Speaker 1: Hig and everybody.
Speaker 2: I'm Dan Hord and thanks for downloading The Bengals Booth Podcast.
Speaker 2: The This may be the last chance addition as the
Speaker 2: Bengals get ready for their final preseason game on Thursday
Speaker 2: night against Indianapolis. Coming up, I'll talk to my broadcast partner,
Speaker 2: Dave Lapham about Tuesday's joint practice with the Colts, and
Speaker 2: then I'll go one on one with one of the
Speaker 2: last picks in this year's draft, who is making a
Speaker 2: strong case for being on the Bengals fifty three man roster.
Speaker 2: The Bengals Booth Podcast is brought to you by pay Corps,
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Speaker 2: the best care for the best fans. Kettering Health is
Speaker 2: the official healthcare provider of the Bengals. Now here's a
Speaker 2: quick reminder that you can have the latest edition of
Speaker 2: this podcast delivered right to your phone, tablet, or computer
Speaker 2: by subscribing wherever you get your podcasts. It's the greatest
Speaker 2: thing since long shots. Getting a shot in the final
Speaker 2: preseason game It's common among fans and media, especially media,
Speaker 2: to make snarky comments about the final week of preseason games,
Speaker 2: especially when starters don't play. But I like seeing the
Speaker 2: long shots get their opportunity to shine in an NFL uniform.
Speaker 2: Every single guy out there on Thursday night is a
Speaker 2: great player. Maybe not great enough to make a fifty
Speaker 2: three man roster, but think of how hard it is
Speaker 2: just to be on an NFL training camp roster. For
Speaker 2: hundreds of guys who have been playing this sport for
Speaker 2: most of their lives, the final preseason game is the
Speaker 2: last time they will ever play football. So I look
Speaker 2: forward to seeing all of them take the field don Thursday.
Speaker 2: No matter what the record books say, they'll be able
Speaker 2: to tell their kids and grandkids about playing in the NFL. Now,
Speaker 2: let's get to football and an in depth look at
Speaker 2: Tuesday's joint practice with my broadcast partner Dave lappham lapped.
Speaker 2: The joint practice with the Indianapolis Colts is over. It's
Speaker 2: kind of the unofficial end of training camp. Joe Burrow
Speaker 2: had a full training camp. It's happened for the first
Speaker 2: time in his NFL career.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it has happened. Zach announced that you know, maybe
Speaker 3: a couple of starters will be sprinkled in, but the
Speaker 3: starters won't be going on Thursday night. And as opposed
Speaker 3: to the Indianapolis Colts, which we're talking about playing their
Speaker 3: starters for a couple of quarters. But it is good
Speaker 3: to have Joe Burrow upright, healthy, happy, got a lot
Speaker 3: of reps in you look at joint practices for two
Speaker 3: straight weeks, that's a lot of reps because the way
Speaker 3: you know, it's ones against ones, twos against twos. It's
Speaker 3: not you know, you like switching off. You're going every
Speaker 3: single rep, as are the other groups. So it's it's
Speaker 3: a lot of good work there, there's no question about that,
Speaker 3: and I'm glad to see that he was able to
Speaker 3: sustain all the way through it.
Speaker 2: Here were Joe's numbers today. In the practice against the Colts.
Speaker 2: They opened up with a red zone seven on seven
Speaker 2: period he was five or six with a pair of
Speaker 2: touchdown passes, one to t Higgins, one to Micah Sicki.
Speaker 2: Then in the eleven on eleven periods had him twenty
Speaker 2: one for twenty six. That's eighty one percent. He did
Speaker 2: throw an interception which was kind of strange. I'd be
Speaker 2: interested to hear what he had to say about it,
Speaker 2: because he just kind of threw it up for grabs,
Speaker 2: which is very Unburrow like. But overall, would you.
Speaker 3: Think, Yeah, I thought he was efficient. I thought he
Speaker 3: was smart with the football. A lot of intermediate short
Speaker 3: passes used his screen game. Well, it didn't put the
Speaker 3: ball on jeopardy, like you said, other than that that
Speaker 3: one interception, and he knows what he's looking at. You know,
Speaker 3: he's seeing it, seeing it and going where he needs
Speaker 3: to go. And I think he started identifying weapons. You know,
Speaker 3: he's sick he was a weapon on third down or
Speaker 3: weapon in the red zone. I mean, I think his
Speaker 3: screen game was was to all all position groups, you know,
Speaker 3: went to running backs, went to tight ends, went to receivers.
Speaker 3: And I think that screen game is going to be
Speaker 3: a big part of the package on a you know,
Speaker 3: I don't know if it's going to be a week
Speaker 3: to week basis, but they can drop up on it
Speaker 3: really at any any any time. But again, I thought
Speaker 3: having back to back weeks of joint practices, as did
Speaker 3: the Indianapolis Colts, they did the same thing they had
Speaker 3: the Arizona Cardinals in in Indianapolis. So I thought that
Speaker 3: the that the energy level, the performance, the juice was
Speaker 3: pretty high.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: I think I think the Bengals ran the exact same
Speaker 3: script in this joint practice as they did in Chicago,
Speaker 3: So the players knew exactly what they were looking at,
Speaker 3: and you know, you have that kind of you know
Speaker 3: and said, well, I know what's coming up next, I'm prepared.
Speaker 3: I think it just enhances the opportunity for good performances,
Speaker 3: and I you know, honestly, in my mind, I think
Speaker 3: eventually national football is going to go to one exhibition
Speaker 3: game and they're going to have joint practices and start
Speaker 3: charging for him and have multiple joint practices, let players,
Speaker 3: you know, and coaches get ready that way and in
Speaker 3: maybe just one preseason game to really evaluate the guys
Speaker 3: that you want to decide on the final you know,
Speaker 3: back end of your roster. Who are you going to
Speaker 3: keep on your practice squad, who you're not kind of thing.
Speaker 3: I think it's evolved in that way.
Speaker 2: You mentioned Mike Kasiki. I had him for four catches
Speaker 2: during the eleven on eleven periods, two for first downs,
Speaker 2: plus an incredible one handed catch on a back shoulder
Speaker 2: throw did we see today what Mike Kasiki is going
Speaker 2: to mean to this Beangals offense, because I think by
Speaker 2: and large in camp he's been fine, but he hasn't
Speaker 2: had breakout days very often.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he's kind of just been lurking, you know. And
Speaker 3: the thing about him and Zach mentioned it, I mean,
Speaker 3: he is a quick study. He understands football, you know,
Speaker 3: he sees it. I get a kick out of watching
Speaker 3: him lineup and when he when he basically flexes into
Speaker 3: the slot and he starts looking around, It's like, oh boy,
Speaker 3: now you know defense is in trouble. He's he's getting
Speaker 3: a pre snap look, getting on the same page with
Speaker 3: that quarterback. And I think he's got the confidence of
Speaker 3: all the quarterbacks, particularly number nine, which is which is big.
Speaker 3: You know, as as the regular season approaches here, he's
Speaker 3: been around the block. You know, this is his third
Speaker 3: organization and he's had to learn and unlearned offenses and
Speaker 3: relearn other ones, and and he can handle it. He's
Speaker 3: got a mental capacity for the game of football. There's
Speaker 3: no question.
Speaker 2: Under rainy conditions last week in Chicago, Joe had trouble
Speaker 2: throwing deep and throwing outside the numbers down the field.
Speaker 2: He was victimized by a ton of drops by his teammates.
Speaker 2: No such problems today. As you noted, most of his
Speaker 2: throat were me intermediate or short, but they were accurate.
Speaker 2: And he threw a couple to T. Higgins who was
Speaker 2: blanketed and they were still.
Speaker 3: Caught absolutely, And that was you know, faith and trust
Speaker 3: in tea because T, I mean he high pointed that
Speaker 3: first one. It was like six born up. He climbed
Speaker 3: the ladder. Man. It's like, oh my gosh, he would
Speaker 3: have been doing a behind the head dunk on that
Speaker 3: bad boy. He got up and yeah, you know T
Speaker 3: T obviously is uh is gifted and they're on the
Speaker 3: same page. There's no no question about another guy that
Speaker 3: I thought showed up early and showed his speed with
Speaker 3: you know, check downs and screened Chase brown Man, he's
Speaker 3: gonna he's he's got that home run hitting speed, and
Speaker 3: you know you add him to the mix, particularly if
Speaker 3: you know when Jamar comes back. You know, you know,
Speaker 3: Jamar and T. Higgins and Yosi made some plays again
Speaker 3: today like he's been doing you know, all a camp.
Speaker 3: It's it's like it's gonna be an embarrassment of riches there,
Speaker 3: and I think that with the what they're going to
Speaker 3: have to do defensively to control the receivers, that I mean,
Speaker 3: the middle of the football field is going to be
Speaker 3: there for the taken and I think Kasiki is a
Speaker 3: guy that can take it.
Speaker 2: In a joint practice, it's hard to watch the offense
Speaker 2: and the defense because it's going on on separate fields.
Speaker 2: At the same time, I was watching every snap that
Speaker 2: Burrow took today, so I didn't see a ton of defense.
Speaker 2: But when I did watch and when I talked to people,
Speaker 2: it sounded like the number one defense was pretty dominant.
Speaker 2: When Anthony Richardson was in a quarterback for the Colts.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think I think I would agree with that.
Speaker 3: And you know, I mean Anthony Richardson, by the way,
Speaker 3: six four, two sixty, he came on the field, It's like,
Speaker 3: is this an edge rush guy? Is this an outside linebacker?
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, man, you know, because I like, it's
Speaker 3: in the two forties or whatever. Last year and he
Speaker 3: just bulked up, but he still got use man, he
Speaker 3: still got quickness, short space quickness, and you know, a
Speaker 3: lot of times and then Joe Flacco started doing the
Speaker 3: same thing. Tucket and run. I mean, they got the
Speaker 3: jersey on where they can't be hit. You know, it's
Speaker 3: not like you're game planning to basically hit the quarterback.
Speaker 3: So but I'm telling you, Richardson is a guy that's
Speaker 3: going to make a lot of offscript players with his legs,
Speaker 3: you know, and then using those legs to you know,
Speaker 3: create for his throwing opportunities for his arm as well.
Speaker 3: He's going to be an off schedule guy to deal
Speaker 3: with around the league because when he gets going, he
Speaker 3: gets going quickly. I mean he gets he can accelerate quickly,
Speaker 3: and he's got that two hundred and sixty pound body.
Speaker 3: Man that's really moving. He's a he's a rare breed.
Speaker 3: He's kind of like one of one right now. I
Speaker 3: Mean I was saying, you know, he's a he's a
Speaker 3: mix of Cam Newton, you know, and and Lamar Jackson.
Speaker 3: I don't know, I think he's in a different category.
Speaker 3: I mean, he's he almost looks like a Martian man.
Speaker 3: He's almost an Ailien out there. So the thing the
Speaker 3: thing that struck me though, when I'm thinking about him,
Speaker 3: you know, and I'm thinking about you know, DeForest Buckner
Speaker 3: and other players in that football team. Everybody's got giants.
Speaker 3: I mean this league is like, man, everybody's got studs.
Speaker 3: They can walk it out in the field. I mean,
Speaker 3: the Indianapolis Cults are a big football team. They've got
Speaker 3: they've got size. Everywhere the NFL is it's just it's crazy.
Speaker 3: Everybody's ah, everybody's got talent, and everybody's going to be
Speaker 3: a challenge. And that's that's nature of the beasts in
Speaker 3: this league for sure.
Speaker 2: What about the on script plays for Anthony Richardson because
Speaker 2: I overheard somebody say at times he appeared reluctant to
Speaker 2: let it rip, you know, when trying to execute the offense.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think he was like and I really see
Speaker 3: what I'm saying, Am I seeing it right?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 3: I think there was some hesitancy there Flacco, you know,
Speaker 3: I mean I thought he operated as an NFL quarterback
Speaker 3: much more proficiently. And how about that guy you know
Speaker 3: last week it was Mercedes Lewis nineteenth year in the
Speaker 3: NFL at tight end, Joe Flacco seventeenth year in the
Speaker 3: NFL at the quarterback position. And to me, I mean,
Speaker 3: he's moving is well or better than he ever has really,
Speaker 3: you know, and he's he still can spin it. Man.
Speaker 3: He throws a pretty ball, and he throws it accurately,
Speaker 3: So you know, they've got a nice insurance policy there.
Speaker 3: And if he ends up playing quite a bit, you
Speaker 3: know though, I mean for a five million bucks, that's
Speaker 3: a pretty good deal to get a guy who's played
Speaker 3: seventeen years in the NFL. If he plays more, he
Speaker 3: earns more. But that's that's not a bad deal for
Speaker 3: both sides.
Speaker 2: I wasn't able to pay too much attention to the
Speaker 2: one on one pass rushing drills. I did see Joseph
Speaker 2: Osai beat a left tackle who didn't even lay a
Speaker 2: finger on him. It was a very impressive rush. Were
Speaker 2: you able to watch much of that?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I watched. I watched some of that, and like
Speaker 3: you said, Dan, I was trying to watch both and
Speaker 3: from a long distance, because you get halfway and you
Speaker 3: you know, you're swinging your.
Speaker 1: Head back and forth.
Speaker 3: You feel like the Exorcist almost, you know, trying to
Speaker 3: spin your head around and follow everything that you want
Speaker 3: to follow. Trent Brown had a difficult first rep. He
Speaker 3: got beaten quickly. I'm not sure how many fingers were
Speaker 3: laid on you on the pass rush. Are there but overall,
Speaker 3: I mean I thought that it was it was good work. Again,
Speaker 3: havn't been in that drill. If you're locked onto somebody
Speaker 3: and and they're you know, taking it an edge eventually
Speaker 3: and you're widing them, it's so unrealistic because there's just
Speaker 3: so much real estate there. It's you know, it's like
Speaker 3: the only thing you don't want to do in that
Speaker 3: situation is with you know, if you if you get
Speaker 3: a piece and they and they don't have a definite
Speaker 3: edge on you. I mean they're maybe they're on your shoulder,
Speaker 3: but you're still controlling them. I mean that's that's difficult
Speaker 3: for them to hit a gap that tightly and you
Speaker 3: know they don't have the edge on you, they're not
Speaker 3: going to necessarily win that pass rush. So I thought
Speaker 3: both I thought both units, uh handle that part of
Speaker 3: it pretty well. I do think the Bengals offensive line
Speaker 3: projects to be pretty darn good pass protectors now, you know,
Speaker 3: get the pad level down and all that sort of
Speaker 3: thing for the running game. But I do think and
Speaker 3: Willie Anderson what was here today? And uh, you know,
Speaker 3: I asked Willie about I said, you've seen these guys
Speaker 3: now A couple of times a training camp. What do
Speaker 3: you think about them as Pat He goes, yeah, Man,
Speaker 3: I like them too, Shaid. I think they're good pass protectors.
Speaker 3: It was a little bit of a day for Royalty.
Speaker 3: Ken Anderson was here today, Paul Alexander, Tim Crumwright, Jim Anderson,
Speaker 3: Willie Anderson. It was kind of a role call of
Speaker 3: a form of Bengals coaches and players or both like
Speaker 3: Kenny Anderson.
Speaker 2: I will add Dave Lapham to that list in Bengals Royalty.
Speaker 2: Jamar Chase was standing in between the two fields watching today,
Speaker 2: as has typically been the case during most of training camp.
Speaker 2: It's not all he's doing. He is getting workouts on
Speaker 2: the side. We saw him come in from the practice
Speaker 2: field before the activities got started today. Are we getting
Speaker 2: close to the point or are we at the point
Speaker 2: where he needs to be out there practicing if he's
Speaker 2: going to be the player we're accustomed to seeing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's getting there, Dan and he has. He's been
Speaker 3: going in the bubble and when he and Tea early on,
Speaker 3: when t was not working very much at the beginning,
Speaker 3: they were really running hard at the bubble. I mean
Speaker 3: they were hundred yard striders running forties and all that
Speaker 3: sort of thing, and that's great, and then running routes,
Speaker 3: but on air, you know, and it's like it's it's
Speaker 3: it's different when you know, you get equipment on and
Speaker 3: somebody's putting their hands on you, and now you got
Speaker 3: to you know, it's not like you're free and clear
Speaker 3: to run easily. It's like, now you've got to run
Speaker 3: football plays and football routes where you're stopping and starting
Speaker 3: and you're pushing and pulling with other bodies all you know,
Speaker 3: trying to do the same thing to you. It's it's
Speaker 3: just a different dynamic. So, yeah, he's got he's got
Speaker 3: to get in in camp, get through that period. There's
Speaker 3: going to be some soreness there along with that, and
Speaker 3: and just and just get ready to roll and cardiovasculi
Speaker 3: and everything else. And conditioning wise, I have no qualms about,
Speaker 3: you know, what he's going to be doing. Although you know,
Speaker 3: missing these joint practices and when the twelve play drive
Speaker 3: that they went on, there's conditioning there. There's conditioning in
Speaker 3: these joint practices. They take a good number of reps
Speaker 3: and you're losing the football conditioning there's different. You know,
Speaker 3: it's not track and field. You know, the cardiovasco part
Speaker 3: of it is one part of it. We always talked
Speaker 3: about the football conditioning being another and you know, totally
Speaker 3: different and I can attest to it, you know, as alignment.
Speaker 3: It's totally different, but it is for skilled players as well.
Speaker 2: Charlie Jones made several catches today, so he is fully back.
Speaker 2: Sam Hubbard didn't participate, but he was in uniform. He
Speaker 2: started doing some stuff at practice yesterday. So two key
Speaker 2: players will clearly be good to go when the regular
Speaker 2: season begins.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, I think they're being you know, careful and wisely careful.
Speaker 3: With Sam Hubbard, he did individual, some individual stuff today,
Speaker 3: but that was it. He didn't do anything more, and
Speaker 3: you know you're not going to see him do anything more,
Speaker 3: I don't think until it gets closer to the to
Speaker 3: the regular season. So you know, I have no problem
Speaker 3: with that. I know that. You know Sam, you talk
Speaker 3: about a guy that's ready every day of his life
Speaker 3: for any kind of physical activity that you wanted to perform.
Speaker 3: It's Sam Hubbard. So you know it's this just comes
Speaker 3: to mind too. I mean, you know, we're watching these kickers.
Speaker 3: When we were talking to Money Mack about you know
Speaker 3: the distances, and you know he said he hit one
Speaker 3: from sixty eight in the off season and his off
Speaker 3: season workouts and everything. Sixty two yard was hit today
Speaker 3: by Gay like Mike, it was a chip shot. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I mean, it really is crazy the range that these
Speaker 3: guys have. I mean, you know, they're not only bigger, stronger,
Speaker 3: faster in terms of you know, at the line of scrimmage,
Speaker 3: but these kickers man there, I don't know if they
Speaker 3: have dynamite caps in their shoes or what, because man,
Speaker 3: that ball is just blown off of their toe. It
Speaker 3: is absolutely nuts. It really is.
Speaker 2: And there is video of the sixty eight yarder by
Speaker 2: Evan McPherson on Twitter Cole's kicking camp Kohl. If you
Speaker 2: look up that their Twitter account, you can see footage
Speaker 2: of that sixty eight yard field goal. Final thing. The
Speaker 2: preseason finale is coming up Thursday night at eight o'clock.
Speaker 2: As you mentioned earlier, the Colts are expected to play
Speaker 2: their starters for a half. The Bengals are not going
Speaker 2: to play their starters. Is there anything in particular you'd
Speaker 2: like to see or are looking for on Thursday night?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, the the number twos and threes, that
Speaker 3: played in particularly last week's game in Chicago. Just clean
Speaker 3: it up, you know, hold on to the football, don't
Speaker 3: turn the football over. Eleven penalties for you know, over
Speaker 3: one hundred and twenty yards. I mean, you're just given
Speaker 3: the football game away. So I'd like to see, you know,
Speaker 3: those those young players, you know, take themselves off their schedule.
Speaker 3: The Colts number ones are going to be a load.
Speaker 3: It's gonna they're going to be you know, they'll be
Speaker 3: working against a Pro Bowl center and a Pro Bowl
Speaker 3: left guard. The interior defensive players that that's going to
Speaker 3: be good work for those guys. The number one offensive
Speaker 3: line and skilled players are going to be going against
Speaker 3: two good defensive tacks, a really good inside linebacker who
Speaker 3: the defensive tackles keep clean so he makes a million tackles.
Speaker 3: And then you go to the state position. They got
Speaker 3: a great player there. It's like we talk about in baseball,
Speaker 3: catch a shortstop center field. The interior the middle of
Speaker 3: that Colts defense is pretty darn good. And you know,
Speaker 3: and then they go and they get a you know,
Speaker 3: a rookie out of UCLA and edge guy. This dude,
Speaker 3: he was a lot bigger than I thought, a lot too, uh,
Speaker 3: six five to sixty five, and he looks every bit
Speaker 3: of that. I mean, he looked good on the edge.
Speaker 3: So it's like man, like we said before, everybody's got players,
Speaker 3: everybody's good.
Speaker 1: It's the big show. It's the NFL.
Speaker 2: Good way to wrap it up. Look forward to being
Speaker 2: in the booth with you on Thursday.
Speaker 3: Night, Same here, Dan as always.
Speaker 2: Thursday's game kicks off at eight o'clock with the Amazon
Speaker 2: Prime crew in town, including Al Michaels, Kirk krb Street,
Speaker 2: and former Bengals great Andrew Whitworth. The Bengals Booth Podcast
Speaker 2: is brought to you by pay Corps, proud to be
Speaker 2: the Bengals official hr software provider, Alta Fiber future proof
Speaker 2: fiber Internet designed to elevate your home, business, and community
Speaker 2: to a new level, and by Kettering Health the best
Speaker 2: care for the best fans. Kettering Health is the official
Speaker 2: healthcare provider of the Bengals. For the second straight preseason game,
Speaker 2: the Bengals offensive starters are not expected to play. That
Speaker 2: means extensive playing time for backups, including rookie center Matt Lee.
Speaker 2: The seventh round pick out of the University of Miami,
Speaker 2: took every offensive snap in Saturday's game in Chicago and
Speaker 2: did well. In fact, according to Pro Football Focus, Lee
Speaker 2: has been on the field for fifty pass blocking snaps
Speaker 2: in the first two preseason games without giving up a sack, hit,
Speaker 2: or hurry. Lee was chosen number two thirty seven overall
Speaker 2: in this year's draft. There were only twenty picks after him,
Speaker 2: but right now he stands a very good chance of
Speaker 2: being ted. Carris is back up. I talked to him
Speaker 2: this week. Matt, you are from Oviedo, Florida, which is
Speaker 2: close to Orlando, and went to college at two schools
Speaker 2: in Florida. Is this the first time you have spent
Speaker 2: a big chunk of time outside of the Sunshine State?
Speaker 1: Yes. Absolutely.
Speaker 4: I've been to a bunch of different states to play
Speaker 4: football games and here and there for vacation or whatever
Speaker 4: growing up, but for longer than probably a week max,
Speaker 4: or maybe a little longer, depend on the vacation. This
Speaker 4: has been far and away the longest siven out of Florida.
Speaker 2: What if anything, do you miss about home?
Speaker 4: You know, family and friends, and you know there's a
Speaker 4: level of comfort being around where you're from, you know
Speaker 4: what I mean, whether that's in Orlando or the past
Speaker 4: year in Miami, which I got a bunch of family
Speaker 4: in Miami. But it's been honestly really good up here,
Speaker 4: and I love the area and it's nowhere near as.
Speaker 1: Hot as Florida, which is a bonus.
Speaker 2: It's a good part, especially during training camp. Right we're
Speaker 2: visiting with Matt Lee. You earned All acc honors last
Speaker 2: year at the University of Miami. According to Pro Football Focus,
Speaker 2: in four hundred and thirty four pass blocking snaps, you
Speaker 2: did not allow a single sack and only gave up
Speaker 2: one quarterback hit. Are those numbers accurate?
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure, definitely not a sack.
Speaker 4: I don't even know if I gave up a hit,
Speaker 4: And going back before the year before last twenty twenty two,
Speaker 4: I think that those numbers were probably a little bit better.
Speaker 4: But but uh yeah, yeah, I think they're real.
Speaker 1: I think they're right. Yeah, as far as i'm.
Speaker 2: You're certainly not gonna say no, I gave up a bunch,
Speaker 2: But I believe them too.
Speaker 1: I know there's no sack, all right.
Speaker 2: That's the key. Prior to Miami, you spent the bulk
Speaker 2: of your college career at the University of Central Florida,
Speaker 2: and that meant multiple games against the University of Cincinnati
Speaker 2: when the Bearcats are at their peak under Luke Fickle,
Speaker 2: what stands out about that rivalry?
Speaker 4: You know, I kind of when I rolled into UCF
Speaker 4: in twenty nineteen, I played them four times every year
Speaker 4: and that was kind of like you're saying, the bull
Speaker 4: that rivalry through those years, and then when both teams
Speaker 4: left the Big.
Speaker 1: Twelve, it's still there, but it's not as important.
Speaker 4: They're not the top dogs of the conference anymore like
Speaker 4: they were in the American But you know, for for
Speaker 4: us at UCF, University of South Florida and Tampa has
Speaker 4: been the historical rivalry. But there was almost a little
Speaker 4: bit more of like a like a real intensity every
Speaker 4: time we would play Cincinnati, whether we're going up there
Speaker 4: or coming down they were coming down to Orlando, and
Speaker 4: every game.
Speaker 1: Was always hard fought. It was always pat crowds.
Speaker 4: You know, I've been I played them twice up here
Speaker 4: in Cincinnati, and they get a great atmosphere with how
Speaker 4: that the stadium's kind of built into the ground or
Speaker 4: so something like that, right, Yeah, and uh, and it
Speaker 4: was a lot of fun. You know, I went two
Speaker 4: and two against them. We'd lost my first year, then one,
Speaker 4: then lost than one, and you know, they had a
Speaker 4: lot of success, especially in twenty twenty one. They had
Speaker 4: some guys that are doing real good now in the
Speaker 4: in the NFL.
Speaker 2: If you see somebody around town wearing you see gear,
Speaker 2: do you clench your teeth a little bit?
Speaker 1: You know, not not too much.
Speaker 4: I think my my, I would do that for South
Speaker 4: Florida since the history of that rivalry. You know, when
Speaker 4: I was at you, Steff, we definitely hated each other
Speaker 4: Cincinnati because there was always a big game of the
Speaker 4: year and it kind of matter who's probably who might
Speaker 4: win the conference this year.
Speaker 1: But but I don't hate the university.
Speaker 2: You know, we're visiting with Matt Lee. You and my
Speaker 2: broadcast partner Dave Lapham have a couple of things in common.
Speaker 2: Number one being offensive linemen. But number two, you were
Speaker 2: both recruited by Harvard and elected not to go. There
Speaker 2: was it an honor that schools like Harvard and Yale
Speaker 2: and these prestigious academic institutions wanted you at their schools.
Speaker 4: It is pretty cool looking back on it, though, I
Speaker 4: think in the moment, you know, because they have different
Speaker 4: rules with their scholarships and they're in the Ivy League
Speaker 4: and uh and in the FCS or whatever, but in
Speaker 4: the Ivy League specifically, so you don't get that florided
Speaker 4: scholarship for most people depending on financial aid or whatever,
Speaker 4: whatever the package. But still pretty cool to feel down
Speaker 4: And then now as I'm a little bit older looking back,
Speaker 4: I'm like, oh, well, I could have gotten Harvard.
Speaker 5: I could have gotten to Yeil, So I mean that's
Speaker 5: pretty cool. I guess yeah, trust me. Lap brings it
Speaker 5: up still and deservedly. So you're four weeks into your
Speaker 5: first NFL training camp. What's been the biggest challenge?
Speaker 4: Just learning everything and not just from a mental standpoint
Speaker 4: in the playbook and getting.
Speaker 1: You know, more solidified in that every single day, the more.
Speaker 4: Reps you take, but the intricacies of technique and how
Speaker 4: much bigger of a step it is at this level
Speaker 4: compared to collegiate because there could be stuff college coaches
Speaker 4: might not even touching on or that you think that
Speaker 4: you're you do a good job of, and then you
Speaker 4: get here and everything's just that much more in depth.
Speaker 4: Everything's that much more intricate and complex, and everything so
Speaker 4: so measured and pointed depending on what the technique is
Speaker 4: what the play is, just trying to master everything of
Speaker 4: that and focusing on a lot of stuff at once
Speaker 4: every single day and just slowly improve and prove and prove.
Speaker 2: Did it help you that you changed colleges last year
Speaker 2: and kind of went through this process even though it
Speaker 2: was far less complex, Yeah.
Speaker 1: For sure, I think so.
Speaker 4: I After, you know, leaving UCF, it was in going
Speaker 4: to Miami. I had never been out of the Orlando
Speaker 4: area for that long. I grew up my parents' house
Speaker 4: and where I grew up in my high school were
Speaker 4: just a couple of miles a few minutes away from
Speaker 4: Central Florida's campus, and going to Miami kind of matured
Speaker 4: me in a way that, Okay, I'm in a new place.
Speaker 4: I kind of left the place I was established at
Speaker 4: and comfortable at.
Speaker 1: Now I kind of have to.
Speaker 4: Earn it back up and get comfortable on the field,
Speaker 4: off the field, with myself, where I live, all this
Speaker 4: different stuff.
Speaker 1: But that made come in here that much easier.
Speaker 2: So you've got a nine year veteran to learn from
Speaker 2: at your position in Ted Kerris, Are you the type
Speaker 2: of person that asks him a lot of questions or
Speaker 2: do you quietly observe.
Speaker 4: Both I think observe a lot, you know, and just
Speaker 4: watch things. Everything he does is throughout practice and throughout
Speaker 4: a play, and then pick his mind when I can,
Speaker 4: or definitely when I have a specific question that's on
Speaker 4: my mind.
Speaker 1: Is you know what's a gonna say. I get after
Speaker 1: him every single chance.
Speaker 4: I can get in that regard, but I like to
Speaker 4: just observe and watch a lot too. How he does individual,
Speaker 4: how he goes in team, how his attitude is, the
Speaker 4: way he does little simple stuff that may look simple,
Speaker 4: but how he does it playing and play out and
Speaker 4: try to take from that.
Speaker 2: Do you wear the sense he hat?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I have one.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I wear it sometimes. Oh my girlfriend to wear
Speaker 4: my dad willware.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there you go. I'm sure Ted appreciates it. Last
Speaker 2: thing for Matt Lee, he played every snap, every offensive snap,
Speaker 2: at least in last week's preseason game against the Bears.
Speaker 2: Would you like to do that again against the Colts?
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, that'd be cool.
Speaker 4: I mean I got sixty three or sixty two, sixty
Speaker 4: sixty four snaps whatever it was, and a week before
Speaker 4: that it was, you know, seventeen or something like that.
Speaker 4: So being able to play a full game, a full
Speaker 4: load at this level and kind of see what it
Speaker 4: feels like in the opportunity to go against the bear
Speaker 4: starter shore.
Speaker 1: A couple drives which which was awesome. Yeah, I would
Speaker 1: love to.
Speaker 2: You're having a great camp.
Speaker 1: Keep it up.
Speaker 2: Appreciate the time.
Speaker 1: Okay, thank you, appreciate you.
Speaker 2: That's going to do it for this episode of the
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