: in the backfield of o Connor. That's a bunch of crap.
Speaker 1: If that's what they're saying, that's that's ridiculous, um. And
Speaker 1: I'll tell you that three Pro bowlers in that offensive line,
Speaker 1: former Pro bowl getting up there in years. Yeah, they
Speaker 1: ain't playing at that level anymore. And again, you know
Speaker 1: we talked about it before. Losson gives Villain a wave
Speaker 1: of fits, six quarterback hits in the quarterback sack, rolling
Speaker 1: a wave of the six fight inch bend at the
Speaker 1: waist tower of nonpower right now. I mean he got
Speaker 1: he got torched around the corner quite a few times
Speaker 1: by Carl Lawson. The Bengals finally beat the Pittsburgh Steelers,
Speaker 1: and the guy that led them to victory was Ryan Finley.
Speaker 1: Statistically not exactly dazzling. He passed for eighty nine yards,
Speaker 1: completing seven passes in the game. He did run for
Speaker 1: forty seven yards, including a twenty three yard touchdown run,
Speaker 1: but hey, the guy got the job done. Here's wide
Speaker 1: receiver T Higgins on Ryan Finley's performance. You know, I
Speaker 1: feel like he was lay more confident. You know, you
Speaker 1: could tell he was running the ball, you know, really good,
Speaker 1: and you know he was just just calm during the
Speaker 1: whole game, and that's what you wanted to use. Quarterback.
Speaker 1: Ryan Finley was moving on that touchdown run. Did you
Speaker 1: know he had those kind of wheels? No? I did
Speaker 1: not know he had those. That surprised me. So I mean,
Speaker 1: I'm glad. I'm glad it worked out, aren't we all?
Speaker 1: Ryan Finleys timed at four point six five and the
Speaker 1: forty yard dash when he was as Stella college student
Speaker 1: at NSE States, So he is faster, I think than
Speaker 1: most people realize. Now, the question is going into this
Speaker 1: week's game against Houston, does he start again or if
Speaker 1: Brandon Allen's right knee is okay, is he back in
Speaker 1: the starting lineup? What do you think? I think if
Speaker 1: Brandon Allen's right knee is okay, Brandon Allen starts, I
Speaker 1: think that they're limited offensively to what they can do
Speaker 1: with Ryan Finley, and I think it worked defensively. They
Speaker 1: allowed it to happen. They allowed it to work if
Speaker 1: the defense wasn't playing the way they were playing, and
Speaker 1: the Bengals had to throw the football more. Might have
Speaker 1: been a little more exposure, but the whole thing, I mean,
Speaker 1: every you talk about complimentary football, the ying and yang
Speaker 1: of that football game, the defense lifting up the offense,
Speaker 1: the offense responding, you know, and when the defense gave
Speaker 1: him opportunity with short fields, the offense capitalized two touchdowns
Speaker 1: in the field goal, seventeen points on the three takeaways.
Speaker 1: Those are the kind of things that you have to
Speaker 1: do to pull off an upset like they did. But
Speaker 1: I do think two things. I think the Texans have
Speaker 1: to prepare for both quarterbacks. Now they're gonna have to
Speaker 1: spend some time on the zone read and all that
Speaker 1: sort of thing. So and also it's going to make
Speaker 1: them be a lot more assignment sound defensively instead of
Speaker 1: backside defensive and crashing and pulling Giovanni Bernard down from behind.
Speaker 1: They're gonna have to stay home a little bit, particularly
Speaker 1: when Finley's a quarterback, because they've shown they're going to
Speaker 1: do that, so now they have to spend time in
Speaker 1: preparing for it. They have to make sure their real
Speaker 1: assignment sound, so they might not take as many chance
Speaker 1: as defensively. So your running gab with Giovanni Bernard may
Speaker 1: be better at the point of attack without extra clutter
Speaker 1: because of other things that you have to concern yourself
Speaker 1: with in terms of reads defensively. So there's some positive.
Speaker 1: There's some positive trickle down to the next week when
Speaker 1: an opponent springs something on the league, like the Bengals
Speaker 1: did with Finley with a run package Nobody, I mean Pittsburgh.
Speaker 1: Tomlin was like, I gotta give those guys credit. And
Speaker 1: during the course of the game it evolved. Finley said
Speaker 1: that Zach Taylor during the game the touchdown run of
Speaker 1: twenty three yards, they never practiced that that run that
Speaker 1: Giovanni Bernard ran. They never practiced him pulling it and
Speaker 1: having a read option from the thing. And during the
Speaker 1: course of the game, Zach saw what was going on.
Speaker 1: He said, look, if the backside guy crashed and Highsmith crashed,
Speaker 1: chased it down the line, scrims v crashes, pull it
Speaker 1: and run. That was just an adjustment, you know, And
Speaker 1: they're getting he's getting killed about not making adjustments in
Speaker 1: game adjustments and all that sort of thing. That was
Speaker 1: a huge in game adjustment and it led to a
Speaker 1: huge touchdown in the beginning of the fourth quarter of
Speaker 1: twenty three yard John and Scamper. That was a big
Speaker 1: difference in the football game. So it's it's very interesting
Speaker 1: to see how Houston is going to handle it. But
Speaker 1: I do think that Brandon Allen, if healthy, will be
Speaker 1: the guy that they'll send out there. So they ran
Speaker 1: a one times last week against the Pittsburgh team that is,
Speaker 1: you know, good at stopping the run. This week, they
Speaker 1: faced the Houston team that has given up two hundred
Speaker 1: and twelve yards to Derrick Henry one thirty eight to
Speaker 1: Clyde Edwards a layer one thirty, Dalvin Cook one twenty six,
Speaker 1: Nick Chubb one oh nine, James Conner one oh four
Speaker 1: Kareem Hunt in the same game where Chubb went for
Speaker 1: one twenty six. They're not stopping anybody. They're not one
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty and a half yards a game. They're
Speaker 1: allowing thirty first in the league five yards to carry.
Speaker 1: They're allowing thirty second in the league. Did last teams
Speaker 1: are efficiently pounding the football on them. The Bengals rush
Speaker 1: for over one hundred and fifty yards against the Steelers,
Speaker 1: you know, and forty some out of them courtesy the quarterback.
Speaker 1: But I think that they are going to feature. No
Speaker 1: matter who the quarterback is, the Bengals are going to
Speaker 1: come out and say to the offensive line, who I
Speaker 1: think is going to return intact to play in this
Speaker 1: football game. I think for the first time they'll they'll
Speaker 1: come off a good performance with an offensive line that
Speaker 1: is physically and mentally intact to try to do it again.
Speaker 1: That's the key. You don't just do it once in
Speaker 1: a while, do it again and again and again and
Speaker 1: see if they can control that Houston Texan front seven
Speaker 1: and Giovanni Bernard in company and p Running and everybody
Speaker 1: involved get after him. You'd after him, run the ball
Speaker 1: down their throat and make it easy for the quarterback
Speaker 1: and keep the defense off the football field against Watson.
Speaker 1: Sean Watson's having an incredible year. Number one in the
Speaker 1: NFL in yards per pass attempt, number one in yards
Speaker 1: per pass completion. He is second in yardage to Patrick Mahomes.
Speaker 1: Here's Bengals head coach Zach Taylor on the Texans starting QB.
Speaker 1: Just watching some of the highlight reels of this guy,
Speaker 1: or he's unbelievable. He's one of the best players in
Speaker 1: the league. There's no question about that. Every play is
Speaker 1: alive until you see someone get him on the ground
Speaker 1: or the ball hits the turf, because he just extends
Speaker 1: a lot of plays that you don't think there's any
Speaker 1: way they can be extended. And and really the other
Speaker 1: person I see that does that as Lamar Jackson's well,
Speaker 1: so all hands on deck for this guy. Tremendous playmaker.
Speaker 1: We got a ton of respect for him. You know,
Speaker 1: it'll be a great challenge for a defense. Named a
Speaker 1: Pro Bowler earlier this week, third time in his four
Speaker 1: year NFL career, he took Houston to the playoffs each
Speaker 1: of the last two years, won a playoff game last
Speaker 1: year with a tremendous individual performance against the Buffalo Bills,
Speaker 1: and now the team has kind of collapsed around him.
Speaker 1: But he is having an incredible year. He is, I mean,
Speaker 1: he's a one man show. And Sam Hubbard earlier today
Speaker 1: was talking about how hard it is to get him
Speaker 1: on the ground six two two fifteen, and he's got
Speaker 1: unusual strength for somebody that size. He's not a little quarterback,
Speaker 1: but he's not a big one either, but he has
Speaker 1: got unbelievable overall body strength and explosive this I've heard
Speaker 1: him referred to as magician, escape artist, fearless, resourceful, creative,
Speaker 1: He's all of it. I mean, his college coach called
Speaker 1: him Michael Jordan. I mean that's about as high praise
Speaker 1: as you can get. And Dan, he's one of these
Speaker 1: guys where he extends and creates and ultimately the play
Speaker 1: that he comes up with ends up being a better
Speaker 1: play than what was called. You know, He's one of
Speaker 1: those kind of guys. And they will live with his sacks.
Speaker 1: They'll live with the forty four sacks because he makes
Speaker 1: so many big plays in doing that. The only thing
Speaker 1: that if he starts throwing a lot of interceptions, they'll
Speaker 1: probably say time out, let's let's revisit this. But man
Speaker 1: on his career at this point, ninety four touchdowns he's
Speaker 1: accounted for seventy nine of them are touchdown passes, and
Speaker 1: then he's had touchdowns rushing obviously to twenty seven interceptions.
Speaker 1: Ninety four touchdowns he's accounted for seventy nine by air
Speaker 1: to just twenty twenty seven interceptions. That ratio they're going
Speaker 1: to continue to live with and let him play the
Speaker 1: way he's playing. I think the Barras would like a
Speaker 1: do over back in the twenty seventeen draft, they trade
Speaker 1: it up to take Mitchell Trubisky number two overall, and
Speaker 1: later in that draft the Chiefs took Patrick Mahomes. Two
Speaker 1: picks after that, the Texans took to Shaun Watson. Man.
Speaker 1: I'm telling you, yeah, I think they'd want to do
Speaker 1: over a redo safe pet right. The Bengals have seen
Speaker 1: to Shaun Watson once before. That was his first NFL start.
Speaker 1: It was Week two of his rookie year Thursday Night Football,
Speaker 1: and he led Houston to a victory at Paul Brown Stadium.
Speaker 1: He wasn't individually spectacular. He passed for one hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty five yards in that game. Do you know Atkins
Speaker 1: sacked him a couple of times, but he made one
Speaker 1: big play and that was enough of forty nine yard
Speaker 1: touchdown run in a thirteen to nine win. That was
Speaker 1: back in the early portion of the twenty seventeen season
Speaker 1: when the Bengals could not score a touchdown. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: that touchdown run was are you kidding me, Serpentine? Yeah,
Speaker 1: nobody's gonna get him. I mean he was like it
Speaker 1: was a forty nine yard touchdown run, but he probably
Speaker 1: ran seventy yards back. I mean he was zigzag and
Speaker 1: serpentine is a good word. I mean, it was an
Speaker 1: incredible effort by him. The Texans started the year on
Speaker 1: four and whacked Bill O'Brien and interim coach Romeo Crennell
Speaker 1: is the oldest head coach in NFL his three he's
Speaker 1: seventy three. George Allis and Marv Levy coached until they
Speaker 1: were seventy two. Romeo's first head coaching job was in
Speaker 1: Cleveland from two thousand and five to two thousand and eight,
Speaker 1: when the Bengals, Steelers, and Ravens all one Division titles.
Speaker 1: It's similar to what the Bengals are facing right now.
Speaker 1: So here is Crenell on the challenge of trying to
Speaker 1: rebuild in a division where the other three teams are loaded. Well,
Speaker 1: it's hard to compete versus an experience team who have
Speaker 1: pieces in place, who have guys who play well together,
Speaker 1: you know. And now you're got a young team and
Speaker 1: young talent, and you're trying to figure out what they
Speaker 1: can do well. And but you've got to play the
Speaker 1: games to try to figure that out, and so you
Speaker 1: end up taking a whipping a little bit, you know,
Speaker 1: while that goes on and so through that education that
Speaker 1: they have to get. You know, like the third year
Speaker 1: we were able to win ten games in the third
Speaker 1: year and almost made the playoffs. So it takes time.
Speaker 1: It just won't happen overnight unless you have the pieces
Speaker 1: in place already and then you can kind of build
Speaker 1: on that. But if you have to add the pieces,
Speaker 1: it takes time to add the pieces you need to
Speaker 1: be competitive. Romeo Cornell does not have a great head
Speaker 1: coaching record, basically two wins for every or two losses
Speaker 1: for every win, thirty two wins sixty one losses, but
Speaker 1: as he mentioned, he did have a ten win season
Speaker 1: in Cleveland back in two thousand and seven and they
Speaker 1: did not go to the playoffs despite going ten and six. Yeah,
Speaker 1: one year we went ten and four and didn't make
Speaker 1: the playoffs. It was there, there weren't as many wildcard
Speaker 1: teams and the Pittsburgh Steelers went twelve and two, the
Speaker 1: Houston Oilers won eleven and three. We went ten and
Speaker 1: four and stayed home. I mean, what was the loss
Speaker 1: that year that You're like, how did we lose that game?
Speaker 1: Was there one or not? Necessarily? Now I think you know,
Speaker 1: we pretty much pretty much lost it. Lost games that
Speaker 1: you know, it wasn't I get to really good teams. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there was no there was no guarantee. We didn't. We didn't.
Speaker 1: We didn't lose to like the one in eight Browns
Speaker 1: or anything like that. You know, nothing like that took place.
Speaker 1: But and that's that's probably you know, Pittsburgh and Tennessee
Speaker 1: probably right now scratching their heads of saying, what happened?
Speaker 1: What happened when we went to Cincinnati? What happened we
Speaker 1: did we? Uh? Did we have something that we shouldn't
Speaker 1: have had in terms of food or drink? What happened
Speaker 1: up there? So Romeo Cornell's got this record of sorts
Speaker 1: oldest head coach in NFL history. It might not last
Speaker 1: very long. Pete Carroll's sixty nine years old. It looks
Speaker 1: forty five. Yeah, he's a they say young. He is
Speaker 1: a young sixty nine years old Romeo Cornell. Watch him walk,
Speaker 1: He looks his age. I mean, he's I understand what
Speaker 1: he's going through. I'm pushing that seven oh, that's seven
Speaker 1: oh is coming sooner than I want. And boys, some
Speaker 1: some mornings and oil can you got to lubricate man,
Speaker 1: You got to loop up the joints. Man, it's there.
Speaker 1: It's no joke. Old age is not fun. It's happening
Speaker 1: to me in the fifties. It's awful. Bill Belichick is
Speaker 1: sixty eight. So you got a couple of guys and
Speaker 1: Carol and Belichick that could very easily surpass seventy three
Speaker 1: as head coaches if they choose to. They're obviously both
Speaker 1: still very much at the top of their games, very
Speaker 1: much still there. I mean, and there's a little bit
Speaker 1: of a connection in history all three of them. Romerio
Speaker 1: Cornell and Bill Belichick have a history, and Pete Carroll
Speaker 1: and Bill Belichick do. I mean, it's it's interesting that
Speaker 1: coaching tree. When the when the really prime fruit falls,
Speaker 1: somebody picks it up, scoops it up, and it's going
Speaker 1: to cherish it for a long time. So the Texans
Speaker 1: are in the market for a new GM and a
Speaker 1: new head coach. They've already started interviewing candidates. And I
Speaker 1: was listening to a kind of a team sponsored podcast
Speaker 1: about the Texans earlier today. They are pumping that up
Speaker 1: heavily as their kind of sales message to the fans.
Speaker 1: A new day is coming, a new year is coming.
Speaker 1: We'll have a new coach. We'll have a new GM.
Speaker 1: It's very interesting to hear a team just like openly
Speaker 1: advertise the fact that you know, we've cleaned house and
Speaker 1: you know the new era is about to begin. And
Speaker 1: I'll tell you, if I'm a general manager or a
Speaker 1: head coach, my biggest asset, everybody wants to work with
Speaker 1: Deshaun Watson. If you have that, If you have that
Speaker 1: as a centerpiece, as a starting point, as a foundation piece, man,
Speaker 1: you've got something. And you know that's the interesting thing
Speaker 1: Dan With Joe Burrow, you know two things, two boxes
Speaker 1: that as we talk about Zach Taylor and what's gone
Speaker 1: on with the football team, Mike Brown is going to
Speaker 1: think two things and it's going to be pretty early,
Speaker 1: pretty high in the list. Has he lost control of
Speaker 1: the football team? And I think based on the performance
Speaker 1: that he saw going into Pittsburgh, He's going to think
Speaker 1: he hasn't really lost control of the football team. He
Speaker 1: hasn't really heard. I don't think anything internally that would
Speaker 1: suggest that he's lost control. And what's good for Joe Burrow.
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow couldn't have been more effusive in his praise
Speaker 1: of Zach Taylor. So if Joe Burrow is going to
Speaker 1: line up right behind Zach Taylor and push and support him,
Speaker 1: that's a that's a big piece. So you know, a
Speaker 1: couple of boxes might be checked in Zach's favorite I'm
Speaker 1: not saying they're the only boxes, but I'm saying those
Speaker 1: are a couple of boxes as you're going through the
Speaker 1: the evaluation process and considering what to do, those are
Speaker 1: significant boxes. Yeah, if Joe Burrow was being honest and
Speaker 1: wasn't just being nice in front of the cameras, and
Speaker 1: I have no reason to think that, you know, that
Speaker 1: wasn't the case. I think he was being a genuine
Speaker 1: That is a pretty important voice to have in your corner,
Speaker 1: it really is. I mean, I think he really liked
Speaker 1: working with with all of them. I think he really
Speaker 1: liked working with Zach, Bryan Callahan, Dan Pitcher. I think
Speaker 1: he really liked the trio of former quarterbacks and then
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow put in their heads together and coming up
Speaker 1: with game plans and they listened to him and his
Speaker 1: feelings and thoughts and opinions. He really liked it. He
Speaker 1: really liked that whole process. Now, time for this week's
Speaker 1: one on one player interview, and this week it's a
Speaker 1: former player. I had a chance to discuss the current
Speaker 1: team with a member of the nineteen eighty eight Super
Speaker 1: Bowl squad who is currently working as an analyst for
Speaker 1: Pro Football Focus. When the Bengals celebrated their fiftieth season
Speaker 1: back in twenty seventeen, he was named the fortieth best
Speaker 1: retired player in franchise history. A starting safety on the
Speaker 1: nineteen eighty eight Super Bowl team, the great Solomon Wilcot.
Speaker 1: It's always great to speak, Sally. I want to start
Speaker 1: with a guy on this year's team that plays your
Speaker 1: old position, Jesse Bates. Where does Jesse Bates rank among
Speaker 1: NFL safeties these days? Well, in our database, according to
Speaker 1: Pro Football Focus or PF as we had now been
Speaker 1: rebranded now, he ranks among the top safeties in the
Speaker 1: National Football League, particularly when it comes to coverage. Had
Speaker 1: started off the season very well, but still has maintained
Speaker 1: his position among the top five safeties in the National
Speaker 1: Football League. We're talking about guys like Justin Simmons, guys
Speaker 1: like Minca Fitzpatrick, Jamal Adams. I mean, that's pretty good company.
Speaker 1: And so he continues to make plays on the ball.
Speaker 1: His ability to help the defense in pass coverage and
Speaker 1: lock him down receivers tight ends. That's where he really
Speaker 1: tends to send himself apart. Love to get in, love
Speaker 1: to see him give a few more interceptions, but he
Speaker 1: still comes up with the football time and time again.
Speaker 1: Let's stick with a secondary and another guy having a
Speaker 1: very solid season, Will Jackson. What do you think of
Speaker 1: Will's play? You know, Will, after last year having a
Speaker 1: down year, this year he's been much better. We love
Speaker 1: to see him get back to some of the numbers
Speaker 1: we saw him early in his career, particularly when it
Speaker 1: comes to locking down the top receivers weekend and week out.
Speaker 1: But still he's a really good cornerback and ranking the
Speaker 1: top half of corners around the National Football League. I
Speaker 1: still believe he could be a top ten shut down
Speaker 1: corner weekend and week out. We are visiting with Solomon Wilcox.
Speaker 1: When the Bengals drafted Joe Burrow, you tweeted the following, Sally,
Speaker 1: good times are coming to the Queen City. So I
Speaker 1: know how you feel about Joe. What did you think
Speaker 1: of his play his rookie year? You know, I was
Speaker 1: very much impressed, and I think a lot of us
Speaker 1: who from Afar. We analyzed the game, We critiqued the
Speaker 1: game to the eighth degree, and we were very much,
Speaker 1: i think pleasantly surprised with the fact that he could
Speaker 1: handle blitz protection, that he was a born leader, that
Speaker 1: every single guy on the football team and in the
Speaker 1: huddle and in the locker room sort of defers to him.
Speaker 1: And the fact that if you take a look at
Speaker 1: the ten games that he played, he had him at
Speaker 1: every single game right up until the end, I think,
Speaker 1: with the exception of maybe the Pittsburgh Steeler in the
Speaker 1: Baltimore Ravens game. But the fact that you could see
Speaker 1: he tilt the competitive balance in the Bengals favor just
Speaker 1: by being under center and in the huddle and being
Speaker 1: the Cincinnati Bengals quarterback. He averaged about forty one pass
Speaker 1: attempts per game. I don't know that we've ever seen
Speaker 1: a rookie throw the ball as much to start a
Speaker 1: career without going to training camp or preseason in the
Speaker 1: history of our league. So the arrow was pointing up
Speaker 1: for Joe Burrow. You referenced his leadership. You played with Boomers,
Speaker 1: Sias and one of the great leaders in franchise history.
Speaker 1: Do you see some of those qualities in Joe very
Speaker 1: much so. And I always said that that's where I
Speaker 1: believe Boomer sias had sat himself apart from all the
Speaker 1: other quarterbacks around the National Football League. He played at
Speaker 1: a time when there was some great ones. There was Elway,
Speaker 1: there was Marino, there was Montana, But I'd take Boomer Siasen.
Speaker 1: I know what kind of leader he was. He was
Speaker 1: a guy that wouldn't back down, and he was the
Speaker 1: guy that everyone in the locker room with instantly follow
Speaker 1: And you could see that from the moment Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: arrived at Paul Brown Stadium, he was the guy in
Speaker 1: the room. Everyone knew he was the guy in the room.
Speaker 1: There's no questions, no doubts about it. And then when
Speaker 1: he stepped onto the football field without a lot of work,
Speaker 1: without a lot of lead time, no training camp, no preseason,
Speaker 1: the fact that he was able to dive into the
Speaker 1: deep end of the pool and still help this team
Speaker 1: improve in every single facet of the offense. I think
Speaker 1: it tells you what kind of player he can be.
Speaker 1: We're approaching the end of the season. What should the
Speaker 1: Bengals prioritize this offseason? I think you prioritize one thing,
Speaker 1: what's best for Joe Burrow, because what's best for Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow is what's best for the football team. What's best
Speaker 1: for Joe Burrow is gonna be what's best for the
Speaker 1: organization because I believe the wins will follow. If you
Speaker 1: improve the offensive line and you protect him. Not only
Speaker 1: does he play better, your running game gets better, your
Speaker 1: receiver get better. The overall productivity of the offense is
Speaker 1: going to get better. If you go out and get
Speaker 1: an extra receiver, an extra running back, or extra tackle
Speaker 1: are tied in. You get better around the quarterback that
Speaker 1: is Joe Burrow, and now you're going to see his
Speaker 1: production spiked to the next level. You also can help
Speaker 1: a quarterback by improving defense, right, so you don't have
Speaker 1: to go out and score five six touchdowns a game,
Speaker 1: but your defense is getting stops putting Joe Burrow in
Speaker 1: the short field after getting turnovers. So I think that's
Speaker 1: how you have to look at it. Everything you do
Speaker 1: is how do we play around Joe Burrow? How do
Speaker 1: we improve around him and help him be better. That's
Speaker 1: what the coachs did around Peyton Manning when he was
Speaker 1: a former first overall pick and you can see the
Speaker 1: ten win seasons just begin to stack up. The final
Speaker 1: road game of the year is coming up this week
Speaker 1: as the Bengals head to Houston. The Texans had been
Speaker 1: much better since they made their coaching change. They started
Speaker 1: out oh and four, they've been close to five hundred.
Speaker 1: Sense what are a couple of things the Bengals would
Speaker 1: need to do to beat Houston in Houston this week? Well,
Speaker 1: first of all, you got to get pressure on Deshaun Watts.
Speaker 1: I think he is one of the top and most
Speaker 1: prolific quarterbacks in the National Football League. This guy is
Speaker 1: going to be a winner, but you have to put
Speaker 1: pressure on him. You have to contain him in the
Speaker 1: pocket because he can break containment and he'll run while
Speaker 1: all over the field. He'll make plays. And then you
Speaker 1: have to be able to block JJ Watt on the
Speaker 1: other side. And that's two of the areas where the
Speaker 1: Bengals have struggled. One is getting pressure on the opposing quarterback.
Speaker 1: The other is protecting our quarterback from the opponent's best
Speaker 1: pass rusher. So you've got to be able to get
Speaker 1: after Deshaun Watson and you better block JJ Watt. Great
Speaker 1: stuff is always Sally, appreciate the time. Happy holidays and
Speaker 1: thanks for joining us. Dan, Happy holidays to you and
Speaker 1: everyone with the Cincinnati Bengals. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: Those Booth podcast is presented by Bud Light Seltzer. It's
Speaker 1: light and refreshing with a hint of fruit flavor. Now
Speaker 1: time for this week's Know the Faux Segment. Last year,
Speaker 1: the Houston Texans won their division, beat the Buffalo Bills
Speaker 1: in the first ground of the playoffs, and led the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs twenty four nothing in
Speaker 1: the second quarter before getting mahomes and losing that playoff game.
Speaker 1: Now Houston is four and ten and in the market
Speaker 1: for a new GM and a new head coach. John
Speaker 1: McLean from the Houston Chronicle joined Lapping Me on the
Speaker 1: Bengals Game Plan Show this week and I asked him
Speaker 1: what happened. First of all, go back to the last
Speaker 1: game the last season against the Titans. The Texans have
Speaker 1: been behind in double figures six consecutive games, including two
Speaker 1: playoff games, and when they did it the first four
Speaker 1: games this year and lost all four, they fired Bill O'Brien. Now,
Speaker 1: in fairness to the Texans, they have played the toughest
Speaker 1: live seen in forty five years of covering the NFL.
Speaker 1: Five teams they played are in first place. The teams
Speaker 1: they played at a combined record of Mike plus forty five.
Speaker 1: I've never seen anything like it. But still they have
Speaker 1: not played well. The only player who's been consistently good
Speaker 1: is Deshaun Watson. He's having the best season of this career.
Speaker 1: He's on the page to set personal best in every
Speaker 1: statest dig he leads the league and average per attempt.
Speaker 1: Even though they traded DeAndre Hopkins, will Fuller suspended the
Speaker 1: last five games, Randall Cobbs injured the last five games.
Speaker 1: Don't matter who they put out there with him, he
Speaker 1: continues to play well. Now. One of the things interesting
Speaker 1: about that is their offensive line returned intact. It was
Speaker 1: in put it last year, and everybody had high hopes
Speaker 1: for this line coming back. They were ninth and rushing
Speaker 1: last year, so they were really good. Past protection or
Speaker 1: run blotting was awful, and then in the last three
Speaker 1: games the past protection has been off. The two Shawn
Speaker 1: Watson creates some sacks because he holds the ball, but
Speaker 1: he also gets away from a lot of sacks. Kind
Speaker 1: of like Coodini. It's people are amazed the way he
Speaker 1: seems to have eyes in the back of his head,
Speaker 1: and that comes from pocket awareness. But he's now been
Speaker 1: sacked forty times and that's just been a bad habit.
Speaker 1: And they don't have injury excuses up front like they
Speaker 1: do on their defense, where seven starters six have been
Speaker 1: injured and one Bradley Roby, was suspended. But last year
Speaker 1: they were nineteen rushing, this year their thirty second. They
Speaker 1: are one point four yards a game for being the
Speaker 1: worst rushing team in team history. That would be their
Speaker 1: expansion year two thousand and two. And then I wrote
Speaker 1: a column today they are on the verge of shattering
Speaker 1: the team record for fewest turnovers forced. They have eight.
Speaker 1: If they don't get to eleven, they're going to have
Speaker 1: the second fewest since nineteen eighty. Last year they had
Speaker 1: twenty two. Year before, they had twenty nine. Romeo Canell's
Speaker 1: first season here as defensive coordinator, they had a team
Speaker 1: record thirty four. How many teams have a defensive linement
Speaker 1: tide for the team league with intersetting right, that would
Speaker 1: be J. J. Watt was one. They have three interceptions,
Speaker 1: also lay Glow and one other thing. This team is
Speaker 1: on the pace to be worst against the run in
Speaker 1: franchise history. So they can't run, they can't stop the run,
Speaker 1: they can't force turnovers. Other than that, they're fine. Well
Speaker 1: that's a trifecta. There, can't run, can't stop the runner,
Speaker 1: and can't take take the ball away. Amen, let me
Speaker 1: ask you a question about O'Brien. In a two year period,
Speaker 1: traded Clowney traded Hopkins a year apart. Didn't get a
Speaker 1: first round pick in either of those trades, which to
Speaker 1: me is almost mind boggling. Not one first rounder. Is
Speaker 1: that the biggest reason he's gone into There are other
Speaker 1: reasons or what are the reasons that O'Brien is no
Speaker 1: longer there? Well, that's nothing to do with clowning. You know,
Speaker 1: Clowney had done squats since he was traded from here,
Speaker 1: the guy that got Jacob Martin one of the three players,
Speaker 1: he's had more sacks than Clowney. Coli'S having more surgery
Speaker 1: now he's out for the year. But what the Hopkins thing.
Speaker 1: Watson has played better without Hopkins, and he spread the
Speaker 1: ball around no matter who they put on the field,
Speaker 1: utilize his tight ends more. But where they miss Hopkins
Speaker 1: is down inside the ten yard line where they control
Speaker 1: him the ball. Now, Will Fuller was on a pace
Speaker 1: to have more yards and touchdowns and a better average
Speaker 1: per carry than Hopkins ever had when he got suspended,
Speaker 1: and that should have hurt should have hurt Watson, But
Speaker 1: I think the only place he's been hurt is when
Speaker 1: they get close to the goal line. Defenses do not
Speaker 1: have to worry about them trying to run the ball
Speaker 1: inside the five yard line. They know it's going to
Speaker 1: be a pass or it's going to be a Watson
Speaker 1: RPO or watch and draw. And when you can't run
Speaker 1: inside the five, teams get to play a whole totally
Speaker 1: different defense, which is the only thing they don't do
Speaker 1: in their passing game is score more in close to
Speaker 1: the goal line. O' brien was fired because this organization
Speaker 1: at the point they were owing four, you can put
Speaker 1: up the debut played. You know this. You guys know this.
Speaker 1: A coach can scream and yell at people consistently if
Speaker 1: you're winning. But when you scream and yell at other
Speaker 1: coaches and players and media and people in the office
Speaker 1: and you're losing, it goes in one ear and out
Speaker 1: the other and it teams to infuriate them, and some
Speaker 1: other than them lash out, and it was just a
Speaker 1: bad atmosphere over there. People didn't want to come to work.
Speaker 1: The organization was divided. So when they fired him, this
Speaker 1: says it all. They fired him over for they elevated
Speaker 1: the popular Romeo Mail the interim coach. He was associate
Speaker 1: head coach, and J. J. Watt put on Twitter a
Speaker 1: picture of the roof and NRG Stadium open and sunshine
Speaker 1: shining on the no comment, And then I asked him
Speaker 1: the next day when we had him on the zoom,
Speaker 1: I said, were you insinuating that the sun is shining
Speaker 1: it NRG Stadium again? And he basically said, you guys
Speaker 1: can read into it whatever you want, but we knew
Speaker 1: what that meant. And it was felt like that universally.
Speaker 1: It's like a dark cloud was lifted. What's O'Brian doing
Speaker 1: these days? Nobody's heard about him or from him. What's
Speaker 1: he doing it? Do you know anything what he's doing? Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's on the NFL radio every Friday doing a show
Speaker 1: with Pat Kirwin and Jim Miller. Okay, I think you.
Speaker 1: I don't know if he does predictions rundown or what.
Speaker 1: He walked away with a lot millions of dollars with
Speaker 1: two years left on his contract, and I think that
Speaker 1: Bill will get another job. He won four divisions and
Speaker 1: six years one two playoff games. People here are saying, oh, man,
Speaker 1: now to hire Marvin Lewis. I said, Bill o brian
Speaker 1: won two more playoffs games than he did and won
Speaker 1: more divisions than he did. No, you don't want Marvin Lewis.
Speaker 1: And even though he has a totally different personality, but
Speaker 1: O'Brien wants to coach. Some people think you'd be better
Speaker 1: in college where you can get away with that kind
Speaker 1: of dictatorship personality. He did a great job at Kent State,
Speaker 1: went into the worst situation in college football history and
Speaker 1: did a really good job. But his heart was always
Speaker 1: in the NFL. And people say, well, is he going
Speaker 1: to be an offensive coordinator? To give him another chance
Speaker 1: to be a head coach. Well, because of his personality,
Speaker 1: he would have to work for a really strong head
Speaker 1: coach like he used to Bill Belichick. But now that
Speaker 1: he has a taste to coaching for going into the
Speaker 1: seventh year, and I don't know that he wants to
Speaker 1: do that. A couple more questions are John McClain in
Speaker 1: the Houston Chronicle, you mentioned Marvin Lewis. Houston is already
Speaker 1: conducting a coaching search for after this season. It came
Speaker 1: out publicly that the Jim Caldwell got an interview. I
Speaker 1: don't know if that was the first. What do you
Speaker 1: think Houston is looking for? And although you don't sound
Speaker 1: like you would approve of Marvin Lewis being hired, do
Speaker 1: you think there's a shot that he would get an interview. Well,
Speaker 1: he might get an interview, but they're not good like Jim.
Speaker 1: The Texans will never say this. I think they're going
Speaker 1: to hire an offensive coordinator, somebody like Eric b Enemy,
Speaker 1: Arthur Smith a Tennessee, or defensive coordinator like Matt Eberklos
Speaker 1: from Indianapolis or Robert Salo from San Francisco was here
Speaker 1: for six years under Gary qbac. They're not going to
Speaker 1: give the head coach of files say on personnel like
Speaker 1: O'Brien had the last two years. They're done with that.
Speaker 1: It's going to go back to the way it was
Speaker 1: with Charlie Cashley and Doc Capers, Rick Smith and Gary
Speaker 1: Kubiak and Rake Smith and O'Brien for a couple of
Speaker 1: years before O'Brien was al Is trying to wrestle away
Speaker 1: personnel from him and he finally got it. So they're
Speaker 1: interviewing guys that are able to interview right now. Lewis Riddick,
Speaker 1: their own personnel director, Matt Bazzard, Jim Caldwell. He can interview,
Speaker 1: and I think it's smart to interview as many as
Speaker 1: you can. Learn as much as you can about the
Speaker 1: structure of an organization in case you don't know or
Speaker 1: here good ideas. Check out what are the people think
Speaker 1: about your players, your schemes. I would interview as many
Speaker 1: as I can. I don't think you can get too
Speaker 1: many opinions. And there's competition out there as well. But
Speaker 1: what the Texans have two offers and Sean Watson good receivers,
Speaker 1: they'll resign Will Fuller. They have two offense and tackles.
Speaker 1: They need a running back on offense, and then they
Speaker 1: need an overhaul on defense. Final question, John, will really
Speaker 1: appreciate your carbon time. It's going to be defense. Defense
Speaker 1: be a two parter for you. J J. Watt how
Speaker 1: close is he to one? He was Defensive Player of
Speaker 1: the Year and the linebacker crew. I always thought the
Speaker 1: linebackers were damned good down there in Houston, you know,
Speaker 1: led by Merciless, and I know you've had injuries. McKinney,
Speaker 1: I thought, hell of a player against the run. What's
Speaker 1: happened to the defense overall? And then I guess, more specifically,
Speaker 1: how was JJ watt plan? Two years ago? They were
Speaker 1: eleven and five. They gave up eighty two yards a
Speaker 1: game rushing. They were third in the league against the run.
Speaker 1: They had Clowney playing opposite Watt. Clowney's not a great
Speaker 1: pass rusher, but he's great against the run. And he
Speaker 1: had nine sids a year. He's never had double digits.
Speaker 1: They had Tyring mad to you at safety. They didn't
Speaker 1: pay him. The Chiefs dead O'Brien got mad, didn't think
Speaker 1: Clowney was serious enough about football, and they weren't going
Speaker 1: to give him one hundred million. They were already playing
Speaker 1: Watt one hundred million. In retrospect, Clowney probably should have
Speaker 1: taken their seventy five million, because you're never going to
Speaker 1: make that. And so DJ reader there no stackle, as
Speaker 1: you guys know that he to state here for the
Speaker 1: money they used to resign. Whitney merciless. Merciless like most
Speaker 1: of the players on this defense and a lot on
Speaker 1: offense have not played as well this year as last
Speaker 1: year for whatever reason, and so that's why they need
Speaker 1: the overall of the defense. Why is still their best
Speaker 1: defensive player. They're good at inside linebacker for next season,
Speaker 1: they're good at safety. They need at least two corners,
Speaker 1: two outside linebackers, another nose tackle like DJ Reader, and
Speaker 1: maybe another defensive end. What is not the pass rusher
Speaker 1: he used to be? He can still get pressured, but
Speaker 1: without anybody else on their defensive line who's a legitimate
Speaker 1: NFL starter like Reader and Clowney. He's playing with guys
Speaker 1: that are be really good backups. He gets double teamed
Speaker 1: on every play, and he's got five sacks, and he's
Speaker 1: not the pass rusher he was two years ago playing
Speaker 1: with those other guys when he had sixteen. You're in
Speaker 1: the car on Christmas Day afternoon, driving two or from
Speaker 1: a family gift ex change, join us for a special
Speaker 1: Christmas Day edition of the Bengals pep Rally Show from
Speaker 1: three to six on ESPN fifteen thirty. In addition to
Speaker 1: discussing the Houston game will feature some of this year's
Speaker 1: best fun facts interviews. That's going to do it for
Speaker 1: this episode of the Bengals Booth Podcast, brought to you
Speaker 1: by bud Light Seltzer. Refresh the game. If you haven't
Speaker 1: done so already, please subscribe, and if you have a minute,
Speaker 1: give it a rating or share a comment that helps
Speaker 1: more Bengals fans find this podcast. I'm Dan Horde. Merry Christmas,
Speaker 1: thanks for listening to the Bengals Booth Podcast.