WEBVTT - Bengals Booth Podcast: Wonderful Christmas Time 0:00:03.520 --> 0:00:06.359 I get everybody. I'm Dan Horde and thanks for downloading 0:00:06.360 --> 0:00:12.920 The Bengals Booth Podcast. The simply having a wonderful Christmas 0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:17.159 time addition, as the Bengals move on after being the 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:20.799 Grinch that stole Christmas from Steelers fans and head to 0:00:20.840 --> 0:00:23.880 Houston two days after the holiday to face the Texans 0:00:24.320 --> 0:00:26.720 coming up, Dave Lapham joins me to put a bow 0:00:26.840 --> 0:00:29.760 on Monday night shocking win and look ahead to what 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:31.840 it's going to take to make it two in a row. 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:34.879 My one on one player interview this week is actually 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:38.360 with a former player who started on the Bengals nineteen 0:00:38.440 --> 0:00:41.080 eighty eight Super Bowl team, and in our know the 0:00:41.120 --> 0:00:44.519 post segment, we'll find out what's gone wrong in Houston 0:00:44.640 --> 0:00:48.000 this year from one of the best NFL reporters out there, 0:00:48.280 --> 0:00:52.320 John McLean from the Houston Chronicle. The Bengals Booth Podcast 0:00:52.400 --> 0:00:56.080 is presented by bud Light Seltzer. Refresh the game, and 0:00:56.200 --> 0:00:58.480 here's a quick reminder that you can have the latest 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:03.680 edition of this podcasts delivered like Santa right to your phone, tablet, 0:01:03.760 --> 0:01:08.200 or computer by subscribing on Itune, Stitcher, Google Play, Spotify, 0:01:08.600 --> 0:01:14.160 or Podbean. It's the greatest thing since Darlene Love's annual 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:18.320 Christmas appearance on Late Night with David Letterman for nearly 0:01:18.400 --> 0:01:21.800 every year from nineteen eighty six to twenty fourteen, when 0:01:21.800 --> 0:01:25.880 the show ended, the Great Darlene Love performed her signature 0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:30.559 song Christmas Baby, Please Come Home on David Letterman's final 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:35.080 late night show each year before Christmas. It was always 0:01:35.280 --> 0:01:39.280 fantastic and helped raise the profile of a nineteen sixties 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:43.200 singing great who had never received the stardom she deserved. 0:01:43.600 --> 0:01:45.560 Even though the Letterman Show has been off the air 0:01:45.600 --> 0:01:50.040 for nearly six years, the tradition continues as Darlene belts 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:53.480 out the song each year on the view. You can 0:01:53.560 --> 0:01:57.960 check it out by searching for Darlene Love on YouTube. Now, 0:01:58.320 --> 0:02:01.600 let's get to football, beginning with my podcast partner Dave Lapham, 0:02:01.680 --> 0:02:05.520 and we start our chat by discussing Monday's win over 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:11.440 the suddenly reeling Pittsburgh Steelers. Think about, all right, Bengals 0:02:11.440 --> 0:02:14.120 have to bring their A game, Pittsburgh maybe bring their 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:17.040 C game. And that's what happened. I mean, Pittsburgh did 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:19.760 not play well, but part of that was because the 0:02:19.760 --> 0:02:23.560 Bengals were bringing their A game. I mean, honestly, they suffocated. 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:28.160 The suffocating, stifling defense was the Bengals, not the Pittsburgh Steelers. 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:34.279 Cincinnati Bengals ran the football, They controlled tempo. They frustrated 0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:36.640 the Pittsburgh Steelers by running the football the way they did. 0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:39.720 The quarterback run package a big part of it. They 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:44.600 didn't turn the football over Cincinnati Pittsburgh did. Pittsburgh basically 0:02:44.600 --> 0:02:48.120 flipped the script. They ran the ball down your throat, 0:02:48.800 --> 0:02:52.720 they didn't make mistakes, and they played suffocating defense. Check 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:57.440 check check flipped the script on Pittsburgh win. So I 0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:00.160 was thinking about this today. Lap. The Bengals are three 0:03:00.200 --> 0:03:02.440 and one with two games to go. Right now, they've 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:05.200 got the third pick in next year's draft. But if 0:03:05.200 --> 0:03:07.560 you really go back and look at the early portion 0:03:07.600 --> 0:03:10.320 of the season before Joe Burrow got hurt. In Week one, 0:03:10.560 --> 0:03:12.920 they threw a game winning touchdown pass with seven seconds 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:15.240 to go. AJ Green got called for a tikie tack 0:03:15.320 --> 0:03:19.040 offensive fast interference. Randy Bullock missed a chip shot field 0:03:19.080 --> 0:03:22.480 goal to four's overtime due to cramping in the calves. 0:03:22.919 --> 0:03:27.480 They're want a wink, yeah, Calfman. Week three, seven point lead, 0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:31.520 less than thirty seconds to go, Carson Wentz scrambles for 0:03:31.560 --> 0:03:34.560 a game tying touchdown. There goes another win. Game ends 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:38.320 in an overtime tie. Week six, twenty one nothing second 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:41.520 quarter in Indianapolis, still up by six in the fourth quarter, 0:03:41.760 --> 0:03:45.160 wound up losing to the Colts. Week seven, three different 0:03:45.240 --> 0:03:47.680 leads in the fourth quarter, including a touchdown pass with 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:50.360 one oh six to go. They allowed Baker Mayfield to 0:03:50.360 --> 0:03:51.920 beat them with a TD pass of his own with 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:55.240 eleven seconds left. Week eleven, they go up and down 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:58.360 the field in Washington Borough. Had twenty one pass completions 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:00.320 in the first half, they had the lead in the 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:03.080 third quarter when he blew out his knee. That's five 0:04:03.160 --> 0:04:07.160 games that could have been wins, really should have been wins. 0:04:07.240 --> 0:04:11.240 I mean, those are what just happened type of losses. 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:16.040 The Bengals probably should be eight and six with two 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:18.680 games to go. Yeah, and that's that would be the 0:04:18.720 --> 0:04:20.880 best case if they win all the game, all those games. 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:22.599 If they only win three of them, they still have 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:25.719 six wins. I mean, you know, it's it's not as 0:04:25.800 --> 0:04:30.200 desperate or as desolate a seasons as it sounds. And 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:32.839 in all of those wins, I mean, in the Philadelphia game, 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:37.599 if Carlos Dunlap had played against the Eagles like he's 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:41.719 playing for the Seattle Seahawks. Carson Wentz does not score, 0:04:42.000 --> 0:04:45.080 Carlos Dunlap makes a play on him. Carlos Dunlap, he 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:47.520 was in his mode where it's not that he couldn't play, 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:50.120 he wouldn't play, and they that whole thing blew up 0:04:50.120 --> 0:04:53.119 and fell apart. But in that game, I can point 0:04:53.120 --> 0:04:56.360 to a handful of plays where it's like, come on, man, 0:04:56.960 --> 0:05:00.599 just give some kind of effort. And I'm not going 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:03.520 to put that loss just on that play with Carlos Dunlap. 0:05:03.520 --> 0:05:05.120 But but you know, there were other players in that 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:07.680 football game, obviously. But I mean, if in fact, he 0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:09.799 had stepped up to his ability in the fourth quarter 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:11.760 in any of those close games when he was still 0:05:11.760 --> 0:05:15.919 with the team defensively, they'd have handful more wins potentially. 0:05:16.440 --> 0:05:19.920 And again it's not all Carlos Dunlap, obviously, I mean, 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:22.520 that would be ridiculous, that would be you know, small, 0:05:22.800 --> 0:05:24.159 to try to put it on a guy that's not 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:26.080 even here anymore. But he was a factor while he 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:30.240 was here. And because honestly, when you look at the 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:33.640 overall effort, it's not that they're not trying. It's that 0:05:33.760 --> 0:05:37.680 they weren't playing smart enough football, you know, And you 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:40.320 can't when you're when you're in the situation that since 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:43.000 then any Bengals are in, you have very little margin 0:05:43.040 --> 0:05:45.200 for error. You can't put yourself on your schedule so 0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:47.880 often and turning the ball over, turn it over, turn 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:49.719 it over. I mean we're like a bakery. We're making 0:05:49.760 --> 0:05:54.599 turnovers every Sunday, you know, and giving them to everybody. Now, 0:05:55.000 --> 0:05:57.360 the two games that they won, big games that they 0:05:57.400 --> 0:06:00.000 won it at Paul Brown Stadium against two playoff teams 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:05.760 right now, playoff worthy teams, Tennessee in Pittsburgh. No giveaways, 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:10.960 no turnovers, if you keep care of the football and 0:06:10.960 --> 0:06:13.039 then you can get it into the fourth quarter with 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:14.920 a chance to win a football game and give your 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:17.719 defense a chance to do their thing. And they get 0:06:17.839 --> 0:06:20.599 takeaways against Tennessee and they get takeaways against Pittsburgh. So 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:23.960 I mean, that's that's that's the formula. But the formula 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:27.280 has been you know, just basically taken apart too many 0:06:27.279 --> 0:06:31.359 times by giving the football away. It just just can't 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:33.480 do it. That's the Lottom line. So you know, it 0:06:33.760 --> 0:06:38.760 also is great about Monday's victory. It's caused major ajita 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:42.640 in Pittsburgh. I mean the sky is falling from eleven 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:45.960 and zero to eleven and three. They were hoping and 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:50.040 expecting to clinch the AFC North title on Monday night 0:06:50.040 --> 0:06:52.520 in Cincinnati. Well now it's a real question mark whether 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:56.160 they are going to hold off the Cleveland Browns. Cleveland 0:06:56.240 --> 0:06:58.880 is one game behind. Pittsburgh has to play the Colts 0:06:58.960 --> 0:07:01.599 this week ten and four, then the Browns in the 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:05.039 regular season finale. Cleveland plays the Jets this week. I 0:07:05.040 --> 0:07:07.159 don't see New York winning back to back games after 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:09.480 beating the Rams last week. I want to listen to 0:07:09.520 --> 0:07:12.760 something that I heard on Sports Center. This is former 0:07:12.800 --> 0:07:17.800 Pittsburgh Steelers defensive back Ryan Clark talking to host Kenny 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:22.080 Maine after the game on Monday night. All Right, Pittsburgh 0:07:22.120 --> 0:07:24.960 was the last unbeaten team. Now they've done threes three? 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:26.920 How far in your eyes have they fallen? When you 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:30.720 look at the whole AFC playoffs which aren't too far away, Kenny, 0:07:30.760 --> 0:07:33.240 who can they beat? You tell me who can they beat? 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:35.560 Can they beat the Coats? No? Right? Can they beat 0:07:35.560 --> 0:07:37.760 the Tennessee Titans in the playoffs? No? Can they beat 0:07:37.800 --> 0:07:40.040 the Cleveland Browns. We know they can't beat the Kansas 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:42.440 City Chiefs. We know they can't beat the Buffalo Bills. 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:45.239 We look at this team play offense. They are playing 0:07:45.280 --> 0:07:48.120 at such a deficit each game. There is no way 0:07:48.160 --> 0:07:50.920 that they'll win. Tonight, they were getting stopped behind the line. 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:53.680 You couldn't convert third and one, fourth and one. The 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:56.840 past game was any fishing. There weren't their drops, whether 0:07:56.840 --> 0:07:59.680 there were the incompletions, the passes that were blown up 0:08:00.160 --> 0:08:03.600 interceptions by the Cincinnati Bengals. They made the Cincinnati Bengals 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:07.360 look like an All Pro Bowled caliber defense and they 0:08:07.400 --> 0:08:09.680 haven't been that all year. And so you think when 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:12.400 you're playing the Kansas City Chiefs, the Buffalo Bills, the 0:08:12.440 --> 0:08:15.200 Cleveland brown some of the better teams in the AFC, 0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:18.120 that the Pittsburgh Steelers can win. They were eleven and old, 0:08:18.120 --> 0:08:21.120 and that was fool's goal. You're now losing players on defense, 0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:23.840 you have injuries on offense, and you have a quarterback 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:26.400 that can't seem to make the right decision when that 0:08:26.520 --> 0:08:29.040 is what you're expecting him to do as a Pittsburgh 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:32.200 Steelers fan. As an alum, i Am said, because I 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:34.400 don't see them winning the game in the playoffs. So 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:37.640 to summarize, you're not high on the Pittsburgh Steelers right now. 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:41.520 Kenny Mayne putting the perfect capra on that so is 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:44.760 a Bengals fan. How great is it to hear the 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:49.240 Steelers and their fans and their former players just absolutely 0:08:49.360 --> 0:08:52.600 depressed for a change after losing a game at Paul 0:08:52.600 --> 0:08:55.520 Brown Stadium? How does it feel? You know, it's like 0:08:56.080 --> 0:08:58.760 ashen was a great description. And I think rol Aids 0:08:58.800 --> 0:09:01.280 had a record sales week and it wasn't because of 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:05.040 overeating pre holiday food. It's because of the Steelers. I mean, 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:07.679 they're just trying to lessen that hard burn. I mean, 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:11.480 it's it really is. It is amazing to watch the 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:15.280 Pittsburgh Steelers. Though offensively Dan, they're they're very hard to recognize. 0:09:15.559 --> 0:09:19.600 I mean, they look nothing like they looked before. It's 0:09:19.800 --> 0:09:22.160 it's almost like an impostor out there. And you know, 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:25.600 now people are saying that the Steelers, it's Ben's done there. 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:27.520 They're not going to extend Ben. They're not going to 0:09:27.559 --> 0:09:30.800 ask him. He's got forty some odd million dollar cap 0:09:30.840 --> 0:09:33.040 hit next year. What they normally do with them is 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:36.199 they say Okay, we'll extend you and you know, lessen 0:09:36.280 --> 0:09:38.079 the load. There, ll give you a little bonus money 0:09:38.080 --> 0:09:41.520 and help us give us some cap releaf. And now 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:43.440 they're not doing that. They're not doing that with a 0:09:43.520 --> 0:09:46.120 quarterback like that. I mean, I love it. It's great. 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:49.040 How does it feel? I mean, boy, welcome to the 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:52.040 real world reality in the National football You can suck, 0:09:52.120 --> 0:09:55.640 can it? Honest? Question? Do they win again this year? Cults? 0:09:55.679 --> 0:09:58.320 This week, Brown's the week after that? They have clinched 0:09:58.320 --> 0:10:00.800 to playoff Berth. Not the way you're playing right now, 0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:03.920 and not the way they're playing. And you think, all right, 0:10:03.920 --> 0:10:05.839 well they'll fix it. Well, I thought they'd try to 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:08.120 run the ball against Buffalo. You know, you got to 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:11.240 try to run the ball against Buffalo. No. I thought 0:10:11.280 --> 0:10:13.880 they try to definitely run the ball against the Cincinnati Bengals. 0:10:14.040 --> 0:10:16.760 Didn't do it against Buffalo. No. I mean, I guess 0:10:16.800 --> 0:10:18.960 they feel like they can't run the football. I mean 0:10:19.360 --> 0:10:23.160 Connor obviously is a factor in the equation. But I'll 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:26.439 tell you, I mean running back is Snell. He was 0:10:26.559 --> 0:10:29.280 far from their worst problem. They had much bigger problems 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:31.320 than that dude. That dude ran hard. I thought i'd 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:33.200 take him and my team is running back any day. 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:36.280 That wasn't the issue. Wasn't the issue that Snell was 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:38.280 in the backfield of o Connor. That's a bunch of crap. 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:41.520 If that's what they're saying, that's that's ridiculous, um. And 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:45.760 I'll tell you that three Pro bowlers in that offensive line, 0:10:46.600 --> 0:10:48.600 former Pro bowl getting up there in years. Yeah, they 0:10:49.040 --> 0:10:52.760 ain't playing at that level anymore. And again, you know 0:10:52.800 --> 0:10:55.400 we talked about it before. Losson gives Villain a wave 0:10:55.440 --> 0:10:59.400 of fits, six quarterback hits in the quarterback sack, rolling 0:10:59.400 --> 0:11:01.720 a wave of the six fight inch bend at the 0:11:01.720 --> 0:11:05.840 waist tower of nonpower right now. I mean he got 0:11:06.280 --> 0:11:08.480 he got torched around the corner quite a few times 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:12.280 by Carl Lawson. The Bengals finally beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 0:11:12.480 --> 0:11:15.480 and the guy that led them to victory was Ryan Finley. 0:11:15.559 --> 0:11:19.920 Statistically not exactly dazzling. He passed for eighty nine yards, 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:22.959 completing seven passes in the game. He did run for 0:11:22.960 --> 0:11:26.200 forty seven yards, including a twenty three yard touchdown run, 0:11:26.240 --> 0:11:28.840 but hey, the guy got the job done. Here's wide 0:11:28.880 --> 0:11:32.720 receiver T Higgins on Ryan Finley's performance. You know, I 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:34.880 feel like he was lay more confident. You know, you 0:11:34.920 --> 0:11:39.240 could tell he was running the ball, you know, really good, 0:11:39.280 --> 0:11:42.480 and you know he was just just calm during the 0:11:42.480 --> 0:11:45.360 whole game, and that's what you wanted to use. Quarterback. 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:48.600 Ryan Finley was moving on that touchdown run. Did you 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:51.199 know he had those kind of wheels? No? I did 0:11:51.240 --> 0:11:55.040 not know he had those. That surprised me. So I mean, 0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:59.920 I'm glad. I'm glad it worked out, aren't we all? 0:12:00.080 --> 0:12:02.720 Ryan Finleys timed at four point six five and the 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:05.280 forty yard dash when he was as Stella college student 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:07.520 at NSE States, So he is faster, I think than 0:12:07.559 --> 0:12:10.440 most people realize. Now, the question is going into this 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:13.880 week's game against Houston, does he start again or if 0:12:13.880 --> 0:12:16.800 Brandon Allen's right knee is okay, is he back in 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:18.920 the starting lineup? What do you think? I think if 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:22.200 Brandon Allen's right knee is okay, Brandon Allen starts, I 0:12:22.280 --> 0:12:27.480 think that they're limited offensively to what they can do 0:12:27.720 --> 0:12:31.600 with Ryan Finley, and I think it worked defensively. They 0:12:31.600 --> 0:12:34.000 allowed it to happen. They allowed it to work if 0:12:34.040 --> 0:12:37.000 the defense wasn't playing the way they were playing, and 0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:39.800 the Bengals had to throw the football more. Might have 0:12:39.800 --> 0:12:43.040 been a little more exposure, but the whole thing, I mean, 0:12:43.240 --> 0:12:46.440 every you talk about complimentary football, the ying and yang 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:49.280 of that football game, the defense lifting up the offense, 0:12:49.320 --> 0:12:51.880 the offense responding, you know, and when the defense gave 0:12:51.920 --> 0:12:55.000 him opportunity with short fields, the offense capitalized two touchdowns 0:12:55.000 --> 0:12:58.199 in the field goal, seventeen points on the three takeaways. 0:12:58.360 --> 0:12:59.679 Those are the kind of things that you have to 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:01.840 do to pull off an upset like they did. But 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:05.520 I do think two things. I think the Texans have 0:13:05.640 --> 0:13:08.280 to prepare for both quarterbacks. Now they're gonna have to 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:11.040 spend some time on the zone read and all that 0:13:11.120 --> 0:13:14.600 sort of thing. So and also it's going to make 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:18.320 them be a lot more assignment sound defensively instead of 0:13:18.440 --> 0:13:22.080 backside defensive and crashing and pulling Giovanni Bernard down from behind. 0:13:22.200 --> 0:13:24.040 They're gonna have to stay home a little bit, particularly 0:13:24.240 --> 0:13:26.880 when Finley's a quarterback, because they've shown they're going to 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:30.280 do that, so now they have to spend time in 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:33.800 preparing for it. They have to make sure their real 0:13:33.800 --> 0:13:36.640 assignment sound, so they might not take as many chance 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:40.839 as defensively. So your running gab with Giovanni Bernard may 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:43.440 be better at the point of attack without extra clutter 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:45.920 because of other things that you have to concern yourself 0:13:45.960 --> 0:13:50.640 with in terms of reads defensively. So there's some positive. 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:54.520 There's some positive trickle down to the next week when 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:58.120 an opponent springs something on the league, like the Bengals 0:13:58.120 --> 0:14:02.440 did with Finley with a run package Nobody, I mean Pittsburgh. 0:14:02.760 --> 0:14:05.440 Tomlin was like, I gotta give those guys credit. And 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:08.400 during the course of the game it evolved. Finley said 0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:11.839 that Zach Taylor during the game the touchdown run of 0:14:11.920 --> 0:14:14.599 twenty three yards, they never practiced that that run that 0:14:14.640 --> 0:14:18.000 Giovanni Bernard ran. They never practiced him pulling it and 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:20.800 having a read option from the thing. And during the 0:14:20.800 --> 0:14:23.560 course of the game, Zach saw what was going on. 0:14:23.600 --> 0:14:27.520 He said, look, if the backside guy crashed and Highsmith crashed, 0:14:27.560 --> 0:14:29.760 chased it down the line, scrims v crashes, pull it 0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:33.320 and run. That was just an adjustment, you know, And 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:36.240 they're getting he's getting killed about not making adjustments in 0:14:36.320 --> 0:14:38.000 game adjustments and all that sort of thing. That was 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:40.160 a huge in game adjustment and it led to a 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:42.640 huge touchdown in the beginning of the fourth quarter of 0:14:42.680 --> 0:14:45.560 twenty three yard John and Scamper. That was a big 0:14:45.560 --> 0:14:49.400 difference in the football game. So it's it's very interesting 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:53.640 to see how Houston is going to handle it. But 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:57.520 I do think that Brandon Allen, if healthy, will be 0:14:57.560 --> 0:14:59.560 the guy that they'll send out there. So they ran 0:14:59.640 --> 0:15:03.040 a one times last week against the Pittsburgh team that is, 0:15:03.320 --> 0:15:05.720 you know, good at stopping the run. This week, they 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:08.440 faced the Houston team that has given up two hundred 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:11.760 and twelve yards to Derrick Henry one thirty eight to 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:16.800 Clyde Edwards a layer one thirty, Dalvin Cook one twenty six, 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:21.800 Nick Chubb one oh nine, James Conner one oh four 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:24.560 Kareem Hunt in the same game where Chubb went for 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:27.400 one twenty six. They're not stopping anybody. They're not one 0:15:27.480 --> 0:15:29.280 hundred and fifty and a half yards a game. They're 0:15:29.280 --> 0:15:32.000 allowing thirty first in the league five yards to carry. 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:35.520 They're allowing thirty second in the league. Did last teams 0:15:35.520 --> 0:15:39.080 are efficiently pounding the football on them. The Bengals rush 0:15:39.160 --> 0:15:41.120 for over one hundred and fifty yards against the Steelers, 0:15:41.600 --> 0:15:45.680 you know, and forty some out of them courtesy the quarterback. 0:15:46.080 --> 0:15:50.000 But I think that they are going to feature. No 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:52.480 matter who the quarterback is, the Bengals are going to 0:15:52.520 --> 0:15:54.520 come out and say to the offensive line, who I 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:56.920 think is going to return intact to play in this 0:15:56.960 --> 0:15:59.240 football game. I think for the first time they'll they'll 0:15:59.240 --> 0:16:02.400 come off a good performance with an offensive line that 0:16:02.560 --> 0:16:05.320 is physically and mentally intact to try to do it again. 0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:07.240 That's the key. You don't just do it once in 0:16:07.240 --> 0:16:09.920 a while, do it again and again and again and 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:13.520 see if they can control that Houston Texan front seven 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:17.520 and Giovanni Bernard in company and p Running and everybody 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:20.280 involved get after him. You'd after him, run the ball 0:16:20.280 --> 0:16:22.240 down their throat and make it easy for the quarterback 0:16:22.240 --> 0:16:25.160 and keep the defense off the football field against Watson. 0:16:25.880 --> 0:16:28.360 Sean Watson's having an incredible year. Number one in the 0:16:28.480 --> 0:16:31.520 NFL in yards per pass attempt, number one in yards 0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:35.520 per pass completion. He is second in yardage to Patrick Mahomes. 0:16:35.680 --> 0:16:39.880 Here's Bengals head coach Zach Taylor on the Texans starting QB. 0:16:40.600 --> 0:16:42.760 Just watching some of the highlight reels of this guy, 0:16:43.000 --> 0:16:46.840 or he's unbelievable. He's one of the best players in 0:16:46.840 --> 0:16:49.720 the league. There's no question about that. Every play is 0:16:49.720 --> 0:16:52.600 alive until you see someone get him on the ground 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:55.720 or the ball hits the turf, because he just extends 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:57.200 a lot of plays that you don't think there's any 0:16:57.200 --> 0:16:59.680 way they can be extended. And and really the other 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:01.880 person I see that does that as Lamar Jackson's well, 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:05.760 so all hands on deck for this guy. Tremendous playmaker. 0:17:05.800 --> 0:17:07.480 We got a ton of respect for him. You know, 0:17:07.520 --> 0:17:10.159 it'll be a great challenge for a defense. Named a 0:17:10.200 --> 0:17:12.800 Pro Bowler earlier this week, third time in his four 0:17:12.880 --> 0:17:15.560 year NFL career, he took Houston to the playoffs each 0:17:15.560 --> 0:17:17.880 of the last two years, won a playoff game last 0:17:17.960 --> 0:17:21.159 year with a tremendous individual performance against the Buffalo Bills, 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:23.560 and now the team has kind of collapsed around him. 0:17:23.600 --> 0:17:25.720 But he is having an incredible year. He is, I mean, 0:17:25.840 --> 0:17:29.160 he's a one man show. And Sam Hubbard earlier today 0:17:29.240 --> 0:17:30.960 was talking about how hard it is to get him 0:17:30.960 --> 0:17:33.840 on the ground six two two fifteen, and he's got 0:17:34.280 --> 0:17:37.800 unusual strength for somebody that size. He's not a little quarterback, 0:17:38.000 --> 0:17:40.120 but he's not a big one either, but he has 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:44.440 got unbelievable overall body strength and explosive this I've heard 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:49.960 him referred to as magician, escape artist, fearless, resourceful, creative, 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:52.960 He's all of it. I mean, his college coach called 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:56.119 him Michael Jordan. I mean that's about as high praise 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:58.360 as you can get. And Dan, he's one of these 0:17:58.359 --> 0:18:03.080 guys where he extends and creates and ultimately the play 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:06.000 that he comes up with ends up being a better 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:08.040 play than what was called. You know, He's one of 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:11.200 those kind of guys. And they will live with his sacks. 0:18:11.280 --> 0:18:13.040 They'll live with the forty four sacks because he makes 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:16.760 so many big plays in doing that. The only thing 0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:19.000 that if he starts throwing a lot of interceptions, they'll 0:18:19.040 --> 0:18:22.520 probably say time out, let's let's revisit this. But man 0:18:22.840 --> 0:18:26.920 on his career at this point, ninety four touchdowns he's 0:18:26.920 --> 0:18:30.479 accounted for seventy nine of them are touchdown passes, and 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:34.440 then he's had touchdowns rushing obviously to twenty seven interceptions. 0:18:34.560 --> 0:18:37.400 Ninety four touchdowns he's accounted for seventy nine by air 0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:42.439 to just twenty twenty seven interceptions. That ratio they're going 0:18:42.520 --> 0:18:44.399 to continue to live with and let him play the 0:18:44.440 --> 0:18:46.440 way he's playing. I think the Barras would like a 0:18:46.520 --> 0:18:49.560 do over back in the twenty seventeen draft, they trade 0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:52.240 it up to take Mitchell Trubisky number two overall, and 0:18:52.359 --> 0:18:55.440 later in that draft the Chiefs took Patrick Mahomes. Two 0:18:55.480 --> 0:18:58.640 picks after that, the Texans took to Shaun Watson. Man. 0:18:58.960 --> 0:19:01.240 I'm telling you, yeah, I think they'd want to do 0:19:01.440 --> 0:19:06.520 over a redo safe pet right. The Bengals have seen 0:19:06.600 --> 0:19:09.960 to Shaun Watson once before. That was his first NFL start. 0:19:10.000 --> 0:19:12.840 It was Week two of his rookie year Thursday Night Football, 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:16.200 and he led Houston to a victory at Paul Brown Stadium. 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:19.639 He wasn't individually spectacular. He passed for one hundred and 0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:21.639 twenty five yards in that game. Do you know Atkins 0:19:21.680 --> 0:19:23.880 sacked him a couple of times, but he made one 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:26.240 big play and that was enough of forty nine yard 0:19:26.320 --> 0:19:29.320 touchdown run in a thirteen to nine win. That was 0:19:29.400 --> 0:19:32.520 back in the early portion of the twenty seventeen season 0:19:32.560 --> 0:19:35.520 when the Bengals could not score a touchdown. Yeah, and 0:19:35.920 --> 0:19:39.480 that touchdown run was are you kidding me, Serpentine? Yeah, 0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:42.359 nobody's gonna get him. I mean he was like it 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:44.440 was a forty nine yard touchdown run, but he probably 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:47.200 ran seventy yards back. I mean he was zigzag and 0:19:47.240 --> 0:19:50.200 serpentine is a good word. I mean, it was an 0:19:50.240 --> 0:19:53.560 incredible effort by him. The Texans started the year on 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:57.000 four and whacked Bill O'Brien and interim coach Romeo Crennell 0:19:57.400 --> 0:20:00.520 is the oldest head coach in NFL his three he's 0:20:00.560 --> 0:20:04.479 seventy three. George Allis and Marv Levy coached until they 0:20:04.480 --> 0:20:07.840 were seventy two. Romeo's first head coaching job was in 0:20:07.920 --> 0:20:10.720 Cleveland from two thousand and five to two thousand and eight, 0:20:11.080 --> 0:20:14.680 when the Bengals, Steelers, and Ravens all one Division titles. 0:20:14.680 --> 0:20:17.399 It's similar to what the Bengals are facing right now. 0:20:17.840 --> 0:20:21.199 So here is Crenell on the challenge of trying to 0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:25.720 rebuild in a division where the other three teams are loaded. Well, 0:20:25.760 --> 0:20:30.159 it's hard to compete versus an experience team who have 0:20:30.960 --> 0:20:35.040 pieces in place, who have guys who play well together, 0:20:35.480 --> 0:20:37.720 you know. And now you're got a young team and 0:20:38.640 --> 0:20:41.720 young talent, and you're trying to figure out what they 0:20:41.720 --> 0:20:44.560 can do well. And but you've got to play the 0:20:44.640 --> 0:20:47.120 games to try to figure that out, and so you 0:20:47.240 --> 0:20:49.959 end up taking a whipping a little bit, you know, 0:20:50.040 --> 0:20:55.560 while that goes on and so through that education that 0:20:55.640 --> 0:20:59.680 they have to get. You know, like the third year 0:20:59.720 --> 0:21:01.680 we were able to win ten games in the third 0:21:01.720 --> 0:21:06.920 year and almost made the playoffs. So it takes time. 0:21:06.960 --> 0:21:11.240 It just won't happen overnight unless you have the pieces 0:21:11.280 --> 0:21:14.000 in place already and then you can kind of build 0:21:14.000 --> 0:21:16.640 on that. But if you have to add the pieces, 0:21:17.280 --> 0:21:20.119 it takes time to add the pieces you need to 0:21:20.240 --> 0:21:24.200 be competitive. Romeo Cornell does not have a great head 0:21:24.240 --> 0:21:27.400